SUFFER MORTALS

[svelldrottning]

Characters: Sindragosa, EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO BE INVOLVED.
Location: The Forest, then the Village, then finally the Temple.
Time: Around 2pm on the 17th August.
Brief Summary: Sindragosa arrives in Demeleier. She's not happy.
Rating: PG-15. There will be death in this entry!
Format: All of my initial posts will be in prose. If [action] is more

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PHASE ONE: THE FOREST

[svelldrottning]

She burst out of the canopy and into blazing sunlight. It had been so long since she had seen anything but the wan light of day that Icecrown clung to that she was stunned for a moment. The wind currents caught under her wings and she was borne along. Beneath her, the forest shifted and twisted.

Something stung the air - a sharp, solid tang of magic. She moved her head to find the source of it, and suddenly was struck from below.

Roaring, she turned her head and swooped low over the trees. Her tail smashed into the canopy, and it was not long before she settled on the treeline, slashing and biting and snarling.

All around her, the ground iced up. Frost withered the greenery around her. Wood splintered and crushed under her. The screeching of the forest creatures ended with wet, dying burbles. But still the forest fought back.

[genocidegame]

Yuuka honestly could've cared less what others did with their time. As long as the flowers were left unharmed, it was of no consequence to her. But when the... thing that was flying up above started to attack the forest, the flower youkai was quick to notice, and take offense to what was being done.

She would not stand for such actions.

Going airborne herself, Yuuka flew high into the sky, unafraid of the creature that continued to harm the trees and her beloved flowers.

"Fool. Allow me to teach you why shouldn't make an enemy out of nature." She didn't care if the beast listened to her or not, or what reasons it could've possible had for its attack. Yuuka knew what she needed to do. An opening display of danmaku, to gauge the creature's strength, all aimed at the forest's assailant.

[svelldrottning]

The barrage struck the dragon, and the moment it did, a backlash of pure, arcane magic struck Yuuka. Sindragosa threw back her head and roared again and swung her head around to the youkai. She did not know who she was and nor did she care much for her intentions (though a part of her thought - nature - druids? It could be...) but that did not matter.

The backlash struck Yuuka for every wound that struck Sindragosa, and the dragon snarled, opening her maw wide to shoot a barrage of Frost Breath at her on top of that.

[heavyheels]

Chie comes racing up to the treeline, having just sent an emergency alert to the rest of the village. Just the size of this - monster? dragon? what is it? - is enough to make her feel overwhelmed. What can I do, all by myself? Aureln's words of warning ring loudly in her ears ...

But she has to do something. Chie can't just stand idle and watch the destruction unfold.

"Hey!" She shouts, thinking maybe it will attract the creature's attention. There's a charge of blue flame encircling her, and she leaps into a spinning kick to summon forth her Persona and launch God's Hand at the monster.

[bloodforlight]

There isn't even the proper time to register what the hell is going on. That Sindragosa could be here - it's somehow impossible to believe. Aureln watched her die, aided in slaying her, and for what? To see it all happen again?

She should have her group with her. Duibhin, Taernoth, Calienne and Izdihar - and Ashling, Lihua.

She still remembers, vividly, Lihua falling in the battle, amidst swirling snows and crackling ice.

Despite being in her full armour, the run doesn't tire her. She's ready, feels that familiar, rare buzz of adrenaline - and she can feel when she gets close to the fight, beyond all else. She can feel that familiar cold, setting in her bones, spreading in every nerve.

With a yell, she sweeps her hand up in Sindragosa's direction, putting focus and drive behind it, attempting to yank Sindragosa's attention to her. Her shield din't let her down last time - she'll rely on it this time, soon, and hope a healer shows up quickly.

((FOR THE RECORD, Aureln comes with buffs (yay) She's using RESISTANCE AURA, which

[svelldrottning]

The attack on Yuuka had barely finished when Chie's connected. Sindragosa whirled on her, but then Aureln was there, pulling her attention, gravitating there. She could smell it, sense it about her. This one was strong. If she took her down, then the others would died beneath her cold.

That armour, that stance, that spell -

"Paladin," she hissed, but there was no recognition there. It was just a statement. There was something more - if a Paladin was here, then that meant - then that -

FORDRING INTRUDERS HAVE BREACHED ALL PART OF THE MASTER'S I AM RENEWED HEROES

- then it meant that this could not the work of demons. It could be a trap - perhaps the Lifebinder had been involved. Perhaps anything - Sindragosa did not know. She did not care. This was not Icecrown and she was not with her master, not fighting the intruders who had stolen the Dreamwalker from her ranks.

She lashed out with her claws, raking them against the Paladin's armour.

[heavyheels]

The dragon's claws are so huge, so sharp - Chie gasps, watches as Aureln is attacked, overwhelmed with a feeling of complete helplessness. She herself didn't even have any armor; once again, she'd run into the thick of things completely unprepared. Would she never learn?

Chie can ask herself those sorts of questions later. Right now, she has to focus.

"Take this!" Suzuka Gongen comes forward with another heavy physical blow aimed for the creature.

[svelldrottning]

The blow may have been a physical one, but the method of using it was not. Sindragosa bristled and flexed her wings. She kept her focus on Aureln, freezing air billowing from her mouth, and screeched.

"Suffer, mortals, as your pathetic magic betrays you!"

Unchained magic lashed out at Chie striking her for the blow that was dealt to Sindragosa. While that happened, she swiped at Aureln again and again.

[bloodforlight]

Huge and sharp as those claws were, Aureln seemed to weather them without too much trouble. At first her knees buckled with the force of them, a wince just visible in the shadows of her helm - but then she squared her shoulders and planted her feet apart, knocking those swipes back with her shield.

"Be ready to move back!" She ordered, sword slicing up as her shield glowed a bright gold, "if you have to, run for cover!"

[svelldrottning]

The dragon issued a hiss of pain as the wounds piled up. She reared back and opened her maw, showering Aureln with the icy shards of her Frost Breath.

[heavyheels]

Running for cover just isn't on Chie's list of battle tactics. There's a nagging voice at the back of her head that tells her she should stop, she should listen to Aureln -

But then she's hit with a wave of heavy magic, and that tiny squeak of common sense is drowned out by the ringing in her ears and the spots in front of her eyes. Chie finds herself reeling, knocked to the ground, struggling to catch her breath.

everyone who wants to come into this phase please just tag in when you feel it!

[svelldrottning]

Her ice now biting into the Paladin through her armour, the mighty dragon reared up and roared again, sweeping her wings out. She did not take to the air as may have been expected, however, but instead crouched low again. Freezing wind began to whip up around her, which suddenly thickened and looped around her attackers, rope-like, and pulled them in to her.

The moment they were let go - right under her ribcage, with the frost and the cold striking so fiercely - Sindragosa began to charge her spell.

"Can you feel the cold hand of death upon your heart?!"

[needling]

Shit. Fuck. Crap. Damnit! Kanji wasn't exactly the best tactician, but he knew not to run into the middle of a battle unarmed and without a plan. He was the brawns of the Investigation Team, not the brains. Didn't mean he was totally stupid, but he was better at hitting stuff than anything.

But usually they had an idea of what they were getting into. There was always some kind of demon to face at the end of a dungeon in the Midnight Channel. Wasn't like it was some kind of surprise ending, right? And they were always together; always prepared. This was about as surprising as it got, but he knew he couldn't just leave Chie hanging out to dry. Not that he wanted to. If there was anything he was, it was loyal.

He had what looked like a chair of some sort thrown over his shoulder as he ran toward the fray, despite that small nagging part of him that was his Better Judgment. It was freakin' cold, but the closer he got, the colder he got. That was the least of his worries though, when he saw Chie go down and the dragon start

[heavyheels]

Chie shivers, climbing back to her feet. Suzuka Gongen blocks ice attacks, but this ... this was just too much. Aren't dragons supposed to breathe fire, anyway?

Kanji's voice is a welcome addition to the noise of the fray, and Chie finds herself smiling in spite of the overwhelming feelings of numb terror she finds herself navigating.

"Nice shot, Kanji-kun!" She starts hopping back and forth from one foot to the other, as much a way to get her blood moving and warming again as it is a habit of battle. With Kanji at her side, things feel just the slightest bit back to normal again. Chie spins into another roundhouse kick to release her Persona and follow Kanji's attack with God's Hand.

[bloodforlight]

She knows this cold, this cold that claims every inch of you and makes you feel like you'll never know warmth again. It's a bitter reminder of Northrend, Icecrown, the Citadel - but she doesn't back down, doesn't move away. Distantly, she hears Kanji arriving. Of more note is Sindragosa's shriek. Like a hook of ice embedding in her chest she's yanked forward, beneath the dragon, into a core of swirling white wind.

"Move," she yells to those dragged in along side her, golden light shimmering out from beneath her feet, consecrating the ground below them before she starts to sprint away from the dragon, "you need to run, now!"

[svelldrottning]

Primal Force and God's Hand struck Sindragosa, and she gave a shout of agony as they did. It did not, however, break off her incantation. Not even the consecrated ground did, though it burned her unliving body to stand in that circle.

The freezing air grew even colder - cold enough to burn. The swirling winds of Blistering Cold howled like the wind over an artic tundra, freezing and biting and burning as they whipped around. The arcane energy crackled and zapped. The ground around Sindragosa erupted in a swirling blizzard of ice, and anyone who had not followed Aurlen's advice would have been caught in it.