Raider Assault - Air Division

[get_off_my_lawn]

Who: Taryn, Arturia, Nero, Lleld, Katina, Kusuha, Temeraire, bird beastmen npcs, British npc riders and a possible appearance from Viridi
What: Pre-battle and during battle fights against firedrakes, their mounts, and their camp. The plan is here.
When: June 15th our time - early morning (pre-battle) and actual battle
Where: Raider Camp in the West
Warnings: All the things that come with action movies; blood, violence, cursing, etc



[The battle itself will be run in two parts after the initial assault, when the two groups separate. The raiders will use hit and run skirmish tactics once they can properly react, moving in wings of three. We'll successfully capture 25 drakes, and the combined air/ground forces take out approximately 100 men and 100 drakes. Remember there's a nasty shrapnel ceiling launched from the ground forces to keep the drakes from flying too high.]

Comments

[xiao_lan_long]

That wasn't good. It might have been whatever her magical knack was supposed to be, or it might have been just her talent for observing people, but even not being able to see around to Temeraire's ventral side she could tell he was having trouble.

She looks to the heavy cables attaching her Grungust to Temeraire's harness. They were attached to winches that theoretically would let her move around, though she had been explicitly told it was risky by the engineers. Still, given a choice between letting Temeraire get stabbed and possibly unbalancing him, she chooses the latter option. Making the Grungust draw its sword now that its fist had been winched back into place, Kusuha carefully begins climbing the heavy machine down around the dragon's right side to try and get within reach of the troublesome rider.

[grandtheftmecha]

Long before the impact, Katina's eyes were on the prize. Reckless. Aggressive. Getting way too close for any kind of safety, and the drake was as into it as the rider.

Ergo, it was the perfect target for Katina.

Holding on tightly, she waited right up until the moment of impact to throw herself out, down, and around Temeraire, flinging herself onto the briefly entangled drake, sword drawn and swinging in a wide circle at the rider. "Knock him off balance!"

[imperial_mods]

As the trio look up, they see the man, Dakren Khan, clad from head to toe in burnished steel. His dragon is also clad in steel armor, its eyes glowing pits of flame from beneath its faceplate as it flaps its steel-clad wings. Opening its mouth, it unleashing another searing blast at Lleld while Dakren draws an enormous greatbow and launches but a single arrow. As he looses it, it crackles with pure gold energy as it explodes out of the bow with greater force than that of a bullet leaving a gun.

[ex_cashcow493]

"Then I will continue to fit her in uniforms that are appropriate for her physical differences."

Even if the comment was laced with an attempt to troll, Arturia's stoic manner didn't give it away in the slightest.

[fortheworldtosee]

Nero had been itching to move the moment the battle started, but she knew her role. She may be brash and impulsive sometimes, but she new how to follow battle orders. So she waited.

It was frustrating, because waiting meant she stayed out of the action for quite a while, outside of deflecting arrows or other such attacks from enemies. She had no ranged weapons, and the other soldiers were doing a fantastic job keeping the drakes and their riders at bay, so that really left Nero with nothing to do.

Until now! With the rest of the boarding party gone, it was finally Nero's turn. And boy did she look eager, even as she continued to fend off the occasional attack.

"Now, Temeraire! Find me the strongest, most capable drake you can spot! One that can match my abilities as closely as possible!"

[get_off_my_lawn]

The werewolf backed off of Lleld's head, down her neck, to where her weight was better distributed and she felt more stable.

"Yes... but I have something up my sleeve." She pulls a tarot cards out, The Chariot, and hands it to Arturia. "Use this in a few moments. Nature needs to make a statement before we are ready to descend upon our enemies in full."

Raising one large paw up into the air, Taryn closed her eyes and sought out her connection to Viridi, to her spiritual mother. Then her eyes opened, blazing with righteous rage.

"GAIA! THESE RAIDERS SCORCH YOUR SKIN, BURN YOUR CHILDREN, DESTROY YOUR ESSENCE WITH THEIR PRESENCE. I, TARYN SHADOW-WALKER, BESEECH YOU TO GIVE THEM A TASTE OF THE RAGE THEY ARE DO.

WE ARE YOUR BLADES, YOUR CLAWS, YOUR FANGS, YOUR WARRIORS! GRANT US YOUR BLESSING AND TAKE THE ADVANTAGE OF THE WINDS FROM THESE RAIDERS!"

[ooc: Incoming deity~]

[get_off_my_lawn]

"Hahaha!" Taryn gave Arturia a hearty slap on the back. "You'll infuriate her."

The wolf waved Arturia over to where the shaman were and picked up one of the bowls. She offered it to the short woman. "Take and drink. Connect with the land under your feet, the air your breathe, the fire in your blood."

She then took her own bowl and drank the small amount of liquid in one gulp. Once that was done, an eye always watching Arturia, the wolf held her arm out for one of the shamans. The beastman took a knife and cut Taryn's forearm, spilling a little blood onto the bowl the werewolf had just drank from.

Before Arturia's eyes, the knife wound healed itself, leaving just a lighter line of fur in its wake to speak of it having even been there.

[forceofnature]

Righteous indignation is, perhaps, the cardinal emotion of the being on whom Taryn now called. It is a potent force. Blinding in its exhilaration, deadly in its sheer overwhelming strength. The ire in Taryn's voice and stance so perfectly mirrors the long festering anger of her goddess; there can be no doubt that Nature will respond in kind.

Even as Taryn speaks, her words are lifted up by the winds and carried through the air, reaching the ears of each and every combatant in this pivotal battle. Viridi is not an unreasonable goddess. No. Certainly not. Scum of the earth - know the sins for which your lives are forfeit. And in your final moments, realize the consequences for the crimes you commit against your fellow man, against the earth, against all of life itself.

...There follows only silence after the speech. For a few moments, all that can be heard are the echoes of the condemnation of the Ar-Righ, hollowly resounding for those to whom it is directed.

Grant us your blessing... blessing... blessing....

The miracle that follows happens in the space of a lightning strike. A thousand spears of electricity lance without warning from the skies; for the briefest of moments, a massive silhouette of ...something - someone - flashes behind the now-darkened clouds. And though the lightning strikes the earth harmlessly, from the site of impact springs forth a spiraling wind that surges upwards to smash into the raiders in flight. In some tongues, the tornado is called the Dragon Wind. The hunger with which it seeks its prey is reminiscent of such a mighty beast; the gaping maw of the funnel devours its prey relentlessly.

It is over almost as quickly as it began. Though the Beastmen and allies may have felt the pull of the entrapping wind, the storm disperses before any can be harmed. ...Not so much for the raiders.

"Very nice speech." The voice of the nature goddess whispers only in Taryn's ears. "I'll leave the rest to you."

[not_the_ship]

The rider changed tactics when this new target presented itself; jabbing at Grungust with the spear rather than Temeraire's talons.

Not that he left the dragon completely alone; the drake had overcome its surprise, and started breathing a plume of flame at the much bigger dragon's opposite shoulder. The heat made him start and growl again, but he couldn't do anything else that would bring more targets in range of that spear. And the rider was too close to roar away at. He could always drop the creature, but that would defeat their purpose...

[not_the_ship]

Temeraire heard, and put on a sudden burst of speed that not only kept the drake pinned against his chest, but caused the creature to roll and shriek in the air, tossing its rider to the side of the saddle and harness as he was turning to face Katina, knocking the arrow off of his bowstring. Katina's blade bit into the armor on his back and shoulder, but not quite through.

[not_the_ship]

The dragon lifted his head as his sides swelled out, like a drum ready to play. The roaring force of the divine wind tore out of his jaws, but this time directed at the air above another arrowhead-shaped flight of drakes before they could climb too far over his head, rather than directly at them. The force disrupted and distorted the air visibly, punching a ragged hole in the shrapnel cloud before it was rapidly filled in by another burst. Temeraire snorted, and took note, in some corner of his mind; bad idea. Aim down.

But the roar also disrupted the rank, breaking it up from a smoothly disciplined maneuver to shrieking, backwinging drakes wheeling this way and that. The one flying highest in the formation toppled from the sky completely, blood streaming from its nostrils. Still others lost their riders, but one of the most notice was the drake that crashed down on Temeraire's back, missing Nero but causing the big dragon to nearly buckle in surprise.

Even as big as he was, if most of the boarding soldiers hadn't already been deployed, they would have been crushed. The drake had landed on its belly, aft of Temeraire's shoulders and signal flags and where Nero was sitting. The creature still possessed a rider, but was too busy scrabbling at Temeraire's armor trying to regain traction to breathe any fire.

[fortheworldtosee]

Nero would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly awed at the dragon's power. Oh, she had seen a great deal of strange things over the years, and she had encountered all manner of powerful monsters and beasts. But this? This was something she wasn't hesitant to admit was impressive.

She couldn't muse on Temeraire's strength for too long, though, as the drake that had been shot down landed nearby. Large enough to disrupt the dragon's flight even for a second, and strong enough to still put up a fight?

Perfect.

With the lance her cousin had given her still strapped to her back, Nero unsheathed her blade - a common gladius, as she was still without Aestus Estus - and charged. She approached from behind the beast, using its hindquarters as a step up so she could launch a strike at it's rider.

[grandtheftmecha]

An arrow not fired at her, and a hit landed on the raider's armor - with that and the jostling knocking him off balance more and more, it's plenty. Instead of winding up for another swing, Katina tightens her legs around whatever she can grab onto, using her sword to hack at whatever straps and harnesses he's hanging on with.

[xiao_lan_long]

"Ah!"

Kusuha doesn't feel endangered by the spear, particularly, but it would be alarmingly easy for the rider to make the armor lose its grip or its balance and fall at this angle. Acting on adrenaline and reflex, she powers up the Grungust's magical cannon and fires it again at point-blank. She closes her eyes as she does so, and when they're open again, the drake in front of them is riderless. "S-sorry..." she mutters. At least that should make the drake easier for Temeraire to handle.

[not_the_ship]

Suddenly without further instruction or command, the drake cut its last puff of fire short and stared around almost quizzically for direction as its reins went slack.

As his armor cooled, Temeraire snapped his teeth and snarled at the creature, which recoiled with a squall even as three boarding soldiers made the leap across at once. One did not secure himself in time, and plummeted off of the side with a shout--and out of sight, Hopefully one of the winged beastmen caught him...but it was enough to make the soldiers aboard the drake seize the reins with all haste to send the creature diving like a stone after him.

It also made Temeraire's shoulders huddle a bit, even as he stared down after the shrinking figures. He couldn't break formation again, he kept telling himself--or more soldiers would follow.

[not_the_ship]

The rider's quiver was hanging from the belt, rather than the back; he weathered the blows long enough to nock a second arrow in short order, draw it back to the ear--and let it loose at Katina.

But very next moment he had disappeared; the saddle cut loose and empty and flapping against the drake turned almost sideways like a flag. The rider's last attempt to save himself was to grab the reins as he fell, which twisted the drake's head sideways and down at an awkward angle that made the beast shriek again.

[not_the_ship]

The drake was still a bit stunned, lashing its tail only after it felt pressure on its hindquarters. The warrior on its back was less stunned, though his ears must surely have still been ringing--he swept a glaive at the boarder, though still mindful of the flailing wings of his own mount.

Temeraire had come to a hovering stop in the newly vacant altitude, where he had to look down to see the other drakes wheeling like so many birds. Instead, though, he was snarling and snapping and otherwise occupied with his new and entirely unwelcome passenger.

"Off!"

But he couldn't just roll to dislodge it, at least not this instant--Nero hadn't locked on yet, and he would inevitably throw her as much as the drake. And that was also bad.

On the other hand, the armor on his back was mostly chainmail, to allow the dragon to make full use of his flexibility; as reinforced as it was, the harness was still flammable. No amount of wire and chain sewn in could fix that and remain pliable.

[grandtheftmecha]

About as inconvenient a place for a quiver as it could be, for Katina, and she couldn't do anything but swipe her sword at him as he quickly fired a second arrow. This time, she missed her swing entirely, the arrow grazing her side and digging into the light armor she wore.

By the time she'd recovered enough to swing again, he was gone, though, leaving her bareback on an angry, pained drake. Maybe not the BEST plan ever, and it takes a lot of strength out of her just to get into a position where she can hold on.

[not_the_ship]

"Stop that nonsense," Temeraire's voice rumbles from above, and one of his massive talons comes down on the rake's shoulders, torquing the entire creature level. If the drake hadn't been so neatly immobilized, it would have frozen anyway from something much larger than itself growling at it.

"Are you all right?", the dragon asked Katina this time, still holding the drake as if it were a toy as it attempted to squirm away.

[grandtheftmecha]

"Ah... shit, didn't actually figure out how I was gonna do that." Katina scoots up the drake's body a bit, pulling a rope from her side to loop around it's neck as an extremely rudimentary bit of control. "I'm doing good now, though I dunno if it'll listen to me well enough to fight the others yet."

[ex_cashcow493]

"It is about time someone stood up to her." Jokingly said, it would be easy to tell that the girl made light of the matter of upsetting her cousin. "Perhaps then she would not tease me for what I lack."

All of that would be an spoken as though it were an after thought, the girl choosing instead to heed Taryn's lead as she followed along. With a bowl in hand, she regarded it almost cautiously at first. After the witnessed act, she held no hesitation in drinking from the bowl offered to her.

Tell me if you want me to edit this.

[get_off_my_lawn]

The liquid was a bit acrid, almost reminiscent of alcohol, though there was none in it. Despite some of the beastmen tribes having a tradition of some alcohol before battle, the werewolf didn't agree with it and so she never partook. Eventually, the shamans learned to brew the concoction other ways without it losing its bite. Really, all it did was calm the stomach as many young warriors were prone to prebattle jitters.

Dipping one claw into her bowl (now held by one of the shaman), coating it with her own blood, Taryn reached out to the British ruler and went to move her bangs out of the way with her other hand. She then drew with the bright red blood a symbol on the woman's forehead. It felt very much like an upward arrow.

"Arturia Pendragon, as we face this battle, you are of my blood. I take you into my pack until our enemy is defeated," Taryn said, her voice resonating with that special Ahroun ability to inspire other to follow her into battle. It was never a conscious decision of hers to use, even in cases like this where it really wasn't necessary.

The wolf-woman then dipped her claw back into the bowl and painted a line of crimson on each of Arturia's cheekbones. Taryn then nodded and took her hand back, pleased with how the blood, glistening bright red in the morning light dripping just a tiny bit from the lines, gave Arturia a savage fierceness that the stoic woman didn't normally exude. Perfect for running in a temporary pack with a werewolf.

"Or we fall to an honorable and glorious death"

[not_the_ship]

Temeraire's reply was cut short; while he had been manhandling the drake, others had surged in t take advantage of his distraction. A formation of drakes all but smashed into his side, shaking the captured drake out of his talons and knocking the bigger dragon sideways with a roar of surprise.

He could not finish what he had been going to say, only twist and snarl and raise his claws to engage these new threats. Katina was on her own for the moment.

[grandtheftmecha]

"Shit shit shit!" Now Katina's forced to cling again, holding the rope tight until she can spare a free hand.

She can't just let Temeraire fight everything off on his own, no matter how big and awesome he is - she quickly pulls out a pistol, firing a shaky shot at a drake pulling away from Temeraire for another charge.

[not_the_ship]

The drakes were not as used to the sound of gunfire as Temeraire was; most of his own crew had brought swords and bows rather than risk gunpowder around the firebreathers. The shot went wide, but the sound alone was enough to startle the lead drake away from the dragon's side and fragment the formation.

His head whipped around like a snake, and the massive jaws snapped shut on the lead drake's neck and forequarters. No time for boarding this go around; Temeraire shook the drake back and forth like a dog worrying a rat until bones crunched and the neck snapped. The dragon released the spasming creature to fall to earth, like a bloodied leaf.

The beasts on the tail of the now fragmented formation had changed targets from Temeraire to Katina, two of them, both behind and slightly above Katina's drake.