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]

"Um, keep calm, Temeraire..."

Kusuha is even more nervous than usual going into battle, having never done so strapped to the back of a young dragon. She could take comfort in the fact that she was in her Grungust armor, which should in theory protect her from any accidental falls as well as enemy attacks - although the reassurances of 'you'll be high up enough all the extra weight won't make you hit the ground any faster' had done the opposite of reassure her.

As the dragon surges forward to attack, Kusuha focuses her mind as hard as she can - partly to get ready to make a magical attack with the Grungust, but mostly to avoid losing her breakfast. Opening her eyes, she focuses on one of the raiders - but not his drake. With a shout, she focuses her mana through the Grungust, turning her normal white magic into a beam of magical energy that lances out toward the enemy, her armor functioning like a magical turret attached to an enormous living airship.

[not_the_ship]

The impact Temeraire was expecting...never materialized. The much smaller drakes seemed to eel away before his talons could strike, the ranks dividing in the center and darting to both sides. Arrows bounced off of his armor in places, but struck home in others--punching holes into his wings and between the armored joints of armor on his side. None were mrtal or even serious, but they were all red-hot and painful pinpricks.

The dragon roared again in frustration, even as he whipped his long tail to the side--altering his course, but also smacking one of the unlucky drakes backwards to where he could seize it in his teeth. The unfortunate creature shrieked as the much larger dragon dragged it backwards in the air by its tail and hind leg. The instant it was close enough, several soldiers lunged from the belly rigging onto the drake's back. Temeraire released the creature to its fate, and charged onwards to the next. He would have doubled back on himself like a snake, to engage the tail end of that formation--but he had to keep himself steady. A firing platform.

The beam of light tearing out from his back reminded him just why he had to fight the temptation. The magic seemed to startle the drakes with its brightness; even Temeraire had to squint his own for a moment. But the sound of startled squalling was enough to guide him on its own, and his forearms and talons spread wide as if in an embrace to seize the next drake.

[xiao_lan_long]

Kusuha tries to keep her focus in all the rocking - it's impressive how level Temeraire is keeping all things considered, but winged flight's not the most stable.

Still, she can feel the flow of magic around her in a way she seldom can while on solid ground. She can almost feel the people around her - Temeraire most strongly, being huge and a dragon, but her fellow soldiers and the enemies included. Noticing this, she decides to go for broke and try a new feature the royal artificers had installed on the Grungust after her last fight with Avshar's Riftspawn.

Drawing her arm partway back, she pulls a lever inside the armor's elbow, causing the oversized gauntlet to shoot out with a small magical explosion and shove the pilot of an enemy drake right off his mount! The launched fist, attached by winch and chain to the Grungust's arm, grabs onto the drake's saddle like a grappling hook, pulling it back. Kusuha remains stunned for a moment that that actually worked.

"Um, Temeraire! One more on your right!" she shouts, hoping the dragon can grab and secure both targets, or at least keep them in distance to be boarded by lighter soldiers strapped to his torso.

[not_the_ship]

This time, the drake formation's attempted pass was far less successful; reeling from the bright light, their momentum broke into the drakes darting every which way to try and get away from it. And this time Temeraire stuck home, crashing into the ranks and knocking them aside like leaves. When he brough his forearms together, the flashing talons caught still more. Some fell, floundering and squawking, to lower altitudes where they were in range of the archers below.

There was little elegance to the maneuver; just bulldozing through with his sheer weight advantage, but it did work. He did start a bit at the explosion whistling past his head, even used to rifle volleys as he was. As the now riderless drake was drawn in by the gauntlet, it spat panicked puffs of flame that almost singed the dragon's whiskers and did scorch the gloss out of a patch of unarmored scale on his chest and made him toss his head.

"Oh, that is enough from you!" Temeraire growled, and his left forearm changed direction to catch the drake and pin it against his chest like a child's doll. Another British soldier crossed from the rigging to the drake, and Temeraire released the creature before it blew any more irritating flames.

Then his ruff prickled, the only overt sign that he had heard before his right forearm to darted out to snatch the target Kusuha indicated. Its rider was more prepared than the beast, however, and almost immediately started jabbing at the armored knuckles with a spear. It was enough to make the dragon hiss and twitch and very nearly drop the drake.

[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.

[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...

[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.