Everything happened so fast. Gembounds were assembled, some trailing after the ancient one called Astraea and others in isolation. As they one by one walked into the room and called upon their magic, Delphine felt herself suddenly seized with the terror and weight of what it was they were walking into. She'd been foolish to think that this was a fight that she could help in, she was after all just a child yet even so, her every step brought her closer still to the battle. It'd already begun.

She witnessed the fury that was the black dragon, a reincarnate of chaos, a self-proclaimed God among them. She watched as he fought against those who would fail easily if not for their numbers and suddenly, in spite of her trembling, in spite of her fears, Delphine found the courage within her to do something. Pressed closed to the walls, the young Shadow called upon her own powers, hoping now more than ever that it would not fail her. She did not think that she or anyone else for the matter could afford the losses incurred from misfired magic. Then the world burst in a series of verdant-brown hues and her emerald gaze shot to the ceiling above the dragon consumed in flames.

POST-ROLL EDIT:
Her power surged from her, successfully splicing through the rock formations situated directly above the tornado of flames and raining down relentlessly. Delphine prayed then that her spell on top of the lizard's would dispel the firestorm upon them.

His talons dug into the ground as he watched the Gembounds advance and shortly after engage the dragon. Waiting for the beast to be fully distracted, the phoenix wanted to surprise him from behind with a full-blown attack. Before much could be done, a large moth-like creature descended from a vent in the ceiling and turned his whole plan upside down. The dragon continued its retaliation, spreading fire where it could. Starting to lose track of everyone in the commotion, the bird was ready to burst into the scene and cause his own damage; but then Astraea had cried out.

Set aflame, the stag was running wildly, blindly; darkness did not exist inside of the phoenix like it did in others. He was a controlled being. He knew his inner self better than most, and had practiced placing each part of himself either away or set upfront. He was the calm in the air before a storm - after it. He brought caution and relief, but never disaster. Disaster somehow always seemed to find a way to nestle in-between. He didn't know it, but there was a memory he had suppressed shortly after retreating to the bottom of the lagoon in Pisces. He didn't know it because at the time, he knew he shouldn't know it. And so he sealed it away.

There had been a great fight. Perhaps it would have resolved itself if he had decided not to intervene. The lamb had calmed the chaos beast and it seemed as if everything was beginning to settle; but a group of Gembounds had died. Burned to a crisp because they had been tricked and mislead. Burned to a crisp for no reason. Burned to ash because the dragon simply could, and wanted to. Against the will of his partner, the phoenix intervened. It was not his intention to kill the dragon, but disaster certainly ensued. Despite all the reasons he did not like the beast, he could never kill it. It was not in his nature to kill things, even beasts of pure chaos. But he could bind it, and he did.

He did not know this. He did not remember this, even now.

Paying no mind to the beast and the Gembounds, the phoenix emerged from the tunnel with a great gust of cold air, making a quick approach to his partner. There was no pause between his flight and his fluid movement to embrace his friend. He rid the stag of fire and cooled the burns, keeping the deer hidden between his wings. The dragon's fire was different than normal fire. It didn't leave normal burns. He did what he could, regardless. Several of the Gembounds had attempted to engage the firestorm, so the phoenix decided it was time he did something to help the rest of them.

"Your children are so brave," he commented to Astraea without looking at him; instead, his focus was toward the Spire. Leaving his friend behind in a flurry of cold winds, the phoenix lifted himself into the air. With a great force, he sent a chilling wind toward the firestorm in an attempt to aid the Gembounds, giving his wings a heavy beat to push the air toward it. Whether it dissipated or not, it was his time to engage the chaos beast. A flicker of familiarity flashed before him, but better parts of him knew not to disclose the memory.

With the moth ripping at his foe's face, the bird had ascended to get closer to the Gembounds from above.

"Has your lamb gone, 'Brug?" he jeered, but the animosity was only to taunt the dragon. Dawa's disappearance greatly concerned him, but this was yet another thing tucked away in the pocket of his being. For now, he wanted to try and use it against the foul creature that plagued their existence.

1000/1000 HP

The battle broke out below as Cancer feverishly climbed the walls behind the scene. Fire licked at possible pawholds, stone too hot to touch, even with his wraps. He struggled in some places to find footing, while scaling some few areas with ease. As he approached the ledge he aimed for, above Raheerah's head, high above the battle, Cancer was thrown back down another twenty feet by a massive rumble of stone. He gasped, but kept his claws out, and caught himself before his effort would be faltered severely. He pressed on, taking only a moment to stare at the massive assortment of giants and creatures, the likes of which he'd never seen before- seemed some folk had acquired aid from the few ancients that still dwelled here.

Still, Cancer was on a mission. As the group below charged Raheerah, Cancer hoisted himself higher once more, finally reaching the top, with only a few scratches and nicks to his armor to show for his triumpth. One challenge over, Cancer turned his attention to Raheerah. The dragon hadn't even noticed him, high above amongst the stone and crystal grit walls. This would be the easy part.

The leopard bunched his legs, then sprung with a silent exhale towards the fight below. As he dove, claws extended, he could think of nothing but the hot wind rushing past his face- and the dragon's whose hide would soon be burning his skin and fur. While Raheerah no longer perched higher on the spire, the extra distance gave Cancer ample time to brace. He'd aimed for the dragon's head and face... with luck...

The stag fled, near blind as flames continued to rip across his spine; he bleated out, for the moment his composure lost as pain crawled across his skin. Then, just as quickly, a great sweeping cold engulfed him. The stag skidded to a halt and turned his head, careful not to pierce the protective shield that had come around him with his great antlers - he opened his eyes to see the icy blue feathers of the phoenix embracing him, dousing the fire on his back and soothing him with cold. A shiver ran through his spine, but the stag was grateful. "Yes," He breathed in hasty agreement before the phoenix took off again, leaving the stag wistful. He turned, facing the dragon again - the beast had launched up in a whirlwind of fire, causing the stag to recoil against the heat. He felt it burn against his skin, but that wouldn't be enough to deter him. With his back healed, he charged back towards the dragon, preparing another offense.

With another few powerful flaps, the moth had descended on Raheerah's face and started clawing at his skin. The dragon snarled, beaten down by the weight of the massive insect, but his flames continued - they grew, consuming the insect who screeched at the heat. He willed his flames higher, stronger, and they swelled as they razed the moth's wings, lighting them. Raheerah hadn't even felt the torrent of water spat his way, but he did notice the ceiling shake and dust fall from above, before a pile of rocks dislodged from the ceiling. Before he could do anything, the boulders collapsed on him and the moth, pummeling the giant insect and knocking it aside. Still aflame, the insect crashed into the ground and desperately fluttered its flammable wings, but it couldn't put out the fire.

Raheerah collided with the ground, barely managing to stay upright in the wake of the rolling rocks. It was at that point that he was bathed in a chilling wind and the fires that roared across his body extinguished; the dragon raised his arm to defend his bleeding face from the cold, and the voice had come from behind, with the rest of them - the voice. He knew that voice. Unnoticed, the black leopard had managed to land just on the back of Raheerah's neck, but his weight was nothing to the thick scales that protected him. He was transfixed on the voice. With a snarl, Raheerah whipped his body around. In the process, his long, thick tail caught all those before him and slammed them into the moth.

Out of the corner of his eye, the dragon spotted his destruction and cracked a wicked smirk; piercing orange gaze fixed on the phoenix and he braced himself, met once more with his nemesis. The name slipped like poison from his tongue, so menacing that it could have lit the bird aflame had he not been made of ice.

"Tenzin." He snarled. "Come to die with the rest of them?"

And with that, the dragon's jaws parted wide, preparing to unleash another torrent of fire on the bird.

Ghanyarah does 18 damage to Raheerah.
Delphine does 16 damage to Raheerah.
Cancer does 14 damage to Raheerah.
Moth NPC takes 30 damage from fire + falling rocks.
Raheerah takes 5 damage from falling rocks.
Raheerah does 30 damage to Deer Dad, Dragon, Ghanyarah, Black, and Fisher. (These characters have been knocked into Moth NPC)
Raheerah does 17 damage to Tenzin.

Raheerah has 861/1000 hit points.
Moth NPC has 112/200 hit points.
Tenzin has 983/1000 hit points.
Deer Dad has 435/500 hit points.

Black has 52/100 hit points.
Leon has 90/100 hit points.
Cancer has 90/100 hit points.
Fisher has 22/100 hit points.
Dragon has 35/100 hit points.
Ghanyarah has 70/100 hit points.
Czernobog has 100/100 hit points.
Arkrael has 100/100 hit points.
Louie has 100/100 hit points.
Delphine has 100/100 hit points.

(Don't forget, new characters are always welcome to join this quest at any time!)

The fire that roared over him had dwarfed what he could generate. It had engulfed him, overwhelmed him, cradled him, seared him, caressed him, burned him. He roared back, gaping jaws long-since grown use to the aching burn of fire, and perhaps this saved him from being killed outright, roasted in his own thick armored skin.

In the glory of the moment, the pain and the awe, he could think only one thing: it was glorious.

An instant later, the transfixed alligator--smoke pouring from his skin--felt a quenching cold pass over him; and then he was flying, airborne, watching the world spin away as Raheerah's tail sent him careening over the rock.

He had never flown before. It would have been nice, he reflected (everything seeming to pass rather slowly), if he hadn't been slamming facefirst into a bloodied, flaming moth, watching his brother struck next to him.

Dragon blinked dark eyes, dazed for an instant. The ringing he heard began to fade, and he could hear Raheerah's booming laughter.

Could he still fight?

He wiggled his clawed toes, and they moved. Yes, then, he decided (as if all he needed were his feet)--he could fight.

The alligator rolled upright, and it was clear that if he survived Raheerah's onslaught, he would not be the same: patches of flesh, armored or not, were burned entirely away from his back, open wounds gashed across his tail and hip from slamming over the stone.

He paid it no mind, instead crawling toward the dragon from behind. Grinning, perhaps rather madly: a pyromaniac in his element.

He was already inhaling, already feeling the phoenix's chilled air fill his lungs, sparking his flames to indecent heights. Calculating eyes glanced over the beast's back, taking no notice, now, of the other gembound gathered, many fallen, strewn over the floor and still--like him--picking themselves up.

No: if he were going to fight, he'd fight properly.

The alligator inhaled deeply, held his breath, and gathered all his flame in one ball of liquid fire, intending to slam it into Raheerah's wing--at the joint, or the leather of it. To ground him. To keep him from ever flying again.

HE. WILL. DIE!

With another low and guttural laugh, the (possibly mad) alligator let loose his magic, sending it hurtling toward the dragon's wing.

Perhaps he could tear them off, and claim them for his own. HE was Dragon! HE deserved to fly! This thing, would not! NO LONGER!

{ art by dark } ~ { table by aura . edited by banshee and dark }

He spat as much water as he possibly could at the dragon, near effectively draining his body of liquids and leaving the komodo dehydrated. Ghanyarah narrowed his eyes, then blinked as his source of water ran dry. He hissed and reeled back again, trying to see what kind of damage he'd managed to cause - despite the blast of water he'd shot at the dragon, it didn't seem to put him out. A look of apprehension crossed his features now that he realized he was in the middle of the battle field without any water; the dragon whipped his head around, searching for Dragon before a great force had suddenly knocked him away. All the air left his lungs as Raheerah's tail swept him aside into the giant insect that had crashed on the ground.

Ghanyarah groaned, shaking his head as he unfolded his limbs and attempted to right himself. The group of them was condensed against the moth, but as soon as he regained his composure, the reptile sprung away and fixated on the chaos beast. Nearby, Dragon was preparing another attack - Ghanyarah tried to focus on one of his own, but his grasp for water was meek. He'd need to rejuvenate his liquid cache before he could attack again. Frustrated, he instead tried to summon water towards his body.

When the collision of rocks felled the dragon, Delphine could not help the swell of pride and momentary success from rising until she saw the collateral damage. The moth, at the same time, rocketed to the floors, its burning wing pinned by the very same boulders she'd let loose. Though she could not be certain who's side the moth was on, the fact that it fought against the dragon was reason enough for the mare to believe in their shared goals. So she was in turn devastated by what she'd done though her emotions played a close second to the still on-going fight.

Her eyes shot to the dragon, listening as his voice gave name to the phoenix who was assisting them and not soon after, attack. Wrought with equal parts misery at her earlier failure, or partial failure, her sentiments felled the internal balance within and her lips let loose an agonize shriek for the death and terror the dragon dared inflict upon the light in this world. What she had not intended was the sudden rise of power that spilled forth, without direction, without control, the grounds quaked with an intensity far beyond what she believed herself capable but this was not time to gawk for what was to come was yet another imminent failure. She had not meant to let loose her powers and no one knew better than Delphine the repercussions of earth magic executed without absolute control.

He'd been given barely a chance to find his hooves before Raheerah's massive tail had swept him and the group up against the moth. The stag yelled his surprise, then groaned as he struggled to stand again, legs wobbling under the weight of the recent attack. It didn't take him long, though, and a few of the Gembounds had already recovered. The stag snorted - though dizzy, he charged at Raheerah with his antlers bared, aiming to gore the dragon's leg.

The alligator's blast of steaming bile landed true on the fringe of Raheerah's wing, burning a painful hole where the membrane connected to his side. At the same time, he felt the stag's antlers shove in past his scales into the flesh of his leg. Snarling, Raheerah snapped his jaws together, cutting off the blast of flame and swung his body towards where Dragon, Ghanyarah and the stag stood. He extended his wings again and gave them a powerful thrust, churning up a whirlwind that would blast them off their feet once again. The dragon intended to return his attention to Tenzin, only the ground has suddenly begun to shake beneath his feet. Raheerah rumbled and dropped all four draconic paws to the ground, bracing himself.

From the black horse as the epicenter, the ground rippled out all across Polaris, causing its surface to crack and breach with outcroppings of sharp rocks. Everybody inside the room will find themselves knocked down, while a clump of rocks suddenly breaks free from the ceiling and crashes into Delphine, burying her.

Dragon does 18 damage to Raheerah.
Ghanyarah does 0 damage to Raheerah.
Raheerah does 8 damage to Deer Dad, Dragon and Ghanyarah.
Delphine takes 40 damage from falling rocks. (Delphine will have to make a saving throw to break free from the rocks - she'll have to make an "Other" attempt, and can break free upon rolling a minimum of Barely Successful)
Everyone takes 20 damage from the earthquake.

Raheerah has 823/1000 hit points.
Moth NPC has 92/200 hit points.
Tenzin has 983/1000 hit points.
Deer Dad has 407/500 hit points.

Black has 32/100 hit points.
Leon has 70/100 hit points.
Cancer has 70/100 hit points.
Fisher has 2/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Dragon has 8/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Ghanyarah has 42/100 hit points.
Czernobog has 80/100 hit points.
Arkrael has 80/100 hit points.
Louie has 80/100 hit points.
Delphine has 60/100 hit points.

(Don't forget, new characters are always welcome to join this quest at any time!)

bathed in flames we held the brand uncurled the fingers in your hand

Fisher tried to summon the strength of the Spire, tried to use its power for good, tried to ask that one favor-- oh, but the Spire remembered him. He was almost wholeheartedly aware of this true fact, that the cave still distrusted him, still hated his soul and his body for reasons he couldn't quite wrap his head around... And then the pain came again. It struck him hard in the chest, the lightning, and he staggered to the ground, vision hazing a blurry flash of colors, blue and red, orange and violet. He tried to move but his body resisted, his heart staggering to a grinding halt in that single moment.

No, he couldn't die here. No. Why had they taken this challenge? It was impossible. Why did he try to trust the cave, trust the cave to protect him from his true demise, death at the hands of a bloody gruesome battle that he had been so confident they would win. He searched for Black, desperate to call out as his chest struggled to work again, his lungs breathing carbon dioxide and ashy smoke, his heartbeat faint and drowned out by the roar of being so much bigger, so much better than his frail, insignificant life.

The Spire would never accept him. He cringed, and suddenly was swept off of his feet-- he saw a flash of onyx fur, and barked out a cough that hardly would catch the ears of his best friend in the moment. The massive moth was all that he knew, flames on its dusty, powdery wings engulfing his own fur. It wasn't until the earthquake came, the massive, painful flash of the world being torn open, that he was set free from the fire and cast back from the battle, stumbling and struggling to escape. He limped off, his limbs barely listening to his whims.

He couldn't abandon Black. He ducked behind the shelter of a boulder that had fallen from the ceiling, peering around it for his friend, his brave, valiant friend. He had sent the mastiff to his death. Fallah would never forgive him if he came home... The mustelid's vision blurred. There were six moths, two giant blue birds of ice, and a dragon much, much too large to fill the cave. Blackness flickered, his consciousness struggling to remain.

"BLACK!"

He screamed, that horrible yowl that he knew Black would recognize, his body leaning against the rock. He needed to get the dog away-- they would die, they would all die. His copper eyes batted against the smoke, gritting his teeth as he tried to locate his friends among the chaos. They should have never offered to help that foolish Dragon. Kings had no laws, no honor, they would destroy them all.

"BLACK PLEASE! HELP ME!" He screeched, yowling as loud as he could, his lungs burning from the effort-- he broke into a fit of coughs and began to shake, the pain fading from his body as his soul started to shift out of his own mind, feeling like he was five feet to the left and twenty feet off the ground without moving. Groaning, he dug his claws into the earth and dared to tap into his magic. He had to survive long enough to see Black out of this hell. He couldn't leave Fallah all alone. Not again. Never again.

The brown noodle slumped to the ground.

;; fisher exit

THIS POST DOES NOT COUNT AGAINST THE LIMIT, FISHER IS AT 2 HP AND CANNOT FIGHT ANYMORE <3 GOOD LUCK NERDS

The dragon's kick had sent him flying, and he'd lost his senses, for a time. Dizzy. Hot.

By the time he was surging back toward Raheerah, blood and drool mingling in thick strings from his jowls, Fisher was... gone. He had been aware of his friend's location throughout the battle thus far, even when going in for the attack.

Now, however... Now he'd lost him.

He turned his attention to the dragon, again, and his muscles shoved him at a full gallop over the searing stone, gaze empty and intense. He'd fight. Kill or die, it mattered not.

Barely, distantly, when he was only yards from making contact with the dragon once more, his dogged mind registered the sound of screaming.

Fisher.

Without even slowing, the black dog suddenly changed his direction, veering off around Raheerah toward Fisher, pelting toward him at full speed. He located him, following his screaming cries, twisting and scrambling around the boulder to frantically sniff and lick over the mustelid's body.

Before he could speak, before he could ask what do I do, Fisher was slumped. Unconscious? Dead?

Black risked a glance back out at the others. They were fighting. Falling. Some were goring the dragon; he watched the poor black horse suddenly buried in an avalanche of stone, watched as the big black alligator slumped to the rock, his skin a steaming ruin, still scrabbling weakly, and fruitlessly, to get to his opponent. Watched as the moth fell, wings aflame, and the stag buried antlers into the dragon's gut.

It was going to hell, and Black couldn't run from the battle--but nor could he leave Fisher alone.

The black mastiff took a couple of steps back, gathering himself. Trying to gather his cold, his darkness, feeling it coalesce like a soothing nightfall, curling over his stone heart and spreading.

He'd do his best to send dancing shadows over that side of the room. Raheerah was an impossible-to-miss target, but if he could obscure the others, confuse Raheerah's aim, perhaps he could aid without leaving Fisher's side. He hadn't been able to do much in direct combat, anyway.

He found it hard to focus, though. The moment he'd called his magic, that same stone heart seemed to tear with worry. He glanced down at Fisher, and in that instant, the spell faltered and was lost. Giving up, for now, Black leaned down to drag Fisher further behind cover, a soft whine escaping him.

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