He'd just left Nemesis behind, promising to bring justice to the both of them for what Raheerah had done. Smoke trailed from his nostrils as he flew from the tunnel and finally out into the burning air of Polaris. He could see the damage and devastation all around. Rather than throwing himself straight into the fray he paused, hovering in the air as he assessed the situation. Gembounds he knew and those that he didn't was gathering all around and were in combat with the giant dragon. Seemed as if he was a bit late to the party. Ah well! Time to make a show of his appearance.

The white dragon let out a roar then began to fly towards the ceiling then after he could go no more he tucked his wings ever so carefully while angling downwards to dive. He wanted to build up speed and magick so that he could launch an attack at Rah. A full-bodied tackle with his full weight and the mighty force of his magic. He wanted to aim the blow at the dragon's throat or his belly but anywhere would work, so long as he did enough damage.

As he dove downwards the thoughts of his family and companions flashed through his mind. This was it, the decisive battle that would either kill him or remove this evil from the cave. He hoped it was the latter but he didn't fear the former... He only was afraid that Booker would be left all alone. He closed his eyes and focused inwards on that link. A thing he had been avoiding and didn't want to do for a while... But, he needed to break the silence now. 'Brother... I am sorry for getting angry with you and sorry that I left but I needed to be alone. If I could I would go see you now but I must fight Raheerah and hopefully destroy him for you. Wish me luck, Booker... I love you.' Then, he could feel the heat of the dragon and he would hit, for better or worse.

---

words: 348
tagged: Quest @Booker
ooc: He has a scar on his belly from the fight with Nemesis.
muse: 5/10

"Speech"
Thoughts

Chaos exploded around him his, he wasn't even sure who was one whose team as they charged into battle. Bumped and knocked from the most enthusiastic as they followed after Deer Dad, he scowled and tried to stick more to the side. If that was even possible. Fisher had decided to summon a storm, alerting Raheerah almost instantly to what was going on and this giant moth creature as well. Whatever it was, it was big and he wondered whether or not it would help or not. But like his experience with most moths, it was probably useless.

Frozen and unsure what to do, he waited. Everyone was fighting, he could see as they tired and were forced to remove themselves from the battle. Without even starting to fight, the use of magic was actually causing him to choke up. The spire only fueling the electrical rage that enveloped them all. An earthquake, and he was tossed aside into the wall he had just moved away from. Falling limp, he considered just turning tail and fleeing. This wasn't his battle, he had tried and failed to conquer the dragon once. What was the chance that he would be able to take him out now? Despite the assistance from the others, he felt weak. Useless.

Micro cloud had done nothing, he wondered if bacteria was even an appropriate weapon against something like that. It didn't seem like anything was an appropriate weapon. It was like one million tonnes of thick scale and hide. Nevertheless, distracted by all the others, Raheerah would hardly notice the small fox Louie as he made to keep on the edges. Not entirely sure if this would work, or if it was even worth trying as the possible outcome for him was more dangerous than anything, he attempted to cause the dragon to wildly Hallucinate, losing its bearing on what was going on and being vulnerable to physical attacks as it was mentally incapacitated...

Hovering in place, Tenzin tried to think of a way he could attack the dragon without harming those around it. It seemed inevitable, though. As the dragon turned to face him with a venomous welcome, its tail slammed several of the fighting Gembounds into the wall - Astraea included. A pain tore through his chest, but just as he watched the stag recover, the dragon was quick to breathe its flame toward him. Tenzin folded his wings in front of him quickly, bracing himself against the burning impact of the fiend's fire. A loud hissing accompanied a great cloud of steam as his ice fought the heat. As he regained freedom, his wings beat again but were strikingly bare; not of feathers, but void of ice.

An earthquake rippled through Polaris and the phoenix ascended backward to avoid a small bit of falling rocks. He glanced toward Delphine's direction just in time to catch a glimpse of her being buried. Much had happened as a result and he hoped that, if they survived this, she wouldn't hold it against herself. At the same time, one of the smaller Gembounds cried out and a canine went to its aid. The shadows it cast had flickered and faded, so in an attempt to give them the cover they needed, Tenzin threw a glacial wall from his wings that divided them from the rest of the group. And namely, the dragon. His attention returned to the chaos beast as a second dragon entered the field. It was smaller and stranger looking, but a dragon nonetheless. Things were beginning to happen all too rapidly.

The beast had never been conscientious, not like Tenzin. It knew what it did was wrong. It knew what it wanted to do, what it had done, everything it had ever existed for was wrong. It was a monster. There wasn't much the phoenix could do with the second dragon and others in his immediate path without harming the Gembounds, so he tried a different tactic. Could he cool the inner fire that swelled within the beast? Could he weaken its further attacks? He did all he could to concentrate on removing the heat from the dragon. It was a difficult feat, and as he continued to concentrate, Tenzin slowly lowered himself to stand upon the ground.

Unsure if it could have actually worked, he watched carefully through the others before taking a quick glance toward Delphine's buried body. Could she escape on her own?

983/1000 HP

Through the duration of the earthquake, Raheerah had caught sight of one of the Gembounds collapsing and another going to its aid, and he was about to fumble his way across the shaking earth to snap them up before a mysterious, glacial wall manifested in front of them - and his eyes snapped accusingly to the phoenix before narrowing with a heavy snarl. His focus lingered on Tenzin, preparing to launch himself at the phoenix when something else had hit him instead - a white blur shot towards him, and with an explosion of magical energy, collided with his shoulder. The force of the collision combined with the magical energy of the dragon managed to cause Raheerah to stumble to the side, and as he swung his head to snap at Baratheon, he only found his vision blurring for a moment. Everything began to meld into itself. The white dragon appeared larger than he actually was, and the phoenix - he could see fronds of the phoenix's blue cold swelling just outside of his vision, and the sounds in the cave amplified to monstrous screams and words he couldn't distinguish.

It only served to enrage the dragon further. He erupted in a roar and attempted to summon the heat in his chest, but to no avail as the phoenix had quelled it, for now. Raheerah's voice mounted and the roar rose to thunderous volumes, desperately infuriated. He unfurled his wings and began to beat them against the air, and once again the wind picked up, tossing all those around him several feet away before he launched himself at the image of Tenzin - only it wasn't Tenzin. It was Baratheon.

Baratheon does 18 damage to Raheerah.
Louie does 14 damage to Raheerah.
Tenzin does 15 damage to Raheerah.
Raheerah does 15 damage to Moth NPC, Tenzin, Deer Dad, Black, Cancer, Baratheon, and Ghanyarah.
Raheerah does 19 damage to Baratheon.

Raheerah has 776/1000 hit points.
Moth NPC has 77/200 hit points.
Tenzin has 968/1000 hit points.
Deer Dad has 392/500 hit points.

Black has 17/100 hit points.
Leon has 70/100 hit points.
Cancer has 55/100 hit points.
Fisher has 2/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Dragon has 8/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Ghanyarah has 27/100 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.
Baratheon has 66/100 hit points.

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

She never intended this, not this. The room quaked beneath her with a terrifying force, threatening everyone's balance before the ceiling above rippled and cracked. Without warning, rocks and boulders came loose, raining down on the mare with hard-edged momentum. She had barely the time to react before her vision was blinded with flashes of white and not soon after, a darkness that blanketed her entirely. The impact along her body was immeasurable when caught within the throes of immobility and isolation. She could barely register what was happening outside when she came to in what felt like hours but was only minutes of wading in a semi-conscious state of mind.

With a low groan, Delphine shifted and winced as her body forcibly rejected even the slightest movement but she knew she could not stay here. Everything she did came with it a repercussion of sorts. The slow lifting of her head, a sharp jolt that shot straight through her spine and legs. An attempt to right herself, a defiant pain that soared from her one hindleg and a weary moan to accompany the dull ache of her whole body. Even so, she struggled, fighting past the pain that splattered dots of red across her vision of dust and darkness. She dared not thrash for fear of making her situation worse but the slow, inadvertent process to come was just as taxing as she gently nudged the rocks near her, testing to see which would budge and which would only serve to bury her ever deeper. As she struggled and squirmed, the battle ensued. For each rumble and roar, she managed to push and wriggle her way through a sured path before she managed to break through, head first from the debris.

There she took a heady breath of air where once it felt constrained but she knew that this was only the start of her troubles. In her rush to escape her earthen cage, she had not taken the time to properly inspect her wounds. It was only when she made an attempt to stand did she realize she'd nearly mangled her hindleg and perhaps broken a rib or two, if her struggle to breath was any indication at all to the matter. Her vision swam and her balance was off but otherwise, the mare was thankful in that things could have been much worse. She could very well have died.

Her gaze focused on that of the battle and wordlessly, she waited for her balance and vision to restore before deigning to try her hand in helping the others. Or more accurately speaking, potentially risking their lives again.

As his claws sank into divets of scale, hot like the fires that surrounded them, Cancer exhaled sharply, but bracing, controlled his breathing as he shifted upward. Off the mark. Still, maybe, close enough. Now or never. He closed his eyes and focused, drawing from his own stone, and from the spire. That red glow lit up his crystal mask, but fizzled as the ground beneath Raheerah's feet churned and crumbled. He turned his full attention towards hanging on as the dragon heaved and swerved.

Carcino cringed as he watched close friends get hit below- for a second, he noticed Fisher, his voice faint beyond the rumble of stone and fire, but sharp enough to be heard for the briefest of seconds. This isn't the end. Keep going!

As the fighting shifted onwards, so did the cat, adjusting his grip and shifting his own focus back towards casting that spell. He imagined Raheerah's softer throat, the flexible skin that cloaked his flame before it burst from his ugly maw. He imagined the swell, the glow. No terror this time- only the deadliest of intentions. In his mind's eye, as that red glow relit, he imagined that soft skin buldging, then in a spray of blood and magma, bursting...

...but before he could get the cast out, Cancer found himself flying through the air, the fall enough to jostle him further down Raheerah's back. He found clutch to the dragon's scales just at the beast threw himself upwards and forwards. He had no choice. Magic primed, he let loose what he could...

...and a familiar POP and burning washed over him, the air around him became tainted even as wind rushed past, whistling, vibrating his armor but making not a sound in his ears. The eerie hum fell over the ruckus, and Cancer could only hope his mix up would deal damage to the beast he clung to. It rang out, and in only a few seconds, the world burst back into focus as Cancer released his cast- flesh burning from the effort but hopefully, not as bad as Raheerah's scales beneath his claws.

Action: Cancer casts Pulsar whilst clinging to Raheerah's back.
Injuries: Minor Chemical Burns, Bruises and Aching Claws.

Swarm. The whole room was full of sound and life, too much, all too much, and so Czernobog had stayed close to the walls, circling the room, moving only when Dragon did, watching from a distance. The others, well, they could fend for themselves - the boar cared naught for their lives; they were only distractions, so that his father could get close to the massive fire-beast, kill it, destroy the threat himself. After all, his boat could defeat it easily.

Magnificent flames erupted from the alligator's mouth, and the piglet cheered from the sidelines, snorting and squealing, dancing out of the way whenever any bodies came too close for his comfort, watching the enormous fight unfold with wide, bloodthirsty eyes and a wagging tail. He was still small enough to avoid detection, it seemed - but then again, he had yet to engage the fire-noodle himself, so perhaps it just hadn't noticed him yet.

With that thought, the pig almost started forward - but then his father was bathed in flame, sent careening through the air... and got up once more, as invincible as ever. Urged on, Czernobog began to make his way closer to Raheerah, weaving through the traffic of burned and battered Gembounds, ducking under blows, the tip-tap of his hooves neatly muted by the chaos. Yet again, his plans were stayed, this time by a massive trembling of the ground.

Squealing and grunting as he rolled to the floor, snout smacking against the ground, the boar felt a surge of something more than a simple lust for the hunt - anger. Rage. Powerful enough to send his magic on the fritz, wilting the plants still hanging to his skin, the stems turning black as blood mixed with the sugar and water within. His vision wavered, then focused to a pinpoint, helped by a new wave of adrenaline.

The dragon was not an enemy.

No.

It was prey.

With a wild burst of squeals and a low, wrathful below, Czernobog charged towards Raheerah, aiming a mouth full of sharp teeth and tusks at whatever part of the beast he could manage to get close enough to, eyes wide and ears pinned back.

With a vicious lunge at the furry white dragon, Raheerah's jaws closed over what he thought to be Tenzin - except the true volume of the smaller dragon was far smaller than what he'd anticipated, and he managed to grab a hold of Baratheon's side with greater force than initially planned. Confused, Raheerah braced his hind legs and leaned, throwing his head back - only for a powerful POP to ache across his back and a deep impalement to find his haunch. With an agonized though muffled roar, Raheerah stepped back and spat the white furry dragon down at the boar, before swinging his head back and snapping at whatever miscreant was unfortunate enough to still be clinging to him.

His jaws just barely missed, clipping the feline's tail before his head swung away again and he stomped to the side, giving his body a great shake in another attempt to dislodge him.

Cancer does 12 damage to Raheerah.
Czernobog does 18 damage to Raheerah.
Raheerah does 20 damage to Baratheon and Czernobog.
Raheerah does 4 damage to Cancer. If Cancer wants to hang on to Raheerah, he'll have to make a saving throw (roll Other and get at least a Barely Successful) otherwise he will fall off. If he doesn't make a saving throw, he will fall and can use that roll to make another attack.

Raheerah has 736/1000 hit points.
Moth NPC has 77/200 hit points.
Tenzin has 968/1000 hit points.
Deer Dad has 392/500 hit points.

Black has 17/100 hit points.
Leon has 70/100 hit points.
Cancer has 51/100 hit points.
Fisher has 2/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Dragon has 8/100 hit points. (K.O.'d)
Ghanyarah has 27/100 hit points.
Czernobog has 60/100 hit points.
Arkrael has 80/100 hit points.
Louie has 80/100 hit points.
Delphine has 60/100 hit points.
Baratheon has 46/100 hit points.

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

Cancer felt some satisfaction as Raheerah let loose a bellowing screech, his scales blistering under his paws. His victory was short-lived, as massive teeth clamped down on the tip of his tail and he found himself flying through the air a second later. The leopard loosed a fearful yowl, body twisting fruitlessly to try and land on all four paws- but as he landed against stone and crystal floor, the cat instead went rolling onwards. Crystal spines and mask shattered as his head knocked about, before finally, he settled at the base of the spire in a heap of shattered red crystal and tossed limbs. It took a long moment before he stirred, recovering his footing just barely, staggering to his feet.

Face revealed by broken crystalline glass, yellow eyes narrowed towards the blurry vision of Raheerah. Battered, bruised, cut from his own armor and- oh, hells, that was bad. He glanced over his shoulder at the piercing pain in his lower back and found his tail a few inches shorter, bone revealed in a bloody spike. The dragon had degloved him!

"STONE MUNCHING BAG OF ROT!" The leopard cursed harshly, whipping his head back towards Raheerah with a glare that could melt iron. "I'll have your's too, then!" He braced for once last attack- maybe, just maybe, they'd win this yet!

HP: 51/100
Action: Faceplant!
Injuries: Scratches on face, Bruises Everywhere, Minor Chemical Burns, Degloved Tail
Other: Armor strength at 75% due to broken mask and missing spines.

Slowly her vision adjusted, sharpening in time to watch Raheerah thrown a very familiar figure atop a few unfortunate Gembounds. A small, pained gasp that heaved against her sides escaped her lips before her brows knitted with unmitigated fury. For the first time, Delphine felt the tendrils of hate curl in her heart, all of which was directed toward the chaotic dragon who had dared to hurt Baratheon. Ignoring the dull pangs along her body, the equine again focused inwardly, tapping into her wild pool of magic before expelling it through the floors of Polaris. With the winds that whipped and churned around them, deposits of sand sifted freely in the air making the cast easier to control as a storm gathered just around the black dragon.

Slowly but surely, the sands coalesced into sharp shards of glass which the mare directed to at once blind and cut the dragon's face. She had neither the ability or stamina to create a storm that could encompass his whole form but of his face, she was certain she could deal the necessary damage. All the while, her chest heaved with the effort of breathing and her one leg, now lifted to deny any pressure of weight upon it, throbbed still painfully. Those were only the injuries she could outwardly see had been done but of her still groggy head and occasionally blurring vision, Delphien thought that perhaps there was more yet to be concerned about.