darkSpyro

Sere, being airborne, was incapable of avoiding the blow; however, his foresight allowed him to be prepared for it. Using force magic, he distributed the force of the blow as much as he could, blunting it. His armor absorbed much of the impact; however, it left a noticeable cut in it, which extended somewhat into the skin beneath.
Dazed, Sere began falling helplessly to the water. However, Veris was prepared; swooping down, he caught up with Sere so that the Guardian would land on his back. Sere regained his composure; he was injured, but he would not stop until they had won. He doubted that retreat would be an option at this point, anyway.
As the crew tried to injure the beast, Sere recalled that Latnok would have been the one firing enchanted ballosta bolts; they definitely would have been useful this fight. There was no helping it now, though; they would have to win without him.

"I've had much worse!" Sere called out over the wind and rain. "Thank you for your assistance. We will figure out how to injure this creature; it is only a matter of time and patience." Veris, despire the close call, didn't seem to be fazed at all, fully supporting his rider.

As they performed their duties and tried to launch projectiles where appropriate, the crew - many who had doubts they did not voice - noted how the captain charged the beast with reckless abandon. Sere was one to lead by example - his attack was just as much to support his crew mentally as it was to take pressure off of them. There would be tough times to come - this would, at the very least, show the crew that their captain was more than willing to lead the charge and put his money where his mouth was.

Angira didn't accepted Shade's response, but he flew away to deflect the beast's attack on Veris before she had a chance to reply. If only there was some way to lure the creature...

Maverick was still aiming his crossbow, waiting for the perfect chance. He lost sight of Ilasi through all that storm, and he knew Dahlia was a nervous wreck, but he trusted Raclaw and Cheater to keep her safe and calm...

Throughout the chaos, the mastermind maintained its observation of the battle. Its keen senses were able to pick up on Angora's presence on Shade, despite the rain blocking visibility; a quick scan of cursory thoughts told it that now may be a good chance to prod more.
"YOU, CREATURE. YOU WOULD DARE ATTEMPT TO ATTACK SUCH A POWERFUL CREATURE IN SUCH A MANNER. WHAT IS IT YOU SEEK? DO YOU HOPE THAT OTHERS WILL ACCEPT YOU IF YOU SURVIVE? SMALL CREATURE. GENETIC INFERIORITY. WE WILL RECONSTRUCT YOU. MAKE YOU WHOLE. A REAL TROLL. MAKE OTHERS RESPECT YOU. NO NEED TO RISK YOUR LIFE TO ACQUIRE THE ACCEPTANCE YOU SEEK. THE OPPORTUNITY WILL ARISE. BE READY FOR IT." Much like before, the mastermind worked to obscure its telepathic presence after relaying the message.

As the battle pursued-- Raclaw attempted to distract the large flying beast and get it closer to Maverick's crossbow range. Adapting his tail artifact into its 'tail spike' form, he located what seemed to be an eye and hit in with the tail spike; enlarging the spikes and hopefully annoying the creature enough to follow him. With each strike, he would proceed to lower his altitude and maybe.. just maybe do some damage in the process. If he could somehow blind the creature, that would be even better-- and would give them more of an advantage. "Shade!," Raclaw called out having heard the little troll's plans and the dragolet's refusial. "I know you don't want to risk her life, but she may have a valid plan! Go-- go get her and I'll worry about keeping the White Shadow busy!," he then encouraged as he continued his tactics. If anyone were to get her-- it had to be Shade. Otherwise, that individual would have to risk the Hexphage even if it were inactive. And that was only temporary.

Elsewhere, Chester comforted Dahlia as best as he could and Risar shouted off orders-- encouraging the crew to keep trying.

Angora wasn't certain if she wanted to go along with the plan after all, but she knew they had to try everything they could if they wanted to survive. She was somewhat glad that Raclaw managed to convince Shade, and just as she was ready to accept the risk, the voice she heard before came to haunt her again. It waited for it to speak before replying.
"Who are you? Why do you keep torturing me like this? Reconstructing me? Do you really think that will make a difference? Do you think I seek respect? All I want is to save my REAL friends! I saved the world from another similar creature once, and I kept receiving much hatred and mistreatment from others. A real troll? That would only make others hate me more. I know what I have to do now!" Angora scolded whoever was sending her the message, not wanting anybody to make her back down.

What angered Angora the most is that they were in a danger that could've been avoided if it wasn't for a certain someone's stubbornness.
"Take me there now Shade, before I change my mind. I have to try. If... at least I'll be able to spread some hexphage on it." Angora commented, ready to fly. The White Shadow has to be stopped somehow, and if it didn't want to communicate, that meant it had no interest in being reasonable or friendly. Nothing that was thrown to the beast worked, so maybe an outside, natural source like the venom in her knife could do the trick...

Quote: Spyroconvexity

The beast screeched in annoyance and swatted at Raclaw with its claws.

Raclaw just narrowly avoided the strike and continued with his attacks, pleased to see that it was doing exactly what he expected. And perhaps with Angora-- they might stand a chance.

Angora's message was not received by the mastermind, due to its conscious efforts to block out telepathy to it. Rather, it stayed observant - it did note the troll having a seemingly negative reaction to its message, though the fact had no significance to it.

Angora expected another cryptic message from whoever was the source of that voice, but it seemed like this individual was either ignoring her or her own message wasn't received. It didn't matter now. She was nervous, but determined to try her plan. If it fails, she could always jump from the beast and yell to Shade to catch her mid air. The plan she failed to excecuted with the behemoth back in the arena, perhaps it could finally work there. She was so insignificant compared to the attacking monster that she hoped it wasn't even going to notice her when she rides him...

Back in the caverns, Latnok detonated an arrow in the chest of an ishiud creature with many calcified protrusions - Cernentium called it a whistler. They were what he had come to known as pure ishiuds - that is, creatures formed without the use of another lifeform as a base. The creature attacked by slicing with claws, or shooting its spines, some imbued with magical effects, with the buildup of pressure within its skin - the creature received its name on the basis of the sound of the projectiles it launched as they moved through the air. The creature had proven itself highly resilient, much like the other ishiuds designed for combat, with thick skin, solid bones, and redundant organs. Nevertheless, the creature finally fell.
"Hmm..." Latnok thought out loud. "I wonder." With the creature dead, Latnok began to cut it open - and thought of how it could be used. Its bones were rather solid, and some were long - perhaps he could fashion a weapon out of them?
"That is the thinking we need," Cernentium said. "You are resourceful. Key to surviving unforseen circumstances. When apocalyptic events occur, who will remain standing? If everything you come across is a resource, then you may very well easily have more resources than your adversaries. And yes - you may fashion a spear out of the remains of this creature, if you so wish. I will give you the opportunity to test it when you are done."

Quote: Spyroconvexity

Shade noded and took off. He soon brought her close. “We have one shot. Make it count!”

The beast swiped at Raclaw again with faster speed.

"I know. Be ready to catch me if I have to jump." Angora said, ready to be thrown. She still had much doubt about this plan, but she still wanted to try it. This beast was almost the size of a small island, making Angora further convinced the fiend was bigger than a behemoth. But it's skin didn't look as strong, so she was hoping the knife could penetrate it without a problem...

Quote: Spyroconvexity

The beast swiped at Raclaw again with faster speed.

This time he had been expecting it, but with the increased speed-- the beast had managed to nick him. "Guh!," Raclaw briefly reacted before continuing with the hit-and-run attacks and anticipating the returned strikes to the best of his lonesome ability. 'Latnok's foresight would sure be useful right about now.,' he thought to himself.

Maverick could only catch a small glimpse of Raclaw, overwhelmed in size by the humongous beast flying above. He really admired his bravery. Not only was he taking a great risk acting as bait, he also managed to lure the beast away from Sere and Veris and was probably tiring it out. The dark clouds obscured Shade, so he didn't see him or Angora, just above the beast itself. How he wished there was a dragon left for him to fly towards the beast and aiming with his crossbow. If only it had occurred to him to ask Raclaw for a ride before he took off...

With the beast being as big as it was, Angora didn't miss it's body. She landed right between the shoulders. She felt some electricity along her body, but nothing she couldn't bear. When she hit, she landed the knife right in that spot... but it didn't managed to enter completely. The scales were stronger than they looked. The top end managed to penetrate, but she didn't think it was enough. She tried to move and roll it around in order to have the entire knife in crusted inside it's hard skin. So far, the monster seemed only interested in Raclaw, but she feared the beast may feel what she was doing, so she tried to act as fast as she could, knowing Shade was around ready to catch her in case she had to jump away from the fiend's body, although hopefully, it will only manage to attack itself if it lunged at her...

Quote: Spyroconvexity

The beast saw he hit Raclaw and breathed electrified water at him at high speed.

As the electrified water struck him-- it surged through him aided by the water and the cut from previous attack. "Don't-- don't think you'll get rid of me that esally.," Raclaw said bearing through the pain and going in fir another strike. Serving as a distraction would give everyone the chance to do what they needed to do.

Angora used the knife itself to hold on. It still wasn't fully pulled, but it was deep enough to work as a hook. It had noticed her, and at least that would keep it from attacking Raclaw any further and gave him time to recover. But now with the creature glowing, Angora suspected what it was trying to do.
"You coward beast! Flying very high away from your attackers and picking on smaller creatures!" Angora said to the beast in a fit of anger, believing that if he didn't hear telepathy, he wouldn't be able to escape a voice talk. Still, she doubted it could hear her, so she was preparing to jump away.
"Come on Shady. Where are you?" she whispered to herself, trying to locate him among those dark, stormy clouds. With the knife being a great, electrical conductor, Angora was already filling the current. She came with the sad realization that she will have to leave the weapon behind and hope the venom would eventually take effect...

Angora tried to pull the knife out in the seconds it took Shade to fly to her. But she came to the sad realization that the knife was indeed stuck and that her strength wasn't enough to recover it. She grabbed on to Shade's talons successfully as the dragolet lead her away from the enormous and electricity covered body... but much to her horror, her friend's claws were soaking wet. Despite her best attempts to hold on and climb if she could, Angora ended up falling to the sea below... but in a wild chance, she landed right into the beast's own claws. She hold on as best as she could to avoid falling into the sea, hoping the monster wasn't noticing her. The claw was almost as wide as a tree, and since she didn't landed on skin, Angora terrifyingly prayed for the beast not to notice her hiding there. As she hold on to dear life, she was brainstorming many ideas in order to get out of that horrifying predicament. She was usually good thinking under pressure, but this beast was nothing like she has ever faced before. She was starting to think it was worse than Darkmatter and the behemoth...

"Shade-- get Angora!," Raclaw shouted as he recovered from the previous electricity. "Sere-- if you're going to do anything, now's the Time!," he telepathed to the Godfather preparing to continue with the distractions.

Elsewhere-- Risar continued to encourage the men and Chester continued to comfort Dahlia.

With Angora's attempt at damaging the creature seemingly thwarted, Sere had to wonder - just what did she hope to achieve with that butter knife? Regardless, it was lodged in the creature - it didn't seem to penetrate the skin, however.
Not yet, at least. Perhaps he could drive it in further - the pain would, at least be something. Sere was unaware of the deadly payload of the weapon - his move, however, was one attempt of many to take advantage of opportunities as they presented themselves. On Sere's command, Veris took him up closer to the creature, until he had a clear shot at the knife. With some intense focus, Sere launched a force bolt at the knife, aiming to push it deeper into the creature.

Maverick could only watch with uneasiness and uncertainty the battle that was taking place skyward. He saw dear little Chester giving some comfort to his beloved mount, and went with them.
"Don't worry mis amigos animalitos. We will get through this..." Maverick comforted as he petted both, being nearly as nervous as Dahlia...

Quote: Spyroconvexity

Shade dove down and saw Angora. “Angora down here! I’ll catch you on my back!” He said flying below.

Angora let go, almost with her eyes closed. She relied on Shade now. She didn't know what the beast was doing right now, but she was certain that if she didn't let go, it would've noticed her sooner or later. She didn't noticed the creature falling, nor the fact that she fell at the right moment before the beast fell along with her...

So quick was the tree toss, that Sere had little time to direct Veris to avoid it. He tried a force bolt to counteract the tree's momentum; it did not have much of an effect, however, and Veris took a direct hit. Without being strapped down to Veris, Sere was quite easily knocked off. Rider and mount took a long, hard fall into the water.

Angora didn't respond. Shade seemed too distracted to notice Veris and Sere falling right to the sea below. The creature was fast, and it was furious. Since the wyvern and it's rider were dropping too fast, Angora couldn't fall along with them to try and save them, so instead, she tried to recreate the circular magic shield she always used on herself. It didn't work really well below the ship, but Sere and Veris were much smaller than the vessel. Angora aimed at them, and much to her surprise, the shield worked. Unfortunately, they Sere and Veris received some impact from the water, but thankfully,maThe shield managed to absorb some of the blow, disintegrating itself as soon as the two of them started to float. The knife had seemingly done the trick... but now Angora wondered if it will kill the creature or if it was more determined to kill them now...

As Sere 's fall was dampened by the shield, he was already planning his next move; it was clear that the weapon Angora had used was poisoned. Veris, though injured, was still in fighting shape - he wasn't bred to fall easily in battle. "Good catch," Sere telepathed to Angora. Though he probably would have still been in fighting shape after the fall, there was no certainty in the matter, and he wouldn't have to expend energy swimming up.
"Risar! The creature is wounded. It appears to be grounded. Bring the ship around. We'll keep it on the ground - it should be an easy target there. Have the men launch bolts, spears, arrows - every weapon we can shoot at that thing. It will die. That is certain." Sere, confident that the minotaur had received his orders, mounted Veris once again, and the two began to head toward the island the White Shadow was now standing on.

Risar did as ordered--- preparing the crew fir a physical ground assault. Raclaw nodded and prepared to defend himself, striking when approviate.

With the ship rocking from the blast, Dahlia panic was finally overtaking her. She was bellowing savagely as she left Maverick's side and started to run around the ship.
"Dahlia! Dahlia girl! You have to calm down!" Maverick yelled as he tried futilely to stop her. This was the first time he has failed to control her. The poor creature was too panicked to think of anything. Thankfully, she wasn't crashing into anybody, but she was sliding along the slippery floorboards of the ship. In his attempts to stop her, Maverick spotted Ilasi.

"Ilasi! The ship will sink if it keeps up this way. There's actually land where the creature is right now... I don't like the idea of docking on it, but we have to. Can you and Leoquin use some of your magic to make the ship arrive faster?" he asked, not wanting to speak to Leoquin and deciding to let Ilasi suggest the idea to him. He was unaware that the ship was already making it's way there, but at it's original pace, he knew the beast would still attack it and probably make them sink before they could do anything else...

Quote: A Guy

As Sere 's fall was dampened by the shield, he was already planning his next move; it was clear that the weapon Angora had used was poisoned. Veris, though injured, was still in fighting shape - he wasn't bred to fall easily in battle. "Good catch," Sere telepathed to Angora. Though he probably would have still been in fighting shape after the fall, there was no certainty in the matter, and he wouldn't have to expend energy swimming up.
"Risar! The creature is wounded. It appears to be grounded. Bring the ship around. We'll keep it on the ground - it should be an easy target there. Have the men launch bolts, spears, arrows - every weapon we can shoot at that thing. It will die. That is certain." Sere, confident that the minotaur had received his orders, mounted Veris once again, and the two began to head toward the island the White Shadow was now standing on.

Angora didn't think much about Sere's praising, too concentrated watching in horror how the beast was attacking the ship, right where Maverick was.
"Shady! I... I have another idea... but this one may be even more dangerous. Fly me close to it's mouth. That thing seems to call it's attacks every time it roars. I'll blast a spell directly to it's throat, and hopefully, it will get it from the inside." Angora suggested, knowing how ridiculously deadly it will be to be close within the beast's biting range, but so far, attacks to it's body were proving to be futile. The shield seemed to be made out of water, so she was hoping they could at least penetrate it. The troll believed that at least the monster's insides were softer, and thus more vulnerable to attacks...

With the creature's attack, several decent-sized holes were poked into the ship, with one of the blasts just barely missing Leoquin's head, much to his surprise. Sailors scrambled to patch up the most important ones in the lower deck to stop the flow of water, with many of them bailing the water that was coming on board.

"Magic? ...oh, yes, that seems reasonable," Ilasi said. "I'm not sure how much faster we can make the ship move, but it might be a bit better with Leoquin's help. I'll go suggest it to him - he'll still be in the lower decks helping out, most likely." Still in her aquatic form due to the moisture, Ilasi slithered across the deck as fast as she could, to get ahold of Leoquin.

Maverick smiled at her, giving her a meek and gentle good luck as she left. In that little while, Dahlia managed to get her horns stuck in one of the beams of the ship. Maverick spotted her and immediately went to her.
"Easy my girl. Take it easy. I know this is scary, but I'm here for you. We're all fighting together." Maverick said in a very kind voice, leaving behind his previous nervousness. Dahlia was still panicked, it his words were enough for her to stop moving so much so that her rider could try to get her unstuck...

Quote: Spyroconvexity

“I don’t think that’s possible with that shield it has around it.

"Yes, I know. But maybe my spell could penetrate that shield... or maybe we can trick it into lowering it? I don't know what we can do Shady... but we have to try and trick it into swallowing a spell. Something that could explode inside it or something like that..." Angora commented, trying to brainstorm again. She was thinking of taunting the beast and use herself as bait as Raclaw has done before, but she wasn't certain she could dodge certain attacks. She had one idea that could work, but it was so mad, she was leaving it as a desperate last resort, not to mention that she knew Shade would never go along with it...

Upon Risar's orders-- the ship continued on it's course and towards the grounded White Shadow. Chester ran out Dahlia, trying to calm the mount. "Dahlia! Wait--," the little dog pleaded. Raclaw did flyby attacks over the White Shadow-- attempting to use his 'spike expand' artifact trick to open the barrier for attacks.

It didn't take much persuasion for Ilasi to grab Leoquin for assistance. The two slithered onto the deck, before moving to and dropping themselves off the edge of the ship. Before long, they were swimming circles around the ship, helping it move along by locally shifting the movement of the water. It would be in attacking range of the White Shadow before long.

Sere and Veris reached the island. The creature seemed to have a solid shield - Sere wondere if he wouldn't be able to penetrate it. Reaching into the pack he had on Veris, Sere pulled out a lance - made from phoenix steel primarily. Phoenix steel didn't conduct electricity - but would it penetrate the barrier?

"Maverick?" Angora repeated, almost slapping Shade with the suggestion.
"Are you mad? We're not going to bring Maverick into this! It's too dangerous... but perhaps..." then Angora started pondering, believing Shade was up to something.

"Maybe we can borrow his crossbow without bringing him along. I was thinking of firing at the creature with a force bolt, but with that shield, it'll probably be impossible. But maybe if we combine an ordinary object with a spell, it might work..." Angora suggested, knowing from experience that depending on the nature of the shield, it could protect you from both magic and solid objects, but a combination of both may be too much strain for it. Instructing Shade to fly to the ship, Angora got ready to search for Maverick, ready to scold him if he dared to question her dangerous decision...

It wasn't long until the main ship was within range-- and the many projectile weapons available to its crewmates. As Raclaw saw the incoming ship, he knew that he had to open up the barrier somehow and had an idea. What he did next was a combination of three things, further aided by Damon (as displeased as he still was with the entity) and the collar. One tactic alone wouldn't be enough, but perhaps an combination would be enough to overpower the water barrier. Sticking the tail spike into the barrier, he expanded it-- only this time his expanded the artifact at its base with the intent of leaving an wide hole open for projectiles. 'Come on-- this has to work.,' he thought to himself.

Within seconds of doing it that, he would proceed to follow through with two actions-- both occurring at the same time. The first action was that of flame breath as he breathed fire into the beast. The second action was one that would affect him as well, but had to be done if they had any hopes of getting through the barrier. "Collar-- Teach!," he shouted in his mind as he mentally prepared himself of what was to immediately come. Upon the internal collar command-- electricity began to surge through his collar, himself, and anything touching him. He began to bear through the self-inflicted pain in hopes of opening a large hole in the creature's shield.

Quote: Spyroconvexity

Soon Shade landed on the ship. “Go! Go find Maverick!”

It took Angora a while to find Maverick through all that stormy mess, but was glad to see him exactly with what they needed. Dahlia helped much in the matter.

"Maverick! Good thing you planed ahead. Listen, I need to borrow your crossbow." she said.
"Angorita! Hey, where have you been? We've been having a hard time here. Poor Dahlia here is so scared she got herself stuck in the beam." Maverick explained, quite glad to see her.
"No time for that Maverick! I need the crossbow!" Angora urged, with Maverick giving it to her but demanding explanations.
"No time Maverick! Just trust me with this! Stay on the ship. Help the crew, or whatever! Please!" the little troll begged as she took the weapon and mounted Shade, leaving her hybrid friend full of questions. But he decided to trust her as he has always done and proceeded to help Dahlia get unstuck so he could continue helping the crew as best as he could.

As the electrified water hit the already soaked Raclaw-- he held his ground and kept at it for the sake of the others. "You.. don't like that do you? Well-- tough!," he said before almost biting his tongue and tightly closing his mouth. Electricity, both the actual and static kind, surged off him-- and he proceeded to extend the tail spikes into what almost looked like miniature lighting rods. At worst, he would at least serve as a constant distraction even if it did involve using a rather unpleasant collar function. "If anyone is going to do anything-- now's the time!," Raclaw sent out as an telepathic burst to all in the area. As he spoke, his hair stood up all over his wet furred body. His collar's 'teach' function had been designed for a previous dragon much more powerful than he was and fur dragons were never meant to take in so much electricity. Combine that with now being soaked-- and he was not having a good time.

Meanwhile, the ship was nearly within range of the grounded White Shadow and what looked like an electrified Raclaw. "Men-- the time is upon us! Launch EVERYTHING we have and AVOID HITTING THE FUR DRAGON! If you see an opening-- go for it! Otherwise-- FIRE and make RISAR proud!," the large minotaur shouted as the men rushed to get in their places. Bolts, spears, arrows, and more were being prepared to fire. Chester, meanwhile, stuck with Maverick and Dahlia-- helping the hybrid however he could and talking to Dahlia to keep her occupied.

Angora knew she couldn't waste any more time thinking. Rackaw was getting massacred there, and he needed help urgently.
"Shade! Raclaw needs help!" she began to yell, but knew the dragolet wouldn't reach him in time. So getting all her focus on the injured fur dragon, Angora created the spheric shield around him as the blast reached the hurt Raclaw, with Angora bleeding from the nose again but this time, being strong enough to avoid fainting. Raclaw was quite far from them, but at least he was smaller than Veris and Sere together, so getting the shield around him wasn't so difficult. It was the distance.

Angora didn't know if that worked, but Raclaw needed help more than her.
"Shady. Throw me towards the beast! It doesn't matter where. I know what spell to use to destroy that shield. Help me land on that thing's body and I'll hide until it opens it's mouth again..." Angora instructed, despising the idea of landing on the beast again, but if Shade managed to throw her and she destroyed the shield without it knowing what caused it in the first place, part of the plan would've worked. The monster didn't notice her the first time, only when she stabbed it with the knife, so maybe she could take advantage of her small stature again to hide somewhere on it's body and wait until it opens it's jaws again...