EB p.2 The Dark Times

[Midnightmoon]

Pyhros was bustled up and out through passage ways almost immediately after he had finished setting Saratheen up with her saddle. They were all heading back above ground. From the snippets of excited conversation he got from the older dark clan members he got a vague picture about what was happening. There was a big invasion party being assembled and one or all of the rebellion bases were going to fall by the end of the day. After getting pushed around in the now full tunnels Pyhros took relative refuge on Saratheen. Then there was a blinding light ahead of them. Pyhros shielded his eyes and Saratheen ducked her head, hissing very quietly under her breath. They were now out in a huge quart yard and a whole army waited there, a black scaley mass of muscled limbs, sharp claws, and red eyes full of eagerness for the upcoming violence.

[Morty]

Jack squirmed delightedly and watched the bluish glow spread from one crystal to the next. "Looks like showtime! Try to keep up!" said Jack, abandoning Pyhros to find his way among drove of demon soldiers pouring now heading for the exit. He hurled himself up a chimney flue and was gone in a pattering of soot.

Leucrocuta felt a soft thump on her back as Jack hurtled from the chimney stack and landed there, cloaked head to foot in ashes.
"There you are. Why do you insist on using the chimneys as elevators?"
"Because I can." said Jack, grinning and dusting himself off. "Now if I'm needed, I'm perfectly poised for a dramatic entrance." he said cheerfully, balancing on the tip of one of Lulu's tusks. Lulu withdrew the tusk with a snick and caught him, placing him on the ground beside her. Jack pouted and scuffed the ground, and made do with one of the weathervanes as a perch, watching the proceedings.

[Kauria]

Athvesa bounded down off the rooftop, flanked by two other Night Hunters. His armored talons screeched on the stone of the courtyard and the black ice dragon slid to a stop.
He spread his wings and roared. Thousands of eyes swiveled towards the Generals, and the clamor of eager voices faded. Other officers took up their places beside their leaders, wings folded neatly. The assassin dragons slunk carefully around the perimeter, shadows in the morning light.
"Warriors of the Dark Clan fortress of Janahal," he called, "the fall of the Mountain Range Resistance is close at hand."
And this time they'll be there, Maela added from the saddle.
Athvesa nodded to the wings of mages, who took to the air in a rush of wind, and then turned his attention back to the troops. "Your commanders will mentally receive orders from the higher ranks. Obey their instructions and all will go well."
The clouds high above began to roil, dark magic seeping across the sky.
Athvesa raised his voice over the growing rumble. "These rebels have too long been a thorn in the side of our Master. Today we will fight alongside our allies from Essylia, Aurisa, Balenoth, and the warriors of our clan's original lands. Today we will crush the evasive rebels, and today our ranks will swell!"
As the shadows of the clouds fell across the ranks, other distant smears of crimson became visible on the horizon, heralding the presence of the other armies.
"Stay close to your officers and protect your spellcasters and potion-carriers." Athvesa crouched, gathering himself. "Move out!" He shot into the air, his broad wings powering furiously, and the countless rows of dark dragons followed his lead, rising to the blood-colored skies.

[Midnightmoon]

Pyhros wanted to stick to the back of his assigned team but the veteran members knew how the newly turned would feal about attacking their allies once-upon-a-time. So as methodically as the last hundred times, each dark clan team rallied their new recruits into the center of their individual teams and charged on with the rookies taunted and ordered on. between them. Saratheen snapped at the first few who got too close but was lashed with tails and wings into going along with it, leaving her charging with the rest of them in the in a furious state. Pyhros didn't make eye contact with anyone and leaned down in the saddle. He could feal something roaring in him, a dark urge to roar with it and the cries of battle around. Another thing whispered at the edge of memory, a warning of something horrid. But what was left of his fire clan heart was drowned out by the dark roar.

[Morty]

"Excellent." said Lulu, taking to the air. Jack swung into the saddle with ease and they were off, Lulu's monstrous black shape casting a shadow over the ground below. Jack shot a sidelong glance at the new recruits and smiled inwardly.

[Kauria]

Athvesa's wings were spread wide, the great dragon gliding between wingbeats to conserve his energy. He turned his neck, sapphire eyes narrowing as he followed the motion of the main body of fighters. "Aren't those Pyhrros and Saratheen?"
Maela leaned forward, her hands gripping the edge of the saddle. "They were supposed to be doing a training mission today! What were the Captains thinking?" She leaned back and closed her eyes, fingers resting on her forehead.
Athvesa shrugged. "It's too late to do anything about it now." He angled his wings and dropped beside Leucrocuta and Jack. "Keep an eye on those two," he called. "Our newest 'recruits' are your responsibility, and I'm counting on you to make sure they don't die today!"

[Nohiki]

OOC: Let's get this show on the road....... As much as possible with Midnight'S character being in the lead xD

Ignis ran back. Fast. As fast as she could, and even more. She jumped, turned around mid-air, cremated the demon watch that was tailing her, finished the turn, landed and continued. There was an arrow sticking out of her hand. Nothing she couldn't handle, but she could feel a slight tranquilizing effect. "Bloody hell, those guys are drug dealers?!" she said while running, tearig the arrow out. "RRRGH! Damnit!" she let the steam out. then she reached into her pocket, putting some healing balm on the wound. The tranq came in handy, as it was also numbing the pain, allowing her to run at full speed. Once upon a while, she checked behind her and the sky to make sure nobody follows. She found her way to Amber, and gasping, she fell down along the wall. she sat down, taking few heavy breaths. "They're moving. NOW. I don't know how they knew where we are, but something BIG is about to happen. Looks like the defecation is about to hit the ventilation." she said and took her bracelet. Indigo's hologram popped in. "Be ready!" she said. The dragoness nodded and the image disappeared. Ignis stood up. "General, get the men to positions but let us go! The future of the good depends on the survival of you and only few of your men, evacuate, PLEASE!" she said with a tone actually sounding more like a begging than a demand.

OOC: Opportunity for Maela to track Ignis and set up the trap at the tunnel?

[Morty]

"No problemo, generalissimo! It's been... 21 days since our last accident!" said Jack optimistically, saluting the generals.
Leucrocuta grunted. Hear that, greenhorns? Stay close. she relayed to the recruits telepathically.
"This is gonna be so much fun! How many are you aiming to kill, Generals?" asked Jack, grinning.

[Kauria]

Maela returned the eager grin and opened her mouth to speak when Athvesa suddenly cut in.
"Balenoth's forces have landed and sighted the base, and Essylia's not far away. The rebels are home this time."
"We can compare numbers after the battle!" Maela called as Athvesa pulled away to take the lead of the army.

------

The ice dragon stroked forward harder, the army's pace increasing as the jagged peaks grew against the crimson clouds.
"Not long now," Maela murmured reverently.
Athvesa closed his eyes briefly and sent a message to several carefully-chosen officers, then watched as their groups broke off to follow his orders.
As soon as they had vanished, he threw back his head and roared, the rumbling call taken up by the other dragons until the echoes filled the soon-to-be battlefield. Tell your troops to fly higher, he ordered the remaining officers. The Night Hunters are to come with us. Athvesa folded his wings and dove, steeping towards the ground.
Maela flattened herself against his back, her cheek pressed into his scales.
His massive black wings snapped open, and the ice dragon leveled out, although his chest burned from the effort. His claws skimmed the upper branches of the forest, the trees whizzing by at a dizzying speed. The forest gave way to stone, soil turning to gravel.
Athvesa dipped lower and hit the ground running.
There was a crunch and a spray of stones as the Night Hunters following them did the same, galloping through the canyon on armored claws.

[Morty]

"All right, you lot, wait for a signal! We'll divebomb the blighters first chance we get, try not to get killed!" said Jack, rallying the new recruits as Lulu circled around them.
"After the first few rounds, there'll barely be any rebels to speak of. You will be free to pick off the stragglers then." Lulu ordained. Jack bristled, and crossed his arms.
"Cleaning up scraps from the table... You'd think as captains we'd be on the front lines, but no!" Jack sighed.
"Well, obviously we've filled our quota of kills, otherwise we wouldn't be captains." said Lulu sagely.
"But it's never enough." said Jack hopelessly, watching the Night Hunters make landfall and charge.

[Zetherus]

Zetherus was looking out the window of the tavern until he saw a bunch of guards walking threw the main gate toward the tavern laughing and joking to one another. He watched as they opened the tavern door and walked in toward the bar, the captain ordered pints of Ail and Booze for the off duty guards that sat at the long table closest to the bar. The captain turned to sit down at the table where his platoon sat at ignoring the seven foot tall armored being in the corner.

Zetherus noticed that the platoon began looking over there shoulders at him suspiciously.

[Zetherus]

Zetherus stood up slowly from the chair and walked cautiously to the platoon of guards. The guards quickly stood up as soon as there captain stood up and stared at the being thinking he was going to start something. Zetherus stopped walking and bowed at the guards ,"I may look other then human but that doesn't mean I'm hostile. I'm here looking to find someone with knowledge about ancient artifacts and ruins. Can you tell me what city this is?

The captain told his guards to settled down and spoke ,"Your in the Earth city of Jarahal. What is a Dark clan doing here by himself, by now you would be in the dungeon if we were seriously thinking you were a threat?"

Zetherus brought his hand back into his winged cloak and answered ,"I'm not of any clan, just an escaped mercenary from the dark lands. I was hoping that there was any Archaeologist in this city or anyone that knows about ruins and ancient artifacts that I could possibly talk to?

The captain shacked his head in disagreement ,"Huh"I don't know anybody that is an Archaeologist but you could look for a few dragon riders that flew passed this area. All the ones I saw went North over the mountains toward Mount Forge."

Zetherus responded in haste then walked to the tavern exit,"Thank you for the directions and mercy, now I should take my leave and seek Mount Forge then. Farewell."

Zetherus opened the door then took off sprinting up the North street opening his wings as he ran. He jumped into the air at fast speeds then began flapping his wings making him rise higher and higher into the air until he cleared the mountain wall. He then reached his good flying hight to search for Forge Mountain.

OCC: I guess Zetherus will be searching Mount Forge until something happens there or someone finds him.

[Morty]

Jack tutted and looked up at a darkening sky. "Looks like rain." he said, opening an umbrella. The umbrella was whipped away in a gust of wind.
"Looks like wind." Lulu chuckled and flew lower, landing vertically on the side of the canyon.
"Well, this sucks." said Jack, huddling under one of Lulu's wings, away from the increasingly violent downpour. "They must be manipulating the weather. Fools. We may be restricted to the ground in this weather, but so are they."
"So really, this works just as much to our advantage as it does to theirs." said Lulu, making room for the other dragons latching onto the cliffside for safety. She angled her wings so they made a makeshift canopy.
"I'd say so." said Jack shrugging and peering through the sheets of rain. "Though this wind direction is against our archer's favor. Let's see if I can do something about that..."

[Awesomoman]

The demons marched through the rain not thinking anything of it, until one of them took a step and sank through the ground. The trap had been sprung and the demons would have to rethink their plan, giving the rebels time to gtfo.

[Midnightmoon]

Amber had just been woken up by a frantic young runner who told her the news she had been dreading for days. The enemy was on their doorstep. Then Ignus had come running in and for the first time ever there was other emotion other then rage and arragance. "I can't leave them just for me and a select few. And how long have you been comunicating with Aquariah and Indigo?" Amber snapped as she fumbled with her sword belt, bow and arrows already over her shoulder. "The enemy has been sighted at several locations." "Where?" "What looks like a few squadrons reached the mountain before the storm set in but most have now been grounded. I have reports that quite a few of a particular group have fallen into a trap devised by Targus." "Ok, meat me at the main entrance."

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Saratheen hissed as a dark clan dragon got sucked into a hole right in front of her. Whipping her tail across the face of the dragon behind her she lept above the whithing ground and tryed to stay air born enough to avoid touching the earth. Even that was a struggle and she could feal the tips of her wings getting sucked at every down sweep. All Pyhros could do at the moment was hold on and duck his head from the needle rain and lashing wind. It felt like forever but they finally made it to the base of the rock mountain. Saratheen gave one last thrust and slammed into the wall, digging in extended claws. She hissed again, and sheilded her head and her rider like Lulu was for Jack and any other pair who survived the mud trap.