Behemoth in the Northwest

[greatcleavage]

who: Roy Greenhilt, Fatima, and Chandra
what: Mission: Behemoth in the Northwest
when: 3/13 on
where: The Northwest?
warnings: None as of yet.



"So there's a massive beast of some sort prowling around the northwest wall, very infrequently," Roy said to his team as he led the way by a matter of inches, checking to make sure his greatsword was comfortably loose in the straps that kept it on his back. "Our job is to locate it and assess its characteristics, then report back. Simple enough?"

Comments

[dust_of_life]

While Fatima agreed with Roy, at least as far as their orders were concerned, she didn't see any reason not to prepare.

As it was, she was biting on the inside of her cheek again, drawing blood to pool on the surface of her tongue. She wasn't entirely convinced that any of her telekinetic rituals would do much good, but not knowing what was going, she figured it was her best opening gambit.

Just in case.

Those were the three words she found herself repeating over and over again in her thoughts. Just in case. It was all...just in case.

But given the way the ground was trembling...just in case seemed...kinda case.

[firelogic]

"I'm being careful!" Chandra didn't feel like sneaking up on this thing would make friends with it. If they spooked it, that could make it worse than if it sees her plainly. If it attacks them, unprovoked, that would have been the result anyway. And she's not armed or looking in any way threatening.

Because of the three of them she could survive being swatted by a giant beast, unlike the armorless Fatima. And could defend herself offensively within an instant using her flames. Probably faster than and with less obvious threat than Roy. She thought this through, mostly... maybe. She had an idea of what to do!

The tremors got stronger, stronger still. Then stopped. The large scaled creature crested a hill ahead of them and watched her. It wasn't... she didn't feel like it was stalking her for any specific reason. It definitely saw her so there was no reason for her to hide. Oh it was beautiful, I mean it had scales in various shades of brown, but it was like looking at strata in a cliff. It was the size of a snake-like body, but with limbs so really not a snake but more like a very narrow lizar- you know what, snake-like works still.

It was also big, like really big. Not Eldrazi titan big, but still the sort of thing you don't want stepping on you. Chandra watched it, it watched Chandra, and then it was bounding forward. Chandra watched it charge without moving. Hmm? That's something.

[greatcleavage]

"Oh gods damn it." Roy made a note to have a stern talk with Chandra about mission objectives later, even as he stepped out of the brush to put himself slightly ahead of her, sword in his hand but not raised. If it intended to harm Chandra, it would have to go through him first.

This wasn't chivalry, just sensible allocation of hit points. Chandra was the mage, right?

"Well, we're about to discover if a dragon counts as a threat!"

[dust_of_life]

A dragon. It was a dragon. Like, a dragon-dragon. Fatima's mind just couldn't quite accept it at face value. Her eyes searched the scene, like she was looking for the man behind the curtain. Except there were no curtains and she was in the middle of a forest with two people she barely knew. Facing down the aforementioned...dragon.

She could see how it had done damage to the local flora. Just walking, it was ripping up plants and grass and small shrubs. She wondered if it breathed fire too. That was a dragon thing, right?

Or only some dragons? Was it racist to assume they all did?

She was so out of her depths.

There was some internal calculus, looking at the dragon's size and gauging her own abilities. A bolt of force would be about the equivalent of a hundred pounds. Probably not enough to rattle the dragon. Possibly enough to shove Roy and Chandra out of the way, though.

Well, they were the dragon experts. She'd have to see if they could handle this guy.

[firelogic]

See, while Fatima was worried about dragon and Roy was worried about hit points and who should get hit by a dragon... Chandra was still staring the thing in the eye, watching its expression. And, sure, dragon. Lots of sharp nasty teeth. Big. Intimidating. Really big. She'd seen bigger dragons, with wings... so this was a Wyrm she guessed? Not the point.

The point was it didn't have any hunger, or anger, or anything dangerous in its eyes. She was watching it, it started glancing towards the others, and the sword. And...

Chandra put herself back in front, waving her hands and veering a little to the side. "Woah, woah! Down. Down! Stop." While her hands weren't on fire, they were glowing orange and red, like a freshly forged bit of steel. Mostly to keep the thing's attention, maybe draw it away from paying attention to the really angry looking Gideon sized person and back to the less angry Chandra sized person.

And... it skidded to a stop and just looked at her waving her hands. She let her hands cool down, kept the eyes on the big thing on her, smiled, "Hi there. You're just really big aren't you."

And then she turned to Roy, "Why did you jump out with your sword, you could have scared her! I thought the goal was to assess or whatever."

Chandra Nalaar, of course she takes the side of the big rampaging beastie. It wasn't hurting anyone! Except for the trees, and plants. And anything else it stepped on... but the point is it didn't mean any harm! While it clearly wasn't domesticated, and showing all the signs of an animal ready to fight, it didn't seem vicious in any way.

[greatcleavage]

"Yes, Chandra, our goal was to assess," Roy said. Either of them could read absolutely volumes into his weary but matter-of-fact response to Chandra's absolutely ridiculous statement, and come to a wonderful understanding of Roy's history with fellow party members.

Look, she hadn't attempted to imbue a puppet with Divine Rank yet, Chandra still wasn't the worst he's had to deal with.

"Besides, a dragon that size is not about to be scared of a sword that, for all its relative size to a human, is in absolute terms smaller than its claw--"

At that moment, the dragon, with a delighted whuff of fairly rank breath, bent its head down, lolled out its tongue, and licked Roy's head.

"...or tongue," the fighter said after a moment, his eyes shut tight against the gaping void of endless despair.

[dust_of_life]

Fatima's eyes nearly bugged out of her skull.

Uncertainly, she swallowed down the blood and the thought of a spell, her gaze shifting back and forth between Roy and Chandra. "Is...is a dragon supposed to do that?" she asked. The idea of a dragon behaving like a puppy was foreign.

But then again, so was the idea of a dragon, period.

Tentatively, she took a few steps forward, out from the coverage of the trees. It really was a magnificent creature. Fatima wasn't the sort of person who generally thought in words like 'magnificent.' But she could see where it came from and how it could be applied.

There was a great beauty in power. Especially when it was restrained like that.

[firelogic]

"It depends on how wild the dragon is," Ugin wouldn't bat an eye at a sword. Well, he would. And then he'd probably just make the person with the sword not exist. And that Nicol Bolas, from what Ajani said, is even meaner. Then there's that dragon in Ravnica Chandra's been told not to mess with, or go near, or ever meet. The point is dragons are varied, "This one seems smart, but not people smart."

"So it really is only dangerous because it is a giant playful monster that could probably step on a train and break it in half." Chandra's still stroking the beastie on the face, her hand warmed with a bit of magic. There's a soft glow to her hand but not enough to really be dangerous to anyone. Well... don't let her touch any ice cream right now. "Fatima, it's fine, just stay where it can see you and be okay with a bit of slobber."

Chandra goes back to cooing over the good dragon, who's a good dragon, you are, you are!

[greatcleavage]

Roy was, believe it or not, glad now that he'd brought Chandra. Who knew that of all her available skills, the one he hadn't been aware of -- a fondness and empathy for big dumb animals -- was also the most valuable one?

On the downside, this shifted her one notch further on the spectrum of "Elan vs. Not Elan", which was kind of depressing.

"This is... not typical of dragonkind in my personal experience," Roy said, trying to wipe drool off his head with what little dignity remained to him. "On the other hand, the last dragon I had to deal with was a figurehead empress, the one before that was undead, and the one before THAT was trying to kill us all, so this may in fact be a step up."

[dust_of_life]

After feeling so much at a disadvantage, Fatima was seized with an overwhelming desire to touch the dragon. Because it meant touching a dragon. It was an experience she decided she needed. Not just for the 'cool factor' of it--although that was motivation enough--but to add the experience to her toolkit.

Undoubtedly, that was just another measure she wanted to take to avoid the 'kiddie table,' but she wouldn't admit it.

She moved forward slowly and carefully, following Chandra's instructions and remaining in the dragon's line of sight. Or what seemed like its line of sight, anyway. She held her hands up, palms out. "Any way to find out if it has a name?" she asked, figuring that was the sort of question you might ask people like this.

[firelogic]

Chandra was treated like a monster for being able to do massive damage to the local area, so anything that meant well but could lay waste to a village had a place in her big red mana heart.

"Name? Um... I doubt this guy has that sorta thought." She's sure it has a name, but it probably was given to it by someone else. The same way she's pretty sure most animals have names given to them. She stares at the big monster they found. "Maybe you can name it, I'm bad with names."

She spares a glance for Roy, "I've never had a dragon slobber on me before, well... with spit. slobbering fire has happened. Once. But I don't deal with dragons that often, I was heading to a plane to battle an evil dragon genius mastermind of evil evilness. Before I got stuck here." Chandra has such a way with words.

[greatcleavage]

And there's another tick towards the 'Elan' side of the scale.

"Finder's privilege, I suppose -- you can name it. Him? Can you tell?" Chandra has been promoted to dragon expert by virtue of neither Roy nor Fatima being one. The dragon, meanwhile, shoved his snout straight into Tima's hands -- and, being apparently quite aware of its own strength, past it so its muzzle bonked into her body.

[dust_of_life]

Fatima let out a startled noise, taking a few steps back to keep herself from falling on her ass. She was too entranced to be upset about the momentary loss of poise, though. Again, she'd been bonked by a dragon.

"He finds me attractive, he's clearly a guy," she joked, tentatively running her palm down the line between his eyes. Somehow, she'd expected a reptile to be...slimy. But it actually felt kind of nice. Like smooth marble. Only warm. Friendly.

Sounded a little like someone she knew...

"Let's call him 'Liam,'" she decided.