your hands protect the flames

[modforged]

Who: The Dragonsworn
What: The first arrival of the Dragonsworn goes a bit...awry.
Where: Scattered around the perimeter of Suramar.
When: Dawn on March 21st
Warnings: Please PM the mods if any warnings are needed

It is almost as if you've woken from a daydream when the ground meets your feet. The stench of fire is overpowering, and though dawn is just approaching in the canopies of Kalimdor, bright flashes of green can be seen between the branches of impossibly tall trees. If that doesn't snap you out of your surprise, then the sound of nearby spitting in demonic tongue may persuade you to get a grip and notice your surroundings -- you are not alone. There are others like you, huddled just a bit too close, with a somewhat familiar face keeping you from advancing further. Looking down at your hands may briefly reveal a momentary flash of color, but nothing lasting more than a few seconds.

The mages of each flight take the helm of their charges, and they are quick to notice any movement from their groups despite channeling some sort of spell to keep you protected. Stray fire will bounce off an invisible shield that ripples when anything make contact with it. There seems to be nothing in sight but your new comrades, and your guardian -- at least not on the ground. The sky has flying demons swarming a pack of dragons -- and the dragons are very clearly losing. Look just a bit farther, and you might find more dragons, though these clearly have different colored scales than the ones above your head.

While distracted, you may hear your guardian speak to you. "There may yet be wounded nearby -- if you care to, bring them here, and we will tend to them from the Sanctum." Briefly, they gesture skyward, toward the dragons flying overhead. "Do not bring to us any that are not our own, lest you invite their demise!"

But the mage is focused on casting -- they are in no position to halt your advance, and they know it. They speak with concern -- concern for you, concern for the dire situation at hand. The demonic cackling is drawing near. The forests are rapidly becoming overrun, and there are already a few dragons slain on the forest floor.

"Take care, Dragonsworn -- I am bringing us to safety, but it will take time. To wander far is to invite your ruin, and we cannot afford the loss of your life."

[OOC: You are free to mingle on this post as you choose, despite the flight groups being scattered through the forests around Suramar -- after this log, you will be separated into your sanctums, and your interactions will be watched much more closely. Attempting to enter the city itself will result in a vicious attack from demons that will kill. The Dragon Mages will be tagging sporadically to heroes of their matching flight, and the conclusion of this log will lead Dragonsworn through portals to their Sanctums.]

Comments

[anybody]

To your people? [ Even in times of panic she holds onto her inherent curiosity, it seems. That, or asking questions helps her deal with the matter at hand a little better. Ignoring the fighting, fire, and demons isn't going to make them go away, but somewhere in her mind she childishly hopes that maybe it will. Somehow.

It is just a childish hope though, because they're suddenly closer than ever to the demons now that they've crashed through the trees and oh god one's staring at them.

Peering over Bariyan's shoulder, it's as though she's momentarily frozen in place when she accidentally makes eye contact with it. Lady has never seen anything like this before, and up until now she's only seen glimpses of the demons in the distance. ] Demons? Those are demons, that's what they look like, oh, oh no, no no, I don't-- [ Her fearful observations go unfinished outloud, but her mind is now buzzing with a million new things that she'd rather not think about at all. Lady, the peaceful girl that she is, has no real support to offer Bariyan, and can only put all of her trust and her faith in him as he moves, grabs her again, and continues to try to separate them from danger. ]

[stonefaith]

[ Bariyan lets Lady's panicked words wash over him. With a serenity born from a lifetime of war, and a gentleness that he was simply born with, he picks Lady up and slings her over a shoulder, doing his best to avoid stabbing her with his pauldrons.

He tries to cast a spell again as he runs, but once more the magic is halted. It's not right. He can -- he thinks he can feel it still within him, but locked away. Or something. He's going to have to have some words with a dragon, he thinks.

Hopefully he'll get the chance to. Green fire strikes down at his heels. Bariyan shifts his grip on both Lady and his axe and picks up his pace, diving into the thickest part of the woods that he can see. ]

Don't look at it! But if you do-- tell me what it's doing!

[anybody]

[ She makes a surprised little noise when she's lifted and slung over his shoulder, but other than that she makes no show of protest. Instead, she simply wiggles a bit as she tries to get a better grip on him, hoping to make his job a little easier. And when she feels the pointy parts of his pauldrons dig into her despite his efforts to not stab her, she briefly, lightly touches the offending points and - as both a test of her own powers and a way to keep any more accidental stabbing at a minimum - smoothes them out by temporarily changing them into more rounded shapes. Which means that her magic is working, but as for Bariyan... ]

Are you magic? Is it not working? [ Again she asks an inappropriately timed question, and again she's quickly distracted from her innocent, curious questions by the feeling of fear she can't currently shake. When he tells her to look away she does by squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her face to his back, but still she attempts to be helpful by letting him know the last thing she saw. ] It's-- still there!

[ Not exactly descriptive, but hey, she's trying. ]

[stonefaith]

[ Bariyan chuckles. ] Despite all my best efforts to wish it away.

[ He dives deeper into the forest. There's another fallen tree here too -- thankfully not on fire -- and he swings out with his axe as he passes, chopping three-fourths of the way through one of its enormous branches before ducking under it. It creaks behind him as it begins its descent. It's probably too much to hope that it'll fall on the demon, but it might give them a bit of time. ]

The magic-- I don't-- know. [ Bariyan grinds his teeth together in momentary frustration and shifts his grip on Lady. Something feels odd about that. It's the new smoothness of his armor, but he doesn't realize that yet. ] But it'll come back to me. [ I think. ]

[anybody]

[ At this point, Lady isn't sure what she does or doesn't want to see, so she alternates between looking around and burying her face into her arms and gets only bits and pieces of the environment around them. She watches as the tree falls and although the demon disappears behind it, she can't tell if it's fallen on their pursuer or simply slowed it down. ]

Are you sure? [ She glances over her shoulder to try looking his way, although with the position she's in she doesn't actually see much. ] I hope it does, I would be unhappy if my magic didn't work too. It... it still does, um, but maybe it didn't at first? And I got it back before I knew it was gone? [ Not exactly the case, but knowing that Bariyan is typically capable of magic that no longer seems to work has her worried, both for him and over the possibilities of what it meant for her. ] Or... nothing's happened yet but it will? [ Now that's a thought she doesn't want to entertain. ]

[stonefaith]

[ Half a minute later, an enraged bellow sounds out from behind them. Bariyan assumes the worst and tries not to slow down. ]

Could be any of those! [ Bariyan's voice is manically cheerful now; he's speaking on autopilot, while the rest of him focuses on getting them to safety. ] But I'd always hope for the best. [ Autopilot switches off for a moment, as a thought occurs to him: ] Your magic wouldn't -- by any chance -- be able to, er, slow a demon down, would it?

[anybody]

[ Lady's gone back to keeping her eyes closed and trying very hard not to panic any more than she already has, so when she hears the noises behind them, she too has to just assume what's happening. ]

Um... [ Could it? ] No, I don't think... well... I don't know, I just create things, and change things, like your armour, because fighting is awful and mean and terrible and I don't know how to do it! [ Although, now that she's managed to get her mind away from helpless panic, she begins to wonder if maybe there is something she can do without having to fight. But, without knowing the first thing about demons, Lady isn't sure where to start. ] What would slow a demon down?

[stonefaith]

A wall. A great big wall about a mile thick. That might slow it a little. [ Bariyan's only being half-facetious, here.

His grip on Lady slips; he stumbles, and slows to readjust his hold on her, and that's when the gout of fel energy hits down on his right. It scorches his armor and it sends Bariyan sprinting off again. Instinctively, he tries to pull out threads of Light to toss them behind him, but all he manages are a few pretty and entirely unhelpful sparkles that soon fade away. Shit. ]

[anybody]

[ Facetious or not, it probably isn't that bad of an idea - although Lady really doesn't think that she's capable of doing something so ridiculously large. Normally she spends her creative energy on making dresses and trinkets and maintaining whatever appearance she wants, and normally she has ample time to deliberate and work on bigger projects, so nothing about the situation right now is remotely typical to begin with anyway.

When he stumbles and slows, she considers trying to wiggle out of his grip entirely in order to try making something of substance, but that idea is quickly abandoned at the strike of fire. She watches again as his magic fails to do anything more than harmlessly sparkle, and she knows that she has to do something. Anything.

But - what? If they attack with fire, then... ] Do they like water? Can they swim?

[stonefaith]

Probably. They can also fly. [ Bariyan can see the cluster of red dragons ahead of him, between the trees -- but they're still so far. ] If you're going to blast it with water, though, I wouldn't object!

[anybody]

Oh. [ Fending off demons isn't exactly something Lady is remotely familiar with so she's kind of having trouble deciding what on earth to do about it. She knows it wants to hurt them but she doesn't like the idea of hurting it simply on the principle of violence is awful, but options seem a little limited right now. ]

I've made... a river before, with a little waterfall, and a pond for Mr. Teabiscuit... [ In other words, nothing quite like a blast of water. ] But if demons and fly and swim then those are all dumb ideas and I'm dumb for thinking that and, and-- [ Lady stops to take in a deep breath, seeming to know she's slipping back into a panic that does neither of them any good. ] I can-- make a cage for it. If you slow down. [ Which she kind of doesn't want him to do, but she knows she works much better when stationary. ]

[stonefaith]

[ Mr. Teabiscuit? Mr. Teabiscuit? Bariyan would be charmed if he weren't fast approaching panic. He's not sure he can defend himself against a demon without the Light, let alone himself and this poor girl. Which is why he's very reluctant to slow down.

But he's slowing anyway. He's tiring; he never was a good runner.

He squints ahead at the shield, bites the inside of his cheek, and slows his pace to a hasty stumble. His shoulders tense in anticipation of being blasted by fire any second now. ]

Be quick, please!

[anybody]

[ Part of her really wouldn't have been too upset if he had ignored her request to slow down, but because he does comply, she knows that she has no choice now. So, with one prolonged inhale of breath as she gathers every bit of courage she has in her, Lady wiggles her way right out of Bariyan's arms and not only turns to face the demon rapidly approaching, but takes a few steps in its direction.

With two shaking hands raised in front of her, she concentrates. She remembers the birdcage the parakeet of her childhood used to live in, and repurposes it for something much larger, much stronger, and much less friendly than Crackers had been. The wisps of her magic flow from her hands and just as their pursuer catches up and lunges forward - it is quite suddenly meet by a wall of metal bars. With no time to stop or change direction, the creature rams into the barricade Lady's created, and the agitated noise it makes is enough to make the girl stumble backward, trip, and fall back. But even falling and sitting in the dirt, Lady concentrates on finishing her cage, curling the metal around, behind, and above it to keep the thing grounded and trapped.

It's an absurdly decorative looking thing, with curls, flourishes and embellishments all over the black metal, but it works. The demon, not at all pleased, thrashes and shrieks from inside the confines, and Lady sits there staring with wide eyes and hands that have not stopped shaking since she wiggled free from Bariyan. ]

Oh, oh gosh, there, I, I-- [ She squeals and scrambles to the side when the angry creature tries to use fire to escape, the edges of her dress catching fire in the process. And once she realizes that, the poor thing just squeals again and rolls in the dirt to put out the little flame before it gets any worse. ]

[stonefaith]

[ Bariyan watches this all in tense, wide-eyed fascination, until Lady's dress bursts into flames -- then he swears and dives at her, sliding knees into the dirt to bring Lady's rolling to a halt against them. He slams a hand down against the flame, using his gauntlets to smother the fire out. But the display has already given the demon at least some idea of what further damage it could do from its new position, so Bariyan's quick to pick Lady up in both arms after that and dash away, just in time to avoid another gout of flame.

He listens for the sound of screeching metal, afraid that the demon will burst out before Bariyan can get a headstart on it, but Lady's cage seems to be holding strong. He looks down at her. ]

Are you all right? Did you get burned?

[anybody]

[ Lady makes a few more little noises of panic as Bariyan helps put the out the flame, but otherwise she seems to be unharmed. When he picks her up again she immediately clings to him and tries to focus on just... breathing, for a minute, and then she reinforces the metal of her cage while she is still in range of it. As much the demon fights against its new confines, the metal doesn't seem to be giving way. Lady knows that with prolonged time away from her it will simply fade from existence on its own anyway but for now, it's good enough. It's enough to give them the time they need to put as much distance as possible between it and them.

When asked if she's been burned, Lady quietly shakes her head. ]

No, no burns. Just my dress, but um, that's... okay. [ She's already fixed it, actually, although with the way he's carrying her it may not be easy to tell. ] Are... you alright?

[stonefaith]

Yes. [ Bariyan pants the word, winded, out of breath, and puts on one last burst of speed to get them through the rest of the forest standing between them and the dragons.

He all but barrels his way into the cluster, slides to a halt, and then gently sets Lady down onto her own two feet. He looks around. More wounded have been brought in while he was away, and more demons have gathered overhead. But the shield still seems to be holding strong. They should be safe.

He puts his hand on Lady's shoulder as he catches his breath. A small flurry of thoughts whips through his head, and he picks one thought out of them: ]

Thank you.

[anybody]

[ She holds onto Bariyan so tightly that even when he sets her down, she doesn't seem willing to let go right away. But while he looks around her grip on him does loosen, slowly but surely, until finally Lady lets him go and she is left standing beside him, too nervous to move more than a foot away. ]

Oh, um. [ When Lady looks up at him, there are tears beginning to form in her bright green eyes. What follows isn't exactly open, straight forward crying, and is instead something of a slow leak that she can't quite halt. She looks away and rubs at her eyes, trying to pretend like they're watering because she just has some dirt or ash in them and not because the intensity of everything that just happened - is still happening - has caught up to her. ] You're welcome. I know it was mean and it wanted to hurt us but I'm... glad I didn't have to hurt it, and that you're okay, and I'm okay, and, um, but... [ Some more rubbing at her eyes. ] I've never-- I've never seen something so... so... [ And a sniffle. ] Angry.