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

[seesbosscrotch]

Mar had a better tabard: his was the Argent Dawn one. Ha!

"There was always hope. I'm more worried about dragging dragons with weeping wounds. It would have been nice to have avoided another Valithria scenario." But he shrugged philosophically, slinging his shield onto his arm, then drawing his mace. "Still, it seems there might be plenty of call for hitting things too."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan eyed that tabard now; he'd missed it earlier. He cheered up at that. Another crusader! And a blood elf at that! It was good to see someone sporting the same colors as him in this unfamiliar place, even if they were slightly outdated colors. And he did like the silver-and-gold-on-black, anyway.

Bariyan eyed the forest around them as they advanced, and the sky above.

"There's more things out there than either of us can hit," he said. "But let's see what we can do, eh?"

[seesbosscrotch]

"I disagree! I could hit everything out there repeatedly if I was given time! But I'd rather not test that."

Mar gestured with his mace, but fortunately for them, not at a foe -- he was indicating a lump on the ground that appeared to be a young red dragon. "And it seems our business today is rescuing, not damaging. Not my preferred choice of activities either, but it's good to be prosocial."

[stonefaith]

"Everything? That's quite the claim to make." Bariyan turned to look at Mar and grin, raising an eyebrow, but soon returned his attention to the spotted dragon. He flexed his fingers as he approached.

The dragon was still semi-conscious, and opened his eyes to look at them as they approached, flaring nostrils. Bariyan slowed his pace and tried to look as nonthreatening as a fully-armored, axe-wielding man could. He held up his hands. A light glow limned his palms, then vanished.

That done, he managed to get close without getting flamed to death, and took that as invitation to check out the dragon's wounds. There were some nasty tears in his wings, and the way he was lying on one side suggested an injured leg (or two).

Bariyan looked to Mar.

"You--" Bariyan paused and frowned. "What's your name? Anyway, keep watch for a moment -- I'll see what I can do about these injuries."

[seesbosscrotch]

"I'd need a lot of time," Mar said as he in turn held up his hands in a gesture of peace to the dragon. He'd seen scenes much like this any number of times in the recent past. Getting to one of the fallen before they had passed felt good, as much as he knew he shouldn't get used to it.

"I'm Maridian," he said, turning away to scan their surroundings with a keen eye long used to spotting danger rushing up from any and all directions, especially directly at people trying to treat the injured. "Blood Knight Master, Crusader, Champion of Silvermo-- you know what, let's just stick with Maridian, otherwise we might be here a while. I still have some feeble healing spells to tap into if we need to get out of here in a hurry, though I'd prefer to preserve my strength if I can."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan knelt down beside the dragon as Mar rattled off titles, smiling to himself. "Bariyan," he said in turn, "of the Argent Crusade, and that's about all for me."

He murmured a low greeting to the dragon and put his hands on an injured leg. No broken bones in this one, as far as Bariyan could tell, which was good. Bariyan couldn't set a human's bone, let alone a dragon's. But there was an enormous and deep gash across the front of the leg.

Bariyan breathed in deep, drew upon the Light, and then-- nothing. There was a brief flash of Light beneath his palms that dissipated quickly. He blinked in surprise and tried again, achieving the exact same result.

"Er..."

The dragon opened one eye again and rolled it down toward him. Bariyan made brief contact.

No time to wonder why this was happening. He grabbed for one of the bags hanging from his belt, picking out a roll of bandages. Quickly, quietly, he wrapped them around the dragon's wound, tying it off tight before moving on to the other leg.

"How's it looking, Mar?"

[seesbosscrotch]

"Well, that all depends. If you'd like to say hello to an infernal, then we can stay the course," Mar said, calm and casual, as if the answer really didn't matter to him. "Otherwise, I think getting our friend out of here as fast as our legs can hustle is probably looking like a pretty good idea."

[stonefaith]

Bariyan yelps in surprise and outrage and nearly stumbles over himself getting to the next leg, dropping to his knees and sliding to a halt before it.

"Mar!" Bariyan calls out, mock-and-also-sort-of-actually-outraged. He doesn't even waste time tossing a look back to see if he can spot the infernal himself. "How close is it?"

This leg's in worse shape. Claws ripped out, underside all torn up, and a bad, deep cut further up the leg. Bariyan uses up all his bandages trying to patch things up. A job made slightly harder as the dragon tries to raise himself up, probably due to aforementioned approaching demon.

[seesbosscrotch]

"Far enough that we can still pull this off. Near enough that I'm about to embarrass myself!"

Mar reached into the depths of power that flowed through him, the conduit to the Sunwell that no distance in time or space could break. It was his birthright, his right as a Sin'dorei! He brought forth the holy light of the Sunwell itself into his hands, then threw it onto the dragon!

It was the saddest heal ever.

"I don't even have my damn bandages!" he cursed, as he pulled up his power again to keep whatever vitalizing magics pouring onto the dragon. "You carry netherweave bandages across three continents thinking you'll get around to using them eventually, and then the one time they'd be useful, they're not in your pack any more. Uh, we may need to just carry the dragon back."

[stonefaith]

After watching Mar's attempted heal, Bariyan reached the same conclusion very quickly, and tied off his last bandage to dodge under the dragon's leg, tail, and wing, jamming a shoulder under it's belly to lift it up.

"I am so sorry," he said to the drake, in apology for this attack upon its dignity. Then he started to stand, and shouted to Mar: "Get his front legs! Let's run!"

[seesbosscrotch]

"Save the apologies for failures! It's only a mistake if it doesn't work!"

Mar slid under the dragon's neck, thankful he wasn't wearing spiky-pointy armor. With a grunt of exertion and a heave with his legs and back, he lifted the dragon's chest up. "Okay! On three, we move! One, two -- three!"

Bariyan better have started, because Mar lurched forward on his count. So much for elven grace!

[stonefaith]

Bariyan had to stumble to catch up with Mar on that first lurch, but managed to pick up his pace after that and keep the drake steady on his shoulders. He could feel still-growing wings flapping, probably affronted, but there was no more time to feel bad about how stupid this whole operation looked. If it was going to get this damn dragon back to safety, it'd be worth it.

"Your healing--" Bariyan started, even as he tried to pick up his pace. "--is it usually like that?"

Somewhere behind and above them, branches creaked, then tore. The ground shook. Sure did sound like an infernal to Bariyan.

[seesbosscrotch]

"It's usually slightly less pathetic!" Mar called back between grunts as he plowed on forward. The reply meant he couldn't make train noises, which was probably for the best all around. "But it never was my strong point! I usually am the one taking the blows, not healing them!"

He paused to consider and -- "Rock!" -- swerve clumsily around a big rock, then added, "But it's also possible that I don't have quite the connection to the Sunwell that I should here!"

[stonefaith]

Bariyan did his best to follow Mar in his sudden swerve while, at the same time, avoiding a gout of fire and rock from the infernal which was now giving loud chase.

"It's not just you!" Bariyan answered, putting on a burst of speed -- hopefully egging Mar on to do the same. "Something's wrong with -- with my connection to the Light, too!"

[seesbosscrotch]

"Well that's awkward!" Egging, nothing -- a couple hundred pounds of dragon torso shoving into the shoulder blades pretty much demands a quicker run, the other option being a faceplant. "Especially since our sources for it are completely different! There's no reason I can think of that both should be affected!"