OOC--um... Getting bored of waiting. ::shrugs::
IC--Drask saw the stone angel fall beneath the onslaught of the altairi mage. The daemon advanced upon the WarAngels who sought power, licking its stone lips over jagged stone teeth with a forked stone tongue. Acid dripped from its crushing maw as its claws grew. Drask drew his tailsword from its sheath at the base of his tail, and spun Thornfire lightly in his foreclaws. Fiery eyes narrowed to slits, he growled deep in his throat, warning this enemy--it was only fair, after all--of the danger it placed itself in. The daemon continued its advance.
Ebonwood struck upon stone, showering sparks upon the ground. Thornfire ignited with the Dragon's overpowering rage, which had already begun to consume him. This daemon, this evil, blocked his way willfully, and was therefore to be destroyed. With a fiery wake streaming behind each strike of his gnarled and thorny staff, the dragon forced the daemon back towards its post at the gate. Stone grated on rock-hard scales just as steel rung off stone.
Drask slowed, stopped, noting after quite some time that his attacks were only making him tired. He dropped his weapons and stood before the stone creature, armed only with claws and teeth, flame and fury. Unarmed, Drask danced across the carvern floor, trading blows with this unholy attacker. Finally, the dragon simply caught a punch from the daemon, held his arm as he stepped inside and under his arm, bringing it back and snapping it off in an unnatural position.
The daemon now had a severe disadvantage.
Vilset, having coated his broadsword in some potion or another, chared into the fray. Drask snapped at him, warning him back, that if he strayed, he would only be injured. Vilset fought on, disregarding the gruff warning. With preternatural grace, the daywalker slid out of the way of claws and stone alike.
At which point Tarisse threw in a potion she'd concocted. It hit the daemon square in the face, drenching him with a homey-smelling liquid. And soon it dripped down the stone skin, turning it instead into wood. Drask waited for the potion to take effect, careful not to touch any affected parts lest his scales turn to wood, too.
And then, shoving the vampire backwards and out of harms way--probably a bit more forcefully than he should have--the dragon breathed, beginning the cremation of the stone daemon. It swatted at itself for quite sometime, and then sought to chase the vampire around the cave, hoping at least to inflict one casualty before its own demise. All sought to block the raging firebrand, including Drask himself.
vAldiCi snuffed it out with his aetherial fist like the wick of a burning candle. Charcoal and stone shards littered the floor.
The other two guardians stirred by the gate, awakened by the defeats of their compatriots. One, a grotesque parody of a man, stretched forth its hand to demand payment.
'Give unto me that which you hold most dear upon entry into the Realm of Chaos. We shall keep it safe until you return.'
Drask thought for a moment, then decided: his dearest possessions were his links to the past, and what greater link had he than his own form? The Dragon turned to the gatekeeper and took its stone hand in his own foreclaw, and felt himself being reduced, shrunk. He once more was an elf, until this trek was over. The ebonwood staff was left with the gatekeeper, able to be called at any point in time. Tailsword became greatsword as Drask wielded his father's weapon in two hands once more.
OOC--each character MUST give something up--if you don't in your posts, I'll make it up for you in the next thread.
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Let the dreamers and the seers keep watch: it is what we do.
