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Post by Killian Glae on Jan 2, 2023 23:25:20 GMT -5
Killian followed Kamille into the chamber, eyes wide as he observed the Dragon young. He was about to say something when a hand thrust out of one of the cells and started waving frantically. Killian hurried over. Inside, a balding, pudgy Halfling stood with his eyes wild and a toothy grin on his face. “Hey, is you here to save me? You is, isn’t you?”
“Yes.” Killian responded, quickly scanning the cell door. The construction was strong, likely made to hold in the young Dragons.
“Kamille.” He glanced over at the witch, who was distracted with the hatchlings. “Kamille. Can you do anything to open this cell?”
As Killian stood aside to let her cast whatever magic she might have at her command, he gave a half-smile. “I think we’ve found our missing researcher.”
Killian looked around. The hatchlings were quite restless, and many were throwing themselves fiercely against their cell doors. Killian felt a shiver go down his spine at the raw power they were displaying, despite their youth. He prayed he’d never have to fight a fully grown Dragon. Ever.
“Kamille… those cultists we fought earlier. A lot of them escaped. We’d better hurry if we want to get Mr. Lamithor out of here.”
‘And survive ourselves’, he thought.
He didn’t like how close he’d come to failing earlier. Scratch that, he had failed. He had just lived to tell the tale. He owed Kamille, he knew that. Here he was, supposed to keep her safe, and instead, she was the one saving him. He sighed.
Ever the failure.
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Post by Lady Kamille Verlithax on Jan 4, 2023 5:02:46 GMT -5
The hatchlings looked fierce, stirred by the presence of the newcommers. Kamille had some trouble in taking her eyes away from them, as she clearly looked amazed and bewitched by the creatures. She had only one encounter with a dragon, and it was quite dramatic - but she had never seen hatchlings before. Only after he called her name for the second time, Kamille turned to the researcher.
"What got you in this trouble?"
The halfling gave them a sheepish smile.
"My specialty is them drakes. Was following one, when this nutjobs found me. They took them eggs while the mommy was away. Wanted me to help. Not sure what for."
Kamille heard Killian's warnings, and thought he was right. There would be time for conversation later. As for the cell itself.... Kamille put her hand on the stone wall next to the bars and focused. As if commanded, the stone started to move and jump out of the way, creating a small passageway the researcher could use to get out of his cell. The halfling had barely gone through the hole in the wall when they started to hear noises ahead, voices echoing through the tunnels.
"Where are they?"
"I think they went this way!"
Kamille turned to the researcher.
"Can you lead us out? Do you know the way?"
Once freed, the halfling looked a lot more fearful. With freedom just out of reach, what if they failed to get out? Certainly the cultists wouldn't take it lightly an attempt of escape, should they fail...
"WAIT!"
Kamille looked, for a hot moment, so fascinated by the hatchlings that all her sense of danger was thrown out of the window. She ran to one side of the room*-+. to take a look at what looked like an empty cell, opening it with the same spell she used to free the researcher. Crouched up, with her back to them, it was hard to know what she was doing. The researcher was starting to get impatient.
"Can't we just leave her here and ge-?!"
The door to the other side of the chamber swung open with a loud, echoing thud. The cultists looked ready now, with weapons and crossbows, ready to give them a proper fight this time as they poured out in the open. Despite being closer, Kamille wasn't spot so far, crouched as she was. The first cultist, however, ran up to Killian and the researcher with such confidance that, when a dark blur caught him to the side, he dropped with a disgruntled gasp and started to scream.
In her infinite wisdom and madness, Kamille was bending the walls of the cages to free the hatchlings, that eagerly squeezed themselves out of their confinement. There must be true that dragons were intelligent, for they went right ahead for the cultists they knew to be their captors, but they shouldn't press their luck either way. As the hatchlings started to squeal and fly around, the room was thrown into chaos: the cultists suddenly had a bigger issue to handle, but they could still charge for them. Screams and the flapping of wings filled the room - and soon enough, some of them seemed to be big enough to breath fire upon their captors.
Kamille finally ran towards Killian and the researcher, trying to pull them to run away from the room, taking the lead of the halfling.
"Let's go let's go let's go let's go!"
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Post by Killian Glae on Jan 6, 2023 14:52:07 GMT -5
Leaving the chaos and screams behind them, Killian and Kamille followed the Halfling, feet pounding on the stone beneath them. A burst of flame licked at Killian’s heels as a few cultists tried to follow them into the tunnel, only to learn what burning to death felt like as one of the larger hatchlings denied them escape.
The next few minutes were spent in silence, only the heavy breathing of the three filling the quiet as they ran. Killian felt somewhat overwhelmed; This was all… a lot. Cultists were fine, but the chaos of the room behind them, Dragons everywhere… Besides, what were the cultists doing? Kidnapping hatchlings? Raising them? Killian liked simple problems: Mean man is threat, mean man gets put down. This whole ordeal was a bit more along the lines of: Oops, we stumbled on a big organization, let’s burn it down.
And then there was sunlight, and the three of them stumbled out into fresh air, gasping ragged breaths. Joe Lamithor collapsed to his feet, and let out a shaky laugh. Killian took a moment to steady his breathing, and glanced at Kamille.
“That… was insane. Or maybe brilliant. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”
A shadow fell over them, and Killian glanced up as something passed in front of the sun. He felt his blood freeze as his mind tried to comprehend what it was seeing. ‘It’s too big, too big!’ The entire mountain shook as the Dragon landed near the peak, only a few dozen feet above them.
“Kamille.” Killian whispered, eyes glued to the Dragon in terror.
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Post by Lady Kamille Verlithax on Jan 7, 2023 12:58:00 GMT -5
The escape quickly strained the mage, who stumbled upon the floor just like the researcher, as they managed to get out of the cave, taking in the fresh air... Well, as fresh as one could get at the top of a volcano that still spat huge clouds of smoke and ash. Breathing came at a huge cost, each breath feeling like she was being stabbed in the lungs. And if her heart had been racing wildly, in a matter of moments it froze inside her chest. Blood ran from her face as she felt the mountain shaking under the scaly weight of a full grown drake.
The scales glistened like a thousand black mirrors, polished obsidian against the muted Ashlands sun. Red slitted eyes passed on harsh judgement on them. As they spread their wings and casted a shadow upon them, Kamille felt small in comparison. They could hear Mr. Lamithor whisper them, suddenly humbled down to a mess of stuttering words.
"D-don't h-hurt them, p-please! T-they are intellig-gent! T-talk to them!"
Easier said than done...
But wasn't Kamille one to value actions more than words and promises? It was times like these that she believed the deliberation of Fate and of the Gods - for they imbued extreme curiosity in her, and for that she got an extra weight on her satchel. It suddenly occurred to her. The hatchlings were someone's eggs - and there was a fully grown drake in front of them.
Not without some difficulty, Kamille stood up, searching her satchel for her prized acquisition from the cells left behind them already: a glistening, polished, gorgeous dragon egg. She had hoped to take it home, but it occurred to her now that it was someone's child. Later on she would tell she couldn't say what exactly had possessed her to do that, but she took the egg and walked forward.
Raising the egg above her head, she noticed how the dragon squinted at the view. They understood it. They were intelligent, certainly they could understand her intentions. Kamille walked forward, placed the egg on the ground, without breaking eye contact with the dragon, and started to walk away.
Black wings spread out, and the gorgeous beast took the sky once more. This time, the ground shook like an earthquake when it landed, and Kamille lost her footing once again, knocked to the ground. With the corner of her eyes, two large sets of claws rested on either sides of her, and when she raised her eyes, up and close, she got stared down by two scarlet orbs. The few seconds she locked eyes with the drake felt like hours that she starred down into a fiery abyss of her own doing, and as if in slow motion, she saw the dragon pull in air, as if to breath fire upon her.
She had no reaction.
But instead, Kamille was presented with a deafening roar right to her face, as well as the hellish sight of a thousand sharp teeth that could easily cut her in half. Her ears rang, and the world spun around her. The drake backed off, took the egg gently in its gaping mouth, and once again took the sky. Kamille saw none of that, still a quiet, shaky mess of a woman, barely aware she was still alive. She might as well not be, her blood frozen on her veins, her heart gone up her throat.
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Post by Killian Glae on Jan 9, 2023 19:16:20 GMT -5
Killian stood rooted to the spot, frozen in terror. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t process the size of the drake, let alone the immense power that emanated off of it. All of his training, all of his skills, his mastery of the sword… All of it was useless before the Dragon matriarch.
He could see Kamille walking forward, wanted to scream at her to run, to flee before the god in their midst, but he could summon no voice. She put the egg down and slowly backed away, and then the Dragon was lifting off and landing back down and it was on top of Kamille.
Killian felt his limbs revitalize in the face of Kamille’s imminent death, and he lunged forward, sliding in between the Dragon’s legs and throwing himself half over Kamille, sword held up over them in a useless display of protection against those teeth.
The Dragon opened its mouth, and Killian knew the end was upon them. And then it roared, the air around them heating up from its fire-warmed breath. And then it was gone, taking the egg with it, and Killian stayed where he was, sword held up over Kamille, shaking and sweating.
It was only when he heard Mr Lamithor say something that his senses returned to him. He slowly lifted himself up, and extended a hand down to the Witch to pull her up. She looked shaky on her legs, but then again, Killian couldn’t claim to be any better.
He didn’t say anything as they descended the mountain. Nor did he talk when they delivered the researcher into the hands of his colleagues. He felt pitiful, miserable and small. Useless.
Twice on this journey he had failed to protect Kamille. Once, it was she who had saved him. What was the point, then? Why train, day after day, if in the end he was no match for this world? This world of magic and monsters? He was and always would be at a disadvantage.
What was the point?
His eyes settled on Kamille. They were alive. Focus on that. They were alive and they had managed to save Joe Lamithor. That was enough.
It had to be enough.
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Post by Lady Kamille Verlithax on Jan 10, 2023 10:28:22 GMT -5
Their feet knew the way down the mountain, even if every meaningful thought was scared away from their minds - all that was left was the thundering of their hearts, the shaking of their legs, and the cold sweat of dread upon their brows. No word was needed for them to know what was on each others mind: nothing, except the spine chilling terror of facing death straight in the eyes and returning to tell the tale. Not many could stare into the depths of a hell of flames and monstrous teeth and come back.
Words of gratitude were being said around them as they came back into the camp, but her mind was barely registering it. When she faced Killian, it suddenly downed on her how he risked his life on an attempt to protect her. Before a dragon matriarch, many would have tailed, and she would not judge. But Killian stood there, without a hint of hesitation.
With a wave of gratitude washing over her, she threw her arms around his neck and brought him to a tight hug. Her whole body was still shaking, and even her voice, when she whispered.
"Thank you, Killian.... Thank you for coming with me....... Thank you....."
With her shaky hand tightly gripped at the back of his vest, she held the hug for long enough for it to be weird. When she finally stepped away, she wasn’t shaking as much and color was starting to come back to her face, her eyes still glossy from unshed tears she didn’t even take notice of. The Witch of Moonglade looked him dead in the eyes, serious as the plague.
"I need a fucking drink."
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