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 Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 5:09 pm
Unfortunately for the elves, while their plan was well orchestrated, their foe was underestimated.
The shadowy monster's lip curled in disdain as the slender cerynei tried to snare him with their vines.
"Pathetic!" he chortled in a twisted, mockery of a laugh in the same chittery whispery voice as for the first time, the dragon unfurled his wings.
They could have been easy to overlook - shadows against shadows - but now, as the elves tried to catch him in teh thorny vines, the hooked claw of the thumb on his wing slashed easily through the simple rope as the beast reared with a truly hellish screaching bellow.
And then, he kicked off the ground, taking to the air.
Unconsciously, the trio of elves in the treeline fell back a few paces as the dragon tore through their thornvines and unleashed its rage.
Thranduil's lip curled in a worried sneer as he swore in the melodic tones of Sindarin - but in his native tongue it sounded more like a lovely melody than a harsh expletive.
He refused to meet the dwarf's eyes, worrying that this failure would show on his face. Had he taken more time, set up more eventualities...
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Posted: Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:19 am
It was free. Thorin looked sharply at Thranduil. The plan of the elves had completely failed. Thranduil had sacrificed one of his own only to fail. "Fool!" He shouted at the elf before turning his attention to the sky. The thing could fly but what would the beast do up there? He didn't know. It was either leaving or plotting some new attack and he couldn't be sure which.
Acting quickly Thorin circled his men. "Draw together!" He commanded bringing them into a tight circle with a secondary ring inside. Thorin took his place on the outer ring and retrained his eyes on the sky above them. "Keep watch!" If it was coming back he wanted them to know it before it swooped down. Thanks to the elf's brilliant stupidity they were all in danger again. If they had weapons it would have been just as well that they use them rather than relying on flimsy plants.
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Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:59 am
Thranduil's ears pinned back, "I have not seen your measures fell the beast any more than mine have. At least I am attempting tactics!" He drew a measured breath. Despite the aggravation of the drawf, he was not the primary concern right now - not his enemy... for now.
The monster needed to be put down, at the VERY least sent away from these woods. He had fallen one of his own, a good stallion... Thranduil hardened his heart and forced himself to concentrate on the moment at hand. As much as it riled him, his own measures in this instance were not so different from the dwarves'.
He gave a quick nod with a particular ear flick to his men, calling in a word in Elvish that was not so different from Thorin's own command as the two elves in the clearing drew toward Thranduil. But due to his pride, he refused to join the dwarves in their cluster. Their racks angled upwards.
A moment later, Hashashad burst out into the open, circling over the cluster of dwarves and elves gathered below. The wicked smile drew across his face as he passed over the cluster once... twice... the myriad eyes acessing the weaklings cowering below him in a cluster.
And with each circle, he descended closer...
Here in the skies above them, he felt powerful and superior, in control of the situation once more. "Delicious morsels... cuddle and cower to each other for support... You are weak... WEAK... none could stand against me alone... and your little groups will serve you no better." The spidery whisper taunted.
But, the moment he finished talking, aiming to distract them with his words and make them focus on those rather than his actions, he drew his wings in closer to his body and dropped - HARD - the last dozen feet that still separated him from an outermost dwarf. Hashashad let gravity and his sharp hooves and spurs do all the damage he needed to do.
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Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 1:24 pm
Thorin opted to ignore Thranduil's counter argument. It held no merit. Thorin was not attempting traps that did not mean he was not attempting tactics. The dwarves were doing what they could with what they had, Thranduil was just blind to these simple facts. Thranduil and his elves had far more to work with and yet they had been no more successful than Thorin's troupes who had nothing but the skin on their backs and the hooves on their feet. Thorin would not be made to feel shame from that elf. He also would not point out that the elves were now doing exactly what Thorin had his men do moments ago. He did, however, snort lightly.
Not long after he refocused his entire attention on the sky the demon beast came back. He swept closer and closer all the while speaking like a different beast Thorin knew. A dragon. It made Thorin's blood boil. It made him ready. The beast made a mistake. The dwarf it selected was close to Thorin. Close enough for Thorin to act.
When the demon dove Thorin shouted, "Get down!" before charging in himself. It didn't take him two steps to get there and not even a second had past before Thorin reared up onto his hind legs and struck out with a multitude of strong kicks to the devil's side. His man dove out of the way, getting nicked by the cloven hooves, and scraped from his weight hitting the ground but he would live. The rest of his men moved back to avoid getting hit in the beast's descent.
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Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:22 am
The creature loosed a shrieking roar of a whinny. Compared to the whispers it spoke in, this was nails in the ears of the elves and dwarves in the clearing. Missed! How could it have missed! His pride boiled with hatred and anger at those blasted dwarves. He had underestimated them and their maneuverability.
But worse than that, it had opened him up for a counter attack. So close to Thorin, and still reeling from his own impact with the ground (measurable lower than the back of the dwarf he was aiming for), blow after blow of Thorin's heavy hooves struck home. Even the shadowy cloak that obscured Hashashad's flesh provided little defense when he was not moving and the dwarf's hooves struck straight in.
He reeled for a moment from the impacts with the ground and Thorin's hooves before lashing out with a hind leg, sickle claw aimed for the dwarf, trying to at least knock him back and away.
Opportunity! Thranduil called out once more, gathering his men - both from his flanks and those still in the treeline as they charged to join the dwarves' in their assault on the dragon. Thranduil and his two flanking men lowered their racks and came in from the opposite side of Thorin as two other elves burst from the woods carrying sharpened wooden spears and headed for the beast.
They were fleet of foot, and rapidly closed the distance.
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Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:20 pm
Sabin Duvert Tag for you! I feel like it might be good to start wrapping this up? Thorin is starting to get a bit grumpier about the whole thing than normal.
As he assessed the damage the sound of a new charge starting reached his ears. The elves were on the move. Thorin snorted, finally they did something of use and this time he would ensure its success. Drawing himself together Thorin charged back at the devil creature to strike at it again. The elves were close. A good hit from their antlers would do a great deal of damage. Thorin only needed to keep the creature in place.
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Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 7:35 pm
A moment after Hashashad's slash found Thorin's side and gave the beast a breath of distance from the dwarf, the elves were there on the other side of the beast. Thranduil's antlers caught Hashashad's flank and his men were a half-step beside him. But the angle made it difficult for more than one of them to actually strike true - especially with the breadth of Thranduil's massive elk antlers.
In a flash, the dragon's eyes flashed with pain and anger and he loosed another bellow. Between the pummeling from teh dwarf and the goring from the elf. This was no longer a game. There was no more pleasure to derive from this experience. Only pain.
His wings snapped open forcefully, the hooked claws that tipped each 'finger' lashing out - one towards Thorin (who had already fallen back a few paces) and one towards Thranduil.
Thranduil's found its mark, tearing him across the face - as Hashashad kicked off the ground seeking purchase in the skies.
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Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:13 pm
Thorin watched as Thranduil collided with the black stallion. The direct hit left the creature crying in pain. It was a strangely satisfying sound to Thorin's ears. Then it took off again. It's wings flung out wide trying to catch him. The sharp, boney thumb caught Thorin's upper lip and the end of his nose. He could feel blood trickle down over his lower lip but his attention was on the beast climbing into the air.
Would there be no end to this? It attacked, fled, then circled round for yet another attack. At this rate they would never be rid of it. Thranduil and his men were of no use when that creature was in the air and it wasn't as though Thorin's own men fared any better. They were dwarves, creatures of the earth, not sky-beasts that roamed on the winds. They belonged with the stone. The only way to win this was to bring the creature back down to them.
Thorin called his mean to circle up again though this time they left the central ring empty. They might need the room to dodge. Then he stepped forward and shouted into the sky, "Have we bested you so easily, monster?! I thought you would put up more of a fight!"
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:28 pm
Thranduil bellowed as the beast's claws found their mark, marring his beautiful face. Fear, humiliation, and utter fury filled the stag as he could feel the blood trickling down his face. How... DARE it.... How DARE it mar him!? He wanted to flay the beast's very hide from it... but as soon as he had pulled his wits to him, the dragon had taken to the skies.
And a moment afterwards, the elves gathered tightly again. Thranduil and the two elves on his flanks kept their antlers upwards, sharp prongs making a threatening display from above. This time, the two with spears also kept their spearheads upwards. They overlapped in sort of triangle, each rack protecting the back of the elf in front of them.
Thranduil's breathing was ragged as he glared upwards, his last nerve was fraying but he could not afford to let his guard down yet.
Hashashad was out of reach in a breath, and circled overhead once more. The shadowy beast was furious. His sides ached with deep bruising - if not a cracked rib from where the dark, stout stallion had pummeled him. His other side slowly was oozing dark bood where the stag had gored him.
This was not going well. The dragon was prepared to move on, take his victory having killed a number of their own, and he was just angling to cut his losses when the dwarf's challenge reached his ears and his pride.
He snarled again, circling overheard and keeping the cluster below him in his sights. They were baiting him, trying to draw him in again. That had been their most successful strike yet. The dragon was prideful, but he was not stupid.
"Those scars look good on you," The dragon sneered to the two proud kings beneath him. "You will not forget me, nor I you. One day when you are comfotable and have put this encounter aside, I will be there... your death."
Hashashad snatched for a thick branch as he made a wide circle, tossing it quickly and errantly towards the dwarf that had dared to speak to him like that before climbing once more..
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 6:01 pm
Taunting the creature had worked and at the same time it had not. It seemed that he and his men had bested it after all, with some amount of help from the elves. It refused to come down. They had left their marks but it was too afraid to come back for another round. Good. Thorin looked on, his blue eyes icy, as the beast spoke of scars when it should have been speaking of wounds. These wounds would heal. Thorin would not be scarred by such an encounter, he had endured far worse in his time in this world. He would not forget the creature nor would it ever find a moment in which to kill the dwarf king. Thorin would never allow for it.
Thorin did not grant the creature a reply. If it wasn't going to fight then it was going to leave this time and he was going to let it. The monster circled once and ripped off a tree branch with it's filthy maw. It hurled the branch just as quickly as it had snapped it off but Thorin couldn't be certain of what the target was as it landed somewhere off to the side of one of his men.
Then it left, climbing high into the air, and Thorin watched it go. Let it. If this was close to Thranduil's woods then let it haunt that forest. His men could easily avoid it from now on.
"Let us leave this cursed place." Thorin said to what remained of his men. They would return to the mountains where they belonged. Somewhere where they wouldn't be bothered by elves.
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Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:12 pm
Thranduil didn't untense until the black mar on the skies faded out even beyond what his sharp eyes could see.
"Coward." He spat, angrily and bitterly after hte monster had retreated, mostly under his breath. He was robbed of his vengeance on his fallen bretheren... and on he maring it had left to his face. He would be in need of a healer, and fast, if he did not want this to leave a scar on his royal face.
He barely cast a sidelong glance to the dwarf (keeping the damaged side of his face pointed away from him) as he all but growled, "I expect you to be far from my lands by nightfall." He flicked his tail and turned with his entourage towards Mirkwood proper.
He would have his eyes in the forest keep a sharp eye out to ensure that the beast had indeed moved on.
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Posted: Thu Feb 06, 2014 3:06 pm
Thorin snorted softly at Thranduil in response to him giving orders as though there was any chance that the dwarves would be staying. The last thing any of them wanted was to linger in elf and monster infested woods. "Come." Thorin said turning to lead his men out of the forest. They had a long journey ahead of them still and many sad days of funerals to follow.
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