Anali and Banshidheth had spent fourteen turns together. They had matured, flown, schemed, and in recent turns, even fought together. Banshidheth's pale, glittering hide, once pristine, was now laced with its fair share of scars earned in service to the Wherholds, but they never regretted their decision to defect. To fight. And because of all who had fought, much was different. This was different.
Four times before she had glowed, suffered the vanity of posturing bronzes sure that they were worthy, that they would be the ones to claim her as a prize, a great golden treasure, a thing to earn them bragging rights and prestige. And she had made them work for it every time, ripped into their hides and taken it out of their flesh until only the strongest remained, and when all was done tolerated them not a moment longer than necessary. Insufferable, entitled whelps. It was probably why so few of them had joined with the Revolution, too comfortable with tradition, power, and their own arrogance. They were far, far outnumbered by browns here: steady, strong browns. She had always liked them better, on a personal level, though relatively few had managed to keep up with her on previous occasions. But these were made of even stronger stuff, so perhaps they would fare better.
As Banshidheth glowed ever brighter, Anali slept less and less, pacing their small weyr; partly because of the two of them, she was always the more restless during these times, and often affectionately accused her dragon of deliberately giving her the edginess so that she could maintain more of her calm. It was also because she had come to expect that the gold would Rise sometime during the night, just as she had at Telgar. With so many things changed, there would be one constant, at least. ...well, two. Anali fully expected that she would still tear into the boys, though perhaps with a little less venom. Or perhaps not. They would find out soon.
Hours had passed since sunset, and as Anali sat at the edge of her bed, she felt the great surge of instinct and emotion that she had been waiting for. A heartbeat later came the scream, terrible and piercing, familiar to her but likely to give some unsuspecting wherholders a fright. The corner of the goldrider's lips twitched up into a smile at the thought, the last she could spare before she had to exercise her will over her dragon, reminding her to blood her kills only. The gold seethed for only a moment under her rider's grip, but reason and experience prevailed, and she took only the blood of the beasts she felled. Quick, efficient, and impatient, she was soon ready.
Banshidheth screamed again as she took to the air, leaving great furrows rent into the ground with her claws.
__________
Look lively, boys! Use your Speed Dice to determine how fast your dragon wakes up and gets moving.
Numbers to Match: 13, 12, 15, 10, 17, 20
Dragonflight Pern
This Flight will still be a dice game, but the system is going to be a bit different this time around! There are going to be stats involved: strength, speed, and toughness.
It is still a number-matching game, at the beginning of which Banshidheth will roll a 6d20 for the numbers the boys need to match, but each post of Banshidheth's will specify which dice the boys need to use. If, for instance, she takes a sudden dive, I will indicate that they should use their Speed dice. If she decides to hassle them and shed some ichor, you may get a choice between Toughness (to take the hit) or Speed (to dodge it). Please pay careful attention to which stat is indicated and roll your dragon's appropriate number of dice. As usual, each male gets one rolling post for each action post Banshi makes (but if you accidentally roll the wrong dice, you may reroll with the correct dice as long as you do not delete the mistake).
For quick reference, everyone's dice are as follows: Blues Lophorinth (Dizzy_Kat): 2d20 Strength, 5d20 Speed, 2d20 Toughness Magith (moonlit-raven): 1d20 Strength, 7d20 Speed, 1d20 Toughness
Every male dragon in the wherhold could feel it. Even if they were blind and couldn't see the queen glowing ever brighter, they'd be able to feel it. Rugarth expected even the deaf would be able to hear that glorious scream that resounded through the wherhold.
He was not a fast dragon. He knew this, that he was too large a brown to be considered one of the swift ones. But he was not a slow one either, and he was clever. Clever enough that he managed to sleep very lightly, and got his rider to stay awake to help wake him ad soon as the call went out. And the instant the queen's screech pierced the night he was awake, before even his rider could call to him and rouse him.
Still, it took a moment to loosen his muscles from sleep, and by the time he launched himself into the air, the queen had finished blooding her kills and was rising in Flight. He beat his wings to follow, but not at top speed. He would have to reserve his strength if he wanted to catch her.
Blue Lophorinth: 2d20 Strength, 5d20 Speed, 2d20 Toughness
Luka spasmed in bed, clutching her bedfur's in white knuckles as she was thrown violently from her sleep. Her wide eyes flickered across her dark weyr as a dragon's voice screamed from the bowl of the weyr. Banshisheth. The name was supplied by her blue even as he surged off of their ledge, dark hide blending into the shadowy sky as if it belonged there. The only sign of his presence other than the blotch of starless dark was the glimmering flash of his bright chest, the turquoise panel almost metallic in how it picked up the least reflection of light and flashed it back.
Luka crawled from the warmth of her furs to quickly throw the latch on her door. Loph was a dim bit of fluff when it came to the ladies but Luka had learned to cope and accept the quirks of her lifemates appetites.
Lophorinth bugled gayly despite the bloodthirsty screams of the golden queen and her suitors. ~Banshideth! Baby! Love of my life! Have no worries as your Lophorinth has made it! Never would I be late to a rendesvous with my main girl! Set aside boys, this lovely lady only has eyes for one rugged piece of dragonflesh!~ The blue's large wings beat hard at the air, cupping and creating an odd 'woooph' sound with each downstroke. He bugled again, angling his chest forward to display his bright spot as he bobbed in the air after her. Numbers to Match: 13, 12, 15, 10, 17, 20
It wasn't often that they spent the night at Benden, but as he heard the gold scream, he was rather pleased that they had. The blue knew that he had no chances of catching her, not a gold, and especially not one as large and impressive as Banshidheth. That didn't mean that he wasn't going to give it a try. Someone needed to give those browns and bronzes a challenge, even if they would be the ones to eventually succeed.
He darted out of where they were, flying quickly towards where the gold was blooding her kill. She blooded, and then rose into the air, her claws leaving gashes in the ground.
She was dangerous, and this was likely to get interesting.
T'sa would like to forget the violence and the death. He mostly keeps to himself, does his own thing, and stays quiet, perfectly willing to not make a fuss.
Brown Gohulmordth
Ever since his favorite clutchmate died horribly in their first run between, Gohulmordth has been obsessed with death and dying, and blood and violence on the side. He is not a violent dragon himself, nor is he a particularly dour or depressed dragon. He is just very morbid, bordering on ghoulish and bloodthirsty. He likes to watch executions and duels, and is intrigued by the premise of violence in Flight. He himself hopes to not be injured but such is life.
The older brown's tail twitched as he slept, his rider asleep nearby with his weyrmate. He was dreaming of flying, of chasing, and then, he suddenly awoke as the scream of the gold filled the air.
I go. he rumbled to W'yit, who waved him off sleepily. He would awaken soon enough, and the brown plodded out of his sleeping area. He was slow to get going, as the gold had already risen when he managed to get into the air, but he was steady enough. Slow and steady would be far more efficient than the speed of the youngsters.
Toroeth had been antsy lately. He was bored and didn't like it. His rider, J'rold, was also bored. Nothing of interest or fun had happened lately and even the greens were getting repetitive. None had caught his eye lately. Grumbling, he was just getting ready to slumber when he heard it.
Or rather her.
Bandshidheth.
Bellowing, Toroeth was not fast but was sturdy and strong. Not waiting for his shocked rider's response, the murky brown gave chase.
The scream awoke them and they knew at once what was happening; it had been bound to happen eventually and it had been impossible to miss the sheen on her these past couple of days.
Acriculeth roused himself, stretched, and launched himself off his ledge in pursuit of the rising female. Of course winning the affections of a gold in flight, even the wherholds' only gold, did not confer any power but he could do with stretching his wings. Besides, there was always a thrill in a good chase and he liked the way she screamed like something that would tear the throat out of Weyr dragons without batting an eyelid.
Acriculeth's words were audible to all the dragons and with a little chuckle in his mental voice; he made no implication that he himself was the one she would choose but he had obviously mentally discounted Lophorinth as a competitor before they had even begun.
Feeling the thrill of the chase surge through his veins like intoxicating fire A'nos stood on his ledge and watched the shape of the gold and her comet-tail of suitors climb. Soon they would be merely shadows against the star-studded sky... and soon there would be new dragons and with them new opportunities. _________
Ititth had been snoozing, his rider pouring over old hides that bored the brown beyond belief. The scream that rent the air made both jerk, startled in sync. Looks like it's time Mine. The brown informed as he quickly heaved himself out of his wallow and shuffled to the edge. He watched the gold launch herself upward. The pack would take time to form.
Fly well, Z'ach said. He knew he'd get no more reading done this night.
With a nod, the brown flung himself into the sky. One thing he was pleased about was the lack of bronzes in the weyr. It gave the gold less metalics to steal her attention and might make her look elsewhere should they prove insufficient. Ititth snickered and beat his wings for the sky.
Numbers to Match: 13, 12, 15, 10, 17, 20
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 6:12 am
(Yay for pure rp)
Malta had gone to sleep all of two hours ago, her body aching from her drills and her mind sore from her labors in the infirmary. Between people getting themselves hurt to duelists to someone messing up her inventory, Malta had had a busy day.
Banshidheth's roar startled Malta out of bed, her panicked thoughts of Ohshardsisitthread and IsBendenonfire and numerous other frantic thoughts as she reached immediately for her cloak.
Poecileth's voice was smooth and soothing in Malta's mind, and Malta halted in her frantic preparations.
said Poecileth. The striking green looked up at the scene in the sky,
“Oh shaff...” Malta whimpered the word more than she cursed it. She felt a mental nod of achknowledgement from Poecileth. They both knew Banshidheth well enough. Malta pulled on her clothes.
Poecileth's voice took an edge of concern,
Sleep was a rare luxury for Malta but she shook her head. “I won't be able to sleep with that racket anyway...” she mumbled, rubbing her forehead.
Goroth was a dragon of few, if any words, speaking only when necessary which earned him few allies back where they had come from. He was also a rather large brown so not given to quick movement, a lot of other dragons and indeed their humans believed Goroth to be slow witted. He was anything but... however he chose not to demean himself by trying to prove himself before others. He did his work and he did it well but without much flourish or enjoyment. When the Wherholders had taken over Benden Weyr Goroth and His decided to join them, having already known of their intentions and dreams for the future. Goroth had spoken then, giving his Wery what for, shocking more than a few, before leaving and joining the revolution.
R'ar had been far more than happy to go along with his dragon's wishes, all his life enjoying the tendancy to violence. He'd earned his scars and given others more than one reason to fear the tall wiry man he'd killed, something Goroth was less pleased with but .... nothing worth winning was gained without casualties.
Something he now held in his mind as the gold residing at Benden blooded her kills, Goroth waited, choosing the right time before taking to the air at her screaming challenge. Instead of rushing forwards at the very start, he lingered among the main 'pack' of males. No point in wasting all his energy NOW .. when there was plenty of time to be had first, he felt, by instinct, she would want a longer flight which would produce more eggs.
13, 12, 15, 10, 17, 20
Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 3:34 pm
It pleased her to see that there were so many brave enough to chase her, bronze and browns and even two blues. It was the blues who pleased her most of all, not chasing to catch her but chasing to try, to push and prove themselves. And they were lovely in the air, capable of tricks larger dragons couldn't hope to match. One, however, was quick to make himself less pleasing. She bared her teeth and sent to Lophorinth a nasty mental snap of disapproval. Fly with me if you can, but spare me the pet names or I will rip you from the sky.
Had one of the larger males addressed her so, she would have made them pay for it, but he was blue and his attendance in and of itself pleased her, so she restrained herself. This time. It was early in the Flight for spilling ichor.
With a deep breath and deeper wingstrokes, Banshidheth began a long, steep climb.
As the shining gold began a steeper climb Acriculeth paced himself, not wishing to put in too much effort so early in the Flight. It could cost him of course, it was always hard to tell whether the early wherry would get the worm the the second mouse would get the cheese. Of course with those threats she was making there was an added benefit to not being right at the front of the pack, she might well take out some of the competition and so improve his odds. ____________
Magith was pleased with the turnout for the gold's flight. A bronze, quite a few browns, and even a fellow blue. It might not seem as impressive as the non wherhold flights, where the gold would be chased by primarily bronzes, but he knew that all of the dragons in the air were strong ones.
Well, all of them except for him.
The shining gold began to rise into the air, and Magith began to slowly follow, his wingstrokes strong and steady.
Rugarth noted his fellow suitors as he flew; only one bronze (thankfully, the metallic males tended to be hard to contest with), a collection of fellow browns, and a couple blues. He wasn't sure why the blues were trying, but it did no harm to let them fly along. They couldn't hope to catch a queen, anyway. One seemed to be off to a very swift start though, and so far was closest to the queen, but Rugarth doubted the little male would be able to keep that pace for long.
Since he was surveying the competition, he was a tad slow to realize that Banshidheth had turned up for a steep climb, so he wasn't as quick to turn and follow as he'd like. He frowned at his inattention, but didn't waste time scolding himself for the lapse. He turned as quickly as he could manage and beat his wings hard, trying not to fall back any further.
