RP:How To Train Your Carcharodontosaurus, Part 1

From HollowWiki

Kreekitaka, Pilar, Draben, Malshaquon, and some poor sap whose name we never learned went on adventure into the wildlands. Things rapidly spiraled out of control.

The RP

Kreekitaka had heard wonders about the lands off to the deep southwest of the continent, and therefore decided to lead an expedition to go find one of the humongous creatures and bring it back to Larket for study (and taming, if at all possible. I mean, imagine riding one of those. Could be even more fun than using a war scorpion). It would certainly be a challenge, but Kree was convinced he'd brought the right equipment for the job: a party of himself and two uyeer bodyguards armed with jawblades and throwing drills, along with Draben the archer and Pilar as their Jiminy Cricket; several dozen yards of rope, carried on a pack animal (the Venturil Castle people had been very adamant about not letting them bring their scorpions across the rope bridge, so they'd settled for a horse acquired from the stable not far back); several potions of might, and a sleeping drought for knocking out the beast once they had it immobilized. Clearly, nothing could go wrong. Right? As they entered the tall grass, with Kreekitaka in the lead, they began to hear some peculiar noises--loud roars coming from the forest up ahead, accompanied by crashing sounds, and strange whistles from the tall grass. Kree's paddles rattled and he beat his chest with a claw in a challenge. "I sense HHHTHere is much gyory aheaDAH!," he said loudly, tone almost amused and dripping with confidence."

Lionel is not here. In all likelihood, Lionel will never hear word nor whisper of this far-off adventure. Lionel is, if one must know, currently sipping hot spiced cider somewhere in Frostmaw. Rather than Lionel, this humble writer presents Deduidubb, a hermetic ascetic thin as a twig and utterly bald. Of an advanced age, Deduidubb has come to Venturil by way of boat from the Demon Archipelago well off Lithrydel's coast. Since his arrival, the cloth-robed man has lived in the wilderness free of sin and clean of mind. He carries only a ruby-red cherry oaken stick and meanders through a clearing in the grass not far from a nearby mountain humming some ancient tune and counting caterpillars along the way. It should be noted however that Deduidubb has only been in Lithrydel for fifty-nine minutes. Deduidubb looks forward to spending his twilight years in the region, having heard tale from fishers far and wide of its sparse populace and vast fair-weathered outdoors. Deduidubb has absolutely no idea that dinosaurs stalk these parts and it all happens quite rapidly that the man should turn to bristle at a thundering roar and equally thunderous stalking footsteps just before his wrinkled jaw slacks widely at the appearance of a terrible lizard. “I can't even,” is all he can say, before his too-thin legs carry him into the grass and toward Kreekitaka's hunting party in a mad scramble, his walking stick dropped posthaste.

Pilar found out about the expedition through the grapevine and had immediately signed on. Her trip to Vailkrin finished, she had more time to devote to such pursuits as keeping animals safe. She knew she couldn't stop them from taking the creature in, but she just wanted to be sure they didn't accidentally (or otherwise) kill or seriously hurt it. She stayed by the horse, leading it by the reins and murmuring soothing words to it as they walked along. As they got closer to the scary noises, the horse began to act up, refusing to walk forward and tugging away. "Shh, it's okay, it's okay," Pilar murmured. There was a sudden roar, louder than the others, and the horse reared, whinnying frantically. If not for Pilar's vampiric strength, it would have bolted. She looked to the leader of their expedition as she struggled to hold the animal. "I don't think she will go any further, Mister Kreekitaka." The terrified animal snorted ins response.

Malshaquon , in his surveys of the lands, had taken to soaring over the western regions beyond the Xalious mountains. High in the sky, he looked down upon the city of Venturil and the surrounding woodlands, there was much fuel for the fires that would turn this land to ash. Many would know of the fires that will soon take this land! It will be glorious! All will witness the land burn! All will come to know the name of… What was that roar? Were there more dragons that could join him in his mission? Malshaquon dove down closer to the source of the sounds, circling about as he took a closer look at the massive lizards from his vantage above the trees. The scouting expedition had gone entirely unnoticed as he attempted to decipher what these creatures were. They resembled the forms of dragons and wyverns for sure, even if they looked a little… odd, with most lacking their wings. Regardless, they must join him in his mission! He fell in closer and closer, just out of reach of the largest of the dinosaurs before calling out, “Hear me! I am Malshaquon! For too long we have suffered under the shadow of city and forest! All must be cast in the blazing light of fire and turned to ash! Together, we can burn the world! Who among you will join me!?” The expedition may be able to hear his deep voice echo through the sky, though it lacked the ground-shaking volume appropriate to its pitch. As they got a closer look it would become evident why. Up in the sky it was clear he was rather… small, looking more like a big ugly red bird than a full-sized dragon.

Draben | Finding himself in an entirely unfamiliar wilderness, the elf can’t help but marvel at the vast amounts of unknown flora and fauna. Eyes narrowed, the elf bends down to quickly study some plantlife, making quite sure that the party remains nearby. Given the size of some of the tracks he’s spotted, it’s in his best interest to avoid separation. Thinking about his travels thus far, the elf can’t believe the distance traveled from the familiar forests that he had adopted as his new home. However, the lure of any sort of gold had given him the conviction necessary to agree to such a trip. After all, given the unknown threats looming in the distance – primarily the strange army that had ambushed himself and many others near Frostmaw – the elf would need to do his part to ensure that everyone would be prepared for the next strike. Any amount of gold gained here would surely assist in the preparations necessary, or at least, that’s what the elf hoped. His thoughts however, were abruptly dislodged and brown eyes quickly blinked upward at a massive creature rumbling in the distance. It was time to focus on the task at hand.

Kreekitaka glanced over his shoulder to Pilar and had been about to say something to the effect of "that's too bad for it" when the roar from the forest suddenly sounded a lot closer and a man charged out of it, looking more scared out of his wits than attacking. Something stomp, stomp, STOMPed towards the treeline, shaking the ground--when suddenly it seemed to pause, perhaps reacting to the deep, booming voice which echoed down from the sky. The creatures making the whistling noises in the grass seemed to have vanished for the time being--but others were rising from the trees, strange, almost bat-like things with bird heads--pterosaurs. Most seemed content to simply flee the area from whatever had been stomping towards them, but some of the bigger ones were using the opportunity to prey on the smaller ones which had been flushed out. One, with a brilliant crest on its head, surged upwards toward the dragon, beak clacking, while another pair or two of the same species dove towards the party--one making a pecking stab towards Draben with its beak while the other attempted to swipe at Deduidubb with its claws. Kree's uyeer bodyguards surged forward to try and intercept the creatures before they could do any harm, but uyeer are not particularly fast...

Lionel is still in Frostmaw – and that's probably a very good thing for the Catalian, because these odds are fantastical even by his average reckoning. And what of poor Deduidubb, he of such perilous ignorance? Would it be proper to proclaim his tragedy ironic? The man from the Demon Archipelago carefully selected Western Lithrydel as a retirement destination so that he might learn to shed as much of his worldly ignorance as possible before the end times claimed him. Further irony might be had at the sight of the fierce pterosaur which slices him root and stem; indeed, winged saurians occupy some of the myriad positions as deities in the island of Deduidubb's home, and so in that penultimate beat of his life he wonders if perhaps he's been graced by the gods themselves... only to learn, in the very final beat, that if this is a god then the gods are indeed quite cruel. There is something in the air – another god, perhaps? – ordering all the other gods to follow. Deduidubb looks to the dirt beneath his failing feet just in time to see his intestines flapping with the wind... no, not wind; this god-pterosaur has lifted his struggling carcass up into the air for feasting. Deduidubb vanished before your eyes, absolutely never to be seen again.

Pilar peered up into the sky at the adorable red dragon as he went on his megalomaniacal tirade, and had barely awwed at how cute he was before the swarm of dinosaurs fled the trees. Her attention was arrested by the two massive ones heading right for them. She shrieked at the same time as the horse, which tried to bolt again. Pilar didn't let her go, but did lead her further from the the ensuing fight. She was looking away as Deduidubb was rent in twain, and that was probably a good thing, or else she might have fainted, or thrown up, or both. But she couldn't do anything to help as she wrangled the beast, and so made the decision to relieve the mare of her burdens. She ripped the saddlebags from the horse and set them down, allowing the horse to gallop away. Pilar would try to find her later, but for now, they had to focus on not dying. "Mister Kreekitaka!" she called, pulling a potion of might from the bag. "Catch!" She threw it through the air, hoping her aim was true, and that Kree was paying attention.

Malshaquon , evidently, had been lumped in with the ‘smaller ones’ that Kreekitaka’s author had mentioned. Had he known this, the guy would be learning what it meant to call a dragon small! Of all things! He was fierce! He was fire! He was death! He may have even been crazy, but he was not SMALL! OR ADORABLE! The pterosaurs, luckily, had kept the fourth wall intact for now, by making that same misguided assumption in trying to eat him. The dragon barely had time to release a triumphant roar and ‘yes!’ as he saw Deduidubb lifted up into the air by one of his comrades, until he saw the other one racing straight towards him, beak open. Treason! “You dare!? You will become an example for the others!” Unfortunately for the tiny dragon, he had spent too much time talking and not enough actually taking evasive maneuvers or making a counterattack, and only had enough time to twist and keep his neck out of the creature’s mouth as he found the rest of himself suddenly ensnared inside of it. It almost felt like that one time someone tried to hold and cuddle him. Even worse. At the unpleasant memories his rage continued to boil up until he was twisting and thrashing inside of the dinosaur’s mouth, attempting to twist his head around and breathe a jet of fire back into its face. He might, eventually, but between the flailing and disorientation there’d be a lot of fire randomly flying into the sky until he actually managed to direct himself.

Draben was lucky. The elf’s eyes tore away from the plants he had been inspecting in time to see the charge coming. Staring in wonderment, he drew daggers from his belt. Cocking his arms back, the elf took two steps forward, flicking both wrists and letting daggers sail. Aided by the forward momentum of his steps and his arms themselves, the ranger was sure they would be sufficient to stop the attacking creature in its tracks. Without watching exactly where the daggers went, the elf quickly twisted and drew his bow from his back. Nimble fingers brought arrow to table, and amongst the cries of the attackers, the sound of the wood tensing brought calm to the ranger’s mind.

Kreekitaka caught the potion in a claw, popped it open with a smooth motion, and dumped its contents into his water tank. It'd take a few moments for the mixture to properly settle and then reach his bloodstream, but when it did it would be as potent as if he'd snorted the stuff. Meanwhile, the uyeer was too slow to save poor Deduidubb, just when I was getting the hang of typing his name (that or on the verge of giving up and just calling him Dubbstep, whichever came first), and watched in horror as he was carried off by the powerful pterosaur. The other one was indeed stopped in its tracks by Draben's knives--well, kinda. It squawked and flailed and collapsed uselessly to the earth, possibly on top of him, where the other uyeer bodyguard would raise his jawblade to try and hit it over the head to knock it out. Meanwhile, up in the sky, the light show was distracting enough and the heat strange enough for the pterosaur to release the mighty Malshaquon, though it didn't simply fly away--it had only been startled. There was a strange cunning in its beady eyes as it began to fly a slow circle, angling to come back around for another pass. The scent of spilled blood brought back the peculiar hoots from the grass, but only for a moment--the treeline broke, revealing a monster larger than some dragons: twenty feet tall, close to fifty feet long, the gargantuan theropod had a head as large as Pilar. It stormed towards them, teeth flashing, saliva dripping from its maw as it unleashed another thundering roar that was likely heard for miles around.

Pilar watched the chaos unfold, crouching near the supplies. She was unsure of what to do, who to help, how to help. And then the big one came storming in. She gulped. Hoo boy. Pulling a length of rope from one of the bags, Pilar quickly fashioned a lasso. She then grabbed the sleeping potion, pocketing it, and darted towards Kreekitaka. She came to a stop, half-hiding behind him. "You have a plan?" she asked.

Malshaquon twisted and flailed a little more once he was free until he could re-orient himself, diving towards the ground briefly until he stiffly opened his wings again to begin circling counter to the traitorous creature. “You dare attack me!? Take me to your leader and I may just spare your puny life!” He would be the one to talk like that. Given the size of these creatures, the one stomping the treeline down with a great thump to each footstep was probably it. With a murderous glare he attempted peace, “Nevermind. I will spare you… for now.” If it approached again, he’d dismissively breathe another jet of fire at it before swooping down and around to the theropod, completely ignoring the scouting party and the odd looking sea-creature that walked on land. He had more important matters to attend to! Interposing himself between the dinosaur and the scouting party he skidded on the ground as he turned to face the beast, wings spread in his best attempts to look as big as he could. The whole party would have to look down to get a decent view of him though, as he was… about the size of a cat. And for some reason he thought he could stop the big guy, let alone speak to him. “Hear me! If you are the leader of this sect, I wish to speak with you! Together with your forces, we can burn the world!” Chances are the dinosaur would just keep running right at him. He wouldn’t really notice it either until he was under it. Excessive narcissism does things to some dragons. Or stupidity.

Draben | Genuine concern fought a hard battle with amusement as the elf weighed his options. A massive creature, certainly larger than any he had personally encountered, burst from the treeline. The party was scrambling, perhaps even rallying, but standing between them and this hefty monstrosity…was a single dragon? Perhaps a dragon, Draben couldn’t be sure. Brown eyes looked to the others, this Kreekitaka, for more direction. “Will the potion be effective if its contents were dipped onto an arrow first?” Unconsciously, the elf took several steps backward, lining himself up with the party at hand, and probably inadvertently placing the small dragon directly between himself and the charging dinosaur.

Kreekitaka shifted his stance a little, drawing his jawblade, feeling the potion of might begin to flow through him, muscles expanding, exoskeleton toughening. Glancing to his left and right--Pilar with the lasso and sleeping potion, Draben with his bow, the two uyeer guarding the flanks of the party--he had only just begun to work on a plan when the dragon swept down from the sky and planted itself between the charging theropod and the party. Realizing that there was no way that creature was going to stop the dinosaur, Kree considered his options. "Io engage iTAH! heaDAH!-on. Piyar, sTAH!ay behin' me an' keep my guarDAH!s wiHHHTH you, grab iTAH!s jaw when you have an opening. Draben, TAH!ake HHHTHe potion an' begin sTAH!icking iTAH! as many TAH!imes as you can." With that, Kree surged forward, the potion of might increasing his speed as well as strength. The carcharodontosaurus entirely ignored the little dragon and focused instead on the being which was rather larger and seemed to be directly challenging it, dropping its head and swinging it sideways, using its powerful neck muscles to try and knock the crustacean off his feet.

Pilar wasn't sure she liked the idea of trying to grab that thing's mouth, but she had few other options. Passing the potion to Draben, she quickly followed Kreekitaka, though she had to slow down to let the other, un-enhanced uyeer keep up with her. Her eyes darted to the little dragon, praying that he had the good sense to get the hell out of there before he was crushed underfoot by the dinosaur. She held her breath as its head came flying down towards Kreekitaka.

Malshaquon, finding himself completely ignored with the dinosaur now over him, snorted out a couple thin jets of fire in frustration. Okay, be that way, pay attention to that puny crustacean. Jumping about he hopped his way past the massive feet that threatened to crush him, finding some room so he could crouch down and spring back into the air, quickly flapping his wings to gain enough height to look the massive dinosaur eye-to-eye. “If you will not negotiate, so be it!” With that he circled about the lizard to gain some speed before making passes at its face and eyes, breathing small, but intense jets of fire right at it in an attempt to blind it and teach it a lesson. Ignore him, will it!? It will see… it will learn, and then not see any more!

Draben releases the tension in his bowstring, lowering the bow entirely to his side. With a free hand, he catches the potion thrown to him, and begins to quickly douse a couple arrows in the liquid. Carefully, the elf lays the doctored arrows onto the bow, and redraws the string. Aiming at the creatures mouth, the ranger begins to release the string. Suddenly, the little dragon – his inadvertent buffer from a giant dinosaur – flies in the path of the arrow. Luckily, the elf is able to lower his bow slightly, hoping it’s enough to still strike the creature without hitting any of his allies in its flight path.

Kreekitaka might have been entirely bowled over had it not been for that potion which was now supercharging him and continuing to enter his system. As it was, he managed to grab the creature's snout with his claw and hook his jawblade over its neck and ended up being carried up with it as it reared up with another loud roar, turning and shaking its head to try and both evade the flames jetting at it and dislodge the angry crabman slowly trying to climb atop its back and ride it like this was some sort of extremely strange rodeo. Both arrows struck true, sticking in its side, but this caused it little more than vague annoyance--at least at first. Its biggest problem, right now, was Kree. Now that he was almost straddling the thing, he had another idea. Gripping its back with his feet and holstering his jawblade in order to grip it with another claw, he released its snout and reached for Pilar. "Piyar! New pyan! HHHTHrow here an' give me pyenTAH!ee of syack!" The new plan was brilliant, or so he thought. Of course he didn't account for the monster charging right at Pilar and attempting to bite her in half.

Pilar stumbled to a stop as the tiny dragon flew about the dinosaur's face, wincing as Kreekitaka was nearly roasted more than once. She heard Kreekitaka's shout, but almost ignored it in favor of screaming as the dinosaur barreled towards her. She dove out of the way, somersaulting, and hoped the uyeer behind her had the sense to move. She ran towards the dinosaur, tossing the end of the lasso to Kree and keeping hold of the other end. She hoped she'd understood him properly.

Malshaquon was having quite the time tormenting the dinosaur below him, each jet of fire bringing another painful thrash for its insolence. He was even beginning to take the time to ponder the futility of the crabman’s attempts to ride it like some of his more submissive brethren. And then he flew a little close… right as the dinosaur’s head was coming the other way. Thwack. Just like that, he got launched back the other way into a tree before falling in a heap, his head lolling about while he tried to regain his senses. “Oh… you…” he slurred out. “You… you’re going to pay for that.” A string of archaic curses left his mouth, his voice slowly becoming coherent again has he unsteadily rose to his feet. “You dare!? Now you are going to know PAI-“ His otherwise deep voice suddenly cracked as he lost his composure. An unsteady step forward as he breathed in, and breathed out, blowing a jet of fire across the grass in front of him before jumping into the air again, flight taking a wobbly turn to loop around the fire as the archaic words came again, fire rising higher and higher with him. Taking a sharp turn he went straight through the flames, seeming to ignite on his way through before heading straight for the dragon’s face. “You will learn to fear me!” Blinded by his own rage and likely the fire in his eyes, he’d stick to the first thing he caught a hold of, a thrashing ball of scales, claws, and fire. The dinosaur’s head was the original aim and the largest target, but it was entirely possible he might wind up catching Kreekitaka instead, or clipping the rope in the process…

Draben | Relieved that his arrows had struck their target, the elf quickly begins to load more arrows. Hoping for a cleaner shot, he raises his bow once more. Sadly, the friendly dinosaur, now thrashing about and being battered by both Kreekitaka and Malshaquon in unison, is not the easiest target to hit. Perplexed, the elf releases the bow string, aiming at the creature’s rear portion in hopes to not interfere in the…unorthodox attack the party has managed to launch. Lowering the bow again, the elf bottles the potion and scans the treeline for a better position of fire. Suddenly, the rush of hot air blows across his body as he realizes that a large portion of the grassland has now been consumed in flames. Panicked, the elf lunges towards the safety of the untouched grasses in order to reassess the situation.

Kreekitaka caught the rope as it was tossed up to him, his bodyguards scuttling sideways and swinging their jawblades, blunt sides forward in an attempt to batter the creature's head and stun it. Malshaquon's attack smacked not into Kree or the dinosaur's head but rather its flank, a much larger target--but also a more well-protected one. His flaming, scratching temper tantrum went about as noticed as the arrows had. Meanwhile, Kree grabbed as much of the rope as he could, and then, calling down to one of his bodyguards, tossed the other end down to it before jamming his legs into the same side as the dragon was attacking. Now angered by legs, dragon and arrows, the dinosaur roared and turned around--and started to get tangled in the rope. "Piyar!" called Kree. "Under iTAH!s TAH!aioh, go, go!" Carcharodontosaurus slashed at Malshaquon with its claws, trying to knock it aside, then lunged at it to try and bring its massive serrated teeth to bear. As the flames rose higher and higher in the grass, those strange hoots rose again--and then five small, feathered creatures shot out of the underbrush onto the path, into the area trampled by the party and their prey. Angered and frightened by the flames and action, they surged in a pouncing, viciously-clawed horde towards Draben, the closest target...

Pilar saw those flames spreading quickly, rising higher, and started to go into panic mode. She was a vampire, and thus, very flammable. She'd been set aflame once before, and had no intention of letting it happen again. Kree's voice brought her back to earth, and she rushed to do as she was bid, dashing towards the dinosaur and sliding on her knees under its tail. It was a good thing she was wearing leather for this instead of her nice cotton dress. Her dash brought her further away from the flames, but at the rate they were spreading, they would soon be surrounded. "Mister Kreekitaka, we have to get out of here!" she called.

Malshaquon, well, he was too mad to notice anything after being so insolently attacked, ignored, and swatted about. And then he had to have one of those squeaks too!? And while the flank provided a good surface to hold onto, he was too busy blindly clawing at it until the beast’s claws knocked the little fireball to the ground again, making yet another patch of spreading fire in the grass. He was just getting to his feet when the dinosaur’s mouth closed in on him with a crunch. From inside its mouth came a muffled roar of pain, and just like Malshaquon’s anger, the fire around him flared up even hotter now that it was inside the big guy’s mouth. Evidently he wasn’t dead or completely disabled as he began thrashing and clawing about again, but whatever was going on inside there wasn’t pretty.

Draben | With the grasslands fully ablaze now, and the flames hungrily eating away at the vegetation, the elf dashed across the fields to its opposite side, attempting to stay in a visible area of the battlefield. However, bursting from the edges of the field were several creatures, feathered and beaked, and scrambling directly towards the ranger. Cursing under his breath, the elf turned suddenly, and began heading for the only place that would seeminly slow down his attackers – the dinosaur itself. Lunging under the creature, the elf was hoping that his proximity to the creature would be enough to deter the beaked predators from continuing the chase.

Kreekitaka looked around at the fire, felt the surprised and pained roar of the dinosaur below him as it shook its head violently side to side to try and dislodge the little demon in its mouth, and suddenly had a plan. "Everyone hang onTAH!oo HHHTHe rope!" he yelled, using his claws to swiftly tie what rope he had around it already into a makeshift harness--and then with a shout of "HYAH!" and a jab of his limbs against its ribs, he got its attention again. The dinosaur, noting the flame and feeling itself pushed in a direction--away from the fire--decided that might actually be a good idea, given that it wanted to keep breathing -and- stay unburnt. So, with about five people dangling from it or riding on top of it, the gigantic Carcharodontosaurus broke into a dead sprint--right towards the rope bridge leading back towards the castle Venturil--with a pack of raptors that was steadily growing in number chasing behind it. One can only imagine what might be going through the heads of the guardsmen, besides "get out of the way!!"

Pilar shrieked as she was yanked off her feet, the two uyeer barely having grabbed onto the rope in time. Pilar clung for dear life as the dinosaur sped towards the rope bridge. Her eyes widened. Could the creature even make it across without it giving out under it? Pilar looked behind them to see the raptors running after it. Oh boy. They would have a hell of a time wrangling all these dinos.

Malshaquon, just as quickly as he got chomped on, found himself thrown away again by the giant dinosaur, hitting a tree and falling to the ground in a flaming heap, the fires slowly dying out as he lay there. After a bit he began limping his way back around the tree and out of sight, electing to hide away after such an embarrassing performance. One leg dragged as he walked, and maybe a wing wasn’t fully sprung up like the other, but he managed to make his way away, slipping into the grass, perhaps never to be seen again.

Draben leaped forward, grabbing onto anything on the beast’s backside that would keep him aboard. Hands scrambling, the elf grasped, ironically, one of the arrows he had fired. The head was buried inches deep into the creature, and the ranger grasped it tightly in order to hold on for dear life as he was forcefully jostled repetitively as the party rode away from the grasslands now-in-flames.