Rest and Relaxation: Start Packin'

[Cptdragon9]

(recalculating carnage-levels….)

The end result Brimstone probably would have blamed on himself. The fact that the whole thing slipped as it did reeked of magic gone awry; and the only way stuff like this went that funky was because a mutie was too close to the source.

As Onyx herded her charges back up along the tunnel, the earth behind them did indeed seem to slag and swirl. Though not in a magma state, the moving rock did generate a decent amount of heat. If allowed to settle normally, the angelic bears would have remained sealed in the tunnels and probably slipped back into a hibernative state….

… Had Kara not blasted cold air into the mix.

Yes it did momentarily freeze the bears in their tracks, but it also froze the very stone that Onyx had tried to melt into place with her magic. The sudden exposure of cold against the heated rock caused the material to steam, then crack, forming a long fissure along the wall of the cave.

Then the remaining fulcrum that was Onxy’s magical recreation of her draconic self exploded. The side of the mountain blew outwards, exposing the innards of the bruin cave to the outside world. Several of the bears lumbered numbly to the gaping hole, blinking in the sunlight, the warm sun melting the layer of frost from their fur, the thick layer saving the creature from being frozen solid by Kara’s super cold breath. One of the bruins stood up on its hind legs, sniffing at the fresh breeze that wafted by the newly created exit.

Then it growled. With renewed strength the white feathered wings snapped into the wind and the bear took flight, roaring out in aggressive rage, a whole flight of bruin launching into the air behind it; the whole hive buzzing with renewed purpose.

Brimstone had hustled with Kara and Onyx along the newly excavated pathway the dragon had created; but he was not only out of breath but woefully out of shape. He had to pause, panting as he rested his butt along the wall of the tunnel. It was then that he paused, then rested a hand on the rough-hewn tunnel. “Ya’ll feel that?” he asked, his brow wrinkling in confusion as he tried to fathom what was causing the mountain to vibrate like that.

[Solem'cleavu]

((Just one correction. Onyx wasn't closing the way behind them as they went along the tunnel, she really only collapsed one section of it and was working on opening up the way in front of them after that. Plus I thought the cavern was much deeper than that. Oh well.))

Despite the fact that the mana double that Onyx had created was more or less fighting on it's own there still had to be a link between shadow and creator in order to full the bears into thinking that it was still her. As such once Kara chilled the double Onyx had gasped at the sudden change before crashing into the ground having lost enough concentration to keep herself afloat. As she was getting back up and dusting herself off she narrowed her glare at Kara when she showed back up. "What..did you do?" The look she gave was not a happy one at all but that was all she managed before the tunnel shook with the explosion of her double.

Growling a bit before she herded the other two together and then teleported all three of them to a spot on the mountain side overlooking the explosion site. Her brow twitched before she rounded herself on Kara. "You silly girl make sure you fully understand the situation before you interfere. I could have controlled the explosion to not blow out the entire side of this mountain if you had not done what you have done but no, you had to play little miss justice and try to do things your own way. Because of your interference, I lost my concentration which in turn severed the link between myself and that double I had created. With that link severed I could not control that explosion."

Turning away from the woman she just kicked a stone down the side of the mountain, she hoped she would hit one of those things to draw their attention again. "Now we have a much bigger problem to deal with. I remember seeing these things in one of Clawrift's old tomes. They were an ancient chimerical experiment. Their creation was completed with the best of intentions as they used holy magicks in their creation and were originally intended to wipe out evil from this world. Thus the angelic concepts that you have noticed Brimstone. There were a couple major issues with these chimeras however.

The first is that the concept of "evil" that their creators held may have been different from the majority of the population but we are not sure of that one. What we do know is that the second major issue is that like much of the other chimerical experiments these require the flow of mana to even survive but unlike other mana constructs nothing they do returns to the mana flow. The longer they stay in an area then that area will effectively become a dead zone. Sealed up as they were we didn't necessarily have to worry about it but now that they are awake we now have a much bigger problem on our hands. This is why chimerical research has been severely limited if not outright banned. Other than the possible moral implications of the research no one has been able to solve that one fundamental flaw."

It was then that she turned back to Brimstone and Kara. "Since the existence of these creatures is a threat to the mana flow of this world this situation is now every single bit the Dragon clans' business. Kara you can either help us or stay out of our way. This is Vashtalian business now. If you wish to help you can go ahead and try to get them back around here so we can contain the issue. I will be requesting reinforcements from the military."

[Power Girl]

Kara controlled her anger and spoke in a civil tone of voice. "Lady Onyx, do not, I repeat, do not blame this on me. What has happened here is mainly your fault. You charged in those tunnels instead of waiting for us. Were we not supposed to be quiet and use stealth to see what was causing the problem. We could have stayed near the gnome underground town.

I do appreciate you saving Mr. Brimstone's life from that bear but I am sure you could have knocked it out and not killed it. Then you roared loudly like a blooming idiot alerting all these thousands and thousands of these flying bears so you came at us. This is your idea of being quiet and just observing what the problem is?

You could have told us your plan but you did not. Far as I know you were going to slaughter every single one of these bears without a care in the world. Now I did tell Mr. Brimstone my plan on using my super breath to cool down the temperature in the cave so the bears could hibernate and calm down. He did not tell me not to do it. If he had, I wouldn't have gone ahead.

Also, you there near me when I used my super breath and you didn't say a word to me to stop. Again, you never mention your plan to me. It seems you want to do this on your own and not by teamwork.

Do you believe in teamwork, Lady Onyx?

If you do, we all need to plan and work together as a team of three and not of one. We must be all on the same page and not a different one. First off, what do you suggest I should do so I can bring them back here and what are you and Mr. Brimstone going to do once that happens."

(OOC - I thought everyone went down further in the planet using the tunnels and the cavern was much bigger and deeper where the bears were.)

[Solem'cleavu]

((that's what I thought too but apparently everyone was just close to the side of the mountain. I've learned not to argue on the majority of the technicalities it's much easier that way.))

Upon listening to Kara's rebuttal Onyx just sighed. "Look Kara, no where has it been mentioned that we were to simply observe the creatures first. This, mission as I suppose it could be called, was one of elimination not scouting. Granted the original goal of this task was the elimination of armored ants however the creatures we ran into are much worse than that. The only thing we have going for us is that there aren't nearly as many of these bear creatures as there would be in a entire ant colony.

Additionally, my "plan" at the time that I charged into the cavern was to keep them busy to allow you two a headstart down the tunnel and back to the surface. I had thought that much obvious as the attention of all those creatures was on me and not either of you. However I suppose I was mistaken on that one. These chimeras cannot be reasoned with, they are a plague upon the mana flow of this world and therefore must be destroyed. I did not know what we were up against until I saw that first one as the auras I sensed from the group as a whole I could not recognize. If I was able to recognize the aural signature of these creatures before we encountered that first one then yes, I definitely would have filled both of you in but when we ran into that first one it was already too late.

That is the reason why I attacked first, that is the reason I jumped into the cavern. Excuse me for taking initiative because we would not have had enough time to have a nice long chat about the situation. Whether or not I roared after the initial kill would not have mattered one single bit as those creatures were already beginning to wake up when we encountered the first one. That roar was mostly to alert them that I was the one who killed that first bear and to draw their attention to me. I didn't ask you to stop with your super breath because quite frankly I did not know you were going to do that. At the time I was a little busy controlling that double of myself, controlling my flight spell as well as creating an exit for us so in all honesty I wasn't listening as there were other things that required my attention.

The explosion from that mana double I made, even if I was able to control the explosion, wouldn't have done nothing more than slow them down anyway but at least they would have still been in the cave network. You think I was acting foolish? I was acting as my duty as a Dragon demanded. All threats to the flow of mana of this world shall be eliminated and nothing less. I will say again, these creatures are nothing more than abominations. It doesn't matter how good the intentions were behind their creation. If we were able to keep them contained in the cave network then perhaps I could have had members of our holy and mage orders here to help reseal them so we wouldn't have to go through the trouble of destroying them all however now that they are free we do not have another choice but to destroy them."

Looking out over all the bears that have fled the cavern already. "We've wasted enough time with this petty argument. It doesn't matter who may have been in the right and who may have been in the wrong. All that matters is the task at hand. Kara you take the left flank, I will take the right, we must get their attention and draw the entire flock back to an uninhabited area. While you were talking I have already submitted the request for assistance from the Royal Military. We will have a full battalion from the Royal Army on standby at a designated location consisting of both Dragon and Humanoid soldiers. There will also be a squadron from the mage orders and a squadron from the holy order mixed in with them to counteract that barrier they like to cast. Our task is to guide the creatures back to them at which point they will be eliminated. Brimstone you can ride with me. It doesn't matter how either of you attack them, our main goal is to just get their attention so they follow us."

Teleporting a bit away from the other two at that point before Onyx shifted into her full draconic form. Laying down a bit and extending a wing so that brimstone could climb up.

[Power Girl]

"Lady Onyx", slowly began Kara. "Since when did this become your expedition and not Mr. Brimstone's? He gives the orders here and not you. If there is trouble, he communicates to the authorities. If I remember correctly the Gnomes came to him for help and I do believe it was about the giant ants and not about these chimeras bears. It seems to me that you knew in advance about these creatures and their location. That was how you found them so easily and how you knew they were waking up.

Your agenda all along was to destroy them and not to keep them safe or alive.

You know what, you're utterly evil and I, for one, am not into genocide of an entire race. I fight for justice, law and order as well I protect the innocent and the weak from evil doers and disasters. These chimeras are the innocent here and, if I have to, I will protect them from you. Keeping them alive and sealed in somewhere is far better than death."

The teenaged Kryptonian turned to Brimstone. "Mr.Brimstone, I believe you should contact the authorities and see if they know anything about Lady Onyx and these chimeras. Please see if she is speaking the truth. We only her word on what is going on here."

[Cptdragon9]

(Okay.. maybe the size of the explosion wasn’t exactly as large as to blow half the mountaintop a way, but a good chuck of gravel was moved to allow the bears to escape.)

Brimstone couldn’t help but roll his eyes as Onxy revealed the original creation of the creatures. “Ah huh. Why is it somebody things they can gene-engineer a better mousetrap? Such hoity-toity ideas never go as planned. Case in point,” and he gestured towards where the bears swarmed circling as more and more of their kind joined the swarm, humming over the landscape below them in a loose cloud of fur and feathers.

There was no way he could stop the girls from bickering with each other. For one, either one of them was strong enough to clobber him senseless, something he didn’t really want to incur at this point. Still he was going to have to wedge a crowbar between the dragon’s pride vs the heroine’s righteous indignation.

He was going to need a very big crowbar to do that.

“Uhm, girls? I think it’s all moot at this point. Look.”

The bears, having reached a crescendo of celestial fighting aura; their song at such a pitch to make Brimstone’s teeth rattle painfully; suddenly split apart. Various smaller swarms now quickly diverted across the terrain, making for several key points on the Rhydin map: The Militant bivouac, the Huerfang Castle, the Black Inn, and towards the seamier side of Rhydin proper. Two more clouds of bears made for open water, one headed towards Lahnia’s shores; the other clearly honing in on the Vashtalian homefront!!!

Brimstone then scrambled up on Onyx’s back, even a s he checked his arsenal, praying that they could mitigate some of the damages and turn back a few of those swarms.

(I’ll be setting up splinter threads later this week.. pending on how quickly and if the bears can be stopped before they reach their destinations….)

[Solem'cleavu]

((reposting, decided to redo some of the wording))

Onyx just growled, both at Kara's accusations and at the swarm that was clearly growing. She only nodded a bit at Brimstone's remark. "That is exactly what I had just said, in the end this bickering serves no point. It's either kill these creatures or let them kill others. Those are the only choices we have as we cannot seal them all, not now and not anymore."

Narrowing her gaze at Kara then before she just sighed. "Look Kara, I will go ahead and issue the order for our military units to try and capture as many of these creatures as they can. However I cannot guarantee that we will even be able to capture any of them. If capturing them proves to be too difficult or if we start incurring unacceptable losses in the attempt we will abandon that objective. I will not stand losing just one of my soldiers due to some hare-brained attempt at capturing creatures that are not indigenous to this world and were created as nothing more than weapons. Also if they start killing off the local populace you can consider their lives forfeit then as well. Those are the conditions upon which we will try to capture these creatures.

At that point Onyx had caused a small crystal to appear in front of her which began to flare a bright crimson as she spoke once more. "All Vashtalian units currently on the Rhydinian continent. Our objective is to push back the swarm of furry flying bear things away from all populated areas. Capture and knock out as many as you can however collateral damage will be kept to a minimum. Force the bears into melee combat when possible. Any bears that are captured will be resealed later so that they are no longer a threat to the mana flow. If even one Vashtalian falls in battle in the capture attempt or if collateral damage to populated areas is incurred during the attempt or if any of the bears begin killing off the general populace then abandon the capture objective and the lives of the swarm will be considered forfeit. The scouts will assist in in how our forces are to be split up. I need three scouts to split off and head to the outlying areas of Lahnia, Vashtalia, and the Militant basecamp. That is all."

Before waiting on an answer from Kara Onyx had then spread out her wings after Brimstone had climbed aboard. Mentally giving the necessary orders to the military commanders she had brought out before she just launched herself in the air. Letting out a thunderous roar in an attempt to get the attention of the closest group of flying bears.

[Power Girl]

"I cannot believe that no one here has knockout gas, sleeping gas, freeze ray, tranquilizer darts, a magical sleep spell or something in that order", stated Kara to Onyx. "How the heck did you manage to put all those bears there in the first place? Mass teleportation spell? Can't you reverse time so this doesn't happen in the first place or create a force shield or bubble around those bears? Why did you make so many of them too?"

She paused and used her super vision at the cave opening. "I'm resealing that opening", she told Brimstone and Onyx. "Not every one of those flying bears left. Maybe a bit over 750 or so did. There are still at least a few thousand left in there and going back to their hive."

With that, Power Girl leapt into the air and flew to the opening faster than a speeding bullet. Once there, she caused an outside cave in and resealed the opening so no other bear could leave that way.

She then flew back and rejoined Onyx who was in the air with Brimstone on her back. "I'm not sure, but those bears could be hungry. What sort of food do they eat? We can use that to trap them so they can be safely caged."

[Cptdragon9]

Brimstone didn’t know were Kara was getting her number but there sure did seem to be more than a thousand of the lovely bruins buzzing about out there. Not that he could physically count them. No it was more like he could feel them all in his head. They were pissed, and since was the resident empath, he was getting the brunt of it.

She did have a good idea of sealing the cave. They sure didn’t need any more bears buzzing about out here. As it was the dragon were gonna have a dickens of a time trying to catch them all as they seemed to spread out more and more. Only a few peeled back to face the flying trio.. well two flying, one riding as BS dragged out a long muzzled weapon that had coils and wires wrapped about the barrel. Trying to get a bead on one of the bruins was a bugger of a job. These were the times he missed being all cyborgy, nothing like an internal tracking device handy at the ready when needed. Still he managed one shot, the weapon making a deep thrum before it kicked, nearly unseating the mutant, a fortuitous accident as the laser bolt shot from the bear’s eyes missed frying his ear by fractions. The blast did connect, temporarily stunning the bear, the great beast shaking it’s head and shoulders, rolls of muscle coiling under the thick shaggy hide, before it roared again and charged through the sky, sending another barrage of laser beaming into the intrepid team.

No, it just wasn’t going to be that easy…

[Solem'cleavu]

"Kara we'll explain the hows and whys of these things later but for now we need to act." Onyx then split off from the heroine to let the girl do her thing in caving in that hole so more didn't escape from the mountain right away. Curving her flight to keep Brimstone from completely unseating himself when he let loose that round however when the mutant would eventually sit himself back upright he would feel one of Onyx's scales rise up and form itself around his lower back for support. At the same time a couple more of her scales would lift from her body and mold themselves around his legs.

"Little one you might want to hang on to your toy there." The dragon banking a hard right to dodge another of those odd little laser blasts even as her flying began to pick up a little speed. By this time she had gained a little altitude over the main group of the bears before she just dove downward. Tucking her legs up underneath her to reduce the air drag she more or less ignored the few bears so far that had broken off to attack. Occasionally tucking her wings in to roll to the left or the right to dodge a blast or two before snapping her wings back out to level herself from the roll each time.

Once she reached the main group she just dove right through it. Taking two of them in her jaws and another one or two in her front talons. Crunching down on the ones in her jaw before they decided to attack she opened her maw again to let what was left of them fall to the ground even as she crushed the bears that she had caught in her talons. Twisting her wings she was using them much like a modern aircraft uses it's wing flaps to change her direction and catapult herself back upwards driving her talons through the heads of the bears that were originally chasing her. Her wings flapping in great strides in order to gain more altitude for another pass at that point.

"All Dragon squadrons if you have not done so already take your true forms and contain the enemy. Not a single one of them shall escape this area. All other forces take flight and thin the enemy's numbers." Already in the distance where the other groups of bears had flown there were several larger shapes darting about the swarms even as smaller shapes began to rise from the ground looking much like another swarm as the soldiers in each detachment of the original force had cast their respective flight spells to take the fight to the bears.

All in all more and more bears from the lead force would be breaking off to engage the Solem'cleavu Princess and her rider. The larger dragon seeming to have no trouble darting about, although Brimstone might nearly being thrown about like a ragdoll with some of the quicker maneuvers Onyx was taking. Some of the more glancing bear laser attacks simply reflecting off her scales which seem to by now to have taken on a more glass-like sheen rather than the usual matte finish they normally shown.

[Cptdragon9]

It didn’t take too long for Brimstone to adapt to Onyx’s high-flying antics. In fact it seemed the mutant harkened to the days when he himself used to take wing in much the same manner. Granted it was a loooong time ago, but he quickly found himself leaning into the turns and spins, almost anticipating her movements through the sky. Part might have been his ability to read her emotion (and dragons did fight with a passion). It wasn’t quite a mind merge or meld, but he could almost read her pattern of attack because he would have done the same if he had his wings.

This helped when they got in the thick of things as he was able to pick off a stray bear or two that seemed to be a little smarter than the pack as the bruin would try to outflank the dragon. Strength and size might be one thing, but dragons also made awfully big targets. Even with the reflective pattern of Onyx’s morphing scales, the laser were leaving charred marks, as if the very top layer of those thick scales were being burned off, leaving an oxidized charcoal trail behind.

Soon the battlefield was looking much like a laser light show. Bolts were reflecting off the dragon’s hides, only to ricochet off to Gods-know where. And there were a Lot of bears, looking like tiny crows swarming the monstrously-large reptiles. It was hard to imagine that each small speck was actually a grizzly-sized creature… until one tried side-swiping BS off his perch. He was thankful for the form-fitting scaled seat or him might well have tumbled off as he continued his own assault, using plasma bolts to thin down the ranks. Still he barely made a dent. “Made these things tough enough?” he complained after one nearly took his ear.

It was by no means an easy feat, especially when the bears seemed to set up their own forcefields to deter being eaten. Dragon fire seemed only effective if the bear caught the brunt of the inferno – blast; glancing shots did little more than make their hides smolder (and BS was now convinced that burn bear hair was one of the worst smells ever) The bears were quite agile as well, able to avoid those incinerating blasts while continuing their barrage on the dragons.

And not all of them went for the dragons. It was as if a stranger force was pulling them away for the engagement, luring them on to somewhere else. There were clearly too many to keep corralled over the valley or near the somewhat extinct volcano where Brimstone had set up shop. He did manage to look over his shoulder to see how Kara was doing. “Well, she’s got the cave sealed up. Now if we can just figure out how to stuff them back inna the bottle. I don’t think luring them with food’s gonna cut it. They’re after somethin’ else….”

[Solem'cleavu]

Despite the size of the Dragons they were also surprisingly maneuverable as even in the thickest part of the swarm they were dodging more shots than what had actually hit any of the Dragons. With the regular humanoid soldiers having joined their draconic brethren in the air it was easy to see just how much more formidable the Vashtalian forces were as both Dragon and Humanoid alike were fighting fluidly. The dragons' fire merely being a distraction for the much smaller humanoid soldiers to make their own attacks on an unguarded side.

"We did not make these things, a nation that no longer exists did." Even as some of the bears had broken off from the engagement and were trying to continue on their original course the Priestesses and mages would be coming into play as well as the bears would be flying straight into a barrier wall only to be sniped by a high power attack spell from a mage lying in wait hiding out on the ground. Before long the Bruin numbers would indeed begin to dwindle as it became more and more obvious that the military was outnumbering the flying bears.

"Who said anything about luring them anywhere. We will destroy them until they get to be small enough in number to easily capture them. We will not let them out of this valley, our forces are already outnumbering these bear things." Onyx just snorted as she continued to press her own attack. Eventually they got near one of the other pockets of fighting and it was starting to seem like for every soldier that the bears had so much as grazed that one or two of the creatures themselves would end up being taken out. The humanoid soldiers using their flight spells to full effect as they were easily more maneuverable than the bears.

[Cptdragon9]

(It’ll be three threads.. this thread outside Brimstone’s Bar where the majority of the bears are duking it out with the Vashtalian forces

one in Rhydin (going after Tristan, and pretty much anyone else along that stretch of land that might be thinking bad thoughts) http://delmarandfriendsrpg.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=764&pid=12131&st=0entry12131

and one headed to Megan’s rabbit ranch http://delmarandfriendsrpg.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=765

… shouldn’t be that complicated…..)

Again, there were a Lot of Bears.

Yes the dragons were managing to contain quite a few of them, but they could only rally their forces so quickly. By the time that most of the vanguard had engaged in the battle, three smaller swarms had managed to escape the valley. One headed towards Rhydin proper, honing on in the seedier side of the town. One peeled off, heading towards the western side of Rydin, out where Megan had her newly established were-rabbit farm. A third seemed to spiral upwards and upwards until the bears were no long visible, even with Brimstone’s or even Kara’s enhanced vision.

“Great,” BS snarled when he was able to glance upwards without being waylaid by a smart bruin trying to sidewipe him off his draconic saddle. “Make that Space-farin’, laser-shootin’, angelic-cloned psychotic bears. This is jus’ getting better and better.” He ran another round, strafing at a particularly thick batch of bears, watching (as he was beginning to learn) his plasma bolts wing off their collective shielding. Seemed the more of them in a clump, the better their wards. He was getting quite frustrated. The longer this dragged out, the more bears that would escape. He was so desperate to make a dent that he was not searching his pockets for anything that could help. Even a rock, if he could find it.

[Solem'cleavu]

((so exactly how many bears were you thinking were around. Because the Vashtalian forces would be numbering about 2500-3000+ individuals with the vast majority being from the main military with only maybe 100 allocated to holy and mage orders.))

'Well plus side is that if they are out there then they won't bother us. Besides I doubt they would pose much of a threat to anything that may exist out there." At about the time those smaller swarms would break off two squads of the main Vashtalian force would break off in pursuit with more forces teleporting in to replace them. Meanwhile another squadron from the holy order was called in. The priestesses encircling the mountain they're hymn-like chanting beginning to be heard over even the bears' odd noises as they worked to identify and replace the seals which would put the bears still in the mountain back into stasis and nullify their impact on the local mana flow.

Now it was just a matter of taking the time to eliminate the remainder of them that were flying about in the air. Several of the dragons working on breaking up the larger clumps of bear things having come to the same conclusion that Brimstone had come to regarding their shielding. Although they were working on that for a while before Brimstone had figured it out himself.

[Cptdragon9]

((so exactly how many bears were you thinking were around. Because the Vashtalian forces would be numbering about 2500-3000+ individuals with the vast majority being from the main military with only maybe 100 allocated to holy and mage orders.))

(well if you’ve got 3000 in the field (more than I had figured) I would have to say abot 20,000 bears. Yeah, I know. How the hell did they all fit in the mountain? Magically dimensional walls? The mountain extends deeper into the ground than most thought? Faulty math? They breed faster than those damn were rabbits? However.. whatever.. that’s the gist of it.)

'Well plus side is that if they are out there then they won't bother us. Besides I doubt they would pose much of a threat to anything that may exist out there."

Perhaps Drac and his ilk wouldn’t worry about a handful of bears drifting off into space, but Brimstone did. Crap like that more often than not would come back to bite him in the ass. Sometimes literally. But he couldn’t worry about it now as he had to focus his attention to the swarm at hand. At least it seemed that they were able to keep most of the furry little boogers contained. Still it was like an oversized beehive swarming about, and with the high pitched musical hum from the bears coupled with the louder toned chants the dragon mages droned, along with growls and roars from both dragons and bears; well the noise was deafening. And the emotional toll on the empathy was devastating. With his jaw clenched so tight it threatened to crack his teeth, BS continued to blast away, hoping to bring some relief to his over-sensitive nerves by mowing through the competition.

Attempting to quell the bears swarming in the valley was one challenge. Attempting to collect the smaller swarms that managed to escape the roundup was another. The bears were just as quick on the wing as their reptilian counterparts, and those damn wards they generated seemed to keep them just ahead of the game, able to dodge magical snares, or dip and veer before wards could be set in place. Sometimes they folded their wings and dipped into the thick forest canopy where the larger reptiles couldn’t follow. On at least two occasions the damn bears merely teleported when their way was blocked, the trick only tipped by a heightening of their celestial pitch before they went “poof”, only to reappear some miles further along their trek.

In short it was damn near impossible to stop the angelic bruins from their self- appointed task

[Solem'cleavu]

((actually 20,000 would be way too much no matter how you look at it. maybe 20k total that were in the mountain but as far as the bears that were actually able to get out of it I would have to say at least 4,000 no more than 6,000. You keep with your 20k nonsense and we will not be done with this thread until after new years at the pace it's going. Hell this SL lasts much longer than first week of december and I'd be willing to just ignore the entire thing and let the thread die. it's gone on long enough already for the year's halloween thread.))

Only reason the dragons themselves were not able to follow the bears in the forest would be because they didn't want to be crashing through it. Instead the smaller humanoid members of the Vashtalian Military forces were following the bears through the forests itself. What did throw them off for a short time was that the bears learned how to teleport but after the first couple of times the pursuit forces were teleporting right along with the bears to keep up with them. Onyx just watched the entire fiasco with a rolling of her eyes before she banked to one side to avoid another attack. "These things are beginning to get annoying, then again can't really expect much else from something that was reportedly created partially to fight against the Dragon Clans."

Indeed only now was it completely obvious that, despite the two smaller groups which broke off, that the battle was completely under the control of the Vashtalian forces. A few minutes later the priestesses near the mountain would complete the seal which would put the remainder of the bears inside of the mountain back into stasis before they too joined in the battle and worked to keep the rest of them contained to the battle areas.

[Cptdragon9]

(don’t fret, this battle will wrap up soon… it’s the Other two that might linger….but they’ll be out of your way…)

<<"These things are beginning to get annoying, then again can't really expect much else from something that was reportedly created partially to fight against the Dragon Clans.">>

“Wait, they what…?” Brimstone would have grilled the dragon more except another wave of bears tried to up-end him from his seat. The mutant bit his lip as he grappled around in the seat, twisting so he could attempt to pick off the trailing tail of bruins, only to see the plasma bolts deflected. He let off a string of foul Del Marian curses as he manages to right himself in the saddle. “So WHO decided to gengineer something to take out dragons? Or better yet Why….?”

Apparently the same group of lazer-blastin’ grizzlies took offense to his language and had rounded back on point. BS braced himself for impact, because it looked as if they weren’t going to pull out of the dive this time, and she could just make out the distortion that shimmered around the 8-pack of bears that indicated a force field. All he knew was if that was a magical ward, it was gonna sting… a lot.

[Solem'cleavu]

"You can ask Claw about it later, I've been in conversation with him for the past half hour regarding these things and that information is the latest I've received on them." Onyx looking up at the diving group of bear things however before she set herself into a spin just before the group had reached her. In no time the dragon princess had pulled off a tight turn to end up behind the bears before she just plowed her claw through their shielding grabbing the middle bear and scattering the rest.

Afterwards the rest of the bears would begin to be picked off by the other dragons and soldiers in the immediate area.

[Cptdragon9]

As the fight seemed to wind down, there was a noticeable shift in the bears’ attacks. At first they had been swiping at anything that crossed their path, dragon and human alike. Now it seemed the remnants of the bruins were now congregating on Onyx’s position, taking more and more strafing runs at the passenger on her back.

Brimstone found himself ducking yet another wave of divine bruin intervention. “What the hey!” he frothed back, even as he nailed another bear with a clean head shot with the plasma rifle (after having to smack the pal of his hand against the butt end of the chamber to get it to load, the heat beginning to warp the loading mechanism) “What, do I smell like honey ‘r sumptin?”

[Solem'cleavu]

((well, waited long enough for Kara to try and catch up, heh.))

"You should feel honored Brimstone as it seems that they consider us the bigger threat over the rest of the Vashtalian forces. After all it is not just you they are going after." Those bears were getting more inventive with their attack runs as at the same moment some of the bears had dived at Brimstone there were still others that were trying to attack Onyx from below. Onyx banking hard to the left as another round of eye-laser fire shot up at her and ended up hitting the group that was above her. How much damage the bears would have ended up doing to each other on that attack though would remain to be seen. The rest of the Military forces in the area beginning to converge on Onyx's location as well the fighting was beginning to end in various locations of their area. There were still other squadrons, however, that broke off to join the pursuit teams once they had cleared out their respective locations of hostiles.

[Cptdragon9]

“Yeah well I don’t need to feel this honored!” Again another round from Brimstone’s heavy caliber gun neatly blasted the ear off of one bear, and of course just making the bear that much more pissed. So much for celestial happy angel types.

At least the troops were closing ranks, rounding up the bears, confining them in a tighter and tighter circle. Yes, they were finally getting them under control, but it seemed the smaller the circle, the madder the bears got. Many threw themselves heavily against the wards and the dragons themselves, but most seemed pretty intent on getting at Onyx and her rider. Brimstone had to wonder if he was emitting some sort of bad-guy odor; like if he’d been hanging out with Tim, or Tristan.

Yeah, just another wonderful reason why he really should shoot them both dead the next time he saw them. Really.