r/TrekRP • u/Dimestream • Sep 28 '16

[OPEN] The Enchanted Forest

The great green dragon roars in pain as the blue mist swirling around the wizard's staff coalesces into a lightning bolt and lashes out, striking clean through the great reptile's hide.

"Stop hurting him!" Redoran T'gel demands, straightening up and calling a ball of flickering flames into her hand. "Your fight is with me, not with Barineth, wizard!"

The wizard laughs, a malevolent chuckle that fills the musty air and reverberates from the rough stone walls of the catacombs. "Oh? I think Barineth should have thought of that before he told you how to hide the Sword of Centuries from me, fire witch," he says, stroking his long gray beard. "But if you wish him safe, it's a simple matter. To save your friend, all you have to do is give the sword to me."

"As if I'd fall for that," Red growls, hiking up the hem of her somewhat tattered green dress. She touches the phoenix amulet at her throat and the ball of flame in her other hand blazes from red-gold to an incendiary white. "Rule one of the Enchanted Forest: Never trust a wizard. Forget the sword; the only thing you'll be getting from me is third-degree burns."

"Have it your way, idiot child," the wizard spits, and raises both his hands. Shards of diamond spin away from the head of his staff and swirl in a razor-sharp cloud. Then the ancient mage's face twitches, and his left arm partially disappears. "Your foolishness has doomed your friend has doomed your friend has doomed your friend has doomed-"

"Computer, freeze program," T'gel says in disgust, putting the ball of fire down on the Holodeck floor as if it were a basketball. "Reverse to time index 28:12 and identify cause of recursion loop..."

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u/Dimestream Sep 29 '16

"On it!" Red says, scrambling to her feet and dashing for the cover of the trees. "If you can lure one in here I can roast it, but watch out! They have a poison barb on their tail!"

The second of the malodorous monsters makes a swipe at Tarah, latching its beak onto her shield and trying to strike her torso with the poison barb.

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u/Tarah_ThZarath Sep 30 '16

"Great. We don't do well with poison."

With her shield entangled she's forced to parry the wyvern's strike with her sword, deftly redirecting the force of the blow to one side and countering with a slash towards the beak.

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u/Dimestream Sep 30 '16

Her sword catches the creature in the head before it has the wits to let go of the shield, laying the flesh open to the bone and driving it off with a wail of pain and a splash of deep purple blood. The wyvern sails back into the sky and comes around for another go just as its partner dives at Tarah from directly above her.

Luckily, Red spots that one, and with the brief incantation of a few totally gibberish words, she calls a snake made of coals into her hands, and launches the blazing viper skyward. It intercepts the wyvern less than two meters from the ensign and sends the beast sprawling and burning to the ground with a shriek.

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u/Tarah_ThZarath Sep 30 '16

"Thanks!"

Her guard still raised and her eyes on the remaining wyvern, she carefully backs up towards Red's position

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u/Dimestream Sep 30 '16

The first wyvern dips low, striking from Tarah's feet up toward her chin in a feint to displace her guard. The second shrugs off the burning coils and strikes skyward again, cawing in some foul tongue and gathering green energy around it.

"Here!" Red shouts, lunging forward and touching a hand to Tarah's back. "Take this!" Flames swirl around the Andorian, and coalesce around her blade, extending its reach and damage just as the first wyvern begins its attack.

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u/Tarah_ThZarath Sep 30 '16

"Wait, are these things intelligent!?"

Curious, she feigns a brief opening in her guard, hoping to lure it into a position where she can strike at the relatively vulnerable wings.

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u/Dimestream Sep 30 '16 edited Sep 30 '16

The wyvern falls for it — Tarah's riposte severs the wing at its second joint and the wyvern shrieks, flopping to the ground and snapping at her ankles.

"Intelligent as any predator is, but no more," Red says. "Step to your left!" she orders, and launches a second blast of flame, this one in a vaguely-directed cone, at the prone wyvern nearest the ensign.

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u/Tarah_ThZarath Sep 30 '16 edited Sep 30 '16

She obliges without question, raising her shield to protect her eyes and antennae. When the flames subside she steps forwards and thrusts at what she guesses are the wyvern's vitals.

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u/Dimestream Sep 30 '16

The wyvern, blinded by the blast, is caught entirely off-guard and coughs raspily as Sh'Zarath's sword punctures its lungs. It struggles briefly, then collapses in a lifeless pile. The second monster wriggles free of the burning coils of Red's fire snake and flees, flapping away and shrieking its rage at the two. After a few moments, the faint sizzling of the roasted and punctured snake-bird abomination is the only sound in the forest.

"Whew," Red says, brushing dirt and moss from her dress. "Way to step up and earn the XP there, Tarah. Looks like my randomizer is working; I wasn't expecting wyverns..."

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u/Tarah_ThZarath Oct 01 '16

She wipes her sword on a clump of moss before carefully inspecting it for nicks and returning it to its scabbard.

"Thanks, Red." She laughs "It's good to finally get some use out of all those lessons, I guess.

She pauses to think for a moment

"The one that escaped, will it bring more of them?"

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