Across the high peak to the west, a few of the dark glossy black shapes skitter. The way they adhere to even perfectly vertical surfaces is uncanny. One is knocked from the cliff face by an agile gryphon, however, and goes tumbling hundreds of feet down, it's carapace cracking on the rocks below.
Dove skrees out loud, loud enough to echo off the aerie walls, alerting those who didn't see that *they* are here. She spreads her wings, but does not dive...not yet. She waits for a group of them to get in first before she springs her trap.
Aubri takes flight as well, every fighting claw needed now. He takes up the tactic, yanking them quickly off the cliff before they can bring legs and claws to bear...darting in and leaping off chitinous bodies.
Dierdre doesn't pause in her duty, but does glance up and over, shuddering as she sees a wave of the foul creatures approaching. She leans forward and starts moving even faster, but can't quite get enough speed to move her pace up to a trot with two gryphons behind her.
Stormdancer snarls, and stalks closer to the western walls, watching as the first few turn into dozens, then hundreds... their strange, eerie sounds seeming to come from everywhere. Gryphons take flight by the thousands, the roar of their wings almost drowning out the higher-pitched insect noises.
Mathias blinks as he sees the black skittering menaces for the first time. The moment passes quickly as he aims his crossbow, firing at the eye of one that gets a little too close for comfort. The thing keens out in alien pain as it is blinded on one side by the bolt. It is followed by another bolt shortly in it's other eye as Mat fires again. He does not wait to hang around long, sliding back off his perch and disappearing into the aerie, towards the hatchery and the remaining gryphons there. He goes to warn them they are out of time and to help as best as possible.
Dierdre 's flanks are becoming lathered in sweat now as she begins to pull more urgently against her burden, a hint of the equine instinct to panic beginning to build up on her and she looks over her shoulder constantly, causing her to stumble, to make sure nothing is sneaking up behind her even though she logically knows the bugs are still a fair distance from where she is...
The bugs move with a brutal, cold efficiency. They strike incredibly quickly at anything that comes close enough, and more than one over brave gryphon is snatched out of the air by glistening black sword arms and drawn, screaming, down into the deadly sea of invaders. It only takes a few of those before the rashly brave wise up, and start pelting stones down from much higher.
Stormdancer leaps skywards as one moves towards him... then flips, rolls in mid air, and comes down hard upon it's back. He lashes savagely with his foreclaws, managing to sink one talon down between the joints of thorax and head. He pushes off with his hindlegs, as hard as he can, and with a nasty, wet sound the head comes neatly off. The bug still slashes up at Stormdancer, however, slapping the back of one of those deadly limbs against his retreating hindquarter.
Stormdancer shrills in surprise, and dismay, dropping the head down, and glancing back at his haunch... no blood. He's not doing THAT again!
Dove doesn't waste time as hundreds of the bugs come swarming into her home. The anger she feels towards this intrusion is obvious as she screams out loud, "DIIEEEEE!!!!!!!" She jumps from her post, folding her wings tightly to her side, her foreclaws extended out in front of her as though she's reaching for them. She hits close to a tight pack that's herded together by pelting boulders, her infamous spires leaping from the ground, impaling many, wounding others. Five spires go up simultaneously, scattered throughout the ranks near where Dove landed. She rears up as the bugs converge on her, her feathers and fur melting from soft white to metallic silver, her eyes flashing from light pink to glowing bright red. She starts tearing into them physically, beak and claw, occasionally leaping up and diving into more and more. She is soon covered in gore and ichor from the Krzzn'tai.
Aubri grips a bug's very tail and yanks it off the wall, bits of dust falling behind it as he shoves off again to keep out of reach before it can turn around. No mistakes, stay focused, he thinks to himself.
The cliffs grow black with insects. There are thousands of them. The entire western cliff, along the entire plateau, boils with the marauding army. In a matter of minutes, the spear dropping squads are empty of their weapons, and resort to hastily snatched up rocks. Crossbow bolts whistle through the air... though most of the bolts skip harmlessly across the hard armor, a few find soft joints and vanish into the body.
Stormdancer thinks Aubri has the right idea, and joins the others at the upper edge of the cliff face, kicking, grabbing, pulling... doing whatever he can to cause one to loose it's footing and crash into the rocks below... and occasionally onto one of it's fellows.
Dierdre grunts, jerking to a halt as a rock she didn't notice catches on one of the travois. She squirms, cursing sharply as she backs, and shifts to one side, trying to free the obstruction. The gryphon in the travois twists, trying to help her free it...
Dove is a shining arc of living lightning, skipping and jumping from chitinous body to chitinous body, death being left behind. She manages to focus on the large clumps of bugs, scattering them, making it easier for the others to pick them off.
Aubri flutters away from the wall as it fills, watching for bugs that can't be defended by their neighbors to yank off...grabbing legs works better if you get the knee and keeps you farther away..
Dierdre grabs her crossbow off of it's clip again, holding it in one hand as she struggles to free herself from the catching rock, which follows Murphy's law of ropes and cords and are catching at every possible opportunity.
The heavy 'thwonk' of ballistae sounds now and then, the much heavier bolts easily shattering their targets... but taking far too long to reload. All too soon, the guard nests are overrun, and the powerful weapons grow silent.
The bugs are single-minded. They pour down the cliffs, and into the caves, searching for anything living, or edible. But there is very little for them, and they quickly come out again, searching, questing, like an endless wave of ants.
Dierdre finally, with the help of another burdened healer, manages to get free and go on pulling, but she's fallen to nearly the back of the retreat train... And the click of the bugs is beginning to get rather dangerously close... she's at the edge of the plateau now, but the bugs are sweeping rapidly across the open space towards the easy targets they perceive on the ground.
Be it the sound of her hooves, or the taste of blood from the wounded she carries.... but a pair of the bugs break off and seem to start following down the path that Dierdre has taken. Several others go the other way, towards the infirmary, and the last of those taking flight.
Dierdre pulls frantically, even managing a slow, trundling trot/jog away from the bugs, but she's barely a match for them in speed on open terrain unburdened, let alone dragging two wounded gryphons with her. She raises her crossbow, casting rapid glances behind her to check the progress of the closest Krrzn'tai, getting ready to fire the instant they're in range.
Dove continues her dance of death among the Krzzn'tai swarm below until she makes that one mistake due to being worn out. She's just a little too slow in retreating from one Krzzn'tai who manages to 'catch' her in one of its front pincers. She's pulled down swiftly under the black glossy masses, still fighting and skreeing until even her white body can no longer be seen. The Krzzn'tai swarm, huddling around where the fallen weapon was last seen, then suddenly break off to continue the assault on the aerie.
Stormdancer hears the skreeee of a captured gryphon, and stares in horror as Dove is drawn under.... then roars his rage! He spies Dierdre's followers, and drops sharply, snatches a heavy boulder from the scattered rock fall, and lurches upwards again, flying hard, straining against the weight.
Dierdre raises the crossbow in a practiced motion and fires, hand grabbing another bolt and dropping it into place as the first one hits it's target, and deflects off the chitinous armor of the hideous creature's head.
Fire billows from some of the caves, along with the occasional muffled explosion... what the source might be is a mystery.
Aubri looks up at Storm's roar of rage, flapping upward for a look.. no Dove flashing below.. "Where is she??" he screams at Storm!
Dierdre's sides are heaving at this point, her flanks coated in sweat as she tries to pull even more fiercely, to escape, her ears flinching at the roar of the explosion. She fires a second bolt, with a little more success although the bugs are beginning to close rapidly now. This one strikes in it's eye, causing one to come to a sudden halt, waving it's pinchers to try and brush at where it's been struck.
Stormdancer struggles higher, and then releases the hundred pounds of stone. It plummets down, but does not strike directly upon the bugs chasing Dierdre... instead, it strikes it off-center, towards the rear.... crushing and dislocating one of it's legs. It pauses, and seems to look at the leg in confusion.
More Krrzn'tai than could ever be counted continue to swarm into the aerie, pouring in through between the black gateposts, crawling over the rock walls as though they were on ground. The black armored carpet continues, clustering here and there, scattering as rocks and boulders are dropped from above by gryphons.
Stormdancer shrills, "I don't know! I saw her go down... but ...."
Aubri screeches down, "DOVE? DOVE!!" into the mass below, sweeping back and forth...hoping she hears.. "COME HERE! COME UP HERE!"
Dove does not hear Aubri over the clattering of the Krzzn'tai above her. Who knows if she ever will again...hopefully Stormdancer remembers what she told him about if this should happen...
Stormdancer sweeps back and forth along the base of the cliff, searching for the fallen as well. "She's gone!" he shrills to Aubri. "She's *awurk*...!" A dislodged bug topples from the heights and slams down against the outer edge of Stormdancer's wing. The bug rushes on past, and splatters against the stone, but Stormdancer topples as well, spiraling suddenly down and against the rock face.
Dierdre grits her teeth, pulling with all her strength... another Grylra guard swoops down to strike at the bug Stormdancer injured, but the other has overcome the minor injury to it's eye from the crossbow and is plunging forward towards her. She gets off another shot - the bolt shatters on impact with the armored creature. She lets go of her crossbow and grabs her bo staff, freeing it a moment later, but running as she is...
Aubri twists to watch Storm fall in seeming slow motion. "STORM!" he skrees, heading toward his friend as well...
Shrilling screams echo from the healer's caves... the last few patients fighting and retreating, looking desperately skyward for the carry nets to return.
Stormdancer shakes his head, staggers to his feet, and looks rapidly to either side. "What th..." he blinks... then leaps skywards again, giving his left wing a shake, and then favoring it a bit.
The injured gryphons behind Dierdre are not utter invalids... they can see the bug closing behind her just as well as she can. They hold a hurried, squawking conference, then turn and bite through the ropes which fasten their travois to Dierdre trying to roll to the sides and clamber up to fight the rapidly closing menace.
The Krzzn'tai attacking the centauress rears up, practically looming up over her from its vantage point of being slightly higher than she is on a boulder. It's pincers waver menacingly as it jumps at it, pincers held out and open to grip her in a hug of death.
The fighting dissolves increasingly toward chaos, as the defenders become exhausted, and the insects swarm across the plateau, rushing into every single cave and nook and cubbyhole.
Aubri winces at the sounds of battle all around, scrambling to help hold the bugs at the healers' cave, trying to be everywhere at once...barely thinking as he slices thick shells and lifts gore slick rocks to drop again and again.
Dierdre stumbles when she's cut free of the harness so suddenly, the weight dropping off, she twists, "What...?" Surprised, then sees what the two gryphons have done. She whips around, bo staff whirling, throwing her weight into a smashing blow against the Krrzn'tai's skull just before it reaches the two wounded gryphons. The blow is fierce - all of her weight is behind it. There is a sharp -crack- from the impact and even as her staff snaps the Krrzn'tai collapses. But a dozen more are closing to take it's place.
Stormdancer sweeps towards the healer's caves, calling for any nearby to come help. He sizes up those remaining, and callously chooses the one seemingly least hurt.
Starscream is rousted from his cave at the sounds of battle and comes flying out quickly to see the chaos below.
Somewhere to the north of the plateau, there is a sudden roaring flash of fire... the feather painter's solvents and paints caught, by a toppled firepot. The grasses and trees alike all catch fire, acrid smoke billowing, caught by the wind, it swirls and courses randomly down along the length of the aerie.
A group of Krzzn'tai branch off from those going after the centauress, seeing a chance at easier prey from a nearby cave entrance. Starscream! They rush at him, mandibles clicking and chittering death, their pincers clacking, reaching out for him.
Dierdre drops the remains of her staff, turning to grab the neck feathers of the two injured gryphons and begins to drag them, squawking in protest, off the plateau... But the other bugs are closing rapidly and this time she has nothing but her hooves to defend herself.
Aubri nods at Storm as he's joined at the entrance, taking a moment in air to peer at the explosion. "Any firepots left?" he asks Storm.
Stormdancer shrills a command to the returning carry-net groups, then lands for a moment on a rocky crag, high above the plateau, panting heavily. "I don't know... maybe ... some in the mages caves... "
Rakeeth sweeps in from the north with a wing of Windhaven's guards... their patrols spotted Krrzn'tai headed in large numbers for Grylra, and the battle was audible and visible from a considerable distance. He gives a skree... the cry is lost in the sounds of the battle though, he notices a lone centauress with two apparently injured gryphons, and picks his place... With a scream he dives with the rest of his wing, launching a volley of fire spears which are ignited the moment before release...
With an explosion of wind, Starscream's broad wings beat at the air to try and lift him higher than the attacking bugs.
Stormdancer pushes off, spreading his wings and sweeping downwards, towards the bugs going after Dierdre. He drops heavily to the ground, and bounces up and down in front of them, going off sideways away from her.
Stormdancer skrees, "Cut trace and RUN, Dierdre!"
Dierdre starts in surprise as arrows lance down in a line just in front of her, cutting through the Krrzn'tai attempting to encircle her and the two others. She's already free of the harness, thanks to the two injured gryphons cutting it with their beaks. She continues pushing the two wounded gryphons, helping to support them as they hobble with her, making it finally off the edge of the plateau, and out of sight of most of the Krrzn'tai.
Pale, acrid smoke rolls down the plateau from the north, where the orchard and grasses are burning. There's more to the smell than just grass and wood, though - vile, eye-burning stench of combusting paints.
The Krzzn'tai attacking Starscream reach out for him, one getting too close for comfort as he manages to just barely make it out of their reach. They continue milling around under him, reaching for him, waiting for him to make a mistake and get close enough...
Rakeeth, and each of the 11 gryphons on his wing carry two fire spears. The first expended, he picks a target and launches a second volley, skewering the few bugs that continue to attempt to pursue Dierdre and the gryphons with her.
Stormdancer looks to the skies in surprise - all the Grylra weapons have long since run out of ammo, and shrills up at Rakeeth.
Starscream lets out a scream of rage at the one getting too close to him, and he snaps his wings harder with purpose - to stay out of the reach of the ugly, milling creatures, while his head jerks around, trying to see what is going on and how he could possibly help.
Aubri leaps through the acrid smoke, trying to hold his breath when adrenaline makes him pant, catapulting off a smooth back into the specified cave.. leaving the wounded gryphons to their fate in hopes of saving more. He fills his claws and beak with pots from the neat stacks, now tumbled by foraging Bugs. The way out again involves another leap off backs to get through the low doorway.. this time one Bug is fast enough to lash out as he lands. The razor arm tears a gash from shoulder to rump as he launches again, screeching in pain and anger!
Rakeeth, now that his initial weapons are expended is forced to switch to snatching rocks and other objects and dropping them on the Krrzn'tai. His troops do not fight with the fierceness of the Grylra, although they aren't cowardly either - this isn't their home, and it has been explicitly made their highest responsibility to return to Windhaven alive, since Windhaven is desperately short of warriors even as it stands now.
Kether tips his wings by way of entering a slow, spiraling descent... using the time provided to acquire a mental map of the chaos and carnage below.
Stormdancer leaps upwards and out of the advancing group of Krrzn'tai, taking wing again. He works his way higher, to get an overview... and shakes his head. The bugs are winning, unquestionably. He sweeps past Kether, and shrills in greeting, before landing near the healer's. Panting from exhaustion, he helps the carry nets get laid out, drags a wounded gryphon into it, then screams the order for flight. The net tangles and twists around its passenger, tying him cruelly... but without dropping him. Quickly, the carrying gryphons surge upwards, and struggle eastward, over the mountain.
Krzzn'tai cluster here and there, spread out there and here. More black, chitinous bodies fill the plateau than could ever be thought of! They continue on over the bodies of the dead, be they gryphon or their own. Tossed rocks and boulders continue to fall and smash those in the way by flying gryphons. Occasionally a gryphon will get too close and is pulled down, torn to pieces as they disappear under a huddled group of the bugs who disperse quickly in search of more prey...
The Grylra warriors barely give the Windhaven a second glance. By now they are fully into the maddened bloodlust of battle, and they don't much care who fights beside them. It is their HOME being ravaged.
Stormdancer looks sharply about for Aubri.
Aubri surges up again, a firepot crashing on the ground and splattering oil over several bugs. Dripping blood from the wound, he gains altitude and flings one firepot after another at the burning tree, then at the edge of the resulting explosion, drawing a line of blazing fire toward the plateau's center.
Rakeeth snarls and gives angry skrees as he watches fellow gryphons ravaged and killed. But he has fought Krrzn'tai before, in his own home, and he has learned the wisdom of caution. He uses speed and maneuverability to his advantage. Sometimes dropping boulders, other times lunging down to strike into the back of a lone Krrzn'tai and snap at the back of it's head with his beak, then returning to the air rapidly when it is killed or it's companions close in to dislodge him.
Aubri flies to join the evacuation, the long score down his side staining feathers and fur as he goes. He waves wearily to Stormdancer, nicks and cuts from sharp armor plates and near misses starting to make themselves felt.
Kether selects a rocky portion of the ground, a short cliff hanging from the side of one hill which stands higher than most of the battle. Bizarrely, he sits down, talons grasping stone and sod while limbs and claws and feathers and bodies surge about below his chosen vantage. Upon sighting a bug on an approach vector, he turns his head and lashes out with one foreclaw as it sidles into range, his expression showing annoyance at first, then rage. He must've carried something, for the Krrzn'tai in question drops in a pile of chitinous legs and armor, twitching terribly.
Stormdancer finds him easy to spot, and gape-grins despite his exhaustion, running over to help spread another carry net. "DRAW BACK!" he shrills at the top of his lungs, as fire surges higher along the plateau's grasses.
Surukk arrives shadowing the others from Windhaven, laden with his medical equipment, which looks like it will definitely be needed.
Smoke from the plateau mixes in the sky with the billowing haze rising across the river, the once green fields of western Shrilk transformed to a vision to make Dante proud.
Dierdre escapes down towards the river with the two wounded gryphons, half limping, half being dragged beside her as she tries to get them further away from the fighting and Krrzn'tai, uncertain how far the attack will range.
Stormdancer snags a dropped carry line, wraps it around his wrist and claw, then leaps skywards, aiding in the lifting of one last patient from the healer's caves before the bugs over-run the space, and the final few are swept under.
Stormdancer screams again, "DRAW BACK! THAT'S IT! TO THE TYBER!"
Rakeeth hears Stormdancer, and snarls... snapping at the back of a final Krrzn'tai he takes to the air, spiraling upwards... eight of his eleven wing mates follow, the rest are either lost in the confusion or buried under a swarm of bugs.
With considerable reluctance, the Grylra warriors begin to obey. It's impossible not to admit the cause is lost.... though hundreds of Krrzn'tai lay dead, there are thousands more. Flames billow from a dozen caves along the cliff face, smoke joining that from the other fires into a ruddy, yellow-red glow.
Surukk hisses, using the high heat from the fires to boost up to the spark-showered night, cupping up on broad wings in the thermals. Despite the glare he seeks out where the wounded are, leaving the fighting to the faster warriors.
Kether regains his posture, satisfied with his attacker's death. Almost gently, he fans the edges of his wings outward over a small area and snaps them in the unpredictable winds rising from the plateau. With an abrupt writhing sound, a significant portion of the grass around his perch -dies-... white light gathers around his other foreclaw, now outstretched, showing patterns and lines somewhere inside. Any fool sensitive to magic can feel it gathering.
A quick Krzzn'tai manages to sneak up behind Stormdancer long enough to slice off the tips of a couple primaries before he takes off, out of reach. It decides to go after the wounded that hang below the other rising gryphons, slashing wickedly at one, slicing not only the net open, but the poor gryphon's side, tearing up her wing in the process. But she is still tangled up enough in the netting, the Krzzn'tai is able to use her to drag down the two carrying her. Its companions are there quickly, bringing down all three in a matter of seconds, a swarming huddle of Krzzn'tai occurs before they disperse to find yet more prey.
Aubri opens his wings and glides, the strain of flapping making his wound burn.. it feels deep and he knows he'll be walking after this. He lands near tail of the evac, following Dierdre down the cliffs and away from the only home he's ever known.. a sudden pang for his friend's eggs. No, no, they'll be near the head of the caravan, but... For once he's somewhat glad to be childless.
Stormdancer hisses in dismay, and releases the slackened rope, letting it slither down through the empty space before vanishing under the skittering legs of the bugs.
Rakeeth swoops around the far side of the aerie, disengaging from the combat to try and get a better overview of who is where, and to see any particular areas where his wing might intervene to save lives. There are precious few. The Krrzn'tai seem to be quickly mopping up those gryphons unable to get airborne.
Starscream turns on his left wing to move himself around to follow the evacuation, seeing that he could not do anything.
Stormdancer kreeeeeels to Surukk. "FLY, DAMNIT! We need you across the river! Leave the ones here... there's nothing to do for them." And indeed, it seems true. There's very little space below that isn't within easy striking distance of the bugs, who seem to be spreading out, disappointed at the lack of food they're finding to harvest.
Kether cranes his neck forward and blows a breath across his claw. The dazzling core of magic centered around his talons drifts off at first, as though following that little breeze despite all the commotion and the beating of wings. Then, it streaks toward the ravaged plateau with a scintillating light and a whining shrill of sound... hitting the torn-up ground and spreading a ghastly amount of magical white fire around the battle field and producing a terrifying roar of sound! Anything caught in its wake begins to either melt or char with a rapidity that's downright eerie...
Stormdancer blinks, visibly shocked by the display of raw, brutal magical power. He glides, nearly colliding with a similarly startled onlooker.
Surukk angles downwards, fury building in his eyes. The Krrzn'tai may be fast, and in greater numbers, but he's a broadwing full of determination. He has endured enough death thanks to these bugs. He dives down to bodily grasp one of the injured gryphons, a terrified one-winged female with a bug just behind her. With massive wing beats he lifts her up, dragging her through the sky to the far side of the river...
Rings of purple and blue magic drive out along the edges of the conflagration, setting nearby trees and grasses alight and singing more than a few tails on those making an escape... fluttering down the hillsides in the manner of water over stones.
Aubri twists at the roar and flash, wincing at the pain in his side...increasing now that the battle fury has worn down. He hurries along, limping his hind right leg, the river in sight now.
Stormdancer stares down at the spreading cascade of blistering magical fires, beak agape... "Great skies and fires," he whispers, in horror... then lets the violent updrafts from the fire sweep him up and away, turning his back on the only home he has ever known.
A broad V of gryphons, divided into a dozen smaller V shaped attack wings approaches from the north, sweeping in. A dozen times a dozen. A full flight, from Windhaven judging by their markings... Rakeeth wings up to meet them, exchanging greetings, terse commands...
Those still left to see might catch glimpses of radiant green light as they lance down from Kether's perch into the scrambling hordes, charring some bugs, putting myriad holes in others and sometimes simply producing fantastic puffs of ash and cinder. Smoke is everywhere, hiding the Windhaven mage from all but magical senses...
Surukk drags the hen along, barely keeping above the water... but he is going to keep one from going down, even just one.
144 warriors in total... probably better than half of what Windhaven can currently muster. At Rakeeth's orders they begin to disperse into smaller groups, ducking down to cover the retreat of the wounded and make sure the Krrzn'tai don't attempt to pursue across the river.
Rakeeth skrees after Stormdancer, needing to speak with him...
Clouds of smoke gather swiftly at the bidding of some unseen force, coalescing into a black pall which seems, strangely, to shiver in the air in a way not unlike intense heat. Without a whit of warning, several thousand dart of fire fall across the battle as a winged shape makes a hasty exit from the area of effect... a shape flying for all its worth...!
Grylra Airspace
You are flying close to the Churnel Mountains. The winds here are good, though occasionally turbulent - good flying, but sometimes challenging.
Along the western part of the mountain range runs the Grael river, mirrored on the eastern side by the Tyber river. Below you can see the long central plateau that is the home to most of the Grylra activity.
Rakeeth wings up beside Stormdancer, and warns, "My flight will attempt to cover your wounded with their fire spears and whatever they can clutch, but my orders are specifically not to engage in close fighting..."
Stormdancer nods. He's short of breath. "Good. Nobody fights now. Just get to safety."
Rakeeth, from his ichor covered feathers, has probably been ignoring those orders for himself and his personal wing however.
Stormdancer casts a brief stare backwards, and then at the fire-outlined form of Kether. Perhaps... it would be best if the old magics died forever.
Rakeeth is not a complete stranger to great magics... but he still watches the fierce fires with a sort of muted awe, his beak gaping slightly before he snaps it shut with a sharp click.
Ford of Tyber River - East Bank
This is a beautiful, quiet spot in among the sylvan forest. The river gurgles merrily just to your west, the water nearly clear and fairly shallow at this point though the river is reasonably broad. You probably have a good chance of being able to wade your way across it. The binary suns are both at mid ascension on opposite sides of the sky, providing brilliant illumination, and steady warmth despite the shade of the massive trees above you. There is a small game trail leading off to the east.
Aubri closes his eyes against the sight of his old home burning, flopping down on a patch of grass a ways from the river, trembling in pain and reaction, far from the battle and magic and.. Dove..
Rakeeth follows for a few moments, then clucks, "I should be with the others at the rearguard." He observes, and takes back to the air...
Stormdancer stands with all his feet in the water, wings flared, trying to cool down a little, and getting his breathing under control. He stares back to the west, at the glowing smoke that fills the sky, the firestorm raging out of control in the long shallow bowl of the Grylra main aerie.
Dierdre grunts, she can't help but flinch as she holds a gryphon hen tightly, arms around the base of it's neck, kneeling with her forelegs as a healer straightens the hen's broken leg with a sickly pop...
Kether lands in a skid of dirty and grass, digging his claws in to shed inertia from his helter-skelter flight away from his last attack... His tail lashes at an insane rate.
Healers rush about in the brief respite, checking over the newly wounded and the previously wounded. Bandages are hastily wrapped, small healing charms are used as needed. One gets to Aubri, gasping at the size of the aggravated gash along his side. She calls over another healer and they both get to work on him as quickly as possible with what little they have.
Surukk is talking rapidly to the shocked hen, cinching off her stumped wing at the joint, trying to reassure her... he has her life, and she has her life, and that is one more stopped from being a Krrzn'tai meal...
Starscream comes into a rather slow landing, thudding down into the ground.
Aubri waves and protests that it's not that bad, knowing there's others that need healing more...apparently he hasn't looked at himself lately.
Stormdancer works his left wing slowly, wincing... then just leaves it be. He gives a hard shake, then turns, and faces the shore, watching his people. He's proud of them. Incredibly proud. He doubts words would ever serve. And even if they could... now is not the time to grandstand with them. He surges up out of the water and does what he does best - help solve crises after crises, reuniting separated couples, directing healers to the most injured, offering comfort to those who need it most.
Surukk calls out to a senior Healer, letting her know that he is present and ready to work, his reputation as a surgeon should help her in knowing who to send. He calls out again for light, he needs more light.
Dierdre is, quite fortunately, not scratched or otherwise injured other than a few shallow scratches made by gryphon claws as she tries to hold the injured still for the healers and help out as best she can. A lucky thing, considering the number of wounded, and considering it's uncertain how quickly Krrzn'tai poison might affect a centaur.
The two healers ignore Aubri's protests and continue patching him up as best as they can. One calls to Stormdancer, needing him to Aubri's side. The other looks Aubri in the eyes, telling him just how badly it is and that he is just as important as the others, if not more so, so he can just sit still and be quiet so they can get him healed.
The healers quickly set up a central camp, in a grove away from the river. The air is still full of the sound of flapping, soaring wings. It takes time for several thousand gryphons to find a place to land, especially in the near dark.
Surukk cries out, "Kether! Kether!"
Stormdancer had been called to the healer's circle anyway, and trots over to Aubri's side. "Skies... hrrf. You blunted their claws but good, Aubri."
Dierdre grunts, hearing a call for light... Finishing her current task she opens her pack and withdraws a small lantern, part of her original provisions when she was first captured. She moves over to Surukk, "Will this help?" She asks, it isn't lit yet though.
More than one Grylran offers thanks and appreciation for the timely assistance to the Windhaven gryphons, especially those who saw Kether's remarkable display.
Dierdre sets the lantern on a rock, and begins rummaging for her flint.
Kether finds a new perch... some boulder or other, watching over the slowly gathering gryphon forces. Surukk's shout garners his attention, head whipping around to locate the Windhaven surgeon. Nimbly, he leaps off the rock and begins weaving his way between battered gryphons and their tenders.
Stormdancer is called away by one of the healers, in hushed tones. His crest slicks, and he nods, trotting off into the dark. He comes back to rejoin Aubri a short time later, his tail drooped low, blood on his beak.
Aubri gives a long huff and sprawls on his belly, surrendering to the healers. He opens his eyes and stares past Stormdancer, asking in a groggy voice that begs to let him sleep, "Where's Dove?.."
The healers set about their camp, uncovering glowstones in a perimeter and in various places so they have light to work and so others can find them in the confusion. A male goes to help Surukk with the hen as another pokes and prods at the one Dierdre was holding not that her leg is set.
Dierdre finds her flint and a little bit of tinder finally, she pauses though as she notices the healers have had the foresight to bring glowstones with them, she glances at Surukk uncertain if her small lantern is required any longer.
Kether stops beside Surukk. "What is it?" he snaps, looking around briefly. "I should be with the perimeter guard, setting wards."
Stormdancer breaths deep, then sighs out slow. "I don't think she made it, Aubri." The commander of his scouting wings deserves nothing less than the truth. He touches beaks gently. "I'll have searchers sent out at dawn, though."
Surukk cinches the bindings of the wing stump, and he looks visibly relieved. "Deirdre, suns and skies... it is good to see you. Oh.. yes...yes in here please... hold that there will you? Kether? Kether! Yes, yes you should. I need a cauterizer, can you make one for me? Hot iron tip?"
Dierdre smiles a little, despite the conditions, perking her ears towards Surukk... she nods, striking the flint and getting her small lantern going after a moment, she holds it high, leaning forward to provide 'spot' lighting as Surukk needs it.
Aubri shudders a bit and gives a grunt, obviously trying to keep himself from thinking about his mate and the bugs.
Stormdancer lays a claw on Aubri's shoulder comfortingly. "Sleep, get some rest. You did well, Aubri. Very well."
Kether wheels and snatches a bent spear from the ground near a wounded Grylran warrior, scowling at it for a moment. He swings it to the ground, putting the tip against a stone and shouting something incoherent yet oddly commanding at it. With a flare of burning impurities, the spear glows red, sparkling briefly before settling down. "Here!" And with that, he turns and is lost amongst the crowd.
Starscream melts into the crowd.
Surukk overhears Stormdancer, and growls, "In my left shoulder pack, the blue sticks... break one and shove it down Aubri's gullet." he bends down again and tries to reassure the hen, then takes the glowing spear tip to seemingly sculpt the wing stump, smoking and spitting in cautery.
Aubri gives a low snort. "Well for an evacuation," he sighs.
Stormdancer glances to Surukk, then nods, and pads over, fishing out the required drug stick. He holds it briefly in front of Surukk to make sure he's got the right one, then three-legged-trots over to Aubri. "Here, eat this," he commands, pressing the blue stick to the other's beak.
Surukk grumbles, "It is the best I have. Aubri! Aubri, I am going to fix the wound in your side. You know how I work, do you really want to be awake for that?"
Stormdancer chuckles. "Believe me, you want to eat it. He'll fix you."
Surukk settles the hen down to sleep... and looks up to Deirdre. He murmur-growls, "Thank you, friend," in Mythrayelian.
Aubri takes it with a grimace and swallows the item voluntarily. "Just make sure he ONLY fixes the wound," he says with a deadpan, macabre sort of humor. He lays his head down, giving another heartfelt sigh.
Stormdancer chortles, and nods, patting his friend's shoulder. "I will. I don't think he's got a knife big enough for that, anyway."
Surukk jabbers with another Healer and away he goes again...
Dierdre covers a yawn... after so much terror and excitement, in the aftermath she is beginning to feel shaky and tired...
Kether is, presumably, somewhere out among the darkness and the grasses near the river. He is not immediately visible.
Dierdre sets her small lantern down on a nearby rock, and wanders a few steps away from the gryphons to collapse down to her belly, curling up. Her hand goes instinctively for her crossbow, and she frowns slightly as she remembers that she dropped it in her haste to draw her bo staff.
The thousands of inhabitants of the aerie slowly quiet down, settling down close against one another. Dierdre soon finds herself surrounded, and half covered, as all seek to share warmth through the night.
Dierdre finds a lot of gryphons around her who she remembers as being none too fond of having a centaur in their midst all around her, and finds she's too tired, or too scared to care, and the same seems to hold for them. She leans into someone's feathers, eyelids drooping, beginning to doze off.
Stormdancer continues padding through the gathered masses. He will, most likely, be on his feet through the night.
Surukk calls out to Deirdre, "Deirdre, need you here... "
Dierdre perks her ears at the call, with a soft sigh she goes over to do what she can to help Surukk...
The gryphons disrupted by Dierdre's departure mutter and chiurp quietly, but are quickly back asleep.
Stormdancer keeps his eye open for Kether as he moves through the crowds. The evacuation area covers several square kilometers of woodland along the riverside.
Surukk goes from wounded to wounded and one fact that comes up, that is terrible to contemplate, is that he is taking charge bit by bit because he has experience with exactly this kind of thing. Triage is ordered and enacted, and classification done, and death pyres ordered made.
Kether can eventually be sought out near the riverbank, peering into the night a fair distance from any of the glow lamps or lanterns. Everything about him is still except for his tail where it swishes against the rock he's found to sit upon.
The fires still burn, though more dimly... lighting distant smoke with a soft glow of dark red and orange. Stormdancer finally spots Kether's form in the darkness, and pads across the dew-damp grass to his side. His expression is not pleasant.
Kether turns his head slightly at the Grylran leader's approach, but he does not turn from his apparent contemplation of the distant blaze and the ruin of the aerie's primary residential sector.
Aubri by now hovers somewhere between sleep and unconsciousness, the tear from his right shoulder to rump bleeding slowly.
Stormdancer just stares at the back of Kether's head, silent. After almost a minute, the Grylra leader looks back at the smoke... then turns quietly, and walks away again, slipping off into the dark.
Surukk gets to Aubri's side, and unrolls his toolkits...erh..veterinary instruments... urrrh... surgical needs, yes. He murmurs, "Feeling drowsy, old boy?"
Aubri 's reply is a barely articulate, "zmrflm.." as the drugs take effect, his pulse seeming to pound relaxingly in his ears.
Kether puts Stormdancer from his mind, if indeed he spared a thought for him at all. His concern is the well-being of the gryphons still alive and of this entire sphere, which (some say) he counts as his protectorate despite aerie rivalries; not for the residences of dead gryphons.
Most of the Grylran have gone to silence now. Guards take shifts watching over the resting - most on the ground, but there are a very few who are night-flight qualified and not too exhausted to fly, and they sweep back and forth overhead, the soft whrusssh of their wings a comforting sound of security.
Surukk strokes Aubri's head and cheeks, and says, "Good. You rest. You will be all right. I will tell you this much. If you had been my mate, there would be no prouder gryphon this night." With that he bends to his task of irrigating and cleaning the wound.
Aubri doesn't appear to register the words, lost in his own semi sleep of odd, disturbing dreams and thankful periods of oblivion.