Icarus Awakens

“Not good,” Tak remarked amidst other shouts and one particularly vindictive stream of curses.

Lograve’s mental voice rang out to everyone within range of his upgraded Telepathy, which allowed for cross-communication in addition to the range improvement. Second formation! Gods, Murdon, is he-?

“He’s ok Lograve. Gadriel too, but just them,” Daniel reported somberly.

“That is not good!” Tak exclaimed, pointing.

Lograve melted the ice in between himself and the approaching dragon to get a better look. His face, already pale from the cold, whitened further. “Oh dear.” Cover, now!

The dragon had lost its ability to direct itself through the air. Lograve’s estimations showed it would collide with a fringe portion of his ice closest to the lake’s center. It could crash through if it didn’t soften its fall, though the wings were still spread to catch as much air as it could. The dragon had experienced landing in the lake once before and wasn’t keen on repeating that experience.

What Tak was drawing attention to was the sparking horn on its head. Another blast of lightning. How many times had it used this? A dozen, more? It still had enough to blast them on its approach despite all the lightning it had unleashed so far. The cone of lightning swept across the farther reaches of the ice, imperiling half of their number directly or indirectly. Only a handful had protective armor and none a full suit. Without that or Gadriel’s ridiculous will to survive, direct exposure to all but fleeting bursts of the lightning would still kill. That’s where the centerpiece of the fight’s second act came into play.

The idea had developed in parts over the week of preparation within the village. The issue of the dragon’s lightning had been at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Lightning link armor partially resolved this, but there were too many people to afford arming. The suggestion had been raised to give gestalt armor and allow people to shelter in them until someone from Roost’s Peak had reminded everyone that Yedra had still died even under Kob’s sheltering.

No progress was made on this issue until Tlara acquired her silk shocker. This solved one of the issues with networking disparate enchanted armor as the threads could carry all types of electricity to expand the network. The final key to the puzzle came when Daniel, who had attended a strategy meeting while on break and asked if they’d considered lightning rods.

That suggestion cost them a day as Daniel cut into his share of the heliorite to make what was technically level 1 helmets to cap off the poles. The effort paid off. Against the quick moving lightning of the dragon, the metal spears that had been scattered around the battlefield reacted and absorbed it. Mortals still died, but only those who had not reached cover in time.

Lightning traveled from the heliorite into the metal poles and conducted into the spider’s threads underneath. There, they were insulated from above and below. Lograve’s ice glowed eerily with the building energy. Nothing exploded, but random arcs of electricity still fired from the top of the poles and were a hazard to anyone unarmored who got in their way. Of course, a more directed breath attack would overwhelm the defenses of a singular pole and there was no true way to defend against that aside from having Spinner isolate it so the rest didn’t go with it.

In these initial moments, that didn’t matter. Six people died whereas sixty might have otherwise. They’re holding! Lograve mentally shouted. Lightning sparked into the lake below as he uncovered sections of the web. I’m going to bleed off the charge until Alost feels like doing his job. We can’t lose those towers.

“Can’t shoot now, it’s hitting. Archers, brace!” The bowmen, and everyone else, hunkered down. Only Tlara’s remaining beast was in motion as it frantically sped away from oncoming death. A circle of ice on the opposite side of the battlefield was already forming for it to take position in.

Whether by fortune or design, the dragon impacted a section of ice supported by one of the magical bridge’s sections. It was made to hold a good amount of weight, though not a falling dragon’s worth. It cracked, as did the ice, but the dragon did not fall through. Those people not already sitting were knocked off their feet as the force was carried across the lake. The shores not frozen burst water onto the surroundings as an enormous ripple emanated from the creature’s landing.

There was a slight pause in the battle as the mortals recovered, and the dragon took stock of itself. Everyone saw it lift each wing experimentally before snarling. They’d done it. It couldn’t fly, and now it was trapped on the end of the ice sheet.

Are you in range?

Alost chuckled and spoke with a swagger, the lifting hopes of everyone catching his voice. “I could hit that with a sling from here. Archers, the head! Focus fire!”

For his part, Daniel readied himself. His group had moved to the opposite side of the ringed wall of ice around Lograve’s bubble, putting more distance between them and death. This also let Tlara direct her beast while crouching, but she seemed more intent on audibly planning Gadriel’s death. He ignored that and looked to the regrouping Bards.

Even he didn’t know what they’d play. Evalyn had heard around forty songs, making no comment other than for the repetition of some. In a minuscule way he felt embarrassed. This entire battlefield was about to be treated to his taste in music, not counting however the Bards had adjusted it to fit their instruments. His strongest present emotion was, well, fear of the dragon, but second to that was curiosity. What would they choose? As the archers fired, he found out.

Wait, really? In his initial surprise, Daniel only heard the music, not processing the wave of enchantment that followed it. Tlara, on the other hand, shut right up as she listened. The song wasn’t the same. Not entirely. It didn’t have the electric guitars, but Daniel guessed they couldn’t manage that. They had an avianoid singing the lyrics at least, though someone had adjusted them slightly after he’d translated them for Evalyn.

To Daniel, it bordered on tacky considering the song was about the wrong element. Maybe Evalyn had taken the title and lyrics of the piece to heart, or she’d heard he’d used it to annoy Tlara and this was some kind of elaborate joke. The dragon wouldn’t get the symbolism, even if the original band had dragon in the name. He looked at the four around him and his eyes widened. There was a shimmer in the air around them, just like Murdon had looked when buffs had been dumped into him, albeit to a lesser degree. Their eyes, those that had them, reflected this shine, and through his Empathic Link Daniel felt a fire growing. As for himself? Phone, buffs?

Alert: You are under the effect of the following allied Abilities:

• Cadence of Arms

• Ironmind Melody - x3

• Restorative Refrain - x2

• Shielding Stanza

• Surefooted Song

• Valor Song - x2

• Valor Song*

-

Alert: Bardic Music affecting you has been merged into one medium. You will continue to be affected by all applicable abilities until the temporary Bond: Band is broken.

-

Alert: Bardic Music affecting you is greatly diminished in effect due to the selected medium.

This music is-

Making me want to fight! Tak finished Hunter’s thought. It was as if both had taken all of the lightning the dragon had just fired and injected it. Daniel, not for the first time, felt jealous of them. He didn’t get magic adrenaline just because he knew the song too well? This was probably how Bards felt all the time.

“Hoh, ok. Maybe the bitch gets to live,” Tlara graciously said, eyeing Evalyn with something approaching respect. “Who knew those idiots could do this if they had half a brain?” Out of everyone, the avianoid had the mildest reaction to the Bards besides Daniel. That also wasn’t counting her beast or the monsters brought by other mortals. Out of all of them, only Hunter benefited from the abilities underlying the music. Daniel had a suspicion as to why and was glad Tlara hadn’t noticed.

Across the battlefield the impact of the song took hold. Before, the assemblage of mortal warriors feared their foe in no uncertain terms. Most of their weapons couldn’t do more than scratch its scales. What could they hope to accomplish? The speech Murdon had given kept them in line. It was the Bards that made them charge. Daniel saw people abandoning their cover and Evalyn playing with tears in her eyes. Daniel took a double take at that. All of the Bards had some form of sadness, stoicism, or detachment about them paradoxically nestled in the manic aura they unleashed with their music. It didn’t make any sense.

Hunter, get back! Daniel saw the flash of gold as the ringcat leaped from his position and, for a moment, ran towards the dragon himself. They were the reserve forces, meant to help defend Lograve, the archers, and the Bards. Granted there was little threat to them now. Daniel wanted it to stay that way.

I- I must, I need to… Hunter’s thoughts were pressured, and he kept having to stop himself from moving forward towards the dragon. This wasn’t missed by those in the area. Evalyn looked sharply in response to the beast larger than herself jittering in murderous excitement and seemed to indicate him to the others.

“Screen that one out unless the dragon uses its roar,” she said quietly, not daring to overshadow the music with her voice that changed in pitch with the melody. A moment later, surprise passed over the other Bards when Hunter relaxed. Only they had noticed, Lograve and the archers too focused on the charge to do anything.

What was that? Hunter asked Daniel as the ringcat meekly padded back. I didn’t feel like myself. Not that I was being controlled, but like there was a strong desire to hunt I couldn’t fight.

It clicked in Daniel’s head when the first mortals reached the dragon. It was steady on its four feet and was able to manipulate the wings to the point of summoning gusts, if only from the right. In no way was it crippled like Rorshawd had been towards the end and it could easily tear through everyone here without the special tactics they were employing.

Four died with a single swipe and the rest came on heedless of the danger. Daniel saw their auras fade away like those of the boarding party had, but this time hit him like it had back in Roost’s Peak. What had he called the music? Magic adrenaline? Close, but no. This was something worse. Their forces were being made to be truly fearless at the cost of any sense of self-preservation. The Bards knew. They’d known what this would do the entire time, and they were using the music he’d given them. Tak, Tlara, and the archers were all grinning, too wrapped up to understand the horror of this moment. This wasn’t a battle anthem, this was a man with a flute driving rats into the ocean.

He had to stop this, didn’t he? Sure, the effects of the music were making them fight more effectively but people were dying and no one else seemed to care! No one but the Bards, who watched the madness they wrought with song, smiling and crying and playing on. He had to stop this. Yes, they needed this to counter the terror-inspiring roar of the dragon, but they’d been prepared to play in response to that before, hadn’t they? The Bards needed to stop their song of death, they-

Across the battlefield, the dragon regarded the insects in front of it as they massed in front of its broken splendor. It’d used its lightning breath so far because it didn’t want to have to chase down every last intruder. It just wanted to kill them. But somehow they’d blunted its most fearsome weapon. Oh well, they were close enough now. These mortals were making that noise again, different perhaps but to the dragon music was all the same white noise. An irritant that needed to be drowned out.

It took in air, wincing slightly as another volley struck it. They were aiming for its head! As if arrows or the explosions they caused could seriously injure it. Maybe if a few struck its eyes, but they were set into the side of the dragon’s head. As long as it kept an appropriate angle most of the time, they’d be fine. Yes, kill the ones in front of it, then those in the back that had taken part in bringing it down. They would fry, and then, the ones it could sense behind them would witness its majesty before their end. The dragon’s mouth stretched, ignoring the squirming of the thing inside it the motion caused, and bellowed. This time, with magic as well as sound. Fear gripped every mortal present, which then escalated to terror. This lasted for ten seconds. Some of the combatants passed out from being overwhelmed like Daniel had when he’d first seen Kob. People turned to run.

The Bards on the opposite side of the battlefield were unmoved, protected by their shared abilities and their proximity to them. Three of them had Ironmind Melody which took its effect from the Ironmind feature possessed by Quala that had let her resist the influence of a Tyrant. Stacked three times, it allowed them to resist the dragon’s roar. Then, they replied. Several of their members channeled abilities they could use while actively playing a song, the bond they’d unknowingly formed stacking these powers to contest the dragon’s singular ability. The dragon still killed as the rest recovered, but that was it. Its roar couldn’t be used for some time. Its flight was gone. The lightning breath, sparking tail, and energized claws that cut through almost anything were deadly weapons, but the biggest cards it had were gone or countered.

In the back of the formation, Hunter felt the maddening song come over him just long enough to drag him from the depths of fear before falling off. He didn’t quite know how to judge the exuberance that overtook him at times from the music. He hadn’t understood what it was back in the storm, but now? It was able to reach him. Another strange change from his most recent Growth. Hunter looked in response to an odd sensation from Daniel and saw his friend standing still, eyes fixed on the dragon with fear. Was the music not working on him? What are you- he began to ask, making the other start. Daniel was breathing rapidly, too fast. He turned, looking like he was about to run when Tlara punched him hard in the face.

Hunter stared at her, baring his fangs, but she didn’t follow up. “What?” she asked him, then narrowed her eyes as if she was confused.

Tak didn’t give her time to ponder why she’d asked Hunter a question. “Why did you do that?”

“He was going to run, so I had an excuse,” she replied, a smile returning to her face. “He could have slipped or something, fuck I don’t know.” She didn’t seem to be aggressive and had stopped Daniel from fleeing. With one punch too. Hunter wondered how until he remembered the music. She could probably still hear it, though it was gone from Hunter again lest he be overtaken.

Daniel, how many losses are we taking? Lograve asked, unaware of what happened. Both mortals and the ringcat looked at the unconscious Artificer and pondered what to say. As Hunter tried nudging Daniel awake with a paw, Tlara replied first.

“Roar knocked him out. Right?” She glared at Tak, daring him to contradict her. The Totem Warrior wasn’t exactly cowed, but he saw the futility of arguing right now. Besides, she was at a higher level than he was, even if in a direct fight he may be able to beat her. That meant she was his better. She was smarter, at least, since what she said was technically right from a certain perspective. Khare, for their part, kept their formed head pointed towards the approaching dragon. What the gestalt thought about Tlara’s punch they didn’t let anyone know.

Damn, again? That man cannot resist the fear effect. Someone heal him! I need to know when to pull them back.

“On it!” Thomas shouted, not even waiting for approval from Alost. The music had changed his demeanor not one bit. The Cleric mantled the ice wall and frowned as he saw the damage to Daniel’s face. “How’d this happen?”

“Hit it when he fell,” Tlara said dismissively.

“Right. Hang on, I gotcha Guy.”

Tlara pointedly looked away and to her remaining beast. It wasn’t time for Spinner to go to work yet since the dragon seemed content to use its jaws and claws rather than its lightning. In exchange, it was taking glancing blows and a rain of arrows that pricked all across its front. She did not envy that melee, even though the music filling the air was mildly prodding her to let caution fly to the wind. Hmm, fly. She was going to kill Gadriel, assuming the dragon didn’t beat her to it.