Living with dragons

[Dur'id the Druid]

Awww, I love when dragon age stories get told. Even when things go to crap, it's usually fun getting there. With the kind of luck they have I bet they'll go back and end up in krickwell, right when everything explodes.

Random thought. Did the circle grab any of their blood for that pglanctry thing? Could Uldred or Ivering use that to follow them through the blind eternities? Or pull them back to Thades when he's next crossing the BEs? Or if you want to really not encourage a trip back to Thades, have a demon hitch a ride with one of the party, and being able to reach across the BE.

 

[Dragonin]

I see you did the smart thing. With how magic operates in Ferelden the plane would have been accidentallief

 

[aeroprime]

Would have loved to see the faces of the Templars after they left them in the dust.

 

[Leafy503]

Could Uldred or Ivering use that to follow them through the blind eternities?

Click to shrink...

What and die immediately?

 

[Tranquil Zebra]

Did the circle grab any of their blood for that pglanctry thing? Could Uldred or Ivering use that to follow them through the blind eternities? Or pull them back to Thades when he's next crossing the BEs?

Click to shrink...

As far as I understand it, the phylactery allows them to locate rogue mages, but enabling any sort of control through the blood would be the very blood magic they are created to inhibit. Also, when a trio of creatures bodily enters the fade, the first thought of any sane person isn't to follow, even if they could.

 

[Krazyfan1]

So what are the other dragons strenths and weaknesses again?
Blues are good with cold and water
Bronze are all timey wimey
Red is fire? maybe? presumably with a resistance to heat and flames?
Black was earth?

 

[Dur'id the Druid]

What and die immediately?

Click to shrink...

They have the blood of a Planewalker, may be able to make that into protection for one trip, using the same path he used to leave. Though they probably just expect to go somewhere else in Thades.

As far as I understand it, the phylactery allows them to locate rogue mages, but enabling any sort of control through the blood would be the very blood magic they are created to inhibit. Also, when a trio of creatures bodily enters the fade, the first thought of any sane person isn't to follow, even if they could.

Click to shrink...

First of all, just because that is what they usually use the P for doesn't mean they can also use it for other stuff. Three mages literally disappearing right out of the tower may be enough to try things not normally done. Also spirits don't have much matter to get affected by the BEs.

 

[aetherialDawn]

So what are the other dragons strenths and weaknesses again?
Blues are good with cold and water
Bronze are all timey wimey
Red is fire? maybe? presumably with a resistance to heat and flames?
Black was earth?

Click to shrink...

Red Dragons are dragons of Life. They breathe fire, but it is a fire of rejuvenation and of new life - they can burn things the normal way too, though, and their fire is especially good at disrupting undead.

Blue Dragons are dragons of Magic. They breathe cold, but often their talent for arcane magic is by far more dangerous. Atregos is one of these! Blue Dragons are probably the simplest dragons to understand, partly because just handling magic is plenty

Green Dragons are dragons of the Emerald Dream. They breathe... well, it varies, but it's usually green gas imbued with the power of Nature. It can be poisonous, or druidic, or put people to sleep. They are guardians of what you might call the foundations of Life, at least for Azeroth - 'nature', and the dream-world which holds the templates for life (but not civilization; untouched life) on Azeroth.
I'm not sure how not being on Azeroth has changed things; Druidic magic still works on other worlds (we've seen this in Draenor) but the difference between Green and Red is probably not quite as clear without the Emerald Dream to split them.

Black Dragons were dragons of Earth. Not just the element of Earth, but more like 'the land' of the world. They breathe fire, but can't heal with it like Red Dragons. Things got messed up because their leader went seriously bonkers from the Whispers of the Old Gods, and in modern times they are very few in number... plus the plans of the Titans that they were meant to implement are no longer viable*. Wrathion, their new leader, seems like he might be interested in putting himself in charge of war and peace. Maybe. (It's just as likely that he'll claim no specific duty save the Black Dragons themselves, modeling himself on mortal rulers rather than on Titan experiments.)

Bronze Dragons are dragons of Time. They breathe magical sands, which (unsurprisingly) often warp time. They were responsible for maintaining the One True Timeline of the Titans before Deathwing's Cataclysm... but since that One True Timeline has been broken, they now keep the timeline safe and singular without forcing it through any specific path. This is a much more important job than it might sound like; having multiple timelines active at the same time makes a world vulnerable to some particularly nasty demonic tricks. Bronze Dragons also engage in time-travel when necessary, but they do so in ways that do not split the timeline.



*Said plans were to control the civilizations of the world in isolation, by raising and moving impassable mountain ranges such that the creations of the Titans would be unable to move beyond the purposes and plans set for them. Going back to such a time not only wouldn't work, it would also actually doom the world - the only successful line of defense against the Old Gods which is left has repeatedly been the unexpected innovations and alliances of mortal civilization.
This lore is subject to change whenever Blizzard wants. I believe the common fanon 'alternate version' - which may well be an older/newer/alternate source version of canon I didn't know about - is that Black Dragons used mountains to make clear borders between civilizations, without enforcing complete isolation on pain of death, and would raise new land to ensure that no wars over resources were necessary.

 

[Hiver]

As it turned out, it wasn't a jungle we had landed in.

It was a tropical island with jungle in the middle while surrounded by azure blue ocean teeming with fish. Uninhabited and from what I seen from scrying, no animals larger than a deer.

Which was much nicer and a much needed break compared to the normal worlds we end up in.

"We never find Planes this nice," I commented, my eye closed and my head resting against my satchel.

Once we found out it was an island, we moved to the edge of the forest and the beach. Sunbathing might not really be my kind of thing, but after everything… spending a week relaxing before Walking again felt nice.

"Almost feel suspicious," Sheila said from next to me, "Like you said, Planes are never this nice."

Opening my eye, I looked at her, "Love, you're being pessimistic," while enjoying the sight. It took her about two hours before she just had enough and ditched her robes, "Not everywhere is filled with death and destruction. Just from chance we're bound to find a paradise sooner or later."

"Mmm, true," she admitted and rolled onto her back, "We just got lucky for once."

"Would happen sometime," Rengosa agreed and rolled over as well on the other side of Sheila, "Could be a bit colder though."

I nodded in agreement, "Some snow, maybe some ice?"

Sheila just groaned, "…Another reason I'm very much not picking blue."

I just chuckled at her and scratched my nose. Or rather, didn't, I tried using my left arm. Fucking damn it.

Using my right instead, I looked towards the forest and barely had time to process that something was moving before a band of screaming armed men charged at us.

Yelling a warning, I started to gather my magic, scrambling to get up. I didn't get the chance before I had a flintlock pistol aimed at my eye.

"My, my, what do we have here?" a man in a pair of white pants and a white tunic with a red belt said, a cutlass resting on his shoulder, "A couple of beautiful women and a cripple."

What.

"What do we do with them, boss?" another to the left wearing similar clothes but with brown pants and wearing a black eyepatch on his bald head.

The guy in charge leered at Ren and Sheila, "I can think of a few things."

Snarl.

The flintlock aimed at me was joined by a sword against my chest from the boss before he shook his head, "Don't," he ordered before he shook his head, "We take them to the Captain. Get dressed, no funny business."

Eyepatch. Cutlasses. Captain. Island.

Were we being captured by fucking pirates!? What in the actual…

I shared a look with Ren. We had our soulstones, we could risk transforming back, I doubted these arseholes had anything that could handle us like that.

But it was an unnecessary risk. I was hardly at a hundred percent and if they were taking us captive, there would be a time when their swords weren't at our throats. No use wasting the soulstones if we could get away with not.

Shaking my head slightly, I moved to get dressed.

As soon as we were dressed, they tied our arms behind our backs. Or rather, their arms behind their backs, my hand was tied to my waist instead.

Ropes.

Not even enchanted. I could literally rip these without transforming.

That's fine. Damn it, why didn't we leave a summon to stand guard!?

…Only because we were on an empty fucking island, that's why! But no, fucking pirates out of fucking nowhere!?

That's it. That's fucking it. All these fuckers are motherfucking dying screaming and then we're going back home and get me healed.

Then we're doing a training montage. Chandra could burn the entire fucking island to ashes. Lilliana could raise everyone burned to death into ghosts with a flick of her wrist. Every single one of the others including the bitch that attacked us were just as badass.

They even had a headstart on me. I was good at what I did, but…

I was so tired of getting my tail bitten of as soon as something even remotely dangerous happened.

Giving me a push to get me going again, they lead us through the jungle for a half an hour trek across the island through the jungle to a different beach, a three-mast ship floating in the water, a camp set up on the beach.

"Get the Captain," boss pirate ordered one of the others as we entered the camp before he kicked the back of my knee.

I went down onto my knees on the sand. I'll eat him first. Ren and Sheila were pushed down next to me as well.

A glance revealed what I suspected. If I was pissed, it was nothing compared to them. Ren was about to rip somebodies face of, quite literally.

Easy, love. Wait for the right moment.

"Boltar, you are one lucky son of a bitch," A voice said as someone moved through the crowd, the pirates growing quiet, "Last guy that messed with his wives didn't live long enough to regret it."

First thing I saw was leather boots reaching to her knees, followed by a short flowing skirt and a belt holding a dragon hilted rapier. Then there was a white blouse and a silver and amber medallion necklace.

Long red hair in a braid down over her left shoulder.

Alexis.

What.




AN// Unbetaed.

 

[aeroprime]

Oh. Oh, this ought to be good.

 

[Dakkan Sall]

I second Atregos's "What."

That and wonder if this is some original world, or Pirates of the Caribbean or somesuch.

 

[QafianSage]

I second Atregos's "What."

That and wonder if this is some original world, or Pirates of the Caribbean or somesuch.

Click to shrink...

I... think it might be Ixalan. Maybe.

 

[WarGamesHyp]

I honestly hate this trope, so much it hurts... It is so utterly painfully to see powerfully beings 'surrender' or 'get captured' by regular human, that could be slaughtered near instantly....

Hell summon witcher and watch all the pirates get utterly slaughtered like cattle... Even if the flintlock kills him instantly, revive at the soulstone in dragon form and continue slaughtering... It's even worse because he could have put on clothing slowly, and use the time to cast any spell, basic ones are instant, maybe set all the pirates on fire....

Of course this is nowhere near those isekai stories that have godlike people hideing their strength for no reason.... (Though the reason of, they work for Alexis so the plot demands that normal pirates can capture high level wow dragons and a warlock)

 

[Dakkan Sall]

I honestly hate this trope, so much it hurts... It is so utterly painfully to see powerfully beings 'surrender' or 'get captured' by regular human, that could be slaughtered near instantly....

Hell summon witcher and watch all the pirates get utterly slaughtered like cattle... Even if the flintlock kills him instantly, revive at the soulstone in dragon form and continue slaughtering... It's even worse because he could have put on clothing slowly, and use the time to cast any spell, basic ones are instant, maybe set all the pirates on fire....

Of course this is nowhere near those isekai stories that have godlike people hideing their strength for no reason.... (Though the reason of, they work for Alexis so the plot demands that normal pirates can capture high level wow dragons and a warlock)

Click to shrink...

Have you considered the idea that Atregos and company may not want to slaughter their way through mortals? As you say, this lot (before Alexis shows up) isn't that much of a threat, especially compared to the last two worlds they came across. So long as the pirates weren't about to try and immediately slit their throats or somesuch, there's no real reason not to play along and find out about things/the world until they have a better idea of the overall situation.

 

[Krazyfan1]

Alexis: "So i'm going through a pirate phase, most people go through one..."


either she's in disguise to learn some secrets, thats not actually her, its brainwashing, or schenanigans are afoot.

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

She's making Bo Levar proud.

 

[PurpLexed]

Yeah I hope this is Ixalan. It would make sense timeline(ish), and also I would enjoy seeing some planeswalker shenanigans. Its been... A couple years? Like four or five? Since atregos met with the Planeswalkers, who I'm pretty sure were on ravnica if I'm not mistaken. I might be, its been a while.


To be honest though, I'd rather it be a few years before Ixalan, purely because Bolas shenanigans would be fun. Some Planeswalker Dragon nonsense.

 

[Hiver]

I wasn't entirely sure what to say. I was completely lost for words as I just kind of looked up at her.

What.

She turned to the guy that captured us, "Untie them. Give them back their things."

"Captain, they…"

"Boltar, the only reason you and the rest are still alive is because they are feeling polite. Untie them and give them their things back. Then you apologize to them for the treatment. These people are on my level and also my friends."

He kind of tensed up a bit and then quickly nodded before turning to the rest, "You heard the Captain! Let them go!"

Our bonds were quickly cut and I got up, glancing back at Ren and Sheila before I moved up to Alexis. She looked a bit different. A lot different.

"…I'm confused," I admitted, "I'm honestly not even sure where to start."

She smiled a bit, "I can see why. Come, let's go to my tent and we'll talk," she said and motioned for us to follow her, "Here, this way."

Follwing her across camp, I saw more than humans. There were a handful of dwarves and even a couple of what had to be elves around.

…Was that a naga? Mermaid? No, some sort of naga with fins was half coiled up by the fire, stirring a large pot.

Holding the cloth door open to a large tent she let us inside before following us inside. As soon as we were out of sight, she pulled Sheila into a hug, "God, I missed you guys!"

Ren was the closest, so she was next and then it was my turn. I did my best to hug her back, "Alexis, it's only been like five months."

She shook her head, "Not for me. This was one of the first Planes I went to after going to Ravnica and leaving a message for Master Goldmane. For me it's been over five years."

Sheila looked at her in surprise, "What?"

Alexis sighed, "…Got involved in a treasure hunt and one of the traps were a stasis field. It would have locked me in time, but I hit it with a dispel before it could finish. I fucked it up some how and ended up almost six years into the past."

"…Wow."

"Yeah," she admitted, "I didn't dare to leave this Plane in case I ran into you or Master Goldmane or some of the other 'Walkers before we met in the real timeline. Didn't want to risk it. If I messed up, it might have caused the Legion to win."

I just stared at her for a second, "You been here for five years?"

Alexis nodded, "Yep. But I'll tell you more later, now what the fuck happened to you!?"

I cringed and then sighed, "Ran into another Planeswalker. Stronger than me and she kicked our tails. We were lucky to even get out. She was… I think crazy cover it pretty well."

Ren moved up to Alexis, "Think you can help? Your healing is stronger than what we have."

Alexis looked between us before she shook her head, "I'm not that good at healing. But I know someone that's better than me. Give me a minute?" she asked and closed her eyes, channelling her white mana.

It took her maybe thirty seconds before a blonde angel appeared in a flash of light. She frowned, "Master Atregos! What happened!?"

I sighed, "Angry… wolf thing I think."

The summon shook her head and moved up to run a glowing hand over me before she frowned, "I… Mistress Castle, I can't restore his arm, too much is missing. But I can restore his sight."

"Mistress, huh?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows at her.

"Do you want to get healed or not?"

"…I'll be good."

As Alexis gave her angel a nod, the summon moved close and put her hands on my head, "Close your eyes."

I did like she told me to and things got really bright for a second before the light faded away and I opened my eyes.

The angel were gone but I had both my eyes again.

…Ow.

Rubbing my eyes until I stopped seeing double, I shook my head, "Wow. Okay… thank you!"

Alexis frowned, "Sorry she couldn't do the arm. Master Goldmane should be able to."

"So should Alexstrasza," I reassured her, "It's fine. It's a lot larger than a missing eye."

Out of the two, in all honest the eye was the more annoying one. Depth perception is something you don't appreciate enough until you lose it.

On that note, we needed some sort of healing spell or summon that can handle these things without needing to head back to Home to get fixed up.

Just one more thing to the list.

I gave her an as big a hug as I could, "Thank you. I owe you so much."

She grinned and hugged back, "Don't worry about it."

"You could leave now though," Sheila said, "You are back matched up with the timeline now."

Alexis sighed and let go before she shook her head, "Can't. I have some things I have to do."

Something was going on.

"…Does it have something to do with you being the Captain of a pirate ship?" I asked her.

"That's something we really should have something to drink for," Alexis laughed, "I'll call for some food and drink. Then I'll tell you all about it."





AN// Unbetaed.

 

[Akshka]

So when does the magical mechanical arms and legs come into play?
*Insert mettaton "ohh yeah"

 

[Tarantio]

Haven't played it yet and barely played the first game, but my guess is pillar of eternity 2 since it's the only game I know with fantasy races and pirates as a main theme.

 

[PurpLexed]

Treasure hunt + time stasis field + 'the Legion.' Pirates, elves, mermaids(?), and sea-naga.

Im assuming the Legion is the Legion of dusk, so that would make the time stasis field maybe a reference to Time Warp, which got reprinted? Or something else im forgetting about.

Ixalan confirmed maybe?

 

[Ashaeron]

Treasure hunt + time stasis field + 'the Legion.' Pirates, elves, mermaids(?), and sea-naga.

Im assuming the Legion is the Legion of dusk, so that would make the time stasis field maybe a reference to Time Warp, which got reprinted? Or something else im forgetting about.

Ixalan confirmed maybe?

Click to shrink...

The Burning Legion? Warcraft infinite army looking to burn the universe?

 

[Grey Dragon]

There are three possibilities I can name: D&D (because that has everything), Pillars of Eternity 2 and Divinity: Original Sin 2. All have pirates, dwarves, elves and reptilian and/or amphibian humanoids who resemble WOW Naga to varying degrees. D&D being the innately most dangerous, due to power scale. As a plus all have dragons, true reasoning, talking ones... and very different magic systems.

 

[Norgarth]

Treasure hunt + time stasis field + 'the Legion.' Pirates, elves, mermaids(?), and sea-naga.

Im assuming the Legion is the Legion of dusk, so that would make the time stasis field maybe a reference to Time Warp, which got reprinted? Or something else im forgetting about.

Ixalan confirmed maybe?

Click to shrink...

If you are refering to this mention of Legion;

"Yeah," she admitted, "I didn't dare to leave this Plane in case I ran into you or Master Goldmane or some of the other 'Walkers before we met in the real timeline. Didn't want to risk it. If I messed up, it might have caused the Legion to win."

Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure she's referring to the big battle against the Burning Legion on WoW world. They were already doing some time shenanigans, she didn't want to cause a paradox.

 

[Hiver]

Say what you want about these pirates, but they did cook some pretty damn good… let's call it chicken.

Sheila sipped her wine, looking down in her tin cup for a second before she sat it down on the table and looked across it at Alexis, "Well?"

Alexis sighed and leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms, "…Not sure where to start. Okay, let's do a bit of a overview of this Plane. Technology here is pre steam power, full on age of sail but with magic. About one in a five hundred or so have potential to use magic, none of it overly powerful and mostly elemental based. Fireballs, weather effects, rock golems. That kind of stuff."

I nodded, "I see. So how did you get your own pirate ship?"

"I'm getting to that," she said and shook her head, "This world is similar to Earth in that there are two major continents. One more inhabited than the other, similar to how Europe and America was during the age of sail. What's different is that the populated continent here, Aridia is under control of the Kingdom of Aridia. The continent we are closer to is larger, but not as well inhabited. They are a confederation of smaller nations. Not unlike like the United States, but more independent internally. Both have known about each other for some seven hundred years, but it's only some fifty years ago that sailing technology advanced enough to make trade practical."

Sheila sipped her wine again, "And with trade becoming practical, so does piracy."

Alexis nodded, "That too, but more specifically war. The Kingdom is looking rather hungrily at Tarilia, one of the other nations… and also the rest. Not only for space and resources, but also for slaves."

"So, what's stopping them?"

"Distance and fleets. They can only do a practical invasion if they are able to first take out the combined fleet of the Confederacy. They have the largest fleet, but combined the Confederacy have them beat, both in numbers and quality," Alexis explained and speared a grilled mushroom on her knife, "Unfortunately, that may change quickly."

Ren frowned, "Why? Couldn't these Confederacy match their speed of construction?"

"They could, but word has gotten out about a lost artefact. One that would let the wielded control weather and currents," she sighed, "If they got their hands on that, they could crush any fleet meeting them. They would rule the oceans."

I slowly nodded, "Ah. How many do you want?"

She smiled a bit, "Not sure even you could just whip something like that up. But I'm more interested in keeping it away from them than handing it over to the Confederacy. Quite frankly, it would be too dangerous for anyone here to have."

"If their magic is normally limited to fireballs, I could see that," I agreed, "It would be like handing them nuclear weapons."

Alexis nodded, "Pretty much."

"So not actually pirate ship and pirates?"

That got a grin from her, "Oh, definitely both pirate ship and pirates," before she looked thoughtful, "Well, technically Privateer. I carry what you would call a letter of marque from the nation of Tarilia. When I first escaped the trap, I was captured by the former captain of the ship and it's former crew. I was almost unconscious at the time. When they attacked another ship, I managed to break free and killed him. Turns out, the one he was attacking was a member of the Tarilian Imperial family. He gave me the ship as a reward and I got a new crew. Things were just heating up and that's when they hired me."

Ren shook her head, "Wow, now that's some story."

Alexis nodded, "Yeah, no kidding. It's been a couple of busy years."

"So, what's your plan now?"

She sipped her wine, "Need to get back on the quest. We have a couple of weak leads, but it's worth a try," before she frowned, "…If you weren't hurt, I might have asked for a favour with that. Scrying and artefacts, kind of your thing."

I owed Alexis more than I could possibly say, fixing my eye was just the latest in a long line. Sure, I saved her a time or two, but that hardly compared to helping to save my world.

I looked over at Sheila. She looked back at me before she sighed and nodded.

"We'll help," I said and leaned back in my seat before I smiled, "I may be fairly armless at the moment, but I have some ideas about that. Besides, don't need to be all that all hands on deck to be able to scry and do research."

"…Did you just…" Alexis started before she pinched the bridge of her nose, "of course you did."

She then shook her head, "I can't ask that of you. And I can't wait a month for you to get back."

"You're not asking. We're offering," I told her, "We can handle it."

Alexis groaned and looked at Sheila, "…Seriously, you married this?"

Sheila just kind of sighed.

I grinned at her, "I have other good qualities to make up for it."

She shook her head with a sigh before she frowned at me, "Are you sure you want to do this? It may take months! And there is no guarantee we will succeed."

"Owe you that and more," I told her, "As for my arm… I have some ideas until I can get it healed. You have a pirate ship, do you have… seven of your archaic American pounds of silver onboard?"

"I think we can dig that much up."



AN// Unbetaed.