You Are A Dragon

[Packrat]

Just to add some more context to the state of affairs here are the current combatants:

You (Etorix) - Divine empowered adult dragon, lightly wounded: Currently grappled with and evenly fighting with Sulqueum.
Benefaction Mission Corvette - 15,000 ton space warship armed with ultra-violet lasers and some kind of Gauss cannon firing megaton range fusion bombs: Main drive offline, losing altitude, armour ablated but still fighting.
Kinetic Weapons Platform - Orbital weapon that fires about a thousand one ton tungsten lances at ten miles a second against surface targets. Once: Currently empty
Energy Weapons Platforms - Orbital weapons with extremely high powered pulse lasers, able to injure adult dragons or cripple juveniles when catching them unprepared: Three deployed, one disabled or destroyed, two active.

Sulqueum - Adult dragoness, lightly wounded: Currently drawing upon her hoard for additional magical power and evenly fighting with you.
Xiaghei - Oversized and strong juvenile dragon: Dead, killed by Kinetic Weapons Platform.
Jandeiss - Small, magically gifted juvenile dragon: Lightly wounded and drawing upon his hoard for magical power, destroyed one of the energy weapons platforms.
Maven - Feathered and notably sneaky juvenile dragon who has wronged you in the past: Moderately wounded, flying heavily.
Biemrurth - Scarred juvenile dragon you do not know much about but seems to be kind of awful at dragoning: Badly wounded, well below the main battle.
Lammergeier G75 Aerospace Fighters - Six magitech aerospace fighters apparently piloted by hatchling dragons to allow them to function in this level of ambient magic. Armed with gamma ray lasers that largely ignore dragon scales: One crippled and withdrawing, another heavily damaged and withdrawing, one busy evading fire from orbital energy weapons platforms. Three are successfully mauling the corvette though working hard for it.

Notably the Benefaction Mission has a lot more hardware but they have slightly inferior pure technology to that used in the Lammergeier and no implementation of magic, the Lammergeier by contrast were made by a human civilisation with a thousand years of experience in combining the two and are piloted by (young) dragons in human form who are at least a match for the cybernetically augmented humans in reaction speed as well as allowing the magitech vehicles to even function right now.

 

[Duesal]

Sulqueum - Adult dragoness, lightly wounded: Currently drawing upon her hoard for additional magical power and evenly fighting with you.
Xiaghei - Oversized and strong juvenile dragon: Dead, killed by Kinetic Weapons Platform.
Jandeiss - Small, magically gifted juvenile dragon: Lightly wounded and drawing upon his hoard for magical power, destroyed one of the energy weapons platforms.
Maven - Feathered and notably sneaky juvenile dragon who has wronged you in the past: Moderately wounded, flying heavily.
Biemrurth - Scarred juvenile dragon you do not know much about but seems to be kind of awful at dragoning: Badly wounded, well below the main battle.
Lammergeier G75 Aerospace Fighters - Six magitech aerospace fighters apparently piloted by hatchling dragons to allow them to function in this level of ambient magic. Armed with gamma ray lasers that largely ignore dragon scales: One crippled and withdrawing, another heavily damaged and withdrawing, one busy evading fire from orbital energy weapons platforms. Three are successfully mauling the corvette though working hard for it.

Click to shrink...

I'm very pleased with this.

One down, four to go.

When I suggested taking Sulqueum as our mate and you told me that would amount to frenemies I never imagined how utterly infuriating that would make her. I am pretty freaking eager to see her dead now.

 

[Thyreus]

I'm very pleased with this.

Click to shrink...

I'm not because

Maven - Feathered and notably sneaky juvenile dragon who has wronged you in the past: Moderately wounded, flying heavily.

Click to shrink...

is not dead. Fuck that guy in particular for stealing from Etorix.

I don't see why Sulqueum would be infuriating. From her perspective Etorix is not only taking over the human population as a deity, he is also exterminating all competition (with the Benefactors already having fought her once).
Also, eh, every female dragon Etorix would consider a potential mate would also be a rival. If she wasn't then she would be bad at being a dragon.

Probably a turn off since Sulqueum's massive hoard is one of her most outstanding attractive traits.

 

[Ultramandalore]

[X] Draw Upon Magic. You do not have much left but Sulqueum is currently matching you by expending her own power, not overmatching you, but roughly equalling you. (Spend 1 of 3 remaining Magic).

 

[Umi-san]

[X] Focus Defensively.
Actually giving up is dumb, better to wage a war of attrition.

 

[SandKing]

[X] Draw Upon Magic. You do not have much left but Sulqueum is currently matching you by expending her own power, not overmatching you, but roughly equalling you. (Spend 1 of 3 remaining Magic).

The longer the battle lasts, the more Sulqueum exists her hoard, leaving a smaller prize in case of our victory. If we are fighting, we need to go for the kill.

Click to shrink...

I agree with this reasoning. My only concern is that another dragon under Sulqueum will claim the hoard first. But perhaps it takes a while to attune to a hoard?

[X] Draw Upon Magic. You do not have much left but Sulqueum is currently matching you by expending her own power, not overmatching you, but roughly equalling you. (Spend 1 of 3 remaining Magic).

 

[Microtec1]

[X] Focus Defensively. You are a god of protection and duty, your magic is far more potent at keeping you or your followers alive. Avoid taking crippling injury and try to outlast Sulqueum's reserves or willingness to expend magic and minions.

 

[Packrat]

Vote is overwhelmingly for:

[X] Focus Defensively. You are a god of protection and duty, your magic is far more potent at keeping you or your followers alive. Avoid taking crippling injury and try to outlast Sulqueum's reserves or willingness to expend magic and minions.

I shall get working on an update, probably for tomorrow.

 

[Duesal]

I'm now considering the merits of simply siding with the Benefactors to wipe out all the other dragons. These things are incredibly annoying.

 

[Phigment]

The good news is that we're seeing dragons of all ages and backgrounds put aside their mutual distrust and animosity to unite against a common enemy.

The bad news is that the common enemy is Etorix.

 

[Packrat]

[X] Focus Defensively. You are a god of protection and duty, your magic is far more potent at keeping you or your followers alive. Avoid taking crippling injury and try to outlast Sulqueum's reserves or willingness to expend magic and minions.

This is not going well.

Your scales are increasingly being rent and torn by Sulqueum's talons and fangs, your flesh scorched by her fire, the deep throb in your flank where the gamma rays struck your flesh. The dragoness you battle with is just as badly off as, when you manage to strike, you tear through her own protection, but she is moving with obviously augmented grace as she burns her magic to move with her real potency instead of the half choked precarious existence you would both normally be limited to.

Of course you are both cheating there, neither of you could live if you were not drawing upon outside power and whilst her source is prodigious banked reserves from her enviable hoard she needs that magic just to keep herself alive. You are subsisting off the ever renewing flow of power from your faith. You let yourself focus on that flow of power, center yourself even as you roar and unleash a blast of flame which wards off Jandeiss from diving in to join the fray. That leaves you open, you earn another scoring of talons across your chest, but barely any purchase is made as you concentrate your strength on reinforcing your own body.

Somewhere miles above there is a hammering of laser fire as over a dozen Benefaction Mission aerospace fighters drop from orbit to join the fray, screaming in from space and concentrating their weapons upon the four Illndtia Lammergeier that remain in the fight. Then there are explosions as they are massacred like lambs making the unfortunate decision to team up against wolves, spiralling broken from the sky whilst they fail to do more than distract their enemies.

This does however allow the wallowing and injured corvette to concentrate upon the dragons and thankfully they avoid trying to directly 'help' with your close combat against Sulqueum. Biemrurth screams as he is caught by laser fire, already badly wounded and lagging, he responds by folding in his torn wings then diving into the sea below, vanishing from sight.

You are however not winning against Sulqueum and roar in agony as she nearly takes your left eye, your own reactions slowly, blood streaming across your glowing white scales, flame almost taking one of your wings as Maven manages to finagle his way behind you. "Kill him! If we let him live then he will continue his extermination!" Sulqueum sounds triumphant now even as one of her hatchling dragon piloted Lammergeier vanishes in the beam from an orbital weapon platform, immolated instantly before the beam punches down into the sea below.

Lower now, still losing altitude, the corvette is caught by a concentrated stream of fire from Jandeiss and answers with a volley from it's Gauss turret. More fusion bombs, weapons quite capable of killing any of you with a direct hit but warping mid flight to be scattered across the sky rather than hitting the smallest of the adult dragons present. Instead the shockwaves hit everyone and everything, blasting you apart from your melee with Sulqueum and Maven with the latter spiralling and tumbling as he fails to right himself, a piteous noise made and furious blinking implying he might have been at least partially blinded by the overlapping blasts.

Another orbital laser speaks, narrowly missing Jandeiss before he blinks out of sight. He has not teleported, but does seem to have made himself invisible and you are not sure how he has been powering such activities, certainly from the wary way in which Sulqueum now circles you think he might have left the fight, Maven hanging back further, the remaining Lammergeier fighters threatening.

Some decision is reached as you labour around to face them, then they all immediately turn to focus upon the injured corvette. Gamma ray lasers and dragonfire meet, then the horizon turns to pure incandescence as antimatter meets matter.

[] Teleport Home. Teleport away, now, back to your lair so that you can recuperate and heal and not be exploded. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).
[] Shield Yourself. Concentrate your divine aura around yourself to weather the blast then follow up in its aftermath once your enemies have been struck by it. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).
[] Dive Dive Dive! Drop as fast as possible into the ocean to try to ride out the blast, moderate risk of extreme injury or even death.
[] Kill Maven. Take advantage of the shockwave and blast to kill Maven whilst he is exposed. Almost certain to succeed, high risk of extreme injury or even death.
[] Kill Sulqueum. Take advantage of the shockwave and blast to kill Sulqueum, you are the larger and tougher dragon even if you are more badly injured. Good chance of success, almost certain extreme injury, risk of death.

You do not really have enough time to draw power from your worshipers as offered as an option before, this has to be a split second decision.
Also note that one of the things you can do with a point of stored magic would be to fully heal yourself, which will be an option if you get mangled. Obviously not so much an option if you get killed though and also not fast enough to help if you are actively being shredded in combat.

 

[Thyreus]

[X] Shield Yourself. Concentrate your divine aura around yourself to weather the blast then follow up in its aftermath once your enemies have been struck by it. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).

Well, thanks a bunch, Benefactors. I know why I wanted to to give the corvette a warning shot.

 

[Zaealix]

Well, I'm thinking next chance we get we do the drain thing on our worshippers.
If the benefactors don't like us doing that they can try not picking fights we don't want to take!

 

[veekie]

[X] Shield Yourself. Concentrate your divine aura around yourself to weather the blast then follow up in its aftermath once your enemies have been struck by it. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).

 

[Zaealix]

[X] Teleport Home
We're going to sit on our horde and not come out. Let them wonder if they just fried their god. And then once we're done recovering, hen we show up and vent to drive the point home-you do not use your god as a scout to find enemies!

 

[VagueZ]

[X] Shield Yourself. Concentrate your divine aura around yourself to weather the blast then follow up in its aftermath once your enemies have been struck by it. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).

So maybe I wasn't right last vote, but I feel really good about this one.

 

[George]

[X] Shield Yourself.

 

[Duesal]

[X] Shield Yourself. Concentrate your divine aura around yourself to weather the blast then follow up in its aftermath once your enemies have been struck by it. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).

 

[Valor]

[X] Shield Yourself. Concentrate your divine aura around yourself to weather the blast then follow up in its aftermath once your enemies have been struck by it. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).

Silly kill-hungry humans. Should've spent more magic to mind-rape 'em all.

 

[ohrasil]

[X] Shield Yourself. Concentrate your divine aura around yourself to weather the blast then follow up in its aftermath once your enemies have been struck by it. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).

 

[Packrat]

Well it is still the weekend and I cannot see voting swinging given how decisively it is in favour of:

[X] Shield Yourself. Concentrate your divine aura around yourself to weather the blast then follow up in its aftermath once your enemies have been struck by it. (Spend 1 magic, 2 remaining).

As the corvette's antimatter fuel detonates, you are first struck by a wave of radiation and heat, the latter is not a huge concern for you but the former is even with your six inch thick scales and four hundred ton mass. You reflexively reinforce yourself with your divine magic, warding off the word, but the shockwave is incoming and you are quite certain that even as durable as you are a best case scenario for trying to ride the blast wave would be almost every bone in your body shattered.

You draw upon your almost depleted hoard once again and feel your true strength returning, a rush of power and vitality, pushing the pain of your bleeding wounds to the back of your mind as you exalt in your strength. Then you spend it and push that long hoarded magic outward, your soft white glow intensifying and forming a solid barrier around your airborne form whilst you achor yourself in place against the fabric of reality.

When the blast hits a fraction of a second later you remain immobile and unharmed even as apocalypse rages past your wingtips.

When the blast passes you can see the island far below blaster into a half molten mess, a tsunami rolling away in all directions and liable to devastate coastlines for hundreds of miles around, though you are fairly sure that intervening geography will spare Hatwar City itself.

You also see Sulqueum still in the air, staggered and obviously badly injured, scanning the skies only to freeze for a moment as she sees you unharmed, a frustrated roar then she twists and tries to flee eastward, her bright wings sweeping through the air. Maven by contrast is tumbling toward the broiling seas with his bright plumage scorched and feathered wings obviously broken.

Two of the damaged Lammergeier G75 Aerospace Fighters are now tumbling fragments but the other four seem to be intact, if no longer capable of inertia-less flight, also fleeing eastward. You have no idea what happened to the two juvenile dragons who disengaged before the corvette exploded but likely nothing good..

You are however still injured, aching and bleeding, even if you seem to have been ceded the nuclear battlefield.

[] Kill Sulqueum. She has spent her strength and is now more badly injured than you, whilst you are strengthened with divine power. She can no doubt still put up a fight but you can overhaul and slay her, eat her, take power from her and leave her hoard unclaimed (Gain 30ish magic from eating Sulqueum, though she can still fight back).
[] Kill Maven. He has wronged you in the past and must suffer for it, dive down before he can hit the sea, where he would not doubt hide and escape. Destroy him, he is helpless to resist you and you can regain spent magic from his corpse. (Gain 10ish magic from eating Maven, basically no risk).
[] Capture Sulqueum. She has given you a ferocious battle and thus proved herself a worthy foe. Defeat her then let her survive in return for a tribute of wealth, a portion of her undoubtedly massive hoard. If she does not pay up? Destroy her cities and let her be known as a dragon not worth letting live. This would also demonstrate to other dragons that you are not seeking dragonicide and so can be dealt with reasonably. (Gain 40ish Wealth with 4 points of infused magic, plus not be Dragon Enemy No 1. Might get cut up by Sulqueum, she can still fight back).
[] Destroy The Fighters. They will overhaul you rapidly and escape if you distract yourself with other foes but while they survive Sulqueum, or any force who claim them, have a terribly effective fighting force. Once they and their pilots have recovered then they might actually be capable of threatening the Benefaction Mission's Ark with direct attack in space.

A pretty short update but there is an important and immediate decision point!

 

[Duesal]

[X] Kill Sulqueum. She has spent her strength and is now more badly injured than you, whilst you are strengthened with divine power. She can no doubt still put up a fight but you can overhaul and slay her, eat her, take power from her and leave her hoard unclaimed (Gain 30ish magic from eating Sulqueum, though she can still fight back).

I've been greatly looking forward to this. 30 magic? Wow. Hell of a prize.

 

[George]

[X] Destroy The Fighters.

I'm willing to lean on our faith for magic, so taking away such a strong offensive edge is my priority.

 

[Packrat]

I've been greatly looking forward to this. 30 magic? Wow. Hell of a prize.

Click to shrink...

The key factors here are that Sulqueum was every bit as dangerous as you and that if you demonstrate that you will immediately kill and eat defeated peer opponents? Then if you ever lose, you are likely to be killed and eaten. Taking on a peer opponent is outrageously dangerous after all.

 

[Professor Vesca]

[X] Capture Sulqueum. She has given you a ferocious battle and thus proved herself a worthy foe. Defeat her then let her survive in return for a tribute of wealth, a portion of her undoubtedly massive hoard. If she does not pay up? Destroy her cities and let her be known as a dragon not worth letting live. This would also demonstrate to other dragons that you are not seeking dragonicide and so can be dealt with reasonably. (Gain 30ish Wealth with 3 point of infused magic, plus not be Dragon Enemy No 1. Might get cut up by Sulqueum, she can still fight back).

We need other Dragons to work with us, to spread our faith, to worship us themselves. We are not evil, we never have been and never will be. Even other dragons deserve to live, and it also shows the Benefaction Mission that we are not just their lapdog that they can send out to flush out their enemies. We are our own person, with our own goals.