javcs said:
They still lacking in the Int department? 'Cause Talen is just acting stupid ... standing in the open when he knows a dragon is coming to draw it's attack?
I don't see it that way. Given that Talen's the only one immune to their breath weapons (well, maybe one more

), and since they thought there was only one, it seemed logical to "draw its fire", get it to waste its initial breath attack, and lure it forward to melee with Talen.
Although it's certainly true that there aren't any Rhodes scholars in the group, with a peak INT of 12, IIRC. So maybe there's a better tactic that escaped both the author and the heroes...
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Chapter 158
DRAGONS!
The dragons swept the tunnel with their breath weapons, working silently in tandem to maximize the effects of their attacks. The companions, caught almost completely by surprised, were almost all hit by the full force of one of the blasts, staggering as the negative energies sapped away their life force.
The female dragon swooped down to engage the rear guard, targeting a cluster of stalagmites behind which Allera, Shay, and Baraka had taken cover. It shrieked as it seized onto the protruding formations with its claws, snapping its neck down to seize Allera. The healer screamed as the dragon lifted her effortlessly into the air, into the reach of its deadly foreclaws.
Realizing too late his mistake, Talen had started to charge back toward the dragons. He had been on the edge of the male’s blast, but Allera’s spell had shrouded him from the draining effects of the dragon’s breath. The male dragon, however, came to him, sweeping down in a straight dive, picking up speed as it came. Talen lifted his sword to defend himself, but the dragon slammed hard into him, knocking him off his feet. It snapped one of its hind claws around the knight’s shield as he fell, but did not get a firm grip. Talen’s arm was painfully wrenched as he was flung wildly about in a full circle, before he finally smacked hard into the grainy soil of the tunnel about ten feet from where he’d been standing.
The dragon spread its wings and rose up into the air, reaching almost the top of the tunnel before it twisted over on its back, and plummeted down toward the fallen knight, claws outstretched.
Arrows flew at the dragon holding Allera, the healer giving them a clear target through the shifting haze of
mirror images. Baraka and Pella both scored hits, but the dragon seemed as indefatigable as the bigger one had, shrugging off whatever pain Varo’s enhanced missiles might have caused it.
“Let her go!” Shay yelled, springing up onto the rocks, her sword flashing in her hand as her magical boots helped boost her into range to strike. She slashed at one of its hind legs, but her sword failed to penetrate its incredibly durable hide. As the dragon shifted a wing buffeted her, and she fell back, barely twisting her body enough to come down on her feet, instead of on her back. She rolled as she struck the hard ground, coming up grimacing but intact a few feet away.
Allera, struggling in vain to free herself from the dragon’s grip, screamed again as it dug its claws deep into its body. Snaggletooth was visible fluttering around its head, trying to distract it, but the dragon was clearly not going to release its prey. But it nearly lost its grip on its perch a moment later, as the stalagmites under it rumbled and shifted. To the dragon’s surprise, the limestone formations suddenly came
alive, twisting up like fingers to grab the dragon’s lower body, bearing it to the ground. Allera went flying, caroming off the wall of the tunnel before she fell in a heap on the ground.
Talen struggled to his feet as the bigger dragon dove at him. Arrows flew at it, but they struck only
mirror images, doing no harm to the beast. The illusions continued to shift around its onrushing form, and as Talen swung
Beatus Incendia, his swing clipped an image, disrupting the illusory double but doing no harm to the creature.
The same could not be said for him, as the dragon tore mercilessly into him. Only his heavy armor kept him from being torn to pieces, as the dragon unleashed a series of powerful blows with its claws, wings, tail, and bite. But even the enchanted steel could not keep him from being battered, and as the dragon lashed him hard across the shoulders with its long tail, the knight crumpled to the ground, his face twisted in agony. His left leg was twisted beneath him at an obviously unnatural angle where the dragon had wrenched it with a claw, and while he still held onto his sword, his shield arm hung limp, broken in two places.
The dragon loomed over him, looking down at its prey with a look of fury burning in its black eyes.
“Rrrraaaaarrrrg!” Dar screamed as he drove into the creature from the side.
Valor blazed in his hand, but he too was fooled by the dragon’s illusions, and struck empty air as his charging attack dissolved another
image. The dragon turned on him, ready to do to him what it had just done to Talen.
But before the dragon could strike, a storm of claws and feathers fell upon the dragon from behind, as a griffon summoned by Varo swooped down to attack. More
mirror images disappeared, but the griffon seized onto real flesh with its beak, digging open a long gash into the muscled joint where its neck met its shoulder.
Shay rushed over to Allera, but the healer was conscious, despite the blood that continued to ooze out of the deep gouges that the dragon had carved into her body. Snaggletooth hovered over her as well. “I’m all right... go, go!” she yelled, at both of them, grimacing as she rolled over, and channeled a
cure critical wounds into herself.
The female dragon grappled furiously with the animated mineral spires of the stalagmite formation. Shards of pulverized stone flew out in every direction as the dragon fought furiously to break free. Its foe was larger in size and mass, but the dragon had incredible strength in its compact body, and it was capable of unleashing truly incredible blows. Arrows continued to lance into the melee, barely noticed as it fought on.
Snaggletooth flew up to the tunnel ceiling, where stalactites dangled down from the uneven surface like jagged stone teeth. The dragon darted nimbly through them, releasing magic into the stone as he passed. As he finished his circuit, cracks appeared where the stalactites met the ceiling, and one by one the huge stone daggers broke free and fell, plummeting to the ground below.
Baraka looked up and bit back a curse, throwing himself back moments before a cascade of loose stone smashed into the floor where he’d been standing. Allera lifted her arms to shield herself, but the little dragon had been more careful with her than it had been regarding the ranger, and none of the falling stones struck near her.
The shadow dragon’s incredibly sharp senses warned it to the danger a split second before the falling slabs struck. The dragon summoned its magic with incredible swiftness, and shimmered, vanishing from the grasp of the animated stones a fraction of a second before the stalactites crashed heavily into the ground.
The dragon had not gone far. It rematerialized a few paces away, not far from where Pella was fitting another arrow into her bow. Some subtle change in sound or air pressure warned her of the danger, and she spun, bringing the arrow back to her cheek as she drew the bow. The sight of the dragon leaping at her caused her eyes to widen in sudden fear, but the head of the arrow never wavered before she released the shaft at point-blank range into its chest.
Serah ducked, and barely in time, as the male dragon’s tail lashed through the air where her head had been an instant before. She all but fell, terror pounding in her heart, even though the swing hadn’t been an attack; the dragon had spun to attack the griffon, and returned the hurt that the summoned creature had inflicted on it tenfold, as it dug its claws deep into the body of its foe. The griffon shrieked and tried to break free, but the dragon refused to loosen its grip.
The cleric felt as though her muscles had turned to liquid, but then she saw again what had drawn her out into the open, and the sight returned strength to her body. She all but fell at Talen’s side, all too aware of the raging battle taking place just a few paces away.
Talen was grievously wounded, his body battered and bleeding, but he was still conscious. “I’ve got to get you out of here!” she hissed. She tugged on his shoulder plates, but while he let out a groan of pain, he somehow was able to pull free. He refused to let go of his sword, she noticed.
“No! Heal me... heal me here!”
She had been drained by the dragon’s breath, purging her remaining higher-order spells. But she drew deep into what remained, and she grabbed Talen’s broken leg, twisting it back into position as she poured positive energy into his body. Talen’s jaw tightened, but no sound of protest escaped his lips as she worked.
Dar and his companions had not stood idly by, although their efforts had thus far been largely for naught. They’d pared back the creature’s illusory doubles, but it still maintained a considerable innate protection, which Dar learned anew as his sword glanced off of its armored body. The fighter had been going for all-out power attacks, a tactic that he realized wasn’t going to work against this foe. Bullo, on the opposite side of the dragon, was having an equally poor time of it. Kalend, weakened by the dragon breath and recognizing that he was hopelessly outmatched, remained in cover along the edge of the tunnel, sniping with his bow to little effect.
The griffon let out a last wheeze and expired as the dragon crunched its jaws down solidly on its neck. As the summoning dissipated, the dragon smashed down its wings, buffeting both Bullo and Dar, driving the fighters back a step. It spun to face them, sweeping its tail around, taking Bullo’s legs out from under him. It focused its eyes on Dar, letting out a nasty hiss that promised a grim fate for the hard-pressed fighter.
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