:10/11/2251:

10:43 AM

It had taken longer even than I had expected to form our army and start our march. Still, as we trotted through the dark canopy of the marsh I was glad for the extra hours we had spent in preparation. 

Blink, Olga, Gray and I lead the vanguard. We had pulled from our newly built bestiaries the horses that now carried our vanguard and the hounds that were nipping at our feet. I use the words 'horses' and 'hounds' somewhat figuratively, though, for in reality, these creatures were neither. The hounds were about what you would have expected from our little fungal abode, each being built like a Doberman with elongated, protracted jaws, as well as a half dozen spore tendrils growing from their backs. As they ran, occasionally a pack would raise one of the tendrils into the air, and it would grow a faint shade of luminescent green as the creatures picked up speed and zoomed across the terrain. Faintly, I wondered what buffs the other tendrils might possess, but rather than ask I left the matter in the capable hands of our Mushroom Kennelmasters and focused on the actual logistics of our treck.

The horses, however, were another matter entirely. They seemed less to have evolved from our twisted little city than to have been a leftover template from when our Faction was still the Undercity. Their fur was dark black, to the point where it looked more like smoke than hair, the whisps of which parting airly around your fingers as you placed your hands against the equine backs. Their teeth were sharpened into points, to a one, somehow matching the jagged, bony protrusions that were visible from their hooves. And when I say 'that were visible' I mean that quite literally - the majority of their hooves were engulfed by seemingly infinitely generated clouds of black smoke, hovering lightly over the ground as they ran. 

The smoke of their hooves seemed to indicate more than just fancy particle effects, however, as as we reached the bogs of the swamp, rather than sinking down into the deep waters below, the horses carried us lightly and swiftly across the surface of the waters. It must have made quite the sight, I reflected, as hundreds of mounted riders trotted lightly across the surface of such harsh terrain as if they were taking a quiet stroll in the park - each of which carried lightly on hooves of smoke mounted atop black horses with the glowing red eyes from a child's nightmare.

A good number of Roleplayers, I knew, had chosen to join us despite my attempts to ferret them away. They were about fifteen minutes behind our mounted calvary, I figured, traveling on impromptu rafts and using long branches to push their watery vehicles through the deep bog. I had the less powerful PC's back there with them, and I knew that Steve had volunteered to leave the whole ramshackle crew, so I figured I'd done everything for them that I could to ensure their survival. And also, the less compassionate side of my mind told me, even if they were to die I would still have a high enough town population to reach the next level for my town with several thousand to spare.

As the Wyvern's silhouette appeared in the distance, I could almost feel the excitement and the tension around me. Especially as it came further into view and we could see that several hundred smaller, juvenile versions of the creature were accompanying it. It wasn't just a beast, it was a swarm of the monsters. And with every passing minute, it became more and more clear that we were going to be in for one hell of a fight.

Of the PCs who I had issued the town's mounts to, the ones who I wanted in the vanguard and yet did not yet possess their own, they were to a one ranged classes with mobility enhancements. Wizards, Sorcerers, Rangers, Warriors and any advanced classes thereof rode with us in that vanguard. And, I noted with no small amount of satisfaction, all members of martial classes, excepting for the few already in possession of Legendary weapons, had upgraded to the newly designed clockwork firearms of my town. 

My only real regret was that I could not fill the ranks of the vanguard with more support classes, for healing and buffing the troops. However, I had realized earlier that morning, as I was putting together our formations, that support classes in our faction were quite actually as rare as rumors had said. It seemed like we maybe had one support for a thousand soldiers, and even then the support classes more often appeared in the ranks of the Roleplayers than they did in the troops.

Not for the first time, I felt myself envious of McBeal's alliance with the Armies of Light and their unfair number of Paladin players. Angmar had their Shamans, Galdenheim had their Witches, but Undercity had never been the type of faction to draw all that many Healers or Support. Add to that the fact that the system didn't offer the option for support classes to every player, and of those that met the requirements an even fewer number chose a healer or buffer when they only had a single character that they could play, and you already had a fairly low number of players in game who had chosen the role. Still, it was something that I was hoping to remedy with my own cities trainers and abilities, someday in the future, and I resolved to make more investments in trainers that would draw me additional supports.

As the cloud of monsters approached overhead, the rangers had already begun taking pot shots at the nearing monstrosities. I could tell they weren't aiming at individual creatures, but rather firing generally at the mass of beasts and counting on statistics to find their marks for them. I made my own attempt at it as well, though firing from dry land and firing into the air from the back of a moving horse were two separate things entirely. While the stirrups held my weight fairly well, it was in no way stable enough for me to steady my hands and, I found, I was entirely unable to compensate for the jarring jumps my body made as I attempted to fire. 

One of the rangers spoke, turning toward me, "Warlord Frost, should we engage?"

I simply nodded, wordlessly, and looked around me, attempting to find a bank or a fallen log from which I could gain stable footing. Yet no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find anything at all that might hold my weight while I danced out my Auras. Frustrated, I raised my hands and shouted, "Fortify here!" Before the company had even stopped, I was shifting into my serpentine scales and slithering into the air overhead.

In theory, I would be able to cast Auras now from this shifted form due to Mystical Nature and yet, as I flew, I realized one important detail. Without hands and feet, all the training I had received when I was learning the Auras was worthless, and the long and short of it was that I had no idea what I even needed to do in order to cast.

Desperately, as the monsters drew ever closer, I began dancing fine, swirling loops in the air. I was hoping I would get something... a prompt perhaps, or maybe just a status update, but as the Wyverns grew ever close I found myself more and more at a loss for what to do. 

It wasn't until I was giving up, lowering my altitude to rejoin my company, that I heard a soft, familiar sigh inside my head. "Hey, I think this is one of those things you are supposed to learn through the AI assist. I think I see a learning program here we can try."

I was relieved for a moment, before I felt a jarring change, as though my body was jerking and tumbling around, outside of my control. It felt like some kind of seizure at first, involuntary muscle spasms taking hold of my body and flinging me back and forth in the air, before the knowledge of what was happening slowely settled into my mind. "Yikes, sorry about that Mags, I was assuming you'd get some kind of prompt or something there," she paused as my movements started becoming more regular and I could feel my body moving in a sort of rhythmic pattern. "Ok, so that should be our Lifegiving Aura, hold on Mags, as soon as it triggers I'm going to jump us straight into Marionette."

 My sore, scaly butt started feeling better for half of a second, then again I'm not entirely sure that I even had a butt. Either way, the relief of my exhaustion fading didn't last more than a single heartbeat before my body was jerked to the side, violently, and my stomach did a little heave. Again, I felt like I was lost in involuntary spasms as my coils were forced through the new set of rhythms. I thought for sure that I was about to fall bodily to my death, and yet the dancing leaps and falls of my body somehow magically managed to still simulate a kind of flight. 

It was another ten seconds before the jerking, falling motions began to smooth and I felt myself falling into the twists and airborne twirls of a more formal, swooping dance. It wasn't long, really, when it came to learning a new skill, and yet as the hordes of monsters swooped down ever closer and closer it felt to me like a lifetime. I let myself move with the flow as the tingle of the second, active aura cascaded over my body, and I found that as my brain slowly learned to perform the swooping dance on its own the AI assist began, gently, to release its hold on my body.

I let the Wyvern horde approach as closely as I dared before I started trying to use the dance, the rising and falling of my body, to slowly start skirting away. It, still, wasn't enough and I felt the air whoosh by as the first of their birdlike claws narrowly missed grabbing onto my head. 

I let myself fall, for a moment, barreling toward the ground before I tried to pick up the dance again. I used that little bit of space I had won to buy just a couple more seconds of my active Aura's effect. 

Thankfully, those few extra seconds turned out to be all the time that I did need. My thirty-two points in Charisma turned out to be worth their weight in gold, every single one - and one, then two of the beasts turned on the hordes around them and started savaging their brothers with jagged claws and teeth. 

I used my confusion to dance my way higher, surrounding myself in a whirlwind of mayhem as wyvern turned on wyvern and a hail of gunfire and... actual fire... shot up into the tangled mess from my troops stationed below. The young wyverns were falling by the dozens, there on the edges of their horde, bodies raining heavily upon the branches and pools of the swamp below.

It would have been a quick and decisive battle against the mob if it wasn't for the sheer number of them that were starting to reach our lines. Outside of the chaotic maelstrom I had created, more and more swooped in above, descending bodily through the canopy of branches and launching themselves upon the ranks of avatars below. 

The warriors were holding their own, having dropped their rifles and bows in favor of their swords and shields, but the mages and rangers were falling like weeds before the waves of monstrous claws and teeth. In the tangle of the swamp, forced to choose between fighting on horseback versus wading into the waist-deep waters below, they suddenly found themselves to be in a very awkward position with no way to form or hold the ranks of a true formation. I watched from my curling dance, feeling helpless and shocked, as I watched a dozen of the men fall, their mounts savaged by the waves of monsters pouring in. 

As the dozen became dozens, and the lines of my calvary buckled and fell, I heard Em in my head, shouting to the army below, "Fall back, you idiots! Retreat and meet up with our reinforcements! Now!"

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Olga's voice shouted above the chaos, quickly echoed by Blinky's yell. Both appeared to have commander's shout abilities, and both were echoing Em's orders to their men, "Fall back! Fall back!"

I stared, dumbfounded, as they started to once again move in a well-oiled clockwork. Olga stood high in her stirrups, weaving a twin pair of oversized axes deftly in her hands as she cleared a way through the masses of the Wyverns. As they moved, the group seemed once again able to form the semblance of a formation, with the warriors falling in on the outer edges of the calvary, with the rangers than the wizards within the protected center formation. The hounds followed along happily, jumping high into the air as red lights cascaded from the tendrils on their back, and happily nipping at the Wyverns trailing the formation.

Blink, however, had stayed behind with me to hold off the body of the horde. 

He was beyond a wonder to see, especially as I darted in closer to ensure that my lingering Livegiving Aura was close enough to count. He used a warrior's ability that I had never before seen to jump into the air, flashing between the wyverns in waves of light and sound. It was similar to a warrior's 'Charge' and yet it was almost instantaneous, launching him in, seemingly, any direction at all. 

He stabbed and rode a wyvern, leaping to stab another and falling, only to twist around and impale a third with his momentum. He moved like he was within, not DDO, but some old platforming game, the goal of which to never stay on the same ledge for longer than a heartbeat before sliding, tumbling, or jumping onward to the next.

My own dance was also starting to have an obvious effect. Where, originally, the Wyverns that fell to my Aura were quickly turned on and devoured by their kin, I had started to reach a critical mass, where the number of Wyverns I controlled was increasing faster than the possessed beasts could be killed. I started to wonder, a faint hope forming in my heart that the two of us could take out the mob all on our own. But it was a hope that died in my heart almost as soon as it had been kindled, as an errant claw gorged itself in Blink's shoulder, knocking him away from his own strange dance and into the muck below.

I dove down, too afraid to switch to an active Lifegiving Aura and be overrun by the oncoming horde of beasts above me for even a few seconds, I still attempted to get as close to my fallen friend as I could. Instinctively, I hovered over where he had fallen and growled to the hordes above me that even then crashed through the branches and blotting out the sky. 

I knew in my heart that it was over, that the two of us had bought our army as long as we possibly could to reforge their ranks and try again. And yet I screamed out in my hissing, serpentine voice my rage, my defiance, at the monsters clicking talons and biting teeth. It would have been the last of us too, quite certainly, if it hadn't been for the secondary properties of my Aura that only then decided to make their appearance.

Next to us, a crocodile leaped out of the water and snapped its jaws around a low-flying monster, dragging it down into the waters below. I had not even seen it or known it was there until the water violently parted and it's gaping maw closed around its unsuspecting prey.

A creature leaped from the branches of a tree, then another. They looked like baboons, sort of, except they had moss instead of hair that covered their bodies, and their fingers ended in long, jagged claws they swiped into the backs of the Wyverns they landed on. Their battle cries seemed deep, and strangely human, as they launched themselves at my foes, and the Wyverns fell faster than I would have thought possible to the leaping, agile claws of the Mossmen.

Not one to press my luck at that point, I quickly shifted and scooped up Blinky's massive body. I could barely lift half of him, with my pathetic two in strength, but even still I managed to get him partially across my back. He was still aware, thankfully, if stunned, and I scooted him in place with the cords of my tentacles until I felt his hands grabbing onto my robe.

Using that moment, I shifted into my newest magical shape, rising out of the water as the smoke-hoofed horses had done before me and charging across the waters with my alley on my back. Being a magical beast came with privileges, I reflected as I ran, even if I was limited from any flight abilities in this particular form.

I could see the horn between my eyes begin to glow as we slowly picked up speed. Thankfully, my gait seemed to be magically smooth, as I didn't feel Blink sliding around overmuch from across my back. After a good twenty seconds, whatever debuffs that were in place had appeared to wear off, and he swung himself smoothly into place on my back.

As we rode, he leaned down close to my head and ran a hand playfully through my mane. Though I knew I was a horse and it couldn't have possibly been anything but friendly, I felt my equine body thrilling at his touch in my hair. He whispered, with the type of exhilarated humor that you would only dare in the heat of a fight, into my flopping ears, "You know, Magpie. You're pretty fun to ride."

Tossing my head, I expected that my words would come out as the neighing of a horse. That is my excuse, at least, as I found the unicorn's mouth and tongue were easily forming my human words, "Next time, you're buying me dinner first, buddy."

I almost skipped a step in shock, as I realized that I had spoken out loud. But despite the blush beneath the snow white hair my muzzle, I was warmed to hear his laugh from where he sat atop me. It sounded so wild and uninhibited, a laugh that is only ever possible after thinking you were about to die, and the deep, masculine sound echoed through my thudding heart.

We didn't speak another word between us as we pulled up on the ranks of our armies. The cavalry had taken formation around the rafts of the ground troops, and I was happy to see the thousand odd roleplayers were firmly placed in the center of both formations. 

With numbers again on our side, we turned to face the Wyverns, even then hot upon our heels as their wings beat steadily through the midday air.

The hundred odd smaller beasts that remained fell swiftly to our combined might. And while many of the ground troops were less useful when facing beasts in the air, that still had not prevented them from buying cheap bows or rifles and sighting manually up at the hoards, as I had been training to do.

It was thus that our reformed army, thousands strong, turned to meet the Mother Beasty flying steadily toward our tiny ranks.

Depositing Blinky down on one of the rafts, I swiftly shifted and lifted off the surface of the water in my now familiar, Serpentine shape. The sight of the beast that had murdered Queen McBeal seemed to give our men added strength, and as I actively danced the Lifegiving steps, I slithered my way across the ranks of our soldiers and made sure that every one had been healed of any earlier injury. 

The passive aura of the Marionette still in effect, I noted snidely that massive, twenty foot long vultures were harassing the Queen Wyvern as it flew. It would occasionally take the time to bite at or swat one of them down, but it was obvious to us that the monster's HP had already had slightly been chipped away. I sent a silent 'thanks' to the buffs and perks of my town, for silently keeping our armies safe from such creatures while likewise turning my little support focused aura into a force of its own. It was obvious that, if not for the sheer, massive power of the creature before us, the overgrown beasts of our swamp would have taken care of the entire situation without us lifting a finger.

As it was, our troops were fired up as the Mother Wyvern closed on our ranks, and the firing of our rifles, our bows, and our spells echoed a chorus of death around us. Even I resumed my Nymphian form atop one of the rafts, straightening my crown before sighting down my Allycat for a few shots of my own. The hiss and the shock of her own claws flinging out, barreling across the sky and into the massive creature sent little shivers of joy down my spine.

It took us all by surprise, then, when she swooped in bodily, landing her massive bulk directly into the middle of our formation and lashing out with tooth and claw and tail. A hundred of our roleplayers died then, breathing their actual, final breaths in the initial half-second of her attack. And another hundred fell in the seconds after that, along with a good half of the combat avatars who dived in to their defence. 

And yet, after the initial assault, I saw a familiar sight that somehow lifted the shock from my mind. Like a liquid shadow, a player had melded into view atop the wyvern's back, and their twin swords were burying their way up the creature's spine as if they were climbing a mountain. 

The Mother Wyrm noticed, and not only did she notice, but she sent her clawed wings flying at the creature on her back, attempting to swat him off like an annoying, buzzing fly. And yet, every time her wing swatted where the man had been, his body swirled back into that strange mist of shadow and appeared somewhere new on the creature's body.

The Roleplayers seemed somehow crazily bolstered at the man's appearance on the Wyvern's back, and even as they fired their weapons, I could hear their battle shout. It was hazy at first, drowning in a sea of rifle fire and exploding arrows that failed to pierce the creature's hide, but it slowly became clear to my ears what it was that they were shouting.

"Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve..."

I smirked as I realized that I knew who it was that was riding that creature's back. And it seemed that the quiet rogue had something of a following that quite had rivaled my own. Emboldened by the rising energy, despite the sea of our dead the pooled in rivers and lakes of blood red water, repainting the marshes' surface with our own blood and gore, I took wing and flew.

Flapping madly on dark, raven wings, I rose up high over head, up and up and up until I was well over the top of the wyvern's muzzle. Steve was putting on a hell of a show below me, but I was going to be damned if I let him steal the scene.

Shifting in the air to my Nyphian form, I cartwheeled through the air until I held my rifle directly pointed down, and I fired bodily into the top of the creature's skull. It screamed, reaching up with its teeth to claim my helplessly falling skin between its jaws, but I managed to shift, just inches from death, and regain a bit of altitude.

As I readied myself to dive again, I noticed that the Wyvern was still biting at the air, with Olga and Blinky having jumped at the golden opportunity to lead their squads of swordsmen in for a quick swipe at her neck. And before the beast could react to their newly renewed assault, I attempted the trick again.

This time, however, the recoil of the rifle sent me spinning out of control, and even my feathered wings could not seem to catch hold of the wind to discontinue my fall. I thought I had scored a hit deep in the monster's gaping mouth, right through her awaiting jaws, but I didn't have time to stop and check as I found myself crashing deeply into the waters below.

By the time I had cleared my head in the murk and managed to blur into the form of the Unicorn, the fight was already done. Our swordsmen had carved a hole in the creature's unprotected neck, and Steve had, I stared in disbelief, carved out his own name in bloody furrows down the massive creature's scaly back.

As we reformed our ranks and took count of our survivors, I noticed that the men had stayed well clear of the Beastial body. And even as I found a spot on a raft and began to dance our wounded back to health and our fallen back to life, I saw Blink slowly coming toward me.

After he had watched and let me dance for a good minute of time, he finally opened his mouth to say. "We are waiting for you to take the first loot and finish the town's quest, Magpie."

I shook my head, hearing his voice, and finally paused in my dance. "Um... right, Blink. Thanks," I muttered. Leaning closer, I asked him, "and what do you think that I should take exactly."

Smiling, he tossed something at me, shaking his head with that teasing grin stitched across his lips. "Jesus, Mags. You can be such a noob sometimes."

I looked down to the lump of stone that I had caught. It was, quite possibly, the clearest, purest bit of Soulstone that I had ever seen. Tilting my head at him, the enormity of what we had just down only now sinking into my addled brain, I broke out into a sudden, violent grin of my own. "Hey Blink, thanks. You're totally my hero and stuff."

And as I carved my way to bury the stone into the creature's heart, I made sure that I grabbed a snack while it filled with the pure, legendary magic of the fallen monster before me. And I smiled as I heard some few of the role-players behind me begin to vomit into our swamp.

Quest Complete!

You have saved your city from the consequences of your own scientific experimentation. 

Reward: Megalith construction components

Hearts of Magic

Wyvern-Form Acquired