Gifts from Hell, Brought to you by the Fleshies (Baldirak)

Depending on where you are you may have heard the warning. "An army of humans are in our borders!" Was the warning some heard, but it was too late. Only a few minuets after the attack began. Weather you were ordering armor from a Vulcan, hunting nearby, or just chatting at your friend's den, the screams quickly began and could be heard through out the EarthWings territory. Large thick black clouds rose in the sky stinking of fire. The wind was eerily still and the sun shone brightly illuminating the chaos below.

Those who seek to take refuge in the sky were quickly shot down by a shower of ballista bolts, nets, arrows, and flaming rocks, but not before they saw the giant army of humans advancing with their wooden machines and thousand warriors destroying their homes and fellow dragons. The once earthy ground was quickly soaked in red. The scene was straight out of vivid nightmare.

Some tried to fight back protecting their family's while they fled. Some of the more arrogant dragons tried simply stepping on them but quickly were sent hobbling away on 3 legs as hundreds of metal poles stuck out of their 4th foot and dripping with blood. Others used acid which worked to greater effect but no matter the tactic the humans were too numerous in number and their seige weapons pounded everything into submission.

Baldirak had been in his den when the chaos began. He'd just begun to fall into a trance to use his sight when the sound of screams, unmistakeably coming from his tribe, reached his ears. He peered out of his den and saw the smoke in the distance all around.  He could smell the fires that had given birth to it. And he could hear the shouts of humans. 'Humans...' the First-Class Advisor thought as he tried to keep from growling so loud that he would be heard by any of the bipeds nearby. Baldirak moved quickly, grabbing the armor that sat in a back corner of his den. The armor had originally belonged to his Mother. Before putting it on, he covered himself entirely in mud, which was always plentiful at the back of his den. While this might effect how well the armor fit him--considering it had been made for a female, it wasn't going to be a perfect fit anyway--Baldirak knew the mud would only benefit him. This way, if he became injured, at least the wound(s) could begin to heal. To his surprise, his Mother's armor fit better than expected; if anything, the mud helped it fit better. There was, however, some space between his chest and the chest plate. Enough that a spear or two could get through if thrown properly, but Baldirak wasn't too concerned about that. The only problem he had came from the head and tail pieces. The head piece was too small to be of any use and the tail piece was too short. 'Well, the head piece would obstruct my view and I wouldn't be able to use my tail the way I want.' Baldirak decided.

Finally, Baldirak stepped out of his den, raising and lowering his wings, lifting himself into the air. Almost immediately, he was met by enemy fire--literally. A flaming rock shot through the canopy of the forest below, hurling toward him. He lowered the upper half of his body as he turned to the right, bringing his tail up to swing at the rock. He hissed as the flames caused a brief moment of pain, as there were a few spots void of a protective layer of mud. While the rock sailed back through the canopy to crash into the ground somewhere, Baldirak shot a ball of acid through the hole the rock had created when it was sent into the air. He heard shouts from the humans on the ground scrambling to get out of the way--except for those that were unfortunately slow to move and were hit. They, of course, screamed in agony. The EarthWing took the opportunity to get away in case they had other things to throw at him, and made his way to the city. Along the way Baldirak stopped to lend a paw to his fellow EarthWings, be that getting them to safety or taking out a few humans to even out the odds of a fight.

By the time he reached the city, Baldirak had seen more death and destruction than he could take. Blood from EarthWings he'd helped that had been severely injured stained his armor. His nostrils were filled with the scent smoke and burning vegetation, blood and acid. He saw that most of the human army were here, attacking the Citizens. Baldirak spotted the largest group of humans he'd seen thus far delivering a final blow to a female Citizen and her Hatchling. Diving down with an earth-splitting roar, Baldirak loosed a stream of acid on the enemy. Not-surprisingly, a barrage of spears followed behind him as he went past. He circled back around, using his tail to crush a catapult as he landed. A loud hiss left his maw as his right forepaw came down on a spear that had been driven into the ground so the spearhead pointed toward the sky. His weight broke the pole, but also drove the spearhead deep into his paw. Most of the mud on his paw pads had come off earlier then he was helping others. So he would have to suffer through this pain, which only increased every time his paw closed or touched the ground. Roaring again, he turned to face the horde of human soldiers that came running toward him.

They came like a swarm. Those lucky enough to be missed by the EarthWing's ever-watchful gaze climbed on, crawling up like ants. Like bees, their shouts and battle cries buzzed in his ears. As if they were leeches, the humans latched on to what they could, holding tightly as Baldirak moved around. Meanwhile, the dragon was unaware of the parasites, as far more of them had surrounded him, throwing spears, tossing nets, and launching flaming rocks. The nets, weighted at four corners, were easy enough to be taken down. Though he noticed that the fibers had been soaked in dragonsbane, so he took care not to handle them with his injured paw. He found the rocks to be more annoying than anything. Mostly dodging those, he occasionally kicked one back to destroy a catapult. The spears were a different story. So many were thrown at once, Baldirak couldn't avoid them. The spearheads clinked against his armor and fell back to the earth. Some grazed his face, leaving cuts on his cheeks and muzzle. One came closer than the EarthWing would have liked to the space just under his jaw that his armor didn't cover.

As another net was tossed his way, Baldirak began his assault. He bucked, flinging the human parasites off of him. Using his teeth, he grabbed one of the weights attached to it. He grabbed another with his left forepaw and flung the net at the human swarm. He knew that only the weights were likely to do harm, but the point was to drawn attention away from himself for a moment. Baldirak targeted the catapults first. As he moved forward and turned a bit to his left, his tail came up to crush one of the wooden objects. His maw opened to spew more acid, but even this didn't seem to make a difference; there were so many humans! The EarthWing hissed as spears were plunged into the tops of his paws. Turning, he ran, doing his best to avoid anything that could stab his paw pads... By the time he reached the edge of the city, all four paws had spearheads buried in them. Slamming his tail on the ground, he created a split in the earth which he began burrowing into. Safe underground, he took a moment to look at his paws. The spearheads were too deep to be taken out, and there was no mud on his pads to at least close the wounds. The ceiling of the tunnel he created vibrated a little as humans ran above-ground.

Baldirak continued until he came to the spot he figured was the same place he'd just been. With a loud roar, he opened his wings and resurfaced as the earth opened up above him. A great cloud of dust rose into the air as well, chunks of rock fell along with about one hundred humans. The EarthWing climbed high into the air, well out of range of the flaming rocks and spears. With an exhausted breath--though he was still coated in mud beneath his armor, the sun and fires had Baldirak uncomfortably warm--he prepared to do a maneuver he'd only attempted once in his life. It hadn't ended well. But he was bigger and more experienced now. After climbing a little higher, Baldirak suddenly closed his wings and fell to earth. As he did so, he opened his maw, spewing acid onto himself as he somersaulted, coating himself with it. With a last look to ensure he was still positioned directly above the center of the group of humans, the EarthWing broke out of the somersault, with his back facing the ground as the barrage of flaming rocks and spears began again. His wings opened a little to slow his descent slightly, allowing for them to be punctured by spears. An earthquake moved through the EarthWings' territory as Baldirak hit the ground...

[OOC: There is nothing in the lore about dragons bane so be careful how you describe it.]

Of all the dragons most were slaughtered with ease. Some gave resistance but died before long. Others fled before too much could be done. There was one dragon though causing a lot of trouble for the humans trying to take out their catapults. The giant ballistas nearby were all aimed in lead to where the dragon would be. He was out of range for the moment but then he started diving down. This was perfect. The devil wouldn't see it coming and would be unable to evade. They shot all at once aimed at the stop just before the dragon would it the ground. Any one of the giant spear would pierce the giants hide with ease. If even one hit the beast would be out. Many of the other humans nearby worked in an organized fashion collecting a whole punch of nets to tangle the thing once it was taken down. They wanted to capture the thing alive if they at all could.

The world was blurry and sound was muffled. But one thing was clear: the pain. It was intense. And there was a smell that overpowered all others. Blood? Baldirak's eyes opened slowly, blinking in the tiny bit of sunlight that managed to pass through the thick of smoke. Or was it firelight? He lifted his head from the rubble it laid on. The left side of his body ached from the fall; even more so that he was laying on it. He could see the humans stampeding to where he was, they were lionesses poised to take down a wildebeest. The EarthWing moved to stand at least. But... something was wrong. Something worse than the spearheads embedded in his paw pads. That pain... Baldirak was starting to hear again, and he heard himself roar out in agony. His watery, smoke-filled pale eyes looked down to his right foreleg. Two giant spears had pierced his armor, and were lodged within the limb, going all the way through. Lifting his wings, he found that the left had a large hole ripped in it by yet another spear.

And then a net fell onto him. And another; another still. In his daze, the humans had gathered 'round, carefully traversing the muddy acid that dripped off of him and pooled on the ground. Some couldn't help stepping in it. In their excitement to claim so fine a prize, some didn't notice the acid and slipped, falling right in to an unpleasant death. Baldirak couldn't move because of his foreleg, nor could he hope to come out of his daze fast enough to shower a few unlucky souls in fresh acid. And the ends of the spears were tangled in the nets. But the holes were just large enough to allow a quarter of his tail through. He wasn't sure what use his tail would be to him now, but... He noticed broken catapults out the corner of his eye, he knew there would be some oil pooled around them. And there were fires everywhere... 'No, not yet... Not while they can see..' Baldirak snorted and groaned as the humans tied the nets and started, very slowly, dragging him across the ground with the aid of horses. "They want this one alive," he heard one of them say. 'Well, that's a plus... I guess'. But he wondered exactly who "they" were.

Every time the force of human and equine took a few steps forward, Baldirak hit some kind of debris. Sharp rocks, spearheads, splintered pieces of wood; they dug into his side. The tips of the spears that skewered his foreleg were brushed against the ground and made the rest of it shift a bit, causing the EarthWing more pain. After what felt like hours, the humans finally stopped pulling; apparently they needed more men to help pull. Baldirak chuckled lightly to himself. 'Well, if I am being dragged to my death, at least I'll die knowing I broke a few of their backs'. And he saw an opportunity. While the mules busied themselves trying to find a better carry their loaded saddle bag, Baldirak looked around... at least as much as he could being tied up. He saw a pool of burning oil just within reach of his tail. He dipped just the tip, as that was all which could reach anyway, into the stuff. A quiet hiss left his maw. With a quick flick of his tail, he brought the burning oil to the net, just enough that it would eat at the rope. He did this only twice. Once, as near the base of his tail as he could get. The second time, at his left side. By then, the dragging started again.

Just ahead, the EarthWing noticed a sword laying on the ground. Of course, it was out of range of his tail. And it was on his right... the humans might be more likely to see if he tried to grab it. Grumbling, he looked around more. He saw a piece of tail armor. This time on his left. Determining that he still wouldn't be able to reach with his tail, with great effort, he shifted enough to get his left forepaw out from beneath him. As he was dragged over it, he managed to hook the armor piece with a claw. When the procession stopped again, Baldirak got a better hold and started cutting away at the net. But only a little. Only a few pieces of rope. When he was dragged over debris, he leaned just slightly, so the humans wouldn't notice. Not that this would have effected the difficulty they were already having in moving him. Just enough that maybe a few more pieces of rope would be cut or frayed, weakened in some way. His right foreleg constantly reminded him of its ordeal. The pain wasn't as intense now, perhaps because Baldirak busied himself with other things, like where he was being taken. If he could have looked behind him, he would have seen the trail of blood he left behind. Though it wouldn't have been as much as he thought. The spears, troublesome as they were, also helped; they kept him from bleeding out.

The horses and human mules stopped a third time. "This one's been giving us trouble, sir." Baldirak heard a human say. He couldn't see who he was talking to. "We thought they might want it alive." There was that word again... "they". 'Who are you talking about? Why do... "they" want me alive?' Not that the EarthWing didn't appreciate being kept alive. While the human continued talking and between the glances he received from the other, Baldirak thought. While he used the tail armor to fray a few more pieces of rope conveniently hidden beneath him, he contemplated freeing himself now. He wouldn't be able to fly--he could glide a few feet, perhaps. But then what? His gaze fell to his right foreleg again. Until he knew the extent of the damage done... A quiet sigh left his nostrils. Enough of his tail was free that he could-- 'Yes, that will work. But wait, find the right moment'. Baldirak turned his attention again to the humans, as it sounded that they were finally saying something worth listening to...

The humans pulling the large dragon went silent and bowed as a short women who wore wealthy clothing and was well endowed with beauty. "To what do we owe this unscheduled visit goddess?" One of the humans asked the lady. With a soft tone she replied "We're taking this one to a special location. I'll be making sure the beast survives and you don't get tired." The human goddess of health spoke in incantation and all the humans there were rejuvenated. They march onward while the human goddess worked at removing the giant spear lodged in him and healing the wounds left behind. She would have preferred to heal the dragon all the way but her betters wanted the dragon too wounded to give much of a fight. The two giant spear though would spell his death if she wasn't around to continually heal him.

[OOC: Baldirak has been taken from the topic for a separate side plot which will take place after the invasion on the EarthWings.]

Baldirak watched the Human female that had arrived. The mules had bowed when they saw her but the EarthWing found her to be as worthy of such a greeting, as a diseased, rotting deer carcass was of being eaten. And then quite suddenly, the mules found themselves with the energy of newborns. How had that happened? Baldirak had little time to dwell on this, for the female so inadequately adorned for war approached him. His maw opened to hiss in warning at her, but he ended up roaring when she removed the spears that were all too content to remain in his foreleg. If only he could have moved then. He could have licked at his wounds, found some mud, however blood-soaked, to place in the spears' stead. But Baldirak was resigned to suffer without even the freedom of writhing... But then, at last, some relief.

It washed over him like a cold, misty rain. He could feel that whatever healing he'd received wasn't enough grant him use of his foreleg again. But at least it felt better. When the water left his eyes, the EarthWing looked down at the Human. "...Why?" was all he said.