VALIGARMANDER! I will have your head!

[Wyborn]

RAR! See title. You establish the battlefield.

[Valigarmander]

We will see who will have who's head, my dear Wyborn.

I choose Valigarmander, my favorite warrior. Page 13 of the BoW.

The battlefield shall be a ruined castle magically suspended in time. Falling pillars lay in the air, soldiers stand in place. Everything is frozen in the exact moment in time. You go first.

[Wyborn]

All right, I will post tomorrow.

But for the record, I don't read BoW entries. Just as a rule.

[Valigarmander]

Whatever.

[Wyborn]

Clop, clop, clop

There, in that frozen place, in that fortress frozen in its moments of destruction, a Clydesdale's massive hooves struck sparks as it cantered between various things. Two men, one with an arrow in his shoulder and blood on his chest and the other cradling in his arms, were arrested in eternity while the horse walked calmly by. Fires burned but did not move, tongues holding the same position that they had been holding since what might as well have been the beginning of time. All around the horse death had been raining forever, never reaching the ground, and those lives that should have been lost and freed were trapped similarly.

What doom had befallen this place? He cared not: he was a horse.

His thews were like tree trunks, his shoulders coming up well past a man's head, his massive hooves beneath furred ankles the size of hammers that could split a man's skull or crush his chest in a single blow. He walked with all the pride befitting a warbeast, though he was without doubt a horse more suited for pulling carts or plows.

Some time passed, and he trotted up the side of a tower frozen in mid-fall, hopping lightly across suspended stones to reach the unbroken wall and trotting calmly up to its summit, where he stood and looked out, waiting for whatever would come.

OoC: And yes, I am serious. -OoC

[Scripture]

Scripture would have been highly interested in the animated Clydesdale that had just appeared on the battlefield, if only he, too, had not been frozen still in time. Perhaps, he might have mused, he should stop intervening in olden day conflicts for his own amusement.

[Valigarmander]

The air split with a terrifying roar as a dark shape blotted out the sun. Growing larger and larger, the form which appeared like a massive bird descended on the frozen palace. It glided down from the heavens on massive golden wings, held by the air like it were its master. Swooping down into the castle courtyard, the being landed on four heavy talons, the reptilian claws digging into the earth and stone.

Multicolored plumes rode down the creature's back and wings, shimmering in the light like shining crystals. A massive armored tail swished back and forth on the earth, pushing stone and debris aside. Up on the creature's scaly torso, two more limbs emerged, both clutching a massive gilded trident. The weapon reflected something other than the sunlight, as if it were magnifying the very magical energy surrounding it. The neck rose up from the chest, rising up into the air before terminating in a long, bony skull. The face seemed reptilian, yet it had the beak of a bird and the beard of a man. Its eyes swiveled in its sockets, looking around it.

An enormous power source had been sensed at this very location. Valigarmander knew this place. It was the castle frozen in time, eternally locked in that very moment as it was being destroyed. He payed no attention to the motionless people surrounding him. He knew there was someone else here. A worthy opponent. Slowly, he walked in the direction he sensed his opponent was.

[Wyborn]

OoC: Again, sorry for tardiness, it will not happen again, and I will try my best to post at least once a day where required. -OoC

Valigarmander was a beast the likes of which few mortals ever laid eyes upon, a hulking monster whose every thew spoke of power and the potential for carnage, whose visage held the unmistakable cruelty inherent in a natural predator, though this might not be reflected in his personality. One who looked at him and did not know better might call him a dragon, or a manticore, or some other beast that was undoubtedly a killer and devourer of men.

The horse did not know any of this. As i rounded a corner and saw Valigarmander, the two of them made eye contact - for a fraction of a second. During that instant Valigarmander wondered if this horse was his opponent, a notion nearly as amusing as it was ridiculous...

And then the hrose bolted, every sinew powering the pumps of its legs and driving it away from the beast behind it, taking it through crowds of warriors and between falling battlements and towers. The horse was running for its life.

Anyone who looked on would have assumed it to be just a horse, and they would not have been far off.

[Valigarmander]

Valigarmander stood there, half-confused, half-insulted. Was this his opponent? Was this the mighty power force he had sensed? His senses must be broken, because this was just a flipping horse.

Nevertheless, he had come here in search of an opponent, and it was clear this creature was the only one he'd find. He extended his massive wings and took to the air, gaining on the fleeing horse as it beat through the wind. He lowered to just above the frightened animal, and quickly dug his four talons into the beast's hide. As it gave a squeal of pain, Valigarmander lifted it through the air, scooping it up from the ground. He continued to fly, carrying the struggling animal in his claws. Finally, he came across a small outcropping of stone. Hoping to dash the beast against the rocks and later feast on its still-warm entrails, Valigarmander released his grip and let the horse fall to the rocky earth below.

[Wyborn]

The horse screamed a scream that sounded like a human's voice as it plummeted to the jagged, ruined battlements below, and it was answered in kind.

There was a blast, a trumpeting sound like the horncallers of Hell itself, and Valigarmander's eyes went wide as blood dribbled from what served as his ears: from a part of the battlefield that his attention had not been aimed at there came rushing a great nebulous cloud of dark green, which swirled under the horse and rushed up to it, engulfing it before sweeping away, rushing back to its source and dissipating. The horse knickered, a sound of what Val would have thought was amusement if he weren't more sure than ever that it was just a horse.

"HEY! You leave my horse alone, you ugly sonofabitch!"

The man who stepped forward from the shadows of the battle was plainly dressed in brown wool, looking like he had not had a proper bath in nearly a week, but his own unkempt appearance was offset by the shining, beautiful saxophone he had in his right hand. The man Valigarmander cared little about, but as the unkempt man placed his lips on the saxophone he felt that surge of immense power again, and he realized where it was coming from.

There was another howl, but now it was a tune, grand and complicated and terrifying, rising and rising into a crescendo so bombastic it would shatter the world. The power that flew from the mouth of the sax buffeted Val on all sides, shaking him in the air like a naughty child and throwing him as if it were a giant, invisible hand, smashing him into the face of the fortress and making its face collapse - not on top of him, as it was still frozen in time, so that the shattered stones hung in the air, unmoved save where his impact moved them directly.

"Come on, Freckles, let's get the hell out of here." The horse snorted its agreement as the man with the sax leapt onto its back, and the two of them began to run, the youth throwing glances over his shoulder and watching the skies. He knew that the enemy would be upon them again soon.

OoC: There. Not much of a start but at least now it's going. -OoC

[Wyborn]

OoC: Wait...Valigarmander...TRITOCH!?

SON OF A BITCH! I had no idea!

Oh it's on now, funny boy! -OoC

[Valigarmander]

OoC: I don't know what you're talking about, unless you're thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking... -OoC

Valigarmander picked himself up from the ground. This was an unexpected occurence, but it didn't matter. Soon that massive power source would fade from existence, and he would become that much stronger.

Deciding to rest his weary wings, he thrust himself through the air and began sprinting across the ground, his massive talons beating against the earth. He dashed very quickly, with the combined agility of a sprinting desert lizard and a graceful field ostrich. He quickly broke out into a gallop, and with his massive strides he was soon just behind the horse.

He raised his trident into the air on one of his free talons, and spun it around like a blazing fan. In a flash, he grabbed the weapon, the blades facing him, and he swung it, the blunt edge of the trident sent smashing into the horse. Man and beast tumbled through the air and landed on the ground. Valigarmander skidded to a stop, sending plumes of dust through the air. He turned to face his momentarily stunned opponents and began to approach them.

[Wyborn]

OoC: I'm going to go so far as to assume that the Americanized name of the character on whom yours is at least based is Tritoch, he has a similar if not identical biology, and similar if not identical abilities (in theory). Also you apparently have OTHER powers, so this would just be in addition to what you have already displayed. -OoC

When Freckles hit the ground on his right foreleg he let out a scream that no human voice could have produced, falling prone in a foaming, thrashing frenzy as his eyes rolled abck and his whole body seemed to convulse. His leg was broken so badly that bone protruded from his flesh, and the sound of his agony was something that pierced Valigarmander's ears nearly as badly as the music from before.

The man with the saxophone had landed beyond it: the sound alone made Valigarmander leap upon it first, claws sinking into its neck and twisting. Freckles died then. The man with the saxophone was not quite as dead.

There was a rising, howling wail of a sound, and as the beast raised his head to look upon its source he knew he was already too late to do anything about it. A wall of onyx knives smashed into him rending his flesh and cracking his ribs, slamming him into a frozen wall and plowing him through it, sending rocks and shards of wood scattering into the air for several feet before they stopped, hanging indefinitely in that frozen place.

Shadowy fists pummeled him from all sides, claws tore at his wings and his eyes, hammerblows fell upon his ribs and struck at his beak, his jaw, his sternum, anywhere that they might hurt or kill. His power surged, and the magic receded - but only for a moment, before it slammed into him again with a renewed fury and thrust him into the lower leels of the fortress.

The man with the saxophone stopped, and panted as the magic disappeared, but he waited. When that beast showed its head agian, he would blow, and let the saxophone do the rest.

[Wyborn]

OoC: You don't get to run yet. -OoC

[Valigarmander]

OoC: ...Wait, when did you post that? I thought I was the last to post!

And yes, Valigarmander is somewhat based off of Tritoch.-OoC

Valigarmander opened his eyes. What the Twin Hells had just happened?

He lifted his head up. The man with the saxophone could have been anywhere, but Valigarmander's keen scent pinpointed his location just to the north. The man had been betrayed by his last meal.

Valigarmander knew he couldn't win if the man still had his strength... the saxophone. It must be destroyed. He snorted lightly. This would be difficult, seeing as the moment he showed his cerulescent body he'd be blasted with the attack again. He'd have to resort to other means.

He grinned, his jagged, slimy teeth glistening beneath his palidor beak. With his gnarled grip he lifted his trident into the air, and began to spin it. Faster, faster... It moved like a hellish twister, or a demonic ballet caught in an eternal pirouette. The earth around him seemed to tremble, as rocks and debris shuffled away from him. A strange, otherworldly hum filled the air, too low to be heard by human ears but visible within Valigarmander's. As the hum grew more intense, he sent the trident screaming into the earth, landing with a loud crack as it split the ground in two.

Walls fell, earth shifted. An immense shockwave launched from the trident, ripping through the castle. Everything crumbled, falling outwards from the impact of the trident, creating an eerie pattern in the earth. The entire castle was engulfed.

Valigarmander jumped into the air, his massive wings beating. He could see the man, pulling himself from the ruins. The saxophone was in his hands. Talons raised for the kill, the wyrm dove into the man, not a second's hesitation in his dragon mind.