Chapter LXXVII
in which dragons clash
Panic in the Sky
Without their normal means of fast travel, the Silver Foxes meet up in Encatus to regroup. There, Bobbi reveals the extent of the changes that have happened to her. In learning about ascendance / pillaring from Khalmer, she herself became willingly pillared through virtue of absorbing that knowledge. As a result, she can produce her own quasith like a battery. Naturally, she wants to keep this ability under wraps so as not to make herself a target. Especially since a side effect of this process has left her weak. Because she is both an outsider and pillared individual, an edit was made to the rules such that beings with her classification, of which she is the only one, are no longer allowed to use arcane magic. Without the magical abilities she's relied on, she's been forced to come up to speed as quickly as possible on quasith based magic.
The Foxes spend time arguing among themselves the best way to respond to this. With the siege of Shul's pillar a week out, they initially worry about the loss of arcane based teleportation magic, although they soon realize they have adequate alternative means of travel if needed. Moreover, the original plan was to ambush Shul in the ruined land, so they only need arrange travel there. They make less headway on the question of what to do about Bobbi's loss of arcane magic. Haas and Frax believe that this should be prioritized and edits petitioned for to remove her outsider status, although their is some debate about whether this is a definition that can be changed or an immutable quality of the soul. Glad argues that such a course of action may be a dead end because there is no incentive for any of the players on the board, aside from their few known allies, to make such an edit, and he doesn't believe that they have anything to offer those opposed that'd be worth it. Otherwise, those opposed would have become allies in their main quest to begin with until now instead of providing silent opposition. He also worries about the time table of the siege and believes all effort should be spent getting Bobbi and their own contingents ready for what needs to be done.
Their meeting is interrupted by a city alarm that Glad doesn't recognize. Taking flight, the group quickly learn that the city is being attacked underground by Chitters. They do what they can to seal or slow the progress of the two main fissures opening up in town, one of which seems to be targeting the room where they were meeting. And soon, they see the foe they're unprepared for flying in from the west on red wings, six legionnaires carried on his back.
Nameless Champion
After doing their best to contain the damage being inflicted from below and give the Chracians a fighting chance, the Foxes all move to intercept the incoming dragon. Glad calls out to Chracio, who flies in, intercepts Shul, and blinks away to parts unknown with the red dragon. Five of the legionnaires are already in freefall. Glad attempts to kinetically misalign their controlled descent so that they splatter on impact, but their magical armor absorbs the spell. Four of the five manage to swiftly make their way into a fissure that assumedly exits into the city. Bobbi is able to intercept the last. She and Bobbi hold him in place and Glad dives into him with his poisoned Claw. Between the five of them, the Foxes are able to decimate the legionnaire.
There's no time to rest and barely any time for Glad to fuel up on the fallen foe's blood. Tilly's sentinel rushes up and begins teleporting the group to where Shul and Chracio are circling one another. Leaving Encatus to its fate and Gaskim and Kaskas' protection, they blink to a snowy terrain. Shul and Chracio circle one another. But neither makes a move. When Reck arrives, he reveals why, calling out to Pan to stop his truce effect. Pan refuses, and before Glad can reach him to convince him otherwise, Shul swoops down and crushes the silver and white dragon into a bloody stain in the snow. And the Battle of Dragons begins in earnest.
As Bobbi begins to collect Pan's soul for Aeonus' mortality spell, the Foxes realize that the sixth legionnaire, Shul's massive Sentinel, is behind them. The nameless champion sports the largest horns they've seen on a Shul'Garoth and grows two extra on his approach, each wielding a dangerous looking weapon. Most of the party is paralyzed in fear of death, but Glad charges on gleefully and Haas follows. He soon discovers that his electric evocation is absorbed by some effect as Haas engages physically and begins taking damage. Haas, Glad, and Frax trade their boons with Aeonus in and he strips the Sentinel's protection. The Sentinel tries to conjure this by summoning a deamon's familiar to stop the effect, but Bobbi is able to use a boon to unsummon the creature before he can complete his work. Regardless, the majority of the Foxes' take heavy damage in the fight against the now magically vulnerable Sentinel, unprotected due to a spell that has deteriorated most of their armoring. They continue to throw fire and lightning and blows upon the Champion, until a black & silver dragon crashes nearby and sends them all flying.
The Deaths of Dragons
Bobbi surveys the scene. Reck has already fallen, so she begins collecting the second of the third souls needed for the spell. Glad rushes to Chracio's aid. Shul, unimpressed prepares to pluck him way. Haas tackles him in dragon form. Unwilling to see Chracio die, Glad desperately teleports him back to the pit with the remaining blink charge on his obsidian dagger. He then returns to the fight against the Sentinel, who is alternating between the nigh-fatally wounded Red and Frax. Bobbi attempts to provide aid directing Mercayen and Emeri, who are now fighting Shul alone, to no avail. She calls upon Khalmer to help, but he points out that there is really only one thing left to do. The spell only needs one more soul to work.
Glad can sense Chracio preparing to return to the battlefield to help his sibling and mother, unwilling to let either of them die in his place. Knowing that he won't persuade the dragon otherwise, Glad at least gets him to wait until the Sentinel is taken care of. The pinned Frax continues to eat into the Sentinel with his vines and Haas charges and holds him down. All of which gives Glad the time and opportunity to use all of his deadly off-world poison on the claw and impale the Sentinel. He begins opening him like a can opener as the rest of the party finishes him off.
With the Sentinel dead, they blink with haste to the Pit where Glad prepares to put Chracio down himself, so that Shul doesn't get the pleasure. He promises the dragon that people will remember his story and know that his sacrifice was the one that put an end to Shul. Then he slits the dragons throat. Bobbi collects the last soul and the party blinks back to the battleground.
Tyrannis
Aeonus does as promised with the souls and binds Shul to the plane as a mortal existence. Haas chases after in dragon form, determined to be the Black Dragon to bring him down in the stead of her own apathetic dragon. Haas and Bobbi ride along. On the ground, Red calls out to the First for help and Father Benjamin. The Father offers to break the truce between Veckra and Shul, but that proves unnecessary. The mother sends Cadence to help, who flies after Shul with Red in tow. All clash as they ascend. Haas rips into him as a dragon would. Frax digs into him with thorns. Bobbi kinetically manipulates his Sentinel's weapon to impale his heart, although he's able to offer resistance before it hits its mark.
And a sad and vengeful Glad blinks onto the battlefield, feeds on the fallen Sentinel, and grows two extra limbs as the Sentinel did. He arms each of his four arms with his most dangerous weapons and gives chase, cutting into the creature's throat. Shul is unable to focus as well as he could before, as he's carved up from the inside. Bobbi's spear digs into his heart. Desperate, Shul tries a controlled descent to destroy everyone clinging to or inside him, but Cadence and Haas prevent that from working as planned, and Red creates a spike of earth that impels him. Haas wrenches his head back, and Glad cuts through the remaining neck, decapitating Shul. They harvest the dragon and return to learn that Encatus prevailed, killing three legionnaires and thanks to Kaskas' sacrifice.
In the aftermath of everything, Mercayen offers her gratitude and takes a moment to answer their queries. Haas breaks down and has trouble dealing with the knowledge that Vulsh did not intervene where she believes he should, revealing an apathy she wouldn't have imagined. Glad is disappointed to learn that Chracio can't be resurrected, so, in his stead, he seeks sponsorship to become the dragon of the pit. Mercayen agrees to sponsor him right away. Veckra offers his blessing too, in exchange for Glad tamping down on the more savage aspects of his pillar's culture.