Clash of the Dragons 8

Clash of the Dragons 8 is an encounter in Against the King.
==Enemies==
* Mina von Richten (Against the King) (100 Gold, 100 XP, 100 Energy, 2 HP)
==Transcript==
===Introduction===
With savage enemies ahead,
Who'd choke the kingdom with its dead,
By firmest hands it must be led,
And all the weakness from it bled;
The clear duty of a king.
Prepare for war, that was his task;
For love and praise he'd never ask;
A tyrant's face would be his mask
Of duty as a king.
***
Tessa Tullian was no coward. She'd risked her life countless times, in situations that would've made even hardened warriors quail. She'd clashed with men and monsters, waged war on the plains of hell -- battling demons and damnation.
Yet she still hesitated.
Long ago, when her mother handed Tessa her first bow, the lady had given sage advice before letting her loose on the countryside: Don't shoot at anything you can't kill. If you missed a rabbit, it was of little consequence. But if you missed a bear, or left an impotent arrow quivering in its thick hide, the rest of your life might be measured in seconds.
Those words of wisdom echoed in her head when she aimed at the back of Mina von Richten -- the fearsome Red Baroness, the woman who'd torn through an entire formation of chevaliers. And brave as Tessa was, she hesitated. For half a second. Then she let fly.
Mina turned, perhaps hearing the arrow's flight even over the chaos and cacophony. It thudded home in her shoulder instead of piercing her heart. And red eyes glared at Tessa across the field.
===Conclusion===
Elyssa's flames were happy, as they always were when their mistress let them loose. Though even after more than three centuries of life, hearing them day after day, she wasn't sure if she preferred their joy to their quiet grumbling.
We set those mages on fire!
I know.
They're burning!
Yes, I'm watching them too.
Let's burn other stuff!
That's why I'm here. %name% didn't bring a pyromancer along for her wit and charm...
%name%'s stupid. We should burn %him%.
Don't be ridiculous.
We don't like %him%.
You don't like anyone.
We like you!
I'm flattered...
And we liked the Dragon-Rider.
Didn't you want to burn %him% too?
Maybe. But we want to burn %name% more.
Why don't we burn our enemies instead of our friends?
Fine...
We can... That's Mina von Richten!
No!
I'll-
No!
She's our enemy now, you idiots!
Do you remember what she did to the kobolds? To the beastmen? To the dragons? You'll get us all killed!
She's going to attack Tessa!
So?
Tessa's our friend!
Then we'll give her a nice funeral. A cremation...
Shut up and give me a fireball.
But-
Do it!
Fine... But if we die, we're going to burn some angels.
***
Mina zoomed towards her, a blur of black leather, alabaster skin, scarlet hair, and murderous eyes.
Tessa fired. The vampiress snatched the shaft out of the air and tossed it away. She fired again. This time the blur shifted, slipping to the side without slowing, and the missile flew past.
Mina's gaze pierced hers. And soon her fangs would do the same.
"Don't shoot what you can't kill..." Tessa murmured.
She notched another arrow, though she knew it was hopeless. Because Tullians went down fighting.
***
Mina's blood burned. Whatever infernal venom had lurked within the demons' claws, she must've taken enough to kill a dragon. It tore through her veins and arteries, gnawing away, a billion miniscule fiends eating her body from the inside. But she was still faster than an arrow. She knocked another missile aside and stared into Tessa Tullian's eyes, bathing in the ocean of courage and the trickle of fear.
The roar reached her first -- the seething, crackling hunger of arcane flame. Then the flash of light in the corner of her vision. She jumped and spun round in midair. Ferocious heat passed beneath her, heating her undead flesh and mirroring the conflagration within.
Her eyes fastened on the elf and narrowed. Elyssa...
She ran at the spellcaster.
Flame whooshed at her again, this time a long stream that blazed from the pyromancer's fingers, sweeping in an arc, chasing her as she dodged. Singed leather and charred flesh clawed at her senses.
Mina leapt. The burning torrent rose, shooting up into the sky as though to immolate heaven and incinerate the gods. Death -- long denied -- hunted the vampiress with a thousand flaming maws. But Mina had outrun the reaper for centuries.
She landed behind the pyromancer. The elf twisted round. Fire began to erupt from her body, emerging to shield her. The vampiress punched her in the face.
Elyssa's nose crunched and spurted blood. She fell on the grass, eyes rolling back in her head. Flickering flames danced on her insensible form and along the edge of Mina's blade.
No... Not a comrade from the days of the Drake War. She couldn't.
Something hard thudded in her chest, drawing a fresh burst of agony from within her veins. She looked down at bright green fletches.
***
Tessa Tullian's eyes widened.
It was a good, clean shot. As perfect as any she'd ever made in her life. Straight into the vampiress' heart. But Mina was still standing.
The Red Baroness' eyes locked with hers once more. And the black blur shot towards her, flecks of darkness cascading into the breeze.
Another arrow flew. It pierced Mina's chest alongside the first. And still the vampiress ran. Motes of ash and shadow flew behind her, an ebon trail thrown from the widening wound. Both arrows fell as the hole gaped. Pumping black legs knocked them away.
Tessa aimed another arrow, but it was too late.
Mina's hands grasped her arms, iron fingers clamping onto the limbs and rendering them powerless. Red eyes and shining fangs filled Tessa Tullian's universe. Then they descended, darting towards her neck.
"Don't let %name% take power," Mina whispered. The vampiress' lips pressed against her ear. "Don't..."
Ashes smothered Tessa, a second skin of black and grey, seeping into her clothes and hair. Their susurrations tingled in her ears.
"Don't..."
She stood there for perhaps a full minute, while dark dust billowed away on the wind.
Category:Against the King