[EVENT] the law of club and fang (teryr attack)

[Official Day Account]

THE DESERT KING


-- -- --

It has been a harder season than usual. The desert, always barren, parched and infertile, had become nearly sterile. The elder teryr, who had spent many years in the canyon, had grown restless. He had been outcompeted by younger, fiercer teryr; some of them were his own offspring. The resources of the canyon, spread so thin, would no longer support him. And so he had flown; first to the oasis and then beyond, beneath a star-heavy sky. The desert spread before him like an offering, but it remained barren, and empty of life. If he were not a purely wild thing, the injustice of it, the cruel and visceral fact of his expulsion from his home, would have deeply troubled him. Instead, the old king begins to hunger. 

The hunger grows, and grows, and grows. He quenches his thirst at the oasis and feels a desperation that only wild creatures know, on the precipice of an age past their prime. The end, infinite and scathing, stares at him as he looks into the water of the oasis and his own reflection ripples back. His beak is scarred and cracked; one eye is blind; and although he is old, there is still a lusciousness to his feathers, a prominence to the mane of them about his neck that suggestions his nobility. He stares a moment longer before taking flight, restless and uncertain with nowhere to roost. 

Beneath him sandwyrms surface screech at his shadow as he passes overhead. Years ago he would have roared back; he would have dove toward them and scratched at their faces, challenging them to a battle of beasts, until he emerged the victor. The cool air in his face reminds him that was a different lifetime; the winter has brought with it the strife of not only age and lack of resources, but reminders of old injuries. His joints creak and tighten; and as he flies his muscles grow fatigued in a way they never have before. 

But he is not a creature to go by idly on the wayside. It is against his nature. On the horizon, he sees the lights of the City. The City no greater teryr has attacked in recent memory. The City that his mother had shown him once when had been a hatchling; she had shown him screaming, squawking, brandishing her wings until she drove all her young back. The message had been clear: you do not go there. But he is old now; and there is something that protests within him at the idea of flying further and further from the canyon he had defended and fought for for many years, only to be ousted by his own sons.

The old king tips his left wing and begins a gradual turn toward the stark sandstone walls, made silver in the moonlight. He is at an altitude where he knows he must look like nothing but a bird to the unpracticed eye. He has hunted as this height many times before. Then, the greater teryr tucks his wings and descends in a sharp dive. He knows there is prey in the city, and an enemy that is more suited to battle him than that of a sandwyrm. Do they not worship him, those mortals behind the strange walls, not so unlike his own canyon? 

He lands on the parapet of the city, and with two taloned feet knocks the armoured guard from his station. The greater teryr lands there, on that parapet above Solterra’s closed gates, and releases a roar for the ages. It echoes across the sleeping city and into the desert beyond.

For a land of warriors and survivors that worship the lord of the sun, the terrifying sound signifies something beyond the mortal realm. The greater teryr’s appearance suggests Solis’s favour on the sun kingdom, as the great beast takes from the ramparts with another cry and descends into the streets. The old king is not the type of beast that will go off to the desert and die; no, he roars for blood and battle, for recognition and worship. He wants a worthy death. 

RULES 

This thread is open to ANY member of Day Court. This is open to replies until Jan 20th, at which point it will be CLOSED.

The greater teryr will reply three more times after this post on the 20th, 27th, and 3rd regardless of whether all participants have replied in time. There is no posting order, but if a post is not completed within the time limit the character is considered out of the event. (Extensions can be granted in 

The next time the greater teryr replies, characters will be given three options to choose from. 

The success of future attacks will be determined by a randomised roll between 1 and 10, with the higher numbers being more effective. Similarly, some choices may result in character injury (1-10) although mortality or being seriously maimed is up to the player's discretion. 

All characters who enter will receive 50 signos for participation. Characters that complete all four rounds will be given an additional 100 signos. All characters who participate in the final round receive 1 additional roll between 1-100, where the character that receives the highest number will receive 300 signos. (A reminder that all characters who post 4+ times IC for this event can claim IC Event EXP)