[ OSAS: Stage 3 - Spectral Matriarch ]

Tew, Agravain, and Agash were moving through the area much more carefully than usual today. There had been reports of a large ghostly figure in these parts of the woods and the three of them had been called on to see if they could track it down and note down its current location. The forest was expansive with tall trees with dense foliage that blocked out the sun leaving only the occasional rays of sunlight dappling down onto them. Fungi, moss, and lichen hung to the sides of the trees taking advantage of the cold wet dark environment. It would’ve been gorgeous to investigate, at least for Tew, if it wasn’t so eerie and quiet.

There was an uncomfortable lack of noises in the forest, the lack of birdsongs and scamping small animals unnerved all three dragons. Tew knew for a fact that the lack of animal noises was often a precursor for bad things and even if they hadn’t it wasn’t like there wasn’t an instinctual discomfort around it all. Dune was doing its job as an outlook as per usual, the celestial feline’s ears twitching and flicking from one direction to the next, scanning for any signs of something being nearby. Agravain was in the front, his eyes scanning the foliage around them, while Agash took up the rear, putting her trust in the other two for now as they kept an eye out.

The three of them didn’t have to wander much further into the forest before they were suddenly interrupted by a sudden blast of cold. Agravain was quick to spread out his wings to cover Tew as the smaller dragon let out a slightly pained squeak as sharp shards of ice crashed into them, Dune was quick to disappear from Tew’s shoulders at the first impact before seemingly materializing beside them once there was shelter from the bombardment of ice. Agash would bare her teeth, her eyes immediately darting towards the ghostly figure perched high above the three of them. Admittedly none of them had really thought of looking up and the cuts across their scales were definitely a good lesson about why they should have.

Perched above them hidden partly by the huge trees was a noctua gryphon with a haunted look to herself, her body was transparent in parts making her look precisely like a ghost. Small wisps shaped as birds flitted around her head and talons as she stared down at the three of them with eerily glowing eyes. The gryphon looked eerily beautiful and while Tew, Agravain, and Agash would’ve loved to take in the sight of her for a few moments the gathering chill around her maw seemed to show that there was no time for that. Yet another blast of ice was coming and they all needed to act fast. Agravain was quick to step forwards once again letting out a burst of condensed wind from his own jaws just as the gryphon shot her breath of ice at them once again.

The two breaths clashed in the air causing a harsh shattering noise and a gush of wind and magic that left a ringing in Tew and Dune’s more sensitive ears. Without a moment to spare their opponent would launch upwards, large glimmering wings framed the twisted branches above their heads as the gryphon launched into the air and prepared yet another long ranged attack. Agash was the first to react by launching into the air to try and tackle and intercept the gryphon before she could shoot out another harsh frozen breath. However, it was Tew who was next to move, clawing an odd vial out of their satchel, a thick oily substance swirled within it and it was tightly sealed. Using a burst of magic to assist them Tew would chuck it as hard as they could at the gryphon. It hit her feathers with a crash, spraying her in the dark oily substance, upon exposure with air it rapidly heated before bursting into flames burning the gryphon.

With a screech the ghostly gryphon writhed in the air before extinguishing herself with her own breath, however that was enough time for Agash to catch her off guard and slam her out of the sky. Branches snapped under the noctua as she was forced into the ground where Tew and Agravain were waiting. Tew had another vial in his talons just in case but Agravain was already launching towards her. The basileus was quick to slam into the gryphon as she attempted to get up, sending the two into a nearby tree trunk and sending a shudder throughout the entire tree. There was growling and scrambling of claws as the two of them snapped their teeth at one another. A few tufts of glowing transparent feathers were torn out as the gryphon wiggled away with a harsh hiss.

As the two broke up and stumbled back from one another Tew would take the moment to toss another vial at the noctua, this time it shattered at her talons lighting a bit of the leaf litter on fire before being put out by yet another blast of ice. This time the breath attack was angled slightly more upwards leaving spikes of ice rushing towards Tew and Agravain who both had to quickly lunge out of the way. The wicked tips of the ice spikes glistened in the dappled light, it was hard for Tew to not think of how easy it would be to be torn a new hole by one of those. Agravain on the other hand didn’t take a moment to admire the gryphon's breath attack instead launching himself back into the fray. Agash was right by his side the two larger dragons both rushing the ghostly gryphon who responded with a harsh hiss and rearing up on her hind legs.

Talons grappled with Talons as the three of them scuffled across the forest floor, tails and wing thrashed crushing nearby foliage as all three of them fought for purchase and an upper hand. This gryphon showed to be a bit more slippery than either Agravain or Agash expected and as she twisted and writhed around the two of them were faced with a wide bared maw gathering yet another icy glow. Both Agravain and Agash were quick to cover themselves with their wings but the sudden blast of ice shards still stung as they dug into the two dragon’s wings. Tew was quick to duck away from the stray ice shards that shot out in their direction with Dune letting out a hiss and yowl and following them.

Once Agravain and Agash had lowered their wings the gryphon had disappeared as if she had just poofed into thin air there was no sound or sign of an exit. The two larger dragons would give each other a confused look before glancing around for Tew, who was thankfully just hidden behind a nearby tree. The emperor gave Agash and Agravain a small shrug, they hadn’t spotted where the ghostly gryphon had eerily disappeared off to either. Well at least the three of them could report where her last spotted location was, not that it seemed she was around here anymore. Or perhaps she was and was merely lurking within the dense trees just out of sight once again. Either way, Tew was quick to help shake and scrape the ice crystals off of Agravain and Agash’s wings and do their best to patch up their cuts and wounds.