The sun was setting as a familiar, black-haired warrior came to the bustling town. The air began to cool as she trotted towards the Outpost of the Hylian Knights. Noticing the woman's approach, another familiar face turned from his squad of new privates to raise his hand in greeting. Behind him, one of the privates collapsed under the weight of his armor, and it was evident that he wasn't in the best of shape, especially for the harsh training imposed by Bow Lieutenant Seth Aestas, and especially especially at the high altitudes of the Plateau, where the air was thin. Seth looked disapprovingly at the Knight-in-Training as his companions struggled to lift the plus-sized man to his feet, one of them mopping his sweat-soaked forehead.

Turning back towards his friend, he waved once more, and muttered "At ease" over his shoulder, ignoring the clanking of the weary soldier's armor as he directed his next sentence at the woman barely fifty feet away. "Long time no see, Miss Hillmound--What brings you here?" He shouted, pleasure evident on his face, but with on overtone of concern at the harried look his friend had taken on.

"I was with some friends investigating a month old murder in North Castle tonight," Rose grimly replied. "I had this bad feeling that something bad was going to happen, so I left to get some help."

"And help is what you'll get," a unfamiliar voice to the woman said.

The Tarm human turned around as (nearly) all the privates sprung into a salute. Seth, however, went to the thick-built man and shook his hand. "Uncle Sinai, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"Same here, Seth," the bearded man replied. "I don't believe you've met your cousin, Sheila Rantil yet?"

"No sir." Seth extended his hand to the woman that was accompanying Sinai. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The young woman nodded her head while Sinai asked, "And who is this?" He gestured towards Rose.

"Rose Hillmound," she replied with a bow.

"You certainly got here quickly."

"I'm a druid, sir."

"Hmm, interesting. I never thought I would meet a druid. But we shouldn't dawdle here."

"Indeed," Seth said. He turned to the privates he had been training. "Dismissed." When he turned back around, his friend had turned into a dragon and his uncle and cousin were climbing onto her back. Joy, he thought sourly. We get to fly there. I'll be walking back. Once on Rose's back, he said in a nervous tone, "Okay, Rose, let's go."

The wind could barely cover the sound of Sheila's surprised scream as the group of four shot straight into the air.

An osprey lowered it's flight path as it neared the plateau, the feathers on it's wings jostled by the breeze, and a small parchment strapped to it's leg letting out a horrible racket. The bird gave a surprised shriek and jerked to the side as Rose's frame suddenly shot up and out into the body of a dragon. As the passengers were beginning to board, the hunting bird dropped down behind an obscurely decorated building. While the dragon cocked it's wings back, a window dropped open and several rocks in the mountainside began to slide open, one by one.

After the first mighty flap of the mythical creature's wings, a flash of silver trailed by twisting strands of rope launched out of the opening in the wall, slamming into the leg of the flying reptile. Now that the velocity of the projectile had decreased, it was easy to see as the metal semicircles on each end slammed around the bulging limb. The rope was pulled in taut, jerking the beast back down towards the ground. The metal shone brightly, the sun glinting off the smooth surface, and it was evident that the flimsy metal--possibly tin--Wouldn't last long against the gargantuan creature it had imprisoned. Already the fibers in the rope were starting to strain, and from behind the cliff a loud cry was heard.

Out of the holes in the wall, metal knives began cascading through the opening, starting with the openings closest to the town and moving down an eighth-of-a-mile stretch, trying to pierce or at least scrape the weak filament composing the dragon's wings. The hail of metal crashed against the giant lizard's sides, nearly reaching the passengers. Though the knives didn't reach very high, it wouldn't be long before one of them got a wing while it was down at the dragon's side, post-flap. From the building where the hawk had disappeared emerged a man, in a flowing white robe with red trim. He eyed the dragon thoughtfully as a few early risers and bums rushed past him to return to the safety of their homes or bars, screaming bloody murder. His long red hair flew up with every beat of the dragon's wings, and he held a small paper square in his left hand. He cocked a thin eyebrow resting over a blue eye, studying the struggling beast.

OOC: Ugh, sorry. First, I was ignoring it (sorry again), then I forgot about it, then I couldn't think of how to reply. It just seems that I have no inspiration for RPing these days.

IC:
Sheila screamed, (obviously) surprised at the event that has just unfolded. The others, on the other hand, professionaly kept their calm. Rose modified her throat enough to roar, "Sstay on!" in understandable Common, even if it did come out sounding reptilian. No one argued, either because common sense told them to stay on the druid's back or because they were afraid to argue with a dragon.

The Tarmian ignored the man who had exited a building and the pain from the knives and instead focused on fighting against her bonds. While the knives did indeed pierce her wings, it was not enough to stop her from attempting flight.

OOC: That's alright, it was unexpected. But telling you about it might have ruined all the fun. You have freedom to do anything, though, I've planned out a response for each situation. I had time

IC: "Well...She appears to be as much of a fighter as the reports say." The man said softly to himself in a monotone. "All that damage to the filament and still going...She'll have some nasty scrapes on her arms when she transforms back, I suppose..." He continued in the same, unchanging voice. His thin eyebrow dropped almost unnoticeably as he looked slowly down from the dragon to the ropes holding it. There, near the base of each bond, was the fray. He saw the threads unraveling. "At least, she won't be too hard to chase down with this kind of pain." He raised a slender hand as the dragon pulled continuously harder, and when the first rope finally snapped a margin, only two of the original three strands of rope that had been twisted around each other remaining, his forefinger and thumb made the same noise.

In the house where the robed man had originally emerged from, a figure hurried from the doorway, and the man turned his attention back to the dragon. He closed his azure eyes and began to hum softly, as he pressed the fore and middle fingers of his left hand over his sternum. His crimson locks began to float ever so slightly, ripples coming harder and faster as he maintained his state. Then he opened his eyes, and they had changed in color, becoming a deeper blue, almost a purple. He then took off at a slow run towards the cliff, where the daggers were still coming hard and fast. He heard the second fiber snap as he raised his left arm over his head, and a slight purple hue could be seen over him, and as a blade bounced harmlessly off his limb, it was obvious that he had made a small shield. He then jumped out of his loping gait ever so slightly, yet he rose remarkably fast, reaching the top of the nearest house. When he arrived at the top of the building, his right foot planted and lifted off again. His Jump spell was successful, carrying him to one of the openings in the cliff, and as he approached, a multitude of hands reached out to grab him. He disappeared into the crag as the third and final fiber of the rope snapped, leaving the dragon free.

From behind the cliff came a horrible, drawn-out shriek...

Seeing as how the wings were extra appendages, no marks would be visible when Rose turned back to her human self. A sub-conscious thought, for the druid was more preoccupied with the sound of breaking ropes. Finally! The human went higher into the atmosphere, and then the group heard the shriek.

"What was that?" Seth inquired, shocked.

"I don't know, but I think someone is in trouble. We have to go look," Sheila responded.

"We're needed at North Castle," Tiberius reminded her.

"There are plenty of able-bodied warriorss with Ssaber," Rose said, her voice reptilian from being a dragon. "If ssomething doess happen, I'm ssure they can handle it until we get there; they could even take care of any ssituation by themsselvess. We can sspare ssome time to invesstigate."

Again, no one argued with her. After all, what were they going to do? Jump off her back when they were hundreds of feet in the air? Force her to go to North Castle while she was a dragon? Rather foolish ideas, so they continued holding on while the Tarm woman flew cautiously to the general area of where they heard the shriek, Rose keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of danger; she hadn't forgotten the recent attack. [Awareness check]

OOC: Seeing as how Rose is currently a dragon, and thus has superior sight and hearing to a human, she gets a bonus for the awareness check, right?

OOC:Fine, awareness bonus it is Not that you needed it, got a 16 roll

IC:"She's out of range!" Yelled a voice, as the daggers began to peak just under the freed dragon's belly before falling towards the ground hundreds of feet below. The rocks quickly slid back into place. Moments after the ropes had snapped, it was as if there had never been an attack in the first place. Except for the thousands of knives littering the plateau, of course.

As Rose and her passengers soared over the clifftop towards the cry, the dragon's keen ears noticed something odd--The screech didn't seem...human. In fact, as they neared the source, it became clear that it was not one scream, but several cries ringing out in a random assemblance. Then, from a rock but a hundred feet to their side came another unmistakable sound.

Wingbeats.

"I don't see anything," the younger of the two women said, leaning over to look for the source of the scream, Tiberius grabbing her collar to make sure Sheila didn't fall off.

"Neither do I," Rose replied. "Come to think of it, it wassn't human anyway. Come on, let'ss get out of here."

"But..."

"Forget it, Sheila," Seth said. "North Castle takes priority over animals."

And then Rose heard the sound of flapping wings besides her own. Her head snapped to the side where the noise was coming from. The Tarm ex-general began to feel uneasy. With one powerful, sudden movement (earning a surprised scream from Sheila) she was farther up in the air and heading southeast to Hyrule's capital, hoping nothing else would interfere.

OOC: Jerk. You could have been a tad bit more specific about where the sound came from.

OOC: Hey, who doesn't confuse screams of people with beasts

IC: From around one of the cliffs came an unmistakable shape. The wyrm-like creature flapped it's leathery wings as it gave its screech yet again, it's mouth wide open and displaying it's horrificly sharp teeth as it picked up speed and zeroed in on the plump, meaty humans aboard the dragon--Apparently, this beast wasn't well fed. Once it had seen it's prey, it gave it's distinct honk--and from behind the cliff emerged two more Kargarocs, each eager to sample the delicacy that had been delivered to them via dragonback. Aboard each monster was a man in a tight-fitting leather suit, with a red and black patch on their upper right sleeve--a red arrow on both sides of a black one. They had at least three straps securing them to the back of the Kargaroc they were on, and they appeared to be controlling their mounts somehow. However, the view was blocked by the heads and necks of the hungry animals, and the first one gained speed and rose above Rose (hehe), then dropped straight downwards in an attempted tackle.

The hairs on Sheila's neck rose; she looked up. And screamed. "Don't you ever run out of breath?" Seth asked before looking up himself. Then he groaned. "Rose, kargarocs! Move now!"

The dragon rolled (for some strange reason, she thought, Barrel roll) out of the way. Once they were back in a relatively stable flight, Seth removed his composite longbow from the sheath on his back. After setting an arrow, he took careful aim (or as careful as he could considering he was flying atop his druidic friend's back) and let his bow sing.

Meanwhile, the other two Hylians prepared their weapons should the other two birds decide to attack. It was Tiberius who noticed the man riding the kargaroc who had missed the foursome. "We're not being attacked by wild animals," he said dryly.

OOC: I'm allowed to notice that, right? What with the kargaroc that missed me being below me now (at least in theory)? =/

OOC: You can do anything that doesn't break the laws of physics--This is a roleplay, remember?

IC:The kargaroc pulled out of its dive thirty feet below the dragon, the rider bracing himself as they missed a nearby cliff by feet. The rider wiped his brow with one hand, as his other was strapped firmly to the creature's back. From their new position above their foe, the riders could see something new--If they were paying close enough attention, that is. In between the wings of the kargaroc, there was a small metal contraption on the back. It appeared to be a flat metal cylinder, with a pole sticking out of the center. Splitting out from the top of the pole were frou smaller poles. Then the man put his untied hand back onto the pole and leaned forward, blocking the view. Just then, Seth's arrow came whizzing down from above, slicing through the bonds on the man's left leg. It passed through the ropes and into the side of the kargaroc, and it wasn't happy about it. It twisted this way and that, whipping around haphazardly, with the rider clingin on for dear life as he flailed around with one leg attached. The kargaroc strayed off course with it's rider detached, sinking lower and drifting to the side.

From behind, the other two kargarocs approached. Using a few quick hand signals, they communicated a plan and moved to fulfill it. Each kargaroc pulled up on one side of Rose, staying on par with the giant lizard. The one on the left lashed out at Rose's wing with it's teeth, trying to puncture the filament, while the other moved closer in an attempt to jostle the passengers with a bodyslam.

"Ms. Hillmound, they're on both sides of us!" Sheila said, panic in her voice.

Not for long, the druid thought. In one quick, powerful motion her wings went straight up and dropped down with enough force to both knock the attacking birds senseless should they have gotten in the way and to propel them several more feet into the air, causing the kargarocs to collide should her wings have missed them.

Seth again took aim, going for a head shot this time. If he missed and hit the man on the second kargoroc instead....Well, they were trying to kill them. He also had hopes that he would've hit that contraption, which he had barely saw; he could only hope that destroying that thing meant good news for the attackees.

"Sheila, don't you have shuriken?" Tiberius asked.

"Um, yeah," the youngest of the lot said, reaching into a small bag to pull one out. "But I'm not very good with aiming yet."

"That's okay; there's no way you can hit one of us by mistake," Seth replied.

Flustered, the female Hylian used extra effort in her aim on the third bird's wing.

The kargaroc on the left felt a horrible pain in it's mouth as the wing was yanked out of it's reach at the last moment, causing it to shatter a few teeth by in its snapping jaw. Then the wing came back down and hit the back of the beast, causing it to drop quite a ways. It pulled out of it's fall just above the ground and immediately began to pursue again, although it seemed reluctant to go after such a powerful enemy. Then Seth's arrow came zipping by, but the kargaroc was far enough away to see it coming and drop in altitude. As the rider ducked, teh arrow passed harmlessly overhead.

The third kargaroc saw the wing rise and dropped speed to avoid being hit like it's partner, but the gust of wind slowed it down considerably, and the rider barely managed to keep control of it's flight by seemingly gripping the bar incredibly hard. After the gust had passed, he urged the creature forward, and it rose just above the dragon's back, approaching the passengers. It shrieked as Sheila's shuriken shredded it's sternum (alliteration ftw), but soon shook off the pain with the prospect of a meal. It pushed forward and sunk its talons into Sinai's shoulders, leaning forward from its impromptu mount to honk in the face of the girl who had just injured him as it leaned ever closer with its mouth open wide, teeth glistening.

OOC: Since when do birds have teeth?

IC:
Sheila screamed and leaned back into her cousin to avoid the kargaroc's bite. Even so, she awkwardly swung her spear around to pierce the bird in the neck.

The former brigadier general winced at the pain and tried not to buckle under the sudden weight, but took his sword and tried his best to stab the beast's flank.

Seth cursed as his arrow missed. Only thirty-eight left, and every one of them has to count. He loaded another arrow and set it flying towards the kargaroc that he had missed.

Meahwhile, Rose forced her neck to grow longer. With the newfound flexibility, the druid twisted her head around to take a bite out of the bird's wing.

OOC: I suddenly feel the desire to bring Natasha, Hyrule's sexiest mid-faerie, into this.

OOC: It's true they don't, and you can have your character's notice that, but I have a reason for everything. Just stick around and everything will be made clear.

...

That was an incredibly cheesy response..."everything will be made clear'...God, I sound like Mr. Miyagi.

and sexy Mid-fairies kick ass. Does she have the ability to turn into full fairy? If so, I may have a spot for her.

IC:The kargaroc mounted on Sinai took Sheila's spear to the side of it's head, but was hit with the flat of the blade and wasn't cut. It's head swung back around and buffeted Sheila in the side as a retaliation, and immediately prepared to take a snap at her off-balance form. However, it was soon distracted by a rather annoying object sticking out of its leg--It arched it's head to try and reach Sinai, but couldn't quite stretch that far. The rider decided to take care of it instead. He reached his free hand into his robe and pulled out a crop. a long cord about fifteen feet long rolled out of it--A whip. He leaned as far over as he could and whipped at Sinai, hitting his sword arm's elbow. While rider and mount were distracted, Rose launched her attack, and the kargaroc screeched with pain as it's delicate filament was pierced by the teeh of the dragon, it's claws piercing deeper to try and keep hold.

The second kargaroc, meanwhile, was scraped on the tail by Seth's next arrow, and became further enraged. It honked as it sped up even more, approaching Rose's underbelly. The group was moving out of the mountains now, into the flats and towards the thin mountain range on the other side of the basin. The rider jerked his mechanism, and the kargaroc flipped upside down, latching onto Rose's underbelly and bludgeoning her chest with it's much smaller head.