Onogoron sat in the seat of his covered wagon with all the ease and comfort of a professional. As one of the top drivers for the Goro Goro Cartel, he had spent much of his life rolling around the wide expanses of North Hyrule. So many people to meet and places to see...he often got fed very well for his efforts. Though he still stuck to his diet of rocks for sustenance, every now and then he would have a tiny taste of human fare, and was learning the appeal. It's a lot easier to understand those creatures once you've sampled their culture he thought with a slow smile.

This ride was even more pleasant than all those before. For it was the first time he was got to take a route to South Hyrule. He hadn't been to his birthplace in absolute ages! he was filled with an excitement so great, he could barely resist dancing for joy. But there would be plenty of time for dancing back in Saria Town. For now, he sat in silence in the dark tunnel, enjoying the repetetive thump of his slight-less-than-perfectly-round wheels against the hard ground.

Kreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-THUNK. Kreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-THUNK. Kreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-SNAP!

The front right end of the wagon dipped to the ground. "Must have brrrrrrroke an axel..." The Goron rumbled in a sad voice. Luckily, he remembered, there was a spare in the back. Yes, he had planned ahead for such a lucky journey as this. His Goronic hulk climbed slowly out of his seat. Lumbering around peacefully to the back while mumbling a tune, the Goron felt around under the covering. Pricking his rough hands on the swords and arrows in the back, he finally felt a bit of wood. As he started to withdraw the spare part, he thought he heard a footstep.

"Hello? Is anyone therrrre?"

Silence. Shrugging, and chalking the occurence up to the myriad of weapons shifting in the back of the wagon, he finished removing the axle from the rest of the junk. "Surrrre wish I could see. It's so darrrrk in--" At that instant, the Goron's mighty throat was slit by an unseen object, and Onogoron felt the first tricklings of warm blood gushing out of his body before the world went even darker. All he heard in his last moment was the sound of very light footsteps all around.

______________________________

Valens is sitting on a crate of arrows, looking rather perturbed. He had just recently called all the available adventurers to him. As they begin to assemble, he stands, something still obviously on his mind as he begins to speak.

"As you know, we've been trying to establish a presence in South Hyrule. In order to do so, we moved many of our men into these tunnels. Unfortunately, we seem to have set up in a less advantageous spot than we had at first thought. You see, we are still very lacking supplies. Food, weapons, other things of that sort. So we've been shipping them to these tunnels from Ruto Town via the Goro Goro Cartel. I'm sure several of you are familiar with them. Here is the problem; we apparently set up camp too far down the tunnel. Somewhere along the path, the caravans are being intercepted and destroyed, no survivors. The supplies are taken, the Goron drivers killed. We need to stop this. But whenever we walk down the paths, we see nothing. Clearly they are using some secret passage, and are waiting specifically for caravans."

Valens looks down at the ground for several seconds before speaking again.

"That means...I'm going to have to ask something very brave of you." He clears his throat. "One of you...A Goron, most preferably, will have to be a decoy. We're going to send a fake caravan through. Instead of supplies, we'd like to put as many of you in the back as possible. And Veldam will be going with you."

"Realize that we know nothing about the enemy we face. We don't know how they're destroying the caravans, and we don't know how deadly they are. Though we surmise that it's very. I understand if noone is willing to put themselves in that position. But if you do, we would be in your debt."

OOC: Yes, time for another significant even to happen in the Crusade!

Rosen's back was hunched forward, body balancing against the hilt of his sword with both hands clamped on the handle. His fists began to pulsate beneath the sand paper skin, it wasn't hard to see those throbbing veins that ran around his hands and arms like channels, they were still just has distinguished even without the harrowing story that stemmed from Valen's mouth for age does that to a goron, veins just seem a lot more comfortable strolling against the breeze that catches Rosen's gait than beneath the muscles and tendons.

"I'd be happy to be your decoy." He muttered, half coughing between syllables. "I can't imagine any thief that wouldn't be." He said with a smirk, hidden beneath the weight of his head as it collapsed staring at the floor and a beard that hung loosely across the bottom of his face and his chest.

"I don't like doing a lot of moving around anyway."

He took to moving towards Valens, eager to find himself a seat next on the next caravan, even if it were only to be interrupted by a few rapscallions but he stopped halfway and looked back at the others.

"Unless of course." Parsing through the gorons, quite a few standing at attention, "Unless of course, someone else would like to be the decoy?" He said as his voice rose in decibel and pitch nearing the end of his sentence, offering a questionable invitation to take his place on the caravan.

"I am willing to take the risk," Darilan says, under the condition that I am not the only one hiding in the back. He realizes the importance of taking out whatever is stopping the caravans, more so than he recognizes the danger he is putting himself in.

A few new thoughts come to his mind. "What if they kill our Goron? We need their strength to be able to take back Hyrule." He pauses for a moment. "Do they leave the dead behind? If they do, and we are able to examine them closely, we will have a better idea of what we are dealing with."

Simon had heard some chatter regarding the knights wanting every available adventure to be called to the center of operations - the Outpost. He was all the way at Moruge Swamp when he heard. So, he came rushing back.

He could be seen by the others, including the knights, running from end of the tunnel that lead to the entrance of the swamps. He was just in time for the briefing. He wanted to help in anyway possible.

He listened as the Goron proposed that he go as the bait, and Simon watched in awe. What a brave soul. Then, he listened to Darilan ideas. Letting them finish, he spoke.

"I know it's a large burden to carry, but we shall do our best to protect you," he noted, turning towards Rosen. "If I could go in your place, I would. Sadly, I cannot. Best of luck, and we will be watching out for you."

He then turned to Darilan, "We'll make sure they don't kill Rosen. On another note, I like your idea of investigating left over corpses. I would offer to take them back to the PFH labs where we have highly advanced equipment to make such an analysis, but it would take to long to get the bodies there and process," he ended, sadly.

Finally, he turned towards the knight, Valens. "Sir, I would much like to help in this investigation by volunteering myself to travel in the back of the wagon." This was his admittance. He was ready to serve and aid in this mission.

OOC: OK really. C'mon guys. I miss Onogoron already.

IC: The deaths of so many unknown drivers tugs at Victor's heartstrings as he listens in on Valens' announcement. He would avenge them if possible. Damn that Ganon with his bad guys and his killing and his.. his.. ugly... face!

He really shouldn't, though. It was a bad idea. That is to say... it wasn't in his best interests, no. Not health wise anyways, but... oh it was his duty. He volunteered.

"General, I would be... happy, to assist on this mission. The South is my home, or it was. It is my duty to help rebuild it."

The Bard saluted then turned to board the decoy caravan! Oh wait. No, there wasn't one yet.

The Bard saluted and stood around awkwardly for a bit, waiting.

A very soggy mercenary strode into the outpost, hair matted with mud and clothes stained all over. He saw no problem in interrupting the battle for Moruge Swamp in order to answer to General Valens--after all, the Knights could hold their position, couldn't they? Of course they could. They had been so effective against Gohma, after all. Why, one had even survived til the end to carry a message back to King Harkinian.

...

How was it the ragtag adventurers seemed stronger than the King's expertly trained army? Perhaps this said something for how South Hyrule came under siege in the first place. But this smartass writer digresses.

"Killing innocent Goron caravan drivers...it's worth the decoy. If we don't stop the supply route from being burgled, then we're bound to have to pull out of South Hyrule anyways. We need to at least put up a fight." And so Saber marched off after Rosen, eyes blowing in the breeze and hair blazing.

At least in the mercenary's mind. In the earthier, less heroic reality that this meeting took place in, there was nothing to do but wait for the others to gather. "I suppose...we'll need to get to the other end of the cave first, huh? It would smell of a trap if we took a decoy caravan the wrong direction..."

The threat of Ganon's warlords was graver than it had originally appeared. Maverick stepped up to the assembled adventurers and military men, a solemn and depressed expression on his face, which he had chosen to keep down on this occasion. There was no need to appear untrustworthy in such a dark, gloomy place when dealing with dark, sinister minions of the Evil one. He carried a lit torch in his hand, providing himself with some light while not draining his magic power. He knew a battle was ahead, and needed to save his resources.

Approaching Valens, the cloaked Calatian gave a smart military salute - he had served for years in Calatia's own armed forces as a battle mage; he knew the protocol. Standing to attention, he spoke. "Myron Rockafeller, reporting to you for duty, sir Knight."

A truly false name in every way. Myron Rockafeller was an infamous arsonist that had lived in Calatia close to two hundred years prior to the Crusade, responsible for the deaths of twenty men and women in a church fire. The name had come to the Apostle in a book he had read just recently, entitled Ashes to Ashes: A History of Pyromania. The book, written by one of Maverick's favourite social historians, contained a lengthy history of arson and fire-related disasters in all of the world's great kingdoms. But this was irrelevant. He refused to give his real name to officials of Hyrule's royalty, as he was technically a wanted man and did not have any desire to be shipped back to Calatia in a cell for execution. If, by some unholy coincidence Valens knew all about the real Myron Rockafeller... well, Myron was a fairly common name back home.

"I request the opportunity to aid you in your mission to protect the caravans. For every wagon hindered by the forces of Ganon, the warlord regime over South Hyrule only becomes more tight. Our supplies must not be taken for their own, and it is unacceptable that so many fine Gorons must meet such a cruel fate. If you will have me, sir Knight, I am at your command and disposal."

He continued to salute and stand at attention until told otherwise by the superior officer. His eyes were hard as stone and shined with a determination not expected by someone of foreign birth.

Kuro listened to the General's briefing through heavy breathing. Kuro had just ran all the way from the other side of the pass when he heard that the knights needed help. He had wondered at first if they were under attack, but he quickly realized that they would probably be able to hold off Ganon's minions, so he dismissed the thought and waited to see what was going down when he got there.

Kuro waited patiently for the others to finish volunteering and throwing out suggestions. When they were finished he spoke up. "I would like to volunteer for the back as well," he began. "We have to succeed at this, if we don't, then we won't be able to get new supplies, and we would have to retreat from the South eventually, making all our previous battles useless," he finished, deciding against saluting as some of the others had, but giving a slight bow instead.

Aria was leaning against a cave wall while she listened to Valens. She could not bring herself to feel sorrow for these Gorons she didn't know, but she could feel anger at their murders, especially at the hands of Ganon's minions.

Oh, sure, the other races might hate the vile beast for trying to take over their lands, but they seemed to have forgotten the fact that Ganon was born of Ganondorf, a Gerudo king. This betrayal to the Gerudo race still stung after hundreds of years.

"I'll accompany the decoy," she said loud enough to be heard. Unlike the others, however, she did not salute Valens, but bowed instead. She would show proper respect to the Hylian officer, but she would not give any gesture that might suggest loyalty to the King of Hyrule.

From the deeper regions of the cave, Alpha finds himself returning; a request from the General of the Hylian Knights had been enough to recall him from his ventures into the South. He walks forward as Valens' tale begins, managing to catch its entirety even though he is still a fair distance from the rest of those gathered. Ganon's creatures, once again on the rise and striking from the shadows of the passage.

Even so, he must feel a surprising sense of admiration towards whoever is commanding these caravan attackers - the tactics being used are similar to the kind he would probably employ were Ganon to ever overtake the Hyruleans. Hiding away, using guerrilla tactics to confront the enemy, striking at their supply lines . . . it all bespeaks a strong and intelligent military sense in the planner of these raids. He isn't sure whether to feel admiration or fear towards whoever this individual was, but one thing is for sure: the adventurers must be wary.

"I will join this operation," he offers at last, speaking to those gathered in a simple tone, saying only what needs to be said and nothing more. A good sized force has already been gathered, however . . . if his suspicions are correct then they will require as many fighters as they can get for this mission.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. Eberron's feet created particularly heavy footsteps as he marshalled his feet to force himself down the seemingly endless tunnel passage. His bag was weighing heavily on his back, more so then usual. Though he only had himself to blame. He'd discovered that the rocks lying around the area he had chosen to rest were particularly tasty... Finally stopping, Eberron let out a sigh of disappointment and turned around opening his bag and letting out a good number of rocks from the bulging sack crash to the ground with a clatter that echoed throughout the area. The noise increased and receded like the tide, and only when it had finally ceased did Eberron lift the still heavy, but considerably less cumbersome bag, onto his back. There was no point having rocks to eat, if it would slow him down THIS much. Up ahead he saw the group of heroes... Recognising those he had thought beside and been with him when he was resting from his wounds he ran up to the group and let a huge grin shine out from his face, his eyes twinkling in the dark as he moved to great them.

"Hey! Friends! Look, look I'm all better! I've been thinking about the fight with the magic man and..."

Eberron stopped in his tracks as he saw the sombre mood that had filled the group. Silencing his joyful yells, Eberron removed his hat as he heard of the fate of the goron caravans. Placing the heavy wooden hat back onto his head at the end of it, Eberron hoped that the low brow would hide the tears beginning to emerge. His fists clenched as a new feeling entered him. A deep, burning anger filled his heart. These monsters were as bad as he had been told. Worse. Somehow being in the middle of the situation made it hit even harder, and he couldn't help begin to wonder if his father had been the victim of a similar raid or... His thoughts interrupted suddenly by another focus, Eberron looked at the brave Goron who had valiantly offered to risk himself as bait for the thiefs. But surely he couldn't take on such a task! Eberron watched as he coughed frequently while speaking, he looked...

"Shameful."

Eberron muttered to himself. He had no right to think such things.

"Sir. We have never been properly introduced. My name is Eberron. I think you are a good person. A very very brave good person. And though I would wish to take your place with all my heart, I will not insult your bravery and resolve. Instead, I offer myself as one of the hiders in the caravan."

Eberron glanced around at the other adventurers gathered around him. Good, he knew many of these people already. And so far he had not met anybody who he would rather risk his life with. Shuffling the heavy hat that rested on his brow he turned to face Valens.

"If there is going to be any room for us of course."

Edit: Just so people know, I think it would make more sense for this to be the first place that Eberron arrives at and stays until the even is over... Unless anyone particularly wants to really get started on the stuff going on down in the swamp with plans and so on. I'm just checking that we are definitely going to finish this little event off first and then continue further south.

Abel sat here and heard the the news of the attacks on the Caravans and the death of the drivers. He heard several people volunteering which made him feel like he had to join in to help protect the kingdom and Zelda. "I'm here to help save the kingdom and I don't care if Ganon himself is resurrected i will stand and fight."Abel said accepting to help out in the mission.

Kagari walked into the crowd. He then noticed that the caravan was down. He then decided to help. He wondered what has happened, but then he overheard someone saying that someone has been killed. So he pulled his dagger out of his belt and his sheild from his back.

Did these creatures of South Hyrule have an end to their wickedness? Sakiko trembled in silent fury at the thought of all the innocent travelers murdered. I want to kill them all. Kill them all. The blood rushed to her head, causing her to feel slightly dizzy. She couldn't think straight. Concentrate on what the others are saying, idiot. Stop overreacting.

She had to remember that this was not a safe mission. Not safe at all. In fact, from any angle she looked at it, there was nothing safe about it - the word safe was irrelevant here. Sakiko grimaced, remembering her last encounter in the tunnels. She wiped away the dry blood on the numerous cuts she had received. And these monsters...or things...whatever they are...that we are supposed to deal with don't seem like stupid bulks of mass, either. They have minds and intellect by what I hear. Not good.

Sakiko stared blankly as the other adventurers gave their brave responses, all ready to risk their lives.

Well, she was here. She had heard it all. She saw what there was to see. Why not? She was young and... not exactly full of life, but healthy enough.

"I will be willing to join the decoy... in any way that I'm to help, but most preferably as those who will be hiding."

Sakiko hesitated awkwardly, wondering if she should bow or salute as the others done. It was not that she didn't feel respect for the General. Rather, she was unused to paying such shows of it. She bent her neck slightly, and quickly got it back up.

OOC: You'll live, Victor, trust me. Besides, you should have been able to tell by his name that he was going to die. O-No-Goron? *sigh*

IC:A small smile appeared on Valens' face as numerous adventurers volunteered themselves, but it was a troubled smile. What am I sending them into...?

"What if they kill our Goron? We need their strength to be able to take back Hyrule."

Valens searched for the speaker in the crowd, and, seeing Darilan, began to answer. "That is precisely why I'm not forcing anyone onto this mission. We have no idea how deadly this force is. It could end in a great tragedy if we send in all of our best warriors."

"Do they leave the dead behind?"

"They leave...nothing behind. Save for some of the pieces of the wagon, scattered up and down the tunnel. It's a clever strategy. By spreading out the pieces, we have no idea where the attack actually took place.

"Myron Rockafeller, reporting to you for duty, sir Knight."

A bemused smile flickered across the General's face. "You don't say? The years certainly seem to have been kind to you, haven't they?" he quipped nonchalantly.

"Ready the wagon!" He called out over his shoulder, then turned back to the group with some untranslatable expression on his face. "We need to take the wagon to the front of the cave first, where our caravan is set up and waiting. We'll be uncovered so that the enemy can see we are all armed on the way out; this should dissuade them from revealing themselves, probably suspecting us to be Knights returning home after service." He begins to pace to the right. "Once we get back to the plateau, I will assist in preparing the covered wagon and give you a last briefing. Veldam will accompany you on the return trip."

As he finished speaking, a wagon arrived, pulled by two chestnut horses. In the front sat two Knights with lances and kite shields. "Everyone get in the back! It's time to go!" Veldam and Valens climbed into the bed of the vehicle, bidding everyone else to follow.

OOC: This will take place at a different time than the fights in the swamp, so it won't interfere at all. So feel free to keep fighting in the Swamp as though this hasn't happened yet, then maybe once this topic is complete you can all recall it in your fights afterwards. Because I do so want you to keep fighting in the South. No reason to postpone it.