Live Your Own Story in Hyrule

"Hey, I'm seeing this in several angles. I don't know how much they pay attention to the water below. Maybe this is pretty normal, maybe it isn't. If it isn't, that's grounds for trying to find out what's going on. I don't want to be out here when they start looking for why the fishies suddenly have an appetite. Hopefully, this is just something that's normal for them and they won't have any reason to go searching for us. We can stick to our flight to the islands, but at least _someone_ here understands the genius that is my plan."

Revali decides to go with the unofficial group vote and continue towards the island that's closest to the, searching for any spots that would be viable for landing.

Link muses, “Either way, I have no intention of going for a swim here.”

He watches the water get further away and the islands get closer. Link points up at the bottom of the island overhead. “Let's try to be as quiet as possible.” hinting to the bird that bombs are probably not advisable right now.

Irina is glad that the two decided to go the peaceful -or at least non-chaotic- route. She stays quiet on Red’s back, hoping they will make it without being spotted.

"I didn't know there was any other option for reconaissance." Revali spoke back in a nagging manner. He'd fly in, adjusting his wings in a way that would reduce the sound of wind to make his gliding quieter. He makes a couple of flaps to give himself the needed height to begin gliding down towards the bottom of the island. He keeps an eye out for any creatures or objects before finding a place where he thinks he's good to land at.

Making some final adjustments, he hovers in the air, flapping his wings while releasing Link carefully onto the ground before he opts to land himself.

Red snickered to himself listening to Blue growing more agitated. Still, he's glad the bomb option wasn't used. That'll make for a much quieter time, he suspects. Not sure about easier, but definitely quieter. He follows the same path that Revali took, trailing right behind him so they'd minimize their presence and appearance as much as possible.

He landed on the ground and knelt down so Irina would be able to dismount quietly.

Link lands with a thud and looks around and finds what looks like a place with some cover. He dashes there and signals for the others to follow.

Revali, now on the ground, makes quick work of moving across the area. He slips in nearby Link in the cover spot, trying to keep an eye on the surroundings to look for any changes.

Irina dismounts from Red carefully and as quietly as she can. She touches Red for a moment as a sign of gratitude before following Blue and Link behind their cover.

She slowly shows her face from behind Link, trying to see if there are any monsters around.

Link looks at the island. It is mostly flat, except for a temple that rises from the center. In the plaza in front of the temple is a large statue of an ancient Hylian warrior. It is holding a sword that looks vaguely familiar to anybody from Hyrule, and very familiar to Link. He stares at it silent for some time, then says to the group. "We have found it... but something is not right."

Next to the statue are two holes decorated with mysterious glyphs that seem to glow in the darkness. In fact, everything around the statue and the plaza appear to be enveloped in a filter of darkness that seems to suck out any light in the air. "The light. It is being absorbed by the sword. It makes no sense."

The sword spirit suddenly appears. She speaks in a softer voice than usual.

"Master. That is indeed the blade you seek. Beware. Dark forces have drained its energy and are using its magic to inverse the light from this land. Proceed with caution."

She seems to distort after a few moments.

"Master. I cannot stay visible here. The very magic that is draining the sword is threatening to pull me in. Ma--ter. Find a -- restore --lig--ht."

Her words fade as she retreats into the crystal.

¨Miss Fi..." Irina sees the sword spirit disappear after the warnings and watches the sword thoughtfully.

"I hadn't seen that sword for so many years... Before you lost your memory," she says to Link while watching the sword. "I wonder if whoever took it had something to do with your memory loss." Looking at Link now, she continues, concerned. "If a dark force is draining the light from the blade, could it.. drain it from you too?"

Link looks down at his hands, considering Irina's question. "To be honest, since we have arrived in this place, I have felt a powerful force upon me. At first it felt like I was simply uncomfortable here, but now I do feel like it is draining me, albeit slowly."

He looks up at the rest of the group. "How are you all feeling? Do you feel it, too?" As he asks, he notices something up in the main tower of the temple. He stares at it for a few moments, then raises his hand in its direction and watches it glow faintly with light. "There is something there..."

"I feel something, but I was just assuming it was the influence of this place. And something feels off with the scale.... like a strange pain. It's hard to explain." She watches Link's hand and then looks at the tower. "Do you think we should go there?"

"Whoa... That powerful." Redvali whispered aloud to himself. Not even Fi could tolerate being out here? "I can feel the weight of the darkness, but I'm not sure it's affecting me the same way."

It's palpable, really, the way the darkness feels. Almost like a thin sheet or cloak. "I didn't even think it was possible to affect the sword like that. Changing its light into dark? Is...that what her words meant?"

"Hmph, it'd be just our luck that they found a way to do something like this." Revali looked around the area, trying to determine what this...contraption? Setup? Was all about.

"So, these things..." He approached one of the holes to get a better look at it. "Looks pretty important to me." He flicks a wing down towards it. "Those glyphs mean anything to anybody?" In fact, he thinks this is the first time he's seen anything of the sort here like it.

Aio stares at Naomi blankly. He clearly didn't understand her. He wonders why this girl is threatening the other girl.

As he doesn't quite understand the rules of the game, he does the same and chases after Saria, holding his hands up like a dragon as well. He calls out "Raaawr!" and something unintelligible in his language.

Saria lets out a scream as both come after her and laughs, running. She looks at Aio and points at Naomi without stopping. "Attack HER, not me! We are the good guys! Dragon! Dragon! " She repeats, hoping to teach Aio a new word.

Aio begins chasing after Naomi, too, and calls her by what he thinks is probably her name, "Dragon! Dragon!"

Fallon opens the door and is immediately met with screaming and shouts of a dragon. She hurries outside, checking the sky and surroundings to see if one had suddenly popped up. Thankfully, there was no such creature and further processing allowed her to realize they were just playing out here. Of course, that's what they intended to do in the first place, but flashbacks of moldugas and spiders said otherwise. Briefly, anyway.

So, she heads back towards the walls of the inn and leans against them, watching them play and enjoy life for the time being. A refreshing change of scenery to what she knows lies beyond.

Naomi blinks at the swift derailment of her CAREFULLY CRAFTED FANTASY WORLD. o.O; At least Saria seems to get the idea and is trying to explain it to Aio -- but it looks like he still thinks _he's_ a dragon. Okay, well, maybe he can be a knight AND a dragon! Like some kind of...dragon man!

<https://i.redd.it/xcbi8yj0nhv81.jpg>

"Ummm...OHNOES IT IS THE DRAGONBORN! BUT YOU WILL NEVER DEFEAT ME UNLESS YOU FIND THE, ummm, MAGICAL HELMET OF RAINBOW FLAMES! IT IS IN, ummmmmmmmmm...aaaaaa SECRET PLACE THAT--THAT ONLY THE ROYAL FAMILY KNOWS ABOUT!" Yeah, Naomi is totally engaging in AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION and not dumping her DM responsibilities on Saria. n.n

Those were a lot of words and Aio understood none of them! He continues to chase Dragon and shouts her name. He giggles with excitement as the air and sun and open space combine to create a volatile reaction of fun.

As the screams of the children echo through the field outside of the Wolfos, a tall imposing Gerudo woman cuts the horizon perpendicularly. She holds a spear and walks in a relaxed pace but with a serious expression. The expression softens when she sees the children playing, particularly the boy.

She stops and observes them by the stables outside of the inn.

Saria laughs and nods, pointing at Noemi! "Yes! Catch the dragon!"

Seeing Risa arrive, Saria hmms, touching her chin with a finger. She approaches Risa and Fallon and brings her hands to her back. "Excuse me, I have a question."

"As you know, Aio is living in the Kokiri Forest now. Do you know of any grown-ups that may help us build a treehouse for him?"

Risa crouches down to become eye-level with the forest child. She rests her elbow on her knee and says, "A treehouse?" She thinks, and says, "Sweetie, I am from the desert. I don't know much about trees. But I will find someone who can help."

Fallon laughed to herself. Of all the things Naomi could've been, a dragon...born was not one she expected. Yet, she could appreciate her imagination. Those bedtime stories must've sounded far more spectacular to her than she'd thought.

Spotting movement in the distance, she looked towards it and found it was a friendly face upon closer inspection. She smiled as Risa approached, acknowledging her presence with a nod.

With Saria now approaching, she then pondered her question, "You need help with one, hm? Well, I'm not much of a builder, but I can assist in whatever way I can. I'll have to ask my husband if he has any suggestions or ideas. All else fails, I could just read about trees and houses and then attempt to replicate it."

Saria grins, her hands on her back while she listens to them. "You are big and strong women, so I knew you could help! Thank you." With this, she goes back to playing with her friends.

GUUUHHHH!!! &gt;_&lt;; Being a DM is so FRUSTRATING! You put in all this work to give the players an intricate world to interact with, and they just want to be MURDER HOBOS that solve every problem by charging at it swords waving! "Okay, fine! TAG, YOU'RE IT!" Naomi shouts to Aio. Then she turns and dashes away.

Aio didn't quite understand but he understood perfectly what she meant and what his job was now. He gives chase to Naomi and also Saria.

Saria laughs and runs away from Aio, happy to see him enjoying himself. There were some things they needed to figure out but this was probably what he needs for now.

Jabu's whiskers, that was quite the incident! Mipha certainly wasn't expecting that activity up here, but she's honestly glad it's over. Not that she needed to, but her desire to keep a low profile continues as she creeps her way through towards the graveyward. "My word, I honestly didn't think a moblin would make an appearance here. They ususaly don't find much reason to come this far..."

Wolf Link continues on to the <#C9UT1C3BQ>

_With the villagers' nerves settled, and some of them expressing they're glad he was okay, they left to go back inside and turn off their lights. However, looking over at the inn and starting to walk over there, he finds that it was closed for reservations- meaning there was no place for him to stay the night. Walking over and picking up the Moblin Spear, the young warrior breaks a section of it off so it was more his size and making it balanced so it wasn't unwieldy._
_Checking on their friend in their hat, they seemed to have gotten knocked out from the force of colliding with that tree along with them. Hopefully in time they'll wake up... Using what magic he has access to, they heal themself up a bit so it would be easier to breath. Doing so however making his Life Gauge 'glitch' through different styles until it settled on a different one; causing him a moment of pain._

_With the moment passed, the young warrior adjusts their bunny hood on top of their head after putting his hat back on and fixing their hair. Since loitering wasn't allowed in town, he'd have to go to the graveyard to rest there. Hopefully Dampé was going to be alright with it. They have in the past the few times he came and there wasn't any available rooms in the inn._

_Gatu proceeds, unknowingly, towards the <#C9UT1C3BQ>_

(See <#C5FAAGN80>)

Suddenly, a black crystal slams into the ground at high speeds, with a sudden flash of light in the form of a beam slamming into it, setting it off. Once the dust settles, one can see a Fog begin to form.

Another day, another round of looking for odd jobs to keep body and soul together. -.- It's better now than when John first started at least, he's gotten used to approaching folks at random to ask for work and they've gotten used to the idea that there's this guy around who can save them some trouble in exchange for a few rupees. Still, it's wearisome having to _hunt_ for employment all the time.

"I'm tellin' ya Johnny-boy, ya oughta just sign up wi' the castle guard," Scruvo remarks, guessing John's thoughts. "Gals love a chap in armor."

John rolls his eyes, trying to remember how many times they've had this conversation already. "And what do you think will happen when they ask about past experience and references? 'I was part of the army in the Dukedom of Loranis until I was banished for insubordination.'" e.e

"Cor blimey, an' you think _I_ take liberties in recountin' stories! At least I add stuff IN instead of leavin' all th'good parts out! Tell y'wot, why don't I tell 'em wot happened an' then you can just shoot down the embellishments, that'll get th'full story across AND show 'em you're humble ab--CRIKEY, INCOMIN'!!!"

John dives for the nearest cover, the corner of a building. He hears a dirt-spraying impact followed by an explosion, accompanied by a brief flash brightening the surroundings. After a moment, he straightens up against the wall and takes a peek around the corner, assessing the situation and looking for casualties and at-risk civilians. &gt;.&gt; Maybe nobody's _paying_ him to be a soldier, but the trained response doesn't stop to think about things like that.

In the distance, between the mountaintops, glides a yellow object. It takes note of the strange object that just flew into the town. The young messenger Rito swoops down on the town to take a closer look.

Not too far from the town, a royal guard sees the fog and hurries to ensure everybody is safe. Upon seeing the fog, Kagetora stops before he reaches it. He is aware of what will happen if he touches it... and frowns.

"Everybody, step back! Do not touch the fog!" He warns lifting his arms, stopping any villagers that attempt to approach the area.

The young yellow bird was near the fog but perched slightly above it on a stone chimney. He hops down to the roof and asks the soldier, “What is happening?”

Kagetora looks up to see the Rito while he tries to block people from entering the town. “This fog contains dark magic and is similar to that in Castle Market Town. Those who touch it will be cursed and turned into poes. Please warn everyone to stay away!”

The young Rito squawks in affirmation to the warrior's command, and then hops a few times before taking flight over the town. He begins to call out, "Beware! Beware! Everyone abandon the village! Avoid the fog!"

Ohhhhhjoy. &gt;~&lt; John pushes off from the wall and runs over to the building's door, yanking it open. "ANYBODY IN HERE, GET OUT FAST!!! THERE'S A POISON FOG FILLING THE TOWN!!!" John of course actually doesn't know if the fog _is_ poisonous, but it's a decent assumption based on the bird-man telling people to avoid it and it gets across the desired action quick and easy. A few confused townsfolk come tumbling out, including an old man with more wisdom than speed. U~U; John grabs his arm and throws it over his shoulders, trying to hasten his hobble toward the edge of town.

Meanwhile, the resident sky-watcher who's always hanging out on that roof is still rubbing his eyes from witnessing that sudden bright beam come down from Death Mountain. :dizzy_face: By the time his vision clears, the building he's on top of is already surrounded by fog, and it's starting to creep up the shingles toward him. He waves his arms up at Kanali. "HELP! I CAN'T GET DOWN!"

Over near Kagetora, a dog darts forward to bark and growl at the encroaching phenomenon. &gt;O A small girl runs after it, wrapping her arms around its neck and tugging fruitlessly. "No no Duke, get back!" &gt;n&lt;

Kanali pauses, catching a glimpse of the curious man that is standing on the roof. He looks around, watching the fog rise. He sees a woman holding a cucco and both are transformed immediately into orbs of light as the fog touches him.

"Oh no... this is terrible." the bird mutters under his breath.

"Hold on!! Stay away from the fog!" he shouts at the man on the roof as he hops up and takes flight, being careful to put some height between himself and the encroaching haze. He swoops down and grabs onto the man, already struggling to keep aloft, but says, "I got you! Hold on to me!"

At that, he kicks down on the roof to give himself a boost, breaking several roof tiles in the effort and sending them tumbling into the fog. Kanali takes flight with the man and attempts to carry him to safety, although his piloting skills are rough with the added weight.

Kanali crashes off to the side with the man, away from the fog. "Quick! Run away from the fog!" He dusts himself off, then picks himself up and flies back to the rooftops to see if he can spot anybody else.