Live Your Own Story in Hyrule

As the shadow beasts approach her, Irina gasps and warns her friends. “Guys! Get that one!” She has a second to speak before she is attacked.

Irina swings the electric wand horizontally, as wide as possible, to keep as many beasts away from her as she can–but she is outnumbered. The rest of them swarm around her and attack, and she is pushed to the ground. The wand falls away from her, still sending sparks around it.

As he finishes up dealing with the first batch of creatures he encountered upon arrival, the new arrival grabs his fire chains and as soon as he sees Irina get knocked to the ground, ~Johnny Blaze~ he starts using the chains to clear off the creatures from swarming Irina.

Revali was still hanging around in the air trying to clear out the flying kinds, but there were a lot more of them than there were of him. That and he was going to start running out of arrows. He finds an empty spot on the deck and puts his bow away for now and draws the sword he had on his hip. With all the commotion, he didn't realize they had a newcomer, so when he sees the claws dragging creatures away, he almost perceived it as an enemy. But, seeing Irina was underneath all those beasts, the picture became pretty clear.

He raised his blade to block the swipe of one beast and ducked out of the way of a flying one. Then used his gale as a charge to burst through a group of them, sending them airborn. What few are left are given a swift kick and a burst of air to get them off her. "We've got you!" He remarks, indicating the tag team effort him and the newcomer put up. "Hey, Red! Can you get this one!?" He pointed out the target for him.

Red saw the way those beasts all jumped on Irina and was about to head down until he saw Blue was taking care of it. He eyed the target that both she and Revali pointed out. "Yeah!" He readied his bow to fire a shot at the solitary beast. Taking aim, he launched his arrow at the solitary shadow beast.

The beasts covering the barmaid are picked off bit by bit until she is able to be safely recovered from their grasp. The wand that was sent tumbling continues sparking and unwary shadow beasts knock it around in their ceaseless attack on the ferry. It spins around in place and gently rolls from the motion of the ferry, capturing the attention of a flyer.

The bird-like beast swoops down to intercept the wand only to be met with a terrible shock from it instead.

From the sky, the arrow loosed from the red warrior flies true to its target and strikes the shadow beast down. It falls over in a heap and a blue flame leaves its form and hovers in the air. It finds its way to the skeleton ferryman and lights up one of its eyes with the light.

_Gatu leaps into action, tackling the one Irina points out and begins fighting it, in which he pulls it off of Irina. He also uses some Wind Magic to slip her wand back into her hand. He was starting to sweat a good bit now, since he's using magic spells back to back and in tandem in different combinations. It was starting to made him a bit light headed._

Wolf Link observes the shadow beast that wasn't fighting. He sees Red’s arrow pierce it and its flame illuminate the skeleton pilot. He looks around for another similar shadow beast among the horde.

He sees what he thinks is one and suddenly jumps in another rapid multi attack, but ends his assault pouncing on top of the shadow that seemed to not be attacking. He stares down at it curious about it. He looks like he could kill it at any moment but he doesn't, observing it closely.

“Thank you!” Irina shouts to her friends. She's scratched up and beaten but seems fine overall.

Grabbing her wand, she stands up and tries to cover Link while he does his research. She is clearly slower now due to the earlier encounter and just from starting to get tired.

Once Irina's clear of creatures, Einion retracts one of his chains, reaches out that hand and helps Irina up. He's kitted up in padded leather armor, some of which looks like a quilted pattern. He's got a hood up and a mask for the bottom half of his face. "Looks like you and I are having a pattern forming here, Irie. I'm not liking it," Einion says in a slightly stern, but caring tone with a little teasing. Seeing the wolf, he asks, "What's with the dog?"

Irina is very happy to see their friend. “Einion!” She nods to him and grins for a moment, “I completely agree!” She chuckles. As she covers Link and Einion asks about the dog, Irina replies without having a chance to give many details. “That's Link! He's under a curse!”

The beasts go down under the wolf's assault, save for one. It remains pinned with a pale blue glue fading in and out of its face plate. Dazed by the attack as it comes to and turns its attention onto the wolf, like the barmaid before, several shadow beasts nearby answer the call and proceed to swarm and cover him to prevent any attack follow through.

The ferry, seemingly unfazed by the events on board, continues on its journey through the river. Its current course opening into a large cavern.

The wolf senses the incoming horde and tries to fend them off with a rapid attack, springing into action, starting with the pinned shadow beast and jumping onto whoever is closest.

"I'm sorry I haven't been able to heal anyone! There's so many of these shadow beasts...I can't stop to attend you!" Mipha, despite her best efforts in fighting, can't see any respite coming from these beasts. Any clearances made are just filled right back up. "I'm hoping we'll find more of these seal breaking kind. We have one, the others must be close!"

She jumps in the air and dives back towards the deck, with a wave of water charging ahead of her dive gathering the beasts and sweeping them along the deck until the wave breaks against the front of the ferry. Some fall into the river while others lay washed up on the boat. Scanning the area to ensure everyone is accounted for, she locks onto a mass of shadow beasts encircling someone.

She raises her trident and swings it downward, sending a bursting column of water toward the horde. The water would shoot up as a fountain, firing shadow any shadow beasts in its path into the air.

Twinrova watched as the shadow beasts were flung up and into the air nearby her, some getting a little too close for comfort. Any that managed to make it near enough to her face were smacked away with her hand. She didn't know it initially, but there was a key to this boat's use and these ingrates had managed to figure it out.

She can't help but smile at how that worked in her favor. "Ohoho! It appears another has been found! And the ferry has entered into the middle of its journey on the river. What does that make now? Two?" She watched the blue flame ascend from the shadow beast and occupy the eye of the skeleton. "A third remains!" She chimed excitedly. Their passage was nearing its end. Although, if that third wasn't found, it will be an ending, but not one they desire.

"Tell you what, I'll think of a surprise and it'll be on the house." Fallon replies to Saria, jotting down 'surprise' and circling it. "Okay, that ought to take care of things and--" her head lowers to see her little one at the table. "Play? That is what you are offering after they have just arrived?" She smiles, giving way to the table so they can all take off. "Of course, they wouldn't say no to that offer."

She chuckles and clears the milk and water cups while she determines what would be good for them to eat. "Make sure you stay close by!!" She called out to them, ensuring her voice could be heard through and beyond the door.

"Okay, now what to feed to them... Perhaps some cuccoo tenders. I think that'll be good. Side of greenery and that ought to cover it."

That in mind, she quickly heads to the kitchen to drop off the glasses and put the order in. She then hustles towards the exit so she could watch them and wait for the order to finish.

"Okay Mommy!" Naomi says as she follows the other two, her brain immediately filing the instruction under 'Things that have been responded to and thus require no further thought'.

Out in the field, Naomi spreads her arms to the others. "So what should we play? How abouuuuuuuut" (points at Aio) "you're the heroic knight," (points at Saria) "you're the pretty princess," (points at self) "and I'M the ferocious dragon?" >:) Naomi raises her hands high like claws and stomps dramatically toward Saria. "IIIIII'M GOING TO EEEEAAAT YOOOOUUUUU!" >:O

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.

_-OOC- QUIET 9s, A 10 IS SPEAKING._

*The Evil King is surveying his dark kingdom from some precipice, watching the creatures and monsters he cultivated scuffle among themselves.*

"Boring."

*He is impatiently waiting for Edu, who he summoned at his whim and no care for whatever the Twili might have been involved with.*

Edu had received a summons from his supreme overlord, whom he so desires to please. Riding on top of a guardian, he quietly sits until the guardian arrives at his master’s throne, in which the guardian leans forward to allow Edu to slide off, landing on his feet only to kneel on one knee in front of him, bowing his head.

“Lord Ganondorf… I have come, just as you asked!”

The spider whispers while the grown folks start talking, "A spider's name cannot be enunciated by your species' tongue. But you may call me Belinda." She hides back into the shadows.

"That is a pleasant name." Artifa whispers back, also deciding to just tuck herself away someplace nice and unquiet. She gets the distinct feeling there's no real peace to be found down here, so a nearby boulder will just have to do.

*A grunt is all Edu is graced with, as Ganondorf continues to stare over the Depths before he finally glances over his shoulder.*

"You did well draining that overgrown puddle."

*The waters of Lake Hylia are now a raging, roaring river; seeking to carve a bed for itself or an exit. It drowned the weakest and slowest of the Depths' denizens to the Gerudo king's amusement.*

"New job for you: Take this."

*Ganondorf holds a crystal in his hand that he sends to hover in front of Edu. Artifa would recognize it, as it was integral to her test to gain entry to his domain.*

*It vibrates before splitting up into 4 identical copies still hovering in front of the kneeling figure.*

Artifa definitely recognizes those crystals. She didn't even know more were going to be used. This was going to be fascinating to watch unfold and keep record of.

Darkness thickens along one of the jagged stone structures overlooking the gathering. It does not move. It simply exists — heavier than the surrounding gloom.

If one were to look long enough, they might notice the faint suggestion of a figure leaning against the structure — arms loosely folded, one shoulder resting against stone that seems to absorb her rather than support her. Red eyes glimmer once in the dim, observing.

Dark Irina says nothing. She does not step forward, does not interfere with Ganondorf’s commands, does not acknowledge Artifa’s quiet fascination.

She watches the spider, the scholar, the summoned dark guy, and the splitting crystals, and a faint curl of a smile touches her lips.

The shadows around her remain still, as if unaware she was ever there at all.

The spider's laser eye catches the glow of the crystals. Pretty. Her hind legs rub silently with excitement.

Edu glances up at the praise from his master. How exhilarating this was! He was actually being recognized for his efforts, which brought a smile to his face.

_New job..?_ Edu wondered internally, before a crystal is sent floating to him. Edu reaches out to grab it before it splits into 4, a small gasp escaping Edu’s lips. “Yes, Lord Ganondorf.” The words slip from him out of habit, before he reaches again, attempting to grab one of the four crystals.

*Turning slightly so the Twili is more in sight, Ganondorf gives a slow cruel grin.*

"Set these up. Wherever, whenever. When you do, the only thing I want ... Is to make sure it hurts as many people as possible."

*He chuckles deep in his chest.*

"I'm sure you'll all enjoy the results when they've all gone off."

A low chuckle rattles in Edu’s chest as a massive grin stretches across his face. He quickly gathers the crystals, and bows once more to his master. “I'll get right to it!” He shouts, stumbling backward as he raises up from his kneel, however he manages to clean it up with a nice spin that would have looked really cool if he wore a cape. Unfortunately he did not. He hops back on the head of his guardian. “I'll get started on my work right away, m’Lord.”

Dark Irina just rolls her eyes and scratches the side of her neck idly, looking a bit bored now.

"That kind of excitement is admirable for such a daunting task. I almost died from mine and it wasn't even the crystal that was the most concerning..." Artifa remarked to herself while peering over the boulder.

"I'm sure he'll do fine."

*The Gerudo male shrugs lazily, acknowledging Artifa's words as he opens a portal to his next destination;*

"Either the job gets done or he dies."

*Ganondorf disappears into the magic, leaving the question if the bomb or the Evil King himself would be the cause of Edu's death.*