The call of the heroes

[Sapphire Flame]

Two creatures flew through the skies. One was a large creature the size of several horses, and was silvery. On top of it was a feathered creature, a blue falcon anthro. The feathered one's name was Serkane, and the beautiful creature he rode was Stormwing. A few farmers on the outskirts of town looked up to see them, and sighed. "Bloody dragon riders..." exclaimed one. "Haven't seen one in a while. Hope this one doesn't give us much trouble."

Serkane landed on the outskirts of town, and thought the secret word into his Stone of Calling. Back when he was a Thunderwing, he didn't use them, but now that he was part of society he figured he would have to abide by their rules. The dragon didn't have much choice in the matter. The Stone of Calling was surprisingly comfortable, but it couldn't hope to match the outside world. However, Serkane was his master, so it had to do as was told.

Serkane turned his head towards what looked like a tavern. The Red Dragon, huh? he thought to himself. I could use a drink. He walks inside. "Hey, bartender, get me a beer please. " he says. (OOC: Drinking age in Dragon Flame is... slightly younger. ) The bartender nods. Serkane looks around. The tasks the Society gives him were usually routine tasks, stuff like catching wild dragons or taking care of eggs, stuff like that. He wanted a real adventure, or at least something to stave off boredom. He wondered if today would be any different.

[Raro]

(Lols, it's 18 in Spring, so why not everywhere? lols.)

Cleoy, "Rose, do you really have to go to the bar? To get a drink? Can't you get one on the shippppp?" Cleoy asked, pulling at her sleeves. "No, I'm thirsty." "Can you drink water?" "No, I might drown."

Mathew, "Well that's Rose for ya. I'll catch you two later, me and Ashley'll be on the ship."

Rose, "See ya." "Nuuu! Mathew!" Cleoy cried out. Then gave up and walked into the bar with her. "It stinks in here..." She spoke, pinching her nose.

[Sapphire Flame]

Serkane turned to the girl who had just walked in. "Hey, you look new around here. What brings you to Mordinia city? " he asks. He takes a sip of his beer. "My name's Serkane. I'm a dragon rider for the Society. So, how are you- " there is a loud noise outside. "What is that?" he asks aloud. He flies outside to see a horde of soldiers harassing the populace.

"What the?!? All right, who's there?" he squints to see a man conducting the assault. He was a man dressed in black holding two chain-like weapons. He had a smile on his face, as if he was getting some sick pleasure from it. "Attention Mordinia citizens! Lord Drakorn of Vernis has issued a declaration of war on all of Mordinia! You all are now enemies of the empire! I, Sigmund Young, shall crush this kingdom beneath my feet!" Serkane walks over. "But Vernis has been an ally of Mordinia! Why are you attacking us so suddenly!" The man turns to him.

"Hello, anthro. That Stone of Calling around your neck... you must be a dragon rider! Well, we have more in common than you'd think, then. " He thinks the secret word and a black mammoth dragon comes from it. "Paranoia, we have a challenger. I'll tear his flesh from his bones, and you flay his pet alive. "

[Raro]

Cleoy backs off, "I wants a dragon toos..." She whispered to herself. "I'll just have to fin one won't I? Usually armies carry extra reinforcements in case something happens to one of them... I suppose I can find one." She begins to crawl around the front lines of the army... hoping they didn't notice her. Rose, "Cleoy! Get back here!" She pumped her fist... "Darn it! Lost her!"

Cleoy, "Here dragondragondragon..." She stood up... she was now in their back lines. "And they don't even notice I'm here! Perfect!" She made her way to a cart in the back. In it were in fact... three dragon eggs. "Hrmm... I'll just take one.. and be on my way-" "Hold it!" She turned around. Augh! Caught! "What do you think you're doing with that egg? Are you even a soldier? Why are you here?" "Uhh.... I'm looking for breakfast?" She grinned. "Nu uh." The soldier walked up to her and held her by the neck... not enough to choke her, but enough to restrict her movement. "What was that for!?" She shouted, trying to break free from his hold but to no avail.

[Sapphire Flame]

Serkane looked back at the girl being held by the soldier. "Um, why are you restraining that girl?" he asked. Several dragon rider reinforcements were on their way, but he wasn't sure how well Sigmund would be held back. Sigmund was on his way as he spoke. Suddenly, Sigmund turned and attacked a dragon rider with a chain-like weapon. The dragon rider was knocked off the dragon's back, and he appeared to be in incredible pain. Sigmund finished off the rider, leaving the dragon free. The soldier turned to Serkane. "This girl was trying to make off with a dragon e- AUGH!"

A dagger was sticking through his chest, connected to a chain held by Sigmund. "What an annoying soldier. So, anthro, are you going to quit hanging out with girls and fight me?" "Gladly!" shouted Serkane, taking out his sword. "Listen, whatever your name is! Get to safety immediately!" The riderless dragon was running around. Without a rider it wasn't sure what do do.

Sigmund sent out his chain, which was blocked by Serkane. "Are you ready to suffer?!?" asked the man. "Unless you can fight, I suggest you run, now!" said Serkane. The man used a spell to electrify his chains. "I am Sigmund Young, mad rider of the Vernis empire! You, and the kingdom that you defend, shall be destroyed!"

[Tetroneaque]

A few blocks away another dragon was watching the battle unfold, perched on top of a tall clock tower. The sun glinting off his radiant scales as his keen eyes followed the flow of battle as best he could. He let out a sudden roar of delight.

With another roar he hopped off his perch and down a level or so until he was just above the massive clock face of the tower. Phantos yelled into the tower. Inside a rather cranky fox anthro rolled over in his bed and let out a moan.

"I was up all night you know... let me rest a bit longer Phantos." Tetroneaque moaned, simply wanting to sleep.

Phantos continued to roar at the anthro until Tetroneaque finally sat up in bed, giving an annoyed glare at his dragon. The little fox anthro tossed on his robe, boots, gloves, and mask before coming over to the window to see what had Phantos in such a mood. He spotted a rather big commotion across town a ways, intrigued he decided to ride Phantos over there and check it out himself. He hopped out of the tower, causing Phantos to have to swoop down and catch him. As they neared the area it looked like the city was being invaded.

"What the blazes is going on here?" Tetroneaque wondered aloud, Phantos merely roared again.

"Yeah, looks like trouble. No reason we can't have some fun with it though right? Ok, here's the plan. You go in and have some fun with those odd soldiers. Keep them distracted while I see if they have anything worth taking. Understand?" Tetroneaque had to yell his plan to be heard over the rushing wind. Phantos merely roared his approval and flew in for a closer look. As the dragon neared the area he swooped down low near a taller building, allowing Tetroneaque to jump off and land with a roll.

Tetroneaque waved at Phantos and then made his way down the building, already behind the invaders' front lines. Hopefully they'd be too distracted to notice him. As if reading his mind Phantos let loose a blinding blast of energy from his mouth, blowing a cart of supplies to dust. Tetroneaque chuckled to himself and made his way down the rest of the way, hiding in a shadow as he tried to learn more about what was going on.

[Sapphire Flame]

Serkane was taken by surprise when he saw another dragon swoop down and destroy the supply cart. This gave Sigmund the chance to attack, and sent out chain after chain at Serkane. He tries to block. "Just how many things do you have, anyway?!?" shouted Serkane. "Enough..." replied the man. "My name is Sigmund Young. You will die at my hands!" "You've only seen a fraction of my power, monster!" replies Serkane. He raises his hand, and his dragon gets the cue to shoot a sonic boom. He uses a push at that same instant, and pushes both rider and dragon away.

"How's that?" says Serkane. "I also have only been using a fraction of my power. My name is Sigmund Young. You will die at my hands!" "Stop saying that!" "I don't have to listen to your pleas, weakling!" Sigmund started shocking Serkane's mind. Serkane clutches his head and screams in pain. "You see, my specialty is in messing with my foes' heads. If my opponent leaves the battlefield with their sanity intact, I'm not doing my job properly. Take this!" Sigmund leaps off his dragon, and as if to say "Screw you, gravity!" he lands behind Serkane and sends out both electrified chains. Paranoia, his dragon, charges. "Only a miracle can save you now... Mordinia City shall burn to the ground!" says Sigmund, laughing.

[Raro]

"No, I'm not leaving you here alone! I can help!" Cleoy quickly stuffed the egg away and leapt after the chain. "Girl! What are you doing!?" "Heh heh..." She laughed as she grabbed hold of it, the chain's electrical energy being siphoned out of it and into her own body. "Shock!" And sent right back at him full force, knocking him to the ground paralyzed. "I helped, didn't I?" The dragon was the only attacker left, "ROOOOAAAAARRRR!" It bellowed, charging after the two of them.

[Tetroneaque]

Phantos was more than happy to take on another dragon. Seeing the hostile dragon, Phantos let loose with his energy breath. Since the dragon was below and simply not expecting the attack, the beam sliced through the dragon's wings. For all intents and purposes the enemy was now grounded. Phantos then went on his merry way raining destruction on the enemy.

Meanwhile, Tetroneaque was flitting from tent to tent and cart to cart.

"I was so correct! These guys have a lot of nice stuff!" He was practically chortling with glee as he stuffed his pockets with loot. Jewels, gold, it all found a nice new home. In fact, since there was so much confusion now, the fox anthro actually picked up a rather large burlap sack and started to carry more loot in that like some stereotypical burglar.

"Hey you in the mask! What are you doing!?!"

Not waiting around to see who was yelling at him Tetroneaque decided to use his shadow step. He simply entered a nearby shadow and vanished.

Tetroneaque looked around as he chose a new shadow to appear from, one with no one nearby.

"Oh how I love doing that." Tetroneaque laughed to himself as he continued his looting spree. As he rounded a corner he spotted a girl making off with a dragon egg. While dragon eggs sold for quite a bit, he simply didn't have the strength necessary to make off with enough. He'd stick with the valuable gems and metals he'd taken already. It seemed he'd walked right into the middle of the battle now, and there he was standing around with a sack full of stolen goods to slow him down. Luckily it didn't seem anyone was taking much notice of him yet.

[Sapphire Flame]

Sigmund slowly stumbled to his feet. "Ow... that really hurt..." He sees a red dragon in the sky. The rider slowly descends near him. "Well, I hope you learned your lesson, Sigmund. " says the rider, a young man with red hair. Sigmund opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. "Your orders were to strike fear into the populace, not to launch a full-scale attack. Now, call your dragon and you can get on mine. The council wants a word with you. " "We're equals, you fool! You can't order me around. " "Sigmund, you were chosen to be one of the 9 because of your fighting abilities. However, it looks like even that failed you by the looks of things. Besides, my orders come directly from lord Drakorn. "Sigmund grimaced, and the rider helped him up. Paranoia went back in Sigmund's Stone.

"What about the rest of my army?" A group of Mordinia soldiers arrived. "Order a retreat. We don't want to lose any more men. " "...Fine. Retreat, everyone..." The soldiers did as they were told. The dragon flew into the sky. Serkane considered pursuing them, but Stormwing was looking rather weak. Serkane looked around. He could have sworn he saw a guy in a mask going back and forth between carts. He looks at Cleoy. "That was a nice trick you did. So, are you interested in dragons, by any chance? The dragon rider guilds usually don't accept people that haven't been training for it since childhood, but they may make an exception for someone skilled enough. Maybe you have what it takes... "

[Raro]

"Dragon... rider... guild?" She spoke in broken words as she watched the army leave the area. "Sure... why not, I've got nothign else to do on this boring vacation anyways. Which is BOUND to go disastrous..."

"I managed to grab an egg... I think it's a dragon, is it?" She held it up so Serkane could get a better look. "If it is, I want it... gonna name is, Spectralis!"

[Tetroneaque]

Tetroneaque was quick to hide when the opportunity presented itself, and the sudden withdraw of the hostile forces provided an excellent opportunity indeed. He merely used his shadow step once more to get out of the way. It seemed Phantos was content with having rained some destruction down on the invaders too as he circled around once, let off a roar, and then flew back toward the clock tower.

Tetroneaque watched his dragon go home and smiled.

"Good idea partner." Tetroneaque said to himself with a chuckle as he made his way back toward the clock tower, using the roof tops to avoid too much notice. After all, a masked man with a huge sack of loot might look a bit suspicious if he simply went walking down the street.

[Sapphire Flame]

Serkane took a good look at the egg. "Looks like a thunder dragon egg. Those are always pretty good. These eggs usually grow up in a couple of years, but there might be ways of speeding up the process. I'll see if I can't get you into a guild, the guilds frown upon freelancers. " he looks up into the sky and sees Phantos raining down terror on the invaders. He ought to have been rather concerned, but he considered the fact that it was only attacking the retreating invaders a good sign. Bit weird for a wild dragon to be this close to civilization. It probably has a rider somewhere, but I wonder where?

Serkane looks around and sees the faint image of a person on the rooftops. Now, what could that be? I doubt law-abiding citizens have much of a reason to be on the rooftops. Lucky my eyes are sharper than most humans', or I probably wouldn't have seen him. He flies up into the air to get a better look. "Excuse me for a moment..." he says to Cleoy. From the air, he had a closer look. Now, why would he be carrying so much stuff? Probably a thief, but I have to be sure. He flies as stealthily as possible towards the fox. Since he was relatively unencumbered, he caught up fairly quickly.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" he asks Tetroneaque. Serkane knew that only the sliest of thieves would be caught off guard by the question. If the man had to stop and think, he was probably a crook. Not that there was much doubt of that in Serkane's mind, but he had to be sure.

(OOC: Wasn't sure how else to tie in the two plots, lol. )

[Tetroneaque]

( OOC: Heh heh, glad you decided to talk to my character. )


"Oh hello there, I was just on my way back home. Had a bit of grocery shopping to do and I didn't want to be harassed by those angry looking soldiers that came into town. Figured if I traveled up here they wouldn't bother me." He said, not even missing a beat. He cast a look toward the retreating soldiers.

"Looks like they're packing up though. Not a minute too soon. I guess I won't need to travel up here then." He added with a little chuckle.

Crap crap crap! Why couldn't this guy just ignore me. After all I didn't take anything of his... unless he's with those soldiers. Doubt that though. Jeez, nosy bird. He thought to himself glad his mask hid his face.

[Raro]

Cleoy nodded. Before turning around and ducking into a bush... After waiting a few seconds, her attention ran loose and she decided to follow Serkane as well... unnoticed. She crept along the backside of the buildings beside the roof. Until she arrived at the target house.

How to get up there though...? She wondered, glancing around until her eyes met on a ladder from the nearby house. Aha!

She quickly ran to it, and pulled it over, quietly creeping up the side of the building until she was on the other side of the roof from this masked character. Heheheh! now to scare him? She grinned and repressed a laugh. Creeping up towards his bag's side as to mask the sound with the faint jingling of coins and other things.

"BOOehheheh!" She shouted, leaping onto the bag in one fell movement.