RAIDERS - PLOT VILLAIN

[twinrova]

Twinrova grinned as Merik called all his crew to shore, a good thirty strong sword arms joining them on the island.

"Oh, excellent! Wonderful job, Merik," she said happily, grinning darkly. She didn't bother with any of the others, aside from Merik. They weren't of any use to her, and they all seemed to have just enough of a spark that ... a certain one of her powers wouldn't quite work. She led them into the forested area of the island, up a long, tall hill. She suddenly felt a certainty as to the location of the Fountain; not that she expected to find it immediately, but she somehow felt that she knew it was in the direction they were going. "Follow me, everyone~" she called, continuing onwards and assuming they would follow behind her.

Oh, they were close, now ... she could feel it. And when they got there....

Hee hee hee!

Hoo hoo hoo!

---

For the record, italics = thoughts. Not dialogue. No one just heard the cackling

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik followed close behind pushing the occasional tangle of branches out of his way as they moved toward the Fountain. He tried to keep his hands free as much as possible in case he'd suddenly need weapons to fight off whatever creatures might inhabit this island.

"Now I know quite a few of the stories about my family and I've heard the main points on most of them that lived but I don't ever recall hearing about my twin great-grandmothers Koume and Kotake; care to explain that? Also how it is that you're still alive when the last time I checked all the survivors in the bloodline were under thirty? Where have you been hiding...I mean I know I saw you in that cavern near the Arbiter's Grounds ten years ago but I'm fairly certain you don't live there? And what are you hoping to do with the Fountain? I mean aside from the obvious turning back age thing because I'm sure there is more to it than just that." the King asked Twinrova as they continued along the path, sounding only a little like a pestering child that never shuts up. "OH and before I forget who were you talking about when you said 'he said it was around here'?"

(OOC: The witch isn't cackling, IT'S A TRAP!! XD )

[Jin Reno]

Jin wasn't a part of the crew, the woman who was still very interesting didn't seem to want anything to do with him. No one was bothering to talk with him. Yet he couldn't let this all go. No, not yet, something was off. Now that he wasn't in the child-like trance of wonderment and bewilderment, he felt something was not bad, just... off. He had lived long enough alone in the desert to trust his gut when it was screaming for him to be careful.

He just wished he knew what off. Staying back a little bit, not forcing himself to the lead of the group or trying to stay in the middle, Jin walked in the back, bringing up the end of the group of people following the magic lady with the dueled color crystal. If anyone took a look at him, they'd realize that he wasn't digging the situation once again, keeping aware of things around him. The lady had burnt and frozen things before, and if he relaxed, he could be on the receiving end of one of those rays. Hell, anyone could.

He simply followed behind the rest, making sure his shields where on tight, eyeing the witch and hoping things wouldn't go bad. And if it called for it, and the turtle snake thing was friendly, he'd be on his own in a battle that'd probably kill him if he wasn't careful, and even then, being careful and being suicidal where two different things.

[Rennal]

Rennal began following at Merik's side with his hand on his sword hilt, using his other hand to push things out of his way. He wouldn't be caught dead without his sword. He listened into the conversation, hoping to find something that Merik wouldn't.

Then again, he knew these witches were tricky. He'd been taught that magic was unneeded and anyone who used it usually had some ulterior motive. He'd never listened, of course, especially since more than half the inhabitants of Hyrule used magic. Not all of them were terrible. But something was off about these witches. Something was definitely wrong, especially since he was going down an area of his home he'd never seen before.

He was pretty sure he'd been everywhere.

[twinrova]

Twinrova led their little gang through the island, listening to the Gerudo King prattle on like some overworried schoolgirl. It was annoying, and slightly disappointing. In her new form, she was more than a little arrogant, and the bickering, nagging behaviour she had exhibited was gone. Now, she walked with smooth, sultry confidence, smirking at more or less everything that deigned to look at her, particularly the Gerudo King's men. She rolled her eyes at the king's questions, but finally did deign to speak.

"The same way we turned into one person, Merik, though you took that in stride well enough. Magic." She winked at him before continuing. "Those other questions, though, they don't have easy answers. And you're not getting them~ Not yet."

They got farther, until they came to a secluded grove, centered around a simple, quiescent pool. Twinrova walked over to the edge and trailed her hand through the water, before examining it. Of course, aging wouldn't affect her in this form: forwards or backwards. Just as well that Merik's men had come along, this time. She got back to her feet slowly and waved a hand.

"I'm going to need a volunteer! Who here would like to knock off a couple years~?"

More than a dozen men seemed eager, but one in particular, an old hardy seadog, walked forward, bowing low on one knee.

"Oi'd like to take a drink, milady, if it please you. Oi have a young daughter, and I'd like to live a little longer to see her raise a family of her own." Twinrova smiled and nodded, pointing a hand at the Fountain.

"Go ahead, good pirate. Maybe one day you'll have little grandchildren. Now you'll get to see them," she said, her smile warm. But her eyes were cold. The man, though, didn't even notice.

[Merik Dragmire]

One thing Merik was not used to was being blown off so casually ESPECIALLY by those in his family.

"You owe me more than a few answers when this is all over..." he growled, his anger slowly starting to rise.

Although his anger soon subsided in light of the group reaching the Fountain. He wasn't eager to see his men attempt the to use the Fountain but at the same time he knew that they wouldn't learn how to use it if no one did...

And so he watched the old man approach the Fountain, catching the cold look in Twinrova's eyes as he bent to drink.

[Jin Reno]

They had found it? Already? Jin didn't really like this situation right now. He had a feeling that the turtle and snake was not very happy with the things so far, but at the very least there was no more explosions around them. They woman was distracted with the search and hopefully that the one who introduced himself the Gerudo King knew what he was doing. Jin wanted to leave, he just had a feeling that he had gotten too deep into the entire situation. It was not a very good thing to feel for him.

The witch had offered up the chance for youth to the group, several pirates seemingly interesting but only one getting chosen. Why hadn't she gone for it first? What did she know that they didn't? "H-Hey... we shouldn't touch that spring... we really shouldn't." Jin said a little loudly, unsure if his warning would be heard over the chatter of the crew. He had read too many stories in which when a group found a treasure, danger was always close.

[Rennal]

Rennal stepped forward as the old man did, putting a hand on his shoulder just before he took a drink. "Are you sure you want to try this, mate?" He said in an unusually compassonate, warm tone. Usually he was cold as ice and jealous and arrogant. But something about the witch was off, and he did care for the pirates he sailed with and the people of his island. This was an area he'd never seen.

He listened as someone spoke at the back. He raised an arm and motioned hm forward, hoping to get an opinion from him. Then he turned back to the old man, gazing n him with pity. He leaned forward and lowered his voice enough for the old man to hear, but not mean for the witch to listen. "Mate, this is dangerous work. I'm certain if your daughter were here, she would caution you. Please think twice about this. This could be a trap, and if it is you'll probably never see your daughter again."

Then he sighed, deciding something. "Let me do this. I have nothing to live for, so it would matter little if I died. I would hate to have to deliever the news of your death to your daughter."

[Layla]

A volunteer? Yea right. That wasn't going to happen at all. "If finding the Fountain of Youth had been your plan, why don't you test it out?" Layla challenged. "After all, it was some sort of dumb luck that we stumbled upon your little show. Surely you had a plan to test it out before anyone showed up."

Layla stepped forward in attempt to keep Rennal from drinking. She wanted some questions answered first, without any fellow crew-members accidentally hurting themselves in the process. It seemed Merik was getting agitated as well, which made her feel more comforted that her initial assumptions about the witch not being overturned just because she was his family.

[twinrova]

Twinrova smiled.

It was the sort of smile that said, "Oh, children, you're going to die in a fire." When Rennal made his motion to protect the old seadog, Twinrova smirked, as the man pushed Rennal out of the way and advanced towards the fountain. Twinrova very calmly stepped between the man and the rest of the party, twirling one of her staves playfully. She looked at Layla dismissively, as though she'd smelled something rather unpleasant.

"And who are you so lofty, hm, to deign dictate this man's fate? Is he such a minor character that he needs his choices made for him, his motives questioned for him? It is fortunate that we have such kind souls as you, to lead the imbecillic to safety."

The other crewmembers seemed to get more violent, a few shouting encouragement for Twinrova's words. They did not understand them all, but she was beautiful, and powerful, and was speaking for them in a voice that reminded them of their mothers and their lovers. She smiled. It was not a kind smile.

The man bent down into the pool and took a drink. For a long moment, nothing happened, though he remained perfectly still. Then, the wrinkles on his face seemed to recede. His face grew younger, his hair lost its grey, and suddenly he was a healthy man in his prime. Twinrova walked up to him and laid her arms on his shoulders, smiling her cold smile. He smiled back at her, his eyes somewhat starry, and joined his other crewmembers, laughing and exclaiming. Twinrova turned back to Merik, Layla, Rennal, and Jin, and the look on her face was displeased.

"I tire of those who think they can intuit the truth. By what means? Your ingenious natural senses? Your superb vitality? I have lived longer than you four combined. The young. Always so arrogant, so foolish. How many times have you seen the moon? Meddlesome children. This Fountain offers no bounty for you. It does not offer immortality, only the reduction of age. And all you here are sufficiently young, are you not? Or is it simply that I have offended you? I, who was rampaging across an uninhabited island?" She spread her arms wide, and scoffed. "Oh, yes, I am the great villain here. Who lead a band of pirates, or else follow one. You are you to sit in judgement over one who has seen more than you can dream of?"

[Jin Reno]

So the magical water fountain really helped return the old man to a younger age. Cool! Jin moved a little closer, wanting to see this strange oasis that seemed to bring about a magical healing. However, the speech from Twinrova caused him to stop and look at her before making his way closer to the woman.

"I find it hard to trust those who see little care in the world around them to aimlessly destroy it. Yes your words were true, but we did give you the benefit of the doubt, following you out here and staying out weapons. You have proven to be an honest woman, and I apologize for not believing you, but you had set yourself up as a villain in my eyes." He had said.

He looked at the older man and gave him a smile before walking to the fountain and looking into it before he turned to face her. "Why do you need this fountain? You have youth as you are and greater strength it seems."

[Rennal]

Rennal stumbled out of the way of the old ma, stunned. He held out an arm to stop the old man, but suddenly felt rooted to the ground s he watched the old man. He watched his years reverse. Amazing...

Why was he never told about this? Suddenly a newfound rage was instilled in him for his mother. And then she started making a speech that could be duplicated by her. As she spoke, he got angrier and angrier. His fists clenched. He teeth gritted.

As the last sentence spilled out of her mouth, Rennal drew his sword, ignoring everyone else.

And he charged carelessly.

[Merik Dragmire]

The few mutiny's that might have occurred aboard the Defiant were usually stopped by T.R. before they had a chance to grow, but it was plain for anyone to see that there was a quickly growing mutiny right in front of them. And seeing Rennal charge forward he instantly reacted, summoning Frostbite and launching an Icebolt at the young man's legs to stop his charge. As soon as the elemental energy was fired he did the only thing he could think of to save as many lives as possible...he started to grovel.

"You must forgive my crew they think of each other as family and being pirate's have come to expect outsiders to betray us at the drop of a hat. My officer's were simply trying to protect a friend and brother as he was trying to protect them by being the one to test the Fountain." the King said rather quickly as he tried to keep a very volatile situation contained. "And my personal apologies for earlier grandmother, I did not mean to pester you... it's only that I was told it had been Grandfather's wish that his heir receive training in the magical arts and with mother's death I had never even performed any sort of magic until you granted me your gifts...if I had simply known who you were I would have requested your tutelage in the arcane arts..."

He trailed off knowing that the entire endeavor was balanced on the edge of a knife and praying to the Goddess that none of them fell.

[Layla]

She could have snorted. The words the elder woman spoke held little meaning to her. She didn't care what the old ***** had to say. It was clear to her that the whole lot of them were being used for something that they had very little idea about. That did not sit well with her.

Rennal seemed to have some sort of similar ideas as she. Once he charged, Layla drew her bow to support him. With Merik, Jin, and the other crew-members, they ought to stand a chance. The only problem was the crew-members were under the spell of the crone. She wouldn't be completely surprised if they turned. Seeing Merik attack Rennal, she began to think that he might turn as well. His groveling was pathetic and she didn't understand it. Merik was a proud man. This wasn't a role he should ever be playing.

[twinrova]

Twinrova looked at Jin when he spoke and laughed, an eerie laugh that sounded almost like two people were speaking. That probably didn't bode well.

"Why do we need the fountain? Well, in this form, we have youth," She admitted, her voice sounding like Koume's shrill cackle, "But not so much when we're apart!" She laughed again and spun in a circle, fire and ice swirling about her, and suddenly Koume and Kotake, warts, bug eyes and all, were back, riding on their brooms.

"Hoo hoo hoo! You're about to find out what we're up to!" Koume yelled, before she laughed at Rennal getting frozen to the ground. "Thank your Captain, kid! He just saved your life!"

"Train you? Maybe! But there's something we've gotta take care of first!"

And at that, the twins turned around and dove straight into the fountain. The men who were watching still seemed entranced, even though the sisters were far less attractive than before. There was a long, uneasy silence, before the sisters burst out of the fountain, Koume clutching a huge sword in her hands. Also, there was a rather pronounced change it the sisters.

Most notably, they weren't so much shrunken pigmy psycopaths any more as really hot psychopaths.

"Well, well, we're young again!" Koume said with a laugh, sounding vaguely like the old Koume except her voice wasn't infused with so much cartoonish shrieking. She trailed a hand along the Great Fairy Sword and laughed again.

"Now that we have what we've come for, I think you'll all agree there's no point in getting into a fight over it. Especially not with our own people!" Kotake said, her voice sounding more like a yougn woman's than an old bat's. It was an unusual contrast. As if on cue, both sisters smiled, and winked.

[Merik Dragmire]

"I certainly hope that you have something to reward the rest of us with for time and trouble grandmother..s. I hate to think that I'll have to execute a few good crewmen over lack of treasure while you both fly away with newly gained youth and magic sword in hand." Merik said calmly, considering how powerful the sword must be if the witches had disguised the nature of their quest as a search for the Fountain of Youth.

"It's just not good for business if we walk away empty-handed and there are quite a few here that need to be appeased..." he trailed off, hoping that the aspect of treasure might snap through the enchantment upon his crew if Koume and Kotake decided to leave them all high and dry.

[Rennal]

Rennal yelped as Merik's ice hit his legs, chasing him to topple to the ground, mere inches from the old witch's feet. He hissed and shook it off, leaping to his feet.

Then he stopped and looked at Merik, barely noticing the witch behind him as she split back into two and jumped into the fountain, emerging with a giant sword. After a few moments, he turned back around to face two young women, no longer old, these witches were.

Rennal didn't like that thought. Now that they were young, they obviously could have better control over their powers. Which meant stronger powers. He sheathed his sword, albiet hesitantly.

The winks didn't help either, and since he was closest, he decided he would be the first to ask about it, using Merik's pleading as a cover. "Yes, empty-handed wouldn't be a very good compromise. My apologies for charging you, it was... hostile." He gritted his teeth, trying his hardest to stay polite as to avoid confrontation, if only for Merik's sake. "If you will hand out treasure, mine will be answers. I don't believe you're truly Gerudo. Those winks speak for themselves. So who are you... two?"

[Jin Reno]

When the woman split into the hags, Jin wasn't too happy, but when they went into the water and emerged once more, he was surprised.

"Amazing! You two look like you could be 20!" Lets face it, Jin might have been strong and smart, but he was still surprised by amazing things. It happens when you're stuck in a desert for a while. He looked at the two women and just knew that they where probably even stronger then they where before at their older ages.

However, thats when a thought came to him and he looked at the two women. "Does this mean when you combine you'll become a little girl?" He asked, wondering how their combining power worked.

He heard the two before speak about some sort of treasure, and Jin clapped his hands once. "Ooooh! I want some sorta cool fire and ice thing!"

[twinrova]

The twin sisters looked at each other and laughed, while Koume playfully swung the Great Fairy's Sword around in her hand, looking at its edge. She turned to look away from the sword and down towards the pirates, and said,

"A reward? Hm, well enough. Here you are, gentlemen." She snapped her fingers, and suddenly, several rupees descended from the sky and slowly drifted into the hands of the four gathered there with them. She glanced at Rennal and Jin, but didn't respond. Kotake, however, was more accomodating.

"We are Gerudo, little girl. But magic ages strangely. And as for you," she said, turning towards Jin and winking, "I assure you, Twinrova is ever the same. Immutable."

However, all went silent as something fell from above ... something huge. Something that put even the turtle to shame.

It was a piece of the City in the Sky, breaking off from the whole and falling to the ground, towards the sea. Koume and Kotake only smirked, and then, from the great forest, a huge pillar of light shot to the sky. Suddenly, Koume laughed, swinging her sword around again.

"Well, it's started now!"

"Yep~! I wonder, when the King returns, what will the pirates do? Will it be a pirate's life for them...."

"Or Davy Jones' Locker?" Koume finished, before they both laughed and flew into the sky, spinning far and away out of view.

---

Rewards time!

All members get 55 rupees.

Merik gets 75 for convincing Koume and Kotake not to attack, effectively skipping the bossfight, and preventing Twinrova from nuking the players.

Congrats! Don't spend it all in one place.

[Merik Dragmire]

Merik growled as the witches flew off and then turned his attention back to his crew.

"ALRIGHT YOU DOGS! EVERYONE WHO'S TAKING A DRINK FROM THE FOUNTAIN DO SO NOW OTHERWISE BACK TO THE SHIP! It looks like there is a lot of trouble brewing back on the mainland and I'd rather be back with the Defiant if and when it hits here!" he roared, snapping the last vestiges of the enchantment as a few of them moved to take a drink. "And someone mark down the trail back so we can find our way back here when we need it again."

With that he turned and began marching back towards the galley, ready to be back on the sea.

[EXIT]