Hunting The Stymphalian Bird

[Sage Tidus]

Sage yawned relaxing as he seated himself upon the Café's outdoor tables, the male was the only male eating outdoors in the early afternoon. His left arm draped across the back of his chair, as his right hand held a rather small cup of hot chocolate within his grasp. The male loved anything within the sweets family, even if it was such a mundane drink as hot chocolate. Hues opened to look about the small city he now resided in. Cobbled streets paved the entire city, a train station was just on the western end of town.

A bronze monument to the city's founder was just at the center of the city, most of the buildings being simply renovated victorian style buildings. Sage had mapped the city out the past two days he had been here, a small black leather bound book rested before him. Different papers and cards sticking out the top of the small yet rather useful book, a black fedora with crimson ribbon wrapped about it rested atop the book. Black form fitting jeans hid the male's lower half, his right leg lifted resting upon the left. Hues shut once more as the male took another sip of his hot chocolate, the sweet yet delicate scent rising up to the males nostrils. As the warm liquid raced passed his lips and down his throat, leaving a rather welcomed aftertaste.

Hues flickered to the newspaper before him, an old one simply registered by the date of the paper. It had only been two weeks ago, Sage had read the paper a plane had crashed yet for all the scans and checks that could be done on the remnants of the plane. No faulty parts could be found, the sky had been perfect yet the plane had crashed. Although the aircraft seemed more like it had been torn to pieces by some larger winged creature. This phenomenon had peeked the males interest and now here he was, six hours away from Paris.

A hand rose to brush through his lengthening dark spikes, the male had remembered a bird deadly and legendary. The Stymphalian Bird, a creature that few had glimpsed and even fewer had slain. Smirking the male thought of the days he had mentioned the hunt he wished to commence within places Supernatural creatures resided. Here he was, kill ing time until night had fallen and he would wait for whomever his companions might be. As the male finished his cup of hot chocolate, Sage stood allowing his hand to withdraw a few bills from his pockets. Dropping them upon the table, his right hand snatched the fedora up placing it back atop his head. Hands snatched up the journal and turned, his form hopping over the small gate of the Café's outdoor arrangement with ease. His black dress shoes meeting the floor with a sharp 'Clack' before he moved off down the street.

-----------------------------------------Hours later-----------------------------------------

Sage yawned as he stood soft greys trained on the street before him, his back to the large statue of the cities founder. The fedora rested upon his head a bit low, dark shadows cast about his features. A black leather trench coat hung from the males shoulders, as the night had settled in. The chilly night breeze causing the coat to sway about the males form, as he smirked slightly."Midnight infront of the statue.." these had been his instructions and here he would wait for his companions to arrive. A soft fog had settled in throughout the night, the moon hidden by the dark clouds soft rays shining through everyone and a while to illuminate the darkened place. Illuminating the males upper torso, a white button down could be seen beneath a black dress vest. A crimson slim tie running down from the males neck to disappear behind the vest, his trench blades resting within their sheathed upon the back of his hips. His trench coat hiding the weapons, as it swayed about him his left hand gripped the small book against his ribs as he simply waited.

The male Ungrith'tar had heard of the mighty Stymphalian bird many times over in his hunts before. Mentioned here and there, an attempted to be described occasional. All sounded mostly like hogwash to him, so he had decided a while ago to make it his goal to hunt them. Alas, he knew he would never be able to accomplish this himself. So he had waited patiently for others, and now the time had come. Some male had been spreading word that he wished to create a group to hunt this monster. Ba'alzamon was more then happy to respond to the message. He noted the time and location, and made his way towards the place designated. Being a fully grown Ungrith'tar, he decided ti would be better to get there at night time, as then less people would be likely to spot him and call any authorities. He always hated dealing with those.

The eight foot eleven inch tall Ungrith'tar slowly walked towards the statue in the center of the town as the breeze moved his two inch silky black fur. His enormous head swung side to side, his three and half foot gleaming white horns with their stark black upon the last six inches moved with his head. He was dressed in a leather cuirass style chest plate, a leather belt around his waist and a leather skirt like to make himself slightly decent. It was almost roman like actually, but not. His two hand axes hung upon either side of him on his hips, and his enormous two handed battle axe was strapped upon his back. A half helm made of metal rested upon his head, a six inch horn raising up off it between his own true horns.

His hooves clacked against the stone beneath his feet as he walked towards the statue with the long figure standing there. He made no attempt at stealth, for one such as himself couldn't possibly hope to achieve that. He walked right up to the man, for that was he was, and spoke in a deep, rumbling voice that eminated from his chest. "Sage Tidus, I presume. The one spreading word that he wished to hunt the Stymphalian bird? Ba'alzamon at your service. How many other's do you think will be coming?"

[Nevarre Llewellyn]

Captain Nevarre Llewellyn was being called upon once again. This time, it was by the British government to defeat something that had been destroying aircraft routinely in the area. They had not all been British airplanes, but by now the Britian's didn't realy care. They wanted whatever was taking down the planes removed, in a permanent fashion. So they had called their expert, their ace in the hole to get ride of whatever it was, Captain Nevarre. He groaned, stretching his muscles and shrugging. Dressed in his black flak vest, with two extra clips of ammunition for his G36C assault rifle which was slung over his shoulder. He also carried his quarterstaff wapon upon his back, the first time he had ever carried both weapons. His combat knife was strapped upon the left side of his chest. His legs where coated with black military style pants, and his feet protected by black combat boots.

He was sitting on top of a building in the distance. In his attempts to find out more about what he was looking to destroy, he had been listening to the locals, and apparently one of them was wishing to hunt this...thing as well. Well, if there where going to be more that wanted this thing dead, it would only make his job that much easier. However, he didn't trust that many people. So here he was, perched slightly precariously with a pair of night vision binoculars raised to his eyes. He had already seen the single man waiting at the statue, and now an enormous creature straight out of mythology approached the man. It couldn't be anything more then a minotaur, but it had four horns instead of two. Nevarre wondered if all minotaurs had that and the lore had been mangled that bad. Not that it had really mattered. Suddenly the great beast spoke to the other man, but Nevarre was to far away to hear anything but the deep bass tones. He wondered if he should move closer, or continue to hang back where he was. He decided to simply wait and see who else would appear.

[Sage Tidus]

Sage had allowed his hues to shut, allowing his form to simply relax yet go into one of the deep trances that allowed the male to be alert yet in a state of tranquility. His subconscious registered the distant sounding 'clopping' yet slowly it began to grow louder..someone was approaching. Hues snapped open as his trance was once more pushed back away, and he had been correct someone was here. A large creature towering over the smaller lean form that was Sage. Smirking the male nodded his head,"Aye, Mate. My name is Sage Tidus, pleasure to meet you Ba'alzamon."

Sage gave the large male a smile and held out his right hand, he was a bit pleased with himself. The male had chosen night time for the possibility of this very reason, mortals seeing this male would have run in fear and most likely called the pigs. As Sage looked looked the male over, he was a rather imposing male. The helmet and axe's strewn about the large creatures form alerted the male to his most likely battle prowess. "I expect the possibility of one more too two more people." Sage allowed his gave to slowly flicker about looking at the windows and thanking god for the fog, knowing even though it was a light fog it would possibly help hide the large creature before him.

Adikartika walked in to the town slowly. His sword was upon his back, and his pistol in his holster upon his left side. He smiled, looking around the small quaint town and shook his head. It was really a lovely place. Evanesca had thought so as well, but due to her size and the over all reaction to most at the sight of a dragon she had decided although hesitantly to remain outside of the town as Adikartika entered allowed to make contact. He had heard the sound of hooves repeatedly as he walked, wondering who could possibly be walking or riding a horse at this time of night. However it wasn't it concern. What was his concern way finding his way through the town to the center and the statue he had seen from above. It all looked so much different from this angle.

Finally the street opened up and he spotted the statue. Two beings where there already, an enormous minotaur with four deadly looking horns that gleamed in the soft moonlight and a rather small male standing before the being speaking to it. He walked right up, though his left hand casually hovered over his pistol just in case. He was after all weaker them most supernatural beings. Something Evanesca was CONSTANTLY pointing out to him. He had always rolled his eyes at those comments, but know that she was no longer beside him he felt particularly vulnerable, and was questioning the wisdom of his choice of having her wait outside the town. A simple look at the minotaur was enough to remind him how weak he was compared to such a beast. A single well placed blow could easily kill him. He licked his lips nervously, before speaking. "Um...hello there. Am I interrupting something?"

Adikartika had heard of the man wanting to meet people here, but he had heard of the Stymphalian bird before that. Evanesca had told him about it. Something that could slay younger and inexperienced dragons with ease, and was suddenly become active in these parts. Well, this was close to France, a place that Adi and Eva tended to frequent because of friends that lived there. So they had decided to investigate the threat and see what they could do about this. It wouldn't do good to have the beast suddenly attack them while flying past. Adi had long ago decided life with out Evanesca would be worthless, and so he decided to take the initiative and come here to see what this man and the people who meet him would know about this monster.

[Queren Arden]

Queren sighed to herself, quite bored indeed. At the moment, if one came across her, they would see a fairly odd sight. A woman, her hair a bright turquoise that stuck out even in the night, once one’s eyes adjusted to the darkness. She sat, knees tucked into her chest. Oh, and she was leaning against a dragon. She supposed that would be the most noticeable thing, considering the dragon was quite a large creature. And, following the classical medieval myths, this dragon was one that could breathe fire, toasting any witness into a crisp, turning it into a delicious snack for the large sentient beast.

This dragon was known as Evanesca, and despite the fact that Queren was leaning against her, Queren was not the dragon’s owner. Merely a friend, who had been tagging along for the mere purposes of sating her boredom. She was no human, given a dragon egg. No, instead she was merely a Fae, tagging along and trying to escape the rush of her previous life. She wondered what people thought had happened to her. Rehab? Murder? Pregnancy and an elopement? She supposed the latter would be closest to the truth. Although she certainly wasn’t pregnant, and sure as hell was not eloping. Simply run off.

It was getting late, and she wondered where the true Rider of the dragon, her friend Adikartika, was currently. She could easily imagine the man, wandering through twisted streets, completely lost. She could see a group of men mugging him, due to the lateness of the night. And then what? Then she would be stuck with a grieving dragon, with no idea what to do next. She certainly wished for no such thing. She stood, blowing stray strands of turquoise from her hair. She looked over to the dragon, who was probably worried. Eva sometimes worried worse than a mother would.

“I think I should go look for him. He has probably gotten himself in trouble,” She informed the dragon, her eyes turning to the town. It wasn’t a lie, merely an assumption. She couldn’t have lied even if she wished to do so. She often felt like she was stuck in ‘The Invention of Lying’, before the invention part came in.

[Sage Tidus]

Hues flickered to the sound of footsteps,"Someone approaches, seems our company grows." the male muttered to Ba'alzamon, allowed his left hand to slide small leather bound book into the waist of the left side of his jeans, the top of the book sticking out. Hues flickered out towards the approaching male, he was not very confidant, a bit jumpy at the look of his hand hovering above the gun. The male was not used to being alone, and the male seemed a bit nervous. Sage simply chuckled, "Hello there my friend and no, you arn't. Me and my friend Ba'alzamon." hues flickered, as he gestured towards the large hoofed warrior towards his right.

"You heard about the Hunt?" a brow rose, as he looked to the male yet there it was that feeling..one most people got. They were being watched,"Ba'alzamon, do me a favor I hope you're eye sight is good. I think someone is watching us, scan the area yet be discreet. If we are being watched, I wished to know by whom,how many and why?" the male smiled as he looked towards the nervous male,"Sage Tidus, is my name,mate." his right hand held out, toward the male. Although he was smiling, everyone and a while the male would allow his hues to flicker about this feeling was not going away and it was annoying the male.

Ba'alzamon turned as footsteps approached, looking at the male before them. He was small, but then everybody was small compared to himself. He looked the new male up and down slowly. He didn't look like much, but he carried a sword and gun that his hand hovered over. A cautious one then, is what this male was. Ba'alzamon could associate with that. It was almost always to be prudent when approaching others you did not know personally. However this male seem to be exceptionally nervous and jumpy. Perhaps he was not use to being alone? If that was the cause, whoever is friend was hand to be somebody very powerful indeed to make somebody that relaxed to be this nervous alone.

He listened as Sage asked him if he had good eye sight. Unfortunately, he didn't have the best eye sight of the world. Decent for an Ungrith'tar, but his race was notorious for their poor eyesight as well as their tempers. He looked slowly around the area, attempting to see anybody. However, aside from themselves, he couldn't make anybody out and frowned slightly. He looked back down at the male, shaking his head. "I don't see anybody. That doesn't mean they are not there, but what does it matter? If they meant us harm, surly they would have attacked by now. However, if they do that it would be an extremely foolish thing to attempt." He reached behind himself, grabbing his two handed war axe and heft it upon his shoulder grinning at the two males.

[Nevarre Llewellyn]

Nevarre was listening carefully, or trying his best to listen to from this far away. He was only catching random words and phrases. So far, he had heard the words 'stymphalian bird', 'hello' from the third male, and a compel random words from the original male that all together let Nevarre know that his presence had been sensed. he frowned, wondering if the any of those below had a way to see him. He didn't want to take any chances. Much better to play it safe then get killed for some stupid reason. He decided to go all out, well not completely all out. It was always good to reserve some just in case. He thought about it quickly, scanning his options and nodded. He knew exactly what to do now.

Reaching deep inside himself, Nevarre tapped his internal power. The burning star inside of his body, that powered his body and filled his veins with plasma instead of blood. He quickly bent the light around him, molding and casting it in to a new form as he created an illusion. A gargoyle slowly appeared where he was standing, looking as if it was old and weathered from hundreds of years in the weather. As he weaved the illusion exactly where he was standing, he also bent the light around himself, making himself invisible. This way, if anybody had seen his shadow, they would think it had been this gargoyle the entire time.

Being invisible, he stood up and got a running start and leap from this roof on to the next roof near by. He quickly slide behind a chimney and stopped. He dropped his invisibility and peered out from behind the chimney. He smirked and watched the group below him again with interest. It was going to be a hard time following them if they are always so perceptive. He made sure to keep the illusion of the gargoyle where he had placed it, clearly in visible range.

The man looked between the other 'man' and the minotaur, confused. They where talking about being watched as if they had some sort of sixth sense or something. Perhaps they had that skill, perhaps not. He knew some beings had it and some didn't. These beings must have it to know some body was spying upon them. He glanced around himself, but saw nothing but a gargoyle on top the building across the street. He squinted at it, tilting his head. Perhaps there was somebody behind that? He doubted it, as the object didn't afford much cover. He turned away back to the group.

He shook the hand proffered to him by the other male with a firm shake, then released and looked at the minotaur as he spoke about if somebody was there they would have harmed them already if they had those intentions before drawing his axe and tossing it upon his shoulder like nothing. Adi blinked, not feeling much safer with the giant being wielding that giant weapon like it was nothing more then a dry stick in his hands.
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Evanesca sat with Queren, curled up with her own powerful tail wrapped around herself to make herself slightly less visible. Though she wasn't extremely happy about this set up. Oh, Queren was an amazing fae, the only other being she actually cared about outside of her friend and companion Adikartika. The reason being that Queren and Evanesca where extraordinarily alike. They both where exceptionally beautiful beings and knew it. Though Evanesca was vastly more powerful, that was simply because of the fact that she was a dragon. Dragons where the most powerful beings upon the planet, and no being except a god or goddess could hope to stand against them.

However, when Queren spoke about going to look for him, the dragoness concurred and so lifted her large (though for a dragon she was a little smaller then usual) body from the ground and nudged Queren with her nose and lowered her head slightly for the female to mount her neck. Queren was the ONLY being ever to be allowed to ride Evanesca besides Adikartika. Any other who even asked such a request would become a crispy little morsel for her. No queen would ever submit to being treated as a common pack animal suck as a horse or mule after all. What kind of infidel would even ask such a thing?

[Queren Arden]

As Queren stood to go searching for Adikartika, she felt a small nudge in her back. Actually, to be more specific, to Queren it was like being shoved over by a kid that was running to go get to the passing ice cream van. But to Evanesca it was a mere nudge. Queren stumbled a bit, nearly tripping to fall flat on her (lovely, in her opinion) face. But she managed to regain her footing, before turning to survey the dragon with the odd eyes characteristic with her kind.

She noticed the lowered head, and realized what it meant. She nodded her head in reply, knowing how much it grudge the vain dragon was to allow people to ride her, so Queren had to admit she felt slightly privileged. At least the dragon no longer snapped at the idea of her even boarding as a passenger, even allowing her as the rider itself. Well, as much as a rider that a non-dragon owner could be to the creature. Slightly confusing to think about really, so she pushed it from her mind.

Queren carefully clambered up, sitting at the crook between the neck and the body. She held on to whatever her hands could grab, awaiting the popping of ears and the sudden pressure pushing down on her as Eva beat her wings to take to the sky. Although a dragon was not exactly stealthy, it would be much quicker to find the possibly-lost man by air. Plus, if something was in fact wrong, Eva was their best shot at getting rid of any dangerous things. (Probably through a brutal burning)

[Sage Tidus]

A brow arched as he looked to the large dual axe weilding creature, he liked the battle ready additude and was rather glad to be working with the male beside him. Hues flickered about to settle on the gargoyle, his form shrugging."Alright, well we must meet in Paris. I have a..." the male thought about what to call the beautiful French women who had made Paris a favorite for the male."Friend." a tender smile crossing his features as he chuckled a moment.

A train whistle could be heard in the background,"Well gentlemen we are off to Paris, be there arriving at midnight and enjoying it some before the trip begins." the male whistled as he looked to Ba'alzamon and smirked."Come along my friends, we have a train to catch." His form moving, as he pushed along one of the winding paths of the back alleys of the city. Hues scanned this way and that, hues flickered up to Ba'alzamon."How do you feel about dark spaces and trains?" a brow arched, arms folding over his chest as he stared up at the creature that towered above him.

Then Ungrith'tar moved with the after the small male, listening to his words. Paris was one place the mighty Ungrith'tar had not been, and it had always sounded so intriguing. However, a Ungrith'tar there would stand out like s a sore thumb. He wondered what the male would had planned for that hurdle that needed to be leap over. However, when the male stopped and asked him how he would respond and felt about trains and dark spaces, he narrowed his eyes. "A train, I suppose I would have no problem with. A dark, tight space however. I do not think that would be an exceptionally good idea. I have far to memories of places such as that, none of which are pleasant. I doubt highly any of you would wish to be with me in one for a long time. It would be unhealthy to your life expectancy rate."

The Ungrith'tar waited to see what the male would say to that, wondering what his next idea would be for this one would obviously not work for them all. Besides, two men such as these and himself would raise far to much attention upon a train. There would have to be another way to get to Paris, if the male really was intent upon going there.

[Sage Tidus]

Sage listened to his rather large companion, his form frozen as he nodded his head."Completely understandable." his grey orbs quickly scanned the area. His eyelids descending to shield the world from his gaze and cast him into darkness. His mind quickly working, he had been attempting to catch a cargo train passing through town. Although, he had already thought the might creature would not be comfortable on such a space due to his stature. Sage turned, his eyes stilled closed as he moved his footing sure and without fault. As he continued moving down the alley,"Alright, then.." his mind was at war with ideas. Although, he could still not settle upon something that would accommodate all of the men.

He knew a six hour distance from their current location to Paris would be a bit of stretch in the ride department. As they walked, Sage sighed and simply shook his head before stopping. A loud horn pierced the rather silent night, his ears ringing with the sound. Sage knew the ins and outs of the small city, and knew very well that there was an highway near by. His mind quickly settling upon the type of truck it must have been at a least an eighteen wheeler. Sage grinned as he turned to Ba'alzamon as he knew the cargo area of the trucks were at least fifteen feet high and a good six to ten feet wide. "How about in the bed of a truck?" the male knew their moment of opportunity was slowly vanishing. As he turned, and began to race through the back alleys."Keep up,Gents!" he roared. Sage had always been quick, his lean for quickly darting through the alleys as he erupted from behind a building not far from the edge of the city. The small city rested upon a hill, so looking out over the small road that lead out of the city. Sage could see the highway not more then a few hundred yards away. The truck quickly approaching, as it raced down the rather empty road. Sage turned and looked back,"You have to make a decision fast, my friend." he could easily bribe the driver to take them to where they needed to go and if need be rough him up a bit. He knew they could not afford to have police or any sort of law workers knowing of their movements.

Evanesca tensed her legs, then shot in to the air, carrying Queren upon her back as she flew low along the ground like jet plane. Wind shrieked past them as she hurtled along, hunting for her friend and rider. She knew he was in trouble, or about to do something absolutely retarded. She flew hard and fast over the town, swerving and turning to cover the whole town. Eventually she spotted three figures below herself and Queren, and swept lower, slowing considerably to get a better view. A male, what appeared to be bullman, and Adikartika. The male and bullman lead the threesome, and Adikartika was bringing up the rear. All three where moving rapidly towards a large truck moving along a long, slightly winding road. What where those foolish beings thinking? Did they seriously plan upon leaping on to a moving vehicle, in the dead of the night? They where going to get killed!! Typical Adikartika to do something so reckless and foolish while away from her. Well she had to put a stop to this insanity now and quickly. She glanced about, then decided upon a rather direct course of action.

Evanesca pelted straight towards the ground, wrapping her wings about her body and plummeting like a peregrine falcon would upon it's prey. At the last second, the large dragoness flared her wings open, catching the air and abruptly stopping though the enormous pressure pulled at her joints connecting her wings with her shoulders vicously. She slammed in to the center of the road about two hundred feet before the truck. She hunkered like a vicious scaled hound of hell and roared at the on rushing vehicle releasing a torrent of flame along the road. The flames illuminated the ground and surrounding area, billowing upwards from the pavement. The driver of the vehicle slammed upon his brakes, causing the wheels to lock up and squeal as smoke billowed from his tires. The unfortunate man just barely managed to keep the vehicle from flipping on to it's side as he skidded to a halt and sat staring wide eyed in horror at the demonic visage of the fire spewing dragon before him.
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Adikartika ran after the other two males, unsure of what was going on but suddenly out of nowhere Evanesca came plummeting from the sky with Queren upon her back, landing before the eighteen wheel vehicle and stopping it by breathing fire at it. He threw on a burst of speed, passing the other two and running up to Eva's side and wrapping his arms around her mouth, trying to close it while the hairs upon his arms and face singed from the incredible heat. "STOP EVA!!! STOP!!" He yelled so that he would be able to be heard over the crackling of the flames.
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Evanesca stopped abruptly breathing flames when Adi landed upon her mouth, trying to stop the torrent of flames spewing forth. She she stopped them herself so as not to injure her companion and looked at him with a extremely stern, "What the HELL where you thinking" look that spoke a thousand words and would surely make the male cower.