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At Eyris Castle, Tibarn sat at the table in the guard house rec room, leaning back with his feet up. Ayra had taken Vah out to visit Fefga's and check on Mel, so Tibarn had little to do but hang out with the guards. All around him, guards were seated around the room, some reading books, others arm wrestling or playing cards. Tibarn fanned out the cards in his hand, smirking, and peered over his boots at the two laid out on the table, then put his feet down and pushed four coppers into the pot with a sly grin. The guard beside him grumbled and slapped his cards down as Tibarn crowed, "What's wrong, Clang? Haha, keep this up and you'll lose on antes. Hey hey, you put that finger down before I break it." He smirked as the other two saw his bet, and reached out to flip the next card when the door slammed against the wall.

Steely Dan rubbed his square, stubbly jaw as he walked in, waving a little piece of paper. "Oy," called the Captain, "Wake up in here. We've got a situation in town, moving to high alert. We've got a killer on the loose, slaughtered a bunch of people outside a bar and ran off. Clang, Streaky, Shines, Large, Chickenwire, go get Keebler and split into two patrols on the walls, look out for anyone trying to sneak in. We've already stepped up security on north and south gates, so Needles, you're with me on the west gate. We don't let anyone in without checking 'em first."

There was general muttered acknowledgment of these orders as men began to haul themselves up quickly, heading for the lockers for their armor and weapons. Tibarn chuckled and quietly flipped the last card, then checked the others' discarded hands before pulling the pot to his end of the table. "Hey, Steely Dan. Come on now, you think this is really all necessary?" he called, looking up seriously. "I mean, Captain Ghis and his boys are out there, I'm sure they can handle whatever it is."

There was a long moment of silence as the two rugged men stared at one another, and then Tibarn slapped the table as both burst into laughter. After several seconds they began to compose themselves, and Tibarn wiped his eye, still laughing as he said, "Yeah, go take care of business, I'll come help." He swept his winnings into his purse, a simple, small leather sack, then tucked it away in his infamous overcoat and shook his head, climbing around the furniture and stepping out into the castle courtyard.

[Don't post here unless you know you're allowed to.

Or I'll bite.]

"Wow." Asami saw the dead bodies as she slipped through the shadows. "Master would be proud if he saw this." She then looked at Rappahannock

"Don't kill all of them." She stated, "I need some of these guys to be infected." She formed her sword, cut herself to make her bleed, and started cutting the generic soldiers. It didn't take long for them to be infected. Since they didn't have a strong enough will or any free will, they couldn't be evil on their own. They depended on Asami for the evil thoughts.

Tibarn's pointed ear twitched at the horrific sounds from the south gate, and he cursed loudly at the sight of an entire squad, dead or clutching stumps. The Hawk King's eyes focused in like binoculars on Rappahannock, taking in every detail, and then he spotted... something else. It was hard to see it... some kind of shadowy thing.

And then form came of it. Behind the ranks! Tibarn's wings spread as he growled, kicking off the ground and flying straight at her. A powerful flap took him up and he flared his wings, swinging his feet around and driving down at Asami in an attempt to take her down. Already, a bright green glow was beginning to spread from his chest as he started his transformation.

Tibarn's transformation halted unexpectedly as he was dragged into the pulsing world of shadow, and he dodged away from her attack quickly, lifting into the air. "What the hell!? Who are you, woman!? Where did you bring me!?" He shifted in the air and dodged aside another sword thrust, then brought his boot down on her face and dropped to the ground, trying to ram his fist into her stomach!

CLANG! A sword rang out as it struck its bearer's shield, and the soldier known as Clang laughed out loud. "Finally a little action around here, eh boys?" He grinned back at his comrades, Chickenwire and Large, then raised his sword. The other two followed suit, and all three gave a guttural roar as the Castle Guard's most enthusiastic fighters began their run across the courtyard.

Those three were universally feared and respected among the guard, nearly as much as Captain Daniel Leek himself. Chickenwire was a scar-faced bear of a man who supposedly had connections in as many underworlds as he possibly could. His skills with an axe and shield were without question, but his nickname stemmed from the rumor that he still carried a chickenwire garrotte at all times.

Large was about four feet and seven inches tall and had about thirty feet of attitude. New recruits used to pick on him when they arrived, before they learned where they fit on the food chain. Their antics earned them the most humiliating of beatdowns: When a tiny, tiny man comes flying up from below and gives you such an uppercut you get whiplash. He wore not armor but a loose uniform that gave him room to move. The swordmaster's size was no barrier to his might, and the number of enemies whose legs had been removed at the knees was a testament to it.

Clang was smaller than his fellow Hero-class, Chickenwire, but he was considered a few degrees crazier. His nickname derived from his habit of slapping his sword against his own shield as a war cry. His particular specialty lay in killing his foes with whatever he could lay hands, be it a sword, his shield, a brick, and once he even threw Large at somebody to kill them. He was the last thing you wanted to see charging you in battle. He was the last thing you would see charging you in battle.

They did their best not to kill those comrades who had already darkened as they arrived, turning their blades flat and striking to immobilize.

Captain Daniel Leek (known respectfully by his men as "Steely Dan"), meanwhile, had made his way to the center of the courtyard and was shouting orders as more of his men poured off the castle walls and out of the castle itself as he watched his men starting to turn and form up in front of Rappahannock, facing Dan.

"Rrrf... the hell they think they're doing. Alright, men! Let's go, try not to kill 'em yet, but let's give 'em hell! Take em down while the fearsome threesome flanks 'em, and for goddess' sake stay out of Clang's way this time, Shines! Let's move!"

[And now a Tibarn post. 8D]

His heavy suit of armor finally on, Ghis trudged out into the street. Several buildings stood between him and the source of the commotion, but buildings couldn't block a hawk's battle cry. Back in the time of the blizzard, as he'd been fighting off Mauthe Doogs left and right, he'd heard Tibarn's screech--for anyone believing to be on his side, it was terrible yet courage-inspiring. After all, if you had a former laguz king on your side, you had a powerful ally. This screech, however--still terrible, but fear-inspiring. It sounded... warped. A bit sadistic, even.

In the commotion, a cart full of apples and assorted fruits stood empty, its owner abandoning the cart while perhaps off finding safety. The General trudged over to the cart, picked out a nice red apple, lifted his visor, and took a big bite.

Waste not, want not.

The Brave Little NPC Soldier returned, this time with reinforcements--two archers kept a close pace behind him, while two horses with riders brought up the rear. The beating of soft wings announced the arrival of the only women in the Constablery--a pegasus knight, with a mage in tow.

It wasn't much, which was why the Constablery was considered a punch line at best... but it was better than nothing. Besides, with the pegasus knight, they had the best information as to what was happening.

Ghis frowned. He'd known the castle guard to be generally arrogant and at times, very ineffective, but he'd never considered them to be spontaneous traitors.

"Right. Peg," Ghis said, pointing to the pegasus and riders, "Ah want you to watch from afar. If ye feel the need, bombard the guard ranks and stay away from tha' hawk if ye value yer lives. Cavalry," he added, gesturing to the two horsemen, "Go on ahead t' th' manor o' th' hill. They'll want t' know what's happening. The rest of ye on me. Sounds like the situation's turnin' bad. We need to start gettin' the people oot."

"Too easy." Asami started to spin around. As she spun around She started hacking away at the men who were attacking her. She knew this wouldn't take that long.