Night Raid

”BOSS!! I GOT US A JOB!!” Screeched Basath from the air as he hurriedly land on the ground in front of Vitale. Holding up the flyer from the local job board the Rito would have a smile on his face proud of the job that he had found for their group to complete. It was nothing that should prove too difficult, but ultimately it would come down to Vitale if they took on the job or not.

With an agitated sigh Vitale would reach out and snatch the flyer from the Rito’s hand. ”This had better not be another job like the last one you grabbed. I still can’t believe you were stupid enough to get a job to gather herbs for us.” Peering down over the parchment a wicked smile would spread across the Twili’s face. Now this was more like it. It was a job to bring in a Stalfos that had been causing a panic near Lon Lon Ranch, dead or alive. Well as alive as a Stalfos could be anyway.

Quickly standing up Vitale would place two fingers into his mouth and let out a loud whistle to signal the other members of his group. It wouldn’t take very long for the other three members to pop up around him, smiles on their face. Looking around he would take note that all of them already seemed ready to move out. ”Looks like I wasn’t the only one itching for some action since everyone is already packed and ready to go.” Vitale would start moving forward, and with a wave of his arm the others would follow behind him.

It was a sight to behold a Twili leading a group comprised of a Gerudo, a Rito, a Goron, and a River Zora of all things. They already had a reputation as thieves, bandits, and brigands around Northern Hyrule. If they see something they want, they take it. If you make them mad, you typically don’t live to tell the tale. While Hylian guards were the ones that normally met their end at the hands of this group, they didn’t discriminate.

The only thing that gave them even the slightest leeway to enter any of the towns was the fact that they would take on jobs like this one. Jobs that the guards and army don’t have time to handle and that the weaker mercenary groups can’t handle. Each of the five of them can hold their own, and their teamwork leaves little to be desired these days. The only downside to this group was the leader’s nonexistent fuse. Vitale’s dark affinity had given him a rather vicious streak known to kill for being looked at wrong. Or what he perceived to be wrong anyway.

As the band continued to move forward Talia, the group’s magic swordswoman, would speak up. [/b]”Not that it matters much, but did the flyer mention why this Stalfos is such a menace? I don’t think a lone Stalfos would take much to dispatch, and yet you seem almost eager to take it on.”[/b] Slowly her pace a little while she spoke in case Vitale chose to strike out at her, Talia would get ready. You never knew what would set the Twili off.

A scowl would form on Vitale’s face as he was questioned by the Gerudo. ”I don’t remember ever saying it was a LONE Stalfos. I had planned on giving all the details once we found a place to lodge closer to the targets preferred hunting grounds, but since you JUST HAD to open your mouth….” Vitale would stop and turn to face Talia clearly angry and upset. While it wouldn’t be uncharacteristic for him to attack a member of his own group, he knew he would need all of them in top form for the upcoming battle. [/b]”Count yourself lucky that I know we are going to need you for what’s to come, otherwise I would teach you not to question me.”[/b]

Turning back around Vitale and the rest of the group, whom had all come to a stop when Vitale did, would resume their march towards Lon Lon Ranch. ”This issue with this particular Stalfos is that somehow the bugger has managed to amass a following of other creatures. Wolfos, Poe, Moblins, and even Lizalfos. Normally a Stalfos would be one of the followers. Not the leader. There are varied reports that it may have managed to snag some special equipment from a fallen adventurer. These reports are unverified at the moment though. Luckily we have the best scout in the business to help us scope things out and know what we are getting ourselves into.” There. That was all of the information that the flyer had. Hopefully it would be enough for Talia to shut up for the rest of the trip.

After a full days walk Lon Lon Ranch would come into sight just as night fell which was indeed the best thing that could have happened. ”Basath, you’re good to go for a scout right?” It was a rhetorical question obviously, but if the Rito was truly too tired they would just have to wait for the next night. ”Of course boss! The Rito was never one to say anything that could set the boss off. While he was a great scout and archer, he would never survive if Vitale were to attack him in earnest. He couldn’t afford to draw the ire of his Twili leader. He had experienced this power firsthand before and never wanted to feel that again.

Getting a running start the young Rito would take to the air and fly towards Lon Lon Ranch with his hawkeye already zoomed in to help scout the area. Everything was quiet and he wasn’t having any luck until he spotted light from a lantern in the distance. Not just any lantern though, a Poe’s lantern. There they were. With a quick turn in the air Basath would fly towards them his hawkeye adjusting itself as needed so that he could better scout them from a distance.

So far their total number seemed to total to fifteen. He didn’t really like those odds, but Vitale would tell him that they could take them and that’s exactly what they were going to have to do. ”Three Lizalfos, four Wolfos, a single Poe, four common Moblins with no armor luckily, and three Stalfos.” None of them seemed to be anything special. Zooming in further with his hawkeye, the Rito would begin to examine the Stalfos’ closer. That was when he saw it. The smooth black metal blade, with a dull blue crystal blade. The Stalfos was wielding a Litonium sword with a splinter crystal edge. One his other arm was a shield that didn’t look basic either. Zooming in even further to examine the shield his heart would drop.

How was that Stalfos able to hold up a shield made of Goron Iron? Not to mention do so with such ease? Basath would be force to assume that the shield was also forged with two ingots of Litonium to halve the weight. Most likely both the sword and the shield came from the same adventurer and this Stalfos was just lucky enough to have found his body, or caught him by surprise. ”Tch.” Letting out an audible sound of annoyance the Rito would return to his group to inform them of the numbers and gear held by their would-be opponents.

It would only take him a few minutes to get back to Vitale and land down in front of him. ”Reporting back sir. Fifteen enemies total. Four Wolfos, four Common Moblins, three Lizalfos, two Stalfos plus the leading one, and a single Poe.” Looking up at Vitale he would continue on. ”The Stalfos in question does have special gear. A litonium sword with a splinter crystal edge, and what appeared to be a goron iron shield that has to be infused with two ingots of litonium with how easily the Stalfos was holding it up.” Basath wanted to comment on how difficult of a fight this would prove to be, but decided against it.

Vitale could only smile as he motioned for Basath to join the rest of them around the campfire that they had made while he was gone. Or rather that Atulu had made while he was gone. ”We are making camp here tonight and tomorrow we will go to Lon Lon Ranch to prepare for the fight tomorrow night. Basath, get something to eat and then get back out there and watch them. I want to know if they have a set formation, or if they seem to follow any patterns for tomorrow. I’m going to try and take out at least half of their forces with a combination of arrow fire from you and cannon fire from Bombagos. Before we engage directly. Once that happens you will stay back and support with arrows like normal target any remaining Wolfos first. Talia you will be in charge of the Common Moblins. Atulu I want you to take out the Poe if it survives, if not Lizalfos. I’ll start with the Lizalfos while you deal with the Poe, or I’ll go after the Stalfos if not.” There was no guarantee that they would make it through this fight in one piece and that only excited the Twili.

With all that said Vitale would lean back against a tree to close his eyes and get some rest while Basath took to the air once more to watch over the enemies movements tonight. Basath would return early in the morning, the rest of the group was still asleep. He decided that he would join them for however long he could. He was exhausted after his all night scouting mission. Hopefully the boss would let him get some rest at Lon Lon Ranch while they set up for the assault tonight.

Only a few hours had gone by before Bombagos was shaking the poor Rito awake. The Goron’s hand rough against his feathers. He slowly sat up with a yawn and as soon as he opened his eyes he saw all members of the group were all staring at him. [/b]”What you learn Basath?”[/b] It wasn’t Vitale that spoke up but rather Atulu. He was ready to get to Lon Lon Ranch and start setting up.

”They stayed in a formation the entire night. Stalfos at the rear, two common Moblins and two Wolfos on either side, the Lizalfos at the front and the Poe positioned in the middle. Sort of like an arrow head formation. Wolfos are on the outside Moblins on the inside. They keep a fair bit of distance between each other. A well placed bomb may hit two or three of them at most. Bombagos, what the range on your cannon?” It was moments like this that made Vitale proud. He gave instructions last night and his team can work out the finer details on their own without any input from him. Of course if he hears something he disagrees with he will speak up.

With a smile Bombagos would rub his cannon before speaking up. ”This baby o’ mine can reach about half a mile. Gives us plenty of time to fire on those buggers before they get close. Then she makes a good club! Learned that from a Subrosian believe it or not!” The Goron was happy to talk about his cannon anytime he could! Course he also knew when to shut up about it so that he didn’t waste time. ”Right! I’ll go scout out the rough position of your max range, take a look when you all make it to the ranch!” With that said Basath was off into the skies before anything else could be asked of him, after all he was up all night while the rest of them were sleeping. He just wanted to get some rest himself.

The rest of the group would all gather up their belongings and being their walk towards Lon Lon Ranch. It was strange though. This group had been in the area for a while and there were no signs of any damage to the ranch. Just what were they doing each night? No way that they were just out practicing maneuvers….right? Regardless a group as big as theirs would be enough to panic some ranch hand. As they neared the ranch Vitale would signal for Talia to handle the conversation with them. If he wanted to get paid, then he couldn’t very well risk killing the people that posted the quest.

Talia would quicken her pace to the entrance gate of the ranch and be ushered inside while the rest of the group made their way to the gate at a more comfortable pace. Upon reaching the gate Bombagos would stop and turn to look for Basath. Upon spotting him he would pull out his cannon and load a cannonball into. He would signal for the Rito to take to the air while he took aim with his cannon. He wanted to figure out the angle he would need to reach his max distance. As he reached for the firing cord on the cannon he felt a hand on his arm, a burning sensation accompanied the grip. ”We aren’t leaving any evidence that we are here. I don’t want the enemy to get suspicious for any reason. Understand?” Vitale would release his grip on the Goron as he spoke his words calm, but very firm.

With a nod Bombagos would unload his cannon and put it back on his back and signal for the young Rito to join them. As they reached the gate Talia would be on her way back to meet the group. ”Everything has been arranged. We have full acceptance to do what we need to do, and permission to use anything we need from the ranch.” Talia was pleased with how the negotiations had gone, now all that was left to do was wait.

”Alright everyone take this time to check your gear, make sure you have everything you’re going to need and that your gear isn’t going to break mid battle. Depending on how the first half of our assault goes this could very well be a hard battle to win. That said I expect us to win, is that understood?” Vitale had a sinister look on his face at this point in time. He was itching to fight and kill something. Looking around as his group they would all have roughly the same expression. They all had two things in common; the want to get stronger and the need for money.

As soon as Vitale finished speaking his group would each go their own separate ways to prepare for what was to come that night. Bombagos would sit down in front of the gate to Lon Lon Ranch and start pulling out unlit bombs and making a pile of them next to him until he had around ten bombs ready for his cannon tonight. Once his pile of bombs were ready he would start preforming maintenance on his cannon to make sure that it would work properly tonight before turning it into a club. While he hadn’t been given instruction past the opening cannon fire, he would target the Lizalfos while Atulu went after the Poe allowing Vitale to focus on the Stalfos.

Being on Poe duty Atulu would take an empty bottle meant for milk and a cork for it. While he knew he would be able to handle the Poe’s body he did not have strong enough magic to destroy the soul so he would need a way to trap it after he destroys the body. Once that was done he would find a secluded area of the ranch and sharpen his spear. Before drifting off to sleep Atulu would create a non-explosive aqua grenade and crack it open over his body to rehydrate himself.

Basath would find a dark corner of the barn and count his arrows and check his bow and bowstring for damage before settling down and falling asleep. He hadn’t had much sleep since his night of scouting and was truly exhausted and needed to get some sleep to ensure his aim tonight wouldn’t be off. Meanwhile when everyone else was preparing Talia was going around and checking on everyone else’s preparations. She knew her gear was in tip top shape, as she performs upkeep on it each and every night. Once she had checked in on everyone else she would find Vitale to report to him.

”Everyone is prepped and ready for tonight and resting to have plenty of energy. Is there anything else you need me to do before I join the rest of them and get some sleep myself?” Talia was considered the second in command of the group having been the one traveling with Vitale for the longest amount of time. ”No you’ve done enough. Go get some sleep. I’ll be here waiting to wake everyone up when the time comes.” While everyone else needed to get some sleep, Vitale was too excited to sleep. The promise of a challenge had filled him with adrenalin and there was no way he was going to be able to sleep.

Once night began to fall Vitale would let out a high pitched whistle from the gate and watch as his group gathered up into their positions. Talia and Atulu would stand on either side of the gate while Bombagos stood in the middle, a bomb already loaded into his cannon. Basath had perched himself on top of the watchtower with his bow drawn. Meanwhile Vitale would be standing about twenty feet in front of the rest of the group ready to be the first one into the fray.

”Target’s spotted. Formation normal. Countdown until they are in range.” As Basath spoke Bombagos would tighten his grip on his firing cord as he took aim. ”Five. Four. Three. Two. One. FIRE!” As soon as the word fire was spoken a boom would echo through the night as the first bomb was sent flying towards the un-expecting group. A blast would light up the night in the distance, the first bomb landing in the middle of the right side group of moblins and wolfos. The wolfos would yelp as they were flung away from the blast site. The moblins would grunt and fall to their knees but stand back up. They had been injured, but not slain like the unlucky wolfos.

The wolfos on the left side of the formation would take off in a mad dash forward, breaking away from formation to find the source of the attack. Reaching towards his quiver Basath would touch one of his arrows before moving his hand to his bow and summoning an arrow to his hand. Drawing back his bow he would loose his first arrow, immediately summoning a second arrow and repeating the process firing down arrows on the two remaining wolfos as they quickly approached.

The wolfos were just barely avoiding the arrows, until the further back wolfos was struck in its back hip. It could no longer run. This was going to make it easy picking for Basath later, but for now he needed to focus on the uninjured wolfos. Arrow after arrow was fired at the second wolfos, and finally one struck home. An arrow pierced its heart just before it managed to close in on Vitale. This meant the rito could focus back on the injured wolfos, and one arrow later all the wolfos had been slain.

While the young rito had been raining arrows down on the wolfos, the goron had continued his ranged assault with bombs on the rest of the group. Unfortunately they had spread out further making it harder for Bombagos to do damage to multiple enemies at once. His last bomb would land at the feet of one of the normal Stalfos sending it flying to pieces. It wasn’t about to get back up from that.

With the ranged attack finished the results were all four wolfos defeated, one Stalfos defeated, three out of the four moblins had been injured, and one of the Lizalfos had been injured. Over all, not a bad way to start. Bombagos would turn his cannon around bracing the firing end against his forearm as he gripped the handle tightly. Now was the time for the four of them to rush forward, while Basath stayed back and covered them with arrow fire.

The first one into combat was none other than Vitale and he rushed the Lizalfos at the front. All three were wielding a sword and shield, not that it was going to help them. As he neared the Lizalfos a wicked smile would form on his face. The first Lizalfos would raise its sword in an attempt to slice down at the twili but would be met by a purple mist to its face from Vitale’s mouth and immediately start coughing and gagging dropping both its sword and shield to the ground as it fell to its knees trying to catch its breath. The purple mist would cause the other two Lizalfos to stop in their tracks and start circling around Vitale and their soon to be slain kin.

With the Lizalfos on its knees Vitale would bring his right leg back and send a kick forward as hard as he could to the side of the creatures head connecting solidly with his greave cracking the Lizalfos skull and leaving it stunned. It wasn’t going to get up and could only lay in the cloud of miasma and wait for death. This sight angered the other two Lizalfos who both tilted their heads back while inhaling before throwing their heads forward and expelling fire breath. Unfortunately neither of the Lizalfos had stepped into the miasma, so their flames would fall just shy of reaching the Twili, they had successfully trapped him in his own miasma cloud though and were preventing him from moving for the time being.

At least that was what they thought. One of the Lizalfos had foolishly stopped with his back to the rest of the group and was greeted by Atulu and a fireball to his back causing it to stop spewing fire breath and stumble into the miasma. Luckily this Lizalfos didn’t inhale the smoke, but the effects would still disorient it enough that it was no match for the River Zora and his spear as he stumbled back out of the miasma. Two down, one to go. Unfortunately everyone else had to go around the Miasma, except for Vitale, the Stalfos and the Poe.

As Atulu went right around the miasma cloud Talia would be going around the left side of it, headed directly for the two injured Moblins. Basath was focusing his arrow fire on the other two moblins trying his best to slow them down until the last Lizalfos was defeated at the very least. As for Bombagos, he had rolled himself up around his cannon and was rolling in the general direction of the other two moblins.

The first one to get into combat would be Talia. As she approached the two injured moblins one of them would attempt to blitz her, but would be greeted by a force enchantment power beam to his right leg knocking it out from underneath him and cause him to tumble and roll forward painfully. The moblins would come to a stop in front of the gerudo who had already prepped her scimitar for a downward thrust into the back of the moblins throat. While it didn’t finish it off, it was going to cause him to choke on his own blood until he did die, which meant that Talia could focus on the other injured moblins.

As she approached the second moblins her weapon would begin to spark and crackle with energy. She didn’t want to waste time with this moblins either and get over to the other two. This moblins was carrying a heavy club it would swing the club down towards Talia who would skillfully sidestep the attack and bring her own weapon down to slice into the moblins arm, releasing the stored electricity in the weapon into her foe. While the moblins was stunned Talia would lunge forward and swing her scimitar upward covered flame beheading the creature.

About this time Atulu would reach the last Lizalfos and begin thrusting his spear towards it repeatedly each, thrust being met by the Lizalfos shield. Unfortunately for the Lizalfos he would be too distracted by the river zora to notice Vitale close in on him that is until he felt a burning sensation on each of his arms. Vitale would pull both of its arms away from his body leaving him unprotected and allowing Atulu to pierce his heart with his spear.

By this time Bombagos had reached the battle and was face to face with the other two moblins. He had stopped his roll soon enough that there was still a decent distance between him and them allowing him to pull out one final bomb and throw it at the already injured moblins finishing him off. It was now one on one as the moblin and goron approached each other. The moblins would swing his sword horizontally at Bombagos who would return the attack by swinging his cannon horizontally at the sword. The result? The moblins sword was sent flying since Bombagos’ muscle band made him significantly stronger than the moblin. With his opponent disarmed Bombagos would swing his cannon back the other way making contact with the moblins arm and side, breaking multiple bones and knocking it to the ground where he finished off the creature with one downward swing to its head.

Now all that was left were two Stalfos and the Poe. ”Change of plans. Talia support Atulu and handle that Poe. Bombagos you’re with me.” with that the group would split into two and head towards their respective targets. The first ones to reach their target was Talia and Atulu. What followed looked like a dance as the two magic fighters and the Poe squared off. This Poe was very skilled in making its body disappear and reappear making it hard for either of the fighters to land an attack. Unfortunately the rhythm of the dance was about to be broken.

The next time the Poe’s body vanished and reappeared it was met with an arrow. This disrupted him long enough for Talia to make contact with a shock enchanted strike followed up by a fireball from Atulu. Had it been one on one, the Poe may have been able to make a counterattack at some point but with two fighters attacking it in unison it had never had the chance to counterattack and could only focus on defense. It may have been able to hold off until the Stalfos arrived had it not been for Basath and his arrow. The Poe would turn its body off once more only to find itself trapped inside of a bottle for its effort to survive.

Now all that was left were the two Stalfos against the entire group and Vitale and Bombagos had already made contact. Vitale was facing off against the Stalfos armed with the special gear while Bombagos handled the normal Stalfos. Bombagos was approaching the Stalfos when one of its ribs suddenly shot out at him. He was easily able to block the rib with his cannon and was about to taunt the Stalfos as he moved his cannon away only to suddenly feel nauseous and dizzy all of a sudden as he moved his cannon out of the way he would notice that the Stalfos had released a miasma of its own.

The Stalfos would approach Bombagos with its two swords raised above its head thinking that this would be an easy kill, but a wild swing by the disoriented Bombagos would be enough to scatter the Stalfos into a bunch of little pieces before he stumbled away from the other Stalfos and the miasma to recover.

Meanwhile Vitale was busy exchanging blows with the leader of the group. He would quickly realize just how dangerous the splinter crystal edge on that sword was though after blocking the attacks a few times with his gauntlet he would wince in pain. The splinter crystals had sliced through not only his gauntlet but his leather bracer underneath it in only a few strikes, meanwhile he was having no luck getting past the goron iron shield with his fists.

With a swift kick Vitale would take out one of the Stalfos leg he would send it crashing to the ground. Quickly he would step on the arm that held the weapon and keep it pinned and kick the shield away. In one swift motion the Twili would bring his fist down and hit….nothing but ground? The Stalfos had escaped his eminent demise with skeletal defense and his skull was now rapidly hopping away hoping that he doesn’t get caught while vulnerable. To its surprised he hopped right up to a Rito. Where did he come from? When did he get here? ”Here boss!” With that the Rito would kick the Stalfos skull like a soccer ball and send it flying back towards Vitale. The Twili would extend his arm and hold his hand out to catch the skull in the palm of his hand before slamming it into the ground, crushing it.

”That wasn’t quite as challenging as I had hoped it was going to be.” The disappointment in Vitales voice was evident, but it was no one’s fault but the opponents. ”Good job everyone. That’s mission complete. Talia, Basath I want the two of you to take the sword, shield, and Poe soul and turn in the quest. The rest of us are going to return to camp. We will see you when you return with the reward.” With that each group would head off in separate directions after a successful mission.