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The stained glass windows of Hyrule Castle glittered, the light of the sunset becoming distorted as it passed through the panes. It moved like ripples on a lake when a stone landed in the middle, slowing as it reached further from the epicenter. Princess Zelda, heir apparent to the throne of Hyrule and holder of the Goddess Hylia’s sacred power, watched the light as it passed through the window, a mural of Hylia herself. Hylia stood regal, tall, the Triforce held between her hands. Orange and gold hues from her skin, hair, and dress blended with the blue accents of her jewelry, becoming a wash of light that fell over Zelda. Her white ceremonial training dress became a canvas for the blinding light, turning it into a painter’s cathartic work, colors mixing in strange ways. Hylia’s dress shone bright white. Zelda turned from the mural and stalked out of the light. The temperature dropped as soon as she stepped out of the pool of colors, and she hugged herself. This silly training dress provided no warmth. She found herself at Hylia’s portrayals often, whether statue, painting, or stained glass mural. After long days of training--failed training--Zelda would stare up at the goddess, silently asking why but never saying it out loud. She’d already asked why enough at her training, there was no need to voice it to Hylia any more. Just to herself, washed in the light of her predecessor, her expectation. The cold followed Zelda as she wove through the corridors. She’d dismissed Link already, telling him to retire to his own quarters, though he would certainly be back in a few minutes to check on her. He never left her side for long. She’d thought him insufferable, but as tensions grew higher and attacks grew more frequent, Zelda found herself grateful for his company and protection. She’d never met a person--knight or commoner, man or woman--who could wield a sword like him. Zelda ducked past the throne room to avoid her father. He seemed busy anyway, talking in a furious whisper with some of his advisors, as he did most days now. She doubted he saw her. As she passed the corridor before the throne room, Zelda’s eyes flickered to the portrait of her late mother. What would she think of Zelda, of them all, now? Could her mother see them all panicking? Could she sense their impending destruction from the realm of the dead? Could Zelda plead just a little harder for her mother to come to her, to teach her what she needed? Zelda almost stopped, her heart skipping for a breath, before gritting her teeth and continuing on. Her mother would not make some miraculous appearance from the dead. Zelda was on her own. Urbosa, Chief of the Gerudo, wove through the maze of castle corridors. So many times she had visited this castle, and yet she still managed to find herself lost over half the times she had visited. Scowling, she turned yet another corridor that looked exactly the same as all the others. Why did Hylians love their confusing buildings? Every important Hylian building was built like a purposefully planned trap. She supposed it was good for defense in some circumstances, but how easily would someone be cornered in a place like this? Urbosa much preferred the open, airy homes of the Gerudo. If an enemy were to attack, they would be unable to surprise her. Urbosa turned a corner to see stairs. At last! She started up. Certainly the other champions were already in their meeting hall, waiting for her arrival. She would have to apologize for keeping them waiting. It was unlike her to be late, but she had gotten carried away visiting with her fellow Gerudo soldiers that had accompanied her to the castle. The other champions would understand, they-- A footstep. Urbosa froze. From the hall behind, to her right where he had just come from, but no one had been in the hallway with her. She breathed slowly, quietly, listening. Urbosa moved. The knife flew by in a blur, a hair’s breadth from where she had stood only moments before. Her ear stung, and a hand to it came away with drops of blood. Damn, she could only dodge so fast. Rustling behind her was all she needed to hear to send her dodging again, missing yet another knife. She sprinted up the stairs and threw herself around the next corner, hoping to shake off her assailant. No luck. In a puff of smoke, her attacker appeared in front of her, wearing the goddess-forsaken mask of the Yiga. Urbosa growled and unsheathed her scimitar just in time to meet the wickedly sharp blade of the Yiga soldier. She grunted, digging her feet into the blood red carpet. For a skinny little thing, this soldier sure held some weight. She ducked, letting go of her defensive stance and sending the Yiga stumbling forward, caught off guard by her sudden lack of weight. She slammed the hilt of her scimitar into his back, and he grunted before disappearing in a whirl of smoke. Urbosa listened. There. She whirled in time to catch his blow just as he appeared. She couldn’t see his face, but his body language indicated surprise. She could use that. In a swift motion, Urbosa spun around his blade and to his side before he could recover from his previous shock. He spun to face her, but too late, and her sword met his exposed abdomen. The Yiga howled, clutching his bloody stomach. His sword fell from his hands and he disappeared in another puff of smoke, leaving her in silence. Urbosa waited only a breath to pick up his sword and sprint for the meeting hall. If there was one Yiga, there were more. What if they had the princess? Or the king? How did they get into the castle? Just as Urbosa turned the final corner to the meeting hall, a taunting laugh rang out. She barely had time to react before a Yiga came at her, wickedly curved sword at the ready. She couldn’t block in time, her best bet was to-- A trident sailed through the air, pinning the Yiga soldier against the wall with a single, choked gurgle. Mipha stood at the other end of the corridor, eyes wide. “Lady Urbosa.” “Mipha.” Mipha stalked over to her trident, now sans-Yiga, and yanked it out of the wall. “I believe,” Mipha said, staring up at her bloody trident, “that we have a large problem.” In the meeting hall, standing around a large table in the center of the room, the champions spoke frantically with Zelda’s father and his advisors, arguing about castle defenses and how in the world multiple Yiga soldiers could have infiltrated the castle. Zelda spoke little, occasionally glancing at the door to make sure the guards were still posted. She couldn’t shake the feeling of anxiety that settled over her. Link’s presence next to her provided marginal comfort. Shortly before reaching her room, a Yiga soldier had ambushed her, nearly capturing her before Link had cut the man in half. She still had his blood on her dress, and Link had yet to clean the Master Sword. She’d survived assassination attempts before. Plenty of them, in fact. But something about being attacked in her own home, so close to her bedroom, set her heart thundering. Never before had a Yiga made it inside the castle. The defenses were too strong, guard too good. Someone let them in. Someone trusted, someone with a good reputation with the guards. They had a traitor in their midst. But who? What person in their right mind would ally themselves with the Yiga? With Calamity Ganon? It was certain destruction. The Calamity would show no mercy, spare no man. It’s rise would mean the end of the world, loyal servant or not. The Yiga were delusional, and apparently so was someone in this castle. Someone trusted. Zelda blinked. Oh goddess, they were in this room. Zelda frantically scanned every occupant, looking for anything out of the ordinary. There were the champions. Urbosa argued furiously with Zelda’s father, King Rhoam, with occasional interjections from Revali. Mipha and Daruk discussed nearby, apparently taking note of castle entrances on a map. All of this seemed normal, nothing out of character for the champions. As always, Link stood silently by her, and he was certainly no traitor. The Master Sword would have burned his hand by now had he betrayed Hyrule. No one unworthy could wield it. So that left… Suddenly it was obvious. One of the advisors across the table from her had been oddly quiet all evening, standing by the side and listening. Before, he had just seemed uninterested, but now Zelda saw the knife at his belt not as a self defense weapon, but as an assassin’s blade. His eyes, before perceived as tired, now looked calculating. She saw the glint. Trying not to draw attention to herself, Zelda nudged Link. He turned to her, eyebrow raised. “That man, advisor Tolla,” she nodded in his direction. “I think he is a Yiga.” Link’s eyebrows drew together. He peered at the man before turning back to Zelda, cocking his head. “Someone had to let the Yiga in. Someone trusted.” Zelda lowered her voice further, to barely above a whisper. “Do you see how he is standing? And so quiet too.” Link pursed his lips, ever silent, and turned back to watch advisor Tolla. The man stood still, shoulders slightly tensed and hands down by his side. His eyes flickered to Link, still watching him, and his eyes widened by a fraction. It could easily have been missed by anyone, but Zelda caught it, and she knew Link had too. Link’s eyes narrowed. Advisor Tolla moved. He whipped out his knife and threw it in Zelda’s direction. Link shoved her out of the way just as the knife whizzed past and vaulted over the table, sending papers flying. Before Tolla could dodge, the Master Sword went through his abdomen. In a puff of smoke, the disguise dropped, leaving a Yiga soldier with a hole in his stomach. He coughed once before disappearing. The meeting hall fell eerily silent. “They can disguise themselves,” Revali said, dumbfounded. “I thought we already knew that,” Daruk said. Revali shook his head. “We knew they could disguise as normal people, but not take on the image of someone that already exists.” Even Urbosa looked shocked. “I thought only their leader could…” she shook her head. “The world has gone mad.” Zelda glanced around the room at each champion. She knew what they were thinking: which of us are not who we seem? Rhoam scowled and slammed a hand on the table. “We must take action before the Yiga can claim an upper hand. From here on out, there will be no group meetings. We will be too exposed. Correspondence will be through letters until we can sort out who is a Yiga traitor. Keep yourselves hidden, disguise yourselves from each other and others, all of you. No one can see you or know what actions you take. We no longer know who we can trust. Do I make myself clear?” He said it with such authority that there was no protest. What else could they do except hide from one another? The only two who could prove themselves were Zelda and Link, the only people who could touch the Master Sword without scalding their hands. Rhoam nodded. “Then it is decided. Not one of us will leave this castle until we can discover which of us are false heroes.”           Welcome to LG78: The Legend of Zelda: The False Heroes! This game is based off of the story of both Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity, with some bits from other Zelda games thrown in as well. It takes place shortly before the return of Calamity Ganon. But don't worry if you haven't played those games, or any of the Zelda games really! It should be fun for everyone, Zelda fan or not :D. @StrikerEZ and I are the GMs for this game, and our IM is @Elandera! The signups will close at 10 am CDT on Tuesday, June 22nd. The game will get started as soon as we can get all the role distribution stuff sorted out and get the first post put up and get PMs sent out. So probably no more than an hour. From Striker: "Also, again apologizing because my work schedule can be erratic at times, so don't be surprised if the rollover time moves around occasionally. We'll try to keep it at a consistent time as much as possible, though." I'll be posting the rules down below as well, but it can get finicky when I copy and paste it over here from a google doc, so I'm also going to add a link to the google doc with the rules. Here's the rules doc. Let me know if that doesn't work or if you can edit it because that's not supposed to happen .       Rules: Player List: Quick Links: Also, I highly, HIGHLY, recommend everyone come up with an RP character. The more you guys RP, the easier it makes our lives with the writeups. Plus it just makes the game more fun for everyone involved! But also, don't feel like you have to RP if you aren't comfortable with it.