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The ground shook ever so slightly and there was a locked cracking of a tree falling followed by the associated crash. There was a deep grumbling as Wrath cursed himself. He had crash landed in the forest.He'd been aiming to land between two trees, but instead he'd landed on the trunk of a tree that was leaning a bit. His tremendous weight caused the tree to come crashing to the ground, but thankfully because of the direction the tree fell, the destruction was minimal. The tree also appeared to be partially rotten and so was in a bad way as far as its health went. In a way, the young wyvern had done the tree and the forest a service. Wrath turned to look up the hill and began to make his slow lumbering approach up the hill. At his weight and size he should have been able to move up the hill fairly rapidly, but because of the nature of his body he was forced to move much slower.

As Wrath was investigating the area around the mound a sudden motion caught his eye and he turned to see a headless being there with sword drawn. Wrath at first was confused because he hadn’t heard any movements at all, he hadn’t seen the being approach. He had merely noticed him as if he’d been there all along, when in fact as far as the young wyvern could tell the being had most definitely not been there moments before. Wrath like all sensible wyverns reacted with fear. But not the kind of fear that warrants retreat. Instead he slowly turned his body toward the humanoid figure and began his threat display presentation. He issued a rumbling hiss, a sound that was a fervent warning not to come any closer. He then backed it up with a swaying of his clubbed tail which was further warning. He slammed his tail club against the ground and continued to hiss. This was a threat of what would happen to the being if he attacked. He slammed his club again to further emphasize this threat. If the being came any closer, refused to leave peacefully, or decided to take any aggressive actions, Wrath would use that clubbed tail to crush armor and shatter bones. He would use it to knock the being to the ground and to then kill the being by smashing them to death with his club. Wrath’s reaction was normal for a wyvern. And though he considered himself civilized his actions were barbaric. His fear was quickly turning to rage. He thought, “Where did this being come from? How did he get so close without me being able to detect him before now?” Wrath continued to slam his tail against the ground, continued to hiss, do everything within his power to intimidate the headless being.

He opened his 5 part mouth to reveal his teeth and put his yellow mouth and blue tongues on display; trying to further intimidate by giving the impression that he is fatally venomous. Though at this point in his life, Wrath was not truly venomous yet. He had the warning colors but whether he had the venom or not, he just did not know. At the same time by opening his mouth he put his many, many teeth on display and allowed his hissing to be even louder, further adding to the intimidation. As a final step to his threat display, he played the oldest card a wyvern could possibly play. He ruffled his wings and spread them to make himself appear larger, while also flexing the muscles at the base of the spikes lining his spine; causing the spikes to rise up. To other wyverns this would be an overwhelming threat display, if a tad over done. Considering he was using every threat he knew himself capable of, he was going over board as far as wyverns go. He was being really over the top, but with an enemy so stealthy that they could appear as if out of nowhere Wrath felt the situation warranted the use of every trick he had. Of every threat posture he possessed. Hopefully, This would do the job.

Ebony was looking at the mound and suddenly he heard a horse. Normally he would have looked around and listened for the horse to see where it was, where it was coming from, and where it was going. This was not one of those normal times. The horse he heard was loud and close. He whipped around to see a huge black horse, easily big enough to stand taller than himself at the shoulder. He Looked at the horse and then he noticed its rider. A human by the look of him. But then a startling fact hit the fedison as he looked that the man. He had no head!!! Ebony stood there for a moment before turning to run, but the speed of the horse cut him off. However he didn’t stop running. He jumped right at the horseman and strafed the horseman’s shoulder with his knife. He landed on the other side of the horse and ran in a wide arc around the top of the hill to run back at the headless horseman. The horse galloped to carry its rider to meet the fedison in battle. Ebony jumped into the air and strafed the side of the headless being’s body before rolling across the ground, rolling to his feet, and running again. The cassowary fedison used his strafing technique to his advantage; strafing the headless being at every opportunity. It didn’t take long though for the attacks to start to fail. Ebony realized his strafing wouldn’t win the battle. And so he decided to mix things up a little. He ran at the headless horseman to strafe him, but instead knocked the horseman to the ground. Ebony then ran in a wide arc and attempted to attack the horseman while he was on the ground but strangely he missed. When he struck he found his knife hitting only air as the headless horseman was back in the saddle of his steed. The horse reared back and as it returned to all fours those hooves nearly landed on ebony, but thankfully he rolled the side and started running once more. He ran at the horse man again and again; strafing and stabbing at every opportunity. Then he made just one more pass. If this didn’t do the job, his only viable option was to run as fast as he could all the way back to Roc. He ran at the headless being and jumped at him; knocking him off his horse. Ebony tried to stab the horseman again, but received the same result as before. Though this time the horseman didn’t try to attack him. Instead he reached for a pocket in his clothing and pulled out a medal of sorts. He tossed it down to the fedison. Ebony looked the medal over before realizing it was a Faerie medal. He had no idea what the value of this medal was, but he was going to keep it. Keep it and remember this foe. So then He put the medal on and kneeled in respect to the horseman, who bowed in turn from atop his steed. Then Ebony turned and left, finding he was able to move faster than before.

Coming to a stop, Sery hid behind a tree and looked cautiously behind her. She didn't see anyone, had she escaped? She couldn't hear the clop of hooves on the ground, but she hadn't heard them when the Headless Horseman had appeared, either. She had just managed to sigh with relief when she heard it. Faint, very faint. But her hearing was excellent, and she could pick up on it. The sound of a horse, moving at a brisk pace. She took another careful look behind her, only to freeze when she saw the Horseman headed right toward her! She backed up, before turning to run again. But the sound of the hooves on the ground drew closer and closer, she couldn't outrun him. She finally had no choice but to dive to the side. Horses were fast, but they couldn't turn quite as suddenly as someone on foot. She felt something pass by just a scant distant from her back, and whirled to see the Horseman had pulled out a heavy blade. Swallowing past the dryness in her mouth, she realized she might have gotten into a bit of trouble.

The Headless Horseman had come round to come at her again, and she knew that she couldn't run from this. Despite not wanting to fight, she had no choice. Looking around, she began to put a plan together. When the Horseman came galloping toward her, she jumped. Not back, but up. The tree she was nearby had a branch within easy reach, so she grabbed onto it and swung forward, sending both feet toward the Horseman's chest in a swift kick. She rebounded, it felt like she'd kicked off of a brick wall! But on the bright side, she had avoided his cutlass, he hadn't been in position to hit her so close to himself. She swung back on the branch and continued back, until she spun up over it to balance on the branch. The Horseman could still reach her with his blade, but he wouldn't be able to bring his full strength to bear in such a position.

She thought she had successfully evaded him, until he lifted the flaming pumpkin, and threw it at her. Blanching, she jumped forward and down, leaping over the pumpkin even as it hit the branch where she had been standing. She hit the Horseman again, this time with all her strength behind it. She felt him move back, had she dismounted him, knocked him off his horse? She tried to scramble back, to put some space between him and her, to give herself a chance to see how she fared. Behind her, the pumpkin burst in an explosion of flames, sending a wave of heat in all directions. Thankfully, the tree was damp from the fog, so it didn't ignite. She kept her attention on the Horseman, knowing that he was the more dangerous of the two. The horse itself might still attack her, she had no intention of trying to mount it herself.
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scarlet

Baxter and Buster tensed as the horse reared up and charged them at a speed that they really hadn’t expected. However, They dodged to the side in a single fluid movement. They watched as the horse made a tight turn and charged them again from a different angle. They dodged again in a single fluid motion. Though this time they didn’t just dodge, they bashed the horseman off his horse with one of their shields. The horseman lay on the ground un moving as the brother moved toward him to strike him, but just as they deliver the blow, he was gone, and the horse was before them, with headless in the saddle. The Horse man repeated his attacks and twice more he was knocked from the saddle. Twice more he used his power to return to the saddle and avoid damage. The brothers were enjoying themselves, but it was kind of frustrating that they couldn’t hit him while he was on the ground. They tried one more time to knock him to the ground, and succeeded, but just as before he used some unknown ability to avoid being hit on the ground and to return to the saddle. Then he bowed to brothers. Their persistence had defeated him. And he was rewarding them for it. A cloak appeared around their shoulders, and Headless tossed them a bag of coins that had to be worth $1000.00 and when the brothers counted it, they found it did indeed contain that much. They put the money in their rucksack, and the brothers thought about going back to dracano, and suddenly they were gone.

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Now Duncan Ye knew the legend of the dullahan is real. He felt better prepared to go back into the sleepy hollow to find what it is guarding. The Juren male let his horse trot back into the creepy area.
It did not take long for him to hear the sounds of a second horse. The headless horseman again already? I was being so quiet to. He is good at guarding the treasure, damn. Duncan stayed quiet hoping the decapitated rider would to see him. The sounds got louder and faster.
You can do this Dunc. You just learned an offensive magic spell. I can use it to defend myself from the guardian of the hollow. With a deep shacking breath, the bearkin stopped his horse, got off its back, and stood his ground. The horseman came into view quickly. Even with out his head he is a big guy. I did not notice yesterday from on my horse and running away. Oh crap. No! I am going to deal with it bravely! Kind of like that kid, Hearth would do… or what I think he would do.
Duncan focused his being to be one with the earth, and made many pebbles levitate around him. The stones near by started to wobble as he got ready for a possible fight.

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encountered the headless horseman. lets see what happens next