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He couldn't believe what he was seeing.  His hands stood still, wrapped around the neck of his mystical lute as he sat atop a boulder.  Moments before, he had been strumming along, enjoying a small rest in his travels.  Now, however, he found himself staring at a terror in the sky being piloted by an even worse fiend.

"[color=A9A9A9]Is that... Masque?[/color]" He squinted as he peered toward the villain, trying to be sure.  Ryker, the RiffMaster, had never met the nefarious rogue personally, but Masque's reputation was quite infamous.

"[color=A9A9A9]Hoo, boy.  This isn't good.[/color]"  He pushed himself to his feet.  "[color=A9A9A9]That looks like a charge, which means there's bound to be more of them.[/color]" Just as he said it, he could hear the serpentine movements of Masque's minions in the distance as they made their way through the ground terrain.  Their target was easy enough to determine; they were headed straight for the palace walls.  Ryker took in a deep breath, wound his arm around like a propeller to get it loose, and finally exhaled.  It was that time again.  He squeezed his knuckles into his hands and let each digit pop in rapid succession before slinging his strapped lute toward his back, digging his foot into the dirt and sprinting off in pursuit of the shadow serpents and the palace itself.