Bottom of the Well [Mag & BP]

"Right then." Horus walked back to where the rope of his grappling hook dangled from the floor above and grabbed it, giving it a lash in hopes of dislodging the hook above. He succeeded, judging from the metal claw falling down quickly, and he caught it in his free hand, starting to roll up the rope. "Definitely be careful. I really don't want to know what will happen if we fell through the floor again. I seriously think we'd fall to the bowels of hell or something."

Luna shook her head and rolled her eyes at the sheer ridiculousness of that statement, but refrained from commenting. She followed the men into the tunnel, observing the spiders crawling along the walls and frowning. Spiders? How did anything that wasn't undead survive in this place? Even spiders needed sustenance... then again, there were probably small insects taking advantage of the corpses that littered the sewer. Yeah, that made sense.

"There's definitely something here," Horus said. Whatever it was, it made the hairs on his neck stand on end... and that was saying something. "Everyone be paranoid. I have the feeling it could grab any of us at any moment..."

At his place in the front, he did his best to make to look out for any monsters. This time, making special care to use his innate sense ability. Seeing wouldn't help him at all if all the monsters were hidden behind fake walls or invisible. After walking a good 40 feet down the tunnel, something seemed to change. The stone brick walls were slowly starting to become more and more covered with old cobwebs. Eventually, even the floor was sticky with old webs. Kalvar had no idea how spiders could survive down here, but then again, the whole place was more than it seemed.

Suddenly, Kalvar immediately sensed danger and rolled to left, almost running into the wall as a Big Skulltula suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, attempting to bite straight into his head. It's skull-shaped exoskeleton on its back looked even more creepy and deformed than normal, probably a direct result from living in a place such as this. Wasting no time, he quickly shot an arrow at the giant spider, only to strike harmlessly against its impenetrable backside, and it suddenly crawled back up its web. Only then did Kalvar actually look up.

The ceiling of this particular part of the tunnel was completely fake, and just seemed to disappear entirely now that the Skulltula had dropped through it. Up above was a huge web, covered in a huge amount of corpses wrapped up in skulltula webs, and bones strewn all over it as well. This frightening insect had clearly had this web for a very long time. There were even some rather fresh looking corpses up there, with skin still rotting away and armor that was just starting to rust. Mostly Hylians, but there did seem to be at least a few Rito, of all things.

Kalvar quickly pushed back out from underneath the spiders reach, and attempted to shoot at it again, hoping that Luna would help with her ice magic. Instead of just bouncing harmlessly against its back, it seemed to be much faster on its web, crawling just out of his shot, and the arrow piercing through the web. Skulltula's weren't normally a hassle, but when they had giant webs up on the ceiling, and moved so fast it was hard for even him to hit them, Kalvar was a little worried.

"Can I go literally anywhere in Hyrule without encountering this blasted thing? Maybe Snowhead, if they'd even freeze to death." He chuckled softly at his grim joke, not really trying to make much attempt at humor, and more accurately calm his own nerves.

"Oh fuck me," Horus whispered as he saw the Skulltula's web, readying his crossbow. That was... definitely not healthy. Not normal Skulltula behaviour, either. "I thought these things fed on small animals at most," he said to Luna, who shook her head.

"Normally, yes. But they don't normally grow this big, either." She frowned. "What I'm wondering is where it got all those corpses... Some of them are fresh."

"Damnable tourists!"

"No, not tourists." Luna was much calmer than Horus. "We would have seen them if that were the case... Horus, you don't think that thing... hunts, do you?"

"If it does, then it won't for much longer." With those words, Horus demonstratively placed a fresh bolt in his crossbow and aimed it up, launching the projectile up and into the Skulltula's back. Its backside was well-armoured, of course, but a crossbow bolt had a lot more power behind it than a normal arrow did, punching through the armour. For a moment, the enormous spider twitched and trashed, half its legs coming loose from the web as it emitted a horrifying shriek of pain. To Horus's horror, however, once the initial shock at being shot dissipated, it simply reattached its legs to its web and skittered on. "Are you fucking shitting me?!"

He had to admit, the crossbow was impressive. Much more power, albeit less range for his tastes. Can't exactly snipe a a moblin hundreds of feet away with a tiny crossbow bolt. "Pretty sure it hunts, I've not seen any fresh corpses anywhere else in this goddess-forsaken place." Pulling another arrow back on his bow, he fired another arrow towards the large spider as its legs reattached to its web. He only just grazed past the fast moving leg, and his arrow piercing straight through the web again, and seemingly disappearing into the area above the web.

Suddenly, the Skulltula dropped straight down from its web right in front of Horus. As it dropped, the few bits of web which were severed by Kalvars arrows shook from the sudden movement, and several bodies, old and new, fell down onto the stone floor. Making loud thudding noises, and the newer ones leaving small blood splatters. Thankfully, none of the bodies even landed close to Kalvar and the ikanian duo.

As quick as he could, Kalvar stepped close and shot an arrow straight into one of the many eyes of the spider. Embedding deep inside, all the way up to the fletching, the Skulltula reared in pain on its back legs. A shot that close probably just barely missed the brain... if the brain was even in its head. He had no idea about the anatomy of large arachnids, though with how much he ran into these things, he probably should learn.

He knew that Horus could probably finish the beast off now himself with it being on the ground, but he was still smarting from the ReDeads from earlier, and decided to try and finish the job himself. Quickly reloading an arrow with trained skill, he fired another arrow in the small head of the spider. With it being on the ground now, it was much easier to aim properly and accurately. With an ear-piercing screech, the Skulltula dropped dead, oozing its strange dark blood all over the stone floor.

"Well... that's not something I'd wish to ever fight again." He sighed softly, the only issue with using a bow was retrieving the arrows. Not often did he wish to stick his hands right up against a monster he had just slain, or reach inside the mandibles of a skulltula to retrieve an arrow or two. However, his attention wasn't really focused on the Skulltula, but on the overpowering stench of the dead corpses that fell from above. Some of them probably even had usable armor or valuables still, but he wasn't just immediately going to loot the dead. He didn't want to seem insensitive to Horus and Luna, just immediately looting through the dead bodies.

"There's plenty of them in Ikana," Horus said, kicking the spider's corpse aside once Kalvar had retrieved his arrows. He did it more out of habit and frustration than anything else, but somehow it made him feel a little less horrid. "They just don't usually get this big. I have to wonder where it kept getting fresh meat to feast on." At least it was dead now, he told himself, and it wouldn't come after them anymore. It still puzzled him, but he decided to let it rest- he had bigger fish to fry.

Luna, in the meantime, watched as Kalvar retrieved his arrows. Normally, Horus would recollect his bolts as well, but it had been mangled on its way into the Skulltula's shell and wouldn't be much use. It was a concerning situation- every so often, he would lose a bolt like that. With neither materials nor the expertise to make new ones, it was a matter of time before they would run out of their most powerful physical projectiles. Barring Bertrand slinging his axe at an enemy, but it was hardly a throwing weapon...

She jolted when Horus kicked against one of the corpses that had fallen from the ceiling and started rummaging around it. "There was a crossbow with it," he said, seeing her look, "Maybe I can pilfer some bolts. It'd help." He frowned at her when her incredulous look didn't change. "Oh, come on. It's not like he needs them anymore." Luna shook her head. She was pragmatic, but stealing from the dead was a line she would rather not cross. As a mage living in Ikana... she knew well there were legitimate reasons to not mess with the deceased.

The very moment Horus started searching through the bodies, Kalvar did the same. Sure, Luna seemed to not like it very much, but as Horus said, they didn't need anything they had. He grimaced as she powerful smell washed over him as he sorted through a few of the bodies. Nothing too incredibly valuable on any of them, as the jewelry they were wearing he deigned to just leave on them. Not so much for respect for the dead, and more so because getting a ring or a necklace off of dead flesh was going to be incredibly difficult.

Shortly after he started, he found a small pouch around the belt of one of the Hylian corpses. Opening it up, his eyes widened a little bit at his finds. The first thing out of the pouch that he retrieved was a Lens of Truth, which was going to be incredibly helpful in dealing with these illusions. He silently thanked the Goddesses, and the poor woman who had died so long ago so that he might come into possession of such a wonderful treasure.

The only other thing inside the pouch was what seemed to be a rather fancy looking ring of some kind. It seemed to be made of a single piece of ebony, interlaced with little chucks of polished obsidian around the edges. Now he wasn't very knowledgeable about jewelry, but something this fancy had to be worth something. To not lose it, he slipped it onto his left hand. Hopefully it wouldn't get in the way too much.

Not really finding anything else useful right away, he slowly stood to his feet, and took what seemed to be an oddly inaudible deep breath. Turning over to face Horus and Luna, he held the Lens of Truth in his hands, planning on showing off the recent addition to his arsenal. 'Well now, look at what I found' is what he tried to say. However when he spoke, no sounds came out of his mouth. He didn't even hear himself speak. His eyes widened immensely in surprise, and he tried to speak once more, hearing nothing once again.

After a short while of just trying to speak to get their attentions, he started to yell as loud as he possibly could. Kalvar was freaking out inside, and he was sure his face showed it. He had absolutely no idea why he was suddenly unable to make any noise while speaking. "Hello?! Can you hear me?!" Only then was his voice even slightly audible, but just barely. He hoped he wasn't suddenly cursed for looting through those dead bodies, or something along those lines. That would be absolutely horrible for everyone. Yelling as loud as he could once more, his voice was barely audible once again. "I found a ring and this lens! But for some reason I can barely talk!"

Finding a handful of usable bolts, Horus packed them away carefully and looked around to see Kalvar still rummaging around in the other corpses. Figuring they'd be a while, he got to his feet, looking around once more. The Skulltula's size still bothered him, as did the question of where it had gotten so many people to feast on. A lot of them were armed and dressed in similar styles to Horus and Luna themselves. Were there other survivors of Ganon's initial invasion here in Ikana? There couldn't possibly be many, or they would have run into them earlier in the past, but surely... it was the only true explanation for the beast's size and web.

"My kingdom for a fire spell," Horus muttered, covering his nose. "I'd love to burn this whole thing down."

"I'd try," Luna offered, "But I don't think my wall of blue fire can go that high."

"Save your magic," he finally said, "We might need it later. I was just thinking out loud." He turned around. "Hey, have you heard from Kal-" He interrupted himself when he saw the archer standing there, face red with effort, and yet barely producing any sound. He gave Luna an uncomfortable look and suddenly felt the strong urge to toss the bolts back where he'd gotten them. He'd never believed in people getting cursed because they messed with dead bodies, but curses in Ikana were nothing to sneeze at.

Luna, meanwhile, realised she sensed some sort of contained magic radiating from Kalvar and walked over, pointing at the black ring Kalvar was wearing. He hadn't had it up until now. "Kalvar," she asked, "What is that?"

Thank the Goddesses he had finally caught their attention. However, why Luna's question asked him about a ring he was wearing instead of why he was insanely quiet was beyond him. He couldn't even hear himself breath or even stomp his feet. Taking the ring off, he held it out for her to examine. Maybe she had a reason to examine the ring? Perhaps it was cursed and he was doomed to remain almost impossibly quiet for the rest of his life. Regardless, as he held it out for her, he started to yell again.

"I FOUND THIS..." He immediately shut his mouth, and blinked a little bit, looking down at the ring. He heard himself yell, and loudly too. The echoes bounced down the hallway as he stared at the ring in his hands. "What in the world..." His breathing was even audible once again. It was as if nothing had ever happened. This was incredibly strange, but he was intent to figure out what was going on.

Kalvar slipped the ring back on his finger, and suddenly his breathing was completely inaudible once again. His attempts to speak were completely silent. A smirk slowly spread across his face. The ring made him incredibly quiet. If he couldn't even hear himself, he doubted anyone else could even hear him. This was too good to be true. With his invisibility and now his inaudibility, no one would ever find him now. In fact, he froze and let himself disappear a few seconds before he moved and came back in sight. Slipping the ring off his finger, he spoke once more.

"Well, no cause for alarm. But this ring, whatever it is, allows me to be completely quiet somehow." A smirk spread widely on his face. Sure, he had to manually take it off, and wasn't so good when travelling with others. Talking would be rather difficult, unless he used his Message ability. It was always a possibility, it just took forever. He tucked the ring into one of his pockets on his bags, and grabbed the Lens of Truth once again.

"Aaaanyways. I found this." He holds it up a little bit so they can all see it. Assuming they knew what it was, he spoke up once again. "This will definitely help with all the illusions and what not. No more falling through walls or floors for me. "So, if you guys are ready, shall we continue? Now that we know I'm not cursed to be silent forever or something like that."

Luna jolted back when Kalvar shouted at her face, but quickly recovered when they established it was in fact the odd, magic-infused ring that had caused his sudden quietness. "Honestly that wouldn't be the worst curse to strike you here," Horus said. He left it hanging in the air for a moment before elaborating, "I mean, you could end up like the ReDead and the Gibdo. And the existence of those things isn't that bad, but I'd have to put a boot in your head." He hoisted his crossbow over his shoulder, put away the newly looted crossbow bolts, and drew his sword. "We shouldn't be far from the exit on the castle's side," he mused, "Shouldn't be long now."

"It shouldn't," Luna agreed. "But there's still some sort of presence..." She was very worried about it. It had come closer since they had fought the Skulltula, and she still couldn't put her finger on what it was. Horus led the way forward, to the other side of the skulltula's web, and Luna followed behind him, Kalvar behind her. She guessed she would find out soon enough...

Kalvar glanced over at the dead skulltula once again before taking a deep breath to try and clear his head. Not that it did that much good with the dead body stench, but it still helped a bit. His nerves were still going like crazy, however. Just as Luna mentioned, he sense some form of danger as well. It was getting closer to them... Or maybe they were getting closer to it, he couldn't be certain.

For once, Kalvar was actually surprised that he was allowed to travel behind them. Did that mean Horus was actually trusting him a little bit more? After all, he was clearly very protective of Luna. Smiling softly to himself at the thought, he pulled his sword out it's sheath to hold in his hand. In his other hand, he held the Lens of Truth up to his eyes. If there was any more nasty surprises that this place had in store, he wanted to know of them first.

As they travelled through the well, a deep frown spread across his face. The danger was clearly nearby, but where was it? He scanned all the walls, floors and ceilings for any sign of an invisible wall, but nothing had come up yet. The constant sense of dread and panic was not well known to Kalvar. Tight spaces and dark dungeons were not his thing. Not in any way shape or form. Softly, he spoke. "Whatever it is I sense, it's close. No secret doors around here just yet..."

Suddenly, up ahead there was indeed a different path. The ceiling had a trapdoor, that seemed to open up into a huge room up above. That has gotta be the beginning of the way out. Unfortunately, they'd have to throw a rope, or lift each other up to get up there. Looking through the lens the hallway just seemed to end completely into a flat wall, yet without the lens the hallway looked like it was going to go on forever. Strange magics at work. Fake walls, and invisible walls. What next?

"Look up. That's the way to go." Reaching forwards slightly, he handed the lens to Luna so she could see what he did as well. "Might wanna stop walking. That hallway ends in invisible bricks abruptly."