Spareribs Grave [Or Darth & BP Are Very Hungry]

Judith hadn't had to tell Lamia twice to stay out in the open where the Wallmaster could grab her. She was a warrior, no coward, and although Courage was not Lady Din's field, she prided herself on hers. Still, she hoped the monster would indeed go after her and not try to target Judith after all. After all, Wallmasters were not known for their intelligence. If it tried to grab Judith, chances were it would crash into the shelves above her, shattering the urns and earning the two acolytes the wrath of not only Lamia's living superiors, but also the spirits of the fallen. She spun her glaive and used it as leverage to help her jump over the central altar, landing on the other side so it stood between her and Judith.

"Come on," she muttered, "Come to mama..." She didn't have to wait long before the characteristic rushing noise approached from above, alerting her to her assaulter's presence. She dove forward, on a collision course with the nearby wall, and turned around mid-dive to land the soles of her feet on the wall. Through sheer force of will and physical strength, she launched herself off it and towards the Wallmaster, swinging her glaive down with all her might as she got it within her range.

The blade caught on the Wallmaster's, slicing off one of its fingers and sending it veering off in Judith's direction. "Shit!" Lamia cried as she landed, "Sister Vilcaron, stop it!"

An expression of panic formed across Judith's countenance as the Wallmaster was flung toward her by Lamia's brutal blow, minus one finger. The Hylian priestess had no wish to see the sacred urns shattered; she had decided to ensconce herself beneath the shelves because she figured her foe's limited intelligence meant it would not attack what it could not see... She had not counted on the Wallmaster striking so swiftly, nor the violence of her companion's retaliation.

With only a fraction of a second to act as the monstrous hand hurtled toward the enshrined remains, Judith made her move. She couldn't afford to miss... so she wouldn't try to shoot it.

Springing out of her improvised cover, Judith leapt into the air and threw herself at the Wallmaster, hoping to shield the urns with her body. If being sent sprawling across the ground was her destiny, the least she could do was ensure her uncanny knack for winding up prone was put to use in service of the Goddesses. Din's faithful were her rivals, but their fallen were still deserving of the same respect she would have shown to any of the Goddesses' martyrs.

The resulting collision halted the Wallmaster in its tracks, sending both it and Judith crashing to the floor. The priestess had intended to finish the creature off with a point-blank blast of magic after tackling it, but she had overestimated her ability to withstand physical punishment. Still dazed by the impact, she could only weakly reach out for her staff as the Wallmaster stirred underneath her, the wooden implement having slipped from her grasp during her chaotic tumble to the ground.

Somewhere, her addled mind was certain, Farore was smiling on this unusual turn of events.

Er, wow. Lamia had assumed that Judith would have access to some sort of magic she could use to make the Wallmaster bounce off without sending her to the ground as well. Well, she supposed if Judith took the blow, she wouldn't have to. Worse, Lamia didn't trust her aim with magic and the two were close enough together that she risked harming the priestess of Nayru instead of, or along with, the monster. Clucking her tongue in frustration, a frustration that she felt fuelling her fire, she landed and ran over to where the Wallmaster was, wedging her glaive under it and flipping it upward. It righted itself in mid-flight, but was too slow to attack as Lamia shot a small ball of fire into its palm.

Wallmasters didn't have mouths, obviously, so it shouldn't have been able to make any sound other than he satisfying sizzle of rotten flesh. So, understandably, Lamia jolted, clutching her weapon as a safeguard, when it instead let out a shrill shriek, which echoed and kept sounding until it had burned up completely, not even leaving ashes. "...okay," Lamia finally said when her heart stopped pounding out of her throat, "That was definitely not regular Wallmaster behaviour. Thoughts, Sister Vilcaron?"

"My thoughts...?" Judith glowered at Lamia's flagrant lack of gratitude as she caught her breath, clasping her staff and rising to a stand. She had supposed that putting herself in harm's way for Din's sake would elicit some kind of thankful praise, or at least a steadying hand where previously there had been none, but evidently not. "Yes... I suppose thinking is MY specialty..." Her voice dripping with dry chagrin, Judith glanced towards Lamia, her face suddenly hardening in anger.

"Here's some food for thought..." Without warning, the Hylian priestess brandished her staff in the Gerudo's direction, the tip aimed perilously close to her companion's head. She would not tolerate this one second longer.

She loosed a Magic Bolt.

The sphere of arcane energy sailed over Lamia's shoulder and struck the Wallmaster that had just dropped down behind the Gerudo, the true source of Judith's disgust. The foul hand fell to the ground with an unearthly scream, its fingers still wriggling as the electrical current induced them to spasm. Marching past her partner without stopping to gauge her reaction, Judith showed no mercy to the misbegotten intruder, firing a casting of Ice into the centre of the Wallmaster's palm. The creature cried out one final time as the ferocious chill engulfed it, its fingers slowing as they succumbed to paralyzing numbness, before ceasing their struggle altogether.

"... these beasts never come alone. You would do well to remember that." Finishing her earlier sentence, Judith lowered her staff and looked back at Lamia. Being a well-read individual, the Hylian acolyte had studied various accounts of seasoned adventurers' encounters with Wallmasters. A recurring theme, she had noted, was that the fiendish hands almost always attacked in waves. Many would-be heroes had defeated one Wallmaster, only to find themselves in the grip of a second after letting their guard down... or even a third or fourth. In some admittedly rare instances, the beasts attacked in nearly endless hordes, one after another. She prayed that would not be the case here... and that Lamia would heed her warning.

"As for their origins... I can only speculate, though they have undoubtedly been summoned to this place through magic. If this disturbance is truly the work of a necromancer, it may be that he or she has bound malevolent spirits to these Wallmasters, which would explain why they are capable of producing such a din- err, racket."

...that was altogether much too close for comfort. Lamia found herself torn between dearly wanting to tear the priestess of Nayru a new one and frantically composing herself. What the hell had she been thinking? Of all the people, Sister Vilcaron should know how dangerous it was to startle her! If she'd been a fraction less accustomed to her fire, if she'd not had the revelation she'd had last time the two had met, chances were she could very well have literally exploded, only making the situation a million times worse! If not for the Wallmaster Judith had felled, Lamia thought she might have been entirely incapable of reining her fire in.

What really helped, however, was that Judith distracted her from her fire by theorising that spirits had been bound to the Wallmasters. Where she had turned red with rage before, now, suddenly all colour left her face. "Malevolent spirits," she muttered to herself. She had a terrible feeling that Judith might be only half right. Hurrying towards one of the walls and saying a quick prayer to ask for forgiveness for what she was about to do, she gently but urgently grabbed an urn and opened it. Looking inside, for a moment she feared she would find it empty. However, she saw not only the ashes in it, but also something else- something that was entirely out of line with the Order's rituals and doctrine.

Sticking her hand into the urn and trying desperately not to think of the sacrilege that this was, she fished it out. "Look," she said, showing it to Judith. "I assure you it is not common practice in the Order to store bones with the ashes of our priests... if anything, we burn every last bone. It... it might be a fetish of sorts... and if it is, then... then..." She threw the bone away from herself, shivering as she screwed the urn shut and replaced it on its shelf. "L-let's get going, Sister Vilcaron. Whatever is at work here has only left consequences in this wing of the mausoleum, and no sources that could be of any use to us. W-we don't have time to remove the bones from all urns." She clutched her glaive hard enough that her knuckles turned as white as her face, shivering as she fought back her fire once more, this time against her fear rather than her anger.

The sooner she was out of this wing, the sooner she could stop thinking about prideful priests and priestesses of Din being turned into... those things.

When Lamia uncovered the true extent of the Din wing's desecration, Judith blanched and visibly recoiled at the sight of the bone fetish, mortified by the unspeakable blasphemy of its existence. She had not missed the innuendo of her companion's unsaid suggestion; to think that the souls of the faithful could be bound in such a manner, forced to serve evil in undeath... There were no words.

At least this seemed to confirm her suspicions that a necromancer was on the loose, Judith thought grimly. Mere moments ago, she had wondered if the hostile Wallmasters had been conjured by the Moblins. As a race, the barbaric boar-men were not usually drawn to sorcery, but the raw power of the arcane was not entirely lost on them, either. Many tribes included at least one shaman, who often wielded powerful magics of their own design. Given its prevalence among the Dark King's armies, it was quite conceivable that necromancy might be one of their magical traditions. And considering the unholy object Lamia had found within the urn, which was in keeping with the nature of Moblin rituals, it was becoming increasingly apparent that this sorcerous malefactor was not an unknown third-party, but one of the Moblins themselves.

"This is... This is beyond believing. It is good that we investigated this wing, else this defilement might never have been brought to light." Struggling to keep her face unreadable in the hopes of presenting a facade of resolute composure, Judith looked away from Lamia as she spoke. "You are right, though. We must press onward. This corruption is like a plague... There's no telling how quickly it will be spread." Much as she hated to admit it, the Gerudo was correct to recommend moving on. If they stopped to cleanse the area, the Moblins would simply use that time to befoul a different part of the mausoleum. It would be a wild goose chase, a never-ending cycle of purification and profanity... No, they would have to double their pace, to catch-up with the Moblin's leader. Cutting the evil off at the source was the only way to bring an end to this nightmare.

"Let us hurry." Gathering up the lower half of her robe, Judith started to run back toward the central hall, vowing that if the Moblins laid even a single finger on anything in Mother Nayru's wing, the wrath of Ganon and all his lackeys combined would pale before her righteous anger.

Just then, a bellowing war cry, undeniably issued from a Moblin's larynx, echoed throughout the chamber, originating from an otherwise discreet side-passage the two women had yet to explore. Halting in her tracks, the Hylian priestess shot her companion a confused look, then put her finger to her lips and beckoned for her to follow. It was one thing to leave the Din wing uncleansed for the time being, but it was quite another to abandon it to any Moblins that remained within- especially if they were attacking someone or something.

The passage emerged onto a balcony overlooking a gallery of marble statues, and as Judith peered over the parapet, she bore witness to an extraordinary scene: A small war party of Moblins were beset by a pack of flaming Wallmasters, frantically trying to fend off Din's servitors with swipes of their axes... And judging by the number of Moblins already being grappled by the burning hands, the vile creatures were faring poorly. As they began to lose ground, one of the Moblins backpedaled into one of the many statues lining the room. The instant the rear of his jerkin touched the statue's base, a pale, translucent likeness of the woman the statue depicted materialized next to it, clad in armour emblazoned with the Mark of Din and wielding a glowing longsword. Without warning, the spectral figure descended upon the Moblin, seizing his throat with one hand while the other plunged her ethereal blade into his chest, producing a very real spray of blood.

Rendered momentarily speechless by the spectacle, Judith waved Lamia over to her position and pointed out the ghost with her free hand. "... D-Did you s-see that?! It would... s-seem that some of Din's servants... continue to resist... H-How should we proceed?"

"...see?" Lamia said, laughing nervously as she saw the Din Wing's security manhandling the Moblins, "Flaming Wallmasters!" She had had no idea those were actually a thing. She'd been at least ninety percent joking when she had spoken about them earlier- the other ten percent had been nothing more than a threat to burn their foe to the ground. It was when she saw the spirit of a High Priestess of Power rise from her statue and strike down one of the defilers, however, that she truly fell to her knees, careful not to drop her weapon in awe. She nodded when Judith asked about it. "It will take more than death to remove those who truly bear Lady Din's blessing from a battle..." She recognised the armour and weaponry on the statue, having learnt the names of Din's particularly mighty followers. "That is Lady Vivian," she explained. "One of maybe five of us who have ever received Lady Din's true, personal blessing, or so the legend goes. I didn't know her remains were interred here..."

Whether Vivian had truly spoken with Din and received the Goddess of Power's blessing was something Lamia didn't know and she cared little for the truth of the matter. What mattered was that she was fighting the Moblins along with the flaming Wallmasters, and it was a breathtaking spectacle to watch. Still, Lamia thought, she would be a sorry excuse for an acolyte if she left them to their own devices. "I'm not going to let this go on. Hold on to my glaive," she said as she shoved the weapon into Judith's hands and instead drew her twin blades, "And stay down so they don't see you." With those words, she leapt onto the parapet, clanged her swords together above her head as she uttered a war cry with the savagery of her Gerudo ancestry, and leapt down, crashing a foot into the skull of the first Moblin she encountered and using it as leverage to flip backwards over the head of another one, landing on one knee and swinging both swords out wildly, both as a warning and to injure the two Moblins whose attention her war cry had drawn to her.

One of the flaming Wallmasters turned towards her, dropping its dead and scorched foe in favour of walking on its fingers towards the new interloper. That it didn't fly was a good sign, Lamia supposed, but she still held her sword out in front of her just in case she'd have to defend herself. In front of her, the Wallmaster halted, as if inspecting her, and finally it turned, levitating off the ground and swiping hard at a Moblin to her side and slamming it into the far wall to choke the life from it. Lamia sighed in relief, assuming that she had been recognised as a protegee of Din, and got up to run towards the remaining Moblins, who had converged on the spirit of Lady Vivian.

Between the two devoted of Din and the wing's own security, it didn't take much longer for the Moblins to clear out. The ones who had not been killed ran off, only to be chased down by the once-more flying Wallmasters. Lady Vivian vansihed from sight without a word, and Lamia clanged her swords together once more before bowing to the statue. Then, she turned back towards the parapet, grinning sheepishly at Judith. "My apologies. However, I believe the Goddess of Courage's wing might be in that direction," she added as she pointed one sword to the passage through which the Moblins and Wallmasters had vanished. "I suggest we return that pendant of yours to its rightful place."

Judith reluctantly accepted the glaive with a resigned sigh, her shoulders slumping under its heft. The weapon was taller than her! How was it that this infernal polearm kept foisting itself upon her? First she'd had to retrieve it when Lamia had collapsed outside her home, now this... Did the Gerudo think she had nothing better to do than serve as her personal porter? No, Judith thought bitterly, it was not as if SHE HAD A STAFF THAT NEEDED TO BE IN HER HANDS IN ORDER FOR HER TO CAST THE BULK OF HER SPELLS. The Hylian priestess was not about to use the glaive as a focus, either- her one-time apprentice had aptly demonstrated that this dreadful thing was ill-suited to that purpose. What she would not give for a cantrip that would grant her an extra pair of arms right now!

Of course, she could always just drop it on the floor... but Judith suspected Lamia would take offense to that, too.

Thus stymied, the Hylian woman elected to follow her companion's instructions and observe the unfolding melee, to intervene only if necessary. In truth, though she dearly wished to face the Goddesses' enemies, Judith might have stayed her hand in this particular battle, even if her staff was available. In their angered state, Din's spirits and servitors might not distinguish between her and the Moblins, viewing any who did not share their faith as an intruder. Their pride as warriors was at stake, after all... And there was always the risk that an errant spell could accidentally destroy an artifact of spiritual import, which would surely draw the ire of the burning Wallmasters. All in all, it would be for the best to stay put and watch, unless the Moblins gained the upper hand.

As luck would have it, it never came to that. Whipped into a righteous rage by the Moblins' trespass, Lamia and Lady Vivian dispatched the remainder of the barbarians in a frightening display of proficiency with bladed instruments. Judith had to admit, as frustrating as Lamia could be, her swordplay was a treat to behold. It was nothing like the fencing techniques employed by the Mage-Knights of the Cult, who combined elegant thrusts with various Enchantments. The Gerudo's style was unrestrained, relentless, raining blow after blow in a fearsome blend of speed and power, yet there was a flow to her movements that elevated it above simple recklessness. Seeing it in action sent shivers down the Hylian acolyte's spine.

Lamia's passion for the martial arts was clear. If she were to actually channel some of that energy into her mind, rather than just her body, she might actually be tolerable, Judith mused as Lady Vivian and the Wallmasters resumed their silent vigils. Case in point: In her haste to continue their mission, the Gerudo had overlooked something important. Tapping her foot impatiently, Judith shook her head.

"Y-Yes, well. Perhaps you should return your ring, first. It would not do for us to purify these tombs, only to fail our task because of mere forgetfulness."

"Oh, of course!" Lamia looked down at her hand, spreading the fingers wide as if to give herself a better look at the ring. She'd completely forgotten about it in the racket and the excitement of the battle. Placing her swords back on her waist where they belonged, she hummed happily to herself as she walked over to Vivian's statue, gently and cheerfully plucking the ring off her own finger and slipping it over one of the statue's.

It was a little weird how good she felt. Normally, she'd expect to be pumping with adrenaline, or winded as that very adrenaline left her, after a battle like that. Instead, she just felt relaxed. All her muscles were warm and loose, and for the first time in what she assumed to be her whole life, her fire was silent, sizzling somewhere deep inside her but a far cry from the roaring bonfire it normally was. "Well, I don't know about you," she said as she stepped past the priestess of Wisdom and gently took her glaive out of the other's hand, "But I feel great! Come on, we're losing ground on the Wallmasters!"

She wasted no more time rushing over to the hallway in which the Wallmasters had vanished. Gradually, the walls' subtle hue changed from an earthy orange to a fresh green, and the carvings from resembling Gerudo script to something most closely resembling an elegant handwriting. As well as she had fitted in, looking like she belonged, in the Din Wing, Lamia knew she would stand out like a sore thumb here. Well, all the better, she supposed. The more their enemies focused on her, the safer Sister Judith would be.

And the more she could fight. If that quelled her fire so well, she'd have to do it more.

"I'm glad one of us is in a good mood," Judith muttered under her breath as Lamia passed her by, now well and truly confused. Where had this bout of cheerful optimism come from? Was the solemn nature of their task lost on the Gerudo entirely? Theirs was a divinely appointed quest to preserve the honoured dead, not a leisurely stroll through a museum exhibit! Forget the great mysteries of the cosmos, they would be far easier to understand than the inscrutable priestesses of Din.

Or was it just her? Most would have agreed that people were easier to comprehend than tomes of arcane lore, but the Hylian priestess had always found the opposite to be true. Books were nothing more than raw information in written form, their contents largely immutable. But people... People were unpredictable. She never knew how they would react, and that made her nervous.

Not liking the slant her internal monologue was taking, Judith willed herself into a state of inner quiet as she caught up with Lamia.

When the walls begain to take on a green tint, the Hylian priestess swiftly retrieved the Farorite pendant she had stashed in one of her pouches, palming it in her left hand as she walked. The sooner she could return it to its proper place, the happier both she and the spirits would be. Of all the wings of the Grave, Farore's would probably pose the biggest challenge to the two priestesses, on account of not having a cleric of Courage on hand to direct them. Judith knew not what challenges awaited them here. Mother Nayru's principles were clearly defined, and Din's were fairly straightforward, as baffling as her servants could be. But Farore was, as ever, the most enigmatic of the Goddesses. Being the patron of charisma as well as the Goddess who had first created the spark of mortal life, Farore was uniquely possessed of that very same unpredictability Judith had mused upon.

Archery? Wind? Leadership? Who could say which one of Farore's themes would manifest in Her trials? It could be all of them, or none.

"We must be doubly respectful in this place," Judith cautioned her companion at length, "We must be thorough, but neither should we linger overlong. Without one of Farore's faithful to guide us, we may find ourselves unwelcome if we loiter. Keep an eye out for somewhere we can restore this pendant to. Such an act of goodwill may persuade the spirits here to be lenient, and perhaps grant us a sign of how we might traverse this wing."

"Yes, of course." Truth be told, Lamia was getting a little tired of Judith's constant berating her on her behaviour. She was treating the place with the respect it deserved, she just didn't believe in being passive all the time when there was clearly action to be undertaken. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she pushed open the large double doors at the end of the hallway, leading the way through.

"Huh," was the first thing that came out of her mouth as she entered. "That's... not what I was expecting." From the cracks in the ground and the walls grew a small variety of plants and grasses, giving the air in the Farore wing a decidedly fresher scent and feel than the musty air in the other wings. They also made it look more welcoming, so Lamia found herself temporarily lowering her guard. "This is almost nice," she muttered, looking around with her glaive loosely in her hand. "I know the Goddess of Courage gave life to Lady Din's creations, but to think that would extend this far..."

While Lamia was distracted, however, something in the room decided to remind her this was still a mausoleum. Feeling a chill on her shoulders, she turned around only to be faced with a Ghini. Startled, she went for her glaive, but the ghost was faster, grabbing her shoulders and sending a numbing cold through her making it hard to get a good solid grip on her weapon...

Entering the Farorite section of the Spirit's Grave proved a surreal experience for the young Nayruite, her nose assailed by an unexpectedly pleasant scent as she took her first steps within the sanctum. At a glance, Farore's wing seemed to have been overtaken by nature, in dire need of new masonry to curb the rampant growth of greenery that dominated the chamber. Upon closer inspection, however, the disrepair appeared deliberate; the faults in the architecture were perfectly placed to allow the vegetation to flourish in key areas, forming patterns that were too neat to be the result of disgraceful negligence.

Order in the chaos... The balance between Mother Nayru's meticulous planning and Din's impassioned calls to arms. This was a place dedicated to Farore, alright. Judith breathed in the fresh air, before letting out a contented sigh. For a farm girl like her, the scene was strangely comforting. Lamia was right about that, at least. The lush, verdant flora was a potent symbol of the Goddess of Courage, and she knew that even the most seasoned gardeners would struggle to recreate what Farore's priestesses had cultivated here. It had to be protected.

"Life amidst death... A Goddess of riddles, indeed." Judith mused aloud, hustling to join her companion. She was no closer to understanding the teachings of Farore, but she could appreciate the peaceful atmosphere... as well as the inherent irony of the chamber.

Unfortunately, her brief reprieve was soon shattered by the abrupt arrival of evil: As if summoned by the momentary relaxing of their guards, a foul Ghini materialized out of thin air before the two priestesses, latching onto Lamia without so much as a warning shriek! The undead?! Was this wing already infested? The very idea was enough to make Judith's mouth go dry, even as she raced to brandish her staff at this new threat.

Her Gerudo ally had offered no resistance whatsoever as the malicious spirit seized her by the shoulders, but while there were many words the Hylian acolyte might have used to describe Lamia, 'coward' did not number among them. The woman's earlier stand alongside Lady Vivian was proof that she was not the sort to quail before a ghost; her hesitation had to be the result of some form of paralyzing magic rather than sheer fright. Exorcising the Ghini would be the most direct method of freeing her, then.

Calling upon the necessary energies for a Magic Bolt, Judith dashed to Lamia's side, practically jamming her staff into the ghost as she released the spell. Unable to miss at this range, Judith's projectile swiftly dissipated the Ghini, banishing it back to the nether with a sharp crackle. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she turned to put a hand on Lamia's shoulder to steady her, only to be greeted by a most unwelcome sight.

A second Ghini had risen from the floor, its misty body seeping through the cracks before coalescing into the unmistakable shape of a malevolent spirit. Unlike the first, this one was of truly gargantuan proportions, almost as tall as the ceiling. Slowly, the bloated spectre rotated its beady, hate-filled eyes, its gaze settling on Judith as it opened a mouth wide enough to swallow her whole and bellowed in rage!

Caught off-guard by her opponent's immense size, Judith froze, her shaking legs refusing to obey her as she tried to beat a hasty retreat. Had the giant Ghini cursed her? ... Or had her resolve abandoned her, scattered to the winds by this previously hidden foe? She prayed for the former, but feared the latter...

Lamia nodded at the other priestess in gratitude, just as the second, larger spirit showed up. Unfortunately for it, Lamia had recovered from the smaller one that had numbed her before, and with the larger one focusing its attention on Judith, it left itself wide open to the Gerudo. "Gotcha!" she shouted as she kicked against the ground and sent herself towards the malevolent creature, glaive swinging. It didn't occur to her until she had already committed to her lunge that maybe a physical weapon wasn't the ideal choice to attack a spirit with, but as by some sort of miracle the weapon connected- and the Ghini visibly reeled, flying back a little ways before summoning more of its smaller brethren.

This time, Lamia would not be caught off-guard, however, and she switched weapons. "Could you keep an eye on the big one, Sister Vilcaron? I'll take out the small fry as quickly as I can, but I need to know when it's getting too close for comfort." With that, she stepped forward, hacking left and right and felling small Ghinis with every slice of her blades.

The fire within her flickered to life, interested. It wasn't quite the roaring bonfire it had been during the fight with the moblins, but depending on how this battle went, it could yet become one...

Luckily, Lamia recovered and lunged forward, driving the large Ghini back before it could capitalize on Judith's momentary hesitation. It was doubly fortunate that the Gerudo's weapon seemed capable of harming the ethereal spectre, putting it on the defensive and forcing it to call forth more of its lesser kin instead of pressing the attack. Although the Hylian acolyte did not relish the arrival of several new foes, the fact that the element of surprise had been spoiled for the titanic spirit was proof that the Goddesses watched over Their faithful.

Mastering her fear, Judith quickly surveyed the hall-turned-battlefield, weighing her options. There was Wisdom in Lamia's proposal; her swift strikes were better-suited to engaging multiple opponents than Judith's own magics. But the question of how best to keep the largest Ghini occupied was a vexing one. She very much doubted her Ice spell would fell it in a single blow, and if it charged her, there would be very little she could do to stop it...

The thought of such a ghastly fate was as chilling as the ferocious winds of Snowpeak...

Wait... The winds? Yes, she recalled how those damnable winds had carried a cold far worse than that of the snow during her trek to Snowpeak Temple. Judith glanced at her left hand, the hand that had once staunched the flow of her frigid blood during her battle against the ice wizard inhabiting those old ruins. What if she channeled that power outwards, instead...?

There was no time for any further inner deliberation, however, as the host of Ghini had begun to surge forward with terrifying howls. Steeling herself, Judith strode forward to meet them, thrusting the palm of her left hand toward the incoming ghosts and concentrating on the vivid memory of the winds that had nearly robbed of her digits...

A blue light dancing across her fingertips heralded an icy gale that erupted from her palm, engulfing the swarm of Ghini. Several were outright frozen in their tracks, clattering harmlessly to the ground as macabre ice sculptures, while those that survived came to a literal screeching halt, rendered immobilized by the supernatural cold and thus easy prey for Lamia's glaive. Even their monstrous leader appeared to be taken aback, shrinking away from the Blizzard as much as its size would allow. Regrettably, Judith was only able to maintain her new spell for a couple of seconds, much as she would have liked to destroy them all in a grand display of Nayru's arcane might.

As the torrent of ice magic ceased, Judith immediately stepped back to let Lamia have the fore, flexing her fingers as if to ward off frostbite as she flashed her companion an apologetic smile.

"F-Forgive me... I-I had an idea, and I thought this would make it easier for the both of us..."

As reckless as testing a new spell in the middle of combat was, there was truthfully a very pragmatic reason for Judith to disregard Lamia's strategy and tax her own body so. She was all-too-aware that the Gerudo had yet to fully overcome the flames within her; a protracted battle would only serve to increase the risk that she would lose control and incinerate the greenery around them, thereby guaranteeing that Farore would visit her wrath upon them both. Accordingly, taking a chance at eliminating most of the Ghini in one fell swoop was the most auspicious course of action. Facing them as a horde would merely give the largest the seconds it needed to summon even more. This way, they could both concentrate their Goddess-granted abilities on the wicked spirit...