A Test of Spirit

Kamalya never thought of herself as an angry person. Well okay...perhaps she was a bit hot headed, but what proper Gerudo wasn't? At least she was less hot headed then her sisters. She had a level of calm and tranquility that more fitting for the priestess-in-training that she was. It was a necessary thing to have, it was kind of hard to be connection to the divine for your people if you were burning with rage all the time. Balance was the key, in mind, body, and soul.

Right now however, more then ever before, Kamalya wanted to scream in frustration until her throat was hoarse and every single tree in Kokiri Forest fell over.

It was day...two? Three? Since she had set foot in these goddess forsaken woods in hopes of finding her first Spirit Shrine. The only Spirit Shrine she had any clue of its general location. The first step in her journey to become an actual priestess. And here she was walking past the same tree, or what she believed to be the same tree, for the tenth time today. She was being denied the very first step of journey and after so many days Kamalya had had enough of it.

Where was her half sister when you needed her? Kamalya really needed someone to punch...

Edrali watched his target carefully from behind his tree. A deer was along the way. Edrali pulled an arrow from his quiver and drew the bowstring back somewhat slowly to make sure he made no noise to scare it away. He brought his hawkeye down and readied his shot. Suddenly the deer ran away. "blast!" He thought, "what gave me away!" He slid the hawkeye back up to his head and looked around. To the left he found something that looked really out of place, a gerudo. She looked very lost. He wasn't sure he could trust her, especialy being that gerudo have been known to be thieves and seducers. But this one looked different. She looked more humble and nice looking. He figured he might as well introduce himself and see how things go. He came out from behind his tree and asked, "you look lost, need help?

Hastily, perhaps a bit too hastily, Kamalya pointed the quarterstaff which she had been using as a walking stick at the source of the voice she heard and dropped into a battle stance. Of the many things she hated about the forest, one of them was the fact that everything made sounds in the forest. The wind through the trees, falling branches, tiny harmless animals, it was impossible to tell if anything was sneaking up on you. The Hylian had gotten far closer then Kamalya would have liked without seeing him coming sooner.

The man didn't look like much of a threat, not that Kamalya was going to let her guard down even the slightest for the first person she's seen in days, but it was a relief to know that he wasn't some sort of moblin or such monster. Probably a hunter, she guessed by the lack of any real combat weapon aside from a bow.

"I am not lost." Kamalya's voice was stern and a little harsh, more to reassure herself then anything. "I am looking for a shrine that I was told could be found in these woods. The goddesses have seen it fit to make this trial appropriately difficult for me, that's all."

"Whatever" said edrali, "only thing is, is that with out knowing the woods, you won't get anywhere unless the deku tree wills it. So you can either get help from me or continue being lost. The gerudo still seemed to have a mistrusting look on her face. "Cmon I'm a nice guy you can trust me, believe me."

'You can trust me, believe me'? Kamalya wanted to snort at such a foolish idea. She's heard her sisters use that line before, that usually how stories started that involved men getting dragged back to the fortress for capture. The fact that he'd use that line made him even less trustworthy in her eyes. It was right up there with 'I won't do anything to you, I promise'.

Unfortunately, the other stuff gave her pause for thought. He knew something about how the forest worked, he had to of if he looked liked he lived around here. As much as Kamalya detested the idea or having to get help from someone else, she was going to have to swallow her pride on this one.

Kamalya knew she would be tested as she became a priestess, but this? The goddesses really did know how to challenge someone...

"What is a Deku Tree?" She said cautiously while loosening her stance slightly. "And why is it concerned with me?"

She dosn't know who the deku tree is? was Edrali's first thought but decided to answer her question. "The deku tree is the guardian spirit that watches over this forest and protects its inhabitants, the kokori. What he wants with you is to make sure that you are trustworthy and won't be a threat. Same as he did with me. I can imagine you won't be a threat but he has to be completely sure about letting you in."

Kamalya had to think long and hard about this bit of new information. A spirit that was a tree...well there were spirits of the sand, spirits of the wind, who's to say there wasn't a spirit of trees? That didn't mean that this man was any more trustworthy now then he was a second ago, but it did bring up a new point. Kamalya could either believe this man and have him assist her, or she turn away from him and continue on her own way. If he was trying to trick her he'd end up leading her into a trap, which she could probably get out of but it'd still be a waste of her time. But if what he said was true...then she'd be doomed to never find this shrine by herself.

Putting everything in that perspective made the right choice clear to her...but it wasn't any easier.

"...very well." The Gerudo girl dropped out of her attack pose and relaxed visibly. "I suppose you know a great deal about this forest, it would be wise to learn from you. How do convince this Deku Tree that I am not here to hurt anyone?"

"I've never seen this shrine that you are looking for so I'm going to bring you to the deku tree to speak with him. If he deems you worthy he can tell you where the shrine is." Said Edrali who then started going east. "Well aren't you coming?"

Wordlessly, with no emotion on her face beyond a dull frustration, Kamalya turned and followed the Hylian as he lead her through the forest. She had always thought that she was well prepared to deal with trials and tests, but this certainly wasn't what she was expecting. Lost for days, only to end up relying on some Hylian to help her on her way. And a man no less...this was beyond embarrassing.

Well...Kamalya supposed it wasn't a proper test of her perseverance if she didn't actually have to overcome some sort of adversity. And this certainly was something if not adversity.

"What..." The eerie silence of traveling through a forest was beginning to get on the Gerudo's nerves. She felt she should do something productive, like learn more about this place. "What is the Deku Tree like? I get the feeling that it is a leader around here, I'd like to know more about him."

Wilhelm had been traveling for some time now from the Western Caves. He was hungry, tired, and looking for a morale boost of any kind. Suddenly, he found one.

"...I get the feeling that he is the leader around here. I'd like to know more about him."

Hey, voices! Could they be talking about the Deku Tree?

He walked faster now until he saw two figures trekking through the woods.

"Excuse me. My name is Wilhelm von Arnhem. I come from the Western Caves looking for the Great Deku Tree. I hear he is the guardian of this forest. I seek guidance and must speak with him!"

Silently, Wilhelm waited for a response.

What? Another one? Was this forest filled with nothing but frustration and males?!

For the sake of hastening the process of getting where she wanted to go, Kamalya stifled a groan in her throat before anyone could hear it. The look on her face, however, clearly stated the mood she was in.

"You will have to take that up with him." The Gerudo woman jabbed a thumb in the direction of Edrali. "He's the guide."

Whatever else was said between the two never reached Kamalya's ears however, as her attention was drawn to something else. There was a scent on the air, something that seemed out of place in the forest here. Not that the reek of wet rotting wood was pleasant in any sense of the word, there appeared to be something that smelled even worse. Like the smell of a pig that decided to roll around in its own excrements...

Kamalya knew all too well what that smell meant.

"Moblins." The Gerudo's eyes narrowed as she hissed the realization quietly to her companions. There were moblins in the forest nearby, a fair number of them at that. Maybe they were lost too or they followed her here, she didn't know. She didn't care either, whatever reason it was that they were here she'd wipe them out just for smelling that hideous.

Holding her quarterstaff in an iron grip, Kamalya set off to find these moblins and get the drop on them before they knew what happened.

Not even thinking about the man that had come Edrali grabbed an arrow and knocked it. He ran in the direction of kamalya. He stopped and thought. This might be a good way to test this man, and the gerudo. "Well are you going to help or stand there?" he asked the man that had come. He then hurried off again not even checking if the man was following.

Taken by surprise, Wilhelm stood completely dumbfounded.

Move, you fool!

The next instant, the young Hylian was belting through the woods in pursuit of the mysterious archer who was, as the Gerudo woman suggested, to be his guide. His feet pounded on the forest floor, and he could navigate his way only by following fleeting glimpses of the frustratingly agile woodsman.

Suddenly, he found himself lost...

Guide be damned! By Farore, where is that archer?

Suddenly, his nostrils were filled with a vile stench. In fact, it was one he knew very well...

Moblins...

He turned himself around slowly to find a pack of fully armed moblins eying him from a good distance. There would be no running from this. He had no idea where to go... Any running would surely get him even more lost. Sighing, he released the chain links coiled in his hand, and with a metallic rattle, Strandräuber fell freely to the ground, before, with a flick of his wrist, Wilhelm made the whip extend and open itself up to lie stretched upon the forest floor. The moblins ambled closer and closer to him, grinning at the chance to slaughter, and presumably eat, a Hylian in his prime. One of them, a moblin decked out in a full chainmail haubergeon and iron helm, stepped forward eagerly.

"Dare not challenge me, beast of malice."

The moblin only grinned its sadistic grin even wider.

Where in the name of the goddesses are that damned Gerudo and woodsman?

The moblin took one large step forward and drew its arm back, winding up with its heavy spear. Wilhelm braced himself, cursing his misfortune, as the beast grunted and, with all of its might, hurled the weapon just like a javelin straight at his perceived prey.

The dull steel of the moblin's crude spear seemed to approach in slow motion as Wilhelm ducked low, underneath the flying shaft. Grunting in surprise, the young man briefly watched the spear crash into the earth behind him. He then turned back to his quarry as the moblin drew his heavy broadsword. Not waiting for the monster to strike, Wilhelm drew back the leather-wrapped handle of his whip and cracked it out, causing the steel links to wrap around the monster's ankle.

Planting his feet, Wilhelm put all of his human strength into pulling the moblin's leg out. He barely succeeded, and, as his first victim collapsed to one knee, the Hylian wound up yet again and swung brutally. This time, the iron ball at the end of Strandräuber soared true and planted itself squarely in the moblin's head. With the sound of cracking bone as the weapon made contact, Wilhelm smote his foe with one, fatal blow.

Shocked and angered, the remaining moblins growled and roared their defiance at Wilhelm, but the blue-clad Hylian stood his ground.

Forget the others. They've left you, it seems.

Kamalya allowed a brief smile to inch its way across her face as pulled out her Roc's Feather and jumped up into the trees. The forest was a pain to navigate and seemed to be some sort of magnet for all things annoying, but if there was one thing she could value it for it was the strategic advantage she had in it. The was more then enough room to jump up and down in it, and all the tree trunks meant she could wall jump all day long.

Setting on a branch, the Gerudo considered simply sniping at whatever moblins were stupid enough to stand still for her. Just as she pulled out her bow though she took notice of the new Hylian who showed up and how he was already engaging one of the monsters. He used a strange weapon, some sort of chain whip with a heavy blunt end, but it certainly seemed effective. It certainly grabbed the moblins' attention with its showiness. The action made Kamalya seethe in anger for a moment, making her put back her bow and pull out her quarterstaff again.

It would be a cold day in hell, the day she let some Hylian male put up a better fight then her. Firing arrows from the trees was for cowards anyways, she'd show all of them what a real fight looked like.

Using the distraction to her advantage (Kamalya certainly wasn't above using the enemy's own stupidity against them), the Gerudo priestess dropped from her branch and focused the spiritual energy within her to manifest in her feet. The glowed orange for a brief moment, the color of her element, before she landed on some unfortunate moblin who didn't have the common sense to wear a helmet. The energy discharged right into the neck of the creature, the energy shoving the creature into the ground while it snapped it's neck. The moblin ceased moving after that.

With a flashy back flip, Kamalya dismounted from her first kill and landed in a battle stance as she flashed moblin and Hylian alike a feral grin. There was a certain degree of satisfaction in her voice as she yelled out her challenge to Ganon's forces.

"You want a real fight? Here I am!"

Enemy Units (open) Enemy Units (close)

Moblin skirmisher - Unarmored moblin with knives, moves quickly and with agility...for a moblin
Moblin skirmisher - Unarmored moblin with knives, moves quickly and with agility...for a moblin
Moblin fighter - Unarmored moblin with long sword, quick and strong
Moblin fighter - Unarmored moblin with long sword, quick and strong
Moblin spearman - Lightly armored moblin with spear, strong but not mobile with all the trees around
Moblin spearman - Lightly armored moblin with spear, strong but not mobile with all the trees around

Edrali watched as kamalya went off, she probably found the moblins he thought. He ran in the direction she went but stayed in cover for a surprise attack. He saw a group of moblins, some armored, some fast. He picked a moblin that had a sword that was close to an armored moblin, enchanted his arrow, then shot. The arrow landed in the moblin's chest then burst with ice, encasing the armored moblin's arm in the ice that enccased its dead companion. He knocked another arrow and stepped out from his tree and said, "Did you think I was going to let you take them all? a smirk on his face.

Enemy Units (open) Enemy Units (close)

Moblin skirmisher
Moblin skirmisher
Moblin fighter
Moblin fighter
Moblin spearman
Moblin spearman

Wilhelm was quite surprised to see his two new companions leap into the fray beside him. He was especially impressed with Kamalya's entrance, as he was completely unaware it was a competition to his own showing. He stepped back once to put more distance between himself and his next opponent, who was a large, unarmored moblin with a heavy broad sword and a large, iron heater shield.

Wilhelm waited for the moblin to charge, and, as it did so, it raised its sword-wielding arm on high. Wilhelm swung the wooden handle of his whip, and Strandräuber shot out with lightning speed, wrapping around the moblin's wrist. Wilhelm pulled down with all of his might, and the charging moblin fell forward, sliding just past his opponent.

Wilhelm then proceeded to take hits at the moblin's exposed head and back, and as the wounded monster staggered to its feet, Wilhlem finished it with a spin attack.

He brought his right hand back and concentrated his power into the steel links of Strandräuber, causing his gripping hand and the weapon to glow with a white aura. He grunted as he started to bring his hand around in a large, counter-clockwise circle, whipping the chain once around his body with a burst of power. The spiked iron ball at the end of the chain glowed bright white as it orbited Wilhelm, trailing a arc of white sparks. In less than a second, the whip cracked a full circle around his master, having stopped at such speeds that it actually curled around his back once before falling to the ground. There was a blazing, white flash of power as the whip shot around the circle, and the moblin collapsed to the earth in a pitiful, battered heap, smote by a monstrous force from Wilhelm's whip.

"I'm glad to see you two here."

Kamalya's answer to her companions was little more then a grunt as she redirected her focus to another moblin, the last spear holding one. It'd be a tough fight against something with armor and reach, one far more worthy of her expertise then the last moblin she killed. With a shout to draw its attention the Gerudo attempted the same tactic of jumping up the trunks of the trees and landing on it.

Without the element of surprise however, her leap attack proved to be less effective. The moblin blocked with the side of its spear and shoved her to the ground before attempting to stab at her. It was a small setback for Kamalya, but by no means a threat to her as she leapt to her feet and began a fierce competition for who could hit who first. The moblin's armor was protecting it far too well from Kamalya's attacks, but she was too light on her feet for the slow clumsy spear to successfully hit her. As it was the fight would be decided by who had more stamina, but that would take too long for the antsy Gerudo and give her companions a chance to help her. She needed a quicker way to end this fight.

The answer came to her a blow to the head from the butt of the spear the moblin was using, having apparently felt the same way as its opponent. She felt to the ground and watched as the spear was positioned to stab at her, smiling as a plan formed in her head. Kamalya waited until the last moment to dodge the attack, rolling off to the side and charging her quarterstaff with energy. The moblin thought she'd be attacking his armored body again and snorted but the Gerudo had a much better idea. With a swing she struck at the spear that was stuck in the ground, successfully sundering the shaft and rendering the weapon useless. Kamalya stood up triumphantly and grinned a toothy grin at her soon to be dead foe.

For a brief moment, anger and rage flashed across the moblin's face as he looked like he was going to charge at Kamalya. It took one step forward before freezing in its tracks with a look of fear in its eyes. It was enough to catch the Gerudo off guard and prevent her from reach out with her attack just in time before the moblin ran off in the other direction.

"Coward! Get back here!" Kamalya shouted as she dropped her quarterstaff and pulled out her bow. A single shot to the moblin's unarmored back dropped it to the ground, a few more follow up shots eventually killed the monster. For a moment Kamalya's ego wanted her to believe that the thing was simply afraid of fighting her unarmed, but she was smarter then that. Moblins only ran if there was something that was clearly bigger and scarier in sight. Turning around, Kamalya was able to just barely throw herself off to the side as two arachnid legs attempted to grab her and pull her into the dagger sized fangs of the walking skulltula.

Of course skulltulas would show up now, Kamalya thought bitterly to herself as she put her bow away and drew her two short sticks, you make enough noise during a fight and you'll eventually draw the attention of a vulture. Forests have a different vulture it seems.

Two more skulltulas descended from invisible lines of webbing, each one taking a moment to examine a dead moblin body and confirming Kamalya's suspicions before hissing violently at her, the Hylians, and the last remaining moblin. The Gerudo was unphased though, she was no more afraid of a giant spider then she was a moblin. It just meant more combat practice for her.

Enemy Units (open) Enemy Units (close)

Moblin skirmisher - Unarmored moblin with knives, moves quickly and with agility...for a moblin
Moblin skirmisher - Unarmored moblin with knives, moves quickly and with agility...for a moblin
Moblin fighter - Unarmored moblin with long sword, quick and strong
Moblin fighter - Unarmored moblin with long sword, quick and strong
Moblin spearman - Lightly armored moblin with spear, strong but not mobile with all the trees around
Moblin spearman - Lightly armored moblin with spear, strong but not mobile with all the trees around
Walking Skulltula - Enormous spider with a skull shaped pattern on its back. Quick, strong, and agile, hard exoskeleton renders it immune to most attacks. Weak spots include underside and it open mouth. Very venomous.
Walking Skulltula - Enormous spider with a skull shaped pattern on its back. Quick, strong, and agile, hard exoskeleton renders it immune to most attacks. Weak spots include underside and it open mouth. Very venomous.
Walking Skulltula - Enormous spider with a skull shaped pattern on its back. Quick, strong, and agile, hard exoskeleton renders it immune to most attacks. Weak spots include underside and it open mouth. Very venomous.

(In the interest of moving things along)

Wilhelm needed no prompting. As he saw the Skulltula emerge from the vegetation, he stood his ground. One Skulltula confronted him, hissing ferociously.

"Back, monster!"

He struck out with his whip, but the iron head only deflected off of the thick exoskeleton on the creature's back. So, as the thing hissed again, Wilhelm hurled one of his daggers into the creature's mouth. It stuck, and a mix of venom and blood dripped out onto the forest floor. The creature squealed and reared up, at which point Wilhelm struck the underbelly with his whip.

Now, Strandräuber did some damage. A massive, bloody welt appeared on the creature's underside. Wilhelm then lashed out at the creature's legs, cracking them each in turn. Then, as the beast lay collapsed and unable to move on the ground, he simply beat upon the front of its head until the iron head of his whip began to crack the exoskeleton. Three more brutal strikes to the face and eyes, and the spider ceased moving at all.

Kamalya decided, with great personal restraint, to follow the whip wielding male's lead and keep her distance from the enormous arachnid. She would have loved nothing more then to meet it head on with her short sticks and beat the thing into a bloody pulp, but the fact of the matter was that the skulltula had size and an unknown amount of pounds on her. And venom, lots and lots of venom it'd use if given half a chance. The Gerudo had a mission to complete, she wasn't about to let herself be stopped by some stupid spider and its long fangs or toxic venom!

Without her quarterstaff, Kamalya saw that she was as a slight disadvantage in melee combat and knew she needed to stay back and keep her distance. She needed to hit the monster's soft under belly, but that was going to be hard to do as is. She'd have to get under it somehow, and probably the best way to do that was to take advantage of the skulltula's single mindedness.

With a quick hop, Kamalya began to rapidly ascend up the the trees by jumping off the trunks like before. As she predicted, the spider began to follow her up as it quickly skittered up one of the trunks. She waited for it to reach some of the branches away from the trunk before hopping down again and watching the spider follow on another invisible thread. To anyone else this might of seemed like time wasted on trying to escape a creature faster then her, but for Kamalya it was all going according to her plan.

Once on the ground, the Gerudo channeled her spirit energy into the tip of one of her arrows and sent it flying into the skulltula's head. The attack did no damage predictably, but the energy from the attack caused the monster to swing back and forth out of control. Kamalya followed up with another arrow aimed not at the spider again, but where she figured the thread holding it up was. Her aim was true and the giant arachnid fell to the ground back first. One more arrow was all it took to pierce some vital organs and the skulltula curled up and stopped moving.

Kamalya didn't waste any more time getting her quarterstaff back, from where she left it laying on the ground. One more skulltula and one more moblin were left, assuming the moblin hadn't fled already.

Edrali noticed the final skulltulla rushing towards him and pointed his knocked arrow at its mouth and shot following of what the other man did. The spider reared on its back legs, then Edrali did something stupid. He charged directly into the beast in a body blow. It worked, the spider fell over exposing his belly. He pulled his dagger out and stabbed, the body began cringing and the legs came inward, then it became motionless. He saw a moblin trying to scurry towards them. Edrali pulled down his hawkeye and the next second the moblin was down with an arrow between its eyes.

"Well, now that that little adventure is over, lets go see the Deku Tree" he said.