Ancient Castle of Ikana/Bottom of the Well {U5+Quill}

Players: Ultra5 and Quill
Characters: Jacob Temple [Ultra5] and Marcus Heilari + Loft Kiratel [Quill]

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"Ikana. Land of death and undeath. A land where the spirits of the damned roam forever more. Heh heh hee! Can you survive?" A short Hylian like being wearing a white shirt and purple cape watched a Hylian and wyvern walk through the dried out field that was once part of a thriving Ikana Kingdom with his one red eye. He sat atop of a large rocky cliff for a few moments before fading away into nothing.

Jacob and Eysseth walked through the lifeless Ikana Canyon as the sun above beat down upon them. Holding his hand above his eyes to get the sun out of his eyes. "Now why's this lifeless hellhole so important ta tha brass? Well orders are orders. Let's go Eysseth." Eysseth nodded to Jacob as the pair continued their walk to the Ancient Castle of Ikana.

As the two walked Jacob pulled out a book and started reading. "Hm. Accordin' ta this book Ikana used to be one of the most powerful kingdoms of Old Hyrule. Listen ta this: 'Ikana boasted a capable army that made the kingdom a powerhouse during the oldest days of the Hyrulean Continent. It is reported that soldiers of the kingdom continue to fight even after the Kingdom's demise. The commander of that army was a large man named Captain Keeta, he was a close servant and friend of King Igos du Ikana the last king, who had earned in his life the respect and sworn allegiance of the Legions of Ikana. Although Ikana's army was very possibly its most notable achievement, there is also evidence that the subjects of Ikana Kingdom were skilled in the artforms of music and dance. The kingdom also boasted some of the best blacksmiths that Hyrule had ever known.' Well if that ain't an ego trip I don't know what is."

Jacob looked up from the book to see that he and Eysseth had arrived at the castle gate. "Well looks like we found tha place. Hm. Sign says tha gate can't be opened. Well this would complicate things a bit. If I didn't have you Eysseth. Let's go." Jacob said as he climbed onto Eysseth and the two took to the sky. Not but a few seconds passed before arrows shot out of the castle hitting Eysseth multiple times.

After plummeting to the ground Jacob say that Eysseth's wings had taken a few hits from arrows. "This ain't good. Ya need to stay grounded Eysseth. The old well connects to the castle. I'll go around and try to open this thing from the inside ya? Eysseth wait here. If anyone alive comes here try to scare 'em away okay?" Eysseth nodded as Jacob made his way to the old well that a strange man told him about in town. 'What's goin' on 'round here?' Jacob though to himself.

Loft skipped merrily through the dead wasteland of Ikana Valley, the sandy ground shifting beneath his feet, sending plumes of brown earth puffing into the air around his legs.

"What a pretty place!" He said cheerfully, leaning over a ridge and staring happily at the twisted vines snaking their way down its surface. He stood up, stretching. "I could see myself building a nice castle here."

From behind him, Marcus snorted. This place was a barren land of the dead, containing nothing but a large and bloody past. He shivered, thinking of all the stories he could find, the details he could unearth. First things first, though. They needed to find out why they were here.

Frankly, Marcus had no clue why they were in Ikana Valley. The last thing he remembered, he was walking down a street in Impa, looking for a job. Next thing he knew, he was here. His feet had suddenly rested on, not cobble-stones, but sandy ash, and instead of looking up at the setting sun, it was the moon's softly shining surface that slid slowly along the stars.

When he had finished recovering from the shock of being in a totally different place entirely, he had found Loft, passed out against a wall to his left. When he had awoken his old travelling companion, the boy had screamed something about defecating Octoroks.

Marcus hadn't asked for any details. Instead, they had begun to walk. They had, after all, been in a similar situation before. The last time something like this had happened, they had landed squarely in the centre of a large, foreign forest. Their task had been to liberate an oppressed tribe from a dark evil, which had been infesting the local Temple's sacred spring.

In all probability, there was something here that needed to be done, some mission that must be completed, something that someone wanted them to do. Whatever strange force had brought the two companions back together in this barren wasteland, it wanted them to do something. But what?

There was only one way to find out. Marcus pressed on, resolutely climbing up a large ridge behind Loft. He called up to him, his voice barely audible over the wind's roar. "We should see something at the top of this ridge," he said, "be ready!"

He thought he heard Loft say something in reply. He couldn't tell; Loft was facing away from him, and his voice had been whipped away by the wind.

Marcus continued to climb, and eventually they reached the top of the ridge. Rolling onto the firm ground, they took a moment to rest before standing up, looking around themselves carefully.

"Mah castle!" Loft cried, stretching out his arms in exultation. Before them stood a large gate, blocking them entrance to the ruins of-

"Castle Ikana," Marcus breathed, his eyes wide at the sight. This was the castle of King Igos Du Ikana, where he led his armies against the forces of the Garo. Time had not been kind to this blood-stained fortress, its walls had slowly crumbled through the ages, succumbing to the passing of the centuries. He took a step forward, reaching out a hand, as if he could touch the gate, though it stood dozens of feet away.

"Amazing. Think of all the stories this place could tell..." Marcus said as he approached the gate. "Well, come on, Loft."

Loft frowned, his head tilted to one side. "Do you hear something, Marcus?"

"What?" Marcus snapped, wrenching his gaze from the gate to glare at Loft. "Only the winds of a shattered kingdom, lost to the ages. And, of course, your voice, brutally clawing its way into my skull."

"Aside from that," Loft said, biting his lip. "There's something else here, Marcus."

"Pssh," Marcus said, turning his back on his companion. "You're being paranoid."

"You're being paranoid." Eysseth perked up when she heard someone talking. She jumped up and started making a bunch of noise trying to get Jacob's attention hoping Jacob would notice before whoever the other person was. Eysseth didn't want to fight with arrows in her wing.

Jacob turned around when he heard Eysseth freaking out. "What in tha hell? Eysseth!!" Jacob unshiethed his sword and shield and charged towards his wyvern. "I'm comin' Eysseth!" As he got closer to Eysseth he saw two other Hylians near the castle gate. Jacob run up to the Hylians and took up a defencive stanch behind his mirror shield with his sword held at the ready. "Ok. I'll give ya five seconds to tell me what you're doin here and why you were trying to attack ma wyvern. Answer me!"

Marcus blinked. There was a strange man brandishing a sword at them. A native? No. No, by Farore, this was a Northern Hylian. What else could he be, with a Triforce insignia across his armour? The Hylian was large and muscular, and his tan told Marcus that he was no stranger to field work. The scars across the hand holding the sword screamed that this man was an experienced warrior, and should not be underestimated.

He took a moment to process what the man had said. Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Wyvern? What wyvern?"

Loft poked him in the side, gesturing wordlessly to their left.

"Oh." Marcus said. "That wyvern." The beast was snow white, with spikes running down its head, protruding from the ends of each wing, and bristling along the beast's tail. Its wings were held tenderly, and after a second Marcus realized that its wings had been pierced by arrows, their sharpened heads tearing brutally through the delicate membrane, grounding the beast and probably putting it in a constant state of pain. Marcus was surprised that the wounded beast hadn't attacked them out of agony, as most did. This must have meant that the wyvern was more sophisticated and intelligent than most animals- otherwise, he and Loft would probably have been dead by now.

Marcus frowned to himself. How had he not noticed that? Had his fascination with Ikana Castle blinded him to the outside world? He shook the unsettling notion off; he would just have to be more alert next time.

He looked back at the man, composing himself. "We had no intention of attacking your... wyvern. We have no bows on us, as you can see, so it would have been impossible for us to have shot the arrows in its wings. I am, however, an accomplished Healer, and therefore it is possible for me to repair the damage, if you were to remove the arrows first. It might bite my head off if I tried to do it."

"Hm. Alright. I'll trust ya, fer now," Jacob said lowering his sword but keeping his shield at the ready. Walking over to Eysseth Jacob took a closer look at the arrows. "Name's Jacob, semi-retired Castle Guard and my friend here is Eysseth. I'm sorry 'bout earlier. Had Eysseth for a long time an she's all I got left." Jacob snapped a few of the arrows and pulled them out of Eysseth's wing. Even as big as she was she still wincing in pain as each one got pulled. "That should be all of them. By the way I never asked you two for your names have I?"

"No, you didn't," Marcus said absently, reaching a hand out towards the wyvern. It really was a beautiful specimen; he had, of course, read about wyverns in his studies, but they were extremely rare, and he had never expected to see one with his own eyes.

His hand began to glow, and he held it above the wyvern's wounds, watching as the magic seeped through the open wounds, sealing the broken blood vessels, purging the area of any unwanted materials of fluids, and finally mending the membranous tissue.

"I am Marcus, and this is my associate, Loft." Marcus moved on to the other wing, carefully keeping himself firmly in the beast's line of sight. Didn't want to scare the creature, that might result in a sudden, painful death on his part.

He frowned, his hand hovering over the next set of wounds. "How did it obtain these injuries? What happened?"

"Well, I was investigatin' recent disturbin' reports from tha area n' when I tried to fly over tha gate here when a couple volleys of arrows came from inside tha gate. I was on ma way to the well that's supposed to be another entrance to the castle." Jacob looked at Eysseth's wings. Marcus was a pretty good healer if Jacob hadn't seen the arrows go through Eysseth's wing he never would have thought anything had happened. Jacob turned to Marcus and Loft and said, "If yens want ta yens can join me. If not I'd still advise not stayin' too close ta Eysseth. She don't really like bein' alone with new people." Jacob chuckled a bit before turning to Eysseth. "Listen Eysseth. Ya may be healed, but I still want ya to stay here and not fly. Don't want a repeat of what happened now do we?"

Two Stalfols wielding longbows stand atop the castle walls watching for any sings of what ever had tried to fly over the gate. "Did we get it?" One asked to the other. "I think ssso. Ssstupid Hyliansss. Thisss isss our home land." A third Stalfols walked up to the two sentries. The third Stalfols was a head taller than the other two and still wore torn bits of armor. "Anything to report?" Shocked the two other Stalfols jumped and stood at attention. "Sssergent! There wasss an intruder that tried to fly over the Cassstle Gate We fired off a few arrowsss and hit it a few timess." The sergent stood there his glowing orange eyes not moving in the slightest. "I'll alert the troopsss. You two ssstay here." The sergent walked off back into the castle.

Loft glared at Jacob. "Puny man was going to leave his pet with arrows sticking out of her wings." He drew his dagger, and pointed it menacingly at the tanned man standing around a dozen feet away from them. "Let's see how puny man likes it when it's him who has sharp metal objects stuck in his body."

"Loft," Marcus said calmly, "be reasonable. Wyverns are tough creatures; a couple arrows sting one just as a bee might sting you or I. The wings are, of course, a highly sensitive area, but without proper ointments or salves, Jacob would have been unable to treat his pet's wounds. Tearing the arrows out of the wyvern's wings would have done more harm than good."

"I would suggest," Marcus said to Jacob, "that you carry medicinal materials in a travel pack from now on. I would also recommend, in the future, that you remove the arrows, place an appropriate ointment or healing salve on the wounds, and bandage them up properly. Leaving your pet to languish in a corner was not a wise move. Loft," he said, turning back to his irate companion, "put your dagger away. Really, the wyvern will be fine, there's no point in being upset anymore."

Loft frowned, and sheathed his weapon. "Can I hug the pretty dragon now?"

Marcus looked questioningly at Jacob. "Can he? It's really the only way that he won't be looking for excuses to attack you from now on. Also, while he does that, could you please tell us what kind of disturbances were reported around here?"

Jacob balled up his right fist and was ready to swing as Loft threatened him with the dagger, but he held it back both because of Marcus telling Loft to calm down and Eysseth getting in a fighting stance ready to attack. "Whoa. Easy girl." Jacob tried to calm down the enraged wyvern.

"I'll take tha advice, thanks. As fer pettin' her...well I think right now she'd eat ya than let ya hug her." Eysseth hadn't stopped staring at Loft with death written in her eyes since he attacked Jacob. That attempt at attackin' me pissed her right off."

Jacob looked deep into Loft's eyes. After a while Jacob said in a caring voice, "Loft. Listen I know that looked bad what I was 'bout ta do, but listen. I didn't have anythin' ta treat the wounds with or any knowledge of how ta do it. Eysseth's the only family I got left I ain't gonna put her in anymore risk than I have ta according ta tha situation. My past experiences as a soldier taught me ta not mess with somethin' ya don't know nothin' 'bout. But..." Jacob's voice started to take on a more drill sergent tone, loud and commanding, as rage burned in Jacob's eyes. "If you ever try ta do that again Eysseth and I will not hesitate ta show you tha inside of a wyvern's mouth or what it takes to survive an attack from Ganon's Legion! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR MAGGOT!"

Jacob turned away from Loft and towards Marcus. "Sorry. Lost my cool there. Anyways I've been gettin' reports of Stalfols n' Poes attackin' anyone who is unlucky enough ta get caught by 'em. Real gruesome from what i hear. The offer is still open ta come with me."

Loft leaned in to Marcus. "Why puny man all yell-like? I only pointed Daggie at him."

Marcus sighed, speaking to Loft out of the corner of his mouth. "Most people don't take well to having daggers pointed at them, Loft. You may not have actually made a move to attack, but they obviously think that you were about to stab him... best to apologize."

Loft nodded wisely, and looked appraisingly at Jacob. He stepped forward. "Puny man have big voice."

Luckily for Loft's health, he didn't get any farther than 'puny man.' The rest came out as muffled grunts, as Marcus clamped his hand over Loft's mouth. Unfortunately for Loft, that hand also contained a few very bitter herbs. He gagged and collapsed to the ground, retching.

Marcus turned imperiously to Jacob, ignoring his barfing comrade. "He's sorry. Stalfos and Poes, huh?" Marcus nodded. "If you'll have us, we'd like to come. On to the well, then."

His eyes flitted around the scene. Loft was still praying to the non-existent porcelain god, but would likely say something stupid again the moment he recovered. The wyvern was glaring daggers at the boy, looking very much like it'd like to eat him. Finally, Jacob was burning at Loft's not-so-subtle accusation, his shield and sword still held tightly in his hand.

Marcus groaned quietly to himself, and resisted the urge to rub his temples. "This is going to be a fun adventure."

"Yens can still come if yens want. Loft, I'd stay away from Eysseth. Marcus ya got any weapons? May come in handy." Jacob petted Eysseth's head. "Eysseth, I don't think ya c'n fit in tha well, so ya can come with us tilll then. After that will ya make sure nothin' follows in?" Eysseth nodded and followed Jacob as he started walking towards a ruined city. Eysseth kept an eye on Loft the entire trip into the ruins.

Marcus shook his head. "No, I'm afraid that I don't carry a weapon." The party rounded a corner, and they came to a large stone well, built five feet above the ground. The rectangular rocks had been set firmly together, and above the entrance was a triangular rooftop. Protruding from the roof was the tip of a cord, ending in a wooden plank, a small clip dangling off its corner.

Marcus chewed his lip, looking at it. He reached his arm up, tugging on the cord. It took a little effort, but more of the cord was pulled out of the roof, and he released it, watching as it was pulled back into the roof.

"It looks like-"

"Bungee cord!" Loft shrieked, jumping onto the wooden plank. He shot down the shaft, his exhilarated screams floating back up to them.

Marcus grabbed onto the edge of the well, screaming down the shaft as loudly as he could. "LOFT! THERE'LL BE A HOOK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WELL! CLIP THE BOARD TO IT!"

There was no answer, other than Loft's continued whoops.

Marcus looked miserably at Jacob. "I'm not even sure he heard me... if he doesn't clip the board, then he'll probably be killed."

His eyes flew to the roof- maybe he could disassemble it, somehow make it safe for Loft? But it was made of solid stone, and he was afraid that if he did anything, it would disturb the bungee cord, which would lead to Loft inevitably smashing into the bottom of the well.

There was nothing that he could do. If Loft didn't clip the board, then he would die. He listened carefully, waiting for Loft's voice to begin ascending towards them again. His eyes bored furiously into the well's dark depths, trying desperately to pierce the impenetrable shadows within, but all they could discern were endless shadows, unaffected by the slanting rays of the setting sun.

A voice drifted up towards them, and Marcus' hands clenched on the rock, his knuckles turning white from the strain. "Got it! What a ride... Marcus, you have to try this!"

Marcus slumped, as though an invisible string had been cut, collapsing to the ground from sheer relief. "Thank Farore..."

He chuckled weakly, and rested his head up against the stone. He waved weakly at Jacob. "Go ahead. I'm just going to... catch my breath for a second."

Jacob chuckled a bit. "I see ya really care 'bout 'im. Willin' ta put up with anythin' he does. Tell ya tha truth reminds me o' well me when after my first year wit' Eysseth there. She's pretty smart fer a wyvern, but loves gettin' into trouble," Jacob said jokingly. Upon hearing this Eysseth gave Jacob a poisonous look then smiled as best as she could at him, getting his joke. "Welp Eysseth. Watch over tha well and make sure nothin' follows us. Also don't try nothin' funny with Marcus. Understood?" Eysseth nodded as Jacob grabbed hold of the cord and jumped into the well. Eysseth stood motionless watching Marcus as he caught his breath. Once she caught Marcus' gaze she looked at her wing and bowed a thank you to the Hylian.

Marcus looked up into the animal's eyes, and saw a burning intelligence within their blue depths, a willpower tempered and honed by centuries of life on the Goddesses' green earth. All learned notions on the inherent superiority of the humanoid races were called into question by this damning new evidence; this beast... no, this Wyvern... was just as intelligent, if not more so, than the average Hylian off the street.

He grimaced. Which, if truth be told, wasn't really saying too much. Honestly, there were people who insisted that Moblins' instinctive urge to kill was actually just an unfortunate by product of the hostile, negative environment in which they were raised, going as far as to seek the live acquisition of a male and female Moblin in order to run test on their potential offspring.

Marcus paused, considering this. That was actually an interesting idea, and it would certainly teach them more about the Moblin physiology... maybe he would take up their offer...

The cord came whizzing back up, and Marcus blinked, coming back to himself. His eyes still hadn't left the Wyvern's unwavering blue ones, and he bowed deeply.

"It was my pleasure, and a great honour." He said quietly.

Marcus looked at the wavering board, and gulped. Standing on the well's edge, he reached over to the board, grabbing it and pulling it under him. With a deep breath, he sat down onto it, and pushed himself off the well's edge and into the shaft.

It almost felt like he was flying, flying through darkness and wet shadows. Unlike Loft and Jacob's journey, however, his flight wasn't a smooth ride straight down the shaft. Since he had pushed off at an angle, and not jumped directly onto the board, he was slammed into the side of the shaft every several seconds. After the fifth time, he was sincerely regretting his cautious action.

For Loft, it had been fun. For Marcus... well, he just couldn't wait for the ride to be over. Maybe that was because his trip was painful, jarring, and frightening. Marcus wasn't sure; he was too busy trying to stay on the bouncing wooden board.

After what seemed like an eternity, he arrived at the bottom. The bungee cord had slowed its descent, and he smiled, relieved at the sight of the firm floor. He frowned; how was he going to stop again? Something glinted in the light of torches; a large hook set into the stone floor. Oh, right. He needed to use the clip on the board.

He reached for it, but before he could grab it, he slammed into the wall again. The clip was sent flying erratically under the board, and Marcus swore, twisting his head this way and that, trying to see where it had gone. The bungee cord had come to a complete stop, and he knew that it was only moments before he would be yanked upwards to his death.

"Marcus!" Something grabbed him, pulling him roughly off the board. The board was spent spinning upwards, crashing from side to side, disappearing into the small circle of light above them.

Marcus pushed Loft off him, brushing himself off before clearing his throat. "Well, that was an interesting ride. Where do we go now, Jacob?"

Jacob looked around the almost completely dark tunnel that was full of bugs circling around a single torch a few feet in. Jacob walked over to the torch, laid his sword and shield down, and took out the book he had been given. "Hm. Well accrodin' ta this here book this well goes inside tha Ikana Castle Gate. Only way I can figure we're gettin' in tha castle." Jacob put the book back in his pocket and picked up his sword and shield. He motioned for the two to follow. After walking down the tunnel a bit it opened into a large room of sorts with torches placed along the walls every ten feet or so to light the room. Large rectangles of rock that used to make the ceiling and walls lie scattered across the room. Jacob crouched and slowly walked towards a large rock and looked over it. Jacob's eyes widened as he saw five Stalfols standing at the far end of the room. Not much detail could be made out at the distance but Jacob could tell four of them, armed with small bucklers and rusted broadswords and wearing no armor, were common troops and saluting the fifth one who wore a rusted breastplate and had a greataxe. Jacob ducked behind the rock and gave Loft and Marcus a be quiet signal.

At the other end of the room the Stalfols sergent was saying, "Now we've had reportsss about sssomeone trying to break into the cassstle. The captain hass ordered usss to allow no one inssside the cassstle wallss. Now return to your possstsss. Underssstood?" The saluting Stalfols responded in unison, "Yesss sssir Sssergent!" The sergent walked off down the hallway at that end of the room. Two of the Stalfols stood at each side of the hallway entrance as the other two started patrolling the room. "This isn't good," Jacob whispered.

Loft grinned, tweaking his nose. "Stand back, mortals. Loft's got this."

Marcus groaned. "Oh Farore. We're dead."

Loft smirked, jumping up and down as he tugged off his shoes. "Oh ye of little faith."

Loft poked his head out from behind the rock, saw the Stalfos staring in their general direction, and whipped his head back into safety. "Not that way."

He sneaked back down the tunnel, carefully keeping the rock between himself and the Stalfos at the far end of the great room. Once he felt safe, he darted to the wall, and placed a hand on the earthy wall.

Loft grinned. "Time to ninja!" He cast a cursory eye over the cavern wall. Normally, of course, the existing handholds and crevices would never be enough to climb it. But he wasn't normal, and he wasn't interesting in climbing it.

No, Loft was going to walk on it. "One foot after another. Loft, ninja of the highest order."

He walked up the wall, noting how cool it was for the wall to suddenly equal the floor. He came to the top corner of the rectangular tunnel, and crossed over it just as easily.

He shook his head, enjoying the hair hanging down to the tunnel's natural bottom. "Time to ninja like the ninjiest of the ninjas..."

Loft walked across the high ceiling, humming to himself. He clambered over the dividing line between the tunnel and the great room, and ceased humming. Ninjas, after all, didn't hum.

He glanced around the ceiling; what was there to use? The room he was in was just another cave, with no chandeliers or anything. Chandeliers would have been nice, he could swing around all crazy like with those, but nope. The room was definitely chandelier-less.

Loft's gaze lighted on some cracked stalactites on the ceiling. He frowned, heading over to them. Stalactites were on the ceiling, and stalagmites were on the floor. But, what if ceiling and floor were all relative terms? Then these spiky things would be stalagmites, not stalactites. He felt his warm face, and remembered his falling hair. Gravity said that up and down weren't subjective terms, and gravity was always right.

He glanced down, down the twenty feet to the floor far, far below him. He could crack this without being detected; skeletons didn't have ears, so how could they hear the sound of a cracking spike on the ceiling? He swiftly elbowed it, and once he felt that it was weakened enough he grabbed it with both hands, pulling hard. It broke free, and he staggered back, somehow managing to stay connected to the rocky ceiling.

He looked down, frowning, at the great room. The room was a simple, if rather large, square. The two patrolling Stalfos were on opposite ends of the square, and he himself was standing several dozen feet away from the two stationary skeletons, posted at the entrance of the hallway across from his companions' tunnel.

He slowly strided over to the stationary Stalfos. He took a breath, gave a grin, and mentally severed the connection between his feet and the roof of the cave. He dropped like a stone, his stalactite held at the ready as he plummeted down 14 feet.

Loft brought the stalactite and smacked it down with all his might, catching the two skull-heads right across their armoured craniums. Their heads cracked off their bodies, slamming against the wall, crushed into dust by the combined forces of the two impacts.

Loft didn't have very long to enjoy his success. He crashed into the floor, his legs making loud cracking sounds.

"Ow..."

Across the room, out into the tunnel, and behind the rock, Marcus winced. "Oh, that must have hurt."

The two patrolling Stalfos had turned, and were beginning to head over to Loft's prone figure. Marcus stepped out from behind the rock, and began to run towards the room. "Come on," he said to Jacob, "we've got to hurry!"

((I guess I'll be purchasing Wall-Walking for Loft, then, for 45 out of his 70 total rupees (counting his 15r reward for this thread), meaning that he'll have 25 rupees left over for use in other threads.))

"I hear ya. Hey bone head pick on someone yer own ability!" Jacob yelled jumping over the rock and charging the closest Stalfols. The Stalfols turned and brught his shield up to block the hit he knew was coming. Instead of slicing at the Stalfols Jacob dropped a bomb at his feet and ran towards the other Stalfols. The first Stalfols looked up in confusion as Jacob ran past him. The Stalfols then noticed the hissing blue orb at his feet, "Ssshi..." The bomb went off sending the shattered remains of the Stalfols across the room. Using his shield to block a bit of the blast Jacob shot forward a bit and skewered the other Stalfols through the spine with his sword. The top half of the Stalfols fell on the floor as the legs walked around a bit before falling over. "That should do it. Marcus it's...OW FUCK!" Jacob yelled as the rusty broadsword stabbed through Jacob's calf. Jacob kicked away the Stalfols upper body and removed the sword. Jacob walked over and curb stomped the Stalfols' skull into pieces. "Son of a bitch that hurt," Jacob said rubbing the spot in his calf that was oozing blood and rust. "That ain't good. Marcus I'm guessin' blood 'n rust ain't suppose't ta mix are they."

Marcus looked up from where he was healing Loft's legs. "No, Jacob, they shouldn't mix. Don't worry, though; I'm a Healer, remember?"

He crossed over to where Jacob was standing, knelt down, and placed his hand above the wound. "Now, hold still."

While he channeled his magic into the wound, directing it to clear the area of all dirt, rust, and other harmful objects, he said, "now, if you were on your own, this is what you would do. First, you would need to take a deep breath; panicking would only get you killed. Second, you need to pour water over the wound, and pull out any embedded objects, like rust, dirt, or steel. Leaving those in could cause problems later on. Third, you need to use pressure and stop the bleeding. Next, use any kind of herbs or medicines you have to disinfect the wound. Finally, bandage it, and see a healer as quickly as possible to prevent infection and facilitate the healing process."

He smirked, standing up. "Luckly for you, though, you have me. Where normally it would take a long time to fully recover from a blow like that, you're brought to peak physical perfection in a matter of ten seconds."

Loft jumped to his feet, doing a little jig behind Marcus. "Oh yeah! Who's a ninja? Did you guys see that? I was so awesome!"

Marcus was right Jacob was good to go after a few seconds. "Well you ain't lyin'. I feel great fer bein' stabbed in tha calf. My unit didn't have anyone with spells like that back seventeen, eighteen years ago. We had medics ta be sure but they could only bandage and use some herbs." Jacob looked down the hallway the sergent had walked down and turned back. "Well looks like..." Jacob paused for a couple of seconds looking around the room behind Marcus and Loft. "Did anyone else hear that?" Looking back where his bomb had gone off Jacob could see bits of rock and sand falling from the ceiling. "That could only mean...CAVE IN!!!" Jacob pulled Marcus and Loft into the hallway as the roof of the entire room started caving in. As the dust cleared Jacob looked at what once used to be a room. "Din damn it. Why in tha hell did i think usin' a bomb in a decrepit old well was a good idea? Sorry about that Marcus 'n Loft. Looks like we ain't goin' back now."

Eysseth was kicking around some rocks and looking around the ruins as she heard a very loud sound coming from the well. Eysseth stuck her head down the well and roared. She got no answer. She roared again. Still no answer. She pulled her head out of the well and started frantically digging with her talons trying to get to Jacob. She stopped digging as she heard some things walking towards her. Eysseth crouched in an attack stance as three Stalfols spears extended started advancing on the wyvern. "Isss thisss the intruder? It'sss jussst a wyvern. There mussst be ssomeone elssse here." The lead Stalfols hissed from under his rusted helmet. He was the leader of the group as he was the only one in any armor, a dented and worn breastplate and worn greaves. The other two Stalfols kept their track towards Eysseth. One of them looked back and hissed, "What ssshould we do with thisss one lieutenant?" The lieutenant stared at Eysseth with it's blank glowing orange eyes before replying, "Capture the beassst. We'll pressent it to the captain as a ssssteed." Eysseth stood as tall as she could, extended her wings, and roared as if saying 'Try it tough guy'.

Marcus breathed deeply, calming his fluttering heart. The dust had begun to settle, and he could clearly make out the piles of rubble blocking their way back. He brushed the dust from the front of his tunic, and straightened up.

"Is anyone injured? Loft?" There was no answer. "Loft?" He looked behind him, wondering if his idiotic companion had been trapped on the other side, or better still, underneath the avalanche of crushing rocks.

No such luck. Loft had dropped to his knees, and begun to claw desperately at the rocks keeping the trapped. "No! No! I don't want to die, why?? Why have the gods of Hyrule cursed me so? We're doomed! Doomed, don't you see? Doomed to stay down here forever, slowly shriveling away to shadows of our former selves, until finally we starve to death and die!"

He gasped, huddling in on himself, muttering softly. "Yes, but I'm not going to die, am I? Oh, no. They'll die before I will- I'll eat their brains and suck their marrow and live! I'm not going to die, I'm going to survive, live off their flesh-"

Marcus bonked Loft on the head. "Idiot. We're not going to die, there's a way out right here." He gestured to the hallway behind them.

"Oh," Loft said, looking around. "So there is. Well," he said, jumping to his feet, "no point standing around here! Off to Neverland!"