Ancient Cistern [Blonde Tsuill]

Ancient Cistern
Horus Falconer, Ikanan refugee (3/2/4) [Blonde Panther] Reward: Rebirth Stone, +35 Rupees.
Luna, Ice Princess (2/4/3) [Blonde Panther] Reward: Ice Shot, common-tier whip.
Marcus Heilari, Logical Healer (1/5/2) [Quill] Reward: Jinx, -5 Rupees.
Loft Kiratel, Childish Cuckoo-Lander (2/1/5) [Quill] Reward Ring Box.
Chimera, the Wasteland Soul (5/1/3) [Tsubori] Reward: Double Spinning Lariat.
Music for this Dungeon Thread.

"Urgh. Help me remember that I never let you hold the map again." The redheaded swordsman snatched the roll of paper from his female companion's hands, much to her obvious surprise and displeasure. The ice blue-haired mage crossed her arms, just gazing at him.

The two had been crossing the Faron Woods on their way to the civilized world, but Luna had never been a good navigator (although admittedly with a map this old Horus might not have done any better) and they'd gotten hopelessly lost. "Let's see, where on Death Mountain are we..." He twisted and turned the map and finally sighed. "Greaaaat. We've got a skull right ahead of us. Skulls tend to mean death."

"So that would mean there is something dangerous in that ruin up ahead."

"Probs, yeah." He sighed, rolling up the map again. "I don't like that sky though. We need to find shelter. The last thing we want is to catch a cold in unknown territory." He held his hand out to her, despite knowing Luna wasn't easily scared. Between the two of them he was probably the more nervous one about that skull and crossbones on the map. "Wanna go in?"

"It's as good a place to stay dry as any."

A stick thunked against the grassy ground at the base of a thick oak tree. Marcus sighed, leaning his head back against its trunk. This was great. Just wonderful. He reached up and snapped another piece of branch off from the wood over his head, and tossed it to the side. After a few seconds, it thumped against the ground too. He was sitting on a branch several dozen feet above the ground, with no feasible way of climbing down. Oak trees didn't have particularly low-hanging branches, and when the tree in question was as tall as this one, he wasn't exactly in a position to just slide off and land painlessly against the ground.

Marcus looked behind him at the trunk. He had considered hugging it tightly and shimmying his way down, but that was not an option either. The trunk was far too wide to have an effective hold, and he didn't want his clothes to be shredded so early into the dungeon. Marcus leaned his head back on the tree and simply stared up at the canopy of sky overhead. Truth be told, he wasn't exactly bothered by his predicament. It gave him a good opportunity to simply sit and meditate, and he felt this was especially important now, given the frustrations that would inevitably soon come.

He had no idea where he was, but that was hardly new to him. This had happened so many times that he had simply stopped being bothered by it. The shock that had come at stepping out of the bathroom door and finding himself about to fall out of a tree had quickly disappeared. Frankly, the shock at nearly falling to a very painful crash had been stronger than the shock of being suddenly pulled out of his proper place in space and time. He was used to that by now, however the choice in landings had been very strange. He wasn't sure why the Goddesses had set him down in a tree instead of on the ground, but he wasn't going to question them. He was sure they had their reasons, and frankly he was thankful. It gave him some time to relax, and he liked to think that this was why they had done what they did.

He would need that relaxation to face what was to come. There were two things that were consistent in these supernaturally-powered trips through Hyrule. First, he was guaranteed to quickly run across an ancient, mysterious ruin in the middle of nowhere, holding some kind of evil that needed vanquishing. Second, it was equally inevitable that he would be paired up with the most frustrating and annoying Hylians alive. Loft. Just the thought of his name made Marcus' muscles tense in aggravation. Knowing that this line of thought would only ruin his relaxation time, he looked up into the leafy canopy above and moved away from his near-constant companion.

Marcus was pleased with himself. He knew that the Goddesses had a tendency to pluck him out of his daily life whenever their Holinesses so chose, and thus he had decided to carry with him supplies wherever he went. He still needed to get a Compaction Pouch to carry clothing for all seasons- after Snowhead, he was taking zero chances- but other than that, he was well prepared. His pack lay hooked around a branch to his left, and inside lay his medicinal supplies, two canteens of water, and enough food to last him and Loft two days of careful eating.

Something crashed through the underbrush dozens of feet below him, and he looked round to see a mop of dirty blonde hair stomping through the leaves. It was Loft. Marcus had known it would only be a matter of time until the boy showed up, but he had still wished that his relaxation time could have gone on longer. Still, no choice now but to call out to him. At the sound of his voice, Loft looked up, grinning from ear to ear, and waved. Marcus looked round him, and realized sadly that it was time to leave his comfortable perch. He slung his pack around his shoulders, and realized that he still hadn't thought of a way down. He asked Loft hopefully if he had any ideas, but wasn't too surprised when the boy didn't come up with anything other than "jump like a squirrel to another tree." It wasn't that bad of an idea, but Marcus could see that there was no tree close enough for him to jump to. The branches may be almost touching, but by the time his branches reached another tree's they had already thinned out past use.

Marcus was about to jump down and trust his healing magic to repair the damages when he realized that shimmying down the trunk wasn't such a bad idea after all. There was an easy way to protect his tunic, and he had only turned down the idea at first because he wanted to keep his clothes from being torn too badly. He pulled his tunic over his head, folded it neatly into his pack, and tossed it down to Loft. He gripped the tree trunk very tightly with his arms and legs, and slowly began to shuffle himself down the trunk. The bark scraped against his chest, but he wasn't worried about that. The pain was only temporary, and he'd be healing himself once he got to the forest floor anyway. He shuffled too fast at one point and lost his grip for one terrifying instant, but thankfully he had managed to pin himself to the trunk long enough to grab it again. After what seemed an eternity, he reached the forest floor. After a minute of concentrating- it was much more difficult to heal himself than it was to heal others- he activated his magic and soothed the various scrapes and cuts crossing his chest and arms. Loft handed him his pack, and Marcus pulled his tunic back over his head.

Marcus had no idea which way to go. Thankfully, Loft had some information. Apparently, he had met a Kikwi while roaming the woods in his search for Marcus. After hugging the little plant-animal-plushy hybrid multiple times, it had happily consented to give information about the temple known as the Ancient Cistern in exchange for Loft never coming within ten feet of it again. Loft had sadly agreed, and even in telling Marcus the story his mood seemed to drop. Marcus found it interesting that the temple did not actually have the word "temple" in its name. So far, they had only been sent to temples, holy sites that needed purification. It would be interesting to see this... Ancient Cistern. How exactly was it different? Why were they sent here? Marcus put the endless questions into a file out of his stream of consciousness. The answers would be made clear in time.

It started to rain. The gray heavens opened up in a downpour of thick droplets, thoroughly soaking both them and their equipment. Marcus' medicinal supplies might have been sealed in water-proof pouches, but that didn't mean that he was happy to be sopping wet. They ran through the forest, mud sloshing around their shoes as they pushed through the obscuring rainfall. Loft pointed a finger at something in the distance, but Marcus couldn't see what it was through the sheets of freezing water.

They came to the edge of a pond, and Marcus was able to see what the thing was. It looked like a gigantic tadpole's face set into the side of a cliff. Naturally, the entrance was the thing's open mouth. That wasn't disturbing. Loft griped about being fish-food, which Marcus found ironic. He had spent the previous Temple wanting to eat their companion, Kasumi, a pink Zora who had had the horrible misfortune of being in a hot volcano with a hungry Loft. They hopped across the platforms spanning the pond, slipping and sliding against their slick surfaces, and they soon arrived at the entrance to the Ancient Cistern. Marcus and Loft looked at each other and hurried inside.

Chimera wandered the mountainous area, not really sure where she was going. Then she realized just how strange the clouds looked. Normally they were thin, if at all existing, but now they seemed much darker and bigger... Then a drop landed on her forehead. Shock and horror spread across the Gerudo’s face as she immediately sprung to the left, landing in a roll. Once she stopped, she paused. Another! On her back! Yet another futile roll later and she realized the sky was specifically attacking her! What ungodly place was this, where the sky couldn’t even be called your ally?!

She raised her shield above her head, sprinting along the rain beaten path as more and more of the sky’s terrifying projectiles soared down to hit Chimera. Eventually, she knew she had to take cover somewhere... Like a cave. After a few minutes, she found it. A massive cave, formed into the image of some great big beast. Good enough. Sprinting inside, she immediately saw the two people. Bandits or travellers? She didn’t have time to decide, instead running towards the younger looking; a somewhat slimmer boy who looked much less battleborn then her.

She used helm splitter as she grew near, just narrowly avoiding his head by an inch. Once she landed, she moved a few meters away, then turned, sword at the ready. Her request was a simple one, made of only one word. “Who?” She said, a no-nonsense look on her face.

After only a few minutes in the cavern, the rain started pouring down outside like nothing they'd ever seen. The outside temperature dropped rapidly, too, and Horus found himself glancing over to Luna every five seconds to see how she was holding up. Much to his displeasure, he soon found her shivering. "You're an ice mage and yet you're cold?" She didn't even dignify it with a response, so Horus simply sighed and started to pull his coat off his shoulders. "Come here."

Before he could fully get it off, though, Luna pressed her hand to his chest as a sign he had to be quiet and he froze in place. They were further back in the cavern, so it was possible that the two men who had just come running in hadn't seen them in the dark. Pulling Luna against him, Horus stepped back a bit more, trying to make as little sound as possible. He didn't want to have to interact with them. For years, he hadn't had to deal with any people other than Luna, Bertrand and Freddy. Then, that priestess Phiorra had shown up, but it'd been a while since she'd left again.

He didn't want to bother with new people. Space in the cavern wasn't as scarce as food in Ikana was, so he didn't mind sharing, but once the rain cleared he'd be hauling himself and Luna out of there.

Hell seemed to break out shortly after the two entered the cavern. A third figure leapt over them, turning back around and pointing a sword at them. Horus smelt the faint scent of blood, so it was entirely possible that sword was well-used. Of course, that said nothing about the skill of the owner. Luna hadn't even reacted to the newcomer, but Horus pulled her closer yet to him and rested his right hand on the hilt of his own sword. They were too close for him to use his crossbow, and if they suddenly all three turned on them, he wanted to be able to react quickly. Not that they wouldn't regret attacking them anyway- in these temperatures, Luna would need no time at all to freeze them solid.

Marcus wasn't quite sure what to think. He and Loft had been hunched over, catching their breath and shivering from cold, when he had suddenly heard pattering footsteps from outside. Before he could react, something had sailed over his head, and a flash of silver had sliced through the air mere milimeters from his face. The bearer of the blade now stood across from him, her weapon leveled at his face. Marcus understood; it was a warning shot, and her expression clearly stated that this woman believed herself to be in a combat-situation and was ready to act accordingly.

He took a second to steady himself, not wanting to show fear in this situation. He tapped his own chest, and said, as steadily as he could after being shocked like that, "Marcus." He pointed at Loft, who was mercifully staying quiet, and said, "Loft." He looked at the girl, quickly taking her appearance in. Sopping wet, naturally. Dark skinned, which originally made him think Gerudo, but her hair didn't exactly fit. It was too dark, and not red enough, to be Gerudo. She must have just spent a lot of time outdoors.

He nodded at her raised sword. "You can put down your sword. We're not going to attack you. We're just here to see the Ancient Cistern." He paused for a second and closed his eyes. Something was tingling in the base of his skull, the place that he had come to depend on when travelling through hostile territory, the place that the Western Caves had cultivated and refined to warn them of danger before it arrived. Something was here, something dangerous... it didn't seem a hostile threat, simply a threat. Deeper in the cave, hidden by shadows. He opened his eyes and smiled. "You can come out too, you know," he said, "we're not a threat." He raised his hands slowly above his head, fully aware that if he made the wrong move one of the two dangerous parties would end him and Loft.

Chimera heard the two state what she thought were their names. Marcus and Loft... She made a small note of it, then stepped a bit closer, still not really lowering her weapon. The Gerudo inspected his face for a few seconds, then sensing no intent to hurt her, lowered her weapon. “Sky attack too?” She asked, looking out at those evil pellets from above. At this point she could barely see five meters from the cave mouth, so she shuddered.

Alas, she hadn’t noticed those other two people... Once again, sword was at the ready, waiting for these new people to come out.

The woman lowered her sword, and with the other two not really looking like they were about to attack them, Horus took his hand off his own weapon. When he slightly loosened his grip on Luna, she found herself some breathing space. Horus figured she'd be fine, so he glared at the other three people one by one.

Neither of the men looked particularly threatening, so Horus figured his Sense was overloading from either whatever was further down the cavern or the woman. Still not wanting to deal with them, he decided to just issue them a warning. "Don't get close to me or my friend. We don't like people. We'll be getting out of here as soon as the rain subsides but until then you won't notice we're-" he turned around. "Luna where in Death Mountain do you think you're going."

The Ice mage had started walking down the stairs behind them. "Down the stairs," she said without turning around, prompting Horus to roll his eyes.

"I can see that much." That was an achievement in its own right, considering the darkness in the cavern. He supposed he had more heard her footsteps on the stairs. "Get back up here. You know you're gonna slip on that thing and-"

The words weren't even out of his goddess-damned mouth. As she made the next step down, Luna's foot slipped on the wet steps and she fell. Horus wasted no time in leaping down after her, although he was too late to catch her. "See? I told you!" His anger subsided quickly though, as he saw she wasn't hurt... and there was a warm draft here. It came from further down the stairs. "...warmth."

"Yes," Luna said as she got to her feet, "That's why I was going. I wanted to check it out."

"Then why didn't you SAY that when I ASKED?!"

"You didn't ask why I was going down the steps." Luna seemed unfazed by Horus' obvious frustration.

"Yes I was. you just didn't catch on." He shook his head. She was having one of those days again, where everything he said was taken literally and would come back to bite him in the rear. Either way, Luna was cold and she wanted to go down to the warmth of the draft. Made sense to him. Helping her get up, he helped her stabilize herself (his boots were more reliable than hers for this) and brought her down the stairs.

Horus couldn't appreciate beauty in architecture anymore, but even he had to notice the incredible underground structure they were in. As well as... "...Is that clear water?" Lots and lots of it. They were in an enormous, circular room, with a small perimeter that they could walk on but otherwise basically an enormous tank of clear water, strewn with lilies, with in the middle an enormous statue of some overweight... what Horus supposed had to be a deity. But Luna had already gone ahead, sat down on the edge of the solid ground and pulled her boots off, dipping her feet in the water. "It's warm," she said, to no one in particular. Oh, well. If she was enjoying herself.

Marcus' eyes flitted between the three strangers. The girl, Luna, was literal, quiet, and introverted. The man was loud, angry, and probably the girl's guardian. The one who had attacked them was a lone wolf, a primitive vocabulary, and probably uncivilized.

The two strangers walked away, and Marcus focused in on the dark-skinned girl. "Sky attack?" He said, blinking.

"Rain," Loft said, and Marcus nodded. Of course. Such a lack of understanding meant that she really was uncivilized. Perhaps she had been raised by wolves or something of that nature. It didn't look like she had experienced rain before, judging from her question and the way she was looking at the falling droplets.

"You're from the desert," Marcus said, "are you a Gerudo? What's your name?" He heard footsteps and looked to see Loft walking away. "Loft," he said, "where are you going?"

"I'm sick of being cold," Loft said, "and she said it was warm downstairs."

Marcus sighed, and nodded to the Gerudo. "Come on, let's go. If they're right, it'll be better down there." He waited for her, out of both politeness and a desire to avoid turning his back.

Loft, meanwhile, wasn't waiting for the aggressive girl. He had already skipped down the stone steps, jumping the last three and landing with his arms outstretched. "He sticks the landing!" He said happily. He jogged over to where the other girl sat with her feet in the water. "Is it warm?" He asked, plopping himself down next to her and sinking his own feet in. "I'm Loft," he said, jabbing himself in the chest with a thumb. "What's your name?"

That man... The way he yelled at the other girl, he seemed dangerous... He was the most armed one here, so she’d be keeping an eye on him. This other man, Marcus? She thought he’d said that earlier. He pelted her with questions, making the girl shake her head. She did manage to pick out a few words though. Name.... Gerudo... Desert.... Overall, she shook her head.

“Chimera name. From desert, not know this... Guroodo...” When Marcus said it was better deeper inside, she was hesitant to follow. Her experiences with people had been brief, being either people trying to attack her, or that... Strange man with the hat who’d set up a campfire for her and given her the name Chimera.

For now, she’d go with it, though her hand never left her blade. Walking down into the next room, she was taken aback by how it looked. For a person who was alone in a world of rust and ruined state to suddenly find herself here, it was perplexing. Why bother with this? What did it do that a normal room didn’t? With a glance at the water, she decided against using this opportunity to bathe. That would leave her far too defenceless to people she still didn’t really trust. For now, she’d just keep her back to the wall and her hand on her sword.

Luna completely ignored Loft as he popped down next to her, instead bending forward to run one hand over her leg and her foot. She ran her fingers over the surface of the water, admiring the clarity of it. They'd never had such clear water in Ikana. Truth be told, the four of them always took risks when they bathed in or drank the water that flowed through their lands.

While Luna enjoyed herself with the crystal clear, warm water, Horus surveyed the room they were in. His Sense left him alone for now, but the skull and crossbones on the map still bothered him. Regardless of literacy, he knew that meant trouble. Still, he didn't see any immediate danger around them. He noticed the dark-skinned woman entering the area behind him, so he got closer to Luna in case she was planning something. Not that he thought she had the mental capability to plan anything.

Next to him, Luna looked up, pulling her feet out of the water. She'd spotted the enormous golden statue, and now looked up at it. It really was humongous, not unlike the Stone Towers she was used to seeing from their home. She leaned back against Horus' leg, shutting her eyes for a second. Both still completely ignored Loft.

Horus redirected his attention to the statue as well, noting a door with thick chains and a huge lock hanging from it. His curiosity started to prod at him. Whatever was locked away behind that had to be valuable...

Marcus nodded. The girl didn't know what a Gerudo was, which meant she was wild. They followed the others into the next room. Golden light streamed through a ring of clear glass around the golden statue's head. Marcus looked uncertainly behind him, back up the slippery stairs where the sounds of heavy rainfall were clearly audible. This place was clearly magical, he decided, looking around at the serene golden shafts of sunlight. But then, that was hardly surprising. The pond centered around the golden statue of a man's upper torso. His face smiled serenely, and Marcus felt that this was a place of peace, not danger. The perfectly clear pond sparkled in the golden light, and large lily pads dotted the surface of the water. Marcus wondered idly if they'd be strong enough to support his weight. Perhaps he'd have Loft test the idea later.

Marcus wandered away quietly, following the white tiled floor away from the staircase. To the right, a series of tiled platforms eventually led to a door. This was good. What was less good was the pattern of bars preventing him from opening the door. Marcus sighed, looking behind him at the huge room and deep water. Most likely, there would be a ridiculously over-complicated puzzle that needed to be solved before the bars would disappear. He leaned against the wall, not savoring the idea, and bumped his head against something hard. Wincing, he looked up to see a lever set into the wall. Feeling disappointed, he reached up and pulled. The iron bars slid up into the wall, and the door was clear.

Loft, meanwhile, was wondering why the girl hadn't said anything. He tilted his head and said, in a high, fluttering falsetto, "hola Loft! Soy Dora!"

Marcus walked back, and said, "her name is not Dora, Loft. It's Luna."

Loft nodded, leaning back. "Oh, okay." He poked her arm and said, in the same falsetto, "hola Loft! Soy Luna!"

Marcus sighed, and said, "I'm sorry about Loft. Anyway, there's an open door to our right. Loft and I intend on fully exploring the Ancient Cistern. What are you all going to do?"

Chimera didn’t really know why these people wanted to just explore, but Chimera would follow. For one, she was a looter. This place reeked of value, so she’d undoubtedly find a few things to deprive this place of. Secondly, the further she got from the sky attacks outside, the better. Wait, hadn’t Marcus called it... Rain? Maybe... Until then, she’d go with the others. In fact...

Walking right up to the door, Chimera picked the thing up easily, letting it drop behind her. Before her was a strange sight. A see-through man. Chimera blinked a few times before drawing her sword at it. He seemed to be a massive man, muscular and shirtless. A thick mustache was on his lip, and he was currently looking over Chimera. “Hm. Strong lookin’ lass. Aggressive and battle-ready. Come deeper in, and I’ll show you a thing or two about fighting.” He then backed away, towards the edge of the platform, with only water below. He stepped off, falling down, yet not a single noise was heard.

This incident left Chimera staring where he was, feet glued in place. “Wha...?”

Luna still ignored Loft, with that skill that only she possessed so well, but he was getting on Horus' nerves. The redhead had promised himself long ago no one would make fun of Luna because she was a little difficult with people, so while Luna got up and put her boots back on, her weight removing itself from his leg, he pulled his leg up quickly and stomped his foot into Loft's stomach. "Don't let me hear you make fun of her again. She's not going to talk to you no matter what you try. Come on, Luna. I want to know what's behind that door."

Following after Marcus and giving him an acknowledging nod in the passing, Horus followed after the dark-skinned woman. As he held the door open for Luna, he missed whatever it was the other woman saw and passed by her. This room had nothing really to it, aside from the fact there seemed to be some vegetation between the tiles. Luna looked at it with interest, although she continued to follow Horus. Neither of them was used to seeing a lot of green, and in fact this vibrancy was completely new to her.

"Gah! Why'd it have to be spiders?!" she took a few seconds to realize that it had been Horus who shouted, but once she did she looked up in surprise. Horus was stuck in what seemed to be a spider web... but the biggest spider web Luna had ever seen. The first to come to her mind was Skulltulas, but the ones she knew didn't spin webs... "LUNA! Less staring and more ice!" He didn't have to say that twice. Luna kneeled to get her knife from her boot and, not sensing the creator of the web, took her time Ice Enchanting it and cutting Horus free from the sticky threads.

"Well, we know one thing. Nobody ever comes here." Horus was clearly displeased. "Weeds everywhere, damned spider webs-"

"They're still fresh," Luna said, shutting him up. "Whatever creature weaved them is still close."

"Lovely."

She frowned. "Horus... that isn't lovely at all. If these were weaved by a spider, it must be roughly as big as you are. That's dangerous. Why would you call it lovely? I thought you hated spiders."

The sound of a slap was audible as Horus landed his hand in his face. "Luna... please learn the fine points of sarcasm." When she just stared at him in confusion, he sighed and lowered his hand. "Let's just... go." He made a frustrated gesture towards the door on the other end of the room, which they stood rather close to and which had a seemingly very complicated lock on it...

Marcus sighed, and offered Loft a hand. "Really, Loft," he chided, "you should be more careful."

Loft groaned and rubbed his belly. "How was I supposed to know that he had anger issues?"

Marcus considered the point and nodded. "You could not have known that he would react as he did, however, your actions are so incredibly annoying that you can't honestly expect anything but violence in return." Loft scrunched his nose and hopped onto a lily-pad several feet off the platform. For better or worse, it held, and Loft did not drown and die a watery death. He jumped from lily to lily, keeping pace with Marcus, who continued to walk as if Loft was still beside him. "Will you leave her alone?" He asked.

Loft laughed and stuck out his hip. "Heck no! Did you hear what he said, Marcus? 'Grr! She no talk to you no matter what you do! Smack!'"

Marcus raised a lazy eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that he possessed such limited control over the English language."

"It was a challenge!" Loft cried, throwing his hands in the air and wishing that he could literally throw his hands in the air. "A direct challenge!"

"Well then," Marcus said, "it's good that my magical reserves are filled. You're going to need all the healing magic you can get."

They pulled the door open and stepped inside, joining the others by the edge of the platform. Luna was cutting the angry man free from a very large Skultula web. From their conversation, the man was named, "Horus." It was good that they knew his name, Marcus reflected dryly, because he doubted that he would appreciate their asking. He might just kick Loft in the stomach again if he asked. Marcus felt the sudden temptation to feign ignorance and inquire as to the good man's chosen address, but he resisted.

"Skultula webbing," he said, walking forward. "Very large, very poisonous spider. It spins webs like these to trap its prey. It's exoskeleton is nearly impenetrable, so when it appears we'll need to strike at its vulnerable underbelly. We met some in another ruin, and they are dangerous, however with this many experienced fighters I doubt one will give us too much trouble."

He frowned, and continued. "Actually, I'm surprised one hasn't shown up yet. You did fall right into its-" the rest of his sentence was cut off as a projectile of webbing slammed into his face, knocking him to the ground.

Loft whirled to see two Skultulas climbing up the side of the platform to their right. Instinctively he reached into the Deku Nut production organ hanging at his belt. A Deku Nut materialized in his fingers and he tugged it out.

"Duck!" He yelled. He closed his eyes and smashed it into the ground at the Skultulas' feet, and they reared back, their many sensitive eyes stunned. "Okay, go!" He crouched by Marcus, using his dagger to try and get the webbing off of his face.

Chimera watched as one by one the others went from the edge of the platform, ending up caught in a large... thing. It seemed sticky, so she’d be sure not to touch it much. Before long though, the makers of the web showed themselves; two big eight legged monstrosities, capable of spitting the sticky stuff. Dodging a few of the web balls, Chimera didn’t bother trying to use her power beam. That “Rain” had probably weakened her a bit so she wouldn’t be able to use it. Chimera dashed forward, leaping over another web shot.

She hadn’t listened to Marcus’ exposition on the skultulas, tuning out the many words she didn’t understand. Striking the thing, she was surprised to find her scimitar bouncing right off of it. “Shield?” She mumbled to herself, using her own buckler to block the attacks from the spider. Only one thing to do if the enemy was using protection. She dove upwards, striking down upon it while shouting “Break!”. The attack had focussed Chimera’s attack into an armor piercing blow, stabbing right through the chitinous plating and going right into the foe. Writhing around for a few seconds, the Skultula couldn’t shake her before she reached into the stab wound, gripping around for anything important feeling.

After enough squealing and thrown aside organs, the spider fell motionless. At this point, Chimera decided to look and see how the others were faring, dark blood spattered all up her arm.

Horus rolled his eyes at Marcus' explanation of the Skulltulas. Yes. He knew this. He was a freaking IKANAN, he knew what Skulltulas were. And the bigwig was overlooking something. "Look, buddy," he said, "I've seen my share of Skulltulas and they don't make webs. At most they hang down from webs." He knew to shut his mouth when a web shot proved him wrong. Looking in the direction it had come from, he stretched his arms out in frustration. "Oh, come on! Those are NOT Skulltulas!"

"They are," Luna said. "They're a different subspecies than the ones we are used to, however. It's not unreasonable to think they have different strengths... its armor seems more dense too."

"Maybe we could do with a little less analysis."

"You know, I AM still waiting."

Silence. "...for what?" Horus asked, genuinely confused. Normally it was him whose words confused hers- this time, she was confusing him.

"For you to load your crossbow so I can enchant it. That's what we always do at times like these." Wordlessly, Horus did what she had said. Admittedly he'd been too concerned with what these things were to actually think about how he was going to fight them. Holding out his loaded crossbow to Luna, he waited until she had waved her hand over it, the steel tip of the bolt now glowing a silvery blue.

As the remaining skulltula skittered towards him, Horus fired. His bolt, even when enchanted, wasn't enough to pierce the thick armor of the arachnid, but it was enough to flip it over and freeze the head. Its legs flailed around aimlessly, and while Luna seemed hesitant to jump in and finish it (Horus had recently learned she was afraid of spiders), her redheaded partner didn't even think twice. Dropping his crossbow and using the Roc's Feather behind his ear, he crossed the distance in one leap and thrust his blade into the glowing purple spot on the monster's now unprotected underbelly. It squirmed, but didn't die, so he thrust again.

The Skulltula now spasmed one last time and then fell idle. Not really looking forward to the woman feeling this one up as well, Horus gave it a nudge with his foot and dropped it in the water. As he sheathed his sword, walking back to Luna to take his crossbow back, he noticed she hadn't picked it up. Instead, she was turned slightly away from the scene of the battle and had one hand covering her mouth.

It didn't dawn on Horus because she rarely responded to what people did around her and because she was used to ReDeads and Gibdos, but Luna was more upset by the dark-skinned woman's mutilation of her foe's insides than she liked to let on. She jolted a little when Horus put his hand on her shoulder. "You look like you're about to throw up. You okay? Should we rest?"

"No. I'll be okay." She looked at the floor to pick up his crossbow, only to see he had already slung it over his back again. "Let's go deeper in."

The spider web stuck to Marcus' face was thick and sticky, but Loft eventually managed to cut it off. Marcus gasped, lying on the floor like a fish gaping for air. The thread hadn't exactly been comfortable; while some air had managed to work its way to his lungs, it wasn't nearly enough. He had nearly suffocated, and he had not enjoyed the experience.

"That's it," he said, groaning and pushing himself up, "next time I know there's a dangerous monster in the room, I won't waste time telling people about it. I'll be crossing into the previous room; you guys can get me when the fighting's done."

Loft looked sadly at the ruined corpses of the spiders. "I didn't get to kill one," he said, "why couldn't they have saved me a massive spider to horribly mutilate?"

"I'm sure that they're will be plenty of monsters for you to fight later, Loft," Marcus said consolingly.

He heard Luna say that they should go deeper, and he looked over at the locked door. "We'll need to solve some kind of puzzle to find the key," he said. The room they were standing in was rather simple. They had entered onto a platform that ended several feet in front of them. The bottom of the room was covered in water, and the surface of the water was dotted with the same lily-pads that had been in the first room. On either side of the pond's floor sat two gated vents. The water must have been flowing rather slowly, then, because it barely seemed to be moving at all. Directly across from them stood another door atop a platform that was the mirror image of the one they stood on now.

"Great," Loft said, clapping his hands together, "step one, find the key. Step two, find a way up there. Step three, poke Luna and see what happens."

Marcus grimaced and pushed him off the side of the platform. "You can work on step two now," he called down. "I'm sorry," he said again to Horus, "but he was born deformed. He lacks that essential filter between the brain and the mouth."

Chimera, unfortunately, was not very good at following plans. Especially those with multiple steps. She stood wordlessly at the edge of the water, looking into its crystal clarity. She’d never seen water that clear, nor had she ever expected to. The springs and such that she could sometimes find were pretty clean, but nowhere near this much so. Unfortunately, Marcus just kept confusing her. Ess sental fill tor, deef oarmed? Chimera didn’t like being confused.

She gave him a slight glare, putting the rim of her buckler under his chin from beside him. “... Man make Chimera head hurt. Point at enemy, Chimera kill. Leave... tricks to others.” It was clear that despite a very non-serious topic, the woman still had the slightest tinge of murderous intent in her eyes.

"That's easily fixed," Horus said in response to Marcus, "because if he doesn't grow up soon, I'm going to be ripping his throat out."

"You are aware that that's technically impossible, right?" Horus glared at Luna. She took the hint -another one of those figures of speech- and became quiet again. She stepped back when the dark-skinned woman threatened Marcus with her shield. That was a severe overreaction; if she didn't want to put up with his explanations, she was entirely free to leave. She wouldn't be necessary as long as Horus had his sword and Luna a drop of mana running through her.

At the same time, Luna felt a slight tinge of what had to be vanity come over her. She wasn't normal- she had known this for many years now, since she often overheard Horus speak with the others about what they called her disorder. But at least she had a basic grasp on the Hylian language, and she usually understood the messages Horus wanted to convey.

She watched as Loft paddled around in the water, not very eager to go down after him. Seeing the platform on the other side of the room, she walked over to Horus, who was still with Marcus, and lightly grabbed his arm in order to get his attention. She immediately got it. "Horus, it isn't hard for you to reach that platform. Do you want to use your Feather, get the key, and come back here?"

"No. I don't know if I can make that jump while carrying you, and I'm not leaving you here on your own. Next thing you know Crazy Stacy's got you on the end of her sword, and I'd kinda like not having to kill all three of them."

"How does that make you-"

"Trust me on this one, Luns. I don't deal well with my friends getting themselves killed. Let them figure it out before I try to make that jump."

"Guys!" Loft screamed, breaking into the thick tension between Marcus and the wild girl, Chimera, "I found a ladder! Isn't that awesome?" He had climbed up onto one of the large lily-pads and was reaching for something that was obscured by the way the platform angled back towards the wall.

"Everyone's so angry today," Marcus murmured to himself. First Horus was attacking Loft after the boy had done little more than say 'hello' to Luna (albeit in a very annoying fashion), and now this woman was attacking him for making her head hurt. He couldn't remember doing anything particularly complicated, but that wasn't the point. "Deal," he said, "if there's an enemy, I'll point you to it. I'll leave tricks for others." He didn't know the limits of her vocabulary, and he wasn't prepared to risk saying something she didn't understand and having her cut his head off.

He stepped away from her and looked dryly at Horus. "Let's put it this way," he said, "the chances of Loft growing up are about as good as getting her to talk to anyone but you." He nodded at Luna. "No offense meant."

Loft, meanwhile, was quickly scaling the ladder. He had just begun drying off, and now he was soaked through again. His clothes were sticking uncomfortably against his skin, his hair was falling into his face, and his shoes were sloshing and squelching with every step he took. Although, he had to admit he didn't so much mind that last part. They sounded pretty cool. He hoisted himself up onto the edge of the platform, standing up straight and waving over to the group.

"I made it!" He informed them cheerfully. "I can confirm that the water is free from sharks, eels, and other Loft-killing denizens of the deep." He said the last part in a low, dramatic voice, crouching over and wiggling his fingers. He turned and skipped over to the lock, which he liked. It was large, it was blue, and it was split into four sections. Wow. What a cool lock! Only thing, he realized, was that there wasn't a key-hole.... He reached out a hand and tapped the upper-left hand piece, and it glowed brightly. "Huh," he said. "Weird." He tapped another piece, and it glowed too. Suspicious, he tapped another piece. It glowed bright blue as well. "I think," he said shrewdly, stroking his nonexistent beard, that if I tap that last one, it'll glow red. Just because it's special that way." Unfortunately, it glowed blue, and Loft's expectations were crushed. The lock buzzed loudly, and Loft jumped back in alarm. The four pieces stopped glowing.

"Huh," he repeated. "Hey, guys!" He called to the others across the water, "good news, it doesn't need a key! There's four pieces that glow when I touch them- I think they like me! This'll only take a minute to open, don't worry! I got this!" He bent down, and began to tap.