Ancient Cistern [Blonde Tsuill]

Chimera heard the familiar sounds of combat, getting her blade ready. She unsteadily ran into the fray, slashing left and right, taking down the undead bokoblins. At this point it didn’t matter what she was facing. She then decided to do the technique she’d been taught by the ghost. She placed her feet far apart, then started spinning, moving towards the highest concentration of zombies. They were sucked into the attack, at least four of them being sliced and slammed by her sword and shield.

At the end of the attack, they were all tossed out, most of them dead again. She finished off the one remaining of those she’d attacked with double spinning lariat with a helm splitter, but the landing hurt more than usual. Chimera collapsed to one knee, clutching her chest in pain. It must have been her ribs, they were the most injured... “Not... now... Weak... body...”

When the other travellers mixed themselves into the horde, Horus noticed the number of zombies decreasing rapidly. Using another Spin Attack to get the last one off of him, he wanted to jump back to Luna, only to see her kick one of her own attackers in the face, after which it froze over and she lashed out towards her side with her newfound whip, driving another one back.

He then resumed his cussing as he saw the Gerudo woman collapse. "Dammit, Marcus!" He shouted, "You can heal the hole in my head but not her? What's that about?" Halting his movements towards Luna, he threw his own leg up, colliding with another zombie Bokoblin as it came up to him and stomping on one that was crawling out of the ground to force it back in.

"There's too many of them," he said to no one in particular, "I can't kill them all."

"Horus," Luna suddenly said, grabbing his shoulder to get his attention. "Look there. Behind the Bokoblins." Directing his gaze in the direction she'd indicated, Horus soon stopped wishing she would learn to POINT and swallowed. Half-hidden in the shadows was an enormous figure, easily twice as tall as a Hylian, as decayed as the Bokoblins were, bearing an enormous, rotten shield and spear. As it stepped into the dim, purple light, Horus involuntarily put one arm around Luna as if to protect her.

The Zombie Moblin snorted, and the eye that had not yet fallen out of its socket squinted at the living. "...yeah," Horus said. "We're fucked."

Marcus was furious. She may have refused healing, but to outright ignore the healer's orders? That was going beyond stubbornness and into rude, pig-headed stupidity. She may have been able to destroy some of the Bokoblins, but look at the result! Her movements unsteady, her landing awkward, her collapse inevitable. She had obviously ripped her wounds further, and from the way she was clutching her chest, it was clear that there was internal damage. Marcus felt like snorting; of course her body was weak. Could she really be surprised at this? If so, she wasn't just uncivilized, she was stupid.

Horus' shout made him twist his face in frustration. "It's not my fault," he said, barely keeping himself from yelling as he quickly strode over to the woman. "She refused healing, and she nearly cut my head off earlier for using words bigger than "kill!"

The Moblin advanced from the shadows, and Loft nearly ran away in terror. Fire may be super scary, but that thing was still worse than a glowing ladybug. "Someone's been feeding that zom'blin too much fertilizer." Loft whimpered, stomping his feet against the dead cavern earth as he stared up at the gigantic undead Moblin.

Marcus glared down at the Gerudo, Chimera. "You are about to collapse," he said coldly. He knew he should soften his tone, but after her previous actions it was very difficult to do. "In your current state, you are useless as a warrior. If you want to aid us in defeating that thing, you need to accept your companions' help." He raised one glowing hand and waited for an answer.

Loft took a deep, shaky breath and whipped out his Red Candle. The base shimmered evilly in the undead cavern, but the red flame burst into existence, straight and unwavering as ever in the dank climate. "I'm not waiting for an epiphany," he said. He darted forward, pulling out a Deku Nut with his other hand and smashing it against the ground to cover his advance. He thrust his Red Candle forward and skipped back to safety, leaving a cloud of bright red flames to rush forward and consume the stunned Moblin's rotten shield.

Chimera let out a sigh as Marcus made his way over to her again. Her lack of trust had almost gotten her killed, but she had to swallow her mistrust. That massive creature would be a challenge she needed to be at full power to stand up to. She looked at Marcus and gave a worried look. She still thought he may have been disguising a violent spell as a healing one. “...Fine... Help... Or kill Chimera fastly...”

The humongous undead seemed unaffected by the fact that its shield had just burnt up due to a hyperactive, scared brat. "Great going, kid," Horus said, "That works with Gibdos but good luck making roasted pork out of that." As he said it, his stomach roused in anticipation of roasted pork for dinner. "Urgh."

The Moblin never ceased its advance, though, simply discarding the useless shield. Knowing that he'd have to hold the thing back now, rather than engage it in close combat, Horus drew his crossbow and got a bolt ready. "Not now," he said when Luna seemed to want to enchant it, "I have to see what a normal one does, first." He fired, aiming for the Moblin's neck, and he hit home.

He should have anticipated that rather than falling over, the Moblin would become angry, not bothering to take the bolt out of its neck. What he could not have anticipated, however, was how unreasonably fast it was for its size. Horus let out a cry of surprise as he and Luna stepped back. "I take it back! Where's my ice enchantment?"

A well-aimed shot with an Ice Bolt stuck one of the Moblin's feet to the floor, and when he stopped to check, Horus followed up with a second shot that froze the other foot stuck as well. Heaving a sigh of relief, he lowered his weapon and ran his free hand through his hair. "Anyone have any bright ideas on how to get past that layer of fat?"

Marcus sighed. The Gerudo woman still did not trust him, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. Aging alone in the wilderness must have that effect on people. He placed his hand slowly and gently upon her flaming hair and allowed his magic to flow through her body. In but a few seconds her bones were repaired, her wounds healed over, and her blood supply replenished.

"There," Marcus said, standing and stepping back from the healed Gerudo. "All better."

Meanwhile, Loft was pulling out his two throwing daggers. The Moblin was making angry noises, and he decided that he didn't want it seeing him when it got free. He threw the first one as it straightened, and it buried in its right eye like a hyper boy digs into a fudge sundae. He threw the second one as it reared back, but it was blocked by a rotting arm. It sunk into the layers of fatty flesh and wobbled there, stuck. The Moblin roared and ripped its feet out of the bolts, bits of corpsey muscles still attached to the metallic, enchanted bolts. It was partially blind now, but that didn't keep it from charging at them.

Chimera stretched her arms when she was healed. She... indeed felt much better. She looked at Marcus and gave him a small nod, getting her buckler and sword at the ready. The zombified moblin rushed forward, a knife in it’s eye. That’d be a major mistake. As it ran forward, spear at the ready, Chimera ran directly at it. At the last second, Chimera leapt up, flipping over her foe with a Helm Splitter. Without a helmet to block it, her blade sunk into flesh. Most enemies would be immediately killed by such an action, but not this one.

It stopped, turning it’s massive body around to face Chimera. She had seen that attacks had been fairly ineffective against the belly, covered in so much fat. So the woman hung back, swinging sword beams at the undead’s face. It roared, swinging it’s spear low. This gave Chimera a chance to jump over the spear, striking the ground. A shockwave sent out from her blade, making the Zomblin stagger. Yet again she did a helm splitter, but after the slash she immediately stopped in midair, stabbing down into it’s head with a plummeting blade. Chimera pushed her sword in as far as she could, then removed the sword and started hacking at it’s neck until it fell over. Chimera gave a heavy sigh, coming out of bloodlust. She put away her sword, walking back over to Marcus and bowing her head a little. “Thank magic boy.”

With the Moblin down, Horus dared allow Luna to leave his side. She wandered straight ahead of where they had been standing. Knowing that she may seem a little absent to others but wasn't stupid enough to walk into the muck that was this place's rivers, he turned to the others. "Not bad, I gotta admit that." He still would have given a lot to have Bertrand and Frederick here, but they didn't have them and he'd have to settle for these people, who were more useful than he had thought at first.

While Horus put away his crossbow, ensuring it hung on his back stably, Luna felt her foot hit something hard and bent forward to pick it up, At her feet was a diamond-shaped, white stone, about the size of Horus' sword's pommel. She bent forward, picking it up and weighing it in her hand. It was heavier than she had anticipated, judging from its size. Additionally, she sensed something coming from it. It was faint, and it didn't seem dangerous... Still, she couldn't pinpoint what it was due to there not being enough for her to work with.

Horus caught up to her, so she slipped the stone into his pocket, making sure that no one noticed her doing this. She could always analyze it in more depth later, when there wasn't the chance of Undead Bokoblins attacking them. ...sometime when there were ReDead around them seemed much more suitable.

Putting his arm around her to force her to catch up to his speed, Horus walked further into the depths of this underground area. He coughed, his lungs finally protesting against the damp air in here, and looked across the muck river. "Is that an altar over there?" He asked, "With the statue on it?" It was the most bizarre place to see an altar. He hadn't seen one in many years, and he only recognized it because back in Rauru, he had seen his mother in front of one so many times.

The small statuette atop it was intriguing, though. Horus couldn't tell what it was from this distance, but he felt the urge to move closer to it and take it with him. He'd have to figure out a way to cross the river, however, and he didn't feel like swimming.

Marcus returned the bow. "Happy to help," he said. Hopefully Chimera had learned her lesson and wouldn't be as difficult in the future. Pride was, after all, man's greatest downfall. There was nothing wrong with accepting help from companions, Marcus thought as he followed Horus to the riverside. He had learned this lesson early on; as a Healer largely incapable of offensive combat, he had needed to rely on every companion that had ever crossed his path in order to survive in the dangerous places he frequented. Diplomacy had been an unnatural skill forced upon him, and whether his companion be a stubborn and uncivilized Gerudo or a certain insane, slightly sociopathic thief... trust was essential to survival in ancient ruins. If he could not rely on his companions, he would die, whether from a monster's gaping jaws or an ancient death trap prepared long ago to ward against thieves.

Meanwhile, Loft was settling his Red Candle more securely in his pack. He walked up to the dead (re-dead?) Moblin and kicked it in the snout. "That's for stealing my knife," he said. He reached down and tugged the first throwing knife out of its eye, the little rotting orb popping like a water-balloon filled with the contents of a latrine. "Eww," Loft said, skipping back in a vain attempt to keep the grossness from getting on his tunic. He wasn't successful, and, grumbling about the prices of dry cleaning, he proceeded to tug and yank the knife's twin out from the Moblin's fatty arm, which wobbled sickeningly when they parted, as if grieving the loss of a lover. "Sure," Loft said, "I'm the bad guy in this relationship."

He walked past Horus and tossed a rock into the mucky river of muck. It didn't sink like normal- that must mean that the sludge was thick. Loft felt proud of his realization, and he staggered as a brainwave hit. He caught his balance, slightly embarrassed. It wasn't exactly a common houseguest. "That Moblin's almost all fat, right?" He asked. "Fat floats, and this is sludge! Anyone else wanting a ride on a corpse?"

Chimera was much less caring than the others when it came to this mucky water. She stood at the edge, hearing Loft say something about a corpse or some such nonsense. She looked at the others somewhat frustratedly, then leaped into the water. Such pampered people, if they weren’t willing to get a little bit dirty... She noticed that she swam much faster in this muck than normal water, which was odd. While making sure she didn’t get any in her mouth, Chimera soon reached the other side, wiping the stuff off of her. She could always just bathe later. But unfortunately a wave of nausea overcame the Gerudo and she threw up onto the ground. She was a bit shaky, but she’d survive. Looking back at the water, Chimera realized that stuff couldn’t have been anything but bad for her...

Horus gave Loft a death glare. "Let me get this straight. You want to cross a river of sludge by desecrating a double-dead body?" He turned away from the boy, shaking his head. "Help me remember that I have to denounce all knowledge of you once we're done here. His Majesty will have my damn head." However, as the Gerudo proved seconds later, swimming was definitely out of the question. But since it was sludge, not water, Luna's Ice magic would not help her walk across it.

Sighing, Horus reached into his coat, pulling a ragged feather from an inside pocket. "Luns, come here for a second. You're lighter than I am." He put the feather behind her ear, after which she adjusted it so it sat in her hair more comfortably. He put his hands together, crouching lightly to put them at a comfortable height for her to step on them. "Jump as soon as I throw you, you should be able to make it across." Luna gave no confirmation, but stepped into his hands, letting him toss her up and jumping off at what she thought to be the right moment.

Front flipping once due to the added momentum of the feather, she landed in front of the Gerudo, walking up to the altar and grabbing the statuette. It wasn't trapped, so she lifted it off the altar and looked behind it. Behind the altar, the road continued. Walking back to the river, she held up the statuette. "You didn't think this all the way through, Horus."

"What do you mean? You have it, right?" It wasn't until he had spoken those words that he realized. "Ohhh, crud."

"You're on that side of the river. I can't get back with it."

"Fuck. Now what?" Luna suppressed the strong urge to put her hand to her forehead and groan.

"There's another road back here. I can follow it and see if it brings us back together."

"Should I find a way towards you, then?"

"As long as you don't get lost..."

As Luna took off, Horus shook his head, his face becoming about as red as his hair. "Not a word, you two."

If there was ever any doubt as to Chimera's intelligence level, there wasn't now. At this point, Marcus felt strongly tempted to leave her to whatever fate the poisonous, corpse-festered waters carried for her. First she turned down healing when she was obviously badly beaten, then she rushed into battle with all her injuries still open, and now she decided to rush through an unknown, slightly glowing river of sludge in an underground cavern full of undead creatures! He would have thought that a girl of the wilderness would be more aware to the dangers of her surroundings, but evidently not. He had the feeling that no matter how many tight situations he saved her from, she would always rush blindly into another one and nearly get killed.

He was strongly tempted to leave her be with Luna and let her fate be in the hands of whatever Goddess she served, but... he couldn't. He hadn't sworn to heal and protect only people who didn't annoy him, he had sworn to help everyone in his power. That river was potentially fatal, and he could not allow her to continue journeying in her unknown condition. There was only one thing to do.

"Not a word," he agreed absently. He turned and addressed Loft. "Stay here," he said firmly, "try not to get killed." He looked to Horus. "Try not to kill him, alright? I'm going across to help Chimera." He could not stay and debate; every second he hesitated was one where the selfish desire to avoid that sweltering river of muck gathered strength. If he listened to what would undoubtedly be protests from the others, he might lose his nerve. And so, mere milliseconds after speaking, he plunged into the water and quickly pulled himself across. As expected, it was much thicker (and more easily swimmable) than normal water, and he had soon pulled his disgustingly sludged body out of the river of muck. He concentrated, healing himself as both a test run and to keep himself from being incapacitated by the river's effects. He was shocked to discover that, while strong and potentially even deadly, its poison was easily reversible. "Through the skin you came," he thought, "and through the skin you shall leave."

He turned to address the others across the lake, holding up a glowing hand in Chimera's direction in silent question. "This poison is easy to heal; we don't have to split up!"

Chimera nodded, this time allowing Marcus to purge the poison right away. She wiped her mouth, nodding her head and saying “Thank.” She noticed how annoyed he looked, so she figured she’d stay close to him. The Gerudo looked to the pathway forward, drawing her sword. “I cover path. Heal others.” She then reached the path forward, standing guard.

While she watched, she practised her new attack, spinning her shield and sword around. Strangely, rocks from the floor would get pulled into the attack, then batted away with her shield. Perhaps that could be useful. Chimera stopped and thought for a bit. “Pulling? Hmm...”

Horus was just about ready to throw in the towel when Marcus plunged into the muck and swam across. The worst was yet to come, however, as the healer demanded that he and Loft crossed the river, too. "Whoa, hold up. Mind if I ask why exactly it's a problem to just go with Luna's plan, the three of you follow the road behind the altar and I take the nutcase the other way around? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a lot heavier than you guys are and I'm leaving none of my stuff behind here." He'd be out of his mind to. Almost everything he owned was a heirloom of his father's.

On the other side, Luna had sat down on the altar, realizing this was going to take a while. She played with the statuette in her hands, looking at Horus. He was right, not wanting to swim through the stuff in the river. The last time he had swam in anything other than blue, clear water, he had almost drowned. They both were very careful with swimming- not because they could not swim, but because they were very distrustful of anything that didn't look like it belonged on this world. Purple gunk in a river was one of those things.

"The nutcase can go along with you, but I'm going around. Luna, I'll meet you there. Don't you DARE run off in a direction where I won't be able to meet up with you."

"I wouldn't even consider it," Luna said, speaking truthfully. "Without me, you would get lost and wander here forever." She looked at Marcus, seeming bored. "Shall we go?"

"Hold on a moment," Marcus said to Horus and Luna irritably, "give me a chance to speak, will you?" He took a deep breath, trying to find a moment of stillness amidst the hustling, harrying pace of his companions.

"I'm staying if you are," Loft said to Horus. "You'll need extra eyeballs in case of more sneaky undead, and I've got the ninja-iest ninja-eyes in all of Hyrule!" He pulled up his eyelids to showcase his ninja-eyes.

Marcus opened his eyes and looked across the river at Horus. "I can't swim," he said, "and neither can Chimera, remember? How do you think we got across? This sludge is so thick that even your extra weight won't matter much, especially if you can already swim. But if you're so determined to split up and ride on a hope that you'll find a way to reconnect with us somewhere down the line, go ahead." Perhaps he spoke more sharply than he should have, but his companions were really starting to get on his nerves. As crazy as he was for thinking it... he wished that it was just him and Loft in this dungeon. At least all that idiot did was trot along cheerfully behind him. "Let's go," he said to Luna.

Chimera heard the situation unfolding, but didn’t really care how it went down. Regardless of if the annoying boy and yelling man crossed the river, she had the healer on her side of the river. As long as she had an arm to fight with and an ally to heal her, she’d be fine. Chimera stopped practising the double spinning lariat and stood at the entrance to the pathway, waiting for Marcus to pass. At that point, she walked right next to him, not really saying anything to him. Her hand was ever present on the hilt of her sword though, making her ready for a fight, no matter from where it came.

As she walked, she eventually turned towards Marcus. She scarcely ever asked anyone about themselves, but this had been bugging her. “...If not like odd boy, why with?” She said curiously.

"That's exactly what I'm planning on doing, thank you very much," Horus shouted across the river, raising one hand in greeting Luna. Separating himself from her worried him, but if he set aside his overprotectiveness of her, he knew rationally that she could handle herself. Besides, the idiot was with him, and Marcus would know better than to molest Luna.

Luna mimicked his signal of goodbye and pushed herself off the altar, following behind Marcus. Unbeknownst to Horus, she was as worried about him as he was about her, but now she didn't have his protection either. Marcus she could tolerate, but Chimera was... a threat. If she got close to Luna without Horus near her to guard her, the ice mage would have to defend herself... fortunately she seemed occupied with Marcus. Luna walked ahead, still turning the statuette over in her hands.

Horus sighed and turned to Loft. "Let's have a few things clear. First, you keep your mouth shut. Second, you keep your hands off of me. Third, no funny business or I rip your throat out." Without Luna there, he didn't have to keep the violence down. "I just want a safe, non-muck way back to Luna's side and I don't need your help to find it." He drew his sword with his right hand and flicked his left hand a few times, conjuring up needles in case he had to get something from afar. "I'm FINE. I do this every day."

Loft nodded vigorously. He zipped his mouth and threw away the key, then made to tied his hands behind his back. He grinned, his lips still tightly sealed, and bobbed his head up and down happily.

Meanwhile, across the river of sludge, Marcus trudged down the path, trying and failing not to look irritated. He couldn't believe he was here, surrounded by people who either got themselves hurt in stupid ways or stupidly put themselves in positions to be hurt. Speaking of the former, here was the wild girl herself. Surprisingly, her question was actually sensible. He choked down his sour mood's reflexive response and tried to give her an honest answer, even though he himself didn't fully understand it.

"I don't really know," he said, looking steadily at the path before him, "we just work well together, I guess. What about you?" He glanced sideways at her fiery Gerudo hair. "You seem... alone. What happened?"

Chimera thought for a bit when Marcus asked her about what happened. A lot of the stuff before Ganon’s attack was lost to her, but the attack itself was still pretty vivid. “Chimera... Walk where she want. People try hurt Chimera or take things. They die. Rare see people who not try hurt... And for what happen?” She wondered exactly what to say.

“Pig men came to village. Burn everything. Chimera hide under bed... House fell in. Wood fell on neck and pin. When woke up, not able move. For... day or so... Waited, gained moving again. Wanted to live, so started to fight.” Chimera tried to remember anything else. “It not safe for Chimera to stay with others. Secret plans.” She glared ahead, remembering a few of the scarier people who’d attacked her, especially when she was younger.

The girl was young, wielding the scimitar like a greatsword. Walking through the hallway with Luna and Marcus, she drew her sword, stabbing forward with both hands then slowly dragging her sword right at throat height. “First time killed.” She had very little focus in her eyes, her mind locked on the past.

As Chimera lamented about her past, Luna's mind wandered to her own. Her exodus from her home had gone slightly differently, at least, what she could remember of it. It wasn't that she had been too young at the time, but she had repressed much of it. She remembered a man... a lot of shouting and almost as much spell-slinging. She recalled the man's panic, which she had taken over. She'd been afraid. The man had put a hand over her forehead and started talking to himself, something she now realized had been an incantation for a spell, and the next moment she had been in a barren wasteland...

She shook her head. That was behind her, now. She had not been alone in there for long, since Horus had shown up not too long after the spell had been cast upon her. He had always protected her, and he would always continue to do that for as long as his body allowed him to. As she realised this, her heart started beating faster. She realised once more that he wasn't here right now, that he wouldn't be there to protect her if one of these two people went berserk on her. She gripped the statuette more tightly.


In the meanwhile, Horus held out his arm as a gesture to Loft that he had to stay where he was and wait for him to tell him he could move again. The redhead himself crouched, putting one hand on the floor. That there was something coating the floor was nothing new in a place like this, but Horus recognized this particular substance. As he touched his hand to it to feel it, he sighed. "It wouldn't be Annoy-the-fuck-out-of-Falconer-day if it didn't have ReDeads in some shape, way, or form..."