Arbiter's Grounds (PC and Tsu)

Arbiter’s grounds​

Terralyn Jiana (Tsubori) – Transform and –5 rupees
Rogue (PC) - 25 Rupees
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Terra rubbed her eyes, waking up and stretching her back. She was in her tent, and upon peeking out the flaps that blocked it from the outside, she confirmed that it was indeed morning. Then her heart skipped a beat yet again as she remembered where she was. Arbiter’s grounds… She dashed to her feet, running outside to pack up her tent before realizing she had to change into her archeological gear.

No way was she going in there in a tank top and cargo pants. Stopping to think for a moment, she realized that she actually probably would, but it wasn’t preferable. Five minutes later, she came back out in her desired clothing, and packed up, putting everything in her compaction pouch. Now with her archeological kit at her side, she spent the next hour getting rubbings of the various symbols around the entrance.

She’d trekked all the way out here to follow up the rumor of Arbiter’s grounds being found. It was being prohibited for entry until the Hyrule Castle town representatives got there to check it out. She’d seen them work before, and gone to a set of ruins after them. Nothing left, everything pilfered like they were bandits. That’s not what archeology is. But she’d snuck by the people guarding the ruins and had gotten to where they never check to sleep for the night before investigating. But now that she had free reign to do what she wanted, so she was getting more and more excited. ‘Today…’ She thought, ‘Is going to be amazing.’

Her thoughts then drifted to her father. He’d always said he wanted to find Arbiter’s grounds… Would she find him he- ‘NO.’ She interrupted her own thoughts and tried to steady her now-shaking hand as she took another rubbing. She wouldn’t build up her hopes like that. At least ten times she’d done that, only to break down when there’s no sign of him. Not this time.

She had finally made it. She had always heard the fairy tales of a grand fortress in the desert that was at one time the worlds largest prison. She can only imagine some of the artifacts that were in there. People would pay top dollar for a fine piece of Hyrulian Hystory on the black market. Her eyes turned to dollar signs as she gazed upon the beautiful structure. Tucked in between some mountains deep in desert, the impenetrable stronghold Arbiter's Grounds. It was no wonder no one ever broke in, it was doubtful anyone that didn't need to know even knew of it's whereabouts.

Arbiter's Ground was meant to be a maximum security prison that no one could escape from. No one ever said anything about breaking in though. Rogue began to pick at the lock that was pretty old but managed to get it open. But when she heard a click of the lock she also heard some footsteps. She panicked and gauged her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was a tent, she was not alone. She couldn't believe that she walked right past it, guess she was too busy counting all of her future fortune. She had to think quick so she pushed open the doors and ran inside down a long staircase.

She paused at the bottom as she saw a pit of sand that had a swirling almost like a whirlpool in the bottom. The place must have structural damage for all of this sand to be everywhere. There was remnants of what could only be pillars that were stationed awkwardly around the room. Rogue jumped swiftly to the first one landing lightly on her feet.

Terra was lost in her thoughts and research until she heard a strange click from near the entrance. Was that...!? She dashed towards the noise, seeing that the door had indeed been opened. Those assholes! The representatives must have come early! She drew her archeological pick, running down the stairs. 

When she reached the bottom, she saw the massive room. The sand was pooling around the room in great quantities, even some clinging to her skin in the air. The shattered pillars littered the room in heaps, making a sort of makeshift bridge with large gaps in between, Terra wasn’t quite sure she could make those jumps... In the middle of the room was a large sinkhole, but Terra almost completely ignored it with the beauty at the end. It was a massive gated spot, with a golden triforce above it. Peculiarly enough, torches were still lit, maybe by whoever discover the ruins? Terra breathed in that familiar air, and then saw that some chick was jumping through her precious ruins. Terra's face went red in rage. She didn't seem like a rep, which left only one other option. "Looter.... Looter! Get the hell out of here!!" Looters were only a small step up from the reps because at least they're honest about their intentions. "If you break a single thing, bitch, I'll break this pick off between your ribs! Wait till I get a hold of you!"

The thief had to use the platforms across the sand, something Terra had the luxury of skipping. She'd dealt with sand many times over, so she quickly cast an ice enchantment on her pick, pushing it through the sand as she ran across it. The cold from the pick froze the sand together, not quite making it solid, but much easier than walking on a sinkhole. When she was just about at the platform that rogue had to go to, cutting her off, she saw the sand shifting beside her. 

As Terra saw something jump out of the sand, she ducked, diving onto the platform the door was on. It was one of those weird sand worm things that always caught her off guard. It wasn't done with her now that she was on solid ground either. It dove at her, but never cross Terra when she's defending ruins. It was about to land on her for dinner, but it let out a shriek as an ice pick was driven through it's head, making a messy wound. Blood had gotten on Terra's shirt and a bit of her face, and as she took her pick out, it looked like frost had gathered around the mouth of the wound. 

The archeologist then pointed her pick at the looter. "No way to go but out, looter."

Rogue was stuck between a rock and a hard place with this girl. Despite her eerie eyes she seemed kinda cute, albeit a little rough around the edges in both appearance and personality but cute. Rogue nimbly held her hands up and began to explain herself. "I apologize, I didn't know the castle would send an archaeologist so soon to investigate." Rogue tried to throw in a bit of innocent charm at the ruin maniac in hopes that she would buy it. "I guess at the very least I owe you an explanation." She then told an elaborate tale about her great great great grandmother being locked away in here and executed for a crime that she did not commit.

"The Gerudo of my village have all but given up on my heritage and began to swallow the lies that were fed to them. I may be a thief but I am so because my family was knocked into the shadows, I'd do anything to get us out. I'm here looking for some kind of proof that will clear my family name. Please allow me to explore the ruins with you in search of answers." Rogue was certain that the girl bought her tall tale. She assumed that she would just sneak away as they got further into the dungeons. Her Pegasus Boots would make that a pretty easy feat.

Terra glared at this woman more and more as she heard her story. It seemed a tad far fetched, but Terra couldn't rule out the possibility it was true. She spun the pick in her hands idly, trying to scrutinize rogue. "Well, it's true that this place was a
very high security prison, and I commend you for knowing that much." She then took her finger and poked Rogue's chest, just under the collarbone. 

"If you ever say I'm one of the representatives again. I will kill you. Nothing fancy. Just you being dead. Those idiots are worse than looters. But you know what? Okay. You can accompany me. I needed either protection or cannon fodder. You could probably serve as both." She extended a hand to rogue, her pick now resting on her shoulder. "Terra. Solo archeologist."

She was contemplating whether or not to just give the lass a fake name. She half frowned and reluctantly said. "I don't do names but you can address me as Rogue," she said. She nimbly jumped from stone to stone until reaching the platform the girl was on, she shook her hand as she led the way into the dungeon.

The architecture was surreal, really something you couldn't imagine ever actually seeing. It was amazing how such a place was meant to be used as a place of execution. Rogue didn't fully comprehend how amazing the structure was she was just very perturbed that she had a watchful eye watching over her. At this rate she wouldn't get anything out of this run.

After a long and stretching corridor they finally reached a fairly dark room. The further they got from the entrance the harder it was to see. The only light in the dungeon were the poorly spaced out torches that were unexpectedly burning. Rogue assumed no one had been here in ages so she put it off as some sort of magic that never stops burning. They stepped into a pit of sand and suddenly it seemed like a million tiny bugs were trying to suck the life out of them, "What the hell is happening?"

Raising an eyebrow at Rogue, Terra put her hands on her hips. "Rogue... Really? You're not doing a very good job of dissuading me that you're just some pathetic looter. Whatever, let's go." 

Terra walked behind Rogue, watching the girl's every move. Perhaps to creepy levels, but the Hylian was just ensuring nobody did anything bad to her previous ruins. When they walked into the dark room, Terra was in the midst of drawing a lantern when she felt the small bugs swarm all over her. A slight blush stretched across her face as they got under her clothes. After all, she was ticklish. 

She squirmed a bit, picking a single bug off her arm and throwing it away. "Awww, aren't they cute?" She said as she tapped her clothing one at a time, enchanting it with ice, but only for a split second. This was long enough for the scarabs to freeze and let go though, with Terra getting only a few bites and a bad case of the goosebumps. She then noticed something strange as she picked up her lantern... 

There were five small, skeletal, evil looking creatures, all armed and all looking none too happy to see Terra and rogue. "Eep..." she let out, a tad concerned. "R-rogue? You may want to get those bugs off you quick...."

Rogue quickly snapped her fingers to better illuminate the dark corridor they were in. Suddenly from a fingertip a bright flame came as she noticed the bugs crawling on her, not only that but there were small rodent like skeleton creatures crawling on her as well. She let out a small shriek that likely shook the entire prison, probably even waking the dead. Little did she know they were already awake and these small creatures were the least of her worries.

The skeletal creatures appeared to run away from the fire as it got close to them. She quickly flung off all of the bugs she could see with several flicks of her fingers. The skeletal bug crawled down her leg and bit her but it didn't hurt as much as it was just purely exhausting, it was as if it was just sucking away her stamina. She flicked fingers on both hands and illuminated her whole body, quickly scarring away all of the fiends as she jumped out of the pit onto solid ground. "What the hell were those things."

Terra did a wide sweep with her pickaxe, knocking three of the tiny skeletons down. "Which are you referring to? The scarabs? They're actually no too bad if you don't freak out, and same with those little rat things. They just like to hitch a free ride places." 

She then raised her pick above her head, bringing it down on one of the knocked down enemies, causing it to be split into many pieces and sink down into the sand. Terra then felt a sharp pair in her leg and as she looked down, saw one of the little bastards had stabbed her with it's little spear. 

Letting out an angry shout, the archeologist hit it in the face with the brunt of her pickaxe, then while it was stunned punted it into a wall. "That little bugger stabbed me!"

Several thoughts raced through her mind, but the main one was that this woman is crazy. Probably the craziest person Rogue has ever met, and she has met some characters in her journeys. Rogue began contemplating how to escape her grasps without getting that pickaxe splitting her head open. She seemed to be smart, and easily able to see through her seduction, furthermore she was a cut-throat unforgiving bitch. The only thing Rogue had going for her was that she could think so fast on her feet and react. She must just sit and wait for the proper opportunity. "So you are the ruin expert, what now?" she said as she look around the room that was only lit by the flames that her spark ability produced.

Terra looked around the room until using her lantern, she saw a torch. "Are you kidding me? Some high class prison my ass! Hey rogue, want to see 'awesome security'?" The woman then lit the torch with her lantern, then saw the very door that she would soon open.  On the other side of the door, opposite the first torch, there sat another one.

When Terra struck her lantern on this one, the door to the next room opened, and Terra chuckled. "I seriously have no idea what numb-nuts decided lighting torches makes for a good replacement for keys." 

She started going into the next room, but turned around, a sneer on her face. "And seriously, I'm solving the puzzles AND fighting the critters? Come on, girl, buck up. If you're going to be this useless all the way through, I'll save the trouble and toss you in the sand traps now."

With that, Terra walked into the next room, which had a dim blue illumination to it. Once both Terra and Rogue had both entered the room, a strange group of lanterns floated into the massive room and took their place with each of the four lanterns next to a massive torch housing a large blue flame. All simultaneously, these strange lanterns swiped the blue fire, causing the door just up the staircase to close. Each of the spirits went off on their own, one being particularly forward and coming in front of them, revealing it's true form. It was a demonic hooded figure, thin and holding only it's blue flame lantern. 

It let out a ghastly shriek, signifying that their duel had begun. Terra drew her excavation pick, flipping it casually. "Bring it, boo-boy."

Rogue was actually quite shocked that such a simple solution fixed the whole problem. She began to explain her theory, "I guess it is just outdated from today's standards."

As the duo entered the next room Rogue began to scan her surroundings. There were a few cracks in the ceiling, forcing the light of the sun to illuminate the room. She believed it was safe to assume that this room would be particularly eerie at night. While Rogue was caught star gazing the screech of the Poe almost knocked her away. Rogue was quick to pull her dagger and stab into the Poe but she seemed to just phase right through him as the Poe became invisible and snuck behind the winch setting her cape on fire.

Rogue was forced to throw off her cape which covered her body and stomp on it to set out the fire. This left Rogue in a fairly revealing top and just her tights. Rogue began to angrily stare at the enemy before yelling at the Poe inaudibly. The Poe just chuckled as it let out another screech that was way different then the one before. Suddenly two Poes that looked much smaller appeared, they wielded scythes and held their lanterns by their feet.

Terra chuckled when Rogue had her cloak burned. Not only did it leave her in a hilariously compromising position, but it also meant she didn’t know how to fight poes. She focused on one of the smaller ones for now, holding her pick at the ready. “Here’s how you do it, Rogue.” The poe started to get ready, becoming slightly less transparent. That meant it gave up it’s incorporeity to be able to damage it’s foes. “When it goes solid… Hit!” She said, thrusting her pick forward quickly and nailing the small poe with the blunt top.

The ghost recoiled a bit, angrily tensing up. Unforunately, Terra had forgotten to take the other poe into account, and when she finally remembered it, she barely jumped in time to clear over a low swing from the scythe. These things weren’t messing around… Had she not jumped, that’d probably have been her legs gone… She held her pick defensively, just waiting for an opening. When one poe finally lunged forward, she used the right angle of the pick to trap the scythe, dragging it around and disarming the poe. Before it has a chance to return to it’s ghastly form, Terra swung low, impaling the ghost through the torso and making it vanish in a bluish glowing poof.

The other Poe was smart though, and used this opportunity to attack. Before Terra could even react, she felt a piercing pain in her thigh as the scythe penetrated, not going particularly deep though. She smashed sideways, hitting away the poe, but the wound it left was pretty major. The leg buckled and she fell to one knee, using her free hand to clutch the wound. Hopefully rogue was faring better…

"Show off," Rogue scoffed as she thought of much worse insults but realized that a fight with a psycho can wait til after the Poes are finished off. She began to observe her companion like she was told to do, almost laughing at the Imp Poes near fatal collision with her legs. But it wasn't too long before Rogue realized that it would be the least of her worries. The large poe was still creeping around the room. It materialized directly in front of her and shoves her with its free hand. Rogue fell to her ass before realizing it was her chance to attack.

Rogue's fist began to light up and flash with an intense red hue as she nimbly rose to her feet and delivered a devastating uppercut to the poe, engulfing him in flames. The poe cried in pain as it began to slowly dissipate, it's lantern fell to the ground as the blue flame continued to burn brightly. Rogue looked up to see how the mania was fairing, seemed like she was handing herself. Rogue wouldn't dare get involved though, not after all the nasty remarks she has had recently. Not to mention if something happened to her, it would be easier to loot.

Terra swung at the poe from her knee, uppercutting it in the chin. It wasn’t quite dead, but it was certainly hurt. Then all she did was draw her arm back, lobbing the pick and hitting it in the head. It burst into darkness, leaving her pick clattering to the ground. The archeologist walked over with a slight limp, retrieving it and seeing the blue fire. She pulled out her lantern, making a sweeping motion and taking the blue fire. “Well... That went well.”

She then looked up at the closed gate. “How much you wanna bet that’s where all the good stuff is?”

(OOC: Sorry I had to cut the post short. Nagging teacher)

"That's a possibility," she said before a small quake shook the prison. Suddenly the gate opened, it was as if the defeat of the poes triggered something. But how the hell would the prison know that the poes were dead? Some sort of sorcery was behind it, and made this prison seem a lot more eerie. She couldn't think much about it, she knew she would be left behind by the overzealous psycho she was travelling with.

Rogue entered down the next hallway and was observing some beautiful artistry painted on the walls. Rogue continued for a moment before turning around not to see the woman at hand. It was Rogue's chance to get away, but for whatever reason she was too curious to just run away. What if something got the poor lady? It's not that she admired the lady, but the same danger could be coming to her.

She finally found her at the beginning of the hallway, "What the hell are you doing?"

Terra stood for a moment, seeing something strange. In one of the hallways, she saw a body. It wasn't decrepit or even rotten. It seemed like he had been here recently. His robes implied he was a mage, so she started walking towards him. "I'm... checking this out." She approached the man, patting him down. She found two books on him, one seemed to be a journal, the other a spell book.

Terra placed the journal softly on the ground. She opened the spellbook, reading through it. "Okay, what have we got here... Don't care, don't want it... have it... Can't do it... Ohhh~" She brought the spellbook in close. "Transform." She read through the instructions, and made small twitches with her hand to replicate more intricate movements.

She put the book down, eagerness setting in. "Oh wow! What do you think I'll turn into? An animal? A spirit?" She was absolutely beaming, and with a sweep of her arm, light envoloped her. When it finished, she felt about the same height. And shape. Huh. She turned to Rogue, completely nude. "I don't feel any different... was that lame spell a dud?"

Rogue was in shock at the fact that Terra was naked. She had always been attracted to the female body, as a matter of fact she had grown used to the nude body of a woman due to being raised by all women. She however was unaccustomed to seeing them since then, furthermore this was the naked body of a Hylian woman. Rogue quickly began to laugh as she sarcastically choked out, "Nice breasts!"

Looking at rogue confusedly, Terra raised an eyebrow. "W-what? Perve-" Her eyes went wide as she felt nothing. And that was wrong. She looked down and saw that she had nothing on. Her jaw dropped and she threw herself back against the wall, legs shut tightly and her arms over her breasts. 

Any bitchiness vanished as Terra grew embarrassed, a red flush obvious in her cheeks as she avoided eye contact. "S-stupid spell... It... I... Turn around please..."

"You flash me and I'm the pervert?" questioned Rogue as she turned around. "Haven't you heard the phrase keep it in your pants." Rogue just waited for some sort of snide remark, but maybe the embarrassment of it all stopped her from being such a bitch.

"Are you done yet? We need to get going."