Bottom of the Well (Tsubori and Blonde Panther)

Bottom of the Well
Curse of the Skeleton Kingdom Part 1 of 3

Horus, Ikanan swordsman. (3/2/3, Hylian) [Blonde Panther] Reward: Roc’s Feather, -30 Rupees. (Had 30, now has none.)
Luna, Ice Princess (2/4/2) [Blonde Panther] Reward: +15 Rupees. (Had 5, now has 20.)
Phiorra De’Maluin, Positive Priestess (1/5/2) [Tsubori] Reward: Priestess Level 4, -15 rupees. (Had 15, now has none.)
Music for this Dungeon Thread.

"...okay, this is getting ridiculous." Horus leaned against a half-fallen pillar, knowing from experience it was one of the few that could sustain his weight. Luna looked at him, but he didn't direct his gaze away from the sky. "I know Ikana isn't exactly a country of sunshine and rainbows, but this?"

"But we have sunshine," Luna said. "And rainbows can occur anywhere. In fact we had one just last month."

Horus shook his head. There she went again, taking every word he said literally. "Just look at the sky, Luns. I have the feeling it gets darker every single- Hey!" A lot of commotion from the entrance to the ruin had caught his attention. "I don't care how much you love each other- take it outside." Still, he walked away from his pillar and towards the two men. "What happened?"

The biggest man, the blonde, dragged his black-haired companion inside. "Redead took a bite out of Frederick here. Went pretty much half-limp right away."

"I'm not surprised." Horus crossed his arms.

"I know that look," Bertrand said.

"You got it right. I've had it." The Stalfos retreating from the valley had been a little disturbing, but when Redeads became more numerous and more agressive, to the point of the very weather changing... "Luns! I'm going to the castle! Igos had better explain this!"

------------

"What the hell is THIS supposed to be?!" In a fit of rage, Horus slammed his foot into the massive, rusted steel door blocking their way into the castle.

"I don't think that's going to break it down..."

"His Majesty never shuts people out like this! Never!" He turned around, shoving his hands into his pockets. "...Luns, do you know another way to get into the castle? I'm not gonna get any wiser from just standing here."

"There's a well inside the courtyard," Luna said. "And I overheard a couple of Stalfos talking about the connection from that well to the one just up the hill there." She looked in the direction of the hill. "A tunnel of sorts... they were worried about Redeads sneaking in that way."

"Then that's where we're going," Horus said, grabbing her hand and barging off in the direction of the hill where the well was according to her. Luna didn't even mention anything about the danger. That was what he loved about her. Just like his, her reasoning was 'we'll worry about it when it becomes relevant.'

...at least, he figured it was.

Phiorra treaded along her way to her destination. Right off the get-go they'd told her everything here would be trying to kill her. The Lumesca, or high priestess of light, had told her of a dark radiance from Ikana. More than usual, apparently. 

So here she was, at the entrance of a grand castle... But with no way in. Phiorra waited at the door, tapping once or twice. She was confused as all hell, but she freaked out a little when she heard voices coming up behind her. 

Hiding behind a pillar, Phiorra listened in on the conversation before her, apparently between two Hylians. They... Must have been at least somewhat nice then, right? She stepped out from behind the pillar, starting off with a polite curtsy. 

"Hello!" She said, smiling. "My name is Phiorra De'Maluin of the temple of light in Hyrule castle town. I... Heard you talking of a way into the castle, and if you indeed were, may I accompany you?"

When a girl's voice sounded behind them, Horus let go of Luna, turned around suddenly and drew his sword in the turn, stopping his motion when he realized the one 'attacking' them was just a girl even younger than Luna, the blade of his sword resting at her neck. "...I really recommend you not to sneak up on people like that." Bringing his sword back down and sheathing it, he grabbed Luna's arm gently and turned her around.

"I have to admit one thing though. You've got nerve, coming through Southern Hyrule and to Ikana Valley on your own. Even we don't go anywhere without at least one other with us."

While Horus talked to the girl, Luna just stared at the hill where the well was. She wondered what it would be like down there. "...Castle Town?" she suddenly said, perking, "What's that?"

"Far North," Horus said, "She's probably suicidal." He then pointed at the hill. "We know of a way that might possibly lead into the castle, but if my hunch is right then it's not gonna be pretty. Nor safe. You sure you wanna come? You don't look like you know which end of the sword is supposed to go into the other guy."

Jumping back when the male drew his blade and pointed it at her throat, Phiorra placed her hand where the blade would have been, if she were a few inches closer. She nodded. "Y-yes, of course! No more... Umm surprising people..."

Phiorra became slightly embarrassed when the man declared her suicidal. "I- um... Not really. I'm simply determined to ensure this job is seen through to the end." 

Her smile turned into a frown when Horus called her abilities into question. "Well... I believe that's hardly fair to say... Simply because I don't have an intimidating appearance doesn't mean I'm useless." 

She didn't like how he was speaking of her, really, so she tried to get off the topic. "But really, I'm willing to go through whatever to accomplish my goal. Lead on, sir.... Umm..." She started, unsure of his name.

Horus laughed out loud, prompting a frown from Luna who really didn't understand what was so funny. The redhead was so very amused at this girl. And yet he was also concerned. "Listen, lady... De'Maluin, was it? I told you, it's gonna be dangerous." Still, it was probably best that she came with them. "That said, we can't have yet another Redead haunting this place. You're coming with us, make sure we can see you at all times and maybe even make yourself useful."

"Considering it's Undead we're up against," Luna said, clearly audible and with a slight respectful bow towards Horus, "A Light Priestess would probably have skills we can use. And she -did- make it all the way to here on her own."

"What she said," Horus said, pointing over to her. "Her name is Luna, but you are to address me at all times. You may call me Horus, and I run this show. Pay Luna the bodyguard fee and follow me."

Not wasting anymore time with pleasantries, the three pretty much stormed the hill, neither Ikanan looking back to see if the priestess could keep up. Finally at the well, Luna was quick to discover that there was no longer a ladder leading down into it. This could pose a problem, seeing as none of them seemed to possess anything that could slow a fall to a point where they would end up as anything else than a bloody pulp at the bottom of the well.

Instead, Luna checked the wooden beam above the well, which would once have been used for pulling up the buckets of water. She was surprised at the sturdiness of it, and shook it a few good times. "It's slightly loose," she analyzed, "And I'm not sure about its reliability considering most wood in Ikana is rotten..." She then looked at Horus. "But Horus, it's probably our best bet to attach your grappling hook to the beam and slowly climb down the rope to the bottom."

"Makes sense," Horus said, immediately setting to work on it. Once he had ascertained the hook wouldn't just fall off if he exerted force on it, he threw the rope down the well and offered a bit of it to Luna. "Well, ladies first, and it looks like you're the lightest out of us three, Luns."

"My name is LunA," she remarked, but took the rope to hand. Without hesitating, confident in her plan, she hung from it and mounted her feet against the wall, slowly but securely abseiling to the bottom. As soon as he was sure she was down, Horus pulled up a bit of rope to offer to Phiorra.

"Again. Ladies first."

Phiorra frowned at the mention of a bodyguard fee. Oh... She hasn't anticipated that. She supposed it made sense though... Reaching into her coin purse, the priestess pulled out 15 rupees. The only 15 rupees she had on her.

"I-I certainly hope this is enough..." She said, handing it to Luna, though her smile came back when she heard their names. "I'm pleased to meet you, lady Luna and sir Horus." She said with a small curtsy.

Following the two Ikanans up the hill towards the well, the priestess didn't have much trouble keeping up. When she reached the well with the others, she simply listened to Luna's plan, accepting the rope with a smile and nod. "Thank you, Sir Horus. How very polite."

Tucking her dress back with her knees, Phiorra made sure it wouldn't come up at all before starting her own descent. Upon finding herself at the bottom, she spotted Luna and looked at her curiously. "I've heard from many that Ikana is an impossibly dangerous place to live... How do you two manage?"

"Don't get the wrong idea," Horus said to Phiorra as she took the rope, "It's just that I run the biggest risk of snapping that beam and you don't want to be left alone up here. Now get down there." Once the priestess was at basement level, he himself started the descent. However, as he had feared, halfway down the beam gave way.

Luna was too busy looking into the darkness ahead of them, trying to decipher anything in there, to pay attention to Phiorra, and didn't even look up when Horus slammed into the ground behind her, nor when the beam came down after him and missed him by a hair's breadth.

"See?" Horus said, after spending a few seconds regaining his mental balance, getting up and detaching his hook from the beam, "That's why I went last. Problem is that now we're stuck here."

"Horus." Luna turned around, as if she only now noticed he was here. "We're going to need your dagger." He didn't precisely immediately grab it, so Luna repeated herself. "Your dagger. We need it. We can't see anything."

"Well gee, genius, give me a second to put away my grappling hook properly. Here." He pulled the dagger out of his boot and tossed it to Luna, who caught it effortlessly. "Hold that." He took the weapon back once his hook was in order and stowed away. Raising it above his head, he invoked the light of the blade. "Well." He put his free hand on his side. "I thought you said there was a passage here, Luns."

Ahead of them was nothing but a solid rock wall. "We had better not have dropped down the wrong well."

"Shut up Horus." Luna looked at the wall intently. "I'm thinking."

Phiorra tilted her head when Luna ignored her. 'Oh well... She must not be very talkative.' she thought. Her attention was snapped to the man of the group when he geared the wood above break, making the man fall. She immediately went to his side, a worried look on his face. "S-Sir Horus! Are you okay?" She questioned, at least until he proved he was okay by tossing Luna his knife. She now had a small lump in her throat. 'Eep... They're tossing knives around...'

"Wait, sheath your blade, I'll handle the light." She focused for a second or two, and soon the room was filled with an artificial illumination. "There we are." She said, happy about the convenience of her ability. Now... For the fact that they were trapped. Closing her eyes damn near staggered the unexpecting priestess. "Th-there's so much evil..." She pressed walked towards the side. "It's coming from over here. Maybe there's a secret passageway or..." She reached for the wall to pat it, but her hand merely slipped right through. 

"Woah..." She poked her head through, the light carrying from the other area as it technically was te same room. "It's an illusion!" She said, almost looking like she had her head stuck in the wall.

Horus followed after Phiorra, ensuring there was nothing immediately beyond the fake wall that would harm Luna, and drew his sword once he was on the other side. "Okay, ladies, let's get going." He glanced to a corner, where a few skeletons laid against the wall. Apparently they were not the first to attempt this passage to Ikana Castle.

Luna followed him, not fazed in the least by Phiorra noticing something she had missed. Her attention, too, was drawn to the skeletons in the corner. However, as she got closer to them, her eyes widened. '...more fools...' 'They'll be helpless in here...' 'Looks like some pretty ladies to join us soon...'

"Horus," she said, "I don't like the way they're talking about us."

"The way who's talking about us?" Luna raised an eyebrow. Apparently, Horus did not hear the voices of the departed. "You're probably just hearing things."

"I am," Luna said, "But you seem to not hear them."

"It wasn't a compliment." Horus had passed the stages of frustration at Luna's incapability of understanding figures of speech a long time ago. "Anyway, let's get a move on. The sooner we get into the castle, the better it'll be for all of us. I just hope there's a ladder or a rope of sorts on the other end of the tunnel..."

Phiorra kept moving forward with Horus and Luna, and also hear the voices to to her spiritual prowess. "Well I don't know, Lady Luna, they seem to be giving us some fairly kind compliments." 

Then as she walked with the others, the hallway fully lit up, she suddenly stopped as she saw something that made her queasy. All over the nearby wall, she saw blood. It was splattered all across it, but long dried. The priestess clutched Horus' shoulder, turning and coughing as she tried to avoid throwing up. "I-I hate blood... It's so..... Bloody..."

"You don't frikkin' say," Horus said, rolling his eyes at Phiorra's remark about the blood on the wall. "Anyway, it's dried up several ages ago. Let's go." He still kept his sword in hand, having the feeling he was being watched. His other hand pushed on his lower back. "Stupid rock," he muttered. He had landed on something when he'd hit the ground, and it had not agreed with him doing so.

At least it hadn't punctured his skin, so he wasn't bleeding, but it hurt when he moved his left leg. Oh, well, he figured he'd be able to ignore it until he had time to actually treat it. Better than having a Redead take a bite out of him. A small wooden ladder came into his view, and he climbed it with two small leaps, seeing that the room was a lot bigger than they had initially thought. "You girls get up here," he said, "Looks like a corridor of sorts-"

"Horus look in front of you!" Luna screamed. When Horus had gotten up on the ledge, he had looked back while moving forward, ignoring his Sense. She sighed in frustration when he ran headlong into the enormous Green Bubble that flew along the perimeter, cackling. The Bubble ignored him, floating along on its path.

Horus, by now, was on the ground, his head now hurting along with his back, and groaned. "Thanks for the warning, Luns..."

"Luna," she corrected. "And this place looks more complicated than I thought."

Phiorra climbed quickly up the ladder, getting into position to fire what seemed to be an invisible bow, but after focusing for a moment, a bow actually phased into her hands in a burst of light. She pulled back the arrow, letting it loose and destroying the green bubble, ensuring it had cackled it's last. She dispelled her bow, yet again in a burst of light, and immediately ran over to Horus, checking his head and feeling it for skull bruising or cracks. “S-Sir Horus! You're okay right? Do you want me to make you a head bandage or something?”

"I'll be fine, mom." Horus staggered back to his feet, holding his head. It spun and his vision was dotted with black spots. He ignored Luna remarking that Phiorra wasn't his mother at all, having stabbed himself easily twice or three times as hard as he had the priestess. "I've butted heads with Stalfos before."

Luna walked past him, looking down the corridors. "We have two ways to go-" she suddenly twisted around, looking at a panel in the wall that looked oddly like a face. "...we have to find something called the Eye of Truth, Horus."

"What we have to do is find the exit that leads us into the castle courtyard."

"The departed are telling us to find the Eye of Truth."

"I don't need no stinkin' Eye of Truth!" Horus was getting frustrated. "We're here to get into Ikana Castle and demand an explanation from His Majesty, not sightseeing and treasure huntiIING!" He had stepped forward, but his foot hadn't found support from the floor and he had started falling. The shock had provoked a reflex, and he had turned around and grabbed on to the edge of the real floor.

Climbing back onto it, he looked at the part of the floor he had almost fallen through. The exact words he said upon doing so are best left unrepeated. "What is with this place..."

Phiorra became slightly concerned when Horus refused her help. He wast really walking straight, but if he said he was okay, he must be, right? The voices rang out to Phiorra, some of them really starting to freak her out. 'The darkness will ensnare you...' and the one that made her slight smile immediately drop off. 'Your blood will feed these halls.' 

Phiorra was only snapped out of her fear by Horus almost falling. His word choice was... Colorful... Phiorra blushed, having never heard such a variety of harsh sounding words in one simple phrase. She helped Horus up, looking at Luna. "I suppose this is why we need this lens, correct?"

"I keep telling you, I don't need the Eye of Truth or whatchamacallit." Horus walked away from the two women, no longer underestimating this place and now completely on guard.
"We just have to be more careful than I've been so far."

"I really think the Eye of Truth may be a valuable tool," Luna said, "But knowing you there's no changing your mind... let's press on." Horus went first, walking down the corridor. They were walking along a small canal, stillstanding water in it. Luna didn't really want to know what would happen if they stepped into it, but she was fairly sure they shouldn't try to drink it- Bubbles were usually the most savory creatures to be encountered in Ikana.

The departed kept talking to Luna, whose gaze pierced into Horus' back, wondering if he still didn't hear them. They kept urging her to find the Eye of Truth, but also taunted her that she would soon join them. The things they said they would do to her sounded most unsavory, but Luna cared little about it.

Soon Horus spotted something, as he crouched on the pavement and peered into the water. "There's a passage down there," he said, pointing into the water. Luna just stared at his pointing hand, not sure what he was talking about. "But I'm not the guy who's diving down into water coming from a well that looks like this and risks drowning because he doesn't know how long the passage is. So if either of you can figure out a way to get rid of the water..."

"I can freeze it," Luna said, "But I doubt that would help much. Maybe there's a mechanism of sorts further into the well that could help us..."

"Either that or I'm getting distracted by a red herring."

Luna frowned deeply. What was wrong with him today? "Horus... there aren't any fish in this well. Let alone red ones. Is the air here getting to your head?" The air in this well WAS stuffy and reeked of death, more so than the air above ground did. It was possible it was having a bad effect on Horus.

Phiorra mustered up a smile. "Well, I suppose we best get looking for it then right?" She turned, leading the two Ikanans down the next hallway. When suddenly, her foot fell through yet another illusion. Lacking either Horus' reflexes or oh-so expansive vocabulary, she tried to reach back but all she grasped was Luna's ankle by accident. 

She pulled the girl down with her, accidentally descending into a lower floor of the well. She landed hard on her back, though she made sure to grasp Luna closely, ensuring the girl landed on top of her, bracing the Ikanan's fall. 

It sure as hell knocked the wind out of her, but at least Luna was safe. "Wh....." She tried to choke out. "What.... Ha... Happened...?"

Things went pretty damn fast. Luna felt Phiorra's hand clenching around her ankles, and the next thing she knew was she landed on top of the priestess. She got to her feet swiftly, looking around. They seemed to be at a dead end, leaving the only logical way to go at their backs.

Horus went ballistic when he saw both girls fall through the floor. He kneeled on what he knew for sure to be solid ground, calling down. "Lunaa! Are you okay?!"

"I'm alive," she called back, a lot less panicked. "It's an underground tunnel. It might lead ahead."

"Or into your death," Horus shouted, "Here's what we're gonna do. The two of you are going to try and get back up here, while I try to come towards you with less of a one-way trip down."

"Should meet in the middle, then," Luna said, "I'll see you there, then." Then, without any sort of good-bye, she turned around and started walking in the only direction she could.

Phiorra stood up shakingly, regaining her breath, as she followed Luna. From what she'd seen of these two, they bickered and got snide with eachother, but as shown in how Horus had become when the two fell, he really cared about his companion. Horus just needed to work on his manners a little bit. 

Walking into the room ahead, Phiorra saw quite a few surprising things. First, was the massive pit of... Green stuff in the middle of the room. Second was the strange floating silver rupees floating about the room. Lastly was the strange hunched over figures in the room. 

The voices again, called out to her, calling her closer. She unwitting did so, creeping closer to one of the hunched over figures until it suddenly stood, letting out a terrifying shriek. The priestess berated her body. It wouldn't move! She couldn't move! She began to panic as the creature crept closer, eventually tackling the girl to the ground and biting her shoulder.

Horus got to his feet, turning around and leaping into the shallow water, logically coming to the conclusion that everywhere the water stood still would be solid ground and safe to walk on, and started backtracking to the entrance. He knew there was another way they could have gone there, and maybe it would lead to not only the girls, but to the mechanism to drain the well, too.

-----

Luna analyzed the room she and Phiorra found themselves in. The was unsure of the value of silver rupees, let alone if they were floating several inches off the ground like these. And items without assigned monetary value were usually magical in nature, and if there were multiple of them, Luna assumed they were meant to be collected for their magic to take effect.

However, before they could set to collecting the gems, Phiorra went up to a Redead and got attacked by it. Remembering the wound Frederick had had, which had not been very savory, Luna leapt forward and extended her arm towards the zombie, freezing its torso with Blizzard. Next, she suddenly threw her leg up and forward, shattering the ice as well as the zombie flesh, effectively kicking the Redead in two.

Phiorra let out a small scream as the Redead sunk it's teeth into her shoulder, though Luna managed to kill it before it could kill her. She felt her wound, seeing that the thing had indeed drawn blood. The priestess frantically shook the blood off her hand and tried to ignore it. 

Quickly in her mind, she went over prayers for the redeads in the room, summoning an arcane bolt and firing at each, annihilating them all. But with her prayers, they may find peace. When she killed the last of the undead, she kneeled down, putting her hand on the ground. "May all you fallen have the rest you need..." 

Phiorra then stood up, turning to Luna. "So... What do you think is with these weird Rupees?"