Cold Tips and Hot Trails [Guy + Clooby + UnnamedDude]

(Yay, it hasn't died yet~! )

"Buzz!" The bumblebee-wannabee abruptly dove at his friend's command, sinking quickly towards the ground and out of the rock's way. He hovered as fast as he could--which wasn't terrible fast over to Mei. His tiny hands hastened his ascent up along the side of her body, close enough to the point he hoped she could hear his squeaky little bee-voice.

"Maybee!" He began, earnestly, "You could fire me at them! Hitting 'em stinger-first would really hurt! (Hopefully!)" Buzzari tried not to over-think the situation, just hoping this would work... Gorrito was in danger, after all! With a furrowed brow, he quickly added with a pleading voice, "Please, buzz!"

---

There came a sound of armor rustling. It wasn't entirely obvious, but Sienna shuddered as her victim flailed desperately. She could almost hear it pleading to her, desperate, pathetic. Finally her immense strength and willpower caused a sickening CRUNCH, and the flailing limbs fell impotently. There came a slight grunt, and Sienna dropped the corpse without much celebration.

"Reptiles be damned," she said with a twisted, albeit masked, smirk, "That was good."

Her eyes darted over to the Hylian. She had almost forgotten he was there. Had he heard her? Probably not. Did it matter? ...Probably not.

Sienna dusted herself off a bit, and recovered her weaponry. She had nearly caught her breath by the time she approached the river of magma, gazing across it to see the Hylian already on the opposite side. Over her shoulder, she called out, "Ravager!"

The beast obediently scurried over to her side, though it whimpered a bit at the heat of the magma. It was panting, wildly, from the heat. Sienna had nearly forgotten it didn't have Goron Armor of its own. Not only that, but she knew it wouldn't be able to carry her weight across these jumps--at least not reliably. A grimace spread across her face. She didn't want to see an asset of hers drowning in lava, much less herself. "Outside," she commanded, firmly, "Wait for Master."

With that, her ever-obedient pet scurried out of the area, wasting no time in escaping the lava-filled dungeon. Sienna had little doubt it would be able to find its way out safely.

For the matter at hand, she tightly gripped her feather, and carefully watched the rocks fall. When it seemed like a good pattern of them was tumbling down, Sienna quickly bounced from one to the other. With each landing, her armor struck with a loud CLANG, until finally she tumbled onto the opposite side. Even for her, and even with a Roc's feather, launching a hundred pounds of steel into the air any considerable distance was always a feat. She took a couple deep breaths, before moving towards the man who had somewhat inadvertently become her ally in this place.

She didn't have much to say to him, but gave him a glance as she passed him and a slight nod--acknowledging him, at least, which is more than she would have done for most.

One of the Arco Bandits bothering Gorrito turned towards Mei... just in time to swoop up and eat one of the rocks! It began to choke, and begin to sputter and nearly die. There was still a chance to save it.. and its brothers were quickly fleeing!

... that is of course for the one that had burrowed under Gorrito after it saw its brother take something down the wrong pipe. It jumped straight out of its hole .. aiming right for Buzzari!

Congratulations to Julius and Sienna for making it across the spoopky lava river. However, the DM is wondering who goes into a magma mine without being prepared . That being said, passing deep into the dungeon will be very hard for normal sized flesh creatures and nearly impossible for wooden ones or small beasts. Unless of course they have a goron tunic. Gorrito is fine though. Don't worry.

Behind Julius and Sienna, the lava begins to bubble, and a froglike creature appears into view, its gullet expanding, making a loud croaking noise. Suddenly, two more pop up from the magma, both immediately spitting rocks at the pair. However... a fourth Fire Toadpolis has targetted the Wolfos across the way, and its also prepping to spit a rock.

WELL...

Sienna and Julius will go through whatever door they come across. The cavern before them consists of a lava lake, four bridges forming a small center island with a chest on it. The heat near the outside of the room (conveniently where all the doors are placed) is tolerable to those without protection, but the large lava lake in the center has a temperature too hot for someone without such gear to venture near.

The lake bubbles ominously, but the pair shouldn't have time to consider that as three fire keese swoop down.

"No!" Mei, distraught at the repeated attacks on poor Buzzari, threw with more passion than forethought the first thing her little hands happened to grasp.

In this case, that would happen to be a few extra rocks she had taken as ammo, followed in short order by the slingshot itself.

"Are you all right?" She asked, the question intentionally vague so as to receive answers from both Gorrito and Buzzari. It was at this point that she realized she had flung her weapon, and the air immediately turned awkward. "Oh! A-and, if anyone could just... toss that back... that'd be great."

Sienna's glaive tore through the air in several wide arcs, cutting down any of the flaming Keese which dared to near her. She hissed in annoyance as one particular upstart managed to duck and weave under her massive weapon, growing closer and closer to her. Not that she was careless, but small agile targets were naturally the bane of her glaive. As soon as it came too close than any Keese deserved to be, her steel-covered fist shot straight down, pounding it into the ground. As its corpse bounced off the ground with a sickening CRACK, Sienna's boot stomped down with authority, pulverizing what remained of its corpse. Julius seemed to have already taken care of the others. She didn't mind--they weren't terribly satisfying kills, anyway.

She exchanged a cautionary glance across the lake, and began striding towards it. Chests usually held keys or other trinkets, in her experience. It was pretty rare they actually carried something she wanted to use, but, this one was so convenient it seemed worth checking out. That was, until, the Hylian started bitching.

With a sigh, she admitted, "Of course." What kind of armorer would she be if she couldn't even handle something like that. Sienna grumbled, a bit annoyed, "Go skin one of those Dodongos." She assumed he would be able to do that much, and turned back towards the chest. The rest would be settled upon his return.

Undaunted, Sienna turned back towards the lava lake and approached the chest. Beneath her mask, a slight smirk spread across her face. How amusing, she thought, that she, a Deku Scrub, was now more comfortable in here than a Hylian. It provided her a strange sense of... satisfaction.

---

Buzzari squealed--err, buzzed!--in fright as the Acro Bandit launched towards him! Why would it bother going after someone so small and helpless as a bumblebee? Wasp it planning to take him hostage?! That fiend! Summoning all of his courage, Buzzari charged...

...right behind Mei, like the brave little warrior he was. "I'll bee alright, buzz!" He glared over the Korok's shoulder, trying to look as menacing as he could to the last remaining Acrobat, "Bee careful!"

Luckily, Mei's desperate attacks were enough to get the final Arco-Bandit to flee. Its friend expired on the ground next to Gorrito and the Goron turned over the corpse to make sure it was dead. Definitely dead. Unfortunately, Arco Bandits were not significant enough for the temple to reward you with a treasure chest in this room. How sad.

"Let's continue, goro.." he said. As the group picks a passage and continues into the mines, they will come across a large, expansive room, the sides of the room lined with the rocks that the brothers were seeking before. Even better news, he has found his brothers... but they are seemingly unconscious. Gorrito rushes towards the bodies and when he reaches them, distressed noises begin to come out of his mouth. It is very clear that these two are not unconscious, but dead.

"What could have done this?!" he cried out. There appeared to be no visible wounds on his brothers, just (albeit delicious looking) rocks scattered about them. Gorrito begins to sob, ignoring the pair of adventurers.

... Luckily for Buzzari and Mei, there is also a treasure chest in this room. Yaaaaaay... .... .... .... .... .....

As soon as either of the pair ignores the crying Goron and opens the chest, the floor will magically begin to crumble to form a perfect staircase heading down. Something in the back of both Buzzari and Mei's minds tells them that going down this path without proper protection might be more than dangerous. Would it be worthwhile to try to convince Gorrito to join them, or would it be wiser to turn back and let him grieve?

========

Sienna will open the chest, finding a multitude of items: An old, worn out Goron Tunic that looked like it would only last a day more at most (( )), Magnet Boots, Magnet Gloves, some rupees, and a haphazardly written note inscribed in the wood of the cover of the chest: "TAKE ONE. ONLY ONE. REPLACE ITEM PROMPTLY."

... Assuming Sienna chooses to ignore this note, the ground will begin to shake. The door on the right side of the room literally explodes out of its jamb, flying across the room and nearly knocking Sienna off of the island in the middle. A large, flaming hand flails about in the doorjamb, trying its best to destroy the rocks surrounding it so it can enter into the room. When it finally succeeds in knocking out the wall, Sienna and Julius will witness a massive, flaming beast, standing in a large arena that - due to some construction - has now become part of the lava lake room. Neato.

Notably, the chains that would characteristically be on this boss are missing, as if something triggered the locking mechanism on the beast to be released. Weird.

========

Buzzari, Mei, and Gorrito will also feel Sienna's horrible mistake the temple tremble around them.

Sienna's face skewed at the note. Noticing she still had the majority of a Keese corpse on her boot, she smeared it off on the edge of the chest--and promptly ripped out the gloves and boots. "It's a set," she mumbled to the box, grinning cruelly. As she inspected the metallic gloves and boots, she was significantly surprised at the quality of the outfitting on them. It was almost as if they were made for someone with her exact specifications and preferences. At first she was planning to melt them down for scraps, but now had to try them on...

Sienna mostly ignored the abrupt shaking of the room--and barely managed to duck under the door that literally shot towards her. She snarled quietly, at the broken doorframe--and made a mental note to murder it if it came alive later. By the time she had squeezed into her new, surprisingly effective boots and gauntlets, there was a giant flaming beast in the room. Jeez. Doesn't that damn thing know better to walk in on a woman who was changing clothes? Rude much.

Maybe the rupees would still be there after she slaughtered this giant flaming monster. Maybe not. Either way, she didn't much mind. Her hand moved to pluck the glaive off the ground--only to find her glove abruptly activated, magnets tugging the weapon towards her hand so quickly she didn't even have time to bend down. Her eyes widened, mumbling, "Oh fuck yes." Needless to say, these were officially her new gauntlets.

Glancing away from the flaming beast for a moment, her eyes found the Hylian--assuming he probably would have ran into the room upon hearing the place starting to fall apart, and presuming he was capable enough to not get crushed beneath one of the numerous flaming boulders that had already fallen from the ceiling.

---

Buzzari's brow furrowed sadly. How could Gorrito's friends bee dead? He seemed so strong, so they must bee too! He wanted to comfort the Goron... who must've been lost in grief. How could he, though? How close was he to these friends? Without any better option, Buzzari quietly floated over to the Goron, placing a minuscule hand on his shoulder, saying something along the lines of, "I'm... sorry this happened, buzz."

Buzzari himself didn't much mind the chest. It might've contained something shiny, but probably not. It would've been hard to open, and he felt like his new friend needed him more right now.

Mei crept closer to the bodies. There didn't look to be any real wounds... But... why? What happened? That made no sense, the two seemed healthy enough when they left. "I don't understand..." she muttered numbly. She wanted to help Gorrito, but she couldn't find the words, knew not the actions. Why couldn't the Great Deku Tree have made her smarter? Instead, she channeled her nervous energy into investigating. That made her feel marginally better. Of course, marginally better here meant that she was distracted enough to not chew herself up inside as if she had swallowed a termite for dinner.

All that she could see, as far as notable features went, were the Gorons, the rocks, and... the chest. "Can't be, can it?" She went a little closer to it. This thing.. this couldn't be somehow responsible, could it? She knew they had said the place was too "rocksy," but... but what kind of trap would this be? She prodded it once, very quickly and lightly, and immediately dove to the side when it cracked open. She closed her eyes awaiting some manner of grisly punishment, followed by oblivion. But nothing came. Instead she opened her eyes to find a new staircase rapidly forming.

"Wha... what?" She had no time to ponder the exact ramifications of that, as a second, much larger rumbling enveloped the room. What on earth?! She knew she hadn't done that!

"What is going on here...?" She asked in a trembling voice, without at all knowing who she expected to answer.

No, it was not a set. There were two distinct separate items in there and Sienna was wrong. This is why there was a giant and now unchained monster threatening to kill them.

Said giant and unchained monster was now beginning to dig its hands into the stone floor. Its fiery claws easily ripped into the ground. It grabbed a large chunk of earth and hurled it towards the two standing in the middle of the large lake. The monster began thumping on its chest in an effort to assert its dominance. Roaring, howling, mocking, and daring the two to come closer. It slammed closed fists onto the ground, shaking the temple. The bridges that connected the island holding the chest, Julius, and Sienna to any hope of escape were beginning to crumble! (spoiler: the chest does not make it out alive)

---

Gorrito and company will feel these massive tremors. Extremely loud and monsterous noises could be heard from the staircase along with the occasional crash of rocks falling. Would it be wise for Buzzari and Mei to venture down there? Did great treasures worth the opportunity cost await? Who knows. For some reason some idiot thought that magnet gloves and magnet boots counted as one item. (( )) The mind is a weird thing. Bad decisions, good decisions, all these are yours to make.

Gorrito however has made a really dumb decision, he has begun weeping over his brothers. This normally would be a fine and dandy decision, maybe even a very appropriate one considering his brothers were dead. Deader than dead. But the ceiling above Mei, Gorrito, and Buzzari was now beginning to crumble. If Gorrito, Mei, and Buzzari didn't either move deeper into the temple or go back the way they came, they would also be deader than dead.

"How can I leave? Who will bury them, goro?!" Gorrito shouted.

At least there was a really nice scroll inside of the chest. Someone should probably take that.

"G-Gorrito! We have to go!" Mei looked warily around. The place wasn't going to murder them all yet, but it looked very much as though it were beginning the process and would finish it with great enthusiasm. She understood his distress but now was definitely the wrong time to be indulging it. It was like picking a dark forest full of eyes and howls to sit down and have lunch.

"Gorrito! They don't want you to join them, they want you to live!" She entreated. There'd already been unnecessary deaths today. The last thing they needed was more bodies. She looked around nervously again. Wasn't there anything they could use to slow this down, or...?

The chest. That chest had opened. Partly in panic and partly in anger she shoved the scroll aside looking for any sort of mechanism there. Finding none, she grabbed the scroll itself and hoped it would be useful later. "Buzzari, is there any way we can convince him?" Letting him stay here was akin to leaving him to a bunch of very angry Dodongos. There had to be something they could say or do... Very preferably before they had to leave. As if to reinforce the point the ceiling made more ominous noises. She didn't want to consider it, but she tried to find the best way to hit the stairs. One way or another they definitely couldn't stay here.

Buzzari whimpered uneasily as the entire place began to crumble. His big friend Gorrito couldn't get grips on himself, and his slightly-smaller-but-still-big friend Mei seemed at a loss for what to do. Summoning his courage, the bee buzzed over to Gorrito, shouting in a great voice--by bumblebee standards--as he squeaked into the Goron's ear.

"You can't do anything for them, buzz! I know it hurts, but they, Mei, and I all want you to live!" Buzzari pleaded desperately and passionately, before his little buzzing body used all of its strength to try to push Gorrito towards the stairs. "You are strong on the outside! Now it is time to bee strong on the inside, too! I beelieve in you, goro! ...Buzz!"

"Don't worry about burying them, buzz!" The little bee was quickly running out of ideas, "...The cave seems to bee already doing that for us!!"

That was it, the last pleading Buzzari couldn't make. He gave one final tug on his friend's hand, before giving Mei a desperate look, his brow furrowing. There were many things Buzzari knew he could not do--making a Goron move may have been one of those things. "Please, Gorrito, follow me! Mei, you too! We need to buzz out of here!" With that said, he buzzed towards the stairs as fast as his bumblebee body could--which wasn't terribly fast--hoping with all of his little heart that he would make it out of here and still have two friends.

---

(At times, it can be difficult to switch from "innocent and friendly but helpless otherkin" to "insanely powerful and arrogant bitchface who murders everything. This is one of those times.)

---

A hiss of annoyance seeped out of Sienna's face. Why did giant stone structures have to be so damn fragile? She hardly minded having to murder a giant flaming rock-beast--she had done this countless times before, of course, sometimes even before breakfast. That said, even Sienna knew she wasn't a match for a volcano crumbling on top of her.

As Sienna's free hand reached towards her old boots and glove, the Hylian bolted back across the bridge, to safety. Sienna followed behind on sinking platforms, lava and smoke filling the room and clouding her vision. As the rocks beneath her feet suck into magma, Sienna was forced to make one desperate leap--her Roc's Feather rippling. Her armor struck solid rock with a loud clash as she tumbled back onto her feet. Her hands were forced to hit the ground to brace herself from the impact. It wasn't graceful, but it was a landing. Jumping around in several layers of steel with one-foot legs wasn't exactly easy.

Sienna hissed with annoyance. Her arm had already dropped one glove and one boot. She couldn't get out of here with these in two. Keeping up with that Hylian in her current state was difficult enough. It was painful--and not in the good way--to leave her hand-crafted masterpieces behind, but Sienna had no choice. Dropping them, she made a mental note to come back and murder whatever remained of this mountain...

With her colossal glaive held under one arm, Sienna's tiny form bolted after the Hylian. Her metallic second-skin echoed with thunderous clangs, but that damn monster was too distracted by the fleshy pest, it seemed. Since they were cashing, she had a relatively easy time bee-lining past them, seeking the exit. Mid-stride, her voice bellowed, "Let it follow us out!"

The man didn't need any additional explanation. Sienna was going to rip out every single organ this monster had, or die trying. Doing that nonetheless required her to not die first from a damn cave-in.

It can be very difficult for this DM to switch between business communications and narrative writing. This is one of those times.

As the walls caved in around them, Mei and Buzzari finally convinced Gorrito to flee the cave, leaving his brothers. Congratulations, you monsters: Gorrito will likely live a long live full of pain. Although the future is always uncertain, Gorrito does not seem like the type to be able to bounce back after such a tragic loss. Whatever good feelings you might have had while reading the beginning of this paragraph should be gone. His hopes and dreams, destroyed.

Anyways, Mei gets Leaf Puppet from the chest. Huzzah!

---oH MAN WHAT'S THIS I DON'T EVEN HAVE TO PUT DASHES ANYMORE, BECAUSE Sienna and Julius rush outside, the monster close behind. It's large, fiery claws swiping at the pair as it ran, destroying the walls around it, worsening the cave-in. Whoever had to clean this up later would be pissed. Soon, there were no visible entrance ways to the temple, but one very visible monster in broad daylight.

The DM would also like to clarify that Fyrus, not some really dumb name he had before that maybe some loser guard might have thought he had, not that this one is any more creative, wow... is on fire, and was no idiot. Why would it fulfill its murderous bloodlust by charging after a heavily armored man and ... ... ... Julius. No, it was now heading straight towards Mei, Buzzari, and Gorrito.

Mei was momentarily relieved that they had managed to get Gorrito to leave the collapsing chamber, but just as bewildered as to what to do now. They were all demoralized by the loss of the two gorons, unfamiliar as they may have been to bee and Korok, and they could all use a break to gather their--OH BLOODY BURNING MOTHER OF ALL FIRE BUBBLES, WHAT WAS THAT?

She looked up at a shouting voice's behest to find a massive fiery behemoth coming for them. Now, truly, she had never seen anything like this before, but she got the distinct impression that it was not here to console them and offer them a meal.

"Eek! Guys, run!" She couldn't offer any more explanation, only barely stopping to offer Buzzari a hand before she plotted a running course for any gosh-darned location but here.

( I would just like to point out that all three of the above posts combined have fewer words than my last post. )

Good, they were outside, and an entire mountain was not falling onto Sienna's shoulders. She turned around, breathing heavily, glaive gripped tight, eyes flooded with righteous fury. Her boots and gloves were gone, and this thing was just huge and--FUCK she was just so pumped to rip out its bones and use them to beat it into unconsciousness, a reward for putting up with all the bullshit in that volcanic mountain. A fierce grin had already spread beneath her mask. This thing was all hers--that was, until she saw it notice something other than her, or even Julius. Was that.. a Korok and a Goron? It was moving towards them?!

"OH FUCK NO YOU DON'T." Sienna bolted towards the colossal beast, surging with every intent to pin it to the ground and rip out its throat. Such reckless, furious rage coursed through her plant veins that she hefted up her massive glaive and threw it towards the creature's spine like a goddamn javelin--without even stepping out of her mad dash of a sprint. Sienna's jostling armor echoed as she shot out a hand towards its ankles--as she desperately hoped these things could attract all kinds of metal. And they did, shooting the chains into her. With both powerful arms clutching the chain, she turned around 180 degrees and bent the chain over her shoulder. Her feet locked into the ground like magnets--because they were magnets, the special sort of magnets which for some reason explicably worked on normal rocks. Her entire body lunged with ferocious force in direct opposition to the monster's movements. She had every intention of flinging this thing over the entire mountain--but a more realistic mindset would realize she would be fortunate enough to trip it.

Meanwhile, Buzzari cried out in utter desperation, "H-Holy Buzz!!" He knew Gorrito wasp strong and Mei wasp clever, but even by the trio's powers combined they had absolutely no chance against such a beeg, fiery beeast! Clutching desperately to Mei's side, he buzzed out of harm's way as best he could--which hopefully would bee good enough. There seemed to be a Hylian man and some sort of short strange armored thing fighting it bravely. Buzzari hesitated to run, hoping, wondering if they could handle it on their own... Was there any chance little Buzzari would bee able to help?

Gorrito has chosen not to flee. Gorrito has chosen not to move. Gorrito has sat himself down in the dirt. With a loud sigh, he flopped onto his side. He would lazily watch what would happen next. His smile and optimism: gone.

The bloodthirsty beast saw its prey. It began to charge at the easy targets group on all fours. It seemed unstoppable, a force compelled to continue charging until it scooped up some delicious Korok, Goron, and Insect skin. That is until Julius jumped in front of it. The beast reared up, standing tall once more. It roared in Julius's face, again pounding on its chest. How dare this insolent fool attempt keep Fyrus from his conquest?! With a loud SMACK, Fyrus backhanded Julius. The forceful attack sent Julius flying into the outside wall of the temple that the adventurers had just fled from. Ouch.

Its victory against the Hylian was short lived, as moments later it felt an incredible amount of pain radiating from its spine. It howled and attempted to pull the javelin out of its hide, but Fyrus's arms weren't dexterous enough to accomplish this feat. The heavily armored man was upon him an instant later, pulling at its shortened chains. The monster was tripped up momentarily, but quickly rose to its feet again. Fyrus flashed what could only be described as a grin before he began to pull back on his chains as well. He had now entered into a tug of war with Sienna, and with adrenaline quickly covering up any pain from her pathetic little toothpick stuck in his back, he intended to win.

Buzzari, Mei, and Gorrito were no longer on the Monster's mind. For now. He had bigger and more capable priorities to deal with.

Mei took a very brief moment to evaluate her life. She didn't think she'd erred terribly in her duties yet nor did she believe she was suffering some illness that would cause her to hallucinate a fire giant fighting a couple of deku scrubs. Thus she was left with no possible conclusion than that life did very, very odd things sometimes as that was exactly what was happening before her eyes.

She whispered down to Buzzari. "Hey, buzzy-buddy. If you can, find a way out, and get yourself and Gorrito there." She cracked open the scroll to see if it would help them rid themselves of the great flaming monstrosity. To her surprise and mild chagrin, however, it contained a leaf stuck to it, and two simple words: "FEED ME." Well. That was new. She tried using some water from her bottle on it. Nothing. She tried placing on the ground. Still nothing. She gripped it tightly and glared at it. It had to do something...

And as she focused intently on the thing, a strange thing occurred. It went up in a puff of smoke, and a short distance away a figure appeared in a similar cloud. It was very clearly lifeless, hanging in the air as if on strings, limply. A second or two passed before Mei realized it wasn't doing much of anything. "You have to do something..." she said, downcast. It rattled at the joints. A comedian. Her new trick and one hope was a comedian. Great.

She decided to deal with it later, having already wasted enough time. She pulled her slingshot and the chill seeds. Whatever it was that was attacking them, it seemed to be made of fire, so it stood to reason that ice would be effective on it. She would've liked to hit it in the face--after all, she knew that when all else failed it was always a good idea to go for the eyes--but it had turned from her. Instead, she leveled her sights at the weapon still embedded in its back, and fired. Goodness, she would've felt better about all this if that thing that came from the leaf would help...

But as she thought that, the puppet lurched forward unsteadily, positioning itself roughly in between her and the monster, ready to intercept it if necessary. So... she could control it...?