Dragon Roost Cavern (Blonde Panther and Tsubori)

Jayden Darrah (Tsubori) - Reward: 25 rupees from boss key chest. Had 25 rupees, now has 50.

Ann Vederlicht (Blonde Panther) - Reward: 25 rupees from Postal worker Payday. Had 11 rupees, now has 36.

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Jayden rose from the sands of a beach, not knowing where he was. Last night he was at his house… How did he get here? He looked around his surroundings, noticing a massive spire-like mountain behind him. He then realized… this was dragon roost island. How the hell was he on dragon roost island? It was at least a few weeks away… Then it hit him. This was obviously a dream or something… There was no way he got this far in one night.

However, he still wanted to see what was happening in this dream, as he believed that all dreams carry messages. He walked along the beach, eventually going slightly up the mountain, into the caves. He saw a few Rito, looking at them curiously. He’d never actually gotten a good look at any Rito, so he couldn’t even tell if what he was seeing was right. However, one of the Rito’s looked at him in surprise. “Oh, there you are! You’re late!”

Jayden looked around dumbly, then the Rito walked over to him. “Yes, you. You were supposed to be here an hour ago to bring a girl up to Valoo. She should be on her way in already…” He pointed in a direction, and Jayden looked, seeing one of many exits to the cave. He nodded, feeling like seeing where this dream led him.

“Okay… I’ll go meet her.” He said calmly, despite the millions of things going through his confused mind. He turned and walked out of the cave, seeing a large lake and a bridge over it, leading into the cavern. Jayden didn’t see her here, so he walked over the bridge, getting an uneasy feeling. He drew Heko Pesaga, notching an arrow and proceeding into the cave cautiously.

Searing heat. Sweat already dripping off her forehead. The familiar feeling of her feathers was missing from her arms. Ann opened her eyes. This dream again... She found herself near the entrance of Dragon Roost Cavern, wingless, scale-less, but equipped with the seeds she used for protection and her dagger.

It was the same dream she had been dreaming for the longest time. She was a fledgling again, and she had to traverse Dragon Roost Cavern on her way to Lord Valoo to receive her wings. However, this time her mother wouldn't be accompanying her. It was always someone else... some stranger, usually people who logically shouldn't even be on Dragon Roost. Ann turned around, facing the entrance to the cavern. A brown-haired man, not much taller than herself and armored, entered just as she did so.

She walked over to him to greet him, bowing. "Good night, sir. I am Ann." She decided to not take any risks and fill him in right away. "This is Dragon Roost Cavern. We're both dreaming, but don't let it fool you... while most wounds we take in this dream will heal by the time we wake up, severe injuries will remain and if we die, we die for real..."

She wasn't sure why that was. But the first few times, she had woken up with severe burns due to jumping over a gap, not making it, and falling into the lava. "I ask that you guide me up the mountain and..." she hesitated. Should she tell him? ...no. "...and to Lord Valoo." She then bowed again, before tilting her head to a side. "What may I call you?"

Jayden lowered his bow slightly when he saw Ann. She seemed normal enough, just without wings. He’d read something somewhere about Rito needing to go see a dragon named Valoo to get their wings. So, it should be simple enough, just walk someone to the top of a mountain. The lethal dream part made him a tad uncomfortable, but he realized the same fate would befall her if she were hurt.

He made a low bow, then straightened out again. “I’m Jayden Darrah. Recruit of… Well… it doesn’t matter right now. From the sounds of things, you’ve done this before, so it should be no trouble for you, correct?” He looked around the cave. There was just this… heat. It was pretty bad. He was sure he could do it though. He looked at Ann more closely. She had a dagger, and a few bags on her waist, but didn’t seem that prepped for combat. Maybe that meant there wasn’t much fighting to be done? She was also kind of cute, but maybe he was just not used to seeing Rito women. He shook the thought from his mind, looking around the cave again. “Do you know if there will be heavy resistance?”

Eeep. He asked about resistance. Ann couldn't possibly tell him about the monster dwelling at the end of the Cavern, or he would back out and leave her here alone. "Dragon Roost Cavern is protected by Lord Valoo, just as the rest of the island is," she said. "However, we mustn't forget that dark, warm places are breeding grounds for all kinds of monsters." She smiled at the man. "However, it should be nothing your sword cannot handle... I just wish I could be of more use."

Rito, and especially Ann, were simply not built for combat. "The best I can do is guide you up there while you protect me." She bowed one last time before extending her hand to him. "I do hope our alliance will be fruitful, sir Jayden." After shaking his hand, she turned around and started walking deeper into the cavern. The first few minutes of walking should be perfectly doable... it wasn't until after the first pit of lava that the terrain became rough.

"Follow me. I know my way in here."

With a nod, Jayden started getting slightly nervous. Yes, he'd trained for much of his life to fight enemies like this, but this would be his first time fighting any actual monsters. Could they be considered "actual" monsters? They were parts of the dream, yet if Ann was telling the truth, they could do more than just wake him up.

Then again, defending people was what be was meant to do, so he would. The man walked next to Ann through the cave, then saw a lava pool. That explained the heat. He then looked at the pool with a double take. 'Wait, why the hell am I not being lit on fire?' He thought. 'I'm standing next to a lava pool...' he then decided not to think too hard about it, lest this odd physical miracle wear off. 

He turned to Ann as he walked, trying to distract himself. "So... You seem to know quite a bit about this, so-" He nearly tripped over a rocky bump, but quickly regained his footing. "So... Why me? Have you figured out any reason for that?" He also noticed some hesitation in her speech, but decided against calling her on it. If it was important, she would tell him... Hopefully.

As Ann passed the lava pit on her right, she started looking around while walking. There should be jars around here... "I don't know," she said in reply to Jayden. "I have had this dream several times now, and only three things are constant. While different from my first time, the layout of the Cavern always remains the same, so it gets progressively easier to find the exit." She hopped over a small gap, pointing it out to the Hylian.

"Second, there is always someone to accompany and protect me. Who this is exactly, always changes... but there is always someone. Last time, I believe it was a Deku wizard... that gave a mess..." She rounded a corner and waited for him to catch up. Here, the road was blocked by a lava pool stretching over the width of the path. It was too wide to jump over.

"And third... I never seem to wake up until I find the exit. Which is why it's a good thing there are people to help me." While she spoke, she looked all over the place on this side of the pit. "...ah! There's one." Tucked away in a dark corner, she saw a blue/white striped jar. She walked over to it and tried to pick it up. However, the jar was almost as high as she was and full of water, so it wouldn't budge.

Jayden nodded as she said the layout was always the same, that was good. It meant she knew exactly what to do throughout the cave. He was disappointed when she said she didn't know why it was him, but he wouldn't hold it against her. After all, she was in the same danger he was. Upon seeing Ann trying to lift the vase of water made him realize what they had to do here.

"Here, let me get that..." He said, preparing to pick it up. Hoisting it up a few inches, he carried it over to the lava, tossing it in. The lava cooled and steam flew everywhere as a small chunk of solid rock sat on the surface of the hot substance. He bowed gently and motioned her across with his hand. "After you, lady Ann."

Jayden immediately understood what had to happen, took the heavy load off of the small and weak Rito and tossed the jar straight into the lava. The jar itself broke on one of the rocks sticking out of the pit, and the ice cold water provoked a reaction of the searing hot lava. Where water had fallen, the lava hardened, resulting in a platform-like ground that should be safe to walk on... for a few seconds.

"Let's hurry, sir knight. It won't last long, and that was the only jar here." Ann hopped down to the platform, and from the platform, jumped up to the other end of the lava pit. She then waited patiently for Jayden to catch up. "Thank you. We have to be careful from now on." She drew her dagger, while knowing it wouldn't be of much help. "The monster's nests start here."

After allowing Ann to cross first, he himself was about to jump across. However, as he started to get the speed to make the jump, the rock gave way, the lava clearing it. He quickly brought himself to a stop, but only barely in time, teetering over the edge.

The man stablized himself, taking a few steps back. "Shit..." he muttered to himself. He then realized that he had ALL his equipment. Looking down at the Pegasus boots on his feet, he prepared them briefly before taking off at an insane speed, jumping clear over the lava pit. With a few choppy steps, Jayden slowed himself down, eventually coming to a halt next to Ann.

Upon her mentioning of the coming enemies, Jayden smiled and brought out his bow, notching an arrow. "Alright, don't worry, I'll protect you."

Ann stepped back, surprised when Jayden simply leapt over the pit of lava. "What in..." She then noticed that his boots had an odd design, and nodded in understanding. Pegasus Boots, eh? They were too clumsy for her tastes, and normally she could fly over pits and unstable floors anyway, but she supposed that for a Hylian like Jayden, they were a very efficient piece of equipment.

He then took out his bow and prepared to shoot, while Ann held out her dagger. "We're in for a lot of nasty monsters... There's Bokoblins and Fire Keese, but we'll also have Magtails to deal with... You have a sword, right?" Just as she said that, she had to duck out of the way of a flaming bat-like creature soaring downwards and trying to collide with her. She knew this was how Keese primarily fought, and it was what made Fire and Ice Keese ever so much more dangerous than normal ones. If her clothes caught fire, that'd be bad.

The beast wheeled around and came back for a second strike, but it flew lower this time, within reach of Ann's arm. The Rito lunged, planting her dagger in the Keese's belly and wincing at the heat engulfing her hand, but at least the thing fell to the ground and wouldn't trouble her anymore. She immediately twisted around on the ball of her foot. Keese never struck alone.

"Sir Jayden, look out!" Much to her dismay, she saw not only a small flock of Fire Keese, but also a foursome of Bokoblins approaching them rapidly. There was a small pool of magma between them, but the Keese could fly over it and the Bokoblins... well, they were stupid enough to not even notice. Unless they wanted to jump it.

Jayden nodded as she described possible enemies, then looked around the new room. "Yes, I have a sword as well." He was then distracted by her dodging motion, then kill of the fire keese. He immediately noticed the horde of keese flying towards him, and fired an arrow into them. 

The arrow clipped the wing of one and went into the side of another, both falling down into the lava. There was still quite a few though, and while Jayden aimed his next shot, he felt an impact against his lower arm, knocking the arrow off course, harmlessly hitting the cavern walls. 

The keese that had hit his arm left a massive burn mark, and Jayden winced as he pulled out his sword, swiping at the creature. With little effort, he cut the thing in two, then turning his sights to the other ones.

"Ann! You doing okay over there?" He asked, ready to help if needed.

Not only was Jayden much stronger than Ann, his bow was much more efficient in taking out the Keese than her dagger was. The difference in combat ability was so obvious... were all Hylians trained like him? It certainly was very different from fighting alongside another Rito. Her attention was momentarily drawn away from him as she saw the Bokoblins reaching the other side of the small lava pool. "Sir Jayden, be- be careful!"

She saw the Fire Keese connecting with his arm, and let out a little scream. Fire Keese hurt. A lot. "I- I'm okay- Sir Jayden!" She ran towards him, putting her full weight to work as she pushed him out of the way of a Bokoblin with a raised scimitar. As a result, she was the one who took the hit, but while normally the rusty, poorly maintained weapon would have left a deep gash on her, the damage done was greatly reduced.

It still drew blood, but at least the cut wasn't as life-threatening as it would have been. While the monster looked at its blade, confused, Ann allowed the cracked pieces of the Armor Seed to fall out of her beak. She had managed to crush it just before taking the hit, which was what had saved her. Plunging forwards with her entire body rather than just with her dagger, she not only managed to wound the Bokoblin but also push it into the lava.

Now she had a new problem. That one was gone, and wouldn't bother her anymore... but there were still five left. And all five were a bit annoyed at the Rito who had killed one of their brethren.

Upon feeling Ann move him and seeing her take the hit, something started rushing in his blood. He turned towards her, determination in his voice. "Ann! Get back! I'll deal with them! You need to get to safety!" 

Turning to the five bokoblins, he took his bow, loading an arrow while starting to prepare his Pegasus boots. Just starting to dash forward, he released the arrow, and it flew into one of their throats. As he kept running towards them, the warrior swapped his bow for his blade. 

He neared the group as the front enemy slashed out at him. He slid on his side, going under the enemy sword while slashing it's Achilles tendon. The bokoblin fell, but not yet dead; however, Jayden kept going and got up, slashing his sword at the next one. With his huge momentum, the bokoblin flew back into the lava, burning up. 

Now in the middle of the group, the Hylian attempted to start charging his spin attack, but after the first enemy was smart enough to jump back, and the second stuck out it's sword to block the hit. 'Damn.. I wasn't expecting them to block it...' he thought. 

With a dash to the side, he managed to dodge a swing from the one on his left, but found himself going straight into another swing. His armor blocked it for the most part, but he felt slightly rattled. He fell back, hoping to take a bit of distance before they could attack more, but he stumbled back on a rock, tripping onto his rear.

Ann had stood back as Jayden had told her to, but she couldn't wait anymore when the Hylian got knocked over and tripped. She grabbed the bow he had dropped and an arrow, sticking it into a seed and notching it with shaking hands.

She'd never shot a bow before. But she had to right now! Jayden would die if those Bokoblins took him on at the same time! Still shaking, she let go of the arrow, clenching her eyes shut as it flew in Jayden's general direction.

She heard the characteristic 'Whoof' that always sounded when an Ember Seed cracked open, and the monsters started screeching. Ann dared to look. She had hit one Bokoblin between the eyes, and its head was quite clearly on fire- it was the one screeching, while the others seemed to just be laughing at him.

Ann lowered the bow and wanted to run over to Jayden, but reminding the Bokoblins that there was more around them than their currently highly amusing companion didn't seem wise.

Jayden stood up quickly when he saw the two remaining bokoblins laughing at their unfortunate ally, do this time when he did his spin attack, it was more successful. The two remaining unharmed ones were cut through neatly, and when Jayden looked up, he saw that the flaming one had fallen into the lava. That only left the one that had fallen with no chance of survival, as he'd cut the achilles tendon. 

He plunged his sword down into the creature, right into the head. He then stood, wiping the dust off his rear and then holding his arm where the fire keese had hit. "Thank you for your help Ann, that was a good shot." He said, hoping he'd see another jar of water so that he could dunk his arm in.

Jayden managed to handle the remaining Bokoblins from here on out, much to Ann's relief. She gave him his bow back and looked at his arm. "There should be a cooler area out back," she said, "Maybe I can do something about it there..."

With the path now unobstructed, she led him to the end of this unreasonably hot room and through a large stone door, to outside. They now were on the ridges that were scattered here and there around the mountain, connected by a few staircases to climb up. Valoo was still quite far away though... and so was the monster...

"There should only be a few monsters out here, sir Jayden. I remember there being a number of Kargoroks here, but they shouldn't bother us as long as we let them sleep... maybe we can use this opportunity to find something we can use to cool your burn."

Jayden sighed, and took his now back when offered. "Thank you. That was an excellent shot too." When they reached the large door and made it outside, the guard slid up his sleeve up to his elbow, letting the burn get some air. It was already very red and swollen. 

He looked around and felt the nice warm air, much better than the air inside the cave. Flying in the distance, Jayden saw some kargoroks. He had the feeling that they would have to take on a few. 

He blew on the burn to try to cool it, though it was somewhat fruitless. "Well, what happens after I take you to the top? Do I have to guide you back down?"

Ann looked at the burn and shivered. He'd feel that in the morning... and she didn't have any Chill Seeds to cool it with. There was a pool of water back at the entrance to the cavern, but going back would be too risky... So they had neither water nor ice to cool the wound with. Air wasn't cold enough, even at this height...

"...sir Jayden... I'm afraid I can't think of any way to help you. I'm sorry..." She felt so useless all of a sudden. "Let us make haste to lord Valoo... the sooner you wake up, the sooner you will be able to cool that burn and get it treated." She remembered this part of the path... they would have to get past the sleeping Kargoroks... up the stairs...

And into the lair of a couple of Moblins.

"You will not have to guide me back down, sir. The dream always ends once I reach Valoo."

"Good, at least there's no return trip." Jayden said with a slight nod. He saw all the Kargoroks sleeping, and started drew an arrow, notching it and fixating it on the creature closest to him. He tried to quietly sneak by the one roosting next to him.

His armor made this difficult, however, and after a few stealthy steps, the bird started to open it's eyes gently, and before it could realize what was happening, an arrow burst through it's chest, sending it down to the long fall below. Unfortunately, the gasp from the Kargorok alerted the others, and the two took to the sky, begging to make a turn for an attack. 

Jayden made a shot at one of the enemies, however his shot went slightly wide, given their movement. "Ann, stay behind me." He drew his sword, knowing he wouldn't have enough time to fire another arrow. He took a defensive stance, knowing he had to parry or attack the birds.

That utter fool had woken the Kargoroks. They themselves were not such dangerous enemies, but at heights like these they could knock the two off the edge and into the sea... and that was dangerous.

The Hylian told Ann to get behind him, but Ann knew there was soething to be found in the nests and as the birds turned their attention on Jayden, Ann darted past the swordsman and under the birds and started climbing up to one of the nests. Jayden could keep them occupied... she started turning over the nest she had climbed into. Nothing here...

Quickly lowering herself, she saw a familiar sparkle on the ground next to the other nest. She rushed over to it quickly and put her hand around it. The key, just as she suspected. However, as she wanted to pick it up, she was the one picked up by a large, pig-like creature using two hands to lift the Rito up from the ground with surprising care.

"Ja- Sir Jayden! Help me!"