First Quest

"Yes, of course," Tent resounded upon Zajora's plan, "I assumed that was the basic idea of what we would be doing here." One could only imagine what Alenbro was thinking of this all. Three barely-competent adventurers were talking about clearing an entire legion of monsters as if they were planning to bake a cake. Thankfully, he thought, he would have nothing to do with it at all after this point.

Unknown to him, Tent satisfied the Hylian driver's wish as he snatched his helmet, hopped off the caravan and stepped up near Zajora. He plopped the barbute right back onto his head. Fully clad now, t warrior then glanced towards the sky--hopefully wearing so much metal wouldn't make him the target of a lightning strike--before his eyes moved back down towards Filon, waiting for him to step out as well.

Filon quickly jumped out after finally conveying to Alenbro that he was leaving. The old man was deaf as a log and probably hadn't heard a word they had said.

The wagon rocketed off, Alenbro still pushing forward at a reckless pace. "I hope he doesn't kill those horses..." Filon muttered before turning to the others.

"We really should hurry. That storm is getting close and we don't want Tent to get struck."

(Janitor, you really need to stop having your characters respond to things that were posted OoC. It's getting really annoying. E.g., mentioning that Tent was worried about being struck by lightning just after he started thinking about it. I'm just going to pretend he didn't even hear that comment.

...I mean, really, your entire last post was basically three contradictions or in-character responses to things I said Out-of-Character.)

Thunder cracked not even half a mile form where the three currently stood, shielding Tent from the comment that made him would have suspected the Hylian of having the ability to read minds.

As he strode forward with Zajora, rain beating down against his helm and shoulderpads, a small half-drenched postcard abruptly fell in front of his face. He jumped back in fright, putting up his steel-covered dukes... before realizing from a safe distance that it was indeed just a postcard. He crouched down for a moment to examine it...

"Greetings adventurer,

You likely do not know me, but I bear the proposition of a game--a lottery. Countless individuals across the land of Hyrule send in ten rupees each to my gambling service for a chance to win the entire pot and become rich overnight. Hundreds of rupees could be yours for such a low cost and little effort, and all you need to acquire them is a bit of luck.

If winning the Grimm Lottery interests you, please send a letter to the return address of this postcard, including ten (10) rupees, your birthname, and an acceptable address. When you are victorious, the reward will promptly be sent through Hyrule's prestigious postal system. Please do not worry, benevolent patron, your rupees are protected well under the regulations of the Business Scrub Association and will be refunded in full if something terrible should happen to them. A new drawing is taken place on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of every month. If you're interested in participating, make sure you have at least one new entry sent every before the next drawing date.

Should you ever pass through Castle-Town, you are more than welcome to see where Grimm Lottery is taken place: the glorious Grimm Emporium in the merchant district outside the castle. Our other services include the buying and selling of goods of all sorts at fair prices, and handing out loans at reasonable rates.

Thank you for you time and consideration," signed, "Gustav Grimm, Business Scrub Association." A small Deku insignia has been stamped adjacent the signature, in red ink.

Considering the proposal for future reference, he looked up to the sky to see a distant, tiny black shadow already soaring off well in the distance. It seemed like some kind of tiny bird... how peculiar, he thought to himself. Unknown to him at the moment, an identical postcard had dropped near Zajora and Filon as well.

Picking up the postcard, Filon quickly read the contents. A lottery? It seemed interesting, but he would need to think about it.

The storm was close now. Checking to make sure his pouch was closed, he shivered. Cold wind was blowing. As rain began to drizzle down he wished he had a coat, or at least a hat.

Looking up, he could swear he could see the shape of a gnarled tree in the distance.

Zajora picked up the letter and grinned. A lottery, that sounded fun. He'd keep that in mind. Odd that they could pinpoint them. Perhaps since it was titled to adventurers it was just sent with trained birds to everyone in the vicinity. He stored the letter back into his pocket in case he wanted to use it later. Then again, gambling to make money wasn't his style. He preferred to use his talents and loot evil forces for extra rupees. Or whining to his family, but that was between them and him.

After they'd traveled for a bit he noticed something odd sticking up. As they got closer it was apparent to be a tree. The tree. A bridge lead up to the area around it, which was odd since it was just lying there in the ground. Perhaps in ages past there had been a lake. It did go over a rather narrow ditch, which seemed to be the only thing left of it.

Excitedly he leapt forward to the tree. There did seem to be a strange face on it. It filled him with a chilling terror. He grinned, how exciting! The 'mouth' seemed to be frowning at them and the whole tree was leafless and twisted, yet huge with age. He cautiously knocked on the wood. Nothing seemed to happen. More boldly he launched Din's Burst and tried to burn his way through. The blast faded away and the tree stood unscathed. He blinked curiously, a normal tree would be shriveling up on fire at this point. It couldn't still be standing, and yet it was unharmed. Most peculiar.

Walking around the tree warily, he spotted an odd something a ways off. Examining it further it was a root sticking out of the ground. Not much use to them. Except it had a strange indentation on it, almost like... A keyhole! He felt inside and there did seem to be some sort of mechanism. He put his hand up against it and fired a fireball, causing the root to snap off suddenly.

The 'mouth' of the tree began to shudder, but nothing further happened. Had he just doomed the inhabitants and sealed the tree forever? No, it seemed to simply be stuck on something. Then he noticed a thin root that trailed upwards to the top of the tree. While admirable for its dedication, it seemed to be holding the door up as well, which was unacceptable. He ran and jumped onto the tree without a second thought. There were plenty of handholds on the gnarled tree, and he quickly rose to the top. Gripping the nasty root he shot another fireball, knocking it off of where it had gotten stuck. After the long wiry root fell to the ground, the tree opened, revealing an ominous staircase with lit torches twinkling in greeting.

Uncharacteristically, Zajora did not give a whoop of joy and leap down. He was too busy getting tangled in branches after being struck by lightning. Perhaps... Zajora thought dimly, I should have knocked it down from below... Much of the lightning blast had impacted on the tree itself, though it looked mostly unharmed. It had weathered worse storms than this. Zajora just felt numb.

Stumbling to get himself free, he finally broke the branches that held him. Falling down he used his last bit of concentration to cast featherfall on himself to ease his fall. He lightly landed on the ground, coughing hoarsely. "That..." He managed to gasp, "Was incredible!" Stumbling to the tree he leaned against it, wondering why he wasn't dead or at the very least passed out.

(Wait, what. When was Zajora hit with lightning? You made it sound like he had a really good sneeze, or something. Anyway, I apologize for not posting sooner.

EDIT: Eh, adad edited his post, but it still seems rather silly to me...)


Following behind the others, Tent was too busy skimming over the postcard a second time to notice Zajora goofing around. Only when he finally slid it under his belt for safe keeping did he look up to see the lad standing in front of the now-open tree, completely unscathed from whatever nonsense he had been doing just now.

Apparently something was 'incredible,' but just when the Scrub was about to inquire about the subject, he interrupted himself with a panicked shout, "Monsters, behind you!" His hand thrust forward with a finger outstretched, pointing out forces behind Zajora.

Enchanting his fists with flames, Tent was already in the midst of charging headlong towards the pair--perhaps the scouting party sent to see why the gate had opened--a pair of Wizzrobes whom appeared in a mere poof of smoke. Extremely renowned sorcerers in Ganon's army, any informed individual these days could recognize their trademark robes on sight, especially studiers of magic like the invading party here now.

With a flaming punch, the Scrub leaped up with all his might towards the closest of the two foes. Just when his inflamed steel knuckles were about to smash into the monster's kneecap, however, he instead found himself hitting nothing but air, tumbling forward from excess momentum, and collapsing into the sands which surrounded the tree. He quickly rolled onto his feet and turned about, seeing the first Wizzrobe appear in a poof of smoke next to his ally.

Now that he could get a better look at them, one seemed to be holding a mace or rod with a glowing red jewel on the end, and the other with a glowing blue jewel... fire and ice, perhaps. Aside from that, the two seemed almost like nothing but floating cloaks--each with a color matching their weapon. Devilish eyes shot out from beneath each hood, as each of the two foes now seemed to begin preparing a spell with which to attack the party...

The Wizzrobes had appeared suddenly, and vanished just as quickly. One moment Tent had been about to strike one and the next, his flaming gaunlets passed harmless through thin air.

Filon started panicking and his eyes darted in every direction. He knew it had teleported, but where was it? He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a shrill laughter right behind him. He had just enough time to turn around when a burst of cold struck his torso. He saw the Wizzrobe for just a moment, just enough to see the horrible burning eyes, when it vanished.


His entire torso and most of his limbs were coated in ice. From his odd point of few all he could really see were flashes of color as the sound of spells erupted behind him.


His skin was already starting to pale as he felt the chill seep into his bones. The cold rain was not helping either. Struggling to speak, he managed to say, "Tent...fire...now!"

Desperate to not see his newfound ally frozen to death so soon, Tent inflamed his gauntlets with fire as he recklessly charged over at the greatest velocity he could muster in heavy metal armor.

The Wizzrobe behind Filon seemed to be packing up another spell to finish off its prey, before its glare looked to the flaming Deku Scrub. Scoffing in utter annoyance at the pest, it quickly needed to change the aim of its spell, instead turning towards the intruder as it shot a sphere of glowing blue ice.

Tent almost halted in his tracks as he saw the Wizzrobe fire the spell at him, but seized hold of his valor and focused on the matter at hand, his charging unimpeded. In mid-stride, he abruptly lunged out his left palm, and miraculously managed to swat away the glowing sphere with the Inferno Two, at the cost of extinguishing the flames that were erupting from it. The sphere bounced off and hit the ground nearby, freezing it solid with a thick layer of ice.

Now at proximal range, Tent pounced towards the Wizzrobe with his still-flaming Inferno One, only to see it disappear once again--just as he expected. His feint attack quickly shifted downwards as his flaming palm was pressed to the ice drenching Filon. Hisses filling the air as it began to quickly melt... although it was not quick enough. He managed to enflame the Inferno One once again and brought it to the ice, hoping that would speed things up a bit more. He glanced over to Zajora, who seemed to be holding his own well enough, and called out, "Hold them off for just a few more seconds...!"

Zajora watched dizzily as the wizzrobes attacked them. He staggered to his feet and looked around frantically. What in the name of Din was going on? He could barely think, it felt like something was surging inside him. He struggled for a moment, trying to think. He vaguely saw Filon getting frozen, and dimly heard spells going back and forth. Then he heard Tent say, quite clearly, "Hold them off."

He nearly laughed at the ridiculous notion. Hold them off? He could barely walk! And this pounding, surging energy wasn't helping any either. If he could only concentrate maybe he could do something about... Whatever was happening.

Perhaps civility would work. Holding out his hands towards one of the wizzrobes plaintively he asked it if it would please stop killing them. The wizzrobe wholeheartedly threw a ball of frost in his general direction in acquiescence. Suddenly he felt all tingly and his hair stood up on end. Something odd was going on, if only he could remember what had happened prior to this. Then he gasped. He'd just been struck by lightning! No wonder he felt all muddled, he should be dead! But why wasn't he?

Then he realized what that power must be, an immense amount of electric energy going through his body. Somehow his training must have instinctively tried to use it as fuel for his magic. Now that he thought about it, they did feel quite similar. But it was a plan doomed to fail, he didn't know how he had held onto it this long, but the lightning would rip him to shreds if he tried to hoard it.

His palms began to tingle, then shake and jerk. Suddenly a white flash roared through his hands, throwing him back. The deadly greeting the wizzrobe had sent was destroyed and the wizzrobe itself began electrocuting. Shakily raising to his feet Zajora began shaking his hands. That had hurt!

There was still one left, but Zajora was too weary from the lightning burst to even care. He stumbled over to the tree and leaned against it. Using electricity as power? What a stupid idea, electricity was far too volatile to be of any use to anyone. It wasn't like you could just store it in a neat container and use it whenever you wanted! All the same, he wondered if he could learn to do that again. Without the being struck part, of course. But magic could substitute it, if you just channeled all you could into raw lightning. Probably best to think about that later he thought as he saw the other wizzrobe staring at his friend in shock. Heh... Shock...

(Well, it's been three days since Janitor was last online, and thirteen since he last posted. At this point, let's just assume his character decided to stay outside... or something. Can't really blame him, considering he doesn't actually have any weapons or offensive magic.)

Tent stared in utter and total bewilderment as the Wizzrobe was torn asunder by a bolt of raw lightning. He was not even remotely aware Zajora was capable of such a feet, but at the moment, he realized he didn't have time to think further on the matter.

Filon was now almost completely thawed, but still shivering from the cold; Zajora was obviously completely drained from that spell; and the Wizzrobe itself was only for a second so bewildered that it might not go warping around just long enough... Letting Filon break out of the remaining ice himself, Tent abruptly dashed up towards the final Wizzrobe, charging both his fists with Din's very flames.

Just as the monster turned to look, it was already too late--Tent had already jumped and was launching a furious fist right towards its face. Knowing it hadn't enough time to teleport, the creature desperately held up its flaming wand in attempt to block the strike... but to no avail whatsoever. The flaming steel fist had no problems smashing clean through the rod. Not only that, but as the rod was snapped asunder, its two ends unleashed an explosive burst of fire from out their broken ends, flaring right into the Wizzrobe's face and delivering the finishing blow.

With the pummeled-into-submission Wizzrobe behind him, Tent tumbled and collapsed onto the ground, panting. "Din..." He struggled not to use her holy name in profanity, mumbling to himself, "...I really wanted that weapon of his, too."

(Maybe I'll just have him copy Zajora's Din's Burst instead. )

(Sorry about all that. I've been sick, but I finally got on.)

Filon was rubbing his arms, trying to get some warmth back into his body. His clothing was soaked and his body still felt frozen solid. His teeth stopped chattering eventaully, and he found a bit of dry ground by the tree.

The other two members of his party were nearby, getting ready to descend into the tree. Tent looked exhausted and Zajora looked a little lightheaded. His hand was throbbing under the bandage and he still felt cold. "Guys." he said, raising his good hand. "I...don't think I'll be heading down with you. I just complicated things up here, and I'm no good at fighting."

Turning onto his side, he knocked the side of the tree with his knuckles. "Now, I have no idea what you guys think you'll find down there, but this tree survived fireballs and that entire bolt of lightning as if they were nothing. I'll check it out and keep watch while you two are in there."

Putting on his glasses, he bent over so that he was inches from the bark of the tree. "Head on down if you want. I can take care of myself." The bark was dark and looked a lot sleeker than it should have.

Tent managed to push of the ground and regain his composure, though his breaths were still heavy. He turned towards Filon, gesturing with an open palm, "I don't know how you could not give up now... We're so close, nothing short of Din's word could prevent me from seeing this to the end now." His open hand dropped to his side, "But I honestly couldn't blame you, Filon. I mean no offense, but this... is indeed pretty dangerous, and you yourself don't seem well-equipped for it. I'm not even sure I would go in there if I was in your shoes..."

He turned towards the massive, aging tree, "But... thankfully my own boots are quite comfortable." With his eyes still focused upon the tree, Tent found himself striding confidently--perhaps over-confidently--towards it. Unable to stop himself, he didn't even look back as he called out, "Zajora, I'll see you inside."

With torches lighting his way, the Deku Scrub's boots firmly impacted upon one step after the other. He found a mix of adrenaline, fear, and anticipation swell up within his heart. With step after step, the end came into view. There was no door, but an open passageway. With only four steps remaining, Tent came upon an indescribable scene which shocked him to the point his feet froze in their tracks.

For a moment, it seemed as if all time froze. This was a massive square room a couple dozen feet of walls on every side. Countless weapons lined the entire room, ready to be used at a moment's notice. There was not a single other exit or entrance of which to speak, save what seemed like some sort of magical portal on the far side--of which a Lizalfos was stepping out. It must have been filled with at least seven different kinds of monsters, a practical squadron all its own--one more Wizzrobe, a Goriya, two Vires, several Keese, countless Bots, two Lizalfos counting the one in the Portal... and was that a Fokka? Each and every one of them were glaring at the foolish intruder. Now, more than ever, Tent found himself praying to Din to lend him strength...

...and all at once, time itself seemed to resume as the entire army launched towards the sole entrance in a vicious rage.

Filon had just enough time to sit down and lean closer to the tree when he heard what sounded like a stampede. Walking around the tree to the entrance, he peered down the stairs. What was going on in there?

Worried, Filon began to run down the steep steps into the ground below the ancient tree. Reaching the lower steps, he stopped running and stood frozen in place. A literal swarm of monsters was racing towards the steps, and he didn't even have his dagger out.

A large blue creature was leading the charge, with a head like a dog and wearing a tunic. Filon could only stand frozen in terror as the Goriya hurled its wooden boomerang at his face. Ducking just in time, he started to regain his senses. However, before he could move the returning boomerang struck him in the back of the head.

Dazed, he started scrambling up the steps. Spots of color filled his vision and he could just barely make out Goriya as it caught its weapon. As the large creature prepared to send the boomerang flying once more, several more creatures were quickly converging on the stairway. He couldn't make out Tent or Zajora anywhere, but his vision was slowly returning to normal. The Goriya was almost on him, and he started scrambling up the stairs faster.

As the large creature growled into his face, Filon started to mentally berate himself. Why had he gotten himself dragged into this? He had had a nice book to read, a relaxing journey, and he was finally going to see a Zora surfacing! Now he was about to be killed by a boomerang wielding dog monster! A BLUE dog monster, at that!

As the Goriya prepared to hurl the wooden instrument at him, he prayed to all of the goddesses that something, ANYTHING, would save him.

(I don't know what's up with adad, and janitor hasn't even signed on in a couple weeks now. Sorry, but I'd really like to use Tent for something other than this two-month-dead RP... and like hell I'm going to abandon it after going through it this far.)

Hours had passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. The charred remains of bloods and bones littered the chamber from wall to wall. Trapped in the center was a limping, panting, half-corpse of a Deku Scrub... his chain mail itself torn at two different points, with several Lizalfos fangs wedged into the links... his arms trembling as he struggled to keep them raised into fists. Tent could barely comprehend anything at the moment. He didn't know how he managed it, and knew not what happened to his allies. All he could see was his last opponent: a Vire with a bleeding jaw and a broken arm, the last of its squadron, limping towards the portal.

In a desperate, mad urge to see this through to the finish, Tent forced himself in pursuit. In a few moments, the Vire would vanish into the mysterious magical gateway. A few moments more, and the Deku Scrub himself would collapse to the ground, succumbing in part to his injuries. But no. This would not end here. He would not let the last escape. The only justification he needed, as he forced out in hoarse words, "For it... is Din's will...!"

Tent's practical corpse lunged over the ground, using his gloves--inflamed with the fires of violent passion--to drag himself closer and closer to the portal. At point blank range, he could see through the murky gateway the Vire flying on the other side, casting some form of spell. No, he realized... it was trying to close the portal!

In a final, desperate lunge, Tent launched himself forward in an attempt to pounce onto the Vire... soaring through the portal just moments before it closed behind him. Where he was... in what dimension, in what coordinates... not even he himself would know.

(Alright, well, I'm considering this quest complete. Finally.)

(Yeah, the quest seems done. I'm taking the 50 rupees. This post is just to keep track of my character and explain where he went and how he got those rupees.)

Filon was walking down the road, away from the tree. The icy rain fell on his frail body and it was like his bones were frozen. He didn't know how long it had been since he left that foul tree and he didn't really bother thinking about it. He wasn't even sure how he'd survived.

The Goriya had thrown his boomerang again, knocking him unconscious. When he'd woken he'd found the tree devoid of life, the charred ashes and bodies of the monsters laying in heaps on the ground. The Goriya was dead as well, its back charred and burned. Tent was nowhere to be seen, but he assumed he was the one who had caused all this carnage. The Goriya had probably been caught in the crossfire.

The boomerang had been burned to nothing but he'd found some rupees laying on the stairway, coated in soot. He'd taken the fifty and left, his nose still filled with the smell of blood and ashes. And now he was here, the rain pounding down on him. He could see Lon Lon Ranch in the distance, and hurried his pace. He had no idea what had happened in that tree but he wanted to leave it far behind him.

((Gah sorry, haven't RPed in a while and thought this was dead. I'll just take my leave))

Zajora stumbled after Tent to help his comrade. The portal seemed to be on the verge of collapse and pulsated. Thinking about maybe not going in the portal of doom he slowed down as he neared it. A nearby root sticking out of the ground made sure he didn't change his mind and he was sent careening into an unknown destination.