Forest Temple (Magnere/Clooby)

Julius looked up from the rounded stone lying in front of the dungeon's entrance. It appeared to be a Hylian -- but Julius knew looks could be deceiving. Pulling out his Lens of Truth, Julius scouted the being. It was definitely a Hylian... But were they friendly? Julius was a little worse at reading people. He didn't seem to be on a hunt for anything, but still... finding this place? On a whim? Stranger things had happened to himself, he supposed. Still, it might be better to wait and see.

He looked back down at the Gossip Stone. He had learned of this place thanks to some tomes -- normally not accessible to the public, or even those below him -- concerning the illusive shadow race of Hyrule. Indeed, it seemed he was in the correct place. "I'll scope him in th dungeon..." he muttered. He knew it was less a dungeon and more of a temple. Some sort of old, druidic faith had congregated here before.

Julius couldn't ascertain the group's function -- only that they had amassed here long ago, before disappearing entirely. The lore of Hyrule was such an interesting thing, he thought, as he finally entered the enormous tree.

It was as big on the inside as it was the outside. He was impressed for a while before he began absorbing the finer details. It was huge, sure, but even he could see that it almost seemed too big. Several Deku Babas littered the ground. A red colouring -- Deku Serpents, he swore they were called. He briefly remembered an episode from his boyhood -- when an entire patch of them had cropped up. It was awful.

As he approached the group, a scurrying was heard overhead. It wasn't the skittering on monsters -- a monkey. He watched as it flew overhead, deeper into the tree. He didn't know what to think, unfortunately. Maybe it was just some of the local fauna. It seemed large enough to support regular creatures as well, after all.

He approached the serpents. Their purple tongues slid out of their fanged maws, each one looking at as though he were a particularly delicious morsel. He readied his blade as one clanged against his shield. He spun and sliced in retaliation -- he knew it would take more than that, however. The all womped and flailed against his shield -- until one had the good sense to stuff it into its maw. Great.

It wasn't sarcasm, either, as hardly a second later, he ripped it from its stem -- and a familiar wave of energy followed his blade as he dismembered several of them. Including the one on his shield, that made three he now had to deal with.

It released its jaws from his shield, feigning death. Julius knew better, however, quickly skewering its red flesh on his blade. It attempted to open its jaw, but only succeeded in finishing itself off. The other two quickly sprang to life. He let them near, closer and closer... until, finally, he loosed his stored energy. They reared back in pain -- being plants, they couldn't actually produce noise. Not vocally, at least.

He finished them off, colliding his blade against the two. He prepared to step forward, further into the dungeon as he looked back to the entrance. Maybe the boy would show himself soon.

Well, he certainly seemed like he was a Hylian. Julius brought his blade to rest in its sheath before approaching the boy. He stood a few inches taller than him -- but it was nothing like he experienced with some. He skoffed, unthinking, at how he was very nearly twice the height of some of his companions.

"Tell me, boy!" He opened, bringing his great helm to rest under his arm. He'd already sensed that he meant no harm. "What can old Julius do for you?" He looked behind himself, gesturing to the rest of whatever labyrinth they were in. "My guess is that you want to know who I am, and what this place is," he said, drumming the fingers of his gauntlets on the top of his helm.

"Well," he said, popping his helmet back on. He put a finger to the golden crest on his helmet. "As you can probably see by this," he gestured to it with his finger, "I'm a Knight of Hyrule. I'm also a bit of a smith," he added. "Don't let this fool you," he waved his hand over the Zora crest of his cuirass. "It's Zora mail. Handy stuff; even made by a Zora, in fact," he said finishing his speech. "But enough about me."

He explained the situation to the lad; he was a little too trusting, perhaps, but he knew good people in these parts. He wondered how many were still alive. He didn't pay perhaps too much attention to the lad, but before continuing into the dungeon added, "You're welcome to come, if you'd like."

And with that, he walked through the awning of branches. There were trees upon trees here, it seemed. There was a myriad of paths in the room; perhaps, almost instinctively, he dug out his Lens of Truth and gave it a quick once over. Nothing. A few steps into the room. Another set of steps. A brief skittering followed overhead. He dove back, imitating a particular item -- not that it mattered at the time. He drew his blade as three enormous Skulltulas, each one having a dangerously marked black carapace, dropped from the cieling.

He drew his blade and engaged the three as a group. He doubted they posed much of a threat -- still, their venom was said to be quite deadly. He locked his blade with the mandibles of one, while his shield caught the almost needle like appendages of another. With a kick, he made one an inferno. Excellent. "What's better than a Skulltula?" He asked to no one. "A Skulltula on fire." He chuckled at his own attempt at humor. His travels were getting him to loosen up, to some degree.

He brought his blade from the one Kalvar had shot dead, and focused on the one already having burst into flame. He thrust his blade into his mandibles, into whatever the arachnids had on their insides. Whatever it was, it seemed to bring a swift death; or maybe it was the strike after, which broke a large portion of its exoskeleton.

He turned his attention to the final one in enough time to barely guard against its gnashing mandibles. He brought his shield hard, fast, and fierce to its jaws. It lashed back in obvious pain; Julius took the opening to jab his blade through its softer underside. Before he knew it, the threats were disposed, gone. He turned to Kalvar. "Excellent marksmanship, lad! I'm impressed. Almost wish that I still had able use of both eyes," he continued, paying close attention to his surroundings. There was a hill that wound up and around to some place, though it wasn't exactly obvious as to where. Another seemed to slope lower, snaking under whatever bits of debris composed the floor they walked upon.

He chose the lower path. Twisting and contorting his body through the slightly too narrow passage, which twisted and turned at odd angles, he stumbled a few meters away from a group of Bokoblins. They weren't aware of his presence just yet... Kalvar! The boy could take them all out, quite easily he assumed, from this distance. He waited for the boy to come down as well, whispering to him the plan. "Let me divert them. You can get them, I think," he whispered, circling to the front of their camp.

He drew his blade, making sure the meager light flashed off of it, into one of their eyes. The monster stumbled back, off of the log it sat upon. They all became keenly aware of Julius's presence, but not Kalvar's. Without thinking, they swept up their bladed clubs, and rushed into him. Obviously, they had no idea of his skill.

The Bokoblins drew closer to Julius, but as they advanced, they also fell, dead, onto the floor. Two more remained after Kalvar's arrows made short work of the others. One started falling, slightly, causing to Julius to thrust his blade into its gullet.

The final member of the group trudged onward, dragging its club at its side. It made a sound -- a cackle, perhaps? -- as it heaved its club into the air, striking into his plate. He felt the blow through his armor -- though its wooden stick was little match for his ebony mail. He turned, raising his shield, and slamming into the now-arrogant Bokoblin with all of his momentum and force. The body of the tiny, pot-bellied creature sailed through the air -- landing with a thud almost a meter and a half away. It was a dull thud, a lifeless one -- or perhaps it was just unconscious? Julius examined the eyes of the creature. No movement. He had slain it with a stroke of his shield.

Julius stood from crouching beside the creature. He looked at Kalvar through his helmet for a second before drawing one of the burning sticks from the campfire. "Good shot," he said, looking through the scant light in the room. "Perhaps if you ever manage your way north, you could find work in the Guard," he said, moving towards a stone door as he spoke. "You're already a better shot than most of our senior members, any how," he planted the torch into the ground, placing both palms on the stone disc as he heaved upwards. It started moving, slowly -- before Julius realized it rolled into a crevice beside the door. "It'd save you time on training, for sure," he continued, reaching for the torch while he held the door with one hand.

He stepped into the next room -- only to have the torch flicker out, dead. A moment later, he found the reason -- powerful gusts wafted upwards through the lower sections of the tree, here. Ivy was strung and coiled all about -- as he continued into the room, it seemed that it was the sole constituent of the room. It coated all of the walls, the floor -- even a pillar-like object in the center of an otherwise circular chamber. He looked down. There didn't seem to be a floor here.

Three Lizalfos across the way noticed their presence almost immediately. These, however, were not a particularly intelligent breed -- in fact, they were near bestial in intellect. Suffice it to say, they lacked the mental faculties to weigh risk to reward. They dived into the pit -- but the gusts of air seemed to keep them from falling. They brandished weapons of iron. A scimitar, an axe -- even a spear. Julius knew they desired combat. He dove in, blade drawn. He had never fought in an environment like this -- but he'd damn sure try.

The intense bursts of air slamming into his armor were certainly... consistent. To say the least of Julius's ability to fight; he couldn't, at least not as well as if they'd been on solid ground. Fighting like this was strange. His blows were weaker; he couldn't focus his weight into his blows, since he was, essentially, lying prone over a cushion of air. He could also barely steady himself; just as he seemed to be getting the hang of controlling his movement midair, an arrow whizzed past him.

Kalvar seemed to possess Straight Shooting, thankfully. That meant his arrows wouldn't fly off course, even in this breezy tunnel. However, their foes could still easily twist and turn and perform all sorts of other maneuvers to avoid his arrows -- something that Julius could likely assist in minimizing.

He closed in on the beasts, attempting to swim through the air. He abruptly propelled through the current -- it seemed the motifs on his armor worked even in air. He moved his blade as best he could (which is to say, not very well at all), as he met the scimitar of a Lizalfos as it sliced through the air. It seemed that all he could do was set Kalvar up for shots. He moved himself to the back of the lizard. "Kalvar!" Julius yelled out, absorbing another blow from the curved blade with his shield. "I can't fight like this! You'll have to do most of the legwork!" He yelled over the current. It certainly seemed deafening from within.

Julius looked around the circular room. It was.... incredibly odd. He looked at the vines; they were obviously supposed to climb, but to where? More importantly, could Julius even climb with all of his added weight? He knew he was strong, but... perhaps he wasn't strong enough.

"Kalvar," he began to speak as he tested some vines. They were fairly sturdy; sturdier than normal ivy, at least. He figured that if he pulled with all of his might, he may be able to uproot the plant. He shook his head. He didn't want to take the chance. He looked around for whatever entryway or exit that was supposed to be in here... but there wasn't one. Not that they could see, at least. A scan with his Lens of Truth, as was almost normal procedure by this point, revealed invisible Skullwalltulas lurking on the ivy. "Be careful," he said, grasping a vine, "There's some critters on the walls."

He hefted himself down, slowly. Easy, easy... the truth was that the captain of the Hylian Guard was scared out of his wits at this moment. Even with his ancient device hoisted in his Adventure Pouch, he didn't want to risk the chance of falling to his death. He still wasn't used to landing from it; no, it would be more accurate to say he wouldn't get used to landing with it.

He lowered himself another few feet. He was almost twenty feet below the overhang; he couldn't tell if Kalvar had begun climbing down yet. Of course, down was the only way for them to go; above them was another nest of vines. It seemed they would be descending throughout the entire structure... perhaps, at its roots, lay what he came in search of? He wished he could ask someone more understanding for advice. Guy, or Gustav, or... that was really everyone he could contact right now. Well, besides Kalvar, but Guy had about as much experience in dealing with these things as Julius. Still, though, letting go would almost surely mean his death.

He descended another few feet. The monsters on the walls seemed rather sparse, Julius thought, as he continued to climb down. His muscles were starting to wear down; he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep climbing down. He noticed a red bud in the corner of his vision. It almost looked like a... a... Oh no. No no no. Julius hurriedly scaled more than ten feet down. "Kalvar! Look out! Deku Serpents!"

Julius continued his descent down the vines; he thought he saw some form of alcove within the wall and hastened his pace.

Dragging all of his three hundred-odd body, plus his equipment, was definitely not something he had the endurance to accomplish. Although he did possess a Hookshot, he was suspect at the application of a bladed instrument to these vines. He could, perhaps, amend this later; but this train of thought served no purpose now. Even so, he continued to descend into the crater. He suspected that it lowered to its roots -- but he couldn't be sure. Who knows how many hundreds of feet down it was, anyways? There was no way they were going to climb down all that way -- and it would be immeasurably more difficult to ascend if they did.

He dropped, suddenly, approximately five feet. His grip had slipped, and he had barely managed to save himself from what he thought was almost certain death. However, he soon heard the familiar noise of a Deku plant emerging. He looked to his left, and found the serpent licking its chops. It went in to dine on his flesh, instead tasted only the cold metal of his blade, slicing through its flesh. His heavy sword was difficult to use now -- his slashes were wide, and difficult to control from this angle. This was truly one of the worst environments for Julius to have fought in -- something he already knew as he continued to make his way to the alcove.

"Kalvar! I've found an alcove on the wall!" Julius yelled up ahead to the young Hylian lad. He was nearly there. Just a little more, he thought to himself, trying to lower himself down just a bit more.

Finally, it came into view. It was more than an alcove, that much was sure.

Julius strode into the room, seeming more than confident in his own ability to handle what was nothing more than an overgrown weed. He drew his blade and, at the creature attempted to snap its fangs at him, he slashed and stabbed at its enormous head -- it alone was nearly as big as Julius himself.

It was a tad overwhelming, but Julius knew he could handle it, especially with help from Kalvar. His enemy was a... plant. Thinking quickly, he brought his foot to the low-hanging head of the man-eater as it gnawed on his shield. It shrieked out in pain and torment, having obviously been hurt a good deal. He looked back to Kalvar, who was continuing to launch arrows at the beast -- not that Julius had noticed, having been too occupied dodging and blocking and doing whatever else was necessary to avoid its monstrous maw.

Its head rotated, its mouth being vertically aligned now; Julius took a cautious step back, but he knew how little help that would be. If he could time it right, he could perhaps use a Helm Splitter to leap over the thing's head, while delivering a nasty blow... That would probably be his best shot, in all honestly, lest he wind up as plant food.

The giant took the bite, lashing out at Julius with its many fanged mouth, only to have the man ascend a massive height, burying the three feet of Mirror Silver in his hands into the beast, before ripping it out as viciously as it had entered. Purple blood -- or some kind of plant juice -- sprayed from the creature's wound. Julius wasn't sure how much more abuse the creature could handle, but he wasn't about to let up now.

The Big Baba snapped its head at Julius again -- he wasn't about to get eaten. Not here, and not now, at least.

With what was almost a snarl, he moved his shield in the path of the beast's maw, bringing it to bear in its jaws. When its jaws snapped shut around the rectangular piece of steel wedged into its maw, Julius only continued to force back the massive plant-beast. Why had it taken him so long to come to the conclusion to decapitate it? Probably because it very well could crush him and end his life. Either way, with Kalvar egging him on the distance, he began to think of what he might be able to do in this situation. Lexi -- no, her sword wouldn't be enough to fully sever the stem... though she certainly would help.

A Spin Attack -- also a no. He would have to-- or would he? Maybe... A Keese began to flutter alongside him, summoned through his force of will. Rend its flesh, Julius knew the Keese would enjoy the meal -- wherever it went, at least. Maybe it went back to him, or maybe it disappeared alongside the summon, but now was definitely not the time to ponder upon the strange esoteries of summoning magics, as he was currently attempting to not be eaten by a plant. "Kalvar, cover me," Julius yelled. He put emphasis upon cover me, simply because he did not desired to be eaten nor crushed -- not today, not ever.

He quickly plunged his blade of Mirror Silver into the stalk of the plant-based fiend, relinquishing his grasp for just a moment, before activating Lexi's summons. If the plant weren't already separated from its stalk, she would likely deal the finishing blow.

He began to charge his Spin Attack, like he had done so many times before in his life. After the second it took for him to execute his Spin Attack, he blade and the wave of energy tore through the stem of the plant, but he didn't stop there. No, it was falling now -- and by Din and by Farore, he did not desire to be crushed today. Julius began moving to the side of the beast, while still hacking away at it. Hopefully, it hadn't fallen upon Kalvar.

"Well. It was a fight, alright." That was just about all Julius could say on the matter. He certainly hadn't counted on seeing such a massive behemoth of Deku Baba here -- hell, even in Northern Hyrule, he'd never heard of them growing to such a size. At least, it seemed, that he would be coming back with interesting information for the scholars of the strange plants.

That train of thought brought him to a new topic, though. "Some scholars believe that Deku Scrubs, Babas, and other forms of life, like the Kokiri and Korok, are all vaguely related to one another." He continued wiping the purple fluid from his blade as best he could. "Now, having worked with plenty of Kokiri and Dekus, and certainly a Korok or two, I have little trouble agreeing that Kokiri and Koroks are most definitely creations of the Great Deku Tree, in the Kokiri Forest. But, there are also theories suggesting that Deku Scrubs and Babas, are more or less the same organisms, just in different stages of growth and maturity. What is more is that," he looked above them, making sure there were no unwelcome surprises, "these same people believe that they are, essentially, groomed and harvested by what are known as Gohma. They exist in all kinds of sizes and forms -- some are adapted to more harsh environments, like... I hate to say this, but some are adapted to living inside active volcanoes, while others are more at home in natural forest environments."

"Environments just like this, is what I'm trying to say. Keep your eyes peeled, and if you see anything above us -- it'll look like a scorpion or a spider, with a gigantic eye in its middle -- make sure to put an arrow or three right through it. They aren't hard to kill, but if their toxins get you..." He made a slicing motion across his neck with his finger. "It'll be quick and painful."

Satisfied that he'd gotten all the fluid from his blade, and that there were no surprise guests, he decided to move further into the tunnel, from whatever chamber they occupied. At the very least, it seemed like it lead lower into whatever drop they were trying to descend.

He continued past some small shrubs and bushed, with all kinds of mosses and lichens growing along the wall of the cave. Finally, they came to a door, with the ever-enigmatic Kokiri symbol engraved upon it. Well, he could guess why, but Kalvar probably didn't know -- not that it was important. "The symbol here," he motioned towards the door, "was frequently painted and placed by nature faiths and those that idolized the Kokiri and what they represented, thinking of them as a sort of forest spirit or some such. I guess they weren't exactly far from the truth." He rolled the door aside, coming face-to-face with a wide berth of sunlight and strong gusts of wind.

"I don't think this is exactly going to be pleasant, Kalvar." He had to practically yell over the wind. They could either continue like this -- down a narrow, winding path with gales constantly blowing at them in different directions, or they could attempt to resume their climb down the interior, where a number of Deku Serpents and such lay in wait.

Frankly, Julius liked the outside path more.