Cast: Sir Callad Bolge (3/2/3) - Bladed Healing + 15 rupees Samanosuke (5/1/2) - Quick Draw + Quicker Draw + 10 rupees The air was cool in this place. Mist peppered his skin as a gentle breeze wandered through the surrounding trees. The air was host to a light fog. Not unexpected, given it smells like it just rained here, Sir Callad thought as he peered through the darkness at the edge of the light of his torch. His cloak dragged on the long grass. He felt oddly displaced here, though he couldn't for sure say why. A sudden howl in front of him and a glowing pair of eyes in the night sent him into a crouch as he drew his sword. The wolfo tried to flank him, but the knight knew to keep it in his sight. The beast made to attack him, but Callad leaped back in time to avoid the claws, then leaped over it as he swung his sword into it's snout. "Where am I?" he asked himself, thoroughly bewildered. Where he was supposed to be, no wolfos had been seen in years.
From the darkness would emerge a young Hylian wearing simple brown tunic, pants, and boots. His tunic was covered by some worn leather armor that held a stark contrast to the new bracers on his forearms. His hands rested on the sheathes of his swords, just behind the guards as he approached. He had been asked to scout this area for a temple that was supposed to be somewhere around here. He hadn't been expecting to run into anyone else during his mission, much less someone being attacked by a wolfo. The closer Samanosuke got, the further back the wolfos would move. "Wasn't expecting to run into anyone else in such a remote location." As he spoke, the boy would start to circle around the injured wolfos in an attempt to trap it between him and Callad. His eyes were intently focused on the wolfo as it kept moving to try and prevent being surrounded. As he continued to dance with the wolfo Samasnosuke would switch to a draw stance as he waited for an opening to present itself.
The knight was surprised that someone else appeared here. It seemed to be an isolated area. In any event, the wolfo was on guard now, which made the fight trickier. Callad continued circling when he noticed the other person had stopped. He closed suddenly, prepped for a second while he had surprise on his side, and used a spin attack to, if not damage the beast, at least leave it open. It didn't cut through the skin of the wolfo, but his sword did knock the beast on the head pretty hard. Its back was left wide open. "Now!"
Samanosuke had been only a few steps behind Callad in his assault on the Wolfos. Shifting his weapon so that the hilt would be pointed towards the ground as he ran. While the Wolfos was still stunned from the spin attack the young hylian unleash a technique of his own. Drawing his blade the tip would slip along the ground, flames engulfing it as it came up. With a spray of blood it was clear that his gerudo dragon had found its mark. Exhaling as he stood up Samanosuke would swing his blade down to his right side to throw most of the blood off of it as his left eye looked over at Callad. The intricately carved golden orb was moving on its own once again, though for once it didn't matter as he had already been planning on shifting his gaze to Callad as he relaxed his posture slightly. He wasn't quite sure what to say to the man. He hadn't been expecting to run into anyone else on this mission Yousef had sent his way. "My name is Samanosuke Shinomori." Might as well introduce himself right? If they were both out here there had to be a reason. Chances were they would be able to work together and help each other with whatever they were there to do.
"Hm. That's a mouthful," Callad commented dryly. He looked around, making sure no other wolfos were near. "I'm Sir Callad Bolge, a wandering knight." He walked around the dead wolfo between them, using his torch for light. "Come on, let's get out of the open. There might be more of them, and I get the feeling the weather won't hold out for very long." A hedge materialized out of the darkness, but it had an opening. He went in. The knight soon discovered that it was a hedge maze. Something wasn't right, though. He heard footsteps and pig-like grunts. They weren't alone.
And yours isn't a mouthful? Thought the young hylian as he shook his head. "So tell me what brings you all the way out here?" While he was curious he was just trying to make conversation to help pass the time. As Samanosuke stepped into the hedge maze he would turn to his right and start walking waving for Callad to follow him. The closer he drew to the corner of the current path the pig-like noises would grow louder. Not wanting to risk sticking his head around the corner and coming face to face with what was making the noises Samanosuke decided upon a different course of action. Reaching up the boy would pull the golden orb from his eye socket and turn it in his hand until he could see himself. Slowly he would stick his hand past the edge of the hedge so that he would be able to see down the next path. There was a lone moblin headed their way, spear in hand. Pulling his hand back around the side of the hedge he would turn to face Callad with his left eye closed. "A single common moblin with a spear is in the next path. Would you prefer to try and sneak past it, or ambush it?" Personally Samanosuke would prefer to just kill it and not have to worry about it if they needed to fall back later.
"I owe all of those monstrosities death," the older knight responded, dousing his torch. Something surprising happened then: Fairy lights appeared in the air. Callad was taken aback at this, but refocused back to the task at hand. The goddess's helpers took shelter here, so he must eliminate these interloping pig mongrels. He pulled his shield onto his arm. He peered around the corner, then ducked back. The moblin bastard was close. Soon enough, it would pass the opening in the hedge. He just had to wait. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. His heart pounded in his ears. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. The moblin was halfway passed the opening. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Now. Callad sprinted forwards the short distance to the moblin's back, stabbing his sword straight through and out its chest in a spray of blood. It grunted its displeasure as it expired, and Callad pushed it off his blade with his shield, swinging the blade at the empty path to remove the blood. The noises of the moblins didn't stop, however. "There are more of them," Sir Callad seethed. "Samanosuke, you take the further path. I'll move along this one. Try not to get too lost."
There was no real reason for the two of them to split up other than Callads hatred for the Moblins and wanting to eliminate all of them within the maze. With a sigh Samanosuke would place the golden bauble back where it belonged, blinking a few times to get it properly aligned. "Your hatred of Moblins is understandable..." Truthfully though Samanosuke had no idea just how deep Callads hatred for Moblins went nor did he know why he hated them so much. He only thought it was the typical hatred of them for being evil monsters. ...but splitting up just to kill a couple more of them is a waste of time and energy. We should stick together and focus on reaching the temple." Had Yousef asked him to come here and eliminate all threats in and around the temple he would have taken Callad up on his plan. That wasn't the reason he was here though. He had been sent to investigate the temple itself, a few Moblins lost within a hedge maze were nothing more than a distraction to him. "The way I see it is these Moblins have gathered here due to some evil presence within the temple. That presence is probably the reason I was sent to come investigate this temple. Take out the mystery evil and the Moblins will leave, or starve to death lost in the maze. I don't care which to be honest with you." Moving past the fallen Moblin Samasnosuke would a take a few steps before turning to face Callad awaiting his answer.
"Temple?" the knight asked, lowering his weapons in confusion. "What temple? Is that what this place is?" He shook his head, adding, "Nevermind." He turned back towards the path, raising his weapons again, crouching like a hunter. He moved further in, away from Samanosuke.
Wait, Callad didn't know about the temple in this area? That was the whole reason that Yousef had sent Samanosuke to the area and he had only assumed that someone else had sent Callad here for the same reason. In any case the young hylian wouldn't get the chance to ask before Callad ran off in the opposite direction. Is he stupid or just stubborn? While he had though he had properly conveyed the importance of ignoring the moblins they wouldn't cross paths with Callad had still run off on his own. While he could have still given chase and probably caught up with Callad he decided against it. The man seemed more than capable of protecting himself and after all Samanosuke had a mission to focus on. Turning around he would continue on through the maze, and with his eyes closed no less. With his superb sense of navigation Samanosuke could advance through the maze with his eyes closed focusing more on his other senses, specifically his hearing. As the sound of footsteps and grunts grew louder the Hylian would slow down and take his time. He would use the golden eye to peer around corners as he had before. After a few more turns he would finally spot what he had been hearing. This moblin was similar to the first one they had encountered, but it was much further away from him than the last one had been and it was still walking further away. Not wanting to waste the time of waiting for it to turn around and start walking towards him so he could ambush it as Callad had the previous one he would return the golden eye to its socket and draw his blades before turning the corner. Samanosuke would make his way towards the moblin while its back was turned, his pace only slightly faster than his usual walking speed. It only took a few seconds for the moblin to reach the end of the current path and stop for a few seconds. These few precious seconds allowed the hylian to close much more of the gap between them before the beast turned around. As the moblin began to turn around Samanosuke would take off into a dead sprint. His left blade was held downward while his right was extended above head. As soon as the moblin spotted him it would quickly finish its turn and prepare to charge at Samanosuke, but it was too little too late. The hylian was already in striking range, his left blade coming upwards first cloaked in flames quickly followed by the downward slash of his right blade. The two slashes had been more than enough to fell the moblin before it had even been able to tell what had happened to it. Swinging his blades downwards most of the blood would fly from his weapons as Samanosuke proceeded past the moblin and further into the maze and ever closer to his destination.
"Oof!" the knight grunted as the moblin embedded its spear into his shield, knocking him down. He was then smashed into a wall, eliciting a further grunt. Callad noted that the spearhead had penetrated the shield and nearly killed him, had it not been for the chainmail under his tunic. The knight stabbed his blade at the moblin, cutting into the beast's neck, though thanks to the light of the fairies, it didn't hit dead center and kill him like he'd wanted it to. Still, the moblin backed up, hand covering the wound on its neck. Callad tossed his shield off, hearing the thump of its landing. Gripping his blade two-handed, he crouched, and leaped into the air. His sword bisected the beast's head, and it fell over, quite dead. He peered around the next corner, expecting another moblin, and finding none. He continued down the path, and came to an intersection: there was a set of stairs following a break in the maze, and there was a ladder set into the hedge. "What the hell?" He climbed the hedge, and was surprised to note the solidity of the plant. There was a hole in the hedge, pretty wide, that he noted was sealed up on all sides. From this chamber, there was a hole in the ground, and as he watched, he saw a fairy emerge. He jumped down, peering curiously at the hole.
Just how long had he been walking at this point? He had gone past twists and turns all without incident. Truth be told he was getting rather bored. I'm going to have to tell Yousef to stop sending me out on my own. Doing these things alone is rather boring after all. It'd be nice to have someone to chat with on these missions. So lost in his own thoughts Samanosuke had forgot to check around the corner before actually turning it. The result was coming face to face with two large club wielding moblins, neither of which seemed happy to see him. While he didn't particularly feel like fighting the two moblins alone in such a narrow space, it seemed he had no choice if he wanted to advance into the temple behind them. Gripping the hilt of his swords tightly the young Hylian would start his mad dash towards the two moblins. The moblin on the left would slam his club into the ground creating a shockwave causing Samanosuke to fall to the ground hard. As he stood up he would be flung backwards hard as something came crashing into him. While he hadn't see the moblin on the right swing its weapon and send out an invisible projectile. While he was hurting and slow to get to his feet he would realize that neither of the two moblins were coming towards him. It was clear that they had orders to not let anyone get past them, and even had a combo attack to achieve their goal. The first one would use shockwave to stop any who approaches and the second one knocks the unsteady enemy backwards with the pulse technique. It was a difficult combo to beat to be sure, but it wasn't impossible. Would be much easier if he had a bow and some arrows, but unfortunately he didn't. Maybe he'd have Ban, Jared, or Elizabeth give him some training with a bow or crossbow when he got done here. Slowly he would move close to the left side of the path before sprinting forward once more. As he ran forward the moblin on the left would close its eyes as the moblin on the right would lift its weapon high up into the air before slamming it down hard. While he hadn't planned for each of the moblins to know both of the techniques, it wasn't much of a surprise. As the moblins weapon came into contact with the ground Samanosuke would dive forward and to his right landing in a roll. Not only would he manage to avoid the shockwave since he hadn't been on the ground, the other moblin would waste his pulse technique not knowing he had already dived out of the way of it. Wasting no time getting to his feet from his roll and start his counter attack. He was mostly in the middle of the two moblins at this point just facing towards the right and so that was going to be his first target. As the moblin started to lift its club up once more the hylian would jump up onto the head of the club, arms crossed in front of his chest. With two quick slashes Samanosuke would land two deep cuts about an inch apart on the moblins chest, killing it with ease. With its partner dead the second moblin would rush towards Samanosuke shoulder first in an attempt to slam him into the hedge before finishing him off while he was stunned. Unfortunately for the moblin Samanosuke had already learned just how solid the hedge was from their first combo attack on him. The result was the hylian jumping from the head of the club, onto the hedge and then wall kicking off of the hedge and over the second moblin landing safely behind it. Samanosuke would quickly turn to face his attacker using his left arm to slice at the back of the moblins knees and bringing it down. With the moblin down on its hands and knees Samanosuke would bring his blade down across the back of its neck to finish off the injured creature. With both of the moblins down, Samanosuke would take a few steps past the two creatures and sit down just outside of the temple. He wanted to catch his breath a little, and see if the pain in his chest from the pulse he had taken would ease up before he continued forward.
"Well don't just stare at it!" a voice behind him said. He felt a pinprick kick with all the force of a full-size one and knew a fairy had kicked him into the hole. Head first, down he went, though 'down' was only the operative word until he was in it. He fell flat on his ass, as though tumbling from another direction or in another manner entirely. Thoroughly bemused and feeling a bit of vertigo, he shook his head to clear it, to notice he was in an aetherial fountain, a statue in its midst. He stood in shock as fairies danced through the air around him, seemingly unbothered by his presence. "Whaddya think? Nice little sanctuary, eh?" the same voice sounded as the fairy came through the portal. He was maybe six inches tall, and glowed faintly green. "Um. Yes. Beautiful, really. Never been to one of these before," the knight admitted, still in a state of bewilderment. What the Ganon was going on here? "I think so, too," the fairy said, "Though the statue there could use a bit of improvement." It indicated the statue in the midst of the fountain. The craftsmanship was excellent, depicting the three Golden Goddesses (shaped of actual gold) encircling the holy triangular relic referred to in legends as the Triforce (which also apperaed to be solid gold). "Built it myself, but I came up just two pieces short. Note the eyes of the Goddesses." In the eyes of the idols, there were set rupees. Farore's housed two green rupees, and her statue's attire was glittering with them. Nayru's statue was adorned with blue rupees, dotted slightly more sparsely than Farore's, but her left eye had no rupee in it. Din was speckled with a very few red rupees, but like Nayru's statue, hers was missing an eye. "I don't suppose you could help me, traveler?" Callad frowned, knowing he was running short of the cash, but he decided to help the fairy. Besides, this 'temple' that Samano spoke of should have at least some rupees in it. "Sure. I happen to have one of each, actually." He pulled them from his light coin purse. "There we go. Will they serve?" The fairy held each rupee separately. He examined them for flaws, but found none. "Verily," he said after a minute. He zoomed quickly to the statues, mounting each one, completing the sculpture. The fairy zoomed back to him, and said, "Here. This is a token of my thanks. A special power that normally resides in we fairies." He held out his hand, touching the knight's forehead. It was a healing spell, of a sort. The knowledge appeared in his mind almost as soon as he was touched. He could heal another person, any person, anyone he could touch, of any wound... but the wound he healed would afflict him instead. "Thank you," Callad said, respectfully, though he was dubious inside. He was a loner; what good would a healing spell that he couldn't use on himself be? "Careful going back. It's a bit confusing at first." "And thanks for the warning. I'll be off," the knight said. He walked confidently into the blackness behind him. He was forced by the shrinking height of the invisible ceiling to crawl, and once he got out of the hole, he suddenly found gravity shifting again, and he had to pull himself out, feeling his feet dangling as off a cliff. "Goddesses, that's a weird hole in the ground." He climbed the ladder to the top of the hedge, jumped down, and found the next two moblins dead, giant clubs in their hands. He passed through the narrow canyon at the end that contained the bodies, and found himself face-to-face with the ruins of what appeared to be a giant mansion. "Ah, so you're here before I am," he said when he noticed Samanosuke resting on a stump.
As Callad spoke Samanosuke would turn his head to look at him before he spoke. "Appears that way." While the young Hylian had found a tough time in fighting those two club wielding Moblins, it looked as if Callad had also run into some trouble as his shield was now missing. "Looks like we both ran into a bit of trouble on the way here. Will you be alright without that shield of yours?" He wasn't sure how well his new companion would be able to adapt to fighting without his shield if that was how he had always fought. It was the reason that he had trained to both dual wield his katana, as well as fight with just one in a two-handed grip as they were meant to be used. Of course he knew nothing about this knight, perhaps his could use that swords even better without a shield? Only time would tell it seemed.
"Ah, don't worry about that. I've a shield ring in case I need a shield," the knight replied. He inspected the youth, noting that he winced with every breath. "Here, let me help with that," Callad said, approaching Samanosuke. Summoning the knowledge, he took the wound from the man, wincing at the pain. He didn't know why he did it, but the action seemed... natural, sparing others from pain. It was different from his typical behavior, but then, he wasn't typically anyone's comrade. "Autch. Hooo... There. Good as new. You should be fine now," he said, walking away from the stump. He saw the remains of a fence, and a broken staircase up. He should just be able to climb it, despite the pulsating pain in his chest. "So this is the entryway to this 'temple' you mentioned, eh? Fairly foreboding, in my opinion."
Abigail Cataphractoi (1/5/3)- Outfitter levels 2 & 3, 6 rupees post-quest from outfitter levels. ---- Abigail snapped her Book of Mudora shut and walked out onto the ledge at the entrance to the temple. She could hear someone approaching, and the text she was trying to translate was far to weather-worn too translate anyway. Down below, she noticed a very tall man- easily a foot taller than she herself, in fact. "Ah, most fortuitous," she called down to him with a smile. The angle was awkward, and probably more so for him, but she opted not to drop down, even with Feather Fall. Getting down would be easy; getting back up would have been a chore. "I was dispatched to catalog the abandoned temples for Ganon's influence and ensure he had not occupied them as he has in times past, but necessity dictated I leave immediately, and no warriors were available to accompany me at that moment. I can, of course, fend for myself, but even I may only call upon my magic so often. If you would not mind, I could use a companion to aid me in the completion of my duties. My discretionary funds are not so large as to pay for help, I fear, although I would have no objection to your claiming anything of value we should find inside." ---- A knight? What knight? There are no knights here, and it is silly to insist there ever was. Abigail and Samanosuke are and always have been the only ones present. Obviously.
As Abigail called out to him Samanosuke's left eye would shoot up of its own accord and zoom in on her allowing for the young Hylian to get a better view of her even from such a bad angle. "Then it seems we were both sent here for a similar reason." While Yousef hadn't mentioned Ganon in his briefing for this mission, he had mentioned that something was drawing things towards the temple. Maybe it was Ganon's influence and they were here for the exact same reason. "With that said I would gladly accompany you, and you need not worry about paying me as that has been taken care of already." With a few quick blinks Samanosukes hawk eye would zoom out and quickly glance about the immediate area for anyway quick way up to his new companion for this mission. A few pillars stood out to the Hylian. They were just close enough to each other for him to use, though the jump to the ledge looked to be just at the edge of what he could safely make. Steadying his breath Samanosuke would run towards pillars as fast as he could before jumping up onto one of the pillars. The moment he made contact with the pillar he would push off and jump to the pillar that was behind him. This process would be repeated a couple of time before Samanosuke finally jumped from the pillar and towards the ledge. He would land crouched a few inches from the edge of the ledge. Slowly he would stand up and look down at his new traveling companion. His right eye was a brilliant, piercing red much like hers the only evidence that the Shinomori family was descendant of a Sheikah. His left eye on the other hand was a intricately carved, golden orb that looked more like something that belonged in some rich family's private collection. While he kept his right eye focused on her face his left eye was darting around rather frantically inspecting her clothing, specifically the various runes that covered them. "My name is Samanosuke Shinomori, pleased to meet ya."
Someone has a flair for the dramatic, Abigail mused as Samanosuke made his way up. The wall kicks were perhaps understandable; it was certainly a hard and slow process climbing up the normal way. The slow manner in which he stood up...that was a bit over the top. "Abigail Cataphractoi," she stated without elaboration. Abigail nodded her head toward the entry hall and started in, counting on Samanosuke to follow. The hallway must have been magnificent at one time, but now it was a run-down ruin, its murals and text too worn to comprehend. She gave it little thought this time, as there was nothing significant left here. Instead, she lead the way into the first room. In a word, the chamber was massive. It appeared almost like the foyer of a manor house or a lord's keep in design; every surface was either expensive stone or glossy, preserved wood, and the ceiling was high and arching in a manner reminiscent of a religious structure. Intricate carvings adorned the upper walls and ceiling panels, depicting events long past. Three more doors lead out of the room; two identical doors to the left and right on the ground level, and an additional one directly across the chamber, perched at the top of a balcony reachable by a pair of staircases to either side. "Frankly, I rather doubt this structure is or ever was a temple," Abigail stated, breaking the silence. "I suspect it was the dwelling of a long forgotten noble, or a stronghold in some ancient war which was reclaimed by the forest. In all likelihood, the rest of the building will not be so well preserved. It would not surprise me if we were to encounter collapsed or collapsing rooms further in. That, however, is a matter to consider in the future. Right now we need only decide which path to attempt first."
