Forest Temple [OOT] (BP and Tsub)

Autumn grit her teeth, both as a result from the effort she had to put into moving the block and from Stjarnstill's remark. "I don't keep time, to be honest," she grunted as with a final push, the block fell down a small step and slid against the wall. It was impossible to move it now, but she was fairly sure this was where it was supposed to go.

Climbing onto the block, a little clumsily because of how big it was, she used it as a stepping stone to the next floor, where she was greeted with another, similar block. Rubbing her shoulders, she wondered for a second whose doing this was- that of her Forest Spirits, or...

"Let us press on. I don't sense any Poes in here."

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From under the murky water, an Octoroc looked at Keiliegh. It had been napping in the watery sun that broke through the surface of the water, but had rudely been woken by a shrivelling Deku Baba head that had hit it. The little girl would pay for that. All she had to do was get a little closer.

Meanwhile, a bit further to her left, a number of Skullwalltulas skittered around on an ivy-covered wall. Harmlessly, passively, but poisonous and clearly willing to attack anyone they saw coming up the ivy in hopes of reaching the door that was hidden in a niche halfway up the wall.

Keiliegh looked and saw the spiders climbing up the vine covered wall. "Silly spiders. I can hit you from here!" She said, cackling devilishly as she picked off all the spiders with her slingshot. She then felt a sharp impact in her rear. "Ow! What is it with you shooty projectile guys?!" 

She spun around, shooting a chill seed at the Octorok in the water, but it vanished underneath the surface. The kokiri aimed at where it would come up, firing once she saw movement. It was hit and stunned, and Keiliegh dove towards the thing, jumping from the ledge. "Banzai!" She shouted, latching onto the thing and stabbing it many times with her katars. "Stabby stabby, calamari time!"

Once the Octorok fell motionless, Keiliegh swam back to shore, pulling out her brush and combing her hair before climbing up the vines towards the door and going through. "No frizzy hair this time!"

"...You're kind of insane, you know that?" Leronah said, heckling her companion.
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Meanwhile, Stjarnstill was simply pushing the block, though he put even less effort in than he had the last one. This was if anything just a blatant attempt to annoy her though. Also, due to his great magic abilities, he could mostly sense the exact location of the poes. Why would he tell her though? Being alongside Autumn made him think briefly, actually bringing a little bit of silence from him. "Hey Autumn? Winning's been getting boring. What should I do?"

If I lash out now, I can have him, Autumn thought. Stjarnstill was an everlasting thorn in her side. She certainly didn't LET him win. "Grow up," she sneered, although it wasn't entirely distinguishable whether she was sneering because of Stjarnstill or because of the effort it took her to push the block forward. "You could try listening to the Forest Spirits and serving them instead of trying to destroy what they created. Or you could leave the Woods. I could live with that."

Finally, this block too locked into position and Autumn pulled herself up on it. Crouching, both trying to catch her breath and readying an arrow, she looked ahead of herself. She knew she would be facing two Blue Bubbles right now, and they'd respond well to being shot... "Make yourself useful, kid," she said, lowering her bow. "You haven't done much of anything in our favor yet."

Stjarnstill laughed at Autumn's comment, seeing the two blue bubbles. "Well, maybe I'm just along for the sightseeing Autumn, ever consider that? Lots of sights to see here, after all." 

Regardless, the boy blew flames horizontally until the blue fire was taken away. Then Stjarnstill merely dashed forward, grabbing the first skull by the eye sockets and turning, smashing it with great force into the second one. 

Both of the creatures were destroyed, and Stjarnstill then walked into the next room. "Woah. Looks like something interesting. Apparently your forest spirits are fans of abstract art."

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Keiliegh walked through the door, leading her to a room with a switch on one side, and a hanging skulltula in the middle. It lowered itself and clicked its mandibles intimidatingly. "Here... Here child, come closer so I can tear you limb from limb..."

Keiliegh glared at it. "Don't speak to me in that tone of voice." She then walked around the skulltula, stepping on the switch and heading back towards the entrance of the room. 

"Wait! I-I have candy! Or... Cute boys!"

"I'm not listening, daddy long legs." Keiliegh declared as she walked back out to the previous area, seeing that the well had drained. She peered down it for a second before hopping into the well and coming to a room with a portrait on the wall, and several blocks suspended in the air. "Huh. Spooky."

As Autumn stepped into the next hallway, even she was momentarily surprised. Had a more whimsical Spirit been playing with the corridors? It was twisted ninety degrees, angled into a spiral so that when they entered the room at the end of it, they would stand on the right wall.

Autumn wordlessly walked through it, hardly even feeling the gravity shift as she walked on the angled carpet. By the time she made it halfway through, though, she heard something closing in on her. This wasn't something that was supposed to be in the Temple...

"Get away!" She gave Stjarnstill a shove, sending him to the ground, and leapt away from him once he'd hit the ground. Good thing she did, too, as what looked to be an enormous, black disembodied hand fell from the ceiling and made a grabbing gesture at the place where both Woods dwellers had walked just a second ago.

"Wallmasters," she hissed, "What are WALLMASTERS doing in this place?!"

---

The room Keiliegh was in, contained something more than just the blocks that had drawn her attention immediately. The portrait she noted, showed the portrait of a green-colored Poe, a Poe that was hiding in the portrait. In the middle of the room, there was an unlit torch.

Poe Sister Amy observed the Kokiri and her annoying, little, light-spawned spritual entity. If she had her way, that little Forest Fairy wouldn't shine for much longer.

Stjarnstill rolled and turned back, drawing his dagger. He breathed a concentrated flame on it for a bit, making it writhe in agony. "One, Two, Three, Four!" He jumped towards the massive disembodied hand, placing a foot on the palm and sawing at the thumb at the knuckle. "I declare a thumb war!" The boy laughed darkly at his own joke, severing the finger and tossing it across the room.

Now with no way to move effectively or balance itself, the Wallmaster became a spastic, helpless target. Taking one heavy breath, Stjarnstill spewed hellfire unto the beast until it's shrill shrieks ceased. "Wow! We don't usually have those in the woods! That was fun!" The bloodstained sorcerer giggled loudly and put his knife away. 

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"Keiliegh..." Leronah whispered. "What a narcissistic bitch that ghost is... Hiding in a portrait of herself... See that picture there? It's actually more or less just an illusion. But it's being protected by a magic field. Oh hey!" She shouted sarcastically. "Blocks! These certainly couldn't be a puzzle. Dumb ghost." 

Keiliegh pushed a switch, dropping the blocks, and in decent time, she arranged them into... Yet another picture of the Poe. "Wow. You're right Leronah, she's really full of herself." The girl then fired a chill seed at the portrait.

"Eee! Ow! You foolish girl! You'll pay for that!" The specter came put of the portrait, holding it's lantern menacingly. 

Keiliegh raised her arms up beside her, holding both Katars. "Come at me, Poe!"

Stjarnstill made short work of the Wallmaster, but Autumn was still in utter shock. Wallmasters! They had no place whatsoever in a sacred place like the Forest Temple! As she heard the swooshing of another one, she seized her bow and shot above her, impaling the palm with an arrow and causing the disembodied hand to go flying off in a different direction, landing on the ground hard.

It tried to get back up, but three additional arrows struck it, making it writhe, until it fell to the ground motionless. Autumn looked at it. "...they shouldn't be here. The situation is more dire than I thought." She then motioned towards the door, holding it open for Stjarnstill.

In the next room, stairs led downwards and an empty portrait hung from the wall they looked at as they descended. As the stairs turned a corner, they were met with another empty painting. As soon as she saw it, Autumn notched a fresh arrow and lodged it into the portrait at the bottom of the stairs.

The painting went up in flames, and Autumn heard cackling behind her. Spinning around, she was just in time to see the image of a blue Poe disappearing from the frame. Running back up, her shot once more proved faster than the fleeing poe.

The third arrow was easiest landed as the Poe had no place left to run to. Poe Sister Beth materialized in the lowest level of the room, near a door leading onward and an unlit torch, waiting for the Woods Dwellers to fight her.

Keiliegh shot a chill seed at the poe, making her screech. "Eee! You brat! I'll enjoy killing you!" She then came down, swinging her lantern at the kokiri. Keiliegh used her katar to block the lantern, retaliating with a quick slash with the other hand. It pierced flesh, as Keiliegh felt resistance, though nothing came out. Weird ghosts...

The poe then backed off, shaking it's lantern. Keiliegh ran after it, but was taken by surprise from the strange flames that emerged. She jumped over the first, rolling to avoid the second, and from a laying position shot her slingshot at the lantern, covering it in ice.

After the specter tried shaking it's lantern, only to produce nothing through the chill seed's ice. Keiliegh did an absurdly flexible forward roll, launching three crossover scissor chops, and finally plunged both blades into it. "Nighty night miss ghosty..." She whispered before ripping both blades out horizontally. 

This left the poe burning in mystical flames, dropping it's lantern and making the flame it stole fly out, returning it to it's torch. Leronah then emerged from Keiliegh's hair, yawning. "You creep me out sometimes, Keiliegh."

"Oh well! See? I told you I could kill one."

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Stjarnstill watched as Autumn revealed the poe, shooting the paintings in sequence. "Hmm... A bow looks mighty usefull, Autumn. How about you teach me how to use one?" He joked around with the girl, walking down towards the Poe.

"You! Are you the one who shot into my paintings?!" It asked angrily.

"Nah, that was my friend. I'm the one who's going to burn you into the void from whence you came." With that the boy breathed in powerfully, expelling flames in a wide billowing arc. A shriek could be heard from his foe, but when Stjarnstill stopped, he saw the online of the Poe going through the wall, leaving the flames the warlock had covered it in behind. "Oh joy. It enjoys playing peekaboo."

Beth seemed to disappear, but Autumn soon saw her torch re-appearing from the other wall in the room. It started swirling around and moved towards Stjarnstill, but Autumn was swifter. When Beth made herself visible in order to land a hit on the child, she was impaled by an arrow that pulled her with it, chinking on the wall and causing the Poe to disappear again, chuckling.

"Ee-hee-hee-hee! Pesky little Guardian..." Autumn no longer saw the Poe but she did sense it, pointing her bow up... behind her! No, it was- "You can't fight us! We're Forest Spirits too... we're your masters!" Autumn ignored the Poe's taunting. She served the benevolent Spirits, the ones that did not try to defile and destroy the Forest Temple. "Even if you defeat all four of us, you'll still meet your maker... ee-hee-hee-hee-hee!"

"Silent." Autumn shot a second arrow, finding the Poe on her direct left. "Can't you sense? One of your sisters has already fallen. We'll get the other two as well, and after that, your master." Beth dissipated, dropping her torch. "You're done. Next Poe Sister."

Keiliegh looked around briefly, putting her Katars away. "Hey Keiliegh, you're lucky I'm kind of sometimes nice, otherwise I wouldn't point out that chest there."

"Yay! Thank you!" Keiliegh then ran over and opened the chest. "Dadadadadada DAA DAA!" She held out her hand revealing a key as she looked around for a way only seeing a ladder. Shrugging, the girl climbed it.
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With a low chuckle, Stjarnstill clapped his hands. "Attagirl little miss guardian! Way to do your job the forest spirits told you to. Now let's get on with it. Three more, because I doubt that girl made it through h-" 

"Hey guys!" Keiliegh poked her head up from a trap door, smiling. "I killed one of the poes!" She then climbed up, going to Autumn. "You'd better have kept my Stjarny safe." The kokiri threw on her most intimidating look, though as she wasn't used to doing them, it looked sort of silly.

"Wh- How? By the spooky, creepy forest spirits, how the fuck is she still alive?!" Stjarnstill exclaimed, placing a hand over his mask's forehead.

Stjarnstill was mistaken... he wasn't sensing properly. The number of Poes still active in the temple was not three, it was- "Ah, very good, child." Autumn turned around when the Kokiri Child from before barged into the room, exclaiming that she had destroyed one of the poes. "As I said, that leaves two more." She ignored the girl's nickname for Stjarnstill, as well as the warlock's reaction to it.

The next Poe Sister... Autumn's hand rested on the doorknob of the door next to the torch. The third Poe Sister was just behind this door, she could sense her presence very clearly. "Pay attention, you two. We're going into a new fight immediately after I open this door." Mentally steeling herself, Autumn hung away her bow and took out her sword instead. Pulling open the door with her right hand, she then immediately brought her sword down on the invisible spectre holding the torch that flew through the door.

"AIIEEE!" Poe Sister Joelle was smacked by cold steel and lost her balance, veering aimlessly through the room and going straight through a wall. Her torch was still solid though, and wouldn't go through the wall with her, making her realize she'd flown too far. "Stupid Guardian with her stupid sword." She floated back, making herself visible and immediately regretting it as she ate an arrow.

Autumn held her pose for a second after releasing her shot, wondering why this was so easy. Surely the Poe would resist in a bit?

Stjarnstill didn't wait around to see what was with Joelle's lack of ability. For all he knew this was the runt of the herd. He dashed forward, spouting flames from his mouth at the specter. It dodged left, prompting the Warlock to draw his knife and take a stab as he passed by. 

Joelle let out a scream, but was overall still okay to fight. Those daggers didn't do as much as she thought... 

Just as she was about to sweep her lantern to spout flames at the boy, she realized it's futility. Ice covered her lantern? But when? "Sneak attack!" 

Keiliegh jumped from behind, plunging both katars into her. From the damage she'd already taken, Joelle joined her sisters and burned to nothingness. This left a very pleased kokiri and a maskpalming Stjarnstill. 

"Yay! I did it again! Two points for little miss awesome!"

Joelle momentarily escaped Autumn's attention, only to be disposed of by Stjarnstill and the Kokiri. It was very gratifying to see the hand of the mage hit the portion of the mask that covered his forehead in what had to be sheer frustration, but Autumn kept her dignity and left it at that. This settled the third Poe Sister... "...let us return to the central room," Autumn said. "I believe that would be the best place to begin our search for the final Poe... if I recall, Meg is the more dangerous of the four."

She would be, although even Autumn couldn't anticipate the nature of Meg's power. Backtracking through the temple took plenty of time in which Stjarnstill was very quiet, mostly due to the Kokiri being extremely loud and, to him, probably frustrating. Autumn figured he was trying to keep himself from burning her alive. Once they did reach their destination, Autumn immediately drew her bow, notched an arrow and walked toward the middle of the room.

There, the oldest of the four Poe Sisters waited. As Autumn walked closer, aiming her bow, however, her vision became blurry. Well, hitting the monster wouldn't be a problem as long as she aimed for the middle, right? ...and then, it turned out Meg was splitting off into four. W-which one was the real one? "Fairy!" Autumn shouted, "I need to know which one is the real Meg!"

Stjarnstill considered the many ways he could get rid of Keiliegh, making it look like an accident. Unfortunately, most were fire related, so Autumn'd clue in. Keiliegh on the other hand, was walking, thinking up ways she could impress the warlock.  

They came into the room, which Keiliegh rushed into, Katars drawn. Leronah unsurprisingly stuck with Autumn. "Okay, but seriously. Adopt me. I know you can't do that, but find a way."

Keiliegh swiped at a false one, only for the remaining three to spin, firing flames from their lanterns at the kokiri. She found herself grazed by the hit, part of her briefly igniting. 

Stjarnstill hoped by not fighting, he'd be rid of his admirer quickly. A plan which seemed to be working. He perched on one of the railings, watching patiently. Leronah, on the other hand, marked one of the Poes. "This one! The other two had delayed spins by a split second!"

The Fairy might not have known what happened when Autumn's arrow buried itself in the real Meg, who let out a screech more in surprise than in pain, dissipated her copies and retreated to invisibility for a few seconds before four copies of her re-appeared, circling Autumn. Without the fairy's aid, the Guardian turned in such a way she had a clear view on two of them.

If she shot two at once, that was a fifty percent chance of her hitting the real one, right? Letting loose her arrows, she saw all four copies disappearing. Clearly she'd done something right. Next was Stjarnstill, apparently... as Meg appeared all around him this time. He'd been eerily passive in this battle, but now he'd have to act... Autumn certainly wasn't going to help him. She didn't think Meg could kill him, but if she did, good riddance.

Stjarnstill let out an irritated sigh when Meg came up to him, starting to try to surround him. She was injured too, this would barely be a challenge. He breathed in, and on the exhale, flames spurted as he spun around in a circle. Meg caught fire, shrieking, but went invisible quickly, leaving Stjarnstill wondering where she was. 

Out of the blue, Stjarnstill barely managed to dive away from a small twinkle as it reached him, and after a small delay, let out a fiery explosion. Immediately, with the jingle of the lantern overhead, the warlock leapt up, narrowly dodging the lantern and placing his knife into her spectral throat. 

"N-no... Why, boy? I've... I've seen it... You don't represent THEM... Y-you're one of us... You side with us..." 

Stjarnstill chuckled. "To conform to a side is to be tainted by the mark of mediocrity... Another life unmade and put into the ground. I am my own side, and any other side will be destroyed as I pursue my vision... It all laid to waste in a view from the end of the world."

The evil spirit began to burn. "S-silly boy... Maybe... A t-taste of our power is what you need.... Here..." Meg then shifted her energy, directing it towards Stjarnstill, who suddenly had his mind flooded with more visions of flame, and the explosive spell Meg had used on him. 

"A sweet parting present, but not enough to save you." He then swept his hand sideways, a twinkle of light reaching out and detonating within what was left of Meg. This sent the flame within the lantern to it's original place, the elevator returning. 

Keiliegh was sitting down, and had finally gotten the flames off of her, though she was still hurt. Leronah was hovering over her, pretty much giving her motherly advice such as "Dodge the fire next time." and "Stop poking it, you moron!"

Stjarnstill could've dropped the speech, but Autumn wasn't going to complain, seeing as he finished off Meg neatly. With the flames restored, the elevator came back up, ready to serve. Autumn sensed no more hostile Spirits on this floor of the Temple, so she stepped onto the elevator, not waiting for the other two as it went down to the basement.

Within said basement she was immediately faced with a large, circular room, with stairs leading up to a platform surrounded by paintings of a ghostly mansion against a gloomy background. Autumn walked up to it, sensing the evil there, and notched an arrow. Yes. It was strong. The escaped hostile Forest Spirit was in this room... that meant it had not gotten very far yet.

She looked behind her when she heard a ruckus, signalling that Stjarnstill and the Kokiri had followed her down.

Stjarnstill sighed as Autumn went down the elevator alone initially. Soon after though, it came back up empty. Keiliegh had regained her bearings and stepped into the thing, Leronah flitting about at her side. Stjarnstill figured there to be no other way of getting down, so he joined her. “Aww, you wanna take the trip down with me? How sweet!” Keiliegh said, smirking a little.

“Gods… I see no other way down. That’s all. Don’t make me light your fairy on fire.” Stjarnstill said with an annoyed voice.

Leronah flitted right up to him. “Yeah? I’d like to see you tr-“ Stjarnstill casually blew a flame, engulfing Leronah, who let out a pained scream.

Keiliegh then drew her elbow back, slamming Stjarnstill against the wall by the throat. “Hey! Don’t you dare do that kind of thing to Leronah!” She yelled angrily, and was soon met with a swift knee to the ribs. She stepped back, staggered, but then bent down and scooped up an unconscious Leronah, putting her gently into her bag.

“Really? Don’t do what? I do as I please, girl, and none can tell me otherwise. Now get up. We’re here.” Stjarnstill walked from the elevator, joining Autumn. “Well… I certainly feel a strong presence here… You ready for a fun fight, Autumn?” Keiliegh too, walked from the elevator, a pained look on her face.

"...I strongly advise the two of you to turn back now. It's not safe to-" As she said that, the stairs were blocked off by a fence. It shouldn't be anything they couldn't jump over, but Autumn immediately sensed trouble approaching. As she turned back to look at the middle of the room, she saw why. Right there, right in front of her, stood an enormous horse. but what bothered was the ghastly figure riding it.

Someone else might have mistaken Phantom Ganon for the shadow of a great Warlock, a shadowy Apparition of sorts. They would have been mistaken. The second Autumn lay eyes on the monster, she realized what it was she was looking at. She'd never seen anything like it before, but she knew that Phantom Ganon was an entity compromised of many spiteful Forest Spirits. Half of them made up the horse, and the other half the rider. Autumn deduced that the rider contained the more powerful spirits, who had pretty much reduced the horse's components to a tool.

The horse leapt forward, into one of the paintings. Autumn shot an arrow after it, but to no avail. she'd been too slow, Phantom Ganon was already invincible inside its painting. It wasn't going to stay there and wait until they intruders left, though... now that it was free, it was going to try and destroy what stood before it before breaking out of the Temple itself.

And that was not something Autumn intended to let happen.

Evil Spirit from Beyond
Phantom Ganon​

Stjarnstill had a feeling Autumn would tell them to leave. "Yeah right, like you had us tag along all this way just to ditch us now. Besides, I wanna kill another spirit."

Keiliegh just warily looked around. She had never been without Leronah like this... It had always been by her own choice, not by force like Stjarnstill had done. She drew her slingshot and prepared for the fight. 

When phantom Ganon appeared, she fired a shot of her chill seed at it, but missed horribly. Did Leronah really add to her aim THAT much?

Stjarnstill watched the ghost go into a painting, then ride away, vanishing within it. "Simple. Let's get rid of a few passageways." He ran close to one of the paintings, breathing fire onto it. Once he was satisfied that it'd be ashes, he stopped.

He was shocked when not only was the painting still intact, but a dark glow around it brought the horseman and his steed charging at the warlock. He was about to dodge when he suddenly fell to the ground. When he tried to dive, it was his foot staying where it was that felled him. 

It was held down with ice. That bitch! He glanced back at Keiliegh, who was drawing another seed, but his attention was drawn elsewhere as a dark hoof landed hard on his shoulder. The force tore him from the icy trap, but he was badly hurt from it. That thing weighed a lot!

"That's from Leronah, you asshole! Fight fire with ice!" Keiliegh fired a shot at Phantom Ganon, but it pretty much disregarded the shot, riding into another painting.