Great Bay Temple [Quill!]

Amayla sunk her hands into the cold saltwater, wincing as her felt open cuts burn. "I can't believe I actually thought I could pull that off!" The girl thought. "Ohhh...it hurts..." She pulled her hands, which were still bloody, from the water and dried them on herself. Never again would she try cartwheeling down a hill spiked by sharp rocks. Why did she do that in the first place? Was she really THAT bored? "Too bad there aren't any travelers around. I would thieve the hell out of them! Hahaha...." Amayla chuckled as she lay back on the white sand. "Just kidding, I don't feel like stealing at the moment." Her dog, Autumn looked down at her. A stick was in her jaws.

"What do you want, mutt? You wanna play or something? Maybe in a minute, your master needs to lie down." Autumn dropped the stick on Amayla's chest and sat patiently waiting. Amayla, head upturned to the sky, watched seagulls soar in the air. Before she knew it, she was in a deep trance. Slowly, slowly, she felt sleepier...and sleepier...and...~

[[If you don't mind, I'll be using both of my characters. I'll just get 25r for both until further notice.]]

The beach was still today. Marcus' shoes felt strange in the soft soil, and he looked down with regret at the way they sunk several inches into the ground. It would take a while to clean that muck off. The tide washed in and out, in and out, and Marcus was content to simply stare out at the bay's waters. The water was calm, and his breathing steadied as he looked out upon the waves.

"You know," a voice said to his right, "I heard that there's an island out there made of silver jell-O and winged birds and splashing sands and chocolate and sugar trees and wonderful amazingness and wouldn't that be awesome Marcus we could go and pig out on candy and slurp soda and bla bla bla bla bla..."

Marcus sighed, uprooted his feet, and kept walking. Just ignore him, Marcus. Loft'll shut up eventually. After a minute of walking, he came across a girl, sleeping on the beach. He shrugged and kept walking. He couldn't begrudge someone else their rest time; Farore knew how much he would give for some right now.

"Hello?" Loft said loudly. Marcus turned to see the boy walking towards the sleeping girl and her dog. He reached out a tanned index finger to poke her in the shoulder. "Yoo-hoo," he called, "anyone home?"

[fine by me. 25r is alright. And lol about the Jell-O part.]

"Yoo-hoo? Anyone home?" Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke. Amayla slowly started to lift her eyelids. She found herself face-to-face with a tan-skinned boy who was a Hylian just like herself. But she did not know who the boy was, and surprised, she brought her body up with great speed and ended up bumping into his forehead with hers. "Ouuuccch!" She shrieked, squirming away from the boy and his possible friend, who wasn't far from where they were. "What gives?"

Autumn protectively stood in front of Amayla and growled a little. "What moron like yourself just pokes someone sleeping on the beach?! Can't a girl just lie down for a bit?" Amayla staggered to her feet and put her hands on her hips. "Man that hurt! Anyway, what is it that you want?"

Amayla had been getting such good sleep until the boy awoke her, which made her even angrier.

[[The 25r is just for each of my two characters. You'll need to pick your own rewards for Amalya. And, thanks- you'll get sick of hearing about jell-O by the time this thread is done.]]

"I'm sorry," Marcus said, hurrying back and pulling Loft away. "He's a little, uhm,"

"Awesome?" Loft asked, grinning at Marcus. "Supremely and amazingly-" his gaze fell on the dog in front of the girl, and he dropped to his knees. His eyes watered and his face split into a broad smile. "Puppy!" He said happily. "Can I pet him, Marcus, please?"

Marcus gesticulated helplessly to the girl. "Sorry," he said again. "I'm Marcus, and this is Loft. We're just trying to get to that Temple over there." He pointed a ways down the beach and out into the water, where a small dark blot was barely visible on the horizon.

[[O.K., thanks. I didn't know we got treasures for dungeons.]]

"Good luck with that. Don't drown." She turned and began walking away, Autumn padding behind. "They actually believe they can get through that cyclone?" She chuckled to her dog. She actually hoped they would drown and their bodies would wash up on shore and she could take any things they had left. It would serve them right for waking her up! Amayla fantasized about seeing their soggy bodies flat on the sand, seeing their faces purple, clearly dead. She knew it was cold and morbid to be hoping that two innocent young men die only so she could rob them, but to her the only lives that truly mattered were hers and her dogs.

[["Every Classic Dungeon run is treated akin to a quest thread, and will be completed, graded, and rewarded as such. However, its base rupee reward is lower. Barring special exceptions (see below), every dungeon has a base reward of 30 rupees per player and 10 per character. These rupees can be "exchanged" for treasures or other rewards as usual."

All the information is here.]]

"Thanks," Marcus said, frowning at the girl as they walked away. "How rude," he said to Loft.

"Whatever," Loft said. "We have a Pictograph, and we know where the golden seahorse is."

"Right," Marcus said. "We grab it and take a picture of it to the fisherman, and we'll have a boat and a guide. Then we're off to the Great Bay Temple!"

"Finally," Loft sang, doing a little dance and sending his Bunny Hood's ears quivering. "About time, right?"

[[Thanks again. Sorry for the late post, also. Longer post to make up for it.]]

"Ugh, I need to get all this sand off me...I hate being sandy." Amayla grumbled when she was at the other side of the beach far from the two boys. "Time for a dip." She took off her boots and started walking into the water. When she heard her dog sloshing behind her, she turned around and said, "No, you stay here Autumn. I know you like water but I think it's best you stay behind." The dog reluctantly sat down, barking a couple of times as Amayla ventured deeper and deeper into the water.

Eventually Amayla could no longer stand and plunged herself into the bay. Holding her nose, she pushed herself further beneath the surface. When she worked up the courage to open her eyes underwater, she surveyed her surroundings. She saw mostly seaweed and a fish. "Maybe I should try and catch one of these fish and I cook it for our dinner." Although Amayla knew darn well she was not a fisherman of any kind, she had to try! Fish was one of their favorite foods and they rarely ever got to eat it.

Submerging even FURTHER into the depths of the bay and getting into position, she spied the perfect fish a few feet away, idled in a patch of grass. "That fish is SO MINE!" She shouted in her head. Little did she know she what was about to happen. Suddenly, Amayla felt something tighten around her ankle. She looked to see seaweed clotting around her entire foot. "No, n-not good! This is bad! Damn my love for fish!" She fruitlessly tried to pull herself her free, but not even the strongest pulls would loosen the vegetation. At that moment, she remembered something.

"Air!!! I forgot, I need air!" She clasped her hands around her neck and looked up. The surface was so far away. How could she be so stupid to go so deep?! Her lungs burned and bubbles sputtered from her nose. She drifted into unconsciousness just as she broke free. She could vaguely hear Autumn barking for her. The last thing she uttered was a distorted "crap."

[[Thanks for posting, Lux :) Marcus and Loft can't help Amalya, so I'll bring in an NPC. I've got an idea when to bring my characters back in, so don't worry about that.]]

Ottoman was having a great day. The sun was warm, the fish were biting, and the seagulls weren't being too troublesome. His boat rocked back and forth as he hummed tunelessly to himself; he may not have had his sister's gift for song, but he still enjoyed humming and singing. To himself, by himself, anyway. He scratched his scraggly chin and tapped his fingers against his wooden fishing pole. He had already caught three fish, and he had only been out for a couple hours. A wonderful day indeed.

Idly, he noticed a girl and her dog by the beach. Nothing strange, people visited the Bay all the time. She took a dip into the water, leaving her dog behind. He smiled internally; it was good that youngsters still loved the water. He returned his attention to his pole, humming.

Something disturbed his peace, and he looked round. The dog was barking frantically at the water. Weird. He couldn't see the girl anywhere. She must just be under the water. As the seconds ticked by, his sense of unease grew. Something wasn't right, his seaman's senses told him so. He glanced between his pole and the dog, then yanked it back into the boat and began to row.

Once he came nearer to the shore, he dove into the water. It took him a few seconds of frantic search, but- there! A girl caught fast in some seaweed, her body limp. She must've already passed out. Otto broke the surface, took a huge breath, and dove back in. He drew his knife and cut away at the plants, grabbing her armpits from behind and hauling her back to the surface. He kicked them both over to the beach and began CPR.

[[Sorry for taking forever! D:]]

Amayla's senses rushed back to her as soon as she felt someone banging on her chest and pressing their lips against hers. Every time that someone did so she felt air rush into her lungs. "Huh...wait!" Amayla's eyes snapped wide open and she scooted away from her savior, an old man. "Ewww, gross! Old man lips! Sick!" She shouted, wiping her lips with her sleeve. "You saved me, didn't you? Well, frankly, I wish you hadn't. I'd rather drown than have my first kiss stolen from an old guy! Sicko."

She staggered to her feet and whipped her hair to get the water out of it. She stormed away.

[[Lol! Love the post, and I'm glad to see that things've calmed down for you. Let the posting begin!]]

Loft jogged down the beach, happy and singing. In his hand was a bottle, and in the bottle was a golden seahorse. It was floating casually in water, happy to simply float. Loft didn't know why it was so happy- he wouldn't have been, if he had been the one trapped in a small bottle. Poor little thing!

Hey, it was the girl from earlier! Loft lifted his other hand and waved happily to her. "Hi!" She was really wet and stuff; he hoped she was alright. "What happened?"

"Oh nothing happened, just got my first kiss stolen by a pervy old fisherman!" She glowered back at the man and then at the tanned guy in front of her. "What the hell is that you're holding?" She stared at the bottle of water in his hand. A little golden creature was bouncing around in it, clearly in content.
Autumn nosed the boy in his leg, curious to know who he was. She suddenly grew very excited and rose up on her hind legs, holding him and licking him in his face.

"Down, Autumn." Amayla ordered sharply, frowning. "She likes you. Apparently."


[[Sorry to keep you waiting. Again.]]

"Seahorse!" Loft proclaimed happily, looking between the golden fish and the wet girl with a wide smile. The smile doubled in size when a beautiful creature bounded up to him and licked him. Loft loved animals, he really did. "Doggy!" He tossed the bottle to Marcus, who had just caught up to him. The Healer caught it clumsily and glared at him, but whatever he said was lost as Loft dropped down to his knees and hugged the friendly dog. "Oh," he said in his 'dog-talking' voice, "does you like Loft?" He scratched the dog behind the ears as he cooed. "Does you like Loft? Loft like you, yes he does!" He looked up to the girl. "Her name's Autumn, right?"

"Yep, that's my mongrel's name." She replied to the boy who was fawning over her pet. She stared again at the seahorse. Amayla wondered if she could steal it from them and sell it for a nice price on the black market. Nah, there was no way she could take the both of them if they resisted and attacked her. "Sooooo...you two mind letting me in on what you plan on doing with that water-horse-thing?" Amayla didn't care how nosy she was being-- what if they were searching for treasure of some sort? They would never go hungry again! They could actually buy the fish they loved so much and not drown and find themselves lip-locking with a weird man!

That was when the thief became very excited. She charged at the other boy, nearly shoving him over as she intertwined her fingers with his and begged, "Please, wherever you're going, take me with you! Look, I'm sorry for being unfriendly earlier, you see, I wasn't in my best mood and..." She continued talking at one hundred words a second.

Touching. Touching. The girl was touching him. Marcus felt every muscle in his body tense up and quiver as the unexpected physical contact completely threw him for a loop. He couldn't look at the girl, his eyes whirring to every other space that was not filled with girl. He felt his face heat up, and he squirmed as she volleyed word after word at him, unable to think of a good response other than, "ehhhh!"

"We're going to the Great Bay Temple!" Loft said happily, still playing with the canine down in the sand. Marcus' eyes fastened gratefully on his traveling companion. "Sure, you can come! It'll be fun, right Marcus?"

Marcus muttered something unintelligible as a reply and began to try and pull away from the girl. "Touching," he said, his voice stilted and his jaw clenched. "Touching."

Seeing that the boy was clearly uncomfortable with all her "touching" Amayla finally let go of him. "I'm in, you say? Haha, great!" She put her hands on her hips and gave the boys a wide, semi-suspicious smile. "Thanks a lot! You know what I think we can travel right through that cyclone now, don't you? Heheheheeee..." Oh boy, she could almost taste all the yummy grilled fish in her mouth, as well as feel cold riches and rupees in her hands. Amayla felt so excited she could pee. "Heh, so when are we gettin' this show on the road, best friends?"
For a second she wished she knew how to act better around people. Only if she wasn't so solitary and cold and deceitful.

"Best friend?" Loft tackled the girl in a bone-crushing hug. "Best friend? That's awesome! I have a new best friend! Marcus, look, see? We're best friends now! Me and-" he glanced at the girl. "What's your name again?"

Marcus pried him off the girl. "Sorry about him," he said, frowning at Loft. "Anyway, the seahorse is here to guide us through the cyclone." He pointed to a small rowboat that they had previously acquired. "We can leave now."

"The name's Amayla, and if I heard correctly you two are Marcus and Loft, right?" Amalya questioned, walking towards the rowboat. She was about to board it when she felt Autumn nose her in her thigh. The thief turned around and stroked Autumn's face. "Stay here, dog. I'll be back. If I'm not, then you can take care of yourself, right?" Autumn gave her master a wide grin before solemnly sitting down before her. "That's a good girl. Don't drown when the tide comes in, 'kay? You're my only family and I'm not 'bout to lose ya." Amayla looked back at the others, and then the rowboat.

"So who's gonna be the one rowin'?"

Marcus clambered into the boat, trying to keep it from rocking too badly. He could already feel his stomach start to churn, and he groaned. "Loft and I will," he said, "we have some experience with rowboats." Loft said goodbye to the dog and followed him in. Marcus hasn't missed Amalya's comment about her family, but he knew that neither of them were remotely interested in sharing.

"Come on," he said to the girl, "lets get going."

Amayla stepped into the boat and took her seat. "You two are going to row the boat? Good! That means all I have to do is sit." Amayla looked back at Autumn, who was still watching them make their departure. "I still hope she'll be okay, though. I know this isn't the first time I've left her alone, but still." The dog's tongue lolled out of her mouth and she barked at the trio, as if to say goodbye.
"See ya, Autumn..."

With a pop, the bottle containing the golden fish opened. Loft lowered it into the water, and the glowing seahorse swam out. It immediately zoomed towards the cyclone, and Marcus and Loft hastened to follow it. They were tossed this way and that, but the golden light of the seahorse guided them through the worst of the magical barrier. Soon enough, they had passed into the storm's eye, and the ship gently glided into the entrance room of the temple. Marcus climbed out, secured the boat, and held out a hand to help their female companion out.

"Here we are," he said. "Let's get going."