Inauspicious Conditions

"Hm? No, I don't suppose I do." He thought about that sentence for a while. It was likely he was related to a good many people who still remained in the south, but Julius himself had no brothers or sisters. He was the last of his line. And that was how it was going to remain, it seemed.

"Well, I suppose we've spent enough time mucking about now. If you don't feel well enough to continue, Spaghet, I'll likely be right back." Julius got up, put his helm back on, sheathed his blade, and continued across the thin catwalk to the door opposite the one they'd entered through. As he turned the door aside, he peered into the next room, which seemed, at the very least, to be better lit than many of the rooms they'd entered.

That was because the room itself was... outside? To some extent, at least. There was a blue sky overhead, and sand at his feet... There was even a tree! He took a look around himself before looking back. There was no exit.

He began to dig through his Adventure Pouch, searching for his Lens of Truth. He found it easily enough, and saw what the room really was. It was... to put it lightly, it was a graveyard. Mummies surrounded him, ensnared in sarcophagi, hung by the ceiling, crammed into every nook and cranny. It would have been a tad unnerving, had he not visited what was essentially a torture chamber not too long ago. Then, something came up from... the floor? The sand? Julius had no real idea any more. Whatever it was, it knocked the lens clean out of his hands-- and he saw whatever had come from below.

It was like a replica of himself. It stood at the same height. It was the same width. It even looked to be wearing the same general armor -- complete with a rectangular shield about the size of his torso. His blade was nearly the same as well, though it looked to be made of steel rather than Mirror Silver.

Extending his blade carefully, Julius pushed at the figure. He expected some kind of response -- anything, but as his blade grew closer, the only thing the figure did was stand there, still, unnerving, unmoving. When his blade finally made contact with the helmet of the figure, only then did it begin to move. First, it appeared as a jitter; a weird twitch, coming from the armor itself. Then, it grew to swinging its blade. Julius was in for yet another fight, it seemed.

Julius looked as Spaghet entered the room -- a mistake, as his double's balde managed to hit him with relative ease. It was strange -- like he wasn't wearing armor, almost. Maybe it was some kind of trick. Maybe it was something else; he didn't know, and disregarded the lawyer as he yelled at the two of them. He was too focused, too engaged, to bare a response, as he finally gave a lick to his double.

His double was less his double and more like... a physical copy, like how you can have a hand, and so does another person -- but the people attached to either hand is different from the other. It was like that -- his double was like him, physically, but very much lacked his experience and expertise. Julius caught his double with a blow to the face from the pommel of his blade, and then another strong blow to the double's chest with his shield. It was off-balance, off-kilter, and could not stand for long. Julius cast his blade deep, hard, and quickly into his double, piercing the imitation armor remarkably easily. Was it even real? Maybe it was an illusion. Maybe it was all an illusion. It was so hard to decide -- he knew what was really in this room, but his senses needed him to think otherwise. It was quite confusing -- but as his double faded into nothingness, he found himself planted into a very real room, with many very real mummies inside as well. He turned to Spaghet after sheathing his blade.

"I apologize for leaving so abruptly, but the room was mostly empty. Even if it necessarily wasn't, I don't believe you were in any danger, at least. You're more capable than you realize." He had to give the Moblin some points for that rather impressive takedown earlier. With some training, maybe he would even be adequate one day. He knew spaghet would never agree to the prospect, however.

"Normally I'd be disgusted by such an action, but considering my recent journeys, I don't think I can hold that opinion any more," Julius said as he moved to one of the many coffins in the room. "What book is it?" Julius asked to the Moblin, searching through the remnants of a corpse. All of the corpses were real... he had looked upon them with his Lens, of course; but something else in the room gave a frighteningly sinister atmosphere to the room. "Uh... Spaghet, I'm not sure if we should keep doing this," the Guardsman spoke, looking around the room.

Julius couldn't put his finger on it, but something felt... off. He looked around the room. The corpses were... shaking? No, they were -- they were getting up. Standing up. Alarmed, Julius threw the coffin he was still holding at one of the newly awakened creatures, the wooden box crashing into its skeletal structure, destroying -- pulverizing -- the majority of it. Yet still they came. Julius drew his blade, immediately unleashing a vicious Spin Attack; next, he kicked in the ribs of a smaller skeleton, halfway between being the size of a child and a small adult, before the remnants caught fire. "Spaghet! Hurry up! I have no idea how many there are!" It was entirely possible that the entire room was now coming alive, all to punish them for disturbing their slumber. They had made a bad decision this day, it seemed.

Julius brought his blade down into the skull of another Stalfos. It collapsed into a pile of bones, but only time would tell if it would remain that way...

Another Spin Attack tore into the corpses surrounding him. He looked on to see the book fly through the air, though Spaghet was quickly overwhelmed by more of the various shambling forms that populated the room. He looked over at the book, and then back at Spaghet He may be somewhat capable, but not capable enough to handle this... hoard. He began to cleave through the creatures, one, by one, by one. Progress was slow, and unrelenting; he could only do so much so fast. Still, as he cleaved through the body of each of the mindless beings, more and more only seemed to take their place... They needed to leave, and fast.

Julius was finally close enough to grab Spaghet -- but not before piercing deep into the creature's stomach with his sword, causing it to stumble back, away from the pair. He felt a creature grab onto his shoulder from behind -- a strong kick backwards ignited the creature, and sent it flying into the rest of the masses. Soon, the aged bandages of many of the other undead were lit aflame -- along with their heavily preserved bodies. The room was filling with toxic fumes -- they definitely needed to escape, now. "Spaghet!" Julius shouted, preparing and unleashing another Spin Attack within a second. "How important is that book?" He asked, nearly bisecting a flaming corpse. He pushed the Moblin into the crowd of corpses. There were so many now that he wasn't sure Spaghet could get to the book unfettered or not. "I'll cover you! Get that book!" He cut into more corpses, trying his best to move along with the corpses. A snap of fingers, and a Keese appeared. In another five seconds, so would Lexi. He kept moving alongside the Moblin -- anything would help at this point. They would simply have to survive until something happened.

"Damn it," Julius muttered under his breath as the helix-shaped blade tore into the crowd of undead once more. It was mostly Stalfos and Gibdos, now that he thought about it, but that didn't make them any easier to deal with. They were unhappy that they'd been disturbed, and it was rather apparent that it was a bad idea in Julius' eyes.

Either way, they needed to escape, and fast, if they were to live. He heard Spaghet shout about having the book -- in a moment, he tore through another mass of undead, which were slowly filling the room. There was also the fumes coming from the burning bandages -- he wasn't sure how long they could stay in here and be safe. He looked around the rather expansive room now, and noticed a door some distance away. "Spaghet! Straight ahead!" Julius yelled, smashing his way through the hoards of the dead. His shield smashed into the rib cage of one, and in a moment, he rose over the crowd, smashing the skull of another and landing into a Spin Attack. He looked around himself -- they were almost in the clear, and Spaghet was close to him.

Hefting the Moblin by the scruff of his neck, Julius cradled the creature into the arm he held his shield with. Another Spin Attack. The door was right in front of them. Hurtling towards the door, Julius slammed into the solid stone and wood frame before tossing it open, with Spaghet and then himself following through. As the door slid shut again iron bars slid vertically and horizontally, locking the room behind them. Thankfully, this room was rather well-lit, and free of corpses...

"Sorry about that, Spaghet. I'm not sure how much longer we could have lasted, though."

Julius stood there as the Moblin gave his best effort at hugging what was essentially a wall of muscle encased in steel and other metals. It was somewhat humorous to see the comparatively miniscule attempting to wrap his arms around Julius -- Julius himself was even pretty sure he may have been wider than Spaghet was tall; well, perhaps not quite.

Julius chuckled to himself as he looked around the room, drawing out his Lens of Truth after the Moblin had released the hug. There didn't seem to be--

Suddenly, a wicked bout of laughter broke in the room as a haze settled in the air. Though not normally visible, Julius could see them quite well. Two green-skinned witches levitated in the air on flying broomsticks, both of them looking nearly alike. "You fools!" The two voices shouted in unison. One was dressed in blue, the other red. "Do you not know where yet you tread?! This is a forsaken place, an eerie place indeed! You've awoken those who must slumber, and now, you shall know their pain!"

Julius wasn't sure what they were talking about, but he guessed it had to do with what had happened in the room prior to this one. It was apparent -- to him, at least -- that it was some sort of burial ground. "Who are you two? More importantly, why are you floating around on... broomsticks?" Julius was utterly confounded by the two strange creatures in front of him. He had heard some myths of green-skinned Gerudos, but... No, he sincerely doubted they were truly humanoid.

They turned their sticks to look at each other. Their eyes bulged out of their heads; they looked like some cobbled-together patchwork people. "Sister! The one in black can see us!"

"Why yes, that is strange! What do you think we should do?"

"What do we usually do, dear twin? We kill them, both!" With a blinding flash of light, two beings merged together into... a more normal looking being, at the very least. It was a true humanoid figure, with proportions on par with that of a normal Gerudo; however, the green skin remained.

"You look like a toad." Julius commented, drawing his sword and pocketing his Lens of Truth.

"Silence!" The figure responded, sending out a wave of heat from its location. "You will know my fury!"

A blast of fire roared out from the witch, an enormous orb of flame launching towards Julius at near break-neck speeds, closing the distance in nearly an instant.

Thankfully, Julius; or his sword, as it really may be, were prepared for this. The blade, gleaming in all its glory, sliced deep into the fireball, reaching its core; it turned tail without a second thought, launching towards where the monstrosity that lurked inside the dungeon walls lurked -- or once had. "Spaghet! Be on your guard; it's difficult to tell where they are." He reached into his pouch -- not for Spaghet's violin, still tucked away safely, but for his Lens of Truth. Using that, Spaghet could stay safe, and tell him where the witch was... not that it was hard to tell, given the effect her(?) presence had on the temperature of the room.

Julius dropped into a form he was already more than intimately acquainted with -- as one of his commanding officers had said when he was still but a recruit, "Memorize this technique. Know it. Be it. By the end of your career, you'll have lain with it." Of course, it was his go-to for any fight -- and as he felt the snap of cold immediately behind him, he loosed the energy he'd stored in a Spin Attack. As far as the technique itself went, Julius may very well have been a master of it -- the slicing wave of energy cascaded into the environs; he was sure he could feel the air itself being torn in half. The edge on his blade may not have been Splinter Crystal, but as far as other materials went, it was damn sure sharp enough.

Julius turned, the odd magnifying glass still in hand. Of course -- she was standing right in front of Spaghet. Thinking quickly, he summoned a Keese -- but not before already running towards her, closing the distance as quickly as he could.

"Spaghet!" Julius yelled, leaping into the air, and coming down hard on the creature whom had just thrown him against the wall. He probably wouldn't be of any more help in this fight, or at all, really. Hopefully this would be the last peril of this dungeon -- but you never knew.

As Julius landed on his feet from his Helm Splitter, he saw that the woman was still standing. For an attack that could destroy steel, it seemed peculiar that she seemed to take so little damage -- but the witch was already cackling again.

"Fool! Do you really think such things would work on ME?! How ignorant!" A ball of frost launched from wherever she'd teleported to, flying towards Julius quickly. Not nearly as quickly as her previous spell -- but still quick enough that he'd only just barely managed to reflect it. It flew back into the witch -- impacting her violently, judging by her reaction. He looked at the witch -- she'd definitely taken some damage, but he couldn't tell where.

Julius looked towards the Moblin, who was laying against the wall he'd just been thrown at. Julius' Keese was still flying around, somewhat aimlessly -- idly, he banished it, back to wherever it'd come from. It seemed all he could do now was anticipate her attacks, as they seemed to be one of the few things that could hurt her. He backed up, slowly, to where Spaghet was lying, knocked into a mess. "Spaghet, can you move? I want you to reach into my Adventure Pouch and grab your violin. I think that if you do whatever you did in that dream, we might be able to distract her long enough for me to close in and deal some damage." It was impossible for Julius to tell how much punishment she could take, but it seemed like an enormous amount to him. He only hoped that they would both last through the fight.

The witch gave a twirl, as she prepared some other spell.

Julius was focused intently on defeating the witch at this point -- be he was still somewhat aware that Spaghet was not truly dead. He was barely there, yes, but he knew he was still alive.

After all, what kind of wimp would Spaghet had to have been in order to die from something which... didn't really seem all that major? Still, he supposed there could have been more complications than he realized, as he slashed back a burst of magical ice.

"Is that all you've got?" He screamed pointedly at the mage. It was clear who presented the threat here -- after having bounced three of her spells right back at her, Julius knew she would stop trying to attack Spaghet, soon or . . . eventually, at least. All they had to do was last until she presented another opening to the two of them. Or him, whatever.

Spaghet was not a factor in this fight, that much was sure. It took some of the burden off of his shoulders. It meant he could focus entirely on fighting the witch, without having to babysit a Moblin who was bad at being a Moblin.

The with teleported rather close -- which didn't surprise him, in all honestly. Perhaps she thought to make the range between the two of them so short that he couldn't possibly deflect a point-blank spell; however, when Julius quickly charged and unleashed a Spin Attack, she knew the mistake she had made. As she launched that fireball, Julius was already tearing into her with his blade. The energy that reflected back onto her, however, was what made the final stroke.

And, as quickly as she'd come, the witch was gone. Dead. All that they had to do now was... well, get out. He looked over to Spaghet's body. "You can get up, you know." He knew Spaghet wasn't dead. "Well, regardless of whether you can hear me or not, I'll start finding a way out."

It would take him a while, but eventually he'd clear some kind of path to the outside. The bricks weren't sealed together like he thought they'd be, nor was the wall particularly thick. Eventually, the desert sun shined upon both of them again. "Well then. If you'd like, Spaghet, I will accompany you back to Castle-Town." The sun was setting. Just how long had they been in there?

(This is my last post probably. Sorry for the shit thread. I don't think I mentioned an ability or anything anywhere that Julius doesn't already have, so . . . He's spending his entire reward from this CD (40r) on Profession Lv. 8, and then an extra 45r from his savings for Lv. 9 . . . which are immediately added right back to his total rupee count.

So, in short, Julius gains:

• Profession Lv. 9
  
• 45r

and he lives to see another day.)

These two are a weird but good pair. I find this agreeable. Take yo' roop