Reflected in the Shadows of the Water [Bottom of the Well][Squishy & CJ]

Dungeon: Bottom of the Well

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Players/Characters:

• Squishy - 40 Rupee Total
  • Locke Liesmith - Bouncing Arrow + 20 Rupees
• Chaos James - 40 Rupee Total
  • Nicholas Walker - 40 Rupees

It was almost midnight as Nicholas stood alone in the center of some out of the way village. He stood before an old well that had suddenly dried up, causing the locals much alarm. He had managed to learn that the locals all feared the well, for they thought that an ancient evil had been sealed within, trapped by the water. With the water all cleared out, they thought the evil would be released and overwhelm their town. Nicholas wasn't one to shy away from clearing out evil, especially when it was a direct threat to civilians, so he was already prepared to dive into this head first.

Alas, before he climbed down into the well to face whatever ancient evils had awoken, he had to wait still. He was told another had enlisted to clear out the dangerous abyss below them, so the warrior wasn't in any rush to abandon a comrade in arms. He had no intentions of being stabbed in the back by some faceless abomination, but having an ally granted him some peace of mind.

As Nicholas stood waiting, he began to wonder if his would-be ally had second thoughts. The moonlight didn't afford the warrior a chance to read, so he was left waiting in the empty square for quite a while, until he heard some shouting from one side of the square. He turned in time to see a Hylian man leap past him down into the well, a group of townsfolk standing cautiously near the edge of the square. Naturally, they were afraid of the evil nature of the well, but they had all come to escort Nicholas' ally to see them off. He couldn't quite make out what they were mumbling about, but he was glad for their support all the same. The warrior jumped up onto the edge of the well, than turned to face the crowd with his right arm lifted high.

"I swear to you, oh people of the village, that we shall banish the evil haunting this town and free you all from its menacing ways!" With that, he deftly turned on his heel and stepped into the well, plummeting down to the wet stone below. He landed in a light crouch, than stood once more. Brushing himself off, he glanced around and saw the narrow passageway forward. "Good of you to finally arrive," he greeted his partner, "the name is Nicholas. Pleasure to be working with you."

If Nicholas was taken back by his new ally's tart remarks, he didn't show it. Perhaps it was all a mistake that the man had ended up in the well. But on that note, why would this stranger be in a haunted well if not to purge the evil presence in it? No matter what it might be, the warrior was glad to have a partner, even if they were a reluctant volunteer.

"No matter," Nicholas shrugged, "though I would wager a guess that you are as stuck down here as I am, neighbor." The Hylian walked past the other man now, intent instead on delving deeper within the underground to start clearing out the monstrous depths. "Perhaps we might find treasure even, you never know in these kinds of places. You do not mind if I take lead, do you?" With that, Nicholas was ahead down the passageway until he came to a narrow archway which branched out into a larger room.

While dark and damp, odd glowing green sconces lined the circular room, though he could not make out the actual source of the light. A passage stretched out in the three cardinal directions away from the room, all leading into wide corridors wet with water despite the muddy tile. The warrior scanned the room for potential danger, than glanced down each passage as he thought. "Following the left-hand wall is always a safe bet to start," he mused aloud, "though I'm open to suggestions, neighbor."

If no answer would come, the left-most passage it would be.

The warrior was starting to question how useful the Hylian man was going to be in this endeavor, but he wasn't going to count him out just yet. He carried a weapon and he seems feisty enough, but it would just come down to if his bite was worse than his bark. Taking the leftward passage as he had planned, the duo slogged down along the damp hallway as Nicholas kept his left hand against the wall. The path seemed to curve as they followed it, unable to see the lit entrance room from where they walked in the dim waterway. A little while past the gentle curve was a split in the road, to which Nicholas continued left along the wall to keep his bearings. Dim light ahead told him that there was something ahead, so he cautiously moved forward until he reached the room.

The room was far larger than the previous, a long rectangular room with a domed ceiling. The room seemed segmented into platforms, as deeper water ran between the platforms and through small gated drainage. Connecting the segments were old wooden beams, bound with rusted iron and wedged in place to leave a path to what looked like a large iron switch on the farthest platform. Other than that, the room seemed relatively uninteresting, save for the switch that had grabbed Nicholas' attention. He wondered aloud to his unhappy companion on the situation.

"Perhaps we can see what that might do?"

"Be my guest," Nicholas responded as the other Hylian deftly scaled the platforms and crossed the gaps. Despite his rough attitude, the man seemed competent enough, which was a relief for the warrior. It didn't take long for the man to reach the switch, and after giving it a good stomp, it finally triggered. The drainage gate opened, but right behind Nicholas he heard a similar creaking of metal as another iron grate dropped across the passage they had entered from. "Of course," he muttered as he glanced back at the blocked passage. He could probably break the bars with little hassle, but the unsettling cries from the waterway had caught his attention. Flexing his right hand into a fist, he leapt across the wet stone and splashed down into the thigh-deep water.

It was cold, very cold. Not freezing, just chilled from being underground. The warrior gritted his teeth and took a defensive stand towards the waterway, his right arm held forward in a fist. He knew something was coming, but he couldn't see anything approaching. He had no idea what kind of evil he would find down here, besides some rumors the villagers had told him, but he was not expecting the monster that attacked. Down the passage, he finally made out two shambling figures in the dark. Dead flesh wrapped around bones and a rotting mask of wood covering their face, he could even smell them from where he stood. ReDead, reanimated flesh infused with dark powers, they were pretty much just husks for evil spirits at this point.

Suddenly, a third rose from the water right in front of him, causing him to recoil and strike in surprise. He drove his right hand forward and grabbed at the monster's head as it screamed in his face. While he might not call it fear, suddenly he felt all his muscles lock and his body became rigid as the monster's screech had paralyzed him. It clawed at grabbed at his outstretched arm, but luckily he had already grabbed it when he was frozen, so he was able to hold it back. Unfortunately, the other two were slowly approaching and he had no idea how long his frozen state would last.

Try as he might to flex his muscles, Nicholas couldn't budge as the creature limply tried to claw at him. Luckily the timely intervention of his companion cleared away the dire threat. As the man deftly took to fighting the foes with his axe, Nicholas tried as he might to break free of the paralysis that had taken hold. The sudden flick of his fingers was the first clue his muscles were loosening, and it wasn't long until he was springing back into battle. Splashing forward, the one-armed ReDead struggled to gain its footing before the warrior slammed its skull against the cold stone walls. As it fell limp into the water, he turned his attention to the other unattended one.

The chortling intake of air was the warning sign, the same one from earlier, so Nicholas did what first came to mind. He leapt forward, arm outstretched, and grabbed hold of the unholy creature. His talon-like gauntlet sunk into the rotted flesh as he slammed downward into the water, pulling the ReDead with. Water splashed upwards as the two bodies thrashed about under the surface, fighting to kill the other. After a moment, it was Nicholas who rose, inhaling sharply as he slicked his hair back with his left hand, his right still pinning the gurgling monster below. A bit more pressure and he would eventually break the creature's neck.

"How do you fare, neighbor?"

He felt the snap as the wiggling stopped, the cadaver had been slain again. Sighing with relief, Nicholas straightened up while wiping off his right hand on the stone wall. They had not been pleasant foes, but it was a valuable learning experience for the man on such undead foes. As he caught his breath, he grinned as his unwilling companion finally gave his name. "Pleasure," he responded to the introduction. He stood looking around as Locke placed an odd mask on his face and fiddled with it, evidently activating some scouting item to search the area ahead.

"Alright," Nicholas agreed with a nod as they moved forward in the dank waterway, trying not to keep up too much water as he strained to listen to any minute details ahead. As they followed the path for a bit, he could almost make out a rushing noise which seemed to grow steadily louder as they made their way down the dark passageway. "I think the water is dropping off ahead," he noted to his companion as they approached. As he suspected, it had been rushing water over the edge into an abyss below. The room seemed otherwise like a giant circular pit, with some smaller water runoffs along the curved walls. Across the way stood a passage like the one they stood in, but without any water as instead there was a door on the narrow ledge.

The hair on the back of Nicholas' neck seemed to stand on end, causing him to quickly scan up above the walls until he saw what had given him the chills. A disembodied hand crawled along the wall like a rotting spider, and something told him that it would be bad news to be caught by such a grotesque foe. Without being able to see a way forward though, Nicholas figured they would have to go back around and keep looking. Nevertheless, he warned his partner of the strange wall hand.

"Up there, watch out for whatever that thing is."

Nicholas was surprised when the rock landed in midair, but it didn't take him long to accept that such a thing existed. He had see quite a few unusual things in his travels, so invisible pathways wasn't too hard to grasp. Nodding his agreement to follow Locke's path, Nicholas grabbed an Ignition Powder from his pocket in case and silently followed. It was an odd concept, walking on thin air, but it had a kind of perverse pleasure in doing something so at odds with how the world usually worked. As he slowly crept along in his companion's path, he hadn't noticed the sudden jumping movement of the wall hand as it swiftly pinned the other man to the bridge.

Darting into action without a second thought, Nicholas just did whatever his instincts told him to do. The powder bag switched to his right hand as he dropped down to grab at the hand horror with his left hand. He quickly stuck his right hand between the creature and Locke, the back of his hand resting against the Hylian. Gritting his teeth, his left hand quickly grabbed hold of Locke as he lifted his right arm while crushing the powder in hand. It exploded violently as winds tore about, blasting the Wallmaster into the air as it flailed. The warrior grunted as his braced arm tried to blast down against his ally, but he was able to yanked Locke from underneath and swing him around the edge.

All this sudden strain was hard on his limbs, but he managed to bring Locke up behind up to grab onto the ledge once more. "Sorry for being so sudden," Nicholas apologized as the Wallmaster crashed in front of the door that was their target. It scampered quickly to get back on it's fingers like some kind of demented beast.

"I'll try and keep it back while you get your bearings, but can you kill it with something?"

The warrior kept on guard as he watched the severed hand-beast as it tried to escape the shots from the angered crossbowman. A couple shots was all it took to cause the injured creature to fall away into the void below, leaving the two men standing on thin air. "Well done," Nicholas nodded to his companion as he stood, keeping his feet in place. He was still standing on an invisible walkway after all, so he still had to be careful. He swept his foot ahead, making sure the ground ahead was solid before putting his weight down, shuffling along swiftly as he reached the safe platform across the pit. He knew Locke wouldn't be far behind, so he started on the door.

Resting his ear against the wood, he listened intently for a moment but didn't hear anything beyond. Checking the handle, it didn't seem to be locked, so he lifted the latch and put his shoulder into it, pushing the door open. The door hit the wall of the tight hallway that was on the other side of the frame. Well, a hallway would be odd to call it, as it looked more like a wide closet. The warrior's instincts told him it was likely not what it seemed, so he stood up against the door and held his hand out to Locke.

"I reckon you might be able to see ahead," Nicholas inquired to the other man, as it was obvious the wall was fake, but it still meant danger might lurk on the other side.

As Nicholas stood aside, he watched the man walk forward to the wall and reach into it to pull open a door. The now visible entrance creaked open to reveal a room of utter darkness. As they walked into the room of darkness, Nicholas unsure if it was more illusions or just a lack of light. The door swung shut slowly behind them, binding them in the darkness as they noticed that the sound from the hall was cut off. The warrior's eyes strained as he looked around, trying to peer through the darkness when Locke spoke.

"Got it," Nicholas noted as he listened for the faint sound of fluttering. The flapping sound of invisible wings grew near when he felt a subtle gust of air on his face. Reacting quickly, he ducked out of the way and scrambled across the cold stone floor. He remained crouched and tilted his right ear up to listen. A whooshing sound told him to lean backwards as he felt something dive past. He brought his legs up and rolled backwards to land on his feet again. Unless he had some more information, the warrior would pretty much be left narrowly dodging his invisible foes without any way to strike back.