Rush to a Rescue [Complete]

The boy was sweating by the time he made it back to the caves.

He had run the entire way, and his jerkin and trousers showed it with the dirt caked on them. He thanked the gods that he was a fit sixteen-year-old, and only gave himself a moment or two to breathe at the entrance to the caves before darting inside. He had to let someone know what had happened!

He didn't bother wasting time with a lantern; he knew the way. Sweat dripped from his brow as he wound to the settlement's entrance, his footsteps echoing through it for anyone to hear. It took no time to find his destination, and he yanked open the heavy wooden door, bolting through.

He rebounded hard off the first person he came across, and only a hand clad in a leather gauntlet kept him from falling on his rear. "Whoa, there, kid," a strong voice said. "What're you running from?"

The teenager looked up into the scarred face of one of the mercenaries living here--Rua, he thought his name was? Perfect! He could help!

"I was--I was with the hunters!" he breathed. "We were coming back from the valley when these... wolf things with boomerangs and swords attacked us! Jonas and Quinn got hurt and Darrin sent me back to get help!"

"Wolf things?" Rua asked, pondering. "Goriyas? The hell are they doing this close to the caves?"

"You gotta help him, man!" the boy exclaimed breathlessly.

Rua nodded. "Go get some water and wait for me here," he said, turning around so quick his cape flourished. "I'll get someone who can heal the guys and you'll take us there."

The boy breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, bolting down one tunnel towards a well. Rua strode back down the main hall until he found his recent employer's apothecary and swung open the door, calling out.

"Oi, Mepple!"

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Putting out his small cauldron fire, Orup dipped a glass bottle into the mixture before him, careful to fill it as full as he could before he put the cap into it. Most people just called the substance the 'Red Potion', but despite the mundane name they were really quite valuable and not particularly easy to come up with. Capable of restoring a large amount of strength and even healing many injuries, Red Potions could be life-savers in a dangerous situation. The alchemist glanced over to a journal still lying on his desk that he had almost finished with, and he almost smiled with a touch of fondness. Those situations seemed like a much greater reality these days.

The secrets in that journal had cost quite a bit, though not really at the expense of anything besides stress to Orup himself. He had no doubt his heart had lost a couple of years after that incident, but with the amount of knowledge that came with it... Perhaps he might be the one to discover a life-extender. For the hundredth time that day the thoughts of potential stormed through his head, ranging from the mundane to the ridiculous. It was good to be back at home, though.

Just as he turned away from his table and door, though, someone entered in quite a hurry, the newcomer surprising Orup more than a bit. "Rua? What are you doing here?"

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

"Grab your medicinal supplies; some hunters got ambushed by some goriyas and there's two wounded," Rua informed him, stepping inside the apothecary. "They're not too far from here. If we can make it in time we can probably help them, but we need to leave now."

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

"I..." Orup began, perplexed. Goriyas? There was no way that was close to here. And healing the wounded? He hated playing medic; common illnesses were so much simpler and less demanding. If he turned Rua down, though, Orup wasn't sure if he could live with that stony silence all over again. There really was a lack of decent bodyguards in this cave system! With a sigh, he shrugged his heavy shoulders, "...oh all right."

Securing the potion he held, Orup did his best to hurry in grabbing his supplies, though his disorganized train of thought made the process take longer than it should have. Finally, though, after a few minutes of bustling around the room and working up a sweat, he shouldered his large pack and put out the torches in the room, "All right, boy, lead the way. I don't care how hurt these people are though, I'll have you know I'm not running anywhere."

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

"Our guide wouldn't be able to run much longer anyway," Rua said, turning and leaving the chamber, leading Mepple down the cavern towards the entrance. "It shouldn't be too far, though. They were on their way back from the valley."

It was common knowledge among the caverns that the valley close by was the safest--until now, he supposed--place for their people to hunt without attracting too much attention from any straggling forces of Ganon's.

Within moments they had arrived at the entrance to the settlement, where the kid was waiting, sitting on a rock and drinking some water from a wooden cup. He bounced up to his feet, sloshing some water on the ground in the process, when he saw Rua return with Mepple. Before the kid could say anything, Rua waved him off with his hand. "Lead on, kid. Don't leave us behind."

"Uh, right!" the kid exclaimed, nodding. "This way!"

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Rua was right, the valley wasn't terribly far, but that didn't exactly make Orup want to go any more than he did already. Doing his best to keep his composure together, even though the less-than-leisurely pace was already putting his lungs to work, he questioned Rua, "What are goriyas doing all the way over here? They don't usually stray this far, do they?" Orup let forth a disgruntled 'harumph' as he tugged on his belt to make sure it stayed in place. This was almost certainly not how he had planned to spend his afternoon, and he hoped he wouldn't have to let anyone die in his hands today; that never made sleeping any easier.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Rua shook his head as they walked. "No, they usually don't," he said, finding the situation odd as well. "How many of them are there, kid?"

"Just two of them," he said, looking back over his shoulder. "I think they'd all attack if there were more."

Rua nodded, pondering it for a few moments, coming to a theory just as they went past the entrance to the caverns. "Probably just long-range scouts then," he remarked. "Probably not an army camped near here. Did either of them go running?"

"No sir," replied the teenager with a shake of his head. "They were both trying to go after the others when they had me sneak off."

Briefly, almost involuntarily, a memory of a teenager muttering curses to himself as he crawled through shrubbery while adults fought off moblins surfaced in Rua's mind. He shook it off. "Not part of a big organized force then," he told them. "I'll need to kill both of them to be safe though."

Shouldn't be too hard compared to that damn plant, the mercenary thought gruffly.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Orup almost chuckled in spite of himself; never would have thought to compare the dangerous monsters of Ganon's army to a plant he had found, but that thing certainly had put life in perspective. He still had the seeds stashed in his shop, unsure what to do with them yet. The journal had been insightful so far, but even the previous alchemist had found the large plant already growing when he ran into it. He too had tried to replicate the monster without success, though it seemed he had some progress on the matter before he had been obliterated by the thing.

The pace they were traveling at wasn't too uncomfortable, though Orup doubted he could ever be very relaxed while traveling with Rua. He'd thought about getting a horse, but his conscience wouldn't let him do that to an animal. With the plant in mind, though, he raised a little conversation to keep his mind off the uncomfortable jostling of his belly, "Did I ever tell you what they were actually doing with that plant, Rua? Well, the main part, anyway."

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

"You mean besides trying to get themselves killed by it?" Rua remarked, looking back over his shoulder at the alchemist. "Because they were doing a damn good job at that."

The kid also looked back, confused at the sudden change in topic. "Plant? What plant?" he muttered to himself.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

If Orup heard the boy he made no indication to it, instead pressing on with the conversation, "Turns out the plant was a mineral harvester; I'd never heard of anything like it before, but apparently seeks out and feeds on minerals in the ground. That's how it was able to survive and spread so effectively in the caves! That's also where all those trinkets you found came from. Apparently the alchemist had figured out a way to tap some of the resources that came back. I have a feeling they may have gone a little too far in trying to augment the abilities, though." Even Orup grimaced as he recalled the severe thrashing the monster had delivered to Rua.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

The kid looked back at the two adults just as Rua turned his gaze forward, preventing the alchemist from seeing his grimace as he, too, remembered the beating that the monster had given him. He had been sore for days, even after a red potion he'd bought from Mepple, and Ayls was also displeased as seeing him return to the settlement with a bunch of injuries. "Well, I can see why something like that would be enticing for those people," he remarked. "Pieces of Power are hard to come by otherwise."

Something like that did sound incredibly useful, though. A properly cared-for plant--one that wouldn't fly into a rage the moment someone came near it--able to produce Pieces of Power and other metallic materials could go a long way towards a war effort, or even reclaiming Kakariko. "There aren't any more of them hiding in the caves, are there? One was bad enough."

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Orup shook his head once, though he was thoughtful about the question too, "No... No, I don't think so. I don't think that plant just occurred, someone must have planted it, and I know it wasn't the other alchemist we found there." He frowned a bit, shrugging his shoulders, "But I honestly don't know. The pollination patterns for the thing were bizarre to say the least; it requires a very specific kind of stone and earth compound, and I'm not sure if that little grotto effect we found was natural or just caused by the plant itself. It's possible it could pollinate through the roots itself and then yes, we would find a number of them in the caves." Orup all but shuddered at the possibility.

Rua was right, though; the ability to naturally harvest resources could be incredibly useful, especially if only he possessed it. According to the previous alchemist's notes the plant didn't naturally retain rupee dust, but he had been working on a way to try and convince the plant it was a wholesome material to be trying to consume. The possible riches could be incredible! That thought alone made the alchemist forget his discomfort for a moment.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Most of the terminology Mepple just said soared right past Rua's head--while he was far from being just dumb muscle, he didn't pretend to know his way around alchemy or herbalism or any of the sort. "Well, you should probably get the guards to keep an eye out for more roots in that case, if you haven't already," he told his employer. "Last thing we need is someone else stumbling on one of those."

"There's some dangerous plant growing in the caves?" the teenager remarked, looking a tad bit worried by their conversation and what he was able to piece together.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Orup let out a good-natured laugh at the boy's comment, his normally reassuring side instantly kicking in, "No no, of course not, boy. There was a plant that was stirring up some ruckus, earlier, but Rua and I took it out with the good 'ol one-two." The alchemist finished his sentence with more than a bit of pride, performing a very poor imitation of a couple of punches to the air. His smile faltered a bit though, and he cleared his throat, "How much farther did you say it was?"

He paused to look around at the scenery for a moment, realizing his legs were about to work a bit harder as they had begun to climb a hill. The sun was already past noon for certain, and Orup was beginning to sweat rather intensely with all the walking underneath the sun. As the mostly sun-scorched grass crunched beneath their feet, the older man began to worry once more about what might be waiting for them in the valley. Rua seemed competent enough with a blade, but Ganon's creatures were always nasty, and it only took one wrong move to get yourself gutted by them. What was more, if there were injured men or women already then there was no telling how stressful this whole thing was about to get. The boy certainly hadn't liked what he'd run away from.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

"We're almost--ah, there!" he exclaimed, pointing as he saw some minor landmark that the others couldn't recognize. "Just over this rise and we should see where they're at!"

Rua nodded and increased his pace, striding past the boy to crest the hill first. Reaching the top, he quickly knelt down in some of the taller grass, frowning. The kid trotted up behind him, and he waved him back, gesturing for him to get down. The mercenary could already see the three hunters; two of them definitely looked wounded, one of them clutching at a wound in his side as he lay in a ditch, the other kneeling beside him. The unscathed hunter had a bow in one hand, arrow knocked as he was looking about warily for something.

"That's not where I left them," the kid whispered to him. "They must've gotten closer."

"I don't see any... wait," he muttered, seeing movement. "There."

A single figure was stalking towards the hunters, keeping low through taller grass. The goriya was doing an excellent job at keeping out of its prey's sight, despite being big and blue with its thick coat. But the creature didn't seem to have detected their arrival. Looking off to the side, further off, was the other one, also stalking towards the hunters.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Orup stopped at Rua's command, his whole body tensing up at the advent of the monsters in the area. He really was a useless fighter when it came down to it, but Ganon's creatures of evil were something that had to be dealt with. Orup found himself more than a little glad at Rua's company for yet another time. Dropping uncomfortably to his knees, the alchemist questioned Rua in a strained whisper, not sure how much volume would alert the creatures that he couldn't see, "Well? What do you want us to do, then?"

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

"Okay, boy, here's what I want you to do," he said as he loosed his hunting knife from his belt. He handed it to the kid: it wouldn't serve him any good in a fight but it'd make the boy feel better about what he was ordering him to do. "Take Mepple down there to the hunters and let him get to work when I attack one of those goriyas."

"R-right," the boy said, taking the knife by the hilt. "You got it."

"Just concentrate on getting to the hunters," Rua said, looking over his shoulder at Mepple. "Don't worry about the goriyas; I'll make sure they'll be distracted."

Standing up a bit, Rua's hand went for his sword and drew it out in one swift motion, and he shoved off the top of the hill. His boots hit a stretched patch of dirt and he immediately skid down it, expertly keeping his balance as gravel slid down the hill with him. He could see the nearest goriya's tufted ears twitch at the noise. Rua's free hand scooped up a larger rock while he shouted.

"Hey, ugly! Catch!"

The goriya definitely heard that one. Its ears went stiff and it snorted, twisting around towards his voice just as he chucked the rock as hard as he could. The projectile bounced hard off the mustashed snout of the beast, and it snarled in pain as it flinched back, one hand going to its nose instinctively.

Rua's feet hit steadier ground and he broke out into a run, sword at his side as he charged the beast.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

The alchemist nodded once to Rua, watching him closely and making sure not to move before he had fully aggravated the creature. As the rock left his hand, though, Orup struggled to his feet, his legs not appreciating the strain, especially after the quick walk he'd just made them endure. The boy, though, clearly anxious to be off, had already begun quickly making his way down the hill, not quite aware of the older man's limitations. While he didn't want to take any longer than he had to, he certainly didn't possess the agility that Rua did, and rolling down the slope could destroy several of his portable, alchemical instruments.

Sparing a furtive glance toward Rua's direction whenever he could, Orup carefully made his way down the slope where the boy was impatiently waiting for him, clearly on the ends of his nerves. His knuckles were white, gripping that little knife like that, and his face looked mixed between wanting to try and use it and just wanting to run in the opposite direction for a long time. Orup couldn't really blame him, though; Ganon's creatures were not lacking in terror or power, and for a simple hunting party to be ambushed? That was bound to set a person on the ends of their wits, regardless of their age. As he reached the bottom of the hill, though, he was able to pick up the pace again, quickly making his way over to the injured.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

Rua's blade crashed down against metal, and only then did Rua see that the creature had brought with it a shield--metal framing a blue field, the familiar red bird and Triforce insignia of Hyrule marking it to be a standard hylian shield, probably something taken from a dead soldier during the war. With a snarl, the goriya dragged out a bloodied, curved blade and swept it around at Rua's head, forcing the mercenary to duck under and disengage.

As the mercenary steadied himself, he saw that he'd gotten the other goriya's attention as well. The beast was bringing up a longsword of its own, snarling as it moved in to attack. Rua glowered, his scarred face twisting into a sneer of rage. His grip on his sword tightened painfully, but he ignored it. Monsters like these had razed Kakariko, killed dozens, took his family away... It'd be a long time since he'd gotten the pleasure to take that anger out on one of these bastards. He was going to enjoy this.

His blade swept out and with a battle cry, Rua charged.

Re: Rush to a Rescue [Closed]

As Orup reached the two wounded men he immediately dropped to his knees, trying his best to take in as much as possible as quick as he could. Both men were injured, though it looked like one certainly more-so than the other. One man still held a weapon fiercely in his hands, though apparently his leg had taken a significant blow. Most of his pant-leg was stained with blood, but from what Orup could tell that was the only real injury. Enough to keep him from walking, but not enough to keep Orup's attention from the other man.

The other man, though, he was a different story to be sure. His left arm was smashed almost to pieces, hanging limp and bloodied at his side, and a large gash in his abdomen revealed a penetration wound beneath the large quantities of blood still actively coming from the wound. His head looked like it had been hit pretty bad, a concussion at least, and his breathing was far from steady. Orup's stomach churned at the sight of the man; he could deal with injury, but it was far from his expertise, especially when the man's life was likely on the edge of a knife.

Pulling his own vest off, Orup wadded it up quickly and stuck it beneath the man's head, returning to his pack to get the rest of his supplies. He had some basic mixtures with him, but he might have to grind some herbs on the spot. He shook his head in displeasure; this was definitely not how he had wanted to spend the afternoon.