And just like that, with the flick of the switch, the area that had been covered in those strange floor tiles just shot right up! That seemed dangerous… Would have been what Ruairi should have thought about if he wasn't an absolute idiot who thought that would have been quite the rush to ride. His eyes lit up with excitement – and with him having nowhere else to go now that the floor had shifted and blocked his path – he hit the switch again while Eve was trying to have a conversation. Just as quickly as it had gone up, it was back down. The Rito gingerly hopped on and shot the switch with his hookshot to have the experience of a lifetime. His stomach felt like it left him back at the first floor as the mechanism activated and shot them back to the second floor, though Ruairi was clearly much better prepared for it as he let out a squeak of joy and braced himself, able to remain standing. "Aah, now wasn't that a rush!" He laughed. His mood had been quite sour after the stolen kinstone, but maybe the day was turning around after all. He opened his eyes, and they settled on the… Thief. "Ah! That's the thief!" He exclaimed. Surely Ruairi should have heard the conversation that was going on all the way down below, but maybe… He wasn't paying that much attention to it, only catching bits and pieces that his mind was now filling in for him. "Where is it?! Oh you are so, so lucky you are behind bars or you would get what's coming to you!" The Rito lunged towards the girl, grabbing the iron bars and giving them a good shake out of anger. Perhaps the thief wasn't as eager to be released anymore, as she looked into those red eyes burning with rage. "Psah! As if any boss would ever want to pretend to be such a scrawny thing. That would never happen," Ruairi huffed.
"Wow Chicky. I was about to threaten her with my knife but you might be on your way to ripping this little lady apart. I don't think such a doofus would be hiding a secret thief boss underneath though, that would be a pretty bad twist because we pretty much almost took her head off together just now." Eve explained, realizing what had happened. "No, instead, we can let her out and she'll show us where to go. I'm gonna do that thing I did with the bunny to make sure it counts." Eve finished, reaching into her bag. Out of the Adventure Pouch came a familiar length of rope. She was seeking to capture the girl for herself and force her around the seedy lair at her whim. There was a slight gasp as Eve approached with the rope. Next she needed a way to force open the bars. There was probably a spare key lying around, but that wasn't how Eve worked. "I can try to break these bars. It would be better if I had some kind of pushing thingy." Eve announced, she put a hand to her head and wondered about how to get the bars open. She equipped her dagger once more, and jammed the crystal alloy blade into the lock like a key. There was an ear-bleeding crunching sound as she wrestled the cracking edge into the hole. She was certain this was worth it as the edge of Splinter Crystal was known to grow back over time. There was another bunch of sounds as the pins inside cracked, ice and frost taking over the whole of the lock as it broke in multiple ways. Frost and shreds of metal bled slowly out of the keyhole. "That should do it!" Eve alighted as she threw open the gate. With a flash of shadows, the stealth-suit Kokiri tackled the thief and began threading her limbs with copious ropes. She stringed the thief out of the cell carefully and then retrieved her now funny-shaped dagger from the busted lock. "Chicky see if she really knows the way." Eve asked, holding tight to their capture.
Ruairi was still glaring daggers at the thief. She definitely had to watch out, or who knew what could have happened. The only thing protecting her from the crazy duo were the bars she had wished away. The irony might not have escaped the thief. What she thought would be her salvation was far from it. With a huff, the Rito took a step back to let Eve do whatever it was she wanted to do. He couldn't help but grimace once she started poking the lock with her dagger – no, poking was not the right term. It was rather awful to watch and listen to. The blade would be useless after that, and the noise it made… Awful! But somehow, it worked. The lock was broken – whatever magic the dagger had probably helped, freezing the lock until it turned brittle enough to shatter. Ruairi stood there in the back with his arms crossed, letting Eve do his dirty deeds and tie the thief up just like she had done to other beasts before. Somehow, the Rito was starting to look like he was somehow involved in organized crime. What had the thief girl gotten herself into? "You heard her. Keep moving. You better be worth the time and effort we took, and I better get my kinstone piece back, or else," Ruairi glared at the thief, now bound with the rope.
"You guys are crazy!" the thief complained. "If the boss doesn't have your piece, are you gonna kill me?! Please just be patient, I'll show you where he is." Eve stood silently as she let the thief lead her down the hallway. There wasn't another word from the odd Kokiri as they moved forward in a mind-twisting death march through the dark corridor. The thief quivered as she tugged in various directions. There was a small opening nearby with two more of those strange crystal-ball lifts. "There's two, you better send us up the right one." Eve threatened, clearly starting to lose her small amount of patience. The thief tugged toward the left, signifying that the right side may be a decoy or a dead-end. With dungeons like this, dead-ends usually meant treasure. But right now Eve wasn't screwing around. Eve waited for Ruairi to board the lift. Without waiting, Eve threw her now-mangled dagger at the crystal ball and said the command word to return it to her hand. The lift shot up with the three of them on it and they approached a new door. "Don't go in just yet. This one is trapped! It's totally dark and some weird cyclops statues are guarding the inside. When they see you intruders you'll have to destroy them all." the thief shakily explained. "You heard her Chicky! See if you can light up the room so we have an advantage against those things." Eve explained. She seemed in a brighter mood with the prospect of a fair fight.
"Crazy?" Ruairi huffed, his gaze sharp enough that it could kill, "I'm not crazy. Besides, I'm not hearing that from a thief," he crossed his arms. Yep, he was very upset about getting something important stolen from him alright. He had failed to actually answer the thief's question about her potential fate. The duo of intruders indeed seemed to be a bit… Extreme, in their measures. Perhaps the unknown with two such unpredictable people was an even more horrifying fate. While Eve was keeping the thief roped up and working as their guide, Ruairi was interested in taking a look around. Lots of cells in the dark dungeon – how often did the thieves find a reason to lock up one of their own? A criminal couldn't escape being behind bars even among their own kind, it seemed. So many of the torches on the wall had gone out. Actually, maybe many of them hadn't been lit in ages. Why waste precious light on prisoners, right? Well, the Rito was already there pulling some of them off their holders. If the hideout was going to be as dark as it was, they could make use of some torches. …Well, only one, once he realized just how heavy they were to carry. He had lagged behind slightly, but Ruairi quickly caught up just in time for another ride on the strange rising floor. It always was such a pleasant rush! He was all giddy as the air rushed past his face, once again almost managing to forget all about his precious stolen kinstone piece. …He always remembered, when he looked at the tied up thief girl. "Light? Oh, I got you light alright!" The Rito grinned like he had been waiting to show off the entire time. He pulled out the torch, making motions like he was on a stage and he wanted even those far away to be able to see exactly what he was doing. Such exaggerated motions as he brought the tip of the torch closer to his other hand, his fingers in position. And snap! With a literal snap of his fingers, a spark that illuminated the darkness was created for a split second. Its life was short, but just enough to have caused the torch to ignite. The flames steadily grew. "Tadaah!" Ruairi posed, with his now lit torch. What an amazing trick – no, it was no mere trick. It was magic. Real magic! He basked in the glory and most definitely expected an applause. From both of them. No excuses. Because he was so amazing. But there was a realization that had taken quite a long time to creep up on him. Pushed away by his need to show off his new amazing spell. "…Wait, what was it that you said about there being some kind of guardian statues behind this door–"
"Statues with one eye? Chicky I think it's an Eyesore." Eve stated. "Eyemore . . . gore." The thief looked along, almost uninterested at this point. If these two were overwhelmed by those monsters, she would be free anyway. To be sure, she popped a small blade from her wrist and started cutting against the rope. The tough Cheval Rope held fast to her scratching. She didn't notice right away but was already beholden to a rude awakening when it proved ineffective. "Anyway. . ." Eve looked at the thief confidently. "I forgot what I was about to say but I have a feeling we can take these things." Eve dragged the thief into the dark, giving leeway to Ruairi so he could light their path from behind. There was a few flashes of light as large eyes started to open and illuminate small beams into the room. There was a silence as they scanned the room. Spotting Ruairi's lit torch one of the statues started to come closer. Eve frantically rummaged through her pouch with her free hand. A Deku Nut appeared in her hand and she threw it at the statue. The Eyegore reeled back and froze for a moment. "Have any weapons Chicky? All we have to do is hit them, they're big and slow." she explained, already searching her pack for more weapons.
"Ah, right. Eyesores," Ruairi nodded like he was in agreement and that was exactly what he had asked for. Except he didn't! He snapped out of it quickly. "Wait wait, that wasn't my point! Why are we going to some room filled with some kind of guardians?!" His voice was more frantic now, but it did not save them. The door was opened, and the Rito had to accept the fate in front of them. Surely the thief was trying to lead them into a trap that would get rid of them, or something! Surely there were safer ways to get where they were going! The room up ahead was so dark that he couldn't see what was inside. But bright flashes from within were a sure sign of something noticing them. He could hear some whirrs and clicks, and strange beams of light that flashed across… Settling onto him and his torch. Of course… Luckily, Eve was quick with a flashy Deku Nut – though Ruairi barely had enough time to shield his eyes from the blast himself! It seemed to work, for a moment at least. "I really would have appreciated it if you had gotten the weapons out first!" He lamented. The Rito was stuck holding the torch, and those strange… Statue things seemed to be coming after it. He didn't really have any weapons. He was barely equipped for a fight, seeing that he had to just run after the thief without grabbing anything he had with him. All he had… Was the hookshot. Fortune favors the bold, right? "Hyah!" Ruairi called, shooting out his hookshot in the direction of the statues. At least, where he was pretty sure they were, their eyes glowing in the dark where the torch couldn't quite reach yet. The chain shot out, traveling the distance… And hit something metallic in the end, with a feeble clonk, before retracting. "…I don't think it's working."
"Yeah, just like that Chicky!" Eve exclaimed. "The pointy end will ruin these things' eyes." There was a clamor as multiple living statues tumbled toward the flames of Ruairi's torch. Several of their eyes opened at once, pointing pillars of flashing light at the Rito. "Throw the torch! They're gonna get us." she added, dumping weapons out of her bag. Eve aimed at the primary stunned Eyegore. She threw a common dagger at its eye and watched it quiver to the floor. She then grabbed a few. . . smith's tools? They seemed to be part of some sort of collection of hers. The curious girl hurled many normal sized hammers and calipers at the oncoming statues. Their odd aerodynamics cluttered against the monsters, bouncing too far from their weak spots. The gleam from the gem on Eve's head seemed to suggest some power going into the little tools, and they did seem to push the menacing golems back. Eve braced her arms and started to step away, the enemies were coming in a little too close. Perhaps with her advice the handsome Rito would take care of some of them before it was too late.
"The… Eyes?" Ruairi asked, as the hook returned back to its holder. Why would giant mechanical creatures have eyes as their weak spots? Were they even mechanical? Too many questions, and not enough time to have answers. Especially now that they all had set him in his sights! No, not him… The torch! The Rito glanced at it, moving it to the side to see that the eyes glowing in the dark followed it. They couldn't just go in blindly without light, but if the things were attracted to it… "We can use it as bait!" He called out to Eve. If the eyes were the weak spots, and they followed the torch, then they'd just have to make sure the torch was moving in ways that allowed them to easily hit them! Ruairi put as much force behind his throw as he could, throwing the torch up in the air to see if his idea would work. And now that he was no longer being looked at… He fired off his hookshot into one of those nice, glowing targets known as eyes!
They had all but destroyed two out of the five monsters. The hookshot bounced back after piercing the Eyegore's precious eye. It crumbled to the floor and then fell apart into stone pieces. Ruairi would soon lose sight of Eve who disappeared out of the corner of his eye. Wait, where did she go? The floor around the Rito was empty, aside from the bound thief who kneeled uncomfortably behind him somewhere. Eve was somewhere in the dark over there. . . In the shadows, Eve had crawled up the back of one of the Eyegores. She took her secondary length of Cheval Rope and was attempting to string it under the statue's armpits. Having had minimal luck hitting most of the Eyegores with small improvised weapons, the girl exhausted her last option by trying to ensnare one. She looked like a brave, dumb little cowgirl as she pulled on the ropes and tried to hold herself atop the bucking statue. "Yeeehaw." she said as she held her stance. The remaining Eyegores were open to Ruairi's attacks, and for the most part it looked like his efforts were working.
It… Actually worked. His hookshot was able to pierce the statue's eye and make it crumble down. What a strange design choice! He hopped to grab his torch from the air and ran off to the side, keeping the eyes focused on him to give Eve enough time to do… Whatever it was she was doing. Was it such a smart idea to let go of the thief when she had all the time in the world to escape…? Not something Ruairi could really think about for too long as he leapt around the statues It was going well! Better than expected! Another shot from the hookshot right into the target – well, alright, it might have taken a couple of attempts, but eventually, he struck the eye. Not wanting to be the target for too long, the Rito once again threw the torch off into the air, planning to run up to it and catch it later… Until a high pitched noise followed up a flash of bright light made him stop in his tracks. A beam of some sort had erupted from one of the statues, shooting right at the torch. The torch… Was no more, completely burned up by the searing heat of that light. And then, the darkness fell, with only the eyes of the statues still visible in the dark.
Flailing around in the dark, Eve was finally tossed from the back of the Eyegore. She sailed up for a terrifying moment and then fell onto her back, forcing air from her lungs. The painful fall left the girl flat on the stone ground. There was a silence as Eve clutched her torso. Something was welling up within her. It was a faint sound like pipes adjusting to heat or gears crunching together. A green light surrounded her and little flames appeared on her arms. There was some latent Magic Power she had unlocked by falling down so hard. It probably would have manifested some other way but this appeared to be the magic lucky moment. She definitely didn't harness magic the same way the kid in red did, but the mystery of what happened was not normal. The Eyegore shed the rope onto the Kokiri and stumbled in the direction of the exploding torch. The Eyegore's eyes all lit up bright with light, with luck Ruairi could still take them down. With only two left, there would probably be time for Eve to get up. The small flames from her hands did light up part of the room, though. Seeing the small fire and Eve on the floor, Colorblind started to try to shed her ropes. They were tied a little too well, and she struggled to do anything in her position. Running wasn't an option for her either.
Now that wasn't going according to plan. Ruairi backed away as the statues seemed to be scanning their surroundings with their eyes. Could they see them, even in the dark? It was a possibility he didn't want to test while he himself was practically blinded. Perhaps he could cause small flashes of light with his spark, but that would mean the weird Eyesores would see him too, right? And then he'd be stuck in the dark soon enough. What a dilemma. For a while the Rito could do nothing more than just hope for the best, that he wouldn't be noticed if he pressed himself against the wall. The whirs and clicks and other strange noises were quite intimidating in the dark, along with those glowing eyes. Could he maybe try to hit one of them? How would he avoid the next one, if it too decided to shoot a beam of light like that? He'd be a fried bird in an instant if something like that hit him! Suddenly, from the floor, there was a strange, greenish flow. The eyes of the statues immediately snapped in the direction of the new light source. Was that… Eve? She didn't look like she was moving, either. An easy target for those Eyesores! What a eyesores they truly were! "Look alive!" Called Ruairi. He didn't know if that was doing much to help – at least it hadn't attracted the attention of the statues. They certainly were persistent when they saw light, it seemed! The Rito dashed through the darkness to the best of his ability, helped slightly by the illumination the Kokiri provided. He shot with his hookshot, hitting the side of the head of one of those guardian statues. That wasn't good enough, but it was enough to at least make it look in his direction. The hook shot returned, and Ruairi wasted no time shooting it again to shatter the eye.
The 'eyesore' fell down, leaving a single Eyegore standing and teetering around. Eve heard Ruairi's call to action, she groaned and turned her head in response. She needed at least a few more seconds to get off the floor. The Eyegore left had spotted Eve's glowyness and flames. With a surge of power flowing through her now, she had a strange energy and resolve to get up and fight. There was another silence as she knelt up, the Eyegore lunged at her. Eve launched herself up, thrust her arm at the center mass of the statue and used her Flame Choke technique. The invisible force behind the room-lighting black flames forced the statue back. The construct tilted over onto its back, completely helpless to Ruairi's continued attacks. Eve quickly gathered up her rope and went after the struggling captive. Colorblind was still attempting to wriggle out and get away. Eve took hold of all of her ropes and the thief had no way of moving freely once again. "We're almost done in this chamber. You have to lead the way." Eve bargained, showing her they could clear the path ahead.
One left. Just one left, and it was already lunging at Eve. Ruairi grimaced – but it seemed that she had managed to have just enough time to pry herself off the floor and attack in return. It was quite the sight, a gigantic statue of stone and whatever else, dwarfing someone as small as a Kokiri… And that very same Kokiri was able to stop the charge with a single punch. A punch that was on fire, yes, but a punch nonetheless. Something so heavy and tall easily toppled over as the center of balance was pushed back! Another beam erupted from the statue, shooting up at the ceiling – but it was in vain. It couldn't target anyone, and Ruairi was right there to take advantage of the situation, hopping over to shoot it right in the eye to shatter it as well. With the final creaks and groans, it seemed like the statue came to a stop. It got surprisingly silent in the dark room, now that the heavy constructs no longer moved about. Some of them were still making small noises – perhaps some were still active, but not exactly operational anymore. The Rito let out a sigh and swept his hair out of his face. He could have done without something like that. "And this better lead us in the right way," Ruairi finally spoke, spinning around to glare at the thief, "If this was all just an attempt at trying to get us killed… Well, you failed! Some little guardian statues like these are no much for someone of my caliber, I'll let you know," he continued, striking a slight pose with a hair flip.
"Yeah!" Eve prodded the captive thief. "He's an up-and-coming wizard you know." The bothered thief led them up a set of stairs and into the dark hallway. She continued inside, and another set of lattice pathways appeared. Eve stopped the girl, looking at the side of the path. "Dibs." she taunted. Eve kicked open a chest in the corner and a pretty purple rupee poked out. These thieves were really loaded, and all of it was being hoarded in this place as stolen property. Eve had not had her fill, she was going to have to come back and look around to purloin some more of this loot. The thief girl struggled, she yanked the Kokiri the other way. "It's over here, dolt." she explained. The girl went to a featureless grey stone wall and. . . flipped some tiny switch of some sort? A series of small hallways full of barred partitions, suddenly slid their bars into the floor and became wide open. There was a silence as the corridor full of apparent puzzles were just. . . suddenly cleared. Eve pouted a bit in disgust at the thief. She didn't care if she had made this dungeon the easiest in the world, she was still angry with her. "We're thieves, not some mastermind dark wizard. Every single section of puzzles has a failsafe to let us all through. That's right, all of them." the thief bragged. Her haughtiness seemed to imply she wasn't just going to keep giving these freebies for the rest of the experience.
Ruairi was… Pleasantly surprised when Eve of all people called him an up-and-coming wizard. It was true, after all, but she never seemed the type the realize something like that. Of course he basked in the glory of that statement for a while, awaiting applause from the tied up thief girl. …It still didn't come, which was disappointing, but at least he got a little bit of recognition. For what was basically the easiest beginner spell, but the Rito didn't consider that. Instead, he followed along. Eve seemed to be their best source of light for now, unless – or until – her glow went away. Seemed like even a thief hideout had some treasure in strange places… But Ruairi wasn't as keen on taking any of that. "Everything here is probably stolen goods. That doesn't seem like good treasure to take," he practically turned his nose up at the idea. What he didn't turn his nose up at was when the thief revealed a way to basically allow them free passage in the way of turning off all the confusing puzzles and who knew what other kind of safety features. "Well, would you look at that! You can be useful!" The Rito practically purred at the revelation. They'd get to the end in no time at this rate! "But for your sake, I hope there was no easy way to neutralize those earlier statues. Now. About this… Boss of yours. Do they have a secret stash somewhere? My kinstone piece must be there!"
"Whoa hold on a second." Eve interrupted at his first line. "In pirate work, all treasure is previously stolen. It's pretty much the only kind of treasure you can loot!" Replying to his next line, the thief spoke up. "It's gotta be in his personal stash. He seemed practically upset it wasn't raining rupees when I brought a kinstone back. That's how I ended up in the slammer." Eve thought about this boss. "He really likes collecting rupees, he's not on some crazy power trip is he? If all he buys is magical improvements we're not going to stand a chance." "No, he's a big guy but he's mortal. He's recently become obsessed with some kind of power, I didn't get a look at what he was doing." she explained, shakily. "Well, mortal might be the wrong word to use." "Don't try to trick us like that! Is he alive? Can he die? These are important questions if he's in charge of this place." Eve bantered. They reached the end of the hallway, revealing a chamber with a big overhang. Down below conveyors whirred and the silhouette of stairs could be seen. Up on the main platform was a set of buttons on the floor. Staring the trio right in the face was a bulky Blue Zazak. He became aware of them immediately, and seemed to hone his claws on them, not one for using weapons. The human skulls lining the wall didn't spell well for them.
"I'm not a pirate," huffed Ruairi – and he didn't seem like he was really accepting such a pirate lifestyle, anyway. Other than that, he seemed rather carefree as he walked along the path that had been cleared for them, listening to what information they could squeeze out of the girl. "Well, all we need to do is get to this stash, then!" He figured, as Eve tried to hear more about this boss of their. It wouldn't really matter if they just slipped in, took what was theirs and left, right…? As Eve was trying to pry for more information about the guy, there was someone out there in front of them. The Rito squinted slightly. "Is that like the ugliest Lizalfos ever, or…?" He turned to the rest of the party for a quick comment, before letting out a sigh and putting on his best performance face. After a dark room filled with some kind of giant statues with laser beams, a lone lizard did not look like much of a threat. "Heeeey~! Great work out here!" Ruairi cooed as he stepped forth, not looking like he was at all worried. He definitely did not look like he belonged, properly dolled up for that kinstone fusion meet he was going to do… But maybe him being an outsider explained why the two had never seen each other before. Maybe he had been invited for a reason? "We brought the girlie with us just like how the boss asked us to. Wouldn't want to keep him waiting, now."
Blue Zazak growled. "Intruderrr. . . intruder. . ." the creature groaned. His speed was outrageous. The Zazak flashed across the floor from his previous post. To protect Ruairi, Eve threw the captive in front of him like a shield. Zazak's claws dug into the fresh body, bouncing slightly off the Cheval Rope strands. It still looked like it hurt like fuck though. "We gotta fight him Chicky!" Eve exclaimed. This was worse than any previous enemy, a fast humanoid with killing intent. If they dropped the ball against him somebody would surely die. With no time to waste, despite her warnings to Ruairi she was intent on taking him down herself if possible. Evelyn immediately took out her partially-dulled crystal knife. She threw it recklessly at the Zazak, wrapping its chain around his neck as he still had his claws down. Eve used his backward momentum to pull herself up the chain. She launched herself from the ground to pull down the dagger like a ripcord. "King-fisher" she muttered, slicing his jugular vein. With an acrobatic handstand Eve cartwheeled and stood back up. The bleeding Zazak collapsed with his own claws clutching the chain on his neck. The graphic display stood in their minds for a moment, and when they got the picture out of their heads the girl was just standing there. She turned around momentarily to retrieve the chains and the rope around their captive. Skipping final regards for the felled enemy, Eve walked onto one of the buttons on the floor. "These buttons, they probably open the next door when pressed together." the Kokiri explained, not expecting further help from the thief.
