Snowhead Temple, starring: Julius Surgate [Clooby] +Sense: Species, 65 rupees, 6 rupees Sandal [Devil-Steel] + 40 rupees Lamont Liesmith [Squishy] +40 rupees --- Snow howled past the cave's entrance, turning the world outside into a white haze. Shadows danced over the walls as two figures, one big and one small, sat on the rocky floor. "Don't worry, buddy, we'll find our way back... Eventually." Lamont huddled near their tiny campfire, though it was really a smoking mess consisting of at most four twigs and some splinters. There really hadn't been a lot more to build a fire with, and neither he or Sandal had brought any supplies for it either, having expected to be back in civilisation by now. But somehow, on their trek back from the frozen cave they had investigated, the plucky duo had gotten absolutely lost. Instead of leaving the cold and snow behind, they only encountered more and more. A sudden snowstorm had forced them to stop and take shelter in a cave, until it was over. Although Lamont was not very hopeful that it would be over soon, as he looked outside. He sighed, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to warm them.
Sandal sat with his back to the entrance of the cave trying to use his over sized frame to block some of the wind to help keep the small fire from going out prematurely. While his armor was horribly cold, and only getting colder, his thick fur and even thicker hide was keeping him relatively warm. Reaching into his adventure pouch the moblin would pull out an awkward shaped piece of fabric and hold it towards Lamont. "Warm." While it wasn't something that would nullify the cold like the hide of white wolfos (maybe one of them should have skinned the ice cavern boss?) would, it was at least something that Lamont would be able to wrap around himself to help keep warmer.
Julius had a long trek ahead of him. He wasn't even cold -- he couldn't feel much of it through his damned hide. He'd been in these mountains plenty, but... They were relatively unmapped, dangerous, and cold as all sin. Without an experienced leatherworker handy -- and boy, did he mean experienced -- the hide of a White Wolfos was almost worthless. Thankfully, he knew such a skilled individual. Even through the blizzard winds he could make out... Smoke. Fire. Someone was nearby. But who? Who would be out here, in these mountains, alone? He looked around himself. Perhaps he made such a statement by merely existing there at that point. He was a dangerous individual, though -- at least he liked to think of himself as such. He was certainly more than enough of a match for nearly anything he could think of that might be in these mountains. Either way, he had to find out who was here. In the middle of a blizzard, with what little there was in the way of tinder... He had no doubt they'd be freezing to death soon. He could take it, at least. But he knew plenty of people who couldn't; and that worried him. Eventually, he found the mouth of... what appeared to be a cave. Judging by the almost ominous spire in the distance, though, he could only guess that it was more than it seemed. He stepped inside, still clad in his black and blue armor, head to toe. He noticed the fire, first, before noticing the -- was that a Moblin? How did he even know that? Either way, he placed a hand calmly and slowly on the hilt of his blade. He looked down at the black armored mass, sitting with its back to the entrance of the cave. There was a Hylian there, too -- he hadn't even looked at him, but he knew he was there. It was... more than a strange experience. Well, he guessed that there were certainly oddballs of every race. Hell, the time was almost upon them now -- that blasted Holiday Moblin would be upon them with just another cycle of the moon. He guessed the thing in armor in front of him to be similar, at least, to that... freakish, nigh-omnipotent figure. How, exactly, do you get Wolfos to fly, anyways? Where does he go for the rest of they year? No one could be sure... "It seems you two are... lost," he hesitated for words, eyeing the Moblin for any sudden movements carefully. You could never be too careful with your judgment -- especially considering he hardly knew either of these people. "This blizzard won't die down for... some time, certainly, but this cave does go a bit deeper. Why don't we try settling in any further?" He suggested, not wanting to make a show of it. But who was he kidding? He was a giant in a suit of gilded armor with an impressive blade and shield. He was sure that he was making more than a show of it.
Lamont huddled under the fabric Sandal had given him, having taken it with a grateful smile. The fur coat he had been wearing to the ice cave had somewhat dried up, but it was heavy and clumsy when it was caked with snow. He had shrugged it off as soon as they had settled into the cave, setting it out next to the fire to dry. Then, the stranger entered. At first Lamont only stared, thinking the cold had gotten to his head and was making him see things. Then, he thought the hulking armour was another Moblin like Sandal. Until the armour gripped its weapon. And it spoke. "Excuse me?" Lamont tilted his head, not entirely sure how to respond to this odd figure. It seemed awfully strange, to just barge into a cave and ask them to come with deeper into the cave. What if it was a trap? What if it was some kind of man-eating- No, the Hylain told himself, he shouldn't judge on first impressions. Sandal had been fine too. But still, it felt odd. "I mean, yeah, we're lost, but..." Lamont poked at their pathetic fire, only causing it to smoke more. He looked at Sandal, trying to gauge the Moblin's reaction to the stranger. Then, he looked back at the armour- he was guessing it was a man inside- with a questioning look. "Who even are you?"
As Julius had spoke Sandal would slowly turn to face him. Once he was turned around he wouldn't be faced with a man, but rather a suit of armor. He finally realized what it was people must experience when they first meet him. Of course the Moblin wasn't suspicious of Julius, even with his hand resting on his weapon. This was due to him being too busy admiring the armor the man was wearing. He had seen zora mail before, but it was usually somewhere for sale and he wasn't able to get a close look at it. This was the first time he had been able to get so close to a suit of it before, and he was actually rather happy. The only thing that could possibly make him happier would be being able to thoroughly inspect it, not that he would ever ask someone to take their armor off so he could inspect it, mainly due to how he would feel if someone were to ask him to take his armor off. "Armor nice." Of all of the things Sandal could have said after finally speaking up it of course it would be a compliment about the mans armor. It would just go to show how simple he was.
"Oh, right," he said, mumbling something to himself about Darknuts. Usually, though, they were taller than he was. He fiddled with his helmet for a moment, before taking it off, coming to face the Hylian. "I'm Julius Surgate Captain of the Hyrule Guard. I noticed that it is, first of all, incredibly cold outside, and I doubt either of you have the benefit of White Hide, as I do... at least, in any large amount." He had seen the scrap that Lamont held onto now. "Either way, your fire is smoking itself out because it isn't quite warm enough to sustain a flame in here. And I know this place goes further in -- in fact, I saw some kind of... spire, out beyond this place." "I know this place well enough to know it isn't a mountain, and am choosing to investigate. The two of you should come with me." While normally he would have been wary of inviting along a Moblin, it had actually given him compliments about his armor, instead of immediately engaging in possibly inebriated violent acts as most of its kind would have otherwise. "Regardless of whether you choose to accompany me or not, I would still advise moving further in. You might freeze, otherwise. Thank you for the compliment, by the way." He nodded at the... rather heavily armored Moblin, before fitting his helmet to his head and venturing further into the tunnel.
To Lamont's surprise, the suit of armour contained a Hylian. A very tall Hylian. When he mentioned being a guard, Lamont tensed up. Wait, was this guy coming for him?! Had he committed any crimes lately? Perhaps some he could not remember? No... as Lamont carefully thought on it, he could not remember doing anything even slightly illegal lately. A record, perhaps. But then why was a guard here, of all places? Only then did he listed to the rest of the man's words. A spire? Lamont could not remember seeing anything like that, but then again, they had only found this cave because the wall of the mountain suddenly disappeared under his hands. Everything else had been blocked out by snow. Slowly, the pirate nodded. The man, Julius, had a point. It was very cold here, since the wind still blew in cold air. And it was not like there was much else to do than stare at the wall. Exploring might in fact not only alleviate their boredom, but maybe, just maybe, it would lead to treasure? A nice hefty treasure, oh yes. And even better, Sandal appeared to be okay with Julius. The man had not tried to attack the Moblin, seemingly caught off-guard by the Moblin's cheerful demeanor. That was enough for Lamont to know. He got up, stamped out their fire, and wrapped his fur coat back around him. But Julius had already started walking. "Hey! Wait for us! Come on, Sandal! We're coming with you, mister!"
As Julius walked by him Sandal would wait for Lamont to start following behind him. The Moblin had no reason to distrust Julius because as far as he knew the fact that he was a Moblin was still a secret to Julius at this point. He had no way of knowing just how keen Julius' senses actually were. While common courtesy would have dictated that Sandal remove his helmet and introduce himself much like Julius had, there was no way that was going to happen. Luckily he was far enough behind Julius that removing his helmet to introduce himself wouldn't be necessary in the first place. "Me Sandal. Him Lamont." While Lamont had called out to him using his name, it hadn't be an actual introduction. While it hadn't been as impressive of an introduction as Julius had given it would have to suffice coming from Sandal.
Julius stopped, dead in his tracks. So it seemed that the two... they were refugees, almost; weary travelers stranded in a blizzard with nowhere to go, and no means to shield themselves from the cold. He supposed he made sense that they'd tag along. "Well. You're going to have to keep a pace better than that. It's nice to meet both of you; Sandal, Lamont." He continued to walk through the cave, leaving footprint-sized flames to light the way for his... temporary allies. He doubted he'd necessarily see either of them after they left this place. They soon came to a larger cavern, where warmth began to emanate from somewhere behind... It wasn't steel, but it wasn't quite stone, either, but nonetheless it was some kind of gray-ish door. It was... big, too. It seemed to be at least ten feet, Julius figured. He looked at the door. Sizing it up, he figured it was likely heavier than he might be able to lift, or however else you opened it, on his own. "Well. If you're still adamant about coming along, then help me lift this door. ...At least, that's what I assume it is." Nothing else matched it in the intricacies of its craftsmanship, even the faintest of etchings standing out among the shades of gray and gold emerging from all over the door. It was, in short, a work of art. He gripped the bottom of the door, lifting up. It weighed... Probably a good five hundred or so pounds, he guessed at a glance. "Ready?" He asked his companions, waiting for them to take their positions around the door. "Now... once we get into this place, whatever it is, I'm going to summon this curious little bugger-- looks kind of like a Keese, but with four wings, no feet, and one gigantic eyeball. Don't kill this, but feel free to progress deeper into the dungeon."
That had to be one of the most magnificent doors Lamont had ever seen in his life. He looked up, admiring it with a low whistle. Something about it told him that he and Sandal had not wandered into just any cave. Though, really, with a gateway like this it was glaringly obvious there had to be something more behind it. The Hylian nodded slowly, not entirely sure what to make of Julius' words. Still, he shrugged and took his place next to the others, bending down to grab hold of the door. He doubted how much he could contribute, between the huge Moblin and relatively huge guardsman, but Lamont did not want to get on the latter's bad side. Not right from the start, at least. Preferrably not at all. "Alright, ready when you are. You okay, Sandal?" The stone groaned as the door was slowly lifted, dust and gravel tumbling down around it. Immediately, the three felt a gust of warm air brush past them, coming from deeper within the cave. Was Lamont imagining it, or did he hear something rumbling far beneath the stone? He peered into the darkness behind the door, before looking back to the others.
