Stone Tower Temple [Blonde Squishy Cats]

Horus whirled at Morgan's cry, forgetting about Tessa. He no longer cared about the girl, not while there were others he had to protect and who were worth protecting. Garo were a problem, he knew, and he hurried to Luna and Morgan's side to protect them, drawing his weapons as he ran. As he reached them, he blindly lashed out. His dagger connected with something metallic, but as suddenly as the Garo had appeared, it had vanished, although it was seemingly entirely undeterred by its attack being deflected.

Horus stepped in with his back to Luna's and Morgan's, creating a circle so they couldn't be attacked from behind. "Luna," he asked, "How many are there?"

"At least three," she replied, "But I can't be sure. They're too fast. There might be more that I haven't seen yet, or I might have counted one of them twice." So she didn't know either. There might be only one or there might be a hundred, and they had no means of knowing. Horus wanted to say that it didn't matter, but it actually really did- the last thing he wanted was to be literally stabbed in the back while fighting one of them. He sensed something come at him very quickly, and hurried to parry the inevitable blow- only for it to glance away from him at the last second and instead get Luna across the shoulder.

Luna cried out in pain, immediately retaliating with spell... although it was only half-formed and the ice pike didn't come out right. She watched as a spherically shaped mass of pure ice magic soared through the hallway, only to die after a certain distance, and she wondered... but this wasn't the time to experiment and theorize. She clutched her wounded shoulder, looking around and keeping her sixth sense peeled for the next attack.

Although she had noticed the shadows immediately, the sudden attack caught Tessa by surprise. She barely brought her shield up in time to stop the first strike, but before she could retaliate, her assailant was gone again. Tessa backed up towards the rest of the group almost subconsciously, dedicating most of her attention to not getting stabbed.

The next blow was low, and her shield only caught one of the blades. The other sank into the fleshy part of her leg, dealing a bloody, but not especially dangerous wound. Before the ninja could capitalize on its success, her sword was in position to counter, and it sank back into the darkness from which it had sprung. By then she had joined the others, and with her back covered, it was far easier to predict the next attack.

This time she was ready, and her sword intercepted those of the Garo. She traded several blows with her shorter opponent, but when it finally broke up and disappeared, Tessa couldn't claim to have had the advantage at any point.

"Okay, serious question, while we have a moment. Are these guys agents of your king? And does anyone have any fire? Because I'm thinking those keese above us would be useful. As torches."

"Quite the contrary," Horus said in reply to the question if the Garo were agents of the king. "I don't know the details, but Bertrand tells me there's a long-standing conflict between the Garo and the Kingdom of Ikana... If they're here, then we can safely assume that whatever is emanating from the towers is intentionally set up by whatever enemies we have." He had to admit -but didn't, not out loud- that he wasn't versed in Ikanan politics.

When he and Tessa were separated from Morgan and Luna, it was much to his horror, and he almost got his hand severed when he reached towards the ice mage. He jerked it back just in time when he sensed the approach of the Garo, swearing loudly when the swords passed by at less than an inch from his flesh. He stepped back, away from the wall of flame. "Morgan!" he shouted, "You make sure they don't hurt Luna! I'll be fine!"

Luna put her hands on her chest, slowly backing away from the flames that separated her from Horus. She kept paying attention to what her senses told her, hoping not to back into the sword of a Garo, and finally reached Morgan. "He won't," she said to the blonde, turning towards him. Horus was a valiant fighter and far too stubborn for his own good, but no amount of stubbornness would save him if the Garo singled him out and cornered him. "That girl is certainly not going to be of any use to him. They're going after him first- we have to help him!"

It looked like she was right, because she'd barely finished speaking when Horus sensed two attackers approach from opposite sides. There was just enough difference in their distances to him... "No!" he growled as he ducked to the ground to dodge the first one, rolling over and lashing out with his sword towards the other one. Resistance... he'd hit something! He was still marvelling at the fact he had managed to connect an attack to a Garo when one of his opponents retaliated, digging a knife deep into his side. Hissing in pain, Horus delivered a kick in the direction it had come from, but struck only air as his attacker had already vanished, knife and all.

Luna screamed when she saw him clutch his side with his free hand, realising the wound must be more severe than he would admit under normal circumstances. "No!" she echoed, lashing out with one hand in an attempt to dispel the wall of fire that separated them. Her panic had diminished the finesse of her magic and again, what materialised was pure ice magic instead of a fully-formed pike. It crashed into the wall, vanishing. "It's useless!" she said, starting to pace in front of the wall, "Morgan, please!"

Tessa actually rolled her eyes as Horus was stabbed- not out of irritation, so much as disbelief. If he'd just let her help, that...probably would not have happened. But now that one of the Garo was dagger deep in Horus, she had a somewhat unique opportunity.

Before the other diminutive assassin could take advantage of the situation, Tessa stepped up behind it and grabbed it by its cloak, then quickly flung it into its own(?) wall of flames. With a shriek of pain, the Garo rebounded off the wall, its robes burning, and jumped at Tessa. The attack was head on and poorly planned; likely the result of immense pain and little more. Her shield stopped the blow effortlessly, and then they were trading swings.

When Tessa had crossed blades with one of the Garo earlier, it had possessed every advantage. It could vanish at will, it was shorter, and it was probably a bit smarter or more experienced. One of the two; maybe both. Now, it lacked that one first, crucial factor: its back was up against a wall, so it couldn't retreat. Worse, it was distracted by pain.

Although it remained the better fighter, circumstances had leveled the playing field, and Tessa was far too experienced a warrior to miss that fact. She parried and deflected its frenzied assaults, waiting for the right moment- and then the Garo made the mistake of trying to stab her. She didn't move to avoid the sword; she bashed forward with her shield, meeting it head on, and was rewarded with a ringing snap for her trouble.

Down one of its weapons, the Garo was now at a disadvantage. Tessa's fencing skills had allowed her to fend off two blades at once, between her own sword and shield, and now it was a trivial matter to ward off her opponent's single weapon using her shield and retaliate with her sword.

She saw the Garo's eyes dart back and forth, looking for an escape, but there was none to be had. Its back was to the wall, one of its swords was now a memory, and Tessa was in no position to grant it quarter. Her longsword tore out its throat, and it fell backwards into what she now suspected was its comrade's wall of fire, a bomb faintly visible in one hand. Tessa ducked behind her shield at the last moment, noticeably pushed back by the blast, and then her opponent was gone.

Hopefully, she had managed to give Horus enough time to recover and retaliate against the other Garo.

The blonde didn't have to call twice. Seeing one of her companions struck down by these things was enough, and unlike Horus, Morgan was close enough for Luna to do something about the situation. Whirling around, she ran towards his attacker, leaping up to deliver a flying kick with her Wizard's Foot, only for the Garo to vanish as it saw her approach. To them, she might as well have been walking casually, and her panic made her more predictable. Luna bit her lip as she realised she was stacking advantage upon advantage for these things, but at least it had ceased its attack on Morgan for now.

However... as she forced herself to take deep breaths, she realised she could see the Garo flitting around them. It was injured- the one that had come leaping over here was the one Horus had managed to hit! Luna grabbed her whip and enchanted it, determined to finish what the redhead had started. When she saw the Garo slowing down, presumably to turn around and attack again, she lashed forward- the whip struck something solid- and the Garo was sent flying into the wall, connecting to it with its feet and rebounding towards Luna.

Horus turned just in time to see it happen and he could swear his heart stopped beating for a precious few seconds, but Luna was fast enough to throw her leg up, kicking the Garo in what passed for its face while blue flames engulfed her calf and her foot. The ice spell gave the kick -which wouldn't normally have hurt without much weight behind it- much more power, sending the Garo soaring towards the ceiling, and before it could recover from the shock and the frost that made it harder to move, Horus had drawn, loaded, and fired his crossbow, the bolt getting it where the heart should have been.

Realising it could not defeat these people using normal means, the Garo resorted to its final, most drastic method of attack; as it descended towards Morgan, it detonated its own body. Before it could fully do so though, the blonde would feel a sharp blow to his back, sending him tumbling forward just out of the explosion's range.

Luna rolled up her whip and looked around, realising the wall of flames had come down. She wasted no time in running over to Horus, crying his name as she threw her arms around him. "Sweet kick," the redhead said, a faint grin on his face. "Where's the last one?"

"I think it retreated," Luna said, not pulling her face back from where it was buried in his chest. "I don't sense it anymore."

"If it retreated, then it went to get reinforcements," Horus immediately realised. "We can't stay here, we'll be sitting ducks." Luna protested that he needed to tend his wound, but he ignored it. He was used to fighting in spite of injuries. Honestly, his earlier pause in fighting had been inexcusable as it was. Besides, they had no healing ointments or anything of the sort, and no one in their company mastered healing spells. "I'll be fine, just give me a minute to adjust. Morgan, are you alright?" He looked at the blonde, nodding in acknowledgement. "Thanks."

Tessa coughed to draw attention her way, then gestured toward the end of the hall with her sword. The shadows in the hallway had lifted perceptibly, and now it was obvious they were practically right on top of the door. Since no enemies were apparently forthcoming, she sheathed her sword.

"I think they were trying to keep us out of the next room. Let's disappoint them, shall we? Y'know, I wonder if the Garo are related to what's going on here. They're not from here, something weird's going on, they're blocking our progress...conspiracy! I dunno what they have to gain though. Maybe they're just minions. But it can't be a coincidence, right?"

"We don't know much about the Garo," Luna explained. "We don't understand their motives or their hierarchy. It's possible they work for a master, but we've no proof that they aren't their own master, or hive-minded like bees. All we know is that they oppose the Kingdom in almost everything it actively does." She turned when she heard Horus hiss, seeing him pick at his open wound, frustrated that it would not close up and stop leaking sooner. Knowing he wouldn't listen even if she told him again he needed to have it tended, she turned back to the others. "Horus is right, though- time is of the essence." She started walking, holding her arm out to her companion so he could lean on her if needed. "They know we're here now. Chances are we'll run into more of them as we traverse more of the temple."

As they continued through the rooms and up stairwells, she suddenly heard a soft cawing from outside, seeing a flash of blue as Cryo soared by. The enormous bird's presence was reassuring, and she realised that the higher they climbed, the more space there was for it to interfere in any more upcoming battles. Walls were broken in places, wind and watery sunlight breaking into the temple and stroking her face. She sighed. Part of her felt they were getting closer to the top, but at the same time, something gnawed at her. Something wasn't right...

Horus had to grit his teeth for the first few minutes, but soon enough, he grew used to the dull throbbing in his side and sped up, reclaiming his position in the group's lead. Still, when he reached the next stairwell's top, he swore out loud and stopped, leaning against a wall. "Well. Great." There was nothing in this room. Sunlight was abundant, filtering in through slits in the wall, and there were some odd sun-shaped murals, but no door and no clear way to go. "I suggest we catch our breath, go back down, and take one of the other routes once we get there."

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Tessa muttered to herse, lf. "Why would the Garo be keeping us from getting to nothing? A puzzle. There has to be a puzzle here. Hm. No switches. No buttons. No monsters, either. Hidden treasure chest? Hard to prove. What do we have to work with...?"

Tessa examined the room, arms outstretched as if to touch something in the air in front of her. There as lots of light. Her shield could reflect that. Oh. Duh. Light. Sun murals. So obvious! She lined up her shield to bounce a beam of light back onto one the murals, holding it there as it began to glow. Suddenly, the image began to fade, and a chest materialized in the center of the room. Curiosity pulled her toward it, but she staved it off long enough to reveal a door past the other mural. That task accomplished, she opened the chest and pulled out a fairy-in-a-bottle.

*muffled screaming*

"What's that? I can't hear you through this bottle. You'll have to speak up."

*enraged screaming*

"Nope, still didn't get that. Maybe try signing? No, never mind, can't see your arms. Do fairies have arms? Oh! I should just open the bottle." Tessa popped the cork...unleashing a cobalt bolt of lightning that went straight for her forehead. Her head rocked back, more from shock than pain, and the bottle fell from her hands and shattered on the tile floor.

"Why didn't you just open the bottle to begin with!? What is wrong with you? Agh! First those Garo stuff me in a bottle, then I get rescued by a moron! How'd you even figure out how to release me? I am honestly shocked!" Tessa opened her mouth to reply, only for the fairy to zap her in the forehead. "Nope! Rhetorical question. Don't care."

The fairy flew over to Horus and Luna, leaving Tessa blinking in confusion.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're all here to stop the Garo. It's simple, really. Climb the tower, kill the ancient worm monsters they released, lift the curse. Mission accomplished. Before you ask, no, I do not know more about the worms. No, I do not know how to kill them. That's your job. Figure it out. I have...complete faith in your collective abilities. Really!"

(Taking Fairy Companion as Tessa's reward. As her PWC has risen to 3/1/4, that will be 50 rupees, so I'll be making up the difference from her personal funds. I can change the fairy's exposition if you had any other ideas about how this quest plays out!)

If he weren't so fond of his good looks, Horus would have started tearing his hair from his head. They'd been stuck with Tessa all this time, and now they'd have to put up with a Fairy with about the same amount of self-restraint and intelligence as the girl did! He felt Luna pat him on the arm sympathetically. Then at least he wasn't the only one who thought this mission just got a whole lot less enticing. "You think it's too late to return to the castle and demand compensation for this shit?" he muttered to her, the only response she gave being a wry smile.

"Well, let's see if we can't bust out of here and make some progress," he finally said. Physical exercise always made him feel better, and if nothing else it'd distract him. He swatted at a stray Keese.

Luna watched him, nodding. "Yes. Tessa freed the Fairy by shining light on those murals. Maybe one of the others will open a way forward?" Unfortunately they hadn't picked the right one the first time, she thought wryly. As she studied the murals, hoping for a hint of which one they needed, she waved her arm around to chase off a few Keese that had fluttered down to harass her.

"Damn it," Horus said, swatting around at another bunch. "They're persistent today. Were they even here before? I didn't notice them!"

Luna gave up, her concentration too far gone thanks to the flock. "They're coming in from up there," she said, looking up at the ceiling. There was a large crack in the stone ceiling, through which an immense black cloud poured into the room. Upon second look, however, the cloud was a gigantic flock of Keese. They gathered together, carrying what appeared to be some sort of yellowish-green crystal ball in their middle. Luna stepped back, watching as the flock twisted into a less tangible form, resembling a spectre holding a large, sharp...

Ohhhh.

This could end poorly.

The fairy froze for a moment, dumbfounded by Morgan's questions.

"You...don't know there's a Great Fairy in Ikana, do you," she said, making the question into more of a statement. "I serve her. I was here on a petty errand, and when the Garo came in, whatever they did didn't effect me. Probably because I'm not undead. Bing bang boom, I ended up in a bottle."

She startled at Horus's cursing, giving off a ringing sound as she shook in midair. Then...she looked up.

"Oh. Lovely. They left me a guard. You," she commanded, turning to Tessa, "shush. I can tell you're about to start babbling again. Less talking, more killing, please."

Tessa shook herself, visibly giving up on trying to process what was going on anymore. She looked up at the monster, noting the scythe it carried as well as the cloak of living Keese. Her blood ran cold as its gaze shifted to her and it raised it scythe.

Instinctively, she raised her shield to block the incoming blow, and got knocked right on her ass for her troubles. She rolled with the blow, coming to her feet just in time to avoid the follow up strike, leaving the scythe to bounce off the stone floor harmlessly. Apparently satisfied, the monster drifted backwards and examined its opponents further.

"Sooooo...any ideas?"

(I promise the fairy is mainly here to keep Tessa in line, BP. She just has about the same tolerance for stupid as Horus, and a less lethal method of shutting Tessa up.)

It was at that moment that the already damaged and cracked ceiling above them collapsed with a loud crash. Although the spectre seemed unfazed, the Keese scattered in order to avoid being crushed- Horus grabbed Luna and did the same, diving out of the way of a falling block of debris at the very last second. But what had caused the collapse? Surely the towers were not so decrepit that the four stood to be buried in them? Before anyone could regain their footing, their saviour announced itself with a loud, angry 'SQUAWK', prompting both Ikanans to look up.

On top of the debris stood Cryo, cold steam sizzling off his ice blue feathers and his talons digging deep into the stone blocks he had crashed through to get here. His wings were spread wide and he stood slightly hunched over, as if to intimidate the spectre. In fact, his size, bulk, and icy aura gave the monster pause, but it soon raised its scythe once more. It was about to land the weapon on the bird, when a crossbow bolt whizzed by, cutting through its arm and drawing its attention. "Damn," Horus said, "I'd hoped that would work."

"It's barely corporeal," Luna mused, "of course a physical weapon won't get stuck in it." What was worse, now its attention was firmly rooted on the duo. "But what about the core?" she asked. The words had barely left her mouth when the shadows shifted, re-oriented themselves to cover the orb entirely.

"Yeah, we might have more luck on that," Horus agreed, stepping back. "Alright everyone, the smartest person in the room has spoken! Focus fire on the big green gem!" Cryo gave another squawk as if to voice his agreement, although Horus was fairly sure the bird had not understood his words.

Tessa was, fortunately, just out of the "get splattered by the ceiling" zone when it collapsed above the group. Still, a handful of falling rocks is a handful of falling rocks, so she ducked and raised her shield above her head. The fairy- who still hadn't mentioned her name- ducked under the shield as well, as a stone only big enough to prove a minor nuisance to a Hylian might well prove fatal to a fairy. As the dust began to settle, Tessa stood back up, allowing the fairy a look at Cryo for the first time.

"A bird. A giant bird. From the ceiling. Sure, why not? It's just going to be one of those days, isn't it? I give up! I'm done. So done," the fairy muttered into Tessa's ear. Tessa half heard her, but was more interested in what Horus and Luna were saying.

"Right, focus fire! With my...oh. With my sword. Yeahhhhhhh that's not gonna work. Need to get a slingshot or something after this. Maybe even a bow," she complained to no-one in particular. She wasn't really even certain any of the others were in earshot of her. She looked at her shield. "Maybe I can at least distract it?"

As the creature glared daggers at the others, she re-positioned herself under a patch of bright light- not a difficult task, since the room might now function as an aviary. For loftwings. When she was sure the monster wasn't looking at her, she raised her shield, causing a beam of focused sunlight to lance out and stab at the darkness surrounding their foe.

The result was somewhat more, ah, spectacular than expected. Angry keese screeched their lungs out as the light blinded them, and the shadows about the core peeled away. The bats scattered, unable to see well enough to maintain position, leaving the beast vulnerable.

"Ha! Success!" Tessa shouted. Moments later, under her breath, she added: "Totally meant to do that. Yep."

When the longshot's sharp point connected with the green jewel in the center of the spectre, an eerie howl of pain resonated through the room, the Keese seeking out the source of the pain and converging towards Morgan. "Cryo, do something!" Horus shouted. He would help Morgan, himself, but he was occupied- with the spectre itself apparently stunned by pain, he could close in and use his sword to really dish it out. Cryo, for his part, dislodged himself from the ground and gave his large wings a few good flaps- the air he displaced formed a strong current, blowing the bats off course and scattering them once more.

Luna observed the battle, but found herself struggling to keep up. Horus was shouting taunts and curses as he struck at the core, on the other side of the room Morgan and Cryo were occupied with the bats, and Tessa and the fairy's voices tried to drown out anything else. Frustrated that she couldn't process all the information at once, she rubbed her temples, finally deciding that Horus was the one in the most danger and in the most need of help. She reached forward with one hand to designate a line among which her ice magic would shoot up and freeze the gem, but before she could channel the spell, her heart stopped.

Although Horus had definitely managed to hurt it, for a moment the spectre had recovered from its initial pain and raised its scythe once more. The redhead thought to parry it with his own weapon, but the scythe phazed through both the steel and his own flesh, the spectre finishing its swing effortlessly, as if he hadn't even been there. But it had definitely had an effect on him. Pain swamped him, all his strength left his limbs and he fell to the ground, unable to breathe when he realised his heart was no longer beating. "Horus?" Luna called when she saw him fall, his sword clattering loudly on the ground as he dropped it. When he didn't get up, she ran over to him. "HORUS!"

As she reached him, she fell to her knees, putting her hands on his face, in his neck, his wrist, anything, before shaking him. "No no no no no..." she muttered, mind racing. What was she going to do without him? Who was going to protect her and care about her and- understand her, if not him? "Horus!" she cried, desperately hoping he might still hear her. When the realisation kicked in that it was too late, she braced herself, screaming at the top of her lungs, "NO!"