Stone Tower Temple (UnnamedSquish)

Captain Solomon of Ikana, shipless as he was, still had a few pirate-like habits in him. Chief among them was the talent and tendency to keep his ear, or the part of his skull that was meant to be an ear, to the ground. And what the word around here was, was that something strange was going on in the tower. It hadn't been anything too dangerous or big yet, but the strange aura and sounds it had been exuding lately had put a few citizens of Ikana on edge. Not enough to be a stir yet, but it was something worth investigating.

So Solomon, being the (relatively) good samaritan of a ghost pirate that he was, decided to investigate before the proper authorities had to be alerted. And here he was going, with coat and hat and swords at the ready. As well as, well...

A young lady followed at his coattails. She was clad in clothing tattered and faded as she was. She was a survivor, that much was clear, but...

"Oi, lass. I know ye be as good as m' flesh and blood, so to speak, but ye really should not be goin' in wi' me."

She said nothing, but stared silently at him. He knew that look. That was the "Don't even try" look, the look that told him it was pointless arguing though she would offer no verbal rebuttal. It was amazing how, in their time together, they had developed their own ways of communication.

"Aye, all right then," he said in a resigned tone. "Well, at least ye should stay close. I won't have the beasties eating ye."

This girl, known as Stella Argall, nodded without comment. She would do that much, at least. After all, her entire reason for coming was to not be separate from her sole protector, her one friend in this thrice-forsaken wasteland. She followed in her own, unsteady gait. It would be easy to think her uneven movements clumsy, but it was not entirely true. Truthfully, Solomon had never found out the reason why she had such odd mannerisms, and she had never truly questioned them. In any event, their goal came into sight soon enough as they made the last leg of their trek.

For a moment, an awkward silence hung in the air. Stella had taken shelter, as she so often did when confronted by strangers, behind her giant ivory protector. Solomon sized up this curious being before him. It was not often that one found a Hylian in Ikana. A thief, perhaps. That would be annoying, but in no way threatening. Stella also examined the person they had found, much more quietly and much more cautiously. She had the vague impression that this was the same type of being as her, but she rarely could tell with those... what were they called? Hylians?

And then the boy spoke. Stella said nothing. Solomon, though, put one hand upon his face and raised his secondary arms in exasperation. "Oh, for... by Farore's sacred buns, would ye both quit acting like ye've ne'er seen a mirror 'afore?"

If anything, Stella tightened her grip on his coat. Learning that the thing in front of her was indeed another Hylian seemed only to heighten her suspicions.

He groaned. "Aye, well. I be Captain Solomon." Here he tipped his hat. "And the wee lass here, say hello," he nudged her. She steadfastly refused. "Her name be Stella. She's, ah, a bit jumpy around strangers, y'see."

"Well, lad, as ye might gather I'm a bit of a scary-looking skeleton. Spooky, ye might say." He bowed theatrically for a moment. He then chattered with laughter, dismissing the boy's trepidation with as much affability as a sizable, four-armed haunted skeleton was capable of exuding. "And if there's something going on in the tower--which there may be, given some o' the whispers around here--then I'm probably the most equipped to deal with it, short of a proper soldier."

"And as for the lass... well, she be my ball-and-chain, so to speak. Keeps me grounded, drags along wi' me, and sometimes she even helps with the monsters." In this, there was an air of warmth to his tone. Similarly, when Stella slapped him it was light and good-natured. An odd pair, but one that got along well.

"But enough talk of a shipless captain, eh? What business have ye here?"

There was a pause as the last sentence filled the air. Stella scrutinized him. Solomon, however, gave another gravelly laugh. Climb the ancient, possibly booby-trapped and almost-assuredly dangerous tower, because it was there, is basically what he'd been told this boy's game was.

"Ah, sorry," he said once he finished. "That be a right manly goal ye got, there. Moved an old sea-dog's heart, ye did... so to speak." At this point he gestured to the general area of his ribcage jokingly. It was perhaps a bit of an odd sight to see such a figure behaving so jovially, but if it was Stella offered no surprise.

"Aye, well, that's all well and good, but I suppose first we'll need a way in..." it was only now that she showed a tangible reaction other than wariness of the newcomer. She tugged on Solomon's cape, and he looked down at her. "Oh? Ye have an idea, lass?"

She nodded, then, after a moment's silence and concentration, produced from her open palm a small Keese. With a small, fragile-sounding voice, she said--almost whispered--to it, "We need... a way in. Can you... find it?" The Keese made a little shriek of assent, and flew round the circumference of the tower, searching. After a moment, they heard its call again and went to find it.

They found it flapping about near a gemstone in the tower, and upon their arrival it flew back to Stella like a dog awaiting a treat. She let it land on her arm, pat it on the head, and dismissed it back into the ether once more. "Hmm. So that be our way in...?" asked her guardian, though he already knew her answer. She nodded simply. And with that, the Stalfos drew a blade and, in one smooth motion, swiped the air. A crescent of energy flew outwards from the gladius, striking the gem squarely, and the tower made a scraping noise as an opening formed in it.

"Aye, boy, but don't ye wander off too far now. Ye don't know what's in here..." The skeleton placed a single arm on the boy's shoulder to keep his enthusiasm from becoming harmful to all of them. At this, though, Stella's grip on his garment tightened. "...Hm?" The good captain looked down at her to see what was the matter. It was subtle, but she was showing emotion for the first time in a while. She seemed... angry?

Well, that was decidedly unusual. Why would she be... wait a minute. "Ye cannot be serious. Yer not... jealous?" Oh, okay. That saw an immediate reaction and not a good one. He had made sure to say that quietly so as not to alert Morgan, but her agitation was readily visible now. Her cheeks had turned scarlet and she looked angry to anyone who bothered to examine her.

Solomon sighed. Seemed like he'd still need more practice at this...

Either way, though, it seemed that for now they would have to move past the more fantastical sights of the building for now. He thought they could probably jump to the nearest of the platforms, but closer inspection revealed it was just slightly too far to be safe. So, he led the way up the one moderately intact staircase among several broken or weathered structures rising around them, hiding his mortification. They came across, in short order, a doorway, though the door guarding it had long since broken down and become rubble. He stepped into the chamber, revealing a row of robed, but oddly-formed statues each holding a bowl towards the other end of the room, and two more frightening, armored rows on either side of them... watching.

Solomon didn't say it but he really wished Morgan had not done that. He was fine with being in front; he had gotten to used to that, actually, what with his adoptive daughter having that habit and all; but it was clear enough even without looking at her that Stella was fuming silently. If she gripped his coat any tighter he feared she would tear it to shreds. Even worse she had started fidgeting, somewhat violently, which she rarely did outside of great stress and/or anger.

He stepped forward before it could get any worse, and rapped one of the statues gently with one of his arms before checking it closer. It showed no reaction to being tapped, and looking closer the statue seemed solid save for its arms and the bowl. On closer inspection, the arms seemed as if they would move, and the bowl was an entirely different object from the statue, being an actual stone bowl.

Curious, the captain pressed slightly on the bowl in front of him. He could hear the sound of a mechanism of some sort operating in the distance, but when he removed the pressure he could hear the mechanism operating once more. They'd have to find a way to weigh down the statues, it seemed...

Stella said nothing, but picked up some amount of rubble where she could. In what was a rare occurrence for her it actually took some amount of effort to maintain her tacit demeanor. Especially with that lousy, taunting grin... he couldn't have meant it that way, but she had no way of knowing that. To her it was just a sign of his maliciousness.

So she busied her hands with work, passing the stones and other things on to her bony protector. A terrifying thought entered her mind. What would she do if one day Solomon was no longer with her? No. That wouldn't happen. This boy was the enemy. She ingrained that into her mind.

Either way, they filled the bowls so that each had something in it. There was rumbling each time one was depressed. When all were full, the trio ventured outside to see what their work had wrought...

The platforms had rearranged, to be sure, but they were... scattered. They were clearly not where they were intended to be, with some on one side of the wall and others on the other. Something was off here.

The rope she understood. The rocks were somewhat curious and the pair of socks she found unusual. But when he pulled out a pair of frog legs she was entirely confused.

The hookshot he brought out, though, did seem as though it might be useful... though you would never hear her admit it. She followed him several steps behind, staying away as if she feared he might be leprous.

"Hmm? Ahh..." the skeletal pirate captain inspected the tool. He had never seen this before, but it seemed to be some form of grapple. That could be very good with these troublesome platforms, but if there was only one, which there seemed to be...

"All right. I'll use it. Hang on, kiddies," he said simply. Stella, without a word, grabbed onto him and held tightly as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Solomon, for his part, put one arm around her to keep her secure and offered another to Morgan.

With the first hurdle dealt with, Solomon wordlessly took point again. "Aye," he said as he drew his weapons. He had a bad feeling about this... "Stay behind me, kids. My bones are aching..."

Stella needed no prompting. She too felt a sense of wrongness in the air. The entered a circular chamber adorned with a statue in each corner, and a crystal in the middle. Both Stella and Solomon ran their eyes around the room for anything that could be a trap, but the only thing they saw was this switch...

That was almost certainly a bad idea. But neither of the two could see any other option... the first door-like openings in the walls were so far up that there was no using the hookshot. With a tap of his gladius, he activated it. A great rumbling all around them--no, he realized, under them--let him immediately know what a mistake that had been.

With the floor itself trembling, they did not notice the movement of the four statues until one of them came plummeting down just inches before Stella's face. Or rather, both the Death Armos came down... and the platform they stood on rocketed up.

The hook embedded itself firmly in the jewel, and, after a moment, reeled back with it in tow. The statue from which it had been extricated shuddered and finally crumbled into dust in the air. If anything, the other Armos began thrashing even more violently. As they did so the platform shook with a great struggle. Bits and pieces of it cracked with stress and crumpled off as the Armos danced their pattern of death.

Solomon blocked one that had lunged clumsily towards him with two of his arms. Then the two outer arms stabbed it from each side, prompting it to both fly back and continue its rage with even greater energy than before. Stella had already disappeared amidst the chaos. Solomon wasn't worried. She had a habit of doing that.

The remaining floating statue plummeted into the ground angrily, but the Stalfos had already shifted back. It rose again to try, but an arrow flew from parts he knew not and struck it in the chest. Startled, the Death Armos flipped upside-down, and slammed straight into the ground. Solomon knew not to relent. He went forward with four gladii to strike the crest in the center of his foe, brandishing each blade in a frenzy. From seemingly thin air, Stella had appeared with daggers in hand to stab at it from behind. It let loose a ghastly cry before finally crumbling beneath the assault. Stella stood stock-still and in an instant was gone from view again. The two remaining Armos began hurtling from wall to wall with such ferocity that Solomon knew blocking was out of the question. As they did so, the platform, still rising, groaned and creaked from the strain...