Temple of Wind [BP/Quill]

Temple of Wind
- Molly Nimikins, Professional Treasure Huntress (4/2/3 Mogma) [Blonde Panther] Reward: 5 profession rupees towards Treasure Huntress level 2, Bomb Bag, +5 rupees from Nose for Treasure.
- Loft Kiratel, Childish Cuckoolander (2/2/5 Hylian) [Quill] Reward: +40 Rupees.

In front of the cave, a humongous molehill slowly started forming. Slowly but surely, the earth was pushed up from below, although no mole that normally appeared in Hyrule would be able to dig through the hard, solid earth that was not blown away by the strong wind on the island, nor to create a hill of this immense size. Finally, two long arms came out of the hill, covered in clawed, but also furred gloves. They came to rest on the ground and seconds after, the full head and torso of Molly Nimikins came to the surface. She immediately lifted her claw and swore at the loose dirt being blown into her face, but left it at that as she'd caused the damage herself.

For once, Molly had managed to send her companions off on a treasure hunt around the foundations of an inn that was set to be demolished, while she had gone off in the other direction on a solo mission. Someone had asked her to retrieve an item called the Regal Ring from the Temple of Winds on a small island in Hyrule Bay. It had taken Molly several days to get there, but tunneling under the bottom of the sea had proven a stupidly effective way of getting there dry and unharmed.

Knowing there was no one better than her at hunting down treasures, she spent a few seconds in front of the cave entrance. After a few minutes of sniffing the fresh air and feeling her fur ruffled by the strong winds, she sunk her claws into the sand in front of her and started lazily digging, intending to get just far enough under the ground to avoid the worst of the wind.

I have never evah done a CD with only one character, which is reason enough to use just Loft, inarguably the most difficult of my duo to use on his own. I have an irrational fear that Marcus will be denied entry for not completing every dungeon, but after re-re-re-re-reading the rules, I know I am safe. My discomfort is reason enough to give this a go. BP, please edit out Marcus' name from the rewards listing.

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Row, row, row your motor boat, gently down the Hylian Sea! Merrily merrily merrily merrily, Loft was really hungry.

But, seriously, he was. Starving. His last meal hadn't been in a whole day, when he had stopped on a random island to pig out. His stomach was grumbling and punching his chest like a spoiled toddler, and no matter how much Loft comforted it, it refused to settle down and take a nap. He had gnawed on his arm once or twice, but the pain overruled the hunger. For now.

He had also learned a very important lesson: Deku Nuts weren't edible.

"Land ho!" Loft cried out to his nonexistent crew. "Man the sails, drop the aft-linings, ring the quarter bell! An island be upon us!" He stopped the boat, making sure to take the keys with him (he had forgotten them once, and it had been really awkward when he came back to see lizard-people trying to work the ship), and hopped out. Remembering a lesson he had learned from the island of coconuts, he tied it to a nearby tree and walked away. Another lesson learned: always tie your ship down if you don't want it to float away. His clothes were still stiff from all that salt, and his hair- goodness, just don't even bring it up.

He jogged down the beach, the breeze ruffling his hair and making this warm day very nice. The wind was blowing, the sand was nice and hot, the wind was blowing, the sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the seagulls were squawking in simpleminded stupidness... the wind was blowing... really hard, actually. He stopped. Before him stood a cave, out of which winds blew so strong that Loft found it hard to walk too near. He growled and stomped his feet.

Something really furry was nearby. Loft's mouth dropped in a perfect 'o' and dove toward it, his arms reached out to grab the adorable animal in a huge hug. "Bunny!"

Just as Molly told herself to make up her mind and she wanted to dig more fervently, she heard a male's voice screaming 'bunny!' and she was tackled, falling forward and the impact pulling her relatively small and light lower body out of her burrow, exposing it to the cold harsh wind.

She needed about a second to realize what had happened, but as soon as she did, she jumped up, putting her tail on the ground and bracing it so she could stand. As most Mogmas, she had trained her tail rather than her largely-useless stubby legs to support her above ground. She immediately lashed out at the young man, who seemed to be a Hylian. Recalling an unfortunate almost-encounter with a Hylian girl, she snarled. "What is it with Hylian kids and thinking we're some sort of stuffed animals they can squeeze the ever loving daylight out of?! I'm not a bunny, I'm a Mogma!"

An unusually strong gust of wind almost blew her over, prompting her to hop to retain her balance. Realizing that staying mad wouldn't do her balance any good, Molly crossed both her arms and her legs and sighed. "What are you doing here, bub? This isn't exactly a holiday resort."

Whoa. The bunny could talk! Loft's mouth hung open with surprise as it ranted in its adorable voice, then tilted his wind-swept hair to the side. "Mogma? What's that?" His stomach rumbled, and he rubbed it, his face all pouty and sad. "Loft hungry," he said over both the growling and the wind, "and this island's empty and cold as a cucco's heart!" And it was. This place was a lifeless chunk of unfeeling rock, with no love or compassion or edible yumminess thrown in; just solid earth and stone and the mountain in the middle. "What's in there," he asked, pointing at the windy cave, "food?"

He didn't know what a Mogma was? This puzzled Molly. Then again, she supposed it was only recently that some of her kin had shown themselves to the rest of Hyrule, and in fairness, other than her Moggers she hadn't really encountered any burrowers herself. She supposed that if he hadn't been exposed to them, it made sense that he didn't know about them.

Still, she sighed. "We're a subterranean-dwelling race. For now, just remember that I'm a person, not a bunny."

The boy had redirected his attention to the cave and Molly grinned. "Who knows," she said. "I know one thing for sure though, and that's that I smell treasure inside." Whether it was the treasure she was looking for or something else, she left up to chance. Actually, it would be better if there were other treasures inside the cave. More haul.

"I can dig under whatever source is producing the wind. If you want to follow, stay low."

Loft nodded seriously and placed his fist over his heart. "Not-bunny. Person." If it was a not-bunny person, why was it pretending to be a bunny? This confused Loft, and after many seconds of deep contemplation he decided that he knew the answer. She was obviously a secret agent, infiltrating enemy territory with her clever bunny disguise. Nobody would ever hurt the cute widdle bunny, or suspect them of stealing their most precious of weapon plans.

His mouth fell open. "I get to be a secret agent, too?" This was awesome; it was every ninja's dream to be a secret agent! He sniffed; his eyes were starting to water! "Right," he said, grinning, dropping low to the ground, "stay low. Ready whenever you are, Cap'n!"

Molly blinked at the kid's reaction, decided that Hylians were idiots, and started digging. As her gutter reached the mound of the cave, she felt the wind blowing over her head uncomfortably strongly and she dug herself in, burrowing straight ahead under the ground until she felt safe to say that she had gotten under whatever it was that was creating the wind.

Touching her claw to the material above her, she scratched it to test if it was rock or soil. From what she felt, it was normal soil, so she could safely assume that she wasn't going to tear down a wall. She burrowed back up, looking around.

Inside the cave, there was no wind whatsoever. However, when she looked back, she didn't see anything that could have caused the wind, either. Confused, Molly decided to leave it as it was and turned back around. Just in time, too. While she had been turned around, a ChuChu had snuck up on her and now started to generate electricity, hoping to hurt her.

A nudge from her claw (although most people would have called it a punch, she guessed) sent it flying towards the nearest wall, which it hit with enough force that it went SPLAT all over it. Sighing, Molly turned back, leaning her elbow on the ground. "What's keeping you, kid?"

That. That. Oh. Oh! Oh Farore! The eyes, glimmering with squishy gelatin! The mouth, stretching wide and dripping with yellow sugary goop. The little trail of flavor it left behind as it squished and squashed its way over! Loft's mouth was open, there was drool slobbering out all over his tunic, but he didn't care! All he cared about was the little bundle of living jell-O waddling towards him. Oh, happy days! This was a dream come true! For the first time in his life, Loft would be meeting a real. Live. Jell-O! Not fake jell-O, either; oh, no, not any of that sugary, processed glop. No, the real deal!

Splat! "No!" Loft screamed, the sound long and drawn out. He dropped to his knees, sobbing as he pounded the ground. "The jell-O," he choked, "it was here! The precious, so close! So close! You," he said, looking up with watering eyes, "why did you do that to the poor, innocent jell-O?"

"Jell-o?" Molly raised an eyebrow. "Your 'sweet, innocent jell-o' was about to shock the fur off my back." In fairness, the Mogma was starting to second-guess her decision to take the Hylian boy aboard. Was he fully sane? She dared to doubt it. Then again, some people thought ChuChus were cute and were still fully sane. Molly had to admit that if it had been a non-electric kind, she would have left it be, but she hated electricity.

Shrugging and shaking her head, she started moving forward, sniffing around a little. There was definitely treasure in here. She just had to find it, ChuChus and clinically insane Hylian children be damned.

"Necessary sacrifice," Loft puffed. He jogged over to the splishy goo. "On your part," he mumbled. He stuck out a finger and touched the goo. It was like an explosion of flavor in his finger. Literally. His body convulsed as the leftover electricity still stored in the glop raced through his body. He couldn't move, couldn't cry out, couldn't think, it was just painful and hurt- the flow ceased, and he collapsed to the ground. "Ow," he said, "ow-ow." The burst wasn't that terribly strong, thankfully; he could get up without a problem. Walking, on the other hand... well, that was a different bin of noodles. He limped after the bunny mogma, sticking his fingers in his mouth. His eyes rolled back as the taste warmed his tongue. "Mmm," he moaned, "so good...."

"Whatever," the Mogma sighed, as she dug her way through more of the floor. After a few minutes, she realized that the ground was turning increasingly softer, becoming easier and easier to tunnel through. Relieved that something was going her way this time, she happily dug onwards... until she hit something. As she dug her claw into the ground, scooping up dirt to throw to the side, she uncovered a geyser.

The air coming out of it was so pressurized it shot the entire Mogma way the hell up to a higher ledge, which Molly grabbed and held on to for dear life. Finally stabilizing herself, she used her Mole Mitts to make a hole in the cliff that the ledge was a part of.

After a couple of seconds of tunneling (couldn't have been more than a minute!), she popped up out of the ground above the cliff, sighing in relief. Her claws hurt from having had to tunnel through what was practically solid rock, but it was completely worth it considering the alternative.

Mogma woosh up! Was she equal parts bird and bunny? Loft didn't know, but that whole flying thing looked really fun! He could see the geyser plain as starlight, puking air like a diseased puppy into the not-so-clean air. He crawled into it and was thrown upwards, laughing as he floated at its peak. After a minute of giggling, he followed the Mogma into a hole. It was dark and rough, but he made like a worm and squiggled. He followed the bunny bird out the whole and rolled out onto the floor, still laughing from the funness of the geyser.

"Was that fun or what?" He asked, his heart beat thumping wildly and his breathing jumpy as a Tektite.

"Interesting definition of fun you have!" Molly felt the very strong temptation to punch the kid in the head hard enough to break his skull. How hard could it be? But she contained herself. Treasure, she told herself. Just think of the treasure and it will all end well. Tasty, glorious treasure hunting to be done. She sighed, deciding to utilize the most efficient way of moving above ground that she knew; her hands. She planted her claws on the ground firmly, stretching her arms fully to raise her upper body above the ground. Next, she wrapped her tail around her body.

Turning 360 degrees, she looked around and saw that this ledge actually went somewhere, interestingly enough. "Huh. I smell goodies over there." She turned in the direction of the scent, setting her arms and claws forward as a Hylian would his legs and feet. Entering a tunnel through the wall and coming out the other side, she found herself staring down a large, circular room, the floor flat and completely covered in sand. Soft sand, too, from the looks of it- perfect for burying treasure in, and for digging it up.

Still, the Mogma had seen enough of this place to know better than to blindly jump down. She leaned forward a little, extending her tail to her back in order to keep her balance, and looked over the edge in case any monsters were waiting down there to gobble her up.

He followed her down the tunnel, but it was made for Mogmas, not for silly Lofts. He lost his balance and- woosh! off he went! Slipping and sliding and bumping into the furry little thing and sending them both careening into the soft sand below.

Loft coughed up sand. "Sorry," he said, staggering back and brushing sand off his tunic. "I- watch out!" Before he even realized what he was doing, he was pulling out a dagger, sending it whipping through the air a little to the Mogma's left and embedding it into a giant worm that just erupted out of the sand. It fell, screeching to the ground, writhing for a second before attempting to return underneath the sand.

"Gah! You PUNK!" Despite his apology, Molly was about ready to turn around and rake him across the face, but then the sand worm emerged and Loft killed it. ...or at least, Molly thought so at a first glance, but it tried to burrow back underground.

Fortunately Molly was a lot faster than the worm, tunneling into the soft sand towards where it was and using her claws to tear it apart from below, out of Loft's sight. Then, she tunneled back to the surface. "That's taken care of."

Not really, actually. More sand worms came up behind her, ready to avenge their fallen brethren, and as if that wasn't bad enough, Molly felt something tugging on her legs so suddenly and strongly that she couldn't avoid being pulled into the ground. "Aargh! GET AWAY!" She lashed out at the Moldorm that was trying to eat her legs. Just because they were useless didn't mean Molly wanted them off her body, dammit!

Loft would have to deal with the sand worms above. Molly started crawling through the underground network of tunnels that the Moldorm inhabited, hoping to get behind it.

"Don't leave me!" Loft cried as his furry little buddy disappeared into the sand. He faced three worms on the surface of the sand. Their scales glistened with gunk, and Loft wondered whether that gunk tasted like delicious jell-O. The first one charged at him, lunging through the air with super-sharp teeth just waiting to gnaw on Loft's brains. He yelled and scrambled back, and it missed him. Barely. He barely had time to consider plunging his dagger into it before the other two were lunging at him. He skipped backwards, pulling out his Red Candle. When the first one leaped at him again, it was met by a cloud of flames that sent it sizzling to the ground. Roasted worm, yum! Enraged, they both leaped again, and they both fell to the sands, dead. Loft sat down and ran a finger through the goo covering their scales. He stuck it into his mouth and promptly vomited all over the body. Yuck.

SMASH! The Moldorm screeched, a sound that must have been audible even above ground. Molly stayed where she was for a second, before crawling after the fleeing beast, knowing that it would find the shortest route to where she was, only to look around there to see what had hurt it. If she was fast, that would be her opportunity to get a second hit in.

When she reached the Moldorm's backside for a second time, she dug into it with both claws, beginning to tear the monster into pieces one segment at a time. It tried to run away, to shake her, but she kept one claw dug deeply into its body at all times, disallowing it to escape. Finally, she reached the head of the now helpless creature, digging her claws into the skull.

Now assured that it was dead, she started digging back up to the surface. "Bub," she said, sounding more tired than she was. "You alive up here?" She nodded to herself when she saw the corpses of the sand worms. "I guess you are. Find any treasure?"

Loft looked up from his pile of vomit. "That goo," he said painfully, every word hoarse and coated in gunk, "is not tasty." Just thinking about eating the stuff sent him retching again. Eww.

"I coulda told you that." Molly frowned. No treasure, then. And she hadn't seen any down there, either. Ah, well. There was still a lot more cave to be explored. She pulled herself to her hands once more, walking over to the quivering Hylian. Balancing herself on one hand, she deigned to pat Loft on the head with the other one. "The treasure must be further down the cave," she said. "Let's see if we can find a way out of this chamber."

Walking around, she finally felt her claw hitting something metallic that was buried not too deep in the sand. Molly's sixth, seventh, and eighth senses all went off and she dove forward, clutching her claws around it.

It was a small, silver key, heavier than it looked for sure.

"Ooh," Loft said in awe, staring at the shiny object in the furry bunny's hand. "Shiny!" Loft's mouth stretched in a wide smile, a warm happy feeling ballooning in his stomach. This was just such an awesome day! He'd found some painfully delicious jell-O, made friends with an enormous bunny, and discovered a shiny key! Could this adventure get any more awesome?

He glanced above the bunny's head, and his eyes focused on a special part of the sandy wall. "Huh," he said, frowning. "Most of the wall," he pointed around and around the room, "is all sandy-colored. But that part," he dragged his index finger through the air until it pointed at the special part, "isn't. Weird, huh?"