Tower of the Gods [BP and UD]

Tower of the Gods

Triton, Zora Sorcerer (1/5/3) [Blonde Panther] Reward: +40 rupees (Had 28, now has 68)
Marax Rita, the C5 coward (1/2/5) [Unnamed Dude] Reward: Needle Storm, +18 Rupees (Had 0, now has 3.)
Music for this Dungeon Thread.

SPLASH.

Cold water. The familiar, soothing feeling of the current stroking the webbing on his hands, feet and fins. Triton swam back up after his dive, his face caressed by the warm rays of the sun as he broke the surface of the water once more. He stuck his arm up, catching the cane that was thrown down after him.

Admittedly it was nice to have travelled here by ship, rather than having had to swim all the way to the strange tower that had popped up in the Great Sea between Crescent Island and Windfall Island. He'd swam from Hyrule Bay to Dragon Roost Island, and that had been far enough. However, the ship was too big to sail into the tower itself, so the Zora had gotten back into the water to swim in.

"You can come down now," he called up, waving up with his free arm as he pulled his cane underwater. "As soon as you're ready."

Well... he knew he had come here of his own accord, but...

This was bad. There was too much water. Come on, that wasn't fair. Maybe coming out to investigate strange towers was a bad idea after all. Maybe it was all just a terrible, terrible dream and none of this had ever happened. Yes, okay, in theory he would probably float like all those leaves and branches he'd seen in puddles back home, but he'd still die a horrible death.

Marax the coward looked down into the deep blue abyss. How was it that other races tolerated, or even needed to get in this stuff regularly? He was fine just taking a sip of this stuff every now and then, thanks. And he didn't even want to think about what might be inside the tower. There were just too many ways to die here.

"Um, maybe I'll just stay up here, thanks," said the shivering deku to the zora off the boat. "Salt water, ah, doesn't really agree with--"

He was met with expectant eyes.

"Ohh... fine. If I die it's all your fault."

The little wooden man aimed and, leaping off, closed his eyes in case he missed. Drowning was a very real possibility.

The Deku missed its jump, but Triton was a lot faster in the water than he was on land. Quickly submerging, moving in the direction he had seen the Deku fall to, he emerged to catch his companion. "There we go." He knew salt water and wood weren't a good combination, which was why he wondered why the Deku had been brought along in the first place- not just that, he was obviously scared to death.

Still, Triton assumed their employers had their reasons and doing his best to keep his companion above the water, started swimming into the immense tower. Once inside, he stopped, floating for a bit, taking his time to look around. The interior consisted of the same white slabs of stone that made up the exterior of the temple, although the hall was completely submerged and looked like it had been there for a few ages. Which... was odd, considering it had appeared mere weeks ago.

As Triton floated there, unsure what to think, he noticed his eye level suddenly dropping a good few feet. He still couldn't stand in the water despite the level having lowered, which was testament to the sheer size of the hall. "Well... let's start exploring, I suppose." With that, he made a few strokes forwards.

A few panicked seconds of helplessness greeted the Deku as he splashed into the sea. Ohh, if only the terror of that brief spate of time could be properly captured. But there were no words. He could feel himself taking in water with great, unnecessary speed, but thankfully before anything happened the Zora emerged from beneath him.

"Ack..." He said simply as the awful wetness stopped. That was not a pleasant experience. And it would take forever to dry out! Still, Marax glanced around at the entry hall. It was massive, and the vacillating water level did no favors for the deku's nerves.

"Ah, hm," he muttered. There were a few areas jutting out of the water, a couple smaller ones of safe land to the right, and a larger dry spot to the left. In addition, the gaping orifice of a cube-shaped carving of a face spewed water continuously into the room. He wondered idly how the water level could change so suddenly with such a source, but he dared not ask his companion to dive in and find out.

"Should we check the right side first?" He asked, unwrapping his Deku Leaf from around him. He started to flap it behind them, both to generate a slight gust and speed them along, and to dry it out.

"Yes, let's." Triton slowly started flapping his feet to propel himself forward through the water. When the Deku moved them forward with his wind-generating leaf, however, he stilled his feet, using them as a rudder so he could change the direction they were going. Fortunately, when they reached the dry ledge, the water level raised again, so Triton could easily climb onto land.

There were two man-sized statues near the door, although not at an equal distance from the door. The door itself was electrified, and there looked to be a small pedestal serving as a beacon of sorts next to it. Triton looked at the phenomenon, trying to analyze it. However, he interrupted his train of thought.

"I believe we have not been introduced properly... my name is Triton."

Oh, sweet land. How wonderful it felt to have something solid and non-bobbing underneath him! But there was little time to celebrate. Marax found himself looking at some sort of defense mechanism placed on the door before them.

Upon introduction, the deku looked up at the Zora towering over him and nodded. "Oh. I'm Marax Rita. Nice to meet you."

He turned back to look at the conundrum in front of them. The door was giving off some sort of sparks, and there were a couple of statues to either side of it. They were as big as he was! Also near the door, there was a strangely glowing circular spot.

The deku knew nothing of magic, but he figured if something glowed it must be important. He trotted over to it and tried stepping on it.

Sure enough, the door's electricity stopped. Marax smiled. "Problem sol-"

When he tried to step off of it the power came back on. "Or not," he muttered. "So, we have to keep this weighed down?"

Marax' experiment was successful, but not for long. However, Triton smiled as he, too, realized what had to be done here. "Just give me a second." moving over to the staute furthest away from the door, he set to picking it up. Grunting under the weight of the relatively small, but solid, statue, he put it back down on the glowing pedestal Marax had stepped on.

It hit the pedestal with a loud BANG due to Triton's hands slipping off it -they were slimy after having been in the water-, but it did the trick. The electricity barring the door disappeared and stayed away. After waiting a few seconds to assure himself the electricity (which was lethal to him) did not return, Triton passed through the door. Ahead of him lay what at a first glance seemed to be a pointless lower level. Somewhat like a bottomless pit, except it was not as deep and it definitely had a bottom.

As Triton approached it, suddenly the pit was filled up with water. "Looks like the water level raises and lowers here, too..." He then spotted several wooden crates floating on the water. The ledge on the other end was too high to climb upon from a swimming position, so the crates were really their only answer.

"Hmm," said Marax, peering over the edge as well. "Water doesn't agree with me, but..."

He concentrated on his feet and placed a foot on the wall next to him. He then lifted his other foot, and, to his satisfaction, stayed attached to the wall. He began to walk up it a bit higher, to get above the water and look around. It was always a bit confusing, what with the world suddenly turning on its side, but he found he could combat the disorientation by just not thinking too much about it and abandoning his conceptions of gravity until he was back on the ground.

"Let's just take a look, shall we?" Said the Deku to Triton. He walked across the wall over to the other side of the pit, and stepped off. He inspected it. This chamber was a dead end, but it did hold some crates nearby and a strange, pillar-shaped statue. There were already crates in the water, so he ignored those for now. Instead he turned his attention to the statue. Given what they had to do to get in, he wagered that they'd need to use that at some point or other. He tried pushing it, and putting his weight behind it, got to the edge of the pit before stopping.

It would probably sink if he pushed it in, so that was out. Triton may have been able to carry it, but not while swimming.

Marax started climbing up the wall again. After he reached a certain height, he looked down...

"Hey!" He shouted. "There's another one of those pad things from before in the pool!"

Triton was astounded when Marax simply walked up the wall. Not because he didn't know about the wall-walking spell, but he had never really seen it in action nor studied it himself. He had to admit he was impressed with the Deku's magic prowess.

Apparently there was another weight switch on the bottom of the pit. "There is?" Triton waited for the water to come back up and lowered himself into it, diving under the surface to see. Yes. The Deku was correct- there was a switch. Surfacing when the water level lowered again, the Zora grabbed one of the crates and put it down on the pad.

He didn't get a chance to see what happened as the water level raised again and he swam back to the side, climbing onto dry land. When the water dropped again, the crate fell back on the pad, resulting in what had to be a magical phenomenon Triton was not entirely unfamiliar with but had nevertheless not anticipated.

Conjuration. A bridge immediately appeared in front of him. "Well," he said, "That seems to work." Walking up the slope of the magic light, he soon found himself on the way to the other ledge...

only for his footing to let up when the water raised again, pulling the crate off of the switch, which sent him falling with his stomach on the edge. "Ow!"

"Whoa! Are you okay?" Marax cried as he jumped off the wall, unfurling the Deku Leaf to use as a parachute. He floated gently down to his Zora companion, who shortly hoisted himself up and dusted himself off. Landing, Marax asked, "What was that? The bridge just showed up and then..."

As if on cue, the water sank back into the floor and the crate hit the pad again; and, again, the strangely glowing, semi-transparent bridge appeared before them. "Yeah, that! Does it only work when something's on it, like last time?"

The Deku turned to look at the statue that he had pushed here previously. "So, we have to get this thing over it before the bridge's time runs out?"

"I'll be fine," Triton said, although he grunted as he pulled himself onto the ledge. He didn't think he'd broken anything... but he'd definitely bruised a rib. He took a few seconds, catching his breath, and then got to his feet, regaining his composure. When Marax asked him about getting the statue down there, he nodded. "I do believe that is our task at hand."

He then looked at the Deku. "But that shouldn't be too hard. You can push it, right?" After getting his confirmation, he smiled, despite his painful rib. "Very well. I will go down into the water, to the bottom. Don't start pushing right away, I need to remove the crate. I'll step on the pad and keep it pressed while you push the statue over to the lower side of the room."

Again waiting for the confirmation that Marax had understood it, he sat down on the edge and pushed himself into the water. moving down there, he cast a quick Fire to get rid of the crate- the impact shattered the wood, and Triton stepped on the switch.

Marax quickly answered to the affirmative to both questions and braced himself behind the statue. This thing was at least as heavy as he was.

When Triton gave him the word, the little Deku pitched forward and shoved with all his weight and might. He didn't think he needed to move in a particular hurry, but he didn't want to keep the Zora waiting after he had suffered an injury like that.

Marax was straining by the time it was halfway on the bridge, this thing was heavy for a little wooden man like him! He shifted around to the front and, for a change of pace, wrapped his Deku leaf around it, dragging the pillar-like stone carving behind him as he went the rest of the way.

As he got it to the other side, he sat down for a break and shouted down to Triton in between breaths. "I-I finally got it! You can-- come back up, now."

When Triton heard Marax shouting between heavy breaths, he leapt off the switch and swam up to the surface, climbing on to the edge and smiling at Marax. His smile dropped when he saw how tired the Deku looked, though. "You look exhausted," he said, "Let me help..."

He opened his sling bag, pulling out a small crystal glass which suddenly filled a little bit with water. Triton didn't know how much the Deku needed. "Here, drink this. It'll help with that panting. If you need more, I can make more in fifteen minutes..."

As he handed the glass to Marax, he looked at the statue, walking around it. His ribs still hurt, but that was nothing that wouldn't pass. It was his own fault for being so frail, and better him slamming his ribs on the floor than Marax falling into the water. It was certainly an unusual statue. In its eye sockets were gems, which seemed to glint in a light that wasn't there.

Marax nodded gratefully, taking the water and revitalizing himself. It felt oddly invigorating, so he shook his head and looked over to the Zora. "Huh? Wait a minute, shouldn't you have used this on yourself, though?" That fall looked like it hurt. He raised the glass to his companion with his query.

However, regardless of the reason, he scampered over to look over the statue himself. Hm. What an odd figure. "I wonder what we need to use this for, though..."

Triton smiled as Marax offered the glass back to him. "I don't get any benefits from my own spell. Rejuvenation is funny like that. I'm trying to find out about a spell that I do profit from, but for now this is all I have." Marax quickly changed the subject to the statue, and Triton sadly had to shake his head. "Shamefully, I must admit that I don't know either. Maybe we can take it to the central room and see if it belongs anywhere in there."

As Triton pushed the statue to and through the door, he suddenly noticed it started glowing with a faint blue light. Without a word, and without any force exerted on it, it started hopping. HOPPING. He was not kidding. The statue slowly, but steadily made its way to a blueish tile off the side of the solid ground. When it reached its apparent destination, it stopped, its glow faded, and Triton thought he heard a faint chime ring out as the statue he had seen upon entering, the statue from which the water in the room seemed to originate, stopped flooding.

Looking at Marax apologetically, Triton lowered himself into the water and waited for the Deku to hop on. He at least wanted to investigate if there were any places they could access now that the water level was stable.

It was certainly startling to see the statue begin to jumping around; as it did so, so did Marax; but he was beginning to get used to the magic in this place. Things didn't make sense here, he'd just have to deal with it.

Marax sighed and hopped down, bouncing about on the water a few times to decrease the impact it would have on his Zora friend. He felt bad about seeing him hurt earlier, so there was no need to increase it by body slamming him.

The pair proceeded with the Deku Leaf method to the area behind the previous water income. They went through the newly-opened path to find a large, circular chamber. Two more statues greeted them on either side of the entrance, and in the middle, another, but this one was decidedly stationary. It was oddly shaped, a pillar with an odd red orb atop it, a strange eye-shaped structure in front of it. It seemed to be watching them...

Marax attempted to step forward and was stopped by a bright red beam. He scurried back at the sight of it. That... from that trajectory, it had to have come from the middle statue, right? The deku tried moving forward again. And again the beam came and he narrowly avoided it.

It... came from the top? The little wooden man tried launching a deku nut at it...

He immediately regretted that.

With the flash, the beam went berserk, shimmering this way and that, the eye-like part swiveling and spinning madly, and Marax ran like the dickens trying to avoid the terrible red light.

Triton was rather grateful for Marax' Deku Leaf and how useful it was in moving forward in the water. It left his feet completely free as his rudder without tiring his hands needlessly. This made it a lot easier to turn... He better be careful not to get spoiled by the luxury though. The Deku couldn't always be around to propel him forwards.

When they reached their current destination, Triton wanted to take his time looking around the room. He didn't get much of a chance though, as immediately the statue in the middle turned out to be a Beamos. Pulling his foot away from the trajectory of the beam, he went over the spells known to him in his head... but just as he came to the conclusion he didn't possess anything that could deal with the Beamos, which hated nothing other than getting smoke in its eye, Marax had tried to blind it.

Now, blinding a Beamos was generally a very, VERY bad idea. Some old designs would temporarily go numb, but most modern version just went berserk and turned into a laser show like this one did. Triton retreated further into the hallway, making sure it couldn't reach him, and watched with pity in his eyes as the poor Deku ran back and forth through the room trying to avoid the Beamos' lasers.

Finally, the Beamos calmed down, miraculously not having hurt Marax. "...Do you think you could push one of those statues to the other side of the room?" He pointed towards the three glowing pads in front of the electric fence at the other side of the room. "I'll try and distract the Beamos." he then quickly ran to one side of the monster, and the second the Beamos would catch eye of Marax he would attack it and drag its attention back to himself.

Marax ran back into the hallway where Triton was, taking a moment to recuperate as the Zora outlined a plan. He hoped that he wouldn't be laser fodder again, but Triton seemed to be taking that role this time...

Marax nodded and made a wide circle around the Beamos, taking care not to wander into its range before they were ready. The deku kept a leery eye on the eye-statue, distrustful of it after the prior fiasco, and a bit afraid of what it would do if he came too close.

Nevertheless he proceeded to the right statue. Before he did this, he took the time to take out his pipes and play a familiar tune. His anxieties melted away as he played it, and he pitched forward, shoving the statue towards the corresponding pad.

While Marax busied himself pushing the statue to the other side of the room, Triton found that he felt much quicker on his feet, much more easily capable of dodging the lasers the angered Beamos (could Beamoses feel emotions?) shot at him. And it was a good thing, too- unarmored as he was, Triton would probably be crippled if the laser so much as grazed him.

When Marax placed one statue on the glowing pad, Triton decided he'd had enough and he did something slightly rash but seemingly effective- he waited for the laser, then quickly running his open palm in front of him. The familiar glass-like blue aura appeared, immediately shattering as the Beamos' attack was reflected right back at it. The eye started smoking, a sign Triton had done something right, and the Zora hurried to the other pads.

He quickly saw that one pad was behind the electric fence- how were they supposed to get there? Then, when looking at Marax, he got an idea. "Marax! You're made of wood, so you don't conduct electricity, right? Try stepping on the pad there, you're the only person who can! Quickly, before it regains its sensors!"

"Right!" Marax cried as he finished his task regarding the statue. He still had the energy to climb over things; he always had the energy to. Chasing monkeys made him rather efficient at it. He rushed over to the fence as Triton kept the Beamos busy, he scurried over and laid his hands upon the fence. A slight tingle ran through them, but it was nothing worrying. He quickly hurtled up onto and over it, and pressed down the switch.

As he did so, he turned his attention back to the other side of the fence, wondering how Triton was doing...