We're Just Graverobbers (Squish, Guy)

The hoofbeats of an off-brown steed trotted quietly through the sand. Gordon snuffed the chilly air, his expulsions coming forth as a misty white. The humble steed carried two little brown bodies atop its back. As his horse neared the fabled garden, Guy gently pulled the reins to bring the beast to a stop.

A slight nudge of Guy's elbow caused the bundle of blankets behind him to stir awake. From between the tightly-wound cotton came a glow of orange eyes. Gustav's voice cracked, quietly, "I didn't expect it to be so cold on the beach..."

"...That tends to happen in winter," Guy sighed, words muffled into his tightly-wrapped scarf.

According to his contact, a Hylian going by the name of Locke, an ancient Goron nobleman--or equivalent of a nobleman--laid buried here. Guy assumed that Gorons weren't normally buried in tombs--that was more of a Hylian thing. Groseph, the Goron's name was, according to Gustav's history books was not an average Goron. While strong and courageous, he treasured delicacies far too much even for his race, and was known for practicing numerous Hylian customs, even to inlcude their bizarre obsession with clothing. Guy could relate, shamefully enough, being a Deku Scrub who wears pants and a scarf...

Supposedly, somewhere in the vast overgrown garden in which Gordon now stood, was the entrance to Groseph's tomb. That is where he, Gustav, and Locke were arranged to meet at sunset. The sun had nearly fallen, casting eerie shadows fromthe rusted metal fences which bordered this garden. It laid at the eastern side of Death Mountain--where Groseph supposedly reigned--a stone's throw away from the shores of Hyrule Bay. The day had already grown so dark that Guy couldn't see where the garden ended, much less if Locke was already here, hiding somewhere among the overgrown fauna.

"And you must be Locke," announced Gustav. The round merchant abruptly floated through the air on helicopter leaves upon his bulbous head, he landed a short distance away from the Hylian, before securing his uncanny fedora back in place to hide the leaves. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. Now then, where shall we begin?"

Guy verged on throwing his face to his palm. To him, Gustav was a valuable contact, but little more. His forward attite and semblence of manners made it overly apparent that he was only here to appraise the goods and nothing more. Guy didn't bother explaining this to Locke; a man looking to rob a tomb probably was able to size up the situation without an explanation, he assumed. Insulting Gustav aloud wasn't necessary, either.

After throwing himself off the steed's back, Guy motioned to Gordon a gesture that meant for him to keep put. He already knew the gesture wouldn't matter, but the horse would come running when necessary regardless. With that aside, he approached the other two, keeping his hand only a few inches from the hilt of his blade at any moment.

After a moment of silence, Guy glanced up at the Hylian, eyes narrowing only slightly as he callously clarified, "He's Gustav. I'm Guy." The distinction somehow seemed important to him. His companion had already asked the obvious question, so Guy followed up with, "I assume you know the tomb's entrance."

"Good thing you bought those from me before we left, yes?" One could practically hear the greed in Gustav's cheery voice.

An annoyed expression struck across Guy's face. It should have been obvious that Gustav take them himself without needing payment. Thankfully, his unfortunate 'customer' had been meaning to restock his own supply for ages now. He just didn't want to spend nearly every rupee he had doing so.

With a swift movement of his hand, Guy produced a lit bomb from the sack at his hip. Wordlessly, his free hand pinched out the fuse. Needless to say, an unsheathed bomb was inherently dangerous, even if it wasn't lit. "Catch," he smirked, tossing the deathrap to Locke. This would be good, he thought. The Hylian hadn't proven himself yet, so as long as he held the bomb, he would be fragile. It would hopefully either delay a double-cross, or make it all the more obvious that one was likely. If Locke didn't catch it, which was unlikely if this fellow was worth his end of the deal, then that would mean more treasure for Guy anyway.

The man had asked for an explosive, but hadn't pointed out its purpose, suspiciously enough. Guy crossed his arms, impatiently observing. "Lead on."

OOC (open) OOC (close)

Thankfully, this was pretty high up on my wishlist anyway~!
Guy Denzrita is spending all of the rupees from this quest to get a Bomb Bag (65r).
To help pay for this, Gustav Grimm is losing 5r of his own money.

Guy mused to himself as they walked. So long as this bomb actually revealed something, then he had every reason to believe all three were here solely for profit. Gustav's purpose was an appraiser, so he had every reason to be left alive live until the treasure was found. Furthermore, he would need to rely on at least Guy or Locke for protection out in this wilderness. He would also be valuable to Guy in the future, annoying as he was, worth at least a third of the spoils. No reason for him to kill or be killed.

Locke had yet to be fully judged. His most important role--and only role, perhaps--was finding this place. Guy had yet to pinpoint why a third body--himself--had been invited along. His hopes were that Locke still knew something about this place he wasn't sharing. Most likely, it was more dangerous than a typical crypt. His fear was that this was all a ruse; no one would find Guy's corpse here, if that was Locke's intent. Worse, Locke could leave him here to die without his horse. Unlikely scenarios as they were, it was enough for Guy's eyes to remain fixated on the most suspicious individual here...

After Locke had placed the bomb, all it took was an abrupt production and launch of a Deku Nut from Guy's gullet. The minor explosion chained, and a thunderous flash-boom brought the stone door to rubble. Dimly lit, a staircase led down into darkness...

...Abruptly, torches lining either wall spontaneously lit, lighting their path. Guy's eyes shot to Locke, suspicion shooting through his veins. "Someone's expecting us. ...Not a friend of yours, I trust?"

Gustav would have rolled his eyes, if he had pupils. "You're both far too tense. I would wager you two will merely need to put a Stalfos or two back in its grave, that's all." Though he wasn't a good shot, Gustav had already drawn his bow and was heading in.

OOC (open) OOC (close)

Sorry, this thread is probably going to be a little slow because of me. Hopefully that isn't too big of a problem.

Guy nodded stoically in response, his only vocalization a firm, "Hm." With his shield raised and the shortsword--Justice--drawn, his head turned left and right for slits or unusual markings in the walls. Gustav looked ahead, but was blatantly less careful than the two more experienced adventurers behind him.

The stairs eventually led into an open corridor, roughly square, with each crumbling stone wall being four or five meters long. It stench of death was faint, but still present even today. It was obvious that... something... had been here recently. The dirt and dust on the ground had been disturbed. One of the room's two sarcophagi was opened, and plainly bare. Four torches around the room were , bizarrely, lit. There didn't seem to be a door leading deeper, yet, this seemed far too drab for the room of an eccentric, rich, noble-Goron like the rumors suggested...

A sudden rumbling foreshadowed the deafening SLAB of a stone wall impacting the ground--everyone looked behind them to see the staircase sealed behind a slab of stone at least a foot thick. Gustav gasped in horrified shock. Guy shuddered minutely, as he saw the torches change from orange... to red... and then to an eerie, deep violet. A supernatural chill shot through the spines of Guy, Gustav, and Locke all at once.

No one need say the obvious: someone, or something--something not of this world--had found them...

A minute of painful silence followed Locke's shout. The world seemed to stand still. Guy's eyes darted around the room as his face and shoulders remained motionless.

Finally, there came a long hissing noise, as if air was escaping from a crack. In the silence, its whisper boomed and echoed. Eventually, the hiss seemed to become as if it was a voice, asking a simple but profound question: "Why?" Why show itself? The voice was so faint and so inhuman its gender did not even seem certain.

"That hissing..." Slowly, Guy used the edge of his knuckles to nudge his scarf upward so it covered his snout.

Gustav interjected, his tone more curious than anything," A ghost?'

"...or a gas." In Guy's experience, Hylians nor Gorons often make noxious fumes that affect plants. "If it's flammable, a bomb explosion could kill us. If it's poisonous, at least one of us will drop dead soon. If we do nothing, we'll die of thirst... It's a clever trap." At once, he respected whoever designed it, and hated himself for being so gullible. His mind calmly but quickly analyzed the situation, trying to think of the best way out of this mess--his body began to feel at the walls and the sarcophagi, obviously searching for a secret exit.

Gustav gave him a wary glance, "...I'm sure it must be a ghost." His voice began to quake, for the first time since entering this dreadful place. Turning to Locke, he hesitantly asked, "What... do you make of this?"

Gustav let out a quiet yelp, before quickly scurrying back behind Locke. "I-I was fearing so..." He gulped, trying to keep his hands steady as he struggled to load the bow.

A look of mild anger spread across Guy's face. "I fought one of these a long time ago..." 'In a tournament,' he wanted to add, but wasn't sure if Locke nor Gustav would believe it. Poes weren't exactly pleasant, and the one he fought somehow managed to defeat him, if only due to the referee's intervention. Still, it was three--or perhaps two--against one mere ghost. The odds weren't exactly poor.

Guy's hand flicked, and his palm filled with a knife. His eyes watching the spectre. It just bounced there, giggling. He muttered over to Locke, "Is it... mocking us?"

Out of nowhere, a giant scythe shot forth from the Poe's chest, lunging towards Guy--only to hit the empty air where he once resided--before swinging across the room towards Locke. Guy hit the wall, gluing himself to it with a quick spell. Without a moment's hesitation, his free hand shot the knife--only for the ghost to fade to one side, causing the blade to bounce off the tile with an impotent clang.

The scythe shot back into the Poe's hand--grinning broadly, giggling, as its entire body vanished in plain sight... except for the scythe, bobbing by itself in mid-air.

Guy remained on the wall, watching carefully as he slipped forth another knife. His voice tinged with frustration, "I don't suppose either of you has a Lens of Truth?"

Guy raised a brow, examining Locke's mask. "...could've swore I used to have one of those." He didn't mention it, but he was pretty sure his couldn't see through illusions. The temptation to steal it was great, but at the moment he wouldn't be able to make off with it anyway.

Guy dropped from the wall, landing deftly on the floor with a slight thud. Gustav, Locke, and himself were now at three opposite sides of the room, centering around the bouncing scythe in the room's center. It began feinting towards Guy, then towards Locke, before finally lunging obviously towards Gustav--who shreiked and leaped as high as he could, spinning his leaves abruptly to keep him airborne.

Soaring overhead in the best escape plan he could imagine, Gustav fled towards Locke's corner, bringing the scythe--and its visible wielder--along with him.

"Hold it off," Guy called. He remained poised at the room's opposite side, throwing knife held at the ready for the moment it became visible again. "Once I can see it... I won't miss." Guy hoped Locke would have an easy time parrying attacks, since he could actually see it.

The damn thing had used a circle of fire to defend itself as it manifested, but Guy didn't intend to be duped so easily. He leaped towards the wall behind him, walked and then leaped off it high into the air and over the flames. As he hung high in the air, his sword was brandished and, abruptly, his entire body flashed a pale yellow color. A split-second later, he literally shot downwards into the Poe with a ferocious stab, his body striking its own so hard that they both bounced off the ground.

With the beast down, Gustav had an easier time pulling out his bow and drawing an arrow. With an audible gulp, he let it fly, stabbing into the creature's ribs--or lack of ribs. Black blood gushed out and quickly turned into mist, as the Poe loosed a hiss of pain. The malicious, furious glare in the ghost's glowing eyes made it obvious that someone was going to die right here and now.

Guy scrambled onto his feet relatively quickly, chasing towards the downed Poe as he did so. As he lunged, sword-first towards the monster, his eyes met Locke's. In that split second of eye contact, he asked Locke to deal the finishing blow. There was no way this thing would survive from both of them diving onto it at once.

Guy's breaths were still heavy as he sheathed his blade. Somewhat reluctantly, he admitted, "Good work... both of you." There was the slightest grins on his face as he made eye contact with the Hylian--the man was at least decently competent. Glancing towards Gustav, Guy expected him not to fight this entire time. After all, their business relationship usually meant one more or less was the paid bodyguard of the other. It was a bit surprising he would try to carry his weight, but Guy supposed even a cornered mouse will bare its fangs--and speaking of which, they certainly were cornered.

Gustav smiled uneasily, his voice carrying a certain humbleness to it, "Just a lucky shot on my part." His glowing eyes moved towards Locke, watching him inspect the walls, "Anyway... have we figured a way out of here?"

As if on cue, Guy began feeling his wooden fingers along the surface of the walls, inspecting every crack, every gap in the bricks. There could be a loose brick, or a hidden switch, or one of the walls could even be an entire illusion. This was hardly his first time being trapped in a room, and was sure it wouldn't be his last. After groping an entire wall, he moved towards a second--and felt his hand abruptly slip through one of the bricks. "An illusion," he noted to the others. It seemed to only be the one brick that was transparent, which was hardly enough for any of them to fit through. It was, however, enough for Guy to shove his eyes through. He saw a long, narrow passageway... at the end of which appeared to be a crystal switch. He recognized it from similar, ancient structures of Goron and Hylian make...

Glancing over his shoulders, he explained what he saw to the others, adding, "We need to strike it to flip the switch." It wouldn't be easy for him to throw a knife through a narrow slot, and he knew normally Gustav wasn't a very good shot, so, "Locke, can you shoot it?" He seemed to know how to use a crossbow pretty well, after all.