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World of Hyrule - IC

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (The town of Mido, heavy rain, near sundown)

"On your left!" Jerec cried, diving behind a fence. Two arrowheads tore through the planks just above Jerec's helmet. Kayn threw up his shield just in time, deflecting a flying dagger. "Thanks..." Kayn said something else but Jerec couldn't make it out over the din. The nearest building was on fire and the rain was only getting harsher. Though the visor of his helmet kept most of the water out of his eyes, his vision wasn't what it should be. Was it dirt, ashes? Was it sweat? Tears? Whatever it was, this wasn't the time to consider it. The fence felt rough against his hands, ridged and unyielding like Blind.

The bandit was truly a coward, a filthy, sycophantic, craven narcissist. Jerec had heard that the thief had refused on several occasions to end hostilities with Mido. The Village of Outcasts had long since come under the control of the thieves and Blind, their loathsome leader, had recently been expanding their sphere of influence to encompass several nearby settlements. Called on to bolster the local ranks of the militia, Jerec's squad showed up in Mido to find a scene of chaos. Dozens of underworld scum worked their way from building to building, looting and pillaging with impunity.

A third arrowhead punched through the fence behind Jerec, narrowly missing his right thigh. Catching the eye of a pair of militia, Jerec motioned for cover. The two popped out from behind the corner of a shop and loosed a duo of arrows in the direction of the nearest thief. One caught him in the shoulder and he went down momentarily. Jerec took the opportunity and sprang from cover. The deluge had done its work on the ground and as quickly as he'd revealed himself, Jerec found himself in the mud. Not a moment too soon, however, as he discovered, hearing a hollow *thunk* as yet another arrow whiffed above his now prone form.

Recovering quickly, Jerec grasped his spear and continued forward. Nearing the thief with the arrow in his shoulder, Jerec swung his spear forward, bracing for impact. "WAIT!" Stumbling forward, the soldier came up just short of the other man. "I surrender, I SURRENDERAAAA!" The unsavory one held his shoulder as blood choked forth. Jerec blinked once, then blinked again. "What?" he said, blinking a third time. The roar of battle nearly drowned him out but the other must have heard him. "I give up..." he winced, "...I'm done.". The other man dropped his bow and bowed his head.

Several moments passed by, water falling from above, pooling at his feet. Water soaking through his clothes, dripping through his helmet's visor and down between his eyes. Water battling the fire and water battling the cacophony of battle. Water that dropped walls between him and this wounded person. Water obscuring the words Kayn was yelling. What lookout? he thought. And there was a sharp pain in his side. The water ran in rivulets down each link in his mail. It flowed down between his armor plates and over his skin, down the dagger's slight blade to its hilt, down the fingertips to the hand that held it and down the arm and past the now visible face to the thief to whom the arm belonged. The man said something that Jerec couldn't understand but he could see that the man was smiling. That smile that a cheat wears when he's taken a fool for all he's worth.

The man's smile seemed to fade though. Or did it grow too big to be contained by his mouth? The man had sprouted a branch; a branch that grew straight out of his chest. The smile that had left the mouth had traveled its way down its owner's face to the branch and crawled along the shaft to Jerec's hand. Surprised, Jerec let the pole loose and watched in curiosity as the body of his adversary drooped forward once again, a flash of metal showing a single steel root protruding from his back. A moment and an arrow slipped by, a blink again as water found its way into Jerec's eye. Or out of it.
 
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Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (The town of Mido, heavy rain, sundown)

Tightening his grip on the spear, he gave it a sharp jerk and removed it from the limp form of the thief before him. An arrow struck his shield and deflected away harmlessly, shaking Jerec out of his introspection. His side hurt, but he could tell that the wound drawn by his foe's blade had hardly pierced the skin, merely left a bruise that would probably keep him from fading off as he replayed the evening's events over the witching hour. Jerec shook a little rain from his helmet and continued forward, making for a two-story building across the town square. Peripherally, he could see another silver-clad Hyrulian trooper take his left flank. The man seemed to be limping a bit and upon turning his head to take in the man fully, the reason became apparent. Blood seeped from a chink in his armor, just above his knee where a bit of brighter metal showed that some weapon or other had deflected off the armor but found a mark, however inadvertently. The soldier was just that, though, and pushed forward with gritted teeth, building will power before each painful step and breathing it out with every footfall before summoning it again.

Nearing the building, he caught sight of a man nocking an arrow to his bow in a first story window. Being the quicker of the two, Jerec sent his spear hurling through the air and took the other square in the chest, launching him backward into the room. The other soldier quickly followed the spear and was in turn followed by Jerec. Rolling over the windowsill, he was greeted by the flash of a knife and short sword. Narrowly escaping the wild swings, Jerec tumbled backward into the corner of the room and took better measure of the situation. The room was sparse, likely having been cleaned out by robbers recently, with a dead man bleeding against the far wall, a spear protruding from his torso. Two doors, a couple of sconces complete with torches, the man who had attacked him without warning, and the wounded soldier who was in the process of removing his blade from the attacker's back where it was currently buried. "Thanks for the assist." Jerec choked out, catching his breath.

The action was non-stop, brutal and, to Jerec's mind, pointless. Blind should have surrendered hours ago, before the fighting had even started. They were outmatched and outclassed by the local militia, even before they were backed by Jerec's contingent of hardened troops. There was something odd about these ruffians, something unnatural. Even with such a small and un-unified force, Blind's men had made a considerable stand against Hyrulian authority. They fought with ferocity and abandon, as if...as if what? But he didn't know. His comrade had gone ahead quietly, scouting the next room. Jerec took the other door.

The door led upstairs to the second story of the building. Before he had moved half way up the stairwell, he heard voices hushing one another. It wasn't as if he could have been stealthy if he'd wanted to, his heavy metallic shell of armor ensured that. Not having to contend with an unwieldy spear on the confined staircase helped a bit but this wasn't the time for stealth in any case, people were dying in this town. Jerec breathed deeply and bellowed in his most authoritative voice, "This is the Hyrule Royal Army, speak friend or foe!" The answer was possibly drowned out by the rain on the roof or the sounds of wailing and screaming outside as the reply sounded more like the hiss of a rope snake than a human tongue. "Step into view and keep..." His command was cut short by the heat and force of an explosion. Jerec had caught sight of the sparking blue orb just in time and had gotten his shield up to absorb the impact. Still, the bomb tore through the top of the stairway apart and threw Jerec back to the foot.

Rising from the ground and adjusting his helmet, Jerec thought fast and grabbed the body of his previous attacker to the foot of the stair and removed the spear lodged in the man's chest. Stepping out of sight, Jerec waited patiently as he heard two sets of footsteps descending hesitantly, drawing nearer. Jerec tightened his grip on his sword and closed his eyes for a moment. Still rain in my eyes.

* * * * *
Moments later, Jerec stood at the apex of the steps leading to the second story. A voice came from below, "We're clear down here, I heard the explosion, are you alright?" Jerec couldn't answer that per se but instead yelled back that the upstairs was also clear and there were survivors, or had been. There were two men, well one man and one boy. Both looked as if they'd been beaten to finale instead of run through. And there was a girl. Also dead but...goddesses...it wasn't for eyes to see or words to tell. Jerec turned and left the upstairs room.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (The town of Mido, heavy rain, night)

Downstairs once again, the other soldier came into sight through the other doorway. His visor flipped up, Jerec now recognized him to be Enri, a younger recruit with an abundance of courage and a penchant for succeeding against the odds. They had trained together for several months after his induction but before Jerec had been promoted. He, along with the other nine, were Jerec's detachment under his charge. "Well?" Enri prompted.

"I'm fine." Jerec started but couldn't finish. "I'm losing it, Enri." The older man breathed in heavily and took a moment to steady himself. "This isn't war, these people aren't fighting for their country, they're malcontents!" Enri smiled faintly at the archaic term but it really was a fitting descriptor for Blind's people. "I'm having trouble keeping a pragmatic outlook. When we're pawns of our king, battling the pawns of another king, we are mere extensions of his will, fighting and dying in place of our countrymen so other won't have to. But we're...these are our countrymen! We aren't fighting so much as extensions of the king's will as we are putting down misguided and brainwashed sons of Hyrule!" Jerec looked away for a moment and looked back with rain on his cheeks. "What happened to Blind? What happened to my brothers?"

"This isn't personal. We're not fighting over ideological differences or for territory or fortune. But these brutes are murdering the people of Mido and there's no rationality they'll listen to." Enri winced a bit as he bandaged his bare leg. "That's just it, there's no rationality to it! Even Ganondorf curse the name vied for ultimate power. What does Blind fight for? Sure they're looting and pillaging but wealth can buy nothing if you can't sell it and Blind would surely never come to Castle Town to buy a cup of sugar in any case."Jerec held the bandage as Enri cut it with his sword, tucking it into place and trying to flex the leg.

"Perhaps it's some deep-seeded need to bring themselves up by cutting others down? I don't know, but it's not our place to understand why they're doing what they're doing." Enri stood up and took a few painful steps toward the stairway. "Don't..." Jerec warned, "Just don't. The family is dead."

"What if one of the thieves is hiding up there? Did you check everywhere?"

"It's not something that anyone needs to see." Jerec took a step toward the other door. "Come on, they need us." Jerec said, and left the room.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (The town of Mido, torrential rain, night)

Outside the building, Jerec met up with several militiamen and another soldier. "How many are left?" Jerec asked the group. One of the militiamen spoke up, "We figure not more than a score." then ducked a bit lower as if being closer to the muddy ground would keep the rain at bay. "And Blind?" Jerec followed up. The same man replied, "Unknown." Lightning tore across the sky, seeming to rend the upper limits of Hyrule, releasing seas above the clouds. In the spilt-second of light available, Jerec could see the worn faces of farmers and butchers, artists and blacksmiths. To the last, they bore looks of weariness and disenchantment. They were well enough equipped to deal with a band of simple thieves but again, Jerec sensed that something was off. The blood-lust and abandon of this particular group of brigands was out of the ordinary and that made them dangerous. "Listen to me, go back to your homes and protect your families. Hide with your wives and children, guard your possessions and defend your land if you must. The Hyrulian Royal Army will take things from here." At that, some faces brightened and several grew dark but each of the villagers looked to each other and nodded agreement in turn. "We'll rush the bulk of them to give you time to make your way back home, use this opportunity wisely. Now Enri, follow my lead."

Springing from behind the wall where they were resting, Jerec was relieved to see two other soldiers taking cover behind nearby buildings. As he ran, he motioned to them to advance. Rushing across the center of town as fast as his full armor would allow, Jerec was spared several arrows by Farore's providence and tucked himself in behind an overturned cart. The two other soldiers and Enri made it to a row of barrels, boxes of burlap bags, and a watering trough moments later and flattened themselves to their respective cover. Hearing a couple of arrows hit the cart in near unison, Jerec was keenly aware that a true charge of four heavily armored men through a muddy street into an entrenched force five times their size was foolhardy and he didn't plan to lose any men today if possible. Most of them seemed to be on the upper story of the tavern in which they'd taken cover giving them a clear advantage. Instead, Jerec settles his mind to consider a worthwhile alternative.

A charge was off the table, as it was sure to get someone killed. They were already spotted and had lost the element of surprise AND they were currently pinned down in an open area by perhaps 20 men with bows. They could all fit beneath the cart and shuffle forward like a tortoise...I'm not liking the odds they don't have bombs. Glancing to the right, Jerec saw Enri splayed out against a barrel pouring something on his leg from a tap in the side of the keg. The curious scene took on context when he caught sight of the blood soaked bandage on Enri's leg and his nose picked up the sharp sting of distilled alcohol. Seeing his decanus staring, Enri spoke, just audible over the storm, "Run opened it up again." Jerec didn't respond for a moment more, then held up two fingers together and blew a sharp channel of air through his teeth. Enri immediately turned the spigot off and paused. "Help me turn this cart right-side-up." The four of them made short work of the task, dangerous as the occasional arrow was. After explaining a bit more, Jerec held out a burlap sack and the other three filled it near overflowing with small, blue spheres. Setting the bag on the cart and emptying his own store of bombs onto it, Jerec motioned for the four to lift the barrel onto the cart. Lighting one end of a long piece of fuse, Jerec said wryly, "Final call." And the team shoved the death-wagon on its way.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (The town of Mido, torrential rain, night)

*BOOM*

The crown would be allocating a significant purse of rupees to the restoration of the town after this anyway. As debris poured down from the sky as thick as the rain itself, the four soldiers rushed in, followed by three more who had caught sight of the situation and rushed to help. Jumping the row of barrels, each of them could see that the tavern struggled to stay upright, taking on the look of one whom had just spent a debauched evening within its walls. A large section of the structure was missing now, showing the inside like the eviscerated guts of some woodland animal. Flame encircled the opening and shown red within the bowels of the establishment, its primary export now being the instrument of its demise. As he surged forward, Jerec glimpsed an exposed arm half hidden behind a portion of standing wall on the second story. Dropping his defenses and pulling back, he hurled his spear and struck his mark. The spear pierced through the wall and the arm spasmed for a moment before disappearing out of sight. Jerec unsheathed his hand-and-a-half sword and thrust his shield forward once again and continued toward what was left of the tavern.

Upon reaching the scene of devastation, the soldiers parted ways and tore through the building, mopping up any resistance, likely halved by the violence of the preceding explosion. Jerec only had to run one thief through and by the time he was done with that one, the several that remained had likewise been dispatched. Without a single surrender? It was unlike most thieves to fight, especially the organized ones (they stood a decent chance in a Hyrulian jail), to the death. These ones hadn't seemed to give a second thought to the matter, however. And now, soaked through, tired, and covered in blood, the soldiers who stood around him were alone with no prisoners; a true misfortune if Jerec had ever experienced one.

"Is he chained up?!" A voice came from the gaping side of the building. In a moment, another soldier stepped into view. This one walked with a specific stride that Jerec knew to belong to Malachi, one of the few Jerec could pick out when the soldiers were decked in full regalia. He spoke again. "Did you capture Blind?" Each of the men looked to the others and Jerec's eyes scanned the room, settling on each of the surrounding faces. None seemed to have assurance plaster to them and Jerec knew he hadn't seen the leader of the thieves either. Malachi waited for a second and then fumed. "That slippery parasite got away again?! Unbelievable! This menace has to be stopped! Decanus, I propose we fan out and search the village for this coward and stop this from ever occurring on Hyrulian soil again."

"That's a fine idea," Jerec responded, "Everyone, gather yourselves quickly and move out. Find the other three, and sweep Mido, we'll find this Blind and ensure he comes to justice for his actions. If anyone is unclear on this, the man is to be taken alive to stand trial and answer for his crimes. Now move out, and goddesses be with you." The men moved out swiftly but carefully, teaming up in pairs and heading out into the downpour. Jerec himself fell into step with Kayn and the pair left the building through its newest egress. Flames from buildings and periodic flashes lighting lit their way as the two moved from house to house, searching each without success. Coming upon the last house on a path, they found nothing out of the ordinary. Turning toward the center of town, Jerec and Kayn were about to head back to reinforce the rest of the group when a shaky voice came from the house at the end of the path. "Are you Hylian soldiers?" Turning swiftly and in unison, the pair looked for the owner of the voice. Jerec saw the front door of the last house move slightly and a faint light shining through the crack.

"Who goes there?" Jerec said in the metered speech pattern he often used for official interactions. The door seemed to quiver a bit before it gave way and a tiny, old lady stepped out onto the porch. She held a broom before her, pointed at them and shaking. "Are you Hylian soldiers?" She repeated, in a quiet, frightened tone. "Yes, we are. I am Decanus Jerec and this is a member of my squad. We are searching for the leader of the filth that did this to your town. Have you seen an..." Jerec came up short as the woman swung her broom handle in the direction of the nearby woods and said, "One ran by, that way. Tried to get in my home, but I locked the door and the brute escaped." Jerec looked down and noticed muddy tracks on the ground, barely illuminated by a nearby house fire. He looked at Kayn, who nodded, then back at the woman and said, "Thank you, ma'am, you've served your country well this night." Jerec and Kayn began walking toward the forest following the trail. Before they were ten steps, the same frail voice came from behind them, "Just you take care, my grandson went into those woods when he was a boy and never returned. They say that children who get lost in those woods become skull-children, no telling what could happen to the likes of you." And with that, they stepped beneath the canopy.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, torrential rain, night)

"Skull-children, psh!" Kayn said as the two soldiers continued into the woods, following what little traces they could find that someone had recently passed through. "The bumpkins living in these outlying communities certainly are superstitious." Jerec pushed a low-hanging branch out of his way and held it for Kayn, "You might be too if you were raised on the border of such a dark and foreboding wood, there are tales of this place, ancient tales. When your grandparents sit you on their knee and tell you stories of poes amongst the crypts, witches in the swamps, and dragons from far away lands, those stories become woven into your paradigm, they saturate your perception of reality."

Jerec had been born and raised within the city walls of Castle Town and as such, had only just taken his first steps into the wider world upon enlisting. He was still amazed whenever he visited a new suburb or hamlet at the stark diversity he found there. The people were almost of different species from those he had known in Castle Town growing up, they were strong and hardy. The hands of the men were built up with callouses from long years in the fields and covered in scars from a lifetime of toil. The women's hands were much the same, calloused and scraped, so unlike the hands of the Hylians back home. The will of the inhabitants of these small burgs was unmatched in any of Jerec's experiences in what the upper class might call "civilized society". The honor these small-town people showed to their elders, the duty they felt toward their communities, their hospitality...all so unlike us.

"Maybe," Kayn replied, "but that doesn't change the fact that it's asinine to believe that the forest itself could turn children into monsters." Jerec was silent for a moment before responding, "True, very true."

The two hopped a creek, one after another. A frog dove from its hiding place with a startled croak and plopped into the water, disappearing in a swirl of bubbles and silt. The rain here was much lighter as the trees spread their boughs wide in every direction, almost appearing to mesh into one another in places. Fallen logs sprouted tiny, glowing mushrooms that phosphoresced against the deep darkness that rolled out in every direction. Unfamiliar sounds came from the underbrush as they trudged by, frightened animals, branches blowing out of trees. Jerec caught movement out of the corner of his eye and swiveled his head to see...a forest. The woods seemed alive with a spirit more whole than a million individual plants and animals. Almost as if the forest might have a will of its own, as if the forest itself was observing them, feeling them, talking to them.

Half an hour might have passed before either of them said anything. The woods were much darker now, even the light of the mushrooms and whatever they had been getting from the moon when it broke through the clouds failed to illuminate their path. When Jerec bent down, however, he could still make out the tracks of Hylian feet they had been following all the way from Mido. "It's dark, we should find a place to get out of the rain and rest for a bit. We'll lose the trail if we keep going forward." Jerec listened as Kayn talked but his eyes were drawn ahead to a faint light in the distance. He continued forward, keeping his eyes focused on the slight glimmer he could just make out. "Decanus?" Kayn turned toward him as Jerec took another step. "Up ahead, do you see it?" Jerec queried. Kayn stopped and likely squinted beneath his visor. "Is that a light?" Their question was answered a minute later as the pair stepped from the soft forest floor onto a platform of worked stone, half obscured by moss and leaves. Before them was a gaping passageway, obviously of no natural origin. A soft light shone from inside.

Stepping cautiously down onto the stairs inside, the two found the source of the light to be a heaping pile of coals on a pedestal in the center of a room at the bottom. The room had no doors and four walls of equal size and makeup, nowhere for Blind to hide. "Good a place as any?" Kayn asked Jerec. "Yeah, I'll take first watch, get some sleep."
 
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Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, within a man-made grotto, morning)

Jerec awoke without prompting and scanned the room to find Kayn nowhere in sight. The coals somehow still lit the small room with a warm glow and despite the previous night's deluge, the room felt somehow dry and settled. The two soldiers had spent the night taking two hour shifts at watch and judging from the faint natural light being cast down from the stairs, Jerec had gotten the last rest. He rolled over onto his side, waking slowly. Slower still, as the armor (OOC: and now you know I'm not English) he had worn through the knight had seen fit to provide him the pleasure of several kinks in his back. Standing fully, he grabbed his helmet from the floor and placed it back on his head, dumping collected rain from the night's trek onto his hair. Almost as effective as Zoran Coffee.

Wiping his face, Jerec grabbed up his gear and tromped up the stairway. When he reached the top of the flight, he was astonished. Silvers of morning sunlight pierced the canopy above and several rays presumably even made it to the forest floor but although he could tell it was morning, the woods seemed as dark as they had been eight hours ago. The interwoven canopy above was now a bit more visible and Jerec could see that the ceiling of the timber was much higher than he had expected. The trees here grew tall beyond anything Jerec had ever imagined, much less seen with his physical eyes. The tiny gaps in the above leaves and limbs were so fractional as to make it seem that the branches of the trees were the very sky and the sun peaking through was but a collection of stars. Rain fell from the sky but...was it rain? In this place, it may be impossible to tell when rain fell on the outside world as the drops surely continued to fall for hours. Days?

The trunks of trees were like pillars that held aloft the canvas of this starry sky, their roots twisting in gnarled masses, crushing the foundation of the world over millennia. The lowest boughs were as trees in their own right: mighty, burly things that belied enormous power and unfailing longevity. Moss shrouded parts of these ancient behemoths, forming swirling concentric confluences and patterned ranks of uniformly matching greenery...unnatural. Water pooled on the ground and ran in tiny rivulets and streams that curved and wound more precisely and gently than any water should, then poured into patches of proximally-sized stones in odd, familiar shapes. Some of the water seemed to come from minuscule waterfalls that ran down the tops of tree branches and wound their way down trunks from miniature pool to miniature pool before dropping tens or hundreds of feet to the ground.

The leaves at his feet were every imaginable shade and hue of green, every shape, size, and texture. Many looked as if they had been chewed through by caterpillars, the delicate mouths of the potential butterflies leaving naught but a skeletal spread of veins behind in the openings. These criss-crossed webs of space where used to be plant matter were carved in spirals and swirls, as if crafted by some primordial artisan of forgotten times who sat in the trees for all of time, forming his viridian works, leaf by painstaking leaf. But even these wonders went largely unnoticed by the fixated Jerec Korak, who stood stone still, eyes dancing back and forth in his skull.

These eyes followed a coruscating light. Bouncing up and down, drifting side to side, frolicking back and forth, zipping too and fro. The light was faint red, pink, orange...the shade was not one that could be explained or understood. The light was like a foreign word that you couldn't pronounce, no matter how one tried. It dipped to the mossy ground and spiraled around saplings, slipped between roots. When it passed by a branch, leaves seemed to perk up, even grow from bare wood! As it bobbed through the ground-cover, tiny flowers sprang up and moss deepened and swelled. Infinitesimal sounds came from the tiny orb, tinkling...or...laughing??? Jerec felt himself drifting back and his weight shift. He took a step back and...

"Decanus!" Jerec's eyes snapped open.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, within a man-made grotto, morning)

"Decanus!" Jerec's head snapped to the left, then to the right. Seeing only plain stone walls, he pushed himself up on his elbows. Beyond his feet was a doorway, one which hadn't existed in this room the previous evening. Within the doorway was Kayn, who was peering into the darker environs past the new doorway. "How did you...?" Jerec's sentence was cut short by Kayn's reply. "I was getting my boots back on and leaned up against the wall here for support. This stone gave in and this whole section of wall shifted. I pushed against the wall and it swung in. Decanus, this is certainly where Blind is hiding! I see traces of wet footprints in the dust here." Jerec finished sitting up and slid his helmet over to him. Picking it up, he spun it around in the air and caught it, setting it in place on his head. "I can take another watch if you need more sleep." Jerec offered, "Good work with the door."

"I've slept enough, I want to get in there and ferret out this rat!" Kayn was more enthusiastic than Jerec had ever seen him. It certainly was an exciting proposition, a secret doorway leading underground from a hidden grotto deep in the forest. The forest...Jerec thought to himself. "Listen, one of us ought to head back and gather the rest of the squad before we move on this lead, there's no telling what might be down there." Indignantly, Kayn blew air out of his mouth dismissively. "Blind is a dangerous man, he could kill one of us alone, there's no way I'm staying alone or leaving you here. We've tracked him this far, we need to see this through." Jerec knew he was right, but the choices were to head back to Mido and probably allow Blind to escape or to delve into the secret passage and quite possibly run face-first into a horde of thieves bent on murdering them. Both wrong decisions. Jerec considered for a moment before responding.

"We'll move in." Jerec stared off into a corner of the room for a long moment. "Are you up for it?"

"If you are, sir. How's your middle?" Jerec had nearly forgotten about his small wound where the thief had stabbed him in the ribs. The blade hadn't done much more than break the skin but it was a little tender. "Still there." Jerec smiled wryly at Kayn who took a second before smiling back. Then they both stepped into the passageway.

The room beyond the passageway was lit by several braziers of a kind reminiscent to the one in the first room. Did Blind light these? It was likely but seemed oddly unnecessary and reeked of a trap since the first light was visible in the night. Not the actions of a renegade on the run. They stepped carefully through the room, making for the opposite end, which wasn't yet visible in the dim light. Cobwebs hung low from the ceiling and clung to each of them as they continued onward. They stepped over broken pots and scattered pieces of wood, metal, and...bone! There were bones on the floor! "Kayn, watch your step!" Jerec held the shaft of his spear out to prevent Kayn from stepping on a skull dead ahead of him. Stepping more carefully now, Jerec found his way to the other end of the room, more by feel than by sight as this area was exceedingly poor of illumination. "There's a door over here." Jerec stage-whispered to the other. Grabbing the knob, he twist...there's no knob? Not only was there no knob, there was no handle, bar, recess, cavity, hinge, spring, seam, or any other way Jerec could find to access the door. "I can't open it, there's no knob."

"Maybe we can push it open together, let me get over there." Jerec could make out Kayn's outline as he made his way over a pile of rubble and nearly tripped over the rib cage of some poor sap who hadn't made it out of here. After nearly a minute, Kayn had picked his way through the debris and found a path to Jerec. "On three?" The two alternated numbers and together shoved against the door on the count of three. The carved stone portal refused to budge. "Once more." Jerec said, and the two threw their full weight against the immovable obstacle. Stepping back, Jerec told Kayn to search for a lever or pull chain of some kind. The decanus wound around piles of junk back to the nearest lit brazier and picked up a desiccated branch he had earlier seen when they first passed. Holding it in the flames for a moment, he lifted the branch to find that the end crackled and popped as dry wood should when set aflame. The light, however, shone a bit more brightly than it should have, Jerec thought.

When he'd returned to the locked door, Jerec found a perplexed Kayn staring intently at the impassible doorway. "I can't find anything that might open the door at all! It's like someone just carved the outline of a door in the wall for laughs!" The area was now lit by the flames rolling off the branch and Jerec could see now that beneath a stone pillar, another brazier sat unlit near the door. "Help me roll this off so I can set this branch down and help you look, there has to be something." The two pushed the segment of pillar off the brazier and Jerec touched the flame to the cold ashes. Springing to life immediately, flame bellowed off the brazier, pushing the two soldiers back a bit with its zeal. Then, with the grating of stone on stone, the carven door that before had seemed so immovable, easily slid up into the wall, revealing the way into another room. Jerec looked at Kayn who looked back at him. Without a word, they both peaked around the doorway.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, within a man-made grotto, morning)

Lighter than the previous room, the second room was similar in size to the first. The light cast by braziers and ensconced torches on the walls showed the room to be similar on makeup, if a bit cleaner. Several pillars were scattered in pieces across the cobbled floor and a long depression in the floor seemed to be an ancient source of water that had flowed from a low opening on a wall. As the two walked in, it became apparent that the room contained no fewer skeletons than the previous one had. Human remains were to found in desperate shattered pieces and knee high piles across the room. Some skeletons had spears stuck into them or arrows piercing their skulls while many seemed to have simply been blown apart.

Jerec went first into the room, finding what appeared to be a fresh footstep or two every few yards. As he stepped over a skeleton, he misjudged his footing and crushed the things phalanges. Though the body hadn't drawn breath for as long as anyone remembered, Jerec still felt that it was impropriety in its most basic form to break the bones of the dead. Jerec lifted his foot gingerly and stepped over the body, catching sight of what could be another footprint just beyond. He continued toward it but as he lifted his other foot to step forward, his ankle caught on the skeleton and tripped him to the ground. Spinning around amongst the detritus, Jerec's eyes searched wildly for the cause of his embarrassment. The skeleton lay where it had previously lain with one arm kicked awkwardly out to the side now, as if it had been flung asunder by an outside force.

Kayn followed up behind Jerec, now chuckling and stretching out a hand to assist his fallen comrade. "You look like you've just been grabbed by a monster! You should see your eyes!" The soldier on the ground accepted the hand and pulled himself up. "Listen, we've got to keep it down, Blind may not know we're on his trail and if he doesn't, we still have an advantage on him." Kayn mimed "zipping his lips" and "locking" them but only realized half way through "swallowing the key" that he'd opened his mouth to do it. By that time, Jerec had turned back around and made for the opposite doorway. Scanning the far wall, Jerec could see that there were bones piled in the corners and skeletons sitting up against parts of the wall. The scene was odd though, and not just by virtue of being the first time Jerec had come into contact with human remains. It seemed that each time he scanned to the other corner of the room, the skeletons inhabiting that place had shifted. "It's like the old legends down here." Jerec spoke to no one in particular. "Like the dead are discontent. Restless." Kayn stepped a bit quicker and reached his side, "Restless?" Jerec nodded but Kayn couldn't tell if the decanus was nodding to him.

"My mother used to badger my father when he would tell me tales of times long ago. Said he was filling my head with fancy and nonsense, that a boy whose head swam with delusions of grandeur was doomed to die young. My father had to wait until we could spend time alone to tell me of the ancient legends. Stories of moblins and magic, boys in green tunics and mighty evil. And the undead." They had reached the opposite door and were now just standing in front of it, Kayn refusing to break into Jerec's thoughts as the soldier let a little humanity bleed through. It was good for warriors to remember they were human. Jerec continued. "There were, he said, men who were dead who had died twice. I never knew what he meant by that. Perhaps it was that these men had suffered greatly in their life and were unsettled in death. Maybe they harbored ill intent in their spirits that lingered even after the mortal flesh had failed. I don't know...I suppose only those spirits do. He called them redeads."

"And there were poes, souls of those who had gone before, cursed to roam the desolate places until the end of time. They lead men astray with their glowing eyes and strange lanterns, leading those who follow them to an early grave." Kayn listened intently, having heard once of the poe, and having greatly feared them at a young age. "But more dangerous and frightening than either were the people of bone. The animate structure of a human which springs to life from the dry bones of the dead. The malicious will of these ghouls is mad and singular: to extinguish the living from this world. They rise up from the grave with savage power and animus with a mind to bring all of your darkest thoughts in sleeping and waking to fruition. Patiently, they lie in wait for eternity, until the bright flame of life which is so provocative to them is sensed, then malice courses through their bones and they put an end to what is pure and righteous." Jerec turned the door knob of the wooden door before him and bars slid into place, denying them access. Then rattling like bare branches in a winter's chill came from behind them.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, within a man-made grotto, morning)

Turning to face the awful sounds, Jerec and Kayn were treated to a grotesque scene. Bones stood upon bones, clacking together as they stacked. Legs formed and ribs latched themselves to vertebrae. Skulls rolled across the floor, tumbling up the stacked bones and making their way to the tops of the newly formed beings. As Jerec and Kayn watched the spectacle, fire began to swell in the empty eyes of each individual bone creature, growing and sparking until flames leapt from the sockets, burning forth with rage. As more and more animate skeletons took form, they began to take up swords and shields, spears and flails, until each was armed. Each of the soldiers had taken several steps back by now and were, at this point, trapped with their backs against the wall. Jerec turned and gave the bars on the door a half-hearted tug, then turned back to face the horde. "No way Blind made it this far." Jerec lamented, "I don't think we'll make it any further either."

"Don't count on it," Kayn returned, a fire near bright as those of the skeletons shone in his eyes, Jerec could have sworn they lit his face. "We're soldiers of the Crown of Hyrule, we depart this world at our king's wish, and he doesn't even know we're here." Jerec mentally rolled his eyes at the comment but resigned himself to his situation as there was really no alternative. "These horrors, my father called stalfos." Jerec decided against the spear for this fight and discarded it as he unsheathed his short sword and shield. "Seems there is a grain of truth in every legend." The stalfos advanced and Kayn unsheathed his weapon and shield as well. "One thing's for sure, souls will be lain to rest today, ours or theirs!" Then the wall of ivory was upon them.

Taking the first blow to his shield, Jerec tested the strength and speed of the bony arms. Powerful now as they would be in life. He gave a good deal, allowing the skeleton to extend within his guard, then flung his shield out to the left and brought his sword up from the right. Catching the stalfos in the cranium and reducing a good portion of it to dust, Jerec juked another swing, this time from a spiked ball on a rod. Having left his right foot planted, he used the anchor point to pull him back and well inside the skeleton's range, coming body to body and driving his sword through the thing with the momentum. Two more strikes were immediately met with bone as a couple of skeleton's swords met their ally's back, Jerec still pulled tight to it with the crossguard of his sword twisted between its ribs. The two blows took the thing apart and, his sword now free, the decanus took the opportunity to drive one home straight through a flaming socket. The fire died within the cavities and the skeleton fell away, leaving the skull stuck to the end of the blade. Shifting to the left a few steps, Jerec flicked the skull at an advancing skeleton, clipping it in the shoulder. The distraction allowed a moment for Kayn to come in, striking with two swift blows to the thing's lower body.

From across the room, a femur came hurling toward Jerec, catching him in the helmet. The appendage shattered upon impact but still knocked Jerec down. Several attacking creatures took the respite to regroup and move in on Jerec in a line. Jerec could see Kayn battling a large skeleton with an iron breastplate beyond the line but he seemed to be holding his own. Hopping to his feet, Jerec grabbed up his relinquished spear and cocked it back for a broad sweep. Four skeletons came quickly at him, three with shields and one with two curved blades, each looking more wicked than the other, thirsty for mortal lifeblood. When they were sufficiently near, Jerec let loose with a sweeping blow, taking out one of the monsters at the knees and dropping another to the ground, though it didn't appear to be out of the fight. The other two charged at Jerec's backswing as he'd hoped they would. Instead of absorbing the momentum and returning the shaft the opposite direction, Jerec continued the arch three-hundered and sixty degrees, finishing the swing with a thrust between the eyes of the nearest shield-bearer.

The one with the scimitars jumped, much too high, and brought its knee down on Jerec's shoulder, taking him to the ground once more. Jerec swallowed the pain and thrust the spear horizontally with both hands, catching what would have been his death blow with the makeshift staff. The impact must have finished what the knee had started because his shoulder buckled and gave way beneath the furious assault. With an audible crack, Jerec grimaced in pain and turned the spear toward his weak side, planting the tip against the floor and flinging the skeleton off with the force of it. He noted through red anger that the skeletons were not overly heavy. His shield now more of a nuisance than a tool, Jerec dropped it, providing much-needed relief for his arm. The skeleton he had previously knocked down was already nearly upon him and Jerec was losing the will and ability to fight by the second. Parrying the thing's attack, Jerec responded by disarming it, quite literally (OOC: You know I had to!), and yelling to Kayn, "What's the last thing that went through the skeleton's head before it died!?"

Kayn responded with what was probably little more than a grunt as he fell back from a swinging sword. "My helmet!" Jerec continued, delivering a ferocious head-butt to the armless skeleton before him. It crumbled to the floor just as Jerec caught sight of a shining blade coming down on him. Fortunately, he realized before it was too late, that the one blade was followed immediately by a second, both curved and deadly. Instead of the parry he was prepared to preform, he twisted in the only was he could and fell to his back. The skeleton with the two blades followed through with a stumble, then a kick at the supine soldier. It caught Jerec in the bad arm and he cried out in blinding pain. Then, holding his mouth shut by sheer force of will, he jammed his boot up into the stalfos' rib cage and twisted, pulling him off the ground and throwing the other into a pile of rubble. Without so much a moment to orient his senses, Jerec was up and stomping the thing's skull into the ground. Sweat dripped down into his eyes, stinging them and blurring the world. Or it could have been the pain from his broken arm. Peering behind him, unable to even turn his whole body, Jerec saw the last of the skeletons fall to Kayn's blade. Then everything went dark.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, deep within a man-made grotto, mid-morning)

Glimmering forms danced about, bouncing off leaves and flipping from branches. Lighter than air, they seemed, energetic and full of life. They left trails of twinkling light as they zipped by: green, yellow, blue. One dove from a stone into a puddle with the most minuscule of splashes, causing the puddle to glow an iridescent magenta. A pair took places on a mushroom and fenced with pine needles, one hand behind the back of each as they poked and swatted. Another drifted gently down from a tree using a leaf as a sailcloth. They all laughed and smiled and took great joy in their goings-on. The wind blew through the forest, picking up leaves and tiny sprites as it did and tumbled them around, mingling them together. They rode leaves or held on to stems, grabbing the seeds of dandelions and flapping them like birds wings. When the wind had relocated them, the joyous creatures made their new surroundings their playground. Jerec watched as they flitted about, enjoying themselves perpetually. What are they? Why do they play?

The soldier came to and shook his head a bit, inviting a jabbing pain to shoot down his arm from his shoulder. "Gah! Why?!" Jerec moaned like a schoolboy, freshly awoken by his mother at dawn. Glancing around, he could see piles of now immobile bones littering the floor and Kayn roasting a rat on a spit over one of the braziers. He seemed to be enthusiastic about the prospect of eating if his eyes were any indication. He turned to Jerec and said, "You've been out for a half hour. What happened to you?" Jerec turned to better see his squad mate and felt another surge of pain blast down his arm. "My arm, I think it's broken." Kayn stepped carefully over to Jerec and lightly touched his arm. "Let me just take a look, I noticed it looked bruised." After several seconds of prodding and poking, Kayn stood up and said, "Looks like it's just out of socket, we can fix that." Jerec felt relieved and terrified at once. On one hand, they wouldn't have to seek medical attention, thereby giving Blind a wide-open shot at freedom. On the other, Kayn was about to put his field training to the test for the first time. "Sit up and let's get this over with." Jerec cooperated and somehow got himself rolled over and into a sitting position without passing out again. Kayn knelt down behind him, "Loosen up and don't yell, we don't want to ruin the surprise." Jerec tried to relax his muscles and send his mind running to some distal memory where it could wrap itself up in...

Then Jerec, with his eyes closed, saw all of the colors of the glowing beings he had seen in his dreams. Burgundy, orange, white. He also felt as if someone had poured molten brass across his body. Waves of pain washed over him, by some miracle choking his projected screams. It seemed as if hours marched by as Jerec lay in a ball, huddled to keep his limbs from spasming uncontrollably. Tears ran from his eyes and the warmth of the coals on the brazier torched his skin as if he were the rat. Finally, Kayn's voice came through the fog, "You'll be fine, it's back in.". Minutes went by before Jerec attempted to rise. His body no longer jolted with fire when he twisted it and he was able to stand without much difficulty, other than that brought on by the intense weariness that the fight had brought on. Kayn was munching on some unidentifiable part of the rat and held out another segment to Jerec, motioning for him to take it. Jerec shook his head, which no longer hurt, and refused the greasy morsel. Kayn admonished, "You need to eat to keep your strength up, we skipped breakfast and it's getting close to noon."

"How can you tell?" Jerec asked, figuring the grumbling of his stomach was evidence enough. Kayn smiled and stood up, "Check this out." he said as he left the brazier and walked to the door, which was now unbarred. He pulled it open, revealing an annoyingly bright light that spilled into the room where they now were. Dust swirled in the light, then settled on the floor, lightly coating the tops of the crumbling flagstones. Jerec stepped slowly over to the door. The light was natural, he realized, and bright, bright like the next room was open to the sky. And as he stepped through the door, he realized it was, in a manner of speaking.

The room beyond the door was magnificent. The floor was formed of white, if overgrown marble tiles. Several statues of what Jerec recognized to be the golden goddesses stood erect in majestic poses, looking as if they were weaving their wonders on the day of creation. Streams of water shot from vertical slits in the walls, spraying out in great fans before falling through grates in the floor dozens of feet below. In the center of the room was a great dais with a tapering blade of bronze shooting up from its middle. Massive steel chains swung like flying buttresses across the room and immaculate ivory pillars towered mightily up to the ceiling. But the ceiling was the focal point of the room. It was made of no stonework or masonry or even red earth. The ceiling of the room was a sprawling lens of glass.
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, deep within a man-made grotto, mid-morning)

"It's...what is this thing?" Kayn inquired, approaching the large metal plate on the ground. "It looks like...oh hey, there are radiating grooves in the surface of the thing. Jerec, come check this out!" The other soldier made his way toward the dais behind the first to get a better look. "It's a sun dial. Or it looks like it, that big blade likely casts a shadow, showing what time of day it is." Jerec ran his hand along the ridge of the blade as it curved up from the center and banked more and more sharply until it came to a point. The craftsmanship was infallible and reminded Jerec of the oldest buildings in Castle Town, the way they seemed to have been built to withstand the test of time. "Is it damaged? The shadow isn't falling on any of the grooves." Kayn was right, the presumed time-telling device didn't seem to be serving its purpose at this time. "It's as if the lens above is focusing the sunlight right into the center of the blade." Jerec looked up at the lens and nearly cried out. The sunlight was so intense on the dais that he wondered why they didn't simply burst into flames. The lens did seem to be focused dead-center on the blade itself as if the room was built to accomplish exactly that goal. "It looks like someone put a lot of time and effort into making sure this clock didn't tell time."

"Over here, there's an inscription!" Kayn said excitedly. Jerec left the center of the sun dial and hurried over to an ornate statue beyond the platform. This statuary appeared to depict the three golden goddesses joining together as they left Hyrule upon its creation. If Jerec was interpreting it correctly, this would have been the moment the triforce of legend came into being. Below the carving, inscribed on a plaque, was what looked like a sentence in old Hylian, the kind that was only taught in the most advanced classes in university and then, only a select few degrees needed any training in it. All told, there were very few people in Hyrule who could decipher the ancient characters and neither Jerec nor Kayn belonged to that number. "Can you read this?" Jerec asked, incredulously. "No, but look here, see?" Jerec looked closer at the plaque and studied it for a few moments. Suddenly, the subject of Kayn's interest became clear. "Those are numbers!" Jerec said excitedly, trying in vain to keep his voice quiet. Kayn led on. "6:30, 12:00, 5:00. What do they mean?"

"I don't read old Hylian either, I couldn't tell you without some context. They may be related in some way to the sun dial." Thinking Jerec might be on to something, the two walked back over to the sun dial and looked for the times listed. Kayn was the first to say what they were both thinking, "I found 6:30 but there's nothing outstanding about it. What about 5?" Jerec scanned the metallic surface before him, then ran his foot over the grooves. "Nothing unique about 5 either, and 12 is over there." Kayn could see what he was getting at, nothing. Jerec walked over to the blade and tried pushing it one way, then the other to no avail. Kayn ran his finger through each of the three specific grooves without response, and Jerec cast shadows over the three. After several minutes of trying various methods to force some kind of response, the two looked at each other and shrugged.

"Whatever this device is, it doesn't look like it works any more and it's not going to help us catch Blind." Jerec said. "We need to move on, let's see where that door leads." He pointed across the room at a stone disk blocking a passageway. "Help me move that rock."
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, deep within a man-made grotto, mid morning)

"I don't get it!" Kayn said in frustration. "This looks like some kind of a mechanism for opening the door but it just doesn't make sense!"

"Listen, it's not like this room is a trap, whoever built it obviously set this contraption up to open the door. It's...it's like some kind of a puzzle." Jerec paced over to the nearest rod protruding from the ground. "Just clear your mind for a minute." Kayn turned away and strode across the room to another of the rods, kicking it a bit. Jerec closed his eyes and recalled their entrance to this place. As soon as they had rolled the stone disk far enough into the wall that they could pass through, they had heard the sound of chains shaking and whipping about within the room. They stepped carefully through the opening to see what was making the noises. It was dimmer within the space, light only showing through a crevasse in the ceiling, which forced their eyes to adapt to the lack of light over the course of several seconds. By the time the could both make out the interior of the room, they could make out a series of six rods sticking out of the ground and quaking, and a puff of dust from the far side of the room accompanied by a loud chink of metal. In moments, the rods had ceased their quivering and the dust had settled, leaving them just enough time to enjoy the silence before the light dimmed even more as the stone disk slid back into place behind them.

Try as they had for the past half hour, the two of them couldn't budge the door or find another way out. The rods were made of some amalgam of metal but didn't seem to have any effect on the door when Jerec pulled on it of Kayn kicked them or struck them with his sword. The dim light strained the eyes and made the situation seem all the more hopeless. His mind had been grinding on the quandary since the door had first closed up and still, his mulling had been fruitless. Then Kayn yelled to him. "Jerec, it's a fake wall. Like a...it's not there..." The decanus turned toward him and saw the oddest thing. His comrade had his arm up to his elbow embedded in the wall. What the... He raced over to Kayn. "Are you okay?!" Kayn pulled his hand free of the wall with no effort at all. "It's just like it doesn't even exist!" Jerec tentatively put his palm to the wall. Kayn grabbed his hand suddenly and plunged it through the wall before Jerec could even react. "GAH! What the Dark Realm are you doing!?" Kayn was already laughing and surely didn't hear a word Jerec said. Locking his jaw, Jerec popped Kayn on the back of the helmet with his gauntlet, knocking it forward over his eyes. While Kayn adjusted his head armor, Jerec tested the wall with his hand. It seemed to be just a small area of the wall that was permeable. Jerec ran his hand around the limits of the cubby, maybe a foot square, it was a wonder Kayn had discovered it.

Pushing his hand further into the opening, his fingers ran across something cold. He jerked his hand back and turned to the other soldier standing close by. "There's something in there." The other looked at him, incredulous. Sticking his hand back into the recess, Kayn withdrew it grasping something shiny. "It's some kind of handle. And there's a chain connected to it!" Jerec grew excited as did Kayn. The second tried to pull the chain further out but found there to be some tension pulling back from the other direction. "Jerec, help me pull this, it's stuck." Both of the men grabbed the handle with both hands and tugged. The chain gave a bit and about a foot of chain came spilling out of the wall as both Kayn and Jerec lost their grip and fell back. As they dropped the handle, the chain reeled it back in at a great speed, snapping it back through the invisible wall with a final puff of dust. "Once more!" Jerec cried fervently. The two men both plunged their hands into the wall and retrieved the handle. They pulled mightily against the chain and drew the chain out to the center of the room. Through strained countenances, they glanced at one another and took another step back. Then another, followed by another. They made it to the door of the room and still, no apparent progress was made. They shared a silent look and together released the handle, the chain flying back toward the wall. As the chain passed the center rod in the room, it struck it, causing a loud *pang* to ring out and the rod to vibrate before retreating into the wall.

"That's it!" Jerec cried. "When we first walked into the room, all of the rods were vibrating and the chain must have been released somehow!" A look of realization crossed Kayn's face. "Yeah! The chain must have been wrapped around all of the rods!" Jerec's smile faded a bit followed by Kayn's smile dissipating. "There's going to be some order, isn't there?" Jerec sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, there is." Being resigned to their fate, the two began frantically searching for some clue. Many minutes passed before Jerec finally pointed something out. "Kayn, that rod, is there any mark or wear pattern on it? Maybe toward the top?" Kayn stopped his search of a stone on the ground and examined the rod. Several moments later, "Yeah, there is...this is where the chain was?"

"It looks like it. This mark is only on this side of the pole," Jerec indicated the rod. "so it makes sense that the chain only ran around this side and must have anchored there and...there..." After several more minutes of inspecting each rod thoroughly, the soldiers had agreed on the likely path the chain had followed. Pulling the chain back out from the wall with strength wrought of desperation, they wound it around each of the six rods in turn, each rod more difficult than the last as friction built. Finally, they pulled the handle around the last rod with great difficulty. Without fanfare, they simultaneously released the handle, sending the chain careening around the room, bright ringing sounding loud and reverberating throughout the room. As each rod was struck, it rang with a note that registered with each man as adding up to the first and second three notes of the song held dearly by the royal family. As the handle ended its charge and slapped back into its home, the door to the room rumbled open and light filled the chamber once again. Gears could be heard grinding from far off in the adjoining room and Jerec look at Kayn to find the other looking back at him. Kayn spoke. "That chain, the shape we made as we connected the rods..."

"I saw it." Jerec replied in awe. "Farore...it was a triforce."
 

Libk

Spaceballs: The Mafia Player
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Location
Spaceball 1
It was finally time. Years of training, studying, flying. This was it. Karina was an interesting fit in the Skyloft Knight Academy, as she wasn't born on skyloft. Instead she was born on the ground below. It had been hundreds of years since the goddess statue had landed on the surface and people had settled there once more. Hylian's, Hylia's chosen people, had mostly kept to their secluded area of the surface, around the statue of their goddess, in the Faron woods. Skyloft had become a place of legend for them, as so many years had passed they had forgotten how to get to Skyloft.

Karina, however, was the first Hylian I'm ages to find their way back to skyloft. It wasn't done on purpose either, in fact but merely out of wanting to care for a creature. One morning when young Karina was wandering around the forest, a large crash and the sound of birds flying away gains her attention. Karina went to find the source of the crash and came to clearing. An injured loftwing, deep purple, and it's rider laying on the forest floor. Karina screamed and ran over to the rider's side, but there was no response. The loftwing was still breathing, however, so Karina rushed back to town and got wraps, babdages, medicine, anything she might need to help the loftwing. Thoygh the creature still raised a lot of questions for her. She had heard myths of giant birds that people once used to ride on, but to see one? It was amazing.

The rider never woke, and the loftwing barely moved for its first few weeks of care. Karina, keeping the loftwing a secret, made trips to it daily to make sure it was getting better and even took time to draw it one of the times she visited it. One day, on her routine visit, it woke. It was trying to fly, jumping around the forest clearing and flapping it's wings, bandages preventing it from flying. Karina tried to walk up to it to pet it, not thinking about how shocked it would be right now. The loftwing attacked her and then went back to trying to fly. She just barely dodged the peck from the giant bird, then backed away, still observing it. The next few days she brought it food, slowly gaining it's trust, until eventually she was able to touch it, care for it more, and take its bandages off.

The loftwing grabbed her and tossed her on its back one day and flew off to skyloft, choosing itself a new rider. Karina clung to it in fear, not sure where they were going until they got to the city in the sky. Knights at the Academy surrounded her, recognizing the loftwing but not the rider, holding their swords to her. When they landed, there were a lot of questions both for Karina and from Karina. Eventually ending in her being admitted to the Skyloft Knight Academy.

The other trainees were a bit rude to her in her first couple years there, excluding her from things, sitting away from her in ckasses, etc. Her village back on the surface couldn't be happier, however, and she was quickly becoming a celebrity down there. It wasn't until Karina started showing her skills in combat that people liked her at the Academy. She had to know how to fight, down on the surface, and seeing how well she was with a sword gained the respect of her classmates. And it all came down to this. She ruffled the feathers of her loftwing as she cared for it in the morning. "Are you ready, big guy?"
 

Hyrulian Hero

Zelda Informer Codger
Joined
Oct 6, 2016
Location
SoDak
IC: Jerec Korak (Kokiri Forest, deep within a man-made grotto, mid morning)

"What's that?" Jerec asked Kayn as they returned to the central chamber. "Was that there before?" Kayn looked in the direction Jerec had indicated and his expression revealed that he had not seen the device before. "I don't remember that being there." Said Kane. "Perhaps when we solved the riddle of that room, we revealed this contraption." High up on the ceiling hung what appeared to be an oval lens suspended by several chains. The chains found their way through a system of pulleys and eyes which hung down in front of the statue of the goddesses. "Do you suppose we ought to pull them? It looks like we're supposed to maneuver the lens into position somehow...the sun dial!" Kayn shouted excitedly. "If we move the lens over the sun dial and beneath the glass ceiling, we should be able to shine light onto the dial from different angles!" Jerec felt the same wave of excitement wash over him as he rushed over to the statue behind Kayn. "If we can swing the whole assembly over this way..." Jerec said, pulling a chain and spinning the lens on its horizontal axis. "Oops, maybe this one..." Jerec yanked another chain and the lens swung to the left, away from the ceiling lens. "What about that one?" Kayn took hold of a chain that appeared to loop through several pulleys before linking back to itself. The lens shifted closer to the center of the room but became hung up on yet another chain. "Listen, if I take this one and let go of this..."

* * * * *​
A dozen minutes passed before any real progress was made and even more passed as the two soldiers began to truly sort out which chains did what. As they worked each of the chains, they found that their four hands were not enough to manipulate all of the chains without becoming overburdened. As such, they had discovered that several dozen burs and protrusions were present on the goddess statue and had made use of them to hold the chains in place as they worked. Eventually, the partners were able to swing the lens between the sun dial and the overhead focusing magnifier. When this occurred, they were both surprised to find that the light cast by the lens when it cast luminescence shone a fiery crimson. The illumination was so awesome as to seem unnatural and Jerec nearly dropped his chains as he stood in awe. They continued their work with renewed fervor, tying knots to correct lengths and wrapping chains around the statue to gain leverage. Finally, the chains were sorted into three that could control the lens in the vicinity of the sun dial when pulled or slackened. "So do we aim the radiance at 6:30?" Kayn questioned, knowing the answer wasn't forthcoming. "I suppose, but it's not like there's a tight beam shining from the lens, it's just refracting the light from above." Jerec replied, puzzled. "I suppose if we move the lens this way...now let up on that one a bit as I pull this...hmmm, that can't be right.." Jerec and Kayn continued their efforts in vain for after what seemed like hours on an emoty stomach, the two had come no closer to an answer. Finally, Kayn spoke up.

"We have to be missing something, this isn't working." Jerec nodded but refused to verbally agree out of spite. The tedium of the situation was starting to get to him. "There could be something else through one of those doors. Maybe we can't solve this problem until..." Jerec cut him short. "Doors?! What doors?" Scanning the wall where Kayn was looking, Jerec saw them: a pair of discus-shaped stones like the first they had moved in this room, presumably leading to two unexplored areas of the grotto in which they found themselves. The decanus hurled a dagger of a glance at Kayn who dodged the missile with a disarming smile. "What, you didn't see them?" Kayn was using a voice that Jerec knew meant he truly wanted to be at peace with Jerec but he just couldn't help himself. "That's it, we've got to check out those passages." Jerec paced over to one of the two doors and gave it a push. As he did, he realized why he hadn't seen the doors before. They were covered in cobwebs! The stone rolled back and the pair stepped through into murky darkness. "Kayn, let's see if we can't swing that beam of light over this way.

After maneuvering the lens into its new position, Jerec and Kayn strode back to the door and peered inside. The unearthly red light cast by the lens gave the room beyond an uneasy glow. Webs dipped down from the ceiling and covered every wall, bathing the room in an unholy pallor. As they stepped through the door, Jerec and Kayn resisted the urge to turn back and dive through the opening as the door shut behind them. As the stone fell back into place, Jerec unsheathed his long sword and Kayn choked up on his spear. Through a hardened expression, Kayn said to Jerec, "I hate bugs."
 
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