Sitting by the door, healing complete and eyes searching out his charges among the rollicking rocks, the mercenary's acute ears picked up snippets of the conversation being held twixt the Goron, Rito, and Sheikah. Bombs seemed to be the general topic, though it took the youth a few seconds to connect it to their current predicament. When he caught the small round shape of Braylor's bomb rolling across the slope, it fell into place.

Not willing to abandon his relaxing position, his hands rummaged through the sack at his side, extracting yet another of his fine explosives. There were more stuffed into that bag than he had imagined possible. If he were a philosopher, he may have contemplated the symbolism behind this seemingly endless supply of boomballs. However, being naught but a hungry, increasingly bored youth, it instead tickled his fancy to simply light the bomb and roll it gently towards the rock nearest him.

HP: 33/44
SPL: 14/14
Will: 9/9

OOC: Rawr, finally, let's get going. I worked hard to figure out how to get these dungeons integrated into the HA2 setting.

IC:
Darkin had a good general idea; too bad the specifics were faulty. The earth spell hit the boulder to no effect, being made of earth itself. Both Gerudos sighed and shook their heads. "One of the things I used to teach children is that water errodes rock," Aria told the Rito.

Braylor's bomb was sent along its path at the perfect time; the bomb goes off just as the boulder touches it. While the giant ball of stone wasn't completely destroyed, it was no longer spherical and could no longer roll on its bath.

Saber bomb was just as successful in stopping his targeted boulder. And with the middle two boulders gone, it was now much safer to retreat to the door the group entered from. However, there was still that one boulder separating them....

"Eberron, you're the strongest one here," Katharina called out to the Goron. "Would you please carry that fool around until someone revives him?" It hardly seemed necessary to do so, but the younger of the two Gerudic guides pointed to Nier.

Smiling broadly, Eberron obliged and wandered up past the now harmless boulders towards Nier.

"Don't worry little dead friend, we'll have you fixed up soon."

Chuckling to himself, Eberron effortlessly shouldered the man and took a few steps before stopping, a contemplative look spreading across his face. Suddenly looking both surprised and joyful at the same time, Eberron placed Nier back on the ground with a rather worrying thud. Taking hold of his enormous bag, Eberron wiped away a small tear as he pushed out half of the rocks in his bag, leaving only the finest collections from his travels and the few that remained from home. Fitting all the remaining rocks into side pockets and pouches on the bag, Eberron lifted Nier and carefully position him in the now empty main chamber of his bag. Drawing string and partially closing the flap, Eberron looked happily at the bag from a distance. Nier's head was the only part of him that was visible, sticking out of the top.

"TA-DAH!"

Eberron giggled uncontrollably at the incredibly silly image and had to calm himself down by putting his hands over his mouth and closing his eyes before he could safely lift the bag back onto his back. Sighing, Eberron shuffled it into a comfortable position and turned back to Katharina.

"He is very light! Although he has bony elbows and knees... Still, this works well enough, don't you think? hehe..."

Smiling and turning to look at the remaining boulder Eberron talked over his shoulder.

"Time to deal with the last one then friends?"

Braylor squealed and jumped for joy as part of the rock crumbled, making it impossible for it to keep moving the way it had been. He was equally happy when Saber's bomb did the same thing to another boulder. Hooray! No more death, at least not in this room. Well, there was one more boulder.

The Deku ran toward Darkin. He had heard shout something at the rock. He was probably casting a spell, and by the sound of it he was trying to destroy the boulder with... earth, which was essentially rock and dirt and stuff. Braylor didn't quite understand why that didn't work, but he had another idea, aside from the good suggestion that Aria provided. "A tree growing out of it will slow it down," the nomad said, bulbous head bobbing up and down. "The roots will get into the cracks and break it to a bazillion pieces."

After he said that, he froze, standing there and studying the mage. It could have been his imagination, but Darkin looked slightly fatigued from casting the spell. It was probably nervy of him to request that he cast another one and weaken himself for what was to come. Just as soon as he stopped moving, Braylor sprang back to life. "Don't worry about it," he said, "I have things under control." Then he lit a bomb and threw it in the path of the rock.

HP: 32/52
WILL: 9/9

The bomb once again rolled towards the boulder, and it once again flattened a part of it, stopping the stone in its tracks. Everyone was now free to join with Aria, Katharina, and those who did nothing to help in this room. "Okay, Braylor or Saber, or anyone with a bomb really," Aria began. "Get one ready so we don't have to worry about that Beamos. Whoever does it, go first and clear the way. And Dogura, I'll take that key."

Aria - HP: 31/42 SPL 15/15
Katharina - HP: 42/53 SPL 21/21

OOC: Man, I've been guilty of this too. ><

Guys, don't forget to post your HP, SPL, and Will at the end of your posts.

"These things are fun!" Braylor said, as he watched part of the final boulder crumble. He then hurried toward the room with the Beamos, lighting a bomb as he ran. As soon as he stepped through the doorway, he whipped the bomb at the Beamos as hard as he could, even though he was probably out of its range.

HP: 32/52
WILL: 9/9

Braylor had little to fear, as the bomb exploded just as it reached the Beamos, destroying the head. The rescue group now had nothing to fear from in this room, as the trap had not been reactivated while they were gone.

Accepting the key from Dogura, Aria unlocked the door and led the group into the next room, which was rather small and cramped. The Gerudo immediately began to climb the wall, which provided plenty of footholds to grab onto.

This led to another room with a mirror in the center of it; this mirror was set into a statue of a desert cobra, a threat the Gerudos knew well and respected. In the northwest corner of the room, on one side of a door, four sun emblems were affixed onto the wall. A window streamed light, natural or otherwise, off of the mirror onto the door.

X_SE_SE
|
SE
|
SE
|
Door

The final distinguishing feature of this room was a gynosphinx, a statue of a lion with a woman's head, sticking out at an angle from the northeast corner. It was posed laying down, and the eyes appeared to be closed.

Aria - HP: 31/42 SPL 15/15
Katharina - HP: 42/53 SPL 21/21

OOC: Sorry for the god-modding, but I really wanted to get to this room. Now then, let's see if you all can figure out how to get out of this the Sphinx Room.

Yes, the gynosphinx is not in OoT, but I thought it would be an interesting addition for a Gerudo culture.

Edit: Apparently, it's not clear enough that we all climbed a wall into another room on the second floor, so, yeah, we did.

Shielding his eyes from the brightness of the many explosions filling the room, Sabertache waited for the smoke to clear before getting to his feet. Standing, he walked past the disabled deathtraps and joined the group, stretching.

"I see you have a pet." It was a sarcastic remark directed at Eberron, but there was no malice behind it. At least, not towards the Goron.

Following the rest through the dungeon, the mercenary ran on autopilot. It was standard stuff, really; just heading through a dungeon, up and around, a lot of movement with little payoff. Yet finally, they managed to find something that looked somewhat interesting.

Glancing around the room, the mercenary tried to digest all the strange looking items. He had never seen a sun emblem before, though it didn't take a local to recognize the sun. The sphinx, however, completely awed the mercenary. It wasn't everyday he saw something like this. It seemed exceptionally eerie, sending chills down the mercenary's spine. Without hesitation, his nomadic nature took effect and he began analyzing every detail of the statue in an attempt to establish just why it was there and what it was made of. [Awareness Check][Nomadic Awareness]

HP: 33/44
SPL: 14/14
Will: 9/9

As the duo entered the room, they ascended the wall, and took in what they saw. The room was bizarre, and the samurai was having trouble understanding the Gerudo's faith and methods. He decided it'd be better not to question all of it on holy ground, and instead took in a deep observation of the room.

[Awareness Check]

OOC: Record short post. I just don't have any sort of inspiration to post here right now...

Braylor didn't know what to think when he entered the room. Watching some of the others, he could tell he was supposed to be doing something, but what? The main object that stood out to him was the gynosphinx... It was sleeping. Maybe he should wake it up. The Deku began jumping up and down, waving his arms. He was just about to shout out to the statue when --

"Sun!" He yelled when he saw the sun emblems in the corner of the room. Yes, the sun was what dictated when everyone was awake and asleep. They would have to wake up the suns in order to make the statue open its eyes, but was that even their goal? He didn't care, he was going to make it happen. The other question was, how would they get the suns on the wall to awaken?

Ooh! There was a big shiny thing in the middle of the room. And the shiny thing had light bouncing off it. It looked like he didn't even need to do anything with the suns on the wall; if he could just turn that mirror to face the gynosphinx, they would be all set. He ran over to the mirror and looked to see if there was a way he could make it rotate.

HP: 32/52
WILL 9/9

IC: Simon had been tailing the group, preferring to stay behind as the others took care of everything else. In heart, he was a coward. However, recently, as of a few minutes ago, he changed his mind. He wasn't going to wait around and let everybody else solve this dungeon.

He walked from the shadows that had been working as his cover as he addressed the rest of the group. "There isn't a doubt in my mind that the mirror is supposed to rotate. I also am willing to bet that the light has to be reflected onto one of the suns. The question remains, to which," stated Simon, addressing the group. In the meanwhile, he looked around for any clue that would hint at which sun. He also studied the gynosphinx for any clue as to it's purpose or what it might hint to [Awareness Check] + [Human Ingenuity].

OOC:

Stats
STR: 3
DEF (rating): 17
AGI: 2
INT: 5
SPI: 3
SPL: 42
HP: 33

Talents
Goron Strength L2 (included in stats)
Deku Agility L1 (included in stats)
Hylian Intelligence L2 (included in stats)
Exceptional Health L1 (included in stats)
Train: 2H Sword L1
Train: Boomerang L2
Elemental Burst L2
Life L1
Epic Poem L1
Shield L1
The Quill is Mightier than the Sword L1

DMG
Deku Staff: 12
Deku 2H Sword: 17
Deku Boomerang: 8
Bombs: 9
Magic: 21

CURRENT
HP: 33/33
SPL:42/42
Will:9/9

OOC: Rawr! I can't wait for Eberron any more!

IC:
Saber's examination of the gynosphinx shockingly revealed that the statue was made out of stone, just like almost any other statue.

However, two of the four actions taken triggered an event. Braylor's examination of the mirror and Simon's question about which sun emblem to reflect the light on caused the sphinx to get up and lazily stretch, first her front legs and then her rear legs, the stones groaning in the process, but no cracks appear from the movement. Even the least experienced in the study of the arcane could tell that this was powerful magic.

Any panic that might have aroused from the woman's face looking at them would be quickly dissipated, as the odd beast does not look at them fiercely. It is more like polite curiosity that she swept across the group.

"You are indeed required to shine the light upon one of the sun emblems," she informed them; her voice was sooth and calming, which seemed rather contradictory to the ears of at least the pair of Gerudos. "And I shall tell you which one only if you can answer my riddle."

"And if we can't?" Aria inquired.

"Then I remain silent, and you shall have to choose one. The false emblems will drop chests, but it may not be worth your while to open them. The choice is up to you."

The gynosphinx sat on her hindquarters and waited patiently for the adventurers to decide.

"What do you guys think?" Katharina asked. "Are you up to a riddle?"

His examination complete, the curious swordsman faced his companions once more, leaving the statue to move and do its magical thing.

"Well, I'm not noticing anything special about this statue. It's just plain stone."

Truly, this was a confusing conundrum. If only there was some sort of hint as to what the gynosphinx had to do with the room's other adornments.

But wait, now he was feeling rather sleepy; that sphinx sure was speaking in a nice voice, it was very comforting.

"I would love a riddle, Katharina, what is it?"

If only he could figure out what was special about the statue.

HP: 33/44
SPL: 14/14
Will: 9/9

OOC: Sorry, guys, but I don't want to wait anymore than two days on this.

IC:
"I don't know what riddle she'll ask," Katharina replied in response to Saber's question. She turned to the gynosphix. "Okay, we'll listen to the riddle."

The human-headed lion cleared her throat; why she would have to is certainly a mystery. "When asked how old she was, Elizabeth replied, 'In two years I will be twice as old as I was five years ago.' How old is she?

Provide me with the correct answer, I shall tell you which Sun Emblem to shine the light upon. Answer me wrongly, and you must find it on your own."

Braylor wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he knew some basic arithmetic. He started running some numbers through his head. If she is six, five years ago she'd be one. In two years she'd be eight. Is eight twice as much as one? No. If she is seven, five years ago she'd be two. In two years she'd be nine. Is nine twice as much as two? No. If she is eight, five years ago she'd be three. In two years she'd be ten. Is ten twice as much as three? No. If she is nine, five years ago she'd be four. In two years she'd be eleven. Is eleven twice as much as four? No. If she is ten, five years ago she'd be five. In two years she'd be twelve. Is twelve twice as much as five? No. If she is eleven, five years ago she'd be six. In two years she'd be thirteen. Is thirteen twice as much as six? No. If she is twelve, five years ago she'd be seven. In two years she'd be fourteen. Is fourteen twice as much as seven? Yes!

The Deku looked up at the gynosphinx. "Elizabeth is twelve years old," he said.

HP: 32/52
WILL: 9/9