Alpha and the group wander through the hotter of the two deserts, Tantari. Heading north from the Fairy of the Great Crossroads, it is now that they at last discover two trees in one area. There has been made no attempt to hide the clue this time; perhaps the person who hid it here was getting overheated and just wanted to get his/her job over with.

Regardless, it is nice to see an easily-located clue. A short rope, this one much thinner than the one in the North Forest Mines, is tied to one of the trees, and the note is attached to it. Plucking it from the string, Shada reads it.

'A burning land beneath a blazing ball,
Bordering ocean deep and mountainous wall.
North of three arrows and your journey ends,
But follow one to continue with friends.'

OOC: I've gotta go shopping with my mom for college stuff - argh! - so I'll be back in a bit. Go ahead and solve it if you want.

"Curses!!!"

Grenada runs his mind through the clues for a third time before plopping himself down into the sand. He rubs his chin slowly between his thumb and index finger, and slowly lets out questioningly:

"Burning land... probably a desert, I can't recall any fires anywhere...
Blazing ball... the sun perhaps?
There's definitely three arrows in Parapa...
doesn't border mountain and ocean though... and all three point the same direction...

I got nothin' "

He drops his head, annoyed why isn't it coming together, he thinks to himself.

Arco nods to Grenada in sympathy, and then heads over to Shada to have another look at the note. After letting in soak into his mind, he fingers the rope that held the note before.

He's basically fidgeting.

Finally, he seems to have an idea or two, as the grays of his eyes dip and weave through the obstacle course of his mind.

"Maybe," he says, "The riddle tells us not to go to Parapa's three arrows, which may be our... end, meaning demise? Rather, we should follow the one arrow here in Tantari Desert, which leads to Tantari Rock, where our next clue will be?"

He takes several deep breaths.

"After all, this is a burning-land place under a blazing-ball, bordered by ocean-and-the-Ruto-highlands."

He manages to achieve something of a bright smile, though it turns out more like a smug grimace.

In the shadow of the tree a figure appears
well well a little riddle

azador said with a smile

'A burning land beneath a blazing ball,
Bordering ocean deep and mountainous wall.
North of three arrows and your journey ends,
But follow one to continue with friends.'

They don't say wich way you have to go do they,
the blazing ball, is the sun, and the sun rises in the east,
if you look at 'blazing ball' goes, all directions move a qaurter,
north > east
east > south
south > west
west > north
the arrows are pionting to the north, so we must go to the west

so we must go west

OOC: *Blink-blink* I didn't think you guys would find this one to be so hard. Huh. I think it's kinda simple, provided you have your information straight.

Let's get said info correct, shall we?

IC:
'Hmmm,' Shada thinks as she glances over the riddle again. 'Burning land...desert. Makes perfect sense. According to Grenada, Parapa has three arrows in it, but isn't bordered by mountains...'

At that moment, something strikes Alpha. He reaches into his back pocket and grabs his map - the same one Master Zaris had marked on, in fact. He unfolds it and takes a quick glance at it. He looks up a split second later, eyeing the Deku.

"Um...Grenada, I don't know what map you're looking at, but Parapa is most certainly bordered by mountains - in fact, it fits perfectly. Most of it is bordered by the ocean, and the rest is by mountains." He also does consider Arco's possibility of it being Tantari, though the fact that it lacks a set of three arrows and is bordered partly by Hyrule field, which isn't mentioned in the riddle, makes him doubt that.

However, one of Arco's points does ring through his brain as a distinct possibility. "Hey, does Parapa have any areas that only have one arrow in them?"

OOC: Gah! I leave for a few hours, and you guys solve all these clues without me?!? And then I sleep in, and you still solve more?!? Hrrmph. You guys are lucky I'm even coming here to save the day...

IC: Suddenly, a slim silhouette can be seen on the horizon, waving frantically in the direction of the group. A few minutes later, Victor arrives, huffing and puffing and sweating his fair share of sweat. An angry look crosses his face, and he scowls at the group.

"Thanks for leaving me behind, guys!"

Spying the latest clue, the Bard walked over and gave it a look-see, wiping the sweat from his brow and hoping to figure out the riddle so they could get moving again. He was a little surprised at the group's confusion, considering the fact that he hadn't been there to hear Grenada's point of view, and when Alpha asked if there was one arrow in Parapa Victor quickly spoke up.

"Yeah, isn't there another arrow just to the southwest of the group of three? I think it's made of..."

Suddenly he gulped as he remembered what formed this singular arrow.

"...tombstones."

Alpha snaps his fingers as he recognizes the place Victor is speaking of. "That's gotta be it, Victor. Good thinking." He has never really taken more than a passing glance at the arrow of tombs, but now it seems that everyone will need to take a very close look at the area. The next clue must be there!

OOC: Wow, I didn't realize how difficult it is to write these transition things...I've managed to cover it up for the most part, but...okay. Short endings work too, I suppose.

To Clue #8!

"I was just saying that north of the arrows there are no mountains... Cuz there's not. That and the one arrow is also not north of the three... I believe the note says to go north... "

The deku sighs and drops his head, the desert is not his favorite place, and he's had just about enough of it for a while. Then he remembered the next clue led to Parapa...