Hyrule Adventures 2

"No one touch it! That dark aura . . . keep away from it."

Dogura was surprised at Alpha's... Well, surprise! The Sheikah had always managed to maintain a calm demeanor. To see him actually frightened over something was frightening in and of itself. Dogura heeded the man's warning, and kept his distance. However dark the object may be, it would probably prove essential to the completion of the quest.

Taint simply allowed Dogura and Alpha to lead for now. They knew more than he did at this point anyhow. He simply smiled and nodded at every piece of information. Morgoth, slightly annoyed that Darmani hadn't stuck around to chat, remained quiet for the time being. William on the other hand wouldn't shut up.

"Isn't this amazing? This is so cool! I'm gonna be one of the first people to solve the puzzle! I never thought this would happen to me! I'm not even the type of person to leave the island, much less travel the sea! Isn't this awesome guys?"

Ignoring him, Leth managed to fire a perfect shot directly into the center of the eye. Suddenly, the tree vanished entirely, revealing the post along with the eye, which was shut tight. Suddenly, a rumbling began on the island. They'd definitely triggered something. "Good work, Leth!" Taint exclaimed over the rumbling.

"Hey. The stairs!" Morgoth called out, extending his pointed finger towards the stairs on the ruins. They were moving down, step by step, they inverted into a staircase that descended into the island's interior. After top step had moved all the way down to its position as the last step down, the island grew quiet again. Taint and Dogura briskly jogged over to the stairs. It led down into a dark hallway, which was to long to see the end of from the top of the stairs.

"Oh boy. That looks... fun." William commented as he walked up behind them. Taint and Dogura looked at each other briefly, and nodded to each other. This was certainly a discovery. Taint decided that it was his job to lead them on. He slowly began descending the stairs, Morgoth and Dogura directly behind him. "William stood at the top for a few more seconds before hesitantly following. Morgoth snapped his fingers, and a small light spell was sustained on his finger tips. It wasn't too bright, but bright enough to light the way.

"Thanks." Taint whispered, now moving a little faster. "Wait," Morgoth stated, holding a hand up. He looked carefully at the floor. It was a stone floor, and he immediately knew what he had to do. [Awareness Check = Fail]. He shook his head, not sensing anything. "Still... Something doesn't feel right here." He muttered begrudgingly. Taint looked down at the floor in front of him, now realizing what Morgoth was worried about. It was a very rational fear- traps. The Zora himself decided to do a little searching of his own. [Awareness Check= Pass]. His nomadic awareness proved useful this time. He spotted a stone slightly out of place right in front of him. It's likely that if he'd taken another step, he would have activated a trap. "Dogura." Taint pointed down at the stone.

Morgoth was relieved that he hadn't been wrong. Still, he couldn't believe he'd missed it. "Alright," Dogura stated as he knelt down next to the stone. "Here, here..." He said quietly as he lifted up the stone. [Disarm Trap] The stone was light, and was likely just painted wood. The bottom of the fake stone had a small blade attached to the bottom of it. In the stone's previous place there was a rope that extended underneath the rest of the walkway. "It's safe now. Avoid the rope please." Dogura announced as he rose back up to a standing position. It was a nice outcome- it took a bit of searching around, but they managed to avoid a possibly fatal trap thanks to Morgoth's forethought, Taint's discovery, and Dogura's handiwork.

After traveling the hallway only a little longer, they came to a wall. It was simply the end of the hallway. No door, no passage, nothing. Just a wall at the end. Dogura stared at it for a few moments before William shouted behind him. "WHOA!" He jumped back at the sight of a skeleton propped up against the wall. Neither of them had noticed it until now- it sat at the corner of the wall, still assembled as if the person starved there and had remained in that position for many years. Dogura examined the skeleton before turning back towards the wall. William walked forward a bit and decided to take the examination a bit further. "Maybe there's a button..." he stated as he opted to touch the wall. Immediately however, his hand passed through it as if it weren't there. He reared back in bewilderment. "It... it isn't solid!" He stated, repeatedly running his hand through it.

Dogura smirked. "Leave it to the Sheikah. They're quite skilled in trickery and deceit. Just how I like it..." Suddenly Dogura's face turned to panic. "The Lens of Truth!" He nearly shouted. They'd left it on the sand! He turned around, about to retrieve it when Morgoth held up his other hand. He held the looking glass in his hand, and shook his head at Dogura. "Carelessness will get you killed. It's not like you." He scolded the samurai. Dogura sighed, and smiled. He was just glad that someone remembered it. The man held the object up to his eye, and for the first time felt the sensation of energy draining out of him. "Alpha... You were correct to be fearful of this object... It doesn't ask for magic- it takes it. Anything that works on that sort of mechanic is dangerous. I'll hold onto it if you like; this body had magic to spare. In any case, the wall is fake, and it's safe to cross- but only on far right side of the wall. Follow me." He slowly passed through the wall, farthest to the right that he could.

Taint decided to follow suit, and passed through the wall. When he got to the other side, a yell could be heard from the Zora. "Holy black on boe! Everyone be careful!!" Dogura took a breath, and crossed through the wall. He couldn't have been prepares for this. He stepped onto a bridge that led to the main floor of the room a couple of yards across. But what was under the bridge was a horrifying sight. A deep dark trench with wooden spikes at the bottom. If anyone had tried to cross through the middle of the wall, they would have fallen directly into the pit. Dogura's eyes widened at the sight, and he simply followed Morgoth and Taint across the narrow bridge. This room was lit for some strange reason. There weren't any torches, or windows, but the room was well lit. Across the bridge there were hundreds of tomb stones, all with the Sheikah eye carved into them. A low fog covered the floor, and a path stretched up through the middle of the Sheikan graveyard.

William was the next to cross, and he made it safely across the bridge. "At least the bridge was sturdy." He commented as he appeared next to the Zora. Morgoth looked around the room carefully. "Oh my Goddesses..." He commented. "This is tomb." He added as he looked around the room. At the end of the path through the tomb-stones, there was a door. Simple as that. "Where do we go from here captain?" William asked. Taint turned around and eyed the bridge. "Let's make sure everyone gets across okay- we'll decide what to do from there."

OOC: FINALLY. WE'RE HERE

"Well . . . huh. That weren't there before, was it?"

Yukie bewildered voice came outta th' blue, the Deku only just now gettin' back to where the rest of his shipmates were gathered. The newfound stairwell leadin' downwards seemed t' have everyone's attention at the moment; kinda a shame. He'd been kinda lookin' forward ta tellin' everybody about that strange target 'n the glowing lights in the Emerald Tower . . . but didn't seem like that was a very pressing matter right now.

Of course, wasn't like he weren't intrigued as well.

Skippin' over ta his partner in their little buddy system, Yukie walked straight down the stairs alongside Cap'n Taint. He saw Alpha comin' up from behind as well; the mage looked a bit more wary than Yukie recalled 'im being before. 'Wonder what happened while I was busy explorin'?' He'd ask Taint about it once all this excitin' stuff was finished up.

After passin' through a couple of them places with traps and the like, they came to a dead end, 'n Morgoth pulled out some sorta device. Said somethin' ta Alpha too, but he only saw the Sheikah noddin' in relief over it. He was startin' ta git really curious now . . . but he held off, cause at the moment they were actually walkin' through a wall! A solid lookin' wall that didn't actually exist! Now that was purty darn cool!

On the other side of the wall and bridge, though . . . that's when it got truly interestin'.

"A bunch o' tombs," the Deku muttered in agreement with Morgoth before slowly walkin' forward. He stopped only when he felt a hand grabbin' his shoulder, 'n turned 'round to find Alpha there. The man had a rather serious face on; Yukie stopped at once.

"Let's not risk getting too close," the Sheikah stated, not only t' Yukie - he was speakin' loud enough so everyone could hear 'im. "We've no idea what kind of traps or dangers could await us in this place. Stay close to the group for now." Yukie nodded - the man was makin' some good sense there. He skipped back over ta Taint 'n the others, finally figurin' now was a good time fer his questions.

"So, um . . . what was that thing Morgoth was lookin' through earlier?" he smiled sheepishly, knowin' that it was his fault fer not bein' around when the others had found it. His curiosity'd gotten the best o' him once again, it seemed.

He chuckled. Some things never changed, eh?

Tombstones, delightful. As if the journey so far hadn't been dreary enough, now they were in a graveyard. Of Sheikah. Perhaps the gloomiest race in Hyrule. He had an eerie feeling that simply walking to the door would trigger some sort of defense mechanism, but he was not trained in dealing with traps and such. He paced slowly around the group, restless.

"Kinda want to have a picnic, yeah?"

Can't even see the damn floor.

He stopped, tapping his foot. There had to be something useful he could do. All he really knew how to do was look at things, though...

[Awareness Check][Nomadic Awareness L2]

Orpheous shook his head sheepishly at Alpha allegation, having heard it with his keen ears. Perhaps he did talk to much. "I'm sorry, it's in my nature," he commented to Alpha. But the Sheikahn mage was busy having the magic sucked out of him. Good thing Taint didn't use the lens, it may have killed their weakened captain since the Blind fight. Orpheous shuddered, still disturbed by the recollection of the foul fiend.

And with that, Alpha vocalized the riddle. Orpheous new about the arrow idea, but by the time he could say anything, Leth already had launched the freezing tip into the eye. The island shook, and the stairs inverted, leading down, just as Morgoth has stated. He followed the others in front of him, but they were clever enough to deactivate the traps first, thank goodness. He passed on the right side, following the advice of the others, and once they were in the main chamber, he gave a good look around [awareness check].

---

Thealter was smart to follow behind Orpheous as the scholar followed the footsteps of the more distinguished colleagues. As they started to cross the bridge, he realized that the whole room behind the fake wall was surprising well lit for being a room with no torches or windows. Thealter, being a mage by training and a thief by profession, knew that there was all sorts of magic one could use to conjure light and thus he didn't make much of it. Still, the low fog hanging around the ridge where the bridge ended though was surprising. He wasn't entirely used to fog forming underground. That seemed a bit suspicious. Then again, there were hundred of Sheikah tombstones, and the last time he checked - the floor was still hard stone. He looked at his feet once he finished crossing the bridge, eager to see if the ground below him was firm stone or instead perhaps more pliable dirt [Insight Check]

OOC: Thealter's post yet to come, will edit. Also, sorry this reply is so short, but I knew that if I didn't post now, I would never get it done. Here's to pumping some life back into this topic.

EDIT: I added a bit for Thealter, but it's also bleak and short. He just doesn't seem to have much to do at the moment besides try to observe his surroundings.

Hidden tombs, long-dead skeletons, fake walls, and spike traps... Leth was liking this place already. If someone had taken the time to construct such a dangerous place, that meant there had to be something good at the end of it all. With newfound excitement, Leth shuffled over to the side of the hall and walked through the intangible wall, pausing momentarily to examine the deep, dangerous pit before him.

That is so cool.

He then stepped carefully across the bridge towards the door, and waited for the others to do the same.