A lone hawk circles over a clump of stones that lay in the desert. It's the only distinguishable feature of this particular patch of rocks; littered throughout Parapa are hundreds of similar buildups, making it nearly impossible to tell one group from another. But Skye had been here once, and she remembers it quite clearly. This is the place Koura wanted to go to: the Shrine of Spirit.

The Gerudo is not far behind Skye, and the hawk soon comes down to rest on her gauntleted left arm. Stroking her feathers, she whispers words of thanks to her old friend before moving inside the piled up stones. "Over here!" she calls back to the others. Approaching her position, you see that one of the stones was long ago hollowed out, and stairs were placed within it. The stairway descends into a hidden cavern that you cannot make out very well this far away. Koura begins her way downward.

"So what is this place again?" Alpha asks as he follows. "You called it the 'Shrine of Spirit'?"

Without turning around, Koura nods as she grabs a torch that is somehow still burning fiercely – though it’s obvious no one has been here for years – and continues down. "You all know of the legendary Temples of the Sages, yes? Well, somewhere in Hyrule’s history the Temples were all destroyed, presumably by the Great Flood.

"When things began to settle down after the Hero of Winds defeated Ganondorf, people decided the Sages still needed some place to focus their energies. So the Shrines were built all over Hyrule for them. This one was created for the Sage of Spirit, but it, like all the other Shrines, was abandoned several years afterwards. No one’s quite sure why. Anyways, these days even the Sages themselves don’t remember the Shrines’ locations. Only reason I know of this one is because my step-mother and I came here when we were exiled from the village."

Stepping out from the stairs, the group enters into a large room. Square in shape, there are tan tiles that seem to be colored way too closely to sand…which you had just finally escaped…oh well. On the far wall from the stairs stands a large statue that rises the full twenty feet to the ceiling: an ancient sculpture of the legendary Colossus. By the statue’s feet is a doorway leading further into the Shrine. Koura puts a hand up as soon as she notices some of the group eyeing the path. "That door leads into a giant labyrinth. There’s no telling what’s down there. If we’re heading deeper into the Shrine, we need to be exceedingly careful."

Alpha nods in understanding, but still walks forward to the doorway. He cups his hands around his mouth. "Master!" he calls out into the passages. "Master, are you here?"

There is no answer.

"Should we really be shouting?" Rose says nervously. "It may look like no one has ever been down here in ages, but there is the possibility that some beast burrowed its way in nearby." Her right hand strays over to the hilt of her sword and finds a comfortable grip. Only the fact that this place was a shrine kept her from drawing her sword.

Koura shrugs. "Unless you guys plan on scouting through the entire underground maze, shouting sounds as reasonable as we can get. But you're right, Rose, we should beware any creatures that might have made this Shrine their home."

Alpha calls out several more times, but when that fails to produce any results, he returns to the group. "I don't think he's here. His hearing is very acute; he'd have heard my calls by now."

"Maybe he can't come," Rose says. "Something's stopping him. Maybe we should investigate."

"Well, if something was ever here, it must have left something of itself behind" said Alex lifting his eyebrow "And it happens that I can find thatsomething" he starts smelling the environment, focusing his sight on the corners, if someone had lived there he would know it...
[Track]

"Something stopping him?" The very thought of something holding back Master is more than enough to send both Alpha and Shada into fits of laughter. Shada even begins crying because it's so funny.

Alpha finally calms down long enough to correct Rose. "The very idea that something could stop Master is absolutely ridiculous. The only thing I could think of that would hinder him would be Zaboorak himself, and if he was here we would know. Trust me," he adds, indicating his scar, "I would know. And the sounds of the battle would be so great there's no way we'd miss it."

Alex's Innate Check fails (10+3[Roll+INT]), and he is unable to notice anything that would suggest that anyone has been here for a long time...in fact, the dust on the ground would lead one to believe that they are the first group to step foot inside this Shrine for ages.

Dogura trudged through the sands, and into the sand colored shrine. It would only be natural that it has a desert theme to it. "Ive read much about the temples spoken of in Hylian history." Dogura piped up, speaking for the first time in a while. "It seems so abandoned, yet so alive..." Dogura said looking around the shrine. "It would most likely be best to remain together, that is if we decide to go exploring. You dont know what kind of dangers may await our arrival.

Dogura seemed to look away a lot. he was obviously concerned with something. He kept looking around, as if expecting to see something he had'nt before. He retied the lace that held his armor on, and looked at Alpha, but the question seemed to be directed at anyone willing to answer. "Has anyone seen Kasei?..." Dogura said solemnly. A lizard had crawled up on his shoulder, and he brushed it off, not even looking at it.

Rose frowns at Alpha and Shada. "It was just a thought," she mutters. In louder tones she asks, "Koura, do you know anywhere else someone could hide in the desert?" Then she thinks of something. "Hold that thought. Just how deep does maze go? Maybe Master Zaris is too far away to hear us."

"But why would you want to see Kasei?" said Alex answering to Dogura
"And now that we know that he isn't here, what are we looking for then?" asked the ranger, though he didn't show signs of it, he was amazed by the structure of the temple.

"If he's a mile or more away, then I suppose that's a possibility," Alpha says softly, though he remains skeptical. Master's hearing is superb, able to hear the loud yell he had sent through the Shrine from a mile away without difficulty. And that is not being sarcastic.

"Well, I have no idea how deep this thing goes," Koura says. "I wasn't allowed to venture beyond this room right here. Every day my mother went and got us food from some place, and if it required cooking she'd build a fire for us. We slept here, as did Skye. There was no reason to go any deeper except to get in trouble...not smart, with my mom."

At Alex's question, Alpha turns back to Koura. "Yes, what exactly do we have left to do here? You mentioned something about ancient rituals and spells being here?"

The Gerudo nods. "Keep in mind that I can't say for certain that they're here. But I always got the feeling that my mother came here for more reasons than just because we could hide here. We might actually have to go a bit further -"

She is cut off by a large rumbling. "The woman's smart to keep her hand on her sword," comes a young voice from behind them. Turning, the group can spot a young Hylian boy sitting on the edge of the stairs. Koura's eyes grow large. No one had heard the boy or sensed his presence until now. Alpha and Shada look at one another as they both recognize the boy on sight.

Coby.

"And she's right," Coby continues. "There's always a chance that something could burrow its way in here." As if on cue, the wall to the right of him suddenly crashes inward, sending dust and stone flying from the walls. "May I introduce to you Sir Xamnial, beastmaster of the Hakiems Tribe."

A man steps forward from the collapsed wall. His brown eyes and long brown hair are the only parts of himself that are visible, as he still wears his Hakiems robe. He looks to be no older than thirty, and from the beastly grin on his face it can be inferred that he thinks he'll be enjoying this.

"Thanks kid," Xamnial says gruffly, his predatory look remaining fixed firmly on his face. "Now I get why Karunik keeps you around as his personal assistant. Good job tracking them. Let me and my friends handle these guys now." With a nod, the Hylian joins him in grinning.

The dust finally settles behind Xamnial...revealing a swarm of creatures traveling through a long tunnel. Bugs filter into the room, forming a perimeter around the warrior, blocking off both the entrance and the path further into the Shrine. "Kakris Beetles," the Beastmaster says hungrily. "Another one of Zaboorak's many creations." The swarm certainly doesn't look like anything natural. Five feet tall, the group of thirty bugs have sprouted four pairs of wings. Other than that, they resemble Hercules Beetles...save for their mouths, which have sprouted rows upon rows of fangs, and their bloodshot eyes.

"You know, Zaboorak wasn't too thrilled when he found out you'd killed the Dyquis," Xamnial continues. "He was really fond of that guy. So he created Scizorn specially for the task of killing you all." The final creature erupts into the arena. Appearing at first to be a serpent, a pair of jagged horns sits horizontally where its mouth should be, constantly snapping open and shut to indicate its desire to feed. Yellow and red stripes line its body, except near the head where two armored plates open up to reveal bug-like wings.

Fifty feet long, with twenty foot long wings and tusks stretching an additional five feet, Scizorn is ready to strike. Xamnial leaps upward and lands right on its head, then removes a staff from beneath his robe. "ATTACK!"

Kakris Beetles x 30
STR -2; DEF - 2; AGI - 2; HP - 7

Scizorn
STR - 10; DEF - 5; AGI - 9; HP - 100

Xamnial the Beastmaster
STR - 4; DEF - 12; AGI - 4; INT - 5; SPI - 5; SPL - 30; HP - 70

'The beasts will protect their leader' Alex thinks 'So...it is more logical to attack the peons first'...
He knew he would have no luck trying to calm the Scizorn, so he moved on to the smallest enemies...
[Clam beast]

OOC: Damn, Alpha.

IC:
Rose immediately drew her sword. Her first thought is to take out the beetles; their numbers would be a bit of a problem. She runs forward, jumps up, and brings her sword down on one of them.

OOC: Say, if we did spin attacks, would that hit more than one beetle?

OOC: In good ol' 2D zelda games you can take 8 at the most, but it's never happened to me, but really makes you wonder...

Alex's Innate Check succeeds easily (19+3[Roll+INT] vs. 15). Several of the Kakris Beetles immediately fall prey to the Zora's will, and slowly they hover down to the ground.

OOC: FAR too predictable, Alex. Now you pay.

IC:
Xamnial lets loose a round of laughter as his bugs fall victim to Alex. "Interesting ability, Zora, but one I'm quite used to dealing with." He places both hands in front of him, as if to pray. But his eyes remain open, and within seconds are glowing a bright crimson - and not just because he's a Sheikah with red eyes.

"BEAST ENRAGEMENT!!!"

(Beast Enragement: can only be used if Calm Beast has been used successfully. Returns all beasts to the battle and doubles every beast's STR until the end of their next attack. 5 SPL.)

The fire is summoned forth to fill each of the beetles souls yet again.

Rose's sword slices through one of the beetles (19+4[Roll+AGI]), killing it instantly. Another bug flies in and attempts to get revenge, but fails to pierce Rose's armor (14+2[Roll+AGI]). Shada also brings both her daggers in to attack, and slices through one (13+7), and another attempted vengeance strike fails (11+2[Roll+AGI]).


Kakris Beetles x 28 - 7 HP
Scizorn - 100 HP
Xamnial - 70 HP, 25 SPL

OOC: Yeah, sure HNS. Why not?

OOC:Grr...Now YOU'LL pay
IC: Alex menatlly scolds himself for his stupidity, so there's only one way to make up his mistake...
Thunder
The blue energy bursts from his hands, heading for his enemies.