The wind howled loudly as the adventurers entered the seemingly deserted town. It was so unnaturally quiet, that each time a dead leaf hit the barren ground, it nearly echoed. After resting, walking, and battling random monsters over the course of a few days, the group had finally made it. Veloa led the group into the city, and past all sorts of broken down buildings. Everyone remained quiet- that, or they couldn't bring forth the breath to say anything. The town truly was a wreck, and it was depressing to think that it was once a happy little town like Rauru Town. Buildings looked scorched, and windows were smashed in on most of the structures. Trash littered the streets, and with every step further into it, more spiritual tension thickened than before. A blanket of sorrow had set over the city.

Veloa held up a hand to halt the adventurers. "This is the building." She turned and faced a modest little building, which had boarded windows, unlike most of the other neighboring structures. She motioned for them to follow her around the house, and moved through the shrubbery. She pulled back a hatch that led into darkness. She snapped her fingers, and flame appeared, illuminated the stairwell. She advanced down into the chasm, each step echoing unnecessarilly loud. When she reached the door, she sifted through her belongings, and punctured the keyhole with a silver key. She turned it, and pushed the door open. More darkness. Following her, the adventurers mad their way into the darkness, following her glowing flame. The room they were now in was cold, and dank. It smelled of must, and was just plain uncomfortable. "Khalegarhis!" Her voice pierced the silence, and the ground shook, most likely from a certain Goron nearly leaping out of his corse skin.

The room lit up, torches lining the walls. It looked like a classic dungeon scene. The walls were stone bricks, and a previously sealed door's bars lifted from their grip on the floor. Veloa gripped the door, and pulled it toward her, revealing a well lit room. The adventurers followed her into the room. It was a well furnished room. A bed, a stove, a few chairs, a couch. A flashy looking torch hung from the ceiling, and did a superb job of illuminating the room. A figure sat in one of the chairs. "Who are they." He spoke abruptly. "These adventurers here. They have a question or two for you. Don't worry, they don't mean harm." The figure rose from his chair, and walked towards the group. He too was cloaked from head to toe. his eyes were showing, much like his sibling's, and he spoke. "What do you want?" He stared at them expectantly.

OOC: I'm just letting everyone post at least once to catch up, and so I know you're following this terrible story.

Saber was so tired.

Having been whisked from the library without ever really grasping what exactly was happening in that most forbidden of places, forced to follow after some strange person who claimed he was connected to someone he didn't even know, and trekking through the South, all the mercenary wanted to do was take a nap on a nice bed of feathers. Or ground. Or even spikes for all the grunt cared.

But no, let's just enter an abandoned house with magical opening doors and earthquakes. That's good too.

Struggling to keep his eyes open, he stared back blankly at the man. At least, he thought it was a man. Maybe it was some beast creature. Well, for now Saber would just think of him as disembodied floating eyes. There we go.

I don't even know what we want. What's happening again?

The mercenary looked at Shigure expectantly. This whole trip had just flown over Saber's head.

Shigure noticed the confused look on Saber's face, and leaned toward him. "Listen, I'm just finding all of this out too. Apparently this guy was close with Dogura." He turned to the man, and cleared his throat. The silence in the room was in all senses an awkward one. He carefully took a step forward as if the entire room was booby-trapped. "Actually..." He began, eyeing the man causiously. "We're here today in search of a man, who we understand was close to you." The Goron paused for a moment, to allow the man to speak. The man pulled down his hood, and glared at the Goron. His face was wrinkled, and the bags under his eyes sagged, His face was very boney, and he would appear to be suffering from anorexia. He had a strange marking on his forehead, and left cheek. Shigure wasn't one for long silences, and so he cut in once more. "We're looking for Dogura Shadowclaw." The man's facial expression turned lighter. "Ah. Dogura, eh? Excellent. For a moment there, I thought I'd have to kill you all." He chuckled as he managed to choke out those words. The sentence was followed by a horrible wheezing.

"My name is Fang, as you might have already been informed by my sister. I did indeed know Dogura." Shigure's eyes narrowed. "Did?", he questioned in a low rumbling. Fang turned around, and walked a short distance away, before stopping, and sighing heavily. "What reasons did you have for seeking him out?" Shigure accepted this is an understandable question to ask. "I knew Rendd Shadowclaw, Dogura's father. I learned a lot from the man, and fought alongside him in the Great War." Fang whirled around. "The Great War? Rendd..." After a brief pause, Fang approached Shigure, and stood within the Goron's personal space. "Just who are you, Goron?" Shigure ignored the question, and continued. "My reasons for meeting the man... Well, I never got a chance to finish things with his father. I want to meet the son of my hero." He finished. "As far as I know, the rest of these adventurers are just concerned friends and allies." Fang sighed, and again, turned away. "I hate to be the one to inform you..." He coughed loudly, and stared at his hand for a bried second.

"Dogura Shadowclaw, Prince of Shadowclaw, and son of Rendd is no longer among the living."

A heavy blanket of emotions coated the room, and with it, brought a deadly silence.

Shigure turned around to stare at the adventurers. He couldn't have led them this far for nothing. He turned back to Fang, not satisfied with the information. "No. That can't be true." He stated firmly. "How can you be sure?" Shigure was nearly cut off by Fang. "Because I saw it with my own damn eyes!" It was noticable that the elderly looking man was doing his best to keep his emotions from surfacing. While it always seemed that Fang considered Dogura's company a nuisance, he had grown emotionally closer to the samurai than he'd let on. "I watched him do it." Fang continued. "Rendd wasn't Dogura's real father. The man who Dogura thought was his uncle was Dogura's real father. That man was Tybalt Shadowclaw!" Fang's sleeves began to whip around his arms, as he grew angrier. "Tybalt was nothing like a father to Dogura, and still claimed that Rendd was Dogura's enemy. Dogura was never meant to be a vessel for the demon, Shadowclaw." Fang's eyes glowed white, as he wasn't even focusing on the group any longer. "In a mixture of confused emotions, and bitter betrayal, Dogura's mind was ripe for the taking. I can only assume that the thing that lives inside of him overthrew him."

Veloa rushed to Fang's side. "Brother! Stop it! Please!" She was trying desperately to calm him down. "Dogura, in a maniacle rage, took his father's life, and then proceeded to take his own. In the end, the demon won Dogura, and finally killed him!" Veloa finally got Fang to calm down, but it was over the course of about two minutes. Shigure couldn't take all of this in at once. He held his head, and was trying desperately to think of something to say the adventurers he'd let down. "I..." Was all the Goron could manage to say. "I just.... Don't believe." Veloa was whispering something to Fang. It was times like these that Shigure wishes he had the elongated ears of the Hylians. Fang finally sighed deeply, and put his hood back up. "If you need proof that Dogura died... Follow the cloaked man that comes to the local shop every monday." Shigure did the math in his head, and arrived at the conclusion that monday was the next day. "When he leaves the shop, follow him. Be sure to stay hidden, or you might not get the infomation you're looking for." Fang hobbled over to the table wheezing loudly. "I don't have any beds, but because my sister brought you... I'll allow you to stay here tonight." Shigure nodded, and turned to the adventurers. "I'm sorry... But this is our last shot. I won't believe that he died. I won't believe it. Rendd wouldn't raise a weakling like that..." He clenched his fists. "I'm sorry. Who's with me?"

She listened intently from the shadows of the room. She was sure the one they called Fang knew she was hiding in that place. There was something almost terrifying about this associate of Shadowclaw's lost prince. For the woman in the shadows, he was more than a witness to the death of such a remarkable young samurai. He had also associated, in the past, with another that her organization sought.

As Fang Gengei told his story and became more and more emotionally compromised, the hooded Deku held her breath. Worried for the safety of the others, she wondered if an intervention would be necessary. Relieved to see him fall into his chair, she made her appearance. She stepped from the shadows and pulled her hood down from over her face to avoid any problems that might arise from her secrecy-stressed attire. She was certain that her enemies were not present in such a desolate, empty town as Saria. Her long, leafy hair flowed out over her hood and down her short back - or at least, what the Deku race considered "hair." You never need a hairbrush when your hair is brush.

"I'm with you," she piped up instantly, not allowing any time for the others to act in hostility to seeing a potential foe appear out of the darkness. "I, too, share a similar purpose to what you've all discussed. This man you all refer to, Dogura Shadowclaw... he is an associate of mine, and the organization that I belong to. I have been sent to investigate his sudden... disappearance."

She smiled enticingly while nodding to the Goron, who was most certainly correct in his assertions. Rendd had certainly not raised a weakling, this had been observed by the female Deku personally. She placed a hand over her heart to symbolize trustworthiness and sincerity.

"I'm Ruca, and I'm here to help."

Saria Town gave Victor the creeps. He had expected it to be a bit more... populated. Even if it was only by Ganon's minions, the empty streets that had been filled with life in stories about the South made him shudder.

He had followed the group here from the library, though he wasn't quite sure why. The Bard hadn't been much help, back there, anyways. But he wasn't entirely surprised, seeing as this was how most of his adventures began, and by this time he just wanted to get out of the Saria streets. So he welcomed the darkness of an unknown building for once.

Goddesses, how did they always manage to find these people. Strange, somehow related magicians or warriors who were only known when they were necessary, and then disappeared forever. And they always seemed to have some story to tell, though it usually wasn't anything he hadn't heard oh damn Dogura is dead?

The Bard heart filled with sadness, as if his blood had been replaced with the stuff. Dogura had been a close friend, a compatriot on many adventures. A veritable icon among the many adventurers who populated Hyrule. But... nah, he couldn't be dead, could he? Did anyone ever really die in Hyrule? He wasn't sure, but even then, he doubted that Dogura would be one to perish so randomly. His heart was about half-full of sadness when Shigure spoke up, and he silently nodded his approval of the statement. No way could Dogura be dead, no way oh Goddesses!

Victor noticeably jumped when Ruca appeared from the shadows, instantly noticing that she was an Apostle. They were really all over the place! The Bard made some odd gestures that didn't really mean anything at the Deku, trying to signify that he was also an Apostle by pointing at himself, then her, furiously. Eventually he gave up, and just waited for the rest of the team to move on. Dogura, and all that.

Shigure seemed to have the support of everyone he was with. He'd heard it all first hand, all except for the taller one in the shadows. This one, however, hadn't said much since the journey started, so it was expected by now. Shigure smiled, and turned around. Looks like we're camping out here tonight. Shigure stated. Fang walked towards a certain wall in the room, and tapped on it with his cane. It slid upward to reveal many beds. "I used to care for sick Veloans here. You may use these beds. There are three bathrooms on the far side of the room."

Shigure nodded, and led the group into the room. It felt cool, and beds were comfortable. The room seemed a bit more furnished than the rest of the house. "The door will close with a tap. I'll not be here when you wake, as I have business to attend to in a far away city. "My sister will stay here with you tonight." Before he left, he turned, and stared. "If I find anything missing from my home upon my return... I'll find, and kill each one of you." With that, he left the room, and closed the wall behind him.

Shigure turned towards the group. "I don't exactly trust these people. I don't know them." He stated. "I'll stay up tonight and keep watch. I want you all to get plenty of rest. It's been a long journey." He sat down on one of the beds, and leaned against the wall. "We'll be leaving tomorrow morning. Fang wasn't clear on what time the cloaked man appears. So we'll have to-" before he could finish that sentence, a voice piped up from the shadows. "I'm sorry about that..." Shigure turned to see an armored man stting in the corner of the room. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to." The Goron scooted off of the bed, and approached the man. "Are... Are you okay?" He asked. The man was in scorched armor, and his hair looked like it had never been done. He was staring across the room. "I'm sorry... I'll never do it again... I promise." Shigure followed the man's gaze to a different corner of the room. Nothing. Turning his head back in the man's direction, he asked again: "are you okay?" The man just started murmuring something in a different language.

Shigure looked around the room to see if anyone was paying attention to this. "Early morning. 8:00." The soldier piped up again. "I followed him. That man." Shigure could only remain silent as the stranger rambled on. "Follow him... But for the love of Farore... Don't let him catch you..." Shigure felt a chill run down his goronic spine when the man spoke those words. "I..." He gestured to the others that he was officially freaked out. When he looked back, the man was missing. Vanished into thin air. Shigure stood up, and said a prayer, realizing that he'd just spoken to one standing the valley of the dead. "8:00 AM tomorrow." Shigure stated. "I'll wake you all up then. Sleep well."

* * *





<center>Dawn of Monday 8:00 AM</center>

A cucco could be heard in the distance, crying out at the top of it's lungs. The morning air was humid, and the air was still. "It's a good thing we're in a small group." Shigure decalred. "He'll be easier to follow like this." The Goron had bags under his eyes that revealed that he had indeed, kept to his word, and remained awake. "He'll be here any moment. I want you guys to continue ahead and follow him. I'm too big to hide, so I'll follow you guys from a little ways behind." The group would wait until the arrival of the stranger.

OOC: Giving you time to post (to keep up with all of this) and this is Alpha's last chance to post in this topic before we move on. As soon as everyone posts here, I'll post the link to the final topic.

Ruca stretched her small Deku arms and yawned deep, not entirely used to being awake at eight in the morning. A lot was accomplished at night in her line of work. She spent a large portion of her day life, most days, in bed. Her cloak was pulled over her head - it was a stealth mission, after all.

She didn't like the idea of following a complete stranger, whom none of the assembled party members had ever seen before. It especially bothered the Deku that she was now personally in danger by volunteering for this damn fool idea. When Darizan had asked her to find Dogura, she had assumed an enjoyable and blood-chilling mystery would be looked into.

Now it turned out that her query was apparently deceased, and to her the mystery was solved. There was no Dogura, there was no Apostle number fifty-three, and there never would be again. He wasn't the first of her comrades to be lost in the line of duty. What bothered her more than anything, however, was that this particular Apostle had not been killed in the line of duty. Had that been the case, his memory would be laid to rest and his death confirmed and mourned.

It seemed that the smallest possibility of his survival remained. She had seen a glimmer of hope in Shigure's eyes the night before, and she knew that this hope, however faint it might be, was all she needed to pursue the samurai further.

Besides, it interested her to know exactly what had happened to the apparently royal-blooded Apostle.

"I'm ready to go," Ruca told the large, friendly Goron, nodding in approval to his qualms about being seen. "I'm small, and dressed for stealth to boot. Let's get this over with."

"Dogura Shadowclaw, Prince of Shadowclaw, and son of Rendd is no longer among the living."

Those words haunted Saber throughout the night. He woke up in starts numerous times, his hand clenched on the wolf-head dagger that the samurai had tossed to him in the Inn. The last time he had been able to talk to Dogura. He glimpsed him during the Gohma fight, but things were so hectic there was no chance for conversation. Immediately following the spider's demise, Dogura had disappeared, and Saber was missing the second of the two adventurers who he had actually grown somewhat near to. The thought that he would never be able to return the dagger was...well, something he had suspected before, but he always pushed it to the back of his mind. Now there was nothing to do but face reality.

He got out of bed fairly easily, and silently. Sticking the dagger in its spot opposite his saber, the nomad rubbed his forehead, working his jaw to get that irritating morning feeling out of it. He started wondering why he was still with the group. Maybe he was entertaining the thought of Dogura's being still alive? Regardless of reason, he sat and awaited their next move quietly.

Victor managed to sleep very well that night, in that he was still asleep at eight, while everyone else was waking. He had dreamt of Dogura, in a sense; the many adventures they had shared returned as hazy nighttime memories as the Bard had tossed and turned soundlessly in his latest bed. Tears in Time and Scenting the Prey and Tall Men Giving Gifts and and...

Well the Bard was still asleep, anyways. He couldn't be expected to remember every adventure with Dogura, but it was enough to make him feel a bit sad when he woke up. If he woke up. Because he was still asleep.

The Sheikah stood by a window, gazing out on the barren cityscape of Saria, the words from the past night still running through his head.

"Dogura Shadowclaw, Prince of Shadowclaw, and son of Rendd is no longer among the living."

Another one had passed, then . . . another of the few people he would have called companions or even friends. It had happened many times before, although . . . he had never expected Dogura to be one who would succumb to fate so early on. But that was what Fang had said, and they didn't have much reason to doubt the man.

Why was he still here, then? Because that Goron, Shigure, had seemed so very confident that Fang had been wrong. And they had one last shot at finding out for sure who was right and wrong - some strange, cloaked man. Alpha himself had not slept at all last night either; he'd kept watch, same as Shigure, though his eyes had been focused outside the window, making sure that this mystery man didn't come in the middle of the night or something. He didn't mind staying awake; he probably couldn't have slept much anyway.

Looking back, he saw the rest of the group being aroused from their own individual slumbers by the Goron, and began to prepare himself for what lay ahead. Following a man from the shadows . . . he could do that, probably better than most. Maybe he should . . .

In an instant he made up his mind, walking from his night-long perch over to a hidden recess of the room. When he could no longer be seen by any of the others, his scar glowed a shining violet, allowing him to step into a portal to the Void.

He would follow the man, just like the others . . . but he'd be walking from a different angle than they. If the man noticed the large group, he might try to flee, and Alpha would be in a much better position than they to keep up with him if he was already a separate entity.

OOC: So! The reason I haven't posted here until now is because my life is far too hectic right now to be getting involved in anything major (that's also one of the main reasons why I ignored every one of KP's invitations/demands to join his dungeon). Real life doesn't look any more appealing in the next few weeks either, so this is my little way of distancing myself from the rest of you. When I have time again, I'll rejoin the main cast; until then, just assume Alpha's always watching from somewhere you can't see.

You know, just like he always is.

Shigure grabbed Victor, and slung the bard over his Goronic back. "I'm taking Victor with me." He announced, as he turned around. "I'll be following you two from a distance." He nodded to the small Deku and Sabertache. He lumbered away, taking the sleeping vagabond with him.

* * *

Twenty Minutes later

One would begin to question of the man would show up at all. It would seem that the spirit of the haunted makeshift inn had duped them.

...And that's when he appeared.

Slowly walking down the dirt road that led to the local shop, a cloaked figure advanced onward. With every step, the hair on the back of the adventurers' neck would rise higher. There was a strong aura about the stranger, and it only grew stronger as he or she neared. Finally, the being reached it's destination, stepped up onto small step one must overcome to progress towards the door. The figure opened the door, and a bell sounded throughout the deserted town, echoing off of the emptiness. The air hung still through the duration of the stranger's disappearance. After a few more minutes, a bell was heard echoing off of the deadness once more, as the door opened again. The eerie tension grew strong again, as the familiar cloaked being exited the store, this time, carrying a sack over his or her shoulder. The being stepped down off of the stoop, and walked back down the familiar street.

The two adventurers had a good chance of remaining undetected, as there were only two of them following closely. If this, however, would be the chance they took to emerge from their hiding places, they would surely re-think their decision; The cloaked being had stopped. There, the stranger stood, not making a move. The hood turned in the direction of a nearby bulletin board, and the stranger soon made it's way toward the wall of text. Almost as if taunting the followers' patience, the figure stood near the sign, and read for a little over ten minutes. It was around this time, the the cloaked being pulled away from the mass of text, and continued, slowly as ever. Now would be the perfect opportunity to follow the follow the stranger.