In the center of a particularly bland expanse of desert sand stood a lone, short figure. He was ambling about, nothing special. Behind him was a single block of stone, oddly placed where there really shouldn't be any stone at all. But, nothing special.

Up to him walks another man: tall, with a confident stride. From the distance one can watch the two figures interacting, the taller one showing the shorter one a small slip of paper, the shorter one craning his nonexistent neck to try to explain to the tall one...

"You see, that note was meant for... um, well... another person who... is not... quite... you, yes?"

"Well, yes, I understand that, sir, but... that person is not here right now. I'm merely a bit early."

The taller man was Eximius Validus, famed Vassal and overall cool guy. He likes fast horses and beautiful women. But that's not important.

The smaller man is a Deku, bespectacled, clad in a light white robe and holding a comically small cane. He is hitting the sand impatiently with its tip as he speaks, though the rest of his body shows no signs of irritation.

"Well, when he gets here, he can hand me the note and then I can go about my business, yes? But..."

Two more figures enter the scene. One, a petite woman, is Celine, friend of Eximius. She walks up to him with a soft hello, and greets the Deku similarly. She does not make any trouble.

The second new figure is also tall, and running hectically across the sand. He slips a few times and falls, collecting bits of hot dirt on his cloak before getting up and running some more. Eventually he makes it to the three figures waiting for him.

"I... I'm here," he pants.

The Deku is extremely pleased.

"Oh good! Mr. Vir, we've been expecting you, yes? Well now that all is in order I can show you in. Party of three, yes? Right this way..."

"NO!" the Bard yelled, startling the Deku and causing him to drop his cane. "Er... no, wait, please. There are more of us, coming... I hope."

He glanced at the horizon expectantly. The Deku was peeved, but failed to show it. He was quick to start tapping his cane again, though.

"Well, well, I suppose we can waste my time some more, yes. But only a bit more. Please, we must hurry..."

But Victor wasn't really listening. He was scanning for familiar faces, waiting hopefully for some help. After finally figuring out the riddle, it had taken some time to find this place. But he was here, now, and it was just a matter of time before his friends could find him in the middle of the desert.

They always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.

OOC: This is my dungeon. I've been advertising it forever in my sig, but here it finally is. I'm opening up recruitment to everyone (contrary to my last story topic), but I really hope to see those of you who participated in my earlier story topics here. I'm looking at you, Alpha!

Also, before we start this dungeon, I'd like to point out something: this is a traditional dungeon. Checks will be necessary, so don't skimp on them. There will be plenty of puzzles, and some parts will be pretty linear. But I really want you guys to try ANYTHING you can come up with. If it's creative and makes sense, I might let it happen with a passed check. There will also be instances where I will place secret things - if you're creative and smart, you should figure them out pretty quickly, and when you do, you'll be rewarded, I promise! BUT NOW TO START OMG FINALLY.

FYI, this is pre-SH. So act like the South is still closed OK? OK.

In a land where Gohma still raged through the North/South pass, Sabertache walked for seemingly no reason at all through the Parapa Desert. A Hylian's got to have priorities, after all, and desert walks were pretty high up on the list.

And look, who's that over there? Why, it's Eximius! He and Saber went way back. Why, Saber remembers that time, where the dog chased after that guy and the guy screamed. Yes, those were good times with Eximius.

And look, who's that over there? Why, it's Celine. She and Saber went way back. Why, Saber remembers that time, with the guy who didn't have arms, but somehow was capable of getting drunk off his limbless keister. Yes, those were good times with Celine.

And look, who's that over there? Why, it's a Deku. Deku and Saber went way back. Why, Saber remembers that time, with the Apostles and going into that tower. Yes, those were good times with the Deku.

And look, who's that over there? No, really, who was that? Probably wasn't important.

Saber walked up and waved to Eximius and Celine and the Deku. "Hello, friends! How are you doing? Who's your friend with the harp?

Although to most, the desert air and sun would be a pain, to anyone who had really been to Parapa, the opposite was true. This desert was just as cool as the plains, and the views just as bland. The people were different, obviously, being of a darker color than the pale or fair-skinned Hylians and Humans. In this case, in fact, an incredibly pale Sheikah, the hybrid child Worru, was able to trek across the dusty dunes with nary a problem.

However, his nonchalance was short lived, upon being able to clearly see the group he was to meet. The only person he could really recognize, and even then he was just barely able to place the name, was Victor, and that was one person out of what looked like four people. "So... Erm... Sorry I'm late." he apologized, giving a slight bow to those whose company he was in. "Uhm... Anything I missed?"

~Parapa Desert had a long history. A long, long time ago, right here, one of the several Links had set out to save one of the several Zeldas. Indeed, here he had obtained his legendary... candle. Actually, he had to brave a dangerous palace (of the Parapa nature) to get this oh-so-wonderful torch. Pyralin's adventurers today would be no where near exciting. Indeed, you can always tell your going to go through the same old boring stuff when you see your regular collection of adventurers (all of whom mysteriously no each other by name whether or not they've met before) standing around a mysterious stone... in the desert.

Did this harbringer of misfortune keep Pyre away? Of course not. He was on the spot almost immediately. The redhead ranger (I like the sound of that ) trudged over several miles, through a forest, a cave and over sandy dunes to get here, but surprisingly he wasn't even worn out. He even looked quite excited when he arrived.

"Hey guys. How's the.... adventuring?"

Pyralin made a quick but necessary nod to Saber and the other notables whom he knew, and ignored the two with strange names and deku. They seemed like they wouldn't be very good friends. They'd probably leave as soon as the action had ended. No long term commitment. With all that introduction stuff out the way, it looked like there wasn't much more to do then wait.~

OOC: Because KP is going to moan about me not being here, and because I'm going to moan about wanting more EXP....



IC:
Urgh, I miss teaching, she thought as she crept to the group. Though it did not bother her much, it was still hot underneath the sand-colored cloak. The camouflage was perfected even more by the thousands of grains of sand that had embedded themselves in the cloth over the years.

Aria Sinwater finally made it to the group of people; one Hylian was looking the other way. His stance suggested he was expecting others. However, it was the others she was worried about as she revealed herself by throwing her cloak around to her back. She held up her hands to show she meant no harm, but the Gerudo asked in a firm voice that said she would take no nonsense, "What reason do you people have in Parapa?"

The dust accumulated across the horizon where hills and the edge of a persons eyes became blurred and lines lost their edge and the sun became a blanket of white light with no particular orifice to leave or enter from, only heat to court that light and veil a person's eyes with the glaze of sweat and precipitation as brows might cascade with the stench of heat and collect in pools that channeled through the wrinkles of a persons face.

That is the way he traveled, as a long tumble weed that ran the course of dunes with no particular destination in mind, where a person's eyes were fooled by the hillstops and valleys that melded into themselves and danced in unison into one heap of sand, where that tumble weed could dance in a masquerade ball when in reality, beneath the blanket of the sun, he was actually a lone goron rolling through the desert fields that embroidered themselves into the white planes of the sky.

It was anyone's guess as to how such a goron could travel along the earth and still have a hint as to the direction of its momentum might take him but Rosen's cataracts allowed him that pleasure, to travel without eyes to see and simply intuition to court him to where a group of adventurers stood.

A ball of fire stopped at their feet as the sun leaped off the shell of his exterior, painting what is at first a usual pale and grey auburn to a ribbon of color that bounced off the callouses of his flesh and into the sky in streaks of velvet rainbows as the sun caught the sweat off his back standing at full attenion...or at least 90 degrees as he still hunched with the weight of his beard rooted into the earth, collecting sand as it sprouted there waiting for some inclination of what was happening here.

"Seems a little hot for a picnic, bard. What're you doing here?"

OOC: Indeed, KP's a big ole bardy baby!

Phillip came running across the vast, sandy expanses of Hyrule's northernmost desert, panting and sweating and wondering why he had ever agreed to such a foolish adventure. As a young man of around twenty-one, he was anxious, strong-willed, and passionate for discovery.

Foremost, however, he was lazy.

And so as he ran, black boots kicking up sand and black cloak sticking to his body like soggy rags, he was almost prepared to keel over and quit. It wasn't until he saw the assembled warriors in the distance that he put on a final burst and ignored his fatigue.

Most people wouldn't try running across the desert, but Phillip had already been attacked by several different desert creatures. Between the Leevers and Poes and minion-sized Lanmolas, he was better off sprinting to his destination. He dreaded the possibility that an adult Lanmola should stick its ugly, insectoid mug out of the sands.

Stopping abruptly and almost falling forward, the sun-baked grunt leaned over and breathed heavily, wiping sweat from his forehead before looking up at Victor with a hateful expression of contempt.

"Hell of a time..." *huff* "finding..." *ugh* "this place..." *urk!*

The Apostle groaned and began to turn a sickly pale color, before sprawling out on his back in the sand, thoroughly exhausted and self-diagnosed as suffering from a major case of heat stroke.

"I'll be fine... just give me a second to catch up... jeez..."

The cloaked man, whom even Victor could call his subordinate, made no other sounds and closed his eyes, only moving momentarily to draw his hood over his face to protect it from the hot sun. A stifled, tired murmur could be heard from beneath his hood as he laid still, waiting for Victor to give the go-ahead.

"Cooler desert... pfft... NO."

It wasn't that it was too hot. Parapa was always known for it's cool breeze, and that was all fine and dandy. The problem Taint had with any desert, was that it was just "too damn dry." Those words seemed to fall to the ground into the sand. They just laid there and sun baked. Taint the cry-baby Zora walked through the desert in a slouched position, looking for any source of water. It's not that he wanted to cool off. He was just thirsty, and hopelessly lost in the desert. He'd never explored Parapa, but heard there was a town of rogues somewhere within its sands. He knew that the "Anything Goes" rule applied in towns such as those. He needed money, and was more than confident with his skills when fighting untrained warriors.

It would seem, however, that he'd never find what he was looking for. He was hungry, thirsty, and tired. He spotted figures over the horizon, and instantly bursted into a half-effort sprint. Stumbling and tripping all over the place, he some how awkwardly kept his balance on the sand, until he finally came upon the group. He didn't care that they were scary, and he didn't care that they might hurt him. He dropped to his knees, and held out his fists together in a prayer motion, jerking them outward repeadedly. "Please, with C! Give me water with C!" He cried, frustrated and drained to anyone who cared to hear. He opened his eyes, and mustered the most pitiful look he could(for a 20 year old man).

A scribe had managed to work his way through the barren wasteland also called by some to be "the Papara Desert." This place happened to not only be home to a Gerudo village, but also a large portion of the exiles. Like another amongst the group of adventures, a grunt, this scribe had also defended himself from several beasts, mostly, but not limited to, leavers. But.. now he was here, and that was all that matter.

He wore his signature dark brown cloak, hood up, even in this heat, as to keep the sun out of his eyes. His Terminan made watch glistened in the sun. Warn out sandals clung loosely to his feet. He looked to be in his mid to late twenties, and stood a little less than six-foot. He was a little underweight, but could hold his own regardless. Under his cloak were his dark tunic, and his, now sand covered, pants. He wore a belt, tied to which was his bomb bag. Slung over his shoulder was a pack full of scrolls, for both magic and writing. A quill and boomerang was tuck between his belt and tunic. His right hand not only was using a staff as a walking stick, but was also clad in a Gerudo training glove.

As he approached the group, he looked a little off set. He was late. "Hey....I'm not....I was just....I.... Where to... Sorry, I'm late," was his final statement, apparently just wanting to be forthright about it. But now, Orpheous, as he called himself, the word-mancing scribe was here, and despite his words temporarily escaping him, he was ready.

OOC:

Yeah, sorry for the sort and ill conceived post. A fellow RPer who shall not be named *coughKPcough* was heckling me to hurry up and post.

STATS
HP: 53
STR: 3
DEF(DEF rating): 16
AGI: 1
INT: 5
SPI: 3
SPL : 42

TALENTS
Leadership L1
Hylian Intelligence L1
Hylian Intelligence L2
Goron Strength L1
Goron Strength L2
Life L1
Train: Boomerang L1
Elemental Burst L1
Elemental Burst L2
The Quill is Mightier than the Sword L1
Epic Poem L1
Exceptional Health L1
Exceptional Health L2

EQUIPMENT
Deku Staff
Deku Boomerang
Gerudo Training Glove
Fire Scroll
Elemental Burst Scroll
Life Scroll
L1 Tunic

DMG
Deku Staff: 12
Magic: 21
Deku Boomerang: 8
Bomb: 8

CURRENT
HP: 53/53
SPL: 42/42
Will: 9/9

As the group stood, conversing and greeting each other, none of them expected a lone man, clad in dark clothing and a half-face mask, to suddenly appear from the shifting sands as if he had been there all along.

Hiro looked over them with his cold, blue eyes. What's going on here? Some kind of meeting? His icy gaze turned to the bard. He seems to be waiting for someone. There's already so many here... Are there more?

Hiro shifted his thoughts to a more pressing matter: Dokumaru. I wonder if any of these people knows where he may be? ...Even if they did, I can't risk one of them being a spy. I can't let Dokumaru know I'm searching for him. I guess I'll have to follow them and see. He found himself grasping the handle of Chikage. I'll find him eventually...

Hiro removed his mask and adressed the crowd.

"So, what is such a strange group like you doing all the way out here? Don't you know it's dangerous in the desert?" Hiro said with a smirk. Any minion of Dokumaru would probably be outraged at a statement like that... Let's see how they respond.

Gragh, the desert. Why did it even exist? Why was a huge expanse of sand, with no water on sight, created by the Goddesses? Had they placed a curse upon this land, making it inhospitable and impossible to grow culture in it? I mean, a place like this, devoid of life just like a barren wasteland... what was its purpose in existing? The boy kicked the sand before him, gaining nothing from that action: there were far too many grains here to make a difference. A deep sigh left his mouth, his gaze stern and bored from the non-changing scenery. To the distance, he could make out Parapa Desert, and memories of all of its inhabitants flashed in his mind for a moment. Their complacent behavior towards their surroundings, and the love they held for such a desolated land... how they could express those feelings he also failed to grasp - how could anyone enjoy life in such a hot and disturbing place? Or, to make it worse, call such a dreadful place their home? Did the Goddesses have a hand on these matters as well? Had they placed a curse upon those souls, twisting their own reason into liking such undesirable places?

Maybe they had just caught too much sun. That seemed reasonable, considering the flaming temperatures this place had.

Disregarding his previous train of thought, he focused his mind on present matters: he had not come here to rest his mind on rhetorical questions whose answer was not for him to understand (at least yet...)... there was a reason for him being in such an inhospitable place. As such, shrouding himself in his own cloak and using an Elemental Control of the water element to cool off his garments, the boy slowly traversed the desert, complaining every time his feet sank into the unwelcoming sands beneath. He used his staff as a walking cane, a much-needed aid in order not to end up losing his footing: the last thing he wanted was to get his knee twisted or his body trapped in a sandpit; this place was too hot for him to dawdle like that. Of course, then there was another problem that didn't help his motivation at all. Namely... What on earth am I doing here...?

Before entering another self-reflective moment that would without a doubt end up with the teenager collapsing from the intense heat, he caught a glimpse of a pretty good reason for him to be present there at that time. His eyes focused on a pretty peculiar group of people that, according to their... extravagant dress code, just had to be an adventuring party. And the boy knew better: where several adventurers gather, the outcome is surely obvious: some demon from a ninth hell would come and torture everyone, some evil organization would plot to conquer the world, or some strange contraption of untimely death would show up and it was up to them to solve it. His trademark grin could already be seen on his face he shifted his position. Thanking his sixth sense for warning him about the fun events that were about to transpire (of course, something like this was obviously not divine inspiration!), he hastened his pace, the feeling of his feet sinking in the sand ignored as the boy was driven by the sheer adrenaline of the perils he was about to face. Disregarding his previous train of thought, Tayro focused on the one thing that now mattered: This is going to be loads of fun!

OOC: Alright guys, SIGN UP IS CLOSED.... except to Alpha who can join if and when he finally gets around to wanting to. Maybe after reading a bit? Who knows. Actually we're entering a LIMITED INVITATION ROUND with this next set of posts, as you're all going to have to RP your walking in. Basically I am going to give certain people who I have invited one last, quick chance to join before I shut the doors I am about to describe. Those people are limited to: Sakiko, Eberron, and Darilan. Alpha has an extended full-time special guest invitation because he's the admin and can do whatever he wants anyways, but also because I said so.

Everyone else: you had your chance! Oh, and feel free to just read the part where I talk about your character arriving, the only important section of this post is the second one, and it's clearly marked. Go!

IC: It was an extremely hot day, so as he scanned the horizon Victor was careful to account for mirages. Nothing like a wobbly shadow off in the hot distance to ruin your day. But after watching one shadow sustain its existence for a good long while, the Bard cheered up. When he saw it was Saber he was ecstatic. When he saw Saber didn't recognize him he fell into a deep depression.

Eximius laughed.

"That, my good friend Saber, is Victor. Don't worry, he's not important."

But Celine shot Ex a cold look that actually scared him a bit, so he quieted down. Victor, meanwhile, was wishing Saber had been a mirage when Worru approached the group and ACTUALLY REMEMBERED HIS NAME. So the corners of his mouth picked up a bit, but he responded weakly.

"Hey, Worru... You haven't missed anything... We're just waiting for more people so we can get started..."

The situation was looking like it was beginning to improve with the arrival of Pyralin, who Victor regarded with a slightly happier smile and a "Pretty good." But then it took a turn for the worst when a sudden Gerudo started being all firm with them. He was about to respond with something that would probably get him kicked in the head, when Celine interrupted.

"Oh, well, you see... we're here with this man..."

She pointed to the Deku, who glanced up at the Gerudo and "hmphed."

"... and he is leading us into... Well, Victor seems to want to wait for more people to arrive, so I'll let him tell you about it then. For now, you need not be worried - we have only the best of intentions here in Parapa."

Meanwhile Victor had turned his attention to Rosen, still probably for the best.

"Well, this isn't a picnic. We're just waiting for some more people to show up before we go on with our adventure! You're welcome to join us, Goron."

When Philip arrived, Victor waved knowingly at the Apostle, but turned to continue searching in the distance for others. Eximius snickered again, this time at Philip's obvious lack of fitness in the desert environment, but Celine turned from Aria to look at the Grunt with compassion. She was a healer after all.

This turned out to be quite convenient as Taint arrived, practically begging for water. Victor searched his pockets for some reason and, of course, found none, but Celine was able to produce a canteen and offered it willingly to the Zora.

"Here, you can have this. But you may not need it! We'll be moving on, soon..."

Victor was soon distracted by Orpheous's arrival, and offered some sympathy to the scribe.

"Don't worry about it, you probably won't be the last to arrive."

Indeed this was true, as Hiro made an appearance. But Victor failed to notice - rather, it was Eximius who addressed his question.

"We know of the dangers of the desert, sir. We won't be out here for much longer, you needn't worry."

At this point Victor was hoping that would end up being true. The desert was hot, after all, and standing out in the middle of it for no damn reason was beginning to annoy him. So, when he saw Tayro running towards them in the distance, the Bard turned to the rest of the group and smiled.

"OK, folks, I think that's enough of us! Let's get moving."

OOC: AT THIS POINT YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY START READING EVERYTHING.

IC: Then, to the Deku:

"If you could show us the way, we'd be happy to stop wasting your time now!"

The Deku "hmphed" again and mumbled something about "finally", and walked over to the block of stone he had been standing in front of this whole time. He mounted it, struggling a bit but finally making it, and stood at its center. He then grasped his cane with both hands and stabbed it down into a hole in the block. Immediately, a rumbling could be felt from deep below the group's collective feet. A large area of sand behind the block was visibly bouncing in coordination with the tremor, and soon formed a cloud of sand that shrouded everyone's vision. Victor hacked as the sand entered his lungs and stabbed at his eyes with his knuckles, trying to clear them of the stinging grains. After about a minute, the shaking stopped, and the sand began to settle.

Before them stood a large wall of silver and gold. It was soon revealed to be a building.

The edifice was ancient, probably. At the very least it had been hidden under the sand for decades, as what should have been a shining monolith in the desert sun had been dulled to a soft gleam. Cascades of sand rained from the rooftop of the structure, collecting in growing piles at the feet of large columns or ornately crafted walls. It looked as if it had been carved, right there, from a block of silver and gold.

Ah, but the Deku didn't care. He had already hopped off the block and was heading toward the wall's center. Though it looked like one seamless surface, a large door was soon revealed, somehow opened with a light push of the Deku's cane. One might have expected darkness, but nope. There was the shininess.

A veritable column of light shaped by the rectangular opening shot out into the desert air from within the building. It was created by reflection after reflection of the desert sun, and it was Victor's, Ex's, and Celine's first reaction to shield their eyes from the blinding light. But the light dissipated into the desert air to join the sun's rays soon enough, and the three were able to look onto the building once more. Not to mention the impatient Deku, who was waving his cane frantically at the group from the doorway.

Eximius was the first to move, striding over to the door and passing the Deku into the building. Celine soon followed, stopping at the gate to join in on the waving. Victor gawked at the place some more before turning to his comrades.

"OK, the time has come, guys. Follow me!"

He then proceeded to run toward the opening, tripping over the occasional sand dune before finally standing next to Celine. You should probably get over there too. It looks like the Deku is poking his cane at everyone who takes a while to get in, prompting them to hurry up already.

OOC: Sorry about that people. I'll try to keep it shorter in the future, you know I hate long posts as much as you do. Go ahead and make your post short if you feel like you don't have much to RP with, just walking in.

No... that man is definitely not working for Dokumaru. He's too polite to be one of his cronies.

From the exterior, Hiro seemed unsurprised at the giant building appearing from seemingly nowhere; hiding emotion had been part of his training as an assassin. What an ornate construct... And magic? I was unaware that anyone but Imperial Incinera could utilize the arcane.

Hiro rubbed the meager amounts of sand that had managed to make it to his eyes and felt thankful that he had replaced his mask after speaking to the group, lest sand find its way into his nose or mouth. That would have been unpleasant, even for him. Hiro shook off whatever sand lay on his person and entered the behemoth of a structure that lay before him.

Aria nodded at Celine, satisfied with her answer. As long as they didn't drag the Gerudos into their affair.

But before the Gerudo could leave, the Deku raised a giant structure from the sand. The ranger gasped; she never knew such a thing existed here in Parapa. She could go back and report this to her superiors, but they would just send her straight back here to investigate anyway, so she might as well stay with this moderately large group.

Aria entered the mysetrious building, taking care to avoid the Deku's cane. If she was going to work with these people, she might as well give them a name. "My name is Aria," she told them. It seemed unnecessary for her to ask if she could tag along.

Darilan was seeing all kinds of crazy colors and sounds. In the Deku woods he had eaten some kind of mushroom that his field guide told him was safe, but obviously not. He had no idea where he was or what he was doing. When he walked into the building he turned to the Deku and asked, "What's are we doing here?" He tripped over his feet and the whole world around him started spinning.

Luckily for Darilan, and the others especially, the major effects of the mushrooms he ate would only last an hour, and the hour ended... right then. Suddenly he could see everything normally again. He looked up at the others and asked, "Where am I?"

OOC: Since I didn't make my return (save for a few posts here and there) until South Hyrule opened, and Darilan didn't know some of the other adventurers here until he started exploring SH, I wanted to make it so he would have no memory of what happened here. Sadly, I couldn't think of any better way of doing it.