After hours of walking through the woods, you come to a clearing. There you spot Dogura sitting in the shade of a tree. He looks up and spots you. Glad you could make it. The others begin to emerge from the trees as well. Dogura stands up and greets the others as well. He then says, As hard as this may be to beleive, I have the ability to tap into the minds of living things. I tapped into the mind of an octork, and ventured to the end of the cave. there is a big switch at the end, and a locked door. thats where its lungs gave out. When Alex gets here, that will be his first task.
He andDarkin silently wait for the rest.

OOC: Yes, that's correct. Use Darkin all you want.

IC:
Alpha is among those who emerge from the woods. However, he is the last one do so. Those who know him, even just slightly, would find this odd as Alpha is normally one to be up front. But the reason for this soon becomes apparent.

"Doruga, I decided that we would need more help than we currently have." He turns back to the woods. "Allow me to introduce my master, Zaris, and my fellow apprentice Shada." As he says their names, the two fellow Sheikah appear from within the forest. Zaris nods in greeting, and Shada gives Doruga a beautiful smile for the same reason. "With the help of the Golden Sheikah, I'd say our mission stands a much better chance of success."

Dogura turns his head in thier direction, waiting for Alex to arrive. He gives them a cold stare, testing them to see if they will hold thier ground. They didn't bat an eye. Dogura gives a confident smile, extends a hand, and says, Welcome aboard, we could use as much help as possible. Darkin stares at them, wondering what it was like to have...family. He quickly shakes it off and greets them as well.Did you explain the mission? if you havent i suggest you do so. Every person is key to our mission! We must wait for everyone to arrive. Dogura, Turns around and Waits for Alex and the others.

Blank arrives on the scene, and quietly observes Alpha and the two unfamiliar Sheikah he had brought along. They looked trustworthy enough, for Shadow Folk. Leaning back on a tree, he closes his eyes and daydreams, wondering to himself just how terrible a time-related problem could be. Would he glimpse his future? Would it even exist? These sort of questions filter through his head, fuelling the demon in his mind. Sensing his own distress, he tries to calm down.

He begins pacing back and forth around the clearing, the sweat beading down his face as his thoughts race between past and present. He can't stand the concept of time. Hearing Dogura speak, he stands still and views the party members already present. Alpha, Dogura, Zaris, Shada, and himself.

In no particularly stealthy manner, a rather loud crunching noise could be heard from the surrounding woods. The few fallen leaves crushed by his feet, Victor suddenly appeared from the trees, huffing and puffing and running at full speed. Stopping abruptly at the sight of his comrades, the leftover momentum carried his satchel off of his belt loop and onto the ground, emptying its contents all over the lawn. A bashful smile appeared on the bards lips, and he bent over in embarrassment to pick up his weapons and his rupees.

While collecting his things, Victor happened to glance up just in time to see Alpha, Zaris, and Shada join the group. Without thinking the Hylian stood straight, his things bundled in his two arms, some objects already falling back to the ground. Now more flustered than ever, he bent down a final time and, not without some effort, managed to put everything back in his satchel.

Fastening the pouch with a double knot to prevent the incident from ever happening again, Victor walked over to Alpha and company and loosely saluted them all.

"Hello Shada, Master Zaris. Haven't seen you two in quite a while. Alpha, of course, has frequented my line of sight. Anyways, nice to see you all again."

Then, turning to the samurai, Victor spoke in a more serious tone.

"I'm ready to start whenever you are...."

After a few minutes of waiting for Alex, Alpha silently walks over to the lake. "So...the portal is at the end of a cave underneath the water?" Alpha asks as he gazes down into the water. His words don't sound so much of a question as they do a clarification.

A sharp intake of air is heard as the female Sheikah realizes what Alpha is thinking. He and Shada turn in unison to face Master Zaris, causing the elder Sheikah to blink a few times before giving them a strange and somewhat sheepish look. "What?"

Alpha folds his arms. "Come on, Master. Last time we practiced holding our breath you managed to do it for ten minutes."

Master backs up, and if he still had hands he would have been raising them to ward off the verbal attack. "Oh, come now Alpha, that was ten years ago!"

Shada stares him down. "And last time we practiced you did it for twelve and half!" She turns to Doruga. "We don't need to have a Zora to get to that portal. Master would be happy to do it." She gives Master Zaris a sly look. "It's two-on-one; you aren't getting out of this one."

Zaris sighs in defeat and gives the group a small grin. "Normally I'd say that I can easily improve my numbers, but the fact is that my Goldforce Power's energies are still recharging from the fight with Zaboorak. I used up almost all the energy I had in that battle." He walks over to the water and begins taking a deep breath. The air seems to whistle past the groups' ears as it rushes to fill the cavernous lungs within the Sheikah. For a full minute he inhales, then finally clamps his mouth shut and prepares to leap into the lake.

OOC: ZV, you can RP Zaris' trip to the end of that tunnel. Just, whatever you have him do, keep in mind his condition: he has no arms.

Alex comes out of the woods, speaking to himself something about " that damn sign..."; then he sees that everyone is already there and apparently waiting for him...
"So, how can I be useful?"

OOC: Whoops, looks like I jumped the gun. Sorry Alex.

IC:
"Alex!" Alpha exclaimes at the sight of the Zora. He turns to stop his master, but the elder Sheikah is already beneath the waves.

OOC: Sorry Alex we grew tired of waiting and resorted to using Zarris. But we will need you later! promise!

Zarris swims down the tunnel, minutes passing by, as he gets farther inside. Its Dark, but he can barely see. What he didn't notice, is that as he went farther in, the cave grew smaller! As he was swimming, he got stuck, and couldnt move! I-I cant break free! He thinks to himself, as he franticly struggles to get free! Im going to have to inhale soon! ive got to break free now! All of a sudden, tremendus power bursts fourth out of Zarris! He kicks harder than ever ever before! He breaks free from the thin layer, and the cave begins to grow bigger. a little relieved, the switch comes into sight! He inches twoard it slowly but steadily. When the switch was within reach, he firmly grasped it and pulled with all his might! something clicked, and churned. Out of all of his reliefe, he forgot somthing. he had to swim back! Then he heard a clunk. The water level was receding! He thanked the goddeses, as he took a deep breath of air.
meanwhile....

Dogura and the others waited for Zarris to return with news. But he didnt return. Darkin looked at Dogura and asked, Do you think he is alright? perhaps we should sent Alex in after him. Then Dogura raised a hand to silence him, as he listened intently. Dogur-SHHH! He stopped Darkin in mid sentence. Do you here it? Darkin and the others listened. Yes I here it! shouted one of them. Look at the water! Everyones attention was directed at the water... It's receding! shouted Dogura. He succeded! Dogura smiled. I wouldnt expect anything less from a man of his courage. He turned around. That goes for the rest of you too! I dont expect anything less than 100%, from any of you! Are you ready to procede into the cave? it's not too late to turn back... He waits for cowards to speak up.

OOC: im sorry i had to leave you with a crappy post last time, my dad was all on my case! and Zarris is no longer under my controll. Everyone must reply before we go any further. I dont want to have every one forget about the quest, or whats going on. OH! and he grasped it with his toes!

Blank glances back and forth between his fellow races and brethren. There was no way he was going to back out of this. His worst fears haunted him in every direction he walked, this quest would be no different. He closes his eyes and breathes deep, then steps forward.

Let's just go, Dogura. I think we're all brave enough to stick with our primary decisions. Besides, look at us. don't we all look curious? I don't know about you guys... and girl.... but I really want to peer into my future, if possible. And, if possible, I might find a piece of my past that I have no memory of. We're all battle-hardened warriors, some of us are powerful mages, so this should be a piece of cake... delicious cake, as it were.

He draws his sword, and remembering how unimpressive the weapon is, scowls at it before advancing into the cave, beckoning to the others to follow him.

As he sees Zarris coming out of the water Alex feels ashamed of himself by being late
"It won't happen again" he says as he jumps from the rock where he was sitting to try a few moves with his dagger...

As the water level began to recede, Victor tried but failed to get a good look at the inside of the cave. His curiousity peaked once more, he unsheathed his dagger and prepared to enter the cave. But then, glancing sideways at the dagger, then back into the darkened cave, Victor shook his head and put his dagger away. The cave within may very well house Keese, and a dagger wouldn't help much against those winged rats. So instead, he pulled out his newly purchased bow and arrow, and began his descent into the hole. At Blank's words, he couldn't help but think:

"I hope it's chocolate..."

"Turn back?" Alpha asks. His tone sounds like he's gazing at some sort of repulsive idea. He and Shada both look at each other, and let off a short laugh. Shada finishes for him. "Not a chance. And there's no way Master will give up on a challenge once it's begun. It's not his style."

"You had best believe it's not!" a voice comes from beneath them. Zaris stands where the water had once been, waiting for the rest of the group to join him. "I thought we had a mission to complete. Why are you all standing around up there?"

Dogura smiled. Alright! then lets go! They started into the cave. As they got deeper into the cave, Dogura's voice pierced the silence. Does any one here know a light spell? Darkin piped up. Yes i believe I do. He chanted a few words... As his words echo down the cave, a faint light appears, but it soon grows brighter. Ah! that will do fine! As they walk, they here fluttering. Darkin held his light to the sound. There were nearly 300 keese, a couple of stalfish, and an Octork poe. Prepare to do battle! Dogura draws his sword, as does the rest of the team. The Keese's eyes light up. They glare at the light that pierced thier slumber. They began to attack!

Feeling glad that he thought twice when choosing his weapons before, Victor smiled and armed his bow with an arrow. Seeing the enormous amount of Keese, the bard shuddered just a bit. He hated Keese. Pulling the bow's string taught, Victor aimed for the mass of bats and fired...