The crushing force of Lord Jabu-Jabu answers your pleas and brings harm to the undead abomination as portions of its body simply cave in upon itself as a result of your attack... though you aren't quite certain of where it is unless you continue to shine your light in its direction. You're fairly certain by now that averting your gaze is definitely important... but targeting it without looking directly at it will result in taking -1 forward when targeting them... but looking directly at it may result in requiring a DD:Wis... as you've come to discover.
Anya strikes at the creature but not being able to look at him proves a too difficult, she draws back to avoid a counter-attack rather than land her hit.
Anya leans in to strike, and then pulls back as she sees the creature begin to swat at her, her blade dancing through the air thanks to her ability to feint, completely protecting her from the retaliation of the attack.
Torilin steels himself. Jabu-Jabu demanded bravery from His followers. "In the name of the Lord of Oceans, I defy you, monster!" he cries out, holding his pufferfish-flashlight high. The beam of light shining from the fish-light shines brighter and brighter, shining a painful beam, and Torilin risks his very sanity by steadfastly staring at the creature's monstrous form. He resists the pull on his mind, but the spell falters! "Aaaagh!" he cries, his grip on the puffer-fish wavering. "Help me!" he calls to his companions. "Steady the beam! Steady the beam!" The fish he holds, an imperfect vessel for Jabu-Jabu's might, is almost coming apart from the force of the spell it's trying to channel.
As none of his companions knows just how to steady or focus a laser (yet), things slowly go out of hand, until the fish simply explodes in a burst of light. The reread screams as the burst blinds him... for now, but the party is cast into darkness, save for muse who dances around the bard, illuminating her and her sword... Plus any of you that stand close enough.
Behind you, a shaft of light reveals the way back out.
What do you do?
Faced with no light and a failed spell, with a monster that hurts his sanity to even look at somewhere in front of him in the blackness...Torilin does the only thing he can do; he panics.
"Aaaagh! GET AWAY! NO! GET AWAYY!!!" he cries, as he turns tail and flees back toward the light coming from the exit.
Shyrin can only see Anya now, as muse flits and bobs around her and her blade. Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she rushes in to defend the bard and try to hold back anything that comes close enough to be exposed by the light.
"Can you see anything?" She calls frantically, already knowing the answer as there's no reason Anya could see any more than she. "Muse, can you get close enough to that thing that we can pinpoint it? It must be faltering by now."
"Target the enemy, don't make us targets." She muttered at the fairy that seemed to be trying to kill them.
The little Wisp whistles in what you can almost be positive was a sigh, as it slips back out, and seeks out the creature.
Since the fairy had stopped trying to kill them they wouldn't need to look at it just aim under the fairy.
"Enough of this puny flashlight business!" standing in the light near the exit makes Torilin feel slightly braver. He holds aloft his pufferfish again. "Jabu Jabu! We need to see our opponents to slay them! Share with us your holy light so we may blight your enemies!"
So saying, he hurls his holy fish through the air like a hand grenade, and casts an Invocation at it.
As the fuelling presses forward with her rapier, she realizes that she can yet dodge the blow, but pressing the attack will result in a probable tradeoff.
She chooses to strike the creature, cleaning open a long furrow in its emaciated chest, leading past its ribs and into its stomach.
Just as it returns the favor with a backhand a fish goes sailing by, landing just behind the creature, with a wet squelching sound. It glows with the light of a candle for just a moment. It seems to simply be sitting there, providing a weak light, though the light is slowly building.
And it's thrashing misses the mark completely!
What do you do?
The light takes form around Anya, shielding her from the worst of the monster's strikes. Far behind her, Torilin can be seen weaving magic in the air, using the light to protect her.
As Torilin casts his prayer, marking Anya with his divine blessing... Muse becomes distracted by his intoning, and decides to sing along, dancing in his direction.
The Redead may be blinded by the light... but now everyone else is blinded by the darkness!
What do you do?
"Damnit, faerie, we need light! Anya, Shyrin, fall back! This is my first adventure, and I don't want it to end in the belly of an Redeaded...thing!"
Torilin blinks, focusing intently on the darkness and willing his eyes to open their pupils wider, adjusting to the dark. He can't bring down Jabu-Jabu's wrath on a target he can't see.
As Torilin suggests he needs light, the fairy dances around him, glowing a little brighter with its ruby-tinged light!
The moment the reddish light is bright enough for Torilin to see by, he's going to put it down, once and for all. He stares at it, daring it to try and break his mind.
The swirling faerie, in this case... serves to aid you in avoiding seeing the thing's true face, as you call upon the wrath of your god... the slowly swirling light making it impossible to look upon the face for a solid length of time, but working for what you need.
As you call upon your deity's wrath, you can hear the tides changing... the seas are flowing outwards. What is it that your deity demands of you?
In either case, the creature is thrust backwards by a tidal force, manipulating what little water remains in its body to thrust it onto the grenade-fish you'd lobbed earlier. On the bright side, there's a sickening noise as the fish explodes (becoming utterly destroyed. ), but so too does the redead. The moaning ceases.
Jabu-Jabu demands ritualistic, time-sensitive observations of faith to prove your worth to the Zora people. Without hesitation, the priest falls to his knees and rests his forehead on the cool stone in a gesture of supplication, murmuring prayers to the Lord of Oceans under his breath. He smears the fish guts before him in a wide arc.
Muse darts around Torilin singing in her musical tones as he apparently beseeches her greatness. She was happy to help, after all!
Once all of the supplicating is finished, the murderous fairy flies back in to take stock of Anya and Shyrin... and then flutters, candlelight twinkling red as she goes towards the back of the room. The acrid scent still hangs in the air, as Muse flutters towards the back of the cavern-tomb, bouncing and twirling as she goes.
What do you do?
However, as you begin to question your predicament, a Sheikah on the younger side steps away from a rocky outcropping to sit across from you. The only reason you recognize him as a Sheikah is because of the clothing he wears; no Hylian you've ever met has worn anything like that, and you know him not to be Gerudo. He doesn't speak, only watches you. What do you do?
Similar to the Thief and Anya, you've noticed a steady increase in the castle guard. Worse, their hearts seem to be moving in the opposite direction of your own. The castle has become secluded in recent years, and people have begun having to deal with worse and worse restrictions by the guard. They haven't done anything evil... but you can see Castle Town becoming a police state before your very eyes.
That's why it's so worrisome when you're preparing to bed down for the night that you hear a knock at your door. Light enough to not be forceful, but heavy enough to ensure that you know it was intended. What do you do?
I have done nothing wrong, so I doubt it's anything untoward. Moblins aren't the sort to knock.
Khristov answers the door.
Can I help you?
"Perhaps. Is now a good time to talk in private?" A more thorough glance showed that the Sheikah was wearing clothing that left much to the imagination. Primarily blues and whites, but also a large red Sheikah symbol that was a rarity within castle town.
What do you do?
Riza narrows her eyes at the Sheikah across the way. The Gerudo and Sheikah had been on opposing sides in the Great War, and even though she was too young to remember it, animosity between the two groups had been something she'd grown up with, even if she'd never actually met one before. This one appears to be a long way from home. Trespassing on enemy ground. Gerudo Valley wasn't exactly safe for Riza anymore, either, but that doesn't mean that suddenly Sheikah can just go wherever they like.
Scanning the horizon, she looks for places where others might be hiding. The Sheikah just appears to be sitting there, watching her. It's... creepy. There'd been plenty of disturbing things she'd seen out in the Spirit Wastes, but this was different. As the seconds ticked by and the two just watched each other, Riza could feel tension ratcheting up. After an agonizing minute, she calls out, trying to force whatever was going to happen to happen already. "What do you want here, Sheikah?"
Khristov motions inward and allows his guest to enter. Once they are inside he pours some water from a jug and offers a cup to the Sheikah. He then sits at the table.
I usually hear confessions in the temple, but I can make an exception. You may speak freely here. Tell me what ails you, friend, and I shall do what I can to find you absolution from the heavens and from your conscience.
"I was actually looking for you, I believe, Gerudo." the word didn't sport any animosity coming from the gender-neutral voice. "I believed someone was going to come this way shortly after I was forced to cut the bridge, so I felt it was only right that I should stick around to help them cross." the mouth portion of the stranger was covered, so all that was left for understanding the emotions of the outsider consisted of eyes and tone.
"I actually bear many sins, but I'm afraid that absolving them would be pointless just now. There will be many more things I will have to do in order to survive, as unwholesome as that is." came the slow response.
"I'm actually here, because I'm connected to the castle. I've been doing many things by halves and wholes for a recent guest while operating as Castellan. Unfortunately, your... capabilities have grown problematic for said guest, and I have been ordered to 'get rid of you'. There are several ways that I can do this, though the one that seems best for both of us is if I gave you something... more important to do with your time. Hearing the sins of guards has certainly kept things safer here, as you have borne a portion of the weight for them... but everything is reaching a turning point." the stranger shakes his head. "What say you?"
He paces, stroking his chin.
This is dangerous. If simply hearing confessions is likely to get me in trouble, it stands to reason that there is something someone does not want me to hear. In that case I would likely be required by ethical duty to stay and listen. However, those same ethics would compel me to not intervene in the actions of my confessors, so if such a machination is in place, my best opportunity to intervene would only come from me not listening to it in confession, but by actively participating. I'l play along for now.
If there is something that needs doing I can hardly sit by and wait passively for others to do it or the opportunity to come and pass. What do you have in mind?
"There's always something that needs doing. The pay won't be bad, and you'll get to be a hero, if I'm not wrong. The world is dotted with ancient places that hold secrets, and in some cases, relics. Aside from within the castle walls, the nearest is actually on the other side of Kakariko Village, within the graveyard of my people. I would suggest you allow the Sheikah to complete what I believe her quest will lead her to there, before you enter personally... or with others. If we're lucky, you'll meet up with others along the way. I will provide you with a map that will lead you to various relics across the land that should help you along in your journeys. Another group will be moving around collecting other important pieces for something else. I can't really explain that here."
The Sheikah paused for a moment, as he withdrew a scrollcase, ornately carved, and marked with the castle's crest. She placed it upon the table. "If you should accept, I will make a payment, and ask that you do not leave by the front gates. I've secured passage for you along the wall, which will save you quite a lot of time in reaching Kakariko -and- prevent guards from taking the map and revealing my plan."
They paused once more, before finishing. "The job is simple, yet will be difficult. If you travel to Kakariko, you should meet up with a group that will be traveling with a ruby faerie. With luck, you will also meet a Gerudo and a Kokiri along the way. The Hero of Time seems to have vanished, and... quite frankly, the world needs heroes right now." What do you do?
When she hears the distant song, Remia's ears prick up, she looks down at Shadow and up at Yami, her fairy "You hear that too friends? Sounds like Saria... Wait, it's different, doesn't sound like a fairy ocarina at all." She draws her bow and an arrow, "Your ears are better than mine, we should follow it, Shadow, Lead." She knew she should keep her guard up, though this was familiar noise, it stunk of a traps, ever since the deku tree's death the forest had become a much more unsafe place, with raids on the village from blins, lizalfos and the more militant deku scrubs had become all the more common. "Keep your guard up," She said as she followed the noise.
You can see over the top of the grass, a human dressed in a large amount of blue and white with an alien red symbol painted onto the front. The human has blonde hair and their eyes are closed, as they repeat Saria's song steadily, allowing the winds to carry it off into the forest.
What you do know is that the human knowing Saria's song marks her as a friend of Saria... or at least it should. What do you do?
Very well. If the Hero is truly missing then it seems that something needs to be done. I'll do my part. I'm off to Kakariko then. Give me the map and let me gather my belongings and I'll meet you outside.
With that Khristov stands up and motions toward the door.
Riza glares at the Sheikah, but casts a nervous glance behind her. She'd left early in the morning, but by now they'll have discovered her missing. She didn't have time to dawdle like this. The Sheikah might not be trustworthy, but if she stays on this side of the canyon, she's guaranteed a swift death... or worse.
Making her decision, she looks back to face the stranger. "Then what are you waiting for? Help me across." Riza didn't know what to expect, but she waited expectantly nonetheless.
Remia, crouching down in the grass, cautiously nocks an arrow and stands up, poking her head above the grass if the grass is very tall, pointing the arrow at the woman, she had never seen one of the big folk before and certainly didn't know how on would know Saria.
"Who are you? ... and how do you know that song?" she asks still pointing the arrow at her.
"And may I ask who you are?"
That was definitely not what Riza was expecting. Her jaw drops in outrage. "You have got to be kidding me!" The Gerudo were known for being thieves, not acrobats. This had to be the stupidest, most obvious trap she had ever seen. As soon as she stepped onto the chain, the Sheikah would just jerk it and send her falling to her death. Messing with this Sheikah was a waste of her time. At least Ganondorf would give her a warrior's death. "If you want to kill me, you'll have to come over here and fight me yourself!"
"I have no compulsion to fight or harm you. I could leap across, but I could not carry you back with me, and I do not know the Way to the other side. So, it is the chains or finding your own way. Perhaps you can make the leap." came the response, the Sheikah still knelt low, holding the chains taut.
"If you do not trust me here, how will you be able to trust anyone on this side of the chasm. Every journey begins with a single step."
Khristov goes to a corner of his house where he has a small shrine dedicated to Nayru, goddess of order and law. He kneels before it and prays for boons for his coming mission. He prays for reprieve from the effects of time upon his body and for the wisdom to not be fooled by deceit. He then sprinkles himself with water and puts on his armor and tabard, then steps out of his house.
Khristov takes to the streets. Armor on, sword on his hip, shield on his back, and heads off to look for the man in the Keaton mask.
The east side of town, avoid the guards. Shouldn't be too hard.
So it was that the dark night swept around him as he moved, the city streets mostly empty. But onward and onward he went, until finally, he began to move past an alleyway, before spotting a floating fox head. Attached to the fox head was an entire human being, albeit stooped over. The man appeared ill at ease as he stood watching Krhistov.
What do you do?
I should have asked for a name. Now I know I would make a horrible spy.
That certainly looks like a Keton mask to me, so I suppose I was sent to meet you. Do you know where we are going?