Looking down at Remia he offered his hand to her, and if she accepted, he would pull her up onto her shoulder letting her have the high perch and stay out of the mud.
Hycorerox looks at the others and starts trundling off. He doubted the ladies would appreciate his rolling in the mud.
Hycorerox makes his way back towards the graveyard, and up and up, traveling through the broken tomb once more, where the torches remain lit by magical fire, and up and up, back to the cavern. Shyrin is nowhere to be found until they enter the dark cavern once more. She seems to be bowed in prayer at the spiritual gate, the wall of spirits seems to have calmed considerably, and the previous color has changed to a bluish hue. Rather than cascading over one another, they seem to swirl slowly amidst one another, calmed by Shyrin's prayers, which come out in her own voice.
The way forward is lit dimly, What do you do?
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Riza gazes upon the surroundings, attempting to remain impassive. It wasn't that weird, right? After that stint in the Spirit Temple, how freaky was a silly wall of spirits, really? Pretty damn freaky. She pulls her spear from her back and clutches it in a ready position, mostly just to soothe herself. "Hey Anya," she whispers, trying not to disrupt the ritual. "I think you're up." The jury was still out on whether Anya was capable of leading a war party, but from what she'd gathered, the other woman was the only one left who'd actually been here before, and sense clearly dictated that she was the designated Leader on this expedition.
Anya wasn't really sure what Riza expected her to do about a wall of spirits but she'd approach Shyrin anyway."Have you made any progress?"
Remia, after being hoisted onto the goron's shoulder smiled at the new vantage point she could have only previously had by climbing up a tree gazed at the strange ritual, unsure of what exactly was happening.
Shyrin, looks to Anya, then back to the wall, as she continues to pray. She takes one hand, and presses it towards the barrier, which splits as her hand begins to pass through, the spirits allowing her passage. She gives Anya a small smile, and nod, never halting her steady prayers.
It would seem that the magic is indeed working, and the spirits are sated; but she seems busy with maintaining that ritual.
Steeling herself, Riza moves forward through the gap in the wall of spirits. Anya was unquestionably the Leader, but the Gerudo knew her place was at the front of the marching formation. Whispering over her shoulder, she asks "So what should we be expecting here? The Zora said something about dead things."
'The greatest danger.' the combined voices of the spirits within the wall spoke of their own volition as Riza moved through the wall, 'Are those of our kind who could not pass on and harbor evil intent. Fear the ceiling... and trust your instincts, not your eyes.'
Hycorerox would follow, carrying Remia if there was enough room. If not he would follow the Gerudo. Pulling out his shield and his Shillelagh. Hearing the whisper he tried to think of what they had mentioned before and any knowledge of such a creature.
Anya followed after the others, she kept her hand on her hilt. The voices alone set her on edge but the idea she wouldn't be able to "trust her eyes" was distributing.
Redeads are all but unheard of for the common Goron, Hycorerox, however is well aware of such creatures... for they are indeed tied to the land itself.
Mortal beings (typically humans) who find themselves trapped within the earth inevitably succumb to hunger and thirst, and this hunger causes them to never truly die; trapped within their bodies as they were in life, they are left with nothing but their thirst and hunger.
They feed upon vital energies of people, plants, and even the sun itself. A redead that finds itself in sunlight is unable to move, however, those who look upon a redead are also unable to move. Luckily, most redead are simply peasants and miners who fell... a redead in armor would be a worthy and dangerous foe, indeed. Those of strong will can shake off a singular redead's cursed gaze, while those strong of body can free themselves once the beast has closed.
Once the group begins to move past the barrier that is being abated by Shyrin, they reach a space nearly identical. Darkness encroaches upon them as soon as they pass the barrier, the only source of light being the spirits behind them. There are unlit braziers all along the outer edge of the hallways. There are no sounds coming from the environment, though Muse is a steady hum, and upon passing through the barrier a whirring sound begins to come from Anya's pack.
It feels, and smells damp and dank within this ancient tomb; it is a long way from properly maintained. The way forward appears to be walled off by a thin layer of darkness that stretches on into infinity. What do you do?
"Redeads are tied to the land, locked in their bodies as they died where they stand. Hunger and thirst are what they desire. The life force of others is what they acquire. In sunlight they can not move. Look upon them and you won't be able to move. If in armor be double beware. They are truly something to feel a scare."
Hycorerox would carefully make his way to an unlit brazier and pulls out his adventuring gear looking for something that would light the brazier and something to transfer the flame from brazier to brazier. "This should illuminate our way. Hopefully the light will stay."
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Hycorerox would pull out some oil filling the brazier if it didn't already have something to burn then pours a little bit of water into the bottom. Making sure the others are back he would pull out a small box, pulling out a silver white metal and puts it in the water and backs up. A hissing sound then a small explosive reaction as the metal reacted to the water and caught fire. (Sodium ^.^) The greenish flames danced as the long lasting burning item would start to burn.
Nodding he would put the box back up. "Nature provides always, if you understand its ways."
"Shadow, Guard" commanded Remia, sitting atop the goron as her wolf's ears pricked up, visibly ready for combat. Remia Draws her bow and an arrow. "Ready to move forward when you are."
Each brazier is already filled with a strange oil that has a more ruby sheen than normal oil. When the flames are lit by the little mixture, they dance a bright white, and then steadily fade to a green, casting everything in a sinister light, but the darkness abates, and moves away.
By the time all of the braziers are lit in the hallway, small popping sounds can be heard in the next room, which is now lit with the same emerald light. The hallway opens upon a room with a large chasm, perhaps eight feet across before a singular balcony on the other side, with a large stone door. Flames dance all along the outer edge in braziers set into the wall, though the darkness below remains impenetrable.
What do you do?
Anya glances over the area to make sure there is no immdeiate threat before she moves to find the source of the odd sound.
Anya finds that the compass within her pack is spinning around madly, informing her that there was a lot of magic around.
There doesn't seem to be any threats, just now.
Hycorerox murmurs to himself as his foot stomps slightly before he moved forward. He saw the jump and knew he wasn't the best at jumping so he started to look around for something to help them cross. He was careful with Remia on his shoulder making sure his hand was up anytime he leaned over so she could stay on and upright. He checked the edge of the chasm to see how stable the rock was.
There are a number of ways that one could get across; most of which don't work all that well for a Goron. It is perfectly possible, at least in theory, to climb down and climb back up, and that is likely the safest route (assuming there isn't anything down below). One could perform a long jump, though that would be difficult. One could likely use a tool of some sort to grapple something on the other side.
Hycorerox would put down Remie as he would look across the chasm. Looking at his spear and her he watched Riza vault over.
Studying the distance again he would wait until Riza made it to he other side.
Looking at Little Remia he pointed across then made a tossing motion as it asking if she wanted to be tossed over.
Anya didn't have anything she'd be willing to vault with nor was she willing to part with her pride to be thrown so she'd make the jump herself.
Once over Anya would offer to try and catch anyone that jumped or was thrown over.
If Remia needs help over he would provide it.
After she was across he would focus on his form calling to the spirits of the land to shape his form into a tektite.
As Riza hurtles herself forward, she slams her spear into the ground at the last moment, her spear digs into the ground, and sends one of the flagstones clattering down below. She hurtles over the edge of the pit, in an imperfect vault, robbed of some of her momentum by the loose stone.
Luckily, her momentum carries her to the other end, and she reaches the other side with relative ease, catching herself on the edge of the opposite space. Unfortunately, pulling her way up strains her shoulder.
Similarly, Anya follows suit, launching herself over the void, and catching herself; she doesn't have to strain herself thanks to Riza being on the other side... however, something below touches her leg, sapping the life force from her as she drags herself upwards.
The feeling sends chills down her spine.
Hycorerox moves forward to help to give Remia a boost, but like before, the flagstone near the edge of the pit gives way, the magic that was on his mind takes hold in the panicked moment as he begins to roll over the edge.
Hycorerox becomes a Tektite as he falls into the pit . However, the transformation is imperfect, robbing him of his armor. . The instincts of the Tektite take hold, denying you the ability to shift back unless you fulfill its nature. .
Passive:
A Tektite takes no damage from falling any reasonable distance. (You'll know if you're going to do something silly, before you do it. :))
Leap High
You may spend one hold to ignore the roll to traverse any distance that is at least half as high as it is long, and no more than ten feet vertical.
Hard Shell
You may spend one hold to reduce the damage from a single attack by half (rounded up).
Skim Liquids
You may spend one hold to cross over a liquid surface (this does not remove the inherent dangers of the liquid, instead allowing you to not risk sinking).
As you descend into darkness, it takes a moment to realize what is going on. You hear moaning and groaning, and despite the echoes of the strange monster in your mind, you recognize it for what it most likely is: A redead. Luckily you chose your form well, and the small distance, relative to your abilities, means that you can easily leap out of the chasm, long before you risk harm.
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"Don't let it touch you, it drains your life."
If able she'd try to help anyone not over yet.
Riza's pulled muscle twinges, but it's nothing she hasn't dealt with before. She'd have to fight with her left leading for awhile, but it would give her an excuse to practice. She'd been slacking off since she left the fortress. She turns back to help the others only to see a tektite tumbling down the pit. Taking a defensive stance, she looks around. "Where's the Goron?"
Hycorerox saw the redead and looked up. Gathering himself he used Leap high to jump back out of the ravine on the side he fell down on. After all, he couldn't see where everyone was on the one side.
Landing some distance from the edge of the ravine he turned to look at his companions and lifting one leg waved.
"Is the tektite... waving at us?" Riza asks nobody in particular.
Muse flits about playfully as the thing waves at them and Riza concludes it as such.
"I'm fairly certain the tektite is Hycorerox."
That seems to be 'What here is not what it appears to be?' on the list of Discern Realities. Feel free to find two more questions you'd like answered from that list.
It most assuredly is Hycorerox. Further, you can feel a strange breeze flowing from behind you and passing you by. Out of the corner of your eye you notice something strange: The flames on the wall behind you seem to just be floating there, with nothing to hold them in place. perhaps an illusion of some sort. When you focus directly on the flames, they dance within lit brazier, but when you do not, they float in empty space. The only thing that doesn't seem to vanish when you do this is the door itself. You can even see more walls on the other side of the void that the flames dance within, but again, this is with the peripherie of your vision.
Anya would look around for a small rock or something similar and throw it at where the braziers seem to be, Illusions should let the rocks pass but if something else was amiss this would be the first step to figuring it out.
Hycorerox looks at them and would wave them to back away from the edge so he could leap over. Once they were over he would Leap across easily. Before looking at Anya wondering what she was doing.
As you land on the other side, Anya tosses a rock towards the braziers. They just continue sailing through, making a skittering sound on the other side, as it connects with the floor.
Riza gapes at the Goron-tektite, but whips her head around as she hears the rock skittering on the floor behind her. "What is going on here?!"
"Just illusions it seems which bright side means they can't hurt us but also means we can't really tell what's real without a ton of rocks."
Looking into the next room, is exceedingly difficult. There are some walls... And some ceilings. Wait! Just one ceiling. But beyond that, it is difficult to make out. You can tell that the area is lit, but until you have moved through the wall, focusing on details is terribly difficult. What do you do?
Anya does... nothing it seems.
"Not entirely sure what's controlling all of this, any of you have experience with illusions?"
Riza glares at the illusory braziers. "The Spirit Wastes have mirages like any other desert. Sometimes the spirits like to play tricks with them, but I don't know that it's the same thing as these illusions."
While Anya's noticing of the illusion was sort of secondary to her dubiousness in the situation as a whole, Riza's is directed entirely at the illusion.
Her stern gaze causes the illusory wall to vanish. It becomes readily apparent that the door is not a door at all, as well; it is simply a wall made up to look like a door, and worse, the handle is decorated with a small weeping eye. There's no telling what would have happened if someone had tried to enter the temple through the door, rather than the correct way.
On the other side of the door is a room similar to this one, save for a distinct lack of chasm. There are several tables with tools strewn about them, and from the looks of it, variations of similar tools to what Riza's people use for burials, though not all are the same. In the center of the room is a large, empty brazier. To either The room widens beyond everyone's field of vision beyond that, though.
On the wall opposite is a large Sheikah symbol, sans the tear.