Toxic Sands [Quest/Closed]

[joseph]

Joseph meditated through the rest of the night, his magic replenishing due to the few hours of rest and relaxation.

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With the sun back up and his face once more covered by his scarf, Joseph walked along the back of the group, knowing that they where all strong fighters, but still not too big of a fan of the female goron. She was a little too wild, and a woman. The leader of the group asked a question that Jin stayed quiet about for a little bit before giving a single sentence in response.

"I came from the forest and then lived in this desert for a while." He didn't go into details, he didn't explain anything more about himself. His words where quick though they spoke only the truth and he didn't wish to say any more. None of these people had any right to learn more about him, to dive deeper into the past that he wished to remain unknown.

OOC: Hey, does Hadrian, Ba'Ggun, and Joseph know each other yet? Since we are in this quest and in Jabberwocky's quest.

[Seayn]

Seayn stared blankly for a moment at the corpses of the snake directly in front of him. It was rather intimidating, he was quite glad that it had failed to sink its fangs into his face.He let out a heavy sigh, his entire body relaxing for a moment before he remembered that there were two more snakes about. He scrambled to his feet, turning to look at the others. Everyone seemed perfectly fine. "I'm not hurt. Wake me up next and I'll be ready." He hobbled off to his bedroll, collapsing into it and immediately drifting off into sleep. Within the hour, the young man began gently snoring.

"I'm from Castle Town. Son of a blacksmith." Seayn said to the Hylian. The heat was beating down upon him in his heavy armor, it felt like he was being baked alive, hotter than anything he had ever had to endure. He looked around, his eyes searching his companions' faces. "From the forest... then the desert. Rather... completely opposite places from what I hear. Rather interesting." The young man could only hope that meant that his ally was an expert in these situations. It would be useful to have a native of the desert with them.

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

Joseph's reply was quick; short and simple. Maybe he'd open up later.

"Yes, right about now I'd prefer the lush, coolness of the forest right about now to this wasteland. This place only seems to get worse every time I come here. But you both have spent time living here, I'm sure you know how bad it can get." Hadrian chuckled light, "Its not all bad, however. My first time here, I came upon some rock formations. About six inches of sand were caked to the sides but under the sand were diamonds the size of my fist, embedded in some form of sediment that my squad and I couldn't break up. We agreed to mark the location and come back to it with some proper tools but upon our return, each rock formation had vanished. Quite upsetting for the squad," Hade laughed again. It was easier to push on through all the heat once the mind had been taken off the misery of this environment.

"So, I have to ask. Why risk life and limb accepting this task when theres little promise of monetary value? You must have your reasons."

[Ba'ggun]

"I come from Death Mountain, home of the Gorons." The young Goroness spoke. "And although my kin are ready to commit to a slow and peaceful work, I was never so inclined. Eventually I came to a head with the patriarch, and left for bigger things. Castle Town. I am a racer, if you've heard whisper of me. Fastest Goron who ever lived, so they say."

Ba'Ggun let out a guttural chuckle when Hade spoke of the negative aspects of the desert. To her, the warmth was soothing and homely.

"Is that such a heavy question?" The goroness was somewhat taken aback by its asking. "For adventure and glory, brother! To help those in need, of course!"

[joseph]

Joseph kept walking, hearing the man's question about why he had accepted this quest when the promises where little. He looked forward before letting out a sigh and turning his head toward them a bit. "They are monsters who purposely have harmed innocent people be it for food or for fun. I cannot turn away from people in need." He said, looking back to the front.

"The sand is claiming for me... I can feel it beneath my feet, keeping me going and keeping me well. I control it and it responds to me, so this feels nice for me, while to others it might not be." Joseph added, putting his staff against the ground once more.

[Seayn]

Seayn shrugged, running one of his gauntlets through his hair as he took a moment to think. "I suppose the goron has the right of it. To help others, mostly. It seems like a worthy thing to do. A giant monster needs to be taken care of and I would like to be able to help if at all possible." The young man shrugged, looking at the others that had come here to help. He was glad that they were getting a small amount of time to learn about each other, things always went more smoothly when everyone was comfortable around their allies. "Did you ever find out what happened to those diamonds?" Seayn asked curiously, never having heard of a similar tale. It wasn't often that valuable items just appeared in the sand and then up and vanished.

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

"Well, as legends of these sands tell,

'Search for us with empty hands ye shall find,
Our gemstones and riches, forever bind.
But come unto thee with artifacts so Bold,
Then we shall give ye access to treasures untold.
And if we deem you're heart so pure,
Our riches we shall grace ye forever more.'

There are other tales that explain more but for the life of me, I cannot remember. But what I've been told is that, those rock formations are actually attached to creatures that live, submerged in the sand. Supposedly, they are turtle-like creatures, the rocks and gems on their back. They search the desert and the gems slowly form on their backs over centuries so its hard to tell how old these creatures are. But according to lore, if you bring them certain items, if you can even find the item then find the creature, they'll reward you with great treasures. But no one seems to know what items the creatures desire. The poems just describe 'artifacts so Bold' but no one knows what they are. Even loremasters are stumped."

[Seayn]

Seayn listened intently to the interesting tale, never having heard rumors about things out in the desert. It was surprisingly similar to the stories he'd heard about in his childhood. A pure hero comes upon something that seems innocent enough and ends up walking away with a magical sword, cup, or something to that effect. He planned upon doing something like that. He would have to search for the sword of the hero, something that he heard would always help stop some giant catastrophe. Seayn had always wanted to end up being a savior but he was content just helping people at the current time.

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

A network of cave openings appeared on the horizon, only growing closer as the party marched on. The group gazed on at all the openings, none looked like a Spider's Eye, yet and all they could do was press on.

It was eerily quiet in the area, a strange silence was stale in the air. Rattles and hisses escaped cave maws but nothing showed to follow it. Hadrian walked on with careful steps and a keen eye, not only searching for the gave but what ever might crawl out of one. Still, nothing threatened to attack, "We've about made it, I'm sure."

Not long after Hade spoke those words, a distinguished image appeared. What seemed to be a spider's head, holes in the cave formed eyes and a mouth. Exactly as the villagers spoke of. "Quickly, lets go!" Hadrian took a steady pace into the cave.

[joseph]

Jin held his staff tight, looking at the back of the older man before heading toward him. He didn't want to really go anywhere deeper into the cave, due to it being so very small. Hopefully the sand would still be in the cave, though he could only hope.

"I really think we need to be careful... keeping close would be smart." Joseph said, looking at the group.

[Ba'ggun]

"Those are the caves." Ba'Ggun affirmed, after the short conversation between Seayn and Hade about treasure. And although, normally she would have enjoyed chipping in about such a treasure, Ba'Ggun was rather hungry, and didn't want to further add to that hunger.

Ba'Ggun took point just in front of Hade by a few steps, as she was the second most defensive of the group (and if they got squeezed together, she could do literally nothing from any cramped positions). "This is it brother." Her earthy voice grumbled over her shoulders, a tinge of excitement beneath it. "We descend or retreat now." She stood a short ways off from the entrance to the cave, and a bit to the side, allowing Hade to make the first move.

[Seayn]

Seayn was ready for some action now. He felt rather excited, wondering how large this snake actually was. He didn't think that Hadrian was the type of person to exaggerate things like the size of Vucon yet monsters always seemed larger when trying to eat your face. The young man hastened his pace along with the rest of the group, wondering what it would feel like in the cave. Would it be cooler or would it be unbearably stuffy?

"So Ba'Ggun takes the lead, I suppose I'll take the rear. Let's hope that nothing too dangerous happens before we find Vucon." Seayn lagged behind for a moment, allowing the others to be in front of him. It was going to be unfortunate if anything decided to come from behind and cut off their retreat. "Anyone have any light? I can't see in the dark." The young man hadn't really thought to bring any torches or lanterns, although this cave seemed to be perfect, what with all of the holes that led out above them.

[Sir Hadrian Ecclesius]

"There is no retreat now," Hadrian assured the team. The cave got dark quick but the old man could solve the problem as an orb of light formed in his palm, illuminating the whole area with brilliant light. Natural rock formations were common within the cave and scattered through out. "Let's go," he said, pushing on deeper into the cave.

It seemed to be almost dead in the cool cave. Not even insects scurried about in this part but more seemed to appear the further they got in. The light from the outside of the cave disappeared with the distance they made. They were walking a slow pace, with all the danger in the cave, no one could afford to rush into this place.

From deeper inside, angry hisses bellowed out. From the shadows slithered a Viper, well over twenty feet long, a ridiculous length for a viper. Two slit pupils stared at the team and the viper hissed again, spitting venom at Ba'ggan before charging at the team.

[joseph]

In such a small cave like this, a snake of this size would be a problem for anyone to deal with, and Joseph knew this well. He didn't have too many options, but he did know one thing that would hopefully give the group an advantage against the creature.

Pressing his left hand against the ground, Joseph could feel the sand beneath them and he formed two lines of sand spikes in front of them, all of them leaning toward the snake. If it approached them, it's lower body easily could move along the spikes, ripping it open painfully.

"This can't be the one we are after can it?" Joseph asked, hoping to hurt it at least.

[Fane]

"The very same."

He responded to Joseph's inquiry, slowly approaching the small group from the rear. For so many days he had tracked the group through the sands of the desert, which was pretty much a near impossibility and a pure feat of luck considering there wasn't much of anything to every actually track. He raised his hand behind him, and rested it upon the grip of Greer's Blade, a large 12 foot sword that dawdled sideways over his back.

"It is, and I've followed you since you left the village. I'm here to help."

Fane wasn't surprised that he was capable of crossing the desert while avoiding the majority of monsters. He was one guy, and that drew little to no attention. These people traveled in a group, which pulled in a heavy sum of worthy attention. The snake was a pure Giant, and Fane was prepared to efficiently end its life, even if he had to do it himself. These people were...well, they could use his help, that wasn't too complicated.

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[Seayn]

Seayn hadn't been expecting a human to approach from the rear yet that is what had happened. The young man seemed quite strange, especially since he carried a 12-foot long blade. It wasn't often that there was a human that would be able to lift something that humongous yet this man seemed to carry it with ease. He wasn't quite sure how much he should trust this person, considering it wasn't often that someone would trek all of the way across the desert by themselves only to help a few people on a mission to slay a giant snake. He could barely see the snake past all of the others, having been put in the rear yet Seayn felt that he should have been in the front. He was definitely the best prepared to be attacked, his heavy armor being better for defending than even the goron's thick skin.

"Well if you want to help, you should probably know a few things. Vucon's poison makes it difficult to think. Aim for the underbelly, eyes, and the back of his head. There are snakes that can make you blind, ones that can make it difficult to move, and even ones that can make it feel like the air you're trying to suck in is made of lead. In other words, try not to let anything bite you." Did this mean that the newcomer was now the rearguard? The young human didn't know. He wanted to be up there to help yet he was supposed to protect them from anything sneaking up from behind.