[center][i][h1]Right Tunnel[/h1]
[@Captain Jenno], [@Furia], [@Baklava], & [@DearTrickster] Collabo Supremo[/i][/center]

Jillian climbed to sit on the shoulders of one of her puppets, giving her more vantage that a tree or rock face could afford the skullkid. The twine suspending the puppets shot forward into the seemingly endless darkness of the ceiling. Jillian listened, waiting, the moment stretched and finally the twine found purchase. Jillian directed the puppets to use the walls instead of the ceiling for better mobility. Or they would be waiting that much longer to simply move forward. The Skullkid held her lantern high peering into the darkness. 

She turned her small body around Lethe calling her an Imp and [i]allowing[/i] her to take the lead. There was no other place Jillian belonged anyway, these weirdos didn't stand a chance navigating the darkness let alone even with half of the confidence Jillian exuded. The now normal sized Lethe, no longer glowed. The light did it's best against the oppressive darkness. Her other puppet was a few paces ahead, just hovering ahead of where the light was casted. The clicks and twine shooting out were the only sounds coming from the puppets.

Jillian looked over the voluntold members, Naviela was the only one that choose to accompany her. Warrior type, Gerudo, while the muscles along her arms and the spears she had on her were telling signs. Naviela wasn't particularly fazed by Jillian's antics nor her puppets. As much as Naviela had been interested by Jillian, she had in turn grabbed the skullkid's. It wasn't often she was close enough to talk to a Gerudo. Through her years of wondering and travelling she rarely approached the scorching sands where Naviela's people called home. Adults were weird like that, why live in the awful dry sand when you can live in a forest instead? It made no sense. 

Then there was the young Goron and one of the two Sheikah brothers. The [i]serious[/i] one, Zephyrus. They didn't have the huge robot or the big Hylian but she figured they were well equipped with fighters. Giving Jillian some wiggle room, she wouldn't have to rely solely on her puppets for defence if they ran into trouble.

"[color=salmon]As defacto leader of the right tunnel group, even though half of you were told to come with me, you'll be glad you were. I wasn't lyin' when I said that I can find this keystone junk fastest.[/color]" Jillian pressed her hand flatly against her chest, speaking with an irritating amount of smugness. "[color=salmon]What's it look like anyway? Is it a key made of stone? A stone that looks like a key? Does it open a door? Is [i]that[/i] door made of stone too? Or did all the stone doors in this place get all dusty when you did that...[/color]" Her blue fingers waggled to emphasize her point Lethe using magic. "[color=salmon]Shake the ground and lit up the torches. Magic or whatever.[/color]"

She looked at Lethe, beneath her mask she was grinning toothily. Lethe was a fairy, while most choose often to ignore her. Lethe's already shown she's had a bit of a short temper. [i]Easy[/i] to rile up. In Jillian's mind, Lethe was a well of opportunity.

Lethe sighed defeatedly, staring at the plethora of nothingness up ahead. She would grace the skullkid with an answer, but certainly not a look. She didn't deserve Lethe's full attention.

"[color=beaccb]You'll [i]know[/i] it when you [i]see[/i] it,[/color]" she said flatly. Of course, what she meant to say was that she didn't know. But good luck getting a fairy like Lethe to admit that, "[color=beaccb]And no... all the doors don't do that... probably.[/color]"

The Skullkid tilted her head at the fairy, "[color=salmon]When your head got bigger I guess that didn't mean you got smarter huh?[/color]" Jillian pointed out.

Lethe pursed her lips and didn't respond. Was she really that rusty? Of course-- how could she forget the most essential rule about dealing with a skullkid? Don't acknowledge their existence. At all. Without fail, they will always make sure you regret it. It was like some peculiar talent.

Ultimately, Zephyrus was not [i]displeased[/i] with the team he had been so suddenly corralled into. Although he would much rather have been there to watch over his brother himself, he took comfort at least in Griz' alignment with him. He trusted that, mute or no, they were Sheikah enough to ensure he didn't do anything [i]too[/i] foolish. He imagined Griz's enthusiasm to be less so than his own, though - a feat in itself. 
Archer's assignment aside, Zephyrus was at least confident his new peers would be mostly agreeable. He was actually, on some microscale, pleased to be given the opportunity to work with a Gerudo - with them, he had always felt some strange form of kinship. His golden eyed cousins, another race forced to live in Hyrule's shadows, albeit in a different, less literal sense. 
Both their kinds were surrounded by myths which attacked their character, and legends which incriminated their culture. He hoped that would be enough common ground for at least an amicable partnership.

Then there was the Goron - Hogarth, was it? 

Small for a Goron but reasonably sized for [i]literally anything else.[/i] His (presumed) natural strength and tough hide would lend itself handily to whatever hardship this forboding den of dark and death had to offer them. 
The only problems he could foresee, then, were with the [i]Skullkid.[/i]
[i][color=salmon]As defacto leader of the right tunnel group...[/color][/i]
He wasn't so certain he took great comfort in their presence. Skullkids were inherently chaotic, or so he had been led to believe. Certainly not the sorts of beings he would follow into battle, and especially not when the battlefield was an ancestral relic of his people, mysterious even to themselves.
He intervened in Jillian and Lethe's discourse with only a softly uttered sentence.

"[color=267FD3]Perhaps it would be best if [i]I[/i] take point? I have practiced, in the past, a means of blowing myself backwards and out of harms way - I don't doubt that in narrow passages such as these, I could move us [i]all[/i] a short distance if need be.[/color]"

"[color=salmon]Sounds handy, but is your windy trick gonna work on boulder brains over there?[/color]" She stuck her thumb at Hogarth. Hogarth seemed surprised and then ecstatic that he was being acknowledged.

He smiled modestly.
"[color=267FD3]Without them resisting? I'm optimistic.[/color]"

"It's alright, brother," Hogarth chortled, "I'm sure your magics will work great!" The young Goron turned back towards Jillian, shyly scratching his cheek as he addressed her, "You come from the forest?"

Her attention honed in over to Hogarth, boulder brains. Her bright eyes peering through sunken eye sockets of the skull mask. "[color=salmon]Lost Woods. 'S where all skullkids come from. What brought you outta your caves? Didja hear the voices too? How come you're wonderin' where I'm from? Wouldn't it be obvious?[/color]" The puppet walked on, the twine shooting out to continue moving forward.

An aggravated Lethe rubbed her temples-- not everyone seemed to know the first rule about skullkids. Hogarth raised his eyebrows and his grin grew all the wider. He seemed to be thrilled that a creature such as Jillian took such an interest in him. Or perhaps he was simply the happy sort. "I heard the voice, yes! She sounded so beautiful, I had to listen!" he sighed, revelling in the memory, "I've never seen one like you, sister. Actually, I've never seen one like you, either, sister." 

Hogarth looked to Naviela as he spoke-- just as eager to acquaint himself with her as he was Jillian.

For all intents and purposes Naviela stayed quite quiet throughout her group's antics. This wasn't so much an anti-social streak, as much as her training kicking in at the best (or perhaps depending on perspective worst) time. When the others seemed strangely relaxed and at ease here, the Gerudo's body was wound up tight, like the string of a balalaika and just as sharp as one.

Her eyes shifted from shadow to shadow, spear resting easily in the palm of her hand and waiting to be drawn for battle.

"[color=FFA800]This does not surprise me, Brother Goron.[/color]" Navi responded quietly, without bothering to make eye contact. They could make this a social event any other time of the day. "[color=FFA800]The tribe does not stray far from the desert... usually.[/color]

The last bit was added grimly. If there was one thing certain, it was that she did not seem happy about her travel here, at least not entirely.

Unabashed, Hogarth smiled. "I'm glad you're here, nonetheless. I'm sure you'll be more helpful than someone like me. Especially if we run into trouble. I wonder if--"

"[color=beaccb]Watch out![/color]" Lethe interrupted, drawing everyone's attention to the distant and glowing red eyes of incoming keese. She swiftly drew a long, elegant rapier, slicing through the air as she did so. 

Kark. Navi thought to herself, before readying her spear. This was one of the troubles of being one of the few genuine warriors of a party - you got a huge target on your back or in this particular situation... on the front.

Where first there was only one Keese, now more appeared as they spread through the hallway like wildfire. A small knife appeared within her hands. Like magic how it emerged from thin air, yet, it was the magic of swift hands and even swifter fabric. It was send flying, swooshing in the air, before hitting its mark.

The first of many screeches yawned through the corridor, but this did little to halt the other Keese in their tracks. In fact the dying screams of their brother beast only seemed to embolden them further into action.

Jillian cranked herself back around oblivious to her second puppet being overrun with Keese. It swiped fruitlessly at the creatures, the Keese simultaneously being wrapped up in the strings dislodging them from the walls. The puppet crumpled under the weight, no longer able to hold itself up. The skullkid got her feet beneath her then pushed off the back of her puppet. Backflipping away from the danger, she shouted, "[color=salmon]Defend![/color]" The puppet paused acknowledging the command moving swiftly taking swipes at the ones unfortunate enough to fly too close.

Two keese fell victim to the swiping puppet, pathetically falling to the ground. Lethe skewered one unfortunate keese as it swooped towards her, slamming it's body into a second, which spiraled sideways before deciding to target someone else.

Zephyrus' magic was a little tricky to use when the path was too narrow, and other people were in the way. But whining was the lazy's lot, his father had told him once. Fluid, like water, Zephyrus almost seemed to dance his way forwards in flowing, drawn out movements, until he could find a less compromising vantage point towards the front. 
It was hardly feasible that he should kill them in a hallway this narrow, with a weapon the size of his, but it wasn't his way to not try and adapt.

Extending his fingers outwards and flattening his palm towards the floor, Zephyrus gathered the air about him into a more tangible, visible essence - a twirling, silver chiffon which shimmered in and out of perceptibility on every other rotation. 
Then he raised a hand, and- once he had tapped into the air above a few Keese's heads- he brought it suddenly down, bringing a bolt of air towards the ground with it, and pinning three or four of the closer bats down. He then reached out with his polearm, and made sure to end their suffering with sharp, sudden jabs. 
He did not maintain a non-lethal position against animals, but it still pained him to see them struggle.

Poor Hogarth tried to swat at the overhead keese but his movements were too slow. They dove towards his face-- one of them managing to scratch his eye. The young Goron shouted out in frightened alarm as he watched his blood fall on the ground with his good eye. These sorts of battles were a Goron's worst nightmare. Too fast. Too sharp. Too high.

Hogarth curled up tightly into a ball as four keese flocked to his back. They tried to bite and scratch, but the exposed skin was too rock-hard to penetrate. If anything, it provided an ideal distraction. Lethe caught sight of the Goron child out of the corner of her eye and sighed dramatically.

"[color=beaccb]Somebody help the goron![/color]" she ordered  as she slashed the wing of one keese, skewering it as it flopped to the floor. "[color=beaccb]For Nayru's sake...,[/color]" she muttered. 

She shouted orders like any teacher Zephyrus had ever served under, and it almost startled him how automated the change in his approach was. A graceful pirouette toward his own flank, as Zephyrus held his guando low and then raised it into the turn. Another gust of sudden wind, tethered to the polearm's blade, surged upwards and swatted the Keese sharply into the ceiling. Not a kill, but at least a stun.
The attached fabric scrap fluttered in the newfound breeze. Zephyrus lowered red eyes unto quivering yellow stone.
"[color=267FD3]Move.[/color]"

Hogarth complied by arching his body, bouncing in the air once and rapidly rolling forward... [i]too[/i] forward. Clearly still in a panic, he nearly bowled over Zephyrus as he went recklessly shooting off into the darkness further ahead.

Zephyrus contorted himself into the wall of the hallway as the goron surged by him, taken momentarily off-guard.

Jillian whipped around and shouted another order pointing at Hogarth, "[color=salmon]Puppet! Defend the goron![/color]"

She took a swing at a Keese swooping low to attack her with the iron lantern, she ran beside the puppet ducking to avoid another attack. By now the keese had once again descended-- at first attempting to follow the fleeing Hogarth. The puppet wrapped the wooden fingers around one of the Keese harassing Hogarth and swinging with unprecedented strength into the wall. Jillian scrambled back out of the way while the puppet turned to face two more Keese hissing angrily attacking the painted features of the puppet, scratching away. The sharpened fingers dug into the soft bodies of the Keese tearing them away.

If there was one thing Naviela knew from experience, it was the sheer madness and chaos that reigned in combat. Once the blood started running, the spears were out and sweat trickled into your eyes... there was little in the way of order and organisation. It was the song in your blood that guided you, propelled you forward. 

She had long since moved forward, giving wide berth to Zephyrus and his magicks, while her spearhead swished in the air and killing the beasts by the way of a thousand numerous cuts. Only luck caused her to move briefly to the side, when the young Goron burst past her and further into the dark.

Three of the five Keese she had been fighting where unceremoniously splattered to the ground. Their remains grinded into gore and slurry blood by the sheer weight of Hogorth, not quite the fightless spirit he professed, Navi thought to herself. 

With a roar, her blood singing for more, she launched herself at the two remaining Keese. 

Her experience in battle saved her from having her throat chomped out, but still a talon racked over her skin, just as she cut off the wing of the left Keese. The pain filled her, but it only kept the fire going. A lung of the spearhead punctured straight through the remaining Keese, which Navi used to batter the slowly dying beast against the wall. A swift death for a worthy opponent.

Lethe skewered two of the remaining keese on her rapier, cursing as Hogarth rolled by. Her lithe frame twisted as the final keese swooped towards her, delivering a powerful kick that sent the poor creature flying into the wall and onto the ground. She put an end to it's fearful whimpering with a swift stab through the neck. "[color=beaccb]Come on,[/color]" she sighed, already beginning to move forward as she slid the dead keese off of her rapier and returned it to her hip, "[color=beaccb]We need to catch him before he sets off a trap or gets himself killed.[/color]"

"[color=FFA800]Brother Goron has great inner strength, his death will not come easy[/color]." The words came swift and clear as she cleaned the spear from the excessive blood and started wrapping her arm into a cloth, to stop the bleeding. 

"[color=FFA800]Yet, in his current state his thoughts are singular on escape, I agree[/color]." 

The Gerudo nodded in agreement to Lethe, before turning around and eyeing the darkness that came and the sound of heavy rolling in the distance. 

"[color=FFA800]Skullkid, fearless leader, your light will ensure our success, come.[/color]" Then she started into a jog after the rolling Goron in the distance, hopefully with the Skullkid and the rest in tow, towards the darkness and their companion in need.

The skullkid let out a breath of relief, the puppet shook the bodies of the keese off its fingers. Their blood splattered at it's feet, staining the wood. Jillian climbed back to its shoulders and lifted her lantern up again. "[color=salmon]Fearless leader is right! Follow me, we'll get boulder brains back before long. He can't roll forever...[/color]" 

Jillian regarded Lethe once again holding the lantern up. "[color=salmon]Traps? What sorta traps are we talkin' about here? Deep pits? Sharp spikes? Falling rocks? Heavy logs? [i]OH![/i][/color]" She snapped her fingers, "[color=salmon]Quick sand! Of course, how could I forget a trap staple like that.[/color]"

The puppet stepped by the crumpled body of its companion, disregarding it. The painted features nearly all scratched away. Jillian gathered up the pieces she could carry. She grumbled, "[color=salmon]It took me two days to build this one... Stupid bats. The twine is all tangled... What a mess.[/color]" In her small arms she balanced the logs then pulled out her spell book again. A very small portal opened and she tossed the wood through it, it opened where she had stored her puppets back in the Lost Woods. She closed the book with it the portal closed as well. 

Climbing back to the shoulders of her puppet they carried on.

Zephyrus followed after taking just a brief moment of pause to consider what had just happened. In any other environment, Keese were child's play. Dozens were as easy as a sharp gust of wind, the quick and sudden breaking of their necks. 
But in this hallway there wasn't the space for even one of them to fight to their full capacity, nevermind five. He could only suppose Archer was having an even worse time of it. Somebody could be badly hurt if they stepped errantly into a wind blast, but a fireball? That would be total chaos. 
He followed silently at the flank, now. Feeling out, with mind and magic, into the dark, trying to sense whatever was hanging on the air. A deep pit of dark resounded in his stomach - the temple knew that these were not the conditions a fighter was oft prepared to battle through. It thrived on it, the fear and the uncertainty. 
He hoped that Hogarth hadn't run too far, too fast. The danger was pressing, and far greater when anxiety overrode reason.

He tried to overlook the 'fearless leader' comment the Gerudo made, but it uneased him to hear it. What was leadership among the Gerudo? Being the front of the helm in a disorganised chaos? 
Leaders were noble, strong and just. Sheikah society was rigid and mysterious, to be a leader required a special spark. One that he might not have possessed, either, frankly. Perhaps Lethe did. The Skullkid did not. To hear them so flippantly use phrases like 'boulder brains', racial epiphets. What was he, then? Just another [i]red eye?[/i] 
What leader was so casual as to insult their team, he wondered. It didn't breed any sense of loyalty in him.

Zephyrus didn't make a point of mentioning it, though: one didn't need to be a good leader to know it wasn't prudent to start discourses in the midst of danger. And he didn't need the reputation of having an attitude, if it came to the point that he should require somebody else's help. He suspected people would not be so quick to run to the aid of, for example, Magus.

Once he saw Naviela gather momentum in pursuit, he picked up his pace a little, just enough to keep their back in view.
He did wish, silently, that they would slow however. Making haste in a place as deceptive as this seemed a good way to rapidly raise the body count.
"[color=267FD3]Brother, I hope your journey is so far smoother.[/color]"