[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/546056855978377216/858843614732615700/hgtrfed.png[/img][/center] [center]Word Count: 1252 [/center] [center][color=00aeef][b]Level 5[/b] [/color] - (77/50) + 3[/center] [center][color=darkgreen]Level 9 [/color] - (59/90) + 3[/center] [hr][hr] [center][h1][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/h1][/center] [center]Location: The Bottomless Sea ~ The Maw[/center] [@Yankee][@Potemking] [hr] To his surprise and relief the monster didn't immediately go after Ace. As a matter of fact, he had lost sight of the boy. Link couldn't help but grin. He supposed the loss of those eyes must have had a bigger effect than he thought. In any case in meant that he wouldn't have to take desperate action just yet. Soon the monster found a target though, but not one that Link had at all expected. Another creature, something that looked like a man but couldn't be. There weren't any men down in this place, or at least none that weren't residents of the maw. It shambled on, a familiar looking substance leaking from the stump of its severed arm and a familiar voice emanating from its helmet. Mirage? No, that couldn't be. Could it? Had they found more of that goo in the command center? Could consuming it have done that to Mirage? No, Bowser hadn't known about the goo before talking to them. Besides that, the thing didn't seem like it was all there. It movements were strange, and when it raised its voice over the mulduga-mans to call out for Junior of all people the voice was distorted, scratchy. So what was it? What did it want? What on earth was he looking at? He didn't get the answers to any of those questions. The Mulduga-man made sure of that. Either he didn't know either or the frustration he felt was enough to make his strike against his own allies. He turned and pulled his way to the decrepit thing, raising up and burying it under his mass. Whatever it had been it had at least bought them a little more time. The real Mirage then made an appearance on the ground floor. Link had been too preoccupied with everything appearing down here that he hadn't noticed Mirage and Geralt's pathfinding expedition. He desperately wanted answers about what he had just witnessed, but that was a topic for another time. The real Mirage immediately expressed his disapproval with the plan, and Link had no choice but to agree with that. "You won't get any argument from me about that." He said. "It's really the only idea I've..." He trailed off, catching sight of a small glowing moat of light on the ground floor. A spirit. That fish the mulduga-man had crushed on his way to give the other Mirage the same treatment. He looked around, spotting a handful of other shish flopping around in the shallow water. Useless on land. Just like he had been when he'd absorbed the abyssal. "Actually, I've got another idea. Look" He said, pointing to where the fishes spirit floated. "He's already mostly fish anyway. If we can shove a hand full of these fish spirits into him it could make him as helpless as they are on land." That would still require getting close to him, and being sneaky enough to kill a bunch of fish without him catching them, but at the very least it wouldn't require getting in front of his mouth and if they did enough fish at once they might only have to approach him once. "I could still get him to chase me to distract him while you gather them." He couldn't tell which plan was more dangerous and foolhardy, so he left the decision up to the ones that were already down there with the monster. [hr][hr] [center][h1][color=darkgreen]Linkle[/color][/h1][/center] [center][h2][color=red]Merge Rate: 31%[/color][/h2][/center] [center]Location: Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline[/center] [hr] Being able to see where she was going without having to take the time to look out did wonders for Linkle's navigational abilities, and when Albedo arrived she greeted him with a high five and an "At least I beat you to the bottom." She was only half joking, she had half expected him to find some other shortcut back down to catch her by surprise at the flagpole. Nothing the badge seller seemed to really interest him, so he left his collection of the green baubles in Linkle's hands. She pondered over the selection for a while, torn between practicality and something that would make an absolutely stellar present for Bowser. Considering where they were, though, and how they'd probably be able to gather enough Pons for a purchase on the way back up, she decided to splurge on the [url=https://i.imgur.com/jcQSe6i.png]No-Bonk Badge[/url] for now. Between how they would be zipping around on the ropes and her fighting style not being stopped when you dive into something was going to come in very handy. As she set the badge onto her belt she glanced curiously at the other thing that occupied it. It was kinda badge like, right? Curiously, she unclipped the [url=https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/darkestdungeon_gamepedia/b/b1/Inv_trinket-recovery_charm.png?version=55480ad1d1e1b4c6fef10b1912de98ee]Spiral Charm[/url] from her belt and held it up. "You seem like an expert. I got this off a fish monster, does it do anything or is it just neat looking?" [hr] After another ride through the sky the pair landed on a snowy blue plateau holding the biggest windmill Linkle had ever seen. She was actually glad that the connecting line wasn't on this part of the mountain, because that meant they would get a closer look at it. She happily rode the flower up, hoping over without a care to the windmills section of the mountain. They stopped to admire it for a moment, or at least admire it as well as they could with that fence in the way. "Huh?" Linkle said, examining it. "How are people supposed to get inside?" At first she though maybe the windmill was so big because the goats worked here, but she didn't think they were acrobatic enough to climb over the fence. They were both so distracted by the windmill that neither saw the bandits until they were having their pockets picked. It took Albedo's shout to draw her attention, and she saw something orange briefly holding Albedo's notebook before it just became a shimmer in the air. She got a better look at what it was when another popped up behind him and swiped his pouch. It was a cat, some kind of little cat in boots and a bandana. Her hands went for her crossbows before she could even consciously think about what she was doing, but found them to be missing. She turned just in time to see another cat disappear with her [i]new crossbows![/i] There was still a shimmer, though. The cat wasn't gone, just invisible. Reflexively she brought her leg up in a wide kick toward the swimmer before remembering what would happen if she connected. She hesitated, and that moment of hesitation allowed the kitty to duck her kick and sprint off after its partners in crime. She stomped he foot down. "Argh, stupid world of light! I can't even give bad guys a few kicks without it becoming a real fight. It would be so much easier if they had stabbed me or something." She said as she jogged after Albedo. As it is the cats burglars hadn't actually hurt them, but there was no way she was going to let them get away with stealing her friends book. "I'll run [i]them[/i] around!" She jumped up the hay bales after the felines, landing in the yard and walking with Albedo into he mill. "Listen up you cats!" She called to the rafters. "I've beat up bigger sneak-thieves than you before. The last one had a whole army on his side. Give back our stuff if you know what's good for you."