[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/88KWNj5/OTbanner.png[/img]
[sup]____________________________________________________[/sup]
[color=FFC6C6][u]Level[/u]: [b]7[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 163/70[/color] [color=2e2c2c]------[/color] [color=BC8DBF][u]Level[/u]: [b]5[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 38/50[/color]
[color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold]●[/color][color=gray]●●●●[/color] [color=2e2c2c]----------------------------[/color] [color=gray]𝙱𝙿[/color] [color=gold]●[/color][color=gray]●●●●[/color]
[color=lightgray]Word Count: 1701 (+3 exp)
[b]Location[/b]: The Under - the Chasm, Ruins[/color][/center]
So that was that - they'd get some maps, they'd find some masks, and they'd open a spooky egg door and fight some monstrosity. [i]All in a day's work for the Seekers,[/i] Primrose thought to herself. 

She was planning to stick around this level for a little while more, preferably so she could fully recharge before the group got into anymore trouble. Scouting ahead didn't seem like a bad idea, so the dancer easily agreed to it. Ganondorf mentioned another area just past the temple, which is where Primrose would eventually head. 

When Therion didn't move to follow Ms. Fortune back to the area they thought the map-maker could be found, she shot him a curious look. When he merely returned the look she raised a brow, which the thief mirrored. Was he really going to be stubborn like this?

[color=D34C25]"You brought it up,"[/color] she pointed out. Therion opened his mouth to retort, but gave up before he even started. He was pretty eager to get a map of this place, he just didn't want to go down yet another godsdamned hole in the ground.

He went back the way they'd come, looking over the cavity with the cat burglar. It was surprisingly well lit, and there were plenty of footholds and platforms to be seen. However, one wrong step and it looked to be a long drop. [i]Screw this,[/i] he thought. But before Therion could act on his thoughts about heading back, Ms. Fortune called him out. 'Try and keep up,' she'd said.

[color=BC8DBF]"You're on,"[/color] he replied, pride pushing him to rise up to her challenge. There was no Consul here to cut those chains holding the platforms up either, so the odds of falling again were... 

He hesitated at the edge, even though he could clearly see a path down. All these pits really sucked, just dredging up bad memories. Ms. Fortune jumped right in while Therion paused, and when the platform she'd landed on didn't immediately collapse the thief sighed in relief. He followed after her, jumping towards a different platform and catching the chain support, sliding down it until he landed on the flat surface. 

He then watched Ms. Fortune's battle with the cricket with some amusement, not finding it a particularly dangerous foe. After she dispatched it she leapt to the next platform, and either she was heavier than she looked or the platforms were weaker than they seemed, because she promptly fell right through. For this mental health Therion chose to believe the former, since he was standing on one of those platforms.

He knelt down and watched her fall, figuring she would be fine considering her whole... condition, or whatever. With one hand held tight to the chain he cupped the other around his mouth and shouted down after the falling feral, [color=BC8DBF][i]"great lesson!"[/i][/color]

Welp, he wasn't about to throw himself down there to join her so for the moment he took it slow, picking his way down. [i]I guess now would be a good time to try some things out,[/i] he thought to himself as he went. He was a hands on learner, and the down time they had now would be good for running some tests. The first was using the enemy spirits - he'd already went through the fusion process, so the other options were... what had they called it? Itemization or bonding? Therion brought the spirit of the junicorn up to his face, looking passed the shimmery surface to the monster inside. If he thought turning this thing into an item would yield anything valuable he'd do it, but he highly doubted that would be the case. So option two it was. He'd just seen Ms. Fortune's bound monster in action, so the usefulness of doing that with a spirit did not escape him. The only question was, how did the process work?

[color=BC8DBF]"...I'm not about to apologize for killing you. You probably don't even care, you're a monster - fighting is fun for you I'm sure. So, uh..."[/color] Therion trailed off while talking to the spirit, feeling awkward about the whole thing. Still, it seemed to be provoking some response as the spirit glowed a little brighter at the mention of having fun. He stowed his discomfort and finished up. [color=BC8DBF]"So you're fighting on our side now. Got it?"[/color]

[center][hider=For Therion]New Striker Spiritbound:
[b][url=https://www.bogleech.com/volfoss/volfoss-unicorn.png]Junicorn[/url][/b]
An enigmatic monstrosity housed within armor. Though its arms and legs seem like a man's, slick with blood, one must doubt if the creature inside was ever human to begin with. It's highly durable and can tank a good impact, as well as just throw (or pull its limbs in and roll) itself to deliver blunt force, but its trump card is the lance on its head. It can be fired like a bolt from a ballista, only to be swiftly regrown. Its short-to-medium cooldown means that its simple strengths can be leveraged with convenient frequency.[/hider][/center]
With that over with, Therion carefully hopped down to the next platform below and from there onto a sturdy looking rock outcropping. He summoned his new striker there, the junicorn poofing into existence and shifting to look at Therion for orders. It was a bit surreal, but surreal was going to be his life for the foreseeable future.

[color=BC8DBF]"Let's see what you can do. There's bugs all over, so go... take care of them, I guess."[/color]

Therion wasn't sure if it was capable of making any sounds, because after his command the junicorn just turned and seemed to look over the cavity. Then the monster braced itself, taking aim at one of the large cave crickets they could see from there and firing it's lance-like horn. The shot impaled the insect, blasting it to pieces.

Therion was about to praise the striker but it decided to keep on going, immediately regrowing another horn and shifting it's aim. It's repositioning led it to step too close to the ledge they were on, and the rock crumbled beneath it's weight. Therion scampered backward and pressed himself against the wall, but luckily only the very tip of the outcrop fell away. Junicorn tumbled down with it, becoming a living wrecking ball. It plowed through flies that were too slow to get out of the way and smushed different [url=https://i.ibb.co/FJ8FLLL/Female-sheargrub.png]kinds[/url] of [url=https://i.ibb.co/zF9MFpT/Male-sheargrub.png]grubs[/url], ping-ponging off of the platforms and the stone until it's timer ran out just before it crashed into the bottom floor.

Therion had peeked over the ledge he was on, watching the whole thing through his fingers after face-palming. He probably should have guessed that the junicorn was not the most dexterous of monsters. At least it had technically done what he'd asked it to.

Test two Therion was more confident about. After absorbing those spirits earlier, he had felt more than just his new senses. There was an internal shift too, an intuitive change that led him to believe that one of the powers he'd gained from the fusion was transformation. If he really could turn into a more literal cat, then getting down to the bottom would be much easier. And safer, hopefully - he wasn't looking to follow Ms. Fortune's example. The thief flexed his fingers and rolled his shoulders, taking a deep breath before he just... focused really hard on changing his shape.

The process was not a visceral one, in fact it was nearly instantaneous. There was a dim flash, and then Therion was no longer in human form - he was a large cat. Though he couldn't tell, his beast form was slightly smaller than the one the man he'd gained the power from assumed. His new fur coat was white, black, and dull blue just the same as his hair, ears and tail, and lacked the markings that Ranulf had. The cloth wraps around his legs remained, and so did his gloves. The fool's bangle was there too, locked just as tight as usual.

It felt almost natural - [i]almost[/i] being the key word. After the initial shock of it actually working, he again took it slow as he leapt down to the next platform. It didn't shake as much as he'd thought it would, his weight distributed evenly by his four legs. [i]Cats land on their feet. Cats land on their feet,[/i] he repeated to himself as he moved from platform to platform. It didn't take long for him to get used to the body, moving faster and taking longer jumps. He sliced through any gruzzer flies or [url=https://i.ibb.co/M2x80pt/Shearwig-Swarm.png]shearwigs[/url] that attacked with his claws. It was... actually pretty fun.

He found his way to the bottom much more gracefully than Ms. Fortune had, and he was pretty proud of that fact if the smug feline rumbling coming from his beast form was any indication. 
[hr]
Up above, before anyone else really got going a fight had erupted between two great forces of evil. Or so it was claimed. Since none of Bowser's little crew moved to stop the battle, neither did Primrose - she simply enjoyed the show. The fight may have started due to the Koopa King's bruised ego, but ultimately freeing the Gerudo from Galeem's influence would be a good thing. 

It played out much like a grudge match, which the dancer supposed made sense given Bowser was familiar with the other man. Kamek was likely right, though the casual mention of 'meeting of other worlds' was very strange to hear. She didn't think about how many other 'worlds of light' like this there might have been. By the time the fight was over, Primrose had regained most of her mana. Bowser's son took up healing his father, while a friend heart patched up Ganondorf. Once it's work was done and the light was washed from his person, the Gerudo King got to his feet and let out a primal scream.

[color=D34C25]"Very dramatic,"[/color] Primrose chuckled. She approved. It seemed like Ganondorf already knew their shared enemy too - so he really had been part of some other world-colliding event. Or perhaps, he'd fought with Galeem before? Maybe that was why he'd been chained up down here. 

Free or not, Primrose's appraisal of the King of Evil being trouble did not change. Still, since he was now [i]officially[/i] on the team, he still deserved an actual explanation... that is, if he wasn't already in the know.  

[color=D34C25]"Welcome to the waking world,"[/color] Primrose said as she approached Ganondorf. She didn't get too close given how angry he was, keeping some space between them she stood with one hand on her hip. [color=D34C25]"So you're familiar with Galeem. Do let us know if there's anything you don't already know about the nature of this world."[/color]

She shifted the onus to him if he needed an explanation or not about the strange things - like the couple of obviously Gleaming members of the party or the corpses crumbling to ash only to leave spirits behind. If he asked, she would oblige before she started to really take a look around the area.