Earnest Evans

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

Check automatically succeeded, considering Boom's race.

It's literally child's play to decipher the text on the instruments. They appear to be directions, written in the Kokiri's utilitarian grammar.

On the horn is the sentence "Blow for big loud greeting!"

On the shell is the sentence "Blow for small quiet greeting!"

Evidently, blowing the horn will cause the Kokiri to announce themselves to you and greet you bombastically, while blowing the shell will cause the Kokiri to be more subtle in greeting you. Knowing the Kokiri, both of these "greetings" aren't anything good. However, it doesn't seem that there's any better options available.

Which horn do you blow?

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

Roll low. Poor results

@Boomrocker
Inspection of the horn and conch reveal that both of them are activated by blowing. You believe they'll make a loud, easily noticeable sound that might cause something to happen. On both the horn and the conch is Kokiri script. Being poorly-versed in the Kokiri alphabet, it is entirely alien to you. Perhaps someone else can read Kokiri?

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

PAF!
Inappropriate Cliche used. @Xenonia's roll beat enemy roll. 3 Dice lost. Current dice pool: 0.

Toot, Kokiri Border Patrol DEFEATED.

The guard is struck in the face by the blast of spores, and manages only a few steps backwards before collapsing, dead. You are thankful that the guard, in his death throes, opted to roll over on his face.

A cursory inspection of the guard's body reveals a sack of wheat seeds, a small colorful disk, and a single iron key. The stump he was leaning on appears to be locked with a crude padlock, just large enough to fit the iron key.

Seeing as how there's little else to do other than turning around, you unlock and open the hollowed stump with your key.

Inside the stump are a small blowing horn and a large conch shell. It appears these instruments are used for something, but what?

You need to get across the sinkhole before nightfall. Be careful, the native Kokiris might take offense if they find evidence of your wrongdoings.

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

Ironwood Fields

With the caravan reunited, you move on. The inhabitants of the field pay you no mind, apparently preoccupied with grazing upon the gently-flagellating grass coating the area. Though the spiderlike contraptions and skittering creatures below the grass aren't anything special, the gargantuan isopods are truly remarkable. With backs plated with precious metals and limbs as thick as girders, the parts of these creatures would be wonderful for any industry. A pity you don't have the time to hunt one.

You breathe a sigh of relief as the unnervingly-writhing fingers underfoot make way for wholly-mundane grass, wet with the omnipresent fog of the Old Woods. From here on, it should be smooth sailing.

Kokiri Sinkhole Border Checkpoint

5 Hours Until Sunset

The remnants of Kokiri Village come into view. Suspended far above a colossal sinkhole is a massive pillar of earth, populated only by shacks and stalls. Currently, there is no way to reach the pillar, short of leaping into the sinkhole and climbing up. At the edge of the sinkhole closest to you is a hollowed-out stump, with a gruff-looking Kokiri standing beside it. The Kokiri certainly has the look of a guard, namely a look of alertness that clearly demonstrates no awareness at all; you get the impression that this guard has mastered the art of sleeping with their eyes open.

As you approach, the guard glares at you suspiciously. He urgently holds his hand up, palm facing towards you, bringing the caravan to a stop. As the guard stomps towards you, you clearly see him flexing his claws. All Kokiri have sharp claws on the end of their hands. They're very good for digging, rooting, chopping, and gouging.

"You!" he barks, "Who you!? Where from!? What want!? Answer!"

Encounter: Toot, Border Patrol (3 Dice)

Please select a Leader. Encounter-appropriate cliches: Any Social-oriented Cliche.

Inappropriate Cliches (Physical, Magical, etc) may be used, though all damage dealt and taken while using an Inappropriate Cliche will be tripled.

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

As Mycellium played its tune long after the creature finished, the walls parted once again. Just beyond the aperture of the wall is a field of what appears to be metal fingers, with knuckles made of ball joints. They sway gently in the absence of a breeze, and the field appears to go on for about a mile.

Through the mist, you can see several strange figures. Some seem to be isopods as big as an oxen, others are much like the spiderlike colossus you saw earlier, and still others are scarcely-seen, rustling through the tall grass like vipers hidden between wheat stalks.

As loathe as you are to brave this field of iron digits and gargantuan arthropods, it appears to be the only way forward. Thankfully, there doesn't seem to be any trees or flowers in this unusual prairie. It is just you and the bugs.

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

The wall seems to have no way of bypassing it. It is, for all intents and purposes, unassailable.

A loud clanking and screeching sound, like someone ramming a fork against a plate, resounds through the forest. Far away, you see a shadow moving in the mist. Though it is difficult to make out through the fog, it is clear that whatever it is, it dwarfs the entire caravan, moves much like the spiderlike contraptions from before, and is headed for the wall. You are thankful its route will take it to a spot several dozen yards away from you.

The scuttling thing ceases its ear-splitting motions as it comes to a stop in front of the wall. There is a contemplative moment, before it begins playing a tune by rubbing its fibrous legs together.

As the notes of the tune reach your ears, you double over in pain. Though there is little inherently painful about the sounds, they reverberate in your brain like wasps. The song reaches up through your spine and tears at your hindbrain, as your every instinct fights to make itself known. Muscles lock up, bowels loosen, teeth grind together, until the song stops. There is blissful silence once more.

A low rumbling sound shakes the wall. Suddenly, sections of the wall begin moving! Where the spider-like contraption was facing, there is now a hole in the wall! When it passes through, the walls close once again, and you are left with your thoughts.

The song was monstrously alien, yet strangely familiar. You've only heard it once before: from the mouth of that Fungiwood Deku in your custody. Few caravaneers know why the Melody of Darkness is so commonly heard around evil beings. Some say it's what caused the cataclysm.

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

Ultimate decision: Go to the Ironwood

The matter is settled: the party will brave the Ironwoods. It's certainly a safer option than heading through the Fungiwoods, and you won't have to attach masks to the oxen. The caravan heads northeast, into the coppery mist. The trees start to grow grayer as you move along, their branches less curved and their bark more rigid. The leaves under your feet feel dryer, and the sound of birds chirping starts to fade away.

Ironwoods

8 Hours Until Sunset

You are now deep in the Ironwoods. What you could generously consider trees now jut straight-up, their roots forming jagged blades and their branches forming a weblike labyrinth of metallic rods. The leaves under your feet interlock perfectly, jingling and clanking ever-so-slightly as you put your weight on them. As you walk, you feel the penetrative stare of sharp-edged metal flowers, their gemlike stigmas staring at you like beautiful lenses. Stories tell of people foolish enough to try and chop down an Ironwood Tree. The few survivors of such an attempt tell of the very woods rising up and stealing their attackers away with wicked limbs and molten tendrils.

Vertebrate life has all but disappeared from view, only to be replaced with beautiful arthropods. Scintillating beetles perch on Ironwood trees, buzzing their golden wings at you as you pass by. Arachnid contraptions made of wires and hollow girders skitter out of view as soon as you come near, their sinewy legs working in mesmerizingly mathematical ways. The many products of the Ironwood are worth quite a bit to collectors, though actually collecting them requires braving the defenses of the Ironwoods themselves.

The road ahead of you is uniform, just like every inch of flooring in the Ironwoods. The only thing that denotes your route are the telltale scrape marks of the Ironwood Deku. Though the Deku are violent towards outsiders, they guard the only way out of the Ironwoods.

7 Hours Until Sunset

You come to a massive, silver wall. You can scarcely see over it, though it seems the trees on the other side are plumper and greener. If ever there was evidence for the existence of thinking life in the Ironwoods, it would be this. The Ironwood Deku are masters at erecting defenses. Some say they form their defenses by erecting the soil itself.

The wall is uniform throughout, though every few yards features a strange triangular shape touching down to the floor. The shape seems to be engraved thinly into the wall, as it has left no indentation in its forming. As you approach the wall, you can hear faint scraping noises from behind it. Perhaps you can catch whatever's on the other side's attention?

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

KABOOM!
Roll beats Skull Teen's roll. Current dice pool: 2. Skull Teen can no longer put up a reasonable defense.

The Skull Children's leader is engulfed in a mighty explosion, fueled by Mycellium's ballistic spores. A foul, musty smell falls over the arena as charred fungal spores disperse into the air.

When the smoke clears, all that remains of the leader is a torso, a head, and a left arm. It reaches up one last time, before collapsing. The leader's eyes dim, and a hush falls over the area. There is a pregnant pause, as you wait for another attack.

You hear a bluejay call out. As if waiting for the Skull Children to disperse, the audiosphere of the forest returns at full blast. Chitters, buzzes, tweets, and calls herald your victory, as you pile back into formation and move on.

Old Woods Crossroads

9 Hours Until Sunset

The rest of your journey into the Old Woods is largely uneventful. Usually, caravans are attacked multiple times before this point. At last, you come to the most harrowing part of the journey. Set ahead of you is the infamous Crossroads, where the Old Woods taper off into the Ironwoods and the Fungiwoods. Here, all caravans make their choice: the brutal hardiness of the Ironwood Deku Legion, or the twisted offspring of the Fungiwood Deku Mycellium Web.

Here's where you discuss things IC: do you go through the Ironwoods, or the Fungiwoods? Both take you to your destination. If you're going to take a side, speak your mind and roll 5d6 to convince the others. The person with the highest roll's choice wins.

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

KABOOM! KABOOM!
Boom's roll plus the singular 6 from Dingle's roll beats Skull Teen's roll. Current dice pool: 3

A pair of explosions rocks the Skull Children's leader, shattering his wounded leg and opening several wounds in his chest. Oddly, he doesn't seem to be bleeding, despite the damage he has suffered. A choking rasp gurgles forth from his mask, as the leader leans heavily on its quarterstaff.

With another shrill howl, the leader vaults forward at Boom, desperately attempting to crush him.

Legend of Zelda: Chains of Fate RP

KABOOM!

Boom's attack is successful. Skull Teen takes 1 dice in damage. Skull Teen's current dice pool: 4

The assorted Skull Children scatter like rats as Bombchu shrapnel spreads out across the area. Clods of dirt and burning grass shower the caravan. As the smoke clears, it seems that almost all of the Skull Children have fled in terror from this show of force. Skull Kids love to fight, but they hate being hurt.

The Skull Children's leader is all that remains, having narrowly managed to avoid being obliterated. Bending its knee slightly, it seems their leader had landed improperly and sprained its ankle. A low weeping sound emanates from behind the leader's mask, as it shudders and shakes. The weeping begins to lower in pitch, until it is nothing more than a wet growl. The Skull Children's leader braces itself...

With a shrill howl, the leader leaps forward on its good leg, and swings his quarterstaff at Boom's head!