Inner Demons

[Bob-Kyle]

Maximus came home from a quest one night,
only to find his home trashed and his daughter, Vess, missing. Swearing
to find her, and declaring vengeance on her kidnapper, he set out with a
band of adventurers to reclaim her.

The road was treacherous.
Many loyal allies had given up. Max continued the hunt with whatever
help he could get. Finally, he stood at the door of Iceheart's desert
fortress.

(This is the original quest.Whoever wants to do this
with me, post here.)

[Bob-Kyle]

Quint stood alongside Max, arms folded. Max didn't know that it was he,
who had kidnapped Vess and gave her to Iceheart, which is of course,
Max's reason for this adventure, getting her back. This of course, still
left Quint with the question. What by the Gods will he do when they
confront Iceheart? Though little does QUINT know, Iceheart already
stabbed him in the back, as he now holds captive Quint's best friend who
he has known since childhood, Hob, Quints red glowing fairy. Guess he
does have a reason to battle Iceheart after all, even if he doesn't know
it...

"You know Goron, it's funny, cause neither you nor Ara
trusted me at the start of this, and yet I'm the only one who still
stands with you. Not even Ara," Quint turned to face Max, "Though don't
worry, I don't want an apology. All I ask is you continue to put your
full trust in me from now on," Quint then turned to look at Madam
Pontiface who stood with them.

"Oh...and that you don't make me
have to go to near to her...freaks me out she does..." Quint whispered
to Max, as he turned to face him once again.

"So with that said,
what now rocky?"

[Bob-Kyle]

(That was a potshot.)

Maximus
mumbled. He wasn't sure what to say. He felt somewhat betrayed by Ara.
It saddened him she wasn't here.

"It is Ironic, Goron," said
Madam Pontiface. Maximus just sighed. Quint asked what then. Well,
actually he said, "What now, Rocky?"

Which still amounted to the
same damn thing.

Which made him wish he was in better company.

Damn.

But
as for the question, there was really only one answer.

"We go in. See this through."

Maximus tapped on the door, just to feel it's
strength. The Cobblegranite was as strong as he expected, but it was
reinforced.

"You rockheaded moron." said Madam Pontiface.
"He's expecting us. Let me try something. Give me a bomb."

Um... yes, Ma'm."

Maximus gave Madam Pontiface a bomb. She walked up
to the door. And closed her eyes.

"Everyone, it's been a
long while since I've done this. So I need you all to shut up."

"But-"

"UTTER QUIET!"

"Yes, Ma'am."

She continued to look at the wall in complete silence. Then she
made a few swift movements, and then jumped at the door and phased
through. A few moments later, a BOOM was heard.

"Maximus,
the deadbolt and lock are destroyed. Open the door."

Maximus opened the door. The entrance hall was
cavernous. There were no guards to greet them, or any other obvious
doors or hallways. They were in a high, empty square room.

(Ok,
Bob, this is the way it is, I intend to use most of what was posted on
the original quest after this point. I just started at the door because
it made more sense to start at the beginning of a scene.)

[Bob-Kyle]

(If Earl would like to join in, gonna have to come up a hell of a good
excuse to why he's in the middle of the desert at the door of some
random fortress lol)

Max began walking forward through the door
as Madam Pontiface joined him.

"See? THAT'S the kinda crap that
freaks me out! Old women shouldn't be jumping through doors, stealing
bombs from mountain men and freaking out great and powerful Gerudo
men..." Quint shouted, as he started to follow.

There wasn't
much in the large empty square room they found themselves in, although
there were the few oddities that stood out, at least to Quint, being a
seasoned thief and treasure stealer.

There was a yellow diamond
shaped block high on the wall. As well as that there was large block,
around the size of a Goron, that seemed like it could be movable,
blocked off by a retractable looking fence. And as Quint looked directly
above, in the corner of the ceiling, was a closed window, a small ray
of light shining on the yellow diamond coming through a crack on it.
After
surveying the room, Quint realized what was going on.

"Heh, it's
a puzzle. My guess is, we gotta do certain things in a certain order.
No idea how to start it off myself though. You or Madam Wartyface got
any ideas or do we have to use my brilliant mind to solve it?"

[Bob-Kyle]

Like a bolt of lightning, Glenn flew past the
group and went through the cobbelstone door, leaving a gaping hole in
its place. Glenn skidded across the stone floor, creating sparks within
the dimly lit interior. As he came to a stop, he stood up.

O...Ow! Well... Atleast it worked...

He
looked back at the group, he had only caught a glimpse of who he flew
past before colliding with the rock.

Oh, hey Maximus... Quint!?

Glenn drew
Caliburn and pointed it towards Quint.

What is he doing here!?

Glenn
seemed to put emphasis on the 'he' as he stared straight into Quint's
eyes.

[Bob-Kyle]

Quint continued to have a straight face with his arms folded.
"Glenn...I
could ask you the very same question..." he replied, raising an
eyebrow, "However, we're kinda busy. So either walk straight back out
the door with your stupid goody two shoes or help us. I think Max would
appreciate it, seeing as everybody else left him..." Quint said in a
tragic but sarcastic tone, as he placed a hand on Max's shoulder for
comfort.

Turning round to see the hole in the wall, he faced
Glenn once again.
"How the hell did you get here anyway?" Quint
exclaimed with a puzzled face.

----------

Hob floated in
the red bubble cage Iceheart had materialized around him. he tried
getting out for a while, but had gave up a while ago, so instead decided
to watch Iceheart's cauldron that revealed the location of Quint and
Maximus, and of course, the new member of their party.
"I am gonna
love to see how this plays out. Everybody else may have left, but the
Goron should break you in two when he gets up here, and-"
"Silence,
imp. I'm getting bored of your little dream of my death by a Goron.
Besides, it seems the half-blood thief seems to be in a little trouble
with that Caledrian ready to slit his throat, so I guess it will only be
the Goron that will be coming for me. Let's watch how this plays out,
shall we?" Iceheart continued to watch the pool as Hob hovered quietly.
"Damnit
Quint, don't screw this up, you idiot..."

[Bob-Kyle]

Maximus furrowed his
brow at Glenn. Not out of anger. He didn't mind Glenn's company, not to
mention assurance he brought to mind, being a powerful warrior and
brilliant strategist. No, what bothered Maximus was the fact that he had
dropped out of the sky, into the company of allies, just where he was
needed most.

Coincidences were not unheard of to Maximus. In his
first major excursion, he kept running into Calea, a pale, beautiful,
and dangerous woman who kept trying to kill Ara. It was almost as if
there was some force that wanted to bring these people together. Maybe
it was the Goddesses. Or maybe some other group of deities.

In
any case, Maximus decided to ignore Quint's teasing, and the fact he
called him 'Max.' He decided that he was not curious as to how Glenn
fell out of the sky. The fact was they were there, and he needed their
help.

He nodded at Glenn.

"Hey. Nice of you to drop in."

He turned on his foot. The room was large, and square, with a
cobblestone floor.

"Hmmm, well this is strange."

(Okay,
guys, this was originally intended to be a Zelda like dungeon. With
puzzles and junk. What do you think? Also, Madam Pontiface was the one
who made that last comment. I cant figure out how to make the color for
her voice on this forum.)

[Bob-Kyle]

Glenn sheathed his blade, but kept his eye on
Quint as he spoke.

Well, I
was testing a new way for soldiers to infiltrate enemy territory,
launched by something called a 'Cannon'. What they do is basically blow
up a bunch of powder and whatever is loaded into it is shot into the
distance. Unfortunately, the person firing isn't that good at aiming. I
was supposed to end up around Lake Hylia...

On the bright side,
I'd been waiting to fall into an adventure, so this should be fun.
What's our objective?

Glenn knew part of the
answer. Maximus probably had a noble reason for being here, he didn't
question that one bit. The only questions he had now pertained to Quint.
For now, he decided to put it aside in favor of assisting his friend.
For now, they had to press forward. Glenn observed the room.

He
stumbled around, feeling across the walls for any sort of secret
indentation, but could find none. As he went back to where he had
landed, he noticed a small wooden switch hidden on a wall. He flipped
it, and three separate sections of the floor rose up, as if they needed
weights placed on top of them.

Peculiar...

He scanned above them, to see a
bomb flower directly behind Maximus.

Hey Maximus, what do you make of that behind you?

[Bob-Kyle]

Maximus looked
around the room. Cannons... And bomb flowers... Bomb flowers in the
desert? This made no sense. He sniffed around. Goron smelling wasn't as
great as their hearing, but it wasn't too bad, and he snifffed various
stones. No obvious doors or windows.

"Well, lets see what happens if we step on this."

He stepped on the middle plate; The canon fired
strait into the wall. The wall, while marred, was fine. Maximus stroked
his stony beard.

"Hey lets have
all these plates covered. Then let's see what happens."

[Bob-Kyle]

"Oi," Dao peered inside, his face filling up the hole that Glenn made
upon his arrival. "Glenn? Are you in there? Finding you wasn't easy; I
didn't think that misfire would carry you this far, all the way to the
desert."

Slipping inside, the man was greeted by a trio, one
that he expected to see, and two that he never thought to see again.
"Maximus! Quint! Ah, what a pleasant surprise!" He slipped the compass
in his hand back into his pocket, as the right hand, clutching a sword
cautiously a few seconds ago, relaxed. "So, it is a small world. I
bet you two are on another one of those adventures, huh?"

"Well,
I suppose you don't have time for such pleasentries. As usual, I'll be
happy to lend you a hand if you want," Dao beamed as he made his way to
the familliar faces. "Carry on, just tell me what to do."

[Bob-Kyle]

"Well...if you wanna help, get yourself
on one of these plates. Max thinks something will hap- OH DIN!"
Quint screamed as the canon that had fired before fired in his
direction when he stepped on on one of the plates. Luckily he had ducked
in time and rolled away from the plate, but he had no intention of
getting back on.

"Any more good
ideas Rock man?" Quint said to Max, then turned to Dao.

"As you can see you pointy eared Hylian,
we're having a GYORG of a time trying to figure this out. So PLEASE!
Bless us with the knowledge that your sure to have running through your
Hylian blood..." Quint ranted, irritated that he nearly got
shot by a cannon and lost all hope of getting out of this with the
thousands of rupee's he had been promised by Iceheart.

"And for those who know I'm half Hylian as
well...shut up. I'll be racist all I want, thank you very much."
Quint continued looking around at everyone.

[Bob-Kyle]

"A...a cannon? Here? Hmm, strange," Dao frowned as Quint managed to
emerge from the accident unharmed. Which was fortunate, as always.
However, on the other hand, his mood had not improved at all. Quint
seemed distracted and extremely upset with that cannon. Which was odd.
Dao had seen the half-Gerudo in worse situations.

"Really, I'm
flattered that you think I'm so intelligent. But I'm not even Hylian;
look at my ears," he tilted his head to the side and pointed to the
mentioned part. It was rounded, not pointy in any way. "I'm just a
humble Hyrulian."

Why is Quint so frustrated that he overlooked
such a simple fact? Dao moved that thought to the back of his mind as he
moved towards the plates, with his eye on the cannon. He stroked his
mustache as he looked at the three plates in front of him. "Anyways, we
should just get back on task. Well, we know that the middle plate
triggers the cannon, correct? Do you guys know what the other plates do?
No?"

The former Knight of Hyrule approached the right one
carefully. "I can still dodge easily enough; just keep an eye out for
anything that occurs," he stepped onto the panel, ready to roll out of
the way from any danger.

[Bob-Kyle]

Nothing happened... Apparently.

"Hmmm... That was odd."

Maximus got off his tile. The panel over the door
suspended in the wall closed. He looked at the cannon.

"Hey, Dao, could you take a step back?"

When he did, the Cannon's platform actually sank
into the ground. He asked Dao to get back on, and it rose.

"Quint, get off your tile."

Maximus then got on his tile, and the panel
opened.

"Alright Quint. Get on
this one."

[Bob-Kyle]

"Pah. Still as
annoying as one. And again, no comments about me being half one...Right,
so this one?" Quint asked, as he stepped onto the
tile, to then go deaf from the loud bang that came from the cannon
firing into the door, blowing it to pieces, due to Max's tile preventing
the panel from blocking the door this time, and Daos tile keping the
cannon raised.

Sticking his pinky in his ear to clean it a
little, he tried to gain his hearing again.

"Ow...Okay then...it worked. Look who has a brain in that
rock for a head, hmm..." Quint let out a sarcastic remark, as
he then continued through the door, then paused.

"Shall we continue you three?"
Quint said as he turned his head around a tad.

[Bob-Kyle]

Maximus ignored Quint's taunting and just
moved forward. It had been awfully quiet, except for Quint's occasional
malicious joke. They strolled through the Labyrinthine corridor, It
seemed to be the law; Keeseman's villains always had winding underground
Mazes for their lairs. It seemed no different that Maximus' own enemies
had theirs. It seemed strange that they met no guards, or there seemed
to be no corridors leading them form the main hallway. Surely Iceheart
had a staff.

Maximus didn't care. Guards would be mere
inconveniences, extra hallways doing nothing but cost them time. As they
drew in further, they came across empty barracks, and an empty mess
hall.

Finally, the hall way ended. It seemed the whole Fortress
was built to lead them to this door. Maximus opened it more than a
little cautiously. The inside of this room was devoid of life. On one
half seemed to be Iceheart's private library. The spines of Tomes
advertised titles in languages Maximus couldn't read. The other half
seemed to be Icehearts private laboratory. Unnaturally colored liquids
bubbled in small grass containers. Strange magical implements sat,
meters ticked, and one outlandish device sat there, with a lightning
bolt going up it's two antenna.

In the middle of the room,
there were beds. About a dozen, maybe more, with various beings laying
on them. All of them had obvious and horrendous mutation. There was a
goron with wings, four moblins with extra arms, and a wolfos that was at
least eight feet tall. Maximus especially pitied the little gerudo girl
who had an extra head. And all of them were dead.

Maximus
looked at a desk, and noticed it had a sliding mechanism which concealed
a secret compartment. He gazed into a pool of water, and saw only his
rocky reflection staring back at him.

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