Legend of Zelda: The Templar Crusade reboot IC

[Colonel Caboose]

"Oh I still want you boy! But I have always wanted to get my hands on a magical instrument. They are such a rarity in this day and age..." The Mask Salesman said eyeing the flute. The flute might as well have been gold to a greedy miner. "You see guys, I have a short attention span, first I wanted you yes, but now I've lost interest and now I want the flute and the longer you wait the more the spirits of this realm grow anxious. One of your friends have already fallen victim to them.... and He's standing right behind you guys hehehehehehehehehe!" The Mask Salesman said pointing out the demon possessed Kalama. The Mask Salesman floated down from above and stood on the ground in front of the group. He wasn't that tall now that he was on ground level and hunched over rubbing his hands. His mask pack on his back appeared and dozens of masks appeared on them. Majora's Mask was clearly present along with dozens of others. "Hand over the flute and I shall release your friend from the demon that possesses him, I will give you the power source you seek that will revive Demoko and you can leave my realm... All I require is the flute... hmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhm..." It was clear that the Mask Salesman desperately wanted the flute and that should have been a sign in itself not to give it to him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoOUhXkIR24

A weird soothing music began to echo through the realm, it was relaxing and washed away pain and sorrow. The Mask Salesman smiled as he looked at the group. "Give me the flute and everything will be okay. There is no need to suffer or to bother yourself with this quest any longer. If you can just give me the flute I will give you everything that you desire and more... Just give the flute to me young ones. All I want is the flute... nothing more..." It was such a tempting offer, the music made it all the more arousing. All they had to do was give him the flute and then everything would be okay, why pass up such a great offer? It was just a flute after all, no harm done if they got rid of it right? Just another flute... hmhmhmhmhmhm

[Lenaya]

"I'd like to see for myself if it actually has any merit here, demon. As if I'd trust your word..." she scoffed before placing the flute to her lips. The song she chose was her favorite, The Ballad of the Goddess, and the notes came to her rather easy as she played. Her mentality eased, her soul lightened and she generally felt better as the light caressed her, flickering with the rise and fall of the music.

Her fear lessened and her resolve steeled as she looked to Link, then back to Demoko's broken form. It was obvious the light could not penetrate the pure evil of this place, but it made her a little hyper-aware of her surroundings. There was some sort of commotion going on with Kalama and Snork judging by the dark flares radiating off of them, Sophos was still very tense, as well as Aadab. Link seemed to hold the most tension, which was understandable given the fact that it was his soul in the balance....but..this flute was Hylia's.

Was it really hers to give away in the first place? But then again, was this flute really worth Link's soul? The Sheikah knew that the salesman would more than likely destroy the flute, given that it was something that actually hurt him... "Even if I give you this flute, who says you'll let us out of here? You promised a power source for Demoko. I'd rather think a trickster like you who enjoys torturing people wouldn't let such entertainment slink by, you'd be not only a snake but a fool." she growled out, her body tense as she mulled over her options.

Now she was presented with two choices of action. Hand over the flute to a lying bastard of a demon who'd more than likely kill them all, or keep the flute and play her heart out in hopes that the demon wouldn't actually attempt to rip Link's soul out. Of course, that was assuming Link wouldn't roll over and let the demon do that in the first place, or that their dragon-friend-turned-monster wouldn't gut them in the next few minutes.

"Wait, what's wrong with Kalama....oh, for the love of Hylia, you've got to be kidding me." she groaned, flute halfway on her lips as she grimaced before swapping songs to the song of healing. Would this song regenerate their stamina? There had to be a song that'd keep this bastard as far away as possible from them or something. Oh goddess, what would she do. Too much pressure, too much pressure...

"Link, I hate to say it but now doesn't seem to be the time to make deals with the devil concerning the state of your soul!" she said urgently, her eyes wide as white text flashed across her eyes. "Oh man, Twilit Kalamadea, Corrupted Ally? Oh, look, he's gonna try and kill us." Her hair whipped as she focused her glare at the salesman, her teeth flashing and she knew she was more than likely being irrational. Okay, she was being irrational, but it was painfully obvious that the Salesman wasn't going to let them leave here alive, flute and soul or not. Nayrin quickly jerked Link away, back towards her side as she hissed in agitation, letting her lips rest on the shell of his knifed-ears. "As if I'd really let you sell your soul. You're a desperate fool, but I'm a fool in love." Nayrin's attention refocused on the Salesman, who was obviously pissed off, and she just let another grimace settle on her features. "Deal's off. Turning our lizard friend into a monster was not part of the plan, and well, it doesn't sit very well with me. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm not giving him anything." She released Link's arm before drawing her sword, her eyes flickering from the salesman to Snork and Kalama.

"And neither are you, Link. I'm not blind enough to let a good thing slip by when I finally see it, and how am I supposed to patch things up if you're soulless? Kinda complicates things, don't you think?" Boy, was she feeling cocky. It was definitely a game-changer, given how she was always so...so...weak, and then empty, and now, she was just tired. Tired of being told what to do, what her life would be, what she was allowed and not allowed to do, who she was allowed to like and love. She was exhausted. Maybe she was being borderline crazy moody, but truth be told, she was feeling a tad bit cranky, and cranky in this situation was a sure sign that blood was going to be shed. Nayrin took a leap back, distancing herself from the demon-man and Link before turning her body to the side to get a good look at Snork and Kalama. The girl couldn't help the thrill that chased it's way up her spine at the thought of a good battle, which disturbed her a tad, but....well...it just seemed so convenient.

"Sorry lizard-man. I'll be gentle."

[Colonel Caboose]

The flute's music echoed through the realm, but at first it seemed like it had no power. The Mask Salesman hated to hear the notes played, but a small irritation was nothing that could really hurt him. Nayrin seemed to have spoken for the group and the Mask Salesman was smiling now. "Have it your way hehehehe..." Kalama was now free to do as he pleased, to rip his friends apart and smash their bones to pieces. The Mask Salesman began to hover back into the air so he could enjoy the show. "Ouuuuuuuch!" The Mask Salesman screamed as a large orange glowing sword with teal lines pierced his body. the Mask Salesman fell to the ground stunned before ripping the sword out of him and throwing it to the side. His wound rapidly healed as he got up and turned to face his attacker. "You!!!! How dare you do this to your own kin!!!" he yelled as Regol came out of the shadows and stood before the Mask Salesman. Regol could not talk regularly, but through the shadows he could and since the realm was nothing, but shadow magic it was simple for everyone to hear him.

"You abandoned us to a fate worse than death, you have not been our kin for many ages Mask Salesman." Regol said and it thundered through the room. The Mask Salesman fired a dark purple beam at Regol and vaporized him, Regol then materialized next to the heroes. "Your realm was made by the souls of fallen brethren, their strength which aids you also gives me strength as well." Regol said and it thundered through the room once more.

"You are no god though! I would crush you like a bug.... but now I am amused to see what will happen in the fight that will take place any second..." The Mask Salesman said his face growing a large grin like it always does. He disappeared into thin air the only thing remaining his twisted grin before it finally disappeared. Regol looked to Nayrin as he bowed before her.

"By the power of my lord you have freed me from death's grasp and have given me a second chance at life, for this I now owe my life to you and are your servant Sister Nayrin." Regol said as he lowered his head to her. It was a weird twist of events that the man that hunted them down was now pledging his service to Nayrin. However at the moment having someone who was a master shadow user was not an opportunity to pass up.

[MULTIMEDIAMAN]

Sophos was rather aggravated when Link decided to invalidate half of what he had just said in regards to Demoko. How could the boy be so simple-minded as to forget that if they defeated the Salesman and his tricks, that they could obtain the power source that they needed? Perhaps it wouldn't revive Demoko from his apparent death, but it was much more likely to work out well for them than trusting the self-proclaimed "God of deceit." Turning to Link, Sophos tried to speak, but when the two started to argue, Sophos regained a bit of his faith in the boy. He wasn't blind or a fool. The Salesman's revelation of this...son of his was making Sophos tricky. His mind was jumbled and he wasn't sure of his feelings about anyone or anything at this point. The Salesman's suddenly shifting desires were throwing the old man off his game, and the sudden transformation of Kalama, as well as Nayrin's newfound sarcasm and moodiness, caused him to snap.

"Would you all just be quiet for a moment and let an old man get his thoughts together?! For Din's sake, you young people and you...immortal demon monster-king thing! Just be quiet!" After taking a deep breath, Sophos moved closer to Nayrin. "Whatever magic has infected Kalama, I'm certain he'd rather be dead than a pawn of our host here. Show him no mercy, for he will do the same." He was unarmed save for a small dagger, ragged from the heat of the desert, and off base because he'd just learned that he had a son of sorts still alive and loyal to the Templars. This was not a good day for Sophos from the start, and now that he actually had something to lose, it was even worse. "Kill him if you must. I know I'll do the same."

[Vena Sera IV]

Sam unleashed another of his powerful blasts, startling the younger treasure hunter as he watched the magic soar towards his intended targets. The foremost statue raised it's massive shield, planting itself firmly behind it and bracing for the attack. Alarmingly, it was holding the blast back for the most part, though as it continued on shreds of the shield were beginning to tear apart, gradually exposing the strange creature behind it. While the middle statue took the brunt of the attack, the other two walked out from behind it, one heading for Sam, and the other straight at Caelan. Figuring it would be best to distance himself from the other man, he darted across the room, ducking under the swipe of the spear his pursuer carried with him. Not seeing much other choice in the matter, he opened the flask he carried to drink from, releasing the water inside in a powerful jettison, slamming it directly into the statues chest.

The pressure behind it bore a deep hole into the statue, though it still moved despite its injuries. Recollecting as much of the water as he could, Caelan repeated his attack, some relief coming from the small fact each hit seemed to slow the creature down a bit. He could feasibly erode the monster away, if he actually had enough water to do so. At the rate he was working it over, there was no way he could kill it before it reached him. Sam was in the same boat, though at least his spells were doing a considerable more amount of damage than the water mage's were. The shield creature was worn down to a weapon the size of a buckler, and much of it's body was now cracked and crumbling. It still persisted though, moving incredibly sluggishly towards Sam, as well as the dagger creature. Though he was glad there was another man on his side, for the moment at least, neither of them were making much leeway in their fight.

"Stop hurting our children! You hurt them, we KILLyou!"

"Master won't be pleased! All that work, wasted!"

"Save them! Don't let the statues be killed!"

Caelan tore his eyes from the statue approaching him, his brow furrowing as a theory formed. Maybe they were going after the wrong targets all along, perhaps the masks had to be destroyed to beat these things. They could actually kill the statues, but doing so required a lot of magic energy. Who knew if there were even more lying in wait, if these three were beaten. "Go after the masks, see if we can kill them instead!" The red eyes on the statue lit up at those words, as did the eyes of the faces on the wall, all of them focusing on him. Smiling, Caelan gathered his water up again, looking up at the wall-bound enemies instead. "So was I right? Let's find out." Casting his spell, the water sliced through the air in an arced-blade shape, heading directly towards the nearest mask. Unexpectedly, the statue raised it's spear arm to stop the strike, the limb being sliced as it fell to the ground with a heavy thud. So they were using the statues to protect themselves too?

The statue brandishing the shield continued a hardline move towards Sam, attempting to pin the man between it and the wall, though it moved at an extremely inhibited pace. While the damaged creature did that, its dagger counterpart attempted to flank him, making a move to slash at the caster with a surprising swiftness for stone. Sam was clearly the larger threat here, and as such required more force to bring down. Two masks then were focused on Sam, with one devoting its attention on the younger boy, Caelan. If both could be captured, they would make ideal guards for this chamber.

[Mogtaki]

This man completely confused Link, there was no way the guy was thinking clearly if he was finding it difficult to see that a flute was essentially never going to be possible to hold by him, not to mention he barely seemed like the kind of guy who would get away from any instrument that didn't involve being hunched over in his creepy little way. There was no way the guy could possibly have any other use for the flute other than corrupting it for something silly, the Salesman didn't appear to be the type of guy to go on a bender destroying everything he could with shadow magic. Frowning a little as he was once again rejected for nothing more than a little flute, he looked to Nayrin for only a little second before it appeared as if she had become alerted by something, his clue to this being that she was suddenly alerted by the endless amount of time they had in this place suddenly coming to an abrupt stop. He hadn't been listening to the Salesman at the time, he had been too busy contemplating the value of his soul compared to a wind instrument. Looking up before instinctively letting out a groan, he was soon pulled away by Nayrin and quickly shoved away again as she drew her sword.

He felt confused, but then again he was completely out of it before and stuck in the realm of deep thought and contemplation. He only looked up at what they were having to face a few moments later, his eyes looking just as confused before he suddenly began to back off, only just realising what was going on. They were going to have to fight and he was completely not prepared, his mind had taken a good slam against a brick wall and he hadn't even gotten over all that he had been told much to the belief of the others, "No...I thought that-...what's happening now?" he asked out, looking to Nayrin for answers before he was suddenly spun around to look at what was happening behind him back at the Salesman.

It was the guy who had tried to kill him before, that Templar assassin from before. He thought he had died, there was no reason for him being here and wasn't even supposed to exist anymore yet there he was. It was even stranger as he was now talking, he hadn't ever heard that before even from all the times he had been stalking them. Everything was beginning to confuse him, he was feeling overwhelmed by everything. Turning away again and shaking his head, he rubbed his forehead. He had to try and concentrate, he couldn't let all this get to him.

"'In love'? But-...but you shouldn't! It was our easiest deal and Demoko could had been back..." Link said, turning his attention back to Nayrin, "He just has to realise the flute isn't going to work for him and use me to restore Demoko, it should had been easy and clean. What are we going to do now?" It wasn't long before Sophos had become huffy once more as Link turned to look at him, only to get called out for nattering but also as something he didn't want to be reminded of again. Link moved back a few quick steps, holding his hands up to his chest as he watched Sophos, barely a frown on his face as the old man got ready for battle in the only way he knew how.

He shouldn't keep letting his existence get to him, he had only been questioning it his whole life and now it was out in the open for everyone to know about; then again, nobody seemed surprised when they were all told about his existence. His heart had taken quite a hit and his mind was no longer wanting to clear itself, but if they were going to accept that he was a monster then he should at least try to as well by fighting for the other's safety. Unsheathing his sword and readying his shield, he stood ready as he raised his sword in an attack stance while keeping his shield close to him; however, he was far from ready to be fighting like this. The moment he eyed Kalama, everything shifted out of focus as mirror images danced across his vision as his form swayed as if he was being hit by waves stumbling across the sea. He was completely stricken by weakness all of a sudden, but as soon as it began to show its nasty symptoms he immediately tried to ready himself once more, deciding to charge straight at Kalama with his sword ready to strike when he got in close range, if he could keep a focus on where the true figure was before his mind decided to refuse focus.

[Lenaya]

Oh boy, life just seemed to be getting better by the minute. Sophos seemed to have some sort of old-person mind-fart deal and looked as if he was going to blow steam out of his ears, and just as she was finding the words to clash against Link's weak ones a strange man appeared from the shadows and stabbed the demon-man with some glowing sword. Now, the same man, whom she identified as the Twi bastard who'd been trying to kill them, was kneeling before her, speaking the ancient rites of conscription to her in hopes that she'd allow him to join their group. Since when did she become the leader? If anything Sophos would be the next in line, given that he was the only other Time-wielder and the oldest in the group--to her knowledge, at least.

She gave Sophos a sideways glance as he moved to her side, but she saw no irritation at the presence of the Twi, so she merely stepped towards Regol's submissive form and grabbed his hand. With a quick slash of both of their palms, she brought them forward, allowing their blood to mix for only a moment before she pulled hers back and stepped away from the man. "Your offer has been accepted, you have been blooded. You are recognized as mine, one of my tribe, one of my blood. If you cross me, the proper punishment will be dealt by myself, given that it is my duty as the Elder." she gave the man one last look before turning her attention back to Kalama's smoldering form, and she felt the flickers of shadow magic dance around her blade. "We should waste no more time, this lizard looks as if it wants to fry our faces off. Link...be careful. Everything is going to be okay, don't lose hope." Nayrin's attention turned back to Sophos as the old man drew a dagger, and she gave him a slightly worried glance at his defenseless state...ah! The scale-leather!

"Here, it's not much but take this and drape yourself with it. It'll ward of most of the heat from his flames, hopefully.." she mumbled as she detached the leather from her back, handing it to the old man as she readjusted her own fur cloak. "But uh...yeah, this guy looks like he means business...."

[Colonel Caboose]

Regol stood and watched as he hands healed quickly, he was in the Shadow Realm which not only greatly increased the Salesman power, but his own. Even this new power wouldn't be enough to overcome Kalama in his new state. Pulling out one of his daggers he took an offensive stance. "To save Kalama if that is our goal, we must get rid of the flames covering his body. We get rid of flames I can rip evil spirit from his body." Regol said in a booming voice that echoed through the shadows, he couldn't help the loudness of his voice because it depended on the strength of the shadows that surrounded him. He had to use what time he had left in the Shadow Realm to talk, because once he left he wouldn't be able to communicate verbally to everyone else, only telepathically and that was only with other adept shadow users. "Be careful of your friends attacks, they have chance to infect and corrupt you... if you survive the attack..." Regol explained as he moved to stand on the side to flank Kalama.


The Happy Mask Salesman smiled as he watched the group prepare to battle their friend. "Demoko believed he had the potential to be the next Fire Sage, and he was correct. Kalama has a greater connection to fire than most, and the corruption has amplified that two fold! Good luck! If any of you are burned alive, I'll make sure to at least put your ashes in an urn... if there are any ashes... hmhmhmhmhmhmhmhm." The Mask Salesman faded away leaving the group to face Kalama without any querky or annoying comments to frustrate them. He was still watching, he was always watching, this was his domain after all.