After many hours of work, chapter 2 is complete. This dungeon is standard, though slightly altered, but the subsequent ones will be different, due to the presence of others. I own nothing!
Chapter 2: The First Test: Inside the Deku Tree
"It's big in here," Link looked around as he and Navi entered the tree. The room they were in was, indeed, massive, and only dimly lit by sunlight that filtered in through cracks in the walls. "And dark,"
"We'd better hurry, then. I don't want to be in here at night," Navi and Link both shuddered at the thought of having to spend the night in a dark, clammy tree that was full of monsters, regardless of it being their guardian deity. It wasn't but two more steps when they spotted a ladder of vines to their left. "I think you can climb these," the fairy commented.
"If they don't break, that is," Link muttered, grabbing firmly hold of the vines and hoisting himself up. He reached the top after an arduous ten second climb.
"Are you already tired, you lazy boy?" Navi taunted as he leaned on his knees with his hands, panting. Link spared her an annoyed look.
"I'm not used to climbing anything other than a ladder," the boy grumbled, setting off down the upper path that they were, now, on. Shortly, he came to a gap that had a ledge in the middle. Hopping across easily, he continued until they came to another wall of vines. "I'm not climbing that," he said flat out, seeing how hight it was.
"It wouldn't be a good idea, anyway," Navi replied. "Look," Link inclined his head towards the scratching noise that he was hearing and saw a large spider with a skull over its face.
"Ahh!" he took a step back. "How did I miss that?"
"There are three up there and, I'm sure, they won't want to let you climb by," the fairy informed him. "Skulltullas are very protective of their territory,"
"So I guess I'll keep going along this ledge," Link concluded, walking on and hopping another gap. They came to a doorway, for lack of a better term, and passed through. As they entered the smaller chamber, a wooden creature with a head of leaves and beady, orange eyes shot up from a pile of leaves that was in the middle of the room. It promptly spat a large Deku Nut at them, hitting Link in the shoulder quite painfully. "Ow!" He held his shield in front of him as another nut came flying his way. Somehow, the nut ricocheted back and struck the creature in the head.
"Ow-ow-ow!" it squeaked, shaking its leafy locks in distress. "Forgive me, master!"
"After you hit me with that nut?" Link objected, gingerly touching his shoulder and feeling pain. "I think I'm bruised!"
"If I give you a clue, will you let me go?" the scrub begged.
"C'mon, Link, he might have good advice," Navi put in.
"Fine, tell me," Link relented, not really wanting to kill a forest creature over something small like this, anyway.
"When you jump off a high cliff, you can roll when you land to dissipate the impact and lessen or avoid injury," the scrub squealed. Link gave him a look that clearly asked if and when he would jump off a cliff, but, to all appearances, it was ignored. "I can't guarantee it will work, though, if the cliff is really, really high, heh heh!" With that, the Deku Scrub bounced out of the room, making squeaking sounds. Link watched it go.
"Look, Link! He left a Recovery Blossom!" Navi pointed to the small, white flower blossom that was sitting in the pile of leaves.
"Oh, right, I've heard of these," Link picked it up. "They can be used to make medicine, or you can just eat them to heal yourself," He promptly shoved it in his mouth and chewed on it. His face quickly gained a grimace.
"They're really bitter, though…" Navi added, torn between concern and amusement as the boy swallowed with difficulty.
"Well, my bruise feels better, anyway," he exhaled after a moment. "Let's go in there," he pointed at the far doorway.
"That platform doesn't look stable," Navi pointed out as they looked at the stone platform that sat between the ledge that they had come out on to and the far ledge, where a chest sat. "The vines holding it up look frayed,"
"Well, I don't see any other way across, except a painful jump to the area below and climbing those ladders," Link replied. "We'll just have to go for it!" He took a running start and leapt onto the stone platform. Immediately, it began to shake as the supporting creepers started to unravel at the seams. Hurrying forward, the boy jumped clear as the platform fell and hit the floor with a thud that raised some dust. Link panted a little as he looked down at it. "That was close,"
"I told you," Navi commented. "Now there's no way back,"
"Well," Link scratched the back of his head. "Let's just see what's in this chest, okay?" He turned and opened the large chest, once again struggling to get the contents out. "Okay, it's a slingshot and…a…bag of Deku Pellets,"
"Well, that will help us with those Skulltullas we saw, but how do we get back out of here?" Navi pointed out. "It's not like there's a spare ladder or something,"
"What about that?" Link pointed to the cobwebs opposite them. Sure enough, there was a ladder up there, precariously held, and, by the looks of it, one good jolt would make it fall. "It looks like I could knock it down," He loaded the slingshot and aimed.
"Good luck," Navi responded. "Hitting that from here will probably be hard for someone who hasn't used a slingshot before," Link let the pellet fly and it managed to strike the ladder, making it fall to the floor.
"You were saying something?" Link smirked confidently as he stowed the slingshot away and tied the bag of shot to his belt.
"Shut up…" Navi grumbled as he climbed down one of the nearby ladders. After picking up the ladder and leaning it against the edge of the ledge that they had entered to, Link scaled the wooden tool and went back into the previous room. The Deku Scrub was gone, so they returned to the big, main room unhindered.
"Okay, it looks like you'll need to kill those Skulltullas with the slingshot before you go up that wall," Navi pointed out. Link wasn't excited at this prospect.
"Can't I just cut that webbing?" he pointed at the hole in the middle of the first floor of the room. It was, sure enough, covered in thick webbing.
"It's too thick," the fairy answered. "You'd just get your sword stuck in it,"
"Fine, I'll kill the stupid spiders and climb a mile-high wall, likely falling to my death," the boy grumbled, jumping the gap nearby and heading back to the wall. Loading his slingshot, he aimed high and hit the first Skulltulla. It fell with a heavy thud and Link stepped away to avoid it. "I really don't like these things…" he muttered, sniping the another. The third and highest was a hard shot, and he wasted a few pellets before he finally nailed it. "Okay, time to fall to my death," He grabbed hold of the vines and began to hoist himself up. He was gasping for air and his muscles were burning by the time he had gotten halfway up.
"Come on, it's not much further," Navi said encouragingly, seeing the grimace on his face. He would have retorted, but that required air. Slowly, he continued up the wall, managing to make it to the top just as his arms and legs were about to cramp up from the effort. He flung himself down on the circular, wooden pathway that went around the top of the tree and panted for breath. Navi felt rather guilty about putting him through that, so she was willing to wait until he could move again.
After about thirty minutes, he finally sat up, though his muscles protested every second of it.
"I'm never doing something like that again," he wheezed at the fairy, sounding very unhappy.
"Well, I think that this might be the last vine wall in this place, so cheer up!" Navi replied, trying to console him. He didn't reply, but, instead, started to look around at their surroundings. "There's a lot of cobwebs up here. I hope that there's no…Big Skulltulla!" They both spotted the large spider as it hung nearby, hiding partially in the thick webs above.
"Big Skulltulla's look tough, but they're really cowards," Navi assured him. He looked at her with disbelief. "Really! If you stare them down long enough, they'll turn away and let you hit their weak spot! Of course, they'll attack if your back is turned, but…"
"So what do we do up here, anyway?" Link got slowly to his feet, wincing at the soreness that his legs, arms, shoulders, and various other connected parts felt.
"If I had to guess, I'd say that you'll have to jump from one of the ledges up here," the fairy hazarded.
"Fairy says what?" Link exclaimed. "Are you nuts?"
"Well, that's just the way it looks to me," Navi shrugged. "There's no source of fire here and the impact of your weight from this height could be enough to break the webbing on the hole below,"
"I swear you're trying to kill me," the boy frowned, crossing his arms.
"Look, we don't have a lot of time to argue, here," the fairy said bluntly. "We came in around noon, so we only have about four hours before sunset," Link made a sound of annoyance and went over to the nearest ledge, forgetting about the Big Skulltulla. Before Navi could warn him, it dropped down and spun rapidly, cutting him with its sharp legs and send him flying off the ledge. The boy screamed as he fell, finally stopping when he slammed into the thick webs. They buckled, as Navi had predicted, and let him plummet into a pool of water.
"Link! Link! Are you okay?" the fairy shouted, flying in after him.
"Besides a painful tingling on my whole body and my heart feeling like it's about to explode, fine," he grumbled sarcastically, heaving himself out of the water and an un-submerged part of land that held a brazier of some sort.
"You got cut by that Skulltulla," Navi pointed out the tears in the back of his tunic and the bleeding scratches beneath.
"No, duh," Link grunted from his prone position. Feeling guilty again, Navi looked around and saw a Recovery Blossom growing nearby.
"Look!" she flew over and picked the flower. "A Recovery Blossom!" She brought it over to his face. He looked at it with half-open eyes.
"So it is," he brought his arm up heavily and took it, shoving into his mouth. Forcing himself to ignore the bitter taste, and swallowed it. The scratches on his back closed a little, ceasing their bleeding and looking more like scrapes, and his soreness faded slightly. Getting up with a grunt, he looked at the fairy. "Thanks,"
"No problem," she said happily, glad that he felt a little better.
Looking around the room, they concluded a few things.
"Well, I can't climb up to that ledge unless that block is down here," he pointed at the ledge across from them where a block sat, out of reach.
"I don't know why this brazier is here, but maybe you can light a Deku Stick and use it to burn those cobwebs," she pointed to the other un-submerged platform, where some webs blocked a doorway.
"Makes sense, but I can't swim with a burning stick," Link concluded. "I'll have to throw it,"
"I hope it doesn't burn the Great Deku Tree down," Navi muttered as Link put the end of a Deku Stick in the small flame and lit the piece of wood aflame.
"It's wet enough in here, he'll be fine," the boy reassured her, taking aim and hurling the stick with all his strength. It collided with the cobwebs and they quickly became a conflagration. As quickly as the fire started, it stopped, out of dry fuel. "Okay, let's head into that room," He jumped into the water and swam to the other side. A Deku Baba decided to take the opportunity to attack and sprung from the ground, snapping at him with its beak. Link quickly hopped back, getting his sword and dagger in hand.
"I take it that this one is more active than the ones outside?" Link asked.
"Yes, you'll have to wait until after it attacks to hit it," Navi informed him. "Of course, you can also block it with your shield, but they aren't stupid and will try to get around it," Link watched it snap at him again and stabbed it in the head. The plant squeaked in pain and went upright. Taking the initiative, the boy severed its stalk and it died, leaving another Deku Stick, which he promptly picked up and stowed away.
Heading into the next room, they encountered another pile of leaves. Link already had his shield up before the Deku Scrub even emerged and the first shot ricocheted back and hit the scrub in the eye, this time.
"Please forgive me, master! I'll never do it again!" the scrub pleaded. "If you spare me, I'll teach you something cool,"
"Such as?" Link asked, twiddling his dagger threateningly. The Deku Scrub eyed this apprehensively and continued with obvious nervousness.
"You will never beat my brothers up ahead unless you punish them in the proper order. The order is 231. Twenty-three is number one!" He started hopping out of the room. "Do you think I'm a traitor?" He called miserably back to Link and Navi.
"Yes!" the boy retorted.
"At least that's over," the fairy commented. "Let's remember that hint and go on,"
"Okay," Link agreed, heading into the next room.
Most of the chamber was full of water. A platform was being pulled back and forth by some vines that were, mysteriously, coming from the inside of the ledges that were on either side of the pool, allowing passage across. On the other hand, there was a massive, spiked log in the middle of the room, making sure that anyone who tried to use the platform would get multiple painful wounds to the face.
"Great…" Link muttered sardonically. "How now, Navi?"
"There has to be a way," the fairy replied, flying off to have a look around while Link scanned the room. "Here!" she called after a couple of minutes. "Look here!" She hovered over a spot in the water that was about halfway from the ramp to Link's left and the spiky log. Resigning himself to getting wet again, Link walked down into the water and swam over to Navi, trying to see what she was pointing to in the dim light that was, somehow, seeping in through the roof.
"A switch?" he inquired.
"It should do something," Navi responded. "Dive down and see," Taking a deep breath, he did so and pressed the switch with his hand before coming back up to the surface. They promptly heard water rushing out until there was enough missing that Link could ride the platform without injury. Heading back up the ramp, he waited until the platform was close enough and jumped aboard. Even though there was room for him, he still ducked as he went under the log. Finally, he jumped off and grabbed the edge of the opposite ledge, pulling himself up.
"That wasn't too bad," he said with a grin. "Now," he looked forward at the high up ledge ahead. "Just gotta get up there,"
"Just watch out for the Big Skulltulla," Navi gestured up. Link looked up and spotted the spider.
"I hate those things," he pulled out his slingshot and fired a pellet. It went into one of the eye holes in the skull and killed the thing, causing it to hit the ground with a thud. "Okay, now how to…" He looked over and spotted a large, wooden block. "That'll work," he walked over and heaved it over, smashing the Big Skulltulla's corpse with a satisfying crunching sound, and making a step up to the exit. Averting her eyes from the grossly crushed spider, Navi followed Link as he climbed up on the block, onto the ledge, and through the doorway. Almost immediately, they spotted another Big Skulltulla. Luckily, this one was facing away as it hung, exposing its vulnerable belly. Wasting no time, Link fired a few pellets at it, killing the thing.
"Good job," Navi complimented him.
"Thanks," he rubbed a finger under his nose and strode out into the circular room.
"Watch out!" the fairy exclaimed, but it was a little late and he was tackled by a disgusting-looking little monster with one eye. He beat it back with his shield and jumped away as it slashed at him again. "That's a Baby Gohma! It's really aggressive, but it should die if you hit it in the eye," Link dived out of the way as the Baby Gohma jumped at him. It skidded to a stop on its face and turned to face him, its eye turning red. Whipping out his slingshot, Link fired a pellet into its eye. It fell down on its haunches apparently stunned, judging by the wavering of its now-green eye. Seeing his chance, Link drove his dagger into the eye, causing it to collapse with a shriek and stop moving.
"That was…odd," Link wiped the green blood off on the monster's corpse and put his sword away.
"I hope that there aren't any more," Navi commented emphatically. "But, anyway, let's look around at this room,"
"Well," Link said, at length, "there's cobwebs blocking that hole over there, and there's another brazier in here, so…" He pulled out a Deku Stick and went over to the small flame. Lighting the wood, he ran back over to the web and ignited it with the fire before dropping the stick, as it was getting short and endangering his hands. "Here goes nothing," he said, crouching and crawling into the hole on all fours. It was very dusty, musty, and there were a few thin cobwebs, but he made it through with a bit of coughing.
"Look, Link, we're back in the other room," Navi said. Yes, they had returned to the room that he had fallen in, earlier. They were now up on the high ledge with the block and a hole that was covered in a cobweb.
"I think we'll need to burn this," Link deduced. "But getting the fire up here is the problem,"
"That block could help," Navi flew over to it. "Then you could jump from the brazier platform over to here,"
"Okay, that makes sense," he started to go over to the block, but was accosted by another Deku Baba. He blocked the surprise blow with his shield and cut its head in half, killing it and leaving a large Deku Nut behind.
"Your reflexes are getting better!" Navi complimented. "Oh, and that's a Deku Nut, you can throw it and stun enemies with the flash. Good for a getaway,"
"Gee, thanks," Link replied to the first comment, scratching his head.
Soon enough, the block was hefted down into the water, creating a way up. The boy hopped over to the brazier and lit a stick. Jumping back to the block, he carefully scrambled onto the high ledge, being careful not to ignite himself, and dropped the stick on the webbing. Promptly, a fire engulfed both and the hole was open.
"As much as I like diving into mysterious holes, I think I'll take the vines down," Link stated firmly, going over to the vines and carefully easing himself onto them. Slowly, he made his way down, but, a sixth of the way, the vines gave out and he plummeted once more, experiencing another stinging impact in a pool of water. He broke the surface, very unhappy indeed.
"Are you okay?" Navi asked cautiously.
"More or less," Link groaned, trudging out of the water. The lighting here was very poor, but there was still barely enough to see. Suddenly, a Deku Nut went flying by. Getting out his sheild, Link peered into the gloom and saw three Deku Scrubs arrayed around the small room.
"Do you think that these are the guys we have to use the 231 thing on?" Navi suggested.
"Probably," the boy agreed, deflecting a nut back at the middle scrub. He turned blue and began to squeal repeatedly. Turning, Link deflected a second nut at the scrub to the right and it, too, started doing this. The last scrub fired several nuts, but they were sent back and bowled him over.
"How did you know our secret? How irritating!" the scrub squeaked angrily.
"Your brother blabbed," Link replied.
"Grr!" the scrub was obviously very angry now. "I'm going to reveal the secret of Queen Gohma to you!" He hopped to the nearby doorway. "Oh, Queenie…" He called inside before hopping away, across the water, and ascending the vines.
"That sounds nice, there's a bigger Gohma here," Link said with heavy sarcasm.
"Yes, the Parasitic Armored Arachnid, Gohma," Navi replied. "It's much bigger and stronger than the baby you fought earlier,"
"Wonderful," Link scooped up the pile of Deku Pellets that were in the pile of leaves, which the Deku Scrub had vacated, and put them away before heading through the doorway. Promptly, the doorway caved in. Link spun as the room was plunged into semi-darkness. The only remaining light was from a small hole in the middle of the ceiling. "Now we're trapped,"
"What's that?" Navi exclaimed as they heard a scratching noise. Link turned slowly, feeling apprehension set in, and squinted at the large, moving mass on the roof of the room.
"I think that's…" he stopped when it faced him, fixing him with its large, glowing, orange eye. Dropping down, it roared menacingly and stood up on its limbs, aiming its tail at him. Link dived out of the way as the tail came smashing down. Its eye glowed red as it turned to face him.
"Shoot it!" Navi shouted. Link quickly whipped out his slingshot and fired a pellet into the monster's eye. Roaring, it fell down on its haunches, eye green, and groaned, stunned. Racing forward, Link plunged his dagger into the eye repeatedly, causing more shrieks of pain. Finally, Gohma had enough and spun, smacking him in the torso and sending him slamming into a wall, winded and bruised. The monster fled across the room, ascending the opposite wall and walking across the ceiling. "Get up, Link!" the fairy reprimanded.
"I think it broke something…" Link groaned, struggling back to his feet. Gohma hurled three larvae down from the ceiling, and they quickly turned into Baby Gohmas. "Oh, crap," he muttered as the enemies raced towards him. Gohma roared as he punched one in the face with his shield and jabbed it in the eye. Not stopping to see if it was dead, Link jumped back from the swipes of the other two and shot one in the eye, stunning it. The third baby charged at him, but he held out his shield, barely managing to keep his arm steady from the impact as it slammed into the sheet of wood, and then he stabbed its eye. As it collapsed, he shot the other one again, before it could properly recover, and then finished it, as well.
"Link! Gohma's eye is open again!" Navi shouted before the boy's adrenaline boost ran out. He pulled off another shot and the monster fell, with a mighty crash, to the misty floor. Charging forward, he stabbed viciously at the eye until Gohma screamed in agony and collapsed backwards. Unlike the other foes, thus far, it began to disintegrate and burst into green flames. Shortly, no trace remained.
"I…did it…" Link wavered on his feet, about to fall over.
"Yes, you did," Navi said, proud and worried at the same time. "But how do we get out?" Her question was answered as a ring of blue light appeared around them. In a flash of blue light, they were gone.
And so the hero managed to prevail...after getting beat up. What will happen next? Well, I'll let you know later, 'cause even I don't know all the details yet (he, he, he). Remember to review and so on.