Sneaking in the Castle

The King had a bit of help with planning things and exploiting game mechanics. Groose encourages people.

Veran lurked in her workshop and ignored the headaches. The price of power was well worth it in her opinion. She had much bigger fish to fry than cowardly little Ravio but it would be shameful to let a traitor live even with the impending death of Hyrule. Logically, she should ignore the little brat until the more important things were done.

She had never truly felt anything for Arn but hearing he'd remarried was an insult. It was a fun assassination. Also the child would not get any funny ideas about having somewhere to run to. Ravio turned out to be useless and she had itched for the day when the Master Takeshi gave the go ahead for murder. Ravio's 'death' in the woods seven years ago was vaguely disappointing. It would have been nice to get some ritual sacrifice altars involved.

She could not let go. No one could be allowed to escape her.

There was all sorts of fun magic one could do with family. The magic of the forest had concealed him back seven years ago but it couldn't save him now. She was so much more powerful now than back then.

The stupid ritual wasn't working right though. She tried to put more power in to the long distance curse but something kept cutting her off. Something was protecting the waste of breathable air. She figured she'd finish burning the woods later when she had the Triforce. It was as if ridiculous amounts of sacred power protected him or something. Like the Triforce of Courage or the Master Sword.

Heavily armed people took turns in the Divine Beast control rooms. Prince Sidon considered the additions his wife Tula had commissioned for his armor. Ancient tech pauldrons rested on his shoulders. Topaz bracelets, anklets, and a necklace were gleaming, ready to absorb shocks. His kids kept asking to play with the jewelry. He looked forward to finishing up here and returning home. It gave him a bad feeling knowing disaster would strike soon. It had taken decades for the Zora shock resistance potions to be formulated and the ingredients were valuable. Every Zora on Vah Ruta carried several along with other elemental resistance potions. Some Gerudo and Hylians hung about with more plentiful human potions. A Rito was hanging around for additional air support.

A lot of Zora were irritated with Gustaf and his vagueness but Prince Sidon was very ready to take out a Blight. This was for everyone who had ever lost family or friends to the Calamity. This battle was especially for Mipha.

Medilia leaned her spear against a stump and rubbed her temples. This wasn't working. She had to fight back the tears. The woods were proving impossible to navigate. Aryll was the one with Spirit Sight, not her. Arn had passed that trait to her and Medilia suspected the odd green eyes were due to it. She prayed the girl would be able to find a fabled forest spirit that was helpful. It had been a long day and the bounty hunters/fan club members gave her a wide bubble of personal space. Fan club members that did not believe Aryll would slander Prince Sidon tried to help Medilia search. The fog conquered all attempts at navigation.

She looked up when crunching footsteps came toward her. She looked up at the face with the glasses. She searched her memory for the name of the helpful scholar who lugged a geography book with him.

"...Give me a moment, was it Shane?"

"Close. It's Shad. Ma'am, I think I have some information for you and it is getting late. Would you like a cup of tea and some soup at the guard station?" Medilia didn't want to leave the last place she could think to find Aryll, but Shad had information.

"Is it about my daughter?"

"It may be relevant to her whereabouts." Some fortune seekers sidled closer to eavesdrop before a pointed glance sent them away. Medilia followed Shad back down the road. He led her to the Captain's office where security was passable, set a cucco on the windowsill for security, then spoke of his findings. "General Viscen has given me permission to tell you about my findings..."

Vah Rudania had a small team on it chatting away about rocks. There was little else to do. Gustaf said something was coming but he had no idea if it would be next week or even the next hour. It was Gorons in the salamander but a couple of Gerudo and Hylians were there on a strange soldier exchange program. They swapped stories, fighting tips, and checked quivers for bolts and arrows. Flamebreaker armor had been improved recently but was still a bit uncomfortable.

The Gorons didn't care overly much about the crossbow/bow debate since most of that weaponry was designed for smaller hands than theirs. They did, however, have some new tech designed to give Gorons something long range. It wasn't fancy but cannons they could carry around promised to be great fun to shoot monsters with. Whenever the monsters showed up. People not involved in the bow controversy sighed and prayed to Din that this would be over with soon.

Groose was puzzled. Ravio was equal parts apologetic and skittish throughout the meal. Groose and Strich noticed that his skittishness would increase the closer Hazel was. Was it romance? they thought with little inkling that Ravio was more concerned with homicidal intentions. Ana insisted he take a break from the trial to eat something in her usual way of being concerned for people. She happily told her friends about Vah Medoh to attempt a thaw in the atmosphere during a pause.

Hazel had Ravio handle the Slate for a moment before yanking it right back when it said Verification complete. Access granted. The two sisters told everyone about the Sheikah Slate functions and Groose was begging to experiment with explosives. Practice with the Slate and various magic rods seemed like a good idea. The tornado rod sounded like great fun too despite warning that it was hazardous. Apparently Ravio enchanted it to try and hover around like the Koroks. Apparently it led to a lot of concussions.

Wandering off after dessert to contemplate the unfairness of life was all the rage in the Korok Forest. Linkle did so. Linkle realized a major problem with the Korok Forest: Zero privacy for going out and trying to throw a self-pity party. It was plain why Ravio liked it here. Wallowing in misery was nigh impossible with Koroks around. They kept asking things and being friendly. Her resentment was interrupted by a quiet cough behind her. Groose, Strich, and Ravio were approaching.

"Um, I'm really really sorry about, um..." Ravio said nervously. "Um..." It was very unfair to Linkle. Holding a grudge against Ravio didn't work. She sighed.

"Yeah, it's all right. Not your fault anyway. It's just-I wanted Grandma's stories to be real." Linkle said slowly. "I wanted to be the one to avenge dad and save everybody." Groose nodded.

"Yeah. I can see that. You aren't going to stop being a hero because you're not the Hero, right?" Groose said. "You saved us!"

"It ain't too bad having lightning. Urbosa was the coolest Champion!" Linkle admitted. "Guess I'll go back to being plain old Aryll."

"Plain? You're amazing!" Ravio said enthusiastically. "I bet that Haz-sorry-Hilda will let you play with the slate. Not that you need it." Hazel said to start calling her by the fake name to get used to it before they set out. She naturally took over leadership from Groose.

"Thanks guys. Let's practice with the slate while Ravio gets beaten up by Link." Ravio's grin fell and the hero formerly known as Linkle felt a little guilty for saying that. "Hey, don't feel too bad. He's freaking Link!" She said trying, and failing, to be encouraging. Ravio muttered something and left to presumably challenge the trial again.

Vah Naboris had a lot of women on it. What was remarkable was that not all were Gerudo women. Like Vah Ruta, a couple Rito knights were stationed here now with various elemental arrows and a Goron had been allowed on board. The Gerudo actually got along just fine with Gorons due to the fact that Gorons had zero interest in being creeps. The Gerudo Chieftain sent her second in command in with the Thunder Helm. People crowded around a Gossip Stone Network panel watching for the latest updates. There was even one very persistent Zora present with some tech firearms she wanted to play with.

Kishgal was none too pleased about the incident of the Woodland Stable and was happy to leave the place. Leaving was a good idea when Aunt Veran was stalking the halls like she was. He almost felt sorry for Ravio. Veran was muttering some things about doom, painful hexes, raining doom on Hyrule, ultimate despair, shared blood curses, and killing Hyrule dead among other disturbing things. She was also taking on an unhealthy purplish pallor. Kishgal liked drowning the Royal Family in dark vengeance, but even he was starting to wonder if Malice was a good idea to mess with.

Hours after the Woodland incident, he left the caves. Kishgal rode straight for Hyrule Castle with the box Veran had gifted to him. Words inscribed in the ancient Sheikah language covered every surface of it. Kishgal was looking forward to the expression on the face of the old codger when he realized the 'savior' was coming to destroy them. Kishgal wondered if he could take the Triforce of Wisdom for himself. It was early morning when a scout met him outside Castletown and his day got even better. The princess was being named heir the next morning if the rumors were right. King Gustaf was far too old to outrun the Clan now and this was going to be sweet. People greeted him with such gratitude when he walked through town to the inn.

If only they knew where those monsters and dangers had come from in the first place. Such gullible little people.

Kishgal was greeted at the front door of the Castle by a knight he remembered from outside Hateno. Karane tested the sword again to make sure it was the same hero before waving him through with a gift of fire arrows. Kishgal added them to the quiver. From there he got directions from various scholars, knights, and diplomats of the villages to find his way to a library. The King, his granddaughter Hazelda, and the head librarian greeted him warmly. They invited him to have a seat with a cup of tea. Kishgal acted the part of an ideal humble hero. It was hilarious to him the Royal Family still put on airs even when being reduced to serving themselves. Judging from the mark, the passing of the Triforce had not yet occurred. Kishgal broke the box, stabbed the naive princess, and held the sword to Gustaf's throat. Sahasrahla was left gasping as he ran to his grand-niece with horrified tears in his eyes.

Kishgal dragged the weeping King backwards and watched Yiga fill the room. Library visitors fled in terror. "The Triforce or your brother's life. Actually, hand it over or we start killing each and every last person in the castle."

Then the two old geezers started laughing so hard they were finding it hard to breathe. They did not seem to understand the gravity of the situation and that they were surrounded on all sides.

"We are taking you hostage, old man." Kishgal said with some annoyance. This announcement did nothing to stop the elderly fools from enjoying themselves. They kept laughing. "Stop that! We're here to avenge the suffering the Sheikah have endured at the hands of the-Stop laughing." They didn't. Kishgal's best evil face seemed to only make it worse.

Kishgal and his fellow men were forced to reevaluate the situation when the body of the dead girl disappeared.

Veran materialized and narrowed her eyes. She didn't sense the power that should have been there. She stalked over and yanked the King's arm to her with a snarl. The false Master Sword accidentally grazed Gustaf's neck when he was jerked out of Kishgal's grasp.

"It's not here."

"Nope! Just us old coots!" Gustaf said with a mad grin on his face and blood on his collar. Veran screeched.

"You buffoons wasted a summons and alerted the knights to our presence for nothing! The only redeeming thing here is that we've got hostages now and the Hero's Slate." She picked up the not-a-Hero's-Slate and pocketed it.

"We're kind of worthless hostages." Gustaf replied with a snicker. "We've lived our lives and we gave explicit orders not to worry about us. Also, that hat? I want one. It's amazing."

"This king of a broken empire will watch me destroy all they ever worked for." Veran snapped into Gustaf's face. Gustaf grimaced as he looked at the purplish haze in Veran's throat. That, combined with the orange glow in her eyes, made it apparent she was not exactly healthy. Veran looked out the window towards the pastures in the distance. At least this was closer to the wellspring of power than the Hebra mountains.

Wait, where did Sahasrahla go?

Kishgal drove the sword through the old king. A fairy popped out the moment the king hit the ground and Gustaf tackled the fake hero out of the library window. A yell of utter rage issued forth from the impostor's mouth as they crash-landed in the garden. A second fairy saved the old man while the younger assailant was left with a painfully twisted leg. The utter rage consumed all conscious thought. Kishgal realized when he was in the middle of screaming threats that there were an awful lot of knights coming through the doors.

"That mummer's prop isn't fooling anyone anymore boy." Gustaf snarled. He did not mention how few fairies he had but he had long practice with assassins trying to kill him.

King Gustaf had publically unmasked Kishgal. Kishgal decided to add more blood to the surface of his false sword while his brethren ransacked the castle.

Sahasrahla was furious with his brother and protested being dragged away. He activated the ancient tech in his cane for a shield and small sword to defend himself. Impaz was not happy to leave either but kept yanking him down corridors.

"He's going to die!"

"He knows, I know! Would you believe Lady Paya and Gustaf made me promise to take you out of there if anything went wrong? I should be back there fighting but nooo!" Sheikah and scholar turned when they heard a smashing sound from the other side of the courtyard. They both saw the King's spectacular three story dive and ran downstairs. Well, they ran downstairs with Sahasrahla having to stop and rest every now and then. Octogenarians are not supposed to go about tackling assassins! Impaz thought and snarled a curse when they ran into Yiga soldiers. Judging from the noise echoing through the hallways, they were not the only ones having problems.

Edited a little 7/7/19.