Dragon Roost Cavern
The place Link entered was very dark.
"This really sucks..."
He had entered a room where a few, gargoyle-like blocks sat blocking a doorway. He figured he'd have to push them aside to get to wherever Medli was.
He needed to find Medli. She meant something very, very important to him-she meant MONEY.
So Link headed towards the blocks, and pulled them aside.
Success!
He went through the new doorway.
He stared through the darkness, and saw some stairs leading downward, so he began to follow them.
"RAAAAAH!" A familiar screech sounded through Link's ears.
He felt a burning sensation on his chest as the wind got knocked out of him.
"AH!" Link stared up as he gasped for air, and saw two bokoblins (the pig creatures) growling at him, each one baring a flaming stick.
"DAMMIT! I'M GONNA (Beeping) KILL YOU!" Link shouted hoarsely, and drew his sword as he jumped to his feet.
He spun around and slashed with his sword, hitting one of the creatures. The one who suffered the blow fell back against the ground.
Link stabbed at the other one, missed and was beaten in the head with the stick.
"ER!" He yelped.
Soon both bokoblins were at him again.
Link jumped into the air and brought his sword down upon the two creatures, disarming both of them.
He ran at the two creatures, and slaughtered them with a few good stabs and slashes with his sword. They both disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. In their places lay two butterfly necklaces called joy pendants. Link picked them up, figuring that maybe he could sell them...
He leaned against the wall. He could hardly breathe, so he remained there for a while. This whole "fighting" business wasn't his thing, and he wasn't sure how he would get by.
His eyes had adjusted to the dark, and he caught sight of a lit brazier. Its flames were large and bright. There was also a doorway with a lock. Near that was a platform with a brazier on both sides.
"I wonder what that's all about... This place is pretty messed up." Link said.
He gazed at one of the sticks that the bokoblins had used on him. It was still lit, flickering away...
Link picked it up, and lit the two empty braziers. He figured that if he could bring a little light into the room, he could find another door, because he obviously wasn't going to get through the locked one. After lighting the braziers, a treasure chest appeared on the platform.
"Welllll... That was pretty, uh, weird..." Link muttered with his brow raised.
He kicked it open, and inside was a key!
"If only that stupid boat could see me now... Heh heh!"
He took the key, and unlocked the door.
It was considerably brighter in the next room, but the glow the place possessed was one that Link dreaded-it was the glow of fire.
There was a boarded up entrance to some other room or something before him, but the wood looked weak and highly breakable. He broke it with his sword, and ran onward.
"WOAH!" Link said, stopping quickly.
He had almost fallen right off the edge, and into a large, flaming pit of lava...
He gulped.
"Someone please kill me..."
The area he stood in now was a large cave. The temperature was somewhere in the hundreds, and it made Link feel tired, dizzy, and weak.
"Whew..." He panted.
He saw a wooden path to his left, and decided to follow it. It led to a long wooden bridge in the middle of the room. Two bat-like creatures called keese surrounded the bridge.
"This is all The King of Red Lions' fault..." Link muttered, and pulled out his "People to Kill" list and added the boat's name to it, even though he wasn't sure if it was possible to "kill" a boat.
Link began to walk across the bridge. The two keese lunged at him, and he hit them with his sword. In two puffs of purple smoke, they were gone.
At the end of the bridge, a boulder blocked yet another doorway. Using two bomb flowers near him, Link blew it up, and entered the new room.
He entered a room that was mostly lava. He was standing on a piece of land. There was another piece of land across from where he was standing, and one diagonally from his.
There was also a series of jars on shelves.
Being that he was having money withdrawal, he decided to break them open with his sword.
"WHAT THE-?" Link gasped as water spilled out of the jar he broke.
"AW, CRUD, JUST SOME STUPID WATER? NO MONEY?"
Being very frustrated, Link picked up another jar and threw it into the lava. It made a platform!
"Kick ass..." He muttered.
Link jumped onto the platform. To his left was a treasure chest, and ahead was a ladder leading to another door.
He went to the treasure chest to see if there was money there.
"Just a stupid map! Aw, come ON!"
Link picked up the map, ripped it up, and through it into the lava.
"Shit!"
He headed to the next bit of land. A red, gelatinous creature fell down.
"Ok..." Link said nervously as he backed up.
This creature was called a ChuChu, and it had been sent by Ganondorf, like most of the harmful creatures Link ran into.
He couldn't back up any further. Link clutched his sword tightly.
"Crap, I'm doomed!"
The creature sank low to the ground and sprang up, hitting Link.
"ACK!"
Link defensively used his sword against the ChuChu, and defeated it.
He climbed the ladder, and hastily left the room.
The next room was dark and dank. Link cautiously walked forward, sword in hand, palms sweating.
This whole thing was pretty traumatizing.
"RAAAAH!"
The cry of a bokoblin sounded throughout the room, but this time, Link was prepared. He blocked the creature's blow with his sword.
WHOOSH!
After a couple of moves with his sword, the creature was slain. The boy picked up its sword.
Some tough-looking wood blocked Link's path.
"EEEERRRRAAAAHHHH!" He screamed of frustration, and hit the wood with his sword.
The wood broke, and Link broke more boards to get a key, and he proceeded to exit the room.
"Aw man..." Link groaned as he found himself in the main cave.
He began to sweat like crazy from the heat.
He looked to the left, breathing deeply and slowly. There was a wooden ledge, but another boulder was blocking it, so Link couldn't sidle across. Two bomb flowers grew on the wall next to it.
"DRAT!" Link shouted, picking up a nearby rock and chucking it at the bombs. They exploded, and blew up the bomb too.
"Wow! No one is cooler than me! Yeah baby!" He cheered, and began to dance. NSYNC style.
It seemed that whenever he did something out of anger or frustration, it solved his problems!
Link sidled the wall, and made his way to the next room.
A bokoblin attacked him immediately, and yet again, Link was prepared. He battled the creature until it exploded into a puff of purple smoke.
Link turned to face a brazier near him, then he looked down at the stick the bokoblin had used to attack him.
His eyes fell upon an entry way blocked by boards.
He used the brazier to light the stick, and then he burnt the boards. Behind them he found a switch, which he stepped on and unlocked a new door.
Link was surprised to find that the new door led him outside. He shut his eyes against the light, and sucked in a deep breath of air.
How good it felt to be outdoors!
He sat down for a couple of minutes so he could rest.
Link took this time to notice a ladder next to him.
Not knowing what else to do, he began to climb it.
"WOAH!" Link yelped as he fell off the ladder and back onto the ground.
He had been startled by a burst of flames that had shot out from the mountain wall, and nearly burned him.
Link was really beginning to hate fire right about now.
He quickly climbed the ladder before more flames could come out, and found himself near a ledge that he could sidle, and that's exactly what he did.
Only this time, he was aware of another hole in the wall, which had the same cause.
Link waited until the flames had shot out and went back in again, and then he finished crossing the wall.
He found himself at what appeared to be a dead end.
"No..." Link said weakly, falling to his knees and staring into space with confusion.
A dead end... What was he to do now?
He looked to his left... There was a boulder. And usually behind boulders, there was a door!
Link also noted to himself that there was a ledge near that, and a ladder after that...
"Oops. I guess I didn't notice that..." He said, slightly embarrassed.
Since the ledge was thin, he would have to hand-grab his way across it to get to the ladder.
After doing that, he climbed the ladder, and found a bomb flower! He threw it below, and it blew up the boulder.
And as he had hoped, there was a door.
Link jumped back down, and walked into the door.
There were nine stacked blocks in the room the door led to.
It appeared to be some sort of puzzle.
With a couple of pushes and pulls, Link had fixed the blocks so he could climb them and get through the door they led to.
In the next room, Link had to climb a ledge. He broke a vase full of sticks, and lit one of them on a brazier.
Across the room was another ledge, but it was boarded up with wood.
If only he could...
YES!
With much success, Link through the flaming stick across the room, therefore setting fire to the boards.
At the other end of the room was a treasure chest containing a key.
Link used it to unlock a door, and exit the room.
Yet again, he found himself outside. There was a narrow cliff, and at its end in a nest, sat a large, evil bird called a Kargorok.
Link held his sword at the ready as he approached it.
"Here birdy birdy... Easy..." He said, pointing his blade at the kargorok.
"Rooorp!" The bird screeched, and began to attack Link.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" He screamed as he got pecked in the chest.
It knocked him to the ground with great force.
He couldn't get up! The kargorok had hit him almost as hard as it could with its sharp beak, and the pain was intense.
The bird was sailing high into the air, preparing to lunge...
Breathing hard, Link used all the energy he could to roll to the side when the bird came down, and luckily, he made it out of the way.
As the bird struggled to remove it's beak from the ground, Link slowly climbed to his feet with a pained groan.
The bird was free, and it went for him again, but Link stabbed it twice, and like every other villain, it vanished in a puff of smoke.
With a few shuddering breaths, Link collapsed to the ground, both hands on his wounded chest.
"I...hate...birds!" he gasped.
After laying there for a while, Link felt that the pain had vanished enough, and he got to his feet.
While examining his chest, he found a deep gash that spread all over.
"THIS IS THE WORST BIRTHDAY EVER!" Link yelled angrily.
He walked to the bird's nest. Inside of it was a single golden feather.
That was it. Just a feather!
Link growled, taking out his "People to Kill" notebook, and put a big start next to "The King of Red Lions." This meant that he would try to kill him as soon as possible.
Taking the feather, Link headed into the next room.
This one was the darkest one yet. It was hard to see, even if he did squint. The only source of light was yet another lit brazier.
In the glow of the light, Link spotted a jar of sticks. He picked one up, and lit it. He could now see, and slowly went onward down a hall.
Angry twittering noises made Link jump, and he turned to see an angry army of keese coming at him!
"Rah!" Link yelled, taking out the keese effortlessly with his torch.
He then used it to light a dark brazier in the middle of the room.
It didn't make anything new appear, but it sure did help him see.
He could now make out another boarded up doorway. He set it on fire with his stick.
It revealed another hallway, where Link had to light more braziers. Once they were lit, a new door unlocked itself, and he found himself in a room full of jars. There was also a ladder with a barred door.
CLANK!
Link turned, only to see the door he had come in from bar itself up too.
"That can't be good..." He muttered.
Link began to search the vases.
"RAAAAH!" called a bokoblin.
Link was getting pretty annoyed with that noise.
He defeated that bokoblin, and many others appeared from vases.
Soon they were all slain, and that caused the barred doors to open.
In the next room, there was a lot of lava, and near the area where he came in from, floating in the lava, was a platform.
But that wasn't the part that interested Link. It was the large, wormlike creature crawling around on the platform that caught his eye.
It was hideous. It had pinchers, and one, big, unblinking eye in the middle. The magtail, as it was called, appeared to be on fire too.
More water jars sat behind Link.
"I wonder..." He muttered.
He decided to see what would happen if he threw one of the jars at the magtail.
He grabbed a jar, and ran onto the platform. The magtail rose up, and opened its pinchers, ready to bite Link as it screeched.
He dodged the attack, and threw the water filled jar at it.
The magtail turned gray and curled into a tight ball.
Link followed his impulse to slice it with his sword, and after five blows, it turned into purple smoke and vanished.
FWWWWWWWWWOOOOOSH!
A spout of lava shot high into the air, only a few feet away from where Link was standing. The spout flew upward, where there was obviously another floor.
"Hmm..." Link sighed, and began to think.
He recalled a room sort of like this before... He threw a water-filled jar, and a platform appeared.
Maybe if he threw a jar at the spout, it would create a platform he could use to ride up to the next floor!
It was worth a try.
Link executed his plan successfully.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, holding on as tight as he could to the platform.
Link jumped onto the wooden ledge that awaited him.
"Well, there's something I never want to do again..." he muttered.
The new room had two boulders. Lava was all over the middle of the room, and there was another area with a magtail, stairs, and a large door with a fancy lock. But seeing as he couldn't get over there, Link decided to deal with the boulders. Luckily, there were some bomb flowers. The first bomb he blew up didn't really hide anything put a large, bubbling warp pot. The next one had another door, which led, once again, outside.
Link felt apprehensive about being out here again. He remembered the kargorok, and the memory made him feel the cut on his chest again.
He winced.
"I've got to watch out for those things..." Link said quietly to himself, his hand resting on the wounded area.
There was a stone staircase to his right, leading upward.
Link decided to follow it.
Soon after he began to walk on it, the stairs began to crumble.
Link yelped, and ran as fast as he could up the stairs and onto firm ground.
He turned around, and saw that there were no longer any stairs.
"Man, that was pretty damn close... Things just don't get any easier, do they?" He said with frustration.
Link walked into an enclosed area.
"Medli!" he gasped.
There she was, standing hopelessly in a cell.
"Link-! Watch out!"
"Huh?"
A green bokoblin identical to the one he encountered in the Forsaken Fortress.
"(Beep!)"
Link paced himself as the creature ran at him.
"Uh!"
Link blocked the bokoblin's sword attack with his shield.
After it was vanquished, two kargoroks flew above, each holding a moblin (the big pig creatures from the Forsaken Fortress.) in its talons.
"Gruh!" the moblins grunted, coming at Link, both of them possessing a staff.
The moblins were harder to defeat than the bokoblin, and Link had to suffer a couple of bruises before defeating them.
The bars of Medli's cell slowly lifted.
She was free!
"Oh, Link, thank you! You saved me!"
"Yeah, I know, I did pretty good, didn't I? That'll be 50 rupees."
Medli frowned, "Come now, it wasn't worth THAT much!"
Link's eyes narrowed, "Do you know what I had to go through to get this far?" he hissed.
"No, I can't say I do..."
Link showed her every bruise, scratch, and scrape he got.
Well, only in the appropriate places.
"Wow, I had no idea..." Medli said, a bit of sympathy in her voice.
"So do I get the 50 rupees?" he asked hopefully.
"No." Medli said flatly.
"What?" Link was outraged.
"No, dammit!"
Link made a puppy face, "Please?"
"I'm sorry," Medli replied, putting her hand up.
"Please?"
"No!" She yelled.
"Pleeeaaase?" Link begged.
"NO!"
"Oh, come on!"
"Fine, fine, here you go!" Medli said in an annoyed tone, handing Link the money.
"HOORAY!" Link cheered, and began to dance like NSYNC again.
"Please...stop that." Medli said, watching him.
"Ok."
"Listen-I found out that some creature has been doing awful things to the Great Valoo's tail in the room right below here!"
"Hm, sucks for him." Link said with a shrug.
"Link! You have to stop it!" Medli begged.
"For...?" Link asked expectantly.
"100 rupees."
"It's a deal!" Link said, grinning from ear to ear and shaking Medli's hand.
Medli handed Link a grappling hook.
"This is what we Rito used before we evolved wings. It might come in handy for you."
"Ok... Whatever..." Link said, not particularly grateful.
"You need to use it to get out of here. Follow me!" Medli said as she flew into the air.
Link climbed up the ledge.
"Wasn't there an easier way to get up here?"
"Yeah-the stairs!" Medli said with a chuckle, "You're not too bright, are you?"
Link turned bright red, "Just shut the (beep) up, ok? If you keep this up, I won't help your (beeping) village!"
"Ok, ok." Medli agreed.
Medli was standing atop a long, thick, stick-like bar protruding from the wall. She told Link how to use the grappling hook.
"Ok..." Link said. He threw the end of the grappling hook at the bar. It successfully wrapped around it, and Link swung over the gap.
"You keep going, ok? I'm going to go tell the chieftain what I have discovered!" Medli said, and flew away.
"That's it? You're just gonna leave me here?" Link yelled.
But Medli was already gone.
He added Medli's name to his list.
Link went on angrily to the next room. "Stupid bird bitch..."
He found himself on a bridge over lava.
Link gulped, and looked down.
Luckily, he discovered, it wasn't all lava. There was a bit of land below him.
If he could just get down there...
Link came up with a plan. He could cut the ropes hoisting the bridge up, and then fall to the land below.
SNAP!
After cutting the ropes, the bridge remained suspended in the air.
"What the hell?" Link said.
He took a step forward, trying to see if he had missed any.
He fell to the bottom with a scream.
"Ow... That wasn't as graceful as I would've liked it to be, but at least it worked..." He said quietly to himself.
After that room, he found himself, yet again, in the main cave.
He walked into what appeared to be some sort of cage... The floor of it was a platform, being held up by three ropes.
Flames shot up and licked the bottom of the platform. If Link cut the ropes, than the platform would be like sort of an elevator.
He used a spin attack to cut all three ropes at the same time.
Link fell to the bottom. There was another platform, and he climbed onto that one. It took him upward, where he could get on solid ground.
Link jumped off the platform.
Behind him was a barred door, and in front of him, high up on the cave's ceiling, was another grappling hook point.
But this one was different-it appeared to be some sort of lever, or a switch.
He decided to hook the grappling hook on the lever, and maybe his body weight could pull it down. Then Link would see what the lever did.
The plan worked perfectly. And luckily, the barred door opened!
"YES!" Link cheered, and ran through the door.
He used his grappling hook to travel through the next room. It wasn't too hard, but it did take a lot of hand-eye coordination.
Link found himself in a room with another magtail. There was also a platform, with a beautifully carved chest in the middle, but the chest was surrounded by flames.
The switch he saw near the platform probably stopped the flames.
Link stepped on it, and his theory was right, but when he got off, the flames started back up again.
His attention focused on the magtail. After Link had thrown the jar of water at the other one, it curled into a tight ball.
There were no jars of water in this room though.
The magtail came closer. It spotted Link, and reared up, pinchers open.
He dodged its attack.
"Ok, what do I do now, WHAT DO I DO NOW?" Link began to panic.
He looked at his grappling hook. It had a long distance range, and he could use it to hit the creature's eye when it opened its pinchers. After a couple of tries, it worked, and the creature balled up. Link picked it up, and set it on the switch.
He quickly grabbed what was in the chest, and backed up before he even had a chance to see what it was.
Once he was a safe distance way, Link looked at the object.
It was a large, heavy key! It was amazing looking. It was golden with an eye engraved at the top.
It reminded Link of the fancy locked door he saw before saving Medli.
Maybe this key belonged to that door!
He backtracked to the room with the lock, and used his grappling hook to get to the door.
The key fit perfectly!
Link cautiously walked into the next room, a strange, heavy feeling of apprehension locked up inside of him...