'The last mission in the foundry: Using it as intended. How fitting.' Link mused this while he followed Samba into Molds. 'But, then, I guess I'd be a little disappointed if we weren't able to see how this all works, since it looks like it could act like a real foundry. Albiet, a very complex one, in my opinion, but this is the first foundry I've ever been in, so...'
They saw the ramp was still down, thankfully. Samba looked around and saw that there was a panel on the wall with the goron emblem, so he went over and kicked the wall by it. It sprang open, revealing another pipe. "Boroy, this is Samba, do you hear me?" he called through it.
"Loud and clear, brother!" Boroy's voice rang back through the tinny-sounding brass system.
"We're in Molds. I remember that we have to check which machines we can use. How can we tell?"
"We work a lot in pairs, and we like to make work fun, sometimes," Boroy explained. "So, we made the controls for compressing sand into the molds sort of a game of tetherball, if you've ever played that."
"I remember that!" Link piped up, happy smile on his face. "We hit the ball whenever it got close to us. Me and the other children in the village used to play it by hitting it back and forth, trying to see how many hits we could get in before one of us missed or got hit in the nose."
"I hope that the ball was soft..." muttered Samba, raising an eyeridge.
"Mm-hmm! That's the exact point of this," Boroy said. "You and Samba should be able to see a bit lever with a red ball at the end in the back of one of the machines on the first floor. You have to get to either side of the machine, then hit it back and forth 16 times--eight hits per person. Before that, however, you've got to make sure it's got the right parts. You see those Drones?"
They looked back at the mechanoids working with the machines. "Yeah," Samba nodded.
"I know for a fact they'll probably drop the parts you'll need--don't ask me why, but Drones always drop parts for mold-making. Just defeat them and take their parts. You'll need to put them in the panels on the sides, seven in all with three on the second floor. You'll want to put four flat, square or rectangle parts on the first floor, the smaller ones more in back, and then put a curved arch one on the middle top one and the semicircles on the top side ones. Got that?"
"Um...Oh! You mean the bottom floor builds the bottom of the chest and the top makes the lid?" Link checked.
"You're pretty smart, Link!" Boroy complimented. "N-No offence to you, my reptilian brother!" he hastilly added.
Samba sighed. "Don't worry, I know I'm not the brightest torch in the village," he assured, giving a sad smile.
"Alright! You two know what you gotta do, right?" Boroy asked. "Quick summary: Defeat the Drones, put the right parts in the right place, and then compress the sand. You'll need to go into Sand to direct it, though, first," he added. "So just check which one you can use for now."
"Right! We're out!" Samba called before shutting the panel again.
They ran back and checked the backs of the machines. Only the far one, the easternmost one, was usable. The others' levers had broken ba--handles. So, they proceeded into Sand.
There, on the left wall like last time, was the panel. Samba kicked it open. "Samba again, in Sand!"
"Alright! Can you use any machines in Molds?" Boroy asked.
"Yes, the one on the far right...the easternmost one," Samba described.
"Hmmm...Are there any carts going up there, you know?" he asked. "It'd be great if you could make it so that they only traveled up to that one, at least...Don't worry if you get extra sand--only the right amount will be used."
"Right, so we need to direct the traffic...how?" Link queried.
"There should be track switches in there--they're crystal ones you're probably used to by now. There is an intersection before each of the ramps going up to the other two machines. Hit the right switch for each and it'll turn. Once should work. Oh, and you may need to block the tracks to the far right one, since that one goes nowhere for you guys. You can't just stand there, though...
"You can figure out the rest, I hope! Good luck, brothers!" Boroy bade.
"Right, thanks, Boroy! We're out!" Samba called before shutting the panel. "This feels sort of silly, shouting at a pipe like this," he commented before turning and going up the sand hill.
At this time, Link realized something. "Hey, hold on a second, could you?" he asked. "There's one room we've yet to explore..." He pointed at the door at the end of the thin ledge.
"Oh...Alright, since that beamos isn't going to hurt us, go ahead and go there," Samba said. "I'll wait here, if you want."
"Alright," Link nodded. "I'll be back...Give me the Master Sword just in case, quick."
"...I wanna use Sync Mode so make sure you don't hurt yourself," Samba said, crossing his arms and raising an eyeridge. "That way, you can call me if you need me."
"Shouldn't be that bad, since it's a small room," Link shrugged as he recieved the Sword.
Samba frowned a bit, but nodded. "I trust you. You should be able to give the rings to me if you need to, since that room isn't surrounded in violet like the compass room was--that's what blocks us from hiding."
So Link left Samba to sit on the top of the sand hill, considering playing with his guitar again. He went off to the catwalks on the second floor, going from the ones near the chest the map was in and between which a Piece of Heart taunted him down below. He went across sheet metal bridges and across the walks until he got to the ledge. Then, he carefully sidled along, soon reaching the door and opening it.
Inside, he found a small, rectangular room that was covered in rock, of all things. Some sand piled in corners. "Must be a spare sand room," he muttered before hearing a distinct hissing sound. He whipped his head and saw, illuminated by torches, a Gold Skulltula!!
"A...? Well, might as well," Link shrugged. He fired two arrows at it and it was defeated. He boomeranged the leftover token floating on the wall and grabbed it. "Nice." He put it away in the bag before looking again. No chest, no nothing. That was it. "Huh," he tilted his head confusedly before shrugging, turning, and opening the door. He ran and jumped across out, grabbing the edge of the opposite catwalk with his hands. He hoisted up and trotted off to rejoin Samba at the end of it.
"That WAS quick. What was there?" asked Samba, looking up. He was squeezing his toes and fingers around the sand idly, but he stood and brushed his paws off when he saw him coming.
"A Gold Skulltula, nothing else," Link answered. "I got it. Two arrows and it's dead."
"Nice." Samba looked around. "So, let's see what we need to do, now."
"Right. Wanna lead again?"
"You can, and you might as well, since I doubt there's anything magnetic or electric here I can futz with."
Then Link led them along the sand again. He was about to get onto the catwalks again when he looked down and saw..."Hey, that floor switch looks rusty," he said, pointing. "I wonder if a Thunderforge slam will make it move."
"Go ahead and try," Samba welcomed, waving his paw at it.
Link slid down the hill and stopped at the bottom. There, he Thunderforged the switch, which made a grating screech as it was depressed.
A dull thunk sounded before a grinding. Samba, who'd walked along the catwalk above Link, widened his eyes. "A shutter?" At the end of the catwalk, going east-to-west, was a shutter like the one whose lowering had revealed the map. It was lowering, and as it did, sand poured out onto the track in front, covering it. It stopped at the edge of a three-way intersection that ran below them. Samba grinned. "Link! That should stop the Auto Carts from going the wrong way, now!" he pointed, looking back at his capped friend.
Link looked up at his helmeted one, eyebrows raised. "Well, that was easy," he commented. He climbed back up and rejoined Samba before they hunted for the switches. They didn't have to go far. One was around the bend of a long, switchbacking bridge that went around a higher catwalk serving as a wall. They then got down and found another switch in a catwalk-walled nook covered with the bridge above.
With that, the Auto Carts coming along all were directed in the same place. This sadly resulted in some collisions, resulting in only one cart remaining. It had bustled down from the first machine to collect sand. While it did, the one from the second came down and crashed into the one from the third that was going back. They must have been started off and programmed in the right ways that they all had to go and follow the path they needed with no trouble. Now, the last one had nothing in its way (the explosions had utterly destroyed the carts and Auto Carts) as it whirred along, oblivious to the carnage that had inadvertently occured. Samba hid as Link hopped on the passing robot, which climbed to the second floor.
Now in the Molds room again, they got off the Auto Cart and stepped to the side. Link told Samba to stay in his ring before whipping out the Thunderforge, a dangerous smile on his lips. "And here I was thinking I was scaring HIM with my toy," Samba muttered in his ring facetiously as Link went to have his fun smashing up the Drones. He ran forwards, waited until all of them were around him, then initiated a spin attack with the hammer. One hit was all it took to destroy them in explosions. Indeed, they left behind a strangely-shaped metal object. Two were semicular and one was arced. Samba said he'd put them where then needed to go and Link went downstairs to deal with the rest. Samba found the panels on the sides and top were full already, so he just pulled out the old ones and replaced them appropriately. He knew he put the top one in right because it was shaped to fit a nub in a notch.
Link found his job much the same thing. When he was finished, he called Samba and went to the left side of the back of the machine. Indeed, it had been creating nothing since the Drones had been defeated. Samba got on the right side and faced Link. Between them was, indeed, a giant red ball on the end of a metal rod sticking out of the back of the machine. The sides they faced had worn patches where repeated hitting had made the paint come off and reveal the steel. They nodded and drew their swords. They could have activated Sync Mode, but they really didn't need to.
Link started with a swing of his sword. It struck the lever and sent it moderately quickly, causing a grinding sound as it went, to Samba, who smacked it with his. It went slightly faster. They ended up able to hit it four times without just going into a combo each, then they began their four-hit combos on the last hits. Samba ended it, making it SLAM at the end of the machine.
The thing gave one last shaking grind before a block came out, a block made entirely of very firmly-pressed sand. Little notches on it stuck out and allowed Link to hang on and ride--until he hit the electric field going out of the room. Samba shook his head as Link stood up, smiling sheepishly at his forgetfulness.
Link tried to kick the wall to open the shutter, but didn't have enough strength. So, he grimaced and rolled into the wall. THAT did it, and as he got up, he opened the shutter the whole way and shouted into the pipe, "Hoy!!"
"I hear you, Link," Boroy called back. "You're in Molds, right?"
"Yes. We just made the mold," Link reported. "We need to pour metal into it, right?"
"Correct. But first, you've got to get to Pouring. The path of the molds is still the same as before. You have to use the central controls. There's a pipe standing free there, so call me from there."
"Right, we're going."
They trotted out and made their way back into Pouring. Link grinned. "Finally, we get to do that puzzle," he whispered to himself excitedly. "I've been interested by it for so long..."
They soon reached the center of the first floor of Pouring. By now, thanks, no doubt, to the beamos, the enemy count had been reduced to only the bokoblins on the catwalks. They strangely didn't bother to hit them in the center of the room, though. They took in the situation described in the first segment of this dungeon adventure, now paying more attention to more details. The holes each were the kinds of contact circuit that needed to conduct, not supply power. From the looks of things, they would have to move the blocks in a way that specific things were activated. They looked and found a pipe sticking up high out of the floor and angled down like a shower head. (Well, to us; they've never seen showers, only bathtubs, since they weren't rich enough to have much plumbing.)
"We're here," Link called into the pipe.
"Alright, you see the contact circuits without buttons?" asked Boroy. "Those are called conductor nodes. Now that control has been switched over to manual, and that the buckets aren't working automatically thanks to you guys, somehow, all the places where the mold stops have been locked, meaning they can't stop there...so I guess it's UNlocked...Whatever, right, brothers? Anyway, I bet the mold's just going round and round, isn't it?" They looked and saw it was slowly going around them, cycling endlessly around the track. "That circling track is the one the molds go on to get poured in. You'll have to activate certain parts to make things work. But you've got to work either impossibly fast or intelligently, brothers. If you activate any but the right parts, it will be sent to the wrong ones, have nothing poured, and then sent to the Goron-powered Refining conveyer, which it shouldn't be on yet. Or, if it goes and gets poured, it'll either have too little, too much--in which case it will melt and you will have to restart, sadly--or enough, but it will go to the wrong place. It also travels clockwise around you all the time, remember that.
"Hmmm...Let's see. Take a look at the tiles around you," Boroy continued. They turned and looked. "There's twenty-five of them in a grid. I would split them into coordinates, looking north. Number the rows 1 to 5, farthest to nearest, and letter the rows A to E, left to right. This will make the northwestern corner A1, the northeastern E1, and so on. Remember that for now, since it will help you make up a plan. If you need to know what's going on, look in front of you and you should see a signpost-like thing that has a diagram of the track, parts of which are controlled by the four corner posts around you. The lit dots on the ring representing the track are the stopping places accessed, and on the bottom, the lit dot is the one that it'll go out from--you want the left dot. It will continue around the track until it hits an accessed spot, where it will wait for a bit before moving on. Usually, it will wait for something to be poured inside at all points before it moves on, which you'd know to be true if the exit light is flashing, but I'm sure it's broken--you must find the right combination that lets it go out. Don't worry--once it's filled, it will not stop at any other places. It would be great, too, if it could go at least halfway around the track from where it was poured so that it can cool off before leaving. Can you do it?"
"We'll try," Link said back.
"Good luck, brothers," Boroy bade.
Link nodded and looked around him, Samba standing aside and trying to absorb all the information. "I don't think he really helped out, much," he muttered quietly, crossing his arms as he leaned on a pillar.
"Me, neither," Link agreed in a whisper, smiling sheepishly. "Well...Let's see..." [Tip: You can find the drawing for this puzzle in a link down in the author's comments at the bottom of the page. You may want to if you want to understand the wayward way the circuit's connected. Besides, aside from the graphite smudge, it looks interesting, I'd say.]
He mentally split the tiles up as instructed. Looking at it then, he found the following: One node was in each row and column except D--B1, E2, C3, A4, and E5. A black block sat stolidly in D5, making it useless. The conductor blocks were placed in B2, C2, and E3. He looked below and found a tile in the floor outside the square. It was black and had a lightning bolt colored yellow on it. He noticed that pulses of yellow light traveled from it, like on the floor in that mini-room in Power. 'Must be the power source.' So, the power came from a tile south of C5. It was conducted by the lines and screws. He wondered what was needed to do.
"Link?"
Link turned to Samba. "Yes?"
Samba raised an eyeridge. "Why don't we just not worry if we mess up with the mold and try until that indicator thing tells us that we did it right?" he asked. "I have a feeling there are many axsss korfols--false friends." (Yes, his language used three of their s's in that word.) "There's gonna be a lot of solutions, and I bet there's a really ingenous, complicated way to do things, but something tells me it's WAY simpler than you'd think."
"Probably, but let's just experiment," Link said, and he walked over to the node at E2, which he saw would activate the NE corner. He Thunderforged it and watched the power swim through it to the pillar. The display said that, on the track, he had accessed the NE and E spots. (There was one for each compass direction, making it easy to describe.) The right exit light on the bottom, between S and SE, was lit solid. He removed his hammer before the mold went off and studied the array again. This time, he placed pushed the block on C2 down to C3 and activated the central node. He then conducted B1 and activated the NW pillar. This made the the NW and N spots light up, and the light on the left turn on but not flash, which he was aiming for. So, he took the hammer out and went to A4 to activate the SW pillar. This one lit up the SW and W places and lit the left light again.
As he expected, he got access to the remaining two (S and SE) when he activated the SE pillar, which he needed to push a block onto E2 to do first. (He pushed the first block out of C3 first, though.) This caused the light to...do nothing. He sighed and pulled his hammer from the corner, instead trying B1 now.
The left light turned on again.
Link raised an eyebrow at this. "So the one activated next determines which light's on, and the west ones activate the left and so on," he theorized. He removed the hammer, pushed the block that was in E2 to E4 for now, pushed another onto E2, and then pushed the third onto B1. The light went from out to right, then left. To his surprise, when he hammered on E5,
THE LIGHT BLINKED.
Right, but it blinked. Excited, he took his hammer out and ran to A4 and hammered. 'This way, I can get a left light blink--ing...' He looked up and saw a solid left light. He then realized something.
When he took out the hammer, he must have backtracked the order. He had gone from east alone to west to east again when he activated the blinking light. But when he took it out and put it in the other one, it stayed and was solid. 'Maybe the machine works now so that it blinks after it goes back from visiting the other side once,' he wondered, getting slightly excited again.
He removed everything first to make sure, then
1. pushed a block onto E2, activating NE (NE and E) and a solid right light,
2. pushed a block onto B1, activating NW (NW, N, NE, and E) and a solid left light,
3. pushed the last block onto E5, activating SE (SE, S, NW, N, NE, and E) and a blinking right light, then (moment of truth!), finally,
4. Thunderforged A4, activating SW (all points--NW, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, and W) and A BLINKING LEFT LIGHT!!
"YES!!" Link shouted, pumping his fist. He watched as the mold stopped entirely on the S spot. "Keep alternating! So it's E2, B1, E5, A4, leaving the center alone!"
"I wondered if the center wasn't as 'central' to this plan as it appeared to be," chuckled Samba, smirking. He walked to the pipe and shouted into it. "Hey, Boroy! Link figured out the mold track puzzle!"
"Great job, brother!" Boroy came back, accompanied by a sound that must have been him clapping. "Now, Samba, you can do this next one on your own while he sticks around down there, if you want. An extra set of eyes might help, though."
"I can solve this again," Link said, taking out the Thunderforge and coming over. "It's stopped on a spot that's activated still if I go, anyway, so it's alright."
"Link, you and Samba head up, then, to the western catwalk, and you'll find the panel there. Until then, brothers!"
They went on. After slaying the annoying bokoblins, Link and Samba opened the panel between the two electrified support bars Samba had swung on. "Up there? Great! Now you've gotta make sure the correct bucket gets filled and pours into the right place. Be careful, though, since the southwestern spot for the buckets to stop's been letting them through, annoyingly enough. That, or it stops them and doesn't dump them. See the crystal switches around the ceiling mechanism? Those are actually indicator lights that tell which bucket is going and which dumping point is ready. The normal switches are dumping points. If it's lit, then the bucket will stop and dump."
"Why don't you have a switch for the green bucket?" asked Link.
"Should be on the bottom, but I guess it's broken," Boroy replied. "Well, then, you'll have to do some interesting work. The biggest bucket is hopefully moving around instead of sitting there, since it only goes around the main track, which circles clockwise, too. By the way, do you guys see a little diagram on the inside of the panel you opened?"
"You mean one that's got colored lines and--" Samba began.
"Yup, that's it, brothers," Boroy interrupted, answering. "The lines are the paths the buckets take. There should also be a size chart with a goron and five buckets below it." They looked. "Use that for reference for the MOLD, not the bucket. If the mold's as big as a goron, use the bucket as big as the goron on the chart, understand?"
"The mold was about as tall as me," Samba said. He was a little bit taller than Link, probably thanks to his big footpaws, which will often happen with bipedal creatures walking like that--a few inches extra due do foot size.
"Then you should know how big you are compared to us," Boroy said. "You're sort of tallish."
'I'm about a goron's head below a goron,' Samba estimated. 'Link's about a head and a half.'
"Alright, one more interesting fact. Avert circuits, the proper name for coil circuits, are connected to the switches. Hitting the switches makes energy that travels through the metal into the coils. Interesting, no? Alright, I'm sure you can figure things out, now, brothers!"
"Okay, thank you, Boroy!" Link called back before turning to Samba. They left the panel open to refer to the chart and diagram if need be. "Alright, I think it looks like I'll need to shift the mold down to..." he began, pausing to think. 'Halfway around...' "...the western stop. You look at the chart, figure out which size to use, and go around with that red one and hit the switches you need to. Stop before you get fried, of course."
Samba looked at the chart and figured he'd need that blue one. That one went down the western one, over the double-loop thing (going on the west loop's curving part, then joining the eastern's straight part), and up the east before going and doing a loop around the main track. He would need to make sure that it went around to one of the three pouring places and then back to the western dump spot. But that green one...What if it dumps before the blue one? And what happens when two same-direction buckets bump into one another? 'Grrrrmm...'
He had a couple choices. First, he could get on the red one, ride it, then get the blue one behind him, and have the green behind THAT. Then, hoping he doesn't get burnt to a crisp, he would keep on and hit the proper switches as he passed them. That was if only the green one didn't do anything when it collides with another one--if it just stopped.
Or, to play it safe, he could first go around on the red one and hit the switches EXCEPT for the one he needs to dump from, though he didn't quite know how he'd manage that since there was no...He remembered the fact Boroy gave him. 'It can go through...?!' He shook his head and continued. He can then hang back and wait until it was safe for the blue one to go in front of the green...That's it!
"I'll make sure that a northern point is on so that they can stop and accept the load of metal," he planned aloud. "Then, I'll have the green one go around and stop, then go a ways in front of the blue. The blue will follow around and stop when the green stops. The blue will go and get some metal, then I'll activate the western point so it'll dump after the green one is past it."
He nodded and, double-checking his ammunition and magic power, went to work. He hopped onto the red and rode it until it was about to enter the loop. Then, he waited for the green to go in front. After it did, he got right behind it to give him as much room as possible from a rear crash if he had to stop. He went and hit the northwestern switch off, then stopped it before he got a very hot shower. He noticed that the northeastern switch, which he wanted to be the first stop, was lit, so he left it and the northern one (which was off) alone. The lizalfos continued around, hitting the eastern, southeastern, and finally southern switches before he got off, turned the red bucket off, and trotted around the catwalk to a place he could see things well but get to the western switch's place and activate it in time. (He had the red bucket stop in a good place to hit it, so he was good.) He made the blue bucket stop before the turn and waited for the green bucket.
The green one stopped and dumped at the northeastern stop before proceeding around again. Samba waited until it was about four seconds ahead of the blue before starting the blue again and waiting. After a half minute, the green came and stopped, at which time he quickly turned the blue one off, then kept his aim on the switch as he kept his eye on the green bucket. As soon as the green one was moving again, he launched his pebble at the blue switch and bolted to the western side. He jumped onto the red bucket and got Volt Claw ready. When the green one began to pass, he started charging a blast of electricity. As soon as it was clear, he hoped beyond hope and fired at the flat metal square the western switch should be and waited a few seconds.
Both boys crowed in victory as the blue bucket stopped and tipped, pouring its contents into the waiting mold below.
When the mold was filled, it went clockwise around. Samba quickly raced around to see if the green bucket would dump its contents onto the already-full mold. It was already done before the mold came under the spot, thankfully. So, he jumped down and rolled on the ground to meet Link.
"Great job, Samba!" complimented Link as he stayed at the middle part. "Go and stop the Auto Cart from dumping off the load, somehow!"
"Uhm...how--Oh! Right!" Samba nodded, thinking quickly, 'I almost forgot! Auto Carts are susceptible to magnetism. If I just aim at it and quick raise my paw and quickly turn Volt Claw on and off, it should work!! It'll flip a switch and turn off for until I flip it again!' He turned and dashed as fast as he could to the Auto Cart, which was waiting for the load that was now turning down the correct exit. He skidded and raised his paw. "Not yet, little guy!" he said, flashing Volt Claw. The lights on the machine turned off. Just in time, too, since the mold dropped down onto it. "Yas!"
Link called, "Got it?" and received a positive response. "Good! I'm getting tired of this room, frankly," he said, pulling out the Thunderforge and trotting to the pipe. "Boroy! We need to put it on the conveyer belt into the next room, right?" he shouted into it.
"You got it, brother!" confirmed Boroy, who then shouted quickly, "But WAIT!" Link flinched at the volume. Calmer, the goron continued, "The machines aren't set up right. You'll want to wait there and guard the mold while Samba handles it, or vice-versa. Well...Which one of you can use avert circuits?"
"Um...The coils, right? Samba's spell, Volt Claw, handles that," Link replied.
"Then guard the mold and have him go in. If you are too far away from the chest from now on, the monsters are SURE to destroy it! As long as someone's around it, though, you'll be fine," Boroy informed. "I'll fill Samba in on things when he gets there! Just have him go to the end of Mechanical Refining!"
"Right!" Link turned and ran to the mold, where Samba was waiting, drumming his claws on his bicep in time with the beat of the strangely-synchronized noise around them while sitting on the Auto Cart. Samba raised his eyeridges when Link made him leader as he ran over, then looked up when Link stopped by him. "Samba, you go on through to the first conveyer room," Link pointed at the foyer door. "I've got to stay and guard this."
"What for?" Samba asked, standing up and tilting his head.
"You've got to do the next part of the preparation," Link answered, crossing his arms. "Something to do with avert circuits. Boroy wants you to go to the end of the room--I assume that means the end where the door to the compass room is."
"Well, the room's pretty linear, so..." Samba muttered, scritching under a helmet strap. "(Man, I'd better be careful not to let this touch my hide, it's gotta be like an oven by now...)" He shrugged. "Alright, I guess. You'll stay and guard, yas?"
"Yass," Link returned, smiling.
Samba let out a laugh and shook his head. "You're letting yourself hiss too much," he told him, yet he smiled as he spoke. "It's just a LITtle shorter: Yas."
"Yas. Better?" Link chuckled.
"Yas. Good luck," Samba smiled over his shoulder as he trotted off.
Samba returned to the room he hadn't seen in an age, he felt like, and found himself feeling much better than he had when he had come in the last time. One reason was that he needn't fear the beamos. Another was that he could now get to a chest that was on the second floor really nearby, on a little balcony above him to his left (south). He trotted to the elevator on the ground on the left side of the first machine on the belt, and stopped, looking at a panel in it. It was really simple, with nothing but a red, simple lever on it. It was down. He shrugged and flipped the bar up. The elevator jarred, startling him (and making him grab his tail reflexively), then started up. It stopped right next to the balcony, whose chest held a red rupee. A broken console sat in the wall beside it, giving the purpose for the balcony. "Nice," he commented on the treasure in Lizalfos before pocketing it. (When alone, he reverted to his native tongue.) Reboarding the elevator, he went down again.
Then, he walked past the machine and the beamos, waving at it. He noticed the coils in the wall again, but decided not to interact with them for the time being. He instead focused on getting to the end of the room. He passed the machines, jumping over and across the conveyer belts, and got to the end, where he saw again the contraption from when he saw it before. Also by it in a corner was another standing pipe. Using Hylian again, he called Boroy. "I'm here, and I take it I've got to solve this puzzle, now?"
"You got it, brother!" came the response. "Alright, you've got a bit of a different kind of job, this time. Link had the easy one. You've got the hard one."
Samba groaned. "Bet he's going to be jealous," he joked to himself.
"Don't worry, though, it's not that bad," assured Boroy. "You just have to keep more things in mind. Take a look at the thing in front of you. Tell me what you see."
Samba turned and looked. He wet his throat and began, "Alright...um...Okay, there's a big, long box far from me. There's four different-colored glass things--"
"Light bulbs, remember from my cheat sheet?"
"--yeah, sorry, there's four, and they match up with a coil that's coming at me from the machine. There's a block with a lightning bolt on it in place of a fifth, which has a crystal switch on top of it that's lit green, and from there, it's another tile puzzle thing. This one's...three by five. I see a block on the outside of each side that has a hole in it, and I think I can push them around on the floor until they hit these stops."
"Pretty good! What's on the tiles?"
"Little, fist-sized blocks on a stick with handles in the center that have coils sticking out of some sides. A normal straight coil on the same kind of support is on a couple. They all work like avert circuits?"
"Right! This is the biggest avert circuit in the factory. This array is what channels power to the four machines on the conveyer. Your job is line up coils together so that they are pointing at each other, maximizing the electric energy--getting the most out of it. Your goal is to make it so that only specific machines are on or off. I'm not gonna let you guess which ones you need to turn on, I'll tell you: You're aiming to turn on the blue and yellow lights, which each tell what machine's on, and turn the other two off." (At that moment, all but the blue light were on.) "There's enough space between the coils for you to walk around, which is probably better than figuring out the complicated-even-for-me control panel that's probably broken, anyway. You have to turn the coils to face each other, going at 90 degrees per turn. The catch is that you can't let a coil on the outside be emitting electricity without it going somewhere. That's where those outside blocks come in; they catch an out-facing coil and direct the power somewhere else. You only have ONE per side, though, so make it count. There's a switch atop the place the power comes out; turn it red to shut it off and green to turn it on. You can't leave the room if it's off, though, because of something I need to fix still. So, any questions?"
"Urrrmmm...So, I turn the tiles until they're facing the way I want them and make sure none stick out without the blocks catching them?" he checked. "And I bet I can't have any electricity going out inside the array if there's nothing catching, right?"
"Right," Boroy warned him. "But otherwise, good luck, brother! Oh, and be careful if they're on. Electric shock smarts."
"Alright, thanks!" Samba then turned and sighed dramatically. He groaned in his language, "This. Stinks."
Taking another look at the puzzle, it was really 4x5, but one row was solid, attatched to the machine. The top row had down-facing coils all along except for the power source block. Down in the main puzzle, there were four kinds of coil blocks, each looking like a letter or symbol: L's, +'s, I's, and T's. There was only one +, only one block that could make or break him, and the majority appeared to be T's. I will try to show the rows as he saw them as follows, with the following guide:
*The - by T's is the way the middle coil of the block is facing for sideways ones: -T or T-. _T_ means it's an upside-down T. T means it looks like a T.
*If I'm saying 7, I mean that the L piece is rotated like that (like an L mirrored at its vertex). L means it looks like an L. Finally, J is a backwards L. (There are no r-like ones in this diagram.)
*I's are ones facing how they should (the ones at the top attatched to the machine that can't be moved in this diagram) and --'s are I's facing sideways.
*I trust you can tell where the "catcher blocks" are, since no end can face out without being caught. It is impossible to "draw" it without ASCII.
*The top row has letters representing the color light each I coil leads to. The v is the power source, telling the direction it comes out. There are underscores between to enforce the fact that these are unrotatable.
Ir_v_Ib_Iy_Ig
T- -T -- T- J
L _T_ T + 7
-- T _T_ J L
And that was your meeting of novelization and ASCII-less walkthrough for today. (I really would have preferred ASCII, but you are likely reading this in a variable-width font, so it would have been rendered useless.) [Tip: I redrew this puzzle and it is available down in the author's comments at the bottom of the page.]
Samba, however, probably would have liked a walkthrough, himself, at first. He first turned off the switch above the power source to handle the coils without Volt Claw, desiring to save himself the hassle. The machines powered down, the door behind him barred, and the conveyer belts stopped. From there, he jumped up onto the catching block below the bottom row's T and looked out at the array, brain working.
Samba wasn't the best at puzzles. He wasn't stupid, but he wasn't the brightest. He knew Link would have been more comfortable with this, but he was the one chosen to stay there. How could he figure this out?
'Hmmm...I think I should leave that one coming from the power source alone...and I definitely need to make the one going into the red coil a T by turning it once clockwise, since that's the only way it definitely won't be activated. That means I'll have to push the left catching block up. I think I can actually...Yeah...' He got off and went to work, turning them this way and that. He turned the T before the red coil once clockwise into a T, the I before the blue (into an I for real), the three L's in the lower-right corner once clockwise, the one in the very corner again, and the L before the green once counter-clockwise. Then he pushed the catcher block he had been on all the way to the right and the catcher block on the left all the way up. He turned it all on.
The same electric blue energy he uses when making a "coil" with his claws came out of the power source and followed along the coils, going through the air. The machined needed hummed to life, the doors unbolted, and the conveyer belt moved again...wait. "...Hey...It's moving realllly slow..." he muttered, leaning over and inspecting it, frowning. He then raised his eyeridges, whipping his head around to the third, unused catcher block. "Another area--!? MORE LIKE THE CONVEYER BELTS!!" he roared in agitation.
"Oh, forgot about that," Boroy's voice came from the pipe. "Sorry, brother! You have to make sure the catcher blocks all are getting power for the conveyer belt to move at its proper speed, unless you WANT to wait an hour."
"Alright, I'll figure it out," Samba said before getting up on his perch again. "Grrrmmmmm..."
It took a bit of time, during which he eventually got back to the problem of just connecting it all so it gets to the proper places. So, after a burst of inspiration, he fixed the coils around again, moving only four. The T's in the third row he turned so that their "backs" were to each other (well, tops), the T on the bottom of the power source's column he turned once counter-clockwise, and the L on the bottom of the + he turned back to the way it was. He was about to turn on the power again before he remembered to push his perch back to its original position.
"I have to tie up the loose ends," he recalled, pushing the block. "I have to use these catcher blocks to--*" He stopped and blinked, the catcher block in the position he was pushing for (its original position), before he growled in dispair, turned, and slumped down against the block. "Aaaaoooww..." he grumbled before banging the metal cube with a fist. "Dammit! Ow...That's really hard...Wait." He rapped it with a corner of one of the plates backing his gauntlet. "That doesn't sound hollow..."
"What's inside these blocks, by the way?" he asked Boroy.
"Oh, fired clay," answered the goron. "We put it in things we don't want electricity that travels through air to go through. Having a rough time, brother?"
"A little..." Samba sighed and shook his head. "I'll figure it out, I promise," he said before hopping back up onto his perch.
'What am I doing WRONG?' he thought. 'I need to think this through...'
"Remember, brother, sometimes you need to think outside the box," reminded Boroy from the pipe. "Tell me when you're finished, okay?"
"Right," Samba called unenthusedly. ''Think outside the box,' huh? Well, there's not much I CAN do outside the box,' he mused. He shook his head. 'Grah, Samba, you know what that expression means--think beyond what limits you already have.' This made him raise his eyeridges a little. 'Well, might as well...What am I most afraid of changing?' He looked at the T the power would come through. It had remained turned on its side, the third end sticking out to the left. 'What can I do? I can't turn it any other way, or else I have to make that long coil in front of the blue one go sideways. And then, how can I get to the other coil? They have to be pointing at--'
He looked up, eyeridges raised wholly. "--each other..."
There was a straight coil set to recieve the electricity for the blue bulb. He knew that. He didn't think much else, though, until now. "That's right! I fired pretty far a bit ago!" he remembered, thinking back to the shot-of-faith before. "There was a coil behind that spot the crystal switch was! I went through metal!" He looked at the straight one aligned with the blue coil, narrowing his eyes. He pointed, announcing, "Those straight coils are nothing BUT metal! All the other kinds have those clay-filled blocks in the center! The wood's got just loops like needle eyes the coil threads through on those ones, so it won't conduct down. Now, let's hope electricity running through won't be a problem..."
He set to work. He found that turning the T the electricity came through at the start once clockwise didn't work. From there, though, he quickly formed a plan and followed it. He hopped back onto his perch and fired a pebble at the switch.
The doors unlocked.
The machines turned on again.
And the conveyer belt ran at full trundle.
Samba roared in joy and jumped so high as he punched the air above, he realized he was luck not to be under the conveyer belt on the second floor nearby. This made him realize something. "Those ones aren't working..."
"Boroy! Some of the second-floor conveyers aren't working even though I solved the damn thing right!" he reported.
"Don't worry, they're supposed to be like that. Trust me, you'll WANT them to be like that," Boroy chuckled. "Alright, I think you can--wait, no, not yet. Here's whatcha do. Have Link turn on the Auto Cart you turned off by flipping a switch on its side--" Samba snout-palmed at this waste of magic. "--and then turn off the conveyers after it gets to the first beamos so that it can be guarded. Then come here. See you soon, brother!" And he was out.
Samba nodded and ran to the window the conveyer belt came from that they couldn't go through from the defense mechanisms. "Link, you're gonna be proud of me," Samba called.
Link chuckled and ran over. "I am," he answered, smiling slyly. "I found out I can sorta turn on Sync Mode without turning it on--I could see what you were doing and hear you and everything, but either you were too focused or you just didn't notice. That looked like a tricky little puzzle; I didn't think of the solution until you said the facts aloud before carrying it out. Good job!" He clapped.
Samba raised his eyeridges at the pseudo-Sync Mode, then looked happy, but a smidgen disappointed. "Thank you very much," he held a paw. He nodded and looked serious again. "Alright, then, you know what to do."
Link searched and searched, but couldn't find the switch. "Maybe it's a different kind of Auto Cart," Link shrugged helplessly.
Samba rolled his eyes. "I think Boroy's just having fun watching us squirm," he chuckled without much of a smile. He hopped onto the other side of the conveyer to get a clear shot before flipping the internal switch on the Auto Cart. As SOON as he saw the lights turn on, he was off. He ducked under the ramp conveyer and jumped onto the other one. He turned on that and followed it until he had a clear shot. He took it and fired a pebble at the switch and turned again. He breathed a sigh of relief--the metal, chest-like object whose sand shell had apparently been blown apart by the electricity-firing needles sat just coming out from the first arch-like machine. He used the switch to move it halfway onto the turning belt and stopping it again before he ran out to the window. The needles were inactive, so he went out of it since the door was barred.
"Alright, let's head over to him to see what he wants," Samba said to Link as he hopped off of the belt in Pouring.
They made their way through the foyer and the door into the conveyer room with the gorons in it. The belt there was still running, apparently separate from the device Samba had left. They rode it to the ramp and got off. Link had to Thunderforge the Pegbot again, but they got up to Boroy again. "Thanks for all the help, by the way," Samba said, smiling and waving as they got up.
Boroy shook his head, hands up. "All I'm doing is helping, brothers," he insisted.
'We noticed,' both swordsmen thought somewhat annoyedly, but not that much. They both enjoyed the challenge.
Boroy smiled at Link. "Alright, you stay here with me, okay, Link?" he asked. He gave a sympathetic look at Samba. "Samba, you're going to have to do a lot more legwork, I'm afraid," he revealed, holding the back of his head and the other hand up.
Samba sighed. "I was expecting that," he muttered.
Boroy crossed his arms, looking serious. "Alright, this is the final stretch, brothers," he announced. "You're going to have to make use of that Sync Mode now. Link, you're going to have to use the Thunderforge here, and Samba, you're going to have to handle the chest. By the way, what exactly does Volt Claw do?" he asked, tilting his head.
"It lets me handle electrified objects, use magnetism, and fire bolts of electricity like through an avert circuit," came the answer.
Boroy raised his eyebrows. "Woah. Sounds powerful." He smiled determinedly, though, putting a fist in his palm. "That just makes things easier, though! See, the kind of metal we're using for the chest reacts to magnetism. You'll be able to use that to stop it from going to the wrong places. Remember, though, you can only pull normal metal objects towards you--they're not magnetic themselves so they can't be pushed.
"Now, then, Samba, before you leave, you'll need these," he said, pulling something out of a pocket on his loincloth. He held it Samba, who took it from the big hand. It was a small, brown sack. He also received a small, grey one. Both jangled with tiny metal contents. "The brown bag you dump into the second of the two machines you activated, through a panel on the side," he explained. "That one fits special objects onto the item being worked on, particularly hinges at the moment. It should be able to detect the chest shape coming in and put the right hinges on. Put those in and it'll activate a unique set of orders and install them loosely, as well as the extras the chest needs."
Samba nodded, putting the bags in his bag. "What of the other?"
"That's the key in its parts. When you get the chance, dump it out into the chest. Remember, the brown bag goes into the machine you activated that's the second in order of the two we're using. The westernmost one," he decided to say after Samba AND Link looked a little lost. "Sorry, Brothers. Anyway, Samba, get going. Link, wait here until Samba calls. Good luck!"
So they parted again. Samba made his way back into the room and found, to his relief, the object was safe. It was interesting; four sides were fused together on top of a bottom, and on top, attatched by a thin bit of metal, was the lid. Some bits stuck out where the metal went through cracks or something, he assumed. He shrugged and went on to the machines. He remembered that the machines had colored bands on them that, incedentially, matched the lights from the avert circuit of doom. The ones he activated--blue and yellow--matched the two he saw in about the third fourth of the conveyer's path. It went through the yellow first, so he went to the left one and interacted with it.
He pulled open a panel and saw a box inside. The box had round pits in it with holes in the center. He looked in the brown sack he got and found things that resembled post ball earrings without backs. They were steel. He placed them in the machine and found they fit perfectly, so he put them all in and shut the panel. He trotted over to the pipe. "Alright, I placed the ball things in the blue-banded arch machine," he said.
"Good! Now, before you turn it on, we've got to figure out how to activate two special, hinged conveyers that are on the second floor. They're used to allow things to skip the first sorting turns. Turn them on if you can and then let Link handle the rest. You might wanna turn on Sync Mode when you're ready for Link to get going."
"Alright," Samba nodded.
"It sounds strange hearing you through these," Link commented.
"Same to you. Alright, I'm going."
Samba had an idea what he needed to do. He traveled back to the avert circuits in the wall, the first ones they'd seen in the room. He used Volt Claw on them and each one's light lit up. "I think that's good," he muttered. He hoped Link was ready and tried to activate it. It worked.
Link, meanwhile, was waiting with Sarbog. While he did, he examined the balcony he was on again, closer this time than last time. Among the consoles were five different contact circuits. Boroy stood over one in the center that seemed to be normal. Behind the railing around the ramp, in the northwestern corner of the balcony and basically above the Pegbot (on front and back) were two of the kinds in rings that were in there. There was a line design on the wall above them. The left one had a 60-degree angle on it with a dot on the vertex, which pointed left. The notches below on the outside of the ring had the same design, but one had a leg going straight down and the other had one going straight up. The inner circle's notch was lined up with the one going down. He saw that a single line with a dot on the left was on the wall above the right; this was copied down on the floor again, with one being flat while the other was angled up. This second one was the one matched up with the inner part's notch.
On the wall facing the top of the ramp was another contact circuit, as he saw before. This one's symbols on the outside ring were the same as the one on the floor in the corner, near the door, except the one on the wall had red symbols while the the other had black. One was a straight line with a dot in the middle. Another was another 60-degree angle with the dot on the vertex, but the point was up, this time. Currently, both were indicating the flat line.
Link lifted his head when he felt a pulse in his ring and a strange feeling in his head. 'Sync Mode!' He willed seeing his partner, too, and it activated. "Sword?" he asked.
"Right," Samba said, willing it to his partner.
"Thank you," Link said before turning to Boroy. "Alright, ready," he said.
"Great! You'll be using the Thunderforge on those contact circuits," he said, pointing at the ones on the eastern part of the room that he had just been looking at. "Those control the hinged conveyers. Look at your map for a moment and I'll show you what I mean."
Link opened his map, and both were surprised to see that it filled both of their fields of vision instead of just Link's. Boroy flipped it to the second floor and indicated the room Samba stood in. Link looked at it closer. There was an interesting system of conveyer belts there, most of them being in the second part of the room (the part where the turns into the compass room were).
Starting on top at the western part, Link saw a conveyer that the map said came from the first floor going south against the west wall. It turned a corner squarely (not curved like real-life conveyers; these could turn tightly in a way that the curve was almost an angle and that just going straight on them in a direction it turned was the same as a normal forwards conveyer). It went east along the south wall for a way before ending in midair, no conveyer to guide whatever was needed to the next system.
A straight conveyer like the other started along the north wall, starting a bit before the other ended. This turned right, touching the top of a platform colored yellow, oddly, and went south one space, the platform being one space big itself. (Link and Samba noticed the room could be split up into squares--spaces--whose sides were as long as a belt was across, since three belts were found side by side by side with no room between on the map. This made things a bit easier.) It was corner-touching (southeast-to-northwest) with another belt that went the same way. This belt went forwards south until it hit the interesting part.
The belt would carry whatever's on it onto a turn that went west to south, carrying it further south but never letting it get back; it was like merging onto a one-way road at a turn, basically. This carried it, from the turn, two spaces south before turning two turns left onto two spaces of north-going conveyer that had outlines around each space, making two boxes. A black triangle pointed up from the bottom of the first and pointed up at the top of the second. This met a west-going conveyer space before finding another set. This set was outlined in red. This one met another double turn, this one right, before it was carried down, then right onto the belt that separated the two boxed sections. This went on basically indefinitely, potentially, if one could get around the middle, west belt somehow, going in a figure-8.
A thick line went across the north side of the first turn after the second set of boxed belts. This must have been a barrier of sorts. Beyond it was one belt going north, then a single right turn. A belt that went down and south was following the turn, and Link remembered wondering about items falling onto it and breaking. On the southern end, the ramp came up again and turned left to go onto the conveyer out. South one space of that was, oddly, a belt going to it, too, which was fenced off on the left side, rendering it useless.
Boroy pointed at the boxed ones. "These are the hinged belts I was talking about," he said. "Take a look at the first floor again."
There, a black, dotted-line box went around the first turn into the compass room and the one above it. A space later, the red ones were there, covering the second turn.
"These are where they'll go. They are either straight and on the second floor or they're angled and bridge those turns on the first," explained Boroy. "Link, you have to use the Thunderforge as a lever to turn the dials and make them lower. We need to bridge across the turns. Then, look at these black lines here."
He indicated lines that were exactly like the ones he saw around the first set of contact switch...dials, as Boroy put it, he reexamined. They were in the places the sorting bars were on the conveyer.
"You have to turn these the other way. Use the other two dials."
Link nodded and put the map away, bringing what was in front of them back to them. Boroy faced Link and continued, "But you have to do this quickly, Brother, since they only work when the conveyer is running. I would put the hammer in the first bridging belt's place and wait for the switch to be hit by Samba, then immediately turn it. It'll be tricky, Brother, but you can do it! Just hit them all and switch them."
Link nodded and went to the circuit dial in the corner by the door. He slammed the Thunderforge into it and waited. "Your move, Samba," he said, switching leaders.
"Gotcha," Samba nodded before he scampered off. He hopped back onto his perch from the puzzle and readied a pebble. "Ready?"
"Do it."
Samba threw and switched.
Link pushed the handle like a horizontal lever as soon as the stone left the claws, and soon it gave. It clicked 60 degrees around before stopping. He pulled it out in a hurry and went to the wall one. This one he pulled the handle up around its axis in the circuit before it stopped, as well. He proceeded with this for the other two.
Meanwhile, Samba was running over to the bridges area. The bridges came down rather quickly, actually, but not slammingly fast. They just BARELY caught the chest, and the lizalfos breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he heard a mechanical groan behind him and turned to see the abacas-like set of bars and rollers move to let the conveyer's contents continue. Then, the one nearby the avert circuit puzzle swung right. It stopped, now directing traffic right. "So far, so good, Link," Samba said.
Link took out the Thunderforge and wiped his brow. "Good," he breathed. "Next?"
"Great work, Brothers. Next, Samba...can he hear me?" Link nodded. Boroy nodded. "Right. Samba, you've got to go up and onto the conveyers that aren't moving. They're on a different circuit--you can start them moving with a wall-mounted crystal switch above the yellow-banded machine, which you can walk on. But don't. Your goal is to get it out of the room safely. And don't worry, it's pretty durable." And he was silent.
As Boroy spoke, Samba watched the chest go down and up the bridges. It went around the real turn when he was finished. "Right." He saw the conveyer stop and the first machine work on it. Then the second did. When it came out, the lid was detatched and the corners were reinforced with a brass angle plate with rivets in it. It was hinged in back...and had hinges on the outsides on the corners, too, oddly, though they had no purpose. 'Must be design.' This was safely carried on. He got up on the belt and rode with it. "Oh, Link? I think I might need to be leader a bit," he said while he sat on the belt ahead of it. He got the sword. "Thanks."
He had to stand and move when the rollers didn't take too kindly to him, but he was able to rest his legs a bit, which the rings made unneeded but his mind still wanted. Link did the same (while wishing he could be on the ride, too). At last, Samba stood as the turn came and pushed them onto the stopped belt, like an escalator pushes you onto the floor again.
Samba knew that now was the time, so he turned and opened the chest. Inside, the balls had been attatched via more useless hinges to the inside corners, which had been reinforced with square poles with holes drilled in them. This also allowed some wood or more metal to reinforce the thin sides of steel. Samba got out the bag with the key and opened it. There were way more than three parts, but they were all copies. So, he assembled a key and placed it in the bottom before closing the lid. He noticed two latches on it, too, now, and he shut them to keep the key inside. He tied the strings of the sacks in loops around the halfloops to act as makeshift locks. Then, he hopped over to the next belt and then to the first machine's top.
He struck the switch and watched the conveyers come to life. Well, one--the chest moved, but the belt by him did not. He raised an eyeridge and hit the switch again. The belts switched. Again, and the same thing happened. He determined the belts switched whichever was moving with each hit. So, since he could be somewhat lazy, he decided to let the belts carry the chest instead of moving it himself. Besides, it was more fun the way he wanted to do things. Before that, though, he noticed the barrier to the way out of the loop was something pretty thick that he couldn't beat down, at least without the Thunderforge. He could vault it, though. Also, ahead, between the south- and north-going belts were walls like it, as well as directly left of him, preventing him from avoiding the looping system. He thought for a moment since the chest was still. 'I'll have to pull that around, since there's a space to the side of that one, but...hmmm...Heeeey...'
He waited at the end of the non-moving belt while the chest was carried towards the end. Then he held both paws up and grabbed it magnetically. It went straight towards him, and he had to sidestep and switch to one paw to halve the speed, drawing it halfway onto the belt before stopping and activating the top belt.
He then jumped south to the normally moving belt and walked, keeping place. He pulled the chest from the corner when it came and then switched leaders.
Link got the hint and ran to raise the bridges again, but only did the first. Samba rode with the chest as it went, so he waited until they were on the first bridge before lowering it again. Then, he waited for them to get onto the second before raising it. "Hope you got a plan," he said, switching.
"I do," Samba nodded, hopping around to the other side of the barrier. He pulled the chest up and kept pulling with his Volt Claw, which actually made his arms move to it when it was still caught behind the fence. However, when it started to go off after he was dropped to the ramp, he stopped it and backtracked a bit.
"What the...?" Link muttered.
'I hope I didn't just make a massive fool of myself,' Samba gulped. He ran forwards when the chest was above the belt he was on now and held his Volt Claw up. He grinned when his arms snapped to place, then raise above his head. Link saw the chest drag up and then center over where he suspected Samba was. Samba let the spell go until he saw the turn about to come. Then he used it again, arms holding up, and kept them up. The chest continued off the turn and off the edge, falling right on top of Samba's waiting paws. "Ta-daaaah!" he sang, releasing the spell but not the chest, and Link facepalmed, shaking his head. Samba grinned proudly as he held it above him, going up the ramp. He set it down in front of him after turning.
"You are a silly lizard, you know that?" Link chuckled.
"Hey, helps," Samba shrugged.
"Is he finished there?" Boroy asked. Link nodded. "Wonderful! We're ALMOST done, brothers! Quick, the map again, and just look at the room you're in, Link. And Samba, don't worry, there're no electric traps."
Link brought it up and quickly took in the room. Instead of snaking exactly around like on the first floor, the conveyer belt snaked around in a different way. It came east from the foyer a ways before turning right, left, and going forwards and down...which spit it onto a conveyer on the first floor that was meant to join the bottom one but now was blocked by some debris wedged between the belts, rendering it a dead end. Beyond this was another two lefts and a right turn. A bit forwards, then right-left to forwards again. It went on until it was up against the balcony, turning right, a space forwards, and right again. It went south until it met a ramp that went down west. The first floor had a right turn, a space forwards, and an unblocked right turn onto the main track, which would take it to the next room.
"See that first ramp?" pointed Boroy. "You can raise and lower that, don't worry. I'm standing above the proper contact circuit. Just hit it and we're homefree of the conveyers!"
So Link gladly Thunderforged it once Boroy got out of the way.
At this time, Samba came in. He rode along with the chest in front and saw the ramp was up. He smiled and kept riding along, actually sitting and leaning back against the chest while he whipped out his guitar and strummed a bit. He waved when he passed the balcony. "Well, hello, again!" he greeted.
"Boroy, get the belt ready!" called a deep goron voice below. Samba turned his head and saw an elevator rising.
"Right," Boroy called back. He kept his hand over the button, then pressed it as the chest went a few feet down the last straight stretch of belt on that floor. The belts stopped.
Samba realized they both didn't need Sync Mode any longer and he should move. So, they ended it and he hopped down, soon rejoining Link (after Link hammered the Pegbot again). Together, they watched the goron on the now-raised elevator work on the chest. He opened it and took his blowtorch to the corners inside, then held up the key's parts, welding them together. Finally, he lifted his face shield and gave a thumbs up to Boroy. Boroy thumbs upped back and hit the button. "It'll be fine, don't worry," he assured them. "The fall it's gonna take isn't bad, and the belts are grippy enough. Just go and join it as it goes into the final room, Brothers! You're on your own in there!"
"Thanks! We'll see you before we get to the final room!" Link said, turning and starting down the ramp (he was leader now). Samba waved and followed.
At long last, after seven minutes total of belt-riding, they hopped on either side of the chest as it got into the last room.
- - -
AUTHOR'S NOTES -- OPTIONAL READING
Wanna see Link's conductor contact circuit puzzle in the middle of 1F Pouring? ferretrip(dot)deviantart(dot)com(slash)art(slash)Clamor-Plant-Link-s-Puzzle-132384368
Samba's avert circuit puzzle of doom & the track for the buckets in 2F Pouring: ferretrip(dot)deviantart(dot)com(slash)art(slash)Avert-Circuit-Puzzle-Buckets-132386828
AL! MOST! DONE! ONE! MORE! CHAPTER! I swear! Don't worry, though, it won't go farther. I REFUSE to exceed my terrible record of six chapters in a part that I set with Puzzle of Truth...I'm regretting doing entire dungeons now, aren't you? n_n;
I'll leave it to you to figure out the solution to Samba's puzzle ;) I hope I made it clear enough...ff(dot)net is rather finicky.
I SO wanted this effing sequence to be in one twenty-page part, but this is page 22 already. At least we got through the boring conveyers. I don't like the way I'm writing Boroy here...Ugh. Oh, well. Not gonna bother changing it, now. XP
Anywho, we're almost to the boss! Don't bash me for the puzzles, by the way--I worked very hard on them, though I only today figured the solutions (like Samba's chest-catching; he coulda just pulled it with at first, anyway, though, but I wanted him to play a bit). Samba's coil puzzle was a BEEYOTCH to do, by the way. A BEEYOTCH. Thank God I have a Physics prof for a dad, though 8D
Ummm...Okay, this one's sad. Liberties taken:
- Sync Mode, which was really made for single-player, forces the non-played character to stay put. I'm pretending there're two people playing, though. Yes, I'm taking liberties on my own rules. XP
This last new room coming is (practically) IT for the evilest puzzle in Zelda history! Yes, this whole process is a puzzle. It was a BAD idea to have so much dungeon beforehand, but it's a foundry and needed to have those rooms. And we needed to do something in those rooms. Besides, isn't it kinda cool? They're making something at a factory on their own! But, then, that's one of those things that sounds GREAT on paper...I know this is long and boring, I promise no other dungeon will be so uninteresting and torturous. Well...unless I carry out my plan to...nevermind.
Again, ONE MORE, folks! Then that's it until I write again sometime during college (I -WILL- find time!)! Anyway, on to the next one!