Link and Riju get rid of a sand shroud. Penn gets in deep into investigating rumors with Epona's help.
The lightning temple should have been a walk in the park except that Link had used up all his Zonai supplies on the city-wide sprinkler system. Link wanted to kick himself at the moment, but was occupied with kicking the Gibdo that had latched on to his ankle. Riju refrained from simply electrocuting the both of them and trusting Link's ridiculous rate of survival to save the man. Link irritably juiced a fruit on top of the demon's scalp without checking which fruit he'd grabbed.
"Um, Link? Did you mean to use that wildberry?"
Link shrugged as the berry pulp dripped all over the monster and his hands. "No? It's liquid?" There was an effect on the monster like a splash, but not enough for Link's liking.
The Gibdo somehow sounded disappointed as it clawed at Link's knee. Link wrenched free and finished it off with a proper splash fruit juicing before wiping his hands on the wall. He realized mid-swipe on the wall that there were two problems with this:
First was that the wildberry juice looked remarkably like a bloodstain. Second, Riju was glaring at him.
Riju had the same disappointed arm fold that Link assumed leadership figures all naturally picked up. He'd seen it on Zelda, Teba, and Urbosa. "Link," said Riju, "Could you treat the ancient sacred temple with a mite more respect?"
"...Yes ma'am." Link thought, Gorons probably wouldn't care about the decorum as much. It then occurred to him to check what other fruit juices could do to Gibdos.
By the time the pair of heroes reached queen Gibdos, Link's arms were glowing as if he had activated Ultrahand abilities or dunked himself in glowstick fluid. Riju maintained her opinion that was a waste of perfectly good Dazzlefruit right up until the fight got underway. Link found Gibdos avoiding his hands like they were mummified germaphobes.
Queen Gibdos did not appreciate the regicide.
No one missed the sand shroud in town, except Buster. Link waved goodbye to Riju then frowned at his map. "I'm thinking we check out a Glyph as we gather some supplies, Rauru." Too bad Riju didn't let him dismantle some of those lightning activated mechanisms in the temple. The perfect lightning rods were right there for the taking.
"Glyph then supplies?" Rauru asked. "You sleep, then get glyph and supplies. Translate 'glyph' please?"
Link tapped the Purah pad to activate the function while he considered the advice. Sleep did sound good, but it was only a matter of time before too many people started asking questions about the missing sand seal plushies. Link had to get to Tarrey, and preferably without passerby in the town square to ask what he was breaking down. Nightfall would be ideal. Link did some mental math. Between the sky tower and his remaining stabilizers, he felt he might make it through the to-do list of the night. Sky tower jump from Lookout Landing, chop down some logs or use planks to fling himself in that direction a few times. He could get to a glyph and the small business tonight.
Link also felt like he was forgetting something. Rauru fixed the feeling. "Link, is man, words, there?" Rauru said something to the translator then said what he meant to say. "Is that man supposed to be on that roof?"
"Oh, right, Bozai." Link thought about it. Sure he could do something crazy about the man. But, this was a town with laws, and the women who would have the ultimate say in dealing with intruders. Link simply tapped the shoulder of a guard, pointed, then teleported off.
Penn peered out at the Fural Plain with no small amount of apprehension. Sure it was silly to be afraid of a potential unconfirmed ghost and Penn was not afraid! Never. Not even as night was falling on Hyrule. He wished he had someone to help him explore. As if Malanya had heard him from celestial pastures, Penn caught sight of a familiar brown muzzle.
"Hey there, Epona! Good to see you, Miss Horse. Wish you could talk. Is your owner around?" Penn's quick scan of the stable revealed no newcomer. "Are you looking for your owner, Link? I'd love to interview him too. It's amazing how you have traveled all this distance without wings. I headed this way after hearing some rumors. Some folks have heard a voice near here that sounds like Princess Zelda. I heard the chirps and warbles from my little birds, but something is fishy."
Epona nodded amicably at the Rito. She listened patiently as Penn confessed his current woes. "For starters, the strange voice is crowing from Fural Plain, night after night after night. Leave the rms, leave the..rms. At least, that's what I heard. I didn't get too close." The Rito muttered. "Got outta there fast. Felt like a curse blowing through on the wind. No, sir. Not going to think about it. Anyway all the travelers who heard the voice have gotten spooked by it! They've been throwing their weapons down the well and- Oh, wait. I'm talking to myself. Where are you off to, Epona?" It was somehow different without the listening ear of a horse. Eventually she came back as Penn was working up his courage.
"I should leave at night since that's when the voice is haunting travelers but, er, oh I'm going to get cursed. Only heard at night..." He nodded to the returned horse, then tried to convince himself to start flapping his wings. "Pretty great night. Around the time the eerie voice has been heard on the Fural Plain... Only way to find out is to check this for myself. I can do this!" Penn made the executive decision to walk to save his wing muscles energy in case he needed a quick getaway. Epona followed and never had Penn been so grateful for a horse. He owed Malanya fried greens or something.
"Leave the...," sang the eerie voice
The moment Penn heard the strain of that whisper from the well, Penn halted. It was so sudden that Epona bumped into him. "Nope. No, not doing that alone."
Epona moved quicker than Penn.
Penn quickly concluded that a demon of the well just latched its teeth on to his shirt collar and screamed accordingly, "AAAAAAHH! DEMON! HELP! LET GOLETGOLETGOAAAAAAAHYLIAHAVEMERCYAAAA!"
Epona paid the screaming no mind, but continued to drag the panicked screaming reporter backwards towards the well where he was now convinced a possessed horse was going to send him to his final rest. "HORSE! DEMON! DEMON HORSE GOT ME HELP!" Penn was no longer grateful for the horse.
Epona gave one last heave over the well's side. The screeching mass of feathers went in underground.
The voice from the well stopped singing in favor of saying "...Huh? What?!" before a large white mass of noise and feathers falling from the ceiling startled her into saying "AAAAAAHHH" Penn landed ungracefully in front of Sagessa.
Epona listened to the reporter and singer stop screaming and start to chat. That was settled, then. She trotted away to see if there was a way to catch fireflies without the use of thumbs.
My gosh I never expected to be compared to Terry Pratchett! This is high praise even though I was just reminding someone of the kangaroo character and not the quality humor writing. It's been a long time since I last read "The Last Continent." Chapter title pun is probably one of my bigger stretches.
Poor Penn isn't quite as much of a scaredy cat as Rincewind, but I've been waiting to torment him with this chapter for quite a while now and got impatient about waiting. The lightning temple was a lot of fun for me! Sign me up for exploring the trapped pyramid levels any day.