3024/Restoring Majora's Mask at Death Mountain

Restoring Majora's Mask at Death Mountain
Date of Scene:	14 September 2015
Location:	The Hylian Mainland <LoZ-5>
Synopsis:	Majora's Mask is brought to Death Mountain to recharge.
Cast of Characters:	Sarracenia, 701, Sanary Rondel, 804, 864
Tinyplot:	Clearing the Twilight

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Agahnim (864) has posed:
     Death Mountain. Majora's Mask has guided the Confederacy here, via a series of visions. This tall mountain can be seen from most places within Hyrule, towering above from whereever you go. A long series of mountain paths are the main way up it, but it is easy enough to take some other means of transportation.

     The goal itself is rather simple: Reach the center of this shrine, and then corrupt it. Majora's Mask must be brought along for this purpose. Its power is, currently, subdued. But, it has been decided that MORDRED is the best one to carry the mask with him inside the temple.

     The temple itself is set into the mountain, large stone columns lining the massive square doorway. A giant pair of stone doors are held close, with a large metal latch and key upon it. Of note, the door looks somewhat ancient. And, sitting near it are strange flowers with round black objects inside. ...Objects that look far too close to bombs.

Project MORDRED (804) has posed:
MORDRED's Armour is still undergoing repairs from Din's Fire, and so he's on foot, a regular sword strapped to his hip and some chainmail to serve as lowercase A armour. He has a shield strapped onto his right arm, and holds the mask in the hand of that arm. His face is entirely emotionless, and his movements precise, not a single effort wasted. His mind is elsewhere, he's letting his automatic procedures control his body for the time being.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Another day, another mission in Hyrule. Death Mountain, oddly named as it was, didn't seem all that bad to Sanary on the way up. A little desolate, sure, but...

     ... Okay, so Death Mountain kinda sucked a lot. But hopefully, she wouldn't have to be here for too long. Just get in, corrupt the mask, get out. She's brought some lighter armor along today, consisting of the fuzzy Lagombi set that does help quite a bit by being much lighter and maneuverable than her usual fare.

     Keeping MORDRED's armor repairs in mind, she's keeping her shield up and ready just in case she needs to use it at a moment's notice. "Holding up alright over there? Shouldn't be too painful today, but..." She leaves her thought at that without elaborating further, a cautious glance tossed behind her just in case.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia isn't sure she should be coming along on this mission, but she is still hoping the mask will help with her dream of finding a hero. And, having Sanary around helps ease her discomfort with coming along to corrupt a temple. After all, princesses are not supposed to do evil things like that!

     She has been following along at the back of the group, her hammer held at the ready to smash falling flaming rocks or giant spiders or the like. She is also a bit annoyed that MORDRED was chosen to carry the mask. She was the one who liberated it from that mask salesman! Without her, they wouldn't even have a mask! As they enter the temple, she sees those flowers and blinks a few times. "Oh my! What lovely flowers!" she says, approaching them but not actually touching them. One should never touch a bomb one has not set up oneself.

Circe (701) has posed:
    Caster is not particularly familiar with demons or demonic energy. Not her field of expertise. Healing, transmutation of living organisms, alchemy, weaving of enchanted garments... These are things she is experienced with. But at the moment, the biggest contribution she can proviede is that first one, so she is here, prepared to enhance and heal those she is travelling with to the shrine. So she is dematerialized and floating along invisible and intangibly, only her voice and her highly noticeable mystical presence there to indicate she is still with the group. With Sanary here to also provide healing, Circe isn't sure if she'll be needed for that... But as was shown just recently, two healers are better than one, incase the other healer gets too injured to heal herself!

    The bomb-like flowers are concerning, of course. Though the fact there's a lock but no key leads one to make certain assumptions. Just as Sarracenia notices the flowers, Caster likewise considers them. She's not terribly familiar with explosives EITHER, but the knowledge provided by the Grail at least gives her the basics. "The gate, while decrepit-looking, acts as a barrier to further progress. There appear to be explosives laying about, waiting to be used. Logic suggests that they be used to open the gate. The logic also warns that the fact no one else has done so before us may have cause." the slightly echoing, disembodied voice of Caster offers.

    "Thus, I shall make the attempt to blast open the gate, if no one here has a key or lock-picking skills to offer. But I recommend caution in the event this does not go as expected." Then the Servant materializes near one of the bomb flowers, and attempts to pick one up in order to then use it upon the huge stone gates. Better to use the materials available, even if utilizing her magecraft would be far more fulfilling for her ego.

    Hopefully this plan doesn't blow up in her face.

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     The very moment the bomb flower is picked up, it starts to pulse and surge. It flashes red, growing and buling over and over again. A fuse seems to have activated on top, a fuse made of a little plant vine. It is, almost certainly, going to explode in seconds.

     At least, Caster has a chance of getting out of the way just in time. But, when the bomb does go off, against the stone facade of the door? The door breaks into pieces, collapsing on the ground in a pile of dust. The keyhole lock is on the ground, in a pile of rubble. And, the door beyond is now visible.

     The first room is, in fact, a bit unexpected most likely. A stone tile room at first, but it turns into a giant cave. The cave's ceiling is several stories high. The floor of the cave has molten lava flowing freely around. That is, almost certainly, not going to be something people want to touch.

     A number of stone platforms lead across from this area, to another door straight ahead. Looking up, it seems as if this shrine is built with a vertical floorplan. A particularly large door can be seen high up above, set into the wall. It is, most likely, the goal.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Circe certainly has a point. Old-looking gates and bomb-like plants? That's certainly not a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen. "Still, we gotta get inside. Unless someone can actually crack that lock or whip up a portal past the door... Might just have to blow it up." Sanary cranes her neck slowly as she approaches those bomb plants, her shield raised just in case those bombs spontaneously decide to explode in her face.

     "Not that it wouldn't be fun blowing 'em all up at once. But... Screw it, more fun this way." She glances over at Sarracenia and laughs lightly before motioning at her to step back and doing so herself. "All yours, Circe. Just be-"

     And then the bomb starts pulsing. That's all the warning Sanary needs to rush over to Sarracenia, hoist her up at the waist, and haul ass away from the door! Sure, the explosion was a little less dramatic than she had expected, but better safe than sorry. ".. Yep. Definitely gotta be careful about touching anything in here."

     After setting the princess back down, Sanary heads on in with her shield and charge blade at the ready! "It's like the opposite of yesterday... Hm. MORDRED, we'll take point?" She eyes the lava cautiously and is very careful to put as much distance between herself and that lava while moving along. Spotting that door above them, she glances at her ankles for a moment before turning to the others. "I could try and fly up there, but it could be a problem if we get separated."

Project MORDRED (804) has posed:
MORDRED draws his blade, on foot he's still of above average height, but nothing like his Armour. "Now I wish I had rushed my repairs, the thrusters would really have simplified this matter." He turns towards Sarracenia and bows. "Cousin" In the sense of 'fellow royal', not in the sense of claiming any kinship, "Can your explosions be used for quarrying rock rapidly? I would rather build an impromptu stair than deal with whatever trickery those who designed this place want us to deal with."

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia blinks as Circe just grabs one of them. "Hey! You can't just-!" Then Sarracenia herself is grabbed and hauled away by the relatively small Sanary. The princess seems a bit embarrassed, but thanks Sanary all the same. "Ah...thank you Sanary. Although, I am sure I could have handled it." she says, dusting her dress off a bit after the explosion.

     She also blinks in confusion at MORDRED. Cousin? But, it seems respectful, so she nods in return. "I could, but as an explosives enthusiast, I must say it seems like a bad idea to haphazardly use them in a setting such as this. One wrong bomb and the entire cavern could collapse, throwing us into the very unpleasant lava." she says as she steps toward the edge of the platform they have bombed their way onto. She smirks lightly, then points at the other platforms. "This sort of thing is a piece of cake for those from my world." she says, then holds her hammer firmly and leaps to the next platform rather gracefully.

Circe (701) has posed:
    Color Caster alarmed! The purple-dressed red-head finds a hissing bomb in her grasp once she picks it up, and hurriedly dashes over to the gates to set it down perhaps less-than-carefully. But with the physical abilities of a Servant, even one such as her is more precise than the vast majority of normal human beings. And far faster as well, as evidenced by her getting out in time and back to where everyone else is. While the explosion is enough to crumble the doors, it is not quite big enough to justify the distance she retreated to, making her somewhat annoyed with herself out of embarrasment, but soon enough she is floating through the crumbled entrance and looking around.

    The sight of lava is displeasing given her history with the stuff. Bypassing the dungeon layout IS tempting... She could even offer to turn those who can not fly into birds to aid in travel. But that is costly in terms of mana and better saved for the future. And being separated is indeed a danger. So Caster ofers something else. "I have potions which can temporarily enhance physical abilities. Those who can not easily make the jumps may partake of such. The platforms themselves may be trapped, but attempting to ignore the intentions of the shrine's builders may yield unfavorable results."

    So saying, she withdraws a few potions from a Bounded Field set in a properly prepared garment, and offers them. She too could simply fly up there... But after saying what she just said to the others, and meaning it, it is probably better to do the jumping as well.

    Which she does, after any potion distribution takes place.

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     With the jumping and the potions, the party is able to get across the room. A door lies on the other side, though it is unlocked.

     In the room beyond it, there are a series of large man-sized blocks up upon a nine by nine set of tiles. They are all near the party as they enter the door. There is nothing blocking the path around them, allowing people to see grooves on the other side that these blocks must be pushed into. To the right, there is a little slope leading up. The path ends near the slots in the floor. To the left, a raised cliff.

     The puzzle is almost certainly obvious. Make a path. It's almost /insultingly/ obvious.

     But, on the wall on the back of the room, there is writing. It's rather simple, and done up in the Hylian script, but it reads as follows:

     'The Shrine of the Gorons is our Holy Place. It is said that from the Gorons raised from the Holy Spot within the Shrine, crawling out of the stone. Consider our humble origins, as you push these blocks.'

     ...Seemingly, it's meant as some kind of meditation.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     "Probably. Just didn't want you getting hurt, is all." Sanary laughs lightly and glances between Sarracenia and Mordred a few times. "Also, I didn't know you two were related. Must be nice." She chuckles after a moment, then eyes the distance between the platforms once Sarracenia jumps across.

     Everything in her mind is telling her to cheat. The AANS would make almost any sort of jump negligible, Forneus could probably ferry a person or two up, and the healer's not as confident in her jumping ability with all this gear on. Still, she's not about to let herself get shown up here!

     And so, Sanary just breaks into a sudden run at that platform, jumping at the last moment and actually making it across safely! Her landing isn't so graceful, though, as she just falls on her shield with a loud clattering noise. She does scramble back onto her feet moments later, at least! "... Easy enough."

     Once they're in that room with the blocks, Sanary needs a moment to figure out just what she's looking at. "Is this like the one from last time..? Hm. Looks easy enough, at least." And so, the healer works on getting one of those giant blocks into position! It's busy work, to be sure, but someone's gotta do it.

     Obviously, she isn't meditating at all on that.

Project MORDRED (804) has posed:
"We're not related, miss Rondel, at least, not by blood." MORDRED clarifies after taking the potion, then jumping platform to platform to get to the next section, once there, he clarifies. "Sarracenia is a princess, my father is a high king, thus we are both royalty. It's customary where am from for royalty, in absence of blood ties, to refer to one another as cousins, to emphasize that we are equals." The implied, though possibly not even consciously considered, part of that is of course that non-royals are not their equals.

The Once and Future Traitor Prince looks at the puzzle, if it can be called that, and takes a moment to consider this. "Wait." He says sharply, "These Gorons crawled out of the stone, then why are we pushing things into the stone? Are these blocks not stone themselves? He sounds like he doesn't trust this one bit.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Princess Sarracenia nods in understanding as MORDRED explains. "A noble custom." she says before she regards the stones. "Would you all mind moving these stones? A princess such as myself could never do such menial labor." She also doesn't think about how it implies others are lesser.

     MORDRED's question makes sense. "Hmm...but, what else should we do with thse stones?" She asks before she walks around and takes that path leading up to get a better view of the room. She looks for any other clues that they should do something else, or some sort of area to place the stones other than the obvious grooves.

Circe (701) has posed:
    Caster can not read Hylian, but while she may not be inclined to meditate, she is inclined to consider whether this might be a clue of some kind. Perhaps a caution. Given who she is, and her respect for the gods (or at least the ones she recognizes), not offending deities by desecrating their holy places is something she is keen on. When Mordred translates the text for them, she says, "If we are to make a path, I recommend we do so in the manner that is indicated for us. If this is a challenge to prove our worth, bypassing it may cause ill-favor for us further down the line. Especially in a place that is revered as holy. I also would caution to keep in mind the words we are given. Perhaps the warning is for our safety. Perhaps it is to encourage us to learn something from this experience. I do not know. I do not even know what a 'Goron' is. But though I loathe being commanded and controlled, in this instance, it may be safer to do as expected of us."

    The redhead shrugs. "Maybe there is a symbolic meaning to placing the blocks that is apparent only to Gorons. It matters little, as long as we complete out objective here without endangering ourselves unnecessarily." She looks up as Sarracenia takes the place to get a better view. "Perhaps you can coordinate us to move the blocks appropriately, Princess~." Circe offers with a lilt. With the body she has, she has the strength to move even heavy burdens. Though MORDRED and Sanary seem to be just as strong.

    Once she has direction, she will move to do as Sanary is already doing as well.

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     The blocks are lined up into place. And... Nothing happens. They're stuck in the rivets now, is all. It's an easy path to get up, and an easy path to move along. A few simple hops and jumps to get across the stone path.

     The door forward is unlocked, thankfully. It brings them back into the room they were in before, but at a higher level. At least, there is no more jumping through here, instead a simple swinging wooden bridge that looks ancient and old. Thankfully, it will hold everyone's weight, unless something stupid is done. Such as cutting the strings of the bridge.

     And... In the room beyond that, across? Another block puzzle. A ladder is before the group, with a square rivet beneath it. A single block is nearby, not in a straight line to it. It'll have to be pushed a bit forward, and a bit to the right, in order to get it in there.

     More Hylian Text is on the wall. It reads as follows:

     'Consider the Block. The Block is a Block. It is on a set path forward. We will all reach that path forward eventually.'

     The dawning realization might hit a few people that this entire dungeon is block pushing puzzles.

Project MORDRED (804) has posed:
After helping move the stones, with a polite, "Of course, cousin." MORDRED is ready to move on, only to spot the next line of text and groan lightly, "Thank you for your keen insights." MORDRED says aloud while looking at the Text, "I won't even bother translating this, it's nonsense failing to sound insightful." He heads to push the block into place without delay, just to get it over with.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     "I see... Huh. Makes sense." If Sanary notices that implied difference, she doesn't show it. Is it because she didn't get it? Or perhaps that she's already accepted it? Whatever the case may be, she's hard at work moving the stone! "It can't be /that/ trapped, could it? I mean... It's a temple. Aren't temples supposed to have people in them normally, anyway?"

     Hylians must have a very warped idea of the word temple. Bombs just to get inside, block pushing routines just to open some doors... So many different types of people, yet all with that same weird logic behind their architecture.

     Well, at least they're done with that block puzzle. Better yet, they've made progress to a higher level without any sort of jumping requirement! Assuming nobody and nothing stops her, she'll move right on to the next room to discover... Another block 'puzzle'!

     "This... Um. Wow. Starting to think there might be a pattern here." She moves ahead to check out the potential pushing location for the next rivet, then doubles back to stand guard while MORDRED works on pushing that next block. "Or a fetish... Ech."

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia doesn't have to do much in the way of guiding, though she is happy to offer more than enough direction for the others. When they reach the next room and there is just a single block and a single spot. she rolls her eyes lightly. "Perhaps the Gorons are not a very imaginative people." she says before blinking at Sanary. "A...rock fetish?" she says, seeming rather confused and a bit weirded out by the idea. Then, she smirks. "I must not know you as well as I thought, if you would suggest such a thing, Sanary." she says teasingly, arms crossed over her chest.

     She looks around the room as MORDRED pushes the block. "Perhaps these people are some sort of naturalist monks. The building seems to simply make use of natural formations with very little effort made to create regal surroundings."

Circe (701) has posed:
    Circe is beginning to regret placing so much faith in these Gorons. But... Still. "Traps might only be triggered by those who do not respect the rules of this place. To weed out the unfaithful. Supernatural traps or divine influence can strike down those who offend them without an obvious mechanical mechanism to do it." But doubt is somewhere in her voice as well. Maybe it really is just block puzzles.

    Thankfully they are making progress. She will help out however she can, but she is nooooot quite revering this temple right now.

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     The ladder leads a long ways up. Atop, it leads to a hallway. It spirals around a bit, leading to another vast room. And, yet another block puzzle. This one, though, is actually a bit more bizarre. There is but a single block in this room as well. But, it is on a see-saw like device. It weighs down on the left side of the seesaw, the right side pointing up. There is a hole in the ceiling in this room as well, directly above the seesaw. If one looks closely, a hint of the door moving further can be seen in this room.

     Also present in this room? A large number of paintings of the Gorons themselves. They look humanoid, but only vaguely. Brown skin, white hair, and rocks growing out of them. Each Goron drawn is currently dancing.

     The text in this room reads as follows: 'Dance up and down, as we have always done'.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     "Eh...? W-wait, I'm not into that sort of stuff! I was just saying the Gorons might because of the..." Sanary trails off, refusing to dig herself into a bigger hole than she needs to. She just goes on over and gives the princess a playful shove on the arm instead before continuing onwards. Luckily for her, the armor consists of actual pants! And if nobody objects, she'd even climb up last to take up the rear guard just in case.

     Thankfully, Circe's given her something other than Goron fetishes to think about. "Yeah... Kinda sucks, but jumping through the hoops is our safest option here." Spotting that seesaw device with the block on the other end, she doesn't quite get the message as she peers at the paintings. "So... Are we supposed to jump around or something, then?"

     Just in case, Sanary does indeed start jumping! Not on the seesaw or anything, though. That'd just be silly and dangerous.

Sarracenia has posed:
     The princess giggles at the little shove, then follows the others up. She is more than happy to have Sanary act as her guard. She is wearing a dress, after all. Once at the top, Sarracenia looks around, then after MORDRED translates she moves toward the see-saw. "Well, a see-saw such as this is easy to manipulate. So, I suspect we are supposed to jump around, but only in a certain area."

     The princess hops up onto the see-saw, then climbs her way to the other end. Hammer in hand, she jumps on the right side of the see-saw, expecting it to slowly lower with that large stone on the other side.

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     It's only due to the extra weight of the hammer that Sarracenia's plan works. The Goron are large people, and this puzzle is meant for /them/. But, jumping on one side of the see-saw will push it down, causing the block to shift to it. Jumping back to the other side will do similar. Each time the see saw moves up and down? It'll slowly on a polle, up to the top of the room. Sarracenia can, in fact, get up fairly easily in this method.

     ...Now it's just a matter of getting the others up there as well.

Project MORDRED (804) has posed:
At this stage, MORDRED just folds his arms and refuses to do anything to interact with the silliness. Once the pole is up he simply grabs a pieces of rope, wraps it around the pole and starts climbing, tightening the rope firmly when he moves his legs, then when his legs have a firm grip loosening the rope to move it up. It's an old way of climbing these things, but it ought to work unless the pole is exceptionally smooth.

Circe (701) has posed:
    Caster is still along the for the ride, though increasingly disappointed in this temple. For the time being, she is allowing others to figure out the puzzles and will not aid unless called upon to do so or it becoming necessary (such as an emergency or because she can't move forward without cheating otherwise). No matter what she may think of the puzzles, she at least respects the possibility of danger. So she does not intend to bypass them.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary just feels silly after watching Sarracenia jump where it's actually necessary. She can still snicker at the princess, at least. "Looking good! Okay... Now how the hell do we-"

     Right. The AANS. The healer directs some magical energy into the anklets that have all but become permanent placements on her ankles, taking a few moments to orient herself before floating upwards! She's getting better at controlling the things than she was weeks ago, but it's still a little tricky getting up as high as she needs to be without rocketing straight into the ceiling.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia looks pretty proud of herself when she reaches the top of the room. Trusting that the others have a way to get up, she hops up through the hole and moves toward the door, then pushes it open. "I am starting to think that there is little to no danger here at all." she says as she rests her hammer on her shoulder and pushes through the door.

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     The climbing, the jumping, and the even the floating all work. There is, in fact, seemingly no trap to prevent cheating. This place, after all, isn't what one would call a dungeon. No. This is a temple. Each section is meant as meditation. Easy challenges, that even the youth of the culture can go through. A method to clear the minds.

     But, once up above? They are on the final leg of the journey. A stone bridge leads across the lava-room once again, towards the massive doors visible from earlier. These large stone doors don't even need to be pushed open. Instead, they just magically open as the party gets close.

     And here is the main room of the temple itself. A large number of altars to various deities are spread throughout. Most of them seem to be minor deities. Spirits of the mountains. Gods of specific paths, rivers, caves, or similar. One is even apparently dedicated to the God of Large Stone Blocks. That... that might explain a bit.

     In the center of the room, there is a large square altar. Upon it, there is a carving of three golden triangles.

     The mask that MORDRED has? It is /calling/ for him to put it on the pedestal.

Project MORDRED (804) has posed:
Considering that he's here to do a job, and that the job seems to be abundantly obvious, MORDRED goes with his gut feeling of 'if this is the mistake I think it is, at least it's a mistake I can blame on following orders.' As such, he places it on the pedestal without much hesitation. "That ought to do it."

Agahnim (864) has posed:
     There is a sudden shift in the room. A sudden cry of pain from throughout the shrine. Certain things are not seen immediately. All anyone here can see at first is wave after wave of dark energy flying through the air, pushing into the mask. It leaks out of the wall, floor, and ceiling. This black energy is draining the life from the land itself. And, despite its name? Death Mountain does, in fact, have a lot of life to it. Outside in the center room of the shrine, the lava is rapidly cooling into stone. Similar is happening throughout the mountain. And the air across all of Death Mountain is becoming /incredibly/ cold.

     There is ap ulse of power from the mask. It has been revived, if just a bit.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia is still not sure the mask is evil. After all, it promised her adoration and love would come her way! But, despite that, she feels apprehension as MORDRED approaches the pedastel. The salesman swore the mask was evil, and if so they are about to possibly spoil a potentially sacred space.

     Then, the mask is placed down, and...well, it appears to Sarracenia as if it actually cleanses the area. Dark energy being drawn in? Lava cooling? A nasty, way to hot mountain being cooled down? Seems nice to her!

     Until it starts getting -really- cold. She starts shivering as the cold settles in. "W-well...that was not so bad." she says, even as she digs in her purse for a fire flower.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     That certainly seems to be the opposite of evil, although such a drastic change in environment might not be quite as good as it seems. If nothing else, at least Sanary's got her cold-weather armor on! She even moves over to Sarracenia and opens up the front of her jacket, then tries to partially close it around the princess. Double warmth!

     "That was pretty painless all around... Hmm. How's the mask feeling now?"

Project MORDRED (804) has posed:
"It's got more energy to it." MORDRED seems far less convinced this was the opposite of evil, though perhaps living on Mercury alters your perception of reasonable and sane environments, "I think we just killed this mountain, I wonder how far this will ripple and how many people will be hurt by its loss." He sounds... uncertain, concerned, but then he forcibly shakes his head and says hardly, "Irrelevant, we have achieved our objective. Let's go."