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dnddiary · 2 years

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Puzzles: 2nd Edition

I have been trying to write this post for three weeks. Just haven't had time between work and school 😭.

But now that I have more than six seconds to string together here’s my second attempt at a puzzle post.

All three of these puzzles are spins on the "locked door" scenario that you can set up instead of the standard "need key...find key" equation.

Puzzle 1: Hidden Ooze

You know what everyone loves? Gelatinous Cubes. You know what everyone hates? Six Gelatinous Cubes at once.

Okay, so I'm being over-dramatic. We're going to make some modifications to the creature stat block to make this more of a puzzle encounter than a combat encounter, but there is an element of danger to it.

The Set-up: The adventuring party enters a large chamber made of stone. At the far side of the room is a large, ornately carved, circular slab. It looks as though it can swing inward, but does not respond no matter how hard it is pushed.

There are no sconces, torches, or lamps in the room. Sun light streams through a hole in the ceiling, which is surrounded by what looks like an enlarged stone iris. The walls are bare except for a large lever on the right wall.

In the center of the room are six stone cubes the size of a Small creature.

The Puzzle: As your party explores the room they find that the door won't open no matter what they do and a DC 10 Investigation check reveals that three sections of carvings, each a perfect circle, in the door are missing. The six cubes have no special properties and are just six cubes of solid stone. Pushing, pulling, or lifting one requires a DC 20 Strength check.

Most adventuring parties would explore the room first BEFORE pulling the lever, but when they do the stone iris in the ceiling closes (taking six seconds to completely close) plunging the room into darkness.

Now is a good time to review the rules of dark vision. While many DMs play as though dark vision provides normal sight in darkness RAW states dark vision allows characters to treat non-magical darkness as dim light. Dimly lit areas should be treated as lightly obscured, incurring disadvantage on Perception checks relying on sight. If you do not play with these rules this will be a much easier puzzle for your players, but hopefully still fun and engaging.

While the room is in complete darkness any of your party members able to see in the dark will notice that the cubes are gone and, if they succeed on a DC 15 Perception check, will notice that six transparent cubes are in their place. The gelatinous cubes are not immediately hostile to the party but will become so if touched, targeted, or manipulated. In three of the cubes are suspended three circular stone tablets that can be inserted into the exit door as keys. You could choose to reveal this information after the first Perception check or require an additional DC 10 Perception check for the player to identify which type of object the cube is holding. If you're feeling generous you can put gold, treasure, or other loot inside of the remaining three cubes.

The party must figure out how they intend to retrieve the three stone tablets. The cubes are only gelatinous while in darkness, under any light (sunlight, torches, magical light, etc.) they revert to stone cubes. Because of this, any party member who doesn't have or can't obtain dark vision through some means would be engaging in combat blinded. If the party does not want to fight the cubes to the death then they can attempt to pull out the stone keys by succeeding on a DC 12 Strength check and incurring 3d6 acid damage upon a success.

I've gone looking for spells that can help in this scenario and found the following:

Mage Hand/Telekinesis: succeed on the Strength check to remove the object without taking damage

Stoneshape: reshape the stone cubes to allow access to the objects inside.

These are just a few examples and I, personally, reward creativity.

Modifications: To make this puzzle harder increase the size of the cubes to medium, meaning most party members will need to be cautious of being engulfed. As small cubes the party only has to worry about small members being pulled in, so it's a game of keep away with the Gnome. Additionally you can increase the number of cubes for added difficulty.

To make the puzzle easier, don't follow the rules of dim light, allowing your players to make their Perception checks without disadvantage. For a lower level party you could also choose to halve all damage the cubes incur because of their smaller size.

Puzzle 2: Musical Doors

This one doesn't require musical aptitude, but it does require a way to play musical notes. If you don't have an instrument like a toy piano or something you can download apps that turn your phone into a keyboard.

The Set-up: Your players enter a small cluttered room. Clearly this room was owned by someone who never liked to throw anything away. The nature and description of the clutter is up to you, but the room should not be larger than a 30-ftx30-ft square. On the other side of the room is an archway, but no door. An inscription on the wall reads "harmony opens the way."

The Puzzle: When your players reach the center of the room they simultaneously trigger nine different Magic Mouth spells (and we are being liberal with an interpretation of this spell). When triggered, nine items within the clutter sprout magical mouths and all begin to emit a musical tone.

Choose which note each mouth emits so that they combine in an unpleasant, cacophanous way. Choose the major notes D, G, and B for three of the mouths and pick the rest at random, though it'll sound worse if you throw in some sharps and flats. Play all the notes simultaneously for your players and let them choose what to do next.

What you want the party to do is search the room. A DC 10 Investigation check will have them find a note tucked away with a command word. This command word stops and starts the magical mouths one at a time when spoken directly at them. The aim of this puzzle is for the party to silence all mouths except the ones emitting the notes D, G, and B, forming a G major chord. I would recommend taking notes about which item is emitting which musical note to help keep track of what notes to play for your players. When they play the correct chord a door magically appears, letting them progress.

Modifications: do you have a certifiable Mozart in your group? Increase the difficulty by putting multiple chords together in the initial phase and making the group isolate them separately (i.e. silence all the mouths except the G major chord, then silence all the mouths except the D minor chord). If you do this, give some indication of progression as each chord is completed. For instance, when they complete the first chord a doorway magically appears but it still won't open until the second chord is isolated.

Is your group fucking tone deaf? Make this puzzle easier by reducing the number of magical mouth spells that get triggered.

Puzzle 3: Legend of the Sun

The Set-up: The party enters a dark crypt with three Ornate stone sarcophagi lined up across the room. The door leading out of the room is blocked by a stone slab.

All three sarcophagi have a stone likeness carved into the lid. If the party inspects these likenesses they find that all three depict men in royal livery wearing a crown. All three coffins have inscriptions on them.

The one on the far left of the room reads "Here lies the king of the rising sun."

The one on the far right of the room reads "Here lies the king of the setting sun."

The one in the center of the room reads "Here lies the king of the zenith."

On the walls of the room are depictions of the three kings riding on horseback under a bright sun. A DC 10 history check will reveal that all three kings are from the Sun dynasty who drew their power from the light of the Sun, while a DC 10 Religion check points out many symbols of Pelor, the sun god, lining the room.

The Puzzle: To unlock the door your players must shine a bright source of light (a torch or a spell that generates bright light) continuously down on each stone sarcophagus at the same time. For the king of the rising sun they must specify that they are shining it from the eastern side of the room, for the king of the setting sun it must be from the Western side of the room, and the king of the zenith must have it shine from directly above him. When all three light sources are shining at the same time the stone slab slides away, allowing the party to proceed.

Modifications: this is a very easy puzzle so there shouldn't be much need for simplifying it, but if your players are having difficulty they could attempt to glean hints through spells like augury or divination. Additionally a speak with dead spell can animate one of the king's bodies and the party can briefly question it.

If you, instead, want to increase the difficulty you could require that each light be a specific color, orange for the rising sun, white for the zenith, and red for the setting sun or however you'd prefer. This would necessitate spells like the light, dancing light, thaumaturgy, or prestidigitation cantrips.

#puzzles #dungeon puzzles #5e #homebrew #dnd 5e #magic mouth #dancing lights #gelatinous cube #Pelor #Mozart #busy #dungeon design

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bokettochild · 2 months

Note

for semi conscious how about wind and legend?

i just like giving suggestions ^^

I love getting suggestions!

This one was fun to write, so thanks for the request! I never get to write Legend and Wind bonding or hanging out very much, but I love their dynamic so much!

Rating: Teen

Wordcount: 7,385

Summary: The Chain experiences the delight of dungeons, which of cours ehvae Warriors in shock and wonder, Legend running about like a giddy school girl, and Twilight and Wild acting like the gremlins they really are. Well, that is, until they get split up by a particularly challenging room, leaving Wind and Legend to fend for themselves until the rest can find them, but it's fine! Legend's an expert and Wind's no rookie either! They got this!

Puzzles, by nature, attract heroes like bait.

Wind was never particularly keen on them before starting his adventures, but in the midst of all of the sailing and fighting and worrying, they’d become something of a balm; forcing his attention to focus fully on what was directly before him, on things that had logical answers that were achievable with just a little work, and results that granted a little piece of satisfaction that most other things in his life at the time didn’t. Logic, reliability, and visible results for given efforts, yet still with the thrill of a challenge, of just enough struggle to keep him at it until he’s done, determined not to fail, it’s nice.

With two adventures under his belt, Wind’s solved and enjoyed his fair share of puzzles. With more adventures than he’s willing to let on, it’s little wonder that Legend seems to show a similar fondness for puzzles too. What had been a tired scowl had quickly faded from the older boy’s face the moment they’d found the hidden entrance to what Hyrule had quickly announced was a dungeon, and the vet’s eyes were glinting eagerly as he’d pushed to the front of the group to get a good look at what they had before them. Now inside, even Wind and Time, who both have more experience than most of the others, are left more than just slightly impressed as the vet quickly solves the various puzzles and riddles within the sprawling chambers.

If farm life shows them Time’s natural home, and sailing brings out his own, then dungeons definitely are the natural environment of their collector and scholar. Wind doesn’t think he’s seen the vet’s eyes shining nearly this bright ever before in all the time they’ve known him! It’s pretty cool to watch actually.

He’s a decent hand at puzzles, and even though Legend’s a whizz at them, even the vet still gets stumped or second guesses himself here and again, which allows him to offer his own suggestions and try things. At first, the others had tried to tackle it themselves as well, but by now, they’ve given up offering their opinions, letting their brother take the lead with bemused smiles as they hang back with the captain and champion, who regard everything about them as though seeing it for the first time. He can’t speak for Wild, but the sailor knows that Warriors has only ever been in the prison sort of dungeon before, and this is definitely his first time seeing most of the mechanics of these places, and the threats that they conceal. It’s kind of funny really! Legend’s darting all over the place like a particularly eager piglet and Warriors is just gaping at it all, at how it works, and he doesn’t think Twilight is ever going to stop laughing and chuckling at the shock and awe on the face of their brother as he discovers for the first time what most of them simply consider part of life. It reminds him of when he first started teaching Aryll how to fish and make things, but funnier because Warriors is old enough to be teaching children of his own.

“You might want to close that maw of yers,” Twilight nudges the captain as the vet starts moving towards the next chamber, “a keese might mistake it fer a cave.”

Where usually the other would roll his eyes, shove the rancher back, shake his head, or just scoff at the mockery, Warriors doesn’t even seem to notice, instead still staring at the carefully arranged statues in the room. There hadn’t even been a guide or a riddle, just a room of statues. He’s not sure how Legend knew to move them here, there, and the other way, but the moment the vet had stood back, dusting himself off and wiping away sweat with a wide grin, the walls had trembled, and the ground shook and the stones of the north wall had fallen away to reveal another opening. “How on earth does it do that?”

“Do what?” Hyrule asks. He’s been keeping close to the captain as of late for some reason or another.

Warriors nods to the door, the one Legend’s already darting through. “Does it repair itself later? And how does it make that particular part of the wall fall away without jeopardizing the entire structure?”

He’s not sure himself. Wind’s never really wondered before. Once the puzzle is solved, he doesn’t tend to think about it again later, just what comes after and maybe taking a nap or eating something. The others seem to have some ideas though, and a few of them move to answer, only to be interrupted by Four.

“Puzzle gods.”

He turns to stare at the smithy. “What?”

“I believe,” Four pronounces, stopping to look at them all, “that there must be some sort of deity or spirit that goes around building places like this, just for the sheer joy of seeing little mortals like us try to solve them.” Four kindly ignores the pointed remarks and chuckles that follow his adjective choices, which Wind thinks is rather grand of him because he certainly wouldn’t. “Every hundred years, some hero type or daredevil comes through, solves the puzzles and wins the prize, but then it all gets sealed up again and there’s another prize the next time someone comes through.” A shrug of the shoulders signals the decision to start moving again. “It really is the only explanation.”

He’s being silly, Wind thinks. Fac-facetious? Is that what Legend calls it? Anyway, Four’s messing with them, messing with Warriors, and its beautiful watching realization dawn on the captain’s face only to be quickly replaced by a sharp little smile and a headshake that’s half warning, half repressed laughter. Time used to get that one all the time when they were kids. “You ass.”

“Our ass is currently up ahead.” Four retorts, smirking over his shoulder.

“Your ass is currently getting his ass whooped!” Legend’s voice yells from the doorway they’ve yet to cross. “Get in here!”

They hurry, but there’s no panic. Legend is short-spoken when he’s actually worried, and the clear humor in his tone was obvious enough that they know not to worry too much. They don’t need to anyway, it turns out. Legend’s foes are a bunch of chu-chus and like-likes, which are annoying, yes, but hardly worse than an annoyance all said and done. Once they can clearly see the door on the other side of the room, Wild tells them to book it across, a glowing bomb lifted high and attracting the monster population’s attention long enough for them to obediently book it. Wild joins them on the other side a moment later with a sharp grin as he taps his slate, spinning to catch the glow of the blast. His eyes shine like lanterns.

“Sick,” Wind laughs.

Legend, leaning against the wall next to him, stares. “What does that even mean?”

“Who knows,” the captain sighs, long since having given up decoding the slang that some of them use, (probably because he knows full well how quickly he’ll get hooked once he knows what he’s saying), “kids these days say weird shit.”

Their leader smirks. With only one eye, it’s hard to tell where Time’s looking, but it’s over the heads of Wind and Four, so it’s not at them. “I believe it’s similar to ‘groovy’.”

Wind has no clue what ‘groovy’ means. Legend and Hyrule, on the other hand, nod sagaciously, exchanging a brief look of understanding.

“Groovy,” The vet snorts.

“Groovy,” Hyrule answers back, grin wide.

“Good grief,” Warriors declares, sweeping past them with barely disguised laughter.

There’s some varied laughter and jostling of each other as they set out again. The room they’ve darted into holds very little, just a chest with a key and some dark inky looking blobs that the vet warns them to avoid, only to step on himself. It’s because his magical boots protect him, he says, but Wind sort of doubts that; he thinks maybe Legend just likes stepping on monsters sometimes. He can’t blame him, considering how fun he finds it to watch enemies be plowed over by Tetra’s ship, be he in it or not, so he doesn’t exactly have room to speak here.

They move on from the key room, back into the chu room, which is now void of anything save some wobbly chunks that Sky screws up his face at the sight of and Twilight and Wild gather up as though they don’t stick to their fingers. The sailor follows Legend as he moves to the locked door on one side of the room, well aware of the fact that once the chu jelly is gathered, Twilight and Wild will be looking for something to wipe their hands on, and if it doesn’t end up being the captain’s scarf, it will be one of the rest of them.

Warriors knows too, and is already bundling up his scarf, Warning Glare already activated.

Four’s hood is very much in danger now (everyone respects the sailcloth too much and Hyrule gets snappish when touched unexpectedly).

Avoiding the issue entirely is in his best interest, and the vet seems to think the same, sniggering a bit into his hand as he steals a look back at the rest of them, who stand about like sitting ducks, as though unaware they can now actually escape gooey hands and wolfish grins. “Who’s getting gooed, d’y’think?” The vet whispers to him, violet eyes sparking as he pauses just inside the wide arch of the door, but not yet into the other room. Somehow, apparently, that stops monsters being able to reach him, although how, the sailor has still yet to figure out.

He shrugs back, risking a glance just as the two finish their messy work. “Don’t now, but I sure as stone don’t want it to be me!”

Like silly toddlers, they’re fighting back laughter, ducking out of sight as Twilight springs towards the group, Wild on his heels. Getting out before someone notices them watching is the best way to avoid getting caught in the crossfire or being selected as a far less dangerous target. Good as they may be in battle, Twilight is still stronger than either of them, and Wild is scary fast; there’s no avoiding getting slimed once those two have chosen you as their target. Not even Legend’s Death Kicks or a spell would be enough to dissuade Twilight once his mind is set on being the worst big brother in the world.

It’s a big sibling thing.

Instead, they hide away, Legend pressing a finger to his lips and Wind nodding as they listen to the shouts of the others, exchanging a look and a silent laugh before the vet turns to look through the other side of the doorway. When he does, his smile falls. “Shit.”

Not a good thing to hear, especially since Legend’s been rather in a good mood all afternoon because of finding the dungeon. He stares at the other for a moment before daring to glance out into the next room. “What?” There doesn’t seem to be any monsters within sight, although it is pretty dark ahead. That said, other than the fact that he can’t see much of anything, it doesn’t look nearly as bad as the water filled chamber at the entrance of the dungeon, the room where various aquatic monsters lurked, and they’d been swimming and fighting in the dark. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t nearly as fun as the puzzles, not by a long shot.

“Look at the floor,” the vet sighs, slumping a bit.

Wind looks. “There isn’t much of one.”

A nod. “Yeah. A thin path with precious few safe spaces, lighting that goes out within a few minutes, and, of course, the floor disappears as you walk on it.”

Of all the things Legend’s showed them in the dungeon, this is definitely moving to the top of his list of things he doesn’t like in land-dungeons. His own are odd in their own ways, but rapidly disappearing flooring is not preferable. “What do we do?” Because asking Legend is always the best option with dungeons, or so he’s finding. Warriors is the battle master, Time the most lived, Hyrule and Wild best with travel, but Legend is definitely the one you ask when it comes to anything unnatural or excessively confusing. Dungeons, magic, and history are the vet’s expertise, and if the vet doesn’t know it, it’s probably not worth knowing anyhow.

The older boy scrubs at his face with his hands. “Run.”

“From what?” The others have joined them again.

“The floor.”

“The what?”

“The floor,” Legend repeats, motioning out into the room before them. “It’s going to drop out from underneath you as you run across it. We won’t be able to make it in one go, just two at a time until we’re all across.”

“I can’t see,” Sky isn’t pouting, but he looks very aggravated. There’s slime in his hair. “How do we know where to go?”

The vet shrugs. “We guess.”

There’s a pause, and then, “What? You have tips and tricks for everything else, but when the floor falls out from underneath you, you just guess where to run?”

Violet eyes glint, a snort and half-smile appearing again. “Got a better idea?”

“We’ll live,” Hyrule is the one speaking now, pushing past the others to look out into the new room. “I think these things usually respawn after ten minutes or so. So even if we take a wrong turn, we can go back, it just...”

“It takes a bit,” Legend finishes, snatching his cap off to ruffle at his hair in agitation. “And longer if you don’t have a hook-shot ready. If you drop, you’re probably going to fall back to the first room.”

“How?” Warriors doesn’t sound bemused anymore, just confused.

He hears Four snort more than he sees it, what with the smallest being at the back probably due to hiding behind Time. “Puzzle gods.”

The comment goes ignored, and any serious answer to the captain’s question never comes. Instead, the vet sets out onto the temporary path, striking ahead like he tends to in unfamiliar territory, and simply by virtue of already being there, Wind is the first to follow. He’s not sure if he likes it or not that the captain, who’s behind him, doesn’t follow immediately. Not having his back guarded all of a sudden isn’t very pleasant, but the path does, indeed, start falling away not long after their feet leave it behind.

Legend darts. Wind follows.

Corners are tricky, and the vet seems to cut them altogether if he can, sprinting along while casting fireballs out into the darkness, just long enough to show the way before they dissipate. It would be easier to light a lantern, but it’d leave one hand busy, and neither of them can risk that, not without backup as they dance out into the darkness. There really is no rhyme or reason to their path, just wherever they can manage, and when the sprint is starting to get to him (he’s a sailor, not a landlubber, he doesn’t run much), they finally pull off to a small floating island in the middle of the room, and though the path falls away before them, they're left stable.

The vet heaves a breath, flames licking off his fingers to fill a sconce set on the little isle of stone. “Well, having fun yet?”

He just groans in answer, earning a snort and a hair ruffle in return.

“Come now, Maliit, where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Above ground?” He tries, smiling through now very messy hair; whatever damage running did is now made so much worse by bejeweled hands. “Maybe with Hyrule, I think he stole it.”

His answer is a scoff as Legend darts his own hair out of his eyes, nose wiggling some with silent laughter as he shakes his head, much like Warriors usually would. Their traveler’s light fingers are no secret, unlike the captain’s. Hyrule’s propensity to pluck things from their possession without their knowledge, especially when he’s mad at them, is something of a joke by now, and watching Time returning the favor is hilarious as they battle it out until the captain will force them to stop. Warriors, in contrast, rarely employs his own skills, but there have been times, and he’s good.

It’s unlikely that either can actually steal an aspect of someone’s personality though. Still, Wind knows better than to presume; for all he knows, maybe there is such a magic that one of them have!

The vet doesn’t push the matter though, just cracks his back and rolls his shoulders a bit, staring into the area around them, occasionally letting off a flame into the darkness, peering and squinting to try and see a path. Wind would do the same, but he’s only of use for that sort of thing above ground. Sailing, he can spot land faster than most of the older pirates, but in caves? Tunnels? He’s no good to anyone when it comes to seeing. Legend says that that’s to be expected though. Apparently, his timeline has evolved so hylians have much better dark-vision and hearing, something Hyrule and he display quite clearly. Twilight is the same, but they think that’s part of the whole wolf-deal, since the rest of his era doesn’t have the same blessings. Anyways, Wind doesn’t have them, so he sits and catches his breath and watches the vet until at last the other turns and offers him a hand.

“Path is back.”

“Here we go again,” he sighs, smiling up at where the vet’s eyes glint in the already dying firelight.

Legend waits until the flame in the sconce dies, which as he warned, happens quickly. It’s lighted again quickly with a snap of the fingers, and then they’re off again, darting down the path that collapses even out from beneath them as they move.

Somewhere, out in the darkness, he hears shouting, hears what sounds like Warriors, or probably Sky with how loud it is.

He waits until they reach another stopping point, flames licking life across the vet’s features before his face, before he asks a thought that’s suddenly come to him. “You think Sky can handle all this running?”

There’s a snort in answer, a tremble of the shoulders in a laugh that isn’t set free but plays in eyes that flicker red in the firelight. “He’s fast, even if his stamina is shit. I think he’ll live. At worst, Twilight can just carry him around.” The image is sort of ridiculous, and it makes him laugh. A knee-slapping, shoulder shaking laugh that echoes back in a wiggling nose and creasing eyes as barely contained cackles tremble through his brother.

They make it through the dark room eventually. The sounds that ring and echo through the darkness have Legend despairing that the others will be along at any time soon but considering he’s the one doing all the puzzle solving anyways, he apparently decides there’s no reason to wait up. Instead, when they reach the ledge at the end, one that has a door and a passage onwards, he sets a lantern in the doorway, lit and capable of holding his flames longer than the little beacons they’d run across on the path. Beside it, he settles his blue cap, a quickly written ‘catch up already’ scrawled on a note he pins to the soft fabric.

“They’ll know we went this way when they see it.” He tells Wind, and the sailor nods back. It’s a good plan. A lantern could be a sign of a new puzzle. Legend's lantern, Legend’s hat, are a way to say that Legend is here, that he’s ahead, but didn’t have the patience to wait for the rest, something which Wind quite agrees with.

As before, Legend pauses in the doorway to the next room, staring out into the new chamber and assessing its contents before he ventures forwards. He’s done that with most of the rooms in this dungeon so far, the only exception being the key room, where they were too eager to escape Wild’s bombs to care about what stood on the other side. Wind’s sort of glad they’ve stopped too, because inside the room, wispy figures appear and disappear without any rhyme or reason, waves of magic and piercing screams emitted from their flickering forms just moments after they appear.

“Wizzrobes,” the vet hums, brow furrowing. “Fought those before?”

He stares. “y-yes...?”

Twin red flames, because the vet’s eyes glint red in the darkness, the only clear feature on his face as it’s turned on him, stare into his eyes. “Is that a question or an answer, sailor?”

“I’ve fought them, but...” he glances back at the ghostly looking figures with wide-brimmed hats, “mine are very...different.”

“Do they appear and disappear at seemingly random and attack you with magic?”

“Yes.”

“Then there’s no real difference,” the vet proclaims. “Just don’t get hit, and strike them after they attack, because there’s not much time before they do. Hit hard, hit fast, and keep light on your feet. You can do that, right?”

He nods. He can. He's a sailor, he’s good at darting around and avoiding random things trying to hit him. Ust because these wizzrobes don’t look like tropical birds in long robes doesn’t mean they’ll be any harder to fight! Although, it is going to be weird to try and connect what he knows about the enemies to his experiences with their counterparts in his era. Still, he can do this.

“One more thing,” Legend adds, shield lifted and sword ready, “the doorway is an option. If you need a breath, cover, or a moment to assess your foe, don’t be afraid to lurk in doorways. They’re life savers.”

“Got it.”

And just like that, they set upon the enemy. Legend really does dance across the room as he works. Darting and spinning and plunging through the enemies. Avoiding this blow and that, even as the five different foes all try and take aim at him. It’s like he can predict where they’ll appear, and it’s like he’s waiting for them when they do, sword flashing in the light of the enemy magic as he dispatches them.

Wind holds his own rather well, he thinks, downing two of the five. Again, the vet has been doing this far longer and knows much more than he does, but he’s not a beginner himself either. They make it through the room with nothing more than a little damage; a little curse that Legend plucks off of them and dissipates with a glinting of golden magic and a disgusted expression that has the sailor sniggering to himself. “Wish I could do that.”

“It’s exhausting,” comes the answer, “I’m going to sleep like a log once we get out of here.”

He has been using rather a lot of magic, what with the fireballs and everything. Does he run out eventually, or will they be alright to keep going? “Do you need a green potion?”

“I need a nap,” Legend snorts. “Although yes, if you have one, that would be nice too.”

He does, but only for a moment or so more, because it’s gone the moment it’s in the scholar’s hands. Bottle carefully tucked away to give back to Wild to be refilled at a later date. “Thanks.”

“Of course.” He might not be able to use much magic, beyond the Wind Waker, but that doesn’t stop him carrying magic potions for his brothers. Wild had laughed a bit when he’d asked the older boy to teach him to brew them, and while he’s not very good at it and actually needs Wild to do most of the work, he does make an effort to have most potion types on him at all times. He doesn’t need anything for heat or sun, doesn’t have much magic and rarely uses strength, stamina, or defense potions, but the others need them, so he wants to have them on hand. Sky needs stamina potions and never has them. Hyrule and Time frequently exhaust their magic, and goodness knows all of them are constantly downing health potions after battles or skirmishes with various foes. He'd done the same thing during the war, and Midna had taken to calling him “Bottle Boy” as a joke, because when Warriors eventually was on the edge of collapse or someone else needed something, he always had what they needed. She’d say it like it was a mockery at first, but he sort of misses hearing the tease each time he hands one of his brothers the potion they need. Time still says it though, grinning and winking, and even Warriors will repeat it on a rare occasion, relieved and warm and fond.

Legend doesn’t know about it, but in many ways, the older boy reminds him a bit of that blasted imp, especially with how much he likes to tease and ruffle up Wind’s hair. He wonders if the other two see it as well, or maybe they’ve forgotten. Time probably has, what with how old he’s gotten since then.

“What now?” he asks, looking around the room at the fallen magic staves and hats. He’s a bit tempted to put one of the hats on, but he’s also got the feeling that that may or may not get him cursed somehow. Legend just removed a minor curse, and he’s not asking for a repeat because he’s being stupid. He'll ask the vet what would happen if he did, but later, once the other doesn’t actually think he will do it, or that he even can.

The lights have come on now that the enemies have fallen, something Warriors would definitely be gaping at if he was here and puzzling, yet again, on the ‘how’ of it all. With the aid of said light, he can properly see the vet’s dark eyes roving over the room, now violet again as they search for some key or puzzle that will point the way forward. “Not sure yet.”

It takes a moment, some darting around and looking here and there, but at last the vet finds the way forwards, pushing a large stone block one way to reveal a hole in the floor.

“Sky’s not going to like this,” he observes, crouching to look down into the darkness below.

Legend. Leaning against the just moved block, snorts his agreement. “Wars either.”

He, however, is not scared of the dark, even if he can’t see well in it. Still, he lets the vet take the lead, because quite frankly he doesn’t think Legend ever lets himself follow others into danger, or the unknown. No, he lets Legend go first and then drops down after him, only after they’ve made a very obvious arrow shape on the floor with the magic staves to point towards the hole they’re plunging into. The others do still need to be able to find them eventually, after all!

Dropping into the hole though, he sort of regrets not waiting for them.

There is a door in the room, but it’s locked, and there’s no key in sight and the little ring the vet keeps on his belt, apparently expressly for dungeon keys, is currently empty after opening the way to the room with the falling walkways. The one the others may or may not still be stuck inside of at the moment. So, unlike before, there’s no doorway to hide in at the moment, and the very large gleeok that takes up most of the chamber definitely makes that a very big problem.

“Oh, come on,” Legend doesn’t look worried so much as tired as he lifts his shield, just in time to block them both from the first burst of flames, “seriously? No warning? No boss key? No crazy fancy door? This is just breaking all the laws of dungeon etiquette!”

“What?” he stammers, unashamedly hiding behind the other as the flames sputter out.

“Dungeon bosses are always marked, and if this isn’t even the main foe, then I dread to think what the ‘puzzle gods’ decided to put in the boss room. Gleeoks are overkill to begin with!”

He’s handling this a lot better than Wind was expecting. Like it’s a nuisance rather than an actual threat, which, for the vet, is kind of unusual. Legend always takes things seriously on the battlefield, at least as long as their enemy is something more threatening than a blob with teeth. Gleeoks sort of fall under Wind’s ‘extremely dangerous, do not engage’ list, and he’s rather certain it’s the same all around, except with Sky, who thinks they’re friendly for some reason.

“Plan?” he asks, already grabbing for his own sword again, and wishing, not for the first time, that he had more spirit power. Stopping time long enough to get some heavy hits on their new foe would be pretty convenient, even if it wouldn’t let Legend help him at all. Still, he can take on foes without the others, so he wouldn’t need the vet’s help, although it’s nice to have; Legend treats him like a competent equal on the battlefield, and other than giving advice on how to take on foes or tricks the other uses himself, he’s mostly left Wind to do his work without interference. It’s nice, and a pleasant change from having the older ones always trying to protect him.

The vet puffs, mind whirring so loud he can almost hear it. “Kill it? Weakness is probably it’s eyes.”

“It has three heads.”

“We each take on one and tag-team the third.”

“Got it.”

Uncomplicated but also very vague. Still, Legend’s a scholar, not a tactician. He’s good at killing things and he’s fast on the field, but the vet doesn’t tend to do the strategizing in their group, or the commanding, unless of course the others are losing focus and need someone to remind them that they are, in fact, in the middle of a battle. Even then though, legend’s plans are on the fly and generally rely on them all being actually competent enough to think for themselves on how to do what they’re told. Like now.

Take down one head, join Legend for the other one. Easy to say, but not nearly as easy to do.

He wishes gleeoks had a limit on how much fire they could produce at a time. It would make fighting them so much more fair.

As it is, there’s so much fire in the room it’s sort of hard to make out where, exactly, legend is at any given moment. He keeps having to duck behind his shield too, and dart away as the beast thunders across the floor. Getting close is a nightmare, but once he does, managing to climb up between the two giant wings, he finds himself face to face with his companion again.

“Long time no see,” Legend smirks, and then springs across the scales to his side, lowering his shield to offer something to him. “Forgot to give you this.”

He takes it without question, because he rather doubts a prank is incoming considering they're in the midst of a fight, and he’s pleasantly surprised to find a red ring in his possession, one that makes the heat around them a fair bit less painful as he slips it on. Flame protection, he guesses, watching the vet spring along the neck of the beast, the other two heads turning towards him as the tempered blade lifts to take a plunge at one of three giant eyes.

Well, best cover his brother’s ass! He follows suit, jumping up and climbing the neck of the wriggling beast, catching its attention as well, just as Legend’s sword plunges home, once, twice, and a burst of flames explodes around them.

It’s hard seeing, smoke overtaking his vision and, again, his eyes aren’t the best in dim spaces, but he plunges where he thinks the head is.

The gleeok shakes him off before he can be sure of the damage he’s done. He manages to tuck and roll as he hits the ground, and his shield arm takes most of the impact. Pain explodes from his shoulder down, but he’s still able to stand again, sword still in hand as he turns again to face the three great eyes that now fix on him, one of them, and only one, leaking blood profusely.

Well shit!

A clawed foot swipes at him, and he has to roll again to get away, shield up and arm screaming. He's probably sprained his wrist or shoulder or something, something that’s going to make this unnecessarily hard, because of course that’s how this works.

He hears Legend yelling from the other side of the room, but the gleeok doesn’t turn, and a wide sweep of the wings sends the sailor skidding back, feet fighting to stay upright, and shield still raised as the force sends him flying backwards and into the wall. The impact hits after than he was expecting, and his guard falters just a bit under the force of it, leaving him open to the next burst of flames. Sages bless Legend for giving him the ring. He can feel the flicker of flames over his skin, but the effect, while painful, isn’t anything close to what he’d seen the same sort of attack do to the captain so many months ago. His skin bubbles and sleeves burn, but it’s no worse than sticking his hand into a fire for a moment, and the flames die suddenly with a scream from the monster as Legend’s blade must find a home in it’s tail or some such.

Suddenly, he’s free to breathe again, a doorway of opportunity giving him a moment to muster himself and fight down the pain surging up his arms and across his face. His feet falter some on the floor, even without the force of the wings blowing him back, but he finds his land legs again after a moment, and then he’s headed back into the fray.

Legend’s hissing insults, shouting things to keep the focus of their foe on himself, and while it definitely does nothing more than agitate the creature, it gives Wind opening to dart along towards the tail now turned to him.

He doesn’t manage to climb on top, because a head comes rolling down his way, forked tongue still sticking out, and the vet’s shout to “hit the head!” distracts him from joining his brother on top of the thing. He does as ordered though, pouring his pain into a strike that has the thing splashing blood up and over him, one glowing yellow eye fading to grey as he hacks and stabs until the thing stops rolling and bouncing across the floor.

One head down, two to go.

Legend’s mounted the monster again, but it’s caught on, and the head he’s not standing on is snapping at him, large teeth closing just short of pink hair as the man darts and dances out of reach, sword plunging up towards the attacking beast, balance somehow unfaltering despite how the creature beneath him bucks and writhes, shaking to try and dismount him but only succeeding in foiling the attempts of the other head as its target is lifted and dropped and sifted out of reach of snapping teeth.

It’s too much movement to let Wind get ahold of scales or spikes and pull himself up, and even trying sends the harsh texture of the hide scraping over fresh burns, a shout of pain catching in his throat as he immediately pulls his hand back. Instead, he determines to hack away at the sweeting tails and stumbling claws, doing at least some damage until at last the head snapping at the vet turns to him, a snort of ire signaling the shift of attention and giving him enough time to lift his shield and dart back from the next wave of flames.

The flames die again with another blow to one eye, but the head doesn’t fall. Instead, the spattering blood makes feathered boots slip, and Legend’s shout rings out beside the roar of the gleeok as he plummets to the floor. Like Wind, the vet tucks and rolls, but unlike the sailor, he doesn’t land on his shield arm.

Legend lands on his head.

As though he actually has phantom powers, time seems to slow for a moment as he watches the tight all of his brother uncurls, limbs and sword clattering against the floor, violet eyes fluttering briefly.

“Legend!”

He’s not sure, exactly, how he manages to climb onto the monster that’s still writhing in pain from the latest blow, but he does. He does and he manages to get himself atop the singular uninjured head, slashing away at the scales by his feet until they give way to flesh and bone, and then finally the head falls away altogether, leaving only the one sightless one instead as the second head plumets down to the floor where Legend is still lying.

The vet’s trying to move, but a faint cry of pain, bitten off but heart-rending sounds with the motions, and considering how he’d fallen and how heavily, Wind doesn't think it’s likely a good idea at all to let Legend move.

He jumps. Rolls down the scaly back and popping up again just a short distance away from the head that bounces up again from the force of its fall, black and crimson ichor and blood spattering everywhere with the motion. It takes more effort this time to keep after the head, the eye still glowing in a signal that it can and will return to its body through whatever twisted magic it is that keeps this thing alive.

He thinks he hates the puzzle gods.

The head is just beginning its returning path to the body that writhes and snarls with all the force left in its remaining, blinded head, but he manages a blow. It roars and hisses, but a plunge into golden sclera stops that, and a second one, just to be sure, because being certain never hurt anything when fighting monsters, ends the things motions as it dissipates into a cloud of miasma.

One head remains, flailing around as fire spills from its open maw, filling the room with smoke and flames.

He wants to look over to Legend, making sure the fire isn’t touching his fallen brother, but he can’t risk taking his focus off the foe. When its head lowers, wings raised as it blasts fire forwards, he springs, rolls out of the way, feet slapping the stone beneath as he darts in while its neck is lowered enough to sever, and with a mighty shout, a shooting pain up his arm and as much force as he can muster, the phantom sword plunged into the scales.

Flames die with a cry, the beast rearing up, his blade still imbedded in its flesh and his hands holding tightly, feet sweeping off the ground as wings sweep out with a blast.

He hears another pained cry, a shout of agony as the bet’s body is sent rag-rolling across the floor.

Oh sages, his spine! You shouldn’t move people who might have hurt their spines!

The gleeok’s roar of agony matches in pitch to the cry of the fallen hero, and Wind’s own brain is screaming in kind as he wrenches himself upwards, swinging his feet up to mount the final head, blade tugging free only to plunge again, force sending shockwaves up his aching arm and definitely screwing it up more than it had been initially. Wars is going to chew his ear off for this one, he knows it. Still, the head falls free, and again, he manages to roll down the spiney back, across the floor, body sore all over as he darts like a mad thing across the stone to the final head.

When the last golden eye goes dim, purple smoke rising, his whole body feels like one giant bruise.

He doesn’t have time for that though. Doesn't even bother to try and clean his sword, something that will earn Four on his ass as well as the captain, but that doesn’t matter nearly as much as hauling ass to the form of the vet who lies on the floor, breath shuddering and hands still somehow gripping ahold of the faintly glowing tempered sword.

“Legend?” His knees sting as he sinks down onto them, hands hovering as he tries to assess his brother’s injuries without moving him. He shouldn’t move him at all, and much as a red potion would help, it never does anything for broken bones if they’re not set properly first, something he is definitely not qualified to do. They need Warriors. Seven Sages, where are the others? How are they taking this long? “Vet, come on, can you hear me?”

There’s a puff of breath and a gritting of teeth, but long ears flick, responsive even though no verbal answer comes.

“Stay with me, Ledge,” he pleads, trying to peer through the soot to see if blood is stemming from anywhere. There's no large puddle of it or anything. Although, like himself, burns do stretch over any exposed skin he can see. “Just stay awake. Wars will be here soon, and we’ll get you all fixed up.”

“’kay.” It’s more gasp than speech, but it’s an answer.

He reaches for one of the vet’s bejeweled hands. Moving those, treating the burns at least with the salve he’s carried with him since the captain’s battle with Volga, won’t jostle his brother enough to do more damage than what’s already been done.

Long fingers squeeze around his own, but he doesn't pull away, just lets the vet grip as tight as he needs as he wipes the ash and dirt away with a cloth wetted with his canteen, cleaning and applying what knowledge he has about burns to treat the injuries before wrapping them.

He talks as he works. He doesn't know how much Legend’s actually listening, but the vet’s long ears follow him as he talks, twitching occasionally at what he says. There’s the occasional attempt at a smile on cracked lips as he recounts one or another of his adventures with Tetra, and while they're pained, the smiles are undeniable as he talks about Aryll and Granny.

The others still haven’t joined them by the time Wind’s exhausted his knowledge of wound care and run out of burns to tend, both on the vet and himself. He feels like a jerk, downing a potion to tend his own injuries and not granting one to the other, but he can’t risk having any damage done become permanent from the potion’s magic, so instead he holds Legend’s hand in his own and keeps talking. By nervous habit, he starts toying with pink hair, just like he’d do with Aryll at home when he’s nervous, braiding and unbraiding and stoking silky hair to calm his own mind. Legend doesn’t tell him to stop either, and while the tension and pain that lines his body doesn’t go away, it’s clear that the comfort is appreciated as they wait for the others to join them.

He checks in every few moments, reminding legend to stay awake, to keep his eyes open. It works for a while, but eventually long lashes flutter closed, despite his every warning and plea, and they don’t open again no matter what he says. The only assurance that the vet isn’t fully unconscious is the flicker of his ears as Wind speaks, so he keeps talking. He keeps his eyes fixed on long ears, and hands soothing silky hair as he rambles about anything and everything he can think of, trying to keep going at least until the others arrive.

When at last he hears feet overhead, voices echoing down into their chamber, Wind could nearly cry from relief. Based off the tears that streak ash covered cheeks, Legend does.

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #asks and answers #lu legend #lu wind #febuwhump #febuwhump2024 #ketto writes #let wind be competent danggit!#let legend be excited about things!#legend finds dungeons fun #except when he gets hurt #but this boy loves puzzles change my mind

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