The Trials of Time - Episode 2

Hey, all! 


I was amazed at how many of you took the time to read my first episode of my current Dungeons and Dragons campaign, OoTers! (For reference, I call it OoTers when talking about it, but when writing I will keep calling it Trials of Time). 

So, here is the second episode! For those of you who know a thing or ten about the Legend of Zelda, I made the choice of having Link die after having found the Stone of the Forest - maybe an aggressive Octorok got to him? 

In any case, our four adventurers, Lulu, Jem, Shadow and a yet-to-be-introduced Gerudo are on their way to complete the quest to find the three gems that will open the Door of Time. They have two places to choose from, and they decided out of game to first go to visit the Goron city to inquire about the second stone, the Stone of Fire. 

EPISODE 2 - FORMS OF FIRE 

When one leaves Hyrule Castle town, one can travel East until they encounter Kakariko village, a small town created by a group of Sheikahs to give civilians a safe place to live during the wars that tore through Hyrule. Nestled in a valley between two mountains, Kakariko village soon grew to be prosperous and held a great sense of comfort. 

As the adventurers approached, the sun had set. Lulu rubbed his eyes, knocking his glasses askew, tired from the journey. Shadow and the Gerudo kept following closely behind, not saying a word. Only Jem seemed alert, if not a little nervous, an eye kept on a small potions shop. He lead the group towards it, an idea in mind. Tentatively, he opened the door. 

"Tessa?"

From the back of the shop, they all heard something crash, followed by flurry of quick footsteps. From around a corner, a tall girl with brown hair appeared. 

"James Carstairs, where have you been?!" She demanded, looking straight at Jem. 

Lulu looked between them, eyes wide. "I thought you said your name was Jem?" he asked, more confused than anything else. Why would anyone say a name that's not theirs? 

But Jem didn't seem to register Lulu's questions. "It's nice to see you too, Tess," he managed, before she caught him in a tight hug. 

Shadow groaned and looked away, not in the mood for heartfelt reunions. She looked at the Gerudo and muttered "I'm going to go explore. There might actually be something interesting in this town."

The two girls left the small shop, going from building to building. To tell the truth, there wasn't much in the town - a small school, an armoury, and a slew of small houses. Shadow climbed a set of stairs towards a windmill, and pulled open the door. Inside what a whole contraption that allowed it to spin, that creaked with the sound of splintering wood. Inside was a musician, seemingly hypnotised by the windmill. "Round and round..." he kept repeating. 'Around and around and around'. 

It didn't take long for Shadow to leave, quietly deciding that these townsfolk needed to see more of the world before they got any crazier. 

In the meantime, the Gerudo was in conversation with an old man, hunched by a tree. "I'm sorry, do you know how I can get to an inn?", she asked, breaking her usual silence. 

The man kept staring at the ground. "People are disgusting. My parents were disgusting, my brother was disgusting..."

"Um, pardon me?"

He finally looked up at her. "You must be disgusting as well!"

Put off by his demeanour, the Gerudo left him alone, finding Shadow as she left the windmill. "The people in this town are insane." she noted. 

Shadow nodded. Soon enough, Lulu showed up, followed closely by Jem and Tessa. Tessa, curious, kept an eye on the Gerudo woman, who started staring back, not exactly kindly. Jem put a hand on his friend's shoulder, making her snap out of her daze. "I'm sorry, it's just I've read so much about your tribe... In any case, Jem told me about your plan... I can offer you a place to sleep? I own the inn, over there, and I'd be happy to let you stay. And if you need any potions or food, I'm sure I'll have anything you need. I'm an alchemist, potions are easy for me."

Soon enough, she lead them to the inn, letting them settle in. Jem, having things to talk about over a cup of tea, decided to follow Tessa to her house. 

It was nearing one in the morning before Jem finished his tea, when Tessa asked. "Are you sure he's alive? And that you can find him?"

Jem looked up at the girl he shouldn't love so much anymore, his gaze steady. "I wouldn't be going on this trip if I wasn't certain, Tess. Not in my condition. Will is alive, and I will bring him back." He set down his tea cup and glanced at his violin. "It is late, isn't it? The others will want to leave early."

Although the two started off being alone, Tessa soon, sought out Jem for comfort, who spent the night holding her close. 

*** *** *** 

The morning came too quickly. 

At least everyone agreed to that. 

Filling the groups pockets with health potions and powders, Tessa pointed the way to the Goron city - up a pathway leading to a volcano. It was an easy hike, especially for Lulu who could sneak past every sleeping Tektite on the road. They easily found Goron City, an underground cavern filled with paths and rooms, grossly dug out into what could look like homes. 

In the middle of the cavern was an empty central area, adorned with a large jar depicting the past Goron kings, each with a different expression on their face. Behind the imposing jar, was a large door, leading to the King's chambers. 

The king himself was named Darunia. He was of a strong build and had a kind face, but was not used to having visitors. 

"Hey! Who are you?"

Lulu, taking off his hat, spoke up. "We were sent by Zelda for the gem! Not 'Jem' with a J, that's him", he pointed to Jem "but a shiny fire gem, with a g!" 

Darunia tilted his head to the side. "I received no notice of any royal visitors, and, no offence, but you don't look the type. What proof do you have?" 

The companions looked at each other, before Jem pulled out his violin. From it he drew a beautiful tune, one known to be used only by those with ties to the royal court. 

Darunia grinned. "Alright! You may be legit. But before I just hand the stone over to you, I want to know what you're worth. We've been having a problem with our supply of stones. If you four manage to rid us of the problem, the stone is yours!"

Before any of the others could interject, Lulu agreed to the mission. "OK! Where is this problem? I think we can help!"

Darunia chuckled and lead them to a cavern. 

It was full of puddles of lava, had bombs scattered here and there, and the far wall was adorned with the giant head of a fish. 

And the door closed behind them. 

The group went from room to room, looking for a way up. Soon enough, they found a rather large room, with a tower in its centre, surrounded by flowers that looked like bombs. The Gerudo girl was watching the structure from a corner of the room. She looked to Shadow. "I have an idea. If this doesn't work, my name is Sisin. Don't forget that". 

Shadow nodded and watched the girl - Sisin - drop a device near one of the flower bombs. It seemed to be another kind of explosive device, which triggered a chain reaction of bomb explosions. Suddenly, the tower fell, crashing into the ground to form rough steps towards a door high up on the wall. Lulu - his hands covering his ears - yelled out "You're quiet but smart!", and started scampering up the steps, the others behind him. 

The rooms seemed endless, until the four companions entered small room, filled with strange creatures. They attacked each other relentlessly - Lulu threw many stones at them, while Sisin and shadow cut them down with blades. As he had shown before, Jem used some fire magic to kill some of the creatures. However, they seemed immune to much of the attacks. Having accidentally hit some bombs with his fire, Jem caused a small explosion, directly affecting the creatures. The sparks drew the bats to the bombs like a flare. After a few cuts, Jem decided to do something that may just work. He picked up a bomb, lit it and waited until some of the bats came closer to him. However, he waited too long. 

The bomb exploded in his hands. 

Jem was on the ground. 

Alarmed, the others cut through the final enemies. Once they were vanquished, they ran to Jem, healing him slowly.

"Why is the medicine working as fast as it should?" Lulu asked, used to seeing these potions work. 

Indeed, while the potions let anyone heal at an increased speed, Jem's wounds did heal... but not as they should have. 

Slowly, he regained consciousness. Mumbling a few curses in his mother tongue, he excused himself, and left the room for a moment. When he returned, he looked... absolutely fine. "Let's go find a way to get out of this place," he said, completely casually, though his heart was racing. The others looked at him with wide eyes as they got up and followed him to the next room. 

The next room, in fact, was back in the main hall, confusing the group. Next to them stood a sign. "The door will only open once the beast's eyes are lit". 

"What does that mean?" asked Lulu. 

Always the silent force, Sisin picked up some flower bombs, tossing them into the dark eyes of the fish head. One by one as the bombs landed, the eyes lit, and the jaw of the fish opened slowly. With a silent shrug, she walked into the mouth of the beast, the others close behind. 

The room they walked into was quite large. 

And in it stood a large dragon-like creature. 

After some relentless fire-setting, bomb-throwing, rock-throwing and slicing, the dragon fell. 

It was a difficult battle. 

But once it was over, a door opened to the outside world, where Darunia greeted them, a smile across his face. 

"Hey! You did it! You freed our cavern!"

The group, covered in various cuts and bruised, looked at him somewhat incredulously. 

"You know", Jem started "You could have told us we were fight a dragon". 

"Ah, but what fun would that have been? Anyway, you wanted the stone, right?"

Lulu looked up at the mention of the stone and approached Darunia. "Yes please!"

Jem chuckled as he watched the Goron king hand over a beautiful red stone to the Kokiri child, who he was growing quite fond of. 

Darunia smiled at the group, and stretched out his arms. "You are now all the sworn brothers and sisters of our people!". Out of nowhere, two other morons appeared, reaching out to hug the adventurers who had saved their food and trade supply. Lulu and Jem hugged them back happily, while Shadow and Sisin, seemed... uncomfortable. 

Eventually, they all made it back down the mountain to Kakario village. It was late, their next adventure would have to wait until the next day. 

Lulu, Shadow and Sisin went to sleep almost right away, Lulu keeping the stone close. 

Jem had someone to visit before going to sleep. Although Tessa scolded him, he couldn't hold back a slight smile. He hadn't been fighting for years, since his brother went missing, and it felt great. Although he had almost died, it finally felt like he was doing something to help. 

"Why are you still smiling you almost died?" Tessa finished, looking at him with apparent confusion. 

Jem just took her in his arms and kissed the top of her head. "I know. But I think I know how I can help Will. It helps to have a path." 


That's it for this chapter! I know it's quite long but I hope you are taking the time to read it anyway! It's a lot of fun to write and it includes a lot of things I now hold to heart! 

Stay bookish!