NIGHT 66: North of the Institute

[his_legacy]

[From here]

Link could hardly see the ground as he hit it with a small splash, collapsing himself into a roll to break his fall. This ground was uneven compared to the courtyard and playing field. It was like landing in a grassier version of Death Mountain.

By now, the rain had soaked through to his skin. He was shivering.

The Hylian boy tried and failed to take in his surroundings. The darkness was just as bad out here. If not worse. The air smelled heavy, as if there was a dense fog settled around them. He took a glance to the east, where Sora had told him the river supposedly lay, before looking back up the wall to wait for Sechs.

This was not going to be an easy trek.

Comments

[nobleman]

[From here.]

Guy landed hard, though the wet ground gave him a softer fall than he usually would have had to deal with. The rain was still pelting down on him, causing his clothes to stick to his skin and forcing him to shiver every few seconds from the cold, but he did his best to ignore it.

He spotted the beam of his flashlight cutting through the darkness and moved over to grab for it, relieved to find his sword nearby. Both items were now coated in mud, but Guy had known the second they'd stepped outside that they wouldn't be getting through the night without getting pretty dirty.

At least they'd be more or less clean by morning.

He stepped away from the wall and turned to watch the others make their way down. Hopefully everyone would be careful -- they didn't need to deal with a sprained ankle on top of everything else.

[earthling]

By the time Claude scrambled over the vines and dropped down onto ground with an undignified grunt, he was winded enough that he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to keep up with Guy and Luke. The weird symptoms were enough to make him drag under normal circumstances. Having to cross muddy terrain through a torrential downpour on top of that was just plain exhausting. He figured it was likely the same for Anise, considering she'd needed help to climb up the wall.

But this was all for a good cause. Hell, it could wind up saving not only their lives, but the lives of other people who were affected. Of course, that was assuming their trip even panned out how they wanted it to, but Claude didn't want to start second-guessing himself now.

After a moment of feeling around across the wet ground, Claude's light lit up his sword. Once he reached down with a gloved hand, he lifted the dirty blade from the ground and waited for everyone else to regain their bearings.

[dispersive]

Luke jumped from the wall and tumbled down, rolling through the wet earth. He came up muddy and just a touch unhappier. They may not have been his personal clothes, but it was still incredibly embarrassing to be this soaked and this dirty. Well, he didn't have long to wallow in his own surliness. He turned back to the wall for Anise, holding out his arms in case she needed catching.

"So what about the monsters around here? Aren't we kind of... exposed?" There were four of them, sure, but two were sick and there could be innumerable gangs of them wandering in the night, especially the flying ones. If he lived out here and this was the kind of weather he had to deal with, you could bet he would be pissed off and looking to fight anything to let off a little steam. Remembering that night by Doyleton, the replica couldn't help but look up into the dark rainy sky, just in case anything started circling them.

[gald_digger]

Anise carefully worked her way down until she was at a safe height, then allowed herself to drop to the ground. The grass and dirt squished under her feet, and she half-stumbled backwards... landing in Luke’s arms. She looked up at him in confusion first, but that expression soon changed to a pleased smile. “Ooh, my hero!” she cooed, savoring the moment before finally straightening herself and preparing to walk.

As for Luke’s concerns, she could see where he was coming from, but… “Well, if you look at it the other way, it’s harder to get ambushed or cornered out here.” It couldn’t hurt to be a little positive, even if just about everything else about their situation sucked.

[nobleman]

As Guy watched the display between Anise and Luke, he just smiled to himself and shook his head. It was a relief to see that they could both still have a sense of humor considering the circumstances. They needed to lighten the mood a little, especially when the pouring rain was doing its best to dampen it.

Once it seemed that everyone had gathered their items and was ready to go, Guy turned toward the wilderness ahead of them. Claude and Anise had been to the forest with him before, so they would all know where to go. Once they got in there, hopefully finding the river wouldn't be such a hard task.

Guy veered to the right and trudged through the mud, trying to find the clearest way through. With the weather, it was going to be hard to spot the forest in the distance, but with four pairs of eyes looking they would probably be fine. "Yeah, we just have to hope that the rain caused them to take shelter," he said. If that was the case, then the downpour might actually be a blessing in disguise.

[earthling]

Claude had traveled enough to know that monsters didn't always care about the weather, especially if they were hungry, but he wasn't about to rain on anyone's parade (hah). Besides, their group had weapons and special abilities at their disposal. As long as they kept their eyes peeled, he hoped they could prepare for themselves for whatever might come at them.

Staying a few paces behind Guy, Claude made sure to keep his light pointed ahead so they could find the best path possible. The rain tapped against the hardhat, creating a steady white noise that rattled through his head. He gave a small frown.

"Do you think the river might flood?" he asked no one in particular.

[gald_digger]

The river flooding? Anise hadn't really considered that, but with how heavily it was raining, she realized it was possible. "That would suck," was all she said about that. They definitely didn't need more obstacles and dangers getting in the way of finding a plant that may or may not even be there.

As they walked farther and farther from the institute, the trees and foliage around them, once sparse, was growing thicker. Anise slowly turned her head left and right, looking over her surroundings thoughtfully. "Hmm... this looks kind of familiar, right? We've got to be on the right track... I think."

Okay, it was pretty hard to be confident about that when everything looked so different in the storm. But that was what her instincts were telling her, and she hoped the others felt the same way.

[nobleman]

It was definitely much harder to remember where they'd gone before when the soil and the trees looked different in the rain. The dirt was a darker color, and all of the leaves and branches of the trees were pushed down by the weight of the rain. Still, the fact that looked to be getting lusher seemed like a good thing.

If the river ended up flooding, then this place really would be working against them, and Guy would be tempted to just throw in the towel. Why all the clues, and why the time limit, if there wasn't a way to stop all this?

"Yeah. We just need to keep pressing forward, and hopefully we'll see the forest soon." Guy wiped some moisture from his face and let out a sigh. He was freezing in this rain, and he couldn't imagine Anise or Claude felt much better. Both of them were troopers, for pushing themselves so far when they felt ill.

[earthling]

In all honesty, Claude was probably the last person to ask when it came to figuring out how navigate this area. Not that he had no sense of direction, but he didn't have the lifelong experience with wooded areas that some of his friends did.

Normally, they'd listen for the sound of rushing water once they reached more trees, but Claude wasn't sure how easily they'd hear it over the storm. Since they were working in a group, though, he was confident that someone would be able to figure out where they should go.

He hoped someone could do it, anyway.

"I remember going this way before." That much he knew, and it was all he really had to go off of now. Chilled and soaked to the bone, Claude found it hard to think on anything outside of that.

[dispersive]

"Alright..." Hopefully Luke's agreement didn't sound as dubious as he felt. The last thing they needed was to be walking around in circles in the cold rain. He didn't know much about medicine or care, but it didn't seem like the best kind of situation for two sick people. It wasn't like he had any other ideas, though. The three of them seemed confident enough in the direction they were heading, so the replica followed along. He certainly hoped Guy was right about the monsters finding shelter in this awful weather because he was in no mood to pander to any little roving bands of surely beasties.

But soon a dark line began to form on the horizon. It was hard to make out through all the various shades of inky black, but it seemed likely that it signaled the ridge line of a forest. That made Luke breathe a sigh of relief.

"Look! That's what we want, right?" Hopefully there weren't two forests!

[gald_digger]

The walk was getting monotonous, and it was getting harder to stay positive as Anise grew more and more tired and wet. And cold. It was really starting to feel cold.

But when Luke seemed to see something, her head snapped up to see, and immediately she seemed to get her second wind. "Uh-huh!" Anise chirped excitedly, trying to put a little enthusiasm back into the atmosphere. "That's totally it! Let's go in!" She managed a few lively steps towards the thickening trees, for emphasis.

Maybe the trees would provide some cover from the rain... not that it really mattered at this point. Anise was already completely soaked.

[to here]