The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 27 - A Mountain Lake

            …with the bugler in tow behind him. The bugler’s icy breath bit at his heels as he skated across the room towards the furnace. There was a flight of stairs between the two rooms, allowing the bugler to gain on Link as he climbed them. Link launched a fireball at the furnace, before dropping down to the ground. He slid across the ice, bumping into the side of the furnace.

            The bugler started to turn around above him. Link grabbed the bellows for the furnace and before pumping air into them. The flame leapt up in a giant burst, engulfing the remaining bugler in its flames. The monster sputtered and died.

            As the last of the bugler vanished, the heat from the furnace began to race through the pipes connected to it. The thick ice walls began to melt rapidly as the heating system was completed. Water began to fall down in waves, knocking the paintings off the walls. It filled the room up to the top of the stairs, which was about three feet of standing water.

            The heat returning, Link returned to the previous room. Freya was hanging on Frostbar’s shoulders as the yeti waded through the water. Bruce was wading through the water with some difficulty in his plate mail.

            Steam began to rise as heat returned to the room. Link walked out into the water, keeping the Sage’s Rod above the water. Bruce passed him and climbed up the stairs to solid land. He said as he began to drain his armor of water, “This is more like a water temple.”

            Something moved in the water. Link looked around, the shape hiding beneath the portraits as it moved around the room. He quickly switched back to the Master Sword. That fire wouldn’t do him much good fighting something beneath the water.

            Freya climbed up as high as she could on top of Frostbar’s shoulders. Bruce took a few steps closer to the water, looking out over it, hoping to see something from his vantage point. Link pushed one of the paintings aside, trying to get a better look.

            In a moment, the creature raced up and wrapped itself around Link’s hand. Link slashed, cutting the bottom of the monster off. The part wrapped around his arm fell off, lifeless, before dying with the rest of its body. Link braced himself, as another pair of the creatures surged out of the water, wrapping themselves around his other arm.

            Frostbar was fighting against a good number of the creatures, but they weren’t long enough to pull him down. The yeti shouted, “They mean to drown us in three feet of water.”

            “Three feet of water may be all it takes,” Bruce returned as he batted away the creatures from where they were spring up the steps to grab him.

            “These must be the spawn of that ice snake,” Frostbar commented, wrenching one arm free. “Those these don’t appear to have its icy touch, thank the Goddesses.”

            Breaking his arm free at last, Link sliced through the two that were holding him down.  He began wading back towards the stairs, hoping to find where the monsters were coming from. More and more of the ropes tried to grab him, but Link held his ground.

            After a struggle, Link managed to pull himself up the stairs next to Bruce. Frostbar was scrambling up a wall, trying to get him and Freya out of the mx. Bruce asked, “How are we going to get out of this?”

            Looking up at Yore, Link asked, “Can you burn a painting?”

            “You could. These appear to be oil paintings; they would burn quickly if you could get them lit.”