A Haunted Expedition
moonfallmerchant:
ratherformidable:
Shad watched the young child and Farore wander off. He used to be rather naive when it came to covert operation, but plenty of experience with Telma’s Resistance–and some well-timed smacks upside the head from his good friend (friend?) Ashei–amended the problem. Though he still felt a twinge of guilt when he was required to suppress what he felt to be the superior virtue of honesty.
Nevertheless, the two departed, and Shad clasped his hands. “So,” he began when they were out of earshot, “we read in your notice that there has been strange activity from Ikana castle? Why don’t you start there–unless you would rather move the discussion somewhere more appropriate?”
He sidestepped Haeyin and stood beside him on the doorstep. They couldn’t forget they were not yet indoors. And the sooner he could ask why he allowed a child barely hip-high to command his research, the better!
Haeyin met Farore’s glance with an understanding nod, proceeding to turn his attention back to the scientist and the matter at hand. The man seemed grateful for the Oracle’s intervention, breathing a relieved sigh as he watched his daughter leave with her. As Shad spoke up again, his eyes lit up, eager to resume the discussion about his findings.
“Yes, indeed,” the scientist replied, he beckoning Shad and Haeyin to follow him inside the musical house. “Please, this way!”
Haeyin lingered on the doorstep a moment longer after the other two men had gone inside, taking a final look across the canyon. The energy here was restless as he had always knew it to be, and yet somehow it felt… different. As he entered and closed the door behind him, he wondered if the scientist’s findings would shed some light on why that was.
The inside of the house was surprisingly plain compared to the colorful nature of it’s exterior. There was a certain warmth to the furnishings that suggested they had been mostly handcrafted, accented by trinkets atop the fireplace mantle and posters from Clock Town along the walls.
“Do mind the machinery on your way down,” the scientist called, already halfway down the stairs that lead to what Haeyin assumed was the basement - and the scientists lab. “Wouldn’t want the music to stop, after all.”
“Why is that, exactly?” Haeyin asked curiously, speaking louder as to be heard over the ticking cogs and increased volume of the music as he descended. The wall across from the bottom of the staircase was nothing but machinery, looking very fittingly like the inside of a music box. The wall beneath the stairs, however, was covered in notes and photographs, nearby crates and tables littered with the scientists research. Illustrated diagrams of Gibdos, Garo robes, and other spirits could also be seen from where Haeyin stood.
“The Gibdos,” the scientist explained, gesturing to a photograph on the wall. “The song keeps them at bay - from storming the house, you see. It took me a long while to find something to deter them, but I finally had a breakthrough some years back.”
Haeyin avoided giving the man a dull stare by inspecting a map of the surrounding area that lie open on the table. Perhaps they were attacking the house because its presence disturbed them after all.
“Actually, the Gibdos are part of why I put that flier up at Telma’s,” he continued, looking between Haeyin and his scholarly associate. “For a time, shortly after the incident with the moon in fact, the activity in the Canyon quieted down considerably. I no longer needed to play the music, for the Gibdos were no were to be seen. The ghosts and creatures that lurked in the shadows vanished without a trace as well. It was as if.. well, it was as if they had all found some sort of peace, I suppose.”
A tender notion, Haeyin thought, but it was the fact that they were there that suggested this did not last. The scientist leaned forward, tapping the section of the map that indicated the location of Ikana Castle.
“My sensors indicate that whatever is going on here.. it’s brought the Gibdos back.” The scientist’s tone was both grave and.. morbidly intrigued, excited and unnerved all at once. “I have to know what it is. What could possibly bring the dead back from the grave? I would investigate it myself, but.. Pamela, she’s very adamant that I don’t. That’s where you all come in.”
As the little girl took her hand, leading her through the immediate area, Farore could only assume that she had lived here all her life. She knew the bends in the road and the undulations of the canyon as well as she knew the back of her own hand, and she navigated them with ease. It was admittedly impressive, but deep down inside Farore felt uneasy at the thought of a child so young having such knowledge of a place as terrible as this. She realized, as Pamela helped her over a particularly uneven patch of rocky terrain, that there was an unusual sense of irony to this uneasiness.
“Goodness, you’re much more nimble than I am!” Farore exclaimed, letting go of Pamela’s hand to dust off her skirts. She expected everything she was wearing today would need a thorough cleaning when she got back to the tavern… whenever that would be. “Does your daddy often let you explore alone? It must be awfully frightening, out here all by yourself.”
Pamela was quiet for a moment, fidgeting with the sleeves of her dress. “Sometimes,” she admitted. “But it is scary, especially after what happened to Daddy.”
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At the first mention of gibdos, Shad felt a shiver flutter down his spine. He rubbed his shoulders with his arms as they descended through the murky stairwell to the scientist’s lab. He knew that music often had an affect on enraged animals and often served to placate them...but appeasing the dead?
He shook his head. He couldn’t imagine the nightly anxiety he would bear, knowing the haunting melody floating above their heads was the sole defense between his home and child and the terrors out of doors.
While the strange man went on, Shad digested his words and gnawed the inside of his cheek. His explanation did little to comfort the scholar. In fact, as he described the re-awakening spirits, a sense of foreboding swelled in his chest and caused him to tap his fingers against crossed arms.
“Just a moment,” Shad interjected. He removed his glasses to wipe them on his shirttail. “Am I correct to understand that the gibdo have risen and once again pose a threat to your property? That is...are they returning to your doorstep and seeking you out here?”
He looked at Haeyin, searching his face for affirmation. “After all, spiders dwell in the shadows of cellar corners, but their existence doesn’t justify my seeking them out.”
“I suppose...” He faced the scientist again. “I suppose I must know--from one researcher to another, my good fellow--what do you believe you stand to gain from this expedition?” He swallowed hard, both out of guilt for dragging Farore and Haeyin across time and space after this wild goose chase, and...something else.