LoZ: Seed's of Calamity.

Quiggley slowly flutters down beside Praxius when he skids to a hault. Having noticed his dejected mood on the journey through Hinox territory, asks quietly out the side of his mouth as he watches the rest of the group deal with stick, "Know what you receive if you take a Hinox in battle, if you know, your not dead after? ... Bragging rights!"

Quiggley turns his head and looks at Praxius then waffles his silver eyebrows with a smile, before returning to watching the diplomatic efforts with stick.

"It is more about learning new things about creatures I have not seen before, than bragging rights", Praxius says seriously in reply to Quiggley.

His face then creases up and he guffaws with laughter. He pats Quiggley on the back, "I jest, I jest", he says.

"I have encountered many dangerous things and survived. To survive one of these...Hinox's...would be worthy of your bragging rights for certain".

The stick waves the stick it is holding at your Theo, moving it around in the air as if it is some sort of mighty weapon. "HEY IM TALKI-" It is interrupted by Paca, who looks upon this creature with a sense of familiarity. 

"P-Paca? Is that you?" It lowers its fearsome weapon, floating a little closer to the Kokiri. "IT IS YOU!!!!" It's squeal is nearly as high pitched as that of Rae's, the Zora seems to be enjoying the small display put on by the creature. 

It twirls in the air, releasing another puff of leaves that gently fall onto softly flowing river. "What are you doing so far from the forest?.....And with such interesting traveling companions no less!" It looks over your companions Paca, while the Korok has no facial features to be read. You get the sense that it is more than a little surprised by the motley crew of individuals who you are traveling with. 

Putt, listens intently to Rae. Pointing it's stick towards the Zora. "You may pass with my blessing Rae of the Zora's" It performs a slight bow towards you Rae, playing the part of a mighty champion. 

Quiggley stops wagging his eyebrows a Praxius gets serious until he gets the laugh and the blow to the back.

Then he smiles back, " But if we are being serious; Hinox's share some similarities with their cousins. The Moblins and Bokoblins, being bipedal and having Hog like features.

Hinox's are solitary creatures and rarely if ever associate with other Hinox's or their much smaller cousins. Typically they claim a large piece of land as their territory and patrol that territory looking for any who crosses into it.

No matter what they are or what they are doing, the Hinox will kill and take their belongings. Hoarding it for themselves, the most valuable of which they keep on their person. The rest of their hoard is well hidden and often not far from where a Hinox slumbers.

Like their cousins, Hinox comes in a vast array of different colours. The most common of which are Blue and the rarest being Black.

They are loud and despite their massive size, slow on their feet.", Quiggley whispers with a smile as he gets scolded by Sir stick or Putt, Paca's long lost childhood friend?

Praxius eyes seem to glaze over slightly as Quiggley explains in detail all about the Hinox.

"Kill the Hinox, get some nice stuff?", he summarises when Quiggley finishes. "I've heard worse plans. Although that is not why we are here, and we cannot go and help Dagoro if we are dead", he adds with a frown, obviously torn.

He notices Quiggley is now no longer concentrating on their conversation, and turns to regard the Stick.

"Oh, are we crossing now?".

Rae smiles brightly at Putt's response and does a playful curtsy, "Thank you Lord Putt."

Despite given permission to cross, Rae stays on the river bank and allows Paca to converse with Putt.  All the while, she smiles and delights in Putt's mannerisms and motions as he speaks.

"Putt, great to see you, how is the afterlife treating you?" He then looks around his companions. "Oh, well, I recently set out from the forest after finding out I had some magical powers. I came across these folks and we kind of bonded over some stuff. And by stuff I mean fighting off an army. Anyways, that's kind of why we are here. One of the creatures that were part of this attack is after a deku sprout. The one in the eastern orchard, we are here to check on things. Have you seen anything suspicious going on?"

Theo just watches the conversation from the other side of the bank. When Rae talks to Putt, he gets lost in memories of the past. Remembering how he played and talked with Merry in his youth. He winces at the memories, pushing them out of his mind. Theo doesn’t say anything, and waits patiently as the conversation goes along.

"Oh It has it's perks." The Korok spins playfully in the air, Lowering a little more to get to eye level with Paca. Immediately Lizi leaps off your shoulder and flutters around the Korok. "Although I do miss the taste of food. Not the act of eating, Honestly not having to eat has given me ALOT of freetime. Yet I miss the taste a ripe Wildberry." It returns Rae's curtsy with a slight bow of its own, again waving its stick as if granting you permission to cross its river.

"Something wants to attack an Orchard?.......BAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" The Korok tumbles head over heels in the air with laughter, although the Laughter is hollow and noticably without inflection. A side effect to its current state, It speaks through magical means as is unable to change the tone or pitch of its voice. "You do not need to worry Paca, We Koroks protect the Orchards. In more ways than one." It waves its stick again. 

This time you can all see a shimmer of green magic hum in the air, revealing a large wall surrounding the entirety of the orchard. Theo, On the other side of the river bank is just outside of it. "Without permission from a Korok, nothing can enter the orchard. If you have questions, Im sure the Sprout would be more than happy to answer them as best as they can!" It waves its tiny arm to you all as a passage opens in the shimmering wall, allowing access to the Orchard. 

Paca, remembering the "king" , will try to decide if the korok Putt is who he says he is. 

Insight: 31

"Well, everyone, I apologize for the misadventure here. I was just so concerned after giving away the secret of the deku sprout being here to the poe. If Putt here says everything is safe than I agree. We can move on to help Dagoro. Unless anyone else has any business here?" Paca breathes a massive sigh of relief. "Thank you Putt, Koroks4lyfe pal." Paca winks to Putt

"Afterlife?" Rae mumbles to herself after hearing Paca says the word, "Putt is dead?"

The zora looks curiously at the korok, unsure about the biology of its being.  Nevertheless, the korok was cute and seemed to be friends with Paca so she kept her skepticism to herself.  After Paca reassures everyone that Putt's word could be trusted she speaks, "Well, we came out of our way to get here.  If the group agrees maybe we can stay here for a day or two to rest our legs?  If anything we can take off to Dagoro's in the morning tomorrow."

Praxius listens to the exchange between Paca and his friend, happy to hear Rae wondering about the living status of Putt as well. At least he wasn’t alone in confusion.

”It would be a shame to come all this way without even venturing into the orchard”, he says. “Although helping Dagoro I feel is a little more urgent than resting a couple of days. Leaving first light tomorrow would be fine though”.

He looks to Paca, “Can we go in?”.

"Paca? Sir? Putt? Can you detect the invisible or illusions at any time? Remember the Poe could both turn itself invisible and appear to be someone else. Were you checking for such things when you opened, the shield?, just now? Or when you might have opened it before we came here in the last few days? The creature is evil and tricky!", Quiggley will remind everyone with his questions.

"Yes Rae, afterlife. One day I will also become a korok. Hopefully not for awhile yet. A korok is a kokiri who has passed away. A great blessing gifted to us by the Deku Tree." Paca contemplates Quiggley's thoughts for a bit and says "You know Quiggley, those are some very good questions. I wouldn't doubt the powers of a korok though. Why don't we all go in and have a look. I may as well speak to the deku sprout while I am here since you all seem OK with staying for the night."

Quiggley will land at the beginning of the stones and if no one does anything to vault his progress will fly from one stone to the next to cross the river.

“At least we made sure the Poe didn’t get here,” Theo says. “I’d say we can spend the night here, seeing as we’re allowed into the Orchard.” He nods to Putt. “Leaving at first light sounds good to me. We can get some rest before we continue on to Death Mountain.”

"How interesting!" Rae said as Paca explained about the kokiri afterlife, "A species that spends the afterlife still in the living realm!  If that is the case, do you still consider death a tragedy?  And what happens if a korok is killed?"

The zora was full of questions about kokiri biology, but the zora stopped herself short.  As it sounded like the party was going to spend a night in the orchard, Rae took to crossing the river.  The zora took retreated back several steps from the riverbank before taking a deep breath.  Rae ran towards the river and leapt over its length with ease.  (Rae uses a ki point for Step of the Wind to double her jumping distance.)

"The Shield is only the first layer of defense, It is produced by myself and.....a few others. Other precautions to protect the Orchard have been put in place by both the Hyrulean King and the Sprout itself. Trust me when I say, if you are not welcomed into the Orchard. You are not getting in." The Korok gently floats across the river as each of you move across, there is a ntoicable puff of green magic when both Rae and Praxius effortlessly leap across the river. 

"Uh.....It's kind've a secret Rae of the Zora, but we Koroks arent really 'alive' in the traditional sense. Death is still a tragedy for the Kokori in the sense that we no longer have the freedom to do what we wish, when we want to." Again, while the pitch of Putt's voice does nto change, simply because the creature has no vocal cords. There is a sense of remorse, regret that this particular Korok did not do all that it wished when it was 'Alive' 

"But Im sure the Sprout would be more than happy to speak to you and permit you to stay as long as you wish! It's been so long since we've had guests!" The Korok spins in the Air, ushering you all through the opening before waving its stick once more. A bright shimmer falls into the air, closing the opening. 

Now you stand within the outskirts of the vibrant Orchard, amidst the vast array of colours and sweet smelling fruit. The Korok leads you further in, past the sign post you had seen which simply reads "Nayru's Love" 

Putt the Korok bounces playfully in the air, twirling and spinning as it leads you into the orchard. 

Praxius leaps the river and wanders into the Orchard, looking up at the shield as he goes through the gap.

"What is so special about the Sprout? If you don't mind me asking", he says as he walks on.

"Are we allowed to eat the fruit?", he adds, noticing the delicious looking fruit around them. 

The fact that Kokiri and Koroks seem to have a very unusual life phases, or death phases, is something he really doesn't want to dwell on.