Invasion, Part 13 - Isolation

<DM>	**LAST TIME ON ZURPG - Corsava Edition**
After losing your sisters to the clutches of Agahnim, you tried getting them back. Courtesies of some Keese fodder, you were able to use the Summoning Ritual, though when they returned, they appeared as Iron Knuckles. You tried to solo them, only to get flung away and convinced by Nabooru and co. with some anime speeches to fight alongside your sisters.

During the fight, you encountered one of the Gerudo kids, who found the bombs! As the fight grew and you saved more of your sisters from their iron captivities, Agahnim finally appeared. He possessed Ahlma and launched a barrage of lightning at you, only to get it reflected back at him Rey Skywalker style. You then continued the fight against him alone while the rest of the Gerudo evacuated the fortress.

With his lightning powers at his full, he was able to disrobe you of your stupid mis-written Robes of Infinite Wisdom, though it was too late for him. You shrugged off over a hundred damage, enjoy some purple pot, and laughed it off. At last, you encountered the bombs, saved Ahlma, and phase blanketed out of there while Agahnim got to enjoy a face full of explosives, along with Gerudo Valley and the rest of his army.

Blinded and deafened from the explosion, you tried to reunite with Nabooru and the others, but you found yourself at the mercy of the loading screen. Only time will tell where you end up... whenever it finishes loading.
<Corsava>	[dab]
<DM>	-=SESSION START=-
<DM>	*After spending weeks in the dark damp recesses of an explosion- wait.
<DM>	*After spending what feels like weeks in the blinding bright light of an explosion, you awaken to the sounds of sound slowly trickling down the walls around you.
<DM>	*Waking up and looking around, you're in what appears to be a dark temple, with sandstone walls that are gradually breaking down. There doesn't seem to be any sources of light, yet you can see what appears to be a dark ambience giving a subtle illumination to the area.
<Corsava>	[groans, slowly trying my weight on my legs, hoping they still work]
<DM>	*You find your legs do indeed work. In fact, you feel fine, though you feel a sinking feeling from all around you... and from sinking into the sands beneath you. Just slightly.
<Corsava>	[me looks around, trying to get a stock of my surroundings]
<DM>	*Nearby, there's an unconscious Ahlma. She's mumbling something incomprehensible. It's not the language that's unfamiliar, so much as she seems to be muttering about painful memories and nightmares, interweaving between one another.
<Corsava>	[me gathers her up in a bridal carry so that I don't cause her any injury if she's hurt, and floats using my cape]
<DM>	*Looking at her spirit, it seems faint and embroidered by madness, likely from Agahnim possessing her with the Mask of Truth that you sniped off his corpse.
<DM>	*You float up a bit and bump your head on the low ceiling. Some coarse, rough sand gets dumped on your face, and it gets everywhere.
<Corsava>	[looks up at the ceiling] Ugh, who puts a ceiling there?
<DM>	*Seems that although you endured the darkness in the Twilight Realm, you don't quite have dark vision.
<DM>	[Koume]: Why, your ancestors, of course!
<Corsava>	[me screws my sol orb into my sol mask to lighten the place up a bit]
<Corsava>	Koume?
<Corsava>	"Where are we?"
<DM>	[Kotake]: Don't forget about me!
<DM>	*After 3 god darned battle-filled sessions of silence, those two witches finally speak up.
<Corsava>	"Well you hadn't spoken up yet."
<Corsava>	"Is Destra in there with you two?"
<DM>	[Koume]: Kyeheheheh... I suppose you wouldn't know about this place.
<DM>	[Kotake]: You've flown into quite the place!
<DM>	[Koume]: Not by coincidence...
<DM>	[Kotake]: But by fate, yeeeeeesssss!
<Corsava>	No, I wouldn't. Look, I get that I'm the worst Gerudo ever, and don't know anything about our people, but...could you please be less cryptic?
<DM>	[Koume]: Yes yes, of course!
<Corsava>	Really?
<DM>	[Kotake]: But first, we'll need some room.
<DM>	[Koume]: Scooch on through that door over there, if you don't mind.
<DM>	[Kotake]: And make it snappy!
<DM>	*On the other side of the room, there is indeed a door, half-covered from the bottom-up by sand. The door itself seems to be rusted and slightly tilted.
<Corsava>	"Right...yeah, sure. What's through the door, anyway?"
<DM>	[Koume]: Well, you could always wall-hack with your Spirit Vision...
<Corsava>	[approaches the door, gathering up any of our things that may have landed with us, and tries giving it a tug or a push]
<DM>	[Kotake]: But do you really want to? Kyeheheheheh...
<Corsava>	"Do I have to turn it on? I thought it was a passive thing?"
<DM>	*As you're about to push the door open, you look through to the other side, and instinctively close your eyes for a moment.
<DM>	*Pain. Anguish. Torturing. Suffering. And from Gerudo souls, nonetheless.
<Corsava>	"It's written as a Passive skill, and says it allows me to passively see the spirits and souls of everyone, as well as things that only exist in the spectral realm. So I'm not sure I should have to turn it on."
<Corsava>	[wince] Yeah, should have seen that coming.
<DM>	[Koume]: Yes yes, but your eyes must be open for it to work.
<Corsava>	So what is this place, then? Ganon's harem room?
<DM>	[Kotake]: And opened they shall be!
<DM>	[Koume]: Hmm... no. If anything, I'd say it's...
<Corsava>	[takes a step through]
<DM>	[Kotake]: To be revealed in the next room!
<Corsava>	"Alright, master expositers, as you will."
<Corsava>	"Is...Ahlma alright? Can either of you tell?"
<DM>	*You take a step through the door you were trying to push open, and you find yourself merged with the door, thus finding your true purpose in life - one with a heritage of doorsmiths, to create the door they forge, and then become one with it- okay I'm kidding.
<Corsava>	"I'm a-door-able apparently."
<DM>	*You push through the sand, the grit, the tears, and through the fire and the flames, you finally open the door, and-
<DM>	.......
<DM>	*Corsava, as you enter through the doorway, doors fall and everyone dies, the end.
<DM>	*Okay, you emerge on the other side and find yourself in a broader room, one with a ceiling further than 2 feet above your head.
<DM>	*Holes in the ceiling let dim, orange sunlight filter into the room, with stone pillars extending from the ceiling to the sand-sunken floor. At the base of them , which are covered in spikes, skeletons of Gerudo are chained to them and each other, covered in dark blood, still wet to the touch. Some of the skeletons seem to have impaled themselves onto the spiked pillars.
<Corsava>	[winces] Someone had a very bad day here...
<Corsava>	[Casts my Efficient Mirage on myself and Ahlma, for...no reason.]
<Corsava>	[I'm not scared. You're scared]
<DM>	*Inside those skeletons, you can see the spirits of said Gerudo are still "alive", though unlike the lively spirits from those at the Spirit Temple, these seem to just be a bundle of madness incarnate. In fact, just by being near them, you can feel the Dark Mark that's coiled around your hand start to writhe in their pain, lamenting with sorrow and festering with suffering.
<DM>	*You notice your hand is naturally reaching out towards the skeletons. Do you let it, or do you force it back?
<Corsava>	[allows it, hoping that it will in some way end their suffering]
<DM>	*You let your hopes guide you, and reaching out with your hand, you expect it to siphon the madness. Instead though... the dark mark on your hand physically reaches out with a coil and stabs into the spirit. You hear the spirit scream out in agony, pulling you to the ground as you feel anguish like you've never felt before.
<DM>	*Memories of Anakin getting burned by lava and killing kids floods your mind- wait, wrong story.
<Corsava>	[recoils it back, adamant not to do so again]
<Corsava>	"Fuck!"
<DM>	*You pull your hand back, incidentally ripping the spirit from the skeleton. It floats in the air for a bit, a shocked expression on its... well, there's no face, but you feel as though you can see one in your mind as you ripped its memories. And then it goes silent and limp, finding peace in that there won't be anymore pain...
<Corsava>	[eyes widen]
<Corsava>	"I-"
<DM>	*The spirit burns out completely, and your Dark Mark recesses into your hand, enjoying the meal.
<Corsava>	"Did I just..."
<DM>	*Suddenly, the gems on your head glow brightly, blinding you momentarily. You feel the mark on your hand tighten, threatening to squeeze your fingers into one another.
<DM>	*The light fades, and upon looking down at your hand, it's not inside itself. In fact, it's pain free and back to being itself.
<DM>	*However, you can't help but notice something floating around you. Two of them, in fact...
<DM>	[Koume]: Prepare for trouble!
<DM>	[Kotake]: And make it double- wait, we did this speech already.
<Corsava>	Oh thank gods. Koume, Kotake, what the fuck did I just do?
<DM>	*Floating around you are the dark spirits of Koume & Kotake, using brooms made of pure pain and madness to fly around on. They whoosh and zoom throughout the room, weaving around the pillars and screeching in delight.
<DM>	[Koume]: Kyoooome!
<DM>	[Kotake]: Kotaaaaak!
<Corsava>	"I...I know your names."
<Corsava>	"We've had this introduction already."
<DM>	*The two stop flying around and go back to circling around you.
<DM>	[Koume]: Oh no, it's just that it's been so long, cooped up in there...
<DM>	[Kotake]: We just had to fly!
<Corsava>	Sorry, am I not spacious enough for you two?
<DM>	[Koume]: You'll need a bigger brain for that!
<DM>	[Kotake]: You've got the smarts, but not the space!
<DM>	*Koume just stares at Kotake for a moment.
<DM>	[Koume]: The heck does that mean?!
<DM>	[Kotake]: Uhh...
<Corsava>	Did...you just compliment me?
<DM>	[Koume]: Take it however you wish.
<DM>	[Kotake]: But it's an insult from me, kyeeeeeeh!
*	DM checks the time...
<Corsava>	[shrugs] Well, insults I'm used to.
<Corsava>	What is this place?
<DM>	*Let's see, between the times Koume & Kotake were absorbed into you, and the time of uhh... now... it's been roughly....
<Corsava>	What happened here?
<DM>	*12 hours. They've been cooped up in your head for 12 hours.
<Corsava>	And why did my mark react that way?
<DM>	*And as noted in the voicechat, you notice the gems on your head are inert. Dead as a dead parrot. Deceased. No more. Stone dead.
<DM>	[Koume]: Well honey, let me tell you...
<DM>	[Kotake]: Did you just cheat on me?
<DM>	[Koume]: Err... Well Corsava, let me tell you...
<DM>	[Kotake]: DON'T DODGE IT!
<DM>	*The master bickerers now begin their glorious journey into the lands of history and exposition to bring you a tale of plot and relevance. Well, without the Tingle.
<Corsava>	"Wait, are you two actually in a relationship?"
<DM>	[Koume]: Long ago, the Gerudo came upon a powerful artifact. One that would let them see the truth...
<Corsava>	"I assumed you were sisters."
<DM>	*Koume dodges your question with exposition.
<DM>	[Kotake]: And truth it let them see! But brought with it, madness it did, yes yes!
<DM>	[Koume]: It cursed the Gerudo in their isolation. They wouldn't just be separate from the rest of the world; they'd be cursed to stay that way forever.
<DM>	[Kotake]: No more men, only women! Speaking of, Koume, I do believe you're dodging the question of-
<DM>	[Koume]: They became so filled with a lust for power, for inflicting pain, and even feeling it, it destroyed the Gerudo society.
<DM>	[Kotake]: BLOOD RAINED DOWN FROM THE WALLS AND THE VERY SANDS! No seriously, did you really call Corsavy "honey" a moment ago, you cheating-
<DM>	[Koume]: To avoid their own demise, the Gerudo constructed a temple to contain this dark power. The truth would be contained and buried here, and it'd be lost to history, never to be awoken again.
<DM>	[Kotake]: But fate revealed that the dark prophecy of a demon knight-
<DM>	wait that's Rhapsody of Fire
<Corsava>	Corsavy?
<DM>	[Kotake]: But fate revealed itself to be a cruel mistress. The Gerudo would be unable to escape their curse, kyeheheheh...
<Corsava>	It wasn't contained, or lost, or never awoken, was it?
<Corsava>	Fuck, I'll bet it lasted all of a week, given the reliability of magic.
<DM>	[Koume]: Oh, on the contrary, it was never lost. It was contained with the Gerudo themselves, and even as they snagged husbands from the Hyrule marketplace- Kotake, did you call her "Corsavy" just now? I don't want to hear anything from YOU about cheating!
<Corsava>	So, are the two of you in a relationship, then?
<DM>	[Kotake]: The curse would be passed on to their children and their children's children! And no, that's what we've always called her, not "honey"!
<Corsava>	Oh god, which one of you got pregnant with Ganon?
<DM>	[Koume]: That curse was awoken one day with-
<DM>	*Koume finally snaps.
<DM>	[KOUME]: NO! WE'RE NOT IN A RELATIONSHIP, THERE'S NO INCEST BETWEEN US, YOU SICK TWISTED QUEEN, AND GERUDO CAN'T GET PREGNANT WITH OTHER GERUDO WOMEN, IT REQUIRES A MALE TO-
<DM>	*For once, Kotake does not retort. She just has an expression on her face...
<DM>	[Kotake]: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
<DM>	*Koume goes silent.
<Corsava>	Ummm...
<DM>	[Kotake]: Well well, deary. Go on. Finish what you were saying...
<DM>	[Koume]: I will NOT elaborate on that-
<DM>	[Kotake]: The story, ***dear***.
<DM>	*Koume goes a flush of hot red. She freezes it with her own ice magic, but the ice just melts off her spirit face.
<Corsava>	So, all of us are cursed to only have daughters.
<Corsava>	But, we've known that, though, admittedly, I didn't quite know the why.
<DM>	[Kotake]: Yes, yes! In fact, you have the cursed object in your very possession!
<Corsava>	My BLAST MASK!!!
<DM>	[Kotake]: Try looking at through a mirror sometime. You may just love what you see, kyeheheheh...
<Corsava>	"Wait...no"
<DM>	[Kotake]: .... Okay, not that one.
<Corsava>	"A mirror?"
<DM>	[Koume]: No, the Lens of Truth, you dimwit!
<DM>	*Koume seems to have finally recovered from uhh.... "elaboration".
<Corsava>	The Lens of Truth?
<Corsava>	[takes it out of my pocket] We cursed ourselves for generations for the ability to see the truth?
<DM>	*Kotake draws near it, itching to touch it, though she seems to be intentionally keeping just out of reach of it.
<Corsava>	Eh, makes sense enough, I suppose. I've certainly never been the most trusting person.
<DM>	[Kotake]: Yes... yes, that! It is that which we seek! Its power is what drives us to find the power within ourselves!
<DM>	[Koume]: And so we used it. Abused it. Funneled its power into our own. Revealed who we truly were...
<Corsava>	[puts it back in my pocket before Kotake has an anyurism]
<Corsava>	Did you like what you saw?
<DM>	*She gleams with a bright smile back at you.
<DM>	[Kotake]: Yes, yes! And to realize that power, all it took was a few sacrifices...
<Corsava>	"I've never liked myself much. I suppose it's natural that it doesn't have the same draw for me."
<DM>	*She very subtly motions to the uhh... massacre around you.
<Corsava>	[looks around]
<Corsava>	Oh...
<Corsava>	"Wow. For real?"
<Corsava>	So, did a *lot* of Gerudo do this?
<Corsava>	Or...literally just you two?
<Corsava>	I can't tell how inclusive the "we" is.
<DM>	[Koume]: Well, it started with us. But we tried finding a container for this power. A way to break our curse...
<DM>	[Kotake]: It was a *man*. A Gerudo man, that would break the curse of an only women tribe, and lead us to power!
<Corsava>	Oh no...
<DM>	[Koume]: But even then, sealed away in the deserts, the Kings we made with this power would simply erode and whittle away to the sands of time...
<DM>	[Kotake]: It was then with, with our true son, Ganondorf, that we found a new container for this curse...
<DM>	*You feel the Dark Mark on your hand tightening again.
<Corsava>	So, you created Ganon to contain the curse, freeing yourselves from it?
<DM>	[Koume]: Hmph, foolish girl, you still don't understand, do you?
<Corsava>	No. I don't. You could speak more plainly rather than being cryptic and dramatic, if you desired clarity.
<DM>	*Kotake puts her spirit hand on one of the skeletons, feeling the pain from the old soul, and reveling in it.
<DM>	[Kotake]: No, we found the truth. The curse freed us from ourselves! LIBERATION, you see!
<Corsava>	I'm more confused now than I was before you said that.
<DM>	[Koume]: You see, Corsava, Kotake and I... we're a bit "different" from the rest of the Gerudo. We don't seek to suppress and forget the cursed past in light of the Gerudo sun.
<DM>	[Kotake]: We seek to live and become it.
<DM>	[Koume]: And so we built a new container...
<DM>	[Koume]: You don't just carry Ganondorf's power within your Dark Mark, Corsava. You carry *the Gerudo curse itself*.
<DM>	[Kotake]: Relish in the pain it brings, and it will bring you power, yes, yes!
<Corsava>	I'm...afraid I don't understand still. It's clearly within every Gerudo. That's why we still can't have sons.
<Corsava>	Or...do you mean in a more...metaphysical sense?
<Corsava>	I'm not a wizard or witch...some of the magic concepts go over my head a bit.
<DM>	*You feel your Dark Mark guiding your hand towards another soul, as it hungers for more. Do you let it?
<Corsava>	[no]
<Corsava>	Do you have, like, a diagram you could draw?
<Corsava>	I do well with visual aides.
<DM>	[Koume]: ... Okay. What kind of diagram would you like?
<Corsava>	So, just...talk this through with me.
<Corsava>	The Gerudo cursed themselves to obtain this lens
<DM>	[Kotake]: Yes yes, they touched the lens, became mad they did!
<Corsava>	This curse prevents us from having sons.
<DM>	[Kotake]: So no Hylian male d-
<DM>	[Koume]: SHUT IT KOTAKE.
<DM>	[Koume]: Go on, Corsava.
<Corsava>	Right, so the two of you used the lens to look at yourselves.
<Corsava>	When you did that, it made you realize there was a way to release the curse from other Gerudo into a single person.
<DM>	*As you run the walkthrough, Koume is drawing a visual diagram in the air using her ice magic. How in the world it's not falling to the ground, you have no idea, but you decide not to sidetrack the confusion with that question.
<DM>	[Kotake]: And into one man after another, we did, yes, yes!
<Corsava>	So, you tortured and sacrificed your sisters, so that you could create a Gerudo Male capable of bearing the curse magic in greater quantity.
<DM>	[Koume]: Oh, but they just so deliciously enjoyed the pain.
<DM>	[Kotake]: Look around you, see, and feel it yourself!
<Corsava>	And, Ganon was one of these males created.
<DM>	[Koume]: Well... how should I put this...
<DM>	[Kotake]: Umm... well uhh...
<DM>	*You see them to try to explain... something, but all they can do is make some mutters. They seem to skip past the exact details on Ganondorf specifically.
<Corsava>	You raised him as a son, and he abused your love. He would hurt you, and use you as tools to accomplish his own ends.
<Corsava>	So...you created me?
<DM>	[Koume]: Well, more like he created you, so that'd make you...
<Corsava>	EWW!
<DM>	[Kotake]: But did he? She was just a sister, born of younger years...
<DM>	[Koume]: Yeah, but Ganondorf used his powers on her...
<Corsava>	Oh god, I used to have a crush on him!
<DM>	[Kotake]: And- wait what.
<Corsava>	Are you saying he's my father?
<DM>	[Koume]: What? No! Just your powers, you inherited from....
<Corsava>	Oh.
<DM>	*Koume's diagram starts to go... awry.
<DM>	[Koume]: Wait, that doesn't make sense, no it goes this way...
<Corsava>	Okay, so when you say he created me, you mean he infused me with the curse magic.
<DM>	[Kotake]: Uhh, Koume dear, I think we maaaay need to explain that one part about-
<Corsava>	Not...in a literal sense.
<DM>	[Koume]: Nope, got the diagram, forget those details, ONTO YOUR CURSE MAGIC!
<DM>	*The diagram corrects itself, and Koume just barely avoids talking about... that one thing.
<Corsava>	So, why did Ganondorf 'create' me?
<DM>	[Koume]: Yes, yes, he infused you with the curse magic. Not just of madness and dark powers, but now you too have the curse, yes, yes- KOTAKE, YOU VILE FIEND, I'M INFECTED WITH YOUR MANNERISMS!
<Corsava>	But...wasn't I always going to have the curse?
<Corsava>	For that matter, don't we *all* have the curse?
<Corsava>	Why does how much of it I have make a difference?
<DM>	[Kotake]: Yes, yes, well you see, Ganondorf tried to "create you" for the war against the Dark Interlopers.
<DM>	[Koume]: But it's we who took that curse, and molded it in darkness, and, and....
<DM>	*She goes bright red again.
<DM>	[Koume]: Come on, Kotake, you can explain this one, can't you?
<DM>	[Kotake]: And why should I? I'm just a "vile fiend" to you, aren't I?
<DM>	*Koume whirls around a few times, then looks at you from atop her Ghibli-sized pointy nose...
<DM>	[Koume]: Well, umm... you see... ahem.
<DM>	[Koume]: The Gerudo men from before, they were the product of uhh... husbands from afar, you see.
<DM>	[Koume]: But uhh... Ganondorf specifically. He uhh... ummm.....
<DM>	[Kotake]: You see, Corsava, when a woman and another woman loves each other VERY MUCH-
<DM>	*Koume finally sputters it out.
<DM>	[Koume]: He's our actual, true son.
<DM>	*She hides her face in the sand.
<Corsava>	...Oh, for real?
<DM>	[Kotake]: Yes, born of two Gerudo women! And we only got here, thanks to the cursed power of torture and suffering, yes, yes!
<Corsava>	Is that what's bothering you, Koume? I'm not judging you for that.
<Corsava>	I mean, the torture and suffering I'm judging you for a little bit
<DM>	[Koume]: For the record, we're "sisters" in name only, it's NOT actual incest, you perverted UUUUGGHH!
<Corsava>	But I killed my family, so...
<Corsava>	Koume, do I need to tell you about *my* sexual history for you to stop feeling judged?
<DM>	[Koume]: Uhhhhhh..................
<DM>	[Koume]: ............... well I suppose I-
<DM>	[Kotake]: ANYHOW!
<DM>	[Kotake]: You see, el Corsava, you and many others were imbued with that same power, passed on from Ganondorf, the first "true son" of the Gerudo...
<DM>	[Kotake]: And since you were the only one to survive, you alone now bear and harness not just the pain of the Gerudo curse, but the key to breaking it!
<DM>	*Koume's flowchart is finally complete. It looks something like... uhh.... ever seen what spaghetti looks like?
<Corsava>	Okay.
<Corsava>	"So, how would I do that, if I wanted to?"
<DM>	*Koume looks at her diagram, then crashes it into the sand below, forgetting it ever existed. She continues...
<DM>	[Koume]: Well, my dear Corsava, I'm glad you asked...
<DM>	[Koume]: If you would like the Gerudo bear more true sons, and break our curse...
<DM>	[Kotake]: You'll need to harness its full potential.
<DM>	*She motions towards your Dark Mark, which you now notice has been starting to creep up your arm. Something about this place seems to be naturally feeding it energy.
<Corsava>	"So, letting it absorb more power?"
<Corsava>	"How will making it stronger break its hold over us?"
<DM>	[Koume]: It's not absorbing power. You're absorbing pain and madness.
<DM>	[Kotake]: But in order to do that, you must inflict it upon your victims! Free them of the curse, you see, by absorbing the very curse itself!
<Corsava>	"Will I be able to bear it?"
<DM>	[Koume]: What, kids?
<Corsava>	"No."
<Corsava>	"I mean, even I must have a threshold for madness."
<DM>	*Kotake takes out a fan made of fire and slaps it over Koume's innocent little head.
<Corsava>	"I don't want to become twisted and hateful like Ganondorf."
<DM>	[Kotake]: Well, that's where we come in. Any madness you think you cannot bear, we can hold onto it for you, kyeheheheh!
<DM>	[Koume]: You will not bear this pain alone, Corsava. We have your back.
<Corsava>	Why would you do that for me? You don't owe me anything, and I wouldn't hold you to it even if you did.
<DM>	[Kotake]: Because, giving us your madness means we're FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
<DM>	*Kotake goes flying around in excitement, clearly glad to not be stuck inside your head.... for only 12 hours- I mean uhh...
<DM>	[Koume]: WRYYYYYYYYYYY!
<DM>	*Koume shares in the excitement, nearly colliding with Kotake.
<Corsava>	[sets Ahlma down]
<Corsava>	"I see."
<DM>	*You try to set Ahlma down, but the hand with the Dark Mark uhh... won't let her go.
<Corsava>	*What?*
<Corsava>	[places my other hand on the wrist of my Dark Mark hand]
<DM>	*You see the dark arrows stop crawling up your arm, floating above and ready to wrap around Ahlma, but your other hand gets in the way.
<DM>	*You manage to loosen your unintentional grip on Ahlma, resulting in the dark arrows tying your two hands together as you struggle against yourself.
<DM>	[Koume]: Now now, we just told you about your curse. Why would you stop it?
<DM>	[Kotake]: Eat the pain, eat the madness!
<Corsava>	Because I've met Ganondorf. I don't want to be someone who subjugates others, and I'm worried that the curse made him that way.
<DM>	[Koume]: Well, he was bearing a war on his shoulders...
<Corsava>	"I want to help my sisters. I want to keep them safe, and make sure that the world can be better for them."
<DM>	[Kotake]: Desperation made him desperate, you see!
<Corsava>	"Why is the curse acting on its own?"
<Corsava>	Is it conscious?
<DM>	[Koume]: Hmm, well, it's uhh... I suppose it just may be.
<DM>	[Kotake]: Fed much power, it has, mhm, mhm!
<DM>	*You've been looking at these two long enough, and now that the power on your wrist has grown a bit, you can't help but notice something juuuuuust a bit off...
<DM>	*Through your Spirit Vision, there seems to be dark threads, wrapped around your hand, as if given life by... well, you're not the only one in the room.
<Corsava>	"Unless, that is, it's not."
<Corsava>	You two *know* I have Spirit Vision.
<Corsava>	[takes out the Lens of Truth]
<DM>	[Koume]: So? What does that mean?
<DM>	[Kotake]: It's not like you can just see the truth in our souls with just your Spirit Vision- wait. What are you doing...?
<Corsava>	"Now, tell me again. Will drawing the madness and pain into myself enable me to break the curse?"
<Corsava>	[looks through the lens]
<DM>	(Are you looking at them through the lens?)
<Corsava>	(yes)
<DM>	*Koume's about to answer, when she notices that you've noticed...
<DM>	*You use the Lens of Truth, and with its power amplified by the temple's energy (the place meant to originally hold and contain your powers), you can see far more than your measly Spirit Vision....
<DM>	*It's not just tiny little dark threads. These are spiritual chains, warped and mangled by the torture and sacrifices inflicted by Koume & Kotake, and their souls themselves, though they may speak through good intentions, are wrapped in flames of misery. Bright, demonic eyes smile at you from within their souls, asking, begging you to stop fighting your own power. Hungry for darkness, for malicious intent. You can see it dripping and oozing from them, leaking out into the sands and intensifying the energy around you.
<DM>	*However, in the peripheral vision of the Lens of Truth, you notice something else flaring, particularly from Ahlma...
<DM>	*Would you like to look at her through the Lens?
<Corsava>	[yes.]
<DM>	*You check out Ahlma (you checkin' her out, bro?)- err
<Corsava>	(probably)
<Corsava>	(Corsava's not suuuuper subtle)
<DM>	(indeed!)
<DM>	*You check out Ahlma, admiring her figure, though your vision is blotted out by the flames of madness swirling around in her soul. You're not sure why you couldn't see it with your Spirit Vision earlier. In her mind, you can actually see what she seems to be experiencing in her comatose state. Nightmares killing other Gerudos, slicing and strangling them with her own hands. You're not sure if these are memories or just visions, but it all feels so real to you.
<Corsava>	"Ahlma!"
<DM>	[Koume]: There's only one way to save her, you know.
<DM>	[Kotake]: She was masked by the madman. Only one thing can save her from her sleep!
<Corsava>	"Yeah, I know."
<Corsava>	[heavily sighs]
<DM>	[Koume]: So what's stopping you? *Do it.*
<Corsava>	"Do you two want to know why I resist the mark?"
<DM>	[Kotake]: *Dew it!*
<DM>	[Koume]: Because you're afraid?
<Corsava>	No.
<Corsava>	Because of what's inside of both of you.
<Corsava>	You talk about power, and greatness.
<Corsava>	But you're both miserable.
<Corsava>	You feel like now that you've gone down this road, there's no turning back.
<Corsava>	And I *know* that deep down inside you, there *is* a part of you that can see what you've let yourselves become.
<Corsava>	In your hearts, you must know that feeding on the suffering of others hasn't made you happy.
<Corsava>	I'll take her madness, but not to empower myself. I just want her to stop hurting.
<Corsava>	I *love* my sisters.
<Corsava>	and I love myself too much to allow myself to become like Ganondorf did.
<DM>	[Koume]: But... but...
<Corsava>	[kneels down beside Ahlma]
<DM>	[Kotake]: The sons of the Gerudo!
<DM>	[Koume]: We could have men in our society once more!
<Corsava>	"Why is that so fucking important?!"
<DM>	[Koume]: Because.... we'd be breaking.. our.... uhh....
<Corsava>	[snarls] "If we just allowed them in our fucking fortress to begin with, we'd have barely noticed the curse even existed!"
<DM>	[Kotake]: But, that's dangerous, you see! We can't just let others into our fortress, infect us with their lies!
<Corsava>	How has that worked out for us?
<Corsava>	When the army of whatever came, who did we have to call upon?
<Corsava>	How effective were we at fighting them alone?
<Corsava>	How did Ganondorf's reign fare for our people?
<DM>	[Koume]: Well it uhh....
<Corsava>	He brought us to ruin with his malice and hate, and you honestly think that the solution is to dive as deep into it as we can?
<DM>	[Kotake]: He uhh.... rose to power and uhh.... he did uhh..... umm...
<Corsava>	Why are our people so OBSESSIVELY terrified of just letting people in?!
<Corsava>	WHY can't we just be vulnurable with people?
<Corsava>	Do you think that if you let someone in and show them who you truly are when you're not pretending to be something else that they'll only hurt you?
<Corsava>	LOOK AT YOU TWO! You love each other!
<Corsava>	Opening up to each other hasn't hurt you.
<DM>	*You see Koume and Kotake scramble to continue justifying their words and actions, but they end up just staring back at you, completely flabbergasted.
<Corsava>	[turns away from them, to Ahlma] I don't care if I never have a son. I don't care if we never have sons again.
<Corsava>	But I care about your pain, Ahlma.
<Corsava>	I care that you're my sister and you're in pain.
<Corsava>	And if this turns me into a monster, then I'm so sorry, because I'll have failed you.
<Corsava>	But I can't just let you stay in pain.
<DM>	*With anime speeches abound and words directly from your heart, you feel a light within you grow from within. It pushes the pressure away, letting yourself become a light in the dark...
<Corsava>	[focuses my power and does my best to get rid of her pain and madness, however I have to]
<DM>	*It's not quite enough to overwhelm your dark powers, especially with the Lens of Truth in hand, but... it does clear your mind for this one task.
<DM>	*Having just incidentally tortured a different Gerudo soul into the abyss, you now channel your efforts into Ahlma, letting the dark arrows wrap around her. Before you commit the siphon, you hear a voice from a different spirit within you...
<DM>	[Destra]: Are you sure you want to do this?
<DM>	[Destra]: If you do this, I cannot protect you any longer, Corsava.
<Corsava>	Destra...
<Corsava>	I don't know what's best. I don't know how you'll feel about this, but...I don't know of another way to stop Ahlma's pain, and I need to.
<Corsava>	I *need* to.
<DM>	[Destra]: I understand.
<Corsava>	I would love not to have to take it into myself.
<Corsava>	But...I don't think that's an option for me at this point.
<Corsava>	You're an amazing person, and I've been blessed to have your protection.
<Corsava>	Thank you.
<DM>	[Destra]: And I have been blessed with witnessing your words and actions make you into the Queen the Gerudo need. Thank you, as well.
<Corsava>	[draws the pain and madness out of Ahlma]
<DM>	[Destra]: Very well. Good-bye, Corsava.
<DM>	[Destra]: Just remember... Ganondorf wasn't born evil. My brother was a good king for some time. May you find a way out of this darkness...
<DM>	*With that, Destra's voice goes silent. You no longer feel her presence within you.
<DM>	*As you finish siphoning the madness out of Ahlma, you notice that Destra's spirit ended up protecting her from the pain and agony.
<DM>	*The flame within Destra's spirit grows smaller and smaller... until it blinks away. A thin veil of light now surrounds Ahlma, as one last gift from the sister of Ganondorf.
<Corsava>	[sinks down, mourning the loss]
<DM>	*You didn't feel any pain yourself drawing the madness out, but now that it's complete, you feel the mark creeping further up your arm, gobbling up its most recent acquisition.
<DM>	*It reaches up to your elbow, and you start to lose the feeling in your right arm...
<Corsava>	"Well, I won't be able to hide it under a glove anymore..."
<DM>	*Now, with nothing to protect you from the overwhelming might of the darkness that surrounds you, you start to feel... woozy.
<Corsava>	[puts the Lens of Truth away]
<DM>	*Looking back up at your surroundings, the skeletons are gone, instead replaced by Gerudo of old, with crumbling, flaky skin. You can hear their words, and they start to echo inside of your head...
<DM>	"Blood feels so good."
"Make it stop."
"The sun can't find me anymore."
"The blades are all around me."
"Make it stop."
"Make it.... continue."
<DM>	*Among all of this, a certain image pops into your head. Every now and then, when you blink, you see it.
<DM>	*The crazed yellow eyes from the red and purple mask. The origin of madness incarnate...
<DM>	*Its image remains fuzzy and indiscriminate, yet you can't get it out of your head...
<Corsava>	Koume, Kotake, I want you two to look around.
<Corsava>	I want you to tell me, honestly, without the lens,
<Corsava>	are you proud of what this room says about you?
<DM>	*You look around for Koume and Kotake, but they're no longer floating in the air. You see them among the dead Gerudo, gnawing on their dead skin, using the blood of their ancestors as lotion for their wrinkly skin.
<DM>	*More and more voices echo around in your head, and you can't tell what direction is what anymore...
<Corsava>	[sighs] Of course you are.
<Corsava>	[sits beside Ahlma and does my best not to ignore the voices, but to not let them trouble me.]
<DM>	*You sit down next to Ahlma, but she herself rises up, her own skin flaking and now bleeding profusely. She stares deep into your eyes.
<Corsava>	"what th-"
<DM>	[Ahlma]: What have you done to me, Corsava? Is this the power you hold inside of you?
<Corsava>	"this...this isn't real."
<DM>	*As she speaks, her voice distorts more and more.
<Corsava>	"I'm hallucinating."
<Corsava>	[closes my eyes]
<DM>	*At that moment, you finally feel someone SMACK you across the cheek, and all at once, the voices stop.
<Corsava>	[blinks]
<DM>	*You open your eyes, and everything is back to how it was. Except Ahlma is now awake, NOT horribly mangled, and she's dead in front of you- wait, wrong choice of words.
<Corsava>	"Ahlma..."
<DM>	*I mean, she's in front of you. Close. Not dead.
<Corsava>	[slightly smiles]
<DM>	[Ahlma]: Corsava! You're finally awake!
<Corsava>	I...awake?
<DM>	*She takes her arm off your head and draws herself back a bit.
<Corsava>	No, you were aslee-
<Corsava>	...where are we?
<Corsava>	[looks around]
<DM>	[Ahlma]: Well, not asleep, but I mean, you were looking fairly.... out of it.
<Corsava>	[gives her a tight hug]
<DM>	*You're still in the Cursed Temple, there's still spooky skeletons all around you, and Koume and Kotake are still playing tag in the air.
<DM>	*As you hold her, you hear one last voice from Destra...
<DM>	[Destra]: I can't protect you from it any longer, Corsava. You must endure it now...
<DM>	[Destra]: Majora's Madness.
<DM>	*You hear a distorted laughter in your head as something grand and overbearing overwhelms you. It's-
<DM>	-=LOADING=-
<DM>	-=LOADING=-
<DM>	-=SESSION END=-