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Link Late Afternoon
Faron Woods Entrance

A bit of a trip on horseback from Ordon for Link, and not long from warpgate for the rest. The birds are singing, the leaves are billowing in the wind, squirrels cracking at nuts inside their trees. As everyone groups up, Link nods to the others, and then pulls at his map, dragging his finger across a route.

"Here is where we go."

After everyone's had a chance to look, he rolls up back the map and puts it in his big bag o' stuff. Then, riding his reddish-brown horse, Epona, into the woods, Link leads the way.

Most of the trip is uneventful. However, eventually, there's a sound of rustles in the leaves, and strange not-quite-humanoid gestures and language that vaguely means 'shinies!'. Whether caught unawares or not, suddenly, a group of goblin-like creatures, red-skinned and bulbous, attack with clubs and cleavers to rip into the party.

"Bokoblins!" Link calls out as he grabs his sword and moves to defend himselves. Looks like this is their introduction to Faron Woods - it's full of monsters.
Sanary Rondel Maps are good! Weapons are good. Knowing where to put those weapons is very good. After their first encounter with bokoblins, Sanary's ready with her weapon already drawn today. An axe is hanging off a shoulder strap while she glances around steadily and jogs along to keep up with Link and the horse, and a heater shield is slung over her back.

"You know... This ain't such a bad place when you're tryin' to fix things up." She comments with a lazy yawn, sliding to a stop once she realizes that they're under attack from red and brown minions. Spitting out a lump of something, the healer draws her weapon, then gets to work smashing it right into their weapons as test of strength. She even takes time to parry a blow or two with that same axe just to show off!

"Link! You ever try eatin' one of these?"
Riku Riku rolls up along with the others, having walked here from the warpgate. The environment doesn't quite seem to agree with the white-haired teen, but he soldiers on with a flat expression through the area. Once they reach the woods, he looks over the entrance, and nods. "Well, that certainly looks like a forest path." He gestures. "All right. Let's do this."

He walks along, his eyes darting as he examines the situation. He frowns at the rustling, as if expecting something to jump out, but nothing does. A hand clenches for a moment, but he simply looks ... a little on edge.

Finally, however, it comes... And the Soul Eater flashes into Riku's hand as he lunges in, darting through the Bokoblins and slashing at high speed past and through the group. "You don't belong here!" He says, simply, as he dances around the clumsy strikes.
Staren     Staren shows up in his armor and flies a broom into the woods, following Link.

    When the bokoblins show up, he floats out of melee range and blasts with the beam cannons built into his armor. Watching curiously how effective this is against local monsters.
Rean Schwarzer This isn't Rean's first time being in a monster infested forest, and it likely won't be his last. Though, the monsters from his world were decidedly more animal than humanoid 90% of the time, so fighting pig-men (Bokoblins?) was a bit weird. Still, he draws his sword and gets to work, slashing his way through the mob.
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore vowed to help Link in his quest, and is here to do so. Even through the first, seemingly small and simple quests. They sounded like they'd still useful information and gear, and that was enough for her.

This time she was not alone as she accompined the party into the woods at the direction of Link's map. At her side was a creature akin to a fox in build, except for instead of fur she had the blue slightly damp hide of an amphibious creature, fins for ears and a tail fluked like a dolphin.

Athela has been through dangerous woods and swamps enough to know not to take the initial calm at face value. Sure enough they are eventually set upon, but in her readiness she quickly has Resolute Blade up to block a club she's being bumrush with, vying with it's weilder for a bit before finally shoving him aside and stepping back. "Sprite, Icy Wind!"

"Vaporeon!" The creature leaps in front of the knight as she's commanded, opening her mouth to spew out a blast of frigid air at the attackers. It's painfully cold, and while not enough to freeze entirely the frost and rime starting to form from it may make their limbs harder to move and weapons more difficult to lift.
Link The group dives in to attack. It's not a big hunting party of bokoblins like last time, and there's no moblins around to help them. The group is also not dallying by presuming innocence, so immediate,y they move to show off. Sanary moves in with supreme strength and an axe, and smashes their clubs into splinters. The bokoblin panics and moves to start throwing rocks at her, but she can easily parry that and slice through it.

Riku is way too fast for them. The strikes are indeed clumsy, so he can dance around them and slice through several of the Bokoblins, torn apart by the Soul Eater. Those that remain try and dart away from him for someone else, but that means getting vaporized by a beam shot, or sliced into by Rean's expert swordwork.

The last few Bokoblins get slashed into by Athela's blade, before the frost blows over them, freezes their limbs, and allows them to be destroyed.

Every bokoblin slain vanishes. They leave behind horns, which for those with any knowledge in it at all, seem like they could be good medicinal ingredients. Link scoops up some and puts him in his bag. But these don't sound to be all the bokoblins, as there's sounds of a wild bokoblin party going on aways from the group. Not in their direction, it seems. If the rest of the bokoblins had heard the fighting, they'd probably come, but it seems they haven't.

"We should continue with the mission. We can deal with their camps later."

Link would then continue on horseback forward for a while, expecting the others to follow, though marking the map in the progress of where the camp is. Eventually, though, as they progress forward, a fog starts to build up, and the trees thicken, making it hard to go anywhere but straight.

And eventually, the group reaches a clearing, with three paths. The fog is so thick it's hard to see anything through the trees beyond the clearing, and there's no sounds of birds or animals anymore. Even the war party has been drowned out.

But there is the sound of something - a flute, or maybe a trumpet, or some cross between. It's clearly coming from the center direction.

"Be careful. They say those who get in the Lost Woods become Stalfos, skeletal monsters..." Link says, blandly but a little cautiously, clearly worried.
Staren     The monsters vanish and leave loot. Hmm. A bit weaker than he expected too, to be dispatched THAT quickly. He nods at Link's comment about dealing with camps later. He wonders about the ecology of these things, but Ordon Village has no monsterologist, so he'll have to figure out how to study and exploit them later.

    "They say? Who's 'they'?" Staren asks, and starts sending quadrotor drones down the paths, though he'll follow Link if Link hurries on.
Sanary Rondel A few rocks to the noggin later, and Sanary's back on her game! She has to show off, after all, especially with all the swords being brandished between almost everyone here that isn't named Staren or Athela. Once the last bokoblin is slain, the healer gets to healering as a green light comes out from her hands and swirls around each of the Elites present to linger around and patch up any wounds they've sustained.

And then she loots a few of the horns. Will she know what to do with them? Probably not. Stuff's stuff, though, and she's not going to leave free junk laying around. "Say... Don't we already not belong here if we ain't even from around here?" She snickers lightly at her own joke at Riku's expense, then pauses when that ominous music comes from the paths before them.

"Creepy. Uh... Hmn. Well, we can't get too lost if we move in a staggered line or somethin', right?" Smirking confidently, the healer moves down the CENTER path while turning to hold her hands out as if measuring the distance between her and the rest of the group. "About... This long should be good, I think. can't get too lost on a friggin' path, right?"
Athela Valemore That was easily taken care of. "Probably a small scouting party?" Athela muses. "Vaaa," Sprite agrees, her fin-ears perking and spreading fully at the sounds of more in the distance. Though after a moment she shakes her head. "They're moving away for now? Good. Like is right, we best continue before they notice their comrades missing and come investigate."

The traverse through the Woods continues, and as the mist starts to get thicker Athela frowns. She's use to mist and fog from living on the coastline, but there was something... off-putting about this fog. It was nagging the back of her mind, tweaking her divine intuition with how it could easily conceal and ambush. That has her constantly glancing over her shoulders, and her Vaporeon heeling closer to her side to not get seperated. "Vaaaaaa.."

"It is unsettling, yes." As Link mentions the lost become skeleton creatures, she huffs lightly into her bangs. "Many worlds have such legends." A pause. "And in many cases such lore is based upon nuggets of truth."

As the others more suited for scouting ahead investigate their possible routes Athela keeps her own guard up, occasionally turning part way to examine what little of the way they came she can see, and the boundries of the clearing where it fades back into the mists.

Watching their backs while the group figures out the way to go. It hasn't been a long trip and she already does not trust this place.
Riku The Bokoblins are dispatched, and Riku turns to nod at the results. He bends down and picks up one of the horns, looking them over. He frowns for a moment, and tucks one away. Not for him. He's no alchemist.

He nods. "That sounds like a good plan." He says to Link, and follows along, banishing Soul Eater for now. It's always at hand, it seems. He frowns as the fog gets deeper, his hand going up to wave at it uselessly.

"Great." He deadpans as Link comments on the fate of those who get lost. "Do you know the trick to it, or were you hoping to just guess?" He asks the Hylian. He looks between the paths carefully, and gestures at the center path. "This one seems to have some kind of music coming from it. Maybe that's a hint." He heads down the center direction with the others. It seems the obvious answer, and there's nothing saying anything otherwise.
Rean Schwarzer The handful of Bokoblins were dispatched fairly quickly. Then the group moved onward, opting to leave the bigger group alone. Rean nods, following along. That's not what they were here for, anyway.

They eventually reached the point where Faron Woods became the Lost Woods, and if the map and the name wasn't enough of a warning, this dense fog defintely was. The only identifer that there was anything out here was the sound of music coming down the center path. The legend about the lost turning into skeletons didn't really instill much confidence in this place's safety either. But, they had a job to do. "We've already gotten this far. May as well keep going." Rean says, shrugging.

Sanary suggested they at least try to stay together. "Good idea, Sanary." Rean says, following behind her.
Link "The stories of those who have lived here for ages." Link responds to Staren, as they approach. Staren's drones all lose contact, no matter which of the three paths they take. If Staren tries to try the path behind them, it also loses contact through the fog. Despite the fog, Epona is fine travelling, trusting Link's instincts and guidance.

Link shrugs to Riku. "Guess?" He absolutely does not know the trick to the Lost Woods, but it's easy enough, because travelling through the center path leads the group to something.

First, it leads them to Staren's drone. This drone is currently being used as a seat by a child in a straw wizard hat, a reddish-leaf brown cloak, and a skull mask that hides his odd face. He's somehow playing the flute, while an identical child carrying a long stick drums on the drone. It can be reactivated at Staren's leisure, but has zero memory or footage of what happened as soon as it lost line of sight. It doesn't even have footage of the kids.

The Skull Kids giggle as soon as people approach, and wave. They do not speak. The flute-trumpet player goes back to his odd instrument, which is a flute with three trumpet horns connected to it.

There are three more paths. Unlike before, there's no sound coming out of any of them.
Athela Valemore "Uh." Athela and Sprite stop to watch the little display of the skull-masked children. They look at each other. Then back at the skull kids once more.

"Vaporeon."

"Yeah. Kind of remind me of Clefairy too." Probably the playfullness of this shenanigans "Just... creepier."
Sanary Rondel So much for your fancy tech, eh? You just gotta trust your eyes more!" Sanary says as her magitech eye continues functioning and allowing her to see at all. Her confidence grows even more when they find that clearing with the Skull Kids, eyeing each of them curiously and raising her free hand in a lazy wave.

"Hey there. Uh. You kids lost or somethin'?" Hanging her axe off her back again, the healer approaches them with a broad smile and pops a squat by the one with the flute trumpet. "We're movin' through this place to get to a...."

Where were they going again? "... Place. You wanna come with us?" She looks up briefly to try and get a better earful of whatever might be coming down from further down the paths, but scratches her head after a moment. "I don't hear nothin' down any of those ways, though..."
Riku Riku shrugs and travels along. "We'll figure it out." He says to Link. As they move on into the next clearing, Riku almost pulls out his blade again as he sees the Skull Kids... But when he sees they're not being aggressive, he relaxes and straightens up. "Uh... Hi there." He says, waving to them... And of course they don't talk back. Just keep playing. "We're trying to pass through. Could you tell us what direction to go?" He asks the Kids.

He looks back Athela, and nods. "Reminds me of some of the beings from my world too. Thankfully, these aren't trying to eat us." He looks back, hoping one of them might be kind enough to give something resembling directions.
Staren     Staren re-establishes contact, and frowns at what he finds. He glances at Link to see if these things are monsters, but... apparently not. So he tries talking. "Who are you two? Why are you here in the woods?"
Link The Skull Kids do not respond as they're talked to, except to laugh. "Tehehe..." They speak in unison, and then are asked if they want to follow along! Link crouches down to reach their level as one jumps off the drone, and moves over to Sanary, tapping his foot and gesturing at her wildly.

Riku's question gets a point of directions. Specifically, two different directions, center and left, one per kid. They start tapping their feet rhythmically as they stand up, gesturing towards themselves and then to the group with a finger waggle. As they start doing that, the flute player fires up again, playing that ominous song.

The Skull Kids do not go down either path. They wait to see what the group decides to do.
Rean Schwarzer "Uh...Hi." Rean says, returning a wave to the Skull Kids. Were they spirits? Fairies? Or were they just normal children, lost in the fog? He raised a finger to correct Sanary on where they were going, and then realized he forgot too. "...Where WERE we going?" He asks, turing to Link.

The Skull Kids then proceeded to give conflicting directions - Center, and then Left. Rean sighs. That's not helpuful at all! Unless...

"Maybe we need to go right?"
Sanary Rondel Sanary awws audibly at the creepy jerks, apparently rather amused by that creepy demeanor and the skull masks rather than being put off. Looking over at Link and Rean, she perks up just a bit at the latter's question. "To the... Outside of the forest, yeah? I mean, unless there's somethin' we're looking for here specifically."

She rubs her forehead lightly, then holds a bent arm out towards the Skull Kids while watching their tapping and waggling and flute-trumpeting. "Probably. Alright, who wants up?" She waits to see if either of the Skull Kids will take her up on the offer to climb onto her shoulders, then starts towards the RIGHT path as Rean directed. "Maybe we can find somethin' to eat on the way through...."
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore just sighs and shakes her head. "As I was saying about lore often having an essense of truth."

These weird, slightly creepy kids in skull masks could certainly propegate that sort of story. Though that doesn't mean that they were once normal isn't true. They just have no way of actually verifying it, do they?

"Whatever way we go, we should not dwaddle long. We may be purused."
Staren     Staren shrugs. "We'll shoot whatever's pursuing us. Sure... we can try right. But we stick together."
Riku Riku nods to the Skull Kids, looking confused for a moment. "So, uh.... Can't decide on the direction, huh?" He looks around, and shrugs. Well, he's pretty sure he can still get OUT if he has to. "Thanks for the tip, though." He says to the Kids as he turns to the others. "Well, if you want to try right, go for it. We're not getting any younger.
Link The Skull Kids laugh at Sanary in a good-hearted fashion, but refuse her gesture. Instead, they keep the foot tapping going.

The group decides to go right. The Skull Kids shrug and follow after them, dancing through the pathway, spinning about, as the one with the stick taps it against the ground. Instantly, vines sprout from the treelines and the fog to try and trip people up, with the consequence of burying them and trapping them forever if they get caught. They just giggle about the vines, which ignore them completely, and actually go pretty light and slow on Sanary specifically. Being nice may have had a benefit.

But if the group gets through to the next clearing, with a single path, the kids aren't hostile or anything. Instead, the next clearing is a small pond, with stone platforms. The water looks foul, and unsafe, as the kids jump onto the platforms and begin dancing again, gesturing once more to the group with a finger waggle.
Staren     Staren slashes at the vines with beam sabers. "Don't you start, forest! I will BURN YOU DOWN!"

    And they get to a small clearing with a pond and no other way to go? Staren sighs, and sends a drone upward.

    He folds his arms. "I'm not checking the water. Last time I did that I got a nightmare parasite living in my brain. /Through the armor/."
Sanary Rondel "So it is opposite day! or... Somethin'." Sanary chuckles as the kids follow them along on the right side path, stumbling every now and then at the few vines that do come out at her. They might be going easy on her, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily easy for her.

And then there's the pond with the platforms. Peering at the platforms and the water between them, the healer's looking rather skeptical of even attempting a jump. "Careful, everyone. Uh. I'll go after the rest of you. Keep an eye on things back here and all. Besides." She taps on her axe and shield. "I.. Er. Might tip over the whole dang thing if I land on any of 'em with all this on." She glances back at the path they just took to see if she can even see back the way they came, then turns back to wait her turn in trying to jump across!

The gestures from the Skull Kids, meanwhile, have Sanary starting to mimic the waving of her fingers. "Is this a clue or somethin'? Maybe we're supposed to... Put our hands in the water?"

And then Sanary dunks her hand in the water to test this theory.
Staren     Staren watches Sanary with interest when /she/ checks the water, though.
Athela Valemore Choking vines spring up and Sprite leaps back with a yelp. A reflexive response being a Water type, as Grass attacks would be a weakness, and she promptly hides behind her master.

Best place to be, as Athela slices through any that get too close with her glaive. She shoots a scowl after the Skull Kids, but presses on. This is important!

And then a pond. That shouldn't be much of an obstacle, despite it's foul look. Athela walks a bit closer, considering, but pauses when Staren speaks up of past experiences. "... Maybe best not to tempt fate." She's not going to risk trying to waterwalk across it, or let her pokemon swim. Although.

Athela clenches one hand, causing some frosty motes to ripple around it as she eyes the Skull Kids hording the platforms to themselves. "We could attempt to freeze our own path across, if they're going to block the way like brats," she mutters to the rest of the group.
Rean Schwarzer Nope, nope, No thank you. No getting tangled in vines today! Rean slashes at the vines with his sword, occasionally igniting it for extra damage.

As for the pond well...Someone had to go across. Rean edged towards the path in the water, preparing to go across. "If I turn into a skeleton, I'm sorry." he said stepping into the water.
Riku Riku doesn't slash the vines unless they actually touch him. Otherwise, he settles for hopping around, ducking, and tumbling about to keep them from getting him.

Once they get to the next clearing, he looks over the pond and platforms. Then up at the Skull Kids on said platforms. "So you like to play games, huh?" He asks them... And then he turns his gaze to the platforms and turns to a tree, leaping up and rebounding off of it at high speed in order to get to an open platform. He watches the Skull Kids and smiles. "So let's play."

At this point, he watches to see how they react, working to leap to other platforms and get them moving in such a way that they inadvertantly create paths for the others.
Link As Athela calls the Skull Kids brats, they waggle at her more and more, continuing the gesture as they dance around on the platforms.

Sanary dips her hand in the water. It's not acid or anything, but it's super gross and possibly full of disease, and it /does/ sting. She should...probably clean that immediately. There is no magical trick regarding it. They just have to get past the pond and to the exit, and the stones are the easiest way across.

Rean is probably going to catch a flu or something awful, but, wading the pond...actually works. He should probably go to a doctor immediately after the mission, but he is able to get to the pathway on the other side. His skin will burn, he'll start feeling sick, and if he /ingested/ any of the water, his stomach will immediately feel ill.

Riku's weird idea works, but not for the reason he thinks it does. As he leaps to platforms in a rhythmic high-speed fashion, the flute playing speeds up, and the kids leap from platform to platform, opening the path for the others. They can move across. Hmm.

As they cross through the next path, there's no vines attacks. The Skull Kids are behaving right now.

They reach another clearing, this time with no 'pathways'. Instead, up between the trees is a massive log, closed shut except for a two-person shaped hold at the top. The only way to get up there is a bunch of platforms, swaying on vines and made of wood. The Skull Kids both land onto a single one, dancing together, and then leap down back to the ground and do their weird foot tapping, dancing, and gesturing to do something.
Staren     Staren flies across as others cross the pond. Oh, it goes somewhere. And now there's an obvious hole. "Can anyone not fly?" If Sanary and Raen complain about burning skin, he'll spray them down with nanomachines that try to remove harmful chemicals and microbes.

    And if anyone can't fly he'll use the natter manipulator to add platforms or a ladder to the log.
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore tilts her head, watching.... and is glad she did not opt to try with her own abilities. Even if she can run across the water instead of wading in, contact alone may of been enough. Fortunately Riku's effort seems to have cleared the path for them.

She looks down to her pokemon. "Just in case," she murmurs, and taps an aquamarine gemstone on her belt. Sprite nods, before disappearing in a swirl of watery essense that is contained into the pokegem.

All in all, with her own nimbleness Athela has little trouble hopping from stone to stone and proceeding onward. As for the others that dared the water... Well, Sanary is a healer, is she not.

And the next venture onward leads to... vines and platforms, it seems. Hmmm. Athela stops, looking up, watching as the Skull Kids jump up and then back down again. "We need to go up there?" She squints a little. "That's the only opening?"
Riku Riku mostly figures the Skull Kids are bored as hell and looking for someone to play with. I mean, he would be too if he was just sitting here in a foggy forest forever. Also, these things are kind of fairy-like. And he's had to deal with those. Play by the rules and you get farther, faster, than if you cheat.

Usually.

Riku looks up at the platforms, and gauges the situation with a moment's examination. "Looks like we have to climb. Hope you guys are able to jump." At that, Riku does just that, using his superhuman agility to land on a platform. He shifts his weight, using it to swing back and forth so he can leap to the next. He repeats this process as he climbs up, trying to get to the top.
Sanary Rondel Cleaning is not a thing Sanary is particularly equipped for. Healing, sure, and she can at least try to mitigate some of the awful burning that way, but she'll have to leave actual cleaning for later. "Gross... Ergh. Well, this works. I think." She's about to follow Rean's lead when he starts wading through, too, but stops once the kids start moving to follow Riku. She waits for anyone else that needs to jump before doing herself, albeit carefully since tipping the whole thing over is still a worry for her.

She also cheats a bit with boosts from her anklets. In retrospect, she should have remembered that she could just fly with those things.

Once the group makes their way to the new clearing, Sanary sends some of that glowy green healing light Rean's way while trying to sort out what they're up against next. It's... more platforms!

"... Yeah, those things're gonna snap if I try headin' up that way." Taking a seat by the Skull Kids, she watches the pair idly while peering at those platforms. "You two sure like dancin' and hoppin' around, huh? Wish I had the kinda energy these days..." She chuckles lightly and rubs her neck, tapping her heels on the ground steadily while mulling over her options.

"Maybe... Flyin' would work, yeah. Alright, who needs a lift?" Sanary shifts into a squat, waiting for whoever's going to take up her offer before using the power of FLIGHT ANKLETS to just cheat her way up there. She doesn't have the same agility that Riku does, after all, but she can at least manage with that!
Rean Schwarzer "...Ow..."

Unsurpisingly, the lake was acid. Still, he managed to get across, but now everything burned. Luckily Sanary and Staren had it handled, and healed him a bit. "...Thanks." They all moved on "I can't fly." Rean says raising a hand.
Link As Staren builds a ladder, and various people try and fly instead of take the platforms, the Skull Kid with the stick taps it against the ground rhythmically. Everyone who bypasses the platforms suddenly sees tree branches swing out to smack them back to the ground unless carefully avoided, and it's very difficult to avoid them. They hit hard enough to send people cratering back, but not really do too much in the way of injury. The kids just giggle again. They can probably force their way with flight, but there's an alternative.

Riku has some problems, in that the platforms sway back and forth rapidly. Unlike the others, the branches don't swing out to hit him. It looks like the Skull Kid is mad at 'cheaters'. The Skull Kids move to follow him, stopping on each platform to dance some more, and waiting to see if the rest of the group comes as well.
Staren     Staren cuts the branches with a beam saber. "Second warning, forest." He turns back to Link. "What exactly are we trying to get to, again? And which way is it? And is this forest full of anything but monsters?"
Sanary Rondel Sanary gets smacked back down for her trouble, although not right away. She's sturdy, but she's not particularly mobile, and the quantity of branches ends up forcing her to take a breather to heal those concussions away.

"Urgh... Okay. That's a... Fine, fine." Groaning lightly, she looks up as Riku makes his way up followed by the Skull Kids, then resumes playing along! Slowly.

Also, she might accidentally break some of those platforms on the way up. Still, it's a better alternative than getting smacked by weird magic branches.
Athela Valemore Athela Valemore cringes sympathetically as people are swatted down from flying. At the same time, this is exactly why she waited to observe the situation first. She may be headstrong, but not quite so callously reckless in charging ahead. "Some of you could stand to learn to adapt instead."

Athela takes a running start to leap onto the first platform, then pauses to adjust her balance with the swaying motions. Though it's not unlike keeping one's footing on the shifting deck of a ship at sea.

She waits for it sway back in the direction of another platform and leaps off again, this time with a burst of water behind her for some extra propulsion. The elemental charge stays with her feet as she lands again, sliding across the surface as it sways to keep her momentum before leaping to the next.

And continue her way up in that manner, being wary of any surprises to try and stall her progress.

And probably rolling her eyes at Staren, but she's not going to let that distract her focus.
Staren     Staren tries to fly, and attack the branches. If they continue not to let him pass, he starts working on blasting his way through the log.
Riku Riku figured that they would take exception to things. His read seems to be accurate. "Don't skip the challenge!" He calls to the others... And he slips off of the platform, grunting as he grips onto the edge, catching it just before he falls off. "Nnngh!" He grunts, pulling himself rapidly back up as he tries to get back in position again, and looks back to the platforms. "Just take it slow and careful!" He says. He tries to take his own advice, timing his movements to try to put him into position. "You really like this, don't you?" He asks the Kids, but he just turns back and tries to time the next jump, yelling as he leaps.
Rean Schwarzer "Ok, fine, we'll do it your way." Rean mutters, jumping up the platforms.
Sanary Rondel "Got it!" Sanary calls out to Riku, scrambling to get on top of a platform without so much as even turning her anklets back on. She's got good jumping strength, but actually landing where she wants to is tricky!

"Shi-er. Damn, this jumping stuff is a pain. How do you two do-" As she's about to ask the Skull Kids something, she notices Staren going after the branches and furrows her brow. "Oi! You saw what happened just now. You trying to piss off this forest ghost or... Whatever that was?"
Link The tree branches hit harder and harder as Staren continues to try and fly, and as he starts /shooting/ at them, massive logs fire out of the trees into him. He might be able to push through it, but it'll be very painful, because the logs are magical and rough. Platforming is the easiest pathway up, and is proven to work, because everyone who platforms manages to get up there, like Riku, who manages to reach the pathway.
Staren     Staren's battered by logs. And a voice which he takes to be the forest has spoken on the radio, which he adresses directly, to no apparent response.

    Staren is the Hand of the Concord now. Does the Concord let magic forests push it around? No. On the other hand, it's now been demonstrated that the platforming is straightforward.

    He needs to move on. He can always burn the forest down later. So he jumps from platform to platform, grumpily.
Link The last area is...a plain clearing, with nothing in it except a log. The Skull Kids jump onto the log, and begin dancing with each other. They throw their tools into the air and dance with both hands, swinging along on the log.

When they're done dancing, they catch their tools...and the fog swallows everyone. In the fog, they can hear voices in unison, those of children. "Thanks for playing with us. We only wish you could have danced."

Sanary also gets a whisper, of her own. "Come play with us again! You're /mighty interesting/, and we'll bring out the nice stuff next time."

When the fog clears, the kids are gone. They're in a completely different clearing, forking in two paths. One leads to a gate, with big danger signs and scribbles of a weird scrub-like creature, locked tightly. The other leads to the sounds of creatures laughing, and the shadow of the Great Deku Tree beyond.

The path is obvious. Next time, they'll journey forth and meet the Koroks of the forest!
Staren     And that's it, huh?

    Staren's view on this whole place is soured. He doesn't trust those kids and he doesn't trust this forest. There is explaining to be had, from /someone/, and he intends to get it.
Link Additionally, Sanary receives something, falling from the branches slowly into her hands. It's a glass crystal in the shape of a heart, with a small red fragment in the center of it. What could it be? Who knows.