The Legend of Zelda: Goddess of Secrecy

Dungeon Chapter 5 - Silvervein Mines

...where a hot gust of air stirred as the elevator came to a halt. The entrance was a red-ish stone tunnel with iron ore deposits sticking out from the walls. There was a path beaten into the ground from countless Gorons tracking their way over the surface back and forth from the mine. A few torches lit the wide tunnel, but there was little need for lighting inside the volcano.

As the party stepped off the elevator, the lift began to rise back towards the surface. Endeavor looked at the machine, their brows frowning. "What is this? Does he think he can leave us down here?"

"The elevator has a call switch," Groko said, pointing to a lever on the wall. He said, "No need to worry, brother."

Endeavor grumbled to themself for a moment. They asked, "Do you have any idea if there is a map of this mine? Or where the Temple Entrance is?"

Groko scratched his head. He answered, "Big Boss had one drawn during the last big outbreak. It's somewhere deeper in the mines. That's all I know about it. As far as the Temple, brother, that's probably on the other side of the big sealing room."

"Sealing room?" Endeavor pressed.

"There's this big room carved out that hangs over the center of the volcano," Groko said. "The Gorons made a special floor for it that blocks off most of the magma to keep Death Mountain from turning into a lava pool."

Endeavor asked, "Yes, but why the name 'Sealing Room'?"

Groko shuffled on his feet. He answered, "That was where the last battle took place where ...where the Big Boss...Darinus locked something in there with a big key, and then said no one could go in."

"Then we have to find this key," Endeavor said.

"That's going to be hard, brother," Groko answered. "Big Boss put it in a chest, and then buried the way into the place where he hid it with rock. There aren't any bomb flowers strong enough to grow that deep in the mines. We'll have to find some way to clear the path before we can get to that key."

Endeavor glanced at Link. "Easy enough. There are three of us. That should be efficient enough at clearing a path of rocks and whatever else is between us and our goal."

Link hefted his new shield onto his right arm and drew his sword. Yore flew back to them, having dealt with a group of roaming Keeses while they were planning. Endeavor drew their own blade as they took the lead down the stone tunnel. Groko adjusted some white wraps around his arms. Link didn't think the Goron needed any kind of a weapon. With that stone exterior, Link would be surprised if anything could hurt a Goron.

Groko took heavy steps beside Link as they followed Endeavor. Endeavor stopped in front of a round door with the Goron sign in front of it. They put a hand out, and the door rolled open. Groko's eyes widened. "Ohwp! That's never happened before."

"You have never had company such as ourselves," Endeavor replied. "You will find a lot of things happening that have not before."

The next room didn't need lighting. What it needed was more railing. This was the core of the mine, and Death Mountain itself. Magma boiled and popped in the middle of the molten cauldron. Metal grates connected rock ledges, making a ring around the edge of the cone. Link looked up as he cleared the door, and saw a gate spanning across a portion of the room to a smaller cone. A huge door with a giant iron lock stood at the end of the metal path.

Returning to the level at hand, Link studied his surroundings. A few bokoblins roamed around on short guard patrols. Keeses flapped around, their bodies suddenly bursting into flames without taking notice. Link tightened his grip on his sword as he watched the new enemies circle around aimlessly.