The egg safely stashed in Luigi's backpack, the two said their farewells to the penguins and continued up the mountain. The storm grew stronger here and both Luigi and Toad were forced to grip their clothes around them as the wind threatened to pull them away. Their pace was slowed and neither of them said anything as they treaded carefully through the snow. Luigi began to think about what Mara said when they began this journey. If they were the legendary heroes, they needed to fight three large monsters before getting the Wendigo Flower. They already fought a giant worm and a terrifying troll. What's the third monster going to be? Luigi shuddered as a chill ran down his spine. This time, it wasn't from the snow.
Finally, it looked like they had reached the peak of the mountain. Luigi was too blinded by the large snowflakes whipping his face, but Toad called out and pointed to the mountain top. "There! I see the flower!"
Sure enough, somehow surviving in this terrible weather, the Wendigo flower stood about one hundred feet away upon the peak, almost glowing. However, as the heroes looked around, they noticed something else. A giant ogre was lying face down in the snow, at the bottom of the mountain point. His shield a few feet from him, his greatclub still being gripped by his lifeless hand. Just as they began to wonder who could have killed this ogre, they found him. A figure in a blue hood and cloak was walking away from the ogre and beginning to climb the mountain.
"Who is that?" Luigi asked.
"Beats me," answered Toad.
"Come on," urged Luigi as he began making his way to the ogre. By the time they got to the terrible beast, the hooded figure was halfway up the mountain. Luigi made sure the ogre was dead before calling out to the climber. "Hey! Who are you?"
The figure turned to face the heroes, but his face was still shrouded, either by the snow or some magical means. "Be gone. Lest you suffer the same fate as the ogre."
Luigi and Toad looked at each other. Toad seemed a little nervous, but Luigi has grown to be quite brave during these last few days. He also didn't want to make any assumptions. "Maybe he's not a bad guy," he whispered to Toad. "Maybe he's just another adventurer that is interested in the plant."
"You need to be careful," Luigi warned the mysterious person. "The Wendigo flower can not fall into the wrong hands."
The figure stopped climbing and let out a sinister laugh. "That flower was meant for my masters' hands. Not for you. Leave me be or you will die here on this mountain."
"Sounds like a bad guy to me," growled Toad.
Luigi nodded. A small smile crept out from under his mustache as his hand reached for a wrench.
THWACK!
The wrench flew into the figure's shoulder, causing him to yelp in pain. Before he could react, Toad had cast toll the dead, causing the sound of a haunting bell ring soundly in the enemy's mind. By now, he had regained his senses and began to mutter a few arcane words. The top of his staff glowed a bright orange and yellow, forming into a giant fireball. He tapped the staff to the ground, sending the sphere barreling toward the heroes. Unfortunately, Luigi caught the brunt of the spell, reducing his hit points to almost nothing. Toad dodged out of the way, but the blast was too powerful. Without his lucky halfling trait, he would have perished in the explosion.
The heroes stood hunched over, their faces a mixture of shock and exhaustion. This mysterious mage was more powerful than they expected. They were still tired from their journey and now both were seriously damaged. However, the thought of running away never crossed their minds. If this wizard is this dangerous, they need to stop him all the more.
The figure turned his back to the heroes, figuring they either were dead or ready to run.
He was wrong on both counts.
Toad, wiping blood off his lip, used his final spell slot to cast guiding bolt. A brilliant flash of light blasted it's way toward the hooded figure, dealing terrible damage. In addition, he began to let off a dim yellow glow, which made him all the more easy to see through the snow storm. Luigi took advantage of the situation, sending his wrench flying, nailing the figure square in the back.
The mage screamed in pain and paused for a moment. He was hurt badly now, and considered for a moment what to do. The flower was so close, but continuing may allow these troublesome adventurers to kill him.
"Who are you? You who would try to defeat me?"
Luigi lowered his arm that was brandishing his plunger. He looked at Toad and then back to the mage. Smiling, he said, "Uhh... Pork."
The mage looked confused.
"Yeah, and I'm Ham," snickered Toad.
"Fine, don't tell me," the mage sneered. "I will not forget this. I will kill you another day." And with that, he disappeared. Toad saw him appear about thirty feet away, look back, and then take off running down the other side of the mountain. The halfling considered chasing after him, but they were both hurt and the flower was so close.
Slowly and carefully, the adventures climbed the final peak of the mountain. As they inched closer to the Wendigo flower, they began to shake with excitement.
"Should we take it?" asked Toad, keeping his eye on the flower.
"Let's grab it together. We are, after all, legendary."
They grabbed the flower together and pulled it from the ground. Immediately, a bright light emanated from the two of them and for a moment, they both could have sworn they heard bells playing. When the light faded, they noticed that all their clothes had turned white.
"Woah!" exclaimed Toad, releasing the flower and examining his clothes.
"We finally did it," breathed Luigi. He gently placed the flower in his backpack. "Come on. Let's get some rest."
