EVENT ★ LABYRINTH II

[futurologists]

DEEPER Following the marked path near the lake leads Audentes (and George) further into the maze, closer to the goal found at the center. Some other inmates (including Zymandis agent Mavahari) and correctional officers follow along, having picked up on the organized manner of Audentes and figuring it’s their best bet on getting out of here alive. Unlike the dry stone and sand in the outer ring of the maze, this next section is overflowing with flora. Jungle vines cling to the walls to the point where seeing the stone underneath is a difficult task; trees sprout from between cracked tiles, bearing alien-looking fruit; branches and brambles cross certain parts of the maze, and will need to be hacked through unless you want to find another way around. Water is more plentiful now as well, since obviously the plants need it to flourish. For the first time since setting foot in the labyrinth, a rain begins to fall, drizzling and gentle. This can be a respite or an annoyance, depending on how you look at it: while it’s soothing and can make collection of fresh, clean water easier, walking around in wet clothes is probably not that pleasant. Your fellow ALASTAIR recruit George has inexplicably struck up a friendship with the Zymandis agent Mavahari, and they can often be found exploring the maze together, with Mavahari helping him due to his broken arm. They seem to be getting along well enough, but maybe checking in with George is in order. Otherwise, survival is the name of the game; though the center of the labyrinth is closer, it’s impossible to tell how close, and how long to expect to be here. Collecting water is simple enough, but food is growing scarce. The tree fruits may be a good solution, but it seems as though some have unfortunate reactions to them, ranging from stomach cramps to rashes to fever and temporary blindness. But an allergic reaction may just be the least of your worries. LOVE ME LIKE A REPTILE The monsters seen so infrequently in the outer ring of the maze are now a common nuisance. Giant insects and rats scurry about, hungry for whatever flesh they can find, but they’re easily defeated, particularly if encountered as a group. But with new terrain comes new, adaptive animals, and the labyrinth is no different. Lizards are now the main threat: enormous and camouflaged, they stalk their prey and take their time, looking for the perfect opportunity to ambush. The lizards are three-headed, with each head containing fangs dripping with venom, capable of rendering its victims paralyzed within five seconds flat. Their blood is also poisonous, capable of burning through metal, not to mention flesh. If a head is severed, the lizard will retreat back into the jungle, presumably to nurse its wounds but possibly to grow another head -- no lizard will ever be encountered with less than three heads, so it’s possible they have regenerative abilities. The best way to defeat one is to remove all three heads at once, or simply kill it in whatever way possible. The lizards are quick and mean, but not invincible. Now more than ever, it’s important to take care in exploring the maze. Stray too far from the group or try to make it alone, and you might not survive. OOC NOTES Once again, we have a plotting post here and search requests for the next ring of the maze. Please note: during the labyrinth event, all drops are ICly delayed. What this means is that characters who drop will be handwaved to still be around on auto-pilot until connection with Oska is resumed, at which point they will be transferred to a different team as usual. If you have any questions about the labyrinth that aren't answered here, please direct them to the Leramzen dossier. If you have questions for any NPCs, please direct them there as well! Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ and you may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

Comments

[deemed]

[It's why his skin stays so pale. It's why he heals as quickly as he does. It is who he is.]

Would it surprise you to learn that in the Japan I know there are no Jinba? Your kind are a mere myth to the men there. They would find your existence as strange to understand as mine.

[kisha]

[A discomforted shiver travels down her spine, all the way from the back of her mostly human shaped skull, down between her muscular shoulders and back, down past the point she swathed in deer hide where human skin gave way to horse hair coat, between withers and past flanks to end in a slight twitch of her long, black tail.]

There was once a time when the humans thought we were gods.

[Something she'd never heard from the mouths of the humans that now enslaved her race. Something she had only truly understood once she had a chance to be among her own people, those who had never known the bind of a bridle or a master's lash. She knows she's reaching, part of her knows, but.]

Perhaps you know only a very isolated people. Some have never seen a jinba, I hear.

[She's been lucky (unlucky) enough not to meet a person she could easily acknowledge as Japanese as she knew it. Who would force her to confront that not only were there completely different worlds, but there were more than one variation of hers. Some hundreds of years past what she could begin to conceptualize.]

[deemed]

It is possible. [He admits it with some hesitation. It would be surprising to find there were a race of centaurs living on Earth that he'd never come across, but it's not outside the realms of possibility.]

Are there many Jinba, where you live?

[kisha]

[It is possible.

That's enough to keep her feet under her, keep her moving, hooves picking out a path through the tangled roots and undergrowth, aware of her duty not to slip or buckle beneath the weight of his she supported. Let alone her own safety, considering her legs were just as much her weak point as they were with any normal horse. That sorcerer had somehow worked his spell and made it as if it had never happened, but Hayame can still remember the sight and the feel of her own leg bone sticking through skin when she'd woken up in the wreckage.

Her left foreleg she is more careful with than the other limbs, even though her body told her it was no longer as injured as her mind insisted it was.]

There were more, once.

[Talking about herself was in no way her strong suit, nor even something she enjoyed doing... but she was afraid of what madness she might be forced to accept if she let him talk freely in her silence, so she speaks, human arm reaching out to push a low hanging branch out of the way of his face.]

But I do not think there are many left free any longer.

[Not according to what Matsukaze had said. What she'd seen for herself when she'd been sent by her human masters to pursue his escaped property.]

[deemed]

Free? [That's worrying.

He thinks back to the conversations they've held, the unbridled anger she'd expressed at their first meeting. His brows begin knit together.]

[kisha]

[It's something she's never had to think about or explain. It was just the way things were, and had been long before her dam's sire or even his sire had lived. She had never felt the amount of shame she had learned to feel for it. After all, she had been one of the few and special. She had been a good horse. She had kept her arms. She was a warrior, not a slave.

Not like the armless. She was different. Until she'd realized she really wasn't.

Her expression darkens, looking straight ahead, but after a lapse she resumes.]

I was born in a stable, I do not know as much as another might.

[How did you explain something that you lived and never truly analyzed? Why did it matter? When had it become a thing she began to feel embarassed for, when once she had worn her master's seal with pride, and looked forward to the day she would be sold to a great warrior?]

But there are few jinba left in the field and mountains. We are strong, but humans are as numerous as they are weak. And they desire us.