EVENT ★ LABYRINTH III: THE ESCAPE

[futurologists]

LABYRINTH III The correct passageway to the inner ring of the maze is hidden behind a thick wall of vines. After cutting through the plants, the structure of the maze is noticeably different: the overgrown plants continue creeping up the walls, but the walls are no longer brick and stone, composed instead of some sort of blue metal with holes and divots carved elaborately into the surface. From some holes gush forth pure, clean water; from others, acidic liquid. The air is cool and crisp, the plants creating a lush, dim environment lit by eerie blue lights spread throughout this section. The lizards, rats, and other monstrous creatures seem to be absent from this area of the maze, replaced instead by rhinoceros-sized beetles. The beetles each have a single horn protruding from the head, and their hard carapaces make them difficult to kill -- a better method might be to simply climb somewhere high and wait for the beetle to get bored. But unlike the other monsters encountered in the maze, the beetles seem to have something else on their mind beyond wanton violence: they can sometimes be found rolling massive balls of dung throughout the corridors of the labyrinth. (This might explain why the plants are so lush closer to the center.) There is little time to explore this section of the labyrinth before there's a flicker of light all around and more ALASTAIR recruits suddenly appear, most dressed in a freshly pressed uniform and carrying extra food and supplies. They have been told that the cloaking surrounding Asterion Labyrinth is so strong and complex that Oska was only able to send in a handful of recruits at once for a relief effort. In order to leave, they'll have to locate the escape mechanism that lies deep within the labyrinth; the remaining Asterion Prison correctional officers know its general location, but not precisely what it entails. All they know is that it will require technological cunning to operate and that it's heavily guarded. After five days, the portal room is found. THE PORTAL ROOM The center of the labyrinth is a large, circular room with a raised platform in the middle. On this platform rests a circle of computer consoles surrounding another platform, on which sits an empty circular frame 2.5m (8') in diameter. This is the dormant portal, and it is now Audentes's task to turn it on and find their way back to Oska. Because the portal is not made for interdimensional travel, it must be overclocked, which will cause it to burn out and explode once it is used. In order to override the safety protocols in place to prevent such dangerous tampering, the control panels must be unlocked -- and unfortunately, the locks are all complicated puzzles, ranging from the numerical to sliding pieces into place to complete a pattern. There are many of these puzzled scattered around the portal room, and once they are all unlocked, it's a simple matter of flipping the power override switches. Ignore the dangerous humming sound and the way the frame suddenly fills with violent purple energy. That's probably normal. The new recruits have the correct coordinates to locate Oska, which has temporarily lowered its cloaking shield to allow Audentes to return. So there is a bit of a time crunch. Adding more to the difficulty of the situation is the presence of a monster lumbering around the circular portal room. Six meters (20') high, the beast is best described as a minotaur, but perhaps not in the traditional sense: while it resembles a bipedal bull, it is an amalgamation of flesh and machine with its body covered in pistons and glowing lights. One of its hands is an enormous axe and it belches fire and acid. Despite its head resembling an herbivore, the piles of desiccated bones scattered throughout the portal room tell a different story. Upon seeing the group, the minotaur charges. Mavahari, the Zymandis recruit, rushes to meet it with her sword drawn. Inmates and correctional officers do their best to fight it as well, but something becomes quickly apparent: it cannot be harmed by projectile weapons. The machinery of the beast keeps it protected from most attacks, though electricity will stun it and acid will corrode its metal. But in order to injure the minotaur, it must be stabbed between the metal plates where its vulnerable flesh remains. During the battle, the minotaur fights viciously and without regard for its own safety. The first casualty comes early: the minotaur swings its axe toward Mavahari, who is pushed out of the way by George. The axe connects with him solidly, sending him flying into the wall with a shuddering impact. George lies there still, but there's no time to mourn. The beast continues its rampage. Once the minotaur is defeated, you'll have to quickly decide what to do with the correctional officers and inmates who have followed Audentes through the Asterion Labyrinth. The overclocked portal won't hold forever, and the longer Oska leaves its cloak down, the better chance they have of being found by their enemies. OOC NOTES This log will last for six IC days: five days for exploration and one day at the center of the maze. We have also recently altered the calendar this month, so make sure you review it! IMPORTANT: Participation in the solution poll is mandatory for August AC. Failure to participate will result in an automatic strike. The only exception is for those who are exempt from August AC. The poll will close on 11 August 23:59 UTC. If you have any questions about the labyrinth that aren't answered here, please direct them to the Leramzen dossier. 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

[grunehexe]

Precisely.

[She wished she believed it could. She wished she could be so naive as some of their number, who seemed to think ALASTAIR would return them to their worlds as if they'd never left, possessed of all the knowledge and wisdom and changes they'd accrued in service to Audentes.

But while innocence was beauty, ignorance was death. She'd learned that.]

For a group that is all about preserving their idea of the correct "timeline", I cannot believe they would allow us to return to our worlds capable of changing the natural course of events with acquired magics, foreknowledge, or technology.

[It's why she's had anything important she's discovered tattooed on her skin beneath her gown, one more possible way to smuggle it back to her world in case her mind should be wiped clean, why she can't bring herself yet to even want to go home if it meant the loss of everything she's gained.]

... though that is simply my theory.

[grunehexe]

I do not.

[As horrible as it sounds, as it feels... she's seen too many questionable things since "joining" to think otherwise. She'd wanted to trust them, and at first she'd tried.... but they were kept in the dark about so much, and perhaps it was lack of knowledge on their part, but whether it was incompetence or malice... the result was the same.]

[grunehexe]

It is ALASTAIR's responsibility to indoctrinate you before I could potentially ruin it, if that were their aim.

[Oh, they're was Lloyd, and his explanations, and she's sure some people believed those at face value, but. She's been lied too far too many times in her life for that to be something she can accept.]

But I cannot pretend to know their stance on that.

[grunehexe]

[If she takes offense at that- no, it does show, though she tries to hide it, a slight darkening in her gaze and thinning of the lips.]

I have been with this team for nigh two years now. I care greatly. For their safety and their health, and the lives of the natives whose worlds we unceremoniously make havoc of, which I have overseen since ALASTAIR dumped a group of green recruits in Anwick.

[And in Chantes, and in Nalawi, and in Zeta-12, and Perdition's Rest, and-]

But I cannot commit myself to ALASTAIR's mission, nor will I be so foolish as to believe what I am told from on high. They are not my gods.

[grunehexe]

[Oh.

She has the wherewithal to look slightly chagrined at her mistake, at having been so defensive, but she certainly won't take back what she said- that was true, if not... dreadfully misplaced.]

They have tolerated far worse than the likes of my skepticism. If anyone was to go about being mysteriously "transferred", surely it would be one of those without much use to their name, rather than the person who managed to save a world from a plague.

[She doesn't consider herself a braggart, but. Come on.]

[grunehexe]

Then it is a good thing I am a witch and not a society dame, though it would only be hot air if I had not singlehandedly completed a cure for the Bristol virus threatening to end the lives of both ALASTAIR employees and world natives.

[WHAT DID U DO UNCLE, WRITE A BOOK SHE HASNT HEARD OF???]

[grunehexe]

Well, that is all I shall say about that.

[As long as they're clear. Shove that 19th century attitude towards women, boo.]

[grunehexe]

Of course a witch cannot reveal the extent of her powers so easily as that, but-

[More like, she isn't keen to admit that her actual greatest accomplishment thus far in life might have been the creation of an airborne poison that put mustard gas to shame.

Tired of standing, she awkwardly positions herself and gives a tiny hop to perch sitting on the edge of one of the lower crates instead.]

If it is healing, I can do much for a man if he yet draws breath, whether that is the healing of bones, knitting of flesh, breaking of fever, or the purging of poisons. If it is other sorts of spells, I have been working most recently on scrying and wards- though I freedly admit they do not come as easily and of late we have had little time to study.

[grunehexe]

["Dabbles"... she makes a slight face, but out of supreme grace and charity doesn't make a fuss, instead smoothing out her blood-stained skirts.]

That would be the focus on healing, yes. I suppose the Wolf Forest's influence as well.

[She'd never really questioned why her handmaidens (jailers) had always dressed her in green. She supposed it just came with the title.]

[grunehexe]

[... well. It wasn't ever so often you had a Servant, a sort of being she herself was curious about, curious about her. Or, her story, rather. It was flattering enough to let the likes of "dabble" slide, at any rate.]

My village, Wolfsschlucht, was located deep in the Wolf Forest, in what I have been told is now considered the nation of Germany. I always thought we were part of a princedom, but... much time has passed beyond our borders.

[It's a lie, most of it, and she knows that now, learned it just before she'd come to Oska nigh two years ago, but... it was what she'd grown up on and believed all her life, so it comes out smoothly enough.]

The locals say the wood is cursed, and that is not quite wrong. The encroachment of humans in our age robbed supernatural beings of the miasma they require to live, but in return for my ancestor's legs and the promise that she and all who followed her would dedicate themselves to finding a way to create the miasma, the wolves protect us. Any hunter or villager who dares wander too deeply in the forest cannot be sure they will leave alive- but my villagers possess amulets to show the wolves that they honor the pact.

[Such a fantastic story- now that she knows that's all it is.]

I should tell you these wolves are not the common beasts of any normal wood, but intelligent creatures who can walk on two legs as men do.

[grunehexe]

In a sense.

[She has seen Gilgamesh. She has seen Artoria, though she knew the woman only as Saber (and knew her for a woman without a doubt only after helping herself to a handful of breast- a handful only because she has small hands). She has known Arjuna and Cu Chulainn... but that only serves to make Anderson more interesting. What stories could an author have spun to land among such illustrious company? The likes of Plato or Ptolemy?

It seems she would have to figure that out. And if he weren't as forthcoming...]

They are both... my servants and my wardens.

[They kept intruders out... but they'd also kept her and her villagers "in". Supposedly.]

[grunehexe]

[... that would be the technical way of it, wouldn't it.]

... until the day I was recruited by ALASTAIR, yes. I had never seen the Outside World. Even if I had wished to abandon my duties and leave that village... the wood possessed its own terrors, and I cannot walk long unaided.

[She can admit that much.]

[grunehexe]

[The thought makes her almost laugh- though it comes out a weak and twisted thing. No, the wolves hadn't protected her. Nothing could, it seemed, from the beckon of ALASTAIR.]

... Of course I did. Even if it was just once, to return to duty after... I wanted to see the Outside World with my own eyes.

[Her smile twists a bit bitterly, but what could be done for it? Nothing, apparently.]

Now, I have seen eight Outside Worlds... but never my own.