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

[araigneedusoir]

[She's content to stand by for the moment, stretching the tenseness out of her shoulders and rolling them to make sure they've properly loosened up and she tucks her growing wish list of things she wants to do away as she tries to ready herself to jump back into the fray -- thankfully just as he pulls the pulse rifle free.

For a second she frowns, wondering if it could do what her rifle couldn't; energy weapons vs conventional bullets...So she doesn't hesitate when he offers it, stepping forward enough to take it from him and test it's balance again. A prize from Perdition's Rest, a snort escaping her as she peers down the barrel of it at the thought it stirred up.

As much as she preferred Widow's Kiss to other guns, she wasn't exactly in the position to be picky about it either. So while Ban went off to draw the creature's attention, she once again familiarized herself with the rifle in her hands only looking up when she was sure she knew what she was doing.

She always did, guns all had the basic formula; point, aim, fire. After that it was just managing the fire rate, recoil and range. (At least guns she knew about, barring the potential for some crazy alien invention that worked completely differently.)

Widowmaker isn't surprised to see Ban in the situation he is and there's two things that go through her mind, only one of which she acts on. With her breather up and her stamina back she moves outside of the beast's attention range, keeping it in her own peripheral as she sets up an actual shot. It's not moving anymore, not enough -- she's confident she could sink a shot between the armor -- or at least shear off some of it if she was lucky.

If she wasn't, all this was going to do was probably send it into another rage bender; but she wasn't the type to miss an opportunity when it properly presented itself, so she took her shot, her jaw setting when it did little more than burn a smudge into the armor.]

Really, I would be impressed if this wasn't so annoying.

[perma_banned]

[The sudden flash of heat from the cracking plasma rifle woke Ban up from his maddening embrace with the minotaur's axe. Though it looked like nothing more than a dumb creature, it could tell when something was offering it a real threat. The smoking smudge in its armor was dangerously close to the edge of plating by its left pectoral--which showed Widowmaker knew where to shoot. Ban opened his mouth to bark an insult at the creature before it closed one hand over his face and smashed him into the ground, leaving a bloody smear on the otherwise perfectly untouched floor.

It turned its head to look in the direction of where the fire came from, right in Widowmaker's direction though it didn't spot her immediately. Its head jerked up at the last moment as Ban's heel collided with its chin, snapping its head back and rattling it briefly before it raised its axe to attack him again. Then, without realizing, it swung down an empty hand to try and crush Ban with it.

Perplexed, the beast stood still and stared at the hand which had once been holding an axe. Jumping back, Ban carried the thing over his shoulder despite the fact that it was twice his height. With a sneer, he swung himself in an arc and smashed the creature square in its back with the gigantic axe, forcing it to bend back at the waist, exposing its chest much more before bellowing out in Widowmaker's direction--]

Get it!

[araigneedusoir]

[She was already on the move, easing slowly from her previous spot to another with the idea that if it did turn around -- she'd have ample time to get out of the way and find another opportunity to take another shot. She could see that she'd gotten lucky with the first one, catching the beast slamming Ban into the floor before it rounded on her. While she could tell it hadn't noticed her yet, she kept moving, shifting closer to a nearby wall.

If she had to she'd force it to slam headlong into said wall, her gaze cutting up to it for a brief moment before she was looking back in time to watch what Ban was planning, a flicker of surprise crossing her features as he hefted the massive axe and gave her another -- better -- shot.

She moved in the in-between, rifle raised as the beast is forced to bend back a precious few seconds wasted as she closed back into a more lethal range, firing the second she was within it. This time she could see she'd sunk more of the shot where it needed to be, noting the burn pattern was significantly smaller right before she made the choice to unload on it a little more.]

Not so 'invincible' now.

[perma_banned]

Hah! She got you good huh!?

[Ban felt the shimmering heat roll off of the side of the minotaur once the volley of plasma bolts shook its frame and forced it stumbling backward. Ban lifted the axe one more time, readying himself to bring the creature down. It was in pain and absolutely furious from the bolts that had gone through the gaps of its armor to damage it but it did have one advantage--Ban assumed it wouldn't be able to fight through the pain.

When it opened its mouth, Ban lunged forward to cut it off by hitting it with the axe but he fell shorts when a plume of sickly green and yellow acid came out of the creature's mouth and covered his left forearm. Ban cried out, more surprised than from the pain of it, dropping the axe and stumbling to the ground. His left arm, drenched in the horrendous stuff, was melting away rapidly.]

The hell is this!?

[Whatever it was--it was keeping him from healing immediately as it kept on burning him.]

[araigneedusoir]

[It wasn't enough -- she knew it wasn't enough, not after all the attempts that had been made to bring it down so far. The feeling that settled into the back of her mind wasn't a good one, turning the rifle over in her hands slightly as she glanced down at it, giving it a chance to cool down before she even considered another round of fire.

She leapt away at the noise of hissing acid and the sound of Ban's cry, glancing between the now raging beast and her fallen partner -- already able to see the way the acid ate through his skin and bone...and it wasn't something she could heal from if she got hit by, her focus cutting back to the beast as she circled it from much farther away before calling out to Ban:]

It's acid!

[They'd need water or something of the sort to wash it away but that would require a retreat of some kind, which with the beast fully focused on the both of them would be particularly difficult.]

[perma_banned]

Crap, it won't heal as fast-- [There was a certain sort of agony that came with being able to heal as quickly as Ban did. The fact that he could mostly keep up with the deterioration and white hot pain the acid cause meant that his nerves were constantly repairing themselves only to immediately be destroyed, again. There was no numbness to it. He fell to one knee, somewhat shocked by that sort of trauma. He had experienced a lot of different pains but it was one that managed to get through to him.

Beads of sweat falling down his brow, Ban stumbled just as the minotaur turned its attention back on Widowmaker, who it recalled had gotten through the gaps in its armor. Recognizing a threat--it grabbed its axe and began dragging it in her direction, ready to charge.

It stopped halfway as Ban twisted his one good hand's fingers through the air, tugging at invisible strings. The beast's axe halted short of his charge and his arm bent at an unnatural angle. The creature's arm went limp as his spell dislocated its shoulder. Acidic drool ran free from its lips as its attention was drawn back to Ban, whose arm still hadn't managed to heal past the acid, yet. Sweat dripping down him, Ban heaved with exhaustion and sneered--]

What's the matter~? We aren't done dancin' yet.

[araigneedusoir]

[She was quickly coming back to being at a loss for what to do again, frustration welling in her chest as she glanced back down at the rifle in her hands again. With the beast aware of the threat both of them offered she wondered if it would switch it's tactics, wondered precisely how intelligent it was, or if it was just fighting them all on instinct or some kind of programming.

The options weren't endless, but there were enough to leave them open for more surprises. She froze when it turned on her, lowering her stance as muscles coiled in her legs in an effort to prepare for the second she'd need to get herself out of the way. She was ready, her pulse thrumming faster than she was used to it as the seconds ticked by while she waited for it to charge --

But it didn't get to cover much ground and while she didn't relax she did risk looking away from it to Ban, frowning. He was flagging but so was the minotaur, leaving her wondering exactly who would run out of steam first a part of her hoping the beast did.]

Don't get yourself drenched in more acid.

[perma_banned]

[Acid? Ban grit his teeth, mulling it over. If that were what the beast spewed on him, then he wouldn't be able to heal correctly until he got rid of it--or, if he got rid of that part of him that was currently rotting away. He kept his fingers tightly knitted in the air, tugging against the strength of the minotaur, which was fighting him even then. Ban felt his heels drag in the dirt as the creature tried to pull itself free of him to rush at Widowmaker.

Fortunately, she didn't pause much at all and made the gap in their distance all the wider. Ban didn't feel good about releasing him though, so he rooted his feet and tried to focus his magic a bit more. It was hard, given the new pain flowing in his left arm but he still managed to keep a hold of the creature.]

Kahaha... Smart idea, huh? [Even so, it didn't sound easy. Ban had dropped his sacred treasure by the entrance. The minotaur had thrown him across the room initially and he was way too far to grab it with Fox Hunt's range. If he tried to grab it, he'd be leaving Widowmaker to the thing's charge. So, they would have to kill the thing without that advantage.

He released the minotaur at the height of its struggle--just when it exerted the most force. The sudden lack of a fight on Ban's end forced the thing off balance, making it stumble aside due to its heavy weight just before Ban came crashing into it headfirst, tackling it at full force. The two went headlong into a wall, adjacent to Widowmaker. The beast's maw dripped acid on him, leaving burning trails along his back and shoulders but Ban sneered without flinching. He hadn't gotten used to it but he didn't mind weighing that cost at all.]

Hey, Widowmaker! Get higher ground! I can make a few more openings!