epidemiology | EVENT ★ LABYRINTH III: THE ESCAPE

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EVENT ★ LABYRINTH III: THE ESCAPE

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.

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[ Sebastian shakes his head, though it comes with a thoughtful look. ]

Well, I believe you are working on it, but I have not seen it… We admittedly have been quite busy, so I do not know how you have been doing, Miss Sullivan.

[ Honestly, Sieglinde’s pet project was something that Ciel decided was allowable, but also didn’t really care to help or hinder. It was a low priority to them relative to everything else that occupied their time. ]

But it has only been a month. [ Probably??? Look don’t ask about timelines ] Your skills are quite impressive, but coming up with a cure in a month would certainly surprise me.

[What a terrible thing knowledge of the future was. She knows how foolish it was to think that, when she had so desperately wanted to know the truth of what would happen at least to Wolfram, but also to her... wondered if she would ever make it to the London Ciel had promised her, if she could ever make it back to her world at all...

But knowing now, at least right now, is only bringing her confusion.]

To think that "time" could be so warped a thing as this...

[What is she supposed to do with this? With him? With-]

You must tell me in more detail, once we quit ourselves of this maze.

[ Sebastian glances at her, but his expression gets a bit more serious. ]

I can, if you truly wish, Miss Sullivan, but... It may not be wise.

[ It might be dangerous, he thinks, because if she knows what comes, she might try to change it. That does assume that she would remember, which is clearly no guarantee, but it still worries him. Very few things would be any source of interest to her, but the mystery of the blood and Agni are what he worries about, and it's also what he would dance around. ]

But we will save that for later, as you have said. However... May I ask a question of my own?

[She could wax bitterly poetic about her own theories for hours, how sure she was that ALASTAIR wouldn't allow them to return to their own worlds with all the memories and knowledge they gained on these missions... but that was for another time, too. She couldn't allow herself to crumble (again) yet, not here in front of him-

Instead she swallows, tries to steady herself against his shoulder.]

Of course. What is it?

Since I do not remember it, how long was I here, Miss Sullivan?

[ He starts with that question, though there are many others he wants to know. He doesn't like having a gap in his memory for egotistic reasons, since he's so proud that he wants to believe that such tampering isn't possible, but just as much, having a gap in knowledge isn't something he likes either. Giving anyone some kind of advantage over him is something that he tries to avoid, and even Sieglinde knowing just that little bit more than he does is slightly unsettling to him. ]

And I suppose what did we do? It is... difficult to know where to begin my questions on that lost time.

It was a mere two months of time... five missions ago.

[It seems so much longer than it had before, saying it out loud. And to think that was just the simplest of facts in that answer, having to pause and consider how she wanted to word this.

How to phrase that she knew what he was... if she even ought say it at all.]

It was a place called Chantes... a place where a sorcerer had stolen the light of the sun, and humans and goblins fought against each other. You assisted me in freeing several of the team from imprisonment, as well as investigating the issue of the sun before I was told you had been transferred to a different team.

[ A short amount of time is at least a mild comfort to him, since it simply sits better with him to have forgotten such a small amount of time compared to what could be much larger. The mission he had been tasked with at the time draws no reaction from him, since it’s truly as if he’s hearing something that had happened to someone else. No matter how hard he tries, he has no memory of anything like that. Sebastian isn’t exactly one to forget, well, anything, but something straight out of a storybook seems even more unbelievable that he might forget it. ]

I see… Did it go well?

[ That part is simply curiosity, as it turns out. If Sebastian had been tasked with a job, he wants to accomplish it excellently. ]

[Did it go well... how very subjective a question. She struggles to even answer well, taking a moment. Back then...]

In the end, the sun was restored to the people, and the sorcerer and king responsible for part of the strife had been killed... I tried to prove to the goblins and humans that they had little reason to begrudge each other's entire race, there was evidence in their blood of interbreeding...

[Even to her, who had lived it, it feels like some bedtime story or fairy tale. How naive she had been then, how hopeful and innocent.]

But then we left, and I do not know what became of Chantes.

Hm.

[ Sebastian hums out a neutral noise in response, and for a few moments, he says nothing. They just continue along their way dutifully, though he does pause at an intersection before he turns right. ]

If you do not know, I suppose it is not our place to know. [ Or so would be his assumption. It’s surprising that the organization wouldn’t elaborate on that if they knew, so to him, it either means they didn’t or they simply don’t care. To him, it’s rather irrelevant either way. ] But if the goal was accomplished, I suppose I can be satisfied. It is a strange thing to say, but even not remembering it, I would hope I did well.

[ He allows that honesty, at least. ]

And I doubt it was any choice of mine, but all the same, I do apologize for leaving, Miss Sullivan.

[It is a strange thing to say- something she might find even more so if she still considered him human. To take pride in a job he had no memory of... but who was she to know all there was about demons, when she had always been told to avoid contracts with their ilk and to fear their potential to manipulate and corrupt?

And about that..]

There were demons in Chantes, around the time of your transfer. Controlled by the sorcerer.

[Was there a right way, to inform a demon that you knew their secret? Could it even be counted as a secret, if one version of him had already divulged it to her? She doesn't know, but she manages to look at him directly, as guarded as her emerald gaze was in that moment.]

I must admit... I thought for a moment you might have simply joined them.

[ The topic shifts to one that Sebastian doesn’t expect, but the way he reacts is probably one that Sieglinde will find chilling, if not frightening. She speaks of demons, and there’s only a mild frown, the exact sort that someone would give when confronted with the knowledge of such a creature, and at the implication that he may have joined…

There’s nothing.

For at least these few moments Sieglinde will see the side of Sebastian clearly that makes him much more frightening than his mild-mannered temperament and appearance would suggest. When this topic had come up the first time, Sebastian held every card. He told Sieglinde because he knew he was being found out, cornered into admitting it, so he refused to relinquish the control of information. Ciel would be angry, and there would be damage from admitting it, but at the time, he knew it was something manageable. So long as he could control the flow of information, he could manipulate things to be advantageous to him.

Yet without knowing any of the circumstances that could have lead him to willingly indulge that information, it’s completely different. There’s no solemn confession, no twisting of words to make the situation more understandable, but an easy and believable denial without outright refusing it. He had told Sieglinde that he wasn’t capable of lying, and because of that, he briefly unmasks just how well he’s able to use his words not to lie, but certainly to deceive. Sebastian reacts just as he should, and he looks at her quizzically, as if the very implication is perplexing to him. ]

With demons and a sorcerer? That would be quite ill-fitting, I would think… It is one thing to work for this organization, since I have less choice than I would like, but willingly working with another would be quite the betrayal by the young master’s standards, I would think...

[ He shakes his head, but there’s no betrayal in his expression of what he’s thinking. If he thinks Sieglinde might know his secret, it certainly isn’t remotely visible. ]

Granted, if I did, I doubt I would remember that, but I assure you that I can be quite sure that I would not do such a thing.

[There's something terrifying about how normal he looks in this moment. Even though she's watching for it, waiting for it, Sieglinde doesn't see a single indication that he knew what she was talking about. No flash of fear, no leaking aura of concern, no hint or clue for her to read and work off, passing off her observations and instincts as a byproduct of a witch's wisdom.

If she didn't know better, if she hadn't seen him do the feats impossible for a human man... she'd believe him, wholeheartedly, and probably blame herself for over thinking.

She can only stare at first, hoping that her own experiences in ALASTAIR at least keep that creeping sense of discomfort to a minimum, an ever so slight paling in her face, waver in her gaze. He'd said he couldn't lie, but...

What was she to do? Were it the her of years ago, of Chantes, she might have admitted it to him in honesty, tired of lies and deception in her life...]

He was... such a powerful sorcerer, it seemed he could bewitch anyone. Even I was possessed, for a short while.

[The words just come out, half truths, selective example, perhaps enough to make a certain teacher of a norse frost giant sort proud, swallowing her fear- for now.

It had been easy to not have to think about it, what it meant that Sebastian was a demon, that Ciel was contracted to him. Sebastian had gone, and there were the missions, and she'd begun to despair of ever returning home anyway...]

But of course, ALASTAIR confirmed that you had merely been transferred. I had never encountered someone transferred back... so I feared that was the last I would see of any from our world.

[She would have to think about what it meant now.

And whether it was wisest to pretend she didn't know... or not.]

[ So far as Sebastian knows, Sieglinde is certainly the closest to having figured out just what he was. She wasn’t a “true” witch in the sense that she wasn’t employing magic to do her work, but that hardly meant that Sebastian took her less seriously for it. Even a witch without magic was more wise to the ways of them than the average person, and he knew from thousands of years of experience that it only took an inkling for the right person to pick up on all the little hints that he liked to leave. He took nothing short of delight in leaving the puzzle plainly visible, but only understood once you questioned an assumption as basic as his humanity.

As such, his attention is much sharper than he lets on. He’s watching her reactions from the tension in her posture to the way her face grows pallid. It could simply be from expressing her worries, her grief, because truly, his reappearance has clearly unnerved her. But he knows better than that. He has to wonder what made her question whether he would join a legion of demons, after all. If that question hadn’t been there, then perhaps he could have been satisfied with her answer of being drawn by the power of magic, but…

Naturally, he doesn’t say a word to that.

His expression drifts into one of concern as she admits the attraction to power, just as it should, and he does give a careful warning: ]

Well, goodness, I am glad you resisted the temptation. The allure of power is quite a dangerous one. [ He nods towards his marked hand, though the sigil is hidden under his glove. ] Perhaps the young master and I would know that best.

[ He hasn’t forgotten that she knows something, after all. But by his memory, she had half-correctly identified them as devil worshippers. He sighs and shakes his head. ]

Regardless, I hope that you find it a good thing that I have returned. Please pardon me for noticing, but by the state of things, I would venture that it was needed.

... I am sure you know well. Of course.

[Ah, yes. That mark upon his hand, the mark engraved on Ciel's very eye. So long ago, (or so it seems to her), when she had thought herself all the wiser and more benevolent for not prying into their business, being concerned for upsetting such a sensitive matter...

How naive she had been then. How naive she had been even in Chantes.

How naive she may be yet, trying desperately to cling to things like morals, and goodness, and hope after nearly two years and eight worlds of the impossible, of plague, of death, of her first kill, of her first injury, of every first she'd ever hoped for and more she hadn't.]

Someone of your skills... you will be most welcome.

[Certainly his presence benefited her- didn't it? Her gaze falls down to the rations he'd handed her, lying neglected in her lap, and in order to cover how shaken she was by his words, she shakily opens it and tries to pick out something edible.]

To think I was just telling someone of your considerable prowess in the kitchen...

[ Sebastian’s gaze stays on her as she starts to pck at her food, and it’s not quite intent, but he’s not missing details here. She’s clearly unnerved by something, and something major, at that, but she’s also not telling him. With how he knows Sieglinde, she would surely tell him immediately, but he knows that he can’t discount what two years could do. She can be more secretive and private, and that doesn’t bother him terribly. But he does get the impression that whatever he isn’t telling him isn’t quite about the past two years. It’s about his stay here, most likely.

He can be patient, though. He’s a creature that’s lived so long that it’s almost beyond human comprehension, so even if it takes a year to pull the truth out of her, it’s not long at all to him. So he seems to let it go, smiling with light, wry amusement. ]

Oh? You flatter me with your praise, Miss Sullivan. Perhaps that flattery is what brought me here?

[ He’s kidding, and they come to another junction where Sebastian goes right again. He seems to have some methodology for navigating the place. ]

Well, once we are done with this, I will cook you a feast, if you would like.

[If her flattery could bring people to this place, she wouldn't have spent the last year of her life in loneliness, Sieglinde thinks. She had praised well the people who have come into her life and then vanished, leaving her behind. She wore their presents and baubles like a constant, colorful funeral shroud.

But Sebastian had come back, even like this.]

... I am sure the entire team would appreciate if you could whip something up with what little we have.

[Morale was low. They'd been surviving off what little scrapes they could, rations scavenged from the prison ship, meat taken from slain poisonous lizards and fruit from wet jungle trees. Not to mention the slop they'd been fed before that in the prison. What she's putting in her mouth... gradually stuffing her mouth with, once she gets going, is the best she's had in weeks.

And if he kept going right...]

It may serve you well as an introduction.

[If it came out that he was a demon... perhaps he would need such good will as that. As forgiving and tolerant as some of their members were, it did not count for all of them.]

[ The challenge presented definitely intrigues him, since Sebastian of course loves to exceed expectations with extremely limited resources. It's what tended to garner him the most praise and attention, after all. He nods along as she eats, already thinking of how he could make something substantial without "cheating" by using his abilities, but her last comment gets him to nod with a quirk of a smile. ]

Well, I will strive to succeed as I always try to, in that case.

[ He adjusts Sieglinde in his grip, then nods ahead. ]

But first, we must find other people, yes?

[He did always do that, it had seemed. Learning he was a demon had explained it, looking back, made all the incredible feats of his that bordered on inhuman understandable.

And even if he was one... it didn't change the fact that he was reliable when it came to certain tasks.

That he would make her life in this place... easier.]

Yes. ... I shall leave that in your capable hands.

[While she finishes stuffing her face.

And figuring out just what she was going to do with a demon butler.]

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EVENT ★ LABYRINTH III: THE ESCAPE

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