One Dark and A-MAZE-ing Journey--Bring Snacks!

Pausing only long enough to persuade Irella to join Ertrude and the others at the Squirrel as part of "Deduction Central," you all whip out of the Ikon temple and head back to the balcony nearest the main library entrance. There, an automaton woman dressed as a steampunk performer awaits you. Around her outstretched arm, a bangle bracelet in the shape coils downward.

Nancy laughs. "Who would ever have thought that joint held a library entrance. I thought that place was just cluttering up Wolfenhague." She then winds the bangle one-and-a-half times in a counterclockwise direction and then shakes the automaton's hand. When Nancy vanishes in a puff of steam, you follow suit one by one, and find yourselves in a vast maze below the Brass Coil, a rather seedy den in the slum district of Wolfenhague. The open circular area in which you stand shows seven tunnels as exits.

"What do we do now?" TwoFer asks Lappy pointedly.

"Danged if I know," replies Lappy honestly, "but maybe..."

"Maybe you should have asked the head librarian before larking off in search of clues," Yippina barks in an imperious tone through a speaker overall. "Goodness, your group is impatient! You seem to have arrived correctly though, and are now in the Crystania branch. This maze contains seven cartels, with magic books kept in the one that has the bisected axis. However, rare and obscure volumes of any type are all together in a cartel called "The Caterpillar," whatever that means. Cassia could be hidden anywhere, if she hasn't been harmed already. The maze is treacherous to navigate, but it also leads back to the Singari Woods in the northeast section, which will be a safer exit as the Brass Coil directly above isn't the nicest place.

"I wish you the best of luck, and by all means, stay safe!"

(OOC: This is a role-playing challenge. Details of the challenge and scoring are in the OOC thread. Please post your role-play here on this thread by Tuesday, Oct. 9th at 11:59 pm Subeta time. I can't wait to read these!)

Spring sheepishly sneaks back to her own thread.

Galactic Thylacines meander through a long, long tunnel...

The Brass Coil

After their impromptu transportation, Elethia and her companions pause to gain their bearings. While it's not as filthy as she thought it would be, the area does carry an odd darkness and stillness to it. Working quickly she removes a piece of wood from her bag and casts an incantation on it to produce a flame to help light their way if needed. Listening she can still hear the beat of music faintly down below. Shuddering she hopes that they won't encounter any of the odder members of that place in this area. Her feline companion grumbles to himself while casting a wary glance around. Giving up on trying to keep his fur clean he huffs and resigns himself to having to arrange his fur later.

Nicsy in fox form sniffed around the missing woman's room in the Brass Coil. She was no expert at scent tracking, but she might find it easier to recognize Cassia by smell if she could pick it up here.

Gish flew up to the ceiling and looked around, but didn't see much up there.

Pausing to look around the underbelly of the Brass Coil, Elethia and her teammates looked and sorted through the objects present there. She even noticed Nicsy sniffing a few things and was glad that that is one way they might be able to locate Cassia. They wondered if they should split up, but then deciding that the area is too vast and they might get separated so they decided to stick together. Looking at the seven tunnels, Elethia wondered which one they should go down. Having to back track would take up too much time so she was trying to figure out which one was the right one to go into.

Dhara had noticed Nicsy sniffing and had immediately set to doing the same. "Why in the world didn't they give us anything with her scent on it?" she asked no-one in particular. "I expect that from humans, but not from people with fur." She did find a handkerchief. It was relatively clean, unfortunately, but it still held a trace of the vanished lady's scent, and even better, there were fallen strands of fur in the drawer. By the time she had rubbed the handkerchief under Kassiri's nose, and attached the fur to a dowsing pendulum, Elethia had already chosen a tunnel.

Elethia had felt a strange breeze down one of the lower tunnels. She gestured to her friends that this could be the right one. Heading south, they would proceed in hopes of finding these two areas and locating Cassia.

Fortunately, the dowsing pendulum and Kassiri seemed to agree with Elethia's choice.

"They took her this way," Dhara said, catching up to Elethia. "See?" She held the pendulum and the handkerchief out. "Kaz is tracking her scent so I don't have to get down on the ground to do it myself, and I've got some of her fur on this pendulum, so it should be drawn to her through the Law of Contagion."

The tunnels were weird. Dhara didn't need a light--she and Kaz had better night vision than humans do--but she sometimes fancied she could see gears moving in the walls, and wondered if they ever moved of their own accord. The movement seemed to keep to the beat of the warmth and music below.

After a moment she changed the lenses in her goggles, looking for astral and etheric traces. The place was more alive than it seemed. She wondered if she should share the information, but nothing seemed dangerous, and none of the stray bits of presence she encountered seemed to have enough purpose or sentience to interrogate; they were just fragments, like the memory of heat or a colour her eyes couldn't process. It ultimately proved to be more of a distraction than anything else, but she did find the door to the first cartel.

The First Cartel

Going through the door felt almost like entering an airlock; the scent of the air changed abruptly, and it felt at least ten degrees cooler. Kaz looked up at Dhara and whimpered softly, looking back toward the door.

"She's not in here," said Dhara, frowning. Her pendulum was also not pulling her further into the room.

For a moment, she wished there were more time to stay there, anyway. So many books. Books everywhere.

But when she moved toward one of the stacks, one of the drawers in the card catalogue flew open, and cards exploded out of it, hovering in the air between the stacks and the team.

Something about them looked dangerous. Were they even made of paper? Dhara was always surprised to encounter actual card catalogues.

The room was dusty, too, and little dust devils tracked her footsteps. One of them blew up in Kassiri's face and gave the poor thylacine a fit of sneezes. "I do have to wonder what they're trying to hide here. But it isn't Cassia."

Nicsy was startled by the flying cards. She raced to the exit of the book room that the cards were avoiding, one adjacent to the one they'd entered through. Gish flew out of the book room fast, not just startled, but terrified by the flying things. "I don't know what those are, but they're dangerous," Gish said, one of her wings shedding a tiny drop of blood from a papercut one had administered to her as she flew by.

But one single rectangle of that stuff that looked like paper but was sharper, and flew, had a star printed on it. That was the only one that had gone through the door the others were avoiding, and Nicsy and Gish followed it for a while. It seemed determined to get somewhere interesting, and they thought that was probably where they wanted to go, too.

The Caterpillar Cartel

After a whole lot of twisting tunnels, including some that made Nicsy glad she was in a smaller form because the larger people in the team would have to duck, or even crawl a short way, they reached a section of enormous bookshelves arranged in a oblong hallway, twice as wide as the tunnels and probably five times as long as it was wide - where they had come in was one end of this hallway. Books were arranged on shelves high enough that hundred-runged ladders were placed at each shelf.

One of the shelves was encased in an enormous glass fronted cabinet, the books clearly in place but unreachable through the locked cabinet door. "I hope the book we need isn't in that one," Gish said.

The flying card with a star on it pressed itself against the glass.

Dhara did not like having to crawl, but fortunately the tunnels were at least large enough for Kassiri, who had to be coaxed to go further at one point with bits of jerky. It wouldn't have occurred to Dhara to follow the card, but the card, the pendulum, and the scent (which she herself could follow once on all fours) indicated the same direction.

The room full of books was a welcome relief. Talassani don't like to be cramped or confined; thylacines don't, either.

"She definitely came this way," said Dhara, indicating her pendulum. "She's not in here, but what is that card doing?" Dhara considered this for a moment. "Nicsy, I've got loads of tools. You want me to open that cabinet?"

Nicsy swiveled around to look at Dhara's pendulum. She was relieved to hear that they'd probably come the right way. She trotted around the area, trying to make sure the whole group had made it here and no one had got stuck at the narrow parts of the tunnels.

Since this area was larger, and it was really hard to look at books in fox form, Nicsy went with her satchel around behind one of the bookshelves into an alcove that led back into a dead end in the maze, changed to elf form and pulled on a shift so she wouldn't disturb any of her companions that might find naked humanoids unsettling. There always seemed to be at least one, Nicsy had found in the past when she tried not doing this.

She came back out in her elf form and peered at the books behind glass, then pulled one of the ones that was on an open shelf down and paged through it. "I don't see anything in there that we need," she said doubtfully. "It might be some kind of trap?" She wondered what everyone else thought.

Dhara sighed. If she were to be totally honest with herself, she wanted to know what was in there. "The library does seem to defend itself. Not that having all these damn tunnels wasn't bad enough. I mean, I brought a crossbow, because Galaxia said back in the bar that we'd probably end up fighting." She skritched the aggrieved thylacine's ears. "Yes, Kaz, I know, you didn't like that either. What's the book about, Nicsy?"

Galaxia has been following behind Nicsy and Dhara, checking over her shoulder occasionally. She looked up at the mention of her name, shrugging at Dhara in apology. "There's usually punching somewhere in the story, I suppose we're not in that segment. If the lack of it is bugging us, maybe we could call this place the Caterpillar? Long, winding, multi-parted, and a pain in our skirts."

"Anyway, You want me to try and break the lock? It may be trapped, but I am also very sturdy." She cracked her knuckles in anticipation. "Or we could go try another door or pathway instead, and see if we can get allies. Or even a lure a charging dragon or something this way to break through, depending on what's out there. Or, if I was correct in hearing a 'crivens' down the hallway, I can see if there are any of those strange little Pictsies around and pretend to be a lawyer to get them to step through the cabinet and tell us what's in the books." The woman's muscular shoulders flexed as she folded a card from the previous room smaller and smaller, her eyes gleaming in anticipation at some action. "Who is coming with me?"

Nicsy couldn't actually read this particular book; she didn't even recognize the language. "From the pictures, I think it might be about constellations," she speculated. There were pictures that looked like star charts, and other pictures that were of animals or people or objects but with some dots in them in the same configuration as some of the stars on the chart on the previous page.

She looked over at Galaxia. There actually was a pair of boxers in one of the constellation pictures, that were maybe fighting each other. "You're right," she said when she spotted this picture, and showed it to Galaxia. "As for who's coming with you - I think we should all stay together."

While Elethia loves to read a good book, something about the atmosphere present in the area they named the Caterpillar had her on edge. Viewing how fixated her friends are on one book in particular gave her a feeling of dread. Who knows how long these books have been here along with what spells might lie in their pages? Suppressing a shiver she said, "Guys, we just have to identify this area right? How about we move on now? Time is of the essence after all if we want to locate Cassia in one piece."

"She's right - we need to move on. Maybe the way it's a trap is that it's going to slow us down." Nicsy looked from one person to another, hopeful they would agree, and shifted back to fox form. She crawled out from under the shift, pushed it into her satchel with her paws, and slid under it so she'd picked it up. Then she started sniffing around to find which exit they should take.

"Celestial fighters? That does sound like it's relevant," Galaxia commented, running a hand across the paper. "Reminds me of a book I got out of the rubbish once, where I used to live; the Space Child's Mother Goose. With traffic thick, beware the fool, postulates Algol the Ghoul." She said in a singsong voice, as if quoting. "It had all sorts of other poems about things and animals and people as well. One about a mouse...Flappity, Floppity, Flip! The Mouse on the Mobius strip. The Strip Revolved, the Mouse dissolved/in a chronodimensional skip." She had already taken the book out of Nicsy's hands and was walking ahead as if lost in thought, or retracing a circuit of old streets and scavenge spots.

"This is the theory that Galaxia built," she continued aloud after a moment. "This is the flaw that lay in the theory that Galaxia built." There's a frown as the tall woman followed her memory of the poem, a hunching of her shoulders as if in response to some old mocking. "This is the mummery hiding the flaw, and the summary based on the mummery hiding the flaw that lay in the theory Galaxia built." Galaxia looked up to check her surroundings, seeing banners and posters decorating the walls towards the end of this very long room. "Constant K, plausible phrase that thickened the Erudite Verbal Haze, chaotic confusion and bluff based on the Cybernetics and Stuff...there is supposed to be a button." Galaxia headed towards an open electronic access panel set in the wall and connected a stray wire. This made machinery light up against the back wall of the room near where the group had entered, turnstiles set up that are unable to turn and bar only the solid wall. Galaxia still seemed confident, however, as a button flashed red. "Wait for it..."

The back wall began to darken, dimension filling in and depth gaining behind the turnstiles. Galaxia took a step and the darkness began to dissipate, only deepening against as she went still and gestured for her companions to do the same. Eventually a child stepped out of the night at the end of the room and through one of the turnstiles, a creature with a bird's face and fluffy wavy white feathers for hair. It was wearing a sailor-suited shirt and a pair of shorts, the sleeves of the shirt cut to accommodate wings, and the cloth billowed as the creature pushed the button. "This is the Space Child with Brow Serene, who pushed the Button to Start the Machine...and demolished the theory that I built. No Cassia in here." Meanwhile, what was left of the white walls dissolved into a starry dark void, with the party stranding on and more bird people like the child rushing back and forth on a huge winding strip suspended in it. "With traffic thick, beware the-oof!" Galaxia dropped the book as a hulking figure shoulder-checked her. A blocky male figure with horns and a scowl bumped into her in the throng. "Looks like we found the fool," Galaxia grinned, and caught the punch thrown with a strong hand. This dissolved into a brawl on the concourse, Galaxia and the ghoulish boxer trading blows, until the warrior of the Galactic Thylacines downed her opponent with a winding punch and stone-cracking follow-through. She fishes a net bag out of the fallen fellow's pocket and showed her companions the little mouse nose poking through. "Follow the mouse when I let it go. Maybe its 'skip' can get us back to the maze, or through the cabinet. We just need to make sure it doesn't get away afterwards." The Galactic Thylacines took off after the mouse as it wriggled free of Galaxia's hand and ran forward and, with a turn of the great strip they're on, the old room with the useless turnstiles faded back in. The blue-and-black-speckled mouse they need to catch ran past the turnstiles, apparently trying to escape back into the maze.

"I have no idea what the fuck just happened," Dhara said quietly. "Do you want me to keep tracking?"

Then Kassiri slipped past her in a tawny stripey blur--and by the time Dhara caught her thylacine, Kaz had the mouse in her mouth.

Dhara slid her gauntletted hand under Kassiri's long muzzle. "Give," she said. "I don't think that's food. It's blue. It could make you sick."

Kaz looked up at Dhara in annoyance, as if to say this was the most actual fun she'd had all day.

Dhara looked down at Kaz and intoned the animal communication spell. "Give. You don't want to get sick in here."

Kaz opened her mouth, but not her teeth, to show that the mouse was alive. She knew that somehow this spell would let her make words, but she'd have to open her mouth to do that, and the mouse would get away. She walked up to Galaxia and waited patiently.

"I think she wants you to have it," Dhara said, scratching her head. "Maybe because you caught it and if she can't eat it, you should be able to? Or maybe she knows something I don't. The laughing and the dreaming gods both know it wouldn't be the first time."

Galaxia shrugged at Dhara. "I'm not sure either, but children's rhymes have their own wisdom. Between your dowsing and my occasional dumb theory, maybe we can get through this." The woman blinked down at Kaz as the thylacine presented her jaw and the contents, and Galaxia knelt down to reclaim

Journey

Ven watched inquisitively as Nancy vanished from the platform in a puff of steam. It didn’t matter how many times he observed traveling through doors like these, it felt and looked strange every time. Securing his sword on his hip the warrior took his turn. Arriving below the Brass Coil the air immediately smelled familiar. Ven shifted uneasily while listening to the traveling parties banter. “Seven places to check, we should consider splitting up.” If they didn’t it would take them ages to progress.

Jean too was familiar with the Brass Coil, but she didn't have the time for fond recollection. "We don't really have a way to locate each other if someone gets lost, though," she said to Venom. "And knowing what I do about this city, I suspect this place is an adventure all on its own. If we take a moment to puzzle out this map, I can get us through the maze, no problem. Labyrinths are a popular defense mechanism in crypts and ruins -- and they never give you maps for those."

Sorn rolled his eyes at the others and their plans on how to navigate the labyrinth. Jean was being her normal self and planning things... blah blah blah blah blah. Logic smogic, he was tired of behaving. He wanted excitement and a bit of bloodshed wouldn't hurt either. So Sorn did something he considered "logical" he grabbed Garrin by the arm, and Alfred by the neck of his coat. "Later," he said smug voice knowing full well there was every likelihood that they didn't hear him. He entered the maze and let the other two men go. "I brought you two so you would not be mangled horribly by traps. Now, let us see if we can find one of those drug cartels. I fancy trying their concoctions and if it does not work we can always kill them ruthlessly."

Garrin absently nodded towards Sorn. “Sure, kill them ruthl-- wait what?” He looked over at his friend a bit confused, dazed because of the books all around him calling out to be read. After a short jaunt down an ever darkening hallway, the trio came up to a wall of yet more books. In the near darkness of the dead end they were backing out of, Garrin managed to sneak a book from one of the shelves and secure it in his coat pocket. He’d return the ancient book later, he told himself mentally.

Alfred was trying to work out a logical route to take when he was dragged into the maze by Sorn. "You sure this is the right direction, Sorn?" Alfred asked as they followed the Drow. "I'm no expert on labyrinths, but this way seems like a...." He didn't get as far as saying "dead end" before Sorn suddenly turned back towards him.

Sorn, muttering under his breath, followed by Garrin and Alfred returned and then took another path, having hit a dead end. Sorn chose to not reply to Alfred.

“Well that surely was fruitful,” Garrin could be heard whispering softly while suppressing a chuckle as he trailed behind the silently sulking Sorn. His grin was wide, almost opening into a full smile of glee due to all the books surrounding him. In this jungle of information Garrin was at home. He waved two fingers toward Jean and the others who were still standing in the middle of the Brass Coil as he followed Sorn.

“Hey, I’m almost done,” Jean called, but of course Sorn didn’t listen. By the time she’d finished -- not long at all -- they were out of sight again.

“At least this time he went the right way. Venom, HeiYu, are we ready?”

Uncrossing his arms Ven gave a nod. “Lead the way.” He was interested to see where Jean and her paper would get them. Of course Sorn had all the patience of a child and had wandered off. He sort of reminded Ven of his little brother in a way. Perhaps it was for the best. Ven was doing a good job keeping his own anxious energy underwraps, and would probably start behaving erratically himself if exposed to enough of the drow’s impatience. Pushing his thumbs into his pants pockets, Ven took up the rear of their shortened group keeping a watchful eye on the walls as they passed. It was a shame they didn’t have modified rocket bikes like they had the last time a maze came into question. Now that had been fun.

Standing quietly nearby while Jean worked on figuring out the path through the maze, HeiYu smiled with amusement as Sorn plunged ahead dragging Garrin and Alfred along. When they reappeared and headed off again she almost laughed aloud. “I guess Sorn is in a hurry today.” she said silently to Mee. A little later she saw Jean finish working on the map. “Ready whenever you are.” she responded, then followed as Jean and Ven started off.

Sorn, Garrin and Alfred

After making several different turns to the left and one to the right the trio seemed to be heading in a circle. After doubling back in a parallel yet slightly different route it became clear that their path was indeed circular.

“I’m not sure which I prefer, the dead end or a never ending maze of near circular twists.” Garrin commented to Sorn and Alfred as he walked along beside them fingering the spines of books as he went. Soon after Garrin had spoken, he noticed a smell of dusty damp air wafting towards them from further down the corridor. It was not the usual odor of old books but rather one of an old moor whose foul waters had turned over leaving behind the dank smell of decaying organic matter.

All at once one of the books Garrin touched seemed to shiver under his finger and grow steadily colder. Try as he might, Garrin could not remove his finger from the book and looked up to Sorn in mute fear.

Suddenly, a flashback of opening an ancient African tome came to his mind and he saw himself being pulled into the book as helplessly as had happened before. This was not happening in reality, but it felt real to Garrin, who let out an anguished yelp before he could stop himself. “Haeee” Garrin’s strangled plea escaped over a heavy unusable tongue and seemingly numb lips as the terror gripped him from deep within.

Sorn rolled his eyes and hissed. “Is it possible for one moment you can refrain from infantile stupidity? Here I thought you boasted of intelligence. One would think that if you did actually have a brain, you might wish to use it. Do you not recall your previous experience with books? Shall I remind you that you idiotically managed to get yourself trapped inside an obnoxious child? By all that is unholy if I free you then you better the hell keep your hands to yourself or I will lob them off.” Sorn sat on the ground and began chanting to free the moron from his own idiocy.

While Sorn and Alfred worked to help free Garrin, the hallway slowly filled with thick tendrils of hazy fog. The luminous golden bulbs hanging overhead seemed to dim under the weight of the dense mist, their light deprived of any usefulness. The sounds carried within the moist mephitic air were reminiscent of screaming ravens in the shadow of an overgrown dusky forest. Their screaming grew louder and more piercing, palpably close. Garrin could sense things touching him in the black dense vapor, beings that were not Sorn or Alfred.

The floor became no more than a waterlogged peaty bog. Noxious murky water chilled Garrin to the bone as it encased his ankles, sucking tightly against his socks and lightweight pants.

“H-hey, g-g-guys-s-ss,” Garrin stuttered through his chattering teeth. “I-I th-th-hink th-ere --” his voice was cut off as a chill ran the length of his body.

What on earth was happening? Alfred had come across some unusual things before, but this was something else entirely. The fog didn't seem to be caused by potions, yet it had the same feeling to Alfred as the murky vapour that rises from some of the worst potions imaginable. He reached into his pocket and carefully picked up Boris. "You'll be safer on here," he said, putting the mouse onto a nearby shelf, "keep off the ground."

And speaking of the ground, before Alfred could take another step forwards, he realised there was something different, something wetter about the ground he was standing on. Turning to look at Garrin, he realised the fog was the least of their worries. Rummaging quickly through his bag, he hoped he'd packed the right potion - this wasn't the time for not being able to find that little glass bottle in his bag.

Something heavy and cold slapped against his face, attaching to his neck. He could feel a long and sinewy appendage winding around his bicep. Another tendril laced around his neck and yet another two or three around his midsection. Something otherworldly was encasing his body and slowly pulling him down into the inky water.

Garrin glanced around for Coda but could not see the Silvox anywhere. He called for her in his mind but it seemed futile. He simply could not penetrate beyond the inner layer of icy fear gripping his mind.

Unbeknownst to Garrin, however, Coda had been scaling the bookshelves, staying above the mucky mess that had enveloped the trio of men below. She’d seen Zhah, Sorn’s sprite, up and about and considered sheltering the poor little one but matters involving the life of Garrin were a bit more pressing. Zhah seemed safe for now.

Sorn had turned nearly translucent with a ghost-like figure. His voice sounded demonic as he chanted. The ravens started cawing a chant that sounded like “Kill, Kill, Kill.” The wind picked up, a near tornado came as the books fell from the shelves and flew around the room, swirling in the funnel. Zhah grabbed Boris, and then flew with a great struggle to Alfred’s pocket.

Alfred’s heart sank as he suddenly remembered where the little glass bottle was - sitting on the table back in his cabin. As he looked up in desperation, he spotted Zhah heading his way with Boris. Holding out his hand, he caught the sprite and mouse, transferring them both to his pocket. He wasn’t too sure if Zhah would welcome being shoved in the pocket as well, but Alfred figured that was the safest place for both of them. He ducked as low as possible, keeping his head well covered as the books flew everywhere.

Sorn’s magic began to clear the room. The tendrils receded as did the fog and soon they were back on solid ground. The drow stood and surveyed the mess he’d created. Books were strewn all over the floor. Many had torn out pages and broken spines. He couldn’t feel anymore magic and didn’t bother to clean up the mess. He was disappointed there was nothing but books. “You foolish, impulsive human. Places like these are littered with magic. I do not expect you to sense magic but I did expect you to have some common sense. I suppose I was wrong there. Come, we are leaving.”

Garrin looked bashfully to the ground for a moment before pursing his lips in humiliated anger, which dissipated quickly. He shook his head and threw both hands up in a helpless gesture as if that was the only explanation necessary for his childlike need to touch all the books around him.

Alfred sighed with relief as the books landed and the realisation that they were back on solid ground again. “Everyone ok?” he asked, knowing full well that Sorn was, but really wanting to check on Garrin and their companions. Before leaving the cartel, Alfred scribbled a quick note, folded it into a basic origami wolf and left it in front of the book Garrin had touched. He wasn’t sure if the others would risk touching the book, but he didn’t want to tempt fate by not leaving a warning, and thought the origami would stand out amongst all the books.

A warning origami signal was a fantastic idea, Garin thought, as he watched Alfred construct it and place it carefully. He appreciated Alfred and Sorn helping him out. A chill ran up his spine, leftover from the magic that’d gripped him. “Thanks,” he muttered softly as he fell in step with Sorn and Alred. The silvox Coda sent Garrin an icy stare and trotted up to walk next to Sorn.

The group made their way along long windy maze. Alfred checked his compass every so often as they finally arrived in the second of the cartels. This one was teeming with magic. “I believe we have arrived at the bisexed one. Or whatever it was called. Pity there appears to be no sex or intrigue… just boring books.” Sorn sighed. “Do not dare touch a thing, Grizelda,” he warned Garrin. “Alfred, check with your tools whilst I sense for the object with magic. And Twinkle Toes can look as well. LOOK, do not touch,” he reiterated.

Garrin smiled smugly, his attitude much improved after their leaving the previous cartel, which had most assuredly been full of the dark secrets and intrigue Sorn was searching for. Garrin pantomimed touching books and even gestured to one behind Sorn’s back, pretending to pick it up and toss it at him. He chuckled softly at his own antics not even caring if anyone else partook in his merriment.

Alfred tried his hardest to suppress the laugh that was threatening to escape; he didn’t think Sorn would be particularly receptive to someone pointing out his mistake, but he couldn’t help but feel they needed a little humour after the previous cartel. Looking around, he had an unhelpful feeling that they were wasting their time - Sorn didn’t appear to have found anything, and all Alfred’s checks came up blank.

A thorough search revealed nothing. No book, no woman. Sorn muttered something nasty under his breath as he stormed through the opening and they headed through the maze. “Where is the action? Where is the joy of torture and maming? Is it too much to ask to do a little pillaging? And what is the point of calling those stupid libraries cartels? There are no drugs or sex or anything fun.” What a let down.

They twisted and wound their way through the maze, Sorn using his drow senses to help detect the directions and when he couldn’t, magic or Alfred’s compass helped. They finally made it to the next cartel, but Sorn could feel the lack of magic in there and just walked on doing nothing. As they arrived at the last cartel, the drow perked up. This place had library attendants and a snack bar, complete with booze. “Well at least we can have a drink.” He plopped himself into one of the comfy chairs and snapped his fingers to be waited on. Soon he had three alcoholic beverages and an assortment of goodies. “We shall wait here for the slow pokes. Genverva, maybe these people will let you fondle non-lethal books.” He smirked.

As Garrin walked around inspecting books he could smell the faint essence of brownies being baked in the oven. He enjoyed the luscious smell and followed after it. After passing by several overloaded book shelves he noticed that the smell seemed to grow stronger in the shelf unit directly behind him. He stepped back towards the bookshelf and stared. His eyes raked over the books going from floor to ceiling and then back again. Casting a sideways glance over his shoulder, he made sure Sorn was not watching him in his search. After seeing that Sorn and Alfred were paying him no mind, he began to look more earnestly for this curious book emanating a lovely rich chocolatey smell.

He read dozens of titles yet nothing seemed to reach out to him as the source of the warm brownie aroma. Shutting his eyes, Garrin opened his magical mind and allowed the smell to waft over his peripheral senses and delve deep inside. The smell took on an increasingly rich warm hue that made his stomach growl. His mind's eye looked up on the top shelf where there seemed to be motes of colorful dust floating about aimlessly.

Opening his eyes, Garrin honed in on the spot that was emanating the flavorful brownie scent. The magical motes were invisible to his natural eyes but it didn’t matter because he finally saw it, the small delectable book. The volume he sought was actually enshrouded in semi-darkness due to how high up the book was located on the shelf, being partially hidden above the hanging overhead lighting.

As Garrin tried to figure out how to reach the book, he heard Ven and Jean’s voice echoing from further down one of the nearby hallways. She and the rest of their team had finally arrived at the final cartel. They seemed flustered and irritated from their explorations of the book maze as they walked into the room.

It was evident that they’d been as successful in their search as he, Sorn, and Alfred had

Presenting a typical tale from our clan...

The maze solved

Our group decided we were going to split into 2 groups and we found alternate ways through some parts of the maze. So we have 2 images demonstrating:

With labels:

[spoiler=Chapter 1: Ventures through the maze - Nova, Miu & Krys] With the groups settled, Nova began stroking Miu’s hair and watched as the other group seemed to discuss which path to take. The Necromancer looked at all the choices before them then to the still faint magic circle above her head and groaned. If only she had the time to recharge her magic, a quick spell and she could be home in front of a fire and sipping tea, not stuck in whatever hero’s quest she had been pulled into. She stopped petting the little fox, walked towards a pathway, and turned around - her yellow eyes glancing back and forth between Miu and Krys.

“So, can your little foxy noses sniff out if this path will lead us to the forest? I’d not like to get stuck here while my magic is still quite useless”

Miu had been pushing into Nova as she had been petting, once she left Miu lost her footing and fell into a heap on the floor. Takara tumbled from his perch in her hood, standing up he shook himself and stretched. Miu cocked her head at Nova’s question, she hadn’t even thought about it. Taking in a deep breath she closed her eyes letting all the scents discern themselves. Old ink, old blood, and old parchment were the most prevalent. Cold damp earth, burning wax, the tinge of green from the outside world. Overwhelmed Miu opened her eyes. “Scent overload” Before a giant sneeze erupted from her tiny body. “This place is one of the most amazing places I’ve been, it’s filled with so many scents.” Picking herself up she started looking around.

Krys completely ignored Nova’s question. Her ears twitched as she tried listening for sounds, her tails rested behind her clumped together. There really wasn’t much to get a good grasp of where to possibly go, she just overheard the other group decide where they were going. Even though she was slightly annoyed to be grouped with Miu again, she knew it was most likely inevitable and decided it would probably be for the best to get out of wherever they were.

“Let’s try THIS PATH!” Before Nova or Miu could stop her, Krys already ran off in a sprint. Thankfully for the necromancer and the young kitsune they didn’t have to go chasing after their brash companion, in only a minute or two she was already back in the room where they started. Almost in tears, Krys looked defeated already. “I hate mazes… This is going to take us forever.” She looked at the other two, “Your guess at this point is as good as mine.”

Nova stifled a small laugh as Krys re-entered the Brass Coil. Fluffy had gone off, hopping about a few of the passageways, his nose in the air as well before coming back to the small group. “I quite agree with young Miu. Many scents here, though I can not pick up on anything from the outside.”

Nova thought for a moment, at the very least they could cross off the one passageway thanks to Krys. The Necromancer pointed to the left most passage on the north wall of the room. “How about it?”

Without waiting for anyone’s answer Fluffy hopped past Nova. “Might as well try little Nova.” Nova watched her rabbit hop past and followed him into the dark maze. Turning to watch Krys take off down one of the passages Miu giggled as she reappeared. Miu was about to take her own turn down the same passage, but stopped as soon as Fluffy started talking. Crossing her arms a slight pout on her face Miu nodded in agreeance, sighing she picked up Takara and stuffed him back into her hood before following Nova and Fluffy into the passage.

Krys watched the others leave along with Reno happily trotted behind them. Deciding since she already picked a dead end, the others might be more successful than she was so she followed them into the dark corridor. Catching up to them, Krys thought of a brilliant idea. “Hey guys let me see if I can rush through the wall, usually have no problem going through most walls at home. If that’s the case I should be able to find a way out of here quickly.” Her tails danced behind her as she nodded to her brilliant plan and gathered energy for a moment. Sprinting at the wall she used her ability and threw herself at the wall at great speed. BLAM! The thief hit the wall so hard she knocked herself out. Her body laid splayed out on the ground.

Nova stifled a laugh at the passed out fox and leaned against the opposite wall. Fluffy poked Krys’ cheek a few times before joining the Necromancer and let a sigh seemingly too big for his little body. “I hope this doesn’t take too long.”

As Krys ran full bore into the wall Miu got wide eyed and let out a squeal of joy. She was not going to miss out on the “fun” this time, and just as Krys had done Miu ran as fast as she could on jumped at the wall, face planting with a loud smack. Unlike Krys Miu slid down the wall, a groan sounding as she laid backwards. Blood dribbled from her nose and mouth, and a bump was forming on her forehead. Spitting blood Miu sighed. “That was not as fun as it looked.” Wiping the blood from her face with her sleeve she put pressure on her bump.

Nova and Fluffy watched Miu crash into the wall, dumbfounded. Reno was cringing hard as he could, he too wondered why on earth she would copy his owner.

“Why would she…?”

“I don’t know, Fluffy. I just don’t know.”

In time Krys woke up, her bright eyes shot up and she jumped up gracefully onto her feet. Holding her head she looked over at Miu and Nova along with their companions. “My head… Oww.. I guess that won’t work and we have to do this the old fashioned way..”

Nova snorted at Krys and rolled her eyes, “Ye don’t say. Come along now Miu, we ought to keep going this way.” Nova started walking down the dark corridor, Fluffy hopping beside her. After a few twists and turns they arrived at large circular room full of old history books, standing desks, ancient artifacts and weapons, and large illuminated globe in the middle.

Looking around the room, Krys’ eyes lit up gazing at all the weapons mounted on the walls of the round room. Ignoring the books completely she examined a sword on the wall, comparing the quality of it to her daggers.

Like Krys, Nova’s eyes wandered over the weapons, each had a little placard explaining the historical significance. Then her yellow eyes stopped at a large rusted scythe. Joy crossed her face as she ran across on the room, “Oh, I thought I lost you! Is this where ye’ve been the entire time?” She grabbed a paperweight from one of the desk and smashed the glass. The moment her hand wrapped around the weapon, the rust began to flake away revealing that the staff and handle of the scythe were made from the bones of a human and the blade made of granite, protruding from the open jaw of the skull. She hugged it tightly and kissed the top of its head.

The thief watched as Nova hugged and kissed the scythe, she didn’t say much because she probably would do the same for her daggers she aptly named “Kiss” and “Tell”. Her weapons were her livelihood, so she understood her companion on some level.

Fluffy looked over to his companions, “The thing is made from the bones and soul of little Nova’s true love.” Then hopped away trying to decide which route would be best to take.

Before leaving the first room, Krys came up with an idea. “I should leave some type of burn markings on the wall so we can know what directions we’ve done and keep track of where we’ve been in case we go in circles.” The older kitsune walked over to the wall from which they entered from and placed her hand on the wall, her hand was engulfed by foxfire as she drew an arrow for the direction we went. Taking a step back she looked at her burn marking and nodded, “That’ll work!”

So many hallways, so many dead ends. Krys was already frustrated as they worked their way through this disaster of a maze. She kept stopping here and there to leave little burn marks on the walls in a shape of an arrow to show which way they went.

In time they reached a second room. The feeling of this one was unlike the first. Krys looked over at Nova and Miu to see their reactions. There were books floating around as if they were sorting themselves, it was quite the sight.

A look of wonder settled over Miu, injuries forgotten she gently let Takara fall from her hoodie onto the ground. Twirling and running Miu and Takara jumped around trying to grasp the floating books from the air as Pixies swatted at them.

Nova breathed in the wonderful magic from the room trying to recharge her own magic circle.If was working beautifully until the Necromancer began to choke on her own breath, unable to capture more as she gasped to breathe.

She ran as fast as she could out of the room swinging her scythe around, not caring that she was slicing everything in her path; books, ornaments, pixies. Pixies?!? At last she reached a corridor and slide down the wall while catching her breath. Sharp and angry yellow eyes looked back in to the room spying all the tittering pixies flying about. So enveloped by the magic she hadn’t noticed the little buggers. Had she paid more attention she never would have been caught by their magic by surprise. She looked up at her circle which had faded back to the light purple hue it was before.

Krys watched Nova run through the magical room flinging her scythe around, slicing everything in her path from books to pixies. Didn’t seem like the pixies were harmed but some of the books were cleaved right in two. She looked over at Miu and urged her forwards, “Let’s keep moving before the pixies want to kill us for the mess Nova made.” She made another arrow on the wall as she left, with Reno closely in tow.

Miu and Takara stood looking shocked, their gaze traveled to Krys, quietly they both followed the rest of the group into the next passage way.

So many dead ends, where was the next room?! Better yet the exit?! Krys was incredibly diligent in burning away any arrows that would lead to a dead end.

Nova was visibly upset at all the wrong turns the group had made, having the air drawn from her in the last room didn’t help matters either. Fluffy hopped beside her, trying to calm her down which hadn’t worked. Especially since they found another dead end. The group turned around, and backtracked to the last fork.

With every dead end the bump on Miu’s head throbbed more, her anxiety building. Her breathing was getting quicker and she could feel panic setting in, as they turned a corner something caught the groups attention.

There was an odd light up ahead, no doors keeping this room closed in. Scanning around the room it appeared as if it were sorted into two distinct sections; science fiction and non-fiction science manuals and guides. “What an odd grouping…” Krys scratched her head under her hood as she carefully made her way around lab tables with beakers. She laughed as she looked through one of them and saw a distorted figure of Miu, she appeared even shorter and quite round.

“Haha look at this!” Krys pressed her face against a giant glass beaker so they too could see the humour in it.

Even in her misery, the fox had made her laugh a little. The Necromancer looked over to Miu to see what she was up to in this odd room.

Miu giggled along with her friends, moving through the room everything caught her eye. Liquids bubbling in beakers, different odds and ends scattered on tables. An iridescent liquid sat bubbling away on one of the tables. Miu made her way towards it Takara followed behind. As she got to the table finger outstretched her ear twitched as Krys began to speak.

“We should be careful guys, those liquids don’t look very… safe.” One of the vials smelt just awful as it bubbled away. Krys held her nose with a look of disgust, it was as if she smelled something rotting. “I don’t want to hang around here.” She made quick work of leaving her markings behind.

Thinking about it for a second Miu decided against touching the swirling liquid and quickly followed Krys out of the room.

Nova followed suit, hoping the next room was the exit.

They were able to make it to the next room without much difficulty. With an eyebrow raised, Krys gawked at the odd sight; there were giant hamsters dressed as… chefs? Aside from the odd sight, whatever they were cooking up smelled fantastic. Who would have thought there would be books around an area like this but they were all sealed behind panes of glass on the outer edges of the room.

As soon as the group entered the room Miu’s stomach growled, a dribble of drool dripped from her lips. With eyes wide she did a little happy dance clapping her hands together. “FOOOOOOOOOD!!” And with that Miu was off, a whirlwind of tails and angry Hamsters tasting as much of the food as she could. Most of it ended up on the floor which Takara and Reno followed slowly licking what he could before moving onto the next section.

Nova smiled at the chaos the little fox was creating, but there was a little voice nagging her to stop Miu.

“Nova, hurry, go catch her.”

The Necromancer didn’t turn around to face Fluffy and only grumbled as she walked in Miu’s direction, “Maybe I should transfer yer soul into a grasshopper…”

Krys’ eye twitched slightly as the moment they stepped into this room it had become almost a scene one who usually relate to something only in the movie. The thief glared at her stupid fox minion as he followed Takara around as part of the ‘clean up’ crew. Turning to Nova, they needed to get this situation under control… AND FAST.

“We need to grab her and get out of here before the chefs catch her!”

Before Nova could react, Krys was already sprinting after the other kitsune as havoc continued to erupt around the room. With a heavy sigh, the necromancer plotted the small girls’ path and hoped to stop her in her tracks.

“RAWRRGH!” Krys roared as she leapt after Miu, arms stretched forward to catch her. Thankfully for her, Nova was able to stop the young girl in her tracks and the nimble thief was able to catch her. Carrying Miu under her arms like a heavy sack of flour, Krys ran for the closest exit. “Let’s goooooooo…”

Nova and Fluffy followed the foxes out of the room as they felt the angry stares of the poor hamster chefs as they began their creme brulee anew.

“How much more do we have to go?!” Krys and Miu whined in unison as they both dragged their feet through more maze. Each dead end seemed to anger and frustrate Krys more and more.”I JUST WANT OUT OF HERE!?”

“You and me both!” All Nova wanted right now was sit and rest, and recharge her magic. To go home, to find the end of this forsaken place. She couldn’t even find much joy in a room of food after having to catch Miu before she ate everything. Nova’s stomach grumbled, she hadn’t even been able to snatch a quick taste of anything.

The Necromancer clutched her scythe close and closed her eyes, trying to calm both her mind and her stomach down.

Miu felt bad for causing so much trouble before, thinking of what she could to to make it up to her two companions she got an idea. Without saying a word she started running, a sweet and floral scent wafted from one of the passage ways so she decided to take it. Hoping the others were behind her she came to a stop in a fancy room.

Krys barged past Miu and spun around the fancy room draped in pink curtains. There was a heart shaped water fountain in the middle surrounded by comfy yet ornate couches perfectly placed between the bookshelves on the outer edges of the round room. Scanning the books out of curiosity, Krys lit up, “Romance novels!!” Some of the books she remembered reading as a child, she loved this type of book.

The other

That the Organized Chaos was confused was an understatement. Never before had this group been in such a dither, and Frieda had become suspicious. She took Weldon aside, drew his face close to hers and whispered, "Welly, I fear that we have been..." she didn't want to say the words, for she didn't believe in curses or jinxes. Tears welled up in her eyes as she fought to even utter the rest of her sentence.

"You fear that some supernatural force has been working some dark magic on us so that it keeps us in a state of perpetual confusion and stupor?" Weldon held her close and wiped away her tears. "I've felt the same, but perhaps it's merely psychological. We've all been under a tremendous bit of stress, you more so then many of the others."

Frieda relaxed in her mate's arms for only a moment, "Wait, what?"

Weldon was a Watcher, trained in the craft of careful and detailed observation. "I always know. You're pregnant again."

Frieda punched Weldon in the arm, "Welly, you're supposed to let me break the news to you! You spoil all the fun!"

Weldon drew her closer and kissed her forehead, "No, the fun is only just now beginning, you love being pregnant and being a mom." He patted her tummy then gazed into her eyes, "And I love that you are so good at it all."

Frieda sighed and hugged Weldon for another moment, then broke away. "But that still doesn't take away from the feeling that we're being...you know...tricked?"

Weldon scratched his head, "Well, let's not tarry any longer, let's get back to the group and see what we can do to get the next job done."

Back at the gathering spot under the Brass Coil, Frieda and Weldon rejoined the group who were looking for some direction. Frieda was Captain and it was time for her to take action. She took a deep breath and tried to reassure her team. "Weldon and I have had this underlying feeling that there are some 'stressors' that have been opposing our efforts this time around and I feel that we should just come to grips with our feelings and soldier on." She sighed again and continued. "For whatever that means, let's all look at the map together again and try to figure out what we're supposed to do."

The mage stared over at the group who were looking at a paper copy of the maze in their utter confusion. She had already made a parchment copy for her own use and had planned on letting the group do the work. But it seemed, once again, that confusion was reigning supreme. Aicha sighed, "Great, another puzzle. No, no - wait! Don't hurt yourselves by trying to think, just let me do everything! AGAIN." The mage angrily unrolled her parchment and solved the maze with a bright red pen that materialized and moved over the map on it's own, she ignored the offered pencil.

"And done." Aicha snapped and she roughly shoved the parchment into Jianni's hands. "WOW that was so difficult!" she uttered the word 'morons' under her breath.

Frieda's tail floofed up to twice it's natural size and a little growl rumbled from deep down in her chest. Weldon caught her by the waist and pulled her close and gave her a little squeeze. "Why thank you Aicha. You know, that's why we have a mage on our team, to help us with the tricky bits." Weldon was very sincere and at the same time, concerned that his mate might say something snotty. Not that Aicha didn't need taking down a bit, it was just that Frieda wasn't the person to take on that role at this point.

Frieda harrumphed, then looked over the completed map, took the red pen and wrote numbers on the map.

"By following Aicha's route, we come to a number of rooms, or cartels in the order I've written on the map. I think we should all stick together as a group, and I think that all the companions should also stay with us. I also think our rangers and vagabonds should lead and our mage and our warrior should take up the rearguard." When nobody objected, Frieda pushed Weldon up close to Jiani, then took Teislyn's hand in her paw. She wanted to say something like "Sha-roarp Hire!" But just stood there waiting for Jiani or Weldon to take the lead.

"I am NOT walking that far - it's ridiculous! On top of solving puzzles all by myself, you now want me to WALK all that way?" Aicha laughed. "I don't think so." She flipped her blonde hair. "One of you will carry me again."

Freida's tail bloomed again, but she held her tongue when she got a glare from Weldon.

The mage growled and turned to look away. She had been met with silence and looks of annoyance. She flicked her wrist and transformed into a snow-white cat. "There, that should make it easy for one of you." Still, nobody stepped forward to pick up Aicha to convey her on their shoulders. Dace offered to stuff her down into a backpack or drag her by a leash. "Either someone volunteers or it won't be pretty." Aicha hissed.

Weldon gave Frieda the 'slice-across-the-throat' sign when he observed Frieda's lip curl up in a sneer, a weasel sign of utter distress. He was afraid she was going to something really irate like peeing on Aicha-the-cat, she looked that angry. Gawd he loved her so much when she got this way. Pregnant and pissed. So much fun.

There was still no response to the Aicha's threat. The mage spun back around to glare at the rest of the group and was incensed that they had resumed their huddle and was, effectively, ignoring her. Aicha sneered, flicked her tail and sulked off. "Oh, you'll regret this..." At least in cat form, she would have the stamina walking on four paws afforded her. And she could sneak away to do some mischief.

At last they were underway. Jiani took point and Weldon took right guard. They found some steam-punk looking electric torches that required one to turn a crank for a minute to bring up a charge, but the light was bright and cast a bright yellow-orange light down the maze. Frieda muttered under her breath, "these must be leftovers from the days of the Wolfenhague." but nobody responded, so she followed close behind, holding Teislyn's hand. Doom and Lini were right behind them.

The first section of the maze was quite clean, visibly striking in it's architecture, but very twisted and folded back along itself in rapid succession and repeatedly. It was obviously designed to disorient the maze runners right off the bat. Eventually, it straightened out into a long corridor and came to the first cartel. Above the door, was a sign that read, "Repair Manuals, How-To Books, and Zeppelin Maintenance." Weldon's eyes lit up, but his excitement about repair manuals was not shared by anybody else in particular. He thought that at least Dace would be interested in a book he saw on the shelf titled, "River Barge Repair for Dummies." But when he showed it to her, she just cocked one eye and snorted. "Worthless, it doesn't even have a chapter the Hawboldt one-lung make-and-break engines."

"We're looking for Cassie and the next book for our quest. Anything look like it might qualify for either?" It was stupid question, but nobody else was asking stupid questions, Frieda thought she might as well fill the void. She re-cranked her lantern when the bulb dimmed.

When neither the companions nor the adventurers uncovered anything remotely resembling a clue, Jianni signaled for the group to proceed. Frieda walked with Dace this round and held her cousin's paw. Frieda reached up to Dace's shoulder to touch Buttercup, but Dace shook her head no. "She's less trouble asleep."

The second section of the maze wasn't quite as ornate and stately, still it was reminiscent of a university hallway or perhaps an old-style subway tunnel, with small inlaid tiles and floor markings. It also wasn't a very long passage and within moments the group was standing under a tiled sign that read, 'Baking, Cooking, and Comparative Anatomy' Frieda got a little chill up and down her spine. She was deathly afraid of cooking and baking. This cartel scared the ever-living bajeezuz right out of her. Dace just squeezed her paw and led her to the other side to wait for the others.

Again, it was a complete dud, though Weldon did put a book into his pack. "I'm going to check this book out when we get back." he showed it to Frieda and grinned. "I've always wanted to know how to make haggis. This here is '101 Favorite Haggis Recipes for Beginner and Pro.' " He re-tucked the book into his backpack and rejoined Jianni at the front of the squad. Frieda and Dace looked at each other and both made the 'barf/gag' sign then giggled.

Things took a dark and dingy turn as they headed toward the third cartel. In places, there were branch-like roots growing into the walls. For a long stretch, there was only dirt and Frieda worried that the tunnels might not even be safe to walk through, lest they collapse. The place suddenly became very humid, hot and claustrophobic.

Aicha saw her opportunity to get her revenge. She started subtly with a rustling breeze here and there. The maze was already creepy, so she didn't have to do much. She waited a little bit and then, there it came again - that rustling sound. She enjoyed the looks of terror that had begun to appear on her comrades faces. Delightful! And this type of magic was so easy to use, it didn't even need her to really try. Being hidden from the group, scampering about in her cat form, she didn't have to school her facial expressions to let on that she was the one causing the mayhem.

After a few rustles, she moved onto to subtlety making the air around the group colder, a chill in the air that didn't go away. Then she added distant howling and groans that faded in and out with the wind. Her teammates looked positively spooked. But Aicha wasn't done yet, no far from it.

Now came the shadows - shadows that one member would look at and see something horrifying but when everyone else saw it, it was just a branch shadow or something else easily explained. To add even more creep factor, she added in distant footsteps that sometimes stopped when the group paused and sometimes didn't.

For a final touch, she conjured a nest of spiders in a narrow lane of the bumpy path ahead. Big ones, small ones, teeny-tiny ones - she conjured them from afar and added them into the nest.

Kat did not like enclosed spaces where she could not see where she was going. At least she had teammates here to at least be a guide. She didn't mind being the rear-guard, that's what warriors did best. She believed that she was no good at following maps, just give her a battle and a sword and she would be fine.

She was right behind Webby, Frieda and Dace and she looked down the path that they had been following with the map. Best to keep following the people who knew what they were doing. When the air became colder, and rustled about, Kat looked around suspiciously and wondered if they were being followed. When she heard the howl and groans, she realized that she seemed to have fallen behind the group a bit.

Kat was being hedged in here, hemmed in there, hedges everywhere. Kat started to run, and then felt branch-like roots surround her arms. No no no no no, why was she not paying attention, why had she got lost? She screamed and pulled out her sword, slashed at the roots that wrapped around her arms. They retreated into the walls of the tunnel. What a break, she sighed putting her sword back away.

Ok, ok you need to think calmly, she thought to herself. She had been given a copy of the map and she looked at where she believed she had gotten to. Despite her reluctance to follow maps, she believed she had found her current location and the right path back to her friends. She started down the path and her cat followed closely behind. Suddenly she heard growling, this was something she could deal with. Another creature emerged from the tunnel. It was a wood-like looking creature, branches sticking out here and there all over the place. It growled again at Kat and she held her sword at the ready. A slash here and a slash there and the creature was down and disappeared into a pile of twigs. What kind of maze was this. Wasn’t the maze itself enough trouble. Or was this Aicha's doing?

Kat looked again to her map, ok ok, so she still had a ways to go. Up ahead she finally saw her team. Thank the gods. Her pet started swatting at what looked to be a spider. Oh lord a SPIDER! Kat cringed as more seemed to appear all around her. NO NO NO NO NO! A sword would not do much for these spiders. She started stomping on them around and around. Finally they just seemed to disappear. “WHAT MADNESS IS THIS” She looked ahead and seemed as if they had made it to their destination. “That wasn’t tooooo bad I guess.” A sweat drop fell from the side of her head.

Aicha barely held back her laughter when, some time later, Weldon stepped into the nest as they walked on the path and spiders went everywhere and after everyone, except her of course. Oh, revenge!

Jianni held up a hand for his teammates to stop as he eyed a heavy patch of webbing hanging from ceiling to the tunnel floor, brushing a gloved fingers over it like a lute's strings, "Less than half a day old, Cousins."

"Spiders?" Teislyn whispered, pulling her ponytail into a tight bun.

He smiled inwardly at the Bard's calm "Not so big that we can ride them but big enough to be a problem, my Teislyn, they will be wary of fire. I am going to scout ahead, I will hoot like a screech owl if the way is clear, this has been a bit too easy. Sharp watch and listen for the signal. Cousin Sequoia, I leave them in your capable hands."

The Warrior nodded and planted the haft of her spear in the packed earth and drew her sword. Kat took up Sequoia's right Flank and the two warriors leaped into the fray.

"Be careless" Teislyn called softly, but the Ranger was swallowed by the tunnel's gloom

"Buttercup, where are you going? The Maker's sake, girl, this is not the time to go out for a joyfly!" Dace hissed after the fairy.

Psst! Jianni...is that you?" the half-crocked fairy stage whispered.

The half-elf hid a smile "No, its not...who you?" his normally soft voice thick with an Ogre's harsh accent

"Crap...crap crap!! Halt where you are! I've got a wand of Ice aimed," when all else fails bluff had been her Mom's favorite saying.

"Ohhh...Pants on fire!" a familiar voice teased. "Door up ahead, large room many but not sure of the language. See if you can puzzle out what they're doing or saying."

Buttercup leaned towards the thick double doors, not quite allowing her ear or face to touch the wood for fear of burrowing nasties, "I'd better be getting a prize for this, Jianni."

"Little Cousin, I compose a ballad about your skill...what are they?"

Something brushed her hair. "Hey! not the hair!" she growls

"What? I'm not touching your hair,"

A thick sticky wad caressed her cheek, the fairy stifles a bleat of terror as she glances up as tongues of blue-white flame stabs from her fingers to engulf a spider a little bigger than a Falcorian warg. "So gnarley! Ew! Ew! Ew!...I HATE spiders, Jianni!"

Teislyn followed everyone into the maze with Lini a bit ahead of her since the Lure could see and feel in the dim, dark light unlike her human. She quickly put her ponytail into a bun as soon as she saw the webs around them. Jianni's took her hand, it was a nice comfort to have at the moment.

Suddenly, Lini started growling and yipping. "What is it Lini?" She got a quick emotion in her mind and Teislyn could feel her own emotions rise to red. She dropped Jianni's hand and quickened her pace with Lini lea

Mischief, Mayhem and a Maze or OOPS! Did I do that?

The Fallen Angels took in their surroundings and noticed several doorways surrounding them. None of them gave any indication of the direction they should head in. They all looked foreboding. Atrueheart walked over to the large desk in the center of the room and tries to open the drawer. It's locked. She pulled out a thin, long lockpick and easily unlocked the drawer and peeked inside. She noticed a small tin and opened it. The smell of mint wafted out and suddenly her stomach growled. Jeice whipped around, her crossbow swept the room. "What's that? Show yourself!" Anna tried not to giggle, "I think True is hungry." The bard blushed and nodded her head. "Sorry! I guess it's been a while since I've eaten." The ranger grumbled and put her weapon down. She isn't happy about standing around. "Can we just pick a door and get going already?" "Maybe we should find something to eat first" Jilly mused. "Not a bad idea. We'll have clearer minds if we feed our bellies." Kestra nodded. The adventurers agreed to this since they weren't sure when their next meal would come. Besides, they all know that traveling through a maze is hard work, and it won't do them any good to be hangry! Jilly's cat, Salem twitched his tail. "You probably won't find anything suitable in this dark, miserable place. Except, mice. I managed to catch one earlier." Atrueheart turned up her nose in disgust. "You won't see me eating a mouse! I'm sure if we look hard enough, we can find something to eat." The bard decided to explore some more around the desk and see if she could find some food. Jilly turned to Anna. "This would be a great time to teach you a light spell." "The tunnels look rather dim. I'd like to learn that!" the eager young mage apprentice smiled. She took out her spell book and searched for a light spell. She found it and begins to study the words. Jilly taught her how to sweep her wand properly as she chanted the words. Calie was half listening to the others, and half interested in some of the bottles on the desk before her. It seemed to be some sort of repair station. "Hm, I wonder what's in these?" She murmured, picking up one to have a closer look.
Jeice was also only half listening, grabbing a blank notebook and pen from her pack in preparation for making her own map as they explored the tunnels.
Nobody it seemed was paying any attention to Torchy, and the young dragon stomped one foot in agitation, eager for something to do. Suddenly his eyes widened, his ears drew back and his tail twitched. Was that...food he smelled? It was coming from the cabinet in the far corner of the room. His stomach growled and Torchy licked his lips, then made a beeline for the corner, bumping into Calie and almost sending her flying over the work surface of the station.
"Jeice!" She hollered, scrambling to get back down on her feet.
"You might want to mind your friend here!" Then she gasped as a couple of vials fell out of her pocket, hitting one bottle on the desk and shattering all three. "Oh no..." She scuttled back and hid behind another desk.
Jeice frowned and followed Calie, ducking down a bit as well.
"What is it?" The ranger asked, then sighed as Torchy, oblivious to the mischief he'd just created, clawed open a cabinet and found what looked like a bag of cookies and tore into it with a squeal. "I'm sorry, are you alright?" She asked, then stared as the concoction on the desk started to bubble and spread towards the edge of the table. "What is all that?" "Um...I don't know what the heck that was on the desk," Calie said with a nervous gulp, as Geep gave a small squeal of his own and dove into her front pocket to hide. "But those two of mine were something I was working on." Just then, Anna chanted her spell. "In darkness we can't see From the left or right Help and guide us please and give us LIFE! I mean light! LIGHT!" The potion glowed and dripped over the side of the table and into a large box. A sizzling sound was heard and a foul stench filled the air. Everyone backed up slowly, not knowing what to expect. Then all became very quiet as the glow disappeared. Anna looked nervously around to each person. "Um, I think it's okay. Right?" Jeice had her crossbow out again and began to creep slowly towards the box. She peeked in and saw nothing. Laughing, she turned around, "There's nothing in there..." SCREECH!!! All of a sudden, things began to fly out of the box, fast and elusive, they looked like a flock of birds or bats. But these creatures didn't appear to have eyes, or even a head! They took off in different directions and left through the tunnel doors. Jeice regained her senses enough to shoot her crossbow and take one down before it could get away. Strangely enough, colored rocks scattered out from the pages and tumbled on the ground. The 'creature' weakly flopped on the floor and became very still after a few seconds. Jeice growled and stepped forward, poking at what she'd shot down with a scowl as Torchy, lunged forward and shot a small fireball at it, just for good measure. Kestra edged closer to it to see if she could figure out what it was. She gasped, "It's a book!" Everyone else moved in quickly to see what it was. Indeed it was a book, this one happened to be "How to Paint Pebbles" on the outside. Anna picked up one of the colored pebbles and noticed it had a bird painted on it. She went to hand it to Jilly, but the pebble disappeared. She looked on the ground and noticed the rest were gone too. Atrueheart ran back over to the box they came out of. "Check this out! It says BOOK RETURNS on the outside. I guess this is where they go before they're filed away." "Well now they 'flied' away instead!" chuckled Jilly. Anna groaned. "I'm sorry I messed up the spell." Kestra put an arm around her. "Practice makes perfect." Callie went back to the table and slipped the other two potions into her satchel and closed it tight. "No sense in having any more accidents happen!" Kwixis, the dragon and Jinx, the monkey had snuck back to the cabinet that housed the cookies Torchy had devoured. They found some other treats, including fruit, nuts, dried meats, crackers and sweets. Before they took a bite, Kestra and True scolded them. "You two back away from the food! It's for everyone!" True said in a very stern voice. She then divided up the provisions and made sure each adventurer got their share and a little extra for their companions. "Now we need a plan. Which way do we go?" True asked the group. She was met with shrugs and blank stares. "I guess we just pick a passage and head down it." Suggested Calie. No one else had a suggestion so they decided to go with it. True picked the north passage. They entered it and turned left. Almost immediately they came to a split. The bard decided to split up. "Jeice, you take Anna and Calie that way, and we'll go this way." They each went down their passages, only to find both were dead ends. They backtracked to the room. They then tried the next door to the right. Again they split up and found dead ends. Frustrated, they ended back up in the Brass Coil once again. "Ugh, this is maddening! We're not getting anywhere!" stomped Jeice. Kestra shook her head. "Perhaps we should just split up and each takes a passage." True shook her head. "No, it's too dangerous. I propose we stay in two groups. We will explore the remaining passages and someone will keep track on each team." "Sounds like a good plan!" Jilly smiled. "Jilly, you and Kestra can come with me. Jeice, you take Calie and Anna with you. That way we each have a mage." True instructed.

Jeice pursed her lips, then frowned thoughtfully for a moment, absently stroking Torchy's head as the others decided who was going where. She definitely had a bad feeling about one of the tunnels to the right, perhaps it was the slight growling sound she swore she'd heard coming from there. Torchy seemed to hear it too, the small dragon had at first taken a step forward, then shied away a bit as if sensing something dangerous down there. "Alright let's go you two," she reached out and grabbed both Calie and Anna by the arm. "We should start with this one!" She confidently strode forward, taking the first tunnel to the right, not the one that felt dangerous, mind you, she thought it best leave that one for last. "Oh boy," Calie sighed, allowing herself to be pulled along. "I have a bad feeling about this..."
Anna also followed along, eyes wide. "What kind of bad feeling?" She asked quietly.
"Well, whenever Jeice gets to lead a group," Calie explained with a rueful smile. "She tends to lead us smack into trouble." "Hey!" Jeice protested, turning back to gape at Calie. "I do not! I just tend to gravitate to where the action is."
"Exactly," Calie smirked. "And for you action generally means danger." Troop flapped his wings and ruffled his feathers. "I'm not worried." Anna cast a sidelong glance at him. "Of course not, you can just fly out of the way," she whispered, to which Troop made a sound suspiciously like a cackle. The group moved forward slowly, pausing to get their bearings as the tunnel they were in became darker and darker. At one point Calie found what seemed to be a discarded walking stick and smeared some oil over the end, turning it into a torch to light their way.
Suddenly up ahead there was a cacophony of sound and a flash of green light. Two huge ravens, each twice the size of Troop soared past them, making everyone jump and cover their heads.
"Well well," said a smooth, low voice. "What do we have here? Looks like Midgardians to me." Jeice whirled around and blushed as she took in the figure just up ahead, blocking their path where the tunnel took a steep bend.
"Wait," I know who that is," Calie said, eyes narrowing. "Didn't you just do a cosplay as this guy?" "Y..yeah," Jeice stammered, still unable to speak properly. The figure stepped forward, into the light and brushed an errant lock of black hair over his shoulder. He was quite tall, slim, with sharp angular features, and dressed in dark leather clothing, with a green and black overcoat, heavy shoulder epaulets and golden armor. "It seems you have a choice to make, mortals," Loki said with a smirk. "Follow me, or follow the ravens. Do choose carefully. Take the wrong path, and it will be your doom." Calie grabbed Jeice as the ranger took a step toward him. "Jeice, are you nuts?! This is the bad guy, remember?" "He's not," the ranger insisted. "He's just sorely misaligned."
"Riiight," Calie rolled her eyes. "Follow the ravens!" Troop squawked and flew off after them, with Anna giving a surprised squeak and chasing after him. "Come on!" Calie tugged Jeice's arm, and she and Torchy turned to follow the others reluctantly. "I'm not so sure that was wise," Loki's voice purred in Jeice's ear, making her stiffen in surprise. "After all, a group of ravens is called an unkindness..."
Jeice shivered at the sudden chill, but when she turned to look at Loki, he was gone. She and Torchy ran to catch up with the others. "And I thought the other tunnel gave me a bad feeling."

Jilly looked over at her cat, Salem and saw him yawning. "You know, Salem, you and Jinx could run ahead of us and pick out the best route. That could save time avoiding dead ends." The cat looked at the mage with a hard stare. "I suppose if I have to I will. But there better be salmon in it for me." He looked over at the monkey, Jinx, who sat by the bard, chattering. True patted Jinx. "Don't worry, just follow my voice if you think you're lost." The warrior walked over to her dragon. "Kwixis, you will be our rear scout. Just make sure nothing comes sneaking up behind us, okay?" He nodded and grinned at the thought of munching on some unfortunate soul that tries to come after them. The three adventurers shouldered their packs and headed into the next passage. Just as Jilly suggested, Salem and Jinx ran ahead to scout out any passages that branched off. As soon as one of them reached a dead end, they dashed back to let the travelers know not to go that way. If the passage seemed to continue onward, Salem would let out a yowl or Jinx would chatter excitedly to let them know so they could follow them. Soon they reached a cartel. It was a room full of shelves which contained hundreds of books. They heard a low murmur of voices at the far end of the room, then a gasp. Kestra drew her sword and dashed to see what was happening. A young woman spun around and locked eyes with the warrior. Her face was drained of color and her eyes were large as saucers. "Help, please! Something strange is going on and I'm not sure what to do!" She cried. Before Kestra could ask, something large fluttered upwards and dove at her head. The woman shrieked as the warrior ducked. True and Jilly blurted out, "It's one of the books!" Indeed, a large volume flapped its covers and flew to the top of a bookcase and landed there. "Now what do we do?" Whispered True. Kestra gulped as she edged closer to the tome. She saw the title 'Homeland by R.A. Salvatore' The book suddenly jumped up and flew out of one of the exits and into the maze. "Well, that takes care of that!" declared True. She turned to the young woman. "There, we got rid of the book, you can relax now." The woman thanked them for ridding her of the strange, flying book. "I wouldn't be too sure of that," warned Kestra. A clicking noise is heard from the passageway that the book came from. The mage jumped. "What's that?" Then a hissing noise wafted through the air. "I don't like this. Should we leave?" shuddered True. Jinx started to chatter uneasily and began tugging on the bard's clothing. The fur on Salem's back stood on end. He lowered his ears back and hissed. Kwixis narrowed his eyes and stood ready to attack whatever was coming closer. "The book is about the land of the drow. Their goddess is a spider queen, Lolth. It's a dangerous place called Menzoberranzan." The warrior explained while taking a better stance by the passage opening. She thought she saw the glow of red eyes in the darkness. Jilly took out her spell book and began to chant a spell of protection around the angels. True pulled out a small dagger and said a prayer under her breath. Suddenly a large ball of white comes flying out of the dark passage and strikes Kwixis in the face! The dragon claws at his eyes and tries to roar in distress, but his muzzle is entangled in a webbing that wrapped around it. Taken off guard, Kestra runs over and tries to pry the sticky stuff off the dragon's face. Then the spiders made their move. The creatures were terrifying. They were pitch black with a red hourglass on their abdomen. A long, narrow spike could be seen at the tail end of them. The bard surmised that they were poisonous. She also tried desperately to avoid getting bitten by the menacing mandibles that seemed to also drip with poison. All eight eyes glowed bright red as if they hungered for the kill. Scrambling over desks and chairs, the gigantic eight-legged creatures came after them. Salem screeched and jumped up on a bookshelf. Jinx climbed up the bard's back and sat on her head. He pulled some nuts out of her pack and began throwing them at the spiders. "Yikes! Jinx, you're drawing attention to us!" True poked her dagger when one got too close to them. She slowly backed herself against a wall. "Kestra! Help!!" "I need to get this webbing off Kwixis! He can't fight like this! Ugh! Now my hands are sticking to this mess!" the warrior screamed in frustration. A flash of light filled the room as Jilly chanted another spell. The light was directed towards the warrior and dragon and suddenly the webbing dissolved away. Immediately Kestra ran to help True fight off the attackers. She was surrounded by nearly a half dozen of them and more were scuttling into the cartel. One of them started to climb up after Salem. The cat swatted at it and then lept over to another bookcase. A roar was heard from the same passage the spiders came by. The clang of steel was also heard along with unearthly shrieks.
All heads turned and saw a tall, dark fig