"We're here for the same reason as everyone else it seems we dream of rescuing someone. Though perhaps that is academic, since we're now as trapped she was"
You look away from the painting and look back. In the shadows you see a small pale boy who was not there before. He is moving slightly, though the painting is now frozen.
As you address him, he walks to his right and steps out of the painting, into the shadows along the wall. He says nothing, but continues to look at you. As you look closer, you see that he is semi-transparent and his eyes are completely black. He extends his hand forward.
You also notice several of your companions walk through the door on the north wall.
I can tell I'm going to hate this place... Wan mutters with a second strange character roaming these halls.
You reach out and touch the boy's hand, and he then takes hold of yours.
You feel only the very slightest sensation of touch, as though he's barely grazed you, though he looks to be holding your hand tightly.
He still says nothing, but gestures with his other hand for you to follow.
The horned woman looks to Lys with some recognition.
”M’Lady, tell me more of your quest, and I will share of mine.”
Vehemence follows Thratch. Something was troubling the furnace king. As the events unfolded, he spoke not. Indeed, it was as if his lips were stitched by some fell witch. He was known to be one unforgiving to deceit, and his boiling fervor was felt not as the petty bickering and the nude woman's confession broke the motley crue's dreams.
Truthfully, Vehemence expected as much. She wasn't his muse from before. His placid thoughts gave not even to the cursing of his son.
As they enter through the corridor and come upon the strange woman, Vehemence reacts without amazement. Ephemeral realms and their inhabitants were his home.
He speaks to the being.
"I seek Tranquility. What is your name and who do you serve?"
In hearing Thratch's nubile inquisitions Vehemence finds a short-lived fluttering joy. It was almost cute, the thief's dire need for empirical answers. The furnace king would comfort the small one at this juncture, but found it in ill etiquette in the moment.
Overall, Vehemence was at this time consumed by resigned passivity, but retained a certain unflinching poise. His mind wondered not of the place the group found themselves in but rather thought on his newfound compatriots. He considered the breadth of their survivability, mental stability, and of course their capacity for livid action. He pondered their stories and what caused them to so tick; to find the angle in which he might be able to aid them to glory. In his sullen stance he began unknowingly reassuming the crown he had lost.
Tenchi listened patiently as the horned woman rambled. When she asked who he was, he answered with "I am Kusinagi Tenchi, Son of Kusinagi Genma. I am an adept in the Kusinagi blademaster school, and a Samurai in the service of Lord Oshi-Tomo. I wield the blade of my 26th ancestor, a holy warrior and member of our esteemed school. I am the husband of Ryoko, and the father of Seina and Kaori. I am a man wandering through the land of the unenlightened, seeking a way home." after a brief pause, Tenchi adds "And I am also wondering where the rest of our companions have gone."
Aterro also fails to notice anything, but given his general fondness for Ashlyn, he sticks around and waits for her.
You both suddenly find yourselves elsewhere, in a room with red pillars. The boy continues to be silent, looking at both of you with his large black eyes.
The horned, winged woman begins to answer your questions.
"I am Lady Crucem Capilli. You are in the Maze. It is a prison of sorts."
To Vehemence, "You are very far from home, aren't you, Furnace King? I imagined I'd meet many curious things here, but not one such as yourself."
"I'm here at the behest of the Reptile Sorcerers of Nyctopolis to rescue a devil from within one of the cells. I was told to destroy the Maze if I could, but ..."
"... I can't bring myself to do it. The intricacies of the structure, all of it. It is a perfect work of art. But, if you were to bring me things from within that I could preserve ... that would be of great value to me, and I would pay handsomely."
Thratch pauses for a second, and follows up with, Or what if we don't want it destroyed, yet?
"Uaelnosque, I have found, is almost always just a hidden door away, my dear. How did you enter this place, and by what means do you plan on making your exit?"
Vehemence is intent on hearing the answer to Thratch's last question, as he is unsure of what value this prison held for him. However, if another interplanar being regarded the region as a penitentiary, it was worth his consideration to respect the looming fact that he might be here longer than he'd like.
This may not be all for naught, however...
He wondered if there were locked within here slumbering entities and powers he might be able to consume to ascend back to his former prestige and reforge himself his wicked crown.
Wan'di casually walks around the room and pokes things with his staff.
To Vehemence, "My method of entrance and exit will work only for me. However, there are many doors in and out of the Maze."
To Thratch, "I do not wish to destroy the Maze. The very thought tears at me. But I am bound by honor to complete my task."
You explore around the room and find it to be quite sparse. There is one large door which opens easily. It leads into another room, filled with cupboards and drawers, and mouldering bags and coats.
There is a large tray of food, wine bottles, glasses, and plates, all of which have decayed into a smear of black organics. Amidst the decay you see what appears to be a bottle of cheap-looking wine, a jar of pickles and half an onion, all intact.
Then you notice a mechanical peacock, just as it also sees you.
“A young couple are lucky enough to be getting married by Chancellor Sophronia Wort herself!” it declares.
Okay. Yeah. Honor. Right. But does your honor say how quickly you must do it? Maybe you could wait a few centuries, or at least until we accomplish our own goals and then get out.
"I can not speak for what she was commanded to do, but honor would require that she fulfill the spirit, as well as the letter, of the agreement, regardless of the ramifications of doing so." Tenchi will think for a moment, then add "it's one of the reasons that my society has so many tragic performances that revolve around the war between the heart and honor."
Thoughts of opportunity seize his consciousness. The furnace king ponders the thief's care of 'goals', with a pause of puzzlement.
He then remembers Chanterelles' mention of the reigning Medusa. Vehemence's focus shifts towards the crown.
Responding to the knowledge of paths to and fro the Maze:
"I see."
He turns to Thratch.
"Perhaps we're not as trapped as we thought."
He turns back to the compliant stranger.
"My lady, what do you know of the Medusa who roams within this labyrinth? What manner of force does she command?"
At the chance of ascendancy Vehemence finds himself titillated. If an advantage were to be gained from this conversation, he would be most grateful.
He begins to look about, glancing for more lavish trinkets he might reward the womans' information.
Not Ashlyn
The peacock responds, "Performer? Where is your invitation? If you're truly invited here, how could you not know the names of the bride and groom?"
"If you don't have an invitation, I must insist that you leave here immediately! Faster than that even!" he sputters on.
Apart from the door through which you entered, there is a closed door on the other side of the room to your left, and a short passage on your right which appears to lead to other rooms.
Wan pokes around the room and spies two circular chambers. On the left the circular chamber is floored with pale silver stones in irregular blocks. the stones are uneven and the shadows ebb in regular time.
On the right, you see a set of winding stairs leading downwards.
On the wall between the chambers is a doorway leading north. You can see what appears to be a large, colorful mosaic along the floor.
Back to Lady Crucem Capilli,
"There are many ways to move around the Maze. Your own unknown path through the maze has an aesthetic purity which I don't wish to spoil. It is yours and yours alone."
"Worry not, halfling, I myself will explore my own path if I am ready, but I fear that path will entail destruction. I am prepared to wait in the name of saving artifacts from this wondrous art, however. Time does not pass for my kind as it does for yours."
"Of the Medusa, I have no business with Psathyrella, only with the Devil I seek -- The Closer of the Gate, Burner of Books, The Mnemoclast, Father of the Medusa."
|
As Chanterelle bends all manner of expected physics, and the boy then breaks them, Aterro's tongue dryly clung to the roof of his mouth, and he patiently waited by Ashlyn's side, giving her whatever aura of protection his presence might bring.
His attention wanders, however, as they discover the provisions, and he, possibly unwisely, uncorks the bottle of cheap wine, wishing for something to shock his senses. To either rip him from what must surely be a dream...or re-engage his keen mind to see past what may be illusions.
If he remains standing after taking a fortifying sip, he puts the pickels and onion in his pack, unsure of how long they shall be lost here, and thinking that provisions might become an issue.
When all that can be looted has been, he drifts back to The Sorceress and The Peacock. His mind now catches up and he plays his roll. "Hmmm, um, ah, yes! WE jest, for of COURSE we know the happy couple! We, ah, that is, the two of us," he places an arm around Ashlyn as she were made of boiling snakes, "are friends of them for, O, these many long years. Indeed! Ah, we, um, we had meant to not only share this sweet day with them, but! But to, ah, see how sweet their marriage is, for, ah, we ourselves were thinking on tying the knot, our...ah...selves."
The WarCleric's eyes bulge at the destruction his tongue hath wrought, but he feared what the mechanical construct might do, or call out to, did it not deign them worthy.
"Hence, if you would be so good as to let us pass, we would then be past you and, ah, we can be about our important business of talking! And, you can see, we are already overly late and canst not linger."
Aterro stops talking like a fat man after a marathon would stop running.
Psathyrella. Is that the name of one of the three sisters? Who are they? What's their connection to the chained woman?
The peacock becomes flustered at you both,
"You don't have invitations! Away with you now! You aren't welcome here!"
It jumps up and down excitedly, but otherwise actually seems harmless.
After drinking from the wine bottle, you notice it fills itself back up again. The wine itself is mediocre and cheap tasting at best.
Lady Capilli responds, "Psathyrella is the Medusa. I have seen the chained woman. She's a liar and not to be trusted."
"So, will you bring me back artifacts from the Maze?"
As you illuminate the mosaic, you hear a voice hiss at you from the room,
“The first to cross these coils must dance,
The second, sing to safety reach,
The third must bleed or risk mischance,
The fourth one dies between my teeth,
The next will be the first once more,
And do not cheat, I’m keeping score.”
The spider receiving the awkward instruction to dance along the floor begins to move in a herky-jerky but synchronous movement across the floor.
Tenchi will ask the woman "What sort of artifacts do you seek?"
Now, which way to the sisters? Oh! And we came here with some others. Any idea where they are?
Lady Capilli responds, "Yes, find me anything interesting. The more aesthetic the better."
"I have not seen anyone else come through here, though perhaps you want to look in on your friend."
She points at Wan, who is exploring an adjoining room.
The spider slowly dances across the room and over the mosaic. It reaches the other side and another open doorway.
Wan closes his eyes and uses his spider's sense as it moves through the doorway on the walls.
The spider continues forward to a chamber with several rope bridges over a 100 foot drop.
The spider can vaguely make out the remains of a few dead bodies at the bottom.
"Perhaps before people start wandering off, they should say something to the group?"
|
|
Aterro takes another sip of the thin, weak, never-ending wine. "Ah, by the way, this bottle seems to have an enchantment on it to be ever-filling. I've not heard of an Elemental Plane of Wine, but we seem to have a minor gateway to it. Hence, we shall not fear thirst for sometime, methinks."
She ponders the wine for a moment before continuing, "It is not surprising though, there is so much powerful magic here, wherever here is. I would suggest caution with anything that seems out of place."
"To be fair, if we split up we'll cover more ground." Lys grins impishly.
"Psathyrella..." Vehemence ponders.
"We'll pocket some baubles for you if we've the luxury."
As your spider returns, you see the mosaic shift and move along the floor, and a woman’s form emerges from it. When the spider leaves, the form returns into the mosaic and it stops moving.