Labyrinth

Thought I'd give this idea another shot.

The premise for this game would be that the characters have been randomly warped into an abandoned Sagolian outpost close to Miragia, and the objective would be to see what character interaction we can come up with while they look for a way out of the labyrinth.

Here's a few guidelines.
1- I'd rather if your characters were warped in. If you wish to have a native, don't make him know everything, and if you wish to have someone who arrived on purpose, they're not going to be equipped enough to be prepared for anything (see #2).
2- You must make up your abilities (or equipment) during the course of the game- but only three times. Once your character has pulled something out three times, they'll have to find new uses for what they've already used. Likewise for your race- you don't need to tell me what species you are, but if they've got more than three special abilities, you're only allowed to use three.
3- Yes, being armed and dangerous counts as one. If you get a projectile weapon, it comes with a full magazine or 20 ammo, whichever is less.
4- No destructive devices nor automatic assault weapons can be brought in. Any bore beyond 1/2 an inch is reserved for shotguns, whose barrels must be at least 18 inches long. Explosives are not allowed.
5- No being 100 foot tall. Also, the ability to jump over a 20-foot wall is considered overpowered in this game, given they're going to be the main antagonists.

You might've noticed the rules are a bit weird. That's intentional- I don't intend to follow the rules to a T, but I want you to have a rough idea of what I'm aiming for. Ah, and no character sheets, please.

======

Okay, I'll start.


"AaayAA-!"

Her bed violently bucked to the side, and she couldn't help but roll until her back bumped against the wall. The sudden movement could've been, in hindsight, an earthquake- but earthquakes didn't come with all that much light.

With a gasp, she picked herself up, feeling the bed, tilted now towards the side, and looked around. She was still on her bed- but it wasn't in her bedroom. This place looked rather like a verdigris-coated tunnel, some brown vines near the end where the light came from, a strong draft carrying with itself the scent of freshwater, and the sound of waves. The other end was lost in darkness, and it was cold to even look at it. A faint sucking sound seemed to come from its depths.

Gulping, hoping it was just a dream, she slid her naked feet off her bed, and hesitatingly laid her tiptoes on the ground, recoiling with a grimace- the stone was wet, cold, and, she realized as her toes curled- slippery. She couldn't find her slippers anywhere. She gulped again, the reality of her situation still not hitting her fully, as she made her way towards the light, sluggishly stepping out into the grass that became obvious only now.

She covered her eyes, mouth agape, giving herself time to adjust to the light. Her toes curled from her soles cooling down in the breeze, in sheer contrast to the sun burning up her face. The grass around her was higher than her belly button, making her feel conscious of the white, loose pajamas she was wearing. But as she looked around, the wonder quickly overtook that feeling.

Looking around, she could see a number of stone terraces and towers, overtaken by wild grass and flowering ivy: the tunnel she'd walked out of was built under a tall tower, tapering in a mass of terraces. Taking a few confused steps forward, she dared look a little farther, and was surprised that just ahead of her, there was water, water that extended as far as the massive, broad waterfall that seemed to wrap around the horizon, if not the world, crowned with a rainbow.

Eager to see more, she turned around- and realized the water started only a few yards ahead of her, even if the grass seemed to hide this. As a matter of fact, the water was at least close to her level, and looking opposite the waterfall, it slowed down. Wandering near the edge, she looked out, and saw the towers continued not just above the water, but below it, and there were no level lines, as if it was a recent development- putting two and two together, she quickly realized the water had been pooling up!

"What... is this?" she wondered out loud, holding her hands to her chest. The landscape was out of this world, and frightening- but it was somehow wonderful. Just then, a loud, shrill cry made her look again...

A bird, almost like an eagle, carried a tortoise in its claws as it soared through the air. She looked up, pushing a lock of short black hair out of her face, and noticed the sheer magnitude of its shadow as it passed over her. Turning around, the next she saw was the tortoise falling to its demise on a large, rocky platform still protruding from the water. She looked away, feeling her knees buckle from the impact of the turtle, giving her a notion of the magnitude of that eagle, of that tortoise. Were they massive- or was she just tiny?

Slowly, she opened one eye, and let herself peek, raising her gaze past the trembling water- the tortoise was no more. The bird was now helping itself to the shell's former occupant, before her fascinated eyes.

======

[Okay, this is more or less where it starts]

Then there was again a sucking noise behind her. Turning around, she inspected the structure around the tunnel, trying to pinpoint the source- there was a staircase around the tower the tunnel crossed, and the steps led to a terrace, where small dots circling the air were evidence of insect activity. Straight past the tower lay a large stone wall, its top cracked and incomplete, as if something had torn it down. Behind her was a broad expanse of water, leading after a distance towards the rocky structure where the bird of prey now devoured the dead carcass. The sucking noise renewed, she traced its source to be a large, pale tentacle slithering out of the tunnel, followed by another, and another, all of them gripping the edges of the archway- something wicked was pulling itself out. She froze, her large eyes still too fascinated to react to what was coming out.

Speaking of Labyrinths. I have a Sphinx character. Too bad she's over 100 ft XD

(Allow me to cut in here. ;3)

Just at that moment, as if from nowhere, a man in a rather flashy, half-red, half-black performer's mask which wore a wide smile, stepped out from behind the young girl and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. "Not to worry, my dear, I will rescue you," he said in a dramatic, magnanimous tone. From under his long, body-length cloak, which had a jagged red-and-black pattern that matched his mask as well as a hood on the back, he pulled a revolver with a full, six-bullet clip, and aimed it toward the tentacles that were coming their way. But he didn't shoot, not just yet. He had to wait until he saw a viable weak point at which to aim or he'd just be wasting ammo, and he only had two more clips on him.

(i got a feeling this is gonna be good)

There was blinding light, then he lay there face first in the dirt. Last thing he remembered he was having a drink and then...bang. he looked up at the broken clay bottle spilling it liquids surrounded by tall grass and bright light. "Argh" he groaned scratching he black haired head. He lifted himself up onto his knees and gazed behind him, hearing the sound of rushing water he saw the waterfall the sunken towers, all were breathtaking. And then he saw the the eagle and the mess of a tortoise.

" how charming."

He mumbled looking away from the gory scene. His gaze quickly locked on an even more surreal scene, a wide eyed woman in a night gown followed by a masked man aiming a revolver at a tunnel with... "please don't be that " he drew his katana, using it to stand up he wiped dirt if his indigo robe. And began heading in there direction, wooden sandals tapping softly in the dirt he placed a mechanical hand, attached to a similar arm, onto the women's left shoulder. "Quick, snap out of it, we gotta move!" He was worried of what those tentacles were attached to and how fast it could move.

Gripping the archway, the suckered tentacles pulled forth the central mass, dragging it along the wet ground, a strange beast reminiscent of both a man-o-war and a slug, shimmering in the light. The base of its body was covered in writhing, hooklike structures dripping with milky greenish slime.

Once the mass was ahead of the archway, the creature could only drag itself along the ground, slowing down to a crawl, leaving a trail of milky green slime that held the grass down. Its tentacles were 20 foot long, and after dragging 10 feet of body out of the tunnel there still seemed to be at least 10 more.

===

She gasped at the feeling on her shoulder: she had thought there was only water behind her. Turning towards the stranger, she raised her hands to her chest, looking into his mask. This... kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Not to worry, my dear, I will rescue you."

Following the line of his arm, she saw the revolver at the end. The metal flashed in the blinding sunlight: she averted her gaze, just in time to notice it wasn't sunlight. There was a patch of trampled grass, where the light that the metal reflected had come from; she saw another man stand up from there, take a look around himself, then look at them.

"please don't be that"

The other stranger, now that she noticed, wore a robe, had a metal arm- and a katana. She saw him approach, turning to him, watching him put an arm on her shoulder...

"Quick, snap out of it, we gotta move!"

"Ah...?" she cried, still stunned. "Umm... move? Like, towards those stairs?" she pointed at the stairs, a fair distance off the archway, wrapping around the tower that held the tunnel. From what speed the creature had shown itself to be capable of, if they started running right away, it'd have not a chance of reaching them.

Then again, something was buzzing on the terrace that the stairs led towards. Small, loitering black dots in the air clued any onlookers to the presence of insects.

(What is a man-o-war? I looked it up but Google's not giving me a straight definition here.)

The masked man's gun quivered, some parts in it shaking around audibly. "Yes!" he said suddenly, putting his weapon away. "Perhaps that is a better idea!" he announced in an equally over-heroic tone. He made a forward motion with his torso, throwing the hood of his cloak over his head. The magic article proceeded to change colour to match everything on all sides of the man, turning him almost completely invisible with the exception of his shadow on the ground, which proceeded to move rather swiftly toward the staircase the young girl had pointed out. As he ran, the man's hood flew off his head from his head. The cloaking ability of his garb deactivated and he returned to sight, running up the staircase.

The samurai took note of the swirling insects on the terrace for a moment before turning to the slimy creature heading in their direction, then back to the women. "Yes the stairs." He looked back at the creature and urged her on, following closely behind. "Go! Run!" The grip on his weathered blade tightend in anticipation for a fight. A fight he really did not want to fight. What, with all those slimy tentacles.

(A man-o-war is a jellyfish with a large balloon like sail. they are commonly blue or pink.)

"Yes! Perhaps that is a better idea!"

She looked once more at the man- and he had disappeared. Something shimmered in her gaze, distracting her...

"Yes the stairs."

Rubbing her eyes, she looked at the stairs. When had the other man gotten there?

"Go! Run!"

Being urged on, she could only let out a short welp, running towards the stairs, still not getting the hang of the situation. Unlike the giant slimy monster, which as she ran for the stairs, lashed out with one tentacle- she raised an arm to parry it, and the tentacle quickly wrapped itself around the limb.

Touched, the chitinous, slimy, cold sensation finally hit her with the reality of her situation, and she let out a very, very loud scream.

======

The masked man, once he reached the terrace on top of the stairs, was greeted with another strange sight: the surface was still overgrown, but this one had two structures that framed it. There was a large proportion of flowering ivy in this terrace, and bees. Lots of bees.

The two buildings on this terrace had windows- and if he looked through, he could see that inside, there were hives. Large hives. Very large hives, big enough to avoid the doors to the same buildings.

The performer stopped dead when he saw the bees; he held a rather powerful dislike for them. He was about to make the 'between a rock and a hard place' comment in his mind when his thoughts were interrupted by a loud scream. He turned and looked down to see the monster grabbing the frightened girl. He decided it best to wait before taking any action; the well-clothed warrior was closer to her and he appeared better equipped for the situation. Without hesitation, the masked man once again pulled his hood up, disappearing in the hope of passing by the bees unnoticed, and looked around to see if there was another staircase on the opposite side of the terrace.

He barley saw the tentacle grab her, but he definetly heard the scream. He nearly ran by her, spining in the spot and swung his sword down with both hands at the tentacle thats grabbing her. 'damn, I'm not going to be able to keep up a fight with so many tentacles. I need to get us to the stairs.' he thought as he swung, he also though on swing at the next tentacle that gets to close, he'd carry her there if he had to.

The tentacle severed, she immediately made a mad, panicked dash towards the stairs, almost tripping a couple times. She had to clamber the stairs on all fours- being barefoot wasn't doing her any wonders in the outdoors. She froze upon sight of the bees, all the way up the stairs, her nightgown too thin to offer any protection, her eyes going back to her bare feet- then at the samurai.

Another tentacle made its way to the samurai sluggishly, lifting itself into the air ponderously- then descending quickly.

======

The bees didn't seem to follow him. Invisibility seemed to be sufficient not to aggravate them.

Past the two buildings, the terrace took a sudden turn to the right, wrapping around the largest of the buildings. There was a broken door, completely ripped off its hinges, resting on the ground next to an empty arch in the masonry. The terrace continued, taking a turn to the left, where it went both ways around a tower, forming a ring of green around the lichen-covered stone.

The man in the mask observed the area carefully. There didn't seem to be any visible way to escape in any direction, but there also did not seem to be any threats ahead as much as behind. He then heard the brushing of the girl's clothing against the vegetation growing on the terrace, and looked back to see her frozen in fear. The man once again decided to attempt to be helpful. "At least I can assist on the part of one's fleeing," he thought to himself. He turns around, keeping his invisibility active as he approached the girl. She seemed small enough that she'd be able to fit under his cloak with him. With his back turned to the vicious insects, he opened the front of his cloak invitingly, exposing his torso and legs, which wore a white t-shirt and a pair of black pants, to the girl as an invitation.

The samurai reversed the grip on his blade, letting out cry as he back handed the tentacle. " need to get to higher ground." He muttered to himself as he leaped back, turned and made a mad dash for the stairs, looking over his shoulder, not taking his eyes off the overgrown jellyfish.

The tentacle opposed little resistance, the aberration seeming to shrink into itself, clenching all its tentacles, shaking and turning an aggravated red. He might've gained himself some time, but it was best that he ran now that he had the upper hand.

=====

Watching the man offer her his cloak, she gulped, hesitating an instant before ducking under his cloak, holding her arms around his chest, almost as tight as she clenched her own teeth. If he was paying attention, he'd notice she was shaking, her head low, away from his sight- her eyes almost shut.

Her feet were restless, unsure as she was about whatever could be in the ground, but she would follow his lead.

The actor clicked the lock-like knobs on the inside of his cloak, locking together a number of empty metal rod segments running the front edges of the garment and using these two rods to hold the entire front end shut. With the two of them aptly hidden, he guided the shivering girl in a turn and toward the open doorway in the opposite tower. "Do you have a name?" the masked man asked the girl, feeling a little safer at the moment.

He looked away from the trembling crimson blob, stepping up the last steps of the terrace he was confronted by a new obstacle. Bees, lots of bees, and inside the Windows of the building was more bees. His attention then turned to the girl or lack of her, a worried look came over his face until he saw the shimmering bulky figure moving down and around a corner. "so he stayed after all" he muttered to himself. thinking of a wary past an idea struck him. he sheathed his blade and got on the ground as flat as he could, and began crawling through the plants and vine that covered the bee infested terrace. memories of a past event came to mind, crawling under the floor boards of that stronghold long ago, his body beaten and bloody, attempting to escape death. A Nostalgic smile came to his lips at the thought dir a moment before the task at hand came back to mind and his smile was replaced by a look of pure determination as he crawled.

Gulping, and doing her best to go at his same speed, the girl kept her eyes low and almost shut, hoping for the best with every step of the road. When he finally stopped, past the ruined door, it took her a moment to grasp she still had all her limbs.

"Do you have a name?"

Releasing her grip on the stranger, though still frightened, she let out a sigh, and attempted to straighten her posture.

"Yes, it's... I'm... Zoltan." she replied, breathlessly, looking back up into his mask, trying to find his eyes.

======

Getting flat on the ground and crawling forward proved to be a dubious plan. The tall grass around him shook violently, trampled, with every time he dragged his body forward. In no time at all, he started feeling something crawling over his shins, ankles and neck, the buzzing above him growing more violent.

The masked man looked around. Not seeing any immediate danger, he whipped open his cloak dramatically and took a step back from the girl. "It's is a pleasure to meet you, Zol-- Zoltan?" He suddenly seemed confused. "That's a very interesting-sounding name for a young lady like yourself. Might it be a stage name like mine?" The man was interested to know if he had been lucky enough to have happened upon another lover of the theater like himself. Life could only be too fair.

The samurai's eyes widened as he felt the bees crawling on him, his thoughts going to what the stingers had, poison? paralysis? acid? explosives!? He didn't wait to find out, immediately lifting himself enough to see other end of the terrace he raised his metal arm, the covering on his fore arm spring open on it hinges and revealing a gun of some sorts. it was wrapped in copper coin and looked to be electric powered, crammed in there was a spool of thin high tension wire leading into the gun with a folded grappling hook of some kind. and of course the very faint sound of ticking could be heard from the multitude of delicate clockwork and gears. The coils crackled with electricity and the 'coil gun' launched with near silence, the hook expanding and flying forward and latching onto the balcony rail (or edge) of the terrace. then with a whirl of gears and sparks, the cable began retracting and pulling the man through the brush and towards the terrace at surprisingly fast speeds, hoping he would out run them, he wriggled as he was tried to shack them off. As he neared the edge he stopped retracting and dug his steel fingers into the stone coming to a halt. He immeaditly got up, whipping the hook and cable off of the ledge he began making a mad dash to the right around the corner and away from the bees. He didn't even have time to put away his grapple, arm exposed, he continued swatting as he ran right through a door that he assumed they were in, not checking to look as he was preoccupied with any reaming bees. "damn bees, why'd it have to be bees, why not a swarm of butterfly's!?" he cursed as he ran in.

Wriggling to get bees off himself didn't work. While the speed caused some bees to lose touch, there were still enough that felt the sudden action and the quick movement as a challenge- and as a threat.

A few of them failed to sting anywhere important, but the man could feel two stings going into his lower back during his sprint. They hurt like... well, like bee stings.

======

"That's a very interesting-sounding name for a young lady like yourself. Might it be a stage name like mine?"

Standing up well enough, she crossed her arms over her chest, all too aware she was wearing pajamas. Out there in the sunlight, it seemed like not much of a big deal, but now that she was indoors again, her clothes bothered her a bit. They weren't exactly warm, or trekking gear.

"No, it really is my name, I'm Zoltan..." she began, struggling to mouth out a question of her own. "What's... what's going on? What is this place? Who are y-?"

"Damn bees, why'd it have to be bees, why not a swarm of butterfly's!?"

Turning to the man in a robe, whose arm was now trailing behind him, she let out a meek "EEP!" and took a step back.

"What happened to his arm!?" she cried, pointing.

"It looks similar to one of the pulleys the Trinius Theater uses to make actors appear to fly," the masked man commented, also seeing the warrior's arm. "I believe he has it under control, though, so no need to worry." He then turned to Zoltan and gave a dramatic bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you, miss Zoltan. I am the amazing, stupendous, tremendous, Minnacchio the Dazzling!"

the samurai cringed as he touched his stings, then turned his attention to the pair. "oh my arm, its a grappling hook." he winds it back up and closes it, after hearing their names he introduces himself. "Im Takamoto, but what we all really want to know is, where the hell are we?" I've never seen a ruin like this before and i should know, i live in some."

"oh my arm, its a grappling hook."

She blinked, her finger curling upon itself as she realized just how much she'd understand no matter how much she asked- now the man was winding up his arm.

"It looks similar to one of the pulleys the Trinius Theater uses to make actors appear to fly," she heard, unable not to crack a smile. At the moment, thinking that said arm was actually a prop seemed like an interesting thought. Maybe she was in a theater or something.

"I believe he has it under control, though, so no need to worry."

As the man turned to her, she returned his gaze, somewhat stunned, as always, but bowing just as he did.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, miss Zoltan. I am the amazing, stupendous, tremendous, Minnacchio the Dazzling!"
"I'm Takamoto, but what we all really want to know is, where the hell are we? I've never seen a ruin like this before and i should know, i live in some."

Somewhat self-conscious about her own plainness, she thought for a moment of reintroducing herself, dressing up her name as something like Zoltan Scuder, B-class Sophomore at the Josyefa Community College... thinking twice, she decided to leave her own insecurities for later. Right now, it was a time for facts.

"I don't know. I was in bed at my aunt's house, when suddenly... my bed, it was in a tunnel, I walked out into the light, I saw that waterfall, these, these terraces and a giant bird- it killed a tortoise, and then these tentacles came out of the tunnel behind me. Then you two appeared, and... I noticed that..." she suddenly clammed up. "...and then we got here." she thought again, though now visibly uneasy about what she hadn't said.

Minnacchio reached up to the sides of his head and undid some roping from behind his ears, and proceeded to remove his half-black, half-red mask. He wore a very calm, soft expression, lacking any visible perturbedness, and his eyes had black irises which contrasted with the upward-combed blonde hair that had already been visible with his mask on. "I myself was about to go on stage in another world," he explained. "And then as I walked forward, I suddenly found myself falling." He then closed his eyes and lowered his head. "My only regret is that there was nobody to view my performance of surprise and terror as I fell. That was truly disappointing. And then, I found myself here. Frightened and not wanting to draw attention to myself for a change, I used this cloak made of a magical fabric from the world I originate from to conceal myself."

That was the end of Minnacchio's conversation, but something still nagged in his mind. He decided to keep it to himself, though.