Signs pointing to the nearest exits will not be provided.

[poll_the_stars]

There is a room that's dark and cold. It's made of stone, with a doorway cut into each of the four walls. At the room's center is some type of circle, carved into a raised platform. The only light comes from a slightly sad looking light fixture set into the ceiling.

Then the circle glows, brightening until it could rival the sun, humming and shaking the room around it. There is a buildup of energy of some kind...

And then it stops, returning to as it was before.

Except, now it contains two women.

One of them has pointed ears and red hair. She looks around in quite a lot of alarm.

Comments

[purposeful_glory]

"That's something, then."

The hilt end of the glaive sprouts a little spike, and Loki marks the floor, takes a few steps, marks it again, etcetera.

[poll_the_stars]

Oh, that's smart. Inavet says so.

(And there are the things the other door let out, smaller and faster and moving in a way that reminds her of spiders. They get to have their routes to Loki and Inavet look like walls, too. Take that, spider things.)

[purposeful_glory]

(Loki is of course ignorant of Inavet's behind-the-scenes interventions.)

"Thank you."

[poll_the_stars]

(Yes, that is the point of them being behind-the-scenes.)

She smiles a little.

Walking!

(The spider-things are not actually hampered by the doors that look like walls. They just... Pass through them, not even noticing the illusion at all.

... Sound based, maybe? Worth a shot. She makes the sound of footsteps, over on the other side of the spider-things, and masks the sound of their footsteps to anything outside of, oh, five feet.

Oh, good, that works fine. Spider-things go in a direction that is away from the duo. Success!)

[purposeful_glory]

"...What is on your mind? I recommend keeping your eyes open even if you aren't going to fight anything that finds us."

[poll_the_stars]

(Giant stompy monster gets more doors that look like walls. Spider-things get their footsteps in an away direction.)

... What does she say, exactly? 'I am busy distracting the things that are likely going to try to kill us?'

"Listening," she says, instead. "I think there are more things than just the big stompy thing in here. Sounds sort of like they skitter."

[purposeful_glory]

"Joy."

[poll_the_stars]

"Yes."

(She has a range limit, moreso on the footsteps than the illusions. But she can keep both the stompy monster and the spider-things away from them.

... Another door opens.

Damnation. What's this one got?

Medium sized quadrupedal things. How do they feel about doors that look like walls and the sound of footsteps going in another direction? Mm. That worked okay. But now she's juggling three separate sets of monsters.)

At some point, she's started frowning. A frown of concentration, to be specific.

[purposeful_glory]

"What do you hear?"

[poll_the_stars]

"Quadrupedal things. I think."

(She attempts to send the spider-things towards the stompy monster, in the hopes that they will kill each other and leave her less to deal with.

No dice. They ignore each other.

Wall, footsteps, wall wall footsteps...)

[purposeful_glory]

"I wonder why none of them have found us yet."

[poll_the_stars]

"This place seems pretty big. They uh. Might be lost. Or it might all be to freak us out."

(Wall, footsteps, wall, footsteps - augh, no, she was too slow for that quadruped, they move fast, damn it, now it's getting dangerously close -

Fuck you, quadruped, have a very centralized light that's as bright as the sun, you obviously use your eyes.)

There is an animal screech of pain, from over thataway.

[purposeful_glory]

Loki turns her head sharply. "Are they fighting each other? Or is the place trapped as well as infested?"

[poll_the_stars]

(... There's a thought.

She adds checking for traps on her to-do list. Wall, wall, footsteps, wall, footsteps, fuck you, spider-thing, get a sonic burst, footsteps...)

"That didn't sound like a fight," observes Inavet, a little distantly. Shit, she's getting to the point where she's just going to fess up that she has magic and has been giving these creatures hell at this rate, carrying on a conversation and also causing them trouble is sort of hard...

[purposeful_glory]

In addition to scratching the floor where they pass, Loki is now giving the floor ahead of them sharp thumps with her weapon every few steps.

[poll_the_stars]

Good, good.

(Another fucking door opens.

Wall, footsteps?

No dice.

Fuck you, get a sonic burst and a blast of light?

Also no dice.

Shit.)

"... Something is coming from that way," she says, pointing. "Slithery-ish."

[purposeful_glory]

"Slithery. Grand." The glaive turns long and four-pronged, each spike arranged at the corner of a square.

[poll_the_stars]

"I will be over there, out of the way." Over there she goes, out of the way. "It will be here in about... Thirty seconds. I think."

(Wall, footsteps, sonic burst because she wasted some time trying to catch the slithery thing and now that one's a bit too close, footsteps, wall, wall -)

[purposeful_glory]

When the slithery thing comes, Loki will be ready for it, low-stanced, long-polearmed.

[poll_the_stars]

Slithery thing comes!

It is snake-like, with six heads attached to one long body, and covered deep purple scales. Each of its heads is eyeless, but there are slits on its face that suggest nostrils.

The creature is faster than its slightly impractical body suggests, and slithers at Loki with barely a hiss.

(Meanwhile, Inavet is giving the other monsters in the maze hell. Wall. Footsteps. Fuck you, spider-thing. Footsteps, wall, footsteps - fuck you, too, stompy monster, actually.)

The screeches of pain are happening more often.

[purposeful_glory]

Nostrils. Great.

With flawless grace and a few extra prongs added to her weapon, Loki meets it, seeking to catch it between the heads and fling it backwards, ideally so that it can fail to be able to roll over or something convenient like that.

[poll_the_stars]

It is flung backwards! But it does not fail to correct itself.

Also some of its heads are not caught and are snapping ominously. What do?

(Oh god damn it, it's another door.

Keep the other things at bay, skip straight to trying to make this new type of creature dead. Sonic burst? Flash of light? Nope. Okay. She doesn't think she has enough control with heat craft to say kill it with fire at this distance.

But it is coming from behind them. Maybe she can lay a trap...)

She retrieves one of the dart plants on her person. Loki's busy right now, and she's not doing anything obvious. Feed it a bit with some water, turn it into a little glob to hold the small amount of water so it can grow while she's not watching it, fling it down the hallway in that direction. It would plop, but she silences the plop. Now. Grow. Grow grow grow grow grow, you need to murder a thing soon.

(Wall. Footsteps. They are starting to lose interest in the footsteps and listening for other things - she can start adding voices, that might help...)

[purposeful_glory]

Going for the brain(s) is an obvious losing proposition on something with six heads.

Loki forms Lævateinn into an axe. She wants to chop it in half beyond where it branches. If she has to push her coordination to jump over it and land where she can get a good shot, that's fine.

[poll_the_stars]

It is not a very smart monster.

It misses her when it attempts to bite her, and then it is bisected, and having a very bad day. The creature hisses in pain, writhing a bit, but it is suddenly losing a lot of blood. Those are its death throes.

(Grow grow grow, sound of voices, wall, fake doorway over there, let's have you run into a wall you big stupid monster, footsteps, wall, voices, grow grow grow...)

Inavet is in that corner where Loki left her, eyes closed and face scrunched in concentration.

[purposeful_glory]

"Slithery is down. Should I head something else off before it gets nearer?"