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]

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?"

[poll_the_stars]

"No, we need to go that way," says Inavet, pointing in a direction that is away from everything she's giving hell.

Up she gets, with a bit of urgency.

She considers. Does she really want to hide things anymore from her only ally here? Not really.

"... I'm magic, and I have been giving everything after us a very bad day ever since the first door opened," she says, in a rush. "The pain sounds were me, along with why most haven't found us yet. I have illusions and sound and a sort of area awareness, and some other things that are slightly less relevant, and I just made a trap there," she points, "for one of the newer ones. The maze seems to be learning what I can do and adjusting accordingly. It is concerning."

[purposeful_glory]

"...I have healing spells, if something happens. Your illusions may be better than mine if you're deploying them in places you can't see, or maybe that's just your area awareness, which I don't have." Loki follows her lead. "If it's learning I'll hold back with my magic until it's beyond what you've already shown off."

[poll_the_stars]

Inavet nods, and leads the way.

"I can heal myself a bit, but it's hard to do other things while I'm doing that." Running. Wall, voices, screech of pain from over there, wall, hello beastie you've activated my trap card, and then there is the sound of something far away struggling and dying while screeching.

"Got it. Ha," she says, once the sounds of a thing dying stop.

[purposeful_glory]

"My healing's fast, low-concentration, touch-range."

[poll_the_stars]

"Oh that's convenient, mine is high-concentration touch-range, I'm not even sure I can get people besides myself reliably."

Running, hell given to monsters, then she slows to a walk and tilts her head.

".. Found water. Could be a trap. I can't tell from here. Thoughts?"

[purposeful_glory]

"I can handle poison, if it comes to that. If it attracts monsters is that different from our current situation?"

[poll_the_stars]

"Fair. And I can use water for more traps."

[purposeful_glory]

"Useful."

Scratching the ground as they go, Loki follows her.

[poll_the_stars]

To the water!

They are walking at a steady clip instead of running now. Pointless to waste their energy if the maze might have more in store for them.

"There hasn't been a door opening in a while," she observes. "Meaning no new monsters have been released. This might be good, or... It might be very very bad."

(She continues keeping the current monsters busy.)

[purposeful_glory]

"We probably shouldn't split up if you'd have a hard time defending yourself without teaching the maze more magic, or I'd suggest that I could chase them down and start mopping them up in case those are all the monsters available."

[poll_the_stars]

"Mm. Yeah. We could always go on a killing spree together after getting the water. I could channel the monsters to you one by one when you're ready, or lead you to them."

[purposeful_glory]

"Do you have something to carry water in? When I said we should find some I meant we needed an idea of where our next drink would come from, not that I had a canteen on my person. I'm lucky I had my weapon and armor."

[poll_the_stars]

"I have my canteen. I can also make something to hold water in, with the caveat that I'd possibly be teaching the maze a new magical thing to account for. But I think it might know that one already, if it's learned it, I used a bit of the trick for the trap."

[purposeful_glory]

"Your canteen won't sustain us for a particularly long hike unless we keep coming back to this water as we map the place. Which might not be a terrible idea for right now, presuming the walls stay where they are and the monsters slow down or die fast enough that we can sleep, but in the longer term."