|
Post by Twillie on Oct 30, 2018 13:32:48 GMT -5
"Hmm, looks like it's a coin toss on straight or right..." The young woman ponders, turning to the ghost of, umm... oh yeah, Deric! "You have any preferences on where to go?"
The translucent being simply floats there, grumpily crossing his arms.
“....So uh, does that. Feel good?” the woman asks, “You getting that revenge you wanted so far?”
“At least now you’re paying attention to me,” he grumbles, “And you’re stuck with me for as long as I want.”
“So that’s what you want? Me to notice you? What, you want more backstory, or a fic or two, or--”
“Look, stop trying to analyze my revenge!” Deric’s ghostly-- essence?-- flares, and he throws his arms down in frustration. “You’re the one that’s supposed to be thinking about your actions, not me!”
“I mean…” the woman’s brow furrows at his reaction, but she keeps her tone even, “The Hero City main game ended a while ago. Whatever you wanted from who I was then, well, that ship’s kinda sailed. I’m just trying to figure out what to do now, give you what you want.” She hesitates a second, and then adds, “Uh, assuming I understand what you want?”
“What I want is--” Deric begins snapping back at her, before suddenly stopping. He thinks for a moment. “I-I want you to…”
“Write more fics with you? Develop you more? Somehow retcon your death?”
“....”
“Well, I’ll get back to you on that.” The woman looks at her options again. “Right or straight?”
“I, I guess straight for now,” Deric mumbles.
“....I’ll trust you on this one for now.”
And so the woman and rather existential ghost proceed forward.
|
|
|
Post by Shinko on Oct 30, 2018 14:11:49 GMT -5
Celestial As you turn to the left, you see the path double-back on itself. There is another turn off on your right, and when you take it the path ahead forks in two- left and right. Fortunately the right-hand fork is short enough you can clearly see it's a dead end, so you continue on to the left. You get to another fork a ways down, this time allowing you to either proceed forward, or turn to the right... but again, the forward fork is short enough that you can plainly see it's a dead end. You turn right. You've been going in a bit of a zig-zag for a while when you come to an area of the maze that is unnaturally dark. There is a shuffling and a faint moaning from somewhere, but in the dark you can't tell where. The path allows you to either head straight on, or turn to the left. Or, as before, you can turn back the way you came. For a fraction of a second you notice someone standing at the same fork, dressed in a hooded cloak and accompanied by an ethereal woman with a bun and a cross expression. They flicker out of sight almost instantly, as if swallowed by the all-consuming dark. Twillie You head straight down the path, for just a moment hearing the sound of male and female voices talking idly to one another, but they fade out before you even think to look for their source. The path ahead cuts to the right, then opens up into a large intersection. You can keep going straight, turn to the right, or turn to the left. Curiously, you can see that the left-hand path is split in two, with a closer-left-fork and a further-away-left-fork. Where now?
|
|
|
Post by Birdy on Oct 31, 2018 4:39:47 GMT -5
The blond-with-pink-highlights-haired young man paled and backed away from the forming mist, looking ready to run. No, no, no, no, no... This- this couldn't be happening... It- it couldn't...! The mist began to take shape, finally taking the form of a man in his mid-30's, dressed in a rather dapper suit and fedora, looking as if he just stepped out of the 1920's. The young man - Audo - breathed a sigh of relief and shivered. It wasn't him... He took a deep breath, and faced the ghost. (Though if one had looked closely, one may have noticed the slightest, briefest flicker of disappointment pass across his face after realizing the ghost was someone he didn't know...) An awkward silence stretched out between the two, until Audo finally spoke. "Uh... hi," he said. "I... I take it you're another one of... her characters?" "...Must be," the man said, rubbing the back of his head. "Can't say for sure, though; it's all a bit fuzzy..." "Well, if your clothes are anything to go by," he said, "it looks like you've been erm... 'away' for a while... That could have something to do with it." "Could be," the other man agreed. "Or maybe this place is messing with my head." He scowled and looked distastefully at the rows of corn surrounding them both. "...That wouldn't surprise me," Audo said. "This place... does seem to do that." Another silence passed, until the other man spoke again. "So, what're we supposed to do, anyway? Is there a reason I got brought back, or something?" "I think you're supposed to help me get out of here, or to the end of the maze, or something," Audo said, nodding towards the stone pillar. The ghost read the words on the pillar. "...Hmm," he said, considering what was written. "...I suppose I can do that; not like there's anything else I can do." "Thank-you," Audo said. "I... I appreciate it. I'd rather not have to navigate this thing alone..." "Don't mention it, kid," the ghost said. "It's the least I can do. Name's Clarence, by the way," he said, extending a hand. "Audo," Audo replied, shaking the man's hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Audo," Clarence said. "I have the feeling this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship." "It could be," Audo agreed, smiling. "Say, after we get out of here, there's no reason you have to leave immediately, right? Why not stick around?" he said. "Visit some more houses, see the sights..." "...Sure kid," Clarence said, after a moment's consideration. "Sounds swell; not like I got anywhere else to go! So, which way should we go first? You pick." Audo looked at their surroundings for a moment, trying to listen for anything that may help give a clue as to where they were. "...Left," he finally decided. "Let's try left." ...so uh, meet Clarence. He wasn't supposed to be a Thing but then he was. =D (He went from "vague idea" I joked about the other week to suddenly, over the past couple days, a Character. ='D (Brooms, man...))
So yeah! He died in his backstory due to REASONS, so yeah I picked him. Because if y'all think I'd torment poor Audo with the ghost of his grandfather, I'm afraid you're sorely mistaken. =|
|
|
|
Post by Gelquie on Oct 31, 2018 4:59:59 GMT -5
Gelquie The second right-hand path loops to the left briefly, then doubles back on itself before taking a left turn. At this turn, however, you find that it has become very, very dark. Almost inky black. You think you can hear something moaning nearby. The path splits so that you can go either to the left, or to the right, but you can't see very far in either direction thanks to the darkness. What do you do? "Phew, that was close," the mage pants once they realized what was chasing them is no longer an immediate threat. "If only I could be so lucky," Evelyn Sharpe mutters. "If you were so lucky, I wouldn't have a story," the mage says. "Oh, there are other ways to write it and you know it! Now I don't have a story. Just what you say through his point of view, of all people's." "Look, I'm sorry you didn't get much of a story. I do think you have a lot of potential as a character to explore! As for his point of view, that's... that's the point of unreliable narrators. Biased people exist. I'm not gonna not write them." "You could give them their comeuppance." "I did--" "Oh please, you were trying to win." "I wasn't sad to lose." "Right. Besides, I'm still dead." "Yeah, it sucks. But there's no ghosts in that story. Look, I'll think about writing something for you. But for now, this dark eerie place is really kind of creeping me out and I kinda wanna move forward?" "Okay, move forward, right into the wall ahead." "That's not what I meant and you know it." "If you really do want to write something for me, I'd like to see more than just promises." Sharpe crosses her arms. "...Yeah, okay, I guess that's fair. I'll think of more. Just I'm kind of preoccupied right now, and it sounds like you're too busy complaining to help. So I'm just gonna go... this way." The mage moves right.
|
|
|
Post by Celestial on Oct 31, 2018 6:20:24 GMT -5
Shinko"Okay, that was definitely not my imagination," Jackie remarks, gesturing to where the two figures had just appeared. "This creepy maze is haunted-" "Well, yes," Llyr remarked, raising an eyebrow. "-and not just by you," the admin barked in return. "I'm not dumb. In most situations, I am the smartest person around. Or at least the one with most common sense." "A rare and remarkable power. I never implied otherwise, never even meant it," Llyr says with a smile at her. He looks back and forth between the two forks in the maze. "More of this. What does your map say?" Jackie pushed the map in front of his face. "We seem to be doubling back on ourselves, going in a vaguely circular route, so if the maze is circular, we are going in the right direction," she gave Llyr a little smile. "We make a nice team. You're certainly much more cheerful than some of my colleagues, Captain Brachyura." "And you, Jackie, are a lady of talent and intelligence," Llyr raised a hand to pat her shoulder but, remembering his current condition, chose to give her a thumbs-up instead. "If I still had a crew, you'd be welcome on." "I get seasick," Jackie raised an eyebrow. "And aren't female-looking people such as myself not often welcome on a ship?" "Most of the time, but I like to think I'll make an exception for someone who proved herself capable enough," Llyr shrugged and smiled. "A talented crew makes its own luck." "Flattered, captain. But let's get out of here first. The sooner we can leave, the better for both of us. This place is creepy," Jackie looked ahead at the fork before them and pointed with her pen. "Which way shall we go?" Llyr looked at the map again. "The maze is circular, so we should find a way going up at some point. Straight ahead it looks like it curves right so let's go straight ahead. And if it's the wrong way," he took ahold of her pen, giving a few slashes with it, "the pen is mightier than the sword." Jackie gave a groan to suppress her guilty laugh.
|
|
|
Post by Shinko on Oct 31, 2018 7:56:49 GMT -5
Gelquie As you take the right path, you are relieved to find the darkness dissipating. For a hair of a moment you see what looks like a secretary and a soaking wet ghost in your peripheral vision, but they’re gone when you look towards them directly. Curious… Your path zig-zags for a while, going left, then right, then left again. At this corridor the path branches, going off both to the left and to the right. However, the right-hand fork is short enough you can immediately see it’s a dead end, so you take the left path. You follow it straight for a ways, and come to another fork that might as well not be there- you can go straight or turn left, but the straight path ends almost immediately after it starts in another dead end. You turn left. The path swerves left again, then hooks right, and you find yourself at the first proper fork in a while. You can go left, or right. Celestial You proceed straight ahead, and the inky gloom around you seems to deepen. Now Llyr and Jackie can barely see each other, let alone the walls of the maze around them. So perhaps it’s inevitable that when you reach the dead end of the corridor, you’d plow right into the corn stalks. As you sputter and stumble back, the maze makes a callback to an earlier trick or treat house run by its creator, and a huge purple rabbit robot lunges through the corn with a ear-piercing shriek. Birdy As has been the case every time before now, left is the only way you can go to escape the dead-end you’re currently in. You move forward a little bit to a fork where you actually can chose to go either left, or right, and since Halloween is winding down the maze mod is going to go ahead and assume this is the junktion where Audo made his decision for the sake of time efficiency ~ Turning left at the fork, you find your path zig-zagging a bit. Another left, a right, then another left, all without any forks in the path. Finally you hit a place where the route splits in two- you can keep going straight, or you can turn to the right. From somewhere closeby, you feel an oppressive heat radiating. What do you do?
|
|
|
Post by Celestial on Oct 31, 2018 8:47:56 GMT -5
ShinkoJackie sputters, pulling a piece of corn hair out of her mouth. She eyes Lly over from the side. "I think we went the wrong way." "What are you talking about, I'm still- oh, yes, ghost," Llyr spins on his heel in mid-air and floats back. "The other path might have been correct. Let's go before any pigmen or-" He is interrupted by the purple rabbit suddenly materializing. Llyr grimaces, backing away. "Oh, hello...you look pleasant..." he glances at Jackie. "I...could use that pen right now..." Jackie did not need to be told twice. She held the pen out to Llyr and his essense flooded into it, hovering it in the air. He hefts it, glancing between it and the rabbit. "I really wish I had a proper sword. But I guess you have to improvise sometimes." With a strong swing of his arm, he put as much momentum into the pen as he could, releasing it to fly point-first towards where the rabbit was advancing towards them. Jackie shrieks. "That was my best pen!" she yells, clutching her hair. "You threw away my best pen! You better come back and return it." "I take back what I said about you having common sense," Llyr mutters. He floats through her. "Run, Jackie, just run. Forget about the pen!" She did not need to be told twice. Taking off after Llyr, they sprinted through the maze to their last junction. She rests her hands on her knees, panting and puffing. "You...better go back...and find that...for me." "Sure, sure," Llyr mutters, folding his arms. "You alright?" "Fine," Jackie adjusts her glasses. "I cannot track our progress anymore, however." Llyr grins sardonically. "Let's hope then this route leads to the centre," he begins to float down the other way they did not take, down to the left. "Shall we?"
|
|
|
Post by Shinko on Oct 31, 2018 9:07:51 GMT -5
Celestial As you come around the corner, the path hooks off to the right. You can go this way, or, as you turn, you can see an opening right next to the one you just came out of that goes back in the other direction. In There is a sound like a dog growling from somewhere nearby, and a howl briefly punctuates the dark of the night.
|
|
|
Post by Celestial on Oct 31, 2018 9:35:52 GMT -5
Shinko Jackie and Llyr both stop to get their bearings. With her nail, Jackie makes a line in the paper, having lost her pen. "A good admin makes do with what she has," she tells Llyr when she catches him looking. "Like a good sailor," he remarks. They both stop, not even breathing, when they hear the growling of the dog. "Okay, I don't want to run into that," both of them say at the same time. Llyr shoots Jackie a grin. "We're synchronizing our thoughts." "Please no," the admin says, utterly deadpan. Without even a word, she takes the path to the right, away from the howling of the dog. Llyr shrugs and follows on after her.
|
|
|
Post by Shinko on Oct 31, 2018 9:44:32 GMT -5
Celestial You head down the path, and as you round the circular ring of the maze's corridor, you catch sight of a dead end. There are no monsters here, however; just a familiar headstone- identical in every way to the one that Llyr emerged from. The only difference is that the silver light is not illuminated- the magic seems spent- and that there is a small name etched as if with a sharpened stone into the granite. Evelyn Sharpe.
|
|
|
Post by Celestial on Oct 31, 2018 10:21:55 GMT -5
ShinkoLlyr and Jackie both blink blankly as they look down at the headstone. The admin finally turns to him, giving him a skeptical look. "Friend of yours?" "Never heard that name before in my life," Llyr leans down to the tombstone and gives it a gentle kick. "Hey, anybody home?" a few moments of silence. "Guess not," he looks around at the circular chamber. "This is very weird." "You're telling me," Jackie groans. She walks around the periphery of the walls but finds no exit aside from the one they came in through. "So great, we came all this way and there is nothing here but a tombstone. It's not even yours," she looks at Llyr and throws her hands up in the sky. "What else are we supposed to do? I have other stuff to do!" "Aww, come on, Jackie, it's fun," Llyr grins and folds his arms. "...I guess Doesn't change the fact that I have a lot of stuff to do," Jackie shrugs. She writes down the name 'Evenlyn Sharpe' in her notebook just in case. "Could always ask that computer dork to look the name up in the national database, if it can be accessed again. See what can be dug up and whether this means anything," she sighs, looking bored. "It probably does. You never have creepy gravestones with names on them without some meaning. It's like Christmas Carol." "What Christmas carol?" Llyr raises an eyebrow. "You don't-" Jackie looks up and down at Llyr's very clearly medival-style clothes. "Before your time, probably." Llyr smiles and looks back. "So, shall we head back? Try the path where the howling was?" "I suppose," Jackie rubs her temple. "I don't know if I have more pens for you to throw though. You'll have to pick up rocks from the ground." "Then let's backtrack to where we were. I might be dead but I best try to have you avoid that fate," Llyr grins. "As a gentleman." Jakie gives him a very tired, deadpan look. "Much appreciated."
|
|
|
Post by Shinko on Oct 31, 2018 12:46:49 GMT -5
Celestial You wend your way back through the maze's corridors- giving the area where you met the robot rabbit a wide berth- until you reach the large intersection once more. Conveniently, there are little glowing impressions of a pair of footprints an exact match for Jackie's shoes coming from the path directly across from you- that's where you initially came this way from. Now, orienting yourself as you were the first time you hit this intersection to avoid confusion, you can either go left, or right- if you chose to go right, you can either go the first right, or the second right, since the right path splits into two. As you're thinking, you notice something that wasn't here before- it doesn't seem relevant to solving the maze, more like someone left it here for you to find. It's a shattered, sopping wet timber plank with an intricately stylized "M" painted onto the end.
|
|
|
Post by Celestial on Oct 31, 2018 14:14:12 GMT -5
Shinko"Well, that's handy," Llyr says as he approaches the footprints. "We even know the exact direction where we headed and where we can go now. Unless," he digs around in his coat pockets but found nothing. "Figures. The compass must be at the bottom of the sea. Oh well- oh." His expression goes blank as he spots the bit of wet wood lying on the ground. In a daze, he approaches it. "Llyr?" Jackie calls to him, following him. "Llyr? What's wrong?" she sighs. "please tell me there's not a thing in this maze that has hypnotised you." "This was my ship," Llyr murmurs, sinking to his knees by the bit of wood. He touches the 'M' with his fingers, though as expected he passes right through. "Oh," Jackie looks down, her expression becoming far more sombre. "I'm sorry." "I don't understand. Why is she here? How can she be here? We were wrecked off the coast of Veresia, and this...this is not Veresia. It cannot be. So why is it here?! Just to taunt me?" his expression curls into one of anger. "For Woo's sake, is it not enough that I'm dead?! I must also be reminded of what I lost by having bits of the carcass of the thing I loved the most in the world thrown in my face?" Jackie sighs. "Yes, this sucks. This without a doubt, sucks hard. I can tell you straight away I have never experienced such a loss. But Captain Brachyura," she strides over to the ghost and shoves her face right into his. "You're dead. Your ship is wrecked. Nothing is changing this. Grief is healthy but don't let it eat you up, especially when it is clearly just being done for the entertainment of another. So get a grip, get focused and let's concentrate on solving this, just so that we don't fall prey to the monsters controlling our lives." Llyr grinds his teeth together before smiling humourlessly and closing his eyes. "There you go with that common sense power again. I am so sad you shot me down because that is very attractive." "Thanks," the admin replaces in the most deadpan voice. He looks up at her and stands up, smiling. "I'm not giving whoever planted this here the satisfaction. I'm sure they enjoy suffering: it's why they did what they did with me and my sister. But I'm better than that," he plasters on a wide smile, perhaps too wide. "Let's keep going." Jackie smiles back. "Alright. Though you might want to turn the cheer down to a slightly more natural level," she looks at her map and the exits ahead. "Second right looks like it might be our best shot. Let's give it a go." "Right there with you. And just in case," Llyr hovers over to the damp piece of wood and floods his essense in it. It floats beside him. "She can protect me- us- like she did when she was still whole."
|
|
|
Post by Shinko on Oct 31, 2018 15:40:24 GMT -5
Celestial You head down the second right-hand path. It hooks a left, then straightens out again. From here, you can either head straight, or turn to the right. You are aware of distant, disconcertingly normal traffic noises.
|
|
|
Post by Celestial on Oct 31, 2018 16:37:48 GMT -5
ShinkoLlyr continues on ahead of Jackie, the plank hovering by his side. Even though he did his best to seem cheerful before, now the captain is silent and subdued. Jackie did not like it one bit. Even when they came to a junction, Llyr just turned to to the right without so much as speaking to her. He even ignored the traffic. To a medieval person, those sounds should have at least raised some questions but nope, nothing. Enough was enough. She did not have the patience to deal with brooders, not at work or here. The admin ran up to Llyr, leveling with him. "Listen, I normally hate playing therapist- my colleagues unload on me all the time- but do you want to talk about this? You are very broken up about the loss of your ship and I am not going around this maze in tow with a brooding ghost." "I'm sorry. I just..." Llyr sighed. "It does not feel like it has been any time but I miss her. I miss the Mistral, I miss my crew, I miss being out on the high seas. I keep thinking about how my family, especially my sister with her gentle heart, would have taken the loss and how now there is nobody really there for her. I always hated the thought of growing old and dying decrepit without any teeth, and dying at sea suits me fine, but I just wish there was not any of the tragedy associated with it, you know?" "I don't know but I still feel for you. It's a lot and it is something that is legitimately sad instead of angsty for the sake of it," Jackie bows her head, unsure of what to say. "You maybe want to tell me about your crew? Maybe it will help?" "Maybe," Llyr smiles a little, reminiscing. "Well, first of all, there was my first mate, the last of many, Niles. He was a sensible man who kept me right in many respects. Then my longest serving crew member and our mage, Spencer, who we called the 'ship's cat' because he behaved like one in many ways. A middling mage but he made do with what he got. Then there was Leo, an escaped Courdonian slave we picked up, who was the scariest looking guy we had, bar none, which was hilarious because he was as soft spoken and gentle as a baby mouse. Then there was our navigator..."
|
|