The Labyrinth (Advanced RP, Inviting Members) discussion

Ancient writings on the surface that has seen no mercy from time filled with dim and mysterious light and the majestic gates of the Labyrinth slowly opened for the first time since the place was abandoned by the Crimson Witch inviting Pelajos Iskilsa to come in and explore what the place had to offer.

Pelajos Iskilsa ran wildly. His untainted white robes flew behind him as he moved, as blindly as he had before. He stopped himself. Ahead was a gaping gate of stone. Somehow he knew what it was. "The Labyrinth" he mused. "The Crimson Witch created you, but she is gone. Why have you remained?" He approached the portal. "It is legendary," He continued to speak aloud. "A wish is granted to any who would face its challenges." He raised his voice.

"Guardians of the Labyrinth! I would petition you a wish. I would have the power of healing from you, and will face your challenges!" He lowered his voice. "I must be able to heal as I have been healed; I cannot live forever in debt."

The air in front of the Gates filled with buzzing and crackling, and two blades of green flames burst from each side of the Gate arch's foundation. The flames ran across the surface burning out the lettering in the stone. They clashed at the very top, sparks flying in every direction, and descended again to be devoured by the stony ground below.
As soon as the flames faded, the ancient letters transformed into an easy-to-understand text. The words said:

"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN HEARD. ENTER NOW."

Iskilsa nodded to himself and strode forwards, powerfully, meaningfully. He entered the gates with his head high, filled with certainty and prepared.

The first room that opened to the gaze of the man was what at first glance seemed to be a simple old cave with rough walls of grey stone, roots of plants and trees climbing them, hanging down from the high ceiling. Plashes of daylight that was entering the cave from holes up above – too small for a man to climb through - were to be seen here and there, creating an interesting pattern of twirling and sparkling dust and shadows in the further corners of the room. Small streams of water - apparently coming from the surface - ran along the biggest roots flooding some parts of the uneven ground below his feet.

Iskilsa was momentarily disorientated by the vigorous transition, but quickly realised that his quest was begun. He looked down, and bent to touch the cool water, then stood. As a precaution, he readied Shadow from his scabbard, ready to draw at any provocation.

The shadows moved and a ghostly white figure slowly materialized in the center of the cave. It was a girl in a flowing white dress, fabric moving around her to the gusts of intangible wind. Her features were the solemn ones of a statue, eyes closed, no emotion to be seen.

((DONT BLINK!))

Iskilsa saw the figure materialise, and judged that this must be a part of the quest. He engaged calmly in conversation with it, not knowing what else to do: "Hello. My name is Pelajos Iskilsa, though you doubtless know that, else why would you be here? Would you care to open those eye's, it helps with the conversation, you know."

((XD))

A long moment that for some might have been similar to an eternity has passed and she opened her eyes fixing the gaze on the man. Then she spoke in a soft melodic voice, every word falling clear in the still air of the cave.
“Welcome to the Labyrinth, Adventurer. I am the White Keeper, the host of this place. Find your way through it and claim your prize – one wish shall be granted at the end of the quest. Be attentive to details then everything here has its meaning. And remember, if you find yourself in trouble or doubt, you can ask me for help three times. Only three, so be so wise in judging your own strengths and weaknesses.”
Having said this, the Keeper faded away.

"Oh. That's rather useful. Just have to remember only to end up in a near-death experience three times." Iskilsa then walked around impatiently, analysing the scene. He looked up, finding the light source, and wondered where he was, geographically.

At a better glace one could notice that here and there in the shadows shatters of old crockery lay, the plants along the walls hid the remains of once grand stone flower pots with elaborate ornaments embracing the borders and some faded signs at the front. What first seemed to be a cave was a creation of men, having given in to the vigorous force of nature with time.

Iskilsa walked to a wall. He picked up a shard of crockery; still sharp, and dropped it again. He saw a near whole flower pot and could not help but wonder who had made this place, and what had destroyed it.

Most of the symbols on the stone pots - including this one - have faded away beyond recognition, but if tempered a bit some still could show more or less recognizable forms.

“Oh, and you just have to call my name if you need me.” A disembodied voice of the girl – now less formal and filled with more emotion - sounded right next to the left ear of the man.

Iskilsa was shocked at the closeness and intensity of the voice, but accepted that he would never truly be alone on this quest. He looked around for more of the pots, searching for something new. He found it. One shard, having been sheltered in an alcove, still showed some markings, and he hid it away in his cloak for future examination.

Riin materialized a bit to see how the man was doing, waiting for his next move. "You're free to touch, smell, taste everything there is here. Just be careful not to fall in a hole or drop some stones on yourself, or something." She advised.

"I'll be more wary from now on" Iskilsa slowly mumbled, only half-concentrating. A particular scent had emerged from his memory, and he followed it to a section of the wall where it was strongest. "Strange," He mused aloud.

"What is it?" Riin asked and sniffed around. She could feel a lot different smells, but did not know, which exactly had drawn Iskilsa's attention.

"Something I recognise... From my childhood. It is strange, I had thought it unique to the Celestial Planes."

"The Labyrinth can create any smell there is. Does it have any significance?" She moved closer to the man and sniffed again. "And remember, you have to find your way through the maze, so there should be a door or a trigger somewhere."

((Just don't start modeling the doors and triggers yourself. Everything you need is already in the descriptions of the place. Try, every action is a correct action, but leads to a different result.))

((I had no intention to. I like the passiveness of this))

"It did. I don't know much about triggers though, hidden passages were never my forte." He sniffed again, looked up, and decided the falling roots were enough to hold his weight. "I'm going up." He started to climb, leaping from root to root. As he had suspected, the smell got swiftly stronger.

Although there was plenty of water in the cave there wasn't particularly much light at separate spots, so some roots had already dried out and crumbled under the man's weight making him loose footing.

As the roots crumbled beneath his feet, Iskilsa leapt forwards. He could not visually judge his footholds quality, so he determined to move forwards and upwards as quickly as he could, from one perch to the next instantly.

One of the roots decided to play a trick on the adventurer - or was he himself way too careless - but it entwined his ankle making the man loose his grip of the next root that was meant to help him move upwards.

Pelajos stumbled, and swung down, hanging from his ankle. With herculean effort he pulled himself double so that he could hold the root with his hand, and untie his ankle, ready to continue.

"I would not hurry so much, if I were you. Another slip like that and you might hurt yourself." Riin noted.

"Thanks for the advice, but last time I took it slow things started collapsing." Despite his words, Iskilsa settled for a more average pace, analysing each rock before he approached it, and planning an apparently safe route from his rock, it was by no means shortest, but he had not come here to be defeated at the first hurdle. He steadied himself, and leapt to the next platform, waiting to check for immediate dangers, catching his breath and moving on, swiftly, but with care.

This new tactic was more sufficient and Iskilsa managed to get to the top of the cave, except there was about two more meters separating him from the ceiling, which was also covered with roots like the walls, clutches of dirt and sand crumbling down here and there, disturbed by the movement. The small holes letting the light into the cave were much closer now. And there finally was a tangible air movement, fresh waves of it coming from up above.

Iskilsa, at the nearest stable point to the ceiling looked around, trying to find anything to help him up.

((Cue 'search' check XD ))

There were these roots of overground trees and plants hanging from the ceiling, a bit away from reach, but with some simple engineering skills one could easily find a way to climb even higher up.

"Need any help?" The girl asked in an innocent tone.

"Only if it's given without cost." He drew his sword, using the flat of it to draw one of the roots towards him.

((Are you saying engineering is the only route, or the best route, or just the most obvious?))

((Me? Saying? You are probably hearing voices. XD As a rule there are at least two ways out.))

"Unfortunately that wouldn't be possible." She smiled radiantly. "And don't lose your sword."

Iskilsa managed to catch hold of the root, but the very moment he thought he had it, the springy vine slipped from the blade and returned to its original position.

"I suggest you give the root another try. Or try another root. Or... Oh, you get the idea." She was obviously enjoying the show.

He sat and thought. "Is there a time limit, in any form?"

"No, no limit at all, unless you get tangled into a situation that requires you to act on a time limit." Riin replied. "You are welcome to stay here forever, but I bet you wouldn't like the idea..."

"No. That was not my intention." He sat down, cross-legged, and began to meditate. He needed both his mind and body to be in harmony and perfect condition.

Some time passed while Iskilsa was meditating, deep in his thoughts. The beams of sunlight shifted across the vast space of the cave, making some stone vases visible to one's eye: Some completely crushed into pieces by time, but some still standing there half-defaced, with the remaining signs being shyly touched by the sun. They still served their original purpose, but now wild flowers and plants have taken root where majestic roses once grew.

Iskilsa awoke from his meditative state, and his eye was drawn, by the change of lighting, to various vases, around three quarters of the way down. Though it irked him that his climb had been for nothing, he went to investigate, using the same technique that had brought him this far.

As soon as he got down he could see that four more vases - to the piece of stone he picked up earlier - still had the main symbols visible on them. The vases too were quite intact.

Iskilsa approached the vases, and examined it; the pattern and contents both.

He looked in, finding various roots, and wondered what use they could be.

The vases had pretty simple symbols on them. The ones Iskilsa could figure out were a leaf, something spiky rising up like flames, something twirly - probably a stylized image of blowing wind - and a shape round beneath and spiky to the top - a drop of water.
Inside was dust, sand and soil in different state and proportions - some vases were near the water, so the soil inside was moist, with big roots and even live plants having gradually adapted to the high humidity and lack of proper sunlight growing inside. The ones that were away from the water running and dripping along the walls of the cave contained dust and dried remains of roots.

Iskilsa saw the water and moved over to it, trying to locate the source.

The water was coming - just like the light of the sun - from high above, but nowhere in particular. It was flowing along the cave walls and flooding some parts of the cave. There could have been some water basins behind the now visible walls or it could have just been some rain gathered in ponds above and now oozing through the ceiling.

((Whoo. So much to go on. This is actually really hard. No matter what it seems from the creators point of view. ))

((The creator is struggling to get at least a few logical thoughts out of her aching mind. Have fun figuring out your next step. I'll try to log in every now and then to post the replies. Or else the group will die out without it's most active players.))

((Yeah. Enjoy that. I'm trying to think light L in this. It's not working.))

((Any new ideas about your next move? You can use Riin's help anytime... ))

((Yeah, but only thrice. So at the moment no, and this isn't really my top priority at the moment...))