[Legends of the Modern Age (Scion)] Chapter 1.B: Enter the Labyrinth

"No matters. Nothing important." She led the group farther down the corridor, keeping a close eye the the channel the magic was pulling.


[dice]2749[/dice]
 
As you move further down the corridor, both Kendra and Liam notice a discrepancy. A thread running first along the floor but then moving anticlockwise around the hallway, slowly changing color from red to orange to yellow to green to blue to purple and back to red.


Libby, Kenji and Grisl spot something different. Ahead of them, indistinct shapes are briefly forming in the fog vanishing the moment they look closely. Circles within circles, dancing flames, a three straight lines, a rod, a circle on a tube and an oddly topped cylinder.


Karima doesn't manage to notice anything special.

I meant perception+awareness, but I can work with this.
 
In a quiet voice, Libby says, "People, I'm seeing the fog taking definite shapes. Is anyone else seeing similar manifestations?"
 
"I see a thread." Kendra replied, staring right at it.


"A fu-" She turned her attention to the teacher in the group and decided to censor herself. "Fu-riggin' psychedelic thread. All rainbows and shi... Stuff."
 
"I'm not seeing anything," Karima says with slight puzzlement, "more details would be greatly appreciated."
 
"I've got a rainbow thread running on the floor here," Liam said. "Hold on a second, I'm going to open up my third eye."


Pulling out his rowan branch, he began to scribble something in the air, muttering in a foreign language.

Spending 1 Willpower to activate The Unlidded Eye. Perception + Occult roll below.


[dice]2798[/dice]
 
"I didn't notice the thread until you pointed it out," Libby admits, "but I'm seeing geometric patterns in the fog. More regular than cloud formations, but not distinct enough to identify. They change as soon as I try to focus on them. I was looking at a rod a moment ago, now I'm seeing a tube topped with--whoops, now it's a cylinder..."
 
Her voice was strained and rough. "I am of the opinion that the shapes represent our parental pantheons, or perhaps our parents directly." It was a strange occurrence to have so much about her put on display for others to observe. And that was only if she was correct about what she had observed.


She was a collector of antiquities, especially those with magical powers. She was not built for exploring the locales where the items would be found. The thought that they were in some psychedelic labyrinth made her uneasy. She wasn't entirely sure what to do with the information she was being given.
 
"You okay?" Kendra stopped staring at the pretty thread and paid close attention to Grisl.
 
Karima frowns and tries to see the things her fellow Scions have pointed out. "What do you base this on?" She asks Grisl. "The shapes Libby described do not seem reminiscent of any divinities I'm familiar with."
 
Kenji stares intently at the dancing shapes in front of him "I have to agree with Karima, all I can see are dancing shapes that shift as soon as I focus on them. They don't remind me of any legends or Gods."
 
"Honestly, you guys..." Kendra sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck. "Who cares whether or not some stupid shapes are symbolic of whatever? This is a trek through the labyrinth, not some fu... Friggin' poetry analysis meeting. I say we keep moving along and not concern ourselves with the stupid shapes, okay?"
 
"Indeed not," Karima agrees with Kendra's assertation, "poetry, however terrible, cannot kill you. Divine symbolism is more of a 'maybe.' That said," she continues, "I agree that we should move on. Perhaps following the thread you mentioned."
 
"It's what I do. I study artifacts for a living, especially those linked to the divine. So I am always looking for symbols and signs. The three lines I thought might be an Aquarians link. The staff with the strange top was similar to the ankh, maybe. It was fast. Too fast to study details. It could be just that psychological fill-in-the-gaps-with-what-you-want-to-see." Grisl shrugged, a motion that looked a little less than human.


"Were the colours random? Or did they go in order? ROY g BIV?"
 
"Standard rainbow order. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and then back to red." Kendra replied, calmed down enough from her little outburst earlier. What Grisl had said made her raise a brow, though. "You study artifacts for a living? Like... How often are divine artifacts come by?"
 
"More often than one would expect, I suppose," murmurs Libby, "when you think of all those other Scions who never made it to godhood, and left their magic swords and spears and chariots lying around for the victors to pick up..."
 
Geez, these people talked a lot. It must be the nerves of the situation. Made everyone want to open their yaps and sputter about things. She supposed even she was guilty of talking too much, reflecting back on the things she told people. It all made sense to tell them each line, but she wasn't so sure she would have been so happy to volunteer such information in her normal line of work.


Still, Kendra had placed a mark on her, and it almost felt like she was compelled to answer anything she asked. "There is enough to make a living, though I would say that there are a great deal of hoaxes masquerading as relics. But, the circle of people who are aware of such items is very small, and each god has their own idea of permanency. Some items don't survive long, others last for a very long time if properly cared for."


She tended to break people down into three groups. The Collectors, those people looking for unusual items but are mostly unaware of the real aspects. The Users, those born of divine parentage who plan to use the items, for good or evil mattered little. And the Forgers, those rare few who could make items of a nature that the Users could wield to its full extent. The Collectors could make you rich, Users could get you killed, and Forgers would frustrate the crap out of you.
 
"Huh. I don't suppose you could check out my stuff sometime? If you want to see the re-fitted armor of Leonidas, that is." Kendra knocked her hand against her breastplate for emphasis, making a harsh clanking noise. "Gift from Heracles."
 
"Check out your stuff?" It might be an interesting proposition. She rarely got a chance to check out people's stuff while it was still in use. All of her chances to check out people's stuff only came once they were dead. "Sure. I'd be happy to go through yours. Have to be later when we can get to someplace where you could take yours off."


When Grisl saw threads they were always grey. What had turned them technicolor? Was it possible someone was better than her at identifying the threads of fate?
 
Kendra grinned and patted the older woman's shoulder. She was pretty happy getting to show off her stuff, showboating was pretty much standard in her 'family'. "Nice, you got a place in Vegas or somethin'?"
 
Karima looks at Grisl with renewed interest, "my father gave me an ankh when he revealed himself and my nature to me. He told me it was carried by the pharaoh Hatshepsut and surreptitiously taken from the camp of those who robbed her tomb by salawas in his service. But he has never been the most trustworthy of sources, so I would greatly appreciate an informed opinion."
 
Libby frowns slightly. For some reason, this conversation bothers her: if her mother was lying to her about the provenance of her shield and book -- not to mention Stephanos -- she wouldn't be so casual about the possibility. But then, Athena is quite literally Libby's Alma Mater Studiorum, the nourishing mother of her studies, the presiding spirit of the beloved university which Libby will always call home, intellectually and spiritually if not always physically. That she would pass off fakes on her adopted daughter is inconceivable.


Some other things are conceivable, though Libby doesn't like to think about them.


"All right," is all she says, "no matter what exactly the shapes may signify, the only way we'll find out is to keep going."
 
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