[Legends of the Modern Age (Scion)] Chapter 1.C: Twists and Turns

Karima looks at the minotaur statues with a frown, and notes Liam's actions with a nod. "Well this is just a bit ominous, not sure if there's much we can do about it other than move on, though. My tricks are not terribly helpful in this situation."
 
"If they're not, the odds are more than fair that they warn about the presence of live ones...or something equivalent to it," says Libby. She draws her short sword as they move forward. "I hardly need to say we should all be on our guard, if we weren't already."
 
"Yeah, best move forward, everyone. Not everything needs examinin'." Kendra rubs at the back of her neck where her armor touches her skin.
 
"Then forward we go." Grisl held the spear tip pointing forward as she progressed down the corridor. She was capable of kicking some ass when in the gym, but minotaurs were outside of her normal practice routine. Perhaps she might need to find somewhere better to train.
 
After another minute of walking you spot a particularly large statue of a minotaur. This statue is clad in what looks like a strange style f plate armour with a particularly large battleaxe in front of it, held up by it's resting arms on top of it. Beyond the statue, the corridor is a dead end.
 
Libby frowns. Then she pulls a small notepad out of her pocket, crumples up a sheet of paper into a ball, and tosses it at the blank wall.
 
Libby picks up the crumpled wad of paper. Conscious that she may be doing a supremely stupid thing, she tosses it at the minotaur statue instead.
 
So far Grisl has been able to keep moving through the corridors simply by talking the weapons that have been attached to the statues. This room appeared to be a dead end, perhaps this would work just the same as the others. She walked forward, eyes fixed on the statute, ready for it to move. She rested the spear against the wall so that she would have both hands free, then returned to the statue. With both hands, she pulled at the minotaur's axe, trying to pull it from the stoney grasp.
 
The paper bounces harmlessly off of the statue.


The minotaur's axe fails to move, though Grisl does see a reaction as the blade and haft darken, the blade turning grey and the haft slowly changing red via brown. The rest of the minotaur follows suit, it's black fur providing a stark contrast against it's white metal armour and pale horns. It snorts as it steps forwards, it's hoof crushing the paper as it shifts it's axe from a two handed grip to resting in it's right hand as it glares balefully at Grisl.
 
Kendra pulls Grisl back behind her and draws her sword. "Hey, there, big fella."


The Scion of Ares stares down the big bull man and grins. "'Bout time something fun happened. I need a bit of a workout."
 
Karima steps back and draws her gun on the mythic beast, "it doesn't seem to be attacking right now," she says in Kendra's direction, "best not fight it unless we have to."
 
Libby cannot help but regard the monstrous man-beast with detached, almost clinical fascination. She has caught glimpses of the supernatural since her Visitation -- a blue-skinned woman rising from a rushing arroyo in spring to dry her wet hair in the sun; an eight-foot tall man in a trenchcoat, his single unblinking eye shaded by a hat -- but nothing so clearly unnatural, so close.


In classical Greek she says, "You are a threshold guardian, yes? Must we fight you to continue, or is there another way?"
 
It grunts and responds in kind. "Those who seek escape must answer me the questions three, ere the other side of the maze they see." It says before falling silent, regarding Libby with its bronze eyes.
 
Libby's face lights up with that unexpected grin that had so startled Kendra. "Oooh, it's a 'these questions three' type of guardian! Wonderful! I thought only sphinxes did those! Er, I mean..." she looks sheepish and makes a throat-clearing noise.


"What are the questions?"
 
Karima lowers her gun slightly and raises an eyebrow, "really? These things exist in real life? I get why the monsters are here, but the cliches?" She shakes her head.
 
Kendra grumbles and sheathes her weapon. "Man, and here I thought this was the killing kind of monster."
 
"Sweetness, I don't think a bull-man that asks questions is a serious threat to my well-being. Then again, he might be asking me rodeo schedules. A bull-man at a rodeo in Nevada might prove interesting." She grimaced some as she tried to smile at her small joke, as a new pain in her shoulder flared up.
 
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The minotaur waits for the others to fall silent before speaking again in Ancient Greek.


"The first is simple; who are you and what do you seek.


The second is trickier; when you face a fork, do you go the route of the sphinx or the siren?


The third is different and shall be revealed when the first two are answered."
 
Grisl sighed, it sounded more like a death rattle. "I understood none of that. Anyone speaks... whatever that was?" It was probably Greek, but any language could have been Greek to her. But minotaurs probably didn't speak Tagalog, and the Greeks were big into their half-human, half animal creatures more than any other. "There is enough magic in this labyrinth to alter Fate, and yet the local language is not included."
 
"Who are you and what do you seek?" murmurs Libby in English. "I kind of expected that one, actually..."
 
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"...and when we come to a fork, do we choose the path of the sphinx or the siren?"


Turning back to the minotaur, she asks, "Do each of us answer, or does one answer speak for all?"
 
"Very well...


"We are children of the World and the Overworld, borne or sired by Wisdom and War and Death; and we seek freedom for ourselves and others. And we go the route of the Sphinx, and not the Sirens." This last answer is more by instinct than anything else, but if Libby had to pick a monster, whether to emulate or oppose, she would rather it be the Sphinx either way.
 
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