Realistic or Modern Mission 3

[June Verles]

Fable

After constructing the stretcher the centaur would just sit down, intertwining her arms in a sort of meditative way, pretending to meditate because as soon as she closed her eyes she immediately fell asleep, living in thick forested areas for most of her life she learnt the importance of being able to fall asleep anywhere at any time, quietly too as to not attract any unnecessary attention.

At the sound of Tristan wake up of call she would rise, her eyes wide and alive as she tried to calculate where in the name of Hades she was, her expression turning disappointed once she figured out where it was. Letting out a audible tired sigh she would walk over to Kirill, who for some reason now had some sort of tattoos on his body.

"Did he get bored and suddenly decide to become a prison gang member?" She asked, the information from binge watching The orange is the new black coming in handy.

Unfortunately there wouldn't much time to spend dilly dalling around, so before she would strap Kirill to the make-shift stretcher she would reach into the supplies bag and pull out a bottle of blue gatorade, a favourite beverage of hers since joining the wider world. Apparently other agents were opposed to drinking it, because they would get "addicted". As if the light, and crisp flavour of gatorade would get her addicted.

Nonetheless after quenching her thirst and putting the bottle back in her bag, recycling is of high importance, she would attach Kirill to the aforementioned stretcher, forcefully if she had to.

With that she would follow Tristan, the shifting of the sanctuary back into the labyrinth was somewhat scary, but at that point due to recent events desensitising her she felt rather calm minded.

"I'll leave the choice to you. You can separate from the main group and we can re-group on the other side, or you can stay with the team."

The woman would cross her arms, thinking about it for a second before responding;

"If the half-demon can walk by himself I'll do it." she would say referring to none other than Kirill.

 

[Thatguynameded]

Brass was now curious about elora but he would try and talk to her later. He collected his things or what ever he had left over, he had lost some beef jerky from his little episode of running away. He still had a nice supply but its not something hes comfortable with, his water supply is fine, he lost his bowl, and his uniform is soiled in blood and dirt. He decided to go through the rest of the mission with out his uniform. This felt right, his people didn't wear cloths except for the elders and sages. He was able to move and walk without resistance except for the duffel bag on his back.

Walking through the water all he could hear in the distance was rushing water, very light rushing water, like a stream, it must be the waterfall they were walking away from. The water turned into puddles and Tristan had stopped everyone, Brass fully understood that the night cant die and it will kill you, but standing still? tin man? Tristan had confused brass but suddenly his brain cells connected in his mind and realize tin man means metal man, and metal man means armor. Man standing bad, don't let man notice. He fully knew what the plan would be even if he didn't fully understand what Tristan was saying. "sneak" Brass puts his bag down and stretches as wide to loosen up some of his joints. "take bag, brass sneak ahead, tell where go, tell where no go" He adjusts his hands and feet so that each step will be as silent as possible on all fours. "sneak with brass if want, i go"

Brass dose one more stretch to try and pop his bones to avoid them making a sound as he sneaks by. Brass lightly trots ahead before lowering his body and taking light steps just in case the the floor begins to make a sound as he steps. He observes the Immortal knight first at a distance and lightly get closer to see if there is anything around him that might trigger some sort of sound. He scouts around to find an area for the loud people who cant sneak by. Whatever he finds, he would make his way back to the team and provide info as best as he could with his limited speech.

Xemanorth Noble Scion Tarmagon June Verles Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes Fable

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions: Xemanorth June Verles Tarmagon
music: x

Q watched the half-breed flip-flop between stupid and even more stupid, first wishing to get up, deciding it wasn't a good idea, then trying again- then whipping out his phone.

"Oof, tha' one's dead," she commented with a wince upon spotting the heavily cracked phone. "Ah nope there it goes."

She made herself a little more comfortable, watching Jasper walk in to try and help Kirill's ribs back into place. The little -terrible- flirt comment didn't escape her notice though, but all she could give him was a likely hurt ego. A simple snort. The woman leant back on her palms, feeling the cool rock under her bordeaux skin.

Elora gave her a stern call of her name, to which Qerres just dipped her head in surrender. She didn't think the team leaders had much to judge her with. At least she was trying to help the poor mentally challenged lad.

"Everyone, rest up. Eat, drink, sleep. We'll recover here as much as we can."

The demon exhaled through her nostrils as she silently watched Jasper deal with the half-breed, shuffling back a bit to give him more space. She wasn't able to sleep with others around, not without an immense amount of alcohol to force her to. So she was preparing herself mentally to wait the full set of hours- and try to not drain her flasks.

Four hours passed in a drag. Luckily, Qerres was quite used to staring at a spot in thin air for a long period of time. But the blow to her torso when she was hit by the snake-thing did nag at her. Nothing she couldn't handle- with a sip or two. And so another flask was emptied as she only half-registered Tristan asking the half-breed if he was alright. Three flasks left. Three.

"I'm fucked.." she mumbled lowly to herself, before getting up to her feet.

People chatted, some making jabs, while she tried to motivate her body to work with her. Trying to -will- the alcohol through her veins to dull some of the pain.

-----

In silence she followed the demon-leader, palms leaning on her hips. As Tristan explained about a suit of armor stood within a ruined surrounding, she couldn't help but think of how she would have loved this story as a child.

As instructed she remained silent, up until the man asked them all if they understood. Qerres did her best to speak as lowly as possible; "These boots are very practical but not th' most quiet. Shall I take 'm off boss?"

She wasn't valuable in a sneaking mission to begin with, but she wasn't going to tempt fate. Well- in the hypothetical situation where that existed.

 

[Morzone]

Hanarei Fable
​

"You're new too huh? They must really have it out for us newbies." Theo chuckled. Felicia had a pretty unique way of talking and he couldn't help but laugh a little bit. "I do hope there's more to me than just being a magician though." Theo continued to talk to Felicia for a short while, but as the minutes stretched into hours he eventually drifted off into his own thoughts, reflecting on what he'd seen so far. He replayed scenarios in his head, trying to envision the different choices he could have made, and whether or not they might have been a batter choice. For the most part things seemed to being going well. The members of the other group certainly seemed to be worse for wear than the agents lead by Elora, though that might have just been a coincident . Those who were injured were going to be hard to protect, but no one was getting out of here until either the time limit was up or they finished this mission. No use complaining.

Soon enough Tristan was calling everyone together to keep going. Theo had been impatiently pacing for some time now and gladly turned to join the leaders in preparation to leave this place. He was thankful to be on the move again, even if it did mean leaving this rather pleasant space in favor of that labyrinth of horrors. Stone archways and wet floors greeted them at their exit, just great. Small, wet spaces were Wonderful for fire use. Fingers crossed this place was a puzzle room and not one with monsters to duke it out with.

Sadly it would not be the case. A stealth move around an immortal enemy that apparently took the perfectionist option when it came to murder targets. Theo bit his lip, peering at the distant figure of the knight, softly illuminated by whatever strange light was keeping this place lit. It was still pretty dark, but the mage knew he wouldn't be able to light any torches this time. Might as well send up a flare and some fireworks while he was at it. He'd never been the best at stealth, somehow he found whenever he wanted to blend in it just made him stick out more.

Tristan was saying something to the Cerena -Theo had made sure to learn everyone's names over the last four hours of rest- about taking a different route to the rest of them. It was a fair point, Cerena, and kiril too Theo supposed, were probably in the worst position to make a stealth move. Still, it was a fairly cold idea to send her off on her own, or to send her off on her own with kiril. That second one might be worse. Was that really their only option though? This maze was certainly one of madness and so far thinking outside the box seemed to be the most reliable, as ironic as that was all considering.

"Should we risk it? There might be another way." Theo whispered, pointing with his thumb back down the path they'd been walking up, "The sanctuary is gone now we're out of it, right? If we head back again there could be another path."

 

[Hanarei]

Felicia followed the group keeping quiet, not really that unusual for her given she tended to show she was a bit more of the quiet type... more so just due to her not use to speaking making her rather selective with the small talk. She glanced towards Theo a few times while walking recalling their conversation from earlier. She felt a little less awkward then before that at least one person was willing to talk with her without it being... too awkward... hopefully. She still wasn't quite sure if she might of came off that way though the fact they talked for a bit did make her feel at the very least she wasn't completely repulsive to him. Most Magician she knew from her earlier work it always felt as if the people were more annoyed by her speaking with very few exceptions.

Approaching the knight she looked forward a bit uncertain. Sneaking... wasn't exactly something she was super talented at. She was far from a large person and lacked much to make noise so it wasn't likely going to be an issue with that. She only had to worry about not being clumsy and go tripping over things. Floating would likely stop any of that from happening but she could only assume if she started to glow it was just inviting the knight to see her with the words 'kick me' hovering over her head in neon lights. She heard Brass looking at the wolf folk as he seemed in away to her to be trying to show his worth after the earlier incident. It was perhaps a bit unfair on Felicia's part thinking in such a way, after all he was just likely skilled enough at being stealthy it was just natural he would offer to do such a thing.

She turned Qerres mentioning her boots before shifting the the Centaur in part mentally reevaluating herself briefly about how quiet she could be before giving a light nod to herself not thinking anything on her really should create noise or hassle. She looked to Theo as he spoke staring at him a bit more intently then the others given their earlier conversation as he brought up attempting to go back. She paused briefly to think about it before she decided to speak up, feeling slightly more comfortable responding directly to Theo without hesitating as much.

"It would likely just take us back... would it not?" She softly spoke not quite sure of the rules of Sanctuary or how it worked, though she could only assume they couldn't likely of gotten out that far from where they had started from... whether it was back in sanctuary... or what she assumed would just be back in the maze possibly to the Minotaur. She thought back to the idea of making a distraction.

"Wouldn't creating a distraction just make them more aware and observant? Unless it was real convincing I would think he would think to look around the place first before going to check out a random sound that could be anything... unless the sound specifically sounds like a person." She spoke keeping a hushed tone though being a little bit louder to make sure it was audible for everyone nearby without being too noisy. She did have a librarian voice down rather well from her previous job.

Location: A Knight's Tale
Mentioned:
Morzone Fable | Brief mentioning: DapperCat Thatguynameded June Verles

 

[Noble Scion]

Sang heeded her group leader's words, yet was unsure of how to act on such a comment considering that they all seemed to be struggling up of their volition. She was somewhat glad that she wouldn't be groggy in comparison to the rest of them, but she still felt a little fatigues from all the hustling they'd done mere hours before. The ex-princess of Red made her way over to Tristan and set out with the rest toward their hopefully looming destination of Pandora. Small emerald-like gemstone in her bag as she hitched forward away from the safety of that little oasis in the maze.

The place seemed to close in on the once more as they left, moving from the peaceful tranquillity of running water and friendly grass to harsh stone and looming darkness being kept at bay by an unknown light from above. A simulation of the sun was her only guess, yet more malevolent and less inviting than its warm non-box counter-part. It reminded her of the nights she had spent outside clubs guarding the entrances of grimy alleyways and flirtatious drunkards that she'd been more than happy to reward with one of her fists. Gloomy and displeasurable, yet necessary.

Sang had a few stories to tell if she manage to work her way from co-worker to friend with anyone, but that more came down to her being more willing than anyone else. Too long had she spend grooming her stature and learning to act amongst the higher echelons of the demon hierarchy, and how little she knew of anything else outside of hitting things or people she didn't like. Even at home, she rarely got any jabs from her younger siblings thanks to her sheer mass, and the adults knew to treat her with respect, as she did the same for them. This was very different with what she still had yet to grow used to. Formality was lacking and everyone seemed much more casual. She was still working on figuring out the difference between friendly comment and insinuated insult.

The group halted at a new open area filled with flickering figures atop platforms. Once again, something un-combatable, a trend that Sang had very quickly gotten sick of considering it had been the case with practically everything she'd met so far through her expeditions with SMITED, both her first mission and now her second.

She got the gist of it, not that she needed any telling that charging the enemy was a bad idea, all of her enthusiasm and aggression had been burned out of her already, the minotaur may be dead but it had frightened her, something that had only been accomplished by the ocean prior. The sight of more things that were both larger, stronger and lifeless than her was like a rush of freezing water that cooled her blood. She just wanted to get over this already so she could work on her backbone, it was hard to scold yourself for a lack of courage around everyone else and countless threats of death.

The distinct shading of her skin, as the other moronic female demon in their ranks liked to point out, was much like her name. That being red. A wonderful shade of red indeed that had been only harshened throughout the years of her clan, was proving to be quite the disadvantage. Her arms were perfectly matched to the dark surroundings, but it was rather difficult to become unnoticeable when you have trained for combat your entire life. The most she'd practised such an act was a few games of hide and seek with her father when she was merely a runt, too frail to indulge in the finer acts of life such as combat.

Heeding the words of Qerres, she also took off her shoes and quietly slipped them into her bag with agonising slowness to avoid sound, although she made an effort to stay away from the detestable woman as she did so to avoid giving her the pleasure of smugly mocking her for only doing such a thing after she'd spoke of it.

It was quite the conundrum, especially with so many of their group clearly ill-fitted for stealth such as herself. Dark clothing was helpful, but not enough to off-set the shade of her skin. Reaching into her bag once more, she pulled out a grey and worn blanket and slipped it around herself, her horns poking the fabric up like some sort of circus tent in a child-like disguise. Crude, but it was the best she had given the circumstances. She let the silence answer for her that there was nothing she could offer to the situation.
Fable DapperCat

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper managed not to groan as Tristan gave them the lowdown on the knight thing. Another unkillable nightmare. Wonderful. Stealth was not something he associated with the current group, but needs must. When Tristan mentioned classic distractions though, he decided there might be something he could do to help.

Looking around, Jasper saw numerous bits of debris as well as a suit of rusty armor out of the standing figures view. That would work. Pulling out a piece of chalk, he set to work. He quietly drew circles around three large pieces of debris, then adorned each chunk with symbols before taking a small bit out of the circle and marking it. The armor got the same treatment, then he quietly moved to Tristan's side.

"When I push Power into the little stones, the large ones will throw themselves away from our direction of travel," he whispered. "And when I use the last one, that suit of armor will stand upright, then come crashing down. I'll watch you for directions. One finger for a stone, two for the armor. If we don't use them, no harm, no foul. The spell will fade in an hour. The bad news is that we need to go last, so I can stay in trigger range."


Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Fable June Verles Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes

 

[baddervibes]

Location: Dark Souls | Interactions: Fable Thatguynameded | Morzone June Verles DapperCat Hanarei Xemanorth Tarmagon Noble Scion
​

"Stealth mission, stealth mission" Caddy chants softly in a sing-song voice, pulling at the laces of his boots. He slides them off entirely and ties them together: slinging his shoes over his shoulder and letting his bare feet get accustomed to the cold floor. Caddy, being a 'creature of the night' (almost), considered himself rather good at sneaking around. It was kind of a relief to go back to stalking around the labyrinth: he had no desire to fight something that refused to die anyway. Though as he looked around at the others and heard their hesitation, he worried how the rest of the group would fair.

His head cocks slightly at Tristan's suggestion of Celena going off alone: especially with the state that Kirill was in. Tactically it made a lot of sense, but it didn't sit right with Caddy. It left kind of a bad taste in his mouth. Theo's decision, though noble, might lose the team time.
"Spooky's got a point. Going back doesn't guarantee us anything. Even if there is another way that doesn't mean we won't encounter something just as terrible. And the idea of a distraction sounds..." Caddy pauses, rolls the idea around in his brain and furrows his brow.
"...baaad. Though I don't know the nature of whatever these things are. They could fall for Tristan's idea or they could not. They could pursue us or they could not. It's all very risky, but so is this whole mission so..."

He looks between Tristan and Celena: offering as confident of a smile as he could muster.
"Perhaps it's for the greater good, but losing two more members of the team might make things even more difficult. Celena's the closest thing we have to a medic after all. We could perhaps send some others with them? Ones who aren't as confident in their stealth?"
He then turns his attention towards Brass and nods in agreement at his suggestion.
"I like the idea of Scoob scouting ahead, though I'd like to accompany him. If we don't find a safer path then we can at least know what's waiting for us past this graveyard. Though that's on your call Boss Man and Boss Lady."
He then turns his attention to no one in particular, glancing down at his toes as they flex over the cold stone.
"Just some fun little thoughts for our fun little death mission."

​

 

[Xemanorth]

Kirill thankfully appeared far too injured to make much of a fuss at the moment, movement was both painful but sluggish, though thankfully not impossible. He'd spiritedly denied and gone against any attempts at tying him to a stretcher and instead followed the rest to the best of his ability. "Not too good about this whole sneakin' business so best bet might just be for others to go on ahead and map a route for me to follow or something.".

"You know with all this wizardry bullshit goin' on I'd figure the least one of you could do was to create a distraction with like illusions or some crap. If someone can scout ahead we could at least figure out what we're gettin' into. Won't matter if the knight will chase you til your dead, if we end up in a place where he can't reach us." Unable to rely on his brute force, Kirill tried to wrack his brain at least this once. He honestly didn't know what to do but gave a few suggestions, as best he could while holding himself upright, heavy arms cradling his sides. "Ain't any of you got a means of makin' it trip or well, not move? Freeze it in place, tie its shoelaces together..?".

Suffice to say, the half-demon felt ragged and out of breath and probably figured that if they were going to do this, they wouldn't get many chances.
( Fable , June Verles , @k o r o l , Noble Scion , Tarmagon , Thatguynameded , DapperCat , Morzone , Hanarei , @Myriad )

 

[Fable]

Merged Group

Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Tarmagon June Verles Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes

Tristan stopped Brass before he went off on his own. The wolffolk meant well but he needed to learn to wait while a decision and plan was being made instead of just going. Celena said she could go on her own if Kirill could walk, the problem was could he walk well enough to not be noisy? Then there was Felicia. The girl could float but she glowed like a bloody beacon when she did so which would most likely draw attention. Tristan groaned as Sang and even Caddigan began to pull off their shoes like it was going to help with their noise level.

"Just stop," Tristan hissed under his breath. "And put your damn shoes back on. You'll be walking in water, shoes or no shoes it's going to make some kind of sloshing sound. Theo has a point we can turn back. Once you leave the sanctuary you can't get back unless you invoke it again. I'd rather not be pursued for the rest of the time we're stuck in this place."

He turned to Elora for her opinion on the matter. She was studiously looking at the environment. While she could sneak through this with no problem that meant leaving the team behind to do so. "He has a point, this grouping isn't made for stealth and we're all injured to a degree which can make things difficult. We should at least check the other path and determine which is the better one to take."

Should the group turn to glance back, instead of being greeted by the wet stone waterway it was just more ruins, but it was away from the Immortal Knight and their path would be dry. They would still have to be quiet to get out of range of the knight's hearing most likely. "Someone help Celena pad her hooves," Tristan ordered. "Use anything you can to help muffle the sound." Celena's hooves would likely be the loudest sound of movement.

"We're all going together. Jasper, if you see the Knight make a move towards us or if someone makes a racket you can trigger your little distraction to try and cover for us. And Kirill metal armor does not come with shoes laces nor can any of us freeze him. There are a few here who could crush him, but when someone write immortal, they mean it. This asshole has been crushed, melted, frozen, and all manner of other attempts and each survivor who managed to escape without being noticed recorded them all as failures."

Tristan motioned with his hand for the group to follow with Elora taking up the rear along with Jasper so he could maintain as close a connection as possible to trigger his enchantment. Tristan made sure to point out that they needed to slide their feet slowly in the water rather than step as it would help prevent the water from making loud sloshing sounds. The soggy padding on Celena's hooves would help with the centaur's step but he worried there would be a possible squishing sound when they reached the dry stone. He'd never been around a horse wearing wet wrapped hooves.

It was slow going like this, but the Knight remained in place; a silent sentry waiting for something to catch its attention. When they finally reached the dry stone ruins Tristan had them stop sliding and directed them to take cautious steps. Stone could echo so if someone just sniffled the sound would carry. It could throw off the direction of the sound, but Tristan didn't want to risk the Knight being able to sort that out. The thing had been here for a long time and surely had picked up on the skill of tracking someone via echos.

Their path was linear, leaving no room for them to take any side paths or cut through the ruins to take a different direction. Eventually this lead the group to a large wrought iron door with two statues; one on each side with a singular wing. The moment Tristan stepped on the circle before the door there was a pulse of magic and the door opened to permit passage.

"So, we either try and sneak past the Immortal Knight which has a high chance of failure or we take door number one into the unknown danger." Tristan hated this place. There was no right choice and no obvious answers. What was beyond this threshold was anyone's guess. It would be worse than the Immortal Knight for all he knew. He ran his hands through his messy hair in a frustrated gesture.

"Elora, dear, not love of my life any opinions? I'm going to do a coin toss and leave it to chance to determine how fucked we are."

"The risk is too high for the Knight. We should take the door, see where it goes and deal with any problems as needed. Though I'm certain a few will argue better to know what you are up against than not. We know the dangers with the I.K. but not past this door.

"Knight is worse," a shrill voice commented causing Tristan and Elora to jump as a figure stepped out of the shadows, holding a pale white creature. They both grabbed for their guns and took aim, though the figure and creature didn't even twitch at the threat.

"How hostile to help they are," the pale creature complained. "We could tell them what lies beyond this door, for a price. Yes. A meager payment, a fair transaction. Negotiate, yes? Information, offer us something."

"You're a broker." Elora stated openly.

"Yes, yes. Broker! You can test honesty of deal, truthfulness of information. Broker will give name; Slurkna! What exchange for information? Trade, trade!"

Tristan and Elora were hesitant to offer anything. Brokers were weaker creatures from the box that survived by making deals. Usually it was information but sometimes the price was not exactly worth it. Brokers would give their name since if they lied you could use their name against them. They were basically a type of fae-creature in this sense. Knowing their name gave you a type of power over them.

Elora sighed and pulled out a syringe while Tristan took out his spare deck of cards. It was hard to figure out what a Broker would want. If they traded and offering it would gladly take it over everything else, but it was also willing to be offered other items for trade. They could be tricky too, omitting information based on what they feel the value of the traded item was worth.

(Make some offers ladies and gents!)​

 

[June Verles]

Fable

It seems that they were going to sneak around, and the half ling was going to accompany them. She would have been okay with the idea of going as separate groups at this point but it seems like that wouldn't be the case, after all if Hercules the guy who got killed by his wife who gave him a poisoned shirt could defeat an immortal lion/giant/hydra she could beat an immortal piece of armour, but she digressed.

Now, more importantly came the question of how she would "pad her hooves" as instructed, she had the material for it since the demon-spawn decided to be stubborn and walk by himself, but she couldn't attach it to her front legs, much less her back legs. It all mattered on who would be the person to assist her.

From the start all of the men were off the table, especially Kirill. That left Qerres, Sang, Felicia and Elora. Elora was no good because despite not wanting to admit it she was somewhat scared of her, as you would have all the right to if your mission leader needed anaesthetic to calm down. Felicia seemed like a nice person but they didn't interact a lot, which left the two red demons. Sang might still hold resentment after she threw the sword that narrowly avoided her head and she didn't want to know how petty the main house of the red family was.

Which left Qerres. The centaur woman would take a deep breath and trot over to the comparatively shorter demon, rubbing her head in a nervous manner she wasn't sure how to ask for an favour since it wasn't something she did a lot of;

"Hey can you help me pad my feet? Please.."

At the broker
​

Slogging through the water while your feet were covered in cloth was not an experience the centaur would want to recommend, at this point she would have much rather preferred getting into a tussle with the immortal knight but it was too late. Well at least she could now remove the blasted things off her legs, which she did with gusto that she wouldn't have shown in any other mission until now.

Looking up after liberating herself she would spot the monkey tamer who was casually at gun point. When he asked for a deal all of the sudden the centaur would raise an eyebrow, not knowing why they were listening to him in the first place, what sort of faustian pact were they getting into? Rolling her eyes she would reach into the nearest bag to pull out two gold pieces, a vial of acid and empty sheet of paper, not that much.

"Well, I don't have many valuable items other than my devotion to Artemis, but it's not like you can trade metaphysical concepts." She'd chuckle, imagine if it actually worked like that...

Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Tarmagon Fable Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes

 

[Thatguynameded]

Before Brass could make his move to impress the team and do something for the group he was stopped by Tristan. This disappointed him, this was something brass had the most experience in. Brass lightly snorted, he thought this was gonna be fun but this was the worst games and challenges hes ever played. Brass picked up his now wet bag thinking someone would pick it up for him so he could sneak but slowly walked to his bag and scooped up the now bottom half soggy and dry top half duffel bag. While Tristan was talking about shoes and possibly getting shoes for Celena brass picked out his uniform out of his bag. He wasn't sure why shoes were being talked about, Brass doesn't wear shoes. He hopes they don't make him wear them, he already feels funny wearing cloths in the first place. Once he puts on his uniform it turns out that one half of his cloths are wet. Almost like a certain 2 faced villain suit, but brass wouldn't know anything about that.

Like an overgrown child brass continued to sneak around the team but nearby enough that the team could see what he was doing, it was easy for the team to spot brass due to his large green bag and the light sounds of crinkles from his beef jerky bags. If close enough, you could almost get a hint of wet dog.
Brass jumps when the high pitch voice appeared out of no where and brass prepares to attack. Every time this thing speaks it hurts his ears, he covers his ears and understood that this thing traded things for info. He seen that Tristan and elora pull out a single item, so brass took the hint to just give one thing. Brass looked through his still damp bag scooping around the plastic bottles of water and beef jerky bags, He searched the bag thinking he had brought more stuff only to never realize he just brought meat, water, his knife, a tiny jar containing plants and weeds, and the stone to offer in the end. The stone is something brass completely forgot where he put. He wont offer his food or water cause thats for his stomach, and he wont give up his knife due to it being more durable than his claws.

He pats around his cloths and finds the small jar. He finds it in one of his pockets that he never checks let alone use. Its a small vial shaped jar with multiple shades of green, red, brown, and blue all being kept in with a cork lid. Brass is unsure what weeds and plants were used to make this but he only knows how the elders of his camp make it. Brass can easily make another by smelling plants individually but with the smells mixed together they create a smell that completely clears the smell of anything. It comes very handy in a hunt when his pack hunts close to rotting corpses of a previous predator. Brass extents his arm to show what he has to offer. "clear nose, hunt good" brass also thinks he could share the stories of his people but maybe it wont be a good idea cause this was meant for people he felt he was close with. Brass barely knew some of these people on the team so he avoids mentioning it..

Fable Xemanorth Noble Scion Tarmagon Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes June Verles

 

[Hanarei]

Felicia only gave a nod keeping as quiet as she could following behind as they made their way forward. She wasn't really certain of the plan though she wasn't going to be one to voice up much agaisnt it. She felt a little odd how much she had already spoken up in regards to what they should do as it was. She was more questioning of the name 'Spooky' Caddigan gave. It went a little over her head to be honestly seeming puzzled by it though not thinking much else to question it. It was likely just something she missed and she didn't want to bring up something she should already know.

Traveling forward watching the door open with Tristan stepping into the circle. She tilted her head glancing about looking upon the statues listening to what was said not seeming to have much to really add. She already gave her 2 cents earlier so saying anything else seemed mute in her mind. While she elected to just keep quiet observing things the introduction of the broken had suddenly changed that. She looked at him seeming a little cautious. It wasn't the first being trying to make a deal with them they encountered before. It seemed at the very least it wanted something physical rather then a more nebulous object like a memory. A less dangerous thing over-all but a hassle none the less.

Felicia glanced down at herself not really sporting anything much to give. She had her clothing though that was clearly not an option... more so the fact she didn't want to be left shivering and unprotected from the elements. She did have her earbuds and her phone... though the value of those seemed quite minimal here, it wasn't as if her phone was a very great phone just good at receiving calls and acting as a music player. The only thing that could be argued of some value is her limiters adorned to her wrists and necklace. They could loosely be called jewelry though it wasn't as if they were made from gold or anything extremely valuable anyways. Besides, it was clearly a terrible idea given they tended to be what kept her from accidentally imploding objects or people around her. Even a clear mind suppressing her emotions fully wasn't enough to stop her power from automatically effect the area around her... never mind actually using her power without them without whatever she targets turning inside out.

The Esper shook her head making it clear she didn't think she had much of value, pulling out her phone and earbuds not thinking them of much value though presenting them as an option despite thinking it wasn't going to really entice some little creature where such items wouldn't even be able to function to their full extent anyways.

Location: The little broker
Mentioned:
Fable

 

[Noble Scion]

Despite Tristan's rather sour remark at their "dumb idea", Sang decided to keep her shoes off for the simple sake that it would be easier to walk with her feet under water without them slipping and sliding on whatever was on the floor. For the most part, she had tough skin, so cutting her feet wasn't exactly high up on her list of fears.

Everything seemed to go fine as they made their way further into the box, successfully undetected, until they hit a cross-roads. A large door or what they had been informed was almost assured death for at least one of them, neither of which were very appealing if Sang herself had to be honest.

In a sick twist of fate, a new creature appeared, speaking of what could quite easily be lies to fool them while gaining something for itself, even with its true name, it was difficult to test whether or not the name was actually true. "We need to make sure that the name it's given is its real one before we do any bartering." she suggested, shimming closer to Tristan to voice her concerns of dishonesty. From what she knew, fae were tricksters and took joy in others' pain, a stereotype she knew quite well considering both demons and fae were frequently accused of the same thing. Ironic that she was so distrustful of the creature because of it, but she wasn't about to sacrifice her potentially useful things for nothing

"Once we know for certain, I'd say we should compile what we want to trade to figure out which path to take, and which one poses the larger risk.", she herself didn't particularly feel like dealing, but she was willing to give up the resources she had in her pack if meant that they'd get out of this alive. Aside from that she had her clothes, glasses and blanket, out of which the only one that she didn't need was the blanket, yet she was reluctant to give it up as it was one of the few things helping keep her concealed from their "seeker". She'd freeze in the water without clothes, not to mention she wasn't about to sacrifice her dignity, and to give up her glasses would just be a long-term detriment. As strong as she was, she couldn't fight if she was near-blind.

"And.. I guess.. A horn." she muttered rather sourly under her breath. The horn of someone of her blood would most certainly be valuable, but her stomach lurched at the thought. Things like that were permanent, and the idea of disfigurement disgusted her beyond words. If her options were to be disgraced further than she already had been and death, fading to nothing was seeming the rather more appealing option.
Fable

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions: June Verles Fable
music: x

Q hadn't taken her shoes off yet, waiting for the leader's decision, so merely shrugged as she waited for further instructions or orders. Her lips pulled to a thin line when the decision was made to walk back again.

She was taken out of her boredom when the Centaur asked her to help her with her hooves. Perhaps to Celena's surprise, the demon nodded with a casual smile.
"Yeah, 'course," she stated, keeping her voice low.

Together with Celena, she began to carefully wrap the hooves and tie the cloth over them with supplies from the big satchels. Wiping some sweat off her brow, she got back to her feet as silently as possible and looked to the team leaders.

Her lips pulled to a thin line when the decision was made to walk back again. ...After all that- oh well. In silence she followed the rest, idly watching the leaders discuss with what seemed to be a little gremlin. Or.. something. There wasn't much she could do. She'd be bored, but luckily she'd done guard-jobs before and had learned to zone herself out.

"...I got nothin'," she admitted. She had her booze, but she wasn't about to voluntarily give that up.

 

[baddervibes]

Location: Door Number One | Interactions: Fable Thatguynameded Noble Scion | Morzone June Verles DapperCat Hanarei Xemanorth Tarmagon ​

Caddy snorts back a laugh at Tristan’s sour remark: finding it funny more so than demeaning.
“Not a foot-lovin’ guy, I get it.” He chuckles, shaking the cool water off of his aching feet and sliding his boots back on. Caddy refrains from saying anything about circling back: he didn’t think it was a great idea, but so far none of their ideas had been very great. Might as well keep the streak going. Brass’s disappointment, however, was made fairly clear: acting like a kicked puppy as he went to retrieve his pack and walk back with the rest of the group.
“I thought it was a fine idea, big guy,” Caddy commented, giving the wolfkin a gentle pat on the shoulder.
---
"So, we either try and sneak past the Immortal Knight which has a high chance of failure or we take door number one into the unknown danger," Tristan mutters and Caddy shrugs. He wants to say something like “told you so”, but a joke comes out instead.
“Chin up, Boss Man. There could be something delightful behind this scary door! Maybe a day spa, or a carousel, or a 24-hour Olive Garden. I could really go for some chicken parmesan-ooh or garlic bread. You know that thing they say about garlic and vampires isn’t true-”

Thankfully, Caddy was so graciously interrupted by the broker’s shrill voice. He jumped as Elora and Tristan pulled their weapons, doing the same as he aimed his crossbow at the figure and the little creature perched on it’s arm. Caddy lowers his weapon as this “Slurkna” continued to speak: seeing that it had no intent to harm them currently. He admittedly found the little creature kind of cute...in like a dark and disturbing kind of way. The dhampir had already begun shuffling through his bag when Sang spoke up about confirming Slurkna’s identity. He nods in agreement but is unsure of how they’d follow up on something like that. Not like there was a registry for “scary shit living inside Pandora’s Labyrinth”...probably.

“So, like, what? We’re just gonna ask for this guy’s driver’s license? Social security? Birth certificate? Starbucks Gold Card Membershi-iiit! I totally forgot about this thing!” Caddy cuts himself off and pulls an oblong stone-like item from the bottom of his pack. It was the hardened loaf of bread (?) that he found in the under-sea caverns of SMITED’s last expedition.
“Hey, Dark Crystal, how does this thing look?” Caddy smiles, waving the object for Slurkna to see, unaware of the dim light hitting the golden chain wrapped around his wrist.

 

[Xemanorth]

Kirill didn't like the idea of striking a deal with this thing, let alone giving it something he'd miss. Then again, maybe he had some unwanted belongings he could pawn off on the creature. The half-breed stood there with his arms cross for a good long while, staring blankly ahead in thought as slowly but surely both of his brows began to rise in realization. He had a feeling he might have something that the little gremlin of a broker might enjoy but was unsure about whether or not he'd be able to sell it.

Eventually the half-breed cleared his throat before pulling something out of his pocket and announcing. "I've got a fancy multitool. It's a music box, illuminator and calculator.. I think? All in one!" Kirill proclaimed, holding his worn phone aloft with its cracked screen lit and dancing with images. The thought of deleting some sensitive data alongside his browser history did briefly cross his mind, however he figured that the Broker wouldn't be savvy enough to navigate the user interface of the phone to that extent before it'd inevitably run out of battery.

"Plays videos too and I'm sure a whole lot more that I ain't aware of. Even I don't know all it can do to be completely honest with ya. It's got an airplane mode but last I checked that didn't make it fly, well no longer than usual anyway." He'd hoped to have gotten the creature's attention by the end of his sentence and if its gaze was indeed following the object he was holding, he'd be swift to tuck it out of sight once more, as if to make it seem all the more unattainable and by extent, alluring!
( Fable , June Verles , @k o r o l , Noble Scion , Tarmagon , Thatguynameded , DapperCat , Morzone , Hanarei , @Myriad )

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper was actually pleased when the decision to backtrack was made. He was certain that his magic would work, but he was far from certain that it would have been sufficient to distract the possessed armor. He was a little surprised that they hadn't determined whether it was sight or sound that activated the Knight, but that wasn't his call. Doors that opened magically into mystery suited him not at all however, and then there was the appearance of the strange little creature. Tristan and Elora seemed to think that it was on the up and up, at least for the most part, though Jasper was far from certain that the little beast would actually give helpful information. He didn't doubt that what it said would be true, since it was willing to give its name, but that didn't mean it could give incomplete information, or deliberately misleading information.

"We actually have no idea what, or even how much, information this 'Broker' has to offer," Jasper said as he carefully considered the contents of his bag. "Since it has offered its name, I do not doubt that its information will be true, but we have no gauge to judge its information by versus the value to ourselves of the items that we might trade."

Jasper decided that there was no item in his bag he couldn't afford to lose. All were useful to him, but none were mission or survival critical. Time to find out how this would play out.

"Since I do not know what information you have to offer Slurkna," Jasper said, addressing the creature directly, "I will not tell you what items are within my pack. All of them are useful in one way or another, though you might not find all of them so. Should you choose to deal with me, I offer blind choice of any single item within my pack for your information."

Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Fable June Verles Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes

 

[Morzone]

Fable Thatguynameded Noble Scion June Verles DapperCat Hanarei Xemanorth Tarmagon baddervibes
​

Theo could not help but sigh with relief when his idea was accepted and the group turned away. Fingers crossed, all of them for good measure, that this other path was something more manageable.

Surprise surprise, they found another door. It didn't bother Theo, who was quite ready to open it and deal with whatever was on the other side over going back to that knight. The sudden appearance of the Imp brought his attention around in time though. Making offers for information huh? Theo wasn't sure how much this creature would value any ofthe things he had. The mage absent mindedly touched the mana stone around his neck. No, that would not be offered. But he did have extra supplies he could give, he'd just have to hope he didn't need them later.

"I have a few extra torches, Several pieces of steel and some Wires." He offered up, holding out the torches no one had taken -he kept one just in case, doing similar with his steel marbles and his wire. None of these thigns really seemed like something an imp living in pandora's box would need, but hey, Marbles and wires were fun to play around with right?

 

[Fable]

Merged Group

Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Tarmagon June Verles Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes
(There was a quick event offer for others to ask questions in the discord, for those who were not present for that quick event.)

"I'm not shocked as the suspicion about the broker," Tristan replied to those who had concerns that they were being hoodwinked. "Offering items doesn't mean the negotiation is over, it just means we're open to them. And Caddigan, so help me I'll find a way to tape your mouth shut if you're not going to be constructive when you do speak. Not to mention you were supposed to turn that over to HQ! How the fuck do you forget a hardened loaf of bread?! And bring it on another mission?!"

"Tristan," Elora sighed, causing the male demon to clench his fist and scoff.

"What you do state is true Jasper, we don't have a way to gauge the value of the information, but any information is better than none. Being that the Broker is fae it can also give information in an elusive manner. After we get the information we can determine if it's enough. As for those of you suspicious if knowing his name actually can affect him... "

She went over to Sang and leaned close to whisper into her ear, "It can't hear this, just watch. Slurkna, turn pink." The instant the name was used and the order given, the creature turned a shade of bubblegum pink. It gave had an unamused expression as it spoke, "Change back, unflattering color!"

Elora turned back to look at Slurkna and said to change back to its former color which it did. "You outsiders always make Slurkna do silly things for proof! Slurkna, hop on one foot. Slurkna, call yourself idiot! Slurkna, glow in the dark!"

Tristan rolled his eyes at the unhappy imp, "We get it so you can stop your screeching. You've been made some offerings so tell us what is behind the door."

"Mostly low worth things! Broken thing, old thing, do not want. Those worthless things, no interest for broken strange thing, mage's bits, or old bread. Other things not much worth as well. You get to ask three questions only of Slurkna for what is behind door with current things."

"What if I magically charged the deck? It'd made the cards very useful, explosive when it hits something. Surely that increases it's value. Oh and that syringe can knock someone out for a few hours, don't call it low worth just because you don't know what it is. And I saw your eyes light up when you were shown the nice phone. C'mon now..."

Slurkna twitched slightly at the mention of being excited by the phone Felicia had offered. It was a strange and intriguing item, but it also offered a comparison to Kirill's phone and Kirill's was obviously not in good condition, but his salesman ship piqued the imp's interest in Felicia's phone.

"Fine, four questions you may ask!"

"Six."

"Five!"

"No, six questions."

"Only will allow five! Demon unreasonable! Four items for five questions is favoring outsiders enough already."

Tristan sighed openly, "Five questions answered then, but not a riddles!"

"Grr, outsiders no fun. Fine fine no riddles."

"Deal."

The creature holding the imp moved to gathered the offered items; syringe, magically improved deck of cards, mystery jar, and the phone and earbuds. "Ask ask Slurkna."

"Are there entities behind this door in, whatever chamber or chambers connected to it, that will kill us?" Elora asked.

"Not kill no."

"What will we be up against behind this door in the next area?" Tristan inquired.

"Test, trial, cannot say what kind, always different, but always test."

"How close are we to Pandora?" came Sang's voice, earning a raised brow from Elora and an annoyed look from Tristan.

"Close, not close. Place always changing. Close one moment, far the next. From this point, much far, beyond door, may be close. Slurkna cannot say."

"What kind of entities are beyond the door, if they're not the ones that would kill us?" Theo piped up, not getting a stern look from the team leaders, but just having Tristan sigh.

"Hmm, to define is hard. Reflections? Yes, reflections. Not riddle," the imp said hastily as Tristan looked ready to grab him roughly, it's little hands and arms raising up defensively. "Abstract things they are!"

"This isn't exactly helpful," Tristan groaned openly.

"Will enemies deprive us of anything? Examples, paralyzation, blindness, our sanity. Will they take, not kill." Qerres asked in a strangely uncharacteristically sober way.

"Take, perhaps. Depends on ability to endure trial. Cannot say what as different each time Slurkna has witnessed. Five questions answered, deal complete!"

Tristan didn't find much of the information given that enlightening. "So there is no immediate threat of death if we go through the door, but some sort of test that can possibly take unknown thing from us by some entities the imp calls 'reflections.' I hate this place."

"We still don't have the best group to sneak past the IK without some sort of sacrifice. Someone to be prey for the duration or have everyone try to sneak by and risk us all. If this trial on the other side of the door won't result in death I would vote to take that path. Unless the rest of the group perhaps thinks they can't endure a trial." Elora was trying to rile up a possible competitive nature within their agents, basically jabbing at them that they could be scared of the unknown test beyond the door.

"You know who they should've sent with us? The fucking gypsy," Tristan complained.

"She went with the other team, you know that," Elora sighed. "Moving on, we should just go through the door, I do not want to here any protests from anyone. We will not be splitting the group up and having those who can possibly get past the IK going on their own. Based on our encounter with the minotaur it appears best to stick together from this point forward. You are free to file a complaint when we get out of this place."

Elora didn't hesitate as she passed the threshold and into whatever trial awaited them. Tristan would enter last just to be sure that everyone went in. The moment anyone passed the threshold they would find themselves entirely alone, with no other agents from their team in sight nor could they be detected.

"Outsider, your trial begins. Tell us, what is the thing you fear most?"

(Oh shit ladies and gents you know what time it is now! Write up to the reaction of your character finding themselves alone and get ready for the great mind fuckery).​

 

[Thatguynameded]

Brass was apparently supposed to ask questions but he was too busy in his mind thinking about all the stinky foods he has eaten up to this point and his mind had wandered off. His worst and stinkiest meal was in the SMITED fridge, as brass came back to his current setting he herd something about a trial, if he remembers that means a test. Brass was ready for a test and hopefully not one where he has to deal with fire or a screaming spirit. It took a second for brass to register than his small jar was gone from his hand and he assumed that everyone else got their items taken.

Brass opened a large jerky stick and began to chew on the artificial meat and closely followed behind Elora trying to stick together recommended by the team leaders. The moment Brass passes through he stops dead in his tracks with his jaw mid bite into the meat stick. He stays still for a moment to see if anyone passes him by but nothing, He turns his head slightly and see no one behind him or forward of him. He quickly shoves the jerky down his gullet, get on all fours and sniff around as much as possible, Elora's scent was the most recent thing he took a whiff of and he was directly behind her. Sniffing around for her, he started to think how he probably failed his mission by leaving the team behind, or they left him behind? He wasn't sure which happened. Then he started to think about the head scratches from sang. He was looking forward to the next time he got head scratches by her. Then he herd a voice

"Outsider, your trial begins. Tell us, what is the thing you fear most?"

Brass stand up and lightly face palms himself (unknowingly that is a common motion). Oh how silly brass must has looked, it was the next test!
He proudly stands up and announces "Fire bad, no one scary, cursed ones death, pack die the end" Knowing himself well he knew he got this, this was a very easy test he could pass. Telling his fears, wants and passions was way too easy for him. But little dose he know, we all know whats about to unfold around brass.

Fable Noble Scion

 

[Tarmagon]

Jasper held his tongue, letting the team leaders deal with the negotiations with the odd Fae. To say that the little beasts answers were cryptic was an understatement, but it seemed fairly clear that immediate death wasn't waiting for them. What the creature hasn't said was that they wouldn't die, just that whatever waited for them wouldn't kill them. It didn't say what they would be exposed to couldn't be fatal though. The way Fae minds worked the entities themselves could place them in situations where they wound up dead, but if they didn't strike the killing blow, then they weren't out to kill you, were they?

After some debate, and what he could only assume was some kind of motivational something from Elora, the female team lead strode through the door, brass on her heels. Jasper lost sight of both of them as they went through the door, which somehow didn't surprise him in the slightest.

"Magic frakkin boxes, pocket dimensions, haunted armor, Fae." he muttered. "Tristan, when we get out of this interdimensional fun house, I'd like to discuss a vacation that doesn't involve fishing for luska, and a frakkin raise. I don't get paid enough for this."

Pulling his staff from his back, Jasper stepped through the doorway into, solitude. No sign of Elora or brass. No sign of the team waiting to enter the door. Hell, what door? No way back. No sign of the rest of the team.

"Frak, frak, frakkety, frak!"

"Outsider, your trial begins. Tell us, what is the thing you fear most?"

"Oh, hell no!" Jasper said. "No freebies and so not playing this game."

Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion Fable June Verles Hanarei Morzone DapperCat baddervibes

 

[baddervibes]

Location: What's behind door number one?
Fable DapperCat Xemanorth Thatguynameded Noble Scion June Verles Hanarei Morzone ​

Caddy smiles at Tristan. "You're cute when you're mad" he very desperately wants to say, but the last demon he said that to tore his arm off and it took a solid 2 months to grow back completely. So he resorts keeping his smile up instead, dropping the petrified loaf back in his bag, and perking his ears up as Slurkna began to answer questions. The creature's responses were cryptic at best, but at least they knew nothing was planning to kill them behind the door.
"Door it is then." He chuckles, silently wondering who this "fucking gypsy" could be, but shrugs the thought off for another day. Caddy follows closely behind Tristan and Brass through the doors: wondering just what the team's next trial could be. Hopefully, it wouldn't be any more riddles. Hopefully, it would be a 24-hour Olive Garden.

"Hope this is an open-book test, "Caddigan says aloud, letting his eyes fall shut as he rolled his sore neck around on his shoulders.
"We've kind of just been punching everything and hoping for the best. Can't punch a test, I don't think. You ever punch a test, Whiskey?" Caddy jests, turning back to address a Qerres that wasn't there.
"Uh, Whiskey?" Caddy repeats and sees the rest of the team is not behind him.
"Fireball? Spooky? Princess?" He calls out each member but was met with silence.
"Seabiscuit? Dragon Ball? Fuck me, I think we left the kids at the-" Caddigan turns back around and sees that had been following no one this whole time.
"-gas station." He finishes shakily. He didn't think the test would fucking start right now.
"Scooby? Sparkles?" Caddy shouts into the void. No response.
"Tristan? Elora? Hello?" He calls out proper names, listening hard for a gruff and familiar "shut up" from either superior. For once, Caddigan was not told to hold his tongue.

"Outsider, your trial begins" was the reply that Caddy was given from the vast unknown.
"You got to be shitting me-"
"Tell us, what is the thing you fear most?"
Great. Couldn't the vast unknown ask for his favorite healthy snack or his favorite show to binge? Couldn't it have plopped him in a room full of fancy cups and just asked him to "choose wisely"?
"Uhm," Caddy starts, rubs his hands over his eyes as he wonders whether or not to answer truthfully. If he tells the truth, would it materialize for him to deal with alone? If he lies will he be punished: smote by some unknown force that resides behind the door?
"Not having-not being-just..." He pauses, breathes in deeply, and lets his hands slide down his face back down to his sides.
"Losing control."
That's it, Regis. Final answer.

 

[Noble Scion]

Sang nodded in satisfaction that the creature's name was true after Elora's demonstration, yet continued watching the broker rather dubiously. Fae were always, and forever would be, tricksters, and the less they dealt with them the better, at least in Sang's eyes.

After asking the question, she noticed the rather bothered grimaces of their leader, and after hearing the answer, understood why. "Not my fault the creature is answering a question it doesn't know." she seethed, bitterness filling her voice at having been made a fool of.

The rest of the answers were also of cryptic use, and despite being annoyed, the ex-princess of Red stored the information away for the foreseeable future.

Sang, like the others, made her way through the door, only to discover that everything else had just... Disappeared. Doing a slow 360 to make sure she wasn't missing anything, she sigh with exasperation. Here she was, alone, again. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she heard a rather loud voice asking a rather difficult-to-answer question. 'what is the thing you fear most'

Sang took a moment to think on the voice's words before grimly settling on the conclusion of what exactly her fear was. Briefly she considered lying for something that might be more easily accomplished, but decided to play the maze's game as was intended, for fear of the potential consequences. "I fear water, oceans, the sea, lakes, rivers, drowning, but you know what? I've been to the bottom of the ocean already! Stupid box, try me!" she spat angrily to the empty void before her, attempting to mentally prepare herself for, once again, being thrown underwater where she could do nothing but drown and scream airlessly into the murky depths that had tried to take her life many years ago.

Her greatest fear, her greatest weakness, her chest felt tight as she admitted it once again. At the very least she hoped that others felt the same way in admitting their fears, or if they were even taking the same trial. Perhaps the maze already knew of her pride and was just trying to exploit it. Sneering, she glared angrily with bared teeth at a point in the darkness, attempting to intimidate what she could not see, and perhaps trick herself into feeling as strong and faultless as she sought to be. At least in this empty space Sang could scream as much as she wanted to instead of holding onto her composure.

The undying knight was seeming rather more appealing given how the trial had already started off, but there was nothing but regret left for such thoughts.

This entire place was a nightmare. At least it was going to end in a couple of hours, whether it was in their favour or not, the 'mighty' Sanguine Red thought rather pessimistically.
Fable

 

[DapperCat]

location: The Labyrinth
addresses/mentions: Fable
music:

Qerres took the answer of the little gremlin to heart. Even on the outside, she seemed to be at least a little pensive. Within, her mind was working over-time. She hated this kind of bullshit. Fuckery that wasn't just punching each others' lights out. It didn't help that so far up until that point, her strength hadn't gotten her very far in this place either. So while she hated what was likely to come, at least it was a trial she was just as useless in as the ones encountered so far.

She didn't quite understand what the cretin had gotten out of all of this. They asked questions, he gave answers... but what had they given him? Nothing. This was not going to end well. But instead of complaining, she followed Elora's orders and swallowed her words of confusion. Being silent wasn't hard for her.

Her heel hit the doorway with an echoing click, feeling herself be enveloped by an almost thick and oppressing darkness. She kept walking, following Elora's frame for as long as she could. It was but a mere three steps when that frame disappeared.

"Boss- th' darkness is gettin' too thick, I can't see through it."

She knew her own eyes were far better adjusted to the darkness than most. It left her surprised that nobody else had chimed in on their lack of sight. But all she got in response was silence.

"Boss?"

A soft echo of her deep voice bounced across invisible walls, before it was sucked up by the thickening darkness. There was no reply. Her hand reached out to grab thin invisible air. Nobody close to her. Calmly, she perked her ears, hands hovering over her holstered pistols.

"Outsider, your trial begins. Tell us, what is the thing you fear most?"

Outsider, singular. This was intentional. Of course it was. Qerres' form stiffened- she couldn't drop the ball. Who knew if there -were- still others around her. Maybe others could hear her, she could not hear them. There was no way to predict. And thus she had to keep the mask on. A lopsided grin slipped to her plump lips.

"Puppies, kittens an' baby birds! Man they scare th' livin' shit outta me."

She gave a theatrical shiver, but her fingertips never wavered far from her weapons.

"Those little whiskers, the wet noses and the fluffy feathers? Oof. Gives me th' shivers!"