Festival: Where Lightning Strikes

The Labyrinth Forest - a sprawling, expansive dungeon which takes up miles of forest in the heart of the Eastal Free League. Even the most battle-hardened of Adventurers knows little about the location other than the rumors and legends that circulate through the people of the Kingdom. It is a place you do not enter, without the real risk of never coming back.

Of course, that is why it is Adventurers who are chosen to venture inside. Since the beginning of the Storm Festival, lightning seems to keep streaking down from the skies above Eastal, seemingly striking the same place over and over again, somewhere deep within the woods.

The skies are dark overhead as the Adventurers gather, roiling with the ever-present threat of yet another summer storm. So far, the rain hasn't come, but the winds are harsh, rattling the trees. Even as they approach, it's obvious that there is something luring the lightning down from the clouds above. In quick succession, two huge spears of lightning crackle down from the sky, striking somewhere deep into the forest.

The ground beneath their feet rumbles with the force of the impact, followed by a radiating wave of static electricity.

Before them is a tall rock wall that seems to surround the dungeon, it's appearance seeming part of the natural surroundings. However, built into it is a set of pillars which hold up a crumbling roof which overhangs a strange, glowing circle.

    Merek walks along and to the place, looking to the pillars as well as the circle while he begins to adjust the potion belt which he wears. The man wears a hood along his features while he takes a look to the people with them in that party, beltcape sweeping about while he nods, "Alright."

    As the clouds gather so do adventurers , and Setsuna appears to have drifted in to the group as well. Those two giant strikes of lightning cause the summoner to jump surprised, and as the smell of Ozone goes through the air , the static causes his hair to stand up a little. " I feel bad for any were-fang with this much static around. " It's a comment meant more for himself as he takes a step towards the rock wall and looks it up and down. " I really hope we don't have to climb that."

    June arrives and seeing a circle and ruins where she expected some kind of tree wall or something... forest dungeon, what else should she expect? The slightly pudgy middle aged woman who looks more like a librarian than anything else, if not for the barbarian princess outfit she's dressed in, scale mail bikini with a heavy fur cloak. It mostly makes her look like she'strying to cosplay as a barbarian princess. Then out comes the paper and a pen and ink. Then she's hunting for any words, glyphs, runes, or other such writings like she doesn't have a mission she's suppose to be on.

Another day, another mysterious forest that the Landers avoid for fear of being eaten and/or killed. Prophylaxis wonders, as he wanders into the woods alongside the rest of this enterprising band of seemingly immortal adventurers, whether or not what they'll find at its heart will only conjure further questions... Or whether it'll be a suspicious item that he attempts to replicate only to get almost everyone in the area killed by doing so.

No, he's not still feeling a bit stung from the last time. Why do you ask?

Lightning streaks across the sky and rain pours down in sheets. It slides from his wide-brimmed hat in a cascade that makes it almost impossible to see through if he's not careful about which way he tilts his head. "Kind of weird, that glowing circle up there. Makes a man wonder if this is some kind of seal or ritual site or something."

Kauchemar just stares upward as the lightning crashes and even the ground seems to rumble around them from the dual strikes. That makes even her hair stand on end a little. "So much for lightning never striking twice, huh?" She turns to look at her companions. "But nothing gained without a bit of risk, right?"

    Giganpor had decided to come see what in the world this was about. The thought of lightning striking down somewhere has him looking thoughtful at least, wondering what could be attracting it. The wind blows his cape behind him even as the static electricity sparks over him from where he has his hammer-axe spear stuck in the ground.

    Whistling a bit, and munching on an apple as he does, Giganpor tilts his head before commenting, "People still haven't learned that you talk out loud on chimlinks. Kinda weird."

    Shrugging, he starts forward as he sighs and hefts his weapon, looking around as he starts towards the entrance to the forest. "You guys coming!? I want to see what's causing this and maybe put a stop to it!"

    Giganpor is headed into that Labyrinth, alright.

"Statistically speaking, lightning strikes the same place quite frequently." Where did Tenko even come from and how is she right behind Kauchemar?

"Tall buildings are quite prone to being struck by lightning. However most likely we are dealing with some kind of magical effect in this instance."

The Labyrinth Forest is something you'd think Proteus would be all over. However, the Imp is not fond of excessive mazelike areas, because being stuck in a huge labyrinth is not her idea of a good time. Back before the Black Wave, it was much more accessible. Now... Now if you get stuck inside, you're not coming out until you figure it out.

Still, the siren song of a mystery drags the Imp on, and she tugs her hood forward against the storm, the crackling blasts of lightning surging downwards repeatedly. "... Almost like a lightning rod... But moreso." She mutters to herself as she approaches the entrance. Merek's presence gets a wave, but the Imp immediately hunches down next to the glowing circle, the Imp looking it over in detail to see if she can get an idea of what the configuration might mean.

Except there is no configuration. No runes, nothing. Just a swirling circle. So Proteus does the moset sensible thing and looks over to Kauchemar. "If I get vaporized, send my regards to the GMs."

Then she pokes a stick into the energy. Provided it doesn't explode and does go through without harm, she'll pass through afterwards.

Baroness Wake, for a change, doesn't simply appear out of thin air. She very deliberately walks into the gathering of adventurers. She watches the sky impassively, the lightning casting an eerie light on her face. Moments later, the wind kicks up in a considerable gust and she turns, putting her back to it.

    The Baroness notices some of her fellow alliance members and moves closer to Kauchemar, Proteus, and June. "Good day, ladies. I trust you have come to go where we aren't supposed to?" Casting a look over her shoulder at the maze, Wake goes on, "In the most dangerous of places we are most likely to learn something of value. Time to get started." Without further comment, she follows Proteus.

Upon stepping through the strange glowing circle, there is a distinct 'woosh' of sound and a feeling of being pulled in the pit of your stomach. The group emerges, standing clustered together, in what seems to be a random location within the dungeon.

Rocky stone ledges outline the pathways forward, framed with tall trees and lush grasses that clearly haven't seen much passage of Lander or Adventurer. Despite the storm-clouds above, there are sounds of life all around them. Those more familiar might recognize certain animal calls, but there are also strange sounds that many are unlikely to have heard before. Likely the sounds of strange monsters which lurk nearby.

The closest of these appears to be a variety of 'bouncing' sound effects. As the group round a corner, they come upon the source of it. The pathway through the woods is nearly blocked by a group of pudgy pink Porings. The little slimes wobble and bounce in all directions, sometimes off of each other. Mixed among them are a number of fuzzy Lunatics, small bunny-like creautres that some might consider similar to bun-buns, though these seem a bit larger.

They seem to be clustered together, waiting for something. Something that becomes clear when one of the nearby plants opens, revealing a beautiful looking red fruit. The cluster of monsters surges towards it and it doesn't take long for the fruit to be devoured. Clearly, they are food motivated.

Challenge Options:
    Farming - Difficulty: 6 (Try to lure them with fruits/vegetables)
    Hunting - Difficulty: 8 (Attack them)
    Handle Monster - Difficulty: 6 (Move the them out of the way)

    Merek looks to the lunatics as well as anything else, while he nods a bit. He begins tending to the fields while he finds a few of those things, beginning to make them to lure away the creatures while he smiles.

    Setsuna follows the others into the energy circle and feels his stomach do a couple of flips, coming out the other end he stumbles out of the other circle and has to steady himself. Obviously he is not use to teleportation as he stands there taking a deep breath for a moment before he realizes he is in a different spot. "Teleportation, don't get to see that enough these days."
     Setsuna's eyes fall on the monsters blocking their way forward, his eyes landing directly on the the plorps, "Well I guess I will need to tell the boss that there are Slimes down here. At this rate I should just start caring jars for Slime monster collections. " He takes a moment to wrap his hands in a light shield as he simply starts to pick them up, and move them gently enough to not aggro there rage. It would appear he has some experience doing this.

    Giganpor sighs at the of the pourings, moving himself to steady as he looks around. Then he starts to move forward and peek around the corner. Blinking, he looks at the others, "Porings. Pink ones. And Lunatics?"

    Shrugging, he moves to begin doing something about them. Namely by herding them with small sweeps and taps of his hammer-axe spear on the ground as he gives off a "YAY" and "HEY" at intervals, the sounds meant to push the slimes and bunny like creatures away towards some place that the group can pass safely, without causing a stampede or having to deal with the mess they would make. Mostly in towards where the food is at that!

    Once he's got a clear path, he waves at the others, "Come on, already! Just don't attack them!"

Gwen has been here the whole time she's just been oddly quiet as she's been looking things over she takes a look at the Lunatics and Porings. She has some experiance in handling monsters kinda. Thankfully she'll also put fairy healing to use as well maybeing healing them a bit might get them to go away and it seems it might be working.

"Come on just get out of the way we won't hurt you."

To be honest the more she thought about it some monsters? It was like kicking a puppy to just grind them...

    June drops into stealth mode, she's a hunter subclass after all hunting some buns will be easy. Nothing to worry about, she sets her trap and pounces it takes only a moment before she's dispatched the little monster with her bare hands, just a quick motion and it's disoluting into light. Then every Lunatic in a fairly large area turns it's head immediately and rushes. The middle aged woman ending up with many large bun's attached to her with their teeth slowly chewing at her health bar as she flails around. The swearing is... creative, inolving physically impossible tasks the bun's can perform with family members. All being delivered in the gutteral words of the dwarves (Tolkien's Khuzdul)

"You know you probably won't die even if you're killed, right?" One Pro(phylaxis) asks another Pro(teus). "And even if this place tried to kill you, I'd make sure you lived. So don't worry too much." Onwards they go! Maybe poking a mysterious glowing glyph isn't the wisest thing to do in the world, but it's fine. It's /fine!/ What's the worst that could happen?

                                   ~blip~                                  

Prophylaxis blinks. The world slowly comes back into view. "...Teleporter maze?" He looks around, then confirms with a grim nod, "...Teleporter maze. My old nemesis, come back to take revenge upon me...!"

This is the curse of Old Timey Video Game Players, it seems. Inevitably, they will be drawn into a teleporter maze. At least this one doesn't also have conveyers (that Prophylaxis knows of). But then...

There are monsters! Porings, and... some manner of small, fluffy, adorable little... bunny-things?

Prophylaxis stares at them for a moment. They stare back. He stares a little longer. THEY RETURN THE FAVOR. He...

Takes off his hat. His rarely-utilized ears wiggle forward like a pair of antennae. The Lunatics seem to reciprocate.

...And then with a couple of ear-wiggles and a sideways glance, the creatures seem to decide to give the doctor a respectfully wide berth before hopping off on their own merry way.

"Hmn," he says thoughtfully, before placing his hat back atop his head. "Fascinating."

Well, this is an interesting combination of critters. But that's okay, Kauchemar will deal with it.

Or more accurately, she'll get her monsters to deal with it. Deligation of tasks is important.

She summons her own Tabby Slime, and after a few strokes to settle it in a compliant mood (a little pampering goes a long with a cat, and cat-like slimes apparently) she sends it to help herd the Porings away from the entrance.

    Momentarily thrown off by the teleportation, it is a moment before Wake can fully grasp the situation before her. Baroness Wake is not a slime expert, but she knows someone who is. Or who at least has willing taken more slime damage than any other person in the game. Food is what she thinks is most likely to work for her. That being said, she has no interest in getting direct contact with slimes. After all, the Right Clothes today are rich, with a high necked red body suit and a dark vest. Over this is a rather opulent corset of some black fabric with patterns of roses in golden thread. A noble simply must do what she can to avoid embarassment so early in a quest!

    With maintaining a safe distance in mind, the Baroness uses a gust of wind to scatter some of the food that she had been carrying with her. She'll not be enjoying any salad during her next meal, but it served a higher purpose.

The kitsune is trying to get to one of the fruits, but in doing so, misses her target when she slips on something. She manages to retain her balance, but when she stops, she finds herself with a poring stuck around her foot. She shakes her leg a few times trying to get it off, but no luck.

She seems to be able to walk with it, but it's squishing with each step. Maybe if she takes it over towards some of the food that others are using to lure the group away, it'll focus on eating that instead of her foot.

Yeah, it was just a portal. Proteus figured as much and so, well, Team Olympus is on the case!

The environment inside the Labyrinth (because they obviously are going to end up inside) is something that brings a glance around from the Imp, on guard immediately at the sound of the local monsters. Still... There's the presence of some unusual creatures. "Baroness. Kauchemar. Are you seeing this?" She says, peering around the corner to see the Porings and Lunatics. "Rare monsters..." She frowns at this. They don't seem that tough, but Proteus is someone who tends to avoid combat when possible. Never mind what she always seems to end up doing... Still, she has an idea. A little window pops open, and she gestures, drawing a sequence of gestures into it: ) N 9 C

A series of glittering balls of light appear across the way from the exit they want to use, and Proteus wiggles her hands, making the balls dance enticingly, trying to draw away the monsters to the glittering lights. When they begin to move, she quickly slips past. Tenko's problem gets a glance from Proteus, and she gestures to the beleagured kitsune. "Hold still a second." Her Inventory pops open, and a moment later Proteus is sweeping a jar across to FLOOMP the Poring into the Uta-Approved Slime Containment Vessel, plopping the lid on the UASCV quickly before it can ooze out. "Are you okay?" She asks Tenko, giving a thumbsup to her as she stows the slimeling away and heads off quickly.

Luckily, these are all low level monsters. Tenko doesn't take much damage from the one attached to her foot, and Proteus is able to neatly contain it for later... study. June does manage to eventually pry off the wiggling lunatics that were attached to her as well, though she has a few bite marks to show for it.

Once past the lower-level monsters, the forest pathway leads them to yet another of those strange glowing white circles. For the second time, they are churned around and spit out somewhere else in the forest. This time, they find themselves at the edge of a clearing, surrounded on all sides by taller stone walls and trees. Rather than having to travel far, the way out is easily visible across the clearing.

The problem is, that there is a group of Hunter Flies between them and moving onward. These are no ordinary flies, however. Each one is roughly the size of a soft-ball and colored an ominous shade of red. They bob up and down in the air, ocassionally flitting back and forth with a buzzing sound.

Unlike the earlier monsters, these seem to be naturally aggressive to Adventurers. The moment the first of them steps forward, all of the Hunter Flies that are in range begin to buzz angrily in their direction. Their quick movements make them hard to pin down, especially when they can easily fly outside of melee range. However, they do seem to be weak to Earth element attacks.

Challenge Options:
    Ranged - Difficulty: 8
    Melee  - Difficulty: 10
    Earth  - Difficulty: 8

    Giganpor, being one of the few that's probably an actual tank, steps up towards the front as they come to the next area. Seeing the naturally aggressive looking bugs just has him frowning. "Incoming! I would stick to ranged!"

    His cloak gives off a blue color, then his buckler glows green before he points it at the ground, "Come forth, denizens of the earth! Trap them!"

    Several snake-like rock creatures suddenly start to pop out of the earth, attempting to snare the Hunter Flies with abandon under Giganpor's direction as he keeps an eye out, ready to intervene if someone gets in too much danger hopefully.

    His hammer-axe spear is held ready in his main hand as he starts forward through the Hunter Flies. He comments to the others, "So any idea how this teleporting maze works!? I swear I hated these on raids! Too easy to get lost!"

Everything is moving along nicely. They hustle right along to the next circle-marked path. The teleportal brings a grimace to Proteus as she realizes something and utters the dreaded phrase.

"... This is a teleporter maze, isn't it." Her flat gaze is greeted by the sudden assault of Hunter Flies. The large, nasty-looking insects immediately cause Proteus to recoil from them, the Imp grunting. "Ew, no. I don't think so!" She glances to one side, and calls out, "PROPH! DOUBLE PILLAR!" She quickly gestures again, activating the called-out Ability.V S M

The Earth Pillar erupts as always, the lunging hunk of rock slamming up out of the ground... But it's at a jaunty angle, timed and placed to precisely catch a batch of the Hunter Flies. But it's not going to do much damage just sending them bouncing into the air, right?

No, this is why she called to Prophylaxis, which might explain why the top of the Pillar looks like and outstretched hand.

Almost like it's a hand sweeping out for a giant stone high-five with a bunch of bugs caught right in the middle.

    Continuing forward with the others Setsuna takes time to marvel at the labrynth, "So do you think we are still in the same forest? A different realm sequestered off from the outside world? Different continent? I mean what if we were teleported to a mirror universe where Uta doesn't like slimes?" Then he sees the flies and stops and watches them for a moment before they get aggro'd. Setsuna raises his staff up into the air as a summoning circle opens above the slimes and rains rocks down on the flies. Rocks fall, bugs died, seemed like a simple equation.

    "Proteus, do you suspect this is how it's going to be the whole way? It's rather hard to navigate a maze when it's nothing but a series of potentially random teleports." The Baroness has little time to await an answer, there are monsters!

    "Pests." Wake snorts derisively and reaches out with magic, casting stones that burst in clouds of shrapnel as they draw close to the monsters. Not one to put herself forward as a tank (except for that one time, which was a mistake!) she is all too happy to let Giganpor do his job at keeping her safe.

    "We can only go forward for now. If there's a way out, we'll find it. If not, we'll lay waste to the whole structure and walk out. And I doubt there's any universe where Nurse Uta doesn't love slimes. I think it's a physical law." Wake's not entirely sure that it's actually possible to destroy the maze directly, but at this point of her adventuring career, she's rather confident that they won't be beaten easily.

Tenko is clearly not having the best of luck when it comes to the mechanics of this dungeon.

The kitsune moves in quickly towards one of the hunter flies, striking swiftly..And swinging wildly.

She crashes face first into the fly, which stings her right in the face, causing her muzzle to swell up under her mask. She's not even sure how it managed to penetrate her mask to do that damage, but she's on the ground trying to figure out a way to un-poison herself.

Once the Porings are moved away the Tabby Slime returns to it's master, poinging up to sit on her shoulder. "Well, at least we don't have to walk up and down a bunch of stairs," Kauchemar remarks after the magic circle has deposited them into another area. Taps a finger to her cheek. "Though a maze of teleporting tiles reminds me of something else I can't put my finger on at the moment..."

And there isn't really too long to mull over it as they are confronted with more monsters in the form of giant insects. An ear twitchs. "I don't think these are going to move so readily." She steps in front of the less combative Wake and makes a grand gesture, a little dancer flamboyance that opens what appears to be one of those fans dancers often use, shimmering with elemental energy.

And then some, as she throws it towards the Hunter Flies and it spins in the air so fast it becomes a flying buzzsaw of water and ice to tear through the monster.

    Merek lifts up a hand while he begins to draw Frost Shock along the creatures, freezing them while a little bit of lightning begins to zap into each of the hunting fliers. There is an adjustment to the hood while he takes a look to make sure the people are alright.

Prophylaxis isn't saying that one of those cute little Lunatics decided to hop into his pack to serve as TRUSTY MASCOT of his clinic, but he certainly isn't going to object to that either. But, onwards! Onwards, to... Another teleporter pad. "I told you," he sighs at Proteus. "I smelled this coming the moment we found ourselves teleported away with no way to actually teleport /back./ Truly the most heinous of mazes..." And they find themselves now in a place filled with...

Uh.

/Ugh./

"Flies...?" Prophylaxis grimaces, his face expressing exactly as much disgust as one might expect a medical professional to have towards any fly or mosquito-shaped creature of this size. The insects are indelibly linked to disease and decay in the magus' mind, and these monsters are no exception.

But Proteus has the right idea. The doctor nods and stabs his staff into the earth. The ground rumbles and shakes as he calls upon a deposit of granite buried deep below, and--

                                   WHAM!                                    

With the sound of TWO HANDS CLAPPING, a massive stone pillar, its end shaped distinctly like a palm, erupts out of the earth and smashes the flies against Proteus' own spell!

"Ah," Prophylaxis sighs, "I love the smell of jolly cooperation in the morning."

    June starts one of her normal setups, moving into the katas for earth 'bending?' mostly she steps through the motions and then gathers up earth energy. She then slams her fists into the ground sending a spray of rock spikes into the flies bringing down a share of them. "See Junie, if you just work on instinct and don't think too much no one looks at you weird." she says aloud in Sindarin (elvish) even as she brushes her hands off. "Nothing easier than not thinking right? You ju... you're thinking Junie." she sighs and looks at people to see if they heard or reacted at least.

Gwen has an history with hunter flies from the first time she started playing ETO, and she's going to enjoy this the Holy Knight gets a very unkind grin on her face as she starts to chant.

"Oh mother earth rise forth and show mine enemies the force of yourt wrath! EARTH PILLAR!"

Then sair pillars start forming as Gwen attempt ot catch the damn hunter flies with it while calling out.

"Proteus I hate those things with a passion too ... and Baroness? We're going to yeah have to cut through the rest of these monsters...It's like me and fashion!"

The party seems more than willing to show these flying insects the fury of earth. Smashed, squashed, and high-fived, it doesn't take long to deal with the flying menace. A few are even taken down by Kauchemar's whirling blades of water and Merek's ice just for a change of pace.

The third time that the Adventurers are teleported around the forest, it may start to become clear why this place is called a Labyrinth, though some had already begun to have that realization. There doesn't seem to be any sort of reason behind what exits lead to where, at least not at first glance. The only sure thing is that the lightning strikes continue to only impact that one location, allowing them to orient themselves to it as they travel.

At first, the path that they find themselves on seems to split a number of directions, but it becomes clear pretty quickly that most of these are dead ends. Along the path, there appear to be strange, think Shining Plants which flicker in a rainbow of colors.

As they travel further along the winding path, however, a strange beat starts to form, almost as if it were druming at the same rate the plant changes colors. The source of the sound appears to be large, almost grass-hopper looking monsters called Rockers which seem to hop up and down on spindly legs, using their bodies to make the haunting sound.

There is some connection between them and the rainbow plants, and they seem to react to music, so it's possible that other rhythms could be used against them. Then again, there is always the direct option of blasting them with fire.

Challenge Options:
tFire - Difficulty: 9 (Attack their weak element)
    Herbology - Difficulty: 6 (Learn that the herb puts Rockers to sleep)
    Song - Difficulty: 8 (Defeat the Rockers with Music)

    Setsuna is a sucker for shiny things so when the prism like plants sparkle and shine with rainbow colors he quickly detours from the group. This is obviously always the very best course of action when in a dungeon of some form or another. He summons a small snake to help him dig it out by the roots , packing enough dirt and soil around it to hopefully keep it alive for another time. Turning to notice the party has moved forward hruns ahead quickly, plant still in hands.
     Setsuna can't help but notice that like many of the monsters around here, the giant grasshoppers they have ran into are attracted to the plants around him. Just so happens he is holding some of that plant and after breaking off a branch with a few leaves he rolls the rest of the plant along the ground, through some streaks of sun. The rainbow sparkles scattering across the walls rainbow sparkles everywhere and places the sample he kept in his inventory.

Yeah, that random bouncing around from one 'room' to the next is going to take getting use to. But a maze of random rooms is better than one big maze to get lost in the same paths over and over again.

"Well this is going to be a jolly trip." Then the Nightmare Bard pauses, ears flicking upright again. With her exceptional, musically attuned hearing she's already picking up on the beat bumping along before the source of it actually comes into view. "Well, that's an interesting percussion section." She grins, cracking her knuckles. "But one section a song does not make. Let's make this a proper show, shall we?" She taps her hoof a few times, and sways her hips and arms to dance along with the rhythm the Rockers are already making. Then she starts to sing. For once, it's not one of her death screams. No, it's more sinister than that.

Using her own voice and graceful motions she's shifting the song, then starts singing in a mizmerizing manner as well. Because she's gone into performing The Macarena to get the Rockers distracted in dancing along and not paying attention to what the rest of the party is doing...

    Merek looks to the shining plants, then when all of them will find Rockers, the man nods a bit while he takes a potion from the belt, then he swings that into the creature, an explosion beginning to blast away into them while he sweeps.

    Wake hasn't much talent with magical songs or herbs. She does know a thing or two about fire. That being said, she's a bit rusty when it comes to combat, having spent so much of her attention lately on the logistics involved in reconstructing Castle Eas. She does, at least, light one of the Rockers on fire. But rather than hit the one she intended to strike, she catches one mid-leap. And it's leaping at her.

    Before the flames finish off the monster, it closes with her and inflicts a fair amount of burning damage. Wake is lucky she's swift on her toes, or it could have been far worse.

    Giganpor was just moving along the track, carefully as he looks around. And well, then comes the number one thing that all Adventurers hate. Or at least annoys him. Seriously.

Music making monsters. Even the name of Rockers has him looking at them.

    Then he looks at Kauchemar and face palms. "Yeah... I'm not doing that." A summoning circle comes up under him and the Were Fang changes into his Tusked Snow Lion form.

    Then he plants the hammer-axe spear, takes a deep breath, and just flat out gives a sonic roar at the things. Literally there's a distortion of the air before a blast of solid sound practically flares out from him on the group of Rockers. A boom that soon after has him just walking along as well.

    He looks at Kauchemar, "That dance was always silly. Never could do it here."

Teleporter mazes are just one of those things you learn to recognize when you've been around the block long enough. But... "Well," Prophylaxis says with some... relief? Despair? Possibly both!? "At least we haven't run into multiple-choice teleporters yet. It might be a teleporter maze, but it's straightforward... so far."

"...So far."

Prophylaxis frowns. Now that he's jinxed it, it's only a matter of time. But before they can get there...

There are bugs! And there are some /extremely/ fascinating herbs. Prophylaxis makes a curious noise and... pointendly ignores the actual monsters and instead heads toward the mysteriously shining plants.

"Fascinating," he murmurs, pinching one of those prismatic leaves. He plucks one, rolls it between his fingers, takes a quick lick, and then...

Hucks a bundle of the stuff at the grasshopper-shaped creatures. "I'm fairly certain this is actually a potent sedative! Incredible!"

Beat.

He frowns, fishes around in his coat, pulls a syringe from his pocket, and jabs it into his arm.

Anti-sedative. Probably a good plan.

Again they get teleported, this really is like Wizardy what god or gods did they anger for such a thing to exist here? She'll never know in the end but Gwen is not happy about this whole mess. However she takes note of the Rockers, the grasshopper-like monsters and she stares at them. She will raise a hand as she looks at them chanting.

"FIRE BOLT!"

Sometimes the simple and classic things are best in the end.

    June looks around and seems to feel like no one has noticed her talking to herself. Or perhaps she just got away with it because people are polite. The world may never know. She sees the plants and big bugs before looking back and forth. And the flower scintilate... she taps her lips and manages to cast a light spell to get a bit more information about healing properties of the plants. Then with a big smile she starts picking certain ones and idly tossing them to the bugs. She starts to sing the Edo lullaby as she does so. The middle aged woman not really having any magic to her singing just throwing herbs and singing sleepy time songs.

Tenko is still hurting, it's clear to see that she's slowing down. But she manages to get her fireball up and running, as she channels it into both of her hands. She has a particular tactic she likes to use, as she throws the fireball into the air above her targets, and it bursts, exploding outwards into multiple smaller fireballs that rain down upon her foes.

"Cooperation is pretty nice." Proteus agrees with Other Pro. "You know, we do keep running into each other, don't we?" She hehs as the flies are exterminated. "Let's get moving, we have a..." She suddenly deflates a bit. "... teleporter maze to figure out."

A FRUSTRATING SERIES OF TELEPORTATIONS LATER...

Proteus arrives on the path, looking to either side to make sure Wake and Kauchemar are present. "Everyone accounted for?" She shakes her head and rubs the side of it, sighing. However, it looks like Kauchemar is already hard at work singing the next problem away, which are a different kind of bug, it seems. "Well, at least these are more pleasing to the eye." She mutters. However, she does snap her fingers, the window appearing as she inputs another Ability command. < X

A moment later, her hands seethe with flame, Proteus lunging forward to slash her hands through the Rockers. The nearest one is punted into a tree before the Imp Archaeologist corner-traps it and puts on the pressure. It only takes a moment of mixup later before she lands a piercing strike, and the monster falls apart in half.

With a sigh, Proteus turns away, a little smug smile on her face... And she doesn't notice the slow creaking of the tree behing her as the damage seems to have cracked the trunk, causing it to catch on fire. The creaking grows louder as the wood snaps, weakened, and the strike sends it toppling slowly over towards the Archaeologist...

This might be painful.

Kauchemar's song is catchy enough that the beat of it causes the Rockers to start moving to that, until it causes a few of them to smash into each other, landing in a pile of limbs and bug pieces before scattering into pixels. A few more are shattered by Giganpor's roar. Setsuna, June, and Prophylaxis manage well enough by making use of the strange rainbow herb against the Rockers. Tenko, Gwen, and Merek find better luck just blasting the things with fire. It is very effective, leaving the path open to continue.

That is, after a loud crash of a tree smashing down. Conveniently the branches falling to either side of Proteus.

The fourth time the group teleports, they seem to finally be getting closer to the source of the lightning strikes. When another flash streaks down from the sky, it almost seems to rattle the trees around them, shaking lose branches which fall across the path.

This constant tremor seems to have angered the monsters in this part of the forest. It seems to have awakened more difficult monsters, causing them to join their weaker counterparts.

Standing directly in their way are a series of bears which stand easily twice the height of any of the Adventurers. The brown bears seem to be the weakest, identified as Bigfoot. The white bears have longer, more wicked claws and pale eyes, identified as Sasquatch. The last appear to be a murky purple-black that is obviously unnatural, with the highest difficulty rating and the name Leib Olmai.

Luckily, there are only one of each of the more difficult monsters, but with them clustered together, the Adventurers will likely have to deal with all of them. With a roar, the massive bears start in their direction, as if they were at fault for the disruption of their forest home.

Challenge Options:
    Light - Difficulty: 8 (Attack the Sasquatch)
    Dark - Difficulty: 9 (Attack the Bigfoot)
    Physical - Difficulty: 10 (Attack the Leib Olmai)
    Note: One success is required against each enemy.

    Giganpor steps up, ready to do his job and tank the biggest and baddest one.

    Unfortunately, that seems to go wrong as he ends up with his arm bitten down on, and shaken around like crazy.

    The Were Fang Lion tank starts to pound on the bear's face as he's shaken around, trying his best to get it to let go.

    Of course, by the time he does, he ends up flying and nearly losing his weapon in the process as he tumbles a few times.

    Through the looking glass they go as they bounce from teleportation site, to site and when Setsuna and the rest of the part stops, they meet 'Da Bears'. Three of them , Moe, Larry and Curly, well thats not their name apparently , but it should have been. Well three enemies , seems easy enough, nothing to worry about them being different colors or anything. So he decids to blind one and hope it sticks, throwing a dark ball of energy into the Big Foot's eyes and causing it to be blinded. Success right? No not really, it appears that as the blinded big foot trips and ends up landing on him before getting up and going on to do something else. "I now understand how all those looney tunes feel after being crushed."

    Merek steps up to the party and nods a bit, while he takes a moment to look from the hood. The man then offers a little grin, "Wonderful, amazing, splendid!" He then places both hands together, while he begins to lift one up, "I call upon the nameless, speak from the world, arise oh thee that were Lost to this world, and grant me the power of LIGHT!"
    The man then begins to create a field, a field which begins to shift a little bit. Oh, it looks like he's going to use an area heal... Wait what, that field begins to grow while it begins to encompass the entire area, "Healing Force Field!" That is when it begins to shimmer along everyone, healing them with a warmth within, a calmness. Their HP begins to lift back up, every single member of the party.

    June actually enjoys the teleporter maze, it's a thing she can just do no need to think about anything, make judgement calls, and so no one needs to hear her talk things over with herself and judge her. When the shifts, gone is the middle aged librarian playing barbarian dress up, in her place is a bull woman covered in iron scales. Green mist puffs from her muzzle as she starts to stamp a hoof. "Oh light of the heavens, spirits of purity, empower this servant with the blazing light of your wrath. Let us bring light unto darkness and crush the minons of darkness under hoof." she growls her eyes flashing as a golden halo of light gathers between her horns. Then she's charging like a very small frieght train, bellowing, spewing green fog from her muzzle, and bathed in a holy light of vengance. It doesn't look very good for the Sasquatch she attacks.

    So dizzy, rather scorched, and a bit off in general tonight, Baroness Wake does the logical thing and goes toe to toe with the fiercest enemy in sight at point blank range. She only says to herself, "If you want to be a Sleeping Knight.. you have to take the risks that go with it."

    For a moment, it's like the world simply folds in around her, and then suddenly she's crossed the space between her and the enemy, appearing in the very midst of the Leib Olmai.

    The purple bear is struck immediately with a violent uppercut that staggers it. That attack is followed with a leaping hammer strike, which seems to knock a few teeth out as it slams the monster's jaw shut. Pressing her advantage, Wake finishes with a roundhouse kick that leaves the creature sprawling. Wake is just getting into it, though, bouncing on her toes lightly, eager for the bear to get up again. Whatever is in her head at the moment, it's has nothing to do with kind treatment of monsters.

But... They didn't even /want/ to disturb these big old creatures! But perhaps this is their fate. They are, after all, in a Labyrinth of some kind.

...and what Labyrinth is really complete... Without a few powerful F.O.E.s...?

Beat.

Prophylaxis frowns and stares at the white bears, his eyes burning with eldritch un-light, as if trying to locate a specific weakness in the enormous, white bears, but...

"It's no use," he whispers, cursing under his breath, "Bears... /have/ no weaknesses!!"

(This may be a lie, they're probably just weak to dark spells.)

"Yes, it's rediculous. But that's why it's perfect for this." The goofy dance does what it needs to, and Kauchemar doesn't mind the least bit. It's putting on a show, and that's enough for her. On to the next challenge!

Which is... Huh. Kauchemar squints as she eyes the Inspect names. "But aren't two of those the same... and normally they're more simian than bear... Oh well. Let's hope this challenge doesn't get too unBEARable!" Somehow she manages to cackle at her terrible joke at the same time the thunder and lightning hits.

And then when the flash is over, the Nightmare has already moved.

To where she's somehow RIGHT behind the Bigfoot. And already plunging her sword into it's back. How she got over there so fast without being noticed is anyone's guess, but that is a nasty technique she's used none the less.

Tenko's poison debuff is getting worse. She stumbles as she attacks, having gone for the big boss monster himself. She pays for it as a slash from the bear's massive claws knocks her back, puts her health into yellow, and leaves her with a bleeding debuff along with her poison debuff.

Hopefully the healers are paying attention to the HP indicators. The kitsune does pull herself up, but only to one knee, having to take a moment to try to catch her breath and steady herself.

CRASH.

Proteus is no longer smug, instead sweating at the tree that fell precisely around her and barely avoided crushing her under its wooden embrace. The Imp scuttles along, trying to get some distance as she rejoins the others. "Ahaehehe... Sorry about that." She mutters to Wake and Kauchemar.

MORE TELEPORTS LATER...

Proteus has a sort of glaze in her eyes as she mutters. "Okay, THIS one has to be it..." And then she looks around the new area when the lightning crashes down, making her leap. "WOW! That's close!" She says, grimacing. "Careful, everyone. We don't know how much deviation we're dealing with on those lightning bolts."

Of course, in the way are... bears. Lots of bears of various types. "Well, this is certainly... a new experience." She says. "Let's lock this down, shall we? I've got the solution to your puzzle figured out..." She begins to gesture...

But before she can, a bear lunges towards her, attracted buy her unwise proximity. "AGH!" She yelps as the bear begins grabbing and hugging her in a crushing grip. "AH! STOP!" She yelps, trying to get out of the grab before her HP bar drops all the way down...

Things seem to be going all right as they run into now bears? Wait yes bears what the heck are these things she'll target one of them and will open up with a quickly chanted holy spell. The sphere of light forms in front of the bigfoot and builds up. Then it explodes like a tiny little holy nuke before Gwen will attempt to move in and try to confirm the that it's down.

"Oh I can't wait to get out of here."

As the group manages to take down the bears, Merek's healing magic follows, offering all of those who are damaged some minor health increases, though some of the status effects still remain. It is a nice buff prior to stepping into the next teleporter.

At last, the strange, seemingly random pathways through the Labyrinth Forest have lead them to the the location they seek. At the center of a wide clearing, a single tree stands. The tree looks to have taken a large amount of damage, likely from being struck time and time again by the lightning.

But why?

That is when movement can be spotted from the branches. Something is moving, flitting amongst the leaves. Like most other aggressive monsters, the moment the Adventurers draw too close, it leaps from the trees to land in front of them. By the size, the creature is obviously a mini-boss, but it almost looks as if it doesn't really belong here, amongst so many other animal and insect monsters.

No, this is a giant owl, wearing a top hat, monocle, fine gentleman's clothing, and a cape. He stomps the ground with a massive cane which is held between two feathered hands. When he does this, the lightning crackles again from above, as if answering to his call.

They have interrupted whatever it was the Owl Baron] was doing here, and now they have to deal with the consequences.

Challenge Options:
    Physical - Difficulty: 10
    Magical - Difficulty: 10

As the group manages to take down the bears, Merek's healing magic follows, offering all of those who are damaged some minor health increases, though some of the status effects still remain. It is a nice buff prior to stepping into the next teleporter.

At last, the strange, seemingly random pathways through the Labyrinth Forest have lead them to the the location they seek. At the center of a wide clearing, a single tree stands. The tree looks to have taken a large amount of damage, likely from being struck time and time again by the lightning.

But why?

That is when movement can be spotted from the branches. Something is moving, flitting amongst the leaves. Like most other aggressive monsters, the moment the Adventurers draw too close, it leaps from the trees to land in front of them. By the size, the creature is obviously a mini-boss, but it almost looks as if it doesn't really belong here, amongst so many other animal and insect monsters.

No, this is a giant owl, wearing a top hat, monocle, fine gentleman's clothing, and a cape. He stomps the ground with a massive cane which is held between two feathered hands. When he does this, the lightning crackles again from above, as if answering to his call.

They have interrupted whatever it was the Owl Baron was doing here, and now they have to deal with the consequences.

Challenge Options:
    Physical - Difficulty: 10
    Magical - Difficulty: 10

    Merek looks to the Owl Baron when the party will come upon him, then he nods a bit. That healing was a great idea, all the same he moves right back into combat mode, while he begins to lift up his bow and arrow. The man nocks an arrow of light, which he begins to send right into the creature, while he maneuvers along the field to evade any sweeps along the party.

    Setsuna welcomes the healing spell, just happy to have that damn bear off him. Finally it seems that the paths have convereged on one spot. As the Baron lands before them raining lightning down upon the tree. Before he begins to rain magic down upon the enemy he looks over at the Baroness, " A friend of yours? " Snickering he activates his summoning circle as the standard undead minion appears from it, with a rusty blade charging the owl trying to carve an X across the chest.

    June spots the Baron shouts something about smug owls always telling Christopher-Robin what for and charges. Yah it's a strange reaction to have to a semi humanoid owl but someone really didn't like that smug jerk growing up. Her time in America has done some strange things to the woman's pop culture referencing. However the dapper bird is a bit too evasive for her, and she slams horns first into the tree. As she's trying to jerk her way free the Owl Baron winds up to give HER what for with it's cane only to spin to confront Giganpor as if dazed and confused into the action

    For the most part, Baroness Wake is known for her poise and cool head under pressure. That being said, there are some things that, shall we say, ruffle her feathers.

    She meets this boss' entrance with folded arms, her posture shifting from one of extreme confidence to regal annoyance. "Owl Baron, are we?" she says in a tone that is perhaps a bit -too- calm. "You upstart strigiforme, I'll have your monocle for this!"

    When facing a creature of some dignity, one must practice a certain level of etiquette and act professionally. Without a sign of tension, Wake draws out a prayer strip and with it her fists are covered with thorns-or prickles, to be botanically accurate-and after bowing her head, leaps into combat, her movements forming something of a dance as she strikes the baron again and again.

"This place just gets weirder and weirder," is what Kauchemar has to say when the next teleportal movement brings them to dealing with the most fashionably dressed of owls.

Unfortunately, said owl made the mistake of coming down to the ground where it's at a disadvantage. Kauchemar leaps on the oppritunity, and slams one of her hooves into the ground with enough force it causes the terrain to briefly shake as the shockwave rolls through the soil to heave the ground beneath the Owl Baron and knock him off balance before he can take back to the air. Give everyone else a chance to unload on the birdbrain.

    Giganpor, meanwhile, after some healing from Merek surprisingly looks confused by it. He's still got his arm at least! And he notices his HP bar's kinda still nearly where it was when they get through the bears and to the Owl Baron.

    That's when things go a little... weird with the resident Were Fang Tank.

    At first he goes golden as he rushes forward and brings his hammer-axe spear around and smacks the thing followed by a follow up shield punch at it before hopping back. That seems to be pretty normal, even the golden color going around him from his cloak showing his confidence.

    "Hey, you big ugly bird! Get over here and be lunch so we can stop all this!" Giganpor calls up at it.

    Setting himself with his shield ready, that's when things go weird. The golden aura suddenly spouts more. A literal cascade of hypnotic colors that looks to get all of that attention on him. And him alone. Giganpor seems to be unaware of it, other than standing ready with his trusty shield and his hammer-axe spear in hand as he calls up at it, "Come and get some! We ate your mother for breakfast!"

    Yep. Definitely not the usual thing going on with Giganpor, and he looks ready to tank it all, even the lightning coming down as he stands ready with his trusty Chitinous Buckler held in front of him.

The healing magic from Merek helps get Tenko back on her feet, though her debuffs remain. They may require more to be purged than just some healing magic.

Still, back on her feet, she's quite able to get back into the fight when they arrive at the Owl Baron. It's attention is being drawn by Giganpor, allowing the kitsune to move around to the side and launch into an attack, striking at the owl multiple times in rapid succession, blade flashing with her practiced precision.

Those bears were almost... too much to bear...!

But now they pass through the next-- and possibly final-- threshhold. And what do they find there?

Well!

Uh.

"Wow," Prophylaxis says of the OWL BARON, "That... is about the last thing I expected to find here. Does anyone else feel the slightest bit guilty for fighting this thing? No? I find it hard to do anything untoward to something so absolutely dapper--"

Bolts of lightning streak down from on high, and Prophylaxis is barely able to dodge out of the way in time...! But he does. He dodges it in the most appropriate way possible. You see, when there are AoEs like these, they often come with 'templates.' And if you squeeze yourself in /just/ the right spot, you might find the legendary SAFE PIXEL waiting there to grant you shelter...!

As a wizard, Prophylaxis is very well practiced in finding such rare opportunities. He does so now again, standing betwixed a trio of lightning bolts in just the right position to avoid the worst of all three. His hair still stands on end in the aftermath, but that's a fair price to pay.

"Well, that was rude," he huffs and points his staff directly at Mister Owl. "You certainly don't have the manners I would expect from one dressed so dapperly. You, sir, are nothing but a poseur!"

A mote of glimmering energy floats lazily across the gulf between mage and owl. It's an innoccuous-looking spell, something anyone would easily miss in the midst of all this chaos, but its impact is undeniable. Upon getting close enough, that little mote of light would suddenly expand, unleashing a wave of gelid energy that seeks to freeze the Owl Baron to the spot!

Merek's healing helps Proteus out, recovering some of her HP bar as the bears are violently subdued. To death. "Thanks." She grunts, and moves right along with the others.

ONE MAZE LATER...

"I hate this place." Proteus grumbles as they reach the center of the Labyrinth, and the Imp stares at the tree... And then the Owl Baron. "What the..." The thud of the overly dapper bird calls down a crack of lightning, and she yelps, jumping back reflexively once more. She points at the boss bird, and cries out, "If you think that Plant Duck is going to yield to an owl, you have another thing coming! KAUCHEMAR! LET'S GO!"

She pulls a gleaming dome from her cape, an array of gleaming triangular tiles within set into a mesh of wires. She suspends it between her hands, and she smiles. "Initiate the first alignment..." As she speaks, her fingers flick and trace shapes, the tiles rapidly snapping into position as the overwrought macro ability progresses. Gleaming triangle tiles flick into place, runes appearing around the device. + ) |

Then the puzzle completes. The array flares with golden light from within as it folds open like a flower, revealing the burning eye of energy within. She thrusts it forward, and calls out, "Now cast open the gate of light! BANISH!"

The beam of light blasts forwards, shattering into a dozen piercing beams that lance out towards the Owl Baron.

Gwen now endures the late round of monster but wait there is more. She is not going to be messing aorund here she doesn't want ot mess around. she's not sure what the Owel Baron i doing here she does not care honestly and she will not fool around. She is going to just get to business. The green wind flows about her as she calls out.

"ANCHOR HOWL!"

With that in more to do she wioll move in and keep the Owl Baron off her allies as best she can.

There is something quite special about the effect that Giganpor utilizes. It causes swirling colors to appear in the Owl Baron's eyes, drawing his focus solely towards the Were Fang. Even when others attack it, it is only Giganpor who takes damage. It makes the entire battle a bit easier, especially as the group only has to focus on healing the one main tank.

Even so, it takes a bit of time to burn through the creature's health, and there are a few area attacks that the others have to contend with. In the end, though, they are able to beat it without too much major difficulty, causing it the monocle to fall out of the owl's eye, and his tophat to fall off of his head just before he bursts into pixels of light.

The tree that seemed to be at the heart of the Owl Baron's plans stands before them. Those trees that grow this deep into the forest seem to have unusual qualities, and this one is no exception. The lightning may have damaged it, but it has also imbued the wood with some measure of its power.

It seems that they had gotten to the location just in time, as a final bolt of lightning streaks down out of the sky, doing just enough damage to drop the integrity of the tree to zero.

What is left is a series of short logs, roughly the height of an Adventurer. There seem to be enough for each of those gathered to at least claim one for themselves. The Owl Baron must have been attempting to gather these, thus drawing the lighting to this location! Now, they have the material that this monster had been trying to create.

But what will they do with it?

Where the tree once stood, a new portal appears. One that they will soon discover takes them back to the entrance. But this seems to be only one of many paths within the Labyrinth Forest. The dungeon certainly has more mysteries to explore in the future.

    Merek looks to the field when all would be finished, nodding a bit to Giganpor, "Well, that was a useful technique," he notes to that man, then he would look to everyone else, "I think we all did well, although there's a lot to the forest we need to learn," he admits, taking the time to adjust the potion belt which he wears.

    After the battle, Giganpor is breathing heavy from all the constant shielding, and probably used a lot more than he bargained for. After he's done, he blinks a few times. Then he looks at Merek. "What technique?" The Were-Lion asks.

    "All I did was taunt it a bit, and apparently it didn't like me talking about it's mother?" He says, looking around at the others.

    Then he moves over to pick up the length of wood and hums. "I wonder if I could make a better weapon with this and some other bits? Probably be a bit lighter than the all metal one I have."

    The fight takes some time, but the tank work is so completely off the charts that Wake never has to deal with anything but AoE attacks. And since Prophylaxis' footwork is spot on immediately, she simply can leap out of melee range long enough to follow his lead, then charge back in.

    Eventually, though, the enemy falls and Wake stoops to pick up the monocle. She holds it up and examines it for a moment... and then Wake draws her fingers around it and crushes it in her fist. All that remains of it is dust, which she flings away dismissively.

    "I told you so, silly bird... now to see what the fuss was all about."

    As the boss dies Setsuna takes a breather , leaning against his staff to hold himself up. Today was a tirering experience. Noticing the pile of wood others are gathering he wanders over and picks himself out a nice piece and whistles. "Smells like O-zone. I like it." He stashes it for now as he looks around at the party. "So then now that the party is over I have to ask, is there an after party?"

Once the boss is down, Tenko drops back to a knee. The lingering effects are still making her feel very weak.

She takes time to catch her breath, and then rises back up to follow the group out of the teleporter when they leave.

The Owl Baron is gone. Though so is the tree. The tree leaves behind something interesting though.

Kauchemar picks up one of the logs resulting from the lightning destroyed tree. "Well this is interesting." Then rests it against her shoulder. "But if that freak wanted something like this, it's all the more reason to take it away before someone else tries!" That's good enough logic for her, even as she meanders for the exit. "~ Thunder's just the noise, boys, Lightning does the work ~"

    June swears and growls and stomps around kicking trees and savaging saplings with her horns until she manages to calm down. The metalic bull woman panting and puffing, green fog bursting from her muzzle with each heavybreath. The fire plug of bovine doom finally just standing there looking up at the sky. "Junie you need to take better control of that, raging just doesn't work every time." she says in Sindarin as she pats her cheek, iron scale on iron scale.

The baron is defeated...! Prophylaxis is... Actually still pretty much untouched by the end of it, if you ignore the fact that he's still positively buzzing with static electricity. "Well done, everyone. Whatever that strange bird was up to, it looks like we put a stop to it. And what more..."

That material... It's quite rare, isn't it? And if that's the case, then it begs the question of what he might be able to do with it. It seems like a waste to just... use it to build a mineshaft or something, somewhere.

Hm. Maybe he'll have to get a little bit... creative with it? Once the projects on his plate are taken care of.

Finally, with the hubbub dying down, he's able to address Proteus directly... Beginning with a nod. "I think it has to do with... Maybe not necessarily kindred spirits, but a shared interest in discovering more about the underlying nature of this world, and seeking out that knowledge in any place we can find. Is that about right for you as well?"

Gwen is just glad things are over in the end she will take her drop with a grin and look over to Giga and then to Baroness Wake. "I have an idea for what I can do with something like this." Oh yes she's got ideas, she's so go ideas for this drop.