4117/Contact: Escher

Contact: Escher
Date of Scene:	17 May 2016
Location:	Lumiere
Synopsis:	Further exploration of the tower of Escher turns out to be confusing and hazardous.
Cast of Characters:	Tomoe, Staren, Priscilla, Sarracenia, 513, Count Kord, 974

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Carna (974) has posed:
    The same standard arrival via supernatural fall through a hole in the Cavern of Death, leads arrivals today through the native equivalent of a Warp Gate, to the Church of Bleak Mercy, and from there to the tower of Escher. They arrive, this time, inside the tower, in that chaotic space of jumbled angles and twisted perspectives. Which is still preferable to the entrance area, which is full of mimics.

    This next area might not be much safer. Adequate time has been taken to prepare for this exploration... The last time they were here, they were treated to a vision of figures who might have been the very Lords of Silence they seek. Perhaps an indicator that they are on the right track. That or a trick of some kind. It was convenientlt timed enough to be either.

    There are still many questions remaining. But as stairs leading into infinity that overlap other stairs that at first appear to be distant but might actually be near, all with doors in walls or in empty space depending on how you squint them are arranged in a chaotic tapestry of confusion. Carna is with them, as she was not when some here ventured into the Arcade and defeated that six-legged snake-wolf-centipede thing. While she is interested in learning more about the Multiverse, and the worlds apart from her own, she must also seek answers here. She is driven to by the Lantern part of her, even as the stolen fragments of self she has consumed to become sane push her to become more than just a Lantern.

    Warring sides, and the hunger for ever greater sources of Light that the Darkness within her pushes her to seek behind them all. And yet now, for the first time since gaining sanity, she actually has the chance to get answers about who and what she is. What her origins are. To find peace for the nagging questions.

    And those here have something to gain as well. While some have heeded the call more readily, and thus hear it more often, the whispering of a great Darkness may still be felt by all of the outsiders to this world on occasion. The thing that drew them in the first place. The sensation of a potent force of death that seeks to give whatever is desired as long as its powers is wielded, no matter the ultimate goal that power is used for. Good, evil, selfish, destructive... It doesn't matter. Just as long as its whispers are heeded.

    Kord is one who has heeded. And so he may be one who hears what others here do not. A message for his ears alone, that might occupy him as everyone gathers, manifesting out of shimmering Dead Lights as they are shifted here and begin to take stock of how they will navigate this maze.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Princess Sarracenia has not heeded the dark voice so far, but as one who harbors a bit of desperation in her own desires, she has definitely heard it. She has been trying to be a better princess, but the call of that promise tugs at her all the time. It is part of the reason she keeps coming back, despite how dark and terrible this world is. So, once again the hammer-wielding princess is standing at the Shrine, looking around at the crazy maze of twisted stairways and doorways. She has a plan for navigating this place, which she is happy to share with the others.

     "So, you just use one of these leaves, and then you grow a raccoon tail and ears, and then...you can fly! Just get a running start, and off into the sky you go!" the princess is saying to any others gathered. "What do you think? That should make it a lot easier to explore or reach other areas, right?"

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord has come to accompany the others as usual, despite making it verbally and plainly clear that he has no interest in being a savior of this world. He appears to be a little haggard today, though anyone that watches multiversal news outlets knows he did something a little aggressive just the other day and it's taking some time for him to fully recover. Of course, it may be worth noting that he is much healthier than he should be following what Alice Jones did to him.

    He stands with his foldable combat scythe held by the haft in his left hand, loosely dangling somewhat near the blade with the haft resting against the floor behind him. His posture is the same confident one as before with his feet planted as if he's ready for a fight but not in a way that suggests overt aggression. He seems to have his head tilted downward with his pale blue eyes staring into the air as the gathering comes together. He seems distracted, but then it's hard to read the expression of someone when they wear a weird simplistic bird/dragon themed helmet.

    He touches at his ribs with his right hand, breathing a sigh to himself. Without looking at Sarracenia, he tells her, "I can already fly."

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna would normally question why exactly she keeps coming back to this crazy place... but she's already come to an answer. Unlike her first thoughts on the matter it isn't a desire to show off... not any more. Nor is it anything like wanting to keep this mess contained.

    No, at this point... it's just finishing what she started. Something in her gut refuses to let this mess remain a mystery. In some strange way...

    It's her duty to find out.

    "Uuuuuuuse?"

    Finna tilts her head all the way around at Sarracenia, like an owl while fussing with her gear. A very disturbing feat indeed.

    "How do you mean... use? Not like I need one! Got plenty of wingpower here!"

Staren has posed:
    DARK VOICE HANDING OUT FREE POWER WHAT IS THIS?? Staren has alas not heard it yet. Voice needs to get on that! He is just here out of curiousity and to help Carna.And he has several small scouting drones with him -- a small swarm of insect-size ones and several larger, coconut-sized hovering metal spheres. As well as a couple of stone golems -- crude humanoids about ten feet tall -- and several unicorn golems, walking metal statues about 4'-and-change tall. He is ready to throw mapping software and disposable minions at the problem!

    Staren looks at the leaves curiously. "...I also already have a way to fly, but that's pretty neat! ...What do raccoons have to do with flying, though...?"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe had come again, and this world left her wary it was much like Priscillas in that she was not anymore safer than anyone else and she very much kept htis in mind. She kalso knew they might face worse things today. She took a deep breath not that she needed to but it helped keep her focus as she followed up Finna and looks right at Saracenia for a moment.

"Given I'm unable to fly in a place like this I shall take such."

she notes to the princess but she's never /ever/ speaking of what the effects of this leaf are to anyone ever again.

Priscilla has posed:
    Whispers of power are . . . despite Priscilla's, loosely termed, 'fundamentally good' nature, and alliance with the Union, are far from something that fall on deaf ears. Her domain is not quite death itself, but her life has ever been closely intertwined with the dead, the Undead, and the neverliving. She's said nothing of it though, perhaps dismissive of them, perhaps rejecting them as real, or perhaps just not wanting to bring it up to her allies more used to being focused on the problems of the now and those of the living.

    Stairs upon doors upon stairs upon doors aren't exactly her cup of tea though, and unlike most present, she has never been able to fly. Looking at the mess above and around her makes her feel very slightly ill, but is at least a welcome respite from the oppressive dark outdoors; if it could even be called that. "I am not certain that the power of flight is what bars us from passing through." she says out loud, her gaze still tracking what is trying to be a straight line through the jumble. "Rather, a lack of an exit at all. Were it so simple as to soar upwards towards a definite conclusion, I wouldst believeth the people of this place wouldst hath solved such long ago, at least once or twice." She's got that little supply belt again, the nice silver and some-kind-of-leather one, so she probably intends to at least mark the trail if she's heading up. "I am forced to maketh admission that Sir Staren's methods may be best suited to seeking one out, before the efforts to reaching it."

Carna (974) has posed:
    Carna initially eyed Staren's constructs skeptically, but as she is open to any form of tool or power that gets the job done, and both Tomoe and Staren had used similar things to investigate the mimic room without incident (other than the familiar getting eaten by a chair or a table or something), she eventually decides there is no harm in them. The towering ten-foot golems are somewhat intimidating, but if Staren controls them, they are no more frightful than statues. There is the implicit danger of them falling on you, but no inherent likelihood.

    Likewise, though she listens to Sarracenia's idea with interest. "If we fall, assuming that we are able to differentiate down from up, I see a use to immediately reversing course via such a tool. Otherwise, as Queen Priscilla says, simply launching into a direction and hoping it does not kill us or leave us lost could run counter to both of those purposes." So an emergency failsafe, for returning to exactly the place they came from if something unexpected happens. A 'second chance' after a fall. But not something to use as a primary method of exploration. Sacrificing replaceable constructs may be a better option.

    So saying, Carna looks to one of the staircases leading from the platform they manifested on. Said platform is somewhat crowded thanks to the addition of the golems, but there is still room to maneuver. But both intuitively and from experience, Carna realizes the restriction of space is not to their benefit if they face another swarm like that, and starts considering ways to use the golems as barriers between herself and enemies as a side train of thought to the matter of exploration.

    "If down and up are not definite, determining at least which path leads to what destination would be a good start, I believe." She casts a look towards Count Kord. He has long felt as familiar as a Lantern, even without any special senses of her own... He just feels like he is part of this world. The sheer LACK of alien presence is what makes him distinct from the others. For a moment, she considers asking if he requires restoration of some kind, but decides not to draw attention to the matter incase he would rather keep his slightly discomfiture discrete.

    Instead, looking to all assembled, Tomoe, Staren, Sarracenia, Kord, Finna and her... Oddities... And last but not least, Queen Priscilla, she who has exuded an uncomfortable sensation for a long time now, and yet is the one who Carna feels the most reverence for... And simply chooses a staircase.

    She takes no more than three steps forwards and then pauses when a door opens several levels above(?) them and a distant(?) figure walks out of it, up(?) a short(?) flight of steps, growing ever more distant, and then vanishes into a door that seemed to be in the side of another set of stairs.

    ...They aren't alone in here.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia pouts a bit as it seems everyone except her already has a means of flight. Finna's owl-like display leaves Sarra staring a bit. "Uh...you...just give it a squeeze!" she says, in answer to the question of how to use it. But then...Tomoe wants one! Sarracenia smiles happily and holds a leaf out to Tomoe. "I have no idea what raccoons have to do with flying. I just know these things work." she says to Staren, a smug little smile on her face. She blinks as if remembering something, then ohs. "Ah...also, try not to get hit while flying. If you get hurt more than just...like...bumping into something or scraping your arm, the power up goes poof! Aaaand...you will fall."

     Sarracenia giggles after that, seeming somehow amused by how silly that is despite it being something from her own world. Priscilla speaks up, and Sarra looks toward her, then toward Carna. Seems like they both think her leaves are not a good idea. The princess pouts a bit, but then perks as she gets another idea. "Oh! Well, how about this? I know it runs a risk of attracting Unlit, but there don't seem to be any in here." Sarracenia stashes her leaves in her purse again, and pulls out...a cute little fireflower! She gives it a squeeze, and in a puff of smoke her clothing changes color schemes to fiery red, charcoal black, and smokey white. "I can send fireballs bouncing along the stairs. Fireballs will just keep going until they hit something, so they can at least tell us where the path directly in front of us goes." she says.

     And, without waiting to hear if that is a good plan, she goes up to Carna's door and fires a fireball!

Staren has posed:
    "So... the golems are ground-bound, I figure we can send them the walking routes while we and the drones fly, I guess? Although... maybe we should first make sure there are no 'the maze closes behind you' shenanigans going on here..." And then... there's a person. "What? Someone's /here/?! Go!" He points, and a couple of the flying-ball camera drones fly up towards the door.

    "...On second thought, I probably should have used constructs that can open doors..."

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is still wondering just what happend to that frimilar but she is not sure that she wants to know just happend to it she keeps with the group but she does take a moment to get used to the tail from the leaf she seems at lest able to work it kinda of like her wings. It does tkae her moment but she gets it working and the Iron Lilly? Feels very, very silly but it if works right?. So the Racoon girl Fairy nods once to the Princess getting the idea she'll make ready fot it, it nd she'll attempt head along with the rest. She's got flight as an option if she needs it but she'll need to not get hit, as Sarrcenia's warning is in the forfront of her mind.

Priscilla has posed:
    That is a little bit concerning. Not the stairs and all -- Priscilla's grown used to that after a while here -- but the figure entering the tower room from somewhere else. Not only does this indicate that they aren't alone to navigate at their leisure, it indicates that someone else is still here, and they're familiar enough with the Escher Tower to know how to get around it already. As is often, that feeling isn't readily reflected on her face, her expression still as serenely, yet darkly far away as always, but it does her to prompt moving. "One way or another, we shalt maketh no progress simply standing here."

    She stops, and then consciously avoids where Sarracenia is popping fireballs; only common sense really. "I shalt not begrudgeth any efforts thou commit thineself to, but . . . do taketh caution." She instead heads the opposite way, aiming to split up on purpose, because in this kind of arrangement, the ground should be able to see each other's placement from across the entire mess, at least serving as some easy landmarks. Speaking of which, she's brought a rather full couple of pockets of prism stones, dropping the little crystal lights every way she goes to leave a multicoloured, sparkling trail behind her, being the most logical thing to do with mazes. That said, she's hardly wasting time taking the stairs. Each time she encounters a flight, she simply leaps up, or drops down the entire thing at once; an unexpected sight with her willowy frame and regal posture. Secretly, she's trying to get a feel for where that other person has gone. If they are indeed a Lantern, or especially a Lit, she should be able to keep track of their spiritual essence.

Finna (513) has posed:
This bizarre sort of navigation's dizzying, but only for a little bit. Finna flies up to the staircases near where Carna is but instead of going all crazy she shifts to fox form and just sort of... ignores what strange laws of gravity there are or aren't anyways, by clambering up walls with an ability much liek a gecko's. Her objective is mostly just to rise on upwards and see what happens.

    She's got half expectations this will somehow end with her mistakenly doing a one-eighty and not realizing it, given the nature of this place.

    But she freezes when SOMETHING ELSE moves out there, sniffs the air.. what is it?

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord doesn't notice Carna's concern since she hadn't voiced it aloud, though it seems he is a little sore and it's more obvious that he was in a fight the longer one looks at him. He turns his head slowly with that distant distraction echoing in his head. He puzzles at the architecture of this alien realm and lets out a sigh at its apparently impossible paths. "Looks like the underworld," he muses aloud, a small glimpse into the stories behind his world's religion.

    He turns to follow Carna. Three steps in, and everyone is surprised to find someone else in here. He looks up into the stairways and around the realm once more... and continues upward as if to ignore the obvious path of just flying over to that particular stairway. He focuses on climbing using his own two feet without being very outwardly focused on where the mysterious figure had gone and how they could be located. Instead, he climbs while mentally focusing on tracking the person down and only that. His experience with Lumiere has taught him that it doesn't always obey physical rules, and so he won't worry about physical rules or circumventing the bizarre paths to find a shortcut. "I'll just walk," he murmurs.

    He begins to hum a little song to himself as he walks, giving off a carefree air in this confusing place. The scythe is still held in his off hand, though, reminding that he could fight at a moment's notice.

Carna (974) has posed:
    The fireball bounces up the stairs towards a door just to the left of where the top be. It's a straight line. Somehow, the fireball bounces all the way up to the end of the stairs and then falls into an endless white void that had looked like the wall that the door was set in. Good thing they didn't walk off of that.

    ...Like Finna just did while trying to walk on a 'wall' that didn't exist. She falls right along with the fireball and plummets through empty whiteness forever. At least, if she doesn't get those wings she bragged about and fly back the way she came right fast. Looks like those 'second-chance' leaves could be a useful tool for the flightless after all.

    Two of Staren's drones fly towards the figure who just went into that door. They grow bigger and bigger as they fly, until appear to be quite gigantic, or as though they were always gigantic and simply coming closer and closer to the group. If their courses are not adjusted, they may ram into each other as space suddenly comes at a premium. Hopefully they aren't the type to explode if that occurs.

    As Priscilla goes 'down' some stairs, leaping from the top to the bottom, she may consider what just happened to Sarracenia's fireball when it went off the end unexpectedly. And possibly what happened to Finna just now. According to the sensation that Priscilla is tracking by, the person they are following is Lit. Not like a Lantern, but more like Peacemaker Longita. A 'native' Dead, still 'alive' here after all this time? Well, with defenses like these, it's feasible.

    And another defense?

    While Carna is occupied with Finna's fate, calling out, "Wait! Take this slowly! We have constructs to test this for us!", Kord climbs the same stairs the fox practically suicided off of, and is able to stop right at the top if he chooses to, potentially serving as a marker for Finna to follow in getting back to safety (and also putting them both in position to use the door to the left of the stairs' termination, if they're willing to try reaching across instead of just finding a different set of stairs).

    And then one of the staircases that Priscilla just attempted to leap up detaches from one of the pure white platforms that all of the background and floors and walls seem to bleed into, like an enormous centipede, and attempts smash her out of the air with its mandibled mouth.

    Oh, superb.

    Carna puts an arm straight in front of Tomoe to keep her from following anyone else in here as her attention is torn between Finna and the infinity pit, and Priscilla and her mimic stairs. "Perhaps if we work together we could avoid having to start over with ALL of us Dead instead of just me!"

Staren has posed:
    The drones collide! *klunk* Well, it's better than kaboom, right? Still, they do indeed slow down, moving /slightly/ and analyzing the images from their cameras to try and map the changes.

    Staren directs a few more of the spherical drones to fly /around/ the two if they can, trying to determine if there's a region of unwarped space Staren and the others could fly through.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe does indeed move to take things slowly and she does stop when Carna puts up her arm to ask her to do so. She'll pause and look about thinking.

"You make an excellent point, if we leeroy it? It' going to end badly for us all. She's then lost in thought a bit as she's clearly thinking on how best to apply herself at the moment.

"First thing I think starens scouts would be best to face check for traps..."

Finna (513) has posed:
*SHRIEK!*

    Finna SCREECHES from the sudden NOCLIPPING ERROR that occured. Two seconds are wasted scrambling around for nothing ... but in the next few seconds ZOOOOOOOOOOM, she bursts through the illusory step back the way she came and out into the tower, supported by hummingbird wings, making all sorts of ear-curdling noises that's probably her CURSING at the bizzarchitecture.

    But the fox lands on a step CAAAAAREFULLY this time and folds those wings to her back, shivering and shuddering.

    All until she sees Priscilla engaging some... ANGRY STAIRS.

    The fox just sort of splut-splays out on all fours with a thump, as if to say, 'I give up, this place is crazy.' And, y'know what?

    ANyone looking at her can read that message from the gesture clear as day.

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord encounters a distinct lack of resistance when he climbs. He turns his head to observe everyone else's attempts run into problems with spatial rules not really applying to this area, and he doesn't seem to react with more surprise than momentarily slowing to observe. He even just leans over a little to get a look at where Finna ended up falling to, whistling to himself.
    The stair centipede is a new one, though. He has to eye that thing from where he's standing with a great amount of awe, but he's in no rush to flit over and attempt to attack it. He stands at the top of that flight of stairs, chuckling to himself at the chaos. Even at Priscilla's plight. Even if that thing over there scares him.

    "Look on the bright side," Kord calls over to Carna, "We know the stairs can be giant monsters now!" He turns with natural curiosity to approach and attempt to open the nearby door with suspicion in his heart. If the STAIRS can be disguised things, the doors can be as well. And he'd rather not get eaten by a door. "Slow and steady," he murmurs to himself.

Priscilla has posed:
    Stair. Mimics.

    This is actually, legitimately, more horrible than Priscilla had guessed so far. Was it really not enough to make the whole room an unnavigable mess of distorted space and nonsense architecture, with much of it being cleverly disguised bottomless 'pits'? Did half of it really have to be alive and hostile as well? /Really/? She's a little bit distracted from the rest of what's going on, unfortunately, caught in mid-air with an enormous, aggressive enemy trying to kill her. She can be confused and disturbed by the drones and non-walls later.

    So at the moment, she's preoccupied. Though she had carried nothing into the room aside her belt, the Lifehunt Scythe is in her hands the frame next, brought backward over her shoulder as if she had committed to an intentional leap attack, and then swung down at just the right moment to slam into the back of the stair-monster's 'head' at a full half of clearance, and leverage herself over top of it, otherwise having no control in the air. She spares but a moment to plant the equally inexplicable silver, single-piece long dagger up to whatever passes as a hilt into the creature's 'back' before vaulting off to the nearest second set of stairs, no longer trusting the platforms between themselves.

    With the surreal weapon tearing away at whatever essence animates the bizarre enemy, she'll remain on guard as long as she needs to in order to better prepare for a second attack, but at the first sign she can leave, she does so, aiming for the mysterious Lit's direction, now keeping a much better eye on the stairs with her senses. If allowed to slow to a more reasonable pace, she'll be chucking the prism stones on top of them /before/ climbing them. "Our quarry is of the Lit." she exclaims into the reverberating nothingness, hopefully loud enough to be heard. "Perhaps one that hath remained within this tower since its arrival, undisturbed by the chaos below."

Sarracenia has posed:
     Suddenly...chaos! Sarracenia's attention is bounced between several places as all of this stuff happens. Unlike Kord, she is quick to action! She reaches into her back and quickly pulls out...a sticky grenade! Sarracenia blinks in surprise, apparently not expecting that. But, she is not one to look a gift horse in the mouth! "Catch, ugly!" she exclaims, then throws the grenade with all her might. Even in shifting gravity a throw should be pretty effective, right? And Sarra has plenty of practice throwing accurately. So, her sticky should land on, if not at the base of, those centipede stairs. "Fire in the hole!" she shouts to alert her allies. A few moments later, that sticky explodes violently, and what was glue becomes burning sticky glue!

     While that is happening, Sarracenia runs around to follow the route Priscilla took. She raises her hammer, ready to swat that bug if it comes close to her! "Finna! Are you alright?" she calls out as she runs, though she keeps her eyes on the creature. Somewhere in her mind she wonders why she is bothering helping Priscilla. She will probably pulls some crazy exalted dragon crap and destroy the thing.

     Not a moment after she has thought that does Priscilla leap into action. But, the action isn't as crazy as Sarra expected. Really almost normal. Use weapons on creature.

Carna (974) has posed:
    As Staren's drones go around the 'huge' ones, they seem to grow smaller and smaller the further they go, rather than more and more distant. It LOOKS like they're growing distant at first, but when their attempts to go around the first pair of scouting drones results in them potentially crashing into them as tiny specks, it's clear that bypassing the already incredibly skewed rules in here is perhaps not the greatest of plans.

    And then another set of stairs, far distant, has an upside-down door beneath it open, and the figure, now clearly a man in robes, walk out of it, yawning as he reads a book or something, all while walking on the underside of the stairs, until he goes somewhere out of view.

    So he isn't even where the drones were being sent anymore, nor even where Priscilla's senses detected him last. Instead he suddenly seems to be off to her left, as the mimic stairs or slashed and stabbed, allowing her to avoid being knocked back onto the platform she came from by vaulting over them. What she lands on seems to be a 'real' set of stairs, at least, and with a door at the base of them as well.

    As Sarracenia rushes to join Priscilla, throwing her grenade into the writhing, wounded mimic, it detonates, blackening but not otherwise damaging the platform that the base of the mimic was attached to, and sending the thing itself tumbling down into nothingness in pieces. At least they can be killed. But then very few things in the Multiverse can't be. Just about nothing, infact. It could simply be a matter of finding the right way to do so, and it looks like physical force works fine on these things.

    Kord's door opening occurs without incident, opening onto a view from below of the group behind him, including Kord himself looking through the door, as well as Priscilla looking right at him and Sarracenia up above her, because that's the same door that Priscilla is standing in front of right now.

    Carna has never expressed frustration by facepalming before. But she almost does so now. Everyone is in different places. They began with a solid plan: Test ahead of them, and then advance when it's safe. Almost immediately it all began to fall apart. It's almost like... Just BEING here is getting to them. Supplanting reason with randomness. Is that also part of this place? To confuse the mind so that even making the right choices in navigation is a trial unto itself?

    Priscilla was right that being paralyzed by indecision will prevent their advance. But rushing to action seems to be just as dangerous.

    "I would like to request that, in this place of chaos, we avoiding feeding it more chaos through hasty decisions. It may very well be that only be trying to retain our reason can we advance. The builders of this tower clearly did not intend for it to be easy for the unitiated to navigate. We should not assume they would be so inept as to allow simple dodging of the obstacles set before us--" Carna says as she steps away from Tomoe, looking up at the quivering Finna and the Kord looking through a door that is looking up at all of them, looking through the door.

    And then a door opens on the platform Priscilla was on when she tried to jump up the mimic stairs. The man steps out of it, glances to the side casually, sees Sarracenia standing there, and then after several seconds of remaining awkwardly immobile, he turns and runs back through the doorway.

Sarracenia has posed:
     "Hah! Who needs a hero when you have bombs!" Sarracenia exclaims as she slides to a stop atop the platform. She stands there proudly a moment, then blinks as she sees Kord looking down at them...while also right over there. Sarracenia looks between the two Kords a moment, then yelps in surprise as the door right beside her opens. And...there is a guy! Someone they don't know! Sarracnia stares at him as he awkwardly stares at her. It only clicks in her mind to go get him after the door closes again. "H-hey! Come back here!" she exclaims, then moves to open that door again and...not thinking that the paths in this place might shift about...she dashes through the door after the man!

     But, at least she isn't completely heedless. Assuming there isn't a drop-off when she dashes through or another white hole, she fires another fireball to test her path.

Priscilla has posed:
    "I maketh no decisions hastily." Priscilla shoots back to Carna. She can't technically say the same of everyone else, but acting independently isn't the same as acting chaotically to her. She has confidence in her ability to forge ahead, and sees reason in what she's doing, being the plain breadcrumb trail and right wall method, so to her, well it's not her job to boss Confederates around is it? Staren seems to know what he's doing, and Finna is . . . Finna. The idea was to cover ground anyways. Now that she has an idea of what could be ahead, surely . . .

    And there's the target right there. Sick of the stairs already, she's not about to let a little something like 'knowledge of the area' get in her way. "One of thee! After him from the opposite! Trap him between thineselves and the princess!" Rather than go bounding down all those stairs and potentially, or even probably, get lost, she remains where she is, having a decent view of the rest of the cavern of stairs and doors. When she catches sight of him, funneled out by Sarracenia and whomever else joins the chase, her stolen eye lights up faintly, making a dull, mentally perceived sound like a knife scraping on a chalkboard somewhere far away. If she can keep him in sight, she'll grab him off his platform with Kalameet's powers, hauling him over to her own by sight, where he'll be less liable to escape.

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord looks over his shoulder at Carna, and then through the doorway at where Priscilla and Sarracenia are. Then he calmly steps through the doorway without much of a thought on the matter. He figures if he just follows along loosely with the others here, he probably won't get smashed into a platform by a ravenous stair mimic, because they'll set it off before he even gets close enough for it to hear or sense him.

    He makes an effort to approach and stand near Priscilla. His general presence would be sensed but he's as quiet as a ghost again. Thankfully, he cannot turn invisible, and it's likely being invisible would be a poor way to mask someone with his weird supernatural aura anyways. He looks up at her with vacant interest at the demonstration of her abilities. He seems disinterested in attempting to cut off the stranger's path.

    "We have no idea what path he took to get there, it may be best to just follow him," he reminds, mildly, since it would be abnormally difficult to cut off someone if any attempt to do so might just lead to another unknown point in the maze. Then he turns to follow Sarracenia and the fleeing figure, though he doesn't seem to be in a rush, and he makes the bare minimum of effort to get to the doorway in the form of a superhuman jump that doesn't make a lot of noise and doesn't seem to require a lot of effort on his part.

Finna (513) has posed:
"Yes." Squeaks Finna, though her tone says almost the opposite. Picking herself up and shaking her fur out like a dog trying to get dry.

    Those wings blur to motion again after she fights the urge to vomit, then... VWOOOOM, off she goes.

    Except THIS time, she's left a safety line behind. A thin thread of silvery Essence silk spun from... her left forepaw, it seems. Is she part spider now? Spider-fox-hummingbird?

    Whatever.

    "We're NOT ENEMIES!" She yells at the running man, trying to speed after him!

Staren has posed:
    Tiny /and/ right next to huge? "Oh what /the hell/?! How does that even work!?" Staren shouts, stomping a foot. He tries to recall the drones, having them retrace their flights out. The pony-golems spread out, cautiously, exploring where on the floor can be walked on safely. Hey, maybe there's a spot in open space that teleports somewhere useful, you dunno! If they successfully reach a staircase or two, the stone men will walk over to try the corresponding doors.

    Staren is pissed, but he can plainly see that rushing over /won't/ work, so he doesn't.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe says "Your lead on this...."

She looks up to see the quivering Finna and there's not a very kind look on Tomoe's face at all as she eyes the Lunar Exalted. Finna's kinda dug hole with Tomoe it seems. She looks now to the doorway and pauses she's just looking at Staren now with a shrug she seems more sympatic to his frustation than Finna's own woes which is clear. She does seem to be thinkingthing through if she's being hestant or is she just grabbling with the madness of this place she does however get a best of a look as she can at the strnge man hopefully she can pull some images later.

"We mean no harm! We're not mindless we just want to talk!"

Carna (974) has posed:
    Sarracenia chases after the man, and into a very different area. Rather than the convoluted maze. The fireball she throws ahead of herself bounds through a darkened castle corridor, lit by row after row of archways looking out onto a moon-lit ocean on her left, and wooden door after wooden door on her right. The fireball bounces ahead of her, up until the man she's chasing stops, puts a key in the door next to him, and unlocks it, and then whips it open, running through just as the fireball hits the inside of the door. The door, about to swing shut behind him, is pushed open by the fireball again, giving Sarracenia precious secons to reach it and go through herself if she chooses to. Or to keep running down an endless corridor in a castle somewhere. The fact there's a MOON in this other location is something to consider, of course, given the total absence of such in this world so far, but maaaaybe not right now.

    If she follows through after the dude, she finds herself running down stairs back in Escher-space, as the man ahead of her fumbles to find a key on a key ring while standing in front of another door. That first fireball that Sarracenia threw that plumetted into nothingness like Finna almost did? It drops by with a fiery WHOOSH, still falling, to the man's left, distracting him for a second before he rams the key home, opens the door just enough for him to slip through and then ducks inside.

    Staren's golems wander around the area, trying to find some secret passage or teleportation switch or something, while the humanoid golems test doors. One of the doors is a top-down view of the entire chase scene between Sarracenia and Mystery Guy, with Priscilla and Count Kord visible standing far below (or maybe 'behind' might be appropriate since they seem to be standing vertically in relation to the golem, whereas the princess and her prey are moving horizontally on the nearer stairs.

    The other golem tries to open a door that grows long, spindly, gnarled arms from its corners, and attempts to shovel it inside of a fang-ripped maw that the door opens inwards to reveal.

    Seems Kord was right to fear door mimics after all.

    Finna's flight seems to work out this time, at least. No weird perspective changes, no sudden fall--Sarracenia's fireball shoots by inches from her face, barely missing her as it 'falls' towards her right. That might give her pause for a moment, at least, as fire being whipped in front of people's faces tends to. The yelling about not being enemies either isn't heard or isn't heeded.

    Tomoe's calls likewise, though having stayed near Carna, they'd both be in a position to see the chase as well, as Sarracenia and Mystery Guy run sideways... But they're looking at the stairs from 'behind', even as the door 'above' it is off to the left somewhere, with the golem that is behind Carna and Tomoe looking out at them through it.

    Right now, it doesn't appear the man is in clear view of Priscilla to get grabbed... But if he keeps being chased like this, he's bound to appear at some point in a position she has a clear angl on!

    The door behind Kord, that he came through to join Priscilla, produces the sound of a *click* as though a lock being turned.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia stays hot on the heels of the Guy! And she is certainly not slow. Not to mention she didn't even have to open that door. She feels like she should be right behind him! "He has keys to this place!" she shouts to the others as she dashes toward the next door. She runs as fast as she can, shooting fireballs at the door to try and keep it open so she can keep following that Guy. "Hold on! We won't hurt you if you just stop!" she yells to the guy as she nears the door, then leaps! She has to catch it before it closes, or it might auto-lock or something!

     Whether she catches the door or not, Sarracenia grunts as she lands on her chest, her specially designed ballistic dress protecting her from scraping anything. And if she made it in time, she scrambles forward on all fours a few moments, then leaps to her feet again and fires another fireball. "Where did you get those keys?! And...how is there a moon out there?! Please stop! I don't want to be lost in a crazy mixed up painting world!" With that thought in her mind, Sarracenia tries all the harder to catch the guy! She has all but forgotten about her teammates now. She is in hot pursuit! No time to wait for backup!

Staren has posed:
    Staren's viewing the stone men's vision in little picture-in-pictures on his HUD. He sends one of the camera-spheres to fly down to Sarracenia to see if the path is safe and then jumps slightly at the DOOR MIMIC. "Oh geeze! ...For cryin' out loud..." The golem is a ten-foot tall humanoid made of stone, this may or may not pose an obstacle to the door mimic. In any case, Staren is drawing his trusty double-barreled over-powered laser pistol and repeatedly shooting the door mimic (light travels normally in this area, so he figures lasers do too -- firing physical projectiles or even particle beams seems unwise.) If it doesn't go down after a few shots, he gets out the laser sniper rifle and keeps shooting.

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla has no idea what's taking Sarracenia so long. In fact, she has no idea where she /went/. She had disappeared over the strange man in robes and then not come back out of any other door. She's still watching, vigilant and hawk-like, waiting for that split second chance to nab him, until she hears the door click behind her, and immediately her scythe is out. After the stairs had come alive to attack her, and /especially/ having seen Staren's golem eaten by one of these doors, she is hardly hesitant to just try and smash the thing in. If it's alive, well it certainly isn't now. If someone's coming through it . . . well they'll be knocked over and covered in splinters, but it seems a small price to pay. She outright shoves Kord out of the way to get her shot, probably not trusting the man to react in time with his haggard and lackadaisical manner he's displayed all day.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe watyches the chase as it plays out it's very much sureal yet this is happening to her, it's really happening befoe her eyes. She does not like this place, she does not like this place at all. Tomoe's also looking dizzy from following eveyrhing the poor Salamader's brain is going tilt pretty hard here. She's very much got swirly eyes given how emoticons work sometimes with ALO and she shakes her head.

"I can't even keep up with this insanity..."

Count Kord has posed:
    Priscilla's hand doesn't find purchase.

    Kord is not as slow and inattentive as he is putting on, and moves out of the way of her hand just enough to avoid it and shoot her this look like she had just insulted him by trying to push him, though it's brief. He apparently doesn't like people invading his personal space. He isn't especially in the way nor is he especially excited to track down this singular individual due to how much this person doesn't want to be caught, so... "I'm sorry, am I in your way? You could just ask me to move," he says to her, not offended so much as surprised she would bother, as if there were no way that he'd obstruct her. "Catch him, then. Maybe he'll suddenly be happy to see us when you drag him unwillingly out from these insane stairwells."

    He waves at her dismissively and turns to find the door he had gone through had closed seemingly on its own, and that Priscilla was trying to smash the damn thing, so he makes sure to stand on the other side of Priscilla instead of in front of her. Helpful. Ish.

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna DOES swerve to the left to give the fireball some breathing space. It's not that much of a surprise! She can, after all... HEAR that thing just fine. Fire makes distinctive noises.

    From where she's hovering though... she stops chasing the guy for a moment, and instead struggles to make sense of just how everyone's gotten to WHERE they currently are...

    She's getting horribly dizzy...

    "Oooohgh... worst obstacle course I've ever had! Would give Elders headaches!"

Carna (974) has posed:
    Sarracenia gets the door open just before it closes, only to find herself diving through onto a narrow platform that ends abruptly, overlooking a vast dark expanse. She may manage to stop her crawl forward an inch or two from the edge, but is immediately hit with the just about literally deafening sound of several hundred trillion screaming, crying, howling, roaring, and raging voices, not even clear if they're human or not such is the cacophony coming from down THERE somewhere. The only light aside from the fireball she throws comes from her right. And the fireball falls down, down, down, down, into the darkness and is swallowed up, much like her questions and cries for the man to stop.

    If she looks to her right at any point as she gets up, her fireball flying off into who-knows-what, she'll see the very edge of an enormous structure, that even as a fragment is too vast to even judge how distant or big it is. Like the base of an enormous candelabra, a shaft of gold stretching up into infinity, too high above to even see if it ends. It is covered in some writhing blackness, like a carpet of ants, that continuously surges upwards, only parts of the golden surface beneath showing through.

    Directly to her left, however, is the man she was chasing, on the same small platform, who ducks back through the door he just came through and slams it shut behind the princess. The sound of the lock clicking is lost in the painful ocean of sound all around her, though if she tries to open the door, after a few fruitless, likely panic-inducing tugs, the door seemingly explodes as Priscilla smashes it open from the other side, exposing Kord and Priscilla to the same blast of painful sound that echoes throughout Escher-space. The 'wall' the door was set in is cracked thanks to the powerful blow. Or... Are those cracks? They seem to be spreading, the blackness capillary-actioning itself gradually across the white surface.

    At least Sarracenia isn't trapped on the other side anymore. And hopefully didn't get knocked backwards off the small platform overlooking an endless sea of Whatever Those Are.

Carna (974) has posed:
    The door mimic seems determined, at least, and may manage to get the construct's head inside if the golem isn't fighting back. If it can't get any more than that, it's likely it would just start trying to bite off whatever it can. But it's probably prevented from doing TOO much damage as lasers begin striking it, bombarding it, forcing it to detach from the wall and fall foward onto its would-be meal. A struggle here, on this platform, could easily result in both of them tumbling off the edge. Or the golem could throw the mimic over the edge instead. Either way, there's not enough room for the both of them on this precarious perch.

    On the underside of the entrance platform that Carna and Tomoe and Staren and some pony golems are all still standing on, a door opens, and the mystery man stumbles out of it, staggering down another set of stairs, and seemingly getting tired of all this running. Finna, having been flying towards the staircase that has now been abandoned by both Sarracenia and Mystery Guy, could, if she turns around, see him there easily. And he is stalled in his already-slowed flight by Sarracenia's first fireball going right over his head, forcing him to duck and look around in a panic trying to see where the hell that even came from.

    Carna looks at what everyone else is doing. What's working, and what's not. She hears the deafening sounds echoing from that door now. She saw and 'heard' that strange feeling/sound from Priscilla's crown before, and sees how she seems to be trying to track the fleeing man... She looks to Tomoe and then draws her crossbow off of her back, as she says, "We may not be his enemies. But unless we make him stop running, we may never get the opportunity to convince him of such. If he is Lit as Priscilla says, I do not know if his endurance regenerates as mine does, or if that is a feature of Lanterns." She loads a crossbow bolt into place.

Carna (974) has posed:
    "Essentially, as long as I pause for a short time between sprints, I can sprint indefinitely. I do not believe any of the others here can run forever." She then raises her crossbow as she winds the crank on the side, and says, "Lady Tomoe. Please have one of your familiars alight upon the tip of this bolt. I am going to fire it towards our quarry the next time I see him. I would then like you to have your familiar detach from the bolt and attach to him, so we can track him. By doing so, I believe Queen Priscilla has a plan in mind that can be accomplished by knowing his location."

    Carna is displeased at the lack of practicality from Count Kord as she asks him over the radio to just cut off the man's legs, but she admits that might make his willingness to assist even less. Perhaps simply making him stop running about in a panic will get them some answers.

    Diplomacy. A skill she is still working on learning.

Count Kord has posed:
    Kord, in a fit of helpfulness, reaches into a satchel on his belt and pulls out a glowing red gem. The gem flashes, and a Haunter appears before him, a distinctly Dead creature that is only alive in the vaguest of senses. And then he points at it, and it gives him a look of interest. Then he points vaguely down toward where the fleeing man is, and the Haunter seems to understand the order only after Kord says, "Lick."

    Then it makes a beeline for the man, swirling around stairwells until it can float its way to him, and stop before him. The Haunter has one priority in mind.

    It wants to Lick the poor fleeing man on the face with a very oversized tongue. This is a Pokemon attack, and it has a chance to actually paralyze the target. It probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but then ghosts don't make sense and neither do Pokemon. Since it probably can't carry the man over to where everyone else is, the rest would be up to the party in terms of retrieving him, unless he happens to flee away from the gaseous head-and-hands ghost that clearly means to do something untowards to him.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia slides to a stop just short of falling into the inky, wailing, groaning blackness. She freezes in feet, her eyes wide and teeth clenched, then quickly covers her ears against the wailing and screaming. "What in the world is going on here?!" she screams, barely able to hear herself even with her ears covered. When she realizes she hasn't fallen in, she lets out a sigh of relief, then blinks as she notices that golden tower in the distance slowly getting covered in black. "What the..?" she asks to herself as she slowly gets back to her feet. It isn't until the door slams closed behind her that she blinks and turns around. "H-hey! Did you just...how dare you?!"

     Sarracenia lifts her hammer, ready to smash the door in herself! But...instead it explodes outward at her! "What the..?!" As she is pelted with wood and splinters, Sarracenia stumbles back. Dangerously close to the edge. "Thpt..gah...*cough cough*! Who did tha-" ...slip.

     Sarracenia's eyes widen, and she feels like time stands still a moment as she realizes...her feet no longer have solid ground beneath them. She is teetering dangerously on one toe, and her arms start to windmill. "Nn-aah-n-noooooooooo! Pri-priscillaaaaaaa!" As it turns out, the emergency leaves are actually no good in an emergency, because you have to run in order to activate them. And...falling does not count as running.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe takes a moment to summon her frimilar and use it in the way that CArna suggested she hopes that this idea is going to work but Carna has suggested cutting the man's legs off to keep them from running this ... worries hwe but it's too late now to worry about that. She starts to chant now, runes dance about her tall form and the spell finishes. It's not long before said bright fred frimilir lands on the bolt as asked and is ready.

Priscilla has posed:
    "Too slow." Priscilla replies simply, though whether she means that asking would be too slow, or whether Kord himself is too slow, is up for debate; as long as he's out of the way. She's not a Union charge, thus he's not her problem. He can do whatever he likes until it conflicts with what she needs to take care of, which admittedly doesn't seem to be a lot. Regardless of whether she's rescued Sarracenia though, she has what she's let loose left to deal with. She goes to reflexively clap her hands over her ears at the insane blast of sound, in serious danger of rupturing even her hearing as she backs away as swiftly as possible, but has to resort to plugging one ear with a nimble movement of her tail as to keep her weapon hand free. The look of those cracks on what should be white nothingness is hardly one she likes, and barriers and wards aren't part of her repertoire.

    Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if Sarracenia is quite as safe as she might have been. Though still technically not her problem, it'd be disreputable in the extreme if she had let her die through accidental action followed by deliberate inaction. She's finally forced to drop the scythe on the next platform back, aware that she can always recall it again, before fixing the princess instead of her original target with her stare, a steely, skin-crawling screech cutting narrowly through the overpowering screaming and wailing as gravity abruptly ceases to function around Sarracenia, and then accelerates her in the direction of the halfbreed queen. Rather than letting Sarracenia drop into the abyss, she catches her in her free arm, the high speed at which she 'telekinetically' pulls her offset somewhat by the fact that Priscilla isn't exactly built big and solid. All going to plan, she leaves /that/ area as soon as possible, carrying the princess if necessary through a few rather significant jumps, checking to see if the others have caught their fleeing quarry at a glance.

Staren has posed:
    The golem starts clumsily clubbing the mimic with its fists. That's about it, really, they're not trained combat machines.

    Staren stops shooting as he hears a door open... below him? His flying drones drop down to investigate... well, to try to anyway!

Carna (974) has posed:
    Sarracenia is rescued from falling down into an endless ocean of Unlit by Priscilla, and they get the hell away from all that NOISE (as much as one CAN get away from it). The swirling Ghost pokemon Kord directs finds its way to the target, as Staren's drones drop down below the platform and spot him, recording the results. If they try to go too far below, they might find themselves going in directions they do not intend to, or going *bonk* into a 'floor' that was looked like empty space, but they'll have a clear view of him either way.

    The ghost licks the Lit man, and he lets out a shriek of absolute terror and locks up right where he is, unable to take any further action. Whether out of fear, the paralytic effects of ghost saliva, or both.

    As the familiar lands on the crossbow bolt, Carna waits until Staren's drones identify the target's location, even as she reflexively tenses up at the unceasing cries of Unlit, since those are kind of the things that try to eat her and everyone else ALL THE TIME. She isn't sure how she's going to manage the shot... But then Sarracenia's fireball comes out of nowhere and hits Carna in the chest. Ow.

    That gives her an idea though. She coordinates with the remote-surveillance of Staren's technological devices to fire the bolt not down towards the target, but back the way the fireball came. Because of the absence of definite directions, this is mostly guesswork, but... It 'falls' back along the path the fireball took, zipping by the paralyzed Mystery Dude. And then Tomoe's familiar is able to detach from that, and attach to him, allowing for direct monitoring of his location.

    When he manages to, in a fit of pure fear, stagger the rest of the way down the stairs with the coordination of dry spaghetti, meaning it's mostly a matter of falling forward and sliding down each stair on his face, until he hits a door and manages to crawl his way up to the doorknob... He's a big glowing beacon for Priscilla, as well as a stationary target.

    Grabbing and pulling him to her will now be a simple matter.

    And once he is in custody... A certain book in his grasp, and a ring of keys... Well, one of them has the word 'home' carved into it. Using that on any door will allow them to get the hell out of this awful area and arrive in what appears to be a well-furnished personal library, with places or everyone to sit down and catch their breath. There's no Shrine of Light in here, but a quick look around will reveal a pair of doors leading out into another room, which DOES have one.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia has to clap her hands over her ears as well as she falls toward the blackness. She yelps when she is caught in that telekinetic power, and her eyes open. Then, she is dragged back up to the platform, draped over one of Priscilla's arms, and carried through a series of jumps back to safety and their target.

     Sarracenia is left looking up at Priscilla as she is carried in one arm, her eyes wide and practically shining as she gazes up at the half-dragon. "You...you actually saved me." she says, her lips slowly but steadily turning up in a happier and happier smile. Until finally she hugs around Priscilla's waist. Someone saved her! From real danger, not from one of her mock kidnappings! So, Pris gets a cling-on in the form of a very grateful princess.

     When they reach another platform, Sarracenia finally lets go of Priscilla so that Pris can collect the Guy and they can collect those keys. Once that is done though...Sarracenia is right beside Priscilla again, practically glowing with affection for the woman.

Priscilla has posed:
    For the first time in quite a while, Priscilla looks a little bit awkward. She'd long since thought she'd had this 'basic socialization' thing figured out, or at least partiotioned the rest into 'will never understand', but having the Confederate she'd just preserved out of personal honour and vaguely understood obligation (and her just being less obnoxious) suddenly clinging to her and acting /surprised/ that she had bothered is something new. What do they treat this girl like over there? Is it really so surprising that someone would bother to stop her from falling into a pit of infinite, screaming, hungry dead? Isn't that a bit much?

    All that really leaves her mouth however is a strained and faintly perplexed "Y-yes." followed by quick glance at that beaming face and then the immediate distraction of reclaiming the helpless man and his keyring. "I wouldst be far more than remiss to alloweth such a thing to happen under mine supervision. Thou art an ally in this endeavour, at least." she adds a little more eloquently as she heads for a door. "Until there is such a point at which we wouldst cometh to blows, such is only courtesy."

    And then, a library. This place makes less and less sense as it goes.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe gets the information from her frimiliar and she's quick to monitor things and will follow after the rest of the party. She is worried with how terrifed the man is then agian can she blame them? She understands fear better than many people here might think she does.. he press on with the rest of the group to ge 5to the library and mutters. "This place will drive me to madness..."