The Legend of the Labyrinth

[Verdauga]

   Ara woke up in a sparsely furnished room, quite unlike his surroundings when he slept. He paused to let his mind catch up...That squirrel! Him! Ara remembered the concoction he'd prepared for them, talking all the while. "This will take you to the labyrinth. But will you really drink? Nyehe! None have escaped who have entered! Nyehehe!! Drink if you will, but consign yourself to you fate!"......Then, further back in his mind, he remembered the old mouse, living in his own little cave...."the labyrinth? Yeah, I know about it." he rasped, "No one else does, or ya wouldn't ha' come to me. Now what do you want? The map? Of course ya do. But how much will you give for it?".....The weasel he had held at knife-point. "The ole mouse by the river? Why d'you wanna know where he lives?"...And finally, the bones The skeleton, seated, in that ruined outpost. Fallen brick surrounded the chair in that stucture, as it was bound to collapse at any moment. And yet, lying on the floor underneath the skeleton's paw, was the parchments. With all the other spoils it came as no surprise Ara was the only one that noticed. And yet, it was all he could notice. Whoever the beast was, he was waiting. Waiting to die. Waiting to tell about the labyrinth. Waiting to surrender the last documents acknowledging its existence. Ara shook himself from the revery, and surveyed the room. On the side nearest him, was presumably the door out. And on the far side, another door, leading deeper into the labyrinth. It opened effortlessly, and Ara strode out.

[Booklover]

The shrew who some knew as the Wanderer, as few knew her real name, woke up in a room, sparsely furnished yet still far better than what she was used to. There was a door on the side nearest her, that presumably led to the way out. But, however much she might want to, she would not desert Ara and the others, not when her reputation was at stake. On the far side of the room was another door, leading deeper into the labyrinth. She opened it, and instantly saw Ara not far away down the corridor.

[Sebias of Redwall]

Brink Ironspike watched his employer with hooded eyes. The hedgehog shifted his club from one paw to the other ot of habit. "Well, what do we do next, Ara?"

[Verdauga]

The hare glanced back. "Down this corridor, first. Then we'll take the left passage at the end."
They don't know, and they mustn't.
Ara strolled to the end of the hallway, and glanced both ways, looking for a landmark.

OOC: Ara has a partial map of the labyrinth, but it doesn't show the entrance. He isn't going to let the others know that though.

[Kade Rivok]

Dantin bolted upright from his prone position spluttering, coughing up a bitter concoction upon the floor.  As he gratefully sucked in air, he looked about and realized that something was amiss. 

Wandering had been his life, and he'd done so alone for as long as he could remember, skirting the edges of civilization, preferring to stick to the forests, meadows and mountains of the wilds.  Last night had been no different as he'd bedded down under the dark foliage of midnight woods.  Now however, he was surrounded on all sides by oppressive, cut-stone walls: a large, poorly lit room containing a single torch, flickering in the darkness. 

Despite the size of the room, Dantin had an immediate sense of claustrophobia and panic swelled in his chest as the walls seemed to loom over him.  His breath caught in his throat and there was fire in his lungs as he wasn't able to get quite enough air to them.  He didn't know where he was, or how he'd gotten here, but he was sure of one thing: he needed to get out.  Concentrating, he closed his eyes and attempted to steady his breathing, telling himself that a room is simply a room and that there's nothing about it that could harm him. 

Dantin wasn't sure how much time passed, but eventually he opened his eyes and, while there was still discomfort in looking at his surroundings, the crippling fear was gone.  His mind more at ease, memories started drifting in from the previous night.  Things had been normal enough as he'd prepared to sleep, but once or twice he thought he'd sensed movement in the forest about him.  He'd cautiously investigated the area, but couldn't find signs of anybeast nearby.  Convincing himself that it had been nothing, he'd bedded down for the night.  His sleep had been fitful, however; in the back of his mind he kept feeling that he could hear somebeast chattering quietly to themselves nearby.

Slowly, certain things became clear and Dantin chided himself for being caught so unawares; there had definitely been somebeast lurking about that night.  Based on the foul liquid he'd coughed up upon waking, he must have been drugged and brought here.  As to where 'here' was, though, he had no idea.  He rose on unsteady footpaws and looked about the room once more, but it was hard to make anything out in the darkness.  After a few experimental steps, he headed over to the torch and worked it loose from the rusty brackets holding it in place.  Torch in paw, he inspected his environment more closely.  It appeared empty, devoid of any sort of items or furniture.  The walls were much the same, save for the brackets that had held the torch.  Indeed, the only interesting thing about the room was a thick, wooden door inset into one of the walls.  Dantin, of course, attempted to open it, but it wouldn't budge.  There wasn't a lock crafted into the door, as far as he could tell, so he could only assume it had been barred from the other side.  He banged on it half-heartedly and called out in a nervous voice.

"Um, hello?  Is... is somebeast there?"

[shisteer of nothing much]

Waiata came down the tunnel, studying the walls curiously. There were strange runes at the bottom of the corridors, slightly different than the ones she was used to seeing but still slightly decipherable.
Kia Tupato!
She knew what that meant. 'Beware!' Obviously, something less than friendly lay beyond.
Te tiaho
She also knew what that meant but the sentence was unfinished. It looked like somebeast had tried to destroy the ancient text. There were only a few more words, at the end, that were still in tact.
mate. Kia tupato!

Frowning thoughtfully, Waiata flitted back to the ceiling, studying it for any other messages. It was blank and she shrugged, carrying on down the passage, turning right down another corridor as she repeated the words to herself, puzzling over the missing pieces.
Beware! The light up... dead. Beware!

Waiata looked up, her sharp ears picking up a distant sound as it echoed off the walls. Times like this, she thought to herself, speeding down the corridor in the direction of the sound, it's very useful having wings.
Coming round a corner, Waiata came to an abrupt halt, seeing a light up ahead. She approached cautiously, staying within the shadows.

A brown mouse was struggling to open a wooden door with one paw, holding a torch in the other.
Looking around the rest of the room, Waiata recognised it, having visited a couple of times, always from different entrances. The door was a new addition but the long tailed bat still knew where she was.

"Do you need help, need help? I know the way out, way out."

[Sebias of Redwall]

Brink nodded. "Alright then. Let's get this party started, shall we?" Lighting a torch, the hedgehog led the way down the dark tunnel. "So, Ara, how do you plan to haul up all these...items back to the surface? An' who's in charge of dividing it all? I'd like to volunteer for that particular task." He winked and smiled, though his eyes showed no humor.

[Verdauga]

Ara humoured him for a moment. "You can bally well be in charge! Get the lions' share, ha!" but then he grew serious again. "I shall let you two be in charge of divvying out the spoils, but there are certain objects I shall take charge of."
Ara strode further down the corridor, and shook off the thought that he heard beasts speaking in the distance. "None of the landmarks yet...."He glanced down at his map before hiding it again, "...but these turns seem familiar....".

[Sebias of Redwall]

Hmm... I wonder what kind of 'certain objects' this hare fellow wants so badly. It might be worth looking into... Brink thought. At a later date perhaps. First, we need to reach our destination. He began to follow Ara's lead, but then the hedgehog suddenly stopped mid-stride. He thought he heard something, or more correctly, somebeast. "Uh, Do you hear that? Sounds like voices. I thought we were supposed to be alone down here."

[Kade Rivok]

Dantin squeaked in fright at the sudden voice behind him; he had been too occupied with trying to get the door open to notice anybeast approaching.  Whipping around, he held the torch in front of him defensively and tried to stay calm as he scanned the room for signs of whoever it was that had talked to him.  Unfortunately, he couldn't see anything beyond the light of the torch; the room was pitch black. 

His paw absentmindedly moved slowly towards the back of his belt as he cautiously called out, "H- hello?  Who's there?"

[shisteer of nothing much]

Waiata sighed as she realised she'd have to move into the light in order for the mouse to see her. Maybe I should just... No, this beast needs help and I'll give it. Pushing aside any further procrastination, Waiata flew into the light of the torch, squeezing her eyes shut and using her ears to navigate a suitable perch.

"Hello, hello. My name's Waiata, Waiata. Can I help you, help you?"

[Verdauga]

Ara stopped cold when he heard Brink. "So I am not simply hearing things" Turning back to the hedgehog, he replied, "You apparently have better ears than I, mister hedgehog. Lead on, if you can hear them still." He glanced at the walls, and read the runes. "Danger. A sentry to guard...." the rest had worn away...

[Kade Rivok]

Dantin jerked as Waiata seemed to appear from the darkness.  He was quite confused as to where she had come from; there hadn't been any other ways into the room as far as he could tell.  She seemed friendly at least, but for all he knew she could have had something to do with how he got here in the first place.  His free paw dropped away from whatever it had been reaching for and he pressed his back up against the door, sub-consciously trying to put distance between them.  He wasn't used to being around other beasts.

"Um, uh, hi... I'm Dantin."  As he talked, he noticed that Waiata had her eyes firmly closed and, after a moment, he realized that it must be because she wasn't used to the light.  "Oh, uh, sorry, sorry, um..."  He mumbled as he moved the torch from paw to paw, trying to figure out how to hide it.  As he tried to find some way to cover it beneath his cloak without catching anything on fire, he fumbled with the torch and dropped it rather dramatically, sending it a few feet away.  The flame became dim, then went out completely, leaving them in the dark.  "Hahaha... haaaa... I can't see now."  Smooth, he thought to himself, That definitely wasn't weird.  Not at all.  He cringed inwardly; this is why he hated talking.

[Booklover]

The shrew had followed Ara and Brink so silently they almost forgot she was there. As they continued down the corridor, past the runes, she looked closer at the runes on the wall. There was something about them that seemed... off. She shook her head. No. It was probably just the bad lighting. She hurried after them, wondering still if there was something she'd missed.

[Sebias of Redwall]

"Of course," Brink replied, nodding his head to Ara. Hefting his club in one paw, and his torch in the other, the hedgehog began to walk towards the sounds, ready for danger. "Let's keep quiet until we figure out who it is. They could be enemies."