Lisette glanced at the female mage device. She stepped closer to it and no found that it did not react. She put her face very close to the mage's and stared it in the eyes. No response. She did not dare touch the device but stood staring at it for some time.

Lisette takes her leave of the device and glances at the closed door she finds herself standing between. She calls to the others before gently turning the handle and opening one of the doors. Surely nothing could hurt her in such a house.

As Lisette fiddles with the handle she hears a voice behind her.

"Hmph! Is it customary where you come from to open cupboards in other people's houses?"

The mage device is standing up and staring straight at her. It has become insubstantial and like in shape to the woman you first met in the cave.

"I have been watching you. You are certainly either brave or foolhardy, I am not yet sure which. I will answer one question from each of you, if you have any questions to put, but if I might make a suggestion, find the throne room and come back to me. You will have a better idea of the question you should ask by then."

The voice is neutral in tone, neither welcoming nor disapproving.

"I will give you a piece of advice. Returning to any part of the maze to which you have already been - other than me and the room of switches that is - will give you nothing new. Return there only if you have forgotten what you saw or heard."

The mage device waits for any question you may wish to put.

Ford looks around the house and smiles.

"Nice place."

He turns to the mage device.

"Maybe we should find the throne room first, then... but I think I'll use my question now. What are those eight switches for?"

The mage smiles. "You need to set them correctly to open up that part of the maze that contains the control room. You will need to set the control panel in the control room correctly to get the code to leave the maze.

If travelling from the north you will come to a crossroads. The path to the right will lead you to the control room, that to the left will teleport you to the start. If you arrive from the south it is the other way round.

Let me update your map."

"Thank you, Anima," Lurel says with a slight bow. "Yes, we will take your advice and return again after we have been to the throne room."

He looks at the others. "Let's go and find the throne room, then. I suppose we might as well continue along the passage outside the door."

OOC> If i may ask a question...? is this maze the majority of our quest or is it just the tip of the iceberg?

IC> "yes, but the question is, which way is it to the throne room north then east? south then east.. it could be mnay ways where should we begin"

"Well...." Lurel begins, "we have been told that we don't have to go back to parts we've already visited unless we can't remember what we were told. And we've been told things at the fountain, the whispering wall, by the heads in the room with the food and by the 3 heads. And someone spoke to use in the place with Laca the dog. Then there was that note in the box. Have I forgotten anything?"

He looks around, but doesn't give the others time to answer.

"We've also been told that the clue is to the west. And we've explored all the eastern parts of the maze where we didn't sense danger. So... west, and south I suppose is where we need to look next."


Lurel thinks for a moment. "I think we should head north for a bit though, until we're level with that first box - it would be silly if we didn't search the maze thoroughly and missed the clue. So.... let's go right when we step out of door, then right at the first junction we come to. And remember.... those creatures which attacked us.... they may well be lurking nearby. Princess, Midge - we rely on you to warn us."

He gives the others an encouraging smile, but he himself feels far from confident.

'So far, so good. We've been lucky - but for how long will our luck hold? And I wish Anima hadn't limited us to one question each - there's so much I want to know. What's the relation between the voice we heard in the cave with the bear, and the one who spoke to us when we met Laca? Can we trust the Avelyssians, or will they turn on us once we've completed the task they wanted us to do? What is the purpose of this maze? There's so much we need to know....'

Lurel sighs. "Ah well then - we're not getting out of this maze by standing around here - let's go!"

OOC>I'm not sure I should give too much away but your quest is currently to investigate the disturbance of Mara's tomb. Once you are through the maze there will be little more to do before arriving at the tomb.

Following Lurel's lead you travel west and north to the point immediately south of the the box where you were attacked. You are able to complete a few more lines on the map though you find nothing useful and there is no indication of danger.

Standing at the junction, you realise that you have covered the paths north and east. To the south there are two paths leading off to the left (east). The passage ends at a 't' junction. Siffli senses nothing in the passage. To the west there is a crossing path. You know that turning right will take you to areas you have visited so you turn left (south). You find yourself in a room totally lined with wood. As you move around, the floor sighs.

"Beware! Beware! Beware!"

The wood of the floor slopes slightly towards the centre of the room where a small circular raised boss can be seen. A similar pattern can be seen in the ceiling.

You update your map.

If any of the maze is further west than the room you are in, it is also some way further south.

Ford jumps back.

"AHH!!...... Did... did anyone just hear the floor... talk?"

He looks around.

"What now?"

Lurel blinks. "I thought I heard something too."

The room, and the sighing voices, make him uneasy, and he stares at the circular boss at the centre. But if there is a trap, why would the voices give a warning of it?

Out of curiosity he uses his empathy skill, to try to see what kind of consciousness - if any - is behind those voices.

"Beware of what?" he asks speculatively. "What do you mean?"

Lurel is aware of a vague sensation that they are being watched but certainly not by anything in the room. If it is not his imagination, whatever is watching is somehow beyond or outside the maze. There is no sense of danger in the room.

Ford staring at the floor in his unease notices that there are markings on the wood. When he bends to look he sees tiny carvings of animals, every kind he can think of, and many he does not recognise.

All are pointing towards the central boss.

Midge also stares at them. He sees to see them move.

Lisette sees nothing. Siffli cannot see markings on the floor but finds them on the ceiling where the carvings are of birds.

As if to compensate for seeing nothing, Lisette hears. "Arrows - beware the arrows. Learn of them to the east."

Lisette glanced uneasily to the east. She had better tell the others of the voice in her head since it was a warning. She spoke up, "A voice told me to beware the arrows!" she continued, "I don't know why but we might be able to find out if we head east"

"Hmm. There are little carvings of animals on the floor... lots of them!"

Ford kneels down and looks at some of the ones he hasn't seen before in fascination for a few moments before standing up again and looking at Lisette.

"Arrows? What? Some sort of arrow firing trap or something?"

"Arrows?" Lurel repeats? "To the east? Well... I suppose that could mean anything from the eastern wall of this room, to the east of the maze. But we've just come from there... and didn't notice anything arrows....unless they mean that Anima might be able to tell us....."

His voice trails off as he turns to study the walls and floor east of the central boss.

The walls are slatted wood with no obvious markings. Lurel can also see the animals, though unlike Midge, for him they do not move. As both he and Ford peer more closely they see that many of the animals seem combinations of animals and in several cases animals and humans. Those closest to the central boss appear to be entering it.

Re-checking the map reveals that there is only one part of the maze east of where you are that you have not visited.

"Hmm," Lurel says thoughtfully, tracing the route they have taken on the map with his finger. "Looks like there should be another dead end due east of here. Let's have a look there then, and find out about those arrows."

He is uneasy about the central boss, and about the warning of arrows. What significance do those animals hold?

"Okay, but... does anyone have a shield or something we can use? One of us should go in first to make sure it's safe, just in case it is some sort of trap, and they'd need protection."

ooc> I am submitting a playlet to a competition on Monday, results 2nd week December wish me luck. I'll leave you to tell me EXACTLY what you are doing before I post next week. Have a good weekend y'all!

"Well...." Lurel begins hesistantly, "We're probably not going to learn much standing around here. I don't know about you, but that central boss makes me uneasy..... this whole room does. Let's retrace our steps back to the junction where we'll have to turn south to get to that room 'to the east' - though I'm not even sure that's what the voices mean. We've already avoided a few places to the east we weren't sure about, after all. "

He hesitates.

"When we get to that junction, I'd like to know if Midge and the Princess can sense any danger, or anything unusual there. And then..."

His voice trails off. Ford's remark has brought home the dangers they are in.

'I didn't even think of that, and I should have. I keep making mistakes - I've only been lucky so far I haven't got anyone killed!'

Lurel does not tell the others, but he makes up his mind to enter the room to the east first - and alone if it means protecting the others from danger.

You leave the room with the sighing floor travelling north to the next junction. You turn right passing two junctions and right again. When you reach the next junction you wait to find out if anyone senses danger.

There is something in the room ahead but the sense it gives is of being neutral.

Lurel takes the lead in walking down the passageway. It is dim but there is enough light to see provided care is taken.

As he nears the end he sees a circular room In the centre is a well that would not look out of place in a rural environment. It has the usual bucket on a chain, currently raised.

There is no one visible in the room.

Lurel half-turns towards Midge, but doesn't ask - surely Midge would have warned him if he had sensed danger.

'It's time I accepted the responsibility I have been given - I've been asking too much of the others.'

After taking a deep breath, Lurel steps into the room, and approaches the well cautiously. Once more he attempts to use his empathy skill - to perceive if there is a consciousness in this room.

As Lurel probes he senses that whatever is in the room is actually in the well.

Lurel edges closer to the well, and peers into it.

"Hello?" he calls softly. "Is anyone down there?"

A sighing voice is heard.

"Down here? Yes, forever. If only...."

It dies away.

"Who are you?" Lurel calls down. "Do you need help?"

"A talking well... now I've seen everything!"

Ford grins slightly and edges a little nearer to it.

The voice returns

"Help? You would help me? I would be with my friends. If you can bring me my bones I could join my friends. We were trying to get out, you see, trying the switches and running to the blocking door. We were using a room in between to rest. Then we were attacked, murdered by..."

There is a long silence and a sigh

"So long ago now. They devoured my companions. Having eaten their fill they filleted me, leaving most of my bones behind and carried the rest of me to feed on as they grew hungry. My head they ate last and threw the skull in here. If you can bring me my bones..."

The voice sounds resigned to rejection.

Lurel gnaws his lip.

"I don't want to make promises I cannot keep," he says at length, "so I cannot promise you that we will return your bones to you. What I will say, though, is that if we can find your bones, and if returning here does not expose my friends to grave danger - or greater danger than we are already in - I will do what I can. Can you tell us anything that would help us - where we might find your bones, what dangers we might face, anything you can remember which may be useful?"

After a moment, he adds: "A wooden room to the west of here mentioned arrows, and that we should learn of them to the east. Can you tell us anything about them?"

OOC> several rude words; I composed a reply and then posted but it vanished. I will try again. Also for some reason the map no longer loads. Maybe you can work from old copies.

"I feel - incomplete. I'm sure if I was whole again I would remember more. We did lose two comrades to arrows, I will try to remember..."

There is a pause.

"When we were trying out the switches we used to run to the blocking door. The switches were at the end of a passage. We raced back along the passage and turned left to reach the door. On the way we passed two side tunnels leading to the right. Our 'camp' was in the first. That is where you will find my bones. And those of my fallen companions. It was a strange room with two glowing faces."

The voice vanishes.

// OOC - could you mail the latest version of map please? The most recent I can find is from September//


"I think I know where the switches are," Lurel nods. "Very well.... I'll see if the others agree. Can you tell us more about your attackers? Were they Avelyssians? How many of them were there? What weapons were they using? I don't like the idea of becoming a cannibal's lunch!"

He pauses again.

"You said your bones and those of your comrades will be in that room. How can we tell them apart?"

OOC> I missed this and didn't realise there had been a new post I'll email the map to you Theta. See if you can post it!

"I suppose my companions will have their skulls. I don't remember who attacked us I think there were four of them. Please bring the bones!"

The voice seems to be sobbing.

Lurel looks at the others. "Unless you have any strong objections, I would really like to help this .. err.... ghost, I suppose. Midge, can you sense any danger?"

Lurel thinks for a moment, then decides to use his empathy skill on the owner of the voice - just in case.

'I don't think this is a trap - but how can I be sure, in this place? I can't take the risk, for the sake of the others. But I really want to help this poor creature!'


Unless his empathy skill warns him against helping the voice in the well, Lurel will lead the others towards the place the voice mentioned.



//OOC - looks like the map's attached///

"Well, we could always use more friends... even if they're dead ones... I guess."

Ford blinks slightly.

Lurel cannot empathise with a ghostly head - if that is what it is - but no one senses any harm in the creature.

Lurel leads the party to the passage that leads to the room of switches and turns south. A passage leads off to the right. An eerie turquoise glow emanates from it but there is no evidence of danger.

You proceed to a small room with two enormous faces staring at you. There are three skeletons on the floor one without a head.

OOC> It won't load the photo either! I'll email it!

Lurel shivers involuntarily.

"Midge, Princess, please remain alert for any dangers. Those flesh-eaters could come back at any time."

He looks up at the heads, and tries to use his empathy on them.

'People were killed in right here in front of you. Does this not affect you?'


He starts to pick up the bones of the headless skeleton.


//OOC - attaching the picture Malchik e-mailed me//

Although the faces seem to be looking directly at him, Lurel cannot find any signs of sentience. As he touches the bones of the headless corpse he hears a hiss. Two shadowy figues, former Avelyssians to look at them, appear out of the ether.

"What are you doing with our friend?"

Ford draws his sword.

"Stay back!"

He looks at the two shadowy figures trying to make them out.

"Your friend is incomplete," Lurel says, directing his comment towards the shadowy figures. "His skull is in a well, to the east of here. We want to reunite his bones with his skull, so that your friend can find rest. It is what he desires."

He waits for a response.

The figures commune with each other.

One says sadly to Ford. "You cannot kill the dead, boy."

The other speaks to Lurel.

"We were doing so well. We had explored most of the tunnels and those we had not were drawn in for us by the Mad Mage Fizzapnoodle who lives south of the well. We were trying the switches I mean there are only eight and only three positions. Couldn't have been so many combinations. We must have done a hundred. Most of 'em I'd have thought."

They pause for a moment. "I think I believe you. Bring our friend back to us please. You may pass."

The spirits disappear. Lurel begins to pick up bones. Lots of toe bones, foot bones, heel bones. Too many for one to carry!

"Oh, er r-right. Sorry, reflex reaction."

Ford sheathes his sword.

Once the spirits disappear, he heads over to where Lurel is picking up the bones.

"Want some help?"

He picks up a handful of hand bones.

"Thanks," Lurel grins. "That's a lot of bones, for sure. I suppose we'd better get them back to our friend in the well."

Lurel doesn't say it, but he is somewhat worried.
'With Ford and me laden down with bones, we won't be able to fight if we're attacked...'

He clears his throat, and says:

"Princess, could you take the lead back to the well where the owner of these bones resides? And Lisette, could you bring up the rear? Just in case - you know how this place is full of surprises... though one would have to get up very early indeed to sneak a surprise past Midge!"

He gives Midge an encouraging grin, and sets off back towards the well.

"You're welcome."

Ford smiles slightly and finishes collecting any remaining bones. He then follows Lurel back to the well, stumbling a bit with the large load in his arms.

You are getting used to this part of the tunnel. Nothing attacks. Back at the well the disembodied voice asks you to put the skeleton together.

"The toe bone's connected to the foot bone, the foot bone's connected to the heel bone, the heel bone's connected to..." and so on. You find yourselves tempted to tap out the rhythm with a couple of rib bones but manage to resist.

Eventually you have a complete skeleton, minus perhaps the odd metacarpal and of course the head.

Hmm - ding, dong, dell - the skull is in the well! Who'll get it out?

OOC> Have a good weekend y'all. I'll be back on Monday!

"Oh, b....ananas," Lurel curses softly. "Why didn't it occur to me to get the skull out of the well and take it back to the rest of the skeleton, rather than bringing the bones here?"

He takes the rope out of his pack, and ties it securely around his waist.

"Ok... ," he says hesitantly, looking at the others. "Do you think you can hold my weight while I climb down into the well?"

"Agh. Ok then... me and Lisette might be able to hold you up."

Ford looks over to Lisette.

"Want to try?"

Ding Dong Dell!

Lurel gets well soaked ( ) and is much harder to pull up when waterlogged but he returns with the skull.

The ghostly spirit appears pathetically grateful. "Thank you, I can rejoin my comrades and leave this place. As to help, I can remember only that the arrows were south or south west of here. I do know that the room immediately south is safe. I would go there next."

The figure vanishes before you can say more.

It is the area south and west of your current position that is unknown.

OOC> Please give me very precise directions for the next couple of moves.

Lurel shakes himself, and rummages in his pack for some dry clothes, which he puts on quickly.

"Well," he says cheerfully, "at least I've had a bath, which is more than can be said for the rest of you." He grins, then continues more seriously.

"We may not have achieved much, but at least that ghost is happy now. And he told us that the room immediately south of here is safe.... but he didn't say whether the passages leading there would be, too. So...."

Lurel considers this for a little while.

"We can't stay here.... that's for sure. So I suggest we have a look at the room directly south of here - shall we turn right then, and carefully make our way to this room, or the next intersection, whichever comes sooner?"

Again he gnaws his lip while he is thinking.

"Beware the arrows," he says at last. "That doesn't have to mean people shooting at us... it could also mean arrow symbols which might try to mislead us, or which we shouldn't step on if they're on the floor. So let's be even more careful than before."

"Or, as I said before, it might just be simple arrow traps. Might want to look out for any more of those pressure plates on the floor, those have been used as triggers in other parts of the maze when it comes to traps."

Ford looks around.

"I don't have a clue as to where to go, suppose we may as well try the room south."

OOC> there are a couple of different routes you can use to get there and from there on.

Following Lurel's suggestion you turn right at the next junction, a path you have often taken. You reach the next crossroads. At no time on any of your journeys have you felt anything troubling at this junction.

It looks as if the next passage south of you will link to the parallel western passage. There may or may not be a room off this passage. The shortest way to find out is to walk south. You could however approach it the long way round.

You are keeping a wary eye out for pressure plates.

//OOC - I'm a bit confused as to where precisely we are - could we get an updated map please? *smiles hopefully*///


Lurel gnaws his lip, trying to consider which way would be best.

"Does anyone have any preferences? Or can anyone sense anything unusual along those passages?"