fh_adventures | In Jareth's Castle, Saturday Afternooon

Jareth teleports you into a room that makes no sense! (http://i1040.photobucket.com/albums/b408/it_bit_me/Places/vlcsnap-00160.png) Staircases jut out in every direction, seeming to go nowhere and everywhere at once. Perpendicular to the floor, a minotaur (http://thornefeather.com/images/tim_as_darkness.jpg) stands on a staircase, points at you, and begins to charge. Except he's running forward and you're falling...down? Sideways? You'd better find a way to figure out this gravity before he has a chance to gore you all!

Ben Skywalker	Ben found himself flung to the ceiling with a force that took his breath away, and he fought through a wave of vertigo. It had been like being in a ship where the gravitational generators had broken. Except, as he looked around, everyone hadn't joined him. "The hell?" he gasped out, then focused on the more important matter. "Where'd that ugly thing go?"
Tahiri Veila	"Khapet!" Tahiri snarled as she hit the . . . ceiling. "This place looks like that painting, and . . ." She bit out another guttural Yuuzhan Vong curse when she tried to reach out with her Force-senses from habit and got nothing. She was pretty sure the laws of physics shouldn't work like this in any universe, and yet here they were. Upside down. She'd been in enough uncontrolled spins in ships with blown inertial compensators to know what she should be feeling like upside down, and yet . . . "Notice a missing sensation, Ben?"
Ben Skywalker	"This feels normal," Ben replied after a second, "as long as you don't look up and see the people above you. Right?"
Tahiri Veila	"As skewed as our definition of normal is, yes," Tahiri answered. "Keep an eye out for that creature; I want to try something." She looked down -- no, up? No, down, relatively -- at her own feet, concentrated on staring at them, and took an experimental little hop. "Well, that felt about normal too."
Sean Nast	"If we're supposed to feel normal, why do I still feel like I'm going to fall?" Sean asked, looking around uneasily. He shifted his feet, wobbled, and immediately stopped moving.
Ben Skywalker	"Because you're overthinking it," Ben said. "You're still thinking of where we came in as the floor. It's not. This is the floor. That's the ceiling. At least as long as the room doesn't shift." Very helpful, Ben. The enemy's gate is down. Dammit, Ender, where are you?

Sookie Stackhouse	Sookie had clenched her eyes shut after being flung to the ceiling, trying to maintain some semblance of balance. With her powers working funny, on top of this, she was worried she'd lose it. Again. "It doesn't help that there're people on the other sides, too."
Sean Nast	At Ben's words, Sean frowned. What he said kind of made sense, but still. He nodded slightly when Sookie spoke. "Exactly. But... if we just focus on where our feet are instead of where their feet are, we should be okay, I think." He looked to Ben and Tahiri for confirmation, since they seemed pretty much unaffected by the whole on the ceiling, weird balance thing everyone had going on.
Jono Starsmore	Jonothon took a moment to rub at his head, making dirty looks at the... what was the floor before they'd hit the ceiling. Whatever it was. Once he was on his feet again, he cast a look around. Right. So, up was down, and down was up. He could cope with that. The trick was to just not think about it. A task that was made simpler by the fact that he'd smacked his forehead on a staircase on the way... Up. Down. Whatever. He pulled out his knife and narrowed his eyes as he looked out for the horned thing.
MINOTAUR!	The ceiling had far fewer places for the minotaur to sneak up on them, but there were still a few. There was a helpful staircase leading down a few feet to another landing oriented in their direction. A staircase leading down for them was also a staircase leading up for him if he chose to run on the underside. And choose to he did, before stepping out from almost directly beneath them. Hello, pretty blonde girl. The minotaur would like to introduce himself. With his fist.
Sookie Stackhouse	Sookie, for her part, was starting to glow -- her hands purple, her cheeks a rosy gold. But she already knew she wasn't going to be able to blast this thing away, not like she usually would. And the worst part was that this had sent her into a minor flashback to the summer, the last time she'd been attacked by something this big and horned. And she needed to run, and protect herself this time. So, with a shriek, she reached for the blade Ben had given her, brandishing it before her and swiping out towards the minotaur frantically. She already knew she needed to get behind someone who could use a weapon effectively, but she needed to do something first.

Re: Labyrinth: Team Ceiling vs. Minotaur

weetuskenraider - 2010-12-11 17:58 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Labyrinth: Team Ceiling vs. Minotaur

weetuskenraider - 2010-12-11 17:58 (UTC) - Expand

[OOC: To be continued in comments if Team Right so desires!]

Cassidy	When Cassidy found herself shoved against the staircase on the side of the room, she was a little confused. Even though it was uncomfortable, she tried to go up the stairs... but that was causing a bit of disorientation.
Quinn	"I'm getting dizzy," Quinn muttered, as she clung to the wall with her fingernails. "I can't fight if I'm falling over."
Cassidy	Cassidy looked relieved when she heard Quinn say pretty much what she was thinking. "This place just isn't playing fair," she muttered as she tried to orient herself with the floor... well what should be the floor.
George	George's response -- once she had managed to sit up from where she had smacked into the floor -- was both eloquent and helpful. "What the fuck?"
Goose	Goose landed face first on the floor, his response was merely to grunt as he struggled to sit up.
Cassidy	"Hell's fire," Cassidy muttered as she tried to stand up normally. "This place just keeps getting more and more irritating."

[OOC: To be continued in the comments if Team Left desires!]

After defeating the minotaur the next trial is just a simple children's game? How hard could that be? Well, plenty, considering the Fire Gang is on your team and those lizard-riding guys from last night? They're on the other. At least they'll all play fair, right? Right?

Re: Red Rover, Red Rover, let uhhh...that guy come over?

onapalebicycle.livejournal.com - 2010-12-11 22:13 (UTC) - Expand

Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, you have fought your way to the castle beyond the Goblin City, to take back the students that he had stolen. The only problem? They don't seem to want to go. It's going to be up to you to convince them to come home.

Helen? Wasn't leaving. She was sorry everyone had gone through all of that touble and danger, but she wasn't going anywhere. She was happy here and wanted. Didn't anyone understand that?

Battered, bruised, and after making an askance glance at Jonothon having gotten to Emma before he could, Peter noticed Helen. While they weren't close friends, he did know her from class.

So, he limped his way over and gave her a winning smile.

"So, you really want to resign yourself to a life where your overlord spends untold thousands on hair products?" he greeted.

Ender Wiggin	Ender had no intent of going anywhere, no, but he also didn't see the need to advertise the fact. He felt safe, and at home, and utterly certain that he wouldn't be made to leave again. Despite all the fighting, despite all the noise and everything it implied, he still had a little smile on his face.
Ben Skywalker	Ben was both mentally and physically exhausted when he finally arrived, and seeing Ender smiling was so completely at odds with the days he'd had that for a moment his equilibrium shifted. "Ender?" he checked. Maybe this was a clone?
Ender Wiggin	"Ben," Ender replied, and something slid over his face, sad and a little bit rueful. "I'm sorry you had to come all this way for nothing. Though I'm not really surprised."
Ben Skywalker	"What do you mean 'for nothing'?" Ben asked, frowning and stepping closer, looking for trip lines or signs of a bomb--something that would explain why Ender would choose to stay here. And wear that.
Ender Wiggin	Was there something wrong with what Ender was wearing? He certainly didn't think so. "Because I know you came here to bust me out," he said, lightly. "It's a nice thought, but it's completely unnecessary. I don't want to go back."
Ben Skywalker	Ben's jaw dropped. "Huh?" He was eloquent as always.
Ender Wiggin	"Pick your jaw up from the floor, you look like a monkey," Ender advised.
Ben Skywalker	"I do not," Ben retorted. "You're being insane. Why the kriff would you want to stay here?"
Ender Wiggin	Ender sighed. Of course Ben wouldn't get it - that, too, wasn't exactly a surprise. Feelings were hard to put into words, though; at least, feelings of safety, shelter, affection. "Because it's home," he said, simply. "And home is where everyone stays, isn't it?"
Ben Skywalker	"How can this be home?" Ben asked, moving closer. I'm not here. He shoved that thought away instantly. "Valentine's not here." Ben wasn't without his own set of weapons in this fight.

Ender Wiggin	And a very potent weapon it was, too. Ender blinked rapidly, once-twice-thrice. Val. Val, who had always loved him, who had been beautiful before he'd lost his sense of what that was, who'd sold him out to the IF twice out of necessity. He didn't say anything, blinking again, conflicted emotions snapping at his ankles.
Ben Skywalker	Ben reached out for Ender's shoulders, sensing the conflict. "Come on, kreetle," he murmured. "Come back with me."
Ender Wiggin	Ender stared back at him; then he shook his head, fringe flopping forward haphazardly so it nearly covered his eyes. "Valentine isn't home, either," he said, quietly. "Much as she'd like to aspire to be, by hook or by crook." He just loved her more than anyone else, but that wasn't the same.
Ben Skywalker	Ben moved Ender's hair out of his eyes again. "But this isn't home," he insisted. "This is a topsy-turvy trap that tried pretty hard to kill me. Would your home ever do that?"
Ender Wiggin	"I wouldn't know," Ender said, with a wry twist of his lips and his head still just a little bent. "My material for comparison falls a little short; I've never had one before."
Ben Skywalker	Ben's heart cracked a little. "This isn't it," he repeated, squeezing Ender's shoulders. "No one here loves you like they should."
Ender Wiggin	"And how should they love me, Ben?" Ender said. Exhaustion seeped into his bones and with them, his vocal chords, all a-tremble with sudden fatigue. "I've been up to my ears in people who love me, but it doesn't solve the underlying equation. Love is something human beings can't help but do, like breath and digestion, a tie that binds because of their evolutionary imperative to stick together, to survive. A brick at the foundation of the human eco-system."
Ben Skywalker	"So how does staying here solve that?" Ben asked, moving one hand up to stroke Ender's hair.

Every Labyrinth needs a minotaur!

Labyrinth: Team Ceiling vs. Minotaur

Labyrinth: Team Ceiling vs. Minotaur

Labyrinth: Team Right vs. Minotaur

Re: Labyrinth: Team Right vs. Minotaur

Labyrinth: Team Left Vs. Minotaur

Red Rover, Red Rover, let uhhh...that guy come over?

Re: Red Rover, Red Rover, let uhhh...that guy come over?

Re: Red Rover, Red Rover, let uhhh...that guy come over?

The Final Test

Re: The Final Test

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Time to Go!

Re: Time to Go!

Re: Time to Go!

OOC