<Dreol> [The Labyrinth, The Underworld, ???? 1262(probably), ??:??]
<Dreol> [Last time you all woke to find the castle on fire and under 
attack by demons. You then discovered a creepy little girl and followed 
her outside only to find yourself in a maze called "The Labyrinth," which 
exists as part of The Underworld, according to Moriel. The little girl 
then freaked out and you were all treated to an image of the girl barely 
hanging from a cliff over a vast void of emptiness from which a deep 
laugh echoed, and then she was back to normal as if nothing had gone 
wrong. She has since led you all to the end of the hallway where the 
cavern veers left and opens into a large room. In the center of the room 
is a marble pillar and attached to that pillar are several sconces which 
light the room. Ahead, you see the room narrows again into a pathway, and 
there is also a path to the right. The room itself looks like it may have 
once been a kind of gallery. There are broken vases and knocked over 
pedestals all around the edge of the room, in addition to the remains of 
several sculptures in pieces on the ground. The little girl stops for the 
moment, but gives no indication as to why.]
<Dreol> [Begin.]
 06* Rolf sniffs the air before growling lowly, "This ain't my type of 
problem, Eliana."
 06* Moriel looks around briefly, glances at the girl, then decides to 
take a closer look at their surroundings before trying to ask her about 
it.  He starts a slow, careful circuit around the room.
 06* Anstace looks around the room, she pokes at the shattered ceramics 
and sculptures with her spear, curious to see if she recognizes anything.
 06* Eliana frowns, looking around. "I don't think this is anyone's type 
of problem," she says to Rolf. She paces forward, looking around, then 
turns to the little girl. "Why did you stop?"
 06* Moriel occasionally reaches out to touch a piece of broken sculpture 
or vase.
<Dreol> [Moriel gets a flash of a Roman scholar. He is dressed in a Toga 
and wears laurels and all that jazz. He is polishing a statue of Neptune 
while looking out a window overlooking the Mediterranean. He sighs. This 
is his favorite piece in his house. He doesn't even let the servants 
touch it. It is a family heirloom and has been in his family for 
centuries. Suddenly, there is an attack. You don't get to see the 
attackers, but the scholar is stabbed in the back, and falls forward his 
hand clutching the statue, which then falls to the ground and shatters. 
You can hear footsteps all around as if an army is charging through. The 
scene fades to black. You get one more image, the image of him waking up 
again in this place, the remnants of his former sculpture gallery, but 
without the window, and then the scene is gone.]
 06* Moriel frowns at that and looks around the room one more time before 
heading back to the others.  He's curious why the girl stopped here, too.
<Dreol> [The girl doesn't seem to hear Eliana, but she walks through the 
pillar and then looks at the two paths, before walking straight. "They're 
this way... I can hear my mother singing to me...." The little girl 
flickers as she steps forward, before finally disappearing altogether.]
 06* Rolf grunts, then says, "My question is if this is how the other 
people got, uh, killed, what got 'em."
 06* Moriel grimaces.  "Seems likely."
 01<Eliana> Maybe the answer is in the vision we saw.
 06* Eliana looks at the others, then follows the girl: straight. It's a 
possible trap one way or the other.
 06* Moriel follows after Eliana, still frowning in thought.
 06* Rolf follows too, looking around warily.
 06* Anstace follows, because it would take too long to piece together 
the pottery to learn anything. maybe she can come back.
<Dreol> [After a lengthy hall, you find yourself in another large room. 
This one seems more primitive. It's simply a large expansive cave. On the 
far end of the cave, the path continues, but in the center of the room, 
is a small camp fire, which cuts through the darkness of the room and 
dimly illuminates the cave. Against one of the far walls sits a figure.]
 06* Varyn is slightly hunched, muscled bound, and looking completely 
distraught. blond hair stands out against dirt stained skin.
 06* Eliana looks around for any sign of the girl.
<Dreol> [She is no where to be seen.]
 06* Anstace looks at the figure, watching him closely. instinctively, 
she tightens the grip on her spear. other than that, she says nothing.
 06* Eliana focuses on the man by the far wall and walks a bit closer. 
"You're not a spirit," she says, matter of factly.
 06* Moriel eyes the man briefly, then approaches, circling around the 
fire.  He glances aside at Eliana as she speaks, then looks back to the 
man, but he stays silent for now.
 06* Rolf is a big brawny man, wearing a cloak. He looks like a woodsman 
or hunter. You know how it goes. Also his eyes glow red. He looks over at 
Eliana and growls out a, "What's that mean?"
 06* Eliana looks at Rolf. "He's one of us," she says. "Not *that* kind 
of dead."
 06* Eliana is 5'8", thin, dark eyes and messy as fuck dark curly hair 
(what, she's had no time to comb it), and sharp features. She's wearing 
trousers and a peasant tunic, and her feet and hands are bare. She also 
carrying cross-shoulder bag that 1. looks more expensive than the rest of 
her outfit put together, and 2. is *filled* with books.
 06* Varyn glances up and looks at you all speaking in German. "Spirits 
or beings?"
 06* Rolf doesn't speak German!
 06* Moriel doesn't either.  He looks at Eliana again, she being the 
resident linguist.
 06* Eliana snaps her attention back to Varyn, and her brow furrows for a 
brief moment. She looks over Varyn's attire, then tries Latin: "Do you 
speak the language of learning?"
 06* Anstace is the shortest of the group at 5'1". she is presently 
wearing a hungarian peasant's dress, though she is squirming a bit 
uncomfortably because of it. her hair is gathered in a loose braid that 
falls well below her waist. she has a classic beauty to her, and carries 
herself as if she is trained in combat (see spear and spartan-style 
shield, which she is presently carrying). her hazel eyes watch the figure 
closely, though her face shows no emotion.
 06* Anstace looks at Eliana as she speaks in Latin, and the back to the 
man.
 06* Moriel is about 5'4" and slight, and androgynous enough that in this 
light you could be forgiven for mistaking him for a woman.  He's wearing 
trousers and a tunic though, all in black, with a black scarf tying back 
his silvery hair.  Given he's silhouetted by the fire, Varyn probably 
can't presently see that his eyes are mostly grey.
 06* Varyn replies back in latin. "I attempt it pretty well."
 06* Rolf growls out, in Latin, "Great." He sniffs the air, then asks, 
"You see a girl come through here?"
 06* Varyn sighs. "Small, talks german, looking for parents, leads you 
here and disappears? Welcome to the trap."
 06* Eliana shakes her head. "One's native tongue, it seems. She spoke to 
me in Italian."
 01<Eliana> How long have you been here?
 06* Varyn shrugs as he slowly stands. "Two weeks? More. Less. I'm not 
starving but time has passed."
 06* Eliana watches him stand, then turns to Anstace. "Time may pass 
differently here," she suggests.
 06* Anstace leans forward, peering closely at the man.
<Anstace> or he is not a good judge of it.
 06* Varyn laughs. "I have been blamed of letting it slip through my 
hands."
 06* Moriel frowns.  "Perhaps, but this seems the type of place where 
time might grow...strange."
 06* Anstace looks around for a moment, not really at anything in 
particular. she shifts her spear to her shield hand and then raises her 
free hand up and out as if she was reaching for something as she closes 
her eyes slowly. "time does flow differently here," she says after a 
moment. "curious"
 06* Eliana files that information away. "Where do you stand in the war?" 
she asks the new wampyr.
 06* Anstace 's eyes flash open at Eliana's question. once again, she 
peers intently at the man.
 06* Varyn frowns looking at the group. "What war?" He looks concerned. 
"War would make trade difficult."
 06* Eliana raises an eyebrow. "There is always war, but I refer to the 
one among the kindred."
<Anstace> one of the ones
 06* Varyn sighs. "Ah. That one. Varyn Schmied child of Tem, no last name 
on him. Ravnos at your service. I, like my clan, am neutral."
 06* Eliana looks at Varyn for a long moment, weighing his answer, then 
says, "Eliana Casale. You can come with us, if you don't prove a 
nuisance."
 06* Varyn lets out another deep sigh. "I assure you, Eliana, my clan and 
I are never a nuisance to those that don't deserve it."
 06* Rolf growls out, "Great."
 06* Moriel snorts, then glances from Varyn to the fire and back again.  
"Moriel MacRae.  Is that fire yours, or was it here when you came here?"
<Varyn> Here when I came. It seemed a good place to sit.
<Moriel> And it's been burning for two weeks, as far as you can tell?
 06* Varyn nods walking closer to the group. "As far as I can tell. 
Walking around made me more lost."
 01<Eliana> That's ridiculous.
 01<Eliana> You don't know how to get anywhere from where you *are*.  How 
does wandering change that?
<Varyn> Because I couldn't find my way back to where I had been. 
 06* Eliana looks at Varyn blankly for a moment, then pinches the top of 
her nose as if holding back a headache. She turns and walks for the exit 
that isn't the way they came in.
 06* Rolf shrugs slightly, then says, "I'm Rolf. Come along and don't 
fall. Pretty sure that's bad for you." He makes a growfing noise and 
follows Eliana.
 06* Anstace switches her spear back to her free hand and follows Eliana.
 06* Varyn shrugs and just follows them.
 06* Moriel follows Eliana, too, still half-distracted with thought.
<Varyn> So, you know the way out?
 06* Anstace turns back to look at Varyn with her typically stoic face. 
"no" she then turns back and continues on
<Dreol> [You all walk out of the cave and find yourself in what appears 
to be the catacombs below a cathedral. There is plenty of catholic 
imagery on the walls, coffins and other things that line the walls. The 
way back seems to have disappeared and is replaced by a flat stone wall. 
Ahead of you is the girl, Aliz, and she is looking up at a hole in the 
ceiling yelling "Mommy! Mommy, I'm down here!" You can hear humming 
coming from the hole above, and, indeed, if you look into it, you see a 
woman, probably in her mid-twenties and she is in what appears to be a 
small house, but the house is warped and bent. She is humming to a small, 
empty, straw bed, as if she expects something to be there.]
 06* Eliana tenses a touch and glances back at Moriel.
<Varyn> Same girl?
 06* Varyn seems to want to make sure.
 01<Eliana> The one we saw, yes.
 06* Moriel nods.  He glances back at the wall, then to the girl.  "Shall 
we try lifting her up?"
 06* Eliana shrugs, which is as much an invitation to do so as any. She 
looks up the hole thoughtfully.
<Varyn> I'll do it.
 06* Moriel had stepped forward to the girl, but when Varyn speaks he 
glances back at him and steps aside with a go-ahead gesture.
 06* Varyn nods and moves to grab the girl and lift her up.
<Dreol> [Varyn's hand begins to pass through the girl's body. Upon seeing 
what he is doing, Aliz closes her eyes and concentrates hard. She begins 
to shake visibly and suddenly Varyn's hand is grabbing onto a very solid 
feeling little girl. He lifts her up to the hole, and she reaches up 
towards the woman above her, only to have her hand hit against an 
invisible solid surface. "NO! NO!" She yells and 
<Dreol> continues to hit her hand against the invisible surface, before 
finally stopping and letting her arm go limp at her side.]
<Varyn> Little help here?
 06* Moriel looks up.  Then he looks at Eliana.  "Do you think you could 
figure out what's blocking her?"
 06* Varyn has taken the girl into a hug, still holding her off the 
ground. "It's okay, we will help."
 06* Eliana walks over, continuing to look up at the hole in the ceiling.
 06* Moriel looks up at it too.  Might as well, more eyes can't hurt.  He 
stays out of Eliana's way, though.
 06* Anstace glances up at the hole. "curious" she says.
 01<Eliana> Hm.  She can't hear us.
 06* Eliana looks around for another exit from the !catacombs, as the way 
they came in is gone.
 06* Anstace pokes at the hole with her spear a few times, tapping at the 
barrier. "the ripples are the same"
 01<Eliana> As?
 06* Anstace looks at Eliana. "as the tempest we saw previously"
<Dreol> [Aliz looks down and shakes her head sadly.]
 06* Eliana frowns briefly at Anstace's words. "Best not press our luck 
here, then. There has to be another way up."
<Anstace> indeed.  the barrier is too strong here.
 06* Varyn looks down at the girl. "Can you walk?"
<Dreol> [She shrugs and nods.]
 01<Eliana> It may be best for her not to do so.  We don't want to lose 
her again.
<Moriel> Fair point.
<Dreol> [Actually, Varyn doesn't get much of a choice in the matter, 
Aliz's concentration seems to be slipping and she simply falls through 
his arms, landing on the ground and curling her knees up to her chest.]
<Dreol> [Eliana finds no other exits to the room.]
 06* Eliana doesn't find an exit and starts inspecting the coffins and 
other such dungeon dressing.
 06* Moriel tilts his head and sighs.  "But apparently not workable."  He 
crouches down until he's on Aliz' eye level.  "Aliz?  Can you be sure to 
stay with us?"
 06* Varyn dangles a hand near her.
<Moriel> We'll help you find another way up to your family.
<Dreol> [Aliz looks up at Moriel, her eyes are filled with tears. "Why 
can't she hear me?"]
 06* Moriel says gently, "Something we can't see is in the way.  We just 
have to find a way around it."
<Dreol> [Aliz shakes her head. "I came back as fast as I could..."]
 06* Varyn looks at the group.
<Dreol> [She looks up at the hole. "Our house looks different... it 
looks... bad..."]
 06* Moriel follows her gaze.  "It is strange, but maybe it just looks 
strange from here, and it will be better once we get you back to your 
mother."
<Moriel> Thank you for coming back to us.  We'll just have to do our best 
to stay together and get you back, all right?
 06* Varyn moves back away from Moriel and the girl to Eliana. "Plan is 
to reunite them?" He's whispering.
<Dreol> [She shakes her head. "There was so much fire... So much fire.... 
And bad men... maybe they hurt Mommy..."]
 06* Moriel reaches out a hand to comfort her instinctively, but he can't 
touch her.  Instead he tries harder to make his voice reassuring.  "She 
looked fine, didn't she?"
 06* Eliana looks at Varyn, then the girl. She nods to him. "It's what 
she wants."
<Varyn> Is it what will help?
 06* Moriel glances back over his shoulder.  "Given that people 
disappeared because she was trying to get back to her mother, it seems 
worth trying, at least," he says quietly.
 06* Anstace gently sets down her shield and leans her spear against the 
nearest kind of broken angel statue with its hand somewhat open as if to 
conveniently hold a spear. she then walks over to Rolf. "can you lift me 
up?"
<Dreol> [Aliz nods... "Yes... But..." Her eyes go wide again, like before 
and she starts to scream. The whole catacombs flickers and disappears and 
you find yourselves standing at a stone cliff. All around you are violent 
winds and an inky black sky. Ahead of you, you can see Aliz, another 
Aliz, her fingers barely grasping the edge of the cliff. The Aliz that 
you were with is on her knees, her hands holding onto her head. "NO 
NONONONO!" And, as before, a cold, deep laughter echoes from the abyss 
below. Far in the distance, you see a young man fall, seemingly out of 
the sky, into the abyss, where he disappears.]
 06* Anstace blinks. "nevermind." she then walks back over to pick up her 
spear where it has now fallen and then her shield.
 06* Eliana stiffens briefly, then she rushes forward, trying to grab the 
second Aliz's hand.
 06* Rolf was gonna lift one woman, but instead he's diving to rolf a 
girl clinging to life. And by 'rolf' we mean 'grab and pull up quickly'.
 06* Varyn winces as she screams.
 06* Moriel is a beat behind Eliana and Rolf; when he sees them heading 
for the girl about to fall, he aborts his movement and turns back to the 
one they were with.  He doesn't really seem sure what to do, though, as 
he still can't touch her.  "Aliz!  Aliz, it's all right, they'll help - 
her."
<Dreol> [Eliana manages to grab the hand of the Aliz that is hanging off 
the cliff, preventing her from falling, but Eliana does not quite have a 
good enough grip to pull her up. Rolf rushes up next to her and grabs the 
girl's arm, easily pulling her up onto the cliff.]
 06* Eliana hisses, hanging a bit off of the cliff herself, and when Rolf 
pulls up Aliz she quickly lets go.
<Dreol> [The Aliz that has just been pulled onto solid ground looks to 
the other Aliz, who stands, walks forward, merges into the body of the 
second Aliz and disappears. The united Aliz now looks up at you all, but 
says nothing.]
 06* Rolf gets the girl up on the cliff and doesn't eat her, instead 
looking down at her as she, uh, becomes two becoming one. Then he says, 
"You... doin' better now, child?"
 06* Eliana stands, brushes dirt and rock from her tunic, and looks down 
into the abyss. Perhaps it stares back.
 06* Moriel 's eyebrows climb at that, but he waits to see if she'll 
answer Rolf.
<Dreol> [Aliz shakes her head and looks back towards the cliff, her eyes 
filled with terror. "...Thank you." She finally manages to say in a quiet 
voice.]
 06* Anstace walks over and taps Aliz on the head, mostly to see if she's 
solid now.
<Dreol> [Eliana sees nothing. Like... as close to nothing as you can 
imagine. It's just the absence of light. Nothing but darkness. Every once 
in a while another body falls out of the sky and into the abyss and the 
laughing continues.]
 06* Rolf is silent a moment, then puts a big paw on her shoulder. "Sure, 
little lady. C'mon away from the edge." He stands slowly, keeping his 
hand on her.
 06* Eliana looks up at the occasional body, trying to identify them. 
"Why...? There must be a pattern."
<Varyn> First time I noticed this.
 06* Moriel steps up beside Eliana, since Rolf's taking care of Aliz now.  
"But not perhaps one you can find.  We do have more pressing concerns at 
the moment."
<Dreol> [Aliz nods to Rolf and scrambles to her feet, getting away from 
the edge.]
 06* Moriel does *not* look into the abyss.  He's pretty sure he doesn't 
want to see whatever's laughing like that.
 06* Eliana turns her attention back to the abyss, and her eyes go wide. 
She stares for another few minutes, gradually trembling, before she 
breaks and turns away from the edge, walking swiftly and shoving anyone 
in her way out of it (including the child, if need be).
 06* Eliana 's touch is very, very cold.
 06* Moriel 's eyes widen and he follows her almost as swiftly.  
"Eliana?" he asks softly.
<Dreol> [Aliz will voluntarily get out of Eliana's way. Behind you all, 
since you are now not distracted by falling girl, is the tempest that you 
saw earlier. But to your right, you can see a set of stairs carved into 
the face of a mountain. It climbs up farther than you can see.]
 06* Rolf guides the girl with a hand on her back. He looks at the 
slightly panicked Eliana, making sure she isn't going to flip out and 
kill anyone.
 06* Moriel completely ignores the stairs and the tempest and pretty much 
everything but Eliana right now.
 06* Eliana stops at Moriel's words. Her hands clench into fists, and she 
says, clipped and in Gaelic, "<Don't look down.>"
 06* Moriel nods and responds in the same language, "<Would you like 
something to burn?>"
<Varyn> Well... up?
 06* Anstace looks at everyone, then at the stairs. and then she starts 
towards them.
 06* Varyn follows along behind Anstace.
 06* Eliana turns to Moriel in surprise. She considers his words before 
offering him a small smile.
 06* Eliana holds her hand out to Moriel, palm up.
 06* Moriel smiles back a bit and offers her a black handkerchief.
 06* Eliana looks at the handkerchief for a moment. It bursts into 
flames, and she throws it into the wind, letting the tempest pick up the 
burning material as she walks to the stairs.
<Dreol> [And you begin to ascend the stairs!]
 01<Eliana> [There, now end!]