• Graded • The Maze: Devin

[Pegasus]

1st Vhalar 718

Anthropos apteros for days
Walked whistling round and round the Maze,
Relying happily upon
His temperment for getting on.

Antrhopos Apteros no longer wished to rely on his temperament to get on. Whistling had ceased to give him pleasure and even the bush he'd sighted a hundred times was not entertaining any more.

"I'm doing my best!" complained the bush. "In fairness, it's difficult to be entertaining for any length of time when you're a bush. I'd like to see you try and do better you bloody ingrate!"

Tilting his head to the side, Anthropos Apteros considered what the bush had said.

"You are right, of course. You've always been a good friend to me, bush."

And with a flick of his wrist the bush burst into flames. As he saw it's scream and tasted the flames in front of him, Anthropos Apteros was pleased that, even as he turned it to ash, the bush was both a good friend still and very.. very entertaining.

But when it was gone? Then he was bored again and so, he started a new game.

"I mean, bottom line, innit? Everyone knows."
"Aye, Jim. They do."
"All the weird stuff 'appens 1st Vhalar."
"Aye, Jim. That's right."
"Why would anyone go doing anything risky 1st Vhalar?"
"I dunno, Jim. I really don't
"I wish you'd stop arguing with me..."

The 1st Vhalar 718.

Throughout the history of Scalvoris there was, it was fair to say - a lot of strangeness. However, 1st Vhalar was the trial where the really weird, weirder than usual, weirdest of all things happened. Most people on Scalvoris were extra cautious on 1st Vhalar.

But then. How should one react when an enormous, to the sky, wall of stone appears right in front of you? That was what happened on that particular 1st Vhalar to a group of people all around Scalvoris. A wall of stone with a gap in it - behind which was a choice - of course.

That was what Devin saw that morning. "You know," the parrot said to him; it was perched on his shoulder, as many a parrot stereotype had suggested. It's a maze. You need to get to the middle. Someone does, anyhow. Only when someone does will it stop sucking people in."

The parrot looked at Devin. There, in front of him on the floor was a notebook. It had the words "Officer Hawthorne" written on it. "That's you, then, Officer Hawthorne. Ohh, formal. Should I call you Officer or Thorney?. I'm Priscilla. Priscilla the Parrot"

In his hand, there was a mirror.

Behind him, Tio might notice, there was just blank, brick wall.

He had, at this point, only two choices. Left or right.

OOC Info

Welcome to the Seasonal for Vhalar 718 here on Scalvoris!
Things to note!

• It should be noted that Anthropos Apteros, the master of this game, has some strange ideas of what people will find rewarding and / or positive.
• I will post a plot post again this time next week: Sunday 14th October
• However, in between plot posts, you may have a conversation with your companion. If you wish to do that, post and just do a very short, start of a conversation post. Then, I'll edit in my reply and you can speak again. We can keep doing that all week and I'll guarantee at least one edit / reply a day. But it isn't necessary if you choose not to. If you do that remember that you must still meet all must do objectives. If you're asking a question and want an edited-in reply - please make it obvious in your post. Maybe an OOC?
• Please don't control the NPC

Objectives

!

Message from: Must-Do Objectives

The moment that you look in the mirror, you see one other person from this Maze. You can't interact with them in any way. It can be anyone, even someone you've never met before. Pick someone and put that in your next post. Choose a direction. Left or Right Whichever way you go, you'll see a flower. Notice it, and consider why that flower is meaningful to you IC. Make that part of your post. Whichever way you go, you'll notice something out of place. Name it, and consider what it might be doing there. Make that part of your post.

!	Message from: Can Do Objectives
	Sing a song or hum a tune Give your companion a nickname

[Devin]

Devin was just about to leave his house and go to work (that consisted of him conning random citizens and occasionally playing the lute), dressed in fine silk, with a ring with a brilliant blue stone on his hand and humming a merry little tune because he was in an excellent mood, when an enormous stone wall suddenly appeared right in front of him. He stopped dead in his tracks and stared, wondering if he was dreaming or hallucinating because he had had too much to drink the evening before, and then he extended a hand and poked the wall tentatively to check if it was real. It was. He wasn’t worried though. Compared to the magical tree that had mutated his eyes and the undead guys on Immortal’s Tongue a stone wall wasn’t too bad, besides, there was an opening in it!

He was just about to order his familiar who sat on his shoulder to fly through it and tell him what was on the other side, when he noticed that the bird on his shoulder wasn’t his familiar. It was a parrot, alright, but the bird’s voice was unmistakably feminine, and what more, she spoke in full sentences, rather than sending him images and occasionally croaking a few words in a voice that reminded him of an old person. Some people would without a doubt have wondered why the bird could talk, Devin wasn’t too concerned with the why though. He was just fascinated by the fact that she could talk.

“Hello, Priscilla”, he greeted her. “Or shall I call you Prissy? That’s a nice nickname, don’t you think? You can call me Thorney. I’m not in a particularly formal mood to-trial, and besides …” he continued and stopped again abruptly as he remembered what else she had said. “A maze?” he asked and furrowed his brow as he wondered what a maze was doing in the center of Scalvoris Town. “Why is it sucking people in, what’s in the middle, and what happens if you don’t find it?” he wanted to know.

"Ok, Thoney! Hi Hello! Yes, it's a maze. A maze like no other. An amazing maze. Get it? A-maze-ing? Heh! Hehehehe! What?" It seemed that Prissy had some trouble focusing. But then she answered. "Why? I'm not sure. There's a dreamer in the middle, a wingless man. His dreams are falling out, or pulling in. Or something. But there's a man in the middle. And if we don't find it?" Prissy let out a squawk. "I guess we'll wander around and around and around," she moved her head in circles with the word, "until we die... ergh!"

And if "watch a parrot fake die" was on Devin's bucket list? It was now something he could scratch off.....

"Oh“, Devin made as Prissy informed him that there was a dreamer in the middle of the maze. “Why is he dreaming in the middle of a maze and not in a bed like everybody else, and what happens if he wakes up? And why doesn’t he have wings? Everybody should have wings!” he proclaimed. “Even I have some!” Of course, he couldn’t fly with the steel wings Delroth had given him, but they still looked pretty good, and they made great weapons as well. He was just about to show the parrot how awesome they were when she … died? He stared at her for a moment, and then, when he realized that she had just been faking it, he applauded loudly.

"I think, though I'm not sure, but I think that it's not quite that simple," Prissy said. "I think he's sleeping and this is happening because he is. I think. I dunno. I think waking him up means people can get out and aren't trapped here for eternity." She seemed quite cheery about that as a possibility. As for the thing with wings? Priscilla hopped up and down a little. "Well, mazes don't both me. I can just fly about them. I think it's meant to be like an allegory for life, you know? I mean, a situation is only inescapable if you can't get out o fit. Someone who could views things differently. So I think it's more a case of, like, an indication that he's as trapped in this mortal realm as any of us, and bound by the same physical limitations. Or maybe he used to have wings and they go cut off. Who knows?"

A philosophical parrot. Who knew?

As Prissy talked about allegories and such, Devin furrowed his brow because he wasn't sure what to think of it and if he liked philosophy very much. Finally, he wondered, "Why is the wingless man in the maze anyway?"

"I'm not sure that he is in the maze really," she said, thoughtfully. "I think he fell asleep and the maze happened. So, it kind of grew around him, like it grew around you?" Ruffling her feathers, Prissy looked at him. "I mean, that's what I think. I don't really know much or lots."

"Does that mean that the wingless man has magic?" Devin asked in a rather excited tone. "What can he do besides randomly letting a maze appear?"

Did the wingless man have magic? "Yeah, I guess he must," Prissy said. It was obvious, though that she wasn't entirely sure. "And... I don't know. Dude, I'm just a parrot, not his mother. But we'll find out, yeah?"

“And where do these things come from?” he continued and pointed at the notebook that had his alias on it before he looked into the mirror that had appeared in his hand. “And why can I see her in it?” he asked. Instead of his own reflection, the mirror showed his temporary accomplice and client Rynata. “I haven’t turned into Rynata, have I?”

"They come from you! Or me, or maybe Anthropos Apteros. Or maybe her... ohhhhh she's pretty. You and her, Thorney - Warney-Wibble-Woo?? HMMMM?" Prissy then made some kissing noises. "You'd be a lovely couple. She looks nice. Good chin." And then, when checked that he hadn't turned into her, Prissy shook her head. "No, my friend, you are all man," she sounded quite flirty.

“Is Anthropos Apteros the wingless man?” he wanted to know. As Prissy made kissing noises and complimented Rynata’s chin, he laughed out loud. “She does have a lovely chin, but I have to admit, there are parts of her that I find even more appealing. I told her that she’ll fall in love with a blonde and blue-eyed man during my brief stint as a fortune teller though. What do you think, Prissy, shall I put on a blonde wig and claim that I am the man of Rynata’s dreams?” he asked and grinned because he did like Rynata a lot. She had turned out to be very useful during the adventure with the magical tree!

"Yeah, I told you that, didn't I? I dunno, now, you've confused me. But yeah. Yeah, he is." On the situation with Rynata, Prissy looked at Devin and hopped again. "Well, you know, I'm well known among talking Parrots as a matchmaker. The Love Parrot, that's me." Prissy did a strange little dance and wing-flap. "Want me to do a little parrot magic for you? Huh? Cos, you know, blonde wigs and that will just make you look stupid"

"Yes, please!" Devin said as Prissy offered to do a little parrot magic for him. Despite the adventure with the magical tree a part of him was still quite fascinated by all things magical. "How come you can do magic though? I can't do magic!"

"Ok, boss-man, I'm on it. You like her, she likes you, We'll see what we can do. And I can do parrot magic cos I'm a a parrot!" Prissy shook her head, as though he was very silly.

Prissy had assured him that he was all man, but he patted his chest nevertheless and breathed a huge sigh of relief when he realized that it was still flat, and then he tried to reach out to his familiar, the one that he had received when Delroth had blessed him. “Can you hear me? Can you tell me what’s ahead?" he asked as he tentatively moved forward and to the left, because left was his favourite direction. A part of him was quite worried – most of his previous adventures hadn’t ended well – but another part of him, the Blessed of Delroth who craved gold and precious gems, just couldn’t resist. Maybe there was a treasure in the center of the maze!

The feeling from the familiar, the response was almost like Devin was deep under water - or the familiar was - like they could just make each other out but it was all blurry. And not helpful.

His familiar remained quiet, which worried him. He hesitated for a moment, and then he decided to move on regardless because he was just so incredibly curious.

As he turned a corner, he could see a flower bloom in front of him, a white lily that reminded him of his childhood friend Lily. She had been a skilled thief. They had impersonated two nobles and tried to con the rich and famous of Rynmere. A few arcs later she had died, and he missed her to this trial because he had never met such a skilled thief again. He was just about to take the lily when he noticed something else and furrowed the brow. There was an object made of metal lying on the ground. He knelt down in order to pick it up and noticed that it was a box that was filled with pieces of charcoal.

Apparently, whoever had braved the maze before him had been an artist.

OOC

For Priscilla: "Does that mean that the wingless man has magic?" Devin asked in a rather excited tone. "What can he do besides randomly letting a maze appear?"

Last edit done!

[Pegasus]

1st Vhalar 718
Little Sister

"Where am I?" Metaphysics says
No question can be asked unless
It has an answer, so I can
Assume this maze has got a plan..

Antrhopos Apteros slumbered and in his slumbering he dared to dream. His dreams were of beauty and life, love and hope ~ or so he believed them to be. As the rip in reality caught the fevered dreams of the wingless man, it took them and it twisted, experimenting with each one. Science, after all, is an amoral creature and 'what happens if' is an emotionless question.

What happens if you take a mortal who is broken, emotionally, and expose him to the depths of Emea?

Thou shall not fall

... and thus, Antrhopos Apteros was born

What happens if that mortal watches the torture of the one person above all others who he loves?

Thou shall not fear

... and then, his sister joined him

What happens if that mortal is pushed beyond every limit he believes he has and then left, alone and afraid?

Thou shall not die

.But soon, they were both no more...

What happens if his love was so strong that he comes back and exacts vengeance?

Thou shall not kill

... ...

"I think he killed himself, you know"
"Aye,"
"I don't understand though. Why kill her, too?"
"It doesn't make sense"
"She visited him every trial, too"
"Without fail"
"Bloody 1st Vhalar"

The two of them walked, the man and the parrot and, as they did Devin heard echoes of a voice - whispers which were not distinguishable, not clearly made out at all.

"It's exciting, this place," said Prissy, jumping up and down on his shoulder a little, They went left and they came across some beautiful flowers.The lily was symbolic to Devin but it was the box of charcoal which was really intriguing. It certainly didn't belong here and, as the two of them gazed on it, it .. flickered in and out of reality, juddering and stuttering. But it remained solid in his hands

And ion the inside lid of the box was a charcoal sketch of a maze. It was endless and impossible, it ran from one end of the world to the other and met itself where it had started. In the middle of it was ... whatever home looked like to him. That place where comfort and warmth and acceptance lived.

What did home look like?

Still, they walked and then, turning a corner as mazes are wont to do there stood a statue. Made from cut crystal, it seemed, it was exquisite and the Vhalar sun reflected on it, creating a sort of rainbow of colours within it, shifting and swirling in constant change. A beautiful cacophony of shades and hues - but those colours swirled out and around and created a solid wall beyond which they may not - as yet - pass.

The statue was of a being - neither male nor female, nor of any one race, but it held one hand out, as though expecting something specific. Then, from the statue itself came a soft and whispered voice - much like the one they'd been hearing already. Now that they could make out the words, it was a child's voice. A young girl, high pitched and lilting.

"The winding, twisting maze ahead.
Has dangers that could make you dead.
Rewards to make a miser weep
Or answers from the dreamers sleep.

You know that you travel to the middle
To get closer to it, tell me a riddle
If puzzles and riddles are not your path
Tell me a joke, to make me laugh.

If neither of these is meant for me,
Then, I give you option three!
Put your mirror in my hand
And in your way, I no more stand
"

Prissy once again ruffled her feathers in excitement. "Ohhhh I love riddles!! What are you going to do?"


Rewards Achieved Last Round

1. All Must Do Objectives from Round 1 met.
   • I spy with my little eye Someone beginning with R! Rynata is through your mirror. This will have an impact of some kind on one of you.
   • I follow directions You went left! The directions you take will have an impact on a final reward.
   • Wake up and smell the flowers Lily chosen! Reward at the end of the thread.
   • That looks odd! A box of charcoal! Reward at the end of the thread
2. All Can Do Objectives from Round 1 met.
   • Ho Hum! Devin chose to hum. Positive consequence at the end of the thread.
   • Is this friendship? I think so! Nickname given! Positive consequence at the end of the thread!

OOC Info

Things to note!

• I will post a plot post again this time next week: Sunday 21st October
• However, in between plot posts, you may have a conversation with your companion - this can be done once a day for as many of the days as you wish.
• You may also ask the statue up to 3 questions. These can be all in one post or one, then another
• Please don't control the NPC

Objectives

!	Message from: Must-Do Objectives
	Answer the statue (joke, riddle, hand over the mirror, something else...) Describe the "home" that you see at the middle of the maze

!	Message from: Can Do Objectives
	Tell your companion a story as you walk

[Devin]

As they walked, Devin suddenly started to hear voices. He stopped, furrowing his brow, as he tried to find out where they were coming from and finally turned to Prissy who was, fortunately, still with him. “Can you hear that as well?” he wanted to know. “What kind of voices are they? They aren’t …” He broke off, and his eyes widened as something truly terrible (and equally exciting) occurred to him. “They aren’t the ghosts of dead adventurers, are they? I ran into a couple of zombie warriors once, but I’m afraid that my experience with ghosts is fairly minimal”, he admitted before he walked on because, no matter what lay ahead, he wanted to find out more.

"If I say no, I can't hear them, will they stop?" Prissy asked, sounding a little nervous. "What kind of voices? Scary ones? I don't know I'm a bloody parrot!" And then. Of all things - he wondered if they were the ghosts of dead adventurers and Prissy squawked. "As long as they aren't the ghosts of dead parrots, I'm happier. Just... don't you become a ghost. I like you."

Inside the lid of the odd little box he’d picked up there was a sketch of a maze – an absolutely gigantic maze. Maybe it was the maze that he was currently in? He narrowed his eyes as he took a closer look – only to discover that there was a house in the middle. It looked a lot like his childhood home, only that it wasn’t rundown with holes in the roof and such, and everybody was there – his parents, his lovely assistant Raine, Nalin, the prostitute he’d been with in Almund, Yorrick, the IA agent that had forgiven him for some reason, Trudi who was one of the reasons why he liked Cally so much and Aidan, his greatest fan, and they were all happy together and accepted each other.

He sighed wistfully as he looked at the sketch, and then he quickly closed the box because it hurt to think of that place for some reason and he didn’t like how it made him feel – only to open it again a moment later and stare some more. “Do you think we could use this here to navigate the maze?” he finally asked Prissy because he still didn’t have any idea how he was supposed to reach the middle unless he suddenly managed to grow a pair of wings and just fly there – and he really, really wanted to reach the middle, now more than ever because there might be more than a wingless man there.

Well, I'm an animal," Prissy said and glanced sideways at him. "Stick with me here, I'll make sense soon. As an animal, I've got a kind of.. I don't know, unerring sense of direction, yeah?" Prissy sighed a deep sigh. "And this place is messed up. I think we've just got to keep going forward?"

“Did I ever tell you how I got Delroth’s Blessing, by the way?” he asked Prissy as they walked on because he didn’t like the silence and wanted to pass the time (and brag a bit). “I’m a Tarouz, you know? It happened during a most dangerous mission in the Sweetwine Woods. We had been asked to investigate the unusual happenings taking place there. During the journey I found a crystal bird. When I examined it at home, I noticed that it glowed when I moved in a certain direction – so I decided to follow the glow. I ended up at an old shrine. The priest couldn’t take care of it anymore, so I offered to do so, and then Delroth suddenly showed up and blessed me. Awesome, huh?” he asked, expecting Prissy to be in awe, and then he wanted to know, “So when will you do your parrot magic? What can you do anyway?”

If Prissy was in awe, regarding the story of "How Delroth Blessed Me. By Devin", it was hard to tell as she was pretending to be asleep and snoring gently. When he'd finished, she pretended to wake with a start and jumped up and down a little. "Yeah. It was great and... magic? Ummm..." Caught out in her own blatant lie, she said, suddenly, "I can burp the alphabet!"

Soon, the two of them happened upon a statue – a really expensive looking crystal statue that shimmered in all the colors of the rainbow. Devin stood in front of it for a moment, appraising it, and wondered if he’d be able to grab it and haul it back home– before he came to the conclusion that it was much too heavy, and he’d probably just break his back if he tried to lift it. That was unfortunate, and he was quite disappointed because the statue would have been perfect for his shrine - until it suddenly started to speak which opened up a whole lot of new possibilities and was really quite astounding.

“That was a really nice speech”, he complimented the statue and clapped his hands. “In fact, I couldn’t have come up with a better one, although I would have tried harder to scare people. Do you want me to help you with your next speech? We’d be an awesome team!” he claimed. The statue wanted something from him though, and since he didn’t want to give away any of his stuff, he decided to go with a riddle. Riddles were always good. He positioned himself in front of the statue, grinned and wanted to know, “What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away?”

OOC

For Prissy:
1) “Can you hear that as well?”, “What kind of voices are they? They aren’t …”, “They aren’t the ghosts of dead adventurers, are they?"
2) “Do you think we could use this here to navigate the maze?”
3) Devin's story
4) “So when will you do your parrot magic? What can you do anyway?”

For the statue:
1) Do you want me to help you with your next speech? We’d be an awesome team!
2) The riddle

Edits made! Statue answer will be in next post!

[Pegasus]

1st Vhalar 718
This Round, You're Somewhere Else!

HERE!

[Pegasus]

Review!

Devin

Overview

Such a lot of fun, writing with Devin. As always, your pc is intriguing and amusing in equal measure. I love how you took part in this thread. Well done!

Points

XP: 15 (not for magic)

Renown: 5

Loot

since Devin did not complete the event, he does not get to keep the loot.

Knowledge

Animal Husbandry: Talking to your parrot helps them.
Discipline: Reacting to something hugely unexpected.
Interrogation: Questioning a talking animal
Interrogation: Lots of questions!
Investigation: Some things are just really weird.
Storytelling: The Tale of Devin