Laios's Heart Game

[myhungryass]

It's dark, and you are not quite conscious. You have the sense that you are climbing; that you have been climbing for a long time. You can feel the burn in your thighs, the ache in your calves. You're a little too hot, and what you're wearing is a little too heavy. You have the sense of taking a last weary, heaving step onto a plateau.



You find yourself in a dark, blank place, dominated by a huge, dead monster, building sized, as big as a tower. Each of its enormous heads that you can see laid out before you is easily the size of a ballroom. There is blood on its lips and nostrils, blood crusted around its empty eye-sockets, but there is a feeling of hollowness about it. On second thought, you're not quite sure if it's a corpse or a moult.

There is no sign of the stairs you vaguely remember climbing. You are standing on the surface of some opaque black liquid. It feels almost completely solid under your feet, springy, but your footsteps leave ripples spreading out in rings... all around you is a velvety, impenetrable darkness. The only thing you can see is the vast, lifeless beast in front of you, illuminated as if by spotlights, though no actual light-source can be found.

Its orifices are mostly clogged with blood, but somehow, as you stare at it, one vaulted nostril on the wolf's head begins to seem like an archway... the lolling tongue hanging out of the rhinoceros's head like an entry ramp... the exposed, hollow eye-socket on the eagle's head like a portal...

Of course, if you're not quite ready to step inside a monster, you could keep walking around its body and see what you find.

Comments

[girlsniktdoor]

[She absolutely does see that, but will not be mentioning it.]

So you are saying we are trapped? I will find a way out. Follow me.

[She's going to try to follow her nose looking for fresh air.]

[myhungryass]

"Oh, no, you're not trapped! You can leave anytime. Just go back into the wagon with your eyes tightly closed."

They are out in the fresh air, and, in fact, the weather has cleared up significantly. It's a nice sunny day and the caravan is travelling down a tree-lined dirt road.

[girlsniktdoor]

Okay.

[She does as he asks.]

Just...even if you did not feel like you were going anywhere at this time...you got somewhere all the same.

[myhungryass]

"I remember that now." He smiles at her. "Thanks, Donna. For reminding me."

Once she steps into the wagon with her eyes closed, she'll find herself back outside the snake's neck, on the dark water.

[girlsniktdoor]

[She will circle around and enter the wolf's head first over here.]

[myhungryass]

As she steps under the archway of the wolf’s nostril, the heavy scent of blood and meat is blown away by a warm, gentle breeze of fresh air. For a moment, her eyes are dazzled by light… when her vision clears, she realizes she's walking down a stone corridor. The ceiling, floor and walls are all made up of the same evenly-cut grey stone blocks. Torches in brackets line the walls at regular intervals. Nevertheless, the atmosphere feels inviting, the air clean and easy to breathe, not smoky at all.

[girlsniktdoor]

[She runs her fingers over the stone walls as she walks. Enjoying the peacefulness of this place.]

[myhungryass]

As she walks, she can start to hear voices. They seem to be coming from up ahead, off a passage that turns to the right. It's quite a few voices, cheerfully upraised—the mild clamour of a not-too-busy market.

She can ignore them and keep going straight down the corridor, though.

[girlsniktdoor]

[She will poke her head in. Mostly looking for any familiar faces or maybe something hot to eat.]

[myhungryass]

She rounds the corner into the market and a memory washes over her. She can feel Laios's excitement and fascination—and the fact that this is a brand new activity, a new try, a new skill being taught by Senshi... who at this point is a brand new acquaintance.

The memory takes place in the market... which takes place in some kind of underground graveyard, with tomb markers around, and arched vaulted shelving that might have originally meant to store remains. However, other than the memorial stones scattered around, it barely resembles a graveyard at all. It's a round space, organized around a central fountain with a pillar going through it. All around the edges are vendors and adventurers who have laid down there gear or wares on mats. The shelves behind them are also filled with goods and supplies. Several doors and archways, shadowy, seem to lead off into other spaces. Stairs leading upward can be seen through one.

Most of the faces browsing or heading to and fro seem familiar. Everyone from the memory is there... Marcille, Chilchuck and Senshi. Falin is also around in her human form. Louis, Jarlaxle and Laura herself can be found... Harriet, Mithrun and Kabru... but there are also less familiar faces, like a red-haired dwarf woman and a gaunt man with a black ponytail wearing lacquered armour.

[girlsniktdoor]

[The scorpion and slime meal Laios told her about. She is smiling ear to ear having gotten to experience it. Is there any sense she can talk to any of these folks?]

[myhungryass]

Sure, they're just milling around chatting to each other, browsing wares, going over papers and equipment. Everyone seems to be in high spirits.

[girlsniktdoor]

[Laura is going to walk up to Jarlaxle and examine whatever he is considering purchasing at the stall.]

[myhungryass]

Looks like he's buying some carnivorous plant-based spices! "Ah, Donna, hello. They have quite a variety here, don't they?" He smiles at her pleasantly in greeting.

[girlsniktdoor]

Yes. It is surprising to see things so lively in a tomb. It is...strangely endearing I think. Seeing life around death.

[myhungryass]

"There's no hierarchy in the dungeon," he replies. It sounds like agreement.

[girlsniktdoor]

The dungeon...
[Her gaze shifts over to the shadowy doorways]

I have to admit I am curious about what all the fuss is over.

[myhungryass]

"A great deal of it is inaccessible, still, I'm afraid."

[girlsniktdoor]

Inaccessible? Why? Has some damage been done to it?

[myhungryass]

He tilts his head. "In the sense that some damage has been done to Laios's memory of it."

[girlsniktdoor]

The amnesia...I understand. Well I will see what I can see.

[She is going to try to go down one of the shadowy passages.]

[myhungryass]

True to Jarlaxle's word, they all seem to hit a dead end fairly quickly, just a blank stone wall where a doorway should clearly be. Except the one she turned off of to reach the market... that continues on down a flight of stairs. (She could also go up the stairs visible from the market level.)

[girlsniktdoor]

[Going down rather than up. Up will lead out, she wants further in.]

[myhungryass]

She walks down the stairs in an angular spiral, apparently winding her way down the inside of a boxy tower. It opens out onto a collonade that borders a large reservoir of water. A big globe of water rises up out of the depths and hovers for a moment... she gets the sense that its watching her somehow.

[girlsniktdoor]

[Narrowing her eyes at it. Moving very slowly to not draw attention to herself. Looking for another exit from this space.]