THINGS

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"Nice knowing you guys!" Said Parker with a grin. Eleanor, Ezra and Sophia looked grim. Walton stood there miserably. "Nah I hope you do fine." He said reassuringly. "You're all fools. You will reap what you sow, mark my words." Said Carl shaking his head. The group collectively glared at him as Kane shuffled along to the door. "Let's go already." He said. Tyrese walked past and stood by the door. Here goes nothing. He pushed it open and stepped beyond with his eyes closed. What lay beyond was impressive. Tyrese's jaw dropped open taking it all in. The room was huge. So far they'd been subject to tiny claustrophobic caverns but this was enormous. The room was three times as wide and three times as long as either room they'd just come from. It was grand and foreboding at the same time. Decorative lamps fell from the roof. Occasional purple sparks flitted down and across the surface. And even higher, almost out of sight in the distance above ground was a balcony. The balcony started on the West side of the room and curved around in a twisted arc. It finally came to stop at the Northern side. There were two doorways only ever so barely visible from the ground. One of them led onto the Western side of the Balcony, about in the centre of the Western wall. The other was set in the North, at roughly the centre of that wall and where the Balcony ended. The rest of the group slowly milled in. There were even more exits on the floor they occupied too. The Southern exit they had just come in through was set in the centre of the wall. Another was set into the centre of the Eastern wall and there was one final on the very far Northern wall, very very close to the Eastern edge of it. This was a lot to take in. Overhead the rock formations had weathered and the weathering trickled down the ground where there were strange ruts visible. There was some kind of damp effect there. Maybe this room had once contained flowing water. The wizard probably wasn't fond of it. Then again, he didn't seem like the sort to be fond of decorative lighting. The group froze as they took everything in. Just at that moment, their eyes fell onto a little creature by the Northern Exit. It was watching them intently. It had a humanoid form but it was slightly burnt and sinister looking. One of them. "Kill it!" Shouted somebody from behind. The group crept towards it carefully. Finally Kane leapt and pinned it down. It shrieked out an unholy chorus that caused everybody to fall to the ground. Kane looked up with some panic. That wouldn't be good. At that moment some more purple sparks leaped down from above. They buried themselves in the walls, in the grounds, on the slats of the balcony. They were increasing in frequency by quite a lot. What the hell was happening in here? Occasionally shadows appeared on the edge of vision. There were a number of them. Some were big, some were small. The assembled looked around frantically as Kane dragged the shrieking shade to the middle of the room. He nodded to some of the others and they walked over and held it aloft. Somebody snapped its neck, and the creature lay dead in the middle of the floor. "Everybody okay?" Asked Brie concernedly. And then came the white noise. It was like a horrendous buzzing sound that drove a pick into the brains of the people around it. Slowly the group fell down again. What was that? The buzzing stopped and more purple sparks began to cascade around everywhere. A strange purple energy was flitting into light. The shadows appeared on the edge of vision once more. One of them had a female face. It appeared and disappeared again. And the floor shook. The shaking increased in intensity as just at that moment, darkness descended. The doors at the top of the room burst forth and a horde of shades milled into the room. Then through the Northern and Eastern exits too. The group crept back against the wall beneath the balcony as the floor rumbled and purple sparks pinged around them. Some of the sparks passed right over the people standing there as the shadowy hordes marched forth. They were vile. Many of them were human-shaped but others had miscellaneous appendages. Tentacles, extra eyes, warped and deformed limbs. It was a disgusting sight as they were herded into the corner like animals. Brittany began to scream. Boone made a fighting pose but it was all for nothing. They were outnumbered by far. "THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT BITO!" Yelled the Emperor. The floor shook once more and the army stood stock still. "I found some other rats!" Hissed one of the creatures. It was much bigger than the others. It marched into the room carrying Ezra and slamming him on the floor. More followed with Walton, Sophia and Eleanor in turn. They flung them over to the cornered, cowering group. Was this their supposed destiny? To die in a corner? Gabriel had tricked them all. And the room exploded. An enormous violet light spread across in a tremendous rush. The group were forced to seal their eyes. Even the enormous shade army fell down. The floor continued to rumble and shake. Up above the walls cracked just on the edge of strained vision. A chunk of concrete tumbled down onto the ground below, crushing three of the monstrous shades to death. As the group struggled to watch, they realised something was different. There were other people in here. Eyes were drawn to the rock-slide which was tumbling down over the Southern entrance. Clouds of purple dust evapourated away from the rock formation as sparks leapt up from the surface. And the shaking became more aggressive. Finally everything fell silent. The group looked on in shock as the dust settled. Everything was covered in purple light but it began to fade. Most of the shades were still there, only scattered. The Southern entrance was completely blocked off though. And then there were the other people. Fourteen of them stood looking around in awe and fear. Some of them carried weapons. One was dressed in a black robe with a scar on his fourhead. There was an Asian woman who was standing in a fighting pose. A couple wore armour and carried swords. Another a noble and well dressed swordsman. There was a strange creature in the middle of it all who...it was hard to really visualise what he was. An angry looking half-naked barbarian stood next to an equally angry looking man. And the young woman from before with flowing black hair, holding a bow with a quiver of arrows and poised to strike. A regal looking woman with a crown stood at the back of the group. Next to her was a small looking girl who emanated a strange radiant energy. There was a knight with a sword the other side of her. Another man stood at their backs, shirtless and with long flowing black hair. One more was in the middle of the group. He was tall, bald, black and had a serious look about him. And more frighteningly, behind the group stood a humongous seven foot man made entirely from stone. The shades turned to look at this new group as the people in the corner did too. The newcomers looked up at the herded and scared people and then down at the monstrous shades. A couple of them nodded at each other and instantly they moved. The young woman with flowing black hair leaped up into the sky and drew an arrow. Placing it in her bow with rapid speed, she fired. It pierced two of the shades there and then. The man with black hair grinned. He unsheathed a huge curved sword and vanished in a blur of speed. Swinging this way and that, he lopped heads off any shade who dared to come close. The rock giant let out a mighty roar as he banged his fists down onto the heads of two others. The swordsmen smirked and began to dash around with their blades. The knight leaped in front of the queen, valiantly striking all who came close. The barbarian cracked his neck excitedly as he dashed forth yelling out a warcry and tearing through the horde. The swordsman cleaved a couple who dared to come close with a serious look on his face. The Asian woman leaped into combat mode and began to kick, punch and slice at all the shades who dared come close. The herded group looked on in awe. Mark grinned and pulled out one of his many cameras, snapping a photo of the action as it unfolded. The shades were quickly dropping like flies. The heroes sweated as a few more shades milled into the room from the exits around the base floor. Some others were coming down from the balcony. "At your back Airlea!" Yelled the noble looking swordsman quickly. The young woman with flowing black hair turned swiftly and shot forth an arrow. It pierced the head of a shade that rapidly descended from the balcony above. More followed. They were flooding down onto the ground floor. The rock giant let out a tremendous roar and charged into the throng with his fists clubbing any that came close. The angry looking man charged with a huge battle cry and took out two heads. The bizarre creature that couldn't be formerly identified looked more like a man now. He jumped into the air and kicked two of the shades in the face, sending them scattering. Finally the fighting stopped. The room lay littered with the wounded and fallen shades. They were not even close to a match. The heroes grinned. Maybe there was safety in numbers after all. Airlea paused and looked over at the cowering people in the corner. Mostly people anyway. One of them seemed to be an ape. She began to approach as they immediately stopped cheering and adopted defensive poses. There were 29 of them in all. They glanced back at the Southern entrance forlornly. The rocks had completely blocked it off. There was no way back. "I mean you no harm." The woman called Airlea smiled at the group. At that moment darkness fell once more. The heroes shot their eyes upwards as again the doors by the balcony burst open and more dark shades flooded in. A veritable ocean of them descended onto the room. The angry looking man cursed. "How many are there?!" He yelled out. There was no end to this army of darkness. The heroes continued to fight as the 29 by the wall scattered somewhat. Some of them began to adopt fighting poses too. Maybe they could help? The doors on the ground level flooded open too as more and more of the beasts filled the room. Five of them leaped onto the barbarian pinning him down. Others milled onto Airlea, taking her bow as she yelled out in anger. The heroes were losing this battle. There were just too many dark shades. Finally they lay on the ground, pinned down and defeated. They were exhausted and had no strength. "I wish Theseus were still with us..." Said one of the swordsmen. "Theseus?" Said one of the 29 by the wall. "Silence!" Came a booming voice from above. The emperor looked up and squinted. Was that? No. Just stupid lies. Rita looked up and felt differently. It was. The shade who had just emerged on the balcony flanked by others carried more presence. He grinned down at the group. "My name is General Bear. I'm here to watch you all die. I'm not sure why you rats suddenly decided to break the truce but either way you must be destroyed." "Bear!" Yelled Rita, looking concerned. She hated her family but if that was indeed her former cousin... "THAT IS NOT MY SON!" Yelled the Emperor furiously. "I WILL CUT OFF ANY HEADS THAT CLAIM IT IS!" The general looked down at the two figures thoughtfully before leaving. "Do it." He commanded. The shades approached the fallen group. They carried the weapons of all the heroes and the ones who could still fight were pinned down. They had been defeated. It is now Phase 3. Phase 3 will end in roughly 24 hours from now. Players (44): Airlea Ajax Andrael Angela Arimnestos Balagor Boone Brie Brittany Carl Dennis Dern Eleanor Emperor Fong Erebos Ezra Frederick General Chuikov Hobert Kane Katy Lincoln Marek Maria Mark Origo Pai Chan Parker Peter Queen Genevieve Rhea Rita Scott Sophia Sr. Culo Stonehard Lee Talion Taylor Thomas Tyrese Tyron Urk Walton Wilt Exits: North East The groups were enthralled by the presence of more people, but it didn't do much to correct their predicament. The shades stood watching the conversation carefully as more footsteps rang out on the balcony above. A horde of other shades milled down into the clearing. The shade general was still stood at the top, looking over. "I said kill them! Now! Pin down the giant and the fighters and get on with it! Willis commands it!" The shades dived from the balcony and more flooded into the room. Several of them leaped onto Stonehard Lee who swung his enormous fists in a flurry to try and shake them but it was no use. There were too many. They toppled him to the floor with a grisly thud. He lay there and looked up. They were all over him. A number of others were attempting the same thing for Balagor. The general watched up above as he finally left the room. Even more shades followed in. The room was awash with an ocean of these monstrous creatures. There was no escape. Brittany shrieked out again. As she did, two of the creatures leaped onto her and one covered her mouth. She felt physically sick. Boone rushed over to attempt to pull them away but one lashed back fiercely. Boone was sent flying and hit the wall with a thud. Some of the shades quickly fled with the heroes' weapons. They were now unarmed and penned in. There was no escape. Right at that moment the floor began to shake. The walls rumbled as the roof overhead changed colour slightly. The purple lightning still flowed over everything but it was replaced by blue energy. An enormous thunderclap filled the sky. All parties looked up in awe as clouds formed on the roof of this cavern. Even the shades looked bewildered. This was obviously something they weren't expecting. The clouds overhead thickened into a black maelstrom. They rumbled with thunder and flashes of occasional lightning danced across their surface. Bracing themselves, the group looked up as a huge flash hammered down from the storm clouds. They darkened the entire room. One of the shades took flight and fled for the door. As it reached it, a flash of lightning shot through it. It electrocuted the shade and turned it into dust on the spot. All around the other shades were milling about in a frenzy as more lightning strikes hit their targets. The group looked on in awe, ducking from the lightning as it came down. It surrounded all of the dark creatures and one by one began to shock them into nothing. One of the bolts clipped over Eleanor's head. She rubbed it, but realised at that moment it hadn't hurt. The lightning was painless to them. An enormous thunderbolt struck the ground below. Lightning flew around all over and shocked the creatures. In the middle of the storm there was a figure. It was kneeling on the ground but it slowly stood up. Lightning was surrounding it. In fact, it emanated lightning. It looked like an elderly man. he was wearing a long, black robe and had a very serious and determined expression. He wore a priest's collar around his neck. There was another man stood next to him wearing a brown robe. The second man was carrying a decorative staff of some kind. He was much younger, but still totally unconcerned about the lightning all around them. Finally the storms subsided. The clouds cleared and all that remained of the shade horde was dust. The dust blew away and disappeared into the air. The young man stood watching with a calm smile, still holding his staff. The old man however fell to the ground. Some of the group rushed over to assist as he raised a hand. "No..need..." He said weakly. "Not much you can do for me now....there is only one thing I ask...." "What might that be?" Said Carl, arms folded. The man looked up with tired eyes. "Listen. Most people don't when I first start talking. But for once, I just want you all to be quiet and listen." The group murmured. Who was this guy? Why should they trust him? He closed his eyes wearily. "I bet you're wondering why you should trust me. That's fine. But you need to because there's very little time. What I just did....what I just unleashed...it weakened me considerably. I'll have to go soon and I can't be of much use after that fact either...but I don't want to dwell on this...it's a waste of time." "Just what in the hell is going on?" Kane yelled. The man crept to his knees and looked like he was counting. Then he paused and spoke again. "Trust me because I helped you. And be quiet because I need to explain to you everything. Your lives and the fate of the world depend completely on it. Take what you will from what I say, but listen now. I know you're confused." He stopped and looked at the puzzled faces. "But it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better...trust me..."

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Right now...I have so much to say and I just don't know where to start... Okay. I'll start by saying that this isn't what I came to expect. I knew to meet a group of heroes here but...well no offense meant...it's just you don't all look particularly heroic. That statement is a tad unfair maybe. I just expected you to be at least armed. I didn't think I'd have to come in and do so much...myself. You need to be more careful from here on out! You march in arguing like children amongst yourselves and yet you are here to perform a vitally important task! I don't know what you were expecting from this but...you need to watch yourselves. You walked right into that army and those aren't the only shades around. That's a fraction of Willis' army. These things are endless. I want to help you more but...I only have a certain amount of energy. I'm dead you see but I don't want to go on about that. It gets a bit complicated and it's not relevant to your interests. In a few moments from now I won't be able to stand here and join you...I'll be gone. You may hear from me again. I'll try to recover my strength in time for the final battle... I really used more energy than I expected to...damn. Anyway here goes nothing. Don't ask me to explain it in more detail because firstly, I won't be around to. Secondly, I don't understand it myself. All I know is that what happened did happen. I was told it might by the forces that govern but...well...the point is that it's no longer a might. The worst case is a reality. I suppose you've all heard of a legendary tale that talks about Pandora's box? It's a mystical artifact that was said to contain all of the evils in the world. Once opened, it unleashed them and the world fell to darkness. Well the point is that never happened. And Pandora's box is real. Thankfully the box remains sealed but not for lack of trying. Around 10 years ago to this day when the Earth fell...Willis got his hands on the box and has been bombarding it with his magic ever since. Why? Because he wants to break it open. He hasn't managed to but I fear that eventually it will yield to whatever it is he's doing. He stands up there on top of his tower, hitting it as we speak. All these strange purple and colourful lights you see are a result of that little experiment. Willis is a powerful sorceror. I'm not sure how you expected to face him as you are.... Sorry, I'm digressing. The point is that the closer he gets to opening it, the more...unstable things become. "I can undo all that has been done" *pauses to take in the voice* You all heard that voice? That is the voice of Pandora. It wants to be opened. And when that happens...I don't know what the result will be. All I know is that it will be the end of all things. I've heard said that it will allow the opener to reset and repaint history however they choose but I'm just as inclined to believe it will freeze time altogether and nothing will exist anymore. Here's where things get a little tricky. The closer it becomes to being open, the more energy that seeps from it. The energy contained inside the box is so powerful that it distorts time and space...I believe that's right. It can accumulate and create a tear that will rip it apart at the seams. I think you just witnessed that happening firsthand... In any case, it must be on the cusp of being fully unleashed. Because something quite dramatic has happened. Two timelines have become...connected. Bear with me on this last point... This place you stand was once the Labyrinth in Knossos. Some 2000 or more years ago, an army of heroes went to raid it because the sorceror Willis returned. Originally Theseus bested him and he was defeated...job done. But Willis built his fortress over the same place and when he bombarded Pandora with his magic it...took a little bit of him for itself...and it made a connection. It created a link to the point in history where Willis was invaded by the heroes...and those two points in time are sort of...side by side now. Parallel...you might say. Think of it as two boxes, each containing a version of the Labyrinth in time. The walls of the two boxes are next to one another but...they're ripping open. So the heroes who were meant to invade and take on Willis in the past are now here...in the future. That means they're not in the past to take him on. The consequences of something like that are...dramatic.... But the universe has some built in method of governing such messes. It took action immediately. It has trapped both versions of the Labyrinth in a sort of bubble...one that can't be penetrated from either side. They no longer exist as part of time or history...they're just floating on their own. That doesn't mean things are resolved though. If Willis opens Pandora, everything will be destroyed regardless. I just wanted you all to know what was at stake in case you're getting selfish ideas. You can't turn back now. There is no back. The way you came in from has been destroyed. Until Willis stops using his magic and the box is recovered, you are stuck in this place with the two time periods side by side...forever.... Don't look so despondent. The fact of it is that you came here to achieve a goal and now you must achieve it. You don't have a choice. If Willis succeeds, it will be the end of all things. Even if you're scared there's no way back...so you may as well move forward. There's no other choice. I'm quite fond of choices, but I'm afraid to say you already made all yours. You chose to come here and now you have to deal with the consequences of that. What's more, you have absolutely no chance of defeating him in your current state. He's just too powerful. All of the heroes combined could not manage it. Never give up hope though...hope is important. Willis is a proud and stupid man. He has left the seeds of his own undoing on his very doorstep. Once he unleashed the darkness on the world there were a few that sought to oppose him. Willis gained a powerful utility. It was a sword, the same one that Theseus carries. It can cut through anything and it was able to cut through the immortals that stood in his way. These immortals...ancient ones...as they like to be known are very powerful. They possess the means to defeat Willis. And he left them right under his nose. He couldn't destroy them so he froze them to ice using his magic. But he kept them in his fortress under his careful watch. I believe his watch is too focused on the task at hand to care too much about looking over them now...and thus they're ripe for the taking. If you can find these frozen guardians and release them into the Labyrinth, together they might just stand the best chance of defeating Willis. They are very powerful, especially when they work together. They didn't originally, which is why they wound up where they are. Their names are Cassandra, Virgil, Minos and Daedalus. Four standing at various points in the Labyrinth. But getting to them won't be so easy. They've been sealed away I suspect. Traversing the Labyrinth here and now is a dangerous task but...I think you can use the situation to your advantage. The man standing next to me is my assistant. His name is Kristoff. The staff he carries is the only true key to opening Pandora's Box. If Willis were to obtain it, he would unleash Pandora in an instant. But while it's in other hands, the staff has special properties. It can control the light and the energy Pandora releases. Whomever holds this will be able to instantly create a portal...one that leads between the two Labyrinths. The Labyrinth of the future...and the Labyrinth of the past. By traversing both, you will be able to find new ways to travel. Be wary though. The layout has changed somewhat in the last 2000 or so years...

THINGS ARE GOING DOWN. THE GAME HASN'T EVEN BEGUN. WOW GUYS, THIS IS AMAZING. LIKE THE GAME HASN'T EVEN STARTED AT ALL BUT WE'RE THREE PHASES IN. OMG WHAT IF OUR ROLES ARE ABOUT TO CHANGE. BRAVO. GREAT JOB. I AM SPEECHLESS. I AM UNABLE TO EVEN.

I don't trust Kristoff. It makes no sense at all that he can only use the staff as the leader.

Can my avatar be changed? Possibly to this?

I found the one I originally gave you in a second, I regret finding such an unflattering pic of Sky.

I couldn't find that one but I like this one. Does this work?

Yes.