The Lady of the Labyrinth

“You! What are you doing here?” Vencarlo Orsini crouched behind the column of black marble, a kukri held ready in his hand, gaping up at Jax. His shirt was dirty, his face bruised, but his hand was steady as it gripped the knife.

“We’re looking for you,” Jax replied with a grin. “And yes, I know I’m wearing your cloak.”

“Huh?” Vencarlo looked confused. “Oh – right. Whatever. That’s not important. How did you get here?”

“We made a deal with the guy upstairs. He told us you were down here, and sent us here to rescue you.”

Vencarlo’s expression turned to one of shock, and anger. “Glorio? You made a deal with him? You fool! He sent you here to die! This is all a trap – you were never intended to leave this place alive! We must get out of here, and kill that devil! Are you alone, or are your friends with you?” He was trying to peer over Jax’s shoulder, looking for the others.

Jax was in no hurry. Something about this felt a little hinky to him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “What are you doing in here?”

Vencarlo looked around at his surroundings. “I barely survived all the traps in this infernal place, and this was one of the few rooms that seemed safe. There’s something soothing about this stone. I’m sure it’s magical, but that’s not my forte – maybe one of your spellcaster friends could figure it out.”

Jax had a bit of arcane knowledge of his own. He studied the column’s auras for a moment, and his eyes grew wide. “I’ve heard about things like this, but never thought I’d see one. It’s a Sonorous Stone, and I think some of my friends will be very happy to see it.” Then he remembered the other reason they’d come into the Vivified Labyrinth. “We’re also looking for the Seneschal. Is he here, too?”

Vencarlo was already pushing past Jax, headed for the exit and the rest of the party. “I haven’t seen any sign of him,” he said over his shoulder. “I think they’ve probably already killed him. Forget about him – we need to get out of here and kill Glorio!”

The pair darted through the wasp-trap room, and emerged into the room with the horrible jungle murals, where the rest of the party waited. “Look who I found!” Jax said proudly.

Everyone was thrilled to see Vencarlo alive. “The guy in the wheelchair told us we’d find you down here,” Nat said happily. Vencarlo gave him a confused look. “What guy in a wheelchair?”

“Mr. Arkona. His servant was pushing him around in a wheelchair.”

Vencarlo scowled. “You idiots! Glorio Arkona doesn’t need a wheelchair! It was a ruse, an illusion designed to make you trust him, to think he was harmless! He’s evil, I tell you, and we have to rid the world of that evil. Have you figured out how to get back to the entrance yet? We need to pull those levers to rearrange the labyrinth.” She was looking past the party, towards the room beyond the murals where they’d found the last lever. Then she looked back at them with a worried expression. “Have you encountered Sivit yet?”

“I don’t think so,” Shadow replied. “What’s a Sivit?”

“She’s Glorio’s pet, a darksphinx. She runs this labyrinth for him. We need to avoid her while we’re trying to get back upstairs.”

“You’ll probably want this back,” Erin said apologetically, handing Vencarlo’s magical rapier back to him. “I was only borrowing it, until we found you.”

Vencarlo glanced at the blade, then waved it off. “No, you keep it. I’m fine with this.” He held up the kukri. “Now – how many levers have you found? We need to get back to the entrance.”

By this time, everyone had concluded that something was just a little off with Vencarlo. He looked like himself, if a little more disheveled than usual, but he certainly didn’t act like the Vencarlo they remembered. As Vencarlo pressed the others on finding the exit, Erin turned her back and surreptitiously cast Detect Evil. When she turned around, she was saddened, but not surprised, to see Vencarlo radiating an almost overwhelming aura of evil. She sidled back to Tomas and Wren, her back to Vencarlo. “Heads up!” she whispered. “That’s not Vencarlo. He’s evil!”

Despite Vencarlo’s entreaties to immediately return to the nearest lever, Jax and Tomas were intent on exploring more of the maze they were in. There was door in the wasp room that no one had opened yet (despite Wren’s earlier suggestion), and Jax darted across the floor and through it, managing to get out of the wasp room before its trap could activate. Ahead of him, he saw a long, narrow hallway. Its floor gleamed with a mosaic of tiny red stones, giving the appearance that the hall was awash with blood. Four pairs of alcoves flanked the hallway on both sides. He couldn’t see into the farther ones, but the pair nearest him each held an upright iron casket, with the image of a sobbing woman decorating its lid.

“This certainly doesn’t look anything like a trap,” Jax thought to himself, but despite his expectations, he couldn’t see any obvious mechanisms. He reported back to the others, then moved cautiously into the hallway. As Jax entered, Tomas scooted across the wasp room to follow him into the blood-red hallway.

“No! Not that way!” Vencarlo protested. “There’s nothing useful down there! We need to go back to the lever.” But the two ignored him, and continued on. Jax took the lead, moving carefully across the floor, with Tomas hanging back until Jax had confirmed it was safe.

When Jax was just over halfway down the hall, the trap he’d feared finally sprung. The sections of hallway between the alcoves suddenly tilted upwards at a 45 degree angle, threatening to throw both Jax and Tomas forward into the space between the iron maidens. Both managed to grab onto the lip of the slanting floor. It was lucky they had; an instant later, the iron maidens on the right side of the hall let out a shrieking wail that almost deafened and stunned them. A few seconds after that, the caskets on the left side of the hall opened up, revealing an interior lined with iron spikes. These shot out on long shafts, over and over again. Had they fallen into the space between the maidens, they’d have been stabbed repeatedly. As it was, they managed to hang on until the spikes withdrew. With an ominous clicking and grinding, the floor returned to its original position as the trap began to reset.

Jax wasn’t going to wait for that. He dashed forward, Tomas hot on his heels. They slid to a stop after they got off the red-tiled floor. Here the hall slanted to the right, and they could see yet another room ahead of them. It was circular, with a large round pool of dark water in its center, surrounded by a lip of black stone. A stone statue of a rearing snake rose out of its inky depths. The serpent’s body was lined with dozens of carved arms crossing over its belly, each gripping a long curved blade. The statue’s serpentine head rose ten feet above the water, gazing down coolly with glistening amethyst eyes.

Jax made a cursory scan of the room, then started to enter, his eyes fixed on the gems on the statue. But Tomas grabbed him by the shoulder and hauled him back. “Not so fast,” he hissed. “There – on the floor. Don’t you see those pressure plates?” Now that Tomas had pointed it out, Tomas did see the rather obvious trap mechanism. Giving Tomas an embarrassed look of thanks, he knelt at the doorway and worked his thief’s tools for a few minutes. “There,” he said as they both heard a distinct click, “that should have disabled it.” He moved cautiously into the circular room, and nothing happened. He and Tomas both searched for any signs of magic or hidden exits, but found nothing. “I guess we’d better head back,” Tomas said. Jax nodded, but he was having a hard time looking away from those fist-sized gems in the statue’s eyes.

Back in the mural room, Erin and Wren were trying to figure out what to do about the person calling himself Vencarlo. Wren decided to test him. “Did you know your house was invaded?” she asked innocently. “By those awful green demons?”

“What? Oh – yes. Yes!” Vencarlo seemed taken aback for a moment but then recovered. “Yes! That’s why I came here to the Arkonas. Did those things attack you, too?”

Wren nodded. “Yes, but we fought them off. And your student, Rafael, was outside when we came out.”

“Rafael? Oh thank goodness he’s alive! I was afraid they might have gotten him, too.”

Wren smiled at Vencarlo, then turned back to Erin and gave her a dark look. Whoever this was, it most definitely was not Vencarlo Orsini.

Nat hadn’t been privy to Erin’s whispered warning, but he had suspicions of his own, and when he heard Vencarlo’s responses to Wren’s fictions, they were confirmed. Vencarlo turned to call after Tomas and Jax, urging them to hurry back, and Nat took the opportunity to step around the corner where Vencarlo couldn’t see him and cast a quick Detect Magic. He came back quickly, just as Vencarlo was turning back to the group. As he’d expected, Vencarlo’s kukri and javelins were magical, and it looked like he had something magical tucked into his shirt. Vencarlo also had a spell of his own running, something from the Divination school. He was looking at Wren, then he turned to look at Nat. He stared at Nat for a moment, then he got a quizzical expression on his face. The look gradually became more sinister, and Nat felt his blood go cold.

“Well aren’t you the clever boy,” Vencarlo purred. His voice rose in pitch as he spoke, becoming more feminine. “Masking your thoughts from me like that. But your little friend’s thoughts are just as clear as glass, and I can see that my little disguise isn’t going to work any longer.” Nat realized he was wearing the Amulet of Nondetection they’d found at Vencarlo’s – the real Vencarlo’s. It would have made him impervious to most Divination spells, including Detect Thoughts.

The thing pretending to be Vencarlo Orsini transformed. The wig and makeup it had worn fell away, and its human features blurred, to be replaced by something more feral. The thing was female, with a woman’s body, but with the head of a fox. This was Vimanda Arknoa, Glorio’s mysterious sister. She smiled at Nat with a look of sly amusement. “Let’s see just how clever you are.”

Nat was dumbstruck. He wasn’t sure what had just happened, and hadn’t yet put together who this creature must be. But if the last few months had taught him anything, it was to shoot first and ask questions later. Vimanda’s taunt was barely out of her mouth before Nat opened his own mouth and let out an Empowered Ear Piercing Scream. Vimanda took half a step backwards as the spell hit her, then gave Nat an evil smile, as if to say ‘is that all you’ve got?’.

Several rooms away, Tomas and Jax were just preparing to head back. They’d already decided their best strategy was to run through the red-floored room as fast as they could, hoping to get in and out before the trap triggered. Tomas went first, dashing through the hall and into the wasp room. He’d planned to continue on into the jungle mural room where he’d left his friends, but he found the door now blocked by a fox-headed creature, weapons in hand, so he detoured into the room with the black stone column. As he darted behind Vimanda, she lashed out, quick as a snake, and opened a gaping wound in his side with her kukri.

Erin and Wren were standing directly in front of Vimanda, but she had her eyes glued on Nat. She tried to bull her way past Erin, but the paladin planted her feet and held her ground. With a cat-like hiss of frustration, Vimanda lashed out at Erin instead, stabbing her with her kukri.

Shadow was still in the short anteroom leading to the room with the Sonorous Stone. He was adjacent to Vimanda, but he knew if he backed up into the room to put some distance between them, he’d lose his direct line of sight to his target. So he decided to take his chances and cast Scorching Ray. Vimanda sensed his movement, even though he was behind her, and lashed out again with her blade, without eve looking. Fortunately, the kukri missed, and Shadow’s flames enveloped her. But that had been too close for comfort, so Shadow backed into the room anyway. Just then, he felt something moving on his hip. Confused, he looked down. The strange silver dagger that they’d taken from Verik Vancaskerkin so long ago was moving! He watched as it transformed into a snake-like creature, slithering off his belt to the floor beside him. It struck at him with venom-dripping fangs, and he barely avoided its bite. Fighting down his fear of snakes, he reached out and grabbed the thing with both hands. Before it could strike again, he sent a Shocking Grasp coursing through his fingers. The serpent convulsed, thrashing wildly, then went limp in his hands.

Erin stabbed forward with her rapier (Vencarlo’s rapier, truth be told). The blade should have caused Vimanda serious injury, but it barely seemed to affect her. Wren wanted to back away, but she knew her friends needed her. So instead, she reached out to lay one palm flat against Vimanda’s chest, then cast Slay Living. The two women battled wills for a moment, Wren trying to wrest the lifeforce out of Vimanda’s black soul. In the end, Vimanda won out. She staggered, face pale, then fixed Wren with a malevolent glare. Like Shadow, Tomas didn’t have a good angle of fire from inside the other room, so he took Shadow’s place in the anteroom and stabbed forward with his spear. Like Erin, he felt like he should have done significant damage, but Vimanda shrugged it off.

Nat was putting the pieces together – shapechanger, human body with an animal head – and realized that Vimanda might be a Rakshasa. He’d heard enough about them to know he was out of his league, and he ducked around the corner, out of sight, and cast Fox’s Cunning on himself. But Vimanda had set her sights on him. She first lashed out at Erin, her kukri moving so fast it was a blur. The first blow sent Erin’s sword clattering to the ground and left Erin out on her feet, stunned. With Erin stunned, Vimanda had no trouble pushing past her. Ignoring Wren, she dashed around the corner to find Nat. “Don’t you want to play, little boy?” she taunted, slashing him with her kukri.

Jax had finally returned from his scouting foray to find his team embroiled in combat with some unknown enemy. Tomas pushed past him, not pausing to explain what was going on, and fired an arrow down the hallway at Vimanda, but it all but bounced off of her. Erin was starting to stir again, and Wren couldn’t do much to Vimanda without also hurting Nat, so she cast Gorem’s Armor on the paladin.

Vimanda was dancing around Nat, blade flashing. She stabbed forward, almost gutting him, then slashed him across the forehead as he bent double, laughing all the while. The blood running into his eyes all but blinded him, but Nat responded with an Orb of Light, blasting her with pure light energy. “We only wanted to talk to you!” he begged, coughing up blood. “Can’t we just talk?”

Vimanda threw back her head with a haughty, imperious laugh. “Why would I talk to you? You’re a plaything, nothing more!” She spun, and her blade sank deep into Nat’s side. She pulled him close as the light went out of his eyes. “Still think you’re clever, boy?”

As Nat’s limp body fell to the floor, Shadow screamed in fury and blasted Vimanda with a pair of Empowered Scorching Rays. Vimanda mimicked his scream, then laughed and fired a volley of her own Scorching Rays right back at him. Erin regained her senses and scrambled to pick up her fallen weapon, while Wren cast Bless and Jax belatedly cast Haste. But Tomas shouldered his way past them, to stand behind Shadow. His face was a mask: no flicker of emotion, only cold calculation of angles and anatomy. He fired arrows as fast as he could draw. Vimanda calmly batted the first one away, a fraction of a second before it would have pierced her heart, and began to smile as the second flew past her ear. But the third flew true. It entered her right eye and continued on through the back of her skull, leaving a bloody spray to join the gruesome mural on the wall behind her.

Vimanda’s body was still twitching when Wren rushed to Nat’s side. She cast Rebuke Death, then Cure Critical Wounds, and his eyes fluttered open again. He was laying across one of those gaps in the floor, where the rooms of the labyrinth seemed to move. “I think we should get him off of that,” Tomas muttered, and drug the still-weak wizard into the room. It was well that he did, because at that moment, everything began to shake again, and the opening Nat had lain in closed in less than a second. Jax looked around nervously. “Uh, guys – that wasn’t us.” They were nowhere near one of the levers. “That means there’s someone else down here with us.”

When the world stopped moving, the walls at either end of the mural rooms opened up again. They could see into the wasp room again – but it was on the opposite end of the hallway from where it had been before. Where it had once been, there was a new room they’d never seen before. It was a relatively small room with four alcoves. Each alcove contained a floating sphere of mist, hovering three feet off the ground. One sphere was black, one white, one green, and one gold. Beyond the spheres, two of the ebony handled levers protruded from opposite walls.

Wren was still casting healing magic as Nat struggled to his feet and cast Detect Magic into the new room. Not surprisingly, the floating spheres were magic. Jax cautiously ventured into the room, checking carefully for traps. The lever on the right hand wall was in the up position, like all the others they’d found, but the one on the left wall was down. As others filtered into the room, he was examining the pair of levers. “This is the first time we’ve found two,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Do you think they work the same, or are they something different?” He was also worried that one of the levers was in the down position; after they pulled a lever, it always stayed down (at least for a while) – did that mean that whoever had just moved the rooms had pulled this lever?

No one had any answers, so after a short debate, everyone piled into the room with the floating spheres (being careful not to touch any of them), and Jax pulled down the lever. As expected, the opening to the next room closed and everything shook and rumbled – although this time, the shaking seemed to be coming from outside their room, as if things were moving elsewhere. When the door opened back up, they were looking back at the jungle murals, although now the short hall connecting the two rooms slanted to their right rather than to their left.

“Hang on,” Wren said as they slowly filed out of the room with the spheres. She was suspiciously inspecting the paintings in the mural. “Didn’t this tiger eating a woman used to be at the opposite end of the room? Did this whole room turn around?” She rifled through her pack until she found a piece of chalk, and then began drawing arrows on the walls, as a means of determining orientation after the next time things moved.

Jax had already moved around the corner. “Hey guys – there’s another new room down here,” he called back. Sure enough, beyond the murals was yet another area they hadn’t yet encountered. It was a rectangular chamber, its floor covered with a thick layer of rubble, bones, and other debris. Another ebony lever protruded from the far wall.

“Looks like we found their junk room,” Erin said, wrinkling her nose at the disorder. “And a new lever. Should we pull this one next?”

“I don’t think so,” Jax responded with a frown. He was still trying to figure out what was going on here – there had to be some pattern, didn’t there? “I think we should go back and pull the other lever in the room with the orbs.” No one had a better idea, so they all filed back. Once everyone was safely inside, Jax took a breath, and pulled the lever up. It slid easily, but nothing happened. He pushed it down, then pulled it back up again. He could feel it click during each movement, but this lever didn’t seem to affect the maze at all, at least as far as he could tell. The other lever was still in the down position, and he tried to pull it back up, but it seemed to be locked into place.

With a sigh, everyone resigned themselves to going back to the junk room and trying that lever. Wren insisted on making them wait until she’d drawn arrows on the walls and floor of that room before anyone pulled the lever. When they did, the door to the mural room quickly slid shut as the world began to shake.

“This wall’s moving from right to left,” Wren said as they were still shaking, pointing at the moving stone in the opening that used to lead to the murals. “I could swear that sometimes it moves in the opposite direction.” She tried to draw an arrow on the moving stone, but it was going by too quickly.

Then the wall was replaced by an opening into a new room, and the shaking stopped. In front of them was a small circular room. A round pool of crystal-clear water took up most of the space in the room. Nat cast Detect Magic, but found nothing, nor did Jax in his search for traps of secret doors. Despite the temptation to take a nice, cool drink, everyone decided not to take a chance with the pool. “Shit! I think we’re trapped here!” Jax said with alarm. He pointed to the lever, which was still locked down. “There’s no way for us to move!”

“Just be patient,” Tomas said calmly. “The other levers reset after awhile, remember?” Sure enough, after several minutes there was a faint click, and the lever rose back into the up position. Everyone made sure their hands a feet were clear of the gap, then Jax pulled the lever again. When the world stopped moving, there was still nothing but a stone wall in front of them. They began to feel a little claustrophobic as they waited for the lever to reset, but at last it did. “OK – let’s try this one more time,” Jax said, and pulled the lever back down.

The room shook, and when the shaking stopped, they found themselves looking into a much larger room. A great green throne sat atop a dais directly across from them. To either side of it stood statues of a tiger-headed man, each statue holding aloft a pair of chains from which manacles dangled. Dried blood spattered the walls, the floor, and even the throne and statues, filling the room with its stale reek. A bruised and bloodied figure dangled from the chains on the right-hand statue – yet another Vencarlo Orsini. But what drew their attention, and made them grab for weapons and spell components, was the creature standing in front of the throne. It had the body of a lion, the wings of a falcon, and the head and torso of a beautiful woman. She held a kukri in each hand, and did not seem at all surprised to see them.

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The PCs earned 8,100 XP, putting them at 76,443. They are now at 10^th level, with 105,000 XP required for Level 11.