Let it Snow: Orange Start

[voidtreckermods]

The moment Red team jumps the voice speaks again. “Orange team to doors. Void shift imminent. Ten, nine, eight, seven...” There is a lurch and the train seems to tumble. The windows flash with the void for a second before they are once again surrounded by snow.

The train steadies, the doors open, the train is in mid-air and one step away from the train doors there is an ice platform. Crossing is not too hard, though a bit daunting. They are very high up and the ice is inherently slippy.

The platform is not large enough for them all and so the only natural way is for them to begin entering the labyrinth to allow everyone off the train. The moment the last person leaves the train it blinks away and the moment everyone has entered the labyrinth there is a grinding sound and the ice behind them closes.

For good or ill they have entered. Their goal is clear, a strange machine suspended in the centre of the maze but getting there will be a challenge. Though it looks like they should be able to merely walk towards it walls of ice stand in their way. The only way to stop any of this is to get through the labyrinth.

Comments

[themasterthief]

I. Disembark.

Garrett cursed his luck. This was exactly why he hated water. Of course, usually that meant a body of water and a boat that rocked unsteadily but this slippery ice was proving to be no better than that. And since ice was just frozen water--he was really hating on water right about now. He was too prideful to accept help from anyone though, plus he didn't really like to touch people. Which was hard not to do on this tiny platform of slippery ice.

He cursed again, the noise barely under his breath. He wished he had just gotten off with one of the other teams. He hated this place already. He quickly slid his way over to the nearest wall and placed a few spidery limbs on the cold surface. He was afraid he would either not stick or that his limbs would freeze in place and not come off. He was in luck--there was just enough roughness to the outside ice that he could cling to it for support. He wouldn't dare try climbing it though. He didn't want to slip and fall if/when he touched a smooth section of ice.

There was little room here but he wasn't ready to head inside yet. He clung awkwardly to the side of the cube near the entrance and watched as everyone entered the maze. He really didn't want to go in there. His last trip into a labyrinth hadn't proved all that fun after all...

II. Or Not.

In the end Garrett's reluctance paid off proved to be his savior from the maze of entrapment. When the doors began to close the arachnid was startled. His usually graceful movements were hampered by the slippery ice and he almost skidded off the opposite side of the platform when he pushed off the wall to finally join the others. He clamored back onto the platform and comically got back on his feet, slid towards the door--and ran right into the ice just as it closed tight. He put his hands down the seam but it was nearly impossible to discern from the rest of the ice now and there was no way he was prying it back open.

Oh well!

He shrugged at the nearest person on the other side, if they were watching him, almost apologetic even. (He wasn't sorry in the least.) But now he had a new problem: what to do now that he couldn't get inside with the rest of his team. Garrett had a simple solution to that. He would head down into the valley below and tour the city there. And by "tour" he absolutely meant "steal his weight's worth in valuables and useful materials" while everyone was evacuated. What? He was an opportunistic thief, what could he say. It's what and where he truly wanted to be anyway. He was no hero.

Now he just had to find a way down off this platform of slippery ice. It took a few moments of awkwardly shuffling around the platform to peer over the edge and examine the platform itself but eventually he came up with a solution. His web wouldn't stick much better than his limbs to this ice but there were a few icicles poking up near the edge of the platform and they looked pretty solid. He created a line and wrapped it tightly around the thickest one and secured it in place. He tugged on it a few times to test it. It held.

Garrett took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then he fell off the edge of the platform. The thief didn't fall too far; the webbing held and the initial line was relatively short. He began to spin more line and slowly lowered himself down to the ground below.

It was a far way down... he hoped he could produce enough web to make it down there. He'd never spun until he couldn't produce anymore webbing before, this would be an awful time to find that limit. Great planning, the thief thought to himself.

He shouldn't have worried too much about the limit to his webbing; it was the icicle that wouldn't last long enough. He felt the first cracks as they split the ice, the small vibrations making it all the way down his line to his hands. He hurried his pace. It wasn't enough. There was a small crack! as the ice gave under his weight and suddenly there was slack in his line, and before he knew it he was plummeting to the ground below. It was still a long ways to go.

[[Spoilers: He's fine! Don't worry! He's a tough little arachnid. If you have questions or an idea for a scene but are unsure, hit me up with a PM or plurk at me! I'm cool with either.]]

I

[stealsyourheart]

Hi Garrett, have the thief you know but don't appear at your shoulder.

"You are looking surprisingly cautious, Garrett-san. Spot something?"

[themasterthief]

Garrett turned a sour face towards Katio. The expression wasn't directed at the kid per se he just wasn't the happiest arachnid at the moment.

"Nothing ever goes right during phrases like this where I'm used to." Not home. He specifically avoided that word. "Besides, all this ice... it isn't great for a spider."

Disembark

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin was on his way into the labyrinth when he saw Garrett clinging to the nearest outer wall. "Are you not coming in?" he asked, in concern.

[themasterthief]

Garrett's mismatched eyes locked onto Curufin and he gave the other an expression that went along with his roll of the shoulders. "I don't like the look of it," he replied. That wasn't a lie at least. He glanced towards the inside of the ice cube. "The last time I ended up in a place like this..."

He looked back at the man and made a small head gesture that might have said 'well, you know.'

[stealsyourheart]

Kaito eyes the labyrinth curiously. He normally gets a proper map and explore before he goes into one of these. Still...

"So. I wonder if there's defences. I have a marker pen. Should I scout ahead?" He offers to his neighbour.

[so_dark_a_road]

"How about if we both scout ahead?" answers Curufin with a smile.

[stealsyourheart]

Kaito laughs. "Is it a race?"

[deductiongeek]

A. Disembark
Conan eyes the one step gap between the train and the ice platform. For most people it wouldn't be a problem, but he was going to have to jump.

B. Maze
Conan steps carefully into the maze and looks around it, assessing. There were strategies for navigating mazes, but he didn't know yet whether any of the would be relevant here.

Pulling out his journal he quickly maps out everything of the maze they could see from here.

Maze

[so_dark_a_road]

"Good idea," remarks Curufin. "Nothing like making a map when you're in strange territory." Not that he was going to do so himself, since he navigates by his spatial skills and by images he creates in his brain.

B

[stealsyourheart]

"Should we make a race of it~?"

Disembark

[deductionrival]

Hattori doesn't ask. He sees that gap and just snatches up his friend before the shorty decides to do something stupid like try to jump on his own. "Oi Kudo! Hold on!" He takes a careful leap (if such a thing were possible in this situation). He slips only a little once he's on the maze.

He eyes the ground warily as he sets Conan down. "You think that snowboard is really a good idea here?"

[sensitiveapple]

Disembark:

That's a big "step". Misa takes a couple steps back and then with a running start jumps the area between the train and the platform. She doesn't go sliding, but falls to her knee and scoots a few inches. She slowly pushes herself up. That had hurt, but it was nice to see that she hadn't had any issues. She brushes off her heavy pants with her gloves and looks around. Well. Jocko always said she was a bit too courageous at times. But Misa wasn't going to be left behind!

Maze:

Misa hates the cold and would really like to go back to the warmth of Cantonica. The desert planet doesn't seem so bleak now.

She runs her hands along the walls , glad to have her knives. There's... something different about this place, and she doesn't like it.

Disembark

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin leaps immediately after Misa does, regains his balance, and comes to her. "Nice jump! Are you all right?"

Maze

[democratically]

Padmé would state that she is not a fan of extremes either, whether it be heat or cold. Naboo is much more temperate in that regard, staying a pleasant temperature with little fluctuation. She is making out alright clothing-wise, bundled up, but her systematic exploration has so far not brought her any closer to the centre.

Padmé does hear a noise, tensing, but it is a familiar face that does come in to view. "Hello Misa. I take it that you've had little luck as well."

[so_dark_a_road]

Disembark:

Curufin grabs his gear and heads for the doors along with the rest of his team. He grabs onto one of the hold bars as the train lurches and goes into free fall, and the Void colors glow and streak past the windows. Suddenly there is a snowy atmosphere outside, the doors slide open, and they are hovering beside a platform that appears to be made of ice. The labyrinth sits on the platform, it's icy walls blocking their route to the odd-looking suspended machine.

"Here goes!" says Curufin with a grin. He jumps onto the platform and skids a little, and then quickly regains his balance.


Labyrinth:

He steps into the maze, looking all around and verifying that it looks something like his dream. An ice door slams shut behind him and the others, with an ominous grinding sound. And now this looks even more like his dream -- it is as though he and his teammates are trapped in a great block of ice, standing in a passageway within it. He starts walking and prying into the various bends in the corridor until he comes to an opening into another passageway.

"Luckily for me, I've got geographic memory!" he sings, rhyming and slightly out of tune in order to make it funny. Of course, it won't be funny if they can't find the way to the machine. But he's confident that they will.

Labyrinth

[shockinglycaffeinated]

Telli was obviously not happy to be here and was huddled into her coat trying to keep warm. When Curufin began wandering off she followed, not comfortable letting anyone go off alone.

“I was told once that if you became trapped in a maze you should keep a hand on one wall and use that to find your way out. I don’t know if it’ll help us find the machine we’re looking for, but it can’t hurt.”

Disembark

[democratically]

Cold. She is not the biggest fan of it, but she will abide it. It will be interesting anyway, to see what this place is all about, about how it operates. She hears his voice, glancing over as he jumps, and a small smile twitches along her lips. She does follow suit a few moments later, delicately jumping to the platform to land in a half crutch.

Upon straightening, she takes a deeper breath, feeling the cold in her lungs. "I must admit, I'm not exactly particular to the cold."

Although it won't stop her or make her balk.

[signseeker]

Will doesn't hesitate at the platform and enters the labyrinth right away. There he stays, looking around the space curiously as he waits for everyone else to enter.

"I've never gone through a maze before," he remarks aloud. "Will it be simple, do you think?"

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin is next in. He pauses to talk to Will. "Probably not. A maze suggests the scientists are guarding their machine. How simple it is to get to the center probably depends on how simple the maze-designer believed any intruders' minds might be. And we, of course, are not simpletons nor are we easy to discourage."

[stealsyourheart]

"Dunno." Kaito eyes the paths around curiously.

"But this has seriously Evil Lair vibes, and if there is not at LEAST a laser grid to disable I will be very disapointed."

[usernamesarecool]

The Doctor is nearby even if he is a bit distracted and by scanning some things with his screw driver. He's still very much alert though and here's hoping will wasn't looking for comfort.

"Simple? No way. Look at the size of the entrance! Anything with an entrance like that is probably got all sorts of traps and twists and turns."

[alchemists]

A. Disembark

[ The ice made it hard to walk, and Elfnein was waddling almost in order to not slip and slide. But, even with all the safety measures in place there's a loud thunk as she ends up on the ground. ]

owww

B. Maze

[ At every turn Elfnein has set up a marker with her power of writing glowing letters in midair, but even with that set up she's found her way back at the same place she started. ]

Maze

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin walks alongside Elfnein and is very puzzled when they end up right back where they started. ]

How did this happen? I thought I was paying minute attention to every turn, and you've got every place we've been clearly labeled.

Disembark

[stealsyourheart]

Ooop!

[ Kaito stops and offers her a hand ]

Careful there.