Maze A.S-A-C.D.W-S Group 6 Closed

|| Strength: 5 || Agility: 10 || Control: 8 || Stamina: 7 ||

Summer's eyes wandered the area that made up the maze's starting point. Colors swirled through the air in a way that was too mesmerizing not for her gaze to follow. The apparition of the butterflies finished off the straight-out-of-a-storybook type appearance, and Summer felt a smile appear on her face. Her hands reached up, going straight through one of the butterflies. With a giggle she withdrew her hand.

"It's gorgeous..." She found herself whispering, before her attention was returned to her friends. She felt a sudden sense of security when it was confirmed that they were still with her. She almost felt the urge to reach out and touch both of them to make sure they were real; to make sure they weren't illusions like the butterflies had been.

Think, Summer. You're in a maze. Try to at least focus a bit more, She thought, turning to her friends. Flashing them a bright grin, she made a small spin to take in all four of the directions they could head in.

"I know there's that left-hand rule thing for mazes, but this one must be different. It's magic, after all. Which direction do you all want to go down? I have a strange urge to be going South. Um, as in directions. Not metaphorically."

Raine looked around the clearing; taking in her surroundings and marveling at how bright and colorful the area was. It was truly something out of a fairy tale; like Alice in Wonderland. Colors swirled of their own accord around Raine and her classmates, and with a open mouth smile, the gray-eyed Gryffindor watched as a butterfly flew right through Summer's hand. In a bout of giddiness, Raine spread her arms wide and spun in a circle, laughing like the young child she was.

"This is amazing!" she crowed and she collapsed on her knees in a giggling heap. "It's so beautiful here." The grass was green, of course, but the trees themselves seemed to change colors on their own.

I know we can't stay here. This is a maze and I'm sure that the longer we linger here, the more danger we may encounter. I have to focus so that I can be useful to Summer and Arc.


While sitting where she had plopped herself down, Raine looked around the clearing once more. This time she noticed that there were four passages leading to different areas. Moss covered some of the flagstones in the area, and she remembered reading something about moss pointing in a direction that would lead North...or was it West? She would have to ask Arc, as she was sure her friend knew more about moss than what she read briefly in a book years ago. At least she hoped he knew more. She would most likely pick whatever direction he chose, but she figured going to the right would be the better bet. Before she could mention which direction she thought they should go, Summer spoke up with,

"I know there's that left-hand rule thing for mazes, but this one must be different. It's magic, after all. Which direction do you all want to go down? I have a strange urge to be going South. Um, as in directions. Not metaphorically."

Raine raised her eyebrow at the last statement and said, "I'm not sure what you mean by metaphorically, but I think we should go to the right. However, I'm good with going in any direction that is picked by you and Arc. I just hope that this maze is more logic based and not...spell based."

I don't have any spells under my belt. I'll be completely and utterly useless in this maze if we encounter anything that needs magic. The young Gryffindor worried her bottom lip as she thought about her lack of magical knowledge and looked up at her friend as she waited for his response.

The dark-haired boy was suddenly teleported into a maze. All around him, the air was filled with colors and what probably were illusionary butterflies flew here and there. Arc Perscivious was not alone, though. Thankfully. Physical prowess was not one of the kid’s forte. And as embarrassing as it might seem, Summer and Sage were probably stronger than him physically. Hopefully, he could be useful to the girls in other areas, though.

I know there's that left-hand rule thing for mazes, but this one must be different. It's magic, after all. Which direction do you all want to go down? I have a strange urge to be going South. Um, as in directions. Not metaphorically.

Arc looked at Summer before he tried to discern his surroundings. It was true that the left-hand rule or right-hand rule could usually be used in most mazes, but it would usually be a long path. Moreover, some mazes, even non-magical one, would stop you from navigating by using that rule. Arc had a feeling that the maze was not malicious, though, and it should be able to be solved for first-year students like them. There should be some kind of pattern or clues as where they had to go. But the boy was not finding any. The moss in-between the flagstones was artificially made, though, so, someone must have been taking care of this maze. So, they might actually meet someone in this maze and hopefully that someone could point them the way out…

I'm not sure what you mean by metaphorically, but I think we should go to the right. However, I'm good with going in any direction that is picked by you and Arc. I just hope that this maze is more logic based and not...spell based.

Raine Sage’s words broke Arc out of his musing. He also hoped that there was at least some semblance of logic to the maze. That aside, staying still here would give them no benefit and they should just start moving. Where to, though…

“Okay, first of all, always stick together girls. Secondly, any dispute we’re having, we should try to make a unanimous decision, but falling short of that, we probably should settle with the highest vote. Last but not least, for the path we should take now,” Arc stopped for a second to reaffirm his decision, “I’m not one to believe in gut feeling so much, but I’ll agree with Summer on this one and choose to go South. Hopefully, things won't go 'south'." He chuckled before continuing. "What say you, Sage?”

Raine watched as Arc took in his surroundings before deciding to repeat her sweep of the area with her own eyes. Standing up from her position on the ground, the young Gryffindor walked over to where her two teammates were standing just in time to hear Arc say,

Okay, first of all, always stick together girls. Secondly, any dispute we’re having, we should try to make a unanimous decision, but falling short of that, we probably should settle with the highest vote. Last but not least, for the path we should take now,”

Raine rolled her eyes good-naturedly at how her friend was stating the obvious about them getting along and working together. Does he think we'll end up trying to rip each other's throats out during one dispute? the girl smiled to herself.

What say you, Sage?”

Raine blinked owlishly as she tuned back into what her friend was saying. "Hmm? Oh, yeah. Yes, South sounds like a plan. I told you, I'm good with what the majority says...at least for right now. We just need to get started in a direction." Pointing with her index finger, she started in the direction that was South and began walking. "South, here we come! Let's go!"

A.S-A-C.D.W-S will go B.) Travel South

[quote]You have until 26th April to get your posts in as well as decide on your route to take if you have not done so already. At least 2 players are required for the maze to continue. If an additional layer has not posted by the 26th, the maze with continue without that player. Should only one or no player(s) post by then, the group will be eliminated and therefore will not be able to continue.

You and your partner(s) decide to go South. The trail curves to the right slightly before turning abruptly to your left. It continues down and after a minute or two, the relatively narrow path finally leads to a more open space. The cooling air is suddenly replaced by warmth as if you had stepped from a typical spring day into the sahara desert. The sudden scorching rays of the sun hits you, how was it summer so soon?

However, should you and your partner(s) attempt to proceed, you’d find your feet stuck to the ground, sinking actually. You would notice that the sand had somehow turned into quicksand. Your efforts in freeing yourself would be futile. The scorching sand is now at you calves. Then you would see small movements in the sand, a few seconds later hundreds of tiny black bugs - spiders - would crawl out from the earth and as soon as they emerged from the sand, would crawl towards you and your partner(s) perhaps... like the butterflies, they were just illusions? Possibly, possibly not.

Raine hummed to herself as she lagged behind her two team members. The trail they were on had a few twists and turns, but it didn't deter the girl from her own personal mission. As they continued to walk along the path, the young Gryffindor bent to pick up varying plants and flowers, seemingly strong twigs, and fallen vines from the colorful trees. Using the fallen vines, Raine began to knot them together, using the twigs as a firm leverage of sorts against the vines to make them a bit more sturdy and she tied those to the vines with the stems of the flowers. She knew that she didn't have any magic under her belt yet. She knew that she wouldn't be of much help to either Summer or Arc unless a logic puzzle or something was involved in this maze. However, should any of them fall into a hole or just need some kind of lift, this rope she was making would hopefully be strong enough to pull an eleven or twelve-year-old out of trouble.

I have to make myself useful somehow. Raine looked down at her hands, covered with dirt and a few scratches from the twigs and flowers she had picked up. Looking up at the backs of her friends who continued walking ahead of her, she picked up another flower and tied the loose twig in her hand to the vine that she had just finished knotting to the end of the other. She would be doing her uncle proud if he saw her now. All of those crazy survival trips he took her on since she was six were sort of paying off now. She looked back up at her friends with a determined look in her eyes and nodded. She wasn't going to be a burden on them if she could help it.

Jogging to catch up to the pair, Raine smiled as she bumped Arc's shoulder with her own and smiled brightly at Summer. She held up her little project...which was turning into a fairly long project when talking about length, and giggled. "I making a rope from whatever we have out here. You never know when we'll need one," she said, wrapping the completed and longer length of the rope around the back of her neck as she continued to work on the end that wasn't completed yet. Loose twigs, flowers, and vines filled her pockets as she worked on knotting the loose vine to the end of the completed set.

A cool breeze blew as they made a left turn and Raine inhaled deeply as the wind blew her hair from her face as they walked on for another minute. But then suddenly, that cool breeze turned into a sweltering and scorching wind that carried sand upon it, and the girl bent over coughing and gagging as the hot, sandy air, entered her lungs.

"Satan's left toenail! Who the hell turned on the heat in this place?" the girl cried as she finally coughed up the rest of the sand from her throat.

Standing up straight, Raine looked behind the little group and could see that though behind them was a nice and cool green wonderland, directly in front of them stood a world of neverending sand that seemed larger than the largest dessert in the world. Of course, Raine had never been to a dessert but this place was huge!

"I think Tommy Pickles would love this giant sandbox if he were real," she commented as she looked around. Looking out at the sand, Raine wondered what exactly was out there. Was this sandbox part of their first trial? Would a sandworm pop up out of nowhere? Would there be camels they would need to ride? She wasn't a fan of sand, as it got everywhere no matter how hard you tried to avoid it, and the high possiblity of quicksand being out there was also worrying. But her biggest concern was...

Is there even water for us to drink out here if we're spending a long amount of time in this place? I should have known better. This is Hogwarts and our teachers are sadistic when training and teaching us. We should have prepared water and other survival gear. Raine wilted as she realized that though she thought about making a rope, she failed the basics of Survival 101.

As she continued to absently fiddle and knot with her makeshift rope, Raine just observed the endless dry sea of sand. Without turning to her friends she said, "I'm just going to point at myself right now and say 'not it." So, who wants to go out there first?"

The dark-haired boy was walking down the winding and curving trail with complete vigilance, trying to commit details and clues in the maze into his memory, when Raine bumped his shoulder.

"I'm making a rope from whatever we have out here. You never know when we'll need one,"

Ah, smart. They did might need one. Arc was ill-prepared for this maze as he was suddenly teleported. He only brought with him some snack bars, a multi-tool, and some pencils, things that he always brought along with him anyway in his pockets. If he knew that that he would travel in an unknown maze, then he would have brought… Wait.

"Satan's left toenail! Who the hell turned on the heat in this place?"

Arc couldn’t agree more with Raine’s loud exclamation. They suddenly got into a dessert, complete with the scorching sun and all. Magic. Definitely magic.

"I'm just going to point at myself right now and say 'not it." So, who wants to go out there first?"

Yeah. Should they even go forward? Or should they turn around? The scorching sun might be a sign that they had to go back. Or it could be a sign that something important was near and whoever teleporting them here tried to deter them with the sand and the sun. As they had walked this far, they might as well continue. It could just be the sunk-cost fallacy talking, though.

“Um, I might as well do it.” Arc said while moving forward.

Before long, he suddenly felt that his feet were stuck to the ground, sinking. The sand was turning into quicksand. His feet sunk quickly and with a blink of an eye the sand was already at his calves.

“Stay back,” said Arc quickly before focusing on the things going on in front of him.

Hundreds of tiny black bugs that the boy identified as spiders crawled out of the sand towards him. Good thing he was not afraid of spiders. Were these all really happening, though? Or were they all illusions?

“Are you guys seeing this?” The boy said with a little alarm in his voice.

Arc took deep breaths as he tried to keep himself calm. The lanky kid might not be physically gifted but he always had good control of himself and he was very perceptive. He looked at the sand and the spiders trying to see imperfections in them that would out them as illusions and tried to see whether or not there was some kind of secret in the wretched dessert in front of him.

Arc tries to see if the dessert and spiders around him are illusions. Perception check!

Raine gasped as she saw her friend slowly sinking in front of her. At first she thought he had just stepped into a softer pile of sand and his foot slipped into a hole, like it would if you stepped into a pile of snow that was too high off the ground. But when she saw Arc quickly sink into the sand up to his calves, she knew that something was definitely wrong.

"Arc!" she called as she ran to the edge of the sand.

The lanky boy called back and Raine stopped just before her feet touched the sand.

It only took her a brief moment to stare at her friend still sinking before she made up her own mind. Gripping her make-shift rope, Raine tied one end to the nearest small tree near the edge of the grass covered part of the maze, tied the other end to her waist, and then rushed onto the sand after Arc. The rope wasn't very long so she hoped that she would be able to reach the sinking boy before the rope hindered her progress.

Stepping onto the sand may not have been her brightest idea, but when it came to Arc, most of her rational thought went out of her head. She also began to sink, and she looked behind her to see the rope was still loose but was also being pulled tightly as it slowed her sinking progress due to being tied around her waist.

Looking back toward Arc after hearing the alarm in his voice, Raine noticed a rush of tiny black creatures rushing toward him and swarming his body.

'Holy hell! Are...are those spiders?'she thought with a shudder. Raine wasn't keen on insects at all, but spiders were definitely on her list of EXTREME FEAR. However, her fear of spiders was lesser than her fear of her friend continuously sinking into the sand. Taking a deep breath, Rain clenched her teeth and reached out a hand to her friend.

"Arc! Grab my hand!" the young Gryffindor called. She was close enough to the boy that his tall frame would give him the reach needed to grab her hand, and spiders be damned, she was going to save her friend.

'This could all be an illusion. It is quite possible this sand is similar to Devil's Snare.' the thought came to Raine's mind as she reached out further for her friend's hand.

"Even if this is something like Devil's Snare and we should sink, we don't know for sure if we'll die out here or not from sinking into it!"Raine responded to her own thoughts, not realizing she said it out loud. Suddenly, the girl felt herself sink further into the sand, faster than she had before and she looked behind her to see that the rope had slipped, bending the tree it was tied around and slipping along the trunk. It was almost as if the small tree was stripping off a wet shirt from its own body with the way the rope struggled to stay put and the tree continued to bend whenever Raine sunk below.

She looked at Arc, who was still focused on the spiders surrounding him. "Arc!" she called again, but this time she reached for the rope around her waist and tossed it toward the boy. Surprisingly, the rope didn't sink into the sand like the two humans did, but that was a good thing anyway. Arc could reach the rope. He could pull himself to safety.

"Arc! Pull yourself up! Get out of there!"

Soon, the earth moved around Raine and she suddenly had her own spiders crawling near her and she screamed in panic. Her feet were still stuck below her and she was now at her waist in sand. If the thought of spiders about to start crawling on her wasn't enough to induce her anxiety, the thought of suffocation was and soon Raine was clawing at the sand in front of her, trying to bring herself back up to the top of the sand. Unfortunately, the sand gave way under the weight of her hands and Raine's left arm sank into the sand.

"Not your smartest move, Raine." the girl said as she tried to use her other hand to pull out the arm that was currently stuck in the sand.

How were they going to get out of this?