Trail of Trials

Orion gave Corki quick thumbs up. It had been a nice shot. He then focused on the medal with a satisfied grin, polishing it a bit. He held it against the light. He liked shiny things. That, combined with the 400 points had made it worth it. Then he turned to Andromeda, a worried frown appeared on his face after seeing her wound.
“Well, you were right about placing a branch on it rather than Thomas. I don’t think it would have been fun for him to undergo a similar fate. I stand corrected, your safe approach may be preferable,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, “While Corki hit the apple, you never know what the puzzle does next. You okay by the way?” he asked. It was seemingly a minor injury, but you can never be sure. He had seen enough infections back in the day.
He then followed the group into the tree, a worried frown appearing in his face when the audio started to play. It wasn’t exactly a cheerful message and whoever had come up with that pun deserved a slow but painful death. At least the puzzles were diverse.
It seemed the next puzzle was going to be about a fictional labyrinth from a mad king. If the actual creator of the labyrinth had tried to live up to its fictional creator, they were in for some harsh times. He tried his key on the door as well, to no avail. Things were never that easy.

“Yeah, this one doesn’t work either. Perhaps we’ll find a key up there,” he muttered, waving at the trap door, “this place makes me jumpy. The light is clearly different from the outside climate and those stairs are disorienting. Don't even get me started on the fact that we just walked into a tree,” he placed one foot on the first step and gazed upwards, the world slowly becoming one massive spiral. He shook his head.
“This place is definitely the strangest one I’ve seen so far. Aesthetically I mean. Mechanically it isn’t too bad, except for that staircase. It drives me nuts just staring at it. Maybe things get worse when we explore some more,” he grumbled. The audio file had hinted at people getting lost. Orion knew his orientation was usually rather miserable. No doubt he’d get lost in a maze within minutes. He wasn’t just going to sit here though, that would be far too dull.
“Everybody ready to go take a peak up there?” he suggested, hoping there would be no monster hiding behind the hatch. Knowing his luck a giant ostrich would probably drop from it and try to swallow him.

“Well, you were right about placing a branch on it rather than Thomas. I don’t think it would have been fun for him to undergo a similar fate. I stand corrected, your safe approach may be preferable. While Corki hit the apple, you never know what the puzzle does next” Orion admitted.

“There would have been a moment to jump out of the way,” Andromeda pointed out, “but I agree a bit of wood to the face is better than a door to the whole body, or an arrow to the... wherever it might go when things go wrong. Those would end an adventure.”

“You okay by the way?” he asked.

Andromeda took her hand from her face to look at the amount of blood. “Doesn’t look too bad. Just a scratch. Stings like a real mother, though.” The expression she used made her wonder. It seemed she liked it not just because it was allowed, but because she had a genuine dislike for her mother. Who was that woman, anyway?

She ran up the stairs to the first window. Outside only sea was visible. Where had the forest gone? On the other side, above the open door, there was also sea. The sea and the forest somehow existed on the same side of this thing at once! Strange.

Exhausted from the climb, Andromeda wasn’t the first to emerge from the trap door. She needed to sit down and catch her breath. There was a nice cool breeze up here, and the view was worth the climb. The round steel tower - definitely not a tree - stood on a rock in the ocean. There was a rocky island in the direction she faced, with a large cave entrance in its side that made it look like the island was trying to drink the sea.

In the middle of the platform on top of the tower stood a small round glass house. Inside they could see a very large lamp, and someone had stuck a note to the window: Out to lunch. Audio tour available downstairs.

A basket similar to what is part of a hot air balloon hung below a second trap door in the platform. This one wasn’t attached to a balloon, instead it had wings made of wood and aluminum foil.

Andromeda looked straight down over the edge of the platform. Below she saw the roof of a single building, and a lot of small round tables in front of it. A man wearing a tweed jacket sat at one of those, apparently having lunch. There also were a small pier and a boat.

Seeing Andromeda disappear up the stairs, Tom followed her through the trap door and heaved his way to the top. He had probably made the most physical exertion of them all so far, what with being made a deer and everything. It was starting to take its toll on the young man, who wasn't as fit as he looked.

When he reached the top, he took one look out the window and turned away, a grim look on his face. He had a fear of heights that, while it was fine indoors behind glass, made itself painfully known in precarious situations. One good example being a rickety basket flying machine with foil wings.

He noted the sticky note attatched to the window, and decided that the refined accent of the voice from the audio tour matched the tweedy man perfectly. Certainly seemed like a low budget place so far: single man staff, self-recorded audio tours and a stone age aircraft. He sighed.

"If the state of this place is anything to go by, I dread the thought of how safe the acutal maze is," Tom said, voicing his thoughts to the rest of the group.

"So, do we take the flying machine, or wait for Mr. Boring down there to finish his calamari?"

He stood with his hands in his pockets and gazed out the window. Hopefully there would be no cruel tricks in this next stage.

Orion finally reached the top of the stairs, panting heavily. The climb had definitely been worth the sight, but an escalator would have been nice. He stared at the island as he tried to catch his breath. Could that be the entrance to the maze? It didn’t look inviting, that was for sure. If it was the maze, they’d probably have to take the boat to get there, but first they had to get down there. He then turned to the plane, a worried frown appearing on his face.

“I concur. The maze’s probably going to collapse if it follows this trend. That plane is trying hard to resemble a real plane, but it reminds me more of a carnival plane than a real one. Then again, it seems to be the only way down and since mister guide there’s still breathing, it should be safe. Probably. I’d say we go down there to make his acquaintance. If he goes through enough trouble to make audio tours available downstairs, I don’t think he’s a quick eater. He looks like the person who takes his time for everything and I can hardly blame him, I can't imagine this place getting many visitors. A shame, the view’s pretty neat. Besides, if we go down there, he might even have some food to spare,” he added, “it would be nice to have something to eat that isn’t an apple. No offence to apples, but they’re a tad too healthy for my liking,” he scratched his head as he stared at the glass house, “what is that? A lighthouse or something?”

Orion had gotten used to most things not making sense anymore. A tree that was actually a lighthouse, or at least a portal to a lighthouse. Well, all you could do was sit back and let it wash over you. At the very least it made sure the scenery kept changing. He took a deep breath, enjoying the salty air. He loved the sea. He might take a dive later on, though knowing his luck the water might be crawling with sharks. Or something worse, like a giant flesh-eating jellyfish.

“I wonder if that plane thing can make sharp enough turns to get back to the rock this... er... lighthouse is on” Andromeda wondered aloud. “I also wonder whether it can make it all the way to that giant cave which I guess must be the entrance of the maze. Maybe it can’t fly at all.”

Downstairs, a waiter fetched the guide’s plate, then brought him a newspaper, a cup, and a large teapot.

“I guess the safe option is to get the attention of Mr. Boring so he will open the door, and then to walk downstairs... but I’m not really in the mood to drag this backpack full of apples back down” Andromeda continued. A mischievous smile appeared on her face. “Oh, that gives me an idea!”

She took the last of the apples she had folded into the bottom of her top and tossed it down. “Hey! Open the door!”

Without even looking up from his newspaper, the man caught the apple in his hand. He took a bite, apparently completely uninterested in where the fruit had come from.

“No way! He just caught that apple and didn’t even look up! Looks like it will take a while before he’ll be opening any doors... Corki, what do you think we should do? Wait, where’s Corki? Is she up here yet?” Andromeda became a bit nervous now she wasn’t sure whether the other girl was around. She couldn’t quite explain why she was more confident when both of them were in the same place.

Corki was surprised it had actually worked, but smiled when given a medal. It was a shiny thing, a bit much, but she wasn't going to complain. Managing to pull it down over her neck, she followed the others inside the strange tree. Fascinating...the walls had changed, the sunlight came at odd angles and the voice recording sent a curious shiver of unease down her spine. It was breathtaking.

Not saying much, given her act of absorbing every detail of the area, she was the last to mount the stairs. Part of her didn't want to join them, having enough fun entertaining her theories about the inside of this tree. But when she saw the ocean instead of a forest outside the windows, she raced up, hearing her name in the process.

"I'm here," she assured, eyes flicking around in a circle, taking in everything. The ocean...she had never seen anything so vast before. Standing right on the edge, she watched it, mouth open and eyes wide. Waves formed and lumped over back into the water. Here and there, creatures emerged in a leap before vanishing back to the depths. Corki had no words to describe what she was feeling.

Still, part of her mind remained on the maze. Though she was frightful of such an idea, she knew she had bow skills enough to defend herself. Plus running. Running away was one of her best skills. As a Skipper, it was easy.

She noted the cave, the man below, the flying contraption. Everything put her more and more on edge, but the grin on her face grew and grew. "Shall we test it out?" she asked, hopping into the basket and urging the others on.

Orion gave the flying contraption a final glance. It hadn't fallen apart yet, he just hoped his added weight wouldn't be the final straw. He was less than eager to hop aboard. If it wouldn’t be able to support him, it would not lead to a painful but above all embarrassing relog. Eventually he gave in to Corki’s urges and carefully stepped inside the basket. For a moment the plane seemed to tremble but stabilized after he had fully gotten in. A soft breath escaped his lips. He turned towards the tower, smiling once more.

"Well, we're not dead yet. That's a plus! Come on Andromeda, join us!" he bellowed, "If my weight didn’t mean the end of this thing, yours definitely won’t. Come on, this is going to be fun,” he spoke with a broad smile, trying to reassure Thomas as well. The lad wasn’t at ease in here and Orion could hardly blame him.

“I just hope our friend down there didn't take any offence to the thrown apple. It wasn't exactly polite, but him ignoring us sin't either I suppose. Still, I'd hate to be on bad terms with him. If he managed to catch that, he must be more than he looks. Not a difficult feat, granted," he concluded as he studied the basket some more. He would have been more comfortable with a balloon, at least he knew how those things operated.
"So, does anyone have any idea how this works? Do we all just get in and cut it loose? Or is there a switch of some sort?” he looked at the outside of the basket for clues but immediately regretted his decision. Beneath him was a whole lot of air before there was any stable ground. He leaned back from the edge now gripped the basket with determination equal to Thomas’. He hadn’t realized just how high they were. If this didn’t work they’d probably end up as a nice splatter on the ground. The ground that was so far away. Orion mumbled a soft prayer, he could think of less painful and horrible ways to get reclogged. He tried to calm himself but the image of the gaping nothingness below them kept reappearing before his eyes.

Andromeda was glad Corki joined them, she felt more at ease again. She watched the others drop into the basket... actually, she didn’t watch them but the rope that attached the sailplane to the platform. It didn’t stretch, and didn’t begin to fall apart either. Good rope.

She wasn’t worried she might have offended the guide downstairs, she had recently failed a charm check after all. Probability did work that way, right?

She joined them in the basket when Orion assured her it was safe. Her observation of the behavior of the rope meant more to her than his words, but she didn’t want anyone to become impatient. Andromeda joined Orion in looking over the edge of the basket for clues how the vehicle worked. The distance to the ground gave her wonderful butterflies in her stomach. She missed the swaying of a high tree, but as soon as they would be flying there would be plenty of movement. This was going to be fun! As long as it didn’t end in a splash or a crunch anyway.

“It looks like a regular old basket on the outside,” she commented, “I think we have to cut that rope in the middle and then use those two ropes with handles on them to steer. Is anyone carrying anything sharp?” She noticed Corki had brought the bow and arrows. Those might work.

Andromeda thought it would be best if someone agile steered the plane, chances of crashing should be smaller then. Thomas couldn’t possibly fly with his eyes closed, and if Corki was going to cut or shoot them loose, that left lucky her. Grinning, she grabbed the steering handles. “Which way do we go? Into that huge cave, or down to mister Applecatcher? I promise I will try very hard not to land this thing in the sea. You know how much I dislike water.” She pulled the ropes to feel how the change in the way the wind pushed under them moved the basket. “Okay, I think I’m ready. And if you ask me, I prefer the cave over flying straight down and then maybe finding out one can’t get to the maze by boat and having to bring the plane back to the top of the lighthouse.”

“Captain?” Andromeda repeated. Strange that Corki would call her that. “Well if I’m the captain then I guess into the cave it is. Let’s go, Admiral!” She nodded at the rope Corki was ready to cut.

The homemade sailplane fell a few meters before it began gliding forward. The aluminum foil wings made a loud buzzing noise as the thing picked up speed, but they didn’t rip. Steering the plane was easier than expected, and Andromeda soon had it aimed straight at the cave and descending at the right rate.

...Until the plane got caught in an updraft in front of the cliff that contained the cave. She pulled on the right rope with all she had, but she wasn’t strong or heavy enough to make the plane make a turn sharp enough to avoid the rocks above the cave. If someone would think quickly and help her, they would spin down and land in the water in front of the cave. If not, one of the wings would break off and they would still end up in the same water.

Orion watched the proceedings with growing unease, hoping they wouldn’t crash and burn. He grabbed the basket even tighter, ready for probably the worst flying experience he would ever have in his life. When the rope was cut he resisted the urge to scream but calmed slightly when the plane was now floating instead of falling. For a second there he had feared they’d just drop down in a straight angle and end up getting relogged. He relaxed slightly when Andromeda seemed to have everything under control and enjoyed the sensation of the flight and the wind in his face. He got watery eyes from it, but it was also a pleasant experience. They neared the cave and just for once everything seemed to go according to plan.

Then they got caught in an updraft. Orion was first hurled to the floor and let out a loud groan, already regretting his decision of relaxing and loosening his grip. It seemed the universe hadn’t considered the dust he had eaten trying to catch Thomas enough. At least the basket seemed more or less dust free. He quickly crawled up with the intention of voicing his annoyance before seeing that Andromeda was tugging at a rope, without clear success. He didn’t know why she was doing it, but he was sure there was a reason.
He immediately walked up to the rope, shoved her aside and pulled the rope with all his strength. The plane started to turn, albeit slowly. He wanted to offer his apologies to Andromeda for his brusque interference, but when he saw the rocks beneath him he fell silent. The blood drained from his face as he pulled the rope with renewed vigour, turning the plane even further.

“Hold on tight everyone!” he roared, his words getting lost in the wind, “we might lose a wing, but not if I can prevent it!”

Andromeda was pushed aside by Orion who, together with Tom, managed to avoid hitting the cliff. Apart from a few splinters that were lost, the plane remained in one piece. It was now spinning like a maple seed. Andromeda grabbed the side of the basket, only seconds before they hit the water.

Corki was laughing. Andromeda wasn’t sure if "Best. Flight. Ever guys." was meant as sarcasm, and another emotion seemed to be mixed in with the more obvious ones her friend was having.

She felt the need to throw up, but a bigger problem appeared: her feet were getting wet. Her first panicky reaction was to climb onto the edge of the basket. Andromeda stopped herself - she didn’t want the basket to tip over. Water kept flowing in through the bottom and sides until it reached her waist. The basket had hit the bottom of the shallow water.

Andromeda calmed down when the basket stopped sinking. She slapped her forehead. “Stupid! Of course the wind that hits the island has to go somewhere!”

She turned her attention to the cave. There were no rocks at the bottom, instead there was a long flat area just below the water surface. They could have landed safely on that. Further in were broad stairs to a large door. The water between them and the cave entrance was full of sea urchins. She looked down at her bare feet underwater and at the boots she was carrying around her neck. “Oh, lovely. Sea urchins. Just when my boots got dry. Is everyone else wearing shoes?”

Andromeda began putting on her boots underwater, something she could never have imagined to want to do. It was a struggle to tie them without putting her head underwater.

---

The ceiling of the cave before the door was decorated with images of people and creatures from ancient myths, including Orion fighting the giant scorpion, and Andromeda chained to the rock.

Behind the door they would find themselves surrounded by a sea of little lights stretching in all directions into the darkness, as well as a huge number of people that all looked like the members of the group, walking in all directions, but stopping whenever they stopped. Not very far away they could see the glimmer of a gold coin, and a bit further a small gold statue.

((OOC Something will happen when/if the second object is picked up, so please stop there and let a GM describe the effect. By the way, “Tag All” works when you use it from the “Places” tab.))

Urchins didn't bother Corki, sea or otherwise, unless they decided to be a nuisance all on their own. She hopped out of the basket, a bit dizzy, but still able to put on a curious smile as she started for the staircase nearby. What caught her attention wasn't the door however, but the ceiling.

An elaborate depiction of figures were carved and painted into the stone, each different and some overlapping in beautiful displays of power and might. Corki's mind filled with wonder, filled with the echoes of stories she knew were behind each brush stroke. In pure amazement, she simply took a seat on the bottom stair and analyzed what she could of the work of art in the dimmer light. She couldn't even find words, until she saw a particular image.

"Is that...you?" Corki pointed to a certain figure with cat's ears chained to a rock of some sort. Corki squinted, standing up, as if the height would give her a better view. With the lights so low, it did nothing. Still, that was definitely Andromeda. No question. "Why are you painted on a ceiling?"

Andromeda sloshed through the shallow water. She was glad the stairs were dry, and not so glad her boots were wet again and this time salty too. Not because she would ever want to eat them, but because they would be uncomfortable once dry. She sat down next to Corki, who was staring at the ceiling. When she had finished taking off her boots and tied them around her neck again, Corki was still staring at the ceiling. Andromeda looked up too.

"Is that...you?" Corki pointed up and stood up to try to get a better view. "Why are you painted on a ceiling?"

Andromeda studied the paintings on the ceiling. After a while she laughed. “Oh, I get it. All those must be scenes from very old stories. I don’t know most of them but I recognize the one-eyed giant shepherd... And Andromeda was the name of someone who in a story got chained to a rock, to be eaten by a sea monster.” Andromeda looked at the water and climbed the stairs a few steps. “But someone saved her and then they got married. I mean Andromeda and the one who saved her, not the monster.” She viewed the scenes on the ceiling one by one, looking for something. She pointed it out when she found it. “Look, there’s Orion looking very manly fighting a giant scorpion. Nice portrait, Orion!” She giggled.

She pondered the question Corki had asked. “The puzzles must be made by someone. I wonder if my face will still be on that ceiling when a group without me arrives here...”

Andromeda pointed at the door. “If this one is all about old stories, there might be a dangerous bull-headed man in the maze. Literally bull-headed.” After a last look at the sea outside, she started for the door. “Still better than a sea monster that wants to eat me specifically. Corki, if I get tied to a rock in there, you will free me, right?”

She walked in, curious to see what was next. “Hey guys, come have a look! There are so many of me in...” *BONK* “Ow! What’s a glass wall doing here?”

Tom gingerly stepped out of the boat, having removed his shoes. Despite the anemones on the sea bed, he was determined not to get his shoes soggy, because there was no way he was putting them back on if they did. He picked his way through the waving fronds, finding patches of empty sand on which to tiptoe to the shore. Once he was there, he inspected his feet, hoping not to find any stings. Once satisfied, he dried his feet on his t-shirt and put his trainers back on, pleased with himself.

He made his way over to where the girls were standing, taking in the last part of their conversation. "Am I up there too?" he asked hopefully, searching the paintings for any trace of himself. Finding none, he came to the conclusion that Andromeda had already come to. "Huh. I guess they must be illustrations of old legends."

Andromeda wandered further into the cave, and began to call them before she was comically cut off by her collision with the wall. Tom moved over to have a look for himself. As he got closer, more and more duplicates of himself were revealed, each of them copying his movements exactly. He was confused for a few seconds, making hand gestures and silly faces to test his theory, before deducing that he was, in fact, looking into an array of oddly-angled mirrors. He turned to look at Andromeda, amused at her short-sightedness. "Seeing ourselves from a new perspective, are we?" he chuckled.

Having had his fun, Tom turned and scanned the mirrors for an opening. Once he was sure he'd found an open space, he walked towards it... and promptly felt his nose come sharply into contact with cold glass.

"Hmm. This is going to be harder than I thought..." he mused.

Orion was the last to get out of the basket. He was a lot less fond of flying now. For a second he had feared they would crash, but instead they had landed relatively easy. Still, he felt rather dizzy. He slowly waded through the water, trying to ignore the urchins. His shoes were being ruined and the bottom of his trousers would probably remain wet for ages. At least the water was at a low level. If he’d gotten completely wet, he might have caught a cold.
He stopped when they reached the ceiling, admiring the decoration. A slight laugh escaped his lips when he spotted his mythical counterpart.
“Well look at that. I’ve always hated scorpions and they definitely got my heroic appearance right,” he mused. The view made him slightly proud, even though it wasn’t him battling the scorpions. He then followed Andromeda through. When he saw all these copies of themselves, his first reflex was to storm back out. It was clearly some sort of fell magic. But when he realized what Andromeda had walked in on, it all started to dawn on him. He raised his right arm and watched all the other Orions do the same.

“Reflections. Of course,” he could hit himself for not immediately catching up on it. At least he had found out about it before panicking. If he had freaked out at his reflection, he would have never heard the end of it. He suppressed a mocking laugh when Thomas also walked in on a mirror. Orion tried to turn to his right but also hit a mirror.
“Oh for the love of. I hate mirrors!” he shouted, now spotting the coin and the statue in the distance. He slowly moved towards the coin, his arms stretched out in front of him. He looked ridiculous doing it, and the mirrors made sure he got a good view of that. He resisted the urge to smash them all, they were adding insult to injury. Finally he reached the coin. He cautiously picked it up and started tossing it in the air.
“Heads or tails? The winner gets to smash a mirror,” after a couple of tosses he missed a catch. The coin fell to the ground and rolled towards the statue. Bouncing from one mirror to another. He ran after it, walking straight into a mirror. He fell backwards, his head landing mere centimeters away from the coin.

“Ah, there you are,” he snatched it from the ground and crawled back up. For the first time he had a good look at the statue, wondering whether it would be made of actual gold. If this were the case, it would no doubt fetch quite a prize on the average market. He brushed some dust of his clothes and gave another look at the coin. It had been heads.
“Anyone want to toss for this statue? I'd say it would look great on my shelf or in a vault. I call tails" he added as he placed his hand on the head of the golden statue.

Following the wall by touching it with her fingers, Andromeda walked over to Orion and the golden items. The coin was worth five points. The statue should be worth significantly more, but oddly enough they had been given only the five for the coin. “Can I have a look at that?” she asked, and tried to pull the statue from under Orion’s hand without waiting for an answer.

Andromeda felt disoriented for a moment. When the world seemed steady again, she was still surrounded by thousands copies of the group members, but were they in slightly different positions now? In addition to the statue she now held the coin, and another Andromeda was trying to pull the statue from under her hand. She was too strong for her copy, in fact she felt stronger than she had ever been before.

Wait, how was one of her reflections able to touch something she was touching? Andromeda tried to have a better look at her reflections. No matter in which direction she turned, none of them imitated her movements. Had she been teleported to a different place, one without mirrors but with lots of clones? She reached out and found cold glass. Behind the glass, Orion did the same.

Finally, Andromeda looked down at her body. “No!” she said. “No!” she heard Orion’s voice say. “My b-” she stopped herself before finishing the word. Getting relogged now would be very bad, Orion might be stuck in her body forever then, and that was more intimate than she could appreciate. She looked over her shoulder. “And my tail too! No! I don’t like this at all!”

“Well, tails you got” she scoffed. “I hope there’s a way to undo this.”

At least they got a hundred for picking up the statue.

((OOC: Simple rules! 1: used items can’t be used again; 2: it’s not possible to swap with the person you last swapped with (but it can be done after first swapping with someone else); 3: have fun ;) ))

Orion let out a hoarse cry of surprise when he noticed what had happened. He stumbled backwards but tripped over the tail. He fell over, hitting another one of those mirrors and slid to the ground.
“Mama, I don’t want to play anymore,” he mumbled, still dazed by the blow. He slowly started to study his new body and let out a pained wail.
“My body…my youthful body, my muscles. No!” he cried out, the sound of Andromeda’s voice strange to his ears and making the situation even worse. At least he still had a high charisma, but that was hardly a consolation. He had liked his own charisma better. The tail was the worst though; it was so strange and made him feel unbalanced. He approached Andromeda and started tugging at the statue, hoping to undo the damage but nothing happened.

"Statue! Give me my body back! I command you to give me my body back!" he sighed and held the tail in one hand, studying it with a sad smile.
"No offense Andromeda but I don’t really like my current predicament. Not that there is anything wrong with your body,” he added quickly, colour rising to his cheeks as he realized that could be interpreted in many different ways, “but I like my own better. It’s more familiar for a start. Right now this tail is only confusing me. We should fix this. We must fix this.”
This whole situation was madness, talking to the new Andromeda made it seem as if he was conversing with himself. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm down. There would be a solution for this. There always was. Besides, the statue had been worth points; so it must have been intended to be used. All they had to do was stay calm. The problem was, it was hard to keep his cool when he kept tripping over a tail. He had no idea how Andromeda put up with it.

“Be careful with my tail, please. I’d like it back without too many footprints on it” Andromeda requested of Orion. She wondered why he didn’t lift it out of the way. Was his mind unable to control a body part it was not used to having? But one could modify ones appearance at relogs, so shouldn’t everyone be able to control a tail if they chose to have one?

She let go of the statue, it didn’t really matter who carried it anyway. “I guess we need to pick up more treasure and hope it changes us back.” She peered into the maze. It was difficult to tell which direction was which, but there was some gold glittering in what had to be further in because they hadn’t passed it yet. More coins, statues and jewelry were waiting for them.

Andromeda began walking in her best guess at the right direction, and promptly bumped her shoulder into a mirror. She was used to avoiding her own reflection when she knew there was a mirror somewhere, while other people would get out of the way. But now her reflection looked like Orion, as did she. The collision with the wall made her lose her balance, and without her tail reacting to that she fell away from the wall. She took a few steps in the direction her body was falling, and found the other wall by bumping into it with her other shoulder.

Her annoyed grunt sounded much more impressive in Orion’s voice. “Rargh! Let’s move. I need my tail.”

She used the trick of following the wall with her hand again. It was a good way to not get lost in a maze, and now it also helped her to keep her balance without a tail. If all those items in the distance had the same body swap effect, there would be enough to try out what it was like to be each of the others, but they would have to be careful to get everyone back in the right body before they ran out of gold to find. It could be interesting... She’d much rather swap with Corki than with Thomas or Orion again, though. That was strange, what difference did it make? She remembered holding Corki’s hand for longer than was necessary not very long ago, but the context eluded her. Perhaps she trusted Corki, she wasn’t really familiar with that emotion. Interesting... Or maybe she was just curious what it was like to be a skipper?

Andromeda stopped walking and thinking at two small figurines of men riding horses, placed facing each other from in front of opposite wall. “Okay, what would be the smartest thing to try now?”

Tom watched the exchange with a smile of amusement, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for Orion. He knew he would feel just as disorientated if he found himself suddenly in a female body. Just then, he had a brainwave. When he had seen mirrors before, there was always an edge, touching the floor, which was always most noticeable. Surely the easiest way to find the path would be to follow the floor where no edge was visible? He looked down. The floor was also reflective, and the conjoining mirrors were so well crafted that no seam was visible anywhere. Damn it.

Putting his hands out, he resorted to using his sense of touch to guide him through the maze. He might as well be blind, he thought. Oh well. At least the sight of endless reflections was more interesting than blackness. Seeing Orion - that is, Andromeda - wandering off on a pensive mood, Tom decided to follow her, not trusting his sense of direction to prevent him from getting lost. When he caught up with her, she was looking at two miniature horseman statues.

“Okay, what would be the smartest thing to try now?” Andromeda thought aloud, and Tom's own thoughts reflected much the same question.

"Could they be a warning? Like a marker, a point of no return?" he wondered, leaning in close to examine one. They were made of polished quartz and looked quite valuable. Thinking over the recent events, he posed a more daunting question. "What if they're like that statue further back?" He shuddered at the thought of swapping bodies with Corki. Not with disgust at having a figure such as hers, but with embarrassment at the thought of poor Corki being stuck with his pathetic human form.
Bemused, he stood and thought.

Encouraged by Corki, who seemed to have appeared from a different direction (although it was hard to to tell in a place like this), Andromeda picked up a statue. Apart from the group receiving a few hundred points, nothing happened. She touched Orion with the statue. Still nothing happened. “I suppose it would be too easy if we could avoid the swaps by not touching the same object at the same time” she thought aloud. “That coin was near a statue, and these two are close to each other too. Perhaps they are all pairs, which means...” She picked up the other statue and tapped Orion’s (or really her own) shoulder with it. “Tag, you’re it! ...Oooor not.” More points again, but not the desired body swap.

Andromeda stared at the statues in her hands. “Looks like these don’t work. Oh well, at least it’s not difficult for this body to carry them.” She gestured in the direction opposite to the one they had come from. “Shall we?”

Orion had been nearly scared to death when Corki had appeared in front of him. He was sure it had been a reflection, but it turned out she was 'the real thing'. This place was driving him nuts. Already he couldn’t tell left from right and no doubt he would soon be confusing up and down. He now understood why the audio file had hinted at the dangers of getting lost. He just hoped someone still had any idea where they were going and where they had come from.

He followed Corki towards the two statues and eyeballed them, making clear to the statues that he didn’t like them one bit. At first he didn’t want to come anywhere near them, but he was forced to admit he ran a much smaller risk than Corki or Thomas. He was already in a bad spot after all. He just watched as Andromeda touched him with the statue, a tad too harshly to his liking. He wondered if he also came across as harsh back when he still had his old body. He sighed when nothing happened. This was frustrating; he just wanted his body back but the silly puzzle clearly didn’t feel like cooperating.

He paced up and down, doing his best to avoid the mirrors altogether. The appearance of Andromeda kept disturbing his thoughts and right now he needed to focus. Finally he raised his voice:
“Maybe we should try using the statue on a different pair? It could be that the two of us are all swapped out or something. Could I perchance interest you in a body with a tail Thomas?” he suggested. Being in Thomas’ body would definitely be a step up, though he doubted Thomas would feel the same.

"Or maybe my old body? I can vouch for its decency and I assure you Andromeda hasn’t had it long enough to damage it. My body’s sturdy,” he spoke with a slight hint of pride, “come gather round everyone and have a go at the statue. With a little bit of luck you could be the proud new owner of the Orion Dahlberg body,” he added with a slight grin; Despite everything he was starting to enjoy himself. This situation was simply so weird you couldn’t keep brooding on it. Laughing was definitely a better response than crying.

"Maybe we should touch the old statue with one of the new statues?” he mused. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it would probably at the very least yield more points. That seemed to have been the average outcome so far and while it wouldn’t do anything about his current predicament; he liked points. No sense in getting so riled up he lost track of other important things. No sense whatsoever.

Tom had zoned out, not quite following the trail of events, and now he found Corki brandishing another statue, as if she intentionally wanted to swap with someone. Why would she even want that? Surely everyone was more at home in their own bodies?

The moment Corki said "Who shall I be?", Tom jumped backwards and hid behind Andromeda (Orion).
"Nope nope nope nope nope!" he blurted, panic at the possible change of body reducing his mind to single words. He liked his own body, even if others didn't.

He resolved to concentrate on completing the task they were supposed to be doing. Slipping past Corki, he put out his hands and continued exploring, but didn't get very far before a rather important thought entered his mind. He called back.
"Hey, uh, guys... What are we actually supposed to do to complete this trial?"
All the confusion had caused him to completely forget his objective. How were they supposed to complete the trial if they had no idea what to do? He hoped one of the others had the answer.

Andromeda noticed the statue in Corki’s hands. “Hey, how come you’re holding that without swapping with me? Assuming any of these statues work, of course... Hmm... if they do come in pairs, any plan to get everyone in the right body will get messed up when someone picks up the one matching that one. Better put it down, I guess, never mind the points. Unless you know where the other one is.” She felt the need to twitch her tail nervously, but lacking a tail she was unable to do that. It felt similar to being unable to sneeze.

She set down the two figurines she was holding, accidentally tipping one of them over. She was relieved it didn’t break. “O-okay. So. Let’s test if they are pairs, I suppose? If Corki picks one up and then tells us who should pick up the other, then, um, then we’ll see. I won’t mind being Corki for a while, if that means anything. Guess not having a tail would be an improvement for Orion, though.”

Andromeda took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Orion, for using your voice in such a ridiculous sounding way. You’re never nervous, are you?” She looked at Tom behind her. “Heh, don’t worry, Corki swapping with you would only complicate things further without a chance of helping to solve anything. Apart from getting everyone back in the right body, I suppose we have to get to the other side of the maze. I wouldn’t be surprised if that door we entered through is locked now, or has disappeared. The recording said we couldn’t leave the same way we entered, right?” Producing words, sentences, expressing thoughts aloud in a stream about which she wasn’t completely sure where it was going yet which contained sensible answers to questions helped her regain a sense of control. Still, she badly missed her tail.

((OOC: I didn’t plan to make these things pairs, but after the way Tom interpreted Corki touching a statue, it’s the sensible way forward. 3 2 1 swap!))

Orion had sat down on the ground, making sure to avoid sitting on the tail as he heard the others discuss how to use the statues. All of this had gotten confusing rather rapidly. Nevertheless, they were making progress. The thought of losing the tail wasn’t too bad; but at the end of the day he’d still not be himself. It would only be a marginally better solution to be Corki instead of Andromeda and would add a whole new degree of awkwardness. Having been in the body of one woman was bad enough already.
When Andromeda offered her apologies, he waved them away. He wasn’t really disturbed by it. As a matter of fact he found it to be rather entertaining to watch her, though also rather confronting. He wondered if he also looked that silly from time to time. Now he knew for sure he’d have to try to remain confident in the future or at least continue to show no doubts. They didn’t suit his body at all, though maybe Andromeda’s mannerisms were partially to blame. When she had finished her explanation he cleared his throat, eager to chip in. He tried to speak in a low tone but found the attempt most strenuous. He quickly resorted to a more normal manner of speech, for Andromeda at least.

“Ladies first,” he mumbled, “and by that I mean the actual ladies. Not the ones looking like ladies at the moment, just to avoid any confusion,” he stuttered, “I guess I will just hold on to your tail for a little while. Who knows, I might even get used to it. Maybe,” he added gloomily, “besides, no doubt we’re going to stumble upon some more statues soon to continue our massive swapfest. I can’t see an exit right now after all and something tells me these things are going to keep popping up until we get out of here. Your swap would open up room for me to swap with Corki next time and hopefully that should put me back in my old body. Unless this puzzle complicates things even more. I guess that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise,” he added as he tapped against his chin. Without noticing so himself, his new tail had started to move from left to right as he was thinking.

He froze when he saw it happen in the mirror, the tail immediately falling silent again.
“Well look at that, I got the thing to move. Maybe there’s hope for me after all,” he spoke with sparkling eyes. As he made eye contact with Andromeda, he realised his words might have been slightly irreverent. This was a part of her body he was talking about after all.
“Sorry,” he mumbled hastily, “I didn’t mean to disrespect your tail by calling it a thing or something along those lines. The lack of control I have over it just makes it seem slightly inanimate and that… you know, I’m just going to be quiet. My apologies,” he mumbled. Orion started to wonder why he was behaving so uncertain. It was probably due to the fact he didn’t feel at home in this alien body, but he needed to get his act together.

“Well, everything is a thing, right?” Andromeda saw no reason to be offended by Orion calling her tail a thing. It had to feel weird to have an extra body part, weirder than losing one. Certainly the human brain would have evolved to accept the loss of a limb (though she had once read about phantom limb syndrome), but not ever in the history of human evolution had anyone sprouted a new limb in seconds.

She considered the other things he had said. It was polite to let ladies do something first, but on the other hand if the ladies did go first, he would be the first to be back in his own body, which would make the ladies last. Then again, Andromeda wasn’t sure if she should consider herself a lady now she had a male body. In the end it didn’t matter, the difference should be only minutes, after which they would have to choose between being extremely careful about the swapping and not picking up anymore objects. Judging by the nasty surprises in past puzzles, it was likely it soon wouldn’t be obvious which object was paired with which. If there were pairs at all, of course.

“Alright then” Andromeda picked one of the rider statues back up. “Have fun being Orion” she said with a nervous giggle. This puzzle was almost as weird as changing into a flower. Almost.