AbyssalRoadTrip
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Abyssal Road Trip - 206 - Maze
🕑 Added 2022-06-13 04:55:53 +0000 UTCAmdirlain’s PoV - Maze
“Amdirlain, how were you reborn as my baby?”
Ebusuku’s voice snapped Amdirlain awake from the exhausted slumber that had swamped her after the corridor, but it took her a few moments to process the words. Amdirlain felt the grass tickling her back, and she realised she hadn’t even made it to her hidey-hole. Sitting, she found the pool was within arm’s reach, and she was lucky not to have fallen in.
“Was I dreaming?” Amdirlain asked the words echoing in the chamber when she moved to splash water on her face. “I swear she was whispering in my ear just then. Must have been my brain playing games with how I teased her.”
Rising, she headed past the trees to explore the Maze again. Through Astral Projection, she’d gained an awareness of others present, but she was reluctant to reach out mentally with so many unknown and foul-minded entities in range. She had spent too long healing to want to risk her mind by reaching blindly near new threats so soon.
The Maze children had memorised their Maze, but that had turned out to be a section of a larger one. If she couldn’t walk the mosaic corridor alone, she had to be ready when a trial occurred. Though she knew where one exit existed, she’d need a trial key to get through the blaze at the top of the stairs once the barrier lowered.
It was days before Amdirlain finished exploring the passages radiating from the staircase chamber—it had taken going back and forth within the Maze, mentally mapping corridors that ran for scores of kilometres with thousands of junctions. They formed a four-leaf clover of curling passages, with the hidden tunnel serving as a stem that connected them to yet another hall.
She’d found a near-even mix of empty and plant-filled chambers, and in one such room, she finally found someone else.
True Sight didn’t show them, but seeing rocks lined up to form strange patterns, she’d enabled Aura Perception. With that Psi technique active, their presence was unmistakable. They were all bipedal and humanoid, but they didn’t seem to have anything like the normal jointed limbs; knees flexed in reverse, and limbs twisted at odd angles off bloated shoulder joints. They sat around in groups of three or more engaged in some type of game; touching the ground between their limbs appeared to move objects in the spaces, but she couldn’t see anything shift.
Reassured by the calm, logical shades in their auras, she tried to touch their minds. Words and images came erratically through untuned static that felt like trying to make out a picture from an old black-and-white TV’s snowstorm. A flash of stones, twigs, and leaves on a lop-sided board skipped between images of faces that rarely had Human features; some lacked any sort of eyes or mouths from what she could tell the only exception being two who appeared almost Elven. While she only caught some of their features, those she did all had the same youthful presence as Ebusuku had described the children in the Maze possessing. The other common thread she could detect in their broadcast thoughts was a focus on overcoming the other’s strategy in their game.
They’re out of sync with me.
[Advanced Telepathy [Ad] (40) -> [M] (1)]
Amdirlain’s continued listening to their minds and eventually it was made clear how difficult it would be to communicate. None of them was listening to another's thoughts, and attempts to project to them didn’t seem to get through. While she was listening hard to hear them, she had no way of determining if they could even hear her attempts.
Teleport placed her at the outer archway of the junction chamber, the staircases and illusion-concealed passage beyond looked unchanged. Given the result of the mosaic corridor, unless Amdirlain gained a key, the only way out might be somewhere along the hidden passageway.
The corridor was the same as the ones she’d spent days exploring except for the lack of any branch in sight. It took her hours travelling at a pace that had the thorns ready to erupt before a T-junction came into view. Close to where it joined, the walls expanded outwards, curving away as they did so.
Without warning, she felt an energy she hadn’t noticed lift from her as she entered the expanding area. Oddly, the Maze felt less pleasant without it in place and Amdirlain took a step back—away from the T-junction—to assess the situation. Entirely within the regular width of the passage, she felt the energy settle around her again, somehow welcoming and providing a stable feeling of security. It was a reassurance that would do nothing to assist her in leaving, and Amdirlain quickly rejected the thought of remaining.
Turning back to the T-junction, Amdirlain looked in both directions but found nothing to distinguish between them. She was only a few hundred metres down the left-hand path when a message impressed itself into her mind.
[Warning: You have now departed your home region within the Maze.
Please be aware that the Maze places entities of similar affinity together to minimise the chance of aggressive action. While conflict with monsters and guardians won’t cause lasting harm, residents have the potential to bring ultimate death.
We strongly encourage you to return to your assigned region to avoid sustaining lasting harm.]
If they’re in here, eating the provided supplies, it will have hopefully weakened anything that had significant Class levels.
After the warning, it was another five or six kilometres before she encountered a passage branch. This time its structure gave the impression the passage she was travelling along branched off to the right, the curved corners funnelling into it like an organic growth. When Amdirlain entered it, the air washed a wild feeling across her, like being deep in the wilderness despite the enclosing stone.
The passageway ran along, unmarked, for hours before it ended with an illusionary wall that put up an odd resistance even though she could make out a space beyond. This time though, the room beyond was a mere shimmering mirage, and True Sight struggled to press through the illusion’s barrier. Eventually, a Power improvement chimed, and she looked into a staircase chamber that was identical to the one in her region: a staircase up, another down, and a corridor lined up with the passage she was in presently.
[True Sight [M] (44 -> 45)]
The engraving in the archway showed a giant eight-legged beast looming over figures that looked like humanoids and other animals. It didn’t take her long to spot it within the predatory aura’s sharp colours swirling around it, silhouetting an eight-legged creature with a wolf-like muzzle. A flicker of a small aura near a wall had the creature freeze, its attention snapped towards the movement. It pretended to ignore the other aura until it was in range—then it pounced. Yet within the predator’s aura wasn’t malice, but simply hunger. The aura’s colour shifted, showing the beast drifting off to sleep with its need calmed.
The thoughts she caught from it seemed a natural predator, simply following its instinct to feed. That touch gave her no sign of how mortals had once revered it, but she had enough precedents to make some guesses. Whether it was a case of hunter-gathers worshiping the ideal predator to gain strength to bring in food or something else was impossible to tell. Unlike the occupants she’d found gathered playing games, it seemed to have no desire to leave its territory. Though she couldn’t see it beyond its aura, Analysis had no issue providing details but didn’t provide a name, just that it was a hunter pseudo-power whose followers died through a plague.
Continuing her exploration led to other chambers containing a variety of wild and predatory spirits. They varied from a massive Remorhaz, whose room appeared to be tundra, to a blindingly fast, mongoose-like creature that darted about through an actual undergrowth. Within several of the other rooms, she noticed the auras of natural prey animals trying to avoid the notice of the apex predator they shared it with.
The preys' aura seemed more like that of a natural animal than the spirit feeding upon them. Analysis showed that the Predators were spirits that hunter-gatherers hoped to be blessed by, whether for their speed, strength, or sheer power. Killers, one and all, they weren’t killers for no reason, but only to sate hunger or in defence of their own—and Amdirlain had no axe to grind with them.
It took days of exploring to confirm, but each chamber simply held a creature following its nature. How anyone might recruit them to their service she did not know but she also had no sense of overt malice despite their predatory natures. Teleport placed her easily back at the main passageway and she headed onwards, picking up the pace enough to have the tattoos itching menacingly.
One region after another gave the same wild natural zest as the region with the predators until the fifth which had quieter energy. Curious, Amdirlain worked her way inside and, overcoming another strong illusionary barrier, she continued exploring the Maze.
The first chamber she found gave her a straightforward answer—it was another manifestation of a natural ideal but it wasn’t predatory. A strange giant elk moved about its chamber, grazing in a relaxed fashion on the foliage that re-grew in its wake, under what it felt to be a bright sun. Its aura was rich with strength, perseverance, and family. Telepathy’s touch had little noise to filter out. Indeed, in its mind, the chamber’s walls didn’t even exist; instead, it was grazing on an open plain, lonely for its herd yet unsure when they had become separated.
Further explorations only showed more of the same within that offshoot of the Maze, various herbivores representative of similar themes. Amdirlain teleported back to the main corridor without worrying about counting the lost days and continued to the next junction.
Beyond a series of areas that felt majestic and wild, she encountered a region with a predatory vibe laced with malice and delight in suffering. Despite that, there was nothing different with the corridor nor the strength of the illusionary wall. Only when she found a chamber did the archway make the nature of the entities that inhabited it clear. The engravings showed a bipedal creature cutting apart creatures identical in appearance to itself. They engraved those it cut apart in such detail as to show their muscles taut and struggling to get free from its grasp.
Beyond the archway was a chamber bare of foliage littered with gnawed bones. The figure within possessed a broken aura, with cruelly edged spikes jutting from what should be a smooth energy flow. Still, it showed where it squatted atop a bone pile, its movements jerky as it gnawed at something held before it.
This Power offered strength from its aspects of cannibalism, torture, and ritualist murder. Let’s see if Ki Infusion lets me make contact the way it would with an incorporeal creature. Wonder if it was like a Wendigo?
Ki Flight kept her from contacting any of the bones while slipping inside the chamber, but she found the foul energy vibe reduced upon entering the room. Studying the creature’s posture, it was easy to spot its defensive attitude with its gaze fixed on the archway; rather than looking for more prey, it seemed ready to leap aside if something came inside.
Puzzled by its behaviour, Amdirlain still quickly closed the distance between them. Activating both Ki State and Ki Infusion, Amdirlain studied it and felt Death Strike’s guidance when it arched its neck to gnaw away at whatever it was holding. Her blade hand strike barely slowed as her infused flesh made solid contact; Amdirlain felt a soft pop of separating flesh and bone, and the suddenly fading aura showed its head bouncing away.
[Combat Summary:
Malevolent Spirit x1
Total Experience gained: 1,620
Fallen: 324
Scion: 324
Sora Master: 324
Psion: 324
Warrior Monk: 324
Warning: Continuation of such behaviour will draw a Maze Guardian’s attention.]
One less vile thing that won’t ever get out of here. Now to find the next chamber and see if they’re similar.
The creature she found in the next chamber was more like a land-based octopus. A multitude of limbs held it off the ground while the end of two tentacles dipped into a shallow pool and brought whatever coated them to its mouth for it to lick clean.
Those that worshipped it saw it as having control over all aspects of murder, corruption, and spiritual destruction.
A single blow planted her fist deep into the aura around its main body, and for a moment, its presence flickered into existence in True Sight as its body slid from her arm. Eyeless, its thick skin showed an abrasive shark-like roughness covered by gel that slurped off her arm when the body dropped.
[Combat Summary:
Malevolent Spirit x1
Total Experience gained: 1,620
Fallen: 324
Scion: 324
Sora Master: 324
Psion: 324
Warrior Monk: 324]
“Please return to your assigned accommodations.”
The crisply spoken words had her spin towards their source, hands already raised protectively. What she found wasn’t a comforting sight, but neither was it unexpected; within a translucent humanoid shell, cogs and gears churn about almost identical to the Titan’s Servant from Judgement. However, this one came equipped with a spear and shield, and it seemed ready to make use of them.
Analysis
[Species: Maze Guardian - Tier 1(Construct)
Class: Solider / Scout
Level: 50 / 50
Health: 2,500
Defence: 320
Melee Attack Power: 280
Combat Skills: Spear [M] (20)
Details: A focused combat construct used to keep the peace between the Maze’s residents.]
At least it’s not that Servant from Judgement.
“If I don’t?”
The gears within the unit started back and forth before it replied, almost a soundless laughter. “Then this unit or another of its kind will ensure you’re returned there.”
“No offence, but I don’t think you’re up to that task,” replied Amdirlain. Even as she spoke, she repositioned nearer to the wall in case other reinforcements suddenly appeared.
“The material capability of this unit indeed restricts me, but procedures state that immediate escalation to activating an inevitable is wasteful.”
Not risking a glance at the fading aura of the headless entity, Amdirlain kept the conversation going. “You look stronger than the entity I just dealt with.”
“This unit is stronger than the average resident in this region. Please return to your assigned space promptly.”
“You’re controlling that from somewhere else; you’re not some living intelligence within the unit, right?” asked Amdirlain.
“Being restricted to an individual unit would be inefficient,” replied the construct. “Destruction of this form will cause the allocation of additional units.”
“Do you mind if I ask a few questions?”
“I do not believe you should require directions to return to your assigned space; you possess a restricted capacity for Greater Teleport but it's more than sufficient.”
Amdirlain smiled at its knowledge of her abilities. “Do you feel pain?”
There was emotion in the construct's voice for the first time, as it almost laughed. “How would that be efficient?”.
A motion blur ended in a single punch that shattered the translucent shell. When the metal fragments stopped bouncing, they melted into the stonework.
[Combat Summary:
Species: Maze Guardian - Tier 1
Total Experience gained: 4,700
Fallen: 940
Scion: 940
Sora Master: 940
Psion: 940
Warrior Monk: 940]
“Just wanted to make sure,” Amdirlain said, hefting the spear she had seized before it could hit the ground. Twirling it one-handed, she checked the shorter point at the opposite end and spun it around a few more times to test its balance.
“Please return to your assigned accommodations.”
The words didn’t come from one unit this time, but from two sources spaced apart within the chamber. Analysis returned the same attributes from each, and that was all Amdirlain needed to know. The borrowed spear led the way, and she used it to brush aside the glacial-paced attempt at a parry. The purpose of her using the spear wasn’t to destroy it, but to distract it, and the kick struck hard. A brutal sweep below its shield took out its footing before the turning kick hurtled it across the chamber, taking out its backup with it in a spray of parts.
There wasn’t an experience point announcement as the parts cascaded about three new units were already in play. Spread out in a line facing her, two held the same spear and shield, while the centre had a long shaft in two hands with a cruel crescent on the haft’s end. A nearly complete circular band with a spiked-lined interior intended to allow the wielder to secure a humanoid around the neck and force them to submit.
“Come here often?”
Her words halted their approach, and they let down their guard a fraction.
“Please return to your assigned accommodations.”
Amdirlain’s reply came via a Teleport that put her at the left end of the line, her dropping spear drawing their attention even as her kick obliterated the shield, cannoning the spear unit towards the line’s centre. Unfortunately, her kick this time was too strong and instead of a destructive impact, fragmented components sprayed the one man-catcher unit chipping away at its translucent shell.
“If I talk, do you stop?”
The units immediately turned and faced her. “Please return to your assigned accommodations.”
“That’s a yes. Why aren’t I allowed to destroy these foul things?”
“You are a resident,” insisted the man-catcher unit. “You’re not permitted to render a verdict.”
“In that case, why can a resident hurt another resident if it’s not allowed?” asked Amdirlain, hoping she’d be able to argue them into letting her clean up the trash.
“Such a question is outside this unit’s area of responsibility,” replied the man-catcher.
Amdirlain blurred in a turn while teleporting, and the kick smashed the spear unit into its damaged colleague, bursting them open like mechanical piñata. Before their remains hit the ground, Amdirlain was already moving based on Precognition’s guidance. Four foes appeared encircling where she’d been a blink earlier; the three spear units angled inward to force her towards a man-catcher.
The air was still shimmering around the centre spear unit when an axe kick shattered its shield arm off at the shoulder, the momentum of the blow hastening its fall. Leveraging its staggering body, she shoved the damaged unit to the right and, grasping the shield’s edge, flung it, with the arm still attached, at the man-catcher unit in the squad.
A perfectly formed thrust from the left might as well have been moving through molasses to Amdirlain’s perceptions. A quick grab let her seize the spear’s haft and, with a yank that pulled the unit off balance, Amdirlain moved. With the thrust coming towards her, she kept hold of the haft while she rolled away to add more momentum, and jammed the spear’s point into the first unit’s open arm socket; the gears inside shearing off the tip. A ground-based sweep looked almost dance-like but brought the two smashing down.
Coming to her feet tempted the man-catcher to strike at her neck. Instead, she fell sideways to apply an elbow drop, the wrestler’s move aided by Ki Strike and Death Strike calling out a vulnerable spot among the gears. Her impact shattered the shell and sent a shock wave through its construction, tearing the insides apart.
The attempt by the man-catcher to ensnare her instead thrust uselessly above her, and Amdirlain teleported behind the unit. Ki Strike empowered a punch that exited the front of its chest, and spinning, she flung the body at the one-armed unit, smashing them both apart. This time, Precognition warned her of an encircling emplacement and she teleported through the archway as a group of eight appeared around the chamber’s perimeter.
A broad passage with her alone holding it wouldn’t be a suitable defensive location by any means; it merely stopped their initial appearance from encircling her. She didn’t hinder their smoothly coordinated motions but studied them as a mini-phalanx formed and hastened towards the archway. Four spear wielders set the front rank, interlocking shields and spear tips danced about, trying to herd her as they drew close. Two man-catchers formed the second rank; their weapon’s three-metre long hafts reached well beyond the front rank's shields, waiting for a moment to exploit. The last two spear wielders moved carefully, apparently intent on protecting the phalanx’s rear.
She repeatedly drew back down the corridor, watching them approach and feeling Death Strike’s understanding of them grow. It was a chill reminder of Lêdhins watching her in Ternòx, but that didn’t stop her from letting the Power educate her about these foes. When they closed the range again, they paused, clearly expecting that she’d retreat. When the spear tips thrust, Amdirlain struck, Telekinetic Thrust exploding forward with air-cracking force; an invisible battering ram down their formation’s middle sent them flying into the sides.
Amdirlain’s movement became a blur, and the last was regaining its feet when a scythe kick also claimed its head. Like the other shattered pieces, it dissolved as soon as it stopped bouncing. The front rank of another formation stepped over it with no hesitation, and another formation of eight rounded a bend in the passageway, trying to pin her between them.
“Is this like the backgammon betting dice now? Doubling up each time?”
“Please return to your assigned accommodations.”
The words seemed to originate from all the units at once, and Amdirlain glanced between the two groups, which had paused when she spoke.
“Really? That’s all you have to say?”
“Please return to your assigned accommodations. Procedures dictate that upon any violence between residents we need to ensure the survivors promptly return to their accommodations.”
The words this time seemed to come from the closest spear unit, and Amdirlain turned her attention to it. “I just need to return to my accommodations, then we forget all about this? What about the units destroyed?”
“The resources required to construct these units are meaningless, hence the escalation procedures.”
Waving her hand towards spots where pieces of metal had recently dissolved, Amdirlain gave the unit a wry smile. “Happy to throw away thousands of these to avoid using the more expensive ones?”
“The materials for millions of these units, or even higher tier units, do not equate to the expeditor for forming one ‘Inevitable’ unit. Fatigue or hunger will eventually force you to return to your accommodations. We need only continue to delay you.”
“This doesn’t discourage me. Do you understand that?”
“We will follow the procedure; please ensure your compliance.”
Amdirlain laughed and slapped her hand against her leg, the tattoo suddenly itching as if it objected to her being in good humour. “You know that doesn’t work well for me. I complied with someone else’s rule once, and look what it got me.”
“That thing growing on your Soul is not our concern. You will comply.”
The Psi technique was one she had just started learning towards the year’s end. It hadn’t been a technique on her schedule for the year, just a matter of studying ahead. Disintegrate sounds high-tech, but the Psi technique had the same effect as what she’d witnessed with the broken pieces. The unit that told her to comply dissolved into nothingness, molecular bonds snapping away and releasing a cloud of heated gas, with the excess energy bled off into the ether where ectoplasm originated.
“Is there anyone else that wants to tell me to comply?”
“Please return to your assigned accommodations.”
A wolf-like smile was their last warning. Amdirlain reappeared behind the furthest phalanx and cut loose. Energy Surge wasn’t Sith lightning, but the Psi technique did an excellent impersonation. Shaping its manifestation into electricity had the unleashed power arcing between the figures as it raced down a forty-metre stretch of passage. The initial surge didn’t destroy all of them, but Amdirlain didn’t stop at one. The electricity that arced white-hot between them cracked open shells and melted gears to make quick work of her opponents.
The destruction of those sixteen had thirty-two appear to meet the same fate, then sixty-four, before the corridor became flooded with one-twenty-eight units. It was a wild, swirling melee, salted with blasts of power. The time that group took Amdirlain to destroy was more an aspect of being spread out than anything else, they too dropped to Ki assault, raw telekinetic blasts, and energy manifestations. When the last pieces melted into the floor, it felt as if the Maze had taken a breath and a combat summary appeared.
[Combat Summary:
Species: Maze Guardian - Tier I x 257
Total Experience gained: 1,207,900
Fallen: 241,580
Scion: 241,580
Sora Master: 241,580
Psion: 241,580
Warrior Monk: 241,580
Telekinesis [M] (4 -> 5)]
The lone figure that appeared carried a hook-bladed axe and a round shield, and instead of a translucent shell, it appeared made of solid metal.
[Species: Maze Guardian - Tier 2 (Construct)
Class: Soldier / Scout / Fighter
Level: 50 / 50 / 50
Health: 5,700
Defence: 420
Melee Attack Power: 380
Combat Skills: Axe [M] (30), Grapple [M] (30)
Details: A focused combat construct used to keep the peace between the Maze’s residents.]
A smooth helm fixed its attention on her, and its words were almost a repeat of the others. Its flatly intoned words seemed to come from vibrations from its surface.
“I insist you return to your assigned accommodations.”
“I take it that those materials are less restrictive on your capabilities?” asked Amdirlain cheerfully. She snatched a moment to check her Ki and Psi reserves and found them still largely intact but made adjustments to their presentation in her mind’s eye.
“They are less restrictive, but still, they have limits.”
Catching the edge of dissatisfaction in its tone, Amdirlain gave it a genuinely amused smile. “Is it the ‘Inevitable’ unit that lets you cut loose properly?”
“No, it is still inadequate; it is, however, a more acceptable host.”
“When is the last time you took the brakes off?”
“When I accompanied the others into the Abyss.”
Amdirlain almost spluttered but inclined her head politely and gestured in what she believed was the direction of the closest exit. “You know, we could bypass all this by just providing me a key and opening a barrier.”
“That is against procedures.”
“Doesn’t it seem a little wasteful?” asked Amdirlain.
“The expenditure of these units is meaningless, and we both know you’ve gained from this Orhêthurin.”
Being addressed by that name drew a disappointed huff. “That isn’t my name anymore.”
The unit gestured towards her with the axe and repositioned the shield. “Perhaps not, but these procedures are what you designed. We will hold you to account by them as well.”
“Is that a royal we, an official we, or are you just taking the piss?”
“Official.”
They spoke the curt word with the force of a disapproving slap, but their attitude just brought forth Amdirlain’s smile. “Do you have a name I could call you?”
“If you can’t recall enough to know the four he would have sent, I’ll keep my name to myself. Your father can’t interfere with the official rules here; you insisted on neutrality in these confines.”
“That’s fine. I remember desperately wanting to hold the Greek Gods to account, to want them stopped from running over mortals at their merest whim. I don’t suppose you’d tell me who killed Apollo?”
“That is not within my authority to share.”
“You’re rules-lawyering, aren’t you? How is that going to help me in here?” grumbled Amdirlain. “I want to know who I have to give a present to when I get out of here!”
“I insist you return to your assigned accommodations.”
“Do you normally handle the Maze Guardian units?” asked Amdirlain, sceptical that a concept’s aspect would attend such a duty.
“Given you are here, I felt it was suitable.”
“I think that’s a case of you using the situation to fulfil your desires in that case. Don’t you? It's a clear sign you’re losing perspective.”
The unit lurched upright, its body straightening from its guard stance.
Amdirlain teleported behind it the instant its position shifted, and a backhand strike sent the unit’s metal body hurtling into the wall. The impact cratered its head and dropped it to the ground. Before it could rise, she reappeared atop it, administering a flurry of blows into its back that only ended when her fists were wrist-deep through the metal, causing the unit to slump. The moment it did so, two identical units appeared with her positioned between them in the corridor.
Though the tattoos crawling under her skin tried to sour her desire for the fight, Amdirlain focused on gaining strength snarled. “Game on.”
“Law shall prevail.”
The stereo response just widened Amdirlain’s grin, and she attacked.
Comments
Glenn Wright
Had my big word shoes on, guess I could have just said, encountered a sudden and unexpected event somewhere along her trail. ;)
Glenn Wright
The four horseman theme would have been nice, but disease and famine would have benefitted too many demons rather than done harm to them.
buca117
"Trail precipitant" I, on first attempt, read this as "trial participant". I've read way too many fan translated novels.
StormyAngel
Ha. Leave it to Amdirlain to fall into a training simulator. Now she has access to an ever-escalating XP farm which the system explicitly promised cannot permanently harm her, and she has no reason to feel guilty putting her grinding boots on and testing herself against them. And if I'm understanding the rules right, she has a loophole that should allow her to *gradually* eliminate the evil spirits too once she gets back to that. Just kill two and teleport back to her assigned quarters for a minute. Rinse and repeat. Since Eleftherios was Death and Laodice's been revealed to be War, I'm tempted to assume there's a four horseman theme going on here. The options available (famine?) don't really fit though. I'm guessing this one (the one who returned) is either Law or Justice. Anyway, I'm kind of torn between wanting Amdirlain to get the most out of her opportunities here and for her to leave as soon as possible. Obviously she isn't facing a choice on that until she gets a key, but it does seem like it would be a waste to leave before getting some good entities free/wiping out the bad ones, etc. I guess we'll see how this plays out. Thanks for the chapter!
Robin Richards
Interesting... I wonder how much XP she can gain before they force her back to her room, if there are any costs with getting forced back and how many times she'll do this before something changes
Xtriver
Nice
