Ch17: Braving the Labyrinth
It didn't take our group long at all to reach the Swordsman's Labyrinth, which was literally just a short distance northwest of Red's cabin. Upon entering, Stella looked at the place and was in awe. "Wow... I remember this place..." Stella spoke as she flew out of my cleavage again. "Wait, you've been 'ere before, Stella?" Yangus asked the fairy. "Yeah, but that was back in the days of the Protectorate... and this place back then was called the Gittingham Palace. And believe you me, this place is actually much better now than back then."
"Wait, this was the place of the Gittish Empire? I remember that tale when I was growing up at the Abbey," Angelo said. "The House of Gitt was said to be the most powerful army of monsters in the world, wanting to destroy the known world and then declare war on... well, wherever Stella is from." "Well, you've done your homework at least, Mr. Suave," I frowned as Stella returned to my chest again. "Either way, I think I see the chest that contains the Venus's Tear... shouldn't be a problem, if only we didn't have such a large gap in the way," I pointed out.
"How about we go around using the stairs to descend? We may be able to find a route through that hole in the center," Jessica said with a smile. "Good thinking, Jess. Now let's go nab ourselves a Venus Tear," I smirked as I led the way down into the depths of the labyrinth. After walking on the pathways for a bit and getting past a couple of different traps (I made sure to avoid the trick door at all costs), we eventually came to the room that was directly beneath the hole in the top of the place. It was a bit of a stretch, but I knew exactly how to get up there even if the others didn't.
"Hmm... a bunch of tiles, a duo of statues that correspond to each tile... and a hole above us. What do you guys say to moving the statues to match where the hole in the ceiling is?" I asked Angelo and Yangus. "You got it guv!" Yangus smirked as Angelo simply walked over and did the same. Within a few seconds, they had gotten the statues to line up so that they were positioned towards the one hole near the corner. "Okay guys, we'll go up one at a time so we don't get turbulence," I ordered, stepping on the platform and being bounced up and into the area that held the treasure chest.
After the others made it through (Angelo being the last), we continued forward when I finally realized that something was off. The whole time we had been here, the monsters were completely absent. None of them wanted to come out, if there even were any that was. "I 'ave a bad feelin' 'bout this box," Yangus gulped as I went to open it and, just as expected, the Trap Box came out to play.
"I take it you're not a friendly monster?" I asked as I instinctively jumped backwards when he tried to crush me with his spiked arms. It didn't answer, instead lunging for me again with the sharp nails in its hands. I jumped out of their reach and focused some earth magic around the Trap Box, slicing off his arms with two cobblestone spikes shooting up from the ground. The Trap Box died right there and spat up the Venus's Tear from its mouth.
"Awright! We got it! The Venus's Tear!" Yangus smirked as he held the teardrop-shaped gem in his hand. "Okay. Now that we have that, what say we get going back to Red then? I have a hunch that she'll be happy to see this little gem," I smiled as I cast evac and we all warped to the front entrance, right in front of Trode. "I see you were successful. Now let's get my daughter back!" Trode exclaimed. I simply smirked and walked us toward the direction of Red's house, the sun beginning to set in the distance.
When we finally made it back to Red's shack, we were surprised to see Medea already out of her pen and Red right next to her. "Um... what's going on here?" I asked, wondering what in the hell was happening. "I 'ad a feelin' you'd come up wiv the goods, so I let 'er out before'and. Any problem wiv that?" Red asked as I held the Venus's Tear in my hands. "No problem at all, Red. In fact, I was actually hoping that I could ask you a question," I smiled.
"Go ahead and ask anyfink. You got me my jewel so I'm indebted to you lot," Red smiled. "We were wondering... is it possible if we could all sleep here tonight? We wouldn't want to fall asleep in Pickham and have everything stolen again," I frowned, actually being completely serious with my voice and face. "Sure, I'll bed ya fer now. But don't be thinkin' that means I want to do anyfink naughty wiv you, elf," Red frowned.
"H-How did you-" "You're 'orse 'ere told me everyfin already. And no worries, coz it's a pretty big secret, so I'll keep it 'idden... at one cost, 'owever," Red frowned, shocking me and the others. "What kind of cost?" I asked, wondering how much gold I had to put out because of Medea's mouth. "You lot are goin' after a bloke, which means travelin' the 'ole world. I want in on that action." "Well, welcome aboard then," Trode smirked. "COR BLIMEY!" Yangus exclaimed. I could only laugh at that.