For the love of gold (LunarCinnamon & Courtney)

Emily: Level 10 - 0/4 progress points to next level - 20 rooms away from riches!


It was strange that a place so famous could still be hidden, especially considering that the story had circulated across the county for well over two hundred years. It was ‘The Maze of the Heretic Queen’ it was called, though in all truth the woman who had built it had by all accounts been more of a witch than any sort of legitimate monarch. The details varied depending on who was telling the story, and indeed how drunk they were at the time, but the general gist of it stayed the same.

Two hundred years ago, the witch (who’s name was lost to time) had realised that her life’s work would be incomplete by the time that old age took her. Being the malevolent creature that she was, the thought of her work being finished by someone else and the credit going to them was horrifying, yet she could not bring herself to destroy what she had worked on for so very many years.

Her solution was to bury her journal, along with all of her valuable worldly possessions, in a great and expansive underground maze. No ordinary maze would suffice of course, it was filled with magical traps, creatures to guard it, and all sorts of devious contraptions designed to confuse and bewilder any would-be thieves.

As spiteful as she was though, the witch thought about her maze, and was equally disturbed by the idea of creating such a place without it ever being used to torment those who sought to rob her. And so, before passing away she spread rumors of its existence but not the location, making sure to point out that the entrance was barred by no gate, nor shut tight with any lock. With that, the evil hag passed away.

Many a person had sought and searched, eager to plunder such a valuable cache of riches, but until today, none had found it. Until today. A young adventurer by the name of Emily was the person to finally find the entrance, a craftily hidden open stone doorway carved right into the side of a mountain, off the beaten path.

Inside was dark at first, but with the first step inside torches that lined the walls burst into flame of their own accord, revealing a completely bare stone room, circular and about fifteen feet across. The only ornamentation at all was a stone pillar from which hung a brass bell with a chain to ring it, a faded plaque next to it which read:

“For those who would disturb my rest, heed these words afore your quest,
Ring once this bell to wake the spell, else two sure peals will break the seals."

Emily had been born in a rather small village on the outskirts of a rather dreary kingdom. There was nothing special about her nor was there anything interesting. She was a beauty, but that was truly all she had going for her. She was not a master with her sword, nor was she a tradeswoman with sewing. She was, for all accounts, completely ordinary.

Her long red hair was just about the only thing that was even remotely interesting to anyone. But otherwise, she was an ordinary girl on the hunt for something particularly hard to find.

Emily had heard rumors of a mysterious labyrinth hidden somewhere in her lands. The stories she'd heard were monstrous tales of fire breathing dragons and demons alike. But, for Emily, a girl of ordinary if not almost naive logicality, she didn't believe a word of it. To her, this maze was simply that. It must just be a plain old maze, nothing special about it.

Though of course, this was not that case. In fact that maze was created by an evil witch many years ago. Inside of it held treasures beyond any mere mortals dreams. But, like any adventurers tale, the maze had to have guardians and monsters. Within this maze lay several threats. From traps to sentient beings bent on physical harm. Emily had shuddered at the thought but, upon each time she'd heard the story from drunkards in bars, she'd been reassured that the physical harm inflicted on travelers who made it there was of the more... sensual kind.

It was with this knowledge that Emily had decided to make her way up the mountain side no less than 3 weeks ago. She was dressed from head to toe in as many layers as she could possibly wear, refusing to be touched by anything evil. Even if she refused to believe anything evil lived there at all. Or, truly, that there even was a maze. She wasn't sure what compelled her to go looking for it when she believed in her heart that it wasn't real but, here she was, traversing a dangerous cliff side.

It was late evening when she finally discovered a dimly illuminated cavern as she side stepped along a ledge.

Emily ducked in, the torches along the wall lighting aflame immediately. They startled her, causing her to jump back, nearly tripping over a rock and falling down the mountain. She managed to steady herself though, jumping back into the cave mouth. Here it was. The Maze of the Heretic Queen, or so she'd been told it was called. With a grimace at the mildew smell surrounding her, she grabbed one of the torches and continued her journey.

It was when she approached a strange looking brass bell and a plaque that she finally stopped to look around. A stone pillar held the bell and the plaque, while the room around her was barren and almost eerie. It was quiet aside from the drip of water in the far corner, the stone beneath her feet somehow green with moss even this deep in the mountain as if it were magic keeping it alive. Emily scoffed at the thought, reading the plaque with a particularly confused and scrunched up expression.

She'd never been too good with riddles, and she wasn't about to start being good with them now. She looked around once more, a tentative hand reaching out to touch the cord of the bell.

Ring once to break the spell. Emily figured that last part of the riddle sounded a little ominous. She wasn't sure what kind of seal she'd be breaking but, somehow now that she was truly standing in this room, she felt as if she might as well be more careful. Deciding to try and not tempt fate for once in her life, Emily rung the bell only once, awaiting what would happen next.

The riddle in this first chamber hadn't been a particularly fair one to begin with, as after all there had been no mention of either the spell's effect or what the seals were. In the end it simply came down to which sounded less ominous, a spell or a seal. Perhaps in the end though it was a slight misreading that served Emily well, as indeed she was mistaken if she thought she was ringing the bell in order to break a spell. But all the same, she had pulled the cord once.

A sonorous peal of brass sounded through the chamber, and at first it seemed as though nothing had happened, for a few long seconds at least. Then, a section of the wall next to the bell started to make a grinding noise, before sinking into the floor. A hidden doorway! It was completely dark in the newly revealed room, but the light cast from this chamber revealed what looked like a corridor.

All of a sudden the second room performed the same trick as the first, rows of torches coming to life in a flash of light. As the glare settled, the figure of a woman, or something a little like a woman, would be visible standing in the opening between the room Emily was in and the corridor. She looked distinctly displeased to see the human.

The creature was about the same height as the redhead in front of her, if you excluded the fact that she had a pair of eight inch tall curled horns protruding from the top of her blonde head. The folded wings behind her only served to make her rather slim frame seem impressively large, adding to the impression that the horns gave. If that hadn’t been enough, she was also wearing a suit of armour, though what use a suit of armour so scandalously revealing might be was certainly questionable. Still, it added to the air of menace around her, as she folded her arms and blocked the hallway ahead.

“You should be proud of yourself” she announced in a sardonic tone, voice smooth as silk and a little husky. “You managed to avoid being killed in the very first chamber, no doubt you’re sure that makes you worthy of my mistress’ treasure. More’s the pity though, my job would have been much simpler if you’d simply gone and died, be a dear and give that bell a second ring would you? It would be a great service to me if you did… No? Very well”.

With a sigh the woman, or judging by her appearance, demon, announced in a tone that was somehow both bored sounding and theatrical. “You have stand before the realm of the Heretic Queen, a place from which none may return alive, lest at the cost of their sanity. Leave now and your trespass will be forgiven. Should you instead choose to enter, you will find yourself in a labyrinth, inhabited by creatures who wish to forestall you, traps to waylay you, and tricks to beguile you. What say you, mortal?”

Tapping her foot the demoness added in a more conversational tone “And do try to decide quickly, the sooner you get on with it the sooner I can leave you to your fate”.

Emily stepped back with a start at the grinding of stone next to her. She watched as a secret door way revealed an even more secret tunnel. It illuminated itself much like the last entry way had. Though this entrance seemed to hold something more sentient than a bell or a riddle. Emily squinted through the darkness before the torches finally illuminated what almost looked to be a human woman. Save for, of course, the huge horns and the very obvious ominous aura around her. Emily placed a hand upon the sword on her hip, though she did not remove it yet from it's sheath.

Emily thought the woman in front of her to be some sort of demon, perhaps a succubus. But that couldn't be right could it? The horns on her head had to be some sort of strange armor to match the already scantily clad woman's attire. It wasn't until Emily finally saw the creatures wings that she realized she was just trying to spare herself from admitting she was wrong about such beings.

Emily looked toward the bell once more, eyeing it at the creatures words before her. Who would have thought she could have died in this room already. Whatever the witch was hiding had to be good. For Emily though it was more about proving everyone else wrong down at the base of the mountain rather than acquiring gold. But, now that she herself had been proven wrong, she supposed the lust for riches was still a thought somewhere in her mind.

The adventurer stepped away from the bell with a shake of her head at even the thought of ringing it again. It was clearly a death sentence to do such a thing. After 3 long weeks of traveling, Emily refused to end it here.

At the end of the womans... or rather, at the end of the creatures speech, Emily stepped forward. She was unsure whether she was supposed to wait for this woman to leave, or if perhaps she was to fight her. She wasn't even entirely sure whether she was to go through this path way. But, she supposed it there was someone blocking it off, it must be important. So, with another step forward, she found herself approaching the doorway, "I choose to enter".

Her hand rested upon her sword as she did, eyeing the creature before her with a determination, if not a minor fascination. She looked much larger due to her additional attributes, but upon further speculation she was just as tall as Emily. She was scantily clad in armor that Emily was sure would do nothing to protect herself. This creature probably happened to be demonic though, if her wings said anything about her. As far as Emily knew from myths, demons didn't exactly need clothing, let alone armor.

With her foot past the doorway, Emily grabbed another torch off the wall, eyeing the creature before her before letting a bit of her pride melt away as she spoke up, "I suppose I am to travel this way in to the maze, correct?"

When the human’s hand stayed on her sword during her approach the demon didn’t seem to particularly care. She eyed the piece of steel nonchalantly before seeming to dismiss it completely and focus her attention back on the woman’s face. Whether she was disappointed or excited at the prospect of the girl entering there was no hint on her face, even when the human informed her of the decision to continue onwards.

Before she could respond though Emily had grabbed a torch from the wall, and would learn her first lesson about this strange maze. The moment the flaming torch left the sconce on the wall it winked out, the flame vanishing and not even leaving so much as a thin wisp of smoke, leaving the human holding nothing more useful than a slightly charred length of wood. “Everything in this maze belongs in its place” the demoness pointed out “If you remove it from that place, its magic will fail”. With hands quicker and stronger than Emily could do anything about, the armoured creature grabbed the torch from her hand and thrust it back into place on the wall – where it once again burst into flame.

Seeming to forget the entire exchange, the woman moved back to Emily’s request to enter. “Very well” she casually responded, still sounding more apathetic than anything else, but then slowly a grin spread onto her face as she seemed to realise something. “Two hundred years is a very long time, little human, all of the creatures who would have eaten you are likely dead from starvation by now, many of the mechanical traps rusted into uselessness. That only leaves the other kind of danger down here”. With a smile the demon took a step back into the corridor, providing a little more space for Emily to enter.

“Personally I’m not one to enjoy a death, and I had assumed that was how you’d end up before very long, but now I’m not certain. I think that I shall watch you, little human, you may prove entertaining”.

All of the torches suddenly went dark for a moment, the sudden plunge into darkness enough to disorientate anyone. Two seconds later they roared up into life again, and the hallway now stood empty, no sign of the demonic woman who been standing there just an instant ago. This did allow Emily a better view of the place though, really letting her see the layout.

What had looked like a simple, straight corridor before actually turned out to be a room in the shape of a large ‘Y’. Where Emily was standing at the entrance to the room there was a twenty-foot long and five foot wide passageway of carved stone walls, which towards the end branched into two twin shorter corridors leading away at angles – a door at the end of each as well as another brass bell.

The doors were made of solid stone, far too heavy to try and move by hand, and far too strong to try and break with force. It looked as if a person would need to ring one of the bells to open the corresponding door. Standing near one of the bells would stop a person from being able to see the other doorway, and there was no telling what would happen when a bell was rung.

That only left a choice then, which doorway – left, or right?

Emily nearly dropped the torch when it flickered out, not expecting it to do so. Well, she supposed with the demons words, it made sense. So, it'd be best not to touch anything, Emily decided. She did not reach again for a torch, rather, she kept her hands at her sides. Emily was positive now she was not yet in the maze, although she figured it would be just down the corridor.

The woman's expression in front of her changed from blank apathy to sadistic amusement in what seemed like the blink of an eye. Emily had figured with magic touching the place, all of the traps and monsters would still be intact. Apparently not so. Well, at least she didn't need to worry about being eaten, that was one way to die scratched off the list. And she wouldn't have to worry about being trapped in anything that required movement from mechanical contraptions. Another way to die happily avoided. Emily wondered though if that other kind of danger mentioned was what she thought it was; what she'd been warned about, or if it was something entirely different. From the looks of this demoness though, she figured it must be what she had heard of. That couldn't possibly be much of a problem... could it?

Emily was about to respond to the woman's statement but the torches flickering out startled her yet again, and with a small gasp, she opened her eyes to see no one with her. She was alone again.

With another look around, she watched the torches light up again by, well, magic. She left them where they were though, they were on the wall for a reason after all. The corridor itself was in truth a room with what seemed to be two separate exits. Emily guessed this maze was nothing like the benevolent one in the old King's gardens made of thornless flowers and hedges. This one instead was about riddles and puzzles and, clearly, luck. There were no plaques this time, simply another bell and two very large doors that seemed impossible to open on her own. Emily hadn't any clue how a bell was going to open them but she supposed it was long time to stop worrying about the logistics of magic.

With a look around she finally decided on going to the left.

With a deep breath and a hand on her sword, she run the bell, awaiting the door to open and preparing herself for whatever was behind it.

Emily was right about one thing already, in some portions of this maze there really was no way to tell which was the ‘right’ way, as the witch who had built it was hardly concerned with mundane and trivial concepts such as fairness. She was rather more invested in punishing interlopers and defending her own treasure, and more importantly still her research.

As it turned out she also had one more lesson to learn before truly heading on her way, and it would soon become very apparent. As the bell rung out, the door on the left side of the hallway in front of the human trembled, then slid down into a groove in the floor, leaving just an empty, open doorway. At the exact same time, as if by a counterweight, the door which she’d come in through in the first place, the one leading out of the Y-shaped room and towards the outside world, closed.

Apparently not all the mechanical intricacies of this place had stopped working, and if the demon had lied or simply been wrong about that much then it was clear that Emily couldn’t simply trust everything that she was told. It was possible that she had bigger problems right now though, as the room in front of her had now been revealed.

For the most part, like the previous two rooms, this chamber was bare and lit by simple torches. There was more decoration in here though, paintings on the stone walls, and a pedestal near the door at the opposite side of the square room, about twenty feet away. There was even what looked to be a sort of abstract pink rug… which moved.

That was certainly no rug! The uneven shape coalesced for a moment, and rather than being a sort of spread it blob it took the shape of a slender, yet busty woman, made entirely out of some sort of viscous pink fluid. The creature flexed and let out a slight yawn, before curling up again on the floor to sleep, now maintaining her human-like shape. That was when something inside it’s body, actually inside, glistened and caught the light from the torches.

There was something metal inside its left breast, and a glance towards the pedestal would likely confirm the human’s fear. The pedestal had a small recess carved into it, which looked suspiciously like a key-hole. That thing inside the slimy woman must be the key which fits it. Letting out a little snore, the creature rolled into its back, bare breasts presented upwards, showing the shape beneath the translucent surface of its body.

Emily watched as the door to the next room opened, eyeing it suspiciously. The door behind her closed almost as soon as the room in front of her was revealed. She couldn't say that surprised her. The creature she'd encountered before had said that she had the chance to leave before. It stood to reason that should she choose to continue, she'd be locked in until she either found the treasure or... well. She supposed she mustn't think about such things, for fear of jinxing herself before she'd even begun.

The room before her held works of art upon the wall that Emily were sure were worth a fortune in their own right. But she wasn't here for simple paintings. It was as she stepped into the room that she noticed the odd rug upon the floor. As it moved and shifted into a more humanoid shape, Emily stayed perfectly still, watching it closely. She couldn't be sure what it was. It was definitely feminine, that much was clear. And it was humanoid. But those were the only things she could compare to true humanity when it came to this creature. Other than that, it was entirely foreign to her.

This creature was a rosy pink, and almost translucent. It appeared slightly sticky, or perhaps slimy was the right word. The monster appeared to be made entirely from slime! Emily blinked at the thought. What could slime possibly do to her? She supposed she couldn't use her sword on it, from the looks of it it didn't have any organs she was sure she'd see though considering it's body was nearly see through.

The only thing she could spy in its body was behind it's left breast. It was blurred behind the pink goop. With a quick look around the room as the monster settled, either oblivious to Emily or simply ignoring her, the adventurer discovered a key hole in a pedestal. That object inside the slime woman must be needed to move on to the next room!

Emily stepped around the goo woman, tip toeing so as not to wake her up. She wondered how she'd go about this. A sword would likely not do much besides upset or anger her. And she supposed she would not be able to talk to it, perhaps talking would upset her too considering that she seemed quite peaceful in her slumber. Emily did not want to simply plunge her hand into it's chest though, that was rather barbaric. She swallowed, thinking over her choices as she backed away to investigate the pedestal.

As far as she could tell it was the only thing in this whole room that would open a door. She dare not touch the paintings, not just yet, for fear of what may happen should she not first complete the puzzle. Despite what the demoness had told her and it only being half true, she figured touching things she was not supposed to touch was something that hadn't been a bluff. Until she investigated the maze more, she'd leave things in their place. Except of course... this key.

Emily sucked in a breath before resigning to use her hands. She kept her leather gloves on, pulling them up a little more to make sure they were definitely on.

The goo woman was almost sort of... cute? In a very odd way, Emily decided. The small snores and noises she was making indicated to the adventurer that she was out like a light. With that conclusion, Emily made her way back over to her, kneeling next to her as her hand hovered over her left breast. Despite finding it to be quite a savage thing to do, it was the only way Emily thought she could possibly get the key. So, with another deep breath, she placed her hand down on the surface of the slime woman's body and, instead of plunging her hand in violently, she let it slip in slowly, grasping the key with a grin.

There was a moment as soon as the human’s hand touched the liquid creature where it gave a little moan in its sleep. The sound was not quite clear, and equally it could have been a little moan of pleasure, or of protest at sleep being disturbed. All the same though, the pink goopy woman didn’t do more than shift a little in her slumber, not going to far as to wake up despite the very intimate touch.

Even when Emily did what some people might say was unthinkable and actually pushed her hand inside the creature’s body, it did little more than writhe around a little and let out a few whimpers. The gloves would keep the human’s hands dry of course, but there was no mistaking the warmth that came through the leather, whatever this creature was, it was warm blooded. Well… warm bodied, it didn’t actually seemed to have blood or veins at all.

Pushing through it seemed to give more resistance than the liquid body should really have provided, feeling more like a viscous goo or slime than anything runny. All the same, Emily would manage to do what she had set out to do. Her fingers reached the key, and then closed around them.

The pink eyelids of the goo creature snapped open, her mouth breaking into a wide grin. “Gotcha” she announced gleefully, before bringing up both of her hands and placing them on Emily’s arm. She’d only been pretending to sleep… the doors in this place weren’t exactly quiet, and the torches all seemed to come on only when they were needed – so of course the goo girl would have known that she wasn’t alone.

She seemed to only be resting her hands on the human’s arm, not actually trying to hold it in place. After all, as Emily would find out if she tried to pull free, the inside of the creature’s body was like glue, hard to get away from once you were in.

“So… you want my key? It’s a very pretty key… why should I give it to you?” the creature teased, if anything actually sounding playful rather than angry to see an intruder… two hundred years is a long time to get bored.

The sounds the creature made as Emily slid her hand inside it's chest flushed her cheeks. It almost sounded, to the adventurer anyhow, like she was... enjoying it? Could she perhaps be one of the more hands on traps that Emily had heard about? Such a thought made her immediately regret putting her hand in it's chest but, she'd grabbed a hold of the key. And that's what mattered. Now all that was left to do was slide her hand out and... wait a moment? She was sure it wasn't so sticky when she'd slid her hand in? She began to panic momentarily.

Emily jerked her hand, trying her very hardest to pull free upon hearing the monsters voice. But to no avail. The woman's insides if they could be called that were most definitely like glue. Emily resigned to allowing the creature to hold on to her arm. It didn't appear to want to do much else. Or perhaps Emily was just trying her very best to ignore the fact that she might be about to die.

The goo creature was quite warm, though Emily could not place why. There were no organs inside her that had to be kept at a higher temperature. Nothing inside her that would make her warm. It was a strange mystery... but one the adventurer had no time for. She thought she should have used her sword, grumbling under her breath about it.

Emily wasn't sure if she should talk to the creature, or answer it's questions. It's tone was playful, almost as if she were toying with her. But she did not want to fall into a trap, or... another trap anyway. With a glance at her arm, following it down to see the key she'd grabbed hold of, Emily flicked her eyes back up to look at the creature with a stare, "I need it," she said simply.