GREYBURN - INTO THE LABYRINTH

[DKender]

Babette?-
"Is it weird? Or is it destiny?"


Babette?-
"This may be our one and only shot at THE DREAM. Yes: maybe my scarecrow-progenitor will kill us for tainting his horror-maze with kisses. But that's a chance I'm willing to take."

She spread her arms.

  
Babette?-
"Are you?"

  
Babette?-
"Seriously, though, if you'd rather wait until we're not in the horror-maze, I'll just work on my illusion skills reeeally hard. Talk about a fabulous motivation, right? You think Tristan would be into it, too?"

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

        
               

Anselm-
"I cann't decide!"
  
Anselm-
"Hmm maybe vee do later, zo a scary scarecrow don't interrupt..."

Anselm-
"Huhuhu..."
  
Anselm-
"Ohhh you learn to do 'dhis yourself?
Babette must come to all parties! "

Anselm-
"Hmmmm... It's good to imagine."

        Anselm-
"Vhat if vee get stuck forever? I don't know to do makeup. "

[DKender]

Babette-
"Don't worry - there's a makeup artist down here somewhere. She can help."


Babette?-
"Unless she's dead ..."


Babette-
"In that case, I'll do your lipstick, Darling!"

 
Babette?-
"Isn't this fun? We're on a hallucinogenic adventure, and the prize at the end of the tunnel is Lord Greyburn. I wonder if he'll be wearing a bearskin rug today. Hehe. Do you still want to meet him? After meeting his ... brain minions?"

Babette started sauntering down the mirror corridor. Somehow, being Anselm really put a spring in her step! It was like a masquerade. If Billy switched them as a punishment, he'd been completely misguided.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Anselm followed, looking similarly chuffed, skipping with each step so his dress fluttered around his legs. The hall seemed very strange with no reflections as they walked by. The mirrors appeared to be glass windows looking in to another, identical hall. Yet little puffs of dust reflected where their feet landed. The pair of adventurers almost bonked their heads against a mirror that ended the hall, the corridor splitting right and left. Which way to go? Ans-ette did a little spin, still not quite over the novelty of the evening gown.

Anselm-
"Mmn, maybe before vee go to a maze -- just vone kiss...
I need to know, am I a good kisser?"
    
      Anselm-
          " "

Anselm put his Babette hands on Babette's Anselm shoulders and leaned in...

                
Anselm-
"Huh?"

A bony hand reached from the mirror to grab his dress straps, pulling him closer to the silvery pool. A ghoulish face emerged...

                                                                  Aubrey-
                                            "Babette, my beauty! Come to me...!"

                                      Anselm-
                                        "Yahh!!"

[DKender]

Babette-
"Hyah!"


Babette-
"Oh ... oh, wait! Don't leave. We haven't been introduced! I'm Anselm. Ja. A pleasure to meet you, Herr Lord Greyburn."

She stomped one of her feet and bowed stiffly at the waist like royalty.

"Babette told me you're a pious Goddite with impeccable manners who does not grab ladies by their dresses, danke!"

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Luckily, doing an Anselm impression wasn't too difficult for Babette, their voices weren't so very different in pitch.

                                                     Aubrey-
                                           "Humph! I know you not, mountain dweller!
                                               Sind Sie ein Prinz? Haben Sie Rang
                                                                                                   über mir halten?"
         Anselm-
           "Yes-- No! Es ist ein Fehler!"


                                                        Aubrey-
                                                                                                                          "Darling, the men are talking."
Anselm-
"Bitte lass mich gehen...? Es ist nicht höflich?"

                                                        Aubrey-
                           "While I appreciate your formality,
                                                   I do what I will with my children.
                                         I am a Lord, it is my God-given right."

[DKender]

Babette?-
"Absolutely. Do you mind if I join you? We're going to have a fashion show?"

Oh, no. Aubrey was going to put sparkly nails in Anselm's Babette-lookin face. Bad end. Bad quest end! She had to save him!


Babette?-
"Ellen! ELLEN! Elleeeeennnn!" <-- inside her brain.



"Those bleeding face wounds really suit you, Lord Greyburn! I don't think anybody else could pull them off. Nobody else. Nobody. You suffer for your art."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

 
                                                   Aubrey-
                                                                           "You are too kind, lad."


                                                        Aubrey-
                                  "Too kind! I don't believe it!"
             Anselm-
               "Ahhh!!"

                                                                     Aubrey-
                                                "Hm, you may join us if you prove yourself.
                                                          I shall talk only to fellow nobility.
                                                                                       Let me test your pedigree..."
Anselm-
"How about instead--"

Aubrey snaked out another bony arm to catch 'Anselm' by the shirt, and all three of them tumbled through the cold silver pool.

...

Babette found herself in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. The walls were formed of rows upon rows of dusty books. A voice echoed from all directions.

"Ha! You are no prince! Wander this labyrinth forever, fool."


Babette-
       "..."

[DKender]

Babette-
"Well. I need to work on my improv."

Books, books, books! They were everywhere she turned! What would she do with all her time, trapped between so many damn books? And not one horr-romance among them! O! Her life was a horr-romance lately. Heavy on the horror. She scampered down the dusty corridors and flung books from their shelves.


Babette-
"I'll rescue you, Anselm! Don't worry! No bookshelves can confine me! Can you hear me? Can anybody hear me?"

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

A weird sound of water shifting in a closed space, glunk glug. She looked up and saw the ceiling above this aisle of books was glass, holding a dimly green lit mass of water in place above her head. A creepy dripping sound and metal groans from elsewhere drew her attention back down to bookland.

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Stars.... and stars.... ohhh my dayssss....

Eerie whispers echoed through the stacks.
Babette threw the literature around, enraged. There seemed to be endless volumes just behind each that she removed. A snake slithered past her feet, and around a corner...

                                                   Snake(s)-
                                                       "Shhhh...."

[DKender]

Babette-
"Where have I heard that voice before? My stars ... I'm truly damned."

She sat beside a bookshelf and wrapped her arms around her Anselm-shaped knees, rocking sadly.



"We're going to waste away. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop of blood. Unless ..."

If she became hungry enough, would she hunt down her lost friends and ... and ...

  

"It won't come to that. I swear!"

  

Eh. It might come to that.



She had to break free of the illusion! In the mirror hall, when she zoned out to make wiggle spiders, she perceived the truth underlying the fake. But Aubrey was so powerful!

Babette had to try. She fell on her back and stared at the ceiling, nearly going cross-eyed with concentration. Spiders in the water. Spiders in the water.

Spidersssss ...

[Thy Dungyeon Maestyr]

Suddenly, she saw Ellen float by! It was like the glass channel above was a tube she was being sucked down against her will. At least she didn't need to breathe, but she seemed quite vexed - and then was out of sight. An Aubrey voice from the ether intoned,

Aubrey-
"Ugly little fish..."

[◊◊BLOODBEASTER◊◊]

Babette heard metal strike wood with a twang. And again. Someone muttered from behind a bookshelf.

A dagger flew out and stabbed the wooden floor nearby. It didn't seem directed, but just a random projectile coming from the peevish mutterer.

TOING!    

[DKender]

  
Babette-
"EEEIK!"

She grabbed the dagger and yanked it from the floor. Why did it seem so familiar? Babette pretended it was a teeeeeny sword and jabbed the air.

      
Babette-
"Who did that! Come out!"

She was careful not to accidentally slice her finger on the blade. Her blood might be irresistible to the hungry vampires trapped in Aubrey's labyrinth!

      
Babette-
"Is ... is it you, Leo? Quinn? Scary man?"

What was his name? Nick? He always creeped her out. The way he simply stared ...

      
Babette-
"I'm warning you: don't push my buttons! I'm in a terrible mood!"