The Labyrinth

Socrates showed up after having talked his way past the guards. The team got rid of the body and moved on into another area of the complex, which they’d ignored before.

This tunnel sloped down over a long stretch, with the architecture becoming first more crude and then more artful, and ended in a circular room. While Leon had been lighting the way up until this point, the group used the single torch on the far side of the room to light this chamber. Strangely, the glow from the newly lit torch was pure white. Upon doing this, the group noticed that a Chartres labyrinth was carved into the floor.

After a short discussion, Socrates decided to walk the labyrinth. As he did, Hinata noticed that the light, which was now seeming to come from everywhere, was cycling through the colors associated with the Chakras. Once Socrates reached the center, she had the further insight that the labyrinth seemed to be attuning to Socrates. He exited, not walking the path, which extinguished the light almost immediately.

Quickly, the group decided to walk the labyrinth as a group. As the passed inside, they couldn’t see the effect of the light changing, but once the group reached the center, it began to lower beneath them, bringing them down into a pit. Quickly figuring out that they’d need a back-up way out, they used the pike from an earlier guard and a length of rope from the Shadowness’ belt to set up an escape route. Leon’s automatons, who had been watching the entrance, just in case, came in closer to anchor the pike.

Once the lowering stone reached bottom, the group found themselves in a new hallway. As they moved into it, they could see that it was fairly well sculpted. Part of the way down the hall, they came across a silver-like arch with the words “This is a holy place, of worship and peace” inscribed upon it in a language seemingly made up of several dead languages. Further down the tunnel, there were more arches of the same configuration.

At the end of this tunnel was another room, much like the one the group had descended in, but there was no carved labyrinth. Instead, the room was lit with the same ambient light as before and had a single crystal jutting from the floor.

The group searched the room and kept returning to the crystal. After some discussion, the group determined that the crystal was likely orchicalcum, a mythic ore from Atlantis which had properties of both metal and crystal. The group tried to feed it legend to activate some power, but was mostly rewarded with fleeting images of other locations with the same crystals. Vishka manged to focus in, though, and realized that the other locations were actually other rooms with various features. Hinata decided to talk to said crystal.

A face grew in the crystal and spoke to the doctor. It spoke of the other crystals, of being asleep for as many as 150 years, and of a place it called “The First Place” which was likely Atlantis. After some time, Leon managed to use the information the group had gathered to locate the other crystal rooms and his Clockwork Owl managed to spot out the corresponding buildings. The group thanked the crystal and went on their way.

After doing some further research, and the use of the Shadowness’ links to mystery, the group discovered that armor they’d seen stolen in one of the visions the crystal provided had found it’s way to a warehouse. This warehouse was owned by some of the local mafia. Mafia which Luke knew was run by a titanspawn. The plan was quickly formed to raid the titanspawn’s mansion.

Luke, Vishka, and Socrates scouted on the ground, while Leon used his owl to scout from the air. Hinata and Leon also checked out the computers. In the end, the group came up with a plan to knock out the guards and trap the titanspawn in his own home.

Things went off without much of a hitch. The guards went down quickly and the titanspawn ended up trapped in his own safe-room. When the Scions found him, though, he was almost able to fend them off. He bashed them about, but in the end, he was no match for the combined might of six fully rested and well-prepared Scions. After some unsuccessful questioning, the group sent the seemingly drowned giant on to his final rest.

Now with a mansion and several guards who’d switched sides, the team readied for it’s next move…