[Auto Exam] Maze of Madness [Brenley]

[Smerdle]

THE EXAM: MAZE OF MADNESS (Y2 > Y3)

There's no note this time; you wake up in the middle of the night to find yourself standing at the entrance to an enormous maze. Towering hedges stretch on for what seem like forever, and you have no idea where at school you even are, but it seems like every time you try to step backwards, you can't. Your footsteps only carry you forwards, to the maze.

"Greetings," says a voice to your left, and when you turn you can see a pale haired man with sharp teeth smiling genially at you. "My name is Professor Zephron; I'm the Potions Professor here at school, and I'm here to guide you through your exam."

He gestures towards the maze. "It's simple, really - all you have to do is get through the maze. I'll be waiting on the other side with your certificate, so come find me, okay?"

And with a grin, he shifts into a monstrous emerald hellhound and darts away, deep into the maze.

Well. Guess you better get started!

THE EXAM

There are two parts to this exam! You must complete both in order to successfully complete it!


PART 1: COUNTING STEPS

You need to get to 30 steps in order to get to Part 2! At each milestone passed there will be a small status effect, so make sure you're reading them carefully!


• Roll 1d12 with each post to see how many steps you go!
  
• At 5 steps you realize the world has tipped and you are now walking upside down. It doesn't hurt, but it sure feels weird...
  
• At 10 steps you're right side up again, but it's like you're walking through thick mud, though you see none. Your legs feel heavier than normal.
  
• At 15 steps your legs feel okay, but now the maze keeps going in circles around you and it's starting to make you feel kind of sick...
  
• At 20 steps (thankfully) the world has stopped spinning, but you realize that somehow you've shrunk. Or maybe the maze has just gotten bigger.
  
• At 25 steps, you seem to be your normal size again, but it's so cold and so windy it's almost as though you're being pushed backwards.
  
• At 30 steps, you seem to have finally made it through almost the entire maze. In fact, you think you can see the door up ahead, except...
  
  Except....

PART 2: THE FIGHT

As you near the end of the maze, something huge blocks your way - a dark shadow that has been lurking ever since you started walking. It looms in front of you and seems to want to deny you passageway - but you've already come this far, you're not going to let a little shadow get in your way!


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Except as the shadow moves closer, it shifts form - and suddenly you're facing not a shadow, but yourself; except wispy tendrils of black are seen emanating from the fingers and toes, even the eyes upon occassion.

How...weird.


• Your shadow self has 50 HP.
  
• Use standard attack dice to kill it (2d8 - 6)!
  
• It does 2 autodamage for every successful attack. If you miss, you don't take autodamage!
  
• You are allowed to use FEARS!
  
  

Upon dissipation of your shadow self, you finally reach the end of the maze and burst through. An emerald colored hellhound sits beneath a nearby tree, looking as pleased as pie. When you walk nearer, he shifts form and the Professor comes into view again, raking blonde hair out of his eyes. There is a stack of parchments beside him; Certificates of Exam Completion.

"Congrats," he says pleasantly, and bends to pick up one of the parchments. He hands it to you with a smile. "Welcome to Hob level."  

[Smerdle]

The walk back from Q.B.'s stark, white classroom to the reaper dorms was a barely conscious haze of sparkles and blood. All Brenley could recall in the end was stumbling through the door of his room, registering that his normal clothing had managed a safe return, and falling into bed, still wearing his sparkling skirt and single, delicate slipper. Perhaps that was why it was such a shock to wake up standing at the entrance of a maze.

"I..." he said eloquently in response to the professor's greeting. How did one wake up standing? At least his leg muscles seemed content to continue holding him upright, even if the rest of him longed to go back to sleep.

Bren stared off into the maze for a while, his mind a foggy blank. It was soothing when compared to how full it had been of late. Sadly, it wasn't long before he was contemplating the teacher's words, his breathing coming to a halt as he realized what Zephron had said.

His exam.

This was his test to become a Hob.

He took an involuntary step back, or at least he tried to, but his foot moved forward instead.

"Right. Okay."

He wasn't ready at all, but since he quite literally couldn't back out, he had to try. Bren drew his hands into fists at his sides and almost tripped forward as he rushed into the maze and the world turned upside down. He squeaked in surprise, closing his eyes and continuing until he ran headlong into one of the maze's leafy walls and crashed to the ground. It didn't help that his legs felt like stone all of a sudden. What kind of a test was this?

Steps: 12  

[Smerdle]

He sat in the dirt, eyes squeezed shut, until his breathing slowed and he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere without at least attempting to lift his unwieldy legs. Brenley slowly pushed himself to his feet, teetering back and forth until he found his balance, then finally opened his eyes once more. He shuffled several steps farther into the maze, hoping that since it had already changed once, that it would do so again.

Steps: 14  

[Smerdle]

When the maze's hold on his feet loosened between one step and the next, Bren sighed with relief. If he noticed himself shrinking, or the nearly intangible shadow that seemed to be following him, Brenley gave no sign.

Steps: 25  

[Smerdle]

Returning to his normal size didn't help at all when it came to the wind. Bren pushed against its sudden might, leaning forward as if it was a wall that blocked his way.

Steps: 28  

[Smerdle]

Brenley didn't give up this time, moving on with a determination he hadn't yet shown tonight. The boil was finally waking up, his inability to shirk in school bubbling to the surface as he did so. This was his second year exam. He understood that he would still pass into his third if he failed, but he wouldn't allow that to happen if he could help it.

He had no idea how long he spent battling the mysterious and insistent wind, but at some point along the way, it began to lessen. It was hardly noticeable at first, a minor increase in temperature warming his hands and nose. Soon, however, he was barely struggling at all. Bren sighed and stopped, chafing his palms up and down his arms.

Steps: 39  

[Smerdle]

As the wind died down, the maze grew quiet. Brenley turned the corner, much as he probably had a hundred times tonight, but this time, instead of finding more maze, he came face to face with a door. It was nestled into the wall of foliage, several twisting vines curling near its handle, and Bren approached it quickly, before he lost his nerve. He tumbled through, falling forward as something shoved him from behind. He hopped back to his feet and reflexively summoned his katar, glancing down in surprise prior to recalling their new weight.

"Who's there?" he barked into the silence, equally intrigued by the confidence in his voice. He didn't feel confident. It seemed his subconscious had other ideas.

HP: 40/40
Damage: 0
Boss HP: 50/50  

[Smerdle]

The fog Bren hadn't seen earlier brushed past him again, coiling around his torso for a moment as it went. It gathered in a cloud in front of him, thinning and lengthening until it was as tall and broad as he was.

"Who..." it said, the voice it mustered little more than an echoing whisper. It reached out again, tapping Brenley's face with a tendril of darkness. Later he would stop to ponder what might have happened had he backed away, but now he simply stared, his mouth dropping open slightly as the fog solidified into his perfect double. Almost perfect, at least. When it spoke again, its voice was still a murky hiss.

"It is me," it said. "I am you."

Brenley's first reaction was panic. His weapons disappeared and he scrambled to grab the enchanted sand at his belt... only to realize that his belt was missing. Right. He was wearing his pajamas.

"s**t."

The fog-Bren peered at him quizzically, tilting its head left, then right, but didn't otherwise move.

HP: 40/40
Damage: 0 (T2 swift strikes)
Boss HP: 50/50  

[Smerdle]

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhit," the creature said, smiling a smile that looked so unabashedly lurid on his face that Brenley couldn't help smirking in return.

...smile more... you look cuter that way...

The fog boil's fist caught him by surprise, cracking Bren in the jaw so suddenly that his teeth clicked together.

"No. You don't laugh. You never do. That is for—"

Bren rubbed at his chin as he answered the strike, his single resummoned katar slashing the fog in its copied chest. He looked a little stunned, both at the strike and his improvised counter.

"Don't hit me." he said. Those words were starting to sound like his mantra.

HP: 38/40
Damage: 6
Boss HP: 44/50  

[Smerdle]

The fog struck him again.

"Don't. Hit me." Bren summoned his second blade, sweeping them both into the creature's sides.

HP: 36/40
Damage: 6
Boss HP: 38/50  

[Smerdle]

It reared back and hit him once more, a more muted version of its first smile still on its face. The fog-Brenley appeared to be having a lot of fun with this game, and if there was a way for the genuine article to win this fight, he didn't yet know what that was.

HP: 34/40
Damage: 2
Boss HP: 36/50  

[Smerdle]

The sorcerer took a step back, trying to assess what to do next, and the creature did the same. In fact, it seemed content to stand idle for as long as he did.

"What do you want?" Brenley asked.

The fog didn't hesitate. "I want to be you. I want to be a killer."

HP: 34/40
Damage: 0
Boss HP: 36/50  

[Smerdle]

Brenley's skin immediately went clammy. He forgot where he was. He forgot that this was even a test. A need to defend himself rose in the boil, much as it had when he'd murdered Pachua in the

"I'm not a killer." Convincing. "And even if I was, why would you want to be?"

"You are." A katar appeared in his double's hand, blackened iron where his was shiny gold. It swiped toward him and he was too slow to dodge. "If there is one thing you should not feel, it is shame. You are brave under all of your blustering foolishness. I want that bravery for my own."

The boil continued to back away as the fog spoke, searching to anything he could enchant quickly. He had only ever done so with any speed once before, but if there was ever a time to manage it again...

"I'm... not."

"Yesssssss. You did everything in your power to protect yourself. To remain among the living. You are a survivor."

There. A moldy old maceball lay nestled in the dirt just to his left. Bren bent and pried it out of the ground, clasped it in his hands and muttered a quick spell over it. He tossed it at the misty feet of the double. He hoped.

HP: 32/40
Damage: 9 (T1 battle cry)
Boss HP: 27/50  

[Smerdle]

The makeshift bomb exploded in a flash of light and leather fragments, temporarily blinding the boil. His double leaped at him with a speed he couldn't have anticipated and Bren did his best to flail back.

HP: 30/40
Damage: 4
Boss HP: 23/50  

[Smerdle]

It continued its assault, seemingly spurred by his first truly meaningful strike, and Brenley could do nothing then but try to survive.

HP: 30/40
Damage: 0
Boss HP: 23/50