Game: Hermaeus Mora's Labyrinth

[Musicman247]

The group headed to the right.

After several hours of traveling they came upon another crossroads. Would they choose to continue straight or go right again?

[OblivionDuruza]

"Right again," Elidor declared.

[ArgonianDunmer]

"We might as well," Hannibal creaked in agreement.

[Deandra]

"Right sounds right!" Deandra was forced to giggle at the inanity of her statement.

[ArgonianDunmer]

"Right you are youngun'!" Hannibal chuckled, joining Deandra in her almost manic fit of laughter.

[Musicman247]

Spoiler:

That's 3 votes for right. One more would make a majority since there are only 7 players left.

[Frost Mage]

"I vote for right also. Let's get moving."

[Musicman247]

Heading right, the group found a clear path for many yards. They once again were stopped by a crossroads. Would they choose right again, or continue straight?

[Frost Mage]

"I suppose we should go straight. Start mixing things up a bit"

[Deandra]

"That's how you end up going in circles," Deandra said with a frown. "I vote we continue turning right. We've got enough to worry about in here already, so I don't feel the need to get creative with our path."

[OblivionDuruza]

"Once more, right," Elidor agreed, looking wearily at Ra'daaz.

[Kerr]

"I agree lets go right." said Kerr.

[Arch-Mage Matt]

"We're going in a circle, or more accurately a square," Matt muttered. "Straight."

[ArgonianDunmer]

"Can't fault going right," Hannibal said wearily, "we haven't hit a dead end in a long while, my brain is enjoying the rest! I vote right."

[Musicman247]

As the group chose their direction they heard a familiar voice.

"You have done well in your choice of direction up until this point. You have come to yet another dead end. You are very close to the end, and so my riddles will increase in their difficulty. Take your time when answering. Here is your riddle:

I am made by man, yet rule over him
I can fly, but have no wings
I can be fast or slow,
but never truly waver in my pace

What am I?"

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

"Hmm," Atomius said, considering the riddle. He had only the faintest ideas.

[Deandra]

"Made by man? Does that mean it's not made by Mer?" Deandra asked with a mixture of pedantry and racial pride.

[Frost Mage]

"Hmmm..." Ra'daaz said, with a slight grin on his face. "I have a rather good idea, yet not good enough to answer yet..."

[Arch-Mage Matt]

"I am confident of my answer." Matt stated. "Good luck, fellow 'geniuses'."

[OblivionDuruza]

Elidor ignored Deandra's remark and pondered the riddle momentarily. He reached an an answer swiftly and what's more, was confident in this answer, but once again, for the second time in what he could remember of his life, he could not help but feel an uncertainty he was, as yet, still unfamiliar with.

[ArgonianDunmer]

Hannibal took his time answering the riddle, he was growing weary of the maze, and he could feel his ageing bones groaning under the stress of his fatigue.

[Kerr]

"Damn it. Hope I survive this." muttered Kerr.

[Musicman247]

The deadline up, Hermaeus Mora greeted the players once more.

"This riddle, like the others, seemed to take one of you by surprise, and made one of you stumble. The answer, of course, is TIME. Before I allow you to move on, let me remove those who do not deserve to be in my presence. Ra'daaz, you never answered my riddle at all, and Atomius, you failed miserably to decipher its meaning."

Upon finishing his statement, Atomius and Ra'daaz found themselves blown back from the rest of the group by a great wind. They stood about eight feet from each other, and close to twenty from the rest of the group. As they tried to walk back to their co-travelers they found that their feet had sunken in to the sand floor of the Labyrinth. Struggle as they may, there was no way of freeing themselves from the ground.

Hermaeus's voice rang out again, "Let us begin with Ra'daaz, shall we? Get the good stuff over with."
Non-graphic ending: Ra'daaz and Atomius died.

Spoiler:

At that a strange sound was heard, like the soft tapping of a thousand fingers on the sand. The group strained to see what is was that could be making such an awful sound. They did not have to wait long to have their curiosity sated. Into the light streamed a hundred large ants, each as big as a man's hand! They streamed past Atomius, their target clear. The first of the ants started crawling up Ra'daaz's legs. "Ah! It hurts! Argh!" screamed Ra'daaz. The ants seemed to have barbs on their feet which tore away a small amount of flesh from Ra'daaz with each step. Soon the swarm covered the screaming Khajiit, who had fallen to his knees, then to his face. After only a few moments Atomius could see ants walking away from Ra'daaz, toward him. The ants went right past him, each carrying something in their jowls. Atomius thought that one of the little packages looked like some kind of a marble, but realized with shock that it was his companion's eye, glaring at him from the mouth of the ant. The owner of the eye writhed on the ground, only able to utter muffled screams as the ants going down his throat blocked his airway.

It only took a minute for all the ants to retreat from Ra'daaz's body, leaving only a skeleton with a few bits of flesh and tendon still attached.

"Now for you, Atomius. You thought the answer was human imagination. Ha! Humans have such a pathetic mind. Their imagination could never be said to fly. My imagination, however, know no bounds. Observe."

The walls of the Labyrinth around Atomius began to get hot. After a few moments the walls were red hot. The Imperial was being cooked alive! Atomius, thinking this would be the extent of his torture, resigned himself to his death. His eyes got wide, however, when the walls began to close in on him. They moved quickly at first, closing the empty space between themselves and Atomius, but as soon as they touched Atomius, they began to move incredibly slowly. Steam came off of Atomius's flesh as the blazing hot walls seared his skin. The walls were parallel with Atomius's body, and as they moved closer together his ribs began to crack, then shatter, his now blackened flesh split open revealing pink muscle underneath. The walls pressed closer and closer until they were on either side of his head. Atomius was looking toward the group, mouth open, screaming as he had been for the past minute, the life slowly begin squeezed out of him. Atomius was hardly recognizable now. His burnt skin and flesh had dropped off of his face, and his eyeballs boiled in their sockets, yet he was still alive and still screaming. Finally as an act of mercy the walls slammed together quickly, extinguishing the life of Atomius.

"Please, continue in your journey." said Mora

The wall in front of the group, of now five, opened and they stood at a crossroads. Would they go left or right?

[Deandra]

Actually, instead of going left or right, at least one of them would start puking in the corner. Deandra emptied her stomach with a groan. Noticing that Elidor had made the mistake of standing right next to her, she quickly grabbed hold of his shirt, and, before he could protest, used the hem of it to wipe off her face. She spit one last time to clear her mouth.

"I'm sure somebody here has enough skill in alteration to take care of that," she said to Elidor.

[OblivionDuruza]

Elidor shot Daendra a disgusted look and waved a hand over the blemished garment, "you doubt my ability?" he sneered, "We shall go right."

Spoiler:

Yeah, I just love embracing the arrogant Altmer stereotype