Truman, with Oku, Room 10:

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The Oku chirp an affirmative, and proudly confirm their alliance with you. The drop Tutsan into a cross-legged sitting position, where he clutches the stone chess piece and begins whispering in an exotic tongue you don't understand.

Nadzikambia sheathes her machete as one of her henchwomen tosses their loot bag over her shoulder. "Crucem Capilli? HERE?" Nadzikambia asks. "The 'Burning Shadow' herself, eh? She's a famous assassin."

"And she's been hired to destroy this place?" The other chameleon women pause. Nadzikambia nods to her subordinates, and they slowly begin backing out of the room. "We'd better grab as much good stuff as we can before she does so!"

A fourth chameleon woman appears, having been cloaked in the corner of the room, and she begins to leave as well. Before going, the looters dump out the stone chess pieces from their back onto the playroom floor. "It's not a full set anyway," one of the lizardwomen grumbles.

"What is your name, mammal?" Nadzikambia asks. "Tell everyone who will listen that the Neonate Empire has claimed this Maze...er, for as long as it stands!"

Once you give her a name, she will join her cohorts and continue Southward.

OOC: For diverting an entire posse of Chameleon Women sans violence, Truman gains 400xp!

Truman, with the Oku, Room 10:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Agrimony chirps nervously. "Don't know the sound! But I'm sure it's not good-oku!" She and Yarrow try to help you heft Tutsan to the next room. Tutsan remains silent but sounds like he's trying to speak. His body is rigid as a statue, his hand tightly clutching the stone chess bishop like a man possessed.

You reach the Northeast door opening to a stark white room with a 6-inch wide black line running straight across to the North wall. As you reach the entryway, a cluster of sinuous figures appears from the Northwest door in the room you are fleeing.

A trio of lithe machete-wielding female reptilians emerge, their bulging chameleon eyes rolling around to survey the room. "You there! Halt!" the boldest (and shortest) chameleon woman shouts at you, pointing a delicate clawed finger. As she moves, her many bracelets jangle, the telltale sound you heard from the other room. "I, Nadzikambia of the Neonate Empire Wilderness Bureau, claim this Maze as a Lizardfolk Heritage Site! Its treasures belong to us, by ancient rights!" She flicks her curly tongue to show you she means business.

While she talks, the other two chameleon women (one with a rusted holy symbol at her neck) case the room, searching for valuables but finding only junky toy-things. Noting the relative uniqueness and craftsmanship of the oversized chess set, the lizard-girls begin throwing pieces into a large bag.

The lead lizard points at the chess piece in Tutsan's hand. "Come on, give us the goods, warm-blood!"

Spoiler: ShowHide

Once across the bridge, the three Oku watch your gesture, quietly chatter among themselves, and then all try to shake your hand at once, completely oblivious to any handshake protocol. "A new partner in crime-oku! Akerstrom would be proud of us!" they cheer.

Agrimony considers your question. "What...year? Why, 1967? '68?--"

Yarrow chimes in. "The Oku are magical trickster birds! We have ALWAYS been here, I think! Well, for a hundred years at least-oku!" Agrimony changes her mind, and finds Yarrow's answer more probable. Tutsan chirps with approval.

"Yes, we've been here forever, running around, just out of the Medusa's reach," Agrimony goes on. "I think..." She shakes her masked head. "I don't know what to think. The Glyph Witch gives us jobs now, keeps us going, says she does our thinkin' for us..."

Yarrow and Tutsan cheerily head into the playroom and begin examining an oversized chess set with 1-foot tall pieces. Agrimony stands near you, still trying to puzzle out her existence.

"We'd better get to the Treasury...oku. Its Northeast, in the Almery..."

Truman, Room 174:

Spoiler: ShowHide

The Oku gratefully pass you and rush out into the Escher Room. Seeing the dangling rope you left, the leader bird and the archer bird scamper up and attempt to swing over to the North room (Room 8 ). The middle bird chirps something and begins to climb the walls, avoiding the whole messy staircase jumble and directly crawling spiderlike up to the next room.

From the hallway in the peacock's room, a flickering golden apparition appears, the aurum specter, or so-called "goldensoul" the Oku feared. It begins to float towards you menacingly. It radiates pure malice to all living things.

Truman, Room 174:

Spoiler: ShowHide

The mechanical peacock returns to the center of the room next to the food table. You can notice that amidst the rotten food sits a cheap-looking bottle of white wine. It wobbles as the peacock's fanned tail knocks into the table.

Someone down the hall shouts: "SQUAWKsquawkSQUACK! THEY'RE RIGHT ON OUR TAILS-OKU!"

Three masked figures run frantically into the room from the East. They are humanoid bodies wearing bird masks, and they squawk and chirp like birds as well. They are in such a rush they run right through the ghost boy, which startles him terribly.


The figure in front has a jaunty cap and shouts through her bird mask's open beak. "We got the stuff-oku! They're on our tails! Help us-oku!" Dangling from her right hand you see a large ornate key on a silver chain.

The ghost boy looks down the hall at what pursues them, screams silently, and vanishes. A pulsating golden glow looms closer from the East.

"Thieves!" the peacock shouts disdainfully and flaps his metal wings. "Pitiful excuses for birds!"

The bird-masked trio mean to run by you into (Room 4). "Come with us and we'll cut you in on the big score-oku!" the leader bird implores you.