Welcome to Daedalus' Haunted Labyrinth! This isn't your run-of-the-mill haunted corn maze with scrawny high schoolers in zombie masks. No, we pride ourselves on stocking our puzzle with genuine, one-of-a-kind monsters! What kind of beasts and traps will you find once you enter? You'll only find out if you enter...
[[Enter the maze]]
[[This isn't your thing]]You descend a set of stairs into the first tunnel of the labyrinth. The only light comes from a mysterious red glow with no source. You strain your ears for sounds ahead of you, but you don't hear anything. No creepy music, no roaring or banging, not even the group that entered right in front of you three minutes ago. Just silence.
It doesn't take long to come to the first fork in the maze.
[[Take the right path, which is obstructed with spider webs]]
[[Take the left path, the floor of which is unusually wet]]Ah, but you've already paid the entrance fee! And your friends will think you're a coward if you don't do something spooky this Halloween. Don't worry, a majority of our visitors make it out without a scratch...
[[Enter the maze]] You push past the spider webs, and the maze opens into a large room. The walls are draped with intricately woven blankets of all colors. This isn't so scary; it looks like your great aunt's house.
And then you hear the clicking.
[[Move farther into the room]]You walk through the shallow puddles that fill the hallway, but you never find their source. Instead, you come to a large room that is filled with trees. There's just enough light to see by, like the light of a full moon, but right where the hall ends, there's a single flaming torch. It's practically begging you to take it. You grab the torch and walk into the forest.
There's no path to follow, so you just go in the direction that you perceive is straight.
Then, you hear growling and other animalistic noises around you.
[[Run!]]
[[Keep walking calmly]]You continue walking through the room, admiring the expertly crafted blankets. The clicking stops. You look up.
Above you is a giant spider, examining you with her eight eyes. You swallow a scream.
"Do you like my wares?" the spider hisses.
[["Yes, they're the most beautiful weavings I've seen."]]
[["I bet no one can weave as well as you."]]"It's good that you can recognize quality," the spider hisses. "When I was mortal, people said that my weavings could challenge the gods'."
You begin to think this sounds familiar.
The spider continues, "Name me, human, and you may leave my chamber unscathed."
[["You are Ariadne."]]
[["You are Arachne."]]"That's not what Athena thought when I challenged her to a weaving contest. My product was far superior to hers, and she turned me into a spider out of spite," the spider sighed.
You stand, trembling and wondering what will happen next.
"If you want to pass to the next room," said the spider, "then you must use the clue I've given you and guess my name."
[["You are Arachne."]]
[["You are Ariadne."]] The spider hisses. "You dare confuse me with that wench? I am Arachne, the greatest weaver of all time!"
The giant arachnid lunges down at you, seizing you with her many legs.
This doesn't end well.
[[End]]"Very good, mortal. You know your mythology. But a clever mind won't get you through the remainder of the maze," says Arachne. "You are free to leave. If you wish, you may take a blanket." She gestures with a claw at a thick green and white blanket hanging by the door on the other side of the room.
[[Take the blanket and leave.]]
[[Refuse the blanket and leave.]] You didn't survive your harrowing trip to Daedalus' Haunted Labyrinth. Use the back arrow on the left to change your choices and try again or read through the Author's Note to learn more about what killed you.You throw the heavy woven blanket over your shoulder and exit through a marble archway, which connects the room to a chilly hallway. You wrap the blanket tightly around you and trudge on.
The hallway continues, slanting slightly upward for a long way, occasionally twisting and turning. Finally, you come to a fork.
[[Turn left]]
[[Go straight]]You exit the room through a marble archway, which connects the room to a chilly hallway. Shivering, you follow the path as it twists and turns, slanting upward the entire time. Finally, you come to a fork.
[[Turn left->Turn left 2]]
[[Go straight->Go straight 2]]This branching path soon becomes a flight of stairs. When you reach the top, though, there's no exit; only a hard ceiling. There's no other way to go.
[[Push against the ceiling]]The path soon ends with a dead end, but on the wall is a mural painted with images of dragons and sea monsters. What could it mean?
[[Go back and take the branching path->Turn left]]This branching path soon becomes a flight of stairs. When you reach the top, though, there's no exit; only a hard ceiling. There's no other way to go.
[[Push against the ceiling->Push against the ceiling 2]]The path soon ends with a dead end, but on the wall is a mural painted with images of dragons and sea monsters. What could it mean?
[[Go back and take the branching path-->Turn left 2]]You push with all of your strength, and finally the hard wall above you swings away, and you stick your head up through the trap hole.
To your shock, you're in a field of grass that seems to go on forever in all directions. But wait, way off in the distance, you see a glowing blue light.
[[Climb out of the hole and start walking toward the light]]You haven't gotten more than five steps from the trap door when a blast of wind sweeps across the dark plain and slams the door closed. Then, the temperature grows hotter and hotter. You're sweating with the blanket wrapped around you.
Suddenly, a ball of fire falls from what you *think* is the sky, and the grassland bursts into flame all around you.
[[Go back through the trap door]]
[[Run toward the blue light]]You push with all of your strength, and finally the hard wall above you swings away, and you stick your head up through the trap hole.
To your shock, you're in a field of grass that seems to go on forever in all directions. But wait, way off in the distance, you see a glowing blue light.
[[Climb out of the hole and start walking toward the light->Walk toward the light 2]]You haven't gotten more than five steps from the trap door when a blast of wind sweeps across the dark plain and slams the door closed. Then, the temperature grows hotter and hotter.
Suddenly, a ball of fire falls from what you *think* is the sky, and the grassland bursts into flame all around you.
[[Go back through the trap door->Trap door 2]]
[[Run toward the blue light-->Run 2]]You fall to your knees searching for the handle that will open the trap door, but there isn't one. The hot wind blows the blanket off of your shoulders, and the flames get closer and closer. You try to pry the door up, but you only suceed in making your fingers bleed.
[[The flames consume you->End]]You sprint as fast as you can across the plain, but the hot wind helps the inferno spread. There's no way you can beat it, and soon you are surrounded by flames. However, as the flames lick at your shoulders and sides, you realize you aren't burnt. Arachne's blanket is protecting you from the fire! You continue running with your magical shield wrapped around you and reach the blue light, which is an eerie lantern marking a hole in the ground.
[[Jump!]]You fall to your knees searching for the handle that will open the trap door, but there isn't one. The flames get closer and closer. You try to pry the door up, but you only suceed in making your fingers bleed.
[[The flames consume you->End]]You sprint across the plain, but the flames are too fast as the hot wind helps the inferno spread through the grass. You can't beat them, and soon you are surrounded by fire.
[[The flames consume you->End]]You leap into the hole and slide down, down, back into the heart of the labyrinth. Finally the slide spits you out in a large room full of people. A man in a masquerade mask pull you up from where you sit in a daze.
"Congratulations!" he exclaims. "You survived the Labyrinth! Looks like you've got your own souvenir, too. You can meet the rest of your party in the gift shop, if they made it out." He gives you a wink and vicious smile.
You wander around the gift shop for a few minutes, eavesdropping on conversations. Everyone laughs about particularly scary bits or how their friends screamed. It doesn't seem like anyone else had the near-death experience that you did.
You shake you head as if to clear it as you walk back to the parking lot. All you know now is that Halloween is not the holiday for you.You take off through the strange, enclosed woods, trying not to trip on the branches on the ground. For a moment, you appreciate the level of detail that this Halloween attraction has attained. Then, the growling becomes howling, and sharp-clawed human hands grab you by the shoulders and throw you to the ground. You sparked the love of the chase in whatever monster was in these trees.
You look up to see a mostly human face, but it has been roughened into something monstrous, something with glowing red eyes, horns, and sharpened teeth. The creature snarls and then bites.
[[The monster kills you-->End]]You swallow your fear and continue walking through the forest with your torch. The animal--whatever it is--seems to be following you, but it hasn't been enticed to strike.
You come to what looks like a human campsite with an extinguished fire pit in the middle. The cleared ground around the campfire is littered with bones--human bones.
Then, with a snarl, the beast that's been following you shoots out of the woods on two legs, rushing straight for you. It looks like a human, but it has horns, glowing red eyes, fur, and sharp claws.
[[Run!->Run Again]]
[[Light the fire]]You sprint away, but there's no way to outrun this half-man, half-animal thing. It grabs you with its claws, and soon its fangs are at your throat.
[[You are killed by the monster->End]]You throw you torch on the fire pit, and a roaring bonfire leaps up between you and the monster. The beast cannot slow down, though, and lunges into the fire. The fire holds it in place, and it screams as the flames burn the fur from its flesh.
But that's all the fire does. The beast's fur, horns, and claws disappear, and soon it looks just like a man again. The former monster collapses, and the fire dies, but you're not going to stick around if there are more man-beasts around.
[[Leave the forest room]]You find the far door to the forest room, which opens with a loud squeak. The hallway behind the door is pitch black. Now that you don't have your torch, there will be no way to see. You step forward. Which hand do you put on the wall to help guide you?
[[Right hand]]
[[Left hand]]You drag your right hand along the wall as you walk through the hallway. You begin to hear noises coming from up ahead; it sounds like talking. Maybe it's another group of maze participants!
You walk faster; the voices get louder. You reach a dead end, and suddenly a light comes on.
There's a door in front of you, with a sign on it that reads: "Knock and enter."
[[Knock on the door]]
[[Enter without knocking]]You drag your left hand along the wall as you walk through the hallway. You begin to hear noises coming from up ahead; it sounds like talking. Maybe it's another group of maze participants!
You walk faster; the voices get louder. You reach a dead end, and suddenly a light comes on.
There's a door in front of you, with a sign on it that reads: "Knock and enter."
[[Knock on the door]]You knock on the door, and the you duck as wings flutter around you.
"Caw!" croaks a giant, blank raven that lands on you shoulder. You try to shoot it away, but it won't move. Its claws dig uncomfortably into your shoulder, but it's not going anywhere.
[[Open the door]]You walk into the new room with your raven companion. The room is extraordinarily decorated with a winding staircase on the far side of the room. It looks like the entrance hall of an enormous mansion, but no one seems to be home.
[[Go up the stairs]]
[[Check the kitchen]]You go up the stairs, and find a long hallway with many door. But when you look closer, you gasp and stumble back.
The walls are decorated with hundreds, maybe thousands, of pairs of human eyes. The ones nearest to you have turned to look straight at you, unblinking. There are eyes of every color, silently straining at you in panic.
[[Walk down the hallway]]You walk into the kitchen, but there's nothing there, not even food. It does smell strangely of roasting meat, though.
This is a dead end. You need to [[Go up the stairs]] You walk down the hallways, checking doors as you go. Each one is locked. You try to ignore the eyeballs as you go, but you can't help to think what put them there.
You make it to the end of the hallway, where there is one last door. You turn the knob. It's unlocked.
[[Enter the room]]You walk into the room, and the first thing you notice is a glowing neon sign that says "Exit here!" You desperately want to get there.
But something stands in your way.
A man faces you, his arms crossed in front of him. There's a wicked grin on his face. And his eyes...His eyes are solid black.
"I thought I heard someone knock," he says. He unfolds his arms. There's a long dagger in one of his hands and something that looks like a melon baller in the other.
You shudder.
[[Sprint toward the exit]]
[[Run back into the hallway]]The man moves like lightning and blocks your path as you run toward the neon sign. You duck away from his slashing knife.
"Caw!" cries the raven again. The murderer stumbles backwards as the large bird of prey slashes at his face with its talons. The raven attacks the man with fury, and you know this is your chance to escape.
[[Get to the exit]] You dash into the hall with the dagger-armed man in swift pursuit. You're not sure how you're going to get to the exit now.
The raven riding on your shoulder caws and jumps into the air. You slide to a stop and watch as it flies straight toward the murderer, beak and talons gleaming.
The man screams and falls under the raven's churning wings.
[[Get to the exit]]You walk into the new room. It is extraordinarily decorated with a winding staircase on the far side of the room. It looks like the entrance hall of an enormous mansion, but no one seems to be home.
[[Go up the stairs->Stairs 2]]You go up the stairs, and find a long hallway with many door. But when you look closer, you gasp and stumble back.
The walls are decorated with hundreds, maybe thousands, of pairs of human eyes. The ones nearest to you have turned to look straight at you, unblinking. There are eyes of every color, silently straining at you in panic.
[[Walk down the hallway->Hallway 2]]As you walk down the hall, a figure suddenly steps out of one of the rooms. He has a dagger in his hand.
"I thought I heard someone knock," the man says with a wicked grin.
He lunges at you before you can run, knife raised. Before you fall, you see a blank spot on the wall, just big enough for two new eyes to go.
[[Join the other eyes on the wall->End]]You run past the skirmish, sending silent thanks to the raven. You reach the neon exit sign, which points straight at a hole in the floor.
[[Jump!]]