Pebs arrived with the speaker before Duncan could think on that any further. He gave her a quick thanks, then started to try and put it back to its supposed place.

Utility + Mechanic roll: 5, 3

It doesn't take much effort for Duncan to take off the speaker cover and Wind the bare wires back around the ones sticking out. From what Duncan understands of wires and speakers, it should be good as new!

The boom box feels heavy as Duncan works with it, and a quick check reveals that its weight is a result of it containing all 10 required AA batteries inserted in place in the back battery panel.

---

^{@Alamantus@Vertigo}
Finding the key, then the piece of paper, gave Pebs a thrill of giddiness, and she picked up both, taking care not to tear the taped paper as she brought them over to Duncan. The previous cloud she’d felt looming over her had disappeared, and the sense of threatening claustrophobia had gone with it.

At his mention of the car, she nodded.

“Yeah, let’s try it out,” she said, a smile on her face as she walked over.

Fishing out the car remote from her pocket, she handed it over, appraising the speaker with a grin. “Nice job, it looks brand new. And, while we’re at it, look what the plant gave up,” she said, holding up her new discoveries. “Keys are always nice, and this paper,” she said, opening the folds, “hopefully it’s as helpful as the last.”

“Keys are always nice, and this paper,” [Pebs] said, opening the folds, “hopefully it’s as helpful as the last.”

Opening the folded paper reveals a very messily-drawn maze of sorts with a red line drawn down what must be the correct path! The maze isn't very long or complicated, so it probably wouldn't have been much trouble to solve in the first place, but hey, maybe it'll save some time.

[Duncan] turned on the radio and tried to steer the car forwards at the same time, hoping he had one more hand to cross fingers with.

Turning the boom box on produces nothing but gentle static coming from both speakers. Looking closer at it, Duncan can see the little spokes inside the tape deck spinning but there doesn't appear to be any cassette to spin!

At the same time, in response to the remote control's trigger being pulled, the now-powered RC Truck zips off the table, smacks into the ground, spins, rights itself, and continues going until it smacks into the door at the opposite end of the hall.

---

^{@Alamantus@Vertigo}
“You know what I meant,” she said, grinning as she opened the paper.

Pausing, she stared at the paper, brows furrowed. “It’s, um, a maze? A solved one.” She frowned. “Are we in a maze?”

It seemed unlikely, but that was the first thing she thought of. She had no way of confirming this, though, but she peered at the paper anyway, trying to connect dots between the two rooms she’d seen and the image on the paper. Did the red line turn the right way if she faced the right way? Did the walls the doors were on match the turns the red line took?

Looking up when Duncan placed the truck on the ground, Pebs crossed her fingers around the paper and raised them, cheering when the truck zipped forwards.

“Hey, static is sound, so it works,” she said with a grin, which faltered when the truck smacked into the door. Heading to retrieve it, she stopped beside it, holding up the key she’d found beside the doorknob. “Another door, another key.”

Pausing, she stared at the paper, brows furrowed. “It’s, um, a maze? A solved one.” She frowned. “Are we in a maze?”

It seemed unlikely, but that was the first thing she thought of. She had no way of confirming this, though, but she peered at the paper anyway, trying to connect dots between the two rooms she’d seen and the image on the paper. Did the red line turn the right way if she faced the right way? Did the walls the doors were on match the turns the red line took?

No matter how she turns the paper, Pebs can't seem to make the rooms they've been in make sense with the layout of the map. Hallways seem to fan out from one point in three direction and branch off each of the paths as they go. No linked rooms or hallways are depicted as far as she can tell.

---

^{@Alamantus@Vertigo}
The maze had no clear start or finish aside from the one point that united the rest. However, given that so far, each room only had one new door, it didn’t seem that the maze matched their situation. What was it then, and why was it hidden for them?

“Yeah, doesn’t seem like we’re in a maze anyway,” Pebs said, sighing and tucking the paper into her pocket. So far, everything they’d found seemed usable in some way. What they needed, then, was to find what this paper was used for.

Pebs matched Duncan’s excitement about the working truck, and she grinned as she watched him move it back and forth. “Nothing wrong with wanting a toy truck. I’ve wanted a pony since forever, but now it’s not cool to be a horse girl anymore,” Pebs said, shrugging. Moving to the city had taught her many things, including that liking farm life was ‘uncool.’ The straightforward list of to-dos starting at five in the morning was old-fashioned, swapped instead for the eight-to-five work day that allowed for sleeping until noon on weekends. Even Pebs had adopted some city mannerisms, which her parents and siblings liked to point out when she went home. Locking the door behind her was her new default, and recognizing people everywhere she went had suddenly become jarring. Starting conversations as she waited in line at the check-out wasn’t as easy as she remembered it to be, and she could never shake the newfound hesitation she’d discovered between the streets and skyscrapers.

“Right, yeah, key,” she said, turning back to the door with said key in hand. It took a second of fumbling for her to match the key with the keyhole, and when she did, she inhaled, pushing it in.

“Right, yeah, key,” she said, turning back to the door with said key in hand. It took a second of fumbling for her to match the key with the keyhole, and when she did, she inhaled, pushing it in.

As Pebs jiggles the key in the lock, it sticks for just a moment before turning with a slight click! The door practically swings open by itself, as if it was anticipating the key and hoping to be unlocked. Pushing the door open a little bit more reveals yet another dark room, but the light pouring through reveals two corners several feet beyond. If Pebs squints in the darkness, she could swear it looks like three hallways—one forward and two left and right.

He pushed the door as open as it would go, hoping the light that poured through would help illuminate the way a little. At least until they found another switch. Duncan squinted his eyes and walked forth, only stopping when he realized the corridor split into three. He tried to look around in each direction to see if he could spot the familiar shape of a light switch - or some other source of light.

Looking around, Duncan quickly finds another conveniently illuminated light switch on the wall right next to the door! Turning it on, the bland, white hallways are illuminated. There are no decorations aside from the occasional dirty smudge where someone must have touched the wall as they walked through, the floor is still smooth and relatively clean cement, and it simply splits into three directions, just like the map that Pebs found seems to predict.

The Map had shown the line moving up the center hallway first before turning left, then right, then left again after skipping a couple of branching paths...

---

^{@Alamantus@Vertigo}
Pebs widened her eyes slightly at Duncan’s words, but she matched his grin. “Deal,” she said, a cheesy smile hanging on her face as she worked on the lock and key. “Acting sounds fun. I’d try it,” she said, the lock finally giving way and opening with a metallic ‘shhck.’

The door opened itself, Pebs egging it along with a push that revealed the next room. Darkness greeted her, and she felt a flash of fear cross her mind, because it was dark, because anything could be in the darkness, but that passed quickly. Remembering to squint, she did, and in doing so, she made out what looked like a fork in the road: hallways splitting left, right, and forward.

“Oh, a switch,” Pebs said as Duncan pointed it out. He flicked it on, shedding light on the nondescript white that continued down every hall. In all three directions, the hallway turned out of view, its smooth corridors giving nothing away.

“Right, but let’s not split up,” she said as she retrieved the map from her pockets. “Getting lost in here alone would probably give me a heart attack.”

Opening the map up and holding it out so Duncan could see too, she turned it, then kept turning it until the paper was facing the same direction they were. The lines aligned, the fork perfectly replicated with ink on the paper, and she stopped.

“It fits, all right,” Pebs breathed, and, looking between the paper and the hallways, she felt a stab of nausea. What sort of building was this, and why had she and Duncan been chosen for whatever this was?

Swallowing her unease, she traced the bolded path on paper towards the middle hallway, pointing at it. “This way should be right. It’ll turn later, but that’s what’s drawn,” she said. Then, taking a breath, she exhaled, looking to Duncan. “Let’s go,” she said, leading the way down the hall.

Swallowing her unease, she traced the bolded path on paper towards the middle hallway, pointing at it. “This way should be right. It’ll turn later, but that’s what’s drawn,” she said. Then, taking a breath, she exhaled, looking to Duncan. “Let’s go,” she said, leading the way down the hall.

Carefully walking down the hall... nothing happens. The flat, blank walls are somehow very good at absorbing sound rather than echoing it, and their footsteps are strangely muffled.

When they approach the first turn indicated on the map, they see a similar hallway, and continuing down that, nothing continues to happen. Their fear naturally lightens with the lack of noise and activity, but their unease remains, perhaps deepening. This maze solution seemed to not be leading them anywhere dangerous at least.

Following the map, they make the turns as directed, pass two doors, and finally reach the end point of the map: a large, wire-reinforced window set in a dead-end wall and a small gap at the bottom of the wall that is far too small for Duncan or Pebs to fit through. Looking through the window, they see something that could only be described as "unexpected": a flat room with very tiny, maybe 4-inch-tall walls that zigzag and appear to create something of an obstacle course? At the end of the course is a ramp that is aimed at the wall, and on the wall is the word "PUSH" painted in block letters with dripping white paint with arrows pointing at a big, green button below it on the wall.

Duncan sighed. "I guess we ain't fitting through that gap anytime soon, so..." he stuck what remained of the cigarette between his teeth and fished out his beloved toy truck. "This should dho ith," he mumbled from behind closed teeth. With a light push, he got the car into the room - then took up the controller. Thank god he'd went for that smoke. His hands were shaking as he controlled the truck as things were - with withdrawal, this would've been impossible.

After a while maneuvering the toy truck in the starting area of the obstacle course, Duncan gets his bearings and takes several swift turns around the low walls, only bumping the walls a couple of times on the way to the ramp. Upon arriving at the ramp, he moves the truck backward to build momentum and... Zoom! It launches up the ramp at an angle, smashing into the side corner of the button! This appears to do the job, because the button itself lights up after being pressed!

A couple of moments pass in silence before the wall to the right of Duncan and Pebs begins to hum and buzz. The hum grows louder and louder until... with a kind of swirl outward from the center, the wall disappears. On the other side of the now-nonexistent wall, the duo can see something that doesn't seem possible judging by the turns they made on their way through the maze: the spot where the paths originally branched off into the maze, except they're viewing it from the hallway to the left of the door they originally entered it through!

Looking through the opening, they can see where they originally entered from the hallway with the radio and the plant to their right, the central hall they walked down when they started the maze to their left, and the last hallway up ahead—a cold breeze and the sound of howling wind comes from that direction that was definitely not there when they first entered the maze.

---

^{@Alamantus@Vertigo}
“Yes! Nice!” Pebs said, grinning and raising a hand to high-five Duncan. A humming noise to her right, though, distracted her, and she looked over in time to catch the wall disappear before her eyes.

“O-okay, did that wall just disappear, or is it just me?” Pebs asked, laughing nervously. After a beat, though, she approached the new entrance slowly, looking between the other three paths. Upon seeing the doorway to the right, though, she frowned, brows furrowing as she jogged over to peek her head in. The room through the doorway looked strangely familiar, almost like—

She took a step back, stunned, then took a few more “H-how?” The sinking feeling in her gut bordered on nausea. “How is this room here? Didn’t… didn’t the maze take us away from this room?”

Her head snapped up as she looked around again, then down as she reopened the map that they’d been using, thoughts whirling. “W-what is this?” she asked, not registering her trembling hands. “I-I don’t understand. If that’s where we came in from,” she said, pointing at the new room, the old room, the room with the plant and radio and way back to the start, “and… and that’s where we just came from,” she said, pointing at the room with the obstacle course, which led directly away from them, away from the room that it should have connected to, “then… then…”

Then… how did that make sense? It made no sense. The maze was supposed to lead them somewhere, not back where they started. The wall wasn’t supposed to just disappear, and a room they’d headed away from wasn’t supposed to connect to the room they’d arrived at, wasn’t supposed to just grow a new hallway after appearing out of thin air.

“This… this is impossible, right?” she asked, looking to Duncan, her eyes stinging. “Everything… everything made sense up until now. Not completely, but it made sense. We got kidnapped, and some... twisted person wanted us to go through this maze, but this…”

She grasped for words, but she couldn’t find any. This was impossible, but here she was, looking at the impossible. The maze led right back to where they’d started. Who was to say, then, that they’d ever get out at all?

---

^{@Alamantus@Vertigo}
Duncan’s words were a rock she could cling to in an ocean of doubt, and cling Pebs did, giving him a few shaky nods as she tried to calm down her breathing. That’s right, there was a breeze. She could feel it, cool as it brushed past her arms, and she focused on the comfort of its existence. There was still hope, even if things didn’t make sense, even if the wind was just the result of a fan set up to mess with them, she had to keep fighting. She had to keep believing that there was a way out, if only because standing here in doubt wasn’t helping anyone.

“Right. Right,” she said, nodding again as she looked back at the opening that had appeared. Through it she could hear where the breeze had come from, could hear the wind howling anything but reassurance, but there was a way ahead and she was going to find it. She was going to get out of here with Duncan, and she was going to go home and make it clear to her parents that she was going back later, college or not.

“Okay,” she said, with one final exhalation. Then, she looked to Duncan, giving him a grateful smile. “Thanks. Now let’s go.”

Forcing her feet into motion, she led the way towards the maze entrance, then towards the hallway the wind was coming from. They were getting out of here, period.

Forcing her feet into motion, she led the way towards the maze entrance, then towards the hallway the wind was coming from. They were getting out of here, period.

Walking down the hall, Pebs and Duncan feel the cold breeze grow colder and stronger as the howling gets louder and louder. The hall turns to the left and continues a short way before ending in a metal ladder going straight up. Powdery white snow is starting to gather at the foot of the ladder, and looking up to the ceiling where the ladder leads, Pebs and Duncan are both only able to see blinding whiteness beyond the very circular hole in the ceiling.

After waiting a moment for their eyes to adjust to the light, the only thing they are able to see through the hole is the top of the ladder, pale gray clouds, and... It's hard to tell from this angle, but it looks like... a rock cliff face? As the pair try to figure out what they're looking at, a mountain goat walks to the edge of the hole, looks down, looks forward, and bleats before walking off again.