[CYOA] THE MAIZE MAZE (Lock)

[chiickadee]

Navigate the Maize

"The Golden Ear" was not a prize he wanted to earn. Knowing the professors at this school, it was probably a literal ear of gold. They had that charming sense of humor.

Still, it did seem like a fun sort of challenge. Navigate your way through a scary maze and find the prize: all simple goals that could heighten actual senses.

Upon entering, Voodoo left him almost immediately. She had no time for paths and instead chose to dart between the corn stalks. Lock made an exasperated face, but unless he desummoned her he knew there was no way to stop her. It would probably be better with her gone, anyways.

His first direction, to the right, was chosen at random. He didn't have a strategy going into this, he was just going to kind of walk and see what happened.  

[chiickadee]

Right

He didn't notice it at first, thinking an outdoorsy, smokey smell was a perfectly normal thing for Halloween, but when it started to make his eyes water he realized something was actually on fire. Smoke filled the corridor and he pulled up his glasses to wipe his eyes, rendering him sightless for the moment.

Did someone need help? Why was the maze on fire? Probably some stupid fire demon or a rambunctious dragon. Jackdammit.

Naturally, he needed to get away from this stuff and fast. He headed away from the smoke.  

[chiickadee]

Head Away From the Smoke

The smoke eventually cleared and he was once again able to use his eyes. He liked his glasses well enough but sometimes it was plain annoying having them. His glasses were fogged and his vision was blurry at best-

-causing him to fall down a pit and go plummeting towards the ground.

Thankfully Voodoo appeared and morphed into a small cushion. She let out an angry yowl as he landed on her, then began muttering to herself as she changed back into her cat form. Lock actually gave a curt, "Thank you Voodoo," to which the cat hissed.

He appeared to be in some kind of underground cave, probably built by one of the teachers as a joke. Thankfully, Lock was well versed in caves having lived in a series of underground tunnels for most of his life.

"What a pretty flower," Voodoo said, entranced by the yellowish thing. Lock rolled his eyes and continued walking. He'd seen many flowers in his life.  

[chiickadee]

Ignore it and Keep Walking

A creepy laugh sounded from behind him, but Lock only rolled his eyes again. Clearly that was fake, as was the rest of this maze, and he wasn't easily scared by some laughter. A little on edge maybe, from the presence of another person, but not scared.

Voodoo padded beside him with a curious face.

A dummy was seated in the center of the cave. Lock rolled his eyes a third time. Seriously? It was obviously going to spurt glitter or ask him for a hug or something. This was so childish.

He walked around it, not wanting to deal with any of the tomfoolery.  

[chiickadee]

Ignore It.

There was a tiny house here, and Lock was curious if he hadn't fallen back into his old tunnel system, or at least another neighboring village. However, the house didn't share the architecture that his childhood home had had, so he was a bit more suspicious of it. Still not scared, but on edge.

He approached to knock on the door (it would be rude to just enter or search around the premises without at least alerting the landowner), but there was no response. Abandoned then, perhaps? He supposed an abandoned house did make a good location for a haunted maze. That was, in fact, Halloween's point after all.

He walked around the house, first inspecting the outside. Lock was too much a stickler for rules to actually break and enter. What he found was a path, lined with terrible puns on signs. Somehow, he thought Lutz would enjoy this kind of thing. It was stupid enough after all.

One sign at the very end of the path seemed to be missing its punchline. Lock refused. No.  

[chiickadee]

Refuse to Fill it Out

His pen stayed firmly in his pocket. He didn't even know the answer anyways.  

[chiickadee]

Ending

With a sigh, Lock realized this must have been a dead end, which meant backtracking all the way to ...

A gnome dashed by out of the corner of his eye, and Lock squinted suspiciously. He followed where the gnome had been, and discovered that the cave wall was not in fact a wall, but a well painted passageway that gave the illusion of being a wall. Clever, actually.

He followed it out, and discovered the gnome waiting for him. He was thanked for not completing the pun (Lock thought it strange that that was the thing he was receiving gratitude for) and was handed, you guessed it, a literal golden colored ear.

Why was it always like this?