Part 16
Jay McIntyre: Cheap Hack Lith: Web-weaver
They walked slowly away, until Kalador found an arch. They stepped through, and found themselves in a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Tom was chasing Jerry around the corner. They were Jerry-sized, of course. The arch they had come through was Jerry's mouse hole. "This Toymaker is one sick puppy," Joel observed. "I've seen worse," the Doctor replied absently. "We've got to find another mouse hole to get out of here." Joel looked at Ace. "He's seen *worse*?" She grimaced. "Ask me about Fenric sometime," she said, "And this Gone fruitcake he's hitched with sounds no flyweight either." "He is a formidable opponent," agreed Maxx. "Let us go!" Urged Kalador, and at that moment Tom and Jerry came round the corner again. Mike slid down the left hand chute, faster and faster. Two of the marbles, the black and red ones, followed him. It finally emptied out into a small room. He leaped out of the chute's path. The black marble's momentum carried it on, but the red one turned and attemped to crush him against the wall. He leaped away just in time, and it smashed itself so hard into the wall that it was jammed. Shaken, Mike took the right hand exit, and came to a room filled with acid slime pools...that moved. Gone brooded from the high observation point. They were doing far too well; none of them had died yet. The Orcs had yet to reach them, and at the rate they were going, they would cross paths with the other human, Mike, soon enough. What else could he do to make things difficult? He continued to brood. Kalador sliced Tom's foot, which held him up. Then they ran for the mouse hole Jerry was making for. They shot through. Jerry stared at them as they passed, but made no other sign. A few feet further, and they stepped back into the labyrinth. Mike danced between the moving acid pools, and came to the exit of the Marble Madness game...but there was a green marble blocking the way. The Doctor had chosen their direction, left, with a divining rod from his pockets. Without warning, Orcs came suring round the corner...