MLP: Perquisition is Magic (Mission 0)

Kitsune is holding his newly-acquired blade at his side with his telekinesis, ready to slash if he feels threatened.

I fly down to the left door, then turn towards the entrance. "All right, these are the only doors out of this room. Until further notice we're going to hug the left wall. Get over here, I don't want us to get split up."

"Right." Kitsune said, moving to the left side of the room.

The group bunches around the left doorway, keeping close so as to not be caught by surprise. The sickly sweet stench subsides slightly as the group moves away from the right side of the grand hall. This doorway leads into a cavernous room that has been turned into a maze of twisty little passages, all alike, by monstrous bookshelves arranged in a haphazard manner.

"Well, someone's been busy. Hold on a second."

I cautiously fly up to see if I can possibly get above the shelves.

As Licky attempts to fly above the shelves, she bumps her head on what appears to be thin air. On closer examination, the ceiling barely reaches above the shelves - its titanic vaults are an illusion. It would take an incredibly strong magic user to create and maintain such a spell...

"Ow." I land. "Okay, slightly less busy than I thought. The ceiling's still there, it only looks like it's missing. Now, I'm no unicorn, but I'm pretty sure illusions are harder to keep up than actual transformations. Either way, though, I'm pretty sure we aren't alone in here."

I drop to a whisper. "Hopefully this isn't a maze that can rearrange itself because that would totally ruin the hug-the-wall rule. Keep a hoof on the bookcases so we can tell if any of these shelves are fake."

Normal voice again. "All right, get ready to move, and be careful."

Lucky hugs the left wall and gestures for the others to join her.

((I think it's been pretty well established by the multiple week-plus silences that Cogs and Kitsune are pretty much just mindlessly doing whatever Lucky tells them to do and not taking any initiative of their own at all. So I think it can be assumed that they are, in fact, going to follow her, and proceed with the adventure accordingly.))

((I'm not going to make her explode again, it's difficult enough to reconcile the first one with her character.))

((Gotcha.))

Lucky leads the absent-minded Cogs and Kits down the left side of the passageway, turning left whenever a twist arrives. They reach the wall around halfway through the maze, where a door leads into a side room. The maze continues to twist towards the opposite side of the room.

((I'm assuming the door's open since we know it leads into a side room.))

I peer through the door, examining the contents of the room.

((Yes, it is.))

Many books lay scattered across the floor, precariously perched in wobbly towers. A large crate is in the back corner of the room.

I move in to examine the crate.

Lucky moves in, stepping around the towers of books to the crate. It is a large, musty affair made of wooden planks nailed together.

I try to see if there's a way to open the crate other than destroying it.