All About the Game - Plot and Characters

Plot and Characters

Lure of the Labyrinth's story is told primarily in graphic-novel sequences that are interspersed throughout the game. These sequences get players started in the game, give them important game instructions and motivate their journey through the world of Lure of the Labyrinth. We chose the graphic-novel medium because it's familiar and fun for students and because it provides you with a very useful teaching tool within the game. We think that both you and your students are going to like it a lot. OK, so what happens in Lure of the Labyrinth? Well, it starts out like this ...

Your beloved pet's gone missing and you've got to find it - but how? Before you know it, you're dropped - a little like Alice through the looking glass - into a strange (and extremely smelly) world where your only friend is a mysterious bean-loving girl with wings. She calls herself Iris, and she says there are others ... Others? Other pets? You're not sure yet. But she tells you that you'll need a disguise if you have any hope of finding your pet. You don your new, exceedingly bizarre disguise, take some beans from Iris (beans?) and find your way to a place called the Tasti Pet Factory. What's going on here? You're not sure, but you do know that the whole dump is overrun with monsters. They're all over the place, stinking up the joint and sending you to the Horrible Resources Department where they sign you up to work for them. They seem to make pet food here ... sometimes out of ingredients like carrots and eyeballs! You're not sure how any of this is going to help you find your pet, but you go along with it (since it's really the only option you've got). And eventually some things become clear. At each stage of your journey, your work in the factory involves solving puzzles that feel a little like math ... only different. And after awhile, you understand that you're being paid at these "jobs" (that is, solving the puzzles) in tokens ... tokens that might prove useful to you. They might even help you free your pet ... and all the others. So you keep working at the Tasti Pet Factory ... solving the puzzles ... doing the math ... meeting the monsters ... all in the hopes of getting that sweet pet of yours back and returning home.

And so it begins.

To learn more, you can always ask your students about it ... or even better, play the game and find out for yourself!


Lure of the Labyrinth features a sprawling cast of monster characters (and at least one of them is, in fact, almost always sprawling - see Funzlebubb below). Some of these characters are totally new and invented for the game, while others are rooted in various world mythologies. You'll see that the mythology-based monsters in Lure of the Labyrinth don't always look and act exactly like their models. Sometimes they're composites of similar characters from different mythologies ... and they often come with a bit of a twist. Be assured, though, that all the monsters in Lure of the Labyrinth are weird (in a good way) ... more than a little smelly (that sense does loom large in Lure of the Labyrinth) ... and totally fun for your kids.

And speaking of your kids, they'll get information on each of Lure of the Labyrinth's monsters in the Bestiary section of their TPCs after they encounter them in the game. For your convenience, we've collected the bios of all Lure of the Labyrinth monsters here in a handy, one-stop reference chart.

Lure of the Labyrinth Monster Dictionary

Monsters A Bit About Them Where You'll Meet Them in Lure of


Akaname is a helpful monster from Japan. Before he came to work at the Tasti Pet factory, Akaname used to clean dirty bathrooms. With his tongue. Gross. If he tries to kiss you, run! The Lab

Bai Ze

No one knows more about monsters than Bai Ze. He knows so much that he's written a whole book about them, the Bai Ze Tu, with detailed descriptions of all 11,520 types of monsters. But be careful - if you ask Bai Ze a question about monsters, he might never stop talking. Centuries ago, Bai Ze loaned a copy of the Bai Ze Tu to the Emperor of China, and he still hasn't gotten it back. The Warehouse


Bigfoot is a hairy, ape-like monster who lives in the Northwestern United States and Canada. Though very few witnesses have actually seen Bigfoot, the tracks he leaves in the ground are pretty hard to miss. Did we mention that he has big feet? Bigfoot's cousin is the Yeti.

Game Intro


Blobbo is the oldest of the Blob brothers. He has a great job as a security guard in the Tasti-Pet factory, and if you think his lack of hands, arms, and legs makes him a poor choice for the job, wait till you see him in action. Blobbo's main weakness (other than the no hands thing) is his unhealthy love of junk food, which has ruined his figure.

Vending Machine and Vats


Briareus is an ancient giant, an uncle and former ally of Zeus, the king of the Olympians. In mythical times, it was said he had fifty heads and one hundred arms, but he seems to have misplaced most of them over the last few centuries. Even with just four arms, though, Briareus can load a truck faster than any other Tasti-Pet employee.

The Loading Dock


This three-headed dog once guarded the gates to the Underworld, but he now keeps watch over the Tasti Pet Factory. He's rumored to have the best sense of smell in all of monsterdom, but you'd expect that from a dog with three noses. He likes belly rubs and small children (preferably on a bun with a lot of ketchup). Game Intro


Chemosit is an African monster who's a distant cousin of Bigfoot and Yeti, though if you ask either of them, they'll deny it. Chemosit is maybe not quite as bright as the rest of the monsters (and you've probably already noticed that none of them are particularly bright), but he is big, which got him the job as a security guard at Tasti-Pet. He works with his partner and best friend, Uhlakanyana, keeping the factory clear of intruders (except for all those kids that keep sneaking in). Graphic Novel


The middle Graeae Sister. She runs the Tasti Pet SHOP with her sisters Enyo and Pemphredo. Deino once said she'd give her right eye to have a successful retail business, and it looks like she got her wish. Deino's name means "dread." Do you think her parents were trying to send her a message?



Echidna is the mother of all monsters - at least all the Greek ones. She's maybe an aunt or stepmother or kindly neighbor to the rest of them. When Zeus banished her and the other monsters to the Underworld, Echidna launched her fiendish plan to one day escape and conquer the world. Once New Formula Tasti-Pet starts shipping to unwitting pet stores around the globe, her evil dreams will all come true! Mwaa ha haaa!

Graphic Novel


Eloko is originally from the deepest jungles of Central Africa, where he tormented hunters and tried to hide all the local wildlife and fruit from them. Since he started working at Tasti Pet, though, he's become a big slacker and spends most of his time surfing the Internet, playing videogames, and getting into trouble.

Olfactory Aware Door


The eldest of the three Graeae Sisters, who manage the Tasti Pet Company Store. Even though they've got a lot of useful stuff in their store, the Graeae Sisters only have one eye and one good set of teeth to share among them. Maybe they should have paid attention when their mom told them to brush and floss. Enyo's name means "horror" so you might want to be careful around her.



The Funzlebubb is so heavy that he's always tired from having to carry his own weight around every time he moves. Because he's always tired, the Funzlebubb spends most of his day sleeping. Because there's not much else you can do when you're always asleep, the Funzlebubb works as a door in the Tasti Pet factory. It isn't easy to wake a sleeping Funzlebubb.

Waiting Room


The Golem is a stone monster from eastern Europe. Originally created by a powerful magician that she once served, she now works for Echidna at the Tasti Pet factory. The Golem will drink anything you give her as long as it comes on the rocks, but she's a little pickier about what she'll eat.



The first gremlins were spotted during World War II by British pilots, including Roald Dahl, the future children's author. Gremlins love to take apart mechanical things - like airplanes - especially when they're in the air (which is not so good if you're a passenger in one of those airplanes).

Waiting Room


Imp is a mischievous monster who likes to play tricks on others. His favorite was when he put a "kick me" sign on the Golem - her stone skin is so tough that it took all day for Golem to notice that people were kicking her. Unfortunately for Imp, his skin isn't nearly as tough as Golem's, which he learned when she finally did find that sign on her back. Imp likes potato chips and any food that's orange.



Jishin-Mushi is a subterranean monster. He loves to dig tunnels and blow stuff up underground. It's his job to tunnel out new space for the Tasti-Pet factory to grow into, and you can feel the effects of his work from miles away. That's how he earned the nickname"the earthquake beetle." If you're really nice to Jishin-Mushi, he may let you have a bite of one of his diamonds.

Boing Bots Mine


Kobold is a German monster originally found hiding in household cupboards and closets or deep underground in mines. He's closely related to elves and gnomes, but he has a much worse temper. Kobold manages the Tasti Pet HR office with an iron fist. And he'd be really, really upset if he found out that one of his employees wasn't who he was supposed to be. Horrible Resources


Kraken is a mythical, many-armed creature from the depths of the ocean. Once upon a time, his favorite food was sailors that he'd pluck off the decks of ships. Nowadays, though, Kraken prefers sushi. Kraken always wins when he arm wrestles.



Related to fairies, gnomes, elves, and goblins, the Native American Mannegishi are a lot more mischievous than any of their European cousins. They love to capsize canoes, tie shoelaces together, make crank phone calls, and shortsheet beds. Also, they love kielbasa.

The Warehouse


Medusa comes from ancient Greece, where it was said she was so ugly her gaze turned men into stone. With the help of modern cosmetics and a little plastic surgery, Medusa now looks much better, and she's now just ugly enough to crack a mirror. Her hair is a nest of snakes, which makes giving her a haircut a dangerous job. Cafeteria


Minotaur is a terrifying, bull-headed monster that roams the halls of the Tasti-Pet factory. Don't linger in one spot for too long, or he may come after you. What will happen if he catches you is anyone's guess, but it probably won't be pretty. Graphic Novel

Minotaur 2

Don't let the Minotaur's frightening looks fool you - he was actually the monsters' greatest scientific genius until he had a crisis of conscience and tried to stop Echidna's plan. That's when Echidna zapped him with a dematerializing beam. Now he's a super smart, friendly, ghost-like monster who could really use your help becoming material again. Who knows - if you help him, he just might return the favor! Graphic Novel


Monocerous is part monster, part rhinoceros, and all bad attitude. It's his job to make sure all the copy machines at Tasti Pet headquarters are working properly. Don't even ask about what happened when he caught Eloko making photocopies of his butt on the machine in the mailroom.

Olfactory Aware Door


Born in the stinkiest swamps of Florida, Muck-Thing is made of roots, ooze, slime, moss, mud, leaves, weeds, and a little water. He can't understand why, no matter how much he scrubs and scrubs, it seems like there's always a fresh trail of muck that needs to be cleaned wherever he goes.



Ninkasi is the monster in charge of cooking up huge vats of Tasti-Pet - enough to feed millions of hungry pets around the globe. She originally came from ancient Sumeria, and she still uses some of the old cooking techniques she developed there thousands of years ago to make Tasti-Pet. She also uses some of the old ingredients, even though most of them went bad centuries ago.



The youngest of the three Graeae Sisters, Pemphredo believes she's also the prettiest. That's what they call "setting the bar low." If she takes a liking to you, Pemphredo might give you a sweet deal on the items in the Tasti Pet Company Store. But watch out - she might also try to give you a kiss. Pemphredo's name means "alarm."



Half rooster and half lizard, the Roostertrice can turn men (and gnomes) to stone with just a glance. Though he's as fiendish and deadly as his better-known cousin, the Basilisk, the Roostertrice doesn't get anywhere near as much respect from the other monsters. It's tough to be taken seriously when you're half chicken.

The Garden


The salamander is a lizard-like monster who likes things hot-hot-hot! Hot tamales, jalapeño peppers, and matches are among salamander's favorite foods, and gasoline (followed by a lit match) is his favorite beverage. Salamander normally hangs out in bonfires and Bunsen burners, but he's willing to spend time in a colder climate if it means a hot meal.



Scrubby's one of the unscariest monsters that ever lived. He used to hide in closets and try to scare people, but they always mistook him for a mop and weren't very scared. Now Scrubby is trying to find work as a janitor. He gets the floors very clean, but he doesn't do windows.

Waiting Room


The Sphinx is an ancient Egyptian creature with the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle, and the head of a woman. She loves riddles, and she's got a million of them (and two million answers - the Sphinx doesn't always play fair). She really hates knock-knock jokes, though.

Game Intro


Tlaltecuhtli is an ancient and powerful Aztec creature who dates back to the very dawn of creation, long before mankind, or even most monsters, walked the Earth. Now that the Earth is crowded with people, Tlaltecuhtli prefers to live in the Underworld, where she can tend her gardens in peace. At least, that's what she thought before those annoying gnomes arrived.

The Garden


Triclops originally comes from Detroit, where he used to sabotage new cars while they were being built. Now he applies his expertise at running (and ruining) assembly lines to work at the Tasti Pet factory. Triclops has a keen eye for detail and two more for other stuff.

Assembly Line


The fiery-tempered Uhlakanyana works with his partner, Chemosit, as a security guard in the Tasti-Pet factory. He's been asking to get a new partner since the second day they worked together, but so far, no luck. When he has to, Uhlakanyana can shoot lava from his mouth. He prefers not to do it, though, because lava tastes terrible - kind of like old rocks, but spicier.

Graphic Novel


Yeti comes from high on top of the Himalayan mountains in Asia, where his footprints have sometimes been spotted in the snow. He's also called the Abominable Snowman - and if you call him late for dinner, you'll find out what "abominable" means! Yeti likes frozen dinners, even if he has to freeze it himself. Bigfoot is his third cousin, once removed. Cafeteria