"There were enough atrocities back home for me to understand that," Kalchine says. "As a soldier you begin by learning to obey commands without question. Then, you learn that you have to kill to survive and the more effective you are, the more likely you'll live. It's all too easy to be talked into doing terrible things in the idea that you'll be advancing both those goals and before you know it, you've done things you can't justify."
He shakes his head, his own gaze distant on the trees. "You know, I never knew my real family. I was adopted by Chest Thumper's as a baby then joined the army when I was an adult. I can say, I don't feel like I missed anything. My adopted families were as good to me as anyone who could have been related to me by blood could have been."
He looks toward the hut. "You've found a good adopted family, too. And it's even weirder than Chest Thumper's," he teases.
"Want to go for a walk?" he asks as she confesses to being restless.
He shrugs. "Likely no one does get what they deserve. Or maybe no one deserves anything. But you have done some good and done some work, so you shouldn't feel guilty about wanting peace and ease."
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The Coffin Man continues crushing Fin at Poker.
Fin shakes his head and throws his cards in. ”I know when I’m whupped, Bones…gonna take a break…maybe come back later for a rematch later…”
Fin gets up, stretches, and heads back to where his friends are gathered. He starts over to Quasit to ask if he could bury Viktor; everything in the bag of holding is gonna smell like death if that corpse stays in there much longer. But when he sees her talking with Kal, he doesn’t want to interrupt so he goes and plops down next to Sakitu, leaning over and giving her a light kiss on the forehead…
”You’re mighty quiet tonight, Hlao-roo…you tired? Maka’s making up a hot bath for Anastasia…perhaps we can take one after she’s thru…seems like ages since I’ve had a hot bath…”
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"You know, I never knew my real family. I was adopted by Chest Thumper's as a baby then joined the army when I was an adult. I can say, I don't feel like I missed anything. My adopted families were as good to me as anyone who could have been related to me by blood could have been."
Quasit nods thoughtfully. "Families are a mixed blessing for sure. Like I said, my older brother Colin is a jerk. I don't really like him. But I would die to protect him if it came to it, and he'd probably do the same for me. And I've got all kinds of feelings about my mom, and I don't really want to ever see her again --and I don't think she's dying to see me either -- but if she appeared suddenly next to me, the first thing we'd do is give each other a Maka-hug. It's kinda like having a complicated relationship with your left arm-- no matter how much it hurts, you'd never be able to cut it off." She thinks about this final metaphor, then shrugs at the lameness of it.
"Want to go for a walk?" he asks as she confesses to being restless.
Quasit smiles and inclines her head a little. "I mean-- I would, except that I'm on watch duty, and there's a certain Headless Horseman loose out there in the woods somewhere. Wandering off by our lonesomes doesn't seem like the greatest idea. I'm sure he'd love to pick off a couple strays." She takes a moment to read Kalchine's face, then gives a sympathetic quirk of the lip.
"Do you think your druid mentor went back to Golarian? Or is she going to be planet and plane hopping for the foreseeable future?" she asks, changing the subject.
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As Fin sits next to Sakitu, she smiles and squirms up next to him. The cold winter air doesn't really bother her but she never wants to miss a chance to absorb some of his warmth.
”You’re mighty quiet tonight, Hlao-roo…you tired? Maka’s making up a hot bath for Anastasia…perhaps we can take one after she’s thru…seems like ages since I’ve had a hot bath…”
She leans her head on his shoulder then replies. "Hmm. A bath. That sounds like a good idea. After Anastasia would be fine. As long as she doesn't take too long." Sakitu snuggles more into Fin, enjoying every bit how he feels, smells, and even sounds. Her ears, pressed close to his chest hear the gentle thump of his heart and the whisper of air moving through his lungs when he breathes.
"Could I ask I huge favor?" She leans away from him enough so that she can turn her face to make eye contact.
"Would I be ok if I went first? I mean, before you?"
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Fin nods, unsure of himself. ”Sure, if that’s what you wish, Hlao-roo; I do tend to take long baths. Since we shared hot baths on Triaxus, I was thinking perhaps we could share one here. You could keep your small clothes on like you did there, I’d behave…but if you’re tired, no worries, maybe another time. I’ll ask Maka if she’ll tell us when Anastasia is thru…then you can go…and I can play cards with Bones till you’re finished…”
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Fin smiles. ”I’d like that too, Hlao-roo; with everything happening lately, it’ll be good to have some alone time…”
When Maka lets ’em know, Anastasia is finished, he’ll lead Sakitu to the tub. After thanking Maka for hearing the water, he’ll disrobe, neatly fold his clothes and place them alongside his gear within arm’s reach and enter the tub, quickly submerging before popping his head back up and exhaling with a soft sigh…
As Sakitu enters the tub, he pulls her back gently into him wraps his arms around her, murmuring as he lightly runs his fingers thru her hair. ”You look lovely…it’s been a long time since the hot baths on Triaxus…you might need to nudge me when you’re ready to get out…if you leave it up to me, we’ll both look like prunes…”
Once she'd had a long bath, Anastasia is obviously barely awake, and falls asleep as soon as she's led to a bedroll.
She's still sleeping soundly when you all arise in the morning. No attacks have come during the night. No ambushes await outside the door.
With a deep stretch and a roar of yawn, Maka sat up, rolling her shoulders to shake off the stiffness of sleep. She moved through her morning routine with practiced ease. Splashing cold water on her face to shake off sleep, she ran her fingers through her thick hair, undoing the loose tangles that had formed overnight. Reaching for her comb, she worked through the strands with steady, practiced strokes before dividing her hair into sections and beginning to braid. The ritual was as much a part of waking up as stretching or steadying her energy. By the time she secured the braid, she felt properly awake.
With everything in order, Maka set about quietly preparing something warm for breakfast.
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After a nice relaxing bath, Fin slept curled up with Sakitu for his normal couple of hours, went thru his monk poses that Maka had taught him, what seems ages ago now, and then relieved Quasit from guard duty, standing watch for the rest of the night and early morning. Right before the sun started to rise, with no signs whatsoever of any mischief about, he came inside to warm up a bit before they headed back to that camp…he thought about Rasputin and their prior encounters…and he wondered if they’d all survive another as he wandered in the Hut, before finding Maka workin’ on breakfast…
”G’mornin’, Mistress of Fire. Did Anastasia sleep thru the night? You did a good job settling her down last night; you’ll make a good mother, that is, if you are so inclined, of course…”
He stretches for a second before sitting down. ”Thank you again for the heating the bath last night, Maka…I really appreciated it. First hot bath I’ve had since Triaxus…I really miss the hot baths there (I even miss their swill)…and the ones in Irrisen before that…doubt we’ll ever see their likes again any time soon…”
Fin ponders for a moment before speaking again, a somber look on his face. ”Maka…been thinking ‘bout our upcoming visit with Rasputin…think we’ll be able to take him down for good this time?”
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”G’mornin’, Mistress of Fire. Did Anastasia sleep thru the night? You did a good job settling her down last night; you’ll make a good mother, that is, if you are so inclined, of course…”
Maka didn’t pause from her cooking. "Who knows, maybe I'll lay some eggs someday," she said with a grin, but her tone made it difficult to tell if she was joking or not.
Fin ponders for a moment before speaking again, a somber look on his face. ”Maka…been thinking ‘bout our upcoming visit with Rasputin…think we’ll be able to take him down for good this time?”
Maka handed him a plate of food without missing a beat. "Hopefully." she said simply. Then, after a moment, she added, "But it'll take as long as it takes."
Kalchine spends the night cuddled up to Chest Thumper, the frost ape eventually forgiving him for cooping him up in tiny form. The triaxian feels a little guilty, since he knows that the same thing is just going to happen again the next day.
When they rise in the morning, he lets the frost ape roam for a while and Chest Thumper follows his nose to the kitchen, waiting expectantly for his share of breakfast.
Kalchine goes out in front of the hut, walking down into a patch of undisturbed snow. He kneels and burrows his hands down through it to touch the frozen earth. Closing his eyes, he lets his consciousness merge with the energy of this world, reconnecting the conduit between himself and it so that he can tap into that energy later in the day.
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Maka didn’t pause from her cooking. "Who knows, maybe I'll lay some eggs someday," she said with a grin, but her tone made it difficult to tell if she was joking or not.
Fin starts to chuckle but catches himself as he couldn’t quite tell if she was joking, so he stifled it into a cough, thinking, She is part dragon, perhaps she can lay eggs. He just nods and gives a dumb smile instead…
Maka handed him a plate of food without missing a beat. "Hopefully." she said simply. Then, after a moment, she added, "But it'll take as long as it takes."
He nods more somberly this time; he had one of his weird dreams during his power sleep and it was foreboding, he put it out of his mind for the moment. Fin takes the plate of eggs and wolfs them down; with his ring not requiring him to eat, Maka was a great cook and the smell of eggs was just too tantalizing. ”Mmm, good eggs, m’Lady, thank you…”
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After being relieved by Findurel, Quasit retreats into the Hut and finds a quiet place to lay out her bedroll. Then she lays there staring at the ceiling for an hour or so; as with the past several nights past, she finds it impossible to turn off her brain and let sleep take her, yet she also feels besieged by a weariness of body and spirit. For a long time inertia keeps her stationary on the floor, hostage to her lack of energy, but eventually with an exasperated huff she throws aside her blanket and pops to her feet and begins to wander the Hut.
Eventually she comes to the room where Anastasia is sleeping. She tiptoes closer and sits cross-legged next to the girl, pulling up her blanket and gently pushing her hair from her face, then she just sits and watches the girl sleep, her hands balled up into prayer fists that rest over her lips.
And then for some reason she finds that she's thinking of her own mother. Did her mother sit beside her like this, watching her sleep? There was so much anger and resentment between them, but when she slept, did all that fall away? Did her mother sit like this and wonder what would become of her? Did her mother still think of her in the still watches of the night, wondering if she was still alive?
And Quasit realizes that sadness is overtaking her again, as it so often did these days. The lonely lost hum at the base of her heart that tightened her throat and belly. It seemed closer in the dark, a whisper to be perceived when all else was quiet. Guilt, regret-- regret that her anger drove her to run away, leaving her relationship with her mother in a wreckage of contempt and misunderstanding. There was no way she could have stayed there. But she could have left openly, and honestly, with dignity. Instead she snuck off. Like a thief of her own life.
But that was her whole life. The urge to run and hide from everyone and everything, to commit to nothing and no one. Eeking out her existence one scrap at a time, always dreaming of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, just waiting for her to fall into it.
Even now, the thought of looking after this girl, raising her, being a mother or even an older sister to her, filled her with dread. She could think of a thousand ways she'd be awful at it, of ways she'd let this child down. And not just this child-- any child.
Had her mother felt that way too? Once? More than once? Did everyone?
She closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. This was getting her nowhere. Wallowing again. When did she become such a morose person?
Spotting a spare blanket, she wraps it over her shoulders and retreats to a corner of the room, and slumps into a lazy sitting position and lets her mind drift...
A few hours later she wakes suddenly, a snatch of melody repeating in her dreamy mind, her shoulders tight and sore from being pressed into the wall so long, a line of drool falling from her mouth down her front. Stiffly she gets to her feet and goes to the front door to check the hour. Perhaps an hour before dawn. Findurel glances back up at her immediately and nods silently. She smiles and gives a little wave but immediately retreats back inside. She wanders some more, rolling her shoulders and arching her back to work out the kinks, and wiping the crust from her eyes, until eventually the others begin to wake up.
*****
Quasit saws away with her toothbrush for several minutes and runs her fingers roughly through her hair to make her appearance slightly less haggard. A splash of cold water to the face goes some way to combating the dark circles under her eyes by making her cheeks a lovely splotchy red.
"Once everyone is up and had something to eat, we'll start. We're gonna turn off that machine and face Rasputin and his vampire pals. And you can bet that he's preparing all sorts of lovely surprises for us. He knows we're coming for him. He can't hide any more -- the difference this time is that we'll be able to get at him, and we won't be fighting a phantom."
"No running away. Either he dies or we do. No mercy. Rasputin must die."
Anastasia keeps sleeping soundly even as you start talking and eating breakfast. Kalchine would guess she's still recovering from being returned from the dead.
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”No running away. Either he dies or we do. No mercy. Rasputin must die.”
Fin, silent for a few moments as he reflects on his dream, nods to Quasit, his tone wistful. ”Aye, Q. I think Anastasia should stay here, she’d be in danger otherwise. Zorka, Tez and Bones can look after her. We will start with the northwest tower, I presume?”
Kalchine shoos Chest Thumper away before he can eat up all the breakfast has been prepared. The frost ape's digestive tract can handle more than any of the rest of them so, while meet and eggs and vegetables are good for him, hay, grass, bark and leaves will fill him up and provide him fuel.
The triaxian gets some breakfast and begins to eat,but pauses at Quasit's declaration.
"Victory or death," he comments, his mentality and potential tactics shifting as he takes in the mission parameter.
"No running away. Either he dies or we do. No mercy. Rasputin must die."
Maka frowned, concern flickering in her eyes as she studied Quasit. There was an edge to her.
"Okay, babe, you look and sound like you didn’t sleep last night." Maka said, worry evident in her tone. She reached out, placing a comforting hand on Quasit’s shoulder. "How about we run away if we need to and not die? Also, how about you cuddle with me tonight?"
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"Okay, babe, you look and sound like you didn’t sleep last night."
”I slept fine.” says Quasit with measured calm. ”Though I’ve got a whale of a knot in my neck. I just need to move around a bit.”
She reached out, placing a comforting hand on Quasit’s shoulder. "How about we run away if we need to and not die? Also, how about you cuddle with me tonight?"
Quasit turns to her friend and insistently grabs her arms.
”No! Don’t you see? We only get one shot at this. If he drives us off, he calls in Elvanna to help him, or moves Baba Yaga somewhere else, or concocts new traps for us. Or blows up the machine and runs away.”
She releases Maka and glances around at the others, holding up her hands at the ready, like she was getting ready to catch a rat if it stuck its nose out of its hole.
”Look,” she says, calm again, focused. ”Right now, Rasputin is sure we can’t reach him. His overconfidence gives us one shot to reach him. Us reaching him when he’s not ready to confront us face to face gives us a chance. It has to be today. If we can’t manage it now, with all our resources, we never will.”
”I KNOW we can do this. We have to commit all the way, body and soul. We have to banish fear and doubt. It’s time to end this.”
She curls a corner of her mouth into a cocky smirk. ”We have a good hand. This is where we push in all our chips. Are you with me?”
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She curls a corner of her mouth into a cocky smirk. ”We have a good hand. This is where we push in all our chips. Are you with me?”
Maka gave Quasit one last, slightly worrying look before flashing her toothy grin. She slammed her fist into her palm, a small explosion cracking between her fingers.
"Have I ever not been?" she said, her voice brimming with confidence.
Then, suddenly, her expression shifted, her gaze honing in on something. "At least let me work out that knot, though."
Before Quasit could protest, Maka was upon her. A series of sharp, unsettling cracks echoed as she worked over Quasit’s neck with terrifyingly practiced precision. Then, without warning, she yanked Quasit’s arm so tight that, for a moment, Quasit was sure it might pop out of the socket. At the same time, Maka’s thumb dug deep into the knotted muscle, pressing with the intensity of a battlefield maneuver.
Quasit couldn't tell if it felt incredible or excruciating. Maybe both.
Then, just as suddenly, Maka let go, and a flood of relief washed over Quasit, the tension melting from her muscles
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Maka gave Quasit one last, slightly worrying look before flashing her toothy grin. She slammed her fist into her palm, a small explosion cracking between her fingers.
"Have I ever not been?" she said, her voice brimming with confidence.
Quasit smiles back gratefully and gives Maka a firm whap on the bicep in solidarity.
"At least let me work out that knot, though."
"Huh?... Wait, you don't have to--"
Before Quasit could protest, Maka was upon her. A series of sharp, unsettling cracks echoed as she worked over Quasit’s neck with terrifyingly practiced precision. Then, without warning, she yanked Quasit’s arm so tight that, for a moment, Quasit was sure it might pop out of the socket. At the same time, Maka’s thumb dug deep into the knotted muscle, pressing with the intensity of a battlefield maneuver.
Quasit couldn't tell if it felt incredible or excruciating. Maybe both.
Then, just as suddenly, Maka let go, and a flood of relief washed over Quasit, the tension melting from her muscles
At first Quasit seems afraid to move, lest the entire house of cards that is her poor skeleton should collapse. Her eyes shift about uncertainly as she re-engages with her body.
"Oh." She feels at her neck.
"Wow." She bends her neck left and right briskly.
"Hey, that really worked. Thanks!"
"You're welcome." Maka said with a smile. "Now let's go kill Rasputin."
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Already geared up, Fin rises and looks to Quasit. ”While you’re waiting for everyone to wake and eat, Q, permission to scout ahead to make sure no surprises have appeared in the camp overnight? I can take the raven figurine with me; I won’t be detected nor will I do anything stupid. If all is clear, I’ll send the raven back to summon you here; since we have been in the NW tower before, most can teleport directly within it, where I’ll be awaiting as lookout. By your leave?”
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Fin pulls his hood up over his head, draws his bow, and scouts a ways ahead of the party, in his usual style; he’d like to reach the camp and look it over from the tree line to make sure there’s neither surprise nor ambush awaiting, before entering…
…when he’s deemed it safe to enter, he’ll go thru the hole in northwest corner fence, underneath the tower, and wave his friends over…
Fin finds the camp abandoned. Nothing moves as far as he can see.
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Fin warily waves his friends over. As they make their way over, he invokes the rope of climbing to knot up and attach to the railing of the tower since the tower steps were knocked out when Viktor was killed. As he starts to climb, he says, ”Going up, Q…”
…when he gets to the top, he’ll redraw his bow and, after checking things out in the tower, he looks out over the camp as he awaits his friends…
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As Quasit prepares to follow Findurel up the rope, Selena reaches over and grabs her by the scabbard on one of her swords.
”I see you’re not going to bother consulting with anyone about what you’re about to do, even if your ignorance might blow up half this planet. I don’t know why that still surprises me. No doubt one of your street rat nostalgia stories will provide all the relevant information you think you need. But humor me and just listen for a minute.”
She releases her grip and allows Silver to jump up into her arms. The fox’s unnaturally bright eyes stare witheringly at the rogue.
”I spoke with the scientist before you got him blown up. He didn’t realize it, but he was attempting to use his technology to replicate a sort of Plane Shift spell. Actually what he ended up with was closer to an overblown Rope Trick spell, and even that is incredibly inefficient and clumsy. Like trying to put out a fire by spraying nails at it instead of water.”
”There were a couple aspects of his machine that puzzled me, so I questioned him about them. First off, the machine is generating enormous amounts of energy somehow, much more power than this compound can provide for things like their searchlights or electric fence. Second, why does it need four stations? Especially since they seem unconnected by any wires? Interestingly, the answers to those two questions are interconnected. As I suspected they would be.”
Selena pauses to allow Quasit’s mind to catch up, and to pick some lint off her dress.
”As you may or may not know, lightning in clouds is caused by imbalances between their ionic potentials. The mechanism is complicated, but much of it is caused by friction resulting from winds, air pressures, humidity, and other such things. A similar dynamic is at work with the machine terminals. While active, they exist on two dimensional planes at once. This created enormous energy strain as the matter is pulled in two directions simultaneously. Each terminal is creating a field of pseudo-magical energy that extends out several hundred yards. By having four terminals, the fields of all four interact to create a sort of pocket dimension between them, stranded between the two actual dimensions. Like a Rope Trick spell, the effect is temporary, and so must be consistently recharged—thus the purple arcane lightning discharges.”
”The one truly ingenious aspect is the way Miroslav managed to balance the four fields to reinforce one another as well as to stabilize the geometry of the pocket dimension. A lot of the wiring and tubes in the terminals is to monitor the fields at the other terminals, and attempt compensate for fluctuations in energy, and even to restart the other terminals by temporarily expanding their fields. They’re linked together in a very intricate dance of energy flows. Which is also what makes them so dangerous if you meddle with them. Their very adaptability is what makes them so potentially unstable.”
“And because these troglodytes have no idea that the real energy they are dealing with are actually magical mana flows, they have no way to construct proper monitors and dials to measure them. It really is a miracle that the hunchback didn’t blow everything to kingdom come. Rasputin must have been truly desperate to stand in the middle of that shrine when Miroslav turned this contraption on.”
”So, you’ll have to be very aware of the pitch and tones of the electrical hums you hear as you power the terminals down. Those will be the only indications you’ll have that things are staying in balance. Take your time and really listen.”
Selena steps in closer and whispers the last part.
”I know you haven’t slept properly for several nights now. And I know you’re upset about your father and the gods know what else. I don’t care. But you NEED to FOCUS. Castigate yourself on you own time. Pull yourself together and stop being a dramatic child.”
She then steps back, fixes Quasit with a final cold look, then nods once and turns to walk to the back of the group.
Kalchine watches the exchange between Quasit and Selena, his ears flicking quizzically. He has been around these people just long enough to know that the interaction could go no other way. Yet, differences and conflicts often strengthen a group rather than weakening it.
At least he hopes that's what's happening here.
He takes up a spot several yards away from the tower, keeping watch. It wouldn't do for everyone to cluster around it, both because it might explode and because anyone trying to stop them is likely to possess magic that can affect large areas.
To deal with the tension of the moment, he rolls and twists the little frost ape statue in his hands.
Maka circled the tower from the sky, on alert for any threats.
There are a few tense moments when the machine emits a high-pitched whine that you're sure must presage an imminent explosion... but after a few moments that seem much longer than they are, the device in the tower reaches what Viktor's notes and words state is the appropriate settings for pulling Rasputin's refuge back to Earth.
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Quasit, who'd been working on her knees as she fiddled with the guts of the machine, now drops back on her haunches, wipes her brow and sighs deeply. She turns to Findurel.
"One down, three to go." she says with a relieved smile. "I think I can do this. Whaddaya think? Southwest tower next?"
She stands and goes to look out over the edge of the tower, and gives the group below a thumbs up.
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Fin looks on, admiring Quasit’s handiwork. ”Nicely done, Q! You’re the one doing all the heavy lifting here, whichever tower you think next is fine by me…you go down first, I’ll follow and then detach the rope and catch up to you..”
He slithers quickly down the knotted rope after Quasit, gives the command to detach the rope, and then races off after Quasit to the southwest tower to repeat the process…
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"I pretty much know what I'm doing, but it's still tricky. And it doesn't help that this cold wind makes my fingers feel stiff as I poke around at the cold metal inside this thing. But I think I'm getting the hang of it."
She takes another moment to savor her win, then nods once at the universe and shinnies down the rope.
"Alright, we're moving south to the next tower. The clock is ticking." she announces to the group.
Kalchine fights the urge to cover his sensitive, pointing ears as the machine's whine reaches a painful pitch.
He sighs in relief as it eases back down to a somewhat pleasant thrum that is quieter than it was when Quasit started.
Even before Quasit and Fin are off the tower, he starts running toward the next tower, knowing that he's slower than the rest and wanting the head start.
"One down, three to go," he says to Quasit as she comes abreast of him. "I never had any doubts."
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"One down, three to go," he says to Quasit as she comes abreast of him. "I never had any doubts."
"Heh, well, that's more than I can say, but thank you." says Quasit breezily, sounding way more cocky than she feels.
"Jeepers, it's weird how quiet everything is. Even though there's no one else here any more, I still feel like sneaking."
Quasit leads the way south, following the perimeter fence down pas the garage for the battlewagons sits empty, then leads the group to the gate separating the inner and outer courtyard. The barracks still smoldered, and the cool morning air smelled of charred wood and cooked grease, testament to the many seared bodies still lying about on the ground. She pulls the gate open, then picks her way through the carnage to the southwest tower, and after a final look around, starts climbing.
Once Findurel is ready to help her, she begins to repeat the process of deactivating the terminal.
Kalchine is still paranoid after all the failed attempts they made at taking this camp. He is on high alert, waiting for the next boot to drop...on their heads...with a grenade in it.
The fact that things are going so smoothly only makes him more suspicious as he takes up a position to watch for trouble.
As Quasit and Selena finish setting the second tower's machine to draw back Rasputin's haven, you can all feel an... electric charge of sorts to the air. The lightning continues jumping from the towers to the ruined temple, though it's clearly coming much more quickly from the remaining two towers, but the sense of impending danger setting your hair on end is constant.
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Standing up after finishing the second terminal, Quasit watches the other two towers react and feels toward her hair as it begins to float away from her scalp in strands.
"Oooooo, it's working. It's having a hard time keeping the pocket out of our dimension." she says in a nervous but excited voice.
She climbs down and jogs over to the southeast tower, looking back only to make sure her companions are keeping up, then immediately climbs the ladder to the next terminal.