Rex laughed, "Just calling it how I see it. Next time I will be sure to refer to him as your unlabeled and entirely subjective special friend...How did you guys end up on different teams anyway?"
When he realized Quinn had already walked away and did not seem interested in pursuing this particular conversation he chuckled once more. "Alright, rest it is..." He said to himself, as he stretched and yawned. One more token. Just one more...
Dizzy looked at the beds with some suspicion - what was to stop another team from burgling, or harming them, while they slept. It also seemed to be a great waste of time to sleep during the game. However, she had to admit that she was exhausted, and out of spells. How long have we been in here? It was impossible to judge time here.
Reassured by Quinn that they would be safe while they slept, Dizzy fell into one of the too-large beds, and was asleep in moments.
Seeing Dizzy's hesitation and remembering that she hadn't been with them the first time they'd rested, Quinn said, "You and your stuff will be safe while you sleep...protected by magic in the form of lightning bolts."
"Yep. Quinn thoroughly tested! Don't you worry." Rex said with a chuckle, before lying down.
Knowing he'd be unable to rest before he made sure his memory wasn't playing tricks on him, Vilhelm hurried back to the respite room, counting seconds as he rushed past the boundary so as not to become trapped by the chamber's spells. Inside, the quietly panicked for a moment before he found the place from his memory, and there, showed into a corner of the room, his two friends.
Vilhelm closed his eyes and muttered a quick prayer to whichever Power might be listening. There was no time to move them out in the open to find out if they were alive or dead - at least, not enough time he'd trust himself with, knowing he would not be able to stop halfway if he began - and nothing to do about if either way, not now, not if they had been in bad enough shape to warrant a stay in the respite room to begin with. But at least three of his four teammates were now accounted for. That only left Marco, and someone had had to bring Rhay and Miriam in here, assuming they hadn't collapsed on this side of the challenge door, having made their way that far by themselves. Still, this was much better than nothing, and worth being thankful for.
Those of Team Orra who wished to, rested, slept, meditated, studied and prayed. What felt like eight hours later, they reassembled in the hallway, under the ever-present blue sky.
As they made their way to the teeth door, they passed the three pools. The pools are wide and low, with a two-foot high stone wall around them. All three look identical. A plaque in the floor in the middle says, Waters of wealth, waters of health, waters of death. Drink if you dare.
At the far pools kneels a figure, its back to you, bent over as if drinking from the fountain. All you can see is that its wearing chainmail armour, and appears to be human-sized.
Jibril became immediately concerned and watched to make sure the drinker didn't start to choke.
"Each pool runs on a separate cycle. They will be either the waters of wealth, health, or death. There is no way to tell which is which except to have something living or perhaps once living touch them. Once something does touch them they immediately become the next 'waters' in the cycle. If this soul is now drinking from waters of wealth then they will most certainly turn to gold. If from health then they will be healed. If from death, well the obvious will occur. My friends learned this pattern for my sake when I tried to find out the hard way.", a grim smile, "If it is the first we should lift them into the water to be healed. If the last then I will place the food I kept from Mayin's first." Jibril waited.
If they walk away healthy then he will nod and head to the trap door.
"Uh...I'd be careful drinking from that!" Rex shouted over to the armored humanoid, remembering their own plight. "Jibril's right, it can be quite deadly," he turned and confirmed for Dizzy and Vilhelm.
"Understood," the invoker said, shaking his head at the nasty streak of humor of the Game designers. Some rich patron among the audience, no doubt, was even now preparing to wager on their survival, if it looked like one of them was making a move towards the pools.
The person didn't move. In fact, they didn't even seem to be breathing.
Concerned, Jibril moved forward, and saw that his fears were concerned. The man's hands and face were gold, frozen in mid-splash. Clearly he'd knelt down to refresh himself, and was unlucky in his timing.
Rex sighed, "Guess it's too late to warn him...I don't think we can do anything for him now. Unless dunking him in the health version can undo this?" He turned to ask Jibril, "Do you remember the exact sequence...But I guess we'd still have to check. Someone else might have come by and used it since he did..."
"Do you remember the exact sequence...But I guess we'd still have to check. Someone else might have come by and used it since he did..."
"What harm can we do? We should lift him in without touching the water ourselves.", Jibril went over to the left of the gold-faced man and waited for some help lifting him into the pool. "I'm reasonably sure his clothes won't turn to gold."
Quinn gave the others an incredulous look. "It's waters of healing, not waters of bring back the dead. There are limits to what can be done. And given that our friend from before was lurking around the pools, if there was healing to be had then he would have taken it. He had empty bottles in his possession before, most likely waiting to be filled when he capitalized on someone else's misfortune."
The rogue took a closer look at the man, curious about the gold. She wondered if it was just gold on the surface or solid. "On the other hand, gold is gold."
Dizzy approached the dead man with suspicion. This turned to horror when she saw his frozen face, and realized what had happened. "Merciful goddess! What horror is this!" She put a hand on the man's shoulder and said a small prayer.
The rogue took a closer look at the man, curious about the gold. She wondered if it was just gold on the surface or solid. "On the other hand, gold is gold."
Aghast, Dizzy put herself between the dead man and the rogue. "Quinn! Ye willnae be defacing this poor beggar to line yer own pocket," she scolded, completely unaware of her pun.
Quinn snorted, "Don't be such a prude. What does it matter what happens to the body once it's dead? Whatever makes a person a person is long gone. It's just a meat suit now."
"His mother might think differently. Or his children, if he had any," Vilhelm murmured, equally horrified at Quinn's suggestion but diplomatic enough not to flatly oppose her. Besides, he did kind of understand his own approach to coin was askance - for all his childhood, it had been understood that gold was always out there, easily within reach if one needed it, even though the head of the family had been quite adamant that money was to be used thoughtfully... something young Vilhelm had had beat into him a couple of times after blowing a week's allowance and living expenses in a single night of partying.
"If the water is poison there the man cannot die more. If the water is healing but doesn't fix him he cannot become more dead. If the healing water revives him he will walk out himself. If the water is reset to wealth then the rest of his body will turn to gold.
I do not think there is a chance of his soul not being at rest. This is horrible, but he chose the game and he risked drinking. Every step was his choice. Duncan didn't choose ..."
Jibril tied a rope around the man and pushed him in.
Rex nodded in agreement with Jibril. "I got turned into a statue and you guys brought me back by rubbing some bird blood on me. Maybe he's dead and the fountain can't help him, but if there's even a small chance he can be revived, it's the very least we can do to check, before...you know...ripping the guys face off to line our pockets." He let out a cynical laugh of disbelief, "Like, how hard up are you for coin exactly? Is that why you joined the game? No...You aren't dressed like a pauper...Is it debt? Do you owe someone money or something?"
The dead man splashed into the pool - Jibril was careful not to get any of the water on him. They waited a few moments, but nothing happened. He didn't get more gold, and he didn't come to life.
Jibril hauled the man out by rope. ”I wouldn’t take his hands if I were you Quinn. There’s a spy eye somewhere near and his family is surely watching.”, he didn’t wait around to see if she did or not but left for the Tooth challenge.
"That's unfortunate..." Rex thought aloud as the health fountain did not revive the man. "Well...may he get the rest that he deserves." He remarked as he side-eyed Quinn before following Jibril to the door.
"I don't owe anyone anything. I'm just pragmatic. Gold runs the world and it does a dead man no good."
But Quinn wasn't about to alienate anyone on the team by doing something they disapproved of. Instead, she took another piece of leather and threw it into the pool.
After collecting what she could from the pool, she left the body and followed the others towards the Tooth Door. Before the door was opened, she made sure she had her dagger in hand. The animals had escaped once already so who knew what was about to happen.
Quinn's leather floated for a few seconds, then began turning to gold. It happened quickly, starting at the edges and moving inwards. The chunk of gold sunk quickly and the thunk it made when it hit the bottom of the pool was audible even through the water.
Hoping she was right, Quinn unstoppered an empty vial and dipped it in, collecting what she hoped a was a healing draught. Stoppering it tightly, she joined the others.
Team Orra made their way the short distance down the passage, past the market, to the Teeth Door. The sigil on the door was simple - a skeletal jaw lined with sharp fangs. The danger seemed clear.
Rex put his hand on the door and pushed. The stone door was heavy, and he needed to lean into it to push it all the way open.
The door opened into a large, oval stadium. The floor was hard-packed dirt, and there was no ceiling - the ubiquitous blue sky was overhead, the same as in other parts of the GameFields. Instead of walls, there were twenty or so rows of stone stadium seating. However, instead of living spectators, the seats were filled with scarecrows. The straw men and women were crudely stitched together, and had black eyes and wide red smiles painted on their canvas faces.
Around the base of the stands, there were 7 doors. One they had come in through, then six more at the main compass points. Each door had something carved into it, and a few had items lying on the dirt floor nearby.
The first door (NE), on their left as they entered, had a tidy pile of humanoid skulls stacked up beside it. A pair of wings were rudely carved into the door. The wings were perhaps insectoid, like a dragonfly or grasshopper.
The sixth door (NW), on their right, had a bear's maw carved onto it, and a sprung leg-hold trap propped up against it. They would need to move closer to the other doors to see better what they held.
The only compass point that held no door was the west side of the stadium. Instead, there was a balcony of sorts above where the door should have been. Seated there, on a golden throne, was a straw emperor. He wore a gold leaf circlet on his brow, and a regal purple robe. His was the only face without a grin - his red painted mouth was a straight line, neither pleased nor displeased.
For a moment they waited, to see if anything would happen. There was no movement in the stands as the thousands of straw people stared at team Orra.
Jibril notched an arrow and moved to the centre of the arena. He listened and much as looked.
Rex wasn't sure how to feel about the arena and the scarecrows. One the one hand it felt like something straight out of the nightmares that occasionally plagued his nighttime. But on the other hand, he could help but feel as though the creations were almost mocking the audience. He followed Jibril to the center. "Think the cages will release or do we need to choose them? He asked the others. "I mean traditionally we might need to appeal to the emperor over there..."
Dizzy shivered as the thousands of straw faces grinned at her. "This is...nae what I expected."
Curious about the skulls, she moved cautiously towards them, wondering if they were the skulls of other contestants, or a prop of some sort.
Quinn walked into the stadium along with everyone else. The scarecrows gave her pause, "That's not creepy at all. Are you guys sure we didn't go through the Fear Door?"
She takes a look around, "Looks like we need to pick a door to open."
’Well, this isn’t ominous at all,’ Vilhelm mused as he watched the effigy-filled seats, echoing Quinn’s words with his own thoughts almost verbatim. The invoker reached out, summoning his pact weapon in the form of the ornate glaive he had used before into his hand.
"I mean traditionally we might need to appeal to the emperor over there..."
”Or perhaps the point is to amuse the audience with our struggles against the challenges waiting behind these doors, and if they are entertained enough, we earn the prize,” Vilhelm said, positioning himself so he’d not be closest to any of the doors to take proper advantage of his reach weapon in case something rushed them the moment a door, any door, was opened.
Rex did a circle around the center of the arena and raised his arms up to the 'crowd'. He spoke with a booming voice as if performing as a character. "Lords! Ladies! Your champions have arrived! Do you not have a challenge prepared for us! Show us what you have prepared and we will give you a performance worthy of your time!" While he was technically addressing the straw audience, he looked for a spy eye to which he delivered the most dramatic parts of his speech. "Release your first beast!" he demanded dramatically.
Dizzy approached the door with the wings carved into it, and looked at the pile of skulls. There were six in total, stacked into a pyramid. It appeared to be an assortment of humanoid skulls - there were humans, smaller ones like a gnome or a halfling, and one that had to be a half-orc. They all appeared to be in good shape, with no major cracks or injuries. The weird thing was that they were all missing their teeth. Top and bottom, incisor, molar and tusk - all were gone.
Quinn looked at the other nearby door. The carving on it seemed to be some sort of bear, but none that she was familiar with. The snout seemed short for a bear, and the teeth were enormous. The leg-hold trap nearby was closed up and leaning against the wall. It was made of strong steel, and had a few bits of blood and fur trapped between the teeth of it. It looked huge and heavy, and would likely take somebody stronger than Quinn to set it.
Jibril kept an eye out in the middle of the arena, and a sharp ear as well. However, at first he heard nothing other than the sounds of his own team.
Rex easily found a few spy eyes hovering around the stadium, and made his grand speech. As he finished it, Jibril heard a strange, sort of whirring sound, coming from near the emperor's balcony. They investigated, and found a stone dial had emerged from the wall underneath the balcony. It had a hundred tiny lines marked around it, and the numbers 10, 20, 30 etc up to 100 were marked every ten lines. The dial pointed to 100, and was slowly winding down as they watched. 99. 98. 97. It seemed to move one line every 2-3 seconds.
Other than that, there was still no change or other sounds in the stadium.
"I think his imperial majesty heard you," Vilhelm grunted to Rex as they realized the dial was counting down to zero. "So... is that how long we have to choose a door before the choice is made for us, or is it just a friendly warning to let us know when the challenge truly begins? I say we open one door before the countdown if we can, just in case all the doors open at once if we don't make any choice at all."
"Well then, let's see what's on the other doors so that we can make an informed decision. Personally I don't like either of the first two choices." At that, Quinn jogs around the periphery of the stadium looking at what pictures are on the other doors.
"Or is it how long we have to get through all of the doors? We should get started.", Jibril took a good look at the south west door
Rex nodded, "If there's anything I've learned from this game, its that nothing good is behind any door ever...but they have to be gone through. I agree we should just pick one and go!"
"These skulls...they havna got their teeth!" Dizzy shivered again, she was liking this place less and less.
When it seemed like time was becoming an issue, she moved down to the next door, to see what grisly secrets it contained.
The team split up, moving to the different doors to investigate. On first glance, none of the door seemed to be openable from this side. The heavy doors clearly were meant to slide upwards, and there was no obvious opening device nearby.
(#2) Dizzy's next door showed a crudely carved ant, and a stoppered clay pot lay on the ground next to it.
(#3) Rex investigated the next one, and found the carved, weeping face of a child with pointed ears. Sprawled in the dirt by the door was a rag doll and a one-eyed teddy.
(#4) Quinn jogged down to the south door, and found a snake carved into the door. A long, sturdy pole with a "V" shaped crook at one end rested against the wall.
(#5) Jibril took the final door, and found a strange bird carved in the door. It stood erect, had a short snout or beak with sharp teeth, large eyes, and curved talons on its feet. The wings were held out like arms, and had a long claw at the end. A long, braided leather whip hung from a hook nearby.
Standing nearest the dial, Vilhelm noticed that another panel was sliding open. It revealed a stack of something that resembled playing cards, each about the size of Rex's outstretched hand. Each card had a symbol drawn on it, and they matched the symbols on the six doors (ant, child, snake etc).
Beneath it were six slots, lined up from left to right. The slot on the left had the word "first" scratched under it, and the one on the right had the word "last". It appeared that the cards would fit into the slots, but it was not clear if they could be removed from them after, or if they would slide into the slot and out of reach.
Rex gave his door an uneasy look. He had expected that the depictions were of enemies to be fought, so the presence of a weeping child gave him pause. Coming to look at the cards, he asked, "Maybe we get to pick the order they open in?"
Dizzy checked to see if there was anything suspicious about the clay pot near the ant door, and if not, checked to see what was in it.
The substance inside the pot seems to be some sort of thick, viscous oil. It does not have any magical properties.
"It doesn't seem we are here to fight the animals but to capture or placate them ... though the bear door is worrisome. I suggest: Snake, Ant, Child, Bird, Bear, then Wings. I think when we open the snake door let Rex employ the pole. Do you agree the fork is meant to trap the snake or snakes just beneath the head?"
"Jibril, I think you're on to something. Although the items by the door may be what we fight with rather than placating anything. I guess we won't know until we see what actually is released."
Quinn kept an eye on her surroundings as she spoke, "Someone deal the cards and let's get this show on the road. Time to wrangle a snake."
Dizzy eyed the oil suspiciously. "Why dyou s'pose there's oil here? Are we meant to grease the ant up?"
She put the pot down, careful to reseal it, and moved to where the dial and the slots were. After examining the cards and slots, she shook her head. "I dinnae think it'll be as easy as all that. A moment, before ye feed in the cards."
Moving over to the bear door, she put the leg hold trap down and set it. "Just in case the game don't play fair."
That done, she moved back to the slots. "Do we slot them all at once, or fight one critter, then add a second card?"
"WAIT! Don't put the snake card first," a lightning bolt hit Jibril, "We should subdue the bear first, deal with the winged things that perhaps steal teeth second, then the strange child creature, the ants. Perhaps you can tame the bird with the whip Rex? Then I will try to subdue the snake with the prong. When a creature comes into the arena there may nor be a way to get them off. We may become occupied. Drag the bear trap to the middle of the ring. If you leave it just in front of the door the bear may not come out. One of us can stand in front of it. Whomever is best at trickery. The rest behind in a long line. Perhaps we can get the bear to charge. We trap the bear, subdue it, then move on to the next animal." Jibril rushes over to Dizzy. If she seems ok with the plan he will help move the trap to the centre of the arena. Is there a stake and chain? If so he will take out his war hammer and stake it down. "If the animals are released based on the timer then the longer we delay the more likely we will have to deal with two animals simultaneously."
"Maybe we are supposed to get the ants in the pot?" Rex pondered, "...and my best guess is that we are supposed to defeat them, but the object can help maybe?" Watching Dizzy set up the traps, he said, "Sure...Let's get the bear other with. Why not!"
He turned to face that door, looking ready.
Quinn sighed in exasperation, "Fine, whatever! Just get on with it." She jogged back towards the others, "So who's bait, then?"
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Interesting idea, Vilhelm, go for it.
So...bear trap in the middle, and some sort of illusion. There is no stake and chain in the arena, and you'll run out of time if you try to jury rig something with Quinn's equipment.
Can you guys arrange yourselves on the map? I've put a green circle in the middle for the bear trap. Vilhelm, put a circle around the AoO of your spell.
Whoever is feeding the cards into the slots, put yourself over by the west wall. I need to know if you're going to do the bear one first, then pause before putting in the next card, or putting the next card in straight away.
The pot is only about 1 litre in size, and full of oil. If you want to try to catch ants in it, you'll need to pour out the oil. The neck of the pot is about as big as a circle made by your thumbs and index fingers of both hands.
You only have about ten seconds left on the clock.