Absolutely understandable. It's been fun and you always know where to find me!
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No worries - do what you need to do!
Quinn stopped dead in her tracks as Vilhelm hissed out his warning. She heeds his words and watched intently as Jibril and Rex approached. "Let's hope they stay motionless. Although I highly doubt they will."
It's too early in October for 30cm of snow! I hate my life. More specifically, I hate driving in my life.
Quinn was surprised that she actually enjoyed the ride down the slide, not that her face displayed it. She took her torch back and stowed it. It wasn't like they needed additional light here. "I guess we should see what's behind the curtain." She released her dagger into her hand and then went to study the door frame. Even though Vilhelm said it was harmless, it was better to be safe than dead.
As Jibril disappeared, she yelled after him, "Let us know when you're clear so we don't land on you." Quinn moves her pack to her front so that she can better protect it and their tile on the way down the slide. She waited for Rex to go after Jibril since he'd be able to deal best with any melee surprises at the bottom of the slide. She did reach out and take his torch. "That may not be safe. Here, use my ioun torch. At least you won't burn the slide down."
Quinn stared in surprise at the slide in the floor. "I was not expecting that." At Jibril's prodding, she looked for traps but figured this was the only way to somewhere they hadn't been. It would seem silly if the Game had trapped it but then again she wouldn't have thought they would have allowed a halfling child to be killed over and over either.
She vaguely wonders about the fighting they'd heard but being close to the end was encouraging. If their team could win, maybe her parents would finally notice her.
"There have been lots of would-be thieves. Was there a woman with a dark red cloak on the thieves' team?" Quinn couldn't believe that Timothy would have had a hand in killing Avie but she had no trouble believing that about his teammates. Quinn looked at her tattoo again and pointed at it, "We need to go." Taking their completed token, she cautiously enters the only hallway they hadn't explored.
'those nasty thieves' - is that Timothy's team? Asking for a friend...
A +1 to any of Quinn's ability scores won't change her bonuses so she's as is, just less hungry.
Quinn's eyes widened in surprise at how they were greeted once they were back at the market. She followed the others into the market but she stayed closer to the back to avoid the majority of the touching.
Quinn gratefully took one of the biscuits and her stomach rumbled as she did so. She could still remember how good the food had tasted before and had no doubt the biscuit would be delicious. She was not disappointed.
"I can take our stone so that you can look after Avie." Quinn mentally walked through everywhere they had explored so far. "Jibril's right. I think that's the only hallway that we haven't explored. And judging by the faintness of our tattoos, we don't have much time."
Quinn didn't like the idea of taking Avie with them into the final challenge. It was one thing to willingly go into danger for your own glory but to take a child with you, that just seemed irresponsible. "My opinion probably doesn't matter but I don't think we should willingly take Avie into danger. She's just a child. We just risked life and limb to take her out of danger. It doesn't make sense to put her life at risk."
It's been fun Dizzy! Reality continues to ruin everyone's life :) But real-life must always come first
Level Up +7 HP
Danger Sense +2
Skills (10 per level)
Background skills
Quinn was exhausted as they left the arena, not just physically but emotionally. Being responsible for disabling the machines and cutting the right cable had taken its toll. She leaned against the wall in the hallway, slid down into a squat, and closed her eyes. Without opening her eyes she answered Rex, "Same place we've taken the others. She'll be frozen in time until the end of the Game and then you can get her the help she needs." She then opened her eyes and looked for the closest spy eye. She stood and walked over and glared at it directly. "To those in charge:
Quinn kept her usual stoic demeanor even though she was cheering inside. They had found their token, gotten the door open, and hadn't had to kill Avie. "Everyone follow Jibril. The only way through the main door is to lower yourself down his rope and swing yourself through the door to safety. Get moving."
Quinn brought her dagger against the tan cable. "I'm cutting another one!" she yelled in warning just in case things went awry.
I know you said the tan cable went the opposite direction of the black one...was that towards or away from the main door? I'm leaning towards cutting the tan cable considering the white one just went straight down into the ground.
Quinn snorted, "I think you mean Quinn is lucky, not brilliant."
Quinn thought that the black cable connected to the card machine. But when she couldn't match up one of the other two cables to the button machine, she was at a loss. Unable to keep the frustration out of her voice she groused, "I can't tell what these cables are for and there's nothing that can be done with them other than pull them or cut them. Considering we're at a loss as to where the tokens may be, I'm ready to just start destroying the place. I'm going to cut the black cable and see what happens as well as to see what's inside it."
Does the black cable that goes around the corner line up with anything below?
Quinn was frustrated that she couldn't break through the wall to get a better look at the cables. She pulled out her extenders which included a mirror and took a better look up and down before sticking her hand in.
She quickly realized that she would need a better source of light than her ioun stone. Holding up one of her tools, she shouted up at the others, "Can someone cast light on the end of this?"
Quinn looked back over the wall into the arena below. Her eyes caught site of the panel again. "Those cables I found had nothing to do with this button machine. Maybe if I follow the cables and find out where they go, it'll lead us to the tokens..." Her voice didn't sound confident but it was the only thing she could think to do, aside of hurting Avie. She began tying off the rope around her waist and checked to make sure it was still tied securely up top. To the others she said, "Someone may want to be close to manually haul me up in case I run into trouble." She then threw her leg back over the edge and began lowering her self down.
Quinn got down to business, "Right, now that the immediate danger is over, let's find our token. It has to be somewhere and I have a hard time believing that whether or not we find it relies on us killing a child." The rogue began to systematically search the arena starting with her immediate area.
Quinn stood and backed away from the emperor in order to make room for Rex. "I can't find any traps. I guess they figured no one would bother with the emperor. He's all yours Rex. Smash away."
"Gladly. The pit down below definitely has his name on it. I'll make sure it's safe to touch him." Again, Quinn has her suspicions that traps abound to protect the straw emperor and so she studies him cautiously.
Quinn stared at the contraption with grim determination. It was precisely what she needed to find to try and stop the entire arena floor from caving in. Learning from the card machine, she was very aware that whoever made this button machine wouldn't want it being tampered with either; therefore, she was expecting it to be trapped. She looked it over carefully, being painfully aware of the sand passing through the hour glass.
Fairly certain that it was safe to tinker with, Quinn began the process of disengaging the buttons so that they couldn't be depressed.
"What am I supposed to jam? Cables connect one thing to another. If I jam something here, it won't affect what it's connected to. It'll just push the cable a little to the side."
Quinn began by tugging slightly on the different cables with the assumption that the cable connected to the floor that had already fallen would have a different tension than the others.
Quinn readied her dagger. "Alright, cutting one at a time. Avie, any suggestions based on what you've seen and heard throughout your time in the arena? Black, tan, or white?"
Quinn didn't like what was revealed when she got the panel off. "There are cables but I can't tell where they lead or what they're attached to. The best I can do is yank all of them and hope for the best. Either the whole floor will fall away or it'll stop the process. Any preferences?" She added as an after thought, "The grappling bolt is mine and I've been too busy to use it. If someone else want to give it a go, it's in my quiver."
Quinn continued to scan the arena as another section of floor fell away. Finally she spots a stone that looks different than the rest of the wall but the problem was that it was also twelve feet straight up. "Rex! I need you over here now to give me a boost."
The rogue scrambled up on to Rex's shoulders and then got the burly brawler to boost her up even further by holding her feet in each hand and extending his arms. Easily balancing and partially bracing herself on the wall, she went to work. First she carefully looked over the false stone before attempting to remove the panel.
Quinn was not about to let the floor fall out from under them. She was already looking for any sort of panel or controls that were attached to the floor when Dizzy's question rang out over the rumbling.
She overheard Rex's question to Jibril and offered as she searched, "I have a grappling bolt that Jibril can use if he's willing to use my crossbow. Attach a rope and shoot it at the emperor."
Quinn felt a faint vibration in her chest before she actually heard anything. But when she began to concentrate she could hear it. It was very faint but it was there. A deep, low rumbling that was coming from...from...her blood ran cold...below. "Guys! There's something making noise under ground. I think we're about to have more company."
I don't suppose anything happens to the main door once all of the doors are open at the same time?
Figuring out the workings of the machine, Quinn immediately opened Avie's door. "Someone check inside where Avie was. It's the only place we haven't searched other than the arena itself. If there aren't any tokens there then we start tearing the arena apart." Meanwhile, Quinn closed the doors to the areas they had already searched just to keep anything unknown from sneaking out.
"Son of a...!" Quinn shook the feeling back into her hands as electricity coursed through her arms. Now that she knew there was a trap and that someone didn't want anyone tampering with the machine, it made her even more determined to mess with it. She redoubled her efforts while the others looked for other ways out.
Quinn was already on her way over to the machine when Jibril suggested she take a look. "I've had enough of this arena." She glared at the Emperor, "If this doesn't work, you're next strawman." Over her shoulder she shouted, "Someone check Avie's doll. Maybe there's something buried inside it." Quinn got her tools out but first she studied the machine to see if there were any safeguards in place to prevent tampering.
Quinn was already on her way over to the machine when Jibril suggested she take a look. "I've had enough of this arena." She glared at the Emperor, "If this doesn't work, you're next strawman." Over her shoulder she shouted, "Someone check Avie's doll. Maybe there's something buried inside it." Quinn got her tools out but first she studied the machine to see if there were any safeguards in place to prevent tampering.
Quinn took her tooth from Jibril and got in line for Dizzy's help. She watched the others fawn over the child and make a fuss over how important it was to reattach her tooth. "You guys do realize that it's unnecessary to reattach a baby tooth, right? She's not old enough to have her permanent teeth." Seeing the fire beginning to spread, Quinn suggested, "Why don't we take our ire out on the emperor. We take the fight to him and take out his spectators. Maybe the token is buried in one of the straw people's heads. Or maybe it's behind one of the doors."
Quinn felt a familiar feeling wash over her after the fairy bit her. I will NOT be paralyzed again! Her defiant attitude seemed to lend her body aid and it managed to fight off whatever the nasty fey had infected her with. "You're going to pay for that you overgrown mosquito!" Quinn snarled as she spit more blood. She loaded another bolt and shot it at the fairy that was tormenting her.
Quinn glared at the wretched fairy who had stolen her tooth. She spit out the blood that filled her mouth and wiped it quickly with her sleeve. She then loaded another bolt and shot it at the thief.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Seeing all of the remaining snakes hacked to pieces, Quinn slams the lid on the basket to make sure the captured one stays put and then turns her attention to the flittering tooth fey. She was torn between protecting herself with her trusted dagger and unleashing her crossbow but considering their remaining foes were airborn, she opted for her crossbow. Loading a bolt, she took aim and fired at the closest fey.
Quinn was very determined to reach the basket. By now, the snakes had slithered out and were more easily identified. The first two were too slow for the rogue's quick feet and they ended up striking air when they lashed out at her. The others she had to jump over and it was only thanks to her years of jumping from ledge to ledge with Timothy when they broke into houses using the upper floors that allowed her to avoid further strikes from the remaining snakes. She launched herself into the air and pulled her legs up to her chest before landing and leaping up again to cut the rope with her readied dagger.
"I think we need to get them back into the basket," Quinn yelled as she ran towards the other end of the arena. As she moved, she released her dagger from inside her wrist sheath and severed the rope that was attached to the bottom of the basket keeping it upside down.
Quinn scoffed, "I highly doubt that the Emperor can make us hurt you. You seem to know enough about how this challenge works so how would he make us want to kill you, a child? You say that he's mean. What does he want exactly? As long as you don't interfere with the other things we need to fight, you can leave with us."
Quinn was not so easily swayed by the small child. She was extremely suspicious of anything housed as part of this challenge. Everything up until this point was intent on harming them so why should this be any different?
She made no move to attack but she didn't drop her weapon either. "You don't harm us and we don't harm you. Just play with your doll so that we can move on to the next door."
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