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 Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 8:20 am
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5/5 TEAM 5 YEA YEA
(We chose D)
The loud blueblood's lusus was acceptable. Keeping one's child in line with a swift n** was an excellent method. She smiled faintly (a feature near undiscernable due to her make-up) and nodded.
Tamiya turned from Miache. Alexin had been quiet. They were quiet last time, too. The WACKY adventure had been quite some time ago, and she was the highest blooded troll in that group too. But this time she had rank and age. Perhaps they were intimidated by her presence. That was fine; she thought nothing of it. If anything, they were well behaved.
"Hm. Well," Tamiya growled. She turned to her lusus. "If we cannot come to a fine-a** shinehonking decision.... Father, you can take the lead. We will follow."
The fox-like creature hopped up onto his hind legs and observed the cave. It was a meditative moment. Standing crooked-legged but upright, Kabukidad flopped gently as he swiveled to get an idea of their next path. Since they'd followed the offshoots there were plenty of options. With a quick snap of his ankles he shot off down the tunnel and out of sight. Losing the team was probably unnecessary.
"Well, what in Paradise are we waiting for?" She immediately stepped after him. Tamiya had full confidence in her lusus' abilities, even though his methods were sometimes mysterious even to her. He would go ahead, perhaps find something in the cave, come back with a kill, or do loops through all of the paths and return to her. He had quite the gift.
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 8:46 am
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A) You follow the pipes, which become more and more numerous and colorful as the cave extends. In fact… The whole cave is getting a lot more colorful. Soon your party realizes that the old pipes are brightly painted for a reason – these are no water pipes, these are gas pipes! The heat has warped and cracked these pipes, releasing noxious chemicals into the air. Get out fast! Your party loses 1 HP.
B) The party follows a wayward footstep, which leads you to a steep, trollmade overhang across from some very colorful pipes. It looks as though someone has taken a rest here. That seems like a good idea. The party rests and does not advance.
C) The altitude begins to drop, but you hang on tight. Even though crusty, dead plantlife isn’t much to hold onto, crushing it as the party travels gives you a clear path indicating where you’ve been. Your party advances.
D) Following the lead of the more animalistically inclined, you go off of the beaten path. IF THERE IS A LUSUS IN THE PARTY: Your lusus takes a whiff of the air, listens carefully, and treks on ahead with their newfound responsibility. Suddenly, a sound in the distance causes them to give chase! You try to keep up, but lose them in the darkness. As your party becomes separated from the lusus charging on ahead, you find yourself a little more lost—and the party a little more quiet. One player’s lusus is now separated permanently from the party. IF THERE IS NOT A LUSUS IN THE PARTY: Tracking Alternian fauna seemed to be a good idea at the time, but unfortunately it only lead to the following of chittering noises straight into a voracious stingbeast nest. The party loses 1 HP.
While all groups have advanced through the cave at different paces, you all find yourself moving away from signs of trollkind.
In front of you, a gaping hole where excavation had taken place is the last huge troll development to behold. The path, reduced to a tiny ledge, continues around the pit to connect with the tunnel on the opposite side.
On top of that, the shallow caverns are heated and dangerous, and meager water supplies are trying on the party. Nearby, huge unmarked tanks for processing water appear to be abandoned since the drought. Now at the outskirts of the facility, only processing equipment and the very end of trollmade trails remain. As day breaks on the Alternian surface, these upper caverns may become an oven! The stifling heat will make your next move of dire importance.
A) You consider the tanks. There’s a fair chance that they are insulated to stand the heat, and will give you plenty of time to rest up. On the other hand, they could be glorified slow cookers. You plan to open up one of the tanks and wait it out inside, because why the hell not.
B) You could jump across that pit. You could TOTALLY jump across that pit! In the interest of time and the rising heat, you decide to take a leap of faith.
C) Slowly and carefully shimmy across the outer edge of the pit. Try not to look down!
D) There aren’t exactly hand-holds down the main shaft, and you’re not sure if there is even a way out at the bottom. But, it’s better than boiling to death! Climb down the main shaft.
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 10:53 am
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Well, this didn't go exactly like he had thought. Reemus's feet were already a bit sore because of the rough terrain they had endured for...basically nothing. Guess seadwellers didn't have as good an intuition as he had thought. Oh well. The adventure had just started! There were plenty of opportunities to make up for this poor start!
As Reemus got his act back together (and trying to will away his foot blisters,) Sinter spoke up. The small mustardblood wheeled around to face the eldest of the team. Sinter was looking at Reemus AND Woofmum, and with that question...
Reemus grinned and patted Gillian's back with pride. "Mum here's a great tracker, mate! Could win this sweep's seekin' part a' hide-n-seek contests!" He looked at his large guardian. "Whaddaya say, Mum? Wanna lead us for a bit?"
Gillian nodded, puffing her chest out at the idea of leading a pack. Like troll like lusus. She started sniffing about on the ground, starting a certain direction at a pace the kids could keep up with. Then, there was some sort of noise. Reemus could barely hear it, and didn't give it much thought himself, but Gillian's ears perked right up. Before he could react, the howlbeast shot off into the darkness.
"Mum!" Reemus yelped. "Mum, no! Get back here! Mummmm!"
He could hear some barking echo back to him, but he couldn't tell where from. After a few more minutes, she didn't come back. As he wandered a little and called, then waited, then called again, there was no response. "She'll-she'll catch up later," he said as he turned back to his team. But he was whimpering and doing a terrible job at keeping up that gusto he had started out with. He had led the team to a dead end, and now his lusus was gone. This wasn't going the way he thought at all. "Uh..um..."
Reemus started pawing and ringing his grubby trash bag, momentarily thrown off enough to not know what to say or do next or anything. He had been away from his lusus before, sure, but only by choice. Not accident. It was hard to push away worried thoughts about her.
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 12:56 pm
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Pyredad was too small to do any kind of tracking or leading, and he was stuck curled around Nervit's horn. The heat was getting to the aquatic lusus, and anyone with sharp ears would find the sounds of wheezing coming from the small lusus. Worriedly, Nervit dug in her pockets for a small spray-mist bottle she'd brought for this purpose, and spritzed him. Soon enough after a few spritzes his breathing evened out, and he chittered something out and Nervit nodded obediently.
"Don't worry, Reemus. Your mum probably just found some prey? I'm sure she'll bring it back later, and then we can have a snack! But um, for now we should probably choose something to do...if we wait here, we're going to boil to death."
She was strangely matter-of-fact about the horrible fate that awaited them, as she waited for the others to make a decision. Nervit personally wasn't sure any of the options were good options...but still.
----
Alexin walked, then ran after Kabukidad, trying to keep the lusus in sight. His own lusus hooted alarmedly as their child ran out of sight - but a few moments later Alexin returned to the group, shaking their head.
"My apologies Miache, Tamiya. I could not keep your esteemed lusus in sight - it seems they caught a smell or sound and ran off quicker than I could follow."
Still, the group progressed until they hit the upper caverns, and Alexin shifted uncomfortably in the heat - they were a coldblood, after all, even if only just. They momentarily spared a thought for the seadweller party they'd seen, they must be suffering from the lack of water and the heat even more! Still, they needed to do something, so they cast their eyes around and spotted the tanks.
"Hmm...what about those tanks? They've got to be insulated against the heat, or else the water would just boil off! We could hide in their until it gets cooler again."
Then, more timidly.
"If you guys think that's a good idea, that is?"
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 2:15 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 5:40 pm
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Candy Dandies Team HP: 5/5
(Eostre & Aandes)
Choice: C
Eostre wiped the back of her hand on her forehead and pulled away a layer of sweat with a grimace. Disgusting. She only ever cared to sweat in the privacy of her own home while boxing, or in a luxurious spa. Anywhere else was unacceptable, and especially terrible when it was because of the heat!
Aandes offered her a bottle of water, which surprised her. It'd been a while since she traveled with someone who'd have the foresight to bring something useful instead of screaming at the first sign of trouble. And what a lovely thing he'd offered...
"How gracious," she said with a sly smile, taking the bottle and and taking a sip. Even lukewarm, it was so much better than the water offered by the drones for this gl'bgolyb-forsaken trip. "Thank you, Aandes."
After finishing the water, she surveyed their surroundings. Processing tanks for Chittentown water... a giant pit. Was anything here in okay condition? The heat was rising with the appearance of the Alternian sun outside, and looking at her small partner, he didn't seem to be faring too well with the heat either.
"Maybe we can shimmy along the edge of the pit and make it to the other side," she said. Eostre held out her hand to Aandes. "Come on, I don't want this to take all night."
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 6:41 pm
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Keeper had taken her troll's suggestion and literally run with it, pausing only every so often to sniff at the air or listen for sounds only she seemed able to hear. Or maybe she was really only pausing to make sure Etsali hadn't fallen too far behind, that would've made sense too. The little thief didn't particularly care which it was, because obviously the plan was working and Keeper would find what they were looking for soon. She only wished she'd thought to ask sooner! Well, she also kinda wished they'd been given some kind of light, because it was getting awfully dark down in the caves and that made it a little hard to see to keep up with her lusus, in fact-
Etsali froze, eyes scanning the darkness for the flicker of white fur, but found nothing. Keeper hadn't stopped for her this time? There was a flash of terror at the thought of being abandoned down here, one that urged her into a reckless run ahead of the group. It wasn't long at all, however, before the uneven ground sent her stumbling and then crashing onto the floor. She shoved herself back up, panting, and opened her mouth to yell. "Keeeper! Keeper, where did you go!?"
She squeezed her eyes closed and then pressed her hands to them, taking deep breaths and forcing herself to listen. Any second now there would be that tell-tale scratch of claw on stone, a soothing chatter, all she had to do was wait. All she had to do was- "KEEPER!" Her voice cracked and she coughed for a few seconds, her throat too dry to sustain yelling for long, but by the time she'd stopped there was still nothing. Keeper wasn't coming back.
Etsali rubbed fiercely at her eyes, and then turned to look at her team, cheeks smeared with black and orange. "She's probably just scouting ahead, you know? Let's just...keep moving!"
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 8:48 pm
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Dictys shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned, you're lucky," ey told Klymen. "The rabble was awful, and it was so dirty." And that was without mentioning Mommydaddy's injury - but ey didn't need to show weakness in the face of eir peers. Then ey turned again to Regina and Lorata. Ey hadn't, in fact, gotten to fight the looters, and neither had Mommydaddy. Instead they'd brought shipments of supplies to some lowblood.
In their talking they reached...the empty tank at the end. Dictys swallowed. Ugh - take that, pride. As the group walked back ey prepared to listen to Regina's story, as well; there was doubtless plenty that a future captain might want to know about eir queen's exploits. It was nice to be highblooded - but then again, captains had to be. It was like the good version of a catch-22, in Dictys' opinion. The walk back was slow and tiring, and as soon as they headed down the walkway Klymen started - what. What. Touching the walls? Dictys frowned, but at the same time there was no other source of light. What else could ey do?
Taking a breath, ey followed along...and found that it was actually quite effective at marking where they'd already searched. Huh. Take th -
Oh, but that hole was huge. Dictys' mouth hung open for a bit, and ey glanced at the tiny ledge. No, ey couldn't possibly balance on that. And the pit was far too large for Dictys to have any hope of scaling it. Perhaps if Mommydaddy were both functional and larger, ey could ride them...
In the end, ey didn't even think of the tanks. "Day's coming, isn't it?" Dictys asked, feeling (uncharacteristically - but this was the queen's life ey was playing with, after all) the slightest bit guilty. If only ey hadn't picked a path to begin with that took so long...but that was past. "Perhaps your lusus might be able to provide some assistance with this," Dictys said to Lorata without preamble, and then began slowly easing emself down into the main shaft.
Team BETTER THAN YOU has chosen option D.
feat. Lorata Gorgos, Klymen Carcha, Dictys Glauci, Regina Marian
better than you: 4/5 hp
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 9:10 pm
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Cops and Robbers
Path: C
Health: 5/5
So far following the intake had revealed nothing that they did not already know. The pipes were dry and they still had no clue as to why. Ephias was beginning to wonder if they should turn back and try another route, when Etsali spoke up, voicing his very concerns. Well... sort of. She had the same idea but a different reasoning process.
“We haven't discovered anything going this way...” Ephias agreed, holding his chin in his hand. He spoke slowly, uncertain of their next move. They had not explored all of the intakes and there was the possibility that by turning back they would miss an important clue. Of course there was also the possibility that if they continued they would find nothing. That would be an entire night wasted. Yet if they left now and had to backtrack later that would be even a bigger waste of time. They were on a deadline here. They could not afford to screw up or mess around.
In the middle of Ephias' internal debate Etsali spoke up again, this time to her lusus. She had asked the raccoon dragon beast to go off in search of water. Ephias pulled his hand away and looked at the orangeblood. “T-that's a... really good idea.” He was so impressed there was almost an exclamation mark at the end of that sentence.
Keeper bounded off and the rest of the team followed after her at a quick pace. Even though she stopped now and then, they had to hurry to keep up. The caves grew darker as they travelled farther from the general work area, and soon they found themselves approaching an inky darkness. Ephias could not make out the raccoon lusus anywhere.
A sinking feeling settled in his stomach. “Etsali, did you see where...?” he asked. The orangeblood was in a state of panic. Suddenly she went racing off into the darkness, screaming her lusus' name. “W-wait, Etsali!” Ephias called, launching after her, his own lusus bounding at his side. “It's dangerous!” When he had caught up, she was standing alone and staring off into the dark.
“Are you all right?” he asked. It felt like a dumb question but he had no idea how to say anything that might console her. Etsali rubbed at her eyes and said that they should keep moving. Ephias nodded and waited for Voscil and Zindel to catch up, while Wolly pressed in close to Etsali.
The group's journey was brought a halt as they reached a large pit. Ephias stood at the edge and peered over into the abyss... Nope. Not happening. He had thought maybe they would be able to climb down through but he could not see the bottom. And that definitely eliminated any ideas he had of jumping across. Especially across a gap that large. A path curved around to the side of the pit. It looked precarious but... it was their only way forward. And with daylight coming soon—he could feel the heat sinking into the surface— they needed to progress deeper into the caves.
“If we're careful, we should be able to skirt around the edge there...” he pointed. |
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 9:22 pm
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Voscil had stuck to her word, once they changed pace and went from searching the pipelines, to exploring elsewhere. However, she hadn't expected to watch the orangeblood's lusus run off and the obvious discord it caused Etsali visibly. From the tears, to the troll falling Voscil didn't need any cluing in that she was upset. At first she was unsure what was the right thing to say, or even do. Tilting her head some a frown crossed her features. "It'll be okay. Come on." Vos coaxed, crouching down beside her in the span of the blink of ones eyes. She didn't dwell on the others feels for too long, nervously laughing off the tense moment.
Watching as Wolly tucked in close to Estali, she sighed looking between the lot of them. She couldn't really imagine being without her guardian, and those times she had been uncomfortable. They'd just have to keep the girls mind off her lusus and on the task at hand in the meanwhile with any hope. "We'll find Keeper in no time don't worry. So yeah! Let's keep moving for sure. We'll press on and find her and the water in no time!" Voscil stepped closer, leaning over as she spoke peering at her as a crooked smile formed over her face. "Yeah I bet she's just scouting ahead, and we'll bring up the rear and try and press on!" Her eyes travelled around the area they were in quickly deciding the tanks sounded like an awful idea. They had a lusus to find and a mystery to solve after-all!
- - - - -
The small gap had Vos glancing at the edge with some amount of reluctance. Scoffing she looked back at Ephias as he pointed out they could likely get passed here. "Hm, yeah it looks wide enough I bet we can scoot around! What about your lusus...he doesn't look like he'd be able to squeeze in." She pointed out pointing from Wolly to the ledge. She wasn't worried as much about Zindel's lusus..the creature could fly by the looks of it.
Her lusus meanwhile was staring at the massive white sheep-like lusus as if the tiger like beast was already thinking of something. The roarbeast was literally staring like she held some kind of infinitely powerful wisdom, before slowly inching closer to the sheep lusus in question. Although all the sheep seemed to want to do was sit and stare near the edge of the pit.
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Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2014 9:58 pm
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Nervit's words were enough to pep Reemus back up a little. "Yeah...yeah, that's what she's doin'." It would be nice if that were the case, anyways. He WAS getting hungry, and his mum never ran off for no reason...he just hoped she would be able to find them. It was so dark, and this place was so BIG...
But, before, he could think about it beyond that, the heat was starting to rise, just like Nervit had said. Not good! Reemus furrowed his brow and looked around, thinking...thinking...
There was a ledge, tanks, and a pit between the group and salvation. Or at least survival 'til another night. It would take forever to go across that tiny strip of path to the other side, and while the tanks looked like a possible option... Reemus gazed at the pit. So many action movies came to his thinkpan at that moment. REAL troll heroes would forgo the slow-going options and try to get across as quick as possible, in the most slow-motion yet AWESOME fashion. There were fiery explosions and everything, too!
It was too dark to see the other groups, so he couldn't crib off of them again even if he wanted to. And last time he did that, they lost a lot of time. With no other options, Reemus had to make another decision right after hecking up twice. His lowerblooded pack was counting on him! The little guy just knew it!
So, Reemus gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and said, "We're not gonna cark it today." He looked at Nervit in the eye the best he could despite the hair in her face. "You gotta trust me on this one, mate." Then he took her sleeve, nodded up at Sinter, and with a "YAHHHHHH" ran to the lip of the ledge and JUMPED while pulling Nervit after him before they could die from a horrible prune-y heat death.
Group 3 chose Plan Option B
---
4/5 HP
Lost Woofmum
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:24 am
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:49 am
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Group 3
HP: 4/5
Lusii: 2/3
[ Sinter's plan, while solid in theory, turned out to be a catastrophic failure. Well, hopefully not catastrophic. But bad. Definitely bad. He wanted to offer some encouragement to Reemus, but all he could come up with sounded like he was trying to shift blame off of himself. This was kind of his fault.
Thankfully Nervit took the initiative with both consoling Reemus and hurrying the group along. Sinter did his best to piggyback off the sentiment.
"If anything, she's probably better off not having to deal with this pit," His attempt to be lighthearted only drew his attention further to the horrible heat and gaping, unavoidable hole in the ground. "There aren't a lot of options now are there..." He trailed off in thought.
Meanwhile, Reemus (+Nervit) vaulted the pit. Sinter, wide-eyed, watched them dart past before bolting in pursuit.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" ]
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 3:11 am
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Cops and Robbers
Health: 5/5
At Voscil's question, Ephias turned to regard the sheep lusus. Then he looked at the ledge. Then he looked back at the sheep, expression thoughtful. It would be a tight squeeze but... Wolly would just be able to make it. Most of his volume was wool anyways. “He'll be fine. Right, Wolly?” Wolly did not look so sure.
With great trepidation the sheep shuffled over to peer into the chasm. His ears flicked forward as he regarded the black pit below. After a moment he tossed his head and trotted back far enough that there was a generous gap between him and the pit. He then flopped down, tucking his hooves under his chest. He was almost as tall laying down as he was standing up. The main difference was in how his wool spread out all over the floor.
Ephias gave a sigh. “Come on, Wolly. We can't stay here. We have to m-move on.”
Of course they had to. Wolly was just taking a little nap. They had been walking all night. He was tired.
“Do you think you could take a nap after we get around the pit?”
What pit? Wolly did not see any pit. If there was a pit, he would have seen it.
“Th-that's because you've got your eyes closed.”
Yes. He was taking a nap.
“But we need to go. It's almost s-sunrise.”
All the more reason to sleep.
“It will g-get too hot up here. We need to pro-progress further underground.”
But he was tired. The heat made him sleepy.
“Wh-which is why we need t-to move!”
Move where?
“A-across the p-pit!”
What pit?
“W-W-Wolly... I-I...!” Ephias wanted to scream. This was impossible. His lusus was impossible. Most times, he loved Wolly unconditionally and without complaint. Wolly was always there to look out for him He put up with his sleep-deprived episodes, supported him in his astronomical endeavours, and coaxed him from his frequent depressions. True, he could be over-protective and a bit naggish but that was okay. Ephias did not even mind his occasional need for a snuggle all that much.
This however... This he could not handle. If they did not retreat to the deeper caves soon, they risked dehydration or worse. Yet Wolly refused to budge. Ephias could not force Wolly to come. He was too big to push, and even if Ephias tried, pushing the sheep along a thin ledge seemed like a good way to tempt fate. That meant... they would have to leave him behind.
Ephias plopped down, hiding his face in his knees. He couldn't. They had already lost one lusus and could not afford another. Besides, there was no telling if he would be able to meet up with Wolly later. Or if Wolly would even be able survive the day's heat. Ephias could not just leave him here. Not all alone.
“G-go on without us,” the redblood mumbled through his legs. “If you find any-anything... or another way around...” |
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amicableAggressor Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 8:50 am
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The queen had kept her mouth shut as they hit the dead end, but did roll her eyes. A small gesture but nevertheless, a definite thumbs down. She was about to retort to Lorata with something along the lines of 'you do know what classified means, don't you?' but the little girl seemed happy enough just to be imagining the stuff in her head. Well then, no need to get snappy with the wiggler. Following behind Klymen down the dark cave, she gave a little laugh that echoed gently. "Hey it's almost as dark here as it is down in the deep ocean! Not really cold though. Of course, I hear if you go real, real deep then it starts getting warm again." She nodded in the blackness at Dictys' complaints, trying not to smile too much. It had been dirty, and fun. Running around, smashing windows, getting into fights. The kind of life she had yearned to live while a little wriggler, hiding behind Gl'bgolyb in the ocean. Of course, the fun bit about being queen was getting to go home, wash off the dirt, and sit back in her luxurious house. As they reached the edge of the pit, she watched the troll run forward again, picking for everyone else. And charging down the most straight, obvious path like before. Mentally, she filed Dictys under 'not suited for subterfuge or spy work' and began to climb down with the rest of them.
better than you - 4/5
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