MAZE - The Endless Quest 346 - Trouble on ice

"So… that guy is crazy, right? Even the quest said so," Blue said.

"What? Where?" Alex asked.

"That part that says 'he thinks he can create a doorway. Of course, it's the MAZE saying that he's crazy," Blue explained.

"Is it? I an, there is a doorway in the iceberg, and he was a bunch of ice carving tools. Maybe he really made the doorway," Hera was staring at the man who was climbing the iceberg with his tool bag on his back.

"Are you actually saying that he made the doorway?" Blue turned to Hera.

"I don't know, but it's possible. The doorway is on the sa spot he's working, and we know that dungeons can be created when sothing big happens. Soone creating a doorway feels like sothing big for ," Hera kept looking at Finlay, who was now halfway up the iceberg.

"But… I an, could soone make a doorway? Isn't that a bit too easy? I an, if people could make doorways to other rooms, don't you think they would have done so?" Blue continued.

"We don't know what exactly made the doorway appear. Maybe the dude made a blood sacrifice or used his own bones to make the fra," Leo suggested.

"Holy shit Leo. You didn't have to go that far," Hera gasped.

"No shit. I'm the one who's supposed to be the psycho, you know, assassin and all that," Alex nodded.

"Oh, c'mon. I'm just saying. You don't have to be all family-friendly all the ti."

"Who the fuck is trying to be family-friendly? You just shouldn't go straight to sacrificing children when you think of doing sothing different," Blue rolled her eyes.

"Hey, hey. I just said he was sacrificing people. You are the one that tossed in the children in the mix," Leo took a step back, putting his hands in the air.

"Ok, guys. Theories aside, we need to help him out. At least that's what the quest is telling us to do," Hera said.

"Yeah, we are going to need to talk to him, aren't we?" Blue sighed.

"Unless soone can read minds or figure out what he want's to do just by watching. Yeah," Alex nodded.

They walked towards Finlay, who was now about halfway up the iceberg. He didn't seem to notice or bother with the group. Hera and the others stared at each other for a mont, trying to see who would be the one to talk to. In the end, everyone stared at Hera, who inadvertently took the lead when they first saw him. With a sigh, she started speaking.

"Finlay, do you mind telling us what are you doing?" Hera yelled.

"I'm making a way out of this godforsaken place without having to deal with that prick of a king," the dwarf replied without looking back.

"How do you intend to do that?"

Finlay stopped for a mont before returning to his climb, "You won't believe even if I tell you, girl."

"I don't know. I've seen so really weird stuff. Including a griffon that stopped an entire race from hurting his kind by using wind for over 15 hundred years," Hera considered talking about the giant snake in the mist of the Wailing Valley, but that wasn't necessarily that rare. Especially when considering the deeper layers.

"That... is odd," Finlay replied.

"So, why don't you tell us? We might be able to help," Hera pressed.

Finlay stopped again and waited for a mont, pondering about the situation. He then continued his climb until reaching an area where he could stand properly, "If you want to know, co up here. I don't have ti to go down."

"I guess that's better than nothing," Blue sighed and looked at the iceberg. Finlay had set up a few climbing spikes that he used to pull himself up. Although the controller felt confident about climbing the ice, there was an easier way to do it. Waving her hands, she created a set of clouds that functioned as a staircase towards the area where Finlay was.

She climbed first, followed by Hera and Alex. Leo was the last one to go, and Tiger had to stay behind since the makeshift stairs were too tall for him to climb up. It seed like that wasn't the first, nor it would be the last ti sothing like that happened. The frog quickly understood Leo's orders to say behind and even started guarding the cloud staircase.

Finlay was in the middle of the iceberg using a pickaxe to carve away large chunks of frozen water. He noticed the sound and looked to the side, "First of all. Why do you want to help ?"

"Honestly, we ca here for that. We didn't know it was helping you specifically, just that we had to help soone here," Hera replied. She still wasn't sure if telling people inside a dungeon where they were was a good idea.

"Oh… so you also got a ssage?" Finlay seed interested in the group for the first ti.

"We got a quest," Blue replied.

"An actual quest? Not just a vision or a ssage from the mountain?" Finlay turned to the controller.

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"Yeah. It said we should help you," Alex nodded.

"Then I must be on the right path," Finlay smiled, "Co. If you co to help, you can start by helping with this, and don't use spells. This is sothing that has to be done by hand."

"Why is that?" Hera asked.

"This is what the seer told . I asked her how I could free myself from that bloody eejit of a king. Her cards showed a vision of this place and how I could find a way out of here through the ice as long as no magic was cast on it," Finlay explained.

"Cards? Do you an tarot cards? Do you rember her na?" Hera perked up. Ever since Finlay started talking about a bad king and the fact that he himself was a dwarf, made her consider the possibility of him being part of another group that managed to flee from the city of Kul Dorul. The sa place where Silah's ancestor ran from during the great fire. As a rule, every room had at least two exits, which ant that the one that led to Boothudurn Peaks was just one possible escape route. Now, if she added the fact that Finlay also knew a dwarven fortune teller with magic tarot cards, this could an that the dwarves from Boothudurn still had so relatives out in the MAZE.

"Yeah, I think that's how she called those cards, and sorry. I only know her as the seer or fortune teller. Take your pick," Finlay shrugged.

"Is that soone you know?" Leo asked.

"Maybe. I'm not sure. Without her na, it's hard to know, but it could be soone related to the dwarves from Boothudurn," Hera replied.

"So there are more dwarves out there? Good to know," Finlay mumbled to himself, "Anyhow. You ca here to help, right? So start helping."

"What do you want us to do?" Blue asked.

"Carve a tunnel here. It needs to be big and wide, but the walls must be thick enough to block so of the sunlight. If you have weapons or sothing, just start swinging. If not, you can pick any of the tools that are in my bag. Oh, and do not use magic, or I'll kick you so hard in the arse that you'll taste my foot for a week," Finlay kept working even while threatening everyone.

This wasn't the only direction that the group got. In an odd change of pace, the dwarf started explaining exactly what the group had to do, where to strike, and the asurents of the tunnel he was creating. Even weirder was the fact that his accent was gone. In a way, his intonation was similar to one of those text-to-speech apps and not an actual living person. As soon as he finished, his accent returned to normal.

"Now go on. If you ca here to help, then bloody help," Finlay scoffed.

The group started working, carving away the chunks of ice as they were instructed. At first, it seed like they were making quick progress, and it wouldn't take long to finish the quest. However, it quickly beca clear that there was sothing more about this quest. A constant stream of water ca from the top of the iceberg that would freeze again on the spots they had just taken out.

"You gotta be kidding ," Blue gasped as she noticed that everything she had just removed was back there again, "Where is all this water coming from?"

"The rain, girl! Don't you have rain where you ca from?" Finlay scoffed.

"What rain? It's not raining," Blue looked up. The sky was cloudy, but there wasn't any actual rain. She scanned the area and realized that right atop the tip of the iceberg, there was a localized raincloud, and it was pouring, "What the fuck?"

"Oh man, that's just an," Leo sighed when he noticed what Blue was staring at.

"I know, right. Do you think it would be ok if I stopped that rain? I'm pretty sure I can use stormcloud to make a gutter," Blue asked.

"I don't know. You need to ask Finlay, not ," Leo shrugged.

"Ok, ok," Blue walked over to the dwarf, "Finlay, you said that we can't use spells on the iceberg, but what about the rain? If I could stop the rain from falling in here, would that be ok?"

Finlay started laughing, "Sure, girl. If you can control the rain in the entire room, do it. Who am I to say no to soone who's stronger than a force of nature."

"What are you talking about? It's only raining on the top of the iceberg," Blue asked.

"Are you that much of an eejit that you can't even see rain? It's raining all the ti in the fucking room," Finlay scoffed.

"Am I going crazy here? It's not raining, right?" Blue asked the rest of the group.

"No, your not. Maybe that's how the things were here," Alex suggested.

"Give a second. I might be able to figure that out," Hera pulled Yarnball from her waist. She pulled the mana from her bracelet and put 10 thousand points into her relic, "Was it raining in the entire room when Finlay was living here or was it like it is now?"

The screen showed a small projection with the answer.

'During Finlay's life, it rained every day due to the excess water released by the iceberg in the lake. Inadvertently, his actions also assisted the rain. By removing large chunks of ice, these pieces could lt more easily, allowing more water to go back to the environnt.'

"Wow, this is a very complete answer," Hera gasped and showed it to the rest of the group.

"It really is, and the rooms are getting weirder, right? I an, a place like this shouldn't have that much rain, not if we consider the room as being in a closed environnt," Alex nodded.

"But is it, though? I've seen so rooms where effects from the outside seed to hit the inside of the room. Things like rain, waves, or even sandstorms. They would co from beyond the walls. From what I understand, the walls block living things to move beyond them but not environnts," Leo said.

"Really? Are you sure that's not just a visual effect? I always assud that the walls were kind of like massive monitors made to pretend like we are not inside a box," Blue scratched her head.

"Sa, but I think that's one of those things we will never know. Either way, we got your answer, Blue. For him, this was different. Maybe if you make the rainfall, we won't have to be redoing our work," Hera suggested.

Blue nodded and created a long cloud with a funnel of sorts right under the raincloud. The idea was that most, if not all, of the water, would be guided away from the iceberg so it wouldn't plug the holes that the party had just created. It took a couple of minutes for the water to stop completely, but the group managed to progress much faster when it did. Ten minutes after that, all the tools they were using shattered at the sa ti.

"Shit, you lot stay here. I'll grab so extra tools from my shack," Finlay got up and climbed down from the iceberg.

"Do you need so help?" Hera asked.

"I'm not old enough to need help just to carry a bloody bag. Stay there and keep working or just wait for to co back," Finlay was halfway down when he spoke.

The group looked at each other and then at the ice. No one was that keen on using their weapons to carve the chunks of frozen water. A couple of minutes went by until they heard Finlay climbing up once more. However, when he arrived at the area where they were working, the dwarf was different. His grey hair and beard now had large patches of white, and there were many more wrinkles on his face. Not just that, but his expression was softer.

"Sorry for making you wait. I had to hit the can," Finlay noticed a confused expression on the humans' faces, "Don't give that look. We've been working together for more than ten years already. You know that when I gotta go, I gotta go."