Outside 49: I don’t remember what it looks like either

[the_ajl]

[Flying]

Otherwise occupied as it is, the hydra doesn't clock what's coming in time to even try dodging. The sunbolt bursts across its chest and drags a hissing shriek out of the beast; the armour is visibly blackened and scored. Three of its heads whip around, retargeting, but the attack was enough to draw Amara's attention. She relaxes her constriction with impressive speed, slithering straight down the hydra's neck to take cover under its own bulk - but not before pulling a ring off her left middle finger and tossing it at Tina with a yelp of "Fire resistance put it on!". It flies somewhat wide, but not so far that she can't get to it before the hydra's breath goes off, at the rate the sickly light is climbing its necks.

Then again, she might be a bit distracted by the fact that when she was drawing sunlight, most of it seemed to come from the man on the griffon, despite the fact he's not visibly glowing at all - she could probably create a significantly more powerful sunbolt than the one she just threw, if she deliberately pulled on his aura rather than just gathering whatever energy it is he's shedding.

He's still watching the fight, at least with his eyes, but Tina can probably get the sense that at least some of his attention is on her again.


_____

OOC: Maybe one more post tonight and then I'll be signing off. Thanks for helping me get started!

[Murkus]

[Flying]

Fettina wings off to the right to catch the ring, glancing at it, only putting it on just in time. She's pretty hard to harm with fire as it is, but she isn't going to pass it up.

Tina is too distracted with the craziness to pay much attention to the man, gaze-y and angelic as he is. She tries to pull in more energy to make another spear, not quite drawing on his aura, then zips closer in a dive with the orange flame in hand. She tries to drive it into the hydra... but bounces off and smacks against the cliffside, not really used to acting like a warrior or making a combat dive. She stands up and shakes it off, flexing her wings about herself, not too much the worse for wear. She at least seems pretty tough.

She shouts up at the duo and raises her fists, "You two could help, ya know! If this is a training session this is a funny way to run it!"

[the_ajl]

[Flying]

"You two could help, ya know! If this is a training session this is a funny way to run it!"

The hydra's breath weapon washes through the wind, a rather unpleasant actinic orange tint to the flame that clings and sears. Even if Tina wasn't innately fire-resistant, the ring would be enough to stop her getting too badly burned. What flame nears the circling griffon simply turns away, or is turned, though neither rider appears to do anything.

Amara emerges from the maze of the hydra's armoured coils frowning at the ragged, singed edges of her half-skirt, but gamely works her way back up a new neck, the one she was on before beginning to visibly struggle against the effects of her poison.

More relevantly, Annis is laughing. "Cute. This place must be pretty comfy if you expect to be handheld through an even fight." There's an odd mixture of emotions there, scabbed-over bitterness mingling with wistful wishing-it-were-otherwise.

The man reaches over and taps gentle knuckles against her rerebrace. "Begrudging it will do none of us any good -"

He's cut off by her thumping him over the head, hard enough from the noise of it that she'd probably have killed an ordinary man, though he just rolls his eyes. "Ooh, lookit me, I'm Adam Kadmon and the sun shines out of my mmph-"

Smirking, Adam leans down to dig his fingers into the thick feathers of his mount, scratching around the base of the neck as Annis spits out feather fronds. "There's a good boy. I can always rely on you to keep us on task, can't I?" Gaze not shifting so much as an inch, he lifts a hand and a needle-thin ray of gold punches through the hydra head that had caught Amara's tail. It slumps, eyes glazing, and she extracts herself with a wince.

"But to answer your question, Telaris at least is a wild realm, and harsh. However it may be here, less than one part in three hundred of the known world has been mapped in any great detail; one wishing to join the profession-" there's an emphasis on those words, not in the sense of vocal stress, but the import with which it's spoken of, name unnecessary because it's the only profession worth mentioning "- must by necessity be able to handle the dangers inherent. If you cannot fight while you are bleeding and broken, if you cannot help yourself, then you will die, because no help will be coming for you. This is how I learned, and how I have taught sixty-two students before Amara. None perished at my hand. Only one died a fool's death, as I knew he would, but I took him on as a favour and to break my word would have broken my honour and his heart."

The ground is approaching now. There's probably twenty seconds or so left until impact. Nobody looks particularly concerned about this.

[Murkus]

[Flying]

Fettina slaps out some of the fire on her clothes, leaving them badly singed but her chrome skin beneath mostly intact, and she frowns upwards. Now she's got holes in her good outfit.

"Well that sucks-- and this sucks! And I'm gonna keep helping! I think...!" Fettina doesn't know how she's helping, mostly just relying on instinct at this point, but she knows she's tough and pretty strong. She gives a start and dives after the hydra and Amara again.

[5a Violista]

[Found Fortress]

June is actually really grateful that the steam was blown upwards. She's basically pretty safe, then. (Boilers are fine, though, so long as she doesn't try to grab on to it. Much better than straight steam.)

She looks out at the robot and the others.
With someone else still up close, she still doesn't trust herself to hit the robot, so June keeps her crossbow lowered. From here, there's not really much she can do - doing something with the crossbow bolts or even with the ball of light could be pretty bad. So what can she do, then?
June notices that Pepper was thrown against a boiler. Feeling this is the best thing she can do, she decides to run up to Pepper again to make sure she's alright. "Hey, you okay?" she asks, keeping an eye on the clownbot in case it decides to get away from Spako and towards them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

A low growl escapes Thariza's throat as she glowers intensely into the darkness.

"Yeah, about that. I would rather not be... test subject whatever anymore. I'm here to get rid of any hold you still have over me."

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"Oh? I'm afraid we are still gathering valuable data from you-"

"HEY! YOU SHOULD GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" She can hear the Other Ambrosia call from the other side.

"What in- oh no! Please tell them not to smash the door!" The metallic voice desperately pleads.

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

Linus carefully unlocks the door and-!

Nothing happens.

On the other side of the door is a small chamber with a fancy treasure chest, a not so fancy iron strong box, and three ornate urns that are no doubt full of rupees.

And no monsters!

Also no traps immediately springing.

Unless, of course, the trap springs once you step into the room.

Or step on that etched slab.

One way or the other, Jeanette is holding onto the rope with her tail while making gross crunching noises.

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

Linus smiles and merrily goes over to collect his LOOT though he does still make a concerted effort to not step on that very conspicuous square of suspicious tile. He'll go to open the strong box first since it's small and he's theoretically looking for a small thing, then the chest.

Found a Fortress

Spako flares his wings wide as Pepper is tossed like a ragdoll.
"Pothoc! I'll cut you to slivers!" Spako's sword ignites into a swirl of sparks and flames as he steps forward and tries to drive the point into the part that Pepper cleaved with her axe. It seems to be as good a vulnerable place as any.

[the_ajl]

[Flying]

Fettina slaps out some of the fire on her clothes, leaving them badly singed but her chrome skin beneath mostly intact, and she frowns upwards. Now she's got holes in her good outfit.

"Well that sucks-- and this sucks! And I'm gonna keep helping! I think...!" Fettina doesn't know how she's helping, mostly just relying on instinct at this point, but she knows she's tough and pretty strong. She gives a start and dives after the hydra and Amara again.

The damage her fire inflicts doesn't appear to be healing particularly well. The hydra isn't too concerned about that right now, though, having cottoned onto the fact that the ground is imminent; unfortunately, it's the only one here without the ability to do something about it. Just before impact, Amara slows to an easy drift, then drops again.

What follows can only be described as a truly thunderous crash as tonnes of armoured flesh crashes through rock and tree, skidding down a fairly steep incline in a disarrayed mess.

It's a hydra, though. It gets back up. Still, visibly healing or not, it's beaten up enough that if Amara and Fettina keep the pressure on, they can probably bring it down soon.

Might be best to get moving before the five working heads finish charging their breath weapons though.

"Ring! Ringringringring-!"

Especially if Amara's going to pass the test. Something might be telling Fettina that Amara's not quite as fireproof as she is.

[Rebonack]

[Found a Fortress]

"I'll live," Pepper replies as she gathers herself back to her hooves. "Armor took the brunt of it. Padding is pretty important! C'mon, get that shiny sword out and let's finish this clown off!"

And then?

Pepper forms her axe of choice and pronks aggressively toward the clownbot! With a fearsome, "HAH!" she thwacks the weapon into the clown's flank and deftly avoids its counter-kick this time around.

Spako, meanwhile, stabs the clownbot!

The sword SHUNK!s into the wound and grinds against some important internal components. The clownbot is still standing, though. It retorts by raising its front hammer-headed limbs and tries to smoosh Spako!

Don't get smooshed, Spako.

Getting smooshed hurts!

The clownbot is, of course, still honking threateningly.


[iDungeon]

As Linus steps into the chamber there's a loud SLAM! as the slab swings up and seals him into the room.

There's a yelp from outside from Jeanette.

"****! Hey Linus are you okay in there?" comes her larger, more monstery voice from outside the room.

Meanwhile, inside the room, a lockbox! Unsurprisingly it is locked. The chest, however, can be pulled open without any difficulty. Inside is a massive collection of nautically themed loot. Mostly pearls and polished coral. Lots and lots and LOTS of pearls. Also? A rather gaudy pair of boots covered in mother of pearl plates. The soles of the boots are really weird. They look like the muscular foot of an abalone.

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

”I’m fine. We’ll just need to pry this rock off.” Sadly the rope he brought isn’t really going to help them.

Linus carefully looks over the shoes. These aren’t more living equipment, is it? He’s getting sick of those.
He also needs to look through the chest and the urns. There might be a hidden button or key lying around. Or a passage, though that would mean continuing on solo.

[Morty]

[Walk in the Woods - Thariza]

"Or what? It's going to stop you getting valuable data from me?" Thariza backs away from the door quickly. "Besides, I barely know her and I don't give her orders."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Sapphira's Prison]

"Normally I'm all for smashing objects used for dark magic, but all this energy would probably just burst out if we did that," Wenomir says. "It wouldn't be safe."

[City out of Time]

The skeleton is strange. That is, on top of already belonging to a one-eyed giant. It seems out of sync with the place, somehow. Like it's not affected by the same kind of temporal anomaly as the rest of the city. But it has to be affected by something, otherwise the bones would have crumbled to dust long ago, given how old the dwarves claimed the city to be.

Sapphira's Prison

The ward is put in place. It holds for a moment and the crystal's power stops growing, but then the source punches through the shield and begins charging it once more. It's very potent. But it could be tracked. Perhaps it can be stopped there rather than here.

Journey to the Center of the Elves

"Most curious." Eon is very intrigued by this. "The tale is, in some form, present in every known land. We suspect something supernatural is at work. We have reason to believe your people may be the originators of the tale, or closely related to them, and might be able to explain more how this could be, or the significance, culturally, magically, or otherwise."

[Sapphira's Prison]

Quin watches quietly while Kalya scratches the runes into the dirt, still looking around, listening while Wenomir mentions that breaking the crystal might not be such a good idea. When the power blows through Kalya's barrier, his head will snap towards where it breaks through, and his eyes will narrow for a moment, then he'll nod to Wenomir.

"Dangerous indeed," he says, before glancing at Kalya. "Might the power drain away if we cut off the source? Perhaps that will be less risky to the surrounding area, not to mention ourselves."

[City out of Time]

"Maybe it was part of their alliance," Electra posits, moving closer to the skeleton, but being careful not to get too close, let alone touch it. She looks around the massive space, looking for indications of the remains of books or scrolls that might hold something of the info they're searching for. Being able to zoom with her eyes is probably helpful in this space, though whether she'll be able to read any of the writing here might be another question. Just because she's been in the Nexus for awhile and has been attempting to study and understand magic such as it is doesn't guarantee any sort of familiarity with an ancient, and possible eclectic dialogue. "Though given the size of this place, it could very easily have been one of the librarians. You're right, though. It's weird that this is still here, given what our employers told us. Shouldn't the bones be gone by now?"

[Sapphira's Prison]

Kalya nods quickly, looking a little dumbfounded that the power smashed through her ward so easily.
"Yes, it looks like warding it is ineffective. Cutting it off at the source seems like the most logical next step."

[City Out of Time]

Cass shrugs.

"To the extent that time seems to be warped here, I'm not sure I'm surprised. It's hard to tell how old anything is here. Who's to say how much this should or shouldn't have decayed, or disappeared, or had something else happened to it entirely."

[Morty]

[Sapphira's Prison]

Wenomir is disappointed, but by no means surprised. He doubts any magic-user he knows could contain this crystal. Maybe a half-dozen of them, and there's no time for that.

"Can you track where it's leading? If we're quick we can get to the source before it can cause too much trouble."

[City Out of Time]

The language contained her is indeed old and lost to any living memory. The one hint that Electra or Cass might get is that some symbols that look like they might related to fey. Could be they ran into some other writings by these dwarves. The symbols are placed on a shelf right behind the giant's skull, which seems to be locked away behind a door. No other shelf seems to be secured this way.

As Electra looks there, she might get the uncomfortable impression that the giant's head moved. Or rather, it suddenly seems to be staring directly at the two mercenaries, despite looking off into the distance just a moment ago.

[Earl of Purple]

Cave Near Skyside

The day after she was visited in the night- well, early evening, as she was going to bed- by Sapphira, Bluefoot the helfling has gathered some employees and headed to this cave. The helfling is young, mid to late teens, or so she appears. Her heritage, halfling mixed with elf and human, means that appearance may be deceptive. She's just over a metre tall, with long red hair tied into a French braid, deep purple eyes and pale skin liberally dusted with freckles. She's wearing fine cargo trousers, hiking boots and a thick black linen shirt. She's accompanied by a dark-skinned halfling with short black hair and bright blue eyes, wearing a short brown dress, a nine-year-old human boy, pale and scrawny with short black hair and blue eyes, he's looking a little nervous, wearing an orange jumpsuit and one of the mysterious Diggers, wearing heavy grey robes, old and tattered, with a pointed gasmask built into a steel helmet they wear, so none of their skin is showing. The Digger carries a wheellock rifle, the boy a rucksack filled with glass bottles, the halfling a lantern on the end of a pole, and Bluefoot herself has a bronze-coloured dagger at her waist.

At the back of the cave, the Digger- a guide hired by Bluefoot for the occasion, one of the rare exiles forced to the surface by the Diggers, and who has yet to deplete their stock of gases that keep them alive- holds an arm out to block the view of what they're doing, the robe falling to the floor, and does... something that causes a section of the floor to click and start lifting on great pneumatic pistons. They don't wait long, before three more Diggers, these wearing brown robes with steel breastplates buckled over the top, appear. One carries a handheld ribauldequin, five barrels pointing into the cave arrayed fanlike to ensure that any shot they fire will hit something. One of the others holds a lantern, the candle within burning blue, and the last is taller than the others and their robes are subtly embroidered wih complex patterns. "Tell them I want a dagger, iron. Never touched by sunlight, it's why I came to them. I want it in a box, not sealed because I need the dagger later, but tight and secure so light cannot get in. In exchange, a sack of glass and the boy." The white-robed Digger nods, and communicates with the others in an odd language, guttural and deep but not easily recognisable. After a few moments, the ornately robed Digger disappears back through the tunnel, and when they return, they hold a plain brass box with the dagger inside. They give it to Bluefoot, as the halfling prods the lad forward with her lantern-pole. After the Digger with the ornate robes has the boy firmly in their grip, all three turn and retreat back underground, the hidden hatch sliding back behind them until it blends almost seamlessly with the natural cavern floor.

[5a Violista]

[Found a Fortress]

"Oh. That's good," June says to Pepper. Glad she's alright.

She looks over at the clownbot. Should she use that sword? But it'll probably drain whatever light-resource she has when she uses it, which means the armor might give out at a critical time later.
. . .
But.
On the other hand, maybe using the sword to finish this off faster would be better in the long run? "Um, okay."

She moves to the side so that her and Pepper aren't lined up with the clownbot, which'll stop any linear attacks from hitting both of them. She switches the crossbow to her right hand, and then the sword of light appears in her left hand.

June approaches.
She obviously shouldn't swing in the same place that the other two are going at, so she flicks the sword at some of the clownbot's legs, hoping to make it easier for everyone else to get at it.

[bc56]

Sapphira Prison

The trail of magic drifts into the crystal from the north. It could be followed, it's certainly not being hidden by any means.
Tracking it will not be difficult.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Sapphira's Prison]

Quin inclines his head towards Kalya, but waits for her to answer Wenomir's question before saying more.


[City Out of Time]

Electra seems about to make a comment, but pauses and narrows her eyes. Instinctively, her right hand falls to the grip of one of her fusion bolt casters. She doesn't draw it yet, but her stance is suddenly low, like a coiled snake ready to strike.

"Did that skeleton's head just move?" She asks quietly, taking a couple of steps to put herself in between it and Cass. Her movement seems less intentional than instinctual, though.

[Terumitsu]

[Dimensional Troubles]

The armored woman nods and they continue heading in the direction they were going. However, soon the lighting storm above them stops and they can see what appears to be a dragon flying from the location. "...I believe that being is what stopped the storm." She remarks as she stops for a moment. "And wherever it's going, we should follow it. Or do you have a better idea? We're a bit without direction right at the moment."

[Dimensional Troubles]

"This expedition was not relegated to a fixed route. Interestingly enough, so far every environmental alteration has coincided with encountering another entity. I wish to test and see if this hypothesis holds true." the drone stated evenly. "Would you care to take the vanguard?" It would also be more prudent to have at least more than one other in an assistive capacity, though perhaps not in a sense of corroborating the ongoing investigation.

Still, the chance to encounter a live dragon was not to be passed up. Untainted samples would be exquisite to have.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx

The mechanic drops his gun in regret and winds the window back up.

The peg-legged man is knocked over by water and struggles to right himself.

The totem erupts from the earth and Fido turns to it to try and blast it with his eyes, but is headbutted and stumbles. His stolen clothing is rotting away, though the entropic energies replacing his soul protect somewhat against the decay. Protecting himself weakens the energy he has at his disposal, however, and he's too stunned to react much this post.

The zombie starts lumbering forward, heading for Magdalene, its one arm stretched out. Somehow it can see well enough to walk around any obstacles, despite lacking a head.

[Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx]

Calm Reed rushes forth and tries to intercept the zombie heading for Magdalene. Once she reaches it, she will try to rather unceremoniously cave its chest in with a powerful, two-fisted hammer-blow.

[Steelbite Canyon]

Well.

It looks like someone else is taking care of the zombie for Magdalene so that's nice. She's managed to prop herself up to a kneeling position so she can glare a bit more properly at Fido.

Okay.

Yeah.

She's feeling stable enough to actually try doing something.

To that end?

Tendrils of pink wreathed in icy blue lash out from her outstretched hand toward Fido, aiming to bite into him and begin devouring him quite literally. The aura from the totem is certainly insidious, but the tendrils are FAR more aggressive. Definitely not the sort of thing someone wants to get chomped by.

[Steelbite Canyon]

Well, it seems they've got things mostly under control here, right? Let's see, who's still unaccounted for...

Atreyu takes a step back from Fido, surveying the landscape, content to let Magdalene deal with him for the moment. Well, the peg-legged man could still be an issue, right? Atreyu redirects the vines to erupt from the earth and wrap around him, hopefully binding him to the ground for good...for now at least.

[Earl of Purple]

Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx

The zombie's chest is caved in, the weird trapezohedron making its chest cracking in a way it shouldn't, if it were truly the flesh it resembles. It twitches a little, but doesn't move from where it has fallen.

Fido screams as Magdalene's blast starts to eat away at him. He'll direct his own blast of sickly purple light at the wendigo, but it's weaker than before. Even if it weren't for the totem weakening him, the blast is killing him.

The vines erupt around the peg-legged man, and he yelps and is restrained.

The motorhome the mechanic was working on starts spluttering and groaning as the cultist inside tries to get it working. His repairs weren't quite complete, however, and he is struggling as a result.

[Murkus]

[Flying]

Fettina gets a panicked look on her face and tosses the ring back to Amara, hoping that's what she meant. If not, well, no real harm done. She then swoops lower around the monster in a wide, fast arc, keeping her distance for the time being while she figures out what the hell to do.

She's scared, sure. Not as scared as she should be, and she's fully cognizant of that. It's something to do with this angelic body, of that she's certain. The same thing happened in that dungeon she went spelunking through. There were some nasty beasties in there... but she just didn't really ever feel terrified. Nervous, scared, sure, but it never froze her or stopped her from doing what she needed to do.

This thing is making her instincts scream out a little bit more, but she still feels... like she wants to help someone who's in trouble. She'd feel pretty bad if Amara bit it because she decided to fly away, even if this is some kind of test she volunteered for.

[Deathkeeper]

Found a Fortress

Spako pumps his wings, flipping out of the way of the smashing hammer limbs and leaving behind his sword embedded in the machine. He whirls his arms around into a pair of angular runes and charges forward, hands crackling with electricity. He reaches out to touch the pommel of his sword, hoping to channel a powerful jolt of energy into the machine through it with a single, gentle touch.
"Boop."

[Morty]

[Steelbite Canyon Shrine to Nyx]

Calm Reed quickly surveys the battlefield for remaining threats. Just one, looks like. She takes off towards the motorhome, trying to reach it before the cultist can get it to work. A blue aura and the smell of the sea trail behind her as she pushes herself to move quickly and decisively. If she reaches the motorhome in time, she'll try to tear one of its wheels off with a sudden burst of superhuman strength.

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

There don't appear to be any more keys in this chamber, just a trap and a treasure room.

As for the boots they don't appear to be alive, no. The soles just resemble the foot of an abalone. It isn't clear what they do, but considering how abalone work there's a good chance that they can stick to surfaces.

That's useful, right?

"I'll see what I can do from this side," comes Jeanette's voice from the other side of the slab, followed by the sound of claws against stone.

It sounds like she's trying to get a good grip on the thing.

"Oof, this is really tight. I would rather not blast it open. How much shock can that shield of yours take?"

Being on the business end of a bunch of rock shrapnel probably wouldn't be very much fun.

Probably better than being stuck in a locked room and dying of dehydration, though.


[Found a Fortress]

The clownbot gets axed by Pepper!

And sworded by June!

And... booped? by Spako!

That seems to be all it can take. With a defeated honk it collapses into a heap, the angry spirit exiting the machine and scowling at our heroes for a few seconds before vanishing through the floor.

Victory!

"Well done, everyone!" Pepper says, moving to pull her friends into a hug!

Victory hugs are the best hugs.


[Steelbite Canyon]

Magdalene eats the entropic blast dead in the face, her skin peeling away and exposing bone in places.

But...

She's healing faster than she's being hurt.

This is why she's such a pain. This is why she's managed to fall such powerful foes. Her eldritch powers aren't the most potent by any stretch of the imagination, but unless her foe is able to squash her in one fell swoop she can quickly patch herself up by devouring its vitality.

"You picked the wrong (flowering) god to start worshiping and now you're (flowered)!" Magdalene yells as she leans forward, doubling down on the devouring wave of power.

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

Well, they seem safe enough. Linus puts on the boots and sees how they fit. Hopefully they don't make things get weird.
"It can probably handle some flying debris if you want to try blasting or acid-melting it."
Linus can crouch down behind the ornate chest with it and his shield to protect him from normal flying rock bits.

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

"Acid could sort of work but this stuff is a solid block of limestone. Eating through it would take quite a while. I'm just going to blow it up. It'll take a few minutes to cook up an explosive for the job," Jeanette replies.

Meanwhile!

Linus tries on some boots.

They aren't weird or squish nor do they talk to him.

They're just...

Snail themed boots.

Apparently?

Once they're put on nothing strange happens.

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

"Okay, I'll just be back here behind everything I can find."
Linus, who seems to not have had anything crazy magic happen with the shoes, huddles behind the heavy wood chest with his shield and his sword-barrier up and waits for Jeanie to come rescue him.

[Rebonack]

[iDungeon]

A few minutes pass.

The floor is kind of damp in here.

The new shoes feel like they need to be broken in like new shoes often do.

"Alright, fire in the hole!" Jeanette yells moments before-

There's a dull THUMP followed by ringing in the ears as the stone barrier explodes inward in a shower of jagged rocks and dust.

Oof.

What a mess.

Thankfully Linus' barriers should protect him from the worst of the blast.

Jeanette is probably yelling something at him, but it sounds like she's talking under water.

[Deathkeeper]

iDungeon

Oof. Linus was expecting that, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Hopefully he doesn't end up with tinnitus.
Because tinnitus is awful.

Linus puts his gear away and staggers out back to Jeanie with the lockbox in his hand and waving his other.
"I can't hear a thing right now but there's a lot of loose loot in there if you want to open your bag again. Do you know how to pick locks?" he says, probably louder than he needs to since he can't hear himself.