TAKE X (6-5-17: The End)

> Consider the ink blot.



You all peer down at the ink blot. It's the nearest critter to you, so you figure you ought to deal with it first.

"Could we throw something down there to blot it up?" de Soren asks.

Gio makes a pained expression. "Um... like what? I'm not exactly carrying extra rags."

"We're both wearing jackets," de Soren says. "We could use those."

Gio makes the sort of face that suggests that, were he wearing glasses, he'd be glaring at de Soren from over the rims. "You go first." You're pleasantly surprised by that reaction - you gave him that jacket as a birthday present a few years back, and you didn't think he put that much stock in it.

de Soren holds his hands up, smiling nervously, and the staff pivots to between him and Gio. "All right, all right. Point made."

> Consider the blinding flash of the obvious.



"What about the little blinding flash thing?" de Soren continues, in what is probably a bid to change the topic. "Could we throw it down there and distract the blot?"

"That seems cruel," Gio says, calming down slightly.

"Well, I wouldn't ordinarily advocate for something like that, of course, but I figured we might as well throw it against the wall and see what sticks."

"The ink blot would probably stick, wouldn't it?"

"...I figured you of all people would understand that metaphor."

You leave de Soren and Gio to argue that out and kneel down next to the blinding flash of the obvious again. You get the impression that it's looking at you, though its gaze on a cursory level is pretty vacant. It seems to be... expectant? Like it's waiting for you to do something--



"I got it!"

Both de Soren and Gio stop what they're doing and turn to look at you. That's probably for the best; it looks like they had somehow started arguing about the best way to cook blastbacon (the correct answer, incidentally, being "very carefully, and preferably in another room entirely") and you know how heated Gio gets about that.

"I know how we can get across," you continue. "Look, de Soren, we've watched your staff warp back and forth twice now. Let's all hang onto it and get it to warp over to that door."

de Soren beams. "That's a brilliant idea! We could name it the... Bro Warp--"

"We don't need to name it." You glance at the staff, which is showing absolutely no signs of consciousness. "Can you make the staff do that for us?"

"No idea," de Soren says, "but it's worth a shot."

You nod.



You all put your hands on the staff.



The three of you elect to never speak of what you just saw ever again.