*Well then. Let's just put that mystery into a box and stop thinking about it. Hardly worth prying into a lady's business, especially when it's actually five of them and they are all combat trained.*
"Moving swiftly on to the second round's second round of questions" said Thyme. "Let's turn things around a bit and start with Kress this time" said Thyme
"I just answered one of your damn questions" spat Kress before instantly slamming his head back into the table after he realised he'd spoken out again
"Ignoring that comment. In Clive's second test he encountered three different kinds of golem. What where they and in what order did they appear" asked Thyme
"Ha, easy, granite, double stone, and half-iron golems…. In that order" said Kress smugly answering as fast as possible.
Thyme nodded "Indeed not bad, correct on both accounts. Jim what was the finishing order for the obstacle course"
"Um, uh Green was first" said Jim "Then Clive, followed by Grace and John"
"Correct" said Thyme as tufts off grass exploded behind him "Now onto Ryo. During the maze what was the building Green had to enter to receive her third orb"
"Um, shit… it was the uh Temple of something" said Ryo
"Is that your final answer?" asked Thyme
"Yes" said Ryo "Wait, wait no nono, I didn't mean that. Wait. Uh, um…"
Ryo trailed off into mumbles but with a little demonic energy Kat kept listening "Shit, I wasn't really paying attention because Grace was pretty deep into those weird branching paths. Um I know she had to answer some riddles, was it really just temple of riddles though? Surely not… but I got nothing better to go with… no wait-
"Ten seconds remaining" said Thyme cutting of Ryo's train of thought
"Temple of Riddles" said Ryo shakily
"That is correct, congratulations Ryo" said Thyme, who now turned his full attention to Skye. "The final question of the second round. What colour was the final orb that Green picked up during the maze challenge?"
"Well Thyme" said Skye "That's a somewhat tricky question. The orb itself did glow white, but that might be because it was lit by a white light in the centre of the room. The orb might be clear as well. I'm going to go with clear glass"
"That is entirely correct. Congratulations Skye who is now in the lead on points as we enter our third round. The rules have changed now"
As Thyme said that large buttons appeared before each of the contestants in the centre of their podiums "It will be a test of knowledge and reaction time. I will read the question and at any point during the reading you may buzz in and answer. Each question is worth five points, but an incorrect answer will make you loose two. First person to buzz in gets to answer"
"So then, is everybody ready" said Thyme throwing their hands into the air. Everyone nodded this time even Kress. "Then give your buzzers a good wack to show you know how they work"
Ryo and Jim slammed their hands down onto the button forcefully lighting it up while Kress punched it heavily trying to take out some of his frustration. Skye though took a different approach and tried to tap the button as lightly as she could while still activating it. Satisfied with her results she then also looked towards Thyme to start the round.
"First question. In the first event, obstacle course, the very first obstacle was a series of suspended wooden platforms at increasingly awkward angles. Please tell me the number of pl-"
Thyme was instantly cut off by Skye's buzzer "9"
"Correct next question in the second game, the maze, each contestant was tasked with collecting five orbs. In the end the winner was Green, but, the moment before Green touched the final orb and won the game how man-" Thyme was cut off by Kress pressing the buzzer
"15"
"Wrong" said Thyme. Kress got a shocked look on his face "as I was saying, the moment before Green touched the orb how many had yet to be claimed"
Skye buzzed in instantly "2"
"Correct, you even remembered to include that Green hadn't yet picked it up" said Thyme
"Next question. During the third even The Orb, it displayed a number of different abilities. I want you to tell me the number of abilities displayed" said Thyme
Ryo pushed the button this time "5"
"I'm sorry that's wrong" said Thyme
"Wait what? How am I wrong" asked Ryo
Jim pressed the button while Ryo was asking the question "3, temperature control, turning in to water, and releasing air"
"Correct Jim. To answer your question Ryo, the illusions were not an ability of the orb and also the food round obviously isn't an ability. You may have also double counted the orb heating up which is simply one ability temperature control
"Following on. The next question. After the completion of the second challenge the maze I handed out gifts to the contestants, please tell me in detail what the gifts looked like and who received them" said Thyme
Skye once again got ready on the buzzer "You gave everyone their bags used in the challenge. They each had a different picture on them. Green had Gareth, Grace had, well, I'm not sure if it was just copies of her or their whole team, Clive had a picture of me on it and Jim's bag just had a bit of dirt on it and looked slightly more well worn then the others"
"Is that your final answer" said Thyme.
Skye was shocked by this and her eyes dashed around looking for something but not finding it. "Um yes?"
"Well, I'm afraid your wrong" said Thyme "Any-"
Thyme was cut off by Ryo jumping in on the buzzer "Everything Skye just said plus you gave that doll in a robe to the demon, ah Kat, I think is her name"
"Please give the full answer, if that is your final answer" said Thyme. Ryo went on to repeat the answer fully as Skye lightly slapped herself on the cheeks for forgetting about the gift for Kat.
"That's correct Ryo, five points. Next question. During the second challenge, the maze, Grace went through the cavern of branching paths. Each time she took the wrong path her progress was reset. How many paths did Grace walk down across all of her attempts"
All the contestants looked around worriedly. Kat could see that nobody seemed to recall the exact number of paths, or at least didn't have a solid guess for it. *Come to think of it how many was it…* Kat started to dig through her memories but found that she hadn't really been paying attention to Grace' monitor at the time. *Damn, even I don't know and I can recall things quite well now.*
"You all have thirty seconds to buzz in before I move on to the next question. At the one second mark if you buzz in and answer incorrectly you will lose no points but only if you can time it perfectly" said Thyme.
The timer continued to tick down. Kat watched and nobody seemed willing to even attempt it. Just as the clock reached 1 second however, Kress moved with a quick hand pressing the buzzer at the last moment.
"Might as well, guess if you aren't docking me points. Is it 123?" asked Kress
"Exactly correct congratulations Kress" said Thyme. Everyone gaped open mouthed at Kress. They couldn't believe he'd gotten the question right, and judging by the look on his face he couldn't either.
"Wait I'm right?" asked Kress
"Yes, that is what I said" suppled Thyme
"Ah, um right" said Kress still not fully comprehending what had just happened.
"You all seem rather stunned" said Thyme "Would you like to take a short break before the next question.
Ryo and Jim nodded solemnly trying to fully process the ridiculous guess that Kress had made. Kress to was nodding along, realising that he still had a chance in this game. Skye however had other ideas "Nah, we can still keep going"
The three contenders glared daggers at Skye "What, sometimes you get those hard questions right. It happens, why are you guys so shocked?" Skye said with a shrug towards the other contestants.
"Well, I suppose we'll cut the break short, but first I'll pass this out to everyone" said Thyme swapping into a butler's outfit and pulling a glass of water from nowhere. "Please keep hydrated, the stage lights are awfully bad if you want to avoid sweating"
"What lights?" asked Ryo
"It's a matter of professionality" said Thyme as he handed her the glass "The world is a stage, and the sun it's stagelight"
"I think your loosing it Thyme" said Kress as he took his glass
"Perhaps" said Thyme as he split into five leaving one at the speaker podium while the other four went to the various groups to give them some water each. "But as the organiser of this tournament I am responsible for your safety, and while you are all quite capable, a bit of water goes a long way"
Kat took a sip of her offered water "Wait, then why does this taste like fruits?"
"Well, I said I was responsible, not effective" said Thyme.