"Rope is way thicker than I realised," Lizzie said, "this is taking ages."

"I know, I'm only half way through my first one," Dan said.

"I got the first one," Mark said. His first body fell to the ground, and the group stared at him, confused as to how he cut down the body so quickly. Without really acknowledging their stares, Mark began to cut down his next body.

———

"Okay, I have the clue," Willow said.

The axe you seek is royally made. The final clue is behind the incorrect axe.

"The incorrect axe?" Phil asked.

"Royally made?" Zoe asked. Willow moved over to the four axes Phil pointed out earlier.

"Okay, three of them have a crown on them, so that must mean royally made, and the incorrect axe must be this one," Willow picked up the only gold and silver axe without a crown engraved on it, and there was a clue written behind it.

The axe you seek is long and tall.

———

Eventually, each of the group managed to cut down their first body, and they were all working on cutting down their second.

"This seems so pointless, who are we doing this?" Dan asked.

The other group are finding an axe, that makes sense, he'll probably use it to kill one of us. But cutting down bodies, it seems so pointless.

"I don't know, maybe he needs them for something. Maybe he'll use them later," Lizzie said.

"I guess. He has the totem piece and the spirit of the next guest, so maybe he needs this to kill someone," Dan said, "that was really depressing, I hope I'm wrong."

———

"The axe is long and tall, so maybe this one," Thomas picked up the axe with the longest handle, that was gold and silver, with a crown engraved on the blade.

"That must be it," Zoe said. The group rushed back to the break room and saw the executioner, who had made himself comfortable on the sofa.

"Ah, you found my axe, thank you," he took the axe from Thomas, "and since you gave the axe to me, you are safe from the voting."

"Really?" Thomas asked. The executioner nodded. Thomas smiled, and the rest of the group voiced their annoyance.

"And now we can wait for the other group," the executioner said, shutting everyone up. The group sat down, and the room fell into an awkward silence.

———

"I got it," Mark said. His second body fell to the floor, followed by everyone else's at varying times.

"I guess we just head back, he said to come back when we cut all the bodies down," Lizzie said.

"I guess he'll just know if we did it," Joel said, "although we should leave the knives here."

The group left their knives on the gallows and walked back to the break room, and saw the executioner sitting with the others.

"Well, now that you're all back, I shall take my leave of you. Vote, and I will meet you outside and take you to the challenge," the executioner said, "you can bring your helpers with you, if you want."

With that, he left, and the guests were finally at ease.