[IC] The Hourglass Order

[Wolfieh]

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LOCATION: Noble Dormitories
INTERACTIONS: Ayla @Ti

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Kaspar left the tavern while the party was still in full swing, other competitors joining in the drinking. His head was spinning with the effect of three shots, two primes that had been purged and one shot that still lingered in his system in full, boosting his manas. He walked down the darkened streets, more of a wobble in his step than the boy was capable of recognizing.

He got back to his dormitory, an ornery Raspberry Drake winding around his legs and nipping at his heels, waiting for the door to be opened. Kaspar pushed it open after a moment of clumsily undoing the lock, and Feit-og-sint slithered in, darting under one of the cupboards. The quiet sounds of him devouring fruits he’d stashed away echoed through the front room.

He filled a cup with water, ignoring the curious stares of his two smaller dragons nestled in beside the froabas egg. He chugged the liquid, realizing it was a mistake when it hit his stomach all at once, sending it roiling through his innards. He stood, stumbling towards the door and sinking to his knees to clutch the bucket there, dry heaving. Nothing came up, but it took several minutes for the noble to regain his composure, beads of sweat soaking into his collar.

He sat back on his heels, and immediately a small body wrapped around his hand, sniffing at his skin. Looking up at him with eyes just a little too big for the head they were trapped in, Tomsøthet seemed almost concerned for his wellbeing. Gently scooping the reptile into his palm, Kaspar returned to his spot at the table, pushing away the now-empty mug.

Tiredness was beginning to pull at him, and for a moment the boy considered simply laying his head on his arms and giving in. But his crimson eyes trailed Tomsøthet’s curious expedition around the table to the other side, and for the first time since Willa had come to visit, his gaze landed on the portrait he’d created. Stretching his arm out, he caught the edge of the paper between his fingers and pulled it closer, finally taking in what he had drawn for the first time since creating it.

When he’d finished it, awed though he was by the skill in his art, the boy had dismissed it as the musings of a lovesick fool. He knew what this was, though he hadn’t at first… And none of it was productive. They were feelings he couldn’t allow to remain, at least not at the surface. So the boy had been pushing it down, restricting those emotions the same way he did all others. For days it had been like this, the noble staunchly ignoring the whole thing, yet never finding it in himself to simply burn the portrait like he thought he should.

Now, though, with the intoxication swimming in his blood and plying his mind, he truly drank in what he’d created. It was the only true portrait he’d ever done—a few sketches from a much younger and much less talented Kaspar seemed to imitate human faces, but they could not really be counted.

Something in his chest tugged, like it already knew that he would destroy the sketch come morning, resolve hardened by the softness of his altered state. He was already to his feet, sketch in hand, before his mind even fully caught up. Tomsøthet scurried to the edge of the table, reaching out front legs to grasp Kaspar’s sleeve and swing onto it, dangling before climbing the fabric and clinging to his forearm.

“I might need your help,” the boy whispered, lifting the dragon until it could slip into his vest. Snuggling in, it glanced up and chirped, the closest thing Kaspar supposed he could get to an agreement. He leaned down, snagging a stray quill, and steadied his hand to scrawl something on the corner of the page, doing his best to keep the words neat despite his drunkenness.

His fingers turned the knob of the dormitory door and he stepped out into the streets, darker and quieter than when he arrived.

There was only one place where the sketch could truly belong, and it wasn’t with him.

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By the time he got to her street, Kaspar could only hope he’d been walking with something resembling dignity. He’d not noticed any other wanderers, but that was far from an assurance that they hadn’t noticed him. He counted the buildings as he strolled down the street, mustering as much as he could into looking like something other than a drunken student about to do some minor breaking and entering.

A small rush of relief coursed through him as the proper dormitory came into view. One of the windows was open, letting in the warm air of Ersand’Enise. Glancing from one end of the street to the other to be sure he wasn’t being watched, Kaspar approached the opened window. He was surprised to feel heat coming out of the room as well, but only for a moment before he remembered that she had two dragon eggs to keep warm.

It was now that he pulled the green dragon from his vest, holding the edge of the sketch up to his mouth. Tomsøthet grabbed it obligingly, though it was really more of an instinct than an intelligent response. He was set on the window ledge and blinked up at the Helbahnese boy, eyes bright but devoid of thought. Pulling a few treats out of his pocket, Kaspar tossed a grape through the window. It landed on the table, but bounced and rolled down onto the seat of one of the chairs.

Nevertheless, Tomsøthet was off, diving through the window and jumping onto the chair. The paper slid from his mouth and onto the surface as he devoured the grape. Kaspar cursed, and tossed another that landed and stayed on top this time. Tomsøthet was quick to scamper up the table and mow it down as well, but had no interest in bringing the sketch with him. The noble was trying to figure out how to get the dragon to do what he wanted when a few soft thuds and some shuffling came from the next dormitory over.

Panic laced like ice in his veins as Kaspar frantically pulled out another grape, getting the attention of his companion. The green creature dove back through the window, nearly taking off the tip of his master’s thumb as he chomped onto the treat, oblivious to the speed with which the boy had turned and begun walking hurriedly down the street. He glanced back only once he got to the end of the street, catching a figure in the distance who seemed to be at least as drunk as he was, wobbling into the distance with a single shoe in hand with what he guessed, from the bare skin of their back, was their shirt.

Ayla's Sketch

[Tackytaff]

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Lambs to the Slaughter
_{Ersand'Enise - Docks
Seen & Mentioned: @Th3King0fChaos, @YummyYummy, @A Lowly Wretch, @Animus}

Silas had turned his nose up at the offered work board. Not at it has anything to do with his literacy difficulties. He just didn't much like the idea of if a middle-man or extra effort put between himself and other peoples money. Besides, his sale of the Wyrm acid and cut from Desmond's egg had set him up rather well, for the rest of the semester at least. But when he'd heard Desmond mention a familiar name, his curiosity couldn't help but be peeked. Though he refused to outright say it. Sinn’ulen’luunetar did not meet with just anyone. If he came knocking, it he already knew what he wanted and the price. Never to be bartered on. His feigned disinterest was stretched rather thin before the end of the same hour he'd hear it.

"Strange he's meeting you in the docks. There are safer places." He'd casually mentioned to his room-mate over their final breakfast before the derby.

"Hiring students seems awful risky don't you think? How trustworthy you think that lot is?" He whispered after the dramatic display at the auction house.

"Hope you didn't bring a gun." He bemoaned, happening upon the Enthish boy in latest hours of night, on a rather twisted, empty, path towards the water gate. A claimed coincidence, of course.

"Y'know those Yasoi noses," he gestured to his own small, rather flat nose. "They can smell that fire-powder from ten feet."

His hands were stuffed deep into the large pockets of his coat- at least a half foot too long for his small frame- and he clicked his tongue. "I better keep by to watch out for ya." If Desmond heard him at all he made little more acknowledgement than a short grunt.

The pair arrived at the docks to find Carmilla and Trypano. Not exactly nobles, but rich stuffy enough to be indistinguishable in Silas' eyes. He didn't give them much more than a nod, before most of his focus was put towards no being sick. The moment they'd stepped onto the boat he'd been overcome with the gentle, yet relentless, lapping of the tides. Behind his blindfold he closed his eyes and listened to the mysterious man's instructions.

"Don't know why we'd have to meet them at all." He piped up, well after the meeting had finished and the other had begun discussing, but enough time for his face to regain it's usual colour. "They all staying in the Cathedral District- The Cathedral even. Could pop in while they're at breakfast and check their beds and clothes." His energy and excitement renewing with each idea that came to mine, he unknowingly began tapping his foot and nodding while one hand emerged to reach for one of the vials. "What'd there even be to notice missing?"

[dragonpiece]

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Location: Ersand'Enise

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Interactions:

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As the Melon Derby came to an end, Ingrid just felt a flood of relief. The anxiety of protecting the special melons and large melons was just too much. Fuck they had even 3 fucking monsters and 2 annoying dudes come into their home. Thank god it was all over. It would be awhile until the tallied all the melons and in the mean time they needed to clean and fix the house.

Cleaning was calming. Just a mindless activity that allowed Ingrid's mind to normally wonder to her studies or imaginative world but she was feeling bad about some of her descisions and responses. She left the group for far too long, and if she did choose to leave, she should have brought them all, it wasn't like they had any melons. Then she came back with a healthy chunk of points but then left again and literally did nothing.

And how I acted towards Zarina. It wasn't just wrong, it was dangerous. Using a spell like that without even being fully practiced in it was stupid. If it went wrong I could have accidently melted her. I need to apologize to her.

Ingrid felt dejected by her own actions but was overall fine. All she needed to do was to apologize and reflect. She couldn't help but question what the Ice King said. He was overwhelmingly strong and frighteningly insightful. She rarely thinks about her family means of making money past what is written on the ledger. But it is thrown in her face about how her family are oppressors. Easily seen if you just think for a moment. If you care to look and Ingrid never cared to look even when she worked at the mines. Terrible. She felt terrible and uncomfortable with herself and she knew she should be.

The guilt was heavy but it is something she shouldn't just let control her nor push away. Until she can level with herself she needs to keep it where it is and continue with the others. Her guilt shouldn't be a bother to others. Afterall, they came 4th!!! It was a small celebrations as they finished up the cleaning. Ingrid chose to go out for a walk, hiding away whatever she was shaken up for, from Dory to her own ignorance. Just be happy that you came top 5, something you believed that you were never capable of.

A growing headache was taking hold from the stress she felt. She was thankful she could hold herself up in moments of stress most of the times, she wishes she was more aware of how stressed she was instead of what seemed like passive aggressive signs from her body.

That magical bean juice she invested in was a cure all at this point for Ingrid and she headed over for that bitter medicine. To her surprise, Zarina was out there with Casii and it seemed a fight was about to break out. Ingrid didn't mind watching. Cathartic violence was always a way to take your mind off of it. Ingrid started watching and she ended up next to Ismette, the last person she expected to watch this. She tried to make some conversation, maybe some fun but Ingrid misread the situation and instead got on her bad side a bit. She just wanted to learn how to flirt and kiss. Ingrid thought that she should have just asked but that was too embarrassing.

But as her mind wandered to the last time she had a kiss with Benny, the fight had frown fierce and outside sources were healing fighters. Things were getting rowdier but it felt within reason. Zarina and Casii were looking fucking awesome though. Ingrid rooted for Zarina because she knew her slightly more. But the intense spectacle started to turn as species started to rile.

It wasn't long until insults were being thrown and Ingrid was suggesting that before the fighting Ismette should leave. But Ingrid failed to coax the good hearted Yasoi from trying to stop the fighting as she left Ingrid to join the mash and try and stop the fighting. Ingrid wanted to get out of here, fear and disinterest as her primary motives. But she needs to try and do better and she rushed in after Ismette, facing the humans as Ismette faced the Yasoi. Doing her best to stop the fighting with her imposing size.

Her actions were not based off of strength but trying to reason. And the normal life lesson that volatile emotions and reason have no place with each other, no wonder Dami and Eshiran are at odds with each other more often or not. Things intensified as Hegelan and Eaiko joined into the fight as well. The fight started for real for Ingrid when Chad tried to do a flying dropkick to only get slammed by Manfred followed by a Zarra slamming into an unprepared Ingrid.

Fighting was breaking out and Ingrid had this painful grinding in her shoulder, she might have cracked it or damaged her cartilage. But higher than her wellbeing, Ingrid was just trying to find Ismette. She wasn't good in these situations and could accidently kill people, a fate Ingrid wanted to have her avoid. Before she could, Zarra healed her arm. She said thank you as she started to try to get to Ismette.

Things went from bad to worse, Ismette was knocked over and it didn't look good and she let out a scream. Ingrid rushed over to cover her when a rotund Virangish boy kicked her in the head. She was obviously down and injured and this insolent boy attacked her. Ingrid started to draw and had every intention to twist and rip him in half from his fat belly. She would have truly done it if her draw wasn't so slow. Ismette's anger exploded before Ingrid, blasting everyone near her away. Ingrid was blasted into a wall, maybe some broken bones and head and organs felt like they just been shook around. She was out for most of it until she was healed by Zarra. Ingrid stumbled her way to Ismette to check on her, she should be afraid but her worry for Ismette outweighed her self-preservation.

To Ingrid's relief, Ismette was fine and was back to the self Ingrid knew. Casii made her way over and she watched Ismette take care of her with Casii literally falling into Ismette's arm. They were close. Like it felt they were dating. But Ismette wouldn't offer to bang me later if she was- then they went off and looked like a couple. Ingrid would be lying if that didn't strike her as odd. She felt stupid for being excited about sleeping with Ismette. People cleared out and she was left wandering and having a sudden panic is she was just ugly and no one had the heart to tell her, not even Benny. But these were just momentary extreme thoughts and she luckily wandered upon Zarina.

An Owed Apology

Ingrid sighed as she now needed to do what she actually left to do, apologize. She felt weird just going up and doing it. Normally she would send a letter first for a time and place, arrange an appropriate gift to smooth things over, prepare refreshments in case they wanted to talk afterward, and go over how she would apologize exactly the night before and the morning of. But this time was different, she just had to earnestly go up and apologize. Nerves built just thinking of it.

Having spot Zarina, she felt even more nervous. Zarina was riding a high and Ingrid thought that she would just bring it down. But based of how things went with Dory when she apologized all formal she got punched in the stomach. Honestly it might happen again, Zarina has quite a punch.

Ingrid walked up and said, "Hey Zarina, you got a second?" Ingrid seemed uncomfortable but she was maintaining a steady line of eye contact.

Zarina was accosted by Ingrid right after the fight. A very high and wobbly Zarina with her arm over Marci's shoulders and incessant giggles come from her, “So we'll take the cash, and then buy loads of potates for a potate salad.” was the first thing Ingrid would hear as the duo was taking an alleyway to reach the dorms the Virangish brawler lived in.

“Ehhhh?” she responded to her name, prompting her to stand on her own two feet and relieve Marci of support duty. She nearly stumbled down but eventually found her footing. That Casii shit was strong, “Iiiiiiingrid.” she acknowledged the Eskanding giantess and pointed her index finger right at her, “You wanna steal my cups too? Well-” she raised her fists, “You ain't gettin'em without a fight.” she imitated Casii to a T there, and couldn't help but snicker and snort with each word.

Ingrid questioned if Zarina was on drugs or drunk but she remembered some of the miners talking about feeling high after a fight, better than drunk they said. Maybe this was for the best, or she might just swing at me. Ingrid did an awkward chuckle, "You can keep your cups Zarina, I wanted to talk to you about today." Ingrid kept it at that for now, she was gauging the situation.

“Talk? Oh.” Zarina's arms were lowered and a stiffer posture was attempted, “Talk about what? I didn't organize the bets if that's the issue.” an accusatory finger was quickly pointed at Ingrid, “Although if you bet on me, you've won.”

Maybe she didn't remember what I did, I could just play this off and let it be, Ingrid thought. It would be easier but Ingrid knew that was the issue. "I meant what I did in the Melon Derby. I got in the way of you getting the Supreme melon," Ingrid stated, some guilt in her voice. "I know it was a game but I only targeted you and got involved to get back at you for the teasing." The shame she felt for doing that was showing through.

“Huh.” Zarina just gave a dumb stare to Ingrid and then scratched the back of her head, “That's really dumb.” she replied with no reservations on how she formulated things, eyes wide and red from the baking, “So that means ...” a toothy grin slowly stretched out, “I get to hit back, like, whenever? Heh. Heh. Heh.”

Ingrid scratched the back of her head and said, "I think that would be fine, I did escalate it a lot so that is on you now." Ingrid was worried, She liked her nose and Zarina has shown she is good at punching. She really wants to ask if they can go back to teasing but that isn't for her to decide.

“With your blessings, Miss Penderson ...” Zarina rubbed her hands together, “I shall concoct a devious plan to make things square! It could be today. It could be tomorrow ....” she leaned in a little closer to the Eskandish, “It might even be next year!” she winked and clicked her tongue.

"Of course," Ingrid said. There was no confidence in that, more the sound of someone rescind to their fate. Her shoulder's slumped, this is okay, she thought. "Well I have to be off, I need to apologize to Evander for slamming him into the floor during the Derby, I realize now he was just retreating," Ingrid said then sighing. Ingrid started to turn to leave and waved saying, "Have a good night Zarina."

“Eh?” Zarina squinted, “Why the fuck are you apologizing to every dickhead from the Derby? They knew what they were signing up for.” she sucked in her cheek and crossed her arms, “That just sounds like so much effort for a whole lotta nothing.”

"Because it was unnecessary," Ingrid said turning back to her. "I don't want to be someone who just steps on people. Even if it was a game, I didn't need to slam him into the floor hard enough to knock him out." Ingrid said, not confident but just stating her thoughts. "I could have just stopped him to see if he had any melons, I could have gently knocked him out with chemical or arcane. I could have just let him go. If I can't actively weigh my actions in a silly game, I can't be trusted to do it when it matters." Ingrid looked away, "During the brawl I kept calm until Ismette was kicked when she got knocked down. I almost lost it and was going to tear the boy in half. Luckily Ismette lost it before I did. But it's that I'm trying to correct." She just sighed after saying so much. "Didn't mean to say so much, I guess I'm stressed."

Zarina's lip quivered with Ingrid's response. Her arms loosed a little without fully unfolding, “Ah, I see. You're afraid that you're too extra. I would've thought an unstoppable frosty guy would've calmed that.” she looked as though she was chewing something, though her mouth was empty, “Well, I think they won't be offended. What you REALLY need is some self-control courses.” her eyes drifted toward the forked tower, “Ever thought of taking one of those?”

Ingrid didn't think much about Zarina knowing the Ice King visited her. If she sent him, then it still wouldn't matter. She wasn't strong enough even with the help of Hegelan drinks, she definitely isn't strong enough now. But it was something to keep note of.

But their was no time to ponder their connection, if their even was one. "The Ice King did indeed come by. How he would of calmed things I have no idea. He just came in and bullied everyone. If you mean to say that he had control, then I guess. It's easy to be in control when you are that strong. All he told me to do was essentially stop having to apologize and instead do better," Ingrid said as she leaned against the alley wall. It was obvious that the Ice King's words had an effect on her but it was unclear how much. Ingrid chuckled, "Do they have classes for self-control? I think I could use some."

“Uhm, by having you guys sit down and cool off. That tends to calm down hot-headed people.” Zarina cocked a brow and tilted her head, “So, wait. He told you to stop apologizing, and yet-” she snorted before shaking her head, “Y'know. I get this feeling you have a slight fixation on strength. I do, in another way, as well. But perhaps you should heed the King's words, Ingrid.” she started to seem a little more focused now with the chemicals in her body mellowing a tad, “Strength alone is not Justice- You can't solve everything with power. And in the end, power had nothing to do with how the Derby ended, even if I thought your little cabal with the winners was going to be detrimental to us all.”

"I have no reason to listen to the Ice King," Ingrid stated plainly. Ingrid quickly added, "I'm just considering his words. I still find apologizing to be useful. I'm not perfect and I know I will make mistakes whether I want to or not." She kind of rolled her eyes when she said strength alone is not justice, "I know that. And the whole thing with helping them wasn't really some grand plan, Jocasta tried to crush me as well remember. I had a few reasons but it really comes down to that me and Trypano have something going on and we said we would help each other. Completely opportunity base." She didn't say if she had a fixation on power. She wasn't completely sure yet.

“Uh-huh.” was Zarina simple response to Ingrid's stance on the subject. The eye roll in particular was responded with a half-lidded stare, “Well, thank you for coming all this way.” she twisted to look over at Marci, “I'm going to wish you a good night, Ingrid. The scary things that lurk in the Night will be coming out soon.” she snickered some, “I'll see you tomorrow. To kick your ass.”

"Night Zarina" Ingrid said as she waved goodbye.

She stayed in the alley trying to consider if what she did to Evander deserved an apology now. They way she acted to Evander wasn't even something that terrible considering what she could've done. Plus it wasn't like she was squishing a bug, she was squishing an intruder in her base. Anyone would do that. And from the way Zarra looked, they did.

If he seems to have issue with me and wants one, I can give it, Ingrid thought. But until then their is no need.

Ingrid looked forward to the Auction. She had planned a presentation with Zarra and Korin to help sell the dragon pearl. From what she knew, she could sell it off to someone for 5k magus. But in the Auction it could go for more! Ingrid felt confident as a salesmen. But it seemed her belief in herself was misplaced. Even with prove of it working, the species that can confirm it true led to it selling for 4k… She kept on a straight face and thanked Zarra and Korin. But she felt like she was about to puke when they left. That was a lot of money. She could accept even 250, no 500 magus below market value but a thousand was and impossible amount of money.

She could swear she could see her family staring at her as the numbers came in. Her friends laughing at her and the snickering of the crowd as she failed so publicly. She just wanted to go and bash someone's head in. In her manic state she started to scratch herself lightly before going to her trusted method of self-harm. A finger full of arcane energy placed her bare skin and burning herself in small but intense bursts of pain. When she could smell the skin burning she stopped and covered her shoulder back up under her dress.

She continued to the auction and it was fun! Much better than loosing face for failing to sell a dragon pearl. Much better than Failure. Much better. So she needed to so better in the auction. Each loss on something she wanted to win on hurt and each win was elated her. There some displeasures hearing Dory and Manfred flirt so much. She normally be able to hide her feelings but she couldn't and moved across the auction to sit next to Sven. He was a much better auction partner anyways. He was knowledgeable and filled her with these overwhelmingly fuzzy feelings when she let him bid as much as he wanted to go on a dragon date on a Tyrannus Mosiengus.

Ingrid was glad to have him as a friend. Sven was so bright and she liked to bask in it. Though she questioned what she added to the friendship, well enough to equal what she receives. 25 Magus was nothing if it was for him. But the final item came out and the tone of the Auction was about to change.

Sven spouted it was a rare artifact. He was sure. He never spouts things off like this unless he was sure. It was enough for Ingrid. The bidding was quickly climbing. To the point to where Ingrid was betting with speculative money. Desmond had joined in on this, lending 2k and the number climbed higher and higher and it was obvious they were against the endless purse of the Doge. It was that Evander fellow. He was connected to it from the start. Ingrid was approached by what seemed to be representatives of the Sovereign Pac. Sven was getting increasingly nervous and wanted out but Ingrid hated the idea of being beaten. It was her box and she wasn't letting no fucking bitch of the Doge get it. The price was so high that the auction was taken private and they were brought to the back room.

Money was calculated and things were weighed and the amount they were offered by their backers felt low, 21k. Ingrid decided to add 4k and Desmond added 2k for 27k. They won it and but over payed by 2k. It was upsetting but they had it. She felt strong. She won. And that is when the third group made their move. Ingrid remembers little from their but she came to a very different room. There was Covenant and the mystery people were defeated and they were being either tortured or questioned. Her box was with her but for how long. She was panicked. Her precious box, her 27k magus box was in danger and everyone could be a threat. The odd priest tried to make motions towards her as screaming could be seen and heard from the man caused by one of the brothers and one of the sister. She moved away and he tried to negotiate giving the box to Desmond. No he will steal it while it is being transferred. She threatened him to stay where he was as she hid next to Sven. Sven was safe. The brother had enough and knocked her out without even a struggle. All her strength she was told she had meant nothing. Why is she always failing. Why isn't she strong enough.

Ingrid's Winnings

A beautiful, sky-blue vase from Engyu

You have all seen him at the festival, but Sir Jean-Claude has offered a very special prize of a night with his Tyrannus Monsieger. Enjoy the thrills of riding the largest tamed dragon with the legendary dragon rider himself. Finishing the evening enjoying a dinner where you can ask him any question from his adventures. Your one shot of spending the night with a real star.

The chunk of mineral appears to carry a decent weight and has a greenish gold tint to it. To the layman it looks like a piece of gold, but to a jeweler it's just pyrite. It feels heavier than it should be.

A lumpy green stone weighing about 2 pounds( Radium)

The next time she woke up she was in her Zeno's house with a welcoming smell of a warm mulled cider. She wanted some so bad that she only got up for that and came to notice the people around her. Some of shortlisted, Desmond, and Sven. She sipped some and tried to feel better. She wasn't in her right state of mind. She felt vulnerable with what happened and all these people were here. Desmond did his best to cheer her up and it did help but she still embarrassingly asked Sven to just stay with her. He felt safe for some reason, she just wanted to be safe.

Talks happened and Ingrid understood but she longed a certain girls company but she would obviously be with her lover… Sven shocked her with the idea of buying it themselves. It was stupid and stupid. One stupid didn't do it justice but she played ball because it was Sven. She knew this wouldn't pick up steam. She even called Benny in, Mostly to cuddle with him, and second to see what he thought. And he thought it was something they could do. And with that it was so. She couldn't believe it. Benny was off to do something that he wouldn't even let us do. She wanted to go with him, wherever but he was against it and he was gone. Her heart was left wanting but she could only accept this was his way of doing things.

Ghaven started inspecting it and Ingrid went out to search for jobs. No luck was found but she could think. Just a lot of questioning how things happened. What would happen. Just questions with not even speculation. And finally there was Silas, they boys she thought was dead.

Racing Silas

Ingrid was wandering in the alleys when she sighted Silas. She saw him before the brawl going on but couldn't get to him with everything going on. She needs to apologize for kicking him so savagely during the Student Faire. She starts to jog over, calling out to him and waving.

For all the excitement of the day, the city was oddly quiet come dusk the evening after the melon derby. Silas's adrenaline was still pumping, unsatisfied with his performance and placement, he's decided to exercise out his frustration with a walk rather than return to the Zeno's quarters. The streets had emptied enough that he was able to recognise Ingrid from quite a distance, causing him to tense immediately. True panic began to set in when she began running towards him, sending flashbacks to the fountain at the Societies Faire. With a sudden great gust of kinetic energy Silas was six feet off the ground and clinging to the adjacent alley wall where he remained. She didn't seem aberration mad this time at least.

"Evening Ingrid," He'd underestimated her height and had to awkwardly shuffle his foot out of her reach when she finally stopped getting closer. Silas did his best to sound casual, but remained firmly perched on the wall. "Can I help you?"

Ingrid has no idea how to respond to someone jumping on a wall to keep away from her. It was... interesting. Ingrid decided to try and defuse the situation first, it was a little too odd to talk to someone hanging on a wall. "There is no reason to run Silas," Ingrid affirmed, "I just wanted to say sorry for what happened at the faire." Ingrid waited a moment and asked, "Do you think you can come down?" It was awkward and made it seem like she was about to beat him. She seem to look around quickly to see no one was watching.

"Hm" Silas considered. The derby was over, and if she wasn't enraged maybe he truly didn't have anything to fear. His hand and side slid against the brick until they were at eye level. "Apologise? To me?" A noble apologising proved a difficult concept to him, being more accustomed to getting chased down to give one himself.

"I did kick you," Ingrid said, "I hadn't seen you since then so I was excited when I did. Sorry for spooking you." Ingrid seems to be happy, ecstatic even that he was okay. Ingrid saw him as a good acquaintance after the Birfday thing. It was so much fun and she was dismayed when she believed she ended his life with a kick. "How are you doing though, did you have a fun time at the derby?"

"Quite hard." He nodded in a agreement, then shrugged at her question. "Didn't win." Was his curt, embittered response. It took only a thought and half moment for his attitude to flip to one of jovial excitement however. "Dragon's next though, and we have that one in the bag at least" He grinned widely, almost bouncing on his perch. "We're too fast to lose"

"Well, best of luck to you," Ingrid said. "I'm afraid that most of my team, myself included, are shitty runners," Ingrid couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Ingrid then said with a bit of fake confidence, "Who knows, maybe we will get lucky like in the derby."

Silas shook his head and finally lowered himself to the ground, making their size difference all the more pronounced. "Too tall not to be fast." He said with certainty. "You trying to make me go easy? Won't work."

"Nothing lucky about it either." He continued, barely take the time to breathe between thoughts. "Two tethered won't be much help in a race. Mozaru won't be first long. Only real worry is-" He stopped, apperently remembering that Ingrid was part of the conversation. "Yasoi said you ran into the ice King, ya?"

Ingrid raised an eyebrow, "Well we can always find out who is faster with a little foot race later," Ingrid said, hoping they might do it. She could use some exercise.

Ingrid set aside the idea of jojo just keeping people from going forth or worse, knocking them into the obstacles. "Yeah, it should help us with Mozaru having 2 tethered. And yeah I did. Why do you ask?" Ingrid asked.

"He the real deal?" Silas tilted his head, continuing the verbal back and forth but already sensing out potential race paths based on his knowledge of this city. "Kills everything in his path, scary serious, got more magic than you real?"

Ingrid seemed surprised, "I don't know about killing everyone but he was definitely scary. And had way more magic than me." Ingrid folded her arms and lightly rubbed one of her arms, "He knew things about me that he shouldn't. I just don't know about him." Ingrid shook her head like she was removing the Ice King from and started to think about where they should race. Something nearby might be nice.

Silas remained quiet for a moment, carefully considering her words, only to change the topic completely. "A race then yeah?" Just saying the words brought his energy back up to barely-contained levels, he shuffled his feet. "Blessed fountain to parade street? Will be curfew soon enough anyways." He didn't face her, but paid carefully attention to her reaction at the mere mention of breaking the rules. "Ought to have a wager for it too- bad luck otherwise."

"I guess the fountain was okay, I guess the curfew was getting close," Ingrid looked to the sky and made no other note of the curfew. "I love a good wager. Loser dunks the other in the fountain? Or are you thinking more in terms of Magus?" Ingrid asked as she rubbed her fingers together to signify money.

"One swim was enough thanks," He grimaced "and money is too boring. Pick something you really want." If he'd been after her coin he wouldn't have wasted time with asking, much less a race. "Like how I really want to pay a visit to The Society of the Gift."

"You want to go to the Society of the Gift? Can I ask why?" Ingrid asked. She could only ponder why he would want to go there. Maybe it was because they were excluded only to nobles.

Silas shrugged. "Maybe. If I win and you take me there. After the trails, so you know there's no funny business." He held up his hands in innocence. "But what do you want? It may not look like I got much, but most anything you can think comes through the Ersand ports, and I know my way around the night shift."

"That does interest me," Ingrid admit. "I been needing a way to get out at night. I'm not a member but I know I can get us in. Sure, let's race. Some rules talk though, no magic right?" She didn't assume but she didn't want to suddenly be blinded by light at the start of the race.

"No magic." He agreed. "No fighting neither, just speed." He motioned for her to follow the short walk to their starting line. "Count us down to a bang?" He suggested.

"Alright," Ingrid said as she started to stretch. This was getting exciting. Ingrid started to count down, "3... 2... 1..." suddenly thier was a bang in the air like she combusted something, "Go!"

Silas took off at a jog, it had been a long day and he wasn't terribly worried about losing to the noble girl. At least until he saw her running, full sprint past and ahead of him barely a block into the journey.

With a short curse Silas worked to pick up speed, but without the familiar push and pull of kinetic gift aiding him there was little hope for him to catch up to Ingrid's impossibly long strides. So he ducked left, towards the buildings north of the main street in hopes of finding a short-cut.

Instead he came across a blockade; damage caused by student during the derby had closed the path and left him with no choice but to return to the original track; even further than behind than before. His cheeks were burning by the time he arrived at the greens at Parade street, more from embarrassment than exertion. "Like I said, too tall to be slow." He offered his hand. "A trip to the port hold in owing."

Ingrid never looked back. She just kept running. This was a race. She like race. She made it to the fountain and she threw up her hands before taking a seat on the floor and heaving. She felt like she was drowning and felt light headed. She saw Silas and gave a small wave. "Thank Desmond, he's been training me and Zarra for weeks!" Ingrid said, owing everything to Desmond. Ingrid took his hand and used it to help herself up before saying, "Yeah, I need it to find a good date spot and who knows, I might learn something." She looked wobbly still from the run. "God you don't even look tired," Ingrid said with a mixture of disbelief and amazement.

"Training with Desmond?" Silas made a face of disgust. "No wonder you're tired if you've been waking the same hour as him." He let go of her hand and took a step back, using his senses to scan up and down the street as other students hurried to turn in for the night. "Good race Ingrid, and thank you- for the apology. But we've all felt the aberration effects before, you weren't exactly in control."

"Waking up that early isn't the worse since I would get us some coffee after. And it was a nice race, and no problem. Even If it wasn't in control, I should still have said it. You have a good night!" Ingrid said as she walked away.

It was fun to race a little. Her heart racing felt nice. Her winning felt better. She finally headed home. She didn't want to interrupt anyone. She didn't even want to talk to Dory, worrying that she may still unable to control her feelings. She wish she was better to talk to her. She really wanted to talk to someone. Maybe cry or let out her frustrations but she couldn't so she just went to bed. She just felt tired.

Baking with Dory

The sound of a nail falling onto metal ringed out and Ingrid awoke to put out the candle. Although the rest was rather short, Ingrid felt alright. Possibly a result from her mid day nap that Brother Ashe put her in. Whatever the case, she should make breakfast since she was up so early and people stayed up so late working. It was the least she could do.

She gently went room by room to extinguish the flames of their candles to stop their nails from waking them up. She thought about what to make for the Hegelans. Ingrid didn't want to serve them something as drab as skyr and oats. Ingrid thought to herself how to best impress her guests and she was reminded of the 'breakfast' pastries she was introduced to here. Maybe some pastries and a spread of different breakfasts would be enough for them. I should get Dory to help, Ingrid thought as she went to Dory.

Ingrid gently kneeled next to Dory as she still slept. It looked peaceful, like the world can just stop there. Seeing it made Ingrid let out a yawn as if she yearned to just go back to sleep as well but responsibilities of the hosts shouldn't be taken lightly. Ingrid lightly said, "Dory, Dory," before increasing her persuasion to gently shaking her shoulder. "Would you help me out with breakfast?" Ingrid asked.

Dory was shook awake by her Eskandish friend, a little bit cranky from having been woken up so suddenly. "Ingrid? What'ya want?" Her eyes perk open upon hearing her request. "You want to make breakfast?... Sure, let me get ready then." She replied, still somewhat sleepy.

"Thanks Dory, " Ingrid smiled as she stepped away, "I wanted to leave a good impression on them and I don't know a better baker than you." Ingrid walked down to the kitchen where they started cooking. "I think I will pull out the works for the hard work our team and they did yesterday. Plus with the whole music box, I want to leave them satisfied with us," Ingrid said as she rolled up her sleeves and began by preparing a few birds and prepping some veggies. Ingrid kept prepping as she talked, "Did you sleep well Dory?"

"I slept rather well!" Dory walked up to Ingrid, looking what she was preparing. "What are we preparing for everyone today?" She thought to herself for ideas of what might work well with it.

"Well, I guess a bit of everything?" Ingrid said, clearly going in blind. "If the event is as taxing as yesterdays, then a large morning meal will hopefully get our team through it and help Shortlisted." Ingrid started to put some of the smaller birds on a spit and started to roast them while turning, best way for an even cook and good color. Ingrid wiped her hands before starting a porridge of oats and ground nuts, "I can make a bunch of stuff but I think the best way to impress someone is a sweet pastry. They are so addicting."

"Sweet pastry? What kind do you have in mind?" Dory asked, instinctively grabbing for the flour. Soon she'd get a bit of a blush from embarrassment. "I doubt mine would impress that well."

Ingrid put the some almonds in a mortar and proceeded to pound them with the pestle, infusing it with just a touch of kinetic magic. "Hmm," Ingrid let out, "Well, this time of year is known for their fruits and berries." Ingrid stopped and rolled her eyes, recalling, "At least according to Sven. Grape dragons are out and in full force right now" Ingrid said through a chuckle. She decided to stop pounding for now and moved on to sifting the oats to make sure no rocks or other debris can be found it it.

"Seems you are fishing for compliments," Ingrid said jovially, "Not that I don't have plenty. For starter, your pastries are always well seasoned, just as sweet and salty as they need, I don't think their is a baker in town who has a better knowledge on how to use spratz, your pie fillings are always good and never too runny," Ingrid said in a dramatic fashion to tease her friend. "Plus," Ingrid added, "I have always enjoyed whatever you made so I think they are plenty to impress."

Dorothea let out a rather heavy sigh, trying to hide the embarrassment from the compliment.. "Fine fine, you've made your point. Any pastry you'd like me to make in particular? I can try to make them and if we don't have the ingredients... Then we'll just improvise!" She stood proudly, it seems the compliment did have some effect, even if she would never admit to it.

"Oh? Sven's a dragon lover? Haven't spoken with the lad lots, most I know about him is from you."

"He is indeed," Ingrid replied as she adjusted started to add the porridge ingredients to a pot. Ingrid continued, "In fact he is almost borderline obsessive." Ingrid sighed but smiled lightly. "When he starts to speak on his passions, it is like something changes with him. He speaks better, he is less reserved. I might even call him bold. I can't help but just want to stay and listen to him talk." Ingrid seemed to have caught herself before saying more. Now Ingrid seemed smidge annoyed, "But now that passion for dragons have gotten us into a weird situation," Ingrid said, completely skipping the fact that Sven actually said to her maybe they should back out of the box auction. Ingrid just leaned on the counter, weighing how much more she can say. They are trying to keep it on the secretive side but Dory was also Ingrid's best friend. She looked at Dory, "Do you want to know the situation? We are trying to keep it secretive but if you promise to keep it a secret I can let you in." Ingrid really did want to let Dory know but she was dating a Kerremand noble. Plus as much Ingrid hated to consider Dory for her cash. She might have a few thousand.

"Well, it's good that he has someone to talk his passions to!" The Feskan chuckled as she got a bowl from a cupboard, looking at the flour as she chugged it in without much thought. "Now for the other ingredients to match it!" Seems like she was already somewhat lost in her own world. "Keep what a secret?" Giggling as she grabbed some eggs. "Did your family betroth you to Sven all of the sudden due to his passion? But you know my mouth is sealed."

"No no no," Ingrid said as she waved away the thought of being betrothed to Sven all of a sudden. Ingrid sighed, "As much as I like Sven and he wouldn't be a bad partner. My family wants to marry me off for a good price. Unless his family is offering to be absorbed by mine, I doubt they would even consider it. But that's not the point."

Ingrid went over next to her and watched Dory work her magic. "During the auction we somehow got pulled into a bidding war between Revidia and Eskand," Ingrid said as she rubbed her arm nervously. She let out a heavy sigh, "Anyway, Sven wants to buy the artifact we bought by ourselves to keep it out of any nations hand." Ingrid weighed how much she should say and just decided to trust Dory. "It's an artifact that would allow us to control one of the most powerful dragon. An item that could swing the war so far that it could make a weak nation stand a chance against a strong one through sheer force," Ingrid said, stressing the importance of this item. Ingrid continued, "And instead of handing it over to any nation, Sven wants to gather funds to buy it ourselves."

Dory looked somewhat afraid from hearing the story from Ingrid. "You tried to get into politics with Revidia? Have you lost your mind?" Her expression calmed somewhat after thinking a bit more on the topic. "How much do you need?. . . Please don't tell me it's a lot. . ." She might have already caught on why she was even told about this.

Dory's response was very justified and all Ingrid could say was, "Possibly." She tried to keep her nervousness hidden but what happened at the auction house was still fresh in her mind. "It is a lot of money." Ingrid had a lot of pride in herself. She has never asked for help from anyone at the school. Especially nothing financially. But what they are trying is insane. She never wanted to use a friendship for money, especially not Dory. She seemed to struggle saying it but it eventually came out. "The cost is 27 thousand Magus..." Ingrid has nothing left to say.

"27 thousand Magus?... What do you have as an idea to gain all of that?..." She might get a bit harsh but it truly is a lot. "I do need to know that it truly is worthy to invest into it, you understand that?" She cracked some eggs into the bowl, putting some spratz into it soon after.

Ingrid felt she was choking up. Their was no proper reason to invest in this. Dory wasn't one to just throw money for nothing in return.

She knows that Kerremand isn't siding with Eskand and Perrance so Ingrid knows that she could levrage that if Eskand gets this. Kerremand would be the first place to fall and would lead to Manfred being potentially a fallen noble or dead if they recall him. Ingrid could easily phrase it that Feska is so small that they would most likely conquer it in a matter of days to be safe and have full access to the lake. But all of those could easily be seen as threats.

She felt sickened that those thoughts were her first come up in this talk. Maybe it was just realistic to think this way. Dory most likely doesn't know that Eskand will side with.

"Dory," Ingrid said with some concern, "If we do not pay this by ourselves, Eskand will take it for themselves." Ingrid placed a hand on Dory's shoulder, "Eskand is hungry for blood." Ingrid leaned in to whisper, attempting to dampen sound around them to try to keep this as secret as she could, "And for the first time in a thousand year, it isn't Parrench blood they are after." She couldn't say any more.

"For the investment, this is to try and make a stand against the politics that bind us. The norms that has us going to be married off like Ayla. This is just the price of pursuing change. I'm not asking you to do this. If you want to do this, you can. If you don't, I won't blame you."

Hesitation hit her as the thoughts of the destructive power of such a thing if true would be catastrophic. It is a lot of money but leaving it to a war hungry people might not be the best. "Then who are the Eskandr after this time if not the Perrench?" Perhaps playing dumb might be best in a situation like this, she loved her friend to death but she does need to milk out a bit more information before coming to a conclusion.

"Would that really help change the world's politics? . . . I doubt it can change the engraved ideas in nobles that's been there for ages. . ." She hated what happened at the party, however there isn't much there is she could do.
Events of the morning, goodbyes with allied teams;

Ingrid could not say more without saying who the Eskandr was going for without saying it directly. Ingrid could only hope that Dory could put the connection together.

"Who knows," Ingrid said. "I still have my doubts about this. But I want the world to change. And this might be my way of doing it without having to give up the things I want to give up the things. I just want to be idealistic at least one." Ingrid tried to think of her words carefully. "I came to ask you because you are my friend. If that is not enough than I understand and It won't change anything between you and me. I will still be on your side and love you as I did before." It was awkward but Ingrid chose to break off with, "I should go get some coffee for us" and left.

Ingrid's head was a mess. So many conflicting thoughts and an overwhelming feeling that she is going to make the wrong choice. If I really don't hand this over, how long will it be that my father or grandfather marries me off? Or who knows, maybe it will disgrace me enough that he just cuts his losses on me and I will just owe him money. How many more Eskandish soldiers will die because I didn't give the box. Would I even be allowed in Eskand.

Sven seems so sure of this. Does he have a plan if his family is sieved or striped of their land because of his choices. My family is large enough to not be removed but Sven's... I need to talk to him before it is too late.

Then there is how I acted at the auction house. I acted like a total nutjob in retrospect. Threatening a member of the church who was just trying to make sure we were okay. Ingrid cringed remembering how she acted towards him. You can't just threaten someone

I would just take a single day of not fucking up. I hope todays trial goes well.

Coffee Run at Zenobucks

Ingrid made her way to her dorm first to grab the glass ware needed to bring so much coffee, cream, and sugar back with her. She came into the coffee house, Zeno Bucks, carrying all the things she needed. Like many others, she came with a big order. "Morning, I need 10 large coffees, 15 servings of cream, 15 serving of honey and sugar," Ingrid said with a smile.

Another day, another Magus to snag from the kids who didn't have anywhere else to get quick and tasty coffee, plus pastries, “That will be five Owls. Yep, thank you for choosing Zeno Bucks~” Zarina is manning the kiosk at this time, ensuring every coin is properly stored before treating the next customer - there are so many, far more than the stall could handle! Then comes Ingrid, and at first the business owner didn't actually realize it is her, “Welcome to Zeno Bucks, how may I serve you today?” and then came the familiar voice along with quite the outrageous order. Zarina cocks a brow, “Woah, woah, Ingrid, you're killin' me here!” she humorously replied, but got right to serving, “Feeding the entire gang or something? Also, by cream you mean milk? We only have milk.” she sucked in her cheek while pouring in a cup, “Got any cups of your own, by the way?”

Ingrid set down her tray of cups and pitchers, "For my team and our guests. We paired with the Hegelans and they were real fun to play with. We were up pretty late and I want to get us all ready for the day," Ingrid explained why she came with such a big order. Ingrid shot out a sudden reply, "Oh yeah, milk, sorry. Tired," like she processed it a few seconds late.

Ingrid yawned and decided to do some small talk, "How's your dragon egg going?" to Zarina. She was genuinely interested because as much as she reads about dragon care, she can't help but worry over her little egg.

“Sounds like bad sleep.” Zarina tilted her head and cocked her brows, “Not a position to envy before a race. Luckily you've got me.” cup after cup, the order was being filled, “15 orders of cream ... Do you just want your coffees made with milk?” during the downtimes the Virangish shopkeeper whistled a little tune, “Large servings sizes? Both? So, like, thirty servings?” she supported her weight with a single hand whilst she dangled her sugar spoon with the other, “Gonna need to be more thorough, love. Maybe take a sip.”

The second subject was tackled, prompting Zarina to look a little more alert. She nodded, “They're both doing well, actually.” she took a bite from a brioche slice, a bit of brain food as she let her mind wander a little, “Signed them up in DRAGON, got my license, also got a bed for the little shits when they hatch. Egg life is goooood.” she smirked, “You sure you don't wanna get some breakfast with that? Like, you don't wanna run on an empty stomach.”

"More like I had a forceful nap and my sleep schedule got a bit out of whack," Ingrid said, not really wanting to go into detail about that. "You know probably, coffee can have be quite bitter the first time around. But I'm sure that with what the Hegelens drink, I think they could down burnt and cold coffee without batting an eye," Ingrid said then taking a sip of it. Ingrid nodded, "Definitely 30 servings of milk, I think Zarra and Dory would cry if they had it with less."

Ingrid nodded along to Zarina as she started to get out the money she needed for the order. "No thank you," Ingrid responded, "I actually am making breakfast for both teams at home, its the least I could do." Ingrid got surprisingly chipper, "Dory is making some of her spratz baked goods so I think I will save my appetite for that." Ingrid connected back to the conversation about dragons, "I actually ended up with a dragon egg somehow. If it wasn't for Sven I would have been raided by D.R.A.G.O.N. I didn't know the first thing about dragon raising so Sven is helping me raise it." Ingrid seemed to be reminiscing about something as a smile came to her face. She let out a small chuckle, "I swear he finds spending time with egg more enjoyable then when we hang out. A little dragon nerd." Ingrid's face went to a more serious one as she started to sip from the finished cup, "Sven has been getting more and more worried about dragons being taken for the war efforts. That and the actual toll of a war." Ingrid was paying close attention to how Zarina responded to see if she should go further.

“You know what?” Zarina stopped her pouring and prepping, instead downright got extra cups to fill them with the appropriate amounts of sugar and honey each, while she downright provided a liter of milk to go with it all. It was a lot to carry, “You may as well just get the bulk option, so they can figure out what they like.” Then came the amount to pay, and it definitely wouldn't be cheap. “Y'know, as an investor, you should definitely shill our pastries to the foreigners.” she shrugged with a sassy smirk, “Just sayin'.”

“Actually,” she snapped her fingers to get the glasses girl's attention, “before we get knee deep in other stuff. That Dory doll. She's your friend, yeah? I'd like to meet her proper.” the last few cups were filled and all of it was presented neatly, although those in line were getting a bit cranky, “Business opportunity. I'm getting fuck all ideas to get spratz here without absurd tariffs.”

Back to eggs, which unfortunately couldn't come with the breakfast, “Ahhh, getting your own little shit too, huh? And with Sven? Ooohhh la la!” she shot a toothy grin with her very sassy tongue coming out to say hello, “Making a nest so soon. I like it. With a keeper too. Daddies supposedly get SUPER hot as they get older.” she took a sip of her own coffee and continued, “Anyway,” she clears her throat after taking maybe a bit too many sips, “Dragons being used? What, did someone say you had to draft yours or something?” she furrowed her brows, “Sounds kinda illegal in this city.”

"Bulk option it is then," Ingrid agreed as she held onto her coffee like it was the only thing keeping her going right now. Ingrid knew she shouldn't buy the pastries but buying could put Zarina in a better mood since she refused on Zarina's first pitch. I should give her what she wants to put her in a better mood. Ingrid shrugged with a smile, "Your right," She pointed to the Brioche, "the brioche is hear is delectable and freshly baked. That isn't something you can just make in an hour or 2. 10 slices please." Ingrid knew that in the grand scheme of things this was a drop in what they needed and even more so if this could give us a better chance on getting more contributors, then it was worth the chump change.

Ingrid figured that Zarina would want to make some connection with Dory eventually, I could introduce them but Ingrid wanted herself to be there. Ingrid smiled lightly, "I think I can arrange that." Normally she would bring up that as Zarina put it she was only part of this for her money and it would cost her to use her for her connections but their was no need to bring it up when you plan on asking for help.
Ingrid thought that the dragon talk would be toward raising a dragon. And as such saying her and Sven are making a nest was a quick way to get Ingrid very red with embarrassment. Ingrid begun to talk quick, "I mean. It's not like that! I mean he does have his good sides but he is just a friend. You know that friend you've known forever and stuff. He like loves dragons and animals so I thought it be fun..." Ingrid became aware that her trying to quickly explain the situation while being utterly flustered made her look so guilty. Then there is the fact that apparently Sven bridal carried her home yesterday. She took a breath and switched to the dragons, "It is more than that. He is worried that innocent animals will be sent to die in a war. Pulled from their habitats and tamed to kill people and then die," Ingrid said. "He thinks that our nations are going to find a way to take the dragons. But he has a way to stop it. You should come talk to us if you want to know more about his thoughts. Got to protect your little shitter right?" Ingrid said. With Zeno Bucks hosting so many people she couldn't say anything outright but she could hopefully peak Zarina's interest.

“Good, goooood.” Zarina grinned and got to it: A whole pound of brioche to go with another half of a loaf, making for a dozen instead. It made it more practical overall. The sweet bread was still hot, clearly made today right from Pumpernickel, “Veeeerrrrry good.” she adds with a lyrical tone to the potential Dory meetup. Spratz were soon going to be at an arm's reach.

“Yeah. Childhood friend. Grows to be a fine man. School sweetheart ...” oh the teasing wasn't ending with some forced snickers here and there, and Zarina was not oblivious to the cues. Although as the pleasantries died down for a more somber subject, Zarina's features loosened too and her posture straightened a little more, “I mean, I'm gonna be real with you,” she whipped out a few churros to add as freebies to the order, “I'd be the first one to give a shit about those creatures. But I mean, this is just as applicable to people. I don't recall many bumpkins being enthusiastic over being cannon fodder.” she crossed her arms, slightly challenging Ingrid's initial idea, “Oh I'll protect my little shitters alright, but this is sounding like you wanna stop war altogether.” she clicked her tongue and paused briefly to muse the notion.

And then she sighed, “I'm of the not-so-optimistic idea that if two people remained in this world, Vashdal bless them, one would end up killing the other.” the Virangishwoman peered down for a moment, only for the whiny customers at the back to bring her back to reality, “I don't think we'll ever stop folks finding ways to kill one another, whether it's through animals or pseudo-slaves.” she sucked in her lips and grit her teeth a little, “But- Fine, I'll bite. If only for the big lizards.”

Ingrid tried to play towards the dragon aspect from her lack of insight into Zarina's priorities. Many people she has met sees war as part of the natural cycle and should be enjoyed when it comes. Ingrid couldn't know what Zarina's opinion was but she was happy that she didn't. It let Zarina show her priorities and her values. Ingrid felt more assured that Zarina was a good start. And she seems to realize the situation more than Dory. Ingrid seemed excited getting a few free pastries, "Thank you!" Ingrid said implying it to both the pastries and her giving her a chance. She lifted the tray of drinks and pastries with relative ease, it was obvious that she was practicing drawing the weight away from things.

Ingrid carried the coffee back and had a good sendoff to their hegelan friends. One day Ingrid will go to their home to drink with them. Ingrid was just happy she made what she thinks a good impression on some jolly folk.

Ingrid spent time by herself getting ahead on studies and read some more of her favorite books. That is about it. Just the nerd reading by herself.

Snaked and Afraid matched with Ismette's cousin team, Vysta's Favour. It just made sense and they went over who went where. Ingrid didn't mind pairing up with Chad, he was hot and fun to be around. Just that kind of person if you can deal with him. Ingrid somehow convinced him to search with her even when he was solidly no. Now Ingrid needs to get Chad and his friends to an Eskandish Party after the Dragon. Should be easy enough. Eskandish know how to party with the best of them.

The dragonspine was as beautiful as ever and Ingrid has a worrying amount of time to admire them… The cold was nice. It was home. It's like it just took some of the stress away. She was going to have fun. She needed it to avoid cracking.

[Th3King0fChaos]

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Location: Ersand'Enise Auction House

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Interactions:

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After the Melon Derby had finished and a few words were given to Zarra about him causing such property damage, it was finally time for some celebrations for after. As Team Snaked and Afraid & Team Shortlisted were able to secure 4th place! Leaving Desmond in a very good mood as nothing much could have really gotten him down. The Team did well, they had secured a placing much higher than Desmond could have imagined, Desmond had some fun, and he thinks he's made a decent enough impression upon his shorter teammates. Some strange things happened, he thinks he may have been hit on by someone he didn't even see, however he wasn't too sure, it could have been someone who was mocking him, yet it did not matter. Desmond was in a good enough mood to go and buy himself a coffee, as he left to go to Zeno bucks.

That was a terrible idea, the moment Desmond made it there he saw that a crowd was forming around the owner of Zeno bucks, Zarina, and the spitting yasoi, Casii, as they were both brawling. As they threw punches, people roared and yelled in excitement as he saw Silas and Marceline seeming to set up a betting pool. Desmond made his way over as he saw the crowd getting too excited as it seemed people began to fall into the bets, as Desmond decided to help, 'Why not? It's just a bit of help'. The little bit of help had carried him into then needing to run away from the crowd as it roared in excitement, more and more so 'till the point where a full brawl occurred. One man bumped into another, one didn't take kindly and neither did their friends, as then fighting began to happen, as the man who was originally overseeing this entire fist fight, Zeno Sectoxomactex, had now searched out those who had possibly stolen or lost the money. Desmond was passed the hat they had used to collect the money as him and Silas split ways and used the many different people to break up who had what and if they ever had the money. As once Desmond had escaped, he had passed the hat off to a respectable boy to take care of. Desmond shook his head as he decided to maybe make himself sparse and even somewhere else, as he heard there was an auction going on, maybe if he decided to go and make some bids and even win something the heat would be lifted off of him as Marci and Silas take some heat before they go and take their cut from the 'bids'.

What was to be a fun time became something Desmond was afraid of getting into, especially so early on in his life here. Sure it started off fine, Desmond made some bets on some different things: 3 Prime mana shots Desmond will be splitting with Penny after some friendly banter, some somber banter as they talk of what could have been hassling because Zarina believes he owes her and Casii money, and then a friendly painting duel. Next came the Pyrite rock Desmond and Ingrid were very interested in as for her it was for mining, for Desmond it was to try and recreate Sirrahi technology. After which finally came something Desmond could not pass up, a Hydra Skull big enough for him to wear. Desmond had an idea for something so he wanted it, as he bided and got it for 6 magus, not a bad deal. Yet the final thing to come was something that had brought something trully troublesome to their door. An unassuming music box with strange characters carved on it. Some symbols resemble mighty dragons, others mountains, but nobody seems to be able to translate. Some say it predates the fall of the Avincian empire. It is currently broken and requires a brilliant mind to work on it. Extremely fine craftsmanship can be noticed when thoroughly inspected. At first Desmond wished to get it to work on it, it was for his own pride, yet it became more and more apparent that they were betting on something that was more than just a music box. As the bidding soared, it reached levels Desmond was left worried, he put in so much and others seemed to put more, Ingrid's and Desmond's funds were quite high, yet it seemed as if they betted against a whole bank. Desmond swallowed as a voice cut the bidding, "I believe, that we should perhaps make this a closed--door auction, as there appear to be only three parties still bidding". As soon began a fate-changing encounter.

Betting in a Viper Pit

The Announcer brings the relevant parties to a secure chamber within the auction house. The magics here are abnormally powerful, even for the dreaded Holy See groups. There was likely an Arch or two ensuring the security of this event once they caught wind of it. "Please, sit, all of you. Clearly we will not be able to handle this through traditional bidding. As such, we will instead go about it differently: A single bid. Each party will propose a secret sum, and the highest will be winner of this auction."

Ingrid took a seat, She remained calm and strong but she was scared. If she could win this it would go a long way to raising her standing in her family. Ingrid started by accepting the terms of the new auction. "Best of luck everyone." A gesture of civility.

Evander walks in to sit down. He claims his seat next to Ingrid and looks at her, "You will need it, I think you stirred up more trouble than you know." He leaned back in his seat. She may have been naïve to it. There were bigger agents at play than Evander, her, or the other lad, sitting at this table.

Sven gulped. "Thish ish politicsh." He shook his head. "Way above all of ush."

The three hooded figures moved as one. They seated themselves. "Who will guard the item?" asked one. "How do we know the other parties won't just steal it?" The third was silent.

Announcer spoke up, "The very same entities securing this building will ensure the transfer of the purchased item as well as its safe arrival to a designated spot of your choosing. That is standard procedure for all our ... High ticket transactions."

"I apologize if I seemed overbearing with my questioning," said one of the cloaked men, "and I think you for your answer. I do worry about accountability should the other actors at this table prove not to be... good faith ones. I would like to know who is in charge of security for this affair."

The hooded figure who hovered close to Evander let out a snort. "They're clearly digging for information," he growled. "I wouldn't trust them."

The Announcer cleared his throat as he spoke, "it will be safe, I assure you, now let us begin the betting. As I said before: A single bid. Each party will propose a secret sum, and the highest will be winner of this auction"

As each of the parties agreed the game began.

Every party had access to a private chambers completely isolated from everything else. No amount of magics could be used to defy the security placed without raising at least one red flag. After minutes of deliberation, each representative came with a sealed envelope containing the agreed amount from each interest they represented.

"Thank you. I will now be revealing the sums proposed by each side."

The first was from the fastest group to conjure up an answer. The envelope was ripped and the paper inside pulled out to be unfolded.

"One Magus." the announcer squinted, "... The logical minimum was 10,000 Magis." well, not really, but they were all willing to pay that much so they assumed as much. He shook his head and continued.

"Now, for the Penderson party." the paper was taken out and ... "27,000 Magis."

And finally, "Lord Synesti's sum." he didn't waste any time, "24,000 Magis."

"The Lady Penderson's party has won the bid. Congratulations."

The hooded figures rose. The front two bowed. "We realized that we could not hope to match the finances of these two parties and we were correct," said one. "But knowledge can be power," said the other. "We wish the holders of this valuable item Vyshta's favour."

Desmond sighs as he leans back onto the wall, "Yeah, you have a good day yourself" as in that moment Desmond felt something wrong and everything kicked off.

"You will please hand me the box," said the third figure coolly, to Ingrid as her mind looses reason and she begins to stand up, holding the box.
"You will assist her," they said to Sven.
One of the other figures disappeared briefly before reappearing right next to Desmond.
The second one moved to cover the one giving the strange commands.

Desmond heard a COMMAND, and knew what he had to do. Ignoring the person who just appeared next to him, he needed to beat them to the punch, as Desmond goes and fills the caster of the COMMAND with chemicals to instantly knock them out. The figure collapses immediately under Desmond's chemical assault but, oddly, the spell isn't broken. In any case, Ingrid doesn't appear to be headed their way.

At the same moment the Announcer glared at the hooded figure, "The representative is to decide where the item is to be delivered." he seemed immune to the effects, as if the magics surrounding the room were protecting him. The house's powerful magic doesn't immediately react to the strange influence, however the announcer does signal for physical security to step in, "Guards! Please separate these two." As he waves his hands to Ingrid and the person who was protecting the COMMAND issuer.

Aa the guards get their hands on Ingrid they began to try and pull her away yet she fought back as Desmond was pincered by both Sven and the mage who appeared next to him as a chemical spell causes Desmond to drop, losing control of his muscles temporarily. He struggles to rise.

ven seems confused, but recognizes that illusion magic is being used.
The three attackers, seeing that they're fighting a losing battle, call out to Evander and his hooded benefactor, who have been hanging back.
"For Revidia!" one calls. "For l'Anguira!" says another. "Help us!"

The announcer slams his hands onto his desk, "What is this outrage? Are you not ashamed of yourselves?! To defile the sanctity of these neutral grounds! The Arches will hear of this! That I promise."

"Spare us, Perrench vermin!" spits one. "We live and die for the republic!"

Evander looked to his hooded benefactor, "Do we trust them, do we help?"

"Non è un serpente," the hooded man beside Evander calls out, apparently waiting for a response, brimming with energy.

Desmond feels his muscles finally heed his command as he uses a kinetic boost to launch himself at the person who Ingrid was about to hand the box to and upper cut his jaw. Yet the moment he was about to connect the man dipped his head back and roared out "Be still!". As with the figure's command, ll enemies in the room, Almost all stood still, yet Desmond was still moving as he shifted and landed back to his feet ready to swing again as he realized order after order who he was fighting, he felt the tug but he kept fighting through it. They were using magic the same as that strange Priest in the melon Derby. "Speak of the Devil" as he hears another voice pierce through the doors that was once sealed, "Your use of magic reserved for the devout is an affront not only to the church but to the gods themselves," sneered Brother Wolf, "I command that you kneel, heretic!". As the man struggled against the COMMAND, it was no use, very few could withstand it as the only things to leave his mouth were "I.... will...nnnn...kneel," said the hooded figure, gritting his teeth as he was forced to the ground.

"You are all freed!" commanded the Dread Priest. He smirked Desmond's way. "Though, as expected, you already are."
Desmond popped his neck as he stood up fully as he chuckled ready to continue the fight, "Seems so".

"You will speak," Brother Wolf commanded. "You will tell me who you are and who sent you."
"I will not!" spat the hooded figure.
Sister Lumen strode in behind Wolf.

She shot a pulse of brilliant light into the kneeling figure and he screamed in pain. "You will do as my brother says or you will be... incentivized more directly."

Brother Ash was next, tall and pale. "We apologize for our surprise entrance," he said to the auctioneer. "As this incident appears to involve command magic, it is a matter for the church, so we were called here in lieu of your usual security arrangements."

"Oh I thought y'all were already here. With that one giving out a command", Desmond says as he points to the one on the ground gnashing his teeth trying to speak as he continued, "But when the Chemist was unable to take me down in one shot I knew it wasn't you guys", Desmond said with a chuckle.

Brother Wolf smiled faintly, but his bearing was serious for this was a serious matter. "We serve no temporal lords, only those above," he responded simply. "The petty feuds of kings are below our higher calling," confirmed Sister Lumen.

Desmond raised his hands as he said, "Of course, of course"

The announcer flinched, "Any more and I would have called the Arch defending these walls." he calmed down and sat, "So long as the winnings are returned to the rightful winner of the auction, I will leave any further actions against these individuals in your hands." The tall pale figure spoke with a light bow, "Thank you for your understanding, brother," as he came up from his bow t look the Announcer in the eyes once more "I know this must be most irregular."

Ingrid was on the edge. She is paranoid, Something took over her body, she feels violated. She wants to kill whoever those people were. Brother Ash turned to Ingrid, sensing her teetering. "Are you well?" he inquired. "You you maintain your right senses?"

Ingrid looked at brother ash and backed away towards Sven, "Not another step." Ingrid would rather not let anyone she didn't know near her. Desmond seeing the tensions build he steps in, "Hey hey hey, Ingrid, we're on the same side here. They're here for the guy who did that to you, okay?" Desmond steps in between them as he stays close to Ingrid trying to cool her off.

Brother Ash blocks Ingrid from trying to walk out of the room. "I suggest you carry the box," he says to Desmond. "You've a stronger constitution and your friend's wits are clearly not about her."

Ingrid looked to Ash as she said, "Try and take this box and I will melt you into a puddle". Desmond looks back at what's happening and then back to Ingrid, "They're here to help us, not hurt us", as he heard Ash speak he turned and said, "She'll be fine" Desmond says as he looks to Ash and then Ingrid, "We'll be fine, right Ingrid?"

Brother Ash, tryin to cooperate by Desmond, decides not to take a risk with someone so volatile. He reaches out for Ingrid's forehead and hits her with a chemical spell. "Sleep, you stupid girl."

Desmond watched what unfolded and sighed as he saw Ingrid drop from Ash's magic. "God damn it", Desmond shook his head and looked to Sven, "Come on, we need to take Ingrid home, we also need to get out of here before things get heated again" Desmond gestured for Sven to carry her as he said, "You better grab her, I'll carry the box". As once they get themselves up, Demsond lead the way for them to go. As they were escorted out by the bodyguards and lead them all the way home where they put Ingrid into her bed.

Later that day when Ingrid finally woke up, the group had been waiting for her to make sure she was okay, Desmond threw some quippy lines while they spoke trying to lighten the mood from what was a stressful situation. As once people were calm and ready, they talked about the box, as it was found it was a box able to pacify one of the biggest Dragons known to man, the Tyrannus Monsigneus. As that night an Order was formed, as it had multiple individuals as the core of the group: Sven, Ismette, Ingrid, Desmond, Benedetto, Woren, Dorisay, Ghaven, Talkhen, and Korin. These people all knew what this was, what they were doing, and knew the plan was simple: they needed to get 27,00 Magus to buy the box themselves so neither Revidia nor eskand can get it. Once they do that they will fix the box so they can use it. For fun. Demsond wasn't sure why he agreed with any of this in the first place, evne the bidding, yet he was here now, and feet weren't made facing backwards. So for Desmond, the only path was forward.

[Suicharte]

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Event: After the Melon Derby

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The hour was dark after the melon derby. Though silence had not fallen upon Ersand'Enise. Instead, a night of celebration took its place. The tavern was packed, drinks were had and a rather rowdy brawl took place. Yet Yuli, despite enjoying all of these things, was not present. She was wandering the streets, reflecting on what had gone wrong. She knew she'd messed up - and revealed a little bit too much of her character towards the end. She thought about who'd seen it - and what she'd done, and eventually re-assured herself that everything was going to be alright. And by the time that came - she ended up at the remnants of the row. Supposedly the yasoi, the hegelans, the eeaiko and the humans had all fought against each other, and Yuli happened upon the interior of a tavern with people unconscious on the floor. She surveyed, and waited for no-one to be watching before picking a target to drink from. She happened upon a revidian with sweet tasting blood but was unable to acquire anything from it other than a satisfying meal.

Soon after, she found herself at an auction. It started out as a fun little gimmick, a few rocks being sold and people paying outrageous prices for them, but there were a few items that caught her fancy. The first was an aphrodisiac, but she was outbid severely by a smug noble boy who mentioned something about Djamantese parties. She would research it for sure, but it didn't change her frustration about not getting the item. Another, that caught her eye, was a music box. Something old, from before the avincean empire. She bid on it. But she noticed that the price went up and up and up. She was happy to compete with this agent for a while. She was goaded by a couple of girls into bidding higher, but she mostly wanted to score a win on this uptight little turd that beat her for the previous item. That was, until it got to the thousands, and he continued to bid. She watched the price skyrocket as a bidding war began between 3 camps. And before long, the item went to the back to be sold in a private auction. It was a mystery to her, and perhaps she thought she might have done a disservice to her country by not pulling in with the rest, but she simply didn't have the funds at hand, nor permission to use state money with reckless abandon. Her personal funds were great, but they were nowhere near what the final price of that item ended up being.

In the deep night, she went to strike again. And this time, she chose the wrong target. His blood was sweet smelling, and she knew there was a rare blood in there somewhere, but he was strong. A fierce fight took place, and for a second, she thought he might have an advantage. She did not fear that she would die to him, but she feared that the swinging of a fiery sword and the screams of his strange northern language might attract others into the fray and jeopardize her position. And so, she ran. And for a moment, she thought that she could have taken him out, but she vanished into the night. There would be no risk taken tonight, but she would remember his face. And perhaps, she'd go for him again....

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Event: Hegelan Drinking!

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It had been an interesting choice for the group. Yuliya had convinced her team of Shortlisted. She knew of the potency of hegelans, the mana brews and the wonderfully crafted items they held. After all, she had one! And, got together they did. In the morning before the Dragon, they had drunk mana brews. Yuliya had consumed 2 prime shots, and had convinced everyone else to give them a go. Zazzy didn't keep hers down well, and neither did Kaspar, but Augusto and Jomurr took to it well. By the end, they'd all had some significant increase in RAS though. She felt particularly strong, and she got the same vibe from Augusto after the drinks that she did from the ice king. Just a well of unimaginable power. She had to stop herself from drooling. He was her teammate after all.

For the race, she chose Street Hoghs, and was partnered up with Korin. The two had come up with a fashion related strategy - if she wore a red shirt, the other groups would avoid her in fear of losing time spent on the race, and so it was that before they were to begin. Korin had herself dressed up. The two had gotten along quite well and shared quite a bit of banter. It was nice to be with someone she could easily converse with, even if it wasn't her first language, she felt far more confident in her spoken Hegelan than she did in her Avincean. She felt confident, and determined to do much better than the derby. And she felt something new, that she hadn't quite felt before - an urge to win not just for herself, but for Zazzy and the others? Was this normal? She'd have time to think on it after.

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Event: High Stakes

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Yuliya felt comfortable. For it was the dead of night, and the heat of the ensolian sun wasn't beating down on her. It was these hour she felt at most peace with herself, but she wasn't up to her usual night antics. There was a hunt for a sanguinaire, and of course this had drawn her attention because she herself was a sanguinaire. Yet, there was zero suspicion towards her in this group, aside from small glances from the paladin she'd encountered the night before. Every time he looked over, she simply smiled and maintained eye contact. It was almost comical, to hear him retell the tale of her attempting to drink from him, in front of her, while being completely oblivious.

Khaliuns warnings were noted. If this was a true sanguinaire, or even a high, then this mission was a death sentence. She thought of her brother, and of her father, and of the strength they bore. It was worlds apart from even the strongest students here, and even some of the zenos. And so she took Khaliuns warnings to heart. She would wait, she would observe, and only if she thought she might win, would she strike. So she responded, in a hushed whisper to Khaliun.

"Если они хотя бы наполовину так компетентны, как мой брат, все здесь будут мертвы к восходу солнца."

As they got closer and closer to the scene, Yuli shuddered. Not out of fear like the others might have, but out of annoyance. No-one worth their salt would leave a trail like this. They didn't NEED to eat this much to be full, yet they did anyway. Who was this.. hedonist, and why were they fucking around at Ersand'Enise. This was going to bother her peaceful life, and quite frankly, that bothered her. It bothered her immensely. She felt her grip tighten around the hilt of her axe, and part of her wanted to disregard the warnings and go and brutalize this fool while she was still juiced up on the prime shots she'd had earlier, but she would wait. Because she wanted this dumbass out of her school, and out of her life. And perhaps she wanted to finally get a good drink. It'd been far too long.

"I'm going to cover exit, you go ahead. I won't let escape." she sighed in frustration, as she traced around the sides of the proving grounds, looking for possible entrances and exits. It was a cover, but she wanted to know if there was a way in to surprise this fucker if it was necessary.

"держи меня в курсе. мы наносим удар, если вы думаете, что мы можем победить." she said aloud into the air. This would be a good test for both her and the sentry.

[Ti]

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Event: Team Sectoxomactex | Location: Ersand'Enise

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The sun is blazing overhead as the Team Sectoxomactex arranged to meet by the Arboretum for their grand introduction to each other. The students have faced another one of those facility reshuffles which have brought them together into a new group.

Maura, being new to the school herself, was already dressed up in what she imagined was a uniform of the place, a simple dress made for hard study, paperwork, and enough mobility to reach the books in the library. This did work out when it came to the more academic subjects, but found herself woefully underprepared for the far more vigorous activity ahead. “Perhaps we should consider a change…”, she looked down towards her legs as she flattened the fabric over her lap. It appeared that she got the time wrong, either too early, or awkwardly late, as she was still trying to adjust from Torragon time.

She moves her finger over the slate, as she tries to memorise the details of the… boys she ended up paired with. Delightful.

“Let me see, who do we have…"
"Leander, Thalak, Merchant," @Creative Chaos - He may be interesting, what goods does his family trade?
"Niallus, Eskand, Noble, " @McKennaJ71 - Hope is is not the type to scream about his great ancestor called Hrothgar the Bloody Awful.
"Sven, Eskand, Noble, " @Force and Fury - ... his family being in a blood feud with the other would spice things up.
"Nazih, Firrazene, Noble, " @Ziegenkonig - Does Firraz even have nobles?

Niallus arrived a couple minutes ago to where this group introduction was agreed to meet, he sighs, as he then starts looking around.

"Seems I've arrived early." Sitting down on some grass he remembers the names of the others he's paired with. So...Maura, Leander, Sven and Nazih. These people are going to be paired with me.

Looking up to the sky, he lets a smile across his face, fiddling with the ring on his ring finger, mostly out of habit.

Maura blinks as the boy seems to turn up and sit upon the grass nearby. She tilts her head to the side as if trying to decide if she is one of the ones she was waiting for, or some passer-by deciding to casually laze upon the grass.

With a few pushes upon the wheels, she brings herself forward as she approaches him. "Hola, you waiting here for Zeno...", she peers down towards the slate again for a brief moment, "Sect-oxo-mac-tex's group?"

Niallus's focus shifts to the girl in the chair that's getting closer to him, at first he's not sure what to make of her, but since she's greeted him it's only common sense to return it, so he greets her with a smile and subtle wave.

"That's right....I think. Don't worry, I have no idea how to pronounce that name either." Letting out a little chuckle. "My name is Niallus. What's yours?"

She offers a smile towards him, "Charmed. My name is Maura". He was certainly far more well dressed compared to the mental image of an axe wielding barbarian, perhaps things would not be so bad after all.

Leander arrives a bit late and sits on the grass, adjusting a brown top hat. A manic grin is on his face, as if nothing is more exciting than this meeting.

Sven nearly smacks into a low hanging tree branch as he ambles up, nose in a book as usual. The world isn't made for tall people. He blinks, shakes his head, and tucks the book into a satchel slung over his shoulder. "Oh, uh... hey!" he tries, scratching nervously at the back of his head. "Nishe to meet you, partnersh! I'm Shven." One of them is grinning a whole bunch. "Whoa, that'sh quite a hat," he adds, twisting to regard Leander.

As they were greeting she saw the other two approach, a rather unusual looking one with a top hat and the boy loaded up with books. Based on appearance, it must be Leander with the hat, tipping an imaginary one towards him, and the other introduced himself as Shven.

"Hola. Looks like we are all almost here. Pleased to meet you both, my name is Maura". She smiles sweetly towards the pair, before shifting into a position that faced the three. She couldn't resist, directing towards Sven, as the boy is recovering from the tree branch. "Maybe best you are not on the invasive task, I hear the islanders are fond of their trees."

She looks down towards the pattern of the shadow for a flicker of a moment, "Sure that Nazih will be here soon too. The Firraz are known for being reliable."

Nazih sluggishly rounded the corner, squinting harshly in the sunlight. He looked extremely hungover.

"Not too late am I? Those Hegelan brews last night may have been a mistake..." He muttered, making way straight for the base of the tree to slump against. "Nazih Iqbal." He motioned his hand in a half wave in introduction, but already his eyes were closed again.

"I already know I'll be climbing a mountain," Sven sighed. "I can shee the Dragonshpine from my family'sh landsh."

Then Nazih appeared, and he seemed in less than great shape. Sven blinked. "N-nishe to meet you," he began. "I'm Shven: Sven Bjornsshon." He blinked. "Sh-shir, are you familiar with internal Chemical magic?"

Leander sways a bit at the newcomers’ arrival, the grin growing even wider.

“I’m Leander Keraunós, but Andy works too.”

Nazih was just glad to have something to focus on other than his incredible hangover.

"It's a pleasure, Sven." he said, slowly tilting his head towards the Eskandish. "My training focused on the external side of things, but I've dabbled. If you have a cure for this headache, I'm willing to try anything"

Sven glanced Andy's way. "You wouldn't happen to be a chemical mage, would you?" he asked, not all that hopeful. Leander did not give off the air of being a Chemical mage. "I have heard there'sh a way to cure hangoversh. Just... haven't mashtered it yet."

Maura sighed as she watched the display, the Firraz are far from reliable, and point was proven on the first meeting with Nazih. "One would recommend plenty of water... for drinking and a much needed bath", she closed her eyes as she rolled them.

"Using magic for trivial things is not wise, but we are left with no choice if we are to win this event". She looks towards Andy expectantly, as already being incorrectly identified as the lead in resolving this issue.

Niallus nods in agreement with Maura. "It's nice to meet you all." He says to the others that have arrived.

"I agree with her, but here this could help you Nazih." Handing him a bottle of water, to keep him hydrated,

He sees no objection to Sven wanting to do the Mountain part of the race.

Focused on priorities, Nazih desperately downed the bottle in one go. "Thanks.", nodding to Niallus in thankful acknowledgement.

"And normally I would agree, but after those drinks I feel I could cure an entire village bar's worth of hangovers and still have magic to go around. That is, if I knew how." ending with a slight grin. He was beginning to feel the effects of the strange brew.

"It looks like we have a strong team for this race", Nazih addressed the group, starting to feel better after the needed water.

"But you..." he narrowed his eyes, scanning the woman who had just insulted him. "Just who-" he began to ask, in no mood to deal with a merchant too big for their britch- wait no, too big for their wheels, finally noticing the chair. But then it dawned on him; those features, that arrogance, that accent; it could only mean one thing! A Torragonese.

His brow lowered into a menacing glare. "I didn't realise they allowed war criminals in this institution. You must have garnered sympathy from your... handicap." he spat.

Maura simply smiles sweetly as the Firraz turns on her and claps her hand together. "You should have some more water to refresh yourself amigo, your mouth is moving like a cabro". She gives a playful giggle as she tops up Nazih's cup with more water, gesturing for Andy to begin his magic, speaking low towards the Thalak, "Probably won't change his attitude, but try your best".

"Now, we are already talking about the event. Sven for Dragonspire has been decided... we have the Water, Desert, Piggies, and the City challenges..."

"You should know better than the others that I'll be taking the desert leg" Nazih stated, sniffing the water Maura poured him before gulping it down again.

"I know the desert better than most, and the Firraz still have a few secrets left that weren't plundered."

Nazih continued, "That leaves the Ocean, Tropics, and City legs."

Confused by Nazih action Why is he sniffing the water for? can he really be that hungover also what was with that attitude to her putting it aside since it none of his business, he stands up to stretch his legs. "the only one that I won't be able to do sadly is the ocean part. but I was probably able to do the Piggy challenge." still he's unsure about how this tension between Nazih and Maura would play out during this whole event.

Andy looks between Nazih and Maura, chuckling as small sparks begin to appear around him.

“Normally, it takes a few days for people to get at each other’s throats. Seems like you both skipped the process.”

He spends maybe a split second thinking it over before deciding. “I’ll take the City leg. I can navigate it without worrying too much.”

Sven blinks and swallows uncomfortably. A Torragonese and a Firrazene in the same group. Leander is right, but the tension between them is hardly surprising, especially given the history of their two peoples. They are fundamentally the conquerors and remnants of the conquered. "Yesh, I'm happy to climb the mountain," the Eskandishman offered. "But we, uh, need to get Nazih uh... shipshape, first, though, with more than jusht water."

"I agree. We need him to be cured of this hangover. Sven see what you can do to help Nazih. So that leaves the ocean part to Maura." Thinking about what he said, he gets a worried brow on his face, looking at her, clearly the woman is in a wheelchair, he has no idea how she'll be able to even do this,

The very thought of her attempting sends a chill down his spine. No, she must have a plan of some kind, otherwise the school wouldn't dream of putting her life at risk.

Maura strokes a hand through her hair, twisting the end with her finger. "As much as Nazih needs a dip in the water, he would be best placed in the Desert, since this is probably the only time he has left it".

She reads the confusion expressed upon the other boy's face as he questioned Nazih's behaviour, "Water is like liquid gold to the Firraz. They conserve it in big underground reservoirs. They use what is in the yellow seas around them, sand."

As to put an end to that awkward accusation... "As for blaming descendants for supposed war crimes of their ancestors. Heavy words to start throwing around when in a group with two Eskand present. They won’t appreciate it either." Couldn't resist the opportunity for shade. Easiest way to do it without a history lesson.

Swiftly moving on, she gives a wink towards the boy as she catches that worried expression. "We have been on a boat before, should be fine".

"I am not my country," Sven says simply, glancing back pointedly at Maura as he walks up to Nazih. "She ish not hersh," he says to the Firrazene, "and you are not yoursh. The only group that mattersh right now ish thish five: ush. We won't win if we shpend our time shniping at each other like our forebearsh have taught ush. Coming from where I do, I know a thing or two about the shadow they casht." He reached out gently and people could feel energy being drawn. "I alsho know shome chemical magic. If you hold shtill, I should be able to get rid of your hangover... in theory."

Maura raises an eyebrow towards Sven, especially as he says 'in theory'. "As pointed out, water is very good. It helps things that go in one hole, come out of the other. Including last night's celebrations..." Despite the supposed animosity, she didn't want Sven to knock out her fellow team mate, especially in the important moments prior to them setting off for the event.

"It seems we need to be prepared for the water event. Perdóneme", Maura leaves the group momentarily as she goes for a much needed change of clothes. Also she cannot be blamed if Sven maims the fellow team member, as she would be blamed.

Niallus looks away from Maura, embarrassed by her wink. "I don't think any of us, are like our people's reputation. And we shouldn't judge them based on that alone." Looking around the group. "Sometimes it's one's actions that really define them."

I really hope this team gets along well enough so we don't end up killing themselves

Andy looks over to Niallus, the manic grin still on his face. “I like you already.”

Niallus looks at Andy with a blank face from that comment. That grin of his, it's a little off putting, but he doesn't want to make it awkward by saying something that may hurt his feelings.

With a cough to clear his throat. "Anyway, what is everyone's magic? I can use Arcane and Kinetic."

After sufficient time, Maura returns. It seems the girl came adorning more swim appropriate attire, though looking a little out of place as they were by the Arboretum and not the beach. She comes to them discussing magic specialities. "More dabbling within the different types, though if one had to be picked, it would be Binding. Need to use it on an almost hourly basis."

Niallus looks at Maura, dressed in a swimming outfit. You'd think she was going to the beach for the day, but he admired her commitment to her part of the race.

"You look nice. Umm.... Anyway, you do Binding magic, that's neat. I've only a little knowledge of Binding magic." Turn back to the rest of the group. Wasn't exactly wanting to say that first to her, but it's too late for that now.

Maura feels her cheeks grow a little warm and a little rosy after the compliment. She attempts to concentrate upon the contributions from the other group members pretending for Niallus's comfort and her own not to notice. She looks towards Sven who appears to be vying for leadership of this little gathering.

Andy pipes up.“I’m pretty good with Magnetic magic, and I know Arcane and Kinetic magic too.”

Nazih lifted himself into a squatting position under the tree. "I specialise in chemical magic, though probably not the kind you're used to..." He gave a weary look to Maura before plucking a healthy green leaf. From the moment he touched it the colours began to change over the next few seconds; the bright green transitioned to yellow, red, then dull brown as it eventually withered into dust. "I have a bit of binding too, and have been told I've unwittingly tapped into the beginnings of the Atomic school, but not anything that could be of use to us yet."

Niallus noticed what Nazih did with the green leaf, and how it died. That's... interesting, he's never seen chemical magic used like that, whatever the case it seems it decays whatever he touches.

But that's just his theory. He looks at Andy then back to Nazih. "These are well balanced types of magic. What about you Sven?" he says, looking towards him.

Maura didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted as he was looking at her during the little display with the leaf. Though one thing was clear as she smiled towards him, it would have been awkward if he used that on himself to try to cure his hangover. Too many desiccated mummies in the desert as it is.

Sven had been silent, working on Nazih up to this point, trying to remove some of the effects of his alcohol poisoning with Chemical magic. There were some judgmental types here and they made him at least a little bit uncomfortable. "I do my besht with all kinds of magic," he replied, "but Chemical and Binding are my shtrong shuits. I'm learning shome Atomic too." He scratched at the back of his head.

Maura gives Sven a big smile as she gives him a clap upon the back, getting her goggles ready for her race ahead. "It is always good to build up some tension before a race. It gives us a lot of energy to burn and gets our blood flowing!", offering everyone a warm smile. "So it looks like the water is first up, then it is my personal favourite", she poses next to Nazih, flexing her arm as she prods him playfully. "Then it is our Handshome duo", she looks towards them both, giving a flutter her eyelashes and a light blush. "...and last but not least..." she pauses for a moment, "smiley!". With everyone and everything in place, she turns towards the portals opening up. "We should go to our places, we don't want to be left behind!"

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[RezonanceV]

Evander Fino Synesti

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Victendes Auction:
Battle between Nations

(Present)

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Location: Auction House, Erasand’Enise

What will they think when I walk in?

Was never a question Evander thought about. Why would he care what commoners, merchants, and lowly nobles thought? He laughed out loud as he walked into the auction house. He was decorated in a clean tailored vest with golden accents and red satin. His white shirt neatly tucked beneath. Evander’s golden hair was tied up in a regal ponytail exposing his youthful broad shoulders. He did not possess the frame of a muscle-bound soldier, but he had a tasteful and elegant lean muscular frame that signaled he could dance and tussle with the best of them. His eyes scored a seat a few rows back from his teammate Jocasta.

Evander sat down, kicked back, and observed the crowd of students bumbling around to find seats. The Victendes auction was about to begin, and Evander was ready to play. The first few items merely ramp up the spectators and give those with less a chance to contribute their small sums to the auction house. It was not Evander’s first auction and most likely will not be his last. He knew the more prized possessions would reveal themselves later in the evening. Then, a surprise. The auctioneer called out an aphrodisiac. Evander had a recollection piercing his prefrontal cortex. He was transported back to Djamant at one of their famous festivals, an island of wild spirits and hearty hands. He remembered the first time he had tried an aphrodisiac at one of their festivals, a memory he did not have to work hard at holding.

Evander raised his hand. The bidding commenced. Throughout the bidding, he made flirtatious remarks to Isabella, and Jocasta, who responded with flush cheeks to Evander’s wit and charm. Both times referencing Djamant, Jocasta having been to one of their festivals could relate to Evander’s interest in taking Aphro at one. Isabella could not relate, but she seemed to imagine it with Evander in mind after his comment. Again, he raised his hand until finally, the aphrodisiac was his…now to convince Jocasta to teleport and join him for a Djamant festival.

The following items were lackluster and unmemorable, as the people who bid for them. Except for the final item, a music box. Evander recognized it. The auctioneer confirmed it—an artifact of Avince… a device that sang to more than just people. Without hesitation, maybe too obvious, Evander raised his hand to bid. The bidding war commenced between himself and the unusual duo Ingrid and Desmond. An odd pairing of two, but when Evander plays, everyone notices and must join together if they want to have a chance at winning. The bidding would continue for quite some time to where the hearts and minds of those who could not comprehend the Magus amounts began to shake in their seats at the absurdity, including Desmond and Ingrid. If it were not for their mysterious patrons, they would have left the weight of this bid on the table turns ago.

Eventually, the interested parties retreated to a private auction where dirty hands and fowl play occurred. Mysterious saboteurs, law enforcement of the highest order, and an auctioneer losing control all acted in a confined space. In the end, Ingrid, Desmond, and their rallying cry for others to help them pay for the music box would receive the ancient Avincian artifact. A battle well won in a war they will lose. Upon leaving the auction house with his patron, they walked together to Zeno Bucks for a cup of coffee. The cloaked man freed his face from beneath the hood. The two acted as if they knew each other intimately. The cloaked man shared a cup of coffee and discussed topics of politics and Ersand’Enise interests. Evander would ask a favor before the two departed their separate ways.

Evander’s confidence continued to ignite regardless of the auction outcome. His team had won the Melon Derby, and his sights were now on The Dragon.

---

High Stakes:
Hunting Monsters That Go Bump In The Night

(Present)

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Location: Crafters Quarters, Erasand’Enise

4:30 HE

Evander usually found solace on evening walks, his mind easing into each step. Not tonight. Solace and ease are distant as the sun. For tonight, Evander followed a clue. Several moons ago, he was introduced to the rumor of a Sanguinaire. Before such rumors, he had only heard about these shadow-lurking creatures in stories told to him by his tutor in the same tone, always boiling down to two words, devilish fiends. The dimly lit streets of Ersand’Enise had feelings of enchantment and gloom. The night felt extraordinarily darker than ever before.

Nonetheless, Evander hid any doubt or fear, if the monster is here, it can bleed too. He reaffirmed himself. On time, Evander reached the distillery marked Crafters’ Quarters, above the door. The rumor pointed to this meeting spot at 4:30 HE. Evander slowly pressed the palm of his hand on the door as his cloak draped to one side, flowing over his arm. Opening the entrance, he stepped inside. The creaking of the floorboards sounded as they gave to his weight beneath his feet. He approached an eclectic group at a table. As Evander stepped to make an introduction, one of them groaned in Virangish, which Evander could make out as, ”What’s taking them so long?”

Before any members could become acquainted, at least since Evander’s arrival. Two figures entered the Crafters’ Quarters. These figures were noticeably carrying equipment for more than an evening's walk. Their approach was subtle, delicate, and precise. A demeanor befitting of Sanguinare hunters, perhaps?

Immediately the aura surrounding their mystery broke as the jolly Kerremand spoke,”Pardon me, mein Freunde!” Evander felt…disappointed. Quickly his disappointment turned to a sense of seriousness as the second did better justice in introducing the reason they were all gathered, “What you have heard is true: A Sanguinaire is among us. To ensure the safety of every man, woman, and child in the Twin Continents, the Burning Order has, is, and will investigate all information on these creatures and cull them.”

Evander felt renewed in the fact he was not wasting his time,Good, the rumors are true. What better way to demonstrate his skill as a member of the Synesti household than to slay a Sanguinaire. He took this mission to prove himself worthy of his family name. The man who called himself Lissanon asked if there were any questions; Evander had a few. He stepped forward, ”What do you know about this sanguinare we are after?” Lissanon nods, ”We know they have been here around the beginning of the trials. Potentiallly even before.” Evander thought since the beginning of the trial? He turned his feet toward Lissanon in interest, who began to scratch his chin in muse, ”We have had reports of odd encounters and fainting before the event. But your colleague,”, pointing to Abdel, ”has had a confirmed encounter with one. We estimate this sanguinaire to be a relatively inexperienced but quite dangerous specimen.”

”Do you suspect there’s more than one?” Evander inquired further. The tall man shrugged, ”We have evidence of at least one. But with the trials, it is reasonable to assume there could be more. Or that the single one was from foreigners.” As always, to the point, Lissanon paces closer to Evander. Viktor appears more pre-occupied with cleaning his gun. Evander stood confidently as Lissanon closed distance, ”Have you two hunted these sainguinaire before?” He was curious to see if the two in front of him had any experience or if they were errand boys sent by the Order behind this mission. The two confirmed, Fourteen, that was the number of sanguinaire lives collected between them, ”do they usually travel alone or with others?” Lissanon replied, ”Alone.”

Evander followed up, ”How have you killed them in the past?” Lissanon answered, ”The same way you kill a person,” only to be cut off by Viktor, ”A bullet to the head or heart does the trick.” Evander looked at Viktor who seemed to know exactly what was being asked, "And if you don't?" Viktor elaborated, ”Ein Blutsauger is very resilient. Heals fast, is fast, kills fast. Quick killing blows work best.” he tilts his head and chuckles at a stray thought, ”Fire works too. Works very well.” Abdel raises his chin and grins, crossing his arms.

Evander was beginning to sense this was going to be a dangerous hunt. If it was traveling alone, why in Ersand’Enise? A place where plenty of people were strong enough to kill it. Why not somewhere less capable of fighting back? Evander asked, “Why do you two believe this lonely hunter has come to Ersand’Enise of all places?” Lissanon furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head, looking confused, ”Is it not obvious?” Viktor chuckles, ”They don't know. Most don't, Lissanon.” Lissanon purses his lips, ”Maybe it's for the best. But, know that such events are bound to attract stray or ambitious Sanguinaires.” Evander could feel they evaded the question with a vague answer. Abdel crosses his arms, a knowing scowl of disgust upon his face. ”It’s the mana types,” he decides. ”Lots of goodies for them here. They wanna steal your rare blood. One had a go at me,” he sneered. ”Dealt with easily enough, but they bolted before I could finish the job.”

The questions and answers continued briefly. Evander summed up everything in his head.

Sanguinaire heals fast, runs fast, kills fast, but scares easily. Piercing the head or heart and exploding it with fireworks was a sure way to kill one before it could heal. They hunt rare mana types alone, and will flee if they feel overwhelmed. The strategy is to discreetly scout the city, gather intel, and return to the Crafters Quarters to form a plan.

Evander stepped back, “Thank you, Lissanon, Viktor, and Abdel, for answering my questions.” He was ready to prove himself against the sanguinaire stories he grew up listening to as a kid.

A Hearth of Darkness: A Story of Countess Aelis Clairmont

My dear child, I will tell you a story if you are brave enough to listen. It is a story where the wolves howl at the mother of the night. Owls nestled in cypress-tress, flapping their wings and striking against the street lanterns in Chamonix. The hour the werewolf breathes as rabid little creatures flee from beasts prowling behind the scenes. Wild foxes yelp in the far darkness, and a thousand sinister noises detach themselves from the silence. It ‘twas a night no man, woman, and child should be wandering, but as all stories go, it starts with one forgetting to take inventory of all the warnings. Stepping into the bone-chilling cold, a young man in his mid-thirties wrapped up in linen rushed out his door to see his beloved. The biting cold air forced his hairs to stand at attention as they tried fighting off each frigid attack by pumping blood to his surface. One could have warned him he’d never make it, but would he have listened? Who could change the mind of one man’s pride to give up his desire to reach his lover’s side? Who could have persuaded him to try under more advantageous conditions?

Each step grew colder, and the warmth of his coat began to feel distant. As it was foretold, his path was too cold, and the freezing of his toes halted him. In the dark of night, when all of the creatures were silent, with only the sound of his crunching bones beneath his feet. He paced up the crest of a hill in the darkest part of the woods, where he stood at the top to take a moment and gather his senses. What could he do if he could not continue?

A thunder cracked loud across the sky, rattling his joints and mind. There it stood, another warning he would deny. The thunder roared as lightning followed, revealing a manor West in a clearing far from even the moon’s light. Who could have lived here? There was no time to decide. Rain began to fall, and another thunderous shatter rolled. Lightning sparked effervescent moments of visibility to keep the man from losing his path to the manor’s doorstep. The man losing his wits carried wet, cold bones to the front door of the estate. Knocking incessantly, his fears creeping up behind him. He would not last much longer in the cold and certainly not under the rain. Maybe no one was home?

His shivering hands wrapped around the door’s handle, a slight push, and the manor was no longer closed to visitors. The young man from Chamonix stepped inside to peek, “Is anyone home?” He yelled, “My name is Sebastian, I am a weary traveler from Chamonix. May I come inside to warm my feet? I promise to be of no pain, and I will soon leave.” He coiled down to release his feet from their bindings as he heard nothing, not even a whisper. His hands struggle to unwrap his shoes, and then a faint whisper, “Hello, fine man, you say is Sebastian, a traveler from Chamonix; it has been quite some time since I’ve had a guest visit me.” Before Sebastian could look up, his hands were touched by a gentle soft finger which induced a sense of peace in his heart. The cold faded from his bones, replaced by a subtle warmth and gradual fever. He looked up to see who possessed the hands of such a glowing touch. A surprise besieged him, what beauty, he thought. Oddly similar to his beloved, this fair lady slipped between Sebastian’s cautious instincts. She looked real while feeling ephemeral. A real ghost he might conclude, then his mind concluded she was safe as she gently graced her hand over his capturing his gaze.

“Follow me, weary traveler.” She pulled ever so slightly at his hand. Sebastian resisted, “I am sorry I need to keep going.” He did not know why, but he felt a part of him wanted to run. How long was he here? Did he just arrive, or has he stayed for days, why could he not remember? His sense of time in her presence disappeared as he followed her deeper into the corridors of her estate. Then the urge to run surged again. As he attempted to pull his wrist free from her grasp, she calmly slipped her hand up from his wrist to his forearm.

Pursing her lips close together with her mouth inches from his ear, she whispered,“There is a fire in your heart, my dear, that I am sure of, she will still be there when morning comes to warm the fields and the road you dream of, but your heart’s flame will not be enough to keep you warm on a night like this, come, let me aid you in your travel and be your source of comfort, tonight we will share company, and tomorrow you will be on your way to a better place.” The crack of thunder shook Sebastian as the flash of lightning pierced through the windows, reminding him tonight he was grateful for having a roof over his head, or surely he might have curled up under a tree, and tomorrow he’d be dead.

Giving up his spirit to continue and instinct to run, he followed her further into the manor’s story: high walls and tall ceilings, enormous portrait paintings adorning each space with history. Sebastian almost forgot to ask, “Who are you, and what is this place?” His mind gradually became drowsy following her wisping gait swaying hypnotically. She was so light and delicate to be alone, yet she carried herself confidently like a Queen in a forgotten realm deep within the forest. The two reached a large room where a fireplace was burning. Sebastian’s cheeks turned red as his blood raised to the surface. She directed his movement with the twist of her wrist around a comfortable chair where Sebastian would rest. Standing above him, smiling. He thought to himself, how eerie her lips curled, yet how beautiful her hair furled, there was something else about her. Before he could hear the answer to his question, Sebastian faded between his truth and fiction.

Sebastain’s eyes felt heavy in every direction, and just in time, she answered,“My name is Aelis Clairmont. I have been many things; this place is my home, built before Chamonix.” Her smile loosened to a distant memory she once lived, “My family built this place before I was taken, and many years ago, I returned in hopes of finding peace in a life cursed by a kiss from a beast disguised as a man who swept me off my feet.” Sebastian could understand a heart hurt by a lover’s lie. Her head lowered, and she asked,“Have you ever loved?” She lifted her hand off his, and to Sebastian’s surprise, his mind became less hazy enough to answer truthfully, “I love a rose beyond these woods. Her name is Joëlle. Her eyes brighten my soul, her touch ignites my passions, and her memory inspires my spirit like a gift from Ipte, and that is who I walk to on a night like this.” He felt comfortable in Clairmont’s presence. He openly shared his conviction for Joëlle and noticed a distant gaze in Clairmont’s eyes. The snap of light from lightning revealed pressure on Clairmont’s face. Twists and contortions of her nostril and cheeks showed signs of frustration…a feeling of resisting her own romance’s defeat.

“How do you know she does not lie to you?” Clairmont asked. He quickly replied, “Why would she? I must believe in her as I love her.” Clairmont bent forward, slowly touching Sebastian’s hand,“Poor thing, I believed in the same thing." Her eyes widened as if to empathize. “You are good… why must all good things come to an end.” She was not asking a question but rather an assertion. She floated to the other chair, still clasping his hand. He could feel his energy dissipate, his mind slipping. He wanted to pull his hand away, but instead, he slouched further into the comfortable chair under the warm roof of the Clairmont estate. His eyes were transfixed on hers since she moved from his side to the seat next to him. Her smile returned,“You make this difficult, yet more enjoyable.” He did not understand what she meant, “meaning?” Her smile not fading,“To drink from a man like you burning with passion is a treat I’ve forgotten…thank you.” Her tongue seductively slid across her bottom lip. Sebastian’s sense of comfort churned into concern, “drink?” Sebastian’s eyes closed, heavy. He could hear Clairmont chuckle, “Oh dear, you’ve wandered into the den of an elder, a refuge of false hope for the living, a web of deception, except for the truth about our love. Mine cursed me, and yours led you to my room.” Sebastian forced both eyes to open, and they were no longer in the den. Was this whole thing an illusion? When did he get up from the chair he was in? Where was the fireplace he sat in front of? Where were his senses?

He was laid out on a bed: red blankets, soft sheets, the woman on top of him with both hands forcing his overhead. Sebastian tried screaming and fighting in a panic, but the more he wanted to fight, the more he felt something instead. Did fear paralyze him? Or maybe something she did? Her fingernails pierced the veins in his wrists; he felt a subtle ecstasy as she felt his excitement beneath. In his last moments, Sebastian wasn’t fighting. He was betraying Joëlle instead. The countess’ fangs elongated, and she lowered her head. She softly punctured the jugular to feed off the fly caught in her web. Her hands moved from his wrists to his neck. She felt the pulse of what was left. Her teeth were deep inside as Sebastian experienced memories of Joëlle flashing before his eyes. What came next was a climax before a wave of soothing peace. Aelis, satisfied, lifted her head from his neck and gazed into his eyes. There was only enough life for Sebastian to know he’d soon die.

Aelis rolled off her prey’s body. She grabbed a napkin off a dark walnut nightstand, wiping her lips delicately, and whispered to the dead,“you are good…” she paused, placing the napkin down, ”but as I said, all good things must come to an end.” She turned her back to Sebastian’s soon-to-be corpse,“may your death be greater than my curse as a servant who rallies the undead,” thunder shook the home once more as lightning filled the room, revealing the eyes of several fiends waiting for their countess to exit the room.

The doors closed behind her, revealing a darker truth. Sebastian in fact was not laying in a bedroom. Her illusion leaving with her, dissolved the walls of where he lay. He felt the cold stone slab touching his back while his hands were chained. The lightning did not flash through a window but a barred hole in the roof. He was in a feeding chamber in one of the dungeon rooms below the estate. The clattering of nails echoed down the halls, and shrills of creatures filled Sebastian's ears as he oscillated between dazed and dreaming. There was no mistaking...the fiends that lived below Clairmont came racing.

There you go, my child, a warning to be heard. The story of Countess Clairmont, the Elder Sanguinare who resides in a manor deep in the woods beyond Chamonix. My final words to you can be summed as these, do not travel in the dark, and do not travel alone. Keep to the light, do not stumble into unknown homes. May you listen to your instincts. Protect your heart from the cold. Do not find comfort in strangers, and keep your eyes open. One more thing, if you ever do encounter a Sanguinaire, be weary of its snares. Not all of them are kind, like the countess of Clairmont's estate.

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High Stakes:
Hunting Monsters That Go Bump In The Night

(Present)

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Location: Outside Proving Grounds, Erasand’Enise

5:30 HE

Evander followed the others out of the Crafter’s Quarters. Viktor led the hunt, and Abdel identified a victim. The group followed the trail of victims to a blood path leading into the Proving Grounds. Without discretion, Abdel took to the skies. The rest needed to decide. Would they go through the open gate where a tunnel full of flickering torches led to the Colosseum? Or would they look for another way in? The sheer obviousness of peril lurked down the corridors of following the trail. Evander could not help but recollect a story about Countess Aelis Clairmont, who lived in a manor beyond Chamonix.

…stupid Perrench, who walks into a stranger's home in the middle of the woods? Evander thought as he remembered the story about a sanguinaire who preyed on the living. She would lure her victims in with a chemical attraction. She’d disarm them by giving them no doubts in their decision to follow her trail. All the while, her victim would descend into confusion. Until finally, she decided to strike from the most advantageous position.

If the story was not true, it was meant to convey a point. Do not follow a sanguinare’s path for it will lead to a death trap. Evander heeded Khaliun’s warning, if they followed, they would be walking into the center of a spider web.

Evander told the group, “we need to find another way in.” He looked to the walls, “we should climb to gain the high ground and see if we can’t spot where the Sanguinaire is.”

summary

• Auction house activity.
• Evander loses the box to Ingrid and Desmond.
• Evander talks to a cloaked man after the auction.
• Evander meets his team at Crafters Quarters for High Stakes mission.
• He asks members of Burning Order about their knowledge on Sanguinaire.
• Evander follows the team into the night to track down the Sanguinaire.
• Viktor leads the hunt, Abdel chases after the trail of a Sanguinaire into the Proving Grounds.
• Khaliun warns the team from bullrushing.
• Evander recalls a story and heeds Khaliun's warning.
• Evander suggests they climb the wall of the Colosseum to gain height and sight advantage.

[CaliforniaState]

High Stakes - Velles 5th

Location: Distillery in Crafters’ Quarters - Ersand’Enise
Day of the week: Taldes
Time: 4:30 HE

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“uuuuuuuuu ahhh” a boastful yawn leaving her mouth with a few tears welling up in her eyes. The sun had set, making her feel lethargic from the sapping of energy. Yet the night was more familiar to her than the sun despite the importance of the sun in her nations culture. The night was her friend, what cloaked her from danger, and most importantly what empowered her. The moon smiled down on her, emboldened her and raised her capabilities tenfold based on the number of moons present. It also meant she could reach full effectiveness as a Nikanese assassin. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and patted down her newly equipped black garb that made no ruffle or sound in the dark akin to the feathers on owls that made their flight silent.

Nothing but her head was exposed, giving off a strangely off putting floating head display from a distance away. The talks of the Sanguinaire were interesting, but not much stock was put into it. She knew better than to discount it as folk tales, but she was a simple farm girl that only had a narrow field of experience.

During the briefing, Ymiico had also been quite silence since the inception of the conversation, she was much to enthralled by the vignette of the beast being described and the environment around her. It was unlike her home back in Nikan, but it wasn't without its charm. Ymiico didn't have quite a rhyme or reason for being on this mission, it just seemed the most fun out of them all. She broke her silence weighing in on the heavy chat. "My blood tasty, good?" she said with an awkward accent, hoping to convey that she understood she would be a big treat for the sanguinaire. Her question earned her a laugh from her teammate.

Her dagger like ears twitched and focused on the language spoken by Ilyanovich. One she wasn’t familiar with so whatever she was saying was still kept in private. She bent down at the end of the blood trail within the Proving Grounds, stroking her finger through the dirt, rubbing the crimson fluid between her fingers. She gave it a whiff and looked around trying to recreate the scene. Sloppy was the only way she could describe it, which meant one of two things. They had hubris and knew they couldn’t be stopped, or they were fresh behind the ears.

Looking up to the sky, there was only one moon who had come out to play today. Ymiico slightly sighed, the gods hadn’t been in her favor today. Her eyes traced Ilyanovich covering the exit, while her ears faced towards Evander. ”I go high yes?” her fingers pointing up, she waited little in the way for approval before she flipped forward towards the wall and began climbing.

[Force and Fury]

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The Dragon: Deep Blue Sea

They arrived at their starting places: two hundred fifty-six teams in one hundred twenty-eight alliances. For some, there would be a substantial wait. They wandered the nearby environs, mingled with the locals, and took souvenirs. In each of five locations, a portal zapped and swirled, wondrous and enticing. They talked, taunted, and took friendly bets on who would be coming through to meet them first. A sort of casal paranoia prevailed: nobody wanted to walk too far, lest they not be perfectly prepared when their teammate came bursting through to tag them.

For those in the Rainbow Sea, the wait was a great deal shorter. The enormous floating platform that they stood on bobbed gently up and down on the calm waters of Western Callanast, truthfully eight separate rafts lashed fast and lazily undulating on the gentle waves. Gulls wheeled and bleated overhead and the sun began its final plunge towards the horizon, vast and golden. Then, the Grand Chief of the Ahach stood tall before them and a thousand or more eyes came fixed upon his form. His arms dropped, a pistol sounded, and, without further ceremony, two hundred fifty-six youths plunged into the lukewarm waters off the island’s north shore.

Many were competent swimmers, but it wasn’t long before a handful had distanced themselves from the rest. Eeaiko and hyrdomancers, this small group surged ahead, throwing distractions, inconveniences, and sabotage in the paths of their opponents. A second pack developed behind them, scrappy and talented in their own right, vying for the precious points offered by a fast finish and high placement.

Through the sets of rings they surged, many completing all three in a single dive, for such were the immense advantages provided by the Gift. They siphoned the heat from the hydrothermal vents and battered their way relentlessly through the kelp forest. Local wildlife and curious eeaiko onlookers shied from their paths. With varying degrees of grace, they leapt, scrambled, and climbed through the hoop raised above the water, ruthless in their sabotage of each other. For those who led, it was a simpler matter. They did not have to contend with a gauntlet of hostile action and clever trickery. Employing a mixture of magic and natural ability, they made quick work of the whirlpool, grabbed their tokens, and moved on. The others found themselves dunked deeper, the tokens rendered invisible by illusion, or battered by opponents’ magic.

The water became crisp and frigid as they neared the finish, a test of thermal magics, tactical acumen, and willpower. It was the Lucky Seven Sea People alliance in the lead, hotly followed by VOID-Coastal Crusaders and the Xicallicoatl along with the Gunboat Diplomats, victors in the previous event and overall point leaders. The massive wall of ice that loomed before them stood little chance. With fury and ingenuity, they battered, melted, and unbound it. Others gained on them, but it was not enough. The slower members fell out of the lead pack. Teams You Could Never, Snaked and Afraid, and SYCAMORE entered the conversation, taking advantage of existing weaknesses in the ice. In the end, it was too little and too late. In a near photo finish, it was Aktichak, Acoatl, Auvam, and Owain at the line. They stumbled onto a beach as the sun set and leapt through a portal into the desert. A dozen other swimmers joined them within the next thirty seconds. The race remained anyone’s.

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Submitted Strategies

Zeno Afraval: Jomurr & Talkhan

Jomurr: 9.12 RAS

❖ Very Competent with the Gift with an immense RAS.
❖ Decent Swimmer
❖ A knack for pushing others around.
❖ Strong Chemical for oxygenation if needed.

Talkhan: 8.50 RAS

❖ Big RAS and trained Royal.
❖ Likely not used to use big bodies of water (though Lakes exist)
❖ Fits well with Jomurr as a high noble.

Roles:

Jomurr: Rushing forward and crushing the losers

❖ Rush through the obstacles without distractions.
❖ After each obstacle, go out of his way to make them much harder for those closest to his rank.
❖ Keep Talkhan close but always behind him.

Talkhan: Speeding through and covering Jomurr

❖ Also very fast though not as good as Jomurr.
❖ Has Jomurr’s back thanks to all his abilities, Binding too.
❖ Warn Jomurr of attacks via flashes of light.

Treasure Searching: Jomurr 1/10, Talkhan 1/10
No time for treasure. Only the finish line.

Dragon:

❖ Rings: Easy swimming via Kinetic. Jomurr can help with underwater breathing. Dislodging of rings via Kinetic on closest teams.
❖ Volcanic: Massive drawing and arcane from Talkhan to keep the surrounding water navigable.
❖ Surface Rings: Easy Kinetic leaps, one after the other to be sure both aren’t caught off guard. Big gust of wind is sent to other rings when done.
❖ Kelp: Wide Kinetic swipe from both to clear path.
❖ Whirlpool: Immense drawing from whirlpool to push through and get the tokens. Add energy to the whirlpool when passed.
Cold: Arcane and Atomic magics.
❖ Rings: Same as before, same sabotage.
❖ Ice Barrier: 9.12 + 8.10 super attack. Debris is sent to opponent barriers to re-enforce.
❖ Riptide: Intense Kinetic Swim + epic dolphin jumps for the win. A congratulatory tidal wave is sent to the other teams for their final sprint.

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Zeno Colloy: Leon & Aktichak

Treasure Searching: Leon 1/10, Wikooroh 1/10.

Relevant Skills:

Leon: 7.40 RAS
-Being relatively inactive in the Melon Derby, Leon is currently a fully charged Sunblessed.
-Master illusionist.
-Charming.

Wikooroh: 6.71 RAS
-A water kinetic specialist, great swimmer and an Eeaiko.
-He doesn’t need anymore.

Strategy (167 words):

Deep Blue Sea, in my opinion, is one of the legs where raw ‘power’ trumps any other complicated strategy. Go fast, go hard. There’s no need for sabotage if you’re ahead of the pack. For most of the race, Wikooroh’s only objective is to speed through everything. He will not dedicate any of his gifted reserves on hampering others and only to go faster. Wikooroh will be dragging Leon along, allowing him to save his strength. AQUAMAN LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOO. Leon starts playing his part during V, creating additional illusions in the kelp to hinder others and cloaking both Wikooroh and himself whilst under the cover of the kelp, so others don’t know what they’re up to. He intends to create many, and I mean many, fake illusions of the tokens in VI, so that others waste time grabbing at nothing. His final job is to exhaust the rest of his reserves to melt ice barrier in IX. Wikooroh’s the mount and Leon’s the valiant knight. Touché.

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Zeno Moonlight: Ismette & Miret

Search: Ismette - 6, Miret - 7

Ismette will use kinetic magic to propel herself through the water faster and binding to destroy ice barrier matter and redistribute it in the way of other people. She will call upon the power of the VOID to summon dark water sprites to interfere with others. Miret will draw away the heat of the vents using arcane. Otherwise, she will employ the same two strategies as her cousin with blood magic and kinetic. They are eager to search for treasures but don’t want to fall too far behind.

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Zeno Mozaru: Evander & Acoatl

Participants: Acoatl and Evander
Event: Leg 1 - Ocean
Looking for items: 1 (not looking)

Primary Roles are:

Evander: Protection and amplification (boost in speed, can maintain Acoatl's strength, and defend while both still move).
Acoatl: Swimming and water manipulation (boost in speed, quick adjustments, can be used defensively creating wakes and disturbances in the water for other participants).

Brief:

Acaotl will be swimming while Evander protects and amplifies Acoatl using his Kinetic. Acoatl will manipulate water to their advantage and push them faster in their direction while creating difficult wakes for participants following close behind them. Between Evander and Acoatl, the two will absorb the heat during the volcanic vent stage. Some of this heat will be stored, and some will be converted into Kinetic to continue using Kinetic to amplify speed. At high speed, Acoatl will leap out of the water, and Evander will leap off Acoatl to reach the 2.5m high ring. The two would land back in the water to go after the three large underwater rings. Arriving at the kelp, Acoatl would easily manipulate the water to move the kelp and close it up behind them. Evander would continue amplifying Acoatl’s kinetic to sustain his speed while using Acoatl uses Arcane to move the water. Acoatl will manipulate the water around the vicious whirlpool to ride the whirlpool to the center, get off and retrieve the token. When the water begins to get very cold, the heat captured earlier in the leg can be released by Evander’s ring to keep him warm and channel that heat without effort to keep Acoatl warm. They both would maintain their main kinetic and water manipulation strategy to stay at high speed. Once they arrive at the ice barrier, they will use heat to melt the ice and then use the open path to jet on the warm water through the ice. Finally, Acoatl will manipulate the vicious riptide to Evander and Acoatl’s advantage to boost them across the finish line.

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Zeno Secto: Maura & Anthal

Maura & Anthal from Skill & Crossbones on the Deep Blue Sea trial.

Treasure Searching: Maura - 1/10, Anthal 5/10.
Maura focuses on swimming/jetting. Tortoise-shell goggles.
Anthal takes advantage of opportunities for boons.

Notes:
Maura not in wheelchair. Dressed in swimwear, fastens her legs together not in the way. Bodyboard for stability at points, created via binding. Anthal too.
Maura does have good upper-body strength & will use combination of magic to turn the water into base elements O2/H2 gas, then use as a jet-stream. Blast people behind her in her wake. Think jetski/torpedo. Can underwater for longer due to oxygen access.
Anthal will use his strength and kinetic magic to propel in empowered swimming.

Rings: Easy for Maura. Anthal uses chemical magic to ‘ink’ like a squid in/around underwater rings.
Volcano Vent: Maura uses binding to make the board for protection. Speeds. Chemical for endothermic reactions to cool.
Above Water Ring: Jet out of the water at high speed like dolphin.
Metal Post/Whirtpool: Both use Magnetic attraction to pull and bring them to the iron post, get the token.
Kelp: Maura uses binding to deconstruct ahead of her. Minimum movement not to get tangled. Anthal uses a knife to slice, inks the area.
Cold: Chemical magic for exothermic reactions for warmth.
Ice Barrier: Maura uses Binding to deconstruct. Anthal uses kinetic energy to smash through.
Riptide: Power through. Zoom. Boards to help keep on the surface.
Counter-Stabotage: Deconstruct Kelp if they are controlled to ensnarl. Chemical to regulate bodies. Maura to out speed everyone/attackers. Anthal is more careful.

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Zeno Solstice: Owain & Auvam

No search
We have a hydromancer and an eeaiko. Get the lead early, draw and expel heat as needed, kinetically enhance, and support each other. Use magnetism to yank tokens from the whirlpool post without going in. Hinder the others that way. Throw people off on rings and jump with little kinetic shifts in currents to make them repeat and maybe have to go back up for breath. Rob others speed and crosscurrent speed to propel themselves. The main goal is to race. Sabotage is opportunistic. Defense is only on a must-basis. Waterjet the ice and siphon excess kinetic for heat, keeping warm and feeding some into the whirling water drill to bore through ice even faster.

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Zeno Zemana: Ymiico & Dildor

Ymiico is a proficient swimmer, all her life she either spent on land farming or in water helping her dad fish. This encompassed diving down to deep depths and hunting under water. This increased her natural ability to delve deep and create a large affinity for holding her breathe. This was only augmented with her ninja like ability called suiren that allowed her to become quite the expert in swimming. She uses her affinity to being a moonbearer to manipulate the tides. With only one moon it does little in the way of what she asks but it can help to still any tumultuous tide churning. With her rogue like abilities she can mask her appearance in the water becoming invisible in the refractive rays underwater. She’s created concoctions to help make her bones become denser to be able to dive faster. These ancient techniques paired with her affinity for chemical magic has made it so she can develop a swim bladder akin to that of a fish. It’s just as fragile as those of a fish and every know and then she will have to surface to burp and refill her bladder. This also gives way to the ability to shoot out air bubbles and reabsorb them to detect odors and prey in the water. For the volcanic vent she’ll use the heat currents to allow her to move faster like a bird of prey riding hot air currents. Her ninja like agility and rope with a hook attached will allow her to leap through the above water rings. Shallow water will be used to her advantage as she would glide on the water. Swimming through kelp would be no issue as she’d either pop their air sacs or use here experience chasing fish through them to swim, although she would use the kelp to trap and entangle others. For the whirlpool try to quell the waves the best of her ability with her one moon. Also disrupt it using Dildor’s spear attack. The cold waters she would try to use the pressure of the water and kinetic energy to warm the water around her. The ice barrier would be attacked by Dildor’s spear and her chemical and weaponry attacks. Riptide would use same strat as whirlpool.

Leg Standings

Final Tally

Finish Order: Colloy (1,5), Mozaru (2,6), Solstice & Sea People (3,4), Moonlight (7,17), Afraval (8,19), Secto (9,11), Zemana (10,12)
Leg Time: Aktichak, Acoatl, Auvam, Owain, Leon, Evander, Ismette, Jomurr, Maura, Ymiico, Anthal, Dildor, Miret, Talkhan.
Treasures: Miret (Egg), Ismette (Spell), Anthal (Map), Aktichak (Pearl), no others.
Point Standings: Colloy (50), Mozaru (36), Solstice (46), Moonlight (14), Afraval (14), Secto (14), Zemana (14)
Time Back: Colloy (00:00.00), Mozaru (-00:00.88), Solstice (-00:01.57), Moonlight (-00:05.78), Afraval (-00:06.11), Secto (-00:09.88), Zemana (-00:13.35)

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Next Up: Burdensome Beasts!

[Force and Fury]

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The Dragon: Burdensome Beasts

The Dune Sea of Torragon is a blinding place. They stumbled into it from the sea of the setting sun and it burned their eyes. Sand lashed at their faces and a heat almost too intense to be real slammed into them from all sides. It was no exaggeration whatsoever to characterize it as oppressive.

The students whose task it was to coax the large hesitant tortoises known as Halassa across the finish line two kilometers distant had been given time to adjust. Those who were wise were already mounted. Some had taken time to learn the ropes, for there were locals among them, milling around behind the start line and in the nearby desert, under temporary awnings and tents, in the shelter of alcoves and overhangs in the near-distant cliffs.

It was, by and large, a fiasco. The stubborn beasts would not budge for many. For others, they simply wandered off in a seemingly random direction, driven by some unknown instinct or simply the allure of a distant food source. A couple of halassa attacked each other. Others lay down.

There were those among them, however, who understood the creatures and others who at least knew how to entice them. A handful used brute force, shifting the halassa against their will through the power of the Gift. It was unlike the previous leg of the race; people ebbed and flowed, gained and lost. Tentative holds over the beasts were annihilated by sabotage and the distant screams and ominous shadows of the circling froabases, both wild and tamed. If some elements in the race were planned, the deserts of Torragon would also have their say.

The racers plunged into a valley of scraggly thorns, rocky crags, and sparse vegetation - positively lush by the standards of this wasteland - and then into a tangle of vast dark caves. Here, they searched in earnest for hidden treasures and, of those who left in good order, many left enriched in some way. Few climbed the stark line of cacti that lay baking in the desert sun; for this, they had long ago made clever plans. The gravel slope proved a gut check. Animals rebelled. Some rested, some searched for water, some threw their riders, and others simply avoided the incline.

The riders found solutions, however. Some fused the unstable shale with Binding or Arcane magics. Some boosted or even lifted their mounts with Kinetic. Others lured them with sights and smells that they could not pass up on. People strapped themselves in or glued their clothing to halassa shells in their determination. Cresting the hill, a leading pack emerged, jockeying ferociously for position, throwing kinetic shoves at riders and mounts alike, tempting the halassa with food or water, scaring them with loud noises, bright flashes, or pebbles near the eye. The froabases created yet more chaos, but that was mostly among the trailing group, raggedly strung out now across the wastes. Jocasta of the Gunboat Diplomat-Xicallicoatl alliance led, through sheer force of magic, followed by Nazih Iqbal of Heartstoppers-Skull & Crossbones, Isabella Lowell of VOID-Coastal Crusaders, and Zarina Al-Nader of You Could Never-Shortlisted. Yo’ldoshoy Yo’ldosheva of SYCAMORE-Good Guy Team raced to gain ground having finally left her eeaiko partner behind.

The final two hundred meters proved the true test, however, where mounts had to be actively ridden and controlled. Jocasta fell off the pace and Beastwhisperer Zarina was able to pull ahead, pipping Nazih at the line. Youths dismounted gratefully or regretfully the moment that they crossed that chalky swathe of pebbles, swinging off the backs of the halassa and racing through the swirling portal ahead. They emerged from perfect heat into perfect cold, some alliances having gained, some having lost, others right where they’d been earlier. At least the blustery wind had not changed.

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Submitted Strategies

Zeno Afraval: Zarina & Woren

Zarina: 8.10 RAS

❖ Experienced Rider and talented animal tamer.
❖ Experienced with the heat and terrain + Deserted experience.
❖ Learned from Escarra how to scare off Halassa without hurting them - Use pebbles instead.
❖ Will bring plain meat for the beasts.

Woren: 9.00 RAS

❖ Experienced with stony terrain and tunnels.
❖ Strong arcane to keep the air cool.
❖ Enough RAS to shackle the Halassa if agitated and can likely move it with Zarina via Kinetic alone.
❖ Can probably repulse dragons fairly easily.

Roles:

Zarina: Main Halassa coordinator

❖ She will be mostly guiding the Halassas and instructing Woren on how to sabotage and defend.
❖ She will assist Woren in pushing/moving the Halassas when needed.
❖ Keeps tabs on health of Halassas and team.

Woren: Defender and Saboteur

❖ Massive RAS to defend and make breezes to prevent meat distractions.
❖ Will annoy other Halassa with pebbles over the eye.
❖ Debris clearer and tunneller.

Treasure Searching: Zarina 8/10, Woren 8/10
Zarina is accustomed to the climate and has above average range and decent reading.
Woren is a RAS beast and probably has good eyes for stones.

Dragon:

❖ 2k - 1.7k: Time taken to ease the Halassas, reward them and get it to move while riding them. Woren to Kinetic blast away the dragon and restrain Halassa if panicked. Provides a hat to serve as blinders.
❖ 1.5k-1.3K: Woren to guide through the tunnel and illuminate with arcane. Condemn tunnels behind them.
❖ 1k: Levitation for Zarina makes picking the fruit not too difficult.
❖ 600m-700m: Woren to clear debris and help Halassa ascend with Kinetic + Blood with Zazzy help.
❖ 200m: Zazzy goes tamer full-force, focused on keeping the Halassas calm, Woren is the defender from saboteurs and dragons. Uses blood to strap riders tight on shells.

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Zeno Colloy: Isabella & Tiakah

Treasure hunting: Izzy 3/10, Tiakah 2/10

Isabella will tie their two halassa together and keep them wrangled while Tiakah runs defense and sabotage. They have a steak that halassa love which will be used as a lure. Tiakah has some irritant grenades she made with spell binding and Memaru's expertise, which she plans to use to ward off any attackers. The turtle will be wearing blinders borrowed from their team's scavenger, which will reduce its prey instinct in the presence of froabasses. The two seamstresses crafted hot weather gear to resist the elements. If any serious threats interrupt their attempt to reach the finish line Isabella can also use her gold wires to electrocute people.

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Zeno Moonlight: Desmond & Velani

Treasure Searching: [8]. Desmond wants to find treasures because the Music Box isn't gonna pay for itself.

Strengths and applications: Desmond and Velani can both use Chemical so while they guide the Halassa with Chemical Magic they can also calm it when it gets too rowdy or scared. Desmond has Kinetic and Magnetic so that he can keep himself on the Halassa against sabotage and other things. While Velani has both Binding and Temporal to fight against sabotage and attacks. To combat the environment Velani can use her Binding skills to create water for herself and to share with Desmond, while Desmond uses the heat surrounding him to draw from to fuel his spells while cooling himself down any bit he can.

During the times in the cave systems, Desmond and Velani can use Chemical to fuse materials to make light in the cave to allow them to move through, Desmond will be searching for treasures in the caves. For the Golden prickly pear, this is a time when much of the sabotage will happen, since Velani will be ahead of Desmond, she will be getting it by raising a platform while using it for herself. During the gravel slope, Velani can easily make the surface much easier for the Halassa to move up by using Binding to fuse the gravel together while Desmond can use Magnetic to stabilize the ground.

Sabotage: Desmond will use his Kinetic and Magnetic magic to force riders off directly while using Chemical to rile up the Halassas to force the other teams either to put more effort into keeping control or them losing control. While Velani can use Chemical the same way Desmond would while also using Binding magic to make areas much harder to traverse for others or put obstacles in the way.

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Zeno Mozaru: Jocasta & Yollohtli

Jocasta: 3, Yollo: 1

Jocasta is more or less just going to float the halassa through most of the race, whether it likes that or not. She can use the Gift to sustain herself and the Halassa for shade. She will scare away any froabases that dare to come near her. She’ll be among the very frontrunners for a while, but having to ride the beast properly through the last 200 meters might prove a rude awakening. Yolloh is competent, lives in the desert (albeit a vastly different one), and will manage.

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Zeno Secto: Nazih & Jaxan

Unless otherwise specified, assume 0/10 Search/Speed focus for each step

In Order:
- Speed as fast as possible through the first 500m of open desert, because avoiding heat fatigue building up is the goal.
- Put specifically 10/0 search/speed efforts into the cave system between 500m and 700m, this is surely where the treasure will be. (was gonna do this anyway before hints, just wanted to make sure I wasnt completely off base since havent done this before)
- After either finding treasure or coming up empty handed, continue to the prickly pear. I'm assuming the pear will be connected via a stem, and I'm sure Nazih's temporary 9.04 ras can provide energy enough to rot the twig from below using his decomposition technique to rot the stem. It'll fall right into his sack.
- For the slope, if Nazih can't alter the composition of the gravel to something with less give, we'll have the pirate chef Sanji-clone dish up some delicious food to entice the turtles up the hill at a faster pace, using cartoonish carrot on stick method.
- For final 200m, and at significant risk of injury, I would like to have Nazih attempt to either chemically synthesize adhesive to glue themselves to the saddles (as well as the potential treasure). I would also like to attempt to refresh or re-energize the turtles cause they'll be exhausted at this point, using food or water; water hopefully being drawn from below the sands since we'll probably be almost out.

General:
- If Nazih would know any general strategies for water extraction in the desert, could use that along the way to keep water stores within safe ranges. Also brings general supplies for chem magic.
- Chef pirate has some desert recipes? And bringing lots of meats and supplies to take advantage of desert ingredients.Unless otherwise specified, assume 0/10 Search/Speed focus for each step

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Zeno Solstice: Marceline & Akeenah

Marci: 2, Akeenah: 1
Mostly, these two are just going for it, Marci using her local knowledge and Akeenah her chemical magics. Their primary virtue is Marci knowing what she’s doing, having ridden one before, and the fact that they’re putting next to nothing into searching. A bit of lightning in the direction of others and froabases should help against their sabotage. If absolutely necessary, arceline will ditch her partner towards the finish and make a sprint for it.

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Zeno Zemana: Ayla & Yoldy

Ayla is paired up with Yo’ldoshoy from Good Guy Team.

Treasure Searching: Ayla - 10/10, Yo’ldoshoy 1/10.
Ayla heard rumours about treasure. Yo’ldoshoy steams ahead.

Notes:
Ayla & Yo’ldoshoy are small/lightweight individuals.
Lightly packed for comfort. Stick/Cloth Carriage.
Ayla is fire-blood. Unaffected by heat. Able to concentrate far more than others.
Ayla uses Kinetic for short-term speed-dashs.
Yo’ldoshoy will draw heat, then cast it continuously behind her. Heat-Exhaust the others.
Ayla plays upon her flute. Soothes Halassa, and with a touch of sonic/chemical, enemy Halassa wants to take Siesta/Hibernate.
Yo’ldoshoy uses chemical magic to help the Halassa.

Froabase:
Ayla uses the sonic to distort the relaxing music and make nails-on-chalkboard at the Froabase, causing irritation and avoid her.
Yo’ldoshoy will repeatedly flash the Froabase with a disorienting strobe effect. Will on any enemy Halassa who get too close, temporarily blinding.

Cave System:
Ayla uses sonic/echolocation to help navigate layout through the cave system.
Yo’ldoshoy leaves markings in the cave tunnel system, misleading people. Special one for herself/Ayla for the true path.
“Macro Polo” game if both are inside.

Pear:
Ayla sonic-steps to reach and pluck the pear.
Yo’ldoshoy uses speed advantage for low hanging fruit.

Slope:
Yo’ldo: mixture of arcane and chemical to change the terrain. Stable slope (tarmac), to make the slope more stable for the Halassa. Ayla will take advantage of this pathway and use kinetic.

Counter Sabotage:
Both using chemical magic to regulate.
Ayla can use kinetic energy to break through barriers via binding. Yo’ldo use Atomic-rays to melt them.
Kinetic & Arcane against gas/liquid attacks.

Leg Standings

Final Tally

Finish Order: Afraval (1,20), Secto (2,9), Colloy (3,17), Zemana (4,13), Mozaru (5,19), Solstice (6,25), Moonlight (7,10), WN&BoG (8,14)
Leg Time: Zarina, Nazih, Yoldy, Darwish, Isabella, Velani, Jocasta, Marceline, Jaxan, Desmond, Ayla, Brandi, Tiakah, Yolloh, Woren, Akeenah
Treasure: Ayla (dampener), Nazih (egg), Zarina (relics), Desmond (fireboar), Woren (major), Velani (major), Isabella (minor), Jocasta (minor), Tiakah (minor), Marci (minor)
Points: Afraval (34), Secto (36), Colloy (26), Zemana (27), Mozaru (19), Solstice (14), Moonlight (20), WN&BG (14)
Point Standings: Colloy (76), Solstice (60), Mozaru (55), Afraval (52), Secto (50), Zemana (41), Moonlight (34), WN&BG (22)
Time Back: Afraval (00:00.00), Secto (00:01.12), Colloy (00:04.80), Zemana (00:07.05), Mozaru (00:08.23), Solstice (00:11.76), Moonlight (00:12.01), WN&BG (00:12.08)

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Next Up: The Dragonspine!

[Force and Fury]

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The Dragon: The Dragonspine

They were welcomed by howling winds, crunching mud, and whipping cold, but also by warmth. As the desert racers bundled through the portal, they were quickly wrapped in warm quilts and provided with hot cider, waterproof boot-covers, and all of the hospitality that this distant corner of Eskand could muster. If the land was poor in wealth and luxuries, it was rich in spirit and conduct.

Their arrival caught some by surprise. It was easy to retreat into a comfortable haze of quilts, cider, and conversation, but those who knew this place and understood the nature of the competition recognized the importance of staying limber and acclimating. Those who started ‘cold’ started better.

Quickly, an invigorating hike turned into an exhausting slog. A shallow incline turned into a steep one and, even further, into a perilous vertical. Powerful gusting winds whipped snow into the climbers’ faces and picks dug into rock and ice alike for purchase. Great white dragons circled overhead, a looming threat, and treacherous fissures promised a quick and painful fall or else cruel and opportunistic creatures that lurked unseen. Before long, sparse shrubs and mosses gave way to hardy lichens. In turn, these submitted to bald rock.

Yet, this was not an exercise so cut and dried as those that had come before it. While all competitors were given a wooden board, rope with grappling hook, and set of picks, they were not forbidden from bringing equipment of their own. Ashon of VOID-Crusaders came with his Dervish gear. Ghaven of You Could Never-Shortlisted wore his runic items with pride and purpose. Ingrid and Sven, both Eskandish, had their own gear to supplement what they’d been provided. Perhaps the strangest and most novel, though, was Trypano Somia and Chimalpepech of Xicallicaotl-Gunboat Diplomats. They came with… more or less a bobsled and a great deal of Kinetic Gift to use.

There were some, such as the Hegelan, Ghaven, antigravity mage Ashon, and mana-enhanced powerhouse Augusto who were never not going to thrive. The discovery of helpful items along the way certainly did not hurt the chances of many of these frontrunners and their partners. Yet there were those who suffered. Some fifty racers would have fallen to their deaths were it not for the intervention of local safety crews. For all of its speed, the bobsled nearly crashed multiple times due to sabotage and the naturally-occurring fissures. Summit pegs were hidden and frozen to the ground, ropes were cut, and avalanches were started. Were it not for the Gift, the majority of teams would not have had so much as a hope of completing the challenge. Indeed, some did not even appear particularly interested in doing so, so ardent was their search for treasures. Sven Bjornsson, both competitor and local, came away with the egg of a Grand Mountain Serpent, abandoned in a hollow just off-course by its mother. Rope dragons attacked these explorers almost at will, but even those who stayed on course were not immune to their attentions. The beasts had to be fought off by staff and students alike.

It was not these that caused the single greatest calamity, however. That distinction lay with Benedetto Corvi of Lucky Seven-Sea People. Harassed by a juvenile Tyrannus Monsigneus, he took the dragon on in single combat and slew it upon the mountain, rendering a large section of the course near-impassable for some time.

The leaders were already ahead, however. Hopped up on a series of boons, adrenaline, and natural abilities, they clambered, skied, or slid down the mountainside with varying degrees of grace and competence, some - like near-local Ingrid Penderson of Snaked and Afraid-Vyshta’s Favoured - treating the massive ski jump as an experience.

When all was said and done, however, it was You Could Never-Shortlisted who once again crossed the line first. Lucky Seven-Sea People lost further ground, Xicallicoatl-Gunboat Diplomats gained, and the racers plunged through their third portal with some hopes waxing while others waned.

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Submitted Strategies

Zeno Afraval: Augusto & Ghaven

Augusto: 4, Ghaven: 1
Notes: God tier power and magics that can boost speed and keep him warm plus full speed ahead, temperature manipulation, and Hegelan OP climbing should equal a high finish. Augusto will use illusory magic on the dragons and on other teams liberally, and both will hit the summit with heat beams, melting sections of the snow and making the pegs easy to find. They’ll freeze things in their wake, making the ground slippery and the pegs hard to dig out. Augusto is putting 4 into search in the hope that he won’t be slowed too much and may sneak a major boost as well as protecting Ghaven from sabotage. Hegelans are pretty hardy and resistant to tampering, though, and nimble when climbing.

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Zeno Colloy: Ashon & Veesah

Jamboi & Memaru from Coastal Crusaders on the Dragonspine.
Jamboi carries Memaru. Dressed up warm, sharing same overcoat. Koala-bear hugged to his back, sharing the warmth..

Treasure Searching: Jamboi - 1/10, Memaru *special*/10. (5)
Both working together. He is going to concentrate on speed, carrying her. She the spotter, powergazer, locates hidden dangers/dragons/sabotage/boons. Help direct him. Jamboi for first in race, Memaru second. New trial record.

Notes:
Jamboi is antigravity mage. He broken in this race. He could have sprinted up the side.
Jamboi is Dervisher trained. He will be Attack-on-Titan ODM gear with those hooks. Keep balance and pull on forwards. Hooks/rope are for safety reasons, doesn’t need them.
With Memaru, he monkey-climbing (4-limbs) up the wall instead, still very fast relatively.
Memaru prepared concoctions for trial. Speciality strengthens bodies. She is an internal chemical mage, maintaining their peak performances. She will indirectly sabotage others by making clouds with chemical magic to obscure sight and various obstacles, all within the trial rules to slow others. Creating distance.

Gravity: What gravity?
Cold: No issue, see preparation.
Wind: He will shoot hooks out to stabilise himself. Try to get cover where possible.
Dragons: Powergazer Memaru can spot these and inform Jamboi, natural evader.
Vertical Sections: The guy spoke to Marbrand whilst standing upon a wall. No issue.
Off-White Pegs: Memaru can help spot or make it easier. Use chemical, red salt to melt snow/ice draining away, leaving reddish peg.
Ski-Jump: This is a Jamboi we are talking about.
Counter-Sabotage: Speed is key, get ahead, slowing down others.Evading traps and dangers. Powergazer as blind sight for anything obscuring or hidden.

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Zeno Moonlight: Ingrid & Chad

Search 6

The challenges that come from mountain climb are endurance, climbing skills, freezing, and dragons. Ingrid has experience with Eskandish mountain climbing making her an asset for the climb. Her physical strength is easily made up for with her skill in kinetic and High RAS. Ingrid has shown exceptional use of Ipte-Zept’s Blessing in the Melon Derby making her ability to keep herself and her partner warm easily. Killing the dragons would be easy but her new mindset would have her leaning to stun or move dragons away from her. On top of all this, Ingrid believes that due to the sparse heat available in the mountains, Ingrid believes that most students will try to grab from the lava immediately and will overdraw, causing a shortage of heat. Ingrid and Chad are uniquely capable of handling this with their dual approach to Atomic, Chad gets an infinity loop going with magnetic, and Ingrid draws and converts it into heat for them and other applications. Leading to where the sparse energy region is specifically not as dangerous for them.

Chad's physical strength and build of a yasoi make him particularly gifted in climbing and would be able to make full use of Ingrid's knowledge. His gift in magnetic will let him shoot the pegs high up and connect them with ease when paired with Ingrid's kinetic. his athleticism and talent for combat makes him valuable for defending against aggressors. Chad and Ingrid plan on carrying the pegs down and skating down the slope on some planks.

For sabotages, they will use their high RAS to drain energy sources before others can use it. Chad and Ingrid have methods for undoing pegs before they make contact. Other than small things they plan on running a clean race.

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Zeno Mozaru: Trypano & Chimalpepech

Firstly, Trypano will be putting a one in terms of how much effort they'll be putting into searching for treasures for reasons that'll be outlined further down the strategy.

For Trypano's strategy what she'll do is create a sort of roofed sled made of sand-wyrm bone, sort of in the shape of it's skull. It will have a rigid transparent membrane covering the view slots that are similar to it's eyes coating, allowing it's occupants to see while maintaining a sealed interior that Trypano will fill with air regularly. The interior walls will be padded with Gift of The Frog and have handles on the floor to hold onto. Once made she will shrink this vessel down and carry it with her into the race proper. For the actual race Trypano and her partner Chimalpepech will get inside this sled at which point Trypano will create a groove up along the face of the mountain and her partner will use kinetics to accelerate them up it. Trypano will be using Gift of The Serpent to feed the wealth of magic she's drawing to her driver so they can go even faster. The normal issues of flying will be circumvented thanks to the groove keeping them tight up against the mountain, difficult for dragons to get at. At the top Trypano will use her senses to locate the off-white pegs. If they're not resistant to magic she'll draw apart the others to prevent any other teams from completing this stage. If they are she'll refrain from tampering and just move on. Either which way when she has collected the peg from the summit she will sled down the mountain, her partner navigating the sled while Trypano draws apart obstacles in their path. They'll go for the ski jump at the end since with the kineticist on board it'll make crossing the ice lake a breeze.

Trypano's not gonna be searching for treasures since she'll only be breaking for the peg on her magic-powered dragon-bone rocket sled.

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Zeno Secto: Sven & Revan

Sven: 7, Revan: 6
Atomic and Chemical to keep warm, hope to find some good stuff, and use size, BIG RAS, familiarity, and natural climbing ability to do well. As a Beastmaster, Sven will calm dragons and attempt to ally with some of the smaller ones to sabotage other teams. Our main focus is on finding treasures, but not to the total neglect of the race.

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Zeno Solstice: Benny & Kyri

Benny: 3, Kyri: 2
Punch the shit outta some dragons, cause avalanches, be a shit for Benny. He has the skills to keep himself fresh and warm. Kyri is an icevein and too tough to be affected or easily taken out. She’s also resistant to any internal tampering other teams try and can nope the smaller dragons. Has the right build for climbing.

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Zeno Zemana: Manfred & To’fon

Manfred: 1, To’fon: 1
Manfred’s a tough guy, militarily trained, with a background in Arcane and Kinetic. He won’t be wasting any time on treasures. To’fon is a mountain-dwelling stormcaller, so the weather is his to command and he’ll make it easy for himself and his teammate while hard on everyone else.

Leg Standings

Final Tally

Finish Order: Afraval (1,4), Colloy (2,3), Mozaru (5,6), Secto (7,16), Moonlight (8,12), Zemana (9,15), Solstice (10,17), Sadan3 (11,18)
Leg Time: Ghaven (1), Ashon (2), Memaru (3), Augusto (4), Ingrid (5), Trypano (6), Chimal (7), Siv (8), To’fon (9), Sven (10), Kyri (11), Chad (12), Manfred (15), Benny (17), Janaus (18), Revan (20)
Treasure: Sven (Egg), Ingrid (Sword), Revan (Artifact), Chad (poop), Memaru (major), Augusto (major), Benny (minor), Kyri (minor), Sven (minor), Ingrid (minor)
Points: Afraval (52), Colloy (50), Mozaru (25), Secto (14), Moonlight (19), Zemana (14), Solstice (11), Sadan3 (11)
Point Standings: Colloy (126), Afraval (104), Mozaru (80), Solstice (71), Secto (64), Zemana (55), Moonlight (53), WN&BG (30), Sadan3 (19)
Time Back: Afraval (00:00.00), Colloy (-00:02.81), Mozaru (-00:05.60), Secto (-00:09.42), Moonlight (-00:13.14), Zemana (-00:14.02), Solstice (-00:19.33), Sadan3 (-00:22.51), WN&BG (-00:30.44)

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Next Up: Invasive!

[Force and Fury]

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The Dragon: Invasive

The cold, snow-covered people who burst through the portal could not have looked more out of place amid their tropical surroundings. Waves gently rolled in and out beneath a star-filled sky, revelers laughed and clapped, and fireworks echoed in the near distance. The moment that their teammates arrived, however, the racers here were ready, and had been for quite some time. They darted off into the darkened jungle, hurling light and magics before them, pursuing their quarry after already having - in many cases - pestered the locals for what they knew of the invasive little pigs that they were to capture.

While much searching for treasure was done and interesting discoveries were made, many of the teams here employed similar strategies, relying on Chemical magic, local knowledge, and the natural environment to lure the micropigs over and put them to sleep. The speed and effectiveness they did this proved largely dependent upon how much they were bent on searching and how well they made their prey come to them. A raw carrot is one thing. An enticing aroma, spread unnaturally far and enhanced with magic is quite another.

It was the Lucky Seven-Sea People alliance who combined this optimal strategy best with luck when they found a crate of four pigs already captured, allowing them to cruise to an easy victory. Many other teams enjoyed similar though lesser success, and it was - in general - an odd sort of race: no distances or speeds to be measured, but a task to be completed instead. The only alliance who notably went belly-up were the VOID-Crusaders, whose shrimp dog, Eek, seemed very alarmed by something in the water and had to be actively corralled multiple times, taking up nearly all of Yaufin’s efforts and forcing Ysilla to divert many of her puppets, which had already been struggling to grab the small, quick animals.

As frustrating as things were, the tarpit lurkers were less of a hazard at night, being notably less active, and the series of torches set up made it easy for teams to find their way back. Snaked and Afraid-Vyshta’s Favoured were quick, as were Xicallicoatl-Gunboat Diplomats, Heartstoppers-Skull & Crossbones, and You Could Never-Shortlisted. In the end, though, it proved a poor round for frontrunners, as overall points leaders Void-Crusaders crashed and burned and Afraval’s alliance fell out of first position for the first time since the opening leg.

With dozens of youths rushing through the hotly-anticipated portal to the exotic locale of Hogh Munkhelad, they had different goals: some vied for first place, others for redemption, and still others desperately trying to break into the top five, regroup, or hold off the charge of a fast-gaining team below them. It was all to play for. Soon.

The Micropig. Kill one and you're officially going to Oraff's Hell.

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Submitted Strategies

Zeno Afraval: Kaspar & Dorisay

Relevant Skills:
Kaspar— 8.28 RAS
Competency with Binding
Experience with Chemical use in animal taming

Dorisay— 7.75 RAS
Chemical and Binding with Kaspar
Kinetic for mobility and handicapping targets

Roles:
Kaspar—
Bribe locals to be unhelpful to other teams
Evaluate crop damage and popular targets; specific areas, specific crops, etc.
Obtain crops for use, through goodwill or money
Create and plant soporific bait of favored crops and/or with chemical recreation of crop scents

Dorisay—
Scout land
Help with bait
Track, capture, and transport drugged piggies

Treasure Searching:
Kaspar— 8/10
Too curious for his own good.

Dorisay— 10/10
Really excited about the thought of treasure.

Both can use binding to search for and access hidden areas or items, and may have significant downtime while waiting for piggies to take the bait.

Defense:
Kaspar—
Monitor the air around their own group’s setup and keep it clean of Chemical attacks
Use Binding to block physical attacks
Use Chemical to put attackers to sleep

Dorisay—
Monitor the air around their own group’s setup and keep it clean of Chemical attacks
Use Binding to block physical attacks
Use Chemical to put attackers to sleep
If necessary, fight attackers utilizing Kinetic

Sabotage:
Kaspar—
Use Chemical to produce concentrations of piggy pheromones around other teams to make male piggies more aggressive and generally disruptive
If he can obtain a sample of piggy blood (through non-harmful means, such as through pre-existing injuries) he will recreate it/its scent through Binding and Chemical to leave in the area of remaining competitors immediately before leaving the leg

Dorisay—
Spook piggies near competitors through Kinetic or by spreading predator scent to keep them away from those groups.

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Zeno Colloy: Ysilla & Yaufin

Ysilla just uses puppet swarm to surround pigs, probably.

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Zeno Moonlight: Dory & Ashon

Dorothea and Ashon are both familiar with Arcane, however it might be best to keep the Illusions to the Illusionist. Asking one of the residents to lend one of their pots to “cook” something by using some of the water and one of the carrots, looking around for some wild herbs to make a nice aroma. Dorothea will try to enhance the enticing smell of the cooking aroma through the use of chemical magic.

If the pigs are good at hiding they will do the same and set a trap among the pot. Lacing the pot with a similar substance that was used in the derby. if that does not work, they will be in close enough proximity to the pot to have a bit of a chance to at least grab one and pacify them with Chemical.

Weaknesses: Dorothea really isn’t used to sweltering heat, the pigs might not fall for it, which leaves them in a spot that forces them to go into active hunting.

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Zeno Mozaru: Yalen & Tlilli

Treasure hunting: Yalen 1/10, Tlilli 1/10

These two will use their chemical magic to put piggies to sleep and make them easier to snatch. Yalen's tethered senses will allow him to sniff out the pigs as they hide. The two of them will have high endurance during the race as they can buff themselves with internal chem. Tlilli presumably has higher combat abilities than Yalen and will ward off any saboteurs. The two will also be paying some attention to the pigs and see if they're attracted to certain foods or musks. If so, they'll use their chemical magic to try and recreate the chemical signal that attracts them.

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Zeno Secto: Niallus & Enoxi

Hey, for my strategem on my part of the race with the Piggies, is with the help of my NPC, we could set some "bait" with Enoxi magic she could create and illusion that there is a pile of crops in an open area. On a scale of 1-10 for looking for treasure it'll be a 7 while he's waiting for the traps.

It'll be off to a shaky start since Enoxi is flirting with some of the islanders, so he'll try dragging her away to help focus her then try using her flirting to their advantage. With mixed results. Eventually they'll get the some cages to hold the Piggies, enough for the amount needed.

They'll ask around some villages the where most have been sighted destroying crops and thats where they'll set their trap

Using some of the carrots in our inventory Enoxi can cast an illusion to make it look like there's more. So the look and the smell is legit. With the addition of spreading Tar that's already in the area around the bait just enough to for the pig get stuck when they try to eat the crops. Once grabbed wash the Tar off with some water and they're caught. They'll be tied up and placed in small cages until they have all that they require.

Niallus could transport the tar with by dipping an arcane sword into then spread it onto the ground round the bait, then wait. But to get Enoxi on board with this plan he offers that once the when then catch them with plenty of time, she can flirt with some of the islanders after.

For dangers, they'll try to avoid it, so they don't lose points on killing animals,

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Zeno Solstice: Penny & Yiki

Penny: 3, Yiki: 2

Mostly sticking together here. Use Yikikauvo’s Chem magic and high level illusion liberally to confuse piggies. Sense them and entice them right into our vicinity, sensing and avoiding tarpit lurkers as well. It’s not hard. They’re big and obvious to magic senses. Penny can pluck the micropigs with Kinetic once they’re close. She can also light the way with arcane and both can light other areas to misdirect opponents eager for sabotage. Both can make quick traps with Blood magic as well when there are no pigs to pluck. Use our time wisely and we could get lucky. In short, we have options and they needn’t take up extra time.

We’re also hoping for some of that patented Penny luck and getting a major boost. That should put this team over the top even though they should do well even without. The keys are flexibility and low setup time. Talk to the locals while we wait to know where the densest piggy populations are. Accordingly, don’t waste time looking for the pigs, lure them to us. Be quicker than other teams (cursory treasure searches only and no big detours or fancy plans) and don’t even give them the chance to sabotage. If they’re dumb enough to try, they’re up against a master illusionist and trickster and the avatar of the goddess of luck, who will both be misdirecting, along with many naturally–occurring biological signatures on the island at night and who can overpower most in terms of magic school specialties. Don’t waste our time on sabotage unless it’s simple and opportunistic. This has the potential to be a very short leg if we’re smart about it.

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Zeno Zemana: Casii & Bohrom

Oh. I thought I already submitted that in the group discord. For Casii if she is doing the pig thing, she baits the pigs with the carrots, growing a whole bunch of carrots. Then uses the bamboo’s fast growing property and her green growth to rapidly grow a bamboo cage around pigs when eating carrots. Her partner is there to help her attract and locate pigs for her trap.

Leg Standings

Final Tally

Finish Order:Solstice (1,5), Moonlight (2,6), Afraval (3,8), Mozaru (4,10), Secto (7,8), Zemana (9,11), Colloy (12,14), Huggynant (13,15)
Leg Time: Yikikauvo (1), Ashon (2), Yalen (3), Penny (4), Dorothea (5), Enoxi (6), Kaspar (7), Niallus (8), Casii (9), Wolf (10), Tlilli (11), Breakfast (12), Bohrom (13), Dorisay (15), Ysilla (19), Yaufin (21)
Treasure: Dorisay (chest), Kaspar (toxin), Niallus (pelts), Enoxi (pitchfork), Penny (major), Yiki (major), Dorisay (minor), Kaspar (minor), Niallus (minor), Enoxi (minor)
Points: Solstice (51), Moonlight (41), Afraval (24), Mozaru (30), Secto (20), Zemana (14), Colloy (8), Huggynant (11)
Point Standings: Colloy (134), Afraval (128), Solstice (122), Mozaru (110), Secto (84), Moonlight (83), Zemana (69)
Time Back: Solstice (00:00.00), Moonlight (-00:09.34), Afraval (-00:11.50), Mozaru (-00:15.09), Secto (-00:16.85), Zemana (-00:18.11), Colloy (-00:29.42)

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Next Up: Street Hoghs!

[Force and Fury]

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The Dragon: Street Hoghs

Whatever wonders the Iron City of the Hegelans had to offer, racers had to imbibe them as they ran, for it was now all to play for in this final leg of the race. The labyrinthine streets of Hogh Munkhelad, at times grand and open, at junctures narrow and claustrophobic, were inevitably confusing for the new arrivals. They were made even more so by the addition of barriers, blockades, and purposely unreliable signage. Dozens of people of a species most had never encountered before and some had never even heard of peered eagerly down from windows and balconies, pointing, clapping, and shouting. Others ran alongside them, some allies and some given the task of becoming obstacles.

Charging through the portal, the students who'd come from Longwan had the luxury of awe and exploration. Their peers who'd been waiting for the past hour did not. They had been balances on a knife edge of anticipation for almost as long as they'd been here, and now they took off. While some relied on brute power, others hoped for fortune and treasure, and some leaned into special talents and abilities, there were those who took a methodical approach to finding the five token stations and the five gates they would need to pass through.

And yet, for all of the teammates simply carried as deadweight instead of having their talents utilized, for all of the crashed rickshaws, lost 'geniuses', sneaky plans quickly debunked, and great efforts not quite rewarded with results, Vyshta once again had her say, and not in the form of Tyrel'yrash, whose magic did much - but not quite enough - to overcome her physical shortcomings. A free gate key allowed Yulia Vasilieva to skip an entire step and steal the lead from Marlijn Vaanse. Silas Reiger and Ahrora Babayeva's teamwork, nimbleness, familiarity with the region, and shameless sabotage allowed them to leapfrog well ahead as well, and not without the help of some Powergazer energy detection.

Sometimes, there's no substitute for being lucky. Sometimes, there's no substitute for being good. It came down to a footrace, with all of the top five finishers in sight of one another in a flat-out sprint. In this, the Vossoriyan Sanguinaire held off her hard-charging Kaganese opponent, Zarra Travendour burst from the greyborn dimension for a last-second kinetic boost that saw him leave his one-legged teammate in the dust and nearly saw him poach the lead, and Marlijn Vaanse was simply outclassed in raw power and not quite able to close the gap. You Could Never-Shortlisted took the win and, with it, the crucial 200 point finish bonus, SYCAMORE-Good Guy Team came from way back in the pack to claim second and a crucial fourth-place finish overall with their late charge, and Snaked and Afraid-Vyshta's Favoured edged out Lucky Seven-Sea People and Heartstoppers-Skull & Crossbones, who came in as a pair just as they'd started.

The cavernous underground city erupted in cheers and celebrations at the finish of The Dragon of DZ54 and the first public step in the opening of their cloistered civilization to the rest of the world. Other teams finished over the proceeding half hour, hearty drinks and congratulations handed to all. For some, these felt well-deserved; for others, they couldn't help but ring a bit hollow. The medal ceremony was held then and there, in Hogh Munkhelad, with the Zenith and three Arch-Zenos in attendance. The high finishers reaped the rewards, while others went back to the drawing board, worried that their chances of that much coveted top five overall finish were fast slipping out of reach. They would have a chance to redeem themselves tomorrow in the next event of The Trials: Roses & Neskals.

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Submitted Strategies

Zeno Afraval: Yuliya & Korin

Yuli and Korin for 'Street Hoghs'

Strategy: Korin will wear red clothes in preparation for the race, to make the other teams believe she is hostile and can time them out for two minutes(I know it's men in red and women in green but eh, harder for non hegelans to spot differences with a bit of makeup). Yuli will be using her sensemaster on anyone who still dares to get close to distort their sense of colour, and make people not discern green and red. She will use her knowledge of hegelan language and society to ask locals for pathways, shortcuts and the like to help her get about the racetrack. Bribery will be done and YUli will bring a significant amount of personal cash to both buy items and buy information/sabotage. Any mana brews she's able to snag will be saved for later, unless she can drink them to keep her buff going without puking. Following a stern re-assessment, Yuli will keep property damage to a minimum to avoid penalties to the team, but will not hesitate to fuck over everyone she possibly can given she's completely juiced up on mana brew.

Searching for treasures at a 6/10 - hopefully Korin being a hegelan will be useful in the search for them.

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Zeno Colloy: Abdel & Elaurrah

Relevant Skills:

Abdel: 6.40 RAS

❖ Tethered to easily find his way around by how energy flows through the streets.
❖ Thunderchild for extra strong magnetic, useful to cleanse debuffs and stun red shirts.
❖ Can maybe sense runes, or at least where people congregate to get them.
❖ Can still jog despite affliction.

Wenhak: 6.59 RAS

❖ Sunblessed stored power for big burst.
❖ Useful trinkets that can have use. Has a compass to be particularly useful here.
❖ Used to sniffing around tight spaces and getting around danger.
❖ Sunblessed to fuck shit up with illusions/speed/anything arcane.

Roles / Dragon:

Both will be splitting up to find runes as they both have means to track their locations with Abdel capable of keeping tabs on his teammate.

Abdel can use his Magnetic powers to stun the red shirts, and binding to block paths with stone walls from other contestants. He can jog and not feel too uncomfortable for the duration of the trial. Will stun opponents to get them tagged by Hegelans.

Wenhak can go super saiyan if needed, effortlessly passing through them and causing various illusions/mild heat strokes/freeze traps to others in her way. If she has enough energy stored, she can make a mad dash for the finish line with fire jets and loads of RAS. Her compass allows her to navigate easier, and she is used to convoluted pathways and tight spaces.

Treasure Searching: Abdel 1/10, Wenhak 9/10
Abdel is too slow to get much from this and sees no use in finding some at this stage. Wenhak is an ace at tracking goods, so naturally she’s the best for this and wants to grow her hoard.

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Zeno Moonlight: Zarra & Tyrel

Being both dark magic specialists, Z&T have little regard for walls. Using liberal use of pen and paper, they'll be using counting of lanes and limited perception of crossroads in the dark dimension, navigating the maze while also making a 2 dimensional map of it.

Travel strategy is to look in the near center of the maze first, taking 1600 steps, then spiraling out, as it's likely the waypoints will be high activity areas for maximum character on character engagement. As well as higher area for Helagen patrols. Will pace themselves to avoid lactic acid build up, drawing kinetic when possible.

Will mostly ignore signs and illusions, they'll be relying on maze architecture and obvious landmarks to chart their traversed areas, only exception is checking the color allegiance of Helagens. If green, they will reappear out of view and ask for information.

Worst case scenario Tyrel and Zarra end up in a fight, they'll at every opportunity attempt to ghost and disengage, as fighting is time they could be using searching for waypoint sigils.

In the scenario a team member is tagged, they have agreed to have the other person continue the pen and papermarking, counting to 120 along the way as to keep track of how long they can be gone before they need to save their captured teammate from another red tag or intervening players.

The person who is tagged will phase away and stay in place and also count to 120 before shifting back and waiting for their partner, unless reprimanded by Luna for poor sportsmanship.

Will mutually share the sigils, Zarra holding the 5th. That way if they're stolen off one of them, they aren't forced to start from square one.

Effort into finding valuables is 2/10.

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Zeno Mozaru: Carmillia & Huitzilin

Treasure Searching: Huitzilin - 7/10, Huitzilin’s ōcēlōtl - 1/10, Carmillia 7/10.

Carmillia:
-Minor kinetic enhancement allows her to be relatively ‘athletic’.
-Brilliant thinker, making her less likely to be impeded by illusions or misleading signage.
-Merchants are great at reading maps, and Carmillia isn’t your average merchant.
-Dark bolt can possibly create new paths in the labyrinth by blowing through roadblocks and/or walls.
-Can possibly ‘pursuade’ the Hegelan women into revealing or aiding more than they should.

Huitzilin:
-Her ōcēlōtl can search ahead, revealing illusions, incorrect paths and to warn them of incoming Hegelan men.
-Her Greengrowth abilities allows her to impede others without violating any rules; be it creating fauna obstructions or stirring up the local wildlife (rats and such) to be a nuisance to the other teams.

Strategy (179 words):

Even with their relevant skills, there is no doubt that this duo is far from being the favorites in Street Hoghs. Instead, they’re going for a medium-risk gamble, putting some effort into obtaining treasures that will aid their leg. In order to make up for lost time during the search for the hidden items, Huitzilin’s ōcēlōtl will be the main carry, scouting ahead and identifying the ideal paths for them to take, allowing them to progress efficiently. Treasure hunting aside, the strategy that the two have agreed would be most practical is through sabotage as neither of them are powerful kinetic mages, a big detriment in a footrace. Huitzilin will focus on physical sabotage whereas Carmillia will use her guile, tricking other participants into incorrect paths, persuading the Hegelan women into aiding her more than they should and the men to impede others instead of them. Hail-Mary? Maybe. The goal is to get a decent placement even if there's no Lady Luck shining. And while waiting for Yalen to arrive, Carmillia will be stirring shit among the waiting participants.

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Zeno Secto: Leander & Anjeluun

Treasure Search: Leander 6/10, Anjelunn 3/10

First Waypoint: Mostly using very short bursts of Magnetic Magic to keep red Hegelans and sabotage from students away. Snatching a token with Magnetic magic. No sabotage for now.

Second Waypoint: Sprinting then using Magnetic magic to pull along Anjelunn’s Ricksaw with wall run for high speed movement. Tossing iron caltrops in people’s path and snagging a token.

Third Waypoint: Still pulling along Anjelunn’s Ricksaw with wall run, and using Arcane to give everyone free color blindness, attempting to confuse everyone but the duo.

Fourth Waypoint: Still using wall walk, but now using Arcane to keep cool. A.

Final Stretch: Moving from wall walk to ground and using Magnetic to to rocket forward, turning the Risckshaw into a mobile battering ram. At this point, Andy’s pulling out all the stops, simply focused on speed.

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Zeno Solstice: Marli & Mahoomak

1 and 1 for treasures

Marli’s strengths are literally speed and illusion. There is nobody who isn’t a local that I can think of who’s better suited for this race. She can both recognize sabotage and actively participate with an extremely high success rate. Mahoomak’s thing is his intelligence, tactical acumen, cool head, and puzzle-solving. He won't be easily fooled, will recognize patterns quickly, and can narrows down possibilities while Marli outruns people. They’ll be going all in on speed here. Towards the end, if she knows where she’s going, Marli will ditch him and go full-bore to the finish line.

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Zeno Zemana: Silas & Ahrora

With Ahora from Good Guy Team

Silas and Ahora will be going high speed low search, 2/10 untill they finish their leg.

They will be splitting up, Ahora finding the Gates while Silas searches for the tokens (taking as many as he can find) and using speed and wall running to try and avoid any Hegelens unless sure they are female and helpful. Ahora signals where the gates are so they are easily able to find eachother. After passing through gates, Silas will use improved RAS to seal them shut/increase the fiction of them, making them incredibly heavy and slow to open for following teams. Will also use Ahora's blood magic to destroy any obstacles that cause too much of a detour and tokens after they are used. If possible, will use small arcane illusions to lure other teams towards the red Hegelans. Ahora will pass through the finish line first while Silas stays behind so search for any treasures left behind (10/10 search) and sabotage other teams though 'stickying' surfaces, slowing them down, and hiding tokens.

Leg Standings

Final Tally

Finish Order: Afraval (1,5), Zemana (2,11), Moonlight (3,10), Solstice (4,14), Secto (6,7), Mozaru (8,9), Colloy (12,13), Huggynant (15,16)
Leg Time: Ahrora (1), Yuliya (2), Zarra (3), Marli (4), Leander (5), Anjeluun (6), Korin (7), Carm (8), Ash (9), Huitzilin (10), Tyrel (11), Rainbows (12), Silas (13), Abdel (15), Mahoomak (16), Wenhak (21)
Treasure: Wenhak (ruler), Huitzilin (spellsword), Carm (shots), Korin (hammer), Yuliya (major), Leander (major), Anjeluun (minor), Ahrora (minor), Silas (minor), Tyrel, Zarra
Points: Afraval (42), Zemana (32), Moonlight (31), Solstice (26), Secto (25), Mozaru (20), Huggynant (11), Colloy (8)
Point Standings: Afraval (170), Solstice (148), Colloy (145), Mozaru (130), Moonlight (114), Secto (109), Zemana (101)
Time Back: Afraval (00:00.00), Zemana (-00:02.43), Moonlight (-00:04.19), Solstice (-00:06.88), Secto (-00:07.04), Mozaru (-00:10.56), Colloy (-00:16.94), Huggynant (-00:21.23)

Championship

Finish Order Bonus: Afraval (200), Zemana (150), Moonlight (140), Solstice (130), Secto (120), Mozaru (100), Colloy (80)
Final Total: Afraval (370), Solstice (278), Moonlight (254), Zemana (251), Mozaru (230), Secto (229), Colloy (225)

Resources

Resources

Overall Standings

The Dragon

Roses & Neskals (Incomplete)

1. We will be taking a short cycle off from the races. During this time, feel free to summarize your actions during during the race, after it, and/or play out any specific events or side missiosn that may have taken place.

2. Please make sure that your group has made their allied team selections. We will also be ranking the alliances to make a seeding system and tournament bracket for the next event's series of head-to-head matches. Stay tuned for more information.

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Next Up: Roses & Neskals

[Ti]

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Event: Secrets of Zaqhoria | Location: Ruins of Zaqhoria, Torragonese Desert

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The Monster had just torn the horrors into pieces as rivers of blood sprayed around the room. Ayla tried her best to concentrate on being strong for her friends, her body and thoughts on autopilot as she tried to make sense of the situation, though hopelessly and completely overwhelmed. The monster appeared to be targeting the very things keeping it caged, the threats of which becoming evident as Jocasta suddenly starts drawing and begins to battle with the creature as she puts it within a kinetic grasp which barely held.

"The rest of you," Jocasta quickly murmured, "get out of here. Now."

Her eyes wide with shock as she hears those words, "What about you?". She starts to draw upon her mana, as feeble the amount seems in comparison with the blonde beside her.

Zarina clicks her tongue, “Not unless you come along.”

Jocasta tossed a smile back over her shoulder at them. "Stupid brave," she said. Then, the beast spoke.

"I can understand you," said the monster, grinning evilly.

"We freed you," Jocasta reminded her.

Hoping to catch the monster off-guard with the distraction. Ayla starts to channel her own energy as she begins to reach her limit, "Hear this!" She releases a sonic attack towards the creature, hopefully enough to disorientate and discombobulate her enough so they can use that moment to escape using Jocasta's temporal magic.

The beast, who had seemed on the verge of speaking, flinches for a moment, flaring its nostrils. "Not bad, girl." she hissed. "For that, I shall extract a toll."

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Click.

Done.

That was all the time it took for her to become a ragdoll.

Become no more alive than one of Ysilla’s puppets.

Ayla was suddenly in the world of darkness as she is currently cut off from seven of her senses, the eighth thundering in their absence as she becomes one with her own body, the deafening which rapidly accelerates as she screams out in the abyss.

Yet for all she may scream, there was only silence.

A deafening silence.

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A soul trapped in a husk.
Her life has now met its dusk.

The Ultimate Sacrifice for a lie.
Time has come for her to die.

Yet in the sleepful state, she is still wide awake.
Not yet embraced the darkness offered by the Drake.

She moved forward as the darkness parted, breaking through into a light.
Even with all the setbacks, her hopes and dreams burn bright.

Like a rose caught in a breeze,
She will not fall foul of this disease.

As to where fate will sow,
Temptation implores her to know.

As moonlight reflects in her sight, Ayla extends her hand as she plucks the Rose from the air. The attraction was natural as she cups it within her grasp. Lulled in with its beautiful presence. The blue of the petals is electrifying, witnessing the magical energy arcing from it to her. The flower is sizzling within her hand as it dissolves and rises into the air, being breathed in as it fills her being.

Her body enchanted to become true,
the stem entwines as she becomes a gem to shine anew.
A horn calling upon beauty in all its forms to adorn.
May her thorns make love's enemies scorn.
The petals bind to her mettle to bring her wings to soar.
Weaving her thoughts into a stream to create a path that is more than a dream

Ayla looks up into the air as she sees herself as the blue rose. Long blue curls flowing her head, wings like rose petals, elegant and beautiful as she shines as a beacon. The girl before her has the resemblance of one of the Archangels themselves.

Ayla, captivated by her beauty, couldn’t resist moving towards her. No matter the effort, the distance between them doesn’t appear to shorten. She comes to a stop as she reflects. Beauty is not surface deep nor is it shallow, it is the strength of bonds between people. It is the kindness, the love, friendship, and sharing with your companions. As the expression goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It is not the appearance that is appealing, it is the embodiment, what the archangel represents.

As if sensing this change, the being appears to be slowly pulled towards her. Ayla, understanding the message reinforces the commitment to her bonds of friendship. As she loves them, they love her, and this is the true beauty of life.

Ayla and the archangel were face-to-face, she reached out towards her.

---

Her senses come to life once again, her body whirring as she feels the intense and almost overwhelming information flood into sensations as the dark mists consume her once again, fading away as the dimmed light shines brighter, soon shapes begin to form, and then the radiance of colour. The moment was only brief as within it, Zarina’s face was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Her friend leaning over her, holding her within her arms, tears in her eyes. The beauty of friendship.

“Was that death…?”

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[YummyYummy]

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Velles 5th

Location: The Proving Grounds - Ersand’Enise
Day of the week: Taldes
Time: 1:00 HD
Characters: Abdel Saqqaf Aziz @Force and Fury, Evander @RezonanceV, Khaliun, Leander @Creative Chaos, Leon @Animus, Ymiico @Salsa Verde, Yuliya @Suicharte

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Muffled sounds of metal clashing could be heard progressively better as the scouting team roamed near the colosseum. Evander and Ymiico, having opted to climb for a better vantage point, would notice the conspicuous lack of lighting - not only in the arena but also the entirety of the streets surrounding the Proving Grounds. If the gluttonous nature of the Sanguinaire’s recent drinking spree wasn’t enough of a giveaway, the premeditated nature of this whole set up was a powerful red flag to those with any sense. Right over an awning, the two with the highground could witness two shadows going at it over the sands. The sounds remained unnaturally distorted and muffled.

Yuliya, Khaliun and Abdel remained at ground level, the former two out of caution while the latter was quickly convincing himself to barge through the opened gate. ”Wait.” ordered Khaliun to the fired up Abdel. The hooded Vossoriyan sentry turned her head to the left, down the road that circled the grand arena. With a snap of her fingers, she revealed three armoured bodies hidden in the darkness by a statue with a fleeting light ball. They were alive and without any sort of neck wound. ”It is trap.” Khaliun warned, But why all this? the brief silence was broken by Abdel, ”No more waiting, this fiend has hurt enough people!” he rushed into the tunnel. ”Do not follow him.” Khaliun ordered Yuliya as she slowly slipped on a pair of white fur gloves. She didn’t move from her spot.

The Two shadows that stood in the battleground were going at it with speeds that would be hard to follow even with perfect visibility. One was a cloaked figure whose features were hardly distinguishable. If anything, the air around that being appeared almost distorted and straining to the eyes of those that focused too long upon it. The other was an armoured and well-built man with a weapon that could easily be identified as a Langxian. The way he moved and the shape of his armour resembled the elite warriors from Engyu. His stance suggested a strong defence, but he never hesitated to seize the initiative against the being that danced with him. And such brazen offence awarded the Century a direct hit onto the shadowy figure. As visceral as the strike seemed, however, it only appeared to stagger it for a mere second before it moved as if nothing had happened.

With enough attention given to the entirety of the field, those with the vantage point or great reading skills such as Khaliun could pick up on the body left on the sand a good twenty metres away from the two fighters. The clash continued with the century’s armour saving him more than once from the speedy strikes of the alleged Sanguinaire, and in turn another strike was dealt. The mysterious being was repulsed a few feet back and brushed his cheek. Then, the Engyan warrior stomped onto the sand and bellowed a furious roar to blast his foe away. It was loud, but not loud enough for how powerful the blast was - strong enough to make the stone under Evander’s and Ymiico’s feet rumble. And then suddenly the figure was gone. As if they had never existed. There was no echo from the roar, only the crackling of dust and sand settling after the blast.

Behind the immovable warrior was a blurry mass of darkness that had merely tapped his shoulder. He became immovable even toward his own will, helpless to the inevitable drinking that was about to occur. Meanwhile, an exceptionally cold breeze of air brushed right behind Evander. It was as if he could feel a presence behind him the same way the Engyan warrior had just before succumbing to the Sanguinaire’s teeth. And yet the being they were staking out was down there, indulging. The Revidian High Noble would feel the lightest of taps onto his shoulder blade, and he was propelled right toward the arena where the fight had just taken place. Simultaneously to the fight’s unfortunate conclusion, Abdel, who had been keeping back with the bit of restraint he had left, snapped. ”أزله أنت الوحش!” (Unhand him you MONSTER!) the young, fiery paladin dashed forward with flames bursting from the soles of his feet and aimed to tackle the feasting creature.

There was one that wasn’t duped by the many veils that complimented the darkness of the night. Ymiico could see the world for what it was, whether by her own skills as a shinobi or by the will of the being that imposed this warping of perception she could not tell. However, while Evander and Abdel witnessed the Sanguinaire begin to syphon the fluid of life from the Century, she saw the cloaked being already dropping the body and looking straight at her. She could almost swear he was smirking. And then, with speed that greatly outshined even her’s, he was behind her high ground partner and simply shoved him into the arena. The entity, clearly male from his physique now that she could get a good look, stared her down, motionless with his arm still extended after the push.

The illusion had shattered the moment Evander was hurled and Abdel was at range to seize his enemy. It felt like reality itself literally shattered before them with only empty space meeting Abdel’s ire. The Revidian would end up crashing into the Firrazene boy, leaving both of them in the open, right by the unconscious body of the fallen Engyan fighter. ”اللعنة عليك! وحش قذر ...” (Blast it! Foul Beast …) Abdel groaned as he got back up, although Evander could hear none of it. He suffered a terrible case of tinnitus with his head ringing to a near-migraine. He was otherwise fine with Abdel and the sand softening his landing.

Wait, sand? There was no sand. There was no Abdel either. The armoured bodies of the fallen Century no longer appeared rugged and bloodied. No, they were dressed finely with an air of familiarity to them. His vision was still blurry from the landing as well as the incessant buzzing in his head. But as he slowly focused, he came to recognize the Duke Foscari, his own father, lying in a pool of blood with a Langxian planted in his back. Further away was another body, one wearing a traditional wedding dress that was tainted by a fresh layer of crimson. Staring right at him were the hollow eyes of Celestina, recently dead on a velvet carpet. The air around him felt stagnant - he was no longer outdoors. Evander was inside a home, not too different from his, although some of the architecture reeked of Perrench influence. There was also a conspicuous lack of furniture and the ceiling was abnormally high. There was a balcony right at the top with two figures, both looking down at him. One second the one to the left looked like his ally, Ymiico, and then the next it looked exactly like the other one: A hooded, black figure.

The fireplace was crackling and the heat, dull as it may be, could be felt by the young fireblood. It almost felt like a dream - It didn’t feel right, and yet the lucidity was lacking enough to make one willing to accept this as reality. A hand reached out to him, sliding over his shoulder. It was not the same touch as the illusionary foe that had hurled him. No, it was much more tender, ”Sebastian.” it whispered with a feminine voice.

The woman tilted her head as gazes met, and then flashed her hungry, white fangs at him. She was so close, he could feel her hot breath just ready to indulge in his coveted, fiery blood.

”Hey, you alright?!” Abdel had reached out for Evander’s shoulder, checking up on him after that rough landing.

”Sensemaster.” Khaliun kept herself in the shadows and looked up at Ymiico’s direction. Both the Sanguinaire and the Yasoi were up there, while both the Tethered and the Princess could keep discreet for the time being, ”Much stronger than yours.” she concluded, ”We should leave.”

Summary & Action Opportunities

The Sanguinaire has defeated at least one Century and is jacked up on power from the overeating. Using a supremely powerful illusion, he managed to get the jump on those that hoped to have the art of surprise on their side.
-Khaliun and Yuliya remain undiscovered just outside the gate.
-Abdel rushed in and was easily made.
-Ymiico and Evander were sniffed out by the Sanguinaire and ambushed.
-Evander was pushed into the centre of the arena and forced to experience a potent illusion from a Sensemaster (identified by Khaliun) and a master illusionist.
-The whole time Ymiico could see what was going on, seemingly unaffected by the illusion, yet very much outmatched in terms of speed and power to really do anything before her colleague got smacked. She is facing down the enemy at the top of the colosseum over an awning.

Opportunities:
The Sanguinaire is clearly feeling confident right now and has essentially trapped Abdel and Evander in the arena. The rest remain concealed.
-There is still a chance to strategize for those that are unseen: Yuliya, Khaliun, Leander and Leon. The latter two are considered not present just yet. They have a stealth advantage for now.
-Retreat is a possibility, guaranteed for those hidden and a gamble for those that were made.
-You are the many, and while the Century got defeated, he held his ground for a while all by himself. Hope might still be there.
-Viktor will arrive soon. He was exploring another area of the city but has since been informed of the accumulating bodies. Maybe he can help!
-Sanguinaires have specific weaknesses, and Khaliun seems to know a lot about them.

[pantothenic]

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Velles 5th

Location: Merchants’ Quarters, Isabella’s Residence - Commoners' Dormitory
Day of the week: Lepdes
Time: 3:XX HS
Characters: Abdel @YummyYummy, Isabella

This is a reply to an event that takes place before the day of the Dragon.

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”A regular old piece of ribeye might do the trick, but I like to be prepared.” Isabella replied to Abdel’s inquiry. Though she was able to answer him, the seamstress was too focused on her current project to spare her assistant any eye contact. She was working on cutting the buttonholes out of an expensive looking wool doublet. Mineral dye gave it a rich blue color, and gold embroidery was stitched from the sleeves all the way down to the waist in an intricate floral pattern. For the nobleman who commissioned the piece it was just another addition to his overflowing wardrobe. For Isabella, it was the sum of hours upon hours of labor.

”Let’s see here…” Izzy set aside her work in progress and scooped up Abdel’s spoils. She poked her finger at the pile of change he brought back and nodded with approval. It actually didn’t matter whether he brought back any of the errand money or not. Isabella’s profits were guaranteed from the moment she negotiated a price for her commissions. Her noble clientele were essentially idiots with money to burn, so they were happy to overpay three or four times what they should as long as the work was high quality.

Without explanation or warning, Isabella rolled over and threw a lace collar around Abdel’s neck. Lately he had taken the place of the bronze statue she used to model her handiwork on, and she was not shy about treating him like a piece of furniture.

”Interesting.” She mumbled cryptically before removing the collar. Isabella didn’t appear too worried about discussing strategies for the Dragon at the moment. After class, during lunch breaks, and even between stretches of the Trials she was busy with work. If it weren’t for her disability one might even consider her a superwoman.

Abdel froze up like a kitten being pulled by the nape when his employer used his neck as a standard for whatever prototype she was working on. An awkward silence soon followed. Maybe he was scared of what could come next, and avoiding motion could make him invisible to the questionably human specimen he signed his soul to. Although staying put was never Abdel’s strong suit, “... So, the dragon. Yep, I can see this fabric being helpful.” he nodded as his weathered hand passed over the velvet he had brought to Isabella, “Man, I’d work overtime for a new running getup with this fabric.”

There was a predatory look in Isabella’s eye when Abdel made that thoughtless comment. He had no idea what he had just roped himself into.

”That can be arranged.” She smiled as she held up a pair of scissors.

[RezonanceV]

Evander Fino Synesti

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High Stakes:
What's Reality Without Fictions?

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Location: Proving Grounds, Erasand’Enise

Evander connected his eyes with a tall Yasoi female; her long slender legs and modest frame gave the appearance she was taller than whatever was recorded. Chestnut brown hair blended well into the backdrop of the night with feint glimmers of green and gold from ribbons reflecting the torches flickering light. Standing at the ready, her ears faced Evander, and she pointed upward, “I go high yes?”

Evander nodded,“I think it’s best.” Abdel was already on a crazy train to hell, and the others did not want to enter at all, but they came here to find and slay a monster. You cannot slay a beast without sighting it first. The two of them ascended the walls of the Colosseum. Both lurked in the dark, spotting two shadows standing in the battleground. The sound of steel clashed as each applied force and speed on the other to see who would falter first. Between the darkness and distance, the two battling shadows were difficult to focus on. Evander drew in energy to transform his vision into thermoception. A neat trick he learned from his tutor. The shadowy shapes became easier to observe, yet still difficult to keep track of regarding their precise strikes and defenses.

One certainly was identifiable. His broad shoulders arched over large arms while holding up armor that could not be mistaken as anything less than important. He was a physical man, holding rooted stances that defined his posture as defensive more than aggressive. Most likely a Century protecting the Proving Grounds from whatever the shadowy figure was beneath the cloak. The heat signature from the cloaked figure was much harder to read. Its movements were supernatural and disturbing. There was no continuity to the strikes; they appeared to shift in and out of reality. As the two battled, the Century struck true, a visceral stab to the cloaked figure. Evander saw the Century land his attack and another until the cloaked figure was sent a few feet back. The Century roared like a bear about to charge a predator in the wild. The stone beneath Evander’s feet shook, and he placed one hand down to keep his focus on the fight.

He saw the cloaked figure dissipate as if turned to dust from the Century’s roar. What Evander saw next was otherworldly. In the blink of an eye, the shadowy figure emerged out of the aether shrouded in a dark form. Its hand tapped the Century’s shoulder. Evander could nearly feel the bitter chill that Century must be experiencing, what is this-, cut short from finishing his thought, the Sanguinaire’s teeth ripped into the Century’s neck. Before Evander could react, he too felt a tap on his shoulder, no. A pressure burst struck his back as the air smacked his face. He was hurled to the middle of the Colosseum, hitting something. Laying on the ground disoriented, he felt around… loose sand and cold air. His sight faded, and everything else was a high-pitched sound.

Evander went to pick himself up, yet, the ground seemed to shift. No longer sand. He had been facing down, now turning around, the battlefield clean of any bodies. Instead, he lies in a home, recognizing his father lying in a pool of blood with the Century’s weapon wedged in his back. Another body in a wedding dress painted in crimson red with a familiar young female’s face and hollow eyes staring at his. Evander’s emotions boiled red; he began drawing heat from his surrounding as a reaction to his fury. His draw was so intense that even his family ring began to increase in charge. Feelings of anger kept back his tears from shedding, “wait…” Evander noticed something odd.

Why isn’t the fire reacting? Evander thought. The fireplace kept crackling even as he drew in heat from his environment - that’s not right his gut was saying. Before pulling his mind back from being in a colosseum to now a rather large home standing in a den, a hand slid over his shoulder; it was a different touch than the forceful one earlier. This one was a gentle touch with a whisper following instead. The sound of a delicate female tone caressed his earlobe, “Sebastian,” the only word said.

It did not click immediately, who? The woman was now in front of Evander, her gaze seething deep into his. Suddenly, a flash of white fangs and a hot breath came out before Evander could stop her.

He felt helpless…

No! Evander then blasted his name,“I AM EVANDER FINO SYNESTI, I WILL NOT FORGET WHO I AM!” A swelling of anger and heat, a surge of fire grew in him like a raging furnace about to explode. The sight of his dead father and sister could not be real, and if this thing killed them... he'd burn it!

[Ti]

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Event: High Steaks: Introduction | Location: Ersand'Enise

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Location: Notice Board, Grand Plaza of Ersand’Enise
Characters: Zarina @YummyYummy, Zarra @BreathOfTheWoof, Ingrid @dragonpiece, Kaspar @wolfieh, and Maura @Ti.

Maura looks as Zazzy antagonises the yasoi, who now swears in some unknown dialect with colourful rephrasing using the word yanii before walking off. She strokes down her skirt as she sighs out, “Guess you scared off our chef.”

“Oh well,” Zarina shrugs, “We'll find another. Probably.”

Maura rolls her eyes as she mulls over the accusations levelled towards her as taking an unusual pleasure in slaughtering endangered species. “Well, we need to recruit at least one more… and if we are going to go through with your idea, we would need at least a couple more on top of that still.”.

Fortunately more students turn up as Maura recognised them. The boy with charcoal still on his hands, Kaspar. The very tall Eskandish girl. Ingrid, who gave Ayla pan-pipes came too, though accompanied by a diminutive blonde boy.

“Ah, you three want to join us on this job? It is Operation Snowsweepered!

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Action Opportunities

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For the new folks, feel free to express your character's views in a reply to this post on saving the Snowsweeper rather than serving it up. Feel free interact with some of the other NPC’s on Discord channel if you require further information for your post.
- There is a Perrench Gourmet food fanboy. He has a disturbing amount of passion when it comes to food.
- There is the Huulendamn boy. He seems to have a keen ear to the ground when it comes to the rumours. Are the sources reliable? This sounds like a golden cash cow if it proves to be true.
- There is the Belzagg girl and her friend. They are against the cruelty of animals, especially the reported Snowsweeper. We eat cattle all the time, so why would a Snowsweeper be any different, isn’t it just a large Eskandish cow?

Even if your goal is to save the Snowsweeper, the first step is going to be the same. You will have to win this Gourmet Grill-off using any means possible.

Your task is to go to the Au Boeuf Rouge and participate against other students from the academy in the hosted Food War, with the judge Marquis Blaise Beauregard overseeing the selection process.

Do you have what it takes to be Sipenta's next MasterChef?

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[dragonpiece]

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Location: Ersand'Enise

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Interactions:

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The Dragonspine

Ingrid was elated to be back in her homeland for this leg of the race. Though she was a weary. She knows things are supposed to be dangerous but she couldn't help but feel that there might be a few deaths from people's sabotage and underestimating these mountains. As a local, Ingrid was very aware of the dangers these mountains could pose. A saving grace was that because of our numbers, we are likely not going to become simple prey. This was dragon territory through and through.

Ingrid brought some of her own personal gear. She had some decent gear given to her by her family when she went to the mines in the south. It was a disappointingly tight fit on her. I feel like all the training I did with Desmond is just vanishing after just one pastry. Ingrid missed her more limber years when she was strong and fit. She thinks she might need to up the level of her training to make up for all the food. But when she starts to think of the dedication, the pain, the soreness she quickly rescinds herself to starting later. At some point. Maybe.

Ingrid has made one decision though. She is going to have fun. She is searching for fun treasures and maybe a dragon egg or 5. She needs money but at this point they are going to make it or not. A lot of things don't really matter. Ingrid has no idea how Ismette and Desmond time is going so she is just going to enjoy some cider and talk to some of her competitors, spreading some tips on how to stay safe. She would rather people not die. She talks to some friends. Dick around with Chad and let him know how appreciative she is of him for agreeing to search as well. She seems super comfortable here, genuinely happy even. They were waiting for a while it felt when her teammate bursted through and they were off!

Ingrid had expected herself to be perfectly fine with the air but the sudden change in atmosphere made breathing harder than expected. She felt slow at the start but they ended up keeping a consistent pace even as the steepness increased. Their plan of managing a infinity loop together really helped with the lack of available power on the mountain with so many competitors trying to scale it at the same time. The climbing wasn't difficult if that was all they had to worry about. Fending off multiple sabotage attempts slowed them down.

Then the true challenge came when Augusto dislodged a snow sheet from the mountain causing a cascading avalanche. Ingrid was caught off guard and was swept away. Chad and her were separated Ingrid used kinetic magic to slide on top of the snow. Ingrid indicated to the safety staff that she was okay even though she was sliding over the cliff edge. She drew from her own fall to slow then soften the inevitable impact. She was a little raddled and was surprised that someone would just do that. Either way she needed to continue on.

Lots of dragons were riled up from the avalanche, some were weaseling out of the snow and were trying to get into the knocks and crannies of bald mountain side. Ingrid started to scale the mountain, taking in the breath taking scenery. The pure white snow contrasting with the shards of obsidian made this one of her favorite places. She wants to go exploring… Okay just a little. She sees how the mountain comes in a little and goes generally in the direction she needs to go.

The amount of obsidian spike was increasing and made it difficult to move through confidently, Although the obsidian was black, it reflected light and made it hard to not just stare at the ground. She has to keep her eyes up and drew to lessen how many time she was blinded from the obsidian. She was cautious because their could be rope dragons at any time. Something long and slender appeared from the corner of her eye and she jumped back, cracking into and obsidian spike. It hurt a little but she was ready face her assailant! She drew in the light around her, aimed and then all she saw was a sword half way encased in obsidian… Ingrid couldn't help but laugh at herself, "Yes. The most powerful enemy, a sword stuck in some obsidian." Ingrid had a good laugh at herself before inspecting the sword.

The first thing she noticed was the craft of the sword, it was beautiful although the pummel and handle looked worn. Either way she would have to remove it to view the engravings properly. She chipped the obsidian away using a metal pick enhanced by kinetic energy. When she finally freed the sword she could read the name of the sword, Bjorn. From the motif, majesty, and approximate age this was most likely the sword of Bjorn Coldfist, an artifact that doesn't deserve to be left in the snow.

Ingrid felt satisfied with her exploring and dashed off to catch up. She got lucky that her way ended up being on track for the finish. It was a long climb but she uses kinetic leaps to dangerously bound up the mountain. She was able to meet up with Chad who proudly showed off his fossilized poop. The kept going, both on the proper path. The got the peg and started to ski down the slope, screaming the entire way, Ingrid out of pure joy and Chad out of pure terror. They could hear the ice crack when they went over it and Ingrid just froze it again to keep herself going. They passed through, Ingrid came 8th!!!.

She went back through to watch other people come through. Sven has a big dragon egg and she eagerly celebrated with him but before they could go together to the festivities where the next leg of the race was happening, she was grabbed by some friends to go on another adventure. She gave Sven a big hug goodbye and waved to Benny who was finishing up.

[YummyYummy]

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Velles 5th

Location: The Cathedral Square
Day of the week: Taldes
Time: 5:30 HE
Characters: Brother Wolf, Silas @Tackytaff

The Cathedral Square was always a quiet district at the later hours of the day, and yet was one of the only places left open in Ersand’Enise that wasn’t a Tavern deep into the hours of Ipte. A sanctuary for all - That’s what the house of the Pentad was known for, and during the trials it served as a makeshift home for the envoys of the Holy Sees. In truth, they likely would not have denied hospitality to other teams in need, but the presence of two particularly intimidating groups inhabiting the otherwise relatively ascetic establishment left little to be desired next to the accommodations made by the Academy.

Silas had a unique talent that made positioning a luxury he could easily afford. The walls of the Cathedral wouldn’t hold many secrets from him, although the details of those within the confines of the building remained an abstract notion to him as was the colour of the walls right before him. He counted eight people, with three of them sleeping in distinct rooms in the upper floors of the Cathedral. One sat before a desk and busied themselves with scripture and one was content with sitting on a pew at the base floor. Two were also lying down on the roof of the holy building, their attention directed to the heavens - maybe they were sleeping too. A final one was pacing the halls whilst holding what appeared to be a candle.

It was all rather drab for a good twenty minutes. But then the young Icevein would feel a general numbness course throughout his body. It was like a flash, as if he had fallen asleep standing up but instantly woke up. He felt refreshed the same way one would feel after a power nap. Time did not appear to have passed, though, as the leaves being blown by the warm, Dorrad wind were still making their way from one bench to another. Maybe the Dragon had exhausted him a little too much?

And then suddenly he realised: There were only seven accounted for in the Cathedral. The one sitting on the pew had vanished completely. Looking around him, Silas would only see more silhouettes in different buildings and the occasional passerby. Then, he felt yet another numbness - a disconnect from the world around him.

“Good evening.” a masculine voice called to Silas’ right. It came from a tall silhouette that slowly approached him from the intersection behind the Cathedral, “Have you found what you were looking for, young Powergazer?” he entered the light cast by a nearby lamp. Arms behind his back and his attire unchanged since the trials. Silas’ blessed sight wavered ever so slightly, and only for a brief moment, as he distinguished the form and voice of the individual. He was smiling.

It was him. The man on the paper. The Dread Priest himself.

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Velles 5th

Location: Merchant Dormitories
Day of the week: Taldes
Time: 5:30 HE
Characters: Brother Lamb @Force and Fury, Colin the Mobster, Desmond @Th3King0fChaos, Trypano @A Lowly Wretch

The initial group separated, whether to get a bigger cut of the prize or to cover more grounds, it was hard to say with the specimens that would take this sort of clandestine job. Silas headed West for the Cathedral, while Desmond suggested East toward the Merchant Dormitories. He was accompanied by the prodigious scholar Trypano in this nightly search for the patrolling priest. The gunslinger’s status as a lamplighter would certainly help in the unlikely circumstance they would be caught outside during curfew. Although, even as the hours of Dami were drawing near, the streets still had quite a bit of traffic, many of which were foreigners visiting for the trials.

Both had to keep their eyes peeled, as it would be easy for a trained envoy of the Church to vanish in such crowds and narrow alleys, especially with what Desmond had witnessed it was clear that Brother Lamb was no pushover. Luckily for them, the herd of people milling about in the streets was growing thinner, allowing for them to get a glimpse of a piously dressed man looking up at one of the dormitories. He was just standing there, fixated.

Before the duo could do anything or get made by their odd target, a trio of men stood in their way. The one in the middle, an average-sized older man with a severely balding hairline, had his hands in his pockets whilst grinning at the sight of Desmond in particular. The other two were burly men with the hygiene one would expect from a mudville goon, both of which held metal pipes with one tapping his palm with the end of the weapon, “Ah, there y’are! Almost thought you’d skip town with all ‘em winnins’, Desmond.” he spat down toward the Magusyaeger’s boot, “Now’s time to pay, or my boys here will be takin’ our rightful pound o’flesh. Get me?” he tilted his head while giving the teen the stink eye.

”Hey, Colin, that’s the bet guy?” called out one of the nearby shop owners.

“That’s ‘em, Aster.” the business owner grimaced in anger as he came in to join the growing mob. Word spread quickly, and now Desmond was made to realise that the Zeno Bucks fight had taken place around this area. Some students emerged too, most shrewd merchant kids that wanted their rightfully earned winnings. Before long, they would be surrounded, with a few definitely capable with the gift, “Now, Desmond, give us the dough or we start by makin’ the big bitch squeal, yeah?” he nodded in the direction of Trypano.

Something bad was about to happen. They did not seem like the type to take any excuses as a valid defence for not getting one’s face bashed in. But just as an inevitable escalation was about to occur, a voice called out that appeased the tension.

“Enough.” Brother Lamb stood tall behind Colin the mobster, “Who d’you think you are, bu-” he froze. Even the locals knew who the hounds of the Holy See were. Colin swallowed his words and piped down.

“This is a matter that falls onto the duties of the Lindrian Order.” he stated calmly while stepping closer to the circled duo. The growing mob stepped aside to let the Dread Priest pass, “Please, return to your homes.” Lamb turned his head to address the general populace with a patient smile on his face, “I will make sure the aggrieved parties are properly compensated.” and the people complied with the head mobster leading the rabble by stepping away, “Reshta favour you all.”

Brother Lamb then looked down at Desmond with adamant and cold eyes, “Desmond Catulus. You are hereby ordered by the Lindrian Order and the Holy See of Varennes to surrender the earnings of those who participated in your bookkeeping services.” he ordered whilst giving Trypano a singular side glance when he finished, “As well as pay a fine of eight incantors.”

Action Opportunities

For Silas: He is currently being accosted by Brother Wolf, having somehow bypassed his Powergazer vision and is likely not going to let him weasel out. The tensions aren’t high, however, with Wolf appearing somewhat casual, even friendly.

For Desmond and Trypano: The mob has cleared, but a bigger threat is afoot. Brother Lamb is demanding Desmond’s debt to be paid. How this is handled is completely up to the players, from cheesing it, to paying it back, to trying and steer the conversation toward their own objective.

The next sequence will be done live for a more dynamic exchange. No hard deadline for now, but I will keep everyone informed in the Discord. Happy posting!