[hr][hr][img]https://imgur.com/zfo8jby.png[/img][hr][hr][color=00CED1][h1]The Dragon: Deep Blue Sea[/h1]
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.   

[hr][hr]
[hider=Submitted Strategies]
[h2]Zeno Afraval: Jomurr & Talkhan[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Colloy: Leon & Aktichak[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Moonlight: Ismette & Miret[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Mozaru: Evander & Acoatl[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Secto: Maura & Anthal[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Solstice: Owain & Auvam[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Zemana: Ymiico & Dildor[/h2]
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.
[/hider]
[hider=Leg Standings][h2]Final Tally[/h2]
[b]Finish Order:[/b] Colloy (1,5), Mozaru (2,6), Solstice & Sea People (3,4), Moonlight (7,17), Afraval (8,19), Secto (9,11), Zemana (10,12)
[b]Leg Time:[/b] Aktichak, Acoatl, Auvam, Owain, Leon, Evander, Ismette, Jomurr, Maura, Ymiico, Anthal, Dildor, Miret, Talkhan.
[b]Treasures:[/b] Miret (Egg), Ismette (Spell), Anthal (Map), Aktichak (Pearl), no others.
[b]Point Standings:[/b] Colloy (50), Mozaru (36), Solstice (46), Moonlight (14), Afraval (14), Secto (14), Zemana (14)
[b]Time Back:[/b] 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)[/hider]
[hr][hr][h3]Next Up: Burdensome Beasts![/h3][/color]