[hr][hr][img]https://imgur.com/qOPEaEC.png[/img][hr][hr][color=CD853F][h1]The Dragon: Burdensome Beasts[/h1]
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 [i]lush[/i] 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 [i]lifted[/i] 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. 

[hr][hr]
[hider=Submitted Strategies][h2]Zeno Afraval: Zarina & Woren[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Colloy: Isabella & Tiakah[/h2]
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.


[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Moonlight: Desmond & Velani[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Mozaru: Jocasta & Yollohtli[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Secto: Nazih & Jaxan[/h2]
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

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Solstice: Marceline & Akeenah[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Zemana: Ayla & Yoldy[/h2]
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.
[/hider]
[hider=Leg Standings][h2]Final Tally[/h2]
[b]Finish Order:[/b] 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)  
[b]Leg Time:[/b] Zarina, Nazih, Yoldy, Darwish, Isabella, Velani, Jocasta, Marceline, Jaxan, Desmond, Ayla, Brandi, Tiakah, Yolloh, Woren, Akeenah
[b]Treasure:[/b] Ayla (dampener), Nazih (egg), Zarina (relics), Desmond (fireboar), Woren (major), Velani (major), Isabella (minor), Jocasta (minor), Tiakah (minor), Marci (minor) 
[b]Points:[/b] Afraval (34), Secto (36), Colloy (26), Zemana (27), Mozaru (19), Solstice (14), Moonlight (20), WN&BG (14)
[b]Point Standings:[/b] Colloy (76), Solstice (60), Mozaru (55), Afraval (52), Secto (50), Zemana (41), Moonlight (34), WN&BG (22)
[b]Time Back:[/b] 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)[/hider]
[hr][hr][h3]Next Up: The Dragonspine![/h3][/color]