[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/sT3L0c0.png[/img][/center][hr][hr][color=228B22][h1]The Dragon: Invasive[/h1]
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 [i]them.[/i] 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.

[center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d2/f9/d2/d2f9d21b3ea377fccd5988e95018f87c.jpg[/img]
The Micropig. Kill one and you're officially going to Oraff's Hell.[/center]

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[hider=Submitted Strategies][h2]Zeno Afraval: Kaspar & Dorisay[/h2]
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.
[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Colloy: Ysilla & Yaufin[/h2]
Ysilla just uses puppet swarm to surround pigs, probably.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Moonlight: Dory & Ashon[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Mozaru: Yalen & Tlilli[/h2]
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.

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Secto: Niallus & Enoxi[/h2]
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,

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Solstice: Penny & Yiki[/h2]
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. 

[hr][hr][h2]Zeno Zemana: Casii & Bohrom[/h2]
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.[/hider]
[hider=Leg Standings][h2]Final Tally[/h2]
[b]Finish Order:[/b]Solstice (1,5), Moonlight (2,6), Afraval (3,8), Mozaru (4,10), Secto (7,8), Zemana (9,11), Colloy (12,14), Huggynant (13,15)
[b]Leg Time:[/b] 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) 
[b]Treasure:[/b] Dorisay (chest), Kaspar (toxin), Niallus (pelts), Enoxi (pitchfork), Penny (major), Yiki (major), Dorisay (minor), Kaspar (minor), Niallus (minor), Enoxi (minor)
[b]Points:[/b] Solstice (51), Moonlight (41), Afraval (24), Mozaru (30), Secto (20), Zemana (14), Colloy (8), Huggynant (11)
[b]Point Standings:[/b] Colloy (134), Afraval (128), Solstice (122), Mozaru (110), Secto (84), Moonlight (83), Zemana (69)
[b]Time Back:[/b] 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)[/hider]
[hr][hr][h3]Next Up: Street Hoghs![/h3]
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