[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/qQUtRxp.png[/img][/center][hr][hr][color=F0E68C][h3]Thin Air           [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enuOArEfqGo]𝅗𝅥   𝅘𝅥   𝅘𝅥𝅮   𝅘𝅥𝅯   𝅘𝅥𝅰[/url][/h3][hr][hr]
It was eight minutes and forty seconds of chaos - in truth, one hour eight minutes and forty seconds - for the preparatory period beforehand saw more than its share of skullduggery, sabotage, and hurried or even preparation. By a myriad of means, one thousand two hundred eighty youths from the world over ascended into the air. 

In practice, this meant kinetic, magnetic, or even chemical magic for most. Skyborn abilities were in great demand. For many, it meant climbing countless flights of steps, launching themselves into the air, or hitching some sort of ride. Some had dragons or other beasts of the air, but most did not. A handful bought or rented hot air balloons. The Travendours of Perrence made a small fortune that day. Then, there were the contraptions: magically or mechanically powered, they fluttered, flopped, strained, and sometimes even rose into the sky, rarely majestic but always entertaining.

The problem was that they sure made nice targets. Dozens were the youths who fell, screaming, from the sky, saved either by their own magic or that of the many Zenos on patrol. It was more than one who grumbled and griped about the thankless and demeaning job, but such was the unquestioned strength of this tradition that they dared not voice their open objection.

When the bells began to chime and half a minute remained, what a show it became! How they flung themselves into the air! How they battled, swooped, and flew! Balloons went down in flames, frontrunners crashed and burned, desperate last-second gambits either came to sudden fruition or - more commonly - backfired. The great aerial faire came to a conclusion as the powerful Temporal Magics of the most eminent masters held time still long enough for the various teams’ heights to be measured and recorded. 

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. They gathered in the Grand Plaza before Balthazar Hall as wooden panels flipped and fluttered in the grasp of kinetic magics and the leaderboard came to reflect the results of the recent event. While there were some new faces who had ascended and some dominant forces who had fallen, the majority of the upper echelons remained the same. The handful of teams - mostly of the Academy itself - who had dominated from the outset continued to do so, though the race had tightened to a scintillating degree heading into the final event: Chamber of Greed.

[hider=Thin Air Standings][h3]Thin Air Standings[/h3]
[list=][*]Colloy: 1600 
[*]Solstice: 1368 
[*]Luna: 1330 
[*]Secto: 1290 
[*]Afraval: 910 
[*]Zemana 909 (920) 
[*]Mozaru: 850[/list][/hider][/color] 
[hr][hr][color=c4df9b][h3]Misadventures[/h3][hr][hr]
With that, they found themselves dismissed. It was not quite yet noon and much of the day remained. For all teams ranked below twenty-fifth, the scramble to gain enough signatures to join in the final event commenced, for the Chamber was open only to the top twenty-five and the same number more of those who gathered enough support to join them. The rest… dispersed. They dispersed to their various interests, pursuits, errands, and socializations. Many got up to mischief and some found themselves genuinely in hot water, for the City of Magic was very much a powder keg by this juncture, its leadership desperately trying to keep the lid on matters until the festivities concluded.

There were misadventures in Mudville, trips into Perrence, and the rumblings of an unadvised youth rebellion during the night that did go according to plan. Perhaps the greatest mystery was just what took place on the Ensollian island of Djamant, for a half-dozen students of some of the competition’s most dominant teams found themselves there by means of Temporal magic and then in a fight for their lives against forces unknown. The mystery only deepened with the disappearance of the team fielded by the Holy See of Varennes: Covenant, and the intrigue sharpened as news spread of the coming arrival of multiple heads of state.[/color]

[hr][hr][color=7ea7d8][h3]Greed[/h3][hr][hr]
The day dawned with the rumble of thunder and a steady downpour: an early summer storm of the subtropics as if to mourn the end of the Games and the approach of war. Yet, it did not dissuade the teams who had been gathering signatures for the past twenty-three hours. After a final scramble, twenty-six of them (for one qualified automatically due to the mysterious withdrawal of Covenant) joined the automatic qualifiers and the stage was set. 

It was 5:00 HS when the first of the contesting groups stepped through a swirling violet portal to find themselves in a vast anteroom. White marble floors and pillars held up a ceiling of the same colour that seemed almost to glow, so clean and bright was it. As soon as the last of them arrived, a new portal opened before them and numbers appeared, ethereal and hovering in the air, counting down from ten, nine, eight… 

The Chamber of Greed opened and the scramble was on. While some gave into their more selfish impulses immediately, the majority held back in the hopes of making it to the final round: legendary for the rarity and quality of its hidden prizes. In the end, precisely ten qualified: The Gunboat Diplomats and Blaze of Glory from the Group of Ipte, Snaked and Afraid and Vyshta's Favoured from the Group of Shune, SYCAMORE and Good Guy Team from the Group of Oraff, You Could Never and Lucky Seven from the Group of Eshiran, and Heartstoppers and team VOID from the Group of Dami. Some learned the trick of breathing within the treacherous chamber. Others remained in the dark. 

Regardless of what they had or hadnt' learned, after a brief and late lunch, the ten remaining teams gathered once more in the White Hall. The numbers appeared. The players took their positions, each trusting or distrusting their teammates as they would. Then, the timer reached zero and the final game of the Trials began![/color]

[hr][hr][color=a187be][h3]Rules and Resources[/h3][hr][hr]
Welcome to the final cycle of The Trials. Though each team will participate in two matches IC, we will only be playing through the final one. This will be played out the same way that we did The Dragon, with [b]strategies of up to 300 words being submitted to me, on this forum, by Direct Message (DM). Each active player will need to submit one.[/b] This [b]must[/b] include which spot that player is going in (from first to fifth), a priority list of which chests or treasures they will be going for, and your responses to any trivia that you will need to answer to open those chests. The responses will not count towards your word limit. [b]This DM will be due by Monday, December 26, at 10:00 PM EST.[/b] Please read the hider below [b]thoroughly[/b]. If you have read it and still have questions, feel free to ask myself or a moderator for assistance.

[hider=Chamber of Greed: Rules and Info][h2]Resources[/h2][list][*]All information on the game itself is available in [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C663H8-Z4Kk_qfsKSJ9TFWNntqGj9gAWjwjjK5AxdhY/edit?usp=sharing]this document[/url].
[*]A detailed, high-resolution map for this event can be found [url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T4sJlOBIanp23-nz_zyBSuwqzushsDi3/view?usp=sharing]here[/url].
[*]Though there are no allies in this event, profiles of all guest teams are located in [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vLI1tbGeSc1QZw_dunf4_ZOgXfDXekhu8WuQBLqmJF8/edit?usp=sharing]this document[/url].
[*]The leaderboard may be accessed through [url=https://keepthescore.co/board/mbsregmpihe/]this page[/url].
[*]The follow-up to this event, Right or Spite, will take place during the week after, once results are released.[/list][/hider][i][h3]Event five, Chamber of Greed, starts now. Good luck![/h3][/i][/color][hr][hr]