[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/rQAC07H.png[/img][/center][hr][hr][color=00a651]They arrived in the middle of an environment so alien that most of them spent their preparation time gawking at its wonders and exploring within the bounds of their sensing range. This was the famed Kabute Forest of Suvaru, in southern Palapar: a land of mist and mushrooms and mysteries within a great, all-encroaching fog. It was night, and the stars, well up above, lay hidden behind a thick dark shroud of heavy clouds. The constant misty rain that fell here coated everything in a thin, sticky layer of pollen-filled water and the air took on a strange, ethereal quality. There were creatures that moved about in this wild place, to be certain, but they did not want to be found, and so they were not: the few people, mostly eeaiko and humans, bundled about collecting strange bioluminescent plants, slugs, and fungi, or cutting barklike strips off of mushrooms that must’ve risen twenty or more feet into the air.

Two-hundred fifty-six students gathered here, in the damp and the darkness. A few knew this land. Most did not. More than once, a supervising faculty member had to track down an errant student and, even before they were put on alert, before notice was given that another portal might appear and their teammates come bursting through, four teams were eliminated for wandering too far, becoming ill, or tangling with the local flora and fauna. Such was the nature of this place: wondrous, eerie, and alien, but dangerous, most of all.

Then, it mattered naught. The portal opened and Tommy, Ashon, Rikard, Tyrel, and, within less than a minute, dozens of others came pouring through. Their teammates, having already improvised or at least thought of solutions to the miasma that confronted them, took off, but now it became clear that there was another party involved. The Sun King, in all of his golden Glory, had burst through as well and, while he helped his teammates, they did not seem to be his primary concern. The maze claimed dozens within minutes, hallucinating, staggering about, collapsing, being ambushed by dangerous wildlife. There was a reason that thirty experienced thaumaturges had been assigned to this leg, as well as a number of local guides handsomely paid. He was right there with them, using all of his considerable abilities to extricate them from dangerous or compromising situations. 

Yet, those toward the front of the pack need not have worried so very much. They had all found their solutions, one way or another, to survival in this place. Many found shortcuts or help from the forest. Some retrieved hidden ‘treasures’. If there was a degree of combat and sabotage, it was not especially much, though a few teams were penalized for damage to the unique environment. In the end, enriched with a new experience, some items found along the way, and nearly a dozen baby ground octopi, the leaders made it through, with only Beware the Nice Ones, boosted by local Mahal, having made any significant ground up. Otherwise, the leaders remained the leaders, the Sun King continued to pull people from peril, and the once-promising King’s Ear trudged through this leg utterly unbothered but painfully slow compared to the true speedsters up ahead.

In all, of the one-hundred-seventy-three teams who had begun this leg, only ninety-four actually finished it. Those who did, found themselves emerging into the bright early afternoon sun of a large and crowded pier outside the walls of Torrigriz, capital city of the island nation of Djamant.[/color]
[hr][hr][center][h2][color=00a651]Results & Standings[/color][/h2][/center][hr][hr]
[hider=Submitted Strategies][h2]Teatro Sorridente: Ariadne & Seraphina[/h2]
Participants:
❖ Ariadne - Search Level 7 (Boosts) - Goma Cat
❖ Seraphina - Search Level 5 (Boosts) - octopus troupe

Strengths:
❖ Two high powered and competent characters. Both have the necessary stats to handle the chemical (and other) skill checks.
❖ Ariadne’s Devourer for strong resistance to toxins. Lightning grandmaster zoomies.
❖ Seraphina’s Chaosgrasper to sabotage other teams and repulse creatures.

Weaknesses:
❖ Ariadne will not use much of her power unless threatened by an animal or opponent.
❖ Ariande might take her time.
❖ Seraphina’s chaosgrasper might also irritate animals.

Strategy:
❖ Tier 7 Magnetic to help with orientation and guide through the fog. Both high chem mages to ward off the fog if it gets too thick.
❖ Ariadne’s devourer + chemical to easily run through. Seraphina’s chemical and backed by Ariadne to not lag behind.
❖ Apply commandment to any approaching creature to use as a boon (octopus for bonus or big beasts as protection).
❖ Seraphina’s chaosgrasper to make the hazards in the forest more dangerous for the other teams.
❖ Won’t bother with mushrooms as Ariande is massively resistant. Will use boom shrooms to potentially trigger animals used by opponents.

[h2]Vyshta’s Favoured: Seviin & Hugs[/h2]
Seviin is a healer, chemical mage, and animal lover, with keen yasoi senses and a long, quick stride. She’s ideal for this. Hugs is also a good chemical mage and kineticist, able to boost himself well to keep up. He also comes from a similar region, though not as extreme, and has been taught how to utilize the gifts of his environment as part of his education as a West Callanasti. They will be using each type of mushroom appropriately to help their cause, bribing those little octopi with plenty of goodies and using them to help search for boosts and treasures. Hugs will also be using them for sabotage. Seviin will not. Seviin search: 7/10 (baby fiend)

[h2]Rock and Stone: Cal & Lamb[/h2]
❖ Cal- Search Level 10 - tamed fiend
❖ Brother Lamb- Search Level 1

Strengths:
❖ Cal and Brother Lamb are high level chemical mages. Command magic very useful here too(if lamb uses it)
❖ Both have a high RAS, meaning they should be able to handle the monsters that are frequent within the race so upfront confrontation should be manageable.
❖ Cal is also highly proficient on hallucinogenic drugs, addictive qualities, alcohols and the like. He knows how they work and how to neutralize the effects.

Weaknesses:
❖ Even with their high combat capabilities, Cal is still overly cautious.
❖ Cal is limited by not being able to make use of temporal magic.
❖ Neither are versed in the Palapar area.

Strategy:
❖ Use Cal's blood(binding) magic to create false entrances and dead ends within the maze.
❖ Using both of their internal chem magic, they will try keep their senses about them and move quick.
❖ Cal knows drugs well. Use on animals to help avoid fight.
❖ Once wolf on other side, he will prosper Cal so he can sabotage others and continue to look for items(and useful compounds)
❖ On his way out, Cal will leave fake antidotes. 

[h2]Beware the Nice Ones: Mahal & Randolf[/h2]
Participants:
❖ Mahal Agha- search level 5 (eggs)
❖ Randolf Creed- search level 6 (slime trail)

Strengths:
❖ Mahal knows the local wildlife and flora like a native, something she learned from her mother.
❖ Randolf specializes in gas manipulation, similar to the fog, so he has ways to nullify it.
❖ Gutton makes it easier to eat the dish mushrooms for Mahal.

Weaknesses:
❖ The lack of sight and misdirection.
❖ Gutton rapid digestion also causes boosts to end sooner, especially with activity.
❖ Some methods might slow them down.

Strategy:
❖Mahal brings a large satchel, long pole, meat, and bright colored rocks.
❖Randolf focuses on nulling or lessening the fog effects internally.
❖Mahal locates the mushrooms and snails early. Knows the best colors due to favorite pastime.
- Dish shrooms to feed Mahal and distract Fog fiends, make good landmarks.
- Pole to forewarn or locate Kraken traps.
-Meat to distract Goma Cats.
-Rocks to appease Ground octopuses.
- Glow caps to avoid backtracking.
❖One Boom shroom, last resort in hopes to cancel out a boom shroom attack on them.
❖ Wizard cap goo coats the boom shroom to prevent accidents. Also able to makeshift ‘armor’ and limit damage, but not movement.

[h2]Raffscallions: Desmond & Eyes[/h2]
Participants:
❖ Desmond- Search Level 10 (respirator)
❖ Insidious Eyes- Search Level 1

Strengths:
❖ Primordial will allow Desmond to reproduce and use the mushrooms to gain an advantage.
❖ Insidious Eyes with Arcane and Powergazer will allow for quick clearing of fog and sensing through it when all others can’t.
❖ Desmond's magical items and skills provide him an edge with his mask to breathe through the dense miasma while also using mushrooms to lure fauna to mess with others.

Weaknesses:
❖ Their combined RAS is nowhere near the level of the monsters within the race and forest.
❖ Insidious Eyes is very limited as they can’t use their Temporal or Atomic.
❖ Neither are versed in the Palapar area.

Strategy:
❖ Once she's through, no one else.
❖ Using Insidious Eyes’ sensing and Desmond's skills with Chemical and Mushrooms, they will quickly head to the end.
❖ Desmond will use the many mushrooms to bring along as offerings and distractions against animals within the forest and for sabotage.
❖ Once Insidious Eyes is through Desmond will sabotage by using the fauna to attack racers, use mushrooms to wall them off, lock them down, or knock them out with miasma.
[i]-10 penalty for natural damage[/i]

[h2]King’s Ear: Yalen & Memaru[/h2]
Yalen is a good chemical mage with command magic and tethered range and precision sensing that can, to some extent, cut through the haze here. Memaru is literally an eeaiko from this region in a swamp, a chem mage apothecary who works with these sorts of natural ingredients, and a powergazer who also has long-ish range, is used to navigating without sight, and can cut through the haze. There is no better combo for this event, full stop. They will waste zero time on searching. They may command some of the animals to do relatively harmless things that will stall the other teams, but even this will be minimal. 1/10 search. Full steam ahead. 

[h2]Fiske n’ Chips: Sven & Elguiro[/h2]
The plan here is to have Sven, the bigtime chemical mage and beastmaster, counter the miasma and work with the animals, fungi, and plants. Elguiro’s keen senses will be useful in helping them navigate, if he can restrain himself. Sven will keep them both safe. They’ll try a bit of searching but won’t make it a priority. 3/10 (glasscap & break)

[h2]Fait Accompli: Xiuyang & Pond[/h2]
Xiuyang and Hill’s Pond are both rebellious Rettanese girls with a love of alcohol. They’d vibe well together, eager to win (2/10 search). Xiuyang’s possession of Mountain Spring’s gourd will raise questions and may motivate Hill’s Pond, as though she has something to prove to this girl who’s personally met the Black Guard and earned the respect of one. Xiuyang, for her part, isn’t stupid enough to mention that she was present during Cold Soup’s tragic demise.

Xiuyang’s mask and Devourer mana type directly address much of the danger here. With high levels in Binding/Blood to sense solid objects and living beings, and numerous perception effects from the Beanie, she’s free to concentrate on searching for dangerous creatures and the many traps they set. Her primary defense against predatory creatures and fellow challengers alike will be to avoid them entirely if possible, or pacify them with Chemical. If her Chemical is not high enough, she will combo with Hill’s Pond for it. Given the Ground Octopi’s love of shiny things, she won’t waste time hunting treasures unless they’re covered in dirt. With Binding, she may sense them. She may use Arcane illusions to place “shiny objects” on her opponents too.

[h2]The Invisibles: Niallus & Ji-woo[/h2]
Niallus arriving with Seong Ji-woo in the Mushroom Maze. Seong using her Chemical magic with a combination of Niallus's own chemical magic. Giving the a little protection as they made their way through the maze. Recasting their chemical protection when it starts to waver. Along the way Niallus and Seong will keep  themselves focused on case of sabotage on them. Also going to focus on their desires into finding any treasure along the way of his journey in the maze while holding onto his compass. Upon finding something, he'll hand the compass to Seong with see where it'll take the two of them. When both have a treasure they'll try using the compass to help them get out of the maze. Both Niallus and Seong level of searching will be 6 out of 10. - (laser)

[h2]Singers & Saints: Talkhan & Enoxi[/h2]
Upon start, Talkhan will take off his cloak and fan violently in front of them to disperse the miasma, all his efforts will be to keep them protected from miasma. They will proceed with the intention of finding Glasscaps first to place on their heads to offer protection and so Talkhan won't have to fan the miasma. If Glasscap found, Enoxi first as Talkhan should have higher tolerance to debuff, but Enoxi is possibly better trained at keeping him stable.

If a Wizard Cap is found, it will be applied to his cloak to become a rigid fan and make it easier.

Enoxi is seeking chemically, reaching out for distinct chemical signatures being her forte. Any creatures she will try to influence. Great Serving Dish Mushrooms will be used to bribe octopi for assistance, like avoiding Fog Krakens or directions. Fog Fiends should have seismic steps and could possibly be felt through the soil through kinetic magic. If possible, Enoxi will soothe them if they come into contact and the pair will linger close to avoid Fog Krakens. Intersections in maze are marked on the ground to prevent back tracking.[/hider]
[hider=Results][h2]Results[/h2]
[b]Standings:[/b] Raff (1,6), S&S (2,4), Teatro (3,7), Nice (5,8), Vyshta’s (9,11), Chips (10,20), Fait (12,14), Invisibles (13,15), Rock (16,17), King’s (18,19)

[b]Speed:[/b] Enoxi, Eyes, Mahal, Talkhan, Sven, Desmond, Randolf, Seraphina, Niallus, Ariadne, Elguiro, Xiuyang, Pond, Ji-woo, Hugs, Memaru, Cal, Seviin, Lamb, Yalen

[b]Treasures:[/b] Seviin (baby fog fiend), Desmond (major), Cal (major), Mahal (baby octos), Ariadne (3 leg cat), Niallus (phial), Seraphina (minor), Sven (minor), Randolf (minor), Elguiro (minor)

[b]Points:[/b] Raff (48), S&S (70), Teatro (47), Nice (52), Vyshta’s (31), Chips (39), Fait (28), Invisibles (31), Rock (28), King’s (28)
Time: Raff (00:00.00), S&S (+00:06.79), Teatro (+00:09.31), Nice (00:12.64), Vyshta’s (00:18.13), Chips (00:20.24), Fait (00:22.37), Invisibles (00:22.49), Rock (00:26.55), King’s (00:29.08)[/hider]