Gwendolyn shot back at Astrid with a look as confused as anything else she had done today. Wolf? Did Astrid know what wolves looked like?



“It’s more of a tiger! Or a Cheetah, but I gotcha!” She shouts, moving her focus back to the road ahead. Large splinters of a broken wheel threatened to impede their path as they rained down, Gwendolyn gripped tightly around the Big Blue Cats neck fur. It lept to the side as the splinters fell to the ground where they had been, before leaping back into the thicc of things.



They approached the wagon, Albus obviously quite distressed as Priscilla had abandoned her previous post on the drivers chair to sit on the beast himself. Mori and Millicent stood at the back, a sinister look speaking anger on their faces.



Mori heaved a hefty iron wand attached to a small barrel of oil that sat on the small of her back, an inventive solution to boosting the output of her magics. From the tip of it spewed Two easy balls of sweltering flames and thicc smoke towards the pair on the ground. (1)



Millicent took a long drag off her cigarette as she stared secret daggers at the flying warrior. After enough smoke was let out, she took the smoldering stick from her mouth and pointed it. A long arc of electricity leapt from the tip, following the smoke trail that was directed at Astrid. (2)



Priscilla on the other hand, focused entirely on Society Albus. She took a small vial from her knapsack and popped the cork before shoving it into the beasts mouth. A long angry bleat let out as the reindeers muscles engorged, froth forming at the edges of its lips. It’s eyes went wild and the Sleigh pulled forward with renewed quickness. (3)



Gwendolyn pulled the Cheetahs neck fur to the left, hoping it would dodge in time as the fireball hurtled towards them. Enlightened Redolence materialized in the air behind her, keeping pace with the racing cat as they hurtled faster through the desert border. The maul floated forward to catch one of the fireballs, engulfing the censerhead in oily flame for but a moment before it sputtered out. The smoke from the censer fumed brightly with embers and ash, seemingly empowered by the magics taken from the hit. (4)


“WHAT ARE YOU DOING” She shouted at the trio, who seemed to ignore her “PULL OVER THE CART THIS INSTANT”
1 Firebolt
2 Lightning Bolt
3 Bull Strength Potion (From cultists)
4 Elemental Consumption (Firebolt), Always there, Living Weapon

“Huh?!” Astrid calls back. There must be some misunderstanding. Does Gwen think Astrid doesn’t know what a wolf looks like? “Aye, yeah, of course, it’s a big cat! Wolfe is the big cat!” Her hammer flies back into her hand, ready to strike at anything else trying to impede Wolfe. What the heck is going on over there on Gwen’s sled?

“Oi, Millicent!” Astrid shouts. “What the heck are ya doin’?! Ya left Gwen behind! Slow down so she can get on!” Rather than abide, in some show of defiance, Millicent points toward Astrid. Lightning sparks off her fingertips and fires off toward the half-dwarf on the half-horse. Astrid’s eyes go wide, and she tries to pull Arcus aside to dodge it, but there’s no time. She prepares herself for a direct hit, hoping if she takes it, Arcus will be spared.

A bolt of lightning strikes down from the cloudless sky, intercepting the spell fired off at Astrid with a crack of thunder. Sand transmuted to glass flies up in all directions. Arcus whinnies in fright, flapping his wings to get away from the bright flash. As she’s recovering, Astrid sees Priscilla feed the reindeer something, and suddenly the sled starts pulling ahead.

“Gwen! Am I allowed ta beat them up?!”

---

Dancing Chain

Blue didn't expect the maid's to suddenly start attacking them like this! Luckily, they managed to dodge to the side of one fireball while Gwen handled the other one with her maul. Blue and Gwen were fine, but the ooze looked up at Astrid in worry. What the heck were the maid ladies doing!? Why were they throwing fireballs and lightning bolts at all of them? Weren't they supposed to be friends? Astrid managed to handle the lightning bolt just fine, but that didn't stop Blue from being a bit angry at the maids who were apparently not very nice anymore.

Blue ran forward and leapt at the wagon. Their front paws managed to grab hold of the back of it, the blue goo making them stick firmly in place and letting them climb the rest of the way on. Two blue tendrils, like long locks of cerulean fur, came out of their shoulders and defended them along with the metal plates across their torso from the maid's attacks as they cambered aboard.

The maids were being jerks, but they didn't think Gwen would be very happy about the ooze eating any of them. Probably better to not do that at least for now. Like Astrid, they did want to beat them up though. That should be fine, right?

---

Slimy Hands
Dancing Chains

    “What?! Don’t hurt them!” She shouted as the cheetah leapt forward to grab the back of the rapidly ascending sleigh. A momentary lapse of preparedness by the realization that Astrid didn’t know the difference between a wolf and a tiger caused the whip that Mori had summoned to strike her well across the face. (Vine whip) “Augh! Nevermind, Get them!” She cried out as she held her hand to her cheek to stop the bleeding. Gwendolyn had only just gotten this veil too...


    Dismounting the suspiciously helpful blue cat, she rolled into the wagon in the middle of Millicent and Mori. Priscilla looked back at the commotion, gritting her teeth and whipping the enraged Albus skyward. The entire sleigh jolted as the momentum carried all of them straight upwards, Gwendolyn barely staying in the carriage as it maneuvered vertically.



    “What the hell is wrong with you three?! You’ve never acted like this!” She tried shouting at her defiant maids as she clung to the seat. Looking down, she could see the remaining racers travelling under them as they got smaller and smaller.

With Gwen and the suspiciously sticky blue feline on the cart, Millicent whips around and stares at her lady with eyes devoid of emotion, though a strange purple tinge to them that’s unfamiliar. Holding her fingers in front of her lips, Millicent takes a deep breath then releases a gale of slicing wind at them both, trying to knock them off the cart.

Meanwhile at the front, Mori fires off a streaking bolt of fire at Astrid and Arcus in tandem with an arrow fired off by Priscilla as they approach. With few options, Astrid’s eyes glow bright with blue energy, and a static field of electricity surrounds her and her mount. The aura deflects the arrow and fire bolt both, immediately fizzling out and unable to absorb anymore attacks.

“Alright, that’s it!!” Astrid shouts, annoyed. “Wolfe, Gwen, hold on ta somethin’!” Purple magic gathers around Astrid’s hand then fires off and strikes the carriage.

Seemingly, Astrid missed but then the magic spreads across the surface of the vehicle and the whole thing comes to a sudden, midair halt. The momentum sends Mori forward, nearly tumbling off the cart and to the ground. What doesn’t stop is Albus, the superpowered reindeer. With his mighty strength and forward motion, the animal breaks free of the harness, tearing forward through the sky with Priscilla still on his back. The two of them are quickly long gone.

---

Wind cutter - Millicent 
Fire bolt - Mori 
Static Field - Astrid
Suspend Item - Astrid

Blue had an easy time holding on, their sticky paws glued to the floor of the wagon. They could hold on just fine even if the wagon turned completely upside down, just as they did now with it facing straight up, the floor turned perfectly perpendicular to the ground far below. Unlike the slimy-pawed cheetah though, the maids weren't all stuck in place. They grabbed onto the attached seats to stop themself from falling, but the sudden, unexpected stop from Astrid's magic sent Mori and Millicent up into the air from the momentum before tumbling back down.

Mori was sent up and landed on the top of, what would normally be the front of, the wagon. Millicent grabbed for her seat, but she couldn't reach. Her hand only met air as she began to fall. Blue still wasn't entirely sure what the whole situation was. Were these maids their friends, or enemies? They were still Gwen's maids, weren't they? Just to be on the safe side, they probably didn't want to let any of them fall to their death.

The cheetah's tail suddenly thickened and grew, the feline tailing becoming something more akin to a long, reptilian tail with blue scales. It wrapped around Millicent's waist and caught her. Also just to be safe, but in the opposite way, Blue gave the caught maid a bit of an electric shock. Hopefully that would keep her subdued while things were figured out.

---

Prehensile Tail
Lightning Armor

Millicent's hazy purple glare unnerved Gwendolyn, and the resulting air burst sent her tumbling backwards. The increased incline to the cart made maintaining her grip nearly impossible. The last thing she heard before tumbling off the back was Astrid shouting to her and Wolfe. Wolfe…like the guy? The only ones here were her, the cheetah, and the maids. Weird she thought as she fell backwards, tumbling through the air. Her arms outstretched to grasp at the lip at the rear but she was too late. Her mind raced as she slipped into free fall, the cart was motionless in her stead.

A memory flashed. The beach… The Goo whip! She thumbed the ring on her finger, paging through Wolfes abilities before she landed on the sticky vine. An electric blue strand of goo lashed out from her hand, stretching and stretching before attaching itself to the bottom rail of the sleigh. Her momentum arrested with a jolt, nearly taking her arm out of socket, but she held on. Looking up, it was only about fifteen feet to climb back into the cart. As long as she didn’t get lightning blasted once more it wouldn't be a problem! The real question was why was the mystery cheetah and her whip the exact same shade of electric blue… And why were Wolfes emotions about as stressed as her own? And why did Astrid keep referring to the mystery cheetah as her new paramour?

(Formatting Pending Home)

Astrid unstraps herself from Arcus’ saddle and hops off the pegasus, running on air until she reaches the carriage. Leaping up, the girl butts her hammer into Mori to deliver her own powerful shock to the last maid, rendering her unconscious. The pegasus flies down below Gwen to give her a ride and help her recover from the fall.

With the carriage halted midair, Priscilla long gone on the back of Albus, Millicent barely conscious from the shock that Wolfe gave her, Mori recovering from nearly being thrown off, and Gwen dangling from the carriage like a spider caught in the wind, things come to a pause. 

Astrid looks around at the situation. “What the heck is goin’ on??” she asks, utterly baffled by the strange turn of events. When Arcus carries Gwen back up, she looks at the noblewoman and the cheetah. “The cart will stay like this as long as I keep the magic up. Wanna get back ta the race? I think we can win still." Purple magic dances between Astrid's fingers, akin to the same magic that occasionally washes over the carriage. "I can give ya a bit of a magical boost, Wolfe. That'll help ya run even faster! What d'ya say?"

---

Step of the Wind
Electromancer go brr
Quicken - on Wolfe if they want it

Blue placed the tased and disoriented Millicent into a seat safely and unwrapped their tail from around her. It looked like everything was kind of sort of fine here now. The maids weren't able to attack anymore and Gwen wasn't falling to her death. She'd even used that special ring that she'd exchanged with them to borrow one of the ooze's abilities. They didn't even know the rings could do that! Could theirs do that too? They hadn't actually listened all that well to the explanation of what the rings were or symbolized or all that.

Oh no, they forgot about the race! They'd been so distracted by the whole maid betrayal thing! They needed to win if they ever hoped to be a knight. The blue cheetah nodded, gratefully accepting the magic to speed them up. They'd need it to close the gap that had formed between them and the other racers.

Once Astrid had cast her spell, Blue jumped right off of the wagon and fell down to the ground, landing mid-run, their rubber-like legs absorbing the impact easily, and shooting off after the other racers like lightning. They wouldn't lose! They couldn't! They ran as fast as they could to catch back up and pass the other racers. They were determined to win this.

---

Cat's Grace

    The Pegasus swoops down below her, giving a quick whiney as if to tell her to hop on. A short swing and she landed, backwards, and began to ascend back to the stationary cart. She hopped back onto the cart as Arcus flew by, landing on the front. It seemed as though the situation had cleared up at least. Doubled over to catch her breath, she sees what Astrid keeps referring to as Wolfe leap back down to the ground without a second thought.



    With a long sigh, she speaks up. “So that was Wolfe? Is he some sort of shapeshifter? I beg of you Astrid, just give it to me straight. I want to know if he’s some sort of weirdo druid before I go any farther. I really think I like him, I hope that’s ok.” She says, with as full an air of honesty as she can muster at the time. Squatting over Mori and Millicent, she brushes their hair with a concerned look on her face. Two sigils appear over their foreheads as the look of determination on their faces fades back into sleep.

With a little burst of magic, Astrid casts a quickening spell on Blue Cheetahberry, who bolts off with renewed vigor to try and win the race. She looks at Gwen when she lands on the carriage again. “Aye, that’s Wolfe! That’s what I’ve been tryna tell ya!” the girl says, looking a bit exasperated. “They’re a shapeshifter, aye, but I wouldn’t call ‘em no druid or nothin’. Just… natural at it.”

For a moment, Astrid holds her tongue. She’s not going to spill Blue’s secret without their permission, and while it’s been fun to try to get the two of them together, it’s obvious that Gwen’s really invested in Wolfe the knight racing for her honor. “They like yer company too, I think. They’re racin’ off ta win the race fer ya, on their honor as a knight!” She looks off to see the blue cheetah tearing across the field, quickly making headway to catch up to the remaining racers.

Astrid looks at Gwen. “Let’s catch up! We can deal with yer cart an’ maids later!” With a whistle, Astrid calls Arcus back over for Gwen to ride then casts the same speedy magic on the pegasus. “Ya can ride Arcus, I’ll fly meself!” Then she opens her wings and leaps off the cart suspended in the air to catch up with Blue or at least see them cross the finish line.

---

Quicken
Bat Wings [post 1/3]

Blue Cheetahberry dashed forward, racing past the still smoldering remains of most of the competitor's wagons and carts. So many had been destroyed by magic blasts, arrows, and even some explosives lobbed by the competition. By this point in the race there were only a few racers left, but those that remained were only the most fierce or skilled.

With the help of the speed-enhancing magic from Astrid, Blue was closing the gap between them and the other racers. Balls of fire and projectiles made of water and stone shot between the wagons up ahead, each trying to take the others out of the race. One wagon finally took a boulder directly to the back wheel and suddenly turned as the momentum of one side of the wagon became double that of the other. The wagon spiraled out of control, kicking up sand around it as it went.

Blue dodged to the side and ran past it. There was one less competitor to worry about, but now that they'd gotten this close the other wagons took notice of the huge, electric blue cheetah that stood out horrendously on the orange sand. There was a moment of confusion about it, seeing as it didn't even have a rider atop it, they didn't even know if Blue was an actual competitor or some wild animal chasing after them. Either way, weapons turned toward the blue cheetah that was zooming straight toward them.

    She smiled and blushed, then nodded to Arcus as she hopped back down on his waiting back. The old her might have abused the conversation to steal a secret from Astrid, but now, She was looking forward to finding things out the old fashioned way. With a wave to the maids and a short kick of her heels, they were off. Gwendolyn had no choice but to wrap her arms tightly around Arcus as he dropped through the sky and sped forward. She only hoped that he was smart enough to follow Wolfe, because she certainly didn’t feel in control up here.



    For the first time, the wind was whipping the veil on her face fast enough that she couldn’t even smell it anymore. But at least they were catching up.



“Go Wolfe!” She shouted over the wind, only hoping to be heard over the rest of the chaos occurring below. The Cheetah dodged an out of control wagon, and raced forth as the horse-rider to his rear drew back a bow. Gwendolyn frowned, and then realized she was still technically a participant in the race. A quick smirk manifested as she unveiled a surprise she’d been holding on to since the beginning. She pulled back at the neck of Arcus to slow him down just enough to keep her aim on target.



    A massive solid steel weapon appeared in a burst of mist in front of her. It was a cannon sized piece of equipment with what looked like several hollow rods mounted around the outside of a solid inner core. Several engravings and silver filigree adorned it’s various crevices and shone in the sun as the entire thing began to slowly spin faster whilst mid-air. As it reached the first stage of it’s rotations, the engravings on the outer rods began to glow, and three bright blue bolts escaped from the front.



    The first two landed in front of the rider, who’s arrow flew wide as a result of the interference. The third however, landed square in the ribs, launching him off the horse and into the sands. Gwen cheered and waved, sending encouragement to her shapeshifty paramour. 



Arkanon Aurelia- An interesting steel staff made of several rods wrapped around themselves that is extremely heavy, and extensively decorated with Gold Filigree. Enchanted by the magics of the Mystwud, this artifact is capable of firing an increasing amount of magic beams the longer it's activated. The first post the staff is used it can fire three arcane blast that reach up to 50 feet and deal blunt damage. While firing, your movement is halved and can only make simple movements, like walking forward, backwards or side to side. You can choose to continue firing the staff for up to five more post, letting you shoot three more arcane blast each post. If the staff has been used for three or more post in a row it requires a two post cool down before it can be used again. (This cool down will begin after the weapon has finished firing)

Powered by her quickening spell, Arcus charges forward in the air with his new rider, and Astrid follows behind at a distance to keep an eye out on her friends. Arcus doesn’t have a chance of catching up with Blue at this pace, but at least he can get Gwen close enough to see the cheetah finish. But Blue reaches a gaggle of chaos ahead. To Astrid’s surprise, Gwen whips out a special magical canon and fires it off, giving Blue an opening to charge ahead. Well, now Astrid has to check that out later! She hopes Gwen will let her.

It’s not over yet though. Astrid gathers up what magic she has and applies a combination of spells to launch herself ahead to support Blue through the final stretch. A touch of increased speed, the activation of the teleportation of her cloak, and a few bursts of dashing magic sends Astrid forward, blinking ahead as far as she can with the teleport before flying in a blur to catch up with Blue.

She flings her war hammer through the spokes of a wagon wheel. The wagon breaks down, dragging in the sand and kicking up a dust cloud. Another wagon comes to a sudden halt as a burst of purple energy slams into it, freezing it in place. The riders fly forward off their cart. In combination with Gwen’s cannon, the way is clear for Blue.

“GO WOLFE, YA GOT IT!!” Astrid cries as the toll of using so much magic slows her down and makes it hard to keep up any longer.

---

Quicken
Blink (Displacer Cloak)
Bullet Dash
Suspend Item
Bat Wings [post 2/3]

Blue felt the effects of Astrid's spell fading, their speed falling back to normal. That was fine though, the spell had already helped more than enough. They'd closed the gap and passed some of the other racers and now they kept running as fast as they could with both Gwen and Astrid supporting them from behind, covering for them and taking out some more of the other racers.

As the cheetah dashed past another wagon, they aimed crossbows and wands at the big cat angrily. But, before any of them could fire, the cart suddenly stopped and all of them were thrown off as the cart magically stopped in place. A man on a horse aimed a bow at the cat and then suddenly took a metal pole to the ribs and was thrown off, tumbling across the sand.

The way was clear before them! They could see the finish line in the distance. Now they just needed to stay in the lead and they'd win this and be able to become a knight! For good measure, Blue let some blue ooze flow down their legs as they ran and form a puddle in the sand behind them, like a slimy oasis in the desert.

One cart paid the puddle no mind and drove right over it to find they were suddenly stuck in place, their wheals glued to the ground by the sticky ooze. Like the riders in the cart Astrid had cast her spell on, they flew forward out of the wagon. Luckily for them, the momentum carried them over and clear of the puddle to tumble across sand.

The other wagons had to veer out of the way to avoid crashing into the stuck wagon or getting stuck themselves. They just couldn't keep up with the cheetah, and couldn't take it out. Any of the few projectiles they managed to launch despite Astrid and Gwen's attacks were flicked away or suddenly went wide, redirected by the static electricity Blue gave off.

Blue ran across the finish line to a slightly confused, but still cheering crowd. Once the cheetah morphed into a man in a suit of armor and raised their arms victoriously, the crowd went wild, now knowing that the random animal was indeed a competitor and had won the race!

---

Goo Puddle
Dancing Chains
Static Field