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Post by Veliky on Mar 31, 2023 22:19:42 GMT -5
"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the time has come again!"
The sun is beating down on the green fields, but a cool wind keeps skin cool and raises spirits. There's a certain ferocity in the air. Perhaps it's the cheers of the half-crowd gathered, bellows and jeers from the myriad people of King's Valley. There's a veritable mosaic of peoples: humans, elves, halflings; and even centaurs and some minotaurs. Indeed, it is that time again; with Thunderhoof Village to their back, the racers know it well. The annual King's Valley Races have begun again, and they're as boisterous as ever before.
But, in spite of the fanfare and mirth, there is also a certain bitterness among spectators. It's subtle, but it can be felt. And though its cause may not be obvious at first, one would need take only a look at the racers participating in order to realize that there is something very, very strange about this race.
The participants today, though cloaked heavily, are clearly no ordinary people. This is obvious by their crimson, glass eyes that glow from beneath their hoods. Truly, it's somewhat bizarre that they bothered to disguise themselves at all -- especially seeing as the steeds that they ride to the starting line are also creatures of tin and steel.
Three men of steel come astride three steeds of steel. The first steed bears shimmering antlers[1]; the second is another mare[2], but spewing flames from its neck to create a mane of fire; the third is much smaller, a quadruple and insect-like thing[3]with spindly legs and erratic eyes of crimson (its rider is rather crammed in the saddle, knees high in the air).
But then comes the fourth -- the only rider in this race, of flesh and blood. And though her skin is not so cold, and her eyes are not so lifeless, she holds an iron resolve within her.
1. (Reindeer) Vixen-01 2. (Nightmare Steed) Envy-04 3. (Bogskipper) Flood-01
Bringing Minions Bishop-13 (Warlord) Knight-06 (Warlord) Rook-16 (Warlord)
Bringing Pets Envy-04 (Nightmare Steed) Flood-01 (Bogskipper) Vixen-01 (Reindeer)
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Post by Delaela Fenastra-Asiliari on Mar 31, 2023 22:51:11 GMT -5
The people of King's Valley needed someone to stand up for them, and Del was, apparently, that person.
The races of King's Valley were really not worthy of the notice of BlixtCo., as far as Del's knowledge went. The CEO seemed to be more in the business of war and profiteering than middling races out in the middle of the plains. Her trek out here was not even on purpose, a necessary detour off the road to avoid the soldiers of the Crown who had set up a checkstop in the road.
As so often was the case, Del found herself in a situation of other people's woes and problems. They were upset, disgruntled, by the fact that some entrepreneur was inserting their machines into the race. The problem was that while 'anything goes' was the main tagline for the event, that meant industrialists could just run rampant, that automatons would replace flesh-and-blood racers, and that the races themselves were likely doomed if this was allowed to continue unadulterated.
She was aware this would bring her unnecessary exposure. She hated, abhorred the spotlight, always doing her best under cover of darkness, or buildings, or some form of secrecy.
As she rides up to the finish line, holding the reigns of the hale and hearty donkey she had been provided to compete, her grimace makes plain just how little secrecy there is to be had here.
Looking around at her competitors, she notes who is along the starting line. Or, rather, what. The automatons, and now automaton steeds pepper the line-up in triplicat. Bots Del did not know of their function, but certainly did know their make.
She turns her eyes to the stands, narrowed slightly, to find the short, blonde CEO among the attendants who had gathered to watch. A brow raises in silence as the racers start taking their marks.
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Post by Veliky on Mar 31, 2023 23:17:21 GMT -5
'Her again?' Veliky's first thought at the sight of the returning Vandal is one more of exasperation than surprise. Of course, it'd be just her luck. And she knows that look. Bitter, resolute -- vengeful.
Things just became somewhat more difficult. But no matter; fortunately, the people organizing this race don't give half a shit about fair play. Which is good, because she doesn't either.
"On your marks...!" the announcer bellows, and the racers take a lowered stance on their steeds (except for the one riding the insect, who has little legroom to do anything of the sort).
But Veliky's already turning away, becoming invisible in the crowd of men and women who utterly dwarf her. She raises her right fist in front of her mouth.
"Get set...!"
With her glove to her lips, she quietly whispers "Desperation." On the back of her hand, sigils begin to glow, surrounding a cerulean pictograph of a person keeling.
"Go!"
The crowd roars, and the racers are off! They tear down the track, ripping grass from the earth as they do! All of them... except one. Because, just as the announcer shouter, Veliky subtly raised her hand, and mana pulsed[1] about the poor donkey that Del now rides. Suddenly, it buckles, barely able to remain on its feet as it becomes completely and utterly debilitated! It's left in the dust as the autonomous mares are breaking down the track!
1. Desperation
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Post by Delaela Fenastra-Asiliari on Mar 31, 2023 23:40:42 GMT -5
At go, Del touches the sides of her donkey's side with her heels, preparing for it to shoot off the starting line like the other creatures... and it does go. Sort of.
The ambling pace is nearly humiliating. She can feel the sluggishness of the creature below her, a haggardness that was not there before she mounted the poor beast of burden. Now her beast of burden.
She glowers to herself as she leans over the neck of the donkey, patting its neck soothingly. "Come on, girl, shake it off. We gotta win this for the people, you know? That farmer of yours is counting on you."
Whether it was the pep talk or simply the spell starting to wear off, the donkey seems to start to get its power back. The pace begins to pick up, the creature charging down towards the leaders of the race track where they round the corner.
As she starts to close in, she rises up in her stirrups slightly, standing as the donkey canters beneath her. Del summons her energy, breathing deep as the life force within her channels through her limbs.[1] Within 10 feet of the rider of the strange flaming horse automaton with a rider on its back, unbothered by the fire, Del jabs out two punches[2] towards the Nightmare's legs, intending to make it go down as hard and fast as possible.
[1] Art of the Soul - Monk Prestige [2] Two Piece (2 hits to the horse)
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Post by Veliky on Apr 1, 2023 15:46:32 GMT -5
As Del conjures throes of magical might, the rider before her would be remiss to not hear it. On a pivot-neck, its head swivels to face her.
A single eye; lateral, like a knight's visor. Del's seen this before. It isn't one of the rank-and-file, but an elite in its craft. Its abilities are untold...
But, perhaps fortunately, Del is not fighting it on even ground. And by turning its steed into its weakness, Del sends both automatons crashing violently into the dirt. Awful crunching and cries of synthetic pain are abound, but are quickly lost as Del abandons them both and continues on her path.
One down.
Several minutes pass. Despite her grievous start, Del has gained ground. But the hard truth is that she's lacking in speed when compared to the other two contestants; if she's going to succeed, she'll need to continue with less-than-savoury tactics.
Perhaps she could wrench some advantage from a certain change of scenery. After all, this is no ordinary race -- in these events, it rarely is. The first obstacle is just ahead.
Solid soil turns to fertile mud, and the grass that was once ubiquitous now grows only in clumps as the terrain transforms from plain to marsh. Torrential rainfall in the past months has collected here, between the hills, to form a damp and treacherous landscape. The track leads between wide, clear puddles, and is certainly too slippery for a steed to easily traverse. And yet they must.
Surely even the Blixtbots™ would have difficulty with this, right?
But as they come to the marsh, the horned steed's hooves begin to glow. Just as it would stampede into a puddle, it instead begins to rise into the air, galloping on nothing at all as it soars[1] over the marsh! Its majestic hull gleams brilliantly in the sunlight.
Meanwhile, the insectoid construct seems to be taking a different path. Instead of keeping to the track, it diverts, riding toward the deep puddles of the marsh itself. But when its needle-like feet touch the water, it doesn't sink -- it's held aloft on the water's surface, and continues to stride forward! And as if this subterfuge weren't appalling enough, the steed lowers its body, such that its bottom just submerges. A bladed instrument at its rear begins to spin like a whirling blade, sending a storm of droplets flying backward as the machine rockets across the marsh at incredible speeds!
Fairness, it would seem, is in as short supply as time.
1. Flight (Vixen-01)
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Post by Delaela Fenastra-Asiliari on Apr 1, 2023 17:01:31 GMT -5
They're managing to do well, all things considered. Del is still quietly urging her noble donkey steed on, speaking words of encouragement as they make their way around the course. But it wouldn't be so easy as flat ground, now would it.
As the other riders start to struggle with the mire, Del clicks her tongue, guiding her donkey around the outskirts so they can move between patches of less-wet ground so she doesn't get stuck. Even then, Del still has to help the poor girl out, grabbing trees and low lying vines to haul them both up and out of the much[1].
Looking at her opponents, though, she sees one of Veliky's do something. Weird. While that in and of itself was not unusual, it was also a little worrying. It meant something was about to happen.
And of course, the bloody thing starts flying.
And the other one was twirling towards her like an evil blade.
Del groans but raises up on her stirrups again. She focuses on the energy surging around her, focusing it into her chest and then her hands. With a grunt of force, she pushes out at the flying reindeer. The power of her soul fires out in a beam of energy, resonating as a few twirling musical notes through the air as it collides with the mechanical construct.[2]
The second one is a bit more of a pain, the insect drone has to take her priority. Taking hold of the pommel of her saddle, Del vaults up and over her steed, using her grip of the pommel[3] to swing around the donkey's neck, kicking the blade whirling creature as her most valiant steed leaps over it, and smashes it into the mud. The momentum from her swing carries her back up and over onto her donkey's back once again as they charge onward.
With that one out of the way, Del uses the course and her own path-mapping abilities to get around the other riders, over the muck, and back on firm ground once again.[4]
[1] Bulls Strength [2] Art of the Soul - Beam (Art of the Soul ends early) [3] Iron Grip [4] Cat's Grace
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Post by Veliky on Apr 1, 2023 23:50:45 GMT -5
The coalescence of Del's very spirit collides with the tin hull of the flying steed, its melody abruptly halting like a horrid note of a piano! The steed groans and keels, ready to descend. But then, its rider produces a little bottle, whose label denotes its phosphorescent contents as Blixt™ SuperPlus[1]. On the side of the steed's neck, a compartment opens; the rider places the bottle inside, and the compartment closes. Suddenly, the dent that had been created in the steed's hull POPS noisily back into place, and it regains control in the air! Off it soars, still thoroughly in the lead...
It's the last one -- the last mark -- but how will Del be able to take it down?
At last, Del breaks out of the marsh. Returning to solid ground is like returning home after a particularly horrendous vacation. Some thirty yards ahead oh her and ten yards above her, she can see the final Blixtbot™ soaring. She's so close!
Unfortunately, there's one more obstacle in this race -- and this one is far more dangerous than a mere slip in the mud.
Just as the Blixtbot™ soars above a verdant rise, the hill itself begins to rumble and rise! The grass tears itself from the very earth as legs of packed soil stand tall. The track has led just beside the resting place of an indignant golem!
The bot has already passed it. And the behemoth glares down at Delaela, with eyes of burning amber.
1. (Major Health Potion) Blixt™ SuperPlus (Rook-16)
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Post by Delaela Fenastra-Asiliari on Apr 2, 2023 22:36:32 GMT -5
The rider poured something into the reindeer's compartment and... the damn bot just kept going. Del grumbles to herself, urging the poor donkey along, who for its part was thoroughly invested in the race, charging ahead. Del didn't even need to win; BlixtCo. just needed to lose.
An action that seemed harder and harder as this race went on, especially as some sort of behemoth lifted itself aout of the soil, a golem of gigantic proportions. The donkey brays, terrified clearly of this sudden intrusion, and Del sighs. She shoves one of her hands into the gauntlets she carried wrapped at her waist and stands up on the donkey's saddle for one last time, after patting her neck. "Keep going, I'll meet you on the other side."
A heartfelt moment that was interrupted by Del reaching up to grab part of a tree, bending the large branch down as she put her feet onto it, and then using it as a springboard to launch herself up and over and towards the golem, bearing down on it from her new velocity.
The Blixt Gauntlet whirrs to life, the unweildly, not-made-for-flesh-hands thing gripped within as her fist comes out in a firm blow--
The stone giant's head is punched clean off.[1]
Now descending through a cloud of ash and dust, Del grabs the stone head in her hands and hauls it up and over her head. She flings it towards the still flying reindeer with a yell of effort, the boulder shaped object hurtling through the sky towards mechanical rider and steed.[2,3]
Hitting the ground, Del is already at a dead run[4], manuvering past the falling golem, and the debris from the air until she is once more running alongside her donkey. She vaults back onto its back as they charge for the finish line.
[1] Gauntlets of Ginma (BlixtCo. Edition) [2] Improvised Weapon - Brawler Prestige [3] Bull's Strength tattoo [4] Cat's Grace/Surface Scaling
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