[Adventure] The Race of the Five Horns (DM: stonegod, Judge: THB)

The antagonism of the Cyran team strikes a chord with Crush, and taps into a well of sincere fury. He shouts, "Fools! You claim to race in the name of Cyre? I am a weapon of Cyre, and I'll Crush you just as surely as I did Metrol's enemies in the Last War!"

Unfortunately, Crush's outburst causes him to lose his attunement to the movements of his soarsled, which wobbles dangerously, causing Crush to lose his foothold. The warforged slips off his sled, and for a moment it seems he will fall, but he manages to catch hold of the edge of the construct. Gradually through a serious expenditure of strength and will, he climbs back onto the soaring contraption, though not before colliding painfully with several clotheslines, footbridges, and lightning rods.

[sblock=rolls]Intimidate +16 = 25, Athletics +10 = 13[/sblock]

Ryk and Spring deal with the Cyrans as a team. Ryk hurls taunts and insults (using his Intimidate = 20) while using the solid presence of Spring's reptilian body to stabilize the craft (using Spring's Endurance = 20), hoping to get through the gauntlet one way or the other. After forcing the Cyrans out of his way, he puts on a burst of speed to leave them in the dust (Athletics = 24)

The Talenta have beaten Cyre every time you've gone against us. Today will be no different. Don't get too close; he bites!
rolls

"There are things underground that would set you trembling on mere sight of them. Among them we walk unafraid. Unseen, unheard, mentioned only in whisper, we are nightmares of creatures that would be your nightmares. See me and know fear!"

Somehow boastful speech strikes a chord with those seeing minute drow threatening hulking hobgoblins and experienced Cyrans with nothing more then a dagger. What may have put hesitation into them might be shadows clinging around him and darkness in his eyes. Or maybe the fact that nobody saw anything before he started speaking almost among them pulling darkness of the tunnels with him.

[sblock=Rolls]
Stealth (1d20+9=25) - if this is useless as skill challenge skill use it as aid another for some other skill or re-use as Streetwise (it would be 22 then)

Intimidate (1d20+13=22)
[/sblock]

Vok stares down the approaching Cyran with a withering look and a wave of his still exposed blade. "You'd best try someone else if you value your life" he shouts at the Cyrans.

Seeing the hobgoblins battling the Cyrans, Vok has an idea and looks for the female hobgoblin that had been watching him in the bar last night. He maneuvers closer to her, his free hand held up in a nonthreatening manner. "Hey there, got a proposal for you, we work together and stop letting the Cyrans push around, then battle it out at the end? Work for you?" the half-elf says with a grin, before moving back towards his team.

[sblock=ooc]
intimidate; diplomacy (1d20+12=31, 1d20+14=34) Wow... so I go with 8 straight misses with Ashir, my L4W wizard, but roll a 19 & 20 on this check? Man I wish Tamarand was rolling like this as well.

Anyways, Diplomacy is to get the hobgoblins to work with us to stop the Cyrans! [/sblock]

Rikka continued to enjoy the sensation of flight as she swerved her soarsled back and forth through the crush of competitors. One or two tried to close within ramming distance, but she was nimble enough to evade any direct collisions- and like any skilled hunter, once her target was in sight, she felt a renewed burst of energy, propelling her all the faster...

OOC:
>Mandatory Endurance check: 1d20+7= 26
>Acrobatics check: 1d20+10=25
>Rolls: Roll Lookup

Crush's baleful look keeps a wicked-nosed Cyran away, but it distracts him long enough to almost loose his sled. He manages to catch himself, but others have begun to catch up.

[1 Failure]

Ryk's taunting of a hulking Cyran that just barreled through two of the hobs is enough to startle the foe, giving the plainsman an opening to barrel through him at the same time.

[I'll remind everyone that you get 1 skill roll (besides mandatory ones I ask); Spring and Ryk don't get two. As it is, you succeed]

Bellegon uses his knowledge of what he has seen of this district to seem to come out of nowhere above the Cyran that was pestering Crush. It gives the warforged some time to recover his sled and sends the human back apace.

[No were really to hide right now, so I'll use Streetwise. 1 Success.]

Vok snickers at a lithe Cyran that was pestering the hogoblin female (a fetching human if not for her flat eyes), and she smiles in agreement to work together for the moment. With Vok's distraction, she is able to make a quick leg sweep that sends the antagonist flying...

[Success]

Rikka, who was watching all of this as she glided through, sees her opening at takes it. As the Cyran who was bothering Vok spins out of control, she rams his sled with her own, sending it spiraling into his compatriots. She then speeds into the clear.

[Success. You pass the stage! But...]

Rikka races ahead, the rest of her team close behind and the hobs not too far distant. Coming around a thin spire mounted at angles to a larger tower, she sees the final banner. A sprint across the skyway will do it, and no other team seems to have passed the banner...

BAMPF!

With a sudden noise, an aristocratic looking human just appears out in front of the shifter without warning. A few more BAMPFs later and a whole team sudden appears in the air, soarsleds screaming. One of them, a rakishly thin one, turns to the Five Winds and gives them a jaunty wave before they pull ahead. The interlopers are pass the final gate before Rikka can catch up. The gathered crowd goes wild![sblock=Rikka, Ryk, Vok]You clearly see what appears to an iridescent blue-white tatoo on his check. A dragonmark![sblock=Arcana/History 10]House Orien to be sure.[/sblock][/sblock]The crowd continues to cheer as The Five Winds pass the gate, followed closely by Blood of the Six Kings, Team First Against the Wall (who managed to pass the disoriented Cyrans), the Cyrans of Dannel's Sorrow. Other teams slowly make their way through, for four have been disqualified: Team Six Bridges for failing to make the fourth gate after one ran into a shadowed wall, Team Bloody Hands for failing to make the first gate after one fell from their sled (the search is ongoing), and Team Bear's Honors and Tallain's rangers for opening baring arms after the leader of the latter called the leader of the former a "guttersnipe." The former First Corporal of the King's Lancers did not take that to well.

On a new podium, Lord ir'Haran declares Team Horn's Apex the winners of the first stage. Their leader, the aristocratic one, bows and waves to the gathered crowd who cheer once again. The cheer is still loud when the Five Winds are called for their winning.

There will be a short intermission while the second test is prepared. Teams, please await being called in turn! With that, there is little to do but wait.

[A short break for any RP. I'll move on early next week]

Final Results

Stage 1
Successes: 4/4 Failures: 0/3

Stage 2
Successes: 4/4 Failures: 0/3; Bellegon lost 1 HS

Stage 3
Successes: 4/4 Failures: 0/3

Stage 4
Successes: 4/4 Failures: 1/3; Ryk lost 1 HS

Stage 5
Successes: 4/4 Failures: 1/3

Overall
10/1 Success to Failure Ratio. Great!

OOC: Obviously not great enough Just wondering, did you roll for all these teams or simply assigned them places and then described the details?

"Well, that went well. I may prepare an anti-magic or anti-teleportation scroll for the next year race. I'd stay behind just to see their faces when marks fail to function!

Still, fair win, they used their resources wisely."

[sblock=Ranking]Team order is depended on how well the party rolls. Who comes in where otherwise is magic! Team Royal fops, however, was always going to lose.

And the full race isn't over yet, of course.[/sblock]

"Fair? We didn't see them the whole race then the pop out of nowhere and win. Now I don't know too much about magic, but that seems a little crazy, how many times can they use it and how far is its reach? I mean we were at the front and so it seems pretty far. Anyways, I can't imagine anyway to combat people teleporting, so the next test might be over before it starts if they can do stuff like this." Vok says exasperatedly, still feeling the sting of the second place finish. The half-elf polishes his blade during the interim, even though it hadn't got so much as a spot of dirt on it.

"Wouldn't you do it if you could? There's nothing in the rules that we heard that forbidds that kind of thing. So it's fair. And even if it was forbidden I'd use it in the tunnels to bypass several bad turns or if I was about to be rammed by a coach. Or minotaur.

In the next trial we have less opponents to worry about, there are some disqualified. I look forward to one that includes hunting especially if it is in those tunnels in the dark. It'll be like home." says Bellegon. Was it kind a wistful? Is that even possible for evil drow? One wonders...