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<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7588849" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p><strong>The trial of adulthood</strong></p><p></p><p>We walk around the court some more and talk to various courtiers only to find out that getting an audience with the Bruse is really pretty much one of the hardest things to achieve in Ber. We also catch the rumor that Bruse Shantus isn't really into this whole governing stuff or keen on managing stately affairs and getting his attention by mentioning political reasons might be futile. One courtier finally gives us the advice to maybe participate in the traditional adulthood challenge as Bruse Shantus really likes watching games – even if this trial might be dangerous for us. </p><p></p><p>So we apply for the trial and are being told that this includes navigating a labyrinth and tests for both our wits and courage. The clerk also explains that the trials are usually adjusted to be a challenge for each individual participant, so that elderly people might not really risk losing their lives in the process. We agree that navigating a labyrinth is quite in our repertoire – after all, we chased Asrabey through the labyrinth of the fortress on Axis Island a year ago – and decide to participate. </p><p></p><p>To get even more attention at court, we attend to as many different events as possible in the mean time where we chat with various officials and guests of honor. Auryn takes some time to show off variations of traditional eladrin dances and beran folk songs to grab the courtier's attention. After all, berans aren't really used to eladrin culture, so this might just be an opportunity for them to see something fancy and new. Plus Auryn herself is quite the impressive person, so grabbing the attention of a few berans isn't really that big of a deal for her. </p><p></p><p>The evening after our formal application for the trial, we are visited by another clerk of the court to sign more paperwork and learn the rules of the trial. He tries to dissuade us from participating though as he says that there have been rumors about someone with quite the influence who paid a good sum to make our trial as difficult as possible. We guess that this “someone” might just be Lya or someone of her entourage or simply a beran official who'd like to gain favors with the Bruse by sparing him the situation of having to deal with two similar requests. Still we won't let the prospect of a difficult trial intimidate us as this means getting even more attention if we manage to succeed anyway. </p><p></p><p>The clerk just shrugs in response and then explains that we'll have to wear glowing crowns all the time so the audience may easily spot our progress. Losing the crown will count as a failure. We're also discouraged from using magic as this might be seen as cheating. Which makes us wonder whether Ber has some serious problem with magically gifted people.</p><p></p><p>We use the following night to get some rest and get ready for the upcoming trial which is scheduled for the next evening. This next evening, we are brought to the entrance of the labyrinth and presented to the huge crowd of spectators. Many of the higher ranking attendants are sitting on a massive stand, including Bruse Shantus and his two main advisers, Kenna Vigilante, minister of dragon affairs and grand vizier Zarkava Ssa'litt. Our presenter gives us the last minute advice to use wits and dares instead of simply fighting through the challenges before he announces us as the newly knighted Knights of Risur, champions of the battle of the Avery Isles who even dared to battle a massive colossus. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(Yeah, we didn't really think about telling tales of our victory against Borne or our chase through Cloudwood. Totally forgot about using these facts...)</span></p><p></p><p>As we're quite obviously strong contestants, the summer court decided to offer us a true challenge, the man says, by replacing the traditional bear obstacles with B.E.A.R. obstacles, courtesy of Fordren industries. The crowd then cheers for Mr. Fordren, who is seated among the VIPs on the stand, quite close to Lya Jierre. The presenter then adds that Pemberton Industries didn't want to play second fiddle, even if Mr. Pemberton could not attend in person this time. But he sent his newest creation, the Shaggy Mk.2 to offer a proper challenge to his fellow risuri compatriots. </p><p></p><p>Fortunately, we know quite a bit about the B.E.A.R. and its weaknesses, even if this Shaggy automaton is quite new for us. So we and Flying Spark enter the labyrinth and decide to take it slowly at the beginning. We encounter various moats which we examine by poking a staff into the dark water and find that one of them isn't as deep as the others. We also explain our analytical approach to the audience and add that walking through shallow water could be an option, but we're not here to get wet feet. So we just throw Flying Spart to the other side and jump. </p><p></p><p>On our way through the labyrinth, we also spot various trap doors which we avoid to the best of our abilities. Then we suddenly encounter one of the patrolling B.E.A.R.s which then immediately runs towards us. We let him chase us for a while before we head to one of the deeper moats, jump it again and watch how the automaton ends up in deep, murky water. </p><p></p><p>We continue our exploration and encounter more B.E.A.R.s. This time, we let them chase us and have them fall into the trap doors. As these traps include one way out, we get them to a part of the labyrinth where their pathing causes them to fall into the traps again and again, leaving them in a never ending loop. </p><p></p><p>“So Fordren Industries finally decided to test their product against live opponents? Seems as if they're easily outwitted and fall prone to the most obvious traps!” Carlyle exclaims with a laugh as he presents four B.E.A.R.s which are trapped in the trap-loop. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(A pretty obvious stab at Fordren who might not be that amused to see his creations fail due to bad programming. But we knew the limits of the B.E.A.R.'s logic as Delft had agreed to buy one for the RHC and we spend quite some time to test it.)</span></p><p><span style="color: #008000"></span></p><p>Just after he finished his mockery, Carlyle almost runs into what appears to be a massive bear-shaped robot covered in fur. As this automaton is easily four times as big as the B.E.A.R., we get that this thing must be the mysterious Shaggy Mk.2. Unfortunately, the Shaggy is much too big to get him trapped like the B.E.A.R.s, so we let him chase us while we're trying to find yet another B.E.A.R. </p><p></p><p>Fortunately, we find another one of Fordren's creations and hope that the two automatons detect each other as enemy. We let both Shaggy and B.E.A.R. come close to us and then try to dive through the legs of the huge Shaggy. Said bear-bot has quite the reactions and manages to catch Carlyle with his paw the moment he's sliding underneath it. Auryn stabs its metal paw at a joint which causes it to lose its grip on Carlyle before she follows his path underneath the creature's belly. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(This was quite a lose interpretation of the disarming swashbuckler maneuver. But hey, “dropping everything held” in its paw can easily include a living deva, right?)</span></p><p></p><p>The rest of the plan seems to work smoothly, as the Shaggy locks his target on the B.E.A.R. and vice versa. Thankfully, the original place of the Shaggy Mk.2 also marks the last compartment of the labyrinth so that we manage to escape the trial in a timely manner. We got some scratches in the process – almost all due to the sudden appearance of the Shaggy – but our wounds are tended to by a Shaman waiting at the end of the labyrinth. </p><p></p><p>After getting out in one piece while still wearing our crowns, the presenter declares us to be fully recognized adults by beran standards which earns us a thundering applause. Lya appears less amused while Fordren doesn't seem to mind seeing his B.E.A.R.s fail at all. Bruse Shantus declares that we'll have our wish for an audience granted the next morning, so we might spend the evening feasting and having fun. </p><p></p><p><span style="color: #008000">(Yeah, that's obviously what <em>he </em>wishes to do...)</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7588849, member: 6816692"] [b]The trial of adulthood[/b] We walk around the court some more and talk to various courtiers only to find out that getting an audience with the Bruse is really pretty much one of the hardest things to achieve in Ber. We also catch the rumor that Bruse Shantus isn't really into this whole governing stuff or keen on managing stately affairs and getting his attention by mentioning political reasons might be futile. One courtier finally gives us the advice to maybe participate in the traditional adulthood challenge as Bruse Shantus really likes watching games – even if this trial might be dangerous for us. So we apply for the trial and are being told that this includes navigating a labyrinth and tests for both our wits and courage. The clerk also explains that the trials are usually adjusted to be a challenge for each individual participant, so that elderly people might not really risk losing their lives in the process. We agree that navigating a labyrinth is quite in our repertoire – after all, we chased Asrabey through the labyrinth of the fortress on Axis Island a year ago – and decide to participate. To get even more attention at court, we attend to as many different events as possible in the mean time where we chat with various officials and guests of honor. Auryn takes some time to show off variations of traditional eladrin dances and beran folk songs to grab the courtier's attention. After all, berans aren't really used to eladrin culture, so this might just be an opportunity for them to see something fancy and new. Plus Auryn herself is quite the impressive person, so grabbing the attention of a few berans isn't really that big of a deal for her. The evening after our formal application for the trial, we are visited by another clerk of the court to sign more paperwork and learn the rules of the trial. He tries to dissuade us from participating though as he says that there have been rumors about someone with quite the influence who paid a good sum to make our trial as difficult as possible. We guess that this “someone” might just be Lya or someone of her entourage or simply a beran official who'd like to gain favors with the Bruse by sparing him the situation of having to deal with two similar requests. Still we won't let the prospect of a difficult trial intimidate us as this means getting even more attention if we manage to succeed anyway. The clerk just shrugs in response and then explains that we'll have to wear glowing crowns all the time so the audience may easily spot our progress. Losing the crown will count as a failure. We're also discouraged from using magic as this might be seen as cheating. Which makes us wonder whether Ber has some serious problem with magically gifted people. We use the following night to get some rest and get ready for the upcoming trial which is scheduled for the next evening. This next evening, we are brought to the entrance of the labyrinth and presented to the huge crowd of spectators. Many of the higher ranking attendants are sitting on a massive stand, including Bruse Shantus and his two main advisers, Kenna Vigilante, minister of dragon affairs and grand vizier Zarkava Ssa'litt. Our presenter gives us the last minute advice to use wits and dares instead of simply fighting through the challenges before he announces us as the newly knighted Knights of Risur, champions of the battle of the Avery Isles who even dared to battle a massive colossus. [COLOR="#008000"](Yeah, we didn't really think about telling tales of our victory against Borne or our chase through Cloudwood. Totally forgot about using these facts...)[/COLOR] As we're quite obviously strong contestants, the summer court decided to offer us a true challenge, the man says, by replacing the traditional bear obstacles with B.E.A.R. obstacles, courtesy of Fordren industries. The crowd then cheers for Mr. Fordren, who is seated among the VIPs on the stand, quite close to Lya Jierre. The presenter then adds that Pemberton Industries didn't want to play second fiddle, even if Mr. Pemberton could not attend in person this time. But he sent his newest creation, the Shaggy Mk.2 to offer a proper challenge to his fellow risuri compatriots. Fortunately, we know quite a bit about the B.E.A.R. and its weaknesses, even if this Shaggy automaton is quite new for us. So we and Flying Spark enter the labyrinth and decide to take it slowly at the beginning. We encounter various moats which we examine by poking a staff into the dark water and find that one of them isn't as deep as the others. We also explain our analytical approach to the audience and add that walking through shallow water could be an option, but we're not here to get wet feet. So we just throw Flying Spart to the other side and jump. On our way through the labyrinth, we also spot various trap doors which we avoid to the best of our abilities. Then we suddenly encounter one of the patrolling B.E.A.R.s which then immediately runs towards us. We let him chase us for a while before we head to one of the deeper moats, jump it again and watch how the automaton ends up in deep, murky water. We continue our exploration and encounter more B.E.A.R.s. This time, we let them chase us and have them fall into the trap doors. As these traps include one way out, we get them to a part of the labyrinth where their pathing causes them to fall into the traps again and again, leaving them in a never ending loop. “So Fordren Industries finally decided to test their product against live opponents? Seems as if they're easily outwitted and fall prone to the most obvious traps!” Carlyle exclaims with a laugh as he presents four B.E.A.R.s which are trapped in the trap-loop. [COLOR="#008000"](A pretty obvious stab at Fordren who might not be that amused to see his creations fail due to bad programming. But we knew the limits of the B.E.A.R.'s logic as Delft had agreed to buy one for the RHC and we spend quite some time to test it.) [/COLOR] Just after he finished his mockery, Carlyle almost runs into what appears to be a massive bear-shaped robot covered in fur. As this automaton is easily four times as big as the B.E.A.R., we get that this thing must be the mysterious Shaggy Mk.2. Unfortunately, the Shaggy is much too big to get him trapped like the B.E.A.R.s, so we let him chase us while we're trying to find yet another B.E.A.R. Fortunately, we find another one of Fordren's creations and hope that the two automatons detect each other as enemy. We let both Shaggy and B.E.A.R. come close to us and then try to dive through the legs of the huge Shaggy. Said bear-bot has quite the reactions and manages to catch Carlyle with his paw the moment he's sliding underneath it. Auryn stabs its metal paw at a joint which causes it to lose its grip on Carlyle before she follows his path underneath the creature's belly. [COLOR="#008000"](This was quite a lose interpretation of the disarming swashbuckler maneuver. But hey, “dropping everything held” in its paw can easily include a living deva, right?)[/COLOR] The rest of the plan seems to work smoothly, as the Shaggy locks his target on the B.E.A.R. and vice versa. Thankfully, the original place of the Shaggy Mk.2 also marks the last compartment of the labyrinth so that we manage to escape the trial in a timely manner. We got some scratches in the process – almost all due to the sudden appearance of the Shaggy – but our wounds are tended to by a Shaman waiting at the end of the labyrinth. After getting out in one piece while still wearing our crowns, the presenter declares us to be fully recognized adults by beran standards which earns us a thundering applause. Lya appears less amused while Fordren doesn't seem to mind seeing his B.E.A.R.s fail at all. Bruse Shantus declares that we'll have our wish for an audience granted the next morning, so we might spend the evening feasting and having fun. [COLOR="#008000"](Yeah, that's obviously what [I]he [/I]wishes to do...)[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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