Seems Like the Choice Was Obvious All Along
Eager for a moment to relax on his own, Ikswobel woke up before the rest of the Oftyre Party. He whispered to himself, “It will be nice to have a few minutes to myself, breathing in some of that sweet smelling ocean air before this day really gets started. As he walked toward the water, watching the blue and green glow rippling through the waves, he noticed that the pleasant fragrance he was expecting had been replaced by a pungent, repulsive smell. “Gah, what is this, it’s like rancid meat or something, man.”
He walked to the water’s edge where he noticed large clumps of seaweed in several spots along the shoreline. He soon realized he was not going to have a pleasant moment to relax, and instead returned to Camp and laid in the hammock until the others awoke to get started with breakfast.
Shortly after sunrise the rest of the Oftyre Camp awoke and gathered near the central firepit. Ikswobel filled them in on what he observed earlier and the group shared his frustration and confusion about the loss of the pleasant ocean fragrance and the piles of seaweed amassing on their beach.
Vikky said, “At least the water is still beautiful to look at, although the colorful glow is really hard to see against the sunlight, hopefully we can get a better view in the evening.”
The Hauz Party noticed the same changes at their beach, which prompted them to spend their morning discussing what the underlying cause might be and if there was reason to be concerned. As she prepared breakfast for the team, Ixora asked, “Maybe we should pass on catching and eating fish until things are more normal with the water, what do you think?”
The Hauz Party quickly agreed to focus on gathering fruits and attempting hunt on the island for additional food, at least until the pungent smell dissipated. As the group finished breakfast Ajax and Dr. Bash offered to check for Altar Mail.
Upon their return, Ajax and Dr. Bash read the Altar Mail to their teammates in unison:
Be prepared for climbing and lifting
And to combat birds of flame
You must make a wise decision
Or risk losing today’s game
Moments after the pair shared the rhyming message with their fellow Adventurers Geoff appeared at the Hauz Camp. “Alright Adventurers, take a moment to gather whatever gear you may want for today’s Contest and then we will head out.”
The Hauz Party quickly gathered their adventuring gear and began to follow Geoff.
Similarly, the Oftyre Party was greeted by their Geoff after they read the Altar Mail.
“Alright, man! I was hoping you would walk with us to the Contests again!” Said a grinning Ikswobel.
After flashing a big smile, Geoff told them to gather their adventuring gear and to follow him. Both Parties arrived at the Contest location at the same time. They realized it was a familiar spot: a section of beach roughly the same distance between their two Camps. The two Parties gathered on their respective colored mats.
Once the Adventurers had settled in, Geoff said ‘’Hey Adventurers! As you already know today’s Contest is for group Protection from the Vote.”
Austin Bob interrupted, “You know, you could have placed the mats a bit further from the water – it stinks Geoff!”
The Adventurers all laughed at the remark. After a few seconds of silence Geoff smiled, “Well, at least there is no swimming component today.” His retort was met with relieved faces and murmurs of appreciation before the Adventurers settled to hear Geoff describe the Contest. “In addition to the Banner of Victory and Shield of Protection, the winning team will receive a trip to a spa for some rejuvenation.” All the Adventurers excitedly cheered that a Prize was also at stake at the Contest.
“Here is how today’s Contest works. Each Party will choose one person who will climb a twenty-foot rope, after the climb they will drop a rope ladder for the rest of the Party to climb. Once at the top, everyone will cross a narrow balance beam and then slide down a rope before advancing to the next section. Alternatively, you could opt to run across the bed of hot coals underneath the balance beam and skip the ropes and balance beam altogether. Once across, everyone will work together to carry three chests across the thirty-foot long platform. These chests are very heavy and will require two or more people to move them. After the chests are moved, everyone will advance to the sand pit where you will do combat against a creature unique to these Isles: the Flame-ingo. After the Flame-ingos are defeated, the Party will run to the next section, where you will complete one of two combat scenarios. You will do combat against either one Horse-Sized Duck Construct or 100 Duck-Sized Horse Constructs. You will choose which scenario you would like to face before we start the Contest. After the Construct combat is complete, simply run across the finish line – the first Party to have every member cross the finish line wins.”
After explaining the Contest rules, Geoff asked the Oftyre Party which Adventurer would sit out of the Contest as the teams were uneven. They unanimously agreed to have Jayne sit out. Next, Geoff handed each Party two painted stones, one was a dark green and the other was a light blue. “Take a minute to discuss which Construct combat you would like to face, once both Parties are prepared, I will do a countdown and both Parties will reveal their choice at the same time. The green stone will represent the Horse-Sized Duck and the blue stone will represent the 100 duck-sized horses.”
Both groups of Adventurers whispered amongst themselves and within ten seconds both groups were silent and facing Geoff. “Looks like we have our decisions, quickly too.”
He proceeded to count down from three. Ana, for the Hauz Party, and Ikswobel, for the Oftyre Party, both revealed green stones. “Alright, both Parties will be facing a single Horse-Sized Duck Construct today.”
“Is everybody ready?!” Geoff exclaimed. The Adventurers shouted back, some gave a thumbs up or waved to indicate they were prepared. After a quick countdown from three, Geoff shouted, “Go!”
Both the Oftyre and Hauz Party sprinted forward, every Adventurer ran right past the hanging rope opting to instead endure the pain of running through the bed of hot coals. Geoff shouted, “Wow, not a single person opted to spend the time to move forward safely, everyone choose to run through the bed of hot coals!”
Their shoes slightly singed from the hot coals, the Adventurers began to lift the heavy chests and carry them across the 30-foot-wide platform.
“Wow, this is heavy!” Exclaimed Vikky as she let go of the handle on her side, letting the chest slam into the ground with a loud thud.
“Pick it up, we can’t fall behind!” Shouted Austin Bob.
Vikky took a deep breath, pulled up on the handle and the two continued to walk the chest across the platform. As Ikswobel and HOBO ran the third chest across for the Oftyre Party, they saw Dr. Bash carry the Hauz Party’s final chest across on his own. “This is the last one, let’s go!” Dr. Bash shouted at his team.
The Hauz Party reached their sand pit and started combat a few seconds before the Oftyre Party. Geoff ran forward to keep pace with Adventurers and shouted out, “Both Parties have reached the combat portion of the Contest at nearly the same time!”
The Hauz Party capitalized on their small lead, Dr. Bash charged forward and jabbed his spear at one of the two Flame-ingos in the sand pit, wounding it heavily. Ixora dashed forward to leap at the second Flame-ingo, and was able to slice its neck as it focused its attention on Dr. Bash. Ixora followed up this attack with a fatal dagger strike at the Flame-ingo Dr. Bash injured. In a flash Ixora had struck down both creatures. “Let’s go!” Ixora shouted to her team.
“What?! How are they doing this!” Ikswobel shouted as he jogged into the sand pit.
Ikswobel swung his mace and missed. HOBO viciously mocked one Flame-ingo as Austin did the same to the other. “It’s ok guys, we are not going to lose any time here!” Vikky exclaimed. She rapidly fired two arrows from her bow, striking and killing both Flame-ingos. “Awesome, let’s keep moving – we can win this!” Ikswobel shouted.
The Oftyre Party reached their Horse-sized Duck Construct moments after the Hauz Party. HOBO shouted to his team, “This is where we will be able to overtake them!”
HOBO then looked over to Ajax and cast a spell on him, causing Ajax to drop to the ground and laugh incessantly; it was a hideous sight.
Austin Bob responded to HOBO, “Oh, yeah, we aren’t losing today – here is a little more Bardic magic!” He then rapidly strummed on his guitar, a small red bead of magic formed before him, with each strum it grew in size until he struck his final chord to propel it directly at the Construct. As the red glowing bead crashed into the construct, the bead exploded into a small cloud of dust. A moment later a loud boom emanated from the point the bead hit the Construct, immediately forming large cracks in the duck statue.
“Vikky, finish this!” Austin Bob shouted.
Vikky fired an arrow at the Construct, knocking the left wing off the statue with a well-aimed arrow. She then looked over at the Hauz Party as she pulled another arrow from her quiver, seeing Ana and Ixora slashing shortswords at the base of the nearly undamaged Construct. Vikky smiled, turned her attention back at her target and fired another shot, this time at center mass. The arrowhead buried in the chest of the statue and caused many new cracks to spawn from the large cracks created by Austin Bob’s spell. Ikswobel charged forward and swung his mace into the statue, his upward swing knocked the bill of the horse-sized duck clean off, the body collapsing completely moments later.
The Oftyre Party sprinted forward, running past the debris from the Construct and across the finish line. They jumped up and down, shouting with joy and then embraced each other. The Hauz Party silently walked toward the finish line, their frustration was clearly seen on their faces.
“Oftyre Party, once again, congratulations on your win. Take a moment to discuss and then let me know who will wield the Shield of Protection.” After a quick discussion, HOBO walked forward to claim the Shield of Protection for himself and the Banner of Protection for his team.
“A boat will come pick you up and take you to a spa for some rejuvenation. Afterwards the same boat will return you to Camp. Hauz Party, another tough loss, I have nothing for you so go ahead and start walking back to your Camp.”
The Hauz Party were nearly halfway back to their Camp before they broke their silence, Ana complained to the group, “This stinks, I hate that we keep losing the Protection Contests.”
Ixora added, “It definitely stinks, almost as bad as this water.”
The Party chuckled, but the joke did little to raise their spirits, they knew another one of their Party would be out of the Tournament in a matter of hours. As they reached their Camp, the four stood in a circle around their firepit, which was filled with ash and a few, blinking embers.
“Alright, obviously everyone wants to talk to everyone, should we just break into pairs and switch things up every few minutes?” Ixora asked the group, to which everyone agreed and broke off to strategize.
Ixora and Ajax walked off into the woods, leaving Ana and Dr. Bash to discuss at the Camp. “I mean, it has to be Ajax right, he has some strong magic powers, he has that amulet to make him tougher now and he is really smart,” Dr. Bash said to Ana as she nodded along.
“Yeah, I mean I am definitely not going to write your name down and I know you won’t right mine down. I don’t want to send anyone home, you know.”
“Who do you want to vote out?” Ixora asked Ajax after looking over her shoulder to make sure they were alone.
“Ana,” Ajax quickly responded.
After taking a few seconds to think it over, Ixora responded, “Yeah, I mean she is really helpful in Contests and at Camp, but maybe the Party Mix is coming – is that what you are thinking?”
Ajax confirmed that his vote for Ana was based on a belief that the Tournament would soon become an individual game and that Ana is a fierce competitor.
The pairs switched, giving Ana and Ixora a chance to talk and the same for Ajax and Dr. Bash. It was clear at Camp that the names being discussed for the Vote were primarily Ajax and Ana.
“Do you think either of them have a Godsend?” Ajax asked Dr. Bash.
“If they do, I don’t know anything about it… they better not!”
The Oftyre Party had a much more enjoyable afternoon, spending their time relaxing at a spa on one of the nearby islands. “Ahh, now this is what I am talking about – this hot spring is so relaxing!” Ikswobel loudly stated as he sipped on lemonade.
“I think the water is magical, sort of like the ocean water was.” HOBO said as he saw his scrapes and bruises wash away under the spring water.
“Guys, get over here and eat some of this food for me, we can always jump back in the hot spring later.” Vikky called out to her teammates as she tossed a grape into her mouth. The group spent several hours relaxing before Geoff notified them that it was time to take the boat back to Camp.
As the Sun began to set a Geoff appeared at each Camp. “Alright folks, it is time to collect your Urns and make your way to the Party Assembly.”
“Oh wow, I wish we had more time!” Ana exclaimed as she ran to grab her Urn. The four made their way towards the Assembly Hall, it was another quiet walk for the Hauz Party. The Oftyre Party had a more pleasant walk as they were discussing their favorite aspects of their spa treatment as opposed to wondering who might be getting voted out of the Tournament.
“And another awesome thing, look, it is dark enough that we can see the colorful lights in the water again!” Ikswobel said as he led the Oftyre Party towards the Assembly Hall.
As the Hauz Party staggered into the room, they took notice of the smiling Oftyre Party, who were refreshed, clean and free of cuts and bruises. There was a stark contrast in the appearance of the Adventurers, and the same could be said of their disposition.
Once everyone was settled in their seats, Geoff addressed the room. “Welcome to another Party Assembly. Oftyre Party, once again, you are safe from the Vote tonight. As for you Hauz Party, we will talk a bit before we get to the Vote. Just like the last Vote, the Champions Arena is in play in the event of a tie, but the Forsaken Arena continues to be out of play at this point in the game. If any Adventurer receives a majority of the Votes, that player is out of the game.
“OK, let’s get to it. Alright folks, welcome back to another Party Assembly. Oftyre Party, you scored a win today, would you like to say anything about how things are going in this Tournament?”
Ikswobel responded, “I think things are going swell man, team morale is strong.”
HOBO added, “I mean, it is tough obviously, the Hauz Party is good and you cannot go into any Contest assuming you are going to win.”
“So, HOBO and Austin Bob, when we started off in this Tournament, I sensed what could be described as animosity between you two Bards. And now you are on the same Party and it seems like you are meshing really well… so, what exactly is going on?”
Austin Bob replied, “You know, it just took me a minute to realize that it takes two to make a thing go right.”
“I love it, I love it. Speaking of love, although maybe it is too strong of a word, Austin Bob and Vikky… is there something between you two that is more than just an alliance or friendship within the game?”
Vikky replied, “I am not complaining on winning Contests with Bobby, could be worse.”
“So is there something real there Vikky, or is it mostly gameplay? You don’t have to answer, but I am curious and I am sure the other Adventurers are too”
Vikky smiled, “Like I said, its not bad spending time with Austin Bob in this Tournament.”
“OK, let’s switch gears and hear from the Hauz Party. Before we get into some of the finer details, we obviously have a very pressing vote coming our way, I think we finally got an answer to the question of if it is better to fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses.”
Ixora chimed in, “Do we really have an answer, since no one chose the 100 duck-sized horses?”
“Because both Parties quickly chose the Horse-Sized Duck it seems like the choice was obvious all along.”
Ajax then responded, “We thought about it tactically and we knew we couldn’t attack a lot of different targets in a small amount of time.”
“So, that is an interesting point you bring up, a big difference between the current Oftyre and Hauz Parties is that the Oftyre Party seems to have more Adventurers who can utilize magic in combat. And on the flip side, the Hauz Party seems to be able to handle the more physical tasks more proficiently. Do you think this difference is an advantage or disadvantage for the Hauz Party? Or does it not really have an impact on the Contests?”
Dr. Bash answered Geoff’s question by saying, “Honestly, I think we have a very balanced team in terms of magical abilities and physical prowess. It did not pan out for us today, but I think having a balanced team will help us in the long run on the Contests.”
“Let’s turn our attention to the Vote. What is tonight’s vote about? Is it about Party strength and making sure you can go into the next Contest with a bit of an edge or is it about taking out a strong contender to give yourself the best chance when it eventually becomes an individual game?”
Ajax chimed in, “I think its actually about the individual relationships, if a Party Mix is coming, it really matters how close are you with the other Adventurers.”
Dr. Bash added, “It is a difficult decision either way, and you just have to go with your gut. Ultimately it is about putting yourself in a position to win the game.”
“I know we are eager to get the Vote, but before we get there, what are we thinking about Godsends? Do we think they are in play?”
“We know they are in play.” Several Adventurers responded, nearly in unison.
Ana added, “We know they are out there since earlier in the Tournament, Jayne was blinded by a Godsend ability.”
“Let me be more specific, do we think there is a chance any Godsends will be played tonight?”
Ixora responded, “I have no idea.”
After which Ajax, Dr. Bash and Ana all added that they were unsure or that it was hard to tell.
“Alright, is there anything else we want to talk about or are we ready to vote?”
Ajax raised his hand then said, “I haven’t heard much of a discussion around voting for Ixora, so I think she is the most safe of us all. So, I am curious Ixora if you wanted to share what you were thinking for tonight’s vote?”
Ixora looked at Ajax and responded, “I was feeling safe until you pointed that out that no one was targeting me… so thanks for that. I don’t really have much advice, trust your gut.”
“Raise your hand if you feel safe tonight.”
No one raised their hand.
“Wow, this is in sharp contrast to the last time, where every member of the Hauz Party felt safe. Alright, with that, let’s get to the vote.”
One by one, the Hauz Party members cast their votes and returned to their seats.
Geoff retrieved the Votes as the Hauz Party nervously watched. “OK, all the votes have been cast, if you have a Godsend you would like to play, this is the time to do so.”
After a brief pause, Geoff nodded his head and said, “I will tally the vo-”
Ajax shouted, “Wait!” and walked over to Geoff and handed him an amulet with an orange gemstone surrounded by small grey stones. Geoff took the amulet from him and examined in under the torch light.
“This… is a Godsend. It is a Godsend from Ormuzelo, the Spirit God of Stone. It provides whoever wears it an increase in durability and may be used for Protection from the Vote. Votes cast against Ajax will not count.”
As soon as Ajax sat back down, Ana stood up, “I would also like to play something.”
Adventurers of both Parties began to shout out of excitement from the unexpected situation.
Ana walked over to Geoff and handed him an amulet with a green gemstone at the center, surrounded by gold metal fashioned to look like vines. Like with Ajax’s Geoff took the amulet and examined it.
“This… is also a Godsend. It is a Godsend from Janumitra, the Spirit God of Plants. It provides the wearer two Goodberries a day and may be used for Protection from the Vote. Votes cast against Ana will not count.
Before Ana returned to her seat, Ixora jumped up and said, “I wasn’t planning on doing this today, but I have to play this since I do not want to go home.”
Ixora walked over to Geoff and handed him a ring made of silver with a black diamond on it.
Geoff held the ring in front of him, the other Adventurers not sure if it was a ruse while he examined it.
“This… is also a Godsend. It is a Godsend from Zevarus, the Spirit God of Darkness. It was used to blind Jayne and may be used for Protection from the Vote. Votes case against Ixora will not count.
“So, we have an interesting situation now. Three of the four Hauz Party members are now protected from the Vote, which means it does not matter how the votes were cast. Since Dr. Bash is the only one without Protection, he is effectively voted out of the Tournament.”
“Dr. Bash, although you did not receive any Votes, you are the only one without Protection, bring me your Urn.”
Dr. Bash picked up his Urn and as he walked towards Geoff, he addressed the other Adventurers, “I… I just have to come clean and tell you that I am not a dentist, I am a Physical Education teacher.”
The Adventurers looked around in confusion at his tearful confession and awkwardly reassured him that being a Physical Education teacher was just a good a profession. With this news off his chest Bash turned back to Geoff to face his fate.
Geoff gave Bash a curt nod as he said, “Bash, the die has been cast. Your adventure ends here.” Geoff then lifted the mace and swung it swiftly to shatter the Urn. Bash looked at the pieces of ceramic on the ground before he looked back at the Hauz Party. After a quick wave, he turned and walked away, hiding his tears from the others. Geoff turned back to the remaining Adventurers, “Wow, this is the wildest Party Assembly we have had yet, and we still have a way to go in this Tournament. Go ahead and head back to Camp and get ready for Day 9 of the Tournament of the Apex Adventurer.”
Apex Adventurer Tournament 