Never Seen Anything Like This Before
Ikswobel was the first to rise at the Oftyre Party camp and was quickly lured to the beach by the pleasant aroma. “Awesome, this is totally awesome man, the ocean still smells delightful!” he said as he walked toward the waves. After stepping knee-deep into the water, he took a deep breath and stretched his arms over his head. He turned back toward Camp to call his Party members over. As they approached, they noticed that some of the cuts and bruises Ikswobel had accumulated from the various Contests had disappeared. Eager to heal their own scrapes, everyone waded in and similarly saw their minor wounds healed before their eyes. The excitement boosted morale, prompting the Adventurers to splash and frolic in the water, taking a moment out of the high-stakes competition for some lighthearted fun.
“This is amazing! What is in this water?” HOBO asked as he floated on his back. After nearly an hour of swimming and lounging on the beach, hunger drove the Adventurers back to Camp to cook and eat breakfast.
Back at Camp, Jayne simultaneously cooked a breakfast of scalloped potatoes and concentrated a cup of ocean water over the fire. “Had to substitute a bunch of things on the potatoes, not exactly working with a full kitchen here. Came out pretty good in my opinion.”
Austin Bob asked why she was boiling the ocean water.
“I was hoping we could learn why the ocean is pleasantly fragrant or why it’s healing us,” she said as she affixed a large leaf over the pan, allowing the condensed water to slide down the leaf stem into a bowl fashioned from a coconut shell.
“This approach will yield us a little bit of purified water, leaving behind the ocean salt and whatever else is in the water.” She checked on her makeshift distillation setup every so often over the next hour, the result being a little over a cup of recovered water in the coconut shell while the bottom of the pan was covered in an off-white salt powder. She wafted the fragrance from each over to her nose, noticing that the water had no fragrance, but the leftover solid material in the pan smelled strongly of berries and salt. “Looks like it might be something in the water as opposed to the water itself which is causing the smell and healing us. I’ll spend more time on this later, maybe we can figure out the magical source.”
![One of several wooden boards HOBO made for Jayne, she is looking forward to adding many such posts to her weblog](https://apexadventurertournament.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/bark-3.jpg?w=971)
As she transferred the salt mixture to a glass jar, she said to herself, “I wish I was at the other campsite so I could jot down some notes on that weblog.”
HOBO had overheard and asked, “What weblog?”
The two had a quick discussion over what she had found at the other Camp, afterwards HOBO went into the woods and returned with several large pieces of bark which he fashioned into flat boards. “You could write on these, maybe with a sharp blade or perhaps we can get our hands on some ink.”
Jayne gave HOBO a quick hug, thanked him and began to jot down some notes on one of the pieces of bark. “This is great, so much easier to write on this than to carve into the webbing on that one fallen tree. If we end up at that other Campsite, I could post these directly onto the weblog. It would be so much easier this way.”
The Hauz Party spent their morning working around Camp. They opted to put off breakfast and have lunch instead – wagering that the Contest would take place in the afternoon. “Maybe we will be a bit less hungry during the Contest, it should help us think a bit more clearly” Ajax said to his teammates, who quickly agreed.
Ana followed up Ajax by saying, “It also gives us a chance to catch some fish before we cook, maybe we will end up with a little more food today. I know we are all starving right now.”
Ana and Ixora spent the next few hours on the water fishing. While rowing back to the beach, Ixora said to Ana, “I’m not even mad that we didn’t catch any fish – the ocean smells like a nice perfume and I’m pretty sure the fresh air made my headache go away. The two returned to Camp where Dr. Bash and Ajax had amassed a massive pile of firewood.
Just as they had the day before, both Camps received Altar Mail early in the afternoon.
If you want to win today’s prize
You have to be dexterous, strong and wise
Be prepared for combat too
But fail and the winner won’t be you.
![What could it be? Who doesn't love a good surprise!](https://apexadventurertournament.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/question-marks.jpg?w=976)
“So, is Geoff not going to walk with us anymore?” Ikswobel asked his teammates as they made their way toward the Contest.
“Not sure, I just really hope we are competing for food or a trip into town with some gems to spend. The hunger is starting to get to me.” Vikky responded.
Once again, the Oftyre Party arrived to the Contest first and immediately gathered on their Party’s designated starting mat. A couple minutes later the Hauz Party arrived and gathered on the purple mat. Once the two groups were settled in, Geoff magically appeared before them.
“Hey folks, as you learned through today’s Altar Mail we are here for a Prize Contest.” Geoff smiled out at the Adventurers.
“Today’s Prize Contest is going to be a little different, I am not going to tell you what you are playing for. I’ll be keeping it a surprise and only revealing the Prize to winning team.”
The Adventurers were initially disappointed, but quickly became excited by the prospect of a Prize that was so significant and worth winning that it had to be kept a secret from the beginning.
After the Adventurers settled down from the excitement of the surprising news, Geoff described the Contest, “Looks like all of you are intrigued by the twist associated with this Prize Contest. Here is how this is going to work. Each Party will designate one person to solve a tangram puzzle. As soon as the puzzle is finished, everyone must climb over a seven-foot wall, sprint forward 30 feet and then climb over a second seven-foot wall. After getting past the two walls, you will gather on the wooden platform where you will do combat against three aerial goblins. These goblins use magically imbued wooden baskets to fly in the air, but you must stay on the platform. Once combat is complete, simply run across the finish line. The first Party with every member to cross the finish line will be the winner. Oftyre Party, because you have an extra Party member, you will have to pick someone to sit out.”
The Oftyre Party huddled together and selected Jayne to sit out of the Contest. Then, both groups of Adventurers quickly devised a strategy before letting Geoff know that they were ready to get started. Geoff counted down from three then shouted, “Go!”
“You got this, start with the edges!” Ikswobel shouted at HOBO as he reached the puzzle pieces and started to assemble the tangram.
Within seconds HOBO completed the puzzle and shouted at his teammates, “Done!”
At the same moment HOBO finished his team’s puzzle, Ixora completed the tangram puzzle for the Hauz Party. She then ran to the first wall and prepared herself to boost Ana over. Ana sprinted directly at Ixora, a moment before smacking right into the wall she leaped up and used Ixora’s raised hands as a platform to jump a second time and easily clear the wall.
The Oftyre Party sprinted toward the first wall, but unfortunately every Oftyre Party member failed to climb over on the initial attempt. As they prepared to charge a second time, a massive spider web shot in from the side and completely enveloped HOBO. When the Oftyre Party looked over, they saw that Ajax had used his druidic powers to morph into a giant spider and fire a web at them before easily sidestepping over the wall while Dr. Bash climbed it. Ixora followed, scaling the wall easily, and sprinted forward to get into position for Ana’s next jump.
Within the next several seconds Dr. Bash and Ana climbed over the second wall with the help of Ajax and Ixora, respectively. The Oftyre Party grew frustrated as they continued to struggle with the first wall and the spider web. Austin Bob and Vikky had clambered up to the top of the first wall, where they sat atop it trying to help the others up, but so far they were not having any luck. HOBO failed to break free from the webbing and called for help.
“I have no idea if this will work, but it’s worth a shot!” shouted Vikky as she fired two arrows, one under each arm pit where she suspected she would slice through only the webbing. The arrows cut enough web to allow HOBO to rip through the rest and climb over the wall. Ikswobel was the last member of the Oftyre Party to climb over the first wall. “Not how I planned it, but I am here!”
![Aerial goblins, comfortable with magic and flying through the air - be wary](https://apexadventurertournament.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/air-goblin-2-1.jpg?w=333)
The Oftyre Party grew dejected as they looked over and saw that the Hauz Party was already in combat with the aerial goblins before they had even started to climb the second wall. In a desperate effort, HOBO and Austin Bob attempted to magically Message the aerial goblins that awaited them and encouraged them to attack the Hauz Party instead. The response was a swift and direct Message from Lord Aptel Mittens, “What you are attempting to do is against the Tournament Rules and against the spirit of the Tournament. You must win or lose with honor!”
In the next twelve seconds, the Hauz Party took out all three aerial goblins. The first two goblins fell to Ana and Ixora, who tag teamed them with a barrage of fatal arrows. The third aerial goblin was initially Thorn Whipped and pulled towards the ground by Ajax, who had dropped his giant spider form before the start of combat. As the Thorn Whip brought the goblin closer, Dr. Bash stabbed his spear upwards with all his might, killing the final foe. The Hauz Party sprinted towards the finish line, handily winning the Prize Contest.
The Oftyre Party had not yet climbed over the second wall when the Contest was over, but per the Tournament Rules, they were obligated to complete the combat portion of the Contest to ensure their health did not benefit from their loss. As Geoff and the Hauz Party watched, the Oftyre Party combatted the goblins while doing their best to avoid taking any damage. Austin Bob and HOBO took turns Viciously Mocking a goblin while keeping a safe distance between them. This tactic eventually took out the goblin, who combusted in a cloud of shame. While Austin Bob and HOBO focused on the one goblin, Vikky was able to defeat the other two with multiple well-placed arrows. Following the combat, they joined Geoff and the Hauz Party at the finish line.
“Wow, that was easily one of the biggest blowouts ever seen in the Apex Adventurer Tournament” Geoff said to the Adventurers.
“Thanks Geoff, love to hear that,” replied Austin Bob.
Geoff smiled briefly. “Alright, Oftyre Party, after that defeat – I have nothing for you. Go ahead and return to Camp, you do not get to hear about the Prize the Hauz Party just earned.”
The frustrated Oftyre Party walked back toward their Camp. “Well, at least it wasn’t a Protection Contest,” Vikky said to console her team.
After the Oftyre was out of sight, Geoff turned his focus to the Hauz Party. “Congratulations, you should be proud of your big win today. As part of a twist with this Prize Contest, I kept the Prize a secret.” Geoff outstretched an empty hand toward the Adventurers and four gemstones appeared in his open palm.
“Each of you could return to Camp with one additional gemstone each, which you are free to use for commerce. Or, if you unanimously agree, each of you will be given a small chest to be opened in private. For three of you, the chest will be empty. The fourth chest will contain a secret Advantage.”
The Hauz Party spent the next five minutes deliberating before agreeing to give one of them a secret Advantage in the Tournament. They requested that the chests be distributed randomly, coming to the agreement on the condition that the person who got the Advantage reveal it to the rest of the group.
After confirming their choice of randomly selected prize chests over gems, Geoff said, “OK, go ahead and start walking back to the Hauz Camp. We will teleport a small chest into each of your adventuring packs once you have reached your campsite.”
The sun was starting to set as the Adventurers reached their respective Camps. The Hauz Party immediately grabbed their bags and headed in different directions to open their newly earned chests in private as directed. They reconvened a few minutes later and asked each other who received the secret Advantage and what it was. Ajax revealed to the team that he had the chest with the secret Advantage. “It is a magical amulet that makes me harder to hit, this will be helpful for the combat portions of the Contests.” The Oftyre Party spent the final hour of sunlight doing a bit more work around Camp. “You know, if we work ahead today, we may have a little more energy going into the Protection Contest. Those are the Contests we really want to win anyway,” Vikky said to her teammates.
![A magically bioluminescent ocean, glowing blue and green in the night as the moon's light glitters along the water's surface - a striking complement to the starry night sky](https://apexadventurertournament.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/bio-ocean-4.jpg?w=335)
“Hey, everyone, come look at this!” Ikswobel shouted. The Oftyre Party made their way toward him, stopping suddenly as they emerged from the woods and looked out toward the beach.
“First it was smelling nice, then it was healing our cuts and now this!” Ikswobel belly flopped into the ocean water which was glowing a vibrant, electric blue with pockets of bright, neon green. The glowing colors danced in the ebb and flow of the waves. Adding to the beauty of the sight, the white light of a full moon gave the ocean’s surface a glittering appearance.
The Oftyre Party excitedly played in the water, picking up their games from that morning as they took in the fragrance, healing energy and mesmerizing colors. After nearly an hour in the water, they made their way back toward their tents.
“Whoa, look at that! It’s just like the water!” Jayne shouted, as she showed her teammates the glass jar containing the ocean salt mixture. The whole jar was lit up from the magical substance, which was glowing blue and green just like the ocean.
“Simply amazing, cannot wait to learn more about what is going on here!”
The Hauz Party similarly enjoyed the ocean’s colorful display. They huddled together on a fallen tree near the water and watched the colorful glow flow through the ocean as the waves rolled toward them.
“Honestly, I could sit and watch this all night.” Ana said.
“Right? This is so cool, I hope it stays like this for the whole tournament.” Replied Ixora.
Ajax chimed in, “I have spent decades studying and living amongst nature and I have never seen anything like this before.”
After another hour of staring at the light show, the Hauz Party begrudgingly headed toward their tents, they knew they needed to get some sleep as Day 8 was going to present them with a Protection Contest which could help them even the numbers between the two Parties.
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