One bit left. She just had to make it. She had to run. Hyping herself up, Surgis started forward, stuffing the fabric in her mouth to leap and bound across flat ground. Her hands struck stone while she nearly tore holes in the flag, molars grinding at it in pure focus.

Her muscles burned. She couldn't chance looking at her competition, especially after such a setback that was Tectus. All she had between her and the finish line was open ground, and she just had to seize it.

Great, he literately was the last one! Well shit, that was okay, he just knew where he needed to do better!

He pushed forward, this time taking a deep breath and jumping from section to section, focusing on keeping his balance this time. And he finally did it!

Was he still in last place? Yes, but he was going to finish one way or another!

You can go ahead and mark Eira as disqualified! I have no muse for her and am going to inactivate her.

Coilean caught the rambling of the big, blue Gembound shimmying his way past Tectus, and got the sense that it was all... Funny, somehow, considering the way the Overseer cackled. It was safe to say the pup didn't get the joke.

He DID, however, catch wind of the words homosexual and gender, both of which were new and confusing - and both he planned to ask Cyneweard about later. Oh, and romance too.

Coilean did not know how to be funny like Audland, so he broke into a sprint in order to wiggle past the giant Valkhound, leveraging the difference in size. He was, however, easy to anticipate, and not quite as fast as the Overseer.

As soon as the chimera approached the Overseer, they knew they weren't going to slip past her. They'd gotten too large for it, but not large enough that they'd be able to rely on strength or size when compared to her. They stopped in front of her for a moment, indecisive.

Gore narrowed its eyes, looking for a weak point on the valkhound, Buckley looked for another way in, while Ishani rose from behind them and hissed. "You should let us by because we will not win. There is no point in barring us any longer after all, save for our own desires to finish the race. Would you be so cruel as to deny us that?"

The goat's head whipped back to glare at her, lips curling up. "What do you MEAN we will not-" It trailed off at the vicious glare that the snake sent his way. It blinked, frowned, and turned back borward with a scowl.

"Buckley is speaking!" "GORE IS SPEAKING!!!" "Ishani is speaking..."

If not for her response to earlier competitors and the blatant contrast a bright hide presented to the surrounding rock, a mildly addle-brained Richter might've mistaken Tectus' bulk blocking the cave entrance ahead for a dead end. The booming laughter that met ears rocked him back on his heels upon approaching, and witnessing such a blatant issue to overcome directed claw tips to drum against the smooth stone hugging his neck. With an easy attitude, he searched the area for someplace a Gembound of his size might squeeze through. Part of a whole crowd vying for safe passage and already far behind the most impressive runners, there wasn't any point in rushing when he could ensure a decent finishing place. Those more eager to make an attempt might expose weak spots in her defense that he could learn from.

Despite her best efforts, the Overseer was not an unmovable wall. As a living creature, she shifted about, and each time opened windows of opportunity for someone of his comparatively small stature to slip by. Underneath her was risky since any who dared venture there would likely find themselves crushed by either paw or belly. Above, though providing less often of a chance, seemed the better direction to take if one possessed the agility necessary to soar through a narrow space once it appeared.

Richter waited, nervously drumming his claws against his gemstone, and offered the gargantuan guard a tremulous smile should her eyes catch notice of him amongst the many other participants. Then, spotting a good moment to test his idea, he leaped for the wall just before the cave entrance. Powerful legs slammed against the hard surface and rebounded him toward a gap emerging above an armored shoulder.

Chromite studied the way ahead. The usually empty, even derelict, cave was now full of movement, life, laughter, and was that his Overseer laughing?!

The mantis-creature hesitated, and then set about quickly forming a Disguise.™ It was not a good disguise. Mostly, Chromite was grabbing lots of sticks and dead brush (all that it could find) and using its adhesive saliva to plaster it all over. It looked exactly like Chromite, but covered in dead branches.

Convinced, however, that he now looked like a tree, the insectoid would-be master assassin began to edge toward Tectus.

He took a couple steps, froze when he thought she was looking, then sidled closer--as if his staring, glowing, bug-shaped body could be mistaken for literally anything else than "Chromite with sticks on top."

Audland had done it! Somehow, his baffling attempts at witticism were working! And as that golden sound spilled from Tectus's lips like ambrosia, Audland found himself laughing too. He was literally right there, right at the last stretch of the race, with all these other Gembound gaining on him, taking his advantage, straight up passing him by. He wasn't sure what spot he would have been in, had he found the wherewithal to continue. He hadn't been keeping track. But he just... couldn't do it. His lungs were running out of air—not from the physical or mental taxation, but from the laughter. It had him in a chokehold, sinking to his knees, slowly and steadily flaking off pieces of his composure. He wasn't even sure what was so funny about the whole thing; it was just funny in and of itself.

So there he was, giving up his shot at third place in the name of comedy. Congratulations to the victors. It was still kind of a beautiful moment though, for him.

Thanks to a massive, bafflingly blue presence he was able to slip on past. He was somewhat startled to realize that somehow, during all of that, the crowd had thinned considerably. Two gembound had already passed the finish line, which meant third place was still ripe for the taking.

He hadn't entered this competition with the intent of winning- it had just seemed like fun! And it was fun, but now that it was nearly within his grasp, he felt a strange sort of competitiveness surge through him. Ignoring the exhaustion in his legs and the burning in his lungs, he'd sprint as fast as he can.

...He would proceed to trip and face plant into one of the pit-falls.

He'd slow down as he got to Tectus, eyes narrowing slightly as he considered the best approach. He CONSIDERED employing his excellent manipulation tactics, like a few others had done, but decided that with the considerable size different and the distraction of the other competitors, stealth would be the better option. He'd take advantage of the crowd to slip on past, skittering along the outskirts when Tectus seemed the most distracted.

Obstacle Course

Round 7!

The third competitor crossed the finish line without any close runners close to their tail. The rest were still going, Tectus continued to bar passage to some while others snuck past or otherwise got through her defense. Most had only the sprint to go before completing the obstacle course. The home stretch awaits!

With the top 3 placements decided, players can now free-post to finish the obstacle course, if they choose to!

Current Placements:

1. Finished! - Bauxite T-One, Nidhogg, Surgis
   
   
2. Sprint to the finish! - Audland, Conleth, Triage, Richter, Huntsman
   
   
3. ...Tectus? - Coilean, Chromite T-One, Nebula
   
   
4. Forfeit: Titivilus, Eira

@Nebula @Triage @Richter @Audland @Bauxite-T-One (Coilean) @Surgis @Nidhogg (Chromite T-One) @Conleth (Huntsman)