He felt his weight shove Huntsman into the ground, the feeling of victory amplified by the Huntsman's futile attempt to pull him down with him. Hymn had done it! He had succeeded in besting his opponent who had tried so many times to bring him down, and now look who was the victor. "I AM THE WINNER! I AM THE TRUE CHAMPION! I-" dehydration, madness, the ruthless heat of Hydra. He felt his breath catch in his parched throat, and simultaneously, his wings gave away.

Hymn crashed into the ground in a plume of dust. The ground is hot against his skin. It burns. His throat burns. His blood that had surged with victory just moments before felt too hot in his veins. This was it, he knew. There was only so much strength that revenge could give before the laws of nature caught up once more. Every part of him was on fire, all except his heart, the flames of revenge quenched by his seeming victory over Huntsman.

It was the end.

Hymn is dying. Feel free to have Huntsman kill him or he can die by normal meanas.

@Huntsman

Star's eyes gazed across the wide expanse, noting that there were no clear dangers to be seen. Nothing but them, and the Salt Flats that lay ahead. This was it. They were close. She could feel it. "Come Connie! Almost there!" Now that there was no need for her to go ahead, Star slowed down so that she could stick next to the jerboa, extending a wing once more to shield Connie from the harsh light. Shade would be more important than ever here. If anything, it would be the heat that killed.

She could feel the ground burning blisters into her feet. But all she focused on was the path ahead, every step another step closer to the end. Star occasionally glanced down to make sure Connie was keeping up, adjusting her wing if needed. The longer they walked, the more she could start to feel the heat begin to fog her mind. It was becoming harder and harder to focus. Every step became a struggle, and a staggering gait replaced her sure steps. There was dizziness too, it made her head hang heavy, and took the shine out of her eyes. Just one break. A few moments of rest. Just. One. Moment.

Star was lying on the ground. Though it was supposed to burn, all she was felt was relief. Her weary body could take it no more. The only sadness she felt was that she could no longer protect Connie. Not for the remainder of the Trial, and not for... well, life? It was hard to imagine the time from before the Trial, when everything was carefree and fun. And bounce! And now she was on the ground and no matter how she tried her legs refused to work.

"Connie... no more bounce. You go. Here." And her magic came from her heart shaped gemstone, a force that she pushed towards Connie. A final gift. "I believe. You can do it. Believe."

Star dying for sure.

@Conleth

Warrior's steady words reached Fiver's ears, and there was a relief to hear that voice once more. There were a few others, though his vision swam even without the help of the blistering heat of the salt flats. It was a long journey, and his whole body convulsed with the effort he put in, stumbling this way and that. It was by the grace of having other gembound around, who's long shadows he could drag himself along with, that he struggled his way through the last leg of the journey.

What a journey it had been. He had never truly lived before, he thought in the haze. This was life: a struggle, a trek, endless and painful and unyielding. He had been sheltered for so long, he might not have ever seen what it was to truly live.

As he reached the finish line, he couldn't help but remember the sorry fact that his body was failing him. It had served him well enough to survive Hydra, but he was a dead man walking. At least he tasted life. At least he had done something of his own volition. At least, now, he knew, and knowing brought him an uneasy comfort that dug burrs into his throat and his lungs. Otherwise, he might have said something to the others.

Instead, he was silent.

roll just for flavor. staying with his group until the end :)

Warrior burst free from the mud by his own strength, and Jim felt a rush of relief so strong it seemed almost like effervescent joy. Or maybe it was the heat getting to his head, making everything seem dizzying. He was built for reasonable desert living, not hellish treks in the heat of midday. And they were still not yet done. At least their pouches were empty, the burdening weight totally gone with the last stake he'd driven into the mud. Jim took the pouch in his teeth and dropped it carelessly into the marsh, relieved to be free from the weight.

"Hey," he rasped. "Glad you're okay. Come on, let's get out of here." He lifted his face to the ceiling for a moment, feeling the rush of heat and orb-light on his whiskers, and then put his head down to keep trudging forward. With every step he yearned to take Warrior up on his offer for a ride, but the horse looked to be in quite a state as it was already. He wouldn't put another weight on his back.

It took too much effort to keep lifting his head and watching the sky, so Jim didn't even bother. He just let his magic do the work. One or two birds above them occasionally--he knew one was the white crane who'd come back to help, and selected a path to keep well away from the Gembound he could only assume to be vultures.

Far ahead of them, he sensed faint impressions of the Greater Gembound trialgoers pushing through the Salt Flats--and a sizeable number who slowed, slowed, stopped... and their signatures vanished from Jim's senses. Jim sighed, closing his eyes briefly. It felt so good to close them. His eyelids were warm. It was a relief not to have the dry salty air biting at his eyeballs and the bright orb-light reflecting off the salt stinging his eyes.

He just had to keep walking. Follow the three gems around him. It was easier if he didn't keep thinking about how much longer they had left to go. Eventually they would make it to the end.

fox credit - dash huang on flickr

Mud in his mouth. Mud in his nostrils. Mud creeping into his ears. Captain started to open his mouth to bellow, but then thought better of it. He couldn't breathe.

Then--something grabbed his rhodochrosite arm. Saved! Dizzy but suddenly hopeful, Captain surged upward. Glorp! He broke free from the mud! The buffalo gasped and panted, stumbling slightly, gagging at the taste of mud on his tongue. "ARRRR-- YER A REAL ONE, ME HEARTY."

He shook his head, trying to catch his breath. How much longer.. until the end? He groaned at the thought of pushing on, but there was no other choice. Forward... until the end.

He was too tired and irritated by the ordeal of the trial to want to open his beak and say anything, but he was glad the jackal-like creature had made it. Wordlessly, he conjured a large banana in a burst of effervescent golden sparkles as he swooped toward the small Gembound and offered it to him. The journey ahead was long and hot, and the banana offered much-needed energy and hydration. Merely looking ahead at the shimmering, waterless, lifeless heat of the Salt Flats struck a sense of dread into Zhusha, but as soon as he became self-aware of it, he stubbornly refused to acknowledge the dread and pushed ahead with a burst of proud strength. He was not going to let Hydra get the better of him!

As their group was in last place, several times they passed Gembound lying motionless on the sun-baked salt. At first Zhusha thought they might simply be too exhausted to keep moving, or had passed out, and each time they passed such a case he swooped down to try to help them, only to discover that they had already died. Each time, the strain of ascending back into the air hurt his wing muscles and set his head spinning with the exertion, but he kept swooping down every time to check like he hadn't learned from the last time. Perhaps he was simply too proud to admit how tired he was, or perhaps he refused to let the harsh environment dictate whether he chose to try to help or simply give up hope altogether.

Whatever the case, slow and steady didn't win the race, but it saw them through alive. Zhusha landed at the finish point beside his comrades--not quite as elegantly as he would have liked, but at least they had made it.

burn me to ashes and scatter me in the flooding spring river
that i might drift with the fallen flowers to a place no one has known

@Fiver

The end was ahead. The salt flats before them. The wound on Beta's side would not stop throbbing with pain and each step sent sharp needles through its flank, but the thought of this being over, of winning burned through its mind. It was going to make it! IT was going to do it! Not a failure, not like its mother Palefur!

With the promise of the end in sight, Ruby-Beta at last stepped away from the group and began to slowly speed its steps into an awkward sprint, no longer caring about being saved, about saving others (not that it ever had). But maybe running while it was still bleeding wasn't a fantastic idea, as one off-step put too much weight on the wrong side and agony blinded its vision white.

When it came to a few seconds later, it had collapsed, screaming pain burning in its blood as salt quite literally rubbed into its wounds. With a groan, it hauled itself to its feet, panting from the effort and the heat. It hadn't gotten any further ahead. Maybe it was even falling behind. But it wasn't going to be last, no way! And it wasn't going to die here!

He could feel the end in sight. This had been, well, not exactly easy, but Glory hadn't struggled much during this Trial. Not like some of the others that were half-collapsed and literally dying before them. Glory felt a strike of pain for failing to save those falling, but there was little he could do for dehydration and exhaustion. He himself felt parched under the intense heat and lights, at last overtaking the brutal atmosphere of his home forge, and his wings were beginning to ache from the long flights.

But he had more then enough energy to let one more stream of magic forward and soar over the salt flats, the wind at least giving him a bit of cool air into his feathers. No protection from the light of course, but it would keep him sane for the long flight across the flats.

After the marsh, there was nothing but nothing. An endless expanse of cracked earth and wavering heat. There wasn't really a literal finish line to cross- at least nothing he could see marking the end of the journey- but they would be there soon, right?

He hoped so.

He.. could tell Star wasn't doing so good. A lot worse than him, anyways. It made sense why- he had avoided the dangers Star hadn't, and even now he was sheltered by her shadow. He wished he could do something. Give her some of the energy she desperately needed- far more than he did.

A heavy thud reverberated the ground beneath his feet. Star wasn't walking anymore. She wasn't even standing. He skittered over to where her head lay, tail twitching with a thousand anxieties. Eyes wide and watery with a truth he wouldn't accept.

He didn't want to listen to her. "No-" His gaze shot forward, to the others gaining distance. "No- Stay- I'll be back. I'll get help."

He shot forward, faster than he'd ever dare to go, before. "HELP!" The earth scorched his paws between each bounding leap. He'd have to go faster. "PLEASE!" His voice quickly gained a breathless edge. His lungs were not big enough for all the air he needed; to run and shout. "MY FRIEND- SHE-" He wasn't sure if the shadows he was wailing at were gembound or not. His head pounded and he could barely think. He wasn't sure if he could lead anyone back to her, if they DID want to help.

He just had to keep going forward.

He wasn't sure where else he could go, anyways.
@Star

Content Warning
This post contains potentially sensitive material:

death

Round Eleven - FINALE

The final stretch was proving to be the greatest test of all. Not the fangs and talons of the predators here, but rather the brutality of Hydra itself: all feverish shimmering light pummeling the Gembounds with blinding, oppressive, flame-like heat. Vargas, trailing along behind, certainly felt it. He wondered, vaguely, why the Merchant had not included some change to the Flats. A catalyst, perhaps, to form water here, or even a few damn parasols for shade. But no, the Gembounds struggled on, and they were very clearly weary. Exhausted. They stumbled and fell, and-... ahh. The first, ahead, to not get up.

One.

Vargas slowed his pace. He gave the slender little creature time--time to rise again, to struggle on, to fight for his survival. But One did not. Unconscious. Or already dying. It did not matter; a death at Vargas's claws would be a mercy compared to awareness when a stone was ground to dust. His footsteps as he came up alongside were implacable but quiet, a scuffing in the salt. His reach for the limp little body was carefully perfect, a delicate lifting. The death itself was swift: no muttered apology, only the sharp cut of a thumb, and then the wait until any movement, any breathing, had ceased. The next, too, ahead: Star, the surprisingly large bustard (a shame, he thought; it had seemed well-adapted to Hydra's conditions, until this final stretch), laid out on the flats, feathers rustled by the hot winds. He grunted and angled toward her, trying to ignore the beating heat across his own violet hide.

Behind him, the Merchant knelt. Fingertips grasped a gemstone and gripped, and from One's ear, a slow trickle of vivianite dust became a thin cascade.

"You almost made it," Vargas said to Star, and whether that was mockery or mourning, his tone did not betray. Could she even hear him-? The careful grip of fist around arteries would ensure that consciousness was never regained. And when he moved on, and the Merchant came, they would thankfully be unaware of the agony that would have otherwise accompanied the transition of beautiful rose quartz to pale dust.

Hymn--whether by the hands of Huntsman, or Vargas--would be the last to be visited: a gemstone that would never play another trill of music, instead turned in the grasp of black claws to a thread of emerald dust carried by Hydra's winds.

---

The rest--those who made it, those who crowded at last the return to Tunnel P and took shelter there in its relative shade--would soon find themselves rejoined by both Vargas and the Masked Merchant.

Vargas, in particular, had noted--from a distance--who had arrived first. But then, so had the Merchant. Both knew that these would be rewarded, in a Chaotic sort of way, but Vargas spoke up nonetheless as he passed through the crowd. (And should Conleth strike him, well, he would ignore that; it was even understandable.) "Those of you who have survived--and those who have done well--may always improve themselves further by finding me in Draco. The Chaos Forge works to strengthen this hive, and some of you," (and here his gaze sought out the winners, and Duck Duck behind them--ahh, a cat; glorious!) "have done surprisingly well. Excellent work, with all that... surviving," he finished, and passed beyond them, pushing for Canis.

He noted the winners in his mind. Wisperia--a creature of Chaos if ever there had been one, built for subterfuge, and she had gotten more than a brief glance. More a stare of thoughtful interest. Fleas, another desert-adapted beast, by the looks of things, admirably tough. And Corsair, a small, black bird, one that had no doubt been able to escape many of the dangers by virtue of sheer... tiny-ness. Ahh--and fourth. The cat. Good.

The Merchant drifted through them behind Vargas, meanwhile, like a shadow. Arms reached outward, fingers brushing each Gembound as he passed. Each was struck with a bolt of dark, painful, powerful magic--one that jolted them right back into a forming chrysalis, there to change, and be rewarded.

THE END

The Trial of Hydra - Reclamation is now concluded! Characters may now post their exits, and then claim rewards as follows.

Rewards

All Survivors should post in Update Me to claim their Champion of Hydra Achievement, and have their choice of free mutation cleared by GMs, as follows:

A. Any single feature from a Hydra lesser
plus
B. Any single feature from any other Hydra Trialgoer (character in the trial)

All Participants (alive or dead) should post in Magicka Market for the following:

1. 300 Magicka
2. Magicka thread length claim for EACH participating character (each may claim until their death/exit point--so a death at Medium thread length = Medium thread claim).

In addition...

1st place - Wisperia: All survivor/participant rewards, plus... Familiar Forge + a choice of a Hydra lesser to forge that can actually leave Hydra (very powerful choices will be somewhat weakened by GM design) + free Mutation to be used during the chrysalis post-thread!

2nd place - Fleas: All survivor/participant rewards, plus... The gemstone of a previous Champion of Hydra (designed by GMs, guaranteed revive) + Give Life spell, + free Mutation to be used during the chrysalis post-thread!

3rd place - Corsair: All survivor/participant rewards, plus... Desert Heat spell + 200 bonus Magicka + free Mutation to be used during the chrysalis post-thread!

Individual Notes: Ruby-Beta and Glory will need to fill out placeholder posts before claiming any rewards. Aran needs to post for last round and this round before claiming. Morpho and Ketur will be handled in a different thread before claiming rewards.

---

Henceforth, Hydra's rules will be changing!

- Dangerous Lessers Familiar Forged here will still not thrive elsewhere.
- Players can roleplay in Hydra without requiring danger rolls. (Characters who have already survived a regular Hydra thread prior to this Trial will receive a legacy achievement!)
- The cave should still be taken IC as harsh and unforgiving, but less deadly than before.
- Future Trials will still be deadly, and the cave will become extremely dangerous for the duration of the trial (characters still won't need to roll unless they enter the area around an ongoing Trial, whether ICly on purpose or by accident)

---

FINAL Placement:

First: Wisperia, Fleas, Corsair (in that order)

Second: Duck Duck

Third: Huntsman, Hymn, Whistle

Fourth: Spinnaker, One

Fifth: Galleon, K'cil, Star, Conleth

Sixth: Kaizer, Ivory, Glory, Ruby-Beta, Reverend, Aran, Captain

Seventh: Warrior, Jim, Zhusha, Fiver

@Wisperia (Hymn, Star) @Galleon (Fleas) @Ruby-Beta (Glory) @Whistle (K'cil, Duck Duck) @Aran @Zhusha (Captain, Jim) @Conleth (Huntsman, One) @Reverend (Spinnaker, Kaizer) @Warrior (Corsair, Ivory) @Fiver