Making full use of his unconventional forearms, Coilean flipped between leaping between platforms and simply crawling his way up the top wherever he felt like he had to. He was not confident in his ability to clear some of those jumps with his little puppy legs alone.

Still, he managed to scale the last handful of cliffs. He dragged himself over the final ledge, allowing himself some time to catch his breath - before looking forward to see the massive, aggressively pink shape of the Overseer blocking his way forward.

Coilean let out a quiet, high-pitched whine.

The embaressement of having to get caught by the nearby referee was enough to get the three heads to work together again, carefully timing each jump as they went along, Ishani watching to help judge jump lengths and reactions, very much backseat driving as Gore and Buckley worked hard to work together.

At last...they scaled the last of the platforms and moved on, the goat letting out a celebratory howl as they dashed forward.

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

He grumbled as he pushed forward, having scrambled back up and watched others move past him. Even as he grumbled though, he wasn't actually mad. No, he was happy, enjoying the rush this was giving him. A race? Why hadn't he thought of doing this himself before? Now he just wanted to race others.

His was much too excited though and ended up falling right back off of the course with a soft yelp. Oh, well, time to get up and try again!

She was more annoyed than she should have been, wanting nothing more than to have all those in front of her just fall on their asses. Unfortunately it seemed karma was against her as she tried to envision the ones in front of her crashing and burning when she, accidently missing a jump, fell once more, making her cry out in frustration.

She was pissed, even if she didn't want to admit it, she hated losing, it made her feel like she failed. And so, reluctantly she got up and pressed on once more.

Good cheer had its limits. Much as Richter put forth a valiant effort in maintaining it, the repeated taste of dust clogging his mouth was bound to draw out some measure of displeasure. His face scrunched up in response to the gritty texture, and before staggering upright again, coughs and splutters tried clearing out the offensive intrusion upon his tongue. Despite those many attempts, stray particles remained, a continuing discomforting presence. He ignored this, though, in favor of returning to nursing his battered nose. A paw caressed the tender spot while eyeing the ledges he'd scarcely observed before his unfortunate faceplant.

A little disoriented but still game for pressing onward, traveling the winding path toward the Platforms was far more difficult than it ought to have been for any capable bounder. Several seconds were devoted to regaining command over his feet, exhaustion clinging to them from withstanding the earlier brutal winds of the Twister, but eventually he reached the actual challenges that required conquering next. These proved no true issue for the kangaroo, other than the perilous height; more than once an unwise glance caused sure jumps to falter and nearly plunge him into territory he'd certainly need rescuing from. Luck and natural talent allowed toes to touch sturdy rock on the end of each leap, even if their landing occasionally bordered on entertaining the idea of walking on air. Obstacles cleared, he stumbled farther along.

Nidhogg actually hesitated at the flags.

Why, one might ask?

Because he was picking a good color.

At length he grabbed a ragged dark grey that was close enough to being black, snatching it in his teeth, tearing it from the wall, and turning to race back the way he'd come.

He didn't seem to have lost any momentum, or energy; his squiggly body bounded this way and that, his eyes lit with a feverish glee. He was going FAST! And he recognized the pitfalls--remembered the one he'd tumbled straight into back in that stupid fight in Leo. The... war, or whatever, Nidhogg didn't know, he hadn't really been paying attention. Got to bite stuff, though, he remembered wistfully.

That was what he was doing here, mainly. If he won this, or something (he honestly wasn't entirely sure how it all worked) he was going to get to bite something. Limited understanding, maybe, but there it was.

And if he bit stuff he could get rewarded, too. Though biting stuff was really its own reward.

He wondered if his kids were watching. Maybe they were cheering him on, and he didn't even hear them! Or maybe--well. He'd go watch their wrestling, and stuff, but they could also just be having some cool food. He wouldn't begrudge them that, for sure.

Oh--he could see the finish line ahead! Nidhogg made for it, grinning around the cloth in his teeth, quilled body zipping along with no hesitation at all.

Agility being what it was, Chromite was fairly well-suited to this next bit. It didn't seem aware that it'd fallen behind--but it was. It didn't complain or bemoan its failure or stare off sadly at those already nearing the finish line. Instead: it focused.

It didn't know the word "parkour." It did understand that falling off these ledges would hurt.

So again it paused to study this new obstacle, quickly planning a route out in its mind before launching itself for the wall. Up the ledges it went, leaping, bounding, turning on a dime, its race memorized before it'd even run it. And for once, its execution was nearly flawless. A stumble or two didn't pitch it off the ledges; it needed no rescue as it scrambled onward, aiming for the next challenge.

Audland stands before the greatest challenge of his life: trying to impress a gay elder muscle mommy with himbo-critical levels of social intelligence. He will have to muster up all his courage (and gumption) to even begin to approach this task.

"Why should I let you through?"

It was a perfect, puzzling question. Was it some sort of trick? There were many things Audland wondered and could have wondered in order to answer it. Why should she? Had he done something to deserve it? What had he done to deserve it? He felt like he had done quite a bit for the sake of this obstacle course, but what had he really accomplished? Like, in his life? Somewhere in all his pondering, the wires got crossed. What had he been doing with his life? What was he meant to be doing? What was he made for? What was supposed to be going on? Mother? Mother? Who's mother? Whose mother? Who's your mommy? What??

To the outside, he must have looked like a brainless zombie, staring blankly into the ether with his mouth slightly agape, droning out a low, quiet "uhhhh...", like some kind of knuckle-dragging numbskull. After untold seconds or minutes pass, Audland seems to snap back into consciousness. Conjuring the most ridiculously overconfident demeanor on what seemed like speed dial, Audland said with a lofty tone: "I'm going to be your mother."

@Tectus

Well, you know what they say. When you can't dazzle them with brilliance...

Audland's senses come flooding back into him as the words escape his maw. What, in god's green yaoiful earth, did he just say to this large purple woman? This woman who was likely in a position of authority given that she is overseeing this entire event?

Ho-ley smokes. Audland- what— what was he supposed to—minute to minute, Audland took his train of thought by the rails and bent his neurons back to their correct places. Switch gears. Switch it up. Take a breath—"Ah—ahem." Unfold your arms, then swing them awkwardly at your sides for a bit, then fold them again uncomfortably. Everything's going to be okay.

"What I meant to say was, uh, m- m... I invented—or, more so discovered, a new—ancient—word, not too long ago. And uh, some big deer guy—red eyes, he looked like a pretty powerful mushroom mage a' sorts—he actually recognized it. A, uh, 'homosexual' 's what we call it, he and I. It's a pretty important concept, as it turns out. I'd be happy to explain it to ya, since it seems you should be in the know. It's got a li'l somethin' ta do with gender—which is already a pretty academic concept in and of itself—as well as romance, which..."

And as Audland's explanation continued, he would attempt to meander ever so delicately past Tectus. Maybe she'd notice, and stop him. Maybe she wouldn't and he'd "steal the base", so to speak. Or maybe, just maybe, she'd see right through him, and know the truth in his words... and let him right on by out of true respect, shock and awe.

When you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullcrap.

Obstacle Course

Round 6!

The first competitors were crossing the finish line, watched carefully by one of Tectus's sentries. They'd report to her at the end who had actually gotten there first, but it seemed the two highest placements were already through!

As for the rest, the race continued - one placement remained for someone to claim. Many were standing before Tectus now, and she became so distracted by Audland's declaration that he was going to be her mother, that her attempts to stop anyone else at the moment stopped. She just stared at the valkhound with surprise and confusion. He was not getting past, but the others would find it quite easy to slip by her defenses.

His second attempt to reason with her was met with, at first, a blank stare, but as he continued, Tectus couldn't help but laugh. Not a chuckle or a giggle, but a full-chested, almost bringing tears to her eyes, fit of laughter. The combination of the ridiculousness of it and also that he was talking about her former Master was too much. She waved a claw as she tried to control herself - he could pass, perhaps not out of any merit to the sneaking bit, but for making the Overseer laugh that damn hard.

Current Placements:

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

Titivilus has forfeit the competition.

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