There was a crack behind her and Asimona whipped around, almost sliding off the ice-bridge herself and watched as Ru sunk into the swamp. She yelled out from behind the matriarch's head. She lunged forward towards the edge of the crack, ready to help her friend, but Ru seemed to have it under control, pulling itself back onto the icy pathway. Asimona sighed and waited for it to recover itself, setting the head down and holding it in one of her back claws.

Suddenly a buzzing sound filled Asimona's ears and her head whipped up towards the sound. Her lip curled and her eyes blazed with rage as the sprite came fluttering near. "NEMEAN," she roared, snapping at her as she got close, but it seemed she wasn't too concerned with her, more with Ru and Asimona watched in horror as the champion was flung clean off the pathway. "NO." She turned away from the fairy and jumped right in after Ru, leaving the head where she'd left it on the path.

She could still see Ru, but the dark mud was beginning to rise and consume her body. It's sinking! She had to get them out. She owed it to them. She had to do this.

As she got closer, splattered with mud and beginning to sink into the water herself, she lifted her claws and grabbed at whatever part of Ru she could find, pulling with all her might against the stubborn, dreadful grip of the swamp. It seemed to barely give at all and all the way, Ru just kept sinking and sinking and Asimona feared that her efforts were getting her nowhere.

"Come ON, MOVE!" she roared. "I'm not going to let you go! You're my friend! I won't give up!" She tugged and, for a second, felt something give way. There was a loud, horrible sucking noise as, at last, the swamp began to loosen around her and Ru. She gave one last, final tug and they both came free. She immediately flared her wings and tried to lift up, carry or drag them both back to the ice path she had made.

"Can you hear their voice?"
"Find the one who'll guide you."
To the limits of your choice.

tags:
notes:

Lapis Ninety-five

Oh, you fool, there are rules, I am coming for you
Darkness brings evil things, oh, the reckoning begins

Rapidly, she grew dizzy, but pushed ahead. She strained to keep her head high, to keep herself from sinking deeper into the low-hanging noxious fog. She felt ahead before taking each step, wading through the waters slowly, and cautiously, like a great, moving pillar. There was nothing else she could do nut go on. She was not scared; not if one looked at her, anyway. She had known no other life.

And she would continue living it until her very last breath.

Slow, cautious, with her vision swimming, Lazuli struck out ahead. She carried on walking, until gradually she began to breathe easier, the noxious fog no longer taking its toll on her mind. Her steps became surer, and her aches and pains began to subside.

She was not going to die today.

Lapis 95 is moving ahead.

---

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

BLACK OPAL
oh father tell me do we get what we deserve

He knew that buzzing.

"Master Nemean!" He gasped. His fins flattened with fear as she descended upon the group. Why had she targeted them? Were they doing something wrong? The Opal slunk back, attempting to make himself small as possible, but it wasn't he she was after.

With a sickening crack the sprite batted Ru back into the water. The Opal fled at the scene. He did not even stick around to see if Ru even got out. Being in Nemean's crosshairs wasn't worth it. Even worse, it seemed that the sadistic sprite dispised Asimona for whatever reason. If I stick around her I'll end like the Quartz!

He decided he was done with teamwork. It was foolish to think that these new gembounds were any different than the last. Nemean's visit saw to that.

Friends were nothing but dead weight. They would drag him down to his death. All that mattered was survival.

The only gembound he could depend on was himself.

The thick, viscous marsh waters soaked deep through Agate's feathers, burning their skin with the sharp acidity of whatever hellscape poison or acid made up the swamp. They immediately panicked, despite themselves, wings flapping and kicking up more of the muddy waters. They tried not to get anything in their mouth and resist the fever that would take hold if they did, but more importantly, they needed to escape.

In their panic, they managed to get airborne again, if only through sheer willpower. The air did not feel any better than the water, stinging at their feathers. It was so hot, they thought maybe the oil they had gotten on their wings would catch fire, a thought they desperately tried to rationalize as something they could survive. They had been on fire before, right? Surely? They couldn't remember. Why did it feel like they knew what being on fire was like?

Through the confusion, however, they spotted what... looked, like Mayngo, if his face had been peeled off. Disturbed, they had no idea if this was a hallucination or reality, but at this point they didn't have anything better to go off of.

"Mayngo, Mayngo listen to me-- all we have to do is follow the footprints. Can you see signs of the others? I need you to guide me," they explained, fluttering down to land upon their log perch. "We have to avoid the quicksands, and the vultures, and we have to hurry-- we are very, very behind." No pressure, though, right?

If this was a terrible idea, at least the heat hadn't set them all ablaze yet. Maybe the air was too damp and heavy. It felt like they could barely breathe. "I'm trusting you with my life, friend. Let's carry on," they told Mayngo in confidence, despite the way they still weren't quite sure if they were talking to Mayngo or the dead.

Against all odds--and with surprising teamwork--the Gembounds had all survived. The Merchant, now standing off where the marshes met solid ground, observed this. "They are more... resilient... than anticipated." It was not disappointment, or even surprise. Just empty observation.

Ahead of those running the trial, the ground of the Dead Marsh--after an exhausting hour or more of slogging through swamp, toxic gas, and quicksand--would grow drier and more solid ahead. The cave, its storm long-passed, was back to blistering, searing heat: a dry heat with no respite, like walking beside an oven fire. And ahead lay the final stretch.

The Salt Flats waited. A vast stretch of baked-dry salted earth, cracked and broken, shimmering with heat and acrid to nose and eyes. Mirages of land, of water, danced above its short horizons, and here and there, a cave Scorpion or a Desert Spider dared skitter over its surface, taking shelter in the few tiny cracks that offered a little shade. A few Eyehooks--attracted by the Gembounds' struggles in the marsh--followed, still circling overhead in the deliriously-bright air above. It would not be easy going.

_________________

Round Six

Gembound must roll to cross the final brutal stretch of Hydra: the Salt Flats, punishingly hot and bright. They are difficult to navigate and burning underfoot. Flyers may become quickly exhausted in the heat. It will be doubly hard for those injured, or weary from prior exertion, and will take another hour or more to struggle over. Among those threats to which Gembound might fall prey are venomous Scorpions and Desert Spiders, which will not hesitate to leap out and bite or sting the weak or stumbling; Eyehook Vultures ready to try and kill those who falter, and most of all, the heat itself. After the rest of Hydra's trials, the last stretch is notorious among prior Champions for weeding out those who--after the hot dunes, the canyons and the vultures, and the deadly marsh--are too worn to continue. Thirst, heat exhaustion, blindness from the white glare of the salt--it is perhaps the most inhospitable part of Hydra. Gembound here often become too hot, then dizzy and nauseous, then hallucinate and eventually lose consciousness--never to awaken.

If Successful in your roll, clarify if your character is moving ahead or attempting to locate and stay with their current group. Rolling a critical fail will inflict a severe injury and cause the character to fall farther behind. Please remember any potential exhaustion, or current injuries, that your character is suffering when making your post.

Please post & roll only once.

Click to view current placement rankings.

1. Garnet Five-Seven-Nine
2. {empty space}
3. {empty space}
4. {empty space}
5. Lapis Ninety-Five, Yoosung, Desert Rose Thirty-Five, Labradorite Five-Four-Six
6. {empty space}
7. Reseda
8. Imp
9. Amazon, Quartz Eight-Six-Zero, Asimona, Quartz Five-Two-Four, Styx, Opal Three-Seven-Six
10. Shango
11. Agate Two-Three-Six, Mayngo

@Yoosung @Amazon @Shango @Opal Three-Seven-Six @Quartz Eight-Six-Zero @Labradorite Five-Four-Six @Agate Two-Three-Six @Desert Rose Thirty-Five @Lapis Ninety-Five @Garnet Five-Seven-Nine @Quartz Five-Two-Four

Garnet Five-Seven-Nine, very quickly, grew deaf to the sounds of struggle behind itself, the shrill squeal of a Master doing what she must (striking a "home-run" didn't seem unnecessary in its eyes.) The creature continued forth on its steady pace, hopping through the muck and mire with practiced caution. Soon, the marshes faded into baked salt flats, the stench offensive and making its eyes water.

This was the final stretch.

Taking in a deep breath (around the feather in its beak, still) covering its amphibious limbs slightly with mud (a sad attempt at retaining moisture in the blast furnace of an expanse) the Champion moved ahead. It needed to move quickly, before its meager water supply ran out and it started to literally bake into the cracked earth. It needed to move slowly, to stave off heat exhaustion. It needed to strike a perfect balance.

Garnet Five-Seven-Nine tilted its head upward, somewhat away from the endless expanse of stark-white salt, and toward the mirages in the distance. Not yet delirious enough, it knew they were simple hallucinations of the mind (and possibly the influence of magic.) The creature set toward a fixed point, and did its level best to approach it, keeping in mind the enormous arachnids that would, most certainly, find quite an easy meal, here.

Garnet Five-Seven-Nine will be advancing.

After a while, Reseda glanced behind her. The crocodile creature had fallen behind, apparently. Idiot couldn't keep up, even while she was on three legs. Her lip curled. She didn't need an ally like that anyways.

Turning back, she limped onward, feeling the ground growing hotter and hotter underneath as she left the marshes behind. After a while, it grew too hot for her to bear so she tentatively released magic in the air. She was wearing out, but the drop in the temperature around her, even if it was slight, was welcome relief as she limped across the salt.

Reseda is moving on

As Amazon left the marshes, she sighed in relief as the hot air went from uncomfortably damp to rolling, dry heat once again. Despite the fact that it was scorching around here, Amazon felt a welcome relief as her scales began to dry. It felt better in a dry heated place like this, more natural. But it didn't take very long for her relief to die away.

She felt more at home in dry heat, sure, but this was just ridiculous. She was tired, exhausted really, her throat parched, and the feather she held in her mouth wasn't making it any better, drying in the heat and making her entire mouth feel like it was filled with salt.

She was growing dizzy, but cycles upon cycles of living with a constant headache had given her a sort of tolerance to head problems. So she trucked on with problems, but problems she could manage, not straying too far away from the yeti, glancing at him every so often to make sure he was okay.

Amazon will be staying behind with yeti man

Lapis Ninety-five

Oh, you fool, there are rules, I am coming for you
Darkness brings evil things, oh, the reckoning begins

The great bird soon left the soft and squishy ground of the marsh behind, and was back on solid ground. Soon the soft earth gave way to hard dryness, and Lazuli felt the rough earth of the salt flats beneath her, familiar, and unwelcome. Allowing a huffing breath to escape her nostrils, she shook any remaining dust and moisture from her trailing feathers, and then broke into a jog. The sooner she could cross these treacherous flats, the better. And the further away she could break from the others, too, for that matter.

If Lazuli was to die, it certainly wouldn’t be by another’s hand, no... it would be her own downfall, and no-one’s victory.

As she ran, the heat quickly became overpowering, but long legs quickly dispersed the burning heat. Minimal contact with the ground ensured that she would not be burned by the boiling sands. She ran, quickly picking up speed.

She was getting somewhere.

Lazuli is moving ahead.

---

"Speech."
"Thoughts."

BLACK OPAL
oh father tell me do we get what we deserve

The squelching of the Dead Marshes gave way to the cracked, bone dry surface of the Salt Flats. Just looking at made the Opal parched. Luckily, just before he left the marsh, the Opal rolled around in the mud. It had been eons, but these forsaken flats had been seared in his memory like a deep brand. This was undoubtedly, the worse place in all of Hydra, especially for a fish out of water.

He had to stay cool and hydrated at all costs.

He summoned magic from his tail once more, using the same spell he casted when he crossed the dunes. Whether it was successful was matter of life and death. Every drop of water had to be conserved, nothing less.

Without waiting for the others, the Opal plodded across the blistering white wasteland. Every step was painful. The pads of his feet stung more and more, until the nerves had been burnt to nothing. With the merciless heat beating down on him, the Black Opal dragged on. His glassy, yellow eyes stared dead-eyed at the horizon. Almost.. there. The heat was beginning to sap his strength, but the spell held strong and the mud protected his back.

He hated the Salt Flats with a passion. He hated it more than Overseer Vargas.

It was the only place in Hydra where he refused to die . Now that Opal had gotten a taste of swimming, it was the only thing he would live for. Swimming again was the only thing that mattered. He wasn't going to expire in a place with no water, not if he could help it!

So far, no scorpions or spiders had bothered him, although a few annoying vultures had been circling above. It must of been how he looked; a sluggish salamander-eel wearily stumbling across the hottest area in Hydra. Honestly, he couldn't blame them. Nearing the end of the stretch, the Opal began to feel his muscles ache. He looked down at his feet and realized they were beginning to bleed. The retention spell was probably making it look less worse than it actually was. Huffing, he pushed on, thankful that his claws could not feel any pain at the moment.

Opal Three-Seven-Six is moving forward.