Sand Dune Peko Race

As part of the Spring Equinox festivities, the Holy Empire will be sponsoring a Peko Race across the sands. Many people are recruiting Adventurers willing to ride for them, knowing that a race in the desert can be quite dangerous. Will you face the heat of the dunes and possibly ride to glory?

(OOC: Players do not need to own a Peko to participate. One will be provided ICly. Card+Concept based rolls will be used.

Players may choose the 'special quality' of their Peko. This may be Physical, Magical, Animal Handling, Shield, or Evasion. The Peko will offer a bonus to to one of these rolls.)

Reminisce
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

It is hard to tell that it is 'Spring' in a land of deserts. There is little change other than the warming of temperatures, causing the sun to finally start to feel as if it had some claws to it. However, people are always interested in finding reasons to celebrate.

Leaning into the excitement of the current Tournament, various leading nobles of Breg Epona have sponsored a peko race across the sand dunes. They have sponsored various Adventurer riders, providing pekos, and paying entrance fees. Now, both riders and fans have gathered at the sight of the race, the sounds of voices blending together.

There is a line of riders and pekos, preparing to take their places at the starting line.

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Holy Empire Sand Dune Peko Race! We have an exciting race lined up, folks! Riders! To the starting line!"
Merek
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

    Merek of course would participate in the Peko's race. He takes the time to set up with the peko he brought with him, magically inclined. While on its back he begins to check his status screen, then nods a bit while he works on finding the place the people will all come to for beginning.
Dareshetani
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Dare's player was a passable rider back in the other world, although of course that was horses and not giant birds. But in any case, after growing up on the Black Stallion books, a race across the desert sounded like an awesome event to participate in.

Dressed in proper desert linens to protect himself from the grit of sand and heat of sun, he almost looks like a proper Bedouin, except for the bestial snout poking out the front of his head covering, and the tail poking out from his back side.

The werefang has spent the earlier part of the day getting to know his mount and feeding her little bits of greens and treats to ingratiate himself, as well as just to get the general feel for riding back into his limbs. Now, he nudges her forward to the starting line, giving her a final pat on the neck before arranging the reins in readiness. "Okay here we go girl."
Mizuki
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons


    How can Mizuki say no to a fun contest? A break from fighting for her life in combat is an opportunity to take advantage of! As the contest approached, Mizuki selected a peko peko which the handlers assured her was particularly easy to handle, and practiced riding it over the past couple of days. She never had any experience with riding animals in the real world -- in fact, horses made Sam nervous due to the knowledge that such an animal could quite possibly kill him with a single kick. That concern is ameliorated here, though -- she's taken far worse hits fighting bosses than the peko could possibly dish out.

    Mizuki is making a rare appearance in human form, not wanting the apparent presence of a supernatural predator to spook the peko peko. This reveals that her around-town outfit does in fact include sturdy-looking leather boots. She's also tied a blue headband around her forehead to soak up sweat from the heat. Although perhaps with her hair color and jacket, the headband is evocative of a certain thief^H^H^H^H^HTREASURE HUNTER from Circlesoft games, especially when riding a giant bird...

    So it is that she rides up to the starting line and looks over the competition, sizing up their ability to...

    Okay, she has NO IDEA who might be good or bad at riding, it's never come up. ._.;

    Well. She offers a friendly smile. "You guys ready to have fun?"
Gwen
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Gwen had been at the tournament not to enter, nay. She's been there to sell food and merch she'd made and has been doing pretty well with that. She was running low on some stock so she wanted to take some time to do something else. Namely, the race had got her attention, it sounded like it would be fun.

"Sure am."

She will pet the Choc... Pecko a bit as she gts ready for the race.
Dareshetani
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Dare grins over at Mizuki. "You bet! Hopefully someone hasn't warded the sand with calculus runes this time, right?"
Reminisce
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

The start of the race is echoed by the sound of cannon fire. A salamander stands atop a tall platform, waving a green flag. The crowd roars their support, with members of the audience waving colored cloths to cheer on their favorite riders. A few shady looking individuals are even taking bets.

There is a tense moment as pekos begin to surge forward. The noise is enough to spook a few of the birds, causing them to rear up, squawking and flapping their tiny wings. Others seem to bump into one another at the start, or lose their footing in the close confines.

Challenge: Handle Animal
Roll: +roll Handle Animal <with card> vs 8

(Note: Peko bonuses will be added behind the scenes. Adding cards is optional each round.)
Dareshetani
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

"Let's go!" Dare urges his mount, angling himself low over her neck to generate as little resistance as possible on his part. She surges forward with the pack for two glorious strides before someone knocks into them from the right, causing her to stumble slightly and get bounced back by another bird on the left. With a loud SQUAWK of protest she does a little hopping dance to maintain her balance, and Dare's back goes visibly rigid beneath his robes, gripping tightly with his legs just to keep his balance.

Fortunately, she's a very well trained bird, and in spite of the bobble, she more than her rider manages to keep herself centered beneath his weight. A quick turn around in a tight circle to re-orient, and then the two of them bound off in pursuit of the pack. Dare lifts a hand to pull his head covering better across his muzzle as they're now eating the sand kicked up by all of the pounding bird feet ahead of them.
Merek
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

    Merek begins from the starting line, while he takes the peko with him upon the track. He does look to see what progress people are making, while he manages to at least stay in the fight. It's notable he will be trying his best, while he watches from the hood of what he's wearing.
Mizuki
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons


    Mizuki rolls her eyes and sighs at Dare's comment. She opens her mouth to reply, but then the starting CANNON goes off! Aaand the peko pekos are starting to panic uncontrollably, beaks and wings jostling against her bird. This is no good!

    Mizuki has an idea though. She covers her peko's 'ears' with her hands, and then shifts all furry for a moment and roars and snarls at the other nearby birds, trying to clear some room so her peko can run freely!

    Then she shifts back and grabs the reins again, shaking them once in a 'Go!' motion. "Let's go, Poppy!"
Gwen
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

So the race is on, and away they all go she'll give a git up to her Peco and off they go. It's a bit of a challenge but the animal is very well trained. Gwen's timing is a bit off thankfully the Peco knows what to do with a mighty Honka it reacts a second before Gwen does with a whoop and away she goes.

"Come on catch me if you can o/~" She seems to be in good spirits all things consided as they go she seems to be trying to keep up with Mizuki or at least catch up.
Reminisce
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

After the initial surge of pekos, the field begins to spread out a bit as they race across the sands. Dust and debris is shut up by scrambling feet, wings flapping as they come over the rise of the first dune and down into a sandy valley below.

The festivities, however, seem to have drawn the attention of a band of goblins. They are only just visible as the group come down the slope. There is a war cry in a chittering monster language, followed by a series of projectiles being thrown towards the riders. One arrow strikes a peko in the neck, causing it to fall in a tumble on the sands, throwing the rider. Soon, both are jumped upon by a mass of goblins.

They had recruited Adventurers for a reason, it seems. The sands are a dangerous place.

Challenge: Shield
Roll: +roll Shield <with card> vs 8
Merek
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

    Merek's peko moves with speed while he uses a spell to begin charging the energy into her. He smiles a bit, "Come on Kitty," he speaks to the creature, then he's moving up to meet with Mizuki while he nods along that way, "We'll do well!" He then points forward to Gwen, "We're on you!"
Mizuki
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons


    Mizuki leans down against her peko's neck as the open desert gives her a chance to pour on the speed... until she hears that war cry! She sits up and looks at the approaching sand goblins. They have monsters as a course hazard?! She has to let go of the reins to cast, "Cleansingbreezesweepasideobstaclestovictory! AERO!" which, fortunately, does seem to do a decent job of blowing aside arrows -- but watching for danger, and the peko's confusion at the cloud of sand and wind flying around it, keep it from running full speed, and she sees Gwen pull ahead of her after that sing-songy 'catch me if you can!' taunt. "Ugh! It's not over yet!"

    Mizuki pats the peko's neck. "Come on. We'll find an opportunity to take the lead again..."
Dareshetani
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

"Uh-oh," Dare mutters under his breath, leaning into a turn to help his mount clear the sudden hazard of a fallen bird in their path. He twists to look over his shoulder in alarm, wondering if they oughtn't stop to help the other rider? Confused by the odd shifting of her rider's weight, his bird slows uncertainly... only to have a goblin-spear strike the sand right by her foot! With another loud yarking noise of protest, she bolts forward, intent on putting as much space between her and the threat as physically possible.

Reluctantly, Dare turns his eyes forward again and resumes an appropriate riding posture. He'll just have to hope the folks in charge of the race will be on the ball as far as providing assistance. "Okay girl," he murmurs into the wind. "Rough start. We can make it up though." He keeps his hold on the reins loose and lets her find her own footing, trusting his mount's judgement over his own in this situation.
Gwen
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Gwen is riding pretty well as the race goes on, it's good fun but now there are Goblins? Gwen feels a rush of rage at the green skins showing up. She acts without thinking as she lets lose with an Anchor Howl to protect herself and her mount. She yells several nasty things at the goblins and even tries to run over one as she's making to keep on the race track.
Reminisce
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Luckily, most pekos have the speed to outrun the goblins, meaning that it is only a matter of time before the rocks and arrows fall away, leaving a clear path up along the next set of dunes. The ground is a bit uneven, causing it to give way a bit beneath the large peko feet, but those who are still in the race don't seem to have any issue scaling to the top.

There, the flags indicating the race path seem to stay precariously balanced atop the dunes. Spread here and there along them are a series of magically enchanted platforms. Those who can guide their peko towards the platforms and activate them, are sure to get a speed boost, while those who falter, are likely to fall off to the side of the tall dunes, leading them to fall behind the lead pack.

Challenge: Magical
Roll: +roll Magical <with card> vs 8
Merek
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

    Merek maneuvers magic along the track to make sure he can begin keeping his own Peko in the place. He manages to take first as they come upon the halfway point, nodding a bit with a wave to Dareshetani, "You can do it!" he states, then he's looking to everyone on the track, "This is fun!"
Gwen
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Well things seem to be not going as well as she'd like but it is run to run full out like this. With the goblins left behind she focuses on the road ahead, she notices some of the flags are in rather an odd spot. Those platforms are a bit on the tricky side. Gwen doesn't time things as well as she could while her Peco and her fall off. The duo manages to work together and recover well enough to keep in the race for the moment.
Mizuki
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons


    Once they're clear of the goblins, Mizuki drops the aero shield, leans forward, and urges her peko to run fast, though she doesn't urge it to run unsustainably fast. She needs to save her mount's endurance for the end of the race...

    Dang, there she goes, treating it like a real animal instead of game code. But then, the code might have the same limit... depleting the spurs/carrots at the wrong time could spell disaster for her chances in the race!

    And then up ahead... are those... chevron-shaped magic platforms that scream 'hit me for a speed boost' to any gamer? She guides the peko over them, zapping them with a jolt of magic... and gleefully feeling the wind in her face and hair as the peko gets a boost! "YOU'VE GOT BOOST POWER!" she cheers... although, her expression hardens slightly when she sees that she's still tied for second. She can't take it easy, she's got to keep watching for an opportunity to get further ahead... she gives Gwen a friendly nod though as she catches up alongside the tank.
Dareshetani
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Seeing an opportunity to start making up lost ground, Dare begins humming under his breath to encourage his mount now that she's getting into stride. He spots the boost platforms and angles his body to guide his Peko toward them, wanting to give her every opportunity possible for the best footing.

The musical magic he's channeling isn't the sort to be restrained to simple humming though. As his mount's feet strike one of the platforms and she launches herself off the top of a dune, little wings spread for balance, he bursts out in full cry to bolster the magical boost!

"It's my life, and it's now or never--!"
Reminisce
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

As the last of the magical platforms falls behind them, something else causes the sands to rumble. There is a cascade of sand, that seems to follow the racers down along the taller dunes and around a wide curve in the path. It seems like nothing at first, perhaps only causing a bit of unsure footing from a few birds.

Then, from the depths of the sands, a massive scorpion bursts up, sending rocks and debris hurtling towards the riders. One of those near the back of the riders is actually speared straight through with the monster's stinger, causing the a grave marker for the rider to drop to the sands. Huge frontal pincers snap towards the riders as the monster gives chase, trying to grab riders off their mounts or catch unwary pekos by the legs.

Challenge: Evasion
Roll: +roll Evasion <with card> vs 8
Dareshetani
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

With his anthem still in full cry, the hyena hunter doesn't flinch in the face of this new sudden threat.

"My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, I did it my way!"

Remembering long ago lessons on the dressage arena, he braces one leg tightly against his Peko's left side and shifts his right leg back to steady her through a TIGHT turn that takes them neatly past one of the stabbing pincers, then leans into a counter-turn back to the right to weave around its skittering legs as well. His bird seems to sense his new confidence and responds in kind, not hesitating as they thread the deadly needle!
Merek
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

    Merek keeps traveling along, though looks like all of them are at about the same place. He nods a bit while he would guide his peko along towards the finish line, the man will try to win even if he doesn't. Placing would be wonderful although he will enjoy the whole concept of the celebration as well.
Mizuki
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons


    As Mizuki speeds towards the last of the magical platforms, she turns towards Gwen and says, playfully, "C'mon, run away." Beat. "You don't have to stay." The tone CLEARLY indicates this is some sort of bit or reference, although it may not be clear where this is going. "We're nearly outta time... but you're doin' fine. So stay on track... and don't look back. Just feel the pace..." And then she looks ahead and shouts,

    "Come on now RACE!"

    She bursts into song.

    o/~ Everybody's Super Sonic Racin', try to keep your feet right on the groooound!
    o/~ When you're Super Sonic Racin', there's no time to look around!
    o/~ We're just Super Sonic Racin', runnin' to the point of no retuuuuurn!
    o/~ Everybody's Super Sonic Racin', come on let the fire buuuuurn!


    "Everyb--WOAH!" As she starts on the bridge, suddenly a scorpion BURSTS OUT OF THE SAND, and she pulls on the reigns to bring her peko to a halt, all but stopping as she tries to guide the peko around it and throws kunai and spells to keep the scorpion at bay.

    She looks over at Dare. Now they're tied for last place...

    Well, she can either be sour about it or high-spirited! She raises her voice again,

    o/~Everybody's Super Sonic Racin'...

    Come on, when else will this song EVER be appropriate in here?
Gwen
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Well Gwen is not out of the game not just yet but it's clear she's in a fix and she will try to get her birdy companion to go a bit faster. She however takes note that she might be able to pass the two people ahead of her if she's smart, but will she be able to pull it off?
Reminisce
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

In the aftermath of the scorpion attack, there are more than a few pekos that now run unguided and riderless into the sands. Others have been caught by the pincers, dragged down to their deaths below.

The end is in sight, though! The colorful flags of the finish line appear just as they round a tall sand dune. There don't look to be any additional signs of danger, only a straight shot towards the finish line. This is when the more experienced riders spur their mounts to pick up speed. A few start to edge towards the front, trying to get enough of a lead that the others won't be able to close. Others seem to be holding a bit in reserve, ready for a last push.

Whatever the case, now seems the time for any final tactics to be brought into play. This is the last chance for riders to spur their mounts to the finish line!

Challenge: Physical
Roll: +roll Physical <with card> vs 8
Dareshetani
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

And there it is, the finish line! "We've got this, girl!" Dare cries out, leaning forward low over his Peko's neck, his head covering whipping off and flapping behind him in the wind of the final push. His big round ears stick up reflecting his intense concentration as he keeps his eyes trained on the track ahead, scanning for the best footing and any opportunity to draft up on the birds still ahead of them.

He can tell his mount is getting tired, but all he can do is keep his hands low and loose on the reins and keep up a constant litany of encouragement to her. "Come on, almost there! Almost there, you can do this girl!"

They aren't the first to flash past the colored flags, but they do finish, and that's more than can be said for a lot of the competition. Dare lets out a cackling whoop of exhilaration and relaxes his posture, letting his bird slow and stop at her own pace.
Merek
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

    Merek keeps on with that Peko of his, the man managed with all of the environment. The goblins, scorpions, whatever would try to keep him from winning. He then makes the finish line with a little swift twirl of the Peko and waves to the team, while he settles onto the side of the Peko with him, "Thank you!" he states.
Mizuki
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons


    Some of the pekos are pulled to their deaths by the scorpions? Yikes. Even if they're just code, Mizuki feels bad for their trainers...

    Still, she repeats the song's only verse a second time as they come into the final straightaway. She doesn't have any special strategies or tricks here, just spurring her Peko on and relying on this body's enhanced balance and general physical prowess to work with her peko as best she can!

    Second place is respectable! After reining her peko to a stop, she leans down to hug it, then turns towards Merek. "Congratulations!"
Gwen
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

Gwen is not calling it quits even after Scorpions the size of SUVs but it does dslow her down a bit she'll keep after Merek but won't quite catch up to him in time she'll bring her bird to a halt as the race comes to an end with Merek's victory. She'll give her Peco a pat as she gets off an fish out a treat for it from her inventory.

"Well done Merek enjoy the glory."
Reminisce
Breg Epona - The City of Dragons

There is a roar from the crowd as the racers come to the finish line. Obviously, not everyone had made it, and a few people do look out to the sands as the last of the racers cross. This seems to be kind of expected. Afterall, Adventurers are immortal, so it really doesn't hurt anything for them to die in a dangerous race like this. Right? ... Right?

It's sure that more than a few are going to remember their favorite racers after tonight. Some talking about how Dareshetani had fought from back in the pack, or how Merek held off the rest of the competition, or Mizuki's singing, or even Gwen's eternal hatred for all things goblinoid. People are left with stories. In Yamato, like in the real world, stories create their own form of immortality.