Festival: Fall Peko Race

As temperatures begin to shift colder, the trees in the expansive forests of the Eastal Free League have begun to change in coloration. Beautiful browns, reds, and golds dot the landscape, giving a stark contrast to the shades of green that dominate the summer months. Some leaves have already begun to fall, raked together into piles.

Some of these colorful piles of leaves line the starting line, often disrupted by playful children who find them an endless source of amusement. Spectators are clothed in light jackets, warding off some of the fall chill.

With the fair weather, it seems to have attracted quite the crowd, with Landers and Adventurers gathered at the starting line.

"Riders!" Calls a cheerful voice. "To the starting gates!" The announcer seems to be a young Sylph, dressed in a simple green and brown dress.

Pekos and riders begin to make their way to the starting gates. The children run over from their playing to watch the beginnings of the race.

Courtesy of Gwen, Uta seems to finally have upgraded her outfit from her simple starting gi/nurse's uniform to a more MMORPG-y white dress/gi with long boots and opera gloves, white with slight silery accents (and still the obligatory nurse's cap).

"You can't do this to me!", the Spriggan exclaims as she slams her fists on the organizer's table. "I am sick and tired of being rejected from these races! Why can't you let me in for once? Just once!?!"

"Please calm down, Ma'am. I, Mister Clerk, I have explained it ten times already. You have arrived on time and you have been signed up."

"Why, why is it that you people never let me take part to- wait, wait, what did you say?!"

"You are on time Ma'am. I, Mister Clerk, have explained it eleven times already. You have arrived on time and you have been signed up."

"OH GOODNESS!", exclaims Uta, in sheer panic. "I wasn't ready for this! I hadn't thought this far!" She looks around frantically. "I haven't even brought a Peko!"

"...what about the one just behind you?"

Uta turns abruptly. She cocks her head and glances at the Peko. "...You'll do." She clims onto it, and looks around. "HEY? IS THIS ANYONE'S PEKO?", she yells around, turning her head left and right.

Nobody answers.

Except for Mr.Clerk: timidly, he raises one finger. "Ma'am, you brought that Peko here yoursel-"

But it's too late. Uta's peko has darted towards the starting line. "Oh my goodness!", she exclaims, head hung in shame. "I hope nobody thinks I stole this. What if... what if Rylen hears of it, and thinks I've stolen a Peko?!" Her eyes glaze up almost on the verge of tears. "He would probably find it a terrible action which would forever bring shame on my name!"

It's time for autumn! With the arrival of another festival is the arrival of another Peko Race. Prophylaxis arrives astride his reliable, sky-blue Peko, Konpekon. It looks just a little out of place amongst the fiery reds and oranges of fall, but she seems absolutely pleased as punch.

...Also like she's been eating very, very well. Or maybe she's just putting on her winter plumage early? But is that the dregs of a mashed pumpkin meal messily strewn across her beak!?

No, you're obviously imagining it. Shut up. :<

Prophylaxis is the guilty party here. He's the one that's been spoiling his peko. Obviously. OBVIOUSLY.

Oh well, it probably won't hurt anything about their performance today. Right? Right. Right!!

Shiruba was giving her Peko's feathers one last grooming so they were all aerodynamically unruffled when the call for taking the starting positions goes out. "That's our cue, Tradewind." She drops the grooming tool back into inventory, grabs the reigns and hoists herself up onto the bird's back. He gives a sqwack of a agreement and trots off for the starting line. "Remember, we just need to do our best and have fun. If we win again or not is irreliva--" Shiruba stops as they reach the lineup. Blinks. Rubs her eyes with the back of a forearm to make sure she really sees what she saw. "Uta! You made it to the races!"

Goldenblade is signed up and here to race, and she's also brough her own peko. A borrowed one, because she rides a horse for preference. Riding a big chicken has just never clicked for her, for all that they're better mounts. It's just weirder than she cares for. But anyhow, her recent projects have recently completed, leaving her charged up and ready to race.

She will guide her mount over to the starting line, offering nods to the folks she knows. She's not looking forward to another last-place finish, but she just does it because you can only set so many bricks before your brain leaks out through your ears.

    Merek makes a way along to the Peko race, while he takes the time to begin adjusting the gloves which he wears, then he begins to mount the peko which he brought with him, nodding a bit to the people while he waits.

Winter is comming, thankfully they have some preperations for it. Gwen needs to make sure her home is going to be heated through the winter. Gwen seems eager and ready to ride, she'll hang on to her mount. It shouldn't be too long before it's time to start. She also takes a moment to peer at Uta. She's going to need to have a talk with that girl soon she thinks. Then again for Uta? That sort of thing is not bug is feature. She'll hange on to her Peco and wait till the ride get going.

    Rizadoman , the late comer quickly pulls his Peko up to the starting line. Petting the bird softly and making soothing lizardman noises as he looks at the other racers for a moment, " I know I know but today will be the day you make your ancestors proud." With more soothing noises he does his best to sooth the bird so that the bird is good to go.

There is a hushed moment as the riders all take their places. Then, a mage lifts their hand skyward, firing off a streak of red light which explodes in the sky like a firework.

"Go go!" The sylph announcer calls out. "Good luck everyone!" She seems so downright sweet as she cheers them on.

The Pekos surge forward. By now, many of the racers are experienced enough that there isn't too much trouble at the starting gates. There is a little bit of jostling, but most people get free quickly, moving towards the first obstacle that awaits them.

So close to civilization, it looks as if someone has tracked the race-course right through an area of farmland. This specific area seems to be filled with fruit trees.

"Ooo. It's a gathering challenge! They can only pass if they manage to snag the right amount of fruit from the trees!" The announcer explains.

A burly looking farmer seems to be waiting at the gate, ready to count fruit. It seems to be one part knowing what to pick, and one part using their Pekos to move quickly in order to pick enough to satisfy the farmer.

Challenge: Farming

Goldenblade gets ready to race, and as they're all in the gate. She's concentrating fiercely, which does no good because she's an awful rider. But that's OK, this is an awful peko. Her peko doesn't so much surge forward as wander aimlessly. Aaaaaand, it looks like she needs to gather a certain amount of a certain types of fruit. This is a challenge. It might even be quicker if she got off and gathered it by hand. But she'll go with the program. The bird seems to know its way around the farmland, anyhow, slightlu making up for Goldenblade's lack of skill.

Finally, a task for which Konpeko was practically born to excel! Well, not really. Honestly, she's kind of... not the best at this job. Through no fault of her own, of course! She's a very kind, sweet-hearted peko, but her gluttony is well documented. And in this case, it works to Prophylaxis' advantage.

Kind of.

"Kwahrk!" Konpeko cries as she sprints toward a fruit tree... Only to find it picked clean! And then to the next one over, only for the process to repeat! Again and again, poor Konpeko is left with only a few fruits to munch on, when she was expecting a veritable smorgesbord of delicious treats.

...Because Prophylaxis has been judiciously whipping up some well-timed wind magic to snag baskets full of fruits as his peko dashes through the orchard.

"No complaints," he chides this poor peko. "I'll give you treats when you're done. Right now, you'll just upset your stomach!"

"Kweh......" says Konpeko, sadly.

    Merek keeps on that peko and looks about to see if he can gather anything. He doesn't do great at that, all the same he will try his best while he guides along with the partner in that race.

Uta, by now, has forgotten about being on the verge of tears and moved on to utter shock and disbelief. "...so I seem to have, Shiruba. I can't believe it myself." She would greet Prophylaxis, Merek, and Gwen as well, but she's too shocked to notice them now.

Mr.Clerk eventually walks up to Uta, who is waiting at the starting line now. "What is the name of your Peko?"

Uta jolts back to her senses, and blurts out, "Not Stolen!"

There is silence, and a mage fires a firework. A sylph cheers sweetly, and Uta darts off aboard her yellow peko!

"Fruit! I got this, I got th-"

She veers off to a side and both Peko and rider impact against a tree. On the plus side, plenty of fruit fall down on their head. She manages to retain a few, and bites onto one of them. "....mmmm. Reminds me of the first morning after the Apocalypse. Ate one of these- hey!" She glares at her Peko, who has just snatched the fruit from her hands to gobble it down.

    Rizadoman pushes his bird off the starting line and away they go, into the farm land and following the markers into the orchard of fruit trees, " Ok just need to pick some fruit that isn't bad. " Setting the basket down by his Peko he quickly gathers some of the fruit, using his height to his advantage to reach some of the higher pieces. Just when he thinks he has enough he turns back to see his Peko is have way through it's third piece of perfectly good fruit. " No no, wait aaaarrrgh." He groans as he seperates the Peko from the fruit and starts over. It will definately slow him down but he should be able to get a few more pieces together to turn in.

Shiruba just grins, happy to see more of her friends actually making it to a race. But there's the signal to GO! Shiruba gives her peko a light spur in the sides with her heels to tell him to move and Tradewind takes off with all the swiftness of his namesake. The first short stretch after the start is rarely a hassle, but it doesn't take long for the first challenge to come up. "Ooooo~ That is clever incorperation of theming."

The wolfgirl nudges her Peko to move along a line of trees, and to slow down a little so she can actually see what she is doing when she grabs for various fruits. Tradewind helps a bit, grabbing one here or there with his beak and plucking it, and a flick of his head to toss it back to Shiruba. "Thanks for your help, but you need to watch where we are going." "Kwee!"

Syx might actually have Farming as a skill...He picked it as a joke when he created his character because he spent his summers on his uncle's farm.

He didn't know it would kind of come in handy when it comes to something in game. His red peko Meteor is spurred along as they try to get to the fruit trees, although Syx thinks he has a good idea, he saw something in a show once.

He stops his Peko next to a tree and then delivers a swift back kick to the tree, making a few pieces of fruit drop out of it, "Man. I figured that'd get more..Can it be true that cartoons would lie to me?!"

The race is on and Gwen is getting into it she does not care if she wins or loses. Give her fuel give her fire, give her that which she desires. Or so the saying tends to go, right? Well she's got a high speed bird, right. It's not a terror bird to be sure. She seem to have some idea of what's going on as she's snatching up fruit as she goes, laughing all the way, wait what?

"Uta, next time you sign me up for something... don't!"

Jazz was, of course, completely ignored by Uta. Not only was she completely ignored by Uta this time, she will probably be completely ignored by Uta into the future. And that's why she was on the back of a yellow peko that clashes sharply with her personal aesthetic, and she is definitely not terribly comfortable on its back, or trying to get the fruit in the first place. Collecting the fruit is very much a challenge for her, leading to her actually standing on the back of her steed, trying to snatch it frome taller trees as much of the low-hanging fruit has already been grabbed. Story of her life, right?

"Erf," she hops. "Oof.." Another hop. Fingers barely graze the fruit she's workign on. It finally detatches from the branch and lands on her face. Splat.

She quietly removes it from her face, then resumes gathering, despite the perils of her smolness.

When the farmer opens the gate, it lands them immediately into what looks like a large maze which has been formed out of bales of bound hay and straw. There is room enough for the Pekos to run three or four through the maze, but soon enough, riders and their mounts begin to make their way into different directions.

There are twists and turns, with plenty of dead-ends that leave riders having to back-track along the path in order to try to look for another route that might lead them to the exit. Now and again, they even stumble upon strange scare-crows that look to be dressed up like some of the riders.

There are traps that trigger at places within the maze. There are pitfalls, tripwires and distracting buckets full of tasty Peko feed that might lead mounts to stray.

Challenge: Cartography

Goldenblade makes her way late into the maze, but compensates by taking her time going through it. The peko and rider are slow-going, but clumsy, and she stops at most of the pitfalls, except for the ones she rides straight into. Needless to say, this is not a winning peko ride. She perserveres, though, making her way out of the muck and traps eventually. Eventually being the key word.

"Yeah, she should ask, but just lighten up a little and enjoy it!" Shiruba calls over a shoulder to Jazu and Uta.

Oh ho, a maze. This is right up Shiruba's alley! She guides her peko in, and while the 'walls' may be tall hay and stray the ground is still earth and dirt, and Shiruba notices something that gets her to abruptly pull on Tradewind's reigns. "Whoa!" The peko stumbles a little to stop, doing so right on the edge of where some ground cover gives away to reveal a pitfall. "Of course, there's traps, it's a maze..." Shiruba nudges her bird back a few steps, and then forward again to get the clearance to jump over the pit. Now knowing to look for signs of traps or tripwires they can maneuver their way through, if not at full speed since Shiruba still has to navigate. But she at least avoids making any time consuming switchbacks.

    Merek manages to navigate along successfully through the course, though that doesn't put him in the front. The man seems to be managing well enough in that race though, like he often does, taking the time to find a way about the place.

Syx isn't very good at puzzles. So he's trying to navigate his way through the maze. And failing. He runs into several dead ends one after another (and probably the same one twice), and then gets frustrated and points Meteor at the direction he thinks is the right way, "Go!"

The Peko runs forward, and Syx starts to try to punch his way through the walls.

"Jazz, use your apron! It's not only for decoration, you know? You can strike the tree and... and... pull your apron and... and..."

Uta is interrupted by Shiruba's words. She looks around in confusion, and noticing the Undine again, she lights up. "Jazz! You're here? What a surprise! Is... Pela racing as well? Man, it's really a smol world, after all!"

And then, Maze time!

"Hopefully there will be no minotau- wait, is June taking part too?"

    Down into the maze Rizadoman and Bird go, past the spider webs, and through the twists and turns. Fortunately Rizadoman had been in many tombs and dungeons and some simple maze built by a farmer was not enough to slow him or his peko, Bird, down. They do stop for a moment as the way infront of them collapses before with some urging for Rizadoman the bird leaps over the hole and makes it to the otherside. With some urging for speed they even manage to cut some corners sharply. Now if only he had a turtle shell to throw at those in the lead.

The next phase of the race is... a hay maze of all things. There should be corn here, Prophylaxis thinks. That way they could be trying to run a maze of maise!

...

There's a close call. Devious farmers set out delicious, tasty Peko treats to tempt mounts into disobedience. Konpeko... is sadly far too vulnerable to these sorts of things.

"Kweeeeeh~?" She asks, craning her head up and around to peer at her rider with a pair of big, round, wet peko eyes. "No," Prophylaxis huffs. "We have treats waiting for us at home."

Konpeko continues to stare. Pleaaaaaase give her treats?

Prophylaxis... sighs and scoops up one of the feed baskets on his staff and dangles it in front of his ride, "If you get us out of the maze ahead of the others, I'll give this whole thing to you at the end of the race. Okay?"

"KWEEEEHHHH!" Konpeko declares, breaking off in a determined sprint that almost has her rider tumbling out of his saddle!

...She straight up leaps onto one of the haybales and starts jumping from obstacle to obstacle. It's not /technically/ cheating, right??

"...I can use it to catch falling fruit if I shake the trees, yes, I get it," says Jazz to Uta. Which is what she winds up doing, using a bit of wind magic to make it easier. By that point, though, she was already substantially behind when head ing into the maze ...

... which is really more her jam, isn't it?

"A maze? Please, as if I didn't spend a few weeks navigating the GUE's Royal Maze in Zork 3," she mutters. At first, she and her mount struggle, but soon she comes to understand that the bird's sense of direction matches her own intuition. Perhaps that's why she chose it in the first place? In any event, the result is that she seems to be seamlessly making it through it, making up a great deal of lost time and ground despite her obvious and relative unease riding a peko in the first place. Seems she prefers her own two (dainty!) feet.

So Gwen's had some headway as she takes off, the next challenge however trips her up pretty well. "Wait what a PITTTTTTT???????" Down she goes, to her bird's credit it's able to get out of the pet however it's slowed them both down. "WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA FOR A RACE?"

The maze eventually lets out into what looks to be a more typical raceway. Of course, for experienced riders, they are well aware that there is nothing 'typical' about Peko racing. The organizers always seem to find a way to make things... challenging.

A series of small lizards seem to have taken up residence along this section of the raceway. Lizards who are all suspiciously red and orange in coloration. The moment the first Peko crosses paths with one, the creature opens its mouth and spews a glob of fire-breath towards the race track.

Soon, others are spitting small fireballs across their path, making it downright dangerous for both rider and mount. Some riders begin to take control of it, themselves, flinging some back towards other riders, or out of the way entirely.

Challenge: Fire

Fireballs? FIREBALLS!? Prophylaxis grimaces at these lizards hurling fireballs in his path, at the other riders, at EVERYTHING. There's a pile of dry tinder like half a mile behind them, and they want to slap a bunch of fire-breathing lizards in their way?

Well. Fine.

Konpeko warks warily, charging ahead at a slightly diminished pace. Her rider, however, extends a hand into the sky and begins chanting a spell that seems to draw incoming fireballs inward, only to direct the heat into...

...the bag of peko feed.

The entire track is beginning to smell an awful lot like vegetable fajitas, which is probably no good for the concentration of the peko herd overall, but it's a damn sight better than being set on fire!

Goldenblade fiiiinally gets out of the maze and into the straightaway, and she immediately picks up speed. The firelizards are a nice touch, and she nudges her peko in the ribs, keeping it ahead of those fiery blasts, picking up speed with each flame, catching the timing just right, by purest chance, or else her peko is so terrified of fire that he'll leap forward in a huge sprint to get clear. She's broken out of her nearly dead last position and is now solidly in the middle of the pack.

Shiruba has done enough of these races to not take seeing other wildlife on the track lightly. "Ooh crap crap crap!" She jerks to the side, forcing her peko to turn and run sideways to avoid several shots of fire and shaving precious distance off their advance to do so. Tradewind gets a few tailfeathers singed and that's enough to get him to start panicing rather than racing. "Calm down, calm do--yow!" Shiruba ducks a fireball barely herself. "On second thought, panic! Run!" She at least gets him steered back in the right direction, and then conjures her own shield of flame to deflect more shots from the firelizards while they get back into the main race.

It takes Syx a bit more effort than he would have liked to get out of the maze, but once he finally does, Meteor is able to live up to his name, as the red peko rushes, rapidly picking up the pace and charging down the straight-away.

Syx spots the fireballs flying at the folks ahead of him, and he quickly throws up flames on either side of himself and his peko, helping the bird live up to his name even more as the flaming red peko streaks down the track.

    Merek looks to the flame that comes from the lizards, nodding a bit while he begins to use magic to keep that away from him. "Well, these races only get more interesting every season," he chuckles. The man cheers for Prophylaxis, "You're doing wonderful!"

    Rizadoman sees the lizards on the path and only encourages Bird to run faster , and faster and faster, and now they have achieved the legendary peko racing technique Fire Dash. Wait no they didn't, Rizadoman simply seems to be release waves of intense fire infront of the peko and the fire simply curving and spreading out infront of them. With enough fire they are literally running in the eye of a fireball as they charge directly into the lizards. Can they see? Probably not but as many people present would note, fire can solve many things so maybe , just maybe it can solve being unable to see where they are running.

As the first bolt of fire startled her Peko, Jazz yelps. Singed hair and singed feathers combine for an alarmed Undine and she finds herself navigating the next section in a haphazard way. Fortunately, her class is 'sea witch', so she has plenty of water on hand to offer shelter... which produced steam... which makes navigation a bit harder for her.

Still, she managed to make it across the stretch, if a bit shaken from the experience and giving Uta dirty look.

A conflagration raging all around, an inferno of flames, Not Stolen (temporary name) darts ahead like a headless peko with a peko head glued on. Uta, with little flames rising up from her arms, legs, and a couple spots on her back (and her wings), just smiles and attemtps to keep a positive attitude in the face of disaster.

"This is fine."

so now there's a new challenge ahead a lizard wait fire balls? This has turned into a SHRUMP and Gwen is going to ahve to deal wioth this thankfully she has some talent with fire magic. So everything is going good the fireballs come she counter attacks with bursts of her own. Then ends up intercepting them. She laughs a tthis and calls out.

"LET THEM COME!"

The last of the lizards is left behind, though it is likely that not everyone has escaped unscathed. There are a few less riders in the pack by this point, with many having gotten lost in the maze or having been taken out by fire-spitting lizards.

This leaves the group running through a thick set of trees that follow a curving path back towards the start of the race. The forest around them would be beautiful with its various fall colors, but it becomes clear that no one really prepared this path for racers. Well, either that, or they left it overgrown on purpose!

Creeping branches threaten to catch Peko feet, while taller ones could very well unseat an unwary rider. Rocks seem to litter the roadway. There is enough to dodge around, duck beneath, or jump over that it could easily trip up even the most experienced of riders.

Challenge: Evasion

Goldenblade is ridning hard into the next, overgrown stretch, and she grumbles as a crawling vine nearly trips her peko. Well, she's got a solution for that. Flames make everything go faster, that's been a rule since her first car in 1951 with it's sweet, sweet flame job, and it's true now, with her peko leaving a trail of flames as it dashes through the now-smoking underbrush straight for the goal.

"Definitely left overgrown on purpose," Shiruba muses to herself when she sees the forest 'path', or lack of therefor save a few track markers, ahead of them. She's done these races enough times to know they like to take advantage of the environment for obstacles as much as they do themeing. "Okay Tradewind," the wolfgirl tucks her tail under her leg to keep it from causing drag, and hunches down in her saddle the way she's seen the jockeys in races on TV back in the old world do. "This is our chance to make up for some lost time. So as Gwen would say," she snaps the reins. "Yeeha!"

She also spurs her heels into the bird's sides, which give off a few sparks that crackle along plumage and down the bird's legs to give him some extra oomph. Tradewind lives up to his name again, charging through the brush and hoping over rocks then ducking branches like a bird on a mission. Which technically he is. A mission to the finish, regardless of what position.

There's something to be said for the thrill of a run through the wilderness. There's nothing quite as bracing as racing down through a tangle of trees and bushes at speeds that are quite frankly inadvisable. That said, Prophylaxis would very much rather not have to endure a mouthful of mulch and cactusing of splinters, thank you.

But how, one may ask, is he going to accomplish such a feat? Simple!

Illusory magic provides a number of advantages. One such example is artificially increasing his field of view by bending the light just /so./ It's enough to keep him from getting whacked across the head by an unfortunately positioned tree branch, and so Konpeko is able to continue racing forth at speed!

"Like the speeder chase in Return of the Jedi," says Jazz as her peko ducks into the woods. She's barely even been ON a peko before, let alone racing one, and she simply focuses on making the wind be at her back instead of otherwise, a little extra guidance and speed to help it make those jumps, turns and twists through the wooded area.

There's a lot of under her breath swearing from the Undine.

Uta is on fire today!

Literally.

Still, that doesn't stop her from gaining lost ground once the lizards are out of the way. Long, powerful steps of those chicken legs eat up the distance to the rest of the group, while Uta holds that squatting rider's pose.

And the unkempt growth appears, in the form of a large branch!

Uta yanks the reins, and the Peko veers off to one side to avoid it. Uta blinks, incredulous, and when a second branch appears- yank!

Off the peko goes in the opposite direction.

"Cooool!", she says, over the rhythmic noise of peko feet against the terrain.

She launches into increasingly complex maneuvers, and before one knows, she's singing a waltz, and making the peko dance and leap along with the song. Which... also matches the structure of the branches. Each leap and side step, twirling or otherwise, is an obstacle avoided.

    Rizadoman and Birdburst through the lizards in flames of glory, and totally both ignored the scorched feathers and scales. As they begin to run forward Rizadoman does question for a moment who is cooking chicken on the raceway, but focuses himself. Into the trees they go, as they begin to curve back around to the starting point. It isn't that the branches are particularly slowing them down its that , well bird doesn't like his feet touched. So he evades andthen peck peck peck , evade, peck peck peck. It does slow things down when the peko has to destroy the vile branches and vines that dare touch his feet.

Gwen calls out "That was awesome Jazz and you give me an idea!" Sadly Gwen has been distracted by the idea of Star Wars plays. This goes very badly for her oh so very badly. She wil end up fact taking a lot of this as THUNK! she gets caught by one of the low hanging hazards and is more than a little dazed and hurt by it.

    Merek will work along with the barriers while he tries to make a way to that finish line, all the same he seems to be having fun, even if he does not seem to be winning.

Syx actually managed to get pretty far along with the flame burst, though the next part of the track seems to leave the group needing to navigate all over there.

Syx continues to spur his peko along, dodging over rocks and around tree branches and doing his best to maintain his position, or even better, catch up with the leaders.

The forest thins as the remaining riders come closer to the finish line. It lets out onto the same flat section of ground which they had started from. The sound of cheers can be heard as those gathered begin to hoot and hollar for their favorite riders.

At this point, it may just become clear what all those piles of leaves were for. They are piled up in huge mounds all across the field, some more 'disrupted' by the local children than others. It means that there is no easy, or straight path to the finish line. Sure, one might try to barrel through the tall mounds of leaves, but when one riders does so and rams right into a barrel... it acts as a bit of discouragement.

"Oooh, looks like they figured out that not all the leaf piles are safe to ride through!" The voice of the announcer can be heard again as she calls out over the magical megaphone.

"They'll have to be really good riders to keep their Pekos on target while trying to avoid those leaves!"

Challenge: Handle Animal

Uta and Not Stolen waltz on.

One, two, three, leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeap....

...and land.

On a bunch of leaves!

Off the duo skids, with looks of panic on their respective faces, sliding and bouncing around against the various barrels as if this was some sort of elaborate game of pinball.

Yes, there is screaming. From both the rider and her peko.

Shiruba watches one of the other racers blast past her, only to cringe as he tries to charge his peko right through a pile and crashes into the barrel hidden under it. "Knew those piles looked suspicious," she mutters under her breath. She's quick to direct her own peko to zigzag around the piles even if it is a bit slower. Tradewind must of seen the crash as well because the bird does not really resist having to bob and weave to keep racing while avoid leaf piles and stray slippering leaves scattered by others crashing into the piles.

Goldenblade has ridden hard and pulled out all the stops, clawing her way up into fourth place, but she's making luck play a bit farther, and her path through the leaf-covered barrels fails to impact any, though there's a couple close calls, resulting in a spray of leaves in her wake. She hunches low over the peko's back and crawls up into a desperate third place as she struggles for every centimeter of turf, the peko sprinting madly.

Jazuhanzu is promptly vaulted off her peko. She has no idea what she's doing and it finally, finally catches up with her. She lays there on the ground for a time, the wind knocke from her, before she finally staggers back to her feet and climbs back board. This was a considerable loss of time for her, but then, she was lucky to be as far ahead as she was.

"I am going to murder Uta," she mutters.

Unfortunately Konpeko does in fact step into one of those leaf piles. She trips, goes tumbling forward, and both peko and rider become a veritable cartoon dust cloud as they roll into the finish line.

    Out of the trees and into the barrels Bird and Rizadoman go. The lizardman's peko had taken care of the branches and Rizadoman finally gets him back up to speed and they run straight into a barrel, not even a leaf covered one. It apepars that Rizadoman had got to eager to go fast and they weren't really steering to the best of their abilities. THey do manage to correct there course and make there way through eventually.

    Merek doesn't seem to do well like the others, when handling animals. The man nods a bit while he makes a way along.

Gwen has a big red mark on her face she's looking sheepish and very glad this wasn't on earth. She might have an broken her neck back on earth? Now it's just an embrassing annoyance and she keep going. She take heed of what's coming up noting the lfe pile and will consider them all bad news. So she has her Peco duck and weave abou the piles or evne leap over some. She feels something deep down and gives in crying out.

"YEEE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Syx does his best to keep his Peko under control, "Hey buddy, almost there!" He pats the bird on the side and does his best to steer him around the piles of leaves. It's harder than it looks, but Syx seems to actually be pretty good at controlling the bird despite appearances.

The energetic Sylph announcer doesn't seem to be able to contain herself, bouncing up and down as the racers come towards the finish line. She actually cheers, at full volume, over the magically enhanced microphone. It's not exactly pleasant, and is quickly followed by: "Ooops. Sorry!"

Then, a high-pitched squeal as the racers all come in. "In first place, we have Shiruba and Tradewind!" Then, seemingly tripping and rolling behind, "And then Prophylaxis and Konpeko!" She leans over the railing a bit to get a better view, "Oh, and in third we have Goldenblade and Trigger!"

Cheers go up around the racetrack as the others come in, cheering even those racers who barely limp past the finish line. "What an amazing race, everyone! You all did a fantastic job!"

The young Sylph heads down, passing out small tokens to each of the riders. As for the winners, in third place, Goldenblade gets a bronze token. Second, Prophylaxis gets a similar bronze token but also a writ from the Hunter's guild offering assistance. And in First, Shiruba gets one of the tokens and a golden feathered crown.

Uta crosses the finish line last. "It's okay, Not Stolen!", Uta says as she pats the Peko she's just dismounted from. "You will always be a champion to me!" She follows up with a hug for her mount, who doesn't seem to understand what the big deal is.

They cross the finish line and Shiruba reins her peko to slow down, eventually trotting to a stop. A few moments later the announcements of winners comes.

She blinks once, twice, a third time. Not entirely sure she heard that right until the representative comes to give her the token and prize crown. "Oh wow! I was not expecting to win a second race!" She pulls a leftover fruit from the first challenge and tosses it to Tradewind. "Here boy, you earned it." The peko plunges his beak into the fruit to devour the juicy insides without a second thought.

Hey that's way better than Syx did in the last race, so he gives Meteor a good reward, some of that fruit they picked up earlier. One of these days perhaps he'll be a better rider when it comes to these things.

    Merek looks along to the winners, then he cheers a little bit for them.

    Rizadoman and bird, they to cross the finish line. However it appears that with all of Rizadmans urging and pushing and trying to get the peko to run faster and faster it is no longer listening. So Rizadoman and Bird simply keep going. One day surely they would stop, or they would fade into a story of the eternal racer.

Jazuhanzu finally goes over the finish line at last. "Congratulations, Shiruba," she says, when she finally (sorely) dismounts her peko... this time the normal way.

Gwen had a good run she pulled out near the end keeping out of dead last. Given what happened to her? She'll take it, she would damn well take it. She will pull her bird to get to the en as she hits the end of the race hops off. Takes a potion out chugs it, then give her peco some food as well. 5R
"Well who wants to go out and get some food? Also I got an idea we could do Star Wars as a series of plays!"

Regrettably, Konpeko's victory was stolen from her at the very last by a cruel twist of fate. But even so, it looks like her rider is being gracious enough to stuff her face into a bag of grilled veggies. She tried her hardest...!!

Uta turns over to Gwen. "...I'm not saying no to food," she says, and leads her Peko, who is currently being rewarded with one of the earlier fruits as well, closer to the sylph. "...although we might have troubles with recreating R2-D2 in this world." She squints. "How about we replace it with a slime?"

Goldenblade takes a cooldown lap after her sprint to the finish line, and circles back to collect her bronze, her best finish so far in all the peko races. She's entirely pleased with herself. She will hop off Trigger, though, and pass him to the grooms, she prefers hehr own two feet. She will join Gwen when food is suggested, though when Uta mentions replacing R2-D2 with a slime, she gets this confused look.

Hearing Gwen talk about a 'Star Wars series of plays', stops Jazz dead in her tracks. Gwen is here. Gwen is Gwen. This is the first time she's been in her presence in a while. Slowly, Jazz's eyes turn towards Gwen. The tentacles on eithr side of her head lift up warily. She takes a step back, as if she expects something is coming.

Shiruba pauses to stare at Gwen. Partially because Gwen is the only reason Shiruba even knows what Star Wars is. Looks Gwen down. Looks Gwen up.

"Aren't you a bit tall to be a Stormtrooper?"

Gwen looks to Shiruba "No I'm tall enough it would be getting people for some of the shorter rolls that might be the trick, we'll figure it out ..." She looks to Jazz "Hey Jazz good to see you. So want to get something to eat?" She looks over Jazz for a moment "Humm what what could you play if we did this humm....R2D2?"

Jazuhanzu stares at Gwen a moment. Then her eyes get huge and she points past GWen. "Gwen! Look! UTa found the girl from the menu"

... by the time Gwen looks back, Jazz is entirely gone.