Festival: Winter Peko Race

It's beginning to look a lot like... the Winter Festival. There is a thick layer of snow that has fallen around the Isle of Beginnings. The Landers and Adventurers are bundled into thick coats, wooly mittens, and boots which ward away the worst of the cold. Still, it is a time for rosey noses and breath hanging in the air as the cold lingers like a blanket.

The race track has been set up just outside of Carmina Gadelica, which has brought out a number of Outcasts who call the island home, as well as travelers from other lands. There are vendors selling hot cider and mead to keep the racing fans warm both inside and out.

There is a crossing of peko tracks on the field, the birds sometimes ruffling their feathers in order to shake off some of the drifting snow. "Racers, to your starting gates!" A jolly looking older gentleman in dark red attire calls out. Some might think that he looks, just a little, like an elven version of Santa Claus, but he is simply one of the Landers who normally live and work in the nearby city. Likely, he was recruited for his looks, though.

There is a jingling of bells as some of the pekos and riders take their places. Cheers from the crowd call out over the crisp winter air. The last race of the year... is about to begin.

    Merek mounts up onto the peko which he brought with him, the one that he always keeps with him. Then he takes the time to adjust the scarf which he wears while he watches from the goggles that he wears, dark with orange like lense. He nods a bit to the people, "Alright, it looks like another festival! These are always great!" he will note.

The last race of the year. Supposedly, there's a prize waiting for them at the end of this one. That is, a 'special gift' for those racers who have tried time and time again to make it to the end of the line ahead of everyone else. But...

Will the story repeat itself this time as well? Will Prophylaxis push himself to the limit, only to fall ass-over-teakettle at the very last leg of the race...!?

Only time will tell. The Doctor of Tolbana is mounted atop his usual steed, breath misting on his lips. The weather is chilly, the air is cool and crisp, and...

...Konpeko is wearing a cute scarf and a pair of fuzzy leg-warmers. She is also looking delightfully fluffier than usual. Her winter plumage seems to have come in nicely!

    Rizadoman stood at the cleared starting line with a nice red scarf and heavier clothes. The poor lizardman really wasn't doing towell in the cold, if it wasn't for the festival he would be vacationing in warmer climates right now, perhaps find a nice rock to bake on. Taking a deep breath and letting it , he watches his breath appear for a moment before he walks over to his Peko, named Bird. "Ok Bird, we have one win. I don't think anyone has won more then once this year, it is time to break that record."

Haveing borrowed a Peko, Giganpor was there again. Apparently racing was fun for him! This time he had left his poleaxe in his inventory and gone with a lighter axe to start.

Mounted atop a sturdy looking Peko, named Edgelor, the Were Lion shakes his head, "Well, this is going to be a fun one. Alright, Edgelor, ready to see what we can do?" The bird gives a squawk.

It's the last race of the year, of course Shiruba is here. Riding up on her trusty peko Tradewind, who does indeed have some of those jingly holiday bells affixed to his reigns for an extra touch. While Shiruba herself, rather than her usual hunter attire, is wearing what many Adventurers from the old world might recognize as a 'santa's helper' outfit -- shoulderless holiday green dress with white fur lining the collar and hem, and the cuffs of the seperated arm-sleeves. You can bet dollars to dumplings it's Gwen's handiwork, taking full advantage of a event she knows Shiruba won't back out of to get her to actually wear it in public.

Fortunately it -is- extra warm and stylish, so maybe it'll actually help with this very cold race.

Schneider is, with his borrowed Peko, here to take part in another peko race. Buoyed by his previous performance, in which he'd been doing so well before choking at the end much like Proph, he's here with a slightly different rented Peko that hopefully will do him well. As the snow falls around him, he steams slightly, and his peko chomps at the bit.

He rides up to the start, squirming a bit to get settled, long scarf falling down his back, his leather jaclet done up to the throat like a bomber pilot from the war. "Are you ready?" he asks the bird, patting it on the shoulder encouragingly. "Let's do this!"

It's the Holidays which means Gwen is doing event-type clothing she's in a sexy Ms. Santa outfit. One it's red it's got nice fur lining about the collar it's a short sleeve shop with fingered gloves she's got a red skirt on with fur lining and knee-high boots. She looks positively giddily about this as she comes up alongside Shiruba on her mount.

"See you look great! I told you!"

"I'm still going to run circles around you," Shiruba returns, playfully sticking her tongue out at Gwen after

     Wrapped in her forest-green cloak, Eliza Wyndham stands near her peko. She has a brief discussion with her employer, a grizzled, muscular Lander named Brynjar Iversen. He's come along to watch Eliza, as well as Sunny the peko, compete in the race. As much as Sunny has bonded with Eliza over the last year, the peko technically still belongs to Brynjar. At the sound of the announcement, Eliza climbs onto the bird's back and waves to Brynjar. "See you at the finish, Mr. I," Eliza says, before joining the other racers at the starting gate. This was her first time she'd been able to compete in the race. She wasn't expecting to win right off the bat, but she could tell that Sunny looked confident after his heroic performance in the battle against the Orb Piercer. She looks around at the assembled riders. "Well... Merry Winter Snows to all," she comments cheerfully.

    Snow is in the air and if the game still had background music you know there would be jingling sleigh bells in it. Mizuki walks to the starting point leading Poppy by the reins, her free hand waving as she smiles to the audience. She's wearing a santa hat and non-skimpy santa dress from one of the event vendors, you know the type, red fur with thicker white fur trim and some white round puffs for decoration. She blinks at Gwen and Shiruba also showing the holiday spirit.

    She nods to Eliza with a smile. "Happy Wintereenmas!"

    Before actually mounting up, she switches to a two-part outfit with a longer skirt so that she can ride decently.

    "Alright, Poppy... time to show that you're better than all of the other raindeer!"

The massive dip in temputure has done something no one thought possible: Gotten Syx to put on a shirt.

At the moment he's petting his peko, Meteor, "Alright. This one is very snow and winter based. And you know what beats snow? Fire!"

Syx turns to the crowd and throws his hands up in the air, sending a few shots of flame out into the sky above him that burst like fireworks. Sure there's no entrance music, but he still knows how to play to the crowd. He mounts up onto his peko, and leans in close, "We had our best run last time. Lets take this one."

Gwen grins "We'll see either way you are comming to dinner, Uther's helping me cook."

    June is... looking odd. She isn't dressed like a Red Sonja ripoff, instead she's dressed in the closest thing she could find to slacks and a tshirt. She does have her fur cape on, just for the cold. Her fingers, the tip of her nose, and her forehead are all smudged with ink. She has a wooden case in one hand that those familiar with shinto might recognize as a box to contain Ofudo as a Miko might carry. She has on spectacles and her hair is even more of a mess than is normal. Her cheeks are sunken, her eyes dark, with a maniacal glint that oddly doesn't shine from her glasses. She mounts up on her peko, the beast has a rakish air, head feathers up in an agressive crest, beak a little more sawtoothed than normal.

    As the short woman mounts she pats the bird on the neck. "Winning matters little... but come in last, and I'm having VERY big drumsticks get me?" she says with a smile at the bird, giving it a pat on the neck. "I knew we'd understand each other." she nods her head. June is... a Sleeping Knight, not much else to be said about it.

    Yuuki brings her peko up to the line. It's a relatively normal peko, apart from the fact that its beak is not the usual multi-coloured type. But is instead entirely red.

    Yuuki has also put an antlers headgear on the peko.

    Yuuki pats her mount's head, "Okay, Big Red. This is the last race of the year. I want to win it for sure. And if we do, I'll give you a nice big juicy earthworm! Deal? Deal!" The peko briefly beats its wings, probably in anticipation of a yummy meal. Meanwhile, Yuuki leans forward in the saddle as the race prepares to start.

Task 1: A Slippery Start

With the passage of so many feet through the area around the starting gates, the snow has been packed down so much that it has become a slick surface. That means that it is difficult, even for peko talons, to get proper purchase as the starting whistle blows.

"And they're off!" The announcer calls, then seems to hesitate, "Sort of..."

Immediately, one of the pekos slips, sliding forward across the ice and slamming into one of the rails along the side of the track. Another goes spinning along the ice in a display that would look impressive if it wasn't completely on accident.

It takes a deft hand to keep the pekos moving forward at a steady pace, without slipping or sliding around the race track. There is some jostling as individuals bump into one another, unable to quite keep in a completely straight line. It's likely the most skilled riders will know how to deal with this unusual situation.

Challenge: Animal Handling

That first peko? That one that went right into the railings? That's Konpeko, there. That is, the one Prophylaxis is riding on. "Ugh, what the heck!? Didn't they even bother to salt the track!?"

Konpeko goes 'kwahrk!' and scrambles to find her footing, but all that happens is that she starts cartwheeling her legs like some kind of cheap cartoon run cycle! Run and run and run but get nowhere, that's what bad traction does.

...At least until Prophylaxis gets frustrated and sets their portion of track on fire so that his ride can get decent footing again.

    Merek does manage to make it along to the obstacle, although the ice makes that difficult, and at one point slows the man down. He does take a look to people and will nod, while he pats the peko, "Alright, we can do it!"

Despite not being that skilled, Giganpor leads Edgelor along the icy track. "Alright, Edgelor, let's see if we can get this going."

He guides the Peko, making sure to pull the reigns as it starts to slide and even kicking off of it to skid along in his dragon scale armor before hopping back on. The Were Lion's far more agile than he seems! And he's having fun with it, too, as he even leaps over the Peko fully to help balance it and skid along the icy track. Seeing the possible pile up, though, he calls out, "Jump!" as he gets back aboard and goes over that.

"It's the last race of the year, Tradewind. Let's give them a proper showing." The peko kwaks in agreement. Then there's the signal to go. It's almost a reflex at this point to take off at the whistle, which Tradewind does... and immeadiately stumbles a bit on the slick surface. "Whoa, what a way to start." Shiruba gives the reigns a tug, focusing herself to avoid panicing. "Lean into it, find your center of balance!" There's a bit more staggering and sliding, but the peko manages to keep a forward heading, if a bit slipping to the sides, and not wipe out entirely on the smooth terrain.

Schneider is off to an abysmal start, his peko scrabbling for purchase on the slick track, such as it is, and finding nothing. Nothing at all. It's a miracle that the Exploder Wizard, as he styles himself, doesn't wind up face-down in a snowdrift, and it's only a lucky surge by his peko that prevents that ignonimous outcome. He considers FIRE as a preventative measure to get rid of the worst of the snow, but that'd leave it all muddy at that point, which might be worse. And it'd take far too long to melt the snow -and- bake the earth. Not that he's not considering it as this stumbling peko tries to regain its footing.

    Yuuki and Big Red take one step out of the starting gate!

    And proceed to slip and fall over.

    Yuuki oofs as she is thrown to the ground beside her mount. The peko itself gives out a pain wark in response to the fall, flapping hard and is tries to right itself on the slippery ground. Thankfully it manages to get back up onto its claws and proceed to start running forward along the track again.

    Unfortunately Yuuki wasn't quite back up herself, calling out, "H-Hey! Wait for me!" She chases the bird to catch up and pull herself onto it.

    June slaps an Ofudo onto the neck of her Peko. "GO Kan Featherquil Chuancer III! Yah!" she shouts as the fierce looking peko launches forward. The small frumpy woman who really should use her bathing menu option crouches low on the bird's back. Strong claws dig into the ice and the peko bounds along in little gouts of ice from his strong claws gripping.

    ...And Rizadoman and Bird are off. Immediately upon watching the Peko infront of slip Rizadoman pulls the reins, " Woah woah woah, take it easy. Move and watch your step." With that he does his best to guide his Peko through the crowd at a steady pace. A few close calls when it seems like Bird may slip but nothing to major that would cause a loss of ground. " I should of made you snow shoes. "

As the race start Gwen starts to sing Kingle bells she's just having fun as ever, she doesnt' really care if she wins she just wants to go for a race. She seem to be okay with the ice She seem to be laughing at this and she sing songs out all the way as she keeps going.

"Yah! Lets go!" Syx spurs his Peko onwards and takes off, although immedfately begins to slip and slide as soon as they make contact. Soon Syx finds himself facing backwards, looking back towards the starting line, "Well that ain't right!" He yells out, as he tries to counter-steer his peko back into the right direction, "Uh right, steer into the slide and pump the brakes!" He thinks that's right. He's from Vegas, it never snows there.

    Things start of slippery. Mizuki tries to wrangle her peko. "Oh, hey. C'mon. Stay calm, Poppy! Slow steps!" When she sees Prophy using fire to clear the track she imitates it, but so much for any chance at getting an early lead...

"Yee-haw, Sunny!" Eliza exclaims, setting off through the snow. She soon finds that it's less the snow and ice itself that serve as obstacles for her and Sunny at the start, but rather the slipping crowd of pekos. Still, Eliza and her companion manage to weave through the pack without much difficulty. Perhaps Sunny had gotten used to running in the snow during his time on Mr. Iversen's ranch, Eliza thought.

Task 2: The Great Hunt

Winter is a harsh time in many parts of Yamato. It seems that the individuals running the race have decided to help with the problem by challenging the riders to help contribute towards the festival banquet.

As such, the track leads them into an open expanse, usually covered in wildflowers in the warmer months, where there are a number of winter animals pawing at the ground, grazing for what little food they can find.

At the far end of the open plains, there is a Lander who stands ready to collect whatever the riders are able to hunt down during their journey, challenging them to be both good, and quick at the hunt.

Challenge: Hunting

    Merek isn't often that great with hunting, although it looks like in the winter it makes that a little easier. The man begins to look around to find what he can, then he begins to bring the animals to the Lander waiting for them. There's a nod while he will take the time to do all of that.

    June leans forward, and draws out one of the Ofuda from her box. A quick chant and the paper burns away into a bright light in her palm, a streak of golden light lances out and pins a large animal. "Look at that Kan, you're safe from being on the menu. Probably." she laughs a bit madly as she pats the bird's neck the pair barreling along on the quest for WRITING MAGIC!

Technically speaking, a doctor should be pretty good at figuring out where to hit a target to disable it without actually blasting it into pieces too small to actually do anything meaningful with.

...But functionally, Prophylaxis is a man with a whole lot of firepower and no practice or history with hunting things. He's a city boy, through and through, and by the time he's finished blasting his way through the field, scaring off the bigger game and sending most of the smaller catches scurrying into their dens, all he's left with... Is a few thoroughly cooked hares.

Well, at least they're ready-to-eat when he hands them off, right?

Well that's an interesting twist to things. "Head down!" Shiruba commands, getting Tradewind to lower his head so she can aim safely over it after drawing an arrow and notching it. Without wanting to deter too much time from the actual race she picks up on something close by, and with a clean shot puts one of her piercing arrows through three game animals with it. She doesn't really bother to check what species they are, just grabbing the shaft of the arrow as her peko rides by to pick it up, and hands it off to the Lander like a weird shiskabob. "Sorry, no time to stop and check," she apologizes in passing.

Hopping along, Giganpor grumbles as he realizes he brought the wrong weapon! Edgelor continues running, however, as Giganpor leans over to start snagging animals by the spike on the back of his hammer. He almost slips off, however.

"Easy, Edgelor. You'll get your fill after the race, win or lose." He doesn't have a lot collected by the time he gets to the Lander that's doing the collecting.

    The notes at the start provided to the racers explained this part of the race, which is fortunate else Rizadoman would have no idea what to do. " Ok Bird, just like we planned. Dig!" If only magic was allowed right now, a little earth magic and the ground would be much easier to get under. Fortunately with Rizadoman getting down and helping Bird out they manage to dig up some roots. Taking what is needed he manages to get what is needed and provides it to the lander, " We have hunted roots, a perfect side dish for whatever anyone else finds." With that the two take off.

Syx doesn't exactly have anything ranged to hunt with, so he does this the old fashioned way, "Keep up, Meteor!" He calls to the peko, as he hops off, and lands on the back of a deer. He gives the deer a german suplex and then quickly loads it up onto the back of the peko, driving the bird towards the Lander waiting for the kill.

He just hopes he actually killed it and didn't just knock it out or that's going to make things very awkward for that lander when it wakes up.

    Yuuki and Big Red ride out into the open hunting grounds, Yuuki raising a hand to cover her eyes as she scouts out the field for signs of some game to hunt. She spots a small snow rabbit hopping through the snow. She points it out, "There!" She turns her peko in the direction, riding her peko towards it.

    Big Red then spots the rabbit.

    The peko goes nuts, skidding to a halt while wing flapping, quickly starting to back peddle. Yuuki looks confused, trying to urge her mount forward. But the peko just stands there, shaking as it eyes the small creature.

    Finally Yuuki realises, "Oh come on! It's a tiny rabbit. You can't be afraid of something that small! Go! Gooo!" The peko doesn't budge.

Sighing, Yuuki jumps off, dashes up to the rabbit and pierces it with her sword. It shatters into pixels of light, dropping some Raw Meat. Yuuki picks it up, climbs back onto her peko all grumpily and presses forward once more.

    On the way past the collection NPC, Yuuki simply lobs the piece of Raw Meat at them before continuing on.

Schneider is not a hunter, but he can hunt. Rather, he can snap off firebolts at small furry things in the brush. He does this with some abandon, and snow and turf plumes from his impacts steam slowly as the peko scrambles after each target. He manages to bag a few targets, too, though others are charred to a cinder and provide no drops. Unless you count charcoal briquettes. He gets a few of those, too.

Gwen is going to do here best but a hunter she is not, things are going sideways ont his she might get a few things as he bitd catches them but the majoirty of the creatures get away thereis little she's going to add to the whole feast but if they hit her up to cook? She'll happily help with that but first the race must be done!

    Hunting.

    Mizuki tries blasting one of the animals but it doesn't drop anything. She tries her knife, chasing prey on Poppy's back then pouncing. "What the hell... no minigame mechanic? It's just the regular hunting mechanic? But not all of us *have* that skill!" she whines.

    Eventually she brute-forces the problem by killing animals until one finally drops something, but it costs a lot of time...

Next up is the hunting round. As an animal lover, Eliza doesn't really take a lot of pleasure in the idea of killing harmless animals, but even on the farm such things were, sadly, necessary sometimes. She'd borrowed a crossbow from Mr. Iversen just for this purpose. Eliza decided to aim for some white birds that landed in the field. It took a few tries, but she managed to take one down and deliver the dropped meat.

Task: The Abominable Snowmen

When the hunt is finished, the racers are let into the next portion of the track, which seems to be following along the coastline. The edge of the water has frozen and it cracks in places. This far from the city, there are less animals and more monsters, making it a more perilous journey.

Out of nowhere, one of the riders finds themselves struck on the back of the head with a giant snowball, knocking them forward off of their mount. Out of the surrounding, snowy landscape, pops a series of fuzzy white creatures. They are tiny, almost cute.

The little yeti-like creatures begin chattering in strange voices, tossing more and more snow balls towards the racers. Some are soft and squishy, others are as hard as solid ice. It makes getting around the creatures a dangerous prospect, and will test the riders' defenses.

Challenge: Shield/Evasion

Instead of trying to go around, Giganpor charges straight ahead, "Let the heaven's roar make way, Edgelor!" The Peko squawks and continues on, trusting it's rider as Giganpor swings his hammer to both bat the snowballs back at the yeti creatures and let off what sounds like a roar.

The entire thing comes from the rider and peko as sound waves move to scare the creatures and let Edgelor and Giganpor through, even if it stalls them only long enough for them to pass.

Schneider is, for all his hunting eagerness, not particularly skilled, and he's in last place as he finally gets enough drops to allow him into the next phase. Where he gets nailed by snowballs from cute little ... mini-yetis? "DAMEDO! Magic Shield!" he chants, and his magic shield comes up, but by then everyone seems to have left him behind.

Shiruba is so focused on trying to get back into the race that she doesn't notice the snowballs until it's too late. She yelps as one pegs her in the back, lurching her forward. She topples off her peko, but manages to hang onto the reins, and awkwardly running next to the bird. Tradewind caws as his head is yanked by the apparatus, and slows down considerably. Which is nice for Shiruba to jump back onto him, but it loses them a lot of distance in the meantime. "Thanks, buddy. Now get back to hustling." A few more snowballs are flung by the mini-yeti, but now that she knows they're there Shiruba manages to deflect them away. "We don't need to win, we just need to finish!"

    June gets whacked in the head with a snowball and looks around spotting the little yheti creatures. "Oooh no, I am NOT playing this game." she says pulling out another Ofuda and sticking it to her peko with a short chant. "Move your ass Kan!" she says and with a crack of sound that is more suitable to a battlefield than a race the peko is off. Zipping this way and that, juking and jiving the snowball throwing yheti. June hangs on laughing slightly madly even as the little slip of paper burns away in a burst of air magic.

"Keep your head down!" Syx yells to Meteor, as he spurs his peko forward. He knows he can take the hits, as long as they don't hit his bird he should be fine! Still, he needs to push it. He takes several hits from the snowballs, but using his stoneskin tactic he's able to withstand the strikes and keep mounted on his bird, "That's the best you got!?" He yells at one of the little yetis, "Don't make me come back here and kick your asses!"

Aw, look at those little guys. They're so small and fluffy and round! Like little cottonballs with arms!

And they're... flinging snowballs.

Well. That just won't do.

"Barrier," Prophylaxis declares, sweeping his staff in a wide arc. The air around the magus comes alive, blazing like a solar corona as a halo of heat materializes to shield him from the incoming snowballs! "Come along, Konpeko. We can still catch up fairly well, I'd say!"

    Rizadoman feels the snowball slam into the back of his head and it was a solid one. It was not a pleasant feeling and he looks at the yetis, cute or not he thinks he knows what he should have hunted. With a roar he urges Bird on, " By our ancestors Bird. May they bless us with speed and armor." As if on cue, his teal lizards scale change to a dark reddish black scale, growing slightly larger and as another ice ball shatters against it obviously more durable. "Fear not I will shield us, simply run. "

Snowmen Abominable ones at that Gwen readies her shield out of nowhere and will use it to intercep the attack thatr are coming at her the snowball doen't even slow her or her bird down at all. She keeps singing Jingle Bells as she goes this is too much fun. She's clearly loving it and it's hard to think she's been in this world for nearly a year....

    Oh hey, guys! Look! It's started snowing. Isn't it gre-OH CRAP, SNOWBALLS!

    Some mischievous rascals are currently pelting the race course with snowballs of death! Several riders are Yuuki take a hit, Yuuki silently thanking them for their sacrifice. But soon enough, she's out in the open and a target!

    Yuuki hunkers down, "Alright, we're going to out run them. Let's gooooooo!" Yuuki's Sword Arte activates, engulfing her and her mount in a faint aura of light. The peko's legs start moving faster and faster, the two accelerating forward to a speed that simply leave the thrown snowballs to hit the ground behind them!

    Whoosh!

     With the grisly business over with, Eliza and Sunny continue on to the next stage of the race, still setting a good pace. She spots the creatures up ahead, but isn't quite sure what they're planning until she hears a noise and looks back to see one of the racers knocked from his bird by a snowball. Soon enough, there are balls flying in her direction as well. Eliza had put away her crossbow after the hunting round and was now carrying her usual shepherd's crook. Imbuing the crook with repelling shield power, Eliza proceeded to twirl the crook around, blocking the incoming balls of snow and ice and sending them right back where they came from.

    Merek looks to the snowball which comes that way, then he begins to defend from the yeti while he takes the time to begin guiding the peko along.

    Ugh. Hopefully the rest of the track will be more straightforward...

    ...But not so straightforward she's seen it before! "Didn't we already have this challenge in the mountain race?!" Apparently, she remembers it so well that she's able to guide Poppy through the snowball danmaku, at least staying ahead of last place!

Task 4: The Frozen Wall

The tummult of snow and ice follows them around a tall hill, which finally seems to block them from view of the monsters. There is a few moments of running, peko feet sloshing into wet snow as they jockey for position during this relatively flat stretch of land.

However, something begins to loom in their path. Mages must have been brought in for this particular obsticle. A giant wall of ice, too tall for a peko to leap over, stands firmly in their way.

It would take some impressive fire magic to melt their way through the wall, but that seems like it is the best option. Otherwise, they might be forced to take the long way around, which would cost precious time.

Challenge: Fire

    June pulls out another Ofuda and says the chant, and promptly she and her peko burst into flames... only it doesn't seem tobe a flame sheild or anything as she leaps off the beast "STOP DROP AND ROLL! STOP DROP AND ROLL!" she screams as she and her peko roll around in the snow trying to put out the flames. It seems she hasn't QUITE mastered Ofuda magic after all... probably why she's still in her strange mood and not back to normal. Once the fire is out she remounts and the pair run AROUND the wall... not trying THAT spell twice.

Schneider is ready for this obstacle. Oh, boy is he ready. This was his main thing, in the last race. But it seems like his surge from before is not to be repeated here, his fire not-so-intense, perhaps from just tooooo much snow and cold. It's a respectable performance, but not the huge surge he was hoping for as he flamethrowers down the wall of ice. It can only go so fast, and his narrow beam has to be readjusted to a wider beam to make a passage big enough to ride a peko through.

    Merek, met with a problem that needs fire, and he will then use that fire. The man melts the ice while he begins to guide along that peko through the place while he watches the party.

Sometimes you have to just accept that you're not going to win, and enjoy the ride.

Not that it means that Shiruba is going to stop making an effort. Hardly. That'd be insulting to the racing spirit. But she's settled on just finishing the race properly and not worrying about much else.

However the ice wall looming into view ahead does give her some interest, as it might slow a few of the non-Salamander, non-Scale people (buncha pyros that lot!) down a little. "We've got a chance to at least make it a closer race, Tradewind. Full steam ahead!"

Then Shiruba pulls one of her Spell Fletcher arrows from her quiver, the runes adoring the shaft lighting up as she pulls it back into her bow. Takes aim, and fires. The arrow sails forth, igniting into a brilliant blazing bolt of flame as it does so. It doesn't so much hit the wall as it does drill through it with the heat, creating a passage for peko and rider to gallop through the steamy remains with little issue. Or slowing down this time.

    The Speed Boost lighting up Yuuki and her peko fade away as they move into the fourth part of the race.

    A giant frozen wall! A clear sign that winter is coming.

    Yuuki aims her peko straight towards the wall. No way is she going to go the long way. Big Red turns its head to look at her with uncertainty. Yuuki grins at the peko, "Don't worry. I've got this."

    Yuuki and Big Red rush towards part of the frozen wall, getting closer and closer. As they do, Yuuki draws her sword, flames bursts to life and dancing across the blade. Yuuki proceeds to stand up on the saddle of her peko, crouched forward while she waits for the wall to close in.

    Yuuki then leaps forward off her peko! She soars ahead, crying out as she slashes towards the wall with her fiery sword. That section of the wall shatters from the combined force and heat, large blocks of it beginning to fall.

    Big Red zigs and zags his way through the falling pieces, while Yuuki uses them to hop, skip and jump her way through the falling debris and to land on her peko once more.

    Yuuki laughs in excitement, holding her hand up to Big Red for a high five, "Told ya!" The peko just stares at her some more.

Giganpor continues speeding along, then sees the problem up ahead and huhs. "Great... Edgelor, keep going."

Bringing his shield bearing arm up, he brings it forward as it glows a bright red before shooting out a massive wave of fire. Enough to melt a way through the wall as he charges on.

Giganpor shakes his hand afterwards, glancing at the wall behind him and then down to Edgelor, "Good grief they get inventive on this thing."

Is fire called for? Oh boy is it ever. Prophylaxis is resigned to not making a decent placing in this particular race, but he can at least set fires like an absolute champ. The wall of solid ice stands between him and the next (last?!) leg of the race. With a solid huff, he focuses the diffuse aura of heat into a globe of flickering warmth and plunges it into his heart. The doctor abruptly catches fire (or at least his top half does). When he pulls his hand away, it burns like a torch...

...And discharges a beam of blinding, flash-boiling flame directly into the frigid bulwark. In mere moments, he has melted a tunnel straight through to the other end...!

It turns out that, no matter what, you can usually count on the Scale Emblem to be packing some considerable firepower.

"Hahaha! Yes!" Syx throws his arms up again, as he urges Meteor forward. Flames begin to swirl around Syx and his bird as the duo charges forward, "Come on then!" Syx's plan is pretty simple.

He's going to hit the wall head on, at speed, while everything is on fire around him. In theory, the heat should melt the ice before he smashes into it. In practrice, he's probably going to just shatter himself against a wall of ice.

    Rizadoman pulls the reigns back on Bird for a moment and breathes a ball of fire wat the wall, but he can't seem to muster any extra heat. It is a a bit of a hit to the one who aspires to be a dragon that he can't manage to melt the ice. So instead he sighs heavily and pulls Bird around, they would have to take the long way, the long cold way.

    Ice wall.

    Mizuki grins. THIS, she can deal with! Urging Poppy on, she takes a deep breath... oh wait Prophy already made a tunnel. Faster to just use that, really. Still, she uses the opportunity to shape the edges of the tunnel to be a little easier to run on, breathing a plume of flame at the walls.

Things are going pretty well but the race if far from over the frozen wall is ahead of her. She grins she's got an diea and she's already chanting taking a break from her singing a sshe cast flame spell after flame spell as she burns right through the wall leaving rapidlu refreezing water in her wake...

     "It'll take more than that to stop us, eh Sunny?" Eliza asks, patting the back of the peko's neck as they quickly approach the obstacle. She has a fire skill that seems like just the thing for this situation. With a brief incantation, she drags the end of her crook along the ground as if she were lighting a match. After a couple tries, the end of the crook catches fire. Holding it out like a jousting lance, she focuses the heat as she slams the end of the crook into the wall several times, before clearing the path forward. She puts out the flame before moving on.

Task 5: The Not-So-Frozen Lake

Beyond the wall, the riders find themselves facing a wide lake which seems to go on for several miles. In the summer months, this is a beautiful place with flowers and plantlife, but in this cold time of year, it is an icy expanse.

The problem is, that the lake appears to not be completely frozen. There are places where open water can be seen, and other areas where the ice seems suspect, even at a glance.

Getting a sense of where the ice is safe to traverse is one way of handling it, otherwise, a capable water mage could make themselves a bridge, freezing the ice as they go.

Challenge: Water

"Hang on there, Edgelor." Giganpor says as his Peko hits the not so thick ice. Bringing his hammer up, he brings it down on the ice, "The Mystery of Steel!" Ice flares up to give himself a path, and block a few others as his peko slides along, then uses some handy ice ledges to go over the lake as quickly as possible.

    June flips quickly thorugh her Ofuda and slaps another on the peko's neck. The paper burning away in a flare of water magic. She holds on tight and urges him on to greater speeds. "Go KFC! Keep yourself off the menu!" she shouts, blue glowing magic around the peko's claws seems to freeze the water wherever it steps letting it run in a strait line rather than having to zig and zag around thin ice and open pools.

Well she may not be winning the race but Shiruba is content at seeing some of teh style of obstacles she'd planned for were coming up.

"No need to slow down, Tradewind!" Nor need to pick an arrow. Shiruba just draws back on Thundersnow Howl and let's the magic bow's elemental power do the rest, forming an icy projectile in itself as she does. This she aims, and fires into one of the larger melted sections of the lake. It doesn't freeze back up -entirely- but it freezes enough for her peko to hop along the chunks of ice without having to face too many difficult gaps in doing so.

    The lone cold path had been chosen by Rizadoman, and it was the road him and Bird would travel to the end. As they come to the lake Rizadoman takes a breath, " Mother, guide our step. " With a kick to the side Bird moves forward into the water and finds his claws touching solid ice. It only last a few moments but the ice seems to always be where Birds' feet will fall from one end of the lake to the other. The moment Bird gets to the end of the lake it will be a sprint to the end he thinks.

Schneider is by no means a water mage, but he does command various elementals, and he quickly summons a water elemental whose orders are simple: freeze the open water and suspiciosly thin spots just ahead of him before he rides over them. It seems a simple task like this is not beyond his elementals, and his peko has solid, stable footing for the remainder of this leg of the race, allowing him to make up some time. He regards this as a great victory.

    Yuuki looks at the barely frozen lake ahead, her eyes going wide. She has no magic! She can't freeze the water... And she doesn't have any spare waterwalking potions on her! Yuuki just stares at the questionable ice ahead and crosses her fingers...

    ...

    ...

    Almost there! They've almost made it. Yay-

    SPLASH!

    Yuuki and Big Red fall through a bad part of ice mere meters from the edge of the lake. The two then rise out, looking a little unamused. And cold.

Where there is fire, there is also ice. Or rather, there is now considerably less ice on this lake as a result of all of the recent fire. Prophylaxis frowns as cracks begin to spiderweb across the retreating ice. With a grimace, his personal flame-aura flickers out with the sound of someone spit-pinching a burning candlewick. He sighs, his breath misting as frost begins creeping ominously across his rapidly paling skin. "Right, we can fix this," he whispers, then sweeps his staff through the air in front of him.

A bone-chilling gale blasts across the failing ice. Thick clouds roll across the sky as flurries of snow begin falling from on high. Large patches of fresh frost spread across the lake, forging a solid path for Prophylaxis and his lagging Peko to trot lazily across.

...Konpeko might be slightly too lackadaisical, all things considered.

     Eliza is focused on the path ahead. It seems wide-open. "No looking back, Sunny," she says. "We're almost there..." She used up her two power slots already, and being in front there aren't any freshly-frozen trails to follow, so there's nothing to do but carefully cross the lake. Eliza and Sunny would have to trust each other's instincts to avoid falling into the lake and out of the competition. Though not without a couple close calls, Eliza and Sunny manage to traverse the frozen lake unscathed.

    The track... leads straight into water? Ah. Mizuki smiles, faily confident she can handle this! She's a ninja after all, which means she's good at all four of the main elements of magic! A few hand seals later and she's breathing frost instead of fire, making a beeline across the lake and filling in ice wherever there isn't any! Her eyes may be blue, but she has samurai -- err, ninja spirit! "Let's go, Poppy!" She pats the peko's neck reassuringly as she guides it to charge across water that freezes right before it runs across!

    Merek begins riding his peko along the ice to make sure it is safe, then he nods a bit while they find a place to begin making a way to the next challenge.

Gwen is singing Jingle Bells again as she goes across the snows she sees the lake she can tell some of it isn't safe. She will quickly start acting to cast various water spells to sense where the ice is safe to move and sometimes even shifting the safer ice to make her way across the lake.

"Oh crap that's the opposite of what I'm built for!" Syx yells out, as he skids the bird to a stop. He tries to navigate around the water, but his bird isn't too happy about it, so he bucks Syx a bit.

This makes him drop back a little bit, "Damnit, come on! Don't give up now!" He pulls back on the reigns and tries to push Meteor forward to the finish

As the racers come across the frozen lake, there are certain ones that seem to stand out in the lead. As is common, it is the Adventurers who do the best in these dangerous races. They group together well in front of the rest of the competitors.

However, two racers seem to be running side by side as they approach the finish line. In the end, it is literally a beak-length that separates Eliza and Giganpor as they come across the line. "Now that was a close race, my friends!"

The jovial looking man in his red outfit calls out, clapping his hands. "Many congratulations to Eliza and Sunny as our first place winners! And a wonderful try by our second place racer, Giganpor and Edgelor!"

Volunteers start to head out amongst the racers, handing out their prizes. Eliza gets a bag of prize money, while both she and Giganpor get a very festive knit cap in holiday colors. Others seem to be handed enchanted peko feathers that seem to give off a wintery feel.

"And we have a special gift to some of our most veteran racers. We appreciate all your efforts during this race season and hope this encourages you into the next year!"

Oooo, bonus prize! Shiruba feels even less worried about not winning the race after that. Shiruba immeadiately puts the Peko Peko Hat on, grinning like a bemused child. Tradewind warks softly. "It's not quite as pretty as you, but close enough." She gives the bird a pat on the head. "Good year, buddy. Look forward to the next one!"

Gwen was not expecting thebonys prize either she looks to her sister and pets he own bird. "That was fun want to go get something to eat?"

    Bird and Rizadoman slide across the finish line and almost stumble into the others but manage to stop at the last moment. With a heavy sigh, Rizadoman slides off Bird and pets him, " You did good. Next time I shall not fail you. " With a smile he provides a few treats to Bird and eventually happily accepts his prizes, The feather goes into the inventory before it defrosts into a soggy feather, and the hat, well Bird gets to wear the hat for now, it is only fair.

    It wasn't enough to win, but... at least she put in a good showing at the end!

    And your reward is clothes! Mizuki equips the peko peko hat. "...So wait, am I supposed to be a cat *and* a bird then? Does that make me a griffon?"

    June pats KFC "Good job not getting yourself deep fried." she says to her bird. "We'll get you back to the stable then I have to get back on the road... these aren't ready yet." she sighs. Perhaps before she getrs back on the road someone will remind her to eat and wash herself.

Syx puts his Peko hat on once it is awarded, and then grins and pats Meteor a few times, "Good job buddy. You did great." He grins and pats the bird some more, giving him scritches.

Eliza is elated to have won the race. She gives Sunny a joyful hug and some head ruffles, before accepting the prizes. The hat might suit her, but she puts it on Sunny's head instead, where she thinks it looks better. She's relieved to see that none of the pekos were hurt along the way, at least not seriously. She turns and waves to Mr. Iversen as she spots him in the stands.

Sadly, Konpeko comes away from today's race without a win. That makes Prophy zero for six, but... He at least gets something for his effort. Several somethings, in fact.

And really, isn't the adventure the real reward...?

No. The real reward is hat. Prophylaxis considers his mushroom hat for a moment. What will the future bring...? A change in hat, perhaps...!?

    Yuuki and mount finally roll up to the finish line, the imp looking a little dejected and yet another race loss. And this time she's even last! What is it with her and peko races!?!?!?

    Unfortunately, New Hat does not do much to improve mood. Seeing as how it isn't a headband. Theoretically she could have it turned into a headband... But she already has a new headband coming. Sooooo... Well, maybe she could stick it somewhere as a trophy. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

    June spots her fellow Sleeping Knight looking down and glomps her... which is likely a place Yuuki will regret being given the strange mood and it's affect on things like... hygine debuffs. "Good Race Champ." she says with a chuckle.