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Korvan declines to perform knowing that is not his forte and reluctant to make some unknown slight. He agrees with Gratius in getting good rest and not stepping out on the first night.
He wakes up and pops out of bed to do the chores...
If it wont get him in trouble Korvan will assist Sarsa in her tasks...
Gratius, Sarsa, and Flaith are fatigued from the morning's work, but the other Pathfinders are able to help them without much trouble. Captain Othis doesn't seem to mind your cooperation- maybe she just wants to see you all squirm.
After a lunch consisting of bread, salt pork and lentil stew, you head off to the training yard. Already many soldiers are training, following orders, lining up in formation, and chanting in perfect unison. It’s time to prove your mettle on the field.
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Sarsa croaked out a "Thank you-," towards Korvan as he assisted her, and after lunch she followed the other recruits to the training yard. Already tired, she dreaded what was to come, but at one point or another, she knew she'd have to keep going. She decided to join in their chanting, it seemed simple enough.
And simple it was. Soldiers had such easy chants. Lunch had helped her hoarse throat but she was still anxious about what was to come.
You manage to keep up the pace with the other cadets, and the drill instructors note that the Pathfinders are doing well. Captain Othis watches you not with a stern glare but- was that a smile? No, can’t be.
"Well then. Good job singing and dancing. If there's an opening for the Empire's belly dancers I'll pass on the good word." The Captain smirks. "I'll see you at 1500 hours. Dismissed."
1500 hours. Captain Othis escorts you directly to a rocky field just outside the city. ”This is our obstacle course. My old drill instructor would force me to do this solo, every day for a month. But you’re lucky- you only have to do it for a week.” A wicked smirk forms.
”You’re going to try to surpass each obstacle here.” She points at the various obstacles. ”If you don’t succeed the first time, try again. If you can’t make it after five tries, fine, I’ll let you skip it.”
”Start with the balancing act here. A thin log is the only thing keeping you above a 10 foot pit.”
Step 1 Make a DC 15 Perception check to notice the log is covered in grease.
Step 2 Make 2 consecutive DC 12 Acrobatics checks to pass (DC 10 if you made the perception check.)
- If you fail either Acrobatics check, make a DC 12 Reflex save or fall into the pit.
- If you fall, a DC 15 Acrobatics check will let you land on your feet and avoid damage altogether. Otherwise, take 1d6 points of damage.
Step 3 If you fell, return to step 2 and try again. If you fall 5 times, move on to the next obstacle.
”After that it’s time for a bear crawl through razor sharp wire, jagged bricks and broken glass. If you think this is tough, just compare it to a bloodthirsty efreet, breathing flame right into your face! I spat right back at him and cut him down with my longsword!”
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Sarsa stood at the beginning of the obstacle course, and groaned internally. Her muscles were already aching from the mornings chores, but she knew better than to stand down or to give up.
First, she had to look at what she was dealing with.
Simple enough. She wasn't particularly skilled at balancing, but it didn't seem all that hard just the same.
Almost as soon as she stepped forward onto the log, she felt herself slipping. The as of yet unseen grease threatening to plunge her down into the pit! Warbling in place, she tried to regain her balance.
It didn't work. She started to plummet, and saw the ground rapidly approaching, she let out a yelp, and-
-managed to just barely right herself, bracing herself and landing on her feet in an almost complete reversal of her performance up to that point. Her muscles screamed, but it was only her first try, and she knew she'd have to try again. So she did. Not wholly aware of what had made her fall the first time, she tried a similar approach.
So far so good. She was about halfway across now, and holding steady despite her aching body. Just a bit more.
She stepped off the log, and on to the other side of the pit, and took a moment to realize that she'd actually succeeded before she allowed herself a small celebration. It was short lived, as she was quickly ushered along onto the next challenge. Whatever bear crawling was, she was ready to give it her all, despite what her joints may be telling her. She dropped to the ground, almost grateful to be laying down, even face first, and then picked her head up and started to crawl.
She started slow, not really sure how to get where or how to get anywhere quickly, and ended up narrowly avoiding getting caught anywhere on her way.
Her luck was short lived, though. She almost immediately afterwards ended up tangled in the wires, and struggled for quite some time before eventually freeing herself, and in a surge of adrenaline, pushing through the remainder of the obstacle. Once she was finally free of the nest of wires, she rolled over onto her back and decided to stay there until someone would inevitably urge her forward onto the third obstacle.
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Korvan finds some solace in soldierly tasks and blends in.
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Korvan takes his armor and weapons off for the obstacle course to make himself more agile...
"Careful... this log seems greased..." he warns the others... he then tries to balance and run across it...
and he passes over the greased obstacle smoothly...
He scampers over to the next obstacle, the bear crawl...
and after finding a rhythm he continues on...
he looks back to see how Sarsa is doing...
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Hudor looks at the log and sees a sheen to it but thinks it is just water and gets up on the log.
Starting across the log, he suddenly slips. He tries to catch himself but the grease prevents a good grip and he falls, spraining his ankle slightly.
He limps back toward the log, but this time, with the knowledge it is greased. He is able to easily cross the log.
-------
Hudor then gets down on his stomach and starts crawling through the barbed wire and glass. His shirt gets caught very quickly though and he gets stuck while he tries to break free.
After a little bit of time, Hudor finally gets himself free and manages to get through the razor obstacle course.
Captain Othis watches you struggle with the obstacles, making progress in some and failing others. As Pathfinders you persevere and reach the halfway point of the course, however. You barely catch your breath before she announces the next obstacle.
”The Climbing Wall. A straightforward climb up a wall with a few handholds. Just put one hand in after another until you reach the top. But NO MAGIC! NO ROPES! I want to see you climb this wall without assistance.”
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Hudor looks up at the wall and frowns. He doesn't look confident at all in his ability to climb such an obstacle. He sighs and slowly begins to climb.
Hudor climbs up about half way before sliding back down.
He spits on his hands and begins to climb again, but once again he can't make any progress.
Hudor gives another sigh and just looks up at the wall. He takes a deep breath and begins to climb again. He almost makes it halfway, but looses his grip. Sliding back down.
Hudor starts to get angry with himself and finally rushes the wall. This time he is successful and makes it half way up the wall.
Hudor holds his breath for a few seconds before he starts to climb again. Unfortunately he misjudges the next handhold and falls back down to the bottom.
He feels he has no choice but to skip this obstacle trial.
Captain Othis girns as Hudor Nero fails. "Hmpf. You're embarrassing all of us, just wait on the other side of the wall."
The grin falls off her face as Gratius climbs up and sees the loose rocks. "Uh. Well. A... a cunning trap, laid by some Efreeti warlord! You need to finish the climb. Can... someone else handle the trap? Or do you trigger the trap and endure?"
She crosses her arms and waits for Gratius to either risk it or wait for an ally to disable it.
Gratius knows that captains will push their cadets to the limits, to test their strength. And he knows captains sometimes like to place unexpected surprises during practice, to test awareness and adaptaion.
But something seems truly dangerous about this. Something a bit too cruel about this... what is Captain Othis up to?
Gratius takes a hit for the team and falls right back to the bottom of the wall in the process. Captain Othis scans your reactions carefully. ”Sometimes even the most simple tasks have a cruel twist of fate. Had this been on the battlefield the salamanders would watch you fall, then crawl all over you.”
"Continue the climb, and I'll see you at the swimming pool."
As you climb over the wall, she finally points out the final obstacle.
”Sink or Swim, Pathfinders! Atop the wall is an abandoned rock quarry, now a muddy pit at least 15 feet deep. I want you to swim across. I am not merciful to my soldiers, but I am not a murderer. Some of the troops will be ready to drag you out if you start to drown. Now go, and I’ll meet you at the finish line.”
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Sarsa flinched visibly as Gratius hit the ground, hard. He looked significantly bigger and stronger than her, so she wasn't confident about her chances. Nevertheless, she had to try, so she stepped up tp look at what she was working with.
She probably wouldn't have noticed it on her own, but having Gratius both call out and intentionally trigger the trap left a series of gaps in the wall where bricks had fallen out. Wary, she set off to begin climbing.
It's pointless. Impossible. She continually jumps up, scampering up the wall about as high as she was tall, before being completely unable to find purchase, and fumbling back down to the floor. Thankfully, she was never getting high enough up to cause any serious damage on the way down, but it was humiliating. Having failed 5 times, she awaits the berating of the captain before moving past the wall with the assistance of ropes, and instead looks at the pool in front of her.
Even with the assistance of the soldiers, her chest was heaving just looking out at the pool. It wasn't exceptionally long, but she was exceptionally tired, and not a good swimmer in the best of times. But this was it. This was the end. After this she could collapse onto the floor and not move for the rest of her life. So she started.
And, almost exactly like the climbing wall, failed right away. Almost as soon as he began swimming her muscles gave out on her and she dropped underwater like a rock. She had the wherewithal to hold her breath as she did, taking a minute to compose herself before trying to swim back to the surface.
This was going nowhere fast, as she simply floundered around under the water trying to get her bearings without running out of air.
Until finally she broke the surface of the water and took a deep breath in, sputtering out some curse in broken Elven before trying to move forward again.
And right back under she went.
Again, she got her head above water, barely managing a breath before shouting out a more proper curse.
And then she was down again like nothing had changed. Her muscles screamed, her lungs ached, and between the water and her own sweat she was absolutely drenched. She was done with this test and not making any progress even if she wasn't.
She broke free one last time and just heaved herself up on the side she'd started at, having made next to no forward progress anyways.
She flopped back onto the floor. "That's it. I'm done. My entire body is rejecting any more swimming."
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Korvan follows along the obstacle course using the age old military adage of 'avoid being first, never be last'...
Korvan gets to the wall climb and looks it over...
He sees the trap but having no way to disable it he climbs anyway...
good
good
fail
fail
good
good
Korvan eventually negotiates the wall climb and hustles over to do the swim...
Korvan crosses the water with ease...
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Hudor looks at the water, tired from his failed climbing attempts he jumps into the water and the shock of the cold water causes him to flounder a bit.
He tries to rush back up onto the service but goes back down. He calms himself from the panic and regains his composure and starts to swim calmly, resurfacing and swimming half way through the course.
It is then where his leg starts to cramp up and he goes below the water's surface as he struggles to uncramp his leg. He reaches the bottom of the pool and forces his leg to straighten, undoing the cramp. He then swims with purpose toward the end of the pool. He drags himself out and breaths heavily.
He coughs as he weakly says, "Water mage almost drowning." He gives a slight embarrassed giggle but is glad he made it across.
Weary yet determined, you make it across the pool water. In one way or another. You're soaking from head to toe, but it looks like there is one last obstacle to pass.
Captain Othis walks back and forth, observing each of you in the line. ”Listen up, roaches. You need more than strength and agility to succeed in battle. You need to know what you’re up against and how to fight it. Let’s see how stupid and unprepared you really are.”
”What’s the best way to deal with being set aflame? What do you do if a fire elemental lights you up, or a salamander breathes fire all over you?”
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Soaking wet from the swim, Hudor is more confident in the next test. Listening to what the Captain says, he answers in his way.
"If I was lit up, I would cast Create Water over my head. Letting the water cover me as it falls, extinguishing the flame."
Unfortunately, the second question stumps him. Not sure what type of spell the 'Stone Curse' is makes him unable to know the answer.
Captain Othis waits patiently as she stumps some of you on the advanced questions. "The Shaitan Stone Curse works by bull rushing. You can't bull rush someone much bigger than you, so it's quite effective. Remember that when it's you versus a stone wall."
Then she turns to the others and shakes her head. ”You don’t even know the simplest answers. Let me make this so easy even the rocks could answer it: Are fire elementals from the plane of earth, or the plane of fire?” Before you open your mouth, she waves you away. ”Just peel some potatoes in the Mess Hall- and remember the blade goes into the potato, not your hand!”
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After dinner you are led to her office. ”Alright. day one complete, Pathfinders. I’ll be at your room at 2130 hours, and you had better be ready for bed. This is it for the next week. Either you graduate basic training, or Reyshal is dragging you back to whatever mudhole you crawled out of. Understood?” She doesn’t wait for your acknowledgement and simply dismisses you from her office.
Kent considers what it would take to enter the Captain's Office, and the party considers their options.
Dell Darkblade told you Captain Othis’s stays in her office unless she is eating dinner or resting in her private quarters. And when she’s not in her office, the door is locked.
Will you look before dinner? Or after?