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Radiance moves forward. Keeping her eyes trained on the cocoon and tries to line up a shot with the emerging creature.
She takes her shot as soon as it is mostly clear of the cocoon. "Dang right shame that we have to harvest meat from this thing as it's just starting to hatch... Doesn't paint us in a good light."
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Seeing the group get what they needed, he gets up and moves towards the final target. He moves back to the path and takes aim at the creature.
"This is embarrassing. I hope no potential clients are watching this," he thinks to himself as he glances over at one of the camera drones. "I think I need to get these sights checked," he says looking at his pistol.
A creature comes from the cocoon. It looks similar in shape to a lion, but with hairless, rubbery blue skin and a mane of thick, lashing tentacles. Its face is little more than two eyes glowing with ever-changing light and a fanged maw. Two long tentacular tails extend from its muscular hindquarters.
Combat Round 1/2 - Bold May Act
Magic-14
Radiance
Max
Valeron
Chk'tarlsh
Blue
N8-6XTN
Magic-14's laser strikes the hide of the blue tagged creature and a burn appears.
Combat Round 1/2 - Bold May Act
Magic-14
Radiance
Max
Valeron
Chk'tarlsh
Blue -5
N8-6XTN
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"I think I need to get these sights checked," he says looking at his pistol.
Radiance gives a small glance at the burn mark on the ceiling of the building from her last shot. "Least yours's shooting in the right direction!"
"I don't think we have too much to worry about in thish casse," Chk'tarlsh calls to Radiance upon seeing the beast that emerges from the cocoon. "Not quite your typical hatchlinhk."
Radiance gives the creature a look over, she could have sworn she'd seen something, maybe read something, about this kind of creature before. She get shaken out of it by Chk'tarlsh's words. "Right, dangerous creature that might as much eat us if we don't eat it. But still, attacking a creature that's just hatched just feels... low... barbaric... unfair, there that's the right word."
Despite her complaints she does join in on attacking the thing, firing off a laser shot that seems to glimmer more golden than the usual laser red.
Chk'tarlsh's first shot hits, but it displaces the creature just enough for the second to miss. Radiance takes te movement into account and hits with her shot.
Magic-14
Radiance
Max
Valeron
Chk'tarlsh
Blue -15
N8-6XTN
N8 misses with his shot, but Max does not, plugging Blue and dropping it to the ground.
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Radiance peers at the downed form of the blue creature and blinks for a second. "That went down faster'en I thought!" She again moves in close and intones a prayer to the Mother Sun to light the way for the creature's soul. She then gives the creature a good long look. "Maybe there's a good bit o meat here?"
"Though to be honest I'm not sure about what this thing is biologically, much less where it has good meat sources. But this bulge is, suspicious to say the least."
A couple of fillets are obtained.
The hosts zoom by on floating discs. Now the contestants will enter the kitchens. What delightful delicacies will the cook up for us?
You head for a pair of cooking ranges set up. There are cases of extra ingredients and pots, pans, and various cooking paraphernalia.
Shonvyzam knocks out the power to the your cooking range.
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Max is about to reluctantly agree to the shirren's suggestion when the power to the range goes out. "It would seem the other team is taking a "Do whatever it takes" approach to the competition. Nate, can you get the range going again? I think they mixed something up in their recipe," he says before moving over to try to swap out some ingredients.
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Radiance gives Shonvyzam a dirty, dagger throwing glare, before turning to work on the steaks. "Hrmm, there's quite a bit of prep work we can do here before we have to cook them right? Like spice choices! Let's take a look at what they prepared for lil'Radiance, shall we?"
Her eyes brighten up as she pulls out a large container of pink seeds. "Liavaran floating seeds? Sarenrae be praised! These things are great for making a meat dish lighter! Oh, and adding a dash of color."
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Her work with the seeds, done, Radiance wipes some sweat from her brow, washes her hands and then looks over at the guys still trying to get the stove running again. She frowns for a second, before nodding and moving closer to the other groups work area.
She holds up her hands clearly showing she has no ill intent. "I promise I'm not going to do anything to you guys. But seeing as there's not much I can do right now with our stove out, I thought I'd come tell you guys a story."
"Many decades ago, there was a race on the Burning Archipelago. There were many people competing in the race from all over. The person most expected to win was a man by the name of Slavan. Slavan had a good vehicle and pit crew, but more than anything great driving skills. He was good friends with most of the other racers, including one by the name of Listra. But Listra really wanted to win. They wanted to win sooo bad they sabotaged Slavan's racer. Nobody noticed the damage until the day of the race. Slavan and his crew couldn't fix it in time and asked the organizers to delay the race due to the interference, but there weren't any rules against it so they couldn't. Everyone else heard about the unfair play and decided to join the man and sabotage their own racers in the same way, everyone but Listra. Listra used her full power and raced ahead of everyone else, but at that exact moment, in what must have been the Dawnflower's retribution, a solar flare flashed across the bubble and blinded everyone. Slavan and the other slowed racers all were moving slow enough to not crash, but Listra was moving too fast to react properly to a turn and slammed into the wall."
"Sarenrae teaches us that sabotage is a loatheful thing and that by doing it o each other, there is almost always some kind of divine balancing. I know that Shonvyzam knocked out our cooking range, and unless you want the Wrath of the Dawnflower, Patron of our very Sun, I'd suggest damaging your own in a sign of repentance."
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"Yesh, Max. It sseemsh they are," Chk'tarlsh agrees, snapping his mandibles closed with a loud clack.
"The Dawnflower ish patient and may show you compassion," he echoes Radiance's sermon. He speaks a word in Shirren and the starknife appears in his hand. "But I'm not. As you will disscover if any of you come over here again."
And he throws the knife in Shonvyzam's direction.
Chk'tarlsh's knife hits Shonvyzam, sticking deeply into their flesh.
Moxie sends a cleaver flying at Chk'tarlsh.
Second round. Another round of cooking checks and potential sabotage.
A group of production assistants and workmen take a second to dash on and get the range running again.
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Wincing, Chk'tarlsh returns his focus to the efforts in the kitchen, trying to finish his preparations.
Satisfied with his efforts, he diverts his attentiin for a moment. Chittering the command word, his starknife disappears from where it was embedded in Shonvyzam and reappears in his hand.
"I did warn you," he says, mandibles clacking, and sends his Star knife flying once again, this time in Moxie's direction.
Chk'tarlsh's knife hits moxie in the thigh distracting her from the skillet she is using and causing a steak to burn.
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Noticing her own team is going full on with the sabotage, Radiance raises her hands. As she does so she tries to sprinkle in a small vial of bitter medicine onto one of the steaks.
She then walks back to her own kitchen. "Thanks for the show of support Chk, I swear I almost had 'em going. Ah well. Let's get cooking."
She watches the failed attempts at getting the burner going again, and then smiles as the people rush on and try fixing the stove. When Chk moves to throw a weapon at the other team, she slides in and takes over cooking for a second.
Nate looks, but cannot see how to disable the stove in the same way the the enemies did.
The perpetually grinning hosts direct their hovering discs to land near the field kitchen in a coordinated motion. The two approach a table set with the contestants’ various meals and take a seat. Quell inhales deeply and speaks into his microphone. Mmmmm, I smell— Who am I kidding, I can’t smell anything.
Of course you can’t, Lethea quips. You’re dead. Quell turns to her in mock surprise.
You can’t even hold a fork! He counters, miming grasping for his utensils. How do you plan to judge this challenge?
This wasn’t in the script, Lethea giggles and considers the steaming plates of food before her. We’ll have to do our best. It’s not every day we get to sample cuisine cooked by the living.
She turns to the contestants. Why don’t you describe these delectable dishes?
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Max steps forward to describe the meals as best he can. "Our first dish is a hearty stew made with chunks of Uzorg meat and mixed vegetables. It's an excellent choice to help warm you up on a cold night," he says with a smile which quickly fades as he realizes who he is speaking to. "Well, it would warm up the living that is," he adds with a nervous chuckle.
"Moving on to the next dish, we have an herb-crusted leg of Verimu served on a bed of wild rice. And lastly, a grilled filet of Akata served with garlic mashed potatoes," he says as he finishes by licking his lips and rubbing his stomach.
Rafelo presents Verity-5’s uzorg and verimu sausage with akata caviar. Lethea dramatically mimes “tasting” a dish while Quell grimaces as he enthusiastically compliments each meal through a mouthful of food that’s inedible to him.
In the end they select your dishes over those of the other team's as the winning dishes.
The contest over you are directed back to your break room.
A table near the back of the break room is laden with an exquisite buffet of food. Mountains of dumplings, a pot full of steaming soup, and a wicker basket piled high with fresh fruit cover the table’s surface. A brown ceramic tea kettle rests on a red cloth, surrounded by enough cream-colored cups to share a drink.
A stark white ysoki dressed in a well-cut grey business suit hops up from a chair in greeting. She waves an apology as she chews the last bite of the apple she’s been snacking on. She sets the core carefully at the edge of the table and speaks. Oh hi! It’s so nice to finally meet all of you, she says with a cheerful smile. My name is Datch, and I’ve been watching your performance. Do you have a moment to chat?
Datch wears a small triangular pin on her lapel.
Oh, I’m only a humble businesswoman. My position is nothing special, though I’m lucky to work for such a wonderful employer. She winks and taps the pin on her lapel,
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Spying the buffet table, Chk'tarlsh scoops up a dumpling as he enters the room before making his way across to speak with their guest.
"Nice to meet you, Datch," Chk'tarlsh says around a mouthful of food. "I'm Chk'tarlsh. I've worked with AbadarCorp repressentativesh sseveral timesh in the past."
"we have time to speak with you... ash longhk ash you don't mind me eatinhk while we do." He chuckles, antennae twitching.
I was quite impressed with how you dealt with that last cooking challenge, not to mention the way you disabled the trap at the top of the wall in your first challenge. Your opposition was not so lucky and got chased by the ooze in the bucket.