In the morning, Serenity stopped for breakfast at the breakroom - and nearly found himself having to dodge a knife thrown at his head. Fortunately, Sillon managed to stop the throw before the knife actually left his hand.

“What was that?” Serenity had moved away from the doorway, but was ready to dodge back outside the room if Sillon suddenly attacked again.

Sillon was staring at Serenity, breathing deeply. “I - what did you do to your eyes? I haven’t seen anything like that since the last time I had a lich try to take off my head in Tzintkra, you scared the shit out of me.”

“My … eyes?” Serenity had no idea why anything would be odd about his eyes.

“You’re going to have to do something about that, about half of us have been to Tzintkra and - Serenity? Go look in a mirror.”

There was a small mirror set up on the storage cabinet in the corner, so Serenity headed over there. He didn’t see anything until Sillon stepped up behind him - and Serenity’s eyes changed from looking like normal eyes to having a pale bluish-white flame filling otherwise empty sockets.

“What the hell.” Serenity still didn’t know what was going on, but this wasn’t something he was happy about.

Sillon seemed pleased at Serenity’s reaction - at least, he was pleased if his sudden smile was anything to go by. “Looks like you picked up a conditionally activated skill. Probably a vision skill of some sort. I won’t ask which Path it’s from, but - do try to turn it off before you come to the Trial area? Might be fine with the mages or the students, but too many of the rest of us have fought undead to not have bad reactions to people with flaming eyes.”

Vision skill. And undead. Serenity felt like kicking himself. He concentrated on NOT using the life-sight and watched the fire fade from his eyes. It had simply been covering his actual eyes, not replacing them - he hoped - but it was quite an effect, and not one he wanted to have on all the time.

Sillon nodded in approval and went back to his breakfast.

Serenity didn’t say much as he watched his new friends laugh on the way to the Trial area. Echo was singing something Serenity didn’t recognize - something about being lost in the woods - but apparently it was popular because Doyle of all people was singing along with her.

I think this is more friends than I’ve ever had.

I’m not sure if it’s sad that it took the end of the world - twice! - or awesome that I finally have friends.

Liuyedao was with them, but walking separately. He had volunteered to be the one to sit the Athletics Trial out and watch for people who shouldn’t be there. Other than Serenity, he was the most fit of the six of them, so there had only been a little argument - Lancaster had originally intended to be the one sitting out.

Serenity wasn’t sure what Liuyedao had said to Lancaster to get him to agree. He’d pulled Lancaster to the side, away from everyone else, and whispered something and Lancaster had stopped arguing.

When the Trial started, the group faced something far different from the caves all of the Dungeon Trials were in. They stood on a hillside littered with arches, while a river flowed at the base of the hill. In the distance upstream, they could see a rope stretched across the river.

“There are several possible Athletic Trials,” Sillon stated as the group looked around. “They all have a Quest. This one is relatively simple. The goal is to reach the exit. The Quest is to reach the exit properly. You need to run from here to the river, swim upstream, climb back up the hill, then cross the bridge. It’s timed both per person and overall for the group. Certain actions can give you bonus points - go through as many of the arches as you can during both the run to the river and the swimming portion. If you cannot swim, you can walk upstream next to the river but there is a significant point reduction. The climb back up is more of a choice; there are several paths, and they vary from a simple walking trail to a near-vertical cliff. Skills and magic may be used. The timer will start either when you say you are ready or when you leave this area.”

”Are there any monsters?” Nightwitch paced around the circle they’d appeared in, looking for anything out of place.

“None of the Athletic Trials have monsters. They’re designed to test - and reward - people for physical ability.” Sillon looked at each of the people in the group. “Are you ready to start?”

“No.” Three voices answered him.

“Is there a trick with the bridge? Can we die here?” Doyle and Lancaster’s voices overlapped.

“Yes, you can die in the Trial. As for the bridge, well, there’s a reason it’s a group Trial. That’s all I’ll say until you’re there.”

“I’ve got it!” Echo exclaimed. “There’s a route that gets us down the hill through the most arches without sharp turns, fairly directly, and on a more or less even grade! … hey why are you all looking at me like that?”

After a short pause, Serenity spoke up. “We’re all amazed you were able to concentrate on figuring that out. Can you map the swimming ones too?”

“Yup! Once we’re down there anyway. I need to be closer to hear the layout. Follow me! … you guys are ready, right?” Echo paused at the edge of the circle.

The four adults exchanged glances, then Serenity spoke for them all. “Lead on.”

Sillon didn’t follow; he took a more direct path to the entrance to the bridge.

Echo led the group at an easy jog down the hill to the water, then put her hand in the water and concentrated. They all waited, knowing that having her map the route would probably be better than just swimming with no idea where the arches were.

“A bunch of them are rings instead of arches … but I see the route we should take. It’s not the route they want you to take, so make sure you follow me.” Echo jumped in the river, waded out to the middle, and started swimming.

It was a good thing the current was slow.

It was obvious fairly quickly that Doyle was the best swimmer in the group. He had the sheer strength to manage the current and had clearly stayed in shape partly by swimming.

Lancaster was the worst, but even he was good enough to manage to follow Echo.

When they arrived at the river’s exit, Lancaster and Echo were both obviously tired by the swim. Lancaster had the strength but not the skill and Echo - while young and fit - simply didn’t have the stamina to swim upriver for that long.

Serenity took one look at the cliff face in front of them, another look at his tired companions, and led them up the simple walk. It would take more time to do the walk, theoretically, but he wasn’t sure anyone other than himself was up for the climb - and even the in-between difficulties might require rests or assistance. It was better to make sure people were ready for whatever Sillon was hinting at about the bridge.

When they arrived at the “bridge”, it was obvious what the problem was. It wasn’t really a bridge - it was a choice of bridges.

One bridge was just two ropes, one set above the other.

One bridge was six ropes - but four of them were slack. Two of the slack ropes were tied to a loose rock on this side of the bridge, while two were anchored but appeared to be insecurely tied on the other side.

The third bridge was an actual bridge with wooden slats to walk on - but at least half of the slats were rotten.

The fourth bridge was sturdy, well built, and looked well maintained.

Serenity looked at Sillon. “So what’s wrong with the last bridge?”

“I can’t tell you anything about the bridges themselves. All I can tell you is that which one you take affects your final score.”

“Can you tell us which one you’re going to cross?” Serenity was sure there was a trick here.

“No.”

“Hmm. Can you tell us which is the most valuable?”

“No.”

Serenity thought for a moment. “Can you cross before we do?”

“Yes, that I can do. See you on the other side.” Sillon gave a half-wave and headed across on the solid bridge.

Lancaster and Nightwitch were looking at the two minimalistic bridges, testing to make sure the ropes were good.

“Guys? That’s the wrong bridge.” Serenity called from next to the solid bridge.

“What do you mean? It’s the hard one.” Nightwitch called back.

“Yeah, but Sillon would have said if the hard one was more points. All he said was it affects our points, not how.” Serenity was sure of the ruse by now.

“Ooh, tricky! You think he’s trying to fool us into the harder option?”

“Or the dungeon is. Something. Thing is … we were told to cross the bridge. That’s it. So all we need to do is survive, cross the bridge, and reach the exit.”

There was some discussion, but Serenity’s logic seemed sound. Especially to Echo, who had a clear idea of just how far down the ravine went.

In the end, it really was that simple. They walked across the bridge.

Athletic Trial Complete

5 Participants

Rewards increased for group cooperation

Trial Rewards: 500 XP, 500 Ev

Athletic Trial Quest Complete

Rewards increased for quick completion

Rewards increased for Running Arches

Rewards increased for Swimming Rings

Rewards increased for intelligent bridge choice

Quest Rewards: 1250 XP, 1250 Ev

The rewards were good, but the Trial was much longer than any of the Dungeons they’d run so far.

Serenity was worried about some of the groups he’d shepherded through Dungeon Trials. Not all of them were in shape to do this … at least, not as quickly as this group had. When he thought through it, he realized that the only piece that had a real speed component was the swimming - because it was upstream - and even there, Sillon had said you could walk it if swimming was a problem. So it would probably be doable.

Serenity looked around and was just in time to see Entherys leading a group with both Liuyedao and Rissa into a Trial portal.