Beyond the training courses and exercises at the YTMA, there is a great need for off-site examinations. This month, novice endurance training is focused on running increasingly long distances – first around Four Fronds’ Small Frog Pond, then around the Waterski Resortopolis Perimeter, and finally a daunting Hunting Grounds “backwoods” Trail. You are instructed to complete all three courses.
Mechanics Write a min-1000 words solo (or rp if in a group, wordcount total rather than per-user), in which your troll(s) complete the above mentioned circuits in order to complete their examination.
Group Class: Busthind Hike
Tonight, groups of trolls are led to a hiking spot at the base of Busthind Mountain. A more intensive novice exam is lead by the hardened endurance instructor, who instructs you to hike a trail on one of Busthind’s many peaks and return to this spot within 5 nights – or, alternatively, meet 3 daunting waypoints to pass the class. You are given supplies for the daytime, but are expected to use your stamina wisely throughout the night. Good luck!
Mechanics A group of trolls must survive in the cold of Busthind. They start out with 15 stamina and must last on their mountain hike for 5 nights or meet 3 waypoints. Each night they must choose to A) Forge Ahead or B) Make Camp, and after choosing they must roll 2D4.
If the number is even and the group chose to forge ahead, they meet a waypoint. If the number is even and the group chose to camp, the group loses 3 stamina. If the number is odd and the group chose to forge ahead, the group loses 6 stamina. If the number is odd and the group chose to camp, the group loses 3 stamina.
If you succeed at either objective (lasting 5 nights or meeting 3 waypoints), you have completed this task. Only one group member needs to make the nightly decision, but all trolls must post an individual response. If your group fails, you must re-take the exam.
Min 50 words per post.
Once you have completed Running Endurance and the Busthind Hike, you may put a novice endurance pin in your journal! Congratulations!
Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 2:23 pm
Punkie groaned internally, but smiled on the outside. It was Sephos's turn to pick the training and, of course, he chose something with running in it. Her smile stayed affixed to her face as she leaned over to stretch, and then surveyed the distance they would be going. It was quite the run, it was a run like none she had done before. She was pretty good at endurance, or so the juggalo thought. She often spent hours and hours in her garden, digging, weeding, uprooting nasty invaders, but running was another thing. She had run for their swiftness test, and well, she had the cuts scrapes and bruises to show for it. Her partner, Sephos, had simply skipped through the test, which the juggalo was imensley proud of of course. Pride in one's friends was of the utmost importance.
Sephos was back to training, again, at Punkie's suggestion. If she was a little stiffer than usual, he hadn't noticed. He just knew that her suggestion had made sense, and that endurance was something he needed. His lusus certainly felt such - but a tree would understand the value of enduring.
Storms will strike, fire would burn, drought would sear the ground and floods would drench it. Plants died. Animals died. Seeds hibernated and germinated. Life endured.
Why endurance involved running, Sephos wasn't sure, but after their previous training he knew he probably had it down. He wasn't too upset. And he kind of wanted to hang out with Punkie?
Sephos watched his friend stretch and mimiced her because, well, she knew what she was doing. He wouldn't have called his performance in the last test 'skipping', but he also knew that he had done pretty well.
”Ok. Yeah.” Sephos said, nodding at Punkie. ”Lets... ********... go.” He said, just as deadpan as usual (He was picking up her language the more time he spent with her, even if he didn't really feel the words)
And then he started jogging at the reasonable pace that the trainer set for them.
200/1000
Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:38 am
And they were off! Punkie glanced at her quiet friend, and was impressed by his even face. Sure, they had only just started, but Punkie was already ready to be done and maybe have a nice slice of pie. She internally berated herself, that was no way to think! One had to fight and fight hard to fallow their pumpbiscuit!
That didnt mean small-talk was not okay of course. "My good b***h Sephos!" Punkie started off cheerily, "I dont know about thy own ******** self, but this is gonna be quite the run. Lucky ******** thing weve got good company the both of us, right?" Punkie winked at Sephos. "You know, i been ******** recruiting my autoerogenous shame globes off for the gardening club. So ******** excited for that, by the way, but you gotta admit my most grubfaced friend, that you have some odd trolls as your goddamned acquiescence." Punkie grinned, thinking of the trolls she had recruited on Sephos's word. All quite the characters indeed. "Howd ya go about meeting that ******** Rastin?"
Sephos knew enough about his limits to know when to rest, and also that – at this point - he was not near that. Between gardening (which was hard work) and traipsing around the woods as he did (which was also tricky, given that there were few paths where he lived).
Punkie, however, was flushed orange (he could just barely see it under her makeup when he glanced over). Sephos wondered if she was okay, but he didn't think she wanted to be asked. He was tempted to ask anyway, because he was kind of worried, when she started talking and he lost his chance to ask. Again, probably for the best. She wanted to keep a smile on her face and keep going and... Where was he getting that from?
”Yeah.” he said, nodding in turn. ”Good company.” He agreed – Punkie was very good company. And the gardening club... Sephos was actually looking forward to it.
”Looking forward to the club.” He said, and he was – oddly enough, he was. He was also looking forward to explaining it to his lusus, who was watching nearby. He had, he realized, forgotten to inform Maku of the club. He bet that the treebeast would like the idea, maybe even help, maybe even be proud of... There was another weird thought. How was he supposed to know what anyone else wanted or needed?
And then, suddenly, the conversation turned to Rastin. Rastin, of all people. ”Tea.” he answered after a moment of running. It was hard to breathe, think, speak and run at the same time. He supposed he needed to find the right rhythm. ”I think...” Actually, how had they met? Did it involve poison ivy, or something? ”He lives near me,” Nearish, anyway, nearer than Sephos was to other trolls anyway, ”So I see 'im around, and he grows stuff so we do... that.” He had a similar relationship with Punkie, honestly. But without the tea, and without the closeness...
Wait. ”... is he odd?” he asked, confused. Odd trolls he knew, Rastin... was she saying Rastin was odd? Rastin was an ordinary troll who knew lots of stuff. How was he odd? What did that mean?
Suddenly, Sephos was confused. His running did not slow, though, apparently he had found a good rhythm... which might mean that the teacher would try to speed them up... … oh boy.
608/1000
(I'm going to do a solo waking up maku, soon, so I'm just... setting it in time. To kick my butt into gear.)
Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:29 am
Punkie grinned as her friend admitted feelings, specifically, his excitement for the gardening club they were starting together. It put a little skip in her jog. Sure, Sephos had only said "Looking forward to the club" but Punkie could extrapolate! Any small thing Sephos said usually had a large underwater meaning. He was like an iceberg, you only get to see, or hear, the tip, but there was a whole lot more if one just set an eye to look for it. It was cool, Punkie was just fine with seeing just Sephos's tip, she had an imagination, she could envision the rest.
Then Sephos said where he had met Rastin and Punkie's smile faltered for just a second. It was not that the juggalo disliked the purpleblood, they had just, well, gotten off to an interesting start. "Huh! Tea of all ******** things!" The juggalo said politely. She snorted as Sephos continued saying that he lived "near" the purpleblood. She guessed that was true... if "near" meant out in the middle of Messiahs know where. When he asked her if Rastin was odd tho, she burst out laughing. "Hes sure as ******** something!" The juggalo started, "Yes ide say "odd" fits the goddamned highblood. Hes not bad, but lets just say hes ********... " Punkie thought for a second, remembering her encounter. "Uncultured." She said slowly, deciding that was what it was. He had no knowledge of the most holy religion on Alternia, yep, Punkie would say that fell under uncultured. "How about that ******** greenblood, Valaon? My goddamned goodness you find trolls in strange predicaments. Was her whole hive ablaze when ya first met the wee b***h? Also, ya really need to invite her a** over for pie more often. Shes one that could really ******** use a good pie for every meal."
"Really?" Sephos asked, confused. Uncultured? That didn't sound like Rastin at all.
They had finished the frog pond with ease before... it hadn't been much, not for trolls like them. Gardening was much more arduous. The resort, however, was proving to be a longer haul, mostly flat but long. Sephos was feeling it, and Punkie... distracted him from the pain of it. Which was a good thing. Yes. A very good thing.
Anyway, Sephos was pretty sure that culture was a good thing. Rastin deserved good things, because Rastin was a good person... simple enough. "... Should take him into town more..." he mused. Maku had always said that he had to watch trolls so he could teach his sprouts how to be trolls, so maybe thats what Rastin needed. Rastin wouldn't like it and Sephos couldn't blame him - trolls were difficult, and the towns - civilization - was hard. Complicated. Dangerous.
Maybe culture was like dirt - not good to eat, definitely not all the time, but a little gave you vitamins and minerals...
Dirt helps little saplings grow, big and strong. Dirt makes the seed become a great tree, that supports other trees, that becomes a forest. Rich soil is where we all return. It is the cycle of life.
So, taking Rastin into town would be good for him. Good for Sephos, too, because then Rastin could help him deal with things. Rastin was much better with words than Sephos - most of what Sephos wanted to say was buried deep, like a taproot or a network of roots and fungus that no one could see. Vast, intricate, indescribable. Rastin seemed to have lots of words (and Punkie had many different words) and he was very good at reading.
"Valaon?" The conversation had shifted... or had it? Was Valaon also odd? She seemed very... normal? Like him? Not-Punkie? He guessed?
"No, she had lots of apples." he said, honestly. It was true then, and true now... she just had had more of them then, and the orchards hadn't been burnt out. "Came over. Helped her with the harvest." Sephos's speech was shorter than usual - his breath was catching... and if he was having trouble, how was Punkie doing?
"Yeah, I should. She needs to eat more." Something about having to sell a lot more of her produce to get by. Or something. She'd told him a bit about her problems when he was helping her - to pass the time, like they were doing now, he guessed. He'd listened, but he hadn't got most of it. He understood trading, and selling - he did that. That bought him tools and supplies. But the forest provided (or took), and that was that.
It was a farm-thing, being surrounded by food and not being able to have most of it. It was complicated. "... I'm in the area sometimes." he offered, "The Settlement. Could bring her pies." he said, panting slightly between words.
Actually... That would be nice.
Micillia
1109/1000 LMAO they actually have to run the courses I think
Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 9:08 pm
Punkie was panting harder now. Its not that she was out of shape, its just that talking while jogging, and keeping up her usual level of enthusiasm was a bit of a challenge. She had reservoirs of enthusiasm tho, she needed them, to keep her chipper, mirthful spirit up in spite of pitfalls, of Messiah forbid, a really long run. The juggalo was so focused on her chatting that she hardly noticed as the two trolls passed by the frog pond, and then the Waterski Restopolis, but she did notice when they entered the "backwoods" Trail, mainly because the blessed shade the trees around cast. She sighed loud in relief as they entered the shade. "Never been so ******** happy ta see a good tree as i am right goddamned now!" She muttered to herself, grinning at the trees and the shade.
The juggalo snorted when Sephos mentioned taking Rastin out more. Sephos should go out more too, she thought. "Should take your ******** a** into town more!" Punkie teased, "Did you know," She started, thinking about an adorable little Cafe she had passed on her way to the ******** Church of Mirth and Messiahs she had been working on, "That there are wee little ******** umbrellas, and little goddamned figures made o real goddamned sugar, that some bitching bakers put on ********> She felt her mouth water thinking about it. She hadn't been inside, or purchased anything, pretty much every penny she owned she put into her church. But, if she were to say, go with a friend, why that would be reason enough to splurge on a cute little cupcake. "I know, sounds right ********, right? But i swear to the ******** Madrassahs its true. Lets go this upcommin weekend, so yer slodsockets can see for themselves!"
Punkie let out a sad sigh at the thought of the poor greenblood, Valaon. "That poor b***h be right ******** in the a**..." She said sadly, shaking her head. "Ill be sure ta make a shitload o pies in her name so the mirth o the Messiahs might fall upon her." She continued tho, "And! I might ******** add! With the gardening club on her godforsaken side, we can get her up an running like a goddamned speed beast!" Punkie said, cheering up. She was so excited for the gardening club, so excited. It gave her a little boost of energy just talking about it.
Finally, the pair made it out of the woods, and Punkie leaned on a nearby tree, catching her breath. She was silent for quite a few minutes, before her reserves of enthusiasm revered her back up to usual juggalo levels. "TAKE THAT YA ******** TORTURE OF A GODDAMNED RUN!" She yelled at the sky, letting out some whoop whoops of celebration. "Im so ******** glad thats over with."
The "backwoods" trail was basically like home - full of shade... and crags, and roots, and hills, and stones. Sephos' bare feet began to hurt after all of the running on rough terrain. He was tiring - he'd never done so much consecutive running ever in his life - but he had to stick with it. Because Punkie was, and she was taking it harder than he was in the warm sunlight. "Good trees." he noted. He wasn't sure if a treebeast had a hand in their growth, but by his assessment, this part of the forest was healthy.
How she was still talking, Sephos didn't know. Something about... Sugar? A cafe? He knew about cafes. Nucleo owned one, didn't he? Yes - it was nice. "No," he said, "I didn't know." Sugar figures... how? Sugar was crumbly. He was curious, and she'd invited him, so he might as well see what this was. "Okay." he said. He didn't say anything for a long while, his breathing apparatus strained from the long running and talking - not something it was entirely accustomed to doing all of the time.
He did have a few things to say though, they would just have to wait because at the end of their run, he had to rest. He had to rest hard.
The Cafe would have to wait, though - the YTMA's endurance training had a required camping trip, and that camping trip was scheduled for the following week and No they could not reschedule. So that time was spent preparing. And, apparently, one needed to prepare.
Maku was not happy about his sprout and the carrier of his seed going into the cold, dangerous mountain. He wouldn't be alone, but still.
Wear your hat, little sprout. And a coat. And shoes. Don't stay in the cold too long. And BE CAREFUL, for I need you.
None of it was negotiable - Maku was very serious. He couldn't come with his troll and preventing Sephos from going was an extreme measure that he was willing to take eventually but not just yet. After all, Sephos wouldn't be alone.
So Sephos found himself warm, snug, and uncomfortable in his new shoes on the Busthind mountains. It was high up - his head spun a little from the altitude - but there were plants here, and few trolls besides Punkie, and that was ok. He was even... excited for the trip? If that indeed was the energetic feeling he felt in his chest.
He looked at her for a moment and nodded, before beginning to hike onwards. "... I like cupcakes." he said, seemingly at random. In truth, he was just continuing his train of thought from before, one that came to fruition in its own time like any sapling. "No hot peppers in them, right?"
Micillia
The group FORGES AHEAD The group REACHES A WAYPOINT
Punkie didn't really know how to feel about the camping trip. She was fine with the outdoors, she practically lived in them! But, she always had her ritual before bed and after waking up, and a camping trip did not really have room for her copious face paints, incense, or punkin sacrificing ritual. Punkie dressed up for the cold, with all the fixings; boots, thick coat, snow pants, mittens, and of course a thick hat. She smiled down at Sephos's feet when she saw he was wearing boots. "Glad yer finally coming to terms with ******** shoes." She said, teasing him. "Good to ******** know." She said to his pepper point. "What about punkin cupcakes?" She said, giving him a sidelong glance. If Sephos didn't like punkin cupcakes, well, her whole world might just fall apart.
DraconicFeline
Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 12:34 am
Sephos looked down at his boots as he walked. They felt strange, really strange, like they were hugging his feet and blocking him from touching the planet below. It felt unnatural. It felt odd. He didn't like them. "The stone is cold and sharp." he explained. The moment he wasn't in the mountains, though, he was taking them off. For now, though, there were worse things than shoes.
Like walking in the mountains.
The trail seemed to snake up, and down, and around and around and Sephos was already feeling it.
"I like 'em." he replied, "Punkins are good to eat. I like them." he added, but she knew that. "Are we going to bake punkins again this sweep?" he asked hopefully. The last time they had done that, it had been filling and tasty and it hadn't been bad - just as Bloodfest hadn't been bad. Fun? He thought it might have been.
They passed by a waypoint, leaving the mark they were supposed to leave to prove that they had gone there. He had at least remembered that much, even though his feet were already feeling rubbed and raw.
"Are the boots 'sposed to hurt?" he asked, shaking them with slightly less enthusiasm than a cat on its paw.
Punkie giggled at Sephos. "I'm glad you like those goddamned punkins so much." She play punched his shoulder, and gave the greenblood a wink. "As soon as we get through this s**t, I was hoping we could have a ******** punkin feast!" She sighed at the thought. Warm, sweet punkin sent filling up the hive. Cinnamon, sugar, and butter adding to the sweet taste punkins already had. Really tho, she adored soy-sauce, mango, and aged cheese with her punkins, and in front of Sephos, she would not have to feel too self conscious. Not that she ever really did, being self conscious was against her juggalo ways of mirth and magic.
They hiked a bit farther, and Punkie let out a sigh. She look at Sephos's feet as he mentioned them and nodded at him smiling. "I think that means its time for a ******** break." She said, plopping herself into a well placed log and taking her backpack off. Yep, it was time to make camp for the night.
DraconicFeline
The group MAKES CAMP
15/12 Group Stamina 1/3 Waypoints 2/5 Nights
Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 10:35 pm
"With all the different punkins? Like last time?" Sephos' licked his lips, careful about his teeth as he did so.
All the variety - he hadn't realized how many different ways one could eat a punkin. "... could we, uh, roast apples and stuff too? I think those are good roasted. With punkins?" He'd never had them roasted, but fresh... they were sweet, and tart. And pie was good too, even when it was all over his face and in his hair and dripping off his horns like that one time.
Sephos looked at his feet.
Well, he wasn't going to argue with that.
Making camp took up some time, but even then they still had some time before they had to go to sleep.
The next morning, Sephos stretched, about as stiff as he usually was after a night not in his recouparoon. He waited for Punkie to wake up, prepared tea and breakfast and - checking the sky for any odd weather - decided that he could soldier ahead in his boots for a little longer...
Micillia
The group FORGES AHEAD And i will probably edit this post later.
