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A) Decide to tackle the big waves - if there's one thing you've learned today, it's to follow the deep water and the current.

Darren watched as their guide drove right into the large waves and he figured, what the hell. He was doing alright so far, he might as well give it his all. He wanted to follow the advice - and the path of their guide, it seemed to be the best way to go about things really.

So he paddled on, hoping that both his friend and his girlfriend had managed to stay afloat.

A) Decide to tackle the big waves - if there's one thing you've learned today, it's to follow the deep water and the current.

Hafwen perked up a bit when Finn made it known to them that they were almost at the end of the course with the last rapid of the day that was round the corner. Looking around herself, she blinked when she realised that Darren was in the lead just up ahead with another guy (Marlin) close on his tail.

Wait a minute. Wasn't he... She remembered Marlin alright. He was the one who ran a costume shop and gotten her all excited about the prospect of trying some black and white tomatoes that he grew in his own garden. So he was a Knight too like Darren and her huh?

Interesting.

She took a gander at the rapid and contemplated the various routes via which she could tackle it, eventually settling for the same course as that of the other two who were ahead of her. After all, it was about time to put what she had picked up today to the test.

C)Take a risk and try to ride the central shoal. It looks like a fair compromise between the big water and the big drop.

Laney was really hoping to finish the day out strong. She'd had a bad start and a worse middle, followed by an extremely lucky fluke of intense rowing in the middle, but had then nearly gotten a face full of tree along with two other unfortunate souls who she badly hoped hadn't been following her on her diversion from right to left on that last little stretch. As a result, her plan for her big finish was, to as great a level of exactitude as possible, to do precisely what Finn had done in clearing this last stretch of rapids.

Unfortunately --

'As great a level of exactitude as possible' consisted of a lot of very overanxious paddling. Where Finn had sailed neatly into the deep water and come cleanly out the other side, Laney's energetic steering was only neat and clean in the sense that it quite neatly and cleanly sent her in the exact direction of the central shoal.

She was doomed. She was 99.99999999% certain her inflatable banana kayakanoe thing was going to get stuck on that shoal and she was going to have to sit there, waiting for Finn to figure out a way to extract her from her horrible rocky perch, while all the other completely successful and not fail-magnet knights sat in their happy little boats and waited and watched the whole horrific ordeal.

"Ah, crap!" she blurted out, digging her fingers into the handle of her oar to try and keep from dropping it.

Dear Finn, she scripted her last will and testament in her head for when she inevitably died of embarrassment. Please do not consign my corpse to Davy Jones' locker, if that's a thing that rivers have. I would like a full viewing if I am not too bloaty from drowning and I would like for Stephen Sondheim to be invited to attend and someone should play Billy Joel's Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel) on the piano and there should be antique decorations and a couple of people crying if it can be worked out. Please tell Tara I died doing what I love -- concocting fantasy scenarios in my mind, that is, and not rowing a weird inflatable boat in evil death waters of hatred. I do not love that at all. Remember me fondly on my birthday and on the fun holidays. With hugs from the afterlife, Laney.

A) Decide to tackle the big waves - if there's one thing you've learned today, it's to follow the deep water and the current.

After coming out of the channels not as far behind as she had been before, Cora smiled as the big waves came up. This was it, the moment of truth. It all boiled down to her being able to push through this last obsticle. She threw herself into her paddling, this was after all the home stretch - she had to make it count for as much as she was able.

She had learned her lession from earlier, stick to the deep water, go where the current was best. She threw her entire upper body into the paddling, her breath steady as she drove her oars through the chop and current. She was going to make it to the end, and she was going to look spectacular doing it. She laughed to herself - if Mathias could see her right now, he'd probably be blowing a gasket, but she had to prove to herself that she was still strong, that her injuiries were turly behind her. So she paddled hard, giving it all she had.

She would beat this river.

If you chose...

A) Big risk, big reward! The powerful current, along with your masterful paddling, carries you through to the other side!
B) The drop puts you into a weird eddy. You spend a few moments waiting for the current to pick you back up, and when it doesn't, have to paddle the long way around to the end of the rapid.
C) The shoal is slower, but it carries you into the rapid at a good angle. You've got enough momentum to make it through.

"Alright! Great job, everybody," said Finn, watching the last of the group catch up. He gestured to the valley ahead of them, how a few yards downstream, the river widened into a large, flat lake. "Oars out is about a kilometer ahead. It's a floating dock with a bunch of red buoys around it. We can take our time getting there."

Waving to Darren, Finn called, "Hey! Darren! That was a flawless run. You ever done this before? I'll get that gift card to you this week."

OOC: Thank you so much everyone for playing! I had so much fun running this game and I'm so glad to have had such a great turn-out for it! Like Finn said, Darren has the highest score! Torvil, I will be in touch with you about your art, and I will be rolling for the participation prize in a moment.

You are now free to play your characters interacting with each other, but for the sake of requirements, this is officially stick-a-fork-in-it done!

Final scores!

None of them capsized! Like, Anabel's role in this had been mostly 'sit around and look cute and hand Finn things'--when she had been doing something other than sitting sedately to the side, watching everyone be idiots. She had actually taught some outdoor survival cooking, but, like, that was like... her only claim to fame right now.

"Good job," she called across the water, really glad that there had been, in the end, no need for her bucket and rope. Not that she wouldn't have done it, because she would have, but--like--ehhh. "That was fun," she sighed to Finn. "I am sad it's over."

Now who would have expected that Darren would be the one to walk away with the hundred dollar gift card that Finn had earlier promised to the fastest paddler among them? It was definitely either a case of beginner's luck as he was bashfully trying to wave it off as or he just happened to have a knack for aquatic activities such as this. "Didn't know that you would turn out to be quite a stud out here on the water. Remind me to never ever challenge you to a race on the rapids."

Hafwen giggled when Darren neared, genuinely happy for his little achievement nonetheless. That was quite an experience all things considered really - she managed to go through the course without capsizing her raft and even went on to actually tie with Marlin for a close second behind Darren. That, in her opinion, still counted for something even if it didn't score her a prize and she was pleased with it.

Noticing what Darren was trying to do, she tilted her head at Cora, looking the older redhead over before shifting her attention back to him. "Someone you know..?"