<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/b/bc/Belanor.jpg)</div><strong>Dask</strong><br/><strong>Current Identity:</strong>Mirodas<br/>Changeling Alienist<br/><strong>HP:</strong>51/51 ;<strong>Status:</strong>Under the effects of Extended<em>Greater Mage Armor</em>, Extended<em>Greater Magic Weapon</em>, Extended<em>Resist Energy</em>x5 (Resist 20 vs Acid, Cold, Electricity, Fire, Sonic), Extended<em>Tongues</em>, Extended<em>Water Breathing</em>,<em>Overland Flight</em><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spells Memorized (CL 10, DC 15 + spell level)</div><div class="spoiler_body"><ul class="bbc_list"><li>5th (3/day + 1) - <em>Greater Blink</em>(Spell Compendium)<em>, Telekinesis, Telekinesis</em> + <em>Wall of Stone</em></li><li>4th (4/day + 1) - <em>Charm Monster, Mordenkainen's Black Tentacles, <del>Polymorph</del>, Ray Deflection</em>(Spell Compendium)<em> + <em>Dimension Door</em></em></li><li>3rd (4/day + 1) - <em>Haste, Haste, Shrink Item, Unluck</em>(Spell Compendium) + <em>Stinking Cloud</em></li><li>2nd (5/day + 1) - <em>Invisibility, Mirror Image, Ray of Stupidity</em>(Spell Compendium)<em>, Rope Trick, Web</em> + <em>Glitterdust</em></li><li>1st (6/day + 1) - <em>Nerveskitter</em>(Spell Compendium)<em>, Ray of Clumsiness</em>(Spell Compendium)<em>, Shield, Silent Image, True Strike, True Strike</em> + <em>Grease</em></li><li>0th (4/day + 1) - <em>Launch Item</em>(Spell Compendium)<em>, Mage Hand, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation</em> + <em>Caltrops</em>(Spell Compendium)</li></ul></div></div><hr/><br/>The vision showed to Sasha of Dask while she dreamed would show her more than just the naked body of Mirodas.  The changeling would be highly disturbed if he ever learned the truth, but the sleeping Alluran would see him as he truly was, a slender, willowy form, generally feminine in shape, with long, slightly disheveled white hair and pale, corpse-grey skin.  Blank, milk-white eyes sat in the sockets of this feminine figure's face, but between this figure's legs sat something that was decidedly un-feminine in shape, a nice, thick rod of respectable size...  Though, size and shape didn't really matter when it came to shapeshifters.<br/><br/>Soon enough, something would happen to distort even this view uninhibited view of the changeling's body, however.<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Before too long, the contestants were teleported out onto the field, and the rules for the contest itself were explained.  Dask himself was still fine with his spell choices, expecting them to be more than enough to meet his needs, but he was sure that plenty of the other wizards in the competition would have prepared entirely different spell lists, if they had known what to expect beforehand.  Just this obstacle course alone had so many potential strategic options to it, not just in how one might approach it in order to bypass it as quickly as possible, but in whether or not one would even wish to.  The scoring system that had been set up essentially meant that these three trials were of lesser importance compared to the final tournament.  A contestant could lag behind a little in this obstacle course and the other two trials ahead, and achieve a dramatic turnaround to take first place by winning a series of fights against their fellow mages, or they could put on a strong initial showing, only to wind up losing by not winning any of the later fights.  Either option was sure to please the crowd, and obviously that latter option suited Dask's needs just fine.<br/><br/>What the changeling thought about when faced with the challenge of tackling the obstacle course were thoughts about an entirely different strategic goal.  Would he be able to make the switch with Medah Blackfeather's ticket during this obstacle course?  It was highly unlikely, given the strict rules about interfering with the other competitors.  An opportunity of some sort would arise during this tournament, the angel's<em>Divination</em>had left him certain of it, but it wouldn't be something as silly as the ticket simply falling out of Blackfeather's pocket and onto the ground while running this race, which was about the only possible opportunity he could think of here.<br/><br/>So then, this wouldn't be the time to make his move, which in turn meant that he had to simply be another contestant, trying to win the competition.  And trying to do so in a simple and straightforward manner would probably be the best option, to make his eventual loss all the more believable.  Thus, if he wanted to put in the best performance possible on the obstacle course...  Ah, of course.  There was just one spell he had prepared that would be perfect for this situation, and it was one that he cast the instant the race began.<br/><br/>"<em>Polymorph</em>."<br/><br/>Instantly, the elven body that Dask wore began to twist and grow.  His long, blonde hair grew white and shaggy, it extended to cover over his entire body, his muscles swelled, his clothing subsumed into them, a second set of massive arms erupted forth from his back...  The form he had taken was that of a magical beast he was familiar with, a great, shaggy, white-furred, six-limbed ape with sharp claws known as a Girallon.  It was massive, powerful, reasonably agile, and an adept climber, all of which were traits that would come in handy for this first phase of the contest.<br/><br/>And indeed, it had the opportunity to show off its traits admirably, right at the first obstacle.  It was a mad dash from all contestants to attempt to be the first ones through the narrow passageway before them.  The pushing and shoving made it difficult to avoid stepping on the floor tiles that would trigger the dragon's head, and the crowded conditions made it difficult to dodge the projectiles of shimmering force that were launched from those carved mouths, as well.  The changeling's transformed body was easily able to withstand a direct hit from one of those projectiles without budging an inch, however, and his massive four-armed frame lumbered on through without any difficulty at all.<br/><br/>Interestingly, there was actually a contestant who was ahead of him on the other side of the alley, which he hadn't expected.  The long, blonde hair and shirtless figure of the Silverfish were easy enough to recognize, and having watched him completely leap over the crowd, Dask had to admit that that<em>Jump</em>spell had been well-chosen.  Next came the rolling log obstacle, and while the Girallon's skill at climbing served the changeling well, a similarly well-cast<em>Spider Climb</em>spell allowed the blonde mage to maintain his lead by also climbing along the underside of the log.<br/><br/>The Silverfish took the form of a boar to charge through those swinging sacks on the rope bridge while Dask swung down underneath it in order to climb along the underside, and the other wizard spent another spell to transform into some form of aquatic humanoid, allowing him to effortlessly gather rings at the pool while the changeling was stuck finally dealing with an obstacle for which his new ape-like form was not innately suited, though its greater muscles and extra arms did at least allow it to swim more quickly than he could have in humanoid form.<br/><br/>The climb up the ropes to the top of the pillars was at least an area where his approach would be faster than whatever the other mage was doing with that rope he was making out of his own scarf, but by that point the human wizard already had an insurmountable lead.  Spending that many spells had assured the Silverfish first place in this first phase of the competition, while Dask's single spell had been enough to propel him to second place.  But even then, the changeling found himself sharing second place with the beastfolk shaman Rognar, whose elemental magic and trained physique had been enough to win him freedom from his former life as a slave gladiator.  Third place was taken shortly after by the Asgardian mage Aema, whose mechanical body had been crafted for her by the Asgardian God Ptah, and past that, there was finally time to turn back and watch the remainder of the competitors struggling through the obstacle course.<br/><br/>Some were able to win through on innate ability, some managed to make it past at least a couple of the obstacles in their way with one or more spells, and some wound up failing quite often, either with or without the use of magic.  Medah Blackfeather was roughly in the middle of the pack, as far as the order of contestants went, and the changeling couldn't help but wonder if the man was perhaps deliberately underperforming in order to aim for that underdog victory that he had considered earlier.  But if there was anyone who was the underdog here, then it was definitely...<br/><br/>"Oi, what took the rest o' ya so long t' get here?"<br/><br/>...The other changeling, who had very clearly not prepared any spells at all that would have been useful in a situation like this one.  Dask still didn't know anything about her, but if the betting stations had still been open, and if he'd been the type to gamble with his money in the first place, his bet would definitely have been on her at this point.  If she had performed so poorly in this obstacle course because she had completely optimized her spell list for combat, then she was going to be a force to be reckoned with in the final phase of the competition.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Dask casts <em>Polymorph</em> and transforms into a Girallon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/girallon.htm) in order to take on the obstacles.<br/><br/><strong>Trap Alley</strong><br/>Dask has a high enough Reflex save to make it past the trap automatically, but opts to instead automatically succeed on the bull rush check because powering through is faster than dodging.<br/>-1 delay<br/><br/><strong>Rolling Log</strong><br/>Climb speed 40 ft allows automatic success at climbing across<br/>-1 delay<br/><br/><strong>Rolling Sacks</strong><br/>Climb speed 40 ft allows automatic success by climbing along the underside<br/>-1 delay<br/><br/><strong>Swim/Collect Rings</strong><br/>Gain +4 delay due to needing to spend a lot more time swimming.  Thanks to previous delay decreases, this only results in a +1 total delay increase, bumping the Fortitude save up to +18, which Dask automatically succeeds in overcoming.<br/><br/><strong>Rope Climb</strong><br/>Climb speed 40 ft allows automatic success<br/>-1 delay<br/><br/><strong>Total Delay Score:</strong> 0, bringing Dask to tie for second place.<br/></div></div>