Capture the Flag #14 -- Game 2.

OOC: Yo, kids. This Capture-the-Flag will also include NPCs. NPCs are Non-Player Characters, which means that those chars will be either made up from scratch or taken from the minor canon character list, to be RPed by every member of the team he or she belongs to. They are just there to fill the teams and give the impression that there are more than just four demigods on each one.
Each team will be bumped up with four randomly made-up characters. If you read our PM to the end, you must have read their descriptions. Also, no NPC has powers.

Now to the RPing rules:
1) NO TELEPORTING OR USING MACHINES TO GET TO THE OTHER TEAM'S FLAG.
2) You MUST post at least five times before even GETTING to the other team's territory after Chiron blows the horn to begin the game. Consider what the other people in the topic are posting. If there's an arrow flying at you, dodge or get hit. But under NO circumstances can you post "I run," then "I dodged all attacks," to "I get to the other team's territory." You cannot dodge everything.
If your character gets attacked or fights, you must have him or her get hurt. No need for maiming or losing limbs, but a wound, a bruise, a slash, a cut and such must be there.
3) If you reach the other team's flag, and there's a person posting as a character there, you MUST engage that person in battle before getting the flag for at least two posts. If you do get the flag, you must post at least three times before reaching the border between both teams' territories while considering everything the other people in the topic are posting.
4) Obviously, no god-modding or power-playing. If this is seen, you will be kicked out of the game after one or two warnings.
5) Remember, kids -- powers make people tired!
6) Flags must be visible; don't say it's in a cave or in a tunnel/lake or whatever.
7) Try not to kill/maim other people.
8) Remember that your character(s) don't know where the other team's flag is.
NPC rules:
1) RP only the NPCs assigned to your team.
2) Do not powerplay with the NPCs.
3) Rp the NPC based off the details we gave you about them. You are not allowed to add to them beyond what you have been told about them.
4) If you are caught powerplaying using a NPC, you will be warned and replaced in the team by somebody else after a couple of warnings.

BIC: Chiron trotted forwards, one side of him appearing slightly orange in the setting sunlight. He was wearing a green T-shirt that read 'Centaur n°1' and had his quiver around his back with his bow on his shoulder.  

"Good evening, heroes," he said, his warm eyes sparkling with amusement. "Tonight, like all other Friday evenings, we are having a Capture-the-Flag game. (He looked at all the assembled demigods.) However, this time, as I told you, we are having several teams."

He unraveled the parchment he had kept rolled up in his hand.

"On the red team Robert and Jillian (Ares), Zane (Thanatos), Sawyer and Christopher (Hephaestus), Lakisha (Khione), Clara (Hypnos), and Dean (Hecate), you will be fighting the blue team: Angelina and Myles (Athena), Thorne and Stacy (Demeter), Jackson (Apollo), Demetrius (Bastet), Drew (Aphrodite), and Ashlee (Persephone)." He rolled the parchment back up. "No complaining, no changing. Now each team go to their flag. I will stay near the river, where ambrosia and nectar will be provided in case of injuries. Remember, killing and maiming will be severely punished."

"Five days without dessert," Mr. D put in.

"Now off you go. The game starts when you hear the horn."

The teams disappeared in the forest and Chiron galloped towards the stream, his white fur clearly visible between the trees. A couple of Infirmary satyrs were assisting him, holding nectar, ambrosia, bandages and medicine ready.
Once everybody was in position, Chiron blew his horn.

As soon Chiron had told them to go off into the forest, Sawyer had turned her heels and shuffled away between the trees. She got a sharp look from the Khione girl, Bellamy, who was stalking in the forest, making very little noise, like a breeze. She had obviously more training in hunting than Sawyer did; she had also often seen her with Wolstenholme, the son of Polydeuces, which explained some things. Polydeuces was the god of hunting and horsemen, and Wolstenholme had surely taught Bellamy some things.
They reached the Zephyros Creek, where they had established their flag. Sawyer was wearing her full celestial bronze armor (which she had a bit arranged, more to that later), and underneath the heavy metallic parts, she had olive camo trousers stuffed into her combat boots and a khaki muscle shirt that underlined her corded arms and angular shoulders. She was holding her modern axe in one hand and had her shield in the other. Under her helmet, she had bound her dirty, lackluster hair into a messy ponytail. The multiple scars and blisters she had across her skin were gleaming faintly in the sunlight, and she took her helmet off while waiting for the rest of her team to arrive. She saw Matthews, the son of Thanatos she had shown around Camp, and nodded hello.

Lakisha quickly arrived right after the loud Hephaestus girl -- really, that girl should learn how to walk properly -- and stopped next to the flag. She waited for everybody to arrive, the two Ares children, the other Hephaestus guy, the Thanatos dude, along with the Hypnos and Hecate persons. Like most, Lakisha was wearing clothes in woody nuances: a tank top made out of soft cotton whose nutbrown color emphasized her very pale skin, a pair of camouflage trousers in patches khaki, black and brown along with soft-soled boots and leg greaves. She had a bracer under her arm pieces as well as a finger tab on her right hand. It was weird for her to be without any expensive clothes, even though those she was wearing were high quality. A breast plate painted in matte camouflage colors was protecting her and the bottom of the horse hair crest on her helmet was colored red.

"Alright," she announced, her voice clear, melodious, but authoritative. "We have discussed our strategy already. When the horn blows, I want everybody sprinting to their positions and be ready. Remember to stay acutely alert to your surroundings, but most of all, to walk silently (she glanced at Sawyer, her mismatched eyes sharp)." She stopped, turning her dagger into her competition recurve bow. Just at that moment, the horn blew. "Go!" Lakisha said.

Sawyer didn't really like Bellamy putting herself in chief-position like that, but she felt there was no need to argue so when she said 'Go!' Sawyer started running to her position.

"Good luck, Matthews," she told Zane as she passed next to him. She would run with Zane until the river. This was his first Capture the Flag game and she wanted to tell him one or two things.

OOC: No time for coloring xD

Demetrius wasn't usually one for these kind of things. Teamwork wasn't his strong suit. But that was then. He was better now: more stable. For the first time in a long, long time, Demetrius was on top of his life. He was happy. He was normal. And for the first time, ever, he was actually excited about participating in this year's CTF. He was excited to work in teams with people he didn't know, and he was excited to kick some Red Butt.

He was leaning against a tree when the horn blew. Being the son of Bastet, he liked to think that his reflexes were cat-like. All in all, he was fast. It made much more sense to him to go for the flag, rather than stick around and play defense. He was, after all, more of a head-on, hands-on, act-before-you-think kinda guy. Hanging around the flag was much too boring. And, after all, he didn't have any powers to defend the thing with, or at least, anything useful. Because calling an army of house-cats to back him up probably wouldn't do him any good.

So with that, he cracked his knuckled and ran off, straight into the belly of the beast. The plan was to get to the other team's territory then go into stealth mode and snatch the flag.

Zane quickly strided over to his teammates, wearing a leather tunic built for speed under his black hoodie. He had a red plumed black helmet strapped to his head, and his Stygian iron blade in his right hand. He was having trouble focusing on what the other members were saying, before a loud horn and someone yelling 'Go!' snapped him out of it. As he turned to start running, he heard a girl call out "Good luck, Matthews" as she passed, whom he quickly realized was Sawyer, the girl who had shown him around. "G-good luck to you too" he replied back as he kept pace with her. He kept his sword at an angle to the ground, making sure it was in a position for easy defending if he got attacked. He was extremely nervous, never having done anything like this before. He also preferred to do things alone, but despite that, he had a fear of failing the team and letting everyone down. He focused his attention on running, making sure not to trip or stumble, and to also drown out the voices that he was hearing from the people who had died in the forest.

Sawyer ran with Zane, Robert, Christopher, Jillian and Clara. To Zane she said: "Go for the obvious spots. A clearing, Zeus's Fist, a little hill... There aren't a lot." She ducked to elude a low branch. Dead leaves crunched under her feet. "Once you reach it," she said, "press this." She put a chip into his hand. "Crystal! Catch!" She tossed Robert a replica of that chip. "When Matthews presses it, you'll see a line appear from where you are to where Matthews is. But you have to be quick and memorize it, because there are interferences in the forest, so the image won't last ten seconds. Okay?"


Lakisha turned her heels as soon as the six demigods had disappeared into the forest. She stalked over to the flag, grabbed it, pulled it up, and stuck it into the water of the creek.

"Dean!" She called, and the son of Hecate arrived. "Stay here with the flag," she told him, and disappeared into the forest.

OOC: Hey guys! I have access once every day to Internet here, so if you could keep up that rhythm of one post per day, it'd be awesome! It's only for a couple of days, don't worry.
Also blue team: a) perhaps you could say where the flag is ^^ b) you don't know our flag is at the Zephyros creek. I don't see why we should be RPing the search while you guys seem to know where our flag is.

Demetrius stopped in his tracks and grit his teeth. He'd almost forgotten: This was a team sport. He couldn't just go off, galavanting about and doing whatever he please - - he had to work with his team. He turned around and search for someone wearing his team's color. Luckily, someone had been tailing him: Demetrius didn't know the boy personally, but he'd seen the boy around camp before. Son of... Aphrodite if he wasn't mistaken. Demetrius struggled to remember the boy's name. Dean? Darius? Dave? D... Dr... Drew!

"Drew!" Demetrius called, snapping his fingers in recognition.

The boy in question popped out of the bushes and scurried over to where the son of Bastet was standing. "Yeah? What's up? You called?" Drew asked.

"Listen, Drew. I've got a plan. I'm pretty fast and, judging by the way you kept up with me, I'd say you are too. Come'ere," he beckoned Drew over and whispered the plan in his ear.

Drew's face lit up into a mischievous smirk. "I like it!" He exclaimed.

"Excellent. Then off we go!" Demetrius exclaimed and charged of towards the other team's territory with drew in tow.

OOC: I thought we were talking about Drew Tanaka here, who is a female right?? xD

Angelina went near the river. She stood with the flag in her hand, she had to place the flag somewhere safe but where? They started straight from the river, they passed Zeus's fist. After sometime of wandering a little more in the forest they spotted it. It was a kind of clearing, there were two trees too close to each other. She fixed the flag between them and stood in front of them , the tree at the front did not hide the flag completely, anyone if looked carefuly could make out that it was there. But it was the best that Angelina could do. She decided to climb on the branch of the tree behind the flag which was low enough for her to jump directly from. And she asked Myles to stay down with the flag, so that if anyone came he or she might think there is only one person guarding the flag, well atleast till the time they don't decide to look up and check the weather. She stood up on the branch carefully and could not see the river, where Jackson was guarding the border. Angelina stayed alert, waiting, either for the cry of victory or the footsteps of the enemy. Ah violence! The last thing that Angelina wanted, but tonight she could not avoid it.

OPC I don't know. I don't read. I saw the name drew and assumed it was just some guy named Drew.

OOC: Isn't the creek the borderline between south and north woods?

BIC: Jackson watched the borderline, his bow ready with an arrow notched into his bow. The arrow was nothing special, at least for the first one. Once he knew who would be in his range. Then he would pick a special arrow.

OOC: I'll add Thorne later

Zane takes the chip and holds it in his open palm, examining it for a moment before slipping it into his jacket pocket. "Ok, good luck everyone." he said to everyone in a louder voice than usual, as he veered off towards Zeus's Fist. He kept his sword at a defensive angle at all times, making sure to not get caught off guard. His eyes darted between the trees, trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive flag he was after. This game seems pretty fun he thought to himself as he continued running, Even though i'm not much of a team person..

OOC: The river is the borderline ^^ Also Zane, five posts before reaching the enemy's territory ;) Stitch>> Drew Tanaka is a girl xD and a rather.... Bossy one.

BIC: "Watch out for the trees!" Sawyer grumbled behind him as they came in sight of the river. "There are often archers there. And stay in the shadows."

Once at the river, Sawyer stopped. She looked at Christopher, who immediately understood her gaze. Together, they started putting up traps on the river shore, making sure the perimeter was covered, and even put some on the paths. There were the normal traps like wire would tighten around the ankles of whomever stepped on it, a little net, or the kind of trap that would close its jaws on somebody's leg, plus a couple more of Sawyer's invention.
Once the perimeter was secured, Christopher and her gave Jillian some glitter bombs, then Sawyer made a screen of smoke rise and rest over the water. She was unsure how much time she could hold it, and felt her eyelids grow a bit heavy, but she maintained it, not letting it escape her control. For now.
"Split up," she told Jillian and Chris. Jillian went to the left, Chris to the right, but both were still in sight range of Sawyer.
After that, she crouched behind a bush, pulled the mask of her helmet over her face and tuned her armor into camouflage: the metamaterials on its surface would take the light and make it pass around her without hitting her. She was basically invisible, except for some patches, who blended magnificently into the background.
All this done, she switched the mask of her helmet into infrared, that way, it would be easier to see who was coming and get prepared.
That armor had taken Sawyer almost a month of forging, and it was one of her most prized items, along with her shield and her axe.

Jackson saw the enemy come up on the river and notched his bow back fully before letting the arrow fly, hopefully hitting someone. Then, quick as he could he selected another arrow, one filled with smoke powder and fired it, causing a massive cloud of smoke to explode everywhere within the ten feet of detention. Jackson didn't know who was down there, but hopefully he could take them all. Getting another arrowC he fired three at once into the smoke: explosive, normal, and blunt.

[color=lightgreen]Thorne ran with her fellow camper to the river, looking down at the water before looking across it. Just beyond the river the enemy flag had to be somewhere, but where? The child of Demeter didn't know, but she would find out. Her foot dipped into the water, then the other as she began to wade across, glad the current was calm down at this section. After a few seconds, she had made her way across with her friend and faced the silence of the enemy territory...until she heard something from her left, which she decided was Jackson defending the line.

OOC: Who exactly is Jackson shooting at? If it's Sawyer, Christopher and Jillian, that would be quite difficult seeing they are hidden, especially Sawyer who was blended into the background. In addition, Sawyer has made a screen of smoke rise over the river, so I doubt the visibility conditions will be optimal for archery. So yeah, it would be really cool of you to edit the smoke-part in because it's kinda important, especially in Thorne's part. Also, Zachattac, what happened to reaching the enemy's territory only after five posts?

BIC: With the lenses of her mask in infrared, the world had melted away in nuances of blue, green, yellow, orange and red.Sawyer was seeing nearly past the trees, catching sight of little animals like birds or squirrels; she kept scanning her surroundings, until suddenly, she could make out a moving shape of orange and red coming their way from across the river. The shape moved up into a tree and stayed there. It was on Jillian's left, so farther away from Sawyer and Chris. She wanted to tell Jillian somehow, but she didn't want to betray herself. In addition, Jillian had her glitter bombs ready.
But then, movement caught Sawyer's eye. A couple of other shapes had arrived and were coming near the river. Her large hands closed around her axe and shield, as well as some glitter bombs. She glanced to the right, and saw that Chris was looking her way, hidden behind a thick bush. She made a slow gesture that meant 'wait'. First, the enemies had to cross the smoke screen, which would make them cough and bring their eyes to water, then they would reach their river shore and step on the lovely traps they had put up. Only then would they attack.

Clara was running with Robert, the son of Ares. An arrow had fallen in front of them, raising a cloud of smoke that made Clara's throat burn. But then they reached the border. They stepped on boulders across the river, and were keeping a steady pace. Suddenly, a hissing sound erupted in her ears and the next thing she knew, a blast of hot air was slamming into her. She fell forwards, scratching knees and hands, and she splashed into the water, but jumped back up a couple of seconds later. Their was an arrow where she had fallen, dug into a boulder, its tip smoldering.
Damn those Apollo kids and their fancy arrows, she thought, then urged Robert in a hushed voice to keep moving.

OOC: Yeah i know, double-posting, but Zachattac has issues with the site and emailed me his posts. Here we go:

OOC: Sorry about the mistakes in my posting, I kept thinking the creek was the borderline. Also, you can edit in the smoke and adjust my other posts if you need to.

Thorne coughed as she encountered the smoke, crouching down in the attempt to stay away from it, but it still burned her green eyes. If it was natural, she could at least take away the burning feeling but this smoke was synthetic, so it hurt her. She could here her two colleagues falling behind her, hacking and coughing as they too tried to escape the black cloud. Then came the shore, the shore that looked so inviting even under the smoke. However, after finally getting her feet on the sand at the bank she heard a scream to her side: a trap had struck one of the teammates.

The child of Demeter shook in her boots for a moment before maintaining her calm and laying across the land on her stomach, still staying as much as she could under the smoke, and hopefully she would be able to find some traps and avoid them. After a moment she whipped her arm forward, letting the chain and bladed tip launch itself into the smoke, and maybe...maybe set off a trap ahead of time, it would really help her to proceed.

Jackson cursed as he could barely see the enemy among the river from his seat high in the trees, although he knew they must still be there, or nearby. The blonde boy notched another arrow and pulled back on his string, aiming into the black swirling cloud of smoke. He couldn't see anyone, and the blackness would not reveal the enemy either. Making a guess, he let the netted arrow fly, hoping that when the heavy Kevlar made net sprung out, it would ensnare someone.

Ashlee coughed in the dark smoke. Her eyes were burning and filled with tears, she doubted that they could take on any kind of attack in such a state. She tried and opened her eyes just enough so as to follow Thorne in the river which was waist high and made moving across it difficult because of its flow. Ashlee caught Stacy by the arm who was about to slip and fall. Finally they were near the bank on the other side. They continued coughing, but stayed alert and had their feet in the water behind Thorne who was on the edge, executing her plan of checking on any knids of traps. She had said something about dangerous traps by Hephaestus kids.

Zane darted past the trees, constantly glancing around him to make sure no one ambushed him. As he came up close to Zeus's Fist, he abruptly stopped as his eyes darted all around for any sign of a trap. Hmm, just to be on the safe side... he thought as he jumped at the nearest tree, shadow travelling to a thick branch about 20 feet off the ground.

"Whew.. Getting good at that.." he whispered in a surprised but proud voice. He jumped over to a nearby branch for a clearer view of the rocky formation. After a few seconds of analyzing his surroundings, he quickly decides that the flag isn't here. "Where could it be..." he asked himself as he started hopping from branch to branch, in the opposite direction, unknown to him. His grip tightened on his sword as he became nervous, wondering if it was a good idea for everyone to entrust him with finding the flag.

Sawyer could see vivid red, orange and yellow shapes approaching through the smoke. They were three, but with the infrared vision, it was difficult to recognize people's features. They waded through the river; the first one came on the other side, made a few steps on the shore, and clang! First trap. As soon as the jaws closed around the ankles of the person, a metallic snare lashed out and caught the other ankle, making the person fall down. The snare was made out of celestial bronze wire, and it was not as long as Sawyer would have liked, but it was all Chris and her had been able to stuff into their pockets. The wire would be able to immobilize the demigod's legs up to the thighs and perhaps the waist if they were lucky. If Sawyer had had more wire and more time, she could have crafted a more complex trap, where the wire would have coiled up around the whole body of the victim, then ejected little anchor-like blades who would have dug themselves in the surroundings and maintained the person there. If it had been a monster-trap, she would have of course coated the wire in a highly corrosive substance.

The second person was crawling. Sawyer briefly reverted her helmet vision back to normal to catch a glimpse of the scene, and immediately recognized the three demigods. The one in the trap was a daughter of Persephone, the second one was Rose, a daughter of Demeter, and so was the last person wading out of the water. She knew Rose had nature powers, but what about the two others?
The older daughter of Demeter was flinging her weapon into the ground of the shore, which amused Sawyer in the way that it was good for them: if Rose hit a trap with her weapon, it would immediately disarm her.
A net exploded several meters to Jillian's right. Sawyer leaned back to see if she was alright, but she had not been touched. The daughter of Ares was following with her eyes the shaft of the arrow that had made the net unravel, trying to make out the archer behind the thick smoke, but it was obvious she couldn't see anything. The Latino teenager looked at Christopher, who could barely see her, but who seemed particularly tense, his callous hands clenching his weapon and a glitter bomb.

The branches and leaves were whipping Clara's face and arms as she ran, not discretely at all. They had no real idea where they were going, but they were checking the obvious spots. They had already been at a little creek, at the secret brook and at a kind of miniature cliff, nothing there. And Clara was slowly getting desperate.

Neither Demetrius nor Drew had any idea where they were. It was safe to say that the pair was completely lost. It was sort of infuriating: hearing the sounds of battle and being completely unable to locate it. They were clearly still on their own territory, but as to where? Not a clue.

Sawyer watched intensely as Rose's chain found a trap. It was a different one, this one exploded in tentacles of wire and dragged the chain underground; it was tricky to make, since normally, that trap would catch somebody's foot and drag it into a previously dug out space, which would collapse in itself and keep the foot in the ground to the shin. While the other girl helped the trapped one out, Rose's chain was sucked into the trap in a matter of seconds causing the daughter of Demeter to grin in triumph, taking a sword out. Sawyer recognized it at once: she had crafted it for her. It was weird to be in battle with something that you had created yourself... but that wouldn't slow the Brazilian down.
Rose was good, she crawled under the smoke to keep breathable air and followed the foot prints left by their own combat boots to get onto safe territory. Jillian was closest to her and Sawyer, still invisible, took a little pebble and threw it at her bush. That was the signal.
The daughter of Ares uncapped her first glitter bomb and threw it at the assailants. It exploded in a total attack to the senses: a blinding light erupted, accompanied by a 102 decibels worth BOOM (a sonic intensity close to being one meter away from a speaker in a disco) and a hissing white, slightly glittering smoke. Reason why it was called glitter bomb.
It was an excellent weapon for Capture-the-Flag in two ways: first, of course, to momentarily surprise the enemy, but second, because the sonic intensity was loud enough to be heard by the ones who were guarding the flag. It was a signal the enemy had managed to cross the river and that they had to be ready.

Sawyer grinned. Jillian was not bothering about hiding anymore, she had jumped over her bush and went straight at Stacy, who was helping Ashlee out, taking advantage of the fact they had all flattened their hands on their ears and clenched their eyes shut in reflex.

"Christopher! Go for the two!" Sawyer ordered in her masculine voice, and her half-brother came out of hiding as well, running at Stacy and Ashlee, not going to Rose on purpose.


"Where, in HERMES'S name is this godforsaken flag?" Clara exclaimed, then hushed her voice down. "We've been around here for at least twenty minutes!"

She heard a loud boom and gave a start. "Great. The others have crossed the river too, wonderful." She hadn't really thought they would, with the whole smoke and the traps, but apparently they were tougher than she had imagined.

"Have you heard anything of Zane on your thingy, Robert?" she asked, motioning with her chin at the chip Sawyer had given them, but there was nothing. "Great," Clara kicked a stone, holding her spear down.

Zane continued weaving in and out of the trees, constantly scanning the area around him for any sign of the flag. Off in the direction of the river, he could hear fighting going, along with a loud boom. I need to hurry! They're fighting already. He panicked in his mind which caused him to slip on one of the branches he was reaching for, but quickly regained his balance. Zane stopped for a moment to get an idea of where to go, but all he could see were trees. He decided to do a wide arc back to Zeus's Fist, hoping to come across some hint.

Thorne was just about our of the large cloud of smoke when she noticed something glittery flying throughout the air. It only took her a moment to recognize what it was, but that was a moment too late as it exploded outward with a flash and a bang, glittery white smoke hissing outward from the container which mixed with the quickly vanishing black smoke from before. The child of Demeter had only had time to avert her eyes and squeeze them shut, though she could still see the flash from behind her clenched eyelids. The bang hasn't been that bad for her, she had fired black powder cannons before, and those were much larger. Her ears rang, and her coordination was somewhat off, but she had recovered from most of the shock when she saw the enemy jumping from bushes to engage them.

She glanced to her side, her half-sister and the child of Persephone were trapped and shocked...neither would be able to adjust for at least five seconds and those seconds could mean life or death. Rose held her sword and shield tightly as she gritted her teeth.... Should she help them or go? She was having an issue to decide when she noticed another person and faced them, ready to engage.