The heavens themselves seem to have opened, thunder cracking, rain pouring down and wind billowing harshly through the wildlands, truly a terrifying time to be outside. Among it all, several protective pergulas were set up just at the entrance of the city, where a small crowd had gathered in eager anticipation for the upcoming event. "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" a voice booms amidst the gathering situated right at the city exit. "WELCOME ONE AND ALL TO THE THUNDER GAUNTLET! Well... I mean it's more a race, but THERE WILL BE PERIL! There will be TERROR! There may even be... BLOOOOOOOOODSHED!" Magnus' distinctly sharp tone fractures the already chaotic surroundings. "IT'S A QUARTER MARATHON THROUGH THE DEPTHS OF THE WILDLANDS, the appropriately dubbed CREEPY FOREST, someone was VERY unoriginal with that name, but hey... IT IS WHAT IT IS AND THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT THAT, except ofcourse..." his finger shoots towards the starting line "SEND FOUR RECKLESS RUNNERS THRRRROUGH ITS FETID, DARK, DANGEROUS, FERAL-INFESTED ABYSS WITH ONE GOAL!"

Magnus then snickers and utters an uncannily loud, yet eerily calm "Survive." The crowd goes quiet for a few moments as the big-eared fox steps out from under the protective pergula, and points out... "I wouldn't wanna be out in this either, folks! But the life of a scout is HARD!" Magnus points out, a crack of thunder crossing the sky as rain pours down harshly overtop him. In mere moments, he was soaked. "Today our runners will not be having it any easier, I assure you, it will be a test of will, a test of fortitude, a test of observation and caution! Dexterity and guile, wit and cunning! AND! To make things even MORE interesting, our skillful Eureka trappers have done their job AND SET ALL SORTS OF SNARES, TRAPS AND OTHER DEVIOUS MACHINATIONS IN THE AREA! A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR DEDICATED HUNTSMEN AND HUNTRESSES!" Magnus booms, and a round of hand clappings follow. Now all they needed was the racers, perhaps some of them had already arrived, and heard everything...

A wolf girl wanders up through pouring rain and windy sky's not seeming bothered, moving along at a steady pace as they look around, almost looking lost as they check to see who else is around them, it's unlikely that they didn't hear the speech given they had to be in the immediate vicinity but they don't seem disheartened by it either. As they wander ever so steadily towards where the race is meant to start.

With news of a race through the woods mentioned in certain circles he was associated with, Zen decides that he would go and see what it was all about. He was confident in his survival and navigational skills, and while he wasn't the quickest person he knew, he certainly wasn't the slowest. With it being organized by a search and rescue group, he was slightly worried about the 'rescue' part. Searching the woods comes naturally with his choice of professions, but rescuing people is... certainly something he could use a bit of work on.

Arriving at the designated meeting point, Zen walks up with his numerous tails flitting curiously behind him. He was dressed in his usual attire, but there was an olive-green, water-resistant poncho worn overtop to try and keep himself dry from the stormy weather. He arrived just in time to hear a bit of the opening announcement, grinning ear to ear with news of potential obstacles that had been set to impede their progress. Spotting Magnus, he would give a wave before shouting over the winds, "Here for the race! Figured an honest scout would do well here. Heh, maybe even get to see if the other hunters and trappers did a fine enough job." He wanders towards the place marked as the starting point, taking off his pack and poncho and leaving it by the side.

"Wait, a QUARTER MARATHON??!!", exclaims the surprised jello-tailed lamia with a panicked look on her face. She definitely didn't expect this! Her expression quickly changes, however, the challenge only improving her determination. Before returning to her stretching routine with doubled effort, the redhead girl adds, "Fine! I didn't come here to lose!" When the another contestant gets to the starting point, she smiles and nods in a greeting. "Hi! Good luck!"

What sort of nut flies in a thunderstorm?! That's a question to keep on pondering as Ebreus arrives by foot, drenched, his wings held close to his back. The big Equinox Reaper probably isn't here to show off any sort of scouting skill... there's no mountains that sneak but his participation will certainly help highlight the difference between a scout running the gauntlet and a combat agent.

The chaotic blowing of the wind does catch the big guy, how could it not he's huge, but it only seems to slightly slow him. Instead the mud seems more of an impediment to him, throwing chunks of it behind him with every step and each new step sinking his paws into it just as much as they were before.

Stepping into the pergola Ebreus looks around and smiles, "Here for the race. Should be some good exercise if it's that long." he bellows right before beginning a few simple warm-up stretches. "I wonder how many classic bear traps they've used or if they've gotten all clever with every trap..."

Looking around the group, Magnus shakes the water off, then snickers. "There'll be a lot of that where you're going." His hand waves them to the left, where a large table was situated. Four backpacks rested there, small waterproof ones, no bigger than a bookbag, except worn on the back. "Rule one. No equipment. You'll be given standard scouting gear to make do with." Magnus snaps his finger towards the arge chests at the base of the tables. "There is a small button on your backpack's right side, it is an SOS transmitter. Pushing it will alert the rescue teams to come bail you out, though if you are bailed, you are also disqualified." Magnus explains as he paces around...

"RULE TWO! No flying. Not that you'd wanna fly in that." Magnus snaps a finger upwards at the atrocious weather conditions. "Yes, the scouts fly, but this fucking race would be a HELLA lot lamer if it was a straight zip through the air, so yeah... you fly? You're DQed. RULE THREE!" Magnus snaps and rubs his hands together. "Gladiatorial clashes are in effect. You ARE allowed to use those... nanite... power...things, and magic, since there's nothing we can do about THOSE outside of strapping you with electromagnets, but those are HELLA heavy and would defeat the no equipment rule, so... go wild I guess." The fox shrugs deeply. "Regarding the gladiatorial clashes, fight it out all you want, you won't get DQed for that, mortally injure someone though... well... you don't want that, trust me." The fennec snickers.

"OBJECTIVES! You head East!" Magnus snaps his finger directly in that specific cardinal direction and explains. "Reach the end of the forest, make a 180 and turn back... first one here scores big. BONUS OBJECTIVES!" he'd pluck a small satchel and *swish* cut it open with a blade. Out pour a cascade of sparkly gemstone-like minerals. "Treasure Bags! Find them! Bring more back? SCORE BIGGER! Don't finish first but bring bag lotsa bags? You might win anyway!" Magnus explains, then sets the bag down off to the side. "THIRD OBJECTIVE! Disarm traps! Find a trap? You can disarm it, or run away from it! Disarm it? Score! Run away? No score... simple, right?" The fox waves a hand around, then gestures to the starting line for them all to line up. "Any questions? Make it brief. We have a crowd to entertain..."

Miya seems a tad confused at all the rules but looks all glittery eyed at the shiny gemstones as she makes her way over and picks up a bag, and putting it on backwards shifting around uncomfortably as she makes her way back to the starting line, trying various different tactics on how to make this device function comfortably, one arm...no...her legs...definately not...eventually settling with wearing the backpack on her back, who'd have thought that would be the most comfortable way of wearing it.

Looking over the other arrivals, Zen rolls his neck and limbers himself up. With a glance to Uvi's greeting, he responds with a smile and nod. "Yeah, same to you... But, this 'is' a race, so don't wish me too much luck or you might regret it." He answers with a sly grin. With the heavy footfalls of Ebreus's arrival, Zen would look back to give him an appraising look. "Difference between a combat agent and a scout you say? Heh, well I'll be looking forward to seeing what sort of path you cleave ahead." He says to the one towering about the others. Looking towards the wolf girl that was picking up a pack, his eyes narrow a bit with. "Well, this is sure to be interesting... Heh, glad there are some other ways to score up some points at the very least." He says before moving over to a pack and searching through it to see what he was working with. Strapping it on his back, making sure it fits well enough, he then takes his place back at the starting line.

Ebreus shakes the water out of his fur after the stretches and plods over to the backpacks, grabbing one and immediately opening it to look through what's in it. He really isn't a scout if he has to double check what 'standard scouting gear' is isn't he? Satisfied with the gear that he's got he puts his pack on, "So... do we get points by disabling a trap through setting it off," he asks, "or just points from showing off the ability to take traps apart without hurting ourselves?"

Either way the Reaper looks over his map, "So... nanomagic? Comm-pics? Use of a Comm intigrated into the NICE, Ok? I'd guess on the some principle as powers but gotta ask." he asks as he strolls to the start line for the race, putting it away before taking up his starting position. "I wish everyone plenty of good luck in finding traps... and ill luck on detecting them." he chuckles, "Nah, just good luck and may the most skilled agent win."

Uvi the jellosnek has many questions, but she thinks that asking some of them maight disqualify her on the spot. Can she press SOS buttons on other contestant's backpacks? Can she steal their maps? What if she doesn't focus on being first, but instead try to disarm all traps in the forest? Are these gems edible? What? They look tasty after all, like candy! Anyway, she slithers a short distance to get the backpack, peeks inside and mumbles to herself, "A wrench, hmmm.. Good for disarming traps and hitting people on the head, good, right!" She puts the backpack on, adjusts its straps and signals that she's ready by giving a thumbs up.

"Disabling it. You get your leg broken in a bear snapper, you ain't getting jack shit for it. The rest is alight. I mean..." Magnus pulls out his dagger and twirls it around in his fingers. "I can try to do some quick surgery on you to get that comm unit out! But I don't think either of us want that do we? So we'll make do with your head-telephone! Everyone on your places now!" The fox then looks around the others. "Well you look as ready as any of the new bloods they send into the woods, PERFECT!" He'd hop back and stand right on the starting line. "You're outfitted with tracking devices, by the by... don't think you won't be slapped with a penalty if you try and start heading back without reaching the end of the woods. You can trick each other, but you can't trick the judges. ON YOUR MARKS!" Magnus bellows... drawing in the crowd's attention. "GET SET!" he'd yell, before raising his fingers in the shape of a pistol and *BANG*. Where did that sound come from? Well, that was the starting fingergun!

The woods before all four of them were dark, terrain drenched and muddy, slippery, cold... they had the same direction to head in, but the woodlands seemed to span a very wide area. A straight dart in the exact cardinal direction needed was logical, perhaps... too logical...