Day 25 — Rover Retrieval

(Build a rover, send it to the far sides of the islands to fetch materials. For each team: one person follows the rover on foot, the other watches a first-person tablet feed and gives directions. Mid-match — Skrunkly swims back and forces her way in. Mewo shrugs and allows it.)

Setup — teams, roles, and rules

Mewo floats above a large table of parts — wheels, sensors, grappling claws, solar panels, microcontrollers, and a pile of “far-side” mission objectives (glowing crystals, driftwood caches, a mystery crate). Dontavious Donquavious III presides, majestically uninterested.

Rules:
• Build a rover.
• One team member follows it on-foot across rough terrain.
• One team member remotes it by watching a tablet (FPV) and calling commands.
• The rover must retrieve three items and return to base. First team back with three items wins.
• Only one team wins.

BIG SHOTS control team: (builders/helpers) Steve, Luigi, Springtrap, Ernst, Virian, Beans, Middle Finger Cat, Golden Freddy, Joe Metri Desh, Spamton.

Pilot (tablet): Steve — analytical, reads telemetry.

Runner (follows): Luigi — steady feet, careful.
Builders: Ernst (sensors), Virian (moon-spark accel), Beans (overclocked propulsion — volatile), Golden Freddy (safety).

RITUAL RULERS control team: CassiLyn, Noxor, Wembry, Caring Individual, Gayery, Blobert, Kaibi.

Pilot (tablet): Noxor — hacky, powerful at signal tuning.

Runner (follows): CassiLyn — leads with runes and instincts.
Builders: Kaibi (psychic subtle guidance), Wembry (fine manipulator), Blobert (muscle).

Mewo claps once. “You have ninety minutes. Go.”

Build & Banter (heavy on dialogue)

Steve (tapping a schematic): “Ernst, the sensor arrays need to feed directly to my tablet with sub-200ms latency. No jitter.”
Ernst (dry): “I can tune it. But if Beans insists on adding combustion boosters, we’ll need heat shielding.”
Beans (grinning, playing with a lighter): “Combustion = speed. Speed = glory.”
Luigi (nervous): “Maybe… maybe not too fast?”
Virian (zipping around): “I can lend moon energy to the motor coil! Watch this!” sparks shimmer, the motor hums brighter.
Spamton (shouting from corner): “[[BUY NOW: ROVER UPGRADE]]—LIMITED—CLICK—KROMER!!”
Springtrap (smirking): “Spamton, your ‘upgrades’ usually cause delightful explosions.”

Kaibi (to CassiLyn): “I’ll keep a soft read on the terrain. Noxor, route is yours.”
Noxor (grinning): “I’ll tune the RF and lay a redundant mesh. If something tries to jam us, we’ll fight ghosts with packets.”
Wembry (quiet): “I’ll help stabilize the gripper for fragile finds.”
Blobert (proud): “blobert… very strong… I hold nets.”

Launch — both rovers deploy

BIG SHOTS rover: chunky, fast, with a small combustion-assisted thruster (Beans’ idea) and Virian’s moon-energizer flashing in the casing. Steve watches telemetry, Luigi follows on foot, breath shallow but determined.

RITUAL RULERS rover: sleek, sensor-dense, redundant comms, ghost-resistant mesh. Noxor watches the tablet, Cassie follows with rune-supplemented waymarks.

Mewo: “Begin.”

Mid-challenge — obstacles & strategy
Site A — mangrove tangle

Steve (tablet): “Left, two clicks. Increase torque 5%.”
Luigi (shouting after runner): “Careful—roots!”
BIG SHOTS rover gets stuck in roots; Beans screams and throws a small flame pulse — the rover frees itself but the heat scorches a sensor.
Ernst: “That was unwise.”
Virian (giggling): “It fixed the rust! Sort of!”

Meanwhile, CassiLyn and Noxor’s rover elegantly threads the mangrove using ultrasonic pings and rune-marked stepping stones.
CassiLyn (whispering to the rover): “Find the amber cache. I see its pulse.”
Noxor: “Found it — auto-claw engage. Good pickup.”

Ritual Rulers snag their first item cleanly.

Mid-challenge — unexpected return

Halfway through the second leg, a splash and a coughing shriek from the ocean: Skrunkly — soaked, wild-eyed, and smiling—has swum across and is stomping onto the beach. She weaves through spectators and plants herself in front of CassiLyn’s team.

Skrunkly (panting): “I’m back! I back! Let me in! I WANT ROUND TWO I WANT ROUND TWO—”
She’s messy, hair matted, and dangerously enthusiastic.

CassiLyn (sharp, startled): “Skrunkly? You were eliminated—”
Skrunkly (grinning): “I swam. Mewo said… Mewo waves? I waved back! I in! I in!”

Mewo, floating with the bored calm of the island, flicks a finger.
Mewo: “If she wants back in, she’s back in. Second chances, apparently.”

Noxor (dry): “We didn’t ask, but… fine. Give her a patch and a lint brush. Make it quick.”
Caring Individual (soft): “Welcome back. Just… please don’t sabotage the delicate parts.”

Skrunkly bounds over, immediately inspecting the rover with manic energy.

Skrunkly (to Noxor): “Table! Screen! I see tiny pixels! I touch? I press? I press big button? KLAK!”
Noxor (yanking the tablet back): “No. No pressing. Observe only.”
Skrunkly (pouty): “Boooo.”

Her presence is a wild card. CassiLyn looks at Kaibi and Wembry. Kaibi gives the faintest nod of acceptance. The Ritual Rulers reassign Skrunkly as a secondary spotter — her hyper senses might actually spot camouflaged caches the rovers miss.

Second leg — the cliffs & the jamming field

The far side has an RF-jamming grove (designed by Mewo to make things spicy). Noxor’s mesh and Kaibi’s calm psychic nudge keep Ritual Rulers’ comms on; their rover continues to collect gracefully. Skrunkly, manic and energetic, squeals and points out a hidden cache behind a rock where the Big Shots rover would have gone blind.

Skrunkly (cackling): “CAMO CAKE! CAMO CAKE! CATCH IT!”
CassiLyn re-routes: “Noxor, guide the rover — left, 13 degrees, deploy micro-hook.”
Noxor: “Deploying. Good eye, Skrunkly.”

Ritual Rulers — second item secured.

Big Shots run into comms interference; Steve frowns and has to rely on Luigi’s line-of-sight calls. Beans’ thruster sputters from earlier heat; Virian flashes a moon spark to reboot the motor — it helps but also creates a bright arc that gets the attention of a flock of mechanical gulls. Luigi must sprint to retrieve the rover visually, panting and sliding on pebbles.

Luigi (out of breath, laughing nervously): “Why is everything a hazard with you guys?”
Virian: “Because it’s fun!”

Penultimate leg — the marsh & the surprise

The final cache sits in a marsh with sticky bogs. The last leg is a race—both rovers converge nearly simultaneously.

Noxor (tablet): “Cassi, 2 meters—slow now—micro-grip engage.”
Steve (tablet): “Luigi, hold left! Right! No—wait—”

Skrunkly, zooming ahead like an overexcited ferret, spots the third objective first and screams. She darts forward faster than CassiLyn can, nearly stepping in a quicksand pocket. CassiLyn reaches out, steadying her, while Kaibi leans into Skrunkly’s mind and slows her reflex to a useful pace.

Skrunkly (giggling): “WE GOT THIS NOW! I GOT IT! I GOT ITTT!”
She points at a half-buried crate; Noxor directs the rover deftly; the claw snags the crate and lifts it.

Ritual Rulers have all three items and start heading home.

Big Shots’ rover gets bogged down when Beans’ afterburner ignites a harmless geyser that scatters the final cache into reeds. Luigi curses, dives into the reeds, and emerges with a dripping relic — but their rover stalls again. Steve frantically keys a command.

Final sprint & the return

Ritual Rulers: CassiLyn leads her rover back, moving with quiet intensity. Skrunkly trots beside her, breathless and ecstatic. Noxor’s tablet feed is steady. Kaibi and Wembry watch anxiously.

Big Shots: Luigi hauls the last item, panting. Steve guides the crippled rover with manual commands; Virian’s moon-charge gives a last push and the motor coughs back to life. Beans grins wildly. Golden Freddy gently steadies the rover platform.

They both converge on the base plaza within moments of each other. The Ritual Rulers’ rover, slick and intact, pulls its last cache into the drop zone first — by a narrow margin — and CassiLyn slams the retrieval latch.

Mewo (calmly): “Ritual Rulers return first. Big Shots — push it! One more step—”

Steve’s rover lunges, Luigi flings the last relic onto the platform — but Noxor’s feed locks in, the Ritual Rulers had placed their third crate solidly in the bin.

Outcome & immediate reactions

Mewo: “Winner: Ritual Rulers. Noxor’s signal mesh, CassiLyn’s steady runner, and Skrunkly’s ridiculous third-eye spotting clinched it.”

CassiLyn (breathing hard): “Good work. Skrunkly… you actually helped. Don’t get used to it.”
Skrunkly (beaming): “I WAS USEFUL! I S WURF!”
Noxor (smirking): “Your swim paid off, irritating sprite.”
Kaibi (soft): “You did well.”
Wembry (sobbing, relieved): “I… I’m so tired but happy.”

Steve (panting): “We almost had it. Beans, your flames… next time, less combustion.”
Beans (grinning): “Where’s the fun in that?”
Virian (bouncing): “Hey! We were so close! Next time I’ll moon-blast harder!”
Springtrap (to Steve, dry): “They played tidy. We made art.”
Spamton (muttering): “[[ALMOST CLICKED—DEAL LOST]]—BUT NOT LATE—BUY THE NEXT—”

Aftermath notes (short & relevant)

Skrunkly is reinstated mid-match — allowed by Mewo — and proved to be an unpredictable asset (and absolute chaos machine). She’s back on Ritual Rulers.

Blobie is referenced only — he did a bizarre goofy run earlier across campus and gave Cassie a long stare; he remains 99% Awakened and at large.

Ritual Rulers win Day 25 thanks to superior comms, Kaibi’s subtle aid, and Skrunkly’s random sensing.

Big Shots performed valiantly and nearly overcame technical setbacks caused by Beans’ overzealous mods and comm interference — good effort but short.