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Day 5 of the Drekkal’Zuun
The air is dry. Still. Too still. Even the dust doesn’t move like it used to.
It feels like the arena is watching.

At dawn, Suchomimos and Bexxi part ways. She sets off to scavenge for supplies, while he stays behind to guard the camp. She never returns.
Bexxi slipped while climbing the edge of a ravine, the ground crumbled beneath her.

Toraix finds Suchomimus distracted - Suchomimus is looking around for his ally, to no avail. 
Toraix doesn't speak, he just reaches into the pack, and takes what he needs before he vanishes into thin air.

In the southern corridor, Sadbread and The Venling stumble upon Cynamity and The Mercurii. It doesn't take long for Sadbread and the Venling to realize that they have to run, and run they do.
Sadbread stumbles, landing on a hard uneven stone. Their ankle twists with a crack, but the Venling doesn't leave them behind.

The Boopiter and Glade spend the day collecting edible roots and broken tech from old debris.

Feminem climbs to higher ground, following a path of rusted scaffolding and fractured stone. From the top, she sees nearly the whole arena. She does not feel powerful. But she feels ready.

Near a shallow lake, The Glimloop tries to spear fish with a trident it found. It wades too deep, its eyes wide, breath quickening. The water pulls harder than it expects. Its grip slips. It never learned to swim, and moments later it is silent.

Fallen Zhaaluuns

@bexxi 
I'm sorry you didn't get your kill D:

Drekkal’Vaarn - The Blood-Sky Swarm
It begins with a sound. Not thunder. Not wind. But a hum. A vibration felt in the bones. A swarm descends - Tracker Jackers.
Engineered wasp-like creatures with stingers long enough to pierce bone and toxins strong enough to bend the mind.

As the swarms cover the arena, the inevitable happens - groups get split up, unable to see each other through the thick of insects.
Shouting for each other is too risky, swallowing these is fatal.

Toraix throws himself beneath a fractured panel of metal, covering his face with mud. He waits. 

Sadbread leaps into a ravine and presses close to the rock wall. A few stings burn across their shoulder, but they grit their teeth and stay still.

In the open, The Boopiter runs. It stumbles. The tracker jackers catch up. One sting. Then another. Then ten more.

Feminem turns to flee, but The Mercurii grabs her by the arm. She gasps - too late. With a violent twist, The Mercurii throws her to the ground, leaving her exposed. The swarm doesn’t hesitate.

Cynamity dives into an abandoned cargo crate and seals the hatch.

Suchomimos submerges himself in a stagnant waterhole, eyes just above the surface.

Glade finds an old fuel tarp and wraps herself in it, crawling under debris as the swarm passes overhead. She holds her breath.

The Venling disappears into the canyon shadows.

Fallen Zhaaluuns

@feminem