The Amazing Race: Toon Zone - Leg #6

[TimTwoFace]

RECAP

"I like to move it, move it...you like to move it, move it..."

Damned lemurs, everyone thinks. That party lasted all night - who knew that these little critters were such party animals. Groggily rolling out of bed, with only a couple of hours of sleep to their name, the eleven remaining teams got to their feet to prepare for the journey ahead.

And that's when they're all briskly attacked, bound, tied, and blindfolded. Using their keen auditory senses, they can deduce that they're being led onto a dock and being brought into the haul of a wooden ship just outside of Antsiranana, Madagascar.

The only piece of comfort they recieve is knowing that they are in the hands of the Amazing Race: Toon Zone staff members. They won't be hurt.

But they will be misled. Being bound and blindfolded, they have no idea where this wooden vessel is taking them. A whole day passes, and after battling with sea-sickness and the first signs of scurvy, the eleven teams are dropped off on a sandy shore in a faraway land. Their binds are untied, and they are free to go.

"Good luck and godspeed," says one of the staff members, almost smarmily. The boat then sails away, never to be heard from again.

At this point, everyone is lost. In everyone's best interest, the teams cluster together and piece together the clues they overhead from the staff members during their oceanic excursion to this mysterious land.

"I heard one of the guys say we were heading northbound," says one.

"Yeah, and he said that we sailed up a sea that Moses once crossed," says another.

"That must be the Red Sea," says a third participant, dipping her toe into the rippling tide washing up on the shore.

"I could've sworn I heard that if we pass this first checkpoint, we'd be passing one of the Five Pillars of Islam," says another. "They kept calling this leg a 'pilgrimmage' as well."

After a few minutes of collective research, the teams realized that they were destined to make their way to the Holy Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia - an 80km hike across the desert from where the boat dropped them off.

Soon enough, the group then broke off into their own teams once more, and the competition resumed.



Along their journey, the teams were able to pinpoint their location by following the direction in which many praying Muslims were positioned; they are meant to be facing in the direction of Mecca whenever they do so, so these hints proved to be most helpful.

Once in Mecca, the teams recieved their next checkpoint, to visit another crucial historical site in this part of the world, often referred to as the "Cradle of Civilization."



Double-backing from Mecca, teams parted the Red Sea with a very tiring breaststroke and arrived at King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings.



From there, teams followed the shores of the mighty Nile River to the Egyptian capital of Cairo, and then headed west to the suburb of Giza to the last remaining wonder of the ancient world, the Great Pyramid of Giza. After answering the Riddle of the Sphinx, teams were once again on the run through the desert.

A few teams that had time on their hands made sure to buy some sandals in Cairo on the way; that sand really does get hot, after all.



Making a lengthy trek through the desert, following the same trail that Moses used after freeing the Israelites from the Pharoah of Egypt many millenia ago, the teams eventually found themselves atop Mt. Sinai, the famed mountain where God handed Moses the Ten Commandments. After taking in the historic view, the teams were off yet again, burning holes in those brand new sandals of theirs.



Following the same trek Moses did years past, the teams found themselves in the city of Jerusalem, Israel. Making their way from Mt. Zion, where the Last Supper was said to be held, teams embarked on a marathon walk through the city, following each of the Stations of the Cross until they reached the top of Calvary - or Golgotha - the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built overtop the very place where Jesus Christ was crucified two thousand years ago.

Teams were forced to slow down to a respectful walk as they entered the pit stop, in light of their holy surroundings. One by one, teams checked in, and at the end of it all, it came down to Alex Toon and Welshie's Mate coming in last; Lord Dalek and Kury Wagner did in fact take longer to get there, but as they completed the crucial immunity challenge, they managed to stave off elimination for another leg.

My Jerusalem correspondent - a young local man named Fr. David - ushered the remaining teams into their chambers and such, providing them with the rest and nourishment they need to carry on.

And thus, the fifth leg of the Amazing Race: Toon Zone comes to an end.

* * * * * * * *

The sun crept over the eastern horizon not far off from the city of Jerusalem. The elongated shadows slowly grew smaller and smaller as the golden sun rose higher into the sky. By mid-morning, Fr. David has brought all the teams together just outside of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and delivers a short, succinct speech.

"Tim congratulates you all for making it this far. He realizes that the last leg was quite a long haul for you all, especially since it was mostly spent crossing the desert on foot."

Everyone grumbles.

"As a reward, he has provided each of you with new pairs of socks." Two altar boys wheel out a large bin of pre-packaged socks for the ten remaining teams.

Everyone grumbles - slightly less.

"Of course, Tim has already vacated the premises for the next pit stop; he saw you coming as soon as you passed through the gates of old Jerusalem, got into his balloon, and sailed away. Once again, he'd like to remind you to race smart, and race safe."

And?

"GO."

Fr. David drops his arms; the ten teams race forward and hord the sock bin. Inside each pair, the clue for the next checkpoint can be found. Tearing these open, the teams hurriedly read the clues, race down the slopes of Calvary and through the ancient city of Jerusalem - destination unknown.


* * * * * * * *

TimTwoFace's Notes:

All clues for Leg #6 will be sent via PM to both members of each team. These clues will remain private until I see that at least one member of each team has opened the PM I have sent them.

Your placing and time spent working on this leg of the race will be measured as follows:

START TIME
-Your "start time" is indicated by the time at which the either member of each team first opens the private message I send you. I will figure this out by looking at the read PM reciepts in my inbox. If there is no read reciept, yet I recieve answers from your team at a later date, then your "start time" will be indicated by the exact time at which I initially sent you the clues.

FINISH TIME
-Your finishing time is indicated by the time read in my inbox for the PM that features the complete answers for the checkpoints of that leg; this may be your first PM to me (if you submit them all to me at once), or it may be your fiftieth PM to me, if it takes that long.

The time it takes you to complete this leg will be the hours/minutes that pass between each team's "start time" and "finish time".

You will each recieve a PM from me once you have successfully entered the pit stop, but I will not make the results public until all but one team have completed this leg.

TIME IN BETWEEN MESSAGES - For any teams that need to write me more than once, I will pause the time it takes between you sending me your results and when you open my response to that same note.

FRIENDLY HINT: Don't open your PM from me unless you're able to immediately start working on the clues! The clock is ticking from the very second you open my clue message to you.

The clues will be sent out sometime within the next 24 hours. Keep your inboxes empty! If you lose the clues, delete them, or have a full inbox and can't recieve them from me, you can still get them sent to you again; however, this means your "starting time" will officially be counted as the time I initially sent the clues to you.

Good luck!

* * * * * * * * *

TimTwoFace's Notes

Note #1: Just in case I didn't make it abundantly clear already, ALL PRIVATE MESSAGES FOR THIS GAME MUST BE SENT TO ME. Most weekdays I won't be around to check my PMs until the mid-afternoon.

Note #2: LEG #6 WILL CLOSE SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th, 2005, at 6pm PACIFIC TIME...or when everyone checks in, whichever comes first.

Note #3: For any additional help with the rules, refer to the LEG #6 post at the Reality Bytes board.

FAST FORWARD CHALLENGE: Open to everyone
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: Open to all but Kury Wagner/Lord Dalek

LEG #6

-Checkpoint A:
Fill in the blanks for this lyrical tune:
”(A)___________ was (B) ___________
Now it's (A)___________, not (B)___________,
Been a long time gone, (B)___________
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night.”
The word that fills the blank labeled “A” is your next worldly location. To answer this question, you must name the city, country, and continent(s) you are in, the body of water this city straddles on either side, two other names this city has gone by historically, and the name of the musical group that sings the lyric listed above.
CITY NAME:
COUNTRY NAME:
CONTINENT NAMES:
BODY OF WATER:
OTHER NAMES FOR THIS CITY:
MUSICAL GROUP:

-Checkpoint B:
In 1996, this city was first runner-up to Atlanta, USA, to host the centennial edition of the modern Olympic games; it has hosted the modern Olympics twice in its history (as of 2005). This city is named after a famous mythical being, and is home to a famous shrine built in his/her/its honour. To answer this question, you must name this city, the country you are located in, the individual the city was named after, the shrine/temple built to honour this individual, and the two years this city held the modern Olympic games.
CITY:
COUNTRY:
CITY NAMED AFTER:
SHRINE BUILT TO HONOUR HER:
HOSTED THE OLYMPICS IN THESE YEARS:

-Checkpoint C:
Staying within this same city, you are told to follow a designated road course through the city, which would eventually take you along Metropolis Street to Monastiraki Square. Once there, dash into a local eatery to chow down on this famous type of food – this type of food can served in many forms - in the form of a pita, gyro, or “kalamaki”. This type of food’s name is derived from the ancient Greek word for “skew” or “prick”. To pass this checkpoint, you must name the city and country you are in, the type of food you have just eaten, this country’s national anthem, and the name of this city written in this country’s official language.
CITY:
COUNTRY:
FOOD:
ANTHEM:
GREEK TRANSLATION:

-Checkpoint D; PIT STOP:

According to the myths that can be attributed to the country you are visiting, a man by the name of King Minos constructed a labyrinth on this island to keep a mythical creature from getting out and wreaking havoc on the people of his kingdom. A map of this labyrinth has been provided for you. To answer this question, name the country you are in, the island this labyrinth is constructed upon, the name of the mythical beast held within, the name of the man who (according to myth) slays it, and, oh yeah – find your way through this maze to the pit stop within the labyrinth. (To prove you found your way through the maze, you must submit all of the “letter checkpoints” within the maze you pass through in order from start to finish, ie, “START, A, B, C, FINISH/PIT STOP.”)
COUNTRY:
ISLAND:
MYTHICAL BEAST:
BEASTSLAYER:
MAZE ANSWER: START, ________________________, FINISH/PIT STOP

THE LAST TEAM TO ARRIVE AT THE PIT STOP WILL BE ELIMINATED.

[Jave]

Guys, there's a very easy way to know if you got the maze right.

[MahouShoujo13]

Well, yeah. Any other paths except the correct one lead to dead ends.

Oh yeah, three words: I HATE MAZES.

[Jave]

Well, yeah. Any other paths except the correct one lead to dead ends.

Oh yeah, three words: I HATE MAZES.

That's not what I meant. Print the maze, solve it with a pencil, and look at the whole image.

[Zach]

I knew D without a problem (Besides the maze). When I read "King Minos", I knew exactly where I was, the monster, etc. It shouldn't be hard to find for teh rest of you guys if you don't know it.

[Mr Cat Dog]

Javeman's right about the maze. It's very cool if you complete it. Although to work it out is like pulling your hair out

[MahouShoujo13]

That's not what I meant. Print the maze, solve it with a pencil, and look at the whole image.

Well....my printer's out of black ink. And doing it from the computer screen was a headache.

[TimTwoFace]

One team has already made it to the pit stop; I'm just posting this as proof that these challenges CAN be done. :anime:

Good luck to everyone!

-Tim

[LightShadow1890]

I knew D without a problem (Besides the maze). When I read "King Minos", I knew exactly where I was, the monster, etc. It shouldn't be hard to find for teh rest of you guys if you don't know it.

Yeah, some parts were easy. But I got stuck in Checkpoint C, and then D (gosh darned maze). But this is definately going to pull some teams down from their current standings.

[TimTwoFace]

Don't let the challenges kill ya, guys - they can be done. Just keep workin' hard and you'll all do just fine.

-Tim

[Captain Zechs]

Me and my teammate haven't started...well atleast I hope he didn't lol. We will be starting when a time is good for both of us, whioch currently there has been none so sorry for the wait guys

[TimTwoFace]

Me and my teammate haven't started...well atleast I hope he didn't lol. We will be starting when a time is good for both of us, whioch currently there has been none so sorry for the wait guys

Yeah, I was wondering about that. No worries though - you're allowed to start any time before the time at which I close this leg.

And with that, we have a handful of other teams checking in today. Good job, guys! And for the rest of you stranded out there, keep working hard!

-Tim

[Daffy Dork]

I'm either going to work on this Thursday or Saturday, I'm busy this week...

[Captain Zechs]

Okay sorry guys but you will have to wait until saturday for us. (Maybe later Im just saying until we finish). Niether of us have the free time (he has more free time than me, but we like to do it together since it seems hard). I am swamped with homework, and schoolwork will always take top priority in my life. So sorry guys but you will be in for the wait.

Congrats to teams who finished and good luck to the remaining teams.

[TimTwoFace]

Update!

Half of the teams have checked into the pit stop.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the other five teams - whether they've already started or not, they're still out there. The clock's a-tickin'!



-Tim

[MahouShoujo13]

Update!

Half of the teams have checked into the pit stop.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the other five teams - whether they've already started or not, they're still out there. The clock's a-tickin'!



-Tim

Maybe they got lost.

[TimTwoFace]

Maybe they got lost.

Or eaten?

-Tim

[TimTwoFace]

This is just a notice that, now that a member from each of the ten remaining teams has opened their clues, I've made the questions for Leg #6 public for everyone to see.

(Also, from the time at which this post was made, there is 19 hrs 20 min left to complete this challenge!)

-Tim

[Fresh V]

oOo, that's a cool maze when it's finished.

[TimTwoFace]

Another team has just checked into the pit stop.

That gives all remaining teams just under 9 hours to complete their tasks! Good luck, guys!

-Tim