City of IF

[Idea master]

"All right, now we have the words that open a rift to read out. Hopefully, this will induce a closing of the rift once we say the trigger word for all these spells..." IM muttered.

"I do hope it's going to be something different this time than 'it'. I mean, honestly, that was the stupidest thing conceivable, tying all your spells to one common word," Crady rebuked.

"Yeah, why not try something nobody would use, like 'obstinate'?" Lilith queried.

"What does that mean?" Crady questioned.

"Stubborn, I think," Lilth replied.

"People, can we stay focused? Lordy thinks these things are important for some reason, so they're most likely components to the spell," IM stated.

"So what do we do with them?" Crady quizzed IM.

"Well, in Mage School, we ate them. Saved us a lot of time on naming them, all we had to do was name ourselves, and the component would be taken out of us that way."

Lilith and Crady looked at their items and then looked at IM's vial. "Why do you get the liquid?" they bemoaned.

"Look, you can argue spell schematics with me until this thing takes over US, or we can save the world here. Which will it be?"

Lilith and Crady shared a glance and a gulp, to be followed by a wide opening of mouths and a gagging noise. The Bone and Flesh would not fit down human throats, and shortly thereafter, the two's faces began to turn blue. It was a good thing that IM was nearly done with the spell. He downed the Blood and began the last reversed sentence.

Evil Greater forth summon to...

[Crunchyfrog]

"Live retaerg throf nommus ot rou dnammoc..." cried IM, holding the scroll in one hand, and raising the other aloft. But he didn't get much further, as he started to retch violently.

Lordy rolled his eyes. Was this stupid mage ever going to get anything right? Swiftly he pulled IM by the robes up to the glowing pool, just as IM's stomach launched its contents with the force of a jet engine back out through his mouth.

"Ewww, red spew" commented NeverNevergirl, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

The Blood of the Beginning entered the pool with great force, splashing most of the IFians in the cavern with water. IM teetered dangerously on the edge of the pool, exhausted by the expulsion of the Blood he'd imbibed. Lordy tapped his chin for a few seconds, hesitated, then reluctantly pulled him back to safety.

Meanwhile, Crady and Lilith were now semi concious on the ground, gasping for breath as the Bone and Flesh blocked their respective airways.

Flinging IM aside, Lordy pulled Crady to her feet, who was gagging and frothing as half chewed globs of the Flesh dribbled from her mouth. He grabbed the scroll she was holding and pushed it in her face.

"READ IT!!!" he boomed. His demonic voice reverberated around the cavern, causing a few small rocks to fall from the ceiling. Lordy wriggled his shoulders in pride. Sometimes he even surprised himself at how powerfully evil he could sound.

Crady, who had now turned purple, managed a very good attempt at an expression of total confusion.

"I kniht eh dias daer ti!" explained IM in between gasps, as he lay helplessly on the ground, trying to recover from his unexpected vomiting spree.

Crady focused on the parchment in front of her nose. "llew rouy nepo mlaer daed eth of shtped" she gurgled feebly.

"Perfect, just perfect..." sighed Lordy, as he casually held her upside down and shook her violently above the bubbling and glowing waters.

The circle of IFians watched, as Crady gagged, choked, and finally coughed up the Flesh of the Present, and listened to the plop plop ploppety plop of it falling into the now frothing pool.

The ground shook as the structure of the well beneath them began to respond to the weaving of the spell. The Greater Evil was drawn down a little into the pool.

Lilith, lying face down, choking, and almost completely deprived of oxygen now, did her best to raise herself onto her forearms. Lordy grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her up to her feet.

"READ IT!!!" he repeated, waving the final part of the spell in front of her.

It was then when the Greater Evil, having extrapolated the limp shreds of Masterweaver from its form, began to take more than a passing interest at what was going on, and grabbed Lilith by the arm...

[Lilith]

The GE picked Lilith up by the arm which prevented Lordy from holding her by the neck any longer. "Damn it!" Lordy growled. "I need her to finish that damned spell so we can send your bloody arse back where you came from!"

"Huh?" the GE uttered, not really paying attention to his gasping captive.

Lordy gave a grunt of frustation and rage .. and actually threw a punch at the GE. The blow reverberated up the GE's arm and in turn, shook Lilith thoroughly, dislodging Bone of the End from her mouth towards the pool.

The GE howled in pain and dropped Lilith to the ground as it swung it's injured arm at Lordy and sent him flying across the room.

Right before the Bone plunged into the well, Lilith croaked, "Ssyba eht ni denosirpmi lla eerf dna esaeler!" And then passed out.

Then the sound of screeching and howling filled the cavern as the escaped souls were dragged unwillingly from their new freedom back into the abyss. The misty, wraith-like figures' voices made all of the hairs on the IFian's necks stand on end. Nails on a chalkboard combined with wet brake pads screeching couldn't even begin to describe it.

The souls began to cling to whatever life they could in order to stay out of the well. One in particular decided to cling onto JezSharp, holding onto his ears. "AHHHHHH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" he yelled loudly, running around in circles.

Kalanna Rai snorted and peeled the clinging shade off with one talon. "Be off with you!" she said, flinging the screeching shade off towards the Soul Well.

Dinranwen, NeverNeverGirl, and Argonaut were holding their own against the clingy souls, dodging and shaking them off in everyway possible.

Chinaren was pouting sadly as he listened to a call from his accountant. "HOW MANY FABLES TO FIX THIS? WHY I OUGHTA..."

And BStheGreat, Polokin, and D-Lotus had begun fighting each other... again.

All the while, the shades screeched louder and increased in number... and soon the sound brought the distracted IFian's to the matter at hand. They hadn't realized just how many souls had actually been released.. until now.

[Idea master]

There was a flash, and the GE howled at the sudden light coming from the pool beneath it. The shades had given the pool the critical mass it needed to complete the spell, and another ritual that was tied to the three ingredients as well.

IM stood up, his eyes ablaze with red light. "I," he said in his reversed speech, "Am the Blood of the Beginning. All that was Inter Fable is contained within me, all the archives are mine to behold. The past has divulged it's secrets unto me."

Crady picked herself up off the rocks where she had been tossed. "I am the Flesh of the Present, the City as it is today. Everything that exists today is a part of me. Every storygame, great and small, adds to my power."

Indeed, Crady's eyes had, for some unknown reason, gained a pinkish hue. Lilth shakily stood up while grasping the cave wall, her eyes glazed over. "I am the Bone of the End. I can see all things that are to be, all things that must be, all things that will befall US, in time."

"However," the Three ingredients said in their temporary hosts, "We can all see what should be, and it is not YOU!"

The Three joined their strength, and from their hands formed steely gray chains that wrapped around the GE, dragging it down to the deep well beneath it.

"NOOOOO!" The GE cried out in anger, breaking out of its Stupidium-induced stupor. "NOT THE CHAINS OF TIME! NOT AGAIN! I WAS ALMOST FREEEEED! CURSE YOU THREE! CURSE IF! CURSE US! I SWEAR I WILL BREAK FREE AND DESTROY YOU!"

"And we shall await you once more, as we did thousands of years ago!"

There was another blinding flash as the last metallic tentacle of the GE vanished beneath the pool's glimmering surface. Only China could pipe up in time, and everyone would have a vague half-memory of China saying "NO! I still haven't paid off the Deus Ex Machina!"

The Next Morning

IM woke up with a splitting headache. He tried thinking, but found it hurt too much. He tried opening his eyes, and that hurt even more. Speaking was a bother as well. Moving made the lobes throb. He decided to just lay there, wherever there was, and enjoy the breeze. Maybe when he was over this hangover, he'd order more of whatever he'd been drinking.

[Crunchyfrog]

Awesome stuff! Congratulations to everybody that posted, this has been a brilliant tale!

Here is an epilogue, which, incorporate elements of Idea Master's last paragraph. For such an epic tale, with so many contributors, it deserved more than just a hangover from IM's point of view. So, here it is:

The Hangover

Epilogue



Silence fell around the cavern, bar the sound of the calm rippling pool, and the drip drip of water from the tip of a cluster of stalagtites near one of the tunnels. The group of IFians suddenly became aware of the cold air circulating about them, and realised that the roof of the cave was mostly gone now. They could see a clear dawn sky still sprinkled with a few of the brightest stars, which one by one gave way to the growing light.


Lordy watched the scene, and quietly seethed. So close! And yet so far. He had met more than his match in the Greater Evil, he realised, and his plans for total domination of IF would have to wait for another day. He turned around suddenly on the person who dared put their hand on his back.

It was Sasuke, of all people.

"Lordy, I...I just wanted to say thank you for saving IF..." said the young half-dragon.

His sentiments were echoed by murmurs from all present - it was as much as they could muster.

IM himself had a splitting headache. He decided to just lay there, and enjoy the breeze. Lilith lay just a few feet away. She had regained consciousness, and was murmuring to herself.

"Ym daeh struh..." she complained

"Hhgruuu, nehw m'I revo siht revognah, ll'I redro emos erom fo revetahw I saw gniknird," replied IM.

"Hey, Lordy!" said Dinranwen. "Can you do something about these three? They're still talking gobbledigook..."

Lordy looked down at the pathetic forms of Crady, Lilith and IM, laying exhausted on the ground.

"I don't see why I should," he leered, recovering his demonic demeanor for a moment. Various pairs of eyes scowled at him, and Rai gently thumped her tail on the ground, menacingly. "Oh, alright then," he replied, flicking his hand in the general direction of the three. "There, t'is done."

IM snapped back to alertness when he realised that he could understand some of the murmurings from the IFians around him. "Hey, everyone's talking forwards, again!" he exclaimed, in amazement. "The curse is gone!"

Slowly, and without a word, the IFians gingerly climbed up the piles of rubble out into the open, Rai helping some of them by allowing them to clamber up her scaly tail.

The group assembled on the grassy ground above the cave, many collapsing with exhaustion.

Masterweaver shuddered, as he realised as they were less than 100 yards from the cliff edge where he had first found Crunchyfrog dangling from a tree root, just 48 hours before.

From their elevated position, the IFians surveyed the city skyline. The terrible fog had gone, but it's departure revealed complete devastation. The RPG characters had had a field day during their short taste of freedom from the confines of the Games Forum. The destruction of Mage Mountain had caused great craters in the ground, destroying most of JezSharp's underground labyrinth.

NeverNeverGirl pulled out a notebook and pencil and began scribbling furiously. At this rate, the insurance company would go bankrupt.

"I guess it's time to go and clean up," sighed Dinranwen.

"Uggh, such a long way to walk, complained Crunchyfrog, "I think I'll lie here for just a bit longer..."

"Not to worry!" grinned Argo, "I'm sure I can give everyone a lift back to the city in my flying machine. I left it in IM's capable hands, so I guess it won't be far from here, right?"

"Ah, yes, er..." said IM, going red. "Er...Argo I was meaning to say something about that. It, well, you see... We were flying along, and, er..."

He was interrupted by the searing heat and crackling of a fireball that whizzed over their heads, and landed in the middle of the group, and morphed into the figure of a woman. Those that were capable, screamed and leapt backwards.

"Xansta!" cried Masterweaver delightedly. "You made it!"

"Hey, Weaver! So I did! Hey, I lost track of everyone at the Open Forum yesterday. What did I miss?"

"Ah, well, you see, just as I suspected all along, Lecro was at the heart of the whole problem. All this stuff about a Soul Well was just a diversion to catch me off my guard. Lecro and I battled it out to the end, whilst everyone here watched," explained Masterweaver excitedly. "Once I had vanquished his swarm of plot devices, he tried to turn me into a giant chicken again, but I was far too quick!... "

Idea Master, Crady, Lilith, Crunchyfrog, D-Lotus, Sasuke, Dinranwen, Smudger, NeverNeverGirl, Chinaren, Argo, BS, Rai, Lebrenth, JezSharp, Solus, Polokin and Lordy quietly left Masterweaver to rave on about his delusional experiences.

"He needs a spell in the Ass Hole," muttered Chinaren.

Slowly, the IFians dispersed as they made their seperate ways back to their city. They all had headaches to varying degrees.

It had been a marvelous New Years party, but, wow, what a Hangover...

[Chinaren]

:clap: :cheers: :rock: :goodpost: :tu: :tempt: :drunk: :cool3:

Congratulations! A fine ending. Well done to everybody, especially Crunchy for managing this fine tale. A fear worthy of... er, something. ;)