City of IF

[Smee]

Welcome to the second Spotlight Competition!

The New Year is here, and we gather now to vote for a second Spotlight winner, to follow Thunderbird's excellent Heavy Metal, winner of the last vote.

This round's qualifiers were :


SparkleSteps by Tikanni Corazon Declined

Sky Island directed by DeadManWalkingWithdrawn

Fate's Companion by Chokiba No response

Dog by Fenris No response

Symphony's Requiem by Emperor Accepted

The Liar, the Snitch and the Wardrobe by Shady Stoat Accepted

Biv Wacked by Klafarius Accepted


As you can see, we have 3 excellent storygame who accepted a place in the poll.

~

More information on how to qualify for future Spotlight competitions and how to accept a place in the poll can be found Here

Rules for voting

You must have read the excerpts in the post below AND AT LEAST one chapter from each Storygame before voting.

This is not a popularity contest or a 'thank you for helping me' vote. This is a serious contest about the quality of the stories written. The winner's story may be selected to represent IF to all first time visitors.

Please note that if you have more than one identity on IF, or if you share a computer with another member of the site, you must let the Mayor know. In addition, you may only vote with a single identity. If you are unsure, please view this thread for further details.


On with the Competition!

[Smee]

Here are the excerpts from our three Spotlight contenders.

Please read all the excerpts and at least one chapter from each of the Storygames before voting.

The poll will run for 15 days.

Good luck to our Authors!


Biv-Wacked by Klafarius

Quote: Note from Author: Excerpt was edited for content so that it is appropriate for all ages


Whoever said war was an honorable and commendable profession should have his honorable and commendable ass shot, and with the day Jack had he was perfectly ready to pull the trigger.

Jack sat in a pitched armored tent with two of his lieutenants going over troop movements while waiting for confirmation of the deaths of the commanding general and his chief of staff while they had been traveling to the base camp. Of course Jack already knew that the general was dead because he had watched the damned convoy go up in a blaze of glory when the Nehlig attack ships had swooped down and blown them to kingdom come.

The brainiacs in the Battle Assessment Tech corps, or BATs as they were called, had predicted such a thing might happen but the pompous ass of a general insisted that a show of faith on the part of the Armed Forces would go a long way to cementing the permanent truce and end the war. As the BATs had also predicted, the truce had been another stall tactic while the Nehlig prepared for an assault against her majesty’s Royal Armed Forces.

No Kidding.

Wiping out the convoy had effectively reduced the 105th battle platoon’s officer complement from five to one, the one being Jack of course. At the outset of the campaign there had been around twenty officers ditched on this worthless piece of real estate but as the fighting increased and casualties mounted, that number had dwindled to five. Of the five, two had died in the convoy (may the general and his god damned assistant’s souls rot in hell), one had been assassinated by a sniper while relieving himself behind a boulder (bets had been taken as to which head had been shot first), and the fourth officer had the gall to die of a heart attack (while banging his chauffer). Yep, life for Commander Jedidiah A. Caz, Jack for short, couldn’t get any worse. Or so he thought.

“Incoming!” shouted a voice over the blower seconds before a barrage of rapid blaster fire tore through the camp as a Nehlig combat skimmer came in low and fast for a strafing run. The sound of the anti-air cannons return fire shook the earth around the base camp.



Symphonys Requiem by Emperor

Quote:

The darkness seemed to move and swirl, he could feel more than see shapes in the inky void. The sounds they made – guttural, low and almost just beyond the edge of hearing – made him imagine that when they moved they lurched and slithered and dragged. He stood within the smallest circle of three other circles that seemed to be drawn on what looked like to be a cobble stone of some sort. The one he was in was about five feet in diameter, with the other circles being only slightly larger so that there couldn’t be more than five inches between them. In those spaces were cryptic, hard edged, runes written into the ground, he understood that he knew what they meant but for some reason he couldn’t read them. The runes were written in some sort of mix of chalk and wax and each of the twenty five runes were emanating a soft amber hue, with thick bands of bluish smoke which was soaked up into the darkness. The light coming from the runes did nothing to make whatever it was that was out in that darkness any more identifiable, but it did seem to light up the interior of the circle that he stood in and it make his skin look bronze. One of the creatures of the darkness said something to him – or was it the darkness itself that spoke – but for some reason he could not hear it. He heard a voice that was not his reply.

“Soon. I have met one who has at least made contact.”

He knew whatever it was that was speaking was speaking to him but all he could hear was a low gurgling and sputtering sound. For no reason that he knew of it made him think that it was the sound light would make if it was drowning.

“He is of no consequence, just a mortal – easily cowed or killed.”

The voice he couldn’t understand yellowed and dripped with bile.

“What do you mean someone watches? I took precautions.”

Suddenly he realized that he wasn’t the one speaking to the unintelligible darkness or the monsters within, instead he was staring at the back of the head of a wholly different man kneeling in the light circle. He could see the man turning getting ready to notice him and see him. Then suddenly he felt small, brittle arms wrap around his waist, a pair of delicate hands with long thin fingers locked against his stomach. He felt a surge of vertigo and he closed his eyes, he knew that he was slipping back into himself and though he could not be sure he thought he heard the beating of wings.

Leif was shivering when he woke up; every inch of every piece of fabric he was wearing was soaked with sweat that smelled like booze. His mind was cloudy and he couldn’t think straight, he had been having a horrible dream, a nightmare but it was falling away from him now. Leif’s entire body shook and he crawled toward the sofa looking for a blanket or anything to help get him warm. That was when he heard something in the apartment with him, he peeked over the couch and he immediately saw that the two by four’s he had placed over his windows were all lying broken on his living room floor. When he looked up at the window the sun was shining through it but blocking that sunlight someone was crouched in the frame of the window. His body and his mind were in such a state of disorientation and shock that he couldn’t think of anything to say or do or even wonder, all Leif could do was stare and then pass out again.


The Liar, the Snitch and the Wardrobe By Shady Stoat

Quote:

A few seconds later, the door opened. Sammy drew himself upright.

"A man has a right," he said, poking his finger toward the goat in front of him, "to demand..." he paused. "... food. I mean... trousers. A man has a right to cover his legs. You... you goat-faced goat... are nothing but a thief who steals things that belong to other people that rightfully own them! You stole my trousers. My dignity. My pride. My... my dignity. That's what it's all about. If you don't have dignity... you don't have anything." He ignored the small voice within – the voice that was telling him that if that was true, he was really sunk – and pressed on regardless. Another phrase clung to the sticky recesses of his mind. "My human rights have been violated. Violated! I demand compensation. I want food. And... and... a place to sit down. And more food. And I want my trousers back! Reshpeckt, sir, that is what I demand! And I will not settle for less."

The goat peered at him, and the air became still between them. Then:

"Daaaad!" he bellowed over his shoulder, "I think it's for you!"

Sammy blinked hard. The goat in front of him disappeared, to be replaced by a larger, more solid model. Despite a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he took a deep breath.

"Listen," he said. "A man has a right to legs... and to cover his food... and violation of his dignified lefts... I mean rights... I mean..." he gave up. The moment was gone. "Where are my trousers?"

"Oh," said the goat. "It's you. Well, you'd better come in, I suppose."

[Crunchyfrog]

Is everyone else finding it as difficult to choose between them as I am? :shock:

[Reiso]

Hmm, not very hard, but a little difficult. I had to decide which I liked more as a whole vs. which one had a part or two I enjoyed the most.

[Smee]

Still time to get your votes in for this very close poll.

Happy Voting :)

[Crunchyfrog]

There's a tie situation at the moment... :shock:

[Crunchyfrog]

Two more votes have come in - and STILL a tie! :shock:

48 hours to go people! If you still haven't voted, now's the time.


:)

[Smee]

Ok - voting is coming to an end.

We currently have a tie, and as such, as said in the first Spotlight, Key will cast the deciding vote if it's still tied at the end.

[Key]

Hey everybody,

Thanks for the giving me the honor of casting the deciding vote. I have to say this was a very hard choice. Both storygames are very good - well-written with good decision points that have generated good discussion. In the end, I'm casting my vote for "Symphony's Requiem", with its compelling mystery that drew me in, as I'm sure it will and has others.

Congrats, Emperor! :cheers:

:-)

[Smee]

Big Congratulations to Emperor, and thanks to our competitors for this Spotlight. :D

~

Look out for the next announcement for Spotlight 3!

Happy Writing :)

[Emperor]

Thank you one and all, honestly I didn't think I would pull it off. I hope I do not disappoint.

[Crunchyfrog]

Congratulations, Emperor, your storygame is now featured on the City of IF Homepage :D


Symphony's Requiem will be featured on the home page until the next Spotlight competition winner is announced, when it will join the rota of active Spotlight/Storygame of the Month winners to reappear in future months.

This month, it's the turn of Smee's Trade Windows to accompany our new Spotlight winner.

They look rather good together, dont you think? :P