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Chinaren
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 Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:15 pm Post subject: STORY OF A PICTURE competition! CLOSED!! |
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Hello all! Okay, I am now declaring the first SoaP competition closed! Thanks to everyone who entered and otherwise participated. It was very interesting.
The real authors are posted below. No one guessed them all right, but Smee and EFauna were closest, so they share the prize and the title of 'Best SoaP1 guesser!' You can fight over the trophy.
The winner of the Best Story was Shady Stoats' very funny second entry, 'The Champion!' For those who will ask, no I didn't vote for my own story.
Congratulations to the winners! Your Fables will be shortly delivered by secure man-on-a-horse transfer.
People's guesses are below the 'real authors list'.
1. Homecoming. Phang
2. The Day it all Went Wrong. Stoat
3. Redolent Company. Ethereal Fauna
4. Dream Machine. Ingro
5. A Happier Place. Key
6. The Champion? Stoat (2nd Entry)
7. Silence. Cow of Doom 666
8. By Monday. Me! (Chinaren)
9. 7 Seconds. Dragon_Fire372
Guesses. (Sorry this hasn't come out very well, best I could do).
Key: 1.Chinaren 2.Powers 3.D-Lotus 4.Saxon215 5.Key 6.Stoat 5.Phang 6.Smee 7.Lordy
Stoat: 1.Ethereal Fauna 2.Stoat 3.Phang 4.Smee 5.Powers 6.Stoat 7. LotN 8.Ingro 9.Shogun
Fauna: 1.Phang 2.Stoat 3.Ethereal fauna 4.Ingro 5.Powers 6.Smee 7.LotN 8.Chinaren 9.Idea Master
Smee(3): 1.Phang 2.Key 3.Solomon 4.Ingro 5.Fauna 6.Stoat 7.Sparta 8.Chinaren 9.Lordy
So, what does all this tell us? I had the results analysed by Dean in his attic*, and the following conculsions can be reached:
Some people have a distinct style!
Reading a lot of storygames increases your accuracy, unless you are Stoat.
Everyone thinks that Powers That Be is Key.
*See Tale of IF chapter 2.
Game over man, game over!
--------------------------------------------------
Author/Story guesses:
Key - 5 points.
Stoat - 4 points.
E_Fauna - 13 points!
Smee - 13 points
I will post everyones full guesses at the end of the competition, they are very interesting!
You will Score:
Half a point (.5) for guessing an author, but not putting the right name to the right story. EG:If Smee writes story number 10, and you guess Smee wrote story 5, then you get .5 points.
3 points for guessing correctly eg:Smee number 10.
1 point for 'guessing' your own entry, as it isn't fair to give three, but it isn't fair to not reward you either.
The Judgement is now open!
There are two parts to T.J:
<Note:If you have a story you can still submit it up to the time the first person votes/enters>
a. VOTE!First, a simple (free) vote on what you consider to be the best story. How you judge 'best' here is up to you! Click on the poll at the bottom as usual, you can make a comment saying who you voted for or not, up to you. I am not sure when the voting will end, but I will announce it in advance. (Suggestions?)
b. Guess! WHO are the authors??? All of them? Feel free to comment and so forth in this thread but entries should be PMd to me with your 10Fables entry fee. (Find my name somewhere, hit DONATE and make you guesses in the comment box). The one who gets most will win the prize of all the entry fee money, maybe a little more.  You can post your guess in this thread as well if you wish.
Prize!
Prize to the winning author will be 100Fables and I am thinking of an extra little bit too. Also the opportunity to submit the picture for the next SoaP!
I must admit, I expected about 4 entries at most to this, so I am very pleased we have so many. I am also amazed that people could write so many different stories about really quiet a limiting picture!
Please keep an eye on this initial entry, as I will make announcements here.
Happy guessing! 
Announcing:
(Fanfare of trumpets):
Chinaren's STORY OF A PICTURE competition!
Roll up roll up! Take part in the chance of er, a weektime! Write! Read! Vote! Pay Chinaren money! Win! Win! Win!!!!
Rules and all that jazz. Please read carefully:
There are several parts to this competition:
1. Look, write, submit.
Below this entry I will post a picture**
Look at the picture and write a short story (max 2000words) which, at some point, the picture is a part of.
For example. If the picture is of a man jumping through a window, then you can write a story where a man, at some point in the tale, jumps through a window.
In the story you must describe the picture and it must match the picture pretty much exactly.
When you have written the story DO NOT POST IT HERE!!!
PM it, or e-mail it, to me!! Do not tell anyone you have written the story!!
The first entry will get their story entered for free, otherwise the entry fee is a very reasonable 20Fables per story.
Sit back and wait...
2. Judgement.
There are two parts to 'The Judgement'.
a. Best story:
The first is a straight vote on which story you like the best. The winning story will get a 100Fable prize.
b. Guess who wrote them!
The second competition requires 10Fables to enter. You must guess who wrote each story.
Of course, this part requires the authors to play along here and not give away what they wrote. Any breach of this rule and the author will forfeit the prize, should they win.
The person who guesses correctly first, or if no one guesses by the close date, the person who guesses most, wins a Fables prize, which will be dependant upon how many people paid to guess***.
Okay? I hope that is clear!!
The only other thing is that I am not sure if this is the correct forum for this. I thought about putting it in the Market place, but there will be stories (I hope!). I thought about putting it in Linear as well, but it is experimental so I plumped for here. If you disagree it can be moved of course!
Okay, I will now go and post the picture.
Entrance is open until I get enough stories or until a date that I decide it is closed, depends on the response really.
Remember: If you write a story PM it to me! Don't post it here!!
[EDIT]
Okay, I just discovered you get Fables for posting here! In which case I will donate the Fables I get for posting entrants' stories back to the author****. Didn't realise this, sorry!
Happy STORY OF A PICTURING!
Many thanks!
*Burst out laughing.
**For this competition the picture is one that I will be using in Good vs Evil vs Money, chapter 11, but I liked it, and it was unusual enough...
***Hey, I'm not a charity you know!
****Minus a very small handling fee***.
_________________
Neil Hartley Books.
My Amazon page.
Last edited by Chinaren on Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:48 am; edited 26 times in total
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| Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:39 am Post subject: Entry 1 - Homecoming. |
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The creatures, one by one – but as a whole, slowly shuffled forward. Lank hair, torn flesh, tattered rags, tentacles, they made their slow but relentless march across the lands of good, destroying villages with little effort. Every tree was uprooted by the muscular one (or two – it was hard to tell), and smashed onto the floor until a pile of wooded shards lay in place of a great oak. When they found the rivers and lakes, they would bathe – turning the water foul and sour.
Eventually, leaving a long path of destruction that was completely visible to a normal human by the trail of dead grass, they reached their destination. Home.
The small creature at the front, a bloody and rotten skeleton, strode with twitching and limp limbs to the great door in the side of the mountain. Being the only one still capable of such things as talking and being in full control of its movements, it was indispensable. Had it not been it would have been killed by now. It knocked as hard as it could, without its hand falling away into dust, foul tentacle of a tongue lolling out and sliming over itself with saliva.
The door opened into darkness, but before they could enter their mistress strode out and they all dropped to their knees – except for the tenacled worm creature, which merely lowered itself. The young girl looked down at them, then up over the lands to see the thin path of dead grass and general wrecked examples of the beauty of nature stretching out over the horizon. Even on their knees, the creatures were still far bigger than her, but she snarled in rage and they quivered, knowing they had disobeyed her.
“You IDIOTS! I told you to destroy the villages, and you go and leave a little path of dead grass!” the raven on her shoulder cawed in agreement at how stupid they were. “Can’t you leave home for one month?! I expected you back after a year, and to hear news of spreading evil far earlier than that!” confusion was on what made up the creatures’ faces, barely able to understand the words, but all too capable of feeling the anger behind it – anger that would make a grown man sob in the corner with heavily soiled underwear. The girl sighed and shook her head at the bowing and shaking beasts before her.
“It’s no use. You’ll have to go in for extra training.” Stepping aside to let them in, she wondered what she had to do to create an army that wasn’t so dependent on her. They followed her everywhere when they could, which looked imposing, but when it came for them to fight they wouldn’t leave her side.
Someday she would finally destroy the world and enslave its inhabitants. She just hoped she’d still be alive to see her plans succeed.
Last edited by Chinaren on Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:47 am Post subject: Entry 2 - The Day It All Went Wrong |
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The Day It All Went Wrong…
“…and that is how you can tell the common chestnut from the horse-chestnut.”
“Thankyou Tommy.”
Miss Hackel sighed. ‘Show and Tell’ was a necessary evil which she faced every Thursday morning. The soup-cans, the random leaves, the dog-leashes, the corned-beef sandwiches (desperate, but admissible on a technicality) and the things-which-nobody-knew-what-they-were-but-still-had-to-be-whittered-on-about-for-five-minutes. It was a slow and languorous death of the soul and it came around with depressing regularity.
Her eyes turned to the newest member of the class. Katie Roberts. Moved in from the Isle of Skye a week ago. A strange-looking girl, with a curiously high brow and a small mouth. She had been picked on quite a lot on her first day. That all seemed to have stopped now.
Miss Hackel wondered what ‘wonders’ the girl would bring to the session. A jar of pickles, perhaps? A tin opener? Her mother’s make-up bag? She sighed again and tried to summon some good old fake enthusiasm.
“Katie. It’s your turn, dear. What have you got.”
Katie turned a pair of dark eyes on her.
“It’s outside.”
“Well, go and fetch it then,” said the teacher, trying not to snap.
“It’s not an ‘it’, it’s a ‘them’.”
Miss Hackel stared for a moment, wondering if the child was making fun of her. In the end, she decided not.
“Go and fetch them then,” she said, tapping her fingers on the desk.
“Are you sure?” the child asked.
“Miss Roberts! Immediately!”
Katie shrugged. “All right then. I’ve brought my family in.”
She walked lightly across the room and pulled the door open. A most hideous set of creatures leered into the classroom. Trolls, zombies, banshees, two-headed ghouls, mummified remains and orcish monstrosities began to lumber towards the children.
As Miss Hackel crumpled and fell to the floor in a dead faint, the other children began to stampede around the desks, towards the windows… anywhere to get away from the horrors that were advancing on them. Their shrieks and wails filled the air like music.
Katie’s tiny mouth up-curved into a smile as she watched. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been warned.
She had told the school that she had moved here from The Sky. Their lack of understanding was no fault of hers…
Last edited by Chinaren on Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:36 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:25 pm Post subject: Entry 3 - Redolent Company |
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Redolent Company
An extended city seething with a mass of humanity stretched upwards in increasingly impressive displays of engineering. The sole habitable location on this cold chunk of rock, the high dome of the city maintained a suitable atmosphere for the bustling residents conducting day-to-day affairs in their thriving metropolis. Unmindful of this infestation of life, the planetoid that sported this city continued its wide, lazy orbit around a Cepheid, and the populace contained within the blister spared little thought for the novelty of buildings that quite literally touched the sky.
Unlike the variable emissions from the adjacent star, the population of the upper regions offered a uniform vision of life with neighbors resembling each other, copies of one another carved from the same genetic piece of clay. These Brechtian souls enjoyed the inconsistent light of the reluctant sun and the engineered warmth of their artificial environment. Beneath the comforts of their realm lurked a different humanity, peopled by the omniform who for countless generations evolution had adapted into creatures suitable to thrive in the diminished light of this underworld. The cheery warmth of the upper levels sank into the frigid ground of the planetoid, rendering the surroundings of this perpetual twilight chilly and inhospitable.
The whole effect of the conurbation displayed tolerance and acceptance, with piled levels of urbanization mindful although perceptibly detached from the others. Reluctant to venture from the shadows, the unique creatures of the underworld dwelled in squalid contentment, embracing their heavy stench as the waste of the stacked system trickled downwards toward the earth. The Dresden dolls of the lighted surface were spared interaction with what they considered remotely foul, although truth be known none would have hesitated to touch the hand of their brothers below and pull them up into the light.
Meoiria heard the scuffling from between the buildings; many feet shuffled and mouths whispered concerns, obscured by the protective darkness. “Please, Miss,” a subdued entreaty reached her. “I’ve lost a piece of me self, and it’s rolled out onto the walk.”
She stopped at the mouth of the darkened alley, pitying the raspy voice filled with anxiety and unknown fears. “What is it you lost?”
“Me tibia has tumbled off,” the terrified voice replied.
Meoiria suppressed a giggle. She looked at the fleshless bone lying flat against the stone walk. “Come out and get it,” she teased. “Surely you can hop that far.”
Much whispering and subdued exclamation followed her suggestion, before the pleading began again. “We are afraid,” the voice offered, and Meoiria heard murmurs of agreement from within the gloom.
She turned her back to the darkness and stood over the miscreant appendage, her hands defiantly on her hips. “Am I really so frightening that you can’t step out here and fetch it?”
After countless moments had passed, Meoiria heard the steps of her neighbors tentatively venturing forth onto the lighted walk. Soon she felt the hot breath of them against the back of her neck, and the fetid odor of their persons filled her nostrils. She smiled.
“There, that’s not so scary is it?” she asked, before the hobbling youngster retrieved his tibia and the entire company once again retreated into the gloom below.
Last edited by Chinaren on Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:32 am Post subject: Entry 4 - Dream Machine. |
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**Chinaren note: The author of this story mistook the length limit for 2000 characters! How they managed to fit in a story to that length I will never know, but they did, so here it is...***
Dream Machine.
The English manor looks normal till we enter the elderly gentleman’s study and see the bad sci-fi movie props spread all around. Stopping out of site we hear him mutter.
“Where is that picayune gluttonous minuscule soubrette? I require her attendance to commence my nightmare to actuality experiment.”
Up behind us comes an English girl in a black dress. Panting she begins to talk “Sorry to be late professor! I had...”
“Never mind! Strap yourself into the nocturnal normalizer” snapped the gentleman.
“Don’t forget to pay me” the girl’s shrill voice barely betrayed her breathlessness.
“NOW!” bellowed the man.
“No need to be shout” whined the girl, beginning to strap herself on one of the weird machines with what looked like a very strange salad bowl on top. “Don’t forget you’re being limited on characters in this story. So start this thing now!”
“Silence!” He roared and placed the salad bowl looking device on her head. “I’ll transport your nightmares to this room RIGHT NOW!” As he finished speaking his finger hit a red button. It was rather fun watching you jump in surprise at the ensuing sight.
Monsters! Monsters of every description poured into the room as the girl’s screams rang out. The elderly man was busy pointing at the monsters that were sending his equipment flying around the room. With sudden shock you realize that the monsters that he pointed at were disappearing!
As the crashing and breaking sounds grew fainter and fainter the little girl began to speak again. “Snuggles! How great to see you. What are you doing here? And Baxter! You’re just like I imagined. Chinaren you naughty baby Cyclops. You’re just as I imagined you.
I thought you said that this was a nightmare machine Prof.”
“IT IS” bellowed the gentleman. “Why you immature undependable treacherous greedy no-account schoolgirl! You destroyed my endeavour with your not so cuddly friends! Why I aught to sue you for damag”
At this point the room fell silent as “cuddles” wrapped ten of its tentacles around the professor’s neck. “You owe men ten pounds and I want a picture of me with all my friends” yelled the girl.
Silently the Professor took her out of the machine and handed her ten pounds. He took a picture of them all then yelled “GET OUT AND TAKE YOUR DREAMS WITH YOU!”
With a swish of her skirt the girl grabbed the picture from the hand of the elderly gentleman and stormed out followed by her now real dream friends.
Last edited by Chinaren on Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:37 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:23 pm Post subject: Entry 5 - A Happier Place. |
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A Happier Place
The woman was afraid. Frank could tell from the way she had walked into his shop, from how she looked at the crystals, the books, the magic talismans – like she wanted to touch them but was afraid to. She had enough money to buy his shop twenty times over, thought Frank, and she could barely walk around. It’s a crazy world.
“I…I…” the woman turned to the older distinguished gentleman by her side, who was supporting her with his arm. “Gerald, please…” she began.
Gerald. Frank almost smiled. Eddie had a knack for high-class names.
“We noticed your sign, Mr., uh, Zogby…” said Eddie to Frank. He had it down perfectly – just the right mix of uncertainty, embarrassment at consulting a psychic, desire to help.
“You need my help,” intoned Frank, keeping his head still, eyes on the woman.
“Well, yes,” said Eddie. “That is, we were interested in knowing…”
“I am here to help,” said Frank, his eyes never leaving the woman. “The Great Zogby uses his gifts for the benefit of others.”
The woman bit her lower lip and glanced anxiously up at “Gerald.”
“You have experienced a loss, madam?” asked Frank.
She nodded twice, quickly, tears starting to form. Frank reached out and touched her forehead. “May I?” he asked softly. She said nothing.
Frank closed his eyes, deepened his breathing, and started to sway back and forth. “I see…a child…a girl. A beautiful girl, with long brown hair. She is playing by the ocean…no, no, a lake, a mountain lake. Playing on a tire swing.”
“Yes!” cried the woman. “My baby, my Claudia, she loved that swing!”
I know, thought Frank. You’re driving Eddie nuts talking about it, I had to work it in somehow.
Frank’s face darkened. “I see clouds, darkness around the girl. The legions of Death come to take her. I see her walking to a dark land, with black shoes and a short black dress.”
“That was the dress we buried her in! She was only nine years old!” sobbed the woman.
Frank opened his eyes, blinked, and looked at the woman again. He was all sympathy now, pure emotion. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Mrs…?”
“Addington,” she sobbed. “Please, I know I can’t get her back, I just…”
“Yes?” asked Frank.
“I just want to know if she’s in a happier place.”
Frank nodded thoughtfully. “You wish to speak to one who has passed through the Great Divide,” he said. “This is possible, with the right guide. But the way is not easy, and I cannot do it alone. Are you prepared to go to death’s door with me, and are you prepared for what you might find?”
The woman looked up at Eddie. “Will you do this with me, Gerald?” she pleaded.
He nodded. “For you, my dear, anything.” Frank smiled to himself. Eddie laid it on a bit thick, but you can’t argue with success.
*
They did the séance later that night in the back room of Frank’s shop. The right atmosphere was key, of course: Frank spent over an hour lighting candles, casting spells, channeling spirits, riding the landscape of the “Great Beyond,” before starting anything about Claudia. That got the mark into the right state: nervous, apprehensive, ready to believe anything.
Finally Frank got onto Claudia, going through her life, revealing a few more facts that Eddie had given him, and then “following her journey” from the point where she died into the valley of death. He slowly built the tension and mystery, working her up to a fever of excitement, and then got ready for the pitch. This was going to pay for his retirement.
“Spirit of Claudia Addington, come to us!” Frank cried out. His head jerked upward, his eyes rolled back and he started to foam at the mouth (he was quite proud of the foaming bit, he’d been practicing that).
A look of horror come over Frank’s face. “No…no…” he whispered, just loud enough for Mrs. Addington to hear him. “She is not…she is not in a happier place. I see…horrible creatures around her. Monsters…the dead…with huge, misshapen bodies…gaping maws…great tentacles…” Frank tightened his throat. “Your little girl is in danger–”
A sudden, piercing scream from Mrs. Addington interrupted Frank. She gave a horrified look in his direction, then bolted out of the shop. Eddie also stared at Frank, his eyes peeled back as though in extreme fear, and ran after her.
“Hm…even battier than I thought,” muttered Frank to himself. But that was good. The more scared they were, the easier it was to squeeze them. Eddie would bring her back, and she’d pay – spells, seances, charms – anything to get her daughter to a “happier place.” The only thing to worry about, with someone so nervous, was that she might have a heart attack. But there were possibilities there too, Frank thought, smiling to himself. He’d have to get Eddie to bring up the subject of Mrs. Addington’s will.
Frank was still smiling as he wiped the foam off his chin and turned around to finish cleaning up. Then he froze.
Standing behind him was a little girl, about nine years old, with long brown hair, black shoes, and a short black dress. And standing behind her were a slew of horrible monsters – creatures of death, with huge, misshapen bodies, gaping maws, and great tentacles.
The little girl put her hands on her hips. “Well?” she said. “What do you want?”
The next morning they found Frank keeled over his séance table, dead of a heart attack. There was no word from fellow mediums on whether the Great Zogby was now in a happier place.
Last edited by Chinaren on Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 2:22 am Post subject: Entry 6 - The Champion? |
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The Champion?
The girl stalked angrily through the lurid orange landscape.
From the slopes above her, the voices of the hidden were whispering.
“What is it?” the first voice gurgled.
The second voice whispered, sounding as if its airways had been packed full of broken glass. “Dunno.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that before in my life!”
“Do you think it’s dangerous?”
“Could be. Maybe we should kill it, before it starts anything.”
“Go on then.”
“Me? I’m allergic to violence. No, really, it brings me up in a dreadful rash. I’ve got a doctor’s certificate to prove it.” The gurgling had a faintly panicked note to it now.
“We can’t just let it go,” wheezed the second creature.
“Why not?”
“What if it joins the Uberbeest?”
“Nobody joins the Uberbeest. You go near that thing, you die.”
“We do… but what about that?” The wheezer pointed a skeletal finger at the girl.
The gurgler said, “How can we tell?”
“Dunno, but it’s heading straight for the ‘beest’s lair. Maybe we can go down and stop it? Make it change its course, away from Uber?”
“Well, I do have this doctor’s note…”
“Both of us,” interrupted wheezy, with an edge to his shattered voice.
After some small amount of bickering, the two creatures began to scurry from sinister tree to sinister tree, trying to regain the ground they had lost on the creature while they had been talking.
‘Scurry’, of course, seems a highly inappropriate term to use in this case. We are, after all, talking about a nine foot tall troll-like creature with sacklike skin and a single eye where his head should be. He drools a lot, which can be a problem, because his mouth hangs rather closer to his genitals than he would like. He wobbles from side to side as he covers the ground, and leave footprints that would make a Yeti feel inadequate.
The other creature is not a scurryer either. Pale green skin sinks skeletally against his bones. His forehead is a jagged split, with limp green hair hanging on either side of it. A forked tongue protrudes from his slitted face. The whole effect is rather hampered by the fact that he wears sandals that his mother bought for him. Family! They’ll get you every time!
Nevertheless, they covered the ground surprisingly quickly and overtook the girl as she was tackling the muddy green splurge of the Blackswamps. She looked up, ankle-deep in slime, to see two fearful (in both senses of the word) beasts, blocking her path.
“What?” she snapped.
“Turn back or suffer the consequences,” ground sandal-feet, putting his heart and soul into the role.
“Umm… yeah… what he said,” mumbled the one-eyed troll, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
The girl’s eyes narrowed. “Or what?”
“Huh?” asked the troll.
“I’m not afraid of you.” To demonstrate the point, she squelched forward and poked Eyeball. “Or you!” Another finger stabbed at Sandals.
They were losing the initiative. Sandals decided to go for another approach. He backed up a step.
“You can’t go that way, little… creature.”
She regarded him for a long moment. “Just call me Anna. Why not?”
“You are heading straight into the lair of… the Uberbeest.”
“Is it anything like you two?” she asked, scathingly, “because you’re about as scary as a toddler’s tea-party.”
Sandals and Eyeball shuddered simultaneously. High praise indeed!
“No. The Uberbeest is nothing like any of us. You cannot imagine! Nobody escapes who enters its lair!”
“Ah.” Anna nodded. “Then that’s where I need to go.”
“Why?” asked Eyeball, stupidly.
“I’m looking for my mother. She went to sleep one day and just didn’t wake up again.”
The two creatures looked at each other, confused. Anna rolled her eyes.
“This is where I go when I sleep – so this is where Mother must be. I’ve come to find her and bring her back. It sounds like this Ooble Beast has got her trapped.”
“You’ll never make it!” gasped Sandals. Even as he said it, a seed of doubt was forming in his mind. The Anna creature seemed fearsome and totally unafraid. What if she were the one who could finally rid them of the land’s Dark Menace?
“Get out of my way!” she snarled. With an impatient gesture, she pushed past the two monsters and continued to squidge her way through the muck.
Eyeball and Sandals looked at each other, confused and defeated. Then a sense of perverse curiosity took over. Without even having to discuss it, they turned and followed her.
The days passed. Lands disappeared beneath her uncompromising tread. The Feather Mountains, the River of Paranoia, The Shelves of the Seven Plains, The Muckraker’s Heath all lay behind them now.
As the girl travelled, others had joined her entourage. Bidden by curiosity, boredom or merely a misplaced sense of hunger, nearly a dozen creatures were following in her wake. She ignored them, one and all. Other than finding her mother, she had no interest in them or their home.
She was a girl with a mission.
Finally, she entered the blasted lands where the Uberbeest lived. For the first time, she hesitated in front of a huge black cave mouth. Only for a moment, though. Her mouth set into a thin line and she stepped inside, followed by the tremulous foot/pawsteps of the horrors that stalked her.
She felt her way along clammy walls, unable to penetrate the darkness, even an inch ahead of her. The cave seemed to narrow at the back. At its slimmest, she could almost touch both walls at the same time. Something sinister crunched beneath her feet as she walked.
It mattered not. She was coming close and she knew it.
Abruptly, the passage widened into a room, where an eerie light pulsed. The other creatures cowered back in abject terror. Anna took her first look at the Uberbeest.
The form was all shadow and vortex. It changed constantly, defying the eye to see what was really there. A vaguely humanoid form, sucking blackness into its centre, with a corona of green and blue, shimmering like cold fire around its edges.
The chamber was freezing cold. It seemed to drop its temperature even further as a moaning voice issued from the ‘beest.
“Annaripta! What on earth are you doing here?”
Anna flung herself forward, to the dismay of the creatures behind her.
“Mother! I’ve come to take you home!”
The hollow voice of the vortex became suddenly stern.
“Does your father know you’re here, Annaripta?”
“Mother…”
“You snuck off without telling him, didn’t you?”
The monsters fled as a single unit when they heard the dread voice. It erupted, cracking the ground around them, hurling fire into the air in random directions. Acid dripped from the walls, eating into their skins as they ran. Their eardrums vibrated in agony and blood leaked from their various orifices.
Back in the cave, Anna looked abashed as her mother continued the rant.
“…and I’ll bet you didn’t do your chores before you left. I go away for a bit of a break and the next thing you know, the household has fallen apart without me. And who on earth dressed you before you came out? Get out of that body immediately. Annaripta Headoffn Spatdownafrote, I am ashamed of you. Oh, I can see I’m going to have to come home immediately before the whole place goes to rack and ruin!
Anna shed the humanoid shell (it was no further use to her) and tried not to look too smug as she ran into her mother’s demonic arms.
They were going home!
Last edited by Chinaren on Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:29 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:06 pm Post subject: First call for last orders. |
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Okay then, the entries seem to have dried up a little, but I will leave it a little while longer before closing this part of the competition and starting phase 2 - The Judgement!
Anyone who wishes to put themselves forward  please PM me your entry, or PM me your intention to enter, so I know to hold off a while.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 5:40 pm Post subject: Entry 7 - Silence. |
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Silence.
Human Male ran down the hall. He was terrified, more than terrified, he’d reached a peak of his fear, all thoughts were clouded, instinct kicking in, and what instinct said was: Run away.
Human Male stopped, a wall seemingly appearing from nowhere. Wait, on the wall was a door. Human opened it with sweaty, shaking hands. He ran in, and looked around. A rattle could be heard. It could be heard in the walls, moving into the floor, like an invisible snake. He was crying.
‘WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!’
He ran back for the door, which had disappeared. The room was pitch-black, escape impossible. He turned around and around, like some kind of sick, sweating ballet dancer. He stopped spinning, but the room had to catch up, slowing down and stopping several seconds after he did. He stopped as the rattle grew louder. It then stopped. A door opened, and light flooded in. Silhouettes could be seen in the light. Human Male then noticed he was frozen. He was frozen on the spot.
‘Oh god no….Please….’
They walked in, sticking to the close bunch they had arrived as, as if they had been glued together.
‘PLEASE! Please don’t!’
No answer, they stood watching him.
‘Oh god I’m gonna die….’
Human Male broke down to his knees, not moving from the spot, as if his brain would not cooperate. Then, he could see them, hideously mutated, deformed things, servants to Satan himself perhaps. An Unholy presence in a Cathedral of Fear.
‘Please! Have Mercy! I WANT TO LIVE!’
Their leader, a little girl, stepped forward. She extended a hand. Human Male Recoiled from it tears and sweat glistening on his face. He was shaking tremendously, if his shaking got any worse he seemed as if he might simply fall to pieces. The girl stood there, motionless. She walked forward.
‘No! No! NO!’
Silence. Silence is all that remains. Silence has reclaimed its kingdom, disturbed only briefly by an unwelcome visitor.
Fortunately, with some persuasion, that visitor is now a part of the silence.
It is at a whole again.
Last edited by Chinaren on Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:28 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:39 am Post subject: Entry 8 - By Monday. |
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By Monday.
“Uncle! Mummy says come to eat your dinner before it gets cold and she throws it in the dog!”
Smey looked up from his apparatus, a piece of copper wire in his hand. Etheral Phanny Stoat was standing in the center of the room with her hands on her hips giving him the evil eye. Even though his niece was only 10, she was already becoming the terror that her mother, his sister, was.
“I am coming my dear child. I just have to finish attaching the retinal franklobuble drive-cam and…”
“Come NOW!” stamped Phanny. “Now now now! Mummy said if I was back before you then you would be in trouble. BIG trouble!” She smiled.
“Oh my goodness! Behind you!” said Smey, a look of horror on his face.
Ethereal Phanny spun around quickly, but there was nothing there. By the time she looked back Smey was past her and running for the dining room. “Not fair!” she cried and ran after him.
“I don’t know why I always have to call you fifteen times for dinner” said Phanny’s mother when he sat down to his pork chops. “It will be all cold you know!”
Smey waved a knife as he stuffed food into his face. “It is nearly done” he said, spitting mashed potato over the table as he did so. “Soon my dimension generator shall be ready, and the military will pay through the nose for such a device!”
“All I know is the electricity bills have shot up since you moved in here. You better come up with something by Monday or you will be back out working in that electric shop down the road again.”
Smey smiled and nodded and ate his dinner as quickly as he could. He was close now, he could feel it.
*
It was Sunday evening. Smey was pulling his hair out, and ranting at his machine. It should work! What was wrong with the damn thing?
A noise from the middle of the floor. It was Etheral Phanny again, standing in her usual pose, emulating her mother. “Mummy said you had better finish it tonight, or you will be out on your bottom.”
Smey banged the side of the Dimensional Vortex generator in frustration. “I know that you stupid little…”
He broke off. Behind Phanny a dark tear had opened up in the air. It was working! At long last, success!
“Don’t you call me bad names! I know your wife threw you out! I am going to tell mummy unless you say sorry!”
But Smey wasn’t listening to her. He was staring in horror at the monstrosities that had climbed out of the tear in the universe and into this one. More were coming through, but five or six were already in and looking about curiously. They were monsters! Deformed creatures with melted skin and mangled bodies! How could it be? His calculations… his calculations… He stopped. The things were looking at him and young Phanny.
“Behind you! Run! Run for your life girl!” And he backed away in fear.
Phanny merely stood, tapping her foot. “I am not falling for that one again Uncle…” she started. Smey didn’t wait to see more. He turned and sprinted for the back door. Behind him horrible screams died away slowly, to be replaced by the sound of splintering bones.
Smey ran and ran. Behind him the tear widened and widened, letting the creatures from beyond enter a new and full feeding ground…
Last edited by Chinaren on Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:32 pm; edited 2 times in total
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| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:02 am Post subject: |
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Okay then, the time for submissions is now closing! If you have an entry this is the FINAL CALL!
Submit your entry quick, The Judgement will start tomorrow!
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| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:15 pm Post subject: Entry 9 - 7 Seconds. |
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Earl sat at his computer. He was what you might call a graphic geek, and it was his joy to find the strangest pictures that the net could produce. Usually he had a great deal of luck, but tonight it was running dry. Sipping his coffee, Earl scrolled down the Google image list.
Ah! Finally, a picture that looked promising. He sat up a little straighter and clicked on the link. For a moment the screen was blank, white and empty. Then the picture flashed up, filling the entire screen. Earl jumped back and spilled his drink in his lap, but he didn’t notice. He was too engrossed with the picture.
In the foreground stood a young brunette girl. She wore a black dress and pert black shoes, had her hands on her hips and looked pissed as hell. A small bone lie at her feet, and a raven perched on her shoulder. This, however, was not what commanded Earl’s attention. For behind the girl was ranged a group of the most fantastically rendered monsters Earl had ever seen. The one immediately behind the girl had a single bulging eye and a mouth that seemed to be melting off its face. There was one that looked like a zombie girl, another like a stump of deadwood with heads growing out of it. Floating behind droop-mouth was a green tentacled creature with a grinning set of teeth holding a skull with three eye sockets, and beside it was a thing with fangs in its chest. A grim reaper figure was lurking in the background.
“Wow,” breathed Earl, staring at the picture, setting his coffee cup on the desk. Of all the weird pictures he had seen, this one took the cake.
Suddenly the phone rang. Earl jumped a foot in the air, then clawed across the trash-littered desktop for the phone. “Hello?” he said, holding it up to his ear.
A childish, raspy voice breathed in his ear. “S-s-e-e-v-v-v-e-e-n-n-n s-s-e-e-e-c-c-c-o-o-o-n-n-n-d-d-s-s-s t-t-t-o-o l-l-l-i-i-i-i-v-v-v-e-e-e.” Then they hung up.
For a second Earl simply stared at the now toneless receiver. Then with a shrug, he moved to put it down and looked back at the computer. Staring at the screen, he froze, and the phone fell dead from his fingers.
The picture was the same, covering the entire screen, every detail just like before. Except for one thing – the girl was now smiling. Grinning, in fact, a vulture’s grin, and her eyes gleamed. There came a knock at the door. Trying to steady his breathing, Earl opened it up. A little girl stood before him. She looked strangely familiar…
“Do I know you?” he asked, puzzled.
“You should,” she said, sounding irritated. “You, of all people Earl, should know me very well.” Now she sounded angry, and she looked up at him. The lights in the corridor dimmed, and Earl saw the girl was wearing a black dress. And behind her were…were…
Earl’s eyes bulged out of his sockets, and his mouth stretched in a soundless scream.
~ - ~
Sammie sat at her computer, looking for odd pictures. One especially caught her eye – a girl in a black dress, surrounded by six monsters. A giant fanged squid, an undead, one with a melting face, a black-robed skeletal creature, a tree with heads, one with two sets of teeth…and one in the back, like a great gray sloth, with his skin drooping off in folds, revealing the red flesh beneath.
The phone rang.
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| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 6:41 pm Post subject: Okay - Judge! |
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Right then! The time to Judge is upon us!
Please read the first post in this thread for how to Judge!
I will update the first post with any news, so keep an eye on it as well!
Let the Judgement begin!
<runs off to put the poll up>
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Key
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| Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Let us know who's winning in the "guess who wrote what" contest as the guesses come in. That's the most interesting part to me.
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 1:16 am Post subject: |
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Okay, slight change of point system, unless anyone objects?
You will Score: (and I will put this at the top).
Half a point (.5) for guessing an author, but not putting the right name to the right story. EG:If Smee writes story number 10, and you guess Smee wrote story 5, then you get .5 points.
3 points for guessing correctly eg:Smee number 10.
1 point for 'guessing' your own entry, as it isn't fair to give three, but it isn't fair to not reward you either.
Based on the above method I can reveal that Key has scored 5 points! Woooo! He is winning so far! 
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Smee
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| Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:40 am Post subject: |
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Now this was a tough decision.
It's awesome how we managed to come up with so many different ways of writing about the same picture.
In the end it came down to either A Happier Place, or The Champion.
The Champion - I loved the banter between Sandals and Eyeball, but I didn't like the ending so much.
A Happier Place - I just loved the line: The little girl put her hands on her hips. “Well?” she said. “What do you want?”
In the end I voted for A Happier Place.
Well done mystery author.
Happy Writing.
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:09 am Post subject: |
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Oooh! So far A HAPPIER PLACE by  is in the lead! Smee and Fauna have managed to guess well, and both have 13 points for the Author/Story part.
Come on people! Let's have more guessing!
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Smee
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:15 am Post subject: |
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No there isn't Lordy
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 6:29 am Post subject: |
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*mutters* damn you Smee...
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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Well yes, you could, though the winner gets the Fables that everyone has submitted for the guesses, so you would mainly win your own Fables back. And if someone else guessed all correctly, then you would have to share!
Also, I would probably get P****d off with several hundred entries, as I transfer the guess into a spreadsheet and tally them 'manually' at the moment!!
However, have a go!
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 6:58 am Post subject: |
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I had to vote for The Champion? It's a lovely and warm story 
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| Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 10:30 pm Post subject: |
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Okay it is nearly time! I will leave this another day and then close the competition.
If you wish to enter the 'who's the author' part please PM me. Otherwise get your votes in quick!
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:51 am Post subject: |
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Okay all. This one is now closed!
Keep an eye out for SoaP 2 coming soon, probably in the Linear or Open forum.
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 2:15 am Post subject: |
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Woohoo! I won!
and...
*blush* I lost!
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:28 am Post subject: |
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Well, my story wasn't overly popular, but my author guesses were fairly decent.
*arranges time-share of trophy with Smee*
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:32 am Post subject: |
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An excellent competition that was great fun.
It never occured to me there might be two entries from someone (naughty stoat ), and Lordy was so noisy I presumed he must have been there somewhere.
Stoat I can't believe you thought I managed a story in just 2000 characters - no way would I have managed it.
I did intend to enter, but with 700 words written I realised it was going to go way beyond 2000 words and gave in.
Hopefully the next one I'll find time to enter, and find inspiration that's a little more concise.
Well done Stoat - a well deserved win.
Happy Writing.
P.S - DragonFire - maybe if you wrote a few more chapters I might have recognised your writing.
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 5:05 pm Post subject: |
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*goes and recounts*
ok, stoat's first was way under 2000 words, but it was ingro who thought it was 2000
infact, stoats second was only 1,200ish words, and was by far the longest - most people doing and 600 words / 2000 characters
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| Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 5:33 pm Post subject: |
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OKay then, I am going to post the next SoaP in the Open forum I think. I suppose I should post it in Linear, but I would like it to get more exposure, and I don't think Linear is visited as much as Open.
What does everyone else think?
Maybe I can move it to a different forum everytime? Or how about a new forum for writing competitions?
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:23 am Post subject: |
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I think enough people find things via 'all new posts' for it to get plenty of visits in Linear.
Does Stoat choose the picture this time?
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 12:28 am Post subject: |
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She has sent me some (bloody good) ones to choose from, plus I have one as well. Actually, I think she should make the choice.
Are you listening Stoat? Send me your choice!
Have to go, more tomorrow...
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Strata-gems
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| Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 1:49 am Post subject: |
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Okay. Choice sent.
That having been said, I've got to throw my two pennies worth into the 'where should this competition be' debate.
What's wrong with right here? It did great, didn't it? Nine entries, loads of voting, and it's company for my two increasingly lonely storygames
Seriously, though, if you put it in Fantasy or Sci-Fi, people are going to start limiting themselves on what to write and it'll change the nature of the competition. Experimental doesn't come with all that baggage.
Open and Linear forums are a decent idea... except for one thing. There's no fables to be earned there, so effectively you're telling people to write a story for nothing (something which I personally don't mind but a lot of people, in the new commercial climate of IF, do) and you're charging them an entrance fee for writing it. I have to say I object to being made to pay for writing stories, and I suspect other people will as well. It's my guess that many people won't enter unless they think they have a more-than-decent chance of winning the prize, and we'll end up not getting the wealth of variety that we had in the first SoaP.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it - and as far as I'm concerned, this competition ain't broke!
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