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Crunchyfrog
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 Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 2:04 am Post subject: The Hangover - Completed! |
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Welcome to The Hangover. 
What you read here is an experiment in Co-Authorship. The original story was laid down spontaneously in This thread. However, the writing style was very much Role Play to begin with, so the story needed some heavy editing to bring it into a more easily flowing, chapterised format, in this Final Version thread.
During the experiment, a discussion thread was set up, where we eventually learned to plan each chapter before writing it, and write co-operatively from a single point of view. By Chapter 25, the writing style had evolved to the point where each contribution could be transferred directly to this Final Version thread, with very little alteration.
The material from each co-author is identified by their own symbolic icon, the key to which is below.
On behalf of all of the co-authors, I hope you enjoy the journey and evolution of The Hangover
- Crunchyfrog
Chapter 1 - The Labyrinth and the Well
It had been a marvelous New Years party. The skies above the City of If had been ablaze fireworks popping above the decorated streets, the great spires of the municipal buildings shimmering in the light. Throughout the evening long and tall tales had been told from the vaults, grand speeches had been given by the King, Mayor, and many of the normally quieter citizens had come out into the streets, to party the night away.
But that seemed a distant fuzzy memory now, as Crunchyfrog dangled dangerously from a tree root that protruded near the top of a cliff face, some distance from the city. Hanging by both hands, he stared out to the horizon, where he could see the spires in the mist, as the sun began to rise. Something didn't look right. He thought he could see smoke hanging over the whole city. Everything looked dull, not gleaming like it did when he came upon it for the first time a month ago. Something had happened after he blacked out at the party.
He had no idea how he'd got here now. Looking down, there was a narrow ledge about 10 feet below him, then a sheer drop of several hundred feet below that. On the ledge lay a figure, which was beginning to stir. He recognised the groans as coming from one of his new IFian friends...
Above him, he could hear scuffling, and the cries of some mythical animal he was not familiar with. Presently, a dark hood peered over the edge of the cliff.
"Crunchyfrog?" called Masterweaver. "Is there any particular reason you're hanging down there?"
Crunchyfrog craned his neck upwards.
"I'm not really sure," he answered weakly.
Masterweaver sighed. "Hold on, I've caught a Pegasus, I might be able to get you out. Careful now, it’s not very tame-"
Crunchyfrog listened to more scuffling on the clifftop above, wondering how Masterweaver was going to achieve this.
As Masterweaver took hold of the makeshift bridle, the Peg turned around, lifted its tail and dropped a load over the cliff, narrowly missing Crunchyfrog and the unconscious IFian on the ledge below. Masterweaver attempted to cajole the animal into allowing him to mount it, but it reared up and shook its head menacingly.
"Wait... This isn't going to work! shouted Crunchyfrog. “Whoever it is that is lying on the ledge below me is barely conscious. If I let go of this tree root, I may land on him/her, and possibly make any injuries worse. And I can't get both of us on to the Peg's back as it flies by, not from this position. The ledge is far too narrow, and I'm not confident about lifting a person who may even be heavier than me.”
Masterweaver stopped.
"Hmmm." he said. "I see what you mean."
Masterweaver stared down at Crunchyfrog hanging from the tree root, and the other IFian, lying on the ledge 10 feet further down.
"Maybe a bit of rope might be more sensible... I could get the Peg to help pull you up instead..... "
Masterweaver paused, and stared over the cliff at Crunchyfrog.
"Hey, Crunch, why have you got a huge piece of rolled up parchment stuffed down the back of your pants?"
"I don’t know, I didn't put it there!" yelled Crunchyfrog. "Now, you were saying about that rope..."
"That parchment looks really long! Can we use it as a rope?" called Masterweaver.
"We could if I could reach it!"
"Ok, stay there!"
Crunchyfrog rolled his eyes.
The black leather robe let himself fall onto the ledge below Crunchyfrog, accidentally nudging the unidentified IFian closer to the edge.
"Right," said Masterweaver. "You drop, I'll catch you, and we'll use that parchment as a rope, agreed?"
"What about the Peg?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"It flew off." grumbled Masterweaver. "Now I'll have to catch it all over again. Ah well. Ready? One, two three-"
THUMP!!!
Crunchyfrog let himself fall, knocking Masterweaver over. They scrabbled to safety away from the edge.
"Sorry, was I supposed to wait until 'go'?" grinned Crunchyfrog.
"Oh, no prob," said Masterweaver, dusting himself off. He pulled the scroll out of Crunch's clothing, and unravelled it.
"This parchment is certainly long enough to use as a rope. You got a grappling hook?"
"No..." Crunchyfrog shrugged.
Suddenly, they heard a groan, as their unknown companion stirred. Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver gasped as he rolled over, causing his legs to flail over the edge.
D-Lotus groaned, fluctuating between consciousness and a deep ensnaring darkness. He could detect shouts somewhere above him, but they seemed distant and dimming. He was now holding on to a protruding rock on the edge of a ledge, using all his strength to persevere. He could feel a biting cold around his dangling legs and feet. All his muscles were tensed and tired, but he mustered a cry of help towards the heavens.
He couldn't remember why he was here, or who had placed him in this precarious position. The last thing D had contemplated was his office, and grabbing his coat to join the celebration outside. He remembered the oaken door with a fuzzy rectangle of glass incrusted in it's middle, and the words reading:
D-Lotus
Private Investigator
What case had he been working on? D couldn't remember. The only memories he could hold on to were of leaving the office, putting his coat on, and then a white flash- that's all.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:07 pm; edited 34 times in total
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 2:33 am Post subject: |
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Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver inched their way across the ledge to pull their companion back to safety, but just as they did so, a huge red dragon soared past, with a large lampshade on its head. It could only be Kalanna Rai.
Upon landing on the cliff edge above and behind them, she pulled the lampshade off her head, and, reaching down with her tail, neatly lifted the figure back onto the ledge.
"Don't party if you can't hold your own, " she warned, condecendingly. "I've got to be going gentlemen, and robe. Enjoy the day."
With that Rai launched herself upward again.
As they stared after her, Masterweaver and Crunchyfrog considered that they were evidently blessed with some luck; whether it was good or bad, neither were quite sure. After all, they were still stranded on the ledge, with an unconcious companion...
The shafts of morning light slowly began to move onto the ledge and finally Masterweaver was able to get a good look at their companion.
"Hey, it's D-Lotus!" he exclaimed.
"D-Lotus!"
Crunchyfrog nearly toppled off the ledge in surprise, but Masterweaver pulled him back.
"D-Lotus, are you okay?" asked Crunchyfrog.
D-Lotus groaned, opened his eyes momentarily and closed them again. Was that Crunchyfrog in front of him? AND Masterweaver? What was Masterweaver doing to one of the parchment scrolls from the City Council Hall?
He tried to point and tell Masterweaver to stop mangling the precious scroll but was still recovering his senses.
Crunchyfrog stood up and put his hand on Masterweavers shoulder.
"Wait, I think he's trying to say something." he said.
Masterweaver leaned on the cliff wall, as the shafts of sunlight continued to move across it. Then he simply fell through it, as a section of the rock slid downwards, revealing a tunnel within.
Finally the world was becoming clearer and sharper. In front of him, D-Lotus could see Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver. Something red and scaly had answered his call to heaven and somehow dropped him to safety. D tremblingly got up and rested against a tree while the two Ifians started raising their voices.
"What is it?" Asked D, extenuated.
A muffled cry reached out from a black hole in the cliff wall.
"I found a tunnel!"
A tunnel? Didn't D's investigation have something to do with tunnels..? And what about the City Hall parchment scroll?
_______________
Meanwhile, BStheGreat stood in the distance, his figure hidden from view behind a large willow tree and his solid black eyes grasping the scene before him. He was kneeling down with his right hand resting against the staff of his bow, and his left hand tossing feeling the soft soil beneath the root of the tree. As silently as a cat about to strike, he stood up and grabbed an arrow from the quiver over shoulder. It was a simple wood arrow made with an iron head, although a violet colored ribbon lay tied to it.
"Your life is safe today D-Lotus," BS said to himself. "But you are a marked man, and I shall not forget what you did to me. Your life may be over sooner than you think."
With that BStheGreat loosed an arrow, and listened to it whistle as it soared through the air. With near perfect accuracy, the arrow landed just in front of the crowd of three, and before the assailant could be identified, BS disappeared into the retreating shadows.
_____________
There was something like a sizzle in the air or an angry whistle and an arrow burrowed itself at D's feet. D looked around, but there was only a dead silence everywhere. Suddenly a change overcame D-Lotus and he sprung to balance. A plot...tunnels...arrows... it was something he had been investigating, except he couldn't remember what.
“What in the world is going on?” he thought to himself. “Is this connected to my last case?”
He warily made his way closer to the other two for protection, although it seemed the assailer had left. Well, better find out where that tunnel led to- maybe it held the answer to this mystery.
"Let's get a torch." said D.
The tunnel was dark, earthy and scary; in addition it was filled with spiders webs and scurrying sounds. Crunchyfrog was holding the quickly manufactured torch in her hand. It consisted of a piece of garment rolled around the end of a branch lit on fire. Consequently, there was a large rip in Masterweaver's undershirt.
"Where are we going?" asked Masterweaver.
"I'm not sure. Here, let me see that parchment." said D-Lotus.
Masterweaver reluctantly handed the brittle paper to D, who held it under the torch light. There seemed to be some kind of magical quality to it, as it wasn't defined by any size- it kept changing. The picture that D opened up began changing as well. It slowly transformed into the map of a myriad of tunnels. A red arrow began creeping through the map, indicating a path towards the convergence of all the tunnels.
"This way." pointed D, as Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver followed him speculatively.
Presently, they came to a junction, and a new tunnel.
"I don't think that tunnel's on the map," replied Crunchy.
Masterweaver glanced at the map, then at the tunnel.
"GET DOWN!" he cried suddenly.
"What? It's not like there's going to be a cave-in??" said D.
As if on queue, the tunnel imploded. Everyone fell to the ground.
_______________
Meanwhile, back at the Council Hall Rai was surprised to find it a flurry of action. Grabbing one of the small, furry orange things that Chinaren had hired to do the fetch and carry work, she demanded to know what was going on.
"It seems that sometime last night, an unknown person, or persons, stole the Master Map of the City. The Mayor and King are both rather upset about it, since that Map is the only one with the location of...er...things."
Rai had to take her time with the creature to get it to divulge exactly what the map showed. Her eyes went wide.
"Sweet DM in the sky! They have the location to the Soul Well?"
The creature glumly nodded. After the Mass exorcisim that expunged the soulless IFians the excess soul power had to go somewhere, thus the Soul Well had been created. Now, some mad Ifian had that info. "I've got to do something." she said.
Taking flight over the city, Rai searched, almost frantic to spot something that would lead her to the map, even though it was a billion to one that she would. She was gliding over Games when an explosion boiled upward from below. Twitching a scaley eyebrow she plunged downward, switching on a momentary intangibility spell. She found herself in a rubble filled tunnel confronting a very odd bunch.
Masterwaver, Crunchyfrog, and D-Lotus stared back at her, covered in dust and rubble. Rai shook her head, she'd just left them! "I'm gone for a moment and you three managed to ruin a major section of the city." Only then noticing the parchment held in D-Lotus's hand she reached out and snatched it up.
"What! You stole the map!?"
"I didn't steal it. He did!" said D- Lotus, pointing at Masterweaver, since the first time he'd seen it was when Masterweaver was trying to make a rope out of it.
"I didn't steal it. He did!" cried Masterweaver, pointing at Crunchyfrog, since when he had first seen it, it was stuffed down the back of Crunchyfrog's pants.
Kalanna turned on the newbie.
"And how exactly did YOU come by the map?" she asked.
"Er... uhhh... well.... I have no idea.." Crunchyfrog replied. "You see, I was at the New Years Party, in the City, and then all of a sudden there was a flash, and I blacked out, and then I was hanging from a tree root at the top of that cliff, with er, this parchment stuffed down my butt..."
"The same white flash I experienced?" muttered D-Lotus. "I ended up here several feet below you. Strange. What about you, Masterweaver?"
"I didn't go to the party." replied Masterweaver. I was a good boy, and concentrated on my storygames. I spent the night out hunting for specimens for my Mythbiology game. I caught a Pegasus, which I have now gone and lost trying to rescue you guys...."
"But did you see anything unusual?"
"A huge flash of lightning from the City, and then just about everyone running from it, towards the gorge, on the northern side of Fantasy Forest and out to the southern side of Jester Park..."
"And what about you, Kalanna. What were your experiences?" asked D, as he picked up the arrow, with the violet ribbon, which had amazingly survived the explosion.
Rai glared at them. "Oh do you mean Smee's fireworks? I know they got a little out of hand but really...running in terror?"
Of course Rai had had a lampshade over her eyes for most of the evening. The flash hadn't really affected her. "But now come to think of it...Smee was finished by that time...humm." she thought to herself.
Still she had the map, although thinking of it as froggy toilet paper made her handle it with talon tips, her job was done.
"Well I think that the three of you have been...hey lemme see that."
Her tail flicked the purple ribboned arrow up to her eyes for closer inspection. Taking an unabashed sniff she growled a bit.
"I'm afraid one of you has a BS problem," she announced.
The entire party instantly turned their gazes upon Masterweaver who made a defensive gesture. The dragon sighed.
"Not that kind of BS problem," she explained. "I'm talking BS the Great, although what you could have done to him is beyond me. If I were you I'd watch your backs for a while."
Remuttering the intangibilty spell Rai turned one large copper eye on them.
"I've got what I came for and had better return it to the Council Hall before China has a coronary...remember, watch your backs."
With that she took flight, leaving the three puzzled Ifians to figure their own way out while she returned the Map.
"Watch your backs? Is that it?" said Crunchyfrog incredulously, as he watched Kalanna disappear back towards the rather lifeless looking city centre, still enshrouded with a strange fog of smoke. "She takes away the one piece of information we might need to get ourselves back to safety, and tells us to watch our backs?"
"Something tells me there was information on that parchment we were not supposed to see. Something privvy to moderators and other City dignatories." mused D-Lotus. "It's return to the City vaults is obviously much more important than our personal safety right now..."
"Something tells me that whoever swiped that parchment, thought it would be very funny to plant it down the back of my pants, and then place you and I in a predicament from which we could not escape, for whatever reason. And right now they think we're still there, incapacitated. And if it's that important a document, they're going to be coming back for us, thinking we've still got it." said Crunchyfrog.
"BS The Great?" ventured Masterweaver.
"Maybe." replied D-Lotus. "Who knows. We'd better move on"
They climbed over the rubble and headed further into the labyrinth.
_______________________________
Meanwhile, Rai winged her way back to the Council Hall and returned to her Lair there. Depositing the map on a table, and covering to keep it safe, she tapped her Crystal wall and settled back. Soon enough a familiar face swam into view.
"Lordy, you owe me this time."
The demon smirked at her.
"I trust you got it back?" he asked.
The dragon inclined her head. What kind of fool did he take her for?
"I did although I'm not going to explain to China what you were doing with it in the first place. That's all your mess to sort out." she replied.
"I trust you haven't returned it."
Did he think she was stupid?
"No, but I'm also not letting you have it back," stated Kalanna. "Like I said, you've got to clear this little 'excursion' with the higher-ups before I'll have anything more to do with it. I've got enough invested in the Idearium mines that I don't want you fooling around with it."
The demon grinned.
"Trust me," he said.
Terminating the connect Rai decided that maybe she had better keep a good eye on that map after all.
______________________________
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:09 pm; edited 6 times in total
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 2:40 am Post subject: |
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Guided now only by their memory of the map, and some good guesswork, D-Lotus, Crunchyfrog and Masterweaver slowly made their way further into the labyrinth under the cliff. They noticed that it was getting colder as they moved inwards. They had been travelling down the same tunnel for nearly an hour, when it
opened up suddenly, into a large cavity full of stalactites and frosting. D tried to cover himself from the cold with his arms. Crunchyfrog's hot breath turned into steam. Throughout the cavern there was an innumerable number of small pools, large enough for a man to jump into. They seemed shallow, but it was impossible to tell the depth because they were covered in a film of cloudy swirls.
"What is this place?" asked Masterweaver, staring around in bewilderment.
"It's obviously the convergence of all the tunnels." D said, pointing at all the other tunnel openings throughout the cavern.
"That's strange. I was sure we got lost and weren't following the red arrow in the map at all." Crunchyfrog reflected.
"You're right." said D, furrowing his brows. "Which means either of two things: one, that there is more than one path to this cavern, or two, that the map is wrong."
"Well, the map only showed one possible path, so it has to be wrong anyway in case the first option is true." Crunchyfrog elucidated.
"So the map is a phony! A fake! That is why it was planted in your pocket, to lead us to a false route. We need to tell Kalanna about this urgently..." D was concluding, when suddenly Masterweaver began yelling and scrabbling back from one of the pools where he had wandered to. But it resulted ineffective, and he was suddenly yanked into the pool where he disappeared while D and Crunchyfrog stared in amazement. Not just because Masterweaver had disappeared into the pool, but because the last thing they saw was his hand, attempting to hold on to the floor of the cavern before it was swallowed by the cloudy pool. Masterweaver was a robe with no apparent body within it. How could there have been a hand? They were beginning to wonder how much of what they were seeing was real...
"Now what?" asked D.
"We get the hell out of here." said Sasuke as he came out of his hiding spot behind a spire by the pool where Masterweaver had been sucked in.
D and Crunchy stared. In the darkness, a young kid emerged. There was something strange about his calm manner.
"We'll need help to get him back," Sasuke continued. "Has anything changed in If in six years?"
Crunchy and D stared for a moment as they took in the question.
D was the first to speak.
"Uh, where have you been the last six years?" he asked.
Sasuke was appalled, thinking: "He can't figure that out?" but then spoke quickly and calmly as possible.
"In here," he replied.
"Well... what did you do for food?" asked Crunchy, surprised.
"Mushrooms." replied Sasuke, smiling, indicating clumps of curious looking mushrooms, growing in the damper corners of the caverns.
Before they had the chance to come to terms with Sasuke's appearance on the scene, the waters of the pool started bubbling ferociously, and suddenly, exploding from the pond came a grey seven headed hydra with the wet cloth that was Masterweaver, held in the rightmost maw.
Slowly, the middle head intoned an ancient spell.
"Blard Gaes Incrorted Woldf arcaf."
Spinning from the the caves, a portal zoomed closer. Crunchyfrog and Sasuke jumped away. D, however, appeared to be consumed before he could turn around.
"Niteo gast eroid uion."
Anthor portal twirled hungrily forward,
and in the confusion, Sasuke tried to push Crunchy out of the way, knowing that Crunchy wouldn't escape this, but his attempts were in vain.
They felt the portal sucking them in, as the hydra appeared to throw Masterweaver straight into it.
"What's going on???" screamed Crunchyfrog, as he struggled against the suction of the vortex.
He glanced at Sasuke at his side and noted the continued calmness of the young Ifian, staring into mid space, to a point beyond the portal, as if it didn't even exist.
"Just don’t believe it's there." Sasuke said calmly.
"Huh?" shrieked Crunchyfrog.
"Because it isn't."
"WE'RE GOING TO METROID FUSION!!!!"
"Have a mushroom." replied Sasuke, pulling a mushroom out of his pocket and slamming it into Crunchyfrog's mouth.
After almost choking on the mushroom, he finally swallowed it, and after a moment reality began to take hold again. The pool was quiet. D and Masterweaver were quivering wrecks on the floor, D believing at the moment that he was somewhere in the realm of World of Warcraft.
"What about the hydra?" gasped a perspiring Crunchyfrog.
"The hydra was hallucination - a property of these caves. A power of the ..... souls..... "
"Souls?"
"You have not seen what I have seen." said Sasuke distantly.
Crunchyfrog blinked. This was too much.
"Okay, explain everything right now, Mushroom, boy!" he demanded. "My friends are taking a bath with a hydra, you're talking cryptically about souls, we were about to get sucked into portals ending up supposedly in giant fantasy computer worlds, and I want to know what's with these frigging mushrooms!"
Sasuke stared at him calmly.
"Where do you want me to start, Crunchy?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders.
"Explaining how and when you got stuck in here, would be a good start..."
Sasuke stared at the ground.
"My mother locked me in here..." he replied.
Crunchyfrog took a deep breath, and let his anger pass. This was getting weirder by the minute. Carrying on this line of interrogation probably wouldn't yield anything of use, he thought, and he could do without childhood sob-stories right now.
Although he was thankful that Masterweaver was still with them, he didn't quite understand the sequence of events that had just passed, with the portals, and was amazed at how someone could survive six years in a cave on mushrooms alone. But he had to admit they were very tasty, and probably quite nutritious, and if they possessed properties that counteracted aberrations in reality, then he was all for that.
D-Lotus, who had been unconscious on the ground regained his senses with a start, and was surprised too, to see Masterweaver lying next to him.
"Dont get too excited." said Sasuke. "Masterweaver is alive, but he's been in there. He’s been in one of the Wells. How his physical form got spat out again I don’t know, it doesn't usually happen..."
"What does that mean for Masterweaver? Will he be ok?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"His mind can still be rescued, but not from here. It will take time to get where we need to be, in order to reunite that body, with his soul." replied Sasuke. He stood up and began walking towards one of the tunnels.
"Follow me, we'll need Key. He is still king correct?
"Yes..." replied Crunchyfrog the newbie, naively.
Crunchyfrog looked back at D and Masterweaver, still laying, quivering by the side of the pool. Masterweaver could not be helped for now. But without the aid of the mushrooms, that he, Crunchy, had eaten, would D still be hallucinating? He saw D rise to his feet and try to follow.
D-Lotus stood still, encroached and surrounded by three or four pools. The child that had suddenly appeared from behind a spire was walking away with Crunchyfrog towards another tunnel where bats were emerging from. Why was he leading towards that path? It seemed more dangerous than any of the other tunnels. Did he have some sort of control over Crunchyfrog? Who was he, anyway, and how had he been here all this time? There was something fishy about this kid's story. He had said he'd been here for six years, yet Key only became king last year- he was mayor before that. So how could the kid know Key was king- furthermore, six years ago, Key had been called Keavney; he changed his name when the site moved from Interfable to Cityf of If. D made a note not to trust everything the kid said from now on.
D turned around and saw the hydra staring at him.
"Help!" he cried to the two who were leaving without him. They both turned towards him, with smiles on their faces. What are they laughing about? D attempted to run, but the pools were all around him, shimmering with their cold veil.
"Mushrooms!!!" yelled Crunchyfrog, pointing to a clump growing by D's feet. "Take the mushrooms! Eat one! TRUST ME!!!"
D froze, gaping at the hallucinations the pools were throwing at him.
"EAT ONE, DAMMIT!!!" screamed Crunchyfrog.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:12 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:57 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 2 - Mayhem in Jester Park
Masterweaver came to in the shades of a thick forest. He felt different. Although he could not explain how he got here, he strangely still had an awareness of what was going on in the caves that he had just been pulled from. He could hear the voices of Sasuke, D, and Crunchyfrog echoing in the deep recesses of his mind. He felt almost like he could communicate with them.
As he sat up he realised what felt different. Looking at his form he gasped.
"A chicken? I'm a...a giant chicken?" he squawked to himself. "And look at these wings! They're useless!"
Masterweaver paused to think. He was an anthropomorphic--no, partially anthropomorphized fowl, in what looked like Fantasy Forest. He'd best get out quick.
He took a step, and promptly fell forward, as he was unused to having a body.
At that same moment, back in the cave, Crunchyfrog had looked down at the limp robe on the cavern floor, by the pool, and asked of him:
"Masterweaver. Why don't you get up?"
His words drifted through Masterweaver's bird brain clearly.
"Because," replied Masterweaver the chicken out loud to the trees, "I'm in the body of a large fowl, in a place that looks like Fantasy Forest, some distance away. I can't see you! I can only hear you!, in my mind!"
Back in the cave, D-Lotus, having recovered from his hallucinations, thanks to the mushrooms, looked at Crunchyfrog and shrugged, hearing Masterweaver's voice coming from the robe, but not understanding what in IF he was talking about. Clearly, they both thought, he had gone quite mad.
"Well then," said D, "Maybe we should gather your body."
"Maybe you should." replied Masterweaver. "Don't put the robe on, though! I'd hate to be 'on' any of you-"
In Fantasy Forest, Masterweaver (or the chicken that contained his mind) suddenly dropped silent. In front of him landed the Pegasus. The one he had captured before.
It looked at his partially prone body, then poked it with its talon.
"Caw?"
”Great,” thought Masterweaver. “Just perfect.”
Meanwhile, back in the caves, D-Lotus wandered off to one of the cave walls, and stared closely at some etchings, obviously carved by Sasuke. There were pictures, and some markings, obviously counting time. He made some calculations. Since the boy had no idea when the sun was up or down, D-Lotus understood how easy it could be to lose track of time. Looking at the markings, he estimated Sasuke had been in the caves for just under a year. It explained a lot.
He asked Sasuke:
"Tell me, boy, have you actually seen anybody come through these tunnels recently? Someone who survived?"
Sasuke shuddered as he remembered.
"The pools were not always dangerous like this. Once, an evil, horrid, little orange furry fellow, with horns, carrying pockets stuffed with money, and with a strange instrument, he came, with some companions, and a map..." he began.
"He had a box, he unleashed terrible power from that box which he unlocked with that instrument.... he made the pools as they are now with that power.... He is evil. EVIL!!!" The terror on Sasuke's face was genuine.
D-Lotus nodded. He began to understand what the boy might have witnessed. Things were beginning to get a little clearer now...
Crunchyfrog gathered up the black leather robe and draped it over his arm. He looked down at it and sighed. Whatever realm Masterweaver's soul was in, he must be having a hard time. Crunchyfrog hoped that they could do something about his predicament soon. It was quite clear that coherent conversations with Masterweaver were going to be difficult for a while.
The threesome, with the limp Masterweaver still over Crunchyfrog's arm, and a supply of mushrooms, stumbled on through the labyrinth, looking for a way out.
As they did so, D's mind raced. Had Sasuke really witnessed the Ceremony of Release? If so, he could understand why the event might have looked so terrifying.
D remembered the day of the Mass Excorcism, the soulless IFians being rounded up and taken from the city in a container specially built for the purpose... had they really been taken and released here, into the pools?
He then had a chilling thought. If that was the case, why would an IFian want to steal the map and find his or her way back here?
D-Lotus and Crunchyfrog, having finally decided to trust Sasuke to guide them throughout the creepy tunnels, braced themselves against occasional rumbles, and the earth shaking around them.
"It's only the guardian troll on the east side." Sasuke said.
Crunchyfrog twitched nervously, remembering that the phony map could have easily led them towards the east side of the tunnels. In fact, that was probably the plan of whoever planted the map in his pocket.
"D," Crunchyfrog said, as Sasuke guided them in the dark, "Don't you think that someone was trying to kill us? I mean, they placed us right next to a cave full of monsters and evil pools and gave us a map heading right towards them!"
"It's lucky we escaped, although Masterweaver didn't." lamented D. "Who knows for how long he'll be trapped in a dual world?"
Crunchyfrog was right. Somebody had wanted to kill them without dirtying his/her own hands. Someone had given them a weapon with instructions to kill themselves, but he/she'd failed. D remembered the arrow- could it be BS the Great? Naw; from what he remembered, BS wasn't the kind to hatch plots of this kind. BS liked to make his prey feel hunted, but he wouldn't go to all this trouble. There was something greatly sinister, and D-Lotus knew he had the answer hidden somewhere in the recess of his memory, but he just couldn't dig deep enough. What was the connection between the Mass Exorcism and this mayhem?
Sasuke punched a hole through one of the tunnel walls and a ray of light filtered into the gloom.
"The tunnel you came through the first time is brimming with giant spider guards, so I'm opening my own door through the wall at it's thinnest point." he kicked the earthy wall again. "Help me open a hole." he asked D and Crunchyfrog, who immediately began helping the boy until a large hole of light blinded them, and was big enough for them to crawl through.
Crunchyfrog was the first to crawl outside and breath in the air with his eyes closed- oddly enough, the air smelled like toast. Crunchyfrog opened his eyes and frowned.
"Sasuke, are you sure there's no other way out?" he said.
"None." said Sasuke, as he too crawled outside and contemplated the immense wall of fire surrounding them and creeping around burning trees towards the group.
____________________________________
Meanwhile Polokin was perched on a seat in Jester Park.
He had been sitting there for hours, it was getting late and he needed to make a decision quickly. He had recently found out about a plot, a sinister plot which involved a well known IFian, D-Lotus.
BStheGreat had asked Polokin to help him get revenge, yet he wouldn't reveal what he wanted it for. Also a few days before that encounter, D-Lotus had asked Polokin if he would watch his back, for he had a feeling that somebody was out to get him.
Polokin was about to make the decision to stay out of it, when suddenly a figure emerged from the mist.
"Who's there?..." Polokin called out anxiously.
"Out of my way!" shouted Masterweaver, crashing through the under brush and toppling over the Ifian crouched in front of him. Polokin had just finished dusting himself off when he was knocked down again by a low-flying Pegasus. He could smell burning, and thought he could hear his friends through the crackles of fire. But they were in the caves, surely?
"Crunchy! D! Kid! Where are you?" he squawked.
"Weaver! We're surrounded by fire...somewhere,"
Masterweaver the chicken looked around anxiously. Yes, they were definitely nearby.
"I think I see where you are. Hold on." squawked Masterweaver, seeing figures amongst the burning trees, and with great skill, the fowl leapt up and came down upon the Pegasus, to be carried majestically over the fire, and land gently beside the captives.
Or that was how it was supposed to go anyway. It was a miracle they had both survived the manoeuver, though the Pegasus was now knocked out.
Hobbling away from the crash, Masterweaver-chicken stated,
"Help me get back into my own body, guys."
"How?" asked Sasuke.
"I'll probably have to touch my body to get back in it. Prop the robe up so it's standing, okay?"
"Alright," said Crunchyfrog, holding the robe by the hood. The chicken trotted up to the robe, and jabbed at it with it's wing.
As Crunchyfrog and the others stepped back and watched, the robe and chicken started moving in perfect sync.
"Did it work?" asked D doubtfully.
The robe held its hood and the chicken its head.
"No, it just made things worse." they groaned in unison. "Now, I have two bodies."
Suddenly, the chicken went into convulsions. Clearly, the proximity of the temporary host of Masterweaver's soul and it's rightful owner was too much stress for it's physical form to take. It danced and clucked around the park bench where Polokin had been sat, like a, well, demented chicken. And then it exploded.
From within the explosion came a tiny light, presumably Masterweaver's soul, which zipped straight into the hood of the black leather robe, with such force that it caused the robe to whoosh about like a long thin balloon flying from the force of the air expelled from it's neck. And like the bespoke deflated balloon, the robe finally flopped limply onto the ground. Presently it raised itself, and Polokin, D, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke looked at it expectantly.
"Wow, what a trip." said the now complete Masterweaver.
The Pegasus, having been shaken back to consciousness by the explosion, took flight over the burning trees, never to be seen again.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:14 pm; edited 4 times in total
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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At the same moment as the Pegasus flew off, a rhythmic thundering noise in the sky gradually grew louder and louder, until it drowned out the sound of the roaring fires. Kalanna Rai appeared above them once again.
Rai had been returning to her original hoard in Jester Park when she noticed the small explosion. Looking down, she was livid. Yes, Jester Park was supposed to be messy but in a wacky sort of way. What presented itself below her looked like something straight out of Skiffy.
She landed with a thud that knocked them all flat. Her eyes narrowed to red slits, magical energy gathering like shadows on her red hide, the dragon stuck her massive face down at the motley bunch.
"I want this mess clean, CLEAN!, you understand before I fly back over you. I've got something to take care of...it'll take me five minutes. If this isn't looking funny and park-like by the time I get back I'll see what happens when we splice all of you together."
"B...b..but.." began Crunchyfrog.
"I want this fixed, you miscreants!" she thundered. Then, without receiving an answer or assent, she flew off.
"How the hell are we supposed to do anything?" thought D. "We might even die here!"
Why had Kalanna scolded them, intead of helping? There was something mysterious about that too- or maybe it was just a lack of interest.
D looked around him. They were surrounded by the outside walls of the tunnels and the fire. They'd regained Masterweaver, but it seemed he and the rest were doomed anyway due to the blazing inferno.
Yet the cliff wall wasn't so high at this point- a tall ladder would relieve them from danger and the burning valley.
Meanwhile, there was a possibility of reaching the lake a short distance away. Of course, the problem was, the adventurers would need to bliezkrieg through the burning woods to reach it. But if they hurried enough, they could jump into the lake without suffering too much from burns.
Was it time to split up and try luck? At least, if one method didn't work, the other would, and not all the adventurers would die.
Having left the group to clean up their mess, Rai landed by the old aHEM guildhall...walking inside she found her hoard and rummaged around until she found what she was looking for. With a chuckle, after verifying it was what she thought it was, Rai decided to nap.
"Give them a little more time," she thought.
However, the moment she settled and closed her eyes she saw the whole of Jester Park going up in flames. Sighing, she thought better of her nap, and left her hoard.
Winging her way back over the Park she saw the entire group surrounded by burning forest. Lofting herself up she beat her wings with a fury, turning the area immediately around the group from fire to smouldering ashes. At least the worst of the fire was out.
Landing with another sigh Kalanna shook her massive head.
"I suppose I was too harsh on you...after all you are traveling with Masterweaver. I should have dealt with it the moment I saw the problem, since this is my district and all, but I've been a bit stressed lately. Other concerns on Council Hill..."
Making sure the damage was limited, she nodded to them.
"Speaking of concerns, once again I've got to be going." Dropping a small red disk on the ground she took a running leap and went skyward. "Use that to call if you need me."
Polokin slowly crept away from the group without them noticing.
"Phew," he thought to himself, "that was close, I'm glad Masterweaver didn't come any earlier or everything might have gone wrong."
He spied a place where the remaining fire looked thin. He jumped through the flames with his hands infront of him and braced himself for the pain. But as he jumped through, the pain he had expected never came.
"Strange..." He thought, "There's something bigger going on than what I expected. I'll think about this later, right now I'd better get to BS and tell him what I've decided."
Polokin turned back and looked at what damage the fire had caused. Some large trees had burnt down and a lot of smaller ones had been charred black too. Most of the grass was black and there was sparks and ashes flying everywhere. Well, that was what he saw, but if the flames didn't hurt him... This had to be some sort of illusion.
Polokin remembered the object in his hand and quickly slipped it into his pocket. Nobody could find out about that... Not the D and the group, nor BS.
Unaware of Polokin creeping away, Crunchyfrog noticed something strange about a section of fire to their left. It seemed to be waving at them.
"You see that?" said Crunchyfrog to D-Lotus.
"What?"
"That section of fire," said Crunchyfrog, pointing hesitantly. He did not want to seem foolish if it was just his overactive imagination.
"It looks like a body made out of flames, or something," said Masterweaver.
"Wait, if you listen closely, you can hear the crackling and hissing of the flames modulating into something like speech," said D-Lotus.
They all listened intently for a couple of minutes. Then they clearly heard "Follow me" from the apparent flaming female at which point a gap opened up in the walls of flame where she had been as she ran away from them.
"This may be our best chance to get out of this place without being dipped in BBQ sauce for somebody else' feast," yelled Crunchyfrog as the flames drew nearer.
Without any further hesitation, Crunchyfrog leapt through the hole in the flames, closely followed by D and Masterweaver.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:15 pm; edited 5 times in total
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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"Wait a minute, Where’s Sasuke?" said D, whirling round, trying to account for everyone.
"Here!" yelped the youngster, as he leapt through the closing hole in the flames, clutching the disc that Kalanna had dropped on the ground.
"Give me that..." D demanded, holding out his hand. Sasuke shrugged and tossed the disc over to D, who deftly caught it in his left hand.
Crunchyfrog caught D's eye, as he examined the disc. Even though Crunchyfrog was new to IF - and did not know anyone that well, he saw doubt and worry in D's body language. It was true that Kalanna's behaviour of late had been self contradictory. Was she hiding something? D knew her better than Crunchyfrog did...
D-Lotus would be lying if he'd said that he wasn't extremely suspicious at the moment. Everything he was surrounded with seemed untrustworthy. He jumped out of surprise when a tree went down, consumed by flames. Kalanna had managed to turn the fire down so as to ensure its death in time, but for now the adventurers were still partly trapped. He noticed Crunchyfrog observing him.
"What?" asked D testily.
"Well, are we going to tell Kalanna about the phony map or not? Now we can call her whenever we want, thanks to that red disk you're holding." Crunchyfrog said, gesturing at the object in D's hands.
"I think perhaps...perhaps we should contact another council member...Kalanna's been acting somewhat strangely of late." D said hesitantly. Crunchyfrog, however, understood his meaning and assented in agreement. There was a moment of mutual understanding and then they turned towards the rest.
Masterweaver was speaking to Xansta whisperingly in the middle of the smoldering forest. Masterweaver was summarizing their adventure's events for the fire-covered entity; knowing Masterweaver, that was likely to confuse Xansta.
He approached the pair, and introduced himself, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke to Xansta.
"Thanks for rescuing us... But who are you?" asked D-Lotus.
"I'm Xansta," replied his new companion. "I'm supposed to be your everyday normal denizen of IF, but that all changed during the mass exorcism that made the Well. I've been stuck down in those caves since that time and only recently was able to get out. I've had no interaction with IF folks during that time. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised to spontaneously combust upon my exiting the caves. That's what I call a destructively-non-terminal case of BO."
Masterweaver looked at Xansta quizzically.
"Dont worry. This flame thing is not painful, but I'd like to figure out how to undo it and attempt to get back to what passes for normal for me in IF." continued Xansta.
Sasuke, meanwhile, was looking lost amid the subsiding fire. He was waiting uncomfortably for somebody to take direction away from his natural habitat.
"All-right, everybody!" shouted D above the crackling fire, "Anybody know how to get the hell out of here?"
He noted that the lake could still transport them to safety, but that was probably not a viable path for the fire-creature who seemed to have joined their group. On the other hand, the group was becoming too large. Perhaps they should split up- one side to investigate whomever caused the forest fire, and the other to contact a City council member other than Kalanna.
A sudden creaking noise startled the party and they looked up in horror to see another nearby tree, completely consumed by fire, start to fall. They stood helplessly in its path, with nowhere to run, except into more flames.
On her way back to her hoard, Kalanna heard the screams of the party of adventurers. Figuring that since they were in her section of the city and it was her duty to keep things 'slightly' organized, Rai turned towards the party. The blades on her tail lashed out just in time to split the falling tree down the middle.
"I give you people a direct line of communication and you won't even use it to save your lives...figures."
Crunchy shrugged.
"Well being an 'assassin for hire' doesn't really inspire much confidence in you really. It implies that you're more likely to serve our heads on a silver platter than you are to save our skins." he replied.
Rai tapped a talon on the ground.
"Depends on how much I've been paid to deal with you. Besides, I can't kill D...I'm enjoying Confession Box too much." She flicked a talon causing gooey custard to dump onto the raging flames, smothering them flat. "Besides...if I'd wanted to kill you all you'd already be dead. Comforting thought isn't it?" Flicking custard off themselves the rest of the party only stared.
Rai sighed. "Since I think you've caused enough problems here in the park, Din's going to have a field day with her cleaning tools, I'll offer you a lift back into the Open Forum. I'm headed to the Council Hall anyway so it's really no trouble." Extending a massive hand Rai thumped her tail on the ground. "Let's get moving...I do have things to do."
_________________________
Meanwhile...
BStheGreat stared at the small arsenal of weapons lying in the closet of his IF City apartment. There were frag grenades, smoke grenades, flash bangs; there were hand guns, revolvers, and automatic handguns; there were various assault rifles, and even a rocket launcher. He cared little about these, they were the weapons he used to hunt normal people. Who he was about to go up against was D-Lotus, whose power was unimaginable. But fate was on BS' side; D-Lotus did not even know he had any power, his memory failure consumed much knowledge of his past, including the two's previous battle.
No, the weapon needed by BS was hidden in a trap door under a rug. He lifted the trapdoor and picked up the beauty; at first sight, it seemed to be nothing more than a normal sawed-off shotgun. But if you looked at it real closely a slight aura surrounded the gun where the magic inside of the gun let off its steam. The shotgun, nicknamed "Ludesa" by BStheGreat, had the ability to shoot bullets that were hotter than a blacksmith's furnace. And even better, the gun had the magical ability to never run out of ammunition. All he had to do was point and shoot, no reloading. What BS did to receive this gun was unthinkable; because of it he could never step inside a church again.
BS grabbed the gun and left the apartment, the real hunting was about to begin...
____________________________
Polokin made his way towards BS's house, when suddenly he saw a figure in the distance holding what looked like a big stick. As he came closer, he saw what he was really carrying. Polokin dived to the side of the path as a small ball of fire came towards to him.
BS was about to fire another shot at the young man with Ludesa when he realised who it was.
"Polokin!?" He yelled.
Polokin took the bow off his back and notched an arrow to it in the same movement.
"He has to be drunk... Who else would shoot a fire ball at someone...?" He muttered to himself.
He heard him call his name. He loosened the arrow and lowered the bow.
"BS?!" hissed Polokin. "Is that you? Why in IF did you shoot a fire ball at me!?"
"Sorry about that, thought you were somebody else."
"Well, that's alright, at least it missed. Anyway, I've made my decision."
"And?" inquired BS expectantly, raising an eyebrow.
Polokin took a deep breath.
"I've decided to join you, whatever D did, it must deserve revenge." he replied.
"Well, come with me, Polokin, I'm heading to the gorge, where I saw D up on a cliff ledge, earlier."
"A ledge?" replied Polokin, surprised. "I saw D half an hour ago in Jester Park... He said he was heading to the Open Forum."
"Right, to the Open Forum it is then!"
________________________
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:18 am; edited 5 times in total
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 3 - The Fog, the Mage and the Dream Chamber
Breathing in the cool sea breezes, sipping the milk of a coconut, while laying in the shade on a hammock, Lebrenth felt completely disconnected from the rest of IF. In the giant satellite dish of Skiffy, that cast its shadow over haunted mansions and graveyards, Lebby found a perfect place to move the Fabled Island. In the middle of the large dish, he could see none of the rest of the city, and was able to blissfully conduct his storygame in peace.
For a while he watched his airplane circling like a seagull over the island with its large banner in tow reading “SHAMELESS ADVERTISING”. Then Kalanna Rai flew over the edge of the satellite dish and into his sight.
“Oh, not again.”
With a tremendous breath, Rai consumed the plane in fire, which spiraled with its banner aflame and crashed into the sea. Lebrenth sighed. He also noticed she was carrying passengers. He pulled out his telescope and focused in.
“Wow, that’s a lot of people,” he said to himself, counting everyone. “D?”
He could tell they were heading toward Open Forum, but what they would want there was beyond him. He put on his moderator’s ring with the 6 swirling gemstones representing the 6 principle parts of IF. A flood of summonses and warnings overwhelmed him.
“Oops!” he blurted and scrambled to find the remote. It seemed the lava from Fabled Island’s volcanoes was flowing off the edge of the satellite dish onto Jester Park…. He laughed uncomfortably as he pointed the remote in the air and pressed a button. The satellite shifted and the lava stayed where it was supposed to.
”Now, to answer the summons,” he thought.
Donning the 'Cloak of Forboding,' a little something he found in the city when he first came to IF, Lebrenth headed for the ancient abandoned library of Skiffy.
Wearing the dark tattered cloak, Lebrenth appeared much taller and his voice grew loud and malevolent or else just a whispering murmur that seemed to come from all directions. His face and body was mere shadow, protected in the illusion of the cloak. And that was all it really was, illusions, but it was effective for traveling through IF without appearing to be a small mortal an inch away from Death’s sickle.
Lebrenth entered the library, and passed through it easily with the cloak, ignoring wraiths and creatures akin to zombies.
In the center of the library, there shone a green light. The source is a T-shaped object that resembles a push knife. The protective field vanished as Lebrenth pointed his ring at it. Then he stepped forward and took hold of the Index.
Rings of yellow light washed over Lebrenth’s form, and when they were done, he was gone.
The power of the Index could teleport him to the his choice of several designated locations, but when he reappeared, he was not where he intended to be. He had attempted to teleport directly into the council hall, but the index had malfunctioned somehow.
Instead he found himself standing beneath the starry sky, surrounded by rolling mists. He nearly lost his balance as the ground rolled with the mist. Taking several steps backward he bumped into something… someone!
Laying on the ground as though in a peaceful sleep, he saw a furry white stoat. Her features were unmistakable.
“Shady!” Lebrenth said, his words echoing as though in a large room. As the clouds rolled, other figures appear, such as the lion-like form of Reiso, the twins Raven and Wing, and a figure covered in mounds of soil, Solomon Birch (gasping between holding his breath, even in his sleep). “The Dream Chamber,” Lebrenth says aloud. He had heard of it… these were the lucky ones. Too beloved to be eradicated, they were spared the fate of the Soul Well, but none of them awake at the sound of Lebrenth's voice.
Perhaps they never will, he thought. He covered his face with his hands, trying to contain his sadness, but not only at the sight of lost friends. He did not need to search to know that his brother was not amongst the sleeping. Composing himself, he realized he must be inside the palace… but why did the Index take him here?
He began looking for a door, but could not see one. As he yawned he realized his eyes were beginning to feel very heavy…. The startling realization did little to combat the weariness…
_______________________________________
The view from Kalanna's back was impressive. The Open Forum, indeed, was not enclosed by any walls. It was simply a beautiful valley surrounded by trees, lakes, flowers and draped by a gorgeous sun. Only a mile away, the waves from the sea crashed onto a beautiful white-sanded beach.
Throughout the entire valley, however, there were hundreds or thousands of small stalls, big stalls, shops, restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, clothes shops, ice-cream parlors, video-renting, book stores, etc. The green valley was mottled in large splotches by the brick or wooden commercial buildings. And surrounding these buildings, was of course, a huge tourist population- a mass of people sifting like sand back and forth throughout the street, shouting and laughing and making a big racket in the peaceful valley. They seemed like ants, scurrying everywhere, carrying their souvenirs or bags with them.
Finally, Kalanna began descending. As she did so, one of her Mod gems began to glow. The glowing light was pulsing quickly, indicating that one of her fellow moderators was in distress. The signal went unnoticed as she continued her descent.
As she did so, the people below pointed at the sky and laughed or took pictures. But as Kalanna came speeding down towards them, a large space quickly formed among the masses. The buildings on both sides of Kalanna shook and wobbled. The shop owners or clerks ran outside worriedly, but retreated into their shops again when they caught sight of the group.
Everybody descended from Kalanna's back quickly. But as soon as they had, people began walking all around them again- women holding hands with their husbands, children enjoying ice-cream, fathers consulting the map as they marched. They had seemed to forgotten about the dragoness and the group- only another tourist attraction to them. D-Lotus began to find this a problem. People were streaming all around him, pushing and nudging. He was trying to speak to the group, but he kept being pushed away by the crowd. He tried to push against the stream, but he was only carried farther away from the group. He saw that everybody else except the dragoness and Xansta were experiencing the same problem. He shouted out towards them, but received no answer except the rumbling of the crowd.
Finally, he managed to jump into a side-street without people. Then he suddenly caught view of Crunchyfrog being carried much in the same way he had. Rushing in, he took CF's hand and managed to pull him back to the side street. D-Lotus noticed that they had left the red disk with the group, and were therefore unable to call Kalanna, who they had completely lost sight of.
"Now what?" asked D.
"Are our friends safe with Kalanna? Maybe we should try and rejoin them..." ventured Crunchyfrog.
"I still think we should alert another Councillor about the phony map." insisted D. "Even if they do decide to tell her, we should be wary."
Crunchyfrog nodded in agreement.
"This way." said D, and he beckoned to Crunchyfrog. They started at a brisk trot down the sidestreet, until they saw a horse drawn taxi. D hailed it, and the pair climbed up onto the cart.
"City Central, please!"
City Central was where the Council Hall, Mayoral Mansion and many of the more up market residential areas were located.
"I aint goin' there." said the driver, flatly. D and Crunchyfrog exchanged glances.
"Why not?" asked D.
"I aint sayin'..." the driver said, shaking his head.
D waved a 50 fable note at him.
"Okay, I'll take you part of the way." mumbled the driver, and he shook the reins. The horse moved forward. The ride to City Central was quite a distance, so they were glad of the lift.
As they left the buzz of the Open forum behind them, and moved through the narrow streets of the residential areas towards the City Central, they noticed a strange fog thickening. They also noticed an eerie silence around them.
"I aint going much further..." warned the driver. "It aint been right since last night... since those fireworks... Everyone ran. And they aint come back. An' there's this smoke. Here's where I stop..."
He snatched the 50 fable note from D, who then climbed down from the cart, followed by Crunchyfrog. They thanked the driver, who turned the horse and cart around, and hurried back to the Open Forum.
They looked about them.
"This place is deserted!" exclaimed Crunchyfrog.
Back in the more crowded area of the Open Forum, there was a sudden disturbance. Men with chains ran through crowds, carrying makeshift weapons and shouting, "Down with the tyrants! Down! Down!"
The otherwise peaceful crowds shrieked and backed away as more of them assembled.
"It would appear we've encountered some sort of slave revolt," commented Xansta wryly. "I vote we run!"
"Seconded!" replied Sasuke, whirling after him.
"This is why I never wanted modship," cried Masterweaver, as the angry slaves engulfed him and the pyrokenetic.
Sasuke thought quickly. His companions were in trouble, and he had to help them. Ah well, he'd have to show his true nature, at some time or other. Nobody had noticed his scales up until now, as they were mostly covered with clothing.
Mustering all the strength he had, Sasuke, the half-breed dragon, bared his fanged teeth, and breathed a small flame from his mouth. But sadly his powers were not yet mature. He was too small, and his efforts did little to scare off the mob.
"Oh dear," sighed Rai in a sarcastic tone. "Whatever will I do?" With a thump her tail landed between her charging companions and the charging workers...both sides skidded to a halt.
"One moment," she said to the other party members.
Turning to the workers, clearly Idearium miners, she cleared her throat.
"What can I do for you ladies and gentlemen?"
The revolters looked around completely confused by the fact she was being polite and solicitous. There was a bit of shuffling and finally one dirty worker was nudged forward.
"Iffen ye please yer Modship...we've been working long hours for little fables. There are greater demands than ever on the Mines and, well, we're being strained to the utmost. It seems all well and good for, erm, some of youse but for us it flat out stinks."
Rai nodded her head.
"I see your point. I suppose I've been a bit taxing on you myself."
There were many nodded heads. Rai knew she was notorious for having many SG's running at the same time. "But I recently made a donation back didn't I?" Again some nods.
"I can't really say how many new members will create new SG's but I suppose I can at least offer you this...I won't start anything new for, oh, a month." Smiles beamed.
"Thank'ye, yer Modship. But what about pay?" Kalanna gave an evil grin.
"You'll have to talk to the Mayor and the High Lord Chancellor. I don't do funds. And you'll need to fill out a petition...none of this revolting."
With that the workers grimly filed off, determined to fill out forms.
Half the crowd, mollified, dispersed. The remaining started chanting, "No more slavery! No more slavery! No more-"
Rai whirled back around. The crowd went silent.
"...And what do you want?" she asked ever so sweetly.
A haggerd but still pretty young woman shuffled forward. "Well, it's just we attend to all yer palace things, marm, and yer kind and all that, but you kill us at a whim, and we don't like that."
"I think you have Rai confused with Chinaren," volunteered Masterweaver.
"Be quiet," murmered Xansta.
The lady looked up suddenly. "Yer right! It is that orange beast! KILL HIM AND WE STOP THIS WHOLE THING!!!"
"He lives right down the road," said Masterweaver, pointing. "Not the big palace on the corner, but the one next to it."
"Come on, my good fellers!" yelled a voice from the crowd. "We have a fuzzball to kill!"
Shouting and chanting, the crowd ran off down the road.
Rai shook her head. "Chin's going to have his hands full..."
"Why did you do that?!" cried Sasuke. "They're going to kill the mayor!"
"How'd you know he was Mayor?"
"Never mind that now," said Kalanna. "Where's D and Crunchy?"
"They went towards city central," replied Xansta.
Rai walked off, leaving the companions to do whatever necessary.
After a moments hesitation, Sasuke followed her. There was something on his mind, and he needed to talk to her.
Masterweaver and Xansta stood together, wondering what to do next.
"Right," said Xansta. "My newfound flaming ability seems to be acting strangely as well." The flames shaped themselves to look like the cloth of a yellow, orange and red dress. The fashionably flaming frock flattered Xansta's figure. She twirled fetchingly.
"Hey, weren't you male yesterday," said Masterweaver.
"Probably," said Xansta. "I'm either male or female depending on the number of stars I count. The switches can be disconcerting, so I avoid counting stars whenever possible. Sometimes, it just happens, though."
"What gender were you in your former IF life?"
Xansta thought about it intently. "I don't exactly remember," she said at last. She climed the spiral stairs back to street level. "We need to investigate this fog more closely," she said heading towards the quietest part of the fog.
"Wait," called out Masterweaver as he hurried to catch up to her, "don't you think that's a little dangerous?"
"Maybe," Xansta grunted as she found that the fog seemed to be pushing back. She reached a point in her struggles where she appeared to be leaning into a tornado by looking at her combustion-inducing clothing. Masterweaver a few feet behind her moved to the side to avoid the licking lace. He, too, seemed unable to penetrate the fog any further.
With a loud crack and a bright flash, Xansta staggered through the invisible barrier. Her flames no longer burning brightly seemed rather to have become simple clothing. She got slowly to her feet, examining herself inquisitively. "The fog apparently removed my flaming ability," she said wonderingly.
"Don't leave me out here in this hostile fog," pleaded Masterweaver.
"Seems I have little choice," said Xansta. She turned and headed deeper into the fog. A trap door opened underneath her and after a fall, slide and a tingling sensation, she found herself in some sort of palace or castle dungeon.
Not wanting to head to Council Hall just yet Kalanna tapped a talon on the sidewalk, debating her options.
"Humm, maybe I should just go elsewhere for a while...lay low somewhere I'm not known."
She glanced down at the small gem that hung on a chain around the base of her neck. Of course by small she meant something the size of a small Volkswagen.
"Then again I could just dump this in some little corner of the Internet where it's unlikely to be found." Walking forward the gem caught the light, drawing glimmering replies from the matching jewels on each of Rai's feet. She bobbed her head to a few citizens as she passed, heading toward Fantasy Forest. Something darted between her feet.
Looking down she recognized Sasuke who was trying to get her attention.
"Need something?" she asked.
_________________________
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:40 am; edited 9 times in total
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| Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 4:03 pm Post subject: |
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Meanwhile, back at his mansion, IM sighed. He would need a whole truck's worth of cleaning fluid to get his traps working properly again!
Ever since those bloody fireworks, all sorts of strange things had been happening. Fortunately, he was sober enough to come home and activate the traps AFTER he'd gotten into his mansion's main control room, but drunk enough to collapse without hitting any particularly devastating buttons.
"Clean these as well as you can. I'll fix up what's left," IM said to his mutated servants. He then began a long, slow plod through the Open forum to the Games sector to make sure it was still tidy. Maybe on the way he could ask Key or Chinaren why he had acquired moderation powers over City Central in his bout of the RL's. What he hadn't expected was to see D-Lotus in the distance. "D! What are you doing here?" IM asked while waving.
"Hey, IM!" D yelled, waving back at him.
"Who's that?" whispered Crunchyfrog.
"Idea Master." explained D, beckoning to IM, to get over to the quieter, foggy side street.
"Cool!" said Crunchyfrog. "He was listed in the Auditorium as a City Central mod when I first signed up, that means he's a Council member, right? Can we tell him about the phony map?"
Before D could answer, they were pushed against a wall as an angry mob of respectable citizens rampaged past them, yelling "Kill the fuzz ball! Get his orange pelt, yeah!!!"
"Whoa, who are they?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"To me, they look like an angry mob of respectable citizens out for Chinaren's blood." replied D, detatchedly. "It appears they are off towards the Mayoral Mansion, where they are about to turn Chinaren inside out. Excuse me..."
D casually tripped up a mobster as he passed. Picking him up by his jacket, D demanded:
"Since when have you been under the impression that Chinaren deserves a good thrashing?"
The man looked haunted.
"Since the party last night." he said. "He can kill us - get rid of us, just like that! At a whim! We'll get him first, though!"
"And exactly what makes you think that?" enquired D.
"Whispers...Voices...Rumours...."
D let the man rejoin the mob, who were busy smashing their way into the Mayoral Mansion.
"Something isn't right, Crunch." said D. "This fear of Chinaren has something to do with the Mass Exorcism of a few months ago, I'm sure...There was never fear before. Why now?"
Presently, the mob charged past them again in the opposite direction, yelling "Find the Mayor! Coward!!!"
"Chinaren's evidently not at home." observed Crunchyfrog.
The eerie, silent fog swirled in the wake of the crowd.
The way it moved made them all feel uncomfortable. Crunchyfrog understood why the taxi driver didn't want to drive this far. He felt he could hear whispers from within it... It was so eerie. The three of them stared at one another...
IM walked towards D and Crunchyfrog.
"So what are you doing here?" IM repeated.
"And for that matter, why can't I do anything about this blasted fog?" IM raised his hands and attempted to use his newfound powers to mod away the fog. If anything, it pressed down harder.
"You? Do something about the fog?" CrunchyFrog was bemused to say the least.
IM sighed. "Long story very short, I somehow have mod powers over all of City Central except this newfangled PPP area. So unless we're in that, then I don't see why I can't get rid of this...It makes finding my way horribly complex, and I didn't have a good sense of direction to begin with! Now, remind me... what are you doing here?"
"I'm investigating." D-Lotus replied to IM's initial question.
"As always." replied IM. "But be careful. I heard BS is after you. It's your business, you should know."
"This is different, yet alike." reflected D-Lotus.
"Whaddaya mean?" inquired Crunchy.
"It's like I've lived through this before," D said with a faraway look in his eyes. "Like Dejavu." he laughed.
"How do you plan to get rid of BS?" IM asked while leading D and Crunchy towards his strangely crooked and somber house. "Are you going to use your powers again?"
"What powers?" asked Crunchy.
"I don't know. He always keeps them a secret." IM said.
"Ah, yes, I might." D answered, somewhat puzzled but silent. IM opened the door to his house and one of his servants lopsidedly shuffled towards them. "But first, IM, may ask you if I could have your assured secrecy?"
"Naturally, one Mod to another and all that. Although we should go to my inner chambers, so that we can’t be overheard."
Thus saying, IM pushed a hidden button, and the floor beneath the group of people shook and began to slowly fall.
"Not to worry, it's just the elevator."
After about two minutes of a careful descent, they came level with a small drawing room. IM pushed another button after everyone was within the room and the elevator began to rise again.
"Now. What is it?"
IM indicated for them to sit down.
"Things have been strange since last night." D began. "Both Crunchyfrog and I have been afflicted by several hours of amnesia following a large flash of lighting, after Smee's firework display."
He hesitated at this point, he had the feeling he was making a severe understatement on his own account, but went on, anyway...
"We came to at sunrise, at the entrance to a hidden labyrinth, high up on one side of the gorge. Crunch discovered a map had been planted on him. The map turned out to be of the labyrinth."
"Go on," said IM.
"During our adventures in the tunnels, and with the help of Masterweaver, we think we stumbled upon the Soul Well, and deduced that the map was a fake representation of the Master Map of IF.
"How did you know you found the Soul Wells?" asked IM.
"We found a young dragon half-breed, who claims he was trapped in the tunnels for six years. From his story I believe he witnessed the Ceremony of Release, when Chinaren committed the exorcised souls into the Wells... the description he gave of the event seems accurate enough..."
Again, IM nodded.
"Later we met Xansta, claiming to be an IFian since before the Exorcism, having escaped the caves very recently.... I have a theory he was once an exorcised soul, but have not questioned him to verify..."
"So where is the fake map now?" asked IM.
"Kalanna took it. She said the Master Map was stolen, and she our map and returned it to the city."
"Of course, you've told her by now that the one she has is fake?"
"No."
"Why not?" asked IM.
"Kalanna has been acting strangely of late. We don’t know why the fake map was planted on us in the first place. It was like someone wanted us to follow the map part of the way, get lost in the tunnels, and then she snatched it from us. She saw us on that ledge and even nudged me back onto it, and did not rescue us from it, as if she wanted us to go into those tunnels. Weird, really. And then she was less than friendly to us later on when she encountered us again in Jester Park, although more recently she's
been ok. To be honest, we don’t really trust her, and felt that someone else ought to know what is happening."
A cloud of concern passed over IM's face....
________________________
Polokin and BS stuck close to the shadowed parts of the Forum, searching for D.
"Soon... Soon I will have my revenge..." BS thought to himself, "You can't hide D, it will only be a matter of time before you're found."
Polokin tapped BS on the shoulder, breaking the trance he was in. Polokin pointed to a certain person in the crowd.
BS nodded...
"They could help us find him..." BS mused. "But we would need to make them an offer they couldn't refuse..."
________________________________
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:22 pm; edited 4 times in total
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| Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:39 am Post subject: |
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Back within the safety of IM's mansion, IM sat quietly, contemplating the story that D-Lotus had just told him. There was something not quite right about D, and he was sure it had something to do with his inexplicable appearance on the ledge earlier that morning. Their story of the Soul Well, the map and Kalanna's behaviour deeply worried him.
Finally, IM looked D and Crunchyfrog in the eye. "This is serious," he stated. "Where is my direct orb line to Key?"
IM rummaged around in the drawing room's many cabinets for a few minutes, tossing sheaves of paper around, along with other...erm, items. Needless to say, he used the drawing room for entertaining people other than the ones currently seated in it.
"Aha! Got it!"
IM pulled out a dusty sphere and blew carefully to remove all the dust from it, making CrunchyFrog cough a few times. Then IM made a few gestures at the orb. After a few seconds of blue swirling smoke, the orb printed these words:
'We're sorry, but the orb you requested was not found.'
"Argh. Key probably sat on it again."
IM once more rummaged about in his drawing room, withdrawing a huge tome-looking thing.
"Cool!" said CrunchyFrog. "That tome contains all sorts of ancient spells that will protect us on our quest, doesn't it?"
"No, that one does." IM pointed to a smaller book that he had already picked up and set down on the table. "This one contains something even better."
IM opened the book and withdrew three Stupidium-fueled guns and passed one to D and the other to CrunchyFrog. "Careful that you don't keep your hands on the fuel chamber for too long. We ought to be safe now. If it looks threatening, shoot it and it'll evaporate." IM pocketed his gun and book of ancient spells and gestured towards the elevator again. "I'm off to find Key. Anyone care to join me?"
D-Lotus and Crunchyfrog both rose from their seats, and followed IM through the crooked corridors of his mansion, and out through a side door, into the foggy outdoors.
The path from IM's house was relatively quiet. Once, a lost Idearium miner rampaged forward towards them, but IM pulled out his gun and the man turned around mid-way. Surprisingly, D-Lotus also reacted by expertly withdrawing his gun and immediately aiming at the worker's head. He couldn't remember ever having done that before, but there were a lot of things he couldn't remember. For a while after, Crunchyfrog walked in wondering silence besides D. The instinctive drawing of the gun, like an expert, had caused shivers to course throughout Crunchy's back.
"We're going to have to borrow a car." IM finally concluded, without noticing CF's thawing coldness.
"What do you mean?" asked D, "Don't all mods have cars?" A vague memory surfaced in his mind, from when he himself had been a mod. Slowly and with effort, he remembered; he'd been a mod, but then he'd quit, or he'd become destitute.
IM smiled uneasily. "Well, mine's in the garage for repairs. It was a dark night, and the light post seemed to come out of the darkness. But...let's not inform Key, will we?" he grinned.
"Who will we borrow a car from?" asked CF somewhat nervously.
Just then, they reached the deserted house of Saxon215, the Ify co-host who had recently lost his life in an epidemic or RL. His house was trashed and littered with broken alcohol bottles and syringes. A broken window revealed a dingy cot. Of course, it'd been that way when he was alive, too. IM withdrew his gun and blasted the garage door. To the astonishment of D and CF, inside the garage waited patiently the most beautiful car in existence. A red and yellow and blue fire design covered the front and backside, stretching out around the whole car. A smell of expensive perfume lingered still under the removable top of the sports car. The seats and wheel were covered in soft leather, and the wheels gleamed hungrily.
"Let's go." IM said.
IM turned the key, which had been amazingly left in the ignition. The car roared into life, making him feel like he had suddenly won a trip to outer space and was just now taking off.
"Awesome!" CrunchyFrog said in the back seat through chattering teeth. "Hey, what does this red button do?"
Before IM could say "No" "Don't" or "Stop" there was a small 'beep.'
Instantly, the radio slid back to reveal a weapon panel. IM grinned insanely.
"D, I'm in love with this car already and I haven't even left the garage yet. I think I'll be keeping this one." And with that, the band of adventurers roared into the otherwise quiet IFian night.
Finally Sasuke had attracted Kalanna's attention. It had taken long enough. Now freed from the caverns containing the Soul Well, he had the opportunity to question a dragon about his parentage. Before he could speak, she peered closely at him.
"Wait you're Maiyasa's child aren't you...? She said that you had..... " she stopped mid sentence and changed her approach. "Where have you been? " she asked suspiciously.
"My mother locked me in the place that apparently contains the 'Soul Well,' " Sasuke replied. "And I only just escaped. I want to know why she did it..."
"Odd behaviour. I have no idea why, either. Unless she was covering something up. Your father was obviously human. Do you remember him? Maybe he would know..." replied Kalanna.
"No, I've got no idea. I've been in there so long I cannot remember much of him at all... just a vague memory of what he looks like..."
"And??"
"He looked kind of like D, in a way. But of course, that can't be possible..." Sasuke answered
Kalanna shook her head, slowly.
"Show me the inside of your shirt." she demanded.
On pulling down and turning out the neck of his shirt, Kalanna noticed a tiny motif embroidered on it, in the shape of a lotus.
Rai looked at Sasuke and shook her head in disbelief. It seemed that the son of the Lotus had just walked into her hands. Whether that meant it was actually D-Lotus or not, she had no idea, but whoever his father was, it was clear that he was still going to be in danger around her. It was then that she finally noticed that one of her mod gems had been glowing and pulsating.
"Sweet DM in the sky! How long has that been flashing?" she wondered.
"Sasuke," she announced, "I've got something to do that I can't do with you. I'm going to have to reunite you with Crunchy and D.... the hard way. Brace yourself..."
As soon as she had magically banished Sasuke to his destination, Kalanna took to the air in response to the S.O.S of her mod-gems. Whirling through the air, she followed the signal, until she landed in an unfamiliar part of the city. In the failing light, she found an opening in the ground, and, assuming her human form, climbed into it. A short, unlit tunnel lead her straight to the Dream Chamber.
Staring in wonderment at the sight, evoking memories of happier times, she saw the sleeping forms of many lost friends...among them Reiso, Rave, Wing, Shady, Muaddib, and....
"Lebby!!!"
Already feeling the effects of the mists of the Dream Chamber, she held her breath, and dragged his inert form out and up the tunnel.
Once free of the tunnel, Kalanna returned to her dragon form, and rose into the sky, dragging her unconcious passenger underneath, in her talons. Finally, she set him down by the dock at Gadiri harbour, in the Skiffy district.
Lebrenth was completely unconcious. All she could do was wait and hope that he would recover.
....And so the sun set on the City of IF, as it reeled through its first day of turmoil, and was about to plunge into its first night of sinister suspense.
The strange, smoky fog began swirling more thickly through the streets, like a serpent, and spread to greater areas of the City. It seemed to have a life of its own, almost sighing as it slowly wrapped itself around the buildings, and up around IF's city central spires.
The tourists left the Open Forum for the day, the market stall holders packed up their wares. Masterweaver and Xangsta stood in a shadowy side street just off the Open Forum, having just witnessed the sudden disappearance of Sasuke, and Kalanna taking off. They were unaware as to why.
Polokin and BS stood in the shadows, somewhere nearby, watching, and waiting.
The rampaging mob of respectable citizens continued to stampede about the city streets, looking for Chinaren. But Chinaren was so far nowhere to be found.
In the back seat of Saxon215's car, Crunchyfrog was examining his Stupidium gun. Bored by the Mod talk going on between IM and D in the front seats, he wondered what it would actually do to someone if he fired it. Make them stupid?
Suddenly there was a lot of bashing and clunking coming from the trunk of the car...
"Hey, what's that noise?" he asked, turning to look behind him.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:21 pm; edited 2 times in total
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 3:43 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 4 - Terror at the TI!
Deep in the many numerous sprawling labs of TI a blonde haired, slim figure in a cream suit and dark sunglasses bent over various bubbling test tubes when a red light began to flash a steady alert.
Someone wants Information from the Tourist Info booth? JezSharp thought in some shock. Silently he moved through the maze of corridors and up some stairs into a small room with a microphone and one way looking glass. Peering through it he saw a large mob waving placards and yelling, ‘Where’s China! We must know! We must kill!’ Frowning JezSharp sat down and turned on the mike,
“Ahem…attention numerous and ahem…important folk of IF, I believe you wish to know where our exalted Mayor has gone.”
With one voice staggered into many separate parts the crowd bayed ‘yes’! JezSharp sighed, he hated mindless violence and the temptation just to knock the group senseless with the special nerve gas placed in the enquiries area was becoming increasingly tempting. Brightening up an idea struck him,
“Ok people listen up, unfortunately I cannot divulge the Mayor’s location…(a chorus of boos began to rise and some began to hammer on the glass)…however just say a hypothetical Mayor had recently entered here and had used the handy portal link to say…ummm…Skiffyville it would be completely inappropriate for me to tell you that.”
And completely incorrect, JezSharp thought with some glee as he watched the crowd rush for the Skiffyville portal. Wait is that heavy fog outside?!?
Meanwhile, in Skiffyville, Rai drummed her talons on the timbers of the dock at Gadiri Harbour, splintering them ever so slightly, as she waited in vain for Lebby to sleep off the effects of the Dream Chamber mists.
"Come on Lebby, this is no time for a long nap. We've got things to discuss...namely why the hell you sent me the message you were in danger." she muttered impatiently.
It was true, when her gems had flashed it had been Lebby's last ditch effort to call for help.
She wondered whether she had inadvertently intercepted his call to someone else.
Hearing the shouts and screams coming from beyond the SG's walls, Rai stuck her nose out to investigate. "Oh damn..."
Rai saw a portal open and dump the rampaging miners into Skiffy. One of them spotted her. "YOU! Where is the mayor! We know he came this way!"
Rai shook her head.
"And what moron told you that?" she boomed.
"The elf in Tourist Info." yelled a filthy miner.
Rai smiled. Jez was up to his old tricks again.
"Um folks if you haven't noticed Tourist Info only gives accurate Info to tourists," announced Kalanna.
Their faces fell.
"However,” she continued, “I can open a portal to China and let you all go through."
A massive cheer went up as each of them chanted 'Rai, Rai, Rai' over and over again. The dragoness smiled.
Opening the portal she watched as they glanced around. "Hey this really is Chi..." Then she shoved them all through with a tail sweep. Behind her Lebby groaned and Rai decided it was time to move him...
"I'm thinking it's time to pay Jez a visit,” she decided, and clutching his unconscious form in her talons, she rose back into the sky.
When Jezsharp responded to the call at the TI booth, he was surprised to see Kalanna gazing at him from the other side of the booth’s glass. She grinned down at Jez who glanced from unconcious Lebby and back.
"Would you mind watching him for me?” she asked. “Besides dealing with rampaging miners appearing through portals in Skiffy, I've got other pressing business to attend to."
"What's in it for me?" asked Jezsharp suspiciously.
"Not getting eaten," came the reply.
Jez looked at the unconscious Lebby then at the dragon. He’d have time to escape into the TI before Rai could reach him, he reckoned, but she could make rather a mess of the Info street shop.
“Oops,” he thought. “What happened to him? Maybe the miners I sent to Skiffy landed on Lebby. Perhaps I should send them further afield next time." He shrugged his shoulders, and from behind the screened glass he spoke through the mike.
“Fine, why not, guess that makes things even,” he replied. He watched Rai flash a mean smile before turning and flying out into the dense mist. Then he slipped to a corner of the booth and pressed a secret button that opened up a narrow doorway in the wall. Walking through, he stopped to observe the dense mist outside, everywhere looked unusually deserted as well. He dragged the unconscious Lebby through and into the depths of TI, shutting the door behind him. There he laid him out in one of the many spare rooms waiting until he recovered to hear what on IF was going on outside.
Winging off Rai knew what she had to do. "It's time to pay a call to Lordy," she decided.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:23 pm; edited 4 times in total
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| Posted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:33 am Post subject: |
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The Daemon Lord in question was bent over a map of IF and its neighbours, studying it intently. As usual while in the mortal realm, it was His human form he wore, and His long black hair fell down over His shoulders. Pale skinned and bare-chested, it was obvious visitors were not on His agenda, though He gave little sign of it.
As His moderator ring let out a single chime, the red rune inlaid across the black gold glowed with a sudden piercing light. Lazily, He reached for the moderator’s tool, slipping in over His left index finger.
"Yes?" Kalanna Rai's face floated into view, the draconic features clearly visible. Evidently she was in the process of traveling, from her constant movement.
"We need to talk," she replied, glancing over her shoulder, almost as if believing someone could follow her even there.
"Is it about...?" He started to ask, but she cut Him off.
"Yes, and it's important. Where can we meet?" The Daemon's black pupils traversed the interior of his chambers, more elaborate than the other moderators’. One of the many privileges of being Lord High Chancellor - He was able to extend himself a budget from the Treasury purely for interior design. For one thing, the blazing orange that featured so prominently in all other Council areas was no-where to be found.
"Not here," He replied, unwilling to let her into His inner sanctum. Or to let her see the other plans He was in the process of putting into motion. "The Archives - no-one ever goes there. Not even the few tourists searching the Hall of Legends venture that far into obscurity."
Abruptly He severed the connection, banishing the image from before him. He gazed around the room once more, motioning at various maps and diagrams spread around the walls, which swiftly changed to designs more suitable for a high-ranking official. Shrugging His shoulders, He willed clothes onto His body, before disappearing in a swirl of dark light.
Rai snapped her jaws in irritation.
"This is what I get for dealing with daemons..." she muttered.Shifting course in mid wing beat she headed for the Archives.
A few moments later the dragoness, in a semi-human shape, wandered into the massive dusty building. Lordy stepped out of the shadows.
"Well? You dragged me away from something important."
Rai snorted, it wasn't his life on the line out there.
"Well Lebby has been hit hard by the Dream Chamber, Sasuke has been telling everyone about the Ceremony of Release and the Soul Well, and Masterweaver has managed to whip all the Idearium Miners into a frenzy over China's blood. Why do I get the sense you've planned that?"
Naturally Lordy didn't reply.
"However, I did bring you this." She tossed a roll of parchment onto the dusty floor between them. "It's not the fake but it's also not the original. A copy is all you'll get from me at the moment. However, what I wanted to warn you about is D-Lotus. It seems that he has a case of amnesia, convenient indeed. But I warn you Lordy...if he suddenly remembers I'm not going to be the one under suspicion."
"He won't remember."
Rai chose to ignore the self-satisfied smirk. Lordy continued anyway. "Was this all you wanted to tell me? These are trivial matters."
"No..." Enclosing them in a bubble of silence the dragon told the daemon of the things that concerned her. Things that could cause possible threat to his plans - how she was worried that D-Lotus may have stumbled across the Soul Well, the fact that Sasuke, who had lived much of his life in the vicinity of the Well was in D's company, and that...*shudder* Masterweaver had somehow got himself involved.
When she had finished, the Daemon Lord paused momentarily, as he absorbed the facts.
"Three, hmm?" The devil-spawn spat. "Why is it always Three - can't they ever use an original curse?" Shaking His head ruefully, He considered the options at hand.
"Hmm....the IFians you mentioned - MasterWeaver," at which point the daemon shuddered, His palms clenching, "Sasuke and D. Is there any chance they're still together?"
"No, D parted company with MasterWeaver some time ago. He is now travelling with one newbie, Crunchyfrog." replied Rai. "A short while ago I banished Sasuke to their side, Sasuke should be with D and Crunchy now."
The Daemon Lord smiled.
"Excellent. It seems we already have three perfect...subjects. Though I'd prefer not to use D - someone might notice if he goes missing," He mused. "Regardless - by the time anyone realises, it'll be far too late to stop us."
"Here's what we're going to do - you left Lebrenth with Jez correct? I'll go to him, and try to get him up and about - we can't have people sleeping on the job, no matter what I'm doing in the meantime. You go find our test subjects, and try to steer them in the proper direction."
After a few more moments talk, the pair separated. Rai shrugged her shoulders, her human form slipping away like water. Great wings burst from her shoulder blades, and the dragon took off, flying back into the direction of the Key's Palace.
The Daemon watched her go with interest. A smile twisted across His face, and he knelt, picking the copy of the map up from the ground. Unfurling it, he looked at the areas Rai has marked, before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:58 am; edited 2 times in total
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| Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:57 am Post subject: |
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Meanwhile, back at the TI, Lebrenth tossed in his sleep, as though dreaming of a fight. For a moment Jez thought he could see a pattern, as though Lebby was performing some sort of somnambulant game of charades. The moment passed, however, when Leb propped himself up on his face like an inchworm. He stood to get himself something to drink, but stopped when he heared Lebrenth mumble. He moved closer:
“World of Warcraft?” Lebrenth mumbles. “That’s a red herring. What happened to the Wuidum... mibbity.”
Then Lebrenth rolled onto the ground with a thump.
Jez bit his lip. He had continued to check at irregular intervals how Lebby was doing, but there wasn't much change. Funny, he seems almost delusional...
"Perhaps I should try using one of my experimental potions..." wondered Jez to himself. "Maybe it would have worked, but the side affects of such potions were relatively untested...still..."
As it happened Lebby was spared any such happenings by the red light flashing again.
"Popular today" muttered Jez, irritably, as he left the snug roomy confines of the TI and walked back into the Info Street back room. There through the glass he saw the creepy human form of Lordy.
"Er...hi Lordy...?"
"I hear you have Lebrenth," Lordy replied, not missing a beat, "I came to sort him out." JezSharp wasn't sure whether to trust him, but decided he really had no choice, considering he was in charge of the City's Budget.
"Sure," Jez replied, opening the secret door that led from the public to the private section of the Info Booth, "he's right this way."
Jez was careful not to let Lordy see the full size of the TI...actually he was very careful Lordy should see as little of the TI as possible given it was only supposed to consist of a few underground laboratories and not a riddled maze of complex tunnels and rooms, hidden behind panneled doors, that ran beneath the chaotic city overhead.
Quickly he led Lordy to Lebby who was still lying unconscious upon the floor.
"He keeps waking up and muttering about 'World of Warcraft and some Weedum stuff', sounds rather delusional to me," said Jez as he stepped back to let Lordy examine the stricken Lebby. "I wasn't quite sure what he needed. I thought about a dosing him with a reality drug made by creating an antibody to some of the more exotic fantasy forest plant life - but I don't quite know what side affects that may have...is there an easier way to cure him?"
The daemon gave an elaborate shrug, and knelt, examining Lebrenth's prone body. Taking hold of the Skiffy moderator by the chin, he pulled the unconscious body upwards, and dangled it off the ground. He peered at the rapidly fluttering eyelids of the illusion given form, before turning to face Jez.
"To be honest, I was just going to hit him until I got a reaction. I do have better things to do with my time after all." Before Jez could raise a protest He continued. "Your way does sound more practical and efficient. Less fun though."
"It will take some time to prepare," the Elven moderator explained, but was cut off with a wave of the Chancellor's hand.
"Take your time - he's not going anywhere." Returning His gaze to Lebrenth, He stared for a few moments longer, before allowing the councilor to drop to the floor. "Do you know what happened?"
"Do I know what happened?" Jez asked incredulously, "Rai just dropped him here unconscious and flew off...Anyway I guess I'd better start preparing the potion...you're welcome to stay of course, but I'm guessing you have more pressing concerns at the moment..." Jez's eyes narrowed, "Has this got anything to do with the sudden appearance of thick fog over the area?"
"Oh, that's a sea of dispensed souls who've escaped and are spreading anti China sentiment about the city...I think China may have gone into hiding." replied the Daemon Lord dismissively, his eyes examining every inch of the room.
"Really..."said Jez in a voice infused with deep thinking, "well I'll only be a few minutes so you are welcome to stay and watch."
"Wouldn't miss it," Lordy replied, a malicious grin touching the corners of his mouth.
It did indeed take four minutes, then Jez returned carrying a white ceramic jug filled with a light purple liquid with the aroma of damp moss, it looked as though pieces of grass had lived their for some time. Slowly Jez gently poured the mixture down Lebby's throat and stood well back looking anxious.
As they watched, Lebrenth's body began to twitch. His fingers trembling, the shivers continued up his limbs to his chest, until his entire body was shaking.
"You were right," spoke the Daemon in amusement. "This is fun." It was mere misfortune, prehaps, that at His words the unconscious moderator's twitching became more violent. One of Lebrenth's nigh on flailing limbs came crashing against the Chancellor’s leg, Jez leaping away just in time to avoid a similar blow.
"Perhaps I gave him a bit too much," the elf commented with a studious interest. "The potion is designed for elven-kind after all, and a mortal body may suffer slightly modified effects."
"Really?" the Daemon replied, His voice dripping with sarcasm. "I assumed this was supposed to happen. Why administer potions to someone without the expectation of such a mishap?"
With the state his unconscious body was in, one could only assume what was happening within Lenrenth's mind, the initial target of the medicinal potion.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:59 am; edited 3 times in total
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| Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 2:01 am Post subject: |
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Lebrenth convulsed several times and turned green. On the plus side he had been jolted out of his far off RL coma. He sat up and blinked, staring at the smooth grey walls, lit by ever burning candles.
"Where am I...and why am I green?" he said incredulously.
"Oops" muttered Jez, "side affect of some of the fantasy plant matter, don't worry I have an antidote somewhere. Everything will hopefully be ok." With that the elf slipped back into his laboratory and started to rummage about for the antidote, returning within a minute with a red vial which he handed to Lebrenth who sniffed at it depreciatingly,
"It smells of rotten flesh," he said as he drunk it,
"Not far off," Jez replied, "it's made from the squeezed skin of a deer amongst other things, I think it was still within the sell by date...but I haven't checked for a while..." Lordy's grin increased slightly as he observed Lebrenth half-choke on the liquid, but it had the desired affect - within minutes Lebrenth was back to his usual color (assuming that is pinkish...).
"Ok," said Jez, "so in summary, a sea of souls has descended on the City stirring up anti Chinatic sentimentalities within the local populace with the mentioned target of such anger having temporarily vanished to an unknown destination...in which case I have places to go . . . either of you is welcome to join me but you'll have to decide now, or go and attend to whatever you need to do, is there anything else going on we should know of Lordy?"
The other two just about caught the last part of the speech, Lebrenth still letting the last of the first mixture clear away strands of RL from his head and Lordy still standing there like a grotesque statue, carved from chalk, of a medieval goth - the same half smile fixed upon his lips.
"From what Rai told me, MasterWeaver is causing trouble again. Apparently he's the one causing riots in the city. With the Mayor missing, and his Highness Kinky mainly away from the city, I suppose it falls to me to go and deal with them." The Daemon paused, as if considering His next words.
"I've had word that China might be away longer than expected. As the City Council members, it's best if we show a united front under such circumstances. Jez - could you and Lebrenth call a Council meeting?"
Still dizzy from the potion, Lebrenth stared blankly at the Daemon. Jez, on the other hand, nodded his consent.
"I can't do it now though - I've got places to go first," the elf replied, unwilling to explain the reasoning behind where he was traveling.
"That's probably for the best. Does five hours suit you? It'll also give the other members time to prepare - I need to know who started this, and what's causing it." He looked at the Skiffy councilor, who was still slightly out of it. "Lebrenth - you stay with Jez. I don't want you taking yourself out again."
Jez nodded as Lordy left and headed back up to the surface, and towards the Tourist Info portals.
When he was sure he had left Jez turned to Lebrenth,
"Right, ok. We need to alert the Council that there will be a meeting in five hours, given that most council members are too busy dashing about to check their mail we'd better send out urgent messages at once...follow me." Lebrenth slowly got up and carefully followed Jez up the flight of stairs into the back of the Tourist Info booth. They walked past the mike to the far wall where Jez put his hand on the wall and mumbled a word, a trapdoor opened and a ladder fell from it.
"Can you make it up?" Jez asked Lebrenth, who nodded as his strength returned. It took a few minutes but he finally made it, stumbling into a cozy wooden room, with computers, a fridge and an assortment of games and sketches.
"Ok, you'll need to log onto the IF network as a guest," Jez yelled up from below...he waited a few minutes until he heard Lebrenth call down,
"Right I've written the messages, where should we meet?" Jez considered the question thoughtfully..."Given the anti-China sentiment I'd suggest Key's Palace or the Fantasy Forest - your call though, there's food in the fridge by the way."
"Food...why would..." With a hiss the ladder retracted and the trapdoor shut, as it did so Jez's voice echoed up from below,
"As I said I have somewhere to go, but you should be safe up there until I return." Then, swiveling on the spot Jez headed down into the depths of The Technical Institute, sealing the impenetrable door shut behind him, before heading to collect a very special object.
He wandered down into the basement and along a series of tunnels until he reached the main room of the TI, filled with its bubbling simmering sprawl and passageways searing off left and right.
Ever since he'd taken control of the TI it had been a permanent job of first tidying the place up and then expanding the tunnels. First from the fantasy forest to the basement, then to convenient out of the way places...of course those were hard to find unless you know where to go...which is why he had needed the Master Map.
He took it now from one of the many hidden compartments in the walls, and wandered down a varying maze of tunnels and secret doors until he came upon a troll workforce, recruited from the depths of the fantasy forest (who were responsible for the tunnel from there to the TI and then the subsequent tunneling). The trolls looked up as he arrived holding the parchment.
"Break now?" Grunted one of the brighter ones, Jez sighed, the amount of fungus he'd had to pick recently was annoyingly inconvenient - but it was the only way to motivate them to work.
"Yes," he replied, "you can have an hour's break and the grub is in the usual place." Staring at the map again he tried to estimate how close they were to breaking through - a couple of days perhaps....
Rolling up the map, Jez wandered back into the main TI laboratories. As he did so, he found himself wondering whether or not anyone had yet discovered that the one he'd left in the place of this one that he had er... 'borrowed', had been a fake...
He also realised he hadn't thought to take copies of the Master Map, which he proceeded to do, backing them up into his computers hard drives, and onto a set of disks which he hid away.
'It's time to release the original now then...' he thought, and wondered where exactly it should turn up. Chinaren Hall...no too much danger of it being trampled by the mob, Key's Palace...a little creepy and he didn't have a tunnel leading directly in there - and he felt uncomfortable about giving it to Rai or Lordy...
"I know," Jez thought to himself, "The City Council Hall."
Jez slipped away into the tunnels, soon emerging from the basement of a run down house a street away - wearing a dark hooded cloak over his suit. Quickly he slipped unnoticed into the hall and, wiping the document of any fingerprints, left it lying on China's seat. Then he slipped away into the fog, holding his ears and focusing his mind away from the whispering mists as he descended beneath the town to obscurity.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:00 am; edited 2 times in total
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| Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:20 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 5 - To the Palace and Beyond!
In the failing light, Saxon215's car could be seen screeching through the fog laden streets, which were empty except for isolated groups of revolting citizens and minors, hunting for Chinaren's pelt.
The occupants of the car, IdeaMaster, D-Lotus and Crunchyfrog, were headed for the Nobs district, where Key's palace was located, in their quest to find Key, and hopefully some answers and direction on how to deal with the strange goings on in the city. They had been driving for a while now, and Ideamaster was enjoying himself immensely at the wheel at the insanely powerful car, and he and Lotus were chatting about the good old days of Inter Fable.
In the back seat of the car, Crunchyfrog was examining his Stupidium gun. Bored by the old timers talk going on between IM and D in the front seats, he wondered what it would actually do to someone if he fired it. Make them stupid?
Suddenly there was a lot of bashing and clunking coming from the trunk of the car...
"Hey, what's that noise?" he asked, turning to look behind him.
The others took no notice, continuing their conversation, but the thumping from the trunk got louder, and was now being accompanied by muffled shouts.
"Er, guys," said Crunchy, with more urgency in his voice, "dont you really think we should get out and find out what's making all this noise?"
"No need!" IM said. "I'll just pop the trunk open and..."
IM's words were drowned out as the top of the trunk went FLYING. It peeled itself from the car and flew down the street, bisecting a rampaging miner. On the greater upside, though, IM could see that there was, indeed, somebody in the trunk. "Whoever you are, climb into the backseat!" he yelled.
"Hey, IM, what happens when you shoot people with this gun?" asked CrunchyFrog, waving his gun about.
"Don't! Stupidium is the antithesis of Idearium. The two, when mixed, detonate. Almost everyone and everything in IF has some Idearium about it, and that gun seeks it out and obliterates it."
IM kept driving. "Hey, which way is it to Key's palace? Is it left or right?"
Sasuke's head rose from behind them, his face expressing complete confusion. Moments before, he had been in the Open Forum talking to Kalanna, and she had told him simply to 'brace himself'... now he had woken up in the trunk of a car. How long he'd been out cold there, he had no idea, but when he saw who was in the car, he relaxed.
"Hey Crunchy, hey D!!" Sasuke grinned as he clambered into the back of the car. He paused, wondering if this was the right time to ask, being as they were speeding like maniacs through the darkened streets of IF in a fog that reduced visibility to almost zero.
"Hell, go for it." he decided.
"Ummmmmmmmmmmm, D, I've got a bit of a question. Have you ever had a child?"
D looked stunned at such a question. Sasuke stared at D. He wished he'd had more time talking to Kalanna, before being sure enough to ask. He had never met D before their encounter in the cave.
"Where did that question come from kid?" D asked.
IM glanced momentarily from the road to D, and back again, almost losing control of the car.
Sasuke leaned forward and showed him the emblem inside his shirt, one similar to the emblem D often wore on his own clothing.
"Why is there a Lotus here?" D asked. "Are you trying to imply something?"
Sasuke shrugged. Somehow he couldn't imagine D with a dragon. The Lotus symbol may have been a coincidence after all.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"The best thing for you to do is talk to Key." said D. "He would have access to birth records and interbreeding, which will answer your question for sure."
The car swerved and bobbed erratically across the street. Bystanders, if they were in possession of a single brain cell, jumped out of the way and silently cursed. 'Female drivers.'
Policemen not on the job would say that the car was being driven by drunks. But the females discerned the real issue.
There was a man driving, a man riding shotgun, and at least one man in the backseat. Needless to say, nobody was pulling over for directions.
"Look, is that the Palace over there?"
"No! That's the manor!"
"I swear they look just alike...Hey! MOVE!" IM honked liberally as he drove down the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road.
"Shouldn't this thing have a GPS in it?"
The weapon panel rotated to reveal a directional panel. "++Please state your destination.++"
"Key's Palace."
"++Now taking you to Key's palace. Please hold on.++"
And with that, two rockets on the rear end suddenly flared into life, sending the car and the occupants skyward. A few seconds later, there was a splat of vomit travelling the opposite direction.
"AAAAAGGGGG!!!" they all shouted as they saw the huge scaly red form of Kalanna Rai hurtling straight towards them. She was not fully concentrating on her surroundings, still wrapped up in her thoughts from the secret meeting with Lordofthenight where she'd just come from, and had to swerve to narrowly avoid being hit by the flying car full of puking passengers.
"Damn drunken flyers!" she yelled, shaking a massive scaly fist in their direction before realizing who was in the car. Doing a mid air loop she pounded her wings until she was flying above them.
"Do you gentlemen need help...or barf bags at least?" She smiled sweetly the passengers, since it seemed everyone but Crunchy was looking green around the gills, Crunchy was always green. As the rockets petered out Rai watched the car plummet from the sky headed straight for the massive dome that jutted from King Key's palace.
"You know if this was where you were headed you could have asked. I knew a short cut."
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:00 am; edited 5 times in total
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| Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:41 am Post subject: |
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Sasuke was sick of puking. He squeezed out the window on his door and started flapping about in mid-air next to Rai
"Teenage wings, eh?" Rai yelled over the noise of the rockets at the back of the car.
"Yep and there very useful and fast" Sasuke cried proudly, trying to concentrate on keeping up with the car and speaking to Rai at the same time.
Rai soared closer to the car, and called to the passengers.
"Well you guys have two choices! Take a crash course in flying into walls or jump and hope Sasuke or I can catch you"
The passengers instinctively parted company with the car just before it crashed into the dome at the top of the palace. All were caught by dragon and half-breed dragon, and they glided down towards the gates of Key's palace.
Kalanna landed gracefully, carrying IM and D on her back. Sasuke banked, wobbled, and slammed right into the gates, flinging Crunchyfrog 20 feet along the railings.
"You need to work on your landing." grumbled Crunchyfrog ungratefully, rubbing fresh bruises.
Rai dropped her passengers; she was becoming a regular pack mule, at the gates to Key's palace. With a flick of her tail she pulled Sasuke out of the bent metal bars. "Well I'm off before Key attributes the damages to me. And next time Sasuke...don't volunteer me for baggage duty."
They all watched suspiciously as Kalanna flapped back into the air, and disappeared out of sight, although for the first time, D began to feel a nagging feeling from somewhere inside, that she remained close by. He couldn't explain this feeling or why he was feeling it. Maybe it had something to do with his amnesia... he did not know.
Happily, the buckled railings had created a gap large enough for all of them to squeeze through them, and quickly, IM, D, Crunchy and Sasuke ran across the forecourt towards the impressive crystal doorway to the palace.
"Ready, guys? If it shoots, move it...err...wait. Damn dyslexia."
IM kicked at the door. The door remained firmly shut, and there was a small crunching noise. IM then reverted to hopping on one leg while looking for the proper healing spell. Then, in a fit of revenge, IM turned his blaster to full power and blasted the door.
The whole front of the palace disappeared. IM smiled casually and began to work his way towards the inner chambers of King Key, his friends following.
IM quickly looked through the room he was in. If his memory hadn't failed him, then the button he was looking for would be right about...
"Aha!"
Lifting a rug on the floor, it revealed a button, which IM pressed. A wall slid back to reveal...
"Another wall." sighed D.
"Yes, but it's one of the walls exported directly from the old aHEM guild house. Quickly, touch this briiiiiiiiiiiiccccccccccckkkkkkkkk."."
".......iiiiiiiiiccck!!!!"
THUMP!!!
THUD THUD!!!
SPLAT!!!
"Ugh, what have I landed in?"
"What has who landed in? I can't see a thing. "
"It's pitch black in here.... OW!! that's my toe you're standing on you moron!!!"
"Who you calling a...."
"Ideamaster, do I take it you touched the wrong brick?" suggested D.
The foursome stood in complete and utter darkness.
"Do you have any idea where we are?" ventured Crunchyfrog.
"Will do as soon as I find a light switch... Errgh!!! These walls are slimy..." exclaimed IM as he wiped his hands on his clothes. Of course nobody could see him do it, it was pitch black.
"No light switches in here, I guess..." said Sasuke, helpfully.
"So does anyone have a light?" suggested Crunchyfrog.
Silence.
*Cough cough*.... *Splutter*... *Sniffle*
And then there was light. Well, not much. A tiny flame about the size of a small candle burned steadily from Sasuke's left nostril.
"Cooooooool!" said Crunchyfrog.
"Shnerfluntblabldahlditlong..." grunted Sasuke.
"What did he say?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"He said Shnerfluntblabldahulditlong." replied IM. "It's obvious. He shan't be able to hold it long. Good grief..."
They looked at their new rather damp and smelly environment.
"So is this the Guild house?" asked Crunchyfrog brightly.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:01 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:23 am Post subject: |
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"No, this is the passageway to Key's inner chambers. I don't remember them being so...slimy though. Let me find my normal spell book..."
IM rummaged a bit in his robes, then pulled out a small book. "Sasuke, could you bring your nose over here?"
There was a small shuffling, a cry of 'watch it, that's my foot,' and then, there was light. A small orb of light hovered over IM's head, and with a gesture, the orb split into four other orbs. Then the group examined where they were, and they almost wished they hadn't asked for any light.
The walls were covered in green slime. If there had been no slime, they the walls would have been lined with corpses. A tunnel lead them onwards where there were odd skittering noises. IM pulled out his gun. "Well? Shall we?"
The four shuddering figures huddled together as they walked along the clammy tunnel. The dripping slime uncomforted them.
"Are you sure you know where we're going?" asked Sasuke, who was having problems cramping his slight wings below the tunnel ceiling. He had ceased his flame; instead, four revolving light orbs led the way.
"Of course," said IM, averting Sasuke's gaze, "I've been here thousands of times."
D and Crunchy ignored the doubtful reassurance, focusing instead on what was ahead of them. The slime, green and viscous, was resuscitating unclear memories in D's mind.
"I remember something about this tunnel." said D, clasping the bridge of his nose as he tried to remember. The tunnel walls had been constructed with cheap mortar, in a circular shape- like those of sewers. It certainly smelled like that. As they walked, their eyes searching beyond the orbs, the smell began to subside.
"See? I told you we'd be getting out of here." IM said smartly, as the signs of an expanding route increased. But D-Lotus' memory told him otherwise. There was something sharper in the air, that he could almost identify. Suddenly, they reached a large open area surrounded by high rocks, over which iron crossbars acted as a ceiling. You could observe a large chair above looking into the cage-like arena. D-Lotus was suddenly overcome by the memory of the arena, and he urgently grabbed IM's arm, but it was too late; Crunchyfrog was already staring beyond.
"Oh, Dear God." he whispered without averting his eyes.
From behind the shadows, a giant slug emerged. It was wearing an enormous saddle over its back, and it brayed pathetically, yet terrifyingly. Slime dripped from its body as it slid into the middle of the arena.
"Ethereal Fauna..." gulped D, as the monster, one of Chinaren's GREEDy creations stumbled forth. "That accounts for her disappearance."
IM waited no longer- he pulled out his gun and shot at the creature. The creature reared on its hind suckers, in agony, but then it began advancing towards them again.
"It doesn't have enough Idearium in it to harm it enough!" yelled Sasuke, who seemed nervous, due to the flying limitation that the bars on top of them created. He'd probably be nervous anyway, all of them were.
"Crap..." murmured IM.
"Wait, the mushrooms!!" cried Sasuke.
"What about the mushrooms?" replied Crunchyfrog.
"The mushrooms we took with us from the caves. They help you see through deception, right? So they'll be packed full of Idearium. C'mere Crunchy" Sasuke said. "How many mushrooms do we have left?"
As D and Crunchy took out all the mushrooms from their pockets and counted them, Sasuke stretched his wings trying not to let his claustrophobia come to the surface.
"Around, ten" Crunchy answered.
"Perfect."
Grabbing D and Crunchyfrog, Sasuke lifted them both and hurtled along, flying just below the cage ceiling.
"Errgh, slow it down, please Sasuke" moaned Crunchy as he puked again. Flying wasn't his thing.
"No time!! Throw the mushrooms at the beast!!" ordered Sasuke. "D can get a shot at it... This may be our only chance..."
As the mushrooms made contact with the slug they started to dissolve in the slime, fizzing and making the beast squeal.
FLASH!!!! KABLAAAM!!!
A single shot fired from D's Stupidium gun vapourized their foe.
Dealing with the danger in such an interesting manner, D couldn't help a tinge of sadness taking over. Ethereal Fauna had been a friend before her monstrous conversion.
But such thoughts were interrupted by a voice, coughing and mumbling. The shadow of a hunchback stood against the arena wall. He stared in from above and moaned.
"We're sorry for the damage. Is Key around?" asked IM after his hurried apology.
The unknown IFian only moaned again, giving no sign of his intentions...
IM was now slightly shaken. Ignoring the hunchback for the time being, he gathered himself. "Okay guys, hang on a second. I'm going to try opening a portal..."
The others watched with interest, as IM tapped his fingers together and a spark of magic appeared, hovering, doing nothing just yet. He pinched the spark and tugged, pulling it into a line, then rotating it into a disk. Finally, he spun the disk so that it became a sphere of pure magic, blue and white colored.
That is, it looked like that to any mage trained to see magic.
"IM? Could you do the portal thing today please?" D was impatient to say the least. All he saw was fancy hand movements.
IM bent his thoughts towards Key, and then let loose the sphere. What he got wasn't what he wanted. He got a Key-compass.
"What is that thing?" D asked.
"It's a Key-compass. And Key is...just up ahead, hopefully. Come on." IM held the compass in one hand and his gun in another and bravely led the group onwards.
He didn't even think about his ancient spell book that he had accidentally dropped back in the battle with the Fauna Slug...
Suddenly an oppressive feeling took over D-Lotus. It was as if he could feel something creeping down the tunnel behind them. Perhaps this was part of his powers, as IM had mentioned? The more memories he regained, the more he felt in control of himself.
"I think we better start moving, guys." D said, accelerating his pace.
"Why?" asked Crunchy.
"I have a strange feeling that someone is following us. I don't know who, but considering the slug we just met, this could be it's mate." D extrapolated.
"Trust him." IM spoke without doubt. He had heard of D's 'sleuth senses'. As they all began walking steadily and quickly, the tunnel began compressing. The ceiling wasn't getting any lower, but the width of the tunnel soon forced the foursome to walk in a line, one after the other. Sasuke was complaining about his wings again. At one point, the width stabilized, but the height began shrinking, until all four were forced to crawl on their knees. At this point, the tunnel started heading upwards. The crawling was tough, and everyone shouted encouragement to one another. D still felt like he was being followed, and whatever it was, it was catching up. Finally, the walls turned into hard aluminium walls, and they found themselves dragging their bodies through sheets of hard plated metal.
Sighting some light, IM scrambled as well as he could towards it. He punched in the light's general direction and more light streamed forth after a brief clattering sound, as of a lid falling to the ground. IM pulled himself out tiredly, and fell to the floor in a thump. The others followed him and soon they were all contemplating a giant, deserted kitchen. They had just crawled out from some old, inactive vent. Sasuke stretched out his wings happily.
"Where do we go?" asked Crunchy.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:01 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 6 - Assassination, Domination and Sado-Masochism 
Rai had been about to go hunting for IM, D, Crunchy, and Sasuke, when one of her gems flashed alarmingly.
"Someone's using my tunnel," she thought.
Rai didn't know who had found out about her secret tunnel from the old aHEM guild house to Key's Palace but they'd not only be traveling very close to Chinaren's arena, and Rai Corp.'s Deathmatch ring, but also close to her Hoard.
She flashed to Jester Park as fast as she could, scooting past an irate Dinranwen, and let herself into the guild house without a sound. Traveling down to her Hoard she slid in past that into a room where horror upon horror had happened...all thanks to a pencil called Stubby and a strange teleporter/cloning chamber.
"Well it's not my passage they're using...it must be the other one. I should never have let Key have that wall," she muttered to herself.
Stepping through her private passage Rai noticed the signs of a battle that had recently taken place. "Looks like they ran into Flauna...oh and isn't IM getting careless."
Reaching down, Rai picked up the spell book IM had dropped, leafing through it casually. "Humm, naughty boy. Where did you get the Seven Curses of Dralico." For a moment Rai uttered several draconic curses before slamming the book shut and tossing it into secure magical storage. "I'd better hang onto this. Who knows what would happen if a mortal attempted to use this."
Walking confidently down the tunnel, tracking them by IM's magical aura and Sasuke's odd half-dragon scent, Rai shook her head. "Oh I'm going to give them a piece of my mind. Next time they use anything from Jester Park they'd better make sure they've got a guide...or at least a how to use manual."
Unknown to Rai, Dinranwen had been following closely behind. Din was curious, as well as irate. Why was her co-mod in such a rush? And where was Rai going anyway?
Too frazzled, frayed, and frustrated to even care what would happen to her in Rai's precious treasury room, Din had stormed into the door barely catching it before it slammed with a loud bang.
Catching a glimpse of Rai's departing tail, Din vainly try to yank her hood over her face. Her efforts were in vain. Her hood was in the same state as the rest of her cloak, more hole than fabric. To make matters worse, Din suspected that with the tears her cloak was doing more harm than it helped hid her face.
Giving up with a frustrated toss of her hand, Din lifted up the hem of her dress to reveal her patent leather no heel boots and ran after her co-mod.
Forgetting to look where she was running, she lifted her head a minute or two to gaze in front of her. Snap! she thought, as she dug her heels into the floor. But she was too late, she was already skidding across the too slippery floor and was sliding...sliding. Smack! Right into Rai's hind leg.
Landing her backside, Din rubbed the tender areas she probably just permanently bruised.
"Din! What in the world are you doing here? Go back to the office right this minute young lady." Rai said beginning to shove Din across the floor with a spare talon.
"Where have I been?" Din foamed standing up and straightening her cloak. I have spent the last ten hours warding off a group of mass murders who tried to bore me to death with tales of RL, Manic Miner Rebels who are frantically looking for Chinaren's immediate demise last I checked. I had neutralize a batch of stupidium that managed to mix with the Local Jester Park Cotton Candy and then tried to consume everything it touch into oblivion. I’ve had to manage the mass panic as even the Lab rats freaked out at the sight of intangible mist that seems to be made of out Dead Souls. I was forced to cram L.A.N.D.I. in a box because he declares himself as the new mod, tries to kill me, and turns out to be the leader of rebelling clown group who are trying to take over Jester Park. Clowns, that I have spent btw pelting with ordinary cherry pies because they managed to get a hold of the Storygame Cherrie Boomer 2000 Factory. And you ask me where I have been!" Din finished panting nearly screaming now.
"Where have you been instead of in Jester Park where you could have helped me?" Din accused waving a finger at Rai, "I am only a half-shadow you know, there's not much I can do against the armies of Jester Park."
"I have been busy okay." Rai said raising an eyebrow at Din's ranting and not losing her cool for a minute. "Now go back and play with the clowns dearie, it's not safe here."
"No." Din said setting her foot down with a slam. An effect which was ruined by what Din stepped in....ewww, gross… Just what was in this tunnel anyway? "This time I'm not crawling back to safety like a scolded child. I am no coward you know."
"I am not arguing with you,” retorted Rai. “Now go back before I spell you back there and chain you to you chair."
"No, you are going to take me with, and willing too." Din said pulling her cloak tight against herself as if it could actually protect her from what could be ahead. "Or I am going to tell everyone where your Real Lair is."
"You wouldn't dare."
Din raised an eyebrow, "Try me."
Rai looked at Din, grinning nastily.
“If she's going to threaten me well then...this changes things a bit,” she thought to herself.
She set off briskly down the tunnel.
Out loud, she said - "Fine, fine, follow me. I do hope you can handle it though."
Rai sighed as she walked down the tunnel, Din gliding along a few paces behind. Rai muttered quietly to herself.
“My real Lair eh?” She's got no clue, none at all. Still I don't like it when people try to blackmail me like that.”
Rounding a corner she came upon a set of stairs that led upwards. Following them she found the party she'd been tracking, minus D-Lotus, attempting to put IM back in his right mind.
"Hello all, once again we meet under strange circumstances. Where's D?" They all pointed to the doorway and Rai shuddered. "Oh sweet DM, you sent him in there! The last time I went in there I turned white for...well I suppose you took precautions."
"We blindfolded him." Rai shook her head.
"It won't be enough, not to withstand that." She swallowed hard. "I'm going in."
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:02 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:14 pm Post subject: |
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Once again, as D-Lotus stepped into the room blind-folded, he had a wave of apprehension pass over him. Ignoring this now, D advanced through the room, his arms outstretched. The first thing that battered him was the horrible smell, as of rotting flesh. He grabbed in the air for the wall, to guide himself along. Secondly, he heard grunting and the sound of smacking, although it wasn't anything like Akon's* song envisions.
D-Lotus retreated against the near left corner of the room. On an impulse, he opened his blindfold, only a crack. What he saw... it was of a level of degenerate visual that cannot easily be described. A man was spanking himself with what appeared to be a paddle in the hand of a stuffed witch, Stoat. Shuddering, D-Lotus realized that the man, most probably General Powers, from a Greed story, was so involved in these...motions, that he hadn't noticed D. Looking beyond the enormous bed where these actions were being carried about, D spotted the door leading, he sensed, towards Key, or at least someone else who could help. The key was dangerously balanced at the edge of the bed, titillating in accord with the bed's motion.
Putting his blindfold on again, D rushed towards the bed and instinctively grabbed the key. Powers suddenly stopped and shouted something at D, but D had already reached the door and was unlocking it. But as he was pulling the door open, the other entrance door burst open, and Kalanna Rai poked her scaly red head in, searching for D with her eyes. Some primeval feeling took over D again, and he ran through the door, locking it behind him. He heard Powers begin to shout at Kalanna violently, angrily. Kalanna's silence seemed to indicate that she was somewhat intimidated, especially after having interrupted the privacy of his leisure.
D immediately began to look for a way out, before both the mods agreed on something.
"Hello." said a voice.
D looked around. Then he looked down at the key he still held in his hand. "Key?"
Outside the room, IM looked around at Dinranwen, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke, as he could hear a strange knocking noise. At first he thought it might have been Kalanna banging at the door to come out. Then he realised it was Crunchyfrog's knees knocking together. The howling and shouting coming from within the room sounded terrifying.
The fact that Kalanna could no longer be heard was now even more terrifying....
…And rightly so, had they been able to see the sight inside, of Rai, lounging quietly on the large bed that had belonged to Key until a few minutes ago. Bringing a talon up to her fangs she fished around a bit until she pulled out what was bothering her...a rubber mask that had until moments ago adorned the head of General Powers.
"A bit of a let down really...the man behind the mask really was quite bland and flavorless...unless you count the lingering taste of rubber." She sighed. Rai rose off the bed gracefully and towards the door where D-Lotus had disappeared moments before. Assuming semi-human form, there was no two ways about this, she tried the knob.
"Why do they always think locking it will keep me out?” she wondered. “Don't they realize that you've got to have at least twenty levels of Rogue to be a decent assassin?"
Pulling out a set of custom lock picks from one of her mod jewels Rai inserted several into the lock, humming a cute tune as she swiveled them around. After only a few delicate motions she was rewarded by a soft click. "Bingo." Replacing the picks from whence they came, Rai walked into the room...and had to duck as D-Lotus swung down at her head with the massive key.
"Take that!"
Reaching up and catching the unbalanced D in a rather nasty immobilization hold Rai hissed in his ear.
"Idiot! I'm the freaking rescue party!" After all she was going through to save his life...was it really worth it ?
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:02 am; edited 1 time in total
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:16 pm Post subject: |
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There was a thumping noise, and the door swung open. Kalanna Rai triumphantly dragged D out from that cesspool of a room. IM noticed that D was completely out.
"Was that absolutely required?" he asked wearily.
"Probably not, but it made me feel better," Rai answered.
IM shook his head. He had finally managed to get his mind in the right order. It had taken some doing, but there was nothing one perversion couldn't do that another perversion couldn't undo. Mind, even that one second of seeing Powers was enough of a solvent for most of his issues..
IM sighed and said, "Well, we're no closer to finding Key now."
"You called?"
Everyone looked about, seeing no additional people. IM hesitantly asked, "Key?"
"Down here."
Everybody looked at the prone figure of D. "No no, not D-Lotus! Me! I'm in his right hand!"
IM carefully picked up the key. "Key? Is that really you?"
"No, it's the invisible man! OF COURSE IT'S ME!"
IM frantically checked for his ancient spellbook. "Oh no. This can't be good."
"What?" CrunchyFrog asked.
"I've lost my ancient spellbook. If someone else picks it up and reads from it, then who knows what could happen? Plus, it's the only book I know of that can undo a transformation spell this powerful. I need to get it back!"
Doing her absolute best not to grin, and succeeding, Rai slowly looking at IM. "If I'm not much mistaken you did file a copy of that book with the IF Hazardous Items department." She grimaced; those damn gremlins in IFHI had been after her for months asking for permission to poke around in her Horde for contraband. Of course there was contraband in her Horde but that was beside the point.
"I'm also pretty sure those tunnels lead right under that wing of the Council Hall." They descended the stairs, and squeezed back through the shaft into the tunnels, dragging the unconscious D behind them. When they were in a large enough area, Rai transformed back into her dragon form. Looking around Rai sniffed the air a bit and consulted her mod gem before finding the tunnel exit she was looking for. "Ah here it is...this way please." Picking up D in her jaws she headed off, the darkness bothering her not one bit.
Din who was beginning to wonder if she really should head back to Jester Park, obediently followed IM, Rai, D-lotus, Crunch-Frog, and a key that was claiming to Key himself. When Din threatened Rai, she hadn't really meant anything by it. Of course to really fulfill her threat she would have had to have known where exactly Rai's lair was, and of course Din didn't actually know that.
But then again, Rai didn't like to be threatened, blackmailed, or any such things. On the other hand, if Din hadn't threatened to do exactly what she couldn't do under any circumstances, Rai wouldn't have let her gone anywhere. In fact if she hadn't have threatened her co-mod, Din imagined she would be chained to a chair in her office, locked in a closet, or chained to a wall if not all three. Rai never let her have any fun.
Rai thought she was harmless, helpless, and the completely unable to harm a fly. 'And she's probably right,' Din thought to herself, 'but how is I am supposed to learn if no one let's me have any fun?'
Making a mental note to apologize profusely after this and perhaps giving Rai one of the rare objects Din kept in a secret hoard only she knew about, Din pushed off her thoughts and strode up the lovable frog known to her as Crunchy.
"So, Crunchy you mind telling me what has been happening in the city lately?"
"You don't know?" IM said raising his bushy eyebrows.
"I know a few details, but I am afraid I have been a little busy dealing with Jester Park rather than keeping up with city events, besides I was talking to Crunchy not you."
"Well, Din, this is what has happening....." Crunchy said as Din walked and listened to where ever the group was heading.
IM tuned CrunchyFrog and Dinranwen out, as Crunch brought Dinranwen up to date. He jogged to catch up with Rai. "Hey, Rai, wait a second!"
He huffed and puffed and caught his breath. "Have you had dealings with these little gnomes before? Can I actually get my book back from them?"
"Sure you can...They'll give you a copy I'm sure. But you'll have to warn them you lost the original." Rai snorted to herself, well it was not lost really, she knew exactly where it was.
Rai led them through a maze of underground passages, stopping every once and a while to check her mod gem and sniff the air. Finally she spat out D on the ground. "Right, IFHI is right above you guys. Din and I, however, are off to clean up Jester Park." Din nodded her hood. Turning, the pair headed down a tunnel to the left.
They twisted downward through places long forgotten until suddenly Rai came to a halt. "Great my tail's stuck. Will you head through that archway up there? Jester Park is just on the other side. Go grab me a crowbar so I can get myself out." Din looked around a bit before scrabbling through the glowing archway. Rai felt bad for all of six seconds as a horrible scream filled the air.
Slowly stepping forward, her tail had never been trapped; Rai entered a place long forgotten by IF. There was no sign of Dinranwen. There was, however, a vial of something red floating in a column of light in the center of a round chamber. Reaching out and snagging it Rai chuckled to herself. "Sorry Din but threatening a dragon gets you nowhere."
Putting the vial into her gems Rai gathered herself up and quickly teleported back to her Council chambers. "Blood of the Beginning...check."
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:03 am; edited 1 time in total
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:45 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 7 - The Realm of Dead IFians
A dim silhouette of a hunched figure shuffled along after Din and Rai. The figure stopped, wheezed, and continued his slow waddle forward.
"I'm getting too old for all this running, hiding and getting lost malarkey, I'm telling you."
He started advancing after the cloaked shadow and the giant dragon.
This is Smudger. The unknown linear mod who basically wrote one linear story, retired and spent all day in the tavern chatting.
When it was New Year he still stayed out the way. Not very sociable is Smudger. Too grumpy.
He saw the things happening and knew the best chance of survival was to follow the shadow and dragon. Simple.
But no. They had to vanish after the scream of Din. Smudger sighed. "Why did I follow a dragon and a shadow? Safety? Rubbish, they’re gone now!"
He bowed his head a dragged his foot along the tunnels in hope of finding a friendly IFian face, or at least a face anyway. "Wait, I have that ring too!"
Smudger thought hard about the Council Hall and being inside it. The ring glowed, got brighter. And brighter...
BANG!!!!
The ring and gem exploded on Smudger's hand. The hunchback hobbled in a circle screaming at his flaming hand. Linear always gets the duds...
Smudger beat the ground repeatedly with his burning hand until the flames went out.
“This is NOT my day,” he grumbled.
Smudger got to his feet, staring at his charred hand, mumbling to himself. “I should be screaming in agony right now. Well, why don't you? Well I'm not in the mood, I'd rather be shouting at the Council on testing prototypes on me.”
Smudger trudged forward, heading for the exit to get to the Council Hall. He suddenly remembered the scream. Din's scream. And Rai muttering something.
“Hmmm...”
Smudger looked down the giant hole.
“Damn that's deep. Shall I go all bravado here? Yeah...why not!”
Smudger started clinging to the rock and began to descend, crying at the top of his voice," The bells! The bells!"
He grabbed hold of a rock, slipped and started falling.
"Oh F....”
During her own fall, some moments earlier, Dinranwen began thinking as she screamed in that blood curdling way that people do when they fall down bottomless pits. She made a few mental notes to herself, most of them to never, ever, ever, threaten Rai again.
A few her thoughts however were about the next time she wanted to do something adventurous...she would go clean Solomon's Birch's Old place. Now there was an adventure.
A few quadrillion, million, thousand feet later, Din landed with a resounding thump onto something hard.
Sparring an soft ouch, she lost all consciousness.
~ ~ ~
Groaning. Din opened one eye weakly and took a look around. Although her vision was somewhat dark, spotted, and fuzzy, Din made out a room very similar to the Chat room. A tavern filled with unending barrels of varying liquid substances, soft couches, stools, and tables was filled with a mixed group of characters. The people in the room were unfamiliar to her, but Din got the vague impression that these people were once from IF, although she didn't know why. Maybe it was because the Tavern Sign was labeled Ye Old IFian Tavern Club....free unending drinks for the rest of eternity!
Licking her chapped lips, Din eased herself off the floor and onto a stool. As she placed her hood in her hands Din muttered, "Somehow I don't think Rai is going to accept an apology."
"Um excuse me," said a voice Din vaguely recognized. Turning, Din realized it was indeed a familiar face. Well, two faces actually.
"Rave, Wing!" Din shouted standing up and giving the black and white twins a hug. "I haven't seen you in ages. I so glad you're not dead. I am so glad that I am not dead."
"But Dinranwen," Wing said,
"That's what we want to talk to you about."
"Your not supposed to be here."
"Your status is very much alive."
"But you have been untimely killed by Rai."
"So you're dead."
"Only you're not."
"So you're not supposed to be here."
"Only you are."
"Girls!" Din shouted, "One at a time please, I have this huge headache, and feel like I'm bruised all over. Now will someone please tell me where in the world I am?"
"But your not in the World."
"Your in the underworld."
"And your dead."
"But she's active." Rave argued.
"But her body's dead." Wing returned.
Din sighed this may take awhile, and decided to go around in the bar in search for someone (preferably not drunk) who could tell her where she was, what was going on, and how she get out of this place.
She found her answer in the most unusual of places. Sitting in a corner with two wenches on his lap in all his mummy wrapped glory was a user named Muaddib.
"What's up Din?"
"Uh the ceiling!"
"Very funny," Muaddib chuckled, "Welcome to the realm of Dead Ifians directly under the Soul Well. May I congratulate you for coming to the Tavern?"
Din who had been soothing her sore spirits and even sore body with the giant bottomless cup of tea the bar tender just knew was specially made just for her. Of course it didn't help that the cup was marked in Din's own personal signature in her own personal runes...but still.
Well, anyway she had been drinking her cup of tea when all of a sudden she heard a thump that sounded vaguely familiar, and puff!! there was Smudger right exactly where Din had been moments before.
The barkeeper, an IFian from the way old days, given that Din didn't even recognise his name signed on his apron, hastily checked his notebook.
"Smudger, aka Greame, hunchback, Grumpy, socialist/communist...wait a minute he's not supposed to be in here! Active Guest everyone, on their feet."
Rave and Wing hurried over to Smudge to explain in their confusing way how he wasn't supposed to be there. Gazing around from her seat, Din decided that as much as she was enjoying her cup of tea, it was time to do something about her situation.
So, looking around Din spotted Muaddib emerging from the back with his two wenches after doing whatever exactly he did with wenches...Din shook off the unwelcome thought and slid off her stool with a grace that only came with being familiar with shadows. Strangely, out of all the outcasts and ingrates in the Bar, Muaddib was the only that showed some sense...which was saying something.
Slipping up the hood of her cloak, which seemed to have repaired itself after her unfortunate demise, Din slid onto the stool across from Muaddib.
"Muaddib." Din purred. "I think we should talk."
Din after several hours of sweet talking, threatening, and allowing time for those drops of Verific Tonic (Truth Potion) she had carefully placed in Muaddib's tankard, was finally able to get the answers she needed. Glancing over at Muaddib whose eyes were glazed over, an unfortunate effect of the tonic, Din kept her voice soft and low. "Muaddib," Dinranwen whispered her voice as sweet as honey laced with arsenic, "there is this heavy fog on the surface. What I believe is that is most likely made up with the souls of the deceased IFians. What I don't know is why the fog is whispering to the Citizens above and starting a rebellion against Chinaren?"
"Hey look, my dear," Muaddib said swaying and stuttering like Jake Sparrow, Captain Jake Sparrow, "I don't think I should be answering that question. It's questions like that get people killed for answering."
"Okay," Din said correctly guessing that the potion hadn't yet taken full affect, "Maybe you can answer this one for me. How do I get back to Life in the city and not as a spirit in the fog either?"
"You want to know how to get out of here?"
"Yes, now will you answer my question?" Din said keeping her breaths slow and steady to keep her from loosing her temper.
"No," he said. But then Muaddib leaned forward his hand sneaking under the table. "You want me to show you the back room? I'll be happy to answer your questions there."
Desparation was rising in Dinranwen, and there was a blur and a flash as she moved so fast that her movements couldn't even be seen. Grasping the wraps near Muaddib's neck and pressing the dagger she had positioned in a very uncomfortable place for Muaddib, Din looked like she was going to kill Muaddib and she probably would have too if he hadn't already been dead.
But then something changed her mind, and smiling so sweetly it almost hurt, Din purred, "Maybe we should do that. Show the way."
Muadib cocky, arrogant, and excited wouldn't know what hit him.
~ ~ ~
Emerging from the back room, Din wiped her daggers clean with a piece of cloth that looked like a piece of Muaddib.
Lifting her head so her cheery lips could be seen, Dinranwen's lips curled in a smile that almost froze half the room. She had got her answers, and she had just unloaded weeks worth of anger and boredom on Muaddib's unfortunate head. As for Muaddib, let's just say he would be very sensitive for the next few weeks, have very vivid nightmares, and would probably never get over the scars....
Spotting Smudger from across the room, Dinranwen nearly floated over to him. Physically removing him from the bar stool were the hunchback was muttering something about "Nothing's ever easy...", Din pulled Smudger up on a table, and pulling down what appeared to be attic stairs Din spoke downwards to Smudge. "Come on," Din said pulling the very drunk hunchback along, "I found out how to get us out of here but if your not going to co-operate..."
"I coming...I coming" Smudger muttered.
"Hurry, if we don't get there in time it may be too late."
"Too late for what? New Years..." Smudger muttered some more, "Sorry, already missed that."
"No, silly. Too late to tell everyone what is really going on." Din said as climbed up the ladder, "Apparently, the spirits didn't plan a revolt all by themselves...in fact most of them don't want to leave the Tavern. Someone in IF is controlling them all."
"What! Who?"
"No time to explain," Din said, yanking Smudge up the last couple of steps into what looked like a colourless void, "We have places to go and people to see, and I don't about you but I would like to get back to life."
It turned out Muaddib's instructions weren't as clear as Din had thought.
"Your status in If is active...but because your former 'form' (avatar) is dead, you’re going to have to take on a new one." Muaddib had cleverly said.
"How?"
"Go up onto the roof of the Tavern. The Tavern's roof is roughly located on the bottom left of the Soul Well. If you go straight and slightly to the right, you should see a faint light coming from above." Muadib said pausing for a moment, "There are two ways you can get back alive, one is to climb through the cracks near the well, but you won't return to your form and will only be in spirit under the control of 'someone else'. If you don't want that, you have to find some way to get under the dream chamber...somewhere near there, I don't know exactly where there is a computer room. Enter your name, city key, and go to profile. Once there, choose what/who you will be it's called an 'avatar'. I warn you though, don't take your original form...if you do you'll only end up back here."
Muaddib managed a smile. He was not about to direct her right into the Dream Chamber where she could have easily reunited herself with her body and get her life back after the pummeling he’d just received from her. That would teach her to come down to the peaceful Realm of Dead IFians, and start getting violent.
Din had tried to follow those instructions but apparently finding your way through absolute darkness was now easy task, not even for a former half-shadow.
Somehow, someway Din had gone a little too far to the right and was now facing one of the many doors in the realm of Dead Ifians.
The door in front of her and Smudge was labelled, "Channel If broadcasting, Enter if you dare."
Muadib, Rave and Wing, and many other dezins of the Tavern had warned her about this room, if she dared to enter and made it past the gang of If characters that ran it, she would be able to see what was going on in If.
Deciding to take the chance, Din entered the Broadcasting moved and then ducked, dodged and made her way to a large area where several former citizens of If were watching the events in If unfold with large barrels of popcorn. Four screens were displayed...one showed the City proper, focusing mainly on Crunchyfrog and Gang. Another showed the confrontation between D and Leb. The third was showing IM and Key in their dream state briefly before flipping to the channel where Rai was featured eating sheep with her denizens. The final one showed an empty screen of a computer room...positioned just below the dream chamber.
Swinging around before she saw any more, Din drug Smudger out of the Broadcasting room and went in the exact opposite direction of the computer room where she and Smudge could return to the City. "Uh, Din" Smudger puffed in-between bounces, "Aren't we going the wrong way."
"Yes, we are."
"I thought we were going to go back to the City of If."
"We are, and we're going to bring a few residents of this Realm with us too...."
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:03 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
CHAPTER 8 - A Spell at IdeaMaster's Mansion
IdeaMaster stood in the tunnels at the spot that Kalanna had told him was directly under the IF Hazardous Items Department. Along with Sasuke, Crunchyfrog and an unconscious D, he waited until Kalanna Rai and Dinranwen were out of sight. He had heard the blood curdling scream from Dinranwen in the tunnels, and the odd little explosion, but he was not concerned with that now. He needed a new copy of his spell book, and he needed it quickly.
Pointing his hands upwards he let loose a small blast. The tunnel's ceiling exploded upwards, showering the occupants with a small coating of dust. IM pulled himself up and helped everyone else up through the hole he'd created, and looked around. The IFHI reminded him very strongly of Gringotts bank. IM walked over to the head gnome's desk.
"Are you the one who demolished our floor? You will fix it, yes?"
IM sighed at the wheedling tone of the gnome. "If you're lucky, and I'm in a good mood, then yes, I'll fix it. Otherwise I'll demolish you before I leave. Now. I lost a spellbook and am seeking a replacement."
"Really? Which spellbook of yours is lost?"
"It has no title, its cover is made from the blackest charred skin I could find, and it's held shut by an intricate locking system made from mythril."
The head gnome trawled through a massive tome. "Ah yes, we do have a copy of that particular book. I'll have it sent to you. In the meantime, I suggest you all go home."
IM sighed and turned around. "My house is safest, you all can bunk with me."
Looking down at D-Lotus, who was still unconscious, he motioned for Crunchyfrog and Sasuke to pick him up and carry him.
In the darkness of his mind, D-Lotus suddenly saw a light. From that light poured forth images, millions of images flashing by, creating a movie, a realistic animation. They were pictures of his life. His mother smiling at him tenderly, his childhood, playing with a ball among the high grass. There was a brief image of a dragoness, but it went by quickly. And then, D saw something that frightened him. And he knew the truth.
Somehow, being knocked unconscious for the second time was bringing all of his memories back to life. Everything was streaming before his eyes. Everything, including the terrible secret he had discovered, and his emnity with BS. He'd asked for Polokin's help to face the ordeal, but he'd never explained. He'd wanted to tell Polokin about the horrible secret, but he feared his friend would become too involved. Then, before New Year's, D and Polokin had an argument that distanced them... D suddenly realized where he had been going to on New Year's. He hadn't been going to the celebrations; he'd... if only he could tell his companions.
Specks of light began swirling, until D thought he could see Crunchyfrog's worried face. He remembered the truth about Crunchyfrog too. But then it all blacked out again, submerging him in a dismal torrent of thoughts and darkness...
Tendrils of darkness surrounded D-Lotus yet. Sparkling words and gleaming pictures ran in circles inside his head against the dark background, etching themselves into his memory, never to be forgotten. He watched the vivid stories and flowing emotions, once and once more again. The cycle continued, never tiring. But tiredness did grip D in its unyielding fist, and he struggled to be free from his prison of truth. A chair came into focus, and then dissolved into blackness.
If only, if only...
~ ~ ~
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:30 am; edited 2 times in total
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| Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:19 pm Post subject: |
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IM sat in silent contemplation, in his private study. In one day he'd found an old friend, heard of the disaster, issued near-illegal weaponry, stolen a car, and burst into Key's mansion, all to find a key that was Key transformed. It all seemed familiar somehow...
Everybody else was safely in the guest wing of his mansion. The traps had been recalculated so that nobody would lose an arm or a leg. IM, however, was in his secret room that functioned as his lair of plotting and brooding. He tapped one liquid crystal computer screen, and it came to life.
"Search Archives."
The Archives of the City came up with a list of stories, most of them completed.
"Find any instances where Key was transformed. Cross-reference results with City of IF references."
The computer whirred a moment, then came back with only one result.
"Hmm... The True Story of the City of I(nter)F(able)..."
IM greedily read the story, absorbing every word, every plot nuance, every detail. When he was done, dawn was breaking.
"So. Key's been transformed again, and someone or something is playing us for fools. But who?"
IM cast his mind back to what CrunchyFrog's (or was it D's?) words from long ago...
We gave the map to Rai. She seemed very upset about it...
"No," IM said. "It couldn't be. Then again, what does one expect of an assassin dragoness? Computer, lock down mansion. Complete seal from outside world. Unauthorised access to be punishable by death. Only authorised people are ones currently inside it. Open tunnel to the Dead Ones and the Dream Chamber."
The mansion's many doors and windows slammed shut, and laser turrets sprung out of every hallway and every room. On the outside, turrets sprung up as well with only five feet between each one. They crawled along the walls like some infectious disease.
In the very room where he'd left his guests, two sections of the floor opened up, one going straight down, and the other curving away to some unknown destination. Five sets of bungee rope and five gas masks dropped from the ceiling as well. IM could only hope that none of his guests were panicking right now.
A screen flickered on, with the head Gnome. "We can't deliver like this, you know."
IM tapped a few buttons. Now delivery gnomes could enter. He then said, "Now you can," and snapped the connection shut.
Before checking on his guests, IM pondered. He knew that if his book would have been found, his mansion would be penetrable. He hesitated, his hand over the one button he hoped he'd never have to push ever again...And then did so.
As the Mod over the Games district, IM had various devices at his disposal for calming down the inhabitants. The reverse was also true in the sense that he had many devices to flood the forums with the inhabitants of the Games district. What IM had just done was push the button that would knock out the walls of the Games district, allowing all and any characters free reign over the city. That ought to distract Rai long enough so that she wouldn't be looking in his direction.
IM then rushed to his guests.
"Don't panic, we're completely secure here, and nothing of mine will kill you. We only have a limited time. Sasuke, I'll need your help. CrunchyFrog and D, stay back, you don't want to inadvertently interrupt this."
IM steered the young half-dragon to the centre of the room. "What are we doing?" Sasuke asked.
"I am going to be casting a Finding and Replacement spell at the same time. I may need your innate power to help me achieve this. I'm going to find my book and give whoever has it a nasty surprise."
IM placed another book in front of him and began the spell weaving. The others looked closely at the book in question and Sasuke gasped. "Not...the Necronomicon!"
"Shh! And I've enhanced it. The poor sap that reads THIS will be forced to read it aloud until their untimely demise, which, considering the nature of the book, could be rather quick."
IM once more began the spell weaving.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:55 am; edited 1 time in total
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 3:21 pm Post subject: |
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To say that Crunchyfrog was frightened would have been an understatement.
To say that he was about to crap his pants would have been a lot closer to the truth. He felt hopelessly at a loss as he watched the spell weaving go on in front of him.
Not only that, his feeling of general unease had been mounting quickly and without abatement throughout their adventure under the Palace. The slaying of the slug and the rescue of Key was heightened further by the bloodcurdling scream of Din echoing through the tunnel. The scream still resounding in his ears even now... he couldn't get it out of his mind.
Now, the sudden automatic security lockdown on IM's mansion, and the release of all manner of creatures from Games to roam the city... had perturbed him even further...and what of D-Lotus?
D-Lotus was only partially conscious, he was murmuring, none of it making any sense, but he seemed to be dreaming...having a conversation with someone....
IM seemed resolute about what he was doing. Crunchyfrog took a deep breath and tried to contain his terror. After all, he was in the company of a mage. Nothing could go wrong. Could it?
IM thrust his hands out through the fabric of the spell. A small portal opened up and he grasped what he hoped was his book. Then he carefully left the Necronomicon in it's place, and drew his hands back with his book. As he did so, he could hear a bellow of rage and felt a jab of magic in his direction.
All went black. IM knew he had his book, but what did that magic do to him?
~ ~ ~
After what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds, IM woke up. He was in a huge room, much larger than he remembered having at all. He brought his hands up to cradle his aching head with when he realised something was wrong. He checked his hands and figured out what it was.
They were no longer hands, but paws.
Quickly twisting around, IM realised that the curse had transformed him into a fox. He attempted to access his magic, only to be met with an invisible barrier. IM looked about to find CrunchyFrog and Sasuke still untouched by whatever curse was upon him. D was unconscious and moaning, and Key...
Key was still a key, but now Key was on a small leather necklace around IM's neck. IM looked up at Sasuke and was surprised to find that he could indeed speak intelligibly. "We need another wizard."
Crunchyfrog looked first from the burbling D-Lotus, to the transformed Ideamaster, to the two recently opened holes in the floor, to the bungee ropes and gas masks dangling from the ceiling. The most logical and decent thing to do at this point, he thought, would be to faint.
But he remembered Sasuke, who was quite young, and judging by his recent quietness, also rather overcome by recent events, so Crunchyfrog mustered what bravery he could, and stayed standing up.
"Now then, Crunchyfrog," said Ideamaster. "You must be my hands. I need you to check my messages before we go further. "
IM the fox trotted over to a small screen in the corner of the room and pointed his nose at it.
"Touch the yellow button underneath it, there's a good fellow."
Crunchyfrog obeyed, and a small square appeared on the screen with the words 'you have 1 message' written on it.
"Open it..."
It was the notification of the Council meeting in Jester Park.
"Hah!" chuckled IM. "Well if Kalanna's not contained the escapees from the Games forum within the next 3 hours, that meetings going to have some very unexpected visitors."
"Are you going to attend?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"With that lot out there? Are you crazy?"
"No," IM said, "I'm not going anywhere near there. Instead we have to wake D up somehow.
_________________________________
Meanwhile, outside IM's mansion, two figures stood in the fog.
"Where did he go?" Polokin asked, looking around, "Wasn't he there a second ago?"
"Yes," said BS with an odd expression on his face, "Oh well."
"Never mind that, I have a plan. How about I go undercover? D doesn't know that I'm helping you. I could be your... spy." Polokin said mischievously.
"Good idea... I have no idea where he could be though. You'll have to ask around. Anyway, you'll need this." BS threw Polokin a small, blue, luminous ball. "Use it to call me here." He turned to leave.
"Wait," Polokin caught the ball and looked down at it, "How do I use this?"
"Just throw it against the ground and say 'BStheGreat'" he called.
Polokin looked up from the ball but he was gone. Polokin put the ball in his pocket and set off to find D and the group.
__________________________________________
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:55 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:51 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 9 - Takeover!! Well, Nearly...
Rai snoozed gently on her massive pile of gold. It had taken a lot out of her to cross into the Blood Sanctum...even after Din had been so kind as to take the kill hit for her. A chime sounded and she cracked open an eye blearily.
She was still angry from when she had discovered, on her way home, that inside her gem IM's book was in the process of being replaced by a Necronomicron. She knew she had been compromised, and had sent a curse back with the book - she knew exactly who the perpetrator had been, and smirked when she considered what effect it would have on him.
Getting off her Horde, she went to answer the chime.
"This had better be good," she muttered.
As she did so, she accidentally crushed a small glass bottle that had been nestling there. A puff of purple gas escaped from it into the air. The broken glass did not bother Rai's hardened scales, and, not even noticing it's existance, she took care to scrape off any stuck on gold coins, and walked out into her living/dining room. Opening the door she found a small PM had been left on a silver plate. It was bent and squashed as if it had come through places it shouldn't have. Scrawled on it were two words in Lebrenth's handwriting. 'Help Me.'
Flipping it over to see if it had any valuable information Rai discovered that there was to be a Council Meeting in the confines of Jester Park.
"Oh excellent. I wonder if anyone will notice Din is missing...Oh Drat! I told them I was going off with her to clean."
Rai sniffed the air, and felt strangely invigourated, the feeling she got usually just after a kill. Shaking her head, she left her abode immediately for Jester Park. Upon her arrival, she looked around.
"Well this isn't going to get done if I just stare at it," she thought.
~ ~ ~
It wasn't long before Rai was sitting back against a stone wall in Jester Park cracking a whip as several Oompa Loompas finished tidying everything up. The fog swirled around the place, and for the first time, Rai began to wonder at its composition. She could hear whispers, but she was not sure if they were in the fog, or in her mind. Shaking her head vigorously, she yelled,
"Right then you lot...back to the Guildhall." The small orange men, having completed their task, gave her a few glares but stomped off cheerfully enough...the dragoness had let them out into the open air for a few minutes after all.
Her gem flashed and, looking around to make sure she was still alone, she put up a privacy shield and answered it. The grinning face of Lordy met her gaze.
"Taking a risk aren’t you?" she replied.
"I trusted you'd have the discretion to take the necessary precautions."
She wanted to wipe the smirk off his face but instead waited for him to tell her what was so important. "I've just happened to find the Master Map in the Council Hall, just lying on Chinaren’s chair."
Rai's crest raised high.
"Smooth your scales. Everything's going according to plan...”
Rai snarled at the arrogant demon.
“Do you have the Blood?”
"You stick to the plotting. I'll stick to guarding the things we need. That was the agreement was it not?" The demon inclined his head. When the time comes it will be available."
Lordy glared at her.
"Remember who you're dealing with dragoness."
Rai glared right back.
"I do, every second of the day demon. Forgetting is not something I have the luxury of in this particular case. You take care of your end, I'll take care of mine...Oh and it seems Lebrenth is in trouble."
"Then go fetch him...and stay alert. Whoever copied the map is going to try and use it." Before Rai could say anything else the connection broke. Fuming the dragoness tapped her talons together.
"Now where could Lebby be...ah yes I remember."
~ ~ ~
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Wed Mar 07, 2007 3:12 am; edited 2 times in total
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:53 am Post subject: |
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Jez returned to the main chamber of the TI, and switched on the computer, looking again in close detail at the map and the various places marked upon it. One place had stood out like a sore thumb...which was exactly why he wasn't tunneling there for now. There were far more quiet and peaceful places to open out tunnels into...currently for instance, the Archives; a treasure hoard of lost books. Who knew what one might find in such a forgotten place - and he should arrive any day now.
He looked again at the map, that other place has definitely been added in recently, and the way its marked, and the fact that it's description includes words such as 'powerful, important, no one must approach', all highly persuasive - as though someone wants that place to be uncovered. I'd make such a place insignificant if it was really so important Jez shrugged, as info mod he liked info, but such a love had allowed him to sense that sometimes info must be gleaned more cautiously. I think I have a reasonable plan, he thought as he edited a copy of the map so that it showed only directions to the 'top secret' place, adding in the words 'treasure' for added effect, then printed out a dozen copies. Then whistling he moved silently upstairs to the Tourist Info booth.
Reaching the inner booth he heard the sounds of someone moving upstairs, shoot, I completely forgot I left Lebrenth up there, Jez thought as he hurried over and released the ladder down.
~ ~ ~
Rai was winging her way toward TI through the fog. She was beginning to enjoy herself, feeling a new thrill of ruthlessness course through her body. Rai grinned to herself. Jez was going to have kittens when she got there. “The TI is going to be mine,” she laughed to herself.
Landing, she knocked on the Plexiglas shield of the TI booth, and waited. Jez was taking rather a long time. Hmmm. Why was that? Surely the TI was not that extensive. Tapping a talon rather more sharply on the glass, she accidentally cracked it. A few moments later, a breathless Jez arrived.
Scowling at the damage, he said, “Yes?”
“I’ve come to collect Lebrenth. I trust he’s well now?”
“Er, well, sort of,” replied Jez, letting her in. “Wait here, please, I’ll go and get him.” Jez carefully locked the impenetrable outer barrier behind her, so that nobody else could enter. Then he made sure that Rai could not see the code he punched into his inner security barrier. To his surprise, just as he opened it, he was flattened as Rai pushed past him into the depths of his secret tunnels.
Sniffing the air, and using her mod gem, Rai wandered through the twisting hallways. "Hmm... this is all rather recent...Jez has been busy." She rounded a corner, and discovered Jez’s computer displays with the map clearly shown on them.
“Oh, so you’re the Map thief!” Rai chuckled, as Jez scrambled to catch her up. Her eyes looked somewhat glazed as she said so. “I'm very interested in these clearly doctored Master Map copies...and I'm sure you're going to be interested in what I’m about to do with you…”
Pulling Jez by the hand that wore his Mod ring, she pressed the ring into a small socket in one of her gems. The copying of the calibrations of Jez’s mod ring were completed in a matter of seconds, and imaged inside the gem.
“Now I have control over the TI as well!” she giggled maliciously. Looking to her left, she noticed the ladder that Jez had pulled down earlier, Lebby was teetering at the top. Pulling Lebby out, she shoved Jez into the lofty room and locked the trap door. Then she shut down the power to the TI.
"Have a nice day," she remarked.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:00 am Post subject: |
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Cursing under his breath, since his mod ring would not work without any power, Jezsharp pressed his ear against the door, listening for sound outside. He held an empty bottle in his hand. Apparently Lebrenth drank another one of his concoctions from the fridge. Must have thought it was a root beer. Anyway the reaction should be interesting.
Rai was very pleased with herself as she burst out through the wall of the TI, Lebby settled between her shoulders. "At this rate I'm going to work off all that weight I gained during Christmas for the past ten years."
"Was that really necessary Rai? murmured Lebrenth. Locking Jez in like that?"
Rai took a moment to glance at her passenger, but said nothing.
Just then the crystal about Rai's neck dissolved in a low scream and a puff of choking smoke. "Damn", Rai thought as she remembered that she needed to obtain authorisation from China or Key for its use to take over sectors, or else the enchantment failed. The TI's power was instantly restored.
Rai looked at the small pile of dust that was her main pendant. "Oh no you don't." Biting her tongue she allowed several drops of blood to fall on it, speaking a few words as they did so. There was a flash and a puff of vile smelling smoke, but when it cleared her gem gleamed back at her. "Now to reset the parameters and..." There was a slight charge that told her things were working well again.
Shaking her head violently again, she wondered what had come over her.
"I've got to pay more attention or I'm going to do something stupid."
As Rai rose into the air and flew back towards Jester Park, with Lebrenth still on her back, Lebrenth looked back at the impenetrable door to TI standing defiantly beside the gaping hole in the wall where Kalanna Rai crashed through.
But something else seemed to have shaken Lebrenth up. He wavered in a Captain Jack Sparrow sort of way. She wondered if she could believe anything that he said. He had a strange scent on his breath, a mixture of unusual ingredients... a potion of some sort.
"Sorry for the rushed message… I got the creeps. I was browsing... nothing unusual, but I found a program protected by a time-sensitive password, a retinal scanner, fingerprint analyser, DNA coders, and a riddle.... I wasn't going to even try, but then a window popped up and words appeared on it: 'Let me show you,' it said."
Rai waited for the punchline.
"I started feeling chills, and kept looking behind me, because I felt someone was in that tiny wooden room with me.... Whatever it was, it bypassed the protections and started the program. More than a hundred screens appeared of different places in IF, a vast network of cameras spying on citizens and moderators everywhere....
"The words on the window wrote: 'Here.' And a recording enlarged and showed me New Year's Eve at the palace. It was nearly midnight and everyone was there... well there were a few people missing, I wasn't there of course... and I don't think I saw you...."
"No I wasn't there, you know that. Just tell me what you saw."
Rai snapped her fingers in front of Lebby's face a couple of times. "You don't look right Lebs...you sure you okay?" She again caught the scent of something sickly-sweet on the wind. Landing back in Jester Park Rai watched him collapse in a heap on the ground. Taking a good whiff she pulled back.
"Great, not only do you really need to wash that Robe of Foreboding but someone has gone and poisoned you with Nightwing juice...I'm putting my money on Jez." She'd seen all those bottles in that room..."And I don't happen to have the antidote on me. Oh well desperate times..." Rummaging in her gem she pulled out a tacky green liquid which she rubbed into his scalp. "This should help until I can get something more effective. I'll be back in a little while."
And with that, she left Lebrenth to sleep fitfully on the ground.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:12 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 10 - A Murderer Discovered
Oblivious to the precautionary actions, spells and preparations going on around him, D Lotus lay unconscious in the Guest Quarters in IdeaMaster's mansion.
The gloom in his head began condensing. It began to cool and encroach on him...then it suddenly exploded in a wave of heat. D reeled inside, stunned and confused. Then his mind started to clear and he found himself in a room, a small wooden room. D stared at his hand, and found that it seemed hazy, as if his molecules kept rearranging, as if he were in a dream. And he was.
The room had no windows, its walls being covered in innumerable screens instead. D watched the constant motion of the people inside the screens, yet he could find no pattern. It vaguely reminded him of a Matrix movie.
D's eyes kept searching for something familiar, until he stopped when he saw a figure standing in front of a large screen. The man was wearing a white-T and jeans. He seemed intent upon the screen, but he kept flickering on and off. D guessed that he himself must look that way too, flickering in and out of consciousness.
Suddenly the man disappeared for a few minutes. D sensed him speaking to someone in the real world. Everything in the room was amplified; even D's feeling of fear and surprise at the man's disappearance. He felt lonely, strange, and afraid to move from where he'd awoken, and the room noticed. As D stood up, suddenly the man reappeared, this time on D's side.
"Leb?" D exclaimed, as his feeling of gladness echoed around the receptive room. He knew Lebrenth could feel everything inside him. For a few moments longer, they spoke silently in this way. Then Lebrenth tried to break the external silence...
Before Lebrenth could say anything, D suddenly felt himself pulled out of the room by something which tasted unpleasant and acidic. Lebrenth could feel D-Lotus' distaste, but was incapable of doing anything. The strange force pulled at him, and D resisted. He knew that there had to be answers in this room- it couldn't all be a delusion. He had to share his secret with Lebrenth.
Eventually, he felt the power of the mind overcome science. D reappeared as Lebrenth had done. Yet he could feel his body somewhere else, like a sleepwalker. His true presence was in the astral world. He glanced towards Lebrenth, sure that he was experiencing everything the same way...
Laying on the ground in Jester Park, Lebrenth stirred in his poisonous sleep. The potion, for the poison was not its only effect nor even its main effect, had separated mind from body, and caused it to shift in the layers of the superconscious, sometimes referred to as the Astral Plane. He found D-Lotus, quite to his delight. He'd been looking for him.
"You look clearer," Lebrenth said amongst turbulent grey shrouds of a shifting plane of existence. D-Lotus did not exactly understand the words at first. Then he remembered what happened to his memory.
"No. I feel clearer there," D-Lotus replied.
"What do you mean?"
"At least there I know which side I'm on."
"I've wanted to ask you about that. What made you change your mind?" Lebrenth asked, his image shifting in clouds of thought.
"How do you know I did?"
"I saw a recording...."
"I don't understand, what did you see?"
"You were investigating, I could see that before I was shut out of the system for unauthorised access..." Lebrenth said ironically with a brief shower of yellow light tickling the realm of thought. The cloud of secrecy continued to billow around D-Lotus.
"Then you didn't see everything," D-Lotus said, his words turning the black clouds into a dark hue of red.
"What did you do?" Lebrenth asked, as the uncurling of his thoughts scatter with confusion.
"What had to be done. But I didn't do it for you or Rai or Lordy," D-Lotus said, the clouds of red glowing like coals of a fire, then dying away into grey smoke which floats away.
"What did you do? And if not for us then who?"
"For the city," he said and marvelled at his hands, now glowing like moonlight. Still there was hollowness to his words that made him feel like he was melting away. His hands dripped away like tears. "... I murdered him."
"What have you done? It has already begun, we can't send them back!" Cracks of thunder amplified Lebrenth's fear.
"You don't know that," D-Lotus says, watching his arms drip away as his hands did. "There is a way. That's why I called for you. You have to help me. We need to use the Soul Well."
"Do you know what you're asking me to do?"
"I do."
"Then return to your body while you can still retain some of your memory. I will do what I can."
"You have to do better than that."
Then a storm of violent and hateful thoughts swept across them, obscuring their vision and tearing at their consciousness. It was not their storm, but the storm of rioters and mobs, and lost souls ruled by enmity, and they feel carried away by it. But they would not become part of it. They retreated to the only places they could.
Lebrenth's eyes opened, and slowly focus on Rai standing over him.
"Don't move yet," Rai says. She didn't bother to explain why a large spider had its fangs buried in his neck.
When he saw what she's done to bring him back to consciousness, he did exactly as he was told.
~ ~ ~
D sat up, sputtering, trying to get a terrible taste out of his mouth.
"What was that?"
Crunchyfrog stared at him, holding a vial of liquid, which he had just administered to D, on IM's instruction.
"A very powerful cure-all for anything save physical wounds, or so IdeaMaster says." replied Crunchy. "You've been out for ages."
D tried to take in his surroundings, but they were too blurred for him to make any sense of. There was no sign of IdeaMaster, and he thought he could see a fox nearby. Sighing, he closed his eyes again.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:16 am Post subject: |
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"Okay!" announced IM. "Everyone put a gas mask on, and Crunchy, stash that vial somewhere. We have to go through this tunnel, through the Dream Chamber, and out into the city. Rai will never be expecting that. Crunchy, it'll be your duty to wake me up when we're through, seeing as there are no gas masks for foxes. Just pour some of that potion down my throat. We'll need to find another magi, I know just the person..."
Crunchyfrog pulled three gas masks down from the ceiling, placed one over his head, and helped D-Lotus with his. Although D seemed to be conscious, he was still not completely coherent, his mind seemingly still connected elsewhere. But physically at least he was good to go, standing, swaying, sort of. Well, kind of Jack Sparrow like.
The third mask he handed to Sasuke, who had a little trouble fitting it over his half human half draconian snout, but he managed after a little struggling.
"Which hole do we go down?" asked Crunchy.
"That one," replied the fox, indicated the one that curved away. "It takes us to the Dream Chamber."
"What's the other one?" asked Crunchyfrog.
"That is the one that goes directly to the Realm of Dead IFians."
Crunchyfrog shuddered. He didn't particularly want to go there.
Crunchyfrog then threw three bungees down the hole that curved down and away. After helping D onto one of the ropes and lowering him down, he hoisted the fox that was Ideamaster up under his arm. Then he picked up the spell book, the vial, and the remainder of the chocolate chip cookies that they made in Key's kitchen, and he and Sasuke descended into the hole.
As the tunnel levelled out, Crunchyfrog put the fox down, and the foursome walked quietly into the darkness. Behind them they heard a rumbling noise and a clang, as the hole sealed itself behind them.
IM sniffed. What was that? Dream vapour up ahead? Oh no, this wouldn't be good...He could smell something more sinister trying to mask it's own scent with the vapour. By the time IM realised who it was, he was out like a light.
D snapped back to reality, in a cold sweat, not knowing whether his encounter with Lebrenth was a dream or not. But the memory he was left with chilled him to the bone. It wasn't so much the conversation with Lebby, but of... of... what he had done at the New Year's party.
He felt a sudden wave of claustrophobia as he became aware of the gas mask he was wearing, and struggled to remove it.
"No, NOO! Dream Chamber ahead!" yelled Crunchyfrog's muffled voice through his own mask, holding up the completely unconscious fox by the tail as an illustration.
D breathed slowly and deeply, trying to calm himself down.
He stared through the glass panes of his mask at the curved redness of the tunnel ahead of and behind him, the swirling white mist rolling in from the front obliterating sight of everything below his knees.
"Crunchy, I did something terrible." he said. "But I did it for the good of the City. You were there when it happened, but you don't remember it...nobody does. I didn't, until now... That flash of light... But I think I know why that map was planted on you now. It has to be you that fix’s' it.
"Fixes what? Why me?"
"Because you were the only person at the party that was not around before the Mass Exorcism... You are the only one that will be unaffected.... "
D-Lotus, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke continued cautiously on through the tunnel towards the Dream Chamber, unaware of the sinister being up ahead...
D, Sasuke, and Crunchy ran breathlessly, the fox limply swaying in pace by the tail. Thoughts blazed through D's mind, causing him to tighten his jaw as he tried to justify himself.
Murder, Murderer!
No, no, anybody would have done as I.
Murder, Murderer!
But I saved so many...
BS will exact his revenge, and you cannot refuse it to him.
Finally the fog began to thin, then clear completely. Just as D removed his mask, Crunchy suddenly stopped, dropping fox and key with a dull thump. D looked in the same direction as he. There was some kind of monster standing there, perhaps escaped from the Games forum and wandering aimlessly, although it had the appearance of one of Rai's henchmen.
D met the stare of its yellow, rotting eyes. It was humanoid but it looked like an angel- a travesty angel. It spread its huge wings and bounded forward towards Crunchy. Sasuke, paralysed with fear of the demonic angel, stood back, paralysed. Wordlessly, D shot out his arm and caught hold of one of the wings. The creature snarled and swiped at D-Lotus, who fell back against the wall, clutching a handful of feathers in his grip. He could feel the viscous blood dripping down his face from the cut on his forehead. He got up just as the creature sprang at him, its arms outstretched, and its dirty, jagged nails reaching for D's heart. D-Lotus dodged, and the pulsing fist sunk into the wall. Moving quickly, D held his hands together, in a fist above the creature's monstrous head, and brought it down with strength. The thing arched back in pain, like a cat, and just as swiftly pushed its massive leg into D's stomach. He crumpled onto the floor. The creature cackled victoriously and prepared for the kill. D turned to face the monster for the last time. Unexpectedly, the creature's eyes rolled back and turned white. It dropped onto the floor with a rumble that shook the whole room. The falling monster revealed Cruchyfrog's figure, holding a bloodied rock, and shaking badly in the knees.
"C'mon, let's get out of here,” said D, as he got up. He was too tired as to comfort Crunchy. CF nodded, still stunned at his own behaviour. He picked up the fox and key and followed Sasuke and D, who were already leading further down.
Presently, IM came to. Wriggling out of Crunchyfrogs arms, he fell to the ground, his fox-body striving to get from a lying to a standing position. Quickly, Crunchyfrog took out the vial of liquid he'd brought from the mansion, and trickled some into the mouth of the fox. He was not sure how many drops an animal that small should take...
IM sputtered as he could to get the taste of the potion out of his mouth. Then he closed his eyes. His magic was blocked, but not his skills and powers as a moderator. He reached out throughout the city...feeling the whereabouts of all the RP characters he'd released, but found Kalanna's characters curiously absent from anything that he could touch.
Hmm. Deciding that the idea of releasing them might not have gone according to plan, IM used his new-found powers over City Central to aid him, and suddenly the majority of the characters that were freed from the Games district that hadn't yet escaped to other parts of the city found themselves sucked back behind newly-appearing walls.
[i]Two more monsters appeared further down the tunnel, and began to approach. D raised his gun instantly.
"Relax, D, these are mine." D looked, to say the least, shocked by a fox speaking in IM's voice.
"These two are my own assassin and warrior. You two are to find whatever characters that escaped and toss them behind the walls. If you find Kalanna or any of her characters, kill them, but only if you're together and they're alone. Never underestimate them."
IM then sat. "The council meeting is in an hour by my reckoning, and it's in Jester Park. I don't believe we should go, though, seeing as some of the council members are either compromised or corrupt. Wait, Lordy is always corrupt. Hmm...Anyway, Smee will be reconstituting half a mile north of us if he can, and when he does, he can break the curses on Key and me. Personally, I'm tired of being a fox."
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 4:22 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 11 - The Smee Factor
IM's body was asleep, but his mind and soul were mostly free to wander, as long as he left enough behind to keep his physical body operating. It was a classic mage ability, one that he had practised multiple times, and it didn't require any magic at all, only mental discipline. It was even usable by those that weren't mages.
IM had, fortunately, brought Key along by mistake.
"Hey now, what's all this then?"
IM turned around, seeing Key in all his rotund glory behind him. Whatever had transformed his body hadn't yet got to Key's mind or soul. IM looked at his own hands and were relieved to see that they were indeed hands. "Key, just stick close to me. We're going to see if an old friend of ours is even alive."
Thus saying, IM began to float towards Smee's mansion...
"Smee?" IM hesitantly asked.
There was a moment of silence. Then, "IM? What are you doing here?"
"Smee! Thank goodness you're okay!"
Smee's form flickered, then solidified in front of IM and Key. "Actually, I'm not okay at all. My body got blasted ahead into the future until tomorrow."
"That's still better than me at this moment in time. Do you remember anything that happened at your party?"
"Yes," Smee said grimly, and began to tell his tale.
"I was making my routine checks around the manor when I entered the basement. I saw somebody casting a spell, and only caught the end of it, something about cracking open an entrance to the Soul Well. Needless to say, I tried to stop him by throwing a fear spell at him. It only got entangled with his spell, though, and now everyone fears the entrance to the Soul Well that is directly where my house used to be. In a fit of revenge, this character cast a spell that would disintegrate me, but I outfoxed him by time travelling. These spells also mixed to kill me now but revive me later. He let off a magic flare afterwards, to signal his work was done, probably, and then ran as the effects of our earlier mixed spell began to take hold. Fortunately everybody in my manor ran before they fell into the abyssal hole."
"Listen," IM said, "We really need you to reconstitute where the fear isn't so strong. You've got a lot of catching up to do."
"I'll try," Smee said.
IM considered the tunnel from his mansion to the Realm of Dead IFians. Hopefully there would be help coming from that direction, otherwise the stairwell he'd spent so long installing would be wasted. Whoever did come couldn't be shot by his security, seeing as they would be dead and all.
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:17 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 12 - Revelations and Alliances
Whilst she watched over Lebrenth, Rai again bristled at IM's attempts to catch her out with a Necronomicon. She cursed a blue streak.
Checking her gems to make sure all relevant objects were still within she had more reason to curse when she noticed the TI was no longer responding.
Eye twitching as she watched Lebrenth on the ground, Rai knew that she'd overstepped herself.
"I'm not the mastermind here...and yet I'm ending up doing all the work. Humph. I've already had to replace my gems once and..."
Rai was cut off by the thunder of wings as a massive black dragon with blood red spines landed in front of her cloaked figure.
"Rath? What are you doing free?" The dragoness hissed at her.
"IM has released the denizens of the Games forum." Rai wondered for a moment as her Games characters all grouped around her. Did IM expect her to go corralling them? Not bloody likely. Rai snorted to herself, doing a quick roll call to assure herself everyone was there.
"Rath, Spite, Ryuu, Rhys, X, Dove...good. Spite, X...I want the pair of you to head over to the Council hall and keep watch on my chambers. Rhys, Ryuu, Dove...keep watch on the aHEM guildhall. Rath you're coming with me."
"Where?"
"Only one thing to do." Drawing the shadows about her Rai's form slowly faded out.
Rai grinned, forgetting Lebrenth.
"We're going to spring Cami and then sit back and watch the City tear itself apart. I got onto this for fun...now it's just work. Time to get the fun back."
Polokin watched as Kalanna flew overhead with her RP creations, towards the Storygame where Cami would be.
"Great..." Polokin mumbled to himself, "Kalanna has bodyguards and she's about to free another one of her characters... I'd better find D quickly..."
Polokin looked around.
"I really hope I find a clue soon... Walking around aimlessly hasn't helped yet..."
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:20 am; edited 1 time in total
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:30 am Post subject: |
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Freeing Camwyre from her storygame in Jester Park was easy, after all Rai was the HEM mod. Carving a small glyph next to where Lebrenth lay on the ground where the Council meeting would take place, Rai gestured to her two guards. "I think it's about time we leave this City. It should be much more fun to watch it fall apart than it will be to actually help tear it down."
Winging their way to the all but forgotten Mage Mountain, which still loomed over the city from the edge near the Archives, Rai landed and knocked on the door of the den of the dragon of the mountain. Angel poked her snout out grinning. "Ah, bout time you come visit me."
"Care to watch the fun down below with us Angel." The dragoness, another of Rai's cronies, bobbed her head and they all curled around the mountain, settling for a comfortable, yet good, view.
"Anybody bring some sheep to toast?"
Rai settled back and lounged with a huge grin on her muzzle. Good food, good company, good entertainment...it didn't get any better than this. Glancing around she chortled at the way the Games characters were bringing total ruin onto some parts of the city, watching with interest to see if any mods attempted anything. Naturally none of them did.
"As long as they stay off the Mountain...not my problem,"sniggered Rai as she glanced toward Jester Park. She stared down at where she had carved the glyph, where Lebby was still lying, with the spider firmly attached to his neck. He did not know it, but time was running out for him.
The poison of the rare Crypt Spider, with red and blue chevrons on its back, has a strange effect that makes it truly unique. It possesses anti-venom that can dissolve many types of poison, and to some extent even nurture the recipient. The purpose of this quality is likely a measure to help keep a victim alive and juicy for extended feasting. A Crypt Spider can keep its victim alive for a month without food or water. Even dead, it can feed upon for several more months.
But of course it wouldn't be 'poison' if all of the effects were favourable. After the victim is purged of foreign poisons, the anti-venom's effect immediately reverses and paralyses the victim. That's when the feeding begins. Of course by that stage the council members should arrive for the meeting and be able to assist him.
None of the Councillors had shown up yet, but it was early still.
At that point, Rai's gem flickered. Sighing, she opened the connection.
"What Lordy?"
"Why aren't you tailing the others, hmm? Or have you forgotten we still need the other things."
Rai sighed.
"You know I think I've done my part. I've got what I need and right now I'm pretty sure there are several plots against my life."
The demon laughed.
"So you've cut and run...how unlike you Kalanna. I thought you were an assassin of quality and courage."
Rai nodded.
"I'm also an assassin of opportunity and prudence. I've got no quarrel with several people who are now firmly entrenched against me, for their own reasons. I'm pretty sure IM is after my blood." Lordy cocked his head at her.
"How?"
Slowly Rai withdrew a dark black book from within one of her gems and Lordy nodded. "A Necromicon...you didn't read it I trust?"
"It might have been a while since I've seen one but, having a copy of my own, I didn't really need to open this one. It reeks of death curse a mile away. Here I planned on returning IM's book at a safe time and,"
Lordy interrupted.
"Wait. You've got a copy of IM's book?"
Rai was wary now. What did Lordy want with IM's book?
"It was switched for the Micon. So no."
Lordy looked vaguely disappointed.
"Ah, well. Can't have it all. Still I wish you'd come down off that mountain and,"
It was Rai's turn to interrupt.
"Not a chance." She broke the connection and twitched claws for a moment. Her dragonesses looked at her expectantly. "Alright, alright."
Slowly she called the communications orb at IM' house, half expecting him not to answer. When he didn't she left him a message. "IM, its Rai. We need to talk. Even though you are a fox. Lordy's after you and if you don't call me back I'll expect the worst has happened..."
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Jul 20, 2007 4:20 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 5:31 am Post subject: |
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IM the fox, who had been trotting ahead of his friends in the tunnel, suddenly stopped, and cocked his head.
A mental call, how interesting. IM's mansion was paging him. Quickly IM went into his trance again. IM's mind and soul once again freely wandered, this time to enter his mansion and listen in on the message.
"IM, its Rai." played the message. "We need to talk Even though you are a fox. Lordy's after you and if you don't call me back I'll expect the worst has happened..."
IM was shocked. Then, the orb at his mansion automatically opened a mental channel between IM and Rai. "You rang me?" he asked, his spiritual presence flickering like a ghost over the familiar terrain over Mage's Mountain.
In the tunnel, a similar ghost-like image of Rai appeared in front of the fox. D, Sasuke and Crunchy stepped backwards.
"You may be in deep shit." she said. "Here, this is no time for you to be running around as a lower class mammal." With a flick of her talons Rai recalled her earlier fox-curse.
A gradual glimmer of magic surrounded the fox, as IM's familiar form replaced it. IM looked down at his hands and waggled his fingers and smiled.
"I picked up your book earlier, you dropped it in the tunnels. I was planning on giving it back to you when we had a quiet moment since it's not exactly the type of thing you want lost."
"So why did you send me to IFHI then if you had it?"
"I had reason to believe we were being followed. I'm not entirely sure Din wasn't sent to spy on me...which is why I had to get rid of her for some time. She was making threats after all... "
Her apparition paused, but IM did not answer.
"We need to meet and we need to do so soon. I'm staying one step ahead of Lordy for now but that won't be for long, knowing him. I do, however, have a bargaining chip for myself, and I know what he's going after."
"Really? And you're so into sharing all of the sudden because...?"
Rai grinned at IM's sarcasm.
"Because I know he's after you...which means I can assume the kind of measures he's going to take when he encounters you. I can handle those kinds of threats well rather than be blindsided. Plus, the Necromicon that replaced your book has your spell signature written all over it. So why don't you join me here on the mountain? It's safer than Jester Park, I assure you."
Rai's image shimmered a little, as IM stopped to think. Sasuke, Crunchyfrog and D looked at him expectantly.
"Seeing as it IS my storygame from ages ago, I know the caves and crevices better than you, so I'll feel fine about joining you. However, we still have Key to restore and Smee to find. Tomorrow Smee will reconstitute, and hopefully he'll join with us. It's always better to have multiple magi on your side. Then together he and I will break the curse on Key so that neither one of us will be unduly drained."
IM ordered his more loyal servants to recalibrate the mansion security so that Kalanna would not be at risk, nor any of her characters or any of HIS characters.
Rai's image faded out, and IM turned to his friends.
"In the light of this new information, we've got to get Smee and get to Mage Mountain. We can hold out there for days if we have to. I'm going to see if I can't accelerate his reconstitution. "
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| Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 13 - The Parting of the Ways
"Come on, Smee...Just come together now..."
IM was weaving his hands about in a complex fashion, hoping to break the spells Smee was under. If he could break the mixed spell itself, then all would be well.
There was a sudden SNAP in the fabric of reality. A flash of lightning struck at IM's feet, and Smee was deposited safe and sound.
"Smee! Thank goodness you're okay!"
Smee looked around for a few seconds. "I'm back early. Several hours early. Thanks, I guess. Now what?"
IM yanked Smee in one direction. "Now we get to Mage Mountain before Lordy or anything that reports to him finds us."
IM looked back at D, Sasuke and Crunchy.
"Here's where we part company." explained IM.
"I thought Rai said that Mage Mountain was safe!" protested Crunchy.
"We dont know that for sure." replied IM. "Besides, there's going to be a helluvalot of magic going on, and we still have to be wary of Rai, until we're absolutely sure she's telling the truth."
"He's got a point, Crunch," said D thoughtfully. "Besides, I have investigating to do. And I have a job for you, too."
After Sasuke, D and Crunchy nodded their fairwells to IM, Smee waved his hands around in just as complex a fashion as IM had done, and suddenly the two wizards vanished to the base of the mountain itself.
D, Crunchyfrog and Sasuke continued, until the tunnel began to give signs of widening into an open field. D turned to Crunchyfrog.
"Crunchy, we need to get to the soul well. You need to get to the soul well."
Sasuke stood nearby. "Sasuke, you know the way to the soul well through the tunnels, right? In that case, you and Crunchy don't need any map."
Crunchy waited for D to explain his plan.
"Crunchy, you have to dive inside the original well and find where the souls are being released from. There must be a fault of some kind. When you find it, use this on it." He withdrew a strange object from a secret pocket nobody had noticed before. D grinned. "I didn't know I had it either." He gave the object to Crunchy.
"Sasuke will help you. I'm sure you can do it. Meanwhile, I need to settle something personal. I'm sorry."
D began to walk towards the end of the tunnel as Crunchy and Sasuke watched him go.
"D!" shouted Crunchy. D-Lotus turned towards him. "May the soul be with you."
Crunchy waved goodbye. D nodded as his figure diffused into the distance. Crunchy and Sasuke began to follow, taking the strange object with them.
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:31 am Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 14 - From the TI to the Archives
It had taken some time for Jez to complete patching up the mess Rai had left from her intrusion into the TI. He had had to recallibrate some of the barriers to compensate for the gaping hole in the outer wall, to ensure that whilst they could get in so far, nobody could enter his laboratories and study. When he had finished, Jez donned his cloak.
"I think now that the place is completely secured, I'll let the trolls have an extended break and head out into Fantasy Forest for a stroll," thought Jez to himself.
With the TI and Tourist Info now fully working, completely secured, and under his permanent and complete control, Jez was able to continue on through the passageways and out into the lush confines of the fantasy forest.
There he spent some time exploring and studying the beautiful yet treacherous surroundings as usual, as well as picking more fungi for the trolls.
When he had finished, he returned to the secret entrance to his tunnel and echoed out a whistle to signal the trolls back...and back they came more than before.
"Great, now I'll need to come back and pick more fungus..." Jez thought wearily, but at least they might be able to dig the tunnel a little faster. He watched them file down the tunnel making their little panted muttering speeches to each other and sighed. He hardly ever went to this amount of trouble for something - he only hoped it was worth it.
Jez returned down the narrow winding passageways, holding his nose to block out the smell of ten sweaty trolls shouldering picks and shovels. Eventually they stopped by one of the locked doors which he opened for them, and they continued on to build the tunnel.
Then Jez strolled back into the main laboratory of TI and ran a system check. The Technical Institute was well defended (chiefly because Jez very rarely left it, and tended to be more than a little paranoid, given the number of creepy and scary figures that were to be found lurking amongst the darker corners of IF). Looking at his mail he observed the PM Lebrenth had sent,
"Oh great, the meetings in less than three hours, and at Jester Park..."
He decided, in his wisdom, to waste no time in re-securing all the defences yet again; luckily Rai had only glimpsed a small fraction of the tunnels from the Tourist Info booth.
"Last time I bother to go to the trouble of getting involved in maps," he thought angrily, "well I may as well send out the copy I have to other Council members - then I'm not the only one with such specialist knowledge."
Quickly he PM'ed all but Lordy and Rai (given one made him suspicious and the other wasn't on his Christmas card list for some foreseeable time) with copies of the map worded:
'Dear all, came across a version of the Master Map which I copied, and I wondered if it would be of any use to you. One place looks very interesting, but I would approach with care.'
Then he sent it.
"Good, hopefully that will stop people raiding my home for a while..."
Checking the time, he decided he had enough time for a doze.
~ ~ ~
An hour or so later, Jez was interrupted from his nap by the grunting sounds of a troll speaking over the intercom.
"Hit soft soil, should be very soon..."
There was a 'whump' and sounds of earth falling to the floor and groans. "Ah actually about now in fact."
Jez smiled and stood up slowly, there was still time before the Council meeting, assuming he went. Quickly he strode off into the TI maze to his destination.
The trolls stood aside so that Jez could go through and inspect the newly completed tunnel exit.
Acknowledging their hard work with some fungus, which they grabbed with glee and ate loudly and hungrily, Jez stooped under the soft earthen hole, then moved swiftly up through the hole in the stone wall of the underground vault of the Archives.
Shelves spanned out in all directions, musty, containing hundreds of unwritten secrets, most fairly useless. But among the ordinary may lay treasures extraordinary, Jez thought happily as he took a glowing lump of lumonosis (phosphorous light green glowing reeds) and slowly stepped forward amongst the dusty corridors - searching for a promising book.
Jez did not notice the slight golden glow of a candle flame illuminating a thin pale hand, which was lying on what looked to be an old piece of parchment. The figure to whom it belonged seemed alarmingly still.
The floorboards under Jez's feet creaked momentarily.
"...Solus..." sang the voice softly but menacingly inside her head wake up - someone is here..."
The hand twitched slightly, then withdrew from the light.
A pause.
"...Who?..."
A longer pause, then the hand reappeared and hovered over the small flame. Fingers closing around the fire, the light went out immediately, leaving the corner in true darkness.
The swish of a cloak could be heard, and then the soft sound of bare feet on the wooden floor.
The room smelt musty, which seemed to suggest that the parchment that was seen before isn't the only paper there.
A little way away, a luminous green light could be seen. Eyes which adjusted quickly to the dark, a figure wearing a black cloak that looked slightly too big for her slipped in-between two bookshelves.
Peering through a crack in the woodwork, she allowed herself a slight smile.
"...Jez!..." she whispered to herself.
Rounding the bookshelf, Solus stopped, still shrouded in the shadows.
"Brother..." A pause. "...Long time no see!"
Stepping into the light just long enough to give him a quick hug, Solus retreated again. Fully cloaked with the hood up anyhow, it didn't really make much difference.
"Solus! I didn't know you were here..."
"No, I've...been... ...working..." She replied quickly, although sounding slightly unsure.
"Solus..."
"I'm fine - I just...feel a bit out of it at the moment..."A slightly awkward silence ensued. "- I...it's hard work." She consented with a sigh.
"You look different..."
"...He is suspicious of you, Solus. He's not sure you're you anymore... "
"...stay out of this. He. is. not. your. Brother..." thought Solus angrily to the voice, trying to block it out of her mind.
"Just a bit paler...not much different..." it continued, ignoring her response
"Solus!" said Jez. "Why won't you tell me what's..."
"Sh! You wanted to find a book? I know this library almost off by heart by now...I've been here quite a while."
"...it pains you, doesn't it? - Not being able to tell him... - I feel for you..."
"...SHUT UP!..."
Jez looked up. Oops. Had Solus spoken out loud?
She tried to control the trembling of her pale hands, hoping that he would not probe further.
Casting a glance at Solus, JezSharp nodded.
"There is some information I need, information about the city, and hidden 'treasures'. I need to do some research. Show me to the right place."
Holding the candle, Solus led Jez deep into the maze of book laden shelves.
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Wed Mar 21, 2007 2:25 am; edited 2 times in total
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 15 - The Ascent up Mage Mountain
Name: Bridgette Saliva,
Status: RPG Character
Creator: Dinranwen
In the Computer Room just under the Dream Chamber, the Undead Dinranwen called up the information, and hit Enter.
Din liked being a shadow, and liked her cloaks. But there was no way to go back to the City from the Realm of Dead IFians as herself as her form was broken...and the only way she could harvest her shadow half was to be someone else. At least until she could weave what remained of her former self with new shadows.
And that was why she had decided on being Bridgette Saliva.
The City of If was over run by Rpg characters...why not be one of her own that wasn't currently in use...
All of a sudden a gentle light enveloped her form, and when it faded, she found herself in her new body, Bridgette.
There she stood, with flashing red hair that seemed to flame and spark, green eyes that seemed to burn, a clingy red garment that would have been a dress if the skirt was buckled to form a split skirt, and constantly swirling tattoos that glowed red in any light. Around her neck she wore a necklace, with a gem set into it.
Bridgette, Din in disguise, grinned from ear to ear. Thanks to her, thousands of Dead Ifians were arriving angry and all to eager to help the City...Din wished she could be there when whoever this mystery controller was found out his/her creation was turning on them. After all who didn't enjoy free live television, endless beverages, and pleasures for eternity?
Having already sent Smudger back up through the Soul Well into the city disguised as a striking young man in military uniform, and with most of the Dead IFians also already gone to the city disguised as Tourists or Guests, Dinranwen was the last to go. Stepping out of the computer room, she climbed the ricketty stairway upwards further, until she was out on top of the roof of the Tavern. Catching her breath, she felt herself being sucked upwards into the yawning hole in the sky, that was the crack in the Soul Well.
~ ~ ~
The first thing she had noticed upon returning to the City of IF was that it was pre-dawn. The second thing she'd noticed was a burning desire to find Rai...a throbbing passion that kept pushing her even though something of her conscience told her something was quite right with that the desire. It was like there was something wrong, but every time she tried to figure out why her fingers slipped off the problem like oil on water.
Having felt drawn towards Mage Mountain, Bridgette had set off towards it's foothills, deftly ducking and avoiding the guards IM had sent out, presumably to herd back RPG characters to the Games section.
Now, standing and looking up at the mountain she sighed. The mountain was beyond her skill to try. There was no guarantee that even if she managed to climb it she might find Rai there...although why she had the insane urge to find the Dragoness was beyond her.
As she stood contemplating the Mountain...the back of her was on fire, screaming at her to climb the mountain, to find Rai....
She did not notice two figures scrambling up the rocky path ahead of her, the figures of...
...IM and Smee, who were making quick progress up the slope of Mage Mountain, pausing only to shoot a spammer that lurked in a hidden cave.
Below them, Dinranwen fought with the urge to find Rai.
"Why?" she asked herself. "Am I suicidal or something? After all Rai did kill me in the first place?
Doesn't matter...you need to find Rai...you need to talk to Rai...make her understand...apologise...and follow Rai...
No." Din told her mind. But whatever it was wouldn't stop, and Din weakened from Death as she was...couldn't resist.
But she could talk to Rai...which is exactly what the back of her mind wanted to do.
Maybe, Rai could help. Or IM... She couldn't help feeling somehow that he was somewhere around her.
Sending a P.M. Rai's way, Din sat down at the bottom of the mountain and waited for the answer.
The message said,
"Rai, I think we need to talk...X and Spite will know who I am.
Signed Bridgette."
~ ~ ~
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:57 pm Post subject: |
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Unaware that they had left the disguised Dinranwen at the bottom of the mountain, Smee and IM continued to climb. As they gained altitude the fog seemed thinner, and they could see that the sky was beginning to lighten on the horizon. IM knew that the Council Meeting was iminent, and they had to reach Rai before then. Gathering their strength, they pushed on up the slopes, until they finally reached the cavern where Rai was hiding.
They stood tentatively outside the cavern mouth. IM reflected that it probably wasn't wise that he'd left all of his moderator adornments in his other robes. Listening carefully, they could hear Rai inside, talking to her cronies.
"Rath, I'd like you to go give the other's a little protection. They may need it. See to it that they make it back here safely. I'll send word that I've sent you to help him...and I suppose I'd better tell the others that they shouldn't kill IM or anyone with him. Otherwise they might get overzealous..."
Rai, seated between Cami and Angel, paused with what she was doing, as she spotted movement outside.
"Never mind Rath, it seems they've already arrived."
Slowly IM and Smee walked in, both looking as wary as well...mages in a cave full of dragons. Rath settled back down before Rai's feet, looking at them calmly.
"Gentlemen," said Rai courteously, "good of you to arrive."
"Well, you did send for us. You said Lordy was after me...why?"
Rai shrugged.
"All I know is that Lordy became very excited when I mentioned I had a copy of your book. He shrugged it off when I said I no longer had it but...well when Lordy expresses interest in something it's generally not good for the current owner."
IM nodded, he could understand that.
"You were working for him, weren't you." said IM accusingly. "Why the sudden change of heart?"
Rai snorted.
"Working with him, not for him. As for the change of heart...when the death threats started in I realised that if I wanted my heart to remain where it was I had better start choosing my steps wisely. Lordy isn't likely to threaten me. Send hordes of Raver Demons after me sure, but not threaten."
"But why suddenly start working with us?" persisted IM.
Rai raised an eyebrow.
"Was I ever working against you?"
Legalese, double-talk, politician, IM understood it all. He'd make a great mayor one day, if he ever got off his fat arse. But Rai's story had a ring of truth to it. She was, after all, an assassin, and they were known to be loyal only to themselves. IM must have factored in somewhere in her plan; otherwise he'd be dead meat in a few different bellies at this point in time. IM nodded slowly.
"You do realise, of course, that once their services are no longer required, your characters will have to go back to their places in the Games district, yes?"
"Ye- wait, their services are required?" Rai was puzzled.
"Of course. With your and their permission, of course, I'd like to see if Smee and I can break the curse on Key right now. We're drained, but you lot aren't."
Mages and dragons had a history together, and in many tales it was written in shed blood. IM could only hope that this animosity would be put aside temporarily in light of the crisis upon IF.
Rai looked at her ladies. "Well you lot, willing to pitch in and turn a Key into a King?" The dragonesses rolled their eyes. "Very well and good then."
Rai pulled the gem off her left hind leg and each of her dragonesses let a single drop of blood fall upon it. Slowly the gem began to glow with power, purple from Angel, red from Rath, and golden from Cami.
When the flow of power had depleted itself enough Rai deftly plucked the gem up. With the tip of a talon she laid open both Smee and IM's left palm, placing both upon the gem's surface. "If you're ready to proceed gentlemen, I'll anchor your attempt." After all, nothing could ground magic like a highly resistant dragoness.
It was about this time that Rai received a PM from...no it couldn't be. But it was...dinranwen...
Last edited by Crunchyfrog on Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 16 - Explosion!!!
IM and Smee flung themselves into the spell weaving like nothing before. They didn't immediately move their hands about moulding energy, though. This was precision work. If they only hit a few aspects of the curse, then Key could be stuck like he was forever. IM unconsciously pulled out his tome and opened it so that if he needed information, his body could look it up for him.
Power. Raw power and hatred. Smee's thoughts flickered across the ether.
Hmm. Emotional spells are always harder to break, they're infinitely more convoluted. IM was busy tracing the spell itself; it seemed like one thread fed back into itself constantly, like one of those darn Mobius strips.
But find the key thread and tug it, and it all falls apart. What is the source of the anger?
...It seems similar to the fog of souls hovering over the city...but it's coming from outside the wall...
Spammers, flamers, and trolls, then. Makes sense. But what mage in their right mind would aid them?
...It wasn't a mage...it was a daemon.
Oh dear. This will be interesting. Wait, I've found something, it looks to be the core of the curse.
Hang on, let me look...Yeah, that's defiantly it. All the loops pass by that point. Ready?
Yup. Let's do this then!
IM and Smee focused their thoughts and wove power through the intricate weaves of the curse to build up in the core of the curse. More, more...then there was a deafening, mountain-shattering BOOM.
The force that was used to break the curse caused Mage Mountain to explode in a brilliant flash of light. Key was restored, that much IM knew. Then IM hit the ground, and knew no more.
The explosion on Mage Mountain shook the city.
In the rooms of the archives that had not been blown to bits, the books had toppled from their shelves, burying Jez and Solus.
Somewhere in the streets, Masterweaver took cover as falling masonry crashed to the ground.
In the dungeons of the palace, Xansta gripped the wall as the very fabric of the building shook.
D stumbled as the ground beneath him swayed.
Bridgette fled the falling boulders as they tumbled down the disintegrating mountainside towards her.
Polokin watched for flying rocks as he scurried through Jester Park, unwittingly running past the motionless Lebrenth....
"Whoa!" Rai flapped as hard as she could, reattaching the gem to her hind foot. Luckily it hadn't vaporised in the flash that blew Mage Mountain and half the Archives out of the city. Hovering in position she scanned around her, watching as Angel, Cami, and Rath all shook their heads and stood on wobbly legs.
Sniffing about Rai managed to locate IM but not Smee...it seemed he'd been knocked into sometime next week. Checking the mage for injuries she could treat, Rai muttered to herself about the fragility of mortals and thanked every power she was willing to admit existed that she was a dragoness of some toughness.
"Although I could do with some sleep soon...I've been stretching myself way too thin." She snorted. That had to be the understatement of all understatements... She felt strangely torn, as though a part of her was missing. Putting the feeling down to tiredness, she decided she'd be fine...for now.
With the injured IM on her back, she and her ladies winged their way to Jester Park. Landing next to her glyph and Lebby, Rai set IM down next to the skiffy mod, and then checked Lebby closely, ensuring that the Crypt spider was still firmly attached to his neck.
Rai finally admitted to needing some sleep, she'd been stretcing herself way too thin. She turned to her dragonesses again.
"Rath, I understand you'll be returning to Games soon...you'd better grab the others to go back with you. Cami, stay here and guard me, you belong in the Park anyway. Angel...since the mountain has been destroyed you may take over guarding my Council Hall Lair."
The dragonesses bobbed their heads. Slowly Rai walked over to the aHEM guildhall. Opening the door she made it all the way down to her Lair in there, curling up on her mounds of gold. Setting the formidable guildhouse defences on high alert, and locking down the Lair just for safety sake, Rai finally dozed off...
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Crunchyfrog
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| Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 17 - Through the Soul Well
Sasuke and Crunchyfrog had already made good progress out through the city and into the burnt trees near Jester Park when the explosion happened. The ground rumbled and a crack opened up with wisps of fog rising from it. They found the hole that they'd emerged from when they'd escaped the labyrinth that morning, and crawled back inside.
Keeping his hand tightly closed over the object D had given him; Crunchy followed Sasuke, as they pressed onwards through the tunnels. After an hour or so they noticed the tunnels rising slightly - they must be inside the cliff now. Crunchyfrog remembered the damp cool air, and the strange mushrooms.
Finally they arrived in the cave where the tunnels converged. The pools were still there.
"It's over to you now, I guess." said Sasuke, settling back on his hind legs.
"Yeah, I guess..." replied Crunchyfrog.
Approaching the pools, Crunchyfrog stared at the one that Masterweaver had fallen into, almost 24 hours ago. He looked over his shoulder at Sasuke.
"If I'm not back in 12 hours, go and find D." He said.
Sasuke nodded bravely.
Crunchyfrog turned back towards the pools, one of which now swirled like a whirlpool, glowing softly, as if it was expecting him.
Sasuke watched as Crunchyfrog took a deep breath, shut his eyes, and walked towards the pool like someone condemned...
In one second he was grabbed, stretched, warped, twisted and sucked down into a glowing vortex... In the next, the pool darkened and was quiet - and Sasuke was alone.
Crunchyfrog's stomach churned as he fell through void after void. He tried opening his eyes to avert the nausea, but the swirling clouds, light and movement that flashed in front of them made him feel even worse....
As he continued to fall through the Soul Well, Crunchyfrog began to feel his body being bounced from one rocky wall to the other, collecting bruises to be proud of. He scrabbled with his hands and feet every time he felt something he could hold on to, to break his fall, until finally he lodged himself in what seemed to be a rocky shaft. Feeling the blood rush to his head, he realised he was facing downwards, and, alarmed, he opened his eyes to see what kind of abyss awaited him.
Incredibly, he saw light... a whole world stretched out below him. It looked beautiful, tranquil, a small village, fields, forests... but how could he be in a cave... in a hole up in the sky? He craned his neck to get a good look at the sky from his position - it was angry, with great vortices swirling in it.
He had no idea that below him was, in fact, the Realm of Dead IFians.
Crunchyfrog lost his grip and fell towards it.
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| Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 18 - In the Archives
Deep in the Archives, the dust was still settling after the huge explosion on Mage Mountain, that had shaken the city.
A pale hand and arm shot out of the pile of books, followed by a second. Then Jez's head emerged, looking slightly dazed. Panting he pulled himself out and shouted.
"Solus!"
There was a muffled reply nearby and the sound of sliding books as she emerged.
"Ok," Jez said relieved, "what on Earth was that...?"
Solus didn't respond, and she too looked rather confused. "Never mind," Jez said as he stared disconnectedly at the jumbled heap of books, reading the titles with some despair, 'The Adventures of Goth...How to clean a sewer - Wayne Pipe...Treasured Secrets of IF by Keavney...What to do if you're accosted by the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Troll by... Wait a minute, that sounds promising, he thought as he scooped down and picked up the Treasured Secrets of IF. Turning to Solus he said,
"Perhaps you should head back to the TI, I'm not quite sure how safe it is here."
Dust was still falling from the ceiling...besides it's not exactly healthy spending so much time in here anyway, he thought as he awaited her response.
..."Well, that rather spoilt the opening"...hissed the voice inside Solus's head.
..."like it wasn't already..." she retorted silently
Solus quickly reached up to pull the hood back over her uncovered face, then stopped. What was the point? Jez was her brother after all...
"Why should I go back to TI?"
Deep black eyes peered at him curiously from beneath long white hair. This appearance on a teenager of age roughly 14 - 17 looked unnatural - but what didn't in this place? It was obvious that Jez was surprised at this new look.
..."So he has noticed you've changed"...
..."It would be hard not to - but that doesn't matter"...
"What's going on?" Solus finished.
She had heard the unspoken words in his tone of voice.
..."Yes, it is unhealthy - but that's my problem - I've lived with it this long"...
..."He is just trying to help"...
..."The books"...
Solus looked around in horror at the jumble of books lying on the floor as if she had just realised.
"I should sort out the books..." She muttered softly, almost to herself as she bent down and picked up a book. Placing it back on the shelf, she bent down to pick up another but a restraining hand on her arm stopped her.
"It doesn't matter - it would take ages to sort out these books," said Jez. "How about you just go to TI and wait there?"
"Wait for what? Where are you going?"
Jez hesitated, then shrugged.
"I have a council meeting."
..."I don't want to leave here"... Solus's silent words drifted inwardly.
..."I know what you mean - but maybe it is better if you go to TI... "
..."I don't like TI. It's too light...why can't I just stay here?..."
"Can I come to the council meeting too?" she asked suddenly. "I'll hide so they don't see me if you want - I've done that before!"
An annoyed frown crossed Jez's face for a fleeting moment.
..."I thought you didn't want to leave here..."
..."I don't know why I said that!..."
..."Well, I suppose it can't do any harm..."
"Well..." Jez started.
"Really, why is she acting so strangely?" The elf thought, puzzled. Sighing he replaced the frown with a smile,
"Ok, sure," he said as he dived into the tunnel. Once Solus had slipped in after him he ordered the trolls to try and sort the books into alphabetical order, something that a few of them could just about muster.
Quickly he strode along, his eyes scanning the first few pages of the book. Flicking over a couple more he found an original sketched map of some of the key places in IF. Nowhere near as exact or precise as the original, but each with a ream of information hidden within the book.
As they reached a door, Jez adjusted the lights so that they were far dimmer, and behind he heard Solus relax slightly.
"She really does spend way too much time underground at the minute, I thought I was bad... " he thought to himself.
It wasn't long before they once again reached the heart of the TI,
"Ok, we can travel there by tunnel or by car", Jez pondered out loud, "which do you think, Solus?"
"Tunnel." Solus replied without hesitation. As she did so, she frowned slightly.
..."Are you annoyed that he hasn't commented on your new appearance?"...
Solus was becoming irritated with the voice.
..."He has hinted at it..."
..."Hardly worth the effort..."
..."It wasn't meant for that, anyway - It was so I could prove it to myself..."
..."To me?"...
..."To myself..." she repeated under her breath.
Solus frowned slightly as she followed Jez through a door, absentmindedly wiping her hands on her robes as she did so. She hoped there wouldn't be anymore trolls in this tunnel. They really did disgust her - and the thought of them touching all those beautiful books...
...she shivered.
She wished she had stopped Jez from asking them - now that she knew that the trolls had fingered them, she would have to think twice before picking them up.
..."They're all ruined..." she said inwardly.
..."Not all..."
..."Oh yes - there is that one..."
Hand moving to a concealed pocket in her long black robes, Solus fingered the top of a small book that was hidden there.
..."Just this one..."
Seeing her brother striding ahead down the tunnel, Solus hurried to keep up with him. He hadn't said when the meeting was about to start, but judging by the urgency in his step, she guessed it was soon.
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| Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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The Hangover
Chapter 19 - The Gathering of the Council
Editor's note - This part of the chapter has been presented differently from the rest of the story. The reason is because it was too difficult to get the story to flow easily without some serious cutting out of text. Therefore, I decided to rewrite the entire part of this story from one perspective, using as much as the co-author's original material as possible. My sincere apologies to the authors concerned, but it was the only way it could be done.
This part of the story is credited to the following co-authors:
Dinranwen, Kalanna Rai, IdeaMaster, Lebrenth, CrunchyFrog.
The sky began to lighten over the City of IF.
All over the City smoke swirled pink and gray. Dents, Scraps, and several blasts peppered the city, much of the damage done by warring RPG characters IM had let loose earlier.
Mage Mountain was no more, reduced to a pile of rubble.
Wigs, parts of clowns, gaudy garments lay about the park, sorched and some of them still smoking.....piles of melted wax from rides lay across the scene. the flicker of smouldering coals lit up the remainder of the night. Even the mighty ferris wheel of Tempting Fate was distorted in a odd way by the heat of the earlier fires.... Jester Park was a mess, and it would take more than the duty moderators to clear it up.
In the centre of the park, there was a glowing glyph, signalling where the Council meeting was to be held. Currently there were only two members present, Lebrenth and IdeaMaster, and they both appeared to be lying on the ground, unconscious.
Presently, a small, punkish looking woman, looking more like a RPG character than a regular citizen, approached the prone pair. Kneeling between the two of them, she screamed momentarily.
This was not because of the fact that she had discovered two people unconscious on the ground, but in particular, one of them, Lebrenth, had a large Crypt spider settled on his neck, it's fangs firmly buried into his skin.
The woman hated spiders. However, she pulled out a dagger from a concealed pocket in her clothing, and set about carefully prising its jaws out of his veins. Then, using a two-by-four she squished the thing until it was flatter than the ground it laid on. Turning back to Lebrenth, she blinked... was it her imagination, or did he just blink as well?
She was so focused on his state, that she did not notice IdeaMaster coming to. He rose up on one elbow, and looked around, with a confused expression on his face, as if he did not recognise his surroundings. He stared momentarily at Lebrenth lying next to him, and the small woman kneeling over him, her back turned to IdeaMaster. He seemed not to recognise either of them, and edged away slowly, until he was at a safe distance to get up and wander off into the fog.
Still focused on Lebrenth, the woman watched curiously, as he began blinking for all he was worth. What was he doing? What turmoil could he be going through inside?
The truth was, Lebrenth wanted to hug the woman as she removed the spider. He would have been happy to do about any action if it meant he was no longer paralysed. When she noticed him blinking, he felt a wave of relief. It was rough, but he could communicate. Then again, how the hell do you blink: "Find Lordy Now!" ?
Carefully thinking up his own version of Morse code, Lebrenth started blinking. Surely, with a pen and paper, someone could decode a message. However, the only message she guessed was that his eyes must be dry.
"Paralysis sucks." he thought, giving up for a while. But he hoped that the woman would not go away just yet. At least not until some of the other Council members turned up for the meeting.
But just as he was beginning to give up hope of seeing any of them, Rai appeared, bleary from a very short sleep, that had been interrupted by a timer set for a few minutes before the meeting was due to start.
She stood over Lebby and the RPG woman. The woman whirled around, spider-gut covered 2X4 in hand.
"You..." she began.
"Good to see you again, Dinranwen. I knew you'd find your way back."
Lebrenth blinked quickly. The woman was Din? "But how...?" he thought.
Through his mod ring he had been able to hear about some of the events of the city. The news was scattered and confusing, but most of all frustrating. There had been nothing to make him suppose that any of the councillors would be going around in disguise. What had been going on? He stopped blinking, and instead concentrated on listening to the conversation going on over his head.
RPG character Brithil Cirya, or rather Dinranwen in a new disguise, smiled at Rai.
The advantage of being an escapee of the Realm of Dead IFians, was that generally, being buried in rubble from exploding mountains didn't affect you that much. Din had felt herself being zapped somewhere in the back of her mind, but reconstructing she simply became another of Rpg characters.
So, with nothing more than a slight headache and a few bumps, Dinranwen, having shifted from the form of Bridgette Saliva, into that of the ever punk-ish Brithil Cirya.
"Yeah, but I need to get my form back...as of right now, I'm stuck my various RPG characters until I can harvest my shadow half...which by the way was only thing that survived after that nasty little fall."
Pausing a moment, Din looked at Lebby, "I would ask...." shaking her head Din decided against it, "But I won't prove the saying of Curiosity Killed the Dinranwen twice in one day thank you." Cocking her head Din decided to take a chance...after all there wasn't much worse things that Rai could do other than kill her again. "I suppose I owe you an apology though...what can I say I'm insanely curious and sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me."
"Curious my tail." Rai growled, "Curiosity I can forgive...but it's not like you to threaten. Beg maybe...but never threaten."
"I know," Din said as she knelt next to Lebrenth with a bag she had conjured from Rain's possession, Din knew she could return it soon enough. Working various herbs into a mixture, Din went about making a potion whilst she talked, "I'm curious about that myself...In the tunnel it was just curiosity that drove me at first but after I came back...." Din shook her head and added a dash of something else in the mix, "It was like my curiosity had doubled itself...quite unlike me. If I am correct enough to guess, I would say someone placed a spell on me to get me to spy on you."
"I wonder who..." Rai muttered. "No time for that now, the meeting will be starting soon."
Din poured the green goo into a chalice she pulled from the nearby shadow, and using the same shadow sent Rain's healing bag back to it's owner.
Prying Lebby's jaw open she forced the substance down his throat.
Responding to the curious look from Rai, she muttered:
"It's anti-venom venom taken from the spider over there, quite harmless in this form."
Whilst they watched for any change in her temporary patient, Din said:
"That reminds me...could you help me with..." Din gestured over her current form helplessly, "I would like to appear as myself at the meeting...I can't get to my Council Chambers in time to weave together my new 'form'. Can you help? I am afraid the only thing I can offer is some priceless information about the fog in the city, and maybe a valueless ancient antique from another plan...but would you do it for me, please?"
Rai sighed...if she could just...nevermind. With a few quick movements she pulled a few shadows from around the park, stretching and pulling with tendrils of magic twisted throughout. Holding out a shapeless shadow-form she raised an eyebrow.
"Hopefully this will work...I don't do shadow-weaves much anymore." With a massive yawn the dragoness curled up on the ground and closed her eyes partway. Still alert, still keeping an eye out, she settled into a half slumber.
"Tap me when everyone gets here?" she asked, drifting off to sleep.
Din nodded, and sat down, watching Lebrenth closely, and waiting patiently for a change in his paralyzed state. There seemed to be no difference at all, when suddenly -
"LORDY!!!" Lebrenth bellowed loudly.
Neither Din nor Lebby expected the surge of energy that sprung him to his feet.
The sound of it was quite unsettling to those who heard it. Even Rai, who was used to it, was jerked out of her slumber in alarm. Then Lebrenth's body went into overdrive; as though all the time spent holding still was charging up suddenly exploding.
"Ah! Thank you Din, I owe you one Rai. What's going on and why did you put that nasty spider on me and leave? Do you even know what it feels like to be paralysed? But wait, I have to find Lordy before the Soul Well implodes I have no time to explain goodbye!"
Lebrenth ran away before his words were fully understood.
"What's in that green stuff?" Rai asked Din sleepily. Then she snapped to a higher level of alertness. "Wait a minute, I knew something was missing when I got here. Where did IdeaMaster go?"
Dinranwen looked about her, and realised for the first time, that IdeaMaster had disappeared without her noticing. Damn! Where could he have gone?
"Well I think if anyone shows up here at all, it will be a miracle." muttered Rai. "There would have been four a few moments ago, and now we are two. You may as well use the wait time wisely, and go do what you have to do with that shadow."
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