INTERACTIVE STORY

[Malefact]

[Me too! This story is becoming quite a tour-de-force!
btw, how about killing someone off at the end? It happens in all the best stories. What do you think?]

[Emii]

[Sounds cool but we shouldn't decide yet - wew'll see how the rest of the story goes, the posts will detrmine possible candidates, and basically whoever gets there first will kill off a character near the end, makingit a surprise for the rest of us! So don't tell anyone your candidates for elimination!]

[Malefact]

[Right you are. We should only think about it if the story moves in a suitable direction.

btw, I thought it'd be interesting to pair off all the characters to give them their own scenes; there's a huge potential for comedy there. In large groups, it would be too crouded. The best pairs to use would be Folly and Motley, Lissard and Scarkill, Gumboil and Cedric, Brothers Mace and Strange, Treguard and Fear, Hordriss and Grimaldine, Marta and Romhana, and Mellisandre and Gibbett (the last pair could be interesting, since Gibbett as a character is fairly undeveloped - a possible love interest could develop.]

[Emii]

[ERK!]

[Malefact]

[OK, OK! No love interest, then!  :) ]

[Malefact]

[btw, the part when Merlin is introduced should be rather interesting.]

[Steveir]

Treguard had paired up with Lord Fear figuring that together they had the best shot at defeating Mogdred. They entered what appeared to be a dwarf tunnel that at least seemed like it should be part of Level Two.

"So, are you going to tell me what your amazingly stupid assistants have done then?" demanded Fear.

Treguard sighed and looked at him.

"In the time before I had any assistants, before you came to the dungeon there was a power that was deadly to us all, Mogdred"

"Yes I gathered that, tell me something I don't know!" snorted Fear

Treguard glowered at Fear and continued

"For every force of evil there is a good of equal measure such as ourselves. Back in the old days Mogdred had such a balance, Merlin. They battled for many seasons until eventually Merlin caught Mogdred in an ingenius trap. Mogdred was lured into a special room in the dungeon, one that was never affected by phase shift, it remained constant."

"hmmm", pondered Fear, "how on earth would such a powerful force of evil be tricked so easily?"

"By the ultimate sacrifice" said Treguard, "Merlin challenged Mogdred to a "final duel". Mogdred agreed and appeared for the challenge. However he did not realise that Merlin had cast a spell that changed the appearance of the room, indeed he even managed to change the aura of the room to fool Mogdred. Mogdred appeared and Merlin's plan was to seal the room off the dungeon forever by influencing the phase shift to cut all access to the room. It worked, more than worked as most recognisable traces of the old phase disappeared with them, leaving us with what we have, or had now"

Lord Fear raised a quizzical eyebrow as if to say "oh yes, tell me more"

"It seems that this has stopped working though because my "intrepid" assistants found it when exploring the first rooms of Level One. It appears that curiosity got the better of them because now Mogdred is free, the dungeon is in chaos and very unstable as it cannot cope with the two realms at once, everything is getting mixed up if you will, breaking down at worst."

"so how do we fix in Dungeon 'Master'?" asked Fear, mocking Treguard slightly.

"We can only hope that Merlin escaped the room and we can find him before its too late" replied Treguard.

"And where do you think we can find......what's going on?" exclaming Fear

Indeed something was going on, the corridor was losing its usual red hue and becoming more grey and dank.

"I don't know" replied a perplexed Treguard. Suddenly a strange buzzing sound could be heard ahead of them

"what the devil is that?" Treguard said as a vertical blade came careering down the corridor at them. Suddenly Mogdred could be heard laughing

"Welcome to Mogdred's very own corridor of blades. Deadlier than the original, its certainly a cut above the rest....or should I say through......bwahahahahahahaha" Mogdred's voice boomed throughout the corridor.

Behind the centre blade, two additional blades appeared...

[Malefact]

Meanwhile, Cedric and Gumboil were walking down their own tunnel, arguing as usual.
"Still a fan of the old Dungeon Juice, eh, Gumboil?" teased Cedric.
"Aw, shurrup, you pesky monk!" snapped Gumboil. Suddenly, Cedric stopped dead.
"What's that?" he barked. Gumboil looked around.
"What's what?" he asked wearily.
"THAT, you stupid Dog's Bottom!" he shouted, pointing to some objects on a barrel at the end of that section of tunnel. They went up to it and examined them.
"INVISIBILITY," read Cedric slowly from the label of a potion.
"Hey! And a gold bar!" cried Gumboil triumphently.
"And a torch," muttered Cedric.
"What do you think we should take?" asked Gumboil reticently. Cedric decided to take charge.
"We'll have the potion and the gold," he announced, grabbing them.
"What about the torch?" asked Gumboil nervously.
"Well, you'd better pray that you've ate enough carrets, eh, Pig's Bladder!" scoffed Cedric, and promptly marched on down the tunnel, followed by Gumboil.

Elsewhere,  Pickle, Majida and Kully were deciding which objects to take for themselves.
"I think the red gem and the key," said Kully.
"What about thee dagger?" asked Majida.
"No weapons, Majida!" blurted Pickle.
"OK, keep your freckles on!" sniffed Majida. They took the objects.
"Erm, isn't someone supposed to stop us?" asked Kully. "A certain kind of monster, for example?"
"That's a point," said Pickle nervously. The wall remained still. There was no sign of any manifestation.
"Well, at least we have no riddles to solve!" announced Majida. "Come on, we should get out of here soon!"

And so, having taken their objects, and strangely received no visit from any wall monster, the three left the room.

Meanwhile, Treguard and Lord Fear were trying desperately to stay alive...

[Emii]

"This is all your fault!" roared Fear in angst, shoving Treguard roughly. Unfortunately, being Fear, he didn't think ahead and shove Treguard directly towards the center blade.
Treguard fell rearwards, arms windmilling...

[the blades have been turning for two days - thought I'd give somebody incentive to give them a move on]

[Thanatos]

At the last moment, Treguard grabbed the flat of the blade, just inside the point where the razor-sharp saw-teeth began. He held on for dear life, carried backwards by the fast-moving blade, and kicked himself backwards and sideways from the wall, landing painfully.

Meanwhile, as has already been hinted, an improbably alliance was being forged between Greystagg, Maldame and Aesandre...

[Malefact]

"One finds this whole thing irksome!" barked Maldame.
"You can complain all you want but an alliance is the only way we can adequately defend ourselves," replied Aesandre.
"As inconvenient as it may be to some," murmered Greystagg. Maldame huffed.
"Oh, very well," she spat. "What should be do?"
"An army is already mustered and is currently moving through level two," said Aesandre. "May I suggest that we give them some assistance? As things currently stand, they stand little or no chance of making it to level three without our help."
"The thought of actually HELPING Lord Fear," spat Greystagg.
"Nevertheless, the more foes the Dark One has the more his influence will be divided," said Aesandre.
"May I suggest we conduct our little operation in a relatively safer place?" Maldame asked.
"Where did you have in mind?" asked Aesandre.
"Marblehead!" grinned Maldame.

Meanwhile, Mellisandre and Gibbet were wandering down a tunnel of their own. She sighed.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"You haven't said more than two words in over an hour!" she cried. "I can't stand it!"
"What's there to talk about?" he snapped.
"Plenty!" she replied.
"Like what?" he sneered. Mellisandre paused.
"Uhm, well," she began but before she could finish, Gibbet had seen something and was bounding down the tunnel fast. It was all Mellisandre could do to keep up.
In a large T-junction a figure was suspended in mid-air, bathed in a green glow.
"Sidress!" breathed Mellisandre.
"She's unconscious," said Gibbett and looked at Mellisandre rather sheepishly.
"What should we do?" he asked. Mellisandre knew immediately.
"Malefact! Malefact! Malefact!" she cried.

[Great! I get a mention!!]

[Emii]

There was a blinding flash and blue smoke filled the small area they were all crowded into.
"Who...eh-heh...who dares...khah khah!" Hordriss flapped his arms around, trying to find a place where he wouldn't choke. "What is the...eh-hah...meaning of bringing one into this...stuffy...small...khah!"
They all flapped their arms until the smoke had cleared, Hordriss looked quite embarrassed at his bungled entrance. He turned to reprimand Gibbet and Mellisandre but stopped, mouth hanging open as he saw what was suspended in the air behind them.
"Sidriss! My dear Sidriss!"
Hordriss grabbed for her ankle to use a re-awakening spell on her, which required contact, but his hand passed right through Sidriss' leg. Mellisandre and Gibbet looked puzzled, but a look of pure venom was in Hordriss' eyes.
"What on earth is wrong with the poor dear?" Cried Mellisandre. Gibbet just scratched his head.
"She looks like a ghost, almost."
Hordriss turned briefly to them, but didn't look into their eyes. "Nearly correct, Gibbet. This is not Sidriss...not all of her, anyhow. This is but her soul, captured here. This is the spot where she was apprehended." His voice was full of sorrow. "This mean that Sidriss is wandering the levels somewhere, a phantom, if you will. Most likely thinking she is still alive..."
Melly gasped. "Sidriss? She's dead?"
"Not quite. Mellisandre. We have until fifteen O'Clock strikes to bring her lost body-spirit back to her soul, or she will be lost from us forever. It will be hard, for this is not the work of Mogdred alone."
Gibbet was confused. "Not only him? But who? Why?"
Hordriss gazed into his daughter's soul's eyes, his face black as thunder.
"Damn your mother, Sidriss."

[Steveir]

Back in the corridor of blades things were not going at all well. Although Treguard and Lord Fear had dodged several sets of blades they now looked in awe at what was ahead, well in the distance.

"A complete blade blocking....the...entire...corridor" stammered Lord Fear, "how in Marblehead do we get past that?"

Treguard took stock of the situation. They'd not yet come across any items or spells in Level Two and looking at the blade, there was really no hope for them. Suddenly he saw a brief flash in front of him. He strained to see what was going on and saw a lump of charcoal that seemed to shimmer as if it contained magic. A look of revelation and joy appeared on his face. He ran to the coal and picked it up and started to draw with it on the wall.

"Treguard what in blazes are you doing? We're about to get sliced for lunch and you take to doing doodles? Have you finally lost your mind?" mocked (and exclaimed) Fear.

"This coal is magic," started Treguard, "We are in Level Two which was Merlin's domain in the old phase."

"Your Merlin has a very odd way of helping out" scoffed Fear obviously understanding his meaning, "so what are you doing with it?"

"Once a quest involved a dungeoneer having to draw a wellway to continue, I'm betting this is the same thing..so I am drawing a portal"

"Well you'd better hurry up, the blade is getting a bit close for comfort" said Fear noticing the corridor conveyer was accelerating.

Treguard continued to make the portal, not even noticing the approaching blade.

"COME ON!!!" shouted Fear as the blade got within 10 metres of them. If they didn't get out of there then, they never would.

"Done" exclaimed Treguard. He grabbed hold of Fear and the pair of them fell through the portal just as blade skidded past where they had been standing seconds before

[Malefact]

Scarkill and Lissard were traipsing through a tunnel of their own - and had emerged in a large sewer. The walls were cracked and caked in slime. It looked disused. Lissard smiled - this was his preferred choice of environment. Scarkill, however, was not impressed and was retching due to the overpowering stench of the place.
"This is very un-lovely!" he spluttered. "I don't know how you stand it!"
"I think it's quite charming!" said Lissard in his usual snake-like tone.

Eventually, they found a boat moored at a jetty on a vast lake of green goo. Scarkill got in and began to row. Lissard, naturally amphibious, jumped into the lake. He had reached the other side before Scarkill was even halfway. Eventually, he caught up, tieing the boat to the side.
"Where is this, anyway?" breathed Scarkill.
"The Sewers of Goth," replied Lissard. "Or what's left of them, at least."

Unbeknown to them, however, something was watching them, having decided that they would make a really rather nice dinner...

[Emii]

Feed me...for I hunger so...flesh is quick...knowledge is substantial...lasting...do not run...why do you run...yet another question...shall feed...

The creature was submerged, face up on the bottom of the slimy sewer river, and was following below the boat they were rowing in. Thinking, it chuntered a little more to itself.

How...why...when...what...what is this here...do they seek the She...the She who glows green...and takes others...I may ask them...I may not...I should like to...the She took one in the tunnels...the girl...the child...why all the movement...the commotion...so many people in the dungeons...almost as many as in Cornwall...why do I know this name...I know not of this Cornwall...why do I remember it so...the child...the She...those above me...where do they go...I shall ask...I shall ask many questions...

It moved towards the boat and peered up through the bottom of it. It listened.