INTERACTIVE STORY
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Righto guys - a bit of a fun thread where we may all go mad, but no complete nonsense posters please, as we still want it to be logical and it would spoil it for others if they choose to take part.
Basically, we will all develop a story based around Knightmare and all aspects of it. The parts you post can be any thing from a sentence to a paragraph or two, so long as it follows on from the last post and makes sense. New things can be introduced, however mad, so long as they are explained somewhere along the way and have a reason for being involved. It would help if you can leave ends open for the next poster to play with I shall go first...
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Treguard wasn't happy. At all. He couldn't believe that his assistants had actually managed to do something so stupid. In his opinion, they were lucky to be alive. They now stood and glared at the three of them, who were lined up like troupers against the far brick wall. Pacing infront of them, they could hear him breathing like an anteater with a knot in its snout. Kully thought this was quite funny and started to giggle, but Treguard whirled around and began to shout, and she soon wiped the smirk off her face.
"I hope to the gods that you know EXACTLY how disappointed I am with ALL OF YOU." He roared. They tried not to look him in the eye.
"WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING!"
"We thought it might help..." said Pickle feebly. Treguard was practically growling at him.
"Help? HELP?!" He clenched his fists. "FAR FROM IT! What sort of an impression do you think you have given my newest assistant?"
"It was actually his idea." Muttered Kully. "And we thought it sounded quite good..." She tailed off, but everyone was already staring at the one who had kept quiet so far.
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"I'm sure they WILL get their comeuppence," he spat, "in any case there's nothing anyone can do now."
"There must be something!" cried Pickle. "There must be some way of reversing it!"
"I'm afraid not, Pickle," spoke Treguard wearily. "We'll just have to fortify the castle defences and hope for the best. If that doesn't do, at least we can escape into the dungeon - it's certainly not as dangerous!"
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"And anyway, I am a girl!" Majida threw the remark in Kully's direction, along with a stare that could have frosted over a hundred summers. "And yes, I come back. I reealise Treguard, hee never pay mee for all my work heere! And I consult Dungeon Code and eet say ee cannot deesmees mee without good reeason. I do nothing wrong, so I come back. Ees more entertaining than seeteeng in bottle anyway."
Treguard sighed. Having three assistants wasn't what he'd planned at all. Those old days in the castle by himself weren't quite so lonely after all, he concluded: they were a time of peace and being his own master he'd never enjoyed since. A wicked grin passed his lips as he momentarily considered ridding himself of the three of them once the current crisis was over.
"But what should we do now, Master?" Pickle had seen the glimmer of wickdeness on Treguard's face, and knew it was best to quickly divert his Master's thought.
"Oh," Treguard mused. "I suppose in this unfamiliar instance we must seek advice." He activated the magic mirror with a brief gesture. "Hordriss? Hordriss, are you there?"
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Treguard began to answer Hordriss, but stopped. Now that he looked at him closely, there was clearly something... different about Hordriss. He wasn't his usual self in some way. Shaking his head to clear it, he dismissed the thought and began to explain to him what had happened.
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"It's me, Treguard." answered the Dungeonmaster.
"I was hoping I would get to talk to you. Are you alone?"
"No." Treguard gestured at the three miserable helpers behind him. Hordriss saw them and his eyes darkened immediately. They all shivered at his expression.
"Oooooh..." cowered Kully. "...and we thought Master was upset..."
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"Very well. It shall have to do. One shall give you audience in your castle, Treguard, for One knows that our communications are being intercepted."
"Revelanti!" As far as Treguard could tell, the word was uttered both before and after Hordriss appeared in the antechamber. Hordriss had always had a flair for such details, although the red and white smoke that now billowed around the room was rather too elaborate an addition for Treguard's liking. The difference in the mage's visage was now more evident: below his delicately preened hair was a furrowed brow, and the weight of years hung upon him.
"Esteemed Dungeon Master. One is heartened to be part of your counsel in this circumstance. One of course is aware of what has taken place." He shot a piercing glance at the three assistants who had been slowly backing away towards the wall. "And this matter bears on One personally. For thanks to the actions of your adolescents, here, it appears One's own daughter is in grave danger."
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He sighed. "You know what this means. The only way to rescue Sidriss now is to send another team through the Dungeon to the Black Tower of Goth, where thanks to you three Lord Fear has her."
"But, master!" started Pickle, getting up from his crouched position by the fireplace. "They would never make it out - "
Treguard silenced the elf with a wave of his hand. "Lord Fear's technomagic is far too powerful to fight from here. You know that as well as I do."
"Master!" This time it was Kully. "We can't send any more teams through the dungeon without the Summoning Stone! [Note: Read it in "The Quest" issue, plot-related reason why Knightmare came to an end. Can't remember the real name of the artifact that summoned the team, though. - WCB]
Treguard sighed again. "We already have enough." His three assistants glanced at each other as they realised what he was thinking. "Four to make up a team. Three advisors and one dungeoneer, but the question remains - who shall be the one to quest through the dungeon?" He turned and stared at Majida, who shifted uncomfortably.
"Wait." Hordriss spoke in his deep voice from behind Treguard, placing his hand on Treguard's shoulder. "I think an experienced Dungeon Master would have the best chance, don't you...?"
Treguard spun round to him, unbelieving...
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"I hope you're...you're not suggesting...me?" Treguard tried to look dignified but failed miserably. "Oh, come now Hordriss - I'm much too old..."
"I'm older than you and I live in there!" noted Hordriss. Treguard sighed. He was obviously beaten before he started to argue, and knew it. He would have to agree.
"Very well..."
The two elves and the genie all broke into applause with big grins on their faces. Treguard whipped his head around to look at them but before he could catch them they had stopped clapping and were staring at various parts of the room as if nothing had happened.
"Gods! And I have to trust you three to get me through there safely..."
Treguard, for once, looked almost sulky. The assistants, however, looked ecstatic.
"Call your advisors - oh dear, they're already here! Fine, on with the knapsack!" Pickle swung the strap around Treguard's shoulders.
"And the Helmet of Justice! Are you sure you want to gothrough with this? THOUGHT SO!" Kully cried before Treguard could reply and rammed the helm onto his head until all you could see was his black and grey stripey beard. Majida stepped forwards.
"And now you must take ze firrst steps eento ze dungeons where everything is blah blah blah eelusion...farewell and fair chanze!"
Majida gave Treeguard a huge shove from behind, and he staggered through the purple fog that was the portal.
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"Where am I, then?" Treguard asked huffily, stumbling about.
"Ees a dwarvish tunnel for small people!" cried Majida.
The tunnel itself was very long, trailing off into the distance. The only exit was about twenty meters ahead on the left-hand wall. Suddenly, the lights started to go out, starting with the ones in the distance but gradually the darkness started to move towards Treguard. Unaware of this, he continued to moan.
"I mean, I don't see why I have to risk my life again, especially considering what almost happened last time," he ranted.
"Treguard!" cried Majida.
"I mean, the odds of mastering the dungeon ONCE are low enough,"
"Treguard!" cried Kully.
"But the chances of doing it TWICE are simply ridiculous!"
"Master!!!" screamed Pickle.
"What is it, idiot elf?" Treguard snorted.
"RUN FOR IT!!!" shouted all three. The darkness was approaching faster and was almost level with the only exit. Treguard realised he was in danger and surged forward, finding the door.
"This is a left-hand door!" he cried.
"TAKE IT ANYWAY!!" they screamed. He did so, narrowly avoiding a large black claw that came out of the darkness.
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Staggering through the portal and into the next chamber, Treguard was exhausted. Years of sitting in his chair by the fire had taken their toll, and now after a brief trot through the tunnels he found himself struggling to take one breath after another, and angrier than ever at his assistants. Yes, it would be a new start on his own after this was over, he thought.
"Master, you're in some kind of clue room, we think. There's a table in front of you, can you see it?" He couldn't. But if dungeoneers could bend the rules by tilting their heads backward to see further, so could he.
"Yes, I see it now Pickle, I'll go and see what's on it."
"Take the pineapple, and tell us what else is on it." Kully smiled at the other two after beating them to offer the usual instruction to the dungeoneer.
Just as Treguard was replacing the straps of the knapsack after putting the food inside, however, the room shifted, and he heard a laugh both rich and strangely cold.
"Turn and face me intruder, for I am The Brangwen She, and none passes here without first pleasing me." Treguard thought the wall monsters had all passed into the Sleep of Time. Evidently now it was not so.
"Much is there to learn and see, but nought before my riddles three. Truth do I seek. Here is my first."
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Treguard was getting impatient: “Come on team, what is our answer?” The others sat in silence. Finally Pickle ventured a guess. “A glade?”
“Falsehood,” was the call from the wall, “Mushroom was the Truth I sought. Here is my second. I spend my years running the Race of Time. But if you were in a race and passed the person in second place, what position would you gain?”
Kully immediately jumped up. “You’d be first! First!”
“Falsehood,” was again the response, “Only Second would you be. First was not the Truth I sought”. The lips of the creature raised in a strange distorted smile. It was many a year since She had fed upon human flesh: now perhaps, the chance was again at hand.
“Here is my Third and Last. I can contain many things. To do me is to repress or hide. But if you had a lot of me you would be courageous indeed. What am I?”
The silence laid heavily on the antechamber. Treguard, clearly averse to the prospect of being eaten, was shouting at his assistants to think more carefully. The answer, however, was not in their grasp. Panic set in, and they began to quarrel.
“Reeddles ees too deefeecult. And elves, they shout out seelly answers. Eef Treguard ees eeaten, then Dungeon ees surelee deeestroyed, and castle and all. I have eenough of theese games. I leeave thees world and go back een…” Suddenly a wave of understanding passed across her face:
“Bottle!”
“Truth accepted. One is the score. I tell little more. Your Quest is to Awaken the Antithesis of that Horror which you have allowed to re-emerge in these halls, and thus commence the Final Battle between Good and Evil. No more than One had you True, so no more I teach you. And now, I hear the Sleep of Time calling once more…”
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"Ooh! Theeese wall monsters are very scary!" whimpered Majida. "Ees just like that Brollachan!"
"Similar, Majida," said Treguard shakily, "but this particularly category of monster is even more dangerous because it actually knows things!"
"Just like a Blocker with attitude!" cried Pickle.
"What ees Blocker?" asked Majida. Treguard rolled his eyes (making him feel giddy due to the darkness of the helmet) and turned back to the table.
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[[Hi everyone. The posts have been wonderful on this thread, a real joy to read people's contributions. I just wanted to comment on my last addition. I hope people don't think I've pushed this too far, but I had a thought. Surely just rescuing Sidriss from LF wouldn't be much for them all to get so worried about. At the start of the story we learn the whole Dungeon was in danger: I thought we needed something a little more frightening in prospect. And then I thought, "Ooh, Merlin and Mogdred never did get their final battle on screen." I don't want to push this too far in any particular direction, so interpret things however you want. But what if LF hadn't captured Sidriss? What if something or SOMEONE else has gained control of Sidriss's body once it had been released by Treguard's bumbling assistants? What on earth would happen if LF and Mogga got started at destroying one another, or worse, decided to team up? There are so many possibilities in so many directions.]]
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"What's on the table, Treguard?" asked Kully.
"There is a key, a ruby and a potion labelled 'Sinister'" he said.
"But where ees scroll?" cried Majida.
"There aren't any in the old realm," said Pickle.
"So what has happened to the new one?" asked Majida indignantly.
"Hopefully we can find out," called Treguard, "but for now, what items do you think I should take? I've been here too long, you know!"
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