INTERACTIVE STORY
-
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...
-
"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]
-
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...
-
"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!!]
-
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."
-
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
-
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...
-
- 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.
-
"Lord Fear ain't too 'appy is 'e?" muttered Skarkill, unaware of the giant blue face under his feet. "Ye'd think 'e'd got summat against this...this...Mogdred."
Lissard contemplated, also unaware. "I heard of thisss Mogdred...many yearsss ago."
"Don' care." sniffed Skarkill. "'E's best left to 'is own devices if you ask me."
"You heard the Lordnesss - thisss sssorcer isss dangerousss."
"What is the source of this danger?" droaned a voice from below, questioningly.
Lissard and Skarkill looked down, and both jumped backwards with a yelp. The Brollochan, presumed lost since it went on the run from Lord Fear a season ago, was staring dormantly at them from the bottom of the boat.
-
Skarkill and Lissard almost fell out of the boat.
"Whatsssss that doing here?" shouted Lissard
"It's stupid remember", whispered Skarkill "We can tell im anythin an be fine"
"Please answer my question" said the Brollochan.
"ne how", continued Skarkill, "ee may be useful for us, I rekon we can tell im whats goin on"
Lissard looked doubtful but grudgingly agreed, it was better than being eaten. Skarkill and Lissard told the Brollochan about Mogdred and what was going on in the dungeon, but they didn't expect the reaction they got from it.
"So this Mogdred is powerful....perhaps he will give me my knowledge back" it said.
"Don' count on it" said Skarkill, "His lordship got rid of that a long time ago".
A booming laugh made the pair jump again, it was Mogdred.
"Amateur magicks! Brollochan, I can indeed return your knowledge....if you serve me. I've been looking for you for some time now and thanks to these bumbling idiots I have found you.."
If the Brollochan was human it would have been smiling by now.
"My knowledge? I was told you were evil. No evil entity would do something so....nice" the Brollachan said.
"Did they tell you I was evil?" said Mogdred shocked, "I am one of the most respected denizens of the dungeon. I will give you your knowledge back...and much more, but as I said, I would wish you to serve me as repayment"
The Brollochan thought about it and then agreed.
"The first task I require of you is to feed, feed on these wretched creatures that led me to you" commanded Mogdred.
Knowledge seeping back into it, the Brollochan lifted itself out of the water and prepared to eat. What seemed to be an look of anticipation with maybe the hint of a smile appeared on the Brollochan's "face". Lissard and Skarkill froze in fear of both the scenario of being eaten alive....and the realisation that Mogdred had been true to his word about the giving more, he'd given the Brollochan emotions.
The Brollochan began to edge towards the boat....
-
"Wait!" cried Lissard. "How can you trust him?"
"Yeah!" shouted Scarkill. "How will you know it was your own knowledge that he gave back? If at all!"
Scarkill was quite pleased with himself for that flash of deduction.
"It is still my best chance of regaining knowledge," droned the Brollochan and continued to move towards them. Mogdred laughed.
-
Suddenly there was a blinding flash, and the Brollachan stalled, seemingly wanting to know why there had been a flash.
"Mogdred! Pack it in, you fool!"
There was another flash and the pair in the boat took the risk of looking up to see what was going on. Modgred was now flinging fireballs up towards the ceiling, which, on closer inspection, had a balcony just below it. Leaning over the balcony, hurling green bolts at Mogdred, was Fear - chanting whilst gripping Treguard's wrist and firing the bolts from Treguard's hand.
"How dare you!" roared Mogdred. "You shall get your come-uppance, I shall see to that."
A loud crack later, Mogdred was gone. Fear slapped his hands togather as if brushing off dust, and leaned further over the balcony.
"Master?" droaned the Brollochan. A small smile crept to Lord Fear's lips.
"Yes..." he muttered, surveying the scene below him. "This is most satisfactory."
Treguard grabbed Fear by the sleeve and waved his hand briefly. The sewers turned upside down and they found themselves on a little jetty but a few meters from the boat. The Brollochan swan through the green murk, pulling the boat to the jetty after it.
"You are not associated with this Mogdred, my old Master? Please tell me, for there is only one thing that is worse than ignorance, and that is confusion..." it drawled.
"Less of the 'old', supersulk." snapped Fear. "In rescuing both you and my hopeless minions here I have endangered us all - we are NOT in Mogdred's good books."
"Oh good - you noticed your huge mistake." said Treguard acidly. "I wondered whether you had a death-wish or if you really were as ignorant as you seem. You have also broken one f the laws of the dungeons - it is highly illegal to spellcast using the hand of another!"
Fear glared at him with a stare to rival Treguard's own.
"I suppose I'm right in assuming you wouldn't rescue your own assistants, old one?"
Treguard saw what he meant - perhaps Fear wasn't quite as heartless as he had presumed. Or maybe it was a coer-up for the fact that he liked having things to boss around.
"Fair point, Fear." He said, wanting to keep the tone less than sour for the time being. "I think we should move towards Mount Fear - I have a feeling there is something amiss there..."
"What makesss you sssay that?" hissed Lissard.
Treguard pointed upwards. Through a porthole in the roof of the sewers a red glow was seeping in, most brightly from the direction of Lord Fear's old domain.
"The She..." groaned the Brollochan.
-
[That's better! ]
"What she?" asked Scarkill nervously.
"Just as things couldn't get any worse," muttered Treguard.
The red glow had by now filled the area. The walls shook. The Brollochan looked nervous. A second wall monster appeared in the wall, it's features emerging from the rock.
"I am the Brangwen-She!" its voice said, rattling off the walls.
"What the ruddy hell is that?!" cried Scarkill.
"We haven't robbed you, Brangwen!" shouted Treguard.
"I have not come to test you!" cried Brangwen. "I have come to offer my services!"
-
"Ah..." said treguard. "This is the She you speak of!"
The Brollochan's face changed ever so slightly, and in Brollochan terms was clearly an 'oh-for-gods-sake' look. "No...no...this is not the She. This is the Brangwen-She - I learnt this in my travels - we are aquainted with one another...the She, however..."
"What?" yelled Lord Fear impatiently. "What is this She?"
"The She looks mortal, but is powerful...the She has taken her own child..."
"Whatssss that?" cut in Lissard, pointing towards the far end of the jetty. They all turn (those that had necks, anyhow) in time to see a white-grey, transparent figure disappear through the portal. A flutter of skirts was all they saw, and nothing more. The sound of a young girl's voice sobbed through the echoing blackness and faded away.
"What the devil was that?" exclaimed Treguard.
"Another useless poltergiest, if I am correct..." stated the Brangwen-She.
"Good, good." Lord Fear turned away. "Absolutely nothing to worry about, then."
-
Meanwhile, Mellisandre, Gibbett and Hordriss were trying to help Sidriss.
"Who is her mother, Hordriss?" asked Mellisandre.
"Her name is Morghana," said Hordriss through clenched teeth. "A powerful and malicious sorceress, who I had the misfortune of getting involved with."
"How come you were hitched up with a wrong-un like that?" asked Gibbett. Hordriss shuffled about.
"I used to be rather nasty myself," he said slowly. "It was when I saw that Sidriss started to become evil too that I realised I was witnessing the corruption of an innocence. I realised that I didn't want to see that happen - especially not to any child of mine. That was the turning point for me, and for her."
"I take it that Morghana did not take kindly to that," said Mellisandre dryly.
"I sent Sidriss away," replied Hordriss. "I didn't want her to have to confront her mother. She was nowhere near powerful enough." He spoke with a tear in his eye, gazing upon Sidriss's suspended body. "She still isn't."
"It was only when she was trapped in Merlin's trap chamber, along with Mogdred, that I allowed her to join me."
"And now this happens," said Gibbett. Hordriss glared at him.
"Indeed it does," he said sharply.
"So, what should we do?" asked Mellisandre.
"It is clear that Morghana is still inhabiting Sidriss's body," said Hordriss.
"But she isn't moving!" cried Mellisandre.
"She is in a state of transience," said Hordriss. "Morghana is traversing the dungeon, but is still rooted in Sidriss's body. Most sorcerers do that."
"How do we save her?" asked Gibbett.
"We must find Sidriss's soul quickly, exorsise Morghana and possess Sidriss's body with her soul."
"How do we do that?!" cried Mellisandre. Hordriss thought for a while.
"I shall give everyone a BAG spell," he announced. "If anyone comes across Sidriss's soul, they should use it and then call me."
Hordriss closed his eyes. Suddenly, everyone across the dungeon had a scroll appear before them.
"What is that?" asked Brother Mace.
"It says "'Use BAG to capture Sidriss's soul, then call Malefact three times!'" said Brother Strange.
"A spell, I presume," said Mace.
"Indeed," replied Strange.
-
[Sorry to reply to my own post, but I've had another brainwave!]
Having been summoned away, Hordriss had left Grimaldine on his own. He was now traipsing through a long, dark tunnel, wondering when it would end.
He began to hear a noise in the distance. Squinting ahead, he could see the faint colours starting to change and the walls contort. All of a sudden, the far end of the tunnel began to rip itself up, flying away into nothingness. The destruction began moving down the tunnel towards him.
"Perhaps it is time to leave," he said to himself and promptly turned and ran. Looking over his shoulder, he could see the destruction was catching him up. A gale began to blow through the tunnel towards the wake. He found it more and more difficult to keep up the pace. Concentrating intensely, he cast a charm to get in contact with Hordriss.
"What are you doing, Hordriss?" asked Mellisandre to Hordriss, who was sprinkling purple powder in a circle around Sidriss.
"I am preparing a powerful locking charm," he replied. "It will hopefully keep Sidriss, or at least her body, here while we look for her soul. Should Morghana regain consciousness she won't stay here for long. I think that....." he trailed off.
"What's up?" asked Gibbett. Hordriss raised a hand. From it, he projected an image onto the wall. It was Grimaldine, running from the wake - until a large wall stopped him, accompanied by a peal of Mogdred's laughter. Grimaldine began to spellcast an ESCAPE spell but the wake caught up with him, and he was flung into nothingness without a trace. The image on the wall wavered, and then died out like a candle starved of oxygen.
"What happened?!" screamed Mellisandre.
"Level Two," muttered Hordriss.
"What about Level Two?" demanded Gibbett.
"It is....disintegrating."
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