INTERACTIVE STORY
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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..."
-
"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."
-
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.
-
"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.
-
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."
-
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…”
-
"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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[[I love the thought of Majida insisting there should be a scroll! That's so her! I'm still taken with the Mogga/Merlin idea. There's the potential for so much nice banter, as you say, Malefact. I'd love to see what LF would make of Merlin in bumbling old fool mode, and how Hordriss would take the dent to his pride when Merlin, who he'd since replaced as "leader" of the Powers That Be, returns. A scene of LF talking to what he thinks is a captured Sidriss but who talks in Mogga's voice and style could be quite funny too.]]
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"Couldn't you take all three items?" Kully suggested. Treguard rolled his eyes again, and nearly fell over.
"Kully, if you haven't noticed, I only have TWO hands."
"You could put the key in your mouth?" Pressed Pickle, remembering when he had been in the same position.
"No no - I daren't risk that creature coming back." said Treguard hurriedly. "No doubt she is watching our actions as we speak."
"Take the Key and the Potion, then - they seem more useful than anything else."
Treguard and Majida were apprehensive at Kully's suggestion. He studied the bottle from under his helm.
"Sinister? That doesn't sound very reassuring to me."
"What would you suggest then, Master." asked Pickle slyly, knowing that Treguard would be stumped. He was right.
"Perhaps we should take those items then...Yes. Yes - I have an idea for any setbacks."
But he wouldn't tell them what it was.
Treguard picked up the key and the bottle, and asked them which way to go next.
"There ees dorr strraight ahead off you." Said Majida. "Walk forrwards."
Treguard did as he was told and dissappeared through the black doorway. Beforethe new room came into focus, the advisors heard a long, loud scream, followed by a long loud yell that sounded suspiciously like Treguard.
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[why rethink it? just cos its latin for left, doesnt mean it has to be used for that. If you wanted it used in that way you should have included it in your post, as not all of us speak latin. Once you finished your post, as stated in the rules, what goes into the next post is entireley up to the next poster ]
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The next room came into focus, and the assistants immediately saw what had made Treguard yell.
"Oh... uh... it..." Kully stuttered. Majida and Pickle just gaped at the viewscreen.
Kully continued. "It... it... it's... it's... it's me!"
She certainly seemed to be right. There was a Kully in the chamber in front of Treguard, and a Kully sitting in the advisors' space. They were exactly identical.
Pickle looked from the Kully next to him, to the Kully in the Dungeon, to the Kully next to him, to the Kully in the Dungeon...
...the Kully next to him, the Kully in the dungeon, the Kully next to him, the Kully in the dungeon...
...theKullynexttohimtheKullyinthedungeontheKullynexttohimtheKullyinthedungeontheKullynexttohimtheKullyinthedungeontheKullynexttohimtheKullyinthedungeon...
Pickle screamed.
"What sorcery is this?" screamed Treguard. "Kully, why are you in the dungeon?!"
"But I'm not!" screamed the real Kully. "This Kully is not... not... not Kully!"
Majida looked almost as confused as Treguard felt.
"How can it not be Kully?" asked Treguard.
There was a very long silence.
Pickle clapped his hands, breaking the silence. "Master," he said quietly, "has it said anything idiotic yet?"
"No..."
"Then it's not Kully, is it?"
Treguard and the assistants all cheered and clapped. As this sound, the fake Kully began to speak. Treguard, Pickle and Majida listened intently to its words. They sounded almost robotic...
(Kully, on the other hand, was still puzzling over what Pickle had said... and then said slowly - to herself - "Hold on... was he just making fun of me...?")
-
"The daughter sits no more, stands no more, speaks no more, is no more, but sees, hears and knows."
Treguard puzzled under his helmet, while the advisors stared at the Kully on the screen. She was creepy, almost lifeless as she spoke, gazing blankly at nothing. The fake Kully's bottom lip shook as though in fear, and her face paled.
"She know's, sees and hears in the depths of another level..."
Another voice was speaking, exactly in time with the Kully on the screen, with the exact words and in the same tone. Pickle and Majida turned and looked at Kully, then at each other in horror.
"...she fades, wishes, but knows you will be too late. If only you had the key that isn't." Finished the two Kully's in synchrony.
"Pickle? I heard two voices! What's going on?" called Treguard.
"Kully?" Pickle touched her shoulder gently. Kully's eyes rolled back and she fell rearwards off the bench in a dead faint. Majida looked at the screen as she helped Pickle pull Kully back into a sitting position.
Fake Kully was gone.
-
Pickle continued to aid Kully while Majida guided Treguard to the food on the floor to his right: it was a lemon, and grimacing as he put it in the knapsack, Treguard knew he'd be ill in the morning. Whilst her body was still limp, Kully was slowly regaining some kind of consciousness of her surroundings.
With a bitter taste lingering in his mouth, Treguard was becoming angry again, and he started shouting at the walls around him. "Lord Fear, this is against the rules! Harming advisors is strictly forbidden." He listened carefully, but received no response. Treguard understood a little of Fear's mind, and knew it was out of character for such a stunt not to be followed by some childish boast in person. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Such psychological devilry had never been one of Lord Fear's favourite weapons: his was the technomagic of machines, saws, and steel, not the subtle manipulation of the mind. But if not Lord Fear's work, then what? Or who?
Majida had been thinking on it too, and if not reasoning as well as Treguard, had jumped to the same conclusion: "Eet ees something to do weeth one wee seee before when wee take sword from-"
"Don't say any more, Majida!" Treguard's voice was firm. "Do not mention the name. You do not know the power it possesses. Of you three, only Pickle knows of old the Evil about which we speak. And he has more sense- now, at least- than to utter its name. Already I feel the shadows stirring. Things are moving quicker than I anticipated." He stopped himself, and took on a warmer tone: "I know this is hard for all of you. You disturbed something that should have stayed bound forever." The look on his face now was one of regret. "I should have taken more care to ensure He could never re-emerge. But, as ever, Time Turned, the next Season began and I trusted to Hope that it should not be so. I was indeed angry that you reawoke this peril, but the fault shall always lie with me."
"Master, we must move on. Evil cannot win so easily, never it can't! There may still be time- mayhap this message was not one sent by Him, but instead as a warning. We must trust to Truth and Justice, as you always told me, Master. And the only way is onward!"
A wry smile touched Treguard's face. Pickle at least was finally showing some sign of maturity. It had taken long enough. "Very well then, which way do you want me to go?"
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