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Grand Battle - Round Three: Channel Twenty-Nine

...or in other words: post-whoring
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Dragon Fogel
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Dragon Fogel »

It happens. It's understandable that you might not have everything worked out about your character in the first round, especially when you're new to the whole idea of a battle.

There's no need to fix any posts in the first round to account for this, but people should keep it in mind for the future.

Alternatively, the cars of Cardboard City are actually sentient beings and this just didn't happen to be of major relevance to the battle.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by sedron »

*Ker-ploosh*

A deep chill surged through the sauce bottle as it plunged into the shadowy waters. Tobasco did little to fight the currents that whisked it to another location. Instead, it drifted with the stream, waiting to see where it would end up this time. After all, it was far too dark to see its surroundings anyway. What use was flailing in the river if there was no way to know where to go?

And so, Tobasco floated along the canals...

---

Some time passed. The bottle of hot sauce, waking from a light snooze, was now in a much smaller, calmer pool of water. The way the stones were shaped suggested it was an artificial basin or fountain. A tiny drain whisked away some of the liquid from the bottom of the pool as more water flowed in from a spout stretching from a wall. Torches lit the sides of whatever room it was now in.

As Tobasco came to its senses, it heard a muffled voice from beneath the water.


"...I still think you should let me eat you." The voice paused before beginning again. "Okay, but if I don't eat you what am I gonna eat?" Tobasco righted itself and moved towards the noise. "But we don't know where they are!"

The Worm, invisible and inaudible to Tobasco, perked up at the sight of the red bottle. "Nevermind that, you need to stop talking to me now and turn around."

"What? Why would I..." Tobasco and Fishy faced each other in the fountain.

"Oh, it's one of those bottles from the store!" Fishy exclaimed. "I think the stuff inside is supposed to be hot, but I forget. Hey, do you know about this bottle?" Tobasco was extremely confused by the words of the goldfish.

"What did I just say about not talking to me?! That's one of the other combatants!"

"... Oh yeah." The fish looked at Tobasco worriedly. "Um, don't worry, I definitely wasn't talking to a worm."

The Worm silently wished he had a way to really express the frustration his companion gave him. Smooth, Fishy. You're not suspicious at all. Tobasco seemed to turn from side to side, as if to look for somebody else, but the Worm remained hidden. He remembered the searing hot taste of its pepper sauce, and very much wished not to get a mouthful of the stuff again.

Seeing nobody else in the water, Tobasco moved to the edge of the water and jumped up onto the rim of the fountain, totally ignoring the bizarre, rambling goldfish. Getting a much better view of the room from here, it noticed a few important details. The walls did not have crystals jutting from them as they did in the other parts of the labyrinth. It looked as if this room was actually kept in decent condition. A nearby table held a small array of tools. The thing that kept Tobasco's attention, however, was a strange, mechanical figure attached to one of the walls.

The figure looked vaguely humanoid. It possessed two arms, two legs and a spherical object in the center with an opening at the top. It looked kind of familiar... kind of like... a fishbowl?

Oh hey I actually wrote something. Sorry, I've been distracted lately and since the game's been slow I haven't been super-inspired to write all that much.

So, maybe Fishy gets a cursed(?) mechanical suit of armor and walks around like people? Who knows, the option is there though.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by pholtos »

"Argh... why'd tha' floor have ta go and collapse like that?"
Nui was not pleased how things had turned out, after finally becoming free and being able to move about, falling down was not first on his mind. I would say this is karma for taking my body... but it's my body you're hurting with your idiotic actions. Why didn't you control your descent with the boat? "Ahhhh shut it Ochibi" A sudden twang in his back caused Nui to flinch. "What'd ya do to this body before I arrived anyway, yer backs a mess!" I ran into... quite the bunch here. Hit a wall pretty hard. It took a bit of time before the pain had subsided, during which Nui attempted to get a feeling for their new surroundings.
I do hope that since you are in my body now, you won't do anything to upset the others. I have no intention of fighting them. Chibos spoke from within while Nui was looking around.
"I understand yer plight but I dun think I can promise that one." Wha... you wouldn't! I took a vow to never cause bloodshed ever again, and I won't have some intruder messing that up! Nui suddenly halted his search and took on a face of concentration. "Tsk... startin' to understand how it works, are we? I can't be lettin' you get yer body back that easily now can I?"
After putting a stop to Chibos' attempt to regain control, Nui stood and retrieved the boat, a short ways away. Settling himself within, Nui set off in the surrounding area, looking for signs of any of the others. The young girl should be around here, she was rather close to us when all this took place... and I will get my body back. You can count on that. Nui simply smiled at the latter comment. Scanning around he noticed... an arm? Upon closer inspection it was indeed an arm, but given the low light they were unsure whose arm it could be. You will help them, right?"Ya think ya can tell me what to do? I dun feel up to helpin' no one but meself." Now you listen to me Nui, unless you want me constantly attempting to regain control every time I recover, you will at least listen to my pleas every now and then. I cannot turn a blind eye to someone trapped like this!
"All right all right! Ya just want me ta help 'em, right?" Nui was unsure exactly how to get the rubble off of whomever this was, what with the current state of their body. Using the needle could be an option, however it was likely to cause injury to whomever was underneath all of this rock.
Suddenly, a noise could be heard from behind. The sounds of footsteps and something rubbing hypnotically on the ground could be heard slowly approaching them. Turning around to look, Dot had appeared before them with her scooter by her side, wincing somewhat
Chi-Chibos? Is that you? "Ohhhh the lass! Would ya mind helpin' me out with this? I can't exactly do it on me own... and he won' leave me be til I do." Dot was taken aback by the exceptionally different voice coming from the previously deep voiced banana boat. "Wha- What happened to you, Chibos? Your voice has become... rather strange." "Ochibi is not currently available, lass. I'm in control at tha' moment. Tha' names Nuihari, ya can call me Nui or whatever strikes yer fancy. Nah then. Would ya help me get this person outta the rubble?"
Unsure of what to think of the sudden change in Chi- Nui, Dot soon noticed what he was referring to. With only an arm visible and no signs of who or what kind of condition the person is, the two set out to clear the rubble from atop the figure. At long last, they were able to see the face of the one currently unconscious. It was Mato.
I wanted to finish up the whole Chibos/Nui conflict for a bit and also wanted to join the people still MIA together. I feel as though I've fully decided to have Nui be some sorta scottish speaking guy now. Also it's sort of a pain to go back and forth between two font colors so much. Oof. I also realized that it should be Nuihari instead of Nuiharu, and as such changed all the mentions of his full name. Oops.
I also thought it'd be nice to repaste all the font colors for use here, with the added peeps.
-Rusto the Scoundrelous - Mikkofier
-Dot Smith - Elgakida
-Tẃre Egelmath - Joseph Staleknight
-Tobasco the Hot Sauce - sedron
-Fishy - Holy
-Worm - Holy
-Chibos - pholtos
-Nuihari - pholtos
-Mato - O'Largill
....Actually in doing that I just noticed O and Mikko are using the exact same font color for their guys.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Dragon Fogel »

I didn't catch that similarity because O'Largill was originally using a lighter shade of green, and then I guess she changed it and no one compared the new color to anyone else's until now?
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Joseph Staleknight »

"Out of my way!" Twre yelled with all of his might. "I need to save them!" He plowed into Rusto and darted off toward the very front of the ship's bow, lost in his own drunken delusions.

Rusto reeled from the impact, his hand clutching his gut as he writhed on the wooden boards of the deck. He wondered just how the orc managed to become so inhumanly fast. More distressing, however, were the inexplicable visions of events that had long passed and those yet to come. He knew what those visions were--after all, he had experienced all those events at some point or another--but he had little idea why they were appearing. All he knew was that they started to occur after he found Twre in his drunken state.

"Ma'! Daaaa'! Wai' for me!"

Rusto sharply turned around and beheld a most alarming sight. Twre was balancing precariously on all fours upon the bowsprit while looking down at the pitch-black sea, his head trembling with a worrying speed. As he clasped on tightly, he let out another cry. "WAAAAIIII'!"

Without so much as a pause, Rusto got up and ran toward the orc.
"Twre! No! Don't--!"

Seeing the broken body of Prosper Yedlic in the magic circle at first shocked Rusto, then calmed him, knowing his nemesis truly was dead.

"Well..." he said, "At least we know it can work. Now, the first thing we need to do is take these out of the circle." He handed the bottle to Twre, his focus on the ritual meaning he didn't notice the orc's nervous disposition....


Then the vision abruptly faded away as Rusto snapped back to attention. He immediately focused back on the bowsprit...but the orc was not there anymore.

Distressed, he stammered,
"...T-Twre?" He then quickly ran to the railing of the bow and glanced down furiously at the sea. Unfortunately, there wasn't any sign of him to be found right below. Fearing the worst, he began to call for the orc with a higher pitch. "TWRE!" It was one thing for him to be drunk, but now to be drunk enough to throw himself ignorantly into the sea? Who knew what dangers could lurk below? Rusto stared at the unreflecting surface of the water, afraid of what might have happened. Then,...

"Heeelp! Someone help me!"

His eyes turned toward the source of the voice. It was Twre! And he was...standing on the water? Disbelieving, Rusto continued to stare at the orc as he ran in circles near the starboard side of the ship, crying out towards people who weren't there. Eventually, he became curious about the water itself. A quick glance at the deck revealed a sturdy cannonball. He grabbed it with both hands and carefully carried it over to the outside edge of the railing. Then he let it fall.

Surprisingly, the ball did not sink into the aquatic void like he had expected; instead, it came to a rest on the surface with a hard thud, spreading waves that traveled outward at various speeds.
So the water is much shallower than I anticipated... His amazement was cut short, however, when he noticed Twre running away from the ship at high speed. Shit! His mind alert, he grabbed the railing and maneuvered his body carefully over the side, then climbed onto a rope hanging beneath the ship's head. Sliding down, he quickly landed on the water with a hollow splish and ran toward the drunken orc as fast as he could.

***

Twre immediately ran past the stranger he mistook for his father, and began to jostle through the town streeets, fear in his eyes. His parents could be anywhere in the town! Worse, they might have gotten lost searching for him as well. Not wanting to think of what would happen then, he hurried while barely dodging the other townsfolk that walked casually through the fog. Yet it was a fruitless endeavor, for he was no closer to finding his parents.

Realizing he needed to use his nascent time-magic abilities, he found a nearby tree and climbed it. Once he was high up enough, he began to scout the area and the crowds gathered close within his vantage point. With that vantage point, he began to try and slow down time to a crawl, reaching as close to a stand-still as he could. Sure enough, the busy streets began to feel heavier as the throngs of people became more and more sluggish. Soon, the entirety of Logszarm was at a standstill, with nary a finger twitching amongst the people. Then, Twre did the impossible.

He could see it now. The crowds were starting to walk backward. The people amongst them also began talking backward, in voices that sounded strange yet also casually familiar. As Twre focused more, the world began to speed up in its retrograde course, and the hustle and bustle of the city nearly faded into a blur. Even the scent of the air flowed backwards through his nostrils, yet the worst that happened was that he was temporarily unable to smell.

Eventually, amidst the chaos of reversed time, he found a pair of familiar people approaching the tree. A man who looked like the stranger he met before, but with the familiar indigo eyes, walking next to a middle-aged, motherly woman with sea-blue hair and a traditional Pursonese dress. There was no doubt about it. They were his cherished parents! He gradually returned time to its original flow before calling out to his parents. "Mom! Dad! Wait for me!"

Strangely, however, they seemed to ignore him as they began walking away from the tree. Nonplussed, Twre raised his voice. "WAAAAIIIT!" Still no response. How could they have not recognized their own child's voice? Before he could think too deeply on that, he immediately jumped from his position on the tree and landed onto the solid ground.

Unfortunately, no sooner did he land than black smoke began to materialize in the thick fog, approaching his parents. Twre was aghast. He had managed to turn back time and found his beloved parents, yet
it still came! Desperately, Twre hurried toward the two people, wanting to outrun the smoke. Sadly, it was too fast; no sooner did he take a step forward than it began to consume them from the bottom up. Even when calling them again, he could see that they were oblivious both to him and the increasingly thick fumes. By the time he had managed to catch up to them, they were already gone. The only remnant of their existence was in their child's memory.

Twre looked around the increasingly darkening streets wildly. People faded from view, replaced by shadowy figures with menacing glowing eyes. "Help!" he cried. "Somebody help me!" But there was no response to his pleas. Rather, the shadows began to leer at him silently, as if they were only there to harm him. The air grew tense as they began to encircle him without so much as an utterance.

Then, a horrid shriek burst out. Twre frantically turned around and found its owner. He was horrified to find the shadow had grown long fangs and drills where its teeth should have been. As it continued its wail, it raised a hand with long, feral claws attached to each of its emaciated fingers. The orc child, realizing what it had intended to do, quickly dodged the swipe and ducked through another shadow's legs. Then he ran away, the shadows now in pursuit with claws and teeth as sharp and dangerous as the first's.

As he ran through the darkness that used to be Logszarm, fear and sadness clouded his mind. He missed his parents. He wanted them back so desperately. Why couldn't they live?

Why did
it have to take them away?

Oy. Sorry for not writing sooner, everyone. This really took a long time to plan out, since I needed to think about how best to make of the situation Twre's in as well as develop his past a bit more. Still, better something than nothing!
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Dragon Fogel »

In all honesty, I expected things to be even slower this month due to MAGL X. So seeing a post at all is a delightful surprise. Thanks, Joseph!
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by pholtos »

Joseph Staleknight wrote:
sedron wrote:
Elgadika wrote:
Mikkofier wrote:
O'Largill wrote:
Poke.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Joseph Staleknight »

Man, yeah, I think MaGLX2 took away our time for continuing this game. I'm hoping this might pick up again soon, even if I have to post again without any intervening stories.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Dragon Fogel »

I just sent out a PM, though pholtos' post is going to send most people notifications. Except Holy, who you missed. Also, why the heck can I only send O'Largill PMs through the actual PM link, even copying and pasting her username doesn't work.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by pholtos »

.
Last edited by pholtos 9 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by pholtos »

Actually asked about that, you apparently need to not use the apostrophe.
Also oh man I can't leave holy out of the poke!
Holy wrote:
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by sedron »

*Whirrrrr-CLANK* *Whirrrrr-CLANK* *Whirrrrr-CLANK* *Whirrrrr-CLANK*

Tobasco slid at a brisk pace down yet another hallway, with a new companion in tow. Fishy's new mechanical fishbowl-suit, though loud, at least made it so Tobasco didn't have to abandon him in the fountain room. As easy as it would have been to just outright kill Fishy before he got in the suit, the bottle of sauce couldn't do something so heartless.

The Worm, still invisible to Tobasco, floated alongside Fishy in the bowl.
"Just follow it, hope it leads us to Mato, and for the love of me pretend I'm not here," it whispered through the water. The goldfish remained silent, using all of his limited concentration abilities to pilot his new fishbowl. The mechanical frame moved without physical input, but still clearly put a mental strain on its user. The Worm wondered whether Fishy had even heard the request.

Rounding the corner, the trio entered a large, open cave. Fishy's robotic foot made a splashing noise as he stepped in. The floor was hidden beneath shallow, but dark waters. Despite the cave's intense darkness they could just barely make out what appeared to be a shipwreck a little distance off, and what appeared to be two figures running away from it.


"Twre! Get back here!"

Fishy looked towards the red bottle. "Hey, isn't that one of the other guys? Do you think he has food?" He started to swim around his bowl anxiously. "I'm really hungry. I want food! Foodfoodfoodfoodfood!" Tobasco moved into the water and pointed its nozzle away from the source of the yelling. Hopefully Fishy would get the picture and follow along, the hot sauce thought as it propelled itself across the water's surface with a jet stream of pepper sauce.

***


"OOF!" Mato was fully jostled awake by another kick to the midsection. They looked up to see a familiar young girl and a floating banana boat. Only, last time Mato saw this girl, she wasn't kicking them. Nor was she holding a knife. This situation was very new and entirely unpleasant.

"I dunnae if'n ye should be antagonizin' 'em, lass." Nuihari moved in front of Dot. " I c'n tell ye Ochibi is definitely against it."

Dot backed away nervously, raising her knife.

"What, ye don't trust me?" Nui moved again, this time positioning himself equidistant from Mato and Dot. "There's no need t'worry, lass. I just got free, I'm not lookin' t'fight." Dot's eyes darted back and forth from Nuihari to Mato, who was rising from the water, sporting a rather angry look.

The tense silence in the watery room was interrupted by sloshing sounds and voices in the adjacent hallway.

"Daaa'! Help me, Da'!"

Twre suddenly ran in through the room's archway entrance and paused. "Da'! Yer shafe!" With uncanny speed, Twre jumped directly into Mato, sending the two of them right to the ground. Tobasco came bursting in next, creating a huge splash as it halted in the water.

"Tobasco!" Dot never thought she'd be so relieved to see a bottle of hot sauce. The spicy condiment went over to her side.

Rusto entered the room next.
"Twre? Are you in here?" Panting heavily, he placed a hand on the wall to rest for a moment.

"...Rusto?! What happened to-"

*Whir-CLANK* *Whir-CLANK* *Whir-CLANK* *Whir-CLANK*

A bulky, metal figure stopped in the doorway. Dot squinted. "The hell is... Fishy?!"

Mato jumped out of the water, with Twre holding on tightly and sobbing into Mato's robes. "What the hell is going on?!"
Progress?
Edit:
Just wanted to give more of an idea where I was thinking of taking this, since I was too tired by the time I finished last night to really write it down.

We're not quite at round-ending material yet, but I wanted to put the story closer to that point. I'd like to see us get to the next round at some point. =P Though it might not seem like it in terms of page count, a lot already has happened this round. Rusto's basically a zombie now, Fishy's got a mecha suit and a former god friend, Twre's got the genie Zunushuyum and a lot of alcohol in his system, Chibos is sharing his body, there was the fight with all of the monkeys...

So, I got everyone into a room together, presumably leading into some kind of big fight. I dunno about you guys, but I'm ready to see a brawl. =D
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by july »

Falling. Dot had been doing it a lot. Particularly in the last few minutes, as labyrinth floors catastrophically failed beneath her. She had just survived two falls in quick succession with hardly a scratch, but as the ground once again rushed up to meet her, she felt like she wouldn't be so lucky this time. Shutting her eyes, she braced herself for the inevitable impact...

Below her, she heard the sound of an engine roaring into life, followed by a thud. Slowly, Dot opened her eyes. She was in another hallway, much like the ones she had fallen through. Her scooter lay on its side, engine humming softly. Dot stood up from where she had been sitting on top of the scooter, wincing at the pain in her left arm. While the landing had been a lot softer than she had expected, it had still hurt a lot.

Standing up, Dot dusted herself down and examined her arm. There were no cuts, but a large, purplish bruise was already beginning to appear. That seemed to be the only injury she had received. Looking up, she could barely see in the dim light where she had fallen from. It must have been a farther fall than from the office building in the Cardboard City, she guessed. And yet, just a (rather impressive, admittedly) bruise.

Everything in the scooter's compartment was still in place, as was the key around her neck. The scooter's engine cut out again as Dot stood it up. Everything was back to normal there then, as she set off down the passage.

***

Dot didn't have to walk long to find another combatant. She rounded a corner into a large chamber. A layer of water covered most of the chamber floor, and what looked like a pile of rocks stood in the centre, near which she spotted a familiar figure in a floating banana boat.

Chibos!

Relieved to find a friendlier combatant, Dot made to call out to the hermit, but stopped. Chibos was acting strangely, muttering to himself. Dot's pace slowed, as the floating figure turned to face her.

"Chi- Chibos?" She called out cautiously. "Is that you?"

"Ohhhh, the lass!" Dot flinched in surprise. Rather than the smoother, deeper voice of Chibos, the voice that issued forth from the banana boat was higher and rougher. "Would ya mind helpin' me out with this? I cannae exactly do it on me own... and he won' leave me be 'til I do."

Dot stammered. "Wha- What happened to you, Chibos? Your voice has become... rather strange."

"Ochibi is not currently available, lass. I'm in control at tha' moment. Tha' name's Nuihari; ya c'n call me Nui or whatever strikes yer fancy. Nah then, would ya help me get this person outta the rubble?"

Rubble? Dot looked past the floating banana boat. There, jutting out from under the pile of rocks, she noticed an arm. Quickly, she and Chibos- no, Nuihari- rushed to the pile, and started pulling away rocks. As they cleared the rubble, the pain in her arm was joined by a feeling of trepidation in her chest. She knew who it was.

Mato.

As soon as the rubble had been cleared, Dot jumped back to the scooter and hurriedly grabbed her knife, and then slowly made her way back to Mato's lying figure.

"Ae knife, lass?" Nui asked.

"Just being careful." Dot was taking no chances around Mato. Holding the knife in her right hand, she stretched out her left arm and gently shook their shoulder. No response.

"Come on, wake up." Dot shook harder now, but Mato still didn't stir. Frustrated, she stood back up, took a step back, and delivered a swift kick to Mato's gut.

Nui rushed forward as Dot kicked Mato a second time, eliciting an
"OOF!" from the warrior-priest.

"I dunnae if'n ye should be antagonizin' 'em, lass," Nui said, placing himself between Dot and Mato. "I c'n tell ye Ochibi is definitely against it."

Dot took another step back and raised her knife.

"What, ye don't trust me? There's no need t'worry, lass. I just got free, I'm not lookin' t'fight."

Dot looked from Nui, floating in front of her, to Mato, who was rising from the floor now with a scowl on their face, and back again. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her brow. This was not a good situation.

"Daaa'! Help me, Da'!"

A sudden shout and loud splashes caught everyone's attention, as Twre ran into the room, barreling towards Mato. With a loud cry of
"Da'! Yer shafe!", Twre dived, tackling Mato to the ground. Bemused, Dot lowered the knife.

Following the orc was a very welcome sight. "Tobasco!" The sauce bottle slid to a halt by her side.

In quick succession came Rusto.
"Twre? Are you in here?"He said between gasps of air. Exhausted, he put out a hand and leaned against a wall. He looked to be in a terrible state.

"...Rusto?! What happened to-"

Dot was cut off by a loud
*Whir-CLANK* *Whir-CLANK*. Squinting, she looked to the doorway and saw a large, metallic figure. It looked like a large bowl, with robotic limbs. And inside...

"The hell is... Fishy?!"

Dot looked around. The tense atmosphere that had hung heavily on the room had completely dissipated with the arrival of the four other combatants. Rusto was leaning against the wall near the entrance, still trying to catch his breath. Tobasco calmly stood by Dot's foot. Fishy's mecha-fishbowl was slowly clanking its way to the centre of the room. Nui floated next to Dot, as bemused as she was. Twre was bawling loudly and clinging to Mato, who had struggled back to their feet.

"What the hell is going on?!"
Oh man, it's been more than four months since I posted in this thread! Sorry for the inadvertent hiatus. I had planned earlier to make an update before Waitangi Day (i.e. the sixth of February), but that never eventuated, so yeah.
About the update itself: this is the second version of it I wrote. The first one had Dot paying a visit to Naizen, as per what someone (I think sedron?) had suggested in a PM, but I got rid of that because it felt like a bit of a detour and would slow stuff down even more somehow.
I'm still not greatly proud about this update, though; it feels more like I'm catching up, rather than pushing the story forward, and a lot of it just feels pretty much like rehashes of pholtos and sedron's earlier posts. Ah well.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by pholtos »

I see everyone has come back together... Chibos noted to Nui. Besides Rusto slowly regaining his stamina and Twre, clinging to Mato and bawling for some unknown reason, a calm had been reached. Nui felt a pang from his side, the battle against the baboons still caused occasional throbbing.

"Since we be all back together again, what say we relax a wee bit and share counts of our adventures, eh? After all that be happenin', I could use a bit of a break, and I feel I'm not tha only one."
With that said, Nui floated over to a wall and settled. Rusto had sunk down to rest on the floor near the door, his breath returning to normal. However, the rest weren't so eager to relax... in particular, Dot, who was still eyeing Mato carefully, her grip still on the knife.

Twre, still attached to Mato, looked up towards him... and saw... a shadowy figure, leering down at him. As he was still under the illusionary effects of his drunken state, the effect of such a sight was immediate.

"AHHHH! NOOOO!"

The effect of the sudden outcry was already immediate. "Twre! Calm down! It's not what it seems!" Rusto quickly got to his feet and ran towards Twre, knowing that he was currently still seeing things that were not there. Tobasco, meanwhile, understood this scream to mean something else entirely, and as such bounded towards Mato, aiming to strike. A stream of hot sauce was jetted towards Mato, who couldn't dodge it all in time. "ARGH!"

Away from the group, Dot had exclaimed something but the voice was lost in the chaos, while Fishy, who wasn't sure why the others were suddenly fighting, backed away. A vein had popped out of Nui's forehead in annoyance. Rusto was shouting to Twre, trying his best to hold the orc, while the orc was flinging his arms wildly in a panic. Mato, meanwhile, had brought out his Mace to protect himself from the charging bottle of sauce's onslaught.

"YER ALL TOO NOISY!"
Nui hopped out of the boat, needle in hand, which soon glowed red. Striking the ground, it began to shake.
"Go and settle yer little dispute elsewhere."
The ground around the four collapsed, and sent them tumbling down.
Oof. I tried my best here. I was wondering how in the world would this thing proceed, and so went with this. It seems a little rude of me to suddenly split everyone up right after we all meet but I felt it was the only way to get things to happen.
As a refresher, red is anger. So I angered the ground.
Edit: I added a word to the final sentence of the second to last paragraph because it didn't make sense.
Last edited by pholtos 9 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Joseph Staleknight »

Twre's nightmare was taking an incredibly dark turn, more so than it was before. The thing he honestly thought was his father--and he was sure of it once!--turned out to be yet another shadow. As his body flinched away, he screamed with newfound horror at the sight of its drilling fangs and slashing claws. Seeing that it could not keep up with the fearfully quick child, it began to multiply into more shadows, with more still coming from all directions. All of them were intent on grabbing the child for their own twisted, dark purposes.

And then, what illusion of ground there was failed, and Twre found himself falling ever so quickly, the shadows tumbling after him with such ferocity that he feared that if they did not impale him with their fearsome spite, they would instead crush him with the gravity of their heavy pitch-black bodies. Out of options, he flailed wildly in the void, his eyes closed in a futile attempt to stop the tears as he screamed from pure, unadulterated despair. He was certain that he would die. And he would die far away from his parents. Alone.


Child.

Twre's eyes popped open. He had almost forgotten that he was screaming just moments before. "D...dad?" Turning around, he saw an unusual pinprick of light within the void. As the shadows inched ever closer, he called out to the light. "DAD?!"

The voice echoed back with a baritone he couldn't quite recognize.
Come, child. Come toward the light.

Not knowing the voice, Twre was at first hesitant. What if it was another shadow's ploy...or worse, the leader of the shadows out for his blood? Yet, as the light grew brighter with each passing second, he began to doubt it would be something that mean. It just didn't make sense for light to be just another shadow, after all. As if to reassure him of this thought, the sight of the light began to break the demonic formation of the shadows, their glowing eyes reeling painfully from its radiance as rays sprouting from the core appeared to impale them.

The voice continued.
I am the light that shall end this nightmare.

Twre, dumbstruck by this occurence, was almost at a loss for words. "You...are...?"

Indeed. Now come, fall into the gentle embrace of this brilliance. And worry no more of the dangers that pursue you...

Making good on its promise, the light continued to grow, repelling the shadows as they began to dissolve with the screams of a great beast dying to a valiant blade. As Twre watched the shadows fall apart behind him, he was amazed at the light's sheer power. What brilliant strength could be responsible for the illumination filling the space he was within? Yet, somehow, it was a calming strength, one that helped reassure him everything would be fine. Soon, he found himself diving into the pure white, eager to see what majestic energy was responsible for the miracle. And just as soon...the light began...to envelop him...too......



...Hic!

***

When Twre finally came to, the first thing he saw was the ever-smiling face of Zunushuyum as he stood over him. "Z...Zu...Zunu...Zunushu...yum...?"

The genie responded,
"Ah, Mashter Twre! Hic! I wash wonderin' when you'd wake up! Hic!"

A rush of mixed feelings came to Twre's recovering head. On the one hand was relief and joy at seeing a familiar face again after the living nightmare that he suffered. On the other was confusion as to where exactly he was and how he ended up there. And then of course, there was the anger and frustration he had in finding the drunkard genie of all people woke him up. Not to mention the ever-present sickness he felt. It did not take him long to realize that he just had yet another alcohol-induced hallucination.

It also did not take him long to recall the very last things that happened before the madness began. Him meeting Mato and trying to restrain Tobasco, the cadaver that was Rusto struggling against the warrior-priest, letting his briefcase fall as he pointed to them thinking they harmed Dot...letting his briefcase fall...

He floundered around, trying to look for his missing briefcase. Yet, he did not have the energy to stand up, only enough to get all fours. Looking around his immediate vicinity, he realized that he still couldn't see much that wasn't right in his face. Soon, his eyes returned to Zunushuyum. "Hey,...what happened...to my briefcase?"


"Shorry, Twre. Even I have no idea where your shuitcashe--hic!--is. On she brigh' shide, though, you're finally awake--and lushid, too! Tell me, how do you--hic!--feel?"

All Twre could do was leer at him. "I...hate...you..."

Then suddenly, another familiar voice cried out.
"Well? Is he awake yet?!"

As if by instinct, Twre turned around wearily, the full sight of where he had ended up coming to him. In the darkness was another pool of shallow water lit only by a bright spotlight. Standing in the spotlight was Mato, while in their hands--against its will--was a rather messy Tobasco. And not far away barely stood an out-of-breath Rusto, who had apparently attempted to fight them but was brought to a standstill. "What...Rusto? Mato? ...What are you doing with Tobasco?"

The warrior-priest continued,
"Isn't it obvious? They attempted to fight me when I tried to convince them that this was all Methuselah's fault and that they needed to join me to stop this abominable game! Surely you are more reasonable?"

"Um...Wait,..." Twre had realized that he had missed out on plenty in his stupor. "What exactly...happened?"

"Oh, trusht me, Twre. I can--hic!--fill you in on the detailsh if you'd like." Seeing that Twre was still wary of him, he added, "And you don' even--hic!--have to have my shpeshial drink!"

"...Sure, fine...whatever...I really need...a quick refresh...er..."
And that's pretty much all that I wrote up tonight. I guess after working my way through Camp NaNoWriMo I just wanted to wind down from the whole writefest I had going. So this one's pretty open-ended as far as what actually happened between the landing and when Twre returned to his senses.

Also, I'm pretty much going to guess that by the time this round is over the floor collapsing and causing everyone to fall will become a cliché.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by sedron »

"So, what, you're just going to leave them in there?"

"That's the idea, lass." The banana boat sauntered towards the exit. "They had a chance ta talk, but they started yellin' n' screamin' instead. A bit o' peace an' quiet's all I want."

Dot stared down into the newly-formed abyss. Light barely reached a couple of meters into the maw of the pit. As worried as she was for the other combatants, she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief that, for once, she hadn't been the one to fall through the floor.

"Now, if'n the two of ye would like ta help find a way outta 'ere, yer free ta follow me," Nui said as he gestured towards Dot and Fishy, who had been standing somewhat awkwardly against a wall.

The room fell silent for a moment as Nui waited in the doorway. Dot and Fishy glanced at each other and at the floating banana boat.


"...All right. Let's go, Fishy."

-----

Tobasco squirmed with all of its might, trying to loosen itself from Mato's grasp with a steady flow of red-hot sauce.


"Before we start story time, could you see if you could calm down Tobacco for a bit? My hands are getting messy." Mato scowled at the writhing bottle as they handed it to Twre.

The orc reluctantly grabbed the messy bottle, remembering the intense heat that caused him to ask the genie for a drink.
"Okay, listen Tobasco..." he began. "Let's just calm down a bit... I'm not in the mood to fight, I just want to know what happened. Can you hold off on Mato for at least a little bit?"

"We're not in a position to fight right now, you know." Rusto chimed in weakly. "We're all very tired, and your speed doesn't matter when you can't maneuver in these cramped rooms."

Tobasco's wiggling died down. As much as it didn't want to admit it, it knew their words made sense, and there'd have to be a better time to pick a fight. Sensing it coming to a rest, Twre placed Tobasco beside him and wiped the sauce from his hands on his slacks.

"Thank you," said Mato. "Now, you wanted to get Tooray up to speed, erm, whoever you are?"

"*Hic!* Sure, and the name's Zunushuyum." The djinn took another swig of his drink. "Let'sh shee..."

The red bottle zoned out as the genie began his long-winded bout of exposition. It realized how exhausting this ordeal had been. It felt like months since they'd all been dropped into this awful labyrinth, and even longer since they had a chance to get a good night's rest at the hotel in Cardboard City. Tobasco so desperately wanted to escape the labyrinth and give Mato payback for what they did, but rushing into battle at every opportunity was getting it nowhere fast. Perhaps it had to be more deliberate in its actions, as much as it didn't want to do so.

"...Sho long shtory short, you got plashtered and fell down a bunch of holesh." Tobasco began tuning in again as Zunushuyum finished his explanation. Twre gripped his head in pain. His hangover was in full force, it seemed.

Rusto reached his decayed hand into his cloak and procured a canteen.
"Looks like you could use this. Don't worry, there have been plenty of places to refill around here so far." Cautiously, Twre opened the container and began gulping down the contents. It was cool and refreshing.

"Good job, Zushuyunum. Now, let's all have a talk about Methuselah, shall we?"
Man, I just wanna get into a big fight. =P

I'm using Mato's old text color here to differentiate between them and Rusto, who both have some speaking parts this time around. Otherwise this isn't the most eventful update, but it gets both groups into positions where more can be done and let's us see a bit more of what Tobasco and others are saying/thinking.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Mikkofier »

Rusto was falling again, though this time he was fully in control of himself. The voices hadn't been as overwhelming as before. He hoped that they would stay that way.
The fall stopped at a pool of water, lit by a mysterious bright light shining from somewhere above them. Rusto, who was no stranger to falls from great height, landed on his feet. He was shocked to see Twre fall on the cave floor beside the pool, though he didn't hear the all too familiar sound of bone breaking from a bad fall. Maybe the ground here is softer than it looks? This cave's peculiar enough, I wouldn't put something like that past it.
Before he could make his way beside the fallen "orc" he heard another splash behind him, followed by a string of cursing. The voice was familiar enough, he knew who it was well before he turned around.
Mato.

Rusto watched as the pronoun confounding warrior priest got their bearings and got on their feet. He had his right, intact hand on the handle of his rapier. They had reacted surprisingly well to being grappled by a drunk Twre, but he still remembered what they were capable of.

"Oh, it's you. Roostou, was it?"
"It's pronounced as it's written."
"Hmph, you all have such overcomplicated names. Anyway, are you going to listen to what I have to say, or are you going to go crazy and try to stab me again?"
"I confess, I was overcome by some influence of this foul place." Rusto then drew his blade. "Which I feel is reason enough to put an end to you and be sent to a new location!"
Mato readied their mace. "You may want to reconsider that. How about I told you I had a plan to get out of this crazy game and teach that Mendeleev-woman a lesson while we're at it?"
"Was that what you were trying to accomplish in Cardboard City? How many lives were lost because of that?"
"They were collateral damage, they-"
"Was Naizen 'collateral damage' too?"
"Look now, Nasal's death-"
"His name was Naizen, you monster!" Rusto screamed and attacked.

It soon became obvious that the area they were in wasn't big enough for a proper fight. The two combatants constantly bumped into walls, mace and rapier struck the walls more than anything. It didn't take long for exhaustion from all they both had gone through to bring the battle to a standstill.
"You fight better than I expected", Rusto gasped between breaths. "Maybe now would be the best time for you to-"
He was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a small bottle flying at Mato, leaving behind a trail of red. Mato began to grapple with Tobasco.


---

The Gurlax heard a stomping sound outside it's lair and skittered out to have a look. As it had expected, it was the Vromblator, going about without a care for the Things with more sensitive hearing senses. It noticed that the traipsing Thing was carrying a leather case and, feeling peeved by the ruckus caused by it's errant trotting about, decided to acquire it.
"Hello Vromblator", the Gurlax sensespoke at the Vromblator "Did you know some light comes from stars, but some light comes from other sources?"
The Vromblator, being a Thing that senses mostly through seismic activity, was quite taken aback by the concept of 'light' and 'stars'. It didn't notice as the Gurlax lunged and flashed its bright-organ at the Vromblator's sensitive eyes, causing it to drop the interesting case it had purloined.

Having fled into a side corridor with the case, the Gurlax tested the case and was surprised by its toughness. After breaking one of it's seven mandibles it was starting to try and pry the case open when it heard a rumbling noise approaching. Fearing that the Atrofunk was coming, it dropped the case and fled, not knowing that the Atrofunk's traveling sound sounded, coincidentally, exactly the same as the motor on a scooter...
It's a flashback to before Twre woke up, because I'm not quite sure as to what Mato's plan might be. To make up for that, I wrote a stream-of-consciousness bit to show where Twre's suitcase went.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by pholtos »

"What... You really think something like that could wo-"

Their discussion was suddenly cut short, as the ground suddenly shook and shifted. The sudden shift was so strong that it caused the four to topple over into a heap.

"What... what's happening?" Rusto wondered as yet again the ground shifted heavily. A low rumbling sound began to permeate the air as the ground jolted even more.

Twre glanced around, wondering what could possibly be causing the shaking. It was then that he noticed, a large pair of glowing eyes... staring right at him... and as he came to a realization, his face went pale. All this time... they had been on top of something.

---


"...All right. Let's go, Fishy."

As Fishy and Dot headed towards Nui at the entrance to a new path, Dot noticed the struggle Fishy had of simply walking on his own, and so picked up Fishy and set him on the back end of her scooter, which Fishy was very thankful for. The three then set off down the path, Nui gliding along in his boat, Dot riding on her scooter. The path was fairly straightforward, a slight turn here and there, but overall fairly uneventful. Eventually, something caught their eye.

"Hey isn't that... Twre's?"

The three of them had came across Twre's suitcase, which was for one reason or another, lying in the middle of the path, partly open and slightly scuffed. Although confused as to why it was here, Dot put it inside her scooter's trunk and they continued on.

The three eventually reached a new area, and what they found there dumbfounded them.
"Is that what I think it is, lass?"

"I don't see how there could possibly be a-

"FOOD!" Fishy hopped off the scooter, and headed straight for what looked to be a fully equipped kitchen.

"But that doesn't seem possible? Why would there be a kitchen in a place like this? Something feels off here."

"Ah Lass, ya can't really fully comprahend a place like this. There're dozens of odd things in this here cave, and ya can believe me, I've been here fer ages! Besides, I'm quite famished meself, what with this new body o' mine." With that, Nui headed towards the kitchen himself, where Fishy already waited, being unable to actually get anything by himself. Despite being apprehensive about such a normal looking place, Dot followed.
Ok HOPEFULLY I'm not going a bit crazy here.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by pholtos »

Sedron pointed out I caused some sort of continuity error so I changed my beginning bit by jumping ahead of the discussion and hopefully someone will fill in the gap.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by sedron »

"I'll admit," began Rusto, "I'm curious. What do you have in mind for the witch?"

Finishing off the canteen, Twre wiped his mouth and spoke up. "You told me you aim to kill her, and that's apparently within our ability if we all cooperate. Keep in mind that she's made it clear that she's watching us, and has no problem sending us to even worse arenas if we defy her."

"She did somehow interfere with the teleportation spell we cast in the Cardboard City... so I doubt escape is a viable option. But I very much want to see to it that Methuselah is no more."

"Yes, yes, I've put a great deal of time and thought towards the subject," Mato replied, shooting a dirty look at Tobasco. "...unlike some of us who'd rather run into everything head-first without planning." The warrior-priest set their mace aside and took a seat on the cold floor of the pit. "First thing's first, though, she is definitely watching us, though I imagine it's tricky when we're stuck in dark, cramped areas to get every detail. Rusty, make an obscuring sigil."

Rusto reached into his cloak and retrieved his notebook. Thankfully, it didn't appear to be damaged too badly by the wet atmosphere of the dungeon. Carefully, he inscribed an intricate symbol on a blank page, then drew a large cross over it.

"All right, it is done." Tobasco hadn't noticed any changes, but then again it wasn't really attuned to such spells. Few bottles of hot sauce were.

Mato grinned.
"Excellent, that should at least make it harder for her to get the details of our little talk. Let's review what we know." They took a deep breath, and began their speech.

"You see, I paid a great deal of attention to our host when we briefly visited her domain. Though we didn't see much, that was definitely a throne room and a set of guards. She must be some sort of leader, likely of a huge area if she's powerful enough to transport multiple beings between dimensions. So, knowing this, if we want to kill her, we don't want to try it in her dimension. We need to deprive her of whatever sort of advantage that plane may give her."

"But she's the one transporting us from arena to arena," Twre said. "It took Chibos, Rusto, Naizen and I just to move a single one of us between dimensions, and even then Methuselah stopped us."

"I'm aware. I had informants placed all over Cardboard City, and I learned a few important details about dimensional travel from my reports. First, that it's possible to use magic to stop someone from switching between dimensions. We need to learn exactly how to do that to stop her from whisking us away at a moment's notice. By doing that, hopefully we can get her to come to us, instead of the other way around."

Rusto paced around the pit, mulling over Mato's words. "That may just be possible. Did you learn anything else?"

"You should know this already, Rusty." Mato paused to scratch their beard. "According to you and Naizeem, a group called The Absolute Order managed to take over multiple dimensions. How would they have done that without extensive inter-dimensional travel?"

"I... don't really see how that's relevant right now," Twre chimed in.

"That means there are others that know how to move between dimensions. Hell, probably lots of 'em! If The Absolute Order managed to rule two entire dimensions, they must at least be present in others. So if we can't figure out the magic to get Methuselah out of her dimension on our own, certainly someone else must be able to help us on that front."

The room momentarily fell silent. Tobasco, who'd been intensely tuned into the conversation, was still wary of the warrior-priest, but also felt a sliver of hope. Maybe this situation wasn't as hopeless as it seemed. It looked at its companions, who were deep in thought, save for Zunushuyum, who appeared to have dozed off at some point.

"...and if we do manage to get her on our playing field, what then? She's still clearly miles ahead of us in terms of power."

"True, which wouldn't have been such an issue had my plan in the Cardboard City worked. I had a veritable army and a god-beast, but Naizeem had to go reduce himself and my Worm to nearly nothing."

"Nearly nothing?" The orc perked up.

"Yes, nearly nothing." Mato replied. "Neither the Sentient nor my creation are totally gone. Naizeem's physical presence is most certainly, 100% gone, but I can still sense a lingering piece of him. Sensing spirits is important in my profession. What's left of him appears to be in the young girl's mind. As for the Worm, so long as it has one believer it will exist, albeit in an extremely weak form. For now, Fishy fulfills that purpose. Either or both of them could be important, but since we don't have the strengths we had in our last arena we need to come up with a new plan. That's where I'm hoping you could help, Ruster, as I hear you're something of a tactician."

The scoundrel looked up at Mato. "... it's a long shot, and I'm very much against the idea of working with the Absolute Order on any level, but it may be possible. We need to find a way outside of this labyrinth if we want any realistic chance of meeting anyone that can help us. Preferably we'd want to find civilization so we could regroup and find more people for our cause. This won't be easy by any stretch of the imagination."

"But you see she isn't an impossible foe. We can kill her."

Twre still wasn't entirely convinced. "What... You really think something like that could wo-"
I think that was the toughest one yet. WOW. There was a lot of going back and rereading stuff to make sure this made sense.

So, yeah, here's Mato's plan finally given some more substance. We've been dancing around it for a while so I decided to bite the bullet and just write it. Hopefully I made it make sense and I didn't leave any plot holes or anything.

To clarify, this post leads into pholtos' last post. His post shows the most current scenarios for both groups of combatants.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Dragon Fogel »

All right. I see O'Largill hasn't been on since January.

At this point, barring a sudden reappearance, I'm probably going to have to eliminate her just so things can keep moving. It's a shame, but it looks necessary.

However, I don't want to just declare the elimination now in case she turns up tomorrow or something, unlikely as that may be. So I'm giving two weeks to see if she re-emerges, and if not, Mato's out. I think that's the best option available right now.

I'll still be sending out my thoughts on everyone's writing even if we have an elimination by default, though.
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Joseph Staleknight »

"CRAP, WE'RE ON A GIANT DIRECARRIER!" Twre yelled at the top of his lungs. To think that all along the watery ground had been the back of a menacing creature that nature could never have made...it was a surprising and very unwelcome revelation.

"A dire...what?" Rusto was confused by Twre's terminology. If whatever they stood upon was indeed alive, it would've been a monster rather than what the orc had said it was. Before he could reply, however, the beast began to scream...something. To Rusto's ears, it was those very words three words that drove him mad once before. Loraihosh... Acanani... Li'itho... He tried his hardest to resist the bloodlust that curdled within him. No, no! Not now! I can't lose my mind right now, not at a time like this! With a desperate resolve, he covered his ears to the best of his ability and gritted his teeth. If he fell into the madness just then, only the Stranger could know what would happen.

Meanwhile, the others recoiled at the sound in their own ways. Mato shoved their arms to their ears and rolled around on the beast's back, wondering just how they could not have noticed the suspicious nature of the ground. Tobasco, having momentarily gotten back up, was again toppled by the sheer volume of the din. As for Twre, he grimaced at the noise the beast was making as it noticed the four intruders upon its back. Sweet flipping 'Reis, why is this thing here? Frellic would puke in his grave if he ever--!

And then, the rumblings began in earnest as the beast stretched out its undulating neck to size up the parasites that had landed upon its back. Not one to tolerate such pests, it began to open its thick, endless maw. Then, with a sudden jolt the mouth lurched forward, seeking out the intruders to eat them whole.

"Oh shi--" Twre gasped as he saw an untimely end come to him. He closed his eyes in a panic...only to see the beast suddenly rear its head back in pain. It didn't take him long to see something searing red on the lips. He immediately turned back around to find that Tobasco had once again pulled them out of a tight spot. "Tobasco!"

But the hot sauce was well aware that this was just the beginning of the beast's attack. Newly agitated by the attack, Tobasco immediately jolted around the room to get the others' attentions. If they wanted to get out alive, they needed to be quick on their feet. Sure enough, the beast had recovered from the pain of the hot sauce and roared again.

This time, however, the four knew the beast's intent. "Here it comes! Run!" And so they did, just in time to evade another attack from the beast's mouth. They continued to dodge out of the way of the beast every time it tried to consume them, but it was soon clear that something more needed to be done to stop the attack. "Rusto! You've got to do something about this direcarrier!"


"I'm on it!" Rusto furiously scrambled for his notebook and pen. Whatever that dire...thing was, he needed an undoubtedly effective sigil to counter its ravenous offensive.
I really should have written this sooner, knowing that Mato's chances of survival are slim given the absence of their creator. Still, gotta keep this moving, right?
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pholtos
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by pholtos »

Guess that's it for this round?
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Dragon Fogel
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by Dragon Fogel »

Yeah, the two weeks are up now, so I'm making it official.

The round's ending with Mato's death. If you want to get anything else in particular done this round, now's the time, so let the other players know if you have any plans. No particular rush on wrapping things up, but we'll probably be moving on by the end of the month.
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july
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Re: Grand Battle - Round Two: Cursed Labyrinth

Post by july »

New post below for bumping purposes
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