Return of the Improv Thread

[Katzaniel]

I don't think I've tried this here yet, though I tried it a few times with limited success on the old AM boards. I think since there's more people here we might have more success, so I'm dying to try it again.

 

Since I find that the Greenroom isn't all that commonly used I'm going to include OOC comments in the thread for this one. Maybe if it all gets finished, I or some other volunteer can write it up neatly sans comments.

 

The general idea is an idea I saw enacted once on an improv stage and I thought would translate well to a multi-authored thread. We start with one person and the moderator keeps calling out when to add another person until all players are in, and then we wind it down again until one person is left. I think it would work best altered so that each player offers an introductory post, and we get multiple groups forming so that players don't get bored. Also we add another improv element: the prop.

 

The way I'd like to orchestrate this is as follows:

• Each player chooses one of the listed settings (soon to be below). You can't claim a setting except by posting an intro thread or else it will get confusing.

• Each player chooses a prop to include in some way or another in your post (it may be a recurring theme throughout the game, or appear just once and go away, however you wish to work it).

• Each player posts at least one introduction thread to establish their character, but no interaction between characters is allowed until the mod (me) indicates it. I'd like introductions to be over two weeks from now, but may alter this to be a little more or less depending on pace / number of people interested.

• When I say that two "groups" (orginal groups consist of one and increase as we go) should meet, the players of both groups may each make ONE post, and at the end of that their characters should be in the same place and interacting. Try to make the story as amusing as possible, again in the style of improv theatre.

• Other characters may post in the interim if they feel like it, to keep a storyline going in the background.

• If things get boring I may throw in a prop: someone in the group must incorporate it into at least one post.

• When everyone is together in one big group people will start leaving. Whether the character just wanders off on their own and continues in the thread for a while, or actually has a conclusion of their own, is up to that player. When I say that a group or person should split off, though, each player in the group has again one post in order to accomlish this.

• If someone wants to leave the story it would be best if they can PM me ahead of time and I'll have their character the next to leave.

If you're interested, you may begin at any time after the settings and props are up. I hope people are interested, and I hope you all have fun...

[Savage Dragon]

I appreciate the enthusiasm but its a little more complicated than what im looking for. I think i'll stick to good old RPing

[Katzaniel]

Sorry, my bro stole the comp for homework... already people are reading this. Tanuchan just send me a message, so I'll answer that here.

 

Hi

 

I've just read your post and I think it will be fun  I wasn't sure if I could post this, so I chose PMing you...

 

So, if I understood it well, we just pick a setting and a prop you'll give us, create a character and go on telling about her and what she's doing, until the time comes and you ask people to start interacting. Then we just go on improvising and meshing the stories until a time you want us leaving.

 

When a person creates a setting, s/he will go on "alone" in that setting? No other people around, like NPC's?

 

Ah, we just post, no need to tell you in advance that we intend to participate??

 

I think I'll be in!!

 

~Tanny

Yes, I think we may as well just allow OOC comments here. If it starts to get out of hand I may create a thread in the greenroom but I don't see that it will. You can say, "Hey I'm interested" - the only thing I'm not allowing is "Hey I'm interested and I want to post my char in the .... setting", because that will get confusing trying to keep track of what settings are taken (I'll update the list every so often so people know) and also encourage procrastination.

 

Hmm, NPCs... I would say you can have them, just so long as you realize it may complicate things, and hopefully they won't stick around for too long. Like in improv, you can pretend to be talking to people, but they can't be very complex characters or people won't know what's going on.

 

OK, my next post will be a list of settings and props.

 

Edit: Didn't see Foolish's post. Just wanted to say, that's fine with me. I'm certainly not expecting the whole membership, though that would be nice. See you in other RPs.

Edited March 2, 2004 by Katzaniel

[Katzaniel]

Settings:

• Beach
• Tavern
• Forest
• City Streets
• Raging Battlefield
• Locked Room
• Large Tree
• Outhouse
• Deep Pit
• Roof of a House
• Hangman's Block

Used Settings:

• Abandoned Castle (Tanuchan)
• Leaky Boat (DragonQueen)
• Travelling Horse and Carriage (Canid)
• Hedge Maze (Katzaniel)
• Mountain (Finnius)
• Mansion (ntraveler)
• Swamp (Tamaranis)
• Dark Cave (Vlad)

Props:

• Doll with no Head (xx)
• Someone's Stepmother (x)
• Sticky Blob of Goo
• Plastic Hula-Hoop sized Hoop (x)
• A Ring that makes you Shrink
• An Unread Scroll (xx)
• Odd Smelling Rose (x)
• Box of Dirt or Sand
• Little Purple Wagon
• Soap Bubbles (x)
• Someone's Finger (x)
• An Entrenchment (x)
• Used Tissue
• Archie Bunker
• A Canary That Creates Silence
• A Really Little Hat
• Bird Poop

Used Props:

• An Acorn (Tanuchan)
• Fishing Net with a Hole (DragonQueen)
• A Goose (Canid)
• Eye of a Newt (Katzaniel)
• Cursed Weapon (Finnius)
• Tangled Length of Rope (ntraveler)
• Bottomless Backpack (Tamaranis)
• Glowing Rubber Ball (Vlad)

I will continue to brainstorm and add ideas throughout, as well as indicating used settings and props. If anyone has an idea feel free to post it & I'll add it but I'd like for you to not use your own setting/prop ideas. Unless you really think you could do something great with it. Also, don't try to make it easy for people to meet your character until you have to, or you won't have any fun with that . I'll probably avoid choosing characters to meet who seem close by, to allow for maximum (if forced ) creativity in roleplay. Enjoy! Edited April 24, 2004 by Katzaniel

[Tanuchan]

OOC Well, here it goes... my setting is the abandoned castle and the acorn

 

***********

 

Rialla wanders in that unknown land, intent on trying to find again the right road. Looking at the sun that comes from between the leaves of the quite closed forest, she sighs. "Why did I ever tried a shortcut? I'll never arrive anywhere if I keep walking and guessing directions... at least if I could see clearly the sun or the stars..."

 

She wipes sweat from her forehead, resting a bit. Then, while glaring at the trees she notices a glint coming from the South -- from what seems to be the South, anyway. Staring at that, she shrugs. "Well, any direction is better than none at all."

 

The forest suddenly opens into a clearing, in the middle of which stands what seems to be a castle. Old, big, with some wings in ruins and the forest partly recovering its grounds. But mainly intact. The rays of the afternoon sun glance over metallic spires, sending bright-red beacons into the forest around. Shadows dance across the castle, sometimes just enhancing its eerie quality, sometimes bringing about a sharpness that tells of reality ages past.

 

Rialla approaches the castle, drawn by something she cannot define. Stairs lead to heavy wooden doors, carved to show scenes of battle and glory. But carved also to show in the background scenes of a beautiful forest. She wonders at the details she can see, forgetting for a while that she's admiring actual doors and not a work of art. Always softly, she touches the wood and runs fingers through the delicate carving.

 

Something catches in her fingers... and Rialla finds herself plucking out part of the carving without thinking about it. As she looks at her hand, she sees an acorn - not carved, but a true acorn. On the door, she can see the place where it was. And as she touches that cavity, the doors open silently.

 

*******

 

OOC I hope this is what you meant, Katzaniel... if it isn't, please drop me a line and I'll edit it And (correct me if I'm wrong) I will keep writing about it until you tell me who I should join with, right?

[dragonqueen]

OOC:This looks neat. I'm in. I'll go with the leaky boat and a fishing net with a hole.

 

Loni pulls back on the oars of the rowboat, her brow furrowed with anger. She looks down at the inches of water in the boat in disgust, and wonders if she'll sink. Just like her sisters, she thinks. She knows it's her turn to fish off the mainland, but they should have told her about her boat. When Loni had noticed the small hole, she was closer to the mainland than to the island, so she didn't change course. While she rows, Loni fumes. She bets she knows which one put the hole in her boat, too- Lyda, the second youngest after Loni. She was always picking on Loni, but Swir and Kyti did nothing to stop her. Sometimes they even joined in. Alone in the middle of the ocean, in a leaky boat, a pathetic tear slides down Loni's cheek. Loni shrugs her shoulder angrily to wipe away the tear. She should be used to it by now, she knows, but sometimes it just gets to her, the way her sisters always torment her.

 

Not wanting to think about her sisters, Loni focuses on something else. If she squints her eyes, she can just see a smudge on the horizon, which has to be the mainland. She sighs. Why did their island have to be so far from it? Loni begins to feel the long morning of rowing taking it's toll. Her sun-browned arms and shoulders ache faintly. Loni has a bad hunch that it'll get worse. Leaning foward for another stroke, Loni catches sight of her salt-encrusted fishing net. With the none-too-smooth journey of the boat, the net has slipped through the hole in the curve of the boat. A hungry fish has apparently been nibbling on it. Loni closes her eyes and tries not to cry. I'm a fisherwoman, she tells herself. I'm strong, I'm tough, and I won't cry. But it doesn't work. The tears begin to seep through her eyelids in earnest this time. Before long, Loni is heaving great sobs as she rows. Surely, she tells herself, surely it can't get any worse. I'm sitting in the middle of the ocean with a leaky rowboat and a holey net. With a sudden burst of passion, Loni whispers fiercly "I hate them. I really do." All of a sudden Loni stops rowing. Her face looks hopeful at last, as if she has just been enlightened. "Maybe," she tells herself, "Maybe I'll just stay on the mainland. It would serve them right." Rowing again, she mulls over the idea. At last her prospects have improved.

[Katzaniel]

Exactly as I'd hoped. Yes, you may continue your stories as you wish until the time comes to meet someone and merge stories with them.

 

I hope to get everyone who's interested with at least one post before I do anything, so I'm going to go skulk in the shadows now.

[Tanuchan]

The darkened room muffles Rialla's steps, furniture and stony floor covered in fine dust. She bumps into something covered in faded silk, and sneezes when uncovering it. "Drat the dust... What is this?"

 

A whitish shape that seems to both attract the little light in the room and repel the dominating shadows sits on the waist-high pedestal. Rialla goes to the big windows, and draws open the heavy curtains. The light that filters through the window panes has an eerie quality, dancing around the statue.

 

"It's... beautiful..." Rialla stoops to examine better the statue, then frowns. "Weird..."

 

The filtered light seems somehow brighter around the statue, blurring its contours and tricking Rialla's eyes. Then, what at first seemed to be a woman carrying a basket suddenly resolves itself into a half-woman carrying a bowl, her lower body part of what seems a seething mass of curves that look like tentacles. Rialla touches the curves, feeling a soft texture unlike anything she has ever touched or seen. Or even heard about.

 

"That face... why do I seem to recall having seen it somewhere?" Wondering, Rialla soon notices that the half-woman is resting against a tree, and that acorns cover the ground near the tentacles. Nearest to the tentacles, a darker spot catches her attention. There, contrasting to the soft light around the statue, a small acorn-shaped hole seems to irradiate shadows. Rialla looks at the acorn still on her hand.

 

"Same shape... same curves... just... smaller." The missing acorn in the statue should have been an exact miniature of the acorn from the door. "And thinking of it... why a real acorn in a carved door?"

 

With a start, Rialla looks at the staircase dominating the room.

Edited March 4, 2004 by Tanuchan

[Tamaranis]

"I see you're here about the staff discount!"

 

Sign me up!

[dragonqueen]

As she rows, Loni mentally inventories the contents of her boat. She has the useless fishing net, the boat itself, and her lunch. This is not much to runaway with, but Loni has made up her mind; she's not going back now.

 

Slowly, the smudge on the horizon that is the mainland grows bigger. After a while, the burning in her muscles subsides when Loni falls into a rythymical trance. ROW, 2, 3, 4, ROW, 2, 3, 4, ROW... The water level in the boat grows higher and higher, and when the vessel finally bumps against the shore Loni is up to her knees in water.

 

"Hey, missy! You better get out of that boat before it sinks!" The shout wakes Loni from her trance, and she climbs out of the boat. She lugs it safely out of the sea's reach, and then plops down next to it, having come to a glitch in her plot. What to do with the boat?

 

OOC: More later, my sister needs the computer now...

[Canid]

Setting: Travelling Horse and Carriage

Prop: A goose

Brain: Untested

 

~~~~ * ~~~~

 

The sky had taken on an oddly green hue. Quite a warm green actually, but entirely lost on the figure that sat hunched over in the driver's seat of a dusty wagon, behind a dusty horse, on a dusty road in a lightly treed and rather dusty forest.

The figure was not dusty. This was because she had on a very nicely fitted trench coat that got dusty for her.

Despite her amazing lack of dust, which really was tremendous good fortune in these parts, the figure was not happy. Ungrateful someone would say; but there you have it! Some people just don't appreciate cleanliness when they've got it.

 

About a week ago, she had been enjoying a sunrise in something quite close to black and white when it suddenly turned a red so deep that even she could see it. She had gasped (though gasping was obviously quite pointless and ineffective at changing the state of events) and gawked as the red persisted for several seconds, then went away, taking with it the immense magical power that she possessed.

She had walked around, confused, for several minutes and then a tree turned into an old man leading a sleeping horse and covered wagon.

"A thing has happened." said the old man.

"I know. Is it a bad thing or a good thing?" said she.

"It is a thing, and to retrieve your magic, you must travel with this horse and carriage to Eorwaxe." said the old man with conviction.

"I’ve not a clue where that is," replied she.

"The goose will show you the way." answered the man and he promptly turned into a red mushroom that was purple.

The horse stayed asleep as she stepped onto the driver's seat and peered into the wagon. There were only two things sitting in the wagon; one was a short length of rope, the other, sitting on top of the former, was a very tatty looking goose with feathers greyed with age, which was staring at her.

She lifted the goose carefully out and stood it on the dirt road beneath the wagon.

Without a single warning snap, which might have been useful, a branch fell from an overhanging tree and straight onto the goose, which promptly died.

She stared dispiritedly at the carcase. A branch lay neatly across its neck and the head flopped forth from this, pointing down the road.

Without her magical sense to guide her, she took her best bet and followed the road in the direction the head pointed.

She had the forethought to buy a trench coat first.

 

The figure sneezed and the reigns slid off the seat and onto the road. It didn’t matter. She had found it very difficult to use them and the horse had essentially taken over steering for the past four days anyway.

She was beginning to regret using the rope to tie the goose against her neck. It had stopped bumping its way off the back of the wagon, yes, but it was beginning to take on a rather unpleasant odour.

She called the wagon to a halt and jumped off. She had slid out of the trench coat and taken off the goose before realising that the horse was suddenly watching her very closely.

She took a step towards it. This was too much for the poor animal. It bolted.

Canid shook her fur out and watched it go; she should have known a horse wouldn’t take kindly to seeing a wolf under the trench coat.

She looked down at where she had dropped the goose. It was pointing in the direction of the runaway horse.

Canid barked a loud, frustrated bark, put the goose back on and followed the horse.

[Katzaniel]

Well, I must say I'm enjoying the stories so far. But, with three people (four if Tam ever gets a post in (I'm allowed to bug him, I know him in RL )) I'm not sure that this can get very far. I'd like to have five or six before starting. But, if no one else joins and the three of you still are interested, we could try.

 

If all else fails, I could join too but I'm not sure if the mod participating is such a great idea..

[Canid]

Three will have to do! Push us together already.

 

The wolf shed her layers of society and broke down to her instincts.

Suddenly gone were her years of intuition, of speaking to species she'd never met before, riding with humans and elves, and comforting frightened dragons.

Now the dragons could kill her, the humans and elves didn't need her assistance and an elephant could sneak up on her unnoticed - that is of course if her eyes were closed and the elephant had a shroud of silence cast over it.

 

Canid was a wolf alone.

She stuck her nose against the ground and set off at a trot.

The goose did not help. It got under her feet. It stank. It made her hungry. She wanted to eat it.

Canid followed the horse trail up to a river and stopped for the night. The trail didn't seem any fresher and she was fed up, and hungry and smelling of week-and-a-day old goose. Furthermore, she was dusty. She had left her trench coat behind.

 

The wolf took the goose off and looked it over. the feathers on one side were gone. It had been dragging along the ground for a good twenty miles and they had all rubbed off. The skin was scratched and covered with dirt.

Canid left it on the ground, sighing, and jumped in the river.

She had a little swim and a drink and came out feeling much refreshed and nicer smelling.

She lay down thirty feet upwind of the goose and went contentedly to sleep.

 

When she woke up, she heard flies.

[Katzaniel]

OK. Thread still open but I'm going to request that Canid and DragonQueen meet up now. And then because three just seems like so few people, I'm going to add my own character too so Tanuchan has someone to meet before putting everyone together. After supper I'll make a post.

[Katzaniel]

Picked randomly:

Hedge maze with Eye of a Newt. And I'm going to bring back an old favourite of mine for this one (never mind that she was eaten ). Don't worry if you don't know her background, anyone, I'm just trying to put this in some context for those who do and then I don't intend to make any more references to it.

 

IC:

 

Inbi kicked the monster and his head rolled off. Two ninja ran in black and red circles around her and she tried desperately to aid the one she knew. A monster stabbed her but she jumped away and... something was poking her.

 

Inbi sat up groggily. She felt like she'd been asleep for a long time, but she was still very tired. And she had been dreaming of the old days again. She ought to know those days were gone. Shaking her head, she finally noticed what it was that had woken her up.

 

While she slept, a hedge had grown up around her. Not too long ago she would have woken up instantly upon any change in her surroundings. Inbi knew that she was getting complacent and really should hone her skills again, but it had been a long time since she'd needed to steal her own food or even fight anyone.

 

But these hedges were nothing normal, to have grown this tall in a night. Inbi Infusco stood to her full height and they were a few good feet taller than she. Inbi actually smiled. Oh, to have an adventure again! She doubted she was ready for it, but life never gave you any warning. Grabbing her pack, she started to sling it over her shoulder - and noticed that it was uncharacteristically light.

 

The young woman sets her bag back down on the rough dirt in front of her and kneels, opening up the sack and discovering some sort of fine sand packed into it. The little specks glisten in the light and Inbi looks closer to find that her bag has actually been filled with tiny little eyes. She closes it in alarm. All her food was gone, and her two daggers were missing, nothing but a bag of miniscule eyes. Careful not to drop any - who knew whether they could still see - Inbi puts the bag on her back and starts to follow the hedge, which goes in a straight line on either side of her for about ten paces and then seems to turn. Not having any real plan, she goes the way she was facing when she woke up, and when she turns and walk another few steps she steps out into the open. Looking around her then to see how far the hegde went, she was disappointed to find that she could not see the end of it, it went on far enough in either direction that it would take her hours at least to get to the other end. It was just one long fence made of hegde, with the opening at her back. Forward, the landscape was exactly as it had always been. Behind, a hedge set up to block the way.

 

Obviously nothing of interest was going to happen by forgetting about it and going away. So, Inbi Infusco turned right back around again and headed into the hedges. It didn't take long to figure out that they were set up in some sort of maze and that she would not solve it by wandering aimlessly. So she found her way back to the entrance or exit, not quite sure which, and began to systematically drop the eyes from her bag. One every so often, nestled at the base of the hedge to the right. She would look for them after every turn to make sure she hadn't doubled back.

 

Whistling, Inbi spent the next little while getting herself thoroughly entangled in the maze.

[Canid]

The horse looked concernedly at Loni.

She looked tired and weathered.

She looked in desperate need of transport and help.

More than that, she looked human.

The perfect companion for a carriage horse - a greatfull person burdened with life's woes who most definately would not tiurn around later on and decide they wanted horse-meat for their lunch; who might even protect the horse from said carnivore.

 

This was a decided improvement for the horse.

 

The human had responded well to its first attemp to communicate. It pulled its wagon a little closer and craned its neck so that it was facing Loni.

"D'ya need some help there missy?"

[Tanuchan]

OK. Thread still open but I'm going to request that Canid and DragonQueen meet up now. And then because three just seems like so few people, I'm going to add my own character too so Tanuchan has someone to meet before putting everyone together. After supper I'll make a post.

OOC Katz, I'll post during the weekend...

[Finnius]

This is just too interesting to pass up! I'll take the mountain and the cursed weapon.

 

-------------

 

The trail twisted ever upward, tree-lined and rocky. It was hot, and the sound of water could be heard faintly in the distance. The road up Sleeping Mountain, so named for the wheezing gusts of wind which constantly whistled through its many small gulleys and crevices, was pleasant, though solitary save for one little blue man with a bundle wrapped in a brown leather quilt on his back. It jutted out past each shoulder, about three and a half feet long and slightly curved. He'd been travelling for very close to three days now, without sight nor sound of any other sentient person, and it was just as well.

 

After a few minutes, the trail split into two parts, one going further up the mountain, the other leading off to a pool and a waterfall. The little blue man was thirsty, yes. He considered the pool for a moment, then readjusted his burden and continued up the path to the top of Sleeping Mountain. There would be no rest for Finnius until this package was disposed of. It had done enough harm already.

 

***

 

(To be Continued on account of Writer's Block)

[Katzaniel]

The sun had descended to a faint glow above the tops of the hedge, and Inbi was starved to the point of wondering whether the eyes in her pack might be any good to eat. She did not want to go back, knowing she would just have to start again later, and certainly not ready to give up altogether, but she knew that very soon, food would become an unignorable issue.

 

The young woman had covered a great deal of the maze and was beginning to wonder whether is was indeed even possible. At a point earlier in the day she had gotten close enough to a clearing in the center of the hedges to see a great castle rising amidst them. That must be the destination, but she was certain she had been since then to every point at the outer edge of that clearing, and come to no openings.

 

And now, in front of her and looking conspicuously unique, was a fountain with a statue in its center, a horse and rider in shining gold-coloured metal, water flowing down the horse's back and little lights all around the circular edge of the construction.

 

Inbi inspected the whole thing closely, knowing that it had to be part of the puzzle. She felt all around the niches of the statue, even ran her hand along the seams underneath the water. Finally she struck a clue when she noticed that inserted into each of the lights was a little eye like the ones she had found in her bag. She struck a more important clue when she discovered that it was each of the lights but one.

 

Certain now that someone was watching and therefore expecting her, Inbi felt around the light. It gave way when she tried to move it to the left, and then silently and quickly the statue began to move.

 

It lifted as if by magic, the base becoming an opening to an underground tunnel. She didn't have time to inspect the mechanism as it began to close again immediately upon reaching its zenith. Not pausing to consider the wisdom of the action, Inbi jumped into the falling water and descended a ladder into this new area. The water fell through a grate in the floor and she could hear a noise above her that must be the fountain replenishing itself. The girl let most of the water drip off her clothing before stepping into the tunnel. Her heart was beating quickly, thinking she would soon discover the reason for the hedge maze and the castle, but the whole underground seemed also to be a maze.

 

Inbi kept on working at the problem systematically, though, and winding herself ever closer to where she knew the castle must be.

 

OOC: Welcome, Finnius. I hope it's as interesting as you think it will be.

[Tanuchan]

The staircase.

 

Lights play on the first steps, shadows recoil to the upper ones. In the gray zone in-between, something catches Rialla's attention. A faint rustle, a hint of a shadow where light should be. Rialla squints, trying to bring to focus what seems to be a spot of a darker grayness.

 

 

Shadowy eyes look at a shadow world, blinking at seeing something wrapped in light in her dark domains. The statue also reflects light, making her glide back into her protective shadows. *Light... light against shadows... does she see? Does she know?* The bright spot she had seen seems to waver somewhat, then comes closer...

 

 

Rialla goes upstairs carefully, testing the steps and peering into the grayness. Once, she turns back and wonders at seeing the statue apparently wrapped in a shining white veil. As she shakes her head, the veil disappears. She blinks, surprised.

 

"Get a hold on yourself, girl," she chides herself. "Don't start seeing things now!"

 

The staircase leads to a corridor overhanging the main room, with a door on each end. Three heavily curtained windows keep everything deep in shadows. Resolutely, Rialla draws them open.

 

A swirl of deep gray, almost black, seems to linger for some seconds at the southern end of the corridor, but Rialla doesn't notice it. From the middle window, she stares at a hedge maze...

 

A hedge maze that she was sure hasn't been there.

 

Rialla opens the window easily in spite of its rusty hinges. There, down the western slope of the low hill where the castle is, there's a huge hedge maze. As she keeps staring at it, a fleeting thought nibbles at the edge of her mind, trying to call her attention to something significative...

 

But she's quite unable to catch it.

 

~~~~~~

Edit: typos and better wording

Edited April 4, 2004 by Tanuchan

[Katzaniel]

OOC: Hmm. So you are in the castle that I'm heading toward - I actually didn't think of that. That's fine as long as you and I don't actually meet until later, okay? If I have the urge to post again before Canid and dragonqueen have finished meeting, I'll make sure I end up in some other part of the castle.

[Tanuchan]

OOC The castle is pretty big... hehe... and your maze seems magical, so I guess there are *lots* of things that can happen

 

Don't worry, right now Rialla isn't possibly going to meet anyone

[Tamaranis]

(Hmm... The random number generator tells me “swamp” and “bottomless backpack”)

 

(Here we go...)

 

A shortish man ran northward on road that, due to years of disuse, might better be classified as a path. He was perhaps five and a half feet in height, and of a slim build. He might have been mistaken for an elf, but that he lacked the distinctive long and pointed ears. He carried no visible weapons, and if he had any equipment or supplies of any kind they were in the backpack he wore. It didn’t seem to weigh him down any, though, and he comfortably maintained a brisk pace.

 

...

 

Robby produced from his pack and carefully examined the map showing the way between the villages of Bivoc and Darnsdale. It was a very simple route, really. A road ran more or less straight north from Bivoc, and a few dozen miles would take a traveller to Darnsdale. There were no obstacles marked, no history of banditry, and not even any major intersecting roads.

 

And for that reason, Robby was perplexed to see a swamp directly in his path. Was the map a practical joke? Had no one he’d spoken to travelled this road in the last two decades? Or was some foul magic at work here? He wasn’t a mage, but he was sensitive enough to the ebb and flow of ambient magic that he should have noticed some one casting a spell that would dramatically alter the landscape in his vicinity.

 

Somehow that didn’t give him any confidence.

 

But the swamp stretched out as far as the eye could see, and going around might add days of travel to a journey that should only have taken part of the afternoon. Slogging through muddy water wouldn’t slow him down all that much. Besides, if some evil wizard had it in for him, just skirting around the swamp wouldn’t save him anyway.

 

The road disappeared immediately upon entering the swamp. A little farther in, the trees grew thick enough to block out the sun. Robby did his best to keep moving in a straight line without the aid of a compass. As he travelled, he began to mutter increasingly inappropriate things under his breath as he became increasingly miserable.

 

Leaches periodically attached themselves, then rapidly became dissatisfied with the quality of his blood and let go. Biting and stinging insects found themselves similarly dissatisfied, but only after having bitten or stung. Robby constantly swatted and waved his hands in the air to fend them, to no avail. An observer might have been surprised at how effectively Robby was able to kill an insect by grazing it with his hand while it was still in flight, but it was still to no avail, they just outnumbered him too greatly.

 

Several times the water he was wading through became deeper than he was tall, and he was forced to swim, removing his backpack and holding it above the water when he did so. At another point he walked directly into something rather akin to quicksand, but with more mud and less sand. By sheer virtue of his frustration with the swamp around him and a strong desire to “show it” he fought his way free and continued his journey after being submerged for several moments. A quick investigation of his backpack revealed that due to its excellent quality, the contents had survived the ordeal more or less unscathed.

 

Unknown to Robby, several large snakes and one alligator considered making a meal of him, but each eventually decided that his behaviour was just a little too out of line with normal prey.

 

One particularly brave creature apparently did decide it could make a meal of him, or it found some other suitable reason to attack. It was a small simian thing, probably weighing less than it’s intended victim, but it had the advantage of surprise. It waited until Robby was working his way through some waist-deep water, more occupied with a fresh round of leeches and the sticky mud than with watching the treetops above him.

 

Fangs bared, it leapt at the unwitting traveller below.

 

A brief struggle ensued, which partly consisted of Robby trying to figure out just what the hell had leapt onto his back and was attempting to use its teeth to sever his spine just below the skull. Both combatants submerged for a period of time that would have been alarming to anyone with a vested interest in the survival of either one.

 

The simian emerged first, and began swimming for the shoreline as quickly as it could without the use of one of its arms, gasping for the air it had been denied.

 

Robby emerged second, his breath was curiously calm. He pried off several of the leeches than had attached themselves to his torso, then gave up on the process and decided it would be more effective to let them drop off on their own. He was about to resume his journey when he noticed two things.

 

The first was that he had lost all sense of direction while he’d been fighting the whatever it was that had attacked him.

 

The second was that his backpack seemed a little lighter than it had before he’d been attacked. He removed it, and immediately realized the reason. The little monster had damaged the seems around the bottom, which had become split to such an extent that there really was no bottom anymore. The contents, herbs, spices, and some mail he’d promised to deliver to Darnsdale for a small fee, floated mockingly in the rancid water around him.

 

Robby tossed the backpack aside, the swamp had won, it could have it. He then picked a random direction and started walking again.

 

(See, the backpack was bottomless! But not in the way Katzaniel intended! I’m so clever!)

Edited April 6, 2004 by Tamaranis

[dragonqueen]

OOC: Sorry I haven't posted in a while...my internet's been down. I'll try to post more often.

 

Loni hears the helpful voice and gazes around for the owner. All she sees, though, is a carriage horse, staring her in the face with big brown eyes. Loni stares back for a moment, and then drops her head into her hands.

 

"Maybe running away was a bad idea. Where has it got me? Nowhere. I'm sitting on a beach with a bunch of scrap wood and nowhere to go. And I'm hallucinating. How much better can it get?" Loni mumbles to herself. She risks a glance up, hoping that maybe the hallucination will have dissapated. It hasn't. The horse is still there, waiting. Loni considers the idea that maybe she isn't hallucinating. "It looks friendly enough," she tells herself. "What would happen if I went with it? Whatever, it couldn't be worse than this. But what about the boat? I can't just leave it here, can I? Well, why not? What else is it good for? Might as well go with the horse. Afterall, it probably needs help as much as I do." After reasoning with herself, Loni stands up. Dizziness strikes, as it does when one has been sitting for long periods of time and stands up rapidly. After a moment, it clears and with a struggle Loni manages to sit astride the horse. Giving the useless boat one last glance, she shrugs and faces front. Unfortuantely she's never ridden a horse before, being from a fishing community. Leaning foward Loni looks at the horse. "Well? Are you going to move? Go on, move! Don't expect me to know where we're going. I don't really care, as long as it's far away and better than this. It's up to you. Go!" Unsure if this is how one handles a horse, but not knowing what else to do, Loni sits back and waits.

 

The horse begins to walk foward, away from the shore. Loni fancies she hears it say "Fine. We're off, then," but tells herself to stop hallucinating.

 

A few minutes later, Loni and the horse are on a packed dirt road, moving slowly but steadily. The horse is wondering if this is really an improvement, and Loni is trying to figure out what horses eat. Sometime later, it has grown cooler and darker. The horse gradually winds down to a stop, and Loni slides gracelessly off. Turning around, the horse looks expectantly at it. "Well? Where shall we spend the night?" Loni is too tired to consider this "hallucination".

 

"It's not likely the carriage'll be able to get through the woods, so we might as well stay here," Loni tells the horse.

 

"Very well, but why don't you at least unhitch me from the carriage?" replies the horse. Loni stares at it blankly. The horse rolls its eyes and points its nose at the harness. Loni pulls at the harness half heartedly. "You have to lift it over my head," the horse instructs, silently debating whether a clueless human is better than no human. With some fumbling Loni gets the harness off the horse and immediatly drops it. She climbs into the carriage and collapses, dead tired from a day full of rowing, horses, and running away. The horse munches some of the yellowish grass margining the road, then it too drifts off to sleep.

Edited April 6, 2004 by dragonqueen

[Canid]

Loni dreams of rowing in a red ocean with nothing but a broken boat with which to paddle.

Then a horse appears in the water and swims beside her, mumbling discontentedly.

She listens carefully and is able to make out the jist of the mumbles, they are something along the lines of...

"What sort of a silly human tries to ride the horse instead of in the carriage.

This one obviously.

Carl, you're just being silly, obviously she is more familliar with riding horses.

Attached to a carriage with a seat?

Maybe she didn't notice the seat... she seemed distracted by the boat.

You'd think she would head straight for the seat being so tired.

Well she didn't and she can protect you from that wolf.

Maybe she won't see the wolf... she'll still be distracted!

There's no boat to distract her now.

I'm sure she'll make do.

I'm probably waking her up.

Do I care?

I'll check and see..."

Loni hears a rustle and opens one eye. Last night's steed is standing with its head poked into the carriage, its mane brushed up against the opening.

"Oh, I did wake you up. Sorry about that. Would you like to keep moving now?

Oh, and would you rather ride on my back this time or on the wagon?"

The horse smiles appeasingly - a somewhat disquieting sight.

 

~........~

 

Canid opened one eye with a sense of dread.

Normally the sound of flies was music to her ears, but just now it occured to her as a bad thing.

 

Canid did not immediately realise why. It took her stretching and yawning and sitting up and staring confusedly about before the awful truth hit her.

Moving, the smelly goose had gone undetected by the insect world.

Stationary by the river, it had invited said world from miles around.

 

The wolf spent some time in vain ploys to rid the carcass of its assailants. The fact that under normal conditions it would have been the perfect meal (and just now, she was hungry) made it all the more infuriating.

She swung it from the rope, chased the flies away, ate them in the air, licked them off, batted the goose against a tree and rubbed dirt in it.

It looked considerably worse for the wear in the end, but still swimming with flies.

Canid took it for a walk through the river.

That seemed to do it fairly well. She slung it about her neck with the rope and set off at her top travelling speed.

Quite understandably, she wanted to take it off as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, that meant tracking down the horse first.

Edited April 7, 2004 by Canid