Ye Olde Rusty Lantern - Ackanomic Playtest

What is this?

Play began 8 (?) December. /dev/joe's turn was first.

The date is October 1, 1906. The location is a rather wet piece of land known as the William Rice Marsh, in (what was then) the outskirts of Houston. A moderate fog covers the land at sunrise. The croaking of thousands of frogs is the only sound which can be heard. A being that has slept unnoticed in a pond here for over 300 years awakens. The frogs scatter as the thing arises. At first, just its head shows above the water. As it climbs out of the pond, the creature's 8 feet of height and 500 pounds of bulk scares off every frog, bird, or other animal within the fog-limited view of the pond.

Squish. Swish. Splash. Squash. Slush. Spish.

The stout, somewhat humanoid shape plods across the William Rice Marsh.

--by /dev/joe on 8 December. Play: monster

The monster is attracted to a different, unnatural sound coming from one end of the marsh. At that end, men have drained some of the water from the land, and raised the land slightly, so that buildings can be built. One building is currently under construction, and men are starting to arrive at the construction site for the day's work.

The monster soon reaches the edge of the area where the trees have been cleared around the construction site, at a spot within view of the building. One of the men notices the monster, and points it out to the others. The monster realizes it has been seen, and runs out of the marsh toward the men. The men scatter off in all directions as the monster charges toward them.

--by /dev/joe on 8 December. Play: someone runs away (burned)

The monster ignores the fleeing men, and runs up to the framework of the building under construction. The first floor of the building is mostly finished on the exterior, and the second floor has most of the beams in place but little else. The monster busts through one wall of the building. Inside, the building has only beams to support the second floor. The monster pushes some beams over, collapsing part of the second floor, and busts a hole through another wall on its way out of the building.

The foreman of the construction crew was hiding on this side of the building. As the monster comes out, the man draws a pistol and fires at it. The shot hits, but only enrages the beast, who charges at the man. The foreman dodges around the corner, buying a little time, but the monster is right after him. He realizes there is no escape and tries throwing a jab to the monster's face, but finds nothing solid, only an armful of muck. The monster grabs him, beats him once against the side of the building, knocking him out, and carries him over his shoulder back into the marsh.

--by /dev/joe on 9 December. Play: fight (burned)

/dev/joe attempted to play evil on 11 December, but the play was denied. It was snowgod's turn next.

Still carrying the foreman, the monster decends back into the marsh. However, being of limited intelligence, he is unaware that the man does not have gills and is unable to breathe underwater. The man awakens, and his eyes begin to bulge. He gasps and chokes, but is unable to draw any air out of the putrid marsh. The monster mistakes the man's asphyxiation induced panic as resistance, and tightens his grip on the man. The man screams a terrible scream, releasing the last of his air, but alas, underwater his scream is silenced.

A terrible accident occurs as the monster squeezes the man too hard and crushes his head inward, killing him. The monster is terribly upset, the man had died before the monster was able to eat him -- and as every monster knows, humans taste best when eaten alive.

The monster releases the man's body and turns towards shore to find some dinner.

--by snowgod on December 11. Play: accident (burned)

This was interrupted by /dev/joe, who played underwater.

The monster returns to the construction site, but it appears that the construction crew has not yet returned. However, there are some men gathered in another cleared area. The monster runs toward the men but one of them fires a dart at it. The dart hits, and within a few seconds the monster passes out.

The men put the monster's body into a large crate, reinforced with steel bands after it is closed, which is then loaded onto a cart drawn by four horses. The crate is taken to a station where it is loaded onto a train. The train travels for about a day before the crate is unloaded in another city. As the crate is being loaded onto another cart, the monster awakens, and, failing to break open the end of the crate, manages to bust a hole in it. However, the man with the dart gun is there, and he knocks the monster out again.

--by /dev/joe on 10 December. Play: box (burned)

/dev/joe then fell asleep. It was snowgod's turn next.

The monster, now down for the count, falls into a dream in which the boundries of his limited monster intelligence are expanded. New and exciting thoughts occur to him -- that there is more to life than eating humans and performing all sorts of calculating evil in murky swamps, more than raiding construction sites and crushing skulls. In his drugged state, the monster makes an important discovery:

"This limited third person characterization is ruining my devopment as a character. The story will move along faster if it's the Point-Of-View is changed. I think I shall become the main character of this violent tale and assure that it is told through a first person POV"

I awake from my slumber with a splitting headache, and the desire for human flesh gnawing at my gut. Whats that? Someone is opening my crate!

--by snowgod on 18 December. Play: discovery (burned)

This was interrupted by Malenkai, who played clever (burned).

No, I was mistaken. The drug had still not worn off, and I mistook a loud creaking sound coming from the rear of the train car for the opening of my crate. Curious, hunger muted, I peered through the hole in the end of the crate, towards the back of car where the noise was coming from.

The men were jimmying open a strongbox with crowbars. It obviously wasn't that strong of a strongbox, my clever mind thought, as a couple of heaves and swears later, the men had the lid busted off. Anxiously, the man with the dart gun reached in a grabbed some sort of metal object.

It was a silver ring with an intricately carved inscription on it. The man with the gun exclaimed exitedly to a red-headed man to his left some order that I could not hear over the sound of the train, then pointed at me, then barked another order to an older man.

The red-headed man grabbed a notebook and leafed through it, then looked at the ring, and back between the ring and the notebook several times. They exchanged words, then walked towards my crate with grins on their faces. As they came closer, my clever mind noticed that the ring was too large for any of the humans to wear, but just the right size for an 8 foot tall, 500 pound bulk of a creature...

--by Malenkai on 20 December. Play: ring

Something nagged the edge of my mind, a memory of some lore from long ago; a childhood tale. Try as I might, the image refused to come in from my mind's recesses, but I knew it concerned that ring.

The older man was finishing up the task he was ordered to carry out; he was removing a large bronze terrapin figure from another crate. The red-headed man glanced at his notebook and said: "ah, the Terrapin, the Frog, and the Ring of Yil, we are done soon here in this dreary land".

Yil, Yil, ... Yil!. That was my name, my clever mind just realized! I didn't remember that I had a name until just now. A fragment of that childhood legend fell place. The Great Ones had created and bemagicked the artifacts of Yil to allow the Chosen one to pass through the Gate. What gate or to what or how I could not recall, who was the Chosen One?

Realizing what these artifacts where, and what they meant to my ancestors and kin, my mind felt their aura filling the car, and it choked my soul with dread and wonder at the same time. Caught in the rapture of the magic and the glimpse into that ancient legend, I barely realised when the older man dropped the Terrapin, and when the man with the dart gun bellowed: "open this traincar door, you moron!", and then shoved the magic Ring of Yil onto my gnarled finger...

--by Malenkai on 24 December. Play: enchanted (burned)

The glyphs on the Ring of Yil glowed blood red, and then the ring pulsed white hot on my finger. I felt nothing but a serene calmness as the ring discharged a blast of magic pent up since the beginning of time. The man with the gun, however, was howling in pain as the charge ran up his fingers, and ripped his arm off while knocking him against the wall. Meanwhile, the older man was hopelessly flailing his arms as he flew out the open door, and into the revolving blades of a nearby piece of farm equipment.

I stood up, the charred remains of the crate scattered at my feet. A sense of purpose filled my mind, and I looked down at the ring that was now fused to my finger, and noticed some of the glyphs were gone. I walked over to the Terrapin resting on the floor, pointed my ring finger at it, and bellowed 'BECOME'. More energy pulsed from my finger and into the statue, which began to grow. It doubled, ..., doubled, ..., and redoubled in size, until it grew enough to just about fill the car. It also started to growl and gnash its teeth, as if awakened from a bad dream.

I mounted the fully-grown Terrapin, glanced at the ring and the open car door, oblivious to the sounds, sights, and movements around me. I touched my ring finger to the beast's head, and whispered 'HOME'. As the last of the enchantment drained from the ring, my mount slowly drifted out the car door and up into the clouds. Little did I notice the red-headed man and the one-armed gun man strapped onto the beast's back as well...

--by Malenkai on 30 December. Ring was burned, so Malenkai was awarded an Ale. Play: a spell is cast (burned)

The Terrapin of Yil picked up speed and leveled off as it passed above the clouds. Icy winds ripped through my very being, but the strong sense of purpose surging in my soul warmed me from within. A flood of racial memories made an incomprehensible stew in my brain.

After about an hour of cruising, the Terrapin slowed as it approached an unusual cloud formation. As we got closer, I noticed towering spires of ice rising from the otherwise flat cloud. As I got a better view, I realised the towers were part of a much larger building; an ancient palace of ice built on the cloud, with the spires rising out of the center and side walls.

The Terrapin landed on the cloud, directly in front of a gate of gold, bracketed by 2 statues. A chill ran down my spine as I gazed at the statues, it was like looking in a mirror.

There was no wind, and it was deathly quiet as I dismounted and walked slowly towards the gate of the Palace of Yil. As I approached it, the gate soundlessly cracked open a touch. Just as I was about to enter, I spied 2 half-frozen, familiar looking men dismounting and attempting to hide in wisps of clouds.

--by Malenkai on 3 January. Play: palace

The Barkeep wandered off for a few days before sorting out what happened next. Habeous Corpus interrupted Malenkai's play with tower; thus it was Habeous Corpus's turn and Malenkai was dealt one card for being interrupted. Then ThinMan attempted to interrupt Malenkai's play with flying. ThinMan's interruption was denied, so flying was burned and ThinMan was dealt two cards to replace it. This was not completely sorted out until 11 January.

The clumsy fools were obviously dumbstruck by the sight of the palace of Li, as they sought to hide in ever-changing mists of the cloud. I turned from them, instinctively knowing that it would serve them nought to try and follow. I would deal with these piteous ones later, only I knew not how much later.

Swinging open the massive Gate with but a brush of my beringed hand, I quickly stepped through the portal and the Gates of Li swung shut behind me with a thunderous "CLANG!" Forgetting my two would be tormentors, I beheld the glorious sight of Li, from the spidery tips of its golden spires, to a stream of silver ice running through the center of a tremendous courtyard spread out before me. A jade path led from the portcullis across the frozen river to a solitary, low building to my left. Slowly, at first I followed the path, my confidence and urgency growing with each step. By the time I reached the frozen river, I was running at a breakneck speed.

Suddenly, the Ring of Yil began glowing and burning. I attempted to stop running and remove the ringfrom my finger. I tried to stop so quickly that I tripped just as I was crossing the river on the jade pathway, and fell onto the silver ice. And through. I quickly sank to the bottom, a bright, silvery murkiness surrounding me. As I thrashed to and fro, I began to notice two amazing things. One, other than the feeling of cold, I was in no way discomfited by the silver water that surrounded me. Two, if I turned and faced my body in one certain direction, the burning pain on my hand lessened.

--by Habeous Corpus on 7 January. Play: river

Following the course dictated by my ring, I found a door submerged in the river's bank. Opening it, I saw a staircase leading up from the cold, silvery depths into darkness. I climbed the staircase, and soon found myself dry, with no sign I had just been immersed in frozen water. At the top of the dark stairs, I felt more than saw a large door.

As my hand touched the door, it swung open effortlessly, revealing a large, empty room filled with light. There were no shadows to be found anywhere within the room. Stepping through the doorway, I looked to see if I cast a shadow on the door or walls, but no. There were no other doors in evidence in this strange room, but as the door I entered closed, I noticed a mirror hanging on the back of the door. Looking into the mirror, my breath was taken away. The scene reflected back to me was of a darkened room, filled with shadows. And the biggest shock of all was my face. This was not my face! And I was clothed, in a dark, crimson, flowing gown. Yet as I raised my hand to my face, the woman reflected in the mirror did the same, and she, too had the Ring of Yil. I knew it was she that had conjured the Ring of Yil, and set the wards on the Gates and the River, but I knew also that I had never before seen this face that stared back at me.

So taken by this strange apparition that I at first failed to notice that the mirror also displayed another door at the far end of the room, one that was not visible in the direct light of the room itself.

--by Habeous Corpus on 15 January. River was burned, so Habeous Corpus was awarded an Ale. Play: witch

This was interrupted by /dev/joe, who played large room.

As I looked away from the mirror, I saw that I was still an 8-foot tall, 500-pound monster, naked except for my Ring.

The strange mirror intrigued me. As I stepped toward the mirror, so did the woman in the mirror. I reached out to touch the mirror, and so did she, in the same place. As I touched the mirror, my hand passed through it! Once my hand was in, I felt unable to keep the rest of my body from passing through it as well. Once through the mirror, I stumbled and fell on the floor.

I quickly realized why. Now *I* was the woman in the crimson gown, in the darkened room. The only source of light was a "mirror" hanging on a door in the wall nearest me; this mirror showed my former body in the bright room I just came from. The change in body size and mass was very disorienting.

Now I noticed there was another door in this room on the opposite wall. A large padlock held it shut, and there was a sign on the door which read:

ONLY WHEN THIS KEY
FITS THE LOCK ON THIS DOOR
SHALL THE SPELL BE BROKEN

A small key hung from a nail beside the word KEY. I took the key and tried it in the lock. It was much too small. This puzzled me.

--by /dev/joe on 16 January. Play: puzzle

This was interrupted by Bascule, who played reflection.

Bascule attempted to play beautiful, but the story segment Bascule played was rejected as a non sequitur. Eer interrupted the rejected play with death, which was burned. On 21 January, Eer attempted to play sorceress, but his story segment was also rejected (after the Barkeep enjoyed another brief siesta) as a non sequitur. On 27 January it became Claw's turn. Claw was declared asleep 2 February; it was then Malenkai's turn.

My body had shrunk, but my clever mind had not. My Ring, re-inchanted by the river, glowed faintly in the darkness, and nagged me. Recovering my senses from the size change, I began to piece it together. Size change, size change ... of course! It became clear to me how this puzzle was to be solved, just as it was clear what was going on with the Ring!

In the darkness, I groped my way back towards the mirror, key in hand, the Ring glowing faintly. I stood before it, and barely saw a large 500 pound monster staring back. I stepped through.

Once through, the blinding light and size change disoriented me again, but I quickly realised I was my old 8 foot, enlarged self. After my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I looked at the key in my hand. It had enlarged as well, of course, in proportion, to about the proper size to fit a certain lock. I looked back into the mirror and saw the woman still, but realised I wouldn't for long. Gazing at the mirror, I removed the Ring of Yil from my finger. Bwamm!! All the light in this room was sucked into that mirror, and I was left in pure blackness, save the light glow of the Ring, now lying on the floor. Just as things went black, I saw my own likeness replace the woman in the mirror.

I stepped through the mirror again, into the lightness of the other side, and triumphantly walked towards the padlocked door, enlarged key in hand.

--by Malenkai on 5 February. Play: sudden darkness. puzzle was burned, and Malenkai was awarded an Ale.

I unlocked and opened the door, and was greeted by a burst of cold, crisp air, colder than the winds outside the palace. The light from the room shone through the door, causing a spectacular play of colors and reflections from the area beyond. Racial memories nagged me again, as I tried to determine what was causing this play of light.

I stepped through the door, and almost lost my footing on the suprisingingly slippery floor, and would have had I not been fortunate enough to break my fall by grabbing a column of ice to my left. I looked around. Stalactites of ice hung from a curved roof of ice, and the floor of ice seemed to go on forever. The reason for the play of light was obvious now, and it was jogging my memory, as I looked around the Ice Cave of Yil, the oldest part of the Palace.

There was something odd about the stalagmites protruding from the floor: they all seemed angled in one direction, rather than pointing straight up. I walked in the direction they were pointing, for about an hour or so, through the eerie, quiet, serenity of the place. Eventually they led to a column surrounded by six others, and I looked around and noticed the stalagmites of ice on the other side also pointed to this formation.

I gazed into the ice of that column, and my heart jumped as I saw a glint of jade embedded therein. My time in this world was about to end, in the fulfullment of the Destiny of Yil.

--by Malenkai on 9 February. Play: cave

Malenkai then passed, receiving a card, and it was ThinMan's turn.

I fixed my gaze on the green glint in the center of the column and began the incantation of Yil. I went slowly at first, but the strange words came faster and faster, seeming almost to spill into my mind from elsewhere.

As the words poured from my mouth, the barely noticable green glint became a soft glow, and then a blazing green light. Meanwhile, the floor beneath my feet began to tremble, to vibrate, eventually to rock and buckle. I heard first one crash in the distance, then another, and part of my mind knew that the entire palace was disintigrating, its very reason for existence being culminated in my words.

By that time the entire central column glowed with icy green fire. The shaking and rocking of the floor beneath me and the crashing columns all around neither disrupted nor distracted me. I raised my arms as the incantation approached its climax, and reached toward the column. The ice was gone; only green fire remained. As I uttered the final syllable, my hands closed on the Heart of Yil, and there was a blinding flash of light....

I awoke to the sound of trickling water. It was dark, but I could see well enough by the light of the two moons overhead. I was laying in a creek bed that I didn't recognize -- but that wasn't correct! I did still clasp the Heart of Yil in my hand, but I also still wore the monster shape. Someone -- or something -- had interfered. At least I was back in my own world. With little other choice, I set off down the creek in hope of finding civilization.

--by ThinMan on 19 February. Play: creek (burned)

ThinMan and Bascule fell asleep. It was then /dev/joe's turn.

As I traveled along the creek, before long (although it seemed like a long time to me), I heard a strange splashing in the creek up ahead, which was different from its usual sound. I soon saw that the sound was being caused by a large fish -- one which was hilariously large given the small creek it was in; it pushed itself along the streambed with its fins, rather than swimming, and it still didn't fit entirely under the water most of the time.

The fish saw me too. As I passed it, the fish pushed itself out of the creek and onto the land at my feet. I stopped to examine the odd creature, and I immediately knew there was something familiar about it, but I couldn't figure out what.

The fish's mouth was moving too, in an odd manner. At first I thought this was just because it was out of the water, but the motion was too irregular. It looked almost as if the fish was trying to say something.

After a bit, the fish struggled on its fins to crawl a short distance away from me, and it stuck one fin out as far as it could and started drawing, no, writing something on the ground.

--by /dev/joe on 5 March. Play: fish

Claw attempted to interrupt this with storm, but was denied.

The fish wrote out with its fin:

KISS ME

Now this didn't make any sense to me, but I figured that if a fish crawls down a creek it can't even swim in, throws itself at my feet, and spells out "kiss me" in the dirt, there must be a really good reason for it to do so. So I got down on the ground where I could reach my mouth to that of the fish, and kissed . . . and I found myself kissing the woman whose body I had occupied not long ago! Suddenly, it came back to me! The spell that was broken by fitting the key in the lock was preventing me from recognizing Yllara!

The legends said that after I activated the Ice Warp to transport the Palace of Yil back to the Homeworld, Yllara and I would be the ones who cast the Worldspell, to end the cruel evil which has ruled this world for hundreds of years. But the Worldspell requires that I be in my own form . . .

Yllara exclaimed, "Yil! Come quickly! You have broken the spell which kept me in that fish form; now I must do the same for you in the laboratory!"

--by /dev/joe on 8 March. fish was burned, and /dev/joe was awarded an Ale. Play: kiss (burned)

Yllara ran at full speed along the stream in the direction I had already been going; I followed in an easy jog, which was all I needed in this large body to keep up. After some time, the Palace of Yil came into view. A dark, ominous cloud hung low in the sky over the palace.

Yllara and I entered the palace, and traveled through dozens of corridors and stairways before we arrived at the laboratory. The only sounds were of glass clinking and footsteps as Yllara quickly found three bottles of necessary ingredients and mixed them together in some proportion in a flask, and brought it to me. She broke the silence, saying simply, "Drink this."

I did, and within seconds, my body felt as though it were melting. The spell which had held me in that strange form for so long a time was being broken. Within a few minutes nothing remained of that form but a pool of goo and hair on the ground. I was a man once more, dressed in the finest fabrics, a golden crown on my head.

--by /dev/joe on 15 March. monster was burned, and /dev/joe was awarded another Ale. Play: potion (burned)

This was interrupted by Eer, who played bottle. Eer passed on 27 March. It was Claw's turn next. Claw was declared asleep sometime in April. It was Malenkai's turn next.

As I was recovering my senses, I thought I heard some sort of scraping noise from somewhere, but my attention was quickly drawn to Yllara, who was lighting candles, and spreading out scrolls, tomes, and other material onto a nearby table. She had already began singing an ancient incantation from one of the crumbling texts as she was mixing various powers, elixirs, snake skins, and insect wings in preparation for the Worldspell, the Final Spell.

Yllara dripped some wax from a large white candle into the mixture, and chanted one of those phrases we all used as kids, but never knew the meaning of. As the first dollop of wax hit the mixture, a jet black flame shot straight up from the table and blasted right through the ceiling, spewing rubble everywhere. So black was the flame that it sucked the very light out of the room except for what meager amount was being provided by the candles. All was quiet except for her singing, and that scraping noise, now closer.

The time had come. I began chanting the final verses as I walked trancelike towards the pillar of flame, which by now had consumed the table and most of the ancient writing. Yllara likewise approached from the other side.

As I began the final act and invocation, the source of the scraping noise made itself known. The red-headed man and the one-armed gun man leaped out of the darkness where they were creeping, and grabbed Yllara! Quickly they fled towards a small spiral staircase to my left. I could not both complete the Worldspell *and* chase after Yllara...

--by Malenkai on 8 April. This was interrupted by Habeous Corpus, who played scroll, which was burned. Play: kidnapping (loose end)

Habeous Corpus attempted to play rescue on 11 April, but the play was denied. rescue was burned, and play continued to Eer.

I continued my chanting, praying that Yllara's presence during the beginning had been sufficient to finish the Worldspell. As the power of the chant overwhelmed me, I held my arms in the air above my head and slowly brought them down. My frantic chanting slowed as my hands lowered, and as my hands reached my side I could feel white hot power building inside me. I then threw myself to my knees and held my arms out wide, completing the spell.

Nothing happened. The pillar of flame had vanished.

With tears in my eyes, I stood and scanned the room for a weapon. Spying a staff, I grabbed it and tested its balance. I ran down the spiral staircase hoping that the few minutes I had lost didn't cost Yllara her life. I noticed fresh blood on the staircase and I followed it down. The faint blood trail led me to a side exit of the Palace. I stepped out and took a look around. At the top of a hill to the north, I saw the two men dragging an unconscious Yllara away from the Palace of Yil. I tossed my crown into the Palace, knowing that its encumberance was something that I could not afford. I took off at the fastest run I could manage, but because of my recent transformation I found it difficult. I crested the hill where they had been, and I could looked ahead to see how much I had caught up. The Sea of Yil dominated the landscape, and there were the fiends, just now nearing the beachfront. I knew at that moment that I was too late. I ran with all my speed, stumbling once but righting myself with my staff. Meanwhile, I watched with horror as the men pulled Yllara into their boat, untied it from the dock, and raised the sails. By the time I reached the dock, their ship was quickly becoming a speck on the waters.

On 15 April, Eer played sunset in a story that was totally unrelated to the main thread; it was rejected as a non sequitur, but Eer interrupted the rejected play with tree house and thus retained his turn.

The dock had not been used by any of the remaining inhabitants in many years, and the boats still there were mired and useless. A pair of clipper ships sat anchored near an inlet, left abandoned after the Departure, but they required full crews before they could provide transportation.

I scanned about once more, telling myself that this couldn't be happening. The shoreline was littered with all sorts of debris from the sunken ships of the locals. I found a small goblet covered in mud, and inspected it. It was still in good shape, and it gave me an idea.

I hadn't used Poppet magic in a long time, but I had to try if I was to rescue Yllara. Whispering soft prayers, I washed the goblet as quickly as possible and filled it with seawater. I placed a small splinter in the center of the goblet and kept it as steady as I could. I looked away from the goblet and back out to the fleeing ship. Conentrating on every syllable and being careful not to look at the goblet, I began to chant.

I reached slowly into the goblet and dipped my hands into the water. As I did this, a distant part of the sea rolled and the ship rocked as a wave crashed into its side. Wincing at the violence of my movements, I slowed my movements even more as I dipped my fingers under the splinter and the giant hand did the same to the boat. I lifted my hand free of the water and watched water pour off of an invisible hand as it raised the small sailboat into the air. Huge waterfalls poured from between the invisible fingers and the sailboat sat rocking in an unstable flying lake.

--by Eer on 22 April. Play: goblet

Eer interrupted himself with giant on 22 April. The rules were then changed to disallow players' interrupting themselves. It was still Eer's turn. Eer passed.

As I gently rocked my hands, I saw Yllara dive into the sea. Another creature dived after her just as I tossed my hands in the air, throwing the boat miles into the sea. The distant crash sounded like thunder as the boat collapsed on the water's surface. Yllara swam to shore with the second figure not far behind.

I helped Yllara to the surface while I asked her if she knew what, or who, the figure was. She didn't know, but she sensed it wasn't of the kidnappers. We started to the palace, where we would complete the worldspell, when we heard the cries of the creature in the water.

"Please... I beg of help. I need aid in my health."

We countered and saw a young hobbit, wounded at the knees from the one-armed gunman. And from the depth of the whip-marks on his back, I could tell that the Sams in the boat took hound on this one.

Yllara and I glowped. We could see in our eyes what each was thinking. The two moons beckoned across the horizons. Should the two moons meet, the power of the Worldspell would be gone for the next 20 chars. This gave us about 33 ordegs to cast the spell, and the hobbit would need more time than that to be nursed to health.

I couldn't waste any more time deciding; I've already wasted 1'3 ordegs. I started towards the palace when Yllara grabbed my arm. Again, we glowped; I, unwillingly. Her eyes told me to remember my vow of compassion. But could the hobbit be trusted? Most hobbits aren't kept alone. Most hobbits don't ket caught. Most.

--by Claw on 21 May. The loose ends boat and kidnapping were burned, and Claw was awarded 2 Ales. Play: hobbit (loose)

ThinMan attempted to interrupt this with beggar on 21 May, but the interrupt was rejected.

Reluctantly, I grabbed the hobbit by his legs and flung him over my shoulder and started to climb uphill. We reached the outskirts of the Palace, near the altar, with about 22'3 ordegs left to cast the Worldspell. Suddenly, a memory flashed through me like lightning through a windtunnel. Of course! The legends had said that a lamb sacrifice would be necessary. Now I knew what to do! The lamb transformation spell would take about 5 ordegs, and I could incorporate it with the Worldspell, The last three words of each are the same! This would take only 15 ordegs.

Yllara spread out candles again, though two were aligned with the darkest moon. I started with the lamb transformation spell to accrue all available magiu--the world's evil had devoured most for the Mitau du Min (The Meeting of the Moons). I placed the hobbit on the altar and drew the altar's dagger. The hobbit lay incapacitated. I uttered the last three words of the incantation and stabbed the horse. "Duba du wa!" Horse? I fudged the lamb transformation!

"No." Yllara said, "you said `Duba du wa'. It's `Buda bu wa'." Oops.

Yllara continued, "You didn't have to kill the hobbit. All the spell needed was a small piece of his hair or skin."

Double oops. Pain ran through us as we felt our magiu drained. There was none in the world left, but that in living beings. Something grabbed my leg--my soul--and pulled me underground. Yllara's body fell, too, as her soul was pulled under. The world went black. The two moons had met; something waited for me underground.

Claw then fell asleep, and it was Malenkai's turn.

Bummer. No Worldspell in my lifetime was my only thought as I fell below -- into the waiting jaws of Illiis, the legendary ancient wyvern whos rumoured existance in the massive caverns beneath the palace had never before been confirmed. It appeared that the Mitau du Min had woken her up, and she seemed none too pleased about it. Yllara wasn't so fortunate as to be caught in the jaws of a grumpy wyvern 50 times her size; her body fell SPLAT! into a festering pool of molten lava.

Illiis tossed her head around violently while she tried to get a better grip on me, and at the same time sap what little remaining strength I had. I tightened my grip on the alter dagger, but the few feeble swings I could muster either whiffed like an apprentice's first spell, or clanged off of Illiis's metallic hide.

Wyverns, of course, prefer their meals cooked, a fact would buy me a bit of time. Illiis turned around and looked for a suitable lava pit over which to roast my bones, and that was her mistake. As she was turning around, she passed me over her eggs, and was forced to stop as I poised the dagger no more than half a meter above them, ready to strike. I turned my head and looked her in the one glowing blue eye that was on my side; we had a problem.

--by Malenkai on 12 July. Play: knife