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4/1/2011 0:52:21   
superjars
Member

The Introduction of Red Herrings
by superjars

The sudden movement caught him completely off-guard, spilling him unceremoniously on the floor, his many jars spilling outwards, clattering haphazardly around him on the library floor. His jaw rocked against the carpet, dazing him slightly, his eyes blurring around the edges as he stared out, his eyes trying desperately to interpret what they were seeing. An entire section of the library was simply gone. It was as if someone had reached in and scooped out the entire section, like you would ice cream. He blinked his eyes several times to clear them, doing his best to push himself back up to a sitting position. He glanced around to check on the other assistants, and of course, Eukara herself, but as soon as he locked eyes with Xor and saw the glint in his eye, a grin spread over his face and all other concerns vanished.

Whenever something strange happened around the library, Xor and Kastio (when he was around, that is) loved to get their gear and be super-sleuths, solving all the little mysteries around the library. Both of them were fascinated with the great mystery writers: Doyle, Christie, Tressal, Vizgorth, Vexen Ci and others. And without saying a word, they both leapt to their feet and start pillaging through their packs, pulling out magnifying glass, notepads, pencils and other detecting paraphernalia. Both continued on with giddy delight as their co-staff and superior looked on, several of them shaking their heads at the odd pair.

However, even the excitement of a strange and unusual occurrence couldn’t shake the nagging feeling in the back of Kastio’s head that what Eukara had been about to reveal was something very important and essential to his continued work in the library. He wasn’t going to show it to anyone else nor admit that it was the case, but he was a little apprehensive about this story she had to tell him. It was not that he didn’t want to hear it, of course, but the potential it had to change his perception of their beloved leader caused him to pause. But he had to know. But first things first: they had a mystery to solve right in front of him, and he had no intention of letting Xor down. It was almost a competition between the two of them which could solve the mystery first.

The final touch for Kastio as he started walking to the mystery section was to pull a tweed fedora out of his jacket and place it firmly on his head. He had a magnifying jar held tightly in his left hand, leaving his right hand free to thoughtfully stroke his hairless chin.

“Hmm. What do you think, Xor,” he spoke to his partner, looking intently through the magnifying jar at the ground before him.

“It’s elementary, my dear Kastio,” Xor replied, effortlessly taking the role of the great detective as he got on all fours, picking through some pieces on the floor at the edge of the missing portion. “I deduce from the clean edge that whatever did this made, that there must obviously have been magic involved in this transposition. Quite possibly something similar to what Gianna is able to do. Do you concur?”

“I do,” the tall man replied, placing one hand firmly on his forehead. “And continuing down the same trail of thought as your brilliant deduction, I believe that it was definitely Gezren who did it, in the Mystery section, with the Magic Wand. It seems very much like something he would do. He’s had it out for Fleur for a long time, ever since that one time…”

“Gezren? That dastardly denizen of wrong-doing? Of course, it must be him! All evidence points to this being his handiwork,” Xor responded, turning to face the tall man. “Take a look at this. A fiber of red fabric stuck on the edge of the damaged section, clearly a clue to the identity of our perpetrator. Strange, it looks very much like a fish…”

“You two should look
Above this book
To find a clue
I’ve found for you,” Shreder spoke from above their heads, perched atop a bookcase.

“Ah, very good, Shreder!” Kastio exclaimed, surging to his feet and walking over, leaving Xor crouched on the floor, searching around. He got to the bookcase in question and felt atop it, searching for the clue which Shreder had spoken of. “Well, look at this! Another clue! It appears to be a maroon book, one entitled Works That Should be Read Through Hearing. Very intriguing! This doesn’t belong in this section. It must be a clue as well.”

“I flew around
And then came down
To find that there;
We must beware!” Shreder called out as he flew off in search of more clues to what had happened to this section.

The tall man felt a slight tap on his shoulder, causing him to jump forward into the bookcase directly in front of him. He turned, holding his nose, only to find Samak standing directly in front of him.

“My apologies, Kastio. I had not meant to frighten you nor cause you alarm. I simply wanted to show you something that Eukara and I found while searching on the other side of the missing section,” Samak said calmly and coolly as he held the object out towards the startled figure. “It appears to be some sort of large globe filled with water, but open at one end. And it is filled with small red rocks. Do you know what it means?”

“Well…” he replied, trying to regain his composure after the small scare. “I will have to confer with Xor to be sure, but I’m beginning to formulate a hypothesis. Continue your search and bring us anything else you find.”

As Samak rushed off to rejoin Eukara in the search for clues, Kastio made his way back over to Xor’s position, only to find him arguing with Gianna. The small green fairy was buzzing around while Xor stood in place, red-faced and obviously agitated, speaking passionately at her. As the tall man came closer, he began to hear snippets of conversation:

“…want you to do anything like that. Half the fun…”

“…is to Fleur. We’ve got to find her before…”

His brow perked up as he heard mention of Fleur’s name, only then realizing that she was currently missing from their group. He had been so wrapped up in Eukara’s story and then in the mystery that he hadn’t thought about where she was. He quickened his pace to join in the debate.

“…give us a few more minutes to solve this mystery? We’re on the cusp of it. I know we’ll soon have the correct answer to this grand quandary. But all we need is time,” Xor was saying, his words coming out at a rapid and even pace.

“Yes, I understand that, but Fleur’s life could be in danger. This is no time for your silly games,” the time-and-space-oriented pixie retorted. It was obvious that her words had offended Xor, for he flushed an even deeper red and stopped speaking, his arms crossing over his chest. Coming up behind him, Kastio got close and whispered in the man’s ear:

“I need to confer with you…”

Xor turned red-faced, leaving Gianna behind as he stalked away with Kastio. “So, friend, what have you got?”

“Well, I’ve been looking around and I’ve gotten quite a few clues from several other people, but there’s something about the clues that’s bothering me.”

“You’ve noticed it, too? The clues all seem to point to one thing, but that can’t be the answer. Can it?”

Kastio looked at Xor, a serious look covering his face as he spoke, “I am not sure either, but we’ve got to keep looking. All of the things we’ve found so far are telling me one thing.” He paused for a moment, thinking through his response.

“All of the clues are red herrings!”
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 1
6/9/2011 0:06:23   
superjars
Member

To Fear a Dare
By Mritha


Screech, screech went the fingernails against the metal door. The villager had barred it shut but he was now cornered. There was no escape. Screech, screech,” Fodr said in a squeaky voice. The man sat beside his young daughter’s bed as he told the tale. Like him, she was a Dragonlord despite being so young. Her child's dragon, Engdo, had bonded with her several years past and the two had been inseparable ever since. Ahtirm sat huddled under the covers clutching her dragon tightly as the two listened to her father’s story with wide eyes. “Silence was heard and the villager thought he was finally safe. With trembling hands he reached out to unlock the door.”

“No! The monster is waiting for you, don’t open the door!” Ahtirm shouted.

Fodr grinned at his daughter, then continued as if she had not spoken, “He opened the door and peeked out. Down the dark, damp hallway he could see the strange mist, but the monster was nowhere to be found. ‘I’ll make a run for it!’ he thought.”

“No!” Engdo shouted. “He is gonna get you!” The young dragon shivered against her rider, dreading what would happen next.

Fodr continued, his voice slow and deep. “The villager quietly crept through the hallway, trying to remain unseen. Suddenly!” Ahtirm and Engdo gasped in surprise. Ahtirm covered her face with one of Engdo’s golden wings, though Fodr could see one eye peeking out. “The villager felt something tapping his shoulder!”

“Don’t turn around!” Engdo moaned.

“The villager turned around….but there was no one there!” Ahtirm lifted the wing just enough for both eyes to peer at her father as she and her dragon held their breath in anticipation of what would happen next. “Heart pounding, the villager’s eyes darted back and forth, searching for…it.” Fodr paused for dramatic effect. “Seeing nothing, the villager turned back around and saw…” He paused again.

Hating the suspense, Engdo asked, “What did he see?”

Fodr grinned and said. “He saw…THE MONSTER!” He shouted the last part and jumped out of his wooden chair, hands outstretched like claws toward his child and her dragon.

Engdo and Ahtirm screamed, or in Engdo’s case roared, in fear as they dove under the covers. Laughing, Fodr reach down and started tickling them through the blankets. Screams soon turned to laughter as the two wiggled and squirmed to escape his searching fingers. Two heads poked out from beneath the blanket and squealed at Fodr. Still laughing, Fodr settled back into his chair as his daughter said.

“Tell us another one, papa! Tell us another one!”

“Yea! I wanna hear another story!” Engdo piped in.

“No, no. It is time for the two of you to get some sleep.”

“Aww.” They said in union.

“Sleep well you two,” Fodr said. He kissed his daughter’s forehead and scratched Engdo behind her horns.

“Goodnight papa!” Ahtirm called as her father left the room. Engdo snickered.

“What are you laughing at?”

“You.” The white dragon grinned.

“What did I do?”

“You scream like a girl,” the dragon laughed.

“I AM a girl, scales for brains!” Ahtirm said as she threw a pillow at her dragon. “Besides, its not like you were any better, you sounded like a mad pig!”

Engdo stopped laughing and glared at her rider. “I did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did not!”

“Don’t make me come in there!” Fodr called from the other room.

The two girls glanced toward the door and for a moment they were quiet. But the silence did not last. “Did too,” Ahtirm whispered.

“Did not!” Engdo whispered back. “I wasn’t even scared.”

“Liar, liar, pants on fire,” Ahtirm chanted.

“Dragons don’t wear pants, you twit!”

“Some of them do! Remember that dragon we saw at the fair last year?”

“No.”

“Well, he wore pants!”

“Well, I still wasn’t scared. Nothing scares me!” Engdo bragged.

“Not even the old house at the top of the hill?” Ahtirm said, a smirk tugging at her lips.

“Nope! Even that!” Engdo said.

“Prove it!” Ahtirm challenged. “Spend the night there, if you aren’t too chicken!”

“I’m not a chicken, I EAT chicken!” Engdo said as her mind raced to think of a way to get out of the dare while retaining her dignity. “Why don’t YOU spend the night there?” she said. Ahtirm’s eyes widened as her plot turned against her. “Cluck, cluck.” Engdo said.

Ahtirm glared at her dragon. “I am NOT a chicken!”

“Then do it!”

“I’ll do it. I’m not afraid!”

“Neither am I!”

“Then you do it too!”

“I will!”

“Girls!” Fodr called. “Final warning.”

Like the first time, they were silent. Then Engdo whispered, “Tomorrow night. You take the upstairs, I take the downstairs. First one to chicken out and leave is a chicken!”

“And if one of us leaves, the other doesn’t have to stay all night long,” Ahtirm whispered.

“Deal.”

“Deal.”


The Next Day



Ahtirm and Engdo slowly walked toward the house. Slowly, because neither one wanted to spend the night at the old house, which was rumored to be haunted. However, neither would back down for fear of being called out. The sky was darkening as the two approached the house. Ahtirm’s silver hair, a trait common from the region of Lore she was a native of, glittered in the fading sunlight. Her golden-amber eyes darted back and forth as she carefully watched the shadows. She wore black form-fitting pants and a lose cream-colored shirt. From her back sprouted two white, segmented wings, with gold along the edges. Worn black leather boots protected her feet from the rough path. Beside her, the white scales of her dragon shimmered; her golden wings, horns and claws reminded Ahtirm of her father’s gold dragon, Tyr-Gullin. Engdo’s golden eyes met Ahtirm’s, and they continued on.

They would have preferred to fly to the house, as it was much faster. However Engdo barely reached Ahtirm’s shoulders and was still too small to carry a rider. Lacking a dragon amulet, Ahtirm could not grow her dragon any bigger; neither could she rely on her own wings. They had sprouted when she bonded with Engdo, though she could not fly far: less than fifty yards on a good day!

The two stopped in front of the gate and gazed at the abandoned house. It was a log house, though much of the wood was rotten. Broken windowpanes filled each window, and shutters were falling off of their hinges. Some already had and splintered wood lay on the overgrown lawn where they had fallen and shattered. Without a word, the two children approached the house and climbed its steps. The wood squeaked and groaned at their weight and they stopped at the door. “You first,” Engdo said, looking at the door.

“No, you go first. This was your idea.”

“Was not!”

“Was too!” One of the rocking chairs on the porch slowly began to rock back and forth, though there was no wind. The two stared wide-eyed at the chair as it continued to rock. Just as suddenly as it started, the chair stopped moving. “Are you sure you want to do this?” Ahtirm asked.

“I’m not a chicken.” Engdo said stubbornly. The white dragon walked toward the door but it swung open on its own. The dragon stopped and quivered.

Ahtirm peeked around the door frame and looked inside. It was very dark, and dusty. “This place is like one big cobweb,” she commented. It was true. Old spider webs rested on every available surface. The young Dragonlord looked at her dragon and asked. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Taking a deep breath, the dragon walked through the door and a reluctant Ahtirm followed. Once in the house, the door creaked and slammed closed, the sound echoing through the house with finality. “Well here is where we go our separate ways.” Engdo said.

“Yup.” Neither moved. “I have the upstairs right?”

“Yup.” Still they didn’t move. “Ok! See you in the morning!” The young dragon said.

“See you then.” Ahtirm slowly stepped away from her dragon and approached the wooden stairs. They groaned as she walked up and Ahtirm feared they would not hold her. She tested each one before putting her full weight on the rotten wood and eventually reached the top. Looking back, she saw that Engdo was gone. Probably to get settled for the night, she thought. Continuing on, Ahtirm began to explore the upstairs while there was still light to do so.

Meanwhile, Engdo prowled through the downstairs. There is NO way I am staying here all night! the dragon thought. But if I leave, I will never hear the end of it! I just need to think of a way to scare Ahtirm into leaving first. The dragon looked at a coil of rope and got an idea. “Hmm, like the rest of this house, it is rotten, but I think it will work.”

Ahtirm entered one of the bedrooms with similar thoughts. What could I do to scare Engdo? Walking around to the other side of the bed, Ahtirm screamed and hid behind the dresser. Heart pounding, she peered around the corner. It didn’t move. The shadows lengthened and the room grew very dark, but still it lay still. Having gathered up the nerve, Ahtirm abandoned her hiding place and slowly approached it. Stepping on something, she looked down and saw an old, empty bottle of Holy Wasabi. “A dead undead.” She said out loud as she looked back at the skeleton that had been the cause of her fear. A paladin must have killed him. She looked at the skeleton and an idea formed in her mind. “Engdo will be begging to leave after this one,” she said with a grin. Reaching down, Ahtirm grabbed a leg and dragged the skeleton out of the room.

Engdo crept upstairs, the rope in her mouth. Snickering, she tied part of a bed sheet to one end of the rope, and then weaved it over the rafters in the ceiling. She then hid inside a closet, but left it open just a crack so she could see out.

Downstairs, Ahtirm hid the skeleton inside the pantry and carefully closed the door. Giggling, she rushed upstairs and entered the hallway, but stopped in her tracks. Hovering in front of the window at the end of the hallway, was a ghost! Ahtirm stood rooted to the floor, eyes wide with fear. The ghost turned around, its hollow eyes looking at her. Without warning, the ghost raced forward and Ahtirm screamed. She rushed inside the nearest room, slammed the door shut and dove under the bed.

Engdo came out of the closet and did her best not to laugh for fear she would be discovered by her rider. The “ghost” swung gently from the rafters and the young dragon pulled the sheet down and hid it in the closet. Going back downstairs, she decided she would look for a snack. Probably nothing worth eating in this place, but it wouldn’t hurt to look. She thought. Opening the pantry door, Engdo roared as an undead jumped out and attacked her! The dragon thrashed and raced around the downstairs of the house, crashing dishes and overturning furniture as the undead clung to her back. Finally dislodging it, Engdo ran down to the basement and hid behind an old furnace.

Upstairs, Ahtirm finally got the nerve to leave her latest hiding place. With trembling hands, she opened the door and peeked outside. Seeing nothing, she stepped into the hallway and by the light of the moon saw that all of the doors were wide open. Screech screech. Came a sound above her. She looked up, memories of her father’s story coming to mind. Screech screech. This time, the sound came from directly in front of her. Screech screech. Ahtirm’s heart pounded in her chest. Suddenly, the shadows came alive! The door at the farthest end of the hallway slammed shut on its own accord. Then, the door closer slammed shut, and the door even closer! It was if some unseen being was slowly making its way toward her, and finally Ahtirm could take it no longer. Screaming, she turned and fled down the stairs and raced toward the door only to be intercepted by something white, and something hard.

Engdo roared in surprise as Ahtirm ran into her. For a brief moment the two were a tangle of arms, legs and wings. “There is something up there!” Ahtirm trembled.

“There is something down there!” Engdo roared. The chandelier from above crashed to the floor next to them and sprayed them with shards of dirty glass. “RUN!” Engdo roared, but Ahtirm didn’t have to be told twice, she was already at the door.

Clawing at the handle, she cried out. “It won’t open! We’re trapped!”

But Engdo was already running and could not stop in time. Slamming into her rider the door gave under the intense pressure and the two collapsed outside onto the porch. Engdo quickly jumped to her feet and dove off of the porch, Ahtirm right behind her.

Too tired to run anymore they stopped beside a large oak tree, each breathing hard. In the distance, they could see the house illuminated by the light of the moon and stars above. “I’m… sorry… Engdo.” Ahtirm said between breaths.

“For…what?” Her dragon panted.

“I hid the… skeleton in the pantry.”

“That was… you?”

“Yeah, I’m really sorry. I wanted to… scare you into leaving first, so I didn’t have to stay all night.” Engdo laughed. “What are you laughing at?”

“The ghost was just a bed sheet; I was too scared to stay all night, so I wanted to make you leave too.” The young dragon admitted.

Ahtirm stared at her dragon, angry at first, then starting to laugh. “I guess we were both chicken then.”

Engdo grinned. “No more dares, deal?”

“Deal.”

The two walked side by side in comfortable silence until Engdo asked. “How did you make the blood drip down the walls?”

Ahtirm stopped. “Blood? What are you talking about?”

“In the basement, the walls started bleeding and I heard chains rattling.”

“I didn’t do that.” Ahtirm suddenly felt uneasy, and asked, “Did you make the screeching sound? And the doors slam closed?”

“No, I did not,” Engdo said slowly.

“So if neither of us did those things… then who did?” Ahtirm asked. Rider and dragon looked back toward the foreboding house.

“I don’t know.” Engdo said with a shudder. “But that is one mystery I don’t want to solve!”
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 2
6/9/2011 0:11:30   
superjars
Member

Incandescence
by superjars

The things I’ve seen,
The roads I’ve walked,
That brought me to this place.

Whene’er I look
Towards the future
It’s so hard to see what’s ahead.

I stare and squint,
Peer and ponder
But nothing becomes clear at all.

I move towards it
Think it will coalesce
Into some shape that I can recognize.

But however close
I get to the thing
I never seem to be able to see it clearly.

I watch and look
Prod and poke at it
But I can’t tell at all what it is.

How do I choose?
What decision do I make?
The answers never seem to come until it’s far too late.

It takes me a while
To gather the courage
And take that next step forward into the unknown.

The mysterious aether
The all-obscuring fog
That keeps the future from being seen.

It is always before me:
Each time I look,
For every choice that I must make.

What will she say?
How will he react?
What will be the consequences of my decisions?

We look for ways to predict;
For ways to know for sure
And the best we can come up with are hypotheses; educated guesses.

No one knows
What will happen;
All we can see are shifting shades.

But when I turn
To look behind
I see a light that makes everything plain.

All the causes,
All the effects,
Everything that’s happened.

The things I’ve seen,
The roads I’ve walked,
That brought me to this place.

When I look behind me
The incandescence of my past
Allows me to see where all my choices lead.

What do you see?
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 3
6/13/2011 23:36:11   
superjars
Member

Awakening of a New Life
by San Robin

Part 1: The Awakening

It was a cold winter night.
I woke up to find myself lying on a tombstone of the Amityvale Cemetery.
Looking around me, I saw no one: not a living soul... Shivers went down my spine the moment I thought that.
I was confused. Who am I? How did I end up here? Why cant I remember what I did yesterday?
Everything was so vague!
Looking at the armor I was wearing, I concluded I was on an adventure, but still..
Why would I go to a cemetery?
Suddenly I heard a voice, “Come to me,” it said. “Come to me, and everything will be clear.”
Not knowing where the voice was coming from, I looked around. No one was near...
Where does this voice come from? I thought and as I thought it, the voice sounded again, “Don’t bother looking around. I'm in a place far away from you; I talk to you by telepathy.”
Do you know who I am and how I got here? I thought.
“Come to the Guardian Tower. All the questions will be answered there,” was the reply.
So to find out what happened, I had to follow a mysterious voice to an abandoned tower...
What a great day this has been...

Part 2: The Guardian Tower

When I finally arrived at the Guardian Tower, monsters were all around me.
But tired as I was, I couldn’t put up a fight. Will this be the end? I don’t want to die as someone who doesn’t even know who he is! I thought.
“Don’t fear,” said the voice in my head. “As long as I'm here, you don’t have anything to fear. Now, come to me!”
Somehow the voice sounded very soothing , I couldn’t do anything but obey it!
As if my body was moving by itself, I walked up the stairs until I arrived at a hallway with one big door at the end of it.
That must be where the mysterious voice is coming from, I thought.
Slowly, I approached the door and opened it, the light of candles flashing in my eyes after all the darkness I had been around. I saw this light was more then painful for me; it felt like the hot wax was dripping in my eye.
A shadowy figure walked towards me.
“Ah you came, young hero! Now to answer your questions.”

Part 3: The Answer

After my eyes got used to the candlelight, I took a good look at the figure.
He was a young male with skull-covered clothes on. A necromancer!
Slowly, I backed away. What does a necromancer want from me? Even though I didn’t have a lot of power in my arms, I drew my trusty sword.
The necromancer looked at me and laughed, “Ha ha ha! A minion can't attack his master!”
A minion? What is this guy talking about?!? I thought.
This thought seemed to amuse the necromancer even more, “You haven't noticed yet? Your weakness? Your inability to speak?” He summoned a mirror “Here take a look at this mirror”
I looked in the mirror to see a horrifying decayed face, my hair was reduced to almost nothing and was as gray as volcanic ashes, I opened my mouth to scream, but all that came out was “Areeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew” I had become an undead!

Final Part: The Salvation

Having become an undead to serve my master, I was forced to fight and kill heroes.
My mind was decaying as much as my body; I had become a mindless killing machine.
One fateful night, my master ordered me to go and attack a lone paladin in Amityvale.
When I arrived there, even I, with my decayed mind, was shocked by what I saw.
Pieces of undead where piled up around the paladin. He had a strong pure aura around him.
I felt a bit of my mind recovering and words started to form in my head.
“Puleash... help...me!” I mumbled.
The paladin looked at me with a surprised look on his face, “Are you allowed to talk?”
I shook my head.
“How come you can talk then? Is it possible that you are resisting your master?”
I nodded, “Yesh... I … want ...to..be..free!”
The paladin smiled, “If that's what you want, I can help you with that! I will free your spirit, so you go to the heavenly hereafter.”
After talking so much, I couldn’t do anything other than just nod.
“Just kneel before me,” said the paladin. He placed his hand on my head and started chanting, “Oh, great goddess of light! Please grant this tortured spirit the freedom to go to the realm of the dead! Let him once more taste the light of freedom!”
A warm feeling went through my body as I started to feel light. I suddenly saw everything clearly again! I remembered everything! About my quest to defeat an evil necromancer, about how I lost the battle and was forced to drink a potion to turn into the horror I was now!
Then I saw a bright light; I felt free for the first time in a long while!
As I felt my spirit floating to the sky, a tear formed in my eye, “Thank you.”
The paladin smiled again, “I wish there were more undead like you. See-ya in the afterlife!”
And as he said that, everything went blank for me.
This was the real END.
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 4
6/13/2011 23:40:43   
superjars
Member

A Mystery of Pie
by Ultrapowerpie

“Just how many more of these short stories do we have to do?” Necro asked the all-powerful, almighty, all-magnificent, fully divine, humble Author.

“As many as I say you will, now shoosh up and get to the mystery!” boomed the godly voice.

“Why a mystery? I hate them… they have way too much ambiguity involved…”

“DO IT OR YOU WILL BE A CHEESE PUFF TRAPPED IN A DIMENSION FILLED WITH HUNGRY MOOGLES!!”

“No, not that, not that again! Please! That was simply dreadful! The nomming… and the re-nommming… I’d rather do paper work than that!”

“Then get a move on, before you anger me!”

“I don’t even have a plot! I mean, just what type of mystery are we talking about? Is it a murder? Grand Theft Auto? Bank Robbery? Mugging a little girl scout?”

“EVEN GREATER THEN ALL THOSE CRIMES COMMITTED AT THE SAME TIME!”

“What could possibly be worse then all those previously mentioned crimes at the same time?”

“GO CHECK THE OVEN!”

“The oven? But there’s only… MY PIE!!!”

And so Necro zoomed off to the absurdly large kitchen in Calico that was most likely described somewhere in the EPIC trilogy that involves the characters that you all know and love. And if you don’t know them, go read it now. It’s called The Chronicles of Tipa. Yes, I’m advertising for my own series in the bonus short stories attached to the trilogy. I am THAT good of an advertiser.

Inside the absurdly large kitchen, in one of the various fancy pants future ovens, Necro could be seen in utter horror as the oven door was clearly open, and inside the oven, his beloved pie was gone. All gone. Not even a crumb, or a pan, or anything. At least whoever did it turned off the oven.

“MY PIE! MY BELOVED PIE IS GONE!” Necro wept. He was extremely sad about this pie, for you see, it was his favorite flavor of pie. What’s more, it was an extra large pie, so he could eat most of it and share a tiny piece with his wife Jenna, so that way he wouldn’t get in too much trouble for hogging the pie. Poor Necro would have knelt there and wept throughout this entire short story if it wasn’t for his loyal henchmen Jenkins.

“Excuse me, sir, but I’m not a ‘henchmen’ as you would describe me so callously to our reader base. I am an associate of sorts, yes, and I do indeed report to Necro. However, I do protest the term 'henchmen' as it makes me seem like some common undead. I AM a Sentinel after all, and as such deserve the proper respect one should have in reference with that position…”

Jenkins ‘the extremely grumpy minion who goes on and on and on’ eventually finished his rant and walked over to poor Necro, who was still devastated by the missing pie.

“Sir, what seems to be the problem?”

“Jenkins, haven’t you been reading the story thus far? We’ve already done the whole repetition thing to death here. I don’t care if it’s an ironic writing style or whatever, we need to actually advance the plot,” Necro replied, still upset.

“Just trying to stay in character, but if the 4th wall has been blown to the bowels of the netherworld… why don’t we try finding the culprit?”

“GENIUS!” Necro yelled, an evil gleam in his eye. “I will bring the perpetrator to JUSTICE! And when I do, there will be violence. Oh, the violence, because we don’t have mamby pamby “no torturing” laws in this world, oh no! I will make SURE that whoever has committed this crime is tortured so much, they wish they were a cheese puff in a dimension full of hungry moogles…”

“Ummm, you know, it’s just a pie… you can always make another…”

“SILENCE! It’s time for a witch hunt! Or in this case… A THIEF HUNT!”

“And just who would the suspects be?” Jenkins asked, deciding to just go along with it.

“Let’s see… The Reaper of Life wouldn’t have even gone near the pie… the goody two-shoes that she is… plus she hates this flavor… you’re out because you can’t even eat… and I’d know if you’d done it through telepathy… same for Jenna… and it’s not me…”

“Which leaves…”

“Which leaves Grim, Nina, Loki and Reaver… yeah that should do it… actually, I think we can eliminate Nina too because she’s been on patrol duty today and hasn’t come back into base… EVA! Confirm the location of Nina all day long!”

“Nina has been away from Calico all day,” EVA chimed in.

“Umm, sir, why don’t we ask EVA who stole the pie? I mean, there’s security cameras everywhere… and I DO mean everywhere; there’s absolutely NO privacy here… but regardless, EVA would surely…”

“It’s like you don’t WANT to understand. Don’t you know that it’s the thrill of the hunt that gets me pumped? We have our suspects, now we just squeeze the information out of them…”

A few minutes later, Grim, Loki and Reaver were all tied to chairs and were sitting under a lone lamp in the middle of a dark room, somehow like a 60’s detective interrogation room. As the blindfolds were removed, Necro appeared out of the darkness, looking exactly like Dick Tracy, for some odd reason. Why Necro even choose this very odd, old and obscure reference instead of something like Law and Order or CSI, no one knows, certainly not me… okay, I DO know, but I’m not telling you. So there.

“I’m glad you all could make it here tonight. You see… there’s been a rash of thefts… and one of you is the guilty party…”

“Why are we tied up? I didn’t do anything wrong! I want a lawyer!” Reaver began, but was interrupted by Necro.

“You want a lawyer, how about one from SMITH AND WESSON!” Necro yelled in dramatic fashion, pulling out .50 revolver from his coat and pointing it directly at Reaver’s head.

“I’d answer the questions; Necro here is playing the Bad Cop tonight. I’m here to make sure he doesn’t get too wild…” Jenkins sighed, staying in the shadows.

“This is NOT what I needed today. Look, Necro, I’m sorry about your pie, but we have…” Grim began.

“SILENCE!!!” Necro yelled in pure paranoia, letting loose a round from the .50, which caused Necro to stumble backwards due to the sheer recoil of the large handgun. Grim’s head however felt the full force of the bullet, and was sent bouncing around the room like his skull was made of rubber until finally a door was opened so Grim’s head could bounce down the hallway until it eventually ran out of momentum.

“Search the bag of bones. If he’s clean, send the body to the incinerator… and if it’s guilty, send it for the fishes to gnaw on…” Necro ordered.

“That made no sense whatsoever… where’s Jenna?”

“She’s out doing patrol in a different area. She’s not coming here to restore sanity any time soon,” Necro cackled maniacally.

“Know what? I’m taking Grim’s chair and I’m getting out of here, do whatever you want to those sods,” Jenkins sighed, doing so.

“WHAT? You can’t leave us here with this madman! He’ll make us do… PAPERWORK! Or worse!!!” Loki cried out in sheer horror.

“Consider this revenge for certain times throughout our lives where you’ve pulled stunts on me,” Jenkins shrugged, disappearing into the shadows.

“Now, you two…” Necro smiled wickedly, producing his scythe and licking it like a crazy anime villain does for no reason whatsoever (I swear this is just getting more and more insane, I can’t stop it… because I’m having too much fun).

“Take it easy Necro…” Reaver said nervously, trying to scoot away from Necro in his chair.

“I will do things SO horribly twisted and cruel that you will want to do paperwork for YEARS to come! I WILL…”

“Boy, that was a delicious pie! I hope there’s more of that pie in the future soon!” a small squeaky voice chimed in. Everyone in the room stopped and stared in the direction as Mog the Moogle came floating in, with pie crumbs all over his face.

“Hi Necro! Thanks for the pie you baked for me! I didn’t think you’d let me have the whole pie like that! It’s nice to have you as a master/best friend!” Mog said innocently, and floated off into the darkness.

Several minutes of awkward silence passed before Necro nervously cleared his throat. “Umm.. ok… this is… yeah… I… uhhhh… Bye!”

Necro zoomed off into the darkness, leaving Loki and Reaver tied up in the light.

“We’re going to get left alone again like we always do, aren't we?” Reaver asked

“Yeah, I’m sorta getting used to it… I had more fun in the epic trilogy than these short stories,” Loki replied.

“I know, when will we ever…”

And so a THRILLING mystery is concluded, one that will stimulate both the intellectuals and those who are here just for good old fashioned humor. Stay tuned for the next bone chilling tale!

< Message edited by superjars -- 6/13/2011 23:43:57 >
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 5
8/10/2011 22:38:17   
superjars
Member

The True Name of a Nemesis
by wildroses

Dear Mother and Father,
Your letter arrived today. I am glad to read Father has recovered from the necrotic plague he contracted, and sorry to hear Mother’s search for whoever created it is not progressing well. I do not believe my nemesis is responsible. While I judge Lord Darkstar to be capable of producing such a foul fiend, my confrontations with him so far indicate his taste in undead abominations runs to monsters which rely on brute physical or magical strength. He also appears to be content with terrorising Seabrook Village and has given no indication he wishes to expand his territory.


Tessa-Marie stopped writing as someone began hammering on the door. The visitor wasn’t familiar, but her expression of frenzied panic was.
“Has Darkstar unleashed another undead abomination, or kidnapped a child?”
“Kidnapped a child. Mine! The necromancer says he’ll kill Euphemia unless you meet him at the Cherry Blossom. Euphemia’s only two...”
“What’s the Cherry Blossom? Is it a park?”
“It’s a restaurant.”
Tessa-Marie opened her wardrobe. “I’d better change. I think that dreadful yellow dress Mother gave me would be suitable. It’s formal, and if he has another undead abomination waiting I won’t care if it gets ruined. Do you think the waiter will let me take a sword in, or should I hide daggers in my boots and sleeves?”
“The necromancer says he’ll kill Euphemia if you aren’t there in ten minutes!”
“Damn the man! Why does he always leave it to the last minute before letting me know he made a reservation?”

Euphemia was playing with Darkstar’s pocket watch, but when Tessa-Marie arrived, he reclaimed it. “Nine minutes, six seconds. Pretty slow by your standards. What held you up?”
“Changing my outfit,” Tessa-Marie puffed, glancing at the girl. She was glowering while trying to reach Darkstar’s watch, so Tessa-Marie assumed there had been no harsh treatment.
“You must be thirsty after all that sprinting. I’ll buy you a drink and dinner,” said Darkstar.
Tessa-Marie rolled her eyes. “No you won’t. You’ll tell the cook you’ll kill him unless we eat free.”
“Details. It’s the same result both ways.”
“You know Darkstar, you don’t have to take hostages when you want to see me. You can just ask. I’d say yes. I enjoy talking to you. You’re the first nemesis I’ve had who wants to talk about things other than world domination and my impending demise.”
“I could ask,” Darkstar agreed. “But I’m not going to. If I gave you a choice it means there is always the risk of you forgetting you agreed or deciding there is something more important than me. But if I kidnap a child there is no chance of you not coming, because there is nothing a hero values more than the life of an innocent child.” Darkstar placed his hand on the toddler’s brown curls for emphasis. Euphemia didn’t mind that, but she did mind Tessa-Marie picking her up and stepping away from Darkstar as it meant she was further than ever from Darkstar’s wonderfully shiny watch. Euphemia’s mother arrived as she started wailing.
“Euphemia! It’s alright, Mummy’s here! What did that horrible man do to you?”
“Nothing. It was the hero. Tessa-Marie, stop glaring. It was you. She didn’t start crying 'til you touched her,” Darkstar turned to Euphemia’s mother. “I have no further need of your daughter. You may take her home.”
The woman hurried away clutching her child. Euphemia started screaming in earnest as all hope of re-possessing Darkstar’s watch was lost forever.

“That poor girl,” Tessa-Marie whispered, watching her go.
Darkstar led her into the restaurant. “Euphemia’s healthy and her mother cares otherwise she wouldn’t have screamed like a banshee when I took the kid. Euphemia certainly inherited her lungs from her mother. There is nothing pitiable about that child.”
“Except her name.”
Darkstar considered this as they sat at their table. “True. But if she hasn’t the sense to change her name when she gets older like I did, she deserves to be called Euphemia.”
“What is your name?”
“Darkstar.”
“Your real name.”
“Darkstar.”
“No it isn’t.”
“Yes it is. You call me Darkstar. I call me Darkstar. All my minions have called me Darkstar since I was seven. It’s much more real than my old name by now.”
“Stop being pedantic! You know I’m asking you what your old name was.”
“Much worse than Euphemia.”
“There is no name worse than Euphemia.”
“Mine is. What should I tell the cook to bring you?”
After a few moments reflection, Tessa-Marie decided to ignore the hint. She reached across the table to twist her fingers around Darkstar's, and leaned towards the necromancer, carefully letting her blonde hair fall over her shoulders. “Tell me your old name. Please?”
Unwillingly, Darkstar smiled in appreciation. “This is the first time I’ve seen you using feminine beguilement to achieve your goals. I can’t say it didn’t have any effect. I love having you as a nemesis. There really isn’t much I wouldn’t give you if you asked. But telling you my old name is certainly one of them.”
Tessa-Marie pushed her hair back over her shoulders with her free hand. “Why are you being so mysteriously secretive about it? Is your true name your only weakness?”
“My what?”
“True names were popular among evil when my parents were young. A villain would remove the life from his body and send it into his true name, which he would then hide. That way, the only way they could be killed was if the killer knew their true name.”
“I think I remember Caster describing them while I was still training,” Darkstar said. “They aren’t a safe path to immortality. It’s not only your existence in danger if someone gains your life via your true name. Free will is also lost. Most people who experimented with true names ended up becoming worse than slaves. That’s why it fell out of fashion.”
“Necromancers were particularly good at it because they routinely manipulate life.” Tessa-Marie paused to ensure that statement sunk in. “Any necromancer who doesn’t want to reveal his name is instantly suspected of having a true name.”
“You can suspect my true name of being my only weakness if it makes you happy but it’s not true,” Darkstar said. “I simply don’t want anyone to know my name because it’s awful.”
“Prove it. Tell me what it is.”
“No. Wouldn’t you rather another undead abomination? If you’re set on a true name I could probably make one which can only be vanquished if you know it’s true name.” Darkstar gaze became vague as he focused on some inward vision. “Certainly I’d have to give it a name,” he mused, more to himself than Tessa-Marie. “I imagine the hardest part would be persuading life to flow into an abstract concept with no physical link to the world... ”
“NO! No, no, no! I would much rather you gave me your true name! Surely you don’t want to watch me destroying another one of your creations...”
“Why would I not want to? I love watching you destroy my monsters.”
This statement made Tessa-Marie stare suspiciously at the necromancer for a long moment, but his utter sincerity was only too apparent. “Do you realise most necromancers get angry when their nemesis keep defeating their creations? When Lament was my nemesis the worst part of defeating his undead abominations was listening to him whine after.”
“Lament was a fool. It’s a good thing you’re my nemesis now. You deserve somebody who appreciates your talent...” Darkstar continued in this vein for a while. Tessa-Marie noticed he was attempting to distract her by flattery, but chose not to correct the impression she was no longer curious about his name. Clearly she would need to go to other sources to discover the name Darkstar had been born with, as Darkstar himself could not be persuaded to give it up.

Two days later Tessa-Marie invaded Darkstar’s fortress, if knocking on the main gates and asking to be let in could be called invading. Certainly it was the word she used when writing to her parents and hero friends. As Tessa-Marie knew she could invade if she wanted to it was basically true anyway. But as Darkstar had informed his minions that failure to comply with her requests for entry would result in instantaneous physical and spiritual annihilation, there was no point in needlessly expending her energy.
“Good morning...um...Marla,” Tessa-Marie said. Before becoming Darkstar’s nemesis she’d managed to get by with obliterating every single undead which crossed her path, but after she’d had to learn how to tell undead apart. Darkstar did not seem to regard his undead minions as easily replaceable. Dispatching one might provoke a reaction Tessa-Marie wouldn’t be able to contain. Certainly he’d rescind the order to comply with her requests for entry, and Tessa-Marie didn’t want that to happen yet.
Marla made beckoning gestures at her and started to lead Tessa-Marie through the gardens inside the fortress. “Good morning, dear. Do you want to see the master? Of course you do, that’s what you always want. I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you. I don’t think he’s ever been unhappy to see you, come to think of it. Keep coming, he’s inside, no, not the front door, this side door here. We don’t use it very often so I imagine you’ve never noticed it before...down these steps...this door on the left... a few more steps...”
The only reason Marla managed to lock the shackle around Tessa-Marie’s wrist was because she assumed the undead was about to pat her hand while calling her dear, which was something this particular undead did frequently. Tessa-Marie got over her surprise quick enough to snap Marla’s finger bones off and kick the skeleton across the room when she tried to fasten the second manacle around the other wrist.
“What do you think you’re doing, Marla? You received the title of Darkstar’s most favoured minion through sentiment, not power. I, on the other hand, have enough power both to get this shackle off and pound you into bone paste...”
“I’ve seen you demolishing Darkstar’s monsters enough times to know that, dear,” Marla said picking herself up off the ground. “But there is nothing you could do to me that is worse than what Darkstar would do if hears I did nothing to keep you here until he came home. His wrath would be terrible if you left before seeing him.”
“Darkstar isn’t home?”
“No, dear. He’s gone hunting. He ran out of monster parts again. Ever since you became his nemesis that happens more frequently. I hope Darkstar finds time to visit a graveyard too. I could use a new hand...”
“When will he be back?”
“Soon, I imagine. He left several hours ago.”
“Then I’ll wait until he comes home.” Tessa-Marie shook her hand, causing the chain between the shackle and the wall to rattle. “Now are you going to unlock this thing, or do I have to blast it off?”
“I’d prefer you blasted it off, dear. If you leave before the master returns it will prove I tried.”

The mana bomb ended up taking out a good chunk of the walls, ceiling and floor as well as the chains and manacle, not entirely by accident. Tessa-Marie had been hoping the extensive damage would incite Marla into a homicidal rage, allowing her to tell Darkstar with perfect honesty she’d had no choice but to return his homicidally-enraged, most-favoured minion to a state of non-being. Disappointingly, all Marla did was make admiring comments while Tessa-Marie picked her way over the rubble to the door. “Such widespread devastation and not a scratch on you! You’re even better than the master at protection spells. A pity you chose not to embark on magic as a career, you would have been impressive... This piece of paper fell out of your pocket, dear...Oh. You want to see the master and you have a list of boys names in your pocket? I hadn’t realised the two of you were that far along...”
“Ha!” Tessa-Marie cried excitedly (who had only started listening to Marla from ‘you are that far along’). “I knew one of those had to be his true name! And if you’re worried about me being that far along in finding it then Darkstar’s true name must be his one weakness!”
“Thank goodness. I didn’t think you two were that far along. True names? Darkstar mentioned you were fixated on that idea....” Marla’s voice trailed off as she scanned the list. “I’m afraid you're setting yourself up for disappointment on both counts, dear. The master did not put his life in his true name and even if he had, his true name isn’t on this list.”
“I won’t hold your lies against you. Minions have to lie to heroes about the source of their master’s weakness.” Giving a kindly smile, Tessa-Marie went on, “I know I’m right, so don’t try to convince me otherwise. Darkstar himself told me he killed the first Darkstar after being sent to this fortress as a child sacrifice twelve years ago. Seabrook Village has always been too close and defenseless against the threat of the Darkstar who holds the fortress. I’ve spent the last two days in Seakbrook researching the names of all the boys who were sent to the fortress twelve years ago. Darkstar has got to be one of them.”
“Oh dear, if only you’d talked to me first! I could have saved you all that pointless effort,” sighed Marla. “Darkstar isn’t from Seabrook Village.”
“What do you mean he’s not from around here? Where is he from?”
“I don’t know. It’s not a part of his life the master likes to talk about. All I know is he’s from the kind of place which hates people who show any aptitude for necromancy, which hardly narrows it down. I’m not sure if he was exiled or chose to leave, but either way when he walked into Seabrook Village it was clear no one would mourn him. That’s why they sent him to the old Darkstar.”

Mulling these pieces of gossip over, Tessa-Marie walked from the makeshift dungeon into one of the more comfortable sitting rooms, trailed by Marla. Reluctantly, she believed the undead. The bond between Darkstar and Marla was more intense than any master and minion she’d come across, which didn’t rule out the possibility Marla was lying about his true name being the source of his power. But when it came to details about Darkstar which couldn’t be used against him, Marla had so far been incurably honest.
“It looks like I’m going to need a new line of inquiry if I’m going to discover Darkstar’s true name.” Tessa-Marie sat in the nearest armchair and stared at Marla. When the skeleton remained silent she added: “If you knew it wasn’t on that list, then you must know what it is.”
“I do. But I’m not going to tell you.”
“Not even...”
“No.” Marla’s tone remained even, but the skeleton’s posture changed to become slightly more menacing. “No matter what you are about to say, dear, the answer is still no. What the master would do to me for telling is worse than what you would do to me for not telling. Darkstar is a good master to us all. He keeps us all safe, he doesn’t send us out to be slaughtered, and he lets us talk. There is nothing else in this world I want. And if you’re going to throw a tantrum you’d better do it quickly because I can sense the master approaching. He’ll be here in six minutes and thirty eight seconds.”
“Will he?” Tessa-Marie made a mental note to tell her parents and hero friends that undead were capable of sensing their necromancers over short distances as she got up to peer out the window. From behind the trees it was possible to see a hint of the black stone walls and the shine of the metallic gates, but the carefully arranged flower beds dotting the expanse of grass caught the eye more readily. One of the undead in residence had a passion for gardening, which Darkstar encouraged for reasons Tessa-Marie was still trying to discern. All her discreet investigations had uncovered nothing more sinister than photosynthesis. While she was staring at an impressive, but small, display of orchids the undead came into view. Tessa-Marie watched it removing the miniscule weeds, taking care not to disturb the flowers.
“Hmm. Darkstar will be here in six minutes? I’ll go meet him at the gate.” Without waiting for a response Tessa-Marie strode out the door. To her dismay, Marla followed. “You don’t have to come with me, Marla. Really.”
“Oh, it’s no trouble dear.”
“Yes it is! I can find the way myself. I won’t leave before seeing Darkstar, honest!”
“I need to see the master. He left me in charge during his absence. I need to give my report.”

Darkstar grinned when he saw Tessa-Marie. He had a pleasant smile, certainly a lot more pleasant than those damp, poorly wrapped packages the undead trailing him were carrying. Tessa-Marie made sure she locked gazes with the necromancer to lessen the risk of taking a closer look at any of the bundles.
“Hello, Tessa-Marie. If I’d known you planned to invade today I’d have stayed home.”
“I chained her in the second containment room to ensure she was still here when you returned, master, but she blew up the room and escaped,” Marla said. “The room can be salvaged with extensive repairs, but I fear the damage to the manacles is irreparable.”
“Thank you, Marla. It is that sort of devotion to my interests which made you my most-favoured minion. You may depart. The rest of you can depart as well. Caster can oversee the sorting and preservation of my materials.” Darkstar turned to Tessa-Marie, "Did you have a particular reason for invading my fortress?”
“I came to ask if you're free tonight. There’s a show on about the defeat of a Death Knight.”
“Sure! I’d love to see it with you. Studying the mistakes of others is always valuable.” Darkstar grabbed Tessa-Marie’s hand and started pulling her towards Seabrook Village.
“Oh, it doesn’t start for several hours yet,” said Tessa-Marie, resisting Darkstar’s gentle tugging. “I wasn’t planning we should go down straight away. Wouldn’t you like to stay here until then? Surely there are things you need to do. Without me.”
“Yes, but I don’t want to do any of them. Come on, we’ll find something interesting to do until the show starts. How about ice cream and a walk through the park?”
Tessa-Marie stopped resisting. Darkstar wasn’t stupid. Too much effort to get time alone in his garden might make him suspicious. Some plans you needed to bide your time. Maybe it was better this way. It would give her the chance to find some orchids first...

Tracking down the undead she was after proved no trouble as he never left the garden. Tessa-Marie made sure the box of orchids was held prominently in front of her and approached him.
“Hi there. Your name’s Peregrine, right? Nice day for gardening, isn’t it?”
The undead took a look at the contents of the box. “Tracey Darling. Hand them over.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s common knowledge you’ve been hunting the master’s true name. I want my bribe!”
Tessa-Marie held the box out of reach. “It isn’t a bribe! Heroes don’t bribe people, they give tokens of appreciation in return for information. You’ll get these tokens after you give me Darkstar’s real true name! Tracey is a girl’s name.”
“It’s occasionally given as a boys name. The master hates his name because when he was little everyone was always mistaking him for a girl and calling him a little Darling. Now gimme!” Peregrine snatched the box out of her hands. “The master will not die or become your slave because you know his true name. But you didn’t specify he had to so you can’t take them back.”
“Can’t take what back? Why did you come to see Peregrine before seeing me?” Darkstar said, causing Tessa-Marie, who hadn’t heard him approach, to jump. Darkstar’s forehead wrinkled. “What are you acting guilty about? You never cared about invading before. Where did you get those orchids, Perry? Did Tessa-Marie give them to you? You don’t seem to have bought anything for me. Why? I refuse to believe you like Peregrine more.”
“I like you much better than Peregrine, Tracey Darling.”
Darkstar made a hissing noise between a gasp of horror and scream of rage. “Peregrine, how could you? After all I’ve done for you! Don’t you know the meaning of loyalty?”
“Puh-lease, Master. Don’t pretend you wouldn’t have betrayed me if she offered you the right price. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have orchids to plant.”
Darkstar tried to follow, but Tessa-Marie stepped in his path. “So, now I have your true name does this mean you’re my slave in everything now? I want you to give up necromancy and stop wearing black. Then I want you to get a haircut and take me...”
By way of replying Darkstar engulfed the spot Tessa-Marie was standing on in a pillar of flame. Tessa-Marie managed to dodge it as well as the six other fireballs Darkstar hurled, although her hair and shoes were singed.
“You’re going to have to do much better than that if you want to come close to hurting me, my little Darling,” she cried, unsheathing her sword.
Darkstar’s eyes blazed. “I was planning to be merciful until you called me that!” The air around him started to swirl ominously and crackle with power.

Marla hurried towards the orchid flowerbed. “What’s all that smoke and screaming? Is the master in trouble?”
Peregrine didn’t look up from the hole he was digging. “The master and the hero are having a confrontation. He’s not pleased she discovered his true name. She’s not pleased he hasn’t become her slave.” Marla turned to go back inside. This did make Peregrine look up. “The master’s in peril and you’re not rushing to protect him? That’s a first.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’s not in any serious danger.”

It took three hours and forty nine minutes for the hero and necromancer to reach the stage were they were no longer capable of battle, at which point several undead tactfully approached offering bandages, burn salves and refreshments. Darkstar recovered enough for conversation first. “Why were you convinced my true name was my weakness when everyone was telling you it wasn’t? Do you want me dead that badly?”
Tessa-Marie shook her head, to the great annoyance of the undead trying to patch the slice on her neck. “No. I just couldn’t stop the wishful thinking. It was your free will I wanted, not your life. I couldn’t stop thinking about you having to obey my every desire.”
“Really? I feel the same way about you! I even researched compulsion spells.”
“Oh, Darkstar! I didn’t realise I meant that much to you! And they won’t work on me, so don’t even try.”
“I won’t. I abandoned the idea. You have too much personality for any compulsion spell I cast to be effective, even if I killed you first.”
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 6
8/10/2011 22:38:57   
superjars
Member

The Dogs of Darkness Prologue: Client X.
by Dragonnightwolf

In the beginning, it was about the dogs. The dogs of darkness were the ultimate project. The perfect specimen founded by the Raevyn Corporation. The dogs were the breakthrough of the century, the next big thing. The ultimate prize! But the genetic experiments done to the dogs of darkness had severe consequences. Handlers started disappearing, trainers mysteriously died in unusual circumstances. There were other experiments going on at Raevyn Corporation long before the dogs made their appearance. Client X was the leader of the industrial concepts of computer technology inside an animal host. He chose the big cats, tigers, lions and panthers.

But Client X was attracting too much attention to himself and so, as fate would have it, he had to be silenced for good.

The voice on one end of the phone belonged to Robert Mertahl, a 7 foot-5 inch, American man with a calm disposition and a cool, cruel temper to match. He had light blonde hair, dark sunglasses and denim jeans. On the other side of the phone was a woman that simply went by the name “Clarice.” She was speaking to Mertahl right now, “You understand your orders? We want Client X eliminated in 24 hours or someone will be sent to take care of you, Mr. Mertahl.” Her voice was cool and crisp, sharp and to the point. Best not to mess with someone like that.

“I understand perfectly well darlin', but why all the fuss over this guy?” Robert asked.

“Because, Mr. Mertahl, if Client X continues to divulge information as he has been doing, a great many research funds and government-issued checks will suddenly dry up and our departments will be shut down. We need this problem taken care of quickly and discreetly, understand? No mistakes will be tolerated. One mistake, Mr. Mertahl, and it will be your head.” Clarice’s side of the conversation suddenly went dead.

“Wha? Why that broad hung up on me, huh, the nerve of some people!” Mertahl commented. Robert Mertahl had been a hired assassin with Raevyn Corp. for years now. Best job he’d ever had. The pay was good, the benefits were many and he loved the thrill of danger.

But Robert always wondered about the mysterious shadows, the hunched obscure figures, and the tone Clarice always gave off. Robert wasn’t usually scared of anything, but this broad scared him. Something about her seemed so dark, sinister; he couldn’t put his finger on it, but Robert knew she was always serious.



Robert surveyed the parking lot for a good forty-five minutes before some distant shadow in the rear view mirror alerted him to someone or something in the area. “What the hey was that?” Robert said, turning around in his 1976 Ford Fairlane's seat, staring out the back window. A sick, crazy, crunch-crackle-crunch sound echoed in the stillness of that parking lot and the overhead lights in the area suddenly winked out, the sounds of pop-pop-pop could be heard as Robert gazed around him. The darkness of the night suddenly took hold around the vehicle and Robert stared out the front windshield. “What the heck is going on here?” Robert murmured as his hand reached for the door lock mechanism.

Robert heard an audible click of reassurance as he locked the door, but a continuous snap-snap-crackle alerted him that something or someone else was near the vehicle. Robert took out a mini-flashlight and swung it all around him, making dizzy light circles that cut through the darkness like a knife through butter.

Robert was getting nervous and reached down to his waist, unsnapping the .45 caliber pistol from its holster before lifting it up reassuringly. A sudden roar erupted as something slammed into the car, causing it to rock violently, and Robert yelled out some vague, indecipherable obscenity after being taken by surprise. A shadow slid easily into the back seat behind Robert and waited. Robert could feel the dark closing in and the hot breath on his neck. “HOLY-“ Robert managed to yell out as the shadow descended upon his face. A faint scream echoed from the car that night.

The next day Raevyn Corp was staring at photos taken of the body of their hired help. Clarice stared with furious anger and abject horror written in her eyes. “That idiot! I told him to be prepared. Now we need a new wing-man to eliminate Client X. Furthermore, who in the world took out our assassin?” Clarice swung her eyes off the photos and at the anxious, nervous faces of her co-workers. “WELL?” she yelled with a fiery tempo to her voice.

“We uh- we’re not sure, Ma’am. We think it could have been one of those, uh-um, experimental dingos.” A man named Clark stated adjusting his wire-framed glasses on his face.

“There’s no way the dingos could cause that kind of damage,” Clarice replied staring back at the photos. “No, we need to find out who else is involved.”



12:30 A.M.

Friday.

The woman had said it was important, claiming that if I didn’t show up at this ungodly hour, I’d be fired. Feh, yeah right, like someone is going to fire me. Names Frisco, San Frisco-yeah, I know, funny name, ha ha, I get that all the time. I was called in on this case when one of Raevyns employees wound up kicking the dirt, so to speak. An odd factor in this case was that the victim didn’t have a heart; it’d gone missing. Another was the contorted, odd look on the face. Like a sudden realization before that last match goes out. I surveyed the body and jotted down several notes to bring to this meeting.

The dame was late. Figures.

“Mr. Frisco, so good of you to come,” Clarice stated with a smile. She was cute. Like zowee kind of cute. The kind that you want to take out for a show tune and a musical, and end it all with a candlelit walk down an avenue. I stared at her for a long time. “Ahem. Mr. Frisco, if we could get down to business and stop gawking at my physique?” Clarice asked with a faint growl like she was getting annoyed.

“Oh! I’m... uh-sorry there, Miss Clarice; it’s just I’ve never quite seen anyone so lovely as you,” I replied, forcing myself to look at her eyes. Whoa, was this dame hot. But she was also getting very, very, upset with me. I decided to cool down.

“All right, Clarice, here’s what we got. An M.O., no fingerprints except the victims, a couple claw marks, some very course hair and lastly a cell with numbers I don’t know of in it. Whoever he was talking to, this guy was connected. And as for this mysterious, Client X; well, he’s gone into hiding,” San finished, shaking out his jacket.

Clarice left in a bad temper. I thought the dame was gonna be okay about it; but she wasn’t.



I located Client X a week later, and I was instantly surprised by the individual’s build. Good, lean body, muscular-the body builder type, I suppose you could say. Around the time Client X left and I was about to tail him, something attacked my car.

It was like something out of a horror movie. I got a real good glimpse of the teeth too. The Beretta came out and a couple shots were fired to scare him, or it, off and my camera went off with a brilliant flash of light at the fleeing suspect. Now, look at the following pictures, Junior Private Eyes. See if you can figure out who the killer has been.

Was it:
A. Client X.
B. Clarice.
C. One of the genetic experiments of Raevyn Corp.
D. Was it the Corps leader who wasn’t previously mentioned, Johnny Xecelcior.

Look at the clues, Junior Sleuths; see if you can figure out the person behind the missing man mystery.

Now that you’ve seen the clues, who do you think it is?

spoiler:

If you figured it’s one of the genetic experiments of Raevyn Corp. then you figured out who the killer is. That’s right, Junior Sleuths, the killer was experiment 3667, known as Project Meltdown, a jaguar enhanced with the intelligence of a wolf and the speed of a cheetah.


Good work sleuths! I’m very proud of you. This is San Frisco, signing off.

The End
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 7
8/11/2011 0:29:38   
superjars
Member

Conclusions?
by superjars

It was very odd for them to give him a call on so routine of a case. His expertise was usually better suited for cases that were deemed unsolvable, but this one seemed pretty routine from where he stood: body found floating face-down in a local river, two bullet holes in the back of the skull. They might not have any suspects yet, but some solid police work should get them the results they were hoping for.

“So, why exactly am I hear, Captain?” his gravelly voice spoke, echoing the man's inner thoughts. “This one looks like a pretty cut and dry case. Not my usual fare; I usually only get calls for the more strange cases.”

The robust man took a long drag on his cheap cigar, smoke blowing out of his mouth in small concentric circles. A couple of measured steps brought him up alongside the professor, a faint wheezing sigh pressing between his lips as he began to speak.

“It don't look like much, but I can guarantee it's like nothing you've ever seen before. We know the murder weapon, time of death and have a pretty good idea about who did it,” he wheezed, stopping to take another long pull on his cigar, kindly making sure to blow it away from the taller man standing beside him, before continuing. “Only problem, and the reason we called you in, is that we have no clue who the victim is. She's got no identification, no fingerprints, and doesn't appear anywhere in our systems. If we can't figure out who she is and why she was killed, we'll be hard pressed to lock the criminal up who did it.”

The tall man pursed his lips, focusing to control the finer controls of his cybernetic eye. He zoomed in on the freshly dead corpse, searching for some signs that this woman, if he could even assume that much, could be identified. He switched through several other modes – infrared, heat imaging and molecular breakdown – but nothing seemed to tell him any more than the police could have already found out.

“Well, that is interesting indeed. I haven't been able to glean any more than what you've already told me. This may end up being a challenging case for me after all,” he said slowly, flitting his attention back to the heavyset man at his side, letting his eye return to its normal functions. “I suppose I'll take it on then. I'll need to go and get some additional tools from my lab at the college, and I'll need to examine the body more thoroughly. Meet at the police lab in an hour?”

Another pull on the cigar was the only response he got as the large man trudged forward, barking out orders to his team to get the evidence bagged and tagged and to get the body taken out of here. The professor turned swiftly on his heel, heading directly for the car that would take him to his home.



It was only fifty-five minutes later when Professor Kyle Raspartin walked into the forensics lab of the police station, carrying with him two heavy-looking bags, one over each shoulder. The corpse of a young woman lay there, covered with a sheet to protect her modesty, clothing spread out on a cold slab beside. The only other person in the room was a lab tech that Raspartin didn't recognize. He nodded to the young man and headed directly to the table, setting his investigative tools down on a nearby chair. Opening them up, he pulled a small pair of tweezers out of one and walked over to the clothing, gingerly picking them up to examine each more closely. His eye zoomed in on the material composition of the fabric, taking stock of any foreign particles that may be lodged in between its strands. He looked over every article thoroughly, logging every observation in the hard drive connected to his brain for review later. Strangely enough, Raspartin did some of his best work while he slept; it was then that his mind was able to process and collate the data stored there throughout the day and when he awoke, it would all be laid out before him.

For now, his primary motivation was looking into this case and finding out what was going on. As he turned towards the table, he was not surprised to find that the coroner, Doctor Tracy Carlisle, standing by the body waiting for him. He had smelt her odd aroma when she entered, a mixture of formaldehyde and perfume which he found oddly pleasant at the same time that it was utterly revolting.

“Good to see you again, Professor,” she said coolly, her voice asking questions about his presence that her words did not. “And what brings the great detective into my humble morgue.”

“That body, as it turns out,” he replied with a similar tone, doing his best not to be shaken by her attacks. “I was hping you could tell me some things about how she died and maybe why.”

“The first question is easy enough; the casings for three bullets were retrieved from her brain, shot from close distance,” came her measured reply, fact-driven and professional. “As to the why, that isn't really my area of expertise, but I found some strange markings on her wrists which I've not seen before. Some sort of tattoo or something, but nothing I've ever laid eyes on before.”

“You say there are three bullets? But there are only two holes in the skull.”

“Strange thing, that. Appears as if the shooter placed two bullets end to end in his shots. One of the holes only contained one bullet, but the other had two, nearly melded together in the victim's brain. That had to be quite the shot for it to fuse with the bullet already in there rather than ricocheting off and into another part of the brain.



Kastio snaps the book shut after placing a small jar-shaped bookmark on that page. This story was turning out to be a very interesting one, indeed, but he did not currently have the time to continue on. With a large section of the library missing, that should be his primary priority. Ah, that was a book that he hadn't thought about for a while: Spheres of Influence and the Primary Priority. There were so many good books out there, but he only had so much time to read them all, especially with his traipsing around looking for more.

However, now wasn't the time to be thinking about other books, when a whole section of them had disappeared. He took the book he had picked up recently and shoved it into an inner pocket, saving it for a later read and scrutiny. For now, he needed to focus on his search for clues.

The library seemed to have all sorts of interesting things happening lately, he wasn't sure what to think about it. Of course, the biggest problem was that all of this strangeness kept him from his actual job: searching out new titles for the library proper. But, such was life in Eukara Vox's library, and he wouldn't trade it in for anything else in the world. She had given him more of a purpose since he'd been under her tutelage and for that, he was eternally grateful.

He searched around for a few hours, not really finding anything helpful, or even interesting, before he heads back to the Mystery section of the library. As his lanky limbs carried him back towards the predetermined meeting place, he suddenly stopped in place, staring at where before had been just nothingness. The others were also there, staring out at what was now a fully-functioning section of the library, returned to its former glory as if nothing at all had happened to it.

"Well, what in the heavens is this all about..."
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 8
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