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#Post#: 3273--------------------------------------------------
Party Trouble
By: TheDanishGuy Date: March 4, 2013, 2:33 pm
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[center]Party Trouble[/center]
A young, raven-haired man in sky blue mage clothes, complete
with a pointy hat, walked down a straight road on a cloudy
Summer morning.
He was merrily whistling, when suddenly he was ambushed, by two
men from the shrubbery besides the road.
A giant hulk of a man with a goatee and a bulky set of armour
swung a mighty hammer at him while a mousy, grey-haired fellow
snatched up the young man's wand.
The mage looked back at the hammer and ducked quickly, making it
slam into the huge man's accomplice, knocking him down.
”I'll be getting this back, thank you!” the mage said while
getting his wand from the dazed man's hand on the ground.
He swiftly swung his staff, and a light blue hue encapsuled the
big man's hammer, which then proceeded to slam its owner it the
face several times.
”Enough! Enough!” the assailed yelled, between giggles. ”You
pased the test!”
”TEST?!” the young man shrieked, and smashed the brute in the
face once more for emphasis.
The bulky man laughed heartily and gave him his hand.
They shook hands, and the man took back his hammer, brought his
partner back on his feet, and started explaining: ”I am
Balthazar, a warrior. We have used this method for months to
find the perfect third man to our quest party. Not easy.”
The small, grey-haired man got to his feet, still groggy. The
mage noted that he had yellow clothes on with a red border.
”Urgh …. You pack a hell of a punch. Anyways, I am Irgrod, a
cleric of Irgellthar University. And what and who are you,
traveller?” he asked while correcting his small, round glasses.
The young man rubbed his smooth chin with his left hand, and
then swung his wand with the other.
He was immediately engulfed in deep blue light, and a small bang
was heard.
He appeared again in a gust of light blue smoke, and then spoke
to them.
”Yngvill,” he said. ”Mage. Speciality: Transformation.”
”I don't see anything.” Balthazar said sceptically.
”Look.” Yngvill said and shot out his lips. ”I made myself a
moustache.”
”Oh, yeah!” the others said.
”Anyways, if you can use your magic for other things than
parlour tricks, do you agree to follow us on our journey?”
Irgrod asked.
”Hmm. I was looking for adventure. Count me in. What are we
doing?”
”There's an abandoned cave system north of here, by the
mountains. We heard that there's treasure somewhere in there. A
mage would be useful for fending off the creatures in there, and
for generally lighting the way for the rest of us.” Balthazar
said.
”Sounds interesting. Let's go.”
And so they did. Half an hour later, they were inside with
Yngvill lighting in front of them with a speck of
lighthouse-like light from his wand.
There was a constant dripping emitting from the stalactites in
the ceiling, and the three forms' shadows were flickering in the
light on the walls.
”Brr,” Yngvill shuddered. ”It's creepy here.”
”Bah!” Balthazar grinned. ”Just you wait 'til you see the
monsters we'll no doubt run into.”
Yngvill blanched and swallowed audibly.
Not soon after, they came to a halt, when the road split into
three different ones, with not very large openings.
”Looks like we have to take one each.” Irgrod said.
The others nodded, and Balthazar, Yngvill and Irgrod took one
each from left to right, all with their weapons drawn.
Yngvill walked steadily forward, magic light in hand, when a
rumbling noise made him jump in the air and hit the lowhanging
ceiling.
He turned around, still bent forward because of the ceiling, and
investigated the source.
It turned out to be a cave-in, blocking his way back.
Yngvill frowned. ”Hey, guys? Guys?” he yelled. No answer.
He shrugged. ”Oh well, I hope there's a way out in the other
end.” he said and kept walking.
Soon enough, he got into a sort of clearing inside the cave,
with a bigger ceiling.
He got out and stretched.
There were several tunnels going from the clearing, and the
young mage was trying to pick one, when a clicking sound came
noisily from the left.
He turned to face a horde of large scorpions, each 3 feet in
length, walking in a row from the outmost left tunnel into the
clearing.
They were pale and red-eyed, and paid no attention to him, just
standing in a row, clicking their claws impatiently.
Once this was clear to him, he started to pick a tunnel, when he
suddenly heard something, like a slow voice in his head.
”We …. We ….”
He turned around again, and looked at the row of twenty white
scorpions, looking at him.
”Did you just …. ?” One of them nodded.
”Cool, they talk telepathically!” he grinned.
”We ….. We ….. We must bring you to our Master.” They all moved
quickly towards him, tails raised, stingers dripping with green
poison.
The mage got a look of panic on his face.
”Less cool!”
He tried to dash to one of the tunnels, but was quickly
surrounded by the scorpions, stingers at the ready.
”Oh, drat!” he cursed vehemently. Sweat poured down his face.
”What do I do now?” he murmured.
#Post#: 3321--------------------------------------------------
Re: Party Trouble
By: TheDanishGuy Date: April 30, 2013, 1:56 pm
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Yngvill was on the verge on panic, when a memory of Wizard
School flashed before his eyes.
He swung his wand furiously while yelling a spell in the ancient
magic language: ”Nets, dlaf den!”
and the ceiling caved in, smashing the horde of scorpions.
The young mage stood in the sunlight, sweating like a pig and
covered in dust, when he heard a familiar voice coming from the
hole above.
”Hey! Mage boy! Up 'ere!” Balthazar yelled.
Yngvill smiled. ”Vylf!” he commanded, and levitated up the hole
using the simple spell.
He quickly joined with the other two on top of the cave system
and got caught up to speed.
Irgrod adjusted his small, round glasses, which had a small,
jagged crack in one of the sides, took a deep breath, and
started explaining.
”You see, we were all seperated and frightened.” ”Frightened
nothin'!” Balthazar interrupted with a scoff. Both the smaller
men glared at him, and the large, fair-haired barbarian shrunk
under their view, letting them continue.
”As I was saying: I walked down my own corridor, when suddenly
three man-sized ticks appeared.
They were drooling all over the place and clicking their
mandibles. I must admit I panicked just long enough for one to
jump me.”
”And then I saved his butt!” Balthazar bragged loudly.
”Yes, yes you did.” the cleric said with dry sarcasm, while
pushing his glasses further up on his nose bridge with a sigh.
”But you did so by getting drunk and breathing them to death!”
he berated his colleague.
”Er, yes, whoops. Ye see, Yngvill, I was getting some, er,
liquid courage after my own fight with sum beetles, when
scaredycat here was screaming for help.” He slapped Irgrod on
the back, causing
him to drop his glasses. He picked them up looking annoyed.
Balthazar, however, was so enthralled in his animated
storytelling that he paid no heed to it whatsoever.
”So I came out, hacking and slashing and cutting, and some burst
open with a SKERBLERSH, blood spewing everywhere, when I burped,
and one straight up shriveled up and died, schreeching.”
”Yes, he saved the day by being rude, wonderful. Shall we move
on, then?” The cleric polished his glasses absentmindedly and
impatiently.
Yngvill nodded. ”Yes, indeed, come on.” He led the way on top of
the cave system, eventually finding another hole down in it, and
levitated the group down into a medium-sized cavern, with only
one tunnel leading further into the dark, dank cave system.
They looked to each other, all nodding confidently, with
Balthazar taking a swig from his trusty canteen, Irgrod frowning
worriedly over his partner's behaviour, and Yngvill smiling
smugly.
Yngvill lighted his wand and led the way into the tunnel.
#Post#: 3359--------------------------------------------------
Re: Party Trouble
By: TheDanishGuy Date: June 9, 2013, 2:39 pm
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Yngvill was first in line, wand alight, then Irgrod, then
Balthazar holding his warhammer straight as the back party, his
teeth nervously chatting.
”Calm down, old pal. Nothing to be scared about.” Irgrod
comforted calmly.
”I ain't scared! This place is just too cold is all!” Balthazar
prostested.
Yngvill snickered to himself, and saw light ahead, so he turned
off his own wand light and alerted his two companions.
They entered a giant, candle-lit hall, almost perfectly
circular. They heard scuttering in the shadowy
corners, the clicking of mandibles, and bone plates grinding
together from the massive ensemble of critters lurking in the
room.
In the middle, there was a made table, with a white cloth and
fruit bowls. Only the food on the plates were not tasy looking
to the party: It was human flesh, upon which a variety of
enlarged animals were now feasting.
And at the end of the room, sitting on a throne, was a little
man with a sparkling gold crown.
If the three friends weren't repulsed before, they were now;
their eyes widened collectively in horror
and their mouths were agape with shock. Balthazar blanched,
Irgrod was perspirating and looking green, and Yngvill even
threw up in his mouth. Overall, he was a disgusting sight: He
had ragged, red robes with golden borders, a scepter of ebony,
and a golden crown. His body was bloated like a tick, he had the
tail of a scorpion, and his face was that of a spider's, oozing
green slime from his perpetually open mouth and clicking his
mandibles absentmindedly.
The heroes recovered themselves in time to hear the little king
speak in a growling hiss like he was out of breath:
”I am the Arachnid King. Congratulations, travellers, you have
made it to my throne room. For years, I have protected my
coveted treasure from greedy humans like yourselves. Prepare to
meet your fate.”
”That's impossible!” Yngvill protested, swallowing his own vomit
before doing so.
”The Arachnid King has been gone for centuries!”
”Or so I let you think. Look around you; many did not believe
so, they are now dead.”
The little royal figure swung out one of his arms to one of the
corners, and the heroes were once again stunned: All around the
corners, there were bones of humans and humanoids, sucked dry by
the repulsive creatures the Arachnid King ruled over. They
silently wondered what the beasts were munching on now,
mandibles clicking and mouths slurping.
”I have not been defeated, my treasure never found, and my
legion will lay waste to your petty party. Attack, my brethren!”
The three men nearly panicked, drew their weapons, and prepared
to defend themselves.
”Here we go again!” Yngvill quipped, swinging his wand at a
large scorpion.
Irgrod groaned and smacked a oversized tick with his staff while
Balthazar chuckled and smashed a beetle with his warhammer.
The trio had party trouble; the arachnid monsters closed in on
them, encircling the men.
”We're in a pinch here!” Irgrod said. ”What are we going to do?”
”Well, you're the egghead, man! You figure it out!” Balthazar
grunted.
”Don't talk to me that way! I have a college degree, you
ruffian!”
”Oh yeah?” Balthazar broke the back of yet another black beetle
with a crunch, then walked calmly over to his friend and
unplugged the cork of his hip flask and sprayed a small amount
of the brown liquid on the large tick, which dried up and
browned with a bloodcurdling dying scream.
”Well, this ruffian just saved your hide!” he laughed.
Irgrod smiled weakly, then turned to the throne where the King
was getting off his seat.
”Why is he coming at us?” Irgrod whispered.
”Look around you.” Yngvill replied. ”We've killed a bunch of his
critters, and the rest are retreating, some even wounded.”
Irgrod had been too focused on the battle to notice, but now he
did: There were no living monsters left, only stacks and stacks
of dead, bleeding beetles, scorpions and ticks, and the rest
were leaving hurriedly through large cave holes in both of the
walls.
”Congratulations, ”heroes”.” the Arachnid King heaved and
drooled.
”You've defeated more of my critters than I have ever seen
anyone do before. But if you think I'll point you to my
treasure, you've got another thing coming!”
With that, he raised his scepter, and a large, golden beam shot
out at the party.
”Nooo!” Balthazar screamed, throwing himself in between his
friends and the devastating beam.
He bit down hard so as to not scream, and formed a grim smile to
the horrified people he protected.
Eventually, the beam stopped, and Balthazar fell down flat on
his face, his armour torn and his back burned and bruised. There
was no sign of life in his body.
Irgrod looked in horror through teary eyes at the still form on
the dirty cave floor, and then turned in rage to the Arachnid
King.
”You monster! HE WAS MY FRIEND!”
The Arachnid King cackled mercilessly, and Irgrod attacked him,
blinded by rage.
The tiny royalty countered, and attacked hand-to-hand with his
scepter.
Yngvill stood by a little, and then threw himself into the fray.
”Ød, tid nivs!” he yelled and fired a bolt of green lightning
from his wand.
The abomination shrieked in pain, convulsed and then collapsed
on the dusty stone floor.
”What the hell?!” Irgrod yelled and seized Yngvill by the
collar.
”He killed my best friend, and you deny me my avenging kill?
What kind of jerk are you?”
Yngvill simply pointed to the form on the floor. Green ooze
seeped from his mouth, and he breathed
heavily still.
Irgrod's eyes glinted with excitement, and he rushed up and
kicked the little ruler in the stomach so hard he went flying
into the wall.
”Stand up, you coward! Stand up and fight!”
The non-human coughed, then activated a switch behind him.
A bit of the long wall disappeared behind him, and he cleared
his troath, then spoke.
”Take what you wish, ”heroes”, if only you'll spare me and my
friends for more pain. Please ….”
He looked almost pitiable, but the two adventurers hardened.
They grabbed Balthazar from the floor
and went into the room with a final scowl to the Arachnid King,
who closed the wall behind them.
They looked in awe at the piled treasure of gold, silver and
jewels, as well as priceless artefacts, all undoubtedly stolen
from less fortunate thrill-seekers than themselves.
”Wauw.” Yngvill only said, his eyes widening.
”Well, we better take what we can carry. I see an exit in the
ceiling further ahead, and I can levitate us all, even though
it'll take effort with our weigth and my exaustion. May I use
poor Balthazar's satchel?”
Irgrod looked once at their comrade, then nodded grimly.
They filled their backpacks and satchels, and levitated up,
ending in a grassy field, in which they buried Balthazar. They
gave him the epitaph: ”Here lies a proud warrior, who died
protecting his friends from the Arachnid King. A more noble
companion none could want.” They erected his warhammer in lieu
of a gravestone. They parted ways, never to meet again, and
lived well on the treasure they found, but they never forgot
their friend's sacrifice.
[center]THE END[/center]
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