Re: The Phenomenal Fracas! (GBS2G6): [Round Four: The Warped Edifice]
10-12-2011, 02:16 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by MrGuy.
As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Ripper began to wish she hadn’t. The beings around her were in that uncomfortable realm of just about human that made it all the worse to look at them; she briefly envied Syvex for his lack of eyes. The one on the left, a woman, appeared to have misaligned eyes and one arm slightly shorter than the other; the man on the right had the opposite problem, looking far too symmetrical for his own good. The woman stretched out a hand towards the pair, and Ripper gingerly touched it, afraid of some nebulous Bad Thing happening when the hands made contact.
Luckily, the only thing that happened was a rather slow shake, and the woman talking very slowly in a strange language that neither the pirate nor the snake recognized. After finishing a sentence, she paused for several seconds, before starting up again in a completely different dialect. After about three and a half tries at this, Blackmask grew aggravated. “Belay this, ya lubber! If you speak English or Portuguese or anythin’ I might actually know, maybe we can parley.”
The two under-dwellers glanced at each other, before the man spoke up. “I… think I… can speak… some en-glish, sir. Please, come with us.” The two of them slowly began moving forward; Ripper shrugged, and leaned down to Syvex. “You think we should go with these drivelswiggers?”
The snake gave a fairly good approximation of a shrug for something without proper shoulders. “I can’t imagine any better course of action. If we don’t, they’ll probably try to kill us.”
“And what if they’re takin’ us to our deaths right now?” “Then they’ll just chase us down if we try to leave. Come on.” He slowly headed forward; Ripper grumbled and followed.
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The most obvious thing about the town was that the vast majority of light poured out of various holes scattered throughout the sides of the pyramid, with a particularly large amount spilling out of the very top. Aside from the occasional torch, it was the only thing keeping the place from being completely impossible to navigate.
The second thing one was likely to notice was the sheer amount of rooms. The route the four took to the center of town passed directly through several, mainly because it was too much of a pain to move around them constantly. If nothing else, though, Ripper was happy to find that there was still no proper warping of the space-time continuum; every room, no matter how outlandish (and the closer to the pyramid, the more preposterous they became), none of them opened up into another room you couldn’t see from the outside, or had a window that allowed you to see above ground, or any such nonsense.
As they slowly climbed the stairs of the pyramid, Syvex occasionally delaying them so he could swerve away from one of the light sources, the symmetrical man continued talking. He said his name was Alm, and the woman’s was Till; “we are all gi-ven names… by the great god… of the py-ra-mid,” he managed to spit out, “who grants us light and shel-ters us from the war-ping.”
Syvex sighed, vexed by this information. “With all due respect to your god, he doesn’t seem to be doing a great job of it.” A gasp might be expected in normal circumstances, but instead, Alm just laughed and responded, “one might… think as much… would-n’t they? But you should see… what it was… like be-fore he came. Things have tru-ly… got-ten bet-ter.” There was a pause of about eight seconds, allowing everyone to feel mildly uncomfortable while listening to the whistling of the wind at the summit of the pyramid. Eventually, Till piped up. “This is… the great god’s home. Out-sid-ers… must all vis-it… so we may know… what to do with them.”
Blackmask felt rather unnerved by this wording. “You aren’t talkin’ about the hempen jig, are ya?” All three of her current companions stood uncomfortably and uncomprehending for a moment. “A dance with Jack Ketch? The admiral’s spot?”
Eventually, Syvex grinned. “I believe he means ‘are you going to kill us.’” The two under-dwellers shared an understanding “oh” before shaking their heads. “He nev-er has us… kill out-sid-ers. Do not wor-ry. Now please, in-side.”
Ripper glanced at Syvex, realizing the problem immediately. “I don’t think he can go in. Poor lubber’s going to take a trip with the Dutchman if he goes in that bright a light.” Till whispered something to Alm, who solemnly nodded. “If that… is so, then… we have no choice.” He leaned into the pyramid’s blinding light and bellowed something down; after about five seconds, the lights went off.
Complete and total darkness is one of the rarest things imaginable. In almost any case, there is at least some faint spot of light, even in the deepest depths of space. But they were so high, so far from any light source but the pyramid itself, that Syvex and Ripper soon experienced it; the former found it amazing, and the latter terrifying. Till nudged them both, and Ripper nodded, and slowly climbed through the hole, Syvex following shortly thereafter.
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On roughly the other side of town, Muriegro was sitting on a large rock, watching in mild disinterest as Eureka beat someone to death with what was previously a third arm, giggling and demanding that he stop hitting himself. After about ten minutes of this she got bored, tossed the arm to the ground, and taking her knife back from the other new friend, who had borrowed it to store in his chest. She twirled it around, whistling jauntily.
Muriegro caught the sound of more footsteps, and swiveled his head to face a group of ten or so people approaching. They appeared to be wielding some large clubs; two near the back carried shotguns and chains. Laguja quickly decided that it was more advantageous, both in the long-term and the short-term, to be friends with these people than with the girl who was now dancing with a corpse while insulting him for stepping on her feet.
The priest tapped Eureka on the shoulder; she spun around, dropping her dance partner, and grinned widely. “Mooooore friends! Hooray! We can have a party! A knife party! Yay, sharing!” She was so excited about spending time with her new friends that she barely even noticed the Good Night Boulder smacking into the back of her head. Muriegro’s stitched lips were just flexible enough to move into a tiny smile. Though the powers his god granted were awe-inspiring in every respect, it was always pleasant to employ a more direct solution.
And as the under-dwellers laid down most of their weapons, though not their chains, and drew closer, Laguja lacked only the lips to smile as well.
As soon as she reached the bottom of the stairs, Ripper began to wish she hadn’t. The beings around her were in that uncomfortable realm of just about human that made it all the worse to look at them; she briefly envied Syvex for his lack of eyes. The one on the left, a woman, appeared to have misaligned eyes and one arm slightly shorter than the other; the man on the right had the opposite problem, looking far too symmetrical for his own good. The woman stretched out a hand towards the pair, and Ripper gingerly touched it, afraid of some nebulous Bad Thing happening when the hands made contact.
Luckily, the only thing that happened was a rather slow shake, and the woman talking very slowly in a strange language that neither the pirate nor the snake recognized. After finishing a sentence, she paused for several seconds, before starting up again in a completely different dialect. After about three and a half tries at this, Blackmask grew aggravated. “Belay this, ya lubber! If you speak English or Portuguese or anythin’ I might actually know, maybe we can parley.”
The two under-dwellers glanced at each other, before the man spoke up. “I… think I… can speak… some en-glish, sir. Please, come with us.” The two of them slowly began moving forward; Ripper shrugged, and leaned down to Syvex. “You think we should go with these drivelswiggers?”
The snake gave a fairly good approximation of a shrug for something without proper shoulders. “I can’t imagine any better course of action. If we don’t, they’ll probably try to kill us.”
“And what if they’re takin’ us to our deaths right now?” “Then they’ll just chase us down if we try to leave. Come on.” He slowly headed forward; Ripper grumbled and followed.
------------------------------------------------------
The most obvious thing about the town was that the vast majority of light poured out of various holes scattered throughout the sides of the pyramid, with a particularly large amount spilling out of the very top. Aside from the occasional torch, it was the only thing keeping the place from being completely impossible to navigate.
The second thing one was likely to notice was the sheer amount of rooms. The route the four took to the center of town passed directly through several, mainly because it was too much of a pain to move around them constantly. If nothing else, though, Ripper was happy to find that there was still no proper warping of the space-time continuum; every room, no matter how outlandish (and the closer to the pyramid, the more preposterous they became), none of them opened up into another room you couldn’t see from the outside, or had a window that allowed you to see above ground, or any such nonsense.
As they slowly climbed the stairs of the pyramid, Syvex occasionally delaying them so he could swerve away from one of the light sources, the symmetrical man continued talking. He said his name was Alm, and the woman’s was Till; “we are all gi-ven names… by the great god… of the py-ra-mid,” he managed to spit out, “who grants us light and shel-ters us from the war-ping.”
Syvex sighed, vexed by this information. “With all due respect to your god, he doesn’t seem to be doing a great job of it.” A gasp might be expected in normal circumstances, but instead, Alm just laughed and responded, “one might… think as much… would-n’t they? But you should see… what it was… like be-fore he came. Things have tru-ly… got-ten bet-ter.” There was a pause of about eight seconds, allowing everyone to feel mildly uncomfortable while listening to the whistling of the wind at the summit of the pyramid. Eventually, Till piped up. “This is… the great god’s home. Out-sid-ers… must all vis-it… so we may know… what to do with them.”
Blackmask felt rather unnerved by this wording. “You aren’t talkin’ about the hempen jig, are ya?” All three of her current companions stood uncomfortably and uncomprehending for a moment. “A dance with Jack Ketch? The admiral’s spot?”
Eventually, Syvex grinned. “I believe he means ‘are you going to kill us.’” The two under-dwellers shared an understanding “oh” before shaking their heads. “He nev-er has us… kill out-sid-ers. Do not wor-ry. Now please, in-side.”
Ripper glanced at Syvex, realizing the problem immediately. “I don’t think he can go in. Poor lubber’s going to take a trip with the Dutchman if he goes in that bright a light.” Till whispered something to Alm, who solemnly nodded. “If that… is so, then… we have no choice.” He leaned into the pyramid’s blinding light and bellowed something down; after about five seconds, the lights went off.
Complete and total darkness is one of the rarest things imaginable. In almost any case, there is at least some faint spot of light, even in the deepest depths of space. But they were so high, so far from any light source but the pyramid itself, that Syvex and Ripper soon experienced it; the former found it amazing, and the latter terrifying. Till nudged them both, and Ripper nodded, and slowly climbed through the hole, Syvex following shortly thereafter.
------------------------------------------------------
On roughly the other side of town, Muriegro was sitting on a large rock, watching in mild disinterest as Eureka beat someone to death with what was previously a third arm, giggling and demanding that he stop hitting himself. After about ten minutes of this she got bored, tossed the arm to the ground, and taking her knife back from the other new friend, who had borrowed it to store in his chest. She twirled it around, whistling jauntily.
Muriegro caught the sound of more footsteps, and swiveled his head to face a group of ten or so people approaching. They appeared to be wielding some large clubs; two near the back carried shotguns and chains. Laguja quickly decided that it was more advantageous, both in the long-term and the short-term, to be friends with these people than with the girl who was now dancing with a corpse while insulting him for stepping on her feet.
The priest tapped Eureka on the shoulder; she spun around, dropping her dance partner, and grinned widely. “Mooooore friends! Hooray! We can have a party! A knife party! Yay, sharing!” She was so excited about spending time with her new friends that she barely even noticed the Good Night Boulder smacking into the back of her head. Muriegro’s stitched lips were just flexible enough to move into a tiny smile. Though the powers his god granted were awe-inspiring in every respect, it was always pleasant to employ a more direct solution.
And as the under-dwellers laid down most of their weapons, though not their chains, and drew closer, Laguja lacked only the lips to smile as well.