Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round One: Genreshift
07-13-2011, 07:46 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.
Klendel slipped past the castle walls easily enough; the area between the metal bars on the gate was enough for his gear to pass through, and the rest of of his shadowy flesh, fundamentally insubstantial as it was, had no difficulty in simply allowing the bars to slip through it, each bond reforming the moment it had passed the bars. He immediately backed up into the nearby wall, melting into the shadows save for the two bright red spots that were his eyes. He surveyed the dilapidated grounds he found himself in. There were a number of guards patrolling the open paths, which made using those out of the question, but the right side featured an elaborate hedge maze with bushy "walls" several feet higher than any of the guards' heads. Klendel waited a few moments, then when the nearest guard was facing away from him, he dashed towards the hedge maze. He thought one of the farther guards might have seen his short sprint, but was unconcerned; he would've simply looked like a moving shadow, and the guard would undoubtedly dismiss it as a trick of the light. He slid up the trunk of one of the dead, leafless trees next to the hedge maze, then dropped himself lightly on top of the nearest bush, collapsing to all fours and widening his hands and feet to spread his weight over the whole bush and avoid falling through.
He lay down and waited quietly until one of the guards' patrols brought him near Klendel. Klendel let himself down behind the guard, silent as only a living shadow can be, and reached out to the guard's mind, sifting through it until he found what he was looking for: a fear he could use to his advantage. Fear of cats? Too small to be of any use. How about...ahhhhh. Klendel backed around the corner and smiled to himself, his shadowy figure beginning to silently shift and distort.
---
The guard sighed. Only two more hours of this shit, then I get to go home. They never found anyone while patrolling the castle grounds, anyway; nobody was stupid enough to wage a lone wolf assault on Matic, or if they were, they sure as hell weren't going to do it from the front. He eyed the hedges towering over him apprehensively. And even if they did, by the time I found my way out of this stupid maze, all the action would already be over. He had drawn hedge maze duty almost every day for the past week, so he allowed himself a few moments of idle fancy as he fantasized about burning the entire thing to the ground. Too bad Matic would have my head for it, he mused. He's so attached to the stupid thing, you'd think it was made of gold.
"Hrrrrkkksssss."
The guard spun around, bringing his semiautomatic rifle to bear. "Who's there?" he demanded. "Show yourself!" He edged towards the sound, back the way he had come, when he saw, at the end of a short pathway, an oversized, jet-black claw of some sort reaching around the corner. He backed up a few steps, and as more of the appendage emerged, he realized it wasn't a claw, but a foreleg. Another began to emerge next to it, and the head of what appeared to be a giant praying mantis emerged from the hedge wall, mandibles clicking and bright red eyes staring straight at the guard. He fired a few shaky shots at the abomination; it hissed again and withdrew slightly, but appeared no worse for the wear. He pulled out his walkie-talkie and held it up to his mouth. "I need backup in the hedge maze! I think one of Matic's creatures is loose in here!" He didn't mention that he had a morbid fear of mantises; after all, it wasn't really important, and it wasn't something he wanted to become public knowledge anytime soon. The creature had already begun rounding the corner, and the guard fired another shot at it, then gave up and started running down the maze, ignoring his assigned route and simply barreling recklessly through the paths as fast he could while still being able to turn if the abomination poked its head out of some corner.
Once the guard had passed out of line of sight, the mantis head began returning to a more humanoid shape, the mandibles receding and the eyes shrinking and moving closer to the center of the face. The forelegs shortened and thickened into arms, and the front leg pair did the same to become legs. The back pair of legs were simply sucked up into the body, and the rear followed suit, leaving Klendel grinning smugly in the same spot the praying mantis had been only moments before. He wasted no time in sinking to the floor and sliding under the edge of the hedge maze as a puddle of shadow. He could feel his gear tearing a ragged hole through the hedge maze wall, but when, after reforming outside the maze, Klendel looked back to see how bad it was, he was surprised to find there was no hole in evidence. He shrugged, content to merely accept this stroke of good fortune. He edged up to the side of the hedge maze and peered out into the grounds; to his delight, the guards were all clustered around the entrance of the maze, bouts of arguing being followed by another huddled pair entering the twisting path of vegetation. Klendel made a mental note of the terror Matic's abominations could inspire; it could come in handy later. He quietly snuck up to the castle entrance, unnoticed by the panicked huddle of guards, and completely unaware that the castle's power had died only moments before.
---
Merrifield fidgeted nervously on Nalzaki's back. She was getting pretty darn bored, with all the nothing and not doing anything and being boring that had been going on lately. She looked down at the Tome she held in her hands, and flipped it open to a random page. It was full of writing, but she had expected that; what she had not expected would be that the writing was in some alien language she'd never seen before. She looked at the bookmarks she held in her other hand. Romantic comedy, metafiction, western, superhero fantasy, and horror. On a whim, she placed the horror bookmark in the Tome and shut it decisively.
---
Klendel paused. He couldn't explain why, but suddenly everything was...different. The torches on the wall were now guttering, and seemed to be producing a good deal less light. He looked down at his hands, and saw that they were already sharp and nasty-looking. But more substantial than any physical difference, Klendel could feel a surge of power within him; it was as if he were in a pitch black room, with no light around to sap his power. A deep, foreboding chuckle escaped his mouth, and he strode boldly towards the stairs, the air around him becoming darker and forming a reverse halo, the light unable to reach him.
Klendel slipped past the castle walls easily enough; the area between the metal bars on the gate was enough for his gear to pass through, and the rest of of his shadowy flesh, fundamentally insubstantial as it was, had no difficulty in simply allowing the bars to slip through it, each bond reforming the moment it had passed the bars. He immediately backed up into the nearby wall, melting into the shadows save for the two bright red spots that were his eyes. He surveyed the dilapidated grounds he found himself in. There were a number of guards patrolling the open paths, which made using those out of the question, but the right side featured an elaborate hedge maze with bushy "walls" several feet higher than any of the guards' heads. Klendel waited a few moments, then when the nearest guard was facing away from him, he dashed towards the hedge maze. He thought one of the farther guards might have seen his short sprint, but was unconcerned; he would've simply looked like a moving shadow, and the guard would undoubtedly dismiss it as a trick of the light. He slid up the trunk of one of the dead, leafless trees next to the hedge maze, then dropped himself lightly on top of the nearest bush, collapsing to all fours and widening his hands and feet to spread his weight over the whole bush and avoid falling through.
He lay down and waited quietly until one of the guards' patrols brought him near Klendel. Klendel let himself down behind the guard, silent as only a living shadow can be, and reached out to the guard's mind, sifting through it until he found what he was looking for: a fear he could use to his advantage. Fear of cats? Too small to be of any use. How about...ahhhhh. Klendel backed around the corner and smiled to himself, his shadowy figure beginning to silently shift and distort.
---
The guard sighed. Only two more hours of this shit, then I get to go home. They never found anyone while patrolling the castle grounds, anyway; nobody was stupid enough to wage a lone wolf assault on Matic, or if they were, they sure as hell weren't going to do it from the front. He eyed the hedges towering over him apprehensively. And even if they did, by the time I found my way out of this stupid maze, all the action would already be over. He had drawn hedge maze duty almost every day for the past week, so he allowed himself a few moments of idle fancy as he fantasized about burning the entire thing to the ground. Too bad Matic would have my head for it, he mused. He's so attached to the stupid thing, you'd think it was made of gold.
"Hrrrrkkksssss."
The guard spun around, bringing his semiautomatic rifle to bear. "Who's there?" he demanded. "Show yourself!" He edged towards the sound, back the way he had come, when he saw, at the end of a short pathway, an oversized, jet-black claw of some sort reaching around the corner. He backed up a few steps, and as more of the appendage emerged, he realized it wasn't a claw, but a foreleg. Another began to emerge next to it, and the head of what appeared to be a giant praying mantis emerged from the hedge wall, mandibles clicking and bright red eyes staring straight at the guard. He fired a few shaky shots at the abomination; it hissed again and withdrew slightly, but appeared no worse for the wear. He pulled out his walkie-talkie and held it up to his mouth. "I need backup in the hedge maze! I think one of Matic's creatures is loose in here!" He didn't mention that he had a morbid fear of mantises; after all, it wasn't really important, and it wasn't something he wanted to become public knowledge anytime soon. The creature had already begun rounding the corner, and the guard fired another shot at it, then gave up and started running down the maze, ignoring his assigned route and simply barreling recklessly through the paths as fast he could while still being able to turn if the abomination poked its head out of some corner.
Once the guard had passed out of line of sight, the mantis head began returning to a more humanoid shape, the mandibles receding and the eyes shrinking and moving closer to the center of the face. The forelegs shortened and thickened into arms, and the front leg pair did the same to become legs. The back pair of legs were simply sucked up into the body, and the rear followed suit, leaving Klendel grinning smugly in the same spot the praying mantis had been only moments before. He wasted no time in sinking to the floor and sliding under the edge of the hedge maze as a puddle of shadow. He could feel his gear tearing a ragged hole through the hedge maze wall, but when, after reforming outside the maze, Klendel looked back to see how bad it was, he was surprised to find there was no hole in evidence. He shrugged, content to merely accept this stroke of good fortune. He edged up to the side of the hedge maze and peered out into the grounds; to his delight, the guards were all clustered around the entrance of the maze, bouts of arguing being followed by another huddled pair entering the twisting path of vegetation. Klendel made a mental note of the terror Matic's abominations could inspire; it could come in handy later. He quietly snuck up to the castle entrance, unnoticed by the panicked huddle of guards, and completely unaware that the castle's power had died only moments before.
---
Merrifield fidgeted nervously on Nalzaki's back. She was getting pretty darn bored, with all the nothing and not doing anything and being boring that had been going on lately. She looked down at the Tome she held in her hands, and flipped it open to a random page. It was full of writing, but she had expected that; what she had not expected would be that the writing was in some alien language she'd never seen before. She looked at the bookmarks she held in her other hand. Romantic comedy, metafiction, western, superhero fantasy, and horror. On a whim, she placed the horror bookmark in the Tome and shut it decisively.
---
Klendel paused. He couldn't explain why, but suddenly everything was...different. The torches on the wall were now guttering, and seemed to be producing a good deal less light. He looked down at his hands, and saw that they were already sharp and nasty-looking. But more substantial than any physical difference, Klendel could feel a surge of power within him; it was as if he were in a pitch black room, with no light around to sap his power. A deep, foreboding chuckle escaped his mouth, and he strode boldly towards the stairs, the air around him becoming darker and forming a reverse halo, the light unable to reach him.
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