Patchwork Universe

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2004 11:43 pm Post subject: The Dark Lord Triumphant

OOC: Doomshadow enters from the 'End of a Quest' thread.

Wearily, Doomshadow came to rest on a convenient roof. He had struck the first blow in the war, but he would not rest until the storyland was free of all gods. Except, of course, for himself.

(Briefly, he thought of Ivor, frozen and abandoned. And Rose... But no, he must be strong. He must make Father proud.)

It was unfortunate that his enemies' minion, that mewling lap dog Quickgrip, had escaped him in the end. He would have enjoyed the interrogation...

Still, he had the man's pack. The bag which clearly contained his secret instructions, not to mention the divine gifts he had received in return for his undoubtedly abject obedience. Depositing the slabs on the roof, he used his tentacles to tear the pack apart...

Yarrow · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 4:01 pm Post subject:

As Doomshadow looked through the loot he had gleaned he discovered the bag contained but a few items. A brass key with a P engraved on it, a silver egg-shaped object and a piece of paper.

Doomshadow viewed the paper with a sense of enlightenment. It was just as he had suspected.

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2004 6:52 pm Post subject:

The dark lord smiled a terrible, gloating smile. God or demon, this Yarrow creature would rue the day she had crossed tentacles with a Doomshadow...

But first, he must recover his strength. Having stowed the key, the paper and the egg within the pockets of his clothing, he proceeded to eat the rest of the pack. After a brief pause for digestion, he plucked the knife from his shoulder and gulped that down as well. Inferior workmanship and shoddy materials... but an acceptable meal nonetheless.

And now, it was time to fly. Seizing the slabs, he ascended into the air, and began his search for the forbidden room.

Soon, very soon, he would be able to grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, and remold it closer to his hearts' desire...

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2004 8:24 pm Post subject:

The building was square and white, unremarkable in every way except for the letter P inscribed on a plaque on the door. Doomshadow descended and retracted his wings, leaving a few drips of smoking ichor in the street.

It was hard to believe that the gods had made no attempt to stop him. He looked up at the skies, expecting to see some black winged genocidal angel, come to claim his soul... but there was nothing there.

Clearly the gods were stupid and inattentive. Ripe for destruction by anyone brave enough to disobey the panicky instructions in their secret letter... He plucked a black rose from the crevices of his clothing, and attached it to the wall by its oozing stem. Then he took out the key, and opened the door.

"I will fight them all", he murmured to himself. "Fight the power..."

Patchwork Universe · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 12:12 am Post subject:

The room was large, but it appeared impossible to reach most of it. Around a quarter of the way into the room a transparent barrier stretched all the way across.

The floor beyond the barrier bore a striking similarity to the map room, which unfortunately Doomshadow had never seen. Slabs were laid out in a grid arrangement and arranged around this grid were various pieces of large machinery.

Standing by the barrier on the accessible side was a large pillar with a square depression on the top, three feet to a side. Attached to this was a panel which could be controls for the machinery.

The Janitor · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 9:11 am Post subject:

[OOC: merged in from the 'Map Manipulations' thread.]

In the inaccessible part of the room, a man in grey finished laying the slab, and turned away towards the far door.

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 2:59 pm Post subject:

The Doomshadows are justly famous for their ability to react quickly to an unexpected situation. Stepping through the door and locking it behind him, the dark lord stopped in front of the barrier and began to speak.

"Greetings, minion. I am... Yarrow. Your master... or perhaps... mistress. I have been... experimenting... with my identity."

He paused for thought. Best to cover all possibilities.

"My... gender... identity."

It was important to make this sort of impersonation convincing. He must sound as much like the Yarrow who had written the letter as he possibly could...

"I am here... to continue... with my terrible, evil plan. To make all pathetic, cringing mortals... dance to my evil, terrible tune."

"Bwaaa-haaaa-haaa."

The Janitor · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 6:48 pm Post subject:

Whether Doomshadow's impersonation was successful was hard to say as the barrier and machinery made no reponse.

The man in grey left through the far door (to who-knows-where) without apparently having noticed the Dark Lord.

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 11:48 pm Post subject:

Clearly the minions of the gods were as blind and idiotic as their masters.

No matter. A problem of this nature should present no obstacle to a being with three brains. Doomshadow deposited all the slabs on the floor except for the one marked with an image of two dark towers surrounded by a burning moat, which he placed in the depression on top of the pillar. Then he flexed his tentacles, and began to play with the controls. With eight tentacles to spare, he should be able to run through all possible combinations within moments.

As an afterthought, he removed the silver egg from a slit in his leather gauntlet and carefully inserted it into the mystic stomach which pulsed beside his breeding pouch. Yarrow's note had been strikingly uninformative where this object was concerned, but he was sure that the superlunary qualities of his unnatural digestion would swiftly reveal its secrets...

The Janitor · Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:02 am Post subject:

The controls must indeed be quite simple, as very soon Doomshadow chanced upon a combination that had an effect.

There was a grinding sound from within the pillar. The slab rapidly descended into the pillar and was quickly lost from sight. The top of the pillar closed again and was once more a shallow depression.

In the inaccessible part of the room, the machinery began to move.

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 2:18 pm Post subject:

As the Ghost Warriors of the Falling Bridge had learned to their cost, Doomshadow might be mad, but he was not stupid. It seemed the powers of his mystic stomach were useless to him here. But he had... many skills.

Reaching into his breeding pouch, he pulled out a large egg. Its shell was a bilious green in colour, and of a strangely spongy consistency. Swirls of pus yellow moved constantly across the surface.

Attaching the egg firmly to the top of the slab carrying an image of a sophisticated laboratory, he inserted the stone into the depression, and repeated the control sequence that had triggered the disappearance of the previous slab.

The Janitor · Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 3:02 pm Post subject:

The slab again sunk into the pillar.

Unfortunately for Doomshadow's plan, the egg seemed to have come unstuck, and was left sitting in the depression.

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:06 pm Post subject:

Doomshadow ground his teeth. After a moment he winced slightly and, removing the mask, extracted the shards of a broken fang, which he dropped on the floor. It was fortunate that he grew another row of teeth every week...

Clearly the gods had anticipated him here. No matter. The main thrust of his attack was unaffected. All he had to do was insert the slabs that Yarrow had ordered hidden and so, if his suppositions were correct, bring back all the stories she had ordered eradicated from the Fairytale Lands. Tales of god slayers, perhaps? Of rebel angels who stole fire from heaven? Just as long as there were no talking cats...

Doomshadow replaced his mask and picked up the remaining five slabs from the floor, the ones marked with images of a baroque church, a storm blasted island, a world crammed full of ingenious engines, a fortress the colour of blood and a town aswarm with verminous felines.

The last slab seemed to cause him a moment of doubt, but in the end he shrugged his tentacles and, one by one, fed them all into the mechanism...

Larkin Quickgrip · Strong Joined: 21 Jan 2004 Posts: 194 Location: The Slums

During this time, Larkin had jogged slowly and silently up to the front door of the building Doomshadow was within. Seeing the black rose he instinctively slapped the evil looking flower away, having already experienced a little of Lilac or Doomshadow or whoever he was' plants he didn't want to suffer the consequences of anymore.

Kneeling down he peered into the lock just in time to see all of the slabs placed into the machine. He quietly cursed under his breath and wondered what the monster had done with his blade and whether Karl had followed yet.

The Janitor · Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:35 pm Post subject:

The pillar swallowed the slabs one by one.

The machinery in the area beyond continued its motion, then began disgorging the slabs into the area around the edge of the map.