Patchwork Universe

Snark Sinistre · Good Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 59 Location: Dark Towers

The apprentices stared in alarm, frantically searching their mind for an appropriate spell. Vivi turned to look to Abigail, wondering if she would be able to produce an appropriate item from her magical pockets and noticed behind her something that struck a chord.

They had come out of the mist from the west, but not far away Vivi could see that there was another bank of mist to the the south. It was some distance away but they could probably make it if they ran...

Abigail · Poor Joined: 14 Jul 2004 Posts: 88 Location: Toon Town

Abigail was staring at the ant-creatures with a mixture of horror and fascination. She'd never seen anything like them!

Vivi's movement caught her eye, and she looked back to the apprentices and Fwog. The boys looked scared, but Vivi was looking towards the nearby mist. Abigail looked back towards the rapidly approaching ant-creatures. Fear warred with ~~bravery~~ foolishness.

"Run!" she decided, and, pulling Fwog with her, started to run towards the southern mist-bank.
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That's all folks!

Snark Sinistre · Good Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 59 Location: Dark Towers

Vivi, Tal and Suli followed, hoping to gain the mist before the brass ants could catch up to them. As they ran, Tal pulled a paper packet out of a sleeve, labelled 'flash powder' and threw it behind him.

A sudden crack of white light exploded around the ants followed by a puff of smoke. Flash powder wasn't dangerous unless used in combination with other spell ingredients but it might provide a distraction...

[ooc: Unless the ants prevent us it looks as if the five children are off to the Kingdom of Ice]

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2004 4:21 pm Post subject:

As the children ran south, a faint cry of "Thweeties..." drifted back towards the marching ants. The abandoned dolly cart twitched, vibrated and suddenly began rolling after the fugitives at high speed, delicately holding up its yoke to keep it clear of the mud.

Meanwhile, the leading ants, confused by the flash and bang, had piled up in a heap of struggling undead arthropods. Fragments of bone and brass flew across the landscape as they began fighting among themselves.

The second and third ranks, however, climbed nimbly over the bodies of their fallen companions and continued the chase. Behind them, even more forms could be seen heaving themselves out of the mud...

Abigail · Poor Joined: 14 Jul 2004 Posts: 88 Location: Toon Town

The mist wall was getting closer, and Abigail, still dragging Fwog, thought they might reach it before the ants reached them, when she heard Suli cry out behind her.

"Science! Ooowwww...."

Abigail looked over her shoulder and saw Suli lying on the ground, tangled in his toon robes. The ants were getting closer.

"Hold them off! I've got an idea!" Abigail shouted, and, letting go of Fwog, she pulled pen and paper from her pocket, sat down, and started drawing rapidly.

Vivi pulled Suli to his feet, and the three apprentices turned to face the ants.
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That's all folks!

Snark Sinistre · Good Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 59 Location: Dark Towers

As Tal rummaged in his pockets for more flash powder and Vivi pulled out a book and hastily started leafing through it, Suli had the lucky idea of searching his own sleeves and pockets.

His own spell components had been ruined in the jungle but now his discovered that he was not entirely without resources. Abigail's Toon robes seemed to include some magical items as well. In fact, tucked into his right sleeve was a small wand. Drawing it he turned to face the ants...

Abigail · Poor Joined: 14 Jul 2004 Posts: 88 Location: Toon Town

Abigail's tongue was poking out of the corner of her mouth. Her pen was racing across the page, drawing something that looked a bit like a semi-circle with a cylindrical protruberance. She frowned, and the pen kept moving.

"Nearly done!" She called to the apprentices. "I just need another minute!"

But the ants were too close. Abigail was not going to get her minute, unless the apprentices did something now. Suli raised his wand, pointed it at the ants, and a huge orange toon fireball, just like the ones on his robes, went flying into the centre of the front rank. The force sent him flying off his feet again, and he looked at the end of the wand in amazement.
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That's all folks!

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 4:45 pm Post subject:

When the fireball reached the front rank of the insect army, it detonated in a burst of orange flame which engulfed them all. Time seemed to slow, then speed up, then... stagger. Multi coloured shards of solid light sprayed across the landscape. As the flames cleared, the children could see that the leading ants had vanished altogether. Where they had been, the mud rolled and seethed, as if something was fermenting beneath the surface. Giant six winged maggots and strangely deformed frogs began to emerge from the muck, blinking their newly formed eyes.

Abigail could hear a faint voice whispering "Hugth... Fwog want hugth...". Glancing down, she saw the little girl shivering uncontrollably. A spike of solid violet light had penetrated her left shoulder, projecting out at the back. There was surprisingly little blood.

Meanwhile, the third and fourth ranks of ants continued to advance, crushing freshly generated maggots beneath their many legs. The language of undead arthropods is not widely understood, but the rapid clacking of their many mandibles sounded increasingly angry...

Snark Sinistre · Good Joined: 18 Jun 2004 Posts: 59 Location: Dark Towers

"Did you see that?" Suli asked, turning excitedly to the other apprentices. "A fireball! I'm like Snark! Whhhmpphh. Pow! Take that you creepie crawlies."

"We saw," snapped Vivi, who had hurried across to Fwog (by common consent the apprentices had decided this was her name) and was looking worriedly at the violet shard. With Tal producing a piece of cloth to use as a bandage she took a deep breath and then shook her head. "I don;t think I should pull it out," she said. "It looks awful, but we don't have time to treat it here."
She glanced back over her shoulder to the frantically drawing Abigail and then at the mists.
"Come on," she said to Tal. "Help me get her over there..."

Abigail · Poor Joined: 14 Jul 2004 Posts: 88 Location: Toon Town

Abigail glanced up briefly to check where all of her companions were before nodding grimly at her piece of paper.

It grew much larger - larger than Abigail - and started to curve over into something like a flattened hemisphere. The surface became hard and shiny, and then split into hundreds of tiny overlapping plates.

From the front of the hemisphere, a sort of tapering cylinder appeared, and as it started snuffling along the ground, two small irregularities above it opened to reveal toon eyes. Eyes which immediately spotted the army of ants ahead. The newly-formed feet carried the giant metal toon anteater off in the direction of its prey.

"That should sort the ants out!" Abigail declared. She helped Suli up onto his feet again, and followed Vivi, Tal and Fwog off towards the mist.

[OOC: this time I think we really are heading South through the mists, if we can make it in time]
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That's all folks!

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2004 7:43 pm Post subject:

The ants paused uncertainly, rotating their heads to examine the giant toon from every angle. Once Abigail's creation was within ten feet it stopped and sat back on its haunches with a shriek of scraping metal plates. Then a long silvery tongue shot out, and it swallowed the first ant whole. There was a deafening crunching sound, and the toon stopped to spit out fragments of bone.

The ants shuffled nervously upon their many legs... and then, abruptly, broke. Screaming in dry, faint voices, they ran eastwards, frantically trying to keep their legs apart. Soon two of the laggards had become entangled and collapsed into the mud, easy prey for the following predator. It was a stampede...

In the distance, Abigail could see a line of lumbering forms resembling beetles, but twice the height of a man. These stopped and hunched down upon the ground, raising long appendages over their backs, from which they began to squirt streams of liquid at the anteater. They were clearly finding it difficult to hit the fast moving creature, but whenever drops fell upon its metal body, the armoured plates began to smoke and dissolve.

Abigail · Poor Joined: 14 Jul 2004 Posts: 88 Location: Toon Town

Abigail and Suli caught up with Vivi, Tal and Fwog, and together they all hurtled through the mists to the south.

(OOC: the children reappear in The Kingdom of Ice "Escape from the evil ants")
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That's all folks!

Lord Doomshadow · Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:00 pm Post subject:

Its wheels rattling with haste, the small wooden cart hurled itself into the mists after its owner.