II.351 Army of Dampness: Evil Dryer III continues with... Chapter 2: Out of the pit and into your heart! After the Wiseman threw Perigrine his Chaintowel, he makes short work of the zombie and looks for a way to get out of this pit.... King: He defeated the Undead Unwashed! Quickly... use the Wringer before he can escape!!! As the squeezing grasp of the Wringer closes in on our hero, he quickly uses his trusty bar of soap to lather himself up. As the crushing force surrounds him, he feels a quick pressure and then goes shooting upwards and out of the pit!!! Only Perigrine, with years of expertise can hold onto a bar of wet soap! Perigrine: Now... next one of you weenies who tries to get my towel dirty is going to get it. Who wants some? Huh? Who's next?!?! *menaces the crowd with a bar of soap* This is my *DOVE* Bar! It retails for about 79 cents and it's next to Dishwasher detergent... Stay Pure! 99.4% Pure! You got that?!?!?! User: Perigrine is happy again so everyone should be happy... Date: 27-May 01:03 PM 770043882
II.352 .--------------------------------------------------------------. | | | And now for a brief INTERMISSION! 8) | | "You know, at | "OVER?! HECK! this point in | We're only the story, | "So, is it over?" halfway!" / death looks ^ ^ \ __ \ ~~ ^ ^ rather (###( / \ / ~ )###) appealing." \ /~~) \ / < ] (~~\ / | ||~~~ --------------------------- ||= ----- > / --- ~~~|| -----' /~ ~\ / \ /====\ /~ ~\ ~\ /~~~~~~~~\ /~~~~~~~~\ /~~~~~~~~\ /~~~~~~~~\ /~~~~~~~~\ /~~~~~~~~\ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | User: Enterprise...8) Date: 29-May 10:39 PM 770251154
II.353 VVC: It is accomplished... =============================================================================== "`About, about, in reel and rout, the death-fires danced at night,'" quotes DIQMAN, watching the last of his potions flame out on the surface of the Bay. "`The water, like a witch's oils, burnt blue and green and white'..." "Diq...you're back," says DELIRIUM. "And PERIGRINE...what's with all the towels?" "Fear not, for I bring you shields against the wrath of Ahannos!" declaims the towel boy. "Soaked in Diqman's finest magic concoctions." He passes the damp towels around to those gathered on the rear walkway, and tosses a few up to ALBATROSS and ROARK on the terrace overlooking it. It is then that they all feel the stream of power coming from the rave, like a wind in their minds. It takes each of them only a moment to figure out what it is and where it comes from. "This could be the answer," whispers CADO. "They're sending their love down the well," says ROLAND, smirking faintly. "But this'll take more than just love," says DRAKEHART. "Anger is an energy..." "All that's best of dark and bright," agrees ROMANTIC. _Taste it, old man,_ thinks Cado. _Taste our love for each other, and our anger at you who attempt to violate it_. He knows at last that his anger, his rage, his pain can and must be a part of the fight against Ahannos. They are the swiftness of the arrow, the sharpness of the blade, the power that a warrior must learn to harness--without being harnessed by--in the defense of that which he loves. _And that's what you've forgotten, Ahannos...you've forgotten the love, and been taken over by the hate. You say you do it all for love of your lost Atlantis...but Atlantis is too long dead, and your efforts in its name too twisted, for that love to remain pure._ _I know what it is to fight for love--and as much as I can see how that once drove you, I can find some spark of love for even your soul. But the only kindness I can bestow on you now is to return you to your Atlantis. Join it, beneath the waves... rest with it, and let the weight of the centuries drop from your shoulders, ancient mariner..._ His hand slips into Salome's, and their emotions mingle with those of the others, and the stream of energy reaching them from the rave--but somehow, their two auras seem to form a particularly special combination... User: Traveler: Penultimate Mix Date: 29-May 11:52 PM 770255579
II.354 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \ | / \ | / \ | / ------\-------------------------------|---------------------------------/------ \ | / \ | / ------------\-------------------------|---------------------------/------------ \ | / ----------------\---------------------|-----------------------/---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everything seems to resonate to a single note...but that note has myriad echoes, reflections, counterpoints, as it pours out into the world. Those at the rave are no longer aware of what music is being played, only that there is a rhythm underlying the universe, and that they are synchronized with it. Time seems to be erased in the depths of this moment. Perhaps they have broken through Time Itself, with the infinite perception that time is both a straight line and a circle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------/---------------------|-----------------------\---------------- / | \ ------------/-------------------------|---------------------------\------------ / | \ / | \ ------/-------------------------------|---------------------------------\------ / | \ / | \ / | \ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- User: t R A V E l e r Date: 29-May 11:53 PM 770255634
II.355 VVC: Gotterdammerung ============================================================================== On the deck of his ship, Ahannos clutches his head, assailed by a cosmic vertigo. In all the ages of his lonely quest, he has never come up against such opposition. His will is hard as a mountain of granite--it is all that has sustained him through the millenia--but tonight he has felt, unbelievably, cracks and chips in that mountain, and now the undoing of his vast undertaking seems perilously near. He opens his eyes, only to see the sorcerous colored fire in the tripod in front of him flicker, as if blasted by some unseen wind. For the first time, he gives way to panic. "This canna be...this canna be! I am...Ahannos...I am...unconquerable..." But now the psychic wind blowing from the shore becomes more real. He feels it against his own body; he sees the waters around his ship whipped up into a chop, and the sails above him flap and rustle. "NOOOOO!!!" he cries. "Atalani, Atalani...quelara sesthefoni? Tai ventrra...Tholos...Azos... why? I shall never see you restored...my brothers...my father...I...I... have failed..." A violent gust overturns the brazier, spilling fiery coals across the deck. The boards begin to burn, and sparks leap up to the sails and set them ablaze as well. "Fire and water...," the old man rants on, his mind falling apart as the task which has sustained it collapses around him. "I have wandered too long...the elements...call me back..." He looks up at the bright moon as the flames climb around him... User: every Traveler's voyage must someday end Date: 29-May 11:55 PM 770255744
II.356 ECSTASY climbs quietly up to the patio... she feels an odd remorse for the action she has taken. but she must go on... She feels the sea breeze touch her pale skin. She smiles slightly and begins to recite... "So we'll go no more a-raving So late into the night, Though the bass be still as beating, And the lights too damn bright. For the drugs outwear the body, And the beat wear out the breast, And the lungs must pause to breathe, And the mind itself have rest. Though the night was made for raving, And the day returns too soon, Yet we'll go no more a-raving By the light of the moon. User: ECSTASY Date: 30-May 00:40 AM 770258416
II.357 VVC: Aftermath, part I =============================================================================== ROMANTIC opens her eyes. She is standing on the walkway behind the VVC, along with CADO, Salome, DIQMAN, PERIGRINE, ROLAND, LYDIA, STEFAN, Captain Peugeot and a couple other policemen. She looks to the terrace above, and sees ROARK, ECSTASY, and ALBATROSS, the latter with his right arm bandaged by a towel. She notices that she herself, and most of the others, are also holding towels. Out in the water, Ahannos' ship is in flames. She recalls a huge explosion from the deck of the vessel only moments, or seconds, ago. The great black sail with its blood-red trident symbol is already mostly burned away. The ship appears to be drifting westward, gaining speed. She goes to the telescope, to see if she can pick out Ahannos himself, but there is no sign of him on the fiery deck. "What ails thee, Ancient Mariner? What fiends do plague thee thus?" she whispers. "Where do you s'pose the ship is going to?" muses Drakehart. "If you ask me, it's obvious. He's getting his wish...he's going to return to Atlantis at last," says Delirium. Rom hears a number of new voices, and looks up. Now on the terrace with the others stand DARICELL and ZOROASTER. "Cool! A Viking funeral!" Zoro says. "Anyway, we've finally made it back. I managed to rescue Dari in the nick of time, thanks to Larko! and the punks...and of course Mahi...but...guys? Guys? Hello? We're BACK! Aren't you glad to see us!?" Albatross turns from watching the burning ship float away. "What? Oh, hi, Zoro, hi, Dark Lady. You two missed all the action." "EXCUSE MOI? I lie in a coma for weeks...or was it months?...she gets sentenced to death by the Man in Black, and nearly executed too, and all you can say is we MISSED THE ACTION??" "Hush, Zoro," says Jon Vallee/SYLVAR, walking in with Cardinal XIMINEZ and AQUA22. "Obviously, a lot has transpired here while we've been away." Roark comes over and begins to explain. Up the hill, hundreds of ravers stand at the cliff's edge watching the burning ship glide faster and faster toward the horizon. TRAVELER is near the front, with FIREFLYTE. "It is done," he says with great weariness. "Ahannos is no longer a threat. We are safe. You are even whole again." Indeed, she is, or nearly so. As Orpheus' music, and the massed mental energy of the ravers, had enveloped them in the climactic moments of the battle with Ahannos, Fireflyte's disparate pieces had begun to blur together. They'd been dancing in a ring around Traveler--_like strange Muses_, he'd thought-- but then the outlines of Songdancer, 'Flyte, Gypsy and Ms. Spock (and Fury, who jumped in with a growl of happiness at the last moment) had become indistinct. At last the dancing sister-selves had turned into "a ring of pure and endless light, all calm as it was bright," an electron cloud of possible Fireflytes, like fireflies...and when the music had come to an end, and they'd known that their task was done, he'd found one woman, slumped in his arms. Only a moment later, she'd awakened, and now here they are. User: Traveler reminds you that the fat lady ain't sung just yet Date: 30-May 02:48 AM 770266151
II.358 VVC: Aftermath, part II ============================================================================== "You say he's no longer a threat, and I am whole again. Not sure about any of that," FIREFLYTE says. "Last things first: part of me is...not as it was." She frowns. "I'm not sure what to make of this...but something's been cut loose, at least for a time, something I've hidden behind walls and veils for too long. I fear for her, and hope for her. She is...Salome." "And first things last: reach out with your mind..." Trav, mystified by her remark, lets his expanded consciousness drift out into the ether...and to his horror, senses something still there on Ahannos' ship, an inhuman presence of immense power. "And it's...unstable...it's going to expand...explode!" he says out loud. "It's the orb that holds all his magic energy," says Fireflyte, with the uncanny precision of "Ms. Spock." "Ahannos is dead, and the ritual has been interrupted, but the process of releasing this energy--a process begun by the ritual--cannot be shut down so easily. I estimate the orb will completely rupture within...4 minutes, probably less." "And the shock wave?" "Will destroy us." Traveler's face falls at her words. "...Unless we can somehow...divert or deflect it." A chill sinks through his gut. "We don't have a snowball's chance in hell against that kind of force." He turns toward the rave circle. "But I'm not going to die without even trying. Come on, back to the circle! Let's give it our best shot." He begins pushing through the crowd, and Fireflyte follows. At the rave circle, the music has been off for several minutes, and the air is filled with excited chatter. Most of GHOST's elaborate lights are off, except for the white floods which provide a constant illumination. Trav climbs up on the stage and approaches the DJ. "Orphy...I'm afraid this isn't done yet. We need one more song...something very special...something that will bring us together again, and take us back to where we were." He lays a hand on Orpheus' shoulder, and the gaunt young man, without ever meeting his gaze, nods in understanding. "I know, Traveler," he says in his slow, awkward speech. "Orphy can feel badness still there. Orphy has the song." He smiles shyly and looks down at his turntables. "Orphy always has the song." "I know it, friend," Trav says. "This time the power that we face may be too strong for any song to charm...but if it can be done, you can do it. Go to work." He turns and bounds off the stage, into the crowd. Orpheus reaches down and flips through the records in one of the crates beneath the mixing table, and quickly pulls out one in a plain black cover. Reverently he slides it out and on to the turntable...then places the needle at its edge. The crowd's noise begins to hush as they hear the beat begin again. The song that has broken the silence is Enigma's "Return To Innocence," the 380 Midnight Mix, from the record that Trav himself picked out at the store so long ago. Heavy, crashing house beats and distorted guitar-feedback and Andean- flute noises transform the song into something dark and, well, enigmatic. Ghost takes the cue and shuts off the floods, replacing them with bursts of pure colors from the big banks of gel-filtered lights. With a sense of impending doom, confusion, and powerlessness, yet also a determination not to give up, Traveler reaches the center of the ring. "Now what?" he mutters, waiting for the end of the world. The people begin to dance. User: Traveler: Frying Pan To Fire Remix Date: 30-May 02:50 AM 770266233
II.359 While Roark babbles in his ear, ZOROASTER's rage grows.. he rhythmically cocks his shot gun over and over.. glaring at sylvar.. Roark stops talkign, concerned.. Shtick-shtick! ays the shotgun "SYLVAR! You were her lawyer! 'Hush' is all you can say?! Shame, for shame! Give me one reason not to KILL you!" Daricell interjects, holding Zoroaster's arm.. "he tried, Zoro, he really did! He sang and danced and everything!" Zoroaster calms down, lowers the gun.. "Where's that Traveler? And why is everybody dancing? I don't care about the fucking end of the world! And I HATE this song!" With that, ZOROASTER starts emptying his rounds into tyhe nearest speaker system.. BLAM click-click BLAM click-click BLAM click-click BLAM click-click BLAM click- click click This actually catches the attention of a few dozen ravers. User: ZOROASTER Date: 30-May 11:58 AM 770299109
II.360 "Hey, who the hell is shooting at my lights?!!", screamed Ghost. His fingers raced over the keyboard as he activated an orbital laser and targeted the flashes coming from the VVC. Blue fire rained from the heavens and began tearing chunks from the Black Room. The windows exploded throwing Zoraster out to the ground outside... "The hell?!!", mumbled Zoroaster as he stumbled to his feet. "Damn spontaneous explosions..." he grumbled as he headed back to look for Daricell in the wreckage... User: GHOST Date: 30-May 06:20 PM 770322024
II.361 VVC: Aftermath, part III =============================================================================== "It's time, Richard." Somehow the dark man has come to be lying wounded just inside the the stone circle, in the woods between the rave site and the Cafe. With her mind, INLERAH has followed his fight with Fury, his venture out to Ahannos' ship, and his painful rebuff. After the latter, he was little more than a cloud of agonized thoughts for a few moments...and then he was here, involuntarily coalescing at a point near the positive image of his negative. She has found him. But despite his weakened state, she still stands at the other side of the circle; best not to take any chances. However, she will have to get close to him to meld again..._if that is to happen at all,_ she thinks. _I feel that much longer apart, and we will die. Why won't he SEE this? But he is chaos...of course he won't be commanded. How, then, will I take him?_ Seeing her, he sits up and hisses. "It is time you were gone! I've killed the old spider--ha! Now I'll kill you, should you hinder me in the slightest...or maybe I'll kill you anyway. It's great fun..." She sighs. "Do you believe your own lies? You didn't kill the sorcerer-- everyone else did. And now that he's gone--listen, please!--you can't last on your own much longer. If you don't merge with me, you'll die...shatter... as the broken mirror of me that you are. And I'll die too." "You'll die too," he says in a sing-song. "You'll die too, you'll die two, yell die too!!" But he seems almost on the verge of hysteria; his chanting is fast and agitated. Then, on the mind's horizon, Inle feels the looming threat of Ahannos' cache of magic, about to explode. Raw power, poised to wash over the land like a tsunami...they'll be wiped out...or is there some chance? The echo of an idea nags at her, but she can't grasp it. She needs to be whole! --her mind just can't work right this way. "I need you, Richard," she says, determined. "You don't want to admit it--because of what you are--but you need me too. I guess I shouldn't expect you to come willingly back. But if you want a fight, so be it. There's a final storm coming...I know you feel it as well as I." She begins to walk slowly towards him. "`In the locust wind...comes the rattle and hum...'" "NO, you bitch!" he says, and gnashes his teeth. "Stay away! I BITE!" But he is unable to even stand up; he only manages to prop himself against one of the standing stones. "`Jacob wrestled the angel...and the angel was overcome...'" He lunges at her, teeth and nails bared, and draws blood quickly. He is vicious, yet she can tell that he can only stay on his feet by holding on to her. She swings him around, shaking him like a rag doll. "You're MINE, darling, like it or not," she says, gasping. "Nrrr...nooo...nrrrr!" he growls, and butts his head against hers. The shock leaves her seeing stars; she stumbles, and the two of them fall. He rolls away, coming up on all fours like a cat backed into a corner. "Time's growing short..." she says, and leaps upon him. For the moment, her initiative gives her an advantage. She straddles him and grabs his lashing arms..._But what do I do know? Try to just hold him down till he becomes a part of me again?_ In the place which is no-place, she pushes herself close to him...but there is a fundamental repulsion, like oppositely charged magnets. And their two bodies grow almost still, holding each other tightly, as the fight moves inward, and they seem to wrestle across some great abyss, deep and filled with ice... User: Traveler (hoping he's done Inlerah justice) Date: 30-May 09:19 PM 770332837
II.362 And to think, this story started SO innocently. "Look, Marge! Our baby boy has grown into a large, awkward, yet pleasantly cumbersome freak. Isn't he CUTE?!" - Anonymous User: Enterprise - "And now, the end is near...we hope." ...8) Date: 31-May 06:57 AM 770367466
II.363 VVC: The End (?) =============================================================================== draws their attention toward the Cafe in time to see the 'blue rain' fall upon it...it melds in well, oddly enough... /...that's not the beginning of the end.../ Imagica gate!!!" concentration, Richard rolls her off of him, kicks out twice, and scrambles to a low crouch, scuffling his hands like paws in the dust of the Circle, growling softly. She looks at him, eyes wide, "You heard that, didn't you...?" Richard refuses to answer. Inlerah shivers a moment, and then her eyes grow resolute. She extends a hand toward the huddled darkness before her, now become more beast than man, "Richard, I need you." The urgency in her voice is unmistakable. pissed-off visage of ZOROASTER scrambling to his feet among bits and pieces of shredded, burnt particle-board and shards of blacked-out glass that used to be windows from the Black Room, before Zoroaster bounced off of them...they see the glow intensify aboard the flaming remains of Ahannos' ship. Seeing their gaze diverted 'in such an inconsiderate manner', Zoro looks out to the ship as well, and sees the beginning of the flash... "Oh, shit!..." /...that's the return to yourself.../ softened enough to look again at the odd, quiet lad who has come to be his friend...Orpheus' face gazes implacably outward, across the rave clearing...across... "To the Circle...?" Traveler thinks, but is abruptly cut short as time runs out.... /...that's not the beginning of the end.../ head snaps up at this sudden sharpness from one he never thought could use her teeth..."NOW, Richard!!!!" ...he reaches out his hand, and just as their fingertips connect, they are hit,... /...that's the return to yourself.../ Those on the Cafe' balcony see a bright flash, as the orb erupts with a silence like white sound gone bad....the silence washes through everything..."Like that first scene from Akira." thinks ALBATROSS, as he squeezes ROARK's hand tightly...The flash moves like a wave to the Cafe', but finds no focus, as the cylinder has not been fully turned, due to ECSTASY's elimination of RECYCLER... it washes toward the next largest focus...the ravers...and there it splits off like a shot from a cannon, knocking most of the ravers off their feet...TRAVELER and FIREFLYTE stare upwards is astonishment at the beam of energy, like a column stretching forth from the air above the mixing table,...Trav finds his gaze fixed there, watching the one turntable spinning, and senses it almost imperceptibly slowing...Orpheus looks up and, for the first time Traveler can remember, catches his eye...the gaze seems to hold for a very long moment... /...the return to innocence.../ And the wall of light stretches to the Stone Circle, where Inlerah and Richard find themselves overcome with the energy that floods them...no, floods *through* them,...*EVERYTHING* is flooding through them, as they stand like sentinels at either side of a cosmic gateway...the pain is excruciating, and the two howl in unison, wolflike shadow, and his mirrored self, eyes glowing red without light...The pressure rises exponentially, and people throughout the rave clearing fall unconscious, the white-noise-like current pressing them down, catching them in the undertow...Traveler thinks of an image he saw once on a Tarot card, of two pillars white and black forming the gateway to...what? On the turntable, the record slows to a standstill...ROMANTIC's mind sees a split-second flash of a familiar face, and then falls unconscious among the others gathered on the balcony...the light overtakes everything, and then there is a faint photonegative image...the record begins to turn backwards, its sound disappearing into the same singularity that the whole world is being sucked into...all are dragged down to unconsciousness by the pull of the wave...Inlerah screams, and then all is still... User: Fireflyte and Traveler will see you on the other side Date: 31-May 01:39 PM 770391579
II.364 Is this the end of the film, Joel? User: VENKMAN Date: 31-May 02:48 PM 770395691
II.365 More soon, folx, I promise. The story will continue...and that last scene WILL be explained. :) User: Traveler Date: 1-Jun 04:29 PM 770488199
II.366 ARCHIVES All the posts in the VVC thread, going back to the start in October 1993, are now available on disk. I had been maintaining an archive at CIROP55@elm.circa.ufl.edu, but the account began to run out of space (plus, posts were being lost in the mail on the way there). I am now keeping all of the VVC story on disk (in DOS text format) and will be happy to make a copy for anyone who requests one. All of the maps, guidelines, etc. can be accessed by typing the following: SCAN DISK$CIRCA:[CIROP55]CAFEPLAN. User: Traveler Date: 2-Jun 04:15 PM 770573752
II.367 And speaking of guidelines, here they are, newly revised. I'm aware that as the Ahannos story progressed, I ended up more or less taking it over... I got a little carried away (though I do like how it all turned out). I intend to sit back and let the next story be a little more directed by others (heck, I can't afford the time I was investing in the last one). :) WRITING GUIDELINES The interactive style of the VVC story makes surprises inevitable, and enjoyable, because different people are continually throwing in their ideas. But this all requires a certain amount of coordination. Here are 5 useful guidelines, culled from lots of experience with the VVC and similar projects: 1. I began the VVC, and continue to tie everything together, but a number of other people, thanks to the quantity and quality of their contributions, have also become major creative forces. Then there are a lot people who play along marginally, mostly letting the main writers take care of their characters. Anyone can become part of the "inner circle" simply by frequent participation. But the key to keeping the story flowing smoothly is CONSULTATION. It's not as seamless as it looks. Before introducing major new ideas, bounce them off of me and other writers... in mail, or by any other medium. I will try to do the same. 2. Speak only for your own character. You can write minor "filler" dialog for someone you're talking to, but don't go much beyond that. People get annoyed when others put too many words in their mouths. Some characters are "NPCs," not corresponding to any real person; you can be more flexible with them, but respect the fact that whoever created the character is more or less in charge of him/her. 3. Be careful about advancing the plot too much. Your own reactions to something, and minor surrounding events that don't affect the overall story too much, are okay any time. But big changes may upset things that I and others have planned. 4. PLEASE, read others' posts carefully to make sure you've got the facts they've established straight. (This includes the maps of the VVC that are at the beginning of the board!) Otherwise everything gets screwed up. :) 5. Finally: some the more prolific writers (including myself) have made a lot of loooooonng posts. People unfortunately just tend toext through this sort of thing. Try to keep your posts from being more than three screens long, even if this means breaking the action up into installments. Not only does this make material more readable, it encourages editing for clarity and brevity. Above all, enjoy your stay here at VVC...however long it may be... :) User: Traveler Date: 2-Jun 05:23 PM 770577795
II.368 "they call it an imagica gate. Ozymandias' idea i suppose. tho damned be me if i know for sure. but this i do know, ..careful be with the nature of the gate. You know me 'Tazar as a magi who toys with the very primal powers of the universe, nay? heh. ..well, the simple spoken name imagica makes me soil my breeches. now, ..ive my tea to get to. pardon son." -- Nicadaemus 3rd arch. CH-Balthazar. Chron. of CastleGar hehehe.. User: rabbit shadow w/o need of boundries or imagica gates. look for me =;) Date: 3-Jun 08:07 AM 770630992
II.369 ARCHIVES, cont'd. The most recent VVC story posts (about the last 80 or so!) are available at cirop55@elm.circa.ufl.edu, in the directory "vvc." Maps and guidelines are also there. I will update these posts regularly so that even after something gets cut from the board, you can go back and read it. User: Traveler Date: 3-Jun 04:12 PM 770659925
In which the Cafe becomes a medieval tavern, and a futuristic dive, and its staff and patrons must contend with the scheming Lord VENKMAN, mysterious aliens, magical Tarot cards, and the problem of what to serve when coffee hasn't been discovered yet...