Captain Crooks
Member
The station was deserted. The platforms were silent and dark, save for eerie red lights that signified a state of emergency was in place. The spectral horse cantered along, the halfling, gnome and elf holding tight as it skirted about overturned benches, spilled bins and abandoned luggages. Behind the horse, the rest of the adventurers ran at a steady pace, determined to reach their goal - the train, according to the elf, was just minutes away...
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In a dimly lit place of shadows and ghosts, a different sort of shadow waited. Actually, it was more of a blur. A blurry shadow. It was a genie, to be frank. It's name was Frank. Frank was waiting for someone.
A roiling mass of inky blackness burst from whatever counted as the ground in this hazy place. It coalesced into the form of a giant black creature with a lashing tail and dark, beating wings. It was not a solid form, but a wavy black memory of it's former body - it was the immortal remains of the she-demon. And she was well pissed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHGRHGHRGHGHRHGRHARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" said the demon, calmly.
"Hello Bessie" replied the blurry genie.
"I CLAIM MY WISH FROM YOU, FRANKLIN" shrieked the shadow form of the demoness, struggling to maintain it's integrity as parts threatened to drift away here and there.
"Go on then, make your wish," the genie nodded.
"RESURRECTION. RETRIBUTION. REVENGE!" screamed the shadow.
"That's very alliterative of you, but you only get one wish, you know that. One per year, that's the arrangement, and they are not cumulative, and you get no advances. What is your wish?"
"RESURRECT ME! NOW! I MUST MAKE THEM PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID!"
"I'm afraid resurrection is out of the question. Did you see what they did to you? Your old body is a mess, it's no use."
"REINCARNATION THEN!"
"Reincarnation... yes. Yes, I think I can manage that. You realise though, that once you enter the wheel of reincarnation, it's a forever-thing. You will be caught by the cycle, and bound by it's rules, which are complex and-"
"DO IT NOW GENIE! I WOULD HAVE MY REVENGE!!"
"Alright then Bessie. I can reincarnate you at any period in time... dooo you wan't to go back there?"
"YES! MY REVENGE MUST BE IMMEDIATE!"
"Alrighty then... your wish is my command!"
The shadow demon form was suddenly sucked back into the ground, making a small popping noise as it vanished.
"She is going to be... so pissed," muttered Frank. He shrugged his blurry shoulders and then vanished as well.
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Bessie emerged from darkness into light! Red, unpleasant light, but light nonetheless. She fanned her wings and stretched her claws - oh! She had more limbs now, perfect! She tried to lash her tail but discovered it was gone - a long, slender abdomen stretched down from a segmented thorax, which also anchored her six long legs. Her mouth had been transformed into a long, tubular snout that could coil and uncoil at will. She felt the urge to plunge it into the soft flesh of her enemies and suck out their juices. Well, why not do just that? Revenge!
The adventurers were almost at their destination. Platform 13 lay just ahead, but there was no sign of a train! Yngwie stopped his mount at the destination and turned, waving at the others to hurry.
Seu Antheus, paladin of the Lady of the Lake, was enjoying the run immensely. His devotion to his deity was almost matched by his devotion to physical exercise, and he had worked up a healthy, manly sweat under his layers of plate armour. As he approached platform 13, he had no clue about the black horror that was diving down upon him at that very moment!
Bessie had her prey in sight. With her new eyes she could see the hot bodies of her victims pulsing with vital juices. The smell was maddening, invigorating, and she unfurled her tube-like mouth, quivering in anticipation of her kill. She homed in on the figure she hated most, that damned paladin with his aura of sickening holiness - he would pay for slicing her in two! She hurtled towards him, closer, and closer, until - her long, thin needle of a mouth found it's mark deep in the man's neck.
"Ouch," muttered Antheus, clapping a hand to his neck, sending Bessie back into the cycle of reincarnation one more. "Damn mosquitoes, how do they even get to a place like this?"
Bessie's spirit shrieked back into nothingness, sucked away on the Great Wheel, to be reborn somewhere, somewhen, ranked according to her living deeds, disposition and dental hygiene. Reincarnation is complicated.
The heroes finally arrived, puffing and panting. There was no train, only Duke the Hobo, waiting for them. He had a large sack over his shoulder. Rambulge was purple with exertion and sweaty with sweat. Bari was already a bit tired out from his previous exertions, so this run had not been especially welcome. Robin was used to long hikes and cross-country runs - he was none the worse for wear. Seu Antheus wanted to go again, as the train clearly hadn't arrived yet. "Sweatiness is next to holiness, right chaps?" Rambulge and Bari gave him filthy looks.
Yngwie the elf looked up at the departure boards. "The train will be here any moment. We made it!"
There was a general sort of cheery patting of shoulders and nodding happily at this news. Bufo squinted down the rails, hoping to catch a glimpse of the magnificent machines he had seen oh-so-briefly before he had passed out from the poison. He was soon rewarded with an incredible sight. Far off in the distant darkness, a light appeared. It grew slowly but steadily, and soon the whole party could hear the sound of the engine's approach. It was travelling at a steady running pace, so it was a while before the details were clear, but it soon became apparent that this train was different to the ones they had already seen. It was massive!
The locomotive was long, and coloured a dull black. It was not a pretty machine with gleaming pipes and stacks like the others they had seen. It was big and business like, a hauler of large, heavy goods.
"We need to be ready to board - everyone secure your possessions and get ready."
The train gave a mighty blast as it rumbled past the platform. Carriage after carriage went by, some were boxes with doors askew - they appeared to contain nothing. Others were merely platforms, also bare. It was to the bare ones, Yngwie motioned.
"That is where we get on," he said. Bufo looked confused. "Where are the cars with the seats and windows?"
"Master halfling, this is a goods train - it carries materials and supplies, not people. This train is returning from a great war, and it will come back laden with weapons, food and healing supplies. It is heading the direction we want to go, and we must board it now!"
"Why isn't it stopping...?" questioned Bufo further, his frown increasing.
"This train isn't stopping my halfling friend. We need to jump on."
"JUMP??"
"Yes, jump. It's quite easy, really. Duke here will demonstrate - he's done the hobo hop many times, haven't you Duke?"
Duke nodded, grinning. He turned and watched the carriages as they rumbled by. He chose his moment, then flung his sack onto the flat bed of a carriage then jumped after it. He landed on his feet, fell over, rolled a few feet and fell off the end of the carriage, disappearing under the great, metal wheels.
"Ah..." Yngwie looked agape at where the hobo had disappeared. "Well, erm, there is an example of what not to do. Just, erm, do your best."
Bufo looked at the passing carriages with horror.
"So," the elf smiled sheepishly, "who is first?"
__________________________________
In a dimly lit place of shadows and ghosts, a different sort of shadow waited. Actually, it was more of a blur. A blurry shadow. It was a genie, to be frank. It's name was Frank. Frank was waiting for someone.
A roiling mass of inky blackness burst from whatever counted as the ground in this hazy place. It coalesced into the form of a giant black creature with a lashing tail and dark, beating wings. It was not a solid form, but a wavy black memory of it's former body - it was the immortal remains of the she-demon. And she was well pissed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHGRHGHRGHGHRHGRHARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" said the demon, calmly.
"Hello Bessie" replied the blurry genie.
"I CLAIM MY WISH FROM YOU, FRANKLIN" shrieked the shadow form of the demoness, struggling to maintain it's integrity as parts threatened to drift away here and there.
"Go on then, make your wish," the genie nodded.
"RESURRECTION. RETRIBUTION. REVENGE!" screamed the shadow.
"That's very alliterative of you, but you only get one wish, you know that. One per year, that's the arrangement, and they are not cumulative, and you get no advances. What is your wish?"
"RESURRECT ME! NOW! I MUST MAKE THEM PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID!"
"I'm afraid resurrection is out of the question. Did you see what they did to you? Your old body is a mess, it's no use."
"REINCARNATION THEN!"
"Reincarnation... yes. Yes, I think I can manage that. You realise though, that once you enter the wheel of reincarnation, it's a forever-thing. You will be caught by the cycle, and bound by it's rules, which are complex and-"
"DO IT NOW GENIE! I WOULD HAVE MY REVENGE!!"
"Alright then Bessie. I can reincarnate you at any period in time... dooo you wan't to go back there?"
"YES! MY REVENGE MUST BE IMMEDIATE!"
"Alrighty then... your wish is my command!"
The shadow demon form was suddenly sucked back into the ground, making a small popping noise as it vanished.
"She is going to be... so pissed," muttered Frank. He shrugged his blurry shoulders and then vanished as well.
__________________________________
Bessie emerged from darkness into light! Red, unpleasant light, but light nonetheless. She fanned her wings and stretched her claws - oh! She had more limbs now, perfect! She tried to lash her tail but discovered it was gone - a long, slender abdomen stretched down from a segmented thorax, which also anchored her six long legs. Her mouth had been transformed into a long, tubular snout that could coil and uncoil at will. She felt the urge to plunge it into the soft flesh of her enemies and suck out their juices. Well, why not do just that? Revenge!
The adventurers were almost at their destination. Platform 13 lay just ahead, but there was no sign of a train! Yngwie stopped his mount at the destination and turned, waving at the others to hurry.
Seu Antheus, paladin of the Lady of the Lake, was enjoying the run immensely. His devotion to his deity was almost matched by his devotion to physical exercise, and he had worked up a healthy, manly sweat under his layers of plate armour. As he approached platform 13, he had no clue about the black horror that was diving down upon him at that very moment!
Bessie had her prey in sight. With her new eyes she could see the hot bodies of her victims pulsing with vital juices. The smell was maddening, invigorating, and she unfurled her tube-like mouth, quivering in anticipation of her kill. She homed in on the figure she hated most, that damned paladin with his aura of sickening holiness - he would pay for slicing her in two! She hurtled towards him, closer, and closer, until - her long, thin needle of a mouth found it's mark deep in the man's neck.
"Ouch," muttered Antheus, clapping a hand to his neck, sending Bessie back into the cycle of reincarnation one more. "Damn mosquitoes, how do they even get to a place like this?"
Bessie's spirit shrieked back into nothingness, sucked away on the Great Wheel, to be reborn somewhere, somewhen, ranked according to her living deeds, disposition and dental hygiene. Reincarnation is complicated.
The heroes finally arrived, puffing and panting. There was no train, only Duke the Hobo, waiting for them. He had a large sack over his shoulder. Rambulge was purple with exertion and sweaty with sweat. Bari was already a bit tired out from his previous exertions, so this run had not been especially welcome. Robin was used to long hikes and cross-country runs - he was none the worse for wear. Seu Antheus wanted to go again, as the train clearly hadn't arrived yet. "Sweatiness is next to holiness, right chaps?" Rambulge and Bari gave him filthy looks.
Yngwie the elf looked up at the departure boards. "The train will be here any moment. We made it!"
There was a general sort of cheery patting of shoulders and nodding happily at this news. Bufo squinted down the rails, hoping to catch a glimpse of the magnificent machines he had seen oh-so-briefly before he had passed out from the poison. He was soon rewarded with an incredible sight. Far off in the distant darkness, a light appeared. It grew slowly but steadily, and soon the whole party could hear the sound of the engine's approach. It was travelling at a steady running pace, so it was a while before the details were clear, but it soon became apparent that this train was different to the ones they had already seen. It was massive!
The locomotive was long, and coloured a dull black. It was not a pretty machine with gleaming pipes and stacks like the others they had seen. It was big and business like, a hauler of large, heavy goods.
"We need to be ready to board - everyone secure your possessions and get ready."
The train gave a mighty blast as it rumbled past the platform. Carriage after carriage went by, some were boxes with doors askew - they appeared to contain nothing. Others were merely platforms, also bare. It was to the bare ones, Yngwie motioned.
"That is where we get on," he said. Bufo looked confused. "Where are the cars with the seats and windows?"
"Master halfling, this is a goods train - it carries materials and supplies, not people. This train is returning from a great war, and it will come back laden with weapons, food and healing supplies. It is heading the direction we want to go, and we must board it now!"
"Why isn't it stopping...?" questioned Bufo further, his frown increasing.
"This train isn't stopping my halfling friend. We need to jump on."
"JUMP??"
"Yes, jump. It's quite easy, really. Duke here will demonstrate - he's done the hobo hop many times, haven't you Duke?"
Duke nodded, grinning. He turned and watched the carriages as they rumbled by. He chose his moment, then flung his sack onto the flat bed of a carriage then jumped after it. He landed on his feet, fell over, rolled a few feet and fell off the end of the carriage, disappearing under the great, metal wheels.
"Ah..." Yngwie looked agape at where the hobo had disappeared. "Well, erm, there is an example of what not to do. Just, erm, do your best."
Bufo looked at the passing carriages with horror.
"So," the elf smiled sheepishly, "who is first?"