This is an experimental Creative Write/Free write. I wrote this in the Hive.Pizza DiscordPizza Guild Discord while sharing my screen and asking for input/direction/whatever from the community. I think it will be an interesting way to construct a post and have no idea how this will turn out!
Rules!
They are few:
Anyone else in the voice channel's input overrides mine- I will type and incorporate ideas and input as I do- ANYONE in voice can make me edit or whatever!
Pizza Tips for participants throughout the event
Other than that this is a standard free writing format! So lets GOOOOOOO!
The first people to join voice insisted we do a continuation of a previous Let's Write Together Event so let's see how it turns out!
Scarlet balked in surprise at hearing that this filthy ancient man had known her true father. She had never known her true parents and had been saved by Vogon and raised by him since a young age. The sudden connection to her past shook her to her core. She did not know how to respond so the old man continued
"I worked closely with him as an assistant Magical Advisor for years and we helped the Kingdom grow into the beautiful and powerful place it has been for years. He appointed me to be his assistant when I showed my prowess for shapeshifting at the King's Fair. Your Father took a shine to me and decided to use my magical talents to make the Kingdom a better place!" The old man's eyes glazed over slightly as he remembered his past.
"I had never been blessed with riches or fame, but thanks to your father I came close and rubbed elbows with the wealthy courtiers in the Kings Palace. Your father worked directly for the King even though the King has always been against magic. He was happy to take advantage of our talents and allow us to work for his benefit." He reached up and scratched his head, dislodging a shower of dirt, dandruff, and lice. For a moment Scarlet was repulsed and took a step back, stifling her sudden desire to retch. Marlin refused to allow her space and stepped forward. As he did a glimmer of something bright caught her eye on his chest, and for the first time she noticed a pendant hanging there. There was something vaguely familiar about the pendant, it was a catfish jumping out of water in a poorly described arc. She could barely see it, yet instinctively knew exactly what it depicted. Her earliest memories were of a matching pendant around the neck of the monstrous catfish that she had known as her father her whole life. They were warm memories, and suddenly she was instilled with a sense of trust for this strange man.
She wrenched her gaze from the pendant and as she did so noticed the Prince's hunting party passing the end of Balling Alley.
Prince Zaphlebrox looked directly down the alley as he passed and saw the two of them, a couple of filthy peasants cowering in an alley as was their place. He spurred his horse to a gallop to get away from the foul stench of the villagers and out into the clean air of the woods where he would probably not bring down a stag. The hunting party was well equipped for any eventuality including an impromptu picnic with brandy and tidbits. The scouts knew the way to all of his favorite clearings and dells in which to lounge away an idle afternoon. He did not even have to pay attention as they led him to quickly away into the woods and stopped within a mile or so.
It was an idyllic afternoon without a cloud in the sky and within no time the prince and his favorite courtiers had settled in under a sprawling oak tree to enjoy a snack and wet their parched throats.
Just as the Prince was starting in on his second flagon of brandy an enormous stag burst out of the forest on the other side of the clearing.
"Oh! My Prince! Such a majestic beast! Wouldn't it's head look magnificent above the mantle in the great hall! You must fetch it for me!" A beautiful lady exclaimed in a simpering nasal tone. The prince merely glared at her instead of responding. She was his future wife, betrothed at a young age by his father and hers. Sometimes he forgot her name anyway, and couldn't imagine why he should go haring off into the woods after some beast for her.
"I'll go fetch it for you M'lady! Though of course if I were to bring down the beast, it's head would find a home on the wall in my keep! I'm sure the prince is far too comfortable in the shade and besides wouldn't want to ruin his fine attire!"
"You old fop stop with your empty boasting and have another drink!" The prince announced irritably.
"I do more than boast my lord, a stag that fine would bring honor to any man here were it to find a place on their wall!" The assembled courtiers, knights, and servants murmured in agreement at the proclamation and several looked askance at the prince in his refusal to partake in a pursuit this fine.
"Oh very well you fools, though it will be long away by now, bring me my bow and I shall attempt to bring down the beast!" He downed the last of his brandy and tossed the flagon aside carelessly, splashing droplets of the blood red liquid on his betrothed and the mouthy duke who instantly stopped snickering.
Within moments he was precariously and ponderously balanced in the saddle of his horse with his fathers old bow in hand and was approached by his betrothed, who he suddenly recalled was named Kamandaren. The Nasally. The Prince shuddered at the grating sound of her voice, as though her throat had forgotten through which pipe to send the air. She proffered her scarf as a token of good luck and thankfully did not feel the need for a good luck speech or offering her hand.
With that he wheeled the horse and nearly unseated himself before heading at a trot into the woods in the direction that the stag had disappeared moments before.
Having no idea how to track anything he quickly slowed his horse to a stop as soon as he was out of sight of the hunting party. With trepidation he stuck a finger into the air to test the wind direction unsuccessfully. There is no wind He thought just as he noticed a lock of hair drifting in front of his eyes. He shrugged and began to walk the horse forward once more. Without any idea where he was headed he found himself moving towards the sound of running water. He entered another clearing and was met with a monstrous sight.
An enormous fish creature stood over the magnificent stag as it lay dead on the riverbank. With horror he watched as the bulk of the fish appeared to shrink in size until it was the size of a gnat and then seemed to disappear. The prince watched for several minutes before deciding that it was safe to approach. The stag appeared whole aside from a chomp taken out of its neck that must have ended it's life. He considered the corpse for a moment and then decided no one would need to know that he had not brought it down himself...
Unbeknownst to Zaphlebrox the enormous fish had of course been Vogon, our infamous Catfishman hunting for his own dinner for the first time in months. He had used his shapeshifting abilities to shrink in size in order to extend his meal. Upon being surprised by Zaphlebrox, he simply continued to shrink in order to avoid a confrontation. After remaining in his underwater lair for so long he felt jumpy and unprepared for a fight. He swam through the body of the stag as a tiny minnow fry sized catfishman wizard.
"GLUB GRUH GIBBER GLUG BRUG..... Blubvonglub!" He grumbled to himself as he navigated the bloodstream of the animal in search of the tastiest morsels to begin regaining his strength and recommended daily nutritional caloric consumption. This was something he had been severely lacking during his months eating only dirt and pebbles from the bottom or his lair. As a bottom feeder this diet could sustain him somewhat, but as a shapeshifting catfishmanwizard he needed proper proteins in order to maintain his magical energies. In no time he had found his way to the stags liver, and rubbed his tiny catfishmanwizard body against it murmuring "Glein glubbschkubz."
Prince Zaphlebrox, meinwhile had begun to drag the heavy corpse towards his horse in order to return with it to the hunting party. He dismissed the shrinking fish creature from his mind and focused on his successful return with the magnificent beast lashed to his stallions withers. With an unimaginable(for him) effort, he lifted the beast onto the horses back and lashed it in place. With a final look around the clearing he retraced his steps back through the woods.
Meanwhile hours had passed and Scarlet and Marlin were engaged in a display of wits and magical prowess. Scarlet had been unwilling to accept Marlin's story without some form of proof and he had quickly offered it in the form of a flurry of spells and incantations. At first she had been fearful because she had already sensed the depth of his arcane aquifer. It would require no fracking.
"I know you can sense my powers, child, though your perception of them is quite mistaken." He had croaked amused at her trepidation. "You are at least as capable as I am. It may seem as though I contain my power in deep reserves, but this is simply false perception- it is not a well of power that I draw on at will, but a bridge to the energies of the natural world around us. You must siphon the power through yourself as an aqueduct channels water from one place to another or a leet brings energy from the millpond to the mill to turn its grindstones."
"Bluh?" In her consternation her years with Vogon were blatantly obvious. "I have always been told to draw upon the power within me, how do I channel energy through me?? Like Vogon always taught me Glubber glig buhb von glibmeinglug..."
"Vogon was not wrong, you have just misinterpreted! It is not glibmeinglug but blibdeinglug Let the energy build up inside you from the universe around you. We are the fulcrum through which the energy flows. I have mastered being the crux of this flow, you have not yet even begun to tap this ability and that is why you perceive my powers to be so much stronger than your own."
Scarlet was considering this and instantly felt a surge of energy as she altered her perception of the power within her and felt herself suddenly adrift in an infinite sea of blubbing arcane energy. She anchored herself by channeling some of that energy towards Marlin and felt the magic burst through her and manifest in terrible torrential turbid torrents of turbulent tepid torrid tides. He deflected them effortlessly.
"Well done child! You are ready, and it has begun!"
Scarlet glanced up at the sun in the sky and realized that almost the whole had passed. She looked back at Marlin and saw over his shoulder that the Prince was returning with his hunting party and an enormous stag for the first time. Just as they passed the mouth of Balling Alley she heard one of the courtiers loudly announce.
"But I still don't understand why there is a big chomp taken out of its neck?!"
