Mystery Machine (Anselm)

by **Anselm** on May 27th, 2012, 5:52 pm

Anselm tried to scramble away from the hulking stone goliath but his limbs had stopped obeying orders. There was nowhere to go anyway. The creature stood between him and the tent entrance. His whole body was trembling uncontrollably and an unpleasant metallic taste had formed in his mouth.

“Anselm, Anselm,” said a voice he had not heard in a very long time. “What have you gotten yourself into.” Master Ahn was sitting in Anselm's chair, slowly shaking his head.

“Master,” Anselm whispered in a strangled voice. “Help me.”

“You really should be meditating, you know. Things always go better when you meditate.”

Anselm looked toward the stone man. It was standing where it had been changed by the other Nuit's magic. It gave Anselm an evil grin. He looked back at Master Ahn. His old master had died hundreds of years ago.

“How can you be here?”

“Things are not always as they appear, my dear Nuit.”

“I don't understand.”

“That always has been a problem for you, hasn't it?”

Then the old master was gone. The stone man had stopped grinning. And he could hear a metallic clanking sound coming from outside the tent.

OOC :

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on May 27th, 2012, 6:30 pm

By the time Tock arrived at the scene, the fighting was over. She saw the smoldering remains of a burnt bush, still slightly aflame but thankfully not spreading to anything nearby.

She stepped into the tent and saw the stone man. He drew a frown from her. She leaned in close, examining the amazing detail. She knew carving quite well, and it would take a master carver to make something this realistic. There were no such carvers in Zeltiva that she knew of. Plus there were details here that no carver would have added; a stain on the man's lapel, some fraying at the edges of his clothing, a hole in his boot revealing a stubby toe. Such things didn't make sense in an artistic piece, nor did the half-drawn stone sword the statue was drawing from its scabbard.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was no ordinary statue. And Tock was a genius. Without looking down at Anselm as he struggled on the ground, Tock rapped her knuckles on the stone statue and asked the Seer, "Can I keep 'is? If'n ya don't want 'im, I mean..." She could learn a lot about stone carving and the human body with this statue to study. Of course she had no idea of the hallucinations Anselm had just been experiencing of this statue moving around and grinning at him.

She wondered what kind of magic could turn a man to solid stone. Or was he solid all the way through? Maybe if she cut into his back she'd find dead flesh and bone underneath. It would be an interesting experiment, to say the least.

She finally looked down at Anselm on the ground and asked, "Didja do this?" she patted Stoneman on his shoulder. "Were 'is big mean brute lookin' fer my baby?" she asked, referring to the box she had 'adopted', and now thought of as one of her children.

OOC :

by **Anselm** on May 27th, 2012, 8:31 pm

“My dear Tock,” Anselm said, pleased to discover that his voice had returned to its normal grating state. “If I can possibly tear you away from the stone man, I have something to tell you.” He used the edge of the table to pull himself up off the ground and dropped heavily into his chair. He noticed that the table showed no evidence of disintegration. With an effort of the will, he brought his shakiness mostly under control. Then he addressed the girl.

“A man came to my tent and made various threats if I failed to turn over the box. He was about to leave when this gentleman ...” he gestured toward the stone man “... entered the tent. Using some kind of magery with which I am not familiar, my visitor turned the man into stone. It was most impressive. An altercation ensued with two of the stone man's associates involving swords, axes, fireballs and so on. It was all very exciting. In the end the stone man's companions retreated. Then my visitor left as well. I do not think he is a nice man.”

He paused as his tremor started up again. He brought it under control and continued.

“It would appear that two people with considerable resources at their disposal are after the box. It is indeed a box, by the way, as you surmised. Something of great value must lie within. In any case, I urge you to hide it in a safe place and take precautions to ensure your own safety.

“For my part, I am going to take myself home and rest. I fear I over-extended myself in the scuffle. By the way, what brought you here? It's the middle of the night. Oh, and I wonder if you have any use for a stone man. I really don't want him occupying my tent.” He stopped, realizing that he was rambling, something he did so rarely that he couldn't remember that last time he had done it.

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on May 27th, 2012, 9:34 pm

When Anselm shared his story, Tock tried to stomp her feet, though with her crutches in a standing position they fully supported her weight and her feet couldn't actually reach the ground. So she contented herself with pouting and kicking the air as she said, "I missed all the good stuff? Aww, Zithnuts!" Well, she hadn't missed all the good stuff; there'd been a fair bit of excitement back at her place, too.

When he asked what brought her here, she took a moment to consider what to tell him. Part of her wasn't sure if she should reveal everything... but the other, more scientific part of her realized that the more information that was shared, the more likely they were to get to the truth behind this mystery.

She fished Boxy out and held him up with pride. "We made friends!" she declared with a grin. "Some guy tried ta kill me, an' I done nailed 'im ta my floor," she said this in a casual, conversational tone, as if this sorta thing happened every day. "My baby spider bit his foot off," this she said with a surge of motherly pride, as if sharing that her toddler had walked for the first time, "an' 'en 'is guy told me what 'ow Boxy 'ere were a commissioned project. S'posed fer ta only open fer who 'e's told. 'Ere, watch..."

She hadn't tested this yet, but based on what she'd observed of Boxy's behavior, combined with what she knew about common Directives and how to program them, she was pretty sure she knew how Boxy's commands would work. She unstrapped from her crutches and fished around on the ground until she found a pebble. She then held Boxy up before her face and said in a firm but loving tone, "I's yer Mommy now, aye?" The box opened his lid in a nod of agreement. Tock then held up the pebble and said, "'Is is Mommy's pebble, aye? Don't let nobody else 'as 'er..."

She dropped the pebble inside, and Boxy eagerly snapped his lid shut, the wires inside wrapping around the pebble and holding it snug, and the screws and clasps tightening in place.

She then set the box on the table in front of Anselm and said, "Go 'ead, give 'er a try." Nothing Anselm did, short of the extreme measures Tock had earlier used, would get Boxy to give up his treasure. But then, Tock held up a finger and looked Anselm in the eye, before turning her attention back to Boxy and saying, "Oy, s'okay baby, 'e can 'as it..." Upon this command, Boxy unscrewed and opened his lid, loosened the razor wires, and would allow Anselm to take the pebble.

"'E imprints on whoever puts somethin' inside 'im, aye" Tock explained. "An' 'at person can authenticate others what is 'llowed ta get in." She grinned. Whoever had made the box had been a competent Animator, just a bit above Tock's own skill level.

"'Is old Mommy's dead though," Tock explained. "Floorman told me, right 'fore I killed 'im..."

by **Anselm** on May 27th, 2012, 11:08 pm

“I am suitably impressed with your skills, my dear,“ said Anselm. “But what was in the box?”

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on May 28th, 2012, 1:06 am

"Huh?" Tock asked. "Oh! Aye..." she'd forgotten all about the pearl (why would anyone be so interested in what was inside, when the box was the truly fascinating part?). "'E 'ad a magic pearl what sucked all the water outta Floorman and turned 'im ta dust." She shrugged.

"Dunno what kinda magic," she said. "But I 'id 'er fer safety, jus' like ya done said," she nodded. "I ain't puttin' 'er back in Boxy," she said with a frown. "'Ey might 'urt the poor baby jus' ta get at 'at stinky ol' pearl..." Some people could be so cruel!

"We'll 'as ta figure out what kinda magic can makes a pearl inta a water suckin' death machine," she said, tapping her lips. "An' why 'ese blokes," she rapped her knuckles on the stone man, "want 'er so bad fer. Otherwise, 'ey might keep on tryin' ta 'urt Boxy fer ta find the pearl..." Handing the pearl over to them wasn't an option. That would upset Boxy too much, after how hard he'd worked to keep the pearl safe. But as long as they thought Boxy still had the pearl, he was in danger. Therefore, in order to protect him, she would need to track down these villains and stop them.

It was all perfectly logical.

by **Anselm** on May 28th, 2012, 1:58 am

Anselm was not altogether clear about how Tock's mind worked. It seemed to have a logic of its own that bore only slight resemblance to everybody else's logic. Despite this – or perhaps because of it - she was a mechanical genius and very good with animations. In any case, he had yet to figure out what made Tock tick. And that was intriguing.

“My dear,” he said, rising from his chair and moving toward the entrance. “I bid you good night, or perhaps I should say, good morning. I am going home to do about twenty hours of deep meditation. Feel free to take the stone man. I'm sure it will make a fine addition to your already … ah … unique collection of … ah … stuff.” With that he walked out into the night leaving Tock to ponder how she would get the statue home. He had no doubt she would find a way.

OOC :

by **Minerva Agatha Zipporah** on May 28th, 2012, 2:41 am

OOC :

by **Paragon** on June 12th, 2012, 12:45 am

Adventurer's Loot

Anselm's Loot :

Rayage's Loot :

Minerva's Loot :

Awesome thread. I enjoy improvised stories, since I'm not a big planner myself. It was winding, but ultimately really enjoyable. I'm allowing you the loot Minerva, and also, please PM me next time you plan on using the pearl with your intentions - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.