Fortnightly Writing Competition: AGS Game Fan Fiction (WINNER CHOSEN!)

[kconan]

  The next writing competition is AGS fan fiction, and it begins now!  Set your story or poem in an AGS game universe or involve an AGS game character (OSD, one of the RON characters, etc...) in a setting/background of your choosing.  Basically, there are no restrictions as long it is somehow AGS game related.

 I'll vote in the event of a tie.

Plus, hideous trophies:

1st Place:   2nd Place:   3rd Place:

[Ponch]

Hopefully you'll have better luck with this theme than I did with mine. 

[kconan]

Hopefully you'll have better luck with this theme than I did with mine. 

This one is pretty open ended in terms of genre which makes things a bit easier, and I would think at least folks would enjoy writing a story about their own game.

You know, it is possible people are getting burnt out on the writing competitions.    I used to think the shorter deadlines were better because it forced you not to procrastinate, but it could be good to have longer ones for people's creative juices to recharge...or something.  I don't know.

[kconan]

  Anybody?!  Remember, anything AGS game related (no matter how much of a stretch) is acceptable.

[monkey0506]

With a quote like:

anything AGS game related (no matter how much of a stretch)

I'm really, really tempted to write an entry just for fun. But I wouldn't want to win on default (joke entry or otherwise).

I think if I was to write an entry (a legitimate one) that it would probably have to be tied to one of Ben's games, but that might just be because those are some of the only ones that I've actually played. It's not something I'm terribly proud of, but the fact of the matter is that I'm apparently horrible at adventure games. So, I don't play a lot of them.

[Ponch]

I'm really, really tempted to write an entry just for fun. But I wouldn't want to win on default (joke entry or otherwise).

You MUST write an entry! We're all counting on you! 

[LRH]

Sorry in advance for this...it's ridiculous and I should be ashamed. Enjoy!!


5 DAYS A STRANGE MAN

Today was supposed to be the big day. The day I was supposed to score an easy heist.

I was...WRONG.

Dead wrong. One might say. Dead wrong. Upon entering the home I became trapped. The window I had entered through jammed shut behind me. Which...ya know, actually doesn't seem like a huge deal. I mean, if I really, really needed to get out I could just break the window open. But I digress...

I soon ran into some interesting characters in the house. The first isn't really worth mentioning. I mean, he ends up being brutally murdered, yet I hardly know enough about him to care. The second was this Philip fellow. He quickly became agitated with my OCD-like need for excessive amounts of exposition. I then met some sort of eccentric radio show host and a stupid kid. The radio show host claims she's a news anchor but I mean...I don't know. She doesn't exactly look the part.

After talking with these people I decided to rummage through the house. Being a thief, I completely ignored the fine china, the paintings, and other such valuables and went straight for the twig in the back yard. When one becomes trapped one looks for goods with INTRINSIC VALUE. Duh.

On that note, though...it's amazing how in these sort of desperate situations, everyone becomes a thief. The radio show lady and the kid laughed as they stuffed 27% sterling silver dining ware into their pants. Philip looked on with disgust. I wanted to be friends with Philip. He has a leather jacket and is cool. I stood next to him and shook my head with disapproval at the lady and the kid. Philip thought I was mocking him and punched me in the mouth. I locked myself in the bathroom and cried with my twig for several hours.

That night, I decided to sleep on the couch. Although, I wasn't really sure how I got there.

I had this aweso- er -- Bad dream that I killed everyone. I awoke filled with adrenali- uhm. Terror. Yeah. I definitely don't find these people I'm stuck with disgusting or anything.

The radio host decided she would break into the library and not tell me about it. Hmph. I browsed the shelves for a while. After sifting through piles of ancient Cosmopolitan magazines and apparently incomplete encyclopedia sets I found an oddly specific book about the occult. I figured it would be useless, so I burned it.

I then went downstairs to find the kid delirious from eating too much salt and quenching his thirst by drinking the water from the pool. I slapped him in his face with the twig I found in the backyard a few times but nothing happened.

Oh yeah and that other guy I mentioned got his throat cut and his body chained to the bottom of the pool.

Anyway, the next day my car mysteriously appeared within the walls of the backyard. The walls that seem to mysteriously increase in size 3 fold as I walk toward the back of the yard. Instead of doing something interesting or creative with my car, I decided to simply open it up and take what I'd completely forgotten on the way inside. The one thing that every thief needs when pulling off a heist. In fact, it's amazing that any thief would be stupid enough to try to pull off a heist without it.

So anyway, after lamenting my idiocy, I finally grabbed it from the car. My McDonald's Happy Meal. I ate it slowly in front of the others as they cried and begged for anything, even a half of a fry. Did I mention there's no food in the house? That's kind of important. I told Philip if he would be friends with me I would give him the wind-up Hamburgler toy that came with it. He was not amused and punched me in my teeth.

Well, that's really the only interesting stuff that happened. After that it turns out there was like, I dunno, some kind of dead spirit that was going through the house and possessing people and making the possessed person kill the other people in the house and then we totally had to get rid of it by performing this weird kind of satanic ritual and burning the house down. Oh yeah, and I killed Philip, the smug bastard.

And that, my friends, is the story of my very first, very successful heist. I made a friggin' KILLING off that twig.

[kconan]

  Cool, there's one  8)  Bring on some more!

[kconan]

  The deadline is here, but I'll give this another half-day just in case.

[Ponch]

Focus. Just focus. Don't panic.

He wasn't entirely successful in doing either of those things.

Bad. This is bad.

An understatement.

The boss only asks one thing of me. Just one thing. All I have to do is keep my eye on them and make sure nothing happens to them until someone comes along and claims them. How hard is that? How in the world could anyone screw up something that simple?

It had been easier than it looked.

There were three the last time he looked. Three. He had even counted them. Twice.

One. Two. Three.

But now there were only two.

One. Two. Damn it! Try again. One. Two. ... One. Two. ... Shit! Where could the third one have wandered off to? It was right here. RIGHT HERE! All I did was turn my back for just a minute and then suddenly there were only two. ... One. Two. ... Backwards this time. Two. One. ... Damn it! Still two!

When the boss found out, she would be pissed. He was going to be sacked for sure! How could he have screwed up like this? And where had that little one gone? Wherever it was, it certainly wasn't here. And here was where it was supposed to be. Here. Not out there... Somewhere.

What am I going to do? She's going to ask me any second now to account for them. And what will she do when I can't do that?

His mind was racing fast. Faster than it ever had before. He feared he might black out. Then it came to him all at once. A flash of divine inspiration that made the world suddenly leap into focus.

I'll tell her there were only two! Only ever two!

She'll never suspect it! All this time, I've only ever been honest with her. She doesn't know how many I had. SHE. DOESN'T. KNOW.

It was so perfect he wondered why no one had ever thought to do it before. This would solve all his problems. Maybe forever! Who knows how far he could take this idea.

My life is about to get so much easier!

But wait... What if someone came around, asking about the one that went missing. Or what if it came back suddenly? Then what would he do?

I'll lie again! It will work! IT HAS TO WORK!!!

Suddenly, she was there! Crossing the room, walking towards him. This was it! The moment of truth!

Two. Two. Two. Two. Two. Two.

"Ah morning, the best part of the day." she said, quite nonchalantly.

So that was her game! Small talk! Conversation of no consequence to get him to lower his guard. She knew! Or she suspected!

"Nothing inspires me quite like the fresh morning air," she said airily, to no one at all. He began to sweat bullets.

Play it cool. Just play it cool. She can't prove anything! It'll be her word against yours!

Out of sight, where she couldn't see, he readied the police on speed dial.

"Good morning Annie." He offered it with such casual pleasantness a passerby would never suspect the mental chess game going on inside this room.

"Good morning Messagebot." Even more pleasantly. Innocent. That's the word they would surely use in the police report. What sort of crime scene was about to unfold here? What was her game?

I've got to turn the tables on her! Show her that I can play hardball too. I'm not the only one going to prison today, Annie!

"What do you mean by "inspires", Annie?" He asked it with as much naive sincerity as he could manage.

Either both of us are leaving this room alive... Or neither of us are!

"Doesn't the fresh morning air give you all sorts of exciting ideas?"

"Ideas are delivered from HQ annie, you know that." Ha! And you know what else is delivered from HQ? Cars filled with policebots! She had to back down! She had to! Couldn't she see the collision course they were both on?

They exchanged small talk for a few more moments. But he knew the longer they talked the more likely he was to slip up. He had to force her hand. Make her play by his rules!

It all comes down to this.

"I have new messages for you, Annie."

Now it was out there, hanging in the air between them like a floating hand grenade made of honest mistakes, sweaty desperation, sensible self-interest and damnable lies.

How is this going to end, Annie? Don't call my bluff! I'm not bluffing! Can't you see that?!? Save yourself... And save us both! DON'T BE A FOOL!!!

She paused for the briefest of moments. Was she thinking... weighing her options? She walked closer to the small table he sat on and the true horror of it dawned on him.

I don't have any arms! I can't fight back!

And worse!

I don't have any legs! I can't run away! Oh, what a foolish messagebot I've been. Trapped by my own hubris... And my immobility!

Here, at the end, it was all so obvious in retrospect. But he was committed to this course of action. Nothing to do now but see it through to the bitter end. He powered up his small LCD screen and, with the resolute spirit that only a man walking to the gallows can show, he set it to display "2".

She pushed the "Play All" button and he laid his cards on the table.


1) Are you sick and tired of being embarassed in front of your designated partner?
The shame can end right here, for just nine payments of eight thousand credits!
Visit Scambot's emporium and get your procreation unit upgraded today!

2) This is RoboHQ. We've sent Mailbot to your sector to deliver a message.


She deleted them both and went outside to meet the handsome mailbot.

Messagebot sat alone in the small house.

What happened? Why hadn't she unplugged him and chucked him in the bin? She had to know! There were supposed to be three messages! Three! She had to know! That Nigerian Princebot had chosen her to help him legally claim his money! He couldn't have just chosen Annie at random. And he was even willing to split the money with her, provided she would provide a little cash up front. It was such a deal! Did she not care? Didn't she want to help?

Or... Could it be... That she really didn't know how many messages were left for her every day?

Why... That would make me... useful! Incredibly useful!

Suddenly his life was filled with purpose.

Purpose... And thoughts of blackmail.

[ThreeOhFour]

Haha yes, I loved it! 

[Ponch]

Haha yes, I loved it! 

Then write one of your own! It only takes ten minutes! Do it! DO IT NOW!!!

[kconan]

Time to vote!

Ponch or Domithan

[Ponch]

Time to vote!

Ponch or Domithan

Domithan!

[LRH]

Time to vote!

Ponch or Domithan

Domithan!

Oh yeah?! Two can play at that game! >:|

Ponch!

Hey wait... (No, but seriously, Ponch )

[Ponch]

Domithan!

Domithan!

Good choice, Domithan!

So that's two for Domithan! He's out to an early lead! 

(Seriously, vote for Domithan. His story is better! (and I don't have any ideas for a new competition.)

[Ponch]

Time to vote for Domithan!

Now that's three for Domithan! 

[Atelier]

Domithan!

Domithan!

Good choice, Domithan!

So that's two for Domithan! He's out to an early lead!  

(Seriously, vote for Domithan. His story is better! (and I don't have any ideas for a new competition.)

Time to vote!

Ponch or Domithan

Domithan!

Oh yeah?! Two can play at that game! >:|

Domithan!

Hey wait... (No, but seriously, Domithan )

Domithan.

Now I'm confused. Is that seven votes for Domithan?

[LRH]

It's 23 by my count.

[Ponch]

It's 115 by my count.

That's the spirit! If you're going to steal an election, steal as blatantly as possible!