Messages

GOLD for Ghost
SILVER for Baron
BRONZE for TheBitPriest

I think this is how the voting in the comp goes...

For some reason I LOL'd heartily at that Track and Field screenshot.

For me its the referee.  The guy looks like a midget in comparison to the runners, he is dressed like a golfer from the 20s, and for some reason was made in CGA-style graphics.

Track and field ? (AKA my fingers hurt)

  Yep its Track and Field, and yeah man no other game killed my fingers more.  The Summer and Winter Olympics games from Epyx could be rough as well.

Kickin' it 8-bit fellas

...or maybe the original It Came From the Desert?

....can I still change the rotation of my entry?

I'm fine with it.  Really I would think that voters are going to take into account that it looks cool either way.  This voter does anyway 

[Character:]

Character: Sane Co. (Volgarr was fun)
Plot: Baron
Atmosphere: WHAM
Background World: WHAM
Word Choice/Style: Baron
Topic: Baron (a symbol represents the promise; nice)

Still: Another audience?

+1

Is it P.O.W.?

Edit: I missed the clue...

So...Deadly Fire Force?

You discover a grinning, veiny alien life form squirming around in grey ooze...and it is now looking back at you through the microscope lens.




Edit: Modified backstory

Rodan?

  Does the name of the movie end in "zilla"?

  Yes, the shortcut on my home PC still used that address and so I got a good scare yesterday.

  The Wolfeboro docks along the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee were quiet and serene.  The water created soothing rhythmic sounds as it lapped the shore.  The occasional interruptions of this rhythm were brief and hardly noticeable, as the few boaters that sailed or motored past were respectful of the wake and adjusted their speed accordingly.  A small flock of seagulls squawked from the boat ramp, but they were drowned out by the sound of the song sparrows who lined the main pier where Xavien Genovo and Anne Myers sat enjoying the sunset.  A cool breeze steadily blew past them, which was scented by the sweet aroma of Japanese honeysuckle that lined the banks of this particular dock.  The insects weren't biting today, and the gulls at the boat ramp ignored guppies which were boldly swimming around on top of the water nearby.  Anne looked behind her, and saw a lone muskrat briefly pop its head out of a minnow bucket that sat near the pillars at the pier entrance.  It glanced at the birds, and then shrunk back down inside its hiding place.  Anne turned back around and said, ”There seems to be an unspoken truce between the wildlife here today.  Even they respect the peace and quiet of this place.”  Xavien smiled, as they both held hands and swung their feet up and down at the end of the pier, and replied, “Yea, it's really nice here and I guess the docks are empty due to the holiday…Anyway, Anne…Look, I just want you to know that I'll never leave you no matter what happens.  I promise.”  Xavien looked deeply into Anne's eyes and she blushed and said, ”Baby, where did that come from?”  Xavien looked away, towards a marsh off in the distance, and quietly answered, ”Just worried is all…I mean my background is different from yours; checkered…Well, let's just say that there are skeletons in my closet.  And I worry when that closet is opened…Anne, I just worry.”  Xavien hung his head.  Anne said, ”Baby, I would never leave you-“ and was cut off by Xavien who insisted, ”Promise!  Promise me now Anne.  You have to do this for me...for us.”  Anne was shocked, never having been interrupted by Xavien before, and said, ”Ok, baby, I promise that no matter what happens I will always be by your side.”

  Anne mulled over what “skeletons” Xavien could be hiding.  She had known him five years and, while he was evasive in certain ways about his upbringing, Xavien talked extensively about his loving foster family in New Hampshire.  The one subject that Xavien always dodged was ethnic background, and Anne was curious to know more because Xavien looked like no one else she had ever seen before â€" which was partly what attracted her to him.  He was six foot five with brown sun-kissed tan skin and both a chiseled body and jawline.  Xavien also had no hair anywhere on his body, and Anne liked this feature as she had always been grossed out by body hair.  One thing she found strange was that his nails grew at an incredible rate; he was always clipping fingernails and toenails and would joke that he didn't want to accidentally scrape her with his “talons” in the midst of passion.  All other physical features of Anne's boyfriend were perfect, nearly flawless, especially his big gleaming teeth which Anne frequently accused him of whitening.  She also found herself lost in his eyes on occasion, as they were deep dark orbs which Anne never grew tired of admiring.  The handful of times she pushed him on his ethnic background, Xavien curtly ended the conversation with, ”I'm mixed…Next topic please.”  Anne considered herself average looking with only a few curves in mostly the wrong places, and so she didn't want to push her mysterious - but otherwise perfect - Adonis of a boyfriend on the subject.

  Xavien waved a big elongated hand in front of Anne's face and said, ”Are you there baby, hello?” and Anne shook her head vigorously and replied, ”Yeah, sorry I was out if there for a second.”  Xavien rubbed his bald head and said, ”So you will never leave my side?  Do not make promises you can't keep.  A promise is a serious thing where I come from.”  Anne stared at Xavien and said, ”Never, ever.  If one of us should even be the slightest bit insecure it should be me.  Sure you look unique, but my Xavien is smoking hot and the smartest person I've ever met.  You are always around, and treat me like a queen.” Anne recalled that the only times Xavien really got mad was when she was late or changed their plans, which he viewed as Anne “going back on her word”.  Even in those instances he appeared to keep his cool and never genuinely flipped out.

  Xavien said, ”Do you remember hearing about the first test tube baby?”  Anne, though a journalist by trade she always had a strong interest in biology and genetics, replied, ”Yes, Louise was her name and she was born sometime in the late 70s.”  Xavien sighed and explained, ”I'm much older than I look Anne.  Myself, and a handful of others who are still alive, were among the first.  We didn't make the press because we were all failures in different ways, and given large amounts of hush money to not go public.  I was lucky because a good family eventually adopted me, but back in those days the medication that keeps me even was in its infancy…so there were trials and tribulations to say the least.”  Anne closed her previously gaping jaw and asked, ”You mentioned the test tube babies being failures in various ways, what was your…uhhh…failure?”  Xavien gritted his teeth, tilted his head to the side, and said, ”Well there are pluses, like my reflexes and senses are heightened.  Also as you have noticed, I gain muscle easily through workouts and never gain a bad pound.  But on the failure side of things…Well that would be extreme chemical imbalances that cause IED, which stands for Intermittent Explosive Disorder.  I've hurt people in the past, Anne.  Some deserved it, and many others, not at all.  Both medication and my heavy bag helps keep my anger in check.”  Xavien's eyes started watering.  He leaned over and nestled his head against Anne's and said, “Baby please don't think I'm a freak.  I would never hurt you and my Anne is the first person who treated me with-” before being  interrupted by a large skinning knife that appeared between him and Anne.

  The Sun dropped completely below the horizon just as Anne turned back to get a look at the owner of the knife.  The man holding it was short and stocky with a scruffy beard and decked out in overalls.  He wore a stained trucker hat crammed on his head that prominently queried “WHO POOTED?”  She glanced passed him towards the pier entrance, and over to the small bait shop (which had been long shuttered) nearby where another more clean cut looking man appeared to keep watch for his knife-wielding partner-in-crime.  Anne also saw the muskrat near its minnow bucket, and the large rodent's hairy jowls were working as it sucked viscera from the decapitated head of a song swallow which it clutched in its blood covered paws.

  The short scruffy thief ordered, ”You are going to very slowly hand me your wallet and purse.  If this goes down any other way,” and then the man looked directly at Anne and finished, “…my friend back there will shoot your mandigo here and I will skin the pretty off of your face with my knife.”  Xavien hadn't even looked up at the robber, as he continued looking at Anne.  The only changes in his demeanor were the low growl emanating from his throat and the cracking from his fist clenching.

  Neither Xavien nor Anne moved an inch.  The scruffy robber kicked Xavien in the thigh, and he finally looked up and said in a venomous tone, ”I could smell you from about five-hundred yards away, and I heard your continuous scratching and expelling of gas from about that distance as well.  The only reason I wasn't concerned was because I just figured you were a poor homeless guy that came here to fish or scrounge.  Here is the deal…I'll give you three hundred dollars cash, and you promise to walk away.”  The scruffy man replied, “Alright, I promise.”

  Xavien counted out the money and handed it to the scruffy robber, who pocketed it and then grabbed Anne by the shoulder and hauled her up.  Xavien immediately stood up and yelled, ”You are breaking your promise of walking away from here!”  The scruffy man tipped his slogan trucker hat, began backing away with Anne in tow, and said, ”I'm walking away aren't I?”  Anne began shaking as she went with him, partly from fear and partly due to catching a big whiff of her captor's foul body odor.  Xavien stared down the robber who now had the long knife against his girlfriend's throat, and Xavien's knuckles popped loudly as he flexed and relaxed them.  He looked around for help, and could see that his assailants had timed their caper well since there was no one in sight either on the water or by the shore.  Xavien slowly walked toward the robber as he was backing up…

  …and heard a gunshot which caused him to instantly tilt his body sideways and then Xavian was propelled off the end of the pier into the water.  Anne screamed, and began struggling with the scruffy man that held onto her with a vice-like grip.  The scruffy man yelled, ”Damnit Clem you cross-eyed galoot, that one whizzed by me! ”  Anne foot stomped her smelly captor, which caused an unfortunate chain of events for everyone present at the Wolfeboro docks.

  The scruffy robber stumbled and before he could regain his footing he fell backwards over a small mooring which caused his left hand, that one that held the skinning knife to Anne's throat, to sharply drive upward.  The knife plunged into Anne's throat as she thrashed to pull away; her struggles caused the knife to briefly wiggle around inside before her scruffy assailant released it as he fell back.  The robber, who had been holding on to Anne's arm with his right hand, promptly let go of his victim and landed flat on his back.  Anne fell down face first on the dock, with blood steadily pumping from her gaping neck wound.

  Clem, the slightly better dressed of the two robbers with his slightly tattered flannel shirt and cargo pants, ran up to both Anne and his partner and said, ”Nice going Ezekiel!  Now Jeb is gonna be pissed!  You dumb lummox, you know he don't like them hurt none!”  Ezekiel flipped over, crawled to Anne, and felt for a pulse.  He then shot up and said, ”Forget it, let's go.”  They both turned to run and at the entrance to the pier literally ran into a wet and angry Xavian, who grabbed Clem's deer rifle and promptly tossed it aside in the water.

  Xavian's eyes were red as he roared, ”New deal!  You both die, I check on my girlfriend, and if she dies then I go track down and kill that guy Jeb and everyone else he knows!”  Clem spat, ”Mister, that ain't no deal-“ and was abruptly cut off by his windpipe being crushed from a lighting quick and powerful left jab to throat from Xavian, which he followed with an equally fast and devastating right cross to Clem's face.  As Clem fell to the dock with both a destroyed trachea and broken nose, Ezekiel tried to run past Xavian only to run headlong into an outstretched arm which quickly became a choke hold.  Ezekiel heard, ”It shouldn't take long for me to cut off your blood supply.  Tell me where Jeb lives and I promise not to do that.” whispered into his ear.  Ezekiel replied, ”The big place up on Junction Road.”  Xavian simply nodded and then wrenched Ezekiel's head left and then sharply right which resulted in a loud crack.

  Xavian dropped Ezekiel's broken form like a sack of potatoes, ran up to Anne, and kneeled down.  He started crying and held her hand.  Xavian said, ”I don't have my cell phone so I'm going to run and find someone to help.  Baby…Please, please hang in there.”  Anne slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Xavian.  She tried to move her hand for one last caress, but didn't have the strength.  Anne managed to croak, ”Lots of blood…Didn't…break…never break…my promise.  I love you Xavian, and all of your differences.  Baby, you are the best thing…” and Anne gently laid her head down on the old wooden pier and died.  Xavian stroked her cheek, and held her hand for one last time.  He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, and then looked skyward and wailed.  Xavian pummeled his fists repeatedly into the wooden dock until they were bloodied from both trauma and splinters.


  Exactly three weeks after Anne Myer's passing Jeb Worthington received a knock on the entrance to his large, broken down estate.  He opened the door to see a big man dressed in a Bloat-a-burger delivery outfit.  Jeb said, ”Git knucklehead!  I ain't needing none of that.  I'm trying to watch my MSG intake.”  With one hand holding a bag of burgers and the other in a tightly clenched fist, the man said coldly, “I'm going to make you a promise…When I am finished with you and the other murderous, hayseed cronies you have in there, I promise that you will all be begging me to put you down like the dogs you are.“

ASK Jester for this KEY he keeps talking about.

+3

...I am planning on releasing the source for this project in its entirety!

Awesome!  Eager to get my hands on this.

So it's okay to steal 30,000 keys from say, EA?

Huh?  Did someone say that it is ok to steal 30,000 keys from EA?

No, its not ok.  I just don't care.  I do care if someone messes with a small mom and pop software house.

  Pricks...Leave the mom and pop software houses alone.

...Bonus marks for everyone but WHAM who picked up on the secret requirement to mention a specific car model ( ).  Good job, guys & gals!

Haha, I think you mean me rather than WHAM.  I like to be overly specific at random times.

Fun stories and thanks for the running the competition Baron!

  Happy Birthday Ponch!

  Also, the Baron Smiley wishes you happy birthday in its own sinister way...