Stackman's Adventures (Chapter forty-two)

[bsftcs]

Qui est-ce, cet homme Cet?

Being the forty-second chapter of Stackman’s adventures

In which Cet’s agenda is made clear and in which Stackman comes almost too close to compromising the future of the whole Gael Serran.

(Expatiating also upon the forty-third chapter of Bungleau’s Solo Warrior Saga.)

Missy left the portal room in which Kerah was still standing looking after the headstrong adventurer she (or he?) had help bring up. As Missy stepped into the corridor she found Stackman’s adventurers lined up against the wall. The valkyrie had made sure they were standing well without ear’s reach of what went on inside the portal room, and the bard was very demonstratively twiddling his thumbs.

”So… are you all right?”, asked the valkyrie cautiously as Missy walked up to her. Missy looked at the valkyrie for a bit and then nodded slowly. ”I have a job to do”, said Missy slowly but firmly, ”and I think I need your help here”. The valkyrie knew exactly what Missy was hinting at and produced the two champions’ keys from within her enchanted armour. ”I know… we also have a job to do”, she said pointing at the rest of the party, ”and so far as I can gather it does not differ much from yours!”. Missy smiled at the valkyrie. ”Let us go then”, she said. ”You lead the way”, the valkyrie said to the sulking bard who suddenly wised up and started leading the party of seven adventurers towards Cet’s den.

Soon they stood outside the door leading to Cet’s hideout. The heat and the sulphuric fumes were unbearable had it not been for the lavawalk spells’ protecting the seven. Due to the fact that the Kerah/Cet confrontation had taken place the door was already open, but two bars blocked the entrance. The assassin and the warlock each placed a champion’s key in the keyholes on either side of the door.

The party knew from previous encounters that Cet could only be hurt by weapons containing the black flame. Only the Mavin and the Staff of Death were capable of that. That meant that some of the party members would become idle spectators to the battle. Their role would be to cast healing spells and spells endowing the combatants with greater power. There was also the possibility of walking up to Cet and stand there passing the weapons from character to character when they had struck a blow. This method was extremely tedious and also dangerous since Cet was capable of casting some very hefty fire and fiend spells. Not that it mattered to the party with their enchanted armour, but Missy was less protected.

Preparations were made: The valkyrie and the zenmaster stood by with their healing spirit spells and all party members were endowed with ”Merlin’s Shield” spells and other protective spells. When all was ready the valkyrie signalled the assassin and the warlock, and simulaneously the two turned the keys. The bars slid to the side and the path to Cet’s den was made clear.

Suddenly unexpected events occured. Like a whirlwind a figure rushed past the seven adventurers and made its way into Cet’s cave. Missy and the party stood for a few seconds and looked at each other stunned as they were. Soon the sounds of a hefty argument was heard. The valkyrie and the barbarian rushed down the stairs to see what was going on. It was Stackman. The demi-god of the Ironworks Forum stood head to head with… well… a head. The floating severed head of the evil pharaoh was laughing at Stackman whose knuckles were soon turning bloody from vainly hitting the pharaoh.

”Ha, ha, ha, ha”, cried Cet, ”like Kerah you are no threat to me”. Infuriated by the fact that his bare fists was inflicting no damage on the evil one Stackman began to rant about the ultimate threat to every computer character… the dreaded ”format:C” command. ”Do it, do it”, laughed Cet. ”Yes, you will destroy me, but you will also destroy your precious stack, and thus my mission will be accomplished”, continued the evil pharaoh, ”You see, I do not care if I do not have the Gael Serran for my own so long as the puny Kerah and the accursed gods at Ironworks do not either”. ”That is why I instated all the diabolical crashes throughout the game”. ”The crashes during the Elyssia encounter and the ones during the Kerah encounter are all my work”. ”As is the game’s incompatibility with the most recent versions of Windows and the concealment of the lever in the crypt”. ”All this I have done to rob pathetic people like yourself of the wonders and marvels of the Gael Serran”.

”You have dared me once too often”, ranted Stackman, ”I shall format:C you out of my life for good”. ”I shall personally mfff…”. The last words of his sentece were muffled as the valkyrie held her slender hand over his mouth and tackled him to the floor. Stackman kept trying to shout and punching holes in the air with his fist, but the valkyrie managed to drag him a good way back through the cavern. The laughing Cet thought he would salute the demi-god by singeing him on his way out with a firestorm spell, but Missy, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs sent a bolt of energy flying from the Mavin Sword right into the face of the evil pharaoh who got so stunned that he was unable to complete his enterprise. The barbarian rushed to the valkyrie’s aid, and together they were able to carry Stackman up the stairs again while Missy Hissy moved in to cover their escape.

Safely back in the tunnel they laid Stackman on the floor and were gradually able to calm him. The valkyrie was finally able to secure a promise from Stackman that he was not going to do the ”format:C” trick right now. Letting that suffice for now she jumped up again and summoned the rest of the party. Short of breath they all ran back towards Cet’s chamber where the battle between him and Missy was now raging out of control. They all hoped that the solo warrior was not being run down by the evil pharaoh.

[ 07-02-2004, 04:51 AM: Message edited by: bsftcs ]

[Bungleau]

NOW

I know who's been responsible for all those crashes! On to the next step in the saga....

Very nicely done, I must say. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Lord]

Great chapter! Are you two switching off chapters?

[macoati]

*hysterical laughter*
NOW... That was funny!!! Very neatly done!!!

[Bungleau]

Who, us? Nahhhh.... doesn't everyone borrow everyone else's characters and use them to advance their story?

Okay, we might have had a discussion or thirty about it.... stay tuned [img]smile.gif[/img]

[LiOnHe@rT]

lol this is SO funny! and the way bsfcts & bungleau switch and weave their stories around one another's is really great imagination!!! keep it up ppl, and i'll die waiting for the next chapter...! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Wyvern]

Wowzah!!!

This just gets better and better!!! And I have another chapter to read too! I couldn't be luckier!!!

Wyv