Stackman's Adventures (Chapter thirty-eight)

[bsftcs]

Stackman Goes Stackward

Being the thirty-eighth chapter of Stackman’s adventures

In which the nature of Kerah’s wings is exposed and in which Stackman prevents both his and the solo warrior’s adventures from ending with a disaster.

(Expatiating also upon Bungleau’s fourtieth chapter of the Solo Warrior Saga).

It was pitch black. Dark clouds had been drawing in all day, and rain had begun falling. The desert sand was eagerly absorbing the precious rarity of this region. Stackman looked around but it was impossible to discern anything in the darkness. It had always been his mind to let his party enter the pyramid on their own without his help. Not that he feared he would become trapped inside the pyramid with them. First of all he was confident that the valkyrie would lead the party to another victory. Second of all he had plenty of saved games scattered about his hard disk he could always return to. And if all else failed he had the sacred “Reset Adventure” button. No, the reason for his not wanting to interfere was the fact that he loathed Cet for respawning inside the Sacred Stack whenever the “Reset Adventure” button was pressed. He did not want his wrath cloud the judgement of the valkyrie and endanger his party’s fame at the Ironworks Forum.

But something had come up. Knowing the hoax involving Kerah and Anephas who was never turned to ashes like the rumour, Kerah had spread to the Gael Serran, told, Stackman knew that they possessed no magical powers whatsoever. In order to keep the plot going to ensure the fame of his party, he knew that he had to make sure that Kerah was able to enter the pyramid. He did not know how far his party had come yet, and he knew that eventually their actions would cause the pyramid to be sealed off until Cet had been slain (as explained by Sazerac in a reply to a previous topic). And then there was this Missy Hissy whom he had just seen exit the pyramid and teleport away carrying four tomes. Clearly her leaving meant that the pyramid was not yet sealed off, but if she returned she might accidentally cause that to happen. The portal at Kerah’s underwater temple was also broken, so in other words Stackman had to make sure she had an alternative way to enter the pyramid.

He started climbing up the now slippery stones of the pyramid looking for crevices and other openings. He knew no pyramid worthy of being called a pyramid did not have at least one shaft leading from its interior to its exterior. It took some time but eventually he found a small opening on the north side of the pyramid. He looked down the narrow shaft. Too narrow for him to enter, but what about the slender Kerah? Although she was able to fly that was only because her wings had small powerful engines running them. They were a part of the hoax and quite detachable. So if she took them off and threw them down first she would definitely be able to fit through.

He threw a coin through the shaft to see if it went all the way through to the interior. Then he climbed down the pyramid when all of a sudden a blue sparkling orb appeared at the bottom of the pyramid. He hid behind a small obelisk as Missy Hissy exited the teleportation portal wearing the sash of the zenmasters. She entered the pyramid with Stackman not far behind her.

Inside the pyramid Stackman went straight for the marvellous stack within the stack. Partly because he wanted to see the wonder again, partly because that was where his calculations told him the shaft would open onto. He climbed the way to the top and found the coin lying in the tray containing the lich’s heart. So the shaft ended somewhere in the shadows of the ceiling far to the top. He giggled for a bit knowing that when Kerah would enter the pyramid she would land right on the spike on the tray. Just deserts for the hoaxster.

Suddenly a grating noise told him that the elevator was coming up. Not wanting his party to find him here he jumped down to the small ledge just below the top of the stack. Not very wise. There was no way he could get back to the top quickly. He paused for a moment hearing his valkyrie retrieving the heart. Then all of a sudden the elevator came up again and there was great commotion. “Missy Hissy”, Stackman thought. “I have to avert the disaster, but I cannot go back up”, he desperately thought to himself. “Hold”, he yelled out of desperation, and paused for a while to catch his breath. The commotion had stopped and a low mumble was heard indicating that the two parties had started communicating. Stackman drew a sigh of relief and started looking for a way down.

After several minutes he found a foothold and started climbing down. Just as he set foot on the second floor landing he saw Missy Hissy and his party exit a doorway below him. Missy Hissy was carrying the lich’s heart. “Interesting”, Stackman thought… He had been able to follow her exploits on the Ironworks Forum and he knew that she had hardened verging on insensitivity as of late. But now she was wearing a zenmaster’s sash and performing a valkyrie’s duty. What a development this adventure was taking so close to the end.

[Bungleau]

Nice touches... and I like where the shaft drops off at [img]smile.gif[/img]

I was wondering how Stackman got in there... guess Missy's going to have to pay attention to what's going on behind her a little bit more often

[Wyvern]

hehehehe

Yes - a most fitting place for that shaft, I agree!! Have you two been confering behind the scenes, coordinating your tales???

Great stuff!!!

Wyv

[Bungleau]

Who, us? [img]graemlins/angel.gif[/img]

Well, perhaps we might have done the nose...

[bsftcs]

Why, Wyvern... Do you think Bungleau and I would do such a thing... I am shocked. We would never...

[ 01-05-2004, 04:42 PM: Message edited by: bsftcs ]