Challenge #01933-E109: Once Upon an Adventure

We 'narrative apes', don't just tell stories, we play games to pass the time. -- Knitnan

Humans are an inventive lot. They invented inspired desperation as a survival instinct. They invented fiction to make their lives more interesting. They're one of the few cogniscent species and the only known Deathworlders to have boredom. They can multitask, and some of them can multitask, apparently, faster than light. Some are capable of multitasking with mind-boggling precision. Others can't remember what they were doing two minutes ago, and are capable of burning water.

What they are famous for is inventing stories. If taxed for an answer to a question that they don't know, they are capable of making something up. Fortunately for the other species in the Galactic Alliance, these instant fictions are easy to spot, since they are generally prefaced with one or a combination of, "I don't know," and, "Maybe."

Humans are also well known for playing games. What was less well known was that Humans could play games with stories. And it was quite the spectacle to witness for the uninitiated. There was one Human running what the others aboard the Enforcement Cruiser Swift Catharsis were starting to call the Madness Room. The others were gathered around the table and telling fragments of stories.

"The litch keeps repeating your name, Kaliko, but they're hanging back. They seem to know you're afraid. And they're not doing anything hostile." Here, the chief of the madness switched the tone and timbre of their voice. "Kaliko... don't you remember? Don't you remember the--" and then they imitated a hiss of static.

"Wait. What?" said the Human playing an imaginary Elf mage called Kaliko.

"Was that in character or out of character?" asked another participant in the tabletop madness.

"Hogarth the Mighty is still trying to break down the steel door that Kaliko is trapped behind."

"It's steel. I don't care how mighty your thews are, you're not going to dent that shit."

"NAT TWENTY! I just flakking dented that shit!"

The chief of the madness rolled some dice behind a screen. "You did two damage to the door. You did, indeed, dent that shit, but the door is largely unaffected."

"If someone could remove curse on me, I could cast Knock on that flakkin' door," complained another player.

"I'm out of spell slots. What do you want?"

"I want this flakkin' curse removed!"

Their chief sighed. "Are we done being salty? Can we get back to what Kaliko's doing?"

Kaliko's player sighed and said, "That was both in character and out of character. I thought we imbibed the memory-sucker's ichor. We should know everything that's blocked."

"Yeah, you did that," said the chief. "Do you say anything else? Do anything else?"

"I cast... Empathy. I want to figure out what the fuck is up with this litch."

"Litch, please," said another player.

"That's a ten. Plus my two, makes that a twelve against their save."

"They don't resist," said the chief. "The litch is being honest with you and wants you to remember something that you currently can't understand. They raise a skeletal arm... and you see that there is a gold band on the skeletal ring finger. They seem to point right at you."

"Kaliko ducks and covers," another dice roll. "Even with my negative five athletics, that was a success."

"The litch only cast Knock on the door. And it's a lucky thing you ducked, Kaliko, because that flakker comes flying off its hinges."

"Hogarth was trying to do a running slam at the time and enters the room at the same time. He cheers, I did it!"

The chime for shift change sounded. "And at that," said their chief, "we hit pause and get back to work."

Howls of dismay from the fellow crazed humans. "Aw come on. What's the litch doing?"

"Oh, the litch has vanished without a trace. Again. See you lot tomorrow." Most of the data-readers from the session were left where they lay, but the chief took theirs with them. And the fellow crew who had gathered to watch were left wondering what the heck they had just witnessed.

[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / nbvf]

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