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Spring Ceramic DM™: WINNER POSTED!
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<blockquote data-quote="Speaker" data-source="post: 1477168" data-attributes="member: 6571"><p><strong>On The Scales</strong></p><p></p><p>RangerWickett vs Speaker</p><p></p><p>‘I see the difficulty you have in judging me. You look at each other, then at me as if I was a monster, some caricature of evil from the depths that has done some great wrong. Yes, my crime is great. But to judge me, you must consider all views. Or so you tell yourselves, hoping that perhaps you are mistaken, the humanity is not so bad after all – not so bad it could spit out one such as I. Perhaps. Here then, is what I know.</p><p></p><p>‘My contact was waiting for me in the Stone Garden. He talked too much. His words echoed off the carved granite lips around us, danced among the empty ruins as we compared our notes and finalized our plans. At one point, he turned to a particular bust and <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13697" target="_blank">gesticulated</a> wildly towards it.</p><p></p><p>‘“We are defined by that which we leave behind,” he began – I can’t remember the exact wording he used, but it went something like this – “Once all we had was stone, and that has crumbled as easily as the culture that left it behind. Our monuments are carved of steel and concrete. Once they were thought to have a permanence that even nature herself could not best, not with wind, fire or ice. Now we know that even our greatest of achievements are fleeting. One day, all we have created will disappear. If we are to triumph over the nature of inevitable time, then we must act as required of us. We have no other choice if we are to count ourselves as members of our own species. We are not to be denied our right to life and continued presence as a race. If we can fight, then we must, no matter what price we are forced to pay.”</p><p></p><p>‘I told you - such were his words, a torrent. But somewhere in that maze of words and the repetition of concepts he caught me. That must have been the case – I could not have continued otherwise. Or maybe I already knew what was coming. Whatever – I was falling toward my fate with both arms outstretched. Whether to cushion my fall or slam the ground harder, I could not rightly say.</p><p></p><p>‘We moved quickly after that. He knew he had me in his grip, no turning back now. We moved quickly through the city, inbound on some destination only he knew about. Down side streets and over bridges, through the crowded markets and under quiet houses. It seemed like hours but it could have been minutes when we arrived at the house. Festivities were in full swing.</p><p></p><p>‘My contact pulled me aside into and ally and we quickly changed into our costumes. It was simple – almost too simple. The custom of the area is to hold costumed balls on the eve of a success. Our target was about to make a wealthy deal, and was in no position to refuse our entry into his dwelling.</p><p></p><p>‘We must have looked strange. The contact had chosen our gear from a kids show, the “eye detectives” or something on that note. But whatever we looked like, it worked – within minutes we were inside and mingling among the guests, the guards not having bothered to even search my duffel bag.</p><p></p><p>‘We began to work the crowd. Worming our way to the prize. My contact had done his research – she soon saw us and ran our way, launching into us with a squeal of glee and a glow of bright laughter. My contact’s actions were superb in their subtlety, as he quickly cut her off from the crowd and launched a pantomime right out of the show, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13695" target="_blank">looking glass</a> and all. She was enthralled.</p><p></p><p>‘Our actions after that followed easily. She did not resist when we led her off first to the corner, then into the privacy of her father’s study. Once there, my contact ably brought the chloroform over her nose, tied and gagged her. I slipped into my second costume of the night, getting rid of the eye and exchanging it for an equally ridiculous hat. Fortunately my contact had calculated correctly, and she fit quite easily inside the spangled cloth and ornaments. She was quite light – within moments, I stood, and no one, not that guards or any party guest, could have known that she was on top of my <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13694" target="_blank">head</a>.</p><p></p><p>‘We slipped out as easily as our came, before the uproar as she was found missing had even began. Quietly, flushed with success we moved through the streets and down to the ocean’s edge. There, my contact revealed his safe house, a sizable room accessed by a long underwater passage.</p><p></p><p>‘You know most of the rest well enough. Our ransom notes were explicit. Our target was to discontinue his destructive transactions. The longer we held her the more convinced I became that we were in the right. Our target would not stop. We held his daughter, but he kept up his illicit trades.</p><p></p><p>‘“My contact grew edgy. His rants became tinged with something that had not been there before – perhaps a shade of madness had crept in. He spoke of “creatures too vile to live” and how “the sins of the father become that of the child.” Slowly he was convincing himself, trying to bring himself to the point where he could act once again. Even for him, it must have been hard.</p><p></p><p>‘We left the shelter on the sixteenth day. We left he behind. Walking out, I looked back toward her, down the dark watery tunnel. At the end, where she lay tied up and immobile, lay a <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13696" target="_blank">black hole</a>. The water-tinged shadows danced like demons. We left.</p><p></p><p>‘My contact paused at the end of the tunnel, but only briefly, to set the charges. Then we were out. That first breath of fresh air could have brought me peace, if the police had not been waiting for us. I knew then that I would never breath free again.</p><p></p><p>‘I was frozen as the helicopter descended. I could not bring myself to move as my companion, looking up with resolute eyes, pressed the button. The explosion behind us seemed a world away. There was a clap, and a heaving as the tunnel collapsed on itself. My eardrums burst on themselves, and I could not even hear the call for surrender. But surrender I did, nonetheless. My contact did too, which means that you must have already heard his ravings yourself.</p><p></p><p>‘As the detectives swooped toward us, I looked behind. The tunnel was gone, of course. The ocean roared in of its own accord, covered the refuse and debris with stinging salt and scourging surf.</p><p></p><p>‘Perhaps she lives. I am sure you have your divers searching even now, finding that safe house which may or may not have survived the blast. I doubt her father cares. He deals on in his apocalyptic trade. In the end, I guess we did nothing to stop anything.</p><p></p><p>‘I hope she lives.’</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Speaker, post: 1477168, member: 6571"] [b]On The Scales[/b] RangerWickett vs Speaker ‘I see the difficulty you have in judging me. You look at each other, then at me as if I was a monster, some caricature of evil from the depths that has done some great wrong. Yes, my crime is great. But to judge me, you must consider all views. Or so you tell yourselves, hoping that perhaps you are mistaken, the humanity is not so bad after all – not so bad it could spit out one such as I. Perhaps. Here then, is what I know. ‘My contact was waiting for me in the Stone Garden. He talked too much. His words echoed off the carved granite lips around us, danced among the empty ruins as we compared our notes and finalized our plans. At one point, he turned to a particular bust and [URL=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13697]gesticulated[/URL] wildly towards it. ‘“We are defined by that which we leave behind,” he began – I can’t remember the exact wording he used, but it went something like this – “Once all we had was stone, and that has crumbled as easily as the culture that left it behind. Our monuments are carved of steel and concrete. Once they were thought to have a permanence that even nature herself could not best, not with wind, fire or ice. Now we know that even our greatest of achievements are fleeting. One day, all we have created will disappear. If we are to triumph over the nature of inevitable time, then we must act as required of us. We have no other choice if we are to count ourselves as members of our own species. We are not to be denied our right to life and continued presence as a race. If we can fight, then we must, no matter what price we are forced to pay.” ‘I told you - such were his words, a torrent. But somewhere in that maze of words and the repetition of concepts he caught me. That must have been the case – I could not have continued otherwise. Or maybe I already knew what was coming. Whatever – I was falling toward my fate with both arms outstretched. Whether to cushion my fall or slam the ground harder, I could not rightly say. ‘We moved quickly after that. He knew he had me in his grip, no turning back now. We moved quickly through the city, inbound on some destination only he knew about. Down side streets and over bridges, through the crowded markets and under quiet houses. It seemed like hours but it could have been minutes when we arrived at the house. Festivities were in full swing. ‘My contact pulled me aside into and ally and we quickly changed into our costumes. It was simple – almost too simple. The custom of the area is to hold costumed balls on the eve of a success. Our target was about to make a wealthy deal, and was in no position to refuse our entry into his dwelling. ‘We must have looked strange. The contact had chosen our gear from a kids show, the “eye detectives” or something on that note. But whatever we looked like, it worked – within minutes we were inside and mingling among the guests, the guards not having bothered to even search my duffel bag. ‘We began to work the crowd. Worming our way to the prize. My contact had done his research – she soon saw us and ran our way, launching into us with a squeal of glee and a glow of bright laughter. My contact’s actions were superb in their subtlety, as he quickly cut her off from the crowd and launched a pantomime right out of the show, [URL=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13695]looking glass[/URL] and all. She was enthralled. ‘Our actions after that followed easily. She did not resist when we led her off first to the corner, then into the privacy of her father’s study. Once there, my contact ably brought the chloroform over her nose, tied and gagged her. I slipped into my second costume of the night, getting rid of the eye and exchanging it for an equally ridiculous hat. Fortunately my contact had calculated correctly, and she fit quite easily inside the spangled cloth and ornaments. She was quite light – within moments, I stood, and no one, not that guards or any party guest, could have known that she was on top of my [URL=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13694]head[/URL]. ‘We slipped out as easily as our came, before the uproar as she was found missing had even began. Quietly, flushed with success we moved through the streets and down to the ocean’s edge. There, my contact revealed his safe house, a sizable room accessed by a long underwater passage. ‘You know most of the rest well enough. Our ransom notes were explicit. Our target was to discontinue his destructive transactions. The longer we held her the more convinced I became that we were in the right. Our target would not stop. We held his daughter, but he kept up his illicit trades. ‘“My contact grew edgy. His rants became tinged with something that had not been there before – perhaps a shade of madness had crept in. He spoke of “creatures too vile to live” and how “the sins of the father become that of the child.” Slowly he was convincing himself, trying to bring himself to the point where he could act once again. Even for him, it must have been hard. ‘We left the shelter on the sixteenth day. We left he behind. Walking out, I looked back toward her, down the dark watery tunnel. At the end, where she lay tied up and immobile, lay a [URL=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13696]black hole[/URL]. The water-tinged shadows danced like demons. We left. ‘My contact paused at the end of the tunnel, but only briefly, to set the charges. Then we were out. That first breath of fresh air could have brought me peace, if the police had not been waiting for us. I knew then that I would never breath free again. ‘I was frozen as the helicopter descended. I could not bring myself to move as my companion, looking up with resolute eyes, pressed the button. The explosion behind us seemed a world away. There was a clap, and a heaving as the tunnel collapsed on itself. My eardrums burst on themselves, and I could not even hear the call for surrender. But surrender I did, nonetheless. My contact did too, which means that you must have already heard his ravings yourself. ‘As the detectives swooped toward us, I looked behind. The tunnel was gone, of course. The ocean roared in of its own accord, covered the refuse and debris with stinging salt and scourging surf. ‘Perhaps she lives. I am sure you have your divers searching even now, finding that safe house which may or may not have survived the blast. I doubt her father cares. He deals on in his apocalyptic trade. In the end, I guess we did nothing to stop anything. ‘I hope she lives.’ [/QUOTE]
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