The Story Game

"The beast!"

Heph took out his field journal and identified the monster

"No, that's not the beast."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief

"It's the kraken!"

Everyone screamed

"Speaking of which, where is Vlad?

Back in the underworld, Caucus noticed the snake on Vlad's leg and smiled "it's over Vlad!  One bite and you will be cursed to dwell among the thieves for eternity!"

"Huh?"  Was all Vlad said before he saw the snake getting ready to bite

However, Vlad was not meant to die so soon. As soon as the snake touched him, it disintegrated, and didn't bite him! He was now safe.

Enraged at this sight, Caucus prepared to attack him

"This time, I will handle it myself!"

Meanwhile, Tors found the entrance to the sixth area

"Vlad, if you get passed Caucus, meet me over here!" He signaled

Unfortunately, he met this:

Quickly correcting himself, Tors found the actual entrance to the sixth area

"Don't worry, once we get in here, there aren't any demons guarding it!" He observed

The hypocrites walked around wearing heavy lead cloaks; so the next area would literally be a walk to the other side.

But now, Blad was dealing with Caucus

"You will return to the traitors!"  He yelled as his blade met Vlad's

Back on the surface, the crew of Aluk were dealing with the Kraken. Suddenly, Flasky leapt out at them!

Below ground, things were looking dire for future Vlad.

Caucus had him in a corner; He was about to strike!

"Go back where you belong, scum!" As he prepared to strike. Vlad had to think fast!

Meanwhile our heroes...

had been eaten alive. Yup. Sad but true, ain't it?

Meanwhile,

Within the gut of the creature, it suddenly felt very uncomfortable. It literally exploded as our heroes were ejected from the beast and would up landing... exactly where they needed to be.

Down in the Underworld, deciding that this part of the story had dragged on long enough, Vlad took advantage of an opening and with Tors entered the sixth area. They found many souls waking around wearing lead cloaks.

"So... these are the souls of the hypocrites?" Tors observed

"Yes... the weight of their false words now forever weighs them down." Vlad observed. With no real threats here, Vlad and Tors proceeded to enter the fifth area.

"Corrupt politicians, stuck in boiling pitch... how appropriate." Vlad quipped.

Vlad and Tors tried to get to the fourth area. To their horror, they wound up getting stuck in the pitch.

"Oh great, now I suppose this is the part where I gotta fight the Malebranche demons."

"Who are the Malebranche?" Tors asked. Just then, demons began flying towards them, screaming "Caucus told us everything; you won't be getting away this time!"

"That would be them." Vlad concluded, as he tried to raise his weapon.

He did so, and the whole world fell dead.

Vlad was shocked.

"It must be a magic weapon!" he cried.

But since this was the Underworld, souls re-manifested seconds later.

"Oh right... THIS is where they end up" Vlad realized. But since the Demons had no souls, they were destroyed.

Tors felt the surroundings "I'm afraid that blast was not as powerful as you think... only the demons in this area were destroyed."

Vlad just looked down at his legs "We can talk about that later; any ideas for how to get out of this boiling pitch?"

"I'm trying, but I think we're only making it worse." Tors said.

Vlad could just make out the entrance to the fourth area in the distance... if only they could get out of the pitch.

Meanwhile, in the land of Magykka proper, the kraken, which spoke in an Australian accent for some reason, was facing off with the two-headed serpent (I believe it's names were Moe and Joe). Meanwhile, the crew of Aluk had another problem. Flasky had returned to his vampirish instinct. Flamethrower and Angel switched to dragon form and retreated to a safe distance, as well as Twitter, but Heph, Nikko, Pokyrah, Eduardo, and Kokar were cornered.

Suddenly, Eduardo and Kokar charged at Flasky, knives drawn.

"This is for our brother, bloodbreath!"

So Flasky...

Lunged towards them...

Meanwhile, on a ship in the middle of the ocean...

"Eli... wake up... I have a message for you", this was said by a mysterious floating woman

"Who are you?", responded this new character

the woman responded, "Destiny... Not really, but you must find the 37th Chosen One and help him on his quest... he is requires your assistance... go seek him out now!", and with that the woman disappeared

A man came rushing in and asked, "Captain what was that noise just then?"

"Nothing Mr. Brown... Ready a boat for me, I'm leaving the ship for a bit", responded Eli

"But Captain where would we go?, asked Brown

"Dock in Pirate's Bay... ALL of you, I'll come get you when the time was right", replied Eli

Brown responded, "Yes Captain Lee", and with that, Eli left his ship and set sail to find Heph.

The man you just met is Captain Eli Zanzibar Lee, Captain of the Zanzibar Pirates, and they make up a Pirate fleet of 5600. Nicknamed the "Drunken Zanzibar" for his fighting style of drinking booze to gain energy during a fight, he is considered the closest thing to Pirate King, and his help is going to give Heph & Co. a whole lot of power for the future.

Anyways, Flasky...

Ran full speed into a conveniently placed post and knocked himself out.

"Well, that happened..." said Nikko.

Suddenly, a huge ship loomed beside them.

"This is Julius Caesar, captain of the Roman Legion! Prepare to be boarded!" A voice from the ship boomed, simultaneously revealing the approximate time this takes place in and scaring everyone on the boat.

Flasky smelled the sweet aroma of the Roman's blood and jumped

onto their ship and "went to town" on the soldiers. Julius Caesar got

away on another boat and went back to Rome. Then our heroes finally

spotted land and when they pulled their ship ashore they saw...

Not much: it was a small, hilly island, with a few trees and a cave. The boat had shrunk back to driftwood form and was now inching towards the cave.

"Noproe must be in there," said Heph.

Clutching the Sword of Destiny, he crept into the cave.

Meanwhile, Elmo in Beast Form was enjoying free reign over Maggyka. With no Heph or Vlad to stand in his way, the Beast had decimated the trolls, centuars, Orikari, and dragons, and was now attacking the dwarf kingdom. That is, until one brave warrior dared to challenge his might...

By pointing out that Elmo was killed by Vlad some time ago "Back on page ten" and there was no way he could be in the living world at this point.

"Oh dear."  And Elmo was transported back into the Underworld

Meanwhile, Vlad and his companion had finally gotten out of the boiling pitch and made it to the fourth area of the underworld.  The evil sorcerers and astrologers were here, and their heads on backwards, forcing them to walk backwards.

"Ah, how appropriate.  For in trying to see the future in looking ahead, now they can only see behind them."  Vlad remarked.  Their walk through here was rather simple, then they reached the third area.  Those who committed Simony were now submerged head first in to the rock as the soles of their feet were burned.

"Interesting; those in the church who gave away positions in exchange for money are now submerged in pits which look quite similar to baptismal fonts"  he observed.

They then walked through the second area, where the flatterers were steeped in human excrement.

"Huh?  Why human excrement?"  Vlad's companion asked

"Represents the words they used to exploit others."  Vlad explained.

It was a long journey, but now only the first area remained, then Vlad could proceed from the eighth circle to the first circle.  The panderers and seducers were forced to march while demons whipped them.

"Ah, they drove others to do their bidding, now they themselves are being driven?"  Vlad's companion asked

"Indeed; good to see you are catching on now."  Vlad observed

But several of the Demons spotted Vlad.  "You're journey ends here Vlad!  We're sending you back to the bottom!"  They yelled as they charged in

"brilliant; here we go again."  Vlad muttered as he prepared for battle

Meanwhile in the living world...

Eli had no idea where he was going
"That mysterious lady really should have told me where to go, if only there was a sign to point me the right way", he said to himself
Suddenly he spotted seagulls, and seagulls meant nearby land and so he pulled ashore to the island our heroes had landed previously

He saw Heph and Co.running from ...

A massive creature, 30 feet tall with a horrid horned face. Heph was trying to attack with the Sword of Destiny, but failing dismally.

Eduardo ran towards Eli. "Get off the island! That Beranga Beast will kill you!"

Eli shrugged at the remark, took a drink of rum, threw a harpoon he had brought with him at the monster, and pulled the monster's face into the dirt by a rope attached to the Harpoon.

"It seems I killed It", Eli responded
"Who are you", Nikko asked
"I'm Captain Eli Zanzibar Lee of the Zanizbar Pirates, and I'm here to help Heph on his quest", he replied
Our heroes just left it at that, so the gang, plus Eli, went to go find Noproe

Meanwhile, in the darkest dungeon on Crowder,

Noproe sat, as he had for the past 20 years.

Suddenly, he felt a magical signal; Aluk was here. Could this mean...

Suddenly, there was a primal roar. Whoever was bringing Aluk was being attacked by the Folshwin Monster!

Meanwhile, Vlad had found his way out of the Underworld. It had been foretold that whoever escaped would soon rule the world. Vlad inhaled the sweet smell of fresh air. He was back, and the world was his.

The Folshwin Monster...

(Wait, we didn't finish his escape saga; don't worry, the rings are a lot smaller from here on out)

But Vlad had been tricked; demons had hypnotized him to go back the way he came by making him think that it was a shortcut.  His traveling companion snapped him out of it, and they made it to the seventh circle.

Vlad's grandfather reappeared "well done.  Now you must go through the seventh circle: violence.  It's divided into three sections:

Outer ring: the violent against God and nature.  It is a desert of flaming sand.

Middle ring: violent against self.  Some souls were turned into thorny bushes and trees, and feasted upon by harpies, others are chased by ferocious dogs

Outer ring: violent against property and people.  They are submerged in the river Phlegethon, composed of boiling blood and fire.  They are guarded by Centuars who shoot arrows.

"I will meet you at the fifth ring."  Vlad's grandfather said as he disappeared.  

Vlad and his companion had no problem getting through the outer ring... But they soon found themselves surrounded by harpies and dogs in the middle ring.

"Looks like time to battle again". Vlad said as he raised his weapon.

Vlad grabbed the sceptre, but suddenly, a soul grabbed him and pulled him away.

"What! No!"

"Relax, future world ruler. I merely intend to give you advice."

"Okay, what?"

"The Spectre Of Death you are wielding is one of many Weapons of War. There is also a Scythe of Darkness, Spear of Terror, Staff of Strife, and Halberd of Intolerance, as well as several that are lost. By gathering these together, you will be unstoppable. But be cautious. Only one can wield each weapon, so you may be forced to ally with some people. Also be wary of the Weapons of Peace and their Wielders: the Sword of Destiny, the Club of Truth, the Ax of Light, the Bow of Strength, the Naguda (weird hammer thingy) of Integrity, and probably some more. Also, you have inherited the powers of Vigaga, the greatest evil ruler ever to live. Use that power well. Oh, and here's a thing that will help you escape the underworld. It's like a necklace. Put it on."

And with that, he dropped him back into Dante's Inferno.

Meanwhile, Heph, who had no idea just what his sword really was, was fighting the Folshwin Monster.