The Muck Pond

[Varrius]

Looking up as the snake came out of the bushes Kitty nearly ran away, until it introduced itself as another god. "There sure are alot around here" She thought to herself, "It must be the wonderful MushBall thats attracting them all here". Hearing a sound from the Muck Pool again she sees another figure emerge from within it. "I wonder how many people will be coming out of there".

She then decided it would be a good idea to meet the person who made that pool and thank them for their kindness. Suggesting this to the MushBall she asked the giant snake where she could find her creator, so she could thank her for making both the MushBall and herself.

[Schme]

MushBall was surprised, as he always was when he discovered something he did not know, at the snake’s presence. But he maintained his heir of dignity, although he did not pretend he was above the god (although he certainly did think that they were equals.)

He was a little disappointed that Resuso already knew him, as he’d wanted to make a grand introduction as he was used too. It was not really a loss to anyone, as it would have taken time, and really would not have sounded at all as good as MushBall thought it did.

All the same, he was happy to meet the Resuso, as rubbing shoulders with gods had, to this point, always been interesting, beneficial, and not only that, but also it confirmed to him his high social standing.

MushBall wondered what Resuso was god of, as they all did seem to have an element in which they excelled. He reasoned and thought it out, and soon came to the conclusion that Resuso was, quite obviously, God of Tasty Grass, (or as, as the God of Tasty Grass called it, groff, although MushBall knew that his name for it was much better.)

He very much looked forward to meeting Resuso’s friend, and to talking with the god, as he always did.

He was almost angry at the suggestion of thanking someone for his existence, as the idea that someone would not create him seemed absolutely ludicrous. Who in there right mind would not do it? In truth, the concept of a creator god was very foreign to him, as up until now, it only seemed to make sense that he should just walk out of the Muck Pond, which, naturally, should exist, lest the world should go unpopulated.

But then again, the creator (if there was one) must be very clever, as whoever it was had certainly thought it out and put in a lot of work, and MushBall did believe in giving credit where credit was due.

However, at present, he wished to speak to the snake, and did not want to get ahead of himself.

[El_Skwidd]

Vex and Xev smiled at the sight of Resuso's familiar form. It was always good to be in the presence of a friend.

Xev opened his mouth to speak, but Vex was a step ahead of him. "Great Resuso," Vex said, "we're feeling a little troubled. You see, we were coming back from the Temple when we witnessed a terrible display of power. Beezlebub, one of the first creatures out of the Muck, took over the mind of the Tagus monster and forced him to kill himself!"

Xev, unable to keep his own input out of the conversation, simply nodded vigorously.

Vex continued. "This Beezlebub seems like a very powerful... thing. And he's quite fearless, not even answering to Garob. I was wondering if you could tell us a bit about that forest over there... or that rocky area. We're looking for a good place to hide."

Xev chimed in. "Mind you, it was his idea. If I were a bit smarter and better with words, we'd be staying here and holding our ground. But he won the argument, so we're hiding like cowards."

[Schme]

MushBall felt somewhat lightheaded. The world was spinning around him. This had never happened before, but he decided that it was only sensible to rest until it had past. What better than to rest?

He conveyed to Kitty that he planned to rest a while, perhaps for a few moons, but that he would certainly catch up to her as soon as circumstance permitted.

And so, in a most indignified manner, he melted into a puddled of mush, with his last thought being that he really hoped that the god would not let anyone eat him while he was liquified. What a terrible way to end a conversation, most unfashionable...........

(This is all I could think of. If it's no good, then please do not hesitate to make it right. Thank you, and sorry to disrupt things so.)

[Flak Jacket]

Name: Davrim
Gender: Asexual
Hair: None
Eyes: Dark Grey with Black Pupils
Height: 3'7"

A bulky dwarf-like creature with a thick, jagged, white exoskeleton. When under-water (his prefered habitat) he usually just walks on the bottom, though he can (with much effort) sluggishly swim. On land, he's very slow, but stable. He has a large mouth, powerful jaws, and sharp teeth. His fingers are short and stubby, but manuverable enough to pick up most objects. His arms are mid-sized and clumsy, he uses them to crush things and climb. His eyes are small slits, and at the center of his face are two nostrils with a pink, pulsing filter behind them.
------------------------------
As I walk out of the mud and onto the soft ground my mind is am filled with strange sights, sounds, and smells. I wonder to myself, have I felt these sensations before? After struggling to think back for a while, I decide to forget about it and head for the ocean.
( I'm sorry about the choppy writing, this is my first time playing one of these games and I'm no literary genius. )

[AngelSpice]

Audira notices the short, white, strong - appearing being as it approaches the beach. She looks over and waves. "Hi, I'm Audirda." She smiles, showing her sharp, pointy teeth. "Come on in, the water's great. Did you just spawn from the muck pond?"

[Nixit]

I hope I can still join in...

Name: Briker
Gender: Male??
Hair: None
Eyes: Insectoid like eyes (whatever they are)
Height: A millimeter

The size of an ant (and rather like one), he has six legs, but the two front ones are exceptionally sharp and strong, so he can burrow himself if need be. His mouth is just big enough so he can chomp on grass, and he moves along fast (for an ant) with his six legs. His brain is not as stupid as an ant, and he has quite the intelligence of a human, and he can only create a high, piercing noise with his mouth.


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Briker scuttles quickly out of the pond, but stops once he reaches the ground. He looks around and sees a tall (to him) chubby man walking off in some direction Briker does not know of.

"Eep!" Briker thinks, "this thing is huge, I wonder if they're all this big?! I best stay away from him as he could easily kill me if he wanted."

In fright, Briker emits his high pitched wail and scurries to the nearest patch of grass that he can find. Then he climbs the nearest blade of grass to get a better view. "Amazing!" he thinks, as he looks all around him, "this is indeed a huge world! Much to huge for me; I better stay put. But I will watch off this grass to see if any other beings come my way."

[AoM]

Ao rumbles and looks around, trying to detect what made that high pitched screech. He knows it came from across the muck pond, but search as he might, he cannot see what caused it.

I'll go investigate just as soon as the cliff answers me, he thought.

[Flak Jacket]

I accept Audira's invitation and begin to enter the water and respond to her question in a deep raspy voice "Yes I did. Did you come from the pond to?"

[Fleegle]

(This one for AngelSpice and Flak_Jacket. I try to do everyone in order, but since the next on the list was AngelSpice and Flak_Jacket happens to be with her, I thought I would treat them both at the same time.)

As Audirda basked in the fresh sunlight with her new acquaintance Davrim, the magnificent form of Urdast soared overhead, banked gracefully, and came to land on a rock nearby. He clicked his beak and began to speak into their minds.
"Welcome children! I am Urdast, god of the sky. Audirda, I hear you have already met my wife and son, Dietris and Nioss. I am certain that they will be along to greet you shortly, Davrim. I am pleased to see that the Muck Pond has produced so many creatures of such good will lately. This place could certainly use it now."

At that moment, the surf rose, hanging just before Urdast's rock, almost overtaking Davrim and Audirda.
"Ah, there is my beautiful bride now. Davrim, please, head along into the depths. She will show you the way. Do not worry, she is to give you a great gift."

(3shyof30rats, feel free to react to the other posts... I don't really have anything to write for you at present simply because you haven't done anything that requires a response yet )

(Ao, your turn. Don't worry about the rock thing... I'm mostly concerned about people bringing in supernatural powers, which I am supposed to assign for reasons of balance. I just want to make it clear that even though he is made of rock, I am going to consider him as being a very strong person, with good physical resistance to things, but nevertheless, basically as mortal as everyone else. So even though he is made of rock, for the purposes of balance I'm not going to give him any special resistance to fire or anything like that.)

The cliff-face seemed to rumble faintly in response to Ao's greeting, though it was impossible to make out any words. It sounded as though someone very far away was trying to communicate, but it was for all intents and purposes unintelligible.

(Snake_byte's turn. Snake_byte, it's actually not a trap-door, it's on the cavern wall, but behind the pile of bones. The pile is high enough to almost cover the door.)

Beelzebub was greeted by absolute darkness as it passed through the door. The light from the chamber behind did not reveal anything of note, lighting up only a bit of the rock face immediately inside the door. However, the faint sound of dripping water could be heard echoing some distance ahead and slightly below.

(Now for El_Skwidd and Varrius, and a little bit of RP to cover for Schme's time away. Thank you Schme, by the way, you handled that well.)

"Oh dear!" Resuso exclaimed. "I hope I did not frighten him too much. I do not mean to, it's just that this form feels so wonderful! Don't underestimate the pleasures of the senses, my friends. They are most wonderful!"
Resuso coiled himself around the area MushBall had fallen. "I shall sit here and guard him until he comes to. I cannot allow harm to come to any of you splendid creatures!"
In his coiled state, Resuso appeared even more imposing, and towered even higher above Kitty and Vex/Xev. He turned to address Vex/Xev's questions, which he had been distracted from by MushBall's sudden fainting spell. "Beelzebub... I have not met this creature before... but I have heard some rumours. I am not so concerned with rumours. So far as I have heard it has not harmed the soil, the water, or the sun, so it is welcome to share in my bounty. But oh yes, yes, I do agree, it is probably wise for you to avoid it, as I understand it is not the friendliest sort. The forest, it stretches far west. Beyond it there is pasture, and a small village of strange little pink creatures that live in great fear of our kind. The path through the forest will eventually take you there, though it is quite a long walk."
Resuso turned his head and "nodded" back towards the Muck Pond. "If you go past the Old Temple, you should see a path to the east that leads into the Bolblok Hills. That is what we call the rocky area to the south. It is more treacherous terrain, from what I understand. I don't know much about it I'm afraid... not very much food grows there. I would stock up on plently of groff if you plan to go that way."

(Nixit, I haven't forgotten about you... and of course you can join in!)

A dragonfly buzzed about and landed on a patch of crab-grass beside Briker. As it buzzed its wings, Briker was able to hear a voice in his head.
"Hello, Briker. I may look like a dragonfly to you, but I am actually Anesek, god of life. Welcome to the world! Do not be concerned about the size of these creatures, every living thing is of value, no matter how small. For you are all equally alive! You will find your place as every other creature has. Come, climb onto my back. There is someone you must meet!"

[Nixit]

At first frightened at this dragonfly, he start to back down the grass blade, but creeped back up once she began to speak. After she had finished, he nodded hesitantly as if to show understanding, and got on the dragonflies back. He wondered where he was going.

[Debsy]

Quickly becoming bored with the creature she tried to talk to she decided to see what the one that made that creature tear itself apart was up to, so she stretched her wings and leapt into the air, carrying herself to the entrance of the cave. She stepped in immediately and looked around, still unaware that she was still in fact invisible. She strode cautiously towards what seemed to be a door, but she didn't want to follow too closely to the creature...

[Varrius]

"These Pink people" Kitty asked, "What do they look like and why are they so frightened of our kind.", looking at the Mush that was her freind she said, "Oh do not worry about him, he told me he is going to slumber for a few moons to build up his strength, As he felt awfully dizzy."

Looking around the grass Kitty said - this time speaking directly to Resuso - "I do not mean to be rude in anyway, and forgive me if I seem like I am, but I do not like this grass as much as the other creatures here seem to" looking embarrassd she said "Have you got anything more suitible for Kitty?"

Looking at Xev/Vex Now she asked "Would you mind helping me look for the god that made the Much Pind as I wish o thank her for making sucha wise creature as the Muckman to lead us and One as beutiful as I to accompany him." waiting a few minutes she said "Oh, and no doubt you have some wonderful Qualities too, like two heads how wonderful"

[Fleegle]

(3shyof30rats, I hate to do this to you again, but I’m going to get you to respond to Snake_byte’s next response. I have no more events or descriptions for the Tagus chamber, so you can decide how you want to proceed. You can do another response before Snake_byte if you like, though I’m not sure what more you can say given your present course of action. For everyone else, this is bound to happen to you someday depending what you are doing. I have had to do this a lot with Schme and Varrius. I think in some ways it is a good thing though, since the flow of the game is not entirely dependent on my responses. But please remember that anytime you change location or interact with a non-player character or object, you must wait for me to respond. And if you attack another player character, you must let me determine the outcome of the attack. I promise not to do anything unrealistic (in the context of the Pond universe) with the outcome. Obviously if you attack a small creature with a giant weapon it’s either going to kill it or miss it entirely. Somehow I don’t think a mouse would survive an encounter with a giant axe, provided it actually hits.)

(For Nixit)

Anesek flew up over the western trees. From this vantage point, Briker could see the lay of the land. To the south was a great rocky region, full of jagged rocks, small mountains, and valleys. Looking behind, to the north-east, he could see over the groff-fields (he doesn’t know it’s called groff yet) and out to the ocean. The forest seemed to stretch out a great distance to the west, and he could not see where it ended, but he could make out a little bit of smoke rising far off on the western horizon. Suddenly, Anesek dove near the edge of the forest, narrowly missing a leaf. Directly ahead was the giant stone Temple. Anesek flew over the roof and descended down through the hole, coming to rest on the podium.
Shifting along at a slow pace, Ilosep emerged from his dark room and ascended to the podium. He smiled from ear to ear. “Anesek, my love… it is so marvellous that you have taken another form. Hopefully this one will better evade that awful creature out there.”
“Oh, my sweet, dear Ilosep.” Anesek began. “He was only acting on his impulse… you can’t expect every creature to come into the world with a taste for groff.” Her voice was not scolding, but gentle and apologetic. “The wheel of life can seem cruel sometimes, but there IS order, my love.”
“Hmmf!” Ilosep replied. “What do you know of order? There is no justice in this wheel of life! When a creature like that can get away with destroying the vessel of a god, especially one as beautiful as you.”
“Love, even in your criticism there is flattery. There is no beauty without ugliness, and there is no life without death. It is not a matter of justice my love, it is a question of action and reaction, the wondrous cycle of the universe around us.”
“Action and reaction! That is justice, retribution! Setting things right! If death must exist, let it fall on those who deserve it!” Ilosep barked irritably.
Anesek cooled the fierce Ilosep with her soothing tones. “Calm, my love, calm. Let us put this matter behind us. I have brought you another precious creature from the sacred pond, please read him his fate.” She turned to Briker, “Don’t be afraid precious, he is only giving you that which you already have.”
Anesek let Briker off her back and flew up to the top of a knight statue to watch the proceedings. The voices returned to the hall, and Ilosep began.
“Briker,” he said in his thunderous tone, looking down at the little ant on the podium. “your fate is… Judgment!” Ilosep expressed a hint of pleasant surprise as he said this. “You will able to call upon the powers of Ilosep, god of judgment, to judge a being on all of its past deeds. You may only perform this once on a being for the duration of its life, and you may only call upon the god six times in your lifetime. Use this power wisely. Remember that it can be used for either punishment or praise. If a being has committed wrongful acts in the past it will be punished appropriately, but if it has done great acts in the name of justice, it shall be rewarded appropriately. That is all!” Ilosep blew the whistle and the voices ceased.
“Well, well.” He smiled. “A creature after my own heart! I would say to use it in the service of justice but that would be redundant. You must still be wise about who you use it on. While it can be used to bestow great rewards on good and just people, it would be a shame to use up all those powers on good people and have nothing left to punish the bad.”
At this point, Anesek returned to the podium. “You have found your place in the universe, my precious creature. Now you must go out into the world and share your gift!” she declared excitedly, yet keeping her soft tone.

(For Varrius)
“Nevertheless,” spoke Resuso, “I will stay here and protect your splendid friend until he comes to. Now, you were asking about the pink folk? Why, they fear anything they do not understand. I do not know if it is their nature or their circumstances. They have rejected us, as they chase our avatars from their village and their crops, and refuse to listen to us. They hurt the soil and the water, and they take more than they can eat. If you ask me, I’d stay away from them, their pastures, and especially their village. But the forest! Oh it is a wonderful place, just wonderful! I have many friends there.”
Resuso flicked his tongue as he considered Kitty’s next query. “Oh, there is no need to apologize! Of course, I understand completely. Your nature requires live food, am I right? Of course I am! If anyone knows food, it’s me! I think such a splendid creature as yourself should try the forest. The birds, they are quite tasty. And quite easy to catch, too. You look like a climber. I tell you, climb up a tree and stay very still, and wait for one to land near you. You should have no difficulty as many of them are quite slow and fat, no doubt partly due to ol’ Bassus of the Forest.”

(I’ll let El_Skwidd handle Kitty’s other question)

[Nixit]

His eyes wander with awe as he flies on Anesek's back. "This world is so gigantic!" He though, but soon saw the Old Temple and was quickly flown into it, ever curious but very much frightened. As he saw Ilosep, he was again amazed at his size. "This man is even bigger than the other! Surely he must have some kind of amazing power." He guessed right, strangely enough. He tried to pay attention to Anesek's and Iloseps conversation, but realized it didn't concern him and just began to glance around the room, until he heard his name in a thundering and very scary voice!

"Eep!" he thought as he made the screech again. "This man must be punishing me, by the tone he is using... but I haven't done anything wrong, have I?" Still Briker listened to Ilosep and realized that he wasn't being punished and immediately stopped screeching, as he was very embarrassed. But that all passed once he was granted his fate. "Judgement? That is a mighty big power for a small little critter like me. I best prize this, and not waste it... I am sure it might come handy in the future." He tried to nod thanks to Ilosep, and climbed back on Anesek's back again, assuming he should leave now.