quest/src/epistolary/00062.md

title	created	updated	public	syndicated
00062	Sun, 12 Feb 2023 08:57:51 -0700	Sun, 12 Feb 2023 08:57:51 -0700	yes	yes

00062

One moment, Inky is half-asleep on their feet in the middle of Branch Avenue. In the next, they are reclining in a banana boat that resembles a canoe painted with long stripes of yellow and white with deep brown swipes. The s'more interior padding is soft, yet with the suppleness of fruit leather. A few round, matching brown mini-cushions are strewn across the boat interior. Also in the boat are two silver spoon paddles, more for looks than cooks.

They don't know where the boat came from. Things just appear. Like that Red Squirrel. Inky moves to holler a greeting, but instead recites:

"sgb rpthqqbk hr qba sgb fgnrsr dktb
sgb qnkkr rwbbs uma rn uqb ynt
sgnt uqs ly fthahmf rsuq ul h sghmb
h rbb vbqhky ly utrohehntr rhfm
sgb kns wur snrra uma sgbm h aqbw
uma cnqstmb ruha hs rgnta db ynt ott"[1]

[1]:
"The squirrel is red, the ghost's blue,
The roll's sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my guiding star, am I thine?
I see verily my auspicious sign:
The lot was toss'd and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou'd be you. Puu."

~

While Inky boards her banana boat and recites poetry to the maddened squirrel, Alex springs to action leaping blithely from the branch towards the squirrel. Beneath him manifests a cockpit, sleek and futuristic. Around this materializes a large robotic weapon, octopus-oid in shape. The many tentacles bristle with weapons both fearsome and deadly.

Alex grabs the controls, in one tentacle he latches onto the banana boat, that way he won't accidentally get separated from Inky. With the other seven a series of feathers appear in every brilliant hue. The tentacle attached to the boat unfurls allowing Alex to draw closer to the squirrel. As the gap closes the most intense tickle fight the dream world has ever seen ensues, bringing joyous laughter to the faces of many.

"Inky, if we need to get out of here, just jet it! That tentacle will yank the control pod and me with it!"

Alex basically becomes a Mech pilot, and confronts the Red Squirrel head on with the Octopod.

You engage in the tickle fight to end all tickle fights!

Its eight arms are more than a match for the squirrels eight legs. You have the advantage of reach, entanglement, and sucker pads. It struggles in your grasp, gnashing its terrible teeth, but cannot reach you. Its long tail whips around ineffectively, battering you softly.

The agitated squirrel squeals and swells like a red balloon. The mech's tentacles struggle to contain it. Just as the strain on the machine is about to become unbearable, the rodent violently deflates. It collapses in on itself with such ferocity that it turns itself inside out. The octopod, all tangled up in the collapsing squirrel, is pulled along as it folds in on itself until it becomes a hungry void the size of a marble, floating in space and sucking at the air.

Inky watches from the banana boat as Alex and the squirrel disappear from the Silver Forest. The squirrel portal finally closes in on itself, severing the banana boat from the octopus mecha at the last possible second. Inky on this side. Alex on the other.

Alex, you and the wreckage of the octopod are vomited out onto a sandy beach. Red mist and vapors dissipate from your entry point. Before you is a vast ocean, lapping lazily at the beach. The shoreline extends endlessly in both directions. Behind you are endless sand dunes. Though there is no sun, the sky seems to hover at sunset, all brilliant, swirling oranges and purples.

A lone humanoid figure can be seen standing atop a nearby dune. It is tall. It has legs like a goat or fawn, and a paunchy belly. Its long neck protrudes into a kind of trunk that eventually folds over and hangs down in front of the creature, about chest height. It terminates in a smooth, round nub. No face. It wears a small satchel at its hip, its strap slung over one shoulder and across its chest. Its long arms hand loosely at its sides. Despite the lack of a face and any sensory organs, it seems to be watching you. Slowly, it descends the dune and starts walking toward you. It reaches into its satchel and draws a long, sharp knife as it approaches.

Inky, you are in the banana boat in the Silver Forest. The turtle that was a chipmunk has holed up in its shell, effectively just a sticky bun.

"You wanted to see me," intones a slightly muffled voice behind you. A statement, not a question. You turn to see a figure cloaked in shadows and demons. They wear a domed helmet of black obsidian glass, flashes of rainbow colored light crackling along the inside illuminating very little of the smoke-filled interior.

"What is it you seek from Dude 215R?"

WHAT DO YOU DO