Writer’s Workshop Submissions. Cycle 2, Week 1

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A hearty congratulations to everyone who participated in the first cycle of our Writer’s Workshop competition! There really were some fantastic entries, and truly impressive pieces all around.

Our joint winners of the cycle were @CableX17 and @RoseyNineOneOne. [color=blue]Congratulations![/color]

I will contact them shortly regarding prizes. :trophy:

So here it is, week 1 of the second cycle of the Writer’s Workshop competition, and the theme for this week, thanks to @newf is - “The adventures of the village idiot”

So, go for it. You can submit any story related to the theme.

Just to go over the rules once more:

  • You can only submit one story per week. And in the interest of making this manageable (for the community to read and review), we’re asking for submissions to be no more than 600 words.

  • Vote for as many stories as you want - simply ‘like’ the associated post by clicking the heart at the bottom of the submission.

  • Keep all discussion of this week over here, as anything in this thread that isn’t a story will be moved or deleted.

Story submissions will close on the Wednesday August 14th, and the winners of this cycle will be announced alongside the following weeks new theme.

We want to see all stories regardless of ability as we’re thinking about the possibility of having future awards such as ‘most improved writer’, so don’t feel like you can’t submit!

p.s. Don’t forget to stop by the theme bank to submit your own suggestion for a topic. Also, feel free to take a look at the theme schedule to see what themes are coming next!

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So we left off at the end of the battle against the City of Ref and their neighbor the Northern Alliance. The story is told by the Archer Diynas. Check out the beginning of the Legend of the Blocked World.

I was helping with the walls be put back up after the attack and the town drunk was singing “For the saints are….um….COMIN!” I went over to him since, 1. He was supposed to be in jail and 2. He could get hurt. “Drunken Bob what are you doing?” I asked. Bob said “well you see here Mr. Soldier; I was going for a walk around town since my door was open.”

I stared in awe for the fact that his “door” was a hole in the jail wall. “Now I must be going or else I might not get to see what the…the….the green stuff out of this city looks like”, “you mean grass?” I guessed. By now he was walking to the hole to the plains and if he was to be found by goblins or worst the Triad. My life could not get harder than this I thought while chasing him to the outside walls. He was walking so fast to the walls I had to run. ‘How is he able to go this fast while drunk?’ I wondered.

Soon we both made it outside and he was now walking more at a normal pace for me. Then Bob asked “Say Mr. Soldier what’s yur name?” . I thought for a moment that maybe this drunk was really a smart guy…but then he fell down and tripped over himself. “My name is Diynas, Sir. Diynas.” He got up and said “come on Mr. Diynas (I did say Sir, right?) Let’s go for an Adventure.” I stared blankly at the person who I thought was a fool and a drunk who knew nothing that was going around him.

Next thing I know is we are at a cave next to this beach. The water was this clear great blue and next to it was a cave that looked like it went to the core of the world. I asked “so why are we here Bob?” he replies “Because there is that giant Squid monster that lives in here.” We traveled down deep into the cave passing bones of the dead. ‘Maybe just some goblin bones that’s all’ I thought. We kept going only because Bob was either drunk again or because he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

About a good 100 blocks passed and we heard a very loud roar. We stopped and waiting then…THUD….THUD…THUD. The giant squid came right at us and looked down upon like I would to ants. “Give me yur sword” Bob demanded. I thought for the moment he was crazy but I gave it to him and pulled out my bow and got ready to fire. Bob charge the Titan like it was just another goblin to kill. Then I fired at it and it roared in pain for the hacking of the sword and the arrows stuck in it. Soon enough the sword and the arrows did enough damage to it that it retreat deeper in the cave. I was so excited from dodging the attacks and fight it off that I started to chase it. “NO, don’t go after it we need to get out of here, the beast won’t come out of here for a while” Bob ordered. We left and continued on this adventure…

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“It’s wet down here.” That was his first thought. His second was that there very little light and coming from high above. His third was that his arm stung. At least he was no longer thirsty, taking large gulps from the crystal clear water. It was fortunate that it was running low else he’d have drowned. He had vague memories of this having happened previously, but memory wasn’t his forte. Mum had always told him that it didn’t matter if he couldn’t figure things out like other kids could too, his physical presence would make up for it and some day he hoped to be the Kingdom’s top builder. He put his feet in the small gaps the brickwork offered him and pulled his weight up. He tried pulling himself higher but could get no more than about 4 meters above the water before falling back into it. He entered with a large splash. This amused him. He liked splashing around in the river and began swiping his hands through the water, giggling to himself.

Far above, Mer approached the well. He reached for the handle and began spinning it clockwise, lowering the bucket down. He was surprised by how much he was having to turn it; the well must be running low. Then suddenly the handle span rapidly, flinging him into the wooden post above. A crunching sound could be heard as his head connected with the wood and he dropped unconscious into the depths below.

“Ow!” Sean thought, as a large object landed on his head. He was glad he had this wooden helmet on that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. He pulled the object from on top of it and examined it. It was Mer! He liked Mer. Mer was always nice to him. In fact, everyone was always nice to him, but Mer was the best, always giving him ice cream and other nice things. “Hi Mer” he shouted. “Mer. Mer?” Still no response. What was going on? Mer wouldn’t ignore him. His eyes were shut. Maybe he was sleeping.

Regina was rather surprised to hear cries of Mer as she walked past the well. She looked around, but saw nobody. She was however rather thirsty and although it strained her back having to use the well, she had no other choice since the river had been polluted. Normally she’d get Sean to do it for her on an errand but he wasn’t around. She walked up to it and reached for the handle before noticing that the wooden post along the top was cracked in two. This alarmed her. Had goblins been having fun the night before? Nothing else was damaged. She twisted the handle clockwise and found it was as low as it would go. So she twisted it anticlockwise and found it was surprisingly easy to lift up and continued until the bucket reached the top. Except it didn’t. There was just some torn rope. Puzzled, she peered down the well. She could hear splashing now and called out “Hello? It’s Regina.” “Hi mum,” was the response.

“I can’t believe you fell down the well, again,” muttered an annoyed Regina. “And those buckets aren’t hats. You almost killed Mer.”
“Sorry mum. Sorry Mer,” murmured a rather gloomy looking Sean.
“It’s okay,” said Mer. “Let’s go get some ice cream.”
Mer walked off to his shop with a beaming Sean close at his heels.

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(post deleted by author)

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reminder: there’s about 48 hours left to either submit an entry, or vote on existing submissions…

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The shiny blue brightly glittering armor could have sprung right out of a fairy tale story.
Hastily the knight rushed his horse along the avenue of white birches, gravel spurting beneath the hooves of his heavy stud.
This was it, this was the day, this was HIS day – finally he would win Isabelle over, he was sure of it.
A calm breeze accompanied the cloudless sky, cooling his face under the helmet.

Nevertheless the air around the fast approaching mansion was heated, so it seemed to blur around the edges, like a vision in a dream.
He rode into the courtyard, coming to a halt with quite a lot of noise.

But right before he even was able to dismount his horse, Klarabelle – Isabelle’s sister – emerged panicked from the atrium rushing up to him and sobbing.
“Sir Casper it is gruesome, you have to help!” she managed to press out between two sobs “the ghastly dragon Gnarltree has abducted Isabelle (sob) you have to free her fast!”

“Where?” Casper barely manages to press out his voice a deep baritone.
“The dragon lives on the mountain Gnarl, its in that direction” Klarabelle points about eastward and indeed a small mountain is visible there.

Without any further words Casper takes off and it takes him a good half of a day to approach the foot of the mountain.
As its impossible to use his trusted horse to climb the mountain, he dismounts, binds it to a tree and begins the difficult ascend.
Thankfully it does not take all too long to find the hole in which the luckless lizard lurks.
Steam emerges from it and maybe its only in his mind but Casper believes to hear Isabelle sobbing, so he rushes down, well then up again and down again.
Its an outright maze of a dungeon this dragon created, but after some steep climbs Casper reaches the heart of the dungeon.

There she is, raven haired Isabelle, bound to a wooden pole sticking out of a pile of treasures the dragon piled up in the middle of the cave – oh and there the dragon is, well Casper was not silent at all, with his solid armor clanking and rattling like a blacksmiths hung out wares in a storm – so the dragon stares right at him, seemingly surprised at the cockiness of this tiny knight.

An epic battle ensues and even as his luck seems to run out a few times, at the end Casper prevails and the beast lies slain before his feet.
He rushes to Isabelle and quickly unchains her, when she falls into his arms he promises to never leave her side.

“Caspeeer” is that yell coming from outside the cave?
“Where are you Casper?” another voice “Look there is his broom, why would he bind it to the tree?” oh no it must be robbers from the woods that found his horse, better be quiet now!
“Oh see there is Klarabelle, meowing up the tree. Oh man he is up there again.”

“Come down Casper” Sylvia is yelling up the tree “Lunch is ready. Come down and eat you oaf!”

Finally when Casper slowly makes his way down with Isabelle in his arms, Peter says to Sylvia “Man he never ever swept the yard or does anything useful, always playing with the cats. I wonder what goes on in his head!”

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submissions are now closed, but voting will continue until Thursday…

come on folks, let’s see if we can get more entrants for next weeks competition! :smiley:

Who is helping the villagers build their settlement