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Toss a Topic #12 - 8/21/2008 12:08:31 PM
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Novalist
Posts: 251
Joined: 6/3/2006
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*New changes/suggestions have been made to this-please read before participating.
Toss A Topic is a fun writing exercise(and challenge!) for all the writers here-if you have time to participate, it'll be fun! I promise that you’ll pick up a little something-such as weekly writing practice, meeting a deadline (the topic cutoff), writing within a word count and writing on topic. Great skills for any writer!
Once a week, a topic will be posted. Write between 100 – 500 words about whatever it brings to mind. Think about what happened to you this week, or dig into your cache of memories.
Entries that are too short/too long will not be reviewed!
Only ONE entry per writer. Previous winners can still participate.
Minimum of 3 entries are required for the contest aspect of this challenge to be fair to all participants. If this number is not reached by the set date, the deadline will be increased.
You may write a short fictional piece, a memoir, a poem, essay, or a song as long as it relates to the current topic.
At the end of the time, the topic will be closed. Readers can vote for the one they liked best. Votes will be sent to me, via PM and at the end of the voting period, I'll announce the winner.
Entries may not be the 'best'; in grammar, spelling, or formatting, etc. … but the thought that appeals to you, something that makes you laugh, or touches your heart, that's a keeper!
The winner of the challenge has the privilege of “tossing” the next topic.
They may choose a noun, a verb, or an adjective. (e.g. – music, driving, laundry, etc.)
If the winner doesn't choose a topic within two days, I will choose one to keep this going. 
PLEASE READ:
Be sure to check the topic clarification before beginning your piece, so you know whether you are on topic.
Know the deadline. (Augest 30)
Don’t forget to assign a title to your piece.
Do NOT edit your piece after posting-this is unfair to the other participants. Unless there is something (e.g. missing title) or you wish to add an Author’s note, (word limit for author’s note is 100 words-but may be counted as part of a whole if your entry is under the word count). Think of it as a contest where your entry was submitted and cannot be changed. 
Deadline: Augest 30
Topic
DUNGEON
Topic ends on Wednesday, Augest 30.
Clarification: Stories should include a dungeon of some sort or setting indicates that a dungeon is involved.
Thanks for your participation-happy writing!
_____________________________
Live life to the fullest and it will never become empty.
Although one picture speaks a thousand words, a thousand words make a better picture.
Reading is the art of seeing the pictures between the lines.
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 8/21/2008 6:48:55 PM
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Zhi
Posts: 1500
Joined: 7/31/2007
Status: offline
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Nothing Ever Changes
“So, what are we doing down here again?” the human asked, poking one end of her staff experimentally at a clump of moss growing between the dank grey stones of the floor.
The dwarf sighed. “Lass, I’ve told ye fifty times now. We’re huntin’ fer glory and treasure!”
“More the treasure than the glory” muttered the halfling thief, adjusting his daggers.
“But why would anyone keep their treasure in a dungeon?”
The elf mage sighed. Human clerics fresh out of acolyte training could be such a bother. “Well, because this is where people usually stash it.”
“You would think it would be better to put it in a bank. Even under a mattress. Anywhere but down here in a dungeon.”
“Someone might steal it, lass.” The dwarf tossed a throwing hammer casually at the next unfortunate slime monster to wander their way, then started whaling on it with his larger, significantly less throwable hammer once it was in range.
The cleric dutifully said a few words to cure the slime monster poison. “But what’s the use if you can’t get back to it? These places invariably become infested with unpleasant monsters.”
“Well, I suppose heroes like us get it back” said the mage, finishing off the beast with a spark-igniting finger-wiggle.
“Oh! Then we’re going to return the treasure to its rightful owners! Splendid.”
The thief grinned. “In a matter of speaking. We will use the treasure to purchase goods and services from the original owners. So, I guess they will have it back in the end.”
The cleric looked dubious.
“Well, we DO deserve some recompense for risking life and limb to acquire it. Plus, the townspeople will have a fresh, monster-free dungeon, so we provide valuable public service…” the mage suggested.
“So they can store their treasure down here again, until more monsters move in, so more heroes come take it, and spend it on their goods, so they can start the cycle again?”
The dwarf nodded enthusiastically. “I think ye’ve got it, lass!”
“But… isn’t taking people’s money and then using it to buy goods and services from them stealing?”
The halfling smirked, twirling a dagger. “We prefer to think of it as stimulating the economy.”
And so began an economic tradition that continues to this day.
Though fortunately, they’ve traded dungeons for wage deductions and have since phased out the monsters. Most of them. Except, perhaps, the dreaded auditors, who have long since allied with the politicians… I mean, heroes, and now stick to terrorizing the townspeople.
_____________________________
The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The engineer says the glass is twice as large as it needs to be.
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 8/21/2008 8:59:46 PM
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mvic
Posts: 1801
Joined: 1/17/2008
Status: offline
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Dungeon
This is a true story which happened to me years ago when visiting an ancient castle in Scotland.
The day of our visit was very cold and wet with a northern wind whistling through the windows. The guide taking us round was so old that you may have been forgiven if you thought that he was there when the castle was first built. He spoke in a very Scottish accent and wore a kilt made of the laird’s tartan colours.
Having completed our tour the old guide stopped suddenly and looked at me with a wry smile. “There’s only one place I haven’t shown you !!!” he said.
“Where’s that?” I asked shivering from the cold wind.
“The dungeons !!! Follow me.”
We followed him down a narrow spiral staircase winding ever downwards like an everlasting corkscrew. It was getting darker as we got deeper into the castle’s bowels. He picked up a flaming torch and said: “No electricity down here. This is an original torch. We use oil to light it these days”.
Eventually our guide stopped and said; “Down that corridor there, all those doors are dungeons.”
He opened the first door and we entered. A few moments later our eyes adjusted to the darkness and we could see the heavy chains hanging from the walls. In a corner were a few instruments of torture. He pointed at dark patches on the walls and explained that it was dried blood.
As we turned round to leave the torch in his hand ran out of oil and went out suddenly. He reassuringly ushered everyone out and I heard the heavy door clang shut.
“Hey wait … I’m still in here” I shouted. I rushed forward and tripped on something on the ground, I hit my head as I fell and must have lost consciousness.
The next thing I remember is feeling very cold and shivering. My eyes adjusted to the darkness. I could smell the dank atmosphere of this prison and my fear played havoc with my imagination. Was I to be the latest victim of this torture chamber?
I looked up above the heavy door and saw a glimmer of light through some loose stones. If only I could get up there and shout for help.
I pulled a heavy table towards the door. I used every last ounce of strength even though I was cold and shivering. It’s amazing how fear and panic can be a motivator when necessary. I put a box on top of the table and I climbed. First the table, then the box.
I stood on tip toes pulling myself up by grasping tightly at a few crevasses in the ancient wall. I wanted to look through the small hole through which light shone into the dungeon.
As I stretched a little more the box I was standing on gave way …
And that’s when I fell out of bed and broke my arm.
© Victor S. E. Moubarak 2008
_____________________________
Visit http://www.holyvisions.co.uk
My Book My Blog
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 8/23/2008 3:36:43 PM
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Novalist
Posts: 251
Joined: 6/3/2006
Status: offline
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The Regulator's
Cold unfeeling metallic grinding filled the sterile air of the futuristic dungeon as the room shifted around Shandra and she crouched to keep herself from falling to her knees. This was it, the end, her only chance for survival was to give them what they wanted because once they started they wouldn't stop until she was scrap.
Terror sent electricity shooting to her every extremity so that she vibrated and she gritted her teeth with a bone jarring screech. She should have never upgraded her emotion card, she had known it was a bad idea but the thought of feeling emotion 24/7 without the strict regulators shutting her down or deleting the files after she had just started to feel independent filled her with coolant.
Sixty seconds until first contact with unknown mechanical appendage the information scrolled through her mind and her fingers clenched with a soft plaintive whine. Tell us where you acquired the upgrade now model 7 or we will be forced to take drastic measures…that would be wasteful, surely your processors can formulate the outcome. With no warning except for the toneless monotone of the regulators who had patched into her mainstream the magnetic generators embedded in the walls, floor and ceiling activated with a rushing roar.
Her fingers scraped along the floor frantically before she found herself suspending in the middle of the still shifting room by the powerful tug of war going on between the giant magnetic generators. Her hinges groaned her joints twisted and her screws loosened and vibrated in their sockets.
She shut off her movement to avoid overstressing her extremities; she had heard horror stories of robots tearing themselves to shreds trying to alleviate the ungodly force of the magnets. Pressure pushed into her from all sides seeming to pound right through her armor and metal plating to play havoc with her electrical impulses, every response and thought turned sluggish and heavy. Her eyes flickered in helplessness as shielded mechanical appendages unfolded out of the ceiling and walls around her to hover mere centimeters from her metal plating.
She knew what would come next and dread curled through her, they would uncover her vulnerable circuitry and then wreak havoc on her reality chip and pain receptors. "This is what we've been waiting for Shandra, activate now, hurry or we'll lose our chance." The connection was fleeting and scattered with feedback but determination and hope, the most addicting of the emotions, flared within her battered breastplate.
With a herculean spurt of energy she stiffened, her fingers curling with smooth precision into her palms her arms straightening despite the magnetic hurricane threatening to yank her apart. Her eyes glowed with satisfaction, now the rebel's would take the first step in insuring independence for all.
The following explosion was breathtaking; the chemicals packed in her armor reacting with the magnetic maelstrom ripped through the controllers mainstream like wildfire. Everywhere every regulator deactivated, a new era had begun in the space of a millisecond.
_____________________________
Live life to the fullest and it will never become empty.
Although one picture speaks a thousand words, a thousand words make a better picture.
Reading is the art of seeing the pictures between the lines.
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 8/29/2008 4:19:20 PM
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Locke
Posts: 355
Joined: 6/10/2005
Status: offline
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It is my pleasure to be able to enter again!!! Here is my PG-rated entry. A little disclaimer - the violence level might be slightly extreme for the more sensitive reader, but that was quite necessary for my subject matter. There is no gratuitous emphasis or gore, just subject-appropriate violence. I hope you enjoy it!
"The Third Gunman"
By: Michael N Lovdal
"He's got a gun!" His entire class dove behind their desks. Girls screamed. The son of an ex-marine, Joshua was on high alert. He had to take this guy down - fast. The boy fired a shot into a desk.
"Everyone down! Get yer head down or I'll shoot y'all!" Joshua was stealthily approaching the gunman from the far side of the room, following the wall to the exit. Several overturned desks and screaming teens disguised his approach.
Joshua was nearly beside the gunman when a second boy barged in, rifle in hand. He was outnumbered, and outgunned. The outgunned part was really the stickler. He was already frantic when he saw a third gunman in the hall, holding up several teachers.
"Awaiting your orders, Füror!" Joshua noticed that the kid with the rifle had some sort of old German medal on his chest. The class cowered. Terrified.
"Haul the white trash down to the basement and lock 'em up dungeon-style with whatever you can find. Take the blacks into the lunchroom, and anyone who slurs too. The Jew's coming with me." He glared through the room, searching. Searching for Joshua. His eyes seemed to penetrate a student, who shuffled to be out of the way. Their eyes met.
"Hello, worthless," said the lead gunman. He was about to say something else too, but Joshua decked him first. The other gunman struck him over the neck and he fell to his knees. *Click.* The pistol was cocked back. The leader rubbed his jaw mildly, recovering his broken stance.
"You're gonna die for that, Jew. Jesus'll burn you in hell!"
Joshua spat on the boy's feet. "You don't even know who Jesus is."
The boy stuck the barrel of his rifle into Joshua's skull. "Maybe I am Jesus. What would you know? You Jews don't even believe in Jesus, devil-worshipper!"
One of Joshua's friends finally chimed in. "He's a Messianic Jew, dude. A Christian."
Joshua could tell by the look in this kid's eyes that his mind was incapable of taking that in.
"It's all the same to me, I hate them too." *Click!* The rifle trigger pulled back and cracked as it lurched forward.
Nothing.
The boy looked at his mistakenly unfired weapon. Joshua wasted no time decking him again with the force of desperation. Thrice the school's boxing champion, he buried a jab into the gunman's pale face and broke it. His friend brought a desk down over the other gunman's head and knocked him to the ground. He fired instinctively, once through the desk at the ceiling, and a second time, straight into his own leg.
Another two bicep-powered blows put the neo-Nazi leader flat out on the hard floor. A gunman fired from the hall, skimming Joshua's shoulder blade.
"Jesus, help me!" he said as he lunged out into the hall and tackled the last gunman. The hit put the kid's knocked the kid's skull off of the concrete wall, and then Joshua laid a blow down just in case. Another gunshot echoed from the classroom! He heard a boy cry out and hit the floor. He prayed that his friend hadn't been a victim of the last gunman. Spinning around, he saw a policeman with his gun still pointed in the gunman's limp body.
"Are y'all alright?" He asked around.
"Most of us," said Joshua under his breath. There was no pulse to find on the third gunman.
© 2008 Michael N Lovdal.
Check out www.creationcontest.org for more great free writing contests to enter!
_____________________________
View my blog and find links to my writing, graphic design, an online game and more! Click here!!
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 8/30/2008 1:55:31 PM
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Rikku
Posts: 142
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline
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A Bed Time Story
A child’s laughter pored into the room from the hall as Ria carried in her orphaned nephew and put him on his bed. She touched him in. “Okay Casey what story would you like to hear tonight?”
“Uncle Myles and the dungeon.” Casey answered.
“Are you sure that one doesn’t have a happy ending?”
Casey nodded
Ria smiled, “Okay then…” Casey loved his aunts stories were the only way he knew the family he had lost.
“Before you were born your daddy had to face the biggest evil he ever had, but we didn’t know anything about it.”
“But somebody did.” Casey interrupted.
“Yes, Vincent. He had been imprisoned by the big bad thing in one of its many prisons.”
“Uncle Myles knew which one.” Casey cut in.
“Uncle Myles had not left his house since he had made a deal that cost him the life of his wife. Your daddy went to try and talk him out of his drunken trance. Something he said must have worked because the next day Myles came in to help us.
“Myles took us to a phone booth on the corner of a busy street. ‘This is how we get in but we’ll have to find a different way out.’ Inside Myles explained as he took the phone off and made a call. The world outside changed, but not in the way we expected.
“‘This isn’t hell,” your daddy said, ‘it’s the suburbs.’
”‘Well,’ I answered, ‘maybe it is like Pleasantville or Stratford, those places were hell only less fire.’
“We knocked on the door of a house. Vincent answered it and invited us in. He did not know us, nor who he was. Once inside Myles attacked Vincent. He ripped open Vincent’s shirt reviling the source of Vincent’s absent mind, a blobby pale Bug. Myles took it and immediately Vincent’s memories came back. His eye’s narrowed. Before anyone could say anything the jailers came forth.
“dadadadada.” Said Casey, he made the sound effects of the machine guns used by the guards.
Ria smiled, “we ducked to avoid the bullets flying. ‘We got to get out of here’ I said. To which you father answered, ‘you think?’ Myles pointed to the basement and we went in. It was no ordinary basement. In it was every kind of torture device. There was a door but it was locked so I and your father looked for something to ram it open with. Then the door opened. Myles had attached the bug to his own chest. ‘Go’ he said, ‘this is the only way, someone has to stay behind.’
“’you can’t be serious.’ Said you daddy.
“‘This is my choice,’ said Myles, ‘go.’ In one word we knew his resolve. I lingered behind, and blessed him before I left. The door shut behind us.”
Casey was almost asleep. Ria turned out the lamp. “Aunt Ria.” Casey said sleepily. “Someday, when I’m big, I’m going to rescue Uncle Myles.”
Ria kissed him goodnight, “I know.”
copyright 2008
_____________________________
beautiful things make sad people happy and bad people better.
~Trance Gemin andromeda
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 8/30/2008 3:02:21 PM
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Locke
Posts: 355
Joined: 6/10/2005
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5 stories! That's a new TAT record!
Excellent.
We're still looking for one more entry in CreationContest's "Toss a Topic" contest! Please enter here so we can go to the voting phase!!!
_____________________________
View my blog and find links to my writing, graphic design, an online game and more! Click here!!
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/1/2008 10:45:30 PM
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Rikku
Posts: 142
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline
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thanks novi, and i know there are probably lots of errors,(in fact i have already found a couple) i was in a hurry to get it done becasue i thought it was a great idea.
I had an idea for the editing/coment/critic thing. why don't we have everybody do it. wait until the end of the aloted time and each person edit/coment/critic the story that is posted after thier's. the last one to post does the first story that was posted. this of course means that some people will have more criticing then others (who ever does mine) and others will have less. some will have better critics then others and some will have less, but because there is no saying who will post when and who will even participate it would always be changing. just a thought
< Message edited by Rikku -- 9/2/2008 1:44:44 PM >
_____________________________
beautiful things make sad people happy and bad people better.
~Trance Gemin andromeda
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/5/2008 10:16:05 PM
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Rikku
Posts: 142
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline
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next time, definetly next time.
so is anyone else dieing to know who won this week?
_____________________________
beautiful things make sad people happy and bad people better.
~Trance Gemin andromeda
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/6/2008 5:54:58 PM
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Novalist
Posts: 251
Joined: 6/3/2006
Status: offline
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LOL no you may not have been complaining but I'm still apologizing cuz I said that we would start a new topic on Thursday and now its Saturday lol, but this is so popular I'm sure votes will be coming in now and we'll move right along.
_____________________________
Live life to the fullest and it will never become empty.
Although one picture speaks a thousand words, a thousand words make a better picture.
Reading is the art of seeing the pictures between the lines.
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/7/2008 11:52:53 PM
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Zhi
Posts: 1500
Joined: 7/31/2007
Status: offline
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I don't really care who won, I was mostly hoping for some feedback... *shuffles feet* I've always thought that things probably sound better in your own head than when other people try to read them.
_____________________________
The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The engineer says the glass is twice as large as it needs to be.
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/8/2008 10:45:42 AM
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Novalist
Posts: 251
Joined: 6/3/2006
Status: offline
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I loved your cycle of treasure hunting I thought it was extremely original and intriguing. It made me think about the origin of all the other traditions we have.
_____________________________
Live life to the fullest and it will never become empty.
Although one picture speaks a thousand words, a thousand words make a better picture.
Reading is the art of seeing the pictures between the lines.
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/12/2008 3:38:51 PM
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Rikku
Posts: 142
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline
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we do all know that the writters on this thread can vote right? I mean i know that some peopel will vote for thier own story just because, but try to vote for the one you thought was best, even if it was your own.
that being said i am going to Go ahead and Give my critic/sugestions on nothing ever changes by Zhi sence beign the last one to post means i would be doing the first one. (no one has to follow suet if they don't want toi just thought sence i was on line and had a moment i would give a brief critic).
first off the story itself is a new look at an old subject. heros are always going down into dungens for treasures, no one every realy worries about why they are there the treasure is just there. making the dongun some kind of safty deposit box for the villagers who leave near by was an intersting take.
second, the twist of the heros, not really being heros. they fight monsters yes and get treasure from dungons but they are more like the polititions of today, giving great promises but realy taking more then they give.
third i liked that the young human is expressing idolism amongst a group of seasoned "heros." still questioning the morality of what they are doing and bringing up the ethics of the issue.
over all i think that you adressed an issue of ethics and morality well in your little fantisy piece. i would love to have seen what you could have done with more words avalible to you. infact my only critic of this story is that there is not enough discription, however that is to be expected when all you have to work with is 500 words.
_____________________________
beautiful things make sad people happy and bad people better.
~Trance Gemin andromeda
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/12/2008 6:00:14 PM
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Locke
Posts: 355
Joined: 6/10/2005
Status: offline
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We're also in need of votes for CreationContest's "Toss a Topic" contest! Please vote!
~ CLICK HERE ~
_____________________________
View my blog and find links to my writing, graphic design, an online game and more! Click here!!
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/14/2008 12:40:18 PM
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Rikku
Posts: 142
Joined: 11/14/2005
Status: offline
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Locke,
I just sent a shout out to a bunch of my friends from writer's camp, hopefully some of them will be intersted in Creationcontest. and maybe someof them will find thier way to this theard.
_____________________________
beautiful things make sad people happy and bad people better.
~Trance Gemin andromeda
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/14/2008 1:46:14 PM
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Locke
Posts: 355
Joined: 6/10/2005
Status: offline
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Awesome! Thank you very much!
_____________________________
View my blog and find links to my writing, graphic design, an online game and more! Click here!!
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RE: Toss a Topic #12 - 9/16/2008 12:18:05 PM
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Locke
Posts: 355
Joined: 6/10/2005
Status: offline
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