Castle East
Kar Alabrek Citadel

"Eyegor!" Karnst barked. "Hurry, bring me those samples!"

It was a dark and stormy night at the Citadel. Thunder roared. Lightning flashed outside, illuminating lab equipment, cages, and creatures that already had enough claws, teeth, and mandibles. As the thunder continued to rumble, growls rose over it and the whirring lab equipment.

"It is time," Karnst said, voice more calm, but still manic. "Activate the crystals!" he commanded.

Eyegor paused, hand on a large switch. "Are you sure about this?" he asked. "The Governor said not to mess with these. He said they were all to be destroyed. He said-"

"Eyegor!" Karnst snapped. Then more calmly, said. "Eyegor, progress must color outside the lines once in a while. I am sure Mr. Sonjie will appreciate our progress once he sees how…effective it can be. Now, if you don't mind?"

Shrugging, Eyegor flipped the switch. He was slightly put off by Karnst's maniacal laughter, but maybe the other scientist was right. Maybe this would be a huge breakthrough. Maybe after this, they would be elevated to a high position in Tarthosian society.

The dark, damp laboratory was suddenly filled with bright, green light. Machinery whirred to life louder, louder, and louder still until the flashing lightning was merely a footnote, the thunder swallowed in the din. Eyegor watched as Karnst continued to laugh. He could not hear it, but it looked like the other man's laughter became more insane as time passed by. Finally, there was a loud BANG and suddenly everything stopped. The green light disappeared, the darkness flooding back in. The sound stopped at the same time, and all Eyegor could hear was the sound of rain on the duraplast window high up on one wall. Not even the creatures seemed to be stirring.

"Karnst!" Eyegor said, blinking, the after image burned into his eyes. "Karnst!!" He reached out with his hands and felt something warm - and wet. "Karnst?" he asked.

He was met only with a growl of such ferocity that it made him tremble with fear. Suddenly two red points of light appeared in the darkness, pointed straight at Eyegor.

All he could do was scream.

---

"What happened this time? What do you mean we lost contact with the east citadel?! Well get up there and figure out why!"

Locke shut off the comlink and threw it across the room in frustration. He pulled one palm down across his face, muttering loudly. "First terrorists in Markosian, now this. How did Hades ever manage to deal with this? He found time to build a city. I haven't had time to take vacation!"

Sang, noticing that Locke was standing in the Aedile's office and didn't seem intent on leaving any time soon, decided that maybe he should intervene. "Trouble at home?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Locke threw himself into one of the office's guest chairs. "Lost contact with part of Castle Alabrek. Bright green flash from one of the towers. Everyone could see for kilometers around. And worse, it's storming worse than a Bakuran monsoon out there, so we can't even see what's happening."

"I'm sure it's fine," Sang said soothingly.

"Oh yeah," Locke answered sarcastically. "With the Disciples of Ragnos? No way it could be any danger. It's probably Macron doing some weird alchemy. Or Koji got a new pet. It's alway something."

"Well…" Sang began, attempting to come up with something reassuring on the spot. Fortunately, Locke's discarded comlink started blinking. Sang floated it over to him with the Force."

Locke snatched it out of the air and answered it. "What do you mean 'monsters'? Uh huh. No, I told those scientists they could NOT use any crystals for anything."

Sang could hear shouting and what might have been screaming as Locke paused.

"Alright alright," the Quaestor continued. "Just establish a security perimeter."

This time he shut his comlink off and held onto it.

"Which rogue Disciple was it?" Sang asked.

Locke laughed. "None of them this time. Some scientists got ahold of some of those crystals the Children of Mortis were using."

"Oh no. What'd they do?"

"Created some vile beasts apparently. But nobody has been able to get a good look at one."

"This seems like something our fellow Sadows would actually be pretty helpful with," Sang said.

"I agree, let's see who wants to have some 'fun'."

---

Monsters have invaded Alabrek Castle! The Quaestor has requested your assistance on:

• A) Finding out what we're dealing with,
  
• B) Finding out what the heck happened, and
  
• C) Dealing with the threat before we have to blow up the Cathedral, again.
  

Help us figure it out, stop these monsters, and save Locke's job!

This will be a two part event with a break in the middle for the holiday.

Schedule:

• Phase 1: Nov. 11th - Nov. 21st
  
• Intermission: Nov. 22nd- Nov. 25th
  
• Phase 2: Nov. 26th-Dec. 12th
  

Scoring:

Each valid entry will earn 5 points. In addition, for each competition:

• 1st place will earn 5 points.
  
• 2nd place will earn 4 points.
  
• 3rd place will earn 3 points.
  

The total score will determine placements in the event. In the event of a tie the number of 1st, 2nd and 3rd placements will be used to determine the final winner.

---

---

Hello!

Tarthos, we have a problem...

Welcome to this event run by myself and Sang! Read below for details on the competitions, or follow the links to each tab. This is meant to be a fun, easy event, that you can take as seriously or light hearted as you wish. But if you don't help us, I might have to blow up Kar Alabrek...again.

Links:

• Container Competition
  
• Co-op Fiction (ends 12/12)
  
• Puzzle (ends 11/21)
  
• Graphics (ends 11/21)
  
• Crawl Creator (ends 11/21)
  
• Cluster Race (ends 11/21)
  
• Meme (ends 11/21)
  

---

Locke Sonjie
Quaestor, House Marka Ragnos