ORIGIN

He'd been watching this one closely. It had been a very, very long time since he'd last seen one like it. Perhaps too long. Perhaps it was time...

A grin split the Collector's mouth, the brief white glint of fangs showing beneath the black of his hood. It was time, now, yes. This would be fun.

He waited for Max to fall asleep, always watching him from a distance, careful to hide his scent as well as shrouding himself from sight. When the dog at last fell into rest, the Collector approached: soft-stepped and silent. He towered over the hound, and he stared down at him. Yes-... he showed all the signs. He felt of it. He smelled of it.

Perfect.

The soft boot reached out to toe the dog, not roughly but enough to wake him, and the Collector stepped swiftly back.

"Do wake up," he crooned. "I have something I think you'd like to know."

@Max (others may join as they see fit - this thread is NOT backdated.)

Max
Life's a happy game
[Image: ioaINSW.gif]

The dog was not a particularly easy sleeper.

His paws twitched, and he whuffed. What he dreamed about, only he knew. Maybe he was chasing windhoppers, actually catching them for once, or maybe he was chasing his tail and managing to catch it.

He jolted when the Collector nudged him, head snapping up, immediately wagging his tail. "Oh hello hi! What do you need to tell me?" he bounded to his feet, barking happily and bouncing up to try and lick the Collector's fingers, "You look interesting why do you wear a hood is your face scary I don't find anything scary can I see your FACE?"

Max dropped back down, stared intently up at the Collector's face, then went back to jumping up and wagging his tail.

His hands were sharp-clawed and furry, but he held them out absently nonetheless, that grin widening as Max slobbered them with kisses. Now this was the sort of obedient, fawning adoration he liked.

So when the dog asked to see his face, he lifted those hands, and flipped back his hood. "My face, hmm? I don't see why not."

The Collector appeared vaguely humanoid, clean gold rings shining from his ears, but to say he was pretty to look upon would have been a lie. Those crimson pinprick eyes existed in pits of black, and his face was grotesque, with fangs and hooked nose and fur--the fur that had seemed to be part of his cloak... Was it? Or was it his own, a thick ruff around his neck? He replaced the hood, after a moment, shrouding himself once more; it was impossible to tell.

"Now, hound. I have information you might wish to hear." He crouched, his towering height lowering somewhat, and he reached one of those clawed hands out to stroke Max's canine head. "You are dying, dog. You do not know it yet. There is a way to... save yourself," he went on, and delighted in the irony of the phrase; "but it is very, very unpleasant. Not as unpleasant, I think, as the death you face--but you will need to overcome terror and horror to accomplish it. I am willing to point you in the right direction... But if you are reluctant, realize this: others will, in time, accidentally follow in your misguided, shall we say, pawsteps. Should you find the route to salvation, you will be able to show it to all those others who become lost along the way."

He sounded sincere. And he smelled, now, of faintly rank fur and old bones, as if his odor had come back. "So what do you choose, 'Max?' A slow, painful death, with encroaching madness and a likelihood of harming others? Or a terrible path to save yourself, and others who may face the same fate..?"

Ahh, but he knew what the answer would be, didn't he? The dog loved to help others. He was friendly, kind; he couldn't help himself.

How delightful.

@Max

Max
Life's a happy game
[Image: ioaINSW.gif]

Perhaps Max should have been afraid.

But Max had always been just that side of too dumb to be afraid.

So he stopped, stumbling as vertigo rushed through his head, shaking his head and taking in the Collector's head before giving a great, wide grin, "Oh you're so cool! Are those rings part of you or did someone put them on you? Could I have some put on me they're so shiny! You're so pointy have you ever poked yourself by mistake sometimes I accidentally bite myself and it really hurts."

The Collector reached out to stroke his head, and Max accepted it, seemingly crumpling at the touch as he toppled onto his side, rolling over to show his belly for a belly rub, eyes going pleading, 'Please? Pretty please? Pretty please with spicy flies on top?'

"Dying?" he asked, sounding... not nearly as concerned as he should. Then again, Max wasn't ever really 'concerned', persay. "Terror? Horror?" again, he didn't sound concerned. More confused. "I'll be able to help others, though?"

His nose twitched, and he tilted his head, getting to his paws and sneezing at the Collector's scent, one that he normally liked but this one wasn't a bone he could chew or a fur he could shake and throw around so it wasn't a scent he liked. But the Collector had been nice, and so far he'd been really helpful, so he supposed it was a smell he liked, thinking on it! At least as far as Max thought. He didn't think, much. If at all.

A slow and painful death with encroaching madness, or helping others? "I want to help others!" he yapped excited, scrambling to his paws and dancing in a circle, snapping at his rapidly wagging tail, not quite understanding the 'terrible path'.

Bless his heart, but he probably wouldn't until he actually encountered it.

The Collector suppressed a grimace at the dog's enthusiasm. Fawning was one thing; but this was... an irritant.

He stood up, hiding his annoyance, keeping friendly joy in his voice. Crooning, soothing, and oily.

"I will gladly offer you golden rings--once you've finished this task."

From within his cloak he withdrew a strange object: a small, black crystal, rough in patches and an oily black, the light of the distant Spire glinting over it in malevolent rainbow hues. It was threaded, dangling, from a leather cord, and this the Collector first showed Max, and then attempted to slip over his head to hang around his neck. "Here: you will need this," he explained, as he did so. "There is a place you must find. Take others, if you must... I'm sure they'll love to see it," he added.

"You are looking for a..." Hmm. What to call it..? "A hole," the Collector suggested. "You will know, when you draw close; that crystal will resonate with it. Push on until you find the center of the hole, dog, and you will find the core of your little issue."

@Max

No belly rub :C

The dog scrambled to his paws, beaming as best he could "Yay rings! I'm holding you to your promise but why wouldn't you because I trust you." Yes, Max is very stupid and does not know how to judge a trustworthy person from someone he should run away from very very fast.

He tilted his head as the Collector pulled something out of ~~his thong~~ his robe, plopping down on his read to let him slide it over his head after leaning forward to sniff it "Oh that is very shiny and pretty and colorful!" his tail wagged, and he dropped his head to look at it sitting on his chest, puffing it out proudly. "Thank you for this!"

"A hole?" he asked, wagging his tail, "I like holes! I like digging them and making them and laying them and that sounds like a very nice hole! And I love showing others holes so thank you for letting me show them!" he bounced to his paws, spinning in a cirle to snap at his tail.

Max was a very happy, if dizzy, dog.

The Collector stared, blankly.

Half of what the dog was saying didn't seem to make sense--or was it just him? Or was, perhaps, the corruption taking hold faster than he'd expected?

He didn't bother to explain that the hole could not be dug; that it was in rock so cold and lifeless as to terrify most who drew anywhere near.

Instead he simply smiled, thinly, behind the hood. "Well, you certainly seem... excitable. Be sure you do not forget your task, hound, or it will be the death of you. Go on, now; no time to waste." The Collector made a shoo gesture with both hands, and waited for the dog to go.

________

Max will find that the necklace is inert, at first. Moving at all south or west, however, will begin an unpleasant, discordant hum--a sign that the crystal is resonating with whatever lays within the Hole. It is strongest toward Tunnel N, and somewhat strong toward Tunnel I; any other direction, and it will cease to respond.

The closer Max gets to the Hole, the more the crystal will seem to vibrate; it will give off a faint but foul odor, and, should he get very near to its source, the crystal will begin to emit what sounds like indistinct whispers, filling the air all around him.

If he goes the wrong way, it will fall silent once more.

@Max

"Exciteable?" Max asked, tilting his head such that one ear flopped over to cover his eye, and then his tongue was lolling out happily and his tail was wagging "That's'a good thing! I think? So thank you!" He leaped to his paws, wraggling with his tail, and nodded "I won't forget, no sir, this will help others and is very important, it is!" and with that, he was bounding away, tripping over his paws, rolling, using that to spin around and leap up and try to lick the Collector's face before tearing off again.

-exit Max

Game Master Dark

Max

Game Master Dark

Max

Game Master Dark

Max

Game Master Dark

Max