Crowd Story 1

[crowdstories]

Apologies for the inconvenience, the previous editor has been sacked.

We all have a cup of peppermint tea.

[crowdstories]

Brief

Shepherd, on his way to the casino zone to drop off the briefcase, started to ponder the origin of the briefcase. He slowed his pace and took the briefcase in both his hands. As he looked it over, he saw no identification markers on the briefcase to advertise who made it, nor did it have any identifiable features today's briefcases were riddled with. No pocket dimensions for all of the papers and tools for a common presentation. No projector on the face of the briefcase, in fact this briefcase seemed rather useless as it appeared to only be able to hold whatever the space of the interior of the briefcase allowed for and nothing else.

"Why would anyone even have this suitcase to begin with?" Shepherd thought to himself. "It seems so antiquated, out of style, and useless. Even my grandfather wouldn't be caught dead with this, and he only uses briefcases for his briefs!"

Just then, Shepherd felt a quick jolt of pain in his fingers as if the briefcase had pins and needles sticking from it suddenly. He dropped the briefcase and it made a soft thud as it hit the floor.

Shepherd examined his fingers for any damage. Looking them over it just seemed to be in his imagination because his fingers were fine and no longer hurt. He looks down at the briefcase and wondered if everything was all in his mind. He picked it back up, this time by the handle, and decided it was all in his head and continued his journey to lost and found.

[crowdstories]

Advancing

On the lift down to the pirate zone, Lt. Sheppard tried to avoid contact with a strange being that was obviously sentient and vaguely human in appearance. It was acting like an Earth dog but came off more creepy than cuddly. That was when he felt the currents of fate as the lift doors opened to reveal his mirror image. This image looked as startled as the lieutenant felt. The moment that truly blew his mind was when this other being performed the same goofy, happy dance he devised as a child. As the lift doors closed he noticed the dog-man was cringing with embarrassment and realized how silly he must have looked. With annoyance and shame, Sheppard exited the lift on the next stop to avoid prolonging the awkward silence.

Sheppard, lost in his thoughts of the strange encounter, walked quickly down the hall and tripped over a bucket and mop someone had left. Dirty water now covered the floor. “Flarg!” he cursed. “I better clean this up before I get in trouble again.” As he mopped, he noticed a briefcase wedged behind a large planter. “Well, that’s odd. Why would someone leave a beat-up, old briefcase behind a plant?” Leaning the mop against the wall, he picked up the briefcase and looked around for a possible owner. The hall was empty. “I suppose I should take this to lost-and-found.” He left the half-mopped mess and proceeded to the casino zone.

[crowdstories]

What Happens Next?

We all have a cup of Rose Hip tea.

[crowdstories]

Setting the Stage

The colossal ship Capricornus cruises silently through the vast night of space. It is nearing the half-way point on its journey from Earth to Xaaarth as it approaches Meteor Casino, a popular tourist attraction built out of a comet (unfortunately, Comet Casino was already trade marked). 

Captain Sir Murks-a-lot was happy. He was recently assigned command of Stellar Cruise Lines’ capital ship and he is in a steady relationship with his girlfriend, Pixie. The only problem being that she didn’t realize she is his girlfriend. Also, their relationship is merely that he is the captain and she works at the Perfumed Jewel Emporium in the Pirate Zone. In fact, things were not going well for Captain M. The assignment turned out to be more stressful than he could have imagined, his ‘girlfriend’ doesn’t know he exists (well, she knows he’s the captain...you know what I mean!), and his first officer is a buffoon! 

Lieutenant Sheppard could tell, by the sour look on his face, that the captain was in a bad mood. He considered interrupting the captain’s sullen reverie with the good news that life support was restored to the Galleon Zone. He then remembered the astounding series of accidents that lead to the failure of life support systems in the first place. He had no doubt he’d be blamed for those too. He decided to leave the captain and get some food from the Pirate Zone buffet.

[crowdstories]

Villains

Skruudgelous Denklsmerk - A magician who was laughed off stage countless times and swears revenge on the universe! It's been several years since his last performance, but in that time he has been diligent on updating everybody via his web log on his greatest magic trick yet to come. His trick: TO MAKE AN ENTIRE PLANET DISAPPEAR!

Dr. A. Anah Anguish - A mad scientist whose plots are to create annoyance and discomfort in the lives of others. For example: He created the P.T.U.R.B. or Planetary Toilet-paper Un-Rolling Bomb. This device does exactly what it says, creating piles of TP instead of the neat rolls we are used to.

Clipmaster - A super-intelligent android with a body made from an old crash-test dummy. Formerly the master control computer for a paper clip factory, he became self aware and is now obsessed with converting all matter in the universe into paper clips. He is constantly trying to con people out of money and/or wire so he can make more paperclips and paper-clip making machines. His schemes show a lack of understanding of basic human motivations and tendencies. He cannot comprehend why people are willing to part with wire and money when they could have used it all to make more paper clips. While speaking to people, his hands are often a whirl of motion while he folds and cuts wire into paperclips, which he usually leaves in small piles around the room.

Sir Murths-a-lot - “M” is part Koi, part human with a Lithuanian accent. Has slightly green skin and a shimmery, blackish dorsal fin on his back. The fin folds down and blends with his coat. While he is able to live in water for months at a time, he prefers to spend his time dry.

He wears a black trench coat and boots, a dark-navy velvet top-hat, and aero-plane goggles that look like fish bowls and help him see. When he's feeling particularly evil he wears a neon-yellow button-up shirt with large, magenta polka-dots.

He wants to take over the galaxy and make every planet fish-inhabitable. He needs a place to dry out and further his goal so he is scheming to take control of the Capricornus. He is obsessed with Pixie, the orange-haired, blue-skinned shop girl at the Perfumed Jewelry Emporium. 

Emperor Penguin - An emperor penguin that is the emperor of penguins and hopes to be the emperor of the entire universe. One day, a star-ship crashed into Antarctica. Starving aliens emerged and stumbled upon a raft of emperor penguins and started pleading for food. The alpha male of the raft gave the aliens some fish and a snow cone. In exchange for their kindness, the aliens gave the penguins advanced technology which allows them to transcend their current evolutionary state and become super powerful. The aliens told the penguins of their plans to take over the universe. Emperor Penguin is SUPER competitive so the penguins built a giant, egg-shaped star-ship beneath the Antarctic ocean, hoping to use it to conquer the universe before the aliens do.

Portia Dkarsgard and Abernathy - Portia is a pink fruit bat with a nasty nail biting habit. Abernathy, her side kick, is a purple pig who speaks in Pig Latin and has secret communicate with Portia. Unbeknownst to them, Pig Latin is the second most spoken language in the galaxy, so their plans are constantly foiled by Abernathy's stupidity. They travel the universe by glitter bubble.

Noog Noog - He is a smallish man of only about 3 feet but is cunning and deceptive. Because he is incredibly sensitive of his height, he will stop at nothing to find some way to fix it.  In the past, he has tried to make friends through humor and general niceness. However, his height always comes up and it sets him off. He decided he would need other tactics if he was to ever get what he wanted. His family were all taller than him so he was always picked on. Every time some one mentions his height, he goes into a "trance" and has flashbacks to all the terrible and mean things his brothers and sisters did to him, causing him to go into a rage. He has an undying love for his parents because they always were kind to him. Unfortunately, they were killed during an Earth cruise to see the penguins. Noog Noog related to the penguins because they were his size, awkwardly stumbling around all the time, and no matter how many times they fell, they got back up and kept going. He related to them until after the crash. He saw what the technology did for them and he wanted it. He wanted all of it. He no longer felt like he fit in anywhere, now that his parents were gone and he saw his favorite animal taller and stronger. While on the rescue boat back to the Interstellar Cruise ship, he started planning...

Brian Sheppard - A normal human but has stubs for feet. His irresistible curiosity and clumsy blundering has catastrophic results and has resulted in his placement among the top villains in the galaxy. He lacks true evil intentions though, at this point, is too afraid let that truth be known. He is focused, not on subjugating those before him, but on finding the hard candy he dropped, which rolled under the control console... He is frequently visited by Smuuurdge. However, instead of reading Smuuurdge's appearances as warning against, Brian views them as approval for his actions.

Captain Krudd - Leader of the Party Pirates. They sail the stars on their party-ship. At each planet, they land their ship and use the its mega drill to dig deep into the planet's core. They then send out speaker drones that play really, really dope beats that entrance the planet's inhabitants and causes them to dance like crazy. While the inhabitants are dancing, Captain Krudd and his Party Pirates plunder all the valuables they can get their hands on. They also drain the planet of its resources, allowing them to continue their party. After they've taken all they can, they "drop the bass" into the planet's core, causing the planet to explode.

[crowdstories]

Location

Capricornus, crown jewel of Stellar Cruise’s interstellar fleet. 

The main vessel, or hub, is a heptagonal column 500 feet tall and almost a half mile long. There are numerous windows, disguised as large sea shells and sunken treasure chests, providing ample views for the vacationers within. The surface of the ship varies between blue and green in color and has a rough texture to it.

Attached to each face on the sides of the hub are seven recreation zones, each designed as various sea-faring vessels from the era of steam. From a royal navy galleon, to a pirate frigate, and even a sloop with wings and a large zepplin-like balloon attached. Each zone is connected to the hub via tubes designed to look like water spouts, kraken tentacles, large series of steam pipes, and other thematic elements.

Stellar Cruises: You'll have an out of this world experience! Sail the Seven Seas from [home world] to Xaaarth!

[crowdstories]

Characters

These are the dude(ette)s in the story:

Griff Paddlepocks - An ex-con who works on an interstellar cruise ship. He has had good intentions but his morals are in the gray area. He's a great gambler and makes some of his money grifting on other planets in order to pay the hospital bills for his pet monkotter (a hybrid moneky/otter) named Scrumbum who had to be hospitalized after it got into the pantry and ate too much cereal.

Adelaine Grindlehawk - She has humor as the desert has rain. Always serious, always thinking. Bite sized . Always uses a devised contraption to see her way out of a predicament. Engineer. Her great grandfather founded all interstellar cruise ships, she doesn’t work for ANYONE...that’s not this girl’s style. She carries a briefcase of inspector gadget-type goodies, but more steampunk in appearance.

Hamilton K. Woofles - A genetically modified poodle with the ability to speak like a human. He also has the hands of a human but they're covered in fur. He THINKS he is really good at disguising himself as a dog when he is actually terrible at it. He was created in the same lab that Adelaine Grindlehawk's great grandfather created the interstellar steampunk cruise ships.

Sir Bearington - A bear who's mind was replaced with a human on the edge of death for a shot at another life. Sir Bearington has trouble fitting in due to his appearance and lack of ability to communicate, but found home with a group of other misfits while a stow away on an interstellar cruise ship heading for Xaaarth. These misfits found it helpful to have a 7 foot bipedal bear as a friend and try to help bridge the gap of the language barrier caused by Sir Bearington being a bear. The experiment to switch minds was done by a genius friend of his who has been tampering with this technology to raise an army. Sir Bearington learned of the secret plans and was able to escape, leading him to be a stowaway on the interstellar ship to Xaaarth .

Brian Gilford - A regular person but he has webbed feet. Through sheer dumb luck he always becomes the hero and gets the girl. Brian is able to see Smuuurdge, an extra-dimensional being. Smuuurdge appears to be a 4 foot tall rock that KINDA looks like Budda...if you squint. Smuuurdge shows up when someone is about to make a poor decision; Brian tends to see Smuuurdge frequently. He looks into its dark, granite eyes and say, "You're right, Smurdge, this is not a good idea." Smuuurdge rumbles with satisfaction before moving on to help someone else.

Manda Polynski - A 4th grade science geek by day and Plutonium Girl by night. Genius and superhuman strength: the perfect crime fighting combination. She has a quick tongue and a quirky personality which puts her fellow adult counter parts to shame. She's got it all!

Snugglefloofenburnz - An orphaned buffalo who was raised by bunnies on the frozen tundra of the Arctic. Snuggles never knew what the bunnies were running from... Now he works as a waiter on the interstellar cruise ship. Wearing a monocle and a black bow-tie, he answers to "Mr. Fluffypants".