Welp, a bit late is better than never, eh? As @blueteddy has evidently vanished, I've been tagged in for part 3 of this exquisite corpse.
Edit: Totally forgot the links to part one and two, sorry guys! See below.
We've already had @bennettitalia's intro in which we meet the players, sans the butler, and find out that a woman has been murdered by poison. Her friends and a couple of police officers have come to consult with a local doctor who seems to have command of a substance that can bring people back from the dead.
Then @blueeyes8960 took over and we saw the process for making the elixir, as well as most of the cast being shoved offstage as Alfredo the butler gets home just in time to help.
So with no further delay, on with the show!
Ok, one quick delay, let us introduce our Dramatis Personae:
Elizabeth Lightwood: former celebrated artists' model and social butterfly; presently a corpse, also apparently kinda a jerk.
Doctor Ludwig Von Glockenspiel: A local scientist known for a rare talent, the ability to raise the dead. Also, he believes in Nosferatu, Werewolves, and solicitors.
Helga: The old, hard of hearing maid.
Lord Thimbleberry of Darbyshire upon Wexley-Haversham East: Some dude. Host of the party where the girl died.
Inspector Posthaste of Scotland Yard: Another dude, I think? Just checked and yes it is a dude. Given the time period, it'd be unlikely to be otherwise I guess but then again they didn't really have potions that could bring you back to life so whatever.
Lieutenant Jameson McWhisk of Scotland yard: Inspector Posthaste's assistant and...yup...a dude.
Edmond Dantish: Pauper, hanger-on, and aspiring artist. In love with Elizabeth? I added the question mark. He at least seems to indicate he thought she was just as hot before she was dead.
Pugnacia Arabesque: Self-reports as Elizabeth's best friend. But as Elizabeth was apparently awful she is probably either lying, a sack of crap herself, or super co-dependent.
Alfredo: The trusty and beleaguered butler/delicious cream-based pasta sauce.
And now, PART 3!
free stock photo from pexels.com
Pugnacia shielded her hair as best she could from the rain. Everyone else from the party had already made their way back into town, but she had hung back. If she were Liza then no doubt one of the men would have taken enough notice of her to stop her.
Instead, they had been so caught up in the idea of a potion to raise the dead not one of them had insisted that they would "be remiss if they did not see her home". It was a welcome change, if also deeply insulting.
Pugnacia smiled. The body had been chosen to be innocuous in this era and it was doing its job perfectly.
In any case, she had to get back into the house and get Liza out of there. Her body wasn't dead, exactly, not yet. It just needed a reboot. Pugnancia had the tools she'd need to do it but if this charlatan tried whatever slop he was mixing on her it was hard to say how Liza's body would react.
"Computer, I need you to pull up the plans for this house." Little more than thinking of the words was necessary. The sensors in her throat could pick up her words subvocally.
"Yes, mistress. Shall I have weapons charged and ready?" She'd set the computer to have a slight Cockney inflection to try and help her stay in character. It was hard to say if it worked or not, but so far she and Liza had blended in well enough to not be targetted. This was going to complicate things.
"Computer, all our weapons have been disabled. We can only use what we find in here. Just get me that map." Instantly she knew the layout of the home. There was a servent's entrance around the back that was less likely to be watched. She crept along the walls of the mansion, keeping behind the bushes where she could, until she came to a small wooden door. It was easily picked. She worked her way down the hallways toward the laboratory.
This was all too much. The game was filled with ridiculous things, of course. Her own name had been chosen to blend into the oeuvre. Still, having a poisoned debutante pop back to life was going to raise some eyebrows. NPCs didn't usually get narrative arcs like this. This would paint a target on their backs for sure.
Besides, someone was on to them. NPCs didn't kill with poison. If an NPC was going to try and kill you they were more likely to pull a rapier out at a dinner party than lace your drink.
Pug weighed her options. Liza was a great partner; together they'd racked up ten kills. They were currently numbers 5 and 6 on the leaderboards. On the other hand, there could be only one winner, and there would likely never be an easier time to take Liza out.
Voices drifted down the hallway from the laboratory. Damn it. They're already administering the stuff. It was likely to kill Liza permanently, and worse, Pug wouldn't even earn a kill from it.
"Hand me the tongs, Alfredo. Prepare the subject." Pug leaned around the corner. Glockenspiel was in rare form, leaping around the room, grinding ingredients and mixing them in a flurry of activity.
Pug hesitated, torn between the options.
"Ah-hah! I am ready!" Glockenspiel grabbed the tongs and forming the mixture into a ball, shoved the herbs down Liza's throat. For a long moment there was no sound. Glockenspiel simply looked on, his eyes wild. Finally, Liza's hand twitched. "She's alive!" Liza slowly raised herself from the table, pulling herself to a sitting position. Gently ran her fingers across her own lips, then her face, last her hair. Then her face exploded and her body crumpled to the ground.
Pug screamed, aghast as bits of Liza sprayed everywhere. Glockenspiel seemed to dither, walking from where he had been standing over to Liza's body and then back again, checking her pulse each time. Alfredo simply stared forward, blankly. At last, Glockenspiel stopped. "Perhaps fewer elderberries next tim..." A nearby window burst inward as his head exploded as well.
Pug leapt onto the floor, she had to get out of there. There was a rifle nearby, trained on that door. Whoever held it was not a part of the set piece, as Alfredo's dead eyes attwstedr. Crawling away from the lab, she got to her feet and ran for the servent's exit.
The only ones that could know are the few that went to the party, then came here. I have to get out of here, hope they don't see me, then regroup. Shame about Liza, she was a good friend and a better partner, but the decision had been made. Pug would have to let her go.
Ok! That's it for me. Next up is @angelurquiola, then @blockurator, @sarez, @quillfire, @stever82, and @yestermorrow
Oh, and Merry Christmas!
This is an exciting continuation of the series, and there are even two deaths in this chapter :D! I wonder how the story will continue and whether they will stay dead or get ressed.
Congrats for your curie vote, fromie ^_^.
Thanks! Yeah, I mean one of them is just an NPC so who knows, heh.
Love this twist to the story. Death stalks the mansion!! Congrats on the Curie
This has just become a lot more fun @blockurator
Happy New Year and Keep Steemin!!
Yes it has. @fromage knows how to spin a tale. Congrats on the @curie hit. You deserve it.
Hi fromage,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Congratulations on the @curie vote. Another great masterpiece. You bring a lot to the table on these. I'm proud to have you as a member of the Speculative Fiction Writers of Steemit.
Thanks! Glad to be aboard.
Great continuation! Love the twist. Also loved the intro where you talked about all the characters. This was my first entry into the exquisite corpse series and I couldn't have had 2 better "before" and "after" chapter writers to learn from than @bennettitalia and @fromage. Hopefully I'll do better next time!
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You did great! Most important thing is to keep it moving and have fun with it.
Hey, @fromage!
Thank you for your contribution to the crowd. We are the Steemit project dedicated to empowering The Wisdom of Crowds. You can find more about us on our official website or whitepaper and you can support us by voting for our witness and joining our curation trail on Steemauto . We are also inviting you to join Crowdmind Discord server. Don't forget to use the #crowdmind hashtag and happy crowdsourcing!
Hey, thanks!
I like how you start the story with the introduction @fromage, these help us to have some insight of the story before we continue reading. And this is one of my favourite scifi story i read. Although I haven't read from chapter 1. But after read this story of yours, I love to read from start. Do you have the part 1 and part 2 link for me to visit?
Oof, sorry. Updated the post but here they are just in case as well.
Part 1
Part 2
wow I read both part 1 and part 2.. @bennettitalia has started the story nicely then @blueeyes8960 has continue it brilliantly. Three of you have a different style of writing and I love it very much. This is an interesting story and cannot wait on next chapter of it. Anxious to know how the story goes :p
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Woah ! Exploding heads ! What exciting developments !!!
Very nicely written chapter, fromie :D
Hello @fromage, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!
Oh this is awesome! I was wondering what had happened to the exquisite corpse and decided to travel back in time on the blockchain to find out. Very glad I did, I love the direction you went with this, an inventive twist, smoothly written. Now it's gothic AND Sci Fi :)
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Hey, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. I need to seek out some writing projects, heh.
hmmmm... I don't know of anything right now except of course the freewrites. Will pass it on if I hear of anything!