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Trilby and the Ghost

#1 User is offline   Sniffles Icon

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Posted 07 March 2008 - 09:09 PM

Front Page. You can't miss it.

It's good to see Yahtzee writing fiction again. Maybe he needed a break from selling his soul Zero Punctuation and decided to get creative. Whatever the case, I hope he can continue this delightful romp into the lives of his spiritually tormented brain-children, and make up some stories for everyone's other favorite characters, like the Indian guy. Or was he black? The one that gets his head ripped off and replaced with a mannequin's by the Tall Man and who's distant grandchild gets impaled on spaceship antennae and then reanimates and snaps some necks. I'm just rambling now.

Anyway, as far as the story itself goes, A+ would read again.

This post has been edited by Sniffles: 07 March 2008 - 09:11 PM

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#2 User is offline   TheOrator Icon

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Posted 07 March 2008 - 10:16 PM

Spoiler about three paragraphs in maybe:

Man, AJ was a really crappy MoO guy then. How am I to believe he wasn't paralysed in disbelieving terror to terrible ghosty things and the like if he can't hold his bladder or his ground to a guy in a mask?
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#3 User is offline   DreamerM Icon

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Posted 07 March 2008 - 11:13 PM

QUOTE (TheOrator @ Mar 7 2008, 10:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Spoiler about three paragraphs in maybe:

Man, AJ was a really crappy MoO guy then. How am I to believe he wasn't paralysed in disbelieving terror to terrible ghosty things and the like if he can't hold his bladder or his ground to a guy in a mask?


Actually I think that part makes sense:

Everyone in the house had a dream that Trilby would butcher all of them, right? At least, Trilby, Simone and the school-kid-whose-name-I-forget did. If AJ worked for the MofO, maybe he was psychic and got that dream (or one similar to it) a bit earlier then everyone else did. So then, when Trilby shows up, AJ goes "OMG it's the guy who is going to kill us all!" and promptly freaks the hell out.

As for the story, well, when wits fail, there's always betrayal and brute force.


The Following is chalk full of spoilers, so don't read it unless you've read the story. It's not like it's going to keep you up all night.


What I want to know is when and how Trilby became such a powerful he-witch/warlock/whatever-you-call it. When you think about it, the exorcism of John Defoe was a pretty stellar bit of magic which he performed all on his own.

I'm not sure of the exact rules for the magic of the Trilby universe, but if it's anything like the magic of more reality-themed supernatural shows, that's a hell of a feat, especially for one's second spell ever (the bear I guess was the first one). Usually you have to be ordained or otherwise have special training to pull off that kind of stuff, just ask a priest or a nun. And here, he just took the most potent, powerful ghostly manifestation on record and shoved it right off of the Big Roof of Mortal Life by sheer magical muscle-mass.

Either he's got some kind of inborn gift for spell-work or there's something else going on. Either way, he's DEFINITELY one of those hybrid souls himself.

I liked the story: Trilby's got a heart of gold and he's always standing up for right of some sort or another (wither it's the right of humans not be be killed by ghosts or the right of the uber-rich to get burgled as kind of cosmic payback for being so uber-rich) so I liked this glimpse at the more ruthless, cold-hearted side of his nature. Sure, it was best for the kid to leave this world and move on, but still, forcibly excising a mostly-innocent child to save himself headaches and annoyances was a pretty heartless move on his part.

And I don't get the part about all the deaths in the beginning, were those Greg? Greg doesn't seem the manevolent sort of spirit. Morose, maybe, but not particularly violent or dangerous...I can't help but wonder if Trilby got the right ghost.


It's not quite a polished piece of work, there are some awkward passages in the beginning as the stage is set and it sounds like Trilby is casting around trying to find his voice, but the point came through, it was witty, and I read the whole thing.

+10 pts. for Mr. Yahtzee. Hoping for more of these, more Trilby is always a good thing.

I'm gonna go watch some SUPERNATURAL episodes now.
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#4 User is offline   Legion Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 12:00 AM

Okay, that was awesome. I'd love to see more Trilby stuff like this; because combining the uberness that is our favourite cat burglar with Yahtzee's bitter writing style kicks untold legions of arse.
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#5 User is offline   Yahtzee Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 12:07 AM

QUOTE
And I don't get the part about all the deaths in the beginning, were those Greg? Greg doesn't seem the manevolent sort of spirit. Morose, maybe, but not particularly violent or dangerous...I can't help but wonder if Trilby got the right ghost.


The deaths referred to were the deaths that occurred when the estate burnt down. Greg was one of those. Greg didn't kill anyone. The fire was an accident.
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#6 User is offline   Sniffles Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 12:36 AM

Hey, Yahtzee...



How are you feeling?
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#7 User is offline   DreamerM Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 12:49 AM

QUOTE (Yahtzee @ Mar 8 2008, 12:07 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
The deaths referred to were the deaths that occurred when the estate burnt down. Greg was one of those. Greg didn't kill anyone. The fire was an accident.


OOOH so that was the Burning-the-cat reference. See, I didn't catch that that was anything other then setting the stage and assumed it was the unquiet spirits mentioned earlier in that same paragraph.

Don't mean to nit-pick, but if I missed it, others might also. It's a little vague.


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#8 User is offline   Yahtzee Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 01:42 AM

Reworded it a bit.

As I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I realised that it could do with a lick of paint.
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#9 User is offline   DreamerM Icon

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Post icon  Posted 08 March 2008 - 03:24 AM

QUOTE (Yahtzee @ Mar 8 2008, 01:42 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Reworded it a bit.


Much better, especially as it establishes that Trilby is here for one "victim" specifically, and not misc "spirits" which also wasn't entirely clear before.

Much better.


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#10 User is offline   Chyld Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 03:50 AM

I've missed Yahtzee writing stuff, its been a long time, but times been good to his writing. Also always fun to see the XDAS universe padded out a bit in subtle ways. I'm thoroughly looking forward to when he nexts writes something, which I predict will happen about the time my first child is born.
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#11 User is offline   Sniffles Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 09:12 AM

QUOTE (Chyld @ Mar 8 2008, 03:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I've missed Yahtzee writing stuff, its been a long time, but times been good to his writing. Also always fun to see the XDAS universe padded out a bit in subtle ways. I'm thoroughly looking forward to when he nexts writes something, which I predict will happen about the time my first child is born.


Wouldn't it be funny if he writes another story next week, and an old flame from college calls you and tells you that you're a dad? Let me tell you, it'd be quite funny. For me, at least.
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#12 User is offline   DreamerM Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 12:27 PM

QUOTE (Sniffles @ Mar 8 2008, 09:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Wouldn't it be funny if he writes another story next week, and an old flame from college calls you and tells you that you're a dad? Let me tell you, it'd be quite funny. For me, at least.


congratulations, sniffles. smile.gif Try not to freak out too much.
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#13 User is offline   Game Over Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 01:45 PM

Yahtzee, I have a question:

About your 'Other languages' versions of your 'trilby' games:
Did you translate them yourself (I know you can speak French), or did you pay someone to do it for you?

I'm just curious and wanted to know how many languages you speak.
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#14 User is offline   DreamerM Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 04:28 PM

Hey, plot-hole alert:

How is it that the Mind-Reader DIDN'T catch on to the fact that Trilby was sweet-talking the kid right into a trap? If she's so psychic, shouldn't she have known what his intentions were the instant he walked into the room?
It's not stalking! It's artistic reference!

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You have unlocked a new achivement!

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#15 User is offline   Otal Nimrodi Icon

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Posted 08 March 2008 - 05:32 PM

I'm guessing that actually doing mind-reading is an active power as opposed to a passive one. So she would need to actually read his mind.

That or she knew that Trilby was conning the kid, and wanted him out of her hair. I'd be damned annoyed too if I gave him the best days of my life and he was still all emo.
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