ic Puzzle Box: Key of Three

[Supercape]

GM

 

Sam was fast and light on his little dainty metal feet, and how he pounced and danced left, then right, quite merrily. Oh! He might well have avoided the globule, except that it was...

 

HONEY!

 

At the faintest whiff of the sweet stuff, all attempts at evasion went out of the window, and he dived straight into the globule, till he was up to his neck in it. 

 

"MMMM..MMMM....HONEY!" he moaned, quite in escstacy.

 

But, the strangest thing, for he was not impeded by the hunny. No! His metal arms flowed like shards of water as he shovelled mouthful after mouthful of the stuff into his arm...

 

"MMM...WAIT!" he paused. "IS THIS THE REAL STUFF?" he asked the Beekeeper, suspicious?

 

Clearly Sam was an expert on hunny. Only the real stuff would do!

[Exaccus]

"ah no, thats not the real stuff sam." He said with silver tongue as he ran his fingers over one of the jars nearby plucking it up and admiring the label like it was some kind of vintage wine.

 

"This is the real stuff....farm fresh, still warm, dark and rich.." he cooed a little as he cracked the lid just a little, making the cap pop and audibly shivvered "gives me chills just thinking about it...sweet and smooth." he sighed as he stirred it with his finger a little, pulling a dwindling rope of amber coloured honey from the jar and dizzling it into his mouth "mmm...delicious."

 

"Want some little guy?" he offered holding the jar out like a mug of mead "Well...maybe not...it might be too much for ya to handle..." and with that he began screwing the lid back on "don't want to put you off before you're ready for the rich stuff." he teased

 

"unless you think you're ready now?" he asked, looking up from the half screwed on lid with a taunting grin.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"mmmm.....REAL HUNNY! OOOH! Sweet and delicious! YES!"

 

With not a seconds thought (in fact, less than no thought...yes, its impossible to do less then no thinking....but this was a magic key) Sam the shaft jumped straight into the hunny pot. 

 

"BLISS! OH THE BLISS! SWEET SWEET HUNNY!" he moaned, stuffing more and more of the hunny into his mouth. Where it went, nobody could tell. For it seemed that Sam had already consumed five times his body weight in hunny. 

 

"WAIT?" he stopped, halfway through a mouthful. "What are you doing? HEY! LET ME OUT!" he complained trying, to no avail, to break out of the pot. He pushed against the lid - and Fascimile could certainly tell that Sam was a lot stronger than he should be at that size. But he was no match for Fascimile clamping his hand down. 

[Exaccus]

"oof you poor little thing you're starving for honey." he said, feeling himself salivating over the mere thought of it. even returning to his flesh form hadn't helped shake the hunger completely, so deeply ingrained in sam's make up it was he screwed the lid on tightly and handed the now trapped sam to beekeeper.

 

"you mind holding onto this? im so hungry i might open it so i can lick the sides." he half joked as he pilfered through his pockets for his wallet and began to count out his money.

 

"Sorry for nabbing that jar without saying anything Miss sting." he said "Here please lemme pay you for it and buy a couple for myself!"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Oh! My! Well, what a day!" answered Sarah Sting, surprised to say the least. 

 

"Having my spoon turn into a metal doll and eat my hunny! A story I would love to share, if only people would not think me mad! Ah well, I shall have to be content with telling it to myself. Although I am not sure I would believe me" she concluded. 

 

She gave a friendly wave to her pots of hunny. 

 

"Please, help youself..." she started, before spotting the Beekeeper and having a few cogs in her brain turn over "....well, unless you are going to consume three times your own body weight. You aren't fueled by hunny are you?"

[SpicyWaffle]

With a chuckle after accepting the imprisoned Sam-in-a-Can, Baxter waived the idea of a honey-powered battlesuit away with a measure of mechanical mirth.

 

"I wizzh. That'd be zzo much more efficient if it were doable!" he quipped back before oggling the jar with the little metal monstrosity inside.

 

"Izz it weird I think thizz thing izz grozz? It'zz weird, right? It'zz definitely weird. I mean, I like honey azz much azz the next guy, but thizz izz taking it a little too far," he said, turning his attention back to Facsimile and Pixie, giving the jar -- and Sam -- a gentle shake. "One down, two to go. Let'zz get Zzam back to Grumpenzztein before he blowzz a gazzket."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"MY KEY! MY KEY!" Said Grumpy outside, pleased as a Giant who had lost his magic key and had got 1/3 of it back!

 

That is to say, whilst the sour Grump still swirled like a mist around his persona, there was a merry little ray of sunshine that shone pleasantly through it. 

 

He took the jar of honey and peered at Sam. 

 

"Oh shoot!" mumbled Sam. 

 

"MAGICWORD!" rumbled Grumpy. Yes indeed, there was a magic word to put the key back together again, but Grumpy, in his no-nonsense manner had decided that the best way to remember the magic word was to call it magicword. 

 

In a puff of magic, Sam popped back into his proper shape. The shaft of a key. 

 

"Thats better!" smiled Grumpy. "BUT we best not DELAY!" he added, more grumpily. "HARRY the HEAD and TABITHA the TIP are still LOST!"

 

He paused and squinted heavily whilst thinking. 

 

"Harry love MARSHMELLOW and Tabby love CHOCOLATE!"

[Exaccus]

"hmm...Where would i go if i was a tiny metal person craving very specific sweets...." facsimile pondered to himself, slightly laden with jars of honey he'd very gratefully and politely accepted from Ms. Sting as he turned it over in his head.

 

"if we're going from sam...somewhere where theres enough that a slight discrepancy would be ignored...like a source or storage place." he reasoned aloud incase anyone had anything to offer by way of input.

 

"i mean they're obsessed but they're not stupid right? they don't wanna be noticed or looked for by taking what will be missed?"

[SpicyWaffle]

"Real clever," the Bee-Keeper chortled under his breath as Grumpy uttered the literal 'magicword' necessary to transmogrify Sam back into the centerpiece of the key contraption they were looking for. Truth be told, it was almost like making the password for your email simply the word 'password' - completely stupid, but also astoundingly clever. Who would even think to guess that?

 

But back to the task at hand!

 

"They couldn't have gotten far," assured Baxter, secretly wagered the odds of finding marshmallows or chocolate here in the apiary were practically zilch. Really he didn't know for sure, as he was just banking on the hope that as a single, solitary unit broken into three pieces, it would seem a mite strange for them to wander so far from one another. At least that's how he hoped magical key fragments that could open anything and be anything operated. "Hang tight, Grumpy. We'll zzee if we can't zzcope out the zzcene. Beetween the four of uzz, Harry and Tabzz won't bee lozzt for long."

[Supercape]

GM

 

And so...

 

But...here was a problem! For the biggest and finest and nearest source of chocolate was Mr. William Kerr's chocolate factory. In an industrial zone just north of Freedom City. 

 

"ME SMASH PLACE DOWN!" grumped Mr. Grump. 

 

But they were far away. A mile. And Mr. Grump, being over ten feet tall and green (and nearly - but thankfully not completely - naked) was rather a noticeable fellow. It was by guile an like they had even got this close. 

 

Roads, vehicles now. And people scooting from this plate to other pretending (and even occasionaly being) to busy at work. It was quite clear that one fellow outside the factory had just collected a bundle of sheets and was pacing around the building looking concerned and flustered, but in fact just getting some exercise and sending out the impression he was an asset to the business. 

 

But even a mile out, the smell of chocolate wafted on a zephyr up the nostril. 

 

"Yummy! This is going to be the tastiest adventure EVER!" said Pixie. 

[Exaccus]

Facsimile snacked thoughtfully on a smackeral of honey in thought as he examined the situation from his slightly distracted by gnawing hunger point of view.

 

"mmm...theres just so much open ground between here and there you know? we'd need to give you some cover so you can get over there without making a scene of it all...ya know?" he resolved as he continued to empty his jar, there were of course things he could've done but none of them wouldn't draw attention from other heroes or even villains.

 

"I could maybe turn into sand and make a tiny dust storm...or a cloud and flash torrential downpour to drive people inside and maybe obscure their view a bunch but thats kinda heavy handed...and really quite hit and miss." he summized as he screwed the jar back closed having sated his pseudo-natural craving for the sweet stuff.

 

"maybe im missing something though...i confess, its so hard to think straight with this mad craving." he complained "how bout you keeper...Pixie? any ideas?"

[SpicyWaffle]

Pixie's little remark warranted a fair, but admittedly playful, rolling of the eyes. She wasn't wrong, that was for sure. Today was starting to become the sweetest day ever in an ironically literal way.

 

"No, I think you're right. Grumpy can't juzzt go zztomping through the zztreetzz," confessed Baxter. He might have been a decent scientist, but even invisibility was beyond his skill set. Getting over to the chocolate factory with Grumpy in-tow was going to be a challenge -- one, it seemed, the Bee-Keeper was ill-equipped for. The streets were just too densely crowded for a ten-foot-tall green guy in a loin-cloth to blend in while going unnoticed.

 

"Unlezz our lovely lady hazz a trick up her zzleeve, I think you might juzzt have to zzit thizz part out, Grumpo," conceded the battlesuit-clad bee-man, before shifting his gaze back to Pixie before dismissing the idea entirely. "Do you have a trick up your zzleeve, Pix?"

Edited September 9, 2018 by SpicyWaffle

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Hmph. I suppose I could try something..." said Pixie, the grump seeming to have infected her. 

 

She screwed up her face, clenched teeth, and became invisible. 

 

And then, in a manner most peculiar, almost indescribably, the invisibility flowed off her and on to the Grumpy Green Giant. 

 

"What? ME no see ME!" started Grumpy. "ME not VISIBLE!" he exclaimed, stomping around. The stomps, it must be said, could be heard. 

 

"Phew...is that what you wanted?" Pixie asked Beekeeper and Fascimile, hands on her knees exhausted from the effort. 

[Exaccus]

"sweet, nice job pixie! now i just need to clear the way to avoid any accidents and we should be good...letsee....rain i think?" he mumbled as he returned the jar of honey he was holding to his backpack and once he'd licked his fingers clean he was off, turning to air and ascending as fast as he could towards a particularly thick and pleasntly fluffy looking cloud.

 

taking a few moments to admire the sprawling landscapes below and worry about the gnawing persistance of the honey craving some more, mostly because if would ruin his figure if he made a habbit of eating honey by the jar but also slightly about how permanet this new dimension of his powers seemed to be, object with some sort of sentience it seemed, let him imprint parts of it onto his own.

 

well there was nothing to do now but make with the deed and bring the rain he supposed, so passing into the world of white vapour he drew the properties of it into himself and began the downpour from on high, thick sheets of freezing rain spilling from the heavens with no warning! he was of course mindful not to let any fall on pixie, beekeeper or grumpy, it would after all, ruin pixies hard work if the water streaming down him gave him away.

[SpicyWaffle]

Looked like Pixie had more surprises up her sleeve than he'd thought as they, then he and grumpy, vanished into the either. Never in his life had the Bee-Keeper been invisible. So far, the day had been completely weird, and it only seemed to be getting weirder with each new challenge, let alone mentioning the fact he could no longer see himself which was mildly discomforting. Even so, he had to admit that this was super cool.

 

As Facsimile laid down some icy cover, it was time to seize the opportunity. A mile didn't seem terribly far, but a lot can happen in those few seconds between here and there, especially when you were about to do something crazy and reckless.

 

"Hang on tight," urged the Bee-Keeper. Pixie was a light load as he scooped her up by the mid section with a single arm; a little thing compared to his next feat. With a little extra gusto from his wings, he swooped upwards then down at a sharp angle, using the momentum and his free arm to delicately balance the hefty ten-foot tall giant along the small of his back and up into the air. Keeping stride with the flow of the storm, the Bee-Keeper flew himself and his two passengers as quick as he could muster without breaking cover -- the sooner they got to the chocolate factory, the sooner he could drop off this semi-mythical man and continue the hunt for the equally magical (and so far aggravating!) keys!

[Supercape]

GM

 

And so...at the Chocholate Factory...

 

The four of them set down. Although only three where visible. 

 

The invisible one, Grumpy, was still remarking on how we was, as he put it, "UNVISIBLE!". Pixie was a bit tired from placing her invisibility onto Mr. Grumpy, and was a little anxious now that she could not be invisible. But, overall, she was pleased she had managed it. 

 

The Chocolate Factory was your average factory full of butsle and hustle. Lots of men and women walking around in yellow overalls. A few walking around with clipboards. Some busy, some just trying to look busy. 

 

Getting inside would either be through the main entrance (which had a very low level of security and was for all visitors and personel), or via the delivery hangar, where all the trucks and lorries delivering raw ingredients and transporting away yummy chocolate were driving. There was no security here, but lots of activity. 

 

Or, as Mr. Grumpy suggested. 

 

"ME SMASH THROUGH WALLS!"

[Exaccus]

He was gonna have to ring round and let folks know that the sudden storm was him later rather than put people on alert for Dr Stratos or whatever, he was a little too busy right now though.

 

"Ah no grumpy don't do that!" he blurted out before he caught himself and cooked up a neat little excuse "You'll tip tabbitha off and she'll run away!" he whispered loudly as if she might hear them to press upon the conjured need for silence and not-smashing anything-ness required for the task.

 

"Right Bee, Pixie?" he looked to them for confirmation as he pondered his name being the only one not indicative of a small cute winged creature, real or imagined.

 

"We, uh, got a plan you know? you wait here and nab tabbitha when we chase her out ok?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Hmph" replied Grumpy. "ME supooooose...." he conceded, although he looked displeased with that conclusion. Grumpy about it, one might say. 

 

"You help me so far, so me do what you say. For now. But me can feel KEY getting more DESPERATE!" he warned. "KEY get more POWERFUL. And remember KEY can unlock ANYTHING!"

 

Even Grumpy looked a bit unhappy about this. Scared, even. 

 

"And some things shouldn't be unlocked...." he actually shuddered, and his voice grew soft like a whisper. 

[SpicyWaffle]

The Bee-Keeper III

 

"Geez. Thankzz for the warning there, H.P. Grumpcraft," quipped the Bee-Keeper, also now nervous about what that could potentially mean. They needed to find Tabitha fast, lest the desperate keyamajig get really uppity and open a portal to some unknowable horror beyond the scope of madness. Like Bedlam City, or whatever.

 

"Faczz izz right. You juzzt hang tight and try not to zzmazzh anything until Tabitha comezz running out. We need thizz plazze as un-zzmazzhed as pozzible," he added, though whether he was talking to Grumpy or at Grumpy was a matter of some debate, as the ten-foot-tall giant was still concealed by Pixie's potent magics.

 

"Hang in there, Pix. You're doing great. Zzoon azz we nab Tabitha, we're in the home zztretch."

 

Giving his wrist-mounted computer a few tactical taps, the Bee-Keeper lived up to his namesake. No sooner than he'd finished, a small swarm of tiny robo-bees emerged from the armor. As a group they certainly stood out, but with a few more well-placed keystrokes the swarm dispersed, each individual bee on its own teeny-tiny mission.

 

"Looking for zzignzz of our rogue key," assured armored hero, still frantically tapping his PC, looking totally zonked out as he focused on the display in his helmet. "If Tabitha'zz in here, I'll find her. My bet izz that zzhe'll bee wherever the chocolate'zz disappearing. We find the zzhortage, we find our key."

[Supercape]

GM

 

Buzzy Buzzing Buzz, went the bees as the flowed into the Chocolate factory and flew this way and that, into every nook and cranny. Thanks to their small size and being robots (as opposed to the live version) they were careful enough not to be noticed. They swarmed above the various officials in their overalls. 

 

The robo-bees did not have olfactory senses, of course. What smells they might have encountered! The place was clearly alive with the noble art of choclate making, of every flavour and type. Bags of Hazelnuts in one vat, then careful titration vanilla extract in another. 

 

But Tabitha, it seems, liked the purest, darkest chocholate there was. 

 

For in the "Ultra-dark 99%" section of the factory the foreman was going over the figures with an underling. 

 

"I don't get it! Is there a malfunction in the vat? We are down 17% production!"

 

From the size of the vat, that was a very great amount of chocolate indeed. 

Edited September 11, 2018 by Supercape

[SpicyWaffle]

The Bee-Keeper III

 

One last tap and the mini-swarm came floating back lazily inside the armor. Bee-Keeper, though his face was hidden behind his helmet, practically glowed with a sense of smug satisfaction.

 

"Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Lookzz like the ultra- dark vat izz mizzing about twenty perzzent of itzz chocolate. Lookzz like our key'zz more bitter than zzweet."

 

He mused for a moment, rubbing the hairless chin of the suit's helmet in thought. "We're going to have to get in there. Flush her out, maybee. The bee'zz zztill couldn't actually zzee Tabitha, zzo we're going to need to find a way to get her to reveal herself zzo we can nab her."

[Exaccus]

Facs was not a big thinker, it could be said to his face and he would never deny it, more than anything he prefered to do or do not rather than agonize over the details and so far it had served him well as a up and comming young hero in the weirdness capital of the world.

 

This was not to say he was deprived of sudden flashes of brilliant inspiration (at least he thought so) occasionally striking him like lighting bolts from the clear blue sky.

 

"I have a plan....its a pretty elaborate one! but im going to turn into a chocolate monster and you my buddy are gonna fight me...not for real of course, ill ham it up like them cooky old geezers that used to be in crime syndicate you know? Spook people all fury and noise...we'll make our way to the vat.." he explained as he removed a now slightly melted and half eaten chocolate bar from his pocket and began to unscrunch the foil wrapper.

 

"if you're up for it?"

[SpicyWaffle]

The Bee-Keeper III

 

Baxter blinked for a minute. The idea was cheesy. Hammy. Absolutely slaptastic, not to mention reckless and dangerous.

 

It was also surprisingly genius.

 

"I can't beelieve I'm zzaying thizz," sighed the Bee-Keeper. "Let'zz do it."

[Exaccus]

And so with a little bit of planning and choreographing facs slunk off to go make his grand entrance

 

Emerging as if from no where a lumbering blocky form witth barrel like chest and thick limbs covered in the square studs that one often sees on chocolate bars he stomps out into the middle of the work yard without so much as blinking as the suprised workers around him and after making his way into the center flings his arms wide and bellows.

 

"REJOICE! FOR CARAMELGEDDON, LORD OF THE ACHOCOLYPSE HAS RISEN TO BRING YOUR DELICIOUS DESTRUCTION!" He boomed with his voice, distorted by thickening of his vocal chords.

 

it was little suprise really when some of the workers began to laugh but a bit of faked outrage would soon set the chaos loose!

 

"HOW DARE YOU LAUGH AT MIGHTY CARAMELGEDDON YOU PLEBIANS? FEEL MY VELVETY SMOOTH WRATH!" he again belowed and with a hefty stomp of his foot unleashed a omnidirectional tidalwave of semisolid chocolate to ensnare and entrap those around him.

 

"YOU WILL BE THE FIRST TO FALL AS I WIPE YOUR RANCID WORLD CLEAN AND BUILD CHOCOLOTOPIA ON ITS RUINS!"

Edited September 13, 2018 by Exaccus

[SpicyWaffle]

The Bee-Keeper III

 

Right on cue, in burst the Bee-Keeper, stage right. Wings abuzz as he flew in after blasting down one of the doors with the aid of his powerful hand blaster, Baxter took his position mid-air, replete with striking a heroic (and mildly Silver Age-y) pose.

 

"Hold it right there, Caramelgeddon!" barked the armor actor in his most convincingly corny hero voice, jutting a finger accusingly towards Facsimile's faux foe facsimile. "Your decadent rampage of bitter sweetnezz hazz come to end! You've got one channze! Zzurrender, and zzet thezze people free or prepare to tazzte the zzticky fizzt of juzztice!"