The Name's Oliver - Ben Oliver. Ch. 159: Duty vs Ethics, Pt. II

[kent91blaze]

Remember, you are all top-hush, button-lip candidates in training!

We are? Oh yeah! We are. 

[Swirl-Girl]

No speculating! That is what I'm best at! Oh well. Also, three-headed dog is in reference to Harry Potter.

[ladybug53]

Great job on the prison , fog emitter is a great effect . Oh ...I'm scared for Ben , that place give me shivers . Great update ! 

[cndneh]

Glad you like the name - I do too - I just couldn't bring myself to go with some pretentious-sounding dragon name, so I went in the opposite direction entirely.  Not sure I understand the 3-headed dog reference, though.   

Hagrid named the 3 headed dog in Harry Potter "Fluffy".  I believe it was the first movie. 

Great job on the prison , fog emitter is a great effect . Oh ...I'm scared for Ben , that place give me shivers . Great update ! 

agreed!  I was going to write all the same stuff but you said it perfectly.

[Schipperke]

No speculating! That is what I'm best at! Oh well. Also, three-headed dog is in reference to Harry Potter.

Hagrid named the 3 headed dog in Harry Potter "Fluffy".  I believe it was the first movie. 

Really?  A three-headed dog named Fluffy?  Oops - I guess I just revealed my abysmal level of ignorance when it comes to Harry Potter.  I promise, Ben's Fluffy wasn't named after that dog.  "Fluffy" just happened to be the most un-dragonlike name I could think of. 

Thank you all for the comments on the prison!  I had a lot of fun building it.  Dare I say it - could it be that I'm finally moving beyond slum-building?  I don't think there's ever been a Building Contest to build a prison (and probably never will be), so I proudly claim the title of the forum's pre-eminent prison builder (pre-eminent being a synonym for "only builder").  There's a lot of the prison you haven't seen yet, of course.  And when you do, I hope I'll still retain that title.

I have to say, I've enjoyed all of Ben's adventures, but I'm really excited about this one!  Oh, and by the way - the fog emitter effect?  When I first moved in the inmates, I got a message asking me if I wanted to accept some challenge-or-other.  Just for the heck of it, I clicked yes, and that miasmic vapour in the Warden's office came from that.  Sometimes this game gives me just what I need!   

[Joria]

Great update and Ben's sartorial splendor with the third picture is perfection.  It's just.....Ben.  Love the way you build the suspense.  I just knew he was going to keel over when I saw the mist, even before I read it.

Now, as for your abysmal ignorance of Harry Potter.  This seriously needs correcting Schip.  If a 73 yr old grannie can really love the books, which are wonderfully written well thought out stories, then surely a writer like yourself would appreciate them as well.  As for the movies......we've literally worn out 3 extended version copies of each one!  (And are on our third set of the books.  The first two having fallen apart from constant rereading.)  Why, HP is ALMOST as good as Ben in the hero world.

[Schipperke]

Great update and Ben's sartorial splendor with the third picture is perfection.  It's just.....Ben.  Love the way you build the suspense.  I just knew he was going to keel over when I saw the mist, even before I read it.

Now, as for your abysmal ignorance of Harry Potter.  This seriously needs correcting Schip.  If a 73 yr old grannie can really love the books, which are wonderfully written well thought out stories, then surely a writer like yourself would appreciate them as well.  As for the movies......we've literally worn out 3 extended version copies of each one!  (And are on our third set of the books.  The first two having fallen apart from constant rereading.)  Why, HP is ALMOST as good as Ben in the hero world.

Hi, Joria - it's nice to hear from you.  You prefer the third picture, not the fourth one?  Well, I'll definitely keep your preference in mind, and maybe Ben will wear it again some time, but for now I think he's going with the fourth outfit.  Unless it gets changed for some reason.

On the subject of Harry Potter (one of many subjects on which I am woefully ignorant), I think I need to confess something.  I did borrow one of the books from the library.  I wanted to like it, but - it just didn't hold my interest.  I gave up about halfway through.  There, my dark secret is out!  *hangs head in shame*  I honestly don't know why it didn't hold my interest - it seemed like the sort of thing I would enjoy, and I wanted to like it, but I just didn't.  No disrespect intended to Harry and his fans - I'm sure the fault is all mine.

And it's very kind of you to compare Ben and his inept Watcher to the illustrious hero Harry. 

We are? Oh yeah! We are. 

Don't tell me you've forgotten your Oath of Secrecy?  But you still know how to do the secret handshake, right?  Please say you haven't forgotten the secret handshake! 

[MarianT]

I also vote for Ben's former kilt with the new jacket (although it may be a trifle warm for Barnacle Bay). I've never gotten a challenge involving vapors -- but then I've never written a story where they would come in handy. Once again, I can only admire your ability to use various objects as props -- the key to the city as a mysterious key being a case in point.

[Schipperke]

I also vote for Ben's former kilt with the new jacket (although it may be a trifle warm for Barnacle Bay). I've never gotten a challenge involving vapors -- but then I've never written a story where they would come in handy. Once again, I can only admire your ability to use various objects as props -- the key to the city as a mysterious key being a case in point.

Marian, I think part of the explanation for the vapours is that I had previously put a fog emitter in that room, intending to turn it on after the warden left Ben alone.  I know I never turned it on, though.  It seems the challenge somehow caused the fog emitter to be turned on and start emitting that murky-looking haze.  But I liked it better than the standard fog-effect I was planning to use, so I decided to keep it. 

As for the key, I love looking through Buydebug and thinking up different uses for things there - it's fun!

Thanks for the comment.

[Schipperke]

Blood Island, Part III

Diary Entry

I awoke some time later feeling confused and disoriented.  The last thing I remembered was being in the Warden's office and feeling overwhelmingly sleepy.  But where was the soft carpet of the Warden's office?  I seemed to be lying on a floor of cold hard sheet metal.  I struggled to stand up.



A burly man with a beard and dressed in some strange striped gown was eyeing me.  "Wh-where am I?" I asked.  "And who are you?"



"Where are you?" he repeated mockingly.  "Why, the Shang Simla Hilton, of course - where else?  Don't you recognize the luxurious surroundings?  And as for me, well I'm the Queen of the May, aren't I."



I scratched my head.  I was still groggy, but the fog was beginning to clear.  That mist in the Warden's office - I had been drugged! 



I looked down and saw what I was wearing - ragged clothes of the same stripe as the unknown man.  And it hit me - I was in one of the prison cells!  "They locked me up!" I said out loud, shocked and outraged.

"Give the man a cigar," the guy in the gown said sarcastically. 

A prisoner!  One of those dangerous prisoners who had been rioting, a "lifer" with nothing to lose.  We eyed each other warily.



"I'm not supposed to be here," I told him.  "I haven't done anything wrong."

"Aye, we're all innocent men here," he said.  "And a fat lot of good that's going to do ye.  Look around you - does this look like a place for an innocent man to be?"



The cell was tiny, with dirty grey walls that felt like they were closing in on me.  A stainless steel toilet and sink, a table with two chairs bolted to the floor, and two bunk beds comprised the whole of the furnishings.  I shuddered.

"Look, no offence," I said to the prisoner who was looming over me.  "It's just that I don't belong here.  I need to get out of here."

He laughed bitterly.  "Sure, and which one of us doesn't need to get out of here?  Wait a year or two - maybe it'll grow on you.  You better hope it does, because there's no way out of this place except feet first.  Nobody has ever escaped from Blood Island Penitentiary - they even put it in their advertising brochures!"



Then he said, "They told me I was getting a roommate, and I should be grateful.  Grateful for the likes of you?" He eyed me up and down.  "Well, maybe.  If you're nice to me.  I'm one of the leaders here - I could do a lot for you, know what I mean?"





Uh-oh.  I knew what he meant, all right.  And at that point, I lost it.  I began pounding on the door, yelling "Open the door!  Let me out!"



A voice came over the loudspeaker, "Move away from the door!  Prisoner 306, move away from the door!"

"Better do as they say," observed my roommate, from his bunk.  "If you don't, you'll be sorry.  They have ways of dealing with people who don't listen."



I hammered on the door again.  The voice on the loudspeaker blared, "Prisoner 306, this is your final warning!  Move away from the door or face disciplinary action!"

I didn't know what they meant by disciplinary action, and I was in no condition just then to find out.  My head was throbbing and my limbs were feeling wobbly - probably an aftereffect of the Warden's knock-out gas.  I went to lie down on my bunk and try to think what to do.

[Audren]

Oh no! Ben's in prison! I hope he finds a means to escape, and I most sincerely hope that this "disciplinary action" does not involve a Room 101-esque situation. Why lock these people up, though? That is the question, and the answer is our reward for our silence! 

[MarianT]

Great prison! Can we assume they confiscated any apples or books that Ben had which he might use to escape?

[RaiaDraconis]

Oh dear, this is quite the conundrum. Ben has managed to escape from difficult situations before, but this one might prove to be a bit of a challenge.

Excellent chapter and fantastic set!

[kent91blaze]

Don't tell me you've forgotten your Oath of Secrecy?  But you still know how to do the secret handshake, right?  Please say you haven't forgotten the secret handshake!

*Secret handshake* done. Oh no! Ben's in the prison, hopes he get out safely.

Kent 

[RainBeau]

Great prison! Can we assume they confiscated any apples or books that Ben had which he might use to escape?

Hahaha

Oh my, what is this now! How could they lock Ben up? What is going on here, I'd like to know! The prison looks really good, well done Schip. But tell Ben from me he's not to call you an idiot ever again!