Quinn's Code - Morgendorffers in the Woods - Conclusion

 

Quinn’s Code 09: Morgendorffers in the Woods Conclusion

The Morgendorffers were gathered around a fire...

“Then lying there in the darkness, the boy heard a tiny splashing sound. Like waves on a faraway shore. Except, the nearest ocean was a hundred miles away. The boy reached out for his sleeping father... but he was gone. Shaking with fear, the boy stumbled out of the rickety lean-to.”

And that was when he saw it! His father, sitting alone at the campfire. Alone... with a whole case of beer! The selfish old bastard was wasted again.”

 

Daria and Quinn stared at their father, bored.

 

 

Later, they stared at their mother, bored.

 

 

“Your turn, Quinn,” Helen said.

 

“Finally!” Quinn said.

 

Quinn's Tale

“In a time not so long ago, there lived this girl...”

 

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

1 April 2004

Kelly Wong logged into her Ultima Online account...

 

 

Ultima Online World

Cove Orc Fort

Kelly's avatar appeared in the game world.

 

Nothing was out of the usual for the Cove Orc Fort, absolutely nothing. Kelly had no reason to suspect otherwise. Not yet...

 

She met with several of her online friends. One whom she expected to be there wasn't there. “Guys? Where's Neornrzeb?” she asked.

 

“No idea,” one said.

 

“He said he going to be here.”

 

“He isn't.”

 

Kelly didn't like this; Neornrzeb was the most dependable member of the group. “We'll wait a few more minutes,” she decided.

 

“Sure.”

 

 

They waited for five minutes. “OK, that's long enough,” Kelly decided. “Let's just do this.”

 

The others reluctantly agreed. Then something happened. A wind blew up, and the walls of the Fort briefly flickered in and out of existence.

 

Kelly jumped out of her seat! “What the hell?” she exclaimed. She sat back down.

“What was that?” One of the others asked.

 

“No idea,” another said.

 

Kelly calmed down. “It's just a glitch,” she said.

 

“Are you sure?” the first asked.

 

“Yes!” Kelly said.

 

Moving together they began to head towards the exit of the fort.

 

 

Outside the Cave Orc Fort

The avatars exited the Cave Orc Fort instance.

 

Immediately they were attacked by large rats.

 

That was a problem. For one thing, there were not supposed to be Giant Rats near the Cave Orc Fort.

 

“This is not right!” Kelly said. She could see that all of the avatars were losing hit points...

 

 

Within a minute, all the players had been defeated.

 

 

Back in the Cave Orc Fort

The players all respawned.

 

“That's not supposed to happen. Those rats were of too high a level,” one said.

 

“And there aren't supposed to be giant rats in that area,” Kelly said.

 

“Let's try again.”

 

 

Outside the Cave Orc Fort

The avatars exited the Cave Orc Fort instance, again...

 

This time the game flickered. Suddenly giant rats appeared again. “Back in the Fort,” Kelly shouted, into the microphone. However, something eldritch appeared alongside the rats.

 

Kelly squealed, and closed the client with a quick Alt-F4...

 

 

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Kelly was even more afraid. What was going wrong? She was still wearing the headset. “Let's play tomorrow,” she told her friends.

 

They all agreed.

Unfortunately as the days passed, more uncanny events occurred each time they attempted to play the game. Each day, each guild member dropped off to play other games, or in a few cases stopped gaming altogether.

Finally Kelly was on her own, and looking for others to join the delapidated guild. However the final thing was so horrifying that she could not sleep either that night, or the next.

 

 

Quinn's Tale ends

“...And so she never played Ultima Online again!”

 

“I don't get it. If it's all in a computer, how can it be scary? Other than how computers are scary normally, of course?” Jake asked.

 

“It's like a horror movie, only more interactive,” Daria said.

 

“Kelly was really into that game...” Quinn said.

 

“Ok, Daria, your turn,” Helen said.

 

 

Sunday, February 11, 2006

“Daria, Quinn, get up. I need you. Your father's in a sickening mood.”

 

“Are they decent, Helen?”

 

“Yes, Jake.”

 

Helen backed out and Jake put his head and a branch of berries into the tent. “Up and at 'em, ladies! Time to join the forest morning, already in progress. Breakfast is on Mother Nature. Yum! Meet you around the fire in five minutes!” He went.

 

Helen came back. “Please, girls. I'm afraid I may hurt him.”

 

 

Later...

“Was that breakfast great, kiddo?” Jake asked.

 

“Actually, uh, I'm not a real berry person, Dad. I sort of didn't eat mine. I'm waiting for lunch,” Daria said.

 

“Oh, well, you're gonna love my roasted acorns a la Jake!” He paused. “Can you believe the whole continent used to look like this?”

 

“It makes me yearn for the past.”

 

They came to a fork in the trail. One side has a sign saying DANGER! TRAIL WASHED OUT . “Look at that, Daria: a fork in the trail. If you go one way, you can't go the other.”

 

“This is going to depress me, isn't it?”

 

“This way over here leads to an entry-level job. A little bit of money in your pocket. Soon, you're wearing a suit and tie every day like all the other faceless saps, living in a boring little house in a bland little town, and doing so well you're in debt up to your disappearing hair! That's where that trail leads, Daria.”

 

“I guess that other trail is the one that leads to personal and spiritual satisfaction. That's why they don't want you to take it.”

 

“Dammit, Daria! You're brilliant!” Jake said, as he climbed over the sign. He walked down the closed trail...

 

“Wait! It was a joke!”

 

 

Helen and Quinn were behind the other two.

“I wish your father would stay where we can see him.”

 

“What's Dad so worked up about, anyway?”

 

“Oh, Quinn. It's not easy being an adult.”

 

“Is he having a mid life crisis?”

 

“That is one way of saying it.Iit's hard for you to understand. You're like a fresh new bud, just on the threshold of opening.”

 

“Ewww! Mom! You're not going to talk about puberty, are you?”

 

“Quinn, everywhere you look you see doors opening. Everywhere your father looks, he sees doors closing. A long corridor of doors slamming shut, and at the very end, there is one open door he must someday enter... and never may he return. I can't go on. Leave me here.”

 

“Mom?” Quinn was worried. Helen's eyes were dilated. “Oh no! I knew that those berries were bad!”

 

“Go on, Quinn. You're so young, so beautiful. You should lead the tribe into the new century.”

 

“Mom! I'm staying with you!”

 

“Now go tell Gray Fox I have given my blessing.” Helen passed out.

 

“This is not good! Just as well I didn't eat the berries!” Quinn decided for some drastic action. “Daria!”

 

 

“Dad, I don't think this is a good idea,” Daria said as they continued down the washed out trail.

 

“It's not cautious, is it, Daria? It's not the sort of thing a responsible family man would do.”

 

“Are you feeling okay? You look kind of pale.”

 

“Maybe you think we should go be to camp, huh? You go back to camp, Daria! I'm going to see what... who is down this trail. You hear that, old man? I don't care what happens to me Daria! I'm past feeling pain.” He ran into a tree. “Ow! Dammit!”

 

They then heard Quinn calling.

 

“Come on, Dad. Quinn needs us.”

 

 

“Quinn? What's wrong with Mom?”

 

“She ate those berries! She was hallucinating and now she's unconscious. I can't rouse her!”

 

“This is serious!” Daria agreed.

 

“Helen?”

 

Helen then stirred. “Wha...? Oh! Jake, honey, you had us a little worried.”

 

“You had us worried, Mom,” Quinn said.

 

“No, honey, the tide! I was saying we ought to set sail while the tide's still high.”

 

“Oh no!” Quinn said. “What ever was wrong with her Mom before, was still in her system.

 

“Sure! If we try to sail at low tide and ran aground, we'd be sitting ducks for Captain Cutless' men,” Jake said. His eyes were just as dialated as those of his wife... “I don't know about you, but I don't want to be skinned alive and thrown to the sharks, right girls? Come on, let's go gather some provisions!”

 

“What are we to do? We have no means of contacting the outside world!” Quinn said. She collapsed to her knees, clasped her hands to her chest, and looked up with a pleading expression. “Whatever, or whoever is there. Please help!”

 

“Quinn?” However before Daria could interupt Quinn's prayer she could hear Helen's dialtone coming from somewhere. “Rely on Mother's hypocrisy to see us through this crisis.” She found the phone and answered it.

 

“Helen, do you have a few minutes to go over these depositions?” It was her boss, Eric Schector.

 

“She'll have to call you back.” She dialed 911.

 

“Thank goodness!” Quinn said as she got up.

 

 

Later, after a helicopter rescue and Helen and Jake having their stomachs pumped the Morgendorffers were home again.

 

On a whim, Daria called Jane. “Yol”

 

“What are you doing home?”

 

“What are you?”

 

“My parents went crazy from eating psychotropic berries, so we were evacuated from the woods and they had their stomachs pumped.”

 

“Wow, that's cool. My family was already crazy without any berries, so Trent and I evacuated ourselves to the airport in my aunt's rental car and flew the hell out of there.”

 

“Oh. Well, anything else new?”

 

“Nah. You?”

 

“Nah.”

 

 

Shortly afterwards, Quinn called Cindy. “Hi, Quinn. How was the trip?”

 

“Terrible! My parents ate these weird berries, and they ended up having their stomach's pumped!”

 

“That's not good. Who's stupid enough to just eat any berries that they find?”

 

“My Dad, it seems,” Quinn answered.

 

“I hope he learned his lesson.”

 

“I hope so, I don't want to lose him. And it cost sixteen thousand dollars for the helicopter ride!”

 

“That's exorbitant!”

 

“I know!”