Converging Plotlines, et. al. (Spoilers and Setups Abound!)

[Hogan]

Well, as the one who appearently (?) placed KAM in that trunk (Beware the revenge of the Cameotracker... Bwuhahahahah!), I can confirm that the Trunk indeed is more than it looks... and far older than 1883 (notice the ancient Egyptian symbol on its side?).

The box might as well be an ancient form of time-travelling, dimension-bending apperatus, placed in the cave by the ancient "indians", but has now slowly started to "leak", thereby creating the time-vortex's that has interfered with so many means of time- and spacetravel and drawn so many characters to this time and place?

Perhaps the events in Shelterville is going to what sets the Trunk "free" and on its merry way through time and space, picking up an unlucky traveller (two if you count the cat added in Life & Death) on its way, to be emptied at one (so far unknown) point, just to pick up Major Morgan (from "The Lost Battle Fortress") at some point in the future...?

When myriad threads are bering woven into a story...

[feyd]

Ooh... a mysterious, ancient, powerful trunk.

While I can't use the trunk as the reason that Gray and Alex were diverted to Shelterville (at least not directly), it is a neat idea... with them, something happened just as they were leaving to destabilize the portal. That's why their friends aren't with them. Though maybe the power of the trunk acted as sort of a beacon for Gray's pendant, and that's why he and Alex were drawn to Shelterville instead of some other location.

Of course, the trunk (or at least some part of it, perhaps a part of the original design of it) could be an ancient Elven artifact, since Gray's people have great mystical powers that can have all sorts of strange effects... but that would probably end up making things even more confusing.

Along those same lines: Is anyone planning on having any part of the crossover have long-lasting effects on their continuity? I know that someone had mentioned a soul mate or something along those lines... anybody else? I ask because if done correctly, it can make a crossover seem that much more "real" and relevant... instead of just being a sidetracked storyline that doesn't really fit in with anything else in the strip.

[Tinkerbell]

Well, as the progenitor of the soul-mate idea I have to say I'm planning for this to be completely canon as far as Drunken Scribblings go. If we could somehow produce some really lasting links out of it (like the soul-mate thing), that would be fantastic.

And having the trunk be the cause of everything? Brilliant. I do need something to interfere with my characters' transfer (it doesn't have to be much - at the rate Mysterious Cloak Guy's going, the next thing to interfere with a transfer will probably be a stray pebble or seagull... he's a bit easily-distracted these days), and a suspiciously magic trunk would do just the trick... (comics collective called 'The Fellowship of the Trunk', anyone? ^_--)

How did KAM wind up in there anyway? I thought Nikki put him in there or something?

Tink

[Darian]

While I can't use the trunk as the reason that Gray and Alex were diverted to Shelterville (at least not directly), it is a neat idea... with them, something happened just as they were leaving to destabilize the portal.

Why not? ^^ You can say that the 'event' which destabilized the portal had the effect of nullifying its original destination, leaving it free to bounce around time and space until it locked onto shelterville because of the attractive force of the Trunk.

Too much star trek.

Can anyone briefly recap the complete history of this trunk for us?

[Hogan]

The first appearence of the Trunk was here where it acquired an unwilling passenger (only KAM knows the reason) as well as the sticker. Later it has been spotted in the middle of a battlefield and later suprised Steve and took him and the cat on a short strip where two boys found them. Steve escaped a strip later, but the cat remained.
The Trunk is later spotted as a lightning magnet but whether the trunk is still occupied at this point or not is left for the guessing

In another future in a galaxy far far away, the Trunk once again appears to become the escape pod for Major Morgan before he disappears into space, leaving a constellation as testimony to the powers of the Trunk.

That the Trunk not only are able to bridge time, space and the veil of dimensions, is stated here where its also spotted in the spiritrealm, keeping the spirit of Wheels company.

At least on point in along the twisted timeline of the trunk, it has been boarded up in the vaults of the Magiversity!

And now... it sounds like the Trunk has been hidden away by unknown forces in a burial chamber beneath the cementary of Shelterville anno 1883, for aeons!

[SunMK]

That was helpful, I wasn't 100% sure what all this trunk talk was about.

Do we have a location or a situation where the trunk is presently? It would be easier for readers to understand if characters to come across it in the present if it was in a central public location. If it's the cause of what sends people back in time, then it would make sense that it would also directly send people bak who where around the trunk.

If nothing has been set up, I suggest a flea market or garage sale. It's a venu where many people can see, open and fiddle with the trunk.

[Darian]

Isn't the trunk lurking in the ancient "Indian" burial cave?

How did it get there, though, that is the question. Or does it matter, as long as people get sent home okay?

[Hogan]

As I see it (then again, the "history" of the trunk is only some 12 hours old...), the trunk is an ancient (or perhaps future since time-travel is involved) artifact that eons ago was placed in the "burial chamber" by "indians". A malfunction causes the Shelterville incident to take place, at the end of which the Trunk reinstates itself (with the help of some of the visitors?) and goes on its merry way to appear and reappear in storylines everywhere.

From this point on everybody could have the trunk appear in their comic should they have a use for it, time and place doesn't matter, the Trunk could even appear two places at the same time! And who knows, perhaps there's a futher use for it to create more storylines along the way?

Just think about the Trunk as the Flying Dutchman, always on the move and chaos following in its wake!

The origins of the trunk should never be revealed (and if it should, I think KAM should do it), keep the Trunk as a Webcomic-curiosity that travels its roads, never to settle down.

... or thats just an idea

[feyd]

Why not? ^^ You can say that the 'event' which destabilized the portal had the effect of nullifying its original destination, leaving it free to bounce around time and space until it locked onto shelterville because of the attractive force of the Trunk.

The problem with the trunk being what drew them to Shelterville is that the magic of Gray's homeworld is very specific... {possible kinda' in a way spoilers about semi-distant future Division/bell plot points ahead, so as to explain interdimensional travel in Gray's world}

The magic that Gray's people use to cross the dimensional boundries is based upon the ancient artifact which created and maintains those boundries in the first place... the Division Bell. The Bell sits in a dimension of it's own, which has the unique property of being in the dead center of the multiverse where all dimensions reside. Because the Bell can influence all dimensions (to the point that if someone really wanted to and could find it, they could use it to simultaneously cause everything to cease to exist), Gray's people crafted their spells so that other forms of magic couldn't effect them; this way they don't have to worry about someone using their pendants to gain access to the dimension that houses the Bell.

Unfortunately, the event that destabilizes the portal that they're travelling through uses the magic of Gray's homeworld... and effectively sends the various travellers scattered in random directions through space, time, and dimensions. It is possible that the trunk was the final influence that brought Gray and Alex to Shelterville, but they would have had to be travelling more-or-less there anyway... that's why they are the only two to show up, instead of all 5 of the people who were using the portal.

In regards to the origin of the trunk, I didn't mean to suggest something as blatant as it being revealed as an Elven artifact... I was thinking more along the lines of a scene where Gray sees it, and something about it looks familiar to him; he wouldn't be able to place it, and it would basically be another hint that the trunk is more than just a trunk (and that it might have at some point in its past had contact with extra-dimensional elves.) Of course, that's just a thought... at the very least, though, I think I might have the trunk visible in the background somewhere inside the cave.

Still need to figure out what'll be going on in the cave, though, and why Gray's pendant is there...

[Hogan]

In regards to the origin of the trunk, I didn't mean to suggest something as blatant as it being revealed as an Elven artifact... I was thinking more along the lines of a scene where Gray sees it, and something about it looks familiar to him; he wouldn't be able to place it, and it would basically be another hint that the trunk is more than just a trunk (and that it might have at some point in its past had contact with extra-dimensional elves.) Of course, that's just a thought... at the very least, though, I think I might have the trunk visible in the background somewhere inside the cave.

Still need to figure out what'll be going on in the cave, though, and why Gray's pendant is there...

Hey! How do you know the trunk ISN'T Elvish?

Gray could believe it an Elven Artifact, and inded it might be... or not? I know enough of internet-mentality to know that hinting something is always better than stating, people could be wondering for years about what an Elvish looking trunk with an Egyptian symbol is doing in a cave beneath a town in the Wild West!
As soon as Gray has made the comment, the label "might be Elvish in origin" will be added to the Trunk's history, giving its tale another spin!

[feyd]

Alex: "What?"
Gray: "Oh, nothing. I just used to have a trunk like that when I was a kid..."

Obviously, it wouldn't be anything quite so blatant... as mentioned before, it would probably be something subtle. Or, maybe to make things even worse for the reader, it would be a comment about a symbol or something on the back of the trunk... without actually showing the back. So far as I know, the trunk has only been shown from a front view, has it not?

'Course, I still wouldn't want to do anything like that without the ok from KAM or those who created it.

(Also, just as a reference... in regards to Gray and his people, it's always referred to as "Elven", never "Elvish." Though Elvish was a great entertainer from their world... *laughs*)

[Darian]

It is possible that the trunk was the final influence that brought Gray and Alex to Shelterville, but they would have had to be travelling more-or-less there anyway... that's why they are the only two to show up, instead of all 5 of the people who were using the portal.

That makes a lot of sense. I really like how well-thought-out your storyline is.

Could the trunk's power or magic or whatever you want to call it, possibly be preventing anyone from leaving shelterville in any way whatsoever? ie, the aliens can't fly their spaceship away, Gray can't open his Elven magic portal, Kori can't drive out of town without ending up back in it, etc? We could explain that the trunk is deliberately keeping shelterville in a kind of bubble, to protect it, but when everything went wrong, it suddenly started sucking people inside who didn't belong... so from the perspective of the multiverse, it was acting not like a bubble, but as more of a 'funnel.'

The question is, can any of us solve the problem of being trapped by the trunk and escape, without popping the shelterville bubble and destroying the people and buildings inside.

[feyd]

I have an idea, brought on by your idea.

The reason that Gray can't open another portal is because the pendant he uses to open them is missing. More correctly, it's stolen... for what purpose (and by whom) I'm not quite sure yet. However, it does end up in the cave with the trunk by the end of the storyline.

So we have a potentially "leaking" trunk with all sorts of power (and potential Elven influence there, as well), and an Elven pendant that has a number of powers of its own. What if the leaking power of the trunk is activating the pendant, and creating the time bubble around Shelterville? Once the damage to the trunk is repaired and the pendant is reclaimed, then the bubble should disappear... and everyone should be able to go home. Theoretically, there won't even be any damage to Shelterville in the process. It's actually more possible that the closer it gets to Halloween (and the worse the leak and bubble become), that more damage will be done to Shelterville until the problem is fixed because the combined powers of the trunk and the pendant will be compressing or tearing time apart.

The question still remains as to why, however. I might have an idea about that, too... someone's trying to either bring back the "Indians", or is trying to access some great power that they had. I think that our heroes will be able to discover the cave while investigating the graveyard; one of the graves that was dug up wasn't really a grave at all, but was instead a secret passage into the cave. The brothers who found it were discovered paralyzed by fear, and our intrepid adventurers didn't take this as a warning to keep out.

If the folks who'll be taking part in the fun at the graveyard like this idea, then we can start working on the finer details of it soon. We'll still need a bad guy, what the bad guy was trying to do, and more information about the "Indians" so as to piece together the secrets of the cave.

It could also be cool if some of the other people involved in the crossover decided to focus their adventures in other parts of the town... really bring Shelterville and it's inhabitants to life, you know? If anyone's interested in having multiple main plots going on (i.e., the graveyard/time bubble story, a saloon story, other stories about other things in town, etc.), then this could wind up being a really in-depth story about Shelterville packed neatly into the course of a week or so before Halloween.

(One last thing... in regards to the "Meet and Greet" on Halloween... I envision that being the aftermath of all of the stories, when everyone realizes that they can go home, but decide that while they're still in town they'd have a little bit of fun and hang out with some of the people that they met. Gray and Alex won't be attending, since they have friends to rescue and then will need to get to Gray's world in time to save the day. Hopefully.)

[Darian]

I absolutely love it.

Clearly the locals would blame the entire event on demons and magic...

So the reason for the 'bubble' is because of the villain's deliberate villainy... but why? And if I understand you correctly, wouldn't the villain have to be at least part elven in order for him to steal Gray's amulet?

And our characters being swallowed up and brought to shelterville from all over the multiverse, would that just be the universe trying to correct itself, or just a random twist of fate, or do we not even establish that for sure? Maybe just have some character muse on this point momentarily...

And yes, I too think the meet and greet in the salloon should be a kind of denoument for the story... After the drama.

Oh! one last thing, could the "Something Happening" that happens in the strips published on Wednesday possibly be a ghostly explosion from the graveyard, seen from behind the church as a plume of whispy-white-green plasma energy reaching to the sky? That could be what paralyzes the bandits in fear and attracts Kori from town and the girls from the general store.

And what about if instead of "Paralyzed in fear" we make the bandits "scared straight," or what I like to call "Suddenly good guys," who were just out for treasure originally but in the end they help figure out who the real villain is and find the solution with the rest of our characters?

-Darian

[feyd]

Given the character concept of the brothers, I doubt they're the type who would be "Scared Straight"... though I would love to see (as someone mentioned in another thread) the brothers at the end saying, "That's it... we're moving to New York."

Actually, I can imagine the scene in which they find the cave... they're digging, and locate the hidden entrance. Thinking that they've found the treasure that they're looking for, they run in. A few moments later, they run out looking terrified; that might be when they deliver the "New York" line. This could be completely independant of any other parts of plot, perhaps at the end of someone's strip for the day so that it'll be a little bit of a cliffhanger before anyone goes into the cave.

As far as the villain being Elven (or part Elven), they wouldn't necessarily have to be... at least not to steal the amulet. They might have realized that it was some form of powerful magic, and thought that they'd be able to figure out how to use it; once it was near the trunk, however, the powers of the trunk would kind of take over. The real question still remains, though... who is the bad guy, and what were they trying to do? Maybe all of the "Indians" aren't dead, or maybe someone who's studdied their legends is trying to either bring them back or access their secrets.

Of course, it's possible that the "Indians" could have been Elven in origin... though Division/bell has kind of a simple and colorful art style, not everything in the D/b universe is nice and it's entirely possible that they were an outcast group that was bannished to Shelterville millenia ago. Eventually they died off, taking their secrets with them... until someone recognized Gray as one of them, and stole his amulet in hopes of accessing their power. (Or whatever.)

In regards to the bubble, I think that it would be an accidental side-effect of the goings-on... obviously someone didn't take into account what would happen when the trunk and amulet were together (assuming they even knew the trunk was there... it's apparently sneaky like that.) The ghosts and probably a number of other things could very well be a result of the bubble, and things will only be getting worse as the story moves along. By the 29th and the 30th, pretty much anything goes.

I don't really think that there would be much of a rhyme or reason to why people are being pulled to Shelterville, other than the fact that it's the center of all of the disturbances... though it probably will never be known for sure. It would be great to have someone getting all philosophical over that idea, though.

[Darian]

Fantastic idea.

What some people call "magical effects of the trunk," others call "side effects of the technology..." Some people would call it "mystical spell," others, "temporal disturbance." Some would say "ghosts," others, "temporal echoes." This is going to be the best crossover ever.

Who here wants to do the early strip featuring the scoleri brothers running from the graveyard? That would then leave the scoleri brothers free to run past everyone in town on their way out of shelterville (and free to return, at least briefly, for the party, since we've already established that no one can "leave" shelterville while the bubble is in place). Keep in mind that for the "New York" gag to work, you'd need to include a line identifying them as the Scoleri Brothers, such as "We'll find that treasure, or our name isn't The Scoleri Brothers!" or some such cheesy nonsense.

-Darian

[Tinkerbell]

Lolz... every time I see the word 'amulet' up there, I find myself wondering why Gray's mullet is so important.... stupid eyes.... ^_--

A note on the trunk: immediately after escaping Shelterville, Mike, Tink and Brian return to the present day (our year 2006, or CY177,117), to a freight yard on Mars, where they end up trapped in the trunk with KAM (said trunk having somehow become the size of a large freight transporter-container like the ones they put on trains). My excuse, though this isn't likely to be explained until a later story, possibly this time next year, is that the trunk is exerting influence both from Mars and from Shelterville, and pulled Mysterious Cloak Guy one way and the gang the other.

Anyway, this brings me to my next point; next year's cameo caper (yes, I know this might be a little premature/presumptuous, but I'm certainly keen to do this again and everyone does seem to be having fun). I was thinking it might be an excellent venue for a resolution to the trunk plot whereby whatever malevolence powers the trunk's kidnapping spree is finally thwarted. This is certainly something I'm keen to deal with in the Drunken Scribblings, as too many characters are likely to bear a gruge against the cussed thing to let it go on its way indefinitely. Also, from about May of next year, the whole Drunken Scribblings plot will be focused on collecting a group of artifacts with similar powers to the trunk, so I see something of a recurring joke happening where they keep encountering the trunk instead of the artifacts they're after. So, cameo caper 2007: The End of the Trunk, anyone?

Also, I will be putting in some sort of Scoleri-brothers-oh-like-in-that-movie gag in my comic, but I don't know if that might not be too late in the week (wouldn't appear 'til Tuesday 31st) for the story to work.

</demented, overambitious raving>

Tink

[feyd]

Having the Ghostbusters joke that late in the week would be fine... you could just have them overhear someone talking about them at the party. I'm glad that it wouldn't be during the main scene that references it (the comment about going to New York), actually; I tend to like to have jokes like that in Division/bell without a real explaination, so that some people might get it and realize something else about the strip while others just think that it's random dialogue.

Also, there's a decent chance that at least some of your characters will appear in the background of the D/b Shelterville strips... mostly earlier in the week, since from Friday on things will be progressing to the graveyard and hopefully won't be taking the entire populace of Shelterville along for the ride. *laughs*

[KAM]

Well, as the one who appearently (?) placed KAM in that trunk

I hadn't really thought of how I got there, but hiding from an axe-weilding loon sounds good.

How did KAM wind up in there anyway? I thought Nikki put him in there or something?

Nikki doesn't know where I got to.

Sticky was the one who shipped it to Abu Dabi (or tried to).

Of course the real reason is that the KAMtoons were mostly a crutch I was overusing & using oneself as a character is incredibly limiting. It also seemed like a good idea for cameos.

So far as I know, the trunk has only been shown from a front view, has it not?

I think Magical Misfits showed one end & the top, but the back hasn't yet been seen. So if you want to add an Elven symbol there, go ahead.

I've also toyed with the idea that there might be many trunks traveling the multiverse, which could explain some inconsistencies between comics.

Then again maybe there's some restorative spell/super-technology that mostly repairs any damage, but occasionally something wierd happens, like the trunk becoming giant-size or something.

[KAM]

The reason that Gray can't open another portal is because the pendant he uses to open them is missing. More correctly, it's stolen... for what purpose (and by whom) I'm not quite sure yet.

Well, if you can't think of anything else we could always use Loki. He is involved in the fates of the ex-valkyries. And as a trickster god dangerous pranks are par for the course. (Especially since they didn't have TV in 1883.)