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The outline, when I first started writing it, was only about five or so pages. Now, it's over fifty. Just for the outline. I haven't even added the juicy, GM only, tidbit parts.
The riddle poem, however, is the heart and masterpiece of the adventure. When I first wrote the poem, it wasn't nearly so long, maybe half the current size. Then I re-read it one day and discovered something that forced me into a rewrite. I had used the exact same line in the exact same stanza twice.
So I started re-writing.
And re-writing.
AND re-writing.
THEN I had a brilliant idea.
I wanted structure. Sure, fine. What kind?
Let's make every third and fifth line rhyme.
Sure, no problem.
THEN I didn't want to reuse the same adjective/adverb/noun twice (if possible).
No problem. That's what thesauri are for, right?
Then I did something REALLY strange. I decided every single line had to be eight syllables.
On top of that, I decided there wasn't enough information included in the poem for the players to fulfill the requirements of the adventure, so I doubled the size of the poem.
Are you freakin' crazy, lady?
Yeah. Monumental task.
So, here it is. All 130 lines of 8 syllables each.
Remind me to never, ever, do something like this again.
Oh, yeah, I still have to finish the rest of the adventure. You know, the whole "go here, do this, and finish this task, and experience this craziness, and then go to the next plothook" thing. So, yeah, I've got a lot to do.
The Rose Red
Her soul weeps in amber slumber,
Where the Rose Red looms obsolete
Within quiescent gloaming halls.
Trapped in Eternity’s barrow,
She repines for the Golden Dawn.
Shadows reside in penumbrae
Where the Mother lingers breathless.
Parts of one in splintered pieces,
Primordial symbols scattered
To demesne beyond her reach.
White Raven mourns with somber song,
While the watchful Blood-Eye glares,
A requiem to Macabre’s dance.
In reddened rite doors open wide;
Stigmas vitiate once chaste hands.
Waters churn around pale mire
As masks revel in effigy.
Where will ‘o wisps flutter sublime
With the Phantom in wicked sway,
A virtuous soul’s heart enshrined.
Descending into depths unknown
Where heroes haunt the forsaken,
And lamenting apparitions
Grasping for merciful release
Challenge unleashed carnal passions.
Blessed in Nanahuatl’s grasp,
A sharp verge of the Morning Star.
Where Sun and Moon hold fast embrace
And lullabies of the fallen
Consolidate upon twinned face.
Spires lament wretched worship
As dreams besiege the moribund.
The testament of Chasca dwells,
Where monolithic stone enshrouds
Plumed shades flitting in umbral realms.
Snarled skein of the tale unravels
Soaring over the standing stones.
Glass obscured by inferno’s doom
Purified in sanguine lament
In Viracocha’s murky tomb.
Once haughty walls buried in time
Crumble on labyrinthine halls.
A Rainbow bound in chains of gold
Demands doom from one requisite.
Who will heed siren’s mournful squall?
Writ of secrets, a timeless rhyme,
Through veiled portal in hoary halls.
Once lost is now where serpent found.
Let wordless poem break bonds of old
And tame the dire sentry hound.
The earth reclaims a lofty alp
As whispers bar the only door.
Ishtar’s tears trace feathered portent
For path revealed by Heaven’s own.
The Tell endures in mute torment.
Entombed in luminescent light
Cascading Vitae heals wounds deep.
The Goddess caught in twining lace,
Who beckons Dawn from Evening’s grasp,
Holds vessels of eternal grace.
Vigilant, recumbent, eyes torn,
She whispers concealed enigmas.
Once prospering where Eden thrived,
Divine amidst pious guile,
Swallowed now by torrential tides.
Chaos Child in lethargic state,
Her deific essence transformed.
Follow Ra’s sacred harbinger
Where the Light-Bringer rests ensconced
Beneath the sleeping sepulchre.
The Rose Red endures with carved stone,
This Earth-bound city of hallowed myth.
Revere before the mourning door;
Perils yet augured are embraced.
The Tree enslaves the Mother’s form.
Begin the rite at Twilight’s dawn
When incandescent star descried
In Beauty’s luminescent glow
As Iah drifts past open door
Haste to entice the manna flow
From vessels perched at pointed arm
Crimson rivulets in channels fill
Quicken the form upon the floor
Let no route remain destitute
Now sacrosanct from Vesper’s gore
To see again in lustrous light
Suspended in gamboge prison
Invoke the rite in lyric verse
As Ra surrenders to Venus,
To end her malevolent curse.
Plumed Serpent blade is placed within
To burn in inferno’s vengeance
Obsidian flame scintillates
Over ivory bladed key
Until the song reverberates
Before Venus ascends her throne
Unweave web of incanted verse
To resuscitate entrapped core
Untangle the skein of record
Descry the links of long lost lore.
Let lifeblood merge with seeded hand
Virtue defiled is then regained
Leave not destitute or forlorn
Bind Hand, Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul
Intone the song of shatter stone.
When ash ignites from Bennu’s flame
Foul smoke envelopes blackened walls
Whisper haze revives chiseled stone
The Shamed defend against release
And wordless poem continues on.
The spell begun is yet undone
While nightfall eclipses the sun.
In winged flight the behemoth fights
Sentinels emerging from brume
Rending stone in quickening light.
Ashen fire mixed with water
Burns in volatile refulgence
Silvered tendrils of spectral mist
Intertwine the cantor’s figure
In surging luminous tempest.
Secure within the warding wall
Incant the rote faithfully
Strike true lithic shard to heart chaste
For topaz stone to fragmentize
And kneel before deific grace.
When full cycle revives the world
And Ra ascends from Tuat’s void
To return in effulgence bright
In the Rose Red’s devolution
Her soul at last in final flight.
Wielder of the original BONK! ™ 
MultiQuote
Posted 24 July 2007 - 10:38 AM
