 IMAGE: Cruel Puppet full-body |
Few creatures are more despised than the cruel puppet, one which uses its power not for good, evil or profit, but simply to hurt people's feelings. Staunch monarchs have been reduced to tears by these merciless shapeshifters; for it attacks by twisting itself into unflattering caricatures of its opponents, accompanied by jeers, rude noises and shocking accusations--which include the recital of nightly personal habits in excruciating detail, accusing its adversary's mother of shocking improprieties, reminding of weight gain, etc. They have also been known to practice existential put downs. "You're so ugly you're probably the creation of an unseen master who is controlling and shaping the world around you. Nothing is real and nothing you do will have any lasting effect on those around you. Welcome to the dark night of your soul" is but one example. More often, however, they just insult your knees. Insulting the cruel puppet in return is futile, for it feeds off of them. Straining to ignore these verbal attacks is the only known defense.
Residents of Gurth City were warned during the mid-tenth century to keep away from the Forest of Youth, as it was known home to cruel puppets.
During the Great Monster Uprising of the Second Age of Magic, cruel puppets were reported in the following regions: The abandoned Casino of Port Foozle, The Southern Wastes, The Coast Road near Borphee, Pheebor, Forest of Youth, Gurth Woodland Trail, the Lost Castle of Y'Syska, Crab Island, Egreth Castle, The Glass Maze, Bozbarland, Largoneth Castle, and the G.U.E. Tech Training Grounds in the Ethereal Plane of Atrii. Many perched in trees and other high and covert corners, raining handfuls of exploding chestnuts down upon luckless adventurers.
| SOURCE(S): Beyond Zork, Legends of Zork (game, zorkpedia) |