The Exquisite Corpse #8: Knock Twice for the Baton

Exquisite Corpse Reloaded

Seven editions in, the tradition keeps growing. Last round gave us two stories born from a borrowed paragraph by Mary Shelley, one of them ending with a kitchen full of appliances in midlife crisis and the other with a rescue operation that someone tipped off. To everyone who wrote blind and passed the baton on: thank you. And special thanks to @beckymia and @leorichies, who took the baton twice in Edition #7. This game exists because you keep playing it.

The opening of Edition #8 is a surprise.
It might be a text of my own, or a fragment from the work of a well-known author. You'll find out when you receive your baton.

A change in how you request your baton

An experienced player pointed out that the old way of asking for the three words was not clear enough. Fair point. So from this edition on, the baton has two doors, and you use both:

1. Comment on this post asking for your baton ("baton please" is enough).
2. Send me a private message through any of the contacts listed at the bottom of this post.

The comment leaves a public record that you are in the game. The private message makes sure your request reaches me whatever platform you prefer. Your three words will reach you privately.

How it works

Think of it as a relay race: to start your turn, you need to receive the baton. Nobody can begin a new fragment until someone hands them the last three words of the story. Where the baton goes, and what becomes of it, is up to chance. 🎲

🏃 Request your baton every time you want a turn: comment on this post and send a private message to the organizer. You will receive, privately, only the last three words of the text you need to continue.
✍️ Write your paragraph blind. No context, no safety net, just three words and your imagination.
📤 Send it back to the organizer once it is ready.
🔁 Want to run again? Perfectly fine, but you'll need a new baton before your next turn, requested the same way.
🧩 The organizer will stitch the pieces together as they come in, in the order received. The full story won't be visible to anyone, including you, until it's assembled and published.

If the story splits into two, or into something nobody saw coming, that's not a bug. That's the 1925 experience working as intended.

The rules

🗓️ Starts: every Sunday
🏁 Closes: every Saturday, 23:45 GMT
🌐 Language: English (translate with whatever tool you trust if you don't write in it)
📏 Length: no minimum, no maximum
👥 Number of participants: unlimited
🧠 Your only job is to write something that could plausibly follow three words. Coherence with the rest of the story is not your problem. It's ours.
🤖 Bots, multi-accounts, and AI-generated entries: still not welcome, still subject to being flagged and muted unless legitimacy is demonstrated.

Rewards

50% of the liquid Steem rewards earned by the weekly post goes to the participating authors.
25% goes to the community and special beneficiaries.
25% goes to the organizer.

The 500 SP delegation from our dear @weisser-rabe for participants who meet the criteria remains in place. Once a month per person. Resources are as limited as life itself.

Proof of participation

📝 Your baton request comment on this post is also your proof of participation: that is how our bot confirms who played and where to send the payout. Please don't reveal your contribution to the story in it. If you already have your baton and forgot to comment, leave any comment now: a single word, an emoji, "here," anything you like. No comment, no reward, even if you sent your paragraph to the organizer. (That's a joke, there are always options for sending prizes; after all, this is Blockchain. But we'd appreciate the comment, suggestion, idea, or complaint so our bot can do its job!)

One more thing

The pilot is still evolving, and it keeps getting better because people play it, break it, and tell us what to fix. So keep breaking it, and keep telling us when something is unclear.

Thanks to our participants from the previous edition:
@dannyben39 @weisser-rabe @casv @beckymia @ty-ty @leorichies @marblely

Contact

Discord: ary4stark
Telegram: LadyAry4St4rk
Welako: https://welako.app/messages 🔗
E-Mail: arya.stark.tzm@gmail.com

#contest #story #dreamsteem #steemexclusive

---

Translation: Claude AI
Images: Meta Al

---