[three_fourth]
Gwen and Balreth were working on the Black Pearl.
Gwen: I hope I can be like you guys some day.
Balreth just raises an eyebrow.
Gwen: All I wanted to do was just kill Charr all day. It’s all I talked about, it’s all I wanted.
Balreth nods: Oh Yeah.
Gwen: …but you guys stuck with me through all of that.
Balreth: Yeah, well-
Gwen: especially Crysania, she went back with me to get my flute, and rose focus. She can be very thoughtful.
Balreth nods again.
As if on cue, Crysania poked her head down from the upper deck: Has anyone been back to check in on Dandd?
Balreth and Gwen exchange looks: No.
Crysania sighs and disappears.
Stabbith was working on the same deck, put her tools down and bamf’ed out quickly.
Gwen: How does she do that?
Balreth resumes his work: Ebon Escape.
Gwen, now understanding, resumes her work too. — Crysania practically flew past the makeshift kitchen, headed for the exit.
Razy was trying to catch up to the best of her ability.
Rain thought to himself that Crysania never runs. She jogs, she walks, she occasionally looks cute, but something’s wrong.
Rain put down his brush, and left it next to the assorted bottles of unwanted dye and ran after Crysania and Razy. — Trixie: It’s so nice having another woman around here.
Angel: I think there are more women here than men.
Trixie: Hardly.
Angel: What about Nyx?
Trixie: She’s not really around much, and quiet even when she is.
Angel: Ok, what about Lalandra?
Trixie: A man with tits.
Angel laughs: Jora too?
Trixie: Even worse.
Angel: What about Crysania?
Trixie: Genderless. Speaking of her, did you see a blur of blue go by?
Angel: No, I’ve been keeping an eye on this Game that Nyx brought in.
Trixie: It’s starting to look good!
Angel: I know, right? — Gwen: Can you transform?
Balreth: What?
Gwen, flatly: Transform.
Balreth: I don’t think so.
Gwen: You probably can.
Balreth: What makes you think that?
Gwen: Well we’ve seen Crysania Prime transform.
Balreth almost hit his off hand with the hammer in laughter.
Gwen: You were there, right?
Balreth nods: Yeah, I lost money that day.
Gwen: Oh. …so anyway, you’re an officer. Surely there’s a “Crosshairs” in there?
Balreth can’t possibly work through all the laughter.
Gwen: I bet Lalandra would be “Sideswipe”
Balreth just puts his hammer down, unable to see straight: Nah, try again.
Gwen: How about Sixshot for Nyx?
Balreth: But she’s a necro
Gwen: Yeah, Keep telling yourself that
Balreth chuckles
Gwen: What do you think Angel would be?
Balreth: Bombshell.
Gwen tries to look cute: That one’s already taken.
Balreth: but you’re not an officer…
Gwen sighs: way to pop my bubble, Grimlock.
The mood instantly died.
Balreth stops: No.
Gwen backs off: What?
Balreth shakes his head: Grimlock left us years ago.
Gwen looks down: Oh. How about Inferno?
Balreth resumes his work: Angel? Yeah, Inferno works…
Gwen, also resuming her work: Lalandra can be “Bumblebee…”
— Lalandra, a little out of breath: Budger!!!
A dwarf stops.
Lalandra: Budger!!!
The dwarf turns to see Lalandra come running at him, waving her arms frantically.
Lalandra: Budger Blackpowder, we need your help!
Budger looks at her funny: Hail, human!
Lalandra: We need your help.
Budger: Who’s we?
Lalandra: The Call of the-
Budger: You look familiar.
Lalandra: We took out the Heart of the Shiverpeaks together, Crysania, you and-
Budger: Crysania!!! So you’re her henchmen, eh?
Lalandra grumbles: I’m gonna kill her…
Budger: Why didn’t you say so in the first place, let’s go blow stuff up.
Lalandra follows, grumbling loudly. — Clan Anchorwind were moving towards the MASH Camp at full speed.
As they got closer, they could hear what Crysania feared – battle.
Jora had left camp to help Nyx hunt. That left Spike, Dandd, and Henchmen. Not Good.
They were coming around the side of the camp walls, when they saw an immense group of Kurzicks.
Crysania, thought more than spoke: Razy, do your thing.
Stabbith grinned from underneath her mask, and pulled out Alari’s Double-Blades, although no one is sure from here. She shadow-stepped past the front-row and plunged her daggers in the Chest of an enemy monk, drawing the attention of virtually everyone else nearby.
That gave Spike some time to prep more arrows and drink a couple mugs of something.
Dandd, behind Spike panting, yelled: TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!
Crysania began calling her spirit friends to help, and Rain charged into battle, glowing hands and all. —
Angel came down with refreshments to a very grateful Gwen and Balreth.
Balreth: OH THANK YOU!
Gwen agreed with equal enthusiasm.
Angel: It’s so quiet now.
Balreth, who’s been in the bottom of the Black Pearl for some time now, had no idea.
Gwen: Is it, Inferno?
Angel: Inferno?
Balreth jumps in: Nevermind. What do you mean it’s quiet?
Angel takes a deep breath: Well Lala’s getting that dwarf to blow out some rocks, Nyx is hunting with Georgia, Trixie’s with me making dinner, Margrid’s elsewhere in the city working with some wood that Jora brings down from the surface. Most of the other instructors are out looking for good settlement spots, and all of Crysania’s krewe ran out of here like someone was in danger.
Gwen looked at Balreth: Who could be in danger?
Balreth went pale: DANDD!
Balreth threw down his hammer, and practically dragged Angel off the boat.
Gwen just stood there, alone, nervously clutching her hammer. —
The spirits were attacking, arrows were flying, and the sounds of battle were intense. Rain had fought his way to where Stabbith was being kept busy.
Rain: We sure could use Cerulean right now.
Stabbith: Why? What does Cerulean do?
Rain: I don’t know, but ANYONE would be nice.
Stabbith: Agreed!
Spike, yelling from the back: Could we hurry this up? I’m running out of arrows!
Stabbith: So use Daggers!
Spike shrugged, and murmured to himself: Ok…
Spike picked up a set from a nearby corpse, and ran into battle. —
Balreth: I sure hope they’re ok
Angel: I’m sure they’re fine…
Then they could smell something burning… —
Budger: So why didn’t we just map travel?
Lalandra: Because we don’t have a guild hall anymore, we’re trying to go build another one in a better place.
Budger: Oh. I’ve never been a big fan of boats.
Lalandra: Yeah… —
Spike: We’re making gains, but Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave over there, need to be killed quick.
Rain: What’s up with the names?
Spike: Now’s not the time, I’ll try to keep Scrapper, Brawn, and Ironhide busy.
Crysania runs past them: I’ve got Megatron and Devastator.
Stabbith: That leaves me with Hook and Bonecrusher.
Rain just stands there, baffled.
A sword comes right at Rain, and Spike steps in front to block it.
Spike: Don’t just stand there Dumb@$$, MOVE!
Rain collects himself: Yeah, yeah… —
Trixie: All we can do now is make sure they have a good meal when they come home.
Gwen: a MEAL?!
Gwen growls viciously.
Gwen: We don’t have a REZ SHRINE anymore!
Trixie: Oh…
Gwen: Yeah, “Oh” —
Balreth and Angel follow the stench, and the sounds of battle, to find the walls of the MASH Camp ablaze from Lava Arrows.
Angel: call me Inferno, eh? I’ll show you Inferno!!!
Angel runs into the Camp, Balreth quickly Following.
Angel runs past Dandd, and detonates.
Dandd: WOW!!! I’m glad I still have eyebrows.
Balreth: You’re welcome. Where’s everyone else?
Dandd points to the other gate.
Balreth sighs: We’ll play clean-up. —
“Megatron” as it was, was a potent monk boss. Megatron and his krewe were all Unyielding Aura monks, and as such were well suited for battles of Attrition. With him, was “Devastator” a ranger boss accompanied by hydromancers. While they were being pushed back, the Quin were in no way winning in any permanent way.
Razy and Crysania nodded at each other, a practiced plan about to be executed.
Stabbith jumped in to the middle of the group and put her arms over her eyes. The Kurzicks blinked confusedly for but a moment until the Ray of Judgment came down around Razy. The light faded, the monks were furiously casting and Devastator was just plain furious.
Rain and Angel had nearly made it there when they were both hit with Deep Freeze. Rain and Angel strained against the hex to join the fight, when Devastator began releasing Splinter Barrages. Rain died nearly instantly, but Angel barely survived thanks to several Monk Henchman. Unfortunately for the Kurzicks, no one but Angel knew she was still alive.
“THAT’S IT!!!” A thunderous roar came from behind Crysania.
Crysania turned to see Balreth had his own version of super-saiyan: Feet of Air, Chest of Earth, Eyes of Water and Hands of Fire. Even the eyes in his Dragon Gauntlets were glowing.
Crysania just calmly stepped aside.
Balreth roared, but Crysania still thought it needed work. —
Rain found himself teleported to where Quinhalla used to be, but way up in the sky. It would be a neat vantage point, if it wasn’t for nightfall. He didn’t know how high he was, and barely had time to brace before impact. He survived the fall, but lie unconscious. Michelangelo came out to see what the metallic thing was that Rain fell on. It was a box of some sort, it was labeled “SPQH.” Mikey had never seen it before, but knew what it was.
Mikey yelled: LEOOOOOOOO!!! I FOUNDDDDDD ITTTTTT!!! —
Crysania had received quite the loud message from Mikey, and Balreth in his transformed state could hear Crysania mentally yelling “Dood, if you got something big, do it!”
Crysania jumped infront of Balreth and threw up a spirit sacrifice wall.
The spirits quickly were defeated, but Balreth was ready.
Balreth: Crosshairs, huh? Try this!
Balreth threw his red arrow, and it impacted one of the Kurzick monks. Upon impact, it exploded, igniting everyone in the area.
Crysania thought to herself: Trogdor’s Sniper, huh? I like it.
The Kurzicks, with their death penalty rising, retreated but not killed.
“Not Good, Mav” said a collapsing nuker.
Crysania, Spike, and Raz-One stood over the bodies of two unconscious nukers and wondered where Rain went to. —
Rain regained consciousness only to have Mikey put flipper over his mouth.
The blast that destroyed Crysania’s tower also changed the landscape near the lake by destroying much of the rock that kept that side of Quinhalla dry, making the lake larger. Rain now lie in a muddy ditch, where the Guild Rez Shrine used to be.
“Megatron” : Damn those Quin. There’s more to them than meets the eye.
“Devastator” : I say we regroup near the fleet. We take them out first, then search for the Orrian Relics.
“Megatron” : They must have a camp to the north, I can’t see ALL of them being gone for a patrol.
“Devastator” : It matters not, they will perish.
Rain could hear the Kurzicks leave, south. He waits a few minutes, then investigates the crate. —
Spike’s scream shattered the silence that followed after the retreat.
Everyone ran as quickly as they could, only to find Spike crying near his bed.
Stabbith scoffed and walked away.
Crysania sighed and followed.
Dandd laughed while Balreth shook his head.
Spike: My Still…
Dandd turned to Balreth: Do you mind helping me move the Wiki Archives to the temple?
Balreth shakes his head and grabs a box. Angel volunteers to help too. —
Crysania, Razy, and a couple henchman find Rain in the ruins. Rain, had just managed to undig the box, but not open it.
Crysania helps Rain out of the ditch, while Leo and Mikey lean way forward only to use their cannons to propel them into a backflip. Razy and the Henchmen grab the crate.
Crysania: Alright, lets head back. I hear Angel was cooking again.
Stabbith drew her blades: You heard her, henchmen, RUN!
The panicked henchmen begin running for all their worth, with Razy right behind them threatening to stab whoever slows down.
Rain: I bet Raph loves her.
Crysania grins: I hope so.
They set off, following Razy and the crate. —
Lalandra: Would you look at this?!
Budger Blackpowder was already examining the rock wall that stopped the Black Pearl from sailing out of the temple.
Lalandra: Lazy Rain didn’t even finish painting the width line of the water.
Budger: That’s ok, I can kind of see how wide this is. This will be fun!
Lalandra: Just wait until I get my hands on-
“HEY SIDESWIPE” came a voice from the other side of the Temple.
Lalandra, curious, turned.
“COME QUICKLY!!!” yelled the same voice.
Lalandra hurried over, to see what the noise was about.
The Quin, exhausted, were coming down the ladder. Balreth, Angel, and the Crate came down the second ladder while Crysania, Rain, and Razy took turns leaping from the cliff into a pile of hay. Budger came up to see what’s all the commotion.
Lalandra: What the hell is that?
Crysania, picking hay off: Not quite sure, but Mikey sure got excited about it.
Lalandra moves to open the crate, but can’t find a place to grip.
Budger: Well I’ll be an Asuran’s Uncle
Dandd leans over to Balreth: Probably is
Budger offers a quick glare to Dandd.
Budger: This is an old Dwarven Treasure Box. Whoever got this paid a pretty platinum for it.
Lalandra: Well @#$%’n A boss.
Balreth, quickly: Q
Budger: Exactly!
There were then many confused looks in the room.
Budger reaches around in his tool sack and produces a square punch of sorts.
Budger: In dwarven, this is called a @#$%.
Rain couldn’t help but snort.
Budger: and to open the box, you’ve got to @#$% the Q, on the “Tickler”
Rain excused himself.
Lalandra: The Tickler?
Budger Nodded: here, inside the “O”
Budger hits the tickler with the @#$% and easily slides the top off.
Budger: Now If you’ll excuse me, I have business in the other room.
Everyone looked in the box simultaneously, and looked at five strange objects.
Nyx, who had come back from a hunt, joined the group.
Razy grabbed the largest object in the box, a large sword, and wasn’t impressed. She handed it to Crysania.
Crysania: Not My thing.
Crysania passed it to Lalandra, who passed to Angel, who passed it to Nyx, who passed it to Balreth. When Balreth grasped it, the entire sword seemed to clean itself. In a matter of moments it looked good as new.
Balreth swung this beast around, which prompted everyone to leap backwards.
Crysania remarked that it was as big as her.
Balreth turned the sword sideways in his hand, and the bottom changed. Metal used to lie flat along the blade, but it folded down into two different pieces. Instinctively, Balreth gripped it like a rifle and it was only then that people could see a faint sniper arrow lying along top of the flat of the blade. Balreth turned to somewhere neutral and ‘fired.’
Balreth: I can throw sniper further with this.
Crysania: Is it Green? Gold?
Balreth laughed: Green. It’s called “The Buster Sword.” Very magic friendly attributes too.
The group cheered. Razy picked up what looks to be a quiver. She handed it to Nyx.
As soon as Nyx touched it, green fog started pouring out of it.
Nyx laughed.
Lalandra: Well?
Nyx, still laughing: Necrosis Arrows!
Razy drew a dagger, and made a henchman bleed.
Nyx drew an arrow and fired. Sure enough, it did the bonus Necrosis damage too.
Nyx: NICE!!!
The henchman didn’t think so… Razy picked up the third weapon, what looks like a Western Broadsword. She handed it to Lalandra.
It didn’t do anything, so she handed it to Angel. The sword, like Balreth’s, cleaned itself almost instantly. She examined it, swung it back and forth a bit, but nothing special.
Angel: Well, at least it’s light…
Angel snapped her wrist quickly, to test balance, when the sword tip hit the dirt.
The group was looking at her whip-sword in astonishment.
The injured henchman saw that and tried to run, but Angel snapped the whip blade around his ankle and pulled, removing his balance as well as some flesh. The poor henchman was rolling around screaming.
Balreth: I think you tore his tendon, dear.
Angel, smiling, shrugged. She snapped her wrist again and the whip became a sword again.
Crysania: What’s that one called?
Angel: The Valentine
Crysania nodded in understanding. Razy then picked up the fourth object, but it was too rusty to tell what they were. She handed them to Crysania. Nothing. She handed them to Lalandra, where the Brass Knuckles revealed themselves. Lalandra grasped them but was confused. As she punched a bit and moved about she began to understand.
Lalandra: If I stand in a left-stance, I get a different skill bar than if I stand in a right-stance.
Crysania laughed.
Balreth: Rapid fire secondary switching. On the fly no less!
There was an extraordinarily loud series of “BOOMs” coming from the Temple. Margrid ran off to investigate.
Razy picked up the fifth and final object, a little orb.
Razy handed it to Crysania, the only one now without A Transformer.
When the Orb rested in Crysania’s hand, it began to glow the same color as her Chaos Gloves. Crysania then seemed to absorb the Orb into her gloves.
Crysania: I don’t feel any different.
Crysania closed her hand, as if pretending a weapon would be there, and a spear formed in her hand, still looking like her Chaos Gloves. It startled everyone, including Crysania.
Crysania waved it around, and she didn’t get immediate effects either. So she had thrust the ground, and a spirit was spawned at the place of impact.
At this point, the Henchman dummy was giving Crysania the most pathetic look he could, but it didn’t matter – he was hit in the abdomen anyway. The Quin watched in amazement as a spirit was spawned where the point of impact was again, inside the body of the henchman.
Balreth cringed: That spirit will be hard to kill…
The group watched as the henchman took spirit attack after spirit attack from within, seemingly unable to stop it.
Crysania: Hey Balreth!
Balreth: Eh?
Crysania: I have a Spearit Spike, get it?
Everyone groans.
Margrid comes rushing out: Someone stop me from KILLING that Dwarf!
So everyone relocates to the now lighter Temple, where a large hole has now been blasted from the wall. Subsequent blasts turned most of the debris to rubble and can be knocked aside or swept away.
Crysania: So what’s the problem?
Margrid points to what used to be the front of the ship.
Budger: oops?
Some are angry, some want to cry. While the way is now clear, the Black Pearl is still not in a condition to set sail.
Rain: Well, since we’re all down anyway, now is a good time to mention the Kurzicks have a fleet on the south coast and are looking for us. Just this once I’m happy for nightfall, it will slow them down finding us.
Crysania summons her Spear and smiles.
Gwen leans over to Balreth: Told you, you could Transform.
Balreth grabs his Buster Sword and Roars!
Crysania: Yep, Needs Work!
The Quin enjoy a brief moment of laughter before more work will begin, but for now-
Angel and Trixie: Who’s Hungry?!
Razy yells: First come first served! /bamf
Dandd: She’s not old enough to ‘bamf’
Another round of laughter, this time on the way to get a much earned meal.
Spike: …but my still…]
[/three_fourth]
[one_fourth_last]
Episode 39
6 Jan 2011
Notes: Full reference list to come.
References: Guild History, Transformers [Gen. 1]
[/one_fourth_last]