Monthly Archives: August 2015

Sons of Sword: Tales of Glory – Lost and Found #26

New Pine Bluff: Mountain Labs

A young couple has been talking in the filing office for quite the long while.  The tall young man speaks about the important projects he has been guarding.  The lady hangs on every word committing everything to memory.  She giggles and asks questions about the dangers if the secret project was used incorrectly.  Seeing that the ladies supervisor has caught them again, the young man writes something on a sheet of paper and gives it to the lady.  She smiles and puts it away.

The new secretary has worked in the office for almost a month now.  She’s been a very driven young lady.  She’s filed exceptionally fast; all of her typed work was on time or early.  Her only flaw is that she has gained the attention of about four of the young men that attended orientation with her.  Seeing this as a problem Erna Qiu, her supervisor, decides to have a word with her.

The larger, much older, pale blue woman stood at her office entrance staring down the young man as he walked away.  When he was finally gone she called to the secretary, “Jailene.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“I need to speak with you.”

Jailene had a good idea what this was about.  She had been seen talking with the young men fairly often.  Often enough, the conversations were short but this guy had a bit more to say.

Jailene entered the office as politely as she knew how.

Erna however wanted this meeting to be the last they had on this topic.  “Close the door,” she ordered.  Once Jailene obeyed, Erna could say what was on her mind, “Jailene, you’ve done good work here.  However, I’ve noticed that you have been speaking with the young men a bit more than you have been working lately.  I understand your willingness to talk.  We all enjoy attention, but if you could speak with them on your breaks it would not interrupt the work you need to finish.”

“I finish everything on time.”

“Yes but think of what more you could do if you focused solely on the tasks.  When you are not on your breaks you are on our time.  The guards protect vital items here.  They need to focus on their tasks.  You work on your tasks.  Understand?”

Jailene stood staring at her supervisor with an expression of guilt but truly, she didn’t care.  It was all she could do not to leap over the woman’s desk and rip her head off.

This facade was getting to her.  She had to play the “employee of the month” but wasn’t sure how much longer she could take it.  She didn’t care for being any kind of secretary.  However, if her gang was going to make any kind of score here, she desperately needed to keep this job, for now.

The gang infiltrated the research lab without incident.  Orientation was easy.  Their jobs were easy.  There was no shortage of valuable projects in this place.

The problem was communication.  There were five of them at the research lab but they were all in different divisions.  They needed to coordinate their efforts to make a good score.  Handheld use could be easily tracked by their bosses.  So, the only way they could communicate safely was by going through Jailene.  With this new pressure, the amount she could talk to the gang was limited.  It would take that much longer to coordinate anything that was worth their time.

Looking at Erna, Jailene managed to mutter out, “Yes ma’am,” as she bowed.

Jailene walked back to her desk and sat.  Looking at the note Guy had wrote she memorized the combination to the door he was guarding.  When she was certain she knew it, she shredded the paper and went back to filing.

#1 – Lost and Found #25 – Lost and Found #27

Champions of Battle: AD7 – Awakening #30

Stealth Phrygian slowly weaved its way down the canopy.  In an effort to keep the city hidden, the inhabitants of Sanity kept the larger trees alive.  They built the city around and through the trees to ensure the jungle canopy above the city would be no different than any other patch of trees.  As a result they had to create their own light sources.  At least they would not be found by a wandering pilot.

The large arrowhead of a ship had to dip, twist, and spin to traverse the thick branches safely.  From time to time, the pilots spotted a defensive turret in the trees.  The team was expected so they had nothing to worry about.

Only the pilots fully experienced the decent through the maze of branches and vines.  Strapped to their chairs for protection, April and Jai felt the full force of natural gravity and used the ship’s mechanical limbs to push the smaller limbs apart.  They had to be careful not to damage the canopy too much as they descended.

Passengers didn’t feel any of the complicated maneuvering thanks to the regional artificial gravity throughout the ship.  They walked, ate, and carried on unhindered as the ship tipped and maneuvered.  Things were no different for them even when the ship was flipped upside-down.

The gravity technology was based on Mech Fortress research.  Keyanna was proud to tell AD7 about the huge leaps in technology that came after researching the Mech Fortress devices.  Several of the gadgets were unheard of in AD7’s time.  Naturally, AD7 wanted to know more and asked questions repeatedly.

AD7 and Keyanna traversed the ship along with Tirzah towards the exit ramp.  Seeing that they were getting along, Tirzah had orders that she knew Keyanna would like, “Keyanna, AD7 is new to this time and place.  Show her the sights will you.  Get her geared up and ready to fight with us.”

Keyanna was ecstatic at the thought, “Really!  Yes ma’am.”  She saluted and looked over at AD7 who didn’t have any complaints about joining her for a trip around the city.

They kept a good pace through the ship.  Everything was fine until they passed a window.  AD7 rushed to it hoping to see if the gravity technology was real.  She had only dreamed of such a thing.  Her feet were planted firmly on the floor yet the view out of the side window showed the city below them and spinning branches.

“Wow, this is so coo…,” AD7 was amazed for the brief moment she could stand.  The visualized but unfelt motion overloaded her balance.  It took only a short while before she fell to the floor completely dizzy.

Keyanna thought to warn her, but it happened so quickly.  Seeing that she was otherwise unharmed, Keyanna walked over to help her up.  “Sorry,” Keyanna giggled, “I forgot to tell say ‘It makes you dizzy.’”

Tirzah witnessed the events well away from the window.  “No worries,” she commented, “I fell a few times too.  Just stay away from the windows and you won’t get airsick.”

She and Keyanna helped AD7 up.  The two had to help AD7 to walk the rest of the way while AD7 regained her balance.  The three ladies made their way to the exit ramp where they met the rest of the passengers.

Before long, the pilots made the announcement.  Stealth Phrygian had made the final flip through the canopy and was free to land in the hanger.

Soon after, the doors opened.  While most of GarDNAnge1 left, AD7 and Cyd lingered behind looking at the wondrous city.

#1 – Awakening #29 – Awakening #31

Champions of Battle: The Very Best – Opportunity #29

Not far from where the Ganker’s trap was laid, a small pile of stolen equipment sat in a room with four Champions.  Two Champions, a male and a female, checked the equipment for any upgrades they could steal.  Another pair, the leader and his right hand lady studied a holographic image.  The team had used it to keep track of a fearsome quarry.  However, the trail was a continuous puzzle.

Shinsaku Yu sat at the desk in what was now his warrior’s garb, the most powerful armor picked from the stolen gear.  He was rather tall for a Crisho and not all of the pieces fit.  His gold skin peeked from beneath the helmet while a red patch of skin escaped for his right glove.  The armor didn’t look right on him, but it could easily be refitted.

The Champion they tracked had stood out as a tournament hopeful from the moment she stepped off the shuttle.  She looked utterly fearsome especially with that maul.  If anyone in RedBatty was going to win, this warrior could not be allowed to fight in the tournament.

“Now she’s going into the Casting Talent School,” Shinsaku stated while pointing at the miniature image on his desk.

It was a comment of utter confusion.  His companion Ione Zhang had watched the same image for the last hour.  She knew everything the mysterious warrior had done.  Their cloaked tracking droid had followed the target since she walked away from their alley.

Ione watched the image of the warrior entering the Caster Talent School.  Her orange skin and thin mahogany stripes shown through her tattered disguise.  “How do you know it’s a she?  He seemed quite strong to me.”

Shinsaku couldn’t help but glance at Ione.  She was an essential member of RedBatty, but she questioned just about everything he said.  Sometimes he wondered if he was really the leader of this team, “The warrior’s armor, particularly the belt, suggests a torso to leg ratio fitting that of a female.”

Whatever, smarty-pants… Ione couldn’t help but roll her eyes listening to Shinsaku’s intellectual dribble.  “Fine whatever, why is she going there,” Ione asked resigning to his logic.  She snapped her fingers with the dawn of inspiration, “She’s an enchanter.”

Ione had charmed the fearsome looking warrior just as they planned.  She guided the warrior directly towards the trap but it took a great deal of strength to get her moving.  If this was truly a lady, powerful strength enchants must be in play.

Shinsaku had pegged her for a Combatant Talent user.  That was the only explanation he could find for that heavy destructive weapon.  It was big enough to wreck someone with a single hit, the focus of the Combatant Talent Set.  But now she went into the Caster school?

“She has to be an enchantress,” Shinsaku was confident in that statement.  Enchanting skills were usually taught in the Casting Schools so that explained things well enough.  Ione was the most powerful enchantress he knew but this warrior shook off her charms.  That was only possible if this fighter had powerful enchants of her own.

While someone could be a Combatant and a Caster, there were only a few moves in the two sets that worked well together.  The other moves took too long to channel or were too weak to make a difference.  She had to be walking from school to school for a reason.

“Fine.  So, how are we going to get her,” Ione looked to Shinsaku.

Shinsaku had no immediate answer.  After a little though he spoke, “I don’t know.”  He stood and turned away from the image, “Keep watching her.  I’ll review the tapes for clues.  I could have sworn she was talking to herself earlier.”

#1 – Opportunity #28 – Opportunity #30