CH1: Not-So-Silent Steel (Clear)

Sezrix Buildabunch hummed a song to himself that he'd heard while he was in the human city as his machine- An orange metal exoskeleton several times his size with an engine tacked onto the back and several pipes that expelled excess steam constantly -chugged along the stone floor of the canyon, carrying in front of itself a wagon overflowing with a tower of metal plates he'd bartered for from one of the merchants in the city. Up ahead was the massive metal wall that marked the face of Camp Firebloom. Some moons ago, the thing didn't even exist, but when they'd come across the many secrets that the crashed human ship hid among its mechanical devices and both paper-bound and digital records, the Goblins had been inspired not only to start building different personal machines, but also to expand their territory. The once-humble Firebloom soon became a sprawling complex of workshops, small factories, mines and even a web of walls that stood up to just about every explosive they tested now that they'd been tweaked in just the right ways. They had really turned a settlement into a fortress.

When Sezrix came close to the gates, the noise of his mech and his humming were drowned out by those coming from inside. Machines chugging along, hammers banging, metal straining and the occasional explosion assaulted his long-since-adjusted eardrums while he waited for the powered gate to fully open. He soon passed through, and was greeted by a massive crowd of his kin, eager to hear tales of what had transpired in the human city that they had stared at over the horizon from the day they were first brought to this world, and had only now attempted to approach. Of course, Sezrix enjoyed the chance to stand atop his idle machine and tell them about the strange humans, and all the adventures he'd been through in such a short time...

"...but Dirtfighters had really nice leader, and there was talking instead of fighting!" Sezrix had been using rather dramatic arm motions and hopping about during the bulk of his exposition, but as he neared the end of his tale, they had begun to die down. "Gobbiefriends can't bring machines to Wall City just yet. Uplanders scared of them! But gobbies can bring junk rocks to busydealers, and trade for lots of metal!" To emphasize his point, he picked a small plate from atop the load he'd brought, lifting it above his head for the others to see. They gave a happy cheer to signify their approval.

There were calls of, "Then?" from the listeners, who were eager to hear the end. "Er... 'Then'? Well..." Sezrix took a moment to consider how he might explain what had happened afterward. "Dumb uplander wrote in paperthing, and then... Door. Then, here." The Goblins exchanged looks of confusion with each other, clearly dissatisfied by the finale. "Wall City has lots of weird things," he warned. "Many still make not a onesense, like heredoor. Was going to ask dumb uplander how built it, but uplander did not come with gob... Heredoor closed, and gob was here."

If ever there was a time to say Gambie was tired, it would be now. After running about the whole day finding herbs and other assorted things needed for his bombstink and healingstuff, all of which took the gob “shaman” a whole lot longer than it had anticipated. It didn’t really help much that his helper had wandered off towards the inner village, no doubt attempting to find something far more interesting than helping some dumb gob look for flowers and weeds. Some gobs just couldn’t catch any breaks. The goblin huffed, mumbling a few course words before setting out to look for the wandering gob, before finding him clapping along to some story…he…was telling them about.

The gob shaman huffed again. Of course it was Sezrix that caught the young gobs attention, no doubt going on and on about some stupid, clunky machine the gob had been working on- noisy, clanky piece of tin rubbish that it was. Still, it wasn’t as if he hated the gob…that much. But when you needed to be really, really careful and some giant tin can was banging and clanging, it was only a matter of time before something…explosive happened. Still, Sezrix was good at spinning tales, so the gob shaman decided to prop himself up against a nearby hut and listen in on what was going on.

Several such 'tin cans' were in the clearing at the time, a few of which stiffly waved their massive metal arms when the pilots caught sight of the other Chief. Though it was far different from their own, the Goblins in Firebloom had come to see Gambie's particular 'hobby' as a craft of its own, and had tried to respect that. Of course, they still never dared to learn it, and usually kept their distance when they knew where he was. After all, no one was named 'Stink-Cloud' for no reason. Sezrix, of course, was never bothered by this, and was about to greet the newcomer as well when something else broke the not silence.

"You know not what it is because that door is something unique to the humans," explained a previously unheard voice. It was a deep, somewhat staticky noise that carried a distinct force with it even though it was only heard through echoes, and was distant in origin. Some of the goblins present recognized it, and none were happy to hear it. Sezrix was of both parties, as his eyes searched the campground for the glint of polished crimson.

He soon gained the inclination to look up at the walls of the canyon, and saw a silhouette standing tall at the top of one. It was there that the voice had come from, he was sure, and he hadn't been looking long when it leapt from its perch, hurtling down toward the camp. It landed in the clearing in the same style all models of Goblin Gummi did: One knee braced against the floor, both free hands in contact as well, and a massive cloud of dust shrouding its appearance for a few moments.

After those same moments, it was easy to see what made this one in particular different. Though it still had all the same defining traits, like its general body form and even a Lance Rifle attached to its back, everything else was different. The skeletal frame of orange rocksteel that signified the look of other Goblin Gummis was adequately covered with a shell of red-colored armor plate that had been smoothed and polished by an expert hand and maintained with care. Where there should have been an open cockpit, this model had a closed cabin with tinted glass that couldn't be seen through from the outside.

It was a masterpiece of engineering, even among those in Firebloom. The 'Mighty Quill' was its name, and well-made or not, it represented a scourge in their eyes. "Pen-Fist..." Sezrix confirmed, immediately recognizing the craft and knowing exactly who'd be inside.

The Quill spread its arms proudly. "Guilty as charged," came that same robotic voice from before, transmitted from the pilot inside. It was difficult to recall the last time Fursie Penfist, who had created the Quill, had last been seen outside of it. Several of the goblins present took up wrenches and rifles, anxious of his presence even though he'd never actually attacked them before, and probably wouldn't today either.

"Fursie," Sezrix specified to answer the question. "Farlong before new building, Fursie tried to make gobbiefriends think uplanders were better. Even wrote and talked like uplanders, and saying uplander things about pens and swords! Fireblooms call him 'Pen-Fist' after, and now he steals best parts from gobbiefriends to make uplander things. Ruined good Gummi design!" He glared at the machine through his goggles, quite angered by its mere presence.

If Fursie was put off by the accusations, he made no earnest move to show it. "My, and here I was going to help you learn something new," he stated in the same, almost robotic voice as before. True to what Sezrix had claimed, he didn't speak like another goblin, and instead sounded as if he were halfway between a machine and... something else.

"Still, since I have everyone's attention, I may as well say what I came to. This door you speak of is but one of countless forms of something the humans use which you've dismissed as mere trickery or strange building for years now: Magic." With that, one of the Quill's hands reached forward, and a port in the open palm began to glow a bright yellow. A short moment later, lightning began to arc upward from it, forming a small, levitating orb in the air slightly above. It floated there, suspended by nothing at all, a mass of what could only be described as pure lightning.

The goblins who saw this took a step back from the machine, confused and afraid. The only times they had seen such energies at work had been during loud, thundering storms that would occasionally strike at the earth, breaking apart engines and setting fires at random. How did this exile create something of the sort from what seemed like thin air, let alone keep it contained?

"Then we break it!" Sezrix concluded, eliciting a short cheer from several onlookers, who still made no attempt to intervene otherwise. Sezrix climbed back into his idling machine, throwing a lever inside to bring it back to life. Fursie, on the other hand, didn't meet such aggressive behavior in kind. In fact, he seemed a bit disappointed, even. "Are you truly so eager for violence? Against a simple teacher?" he asked, though from his tone he didn't really expect an answer.

As the opponents concede to their fate, barriers of light form from the ground around them, sealing possible exits...

The Quill shuffled around a small bit as Fusie watched the barriers forming- An odd staple of these new worlds that he'd probably read in one of his heretical human books at some point. "I'll take that as a 'yes'..." he remarked, and turned back to the two goblin chiefs. "Some thanks I get for trying to share knowledge." The other goblins were unfazed by his statement, of course, as just about every one of them would gladly see the Quill scrapped.



THEME: Vim and Vigor

OBJECTIVE: Disable the Mighty Quill!


With the ball of lightning still in one hand, the Quill slammed the opposite fist into the palm, crushing the orb between them. It was shattered completely, and the residual electricity arced between the fingers of both hands afterward. The hands came away and formed electrified fists on their own, ready to strike as the Quill itself took up a light-footed stance in preparation...

"Go on, then- I've been aching for a proper exhibition!"

(Turn order: Sezrix Buildabunch, Gambie Stinkcloud, Fursie Penfist)

Sezrix immediately put his hands to the controls inside his Gummi, and brought its right arm behind its back to grab hold of the great lance rifle there. It was brought back forward and centered on the Quill's torso before, with several spurts of gas, it fired three rounds from the inner magazine. However, none of them could find purchase, as the Quill's curved armor easily deflected all three. Nonetheless, Sezrix kept firing, trying to find something to punch a hole into. He had no such luck, of course.

Fursie saw it coming, and didn't try to hide it. One of the Quill's hands shot forward to intercept the lobbed bomb... only for it to sail through the fingers and detonate against the glass anyway. Apparently, the microphone hadn't been turned off, and through it could be heard mutterings about calibrations as a few thin appendages sprouted from its torso and stiffly waved back and forth across the glass with narrow wings of rubber. They were far too stubby to make any real headway, and only cleared a small portion of the glass.

Meanwhile, Sezrix saw a chance and took it, lunging forward with his own machine, dropping the lance rifle and swinging a giant metal fist at the obscured glass. A loud snapping noise was clearly audible as something, likely somewhere in the glass, gave way, though it held together otherwise. Sezrix forgot himself momentarily, jumping about victoriously in his seat. Fursie didn't allow much time to celebrate, latching both of the Quill's hands against the thick bars of Sezrix' cockpit. Blue energy leapt from the fingers to the metal, and the machine shook. Sezrix made an attempt to move, but found himself zapped the moment he tried to touch any of the controls. He couldn't do anything without electrocuting himself.


...It would have been a perfect chance for Fursie to attempt another attack, but he didn't get the chance. With no warning save for some sort of muted noise, a strong wind blew in from outside the camp, bringing with it enough force to send many of the watching Goblins tumbling this way and that. The barriers were even dissipated by the severity of the interruption.


With the instance no longer protected, the central party was subject to the new force in the air, and even the two Gummis were visibly struggling to keep their hydraulic-assisted footing. "I suppose I'd forgotten to mention that!" Fursie admitted somewhat apologetically as the Quill disengaged from Sezrix to brace itself properly against the wind. The goop (of questionable origin) was blown away from the face of its cockpit, revealing that a good section of the shaded glass had been forced inward by the impact of the fist from before. Several massive cracks also spiraled outward from point zero.

Sezrix, meanwhile, made no attempt to move his own machine, and was instead focused on holding the frame for dear life while his conveniently comprehensive apparel kept him otherwise unharmed.

Fursie said something in response, but it was drowned out as the last of the wind passed through, loudly unearthing what few huts weren't quite as well-prepped as the rest. "I'm sorry to say that wasn't my spell," he said again once the air was quiet enough to get a word out. Sezrix, meanwhile, had already left his Gummi, and had apparently wasted no time in collecting other goblins to see to the damage. The Quill and its pilot had been forgotten.

Fursie's mech turned in place so he could get a good look at the new situation. "It seems there are more pressing matters," he announced. With a low rumbling, a fire was set under the Quill's feet, and it slowly began to rise into the air. "I'll leave you to tend to your mess while I make some adjustments... But be warned, Firebloom, for this is not the last you've seen of my superior technological work!" He emphasized the statement by jutting out one of the Quill's fingers at the bustling goblins in a threatening manner. The gesture was promptly ignored.

The Quill made its exit, speeding off through the air on its strange flaming feet...

Fursie Penfist has left the area.

Sezrix turned as the shaman approached. "Pssshhhh..." he hissed in frustration, though it wasn't aimed at his ally. "Skohhh! Pen-Fist and his Stormballs! Making big winds and breaking gobbiehouses! Stinkie, help Goodwrench and Quake pick up Rocksteel bits, and Buildy-Bunch will go find stormballs and turn them off!" Without waiting much for a response, he returned to his Gummi, and was rocketing away, though he didn't actually have any rockets. The machine's hydraulic legs would suffice in the meantime...

Sezrix Buildabunch has left the area.