At the site where Xanatos' house is apparently located, the party sees nothing except trees, grass, rocks and shoreline.... the same things they've seen all along Xanthur Lake.
AXEM: "Hey Thrax! Where's this mystical house that's supposed to be right here? I don't see anything except trees, grass and rocks!"
THRAX: "Weren't you paying attention earlier in Episode 32? It's hidden behind a powerful magic barrier, and the Amulet of Xanatos is the only way to open it!"
Danika: "So, open it already!!
THRAX: "I will, as soon as I remember how..."
Danika (rolls her eyes, sighs): "Great Phaunos! I can see why you and Tsutaru are such good friends! You're both half-wits!"
Elric chuckles at Danika's remark... since apparently Gwarlihim has called THRAX something similar before.
The party stands there in silence as they wait for THRAX to remember how to open the seal. After a few minutes of thinking, he decides to do something silly and draws his Dragon Saber, stabs it in the air and then pretends like he is unzipping the fly of some giant hottie. Sparks can be seen in THRAX's general vicinity, then what appears to be a rift in the space-time continuum has formed where THRAX did his stupid unzipping move.
THRAX: "Alright, everyone, step through before it closes."
Each member carefully steps through, not knowing what to expect on the other side. After everyone got through, and the tear had closed, they saw that they were standing at the exact same spot they were before... only now there's a good sized Gothic-style house next to the lake. The rest of the party stands in awe at first sight of the unusually-designed house.
ghost of Chris: "Hey! This looks like one of my designs! Who stole my idea?"
THRAX: "This house was built more than a thousand years before you were born, Chris! You must have stolen the idea from Xanthur!"
The party proceeds forward and enters the house. Once inside, they find the place cluttered much like Evil Ray's bedroom, with various things scattered about, and stacks of notes and journals all over the place; with at least one layer of dust covering the whole mess.
THRAX: "Here's the deal. Xanatos was even worse at organization than I am..."
Danika (covers her nose with her shirt): "No shit, sherlock!!"
THRAX: "Y-eah... Anyway, his journals and notes detailing his research into the crystals is scattered at random throughout the house. Let's focus on finding them an getting them organized. Then we can start trying to figure out the crystals' locations."
With that, the party commenced to straightening the place up and organizing the papers scattered about. The girls opened all of the windows in the house to air it out while they cleaned the dust off of everything. TRITHAL, THRAX, Kuta, Elric, Jarsar, Xaklafor, Veiko, and Vash all worked on organizing Xanatos' notes, since they could read the Draconian languages; and AXEM and Adeth were given flunkie-jobs as needed. The party kept this up for hours, until well after sunset.
As all of Xanatos' documents were organized, it was noticed that alot of his notes from around the Nengo era were written in English, as if he intended for a human to read them. After the girls were done cleaning, everyone began to read through the notes that were able to be read.
TRITHAL: "From what I've seen from all of Xanatos' journals, both the ones written in English and Draconian, there are a total of 7 Dragon Crystals altogether: The FrostDrake, the FireDrake, the Phoenix, the Kaiser, the Aura, the Defense, and finally the Dark Flare. So far we've accounted for the FireDrake and the FrostDrake. We know Vankar has at least one of the others... so we should focus on the locations of the other 4."
Danika: "There seems to be alot of mention of some place called The Dark Labyrinth and Mount Gagizet. What's that all about? The Labyrinth has been mentioned before but, I'm not sure of what it's significance is."
AXEM: "We probably shouldn't go there." (looking at paper he's holding) "It says here that the Gates of Hell are down there. I know it probably doesn't mean that literally but, it probably is a place that seems like Hell. Hot, violent, and treacherous. Kinda like Duchess Ali. That bitch."
Adeth: "Hey Sensei, I found a diary of some guy named Xanatos..."
TRITHAL: "We all have, Dude. This house is full of 'em."
Adeth: "Woah, really? Why would he have so many? ...anyway, the last entry in this one is dated Nengo-296年7月10日. It says something about some town called Dale Gorge."
THRAX immediately snatches it up and tucks it away in his kimono.
Adeth: "Ah, man! Not cool! I was lookin' at that!"
Danika: "Dale Gorge? What interest would Xanatos have there?"
THRAX: "That's a long story. I'll tell you about it some other time. Right now our priority should be the crystals."
The party collectively thinks that this information might be useful in locating the Crystals, and finds it odd that THRAX would want to keep others from reading that particular journal. Since he must have his reasons why, the party just shrugs it off and keeps researching.
After a while of continued perusing, Elric is seen walking down the stairs from the attic with a small box in his hand. THRAX gets a surprised/shocked look on his face when he sees the markings on it.
Elric: "While I was rummaging around upstairs, in the attic, I came across this little box. It appeared to be emitting some strange sort of aura that I've never encountered before. I've no idea what's inside, and I can't figure out how to open the darn thing."
TRITHAL takes the box from Elric and examines it closely. After a few minutes, he manages to find a hidden switch and succeeds in opening it.
TRITHAL (holding up the item inside): "This looks like it could be one of the Dragon Crystals. What do you think, Thrax?"
TRITHAL hands the crystal to THRAX and he examines it closely.
THRAX: "It looks like it probably is. We need to examine the journals closely to be sure."
Jarsar: "Could that be the Aura? Pinkish-blue in color... radiating an aura like no other... it's gotta be Aura Crystal! Xak, what do you think?"
Xaklafor: "Bon of a Sitch, Jar, I think you're right! We gotta see what Xanatos had to say before we can know for certain. But I really think it is."
AXEM: "Okay, it's obvious what the abilities of the FireDrake and the FrostDrake are. What the hell is this thing supposed to do?"
Kuta: "That should be obvious as well. For the most part, anyway. It definitely taps into your aura and enhances it somehow."
Anri (as she is looking at a random piece of paper): "It says something here about something or someone called 'Kaiser'. And some vague reference to it's location in the bowels of Hell."
Jarsar, Xaklafor, Veiko, and Vash all look at each other with a 'Holy Fuck!' look on their faces.
Danika: "What? Am I missing something? What's Kaiser?"
Vash: "Kaiser is the Dragon God. According to legend, he breathed life into 'Liquid Fire' and the Draconian race was born."
TRITHAL takes the paper that Anri was holding and begins reading.
TRITHAL: "Most of this is in a draconian dialect that hasn't been used in several thousand years. I can just barely make it out..."
TRITHAL: "... or that's at least what it appears to say."
Adeth: "Well, how the hell are we supposed to find Hell?"
THRAX: "Don't get your panties in a bunch, Dude. I know where the gates are. I have seen them with my own eyes. They're in the Dark Labyrinth, beyond Mount Gagizet. I was there. No idea what awaits us on the other side of the gates, though. I was only allowed to explore part of the Draconian Labyrinth while I was training down there. Now, as for this crystal here, Xanatos does mention in his notes that he did keep the Aura here. So, yes, this is the Aura Crystal. According to his notes, the Aura amplifies a warrior's elemental or spiritual aura and gives it physical form, allowing it to fight for you."
AXEM: "That's fucking stomp!"
Kuta: "Yes, Axem, it is. However, something like that could be dangerous if used too often. It could drain your auric energy, which would leave you a vegetable and/or dead."
TRITHAL: "Yeah, I'd only use it once or twice in a single battle. Give your aura time to regenerate."
THRAX: "That's good advice. I really hadn't considered being killed by my own damn aura a possibility. We should use caution with all the crystals, since we're not sure how they work or what powers they all have."
Jarsar: "Okay, so we know that the Kaiser Crystal is located in the Labyrinth... and we've already got the FireDrake, the FrostDrake, and the Aura. That make 4 so far. The Crystal Vankar has makes five... so then, where are the other two?"
Kuta: "Well, the Dark Flare must be lost. We've been at this for hours without finding a single clue to the Dark Flare's location, or how it's connected with the Amulet that Thrax has."
Vash: "Sweet! I found something, Master Thrax! A vague reference to the Phoenix Crystal and 'Liquid Fire'. I guess that means that the Phoenix is also in the Labyrinth with the Kaiser crystal."
Veiko: "That would be a safe enough assumption. Another would be that Vankar has the Defender... since that one has no fighting power, and there haven't been any signs yet that Vankar has gotten any stronger. With that in mind, we can also assume that Vankar is likewise in the dark about the location of the Dark Flare Crystal. It's not very likely that he has located it."
TRITHAL: "That's probably a safe bet. Now, what about this 'Dark Flare'? Thrax, did that book you snatched away from the Dude say anything about it?"
AXEM: "Yeah, what's up with that? When Dude said the book mentioned Dale Gorge you kinda freaked out."
THRAX: "We'll get to that some other time. Right now, we need to figure out what our plan is."
Elric: "Isn't that obvious? We're heading to Mount Gagizet and the Dark Labyrinth to retrieve the Phoenix and Kaiser Crystals! And, hopefully, along the way somewhere we'll find the damn Dark Flare... as long as the other members of our party aren't hiding any valuable information about it from the rest of us."
THRAX: "Trust me. This journal has nothing at all to do with anything we're discussing now!"
TRITHAL: "That's yet to be determined, Thrax! Whatever you may be trying to hide from the rest of us may be the missing piece of this puzzle."
Kuta: "Yeah, Thrax! Why are you so eager to hide it in the first place? What is in that journal that you don't want us to know about, huh?"
By this time, the rest of the party has gotten up and started walking toward THRAX, backing him into a corner. The members of the party who are capable of doing so, began to glow their eyes as they approach THRAX.
Danika: "One could call your behavior 'suspicious', you know. So, what's the deal, Thrax? Why do you feel it necessary to keep the rest of the party in the dark about something that could be crucial to our mission? Could you be trying to sabotage us?"
AXEM: "Could you possibly be a double-agent working for the enemy?"
THRAX: "Aw, fuck me! This is just stupid! If you want to see what it says, fine! But I'm starving. None of us have eaten in a while. I suggest we get some food going. After supper, we'll discuss this journal."
The party reluctantly agrees to eat supper before continuing their discussion.
(to be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment