Like Clockwork (A Goblin Story)

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

“I’m tellin’ ya, there’s gotta be someone better for this job! I can barely stand goblin folk as it is. Seen a fella come right into town stabbin’ someone over three blastin’ gold!”

The older goblin looks up, arms crossed, at a much taller elven figure as they stand in one of the many corridors of the Timeways. The elven figure is clad in bronze and golden robes, with long golden hair trailing behind his back. A faint breeze is felt as the essence of time flows ever onwards.

“Guuah. You know that you can blend in with them, and ensure–”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m a goblin, got ya. Y’know that ain’t gonna matter much! Everyone and their blastin’ mother are gonna be divin’ down. Several cartels an’ businesses are already makin’ plans to head down there. Alliance an’ Horde are all worked up with this Xal’atath business, and ya’ll are sendin’ me down there, blind?”

Guuah huffs, his face twisting into a grimace as he speaks. “C’mon. There’s gotta be some adventurer or somethin’ that can take care of all this. Make ‘em an honorary Timewalker, why not. Ya’ll said I ain’t gettin’ directly involved in this sorta business anymore. We had a deal.”

The elven man maintained a calm demeanor throughout the goblin’s outburst. Only when Guuah was done did he speak.

“Why does the concept of going to the Undermine upset you so much?”

“Did ya miss the ‘stabbin’ someone over three gold’ bit?! Bunch of greedy grells that’d sell their soul for a blastin’ coin. An’ this is just talkin’ about Orgrimmar. If it ain’t listenin’ to folks braggin’ about how they wanna kill somethin’ or did kill somethin’, it’s some con artist tryin’ to make a quick buck.”

The elven man smiles. “Reminds me of a certain goblin, once upon a time.”

Guuah’s face contorts in anger. He tilts his head down and away. “…Don’t even bring that up. I ain’t that sorta person anymore. Ya know this.”

“And others can’t change as well? Not everyone had the same…circumstances that you found yourself in.”

Guuah thought for a moment, before looking back up. His shades slid down his nose a bit, his light brown eyes peering up at the elven figure.

“Hell. Ain’t my job, and it don’t matter none. We ain’t ‘good guys’ if that’s what ya gettin’ at. We’re makin’ sure everything keeps on goin’ as it should, like clockwork. Ain’t no good or evil involved. I just don’t wanna go down there to see–”

“You don’t want to see what you were.”

Guuah found himself interrupted by the elven man. He immediately started to retort, but soon realized he had nothing to say in response.

“You’re not as stoic as you think you are. You try to keep a cool face and pretend that it is just like performing maintenance to a clock, but you know your feelings are always at play. You are mortal, after all.”

Guuah looked back down, a sigh leaving his lips. The elven man continued,

“You don’t want to go there, because it is a reminder of the past. Something many don’t wish to be reminded of. As painful as it is, it is good to be reminded of it, lest history repeats itself.”

The taller figure looks down at Guuah, his expression as neutral as ever. “Although you seem to now think you are above this, scraping by just to survive. Perhaps you have forgotten?”

Guuah still struggled to come up with a response. After he did his ‘time’ life has been pretty easy. He had a steady flow of income. He had the time to develop his engineering skills and craft various devices and machines. The only ‘struggles’ he had was partaking in the occasional skirmish to keep his skills sharp, where there were no actual stakes. Even finally perfected his RX-5000 “Moneyblaster” shotgun, which was a heavily modified shotgun that he had way back when he was scampering around in Tanaris, merely trying to find the next meal.

Perhaps he did forget. Or at least shoved it out of his mind. He hurt a lot of people to survive in Tanaris. He hurt a lot of people while ‘forced into employment’, and now that he’s all set there’s no need to think on all that nasty violence and struggle, he’s above that now. He’s a proper Timewalker! He’s not like these lowlifes clawing their way through trials the only way they know how.

Thinking on it, three gold coins are worth a lot, when you have none.

Guuah slowly looked back up, starting to understand why, exactly, he was chosen for this task. He doesn’t like it, but it’s not like history is always kind. Solving issues of the temporal sort has taught him that much.

Finally, the goblin found his words once more.

“…What do I need to do.”

“Ensure Gallywix dies, even if you have to fire the shot. That is all we are able to see. If others are in a better position to assault him, assist them. Anything else, is at your discretion.” He adds, shortly after, “No prisoners, if you can help it. We do not wish to repeat what happened with Garrosh.”

Guuah scoffs. “Sure.”

“And, on a personal note.” The elven man smiles. “Try to mingle a bit, if you don’t mind. Feel you have become aloof in your observing duties. Perhaps it will do you some good to see first hand the struggles others go through. Perhaps you can lend some valuable assistance to not just the goblins there, but the Horde that you chosen to align yourself with.”

“Any Infinite activity?”

The elven figure shakes his head. “They’ve been quiet as of late. If there’s movement, we’re unaware of it. We’ll adjust objectives as needed.”

Guuah shrugs. “Reckon there ain’t gonna be much of a point of disguisin’ myself anymore. I’ll get it done.” He nods. “Gonna get all grimy down there, but I’ll be seein’ the struggle first hand. Think I am needin’ a reminder.”

The goblin turns to a nearby swirling portal, leading back to Dornogal. The elven figure waves, calling out, “Do try to enjoy the cars down there! Don’t crash into anything.”

A mad scramble to survive overwhelming odds. It’s a mortal reaction, just like clockwork, and it’s time to experience it once more.

Stabbing someone over three gold is going to seem like a charitable act compared to what lies in wait.

(Wanted to do some creative writing, and figured with Undermine around the corner it’d be fun to scribble that up. Any opinions are welcome, and thank you for taking the time to read. Enjoy the rest of your day!)

[Xexurion-emerald-dream]

Interesting RP setup for your character. I’ll continue to follow along if it develops further, as well as learn about some timewalking lore. I do have to confess that I stumbled a few times in the read.

Looks like it should be present tense, but lots of past tense leakage here and there. I’d clean up the dialogue some and add a few dialogue tags (“,” says Guuah). Still, it’s a good setup for a rich story.

I would recommend adding one or two extra arcs to the story, too. You’re setting up to go after the Big Boy Mr. G, but what else could draw the attention of the Time Watchers, something that allows you to parallel the general story of the WoW writers?

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

Thank you! I do have an issue with tenses, I’ll work on that in the future. My first shot at creative writing in a good while, so I do really appreciate the feedback.

I am planning on following it up! I’m waiting to see how 11.1 pans out, and what Guuah ends up running into in character. Most of what he was doing recently was standing around observing those around him, and reporting anything suspect to his superiors. No idea what Undermine is going to bring so that will determine what happens next!

I do plan to write out his full backstory, but that will take a good while so that’ll be an ongoing work in progress as time allows.

Again, really appreciate the feedback! Always a good deal nervous trying something like this out.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

I really have a bad feeling about all this.

Guuah is sitting in the upstairs room of the Wyvern’s Tail, the prominent tavern of Orgrimmar. People from all walks of life venture to the Tail, from new adventurers to war heroes. Be it for relaxation, sharing of stories or chasing tail…in the Tail, it serves as a true melting pot for the Horde.

It also serves as a fount of information. In between all the noise, one can get information on who is moving, and where they’re going. This has been Guuah’s task for the last couple months: To observe and report.

The Bronze Dragonflight is known for their management of the timeline, but due to various events their foresight is cloudy, at best. There is only one absolute: The End Time is imminent, and must be delayed at all costs. They do catch glimpses of things every now and then. In this case, Jastor Gallywix, the former Trade Prince of the Bilgewater Cartel, is up to something that will disrupt things in between the known path, and must be moved out of the way.

Despite being granted his easy going job as an observer, he’s now being brought back to the front lines to ensure this change occurs. Timewalkers such as himself are always the first line of offense, as being mortal grants them ways to interfere when the dragons can’t, or won’t.

This, of course, comes with all the associated risks of being mortal. He learned this first hand as he was ‘pressured into employment’ by the Bronze and shoved into points of time where conflict was the best option.

Guuah sighed, looking down at schematics for a new machine , the parchment rolled out over a nearby short table, short even for goblin standards. As Gravy seemed reluctant to purchase chairs for the establishment, he is left standing as he looks down at the blue paper and white lines.

Despite many years and many trials, history seems to have a weird way of repeating itself.

–

“Get ya race dust! Guaranteed to make ya go vroom vroom all ‘cross the desert an’ beyond! Get ya race dust, fresh outta the Shimmering Flats! Ain’t nothin’ gonna make you scoot faster! Carrot on a stick?! More like Carrot at the bottom of a garbage can!”

A scraggly goblin is hawking his wares in Gadgetzan, the prime (some may argue only) attraction in Tanaris. The most known city under the Steamwheedle Cartel’s banner, it is a whirr of mechanical wonder, mixed in with various goblins conducting various business.

In the past it wasn’t exactly the greatest place to live: Tanaris was a war zone between the Steamwheedles, the Wastelanders and the Sandscalp trolls. All were fighting each other and sometimes even themselves for the one thing they all need: Drinkable water. Even in the relatively comfy safety of Gadgetzan, survival in the desert is a vicious, often bloody affair.

It’s not like the nearby alternatives were any better: To the north lie the Shimmering Flats, a literal wasteland in every sense of the word. The only thing to see there is an improvised race course with racing vehicles that are best described as ‘reasonably hazardous’. To the west lie the very untamed jungles of Un’goro, filled with creatures thought lost to time.

Both proved impossible to cross without being aptly prepared, which required training and, more importantly, money.

Sometimes to live another day, one resorts to means that some may consider morally questionable. This was Guuah’s existence.

The various goblins walking by rolled their eyes and scoffed. Some shouted, “Take a hike, Goo!” and other dismissive comments. He quickly gained a reputation for selling ‘rare and unique items’ that, at best, did nothing.

At worst, it’s best not to describe them here.

Business as usual, desperate for even a single bronze coin from just one individual who flat out didn’t know any better. Any way to get out of this desert.

Loud footsteps started thudding. Then louder. Guuah looked straight ahead to see two very imposing Bruisers, standing in the way of one Marin Noggenfogger. While Gadgetzan did not have a de facto leader at this time, Marin was the closest thing to it. Despite his direct lack of authority if he wanted something done, it happened.

The Bruisers ensured this.

“We got to have a word, Goo.” He crosses his arms and looks down at the scraggly goblin with the makeshift bench.

“M-Mister Noggenfogger! Hey! Do you wanna try some of this ‘race dust’ I picked up?! It’ll put a blastin’ pip in ya–”

“Can it.” Marin interrupts. “I think I can speak for everyone that we’ve been more than patient with you. You can’t fight, you can’t craft, you spend all day annoying everyone with this trash you picked up from the ground.”

Guuah did, in fact, venture briefly into the Flats to scoop up some of the salty ground. It wasn’t even close to the race course.

“Please, Mr. Noggenfogger. I’m just tryin’ to make some coin any way I–”

“You aren’t worth any coin you get!” Marin made it a point to not even give Guuah the opportunity to talk his way out of this. “We’ve had a discussion. We’re ejecting you from Gadgetzan.”

Guuah looks up at Marin, trying to look past the two burly Bruisers with him. “Ya can’t do that! I-I don’t know where to go! I ain’t got any place to go!”

Marin takes the time to adjust his top hat and shrugs his shoulders. “It’s not my, or anyone else’s problem. You’re not robbing another coin from anyone here.” He nods at each of the Bruisers. “Toss him out. If he comes back, make sure he doesn’t leave again.”

Without another word, Guuah is suddenly grabbed by the large (for a goblin) muscular Bruisers, held up by his arms and carried to the south entrance to Gadgetzan. The entrance that leads to the desert.

Various cheers and claps ring out as the goblin is helplessly dragged, his protests drowned out by the commotion. With a rough hurl, the bruisers toss the scraggly fellow into the sands, where he would roll for a bit before falling face first into the gritty ground.

He looks up. It’s still mid day, with the merciless sun beating down upon him. Looking back, the Bruisers stand in wait in front of the only safe haven he knew. There’s no going back.

Unarmed, unarmored and unprepared, Guuah Moneyblaster finds himself in a dire predicament. With Wastelanders and Sandscalps being the ‘attack on sight’ sort, the flora and fauna being of the more aggressive variety and both the Flats and Un’goro being no better death traps, he has nowhere else to go.

And, of course, neither the Alliance nor the Horde would welcome him. Unless he drove a zeppelin or went in with the expectation of blowing himself up with a sapper charge, there wouldn’t be a place for him.

He needs to find water. He needs to find a weapon. He needs to find shelter. He doesn’t know how to find any of these things but if goblins are known for anything, it’s improvising.

The desert is a harsh mistress, and oftentimes violence is the correct course of action.

–

Guuah’s self meditating is interrupted by a series of loud noises coming from downstairs. A group of goblins are having a good time downing shots, shouting about things and being a bit flirtatious with one another. One started thinking they were a musical genius selling mix tapes and started dancing on the stove.

He then started to utilize rockets that were equipped to his posterior.

“Blastin’ hell…” He scrunches his nose, the scent of alcohol rising to the upper floor of the Tail. He takes his blueprint and wraps it back up, putting it in a pocket held in his armor.

Adding to the den was the clicking and chirping of a mechanical dragon whelp that was fluttering around in circles near the goblin. It sported a silver and gold color scheme, with bright yellow eyes and a clock integrated into it’s chest. Sparks occasionally flew out of it’s chest and mouth.

“Yeah, I know, Ticker. I’m finishin’ up here. Not that I wanna stay any longer than I gotta.”

Ticker (RX-250 ‘Whelp’) is a prototype for a machine to assist Guuah with recon. Upon finishing the prototype he realized that Ticker has malfunctions, going by the sparks coming from it. Any attempts to fix it failed, however. Through noisy protests and flat out flying out of reach, Ticker refused to be fixed as if it became self aware.

Since then they have been close companions. Especially now. He always felt out of place with the goblin scene, the gathering downstairs being a prime example. Indifference gave way to flat out dislike as he observed goblins begging, stealing, scamming, or flat out fighting for any and all coin.

I ain’t like that anymore. I made it. I actually survived. These greedy folks are just tryin’ to rob others just for the thrill of it.

He never really fit in to goblin society, but he also didn’t need to. Be it through his line of work or surpassing his own trials he felt better than most, to the point he would look at many a Trade Prince and merely scoff. He didn’t like the noise, he didn’t like the disorganized chaos.

The explosions? Those are alright. He uses a good number of them himself. To him, though, they’re party hungry lowlifes merely looking to profit off misery. Sometimes this was taken to extremes, with organizations like the Blackfuse Company.

And now, he’s being shoved into the center of goblin society. There will be lights, there will be cameras, and there will certainly be a lot of action.

…But to Guuah, it’s all noise. Perhaps dealing with time related things have left him numb to the whole thing.

“Let’s go. We’re makin’ the trip down tomorrow, same as everyone else.”

Activating a cloaking field around his person, he hides himself from view as he leaves the Wyvern’s Tail to teleport to quarters he finds more reasonable. His shiny Timewalker armor is ready, his RX-5000 ‘Moneyblaster’ loaded up, and all sorts of provisions prepared.

Despite all of this, he still felt like he was a fish not just out of water, but actively flopping away from it.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

A sudden BANG rings out of the Ringing Deeps, near Opportunity Point. The various flora and fauna scatter from the sudden influx of noise and hurled debris as a wall of rocks is forced to give way. A passage deeper underground reveals itself once the dust clears.

The Machine Keepers already have their hands full trying to tend to the Awakening Machine and undoing the damage done by the previous Machine Speaker to investigate, and the Kobolds are preoccupied with daily existence. The ‘outsiders’, as they were collectively known as, already took notice of an influx of goblin activity near the area. Once word of this most recent development spread, they swarmed to it like moths to a flame.

–

Right on time, as he predicted. Ain’t sure why I expected anything less.

Guuah looks down from a high position with Ticker perched on his right shoulder, away from the crowds of individuals swarming towards the new opening leading deeper into Azeroth’s depths. He was inside his favored ride, Mobius 2. A heavily customized dirigible often used by Delvers, it has been maximized for speed and little else. The wings have rocket thrusters, the giant balloon has a rocket thruster, and all that heat the engine is generated is filtered out by an elaborate exhaust system of around half a dozen pipes, all belching flame.

It’s hardly subtle and calling it a fire hazard is a vast understatement, but it’s fast, and what’s more important to a Timewalker than being punctual?

Revving up the engine, Mobius 2 roars to life and starts zooming towards the opening, zooming over the heads of those below.

Various goblin folk, seem to be fightin’ the adventurers. Wait, what…

He flies by a series of pipes, seemingly draining some sort of resource. He also notices some slimes and slime like creatures. This is not an uncommon sight to any goblin of any stripe, as there’s always at least one conducting experiments. All things considered, getting slimed was one of the more positive outcomes.

Looking beyond the plant, he sees something beyond it. Something that seemed to be not of this world. Pillars that look more like flesh as opposed to stone reached up to the ceiling, with the terrain blighted and twisted into a mockery of it’s former self. Rivers of a viscous looking liquid flowed like water. The stench was overwhelming, but he couldn’t quite place what it smells like, except otherworldly.

Near the ceiling, the area seemed littered with stars. And despite the very real stone roof over his head, it somehow seemed endless.

Black Blood.

This substance seems to be a running theme in recent events. The Nerubians used it for their ‘Ascention’ rituals, but why would goblins, especially Gallywix, care for it? How would they even manage to contain it even if they found a use?

The use of Black Blood has very significant consequences, but at least the Nerubians were predictable. Goblins? Outside of their obsession with money and explosions, there’s no way of knowing just what they would be capable of with this stuff. Or worse, who they would sell it to.

It didn’t take long for Guuah to understand just how dangerous this can be for the timeline. This needed a solution, and it needed one quickly.

Ain’t got time to wait for these adventurers to do their thing at their leisure. Just gotta find a good perch, load up a long distance slug, line up my shot on that fat blastin’ mug of his, and–

BANG!

While Guuah was planning his assault, the wing of Mobius 2 clipped one of the stone pillars while he was gawking at the nightmarish sight beyond. The impact causes the wing of the craft to rip right off, and immediately the dirigible started yawing and descending towards the ground at a relatively sharp angle.

“Blastin’ hell…!”

He struggles to right the vehicle, turning back the way he came, away from the nightmarish ‘forest’ but it soon became clear that the vehicle was no longer skyworthy. He quickly removes his safety restraints and with a leap hurls himself out of Mobius 2, with Ticker squawking mechanically behind him.

A loud explosion is heard as Mobius 2 crashes into the stone wall, shattering into various pieces. It didn’t take a mechanic to judge that it was unsalvageable.

As Guuah started careening to the floor of the caverns, he flips himself to be right side up, and with a press of a button on his belt activates anti-grav thrusters on his boots. With a relatively gentle push, he floats backwards a short distance before the thrusters gave out. This allowed him to instead skid to a stop on his feet as opposed to becoming a mess.

He looks to the wreckage that was once Mobius 2, with the flames reflecting off his shades. The week started off bad when he was assigned this job, and it’s only getting progressively worse.

And he hasn’t even made it to Undercity yet.

Looking around himself, and brushing off the dust on his armor, he looks for a means to progress further. He sees above him some sort of drilling station, complete with a huge drill. It seemed to be some sort of tunnel system?

Adventurers seemed to be swarming to the spot. Maybe that’s his in.

Activating his cloaking field, he sprints up to investigate without drawing attention to himself. He sees adventurers lining up and being escorted in after being checked in by some goblin officials.

Ain’t sure I’m sneakin’ in…

He sees a crowd of individuals: A tall human, a gnome with pink pigtails, and a dracthyr swearing armor that seemed to be perpetually on fire, in addition to a greatsword that also seemed to be perpetually on fire. Yet the armor was glaringly blue.

He slides in between these individuals as his cloaking field is giving out, revealing him and his shiny Timewalking garb. He stuck out much like, well, a goblin in a group of individuals usually associated with the Alliance.

The tall human hands papers that they were provided for passage. The goblin at the station looks over the party. She is of average build, wearing a brimmed white hat with a similarly white uniform.

Naturally, the other goblin with the hourglasses emblazoned on his pauldrons did not escape her notice.

She tips her head down and looks at Guuah, scrunching her nose a bit as she peers at him. “And this guy? He with ya?”

The rest of the party turned towards Guuah with a very confused expression on their faces. Not wanting to relish in all the newfound attention, nor give them a chance to answer in his stead, he speaks up:

“Mercenary. Work with these here Alliance folk all the time. Ain’t all of us are Bilgewater, y’know.” Guuah’s voice was monotone, to the point. Not much emotion behind it.

The tall human, a bearded man who had simple clothes on, looked down at the goblin himself. He arches a brow. “I don’t recall asking you to come along with us. In fact I never seen you before in–”

“Oh, I was sent here to help ya, by uh. Khadgar.” It was the first name that popped into Guuah’s head. “Y’know how he goes on 'bout how Azeroth’s in danger and we’re the only folks who can save it and all that. He hired me to come on down to join ya.”

The human put a hand to his chin as the gnome and dracthyr watched, still confused by the situation they found themselves in. “Hmm. That does sound like something Khadgar would do, but–”

“AHEM.” The goblin drillkeeper interrupts the human again, crossing her arms and tapping a black boot to the earth. “Yous got a line behind ya, pal! Gimme the paperwork and go!”

The human nods and hands over the papers. Pulling out a notary device that resembles a quill, but is metallic with a button on the back end of it. She taps this button and a metallic tip, similar to a quill, appears and is already soaked in ink.

Wonderous thing, technology.

The drillkeeper scribbles on the papers, signifying that these people had an extra person that was not listed. “Ya good to go, pal. Note yous paying a fee for bringin’ the gross yellow guy in with yous. Bill will be in the mail.”

The human, and the party, shoot a sidelong angry glare at the goblin who forced himself into their group, but not wanting to hold up the line any longer than they had to… “Thank you, miss.”

They start to make their way to the drill, with Guuah in tow.

–

The drill was, surprisingly, very well furnished. Cushioned seats lining the sides, with condiments and a functioning restroom in the back. From Kaja’kola to disposable burgers, it had anything a traveler to Undermine needed.

Guuah was prepared to sit down, before a firm hand grasped his shoulder.

“Do you mind explaining yourself? That hundred gold I’m being charged is coming from somewhere, and it’s sure not us!”

Thankfully, Guuah’s line of work has taught him Common, in addition to a number of other languages. He takes a step back and shrugs the human’s hand off his shoulder, taking a staggered stance. The gnome and the dracthyr seemed more interested in talking to one another, as they certainly weren’t paying the bill.

“Listen, pal, I needed a way in, and ya lot provided. Sorry it came at a cost but sure ya will make it right on back.”

This did nothing to appease the very angry human, his hands clenching into fists. “You aren’t sent by Khadgar, are you? Just who are–”

The human seems to have a tendency to be interrupted, as the drill starts coming to a screeching halt, with Guuah leaning forward from his planted position and the human flat out falling on his back. The gnome and dracthyr were comfortably sitting and suddenly turned to see their friend in his new position.

The gates open. “Maybe another time. Have a good one, pal.” And Guuah steps off the drill, leaving the party to sort out their debt.

–

It’s a busy time at reception, with gatekeepers making sure that newcomers aren’t bringing in anything dangerous. Well, dangerous beyond established limits. Various goblins are coming and going, carrying crates of various things and of various sizes. It’s impossible to know they contain.

People of all kinds are among them, getting sorted through all sorts of paperwork and, naturally, fees associated with said paperwork. Alliance, Horde, anything in between wanted access to Undermine.

The noise was enough to make Guuah feel ill. The huge swarm of people didn’t help any.

He approaches a lone uniformed man, clad in the same outfit as the goblin from earlier, with a brimmed hat and white uniform. “Right, need to do a quick check on you, standard procedure.” He raises some sort of electrical device, humming ominously as he waves it over Guuah’s person. The hum soon grows into a high pitched wine.

“I do have a gun on my back, y’know.”

“Yeah? What about all this other stuff? Bombs, some sorta traps, it looks like? Bunch of metal bits and–”

“Self-defense.”

The scanning goblin looks to Guuah, dead in his eyes for several uncomfortable seconds. Guuah doesn’t flinch, or move. It was a very awkward stare in stark contrast to the hustle going on around them.

Finally, the uniformed goblin breaks out laughing. “Oh, I’m pulling your leg, bud! Hah, always so fun to make you new folks nervous. Yeah, all that stuff is fine 'round here.”

Guuah only replies with a sigh of annoyance and a curt, “Sure.”

“Ah, jeez. Well, welcome to Undercity, pal! Enjoy your stay. No refunds.”

The uniformed goblin steps to the side and motions Guuah in. In the corner of his eye he sees the human and his party talking to a small group of other goblins. They seem to be clad in darker uniforms but he can’t get a good glimpse at them.

Thinking nothing of it, Guuah turns his eyes forward to the bright spectacle before him. The many streets sprawling out into a urban jungle, gaudy lights and decorations littering any spare bit of ground not paved over. The greedy and the desperate hawking their wares to any who will listen, with a lot of socializing besides.

Then his attention was brought to the huge building located at the other end of the city. A large, imposing building, with enough lights to power multiple Alliance and Horde cities alone.

If I had to guess, Gallywix is hidin’ in there. Let’s make this quick.

Seeking refuge from the huge crowd and the nonstop sights and sounds, Guuah quickly makes his way into a series of alleyways. They were damp, moisture dripping along the sides of the cheaply painted walls, with a scent best described as ‘unpleasant’. Still, it beat the onslaught the main roads brought upon his senses.

Don’t wanna talk to any of these folk, get the job done and leave.

As a Timewalker, he knows it is best to be discreet. His entrance alone annoyed him more than it should because he had to reveal to others that he’s here, but thankfully no one seemed to recognize what his occupation is. Maybe thought he was some rich big shot with his armor.

The less others know he’s here, the better. Not that he’ll find common ground with the rest of the people here. Especially the goblins and the cartels.

I’m gonna have a vacation after this. Blastin’ dragons can deal with this nonsense themselves. Ain’t even supposed to be

Guuah interrupts his thoughts as he turns around behind him. He’s in the middle of a dark alley with no lights save for the artificial sky above him. There are multiple small nooks and crannies that one can slip into. He swears he heard footsteps stepping in a puddle…

He waits a few moments. A few more. All is silent.

He turns back around and moves a bit further, and hears it again. This time he quickly withdraws his RX-5000 “Moneyblaster” shotgun and it revs to life, steam expelling from the sides of the barrel as inner machinery powers the long gun. Once more he rotates around, his gun at the ready.

“Who’s there? Show yaself!”

Silence.

Guuah holds his gun with one hand as he reaches to his side, where his Freezing Trap is located. He grabs the device and begins to hurl it back the way he came when suddenly–

“Heya pal, ya lost?”

Guuah turns once more in the direction of the voice. At least where he thought he heard the voice. “Who–”

A sharp impact suddenly slams into the back of his head, and all goes dark.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

The sands of Tanaris have a few established truths: The wildlife is on a good day hungry, and on a bad day attacks any living thing it sees, just because it can. The fauna ranges from poisonous to downright hostile. The days are unbearably hot and the nights bone chillingly cold.

Light help you if you decide to visit the southern cliffsides, where the Qiraji decided to make themselves a little hive, because Tanaris just wasn’t unfriendly enough.

Throw in the everlasting struggle to find drinkable water for those unable or unwilling to find shelter in Gadgetzan, and you have a downright unpleasant place to find yourself stranded in.

---

A caravan was heading towards the Shimmering Flats, delivering some supplies to the possibly insane individuals who insist on making it their eternal race course. Fearing sabotage from opposing goblin racers, the gnomish driver opted that he and his escort, two burly looking men armed with shortswords, arranged to meet their supplier out of Gadgetzan, and take the long way around to avoid both Sandscalp and Gadgetzan patrols.

And it almost worked. Almost.

The caravan’s front right axel is completely off it’s mounting, preventing the vehicle from moving, the two escorts are left as a bloody mess on the sand, and the gnomish driver is on his back with his hands to his sides and palms opened upwards. His brown courier outfit and his white mustache dripping with sweat, with a few bits of blood mixed in.

Above him is a goblin, clad in skintight scorpid leather and a balaclava on his face: Only his brown eyes and long-ish nose is visible. He has a blunderbuss aimed right at the gnome’s face, with his boot firmly planted on the defense courier’s chest.

“I ain’t askin’ ya again! Ya money an’ goods, or ya be wearin’ buckshot for teeth like ya pals there!” The voice seems frenzied, and desperate. His aim with the blunderbuss remained steady, however: An old thing he ‘liberated’ from a previous mark, it is a slow, unreliable mechanism, even by the Third War.

Despite this, it still proved very effective. Especially in an ambush.

“P-P-Please, Mr. Wind! I didn’t–didn’t know this was your road! You can have the cart, just don’t–”

“THE KEY, gnome! I ain’t wastin’ the ammo blastin’ all them boxes open! NOW!”

The gnome takes his right hand and very, very slowly reaches into his courier shirt’s pocket. He slowly pulls out a small key on a chain. “H-here, this will open the boxes…Just please don’t hurt me…I have family…”

The goblin, now calling himself the Desert Wind, observes the gnome holding the key, making sure he’s not going to try to pull a fast one. Keeping the blunderbuss shouldered with his left arm, he reaches down and roughly yanks the key away with his right before returning to his aiming stance.

“Good.”

BANG! The blunderbuss belches a gout of flame from it’s barrel! The buckshot roars out and…only glances the gnome’s right leg. Enough to main, but not inflict any lasting damage.

“Ya hold tight, now. Don’t plan on goin’ anywhere.”

The goblin steps off the gnome, leaving him writhing and groaning in pain as he goes to the rear of the disabled cart. He rapidly begins unlocking box after box…

Garbage. Bunch of car parts, some alcoholic drinks, a carrot on a stick for some bizarre reason…Then, he sees a note.

The rumors are true! There’s some sort of artifact to the east coast of Tanaris. A dagger, embedded into some form of pedestal. However, the blade is protected by some sort of barrier. I sent one of my escorts through it. He…seemed to have simply vanished. No trace. He didn’t ever come back.

We must meet to find a way to dispel this barrier. Whatever that artifact is, it has to be important!

The goblin takes the note, leaving the rest of the goods in the cart. He approaches the gnome. “Artifact, huh. Well, if ya manage to scrap ya way back to Gadgetzan or where ever ya goin’ now, give 'em my regards. Ya finally got me rich.”

The Desert Wind leaves the gnome wounded on the sands, as he starts making his way to the east coast.

–

Four months. Four months since Guuah has been forcefully escorted out of Gadgetzan. It was almost certain that with his lack of skills or gear that he will simply perish, and no one would much care.

Fear, however, is a powerful motivator, and fear prompted him to do what goblins do best; Improvise.

Scavenging from the wildlife and others who met their end, he started acquiring the basics for survival: Clothing, armor, and a weapon. It wasn’t easy and even tackling a scorpid was often a dance of life and death, but survive he did. Day and night.

Water became a problem, however, which meant that he had to step up his game. And all it took was a Wastelander being distracted by something long enough to get jumped.

Thus began his life of banditry. He quickly garnered a reputation of being merciless in his ambushes: He set up traps to snare his marks, before appearing either behind cover or buried in sand, blasting the unprepared foes at close range with his favored weapon, the blunderbuss. Because of this, he earned the title “The Desert Wind”, as he was gone almost as quickly as he appeared, leaving only carnage behind.

Bounties were set out and parties hunted for him, but in the desert, one can often choose when they want to be seen. If you don’t, someone won’t be looking for you for long.

If he can acquire enough money, he can escape this place. By sea. He’ll hire or, hell, build a ferry to take him elsewhere, maybe Eastern Kingdoms. Surely they are much greener pastures.

And this artifact, this mystical blade, will be the key to this. Freedom is finally within view. And this time, no one will stop him.

–

Walking upon a thin strip of coastline alongside the eastern Tanaris coast, there is a mountain. Not particularly impressive, but it stands out contrast to the endless sands.

“There’s nothin’ here…Gnome better not have bled out, I’m gonna head on back an’–”

Then he sees it. A very thin crack within the base of the mountain. It’s small enough that an average person can’t squeeze through…Goblins, however, aren’t exactly average.

Grunting with effort as he wiggles and twists through the crack, within about a minute he is through. Falling face first into the sandy floor inside the mountain, he looks up to see his face nearly touching some sort of golden-brown barrier. It makes an ominous hum, and radiates with some sort of…magic?

Looking up further, he sees it: A dagger with a well-embellished handle and cross guard, indeed, embedded into a stone pedestal. The blade seems to flicker and warp, sometimes to the point of not really looking like it was there.

“That…that has to be worth a fortune! I can BUY Gadgetzan with that!” Guuah cackles and bounces to his feet, doing a little jig!

At least, until he realizes he has to actually get to it. He remembers the consequence of the person who tried before him.

Walking around the barrier, he sees a small object, somehow placed over the barrier. It has a swirling golden-yellow orb encased in stone, with some buttons in the corners of it. Nothing on this device is labeled.

“Uh…” Perhaps showing goblin ingenuity at it’s finest, he starts randomly hitting buttons. Then two at the same time. Then managing three by utilizing his nose and both his hands. Without an extra limb, however, he has no way to hit all four, and nothing he did caused the barrier to disappear.

“The blastin’ hell is this?! Who made this stupid thing?” Feeling immense levels of anger and frustration, to be so close yet so, so far, he withdraws his blunderbuss from his back and spends one of his precious buckshot loads on the device, blasting it from a distance.

The device groans and reacts, as the spread of projectiles manages to hit all four buttons at the same exact time. The orb dissipates, and with it the barrier surrounding the dagger.

Guuah drops his blunderbuss in shock. Through sheer luck he has done it! The artifact is his! Rushing towards the pedestal, he greedily grips both hands on the dagger’s hilt, pulling, and pulling, and pulling…

As he feels it start to give way and come loose from the pedestal, a bright flash of swirling gold light fills his eyes. His grip on the dagger seems to have completely vanished, and he feels like he’s being pulled in a thousand different directions.

He opens his mouth to scream, but nothing comes out.

–

“Rise and shine, bucko!”

A loud SMACK echoes in a small, dimly lit room in as a goblin woman slaps Guuah across the face. A sharp cry of pain follows it as Guuah’s eyes flicker, trying to adjust to his new surroundings.

Everything is a blur. He just came to Undermine and made a beeline to the big building, and went through the alleyways to avoid attention from everyone. Next thing he knew, he was here.

“Ugn…what, where–” Guuah’s words are a bit slurred, a very sharp pain in the back of his head isn’t helping that too much.

“Well howdy there, golden boy! Have a good nap? I’ll tell yous, slept like a proper baby, you did!”

Guuah’s eyes adjust to the dim lights. He makes out the woman speaking to him: A goblin with jet black hair in two pigtails, purple highlights at the tips. She looks young, and certainly didn’t spare much expense with the makeup or eyeliner. Her body is clad in…something black, with red lights and vials coursing through it. Some sort of exoskeleton? She’s sitting cross-legged on a wooden stool, with her hands on it’s sides.

With her are various, fully dressed up thugs with similar looking armor and weapons. They seem to be a mix of goblins of hobgoblins.

Guuah tries to move his arms and legs, only to find them bound securely to a proper chair. He looks down at himself: All his gear and, more importantly, his weapon, is removed from his person, leaving him only with his underarmor pants and nothing else.

“Aw, yous lookin’ for something? We went aheads and took the liberty of, well, liberating yous of your stuff! Real pretty stuff, really liked the fancy hourglass on that armor yous wearing! And that gun, whew! Piece of work! Ought to be worth a lot in scrap.”

The woman giggles and crosses her arms as Guuah stews in silent fury. While he was usually monotone and not one to react emotionally to much of anything, he was feeling the urge to do so now. However, without his equipment, let alone the ability to move, he cannot do much.

“…Give me my stuff back, and ya will never see me again. I’m here for–”

“A job? Yeah, we keep an eye on all yous lookin’ for a “job”. Yous almost snuck by, too. Good thing that human and his friends tipped us off! Probably thought we were guards or something.”

A very inopportune time for karma to strike.

“And! Going by all that fancy stuff yous wearing, I’m guessing whatever work you’re here for is the violent type. AND! Seeing yous be all sneaky like, I’m guessing Bossy Gally’s your target.”

The woman stands on her feet. Now that she’s proper upright, she is nothing short of imposing. Guuah can do nothing but glare.

“I like my job, golden boy. My pals here like their job, too. Last thing we’re needing is some outsider like yous barging in here and messing with our racket.” She puts a hand on Guuah’s chin, a slight, somewhat sinister smile creeping on her lips. “But, now you’re down here. Alone. No one was with yous, and I made real sure yous have no means of chatting with anyone outside of heres.”

Guuah scoffs, sneering in her face. “Ya don’t think I can just walk on outta here? Ya can’t keep outsiders from up and leaving if ya don’t want two of the largest armies above ground crashing down on ya.”

The woman’s grin only intensifies. “I do, actually. Because you’re clearly not one of them. I’m not too sure who yous working for, all we could find on yous is a bunch of bronze colored stuff, some clocks, and all your equipment, but it sure seems like yous by yourself, darling.”

She leans back to pull out a hand held radio. She presses a button and brings it to her face. “Yeah, I got him. Make sure the rocket stations and the teleporter those stupid rock dwarves helped out with are well guarded. Only those ‘champions’ and workers allowed through.” She looks over at Guuah, that smile having never left her lips. “I’m gonna get our guest here real integrated with goblin culture.”

Guuah’s eyes start to open wide as he realizes the situation he’s now in: Cut off from the outside world with no means of getting out, no way of contacting the Keepers of Time, no ability to flee from this horrid place.

He is truly trapped in Undermine. With people he reviles.

“You ain’t gettin’ away with this! Ya hear me?! I’m gonna–”

A sharp snap kick hits Guuah right in the chest, sending him and the chair sliding backwards on the steel floor. Spittle flies from his lips as he slumps forward.

“Quiet, golden boy, the important gobs are speaking.” She turns back to the radio. “Oh, I’m keeping an eye on this one. I want to see how far he makes it.” She hits the button again and places the radio back on her hip, turning to face the goblin.

One of the hobgoblins speaks up. “Got some bozos causing trouble, Jaxxi. We should go.”

“Aw, alright.” She hits another button along her hip, and the restraints holding Guuah to the chair withdraw with a mechanical whirr. He falls face first to the ground, groaning and trying to pick himself up.

Jaxxi looks down at him, giggling once more. “Aw, don’t worry, golden boy. Seen yous had a number of scars! Guess you’ll have a lot more by the time you die down here.” She motions to her crew, heading towards the door, her heavy boots clanking against the floor. “Let’s go.”

The footsteps of the black and red armored individuals fade with a door creaking open, and then shut, leaving him in this room alone. He picks himself up on his hands and knees, wiping some of the spittle from his mouth with the back of his hand.

This…this ain’t good. If what she’s sayin’ is right, I ain’t got a way out of here. I’m…I’m stuck. And I ain’t got anything this time around…

Slowly getting to his feet, taking a moment to steady himself, he stumbles towards the lone steel door in the room. As he opens it, he finds a flood of artificial light slamming right into his face, to the point he has to shield his eyes. Sure missing his shades already.

He seems to be in some sort of isolated corner of the city, with scrap piles and derelict vehicles scattered about. Various malfunctioning scrap bots dig at the piles best they can, while various goblins shift through the garbage, presumably in the hopes of finding anything of value.

Flying machines strapped with cameras fly overhead, and various armed individuals, equipped similarly to Jaxxi and her crew, are scattered about, bossing and bullying others to do as they say.

Don’t forget…First, shelter. Second, gear. Third, food and water.

Keeping as low of a profile as he can, he steps out to try to make his way further into the city. Shouts, horns and gunfire blaze in the streets, while the cardboard clouds and sun hover overhead.

Once again, he finds himself in a hostile place, and once again, he must find a way to survive. History has a strange habit of repeating itself, much like a clock always chimes at the same hours.

It seems his visit to Undermine is going to be a good deal longer than he anticipated.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

Undermine. If something can be considered a capital city for goblinkind, this is it. Tall buildings, bright lights, and the constant sounds of tires screeching, vats popping and capitalism happening.

To the unknowing eye, it seems like a stable, well-ran establishment. Lights, camera, and certainly a lot of action! Big shots, divas, and even a giant casino! It stands as a testament to the long, established success of goblinkind to not only survive, but to thrive.

Much like an apple that’s been left out too long, however, peel away the skin and you will see the rotten core.

With no proper way to dispose of it, trash lines the alleyways and streets, with a landfill well out of the way of the populated areas. Destitute people, desperate to survive, are often seen digging to find anything: Substance, medicine, or a weapon. Especially a weapon.

Reckless alchemy allows waste products to run like rivers, and hapless denizens with no where else to go are often forced into horrid living conditions. They, however, should consider themselves fortunate: They’re not among the many who has something to owe.

Under Gallywix’s forced rule the situation has not changed, save for this ‘Darkfuse Solutions’ working directly under Gallywix. Utilizing gear empowered by Black Blood, they rule the streets with a heavy hand, and they are more than willing to demonstrate just how heavy that hand is.

While there is a sharp influx of those wanting to get in, there is just as many who want to get out. By any means necessary.

–

I should’ve been more careful…Blastin’ hell! What am I going to do?!

Guuah is in a near panic. He was thinking this was going to be a simple hit job: Rub out the problem for the timeline and leave as little of an impact as possible. This should have taken, at most, a day.

Him getting caught by this Jaxxi and her goons has certainly set him back: He is trudging through the landfill of the southern side of the city, piles of trash hills scattered throughout. The sound of machinery and explosions can be heard in the general area as the piles are pillaged, to find anything of value.

He has no way to reach out to the Keepers of Time, and even if he had many friends in the Horde, they wouldn’t be able to do much without having attention focused on themselves. They were useful as cover and nothing else, but now that cover is gone.

He is alone, isolated, and very underequipped.

Bare-footed, he trudges through the piles of waste.

I gotta find a place to hide out, try to plan what to do next. I got everything I need ‘round here, this ain’t no Tanaris I’m dealin’–

A quiet schnik is heard as a rust covered nail scratches the side of Guuah’s ankle, causing him to let out a hiss of pain. A bit of blood oozes out from the wound but he has no means to treat or dress it.

“Ayo, what was that? That oneea ours?”

“I ain’t hearin’ nothin’.”

“Ay! Who’s hissin’ back theres?!”

Guuah bites his lip and remains dead silent. While he didn’t like goblins and their greedy, manipulative selves as it was, it is now much worse: They are now very, very dangerous.

“Imma go head around and sees if someone’s–”

“Forget ‘bout it. Venture Co. is payin’ to scrap, so keep scrappin.”

A pause. “Yeah, yeah.”

The den of shovels digging into trash continues, and Guuah continues on his way to…Well, he isn’t quite sure. While he of course has heard of Undermine he sure has not been, and they sure didn’t give him the proper welcome package containing a map.

The smell of toxic waste is starting to fill the air around him, only making him feel even worse. While the civilians of Undermine are well used to it, Guuah is more used to the crisp, fresh air of the outdoors and the Timeways. Not…this.

Upon moving around one last pile of trash, he sees a very imposing sight: Various buildings with pillars of smoke coming out of their chimneys. At least he hopes that is just smoke. Vats of green liquid are scattered about in containers, some of them barely holding together. And are those…slimes? Just roaming around?

It’s hard to tell if the trash piles are better or worse.

The fumes are starting to make Guuah feel light headed. He puts his hand on a nearby trash pile, starting to feel very woozy. His wounded ankle started to swell and flare with pain, his body feeling feverish. Every single motion hurt.

The wound is clearly in the process of being infected, and this does not seem like a place for medical treatment. He tries to take a few steps forward before his legs give out under him, too dizzy to pick himself back up.

Hell, this it? This how I’m gonna go out? Guessin’ it was long overdue…But would’ve liked somethin’ a bit more glorious.

His vision blurs. He sees a figure moving towards his location, before all fades to black once more. This time, however, it seems it’s for good.

–

The golden light swirls around the Desert Wind’s vision. Everything felt like a vortex, being pulled everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Then, all at once, it stops.

Slowly, the bandit opened his eyes, observing his surroundings. Once again, he finds himself in a desert, but this time it’s different: The sun is gone, replaced by a purple-black sky. Golden streams of…something flow in the air, and there is a very eerie silence throughout the entire place.

While the sands of Tanaris seemed endless, they were at least interrupted by the occasional bone, cart or corpse. This, however, was purely bronze sands as far as the eye can see.

“MORTAL! You trifled with things well beyond your comprehension!”

A booming voice rings out behind him. Guuah turns around to face the voice to see three figures. The voice came from a large, imposing…lizardman? They have a snarling face much like a basilisk, with scales of bronze and a rather wicked looking bronze poleaxe in hand. Very unlike a basilisk, however, they were standing on two legs, much like a humanoid does.

They were also speaking, another sharp deviance from usual basilisk behavior.

The two behind the imposing lizard person thing appeared elven in nature: One was clad in plain robes colored in bronze in white, with long golden hair trailing behind his head. The other was a smaller woman figure, dressed with the same way, although her hair was messy and scattered throughout.

All of them, going by their sour facial expressions and how all of them are directly staring at Guuah, seem unfriendly at best.

Guuah reached around for his blunderbuss–before realizing he dropped it in his rush to claim the artifact. The dagger he thought he was gripping is gone, at least partially: While the hilt remained in his hand, the blade seems to have entirely vanished.

Hunching down and preparing for conflict, Guuah sneered at them from under his balaclava. “Who, or WHAT, do ya think you blastin’ are? Ya think you can talk down to ME? The Desert Wind?!”

The imposing lizard stomps forward, the poleaxe being raised in a threatening manner. “All of you mortals are the same! I shall scatter you existence to the sands before you can cause any lasting harm!”

The humanoid lizard continues to approach, and Guuah quickly realizes his attempt at intimidation had absolutely no effect. He steps back rapidly, and eventually falling backwards on his rump as they continue moving closer, and closer.

“Hold on now! We really don’t gotta get violent! Let’s talk this out! Just, c’mon, please back up a bit yeah? Please–”

“Efflect, that’s enough. Clause is needing your help elsewhere, it’s best you return to them. We will handle this…individual.”

The masculine elven figure speaks, as the feminine one seems to have a bit of a horrified look on her face, as if she was about to witness something dreadful.

Efflect grunts, ceasing their advance and turning to the masculine elf. “…Very well.” With that, the imposing figure vanishes through a small bronze portal, and vanishes shortly after. Their large footprints remain in the stand from where they were.

Guuah has a terrified look in his eyes. For the first time in a while, he isn’t the one being ambushed.

The masculine elf smiles down at the goblin, completely unfazed by the recent events. “That just leaves us, doesn’t it?” He eyes Guuah, sizing him up. "Bit out of your depth, aren’t you?

Guuah slowly picks himself up from the ground, taking deep breaths. “Where…am I? I was about to steal that there dagger, and now it’s blastin’–”

“Gone, yes. That was done as a security measure. I fear the consequences of you accidentally activating that relic would have had very dire consequences, far beyond anything you have any hope of knowing.” The elf interjects. The feminine elf’s face forms into a smile as well, although it seemed much more genuine.

“Yeah, great, wonderful, don’t care, get me outta here. I get outta your hair, ya get outta mine.”

The masculine elf continues, “That brings us to this moment. While I find you mortals fascinating, we as a whole do not trust you, let alone like the fact you exist. The usual protocol for this situation is your eradication from this timeline. We certainly can’t have you giving word that we exist, can we?”

Guuah tilts his head. “Just who blastin’ are you? And ‘timeline’? Are ya havin’ too many Nogginfoggers? What are you goin’ on about?”

The feminine elf speaks up. “Oh, I got this one! We are the ~protectors of time itself!~ We are of the Bronze Dragonflight, and we exist to make sure the timeline is not manipulated, twisted, or snapped! All manners of dreadful things!”

The masculine elf sighs, looking to his companion. “Yes, Ticki, that is correct. It may be prudent to not shout it out to the world.” He turns back to Guuah. “I’m afraid that is all you can be allowed to know.”

Guuah is simply standing there with a dumbfounded expression. He was right: He was very much out of his depth. “So…ya just gonna…kill me? Just like that?”

“As stated, that is the usual protocol for this kind of situation. You are not the first mortal to find yourself caught up in this sort of situation, and you will not be the last. However. A mortal should not have been able to thwart our security mechanism so easily. Your failed attempts alerted us to it being tampered with, and we were ready to ensure you were removed from the premises.”

After a pause, he continues. “However, you managed to bypass the mechanism. You have no powers of time manipulation, no magic. It seems out of pure luck you were able to succeed.” He takes a step forward, that cool smile never leaving his face. “And this is why I find mortals so fascinating. Through your short lives, you manage to leave imprints that have lasting consequences…And because of these circumstances I wish to provide you an opportunity.”

Guuah tilts his head, listening to the masculine elf go on. Even if he wasn’t an elf, he sure was as wordy as one. “…Go on.”

“As Ticki mentioned, we are protectors of the timeline. There are many factors that threaten to veer, or shatter, the way we know things at any moment. Even one tiny change can have everlasting consequences. We cannot allow that to happen.”

He looks up to the sky, with the streams of time flowing ever onwards. “That said, there are many situations we simply cannot get involved in. We are forbidden to be directly involved with the affairs of mortals. This, however, is a one way agreement: Mortals find it fitting to be involved in our affairs all too often. Be it for personal gain, a desire of power or simply to destroy.”

Guuah crosses his arms. “Uh huh. And where do I get involved in all this? I ain’t some sorta timekeeper or anything, I’m just tryin’ to survive in this obviously cursed place.”

Ticki speaks up. “There is simply not enough of us to perform all our tasks reliably. We are really, really good at our jobs, but there’s many pivotal points in time, and these points are what our enemies seek to exploit the most!”

The masculine elf nods. “Your opportunity is that you work for us. I find it fitting that you earn your freedom through labor, as you attempted to steal something that belongs to us. Do your time, as it were.”

Guuah scoffs, adjusting his feet into the sand. “And get killed by some big shot spellcasters or somethin’ worse? No thanks. Ya can just bring me on back to where I was, I’m good at keepin’ my mouth shut. Ya got your stupid dagger, ya don’t need anything from me.”

The masculine elf’s smile fades into a more neutral expression. “Then the only alternatives are either annihilation, or being left in this place for the rest of your days. I feel you will find my offer most generous.”

Guuah paused to think…and eventually came to the conclusion that a possibility of death sure beat a guarantee. And while he was plenty isolated as it was, total isolation sounded much worse.

“…Fine. Ya got a deal.”

Ticki let out a light cheer, as the masculine elf smiles once more. “Wonderful. We shall make this your base of operations. Ticki here will be providing you with logistical support for what you will need, and points in the timeline where we will need you to intervene.”

Ticki turned to the other elven figure. “Erozion, are you sure about this? I’m excited to help this poor little gobby out! But you know the rest will be furious if they find out…”

He nods. “We will leave it as a surprise. I wish to see how this will turn out. Besides,” He turns back to the goblin. “I think you will find it nice to be fighting for a greater cause.”

Guuah rolls his eyes, a -harumph- leaving his lips. “Sure. Let me just get to work. Sooner I sort this out, the better.”

Erozion turns to Ticki once more. “I leave him to you, then. Other matters require my attention. I am certain you will have our guest equipped for the tasks at hand.” He forms another bronze portal. “I will check in once things settle for a time.” And with that, he vanishes.

“Oh! I get it! It’s a time joke! Good thing he gave that in such a ‘timely’ manner!” Ticki laughs and grins at the goblin.

It’s a good thing he still had his balaclava on, because his face would show nothing but a pained scowl. “So what do I gotta do?”

“I will arrange for some equippment to be procured for you, and then we’ll have to go over some basics! It’s going to be less imposing than you think! I think. We’ll figure it out!”

From surviving the sands of Tanaris to surviving the sands of time. It’s going to be a bit of a trip.

–

Guuah snaps awake, looking around rapidly. Last he remembered he was passing out in the middle of nowhere in Undermine. He dreamed on how this whole song and dance that became his life started.

He blinks, adjusting his eyes. It’s a well lit bedroom, an open cabinet lines the right wall, but it seems mostly empty. A lamp provides limited illumination in the room. A gaudy carpet, well worn and wrinkled, lies on the ground. Looking down upon himself, he has a loose shirt on in addition to his pants. His feet are now clad in worn, but still serviceable leather boots and socks. The pain from the infected wound seems to be gone.

He looks at his arms. His right forearm has a needle in it, tied to an elaborate injector machine. He knows there’s a name for it, but he can’t think of it at the top of his head. He reaches over and pulls the needle out of his arm, which causes a blaring alarm to ring out from the machine.

Footsteps start ringing out as it seems someone is coming to investigate. Soon a goblin man in a wide brimmed hat is barging in. The hat obscures a good part of his face, as does the dark brown robes that seem much too large for his person.

“Paid a premium for that thing, and of course it’s as broken down as one of those grills those folks shove at me and–Ah. You’re awake.”

The figure steps in, leaning against an unoccupied wall in the room, the back of his hat scrunching up and causing the brim to fall over his face even more. “Came here in pretty rough shape. Wasn’t sure what got to you first, the Darkfuse or the ‘entrepreneurs’.”

Guuah huffs. He is in little condition to flee, let alone fight. He can only hope that this individual isn’t out to get him. “Ugh…Where am I?”

“Vatworks of Undermine. Folks come here to practice their hand at alchemy, most notably Nogginfogger and his crew. Keeping clean isn’t exactly the mantra around here, but you can’t argue with results. How you feeling, kid?”

Guuah hasn’t been called ‘kid’ in a very long time. Granted, he also recently been called ‘golden boy’. His mind went briefly to Marin and him booting him from Gadgetzan way back when…but now is not the time to focus on such a thing.

“I’m…alright. Wasn’t feelin’ too hot coming in and reckon I just passed right on out. It ain’t anything to be worried about, I’ll get on–ngh.”

He sits up but felt light headed again after this motion. His head was spinning.

“Easy now, kid. I’m not the faithful type, but I had to pull out some proper miracles to keep you kicking. Medicine going to linger for a bit, but since you’re up, effects should fade in a bit.”

The figure moves off the wall and closer to Guuah. The lamp of the light showed a bit of his face, the left side of it seemingly heavily scarred with what look to be chemical-based burns. “You’re not from around here, unless you mistook The Heaps for the beach. Guess they sound kinda similar, and would explain the whole topless situation.” His voice was slow, methodical. Taking the time to formulate his sentence before speaking it.

Guuah looked down, grimacing. “I was jumped. Folks wearin’ black an’ red. One of them gave me a real proper greetin’…Jaxxi, think her name was.” He pauses. “Left me in them dumps and next I know I’m sittin’ here with a needle in my arm.”

The figure sighs, shaking his head. “Darkfuse, then. I’ve heard of this Jaxxi. She’s leading a division known as the R.I.F.F. squad. Rapid Initiation Fuse Force. Seen her be real unpleasant to anyone even speaking ill of that fat sack sitting in charge. She’s all about knocking out any possible resistance as soon as it pops up.”

Guuah tilts his head. “Resistance? What are you talkin’ about? Why would anyone be resistin’ anything down here? Figured this would be ya’lls dream home: Ya get to scam and rob as ya please, make as much money as ya want. Ain’t knowing anything ‘bout this Darkfuse, guessin’ it’s a borin’ day at the job if that lady wanted to be beatin’ on me.”

The figure remained silent as he moved to the bed, and sat at the very end of it. He turns to face Guuah, his face still mostly obscured by his hat. “Kid, you really are new around here. Why did you come to Undermine?”

This question sure seems to be a running theme. “For a job.” Short and to the point. Give as little detail as needed.

“Sure those from the surface could provide you with plenty of those, all of them pointing away from this place. Must be an awfully specific job.” He lifts his hat a bit, showing a toothy grin. “You can tell me. Bet I’m the first semi-friendly face you’ve seen, and you owe me for saving your life.”

A pause. Information is often more dangerous than any slug fired. Given the circumstances, however…“I’m nudgin’ Gallywix from power.”

“Code for killing him dead. Understand you wanting to be tight lipped about it.” The figure stands once more, looking off at the room he came in from. “No idea who you are working for, but it seems we have similar interests. I’m sure many would not mind seeing Gallywix ‘nudged’ from his little throne.”

He starts making steps towards the room’s exit. “Once you’re able, meet me in the kitchen. I can provide you with some work, a few errands. In exchange I will allow you to remain here, and make sure you are equipped to handle what Undermine has to offer. Or you can leave, and make your own path. Many others have.”

Before the figure left, Guuah calls out, “Hey, wait. What’s ya name?”

A pause. “…Burk.” And then he departs. A hissing sound comes from the passageway. Sounds like Burk is fixing something.

Guuah rubs his face with his hands, trying to come to grasp with his current situation. While it’s not like him to get others involved in his work, it seems that he’ll be stuck doing whatever Burk asks in exchange for room and board.

Guuah wearily picks himself up, and starts to head to the next room. Slowly and carefully. Last thing he needs is to keep on falling.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

In a bit of a daze, Guuah walks on into the next room. The kitchen is what one would consider ‘quaint’. A small cobbled together stove is blaring with heat, with a pot of some sort of substance bubbling and steaming. A faucet with a number of bowls and cups inside of the sink await washing, and a few pictures line the walls. From his initial glance it seemed to be of two goblins posing in front of various things.

Burk sits at a table that could, at most, host two people. Two small bowls are on top, with a small chair available after. Despite the heat coming from the stove, he continues wearing his wide brimmed hat and heavy robes.

“You must forgive me. I am not often in the business of having guests. You’ll find my accommodations…limited.”

Guuah sits at the table, again rubbing his face with his hands. “Hey, you ain’t actively making this whole thing worse, so that’s a blastin’ start.” He sighs. The scent of the stew fills the air, although he can’t quite label what it smells like. “I have to get goin’, I gotta–”

“You are going nowhere until you eat and recover.” Burk firmly states. “Especially given your lack of attire. It’s indecent.”

Guuah looks up, a bit surprised. He hasn’t been flat out ordered to do anything in recent memory, save for the Keepers of Time sending him on tasks. As he begins to protest, he feels his head spin again. Groaning, he puts a hand to the table, leaning forward.

“There will be plenty of time to do your job, such as it is. Not that you would succeed in your current state.” Burk stands upright, heading to the stove. Taking a large wooden ladle he mixes the stew a bit, before grabbing the pot handle and bringing it to the center of the table.

It is a stew, alright: Chunks of hot dog and hamburger meat mixed in with some sort of chunky sauce. Thick noodle strands were scattered throughout the mix. Burk takes the ladle and starts scooping up the stew, and plopping it into Guuah’s bowl. “It’s not as bad as it looks, I assure you.”

He repeats the motion until Guuah’s bowl is full, and then starts repeating the process for his own bowl. “What do you know about Undermine?”

Guuah sits back up, recovering from his dizzy spell. The stew smelled…unique, but something is surely better than nothing. “I know it’s a big ol’ city. It’s filled with goblins doin’ goblin things, and I’m wantin’ out as soon as possible.”

Burk chuckles as he finishes filling his bowl, and places the ladle in the pot before carrying it back to the stove. He keeps it in a low power mode to keep the stew warm for a time. “You do understand what you are, I hope.”

“Yeah, I’m a goblin, ain’t meanin’ I approve of the goblin lifestyle. Once Gallywix is moved out of the way ya’ll can go on back to scammin’ and killin’ each other over every little scrap of gold ya can find.”

Burk looks up at Guuah, a grin forming on his face. The fact his face remained almost entirely obscured by his hat made the grin a bit unnerving. “You know nothing of Undermine, then. Somewhat impressive that a goblin would barge into the city, intent on making such a drastic change…And give no thought to the current state of affairs.”

Guuah shrugs. “It don’t concern me none. I’m workin’ for somethin’ a bit more important than any of us. What happens here is a goblin problem, not mine.”

Burk’s grin never wavers as he slides a spoon across the table in Guuah’s direction, before taking one for himself. He doesn’t respond to the last statement made.

Guuah looked awkwardly at Burk as the sudden pause in dialogue made him feel less at ease. It didn’t take long, however, before he started chowing down into the stew, eating it with quite a frenzy. The texture is not exactly pleasant, but the mixture tasted good. After every bite, he started feeling his strength returning to him, feeling more sharp, more awake.

“Mmf.” Guuah swallows a bite. “So, what do ya do ‘round here? Surely ain’t just helpin’ folks outta the kindness of ya heart.”

“Hah. You think that little of goblins?” Burk takes a small, more deliberate serving of his stew. “I am an alchemist by trade. While I am no longer officially in business, I tend to the people to the best of my ability.”

Another pause. “While your intuition is correct, I take payment in the form of favors. You will understand soon that in Undermine, information is much more valuable than coin, and you cannot accomplish anything here alone. As I am sure you now realize.”

“Why stay here, then? Pick up a trade above ground, helpin’ folks who are deservin’ of better.”

Another period of silence. They both resume eating, with Guuah finishing well before Burk does. He places the spoon inside the bowl. It is only then Burk speaks again.

“I have your first chore for you whenever you are ready. It’s nothing too strenuous, merely gathering some reagents for me. I am afraid at my age I simply do not have the breath to get around the city in a timely manner.”

Guuah huffs. He had a habit of saying he’s an old goblin. “Sure. Ya got a list and a map or somethin’? Wanderin’ around ain’t seemin’ like the best of ideas.”

Burk nods. He again stands once more. “One moment.” Slowly, he makes his way back to the bedroom, where a bit of rummaging can be heard. After some time, Burk has in his arms a number of items, placing them in the now open center of the table.

Guuah looks down at the items. A ragged leather vest, a plain brown apron, a map with circles scattered about, and a satchel. There is a metallic looking object buried under all of it, but it’s hard to make it out.

“This map contains the location of the stores selling the reagents I need. There are a few gold coins in the satchel. As stated, it’s distasteful to have you wandering the city half nude so I have some old clothes for you to wear. Oh.”

He moves the vest and apron to the side. He reveals what appears to be a firearm of some description.

“I would be naive to think one would not require protection in the city, especially if Darkfuse are involved. While it may not be as nice as someone of your stature is accustomed to, it should be adequate for limited engagements.”

Guuah couldn’t detect any sarcasm in Burk’s voice with that last statement of his. He stands himself, looking at the various items before picking them up himself. “…Right. Let me get on changed and I’ll get on that for ya.”

He then ventures back into the bedroom to change and get ready.

Hell. Fella seems to be judgin’ every word I’m sayin’…He ain’t got an idea of what’s at stake here.

…

A short while after, Guuah is changed. The leather vest is a bit tight on him, with a number of rips in the material, but it doesn’t seem to restrict his movement. He kept the apron on, just as a layer of extra protection.

The firearm is…unique. It is a shoddy five barrel design, seemingly homemade with nothing more than glue, tape, hopes and dreams keeping it intact. The barrels break open, requiring one to manually reload each of the five barrels…Provided it doesn’t break a wrist or shoulder firing it.

It’s not exactly the long gun Guuah is accustomed to, but something is better than nothing. Burk looks over at Guuah and nods.

“Wonderful. Off you go, then. There is no rush. In fact, I advise taking the scenic route. You may have a better understanding of Undermine by the time you return.” Burk then reaches into his robes to pull out an elaborate looking tome, the title of which obscured by the way he’s holding it. “I will be here.”

Guuah nods, strapping the multi-barreled gun and the satchel to his hips. He keeps the map in hand. “Got it.” He then steps out into the city proper.

–

Guuah gets a good look at the Vatworks for the first time. Various buildings line the side of a major road, with sludge rivers flowing alongside it all. Long pipes rise to the skies and travel to some far off location.

While some of the denizens are clad in gear to safely handle the sludge and waste, several others are left wandering in little more than rags.

While the tech and the explosives get more attention, goblins have been naturally gifted alchemists since, well, forever. Marin is the most prominent example, with his Nogginfogger elixirs being used all over Azeroth, and in many exciting variants.

Of course, goblin alchemy went much further than that back in the–

“AY! Watch it, pal! Whattaryadoin’, sittin’ in the middle of the street all slack jawed?!”

A jarring impact, combined with a shrill voice, knocks Guuah out of his thoughts and back to the reality. A small goblin is going around in some protective gear, and a canister upon his chest secured by straps around his shoulders. This canister has cans that are blue in color.

“Sorry, just woke up,” Guuah began, but that didn’t give the loud goblin any pause.

“Well what ya need is one of these Draenei Blueberry Blasts! Brand new flavor from Sizzlepop Industries, a kaja’koolin’ revolution! Gonna make ya start sprintin’ down the streets, and give yous the reflexes to even pilot a big fancy spaceship!”

And crash, no doubt.

“Nah. I’m good.” Guuah waves his hand, dismissing the offer.

“Well then, get OUTTA THE WAY! I gotta job to do, pal!” The short goblin brushes his way past Guuah, hawking his goods. “GET YA DRAENEI BLUEBERRY BLAST! Put a waggle in ya step today!”

Guuah was about to comment on how the goblin kept pronouncing it, “Drae-knee”, but didn’t have the chance. He starts walking to the north, where the first circle is made on the map. He stays to the side of the road, in case there are vehicles making use of it.

And use they did, as various trikes and cars zoom at a speed one may say ‘too fast’, but it’s not like anyone is trying to stop them. Catching a clear moment of traffic, he begins crossing a bridge and taking a look around.

Many goblins seem busy at work, be it with mixing various concoctions or trying to contain the rampant sludge. There are some digging through various piles of garbage, searching for anything of value or use. Never know if you can find a healing potion or two.

Looking towards the back alleyways, he sees a gathering of various goblins, pinned against a wall by a group of menacing individuals. They seem well armed, and their gear has the same color scheme as Jaxxi’s group did before, the same black and red.

Reckon that’s Darkfuse. They’re hounding them folks for somethin’…

Thinking it’s none of his business, he goes on, looking away from the group and ever northward. A sharp ramp leads up out of the Vatworks. Thankfully. The stench was starting to get to him.

Is this Burk fella wantin’ me to see somethin’? There’s poor folks all over the place and they ain’t in a rush to start stabbin’ people. Bad things happen to good people. It’s how it goes.

Patrolling the Timeways has a way to make one apathetic to the plights of many. It’s the only way to do the job.

–

Guuah appears through a bronze portal back to the desert he has now grown quite accustomed to. The passage of time in this place seems convoluted, it’s impossible to tell just how long he’s been here. Months, years, decades?

He has grown accustomed to his new job, though. Being inserted to various points in time to either dispose of mortals manipulating time to fit their own needs, or those trying to nudge prior events in a particular direction. Sometimes they could be resolved without violence, but this was uncommon.

The marks were always deserving of it, though. Bad people doing bad things, and meet bad ends. Sometimes the Infinite Dragonflight are responsible, and all it takes is correcting their own subtle nudges with a nudge of his own.

It’s a complicated dance, but he’s been holding his own. Not that it’s been easy: He has certainly almost ate dirt on a number of occasions. However, through quick thinking and good aim he’s been able to survive. His ‘employers’, such as they are, have even given him accommodations due to his success: He has a crafting station to upgrade his equipment, a collection of books to read on major points of history, always updated, and even a giant comfy couch to rest in.

“What ya got for me now, Ticki?”

The visaged drake turns and smiles towards Guuah, her black hair all over the place, per usual. “Oh, Goo! You’re back! That’s swell, it’s time for your next job!”

Guuah grimaces. “I told ya, don’t call me that. It’s…weird. Stop it.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I think it really -sticks-! Like goo!” Ticki has an overexcited expression on her face as she shares her joke, much to Guuah’s detriment.

“Oh, for–Just get on with it, now.”

Ticki composes herself, clearing her throat. “You’re going to Westfall. Back prior to the assault on Northrend when the Lich King was threatening the entirety of Azeroth. Both the Alliance and the Horde are about to make landfall, but there is a man in Westfall who is destined to join the initial wave, and defect to the Cult of the Damned. Your mission is to make sure this happens.”

Guuah tilts his head. “I’m…allowin’ one to join the Cult of the Damned? They’re bad folks, ain’t they?”

“Oh, the worst! They sabotage, kidnap and kill for their dark Scourge masters, but the timeline dictates that one must join them for things to proceed as they should. This one in particular is normally of no significance, but his presence is required to alert the Alliance to Cult spies within their ranks. If he is not present, their presence will not be as well known, and they will eventually destroy the Alliance detachment from within. Very catastrophic!”

“Alright, so what’s stoppin’ him from just up and joinin’ up?”

“As events should transpire, his mother is killed by a band of gnolls assaulting their household. However, we’re sensing disturbances that is interfering with this event transpiring! Find out why, and correct it. Should be easy and stress-free!”

Guuah huffs. “Sure. And if it doesn’t happen?”

Ticki smiles all the same. “Then that’s when the ‘correcting’ comes in! But we’ll get there if we have to. Oh! You will need a disguise. Can’t have a goblin just wandering around Westfall, after all!”

With a wave of her hand, Ticki casts a temporary visage over Guuah’s person. Quickly, he finds himself shrinking, becoming a bit smaller than before. His arms and legs feel a lot more…stubby.

“A blastin’ gnome?! Are ya serious?!” He noticed his voice is higher pitched, and a bit whiny.

Ticki giggles. “Oh, I think it suits you! I even gave you a cute curly pink mustache! You’ll just be a random adventurer helping people out for money and experience, as they do. Find out where this gnoll camp is, observe what happens, and go from there.”

Guuah nods. “Got it. I’m ready to go.”

Another bronze portal opens near Guuah’s person, and he turns to face it. Going through the portals has always been the worst part. “Best of luck, Goo! Stick it to 'em!” Ticki calls out as he steps inside the portal, and vanishes.

–

Guuah blinks as the swirling bronze lights fade from his vision, as he’s plastered right in the middle of an open field. It’s a cool, overcast day. The sun is obscured by a thin layer of clouds, and it looks it may rain soon.

To his west, there is a simple looking cottage with a small farmland in front of it. It seems farming season is over, as there seems to be nothing growing. Smoke bellows out of the chimney, and the voice of someone singing a tune can be heard through an open window.

Without much of a lead to go on, he heads towards the cottage. There is a wooden door blocking entry. Raising his stubby little gnome arm, he gives the door a few solid knocks, the long gun strapped to his back rattling a bit.

“Oh! One moment!” The pitter patter of shoes is heard walking across wood as the door swings open. A woman with brown hair and eyes is seen. She is wearing a simple blue and white dress going down to her ankles, with her arms fully exposed.

She blinks ahead a few times, not seeing who knocked on the door. “Well, darn, I thought I heard…”

Guuah clears his throat. “Blastin’–I mean, uh, hello, fair lady! It is I, uh, Guustavo, the gnome! I have come to help with various odd tasks that you may or may not be needing! I’m, uh, flexible.”

The woman looks down, with a bit of a shock! “Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry! I keep forgetting you short ones stop by every now and then! Please, come in, make yourself at home!” The woman steps aside, allowing him access to the living room. It’s a simple place: A few small chairs scattered about, a table meant to seat multiple people, and a fireplace roaring on the side of the room. There is an old fashioned wood powered stove preparing some coyote steaks.

“You’re one of those adventuring sorts? I hope your travels have been fruitful so far, so much needing done around this world nowadays! Take a seat!” The woman seems awfully hospitable, even to a complete stranger like himself. “Do you want an apple? I have a few, just got them from the other farm down yonder!”

Guuah–now Guustavo–tried to compose himself to the awfully large amount of positive energy the woman was exhuming. “I, ah, thank you, kind missus! I must decline.” He tried to steer the woman towards a topic more fruitful to his objective. “Do you happen to have any tasks that need doing?”

The lady busies herself with simmering the steaks, making sure they’re not overdone. “Well, Guustavo, was it? I’m Nara, by the by. My son, Billy, went on yonder to shoo off some gnolls gathering near here. Constant pests, them gnolls, always trying to take off with our crops.”

Bingo. That was easy. Now to go see–

“But I’ll tell you, my Billy? Darn smartest man to ever start up a military career. He’s been training with them folks over on Sentinel Hill, and they say he’s got the stuff to be a great officer!”

Guustavo tries to interject, “I’m sure Billy is a great son of yours, Nara, but I really must–”

“You hear he not only aced the officer training test, but he’s darn good with a sword and board? Even dismounted a proper knight, he did! I’m so proud of that boy. He’s following in his father’s footsteps on being a military man. Haven’t seen him much since he got stationed off to Stormwind, but hoping my Billy catches him and then fills me in!”

Guustavo sighs. It’s clear this Nara doesn’t get to talk to many. He has time, no rush. “What do you think of him joining the military, Nara?”

Nara huffs as she puts various seasonings on the steak. "Oh, I’m gosh darned nervous, is what I am! Nervous when my husband went on to join them, and now my Billy is too. They’re saying there’s something going on far north, on that there Northrend! "

Guustavo nods. “It sounds dangerous, but I’m sure he won’t be alone, and that they will be sticking together! Your boy will be fine.”

Nara puts her seasoning containers down and turns to Guustavo, sighing. “Oh, I know. And he’s a man now, he’s old enough to look after yourself…But it’s like a mother to worry, y’know?” She smiles. “What about you? I don’t know much about gnomes, so I’m sorry if I say something rude or anything!”

Guustavo pauses. He made up a backstory, and quickly. “Our home in Gnomeregan was destroyed in a horrible accident, very tragic. We were scattered about but we’re trying to help where we can, which is why I’m here! I like helping people!”

Nara’s smile widens. “Well, I’m darned sorry you lost your home, but you always have a home here! Can’t let word that us Westfallians aren’t hospitable, after all!” She looks out the window. “If you could, could you head over just north of here? Billy went on to try to shoo them gnolls off, like I said. Usually isn’t nothing, bunch of noises usually does it, but he’s been gone a bit. Just check up on him? I’ll have his steaks ready soon enough.”

Guustavo smiles and nods. “Sure. I’ll head on back once I’m done!” He hops off the chair and starts making his way to the door.

Nara calls out, “Come on back when you’re done! I’ll have you a proper meal fixed too! Sure we got plenty of stories to share!” Guustavo makes his way out and starts heading on north.

Awfully nice lady. Maybe I’ll take her up on her offer. Been a bit since I had a meal proper.

–

To the north, there was an open field. Two gnolls laid slain on the ground, but a third, a large, imposing furball, is standing triumphantly over a human male, clad in some armor of typical Alliance colors. The gnoll has a greataxe above his head, and is about to apply the finishing blow to the man.

“GRRR! Meatsnarl friends dead! YOU PAY! YOU PAY WITH LIFE!” It hoists the axe up higher. An execution is imminent.

Guustavo catches the scene just in the nick of time. He quickly reaches behind him and pulls out his long gun, taking aim at the gnoll.

I ain’t gonna let Nara’s kid just up and die! I got this, nice, calm shots…

The crack of a gunshot is heard as a slug embeds itself in the gnoll’s left arm. It howls in pain and drops it’s greataxe behind it’s head, clattering to the ground uselessly. Before it can do much else, a second shot rings out, this one embedding itself between the eyes. After a short delay, the gnoll falls over backwards, dead.

The man scurries to his feet, reaching down for his sword and shield that was dropped during the skirmish. He turned behind him to see the gnome fellow approaching. He puts his hands over his knees and pants, clearly out of breath.

“Huff…huff…Gnome, I don’t know what I can say or do to express my gratitude, but thank you. Those gnolls suddenly ambushed me as I was trying to scare them off! They’ve been more aggressive as of late.”

Guustavo places his gun back on his back once he makes sure the coast is clear. “Don’t mention it, just doing my due diligence as a loyal Alliance, uh, gnome!” He pauses. “I came here on behalf of Nara. She was worried about you! She has food cooking just for you.”

The man, presumably Billy, looks back up and smiles. “Ah, mother is too kind to me. I will report back to her, and share the good news.”

Guustavo tilts his head. “What news is that?”

Billy smiles. “Those gnolls were plotting to attack our farm! They demanded crops from us all too often, and we told them no and shoo’d them off. They were planning on ambushing us. With them now dead, thanks to your sharp shooting, they aren’t going to be assaulting much of anyone now!”

Oh no.

Guuah is a simple goblin, but despite all he did back in the deserts of Tanaris, he isn’t so cold as to let someone get murdered right in front of him, especially an awfully kind mother’s son. However, in his attempt to help, he has severed the series of events that was supposed to transpire.

Something else happened to cause Billy to escape the conflict and warn Sentinel Hill of the increased gnoll aggression. It didn’t happen here, and Billy was surely going to be killed. However, killing the gnolls ALSO insured that what was supposed to transpire, won’t happen.

Either way, the timeline is broken. If there is any Infinite interference, it’s long gone. Very subtle work.

“I must head to Sentinel Hill and report back, but let my mother know that I will be home shortly. We will have a feast in your honor!” Now properly rearmed, Billy marches towards Sentinel Hill, to report his findings.

Guuah is near a state of panic. He needs to think of something, fast.

Blastin’ hell! What was I thinkin’?! They can’t attack the house if they’re all blastin’ dead! I gotta do somethin’, gotta think of–

No. No no no no, I ain’t having that on me. I ain’t. I can’t. I…

“That’s when the ‘correcting’ comes in!” He remembers Ticki saying. And at the moment, behind her jokes and cheery attitude he wasn’t sure what she meant. Now he does.

They don’t have the resources to just rewind time endlessly. He only has one shot at this before making this seemingly simple adjustment become a big song and dance.

He rushes back to the cottage, withdrawing his long arm once again.

–

Rain starts to sprinkle from the sky. The clouds darken. Nara is busying herself with finishing the steaks in front of the stove, with a side of apple sauce. There’s an extra plate for their new friend, Guustavo.

He doesn’t have time to wait. Guuah pulls out his long arm, and shoulders it. The gun feels much heavier than it did previously.

Please don’t make me do this. Please. Something else happen. A lightning bolt, some random arrow, somethin’ other than this.

Please.

The rain picks up. He has to take the shot. He sees a man on a horse off in the distance, rapidly approaching. He no longer has time.

He lines the sights up, zeroes in on the target, and fires. The sound of glass shattering is heard from the hilltop he situated himself in, and Nara collapses away from the stove.

Guuah lowers his gun, and quickly ducks behind the hill before Billy can arrive.

Moments later, he hears a blood curdling scream. Then silence, save for the rainfall.

Guuah reaches into his pocket, pulling out a communication device he uses to keep on contact with Ticki. “Job…job is done.” His voice is low, shaky. His eyes watery, and not from the rainfall.

A bronze portal opens up, and brings him back to his base of operations.

–

“Welcome back, Goo! I’m checking the readings, and it seems your mission was a success! He goes on to be discovered in Valiance Keep, and events transpire as they should! I hope you enjoyed your time at the country side?”

Guuah, now back in his regular form, says nothing. He stares down at the ground. He shrugs his shoulders, letting his long gun fall to the bronze sands.

“…Goo? What’s wrong?”

I killed her. I killed her and she didn’t even see it coming. I…I killed her.

Ticki watched Guuah as he fell to his knees, and let out a howl of pain, greater than anything he has ever felt.

He understands now why Ticki’s attitude is so cheerful. It’s to hide the truth. Bad things happen to good people.

It’s how it goes.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

The northeastern part of Undermine was very different from the Vatworks he came from. More of an industrial district, pillars of smoke reach up to the constructed ‘sky’ while various goblins were going about, working. It seemed many businesses were taking form here. Grills, trikes, literally everything and anything was being produced in bulk here.

Various vendors lined the sides of the buildings, hawking things like street food and other ‘tourist trap’ items. The influx of visitors sure has caused a rise in business.

In between all the hustle and bustle, there are the alleyways where less legal happenings occur. Guuah’s own experience is still fresh on his mind and made sure to give them a wide berth.

He hated crowds and often made it a point to keep himself away from them. In Undermine, however, that wasn’t exactly an option. Guuah tried to get through the crowds best he can. One benefit to his new gear is that he blended right on in. He’s just like anyone else.

He opens up the map and peers at it. On the bottom right of the map are the reagents that Burk requested:

One Standard Length Fuse
One Vial Of Green Paint
Five Pieces Of Crab
A Hot Dog

Thinking it wise to not even question the list, he looks for the closest red circle on the map…There’s a rocket drawn over it. Looking back up, he sees a building with, indeed, a large rocket display.

Heading on in, he takes a gander around. The building is small, consisting of one room in an ‘L’ shape, with exits back to the outside at each end. There are rockets lined up on the shelves, but even an amateur engineer can determine these are fake, with no payload to speak of. There are also, no other customers.

A lone goblin stands behind the counter. he has messy red hair and a slim profile. His right eye is grey and lifeless, and it doesn’t take long to see why: He has sapper ‘armor’ on, or rather, what remains of it. Many pieces are missing, and the pieces he has on are worn and damaged.

The goblin seems bored and unmotivated, before he snaps up upon seeing someone coming into the shop. “Eyy, bud! Ya just BLASTED your way into Crankblaze’s Cabooms! I’m Fez, feel free to browse around and yap if ya got any questions, pal!”

Guuah crosses his arms, scowling at Fez. "Ya sellin’ fake rockets, ‘pal’.

Fez shrugs. “Yeah. Whaddya want? Darkfuse went ahead and confiscated everything.” He motions outside, as a patrol of Darkfuse goons are patrolling the streets, shoving other goblins who happen to be in front of them out of the way, sometimes with enough force to knock them down.

“People were buying explosives to use on 'em, but they caught wind of it and shut the plan down. Once they found out I gave the goods, they flat out took everything. I ain’t got anything to sell now.”

Guuah seemed unfazed by Fez’s plight. “Sell somethin’ else. Do somethin’ else of value.”

Fez’s face twists in anger. “Sell what? My whole bloodline has been about explosives, what we pride ourselves on, and these damned Darkfuse and Gallywix ruined it all!” He inhales sharply. “I got nothing left, pal. I’m gonna run out of money soon, and if I get caught by Darkfuse again there ain’t gonna be a third chance.”

Guuah looked as emotionless as ever. “I’m sure ya will sort it out.” That did garner a rather furious glare from Fez’s good eye. “I need a medium length fuse.”

“Why? I ain’t making bombs. I ain’t even endorsing the making of bombs. I’m not getting ruined, especially by some cold hearted jerk, because you wanna do something stupid.”

Guuah sighs. “It’s not for me. I have–”

Fez waves Guuah off. “Don’t matter how much coin you have. It’s not worth the cost.”

“I don’t know if it’s for a blastin’ bomb or not, a fella named Burk sent me. He wants it.”

This caused a sudden shift in Fez’s mood. “Burk? Well, only if he came by himself, instead of sending you going at it with your stupid earthen roleplay. They got more emotion than you.” He reaches under the counter, rummaging a bit. He pulls out a bomb fuse, presumably of ‘medium’ length. “Take it. I owe him some favors. Sure he can use that money for something else.”

Guuah reaches over and takes the fuse, pocketing it in his apron. “Thanks.”

Fez grows and again waves Guuah off. “Now get lost. You irritate me, pal.” He then turned away, pretending to be busy with something else until the other goblin leaves.

Stepping back out of the street, Guuah looks at the map again. The next circle is straight north, this one with a crab drawn over it, complete with the crab having a little happy face.

He starts making his way north. His eyes flicked around a bit, but upon seeing nothing out of the ordinary he continued moving onwards.

The feeling of being watched didn’t leave him, though.

–

It’s a short jaunt to the next location. A Pandaren themed restaurant appeared quite busy as goblins of all stripes stopped on in for a meal. Even deep down underground, it’s well understood it’s very difficult to beat Pandaren food in regards to quality.

A goblin is sitting on the corner of the building. Nothing really stands out on him, save for his light blue hair. He is, however, surrounded by a lot of crab. The crab looked fresh, but Guuah isn’t a cook. His idea of a good meal was finding some sort of animal and making a rough estimation of food from it.

“Hey hey, good to “SEA” you!” The goblin cackles at his pun. “Sellin’ the finest Crav you’ll find this side of Undermine! Don’t go tellin’ Blackwater I said that, though.”

Guuah found something odd about the way ‘crab’ was said. “You’re selling what?”

“Crav.”

Guuah blinks, a bit confused. “So you’re selling crab?”

The goblin shakes his head. “Crav. It’s not real crab.”

Guuah huffs in response. “Does no one sell anythin’ real around here? Just a bunch of folks sellin’ counterfit.”

“You wanna bring that concern up to Gallywix? Be my guest. Don’t know if you realize, bud, but there isn’t much of an ocean around here. Gallywix is regulating what’s coming in, and what’s going out. Fresh seafood is being saved for him and his.”

Guuah crosses his arms once more. “How’d Gallywix get so much power, anyway? Ain’t no way ya get booted from Bilgewater, then booted from the Horde and still end up with a leg to stand on.”

“Bud, I don’t know. I just sell crab. All I know is that he came in with his Darkfuse goons and next thing you know, all the cartels are bending the knee at our expense.” He looks around, in case any Darkfuse is around to catch wind of the discussion. “That’s all I’m saying. You buying any Crav or not?”

Sighing, Guuah pulls out a few gold coins from his satchel, handing it to the vendor. He takes the coins and hands over a bag of “Crav”. “Enjoy, it isn’t that bad, promise. Just as good as a PINCH of the real thing!”

The vendor laughs, but Guuah can see the helplessness in his eyes. “Thanks.” He ties the bag of “Crav” to his hip before making his way to his next destination. The map shows the next circle with a jug of paint over it. Just so happened to be across the street.

Various paintings of various things are on display. There are paintings depicting struggle and sorrow, but also happiness and triumph. There are also centerfolds of the risqué kind, for individuals with various tastes.

The doors leading inside the structure were closed, but a sign was plastered next to it above a table with various vials of paint.

FREE PAINT (Limit One, Please: I May Be Green But I Ain’t Made Of Paint)

Guuah sees many vials still on offer, a bit confused. He figured they would all be gone from people looking for a quick buck. Obeying the rules on the sign, he takes one vial of green paint, and pockets it as well.

One more item, a hot dog. Should be the simplest of items to gather. Guuah starts walking to one of the many street food vendors, but his steps were a good deal heavier than before.

–

Ain’t no one stealin’, ain’t no one trying to scam nobody. They’re just…tryin’ to survive.

Guuah thinks to himself as he walks down the path, past the various downtrodden citizens, and the omnipresent Darkfuse thugs making sure they stay in line. He now has a hotdog in hand, no condiments, and the meat used seems suspect.

The hell happened down here. I’ve seen poor folks but I ain’t seen a place that’s all shinin’ lights and spectacle, yet everyone blastin’ down here is miserable…

He starts making his way back to the Vatworks. He has everything he needs for Burk. After that, he’ll need to figure out what to do next.

Suddenly, a goblin child barges out from the building on his left side, giggling and carrying on in a carefree manner. A caretaker runs out after the child, a horrified expression on her face as he started running right into a group of Darkfuse, and has the audacity to collide into a goblin in black and red gear.

The burly goblin turns around, looking at the kid who crashed into him. “Oh, what have we here? Gotta brat who can’t see where they’re goin’.” He looks up at the caretaker, a sneer on his face. “Thought we told ya lot that your stupid brats ain’t allowed to just be runnin’ around.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, he just bolted out for just a second, we’ll get him right back in and–”

“Ohh, I think you all are having a bit of a discipline problem.” The goblin said, his voice dripping with malicious intent. “Maybe I can teach your brat here a few lessons ‘bout looking at where he’s goin’. You’d like that, little bud?”

The goblin child was now on his rear end, scooting back nervously and very much near tears. The goblin approaches slowly. One step at a time.

It ain’t my problem. Not part of the job.

Guuah is close by, hot dog in hand. Others are looking at him, and looking at the scene at hand.

It ain’t my problem. Not part of the job.

The Darkfuse goblin takes another step. And another, almost completely over the child.

It ain’t my problem. Not part of

“Hey.”

Guuah speaks up, taking steps towards the Darkfuse goon who immediately focuses on the new voice.

“What do you want? Get on walkin’, this don’t concern you.”

Guuah continues taking steps towards the Darkfuse group, particularly the goblin threatening the child. He drops the hot dog on the dusty ground as he approaches.

“Big guy, huh. Pickin’ on little kids? Why don’t you try someone ya own size?”

The child, realizing that he has a chance, quickly scampers to his feet and flees back into the building, the caretaker hesitating for a moment before slamming the door shut.

The Darkfuse rubs the back of his hand across his mouth, smirking. “You? Ain’t so big yourself, pal. If you’re lookin’ for a beating, though, me and the boys are always happy to oblige.”

Guuah shrugs, continuing his approach. “Ain’t lookin’ for a fight, just want you to leave folks alone.”

The Darkfuse goblin sneers once more. “I got this one, boys.” He starts running up and reaches back with his right hand, preparing a haymaker of a punch.

Guuah sees the attack coming from a mile away as he sidesteps, and in one swift motion withdraws the multi-barrel pistol, snapping it towards the goblin who blew by him, and pulls the trigger. A makeshift bullet, likely made out of random scrap, comes out of one of the barrels and lodges itself inside the goblins back.

Needless to say, a gunshot occurring in the middle of a populated area is enough of a reason for all hell to break loose.

Civilians start screaming and panicing, seeking cover as the Darkfuse goblin lets out a howl of pain, before falling to his knees, and then his face, motionless. Another Darkfuse, smaller than the first, withdraws a dagger and begins approaching Guuah, his dark eyes glinting with murderous intent.

“Watch out!”

What looks to be a firecracker is tossed between the two. After a short delay, it explodes, releasing a horrifingly loud noise and a blinding light! Guuah shields his eyes with his arm as he feels himself being dragged away by someone with force. His feet drag and stumble but he manages to stay upright.

As his vision returns and his hearing is, slowly, restored, he blinks to find himself back into the Vatworks, in front of Burk’s place. He felt the pressure on his arm released.

“What is wrong with you?! Are you tryin’ to get people killed?!”

A furious woman’s voice comes from his left as he sees a taller goblin woman. Any kind of appearance she may have is completely obscured by various mechanical devices. Her head is covered by a helmet with many clicking cogs and a visor that obscures her eyes, with her body clad in armor that also seems to be powered by clockwork machinery. On her hips are various bombs, vials, and things that Guuah can’t flat out recognize.

She seemed equipped for a one goblin war. The only thing visible was her face, which had an expression of flat out anger.

“Blastin’–OW. What was all that about? Who are ya?”

Guuah shakes his head, trying to clear the ringing in his ears as the woman continued. “Vezz, let’s just say I’m an associate of Burk, and YOU are the big dummy almost causing a flat out riot in the middle of Hovel Hill!” She puts her hands on her hips.

Guuah recoiled back a bit. “I’m sorry, I just…I couldn’t–”

“I ain’t saying you were wrong, but a little subtlety? Goes a long way?” Vezz huffs. “Whatever, let’s get inside before Darkfuse finds out where you went off to, last thing we need is R.I.F.F. chomping at us.”

She roughly pushes Guuah in the direction of Burk’s home, before placing her palm against the handle of the door. After a few moments, a mechanism sounds, and the door swings open. She then resumes shoving Guuah right on inside before closing it swiftly behind them.

Burk is, indeed, still sitting at the table where he last was. The pot of stew and his own bowl are empty. He smiles upon seeing the two enter. “Vezz, what a pleasant surprise. I see you brought with you a guppy struggling to swim in a big pond.”

Vezz shoves Guuah a bit to make way for herself. She takes off her helmet, a bright red mohawk popping out with her red eyes looking down at Burk. “Yeah. He shot a Darkfuse goon, middle of Hovel Hill. He was threatening a kid, and I guess that got our guest here all worked up.”

Burk leans back in the chair, grinning. “Our blank slate of a friend does have limits, after all. Good. Things proceed as they should.” He turns towards Guuah. “Leave those items on the table. I will have Vezz drop them by the Orphanage later. We have many matters to discuss.”

Guuah takes a deep breath, before placing the items on the table. “Gonna have to forgive me, dropped the hot dog.” After doing so, he places his palms on the table.

His head felt like a mess. A trillion thoughts were going through him. It has been a while since he let emotions override rationale. A long while. While he’s been off the front lines for quite some time, it isn’t like him to break like this.

But break he did, and now he’s left questioning everything he thought he knew about goblins. The people here, they are all suffering, and they are all trying to find a way to survive. Just like he was.

What made him think he was any better?

He continues leaning over the table, before looking up a Burk, his face wrinkled in thought.

“Burk, what the blastin’ hell happened here?”

–

“Died from the first shot, boss. Was 'bout to shank the guy, but someone threw a flashbang. Next thing I know, he’s gone.”

The dagger using goblin stands at the ready, giving his report to the R.I.F.F. forces that swarmed Hovel Hill upon catching word that a Darkfuse agent was killed.

“Am I hearing things right? Yous let a killer get away?”

One voice rises above the others, as the heavy thud of metallic boots sound. Black pigtails with purple highlights bounce as a woman, clad in a powered exoskeleton stands before the Darkfuse goblin.

“M-Miss Jaxxi, I didn’t know ya–”

“My job to stamp out any ‘rebellious’ citizens. How do yous think it makes me look when you’re sitting here, blabbling about how you let someone get away?”

The goblin suddenly seemed very, very afraid. “I, I couldn’t SEE, Miss Jaxxi, there–URK!”

Jaxxi reaches out a hand and grips the goblin’s throat firmly, lifting him into the air, seemingly with no effort at all.

“I don’t know who you are. You’re one of the many, many low ranking dogs that I really wouldn’t give the time of day to. I don’t think ‘patrolling the streets of Hovel Hill’ is a complicated task. And yet yous fail at even that.”

She squeezes a bit tighter on the goblin’s throat. His face starts to turn a bit blue. “You best have a description of this uppity individual.”

“Urk–J-Jaxxi-----He looked ‘bout middle aged, had a brown ponytail, wearin’ some junk and some garbage gun, he–”

Jaxxi dropped the goblin, who laid on his back panting for air. She puts a hand on her chin, and a wicked grin starts forming on her face.

“That’ll do. Get these civilians sorted out. This is now in my jurisdiction. Continue your ‘patrol’ or whatever yous do.”

A R.I.F.F. hobgoblin looks over at Jaxxi, confused. “Ain’t meaning to impose, Jaxxi, but you sure? This sounds like grunt work.”

Jaxxi’s grin only grows wider. “Nah. I told yous Golden Boy would be fun. This is our game now.” She grabs for her radio and presses a button.

“It’s me. Step up security around Hovel Hill. Be on the lookout of a middle aged gob with a brown ponytail. Looks like he just came out of The Heaps. Let me know immediately if yous see him.” She lets go of the button and places the radio back on her hip.

“Let’s go. We find Golden Boy, we find out where this little uprising is hiding. He wasn’t alone. And I’m sure I can get Golden Boy to squeal.”

Jaxxi starts leaving the scene with a swagger in her step, and her R.I.F.F. entourage follows.

If only they knew just how good they have it. These ungrateful gobs don’t realize how much worse it can get.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

Guuah is leaning over the kitchen table, looking intently at Burk who, as usual, is taking his time to speak. Vezz is leaning on a nearby wall next to the stove, arms crossed. Her face still seemed angry, but it was a more focus anger. She continued looking at the door, as if worried that someone may be trying to barge in.

Burk finally speaks.

“I am sure you have noticed the spectacle outside of here. Goblins digging through rubbish to find anything of value. Darkfuse patrols intimidating and oppressing anyone that dares to deviate from their established lane. Violence is a regular occurrence.”

A pause. “Undermine hasn’t ever been perfect, but since Gallywix and his Darkfuse established their rule, it has been significantly worse. The previous pillars of stability, the cartels, have been cowed into silence and acceptance. No one has the power to contest him or his methods.”

“Then press ya case for the folks comin’ down here. All them Alliance and Horde folk are–”

“This is a goblin problem, Guuah.” Burk firmly interrupts, a stark contrast to his usual methodical self. “I know full well how you on the surface handle disputes. A flood of violence. Wiping out entire civilizations. Innocent lives are an afterthought. Often a consequence.”

Burk gets to his feet, a bit shaky. “I do not trust the outsiders, and I certainly still have my doubts of you. Your recent actions, however.” Another pause. “Shows me you want to do the right thing.”

Guuah looks away, grimacing. This is already sounding like a recruitment pitch. “Ain’t my problem.” He looks back up. “I just don’t want to see folks gettin’ hurt.” He moves away from the table. “Once the outside folk get all situated y’know there’s gonna be a lot more fightin’. Ya already got the help ya lookin’ for.”

Burk again takes his time to respond, carefully sorting his thoughts and words out. “Say they succeed in routing the Darkfuse. What happens next? Will this become an outpost for whatever faction is dominant? Do you think they give even the slightest care of what happens to the people here?”

Burk scoffs. “We will still be subjugated by a king, be they Chrome or something else. We need the cartels back in power, and working together for the betterment of Undermine. Only then can we make progress towards easing the suffering the people go through. And, with the focus being on the outsiders, we as a small group can accomplish things that the massive armies cannot.”

Burk continues. “Vezz and I are only two goblins. We need more willing to take action. You, whether you wish to admit it or not, are a goblin of action. And we are after the same end goal. I ask that you join us.”

“And if I refuse?”

Vezz moves off the wall, cracking her knuckles under her machinated hands. Burk sighs. “We will need to make sure you cannot reveal anything to the Darkfuse should they get a hold of you. We took a great risk to take you in. We cannot take the risk of letting you tell them of us.”

History, again, seems to be repeating itself. Despite his best attempts he keeps finding himself wrapped back into a life of violence.

–

“I don’t wanna do it.”

Guuah sits in a comfy chair in the now very familiar desert that he finds himself trapped in. According to Erozion, he is near the end of his service. He has taken on many ‘jobs’, and despite various trials and complications, he has survived.

Against any and all odds.

Word eventually got out to the Bronze Dragonflight that they were harboring him in this elaborate prison. However, given the success of him and other mortals who have stumbled into their service, they have warmed up to the idea of allowing those willing to join up as Timewalkers.

As a sign of appreciation of Guuah sticking out his sentence, he has gained access to some finely crafted gear: Elaborate leather armor signifying his allegiance to the Bronze Flight is on his person, with just as fancy leather gloves and boots offering additional protection.

Perhaps the finest thing he owns is his long gun that he crafted himself, the RX-5000 “Moneyblaster”. Named after himself, it is a beautiful, slender shotgun specialized in launching high power slugs. It is modified internally with various modules to load and fire various ammo types to adapt to any situation he comes across. A finely crafted, well balanced weapon.

He was hoping to be able to utilize it on something that wasn’t what was just asked of him.

Ticki pouts. “C’monnn, Goo! I know you don’t like these tasks but you are the best around for this! This is all you!”

“Yeah. Great ya think all I’m good at is killin’ folks.”

His latest task: Infinite interference has been detected around the time Arthas makes the pivotal decision to purge the city of Stratholme. They are trying to hide the existence of the Plague, and therefore prevent Arthas from purging the city.

He, and others, are to venture to that period of time as a small group. They are to dispel the disguises hiding the Plagued grain, and assist the prince with his purging.

Which means killing innocent people.

There have been a few moments where Guuah thought the Infinites were in the right, and this was among them. Although he knew if they were successful all they currently know will be undone.

His personality has drastically changed while ‘doing his time’. He rarely shows any emotion to anything, things are in a black and white context: If it’s for the stability for the timeline, great. If not, deal with it.

Only protests like this one are one of the few signs that he’s still an actual person.

“I don’t care if Infinites are involved and I just so happen to be decent at killin’ them. I don’t wanna do it.”

Ticki cocks her hip, placing a hand on the raised bit. “I won’t pull the whole ‘you don’t have a choice’ card on you. I know you don’t like doing tasks like this. But it’s for the best! The future depends on it!”

“Future of more death and more blastin’ wars. Ain’t sure that’s much of a future.”

Ticki’s voice lowers from the usual positivity high pitch. “What motivates you, Goo? I know you aren’t just doing this because you have to anymore.”

Guuah takes a moment to think. “…I’m hopin’ for a golden future. A future where folks can just be happy and don’t have to do what I did. Killin’, stealin’, hurtin’ folks just to live for the next day. And then just doin’ it again. And again.”

He leans his head back against the chair he is sitting in. “I’m tired of fightin’. I’m tired of hurtin’ folks. I just want it to stop.”

Ticki relaxes her stance, her face devoid of any emotion. “What will you do when you are no longer shackled to this place? How will you bring about this future you dream of?”

“Haven’t really thought on it. Got nowhere to go. Ain’t any real point goin’ back to Tanaris.” He shrugs. “Ain’t like other goblins are after the same thing. Just greedier than the rest, and peace ain’t exactly profitable. Reckon I’d just keep doin’ what I’m doin’ now, provided ya would have me.”

Ticki stays silent for a bit, before giving a warm smile. “Then you shall remain in our service. Although I’m sure you know that–”

“I wanna make a deal with ya. I wanna be in a more observin’ role. Send me to places to see what folks are doin’, and I can report complications in. I’ll get involved if I gotta, but…I don’t wanna fight anymore. I ain’t sure that there golden future exists, but workin’ with ya’ll seems like the best bet.”

Ticki puts a hand to her chin. “I shall pass word to Erozion. Until then, please. We need you to help us. We can’t push for this golden future if the past is unraveled.”

Guuah huffs, pushing himself off the chair and standing upright. “Yeah. I’m goin’.”

He starts heading towards the swirling bronze portal. The feeling is certainly no longer alien to him. Atrocities for a better future. Even in the best of contexts, it just doesn’t sound right.

–

Fightin’ for a better future.

A golden future.

Burk remains standing as Guuah seemed lost in thought.

I shouldn’t even get involved. Goblins ain’t been anything good for me. It ain’t part of the job but…It ain’t nothin’ but hypocritical if folks are dyin’ in the streets and I’m willin’ to turn a blind eye.

“…Just tell me what I need to do.”

Burk smiles. Unlike the grins he was giving previously, this smile seemed much more genuine. “Wonderful.” Vezz huffs and relaxes herself, leaning against the wall once more.

“We have another recruit in mind. He’s an outstanding young goblin, named Rickie. Technical savant, if a bit on the nervous side. He is a demolitions expert and we will have need of him to strike at choice Darkfuse targets.”

“Sure. So get mechhead over there to bring 'em on over.”

Vezz snarls. “Hey! That’s ‘Vezz’ to you. Get it right or you’ll be saying it through a straw.”

Burk raises a hand to quiet Vezz down. “The problem is that he got himself wrapped into the business of a criminal cartel. An unofficial one. They do not like the Darkfuse interfering with their business. While I am not supportive of these cartels, we share common ground.”

“They do not want to be directly involved in what we are working towards. They fear if their business is brought to light they will be focused on next. So, you and Vezz are to go on my behalf and see what you can do to release Rickie from his debt bondage.”

Burk pauses. “I understand that working for a criminal cartel is less than appealing, but even criminals can bring some good, in their own roundabout way. Do what you two can.”

Vezz huffs and moves away from the wall once more. “Leave that deathtrap of a gun here. Don’t want you looking all unprofessional. Poor, sure. Stupid, absolutely. But not unprofessional.”

She moves her wrist up to her face and starts pressing a series of buttons. Her mechanical armor gives way as she is now clad in a top hat, monocle and a fancy black suit! Guuah glances carefully at the outfit. It seems to very faintly shimmer, but only if you look at it real, real close.

Vezz shrugs. “What, ain’t seen holographic illusions before? We’re heading to the Diamond Lounge. Casino and dance club, and gathering of some unpleasant gobs. I’ll be the big shot, you’ll be the poor indentured servant.”

Guuah blinks. “Thought ya told me to not look unprofessional.”

“Yeah. You look like you fit the role to a tee! We’re good to go.”

Vezz breaks out laughing as she yanks the door open and waits outside for Guuah, who grumbles to himself and proceeds to place the multi-barrel gun on the table, leaving himself unarmed once again.

Burk nods at Guuah, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out something made of cloth. A simple piece of headgear. “Throw this on. Your ponytail is the biggest thing that stands out on you, and I am sure Darkfuse will be looking for you. Avoid instigating trouble, and you should avoid detection.”

Guuah puts on the beanie hat. Black in color, it covered his ponytail which is now uncomfortably rolled up under it. It didn’t match his current attire of tattered leathers and a used up apron, in fact it made him somehow look worse.

“And Guuah? Thank you. I understand this is not your task, but your help…It is appreciated.”

Guuah says nothing, as he turns and makes his way out the door as well. Timewalker turned into some sort of freedom fighter. This isn’t exactly how he expected it to pan out.

But he can work with this.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

Guuah and Vezz make their way back through the Vatworks. While the newcomer to Undermine is still struggling with the scent of toxicity and scientific progress in the air, Vezz seems completely unbothered. In fact, she seems to relish in it.

“So what’s your story, new pal? Sure chose a bad time to take a vacation down here.” Vezz smiles back in Guuah. While she’s strutting forward with all the confidence in the world, complete with her holographic ensemble of top hat and suit, Guuah still is rocking his ‘just came out of the dumpster’ drip.

It looks as confident as he feels.

“Bit too long to mention. Important bit, came down here for a job, got interrupted and now…I don’t know.” He sighs. “I need a blastin’ moment just to think, but things just keep happenin’.”

“Important bit, sure. Not the interesting bit, though.” Vezz tilts her head towards Guuah as they walk. “Who’s your employer?”

“…Confiden–”

“Yeah, listen, pal.” Vezz stops and turns to put a hand on Guuah’s shoulder, stopping him as well. “You’re stuck with us, probably for a good, long while. We gonna work together, I gotta at least know who you are and what you’re all about.”

Guuah pauses. Timewalking taught him a lot of things, such has how even the simple action of exchanging information can have catastrophic consequences for the timeline. He always went to great lengths to keep his work a secret.

That said, having the only friends he has in this Light forsaken city not trusting him is far from ideal.

“…I’m a Timewalker.”

Vezz blinks a few times. “A what?”

“Timewalker.”

A few more blinks. “So you walk on a clock? The hell is a ‘timewalker’?”

Guuah grimaces. “Ain’t sure this is the place for this sorta conversation, Vezz. Let’s get this all ironed out and then I’ll tell ya.”

Vezz huffs, shrugging. “Gonna learn, Gooey, the whole ‘mysterious stranger’ act may work well in a picture book, not so well down here.” She lowers her hand from Guuah’s shoulder, before turning back around to continue walking northward.

Gooey. As if “Goo” wasn’t bad enough…

The two start making their way to Hovel Hill, the conversation coming to a stop.

–

Hovel Hill is certainly different from the last time Guuah visited the area. Darkfuse grunts are keeping the place locked down, asking various civilians questions about the recent shooting. Aerial units armed with automatic weapons and camera fly overhead, scanning for anyone matching the description given of the attacker.

The various newcomers from both the Alliance and Horde are starting to explore this area of the city. While some are accosted by the Darkfuse, it hasn’t broken out into all out violence. Yet.

Tensions are extremely high. Especially for Guuah. The two duck behind a wall upon seeing all the commotion.

“Vezz,” Guuah whispers. “they’re blastin’ everywhere. Lookin’ for me, I reckon…”

“Gee, gunshots attract attention, who knew?” Vezz hisses in response. “We have to get through, the Lounge is just down the way. Just stay cool, and say nothing.”

Vezz stands up and composes herself, adjusting her holographic top hat and yanks Guuah to his feet. Vezz starts up an exaggerated walk, as if she’s a big deal.

What in the blastin’ hell is she doing. She’s going to get folks lookin’ at us…"

A patrol, a male and female goblin certainly didn’t miss the fancy individual dragging. Clad in the usual Darkfuse colors, although their gear seems to be missing the fancy exoskeletons the R.I.F.F. was using.

“Hold up there!” The female raises a hand, scowling at the two. “This here area’s under curfew. Where you think you’re goin’?”

Vezz crosses her arms, scowling at the pair of Darkfuse grunts. “Well! How dare you two accost me, the great Vezzrino, one of Gallywix’s most prolific contributors to his glorious rule! The one paying your salary.”

The two Darkfuse look at each other. The male speaks up. “Uh, very sorry to bother you, uh, missus Vezzrino. Wasn’t aware you were a High Roller. We still gotta check, we’ll get in trouble with the bosses otherwise. Where you headin’ with this dirtbag?” He motions to Guuah.

“This one has HORRIBLY crossed a dear, very rich friend of mine. I am here to make sure this miserable being pays dearly for such treachery.” She puts a strong, almost comedic emphasis on nearly every word. “They are in the Diamond Lounge as we speak.”

“Well, if you needs an escort, we–”

“No need!” Vezz(rino) rapidly waves her hands. “I assure you, I have this well in hand, and I will be sure to personally inform Gallywix that you are doing a fantastic job keeping us safe.”

The female tilts her head. Something seemed off, but… “…Sorry again, ya’ll go on ahead, be quick now. Someone’s blastin’ and still on the loose.” The Darkfuse grunts nod and continue their patrol.

As soon as they’re a fair distance away, Vezz grabs Guuah’s wrist and briskly moves a bit further north, before opening a steel door and swiftly closing it behind them.

–

While the Gallagio casino is the go-to for individuals who have a strange phobia to their money and simply must get rid of it in the fastest way possible, the Diamond Lounge is for those who aren’t so well off.

A dusty, grimy place with a thin layer of smoke along the ceiling, it is the mecca of a number of social happenings for the individuals of Undermine, growing in sophistication as one climbs up higher. Dance floor, concerts, slots, card tables, it has a little something for just about everyone.

Most importantly, however, it is a great meeting place for those who indulge in less encouraged business enterprises. Due to it being public and all the exits being on the bottom floor only, individuals meet here confident that if anyone tries anything, it’s unlikely they will be leaving unscathed, if at all.

–

A line of goblins is the first thing Guuah sees as they venture into this new building. A receptionist is trying to check them in as quickly as possible. In just the next room, an audiophone is playing some snappy jazz music, which a variety of goblins are dancing and grooving to. Above, the frenzied sounds of gambling can be heard, through obnoxious slot machines and the pained cries of someone losing what was supposed to be a sure fire win in a card game.

“Stop dawdling, stand upright. Professional, now.” Vezz snaps Guuah out of his thoughts as the two are approached by a hobgoblin. The fellow is well dressed, wearing a dress shirt and black pants, with black shoes to match.

“Unless you got a reservation, get in line.” He says, bluntly.

Vezz tips her pretend top hat towards the hobgoblin, before reaching into a pocket in her suit and withdrawing a card. It has some sort of signature on it but Guuah couldn’t get a good look at it.

“We’re here on business, Binny. Think we’re expected.”

Binny takes a look at the card and grunts. “Top floor, right most card table.” He then steps aside, allowing the two free passage.

Vezz smiles. “Thanks, Bin. Talk later, okay?” She then yanks on Guuah’s arm and the two start walking towards the first flight of stairs, slipping between the dancing bodies.

The whole thing was quite a sight. While talk of dance studios was often brought up, there was never quite a place like this where people can just…dance. To music, no less.

Moving past the constantly clanking slot machines and up to the next floor, there was a proper stage and stands for others to sit and watch. There are some people sitting and conversing with one another but there is no one at the stage. Maybe a show is starting soon?

One more flight of stairs, and the two make a sharp right to a card table. On the opposite end there is a well dressed goblin, a more round fellow than most. He has a mustache that, upon closer inspection, is clearly fake. He wears a bright red suit with rather elaborate pauldrons, with overly slick black hair very neatly combed to the left side.

Next to him are two burly hobgoblins in the same black suits as Binny, but this time with the addition of a large firearm.

“Ahh, Vezz, my esteemed guest! Welcome, welcome. Please, sit!” He speaks with a very exaggerated tone, with that fake mustache wiggling and, at some points, nearly falling off. “Happy to see at least one of you dressed for the occasion.”

Vezz plops down on a chair with a thud, with Guuah more elaborately settling down. He glances at the two hobgoblins, before looking right at the ‘mustached’ goblin.

“Yeah, this chump couldn’t be bothered, flat out embarrassing if you ask me.” Vezz grins while Guuah rolls his eyes. “He’s alright, though.”

The slick goblin then turns to Guuah, with a grin also forming on his face. A real toothy one. “If that came from anyone other than Vezz, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He pauses. “I am Garlo Silverpin, the CEO of Silverpin Industries.”

Vezz also turns to Guuah. “They front by selling dishes and utensils, but really big on the ‘questionable’ weapon trade. Had a big hand in Azerite weapons back when it was all the rage.”

Guuah arches a brow at Vezz. He never was fond of those utilizing the very blood of Azeroth as a weapon. “Potent stuff.” He turns back to Garlo. “Guuah. I’m just a–hand for hire for Vezz, here. Helpin’ her for a favor she did me.”

Garlo’s grin never fades. “A pleasure, Guuah. I must say, however, that outfit is certainly what I would consider ‘low class.’” He motions to the beanie obscuring what’s left of Guuah’s hair. “Can you take that atrocity off, at least? I would like my eyes to not feel like they are being assaulted just by glancing at you.”

Before Guuah can speak, Vezz jumps in. “Oh, Gooey here has a real bad skin condition. He’s bald, so all them lights really get to his sensitive skin. You understand, right?”

“Now, hold on a–”

Guuah starts to interject before Garlo raises a hand. “No, I apologize. I had no idea you were stricken with such a condition! The fact it must come at the cost of any and all fashion sense is unfortunate.” He turns back to Vezz. “The old man is well, I presume?”

Vezz shrugs. “He’s getting by.”

Garlo hums as he leans back on his chair, crossing his arms. “Let’s get to business then. From what your little bird told me, you wish to free one Rickie Bottombarrel from his debt to me. It is quite a considerable debt, ten thousand gold.”

Vezz winces. “What the hell did he do with all that cash?”

“My understanding, some of it went to another party he seems to be in debt to. Rest was spent on an elaborate ‘out of debt’ party where it disappeared.” Garlo sighs. “My patience with Rickie has very much reached it’s end, so in order to have him pay off his debt, I sent him on a job. One I very much hoped he wouldn’t return from.”

Vezz leans forward. “Try to rub him out without getting your own hands dirty.”

Garlo nods. “He proved resourceful when he needed to be, but as you can imagine, I cannot tolerate that sort of fiscal irresponsibility when it is tied to my name. So, I sent him to infiltrate a Darkfuse supply depot to gather some Black Blood weapons.”

Guuah looked over Garlo as soon as Black Blood was mentioned. “Sure ya should be messin’ with that stuff? Downright dangerous.”

Garlo turns towards Guuah, a bit surprised. “So, you are a bit knowledgeable under that trash heap you call an outfit! As mentioned, we were sellers of various Azerite weaponry. Guns, bombs, guns that were also bombs…It proved to be a very lucrative business model. Black Blood seems to be very similar in many regards, going by how the Darkfuse utilize it.”

This is something Guuah didn’t consider. “They’re using it? In weapons? How?” Putting the Blood into a big caliber weapon is a good deal different from this ‘ascension’ business the Nerubians were obsessed with. And unlike the ascension process, anyone can point a gun.

Garlo smirks. “I’ll find out.” He then turns to Vezz. “Unfortunately, Rickie was not killed, but instead captured. Darkfuse are trying to milk him for any information he has. That includes me and my enterprise.” He sighs. “Retrieve him and bring back some samples of Black Blood weaponry for my engineers to work with. Then I will consider the debt paid and you can do whatever you want with that lowlife.”

Vezz frowns. “So you’re askin’ us to stomp into a Darkfuse depot and walk off with their fancy weapons? Sounds like you’re asking us to die in his stead.”

Garlo shrugs. “As you cannot pay the debt in full, that leaves me with no other option. As I respect you, and Burk, I will supply you with the finest non-Azerite equipment I have on hand. And, besides, you will have to be stopping by there anyway, no?”

Vezz huffs. “Guess so. Well, I accept! Gooey, go on and say you accept too.”

If I go through with this, there’s a strong chance Black Blood weaponry can spread. It’ll be Azerite all over again, but infinitely more dangerous. But…I ain’t got much of a choice.

“Sure.”

Garlo smiles. “It’s settled. We have an hour or two before ‘nightfall’ comes. I will prepare your equipment in the meantime. Why not relax and enjoy yourselves in this fine establishment in the meantime?” He motions to one of his hobgoblin minions. “I will gather for you when the time comes.”

Vezz nods, standing from the chair. She nods at Guuah, who also stands. “Yeah, we’ll be ready. Nice doing business, pal.” She smiles. “C’mon, Gooey, let’s hang out downstairs a bit.”

The two start to go back the way they came. Guuah had nothing but an uneasy feeling about the whole ordeal.

–

The two were now sitting at a bar across from the concert stage. There was more of a crowd than before. A show must be starting up.

Vezz is sipping a banana cocktail in a pineapple cup, with a little straw and umbrella inside. Guuah has a simple kaja’cola. He doesn’t like the stuff, but he likes alcohol even less. And now was certainly no time to be drunk.

“So, now that we got some together time for a bit,” Jezz grins in Guuah’s direction. “Spill. You said you’re a timewalker, whatever that is.”

Hell, was hoping she’d forget.

“Bronze Dragonflight brings in a bunch of plain folk to patrol the timeways and fix up anything messin’ it up. I’m one of 'em.”

Vezz blinks a few times, and then laughs. “You’re telling me we got a time cop stumbling down here?! And it’s YOU?!”

“Blastin’–not so loud!” Guuah looks around, nervously. None seem to be bothered by the exclamation. “Yeah, I guess. Been workin’ with the Bronze for…ain’t sure how long anymore.”

Vezz tilts her head. “So, what, you can go all 'round in time and do stuff? Why not just go back and stop Gallywix from ever doing what he’s doing now?”

“Ain’t that simple. Things in the past are set in stone, and need to stay that way. Some folks want to nudge somethin’, and that brings the whole stack of cards down.” He pauses. “They can’t really see the future all that clearly anymore, either. They just seen that Gallywix has to go.”

Vezz grins. “Well, think it’d be real nice just to rewind time and do it over again. Just in general, y’know? Go back and not repeat mistakes.” She takes a good sip of her cocktail. “So how’d a big fancy time cop like you get shoved into the Heaps like a nobody?”

Guuah paused. “I was rushin’. I ain’t a fan of bright lights, crowds or, to be frank with ya, goblins.” He sighs. “Wanted to get the job done and leave, but Jaxxi and her goons got the jump on me.”

Vezz blinks a bit, and takes another sip. “You don’t like goblins? But…you are a goblin. Short, green, looking stressed and like you gotta go to the restroom real bad at all times, that’s you. Well, maybe not that last bit.”

“I’ve seen some goblins do some things in my time. Hell.” He takes a drink off his cola. Orange Opocalypse. “Kicked me right outta Gadgetzan in my younger days. We just ain’t ever got along. Seeing this, though…”

His sour attitude towards goblinkind softened when he seen people just trying to get by. Making ends meet, one way or another. He didn’t know the stories behind the goblins he seen above ground. He simply attributed it to pure malice.

“I don’t like seein’ folks struggling.”

Vezz grins. “Well you sure chose a bad place to visit. While it ain’t always great, the cartels were doing fine working things out for the betterment of Undermine as a whole. Gallywix don’t care about none of that. If it makes his pockets bigger, the well being of goblins is just an expense to him.”

“Yeah. Left a bit of an impression above ground, too.” Guuah scoffs. “But, that’s me. Came to do a hit piece, got hit instead, and now scramblin’ to salvage something outta this whole mess.”

Vezz laughs again. “You made a pretty good pal in your short time here. Thinking Burk was about to kick you to the curb if you didn’t blast that Darkfuse.” She tilts her head. “Why you acting like a statue so often? Never seen you smile or really get emotional at all.”

Guuah sets down his can. He just looks at the ground. “Part of the job. I allow bad things to take place, and I blast anything gettin’ in the way of that. Ain’t no room to get emotional about it.”

Vezz hums. She sets down her drink as well. “Sheesh, don’t go moping around about it.” She grins, again putting her hand on Guuah’s shoulder. “You thought about not stressing about the past or the future, but just living in the now? Forgot about all these consequences for just a night and have a good time while you can?”

A confused look forms on Guuah’s face as Jezz mentions ‘living in the now’. He never considered it. He didn’t really often have a ‘now’ to live, save for when he’s in the middle of the job and his life is on the line.

Every deliberate action has a consequence, and fear of these consequences sure prevented him from being very social, or engaging in various social gatherings. That and the whole nature of his ‘job’ meant that he risked getting crushed by the guilt he felt for all he’s done.

He never, ever considered just…forgetting about it.

He’s distracted by his thinking as a cup, similar to Vezz’s, slides down his way. “C’mon. Stop thinking so damn much and just…do. Things will be sorted out later.”

Guuah looks at the cup. He can’t even remember the last time he had a proper drink. He takes the cup in hand, looking at it for a moment, before downing a gulp. A pretty heavy gulp, followed by a sharp recoil as the liquid burns on the way down.

“Peh, ugh! The hell ya put in this thing?!”

Vezz giggles. “You’re supposed to drink it from the straw, idiot!” She looks over at the stage. “Look, the show’s starting.”

There was quite a crowd gathered as a goblin woman strides on stage, with luminous golden hair and a bright red dress with silts on the sides. She grabs the microphone on stage.

“Goooood evening, Undermine! Know times are a bit rough right now, but like the shine of a coin, there’s always a light out there to be chasing!” A few other goblins pull a table containing a portable audiophone, placing it next to the woman. “We have some great beats for you all to groove to tonight, straight from DJ B.B. Rev himself!” They place a record on top of the audiophone, slowly lowering a needle down on it. “We have for you, the tidal wave hit, ‘Rolling Tides’!”

Music starts playing in the room: Fast paced jazz with a hint of pirate themes thrown in. The crowd stands up and starts dancing, throwing their bodies around in a rough estimation to the rhythm.

Vezz grins, and yanks Guuah’s arm once more. “C’mon! Let’s dance! Still got time to kill!”

“Dance? I ain’t got an idea how to–”

He didn’t get a chance to protest as the music soon drowned out his voice. Vezz starts busting out some rocking moves, holding the brim of her holographic top hat and shuffling her feet to the music.

“Don’t think, just do!” Is all she says.

This was proving difficult for Guuah. The whole concept of helping criminals secure Black Blood weapons is a dangerous thought, with all kinds of lasting consequences, not to mention him just openly stating why he’s here.

The music, and the commotion, however, made it impossible to do for long.

…I’ll try.

Before long, Guuah starts moving his body to the music as well, although his steps, and moves, are best described as ‘fishy’. He has zero idea how to dance.

“Hah, those have gotta be some of the worst moves I seen! But, keep at it, and you’ll be flowing just like yours truely!” Vezz grins as she keeps swaying her body around. Guuah tries to keep up best he can.

Living in the now, and deal with the consequences that may come later. It’s certainly a new mindset that he hasn’t ever considered. But even then the weight of everything seems to start easing up on him, if only a bit.

Maybe there’s something to this whole thing.

He does have many questions to ask Vezz, but he’ll make it a point to ask when time is less of an imposing factor, in more ways than one. For now, he dances, or more accurately flops around, with the other bodies on the floor.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

“See? Feeling better? Nothing like busting a move to get those thoughts out, you know?” Vezz plops down at the bar counter again, with Guuah joining her soon after. About an hour passed since their meeting with Garlo, and the show has ended. The other goblins were either socializing amongst themselves or venturing on to other activities.

“Yeah. I think so. Guess I do a lot of thinkin’ nowadays.”

“Well, you need to do more doing, you can think for years and nothing changes. And, hey, change isn’t always bad!” Vezz grins, leaning against the bar counter and stirring a straw in another pineapple cup, containing another banana cocktail.

“Reckon change ain’t done this place any favors.” Guuah orders another kaja’cola, mostly to try to sober himself up before the time comes for them to get to work. “What got you all wrapped up in this, anyway?”

Vezz hums a bit. “Well, wasn’t gonna be a long time gig. Came from a little place called Pinchwhistle Gearworks, small garage based in…well, middle of nowhere, really! Needed to get some supplies to help out the folks there, and only place that had them was Undermine. When I came here, seen Burk helping out some gobs with small things. He was struggling, though, old gob he is.”

Guuah takes a drink of his cola, listening. For some reason, Pinchwhistle Gearworks sounded real familiar, something involving another timeline? It seems so long ago, though. He remembers it being briefly mentioned by the Timewardens.

He dismisses the thought. Probably some goblin settlement he’s unaware of. It’s not like he took the time to know goblins real well, anyway.

“And, ever since then, I’ve been helping Burk with everything around here! It’s not exactly glamourous work, but we’re making things better, one step at a time. At least until Gally and his Darkfuse goons barged in.” She smiles and nods, taking a sip of her cocktail. “I’m helping Burk until Gally is nudged off his little seat of power, and then I gotta head on back. Got folks that need me there, too.” She breaks out into a grin. “Isn’t easy being so in demand!”

Guuah huffs. “Well, good on ya for wantin’ to help these gobs out. Gonna be honest, was the last thing on my mind…Now I ain’t too sure.”

“Well, listen, Gooey. I’m sure in the end a lot of gobs are gonna be real thankful for your help. And I bet that feels a lot better than doing some thankless, miserable job trying to fix up the past.” Vezz’s grin is still plastered on her face. “So, chin up! We’re helping out Undermine, and it’s gonna end up real swell. We’ll see how you feel after.”

Guuah pauses, before giving a smile, first he’s had ever since he got stuck down here. “Appreciate ya attitude, Vezz. Thinkin’ ya on to somethin’.”

Shortly after, one of the well dressed hobgoblins from earlier marches up to the two. “Garlo is ready for you. Gear is secured. Meet us downstairs.” Short and to the point. He then marches on downstairs.

Guuah looks to Vezz. “Reckon we should follow.”

They both start heading back downstairs to the main lobby.

–

In a corner of the dance floor, Garlo is waiting with his henchmen, one now holding a suitcase instead of a firearm.

“There you two are. It’s showtime. I got a driver to park you outside where you need to go.” He nods towards his suitcase carrying associate. “Two Darkfuse technician disguises, two XM-2 Blastmatics if things get loud, but if you are any good at your jobs, you’ll keep it nice and quiet.” He smiles. “If you aren’t good at your jobs, it won’t be my problem for long.”

Vezz scoffs, reaching for the suitcase. “Thanks for the pep talk, pal.” Taking it by the handle, she nods. “We’ll get changed up and roll on out.” She nods to Guuah, and they go to find a place to change.

Garlo turns to his associate. “Send Burk word that our agreement is a go. And for him to not contact us again. It’s only a matter of time before the Darkfuse catch on.” The hobgoblin grunts and sets out to accomplish his task.

“My whole business is on the line here, you old gob. Your friends better come through.”

–

“These are a bit tight, y’know. You sure we gotta go 'round in these?”

Guuah has the disguise on: A simple black and red outfit with a hat, brimmed in the front. Vezz has the same outfit on, but still has her mechanical armor on under, so it flat out looks out of place.

“Yeah? Imagine how I feel.” Vezz rolls her eyes. She grabs one of the XM-2 Blastmatics and with her free hand hands the other to Guuah, handle first.

A small handgun with a small caliber to match, it’s not exactly screaming firepower, but it’s compact and easy to hide. “Clip fed, five rounds. One extra clip to mess with. Don’t miss.”

Guuah takes the gun and holsters it. It’s nice to have a gun that looks like it will work beyond point blank range. “Got ya.”

Vezz smiles. “Truck around the corner. Let’s roll.” They step outside the Lounge and turn the corner where a truck, painted black with a very sloppy bit of red pain plopped on to give it that “Darkfuse” flavor. The truck has the same design as the typical hot rod goblins use, but has extra storage in the place of extra seats. Due to it being an inherently unstable ride, the top speed is much, much lower.

Guuah goes to look at the driver’s seat, where there is a…humanoid robot at the seat?

“Salutations! I am C8-A4FF-UR. Or for your FEEBLE MORTAL MINDS convenience Chaffy! I am programmed to get you safely to your INEVITABLE DEMISE destination!”

The machine seems to occasionally twitch while saying it’s somewhat ominous quips. It seems to be of gnomish design, only adding to the confusion.

“Oh, I heard about this one! Some gob made a prototype to help drive stuff around, and reversed engineered some gnome tech to have this thing do it! Don’t think it came out right, but it sure can drive. Works for anyone, given the coin is good.”

“Correct! Chaffy is legalized to BURN EXTREME AMOUNTS OF RUBBER safely drive on the streets of Undermine! As your client paid TOP MACAROON OR GOLD EQUIVALENT for the service, hop aboard!”

Guuah sighs. At this point he’s ready to just go with the flow. Make sense of it all later, if at all. “After you.”

“Aw, thanks!” Vezz grins. “You gotta sit in the back. Bit cramped back there.” She motions to the very limited back ‘seat’, which seems to be just floor. Thanks to the storage compartment there just isn’t a lot of room. Vezz plops down in the front seat, next to Chaffy.

With some difficulty, Guuah squeezes himself into the back seat, left standing. With a lurch, the truck, such as it is, begins to lurch forward.

–

Blackwater Marina is the cornerstone of the newly formed Blackwater Cartel, which is, legally, very different from the Blackwater Raiders. Lead by Baron Revilgaz, longtime runner of the infamous Booty Bay, they specialize in transportation of goods and services by sea. Need something transported over the water without the failings of magic or technology? You get it done by boat, and there’s no better seafarers.

Of course they still engage in a bit of piracy and smuggling, but it’s legal. No one has tried to contest it yet. They’ve also enjoyed success due to being the only nearby source of water in Undermine, and providing the only water-based park in the area. Many go there to enjoy the ‘sun’ and swim in the relatively clean water.

However, the Darkfuse made it a point to quickly take over the Marina, securing it for their own purposes. They use it for shipping and receiving, but it’s not known to where, or for who. It also serves as a storage depot for Black Blood, and tools utilizing it.

To say it’s heavily reinforced would be an understatement.

–

The truck stops right before a walled off area on the waterside, right past the Marina. “Here we are, Port Authority! Formerly of the Blackwater Cartel! Enjoy your SUFFERING stay!”

Chaffy hits a button on the wheel, opening the doors. Vezz hops out first, with Guuah struggling to get out of his seat right after. Both of them have their guns strapped to their hips, and the disguises are intact. Chaffy and their truck moves on before it goes around a corner near a scrapyard.

“Happy you can still move! Was a bit worried for a sec.” Vezz grins. “Let’s go over the plan. I’ve been here before Darkfuse took over. Depot is in the north most corner. We go in, look for the weapons, go on out. Less attention we gather, the better.”

Guuah nods. “What’s our cover story? Ain’t thinkin’ they just gonna let us pick up some merchandise and walk on out without questions.”

“Easy! We’re working on behalf of R.I.F.F. They need their weapons replaced. Now I know you’re already thinking, ‘Oh, but Vezz, what if they ain’t gonna buy that story and reckon they’re gonna know and’ nope, you stop that.”

She took the time to mimic Guuah’s voice while speaking. He was, indeed, starting to think that. “…Alright, go on.”

“You’re my technical assistant. Do not speak unless spoken to. Less you talk, the better, less I talk, the better. We’re not here to socialize.” Vezz nods and turns northward. There is a small opening for entry to the Port Authority. “Now sit up straight and act professional. Let’s go.”

Guuah nods, and the two move to the opening. Sure enough, right at the entrance were two Darkfuse agents. They seemed different from the grunts in Hovel Hill, though: They were fully clad in heavy duty armor, utilizing a wicked serrated blade and a bladed shield.

“Hold up!” One of them moves forward. His visage is obscured, but he has a deep, gruff voice. “Wasn’t told to expect company. Who are you and what are you here for?”

Vezz sighs, putting a hand on her hip. “Logistic support, request coming in from R.I.F.F. Weapon replacement. Some of their new recruits ended up losing their guns, can you believe it?” She rolls her eyes for emphasis. “Guess they’ll even recruit idiots nowadays.”

“Huh.” The guard turns to his associate, who gives a shrug. “Sounds in character, Jaxxi has been pushing hard for recruitment. Alright, but be snappy about it. We’re about to send another shipment out and he’s real uptight about it. All the recent activity has him nervous.” The guards nod and step aside.

Vexx nods in turn, and motions to Guuah, staying close. The Port Authority was sure busy, with barrels of a black and red substance being carried and loaded up. a sophisticated looking ship is in the harbor. There’s no water for it to go out to, though. Is it going…under?

The two get a few looks from the loaders and the other guards, but no one accosts them. Guuah leans in to whisper. “What about Rickie? We gotta find him here, too.”

Vezz mutters, “One step at a time.” They reach the depot, secured by a door. A sharp twist of the handle, and the door screeches open. It sounds like it hasn’t been oiled in decades.

They step inside the depot, which is relatively well lit. There is a waiting area with a radio blaring, and a receptionist sitting at a nearby desk. She seems mostly bored and is more busy filing her nails and messing with her hair than actually doing any work.

The screeching of the door was enough to get her attention, though. “Oh, uh, hi, yeah. Whaddya want?” The receptionist makes a scramble to look professional, including keeping her hand over the “ALARM” button, just in case.

Vezz smiles. “Yeah, here for weapon pick up for R.I.F.F.”

“Oh, sure, down the hallway, first right. Bunch of crates, can’t miss 'em.” The receptionist quickly relaxes and continues fussing about with her appearance as Vezz and Guuah look at each other and shrug.

Thankfully all the security seemed to be on the outside. Makes sense, as there’s only so many ways to get into the Port Authority, and brute force is usually quelled.

Following the instructions, they turn the corner and right down the way they see a few open boxes. Peering inside, each contain a variety of weapons: There is a boomball, a sword and a long barrel rifle, each heavily modified with what looks to be Black Blood storage units.

They’ve actually blastin’ done it. And that’s probably what they’re shippin’ around. It’s already too late.

Guuah grimaced. At least they found the weapons in question. Vezz nods. “Don’t think I have to remind you, but don’t try to use these. I have no idea how they work, and I don’t want that goop messing up my face.” She says as she grabs the bomb and sword.

Guuah grabs the long gun, wishing he still had his weapon of choice. Taking a closer look, the operation mechanism seems just like any other gun, but there’s extra buttons and levers, likely to control power levels ? He had half a mind to tinker with it, if there weren’t severe risks in doing so.

“I say job well done, let’s look for Rickie while it’s–”

“–why I told you to try blowing the lock!”

A high pitch voice is echoing down the hall a bit, in another passageway. Vezz and Guuah look at each other, before moving down to investigate. Entering another room right across from their own, they find a more dimly lit room with a chair, bench and a cage. The bench is unoccupied, but the cage is a different story.

“Rickie, look at what you’ve done now. You brought more of our esteemed Darkfuse friends. I sure love their company.”

The two turn to the cage, and they see a young goblin man, plopped down on what could be best described as Azeroth’s least comfortable looking bed. A simple mattress and sheet, and a pillow that looked much too thin to support much of anything, let alone a head. The goblin is clad in a worn leather cap with a feather in it, and dusty robes colored brown and green. He looks as if he just literally picked these items off the street. His face is unblemished, with a nose that seems to defy gravity, pointing upwards a bit. His build is a bit on the pudgier side.

“Aeromis, shush! Now isn’t the time! If you can’t think of anything, I need to think of a way to get my totem belt back so I can melt this lock off!”

“Rickie, don’t tell them what your belt actually does. As a captive, you don’t just willingly give information.” A small air elemental, apparently named Aeromis, is scolding the young goblin for his yappy mouth.

“Uh.” Guuah turns to Vezz. “Guess we found the right gob.” He turns back to Rickie. “Ya alright in there?”

“Wow! See, Aeromis? It’s already getting better! They’re asking me how I am and everything, sometimes you just have to play by the rules!” Rickie turns to the two on the other side of the cage. “I’m great! I’m starving, it’s really hot in here, and I really don’t want to be caged anymore. Can you let me out?”

Aeromis looks, or at least appears to look, at the newcomers. “Rickie. They’re not Darkfuse. The guards are more armed and armored, and they certainly do not care for your well being. Nor do I, but that is different.”

“Wh–Oh. Great! LET ME OUT OF HERE PLEASE.” Rickie grips the bars of the cage and tries to shake the door. “This is horrible, I’ll pay everything back, promise! I got a grand money making scheme as soon as I get out of here! Just let me out, please please please!”

Vezz snaps, “Calm down! Can’t get you out of here if you’re freaking out!” She sighs. “Thought you were a demolitions savant, why can’t you blow your way out of here yourself?”

Aeromis groans. “Great. Another one of Rickie’s ‘sale pitches’. Fabricated. He failed Sapper school and his explosive ‘expertise’ comes from his contract with the elements, which he stumbled upon.”

Guuah looks down at the small air elemental. “Aeromis, right? What are ya doin’ here?”

“I remind Rickie of the many debts he owes, including to us. He has fallen behind on all of his contracts with the elementals, and I am here to remind him of them until they are paid. This, unfortunately, requires him to be alive.”

Rickie quickly chimes in. “Aeromis is great! Gives me all the best ideas, and yeah, I can make things blow up real good! Fling a Molten Magma totem onto something, BAM! Things go up in smoke!”

“You twist my words for your mad schemes, and the only things that go up in smoke are your plans, Rickie.” Aeromis turns again to the two. “I pray you have a way to undo the lock. I am not powerful enough to dislodge it, and they confiscated Rickie’s utility totem belt.”

“Wait.” Vezz speaks up again. “Don’t that mean Rickie doesn’t have the ‘explosives’ he needs to be, y’know, explosive?”

“Wait, waitwaitwait, I can make new totems! I just need a bit of time and patience, and Aeromis can help me! Listen, you get me outta here, I’ll do whatever you want! For free! Usually I charge top coin!”

“Like you paid Garlo.” Vezz rolls her eyes. “Well, hold on to this, Guuah.” She hands the bomb to him, and he awkwardly holds it while holding the gun. She grips the sword with two hands. It’s the same serrated design that the guards outside were using. She hits a few buttons, and the edge starts to ooze with Black Blood.

“…Ya sure ya know what–”

“Shh.” Vezz responds. “No, but don’t think that matters.” Raising the blade, she slices once, and the blood-coated edge slices through the lock like a hot knife through butter. The steel of the door and the lock start to warp and dissolve, with the door effortlessly swinging open on it’s own.

“Blastin’ hell. It just melted it right off…” Guuah looks at the effect of the Black Blood weaponry. It wasn’t much, but even that tiny demonstration was very unnerving to him.

Vezz hits the same buttons and the blade reverts to normal, the blood returning to the storage units on the weapon. “If we didn’t have to turn these in, we could really make something outta these.” She sighs. “Well, there you go! We’ll make up a story as we go, now stick close to us, and be quiet.”

“Can we take a second to look for my totem belt? I bet it’s–”

“No. We need to leave, before–”

An ominous horn sounds in the distance. Even inside the building, the shuffling of movement is heard. Something splashing in the water is also heard, and then dead silence.

“…Stay quiet.” Vezz takes point, followed by Guuah, and then a very nervous Rickie and a chronically annoyed Aeromis.

The depot is now completely empty. The receptionist is gone. Judging by her nail filer being still at her desk and a brush haphazardly turned on it’s side, it seems she left in a hurry.

Guuah narrows his eyes. “Somethin’ ain’t right.”

Vezz nods. “We don’t have another way out, and being pinned in here isn’t any better. We have to keep going.” She looks back at Rickie. “Stay close. And keep your mouth shut.”

Vezz then swings the door open, leading back out to the Port Authority.

–

The authority is empty, and many of the lights have darkened. The shipment being prepared is missing, and the ship is gone. The workers and guards are nowhere to be seen.

“Hah, great! Let’s go before they come back, we’re home free!” Rickie hops in place a bit, excited. The other members of the party were less enthused.

They continue moving forward before a bright light shines down upon them, some sort of floodlight. They shield their eyes as a figure speaks overhead.

“Ohhh…A trio of troublemakers? The guards only mentioned two. And I see you have made a point to steal from our property. Tsk tsk, that ain’t gonna do.”

The voice was higher pitched, with a sinister tone to it. The light lowers, showing it is tied to a flying machine clad in Darkfuse colors. A figure is piloting the machine. He has slick silver hair, all comed to the left side, with silver eyes. He has a stubble of a beard forming, and a wicked smirk on his face. His ears are pointed straight up, much like the ears of an elf.

The rest of his body is obscured by the same exoskeleton Jaxxi was wearing: Black and red, with veins of Black Blood pumping through it.

“Oh no,” Vezz starts. “R.I.F.F.” She sneers at the figure, with Guuah closely behind. Rickie and Aeromis are keeping a very safe distance away.

“That’s right. Pointonis Sharpston the Third, Pointed Specialist of R.I.F.F., third in command under Jaxxi Hardrocker.” He jumps off of his flying machine, performing a flip and landing on his feet. He withdraws a dagger of traditional design, save for the flow of Black Blood along the edge. He holds it in an ice pick grip. “The guards went to check with us if we ordered something. Good thing they made it a point to do so. I had to come and see who was bold enough to blatantly steal from us, and get my own point across.”

He looks at the trio, with a smug look on his face. “And not only our weaponry, but our prisoners. This just won’t do. I’ll make a counter point.” He uses his free hand to snap his fingers. A dozen guards come from behind him, all clad in the same armor and weaponry. “Surrender and bring yourselves in for questioning, and you may get to keep your lives. I’ll also point out that you will be rewarded for any information you provide us as to who is leading this little revolution attempt you have stirring up.”

“The hell is he sayin’ ‘point’ so much?” Guuah asks Vezz. “It’s blastin’ annoying.” Vezz almost couldn’t help herself from laughing.

Rickie just seemed very concerned. “W-w-will you two do SOMETHING? They’re going to kill us! Or hurt us real bad! Either one isn’t great!”

“Hm.” Pointonis looks towards Guuah. “You may be the one Jaxxi herself made a point to bring in. Imagine she’ll give me a nice bonus to point out what success brings to the agents of R.I.F.F.”

He motions to the guards. “Get them.” The guards start moving forward to restrain the trio.

“Rickie, we’re near water. It may be prudent to use it to our advantage. You don’t need a totem if the element is literally there.”

“Yeah, but that’s water. That’s not nearly as cool as blowing something up.”

“Rickie,” Aeromis looks at the impeding guards. Both Vezz and Guuah step back, trying to formulate a plan. “It will be ‘cool’, just this once. I assure you.”

“Well…okay. Here goes!” Channeling his focus on the nearby body of water, he brings up a large pillar of the liquid! Straining with effort, he raises it up into the air, and brings it down upon the guards! The pillar of water crashes down with great force, much like a ton of bricks.

The dozen of guards were, in one fell swoop, knocked out. Rickie pants. “That…that’s really hard without my totems! I can’t keep doing that! That probably cost me a lot more money, too!”

Vezz huffs. “Think that’s good enough! Now we can team up on this pointy bozo!”

Pointonis sighs as he shakes the splash of water off of himself. A helmet slides over his face, and a red visor forms. Four mechanical arms sprout out from his back, each holding a throwing knife. “I see your point. But I have many to make as well.”

Guuah holds the long gun in his left hand, while reaching for his XM-2 Blastmatic with his right. It’s not the biggest gun, but it’s a gun he at least knows how to use. Vezz seems to have the sword ready, since she has an understanding of how it works, and Rickie is armed with the power of cowardice and maybe the power of water.

Conflict is imminent.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

Guuah isn’t a stranger to conflict. In fact it’s all he has ever known, but he is often much better prepared for it: His gun, his various traps and explosives, a proper suit of protective armor…All of that is missing. And he and his party are up against what looks to be a war machine. A war machine with a downright annoying personality.

Pointonis stands in wait as his flying machine hovers overhead, providing light to the dockside. The guards summoned to help are still incapacitated due to Rickie’s torrent, but it’s doubtful that was lethal force.

There’s gotta be a weak point. Always is.

Vezz steps ahead, re-activating the mechanism for the Black Blood to line the edge of her sword, which now shines with an ominous velvet and black. “I’ll hold his attention! You dorks find a way to crack through that thing!” Taking her free hand, she uses it to straight up rip off the disguise, her mechanized armor in plain view, and her face once again obscured by her visor. She starts charging to meet Pointonis head-on.

Guuah looks over to Rickie, who seemed outright terrified. “Snap outta it! Do some sorta elemental thing! Distract 'em!”

Rickie remained frozen in place. It’s hard to tell if he even heard the words. Aeromis speaks in his stead. “Rickie, I understand you are exhausted, but we must do something.”

Pointonis sighs. “The rabble are such a pointy thorn in our side. Time to pull them out.” With a swift flick, the mechanical arms hurl all four knives at the party, with two being sent to the now charging Vezz.

Vezz turns the blade sideways so that the side was in front of her, deflecting the two thrown her way, while Guuah dives out of the way of the one heading towards him. Rickie…remained as still as a statue.

“Blastin’…Rickie, MOVE!”

Rickie remained standing in place as the blade speeds towards his head. Aeromis, using whatever limited power it has, sends a weak gust of wind up at the blade, just enough to cause it to adjust course and skim the cheek of the petrified goblin.

This was enough for Rickie to snap out of his terrified stupor. “W-W-OW!” A trickle of blood drips down his cheek, the keen edge able to find at least some purchase. “W-we gotta do something!”

Aeromis sighs. “That would be a great idea, best one you’ve had in a long while.” Staying near the body of water, Rickie raises, and launches, globules of water in retaliation.

Pointonis raises his knife to greet the charging Vezz, his mechanical arms automatically ‘reloading’ the thrown knives, which were being sent through chutes back to the hands. The watery globes shatter uselessly against the black exoskeleton as a loud clang of blades can be heard meeting, Pointonis parrying Vezz’s overhead swing with the edge of his Black Blood empowered knife.

“Oh no. Hydration. I must point out that this exoskeleton is impervious to all of your known weaponry. You can’t hurt me, none of you.” The R.I.F.F. agent laughs as his left most mechanical arm rearms itself, and swings forward to try to jab Vezz in the side. She sees this coming, and rotates to the right to avoid the thrust, rearing back her blade to slash at the chest of the exoskeleton.

“Yeah? Stand still and let me test just how durable that tin suit is!” Vezz hisses, unable to see what the other two are doing. She has to maintain all her focus on the fight in front of her.

Guuah observes the exoskeleton. While there are some veins of Black Blood flowing outside of the exoskeleton, there’s no good shot at them. Upon seeing the mechanical arms, he starts to form an idea.

Ain’t no way those limbs are as armored as the core itself. Aim for the joints, and we can disarm him…Literally.

He sees a second arm being rearmed with a knife, and he realizes that Vezz will eventually be overwhelmed if nothing is done. Snapping his handgun forward, he takes his time to aim best he can for the wrist of the arm, and fires.

Pointonis deflects the slash at him, preparing to attack with all three limbs at once. “Ah, you are limited to two arms? I’ll point out the benefits of having–” CLANG! A slug slams into the wrist of his middle-left mechanical arm, causing the wrist to fly off, taking the hand and the blade with it.

Pointonis staggers back, the area now dripping with mechanical fluid and some some Black Blood from the sudden damage. “What?!” Suddenly, he’s not seeming so impervious.

Vezz notes the sudden lapse in focus, and in a swift vertical slice, she lops off the left most arm, severing it in one quick blow! The other two, however, are now rearmed and ready.

“Rrrgh…How DARE you!? I’ll give you a point, a point to an unmarked grave!!” Pointonis suddenly acts much more aggressively, swinging his knife and his two remaining arm at Vezz. The flurry is too much to evade or deflect, with Vezz trying the best she can but a throwing knife embeds itself into her lower left leg, piercing through the armor.

A cry of pain is heard as Vezz stumbles back. Every movement with the blade in her hurt, but it’s not like she’s given the opportunity to remove it at this time. Nor is it a good idea to. “I’m fine, keep at it!” She still stands upright, although her blade is now being hold in more of a defensive position.

Rickie, realizing that the glorified water gun he was using was proving ineffective started thinking of an idea. “Hey, Aeromis. Call in a favor for me and get the elements to let me chill some of this water.”

“Rickie, you understand that this is going to rack up even more debt. The ice elementals are particularly stingy…But I suppose that’s the least of our concerns.”

As Rickie raises another blob of water, this one twists into a frozen spike of ice after Aeromis, doing what elementals do, asks for this favor. With a dramatic hurl the spike of ice flings towards another of Pointonis’ mechanical arms. It impacts, and the weighty force of the impact was enough to rip the arm entirely off, ripping a hole in the back of his exoskeleton!

This time, it was less frustration, and more straight up pain. Pointonis howls as his attack becomes even more frenzied, almost desperate. He swings his Black Blood edged knife at Vezz, swinging wildly in an attempt to catch her. Vezz deflects and parries the best she can but she sure isn’t able to counterattack.

Realizing that the ranged participants are a serious problem, Pointonis hurls the knife towards Guuah once more, rapidly reloading it at this point to throw another at Rickie while maintaining his all out assault on Vezz.

Guuah turns his body and leans back, evading the thrown projectile. Seeing an opportunity to actually inflict some damage, Guuah aims his gun at the opening upon Pointonis’ back. He starts firing rapidly, quickly expending the four remaining rounds in the clip, which pops from the top of the gun by itself. He brings the spare clip he was given, and shoves it in, leaving him out of commission for a bit…But there may not be any need to rush.

Three of the rounds pierce the opening of the exoskeleton, with one bouncing harmlessly off the armor due to deviance. The gunshots were more than enough to knock Pointonis off balance, finding himself stumbling forward, flailing with his arms to find any form of purchase. He reaches out with a vicious slash towards Vezz’s throat, but misses just barely, before falling face first into the ground.

Seizing the opportunity, Vezz grips the sword in two hands, and plunges it right into the exposed opening in a decisive blow. A sharp gasp leaves the lips of the R.I.F.F. agent, as his remaining limbs, both mechanical and biological, fall flat. The Black Blood etched knife clatters to the ground.

“Hrk…egh…Guess that’s…a valid counterpoint…” Pointonis lets out a final gasp before all movement ceases.

Vezz retracts the sword as the other two run to her. Guuah looks down at the sight. A mess of blood and oil. Rickie was panting and swaying in place, looking like he was about to pass right out.

Vezz looks to the two. “C’mon, we have to go before–Nngh!” She winces as she went to take a step. The blade is still lodged into her leg, and it’s certainly making it’s presence known. “I can still move, just not exactly fast.”

Guuah holsters the handgun and uses his now free hand to prop Vezz up on her shoulder. He grunts as the weight of her equipment is certainly felt by him. “Has anyone told ya that outfit adds a few pounds on ya?”

Vezz hisses. “You’re lucky you’re helping, otherwise you’d be laying next to him.” She looks at Rickie. “Can you walk? We gotta go. Now.”

“Y-yeah! I’m just gonna sleep for the next ten thousand years when we’re gone! Let’s go let’s go let’s go!” Despite his exhaustion, Rickie is in no mood to stay, especially when he sees the guards start to stir.

The trio makes their way to the Port Authority entrance, where Chaffy and it’s ‘truck’ is waiting for them, engine running and all.

“Chaffy is pleased to see you return COVERED IN MECHANICAL GORE safe and sound! Please get in, and we will return to the Lounge!”

Guuah helps ease Vezz into the front seat, who is grimacing in pain. “Stupid punk doesn’t even know how to swing his stupid blades. Probably just harassed people for a living.” Once Guuah and Rickie are situated back into the cramped back seat she slams the door shut.

“Is the need for a disguise required anymore?” Chaffy inquires.

“NO. Just book it! Fast as you can!” Vezz hisses in response.

Chaffy’s normally bright yellow eyes flash red. “FINALLY.” With a press of a button, the oversized ‘truck’ portion of the vehicle falls away, showing the massive jet thruster hidden underneath the crude Darkfuse disguise. The powerful engine roars to life, as the vehicle bursts forward with violent haste!

All of the passengers are pressed back into their seats by the massive forces pressing on them as Chaffy speeds through the streets, laughing manically as it expertly drifts corners and takes narrow shortcuts.

Almost as soon as it began, it ends, with the ride screeching to a stop. “Chaffy has reached your destination! Thank you, and have a wonderful day! GET OUT.”

Vezz opens the passenger door and the three clamber out, with Guuah offering Vezz support once more. Rickie leans against the walls of the Lounge, seeming really out of it. Shortly after, Chaffy and his monster of a vehicle speeds off.

“…Looks like we weren’t followed. Not sure if any of 'em COULD.” Vezz huffs. “Get us inside. We can get this looked at after we chat with Garlo about a job well done.” She turns to Rickie. “You shouldn’t join in. Hate to have this victory ruined by you saying something stupid to Garlo and him just executing you on the spot.”

“No way! Garlo and I are great buds! I’m sure he will want to know that–”

“Rickie.” Aeromis sighs. “Let’s listen to sage advice. Please.”

Guuah, still wearing the disguise as his arms are still occupied, heads on in to the Lounge once more. These stairs are going to be a proper pain.

–

After a bit of time and much effort being spent, Guuah and Vezz manage to make it to the top floor of the Diamond Lounge once more. It’s still just as busy as it was when they left. Garlo and his one remaining hobgoblin henchman remained in wait.

“You’re back. And you’re back with the toys I requested. Hand them over, as agreed.” Garlo muses, using his right hand to tweak his fake mustache around and rub at the hairs.

Guuah places the long gun on the table, before fishing around for the piece of explosive ordinance in his pocket and places it next to the gun. “There. Reckon that’s the debt repaid, then?”

Garlo looks at Vezz, who still has the sword they secured. She is still using Guuah as support due to her wound. “That looks like part of their hardware. You’re not holding out on me, are you?”

Vezz smiles. “Sure ain’t. But, I’m keeping this one. Payment for injuries suffered on the job.” She motions to her leg, still impaled with the knife.

Garlo pauses, thinking on it. “…Fine. Swords are outdated tech, anyway. Not much market for those.” He looks over the two, leaning back in his chair. “Think that settles our business then. The weapons are mine, Rickie is, unfortunately, safe and sound, and the debt is settled.” He then narrows his gaze. “I sent word for Burk to not pester me again. Let it not be said that Garlo Silverpin doesn’t live up to his word.”

Vezz shrugs. “Great. Well, have fun with whatever you’re doing with those. Nice doing business.” She nudges Guuah to get moving back downstairs, but Garlo calls out.

“You. The raggedy fellow, Guuah. I remember those who do a job and do a job well. When you’re settled with whatever you’re doing with her, come find me. I can always use another heavy hand handing business.”

Guuah pauses. “Appreciate the offer. Ya have a good one, boss.” He then takes Vezz back down the stairs. “Let’s get that blastin’ thing looked at by someone.”

As the two descend back down the stairs, Garlo looks towards his other minion. The other has never returned. “What happened to that other mook? He should’ve been back long ago.”

–

“Please, ma’am, this is for your–”

“I KNOW it’s for my OWN GOOD, doesn’t mean I’m ENJOYING IT!”

Vezz is venting the pain the best way she knows how: Being loud. Lounge staff are tending to the wound, removing the knife, cleaning the area up and applying a ‘giga sanitizing bandage’ around the wound, using a mysterious agent to clean up the wound! The armor covering her leg was removed in order to gain access to the wound.

“Leave that on for a week. No intense movement for a day, preferably longer. Give it tie to heal.”

“Oh. I’m not going to do that. Just some of it.” Vezz grins. “Thanks, though.” She turns to Guuah. Rickie is nearby, helping himself to a ‘celebratory drink’. The drink certainly doesn’t look cheap. Aeromis’ pleas for Rickie to refrain from this behavior are ignored, per the usual.

Guuah sits next to Vezz, sighing. “That’s one less hurdle, then. Burk’ll be happy.” He turns to look at her. “What’s next?”

“There’s gonna be hell stirred up with us killing that R.I.F.F. Especially a ranking one.” Vezz sighs, leaning back as the pain starts to subside. "We take it easy for a bit, let heat die off, and plan where to strike next.’

“Sounds good.” Guuah leans back against his seat, relaxing. A lot of his worries seem to be melting away as they speak.

Vezz tilts her head at him. “You seem a lot more relaxed than you did before. Told you, easier if you just do instead of think. Thinking too much just makes you seem flat out dumb.”

Guuah responds with a grunt. “I’m still thinkin’.” He is thinking on what happens next, what the consequences of killing Pointonis are, and if they will remain hidden long enough to avoid any retaliation.

“…Reckon ya right, though. We’ll ride it out and go on from–”

A loud SLAM is heard as one of the doors on the ground floor is kicked right off it’s hinges, with a few unfortunate goblins caught in it’s way. This causes a sudden influx of panic as many of the Lounge-goers were fleeing for the closest exit, or frozen in absolute fear.

And that’s only for the ones on the first floor. The ones higher up didn’t have the luxury of choice.

“Attention, yous miserable scumsuckers of Undermine.” A feminine voice is heard, and heavy footsteps echo in the now dead silent resort. “Jaxxi Hardrocker, Giga-Bruiser of the Rapid Initiation Fuse Force. We’re here to perform a bit an investigation.” Behind her are a large number of Darkfuse agents, various grunts lying in wait.

Guuah recognized the voice immediately. He looks over to Vezz, who, for the first time he seen, looks afraid. Even Rickie stops his celebration to stumble to the two, concern slowly melting onto his otherwise sloshed face.

“We received reports of one of our agents being assassinated. And, according to this mook,” She reaches behind her, grabbing the hobgoblin sent out earlier by Garlo earlier by the collar of his suit, and violently hurling him a great distance into the wall of the Lounge. He fell, lifeless, clearly killed beforehand. “That the ones we think are responsible are hiding out here.”

More heavy footsteps can be heard, along with various whimpers and mutterings. “All yous had to do was stay in line, let Bossy Gally establish his order, but instead yous want to cause a problem. And, turns out, that’s a problem for me.” A pause. “All I want from yous is to hand over the treacherous rats, and give any info you have on the guy responsible for organizing this. The big rat, Burk, specifically.”

Another agonizing pause. “Failure to do so will be considered, under Gally’s rule, an act of sedition. And think you rats are smart enough to know what the punishment is for that.” A few more heavy footsteps. And the sound of something hitting something else with considerable force. The entire building shakes with the force of the impact.

The silence is eventually broken by a smaller goblin. “I ain’t dyin’ for this, I got a wife, kids, ain’t worth it. They’re all upstairs, all three of ‘em! Came in with some fancy lookin’ tech!”

Silence, and the sound of multiple footsteps can be heard, storming upstairs.

Vezz looks to the two in a panic. “We have to get out of here! We can’t fight off that many!”

“Go where? There ain’t any other entrances, and ain’t exactly in the business of flyin’!”

Looking ahead, there is a small crack leading to the roof of the Lounge. There’s absolutely nothing leading back to the ground, save for a very lengthy vertical drop.

“We’ll work it out from there! Rickie, c’mon!” Vezz motions to the shaman goblin, who seemed to be out of it due to his drink of choice. Aeromis was hovering close to him.

“Oh, we’res going on a roofventure! I love roofs! They do roof things!” Rickle stumbles and fits through the opening, with Guuah helping Vezz through before helping himself. Now on the roof of the Lounge, they look around for something, anything to use as a way down.

“We can’t just climb the walls, they’ll just be waiting for us on our way down. Would test my luck with a jump, but not on a bum leg…”

“Good thing we gave up all that blastin’ weaponry. There’s gotta be something…”

Time is not on their side as the shadows of the grunts start becoming more clear against the lounge wall. Then, Aeromis speaks up.

“I shall provide you with the last of my energy. The winds should propel you down safely from this height. This will, of course, cause me to dissipate, but Rickie isn’t going to repay his debts if he’s dead.”

Guuah looks over at Aeromis. “Well, I ain’t exactly an expert on elemental stuff, but if ya think it’ll help, do it!” Vezz nods, her focus on how, exactly, to get back to Burk’s without R.I.F.F. or Jaxxi nipping at their heels.

Rickie speaks up, his voice a bit slurred. “Ohh, he’s just being all dramatic and stuff! Aeromis will be coming back in no time. Trust me, I tried to get ridda it a whole bunch of times!”

Aeromis sighs. “Much to my eternal dismay.” With that, Aeromis uses the last of it’s power to place an enchantment on the three, before it vanishes into thin air. Although, given how they were speaking it seems like it’s departure will be temporary. Elementals have a hard time actually dying.

Guuah looks behind him. They’re almost up on their floor now. “Ya two, jump over to Burk’s. I’ll throw ‘em off, goin’ a different way.”

Vezz snaps, “Hell if you’re doing that! You’re coming with us.” Rickie moves over next to Vezz, seemingly in line with this plan.

“Ya don’t think three gobs floatin’ down to earth ain’t gonna catch eyes? Trust me, it’ll give ya time to get back, and ya got the important thing in tow.” Guuah grits his teeth. “I’ll manage.”

Vezz was very much prepared to argue, but the grunts were in line of sight now, and they very much seen the three of them. They started clamoring up through the small gap. “…You better know what you’re doing.” With that, she takes Rickie’s arm and forcefully jumps towards the Vatworks. The elemental’s blessing doing it’s job as they slowly glide downards.

Guuah makes a running jump and aims for the alleyways of Hovel Hill before the grunts can join him on the rooftops. If they catch sight of him, he can at least buy the two of them more time.

–

Slowly, he lands on his feet. He’s not entirely sure where he is, but it’s better than certain death, or worse. It seems similar to the damp alleyways he visited when he first came to Undermine.

He looks up. What little he can make of the ‘sky’, he can see the pillars of fumes. Surely that leads back to the Vatworks.

Right, let’s head back. We’ll sort this all out–

A loud, thundering CRASH rings out before him. The shockwave makes him recoil back and shield his face, bracing himself. As the sensation fades, he looks up to see a very familiar looking face, complete with two black pigtails tipped in purple highlighter, and the works when it came to make up.

She has what is best described as a sadistic smile on her face.

“Jaxxi?! How…?” Guuah immediately reaches for his handgun, withdrawing it and aiming it right at Jaxxi’s face. She doesn’t even flinch. She cocks her hip and places a hand on the raised bit as she stares right at him.

“Well, been a bit, Golden Boy! See yous got yourself all acclimated, huh?” She takes a few steps forward, with Guuah taking some back in return. “Surprised? I’m faster than yous think. That’s what X-51 XTREME class thrusters will do. And that is just a fraction of what’s crammed into this bad boy.”

Guuah keeps his eyes on her, hunched over and ready for conflict. “Ya should’ve offed me when ya had the chance. Gonna find things are a lot different now that I ain’t wrapped up.”

Jaxxi breaks out into a full fledged grin. “Yeah? Look at you! Got brought in by a bunch of rats, managed to kill off Pointy or whatever he called himself, and now you’re a big shot! Bet you’re all hyped up now, huh? You’re gonna swoop in here and fix Undermine right up!”

Guuah looked a bit confused. “Ya don’t seem so caught up on missin’, what, ya third in command?”

“That’s because I’m not, Golden Boy. He was able to worm his way into R.I.F.F. due to one of Gally’s big spenders putting in a good word. I didn’t want him, he was entirely useless, but sometimes money is stronger than merit. Still, figured he’d be enough for yous and your pals.” Jaxxi shrugs. “The ‘third in command’ thing is something he just made up. There is only one in command, and it’s me.”

Jaxxi continues stomping forward. “Yous have no idea of the bigger picture, Golden Boy. Yous think my methods are rough? Yous think we’re just big bullies pushing around the other gobs here? If gobs simply followed orders, this whole thing would be a lot easier.”

Guuah sneers. “Ya ‘orders’ are gettin’ a bunch of innocent folks hurt. I ain’t willin’ to let that continue unchecked.”

Guuah then suddenly notices he’s against a wall. Jaxxi wastes no time, thrusting forward at extreme speeds and throwing a turbocharged punch right into Guuah’s gut! While his reaction time is exceptional, even he has no way to react to that sort of speed.

“Hrk!” The pain from the impact was overwhelming, with his eyes opening wide and spittle flying out of his mouth. Jaxxi simply uses her other hand to grip Guuah by the neck, and fling him with great force into another nearby wall.

The fight was already over, the gun clatters to the ground as Guuah falls face first into the slimy alleyway. He just barely can get his arms under himself to start trying to prop himself back up.

Jaxxi lets out a hearty guffaw at the display. “Oh, what’s that, Golden Boy? Yous ain’t such a big shot now? What’s wrong?” She stomps her way over to the prone Guuah, giving him a sharp kick into the side to plant him right back into the ground. Jaxxi promptly places a boot right upon his back, looking down at him with a sneer on her face.

“We’re bringing big changes to Undermine. We’re gonna have to break a few eggs to make a better omelet. Yous think things were good before? Nah. Not one bit.” She digs the heel of her boot into Guuah’s back, causing him to cry out in pain. “Bossy Gally’s got the power, and the money, to fix all this right up if these gobs would just give him a chance.”

“Hrk…Pfh, yeah. Like the blastin’…Horde did? Like Bilgewater did? Guy ain’t exactly prime cut…” Guuah spits out his response, he sure isn’t able to do much else.

“…Yeah. Would’ve preferred someone else, to be honest with yous,” She huffs. “but I’ll take a flawed order over absolute chaos. You rats have no idea what kind of damage a big revolution will cause.” She steps off of his back, and leans down to rip the beanie off of his head, exposing his ponytail, and yanking him right up by it.

“I don’t got time to play with yous anymore. Tell me where Burk is, and I’ll let yous go. I’ll even give yous permission to leave Undermine. Yous can take your big shot self and keep on being a big shot where yous belong. Which ain’t here.”

Through everything in his body throbbing in pain, he did consider the option of leaving. Of letting the others handle this. Of giving up and returning to the Timeways, reporting his failure.

Then he thinks of all the suffering he’s seen. Gobs just trying to get by. Gobs scraping whatever they can put together to make things a little better.

He thinks of the kid gob he ran into, and just mindlessly dancing in the Lounge.

There has to be a better way…but the way Jaxxi is proposing, it’s not it. Not just because Gallywix lives, but because of the oppression Undermine will be subject to.

Ain’t part of the job…But it’s worth fighting for.

Don’t think. Just do.

“Get. The blastin’ hell. OFF MY HAIR!” Using his raised position, Guuah sends the toe of his boot right into Jaxxi’s exposed face, crunching right into her nose! She staggers back, letting go of Guuah’s ponytail. He falls to the ground, into a kneeling position. While he struggles to get back to his feet, Jaxxi blinks a few times at him, before breaking out into her grin once more.

“Hahaha…Golden Boy has some fangs, after all! Wouldn’t be any fun if yous didn’t push back.” She slams a fist into an open palm, a pulse of electricity radiating from her exoskeleton. “We’ll see how snappy yous are when I beat the answer out of yous.”

I can’t fight her, not like this. I gotta get out of here, but how…I ain’t outrunning that.

Guuah is up on his feet, although not exactly steady. He’s panting and exhausted, and he’s certainly feeling the distinct helplessness of being unarmed. He can hear Jaxxi’s thrusters revving back up again. If she charges at him, there’s not much he can do about it.

Just then, he hears the fluttering of wings overhead. He hears mechanical whirring and a loud screech. Then, a high power plasma beam being shot from the sky towards Jaxxi! It explodes in front of her, driving her back with her raising her arms in a defensive position. She deploys her helmet and visor, suddenly finding herself under fire from an unknown source.

Guuah looks up. He sees the familiar whelpling with a giant clock embedded into it’s chest.

“Ticker! Ya alive!” Guuah looks up and smiles as his prototype hatchling provides some covering fire. He feared it met it’s demise when Mobius 2 crashed, and just didn’t have the time to process it. It somehow found it’s way here, probably looking for him.

Ticker chirps in response, heavy amounts of steam being vented out of it after it’s plasma shot. It quickly swoops down and starts dragging Guuah away from the conflict, encouraging him to flee while Jaxxi is distracted. Feeling that kind of second wind one gets when their life is on the line, Guuah flees with the rest of his strength towards the Vatworks.

“Grrrah!” Jaxxi charges full tilt through the dust and smoke caused by the plasma blast, only to be charging right into a wall, leaving a deep imprint into the building. Upon hitting nothing else, she starts to activate her thrusters when she receives a radio distress call.

“WHAT?! I am busy here.” Jaxxi responds with barely retained fury.

“Jaxxi! The outsiders, they’re striking out in full force! All of them! There’s something goin’ on behind the scenes, but we’re having fights with them left and right!”

She hisses. There’s too much on the line to spend time chasing one goblin. “Reinforce our groups! We have to maintain control of the city or those rats will start taking over! Keep your focus on them, these little rats are mine.”

She activates her thrusters and starts flying back to establish some form of control over her forces. The outsiders was a cause for concern, but she didn’t expect them to get fully involved.

Despite this, her number one priority remains the capture of Burk, and to teach Golden Boy a lesson. Nobody hits her face and lives to tell the tale after.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

Things are changing at a rapid pace down in Undermine. Just a bit ago, it seemed that the Darkfuse had the city completely under lockdown, but the outsiders, guided by Gazlowe, Renzik and others, have started pushing back. While their reasons differ, it seems many are united against a singular enemy.

A portion of Jaxxi’s R.I.F.F. forces are left reinforcing the key areas of their control, with an increase of Darkfuse all throughout the city. Open conflict is commonplace, with those unable or unwilling to defend themselves looking for protection from it all.

Despite the growing chaos and violence, however, a new feeling begins to rise up, one not felt in the city in a good while: Hope.

–

“BLASTIN’ HELL! Ya gotta push it so blastin’ hard?!”

“Because your stupid mostly bald self went and got punched by a militarized exoskeleton! You’re lucky you have ribs to even fix!”

Guuah is sitting on a chair, leaning backwards and in all manners of pain as Vezz is trying to perform any kind of first aid. Several ribs are broken, in addition to a lot of nasty bruising. A white wrap is around his forehead, securing a bag of ice against the back of his skull. He is topless, with multiple bandages wrapped around him.

Vezz has her red clockwork armor back on, obscuring the wound she suffered. Ticker clicks a few times, perched on the back side of the chair. While incapable of showing an emotion, it somehow seems concerned for Guuah’s well being.

Rickie is busing himself in Burk’s small hovel, looking over the various tomes and pictures scattered in the kitchen area. A small gust of air is hovering near him, possibly signaling Aeromis’ return.

“Just what were you thinking?! Jaxxi could’ve just killed you!” Vezz snarls. “Lucky you got your little dragon…thing there!”

“It has a name, y’know. Ticker.” Guuah hisses. Even simply wiggling in his seat flat out hurt. “Made 'em myself. Thought I lost 'em for a bit…” He turns to Ticker, who screeches in response.

“Alright, great, stop changing the subject! You could’ve died several times over, and–”

“That’s enough, Vezz. I think the lesson has been very well learned. And you all did return safely.”

Burk emerges from the bedroom, still clad in his oversized hat and robes. “I think instead of your reprimanding, perhaps some praise is deserved for Guuah’s actions.”

Vezz grumbles and looks down at Guuah. “…Yeah, yeah. You did fine. And know you didn’t have to carry me around while my leg was messed up…” A pause. “Fine! You saved my life! Is that good enough?”

Guuah chuckles. “Reckon it’s better than gettin’ slammed more than I was.”

Burk then turns up to Rickie, pouring over the tomes on display. “I see our demolitions expert is here in one piece.”

Rickie turns towards Burk, smiling brightly. “Yeah! That’s me! Best demoshamanist around! No one better!”

“Reckon that’s 'cause no other ones exist…” Guuah scoffs, wincing in pain from the action.

“Doesn’t take away from the fact! Aeromis would agree! When…he comes back…” Rickie sighs. “But I lost my totem belt. I don’t have a way to conjure the magma I need to blow things up, or a fire elemental. Until I can create and bind new ones, I can’t destroy much.”

Burk smiles under his wide brimmed hat. “Which brings me to my next task.” He puts his hands behind his back, pacing a big. “It is unfortunate what fell upon the Lounge and Garlo, but he knew the risks. Despite his words, I believe he wanted to see Undermine free of this oppression as much as I do.” He then turns to the group. “We are going to lend a helping hand to the people of Undermine with some various chores. Seeing how two of you are currently in no position to fight,” He motions to Guuah and Vezz. “And one of you is practically unarmed,” He then motions to Rickie. “We require resources.”

Rickie looked confused. “What do you mean? That doesn’t sound like a very high paying job! It just sounds like more work!”

Burk’s smile remains on his face. “And work it is. With the attention now split with the outsiders encroaching upon Darkfuse held areas, we can operate openly. You three are to go about the city and help with various chores. Not only will this allow us access to whatever resources the various vendors and workers have. With it, we can craft our own equipment and, in regards to you, Rickie, a new totem belt for you to utilize.”

Rickie crosses his arms, a scowl crawling upon his face. “I haven’t even agreed to work with you! Your two helpers here? Awfully bossy! And this isn’t even going to pay anything?!” He shakes his head. “No! Nope! No sirree, you’re on your own! I’m away from the Darkfuse, and that’s great but no thanks!”

Vezz turns to Rickie, growling. “You ungrateful–Oww…” Her turning caused her leg to buckle a bit. Guuah seemed displeased with Rickie as well, frowning at his response.

Burk, however, is still just smiling. “I feared you would say that.” He reaches into his robes and pulls out a tome. “I did notice you looking at my little library. I managed to find this little piece.” He extends the tome to Rickie, who reaches forward and takes it. A simple grey book, it is titled, “The Negotiation And Application Of Elemental Contracts (And How To Get The Most Out Of Them)”.

Rickie arches an eyebrow. “How did you–”

“Your money issues are well known by this point, Rickie. This will help with you getting a bit of an upper hand on the elements you utilize so frequently.” Burk nods. “You will also have a safe place to reconstruct your totems, once you gather what you need. With the fighting now happening outside these doors, I trust you understand the value of what I am offering.”

Rickie’s expression starts to warm right back up. “Well, great! I love free real estate! And free books! Wow, this is great.” He nods. “Alright! I’ll help you with blowing up whatever, but when we’re done, I have to start making some cash! It’s important for all the parties and women I’m going to impress!” He pauses. “And…debt management, I suppose…”

Burk claps his hands lightly. “Then it is settled. Let us delegate our tasks.” He turns to Rickie. “As you are the most physically able at this time, venture to The Heaps. We have several who are going through scrap piles and require sorting it out. There will be lifting and shoveling involved. We will be rewarded with metal scrap that I am certain these two can utilize.”

Rickie nods. “Physical labor is gross, but I’ll do it!”

Burk turns to Vezz. “The Demolition Dome is asking for some assistance with arena prep. As you tend to be attracted to that sort of attention, I figured some light work with the various bots and weaponry will suit you well. We require raw materials for weaponry. I’m sure Guuah will be appreciative of it, as well.”

Vezz grins. “You got it, boss! If I’m going to be taking it easy, at least I can tune up things to really bring the pain!”

Burk finally turns to Guuah. “I would like a word alone with Guuah, so if you two would, please begin immediately. Return by the end of the day, and we will sort through what we have.”

Vezz hobbles a bit before forcing herself to walk more slowly than usual, putting a hand on Rickie’s shoulder and shoving him towards the door, much like she did with Guuah earlier. “Another newbie to drag around! Let’s go!” The two venture out into Undermine shortly after.

Burk looks down to Guuah, who meets his gaze. “You had absolutely no obligation to do what you did. Giving us up to R.I.F.F. would grant you freedom. All it would cost is my life. Possibly Vezz’s as well.” He smiles. “To you, I’m sure that is not a great consequence.”

Guuah furrows his brow. Burk is right: Given the current state of things his job is practically done. Let the outsiders finish the job, rest falls into place without his intervention. Back to the Timeways to await his next assignment. Isolate himself once again. Two lives are easily exchangeable for a stable timeline.

But it’s not right. And he’s sick and tired of doing things not because they are right or wrong, but because ‘that’s how they should be’. How is that making a better future? What good is a ‘better future’ if good people have to die in exchange?

There are many moments during his service that he questioned if he was doing the right thing. Not that he had anything else to focus his energy on. No other place to really call home.

Maybe he can start one here. Maybe he can finally do what he thinks is right. Not for the timeline, not for any greater power. Just because it feels like the right thing to do.

“You really can’t help but consider every possible outcome, can you?” Burk chuckles. He can tell that Guuah’s thoughts are churning.

“…When ya been spendin’ who knows how long thinkin’ about how even the littlest action can have all sorts of ripplin’ effects, guess it can’t be helped.” He sighs. “Things are gonna get worse before they get better…But reckon ya already know this.”

Burk nods. He turns to face the wall. “What matters is what comes after. Undermine was once a strong, free place. It will be so once again.”

Guuah grunts, adjusting himself in his chair. Ticker screeches, as it telling him to be careful. “Just what is your stake in this big ol’ game, Burk? Ya ain’t doin’ this for fun. Sure ain’t doin’ it for profit. Not for glory, not for power…Nothin’.” He pauses. “Even the most givin’ soul ain’t so generous.”

Burk chuckles once more. “I promised a friend that I would use my talents for the betterment of goblinkind.” He hesitates. Formulating his words, per usual. “Consider it a debt I owe.”

“Yeah, but ya can do that without…this, can’t ya? Hidin’ away, doin’ things in the shadows?”

Burk again hesitates, before he slowly reaches for his hat, slowly lifting it from his head. He then turns to face Guuah.

His face is horrifically deformed: His skin warped and twisted as if it was stretched out. His eyes were mismatched, one larger than the other, with the left one lazily looking downwards at all times. Terrible, deep scars line all across his face. His color is pale, as if the life was drained from his body.

“Perhaps I do not wish to be seen.”

“Blastin’…” Guuah struggles to find his words. “…I’m–”

“Please.” Burk waves a hand. “I am not looking for sympathy. Perhaps your assumptions when you first arrived are not entirely inaccurate.” A pause. “The least I can do is make things better. At the absolute least.”

Guuah frowns. It doesn’t feel right to press Burk on his past. “…Think we got some common ground, after all.” He grunts, slowly picking himself back up to his feet. “I wanna help. Just tell me what I gotta do.”

Burk smiles once more. “Your help is appreciated, sincerely.” He places his wide brimmed hat back on, obscuring his features once more. “As you are in little shape to perform any physical labor, you are to help various areas around the city with less strenuous tasks.”

Guuah nods. “Got it. Where should I be headin’?”

“Well. That is up to you. For us to be successful, the goblins require focus, and that requires resolving whatever issues they may be having. The Darkfuse has made life hard for many, and a helping hand is always appreciated.” He looks to Ticker. “Your companion may be of help, as well.”

Guuah thinks on this. This isn’t exactly in his wheelhouse…But he’ll try. “I’ll do what I can.”

Burk smiles once more. “And I can not ask for anything more. Oh, before you go. I have a gift for you in the back room.” Another pause. “The Darkfuse are very well aware of you, and will attack you on sight. We cannot have you venture out unprepared.”

Guuah tilts his head, confused. “Not that I’m lookin’ for a scrap, given how I’m feelin’, but think I see ya point…”

“Go on and change. Then you can get started.”

Guuah starts moving to the back bedroom once more, with Ticker fluttering close behind.

–

It ain’t exactly modern, but it’ll do.

Guuah emerges from the back bedroom, clad in blue eel leather armor. While eel leather is usually soft, the electrified properties of the eel has rendered it quite tough. Pauldrons made out of scrap metal line his shoulders, and he has worn, yet very serviceable, leather boots on his feet.

On his back is a long barreled shotgun. It’s of older make, but it looks well made and cared for. Semi automatic, but must be reloaded manually. The word ‘Liberation’ is engraved on the barrel.

A surge of confidence somewhat overrides the amount of pain his body is feeling. Properly armed and armored, he can stand on his own two feet against the Darkfuse.

Burk smiles. “You look like a brand new goblin, Guuah. I’m sure you will leave quite an impression when you offer others a helping hand.”

Guuah smiles right back. “Thanks, Burk. I’ll get on goin’.” He starts towards the door, before pausing. “Oh. What 'bout Jaxxi? Reckon she’s gonna be a problem if she knows I’m out and about.”

Burk shrugs. “I think the influx of outsider activity will leave her busy for a time. We cannot fight her directly. Not yet. We shall see what we bring in and what we can make.”

“What’s our goal? We can’t exactly storm the front gate of the Gallagio. Reckon ya need a small army to pull somethin’ like that.”

“You are right.” Burk thinks for a moment. “There is a Black Blood processing plant, right next to the Gallagio. Rickie will both grant us access and disrupt their supply. You and Vezz will be leading the charge to shut it down from within. With the supply of Black Blood severed, or at least severely hampered, the rest of the Darkfuse forces should begin to weaken.”

Guuah grimaces. “Which means Jaxxi will probably be right blastin’ there…” Even with his new gear, he knows he’s no match for the sheer amount of speed and power her exoskeleton gives. Not to mention what else is crammed into that suit, going by her own brief description.

“One step at a time, Guuah. Go, do what you can. And be careful. Don’t start anything.”

Guuah nods. With renewed purpose, he again opens the door leading to Undermine, and steps on out. Ticker flutters right behind him, just as eager to help Guuah out.

–

To say there is no shortage of things to do in Undermine is a huge, huge understatement. With the Darkfuse being occupied, many are able to begin working as they did before the takeover. To get back to that point, however, many need a bit of a jump start.

Guuah first started his journey through Hovel Hill once more. He went back to the explosives shop back to Fez, who still had fake rockets lining his shelves.

“You again? Thought I told ya to beat it!” Fez initially glares at Guuah as he steps in.

“Hey. I just wanted to say, I’m sorry. Awfully uncarin’ of me the way I approached ya earlier. With the Darkfuse bein’ pushed back, I wanted to help ya get ya business back up and runnin’. I got a steady pair of hands for fixin’ stuff, includin’ explosives.” He motions to Ticker, who clicks and chirps while spinning in circles. A few sparks fall out of it’s mouth from all the motion.

“…As in that thing is gonna explode?”

“Wha–No, I blastin’ mean it’s well made! Mostly.” He huffs. “Listen, I’m just here to help ya out. I wanna help ya resupply ya store, and I can make explosives. I’ll work for free.”

“…You’ll…work for free?” Fez blinks a number of times. That’s not a phrase uttered by many goblins. “Did you hit your head, pal? What happened?”

“Let’s just say I had a bit of an enlightenin’ revelation.” Guuah smiles. “Let’s get to work.”

“Well…Alright!” Fez beams with excitement as he reaches behind the store counter. “I got blasting powder, EZ-Throw dynamite sticks, RP-GG shells…Having someone here to help pump this stuff out, we can get rid of this fake junk!”

An hour and a half passes. The shelves are now lined with explosives of all kinds. Fireworks, rockets, grenades, polymorph bombs…the works.

“Phew!” Fez sighs. “That’s all I got. I’ll have to resupply, but business should be boomin’! Literally!” He does a little dance of excitement! “Thanks, pal! Hey, why don’t you take some of that ordinance with you? With that gun you’re toting around imagine you’ll have use for it soon enough.”

Guuah smiles, wiping some sweat on his leather sleeve. “Appreciate it, Fez. Reckon I will do that.”

“That’s the spirit! And hey, whatever you do with it, be sure to make a big boom. It’s the Crankblaze legacy!” Fez grins.

Guuah takes a few rockets and fireworks. While he isn’t planning on using a big rocket launcher or anything, he can make high explosive shells for his shotgun. Very certain to come in handy.

He visits the art gallery he frequented. The artis now seems to have the doors open, and is very much at work inking up various pieces.

“Ah, you’re just in time!” The artist exclaims as soon as Guuah opens the door. “You are the perfect figure for my next masterpiece!” He has a palette of paints on his lap, and a brush coated in blue paint in his right hand. His left hands Guuah a crude mask. It is of a goblin woman with a neutral expression her face.

“I–Hey, wait. I just entered the door, and–”

“And you just MUST be my muse. Please, head over to that bowl of fruit, and lift that apple high into the air! Triumphantly! Put your back into it!”

“Why the mask, though, why not just get yaself a proper goblin lady and–”

“INSPIRATION IS HOT, and the inspiration can fade at any moment! Go!” The artist urges.

Guuah figures now is the time to not ask questions. He takes the mask and slides it over his face. He goes over to pick up the apple, carefully. No need to aggravate his ribs. He then holds the apple up and, as triumphantly as he can, holds it skyward.

“Yes, yes! Hold that position!” The artist furiously swings at the page, washing the brush and applying new colors at a rapid pace.

Five minutes. Ten minutes. Thirty minutes. One hour.

“I ain’t meanin’ to be rude, pal, but this is kinda gettin’ proper exhausting.” Guuah sighs. “Can ya finish it up?!”

“And…there!” With one final brush, the piece is complete. With a sigh, Guuah lowers his arm, placing the apple back down. He goes around to see the piece.

It’s of a group of goblins, all in a similar pose, standing triumphantly over a fallen statue of Gallywix. Instead of an apple, they are holding weapons of various types. An apple sure isn’t involved.

“Beautiful! My best piece yet!” He turns to Guuah, beaming. “I do not have money to pay you. Art is powerful! But…it’s not exactly profitable…” He shrugs. “There are some old paintbots in the back I used to use, before I realized how powerful art is when it’s hand drawn! You can use them for whatever. Now go! I must find inspiration for my next piece! And it’s not from you.”

Guuah smiles and nods. “Sure. Thanks.” He looks to Ticker. “Reckon ya strong enough to drag that back on to Burk’s?” Ticker screeches and flutters up and down, rapidly. He zooms to the back of the building to where the bots are located.

“Mffh. Reckon ya burnt this burger to a blastin’ crisp.”

Guuah is having a burger, doing a taste test for a ‘revolutionary new grill that will flash cook anything with Pyroblast technology!’ with two technicians standing by.

“That means the grill is workin’ perfectly, ya mook! Ya just don’t appreciate the high quality taste of fully cooked meat!”

“Yeah. lemme blastin’ ring up Deathwing real quick, get his take on it.”

He’s rewarded with some grill burners and other spare parts for his testing.

“…And so, Johnny Awesome ran through the fire and flames. He then collapsed due to his injuries, much to the frustration of his healer friends.”

Guuah closes the book, and the various orphans cheer!

This Johnny Awesome fella seems real blastin’ bad at his job…But hey, it’s a book for kids.

The headmistress smiles. “Thank you, Guuah. I have some fresh bolts of silk. I was going to use it for making some sheets…But I think you will make better use of it in the times to come.”

Many hours have passed, and the overhead lights begin to dim. The day, such as it is, is nearly over. Guuah has gathered various supplies from the many small tasks he did for people, most stuffed in his pockets, while a few of the larger items are on hand. More importantly, however, they seemed appreciative of the work done. There’s hope that their lives will have some sort of normalcy once this is all over.

Feeling properly exhausted, Guuah makes his way back to Burk’s. Thankfully, at least today, he didn’t have to fire a single shot out of the shotgun.

–

Guuah ventures back into Burk’s home. Vezz is already there, having acquired all kinds of electrical equipment. “Welcome back, Gooey! Seen the haul you got, and seems you got plenty more besides!”

Guuah smiles. “Yeah. They were real happy for the helpin’ hand. Reckon we went on and made things a bit better already.”

Vezz grins. “You’re changing, Gooey. You may be an alright gob after all! We just teach you how to dance and you’ll fit right in!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Ticker soon flutters in from the back room, chirping as usual. Guuah looks around. “Where’s Rickie?”

“Oh, that bozo is sitting in the Incontinental Hotel. He struck gold, literally, while diggin’ through The Heaps. He exchanged it for money, and then immediately burned it buying a proper V.I.P. suite.” Vezz huffs. “He did drop off a lot of metal scrap for us to use, though! All that stuff is in the back. I’ll make us a crafting table first thing in the morning and we can get properly geared up.”

Guuah shakes his head. “'Course. And Burk?”

Vezz frowns. “Ain’t sure. I know he has a home away from home, but he won’t tell me where it is. Just, sometimes he leaves. He comes back, but I don’t know what he’s doing, and that worries me.”

“Huh. Wanna go lookin’ for him?”

Vezz shakes her head. “No point. Wherever he went to, it’s real well hidden. He always comes back, so I’m not too worried.” She smiles. “There’s only one bed, though. Shotgun!” She laughs as she moves to the back room, cackling. “Get some rest, Gooey! We’re gonna be busy tomorrow!”

Guuah grumbles as Vezz takes the one good bed in the joint. “Eh…Chair will work just fine.” He huffs, plopping back down in the chair he was in before. It’s not comfortable, but it will have to do.

“G’on and power down, Ticker. Like she said, we’re gonna be busy tomorrow. Ain’t gonna do much if we’re sleepin’ the whole day.”

Ticker chirps, and curls up upon itself, it’s bright yellow eyes dimming as it enters a low power state. Guuah leans against the chair, carefully, and starts to doze off…

–

Guuah stands triumphantly over the defeated body of a bipedal Infinite drakonid, his warped glaive impaled into the sandy earth of Ul’dum. A disturbance was detected in the area, and it seemed some Infinites were looking to get their hands on an exposed Titan relic.

However, their leader now lies at the goblin’s feet, clad in his usual golden Timewalker armor, with his reliable RX-5000 “Moneyblaster” shotgun.

Another mission accomplished.

“Urk…Keh…Dying at the hands of a…buffoon of a mortal…” the drakonid spits out, black blood spilling onto the sand from the various gunshot wounds.

Guuah scoffs, aiming for a kill shot to the skull. “Yeah. Reckon ya will see that ‘End Time’ sooner than most.”

The drakonid grins defiantly at Guuah, the blood dripping down in streams down it’s chin and jaw. “Haha…It’s funny…goblins. Slaves to Neltharion. Slaves to the Horde. Slaves to the coin…” He hacks and coughs. “…Bound to cause nothing but chaos and destruction at the whims of another.”

Guuah raises his shotgun in an aiming position. “Shut ya blastin’ mouth. I’m doin’ what’s right.”

“Right…” The drakonid still manages to get a horrible laugh off. “You kill in the name of the Bronze. In the name of the Titans. You haven’t the faintest…of what you’re killing for.”

Guuah’s finger trigger starts to squeeze. “I’m killin’ for a better future.”

“Is that what they tell you? You’re ‘fixing’ time?” The drakonid continues sneering up at Guuah. “You’ve killed innocents. You’ve killed good people. You mask your killing as being ‘righteous’…Because you don’t know how else to handle the weight of the guilt.”

“Shut ya BLASTIN’ MOUTH!” Guuah roars, although his aim is becoming shaky.

“The puppet of the Bronze…made into a mindless killing machine.” The drakonid cackles. “There is no escape for you. You will be mindlessly killing anyone and everything, like a good puppet, until the end of time. Another goblin slave for–”

Guuah flips the ‘auto-fire’ switch and fires slug after slug after slug into the drakonid’s body, the roar of automatic gunfire drowns out anything the drakonid may be saying. Eventually, the firearm simply clicks instead of firing anything.

The dracthyr is very much dead, and silent.

Guuah’s face twists in pain and fury as he finally lowers his gun. He brings up his left wrist which has a communication device attached to it.

“…Job’s done. I’m headin’ back.”

A Bronze portal opens up, bringing him back to the Timeways once more. The wildlife will eventually tear whatever remains of the drakonid, leaving no evidence.

I’m killin’ for a better future.

I’m killin’ for a better future.

I’m killin’…

–

Guuah snaps awake with a gasp, wincing in pain as his ribs ache from the sudden movement. The kitchen is dark, save for a very dim light in the room. Ticker is still in it’s low power state, motionless. He can hear Vezz snoring in the back room.

“Blastin’ hell…” He whispers to himself. “I’m gonna take a walk. Clear my head.”

Quietly, Guuah gets to his feet, and lightly opens the door to step outside.

–

With the lights dimmed, night in Undermine is very much different than the hustle and bustle of daytime. While activity certainly continues at night, the streets are much less occupied, and the air is cooler since less heat is beaming down from above.

The Hotel and the road to the Gallagio are thankfully very seldomly patrolled by Darkfuse, so it’s a simple, uneventful walk to the Marina. No one is swimming at this hour, and it’s mostly abandoned, save for a goblin child and a taller goblin next to it, the taller one clad in robes. It is impossible to make anything definite out, but the figure seems to have a feminine, muscular build.

As Guuah approaches the water, he hears a conversation between the two. They don’t seem to notice him in the slightest, or maybe even intentionally ignoring him.

“…And that’s how Johnny Awesome went out, momma!”

The taller goblin woman chuckles. “Aw, that’s funny, sweety. Awfully nice for someone to read you that story. Take that lesson to heart, now! Don’t be like Johnny!”

The child giggles. “I won’t, momma!” A pause. “Momma, when will you be done working? I miss you. I don’t like those robes, either…”

The taller figure sighs. “Soon. And momma don’t like these robes either, Bekki Sweeti. Once it’s less dangerous out, I’ll throw it away, okay? Momma just has to calm things down first.”

“You can do it, momma!” The child cheers. “Then we can go to the Marina in daytime and have lots of fun! I wanna hear the Gnomes play!”

“I do too, sweety. Once things calm down.”

“Why do you have to keep working for Gallywix, mommy? I don’t like him. He’s mean…”

The robed figure sighs. “I don’t either, Bekki sweetest. But he’s the only one we can trust right now. Once everything settles and it’s safer, we’ll talk about that.”

“Okay, momma!” The child gives the larger figure a hug. “I loves you!”

“I love yous too, dear.”

Guuah’s eyes open wide.

Jaxxi.

After the embrace, Bekki and Jaxxi start walking towards the Gallagio. Thankfully, they did not turn to see Guuah just standing there, staring.

The long barreled shotgun is still on his back. He feels his right arm instinctively reaching for it. One easy shot, back of the head…

NO.

Guuah grits his teeth. He’s disgusted that he thought it. That he considered it. His arms lower to his sides. The two figures go around a corner and vanish from view, leaving him alone.

The dim light eerily shimmers in the calm water.

What am I going to do…

His thoughts scream in a thousand different directions. Things as they are now cannot stand, but knowing the cost of victory…

I can’t forgive myself now. How am I gonna forgive myself for this? When does it stop?!

His thoughts drift to the fateful decision of accepting the Bronze’s offer to work for them. He wonders if choosing annihilation was the better future for the world.

I need to talk to Vezz. To Burk. To anyone. I…I can’t.

He silently turns and begins heading back to Burk’s hovel. It’s clear sleep is not coming tonight.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

Guuah returns to Burk’s hovel, his brain screaming in all directions. It seems no matter what he’s just destined to bring about horrible things, under the guise of righteousness. Question after question flies through his head, and he is unable to sort any of it out. Complete, unfiltered chaos.

As soon as he opens the door, however, he notices the lights are on. Burk has returned and is standing in the center of the kitchen area, with Vezz close behind, wearing some blue and silver dragon pajamas. Both show no emotion on their faces. Ticker is active and fluttering in place, a few sparks shooting out of it’s clock-embossed chest.

Guuah looks at them, his brown eyes watering from the onslaught of emotions he was feeling. He is on the verge of a breakdown.

“I can’t do this. I can’t!” Guuah yells at the group. “How much do I just gotta take away from folks, huh? Ain’t matterin’ much how much I give, if I’m just gonna blast someone and take just as much away!”

Guuah kicks a nearby chair in a fit of frustration, ignoring the pain this brought to his ribs. “She has a kid. She has a blastin’ kid! Ya say we’re makin’ things better, but now ya askin’ me to just to wipe someone’s mother out?!”

He glares at the three. None of them have said anything. In fact, none of them seem to react at all.

“Should’ve blastin’ knew it.” Guuah hisses. “Every blastin’ time I think I can break free of this cycle, I get wrapped right back into it and it wraps right ‘round again. Clock ain’t stoppin’ for no one, sure ain’t stoppin’ for me. Stupid to think it’d ever change.”

It’s soon very apparent that the only sounds in the room are coming from him. “Blastin’…Say something! Say ANYTHING!” Guuah approaches the group, clenching his fists.

Still…nothing.

Guuah eventually doesn’t feel angry and frustrated anymore. Just…empty. He takes a still upright chair and simply buries his face into his hands.

Only then does Burk step forward. “Do you recall what I said?” His voice is calm, focused. “One step at a time.” He takes a seat across from Guuah, letting his hat obscure his features once more. “That is to be taken in a number of ways.”

Guuah remains silent, save for some muffled sniffling sounds.

“I apologize for my departure. There are times I must contemplate on things, and it seems I am not the only one.” Burk looks straight at Guuah. “It seems, one way or another, you are destined to relive the past.”

Guuah lowers his hands, looking straight at Burk. His eyes are watery with streams of tears sliding down his face. “All I’ve done, all my life…Is blast things with a gun. Thought I left all my robbin’ back in Tanaris.” He sniffles, shaking. “All I’m blastin’ doin’ is robbin’ folks of things even more important.”

Burk hums once more. “There is nothing more cruel than the past. Until we learn from it, we will never change.” He looks to Guuah while he removes his hat once more, revealing his visage. “You have taken the first step. I’m sure you seen it when you took the time out of your day to help those needing it, despite your physical condition.”

Guuah looks to Burk. His hand grips the corner of the table tightly. “Yeah? That ain’t gonna be much comfort when next day I may be pointin’ a barrel their way next. Ain’t like some faceless cosmic horror that ya can shoot down without a second thought.” His arm shakes as his grip tightens. “I ain’t nothin’ but a monster.”

Burk, as usual, takes the time to formulate his response. “Have you seen a monster, Guuah?” His voice is calm, yet seems more forceful than it has any right to be. “A monster orchestrates the slaughter of many, innocent or not. A monster does not try to change, try to improve.” Another pause. “A monster continues to destroy until they, themselves, are consumed by their own fury.” He looks at Guuah with his one good eye. “You are not a monster. You recognize the problem. As stated…a first step.”

Guuah remains silent. He’s still shaking, but he is listening intently to what Burk is saying.

“The next step,” Burk continues, “is to forgive yourself. If you continue to relive the past, it will consume you. Doomed to repeat not because it is who you are…but who you chose to be.” Another pause. “It seems this is the step that we are currently on.”

Guuah sniffles. He still can’t muster any words to respond with.

“Do you recall when we first met? You were cold. Emotionless. Hated goblins and what you thought they represented. Now you are concerned with taking the life of one.” Burk tries his best to do something akin to a grin. “Do you see? You opened your mind, your heart. This comes with it’s own pains, as you are now aware, but it also allows you to move on. To make things better, now.”

Vezz finally speaks up. “When I was following you through Hovel Hill, I wasn’t sure what you were gonna do. Figured you’d just give a sideways glance at the gobs suffering and do nothing else. But you stood up for them. You’re showing that you care.” She smiles, crossing her arms over her chest. “Sure as hell didn’t expect you to start dancing back at the Lounge.”

She steps forward a bit. “Know you don’t want to hurt folks. Sure can’t agree, but Burk here keeps me in line. Helps me focus that aggression on making a difference! You know?” She uncrosses her arms and puts a hand on Burk’s shoulder gently. “The Darkfuse chose a life of violence and oppression. They’re not gonna change, that’s who they chose to be. Who they continue to be.” Vezz nods. “Can’t reason with that. Only way to make a difference is through violence.”

Burk looks up at Vezz, smiling before turning back to Guuah. “You cannot change who you were. You can only change who you are now, and going forward.” A pause. “You now have the freedom to do what you think is right. There are consequences. There are always consequences.” Another pause. “But until you forgive yourself for what you were, you will repeat it. Time and time again.”

Vezz grins. “Let me put it in a few less words. Stop trying to fix the past. Fix you, and fix the now! We’ll worry about fixing the future later.”

Guuah blinks, sniffling a bit more. Ticker chirps and flutters forward, landing on Guuah’s shoulder, rubbing it’s metallic snout against Guuah’s cheek.

“…I’ll try. I’ll blastin’ try. If I come up against her, though, I–”

“Again. One step at a time. The ‘now’ is paramount, here.” Burk smiles. “The day starts soon. We must prepare. The opportunity to launch our attack is soon. Guuah, it is up to you if you wish to take part or not. As mentioned, you are free to define who you are now. You are not obligated to this.”

I want a golden future. Goblins bein’ free to do what they wish. Ain’t tied to no higher powers, no grand designs. Free to just…be.

I can do this. I can help make this happen. I just gotta fight for it a bit more.

Guuah composes himself. He still has a firm grip on the side of the table. He looks up to the two other goblins. “No. If I’m gonna start a blank slate, I gotta make an impression. A blueprint of who I wanna be.” He gives a weak smile. “It’ll take me a bit, but…I think I can.”

Both Burk and Vezz give warm smiles. “Again, that is all that I can ask of you. And we will support you the best we are able.” Burk grabs for his hat and attaches it to his head once more. Vezz breaks out into a wide grin.

“Yeah! Besides, someone’s gotta make sure you don’t do anything boneheaded, may as well be me! Rickie ain’t gonna do it, that’s for sure!” Vezz puts a hand on her hip. “While you were out, went on and set up a crafting station. Let’s gear up for what’s to come! We got plenty of scrap to work with.”

Just then, Burk’s door swings open. A relatively dish Rickie stumbles in, sweating and panting. Aeromis has reformed, at least partially, now a very small elemental hovering nearby him.

“Huff, huff…Hey! I’m here! I’m back! I–”

He sees the group, including an emotional Guuah. Every single one of them is just staring at Rickie, including Ticker.

“Eh…eheh, bad time?”

Vezz sighs. “Speak of the devil…Yeah? Kinda?” She scowls. “Why are you so messed up? Didn’t you have it all nice and comfy in the VIP suite?”

“Yeah! ABOUT THAT.” Rickie rubs the back of his head. “Uh, Darkfuse caught wind I was hanging out there, and infiltrated into my room! Though daring moves and jukes, I was able to get back here in one piece! But, uh…”

Vezz arches a brow. Burk seems concerned. “But what, Rickie?”

“They…they may know where I went? Heard some chatter that they were organizing forces for a raid on the Vatworks! They’re gonna be sending everything!”

“Wha–you idiot!” Vezz growls. “C’mon, we have to get our stuff done, now! Only a bit of time before they come down here!”

Guuah gets to his feet, steeling himself. He goes with Vezz to the back room to help with creating things to be useful Rickie soon joins them, to use the materials to create new totems for him to utilize.

Burk hums, slowly moving to his feet. He moves to the back corner of a kitchen. There is a picture of two goblins standing beside a cauldron. Both have smiles on their faces.

“…If only we knew the destruction we would cause on that day, old friend. Our magnum opus, a symphony of death.” He sighs to himself. “We will make things right.”

–

A few hours pass. Guuah has utilized the various robotics and spare parts to craft himself another layer of armor. Yellow in color, similar to Venture Co., the thin metal provided extra protection. More importantly, he crafted mechanical enhancements for his arms. Dubbing them the RX-3000 “Re-FLEX” system, it is designed to both increase his ability to snap aim to targets, and control his recoil. He has crafted a full suite of traps and explosives to utilize, all attached to his belt. In addition, he utilized the explosive materials to craft himself a good number of slugs, some of which are of an explosive nature.

Vezz applied various enhancements to her clockwork armor, making the already tough material even tougher. She crafted a bladed buckler to hold in her off hand, while her main hand continued using the sword they ‘liberated’ on their assault on the Marina’s supply depot. The Black Blood mechanism is instead replaced with a high voltage battery charger, capable of overloading the blade to deliver powerful, electrified strikes. Vezz’s enhancements replaces her usual read coloring with, again, a silver and blue color hue. Her hair continues to be bright red, but seeing how this is usually obscured by her armor she’s certainly paying it no mind.

Lacking any real talent to craft much, he utilizes some of the spare electricity to use as elemental focuses for his totems. Spare fridge coolers, heaters, and a wind turbine…It’s real sloppy work, but they will serve their purposes well enough. Unlike a traditional Shaman, Rickie keeps a healthy amount of the totems on hand, using them like one would use grenades.

Burk comes in to the back room as well. He smiles upon seeing all parties prepared. “Briefly. Time is short. Chaffy has been employed to get you to the processing plant. There is a high chance Darkfuse will intercept you. Prepare to defend yourselves while in transit.” A pause. “There will be much conflict at the plant itself. Stick together, and push through. Once you reach the pump, shut it down and break the controls. It will never be operational again.”

Vezz nods, then turns to Guuah. “Last chance. You don’t gotta do this if–”

“I gotta do this. I gotta break free of who I was, and reckon the only way I’m doing that is if I fight for somethin’ that will make things better.” He nods. “We’re fightin’ for a better now.”

Vezz grins. “We both are.” She turns to Rickie. “Secure your magic sticks or whatever, we gotta go! Burk has a back entrance back here behind the dresser here. We’re taking it.” Moving near the bed, she grabs the side of the dresser and simply slams it to the ground, revealing a plain wooden door. “C’mon, Burk, we’re going!”

Burk smiles. “I am going nowhere.”

Vezz blinks, before she grits her teeth. “Like hell you are! You know what the Darkfuse will do to you if they find you!”

Burk’s smile, again, never wavers. “I have a right to defend my home, and I intend to do so. You three are destined to greater things…And I encourage you to achieve them.” He turns to Guuah. “I have faith you will forge the future you desire. I am sure Undermine will be thankful for your help.”

Guuah frowns. “Burk, ya don’t…”

Shortly after, the sound of loud engines roar before coming to a stop, replaced with the sound high power weaponry charging up. Screams ring out in the Vatworks as civilians flee to cover. A loudspeaker squeaks and echoes before a voice is heard.

“This thing on?” A gruff, deep voice is heard. “Carlo, Smash-Captain of the Rapid Initiation Fuse Force. We know you are here, rats. You have thirty seconds to come out, before we start purging everyone here. Gallywix’s orders. Should you come out, you will spare everyone else. If you continue being the cowardly rats you are, you will die as such.”

Burk grins. “That sounds like my cue. Vezz, take care of them. You have work to do.” He then turns to head out the front door.

“You–BURK! Get back here! I’m not letting you throw your life away! You gotta be around to see how things are gonna change!” She immediately starts to follow him, but suddenly a wall of green stone rises up, cracking the walls and completely blocking the doorway. Vezz begins slamming and chopping at the stone, but it does not budge one bit. As she realizes the futility of this, she stops, and blinks, realizing what just happened.

“How…How’d he do that? I’ve…never seen him do something like that…”

Guuah observes the stones. They radiate with a green substance. The telltale signs of Fel.

“…Vezz, I think we should go. I think Burk may have this all handled. If we don’t go now, we ain’t ever makin’ it to the plant before it’s too reinforced.”

Vezz grits her teeth. She has been at Burk’s side for so long…“BURK! If you die, I’m diving into the Shadowlands to pull you right back out!” She growls. “C’mon!”

The three flee through the back entrance, heading towards the entrance to the Heaps, where Chappy is waiting.

–

Burk calmly strides out of his home, shutting the door behind him. In his usual slow pace, he strides out to the middle of the street, directly in front of the large Darkfuse force before him. A hobgoblin, clad in the usual black and red ensemble of the Darkfuse sits atop a militarized shredder, armed with a Black Blood fusion cannon instead of a sawblade. It’s armor is heavily reinforced.

The hobgoblin is armored in an exoskeleton, much like the other agents of R.I.F.F.

“Well.” Burk smiles. “What is the commotion all about?”

Carlo the hobgoblin scoffs. “The rat comes out into the open. You are wanted for crimes against Gallywix. You will turn yourself in or die.” The voice is gruff and direct. No emotion tied to it at all.

Burk keeps on smiling. “This is my home. I have earned it. I will not allow for either of these things to happen. I will ask you to please leave.”

Carlo blinks, before releasing a hearty guffaw! “Stupid rat thinks he is in a position to demand anything.” He turns to his grunts, all armed with automatic rifles. “Ready and aim.”

As the grunts start to adjust their stance and ready their weapons, a green orb starts to form in Burk’s right hand. He adjusts his stance. “Then I must eject you from my home.”

Carlo scoffs. “Idiot old gob. Turn him into swiss.” As soon as the order is given, the grunts begin spraying towards Burk, just as soon as he launches his right hand forward. A huge ball of fire and fel surges forward, incinerating the rounds well before they reach him, before exploding onto the group of Darkfuse, sending them scattering in all directions.

The other grunts blink at the display, some immediately dropping their weapons and fleeing. Those who remained hear a noise above them, a portal to the Twisting Nether tearing open and slamming a meteor onto those who remain. An infernal rises in it’s wake, the giant, fiery being emitting a guttural roar as it approaches the militarized shredder and Carlo, who suddenly finds himself at a loss.

Burk’s calm smile has twisted into a maniacal grin. “It’s been far too long…” He pauses “But as she said. You only respond to violence.”

Carlo scrambles for his radio, blasting the shredder’s fusion cannon at the infernal. “Jaxxi, I need back up, I need–!!”

The hobgoblin is interrupted by a giant orb of fire heading right for him, fueled by the souls of those dead around him.

–

As the trio make their way to their ride, a huge explosion is heard. All three of them turn to see a huge plume of smoke rise up to the ‘sky’.

“…They ain’t gonna blow up one gob like that.” Guuah blinks.

Rickie cheers at the sight of such an explosion. “That was AMAZING! I wanna do that! Aeromis! How much do I need to pay to do that?!”

“Rickie,” Aeromis sighs. “Until you pay what you owe them, I don’t think you’re in a position to ask them for anything.”

Vezz grimaces. She wants so badly to run back, to make sure Burk is okay, but…She will just have to put her faith into him being able to take care of himself.

“C’mon. Our ride is just ahead.”

The three move around the corner of a build and, sure enough, Chaffy’s hot rod is lying in wait. There’s no pretense this time, the huge turbine engine is exposed for all to see, and it’s revved up and ready to go.

“GREETING PROTOCOL DISENGAGED. GET IN. WE HAVE ROADS TO TEAR.” It seems Chaffy’s corruption has fully taken over, and is fully embracing it’s speed maniac self.

The three scramble in. Guuah withdraws his shotgun and makes sure it’s ready to go, and Rickie adjusts his totems, now lined up in his belt. Vezz turns to look at the two.

“We’re almost certainly gonna get chased. Up to you two to peel them off of us! We’re only getting one chance at this, and we can’t blow it!”

Sure enough, as soon as Chaffy revs up the engine, three Darkfuse trikes and a fully armored riot control vehicle rolls up, trying to form a roadblock. Chaffy makes what sounds to be some sort of laughter, horribly distorted.

“LET’S ROLL.” The engine roars to life and the hot rod burns through the pack before the road block could be fully formed. They immediately turn and give chase to the speeding vehicle. Guuah leans out the side of the car, gun at the ready, while Rickie immediately throws a totem down behind them! The top of it is green in color.

“Ya didn’t hit anything with it!” Guuah shouts.

“I don’t have to! Check it out!”

As they speed towards the Hotel, vines start to break through the asphalt and thrash around, wrapping themselves around two of the trikes giving chase. With the wheels caught one quickly spins out and crashes into a nearby wall, the other loses control, ramps off a nearby Venture Co. junk pile and lands surprisingly on it’s wheels. The suspension is gone, but the driver is alive! He gets out, sighing with relief.

Until he realizes he is standing in front of a party of well armed and armored adventurers. And they all have a quest to do.

One of the trikes rides up, aiming a compact automatic weapon and spraying it in the general direction of the hot rod. Some rounds connect with the vehicle but inflict no serious damage to it or the riders. Guuah aims as best as he can, utilizing his Re-FLEX system to keep his aim steady despite the drifting, speeding vehicle he’s riding in. He fires, the shot impacting the front tire of the trike where it does a front flip and lands upside down, exploding soon after.

The riot control vehicle roars, speeding up dramatically. The front bumper is lined with all manners of spike and drills, and even the slightest impact can knock out the hot rod. Guuah takes aim, but notices that the wheels are protected and hidden from his current view. It’s unlikely a single shot will knock out the engine, either.

Rickie cries out, “I can’t just toss another earth totem so quickly! Water isn’t gonna do anything because water sucks, and I need to save my fire totems for the big bang! DO SOMETHING!” Vezz looks behind her, seeing the riot control vehicle so close.

Guuah reaches into his belt and pulls out a small, round device. A classic, the Freezing Trap. While freezing a fully mechanized vehicle is out of the question, freezing a tire isn’t. Reaching out the window, he hurls the trap at the vehicle, where it opens and arms itself.

The left front tire drives right over the trap, freezing the tire completely! The vehicle swerves, but it is still going forward, and is still gaining momentum. They are now near the Marina, driving towards the Darkfuse supply depot again. The adventurers and others are waging full battle against the Darkfuse. It’s a open revolution at this point.

“Chaffy, ya better do something, get this guy off our tail!” Guuah shouts to the mechanical driver.

“AFFIRMATIVE. PREPARE YOUR MORTAL MINDS FOR KILLER DRIFTS.”

The hot rod hops a bit before skidding onto the docks, the tail end of the vehicle scrapping against a nearby lemonade stand. The riot control vehicle manages to skid to the turn, but slams into the wall of a building in the process. It’s slowed down, but it’s still driving. Chaffy guns the engine towards a stage where a band is rocking out, with a crowd that is somehow ignoring the chaos going on.

“YEAHHH! Thank ya Undermine! Ya’ll the best, we’ll…WHOA! SICK! A FREE ENCORE!”

Chaffy makes a tight, barely controlled drift behind the crowd, the tires screeching in loud protest as the hot rod speeds up towards the Gallagio. The riot control vehicle starts to turn, but this time fully flips over and completely crashes into a jagged stone wall, exploding dramatically in the process.

The crowd, likely thinking it is part of the show, cheers ecstatically!

Guuah sighs, and leans back on his seat. Rickie is doing fist pumps over all the excitement. The air smells of fire, gas, and burnt rubber.

–

Driving past the Gallagio, where both Darkfuse and various adventurers are waging battle, there is a small, heavily reinforced door, near the golf course. Compared to the Gallagio, this area is being ignored by all. Except the three of them.

“This is it. We cut off their Black Blood supply, we weaken the Darkfuse all around. While they’re busy pushing for Gallywix, we’ll handle this.” Vezz looks over to Rickie. “You got this?”

Rickie grins. “You bet! Let’s make a big boom!”

Chaffy revs the engine. “GO. I GOT PLACES TO BE.” The trio scramble out of the hot rod, as it speeds off towards the golf course, the artificial grass tearing apart under the wheels.

Rickie runs to the door, and places a glowing fire totem on it, using a special adhesive to stick it in place. “Get back! Oh, this is going to be sweet.”

“Rickie, while I hate almost everything you do and stand for,” Aeromis quips. “Causing unmitigated destruction is certainly one of your talents.”

The trio step back as the red tip of the totem blinks slowly. Then, more and more, the blinking becomes rapid until it’s constant, and then simply a solid light. Shortly after, a powerful, fiery explosion blows the door right off it’s hinges, blasting inside the facility and taking out a number of Darkfuse agents with it! The several lying in wait rush forward to attack the trio!

Vezz takes the lead, using her electrified blade to slash at the few agents up close, and her buckler to parry any of their own incoming blows. While a gunner takes aim at her, Guuah slides into action, aiming his shotgun while in his prone position and blasting the gunner with a solid slug, sending her flying! Rickie holds an air totem in his hand, using it to fling bolts at lightning at any he has a clear shot on! They press further into an open room, with a set of double doors leading into the pumping room.

Directly in their way, is another militarized shredder, this one having two chainsaws for arms. The driver cackles as the chainsaws rev up, with it stomping forward to engage!

Guuah pops open the loading tube and shoves a high explosive shell into it before snapping it closed. Vezz keeps her distance, looking for an opportune time to strike…Which came when Rickie threw his last earth elemental totem, causing a giant earth elemental to rise up! Angry at both being summoned and seeing who, exactly, summoned him, it lashes out at the giant machine, punching one of the arms right off the shredder! In a rage, the pilot swings the other chainsaw arm towards the stone being, being able to chip right through it and saw it right in half!

Vezz, seeing the opportunity, dashes forward and swings her electrified sword into the leg joint of the shredder, immobilizing it. Unable to turn, let alone move, the shredder is frozen in place…A perfect target for Guuah to take a shot. Launching the high explosive shot at the pilot area of the shredder, it explodes! The machine is immobilized, and a panicked shredder pilot screeches, “H-hey! I surrender! I was jokin’, see? Don’t…don’t kill me!”

Vezz huffs. The path is clear. She hears noises behind them, though. Desperate Darkfuse are heading towards them again, although their weapons are of much lower quality, and they don’t seem to have any armor at all. She turns to Rickie, who nods and prepares another air totem.

“Gooey, you gotta go in there and shut it down. We’ll handle these mooks!” Vezz grins, preparing herself for combat once again.

Guuah knows what is going to be behind that door. He knows that if he really intends to change…that he has to face it head on.

He opens the double doors, leading to the processing pipe.

–

The room is bright, well lit with the lights lining along the walls. There are various machinery and gadgets along the walls, protected solely by a railing. A small gap between the railing and wall lies a deep pit. Presumably where the Black Blood is coming from. It is all going into the central pipe, which raises to the ceiling of the room. It is an open arena besides.

Leaning against the pipe is a lone goblin woman. Her pigtails bounce as she turns to face Guuah, a grin forming on her face. Her body is clad in a black and red exoskeleton.

“Yous made it, Golden Boy! Figured you’d be here. And look at that, yous got yourself all geared up and everything again!” Jaxxi remains leaning against the wall. Her exoskeleton looks a good deal different from before: On her shoulders are “Firehawk-Phoenix Class” rocket launchers, armed and ready to launch. Her hands each hold jagged blood red longswords, with jets pumping flames over the top of the blades.

“Jaxxi.” Guuah simply responds. He holds his gun in a ready position, but does not have it raised and pointed at Jaxxi, merely holding it across his chest. There’s a moment of silence between the two.

“…Why aren’t yous shooting or anything? Yous didn’t have trouble doing that on your way in.” Jaxxi arches a brow. “Sure aren’t on friendly terms, are we? Don’t worry, though! Now that I don’t need anything from yous, there’s nothing stopping me from just leaving yous as a bloody pulp!”

“Only because they were in the way.” Guuah scowls. “I ain’t wantin’ to fight you, Jaxxi. This battle, it’s already done. Gallywix ain’t gonna hold off that sorta onslaught forever, and ya know this.”

Jaxxi laughs, moving herself away from the wall and towards Guuah, adjusting her hips as she did so. “Yous know very well by now this ain’t about Gallywix. Never was.” She motions around her. “He only has the tools to help us sort this whole mess out. Soon as he got full control? I had full mind to take it from him. Now I’m not gonna get the chance…” She scoffs. “But I’m not gonna let those twisted cartels regain control, either.”

Guuah arches a brow. “You’re worried ‘bout the cartels? What I gathered things weren’t perfect, but nothin’ ever is. Reckon it was better than this.”

“Yeah, like if you weren’t licking their boots, yous were going right to the curb, or worse. Like if yous weren’t one of their slaves, yous were a nobody, and yous got treated as such.” She scoffs, glaring at Guuah. “Yous think you’re doing the right thing? Yous think you know what freedom is?” She hunches down, her thrusters revving up and ready to charge right in to beat the goblin to a pulp.

“No. No I don’t.” Guuah sighs in response. Jaxxi blinks, and for a moment, hesitates. Her thrusters idle. “Be frank with ya, I’m kinda new to this whole freedom thing. Came here on the behest of my employers, and was thinkin’ ‘it’s just another ‘bad guy’ to shoot’. I ain’t ever cared for goblins before, and just wanted in and outta here.”

Guuah smiles a bit. “I learned a few things, though. In a roundabout way, got ya to thank, Jaxxi. I got to see how gobs live, how they struggle, how they thrive…and how it’s worth fightin’ for.” He steps forward, no longer intimidated by the imposing woman. “Them Darkfuse? They don’t care 'bout freedom. They wanna oppress it. And sure, that leaves you safe.” A rare instance of Guuah actually not using ‘ya’ as he usually does. “…But it’s comin’ at the cost of everyone else. Ya know that ain’t right.”

“You’re getting on my nerves, Golden Boy! What do yous know about–”

“I seen ya with ya kid, Jaxxi.” Guuah interjects. “I have an understandin’ why you’re doin’ what ya doin’.”

This causes Jaxxi to take a step back. She didn’t see anyone at the Marina… “Yous…Yous were there?”

“Yeah. Couldn’t sleep. Took a walk. Seen ya and ya kid talkin’ about Johnny Awesome and ya work.” Guuah shrugs. “I was sittin’ around Orgrimmar listenin’ to folks for months. I gotta keen ear.”

Jaxxi looks down for a moment. For the first time, her cocky attitude drops. “…Why didn’t yous shoot? Yous knew I was going to be here. Yous had to. Would’ve saved yous a lot of trouble.”

Guuah looks Jaxxi right in the eyes. “Ain’t right. Even if ya weren’t with ya kid, I wouldn’t want to do that to ya. Reckon it’d be better to have a word with ya, besides. At least on a bit more of even ground instead of me…y’know, on the ground.”

He pauses. There was a point in time he wouldn’t say that. Things would have been much different.

“I reckon things can get better. They gotta get better.” Guuah continues. “Drop this whole thing, and we can join up with the others. Work together for a better Undermine. Gallywix, the Darkfuse…It ain’t worth dyin’ for.”

Jaxxi looks up. It seems like she’s thinking…She shakes her head. “I can’t. Yous wouldn’t understand. Them cartels…They’re just as ratty as the rest. And I know yous aren’t part of them…” She hunches over again. “But I can’t let yous succeed. I’ve come too far to have it all crash down now.”

Guuah frowns…and nods. He raises his shotgun, hunching over in a combative stance. His Re-FLEX system hisses with steam as it warms back up for confrontation. “I get ya. Then we’re fightin’ for Undermine.” He smiles, finding newfound confidence in his actions. “Just…thanks for havin’ a word with me.”

Jaxxi huffs. With the press of a button on her belt, her helmet slides over her head, with a red visor covering her eyes. “Yous better not be going soft, Golden Boy. If yous really fighting for Undermine, then prove it. I ain’t holding anything back, and neither should you!”

Jaxxi’s exoskeleton pulses with electricity, her jagged, flaming longswords primed and ready to get to chopping. An ominous metallic hum echoes within the room, muffling the sound of conflict just outside the doors.

Their own localized battle for the future of Undermine is coming to a head. And for the first time, they are on relatively equal terms.

[Guuah-wyrmrest-accord]

The mechanized hum almost drowns out the sounds of battle outside the room. Blades clashing, weapons whirring, plasma beams being shot out…

Vezz and Rickie are holding their own, and Ticker with them. Leaving just Guuah, and Jaxxi.

With a roar, Jaxxi’s thrusters kick into high gear, sending her flying towards Guuah at top speed, blades raised! Learning just how fast Jaxxi is in her exoskeleton from their last engagement, Guuah swiftly fires his shotgun at her! The slug impacts the chestplate of the suit, but it seems to have done no lasting damage, let alone slow her down.

He dives off to the left, scrambling to his feet as Jaxxi twists her body mid air, kicking off the railing surrounding the ‘arena’ and launching her up into the air before slamming down with full force! As she lands, a pulse of electricity radiates from her landing impact, sending Guuah flying back. With a grunt, his back slams into the railing. Thankfully, he did not go over.

Jaxxi takes a moment to aim one of her shoulder-integrated Firehawk rockets out, the explosive filled projectile hurling towards Guuah! Once more, he’s finding himself diving to the left, going clockwise around the pipe in the center of the room. The rocket explodes upon hitting a wall panel, causing it to start shooting steam and sparks where Guuah was!

Despite the commotion, Guuah still has a good sight on Jaxxi through it all. Reaching to his belt, he hurls a Tar Trap at her location, something to slow her down. He can’t keep dodging forever. The mechanism arms mid-flight, and upon reaching Jaxxi’s feet, it triggers.

“Yous gonna get tired soon, Golden Boy! I’m Gon–huh?!”

Jaxxi sees Guuah’s new location once the smoke and sparks clear, only to realize her feet are stuck in some sort of black substance! Having a moment to actually aim, Guuah puts his sights on the right shoulder rocket launcher, and fires into it. The slug impacts a rocket, causing it to explode while still loaded!

“Rrrragh!” Jaxxi roars out as the explosion completely ruptures the launcher, rendering it inoperable. The explosion also tore chunks of armor off of her suit, and of her helmet. The explosion, however, also freed her from her ensnared state, as she immediately rushes forward and while in mid air, spins herself around in a bladed whirlwind!

Guuah again tries to evade, jumping back and continuing to rotate himself around the room, but isn’t fast enough for Jaxxi’s retaliation. Her blades find purchase on his chest, the jagged blades slicing through the light plate with ease, in addition to his left hand. Guuah hisses through gritted teeth, as he reaches into his belt while jumping away from Jaxxi and hurls an improvised grenade! It explodes behind her, forcing her to fall on her armored face. Guuah can only hope that ended up damaging the thrusters, at least a little.

He quickly moves himself to the pillar in the center of the room, putting it in between Jaxxi and himself. Taking deep breaths, he opens the loading tube of the shotgun and starts loading a high explosive slug. He takes stock of his inventory: Still a good number of regular slugs but they’re not armor piercing, he’s not going to penetrate that exoskeleton with them. Except maybe the weakened bits…

No more grenades. He has a Freezing Trap but he’s not entirely sold on it’s usefulness, given his choice of parts to work with. He has a High Explosive Trap, but he’s going to save that for a proper emergency.

He can hear Jaxxi’s heavy metallic footsteps echoing. It sounds like she’s slowly circling around the pipe. He moves around to stay opposite of where it sounds like she is.

He feels the wounds oozing blood. He can’t stall for long.

“Aw, what’s wrong, Golden Boy? Get a boo boo?” Jaxxi taunts, dragging one of her blades along the steel ground, causing a horrible screech. “C’mon out! I’ll take care of yous right quick.”

Guuah huffs. “Figured ya would be a bit more motherly, with a blastin’ kid and all.” He scans his surroundings. There’s a reflective disc against one of the walls ahead of him. He can see Jaxxi’s damaged exoskeleon in the reflection of it.

Just a bit more…

“Hah! Sometimes yous gotta show some tough love!” Jaxxi’s other shoulder mounted rocket launcher is in view.

Now or never.

He uses the back of his left hand to steady his shotgun as he aims for a piece of the wall jutting out at an angle. After making sure the shot is steady, he fires. The explosive shot bounces off the slanted steel, ricocheting right into Jaxxi, with the explosive ordinance detonating with the direct impact! The other rocket launcher explodes with it’s munitions intact. The display of fire and smoke make it hard to tell just how much it impacted her, but there is a loud cry coming from her.

He takes the time to start loading a regular slug into the gun. He hears the clattering of steel hitting steel. And then a loud stomp. He feels something tingling under him. He looks down to see…the floor is electrified?!

“What in–”

A fierce jolt of electricity shoots up through Guuah’s body! His body siezes, his shotgun dropping to the ground his his arms lock up, unable to maintain a grip on the weapon! While this is going on, Jaxxi sprints full tilt around the pipe, her boots drifting across the steel as she makes a sharp turn right towards Guuah!

Her right arm is immobile, hanging limp. Her helmet is now entirely removed, exposing her face and her violet eyes. A healthy amount of blood is splattered on her face, signifying that the last explosion did some damage. It seemed to only make her more angry than before, however.

Guuah is unable to move, let alone act, as Jaxxi charges right into him. Her left hand closes around his throat and lifts him up, squeezing firmly! Guuah coughs and struggles, both his hands on the metal hand closed around his airway but he has no way to make it budge.

While holding Guuah in this manner, Jaxxi stomps forward towards the railing, putting the goblin a short distance from the open space between it and the wall, where oblivion surely awaits.

Jaxxi’s face is locked in a grimace, her nostrils flaring with restrained anger. It seems, at this point, that the fight is over.

“…Not…bad, Golden Boy.” She forces a grin. “Yous would’ve had a position in R.I.F.F. if I knew yous had some sort of merit! But, guess employment opportunities are all out now.”

Guuah coughs and sputters. He’s unable to form a response. He’s not sure what will get him first: The fall, the blood loss, or the lack of air.

“But yous can’t stop me. Even if Gallywix falls, I still have some R.I.F.F. toys to play with. I still can get the cartels in one fell swoop when they surely gather to talk about the future.” Jaxxi’s grin still remains on her face, her bloody face bracing in determination. “And I’ll wrangle control of this city yet. Then, and ONLY then, will Undermine be safe.”

Guuah can breathe, albeit barely. He can’t respond. Using his right foot, he starts to hook it around his Freezing Trap. He manages to sneak it off his belt.

“Yous surrender, and help me, yous will have a place here.” Jaxxi continues. “Yous here for Gallywix? He’ll be dead. Job done. Yous will be my hand in keeping order around here, Golden Boy.” She scoffs. “Freedom? Overrated. Ship only sails if everything is kept in proper order. You let freedom reign, yous have a mutiny to quell.”

Jaxxi lessens her grip, only slightly. “Don’t be stupid, Golden Boy. Yous want to make things better? Here’s your chance.”

She ain’t wrong. The cartels aren’t innocent. Got my take on Nogginfogger, and one of the blastin’ cartels are literal pirates. Maybe…

He stops thinking. He’s spent too long thinking. Sometimes you have to do what you feel is right. What you know is right.

It’s time for the now.

“My name,” The goblin chokes out in response. “Is Guuah…blastin’…Moneyblaster!” He swings his right foot out to impact Jaxxi’s left arm! The mechanism activates, and rapidly freezes the metallic arm! The grip immediately went loose as Guuah fell down to the floor, into his own blood that was still oozing out of him.

“Wha?!” Jaxxi staggers back a few feet, her only other arm suddenly not responding. The exoskeleton’s limb was frozen solid. She can’t get it to respond. Pressing a few buttons on her hip, she starts rapidly heating the limb in order to thaw it out.

Guuah wastes no time. Unlatching his High Explosive Trap, he hurls it right at Jaxxi’s feet. It’s a bit danger close, but it’s his only option left. He throws the trap with what is left of his strength. The trap skids across the floor, scraping against the steel.

Skidding…skidding…

Jaxxi looks down as it nears her. She recognizes what it is.

The mechanism activates.

FWBOOM! The trap explodes! Guuah raises his arms, trying to shield himself from the blast. He was out of the kill zone, although some of the shrapnel hit his armor. It didn’t penetrate him, though.

Jaxxi, however, isn’t so lucky. With a sharp cry she is launched upwards, flipping around in the air until she hits her back with a resounding thud! Sparks and oil spill out of her suit, along what looks to be some Black Blood. The ice surrounding her arm shatters.

“WARNING! WARNING! FUEL RUPTURE DETECTED! REDIRECTING DF-JAKD-UP SUIT FUNCTIONALITY…”

Jaxxi got herself back up into a kneeling position before that warning rang out, her face more messed up than it was. Her pigtails with the purple highlights are now decorated with red.

“Yous…” Jaxxi grunts. She tries to pick herself up. She tries to move her arm. She tries to move anything. Steam and electricity shoots out of her suit.

She cannot move.

Guuah gets to his feet, slowly. He places his own wounded left hand over his chest wounds, trying to stifle the bleeding, if only a little. He shuffles to the control panel next to the pipe in the center of the room, which somehow avoided any damage during the conflict.

He takes a moment to look at it. A bunch of complicated, unlabeled knobs and switches. Feeling that time is of the essence, he goes with the tried and true scientific method of kicking the thing as hard as he can.

“Warning. Blood processing disengaged. Discharging blood back to source to avoid volatile reaction. Sealing pipe after discharge. Please contact your nearest Darkfuse certified engineer to resume processing.”

A warning echoes in the room, and the mechanical hum starts to lower. Soon, the room is dead silent, and the machinery ceases.

Guuah goes to pick up his shotgun with his good right hand. It still has a slug loaded in it. He aims it at Jaxxi’s head, holding it tight against his right shoulder for some stability.

Jaxxi screams in frustration, as she is rendered completely immobile. Taking the suit off takes time, and won’t help her current situation. The room has one exit, which is now growing quiet, signifying that the battle is over one way or another.

She looks up at Guuah. Despite everything, a grin creeps on to her face. “Guess that’s that.” She says, her voice cold. “Go on and let freedom ring with the sound of your gun.”

Guuah keeps the gun braced against his shoulder. While his aim is shaky at best, a headshot at this distance is nothing short of an easy task.

“I ain’t doing that. Thought I made that clear.” Guuah’s face is dull, emotionless.

“Yous know I’m not getting out of here alive.” Jaxxi cackles. “Just depends on how they want to tear me to pieces. Sure it’s not going to be slow. Or painless.” She winces. “May let Bekki watch, just to rub salt in the wound.”

Guuah furrows his brow.

She ain’t wrong. They’re so worked up that she ain’t makin’ it five steps…Vezz and the others outside will flat out slaughter her.

As he’s thinking, Jaxxi’s suit speaks once more:

“DF-JAKD-UP Exoskeleton Rebooting. Diagnostic Check:
FH-Phoenix Class Launchers: DISABLED
X-51 XTREME Thruster Package: DISABLED
BF-50 ‘Pulsar’ Electroshock Emitters: DAMAGED
Limb Hydraulics: LIMITED–RIGHT ARM JOINT DAMAGED, RIGHT SHOULDER JOINT DAMAGED
Multiple System Failures: Please contact your nearest Darkfuse certified technician for repairs. Activating.”

Steam pours out of her suit as it reactivates once more. Jaxxi eyes the gun pointed at her, then to Guuah. His eyes widen a bit.

“…Get to ya feet. Hands in the air…Well, hand.”

“I’m not marching to my execution, Gold–Guuah.” Jaxxi begins to protest. She doesn’t move.

“You ain’t. Play along. Trust me on this one.”

Seeing no other option, Jaxxi gets to her feet, raising her left hand up in the air in a surrendering gesture. Slowly, she marches to the door, with Guuah right behind.

Blastin’ hope this works. Think I got enough sleepless nights.

–

The twin doors swing open. There are many bodies of Darkfuse scattered about, all slain in some manner or another. Vezz is panting, catching her breath. Her armor has a few dents and her bladed buckler lost a few of it’s blades, but she’s still standing. Rickie is sitting flat on his rear end, wiping sweat off with his sleave. Aeromis is hovering near him. Ticker is next to him, fuming with steam. Seems it shot it’s beam cannon a few too many times.

All turn to face the door as it swings open. Guuah emerges, leading a bloodied Jaxxi at gunpoint.

“Gooey! Ya did it!” Vezz grins and does a hop in the air, cheering! “I knew you got this!” Due to how Jaxxi is positioned between her and Guuah, she cannot see the extent of his injuries.

“I…sure didn’t!” Rickie huffs and puffs. “But I’m happy you did! Hurray!” He groans. “I’m really hungry. Let’s go, please.”

Ticker turns it’s head and chirps excitedly! It flutters up a bit, screeching at Guuah’s return.

Vezz looks over to Jaxxi, sneering in her face. “You’re not so tough when someone actually steps up to you, huh?” Jaxxi grips her sword, bringing it right to Jaxxi’s bloodied visage.

“Guuah, step back, I’m going to make this a real messy–”

“No!” Guuah snaps. Vezz steps back, blinking. Rickie looks downright confused.

“Gooey. You of all people know how many gobs this prettied up monster hurt. Possibly killed.” Vezz moves her electrified sword closer. “She’s not deserving anything more.”

“Not my intention.” Guuah calmly states. “Everyone deserves to see her. To see their oppressor. And she’s gonna have to look at them right back.”

Vezz tilts her head. A wicked grin starts to form. “…Seems fitting. Alright.” She lowers her sword, strapping it to her hip. “Bring her before the masses. When you’re done, meet us at the hotel! We’re going to have a celebration! Celebrating our freedom!”

“Yay! Freedom! I guess that means I’m free too! I’m free now!” Rickie also cheers! “Party time!”

“Rickie,” Aeromis sighs. “Even if you were absolved of your debt to mortals, you still owe the elementals a massive sum. ‘Freedom’ is nothing but an illusion for you, at our current course.”

Rickie scoffs. “I’ll ab-solve that here soon! For now, party time! Woo!” Rickie does a little dance, excited for his future prospects.

Vezz gives one more glare to Jaxxi, then looks to Guuah. “I’m proud of you, Gooey. Sure many others down here are, too. We’ve gotta tell Burk.” She looks to Rickie. “Head to the hotel, and I’ll meet you there.”

Guuah nods. Rickie is already running down the corpse laden passageway back outside. Vezz starts making her way out as well.

Five seconds. Ten seconds. Twenty seconds.

Guuah lowers his shotgun, sighing with relief. "Go. Get ya kid and get outta here. With all the excitement as long as ya dodge the hotel, ya should be able to sneak out with ya kid.

Jaxxi moves forward a bit, but pauses. “…Why are yous doing this? I left yous to die. I beat yous next to death. I took everything yous owned and tossed it in a dumpster. I’ve hurt many a gob, and here yous are, trying to be a big shot again.”

Guuah scoffs. “I’m doin’ it because it’s the right thing to do.” He pauses. “Even if I’m wrong. Ya take ya kid and find somewhere safe. Don’t ya come back to Undermine. Certainly not any time soon.”

Jaxxi blinks…and nods. She doesn’t turn around to face Guuah. “…Yous may regret this. I’m not going to stop.” She chuckles. “I’m going to get right back to it. Only when the cartels are dead and buried will I know my daughter is safe.”

“Sure. Just don’t come 'back 'round here and we’ll sort that out later.” Guuah nods.

Jaxxi hesitates, looking behind her for a moment. She then moves as quickly as she can to the chaotic mess outside. Soon she is out of his line of sight.

Guuah looks around. He sees a few of the bodies on the ground, some are merely clad in shirts. Couldn’t even spring for a little bit of armor. Finding the cleanest one he can out of the bunch, he liberates one of the shirts from the recruits and wraps it around his torso. The major source of bleeding at least slowed down, if not stopped.

Ticker is airborne once again, fluttering right being Guuah. It gives a quiet chirp, having observed him granting her mercy.

“…Ain’t no need for more senseless death, Ticker. We gotta be better. And it’s startin’ here.” He sighs. “We gotta check to make sure Gallywix is taken care of.”

The two step out of the facility, and move towards the nearby casino.

–

The Gallagio is indeed a place for the rich and…well, really just the rich. Fame isn’t exactly a requirement, if Gallywix is any indication.

There’s nothing short of carnage from the entrance on to it’s deeper innards. Roaming following the trail of destruction, a giant slot machine and a terrifying two headed ogre, he finally stumbles onto a large, circular room, with the floor below the landing he is currently on.

The cartel leaders are all there. Nearby adventurers are passing out various pieces of loot amongst themselves. Business as usual. Looking beyond them, he sees a splatter of blood, under a large mech of sorts. There is a swollen hand sticking out from under the wreckage.

It’s done. Mission accomplished.

He doesn’t know how much of a part he actually played: It seems Gallywix was destined to lose no matter what happened. However, if Jaxxi was allowed to execute her scheme, the end result here could have been much different.

The tiniest of things can have the biggest of consequences. He knows this much.

Upon confirming Gallywix’s demise, Guuah starts to head out of the casino. He’s tired. He’s sore. And he has a lot on his mind.

–

The hotel is buzzing with activity. Used as a base for the forces rebelling against Gallywix and the Darkfuse, many are now returning from the successful raid against their combined forces. Many are dancing, feasting, celebrating…A vibe of hope and excitement radiates from the place.

Shortly after reaching the hotel, Vezz and Rickie run up to him. Vezz has another banana cocktail, Rickie holding two. Ticker is currently perched on his shoulder and doesn’t seem like it wants to move.

“There you are!” Vezz grins. “I can’t believe it. Everything is so different now!” She motions widely around her. “Look at how excited everyone is! Finally, Undermine can start to recover from all that stupid stuff the Darkfuse was up to. Speaking of…”

Vezz notes the wrapped shirts around Guuah’s midsection, his left hand still left to the elements although the bleeding seems to have ceased. “Why didn’t you say you were hurt?!” Vezz fumes, quickly yanking Guuah to a nearby unoccupied lawn chair. “Rest, you big dork.”

“It ain’t that big of a deal.” He says, although he feels a bit light headed from the bleeding. Once he’s patched up he should be good to go.

“Nothing you do is going to be of much help if you’re dying doing it! Rickie, hold this.” She hands Rickie the cocktail, despite him having no hands remaining to hold it. He’s left having to hold the cup with his mouth, given a lack of any other option. Vezz ducks into the hotel for a bit before returning with some bandages and antiseptic. “Hey, at least you being stupid and getting hurt helps me brush up on my first aid.”

She removes the shirt covering the wound and applies a cloth mixed with water and the antiseptic.

“AGH! Jeez. Good thing Jaxxi didn’t practice any medicine, probably more blastin’ deadly than anything else.” Guuah grits his teeth as Vezz does her work. Rickie says something but it is entirely muffled by the cup being held by his mouth.

“Yeah yeah, Rickie, I’m getting to that! Yeah, what’d you do with Jaxxi? Sure you took care of her in a way she deserves.” Vezz says the name with absolute scorn. “Monsters like her don’t deserve another chance.”

Guuah pauses. “…Yeah. She’s taken care of.”

“Know it wasn’t easy, Gooey, but you did what needed done. Don’t think, just do, just like I told you.” Vezz smiles. She finishes cleaning the wounds and starts placing bandages over them, keeping them wrapped nice and tight. “Now, doctor’s orders! Rest! Think you’ve deserved that much.”

Guuah sighs, the pain from the antiseptic subsiding as he leans back against the lawn chair, taking in deep breaths. “Where’s Burk? Ya would think he wouldn’t miss this for the blastin’ world.”

Vezz gives a bit of a scowl, looking away for a moment. “…I didn’t find him. His house was in ruins. There were patches of green fire and a whole lot of death.” She shakes her head. “I don’t know if he’s alive or not. But, if he is! I’ll find him. Like I said, he always comes back.”

She gives a grin, not letting the potentially distressing thought get to her. “I’m sure he’d be proud of you too, Gooey. You really came through and wanted to help Undermine, even when you didn’t have any reason to.”

Guuah musters a weak smile. “…Guess I did help a bit, huh.” A pause. “I wanna keep helping. There’s still a lot of cleaning up to do around here. Still more gobs to help get back to their feet. We gotta clean up this big mess, and make sure the Darkfuse don’t reform.”

Vezz grins. “That means you’re staying? What about your time cop gig? Don’t you have to worry about that?”

Guuah ponders this. “I have to report back, once I find a way back to them. All of my communication gear was on the equipment I had coming in. It’s long gone now.”

“Well, good news! Now anyone can use that teleporter back to the rock dwarf city! With R.I.F.F. all gone, there’s no one to keep you from going back up! Go do what you gotta do once you’re up to it! Undermine isn’t going anywhere.” Vezz grins. “Sure you’ll help make sure that’s the case, too.”

“Yeah. Yeah!” Guuah grins right back, actually excited for the idea of helping Undermine! “It’ll be a blastin’, well, blast.” He nods. “I’ll head back here in a bit. I at least have to fill them in.” He tilts his head. “What about ya? Ya said you were headin’ back to…what was it, Pinchwhistle Gearworks?”

Vezz for a moment seems to have no idea what Guuah was talking about, before snapping and nodding her head. “Y-yeah! Now that Burk succeeded in his big plan, I need to head back and help them sort out their mess. It’s going to take a lot of doing, but, you know me! I’m going to get it ironed out one way or another!” Vezz flexes a bit, smirking down at Guuah. “You’ll just have to manage without me.”

Rickie blinks at the mention of Pinchwhistle Gearworks. Aeromis seems to stir a bit at it’s mention as well. Vezz finally yanks her cup from Rickie’s mouth, using a dry bit of the cloth she used to clean Guuah’s wounds to wipe it off. “Gross. Could’ve sat one of your cups down.”

“You didn’t give me any warning!” Rickie protests, frowning. “Guuahgoo, I need to talk to you for a bit too! It’s important!”

“One sec, Rickie.” Guuah nods at Vezz. “Well…Hey. Pay a visit sometime, will ya? Don’t think I would’ve done any of this without ya proddin’ me on.” He gives a light smile. “So. Thanks.”

Vezz leans down and gives Guuah a big hug, with him returning it in turn. It’s a much more restrained hug from him, but he’s trying. “Sure will, champ. Now stop getting yourself beat up! It’s almost like you enjoy it, you weirdo.” Vezz cackles as she starts making her way back into the hotel. “Take care of Undermine!”

Guuah watches Vezz go. “Sure she’ll do just fine down at them Gearworks…” He still doesn’t remember why that sounds so familiar to him.

“Actually, yeah! Yeah yeah! That’s what I want to talk to you about!” Rickie huffs, taking a heavy swig of one of his cups. “I heard her mention that! She brought it up to me too. Now, I’m in debt to…a lot of goblins, okay?”

Guuah rolls his eyes. “Figured. What’s the big deal?”

Rickie continues. “Well, a lot! But I know just about every goblin place off the back of my hand, you know?” He gives a bit of a pause. “There’s…no Pinchwhistle Gearworks. Anywhere.” He looks down, thinking. “I didn’t want to tell her, because I think that would be rude! I also think she would beat me up really bad! So I didn’t!”

“If I may chime in.” Aeromis speaks. “I am surprised you do not recall it. Although perhaps that is by design. There was a Pinchwhistle Gearworks…In Draenor. As in. The alternate Draenor.”

Guuah’s eyes open wide. Of course he doesn’t remember it, because it stopped existing! He remembers now!

We do not wish to repeat what happened with Garrosh.

How could he forget? How Kairozdormu’s mad scheme created an alternate timeline and from it came a whole different version of events? As soon as they were able the Bronzes put a definite end on that timeline, and anything that was remaining there when it happened were, for all intents and purposes, erased from time.

Garrosh Hellscream was able to thrive in this alternate timeline until drastic action was taken. Perhaps the largest blemish on the dragonflight’s record. Almost any mention of those events are lost to time, as intended.

Guuah leans back in his chair, blinking.

Vezz has no reason to lie 'bout that…But…it makes no sense…

“The only reason I know of this, is because the elements were heavily distressed due to actions taken in this alternate timeline.” Aeromis continues. “Especially when the timeline was severed. Many elementals are still feeling repercussions to this day.”

Rickie takes another sip. “I’m sorry! Didn’t mean to cause concern but figured you should know! It’s really confusing!”

I ain’t gonna worry about it. Vezz…sure she has her reasons. I ain’t got any reason to doubt her.

“Nah, sure it’s alright. Next time I see her, I’ll just ask her.” Guuah smiles, confident in his decision. “What about ya two? What ya gonna do now?”

Rickie nods rapidly. “Oh! Oh! I know! We’re going to make money! We’re going to go out and sell our goods and services to any who needs them! Then we will have the biggest party outside of Undermine! Yeah! We’re free!”

“Rickie, I told you…” The elemental turns to Guuah. “I will be, unfortunately, bound to this…goblin, for as long as it takes for him to pay his debts. As such, I must follow him until it is done. I will, of course, try to advise him to do…more or less the opposite of what he’s planning.”

Guuah grins. “Well, wish ya two the best of luck. Reckon there’s not gonna be any shortage of work down here anytime soon.”

Rickie simply drops one of his empty cups, using the now free hand to rub the back of his head. “Ehe. No thanks. Cleaning up stuff? Boring. Hard work. We gotta be explosive! Gotta make the big bucks!” He nods, turning to Aeromis. “Let’s go to that Org-rimmar! Bet we can find something there!”

Rickie starts stumbling around, possibly a bit drunk. Aeromis once again sighs. “…Be well, Guuah. Unlike Rickie, you seem to be doing your best. Be well in your endeavors.” He then quickly follows Rickie, making sure he stays out of…at least some trouble.

Guuah starts picking himself up from the seat he was plopped into. He has to make this last visit, and then decide what he is going to do.

–

The transport between Undermine and Dornogal was next to painless. The teleporter could use a bit of work, but if the only consequence is a bit of a scorched sensation, then that’s not that bad in the grand scheme of things.

There is a portal leading right back to the Timeways, used by mortals who dedicated themselves to assisting the Bronze. It’s not exactly making the grandest of entrances, but it’ll do.

–

While he has only really been gone for a short time frame, it feels like an eternity has passed since he was assigned his mission. Once more he finds himself in the halls of the Timeways.

It didn’t take long for his entrance to be noticed. A bronze portal appears, and an elven man with long blonde hair makes his presence known.

“Guuah! You’ve returned! I must say, we were gravely concerned for you. We lost all communication and feared something has gone awry!” Erozion smiles brightly. “You…certainly look different. A lot scrappier.”

“Yeah,” Guuah starts. “there was a bit of an adventure involved.”

Erozion’s smile doesn’t falter. “Please. Start from the top. I require a full explanation.”

Guuah indeed starts from the beginning…

…

“…Important bit, he’s dead. And the folks in Undermine are better for it.” Guuah nods and smiles. He left out some details, including where Vezz came from. No reason to cause a big concern over that.

Erozion’s smile seems to only brighten, especially during his description of him feeling horrible for the plights of others. “I must say! That is quite an adventure! Once more, you overcame significant hurdles and emerged victorious.” He crosses his arms. “Just as importantly, you confronted yourself, and emerged victorious.”

“Yeah…I did. Wait.” Guuah blinks at Erozion. “Was that…ya aim the whole time?!”

Erozion grins and gives a bit of a shrug. “I did tell you to mingle! And mingle you did, far beyond what I expected of you.” His grin relaxes, his face growing more serious. “You seen the struggle others went through, in addition to having your own to contest with. You faced your regrets, your fears, yourself. You found friends in a place that you thought you would be entirely alone.”

Erozion continues. “I understand keeping our timeline intact is…a difficult task. You persisted in it, however. I know you did it because you think it would bring a better future, but all it did is have you relive the past, over and over. Thus, this scheme to break you from the cycle you found yourself trapped in.”

Guuah huffs. “…Guess I never would’ve done it otherwise. Wish ya were a bit more clear 'bout it, but…thanks. Think it made me see things a lot more clear now.”

Erozion’s smile returns. “I do believe I know what is coming next, as well. While we are weakened, us Bronze dragons are not entirely powerless to see what lies ahead.”

Guuah looks up at Erozion. As opposed to before he left on his journey, his gaze was more robotic. Lifeless. Now, they glimmer with possibilities. Of hope.

“…Yeah.” Guuah grins. “I quit. I’m gonna be dedicatin’ my efforts to making Undermine better. Makin’ the lives down there better. Makin’ my golden future by helpin’ the now.” His grin widens. “That future may not ever come in my lifetime, but hell if I ain’t gonna at least help set up the buildin’ blocks for it.”

Erozion nods. “Very well! Guuah Moneyblaster, you are hereby relieved of your Timewalking services. Entirely.” A big grin spreads on the dragon’s face. “I wish nothing but the best for you. Do feel free to pay a visit sometime. I would offer to pay the visit myself, but things are always busy, as you know.”

“Yeah. Especially now. Hey, how’s Ticki doin’? Surprised she hasn’t been up here.”

“Oh, she is extremely busy! She is busy training the others who now help our cause, as she did you. There is never a dull moment for her, I assure you! She does appreciate the work, though, and does ask of you all the time.” Erozion nods. “I will be certain to give her an update on your status.”

“I appreciate it.” Guuah keeps on looking up, his eyes a bit watery. “It just feels great bein’ happy about somethin’ I did for a change.”

“By all means, continue the course.” Erozion nods. “Know that the Timeways are always welcome to you.” He pauses. “Take care of yourself, Guuah. Enjoy the life you have yet to live.”

“Reckon I will.” Guuah gives a big wave before turning around. “Maybe I’ll even learn how to make some money. Three gold sounds like a lot, now that I’m thinkin’ about it.”

He chuckles, and starts heading right back out of the Timeways. For good.

Erozion turns and faces the timestreams flowing on above him. “Just like clockwork. I am sure you will accomplish great things.”

–

Time passes, and as it does, things change.

Guuah finds himself employed by Gearfist Acquisitions, who have started to re-equip the Diamond Lounge, and modernize it for a new audience. Be it for dance parties or enjoying the best drinks Azeroth can provide, they intend to make the Lounge be a bright beacon for all who reside in Undermine.

Outside of that, he is often seen helping clean up, performing small tasks and fending off the occasional Darkfuse remnant group or two. He has been interacting with others in Orgrimmar far more frequently, finding new companionship and common ground that he otherwise would miss. There is the occasional oddity from time to time, but that goes for many things in life.

He is much happier with where he is now, and is always looking forward to the next day, and the next opportunity. And he’s even learning about how to conduct some business besides! He may actually turn into a proper gob before too long.

Rickie and Aeromis are often seen in Orgrimmar. Rickie tries to sell his half baked schemes to anyone who seems interested. This unfortunately often backfires, and Aeromis is left with cleaning up the mess. Still, they are getting by.

Their debt hasn’t really changed, and there is a fear that collectors may come for their due, but at least the elements can’t do anything: Thanks to Burk’s gift (or bribe) Rickie was able to negotiate a way to keep him safe from at least them. For now.

Burk’s body was never found. After the cleaning crews came and got rid of the mess, a search through the remnants of his home left no clue as to his whereabouts. The only thing found in the wreckage of his home was the title of a tome: “The Procedure Of Producing Elementium”, authored by someone named Meklo.

If he is alive, he has not been seen since.

Jaxxi survived the escape from Undermine, with Bekki in tow. It took some convincing to have the caretaker of the Orphanage release custody of her: She was unaware that Jaxxi was not just Darkfuse, but a particularly violent part of them. Thanks to Bekki, however, they were able to escape Undermine intact.

While she was able to fix up her DF-JAKD-UP exoskeleton to functional levels, it will never achieve the power it once had, especially since the fuel source of Black Blood is considered a bit taboo by the masses. Having to use a large battery instead, she maintains the strength and agility she had, but most of the auxiliary systems remain disabled.

She currently keeps Bekki safe with a trusted friend, as she works as a mercenary for any who will have her. Her goals remain the same, but if she hopes to fight the cartels, she needs money, and she needs an army. Perhaps in time both of these things will come.

Her attitude has not changed: She’s still the same as always, and relishes for any chance to cut these taller races down to size. That said, she tries to show more restraint and patience.

Perhaps she will run into Guuah again. She swears the outcome will be different should they fight again.

As for the future…Time will tell. Time always tells.

–

A goblin woman stands at a cliffside on the Isle of Dorn, staring off into the sea. Her helmet is removed, revealing messy red hair, and clockwork armor, colored in silver and blue. She has an electrified sword and a partially bladed buckler on her person as well.

Finally. I can take this junk off.

A flash of silver-blue light swirls around her. Her hair suddenly turns pale blue, with her armor replaced with a finely crafted set of black and blue plate armor. The shoulders are emblazoned with pale blue hourglass. A straight sword coated in a light blue light is strapped on her hip. The shield she had on her person is flat out gone.

She raises her left wrist, bringing a communicator up. A holographic image forms, displaying a dragon’s visage.

“Report.” The dragon says, bluntly.

“Gallywix is dead, as predicted.” The goblin nods. “I think everyone wanted him dead. Probably did all the timelines a service.”

“Yes. What of the Timewalker? I believe I made this a target of import.”

The goblin woman hesitates. “…What of him?”

“Did you kill him. This was your secondary objective.”

“…No.”

The dragon hisses. “I hope you have an explanation.”

“Look. You described him as a heartless murderer. I was looking forward to killing him, you know I do not tolerate monsters.” The goblin sighs. “He wasn’t that. We actually had a lot of common ground.” She shrugs. “I don’t think he’s interested in working with the Bronze anymore.”

“You do not know him as I do. He has killed countless of my brethren. Of your brethren. Through a moment of weakness, you allowed a danger to our cause to simply walk away.”

“You weren’t there! He’s not what you think he is!” The goblin exclaims. “You think you know him, but Gooey–”

“Silence, unless you wish to find yourself back in your doomed timeline.” The dragon hisses once more. “This failure will be noted, and your fraternization even more so. You will perform the tasks asked of you, and you will do so without objection.”

The goblin looks away from the hologram, grimacing. “…Yeah. I understand. It won’t happen again.”

“Good. We will not concern ourselves with “Guuah” for the time being. We must prepare. Now that the Dark Heart has been…relocated, the mortals will be moving soon. We must prepare.”

The woman nods. “Yeah. I’m returning now.”

“Do not fail us again, Vezz. You were given a second chance. You will not get a third.”

The hologram disappears. Vezz lowers her wrist, sighing. She looks out once more to the ocean. The sun is setting, the orange light reflecting off the roaring ocean.

…Good luck, Gooey. I believe in what you’re doing. Hope you do too.

After a delay, a dark-silver portal swirls around Vezz, and then both vanish.

THE END

(Well. That was a project! Took around a month, even! First, thank you if you read through it. It is honestly the first kind of long term story I tried to write out. While I have been roleplaying or a good while, it’s a lot different to write out a whole story than revolving things around posts. I also never really made anything like fanfiction before, which I think this qualifies. Hopefully it wasn’t too cringy? Bad? Any one of those adjectives?

There are still many things I need to work on: Many of my previous posts were edited due to things I added, spelling errors and the like. That’s to be expected, but still something to improve on. Another issue I ran into sometimes is that I sometimes forgot to include things that were introduced. There’s…probably a lot of other things too, like word usage and the like.

I feel like the further it went on, though, the more comfortable I got writing. I’m going to re-read this with a fresh set of eyes and see how I can improve for next time, but this was really fun!

Time for bed. I’m really tired. This last bit took a good while to write up. I started at around…10 AM this morning, and now it’s 10 PM in the evening. Noticed later bits were starting to take more and more time too! I’m hoping that’s progress.

Anyway, thank you, I’m a huge fan of the time stuff in WoW, Guuah is my favorite character due to the complications that dealing with time brings, and Undermine was a great way to bring a more positive change to the character.

Take care! And hey, if you see Guuah around, feel free to approach! He always enjoys chatting with folks!)