(2025-10-13) Savar's Strategy, Part 2 (Cobalt Blade)

Details

Author:	OzmaAsimov
Summary:	The Blade continues its efforts in Tempest Keep, entering the Mechanar to locate and disable the second rune engine.
Rating:	T for Teen

Arc: The Cobalt Blade

[Tadget]: Sup.

Tadget salutes Thalstan with respect.

[Zaara]: Sup!

[Thalstan]: The Tempest Keep, luckily.

Tadget giggles at Zaara.

It is, indeed, still up.

[Tadget]: How, though?

[Tadget]: Let's not think too hard about it.

[Thalstan]: Draenei magi–technology?

[Tadget]: Magitech. *Tadget nods.*

[Zaara]: Yes!

[Thalstan]: Art'll be joining us today. I'm eager to hear what he made o' that rune engine.

Vesyllah nods. "Hopefully he can wreck it good."

[Tadget]: Trouble!!

[Tadget]: So, I trust you've figured out how to disable those … engine things?

[Thalstan]: Aye, how'd it go?

Zaara beams at Art's water elemental.

[Tadget]: Rune engines. That was it.

[Tadget]: I hope the one we sent didn't explode.

Tadget peers suspiciously at the water elemental.

[Arthur]: I am handing out lollipops. Because you are GREAT! that engine was wild!

[Tadget]: I'm not sure how I feel about this new member of our team. I guess if it gets out of control Zaara can calm it down. But I drowned once, so I'm a bit wary of water guys bigger than I am.

Tadget glares angrily at Water Elemental.

[Arthur]: but yes. i took it apart and figured out how.

Tadget cheers at Arthur!

[Tadget]: Knew you would.

[Tadget]: Okay so we're all set then.

[Tadget]: Stabbin' time.

[Vesyllah]: Great. Because there's supposed to be another one in this place.

Tadget nods at Thalstan.

Tadget licks her lollipop while she waits for the team to ready themselves.

[Thalstan]: We can dismantle this one on the spot then.

[Thalstan]: Ready for round two?

Tadget nods.

[Thalstan]: Looks like elves and robots this time. Maybe less plants.

Vesyllah gathers darkness around herself, and shadowy ravens begin to circle her.

[Tadget]: I hate stabbing robots.

[Tadget]: Clang clang clang.

Tempest-Forge Patroller calls for help!

Tempest-Forge Patroller calls for help!

[Thalstan]: Whoa. They are serious about cooperation in this place.

[Thalstan]: I was no' expectin' evryone to come runnin' ta help.

[Vesyllah]: Maybe they got their shit together after we beat the crap out of them in the Botanica.

[Tadget]: Well, maybe it'll be an actual challenge for once, then.

[Vesyllah]: I could stand a little fun.

Tempest-Forge Patroller calls for help!

[Tadget]: Elves hate dying so much, it's hilarious.

[Tadget]: Every single one is like, "What??? Me??? Doing the thing LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE DOES?"

[Vesyllah]: We're not used to it. It gives us the jibblies.

Tadget giggles.

Thalstan raises an eyebrow. "Aye, I can see that. How ye used ta be immortal and all. But the draenei are the same in that way."

[Thalstan]: Err, I reckon they're still immortal? Or are they?

[Zaara]: Jibblies.

[Tadget]: Jibbbbbbbbbblies.

[Tadget]: Oh man, THOSE guys.

[Tadget]: I hate mo'arg.

[Tadget]: They seriously creep me out.

[Zaara]: Ree-roo-ra.

Tadget laughs at Zaara.

Vesyllah smirks.

[Tadget]: Oh jeez, that one talks.

You hear a faint unlocking sound…

[Tadget]: Literally did not know they could do that. Or that they would… sound like that.

[Vesyllah]: Just means he has more of a mind for me to shatter.

[Tadget]: Cool.

[Thalstan]: Real growly kinda voice.

Tempest-Forge Patroller calls for help!

[Tadget]: Cubes.

[Thalstan]: Reckon there's an engine in one of em?

[Tadget]: Open them all and see.

Vesyllah peers beyond the wall of boxes. "That is one big-ass robot."

[Thalstan]: Let's see if we ccan get to it. Might be an engine inside it.

[Tadget]: Nice, maybe I'll get to stab it for more than two seconds.

[Tadget]: These guys fall too easily.

[Thalstan]: These little critters sure love their bombs.

Tadget nods at Thalstan.

[Tadget]: OOyeah.

[Thalstan]: Alright, everyone ready to take on a big 'un?

[Tadget]: Honestly not sure where to stab that thing.

[Tadget]: But I'll figure it out.

Tadget giggles at Zaara.

[Vesyllah]: Is there someone in that thing?

[Tadget]: Bigger they are, etc.

[Thalstan]: Hmm, bigger they are the harder they fall… aye, Mayhem. Same thought.

Tadget cackles maniacally at Thalstan.

[Thalstan]: Ye see anything that looks like a rune engine in there?

Tadget pokes the dead robot.

[Arthur]: Always the same. put all the important parts in the torso. they might as well light it up with a neon target.

[Tadget]: Nothing that looks like that … last thing.

[Tadget]: Torso, eh? Good to know.

Thalstan considers. "Hmm, there was an elevator back there. But I reckon we should clear out this whole floor, just in case."

[Tadget]: For a gnome I am shamefully ignorant of most things mechanical.

[Tadget]: My dad was just a regular old miner and my mom was a fake kind of scientist. Like a brain scientist, but for just, thoughts and feelings and whatever. "Psychologist" she called it. Anyway, no engineers.

[Thalstan]: Fake brain scientist, huh…

[Tadget]: Yeah. I was an experiment.

[Thalstan]: My pa had a run-in with Old God mess, wonder if a brain scientist could've helped. Eh, probably not.

[Tadget]: Look how much my mom helped me.

Tadget cackles maniacally at the situation.

[Thalstan]: Aye, ye turned out ok, though.

[Tadget]: Eventually.

[Tadget]: For a given definition of 'okay.'

[Thalstan]: In spite, mayhap, instead of because.

[Tadget]: Mayhap.

[Tadget]: Mayhem.

[Vesyllah]: S'funny…you have four.

You hear a faint unlocking sound…

[Tadget]: Four what?

[Thalstan]: Four seconds ta live, heh.

[Tadget]: Ohhhhh, nice

[Thalstan]: These fellas always seem ta underestimate us.

[Zaara]: COBOLT BLADE

[Tadget]: I was ignoring the demon blather.

Tempest-Forge Patroller calls for help!

[Tadget]: They literally never say anything worth listening to.

Thalstan cheers at Zaara.

[Thalstan]: I think that's brought us full circle. Up the elevator it is?

[Thalstan]: Makes sense they'd put the engine somewhere hard ta get to.

[Thalstan]: Did ye all see the latest Pandaria news?

[Tadget]: I didn't, what's up?

[Arthur]: no! what isit/

[Thalstan]: Bit of a disaster. There was a battle wi' the Horde and a priceless statue was destroyed.

[Tadget]: Ugggggh Horde.

[Zaara]: Oh no!

[Arthur]: oh no!

[Vesyllah]: That sucks.

[Arthur]: awful! are they reconstructing it?

[Zaara]: Bigtime.

[Tadget]: Are they mad at us?

[Tadget]: I'd be mad at us.

[Thalstan]: I hope they're rebuildin', but it was a big cultural thing.

[Arthur]: it just about took my nose!

[Tadget]: Pandaren seem kinda like pushovers, honestly.

[Thalstan]: I duno about the anger, aye. They seem very calm.

[Thalstan]: It probably doesn't help the Alliance's case much, though.

[Tadget]: The real world's gonna flatten 'em I'm afraid.

[Arthur]: do you think they'd welcome some help?

[Tadget]: Cobalt's got their second and third-best squads on it already.

[Arthur]: but that means they might need us!

[Tadget]: True, if we get some time.

[Vesyllah]: Let's focus on stopping Savar first. Then maybe we can go play with teddy bears.

Tadget nods at you.

Thalstan grins at Tadget. "Meanin' we're the best. But aye, I expect the Alliance will offer aid. We're like that."

[Thalstan]: Important looking elf here. Let's fight her?

[Zaara]: Okay!

[Thalstan]: Don't see anything enginey, but minions are minions.

[Tadget]: She looks mean.

[Tadget]: OW

[Thalstan]: She was mean.

Tadget giggles.

[Thalstan]: But no sign of an engine. Looks like there's a corridor deeper over there?

[Thalstan]: Maybe one of these days, we'll find Savar himself tinkering with an engine. And then we'll end it all.

[Tadget]: I was half listening and thought you said "find Savar tinkering with himself" and uhhhh no thanks.

[Thalstan]: Uh… Aye, no, I'd rather not.

Tadget cackles maniacally at the situation.

[Vesyllah]: Hawt.

Vesyllah smirks.

[Arthur]: I…should not say anything right now

[Thalstan]: But I would like to find the guy, so we can stop 'im.

Tadget cackles maniacally at Arthur.

[Tadget]: Before he goes blind.

Vesyllah snickers.

[Zaara]: What?

Thalstan chortles.

[Tadget]: …….

[Tadget]: Nevermind!

[Thalstan]: This place seems pretty defended. Think we're in the right direcction.

[Thalstan]: There! Is it Savar?

[Tadget]: They all look the same.

[Arthur]: Mess up his hair!

[Vesyllah]: Say hello to my little fiend!

Taephanol Dawnfire says: Savar? So, you've come to stop my cousin. Do you even know who it is you're opposing? All that he has sacrificed?

[Tadget]: Do we even care?

[Arthur]: shh.

Tadget shhhs.

[Thalstan]: Look, if yer goal is to destroy a world, it does no' quite matter what ye've sacrificed. It's still not a worthy goal.

Arthur whips out a hearing horn.

[Thalstan]: Outland may be battered an' broken, but it's still alive. And we aim ta keep it that way.

[Zaara]: Yes!

Taephanol Dawnfire says: How very small-minded of you. You would destroy that which you do not even understand.

[Thalstan]: I could say th' same o' you!

[Tadget]: You are like the fifth guys to come up with the idea that destroying everything will save it. It's not even original delusion.

[Arthur]: well, try us. what don't we understand?

[Tadget]: Fine, fine, explain I GUESS.

[Tadget]: For the report.

Taephanol Dawnfire says: Then listen, and attempt to wrap your narrow minds around the truth.

Taephanol Dawnfire says: He was a quel'dorei noble. Lord Savar Dawnfire. But he heard the call of Illidan, and became the cause's most ardent devotee — to stop the Burning Legion at any cost.

Taephanol Dawnfire says: Illidan lost his way. He became a petty tyrant trying to carve a kingdom out of this shattered rock. But Savar never faltered. He has a conviction none of us will ever match.

Taephanol Dawnfire says: You could be a part of his mission. Set aside your small view of what is. Look to the cosmos, and the part you could play in its salvation. This is bigger than Outland. Bigger than Azeroth. This is about existence itself.

[Thalstan]: I dunno, the draenei have a lot of conviction about the Burning Legion, and they don't seem ta think this place needs deastroyin'.

[Arthur]: this is big on pitch and low on data.

Vesyllah looks to the others. "Well, I'm convinced," she says dryly.

[Zaara]: If you are willing to destroy worlds then what are you trying to save? You are also like the Burning Legion.

Taephanol Dawnfire says: Outland is a dimensional hub. With it, the Legion can access thousands of worlds. The calculation is simple: sacrficie a few to save the many. Cut out the cancer.

[Thalstan]: Maybe it's your side who need ta consider ye might not be on the right path. That there might be a better way to do this. Ye don't have ta be our enemies. We have the same goals — stopping the Legion.

Taephanol Dawnfire says: ((*sacrifice))

[Tadget]: Um there are also like, people living on this 'dimensional hub'. Lots of them.

[Zaara]: Your face is a dimensional hub!

Tadget cackles maniacally at the situation.

[Thalstan]: Aye, an' if ye slay them all, it's the same the Legion would do.

Zaara stomps her hoof.

Thalstan nods at Zaara. Well said.

[Tadget]: You don't have to sacrifice these people to defeat the Legion.

[Arthur]: why is it alwaus a plan to destroy the world, three question marks, and then PROFIT! in big letters?

Taephanol Dawnfire says: Unfortunate, but it is a small price to pay. None of us will survive, but our destruction will lead to a better universe.

Tadget cackles maniacally at Arthur.

[Tadget]: BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY THE PRICE.

[Tadget]: You can just skip straight to destroying the Legion.

[Zaara]: How do you know? Someone told you this? What if I tell you they are liars? What now, oh no, two answers!!!

[Tadget]: Like, if we destroy them, it doesn't matter if they have a hub, because they are DEAD. Duh.

Tadget laughs at Zaara.

[Arthur]: All right! We've heard your plan. It's time to vote. All those who think it's terrible? Me.

[Zaara]: Me!

[Tadget]: Okay, so we listened to you, and it turns out you're an idiot. Yeah, I vote terrible also.

[Thalstan]: Aye. The ends do not justify the means. If the means are cruel and evil, then it's not worth the cost.

Taephanol Dawnfire says: Then you leave me no choice. I must destroy you here.

[Tadget]: There is actually another option, as you will see.

[Zaara]: You are a frog in space.

Taephanol Dawnfire attacks!

Thalstan sighs heavily, and draws his sword. "I choose the other option."

[Arthur]: Mess up his hair!

[Tadget]: On it.

[Thalstan]: COBALT BLADE! To arms!

[Vesyllah]: That's just cruel, Art.

Tadget proceeds with the stabbing.

Thalstan charges.

Arthur hurls a bolt of ice at the nihilist. "Get him, Snowy!"

[Zaara]: EAT A STORM.

[Tadget]: I really need a catchphrase. *She says as she repeatedly stabs an elf.*

[Arthur]: What a about, "Here's the sticking point?"

Taephanol Dawnfire unleashes a rapid barrage of arcane spells at the Blade. But even his magical might falters under their combined power.

Vesyllah weaves shadows to slither into Taephanol's mind, "I am the night!"

[Thalstan]: Ye can change yer mind. Ye can.

Vesyllah produces a hearthstone and traces a finger along the rune.

Thalstan sighs. "Well, there's likely an engine in here. Let's get it, Art, and get out of here."

[Tadget]: Another job well done.

[Tadget]: We rule.

[Arthur]: Oh yeah. Let's do a little espionage.

Tadget cheers at Arthur!

[Tadget]: Oh boy, more boxes.

[Thalstan]: Let's get lookin'.

[Tadget]: You sensing any… arcane crap, Art?

[Tadget]: Besides just the general…situation here.

[Arthur]: oh yeah, loads.

[Tadget]: Anything engine flavored?

Tadget experimentally tries to stab one of the cubes. It doesn't do much.

[Arthur]: you have to twist the dials on the corner support.

Thalstan pokes the dials on a corner gingerly.

[Tadget]: Okay.

Tadget supervises.

Thalstan assists.

[Thalstan]: See anything?

Arthur tiwsts some dials and gets a box open. "I think i see—"

Tadget backs up.

Thalstan raises a shield.

Arthur pulls out a lumpy whatsit. "Yep. one sec. where's my micro-adjuster?"

[Thalstan]: Aha! An' ye can dismantle it?

[Tadget]: Of course he can!

[Arthur]: Oh yeah. I even know just where to….

Arthur cranks some things around and lifts an engine out.

[Arthur]: There.

Tadget cheers at Arthur!

You cheer at Arthur.

[Arthur]: where are we headed with this?

[Tadget]: Cobalt Blade once again Does The Thing.

[Zaara]: COBOLT! BLADE!

[Thalstan]: Two engines down, one ta go. Let's get it back to HQ with the other.

[Tadget]: Uh I guess you safely destroy it.

Zaara bursts into dance.

Tadget giggles at Zaara.

[Thalstan]: In pieces, aye.

[Arthur]: okay. ironforge, then?

[Tadget]: Okay I'll meet you guys at HQ. Gonna swing by my Shattrath apartment first.

[Thalstan]: Good job, team. We're well on our way ta keeping Outland safe.

[Zaara]: See you later, cheese balls.

Tadget cackles maniacally at Zaara.

[Thalstan]: Stay fresh!

Tadget sighs at Zaara.