Part 10: Once You Geaux Tiger, You Never Geaux Back (Part 1)
Chapter 8: Once You Geaux Tiger, You Never Geaux Back (Part 1)Holy shit, listen to this, it's awesome
This is what's blaring when you step out of the tower here. It's rad as heck.
Trog was not seeing home for long while. Is wonder what happened.
Woah, woah. Let me get this straight. This is the world you come from? Is surprise? I dunno, I always thought there'd be, like, snow and forests. Not so much the clouds and sky. Bah! Cloud is firm. Made of strong stuff.
Yup, clouds are the complete opposite of what we thought, too.
Yet another blow against the law of physics. What's one more dent if the entire front end falls off?
Follow, friends! To olden village!
A sleepy little village tune.
Strange. Is not like Trog remembers. You there! What is town happening?
Holy Ashura, that accent. You get used to it after a while. Let me guess. Tower climbers? Is it that obvious? Pretty much. You guys look like you came from a freaking renaissance fair. No time for fairs, friend puddle! Celebrate later! ... ... 'kay. Anyway, welcome to Byaksylvania, shining jewel of Lord Byak-Ko's empire. Puddle feel okay? Is not funny word. This Sky Town. Shhhhh! Are you insane? Trog asked same thing when talk to fish! So, yes. Look, I have no idea where you got that name from, but this is Byaksylvania now. The only people that use the old name are the Resistance. Don't ever say the other one again. What, "Sky Town?" Augh! Keep it quiet! Whatever's wrong with calling it "Sky Town"? AUGH! Sky Town Sky Town Sky Town Sky Town! That's it, I'm out of here. You guys can get killed on your own.
Something the matter, citizen? Oh, just great. Now look what you've done. Hello! Trog is wondering, what Resistance? 
No citizen of the Republic would be stupid enough to ask Byak-Ko's High Guard that question. You'd be surprised. Which means... ugh. I hate dealing with your type. "Our type?" You bounty hunter hotshots are all the same. You come swaggering in from God knows where the instant someone puts out a call for guards, then hold us for ransom until we finally cave and hire you. ... ...You are bounty hunters, right? ...yyyyyyes. Hunting bounties. All we ever do. Sooooo many bounties, we can barely keep track of them all. And the worst part is the flamboyancy. Who dresses like you guys? I mean, seriously, where's your chain mail bikini? I must have left it at the laundromat. (Dickhead.) Anyway, I'll catch you guys up to speed, since I'll just have to explain it later. We've stamped out most of the Resistance, but the last of the cockroaches are real good at hiding. We found Captain Charles Magus a few weeks ago. Squeezed him as hard as we could, but he's made of stronger stuff. Never did give up his daughters' locations. Squeezed? Like, hugs? Tortured, Rez. Oh my God. That's awful. ... ...ly ... cool? I know! I'm kind of glad it took so long, we all had a blast. Popcorn and everything. Great. That's... that's just great. Head over to the pub to enlist. Be ready for a fight, some of the guys who got in on the ground floor harbor a lot of resentment. Uninterested. What? Uh, my friend drives a hard bargin. We'll need to discuss our opening bids. Suit yourself. You know where to find us when you're ready. Trog, you're going to blow our cover! Trog will not take oath for fiend. Has changed town. Changed world. Not as Trog remembers. Do any of you know what OPSEC is? Anyone? Hello? (On it, Ell!) (Thank you. Trog, no one's actually going to do anything nasty for this guy. We'll be working undercover.) (Trog not making vow to break it. Is unmanly.) (Argh. Dente, try to talk some sense into him.)
(Trog, I understand your concerns. However, strategically speaking, there is no better way to get closer to the enemy than to pretend to be his friend.) ... (No one will get hurt, I assure you. The trick is to subvert his orders out of his view. We'll know where he'll be going, and we can keep the innocents safe.)
Uh... why are you guys just standing around and looking furious at each other? Staring contest. What, just the four of you? In the middle of the street? 
...okay, I'm leaving now. (We gotta wrap this up, guys. People are starting to notice.) (Trog, please. We need everyone together on this.) (Will do this last thing. Then away.) (What? Why?) (Elly is pretending to friend Trog, too?)
... Oh dear. That went far more poorly than anticipated. I don't blame him. His world's gone on without him, now we're asking him to work with the guy that conquered it. Let him go. What? We can't leave Trog behind! Not our choice, Rez. If he wants to leave, we can't stop him. In the meantime, we've got an op to run. Very well. If we're going to be bounty hunters, we'll have to equip accordingly. I'm not in much of a mood to shop. Neither am I, but it has to be done.
Welcome to Byak-Ko's Weapons Emporium! What can I do for you? He even named the weapon shops after himself. This guy's a real piece of work. Hope he pays good. Bounty hunters, eh? Let me show you my special stock.
Not too shabby. Grenades, sabers... hey! You've got one of those guns we found in the tower. What are they? Muskets. We're getting bounty hunters from the tower now? I have no idea what the world's coming to. Nor do we, in all honesty. Hey, what's this thingy? Please be careful with that. Only an experienced combat veteran can harness the full potential of— *whipcrack*
Neato. Whenever you get control of your limbs back, we'll take it.Whips are interesting weapons. Their damage output is not really affected by agility like you'd suspect. However, on a successful hit, you have a chance to bind up an enemy and force them to skip their action. That particular check is affected by agility, and I know that because Rezen's hits almost always cause a turn loss. It's actually kind of hilarious, because I was wondering for the longest time why enemies kept skipping their turn. I honestly thought there were a lot of skin attacks in this area.
(Musket accuracy can be affected by agility, by the way. After we juiced up our guys up a bit, Elly's able to connect with musket shots much more frequently than before.)
Also on sale here is Dragon armor. It's awesome. Not just the defense—don't get me wrong, that part's great—but it comes with something even better. We won't see what quite yet, but it's a pretty big deal.
Alright, maybe people will shut up about our damn outfits now. Let's collect Trog and get this over with. I don't think he's coming. He's been sulking in the Inn this entire time and wouldn't talk to me. Maybe we should leave him be. It might be less offensive to him if he's not there when we're hired. Sure. It should just be a simple contract signing, anyway. Swagger in, tell a few stories, then ask for the paperwork. Bam, we're in.
Hey, who's in charge here? Who wants to know? Mind your own business. We talk to the big boys, not scrubs like you. Ooooooh, snap! ... I mean... Yeah! Show us where your boss is, twerp.
Hey. You the leader of this group? Yeah. What of it? I hear you've got a rebel problem. We're the solution. Bounty hunters. Scum of the goddamn earth. What's his deal? The monster? ... He doesn't speak unless he has something to say. And you don't want him talking. Capice? You're a bounty hunter, Rez, not a mob boss. Sorry, got carried away. This is bull. A woman, a teenage girl, and a monster just march right in and expect us to sign over the entire High Guard. You have any idea how many years we've put into this operation? The blood, sweat, and tears we shed getting this putrid little world under our thumb? And now, you want to roll in here and tell me you're better that us? Actually, I'm pretty sure we are! Lady, you've insulted us one time too many. Oh good. That'll make this next part easier.A few minutes later...
That went pretty well, I think. Greetings. Well, look who's back. Is always easy finding Elly. Listen for explosion. Vow made? Kind of.quote:
So, yeah. We got an audience with the big man himself. Good. Is wanting end soon. Trog... We leave now. Fine. They said they'd meet us on the outskirts.
Not really seeing anyone out here, Ell. I dunno, maybe we got here fir‐ *whipcrack*
Ugh. Hell of an introduction you sent us.
After the way you treated my Guard, you're lucky you were wearing a bag instead of in one. Fortunately for you, your tactics amused me. We aim to please.
OH NO I'M BLIND Can we take the bags off the rest of my crew now? Bwa ha ha! I like the way you operate—just the right mix of insanity and viciousness. You may be just the team I'm looking for. Great. But we don't work on credit. Of course not. But you understand that a fiend of my standing expects... results. We're happy to give you equipment as a down payment, no questions asked. The rest will come once the mission is completed. It should be fairly trivial for someone of your diverse talents. What's the job? You need us to break someone's kneecaps? Nothing so direct. No, I need you to find someone for me—Jeanne Magus, one of the twins leading the Resistance. You are to bring her to me... alive. Are we clear? Find the girl, bring her back in one piece. Got it. What happens after that? Don't ask questions! ... Ahem. I mean, that's none of your concern. I'll see to it that you're handsomely rewarded. That should alleviate any curiosity. Trog will take no money. OPSEC, you jerks! OPSEC! Trog? Well, well. The legend returns. ... The mighty Trog, the only man brave enough to enter the tower, now reduced to hunting bounties for a living. How long ago was it that you left? Is that how you ended up in Base Town? Base Town? Base town?! Ha! Gwahahahaha! ...I don't get it. Oh. Oh no. Rez, you don't get to Base Town by climbing the tower. Trog's sense of direction not so good. Is confusing sometimes up and down. Oh, this is rich. I don't even care if this mission succeeds or fails, I'm willing to pay just to see what happens. Guards! Show our new friends to their glider. Glider? What's that? You'll see. Oh, and one more thing. I understand your kind enjoys playing sides against each other for the best price. I'm sure that, since we've entered into a mutual agreement, I can trust your professionalism. But, just so we're clear...
You will burn. Everything you hold dear will be wiped from the face of this earth. Do not doubt that I can do it.
Well, he seemed cheerful enough. Alright, let's find this stupid glider thing and figure out what it is. Trog, perhaps we should— Trog not talk. No touching. 
Whew. Byak-Ko isn't kidding around with this place, is he? Indeed not, though I still find it troubling we don't know where "this place" is. An E-Whip to the skull and some black cloth bags'll do that to you.
Here's the bottom floor. Maybe a guard can tell us what we're looking for. Hey, stupid question, but what's a glider?
Well, I can't look if I can't figure out— Maybe if you'd just give me some help instead of— Oh my God you are the worst guards we've ever met. I'm sure we can figure it out as we go along. We managed to pilot an entire island by ourselves.
Omigod omigod omigod. Flying machines? No way. I wanna drive I wanna drive You are not the least bit qualified to fly one of these. None of us are! I've had both naval and ground arsenal experience. I think the safest thing for everyone involved is to let me take the wheel. Bah. You never let me have any fun. This isn't a game, Rez! These machines are dangerous. One wrong move could get us all killed! Yeah... Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry, Elly. I just get carried away sometimes. Hey, no worries. Hop in there, kiddo, I'll be along in a sec. Okie doke!
... You're as eager to pilot one of these as she is, aren't you? Eeeeeee I HEARD THAT
All systems look good. Control stick seems three-dimensional. This dial's probably how close we are to the ground and how much we're tilting. This one must be speed... that one's fuel. Hey, what's this button do? NO DON'T PRESS IT
AAAAH AAAAH OH MY GOD OH MY GOD HOW DOES THIS WORK WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE UP HERE TROG NOT MISS THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS