Phoenix Phire

Fey smiled widely when the third group appeared in the frozen fields of the Honor Burrough. Since the Burrough was now part of their claimed territory, new arrivals to the Bone Fortress no longer had to make a trek across enemy ground. Even though she had never seen him in skelly form, the silver-haired mage waved wildly. "MUNCIE!"

Floyd was standing with Sharl and Jun Li as they welcomed the newcomers. The Naga King was in his skelly form and had been sent specifically by Nix to fetch Muncie.

/Inferno: Floyd: Muncie made it in Nix. I'll bring him over.

/Inferno: Nix: Thanks, we're in the testing area.

Pon and Nix studied the latest test result in a small clearing far removed from the front line. A small impact crater less than a meter across.

Pon muttered a string of curse words. "That looks the same as the ballistic round."

Nix squatted in the mini-crater, his hands running down the smooth sides. "It's burning on impact instead of blowing up."

Over the last day, the two of them were working on rounds for the two golems Nix was constructing. Each could hold a total of 12 rounds. After some experimenting, they made a ballistic round that they could use when Inferno reached the Keep's walls. Their second type of round was less than successful.

"Maybe I need to raised my skill level." Pon kicked up a cloud of dirt before lending Nix a hand out of the hole.

"No worries, we'll get it." Nix considered the issue while walking back to the Golem. The ballistic round would be wasted on the standard battlefield. Unless the enemy were tightly grouped, the chances of taking out more than a handful were minimal. The two of them were trying to create a HEP (High Explosive) round, one that would detonate on impact and create serious chaos.

"Maybe the projectiles don't have enough ordinance." Pon picked up a hollowed projectile from the pile they had crafted. It was shaped much like the standard rifle bullet but on a much larger scale. The explosive material was placed in the tip and then the projectile was attached to the charged shell casing. The casing itself also contained a charge, but its purpose was sending the projectile down the barrels they crafted.

"Woah... the fuck are those?" A voice from behind them caused both Fire mages to turn at once. Floyd waved at the pair.

/Alpha: Nix: You've corrupted that kid.

/Alpha: Pon: Me? It was you!

Nix smiled when he noticed that Fey had tagged along. "Come with us."

Pon and Nix headed to the southern path that exited the clearing. The two of them had set up a crafting area near the cave where they first found Alfie and Edie.

"Hey, this is where Alfie and his sister made their stand?" Floyd loved to hear stories, his memories were full of ancient Naga battles, but he found it difficult to relate with his inexperience.

"Yeah. Until the old man and I arrived, they held this piece of land by themselves. Then we modded it to use as a prison, now we've made it even bigger." Nix entered the cave and then descended a short stairway that hadn't been there in the past. The truth was that he and Pon spent hours making it even bigger. A table, along with a few cots, made it as comfortable as any tent.

"I have the package," Muncie spoke for the first time, only he and Floyd were in skelly form. From his inventory, he produced a small black box. "Better step back."

Nix shared a glance with Pon before backing away. "Sinfaya made that box?"

Muncie nodded and joined them. "It's keyed to your voice. Speak the name of Sinfaya's son."

Nix eyed the small black box for a moment; he was expecting something grander. This was their attempt to get around the 'one item' rule. "Cathor."

An instant later, fifty feet of dragon puppet appeared in front of them. Everyone except Muncie took a giant step backward.

Muncie approached and lay a hand on the black scaled neck. "The .25 miniaturization was a great idea, Nix. My control feels natural now, like I'm an actual dragon."

/Alpha: Pon: I haven't seen it in a long time. This has basic wildling capabilities?

/Alpha: Nix: Yeah. Bite, flame, and fear, I think. Although Deidra says it might have a few hidden abilities that haven't been uncovered yet.

/Alpha: Pon: Why bring it here? We should have plenty of AirPower.

/Alpha: Nix: You haven't left the Bone Fortress, so you don't realize the type of changes you're going through. Every level of hardening is a major upgrade.

/Alpha: Pon: You want to toughen it up?

/Alpha: Nix: Yes, and the drakes also.

"Nix!" Fey's voice came from the other side of the dragon puppet. "You should see this."

"What is it? Don't even say it's damaged." Nix hurried around the puppet only to stop abruptly when he saw them. "Was this Shae's idea?"

Muncie shook his head. "Nope, Sinfaya made it happen."

Nix's face was split into a wide grin. "It's a fucking Ratastrophe." Five Nether Rat puppets had been included in the package. The Inferno leader picked up the nearest one. "Shae must have given her my Emperor puppets." He quickly stowed them away, but the shit-eating grin remained behind.

/Alpha: Pon: We're going on a Ratscue?

/Alpha: Nix: Nope. A Ratscursion.

Muncie completed a short walkaround the puppet. "Looks in top shape. Can I take it up?"

Nix shook his head. "Wait until dark; you and Fey can take the Drakes up for a short flight. I want you to stay south of us, only over the ocean."

"Okay, Nix." Muncie glanced sideways at Fey; she remained behind when the other three exited the cave. "It's nice to see you again, Fey."

Fey returned his smile. "I agree."

Nix was halfway to their crafting area when he stopped suddenly. "What about using that liquid tumot oil?"

Pon shook his head. "You could swim in that shit; it's not very volatile, just good for lubricating bearings.

Nix favored him with a sly grin. They used a lot of it on the Golem joints. "I mean to use it with the nitric compound."

Pon looked like he wanted to slap the Inferno Leader. "You don't remember what happened when you accidentally combined them? And that was only a few drops."

Nix had accidentally spilled the smallest amount of the Nitric compound on their crafting table; a short while later, he spilled a single drop of tumot oil onto the same area. The result had been, one destroyed table and an emergency meeting with Nezbit, Inferno's cleric. "Think about it, old bastard. We create separate chambers in the projectile."

Pon's scowl slowly turned into a creepy grin. "Fill one chamber with Nitric and the other with tumot oil. When the projectile impacts the ground, the separating barrier shatters." The old man noticed that Nix was running back to the crafting area. "Hey! Wait up, bastard!"

"Seems a bit dangerous." A short while later, Floyd watched as they loaded one of the Golem's arm tubes.

Pon frowned at the young Naga. "Step away from the snake harem for a bit and hang out with the men."

Floyd crossed his arms in front of his chest and stared at the Fire Mage. "They are Scorched Earth acolytes."

Pon raised an eyebrow and turned to Nix for his opinion? "Nix?"

Nix shrugged at the Naga youth. "Harem."

The youth glared at the two laughing mages before making a rude gesture and stomping off.

/Alpha: Nix: You're a mean bastard.

/Alpha: Pon: You didn't have to agree. Fire in the hole!"

An instant later, the clearing shook as several tons of rock and dirt were flung into the air in a fiery explosion that left both mages reeling.

"Fuck!!" Pon held both hands over his ringing ears. "Shit, that hurts!"

"WHAT?" Nix squinted at his co-crafter, unable to hear anything over the loud banging in his ears. He motioned toward the cloud of dust hovering over the clearing. "Let's check it out."

Pon followed out of instinct since he couldn't hear what Nix was saying. The two stopped a few seconds later at the edge of a crater that was easily twenty meters across. "Could put a damn house in that bitch."

Nix stared at the destruction. "Makes you feel kinda warm inside, right?"

/Inferno: Semmi: Do I need to send Nezbit over there again?

/Inferno: Nix: Nah... That wasn't us.

/Inferno: Pon: Nope, it wasn't us.

The two mages high-fived each other and started back toward their crafting table.