Monday, July 28, 2014

Chapter 72: A Mighty Axe


When she asked about the Axe of Pangu, the Brotherhood of the Fist sent Jillyan to Mei Xi, their expert on magical artifacts.

"The Axe of Pangu, yes, of course I know of it," Mei says with a knowing smile when Jilly tells her about her quest, "It is said that Pangu, the first living being, used it to cleave Yin from Yang, separated the earth from the sky."

"And will it smash boulders?" Jilly asks.

Mei chuckles, "Yes, it will smash boulders."

"Do you know where I should start looking for it?"


"Start looking? It is not lost; the Axe of Pangu resides in the Temple of Heaven."

"Well, can I borrow it?" Jilly asks, "I just need to smash some boulders in France. I'll bring it right back, I promise."

Mei smiles indulgently. "I cannot give you what is not mine to give." Jilly's shoulders droop and her lips curl down into a frown as she starts planning a late night break in to the ancient temple. "You must prove yourself worthy. The way to the axe is clear, but it is not straight. If you are able to get to it, then, you may take it.Here is a key to the great hall of the temple, to get you started."

Jilly smiles. That makes everything so much easier.


"What did she mean, 'the path is clear but not straight'?" Julian asks as the couple descend into the ancient temple.

"Traps, probably," Jilly answers with a resigned sigh, "Stay close behind me. I don't want you running off and getting hurt."




Jillyan inserts the large keystone into the shaped slot, unlocking the temple's inner depths. As she anticipated, they encounter a few traps along the way, but nothing she cannot easily handle.


"And there it is. That wasn't so tough," Jilly muses when they find the axe, hanging on a wall in the in the center of a large chamber.

"There's a deep chasm between us and the axe," Julian observes.

"That? I can jump that. Easy," Jilly scoffs.


"Wait," Julian says, stepping in front of her before she can hop the fence guarding the deep black chasm below, "I know it looks easy, but that chasm is dark and we don't know how deep it goes or what lies on the bottom. I don't want you to risk it. There must be another way to get to the other side."

"Okay, we'll look for one," Jilly agrees, "But you know there will be more traps."

"You're good with traps," Julian points out.

"I'm also good at jumping," Jilly answers. Julian frowns and Jilly gives him a comforting kiss on the cheek, "But I don't want to worry you, sweetheart. We'll go the long way."


The way to the axe was indeed clear, but not straight, requiring several trips through twisting corridors and up and down more stairs than Jilly cared to count. And of course, traps along the way.

"It might have been easier if I jumped," Jilly quips as she disarms a fire trap in the walls of a narrow corridor.


All the effort is paid off when Jilly stands before the axe and lifts it from the wall it hangs on.

"Ugh, heavy," she groans as her knees buckle under the weight of it. "Oh!" she gasps as it surges with luminescent power before shrinking itself it down to a convenient pocket size.

"I've read about things like that in old Chinese legends," Julian says, "Weapons and other tools that shrink down to a miniscule size until they are needed."

"It does make it a lot easier transport," Jilly says, "I wasn't looking forward to lugging that giant thing all the way back to France."


Though they are both exhausted from the day's adventure, sleep is not the first thing on their minds when they get back to their bed in the resort in town. 

"You know, I was thinking," Jilly says, propping herself up against his shoulder.

"What about?"

"I can't marry you until you've met my parents. Well, I could, but, my Dad would be really bummed if I just ran off and got married like that."


"And, what if your parents don't approve of our marriage?" Julian asks. 

"Why wouldn't they approve of you?" Jillyan asks, "You're awesome. And you've always been really good to me."

"I lured you into a trap and drugged you," Julian reminds her gently.

"Well, that was for a good reason. I wanted to rescue you, and you found a way to make that happen. And, it's not like my parents are perfect. My Mom ran a crime syndicate, you know."

"I'm a Landgraab," Julian says.


"You won't be for much longer," Jilly says, "I'm going to make you a Brannon."

"It's not that simple," Julian laughs.

"It is," Jillyan insists, and Julian gives up the argument. He was going to have to meet her parents sooner or later anyway. He would have preferred for it to be after he and Jilly were safely wed, but it's fairly obvious that even if Jack and Delaney tried to put some roadblocks on the marriage, Jillyan would run right over them, anyway.

14 comments:

  1. Oh, it is so nice to see the Brannons again! I love seeing Jillyan adventure. I have no doubt that she could have jumped that chasm. ;) I love how strong-willed Jillyan is. I also appreciated Julian's brief explanation about why the axe shrinks down to size.

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    1. Thank you Owly!
      I couldn't help but make fun of the game mechanics. The chasm is barely 2 tiles wide, but it is impossible for a Sim to jump it all the same.
      For the shrinking axe, I was actually inspired by an actual Chinese story. There's a character named Monkey who gets a fighting staff that shrinks down so he can carry it behind his ear when not in use.
      Just as a side note, Monkey appears in the 5 volume epic Journey to the West, but there's a really awesome condensed version of the story called Monkey by Wu Ch'eng-en that I just absolutely love.

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  2. Yayy! So glad to see you back. I've been wondering about you. Glad they were able to obtain the axe. That explanation about it shrinking down into pocket size was genius. "Jillyan would run right over them, anyway." That made me laugh; so like her to think that way. Great update.

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    1. Hi, Nicky! I did kind of disappear for awhile. But I'm back now.

      I can't even take credit for the shrinking axe, since it does actually exist in at least one Chinese legend.
      Jillyan is very determined to get what she wants, so, yeah, if her parents were to actually try to stop her from marrying a Landgraab, well, nothing is going to stop her.

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  4. Jillyan is so badass! This was the first story of yours I was exposed to so I am thrilled to see a new update.

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    1. Thank you, Treason!
      I like to lay Jilly as a typical action hero. She amuses me greatly. =)

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  5. Hehe, yes, getting the key is so much easier! loves it.

    That quest to get the blasted axe is SO IRRITATING! I mean... there it is! Just... teleport for $^(&'s sake. But, then again, there's a justifying sense of accomplishment when you get it the non-cheaty way. :)

    So... Julian becomes a Brannon, taking Jillyan's name?

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    1. The adventures in WA are so silly sometimes, so I like to play with that silliness in my stories about them. At this point I don't even get a sense of accomplishment from them, I've done them so many times. Half the time I forget to get pictures, lol. But I needed the axe, it's really convenient for smashing boulders.

      Yeah, my Sims don't live in our world, where it is more standard for a woman to take her husband's name. It can actually go either way. I have my SP settings for random when it comes to what the married name will be, sometimes his, sometimes her and sometimes hyphenated. So there is nothing unusual about Julian becoming a Brannon. I generally play my legacies so that the heir retains the family name no matter what, though there have been exceptions in some of my legacies.

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  6. Oh yay! I was so happy to see a Brannon update! <3 It's been a little while, but did you change the blog colors? I don't remember it being blue, it looks nice though.

    Jilly's comment, "Stay close behind me. I don't want you running off and getting hurt." to Julian made me chuckle. Even funnier, he doesn't disagree, haha Julian is adorable, and they make such a sweet couple. Meeting her parents, that ought to be interesting. It can't go too badly, I would hope, especially since Fergus is the one actually in charge of MorcuCorp now, if I remember correctly anyway! It might be awkward at first though, lol

    I've only played through the WA adventures once, when it first came out, now I do the occasional one, but not very often. You make them seem fun, even if you are bored of playing them now! =)

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    1. Yes, I did change the blog colors. It was more brown before, which suited previous heirs, but I like the blue for Jilly & Julian.

      I enjoy the way Jill & Julian interact.

      When I do get around to habing Delaney and Jack meet Julian, I will have to keep in mind how much they do and don't know. It will be awkward in any case, yeah. Delaney did meet Geoffrey once, so there's that weirdness. They don't know about how Jack was used by MorcuCorp, at least.

      I have a love/hate thing for WA. I do really love the worlds, China especially. And I love having the cool relics in my house. But I've done the tombs so many times, I know them by heart and it's a lot of trying to get in and out as fast as possible, lol.

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  7. So glad to see an update!

    I like Mei Xi. "Yes, it will smash boulders." Lol!

    Jilly and Julian are so cute adventuring together. :)

    Ha, I'm looking forward to Julian meeting Jack and Delaney.

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  8. Here's Mei trying to weave a beautiful take for Jillyan regarding the Axe of Pango. Here's Jillyan ignoring story time. xD I loved that.

    Lol at Julian's blase to Jillyan hefting that huge axe. Great recovery for the expressions too! But I'm with Jilly, jump that booger using Zeneport. ;)

    Yay for an upcoming wedding!

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  9. Yay, Brannons are back! You didn't post on MTS so it took me way too long to notice.

    It'll be nice to see Jack and Delaney again. =D

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