Episode #15
Synopsis written by Tim Miller (trmiller@bcpl.net)
Can a person get used to fighting off bounty hunters and allies of justice? Lina seems to be doing a fine job of it - she actually tells a trio of warriors that if she was serious, she would have killed them with that fireball. But then someone finally shows up who isn't a bounty hunter, or any such thing; he doesn't have any interest in capturing anybody, and he's carrying a white flag.
Lina and Amelia don't seem impressed, as Lina smacks him away and the two girls try to shoo him off. Gourry has no idea what's going on, but Lina musters her courage for a closer inspection ... then gets Amelia to cast Flow Break on the unfortunate man, breaking a spell that had been cast on him.
The young man's name is Hallas Ryzu, and he's the son of one of the richest families in that area. The woman who cast the girl-repellant spell on him is a sorceress named Cally, who's infamous for marrying her daughters to wealthy men and then getting every last bit of wealth the men had through her daughter's newfound influence. Lina has heard of Cally, but thought that all nine of her daughters were already married. Hallas is presently engaged to marry the tenth daughter, but Cally told him that she'd let him go if he got another girl to marry him within a week's time ... at which point, as Lina determines, Cally slapped the girl-repellant curse on Hallas and left.
But now the spell is broken, and Hallas Ryzu knows exactly who the girl is that he's going to marry:
Lina Inverse.
Predictably, Lina refuses; she's only fifteen, after all, and she doesn't plan on getting married this young. Hallas agrees that they can just pretend to marry, but Lina's still not going for it, even when he offers a carriage for them to travel to Sairaag. So he offers to pay her; it takes the promise of five thousand gold pieces before Lina agrees.
And so Cally is talking to her daughter one evening, the night that Hallas is due back, when he arrives in the company of his new fiancee, "Mina Inerz," accompanied by her handmaid Mary and her butler, Gagarin. Cally is understandably surprised to find that the spell she put on Hallas has been broken, and tries to probe Mina's mind - and when she manages to block it, Cally realizes that this girl is a sorceress. Between "Mina's" skill and Gagarin's very loose (fake) mustache, she realizes that these two are the wanted criminals, Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev; Cally immediately starts planning to capture them for the reward.
Some distance away, the swordsman Zangulus comes across the three warriors whom Lina toasted just before Hallas found them, and picks up Lina's trail based on what they tell him; Vrumugun also shows up, showing no ill effects despite the fact that he was disintegrated by a Dragon Slave in the last episode. Zangulus welcomes him back, "So the phoenix returns," and the two of them proceed on their way.
Lina makes a truly stunning bride the next morning, and Hallas tries to ask her to marry him for real; she doesn't think much of the idea. Outside the chapel, Cally makes her own last-minute plans, coordinating with yet another group of bandits who are after the money for capturing Lina and Gourry.
The wedding seems like it's going to proceed without a hitch, except for three things: first, Lina absolutely refuses to kiss Hallas (or be kissed for that matter); then Cally stands up, declaring the ceremony an absolute fraud and exposing Lina and Gourry for who they really are - and instead of the bandits charging in, Zangulus makes his entrance. Cally throws a fireball at Lina, and the explosion is the bandits' cue to come charging into the fray as well.
Lina makes her escape up the stairs, but her wedding dress is taking heavy damage from all the spell attacks she's dodging. Amelia tries to stop Vrumugun with a Bram Blazer, but he blocks it; Gourry is too busy fighting this horde of bandits to go and help Lina, but he eventually gets Hallas to take care of them for him and charges upstairs as well.
By the time they all gather in one of the bedrooms, Lina's dress is in absolute tatters and "not really decent," as she puts it; Cally and Vrumugun both attack at once, casting Flare Arrow and Freeze Arrow respectively, but their spells fizzle out, counteracting each other. Amelia finally throws a sheet to Lina, and she covers herself long enough to cast Mega Brand ... blowing up the Ryzu house.
Lina, Gourry, and Amelia are able to make their escape in a horse- drawn cart - not the carriage that they were hoping for, but it's something. Lina is sitting quiet and withdrawn for a little while before she starts screaming about the five thousand gold pieces they never even got - but at least they got away with their lives and freedom.
Episode #16
Synopsis written by Tim Miller (trmiller@bcpl.net)
An ominous roar echoes through the forest ... the sound of a very hungry sorceress's stomach. Lina and Gourry, and even Amelia, are almost to hungry to even move by this point; they could attack bandits for food now, except there aren't any bandits around. But apparently, their senses of smell are heightened by intense hunger - because they smell a pot of stew cooking, and follow the smell to its source and dig in. The pot is empty by the time the cook comes back, wearing the bottom half of a dragon costume.
It turns out that he's part of a travelling theater company, the Rossburg Players, which is en route to Mosquita for the annual arts competition there. The director, Mr. Rossburg, is either nuts for the theater or just plain nuts; fortunately, he doesn't seem to recognize either of the fugitives, but being in desperate need of actors, he hands scripts to all three of them, telling them to be ready for rehearsal by that afternoon.
Despite warnings about the rate at which actors are leaving the company, the three travellers are about ready to join the company so that they'll get closer to Sairaag - but the title of the play is "Grant Us Justice and Peace: The Death of the Abominable Fiend, Lina Inverse" and Lina practically blows her top (and their cover), protesting that she's not an abominable fiend. Amelia takes to acting like a fish to water, though, and quickly catches Rossburg's eye.
In fact, Amelia is cast as the star of the play, wearing an outfit which is strikingly reminiscent of a typical Magical Girl; not to be outdone, Lina asks Rossburg what role she can play - and, together with Gourry, gets cast as the dragon.
Rossburg lives up to his reputation; he's insistent on the actors' getting their performance right, and a harsh taskmaster to boot. But he keeps getting plays and reality mixed up; after seeing Amelia in costume, he's reminded of his little sister whom he hasn't seen in years ... and after it seems like Amelia, Lina, and Gourry have gotten their scene right where the hero defeats the dragon, Rossburg tries to add more "oomph" to the scene with explosives. Fortunately, he gets carted off stage by the rest of the cast and crew before anybody can get hurt.
They finally reach Mosquita, but Lina's starting to have nightmares about the whole situation, being chased by the costumes and having her way blocked by a giant Rossburg; on the other hand, Gourry's grown fond of the dragon costume, and Amelia thinks this may be her true calling in life. So when they reach the city, Lina takes a moment to slip away ... and winds up in an alley plastered with Wanted posters of her, Gourry, and Zelgadis. She's starting to head back to the caravan when a patrol of the city guard shows up and finds her; she's starting to try to bluff her way out of it when Rossburg appears in search of her, and calls her his daughter.
Lina promptly jumps in on the act in a touching display of "tough love" between father and daughter; the lead guardsman pleads with them not to hurt each other, and the patrol goes on its way. On the way back to the caravan, Lina asks Rossburg why he helped her; he says that it doesn't matter who Lina really is, but she's one of his precious actors ... and she reminded him of his real daughter. Lina starts to call him on the untruth, but sees a tear forming at the corner of his eye ...
Finally, the play begins, and it seems that everything's going to plan, but there are gatecrashers on the way ... Zangulus has caught up with them yet again, having been led to them by the actor who was supposed to play the hero before Amelia was picked for the role, and this time he has a bunch of company: a horde of animal-men of the sort who were working with Dilgear before. In fact, one of them looks like Dilgear with red-brown fur instead of gray ...
Rossburg is yanked backstage by a pair of reptilian (or amphibian?) arms just before the doors to the amphitheatre open, and a masked Zangulus enters, followed by a batch of animal-men. He joins in, apparently offering to help Amelia's character fight against the evil ones - and both the giant Lina and the dragon are cut into pieces. After their costume is cut, Lina and Gourry stumble onto a trap door just as Rossburg yanks on the cord which opens it ... and they land in the basement of the theater.
The amphibious creature which was holding Rossburg is stunned by Lina's Rocket Kick (aka throwing her half of the costume so that it hits feet- first), and Gourry asks if Rossburg is all right ... but Rossburg just starts upbraiding them for not continuing the play. Lina starts to protest, then realizes that nobody ever interrupts a play ...
Zangulus, who's been wearing a Goldilocks-type mask, is just about to move in and kill Amelia when the stage explodes underneath him, and Lina and Gourry rise into view. Lina immediately launches into a dramatic exposition, explaining that "we two holy warriors were transformed into a dragon" by the evil power of the Devil King, Zangulus, but have been restored to their true forms. Amelia tries to reclaim her role, joining in the new spirit of the play, and even Gourry manages a line or two before Zangulus calls in the reinforcements.
Gourry and Zangulus set to dueling again; Amelia busies herself with fighting the aforementioned reinforcements, and Vrumugun confronts Lina, shielding himself with a Blast Bolt spell which none of Lina's weaker spells can penetrate ... and she can't use a Dragon Slave here without killing the audience. But he didn't reckon on Mr. Rossburg, who rolls a keg of explosives over to the wizard just before it goes off. With the tide turned against him, Zangulus beats a hasty retreat, and the Rossburg Players win first prize for this year's play.