Web Animation / Chronicle of the Annoying Quest

The quest to kill a black dragon...to get chicks.

"Let me get this straight. You joined a celibate order... to get chicks?"

Chronicle of the Annoying Quest is a Machinima series produced by Baka Savant Productions, and set in the World of Warcraft universe. It seems to have been inspired by Red vs. Blue. The story follows a novice Paladin, John Jacob Ellers, and his Warlock companion, Voliostromort Guy, as they seek out a Black Dragon. They need the dragon's head so that Ellers can prove his worth to the other Paladins so he can drink with them in their tavern (really it's just so they can get rid of him). Guy is forced along because the Paladins threaten to arrest him for his use of demonic magic. They are joined on their quest by Hana, a night elf Druid, and his human lover Kit, who also want a black dragon to create an aphrodisiac.

The series plays out like a long quest chain in the MMORPG it's based on. After finding someone who can tell them where to find a black dragon, they must lift a curse on his two brothers to get the information. The brothers, James and Eric, are trapped in swords. So the group sets off to find a way to lift the curse, meeting several amusing characters along the way, such as Hana's ex-girlfriend Flayme, a draenei hunter named Rora, and a gnome with the very odd name of Deuce Ex Machina (Not to be confused with Deus ex Machina). Hilarity Ensues.

On the other side of things, there are the antagonists, led by the undead Warlock Dirim. His followers include his blood elf "girlfriend" and Valley Girl Stephie Ilumvari, the orc Warrior Orgrath Axeblade, the tauren Shaman Hawkwynd Bighooves, and the troll Rogue Jin'zul.

Guy and Ellers are both massive Otaku, and often exasperate their colleagues with their incessant discussions of Anime and other forms of Nerd/Geek culture. Flayme is in a Love Triangle with Kit and Hana, often resulting in catty words exchanged between the two women. Despite their generally keeping quiet (relatively speaking), Hana and Deuce have both exposed their geekiness as well. Perhaps they've been spending too much time with Guy and Ellers?

Unfortunately, the show hit a snag in season three, when Real Life interfered, and the crew was scattered (much like their characters in that season). After a long hiatus, the show has returned after nearly four years, with a few cast changes.

You can view the series on Youtube as well as BSP's website. There is also a Remake of the series in progress with Episode 6 being the most recent release.

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Tropes:

• Art Shift: Though it's all done with World of Warcraft graphics and models, some episodes use the Model and Map Viewers instead of actual game footage.
• Author Appeal: It's easier to count the number of times when geek humor and nerd/Otaku culture isn't referenced in some form or fashion.
• Bad Guy Bar: Looking for a guide, Guy checks out a bar, which is host to a furbolg, a treant, Akama, a doomguard, Tyrael, Emperor Vek'nilash, a gronn, an ogre, a kobold, a gnoll, a stone giant, Heigan the Unclean, a succubus, a bunch of murlocs and a guy in a murloc suit. Guy understandably backs away immediately.
• Berserk Button: Early on, Guy was very sensitive about being called part of a cult (he's a warlock, which don't have the best of reputations). This gets dropped as time passes on.
  • Do not call Deuce "puny." The Horde in Splintertree learned this the hard way.
  • Or lock Kit up and try to seduce her boyfriend. For that matter, don't be Flayme in general. This faded overtime, especially after their truce.
  • Do not be a pervert around either Flayme or Kit. Goliath pushed his luck too far and suffered accordingly.
• Butt-Monkey: Guy seems to get the brunt of this treatment.
• Captain Crash: Goliath, evidently, was driving the Exodar when it crashed into Azeroth.
• Characterization Marches On: Guy's shtick during his first few episodes is being marginally saner than Ellers, actively telling him that his idea for trying to join the Pious Patron Bar paladins is a bad idea doomed to fail. He was also more heavily aligned towards his warlock profession, being very sensitive to being called out as being part of a cult, and said warlock traits were the primary reason he was forced to go on the quest, since the paladin Lord William threatened to have him thrown in the Stockades for "collaborating with demons". Episodes after this have Guy shift into making extremely thoughtless decisions that end up complicating matters, such as getting Hana stuck in cat form, or drinking a potion that severed his soul from his body, thus necessitating a detour to Moonglade. He also began to focus more and more on his anime nerd traits and arguments with Ellers.
• *Click* Hello: Rora's first appearance was this.
• Crystal Prison: Guy gets trapped in a Soul Shard for a while
• Deadpan Snarker: Kit and Guy both fit this trope.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Deuce suggests he polymorph the gang into Horde races so they can sneak through Warsong Gulch.
• Embarrassing First Name: Voliostromort is quite an unusual name for a human, so it's small wonder why Guy prefers to go by his last name. Though it sounds kinda cool for a warlock.
• Enemy Mine: After Dirim reveals himself as a Black Dragon and leaves, Orgrath, Hawkwynd, and Stephie end up aligning with the protagonists out of necessity (and in Orgrath's case, out of hatred for Dirim's true nature due to their role in enslaving his race in the past), but it's a tense alliance at best.
• Expy: The Alliance gang meets two old colleagues of Hana's, who sound an awful lot like Henchmen 21 and 24.
  • And then of course, there's "Doctor Whom"
• Fake Shemp: Kam Uraki (Guy) was a stand-in for Deuce (normally voiced by Ian Boyle) in episode 7. This resulted in a bit of Acting for Two when the two enter the inn discussing the band Rush.
• Female Gaze: After a series of mishaps leave Guy in the body of a Forsaken, they head to Gadgetzan to fix him. The machine (which he has to be naked to use) initially turns him into a tauren...
  Guy: Whoa! Check me out downstairs!
  Kit: Ach! Mein gott! His schvanschtucher!
  Rora: Woof.
  Guy: Hey, try and get it to leave that the way it is.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In episode 15: "Congratulations! You've found the hidden transition card. Thanks for having no life and looking for this kind of thing in videos. Way to go!"
• The Genie Knows Jack Nicholson: Considering it doesn't even take place on Earth, there sure are a lot of pop culture references.
• Glamour Failure: During their Dressing as the Enemy moment above, the disguises fail soon after reaching the lumber camp. This encourages a rather out-of-nowhere, yet hilarious moment for Kit, when she has a sort-of Magical Girl Transformation and slaughters her way through the camp.
• Good Is Dumb: Rora's uncle Goliath is not the brightest bulb.
  • For that matter, neither is Ellers.
    • Or James.
• Hilarious in Hindsight / Harsher in Hindsight: Guy accidentally starting an out-of-control fire on Teldrassil that causes the crew to be banned from Darnassus takes on a whole new meaning come the Battle for Azeroth expansion when the tree is burned by the Forsaken in The War Of Thorns.
• Husky Russkie: Draenei in this show are apparently the equivalent.
• Like Is, Like, a Comma: to Stephie it is...
• Literary Allusion Title: Many, if not most of the episode titles are these.
• Male Gaze: When the gang is wandering through the Shimmering Flats on their way to Gadgetzan, they, understandably, travel with very little clothing. Goliath can't help but stare at Kit and and Flayme. His wife (and especially Kit and Flayme) were not amused.
• Meaningful Name: Flayme is Hana's... old flame!
• Minion with an F in Evil: Stephie, of course. One wonders why Dirim even keeps her around.
• Noodle Incident: Why exactly Goliath crashed the Exodar is still something of a mystery, though given his character traits...
• Not What It Looks Like: When Ellers get's mad at Eric, he starts beating the sword against a tree. The Darnassus Police were not thrilled by what appeared to be someone chopping down their trees, and Eric's silence afterward didn't help.
• Persona Non Grata: Following Kit's Berserker state and Guy losing control over his incineration spell: the crew is no longer welcome in Darnassus.
• Queer People Are Funny: The series parodies this trope with the crew of The Butt Pirate (there was a miscommunication with the painters). Except for one off-screen Butch Lesbian (and possibly the captain), most of the crew is Camp Gay.
  Captain Buck F. Pirate: You try getting a better crew with a ship named "The Butt Pirate"!
• Double Standard: Rape, Male on Male/Black Comedy Rape/Prison Rape: By a tauren no less...
• Running Gag: "So wait, [Ellers] joined a celibate order... to get chicks?"
  • "You know, I said the same thing."
• Seinfeldian Conversation: Ellars and Guy both tend to break out into debates about nerd fandom while on their journey and have been doing this since they were kids.
  Guy: Okay look, it's very simple dude: The Autobots and Decepticons woke up after 65 million years of being in emergency stasis, when the volcano that they crash-landed on erupted.
  Ellars: Oh come on, what are you talking about: millions of years? The volcano would have erupted hundreds of times. What'd they do? Hit the "Volcano Snooze Button"?
  Guy: Look, I don't know. And we've gone completely off of our original topic.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Hana's specialty is "natural magic and healing" and so isn't very good at shapeshifting. He can get into cat form okay, but needs the help of an Archdruid to get out of it. At least until the Archdruid gives him a ring that lets him shift at will.
• Shout-Out: Too many to list. For example, when Deuce falls into an orc camp, they chase him to "Yakety Sax" à la The Benny Hill Show. The same episode has Kit and Flayme duke it out to the Star Trek "fight theme." They make direct references to Doctor Who in at least two episodes, and to Red vs. Blue in the season two finale.
  • "Ha HA! Random Stephen Colbert tribute!"
• Transformation Sequence: Kit gets one in Warsong Gulch. Guy and Ellers of course have to lampshade it:
  Guy: Would an "Over Nine-thousand" joke be appropriate here?
  Ellers: Heh, she just went Super Saiyan!
• Wretched Hive: Hana quotes the Star Wars line (almost) word-for-word when they reach Gadgetzan. When everyone just stares at him, he says "What? Can't I have a funny line now and then?"
• Valley Girl: Stephie's favorite pastimes include shopping, annoying vocal patterns and being blonde. She sees herself as Dirim's girlfriend, but is oblivious to the fact that he can barely tolerate being around her. She finally gets the hint when he reveals himself as a black dragon and ends up "breaking up with her" (when really he just doesn't need her services anymore). She then ends up transferring her girlfriend status to Guy, much to his flabbergasted confusion.

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"You know, I said the same thing."