Saturday RP – Conclusions, part 2

Dueg staggered slightly as the heat once more washed over him, stronger this time, but gone much quicker as well.  Dispel, he whispered quietly, waiting to see if there was relief from a vice like feeling of pressure at the top of his sternum, where the flashes of heat were originating from.  Sweat began to break out on his brow as Reyk turned, his ears picking up the subtle movement of Dueg’s slippered feet followed by the quiet whisper.

“What ails you, Duegathalas?” came his question as Scrat and Noxt both turned in response to the pause.  The four stood in a small chamber, lit only by the purity of Reyk’s soul, gleaming from his blade.  It revealed an unnatural sort of tunnel winding into the earth, just large enough to stand abreast.  The walls revealed telltale signs that magic had been used to carve into the rock, so they had left behind the original caverns a few minutes before, confident that they were finally closing in on their target.

“I…” began Dueg, “I do no-”

“He quakes in fear at the might of the Alliance and the inevitable demise of the pitiful Horde!” came a voice from all around, resonating from every shadow even as they began to slowly creep in on the four companions, quelling the light that gleamed from Reyk’s sword.  He quickly brought it up, looking around for the source, but it was useless, for only inky shadows looked back at him, even his keen elven eyesight dampened by the increasingly obtrusive shadows.

Light! called Dueg, holding up a hand suffused with radiant light as Reyk joined in, the two faithful Sin’dorei pouring their very souls into the air around them.  A slight groan came from shadows as they fell back, momentarily defeated by the glowing points of brightness.  But after a moment, the shadow deepened, becoming almost a physical wall of blackness and began to creep forward once more, eating at the elves resolve with it’s very hatred of the holiness.  Steeling themselves, Reyk and Dueg poured as much of their faith into their extended hands as possible.

* * * * *

Finegal was holding onto to his soul with all his will.  Dark pacts he had made to get here, for this moment of ultimate hatred and vengeance against the wretched Horde and all they stood for.  He could only use this power very rarely and he knew it might draw him down into the very abyss of the Shadow itself, but it was worth it  to see these wretched beasts suffer.  The two students of the Light were fighting back though, trying to subsume his shadow with their faith.  He would crush them and then rend their souls from their body, delivering them to their precious Light.  For him, there would only be shadows.

Finegal stood… somewhere in the shadows, he wasn’t sure quite where because he didn’t know where his body ended really.  His soul had stretched beyond his corporeal form, delivering the power of the Shadow directly into the natural darkness of the cavern.  Once he had fused with it, he was able to control it, make it solid or liquid, cause it to protect or kill, though he had never used it in an act of mercy.  But it was not easy, and should his will fail…

He didn’t think on that as he gathered his resolve and began to push back against the powers of the Light.  The mage stepped forward and fired a blast of flame while the troll planted a totem in the ground, green light flowing through the four Horde.  The fire did nothing but burn out, consumed by the shadow and the totem was still so rough that it did not summon much power, barely adding any bite to the already brightly glowing hands held in defense.  Finegal almost allowed himself a moment to laugh.  Then the light shined on him and everything came undone.

* * * * *

Deep within the laboratories of Naxxramas Citadel, the gnomish lich floated gently before the blackened globe of gold powered by the bloody sapphires.  His loyal banshee was still draining some of the loyal, sycophantic cult members, willing to die if the lich asked it in order to join the perfect utopian world that it was to be a Scourge slave.  Even as their speech began to slur and their eyes took on a dull sheen, they raved about how they would serve forever in death, loyal unto the end to their undead King, may he rule forever from the glory of Icecrown.  They would serve their purpose well.

Through the globe the lich watched as the shadows drew ever increasingly in on the four Horde, somewhat impressed with the mastery of the Shadow that their opponent was showing.  But alas, he did not have time to study this interesting phenomenon, for he wished this errand done so he could move on to bigger, more important tasks.  He had delved through the shadow, looking for the annoying insect, and had found him, a human thing, bonded with Shadow through the soul.  No simple task, but easy enough to fix.  The lich placed it’s small hand upon the globe where the shadow priest was skulking and pushed with his mind, causing the shadow in the area to disperse, giving a glimpse of the priest where he stood.

A glimpse was all the four needed.

* * * * *

Scrat was the first to see him.  Finegal stood rigid with his arms straight out to his side, his fists balled up to point that blood was welling from where his fingernails sank into his flesh.  All over his body, tendrils of pure black entropy wriggled as if worms trying to swim in the still air.  They caused a shimmering effect as though shadows were constantly blurring over him even as the light reveled and began to eat at them.  Scrat stepped forward and fired a totem with an aim born of many hours of practice.  It thunked straight into the head of the blurred shadowy thing, firing off a burst of electricity.

Losing his concentration, Finegal screamed out, his hold on his soul finally slipping.  As the four watched, the shadow priest’s mouth gaped open, growing to twice the usual size as terrible cracking sounds came from the joint of his jaw.  A black smoke darker than midnight poured forth, streaming for any points of darkness as the body it had once inhabited began to blacken and decay.  Entropy took it over, a blowback from the pull of the shadow without a soul to protect it from it’s ravages.  In less than ten seconds, what had once been the shadow priest was nothing more than a quickly congealing pool of liquid rot.

The four turned away from the smell, quickly hurrying past and forging onward, knowing that they must be close if the Alliance had risked an ambush.  All that was left now was the gnome, and he could not stand up to the righteous fury at the pure sacrilege of the shadow priest that was coursing through the two devotees of the Light.  As they moved closer, the wailing began, setting them on edge, but not slowing them.  And in a laboratory in Naxxramas, long dead lips smiled at the note of fear in the wail of it’s prey.

* * * * *

End Part 2

-Dueg

Saturday RP – Conclusions, part 1

Ignat stood before the desiccated thing, placing his fists upon his hips as his brow furrowed with consternation.  Next to him, seeming to blend into and out of the shadows constantly, stood Finegal, his arms crossed over his chest as a self satisfied smirk began to grow across his features.  ”Here sits our goal, as inspirational as it is divine,” he intoned to the cavern’s chamber, “with this magnificent weapon we can at last lay waste to both Arthas’ scourge and the hated Horde.  All glory to the Alliance, forever victorious.”

Ignat ignored the sarcastic speech, focusing instead on the withered mummy of a man who sat cross legged and preternaturally still on a natural bench of rock jutting out from the base of the cavern’s wall.  After four hours of spelunking and descending further and further into the bowels of the frozen island of Northrend, the man and the gnome had found themselves face to face with their goal.  The only problem was that the Forsaken Oracle, who this surely was, was non-responsive to any form of communication, simply sitting with it’s eye’s closed and back curved against the wall.

“It’s dead Ig,” Finegal intoned at last, “let us burn the cursed thing and be done with it.  I wish to set an ambush for those Horde wretches who are surely following us.  Hopefully we’ll catch Ter’vona in it as well.”

Ignat sighed heavily and turned to look at the shadow priest, his eyes narrowing slightly in annoyance, “Finegal, of course it’s dead, it’s had the same curse visited upon it that all scourge have, but it is more similar to Sylvanas’ lot.  I can feel the same spark of magic animating it that is present in all undead, it is simply choosing not to respond to us.”

“Then let us create a portal and return to Valiance Keep with this wineskin of a man and we can hand him over to the Inquisitors.  They’ll get him to respond, you can have no doubt.”

“No, unfortunately, you cannot port someone against their will.  If they resist the pull of magic for any reason then the spell simply breaks and they get left behind, allowing the Horde to regain the advantage.  We could summon soldiers to come and carry him from here, but we would have to deal with our shadows fir-”

Finegal suddenly stood up straight and turned, a sound echoing down the passage from which they had emerged into the chamber that held Oracle.  ”Tabernac,” cursed the shadow priest, “they have caught up to us, Ig, set the thing on fire or something to wake it up, I’ll try to slow them down.”

With that he seemed to slip into the long shadows created by the small ball of light floating at the shoulder of the gnome who simply nodded and stepped forward, his face inches from the undead’s long since rotted stump of  a nose.  As the gnome studied the face of what he hoped would become the Alliance’s newest source of intelligence against the Scourge, he noticed a slight twitch in the muscles.  Ignat stepped back a moment later when the eyelids shot open, revealing orbs of pure white that gave the impression of movement somewhere below their glasslike surfaces.

“You… you can see me?” piped the slightly shaken gnome.

The jaw, set at an unnatural forty-five degree angel from the rest of the skull, began to slide up and down, creating the unpleasant sound of bone grinding against bone.  As the Oracle spoke for the first time, the words came out of sync from the methodical up and down motion of the jaw, setting Ignat further at ease while the paper like rustling of the thing’s voice entered his mind, “The… door approaches… I will leave… with you… now,”

“Uh… excellent, excellent, let me simply gather my com-”

“Now… must go… now…” A note of urgency entered the whispered words, the thought occurring to Ignat that this thing was afraid of something.

“Finegal!” called Ignat, trying to see into the gloom past his orb of light’s radius.

“Too late… too late… he sees… he sees…”

With that, the Oracle leaned his head back and began to utter an unearthly wail.

* * * * *

For the third time since they had entered the gloom of the cave, Dueg felt a flash of heat radiate out from his sternum, engulfing his whole body momentarily to the point of being uncomfortable before it faded.  He supposed that perhaps the rigors of their trials was getting to him as he looked over to Noxt, who was still burning a path through the magical frost left behind by the hated Alliance gnome.  Scrat stood with his hand pressed against the wall, his strength still returning only slowly while Reyk looked on into the gloom of the passage before them, watching carefully for any movement.  After a few moments, Noxt stood suddenly and looked down, perplexed.

“The ice is fading…” he said, his voice slowly trailing.

Reyk and Dueg both stepped forward, looking down at the floor of the cavern and boggling at the ice, not just what the mage had been burning, but all of it, slowly receded, simply vanishing as the spell began to unweave.  ”The spell has faded,” said Reyk, “they must have either left or they are waiting for us now.  Come then, let us oblige them.”

With that he stepped forward in a guarded stance, his eyes shifting left and right as he gripped his sword tightly.  Slowly the others followed, also wary of any traps as suddenly the cave seemed to be alive with noise and shadow.  Dueg felt another flash of heat come over him as he pulled his dark wand from it’s sheath, and held it ready for use as the four grouped together, moving slowly but determinedly down into the depths.  And as they moved, the shadows danced.

* * * * *

End Part 1

-Dueg

Saturday RP – Obstacles

Scrat grasped at his head, still groggy from being informed so recently, but for the most part feeling like his old self save for the occasional dizzy spell.  Dueg turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised as the troll simply shook his head and leaned heavily upon a large boulder jutting from the wall of the ravine, allowing the dizzy spell to pass as his body continued it’s uphill climb in expunging his system fully.  For the better part of a day the companions had been moving, ever since Scrat was strong enough to stand.  If not for the spirits who answered his call for aid, he most likely would still be sitting at the cliff at the top of the chasm, waiting for his health to completely stabilize.

Though rest would have been nice, the four had had to move quickly, knowing that the Alliance agents had a head start upon them.  With the afternoon had come a loud explosion and rumbling noise from the direction of their destination, driving them to a higher speed, aware that their time was ever shrinking.  More than once Scrat had compelled them to leave him behind and he would catch up, but with the chance for their counterparts to dig in and create a defensible position, Reyk insisted they would need all their resources.  So they had moved slowly but surely throughout the day, finally finding the entrance to their goal.

At first they were unaware of anything wrong other than the apparent landslide caused by an explosion to reveal the entrance to the cave.  The long shadows cast from the sinking sun served to mask the patina of frost coating the entirety of the cave entrance until Reyk took a misstep and tumble, frowning in consternation as he stood.  Noxt moved forward and laid a hand upon the line of frost, drawing his thin, mummified lips into a close approximation of a frown.  ”Magical frost, I can melt it, but it will take a while to burn enough for a path.”

Reyk called upon the light to manifest itself, making his hand glow a pure brightness and holding it up, seeing that the patina spread even further into the cave, summoning forth a particularly violent curse upon the Alliance’s future generations and punctuating it by spitting.  ”Do it,” he said grimly, “and we will finish this when we catch these fools.”

* * * * *

Ignat ran his fingers along the smooth wall that stood at the end of the cavern they had spent the last hour descending into.  ”The issue is closed, Finegal, what’s done is done,” he said with a steady authority as he examined what he knew must be a door.

“She’s a deserter, Ignat, I don’t care that she told us where to find this wretch.  Running off like that after allowing the prisoners to escape and then just showing up in the middle night and telling us where to go, but refusing to come with us.  I swear, once we return to Wildervar, I’m going to report her, I’ll have a warrant issu-”

“If it wasn’t for her,” murmured the gnome distractedly as he turned to the wall besides the smooth wall of stone, running his fingers along the cavern wall, “we’d still be stumbling around blindly along the mountain paths.  She’s done her part.  You’re just upset because she caught you unawares while you were on guard duty.  Now stop blustering and help me get this door open.”

The human priest snorted, but turned to the opposite wall anyways and began to run his fingers in a similar fashion to the gnome, searching for any irregularities as the two lapsed into silence and deep concentration.  After a few long minutes, Ignat made a slight grunt as he detected a magical screen covering a tiny, finger sized portion of the wall.  After pinpointing the location of enchantment, he slipped a slender finger into the groove and felt a small latch, flipping it up.  Smoothly and with only a slight whisper to announce it’s movement, the door slid up, revealing still more cavern beyond.  But one step closer to their goal still.

After allowing Finegal to move through door, Ignat whispered a word of elemental power, touching his finger to the base of the wall below the magically concealed switch.  In a smooth motion he reached up and flipped the switch, then rolled beneath the swiftly descending door.  A puff of smoke slowly rose up from where it landed, leaving behind silence except for the sound of frost ascending up the wall of the cavern and coating the switch, freezing it fast in place.

* * * * *

The lich moved hurriedly among the three restrained cultists who were weeping and whispering with joy at being chosen for sacrifice.  Except for the occasional gasp of pleasure from the sudden jab of a needle or slice along their flesh, they remained relatively quiet, causing the undead thing no end of frustration.  Willing victims are never any fun it thought to itself, wishing it had had time to do things right and capture a few of the insect races crawling around Naxxramas’ outer territories.  But time had been of the essence, wanting to murder it’s quarry soon so it could focus on bigger plans.

Slowly the blood from the cultists pooled into the awaiting bins below them, slowly dripping into tubes the sucked hungrily at the crimson fluid and fed them at a steady drip onto the sapphire that fueled it’s diabolical machine.  For over an hour now the jewel had been fed, ravenously drawing in as much life force as it could from the blood.  The ball of gold held within the latticework glowed brightly, ready for the words that would cause it to once more become a magical conduit.  Soon, all things would be ready and it could work at a safe distance in order to kill those four fools who had dared to trespass along it’s territory.

Suddenly the lich stopped, noting a distinct change in the laboratory that indicated a second undead being of power had arrived.  Slowly it turned, hissing threateningly at the new arrival before recognizing what it was that stood before him.  Letting the noise die, it quickly bowed as it recognizing the power and rank of the diminutive floating figure before it, though it only rose to about three feet off the ground.  Slowly a second figure formed from the blackness, a ghostly banshee coalescing behind it, the ever present bodyguard of this particularly powerful lich.  Wrapped in deep velvet robes that trailed to just inches above the floor, the thing spoke from deep within the blackness of it’s cowl, “Daedry, your project is at a close, the quarry you pursue are marked for other plans.”

The human lich’s eyes bulged in sudden anger at the statement and stood, beginning to sputter at the tiny lich before it held up a small finger in warning, silence once more settling over the laboratory as the gnomish lich floated gently over to the intricate machine powered by the sapphire, examining it closely, “Fascinating, Daedry.  You don’t mind if I make use of this since it no longer serves your purposes, do you?  No, I expect not.”  The lich turned to it’s ghostly bodyguard, “Please remove him from my new laboratory.”

The human lich stepped forward, “You cannot!” it cried before the gnome turned and pointed, causing the lich to go rigid for a moment before it simply flipped it’s tiny finger up.  Immediately the empty vessel that was the human lich collapsed to the floor, rotted bones and skin that had once been animated by it’s corrupted soul finally allowed to rest.  The gnome turned to banshee once more, pulling back it’s cowl.  ”Find the phylactery and destroy it, we don’t need an enemy with an agenda.”  Slowly it turned back to the machine, whispering the words that caused it to flare to life as the gold turned an oily black before resolving onto Duegathalas and the three others waiting for the frost to melt.  ”We are so very close to our goals after all, aren’t we?”

-Dueg

Saturday RP – Of Elves

Dueg’s eyes blurred slightly as exhaustion began to creep up on him.  He had been tending Scrat for a full 7 hours now, constantly making sure that he was healing the damage done by the poison before it could insinuate itself into the troll’s system too much.  It had been tiring work, but the poison had finally begun to abate and Scrat’s tossing and moaning had begun to lessen.  Dueg nodded with satisfaction, knowing that the troll would survive this ordeal thanks in part to his extraordinary regeneration abilities and Dueg’s ministrations.

He reached down and allowed the light’s holy power to flow through him, once more healing the damage that Scrat’s organs were taking, letting them regenerate back to full only for the poison to once more attempt to eat at them.  Though he knew it was painful, Dueg also knew that anything less and this fast acting poison would eat away at Scrat from the inside out until even his system couldn’t take the damage anymore.  Dueg sighed and leaned back, knowing that Scrat would be good for a while now that the poison was being worked from his system, but also knowing that the troll was not out of the woods just yet.

Dueg shivered slightly in the cold mountain air, drawing his cape up around him for the little warmth it gave whole checking the paths along which they had come and along which the alliance who had poisoned Scrat had retreated.  Because he had to be awake in order to keep Scrat alive, he had been nominated to take the watch as his other two companions took their rest.  Reyk was asleep in his bedroll a few paces from Dueg and Scrat, his sword within easy reach.  Noxt, no longer in need of sleep thanks to his state of undeath, had gone on a scouting mission to attempt to find their goal.  Cloaked in invisibility, he had crept out of their makeshift camp a few hours ago.

A soft sigh suddenly came to Dueg’s keen ears, followed by a gentle voice, “Poison dagger.  That must have been Finegal’s idea though I’m sure the blade was meant for your back and not the troll’s.”

Dueg looked up in the direction of the voice, unaware the sleep had slowly been creeping up on him, allowing his senses to dull.  Sitting on the ledge with her back to him was the Night Elf woman who had allowed him his freedom when they had made their escape from the alliance camp.  Her form seemed silhouetted in the moonlight, outlining both the feminine curves of her waist and the keen edged blade that sat within inches of her splayed fingers as she leaned back, looking up into the face of the brightly lit moon.  Looking over to Reyk, he saw a small dart jutting from his form.  Though he still breathed, Dueg was sure that he would be incapacitated for the time being.  Dueg’s hand crept towards his wand, the only weapon at hand in case he needed to strike quickly.

“You did not give me much of a hunt, Sin’dorei Duegathalas, I am disappointed.  I had hoped that an elf would prove more resourceful than this.  Elune shines brightly tonight, doesn’t she?”

Dueg slowly began to draw his wand when he heard a low, quiet growl coming from above him.  Looking up, he saw the Night Elf’s saber toothed companion staring down at him from the ridge above, watching him intently.  He left his wand where it sat and looked back to the Night Elf.

“Your friends were the ones who slowed us here, forcing us to delay our journey.  Had they not, we may have already found our destination and been on our way.”

“Perhaps,” she replied, “or perhaps not.  The fate Elune weaves for us is as fickle as any other.  But that is no longer relevant.  I have found you and now the question is not one of how to catch a Sin’dorei, but what to do with one.”

“And what will that be, alliance flunkey?”  Dueg felt his ire beginning to rise, “Will you murder us here on this ridge while your goddess watches?  You’ll have to, you know.  Reyk won’t go quietly and to move the troll would mean death for him for at least a few more hours.  Will you condemn us all so you can declare your hunt complete?”

Ter’vona suddenly pushed up, her legs swiveling over her head as she launched herself backwards and spun, landing smoothly in a kneeling motion in front of Dueg.  Her short sword was at his throat as she pressed in, those violet eyes once more giving the impression that they were examining what lay beneath Dueg’s skin as much as they were what was above it.

“Perhaps I should, Sin’dorei Duegathalas.  Perhaps I should add yet another martyr to the string of dead that represent the lost legacy of the immortal elves, because in the end it doesn’t matter.   For centuries I have lived and only now do I see the folly of a life taken for granted as you do yours.  An elf’s life is sacred, much more than any of the other races, for it was meant to be ever lasting.  And you would throw yours away for the sake of a pretty speech.”

She sighed and stood, sliding the sword once more into it’s sheath and turning, looking down into the ravine.  ”The cave of the Forsaken Oracle is at the bottom of this ravine.  The entrance is covered by a landslide, but you can still find it if you know what to look for and I trust your undead friend might.  He’s full of surprises, that one.”  She turned once more to look at Dueg, still sitting against the side of the mountain.  ”So long, Sin’dorei Duegathalas, I hope that next time you give me better sport when I come searching for you.”

She turned and suddenly hopped off the lip of the cliff, disappearing from sight.  Dueg scrambled to the edge, peering over and seeing her lightly sprinting away along a small jutting path about twenty feet below him.  She turned once more and winked at him, then bowed and ran off around the corner, the only sign of her ever having been there was the small crease on Dueg’s throat where her blade had gently kissed it.

-Dueg

Saturday RP – Delays

Dueg’s hand feebly tried to cover the rumbling sound issuing insistently from his stomach.  For the past two days now the three still breathing companions had grown increasingly tense and frustrated as their hunger had become more and more overwhelming.  Due to the urgent need to reach the Forsaken Oracle first, they had been forced to abandon hunting for the Warlock and Death Knight who had stolen their supplies and rations and move further into the mountains.  Now they found themselves on a mountain pass, the thin air mixed with severe hunger taking it’s toll on all their psyches.

Noxt, however, had seemed to grow in an increasingly enjoyable mood, as though it were simply a jaunt through a decorated garden.  Dueg couldn’t grasp how someone who had had their mind pervaded and turned into a puppet could have such an enjoyable time afterwards.  He supposed it had to do with the fact that his nerves were deadened to the pain of soar muscles and that his lungs no longer needed the precious oxygen that was slowly filtering out of the atmosphere the higher they got.  Either way, thoughts of murder kept flitting through all three of the oxygen starved minds that still needed it.

The four had hardly spoken since they had begun the hard hike, knowing that their destination was drawing near, but unsure of how to accomplish their goal since they had been severely reduced in resources.  Reyk still had his sword and a mail shirt, but his plate armor had been stolen while they battled the lich, righteous rage flowing through him even know at the heresy of having his holy armor debased by other’s hands.  Dueg on the other hand had his prayer stone and staff stolen.  Though the staff was of little concern with only a minor light enchantment upon it, without his prayer stone his meditations had lost their soothing effect upon him.  He was becoming increasingly frazzled the further along they went.

Scrat, however, had been hit the hardest.  Most of his armor had been stolen by the thieves, but what had hit the hardest was the loss of his intricately carved totems.  As a shaman, he tended to carry dozens of them at a time, used in order to summon spirits or command elements.  Without them, Scrat had lost an edge of his effectiveness, making him little more than a mace wielding warrior who could occasionally fire off an elemental burst.  He had already begun to carve new ones, but at the moment they were crude and hardly indicative of what they represented, meaning they wouldn’t command much power in the elemental world.

And so the three had grown increasingly miserable as they continued on, griping and snapping at each other as their main form of communication.  Noxt, on the other hand, had lost almost nothing except a few magical components easily replaced and an enchanted dagger that, though valuable, was hardly irreplaceable for the crafty mage.  Mixed with the fact that the journey was taking little to no toll on the mage and that he was actually seeming to enjoy it made him increasingly insufferable to the three who had taken losses.

“Not too far now, my comrades, not too far at all,” intoned Noxt for what must have been the third time in the last few hours.  Though they were indeed in the area of their destination, there was certainly nothing to indicate that they might be drawing closer or farther away from the Oracle they sought.  Reyk opened his mouth to let Noxt know where he could place his cheery attitude when a small shape suddenly jumped down from an outcropping above them, landing in the middle of the group and yelling out an arcane word of power.

Before any of the companions could react, all four of them were frozen to the ground, held firm by blocks of ice that crawled up their calves.  Reyk immediately swung at the shape which was able to swiftly roll under the keen edged blade and then away from the outraged holy warrior.  Light, whispered Dueg, bless this area with di- suddenly Dueg’s voice was snatched from him, causing him to lose his command of the spell that would have dispelled these frozen blocks.  He looked up to see the small shape stand up next to a taller one, both resolving into the Alliance wretches that had held them prisoner before.

Dueg felt his rage rise as he saw the murderous shadow priest Finegal standing with the tiny mage Ignat as they both began to whisper spells.  Before they could finish however, Scrat called upon the spirits to release him from the magical embrace, jumping forwards and swinging his mace at the shadow priest, causing him to go off balance and lose the thread of power he had been gathering.  Noxt meanwhile released a fireball, watching with glee as it flew straight for the diminutive magic user who made no move to dodge or step out of the way.  A second later, however, the fireball flared and then died against the magical barrier of ice surrounding the mage.

Suddenly they were all free as the spell which had held them slowly dissipated and Reyk shot forward in a blind rage, his sword held high and ready to destroy their enemies.  He didn’t get more than a few steps, however, before he collided with a wall of ice which sprung up instantly between him and the two alliance.  Scrat, who was grappling with the shadow priest in a fierce hand to hand brawl disappeared from sight as well as Noxt stepped forward, placing his hand upon the barrier as tendrils of freezing air swirled around it.  After a moment, his hand began to glow a deep red and the ice slowly began to melt away, the wall gently shrinking.

After a few minutes, the three could see enough over the wall to see that the two Alliance were gone and Scrat lay unmoving upon the dirt path.  With a final shove, Reyk pushed what was left of the barrier over as Dueg rushed to Scrat, leaning down and examining him.  Reyk and Noxt immediately set up defensive positions, watching along the path that that curved away in case the two decided to make another rush at them as they tended to the troll.  Dueg rolled him over to find him breathing shallowly and his three fingers gripped around a wicked dagger that protruded from his side.

“Poison,” said Dueg, recognizing the slick, green liquid that coated the blade, “Fast acting as well, we can’t move him or he’ll die in the process.”

“You can’t cure him?” asked Reyk, keeping his eyes scanning the path.

“Poison is man made, it doesn’t have it’s roots in shadow’s entropic powers as diseases do.  I can’t cure him, but I can keep him alive till it passes from his system.  He’ll suffer greatly, most likely.”  Dueg sighed, “We’ll lose at least a day while he recovers.  I’m sure this was their plan from the beginning.”

Dueg reached down, removing the knife and slowly closing the wound with the light’s healing grace as Reyk sheathed his sword, swearing a particularly violent curse on all Alliance scum as he whispered, “Then we may have already lost.”

-Dueg

Saturday RP – Shadows

Ter’vona leaned down, stroking her fingers through the pile of ash where the fire had been.  She could tell that it hadn’t been more than 24 hours since the last embers were smothered and the companions had moved on from this clearing and that the mage must have joined them when they made their escape.  She also noted the heavy hoof prints of a Tauren and a third Sin’Dorei approaching from the east before continuing on to the west.  She could also ascertain from the frost damage to the grass and undergrowth that there was a magical fight at some point.  However, her prey had managed to get away, so it couldn’t have been devastating.  She sighed and stretched, allowing her muscles to each tense then relax as her mind digested this new bit of information.

It had been several days since she had left the Alliance camp while it still burned and struck out to find the priest and his three friends.  Leaving behind a simple note letting Ignat know that she had gone off to find them, within an hour of their escape she had been on the path to the northern Howling Fjord, hoping to cross paths with them somewhere around there.  After determining that the quickest route for them would be to come out of the Dragonblight, she had spent a full day stalking north along the edge of the chasm separating the two regions.  When she came across the remains of the ancient span that had collapsed, she knew they were involved and had double backed, moving quickly.

Once she had found the trail leading from out of the Northern Sea onto the small island separating the two regions, it had been child’s play to track them to the camp site that they had left behind.  Now she was close, and could feel that familiar thrilling surge as her prey blundered on in front of her, unaware of the danger at their backs.  Let Ignat follow them with the magical tracking device he had snuck into the boots of the paladin, she’ll take the old ways any time of the day.  She smiled as she thought of the towering rage he surely must have been in when he discovered her, his prisoners and his prized magical bag all gone after their supplies had gone up in flames.  Yes, she was sure it had been the most amusing of sights.

Her ear twitched as the sound of approaching footsteps came to her, but she quickly identified them as belonging to her saber toothed companion.  Slow and unhurried, the large cat stalked into the clearing and padded right up to Ter’vona, looking up at her quizzically for a moment before collapsing onto his back and rolling over, reaching out with a paw and making a rumbling, growling grunt.  Ter’vona frowned severely and gave his rump a small kick, “You big, dumb animal, we only ate two hours ago!  Reign in your stomach and stop your begging, there’s work to be done.”

The cat grunted again and rolled over, giving Ter’vona a disgruntled glance as it began to move around the clearing, sniffing at the undergrowth and peering intently through the trees.  She smiled at her companions antics once she was sure he was occupied, not willing to let him see her amusement.  For as long as Ter’vona had been scouting the forests of Teldrassil, the cat had always been there with her.  Simply appearing one day out of the brush, she remembers being awed at the majestic young animal that had stalked in and sat beside her at the fire, looking inquisitively from the crisping fish she had been cooking and back to her again.  She had given in and since that night the beast had been following her ever since, his ever hungry stomach feeling like a third companion.

She had never bothered to find a name for the animal, for it wasn’t her place to put identification to him.  He was simply her friend and that felt right for her as she tapped him on the shoulder and set off on the path of the three adventurers from the Horde.  She was determined to find them, to prove herself better than this curious elf who claimed kinship with her peoples.  So pale and the ears so bewildering tall, how the wind must whistle through the space between them!  Still, she thought, I will find them and bring them back to Ignat, if only to see him sputter when I return.

* * * * *

Ignat sputtered in consternation as he looked out over the steep edge of the cliff that him and Finnegal stood at and back at the map they had ripped from the priest’s mind.  The path clearly indicated that they needed to cross the ravine yawning before them, but no way of how to do so, causing Ignat to fly into another one of his more and more frequent tantrums as the whole endeavor had spiraled south.  Finnegal, the shadows ever licking around his legs and seeming to deepen into every crease of his robes and every wrinkle or crevice upon his face, simply shrugged as he tried to judge the distance to the other side.

“You should have let me kill him, Ig,” he stated simply, “then we wouldn’t have to chase down this oracle and recover your bag while constantly looking over our shoulders all at the same time.  Hell, we should have smothered the paladin and that vile troll as soon as we captured them.  We knew that the priest would be more susceptible to the mind control due to his dabbling in shadow magic as part of his training.  Honestly, I sho-”

“That’s enough, Finnegal!”  The red faced gnome turned from the edge, his slightly greened silver hair disheveled from having his hands running through it so often lately.  ”The Alliance does not murder our prisoners.  Besides, you know about the supply shortage we’re feeling here on the frontier, those three would have provided a heavy ransom of supplies.  I’m warning you, Finnegal, your impetuous attitude is going to cost you dearly one day.”

The gnome turned back to the edge, tugging at his small beard as his mind worked until he finally let out a small sigh, “Well, nothing for it then.  I suppose we’ll have to go around.  According to the map, there’s a small Horde fort about 10 miles to the east of here, so the ravine must end before then.  We’ll simply sneak by it if we have to.”

“Fantastic,” came the shadow priest’s response as the two turned and began to make their way along the edge.  

Ever since the fire in the encampment, the two had been on the move, trying to find the prophet first in order to bring it into the Alliance fold.  Ignat had also been obsessed with recovering the magical bag that had been stolen from him during the distraction.  Unsure if the prisoners or that wretched Ter’vona had been the one to take it, he was fairly sure that finding one would turn up the other.  He was also glad for the small magical device he had had sewn into the paladins boots.  It was a poor attempt at being able to track him once he had been returned to the Horde, allowing him to gather intelligence on the other faction.  Usually prisoners were screened when returned for such cheap tricks.  

But since they had made their escape, Ignat had been able to regularly scry successfully for the device, knowing that the paladin at least was making steady progress back into the mountains of the northern fjord.  As they had made their way further and further into the foothills themselves, the mage had become more and more furious at the situation, feeling the drawbacks of his small stature and frame beginning to take their toll in the hard hiking.  Finnegal had sat through at all quietly, allowing the gnome to vent his fury while simply nodding or taking in the scenery.  However, within his anger seethed with hatred at the elf who had dared to attack him.  Anger at himself for allowing this transgressor to live, in spite of Ignat showing up at the wrong moment.

This was a mistake he intended to correct the next time he met up with the blood elf filth.

* * * * *

Spiders flitted among the shadows as the long dead thing placed the large sapphire within the metal lattice work half enclosing the perfect sphere of gold that floated in a dark corner of it’s laboratory.  Nodding as it noted the magical thread that seemed to spring along the filigreed decoration from the precious gem, the lich floated over to the animal cages hiding the western wall of his private dominion, grabbing a kicking rabbit by the scruff and returning to the device.  With a thought, he felt the tips of fingers growing into long, razor sharp claws before he suddenly flicked up and ran the tip from the animal’s collar down to it’s groin, relishing in the screams of pain emitted from the small creature as it struggled in it’s death throes.

Blood welled from the mortal wound and dripped onto the sapphire, thickening almost instantly then disappearing as it was sucked into the azure gem.  The lich smiled as he saw the metal surrounding the precious stone began to grow ruddy then turn a deep crimson in response to the life essence flowing through it.  The rabbit kicked feebly as it finally gave up the ghost and lich tossed the body aside, leaning forward and whispering words of power to ball of gold in the middle of the metal working, watching carefully as a thin ribbon of power flowed from the sapphire into the sphere, which suddenly turned a deep black color before beginning to resolve into a picture.

The lich’s eyes burned with cold hatred as Dueg, Reyk, Scrat and Noxt all came into view within the blacked metal.  Using magical scrying methods it quickly noted their location in the realm and saw that they were traveling much lighter than they should have been for such a long and dangerous mission.  After a few minutes, the picture wavered and slowly dissipated, the life essence of the rabbit too small to keep the magic working for very long.  The thing had all the information it needed for the moment though, vowing to find a more worthy sacrifice to feed the sapphire next time.  After all, it was going to take a lot of power cast a killing spell through the ball itself.

-Dueg

Saturday RP – Strangers

The Lich came flying in, his eager head low with intensely glowing eyes as it smelled the blood of it’s enemy’s flowing through their veins.  The rictus smile of death on it’s face seemed to grow even wider as fel magics began to course through it’s arms, causing it’s hands to glow with a deathly pale light.  Reyk dug his feet in and raised his sword to the threat, prepared to sell his life dearly as Dueg prayed for fortitude against their coming trial and Scrat pulled a small, intricately carved totem from his pack.  The three stood defiant before death’s agent, prepared for the worst.

Suddenly a huge, dark shape shot from the edge of the clearing.  A blur of black and blue with a sword easily as tall as Dueg’s shoulders, the massive shape bared down on the rushing lich, slicing in with a powerful stroke.  From behind where it had just appeared, a bolt of flame shot over the shape’s shoulder, flaring against the lich and setting it’s tattered robes alight.  Thrown off course by the sudden attack from it’s side, the lich was forced to circle around and back up, raising it’s defenses against the whole of the suddenly bolstered group facing it.  The massive dark shape stopped it’s mad rush and instead set into a defensive stance, it’s sword slowly winding back and forth in a defensive pattern through the air.

The shape resolved itself into a massive tauren, it’s matted fur the blue-black color of a nasty bruise and it’s eyes lit by the cold powers of the grave.  The heavy plate armor it wore could not hide the signs of decay that had begun to creep along the tauren’s withering skin and face.  From behind the defensively crouched form of the tauren a small, lithe figure slipped from between the tree trunks, the long, upward pointing ears betraying her blood elven background as her hand weaved an intricate pattern into the air, forming another ball of green, lambent fire.  The two faced off against the lich as the three still conscious companions turned to face the threat in a unified manner.

The lich paused, recalculating it’s odds now with the new additions to the fray and deciding that the time had come to make a tactical retreat.  With a rageful shout of defiance, the lich suddenly folded it’s still smoldering robes around itself and began to shrink within the center of itself.  After a second, it disappeared with a small, fizzling pop, leaving behind the scent of rotten eggs and sulfur and allowing the clearing to finally regain a normal temperature.  The tauren snorted and sheathed his mammoth sword while the blood elf allowed her ball of hellish fire to gently fade away.  She turned and gave a quick curtsy at the three still somewhat bewildered companions.

“Serae Lightwill at your service, travelers, and no thanks necessary, we help out where we can,” she said with a broad smile.  The tauren suddenly raised his head, sniffing at the air and then eagerly padding off to the edge of the clearing, crouching down and examining the bottom of the tree trunks.  Serae screwed up her delicate features in a quick look of annoyance before sighing gently, “That rotting hunk of meat is my personal bodyguard, Ayunn, a reprieved knight from Arthas’ now defunct order.”

“A Death Knight?” exclaimed Reyk as his eyes looked over to the still crouched tauren who was running his meaty fingers through the various sprigs of plant life growing through the underfoot of the forest, “I thought all of Arthas’ fallen heroes had rebranded themselves and were in a campaign to destroy the Betrayer, why is this one in your employ?”

“Most did, it’s certainly true, but not all still burned for combat and wished to take the fight to the doorstep of Icecrown.  Some, like my dear Ayunn over there, decided that their unlife was their own to do with as they please.  So he left the order and eventually we met up.  He was wondering aimless and a beautiful young merchant such as myself can certainly use the extra protection when out peddling her wares to the frontier settlements of Northrend.”

“Most merchants don’t know how to corral the hellish fires of demons like you certainly did,” Dueg said as he eyed her suspiciously.

The petite blood elf woman folded her arms across her chest and frowned severely, “Perhaps you would have preferred we simply minded our own business?  Maybe walked on by with our noses in the air?  Talk about looking a gift Hawkstrider in the beak.”

Dueg stammered slightly, taken aback, “uh… well, I…”

Scrat quickly stepped forward, “Be not worrying, about ‘im, you ‘ave our gratitude,” he said, extending a three fingered hand to her.

Suddenly her eyes went wide as she stared at the indigo digits held out for her and took a step back, “Assault!  Robbery!” she began to scream.

Now it was Scrat’s turn to step back, quickly pulling his arm back to his side and stammering an apology.  Ayunn looked up from the tree trunks, dropping the flowers he had been collecting and snorting as he barreled back across the clearing, drawing his sword once more.  Within seconds he stood between Serae and the three bewildered companions, his eyes glowing fiercely and his sword held defensively between them.  Ayunn’s cold, dead eyes scanned all three of them, waiting for one of them to go on the attack so he would have a reason to attack.  One of Serae’s small, delicate hands appeard from behind him, gently patting one of his massive arms.

“It’s ok, Ayunn, simply a drill.  You did marvelously.”  The tauren looked behind him to her then snorted in obvious annoyance, re-sheathing his weapon and stepping aside as Serae came forward once more.  ”Sorry about that, my friends, but one has to keep their security sharp on on their toes, or hooves as it were.  And now, we must be going, need to be in Venomspite by tomorrow afternoon in order to drop off a shipment of alchemical supplies.”

Serae reached over, taking Ayunn’s proffered hand and placing a slippered foot on his knee as she swung up to delicately sit upon his shoulder and look down at the three and their unconscious mage.  ”Was truly a pleasure meeting all of you, hope to do it again sometime, but without the lich, eh?”  She patted Ayunn gently on the head,  ”Let’s go, no time for distractions and this time watch out for low hanging branches and no stopping for flowers!  I swear, we’re going to be late if I have to indulge…”

Slowly her voice faded as the three looked at each other and shrugged, unsure of the whole bizarre encounter that had just occurred.  Quickly they cleaned up the camp and placed the unconscious form of Noxt onto his bedroll to give him time to recover from the mental intrusion wrought on him by the lich.  Once they had him settled, they quickly doused the fire so as to not betray their position again and began to gather up their packs in order to be ready to move the moment Noxt had recovered.  It was then that they noticed that all of their supplies had been stolen.

-Dueg

Saturday RP – Night Terrors

It didn’t take too long after they had left Venomspite before the four adventurers noticed the influence of the fel citadel of Naxxramas effecting the landscape.  As Noxt hobbled along with them he explained that in the past this area of land was dedicated to farming resources for the Alliance forward camp in Northrend.  It had been plowed and seeded all the way to northern mountains of the Howling Fjord.  Small barns and fields of corn and grain had sprung up almost overnight as the indentured serfs of Stormwind brought fertility to the previously barren fields.  But then Arthas had turned.

The betrayal of the Arthas spelled doom for the small military force as it was subtly poisoned by the Lich King’s lies and machinations until it became a scourge army. The fields were to summon the same fate as well.  The seeds of death were sown into the  ground along with the crops and they yielded a terrible poison in their own right.  As the army fed on the altered grain they grew sick and eventually perished, adding their numbers to Arthas’ growing forces.  Since the last trusted harvest, the fields had sat untouched by the hands of mortal men, slowly falling more and more to the Lich King’s control.

The barns had fallen into disrepair and sat as dilapidated testaments to the Alliance’s defeat at the hands of their fallen leader.  The once ploughed fields were either covered in frost and snow or yielded dead looking brier plants, their sharp spines secreting an viscous, milky substance.   A constant fog shrouded the land and shapes always seemed to be moving just off to the side of your eyes.  All of this under the baleful eye of Naxxramas, which had relocated to the farmed fields after the failed offensive on the mainland.  Just the proximity of the fel fortress was enough to begin blocking even the sun’s presence from the fields and further allow the Scourge’s stranglehold on the lands.

“And along the southern side of these cursed lands,” explained Noxt, “We four merry adventurers be.  Makes your soul burst with pride, eh, gentlemen?”

The other three threw murderous daggers with their eyes at the chatty mage who seemed to be enjoying the hurried journey a little too much so far.  Leaning heavily on his staff in order to overcome the stiffness in his joints inherent with death, the emaciated spellcaster seemed to almost be skipping with glee along the dirt road.  He began to croak out a further explanation about how the Forsaken had been able spread a plague among the undead in order to clear the area around Venomspite.  Scrat sighed and brought up his cowl in order to protect from the hot, greasy rain that had begun to spatter intermittently among the group, leaving the smell of rotten eggs behind.

Suddenly, he noticed something odd, a further darkening besides what they had grown accustomed too walking along the southern beam fences of the Alliances former farmlands.  Scrat stopped for a moment, bringing Dueg to a halt behind him as Noxt continued to natter on to Reyk, who didn’t notice the other two pausing.  Dueg frowned, “Let’s get a move on, shaman, you know we can’t camp until we get well clear of these lands.”

Scrat looked back at Dueg behind him, “De sun be settin’, mon.  Bad mojo is about.”

“What?  How can you even tell, it’s been dark as night since we enter-” Dueg stopped suddenly as the giant brier patch on the opposite side of the fence began to gently vibrate, making a clicking noise into the blowing wind.  Reyk and Noxt stopped, seeming surprised to have been separated from the other two companions and then looking out onto the field as another section of the briar patch began to vibrate as well.  One by one, small sections of brier began to rattle in the stirring breeze as the whole patch suddenly seemed to shaking, the very ground below four starting to shake.

Scrat and Dueg began moving back towards their companions, beginning to feel the idea of being separated may not be a sound one as the rattling began to intensify in sound and force.  Reyk drew his sword from his scabbard as Noxt suddenly straightened himself up and raised his arm, waving arcane runes into the air.  As the ground around Reyk flared with light the fence between the two groups burst outward in an explosion of fury and limbs as two gigantic undead spiders burst from the Brier.  They quickly turned from each other, raising up on their back legs and presenting only furiously moving forelegs and venom dripping fangs.

The first spider lunged at Reyk and met with a thrusting shield, slightly splintering off the end of one of it’s fangs as it tried to tear at his armor with it’s razor sharp forelegs.  Unfortunately, Reyk couldn’t find any weak spots presented, instead striking at the base of one of the legs and meeting with only a nick on it’s hard exoskeleton.  Noxt began to circle around behind Reyk to get a clear shot at their arachnid attacker, not wanting to hit Reyk.  On the opposite side, Scrat quickly moved forward to engage the spider as Dueg summoned forth a divine shield to block the poisonous fangs of the spider.  Scrat shot forward as legs and fangs furiously stabbed at the bubble of hardened light, his mace landing with a crunching thud against the right half of the monster’s face.  It reared back, letting out a loud hiss as it’s ruined fang and pedipalp now hung uselessly from it’s face.

Wrath of light, smite my foes with your fury!  Dueg shot his hand forward, focusing the power of the light into a ball of pure energy and channeling it into the retreating spider.  The light exploded against the creature’s abdomen, causing two of it’s legs to collapse and a burning, cracked carapace along the left flank of it’s abdomen.  The monstrous spider turned, trying to scurry back into the briar as quickly as it’s six legs would allow.  Spirits of lightnin’, be givin’ me yer aid!  Scrat fired a ball of pure electricity at the creature, watching in satisfaction as the already weakened exoskeleton cracked and burst under the strain and the animal fell dead, half it’s ograns exposed and bleeding.  Dueg looked up from the mess in time to see the other spider explode in a roar of flames as Noxt was finally able to get a clear shot.

The four quickly reconvened, and began to move quickly, the base of the mountains coming just in sight before the fog began to thicken with the onset of night.  Though the sun had been all but completely blocked out by the dark clouds streaming constantly from Naxxramas, the white moon was surprisingly obvious through them.  As it began to rise, it’s cold light seemed to center on the group, making them a beacon moving along the south of the Scourge’s lands.  The four began to almost run, knowing that soon they would be beset by the locals and what that might entail and for once, Noxt was silent.

After about twenty minutes they saw what appeared to be a giant fallen tree crossing a chasm.  The tree had long allow been hollowed out, leaving behind a usable natural bridge.  As the four began to move with even more vigor, realizing this was the natural bridge into the Grizzly Hills, they saw two massive shapes move to block their exit.  The four slowed slightly, unsure of their next step until they heard a strange howling begin to come up behind them.  The sounds of hunting dogs or wolves beginning to take to trail.  Reyk looked at the other three and nodded as they turned and determinedly made their way to the bridge.

The two shapes resolved themselves into two gigantic stitched abominations.  One had two long half rotten tentacles hanging from it’s right side and a huge, misshapen arm ending in a razor’s edge.  Upon the bloated, muscular body sat a surprisingly normal looking head, it’s beady eyes looking down at the four.  To it’s left sat a similarly sized abomination, except this one had two huge arms and a third one placed where it’s head should be.  While it’s two main arms held no weapons, the one where it’s head should be had a small steam run device which whirred a wicked logging blade.  

The one with the head began to speak, “Eh, now, wot’s all dis den?  Yous for is s’posed t’be back there get’n ground up n’ cawt now in’t ya?”

The group looked at each other, perplexed for the moment until Noxt stopped forward, “We’re, uhm… we’re not sure what you mean.”

Small Head looked perplexed for a moment, “Master says yous for on loos, that yous is for da chop.  We’s s’posed ta make shor you don’ leaf.”  The whirring arm head of his companion nodded up and down a couple of times in agreement.

Noxt looked back at the other three and grinned then turned around, “Oh, well, if that’s the case, I guess we’ll just have to go back and get chopped.  Are they the ones making all the howling?”

Small Head nodded, “Ya, that the-” Suddenly it’s head erupted into flames as Noxt thrust his hand forward, calling upon fire’s blessing.  Arm Head suddenly went berserk, the whirring circular saw kicking into high gear and letting out a piercing shriek as it shook back forth in front the bridge, slicing into it’s companion’s abdomen and spilling it’s stolen guts onto the ground.  The hing stepped back in confusion as it heard small head’s painful screams die away.  The four companions seized their chance as Noxt waved them forward and dashed past the whirring behemoth.  As the thing heard their boots begin to plunk against the wood it turned it’s deadly blade slicing down and splintering and chopping the wood, desperately trying to find one of them.  

Dueg was the first to feel the shifting as the all out full out ran across the ancient span.  The humongous thing was trying to follow them and it’s massive weight mixed with desperate cuts is making into the long dead trunk was causing it to splinter and crack further.  Dueg could see that they weren’t going to make it though the all were putting on extra bursts of speed to try and beat out the inevitable.  However, it was too late.  Slowly, inexorably, the dead tree splintered and cracked and began to fall into the chasm stretch out below them.  Dueg had only a second to yell out a warning before the wood disappeared out from under him and all four of the companions entered free fall.

-Dueg

Saturday RP – Recovery

“You drew them a light damned MAP?!” Reyk slammed his stein down on the warped, wooden table the four companions sat at, beer slopping over the side.  ”Then they will already have a start on us!”

It had been a full day since the four had made good their escape from the fields of the Howling Fjord and found themselves just outside of the small settlement known as Venomspite.  A tiny frontier town, the hidden encampment was little more than an inn, an apothecary and several military administration buildings and barracks.  Once they had arrived and Dueg had tended the wounds and bruises their incarceration had left them with, they had made their way to the inn.  A rotting, gothic affair in the usual style of the Forsaken, Noxt had surprised the three previous prisoners by revealing he had reservations for the lot of them.

After retiring to his room, Dueg had decided the time had come to search through the gift the night elf had given him and taken out the traveling pack with the picture of the door stenciled on it’s flap.  After opening it, he had found what appeared to be the shoulder guard of a full set of plate armor sticking out.  After much pulling, Dueg managed to yank the heavy piece of armor from the opening, finding it impossibly large to fit in the entirety of the bag.  When he examined the armor closely he found sigils and sacred runes of the light and Silvermoon city etched on the piece, revealing it to be Reyk’s armor that had been taken from them during their brief incarceration.

Feeling exhaustion, confusion and curiosity warring in his mind, Dueg decided it best to leave the mystery for the morning and retired for the night, his brain still trying to sort out how the armor had even fit in the bag in the first place.  The next morning he called Reyk into his room, who was very grateful to find the sacred shoulder guard once more and just as confused.  When they opened the small traveling pack once more they found an edge of his greaves poking out and were able to remove that as well.  One by one they were able to remove the entirety of Reyk’s armor from the small pack, realizing that magic must be afoot.

After Reyk had recovered his armor completely and returned it to his room, he called in Scrat and Noxt to consult while they were able to remove Scrat’s mailed armor and the entirety of the three companion’s confiscated travel supplies.  Noxt deduced that the bag they were given was an enchanted satchel which held a dimensional pocket within itself.  Thanks to this, it was able to store large and heavy items such as the lost armor and supplies they were currently recovering.  However, this revelation only raised more suspicion within Dueg as to why Ter’vona would gift such an obviously valuable enchanted item.

Reyk too was becoming suspicious as to how Dueg had come across such an item from their captors and said as much by calling a meeting between the four to better explain the events of the last few days.  After everyone had returned to their rooms to drop off their recovered gear, the four made their way down to the sitting area of the inn, calling for beer and wine and allowing Noxt to explain his part in the mission.  It seemed that their ruined camp site had been found not too long after they had been captured, alerting the local Horde authorities to their predicament.  Noxt had been tapped as a specialist in search and rescue attempts, having been able to escape from the Alliance himself twice after being captured while spying.

When the camp had been located, Noxt had made all haste to it, able to arrive within hours of them being escorted there thanks to magical means of travel.  After spying on the goings on, he had formulated a simple plan.  He would put fire to the several boxes of supplies they had in the center of camp, sneak in and disarm the spell ward that was keeping the three prisoners from using their divine gifts, then sneak them out.

“…except Duegathalas here had already made his escape without our help.” He had ended his story while the other three at the table turned their eyes to Dueg, questioning him silently.

Dueg calmly sipped at his wine before placing it down and beginning his recount of what had happened.  Telling of his chest wound then of the curious night elf and the small Ignat, who seemed the de facto leader.  Then his voice began to drip with malice as he spoke of Finegal, the fallen priest who wielded shadow’s powers.  Of the torture session and his ultimate submitting to the dark powers as they held his will hostage and forced him to reveal the route they had taken, causing an outburst from Reyk.

“No, I did not draw them a light forsaken map,” Dueg rebutted.  ”The pervaded my mind and stole my will from me, such is the power of the light’s dark twin.  They drew the map, they just used my body and mind to do it.  You should know the abilities of the shadow as well as I since you have also studied the light.  I attempted to destroy the damned map, but the human bested me in the grapple and they were able to get it.”

Reyk sighed and leaned back, absently tugging at his disheveled, raggedly cut hair, “They tried to get us to talk as well, but I suppose they decided to use the shadow on you first.  It could just as easily have been Scrat or myself who succumbed.  So the question now is where do we go from here?”

Noxt nodded, “I am at your disposal.  The High Executor thinks it best that the Forsaken be involved in this mission as well, since it has fared poorly so far.”

Scrat scowled slightly at the mage but nodded nonetheless, “Yes, da ‘ting of it is, we need to be movin’ quickly before dey get da jump on us.  ’Ave a chance to place obstacle in our pat’.”

“Agreed.  We should move quickly,” Reyk said, “After examining a map of the local area, I see that we need to move east then and into the Grizzly Hills post haste.  We must be careful though, for that will bring us in close proximity to the Scourge fortress of Naxxramas, which spoils the countryside with it’s foul magic, causing the dead to rise.  Normally we would cut south, but that would add too much time onto our journey.”

The other three nodded and downed their drinks, standing to gather their belongings from their rooms.  Since Dueg had been the one to receive the gift of the bag from the night elf, he was elected to hold it as well, storing excess items they may come across or things too heave to carry.  Everyone else donned their recovered armor or simply collected their supplies then returned to the lobby of the darkened inn.  Noxt signed the military receipt and nodded to the other three as they left the inn, turned east, moving as quickly as possible.  All the while, Naxxramas sat on the horizon above their intended path, glowing with a menacing light.

-Dueg

Sunday RP – Egress

Dueg sat up as the explosion rocked the ground beneath him.  Quickly he scooted across the ground to the tent flap, hoping that the distraction caused by the explosions would be enough to allow him to slip away.  His hopes were quickly dashed however as his hand met an invisible barrier just inside of the opening, placing his escape on hold.  Unperturbed, Dueg turned and reached for the bottom edge of his canvas prison, knowing that it was most likely blocked as well, but not wanting to waste this opportunity.

Voices began yelling orders to help put out the fire that was apparently beginning to rage at the point of explosion as Dueg scrabbled along the edge of the tent, hoping to find some weakness in the spell keeping him in the small tent.  After a minute or so of trying, he could see the futility of his actions and sat back, his mind racing as he tried to find some way to make an exit.  Dueg sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, trying once more to reach inside himself and feel the light of creation that he so desperately missed.  Deep down in the most sacred parts of his soul he delved, looking for that familiar spark that had been blocked from him, yearning for it’s caress in this time of need.

Suddenly, he felt it again, as if a curtain had been drawn aside and once more the light of the sun shown full on his face.  Tears leaped to his eyes and he reached for it, allowing the light to pour into his frame and dance along his aches and wounds, relieving his bruised neck and knitting broken skin and filling him with resolve.  ”Light, dispel my enemy’s machinations,” came his quiet prayer as he reached once more for the tent flap, smiling in triumph as his hand passed the invisible barrier without incident and drawing back the opening.

The scene outside was one of chaos.  In the middle of what appeared to be a middle sized Alliance encampment, a fire raged and ate at a small pile of boxes situated in the center of a ring of similarly small tents.  Around the blaze several people ran, throwing water on the boxes as thick plumes of black smoke erupted wherever the water ate at the flames.  Dueg also noticed the small shape of his gnome captor walking in a circle around the flames, casting ice at the boxes to help battle the damage being wrought upon them.  Thanking the light, Dueg slipped from the canvas tent and tried to stealthily creep away from the distracted Alliance.

That was when the Night Elf appeared in front of him once more, her bow held in a relaxed position, pointing at the ground with an arrow cocked but not drawn back.   Her curious, glowing eyes once more studied him as a slinking, saber toothed striped cat curled around her legs to face Dueg, it’s eyes intently watching him.  For a moment they simply stood and looked at Dueg, as if pondering their move before she looked back to the fire and once more at him.

“Hello again, Sin’dorei Duegathalas,” she stated simply, still not making any threatening moves, “Have you grown tired of your accommodations already?”

Dueg smoothed down the front of his robes as his mind continued racing, trying to find a way to make good on his escape as he spoke, “Yes, well, they were quite cramped and the help can be somewhat… murderous.”

She smirked slightly, “Finegal will get carried away at times.  I suppose the light’s shadow has eaten away at his conscience for so many years that he forget he ever had it within his soul to feel compassion.  Still, it is my responsibility to see to it that you and your friends, who are presently making their escapes as well, are escorted back to your tents or Ignat will certainly be quite cross.”

Holding her bow and the arrow still cocked within it with one hand, she reached behind her back.  Dueg tensed and crouched, preparing himself for some sort of attack as she instead produced a curious looking travel pack, an open door stenciled on it’s flap.  She tossed it so it landed in front of him, and nodded for him to take it as she once more reached to hold the arrow ready to pull and loose.  Dueg dipped and picked up the pack, surprised at how light it felt as he watched her for any sign of attack, his mind careening in confusion at the gift.

“It is lucky for you, Sin’dorei Duegathalas, that I find Ignat quite amusing when he is angry.  I believe it’s the strange shade of red he turns combined with his green tufts that make it so enjoyable to watch,” she pulled her arrow from the bow and placed it in the quiver at her leg as she kneeled down, rubbing the large cat’s head at her side and looking at him intently, “Your friends are expecting you, till next we meet, may Elune grace your steps.”  She slung her bow along her back then simply walked past him into the camp as her companion followed, rubbing gently against Dueg’s legs.

Dueg watched her saunter away for a few moments then turned and ran, trying to put as much distance between him and the encampment as possible.  His mind was at a loss for comprehending what had just happened, but figured it better not to think too much on his good fortune.  After a few minutes of running, he stopped to try and gain his bearings, looking around the gentle, sloping grasslands of the Fjord and noticing three dark shapes moving towards him from the area of the camp.  He ducked low, trying to hide make himself less obvious against the horizon until he recognized the forms of Scrat and Reyk moving with a slouching, emaciated robed figure.

“Duegathalas,” nodded Reyk as the companions once more reconvened, “I am glad you were able to make your escape as well.  They had you sequestered away from us and by the time we found your tent, you were gone.”  He nodded to the newest person, a Forsaken who stood with Scrat, whispering hurredly, “This is Noxt, our savior.  He created that blaze in the camp that allowed us to slip away.”

“You can shower me with praise later,” came the response from the robed undead as he and Scrat moved forward, “the Alliance are almost through with the fire and it won’t be long until they find you three missing.  Stand close, and we shall make our escape.”

The three gathered in a ring around the dead mage as he began to whisper arcane words of escape, magic gently weaving a pattern around the companions.  Dueg felt himself grow buoyant though he was still on the ground and recognized a portal spell being cast.  As Noxt formed the portal that would take them all from here he tossed up small fragments of ancient entryways, causeing them to begin to spin about the small party.  As the spell reached it’s crescendo, Dueg felt something tug at him and suddenly the world around him wavered before a flash erupted around him and the world flipped upside down.

From the edge of the camp, Ter’vona smiled as her and her feline companion watched the four shapes disappear on the wings of magic.  Gently, she whispered, “Let the hunt begin.”

-Dueg