[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session One
Appearing Characters: Alleria Windrunner, Altaa, Aramar Thorne, Armord, Astalor Bloodsworn, Dr. Dealwell, Deremos, Elissa Cross, Ginormus, Gotri, Jarod Shadowsong, Kael'thas Sunstrider, Kel'Thuzad, Lana'thel Duskseeker, Livii, Makasa Flintwill, Malande, Remnii, Riff, Rommath Pyrewing, Samaara, Sangrias Stillblade, Seria, Ssarbik, Ssavra, Thrud, Tae'shara Sunwatcher, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Zathra
Prologue: May 12th - May 22nd
As the party disperses to handle what business they are covering for the two week period, Seria, Uther, and Riff had all been drawn to the fighting pit in the center of Gadgetzan.
Seria looks at Riff and puts a hand on his head.
Riff gives Seria the puppy-dog look and Seria stares at him, then nods reluctantly. One of the goblin promoters overhears.
He gestures to a sign that’s written in goblin.
Uther looks at Seria and Riff with a raised eyebrow.
She points at Riff, who is chanting excitedly.
Goblin gestures for Seria to come over.
The goblin looks Riff up and down.
He produces some parchment and what looks like a quill-less feather.
Uther signs his name, as does Seria and Riff.
Uther looks at Riff.
Seria just nods.
The trio starts out strong in the first week. The crowd is very intrigued about the shapeshifting troll woman who is fighting, as well as the martial skills of Uther, and the unique skills of the young troll with them. However, after the initial shock value of the fighting styles, there are a few losses in the second half of the week. But they finish strong. They wind up fighting against a strong and silent local hero. He was big and a “right bastard”, known as Lord Ginormus.
The man was massive, easily over seven feet tall, and covered from head to toe in cloth and bandages. He had sandy brown eyes and deep, tan skin. He fought alongside two hyenas.
Seria scoffs.
Lord Ginormus looks at Uther and shakes his head.
The bell rings, and the man and his two hyenas charge forward with his bare hands. He came at Uther full bore, but Seria transforms into a bear and tackles him off while Riff focused on kiting the hyenas. However, the hyenas tackle him, and Seria’s instincts flare. She shoves Ginormus aside, transforms into a dragonhawk, and breathes a swath of flame over the hyenas.
Ginormus shoves off Uther to block the flames from his hyenas, and he starts screaming, now alight.
One of the medics calls for Ginormus to tap out, but Ginormus refuses, trying to put out the fire.
Uther is standing over Ginormus with his hammer, unsure of what to do, and Doctor Dealwell calls for him to just knock him out to end the fight, which Uther does. A normal sized human stretcher gets wheeled out to drag Ginormus off the arena--all four of the man's limbs hanging off of the stretcher.
The next week, something clicked with the group, and they were undefeated in all their matches. However, during that time, they also got to watch some of the other fighters, specifically the current champion of the arena: a woman named Thrud.
She was massive, a foot or more taller than Ginormous, and fought alongside two massive wolves that teem with electricity. One was dark black, while the other is icy white. They were referred to as Hati and Skoll. Thrud was blonde and covered with tattoos, and was missing an eye, and fought with a huge maul in a single hand that also crackled with electricity. It’s hard to tell how the maul stays together, as the center part of the hammer is transparent and filled with crackling electricity.
As she passed by the group after a fight, she takes note and offers a nod, but says nothing. However, she was watching every match the Death Adders participated in, normally flanked by her wolves--who have no collars or chains, but cause no problems whatsoever.
About midway through the second week, as the trio returns from their successful match, a different person meets them: it’s Lord Ginormus, though he’s now just wearing a loin cloth and bandages.
There is malice in his sole uncovered eye.
He points at Seria.
And then he turns and starts to walk away.
The man just walks out the entrance of Gadgetzan, and into the desert, followed by his hyenas. One of them has a bandaged tail where Seria's flames had set its fur alight during the fight.
Uther looks at Seria.
Seria shrugs it off. When they go to collect their winnings, Doctor Dealwell explains not to take him seriously.
Uther tries it, and it’s really sweet and sugary, and he finds his mind is more keen than he was before. Uther considers.
At that moment, Thrud passes by, and Dealwell greets her.
She looks at Uther and the others.
And with that Thrud turns and walks away.
The remainder of the week, no matches are lost, and the day dawns for the match against Thrud and her twin wolves.
Meanwhile, Remnii was spending some time with the Ati-Kaso, and after consulting Velen in a dream spell and some others, she opted to try and help both Livii and Gotri, as Samaara would be leaving on the expedition and the Ati-Kaso would be losing the presence of their leader.
Gotri sits down on a crate.
Very gentle, Remnii puts her hands around Gotri’s brow, and she casts greater restoration. As the Light magic flows through the pair of them, the dust of the crystal she fractures hovers around them. Gotri’s eyes roll into the back of his head and his eyelids close as the glow around them brightens and then fades.
When the glow subsides, Gotri’s eyes open again and he blinks a few times, looking up at Remnii.
Remnii sighs in relief and smiles gently.
Remnii presses her forehead to Gotri’s.
She takes a step away from him.
Gotri looks down in contemplation.
Remnii offers a tender smile.
Gotri smiles, stands, and gives Remnii a big, strong hug.
Remnii pats his arm.
With another smile, Gotri leaves to say hello to everyone, and then go rest.
Samaara puts a hand on Remnii’s shoulder, and Remnii leans into the touch and sighs in relief, but recognizes that Gotri was the easy one.
However, before tending to Livii, Remnii opts to use commune to beseech the wisdom of the naaru. She feels the connection with the Light as she sinks into a trance-like state.
The unmistakable chorus of the naaru reaches Remnii’s ears. It’s song seems to indicate a somber “yes.”
The chorus indicates another somber “yes.” Remnii considers her final question, but veers to something else weighing on her mind.
This time, a somber twinge in song disappears, leaving just a positive “yes.” And then the song comes to a conclusion.
Remnii then fishes into her bags and retrieves a scattering of gems to use with augury.
The glimmering gems indicate both weal and woe. Remnii sighs, and then brings this information back to Ati-Kaso to see if they want to try and do this for Livii, or just leave her in her blissful ignorance.
The response of the Ati-Kaso is fairly mixed. Some believe they can give her a happy lift, while others feel she may just suffer further. Emotions get a bit high at points, especially with Deremos who got into a raised voice argument with Armord, who had suggested just putting her out of her misery, and some others agreed with Armord.
However, Gotri then enters.
He looks to Remnii.
Just over half the hands raise. Gotri nods.
Armord sighs.
The others that were on Armord’s side nod.
Remnii nods at Altaa in thanks and then looks back to Deremos.
There is an understanding somberness as she meets Deremos’s eyes, and she puts her hand on his hand. Deremos then withdraws a stone and puts it in Remnii’s hand.
They head to Livii’s tent, and she is sitting there holding a small doll. There is a twinkle of recognition in Livii’s eyes, but she looks more broken than Akama does at this point.
Remnii blinks back the beginning of some tears, and Deremos gives Remnii’s hand a squeeze before stepping back to give her and Livii some space. Remnii kneels before Livii and fractures another crystal as she starts to cast greater restoration, while also beseeching the naaru for further aid.
Livii scoots forward while Remnii is praying and gives her a small peck on the forehead, and Remnii’s lip quivers as she continues to pray, pulling Livii into a hug.
As the glow begins to subside, Remnii starts to feel Livii’s breathing start to pick up. Instead of the low, calm, slow breathing, it starts to quicken until almost a pant. Her grip on Remnii becomes tighter, and she starts to panic. It seems whatever mental trauma had imposed amnesia had started to flood back to her, and she was likely going to have a panic attack if Remnii continues.
As the magic comes to its conclusion, Livii pulls away, and her eyes--now clear--are laced with confusion and fear and anger. She starts to look around in a panic, scrabbling away from Remnii.
Deremos takes a step forward, but doesn’t encroach on her space.
Remnii remains calm and thoughtful, intaking everything. She then casts calm emotions on Livii and the others in the room. The panic in Livii’s eyes starts to subside, the edge of it removed, and she looks up to Remnii with tears in her eyes.
Livii looks at her hands and gasps, fully realizing she’s changing.
Remnii scoots forward, extending a hand, but Livii just looks at it.
Livii looks up at Remnii with a dead stare, and then over to Deremos. Her lip quivers, and Livii looks at her hands again. Then, slowly, she takes Remnii’s hand.
Livii gets up onto her knees and she starts to cry, squeezing Remnii’s hand, and then melting into Remnii’s arms as she is offered a hug. She starts to sob, and remains wrapped in Remnii’s arms for as long as is needed, before Remnii helps her to her feet.
Samaara and Gotri, who were waiting, nod to Remnii with soft smiles. Altaa had set up a table and laid out some food, and she smiles as she sees Livii.
Livii looks up, gives a small nod, and then looks to the ground again, but she does pick at her food and eats about half of it.
Meanwhile, up in Northrend, Vel had taken a sabbatical to aid the Sin’dorei that had gone to the frozen north. In the process, she had gotten confirmation that no small number of elves had been raised as vampyrs, and had gotten to work.
During that time, she had the opportunity to perform an autopsy on a vampyr named Sangrias Stillblade, who had been killed in action--with the intention of trying to resurrect him once the autopsy was completed.
His corpse had been recovered from her study as she was packing up, and she cast a disguise on herself and an enhance ability before she headed to the chapel the resurrection would be taking place at.
The chapel is strange. As she steps inside, she notes there is a lot of iconography that is familiar to the elven depiction of the Holy Light, but the windows are completely tinted to prevent sunlight from entering. They are tinted red specifically, casting a crimson hue over the entire chapel.
She notes Sangrias’s body had been laid on a cloth in front of the altar, behind which Malande is preparing with a soft smile on her cracked face. Both Kael’thas and Rommath are conversing, and Alleria is also sitting in a corner. Astalor, likewise, is also around. However, there are two other people that seem to be blood knights that Vel doesn’t recognize.
Everyone acknowledges Vel’s arrival. Alleria gives her a nod, and Kael’thas approaches.
Kael’thas turns to the altar where Sangrias’s body is laid out.
As Vel turns to follow him, Rommath nods at her and steps back. However, they hear footsteps behind them, and the hair on the back of Vel’s neck stands on end.
Vel turns to look, and she sees Lana’thel Duskseeker striding through the doorway. She is wearing dark crimson and black armor as Vel had observed her wearing the few times she had glimpsed her around Vengeance Landing.
Lana’thel looks at Vel for a moment and cocks her head to the side. There’s a soft smile.
Vel nods at her in greeting, and Lana’thel nods in return.
There’s a moment where Vel sees Lana’thel’s eyes crinkle ever-so-slightly, and she ponders for a moment. It seemed like she recognized Vel’s voice, but she hasn’t been able to determine who Vel actually is beneath the disguise. She nods again.
Kael’thas nods.
Rommath makes eye contact with Vel and reaches out to her telepathically.
Lana’thel steps forward, no weapon in sight, though her cloak drags gently across the floor. She takes her position on the left side of the altar, with Kael’thas on the right, and Vel in the center.
Malande begins the lengthy ritual of resurrection, and it’s similar to those Vel has seen before.
Kael’thas closes his eyes, and they alight with magic.
Kael’thas’s hands alight with wisps of fiery magic as his magic is added to the ritual.
Vel also reaches out her hands wordlessly, much of her preparations having been made prior to this moment due to her part in reassembling the man’s corpse and her intimate knowledge of every inch of this man’s body. Ghostly blue magic swirls around her hands, her own eyes alighting with magic.
Lana’thel then holds out her own hand, and a wind picks up in the room. She closes her hand into a fist, and as she does, the wind coalesces into a long runeblade that Vel could only assume is the same Frostmourne that Remnii and the others had mentioned.
Lana’thel then rests the blade against the stone, the palm of her hand flat against the hilt of the sword in front of her. Lana’thel closes her eyes, and there is a metallic twinge coming from the blade as it seems to almost quiver slightly.
Kel’Thuzad’s attention, in the back of Vel’s mind, is immediately drawn to it, but he doesn’t say anything so as not to interrupt Vel’s focus. However, it’s clear that he’s incredibly intrigued, and even Vel herself can sense the waves of death magic emitting from it.
It was more than she was expecting, but she didn’t lose concentration.
Malande starts the closing points of the ritual, and a pale white light--the color of snowblind--starts to shine on her hands as she channels the power of the Holy Light. The cracks in her flesh start to glow, and she winces in pain, but she doesn’t balk. Wisps of icy snow flow down off the altar and wash over Sangrias’s still body.
There’s a long moment as the temperature in the room starts to plummet, and it stops, and then steadily it increases once more. Frost covers Sangrias’s body, then then fades once more, and his eyes flick open. He blinks, and Malande smiles.
Sangrias looks around, and Lana’thel smiles, leaning on the sword.
She pulls her hands from her sword, and the blade vanishes once more.
Sangrias looks around to the gathered elves, obviously not recognizing Vel at all.
He gets shakily to his feet, and the two other blood knights rush forward to steady him.
Sangrias nods, and then looks to everyone else with a fatigued but thankful look.
Sangrias puts his arm around one of the two other blood knights. Vel nods in return, but then steps forward.
She holds her wrist out. The blood knights and Sangrias look down at her wrist, and then back up to Vel, and the blood knights exchange looks before looking back to Lana'thel. Lana'thel gives them a slight nod.
Given Vel continued to offer, Sangrias bites into Vel's offered wrist--drinking deep--before he thanks her again and the pair of blood knights escort him out. It hurt, as expected, but less than the bites from Alleria and the others. Lana'thel offers a thanks for the donation, and then looks to the group as a whole.
Lana’thel nods.
As Vel listens to the exchange, she gets the sense that with the conviction with which she speaks, and how she carries herself, Lana’thel is not someone who lies. However, Vel also gets the sense that she’s not someone that always tells the full truth either, but in this instance, she is not lying with what she said. But it’s also clear, that with the direness and imperativeness in her voice, while she cares about the survival of her people, she’s now swung towards the evil alignment when she wasn’t that way before.
Lana’thel nods once more, and she turns to leave, leaving the group in the chapel. Vel senses a collective exhale from the group, metaphorically or otherwise as Astalor was the only other one present that still needed to breathe.
Kael’thas approaches Vel again once it was clear Lana’thel had gone.
Kael’thas also turns to leave, his cape billowing behind him much like Lana’thel’s.
Rommath also nods and his voice echoes into Vel’s mind.
Rommath disappears out the door after Kael’thas, and Astalor claps his hands together.
Astalor gets a dumb little smile.
Astalor bows and also leaves, closely followed by Malande, who nods and bows to Vel.
Alleria and Vel are the last ones that remain in the chapel.
Alleria offers a small smile.
Alleria chuffs.
Alleria puts a hand on Vel’s shoulder and squeezes it, and she also disappears through the door.
Vel draws an arcane circle on the floor of the chapel, chanting the words of the spell, and teleports back to Gadgetzan and arrives in the tube-like teleporter that Marin Noggenfogger had set up, her hair slightly static-y. She recomposes herself, and drops her disguise, then heads out into the streets of Gadgetzan.
Back a few days, Remnii had made several attempts to dream Jarod Shadowsong due to the night elf sleep schedule. Finally, it connects, and Remnii fashions the dreamscape in an environment of huge, towering trees.
And she sees the figure of Jarod Shadowsong appear, his arms crossed, and a perplexed look on his face. Remnii lets him examine the dreamscape for a bit, and he is muttering to himself in Darnassian. There almost seems to be a sense of wonderment.
Then he sees Remnii, and he tenses. But then speaks in common.
Remnii smiles earnestly.
Jarod approaches and stops 10 feet away.
He gestures to the area.
As she speaks, those options materialize, and Jarod chuffs in amusement as he sits.
Jarod chuffs.
Jarod nods.
Remnii explains to him what she knows currently, including her contact with a singular kaldorei druid.
Jarod furrows his brow, and Remnii explains her own story.
Jarod smiles sadly and nods.
Jarod shrugs.
Jarod smirks.
Remnii smiles and nods, accepting the challenge.
Jarod chuckles.
Jarod gets a look of intrigue.
He pats his knees and gets up.
He spends some time wandering around exploring until the dream fades.
Remnii and Tol’vas head out on a supply run with Samaara, Aramar, Makasa, Tae’shara, and Elissa, and they set off on camels along with some of the more physically gifted members of the Ati-Kaso. They follow a trail that is mostly denoted with signs, and it is fairly uneventful.
After about eight days, the shore line comes into sight, and they see the docks. They are not particularly fancy, primarily just some goblin buildings and some piers that are demarcated as “Steamwheedle Port”.
They pass a few goblins minding their own business, and the group can see some palm trees near where the water meets the desert edge. Remnii is enamored with the sight of the palm trees.
As they arrive at the port, Tae’shara heads in to take care of the orders that they are picking up. Remnii tries to help, but eventually Gotri sees her struggling and he tells her to make sure everyone stays hydrated.
There were definitely moments when Tae’shara was checking out Tol’vas and some of the other draenei. Which Remnii notes her doing so.
Tae’shara chuffs.
Tae’shara spittakes at that, laughing.
However, Tae’shara does wind up asking more about the Vindicators. Meanwhile, Makasa is picking up huge stacks of things and being very efficient about everything. Aramar is trying to keep up, but is failing. Makasa, meanwhile, was berating him and only him.
Tae’shara and a few of the Ati-Kaso take off to claim a slice of beach, and Aramar heads over with a furrowed brow.
They head into the office, and the goblin rolls his eyes at Aramar.
Remnii and Tol’vas pick up that the goblin seems to be hiding something.
Remnii looks to the rest of the party.
Remnii offers him a kind smile as he leans back and lights a cigar.
As they leave, Remnii asks if Aramar’s father had any history with trolls. Aramar isn’t sure, but Makasa offers they never dealt with trolls when she was a part of his crew. Granted, that over a decade ago now.
Aramar and Makasa both want to go, as does Elissa and Tol’vas.
Everyone looks at Tol’vas, who shrugs.
The group heads to the shore where the Wavestrider is beached. Tol’vas asks how subtle they are trying to be, and it’s pretty clear they aren’t going to be able to be particularly subtle. However Remnii offers that Tol’vas and Samaara could scout ahead of them.
Samaara says she’s willing, and she breaks away from the group to scout along the side as the rest approach. Makasa, Aramar, and Elissa opt to stay at a distance, and Remnii offers to Tol’vas that she is good at de-escalation, but not sneaking.
However, Tol’vas chooses to cast pass without trace, and they start to try and creep forward as a group. They flank around to the side opposite of Samaara, and there are moments Elissa’s armor scrapes against the wood and she mouths sorry.
They don’t see anything dangerous as they scout around, but then Tol’vas sees movement up in the crow’s nest of the ship. There’s a figure up there that slid down the side of the pole, and then he sees her whip out a weapon and start to fire.
In response, Tol’vas holds his hand out and casts call lightning. Storm clouds appear above her, and she dodges out of the way, avoiding the majority of the lightning strike. Tol’vas then presses himself against the side of the ship.
The woman, who appears to be a sand troll, lands at the lip of the ship and fires her hand crossbow rapid fire at everyone she could see. Remnii and Samaara take particularly bad hits, and they are poisoned.
The woman then ducks behind cover. Her cowl had dropped, and she has fiery red hair, though her lower face is covered. She is also wearing heavy, chitinous armor, and it seems her armor has a scorpid tail built into it.
And then another figure materializes above them, and there are incantations. Remnii looks up and she’s bright, red eyes and a long beak. The figure seems to be speaking in Ravenspeech and the speaker is an arakoa.
Aramar staggers back but seems to have resisted the spell.
Remnii squawks up at the arakkoa in his own tongue, and the individual squawks back and draws a scimitar. Then another arakkoa materializes, and summons two void walkers in the midst of the party. One of the void walkers immediately slams into Remnii. It tries to assault Remnii’s mind, but it can’t break through her defenses. The second one goes for Aramar, but Aramar is able to duck away, and the third one also goes for Remnii, but Elissa is able to intercede. The void walker tries to hit again, and once again misses.
Samaara fires an arrow at one of the void walkers attacking Remnii, and the arrow disappears into its body.
The sand troll pulls out a small sphere and strikes some flint off of it, and then lobs the bomb into the midst of the group. It explodes, and most of the group is able to take some type of cover, but it showers the group in shrapnel. The troll then ducks behind cover again.
Tol’vas continues to strike lightning, but this time he targets the closest arakkoa. It squawks and ducks out of the way, the lightning singing some of his feathers. Tol’vas tries to duck back under cover again.
She ignores the void walker beside her and proceeds to try and climb the ship. It slams into her, and she grunts angrily, but gets to the deck of the ship and starts to attack the arakkoa mage. However he manages to maintain concentration.
Remnii casts spiritual weapon, summoning a draenic warhammer that is glowing gold, and it appears next to the arakkoa mage. It cracks into the mage, the arakkoa staggers, and the void walkers vanish.
Remnii tries to get the arakkoa to stand down, using Ravenspeech. The arakkoas fluff up, and there’s a clacking laughter.
The arakkoa fighter jumps down behind Remnii, his scimitar manifesting magic as he strikes into her with two attacks. Remnii isn’t looking good, and staggers to the ground.
An aura of light magic pulses around her as she uses aura of vitality, and she heals Remnii, and then drops to try and engage the arakkoa.
He holds out his claw to Aramar, and he starts to panic. It seems like he’s struggling against something, but there doesn’t seem to be anything around him.
The arakkoa cackles and backs up, which Makasa tries to strike at him, but she misses.
Aramar continues to struggle against the seeming illusion, shouting about his father, but then he tumbles to the ground unconscious, blood streaming from his nose.
Elissa calls out to him, and the arakkoa warrior tries to cast a spell on her, but she resists and bonks the arakkoa with her shield.
Samaara runs forward to cover Remnii, but the arakkoa warrior strikes at her.
Tol’vas uses the Scythe of Elune and summons two massive dire wolves on the deck of the ship. They growl and then run at the sand troll assassin.
Tol’vas then also heals Remnii.
The dire wolves close on the assassin, and the arakkoa mage--noting Makasa following him--cackles and then disappears.
Elissa uses aura of vitality to get Aramar stabilizes and then attacks the arakkoa warrior. She invokes a smite, holy energy surging through the arakkoa.
Aramar gets to his feet and draws his blade. A diamond sword appears from the hilt, and he uses second wind before scrambling up the side of the ship to go help Makasa. Makasa points out the general direction of the mage, and Aramar strikes him with a guiding bolt. Makas follows up with her own attacks, getting the arakkoa into a critical condition.
One of the dire wolves lunges at the sand troll, snarling.
Remnii uses mass cure wounds, healing many of her allies.
The sand troll calls for a retreat, and she tries to dodge around the wolf to run, but isn’t able to. Makasa dives in on her, doing a substantial amount of damage. The sand troll calls out to a “Skitter”, and the scorpid tail is revealed to actually be a scorpid, who disengages from the sand troll and starts to attack.
Tol’vas tries to attack the arakkoa closest to them, but misses, and he also climbs up on the ship.
Remnii tries to cast smite at the mage as she finishes climbing the ship, but the spell does not seem to take hold. The warrior turns invisible and starts to also climb up the ship.
Makasa tries to strike into the mage, but her spear passes right through it.
She snarls, looking around to see where the arakkoa may have gone, given it seems he had cast a spell.
Elissa uses the ring that Vel had gifted her and tries to fire off some shooting stars at the warrior, but they fail to connect, and she heals Tol’vas.
The sand troll disengages and tries to slip by Tol’vas. He tries to block her, but she is able to duck under him. Tol’vas summons another strike of lightning down on the sand troll and arakkoa warrior, and they duck out of the way.
In that moment, the arakkoa mage appears, a scroll in hand as he casts a spell. Fel fire erupts around the two arakkoa, the scorpid, and the sand troll.
The sand troll winks at Tol’vas.
They then disappear into the burst of fel fire.
As the aftermath of the battle starts to finish, Makasa is on high alert, but nothing is found. Remnii looks to Samaara.
Remnii is looking around the ship, and then back to Aramar.
Makasa shrugs, and Aramar allows the blade to vanish.
There are a series of nods.
Remnii falls into silence.
Aramar looks concerned, but they branch out to look through the ship.
A voice calls from down below. It’s Tae’shara.
The group fills in the rest of the fellows on what happened, and no one knows what the Hidden would be.
There are some sighs, and some agreement. Aramar looks frustrated, but he took out his sketchbook and he seems to be focused on drawing the people that attacked them best as they can. The entire place also seems to have been picked clean. Remnii reassures him that they’ll find something when they can.
Tol’vas suggests hidden compartments, but Makasa knows where they are, and she managed to find some rum that had been stashed away, but nothing else.
Remnii investigates the naaru figurehead, and it seems to be the same size of Mu’ru, but everything is scaled down. It’s pattern is more intricate. Aramar also works on sketching the figurehead.
The group spends some time swimming and drinking. Tol’vas makes a tidal wave and tried to surf on the tidal wave, and she did alright, but beefed it after the wave well off. The wolves chill with the group until they are dismissed (and when asked informed Tol’vas they came from the Dream), and the group crashes on the beach and then head off the next day.
On the way back, Remnii talks a bit to Tol’vas about Jarod, and how well he knew him. Tol’vas said he didn’t know Jarod very well personally, but did mention that Jarod was present when the demon lord Archimonde killed an entity named Malorne.
May 22nd
And the group returns to Gadgetzan around the same time as a certain Thunderdrome is happening, and a certain mage returns home.
Vel and the group meet just outside the fighting pit, just in time to see Uther, Seria, and Riff be let into the Thunderdrome.
Vel blinks at them, trying to unpack that information that came out literally as soon as she returned.
Elissa had started to approach Vel, but upon hearing Uther and the others were fighting, she and Tae’shara immediately ran to cage to start cheering for them. Vel sighs, hanging out at the back, but she waves her hand, summoning a major image above Elissa and Tae’shara depicting the name “Death Adders” with a black snake weaving around it.
Thrud sees the cheering and the illusion, and smirks, and she and her wolves prepare to fight. Seria immediately holds out her staff and casts phase shift on herself, and then turns into a fen dweller, her form flickering.
Uther uses his channel divinity and then advances in solidarity with Seria.
Skoll starts to advance, and then his fur crackles, and he blasts a bolt of lightning at Seria. Seria takes the damage, but she absorbs it. Skoll cocks his head in confusion, but then charges forward.
Thrud grins and then also runs forward. She spins her hammer around her head, and then leaps up to bring it down on Uther. However, as it comes down, Uther erects his arcane ward. She smiles and swings around again, but her hammer is also turned aside.
Riff bites the side of his wrist and waves a hand over it. He casts bane and on both Thrud and Hati seem to fail.
Hati tries to blast lightning at Riff, but he is able to avoid the majority. The lightning hits a chain, electrifying a section of the drome. The wolf then closes around to Uther’s other side.
Thrud tries to swing at Uther again, but both attacks once again miss thanks to Uther’s shield.
Riff gets into the zone and casts sapping sting on Thrud, which works! Vel has the black adder in the illusion hiss loudly, and everyone cheers.
Uther then closes on the now proned Thrud, holy magic wreathing his hammer as he slams it into Thrud. Vel has the illusory snake flicker iridescent gold and black. Thrud’s eye flashes on the impact, and Uther is blown back into Hati, but Uther closes on Thrud again, coming through with his hammer once more.
The hammer flashes with more holy light and he brings it down on her chest. Thrud is blinded by the effort.
Vel has the snake flash pure gold and hiss in triumph.
Uther comes through with one final strike, once again smiting. Thrud is not looking good, and Vel has the snake twist around the Death Adder label, still gold and hissing loudly.
Skoll closes on Uther, he had nearly dropped his master in one turn. Skoll bites into him, his fangs clamping onto Uther’s entire mid-section. He shoves Uther down, and then Hati goes for Uther. Uther rolls out of the way of both attacks.
Seria brings her fist down on the prone Thrud, and she rolls over to the side, coughing. Seria screams in triumph before rounding on Skoll and smacking him as well.
Skoll raises a fist to her wolves and says something in her language, but heaves herself out of the arena.
Seria continues to beat on Skoll, walloping him with two solid hits. Riff heals Uther and tries to sapping sting Hati, but it fails. Hati rakes into Uther, and he fades out of consciousness for a second. The wolf then moves to back up Skoll.
Skoll bites Seria and slashes at her, but she is still standing without a problem.
Riff heals Uther again, and tries sapping sting again, but it once more fails.
Seria slams into Skoll again and hurls him into the wall, where he lulls over, exhausted. Then Seria turns on Hati, but he is able to duck out of the way.
Hati bites into Seria, his fangs crackling with lightning, but as the lightning courses through her, she heals from it. He opts to try for thunder damage with his claws, and then retreats to kite them.
Uther gets to his feet and then nova heals himself with lay on hands. Everyone starts cheering. Uther then quickens arcane missile, and he swings his hammer around, missiles flying off of them and striking into the wolf as he approaches.
He looks to Riff.
He slaps Uther on the shoulder and then charges at Hati and tries to hit him with an inflict wounds, but the wolf is able to dodge.
Riff ducks around Hati as he tries to counter attack, and then strikes at Uther, who he seems to be almost scared of. He kites around Uther and Riff, but gets into range of Seria, who slams into him twice. The wolf is heavily winded, clearly almost out.
Uther then closes, and takes a final hit, dropping the wolf to the ground.
There is a moment of silence before Dealwell declares the winner, and Vel has the black adder illusion lunge forward and explode into bright red blood as it disappears.
Thrud enters the arena, heaves Riff onto her shoulder, and holds both Uther and Seria’s arms in the air as Seria shifts back, declaring them the winners.
Quietly, she speaks to the trio.
She holds their hands in the air again.
