[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Ten

Appearing Characters: Anice Erona, Aramar Thorne, Broll Bearmantle, Elissa Cross, Ember Flintlocke, Jorn Skyseer, Li Li Stormstout, Makasa Flintwill, Omusa Thunderhorn, Remnii, Riff, Rokhan, Samaara, Seria, Syeori Sunwalker, Tae'shara Sunwatcher, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Wulf

June 4th

Using the sparring match between Uther and Remnii as an icebreaker, Vel opts to approach Syeori given the news that had been weighing on her mind since the group had encountered the other elf. Syeori had returned to doing some touch-ups on the map she and Aramar had been working on after the excitement of the unexpected match, and it seemed she was presently sketching out a sea monster in the wide oceans surrounding Kalimdor.

Syeori puts her things away and hops up to her feet.

Vel doesn’t look particularly comfortable, given the dire nature of the conversation at hand.

Syeori nods.

Vel fidgets slightly, trying to parse through how to explain, before she lets her hands rest clasped behind her back.

Syeori’s eyes widen.

Syeori’s hand gradually makes its way over her mouth.

Syeori exhales a sigh of worried relief.

Syeori stops as they’re walking and looks to the ground.

She looks up to Vel again, who had also stopped.

Syeori puts a hand over her mouth again.

She stamps her foot.

Syeori looks back down to the ground.

She chews on her lip, and tears are starting to form in the corners of her eyes, but she’s choking them back.

Any semblance of Syeori holding back her tears begins to break down, and she immediately throws her arms around Vel and pulls her into a hug. Vel tenses for a second, but then slowly folds her arms around Syeori’s back.

Syeori pulls away and reigns herself in with a graceless sniffle.

Syeori nods and wipes a tear away. Her cheeks are flushed red.

Vel nods, and they continue walking for a bit until they come to one of the sparse trees in the open Barrens. Syeori stops and climbs up the tree to stare towards the east, opposite of where the sun is setting, back towards the Eastern Kingdoms. Vel opts to stay down at the roots.

After a bit, Syeori comes back down and gives Vel her trademark smile, but there is still a hint of sadness in her eyes as they start to head back towards camp.

They see Li Li with a small calligraphy brush and leaning against a nearby rock. She takes a swig of water from a gourd, and she appears to be journaling with her brush and an unrolled scroll.

Vel stops upon seeing Li Li, seemingly considering something.

Li Li’s ear twitches as she hears her name, and she looks up to Vel with a smile.

She pats the ground next to her, inviting Vel to sit if she wishes, and Vel looks to Syeori and gives her a small nod to indicate she’d rejoin her shortly, before she goes over to Li Li and sits down next to her.

Li Li’s eyes widen.

Li Li cocks her head in thought.

Li Li ponders for a moment.

Li Li furrows her brow a bit.

Li Li laughs.

Li Li looks down pridefully at her scroll.

There’s an unspoken hesitation on Vel’s mind as her thoughts instinctively wander to more pessimistic worries, but she pushes them aside.

Li Li chuckles.

Li Li hops to her feet and bows a lot more formally than expected in casual conversation, but then heads off toward Ember’s group while Vel goes to start setting up the dome for her own group. However, as she starts, Remnii quickly pulls her aside as she is returning from her conversation with Tol’vas.

They go a small distance from the group.

She fishes in her side pouch and produces a small red crystal. Remnii passes it off to Vel.

Remnii offers a small shrug.

Vel looks down at the stone, examining it. She recognizes it as a pearl of power, except in a gemstone form. Her eyes widen slightly upon recognition and she looks back up to the taller woman.

She shifts her dress, revealing the amulet of proof against detection that Vel had given her many months ago.

She closes the gemstone into Vel’s hand. .

She offers a warm smile.

They head back to the group and Vel gets the tiny hut erected around them, but as everyone settles in for the night, Vel sits for a bit and just examines the gemstone, running her finger over it.

That night, Seria attempts to dream Rokhan. She finds herself in the gentle, green hued dreamscape, and she manages to connect to another presence. Resting against one of the trees, he sees a familiar jungle troll. He has bluish silver hair, and a long bear down his chin that rests against his chest, two tusks swooping from his jaw, and his hair pulled back in a wild ponytail.

His golden-yellow eyes open and he glances around.

He stretches, and in a swift motion, he hops onto his feet and stands up to his full height and stretches his shoulders out. He looks around, and then sees Seria, and freezes.

He blinks and then squints.

Rokhan laughs.

Rokhan smiles.

Seria nods.

Seria shakes her head.

Rokhan nods.

Seria nods.

Rokhan’s brow furrows.

Seria nods and shows him the bone tattoos on her arms.

He looks around.

Seria gives him a look.

Seria nods.

Rokhan steps forward and puts a hand on Seria’s shoulder.

Rokhan squats down in the grass.

Seria opts to share some things, including the fact she rode a dragon into the ground and the other cool stuff. As the spell starts to end, Rokhan realizes it.

Rokhan reaches out and touches the tusks around Seria’s neck.

He offers a smile, and the spell fades.

June 5th

The group wakes and get ready to pack up and head on. As the domes fall, Seria wakes up to a very light rainfall on her cheek. It’s chillier than it’s been, sun streaming through the breaks in the clouds.

As they are traveling, about halfway through the day, Makasa rides up next to Uther. Uther is still riding the dopamine of destroying a Burning Legion weapon.

Makasa offers Uther a flask, which Uther takes a small sip from. Uther coughs at the strength.

Makasa’s brow raises.

Makasa smirks.

Makasa laughs and then the laugh fades as she considers.

She gestures to Aramar.

Makasa raises a brow.

Makasa chuffs and takes a swig.

She smirks.

Makasa takes another swig and continues riding on.

When the group takes their break for the day, Seria seeks out Vel. Upon seeing Seria approach, Vel looks up from what she’s doing.

Seria nods.

Vel glances in Uther’s direction, watching the paladin for a moment.

Vel hesitates for a moment as she looks back at Seria.

Seria nods.

Vel reaches to the ring on her finger and slides it off, showing the silver and sapphire band to Seria.

Seria nods.

She slips the ring back on her finger.

Vel looks around at the rest of their resting party.

Seria gets her scrying bowl out and begins the process of scrying on Zalazane, using Vel’s ring as a focus, and the water starts to shape itself and gets murky, but then suddenly the rippling stops, as if it had failed.

Seria nods and pours the water back into the waterskin she has reserved for her scrying bowl.

Vel gets up to go back to her own work, and she dusts the savannah dirt from her pants as she rises. Her eyes shift over to Riff, who had started to poke around upon seeing Seria bring out the scrying bowl.

Riff’s face immediately lights up.

Riff immediately grabs Seria’s arm.

Seria is so focused on how excited Riff is that he doesn’t even consider asking Vel what kind of spell they’d be making before she agrees to let him help.

Riff hops up in excitement and some feathers appear in his hair and fall to the ground.

Riff spends the next bit chatting to Vel about all the cool things he has found and how helpful he can be.

As the group continues, they see a large wooden and steel contraption--easily the size of a small cottage. It has treads on it, with gear-like wheels, and it has a steel-tipped drill. They see a few small figures eying the group warily, and they are not directly in the group’s path.

There are heavily armed goblins wearing dark-brown padded armor, and they have wrapped clothes over their faces with goggles protecting them from the sun. They have firearms in their hands, up and at the ready.

The goblins are clearly keeping an eye on the group.

Broll is getting a bad feeling about the situation, but he ultimately opts to just defer to the group.

Tol’vas looks at Vel.

Remnii starts to keep moving, but Tol’vas looks to be rather agitated. As the group continues on, Tol’vas veers off to head towards the goblins.

Elissa looks to Uther, and Uther breaks off and rides behind Tol’vas at a non-threatening distance. The goblins look at them and point their guns at them.

Tol’vas raises an eyebrow.

Tol’vas looks at the machine.

The two goblins mutter to each other before continuing.

Tol’vas grits his teeth.

The more silent goblin turns to the side and whisper in a language Tol’vas doesn’t understand.

The goblins whisper to each other and laugh, and a few other goblins approach. Their leader seems to be among them.

He flashes a smile.

He rubs his hands together and moves closer.

Tol: I’m merely asking what you’re doing.

The leader goblin is clearly telling him to try and nicely tell Tol’vas to bugger off.

The leader looks at the others then at Tol’vas.

Tolv’as turns on his heel and leaves.

The goblin leader waves him off, and he whispers to his men. Three of the goblins now stay before the leader and two others head off.

Tol’vas knows in any large mountain chain there could be gemstones or mineral deposits that are valuable, but he isn’t an expert. They rejoin the main group who opted to just take a break while waiting for Uther and Tol’vas to return.

Ember shrugs.

Vel looks at Ember, and Remnii frowns and also gives her a look. Ember shrugs.

Vel glances back at the goblin group as they’re traveling.

Tol’vas considers.

Vel raises an eyebrow and then glances over at Broll.

Broll sighs.

Tol’vas nods, and once they get out of sight of the goblins, Tol’vas takes the form of a bird and takes off. He notes a few goblins are crawling up inside the machine, and there are lights and sounds coming from inside. There is a small camp that had been erected nearby. He didn’t see anything super notable, but there is a cave in the wall of the mountain that leads deeper in. There are also a few small metallic tools buried in the ground a small ways away from the camp.

He swoops down a bit closer to the cave, and he notes the cave does not seem to be natural. There is also evidence of graves or cenotaphs, like the goblins had lost a few people in the area. Occasionally, he hears a shout from inside the cave, but it is in their native tongue.

He flies even closer and lands on the ground. The goblin boss doesn’t seem to have noticed him. Tol’vas notes the vehicle had been damaged, and there are large divots on the side of the vehicle, as if something had dug into the metal. It’s likely seen battle.

Tol’vas wings back to the group to report on what he saw.

Tol’vas nods.

The group reaches the end of their day’s travel without being bothered further.

Wulf had been largely keeping to himself and only really speaks when spoken too. Ember has been flirting with him quite incessantly, but it doesn’t seem like he really has any interest whatsoever. Vel has been keeping an eye on them periodically, however, she opts to approach Aramar, who had been doing drills and the like in the evenings.

Aramar stops, the diamond blade in his hand.

They opt to not straight-out spar, but they get into a rhythm of drilling, steadily increasing the speed of their exchanges. However, at one point, Vel abruptly pulls a second, smaller sword from its sheath to block with her off-hand--seemingly experimenting with utilizing a secondary weapon.

Vel’s ear twitches, and she looks over to note that Makasa had approached to watch while they were drilling. She was kicked up on a nearby rock, and took a swig from her flask.

She takes another swig.

Makasa smirks and stands up.

She reaches down and selects some blades from her belt. There are quite a few weapons there, primarily daggers, but she unsheathes a silvered shortsword and one of the daggers. She flips the dagger into a reverse grip, and she starts to show both Vel and Aramar a number of basics.

She then tosses a dagger to Aramar and has both of them try drilling with two weapons.

It is definitely hard to get the rhythm. Vel had gotten so used to fighting with one weapon in order to keep her other hand open for spell casting that it was hard to really gauge what to be doing with her off-hand. However, gradually, she starts to at least get a cursory handle on the technique, at least enough that with practice, she was fairly certain she could master it if she was inclined to.

Ultimately, her style in general was much more dance-like than Aramar’s, and as they fell into a rhythm it became something like a one-sided dance given Aramar’s much more straight-forward style.

Aramar deactivates the blade as they cool down and flips it around to hand it to her hilt-end first.

Vel takes the opportunity to cast identify on the blade, and she is able to tell that it has more potential within it. It doesn’t cut like a conventional sword--the blade itself is made from a purely holy power. It also burns more keenly against fiends and undead.

He makes some air quotes.

She tosses the blade back to Aramar, and he catches it.

He activates the blade again.

Given the new revelations about the blade, Vel regards it somewhat warily as he reactivates it. Aramar laughs.

Makasa nods and her gaze lingers on Vel a moment longer than it would perhaps otherwise.

She folds her arms and looks pointedly at Aramar.

Makasa laughs and takes a swig of her flask while Aramar rolls his eyes and gestures his thumb in her direction.

Vel sheathes her own weapon and holds her hands behind her back as she strolls by Makasa to go back to her other work for the evening.

Aramar throws his hands up, exasperated. Makasa walks up next to Vel as she goes and then abruptly grabs Vel’s wrist. Vel is taken by surprise and looks at the other woman somewhat reproachfully, one of her eyebrows raised.

Makasa holds her wrist for a moment, her finger pressed firmly against it as if she was checking for a pulse. She then looks Vel dead in the eye, and there’s a tense moment of eye contact.

She then lets go.

There is another tense moment, but Makasa then turned to leave the elf be. Occasionally, Vel would catch her watching her, but the sailor did not follow up any further.

As the group settles in for the night, Tol’vas goes to find Remnii.

Remnii considers.

Tol’vas looks slightly uneasy.

Remnii nods, following along.

Tol’vas nods.

Tol’vas sighs.

Tol’vas goes to seek out Vel, who is reading as she normally is.

Vel raises an eyebrow.

He pauses for a moment.

Vel blinks.

Vel blinks again.

Vel blinks for a third time.

The arcanist starts to mentally roll through the spells she presently has available.

Tol’vas shrugs.

Vel blinks for a fourth time.

She snaps her book shut with a thump.

Vel gets to her feet, and she stands substantially shorter than Tol’vas, though he seems to be somewhat nervous about her as she strides past and starts to head in Remnii’s direction.

Tol’vas and Vel had literally never really spoken to each other, thus, them interacting had garnered Elissa’s interest, who calls out to them as she sees them start to leave.

Tol’vas and Vel freeze, look at each other, and then look back to Elissa. Vel waits expectantly for Tol’vas to say something, but it soon becomes clear he’s not going to speak.

Elissa looks at Vel and then up to Tol’vas.

Elissa shrugs.

Tol’vas looks down at Vel.

She claps her hands together and her eyes start to glow amber. Minty energy shoots into the sky, and a pale column of starlight sprinkles down.

Remnii had approached as well.

Samaara doesn’t.

Remnii turns around, closes her eyes, inhales, and points. There is a flicker of movement, and Samaara emerges, her arms crossed.

Samaara smiles, and the group heads out of camp.

Remnii uses beacon of hope to try and bolster Tol’vas’s defenses. Tol’vas closes his eyes, and then opens them. His eyes are glowing, and lupine. He falls forward, and his limbs shift and grow in size. He then rapidly expands into the form of a massive wolf.

Everyone waits, expectantly, but he seems to be in control of his faculties.

Tol’vas blinks a few times, and then sits.

He gets the sense that his control isn’t impervious, but it was solid.

His voice is a lot deeper, and has an echo almost. Remnii and Elissa both jump.

Elissa takes a step closer and puts a hand on Tol’vas’s snoot. Tol’vas doesn’t stop her.

Samaara is leaning against a tree.

Samaara nods.

Samaara pulls a silver arrow from the quiver on her hip. She spins it between her fingers.

She slides the arrow back into the quiver again.

Tol’vas nods.

Elissa casts detect evil and good as she closes her eyes and holds her breath. There’s a soft wind, and when she opens her eyes again, they are glowing faintly. She looks Tol’vas up and down.

Samaara smirks at the arcanist’s dry humor.

Remnii offers an apologetic smile before looking back to Tol’vas.

Remnii drops concentration on the spell she was holding.

Elissa backs off.

Remnii casts suggestion on Tol’vas.

The words reach Tol’vas’s mind, and he immediately flops over and lolls his tongue out of his mouth. Remnii pats the bottom of Tol’vas’s wolf chin, and breaks the spell.

Vel chuffs.

The group heads back, and the night is fairly uneventful.

June 6th

The group packs up and continues heading north. A light wind blows some tumbleweeds across the Barrens, and Riff absolutely chase one of them at one point--while getting sketched by Elissa.

Broll comes lumbering to Seria and transforms out of his bear form as he approaches. He hands her a waterskin.

Seria considers for a moment.

Broll blinks.

She lowers her hand to her height as a child.

Broll bows his antlered head. Seria was left in a good mood for the rest of the day.

The group continues, and the day moves on as they head toward Camp Taurajo. The cliffside they were following starts to terminate, and they can see a canyon in the mass of forbidding mountains. They can see totems in the distance

However, they see something else in the distance. At the very edge, they see the gold road turning toward the totems, and nestled nearby is a collection of tauren architecture. There are some wells, some tents, and an abundance of impermanent but more sturdy structures.

They start to get closer and closer, but they notice something strange. They don’t see any figures at the camp.

The group starts to approach, but Samaara’s eyes snap to the side.

All of a sudden, there is movement, and before they realize it, Vel looks to the side and sees a massive, feline creature, long leathery wings flared. It leaps on her, and similar creatures leap on Seria and Uther.

Vel is knocked off her horse, and the creature’s lion-like maw bites on her arm, but she is able to tuck and roll out of the way of the stinger.

Uther is also marred by fangs, but the stinger clangs harmlessly off his armor. Teeth sink into Seria’s raptor body, and it lashes around with its stinger sticking her in the thigh. Seria is shunted out of her raptor form, and the poison courses through her veins. However, she stays standing. She blocks its second attacks aside as they clash harmlessly against her armor.

The massive wyvern upon her seems to be wearing barding.

Remnii uses suggestion on the large creature.

The creature snarls at Seria, but then blinks and then sits up, as if considering.

As the leader seems to halt, the wyvern on Vel is distracted as it tries to bite and claw at Vel. Then they hear a high-pitched whistle from the camp nearby.

They see a tauren in deep blue leathers come out, and a few other braves come out, their weapons out. Suddenly, the wyverns’ ears go up, and they disengage and almost glide back towards the tauren.

The tauren make symbols of peace as they approach.

Makasa is now laughing.

From the tents, tauren start to come out cautiously, makeshift weapons in their hands. There is a young tauren who seems to be holding a tiny practice bow, and there is a small stuffed creature under its arm. Braves go through alleviating the group.

The two tauren that meet the group--the one with the blue leathers and a crossbow of unknown make, and one with a horsekiller spear. The three wyverns go back to the tauren with the horsekiller, and the lead wyvern greets him.

Remnii follows the wyvern, and she nods to it.

The blue-leather tauren bows.

He nods.

The blue-leather tauren starts to speak in common.

He gestures to the west, beyond the massive canyon.

He asks some tauren to get bandages and water for the beasts, addressing them all by name. Tauren seem to gather around the horses curiously, but they treat them with a great deal of respect.

There is an impressive amount of impermanence in the camp. There is a simple forge nearby, as well as a tannery, and other indicators of necessity. But all of it looks like it can be easily packed up in the span of a night, except for the large totems that mark the way. A the very edge of the camp are three wooden cages. Two are empty and open, but one has a quillboar that is loudly squealing.

Jorn leads them to the massive bonfire at the center. The children are talking amongst themselves excitedly about the travelers, and one mother shushes a young girl quietly for pointing.

Remnii politely puts a hand over her mouth as she smiles.

Introductions go around.

The two smaller ones seem to follow Omusa around like he’s their mother, but the big one it seems the tauren is speaking to as an equal.

She looks to the group.

Jorn heads off and Remnii looks to the group.

Tae’shara rolls her eyes.

Tae’shara blinks.

Remnii snaps her fingers.

Remnii shows Nyxxa’s old glaives.

Tae’shara squints at them.

Remnii turns the handle around and happily offers them to her.

Vel’s mouth flaps as she recalls the demon that those weapons had come from, but she opts to not ask.

Tae’shara snaps her fingers as she takes the glaives and points over at Aramar.

Aramar snaps to attention.

He comes over to start sketching the weapons.

Tol’vas nods and translates the darnassian script to say Fanah'Talah, which translated into common would mean “Declaration of Survival.”

Tol’vas shows the actual sentinel warglaives, with a small night elf for sale.

Meanwhile, Remnii is going through her bag, and Vel is watching her, somewhat transfixed by all the things she’s pulling out. Tol’vas sights the seed spore.

Remnii explains the sporelings briefly.

She shows off the beads of nourishment.

Tol’vas hands the spore pod back to Remnii, who tucks it into her bag.

Remnii looks at her pedicure kit as she puts it in her bag, and then her eyes go to the tauren.

She’s suddenly very giddy.

Vel looks suddenly really tired.

She gets up to explore the camp, and Tol’vas goes to find Jorn.

He gives a general description.

Tol’vas nods.

Jorn nods, and then Tol’vas goes off to play with the kids. He turns into a wolf to wrestle with some of them, and the kids immediately recognize him as a druid. They play various games with him, and it quickly turns into fetch. Riff also joined him as a red wolf with blue feathers. Elissa also joins in to play.

Broll takes some time to relax, and the tauren see his horns and treat him with a lot of respect.

Remnii goes and gets some hoof ointment, which comes in malleable bars, and she also gives tongues to those that need it. Remnii thanks the tauren profusely for the hoof ointment.

Vel goes around looking for opportunities to trade spells for potential research materials. By offering the spell she had created, she manages to get some material. She also sights a burial plain in the distance, and there seem to be piers with wooden caskets raised into the sky. One of the bodies appears to have been plucked away by sky-faring creatures. There is the scent of something like embalming.

On her way back, she sends Anice to inform her that Linore was alright, as she had promised.

This page was last edited on September 10, 2021, at 08:18 AM

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