[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Thirteen

Appearing Characters: Anessa (Echo), Aramar Thorne, Arlaana (Echo), Arthas Menethil/Wulf, Broll Bearmantle, Elissa Cross, Janius Feathermoon (Echo), Kala (Echo), Li Li Stormstout, Makasa Flintwill, Nirenn Windrunner (Echo), Remnii, Reno Jackson, Riff, Samaara, Seria, Sirhis (Echo), Syeori Sunwalker, Tae'shara Sunwatcher, Tara Windtotem, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Uther the Lightbringer (Echo), Vazra (Echo), Velameestra Windrunner, Yona Windtotem

June 9th

It’s a drizzling morning as the group wakes up, but to the north--in spite of the dreary weather--the Bravewind Mesa is ringed by a cloudless sky, a rainbow visible, as Magatha had fulfilled her promise.

The group prepares breakfast, and Reno, Syeori, and Li Li gather their things to head off.

He shakes hands with Uther.

Reno goes through the rest of the group and thanks everyone and bids them goodbye. Syeori approaches Vel.

Syeori chuckles.

Syeori holds a hand out, which Vel takes. Syeori bids farewell to everyone else as well.

Li Li gives everyone a deep bow.

She gives another bow.

The trio takes their leave, and Syeori looks a bit hesitant, but Li Li pats her on the shoulder and says some things quietly to her, and she nods and they trot off after Reno to find Baine and the caravan heading towards Thunder Bluff.

She points up at the mesa.

Samaara’s eyes are boring into Remnii’s back, but Remnii smiles.

Makasa smirks and approaches Remnii. She withdraws her flask and holds it out to the priestess.

Remnii takes a sip from the flask. She coughs a bit.

She hands the flask back to Makasa with a smile. Makasa gives the rest a nod and takes a swig of her flask.

Tae’shara idles over to Vel, prattling away.

She continues to give some pointers of archaeology tips, and what to look out for. Vel just allows her to talk until there’s a lengthy enough pause that she can get a word in.

Tae’shara laughs.

Vel gives her a nod, and Tae’shara gives her a pat on the shoulder. Broll, Samaara, Riff, and Wulf gather what they are taking up to the Mesa.

Elissa looks like she had just rolled out of bed, scrambling out of the tent.

She casts power word fortitude on the group to give them some additional buffer. She gives some hugs, and bids them farewell.

The tauren market had started to bustle again, walkways covered with tarps and colorful banners to shield it from the rain. The group heads out of Dalsh-Beran and continues north.

She looks at Tol’vas. Tol’vas shrugs.

She offers a smile. They travel for about two hours into the area where the weather breaks. They see various creatures in the distance, and as they step out of the shadow of the cloud cover, they see the exact point where the clouds break into sun. They can see the lower hills of the Bravewind Mesa start to rise up into the massive mountains. On the larger cliff faces, there are ornate paintings that are thousands of feet in every direction--likely made by the tauren.

While they were traveling, Vel veers closer to Wulf, and as she does, she undoes something around her neck. It’s a necklace--the smaller, gold chain she always wore--which she holds out to Wulf.

Wulf squints and takes the necklace.

He has an expression of exasperation and annoyance.

Wulf sighs loudly and closes his eyes, but slips the necklace on.

Wulf chuffs.

Wulf rolls his eyes.

It was clearly a poor attempt at a joke. Vel chuffs in amusement.

A bit later, Tol’vas also approaches Wulf.

Wulf looks straight forward again.

Wulf chews over his words for a second.

Wulf makes a growling noise.

Tol’vas chuffs.

Tol’vas lets him chew on that. Wulf periodically glances back at Tol’vas, but more frequently, he is looking at Uther. However, Tol’vas’s eyes also catch Broll, who was listening to the pair. Broll gives Tol’vas a solemn nod, but doesn’t say anything else.

On occasion, Remnii was mumbling to herself, trying to sort out her greeting to Jarod. Samaara approaches her.

She looks up at the mesas.

Samaara looks at Remnii’s arms, and Remnii immediately crosses them to partially veil her (very non-muscular) arms from view.

She and Samaara laugh.

Samaara pats her on the shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze.

As they break into the sunlight, Vel and the night elves start squinting, but meanwhile Remnii takes time to enjoy the sunlight.

Wulf shifts his weight.

Tol’vas uses the wind walk spell, and the group takes their misty cloud-like forms. They take off into the sky and fly up higher and higher. A gentle breeze greets them instead of stormy winds. They can see trees poking up from the side of the mesa, and caves as well as grasses and beautiful flowers. After about an hour, they find a good spot to rest for a moment so that Tol’vas can commune with nature.

As the group shifts back, Wulf appears crouching.

Samaara, however, is starting to get used to it.

Tol’vas uses commune with nature and looks for swiftthistle, influence from other planes of existence, and bodies of water. He gets a bead on the swiftthistle within about a mile of the group on the western-facing cliffs. He gets a fairly strong sense of planar influence about three miles to the northeast. It seems to be subterranean. The body of water seems to be in the same area.

As Tol’vas is performing the ritual, the group hears movement around them. Vel makes eye contact with Seria, Remnii, and Samaara as well a Wulf. There are movements in the low brush, and there are creatures starting to encircle them.

They appear to be wolves.

It’s hard to get a bead, but it seems to be just under two dozen. Seria can tell that they seem to be sizing the group up. The larger ones start to creep forward.

Uther uses the magic of the hammer to make his voice loud and makes some loud noises to try and spook them off. Samaara disappears, and Wulf lights his axe on fire to also try to spook them off. Seria uses druidcraft to make the sound of an injured animal behind the wolves. Tol’vas turns into a dire wolf and starts growling, while Vel makes bright flashing lights with prestidigitation and Remnii also aids her.

Many of the wolves’ eyes dilate and they sit up and back away. The leader tries to hold his ground, and he growls, but the group is clearly not easy prey, and they opt to flee.

Samaara peers back from around the tree and un-nocks her arrow.

Broll looks to Tol’vas.

Tol’vas shifts back to his human form.

He points.

Samaara nods.

Tol’vas shrugs.

They turn into clouds again and head off. Tol’vas heads toward the western cliffside and they fly around. It’s hard to tell where the plants are initially, but they see yellowish green, long grasses that are likely the plant they are looking for. Some of the plants aren’t fully grown, but they can pick it out without too much difficulty.

The group lands on a precipice to discuss, and Samaara and Vel offer to climb down to collect some of the swift thistle after they are tied off to Uther and Broll. They are able to extract a moderate amount, and it takes about two hours or so.

Samaara is watching Vel as they help each other collect the herbs.

Samaara nods.

Samaara chuffs.

It’s clear that Samaara is watching Vel’s movements as she walks her through the things to look for.

About 20% of what was gathered wasn’t actually swiftthistle, but it was edible. Tol’vas and Broll opt to replant the incorrect gatherings so they could take root again.

She looks at Seria.

Seria starts to focus on Jarod as she pulls out the scrying bowl, and it starts to grow foggy, but then it clears again, indicating the scrying had failed.

Remnii goes to pray to the naaru for the location of Jarod Shadowsong. She closes her eyes and focuses, and she finds herself drifting in listless light, and then she feels herself pulled through some sort of magical guidance. She moves, drifting through the trees and cliffsides, and she is drug into a corner to the east. She is pulled into a cave, and in that cave, she sees a stream of bright blue water. Inside are two female tauren. Both of them are completely white of fur: one has their eyes closed, the other completely open and bright white.

Then she is pulled out and around a house with a low wooden roof, which is surrounded by a small number of trees. Outside, she sees large sacks that are filled with down and stuffing and rough leather. There are claw marks in some of them, and there is a large basin of water, as well as a large nightsaber--it’s the one that Jarod was traveling with. He is drinking from the water, and then he looks up as Remnii is pulled upward again, and she can see the highest mesa and rolling plains. She can hear soft breathing, and she can see a massive totem far in the distance.

And then Remnii’s eyes open.

Remnii makes a small noise and sits back on her palms to catch her breath.

Remnii smiles earnestly. As she turns to face the group, Remnii can hear the faint harmonic song of the naaru pointing her in a specific direction.

Remnii’s tail is wagging faintly.

The group changes into their mist form and they head towards the cave that Remnii had seen in her vision. It’s a simple cave, and there is a simple tauren tent outside draped inwards toward the cave.

The group starts to approach slowly, and they don’t have to go very deep until they start to see the glow of the water. They can see the two tauren, as Remnii did in her vision. The one facing the group has her eyes closed, and the one with her back to the group likely has her eyes open. They standing up to their waist in the water, and the group can hear a gentle trickle of water.

They don’t seem to notice their presence.

Remnii nods in agreement.

She taps her chin.

Wulf shrugs.

Vel conjures Arkha’din, and his eyes immediately go to the water. He gives his Mistress a pleading look, but she mentally commands him not to disturb it.

She sees through his eyes and she can see the tauren that has her eyes closed is emitting an aura of necromancy, while the other one permeates divination, and the pool has abjuration. After examining them for a moment, Vel returns to her own senses and gives Arkha’din a casual scritch beneath his chin.

Vel also instinctively checks the tattoo on her rest, but she notes that it’s not glowing, thus there does not appear to be any detectable undead nearby.

Tol’vas looks over at Wulf.

She looks down to Vel and motions her hands, cupping the arcanist’s face without actually touching her.

Samaara nods in agreement, and Vel’s ears go faintly pink at the compliment. Remnii gives her an excited thumbs up before looking back to the tauren.

Remnii instinctively looks at Vel.

Remnii looks to the tauren with her eyes open--the one not doing necromancy--and she attempts to send her.

The tauren moves and catches herself. She shakes her head and takes a deep breath.

She looks to the group, and her eyes are very milky white.

Remnii gives Vel another thumbs up, and quickly casts tongues

The tauren’s ears perk up, and she turns and stands.

With expert precision, the woman guides herself to the water’s edge.

Tha tauren is tall, and her fur and hair are completely stark white. From the glow of the blue water, her fur almost has a bluish tinge, but she looks in the group’s direction with a slight squint. Clothing and totems are draped over her body, along with shamanic fetishes.

She glances to the other spiritwalker.

Remnii nods and looks back to the rest of the party. She had been more-or-less translating everything that had been discussed thus far.

Given the description and the type of magic at work, Vel is pretty certain the spell in question is a form of astral projection, though it is likely being done in a different manner than the arcane methods that she was familiar with.

She looks to Tara, who seems to understand bits and pieces of common and recognized most of the group did not speak taur-ahe.

Remnii looks back to Vel.

Remnii studies Yona and casts sending.

Remnii looks at Tara.

Tara furrows her brow.

Uther uses his divine sense, and he senses nothing otherworldly. However, the water is blessed. Uther reports as much.

Remnii sends another sending to Yona.

Yona laughs.

Remnii looks back to the group.

Tara blinks.

Tara nods and she starts to go through the tomes and regents to get prepared. The group rests around the spring (though Vel stays away from it).

Tara winces.

Uther looks over to Wulf.

Tara takes a deep breath and places basins in the water. She starts to dance, trying to remember the steps. The first time, she stumbles, but she winces and begins again. Remnii casts guidance on her and offers gentle encouragement. Water starts to move with her motions, and for a creature as large as a tauren, her motions are surprisingly graceful. One by one, the basins begin to rise from the spring and float in the water, and small slivers and motes of light. Vel realizes very quickly what she's going to likely have to do, and mentally, she relents to do it.

They start to drink. For everyone but Vel, it’s clear and cool, and not painful. However, they hear an agonized sound of pain from Vel as she straight up drinks the holy water.

The group is blasted out of their bodies, and they are now standing behind their bodies, a silver cord connecting themselves to their bodies. Wulf is looking at Vel with a very perplexed expression, as Vel’s body is twitching, her mouth open--exposing her fangs--and there is clear burning on the inside of her mouth.

Tara goes over to Vel and is making sure she is okay, but her words are not audible. There are a lot of looks in Vel’s direction, but Remnii directs the focus of the group elsewhere.

As they look to their companions, there are animals instead. Tol’vas looks like a wolf. Seria is the form of a raptor, though her tattoos and markings are the same as her own. Vel’s space contains a stark-white spider. Remnii is a fluffy talbuk. Samaara is a saber-cat sized, marsuul-like creature.

Uther appears to be a very tall, regal, golden retriever, with perfect fur. Riff looks like his true form. Broll looks like his bear form.

They can speak perfectly normal.

Tol’vas starts to ask Vel about the clear pain she was in, but Remnii points out another very faint, silver string.

As they look down to their own bodies, they can see some traces of their own spectral bodies.

The group heads out of the cave, and they see a strange sight. The world is almost unchanged, but viewed through a grey glass. The sky overhead is a swirling vortex of energy. Riff soars upward, as the cord seems to be heading upward.

Vel looks upward, and wills herself to go upward, and lo-and-behold, she moves upwards. They are unbound to the ground, and there seems to be no real gravity in the world. There are lights moving in the distance. The thread itself, however, seems to flicker.

The group tries to follow, and all of them lose the cord at least once, but they manage to find it again up and up and up.

Remnii recognizes the place. It’s heading towards the highest mesa in the area.

They continue a bit further, and they see what appears to be three figures. Specifically, three wolves. There is a large brown wolf, one with a bluish-tinge, and a smaller one with a subtle brown hue. The younger wolf is running around and seems to be chasing a spectral rabbit of some kind. It grabs it, tumbles, and the rabbit runs off again.

They can hear the laughter of a small girl, speaking in taur-ahe.

The group starts to descend. The white wolf turns to them, and they can see two horns on her head.

Remnii nods.

Remnii inclines her head to the other adult wolf, and he has a wide set of horns and several scars across his body.

The young wolf stops and looks at them.

Tol’vas looks down, and there is a garden. There are flowers, but he blinks and he realizes they are not really there.

Seria hears a voice from behind her.

Seria slowly turns around, and she sees her mother standing amidst a garden of flowers and stone cairns.

Seria hesitates, and Kala moves closer with her arms out. The rest of the group can hear her speaking in Zandali, and they see her as an animal--a bear--but Seria sees her as herself.

Uther looks toward the source of the voice, and he sees a tree like from back in Lordaeron. Under it, in casual, nice fatigues, is Uther the Lightbringer. He offers a wide smile.

Uther the Lightbringer sits down next to the tree and pats the ground next to him.

Vel hears a voice from behind her, and she freezes. Her eyes are locked on Uther, her posture rigid and refusing to turn.

Vel slowly turns. To the rest of the group, the figure behind her appears to be a beautiful white-tailed deer, but Vel sees her mother, dressed in a simple spring dress.

Nirenn offers a smile. She is only a stone’s throw away.

Vel’s voice is shaking.

Tol’vas also hears a voice behind him.

A young lynx with dark violet fur appears, but Tol’vas sees them as Shandris’s younger brother, Janius. The same way he looked last time Tol’vas saw him.

As Remnii looks about, she sees the figures, and she looks over to Samaara. There’s a draenei there, one that Remnii had never seen before. Samaara’s shoulders are heaving, her face buried in the shoulder of the draenei woman, whose arms are wrapped around her.

Remnii does not turn, not recognizing the name. Then she feels a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Remnii bristles and turns around.

She sees Shaspira, as she looked in the image that Velen had showed her. Her brow is furrowed in puzzlement.

They see Broll surrounded by two other figures who can only be assumed to be his wife and daughter.

Uther blinks, and he sees the world around him, but it starts to look more like Lordaeron. The weight of everything he’s had to deal with, and being separated from everyone, it starts to bubble up. Then his legs move, and he starts to walk towards the Lightbringer. The burdens start to disappear with each step.

As Vel looks to her mother and she tells her she’s not really there, she starts to realize that the meadows that she had begun to see shimmer and fade. She realizes that the area had started to look like the place she first found Arkha’din. Her dress was the one Nirenn was buried in. The things she said were just things Vel could remember her saying.

The same happens as Seria realizes the world had started to look like the Hinterlands.

Janius looked the exact same that Tol’vas remembered, and Remnii, as she looks, realizes the woman wasn’t really there, but it was something she wished she could have had.

Remnii looks at Arlaana.

Remnii takes a big step back, and Arlaana gives Remnii a gentle squeeze. She blinks, and the image starts to blur, and then fade in an ethereal breeze.

Janius gives Tol’vas an apologetic look.

Janius looks down, and disappears

Seria looks to her mother, but she knows it’s not her. Kala moves forward and places a hand on her cheek.

Kala takes a step back, and she dissolves into the wind.

Vel had started to cry, and the image of Nirenn wraps her arms around her and starts to hum a song. It’s a familiar lullaby. The voice starts to fade through the voices of her loved ones. The figure’s arms disappear. And she realizes they were her own, hugging her own shoulders, and humming herself the lullaby.

Vel jerks out of the pseudo-trance and immediately looks around for Uther. She sees him, his head back against a tree, chatting and laughing with Uther the Lightbringer sitting next to him.

Uther looks around and sees Vel running towards him. The world is now almost in full color. To him, Vel looks exactly as she did the day he had become a knight. Her hair was pale blonde, her voice the same as it always was.

He is in a place outside the city, in a place where he had ridden with his father many times--a place Arthas told him he had ridden with Uther the Lightbringer as well.

Vel had started to approach Uther, and she grabs his arm.

For a moment, Vel’s words don’t make sense, but… then he realizes that he wasn’t in Lordaeron. They were on the other side of the world. He knew why Vel was so cold. He remembered why.

And Uther the Lightbringer was gone. He had died years ago.

The memories and realization starts to rush forward.

Vel’s head slowly shakes.

Uther sighs heavily, stands up and looks back to the Lightbringer, who now has a sad smile.

The Lightbringer stands up and slaps his thighs.

Uther gives Lightbringer a Silver Hand salute.

He puts a hand on his shoulder, and the last vestiges of the memory shatter away.

Broll is sitting with his wife and daughter, and Samaara is still hugging the draenei woman, and a second draenei has joined them.

She gives her a sad smile.

Remnii sits next to Samaara and looks to the other draenei.

Remnii looks out to the tauren as well.

The two women look to the rest of the visions.

Remnii steels herself.

Sirhis takes Samaara’s hand, and Vazra cups her face.

Vazra kisses her on the forehead.

Sirhis and Vazra hug her.

Samaara freezes, and the grip Samaara holds on them tightens, and slowly the pair fade.

The vestiges of the spirits disappear, and Samaara staggers and looks at her hands. She clenches them into fists, and she cries.

The figures vanish around Broll, and he sits there, looking up at the swirling sky. Yona nuzzles into the figures next to her as well, and they too fade away.

Remnii stays with Samaara for a moment, and she puts a hand on Samaara’s.

She kisses Samaara’s forehead, and then heads toward Yona. However, the group hears the sound of silent wings flapping. They see a humanoid figure flying through the air towards them.

Then they stop about 60 feet above the group. They are a tall, and somewhat gangling humanoid figure. She is obscured by cloth, and she has large azure wings spreading to either side. Her eyes fall on Yona, and she moves down.

The ethereal figure lowers.

The figure holds a hand out towards her.

Yona looks up at the entity.

Remnii holds her hand out as well, and Yona looks at it, and also at Vel.

Yona looks to Vel again, and the sorrow and anguish on the arcanist’s face. She then looks down at her tether. The spirit healer smiles faintly, and places a hand on the tauren, and a faint blue light fades through the tauren, and her thread grows brighter.

Yona takes Remnii’s hands.

The entity pulls her hood back, and her bright white eyes flash. The flash fills the airs.

Vel identifies the spell that the spirit healer is casting as modify memory. The group winces, and their eyes open. They are back in the material plane.

Vel is immediately smacked with agony as she returns to her body. She is also damp, as if she had been dropped in water. It was likely that Tara had dropped her into the spring in the hopes that it would aid in healing whatever damage had occurred.

However, they can remember everything--seemingly the entity’s spell had been resisted.

Yona breathes, and splashes in the water. Tara goes running up to her mother.

Yona’s eyes are also very cloudy as she looks to the group.

This page was last edited on April 03, 2024, at 10:21 PM

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"Your father represented everything your people should never become. He was a fool. One that railed against the power that was offered to him. One that fought a war that did not need to be waged. And that lead to the end of his life. It’s an honor, Arthak, because I can see within you the spark of a man who knows what a mistake looks like, knows how to avoid those mistakes. You already said you were a good listener. A great learner. I have faith you won’t make the mistakes your father did."

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