[Horde] Chapter Four: Session Twenty-Seven
Appearing Characters: Arthak Saurfang, Azgadaan, Azuka Stormbreaker, Blackhand (Echo), Gelnar Doomhammer (Echo), Go'el, Halno, Levia Blackflight, Nalga Doomhammer (Echo), Nyxxa, Orgrim Doomhammer (Echo), Rexxar, Sadras, Telar (Echo), Telkar Doomhammer (Echo)
Outland Day 37
The early evening settles over the Blackrock Foundry as Nyxxa regroups with the rest of the warband. Azgadaan, Nyxxa, Azuka, and Sadras retrieved some items from the requisitions office.
That evening, Azuka gets Arthak’s help getting a new set of lightning resist half-plate fit to her. As Arthak examines it and notes on who made it, he finds the armor was the last item the smith forged before he was killed by an errant bolt of lightning. During a feverish rant he had claimed the person who used the last thing he made would have some important part in some sort of destiny regarding the Blackrock clan. He also notes there’s something else to the armor, but how it could be discovered Arthak isn’t sure.
Azuka nods.
Azuka spends some time practicing moving around and moving quietly in the armor.
Sadras, meanwhile, finds Nyxxa with a big dumb grin on her face.
She pulls a carved figure that seems to be made from a black gemstone with rubies for eyes. It looks like a small dire wolf.
Sadras grins.
Nyxxa stares at the statue, but nods.
Sadras closes her hands around the statue and says the command word, which is the orcish word for "wolf". The statue leaps from Sadras’s hands and then grows to the size of a wolf with jet-black fur and bright red eyes. It looks at Sadras and lolls its tongue out.
Nyxxa leaps back, startled.
Sadras immediately starts to scratch the wolf’s head.
Sadras looks at Nyxxa, starry-eyed, and the wolf follows her gaze.
Nyxxa gets a confused look.
The wolf shakes his head.
The onyx wolf wags his tail eagerly, and Sadras proceeds to spend the next several hours playing with Summerpaw and her new onyx wolf. She invites Nyxxa as well, as Summerpaw had said she really wanted to play with Nyxxa again, but Nyxxa declines.
Azgadaan asks Rexxar if he could potentially suggest a safe place to leave Ini while he takes a different familiar down into the Heart. Ini seems to be rather concerned about being left behind, but stays near Rexxar’s other beasts.
Outland Day 38
The group gets an early start the next morning. They send word to Nitrogg, and a young Blackrock child showed up to meet them.
He tips the kid 10 iron coins, and the young orc’s eyes go wide.
The child nods eagerly and disappears again and the warband starts to move. They eat a quick meal of bland but hearty rations and head towards the area known as the Slagworks. They realize quickly that they are descending into the actual stone foundation of the mountain, and they already start to experience an exceptional amount of heat. They note a few guards patrolling, some of which give Arthak a nod, while another stops dead in his tracks and heads in the other direction.
Another guard also distracts the workers, letting the group pass through unhindered. Before long, they arrive in the Blast Furnace in the heart of the Slagworks. It’s a massive, roiling fire, and they can feel the waves of heat coming from it, powering most of the forges in the Foundry. Go’el and Sadras do not seem to be taking the heat particularly well, but they continue trucking on.
They make their way to one of the entrances into the Heart of the World.
He lights a cigarette to have one final smoke, but then throws the others aside as there are likely pockets of explosive gas down below.
They are able to sneak past without much effort thanks to the distractions being afforded them. They note tracks and abandoned carts as they head in--long abandoned over the last ten years. They see a few wild animals down below, but they all promptly flee at the sight of the rather large group.
They travel for about 45 minutes, but suddenly the heat starts to get even worse. Sadras is already starting to feel the worse effects of the heat.
The tunnels start to become less carved as they continue, and become more natural caverns. The deeper they go, the larger and less touched by orcish hands the places become, and there are sounds of the slow movement of lava. It’s not long before they find themselves in the first of likely many large caverns.
The first thing that greets their eyes is a massive lava flow that flows into a lake of lava. The heat is incredibly intense, and with each step it seems to get even more powerful. Heavy stalactites and stalagmites resemble fangs in a massive maw, the lava it’s gastric juices entering a huge, slumbering belly.
He looks at Go’el.
Go’el takes a step forward.
Arthak takes a step forward as well, and a figure passes through and past him. They see a figure that is sort of translucent, but recognizable. He’s tall, and broad shouldered, with a deep grayish skin and thick Blackrock iron shoulderpads framing his massive form.
It’s the unmistakable visage of Blackhand. He looks back and through Arthak. He looks younger than he does now. The fel tint of green in his skin is not present, and his armor is simpler. His left hand is not charred and blackened.
Another voice comes from behind them, and another orc appears. He has a shaved head, and Arthak recognizes him immediately as Orgrim Doomhammer. He is staring at the lake of lava.
Blackhand turns and storms through the group, grabbing Orgrim by the scruff of a pauldron.
Ogrim nods.
Blackhand releases the other orc, and they turn away and flicker out of existence as they head in the direction the group was going.
He glances at Arthak. The group moves for another 15 minutes or so, and the passage starts to narrow and tilt upward towards a precipice. They see a long piece of stone with what appear to be mechanisms made of blackrock iron. The cables that connect the mechanisms and a massive stone slab create something of a bridge. On the far edge, about 100 feet across, is a continuation of the cavern.
Arthak can tell the steel cables and pulleys don’t have the strength to bear people across it. They just stabilize the stone. Anything heavier than 50 pounds would likely cause it to start to sink.
They blink, and there are two individuals. They are unfamiliar orcs, younger than Arthak. One is a young orcish woman with a shaved side of her head, and a series of braids on the other. The other is a young male orc. They are looking at each other with big smiles. His hair is braided on the opposite side as the woman’s.
They hold each other’s hands.
They head towards the bridge, and the echoes vanish. Arthak doesn’t recognize the orcs, but he recognizes the names. He knows Nalga was the second wielder of the Doomhammer. They were the son and daughter of Gelnar Doomhammer--the crafter of the Doomhammer.
He relays the information to the others.
Rexxar nods.
Go’el nods.
He casts [Guidance] on Arthak, and Arthak nods to her, and then starts to sprint across the bridge. The stone starts to go down, and Arthak runs and runs and runs. The bridge starts to see-saw, but he runs harder, and he is able to jump up and grab the far side of the precipice as the bridge tips. The bridge evens itself out and goes back to its resting position.
He mutters to himself and then looks to the chain on the far side, grabbing hold of it.
Arthak holds onto the chain and Sadras runs across the bridge. She leaps and lands, grabbing the other chain. She nods to Arthak, and they shout for the others to go. The two orcs hold as tightly as they can, and the steel cables strain, but they hold on as tight as they can. Sadras is struggling a bit more than Arthak as the entirety of the group races across.
The bridge moves slightly, but everyone gets across.
She smiles at Arthak, and the group looks to the caverns further in and start to head deeper into the winding passages. The heat seems to be dissipating, and it's getting cold rather quickly.
Sadras takes a deep, relaxed sigh as they feel a gentle breeze from inside.
They can hear howling from deeper within, along with the electric crackling of lightning and thunder of a brewing storm.
Azuka looks at her armor with silent relief, and Arthak gives a tap to one of her pauldrons. They enter the next cavern, and they note that down below the floor opens to the expansive Twisting Nether--the ground ripped apart in the shattering. Up above is a concentrated storm cloud. Inside is a rippling, flickering, bright blue light, and periodically a lightning bolt will shoot from it, striking stones and sending them to the infinite abyss. Dust whips around the cavern, carried by a wailing wind.
There are two paths. One is a lengthy path that hugs the perimeter of the wall, while right through the center there are pieces of rock floating--as if unbound by gravity--creating a sort of direct, broken path.
Azgadaan notes that this place wasn’t the same before the shattering of Draenor into Outland, and is a weird intersection between the Nether and whatever spiritual essence is going on with the storm.
For a second, there is concern that perhaps the Doomhammer might have been lost to the Nether.
Go’el points at the storm cloud.
At that moment, they see an echo of an older orc with long, silver hair.
A bolt of lightning strikes at him, and he vanishes. Arthak doesn’t recognize the orc, but he knows it’s an orc from history.
He points at the cloud.
At that moment the sky opens into a downpour, which freezes into hail.
She looks at Arthak and Go’el.
Azgadaan notes there doesn’t seem to be a solid pattern to the rocks moving, but there are small patterns that emerge in snippets. He also recognizes there are patterns to the lightning strikes as well.
He opts to cast [Enhance Ability] on himself and Go’el.
Arthak gives her a soft smile.
Azuka joins Go’el on the long route and starts to make her way quickly, but carefully. Lightning flashing and thunder roars, and Azgadaan and Azuka are deafened by the strike. A strike of lightning also connects, hitting Azuka--though her armor seems to partially absorb it.
Arthak abandons the shorter path to instead run after Azuka, drawing Quel’delar. He carefully puts a hand on her shoulder to let her know he’s there. He also notes. That runes are glowing along the edges of the pauldrons of the armor--the word “Stormbreaker” in giant.
She doesn’t hear him, but he gives her a nod.
Azgadaan starts on the floating rock path. The rocks tilt, but he is able to keep up the momentum and land solidly on his hooves. However, the wind suddenly picks up, forcing Go’el and Azgadaan to steady themselves against the blasting gale. Arthak and Azuka, however, get the wind at their backs.
Another crack of lightning hurls at Azuka, but Arthak interposes himself with Quel’delar. He catches the lightning bolt on the blade and hurls it back into the cloud. He catches something out of the corner of his eye, and he notes a small orb of ball lightning hovering around him.
Go’el also starts to follow Arthak and Azuka, and he sees the mote of lightning around Arthak. Something seems to click, and he raises his axe into the air.
A shower of rain suddenly opens up, singing any flesh that’s exposed as Nyxxa opts to follow after Azgadaan.
A bolt of lightning strikes into Go’el’s weapon, and he deflects it aside--a mote of lightning starting to hover around him as well.
The wind continues to push at Azgadaan, and another bolt of lightning connects Go’el--this time a more direct hit. He shudders as it strikes him, and Azuka moves forward with Arthak behind her.
At that moment, five bolts of lightning crack down at all individuals in the open storm. Another bolt strikes Go’el. Nyxxa and Azgadaan now also have motes of lightning floating around them.
Go’el staggers, caught in a head wind and his muscles spasming from the strikes of lightning. A strike heads for Arthak, and he deflects the bolt aside. A second mote begins to hover around him.
Azgadaan finally manages to push through the winds, and he gets to the end of the broken path--landing safely on the other side. Azuka takes advantage of a tailwind and runs forward, Arthak following after her. Azuka scurries across the narrow section, but the ledge breaks under Arthak, causing him to slip and leaving him hanging off the edge--Azuka didn’t hear him.
Sadras and Levia race into the storm to try and help, and the rain opens up again--freezing into hail. A bolt of lightning slams into Arthak, but he deflects it aside. A third mote appears around him, and suddenly the wind and hazardous elements seem to cease around him. He can also see through the cloud up above, and he notes the bright glow. The very center seems to be the same color as the three motes around him.
Azuka continues running, riding the tailwind, as she didn’t hear Arthak behind her. She gets to the far side. Levia had spread her wings and is flying across the broken track.
Sadras, meanwhile, heads on the long path.
Sadras nods and keeps moving past him, racing towards Arthak. Lantresor leaps along the broken path after Azgadaan and Nyxxa. Azgadaan plants his hooves on the stone and raises his maul, trying to attract the lightning while grounding himself.
However, Nyxxa turns around to try and help Levia, also raising her glaives into the air.
Arthak pulls himself back up onto the ledge and opts to head back to the Go’el to give him a support buddy. Go’el notes that Arthak doesn’t seem to be affected by the storm.
A headwind starts to blow Levia 30 feet backwards and she slams into a wall.
A bolt of lightning strikes into Azgadaan, who catches it, and it transforms into a second mote of lightning that hovers around him. Go’el uses [Chain Heal] on himself, Arthak, and Sadras. Frigid raid comes pouring down in a torrential downpour, blinding everyone except Arthak.
Nyxxa pushes through the winds and gets to Levia to help her across.
Arthak gets a feeling like he could maybe throw a lightning bolt using the motes hovering around him. A powerful blast of lightning strikes Azgadaan. Nyxxa tells Levia to go, and tells her that she’ll catch up with her.
Levia nods and starts to head for the broken path again. There is another huge peal of thunder, leaving Azgadaan deafened and deafening Nyxxa as well. Another blast of lightning hurls at Azgadaan, but he deflects it with [Shield]--and a third mote appears. He looks up and also can see through the cloud overhead.
Levia manages to fall into a rhythm, opting to use her wings to help her hop instead of flying directly. Azgadaan opts to start to leap back across the bridge, his eyes up on the now transparent cloud--there’s something clearly at the center of the storm.
Arthak opts to head back to Azuka and the wall near her. He passes through it, and the motes get absorbed by the wall--and the storm seems to intensify. One third of a set of runes on the ground seem to have lit up--it’s the orcish word for “Storm.”
Arthak tries to go back through the wall, but the wall sparks violently. Arthak forces his way through, electricity coursing through him.
Unfortunately, Azgadaan is still deafened. Nyxxa gets cracked by another bolt of lightning and runs to Azgadaan.
She waves at him.
Nyxxa tries to get him to follow her, and starts heading back across the broken path. She runs through the wall, and the motes dissipate. The storm starts to rage harder as Nyxxa is blocked off from returning.
Arthak starts to shout up at the storm, waving his blade in the air, as if taunting it. Acid rain starts to pelt down on the ground, and a bolt of lightning cracks at Arthak--but it materializes into a mote as it surges through him.
Azgadaan casts [Fly] on himself and then soars into the storm cloud. He sees a stone inside the cloud, which has the orcish rune for “Storm” on it. He reaches out and touches it. The rain, wind, and thunder immediately starts to recede. He feels a flash of pain as the motes flow into the stone, and the wall that the group was passing through vanishes.
There is pain on Azgadaan’s hand, and the rune seems to have burned onto his gauntlet--glowing bright blue and sparking. It’s painful, and it seems like it has the weight of the storm.
He realizes that while he is holding the rune, his life is going to be much harder. Shocks are surging through him, making it difficult to maneuver--granting advantage to attacks against him, making him vulnerable to lightning and thunder damage, and preventing him from using reactions.
The group reconvenes down below, beyond the wall, and examine the rune on Azgadaan’s gauntlet.
Go’el closes his eyes and enters a bit of a trance. A minute passes before he opens them again.
Go’el definitely thinks it would be the right thing for him to bear it.
He holds out his hand, and Go’el takes it. There is a flash of electricity, and as they release their hands, the rune is on Go’el’s hand instead.
Levia and Go’el opt to mend some of the warband’s injuries before they continue onwards. The caverns are almost labyrinthine, and Rexxar, Nyxxa, and Sadras try to find the correct direction--but it almost seems like they find themselves in new locations even if it seems they should have circled back. Azgadaan leaves some marks on the walls, but they never see them again once they leave the area.
The temperature is starting to get warmer again.
Azgadaan asks the group to wait for a second, and then he runs back. After a bit, he finds the party again beyond a fork--coming from an opposite direction. It seems like the group cannot separate, but as long as they move together they don’t re-tread the same ground. It feels like the path is choosing them instead of them choosing a path.
They continue on, and they find themselves in a massive internal chamber that is lit by a huge lake of lava. There are massive stalactites nearly the size of a gronn. At some point it may have been a lair of a large beast. They can no longer see the Twisting Nether--they are solidly inside the mountain again.
Across the river of lava is a massive bridge that is several hundred feet long, and multiple pathways open up on each side. The bridge is about 40 feet about the water, linking several suspended pillars of stone.
The bridge is made of bone--the spine of a creature that makes Gruul look tiny. It doesn’t even look like it’s the entire spine. It is held in place by heavy chains wrapped around and anchored into rock.
There are spires of stone and volcanic rock rising from the lava all around.
Halno whistles, the spine clearly catching his interest. Azgadaan and Arthak come to similar conclusions, and Halno has a few guesses himself. The spine seems to be vaguely humanoid.
Arthak had seen a magnaron before, but this is bigger than a magnaron. The magnaron were among the largest of the breakers, and the only things that would have dwarfed them were the ones that came before--the colossals.
They start to approach the spine, and they see three figures that appear at the base of the spine. One of them grabs an invisible chain, the man Arthak saw earlier--a bit older than before.
With him are a young boy and girl. Younger versions of Telar and Nalga.
Arthak now recognizes the man. It’s Gelnar, the forger of the Doomhammer.
As he finishes planting one of the chains into the earth, he claps his hands together.
He bows to the spine.
He holds his hand out, and something invisible flies to his hand. It’s the image of the Doomhammer.
The images fade.
He smiles and puts a hand on Arthak’s shoulder.
They step up onto the spine, and the heat becomes almost oppressive. The vertebrate of the spine act almost like steps, and they cross over the chains, and onto the weight of the bones.
Two more figures materialize at the other end of the bridge, on the first islet. One is a young orc, no older than eight, with a small braid, and another, older orc with a much longer braid accompanies him. In the second orc’s hand is the Doomhammer. The younger orc sits on a rock.
The older orc throws a waterskin to the young Orgrim, who proceeds to drain it.
Orgrim shakes his head. Arthak recognizes Orgrim’s father as Telkar
Telkar vanishes, and Orgrim flickers, becoming older--about the same age as Arthak. He’s alone now.
He finishes his waterskin and continues, vanishing.
The group steps onto the islet. Go’el’s breath hitches upon seeing the fading echo.
Suddenly, as they are having a moment of silence, the motes on Sadras’s club begin to glow. Nyxxa and Arthak go into high alert, as something is coming straight for them. Magma starts to bubble, and there is metallic grinding. Bursting out of the lava are four massive, black iron spheres which are bright red hot. They look sort of like iron stars, but large bladed arms churn around them as they shoot towards the group.
The constructs are Blackrock in construction, but they are far too modern to have been made by Gelnar.
Nyxxa starts to head towards the edge of the islet, readying herself to engage. The waves of heat waft over her. Arthak rages, wielding Quel’delar.
One of the hunter-killers rolls straight into the center of the group, shooting shrapnel over the entire group. All of it is searing hot. Lantresor slices into the hunter-killer, the searing heat of the metal burning him as his blade connects. Arthak swings as well, getting blasted with the heat of the metal.
Azgadaan backs up and casts [Arcane Hand], using it to grapple the hunter-killer still in the lava with a giant, gauntleted hand.
Go’el plants his lightning rod totem in the area next to the group, and it starts to crackle wildly. The hunter-killer in the lava rebels against the arcane hand while Nyxxa digs one of her glaives into the closest hunter-killer, and then digs her second one in, trying to do as much damage as she can with each strike. It starts to swing wildly, cutting into Nyxxa and Arthak with searing blades. However, it seems to be cooling down substantially.
Azgadaan commands the hand to shove the hunter-killer away, throwing it into the lava. Meanwhile he casts [Jolt] on the closer hunter-killer. Arthak follows up with a swing of Quel’delar, driving it into the construct and twisting.
The lightning rod totem sends a jolt of lightning through Arthak’s blade, and the hunter-killer stops rolling around and drops into a twitching mass on the ground.
Azgadaan’s arcane hand is destroyed by the heat of the lava as it sinks into the molten rock, its thumb up as it sinks.
Go’el looks at the hunter-killer in the lava and casts [Jolt] as it starts to try and roll back at the group. Azgadaan follows up with a [Jolt] of his own.
The group repositions as Go’el and Azgadaan continue to snipe at the hunter-killer. The hunter-killer spins out of the molten rock and fires off shrapnel at Go’el and Lantresor, its blades whirling around. Lantresor moves in and strikes with two slashes of his blade, the super-heated metal burning oppressively.
The hunter-killer their allies are fighting goes errant for a moment and whirls around into Nyxxa before it gets dragged back into engagement with Sadras.
Arthak stabs Quel’delar into the hunter-killer twice, throwing it down as he damages the internal gears and absorbs some of the heat with [Absorb Elements] from Quel’delar.
The hunter-killer engaged with the others goes errant again, slashing at Azgadaan--who dodges out of the way. The hunter-killer engaged with Lantresor, Go’el, and Arthak fires off more shrapnel at Arthak, Nyxxa, and Azgadaan.
Nyxxa closes, the hunter-killer now cooled, and dismantles it with a devastating slash of her glaive through the mechanism that had fired the shrapnel. It stops moving, and crumbles to the ground as Nyxxa bleats and kicks it angrily with her hoof.
Halno manages to finish off the last hunter-killer engaged with their allies.
Everyone is slashed and burned, but Go’el uses [Chain Heal] to heal Arthak, Nyxxa, and Lantresor.
They take a breather, Levia moving in to patch up any other wounds.
