[Horde] Chapter Five: Session Eighty-Nine
Characters
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December 29th
A fog rolled into the ritual site as they sensed the arrival of the beast that Nithogg had summoned. The crackling lightning around Zar’Kaa erupted into ball lightning that radiated outward and exploded on Arthak, Rak’Symma, and Vethir. Vethir did a barrel roll to help Arthak evade a secondary explosion.
Zar’Kaa was able to hang on to Nithogg as the great dragon barrelled through the air. The troll drove his spear into the dragon and the chill of a [Shackling Smite] began to radiate from his spear, but the dragon roared and cracked the ice aside. Zar'Kaa tried to ground the beast, but was ultimately unsuccessful, even if he dealt extreme damage.
At that moment, Dakarr, the beast of Hellmouth, lunged from the mist at Nyxxa and raked into her.
He then disappeared back into the fog. Nyxxa pursued and got several good strikes into the feline beast before she then kicked him in the jaw and hurried back to the region Sol had called for the group to regroup over the telepathic bond. Dakarr, however, disappeared into the mist, though Seria was able to keep a bead on him.
At that moment, Nithogg roared and lightning strikes pierced through the group that had started to gather together. The lightning coursed through Arthak, causing him to waver for a moment.
At that moment, a heavy wind blew through and temporarily lessened the fog. Sol used [Wish] to summon a [Prayer of Healing].
Nithogg crackled with electricity over the group and then soared through the air and momentarily landed, digging his claws into the side of the stone. Lightning charged through his entire body and illuminated the gaps between his scales.
Vethir and Arthak took off after Nithogg and Arthak, now invigorated by Sol’s magic, released an onslaught of perfect attacks. Vethir also followed up with his own rend attacks.
Symma used [Call Lightning] to harness the storm and bring a lightning bolt down on Nithogg. Arthak gave Vethir an opening to attack.
Everything went momentarily silent, and then there was the loudest thunderclap they had ever heard as Niithogg’s ion blast was focused directly on Arthak. It pierced through him, but somehow, he stayed standing.
Arthak looked squarely at Nithogg.
However, as Dakarr stalked in the mist, Nyxxa disappeared. She was surrounded by mist.
He launched at Nyxxa, and she deflected him aside. However, as he tried to hide, she kept a bead on the beast.
Nithogg tried to take a bite off Arthak, but the orc drove his blade into the dragon’s jaws, giving Zar’Kaa an opportunity to drive his spear into the dragon.
Seria flew in and drove her fangs into Nithogg’s throat. As Nithogg fell, Vethir took his claw and swiped it across his uncle’s eye, resulting in a spray of blood as Vethir claimed the one-eyed dragon’s other eye. Zar’Kaa leaped onto Arthak’s extended hand.
Nyxxa, however, was nowhere to be seen.
Nithogg’s brood had started to arrive, but for the time being, their allies were able to hold them back.
Nyxxa ran at Dakarr and slashed at him, catching him in the side. With another series of blows, the cat was left severely injured and bleeding. She spins and kicks him in the jaw, leaving him stunned. The magic mist started to fade, revealing Nyxxa, completely uninjured.
With a [Vicious Mockery], Dakarr died, and Nyxxa was able to consume his soul. Lantresor quickly confirmed Nyxxa was alright, and Arthak lit a cigarette. The val’kyr that had surveyed the conflict looked at all of them, and then back at the body of Nithogg.
She pointed her spear at him, and his body started to glow. It was like he was being consumed by light, and his body faded away into rippling light that beamed directly upward.
Vethir bowed.
Vethir looked down at the eye of his sire’s brother. He took it and crushed it beneath his claw. His claw started to glow with lightning, and symbols burned across as his scales. He opened his eyes, which were alight with lightning.
He held his claw up, and bolts of lightning connected to the backs of the warband’s hands, and burned a mark there.
Nyxxa bowed to the val’kyr.
The val’kyr said that depended on the message, and that she would weigh his words.
Arthak thanked her, and the val’kyr turned and took off into the air with supernatural force. She disappeared into the clouds.
Vethir offered to carry the body of Dakarr back to safe spaces along with the captured dragon, and they started to evacuate the rest of the Blackfeather. Nyxxa took a long look at the bones of the ravenbears, and it was a haunted look.
Nyxxa saw faint spectral images that started to appear as the area calmed. They were almost like ravens, and she could feel the tension fading. They seemed to be investigating the bones, and she got the sense they would sort things out.
The group returned to the ravenbears, who cautiously poked their heads out to greet them. Cukkaw was amazed they were still alive and that they had heard the death throes of Nithogg. They told the Blackfeather there was a safe place they could go, and they agreed to leave and perhaps someday they would return.
However, they didn’t have the means to transport large groups with the exertion they were under. There was a chuckle, and Symma saw a blue horned owl that fluttered by, allowing a blue feather to fall. Symma used it to open a portal to Blaithe’s nest, where Brakoss and Krisek were left confused until Hooty followed and dropped a note explaining the situation.
The group continued to the swamp to meet up with Vethir. He was overjoyed about the victory, but he wished his father was there to see it. They asked about the history of Nithogg, and he explained Nithogg once flew with the Thorignir. However, Fathnyr had always held more respect amongst the brood, but Nithogg saw the demands of the gods as oppressive and that the Thorignir were just meat for the gods to throw against their conflicts. Fathnyr and Nithogg fought bitterly, and for a time, Nithogg wandered, and after the world shattered, their disagreements grew physical. The storms churned, but Fathnyr claimed Nithogg’s eye as a trophy. That eye likely came to the thanes of the vrykul, and was inlaid in the hilt of a sword.
Arthak went to his giant size, and he drew blood on his palm. He offered it to Vethir, offering a bond of brotherhood forged in blood. Vethir grinned, and he agreed to the notion, shaking Arthak’s hand as he cut open his own claw.
Vethir offered the young dragon the opportunity to fly by his own wings, and they took off into the air, while the group headed to Dakarr’s lair to spend the night. It was dry inside, but there was nothing but bones and some sparse equipment and weapons.
As Sol looked around, he found some figurines that were lovingly crafted from wood with such detail that he could see fur around the eyes. They came with a box labeled: “Be forever enthralled in the boundless love of the wataunka” in taur-ahe. It seemed the small figurines were carvings of various wild gods. They seemed to have been carved by someone named Galeguide, and it was called “Galeguide’s Box of Tales”. Inside were a badger, a raven, a wolf, a moose, a stag, a saber tooth tiger, and a brown bear.
Sol asked Symma if she could maybe talk to the person that made, and Symma agreed. She conjured the spirit of an elderly tauren with nearly blind eyes. Sol asked about the figures, and he explained a long time ago he was a Spiritwalker and he would weave tales for the young ones of the gods. He asked if Sol liked stories, and the young eredar confirmed he loved them.
Galeguide asked if he wanted to see how they worked, and Sol eagerly said he did. He picked the raven, Lo'sho, from the box, and Galeguide explained he needed to let the tale select itself. He instructed Sol to put the figurine back, and select one at random.
However, when he did, the raven was the one he selected again, and he tossed it. The figurine erupted into a seeming marionette that landed on Sol’s hand. He laughed as he encouraged the group to look at it. Nyxxa asked the spirit if there was anyone they should contact about his remains, and Galeguide said that they needn’t worry about them, as he had left them long ago and he was at peace.
The soul dispersed, and they realized that man was nearly blind, and yet he still made those with such exquisite detail. Sol thanked Symma and expressed he was so glad such magic existed.
Sol pulled two other figurines and they turned out to be the badger and the cat. Nyxxa was delighted by the large saber-toothed cat, and Symma warned Sol to watch his things while the raven was active. Sol asked what she meant, and as if to punctuate it, he turned back and saw the raven with a gold coin in its mouth.
Arthak approached Sol to chat, as he was reminded that there wasn’t much time to be had with Nyxxa. Sol sombered and admitted he knew, and he was trying to spend as much time with her as he could.
As they settled down for the evening, Nyxxa set about harvesting from the body of Dakarr. Sol and Symma joined to help. While they worked, Vaerux chatted with Nyxxa and congratulated her on the impressive work she did on Dakarr, as he was no pushover.
Nyxxa joked that Vaerux likely never was a cat person.
Suddenly, the group stopped hearing the sound of the nearby woods. It all dampened. Vaerux keyed into it and he said that there was something weird going on. Mist started to roll in, much like they had seen with Dakarr.
Nyxxa took her glaives out and shared a glance with Rak’Symma. There was something present.
They saw something glowing in the mist like a lantern. It was an eye. A large, yellow eye. It was hard to make out, but there was some sort of strange, lanky thing in the mist. It was a cyclopian, mist-cloaked creature that approached them cautiously. It looked down at the corpse of Dakarr.
Nyxxa nodded. The creature laughed.
He offered a strange, toothy grin.
He reached out with a long, gangly arm, and dropped something in Nyxxa’s hands. Nyxxa saw her own skull, decorated, meanwhile Rak’Symma saw a dismember harpy head.
The creature turned and disappeared. Nyxxa and Symma sat staring at what was in her hands.
However, as they looked closer with their special vision, they realized it was an eye. Nyxxa called for Sol, and Sol and Arthak both came out along with Zar’Kaa. In Nyxxa’s hands, Sol saw a dead Murky, Zar’Kaa saw a snake, and Arthak saw Sadras’s jewelry with blood on it.
As he grew closer, his vision also told him it was an illusion, and he informed the other two. Nyxxa explained what happened, and Sol bent down to identify the eye. It was a mistlurker eye, and Sol believed the being was some sort of aberration.
Sol asked how it could be used as a weapon, as it seemed the Roteye had called it that, but his identify was coming up short.
Nyxxa snatched it away.
