Appearing Characters: Arthak Saurfang, Drak'thul, Galforr Siegebreaker, Illysanna Ravencrest, Iskar, Koth, Nyxxa Murkthorn, Oculeth Augurelt, Rahjak, Rak'Symma, Selin Fireheart, Seria, Sol'chi, Zar'Kaa, Zuni
December 26th
As Arthak conjured up the refreshments, Selin sat down and made himself comfortable.
Arthak Saurfang says: So, if you’re still afflicted with Orican’s presence, I can only assume you’ve had a victory recently.
Selin smiled.
Selin Fireheart says: You know I can’t tell you that, Arthak. We are enemies, after all.
Arthak Saurfang says: Prying into that didn’t even cross my thoughts.
Selin Fireheart says: Yet here we are.
Arthak Saurfang says: Well then. To good news neither of us can talk about.
They both raised their cups.
Selin Fireheart says: So then why did you call me here? I assume it wasn’t just to share imaginary tea in a conjuration of your mindscape. After all, we shouldn’t be making too many social calls. Unless you’ve come here to negotiate terms of surrender, at which point I’d be overjoyed, but I can’t imagine that’s the case.
Arthak Saurfang says: And I assume your surrender and defection to our side isn’t on the table?
Selin Fireheart says: I’ll have to respectfully decline.
Arthak Saurfang says: Of course. Then yes, aside from your pleasant company, there was something from our previous discussion I wanted to address further.
Selin Fireheart says: Well, I’m here, and my curiosity would devour me alive otherwise. So?
Arthak Saurfang says: The Legion seems to be where our plans and our beliefs diverge.
Selin Fireheart says: Yes?
Arthak Saurfang says: I thought further on that. Forgive me if my memory is not always as sharp as I’d like to pretend, but have I ever spoke to you of my father, Selin?
Selin Fireheart says: I don’t believe so, no. I know of the nicknames flung at you before you made a name for yourself. But no, I don’t know anything in detail.
Arthak Saurfang says: Would you be interested in hearing the story? You may find it enlightening.
Selin Fireheart says: Certainly!
Arthak Saurfang says: As you say, my father is the reason behind the names. Before he was branded coward and traitor, he was a respected and honored warlord of the Horde. But like many, he had suspicions about the influence of the Legion and the guidance of the elder. Before I was born, my father went forth to speak with the elder and he did not return.
Selin Fireheart says: I see. I can understand your frustration if Gul’dan was responsible for killing him.
Arthak Saurfang says: He did not. He tried, evidently, which has little to do with our difference. For some quirk of fate and magic, my father was not slain and was instead sent somewhere, and I guess somewhen, else. Have you heard of the War of the Ancients?
Selin confirmed he knew the basics of the encounter.
Arthak Saurfang says: I’m surprised there were no accounts mentioned of my father.
Selin Fireheart says: So he was sent back to the selfsame war?
Arthak confirmed.
Selin Fireheart says: I assume he made a name for himself?
Arthak Saurfang says: Yes, yes he did. It was there that he died.
Selin Fireheart says: Quite the story, Arthak. Under normal circumstances, I would question it, but I don’t see why you’d try to deceive me. Seems you and your bloodline has a long history of standing up against the burning Legion.
Arthak Saurfang says: As it happens. With the irony that my father’s actions during the war, along with a few others, drew the Legion to interfere with my people. My father impressed them, after a fashion.
Selin Fireheart says: I suppose when they stumbled upon you once again, they decided to prioritize. Makes sense. If you see something that created a significant adversary, making it not a threat makes sense.
Arthak Saurfang says: especially when his presence suggests we would do that anyway. The vagaries of time.
Selin Fireheart says: So…? You wish to inform me of this historical significance of your father, but I fail to see why you would tell me this? To what end are you hoping to achieve, simply that your father fought against the Legion? I understand the Legion had lost, but look at the fracturing that took place, was it truly a victory?
Arthak Saurfang says: I would argue yes, but that is not quite the point I am meandering my way towards. The power of the Legion, you spoke of its numbers, its strength in arms and the magics, but there is another power. A foundational force behind the fel flame.
Selin Fireheart says: You speak of the Dark Titan?
Arthak Saurfang says: I do. Would you like to guess how my father impressed the Legion?
Selin Fireheart says: I assume you’re implying he faced down the Dark God himself? If that’s the case, it explains why he no longer lives. A being of that power with the strength to muster the Burning Legion would not be something a single orc could hope to face.
Arthak Saurfang says: That would make sense, wouldn’t it. And yet… my father died in that fight, yes, but the Dark Titan did not come away unscathed himself. My father took his eye.
Selin Fireheart says: I see. That is impressive, no doubt. But… he still died, yes?
Arthak Saurfang says: Yes.
Selin Fireheart says: So… impressive though that is, the Legion yet stands, and I do not know how beings like the Dark Titan work, but taking their eye… taking the eye of a god… did that stop the Legion? Did it stop other worlds from burning?
Arthak Saurfang says: It stopped this one.
Selin Fireheart says: Perhaps at the moment, yes. But tell me, are you will to sacrifice your own life to take his other eye? And will that be the end of it? Even if you were able to replicate such a feat, what does that mean in the greater scheme, Arthak?
Arthak Saurfang says: It means that a god that can lose an eye is a god that can be slain.
Selin laughed.
Selin Fireheart says: It is a surprisingly optimistic take from you, Arthak, and perhaps you’re right. Perhaps gods can bleed. But how much burns in the ebbing and the flowing of their life blood? How many cities would burn? How many more Silvermoons and Draenors would be lost in the opposition of an inevitability like that. I wish I could believe you, that with enough determination and hope one could take a stand against the Legion and live to see the end, but if my people are to survive any of this… if we are going to try and create a place to do so in opposition of the Legion is to sign our death warrant, it’s as simple as that.
Arthak Saurfang says: Who is the we in this, Selin? With respect, I see you surrounded on all sides by knives and snakes. Do you think that even if you succeed here and the Legion takes Azeroth, you win and you get what you want?
Selin Fireheart says: It means that we don’t lose. We don’t lose more and more. In case you forgot, Arthak, your people, with the Legion’s backing, burnt my home to the ground, fractured our people and sent them spiraling to the desolate wastes of Northrend where Belore knows what happened… my people… they will be made to see. It is the only chance for our survival, it has always been the only chance.
Arthak Saurfang says: Does Orican agree?
Selin Fireheart says: I don’t care what Orican thinks, you should know that by now.
Arthak Saurfang says: Selin… I respect your ambitions and integrity, but the Legion will eat you alive. Orican will burn you out, will force you out, the moment it is advantageous, and the Legion will help him do it. I don’t think you have it in you to become their creature, so they will destroy you. Orican was born to be one of them. They eat one another, you’ll see it, especially if you win. Orican. Gul’dan. They will climb atop as many bodies as they need to just be the ones furthest from the fire. The elder, before he knew of my true intentions, said as much to me.
Selin Fireheart says: I don’t care, Arthak. I already failed my king once, I will not do so again. This is the only path available to me, to any of us! If what you say is true, if they are truly seeking only to use me, to use us, then I will stop it from happening. This is the only path, this is the only path that has ever been available to us, because anything else spells nothing but death.
Arthak Saurfang says: Death already found your people, Selin. I met more than a few it did not slow down much. You underestimate your people. Ancestors… I have been holding a door open for you this entire time. You have to admit you made a mistake to walk through it.
Selin Fireheart says: You know a great deal, Arthak. You are wise. But with all due respect, you know my people at a blade’s edge. You saw what became of your own world, but do not speak to me of my own peoples’ resilience like I am ignorant of it. I know. But what other pathway is there? What other course of action could buy more than a tomorrow?
He sighed.
Selin Fireheart says: Our people’s lifespans are great. 10,000 years is an unfathomable amount of time for some, but not for us. Even if it took them that long to return, our great grandchildren would burn! Dissent is death. True death, not what is happening with the rest of my people. I can’t be wrong. Not again.
Arthak Saurfang says: Can’t be? Then what if you are? Look at it, Selin. What if you are? I’m not offering you optimism or a path that ends when the Legion comes back, I am not just fighting this war, I’m fighting the next one. I’m planning for the next one. The Legion will fall, the Titan will fall.
Selin Fireheart says: Then I hope for your sake, you can swing harder than your father did. This was fun, Arthak, the tea was lovely. I doubt we’ll have time to speak like this again.
Selin got to his feet.
Selin Fireheart says: I hope that your people can at least find some degree of self-fulfillment. Before the end comes.
Selin turned away, but it seemed Arthak’s words had cut him to his core. He was a man who had failed his people, and he had come to a point where he was convinced all eggs had to be in one basket, but Arthak just tipped them all over the floor.
Arthak Saurfang says: The door will still be open, Selin.
There was a brief hesitation, but he left.
Symma, meanwhile, had reached out to Iskar via the dream. She had constructed a copy of the Reshad’s workshop the best she could remember, and before long the familiar man appeared.
Iskar says: Ahhh, Rak’Symma, it’s a pleasure to see you again, like always. You’re looking particularly divine tody.
He chuckled, and Symma gave him an exhausted smile.
Iskar says: I see you had the opportunity to reach out to Reshad. This is his workshop, yes?
Rak'Symma says: He made for exceptional company.
Iskar agreed he did an excellent job through the years, and he asked what Symma had found of interest when she spoke to the scrollkeeper. Symma noted that it seemed Iskar had all the keys. Iskar mused on the goals, and he presumed that Rak’Symma had gleaned the difficulty of bringing Anzu to Azeroth, and the need of Terokk in the process.
Iskar says: I fear he may be broken in the process…
Rak'Symma says: He’s already broken, Iskar.
Iskar says: perhaps. The Shadow Realm is unkind, and Terokk has hundreds of years, Anzu thousands. Their minds are not those of mortals, but it will wear on anyone. Here’s my proposition. We work together to bring Anzu back, but we do it my way.
Rak'Symma says: What is your way?
Iskar says: We travel into the Shadow Realm, we use the relics of Terokk to find the Talon King, and we convince him to help us. Or failing that, we take his power, and we use it to bring Anzu back by whatever means necessary.
Rak'Symma says: Meaning you’ll take Terokk’s power.
Iskar grinned.
Iskar says: I understand it more than most. I have read every saga pertaining to his life, his own journals, I understand him better than anyone alive… who else but me? Of course, if he is of sound mind, there would be no such need. I would gladly place myself into the service of a noble and powerful king such as he, but it is as you said, he may be past that point. As the expert on his circumstance, it makes sense for me to be the one to make these calls, yes?
Rak'Symma says: And if it drives you mad?
Iskar says: I won’t, but if it did, I assume you’ll be within your rights to end my threat permanently. I won’t even blame you. But I won’t break. I’ve experienced torments far worse than what Terokk could lay upon me. I have seen things that would have broken him in a fraction of the time. Is that amenable?
Rak'Symma says: I don’t have a choice, but I don’t think my allies would agree… none of us are doing this ourselves.
Iskar says: True. Another option… you can agree to these terms, or as loathe as I am to bring it up, we make a wager. As I’m certain you might have discovered, I’m currently in the province of Stormheim. I’m traveling with a number of companions. We seek an artifact.
He held out a talon and conjured an illusion of a massive shield.
Iskar says: We seek the Aegis of Agrammar. A relic that master Gul’dan wishes to get his hands on. For a number of reasons. We have been making progress on proving ourselves worthy of the aegis, but why don’t we put more than just… a simple artifact on the line? If my companions and I secure the aegis before you, then you and your companions, assuming they are alive, will agree to my terms. We will see Anzu by my methods and there will be no question. If during the course of our contest your allies and mine find themselves in opposition in a more direct fashion, we will operate as one would expect, but I can guarantee your safety. I cannot say the same about your friends. They are… different circumstances. But even should we be successful and your friends slain, your safety I can guarantee. At which point you won’t need to worry about getting their approval. But if your allies are successful, if you are able to overcome the deficit in your own attempts to claim the aegis, then I will listen to anything that you say as far as recovering Anzu is concerned. We’ll play by your rules to the very end. No questions asked. Well. Perhaps questions. Suggestions. But I will do what you wish.
Rak'Symma says: If there’s anything I’ve learned, I would never expect you to keep your thoughts to yourself.
Iskar says: You know me so well!
Rak'Symma says: I have a similar but different proposition… you help us get the aegis, we will make accommodations for your plans to bring Anzu here, and I will do everything I can to ensure that you, your people, and him have a safe place to roost on Azeroth.
Iskar considered.
Iskar says: A very interesting proposition, Rak’Symma. But… you do not expect me to believe that you would not do that otherwise. I know you have every intention of trying to give the arakkoa a place on Azeroth, to bring Anzu here…
Symma smiled slightly.
Rak'Symma says: Would be a shame if one person ruined that for everyone. No… I don’t think I’m that cruel, but I do have a lot of other things I need to do, Iskar. Things that will distract me if I don’t make time for anything else.
Iskar chuckled.
Iskar says: Cheeky, Rak’Symma, but lets not pretend that you and your companions didn’t know about the aegis. The warchief, I’m sure, has his rats scurrying about. You probably already know who I’m traveling with, and you have every intention of hunting down the aegis on your own. I know you’re busy, but I’m sure you’ll make time… and veiled threats aside, I know that you need me. Even if you were to kill me and take the relics of Terokk from my body, without me, you’re going to have a much harder time, and you know that.
Rak'Symma says: Oh the threats were not about that. Iskar… within hours of reaching out to you, I saw an entire roost of my people collapse. I have a dreadlord trying to take my face and my power. You seem to thrive under coercion, threats, and deceit, why else would you travel with those. I need you to know I need you.
Iskar says: Then I suppose you had best accept my terms, or accept my wager.
Rak'Symma says: I’ll go with the latter. Don’t underestimate my friends, Iskar, or my threats.
Iskar says: I wouldn’t dream of it, Rak’Symma. May the best avian win. Regardless, I look forward to working with you.
December 27th
Arthak approached Drak’thul to try and get him to come to Stormheim, and with some convincing, the old warlock resigned himself to, as he was ultimately their prisoner, but he couldn’t guarantee much help.
—-
Meanwhile, Nyxxa went to speak with Illysanna and she requested that Illysanna give her strict and specific orders to kill Caria.
Illysanna Ravencrest says: Why is that?
Nyxxa Murkthorn says: I thought I was ready the last time I saw her, and for a variety of reasons I still do care about her… but I understand she needs to die. If you were to give me that order…
Illysanna Ravencrest says: You believe it would give you the strength to do it?
Nyxxa Murkthorn says: I would not hesitate.
Illysanna Ravencrest says: Pragmatic. I understand that you have reasons to second-guess yourself, and if it were someone else I would say that I believed in you, but though I believe that, I won’t waste your time. Caria is a threat to the security of the world and our own internal security. She knows names, operations, and locations. She is beyond saving and she cannot be allowed to survive. She cannot be allowed to threaten Azeroth and the Illidari. There are few I knew in this world as effective and knowledgeable of everything she has become than you, Nyxxa, so I order you to put an end to Caria Felsoul and ensure she never threatens anyone again. Was that sufficient?
Nyxxa had a completely serious look.
Nyxxa Murkthorn says: It will be done, my lady.
Illysanna Ravencrest says: You never disappoint me, Nyxxa, I doubt you’ll do so now in the eleventh hour. And Nyxxa… if we do not meet again, die well, would you?
Nyxxa nodded.
Nyxxa Murkthorn says: Thank you for putting your faith in me, not just here, but always.
Illysanna Ravencrest says: Thank you for ensuring my faith was not misplaced.
Nyxxa Murkthorn says: I won’t let you down.
Illysanna Ravencrest says: I know.
Nyxxa turned and walked out the door.
The group gathered together and information was dispersed. Sol suggested they put a geas on Iskar if they win, but Arthak rebuked that such a thing had a possibility of guaranteeing he would betray them. Sol relented, but voiced that he had reservations.
They were informed by Oculeth that he had a potential opportunity for them to get to the base in Stormheim. A telemancy beacon had just been set up in the base, but there were questions about how reliable it was given the distance and the interference of the mountains. So he had selected the group to be test subjects due to their resilience. There was a possibility the group could find themselves in no small amount of pain. At best, it could manifest as temporal sickness, and at worse there was potential core damage, but he was not an amateur.
Arthak warned him that if he somehow sent him back ten thousand years, he would live long enough to find him. Oculeth assured him he wouldn’t have to wait long (implying he was around back then). Oculeth sent his familiar, which was a spider named Archibalde, along with them so that it could gather data as well.
They shot through the telemancy system, and it was clear the range was stretching its limits. When Seria arrived, her body collapsed as it took a couple extra seconds for her mind and body to catch up. Zuni fortunately was able to catch her. Zar’Kaa also was blasted with some temporal resonance. The rest of the group arrived without much issue beyond queasiness as they appeared in Stormwatch Landing.
Just in time to see active combat as there was the keening of steel against steel. A massive ball of fire hit one of the barricades and shattered it to pieces. Orcs started to flood in, and there were unmistakable banners of clans loyal to the Dark Horde. A massive dire orc barged through and withdrew a massive sphere from his back, which Arthak recognized as an iron sphere.
Stormreaver warlocks were raining fel fire from the backs of felbats, and there were a small number of harpies that were darting through the sky. Their skin was crimson, gray, or black, and their feathers glimmered with fel magic. Several Ironmarch orcs ran forward, but they were promptly petrified, and their bodies were attacked by a massive basilisk, flanked by its trainer, an orc of the Blacktooth Grin. Galforr charged forward to intervene, but a fel orc blademaster intercepted him and they started to trade blows.
Another blademaster charged forward with massive full blades, but as it flipped back, the figure landed on six legs, seemingly a crab wielding two blades. It was a blademaster crab.
Artillery fire shot from the river, and they saw three turtles strapped in armor, concentrated felfire shooting from cannons on their backs.
Arthak recognized the Blacktooth Grin member as Koth, and one of the blademasters as Rahjak, the Burning Glaive. As Arthak moved to engage, Koth continued to tear into the stronghold. Nyxxa took to the air and tore into the nearest Dark Horde orc with her glaives.
Zar’Kaa called for Zuni to prop Seria up and he quickly applied one of his salves to get her back on her feet before he drew both his spears and used his Eagletalon spear to glide closer to the conflict and engage one of the ogres.
Arthak Saurfang says: This is first blood, my warriors! Today is first blood! Make sure they are the ones that shed it!
There were a series of shouts as Arthak rapidly closed the distance. Seria took off into the air as she took on her flying serpent form and started to soar toward the assault turtles. A two-headed ogre shouted at his fellows to stop the flying creature. Arrows started to rain on Seria, and a smattering of attacks connected, but the second wave went wide.
Meanwhile, Sol used [Wish] to summon a [Tsunami], and a bunch of water started to burble up and shot up into existence in front of the orcs outside the fortress and the various turtles.
Galforr was able to push an opening, and Arthak raced by him and loomed over the side of the cliff as he looked down at Rahjak and his immediate allies, his blade drawn. Several of the Dark Horde orcs ordered their peers to kill the warchief.
A felbat swooped down, its mouth dripping with caustic energy as it released a cone of burning acid over Nyxxa and Zar’Kaa. However, they both leaped out of the way of the damage.
The turtles and orcs that were swept up by the tsunami struggled against the water as it started to sweep them away. Artillery shots fired off, and they scattered across the fortress.
The Dark Horde Ogre Bruiser swung their massive club around and nicked Nyxxa and Zar’Kaa, but so too did the ogre’s fellow orcs. One of the orcs was left winded, but then swiftly bled out from Nyxxa’s prior attacks.
One of the orcs tried to grab Arthak off the ladder but was unsuccessful. The Iron Star orc revved up an iron star and hurled it at Arthak. Arthak clicked and gestured for the climbing orc to look, and the Dark Horde Warrior panicked and dropped off the ladder to avoid the iron star, but he landed flat on his back.
The iron star exploded in Arthak’s face, but the Iron Star orc blinked in surprise as he realized the warchief was relatively unscathed.
A warlock rained down a [Hellfire] on Zar’Kaa, and a conflagrate of fire and shadow exploded on him.
The ground around Symma crackled with electricity as she used [Windfury]. She released a screech to inform the other harpies she was there. Vines started to encircle her body as she used [Thorns] from her staff, and then she used [Jolt] on the ogre by Nyxxa and Zar’Kaa.
One of the Feltalon harpies flew in to accept Symma’s challenge and she condensed the snow into a shard of ice that crackled with fire. She hurled two of the shards at Symma, which went wide, but then she crackled with emerald lightning that struck through Symma and singed her feathers.
Another dire orc hurled an iron star at Zar’Kaa, and it slammed into him and then exploded into a shower of shrapnel. Another ogre barked at the dire orc to watch where he was throwing the iron stars as they were killing their own, but the dire orc immediately punched him in the face.
Meanwhile, some of the warlocks noticed Nyxxa.
Dark Horde Warlock says: You must be Nyxxa! Caria told us about you, funny thing about you demons is you are as easy to banish as you are to summon!
However, Zar’Kaa used [Counterspell, and ripped the spell from the air, successfully ensuring Nyxxa stayed firmly in the material.
The harpy called to Symma that they were not going to kill her as their master wished her to be taken back to him as they continued to dog fight in the air. Meanwhile a warlock caught in the tsunami attempted to dispel it. The ogre was successful as the tsunami was blasted away. He then hurled a [Fire Bolt] at Seria.
The conflict continued in force as orders were barked across the battlefield. Rahjak moved to flank Arthak, while Koth fired an arrow to guide Arthak in a better position. Meanwhile, his basilisk scurried up the side of the cliff and locked eyes with Arthak as the warchief felt his limbs start to stiffen. Felbats soared overhead, and the blademaster crab scurried up the ladder to also close on Arthak.
The harpy danced with Symma as she hurled blasts of magic at the other harpy, but Symma disappeared in a flash of mist and reappeared behind her.
A warlock closed on Sol and threw a blast of [Hellfire] at him, but he was able to dodge aside from the strike. However, the ground started to give, but Sol stepped aside.
