[Alliance] Chapter Five: Session Forty-Two
Appearing Characters: Deathwhisper, Elissa Cross, Festergut, Feugen, Gilveradin Windrunner, Grobbulus, Hedanis Poisonbloom, Kael'thas Sunstrider, Lance Beckett, Marrowgar, Putricide, Remnii, Rommath Pyrewing, Rotface, Seria, Stalagg, Thaddius, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Victor Prestor, Zagarra
October 18th (Very Early Morning)
Gil drew his bow and readied a shot for the phase shift, and at that moment one of the pipes on the ceiling burst a seam and started to fall. Seria reared up and directed the pipe onto the slowed Festergut and Putricide.
The states of the combatants shifted again.
An oozy, partially gaseous material spilled from the pipe and took the form of some sort of strange entity made of plague. Gil, who had become liquid, fired his shots at Putricide, who was now in a gaseous state, and the arrows pierced through his gaseous state. The flames leaped off from the shots and swept over Festergut.
Professor Putricide guzzled a potion and a third arm burst out of his side. He ripped one of the arrows from his side. Vel’s swarm of bats bit and clawed at him.
Professor Putricide hurled his acid vials at Remnii, and the unbound plague attempted to release a swarm of poisonous plague, but the group was completely immune. Professor Putricide injected himself with an emergency healing potion, and his body grew almost hazy.
Vel ran forward and used [True Strike] to slash into Grobbulus and open up a bleeding wound with another pirouetting slash before she danced back out of reach. The slash had ripped off one of his tubes as the bats swarmed around him. The creature’s flesh became a pallid gray as the ooze rushed from his body. He ran at Vel, but was unable to stab her with his syringe.
Putricide injected himself with another syringe and his state changed to liquid just in time for Seria to charge straight at him. Festergut was unable to fight against the spectral chains to protect Putricide as Seria tore into the mad professor.
The unbound plague had released a [Cloudkill], which appeared to be healing Festergut and Rotface. Uther skirted around Festergut and heaved himself under Festergut’s arm to catch Professor Putricide in the chest with Light’s Vengeance. The mad scientist exploded into light.
The states of matter started to return to the normal states. Uther carried his swing through to the proned Festergut. With another explosion of Light, the weapon slammed into the abomination.
Remnii skirted around the conflict and used [Sacred Flame] on Grobbulus. However, he was somehow just barely able to avoid the flames of Light. She used [Mass Flash of Light] on her companions.
The bats started to swarm on Festergut and Rotface as Festergut slammed into Uther.
Uther was sent flying backwards as Festergut shook off the effects of the slow spell. The bats got a good bite in on Rotface, who also got to his feet and sprayed acidic slime over at Uther.
Grobbulus continued to try and hit Vel, but she continued to dance out of his way. Gil, however, fired a shot over her shoulder and the undead monstrosity crumbled. He adjusted his aim to Rotface, and dropped him as well. There was a hiss as the gasses in Rotface combusted and exploded.
Victor disengaged from the dwindling mobs to use a [Green-Flame Blade] on Festergut. He leaped into the air in a burst of molten ash and then dove straight onto the monstrosity, shredding into bits. Seeing the opening, Vel’s bats tore into the creature and left him nothing more than a pile of flesh on the ground. The unbound plague was also dispersed.
The group spanned out to look for Lance. They found all sorts of vials and notes that were scattered all around the room, and Vel spotted a map of the greater Eastweald region. From what she was able to quickly assess, it appeared Naxxramas had originated in the mountains south of the Thalassian range near the eastern coast below Zul’Aman. There were other intricate diagrams that seemed to cover the entirety of the Eastweald and beyond, but they didn’t have time to look at it further.
Gil headed up a ramp onto another Causeway and he saw a number of different testing slabs. One of them was occupied by Lance Beckett. He was moving and straining against his restraints as he made not very welcoming sounds. Gil quickly called for Vel.
Vel quickly looked around and was able to assess that Putricide was experimenting on him and there were various injection points on his body. Vel called for Remnii and Seria to see if they could try to dispel the new plague injections. Gil called that he found some tonics on Putricide, and they were able to find some bolstering tonics to help Lance fight against the plague. Vel took control of Lance’s focus to get the tonics into his system as Remnii used [Remove Curse] and tried to push through the stronger strain of the plague and give Lance’s mind a chance to take hold again. Lance compelled and his muscles bulged and broke the restraints. He started to vomit a plague slime from his mouth and other orifices.
Lance looked up at Vel with unfocused eyes.
Vel explained that they had gotten access to Naxxramas via the warehouse, and they had scryed on him beforehand. Lance said that he believed the boss man was behind the plague, and he laughed nervously. Vel thanked him for the information and Lance nodded and wiped the remainder of the plague slime from his mouth. They got him something small to eat to tide over his ravenous hunger from the last few days.
He laughed nervously again.
Lance continued to laugh nervously.
Vel reached over the telepathic bond and informed them they had rescued Lance and they were going to send him back to rendezvous for safety. Elissa said that her group could likely meet up with him, as they had just found the two prisoners from the auction.
He approached Lance and magicked the extra ooze off Lance.
Hedanis went off with Lance to ensure that no one would attack him on sight. He scoffed upon noticing the Causeway was completely sunken. He looked back at Remnii, who was clearly not prepared for the mess ahead.
He then took Lance and teleported back to the center. Vel also found a number of potions that could be useful, and she swiftly identified them as a potion of speed, a love potion, and a potion of hill giant strength. Remnii took the love potion and slipped it into her bag. Vel raised an eyebrow at her, and Remnii just offered her a smile.
Uther drank the potion of hill giant strength, and it tasted disgusting as his muscles immediately flexed, but he could definitely feel the strength run through him. It hurt, but there were results.
There was no exit from the room, and it appeared the other passageways had been fully sealed. They found a maintenance shaft, and Vel shifted into her rat form to start and scout it out. Some of the slime pipes had been used recently, and there almost seemed to be a pattern that the pipes would open and close. Vel relayed their options were to navigate the pipes or to attempt teleporting blind beyond the door. Remnii scrunched her nose and said she was willing to do what was needed.
They decided to try to go through the pipes. Remnii had clearly hoped that it was going to go the other way.
Vel did her best to predict the pattern of the pipes opening and closing and Remnii steeled herself as much as she could. She put her hair up in a big bun and removed all her jewelry and put it in her bag. Gil opted to help his sister, and he observed the return pipes seemed to be safer and had a coating of ooze that was older.
Uther was able to block some of the smaller passages with a slab of metal to give his fellows an opening to pass through some of the openings. The blockage caused a backfeed that burst one of the pipes and caused some of the ooze to seep into the rooms below.
Seria opted to roar down the pipes in an attempt to get some of the ooze directed down other channels by spooking the operators. It seemed to work in some capacity, and Elissa called out to them over the telepathic bond asking if they had heard the sounds in the pipes. Vel assured her it was just Seria.
They got to another chamber and heard some people talking about the burst pipes in one of the rooms and the roar that had been heard. There were glowing illusions of different levels at the center.
They started to crank a large wheel, and it appeared the room was some sort of command chamber for releasing the plague. There were a number of cultists and mindless undead. They opted to try and sneak by, and they were able to manage it without much difficulty as they managed to succeed in about 5 minutes. Remnii had to cover her mouth as she whimpered about landing in a thick amount of slime. Uther knocked over a candelabra and created a chain reaction of noise, but Gil was able to cover swiftly enough that the cultists looked in the wrong area.
They entered a large ring that went off in two directions with a massive river of plague slime below the stone corridor. They could see flesh giants, abominations, soldiers, and other cultists patrolling around the ring seemingly on high alert. There was a large door in front of them that said “Generator”.
One by one, they slipped across the hall toward the door labeled as Generator. Inside they saw thick steel beams running throughout the area, and there were gigantic coils that were coursing with electricity. Before them were two ghasts like the one Uther had seen before, and they were connected by electricity to beams of electrified steel. On the opposite side of the plague slime was a massive power generator with a massive creature. It had chains bolted into it, and it was easily 30 feet tall, its flesh stitched together from samples of dozens of creatures. It had metal plates grafted to its body.
It immediately looked at the group, its eyes in a dull state of pain.
Echoing screams served as an undercurrent to his voice: “Help me. Save me! Please!”
There was a jolt of energy, and the creature roared in paint.
Vel assessed the situation, and quickly determined that none of the creatures here appeared to be undead. The group ran in and immediately the eyes of two ghasts on either side of the chamber flared with wrath. Their electric tethers sparked faster, and lightning coursed around Thaddius’s hands.
Gil fired and a bolt of lightning knocked it out of the air. Another arrow was fired and also deflected. Gil cursed and disappeared in a flash of embers. Thaddius roared and used [Chain Lightning]. It ripped through Uther, Vel, Seria, and Gil. Zagarra ran in behind them and jumped from platform to platform as she headed toward Stalagg. She unleashed a flurry of attacks, but it seemed he was immune to her unarmed strikes as they were not magical. She attempted to stun him, but he was able to resist, and she kicked back off with a blast of thunder, but the reverb left him stunned. She then retreated from the conflict.
The electromagnetic force in the room shifted.
Most of the group was positively charged with a dim blue glow, while Remnii was negatively charged with a red, violet energy. Thaddius then held out his hands and hurled two orbs of ball lightning at Vel and Gil. The one directed at Gil went wide, while Vel erected a [Shield] at the last second to disperse it.
The charge around Vel started to crackle and Thaddius tried to use the charge to pull her toward him. At the last second, her swarm of bats grabbed onto her dress and broke the tether. The polarities activated, and Seria was thrown back away from Vel.
Vel activated her bladesong and ran forward towards Feugen. She tried to [Vortex Warp] Feugen off the tether and into the ooze. However, as the spell connected, she realized that if something wasn’t connected to the tether, it could potentially cause a chain reaction and make the entire chamber unstable. She interrupted her own spell and instead used [Shadow Bolt] on the ghast.
Thaddius hurled another globe of ball lightning at Seria, and the polarity pulses continued to push and pull the group around. Remnii was slammed into the wall as she was pushed away from Seria. She pushed against the polarity and used [Smite] on Stalagg. Uther activated his armor and took off towards Stalagg. He slammed into the ghast and swung his hammer into the creature twice.
Remnii got pushed toward Uther as the polarities around her and Seria shoved her toward Stalagg. Seria roared and headed toward Feugen. She jumped and disappeared with a [Blink] before reappearing next to Feugen and slashing into him with her claws.
Gil lined up his shot and fired at Thaddius again. This time his shots connected and the flames licked across his stitched flesh. Sheer terror appeared in his eyes.
He tried to pat the flames out as Seria continued to rake into Feugen. She slammed into him with a final strike, and the ghast fell to the ground, dead, with the lightning still tethered to his body. Seria turned her attention toward Thaddius and started to run toward him. She raked her claws through his leg. He stumbled to one knee for a brief moment. He swung around with his leg, however, and managed to kick her in the jaw. He then grabbed her and slammed her into the ground. Lightning coursed through her body, knocking her prone and leaving her stunned.
He continued to stomp and slam Seria, and then he grappled her and slammed her into the ground over and over again. Tamsin appeared and hurled a [Shadow Bolt] at Stalagg, following Vel’s earlier strategy, and his regeneration from the lightning also shut down. Vel watched as the generator system tried to jump Feugen back to life, but the shadow of Vel’s own shadow bolt kept him from reviving. She realized as long as Stalagg remained alive, it was going to keep trying to jump Feugen back to consciousness.
Vel used [Vortex Warp] to get Seria out of Thaddius’s grasp and back to some amount of safety so she could recover. Thaddius shot her with a ball lightning, and the polarity threw out a sudden pulse that threatened to push Vel into the ooze, but she kept her balance.
Stalagg swung at Uther and got him on the back foot, but Uther hefted his weight and used [Seal of Vengeance] before he slammed his hammer into Stalagg and left him in a crumpled heap. He then started to run toward Thaddius. He jumped over a gap and started to square up with Thaddius.
Remnii used [Mind Whip] on Thaddius as she started to approach. It appeared the strange cocktail of his mind and the whispers that echoed his voice gave him some amount of resilience. He moved forward and stomped on Uther. He fully forced Uther down onto his knees.
Vel looked over at Seria.
She used [Life Transference] and transferred some of her life essence to Seria before she ran for Thaddius’s platform and jumped off the edge. She effortlessly landed, but the edge of the platform under Seria started to crumble and sent her tumbling into the acidic ooze. Zagarra flew back in and slid down to land on Seria’s back. She forced open Seria’s mouth and ripped off the top of a small pouch. She threw a powder down Seria’s throat and then covered Seria’s nostrils with another leaf. It is an incredibly powerful scent, and it removed the stunned condition from her.
She patted Seria on the nose and then flipped back to safety. Gil fired at Thaddius and once more set him alight. Thaddius tried to pull Gil right toward him, but Gil was able to resist the magnetic pull.
Uther shoved Thaddius’s foot off him and slammed his hammer into the construct’s knee. Thaddius kicked at him and started to lumber toward Vel. Uther clipped him with his hammer. Remnii hurried over to the edge of the platform.
Uther nodded and Remnii turned her focus on Thaddius instead. She used [Smite], but Thaddius was able to lumber out of the effect of the magic. She used [Sanctuary].
Thaddius held a hand out to Vel and Uther and a bolt of lightning shot out at both of them and then back to him as he used [Chain Lightning]. It zapped both of them and then launched back to him, which started to mend some of his wounds.
Seria teleported up to Thaddius and slammed into him with her claws. She used her life-draining grasp as she tore into him. His vitality helped to heal her. Thaddius returned the favor with a punch to her jaw, and she was once again grappled by him.
The static electricity in the air started to crackle wildly as Seria continued to carve into Thaddius. The polarities flared and Seria was slammed into the generator behind her as she healed herself with a second wind.
Thaddius once again started to charge a [Chain Lightning]. Seria latched onto his arm to try and disrupt the charge, and Remnii offered [Guidance] as a mote of light telegraphed the perfect spot. She managed to use her shapeshifting ability to grow a horn that deflected the lightning off to the side, where it dispersed. Gil took the chance to fire two arrows into the massive construct, and once against Thaddius screamed in fear, but he stomped on Seria, and she was once again stunned as she was pinned up against the side of the generator. He rounded on Vel and tried to slam into her instead, assessing Seria was not presently a threat.
Vel was narrowly able to dodge out of the first strike, and then she flipped up over his hand. It gave her the perfect opening as her sword was wreathed with a magenta glow and she used a devastating [Heart Strike] that tore open a massive, bleeding wound. Thaddius roared and started to channel more lightning, but Vel wrenched her sword out and used it as a ground as she used [Counterspell] to deflect it into the ooze.
Uther ran up behind Thaddius and used [Seal of Vengeance] as he slammed his hammer into Thaddius. Thaddius stumbled and then roared as he just barely managed to remain standing, but he was both pouring blood and burning.
Remnii hopped off the edge of the platform and floated downward to Thaddius’s platform. She used a [Mass Cure Wounds] over herself, Uther, and Seria.
Vel saw an opening and ran up Thaddius’s arm as the large construct continued to wail. She drove her sword up through his throat, finding a critical point.
Thaddius’s eyes started to dim.
He fell limply to the ground, and there was a sudden lurch in the necropolis.
However, the necropolis lurched again, and it corrected itself.
He sighed over the bond.
Vel looked around and it seemed the strange generator was also connected to the teleportation circle at the center. It appeared someone with high enough clearance could use it to teleport it throughout the necropolis. With some work, they could likely use it to ride to the center of the structure.
Vel quickly assessed the device, and she was able to spoof clearance. She informed the group they had a way in as Remnii used [Prayer of Healing]. Vel also took the opportunity to ritual cast [Water Walk] on the group in case there were any more ooze chambers.
They nodded to each other and Vel hacked into the teleportation circle, which carted them to a massive, frozen chamber. There were shards of ice jutting in every direction, and they could see their breath suspended in the air. An ancient, tall archway that resembled a skull lead further in, and they saw dozens of robed cultists on the balconies overhead. They were chanting and humming an incantation in quietish. Across the bone and rime was Lady Deathwhisper.
Deathwhisper glared at Uther.
Several of the cultists leaped from the balcony and slammed into the ground, dying on impact. They impaled themselves on icicles and bone and spikes. The others continued to chant, and a dark magic swirled around the chamber. The bodies swirled together, their bones smashed and torn into a cyclone of icy rime and death. A great figure emerged in the area, and in a hundred voices, the massive wraith made of bone, sinew, and rime emerged, multiple skulls adorning its shoulders and neck. Remnii had ducked behind Uther to hide her eyes from the gore.
The creature howled, and boney sinew erupted into a whirlwind of marrow and rime.
