[Horde] Chapter Five: Session Twenty
Appearing Characters: Agara Deathsong, Arthak Saurfang, Nyxxa Murkthorn, Rak'Symma, Sol'chi, Thura Saurfang, Vaerux, Zar'Kaa
November 15th
The forces started to mobilize and the warband loaded up into Sol’s vehicle that he had summoned. It was plated in fel steel, and there were gaps in areas where crystalline light glowed through. As they took off toward the Screeching Crag, the deathsong got louder and louder. The group scrabbled to try and find something to drown out the sound of the song.
Meanwhile, Nyxxa had started to negotiate with Vaerux.
There was a moment of silence.
Over the telepathic bond, Nyxxa informed the group that she convinced Vaerux to help them.
Rak’Symma was clearly fraught and exhausted, and just nodded as the vessel continued to venture closer and closer to the Screeching Crag. Sol sped up and was able to swerve through the weather and cliffsides as the rest of the party helped to navigate with shortcuts and other means to drown out the sound of the deathsong.
Sol had started to get a slight nosebleed from the effects of the deathsong, but he managed to power through it.
As the group neared their destination, Nyxxa, Zar’Kaa, and Arthak got on top of the ship and Symma started to soar next to it, readying themselves to launch at Agara Deathsong as soon as she came into view.
However, the snow started to shift, and Rak’Symma saw the corpse of a Skyhorn hunter revealed in the snow. Suddenly, the corpse’s head turned and looked at her, and its eyes alighted with green energy. Other undead similarly began to rise, and they started to charge and slam into the corner of a nearby cliff, triggering an avalanche.
Sol slammed onto the controls of the vehicle and spun it out of the way as those on the outside of the vehicle held on. And then they saw the harpies start to appear alongside the various undead, including a number of undead harpies. At the head of the harpies was a beautiful raven-haired harpy alongside two other similar harpies. They were dancing in a macabre circle with green and black magic of rot and decay swirling around them as they sang the deathsong.
Nearby was the silhouette of a great shu’halo brave, but it was obvious she was one of the malevolent undead that had been raised to serve Agara.
Zar’Kaa readied himself to leap onto an enemy as soon as some of them got closer. Meanwhile, Arthak used his giant’s might and also readied Var’gosh as the harpies started to flock around the vehicle and readied themselves to dive bomb it.
Suddenly, four undead tauren leaped onto the back of the ship from the cliffs and one of them rushed straight for Zar’kaa. Zar’Kaa whipped around and jabbed his spear into the rubs of the tauren skeleton. Arthak followed up with a swing of Var’gosh and the skeleton exploded with the thunderous force of the blow. A shu’halo zombie followed up, and Arthak brought his blade around and opened up the creature’s decaying gut.
The other zombie and skeleton instead went for Nyxxa, who effortlessly ducked under their lumbering blows.
More harpies started to sing, and the Crawliac Flockfeathers provided an accompaniment. The melody started to erode Nyxxa and Zar’Kaa’s will to fight. However, Nyxxa relinquished control to Vaerux.
When Nyxxa opened her eyes again, they were the orange-yellow hue of Vaerux’s eyes. He cast [Silence] over the top of the ship with a finger to Nyxxa’s lips. She then disappeared under the cover of snow and clambered down into the ship. Vaerux looked at the back of Sol’s head for a moment, and Nyxxa sensed a spike of malice.
But then it subsided as Vaerux growled.
Vaerux handed control back to her.
There was a disquiet, as Vaerux didn’t know how to respond to the thanks. Thura sized up Agara Deathsong with one of the vehicle’s canons.
She fired the canon and it slammed in Agara. The deathsong was replaced with a loud shriek of pain. Thura released a bellow of laugher as she loaded the canon again and fired. Unfortunately the canon jammed.
Unfortunately, everything was silenced. Symma fluttered out of the silence bubble and used [Control Winds] to cause a huge downdraft that caused many of the harpies to go slamming into the ground. One of the Crawliac harpies tried to rush straight for Rak’Symma, but she was clipped by the downdraft and was slammed into the ground as well.
Agara shouted out a command to her flying undead to avoid the downdraft while the tauren undead started to regroup back at Agara herself. Another harpy swung around the downdraft and hurled a rock at the vehicle, but it clinked off the armored side of the ship. She shrieked that the wingless steel bird was too strong.
Another of the nearby skeletal tauren leaped onto the ship as the rest of Agara’s forces started to make a defensive wall around their leader. The two Deathscreamers next to Agara conjured their magic and started to hold spells in preparation for the approach of the vehicle.
Agara started to sing her deathsong again as she flew up further into the air.
She raised her claw and violet and green energy coalesced around her talons. She hurled the energy at the vehicle and used [Horrid Wilting]. A dark feather manifested in front of each individual and then exploded in a noxious plume. The necrotic energy wafted over them and sapped at their strength.
Sol piloted the ship closer to Agara and angled it at the Deathscreamers in an attempt to slam into them. Some of the large tauren undead slammed fruitlessly against the armor of the ship. However, the Deathscreamers released their [Shatter] spells, but the sound of the magic was completely consumed by the silence bubble. The Deathscreamers squawk in panic, and the Deathscreamer that was in the path of the ship was slammed into the cliffside, completely dead along with several of the undead.
Agara put her eyes on Symma and took off after her, avoiding the downdraft of the winds. A zombie tried to slam into Arthak, but was completely ineffective.
Sol got out of his chair and ran out to the back of the ship where he was outside the silence bubble and he used [Mind Blast]. Agara winced, but was able to shake it off. She sang more shrilly and necrotic energy began to warp around the undead. Arthak picked up a skull of one of the tauren and hurled it up at Agara, which interrupted whatever she was trying to do.
One of the remaining harpies opted to chase after Sol and slashed at his back as he retreated. The ship had started to spiral towards a stone pillar, but Sol managed to grab control back before it crashed into the cliffside.
Arthak looked up at Agara and lunged forward with Var’gosh. He managed to cleave one of her wings free with one strike, and another went across her chest. The third swept around her throat as fiery chains wrapped around her and seared her flesh as they tightened, pinning her to the stone. Nyxxa’s eyes honed on Agara’s body and she drew the harpy’s soul essence into her. She felt the cacophony of her deathsong echo through her mind, and her sense of self was assaulted by it. It was alien and overwhelming, and it threatened to overwhelming her very being.
Nyxxa started to cackle wildly with Agara’s voice, however only Symma heard it.
One of the skeletons attempted to jump onto the ship, but it missed and slipped off, smashing into the ground below.
Zar’Kaa had dropped to one knee and dropped his axe, but was leaning on his spear to stay upright. He clenched his empty hand.
He reached his hand out toward the enemies on the back side of the ship and a potent blast of bright, viridian green lightning burst through the undead and the singular harpy. The Crawliac harpy was immediately incinerated, and the air around the enemies notably flickered. Zar’kaa’s eyes flickered blue after the fel green energy faded, and he stood back up.
Zar’Kaa sensed that as the energy left him, he could keep a piece of it. He drew the energy back to him, and he felt revitalized as the energy crackled around him. His wounds were healed as his vigor was restored. Zar’Kaa picked up his other weapon, rage flashing in his eyes, and he ran for the nearest undead. He drove his spear through the creature and broke apart the bones of the skeleton before he rounded on another undead and hurled his spear at it. He then carved into it with his axe.
One of the undead attempted to charge and gore Zar’Kaa, but Zar’kaa dodged down as Arthak used his runic shield and buffeted the undead away from Zar’Kaa, sending it charging off the side of the ship. Zar’Kaa looked over at Arthak with a nod, and Arthak held his eye contact for a more intent moment–clearly an indicator that they would be talking later.
One of the few remaining harpies started to try and take down Rak’Symma while another one tried to use [Shatter] on the ship. However, Sol was able to unravel the spell, leaving it completely ineffective. However, the harpy harnessed the remnant energy and used a lower tier version of the spell. The sound erupted through the ship, but the most damage it did was to the remaining skeletons.
Rak’Symma decided to leave the harpy and return to the ship. However, she grabbed the other harpy’s wrist.
The other harpy looked surprised before Rak’Symma shoved her back and then took off toward the ship.
Nyxxa raced up to the harpy on the ship and railed into her with her fists.
She smiled widely as she cut deeply into the harpy’s face and the woman fell unconscious. It seemed like the voice of Agara was interwoven with her own, but the effect had started to fade away.
Nyxxa then pranced over to load up a canon.
Thura moved to shove the lost warbrave off the side of the ship, and there was a snap as one of his hands broke off as he tried to hang on to her. Then Thura turned to the canon Nyxxa had loaded and fired, but unfortunately it went wide from her target as the remaining harpies started to make themselves scarce.
Arthak and Zar’Kaa shoved the remainder of the undead off as Symma rejoined with the vessel. Sol went to pilot the ship out.
Arthak approached Zar’Kaa in a moment of quiet.
Nyxxa was working to tie up the unconscious harpy.
She continued to repeat the statement quietly to herself as she worked. Arthak looked over at her with a sigh.
As Rak’Symma looked back at the body of Agara Deathsong pinned to the cliff face as a warning, she didn’t feel great about everything she had to do. She looked down at the harpies that had been grounded, she knew there were harpy lives lost. However, she noticed that some of the harpies that had been knocked down did manage to survive the fall.
Some of them had also started to go and check on their fallen sisters and see if they were breathing. Others were rooting through the possessions of those lost, of course, but there seemed to be a fundamental degree of kinship between them. Some of them left, but groups of them were sitting back and watching the vessel leave.
She recognized the harpy that she had spared, and she was speaking to the others, but she seemed to be befuddled, as if she was trying to figure something out.
It seemed there was a chance at a peaceful resolution, even if it would cost blood. Before Symma fully was out of earshot, she called out to them with a song of mercy and conviction.
Meanwhile, back inside the cockpit, Arthak looked at Nyxxa.
The vessel was steered toward Darkfeather Valley. Thura reconvened with another group and called a war shout back to the warband as she left.
However, as the group entered the Darkfeather Valley, they saw a nightmare scenario. There were panicked cries of eagles as harpies swept around in squads to twist the birds to their dark designs. There were corrupted, twisted totems and fetishes that were being used as focal points, and there was total chaos as the Skyhorn attempted to knock harpies from the sky. However, there were points where eagles were knocked from the sky and the rider dismounted in an attempt to fend the attackers.
They saw no sign of Ragi the Hexxer.
As the skies darkened with harpies and other corrupted creatures, the rest of the warband now saw the twisted, rotted eagles. They had bones jutting from their flesh, creating armor-like spikes, and they swept around as if spawned from nightmares itself.
