[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Eight
Appearing Characters: Broll Bearmantle, Elissa Cross, Ember Flintlocke, Li Li Stormstout, Makasa Flintwill, Remnii, Samaara, Seria, Syeori Sunwalker, Tae'shara Sunwatcher, Tauna Skychaser, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Wulf
June 1st
The group approaches the tauren woman, and it appears she is wearing a mask but it’s hard to tell what it is from the distance. She seems to be doing some sort of ritual over the fire, but upon seeing the party, she raises a hand in a cautious greeting.
The camp itself seems to be pretty well-established. There is a small well nearby, as well as a mat that the woman was sitting on. The fire pit looks old, and there is a moderately-sized tent as well as a totem nearby.
Remnii casts tongues and looks over to Tol’vas before returning the greeting.
The tauren’s ear flicks in acknowledgement. The mask seems to be of a large hyena--or a similar creature. She pulls the mask up and smiles at the group.
Tol'vas strolls in, as does the rest of the group. The woman places a hand on her chest as they approach. She is easily over 9 feet tall, and she offers a small smile.
She looks to the two kaldorei druids.
She gestures further out, towards massive thorn-like formations in the distance.
The woman pulls her mask down and continues her rituals at the fire. Vel looks on curiously, and it appears that she is doing a ritual that is a cousin of a forbidden ritual, but not quite as poignant. It’s similar to rituals that Seria or Rai had done in the past.
It seems that the area around the camp is also cooler, and the wind is less harsh. It also seems the woman is completely alone.
Tol'vas shrugs.
The group starts to set up a camp nearby, and the tauren woman puts her hands on her hips.
She looks back to the tent.
She gets a preserved and skinned rabbit and begins to cook it over the fire.
Tauna nods.
Tauna thinks for a moment.
Remnii offers a soft smile.
She looks up to the sky for a moment.
She turns her attention back to her rabbit.
She settles down to return to tending to her supper, and Remnii politely takes her leave.
Eventually, as the sun begins to set, the tauren women bids good night.
The woman yawns, stretches, and heads into her tent. The group also settles down and opts to take off in the middle of the night, around 3am.
June 2nd
The twin moons are high in the sky as the party sets off. Elissa wakes up easier in the midst of the night, as do the night elves.
Tauna awakens as the group stirs, and she checks on the group, and they bid her farewell before heading off.
As they begin, they feel a light wind that picks up the light dust and residue. It’s very sparse, and it comes in short bursts, and Remnii feels a kiss of moisture on her cheek.
Remnii looks skyward, and she feels another drop on her forehead. There are almost no clouds in sight, yet a very slow rainfall begins.
Elissa gets hit with a drop as well. And slowly, the tiniest slivers of water start to rain on the group. It doesn’t last for more than five minutes before stopping completely, and the thirsty ground had already sucked all the water up.
The ancient cobblestones of the Gold Road almost shines like a burnished gold piece in the moonlight. Some of the underbrush has started to break through the stone, yet it is still there and seems to have once been a beautiful road. It’s an incredibly wide road, wider than any in the Eastern Kingdoms. It fills Tol'vas with a sense of nostalgia.
Those up front see something in the midst of the road. It appears to be a bunch of rocks in the highway, like a rockslide, but there are no hills nearby.
Tol'vas sighs.
Samaara holds up a hand, however.
Tol'vas starts to creep forward to scout ahead, and Samaara follows not too far behind. It appears the “rocks” have thick hide, and there are dozens of rough hide creatures. Yet, as they approach, one moves ever-so-slightly. There is the glint of an eye, and a long, lizard-like head with three horns on its snout shifts.
Tol'vas recognizes them as kodo beasts. It seems that they did not detect Tol'vas or his companions yet. While they are generally docile and herbivores, they can be deadly.
Tol'vas reports back to the group and informs them that as long as they aren’t bothered, it should be alright.
They group gives them a wide berth, and they are able to avoid getting lost in the detour. They travel for the rest of the night as the sun slowly starts to rise.
The group slows down and makes camp, and Tae'shara and Vel start to prepare the tiny huts to keep the heat of the sun off them.
However, Seria, Samaara, and Tol’vas sense something strange in the wind, and movement. It seemed that something had started following them during the night, but they don’t see whatever it was. Tol'vas opts to keep an eye out.
During Tol'vas and Seria's watch (over in Tae’shara’s dome) they observe squat-looking humanoid creatures with long snouts that come out from various hiding spots. Two of them start to inch forward toward the domes, their spears out.
They are strange pig-men with long tusks. They snort quietly to each other and they prod at the dome with their spears. One of them grabs a rock and throws it at the dome, but it plinks off.
Then they start to squeal loudly at each other, and Vel is also alerted to the disturbance. Others start to come out and approach the domes as well. One starts to touch the dome, and it reaches out, Vel causes a bright spark of magic. The quill boar squeals a high-pitched squeal that wakes all the others and it scrambles backwards. Quills fire off, and clink harmlessly off the dome.
Another quillboar, one more ornately dressed than the others, also starts to approach. Remnii casts suggestion on the one that appears to be the leader, trying to urge them that they shouldn’t be there. The quillboar blinks and shakes his head, seemingly resisting the magic.
The leader then kneels down and starts to pull things out of a satchel. It seems that he’s starting to cast dispel magic, however Seria then casts druidcraft to make the sound of a ferocious roar like from a basilisk.
All the quillboars except the leader looks panicked, and one starts to run. They start to break ranks, and the leader shouts after them, but they don’t stop. The leader glances back to the domes, uncertain, and casts stoneskin on himself before he runs off to follow after the others.
Elissa looks at Vel.
Uther had startled awake with the roaring hiss.
Uther rolls over and goes back to sleep.
Wulf looks on groggily.
Wulf shrugs.
Makasa rolls her eyes.
Wulf scowls at her.
He rolls over. Tol'vas, who seemed to have perhaps agreed with Wulf, opted to not voice his opinion.
The group gets up to move on shortly after, and they hear winds howling between the channel made by the two domes as they collapse. Clouds of dust come about and make it hard to see at a distance. They start to travel into the night.
June 3rd
A dust storm seemed to have whipped up in the night, narrowing visibility, but the group is largely unaccosted.
While they are resting, Broll actually approaches.
He furrows his ground.
Remnii purses her lips and nods, indicating he should continue.
Remnii explains the history of the draenei, and that her people were split from the demonic eredar that Broll likely had seen. She also explains that her people had crashed here.
Broll nods.
Broll walks away from the group to meditate until they continue on, and Remnii had sensed his heart drop as she mentioned the fall of the Violet Star. There was much more on his mind.
During the first watch in the middle of the day, Remnii and Samaara hear something. It’s a deep, distant, rumbling sound. It almost shakes the ground, like an explosion. It stirs many of the group awake.
There is a cloud of smoke in the air about a half mile away from the road. It seems to come from some stones and pillars. Samaara narrows her eyes.
Some of the group squint and they can see small holes throughout the mounds. There are more explosions, and another column of smoke rises.
Some faint figures seem to be flying about in the distance.
Seria nods.
Seria nods and pulls out the things she needs for the scrying. Remnii thanks her.
As Seria starts to cast the spell, and she hears incessant buzzing and panting of someone running. Her sight is narrow, and she sees someone hit the ground and roll. They seem to be a dwarf. There is a flash of bright red hair that seems to be aflame. She has a long cloak and has a staff. She holds a hand out and flame wreathes her hand and there is another blast of fire. More corpses of insects hit the ground.
For a second she stops, looks directly into the scrying sensor.
She then races off to deal with more insects. There are more sounds of fighting, and the scrying sensor gets swarmed by insects, and then it winks out early.
The group exchanges looks.
Vel goes to help him, and the group then starts running across the way towards the hive. The scope of the hive starts to get closer, and then a pit opens up in front of them. They hear buzzing and humming. All through the hive, there are holes and caves, and they see a single figure in the center with a jet of flame emitting from her hand and burning up swathes of insects. She seems to be a Dark Iron woman.
She glances at the group and she grins.
Many of the insects turn their attention toward the group, and people-sized wasps shoot out of the hives. Vel casts frost armor in preparation, an icy aura erupting around her. Tol’vas also uses summon beast, and a spiritual, twin-tailed wolf appears.
The swarm bursts into life, trying to swarm over the dwarf. Tiny bugs start to swarm over the group’s limbs, buzzing and biting. However, they seem to be avoiding Uther. The earth under Remnii begins to give, and she catches herself, but then the slope under part of the group gives way. They slide further into the hive, and Broll loses his balance and falls, the giant bear form tumbling down.
Tol'vas drops a bear totem, and it roars as the spectral ursa appears.. He then uses gravity sinkhole, and several bugs get split across and crushed. The bestial spirit then runs forward, its sharp claws burrowing into the earth, and then pounces on the nearest insect. Fiery ooze bursts from the creature as the spirit shakes it dead.
Ember glances to the group with a bloodied smirk. She then points her hand in a direction and careens a fireball at a group of insects. A bunch of insects go flying off in every direction, four burnt to a crisp.
However, a hive swarmer swarms onto Broll, biting and slashing with its claws. It climbs on top of Broll to keep biting. A tunneler shoots a stream of molten bile at Broll, but it misses.
Makasa jumps down onto a insect, whipping around with her spear for two attacks. Meanwhile. Broll continues to get swarmed by more insects.
Ember is grappled by one of the large insects while a reaver leaps up to engage. It sprays an acidic cone of acid on Broll, Remnii, and Uther.
Remnii casts spiritual weapon and it slams into one of the tunnelers, crushing it into nothing. Remnii winces. She then uses a smite spell on the silithid on top of Broll, and it is blasted off.
Seria then swoops down and grabs Ember in her jaws to pull her out. She curses in surprise.
She then soars up and ever to get back to the healers. One of the tunnelers starts to scurry up, but Makasa splats it.
Broll continues to get swarmed.
Uther uses his channel divinity and slams into the silithid that had just thrown acid in his face with a green-flame blade.
Broll stands up and chomps at the insect that Uhter was engaged with, crushing it into nothing. He then reaches back with a claw but is unable to strike it.
Vel runs down the side of the of the hive as she activates her bladesong, and then a ring of arcane energy appears around several of the insects, jagged ice erupting upwards and skewering two of the creatures. However, her cold snap activates, a wave of icy energy wafting around her.
Vel runs to close with the biggest target, rime of ice coating her sword as she slashes into the creature and the second slash triggers a burst of ice. However, more creatures start to surge from various holes and charging into the fray as their winged brethren take to the sky.
Underneath the stone-like mud, the weight of the bed had started to disturb the earth, and tiny, wriggling beetles emerge from the earth, revealing nests. Remnii shrieks.
A whole swarm of smaller, black scarabs come flying out and they swarm at Tol'vas's bestial wolf. They completely encompass it, and the magic severs.
She destroys a nearby bug.
A tunneller shoots a burning bile at Vel, but it falls short, as does a second one. Meanwhile, one of the wasps flies at Remnii and nicks her. She feels poison seep from the wound.
The newly arriving silithids start to swarm.
Tol’vas slashes through the air with his scythe, and a large, insectoid dragon swoops into existence. Its scales seems to shimmer and change colors.
There is more swarming, and an acid spray splashes across Broll, inflicting a burn. Several insects go for Vel, but she deftly dodges out of the way, the raging cold snap whirling around them. One of the wasps goes for Seria, clipping her.
The ravager cuts into Vel twice, taking bursts of cold damage, but as it slobbers over top of her, the cold snap overwhelms it, and it drops dead.
Vel is surrounded as more insects swarm her, but she is able to deftly deflect attacks and duck around them.
Meanwhile, the fey dragon completely disappears as it uses greater invisibility. It chomps at some of the beetles, but misses the bulk of the nearest swarm. Scarabs disappear into its invisible mouth.
Another individual comes running out of one of the side caverns, a person-sized chunk of amber thrown over her shoulder. A safari hat is on their head, and in her other hand is a bug-catching net with jade rings.
The individual flips over and kicks the nearest silithid. She crunches the bug with a kick and squeals in disgust before starting to runs back toward the group. Syeori whips down one of the wasps and looks over.
Vel sees something about the size of a person in the amber Li Li is carrying.
Seria drops the dwarf on the ground in a safe area near Remnii and then swoops down to breathe fire on a swarm of the insects, incinerating several of them.
Remnii’s spiritual weapon smacks into reaver and she heals Ember, but then steps away so she doesn’t get burned.
A wasp dives at Li Li.
More insects swarm onto Vel, and one of them knocks her down, but she is able to resist a good deal of them.
Broll grabs the reaver in his mouth and tears it in half and then throws it aside. He lumbers forward to try and help Vel, who is surrounded.
Uther runs down to help with the swarm, and his boots crush several of the bugs underfoot, but he is able to choke back the stench. He smashes into one of the silithids, his hammer flying through another one and cracking into a third. Bug guts are splattered across the ground. He quickens a green-flame blade and smashes into one of the wasps, following through to crush a second one.
Makasa looks at Uther, impressed.
Uther nods and tips a nonexistent hat, realizing too late he got bug guts on his forehead.
The fey dragon swoops down and breathes a plume of purple gas from nowhere. It snickers and laughs as the bugs seem to start tripping over themselves as if they are drunk.
Makasa runs and leaps from the wall of the hive, and she clips one of the creatures--dropping it with her harpoon. She flips her harpoon around, cutting through a swarm.
One of the wasps goes for Li Li, and she grabs the stinger beneath her armpit.
Little bugs are scurrying across Broll, biting and slashing at him.
The group suddenly hears a loud vibration coming from behind Li Li and she looks back.
A blood red, humanoid wasp appears from the tunnels, her multiple wings floating out behind her. She looks angry. Seemingly, she is the queen.
As the throng of the wings of this hive queen resonate through everything, everyone feels unsettled. The bugs in the floor start to crawl into everything. Into bags. Into armor. All over Vel, who is still on the ground.
Tol'vas holds out his hand and grips, collapsing the barrier between this world and the Emerald Dream collapses. It smashes almost all the creatures in the midst of the sinkhole, and the bodies get pulled to the center.
However, the black scarab swarm seemed completely unaffected.
As more insects bite into Broll, he starts to growl, seemingly frightened for some reason.
More wasps fly in to engage.
The nearest wasp stings into Vel, but the return damage from her frost armor flares back and kills it.
One of the scarabs manages to nick through Uther’s armor.
The hive queen flies up and around, and her wings shimmer. Makasa seems to fall under the sway of something, and the hive queen flies directly up.
One of the huge reavers breathes a cone of acid at Vel and Broll, and Vel is able to roll out of the way of most, but Broll takes the brunt of it.
An orb of fire appears in Ember’s hand, and she slams it into the midst of of the swarm around them and Broll. The fire roils harmlessly around Remnii and Broll, but many of the insects are incinerated.
More insects start to swarm Uther, and the black scarabs munch through his shield spell. Tol’vas gets bit and clawed, but he is able to keep concentration.
Vel stands up and reaches out, arcane magic flaring around her arms as she focuses on the hive queen and also one of the silithids near Li Li. Spectral, frozen chains surround them and constrict, and they both blink out of existence. The charm over Makasa fades, and the swarm almost seems to hiccup.
One of the black scarab swarms climb up on Vel and start trying to bite her, but fails.
Meanwhile, Li Li darts by with the amber-encrusted figure and Vel gets a look at a man that seems to be imprisoned inside.
Seria swoops down and bites down on a silithid. A part of its leg is ripped off in the process.
It seems like the hive is in disarray, as if they don’t know what to do.
Remnii drops a guardian of faith, and the rotating naaru beacon appears near Broll--prepared to strike.
A swarmer collapses on top of Li Li and she screeches as it knocks her to the ground. The amber humanoid drops to the ground nearby as she falls unconscious.
A wasp flies at Seria and forces her out of her dragonhawk form as its stinger connects. She lands on top of the reaver below her, and knocks it to the ground.
Broll reaches down and scoops up Li Li and the amber humanoid and then climbs with them up and out of the nest. He roars in pain as he is assaulted by insects.
Hearing the call, Uther uses thunder step. As he disappears, several of the wasps and other insects get rattled by the thunder damage. He appears behind Tol'vas in a crack of arcane lightning.
The swarm is in a roiling chaos.
