[Horde] Chapter Four: Session Eight

Appearing Characters: Allari Elburn, Arthak Saurfang, Azgadaan, Azuka Stormbreaker, Halno, Khadgar, Lantresor, Levia Blackflight, Loramus Thalipedes, The Maker, Mar'tak, Nyxxa, Omor, Sadras, Veena, Zaeneas Emberlight

Outland Day 4

She looks at Halno.

Halno looks at his bags.

He starts to walk away.

Nyxxa takes out her sending stone to send Arthak.

Arthak responds with a spot a few miles outside of Hellfire in the canyon.

The group discuss their next steps, and a lot of the demons are dropped into the acid to destroy the bodies and any evidence that remains. They find some rezzi around as well as evidence of torture implements.

The group also takes a brief rest to recover some of their strength and mend some wounds. Nyxxa suggests that they stay near the elves until they are on their way, just as added insurance against ambushing.

During the rest, Nyxxa approaches Zaeneas at the elven camp 50-100ft away from the warband’s own camp. He was slightly on the outskirts poking around the area for anything interesting and throwing knives into the trunk of a petrified tree.

He notices Nyxxa as she approaches.

Zaeneas finishes sharpening a knife and sets it aside.

Zaeneas squints.

Nyxxa scratches the back of her head.

Zaeneas looks Nyxxa up and down.

Zaeneas laughs.

Zaeneas looks Nyxxa up and down and jumps to his feet. He crosses his arms.

He nudges one of the daggers.

Nyxxa nods.

Nyxxa withdraws her original weapons.

She holds out the weapons and Zaeneas takes them. He tosses one a few times and swings it forward and back.

Zaeneas looks at Nyxxa.

Subconsciously, Zaeneas brushes his bangs out of his face near the scar across his eye. He does a few practice swings, flips, and kicks, and then Zaeneas drops into a stance facing Nyxxa.

Zaeneas smirks and rushes forward, and Nyxxa slips around and grabs one of the abandoned daggers. Her first strike misses, but her second connects as Zaeneas tries to block it.

Zaeneas returns with his own rapid series of strikes, and one of them cuts off an inch of fur next to Nyxxa’s leg. He is showing a good deal of finesse for someone not used to such weapons.

Nyxxa then goes in again, and Zaeneas tries to do duck and weave out of the way, but Nyxxa is able to get through and tap him with the blunt of the dagger and kicks of her hooves. She manages to knock one of the glaives free.

However, Zaeneas turns the situation around and knocks Nyxxa onto her back. She grins up at him, and then rolls back and pulls her hooves back. She kicks herself up and gets him straight in the chest, sending Zaeneas spilling onto his back.

Nyxxa extends a hand, which Zaeneas accepts.

Zaeneas retrieves the glaives and holds them back out to Nyxxa.

Zaeneas mouths the words.

Nyxxa grins.

Zaeneas shrugs.

He looks back to Loramus who is sitting on a rock in some sort of meditation.

Zaeneas smirks and goes back to sharpening his daggers. However, after a few minutes, Nyxxa catches him looking at his new weapons. Some of the other elves had been watching and talking amongst themselves in Thalassian.

Meanwhile, Arthak had sent word that he wanted to speak with Mar’tak and the Siegemaster and the Maker, and he got word back that they were willing to speak with him. In the meanwhile, he had made some technical sketches of what he had in mind.

Arthak heads out into the yards to meet the pair. There are a multitude of canons, Legion weapons, and also augmentations as bits of fel reavers.

Mar’tak is bent over working on something, and the mo’arg--the Maker--is nearby. The only flesh visible is part of his face. He has massive metal claws that have dozens of different tools on them, and he seems to have an off-white work tunic that is permanently stained with deep, blackish red and blood and singed with fire.

Upon seeing Arthak, Mar’tak stands.

Arthak pulls out his schematics and rolls them out. Mar’tak shoves a bunch of tools aside.

He pulls one page forward.

Arthak outlines a ballista-mounted net projectile that would break apart and release a large net with barbs designed to hook into scales.

Mar'tak nods.

The Maker leans forward, his eye inside the cybernetics enhanced.

He pulls out another paper, and this one looks like a large harpoon with backward-facing barbs.

A glint appears in Mar'tak’s eye.

He pulls out a few other papers and spends the time going over the theoretics of them. Arthak gets the sense that Mar’tak is extremely passionate about her work, to the same level Arthak has for the blades he forges. Meanwhile, he gets the sense that the Maker sees every other living creature--including himself--as an opportunity for experimentation. He was also checking out Arthak periodically, potentially eying up the possibilities.

At one point, the Maker asked Arthak why he didn’t replace his missing eye with a replacement.

The Maker also recommends becoming a fel orc to dull pain.

Afterwards, Arthak goes to find Azuka, who is a bit on edge, but interested.

Azuka shakes her head.

Azuka looks interested.

Azuka nods.

Arthak passes Azuka a list of names: Jaraxxus, Culuthas, Arzeth, and Kaylaan.

Azuka’s eyes go over the list and then she crumples it up and ignites it with druidcraft. It quickly burns away.

Arthak leaves her to it.

That night, Azuka doesn’t come back.

However, Omor the Unscarred--the violet terrorfiend--had taken an interest in Arthak, and he offered to introduce him to Magtheridon at the Black Temple. He seemed most interested because of his relation to Broxigar, as well as the history Arthak has with killing chieftains.

He also caught the observer watching him a few times, though he seemed to be watching a lot of people.

Back with the rest of the warband, Azgadaan was checking on Levia who was largely just snoozing. She pops an eye open.

Levia chews on her lip.

Azgadaan gets a sympathetic look.

Levia shrugs.

Azgadaan makes a faint sound of windchimes with magic and Levia leans back against the tree.

Levia nods.

Levia smiles and closes her eyes again to return to her little nap.

Nyxxa goes to speak with with Loramus and waits as he is meditating.

Loramus sheathes the dagger and hops off the stone.

Nyxxa smiles.

Loramus sighs.

Nyxxa smiles and Loramus’s lips knit together.

She grins.

Loramus offers a humorless smirk.

Nyxxa laughs.

Nyxxa sees Allari not far away. The scythe is against her lap, and she is drinking from a flask and seems a bit inebriated. Nyxxa waves at her, but leaves her alone for the time being.

That night, Nyxxa gets a message from Khadgar.

The laugh, being written out on Khadgar's end, doesn't translate well.

Nyxxa makes a noise that likely did not translate well into text.

There is a solid moment of silence.

There is another solid moment of no response.

Allari then heads over to Nyxxa.

Allari smiles, still a bit tipsy.

Allari smiles.

She finishes what’s left of her glass.

Allari smiles.

Nyxxa smiles.

Allari glances to the completely dissolved demon bodies beneath the acid.

Allari nods and turns to return to her people.

The groups start to get ready to rest for the evening, but Halno approaches Nyxxa.

He points at his scepter.

Nyxxa and Halno start to head off after Allari.

Allari looks at Halno hard and glances back to the group.

She heads off with the pair.

Halno is not wearing his mask, but Allari doesn't seem to recognize him.

Allari looks at the scythe for a moment.

Nyxxa raises an eyebrow at Halno.

Allari narrows her eyes.

Allari glances back to the warband.

He looks to Nyxxa.

Allari sighs.

Nyxxa puts a hand on Halno’s shoulder.

Allari glances back at the pair of them as she leaves, her eyes glowing faintly. She's clearly using some sort of divination magic on Halno.

Halno blinks.

Halno stares at Nyxxa.

Nyxxa uses see invisibility.

Halno just stares at Nyxxa.

Halno leans real close to Nyxxa.

She lets Halno go, and Nyxxa sighs.

That night, Nyxxa had a dream. She was an arakkoa, running with her comrades. Slowly but surely, more and more of her companions disappeared, and she finds herself in the shadow of Hellfire Citadel. She was surrounded by orcs. She brandishes her weapons, the same ones wielded by the spirit, and she fought as hard as she could. However, her endurance wavers, and her strength fades, until her body gives out.

As soon as her head hits the ground, she’s running through the jungle again. She was able to save more people, but each time, the same orc cuts her down. He is a massive orc in heavy black armor with a massive warhammer. He’s their warchief. She calls to him to fight in single combat, but every time she is crushed.

It happens again. And again. And again.

Nyxxa isn’t sure how she slept through that experience, but she recognized the orc as Blackhand in his fully fighting capacity.

Outland Day 5

The next day, the warband awakens, and the elves are completely gone. The pack into the vehicle.

Halno shrugs.

Levia blinks and thinks back to the fight, and then she squints at Halno.

Halno pulls out the other scepter.

He gestures at Azgadaan and Sadras.

Levia crosses her arms.

Lantresor smirks and nods.

Levia gets a thought and thinks about that thought.

She raises a hand and taps it twice, and the ring he had made her appears on it.

Halno taps his scepter in his lap.

After they park for the night, Nyxxa pulls Sadras aside to speak in private.

Sadras offers a sad smile.

Sadras looks puzzled, but relieved.

Nyxxa nods.

Nyxxa wraps Sadras into a hug.

Sadras’s fingers tense on Nyxxa’s back, but she doesn’t answer, and Nyxxa holds her tighter.

Nyxxa tries to pull away, but Sadras does not let her pull away. Her shoulders have started to shake, and Nyxxa eases them to the ground.

Nyxxa pulls Sadras in closer and strokes her hair as she also starts to tear up. Eventually, Sadras’s grip starts to loosen, and she pulls away and pushes her forehead against Nyxxa’s. Her eyes are a bit red.

Nyxxa removes her blindfold and gives Sadras a sincere smile.

Sadras nods.

Nyxxa wipes a tear away, and Sadras tries to smile.

Nyxxa puts her hands on either side of Sadras’s face.

Sadras laughs to herself.

Sadras stands up and gives Nyxxa another hug before splashing some water on her face. Nyxxa puts her blindfold back on.

They head back to the group, where Azgadaan had gotten a bunch of games out for the entertainment of the group. Sadras mentions she misses Summerpaw, and Azgadaan offers to send Sadras to her dreams that night.

Sadras is enamored with the idea, and Sadras asks Azgadaan if he can send Summerpaw to her one night, and Azgadaan confirms he can.

That night Arthak sees Azuka again and she returns that night and tells Arthak what happened. She had gotten locked in a supply closet and no one would leave, but she did get to see a lot of things that seems to have shaken her a fair bit.

Outland Day 6

The warband wakes up and finishes covering the rest of the distance to the rendezvous point and then settles down to wait for Arthak.

As everyone settles down, Azgadaan takes some private time and tries to channel through Spiritsong. As he holds it in his hands, he thinks back to all the prayers he had done in the past, and starring into the crystal, he starts to have doubts. Doubts that it would respond to him. Doubts that he was worthy of holding it. The thought creeps into his mind that maybe he should have let Samaara take it in the first place.

However, as he glances out and sees sadras and Nyxxa playing with a ball, and Halno studying, and Lantresor practicing, he comes to the realization that there is a reason she allowed him to keep it. He shakes those thoughts from his mind, and he senses a flare of magic, and he watches as the crystal resonates in his hands. He feels a presence in the crystal, and he closes his eyes.

As he opens them, he can see a glow, and his shoulders also have a soft glow, like seraphim pads of light that shoot out for the briefest of moments. He feels that magic within his grasp.

All of the doubts and fears wash away, and all of a sudden, he sees a mantle of Light begin to coalesce around him. It looks like wing-like semi patterns around his shoulders, and behind him is a strange geometric pattern that almost looks like a naaru, but different. It resembles the images that appears in Remnii’s forehead when she would cast, and in front of his own forehead, a similar rune had appeared in eredun--almost magenta with a sunlit glow.

Then it’s gone, and he realizes Spiritsong is unchanged. No charges were used from it. That power was from him, somehow.

Then he hears a voice behind him.

Azgadaan spins around, and he sees Veena.

Veena looks at Azgadaan.

Veena thinks for a moment brings her hands up to her chin in a very Arthak-like motion. She almost seems to hrmmm.

Then she nods.

Azgadaan pulls out Spiritsong and holds it out to show it to her. Veen flits closer and slowly reaches out a finger, but then Azgadaan starts to pull it away.

Veena thinks for a moment but then nods again.

Veena touches the crystal, and as the finger taps the side, a soft violet glow hums from the place where she touched it. Then she places her hand on it further, and the glow persists.

It’s not exceptionally warm to Azgadaan. Azgadaan puts his finger near the glow where her hand is, but he senses no difference in temperature. What Azgadaan knows about foci is that if it is resonating with Veena, there’s a reason for it. He doesn’t know what that reason is, but there is some sort of reason.

Veena curls her arms around the crystal, and presses the side of her cheek to it.

After a moment, she untangles herself from the crystal.

Veena nods.

Veena nods along and flitters out to the rest of the group. She floats over towards the ball that Sadras and Nyxxa were kicking around. She picks it up and starts to float around with it.

The rest of the group just hear her making her normal whistling, but Azgadaan can understand. But slowly but surely, the words get more garbled, and he realized that whatever he had done to understand her had worn off. Azgadaan casts the spell again, and then he could once more understand her.

At that moment, Veena drops the ball on Sadras’s head.

They start to show Veena how to play with the ball, and Nyxxa asks Azgadaan if she can understand what the group is saying. Azgadaan suggests that she try.

From similar interactions, it seems that Veena can sort of understand things. She has the comprehension of a child. She seems to be learning.

Nyxxa shows Veena the carving that she had made of her.

Veena immediately dives down and snags the figure from Nyxxa and flits through the air, hugging it.

It seems the little wooden carving begins to grow, and little blooms and blossoms start to appear on the wings. Some of the wood starts to look more wild, and then she looks at it--startled--and she drops it.

Nyxxa catches it, and it looks like parts of the figure had been regrown. Veena goes over to apologize to Nyxxa.

Nyxxa examines the figure more closely, and she gets the sense that there is something familiar about the phenomena. It is reminiscent of Veena, but also of something else. Something she can’t quite put her finger on.

She starts to fly around and she goes to Nyxxa’s collection of things, and then she freezes upon seeing Nyxxa’s bow--which was what the phenomena reminded her of. The tree.

Veena flies down and picks up the bow.

She looks back to Nyxxa.

Veena shakes her head.

Azgadaan continues to translate.

Nyxxa is standing in awe for a moment.

Veena nods.

And Veena immediately zooms back to see the other carvings.

Outland Day 7

Arthak and Azuka head to reconvene with the rest of the warband. During the ride, Arthak picks Azuka’s brain for any of the intel that she got. Kaylaan did not come up at all, but all the other names came up in some capacity.

In regards to what she heard about Rakeesh, he had visited once previously, and he had not spoken to Mannoroth. Most people don’t know what he’s doing here, thus his presence is rather unknown. The best thing she could tell is that he seems to be seeking information about an organization called the Ashtongue. He is likely trying to hunt them down. It’s likely that Kil’jaeden wants it handled given they’ve evaded capture for so long under Mannoroth.

Meanwhile, Culuthas seems to have gone rogue. He has claimed all of Socrethar’s old holdings and seems to be seeking something. So whatever Socrethar had remaining in the Shadowmoon Valley and the Nether Storm had been claimed by the dreadlord. However, the details were pretty narrow. Something happened to him on the other side of the politics, and it seems he is on the run from everyone. Rakeesh also was asking after Culuthas.

Jaraxxus, it would seem, is funding a lot of technological progress. He has visited Hellfire Citadel in the past and has been working closely with Mannoroth, especially in regards to the logistics off-world. His people are also around.

They arrive early in the morning, seeing the familiar silhouette of the ship. It’s a race if Veena will tackle Azuka off Summerpaw, or if Sadras will tackle Summerpaw out from beneath the two other orcs. Sadras almost immediately gets Summerpaw on her side and is rubbing her tummy, and shortly after, she greets Arthak.

She musses Azuka’s hair.

Lantresor bows to Arthak in greeting.

Arthak grunts.

Lantresor laughs, and Sadras looks at Nyxxa.

Halno recognizes the name. He was a shaman born to the Shadowmoon Clan. He was similar in age to Halno and had a similar background, except he was a shaman who eventually turned away from the elements to become a warlock. He ended up becoming a warlock and eventually joined the Shadow Council as well as turning to the Ironmarch. Halno never knew him that close, but he got his name from performing divination rituals by tearing out the hearts from willing hosts so they could perform some sort of service for their ancestors. However, the donors were always willing.

The changes to the Horde changed him a lot as well.

Sadras covers her mouth.

All the orcs get a serious look on their face.

Nyxxa pulls out an Azuka carving.

Azgadaan casts the speak with plants spell.

Azuka blushes.

Veena sits on her shoulder.

Azgadaan translates back to Veena and then adds…

She immediately gives Azuka a hug, and Azuka glares daggers at Azgadaan, but accepts the hug.

Nyxxa quickly scans with see invisibility.

Halno’s head whips around so fast it sounds like something cracked. Nyxxa jumps.

Veena shakes her head.

They see the area where she had rested the night prior, and they see that the area also seemed to be purified. Nyxxa offers to check something, and she examines the area with her spectral sight. She sees no consecration or desecration. Not truly. However, as she looks at Veena, she detects a strange anomaly. She’s registering as both a fey and a celestial.

Nyxxa makes an audible noise of curiosity, and her jaw goes slack.

She remembers a bare minimum of fey, specifically that they are creatures of the Emerald Dream. However, it’s unclear if Veena may share that same connection.

Azgadaan knows celestials are otherworldly creatures that are associated with planes opposed to the Twisting Nether. One of the most obvious ones are the naaru, and certain creatures blessed by them could be considered such. He is not an expert, but there are also celestial creatures in the Shadowlands.

Azgadaan does.

Veena shrugs, uncertain.

Veena looks like she’s thinking.

Levia sighs.

They decide to see if they could meet Rakeesh on the way to Nagrand.

This page was last edited on June 20, 2023, at 12:11 PM

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