[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Fifteen

Appearing Characters: Aramar Thorne, Arthas Menethil/Wulf, Broll Bearmantle, Elissa Cross, Hagg Taurenbane, Jarod Shadowsong, Makasa Flintwill, Mera Mistrunner, Remnii, Riff, Samaara, Seria, Tae'shara Sunwatcher, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Velen

June 11th

The twin moons set overhead to be replaced with the rising sun the next morning. Those that slept awaken to the scent of still-burning campfire, as Jarod was preparing a light breakfast before they made the trek downward.

Jarod chuckles.

Samaara chuffs through her nostrils, and Remnii also chuckles.

She gestures to Vel, who waves in acknowledgement.

As the group gathers up their things to leave, Jarod approaches Vel discreetly.

Jarod nods.

He hesitates for a moment, watching the group as they gather their things together.

Jarod chuffs.

Jarod looks over in Remnii’s direction. Samaara is helping her get her things together.

He offers a genuine smile, though one that seemed to indicate he was going to worry over it regardless. He then takes note of the coffee she’s drinking.

He takes a quick whiff of the scent coming from the mug.

He smiles again, but then heads over to gather up his own things.

Jarod shows them to the far edge of the mesa and an area marked with bright yellow. There is a simple rope ladder that goes down about ten feet and heads down a winding path. Jarod picks up very quickly that Remnii is not particularly adept at mountain climbing, and he pays a great deal of attention to her to make sure she is climbing down safely. There are a lot of hand holds and ropes, as well as wooden posts placed for stability. It takes about four hours for them to get down to Jarod’s cottage.

The cottage itself looks night elven in architecture, though it has elements that have been clearly purchased from the tauren. Basking in the high noon sun is a large, grey nightsaber. His ears twitch upward, and his head lolls up to acknowledge the approaching group. Bard gets up, stretches, and yawns before he lazily waltzes over to Jarod to get head scritches.

The large cat blinks lazily at Jarod before glancing at the rest of the group. He looks at Remnii pointedly for a moment, and then moves closer. He sniffs at her, and then his ears droop again, and he heads over to the pool to get a drink of water. Remnii smiles sympathetically, assuming what might have happened.

Jarod also makes a quick lunch for the group, and when he comes back, he has more pieces of armor on as well--armor Tol’vas recognizes as the armor the kaldorei resistance wore during the War of the Ancients. Outside, there is some outdoor seating, as well as targets and a few training dummies.

Tol’vas, however, was greeting the nightsaber. Bard is clearly a senior animal, but nightsabers live longer than a typical cat. He uses rejuvenation to soothe any sort of aches the older cat has, and the nightsaber stretches and shakes his body and flexes his paws. Bard nudges Tol’vas’s leg in thanks and appreciation.

Tol’vas is now scratching the nightsaber while the group discusses.

Remnii nods.

At that point, Jarod had returned and asked about their plans.

Jarod smiles.

He guides Remnii inside. It’s a comfortable home, and Remnii doesn’t need to duck at all. She smiles at the doorway, pleased that the doorway is actually bigger than her.

Jarod smiles and closes his eyes.

Remnii is quiet for a moment.

Remnii offers a sympathetic smile.

Jarod nods.

Remnii looks around the cozy hovel.

Jarod looks out the window.

Jarod nods.

He’s still looking out the window.

Remnii offers a sad, but proud smile.

Jarod nods.

There is a wash of relief on Remnii’s face, and she nods, then smiles again.

He goes to a cabinet, and pulls out two low basins and another bottle. He pours the liquid into the basins, and he hands one to Remnii with a smile.

Remnii laughs and clinks the bowl with Jarod, and they both drain the basins. He then gives Remnii’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, and opens the door.

Remnii then squeezes his hand.

There is a genuine smile, but a sad twinkle in Jarod’s eye.

Remnii bows her head and then goes to rejoin the group. Jarod goes over to Bard.

The cat seems to chuff in agreeing indignation.

Tol’vas starts to cast wind walk.

Broll nods.

The magic coalesces, and the group starts to transform into mist and clouds, and they start to rise and soar into the sky. Jarod waves them off, and after about an hour, the group arrives just outside Dalsh-Beran, and they transfigure themselves outside the wall. The tauren are watching cautiously, and some of the sentries blow some horns of reassurance as the group was not a threat.

The heavy gates are opened for the group, and they head in once more. They head to their prior camp site, and they see Aramar and Elissa comparing notes over something. Aramar looks up and waves at the group as they approach. Elissa hops up to her feet to greet the group.

Aramar puts a hand on Elissa’s shoulder.

He flips through his sketchbook.

Aramar gestures the hilt of the diamond blade in frustration.

Tol’vas goes to drop off the swiftthistle with Mera.

He hands over some swiftthistle.

She disappears for a moment, and then returns with some of the swiftthistle prepared.

She sends Tol’vas back with a good deal of food, as well as the prepared swiftthistle. Makasa returns back soon after.

Makasa unapologetically looks at Remnii, who sighs.

Makasa sits down and grabs some of the food that Tol’vas brought.

Tae’shara shows up soon after.

Vel produces several sheets of paper, which she gestures in Tae’shara’s direction.

Tae’shara takes the papers and starts to quickly leaf through them. She looks up at Vel.

There are some looks exchanged in the background.

Tae’shara starts thumbing through the papers after she grabs something to eat, suspending them in the air with her mage hand.

Remnii gives a solemn nod.

The four individuals that did not climb the mountain incline their heads curiously, and Samaara pans her eyes over to Vel. Being put on the spot, Vel takes a moment to gather her thoughts.

Vel glances at Elissa with a knowing look, given Elissa knew of her vampyrism from the beginning.

Makasa stops drinking from her flask and promptly leans forward, now very interested in the conversation at hand.

Before anyone else could react, Makasa slaps her knee, her mouth partially filled with food, and points.

Tae’shara furrows her brow and crosses her arms, the papers held in her mage hand having nearly fallen from their grip.

Tae’shara leans back a bit.

Tae’shara glances around and sees Elissa, who doesn’t look nearly as surprised.

She looks over at Makasa and gestures with her hand, and Makasa tosses her the flask, which Tae’shara takes a swig from.

Tae’shara blinks, somewhat sarcastic.

Tae’shara takes another swig from the flask.

Makasa shrugs and gestures for her flask back, and Tae’shara goes to hand it back, but then looks at it and finishes off the rest of the alcohol before tossing the empty flask back to her. Makasa raises an eyebrow at Tae’shara but looks back at Vel.

Makasa shrugs.

She shrugs nonchalantly again and snags another bottle of alcohol. Aramar laughs it off.

He looks around to the group, still joking.

He waves off the statement. Silently, Remnii sucks on her teeth a bit.

He snaps his fingers and then wags his finger at Vel.

Makasa looks at Vel, and then back at Aramar like “yeah, that was clearly a bit of a giveaway”. She tanks another swig from the bottle. Aramar smiles.

Aramar and Makasa share a look, and Makasa once again shrugs.

Elissa smiles.

Makasa smirks.

Tae’shara squints at her.

Tae’shara crosses her arms and attempts to look cross, but it’s not particularly effective--she just needed some time to digest everything.

She holds her hand out for another bottle of alcohol, and the group returns to talking about what else had occurred on the mountain surrounding Jarod. Vel glances at Samaara, not mad, but clearly shooting her a look for the fact the draenei put her on the spot. Samaara returns with a knowing nod.

As Tae’shara gets more and more drunk, Makasa leans over on one arm.

Aramar immediately blushes, and Tae’shara flings a mostly-empty bottle at Makasa--who catches it, uncorks it, and drains the rest of the booze. She offers a shitty grin.

Vel raises an eyebrow.

Aramar just punches Makasa in the arm.

They bicker back and forth for a moment.

Tae’shara tries to shove Vel over in response, but the evening starts to wind down.

That night, Vel attempts to dream Victor again, using a spell enhancement to try and get the dream to take the long way around. She begins to feel the pull go along the most direct route. It is hard to redirect the spell, and she throws her mind out to distant shores, and she feels the struggle with every single step. She pushes as hard as she can.

It seems to be working. With every inch and mile of material space that her mind is wrestling with it. She pulls and pulls for as long as she possibly can, and she can feel it working. She can make her way around the infinite, forbidding sea. She can only assume she could reach the Eastern Kingdoms, she fights inch by bloody inch, mile by bloody mile.

Then she senses it get easier. Somehow she made it to a point where she has gone far enough that the path of least resistance connects her, and she feels her presence being drawn. She can feel the presence of a mind unburdened by the waking world.

Then she feels her eyes open, and it’s daytime.

It took too long. This time.

But it wasn’t impossible.

June 12th

As the spell ends, Vel shoots up and scrambles out of the tent to find Uther.

Uther calls groggily from his tent, the flap shifting.

Immediately, Uther’s grogginess evaporates.

Uther looks at her, noting the bags under her eyes.

Vel seems to deflate a bit now the adrenaline of the moment had died down.

Vel makes the coffee and pours the silithid blood into her cup to see if she can get any nourishment off of it. It is… not good. She manages to choke down the coffee, and she gets the sense that because the blood was taken from a lot of very very small creatures it was not as satisfying and that also contributed to the poor taste. Effectively is was a bunch of conflicting flavors mixing together. However, that founding was separate from the fact they were aberrations--she would need to sample blood from a larger aberration to get a conclusion on their effectiveness.

After chugging the coffee, choosing to down it all at once, she sputters rather ungracefully.

Tol’vas and Seria cast wind walk in tandem to cover the entire group after they gather up their things. Remnii also casts find the path, beseeching the naaru to guide her. She can feel some of the heat of the area enter into her mind, but she pushes through it, and she feels herself connect to an anchor.

The group changes into mist, and lifts into the air. They find that the wind is still, but cooler, and as they fly back into the Barrens, the temperature warms, but not an unbearable amount. They can see tiny dots of figures traversing the Gold Road down below. Buried amidst the dirt and sand, Tol’vas and Uther sees the tell-tale signs of highborne ruins--likely the ruins that mark the potential location of the barrow dens.

Tol’vas stops and starts to head downward, and the rest of the group floats down.

There are pillars jutting out of the ground, as well as cobbled streets that may have once connected with the highway. There does not seem to be any danger, but there is a distant hauntingness feeling.

The group fans out a bit to take a look. Tae’shara immediately looks in the dirt for things of interest.

As Vel and Uther go by a pillar half-buried in the sand, there is a flash of brown moss that is growing over the edge of one of the pillars. They take a closer look, and they see something written in a language they don’t understand.

Vel starts to cast comprehend languages, and Seria and Tol’vas see similar markings--but they recognize the language as druidic.

They start to piece the messages together.

Another message mentions a deep sea river and a reservoir of energies beneath the barrens that could be used to rejuvenate the lush land that was destroyed by the calamity.

Other messages reference the druidic circle, which refers to itself as the Druids of the Fang.

There seems to be a theory that the underground water may be the source of the oases further north, and perhaps they can find an entrance into this underground river so that it could be used to nourish the land.

It seems the messages were written by a druid named Naralex.

Tol’vas does not recognize the name, however, but it seems the oases may be a wise place to seek if they want to find the druids that left the messages.

Samaara whistles in a particular way that Tae’shara picks up.

As they look, the group can see a figure approaching. They are a lone quillboar, his body relatively unarmored aside from two large harnesses that are carrying an abundance of bone trophies. There is a massive scar over one eye, and he looks to be impressive in stature.

He’s heading straight to them, with purpose.

On his back seems to be a totem that had been fused together with bone partially melted with blood caked onto it. He is sniffing the air.

Samaara nocks an arrow cautiously, and the quillboar stops about 75 feet away and snorts louder, shouting in broken common.

The group looks at each other, and the quillboar pulls out the totem and slams it into the ground in front of him.

The quillboar sniffs again.

Remnii looks at Uther.

The quillboard plucks a quill from his back and then impales it through his right forearm. He rips it out, and tosses it aside.

Hagg grabs a massive axe made of a long wooden shaft, and two permanently stained steel blades. His body starts to shift, and his arms extend into claws, and his quills grow larger, and his tusks twice as brutal.

Uther uses his channel divinity, and the quillboar starts to rush for him. Uther had his hammer resting on his shoulder, and he holds his hand out. The golden flecks form into a ball of golden fire, and then he puts two hands on his hammer and whacks the fireball at his target, which erupts into a huge flash of fire.

Uther gets ready for impact, and the quillboar comes running at Uther. Hagg’s eyes flare with bloodlust, and he swings at Uther. However, an arcane shield blocks, and the quillboar swings his axe around, breaking through the shield.

Uther’s hammer hits Hagg straight in his muscular chest, and the holy radiance washes over the quillboar. Uther swings again, and the weapon almost goes sailing out of the quillboar’s hand. The hammer crashes solidly, and Uther then quickens a green flame blade. The quillboar is not looking good as blood goes flying through the air.

The quillboar shoves Uther back, and moves backwards, but Uther swings with his hammer. He hears bones crunch as the quillboar goes sailing. However, Hagg stands up again, squealing and snarling. More bones crunch, and the quillboar screams and then charges for Uther again.

The quillboar slams into Uther, and he knocks him prone as Hagg gores under Uther’s armor. He then raises his axe and slams Uther into the ground.

After getting the wind knocked out of him, Uther then rolls to his knees and swings with an uppercut. The hammer shatters the quillboar’s jaw, and Hagg tries to swing again, but then collapses over.

Vel leans over to Arthas.

Arthas nods in approval.

The quillboar breathes his last as he slumps over, smearing his blood on the desert ground.

Uther feels that if he was supposed to eat the quillboar, he probably would have been told as much, though the quillboar wouldn’t have been mad if he did. Uther looks instinctively at Arthas, unsure of what to do.

Vel, meanwhile, had been biting back her own inclinations given the messy splatters of blood that had been strewn over the ground had exactly the opposite effect.

Vel sighs and opts to at least gather some of the creature’s blood for later. As she finishes, she looks up at Uther.

The statement was clearly meant to be a dry joke.

Arthas goes over to the axe the quillboar had dropped.

He runs his thumb along the edge of it.

Arthas’s expression shifts, recognizing the statement to actually genuinely be a downside.

Vel just wordlessly holds out her hand, and Wulf hands it over to her.

Vel identifies the axe, and she notes that it’s actually fairly impressive. It’s a blood axe that is likely imbued by the wild god. It’s a +2 great axe that also deals extra necrotic damage to living creatures. If a creature is dropped to 0 with it, the wielder gets temporary hit points.

She blinks, mildly surprised, and then relays what she found to Arthas and Uther.

She also notes that the blade of the axe, which she originally thought was some sort of sharpened stone that was stained, is actually crystallized blood that makes up the very sharp axe blade.

She hands the axe back to Arthas. The group returns to their cloud forms, and then rise back into the air. They do not run into any further problems.

In the far distance, they can see the sea, but they also see green in the setting sun. It’s a sizeable oasis. They opt to land there for the night.

They start to set up camp for the evening, and Elissa approaches Vel.

She pauses, the exhaustion causing the term to fly out of her mind.

Elissa chuckles.

A small smile touches Vel’s lips. She puts a hand on Elissa’s shoulder and gives it a small squeeze of appreciation.

They part ways to return to setting up camp, however, Vel spots Broll over by the shore of the oasis, washing his face. After a moment’s hesitation, she starts to approach. The druid detects her presence and looks back to her.

He allows the thought to finish itself.

Vel tilts her head slightly, mulling over what Broll had said.

She offers a faint, humorless smile and nods at Broll before turning to return to setting up for the night.

Vel stops and turns to look back at the night elf again.

Broll nods.

Vel folds her arms behind her back and heads off to return to her preparations.

That night, Remnii spends some time outside the tiny hut so that she can dream Velen and keep him appraised of the situation. Velen explains that there had been some close calls with the elves, but nothing that has resulted in casualties. He has continued to beseech the Light to guide them on a path away from bloodshed.

Remnii also excitedly tells him about the successful divine intervention, which Velen promptly inquires for as many details as she could offer.

Rem: Oh, there was one other thing…. With the tauren, in the veil. I saw Arlanaa… and what she might have been before. Does the name Nyrissra mean anything to you?

Velen shakes his head.

Velen nods his head.

Remnii nods.

Remnii smiles.

Velen nods.

She smiles.

Remnii steps in for a hug, and they continue on for a bit longer, before she awakes for the end of her watch.

That night, during watch with Uther, Vel drinks the quillboar blood and she realizes it’s far more delicious than it had any right to be, as if it was awash with life. Her eyes widen in realization for a moment.

She looks at Uther.

Vel quickly checks on the wounds Uther had, but it seemed that none of them showed the tell-tale signs of any sort of curse transmission.

This page was last edited on April 03, 2024, at 10:19 PM

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