[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Forty-Five

Appearing Characters: Elissa Cross, Hojo, Jani, Kaja, Maraad, Rai, Rata, Remnii, Riff, Rive, Rokhan, Seria, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Da White Shark, Yana, Yazma, Yenniku, Zar'Kaa, Zuni

August 2nd

Zar’kaa locks eyes with Seria, who he hadn’t seen in a few years, and he blinks in disbelief. He chuckles.

He approaches and pulls Seria in for a hug, and Seria freezes.

Zar’kaa smiles and releases the hug.

Zar’Kaa chuckles, but then does a double-take between Riff and Seria.

Riff puts his hands on his hips and nods proudly.

Zar’Kaa smirks.

Rokhan nods.

Rokhan’s eyes move in acknowledge.

Zar’kaa cocks his eyebrow.

The way Elissa brushes it off, it seems like it’s also possible Riff is not in good standing with the Darkspear.

Riff seems to get bummed out.

Seria gives him a gentle, but stern look. Riff pouts.

Riff gets a bit flustered.

Maraad looks at Remnii.

Vel casts [Seeming] over the group. Vel transforms herself into a white-haired ice troll. Seria transforms herself into her full jungle troll disguise. Tol’vas stays in his wolf form. Remnii also looks like a wavey-haired ice troll. Uther looks like a forest troll with red hair.

Zar’Kaa blinks a few times at Seria as she looks a lot like her mother, but then he smiles.

Seria nods.

Remnii offers a few castings of [Tongues] to those that don’t know Zandali while Vel puts a [Sending] in Seria’s ring of spell-storing.

Seria looks to the party.

Seria nods.

Seria gives Zar’Kaa a look.

Rokhan puts his hand on Zar’Kaa’s shoulder.

Seria opens up a portal in one of the larger palm trees as she casts [Transport via Plants]. They all step through, and they are hit by the late summer heat wave of Zandalar. The portal starts to close behind them, and they hear someone calling Seria’s name–they see Zuni running after them, but he is left behind as he arrived too late.

They hear the trickling of water, and they see the tall and imposing trees of the jungle outside the city. Uther is visible awestruck of the city in the distance.

Remnii starts to put her hair up.

Remnii chuckles softly.

They start to head through the woods. They are about a half hour out, and they quickly start to see stones with painted metals and gemstones embedded in the sides. There are boats on the river–many of them filled with fisherman that are Zandalari trolls. The shortest among them are about 9 feet tall. There are long poles with long strings being cast down from a bridge and pulling up fish from dozens of feet down. There are caravans crossing the busy roads, and the dirt path starts to fade into stonework that leads into the first of many sets of stairs.

There are a few times Remnii stops to catch her breath, but then she keeps moving.

They pass by a massive Zandalari worker that is carrying a basket that looks more like a giant basket.

As they get to the top of the stairs, they can see the many different pyramids, and the largest among them: the Great Seal, the heart and the seat of the Zandalari empire in the center of the massive trees.

Zar’Kaa points out a few notable locations for the reference of the group. There are a few guards that are keeping traffic moving and directing people to prevent jams in the roads. They can see two humanoid creatures that are very wide and covered in scales. The appear to have a backpack, but as they turn around they see they actually have shells like turtles. The two of them are bickering about how much the Zandalari rush around.

Vel starts to keep an eye out for Rai, and she notes there is a disturbance down below. Rai spills out from the crowd, quite winded and sweaty. He grabs his waterskin and sits down on one of the benches to catch his breath.

Zar’Kaa strides over.

Rai looks up.

He looks beyond and sees Seria. He waves.

Rai squints at the other trolls.

He points at Remnii.

Rai looks over at the last troll and the wolf.

His voice gets quiet.

Uther grins.

Rai looks down at the wolf, assuming he’s an animal companion.

Rai nods.

Vel immediately looks at Seria, as does Zar’Kaa.

Seria takes a moment.

Zar’Kaa shakes his head.

Zar’Kaa looks at Seria again.

Some things start to connect.

Zar’Kaa squats down to think.

At that moment a massive, long-necked dinosaur trumpets and they see a three of the huge creatures carrying cargo and other supplies. Vel looks up at it.

Remnii and Uther both seem to be dumbstruck for a moment, but the group weaves their way through the streets after Rai. They enter the shadow of the Great Seal, and head towards the enclaves of the different types of trolls. Upon seeing the forest troll embassy and some representatives of the Amani, Zar’Kaa hawks a loogie on the ground at it. Luckily, none of the Amani see him.

Seria elbows Zar’Kaa hard, having caught the action.

They pass by some ice trolls that are clearly suffering in the oppressive heat, and Rai leads them to the embassy of the jungle trolls.

Inside, the large open area is bustling. There are guards patrolling the area outside, and there is further general security in the busy embassy inside. There is a jungle troll receptionist, and they wait in a brief line before they are able to speak with her.

The troll raises her brow.

The receptionist’s eyes narrow.

The receptionist furrows her brow.

Vel sighs.

The troll looks at Vel.

The receptionist nods and mutters about “weird people”. The group leaves, and they can just barely hear her mutter under her breath.

She turns to focus on the next person in line.

As the group exits the embassy, Vel leans over to Zar’Kaa.

Zar’Kaa sighs.

Seria heads over to an alley and pulls out her scrying bowl. A half a dozen saurids turn to look at her. Seria casts [Scrying], focusing on Yenniku–and a scene appears. There is a jungle troll who is fairly lanky with dark blue hair walking through a dark blue alley. He seems to be on alert and not particularly comfortable. He’s not alone. There are a few larger Zandalari trolls with him.

He is pushed forward.

The Zandalari woman looks at him unkindly.

The Zandalari woman smacks him across the face.

His right tusk was now slightly broken.

They are fairly sure the alley was closer to the docks. Seria could hear the waves faintly. Rai pales, having come over to take a closer look.

Rai points them in the direction, but then they hear some scrabbling. There are small creatures fighting over something. When they glance in that direction, something hits the ground. At the end of the alleyway, two of the saurids are wrestling with Vel’s wand of arcane missiles.

The saurids immediately bolt. Vel tries to grab her wand with [Telekinesis], but the saurid wiggles out of the spell and Tol’vas and Vel race after the saurids. In frustration, Vel tries to dome the saurids with [Wall of Force]. Vel manages to snag some of them, but not the one with her wand.

Zar’Kaa manages to catch up to the saurid that grabbed Vel’s wand. He wrestles the wand away.

He holds up the wand as the group approaches.

However, his throat clenches, and Zar’Kaa starts to get picked up off the ground. By seemingly nothing. More eyes light up in the darkness of the alley.

There is a pressure on Zar’Kaa’s wrist, and he drops the wand. He is then released. A saurid emerges from the trash pile, its scales bright pink.

Tol’vas gets the sense this is not a regular Saurid, and Zar’Kaa gets a similar sense. It’s some kind of loa. Zar’Kaa snarls.

Zar'Kaa draws his weapon, but Tol’vas gets in the middle of them.

Rai’s eyes are wide.

Jani rumbles and cocks his head to the side.

The saurid that has Vel’s wand holds the wand tighter, but Jani snaps at the saurid and it reluctantly goes and delivers the wand back to Vel.

He looks at Zar’Kaa and Seria.

Jani laughs.

Jani taps one of his talons on his chin.

There are some other whispers, and there are some windows that are lining the alley. There are a few young figures in them–a fair number of young trolls that seem to be destitute. Some of the saurids hop up and deliver the satchel of coins to the children.

Zar’Kaa looks at the children, most of which being young non-Zandalari.

Zar’Kaa points to himself and looks around.

Jani starts to draw something in the air. It’s a [Mass Polymorph] spell.

The loa releases the spell. Vel looks at her new white-scaled saurid body and squeaks indignantly. Seria looks at her and smirks in amusement, having resisted the spell. Everyone else also became saurids. Jani turns and runs to the trash pile.

He scurries into the trash heap.and disappears into the gold. The others all follow (Seria using her own magic to shift into a saurid) unsure what else to do, and it seems to be some sort of a pocket dimension and series of tunnels.

Then they exit the tunnels and promptly are transformed back to their humanoid forms. Jani and the other saurids are gone. Vel promptly uses [Prestidigitation] on herself to cleanse the filth off, and Remnii also asks for one. Seria and Rai offer some thanks to Jani while Vel notices one of the Zandalari guards who had come out and is looking around.

She does not seem to be wounded.

Rai offers to run off to continue looking for more help while the guard leads the rest of the group to the alley she was talking about. There are a number of abandoned stalls, while others are manned by people ignoring the scuffle that’s going on. There is a platform, and there are about a dozen or so Zandalari trolls. In the center is a fearsome Zandalari troll with a white mohawk, and she has a vicious-looking dagger made of sharkbone, and she is holding Yenniku by the neck.

She is looking at another troll–another tall woman with nice clothing. She has a bandana over her forehead, and long, deep violet hair up in an afro. She is alone, and standing defiantly. There are two others next to the woman that is like the White Shark–one of them the woman Yenniku had called Tusk-Breaker. In the shadows in a Zandalari troll with a strict-looking back braid.

The bladeguard leading the group draws her weapon.

The White Shark glances over.

Zar’Kaa draws his own weapons. Seria starts to cast [Hold Person].

She slams Yenniku against the wall and draws a longer sharkbone weapon.

He closes on the nearest bruiser and severs his arm, and then goes through and cuts off the man’s head with his spear.

The rest of the party are somewhat dumbstruck.

He then follows through and cuts into the second bruiser, rending his leg and slicing his throat.

The priestess blinks.

The White Shark snarls and another of the bruisers shoots an arrow at Seria. The White Shark tries to slam Zar’Kaa in the temple, but he brushes it off, and then tries to gut him. Her companions move in as well. However, Zar’Kaa is able to dodge the attacks.

Uther casts [Fire Bolt] at Tuskbreaker Yana, and it collides into her. One of the cutthroats gets under Zar’Kaa’s defenses and opens up a wound.

Yenniku gets shakily to his feet as other civilian trolls start to flee.

Seria casts hold person on the White Shark, Tuskbreaker Yana, and Bad Mojo Hojo. Both Hojo and Yana seize up, but the White Shark is able to break free.

The White Shark strikes at Zar’Kaa again, but is unable to land a hit.

Tol’vas casts [Conjure Animals] by enhancing it so he could cast in wolf form, and sixteen saurids start to leap out of the shadows. An arrow soars down from a sniper in the shadows and grazes Seria’s armor. However, she holds on to her hold person.

Vel just stares at the decapitated troll for a moment, and she and Remnii exchange a bewildered look. Vel then activates her bladesong and starts to approach one of the trolls trying to flank them–which is already surrounded by saurids. She casts [Toll the Dead].

One of the saurids is cut down.

Remnii summons a [Spiritual Weapon] and starts to creep up the stairs, taking in the carnage. The spiritual weapon swings at Tuskbreaker Yana as Remnii casts [Mind Sliver].

The priestess casts [Hold Monster] on the White Shark, who seizes up.

One of the bruisers suddenly disappears under a sea of saurids. The White Shark is able to break free of the paralysis. Yana is rapidly getting shred up by the saurids.

The White Shark starts to back up.

Seria drops [Hold Person] and steps forward, once again nabbing the White Shark and Hojo as she casts the spell again.

One of the sharpshooters shoots at Seria again, who manages to hold on to her spell. Yana manages to cut down three of the saurids.

Uther closes on one of the remaining bruisers and leaves him stunned with a glow of holy light. With another swing, Uther cracks the bruiser over the head–dropping him unconscious. He then quickens a [Thunder Step] and appears on the other side of the White Shark and Hojo–blocking their escape if they break free.

She casts [Command] on the unheld bruiser and cutthroat as well as Yana. They all throw their weapons down, and they all surrender.

The sniper turns and escapes.

Zar’Kaa approaches the White Shark, and the bladeguard also runs forward and pulls out gilded manacles to apprehend her and Hojo.

Seeing they were taken care of, Zar’Kaa opts to head over to Yenniku–who is starting to fully come to. He pulls out a dagger.

He looks somewhat concussed, and Zar’Kaa sheathes his weapons.

The saurids disperse and start to scavenge from the stalls. Vel and Uther both check their belongings to make sure nothing else was stolen from them.

Zar’Kaa pulls out one of his poultices.

Yenniku still looks beat up. Seria sits down to tend to some of her wounds, and Remnii also takes a look at her as well.

She continues to spit insults.

Yenniku holds up his hand.

He points at Yenniku.

He looks at Rive.

The priestess chuckles.

The ground starts to rumble, and at the far side of the thoroughfare is a massive creature. It’s a devilsaur–one that is very large and plated with black and golden armor It is charging down with a Zandalari warrior astride it. Rai is tailing behind all of them.

The warriors draw their large glaives and lock down the area.

The warrior drops from the devilsaur and lands on the stone, revealing ornate metal and leather armor. They have a beautiful glaive, and a shock of blue hair.

Rai approaches with an older Zandalari troll who has many braids woven ornately. Her eyes are clouded, and she looks at Vel–then squints.

She has a simple cane, and a spider crawls onto her hand.

The woman turns and looks with a wrinkled smile.

The woman turns and starts to walk away. But then she stops.

She then continues moving. Vel notes that there are several spiders living in her cloak, just hanging out.

Rive bows.

Rive smiles and then goes to head off.

Rive looks down at the wolf.

Rive turns and joins the others, and there is a quiet bickering between Rive and the spider-woman. However, Rive brushes off the concerns the older woman seems to have. The members of the White Shark’s Remora gang are taken away.

Rai makes his way over.

Yenniku furrows his brow.

Yenniku stares at Zar’kaa, looks at Rai, and glances around at the rest of the group.

After a bit, they arrive at a small flat that’s basically a hole-in-the-wall.

She pauses briefly before continuing–realizing how her statement could easily be misconstrued.

Yenniku visibly freezes.

There is obvious sarcasm in his voice. Seria promptly stands up and goes to punch Yenniku, who immediately backs up out of his chair and holds his hands up.

Yenniku looks around the group and sits up again.

Yenniku rolls his eyes.

Yenniku gathers up his stuff, and glances at Rai a few times while mumbling to himself. However, it doesn’t take him long to gather his things.

Yenniku snorts and claps Rai on the shoulder.

He shakes Rai’s shoulder, and Rai sighs. Seria taps Yenniku on the back of the head.

They stop by the embassy briefly and Yenniku informs them he’s clear.

Yenniku has his rucksack over his shoulder, and they head towards the Darkspear embassy. Vel notes, at one of the weapon stalls, two vrykul with sun-kissed tan skin and deep brown here. They are bartering over weapons, but are not wearing any clan emblems she recognizes. They also see some small, fox-like humanoids who were selling fried snakes.

Tol’vas walks over to Remnii and gives her puppy dog eyes. Remnii looks at Tol’vas then at Yenniku.

Yenniku looks dumbstruck, and Remnii offers to cover lunch for everyone.

Remnii looks at Vel for a long moment but then smiles and nods. Zar’Kaa also passes. Tol’vas points with his paw at one of the snakes, and Remnii also tries the snake. It’s actually quite good.

In the distance, they see a small village of temporary residents where the Darkspear are staying. Zar’Kaa takes a deep breath.

He waves the snake kabob at her.

She pulls out small crystals.

Yenniku takes the crystals.

Yenniku nods.

He’s rather dumbstruck, and speechless. Remnii smiles.

This page was last edited on July 22, 2023, at 03:43 PM

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