[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Forty-Two
Appearing Characters: Aramar Thorne, Imonar, Karrga, Liiraluma, Maraad, Medivh, Makasa Flintwill, Malus, Naielle, Remnii, Romuul, Seria, Sironas, Ssarbik, Ssavra, Throgg, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner
July 31st
The group takes a moment to take a deep sigh of relief, realizing they had, in fact, managed to defuse all the magical explosives. Maraad immediately goes over to Remnii and pulls her into a hug as she stands, looking around at the Exodar. Remnii freezes, and then shakes as she starts to sniffle and cries into his armor.
Remnii sniffles again, looking quite distressed, but she releases the hug after the paladin heals her with his lay on hands.
She keeps a hand on Maraad as she looks to the rest of the group.
Remnii nods.
Maraad bows with a nod.
The group agrees to maybe take a moment to rest as well so Remnii can coordinate information back to Azure Watch and also to Elissa. Vel goes over to the ur’zuls and gets more of a sample size of their venom and then starts to look for any clues of other activity or the whereabouts of where the missing members of the Rangari might have been taken along with Medivh, Seria, and Makasa.
The blink foxes also help while they are around, searching for any signs of movement. There are signs of salvage teams, but no more signs of conflict or any enemies. However, from what Seria can tell, there is foot traffic. Some of it had been hidden, but there is also evidence of large creatures like ogres moving through the area in one specific area. Vel and Medivh are unable to find exact evidence of where the other Rangari may have been--the area cleared much in the same way the priestess’s attack site had been. However, as they investigate the area where Seria had been looking, something catches Vel’s attention: the ground is upended and broken, and there are draenic sigils that seem to be a teleportation circle. It’s been broken, though it could be repaired. The glyphic edges seem to connect to the walls, and there are strange tablets in the area that the glyphs seem to connect to. The entire chamber is humming with conjuration magic.
Vel takes a closer look at the glyphs and they seem to have been mostly destroyed in the crash, but there is some sort of tampering that would indicate someone had tried to do something with it. The magic done on it was… off. It appears to be fel in origin. There are small amendments to the teleportation circle. Medivh also takes a look.
Vel starts to cast [Identify], and she feels a spike of activity and a mental disruption that strikes her mind. She just got hit with a [Mind Spike], which seems to have been a permanent contingency placed on it. It had been attuned to a specific person--the lingering energies of the teleportation circle had been rerouted to a specific individual.
He starts to analyze the runes, and Vel is able to note that the runic codes are attached to one of the long, flat, transparent panels in the corner.
He glances around at the magical technology.
Medivh glances at the transparent panel.
Vel takes a quick look at the panel, and it does not seem to be powered. The crash had made the power nonfunctioning, and it’s unclear how that could be bypassed.
Medivh and Vel return near the end of the hour while the others were resting.
Remnii nods.
He looks at Tol’vas and Seria.
Tol’vas and Seria both express they can cast [Transport via Plants] again, and Remnii opts to send Romuul.
About ten minutes go by, and in the meanwhile Seria plants her staff and morphs it into a magnificent fir tree.
Remnii relays that the person needs to wait by a specific tree, and they wait long enough for the artificer to get the that tree before Tol’vas casts [Transport via Plants] on the dragonleaf fir tree. A few moments later, a tall figure steps through.
It’s the draenic artificer that Vel had met--the pale lilac, androdgynous draenei with dark purple hair. They are carrying a toolbox and have a sleeveless black turtleneck.
Remnii and Luma converse in quick draenic and Luma looks at the group.
Vel starts to lead the way, but then Luma sighs and turns to the rest of the party.
He bows, and Luma looks down at him.
She points at Vel, and the others also introduce themselves before Luma heads into the translocation chamber. There is a string of curse words as well as “fuck” as they the mess it’s in. The draenei starts to get to work, and Vel watches the clear expertise the draenei has. At some point they hold up a tool to Vel.
They then looks at Maraad and Uther.
Maraad looks at Uther.
The two paladins heave the crystal over and Luma takes the tool back and starts to work away at rigging the crystal up to the panel. There are some glitches at first, which they quickly work their way through. Tol’vas starts to duck away.
They are able to determine that someone had rerouted an external power supply of extreme power from a vast distance away--which diluted the power and rerouted its functionality to another location. It’s terribly dangerous and not good for any of the devices involved.
Only a few things could put out enough energy to do that, and most likely one of the vector coils would be the object to be used--however, the lingering functionalities here could trace the power source and open a very temporary, tenuous gateway.
They point off after Tol’vas.
The group is gathered.
Remnii nods.
Aramar furrows his brow.
Luma raises an eyebrow.
They slap the top of the device.
Luma sighs.
Medivh nods.
She looks at Vel, Seria, Tol’vas, and Medivh.
Luma looks at Seria.
Vel chuffs.
Maraad looks at everyone.
Vel ritual casts [Telepathic Bond], catching everyone except Maraad and Makasa.
Medivh starts to connect with the magics of the area, and sparks start to rain off the crystals. Medivh grits his teeth and magic starts to course around them. They all feel pressure on the back of their skulls, and the sparks dance across their flesh as he tries to focus. The magic is almost a bit too much. There is a pulse of magic, and they [Teleport]--hurling through the leylines.
There is a significant amount of magic around them as they find themselves in a blood red grove--forcibly ejected from a crashed piece of draenic technology with a blast of arcane magic. There is a massive, scintillating coil of energy and oscillating panels above them. They quickly realize they are not alone.
To their immediate right are two ogres: one a male with a gray pontrail, and the other a female with a massive greatsword. Beyond them is a human--Malus. At the center of the oscillating panels is a draenei with Rangari armor, her black-violet hair pulled back.
Malus blinks.
He holds his hand out, and in a surge of shadowy energy and fel fire, a blade of jet back energy appears in his hand. Sironas types a few things into the vector coil’s panel before grabbing a bow from her back.
She whistles, and two small bushes part as a large ur’zul charges in. There is chittering of ravenspeech from the woods nearby.
Medivh generates a [Wall of Force] around Luma.
Ssavra, one of the arakkoa, chirps at her brother.
She casts [Shield of Faith] as a jet-black shield of pure shadow covers the other arakkoa’s body.
Vel runs for one of the ogres and promptly slices into him with a [Heart Strike], but as she strikes again, the ogre grabs her blade and shoves it aside. Malus shoots at her with a pistol he had pulled from his belt. It seems to be propelled with shadowy energy.
Ssarbik drops to his knees and exalts in a language no one understands as four vaguely humanoid shapes emerge from the darker shadows of the woods and foliage.
Makasa runs to back Vel up at the ogre, but she swings and her harpoon jus bounces off the creature’s thick armor and flab.
Meanwhile, the shadows start to close on the group and Sironas types something into the panel. The oscillating steel blades go faster and faster as the vector coil powers up. Everything crackles, and magic jolts off in every direction.
Suddenly there is a blast of lightning that spikes from the trees and jolts through Vel, dropping her temporarily down to one knee. A massive fel lord steps from the trees in the distance, carrying a massive weapon that is coursing with electricity. Bright green eyes shine beneath the shadow of his hood.
Medivh steps towards the shadows.
He flips his staff around and sends a [Lightning Bolt] careening through Sironas, the fel lord bounty hunter, and the massive ur’zul. The lightning crackles through them, and a shadow claws at Medivh, but he swings his cape--deftly dodging aside.
The bounty hunter shoots at Vel again, but it glances off the ground at her feet. The ur’zul runs into the oscillating vector coil, trying to close on the group.
Sironas looks at Remnii and spins an arrow between her fingers. She attaches a small device to it, and then grins wildly as she fires at Remnii. Remnii narrowly evades it and the arrow collides on the stone behind her, erupting into flame. Her second shot also misses, but her her third attack connects even as Maraad tries to intercept the damage.
The arrow pierces her arm, opening a bleeding wound. Remnii braces herself against Maraad and casts a 7th level [Mass Cure Wounds]. She then uses gift of the naaru on Makasa.
Malus waves his hands and shadows start to seep around Vel, Makasa, Aramar, and the two ogres as he casts [Scatter]. Vel is able to resist, but Makasa and the two ogres get shafted back to the rest of the group while Aramar appears right next to Malus.
Malus looks at Vel with dead tired eyes.
Vel feels a shadowy weight on her and the bounty hunter fires another lightning shot at her, which again goes wide. The female ogre looks down at Uther.
Uther rounds on her with his hammer and then looks at Tol’vas and Seria.
Tol’vas sighs.
He then runs for Malus and quickens [Hold Person] on the man, forcing the spell through. However, with a flick of his wrist, Malus shatters the bindings.
Malus clicks his tongue and slashes at Uther. There is a surge of shadow magic that seems to pass through Uther’s armor. He then holds up his pistol and shoots at Vel, which goes wide.
She snarls, clearly being snarky. Meanwhile, Medivh shoves a shadow back with Atiesh.
Throgg sweeps his weapon around and then brings it down on Remnii, but it pierces the ground next to her. Tol’vas uses [Wrath of Nature], overgrowing the ground around the ground. A rock is thrown at the back of Karrga’s head, knocking her to her knees. A tree then wallops against Karrga and Malus, branches clawing at their flesh and wrapping roots around Karrga as Malus slashes vines aside.
The fel lord bounty hunter fires at Tol’vas, but the shot goes wide, and Karrga struggles against the roots.
She swings at Tol’vas while restrained, but the attacks glance harmlessly off the shield on his arm. Meanwhile, the shadows go for Medivh, and one manages to claw through his defenses.
Seria cracks her neck and transforms into a giant scorpion. With a flurry of attacks and screeching, Seria unloads a full round of claw and stinger attacks--shredding open wounds as the ogre is helpless on the ground.
Maraad brings his hammer down on the nearest shadow, exploding it in a flash of light as he carries the attack over to Throgg.
Medivh moves through the shadows and casts [Arcane Blast], destroying two of the remaining shadows and blasting Throgg--which also yanks the ogre closer.
The vector coil continues to power up and motes of arcane energy start to shoot around, blasting into various people. The fel lord continues to approach Vel and he shoots a canister over her head--landing at Tol’vas’s feet and then surging with a pulse of arcane energy. It enraptures Maraad, who winces and freezes up. He then fires his shock lance at Tol’vas.
Sironas whistles and she points at Tol’vas as she attaches another device to her arrow as she fires. It slams into Tol’vas and explodes in a jet black ichor that covers him, restraining his limbs. She fires two more shots, peppering him with arrows.
Makasa swings her harpoon at Throgg, stabbing him with two deft strikes.
Lightning crackles around Vel and she bursts a surge of mana to expel the crackling effect before she casts [Steel Wind Strike], dropping Karrga and slashing into both the ur’zul and fel lord before she appears next to the ur’zul--straight in the midst of the dynamo.
The fel lord shoots a bola at Vel, but she slices it in half.
Remnii uses her channel divinity to heal up Tol’vas and partially herself.
The bounty hunter sees Remnii start to edge forward and he runs toward her, firing off another electric shock.
Uther runs for the fel lord--Imonar the Soulhunter--and swings his hammer into him. The hammer crackles with holy light and knocks him back.
He snarls, his attention now on Uther. He grabs Uther’s hammer, but the human checks his arm and smashes the hammer into his chest with another brilliant flash. Uther swings a third time, quickening [Green-Flame Blade] as he smites the demon again. Sironas continues to rain alchemical arrows, leaving Maraad momentarily stunned.
Meanwhile, Vel is sparring with the massive ur’zul, and it bites at her, but with a clang she parries the slobbering bite aside.
The last shadow slashes at Medivh, tearing aside more of his strength.
He cracks it with his staff, and it bursts into shadow.
Throgg turns and starts to sprint at Vel, but Makasa stabs him in the back of the leg with her harpoon.
Throgg growls and hurls a javelin at Makasa, but it misses.
Ssarbik notes Vel and creeps forward, then casts [Mental Prison]. Vel’s deepest fears start to creep into her mind, but her eyes flash, and she counters the spell. Ssarbik balks and backs away. Ssvara dives into the dynamo and tries to infect Vel’s mind with madness, but she steels her mind against it and it fails to take hold.
Malus strikes at Aramar with a few slashes.
Aramar slashes into him in return and they continue to dance around each other. However, Malus’s eyes flicker toward the rest of the group and he starts to cast [Mind Sear]. Medivh, however, looks over and promptly counters it.
Medivh is panting.
Seria closes on Imonar and attacks him, grappling him in her claws.
The vector coil is now growing incredibly brightly and Vel is thrown from the center of the dynamo and sent sprawling across the ground.
She shouts at Maraad, who manages to shrug off his stunned state.
Malus closes on Vel.
He stabs his blade into her, but Uther uses [Righteous Defense] to take the blows.
Medivh casts a [Fire Bolt] at Ssarbik, which scorches his feathers and the arakkoa squawks loudly. Tol’vas casts [Wraith of Nature] again, and Malus manages to counter it. However, he has to use a great deal of energy to do so. Tol’vas growls and opts to gather the remnants of magic and cast [Rejuvenation] on Remnii instead. He then plants his bear totem.
A [Shadow Bolt] comes careening at Vel from Ssarbik, and it strikes into her.
Malus strikes down at Vel again, but she is able to deflect him from the ground, and he shoots at Uther but the attack goes wide. Imonar struggles against Seria, but is unable to break free.
The ur’zul runs through the oscillating blades and unleashes a flurry of attacks on Vel. She drops to the ground beneath the barrage, her body ravaged by the creature's fangs, and Imonar tries to hurl his grenade on the ground, but Seria strikes his hand with her stinger.
Sironas shoots at Remnii and she goes sprawling to the ground. She then fires twice at Tol’vas, sending him sprawling down as well. Aramar runs at Malus and grabs him by the ponytail and yanks him backwards.
He strikes into Malus with a critical hit and drives him into the ground and drags him away. Aramar strikes again and again, unloading a series of attacks. Malus tries to protect himself from the assault, but Aramar is bringing his sword down over and over again. He then heals Remnii. Seria continues to wrestle with Imonar.
In a fury, Uther unleashes a series of attacks that completely obliterates the ur’zul, and it bursts into golden sparkles. All that remains is an old draenic doll that falls onto Vel’s still chest. He then swings into Imonar with another flash of holy radiance.
The bounty hunter remains standing.
He swings again, and the demon splits in a column of light.
He flicks a switch, and his shock lance beeps. Ssavra moves forward and gets in a defensive position. She reaches out and tries to inflict Uther with madness, but it fails.
Remnii conjures a 5th level [Death Coil] which she hurls at Vel, whose eyes open, and she sees a children’s toy on her chest.
Throgg rounds on Makasa and swings into her.
Imonar’s weapon continues to beep, and Seria jumps on it--completely nerfing the explosion as it washes over her carapace. Sironas shoots at Remnii, her aim getting shaky.
The vector coil swirls, sparking and exploding in radiant energy which blasts Vel on her back again as her consciousness wavers once more. Uther runs over and pumps his lay on hands into Remnii before charging for Ssavra. He quickens a [Thunder Step], exploding the spell on Ssvara so he can close on Sironas.
Throgg backs away from Makasa and shoves Tol’vas out of the way. He grabs Karrga’s body and starts to run towards the dynamo. However, Tol’vas strikes at him with his staff--leaving the ogre barely alive. Medivh launches a fire bolt at Throgg, which sends him spilling to the ground. Aramar continues to swing at Malus over and over again, who is still trapped under him.
Ssarbik casts [Blink] and appears next to Ssavra.
Malus looks up at Aramar.
Maraad goes over to Remnii and also pumps his lay on hands into her.
He then casts gift of the naaru on Tol’vas.
Malus suddenly teleports out from beneath Aramar and reappears next to the two arakkoa and unconscious ogres.
Malus then casts [Plane Shift] on himself and the rest of his crew, and they disappear. Tol’vas casts [Banishment] on Sironas. He tries to push it, but she resists.
Tol’vas drops back, extremely winded. Remnii casts another 5th-level [Death Coil] on Vel, bringing her back to consciousness.
Remnii runs through the oscillating blades, as does Seria, who closes on Sironas. The panels swirl and pulse, throwing Remnii straight back to Maraad.
Vel gets shakily her feet, her armor and body covered in her own blood, and uses [Blink] to close on Sironas.
She strikes with her sword, her eyes burning a bright magenta, and Remnii gets to her hooves as well and casts [Exorcism] on Sironas. Tol’vas casts [Call Lightning] and it rains down on Sironas.
She fires at Vel in melee, but Vel deflects it with [Shield]. She grabs Vel’s arm and tries to jab her in the gut with an arrow, but it gets redirected to Uther who used [Righteous Defense].
Sironas starts to cackle.
She drops to her knees.
With a strike of Uther’s hammer, Sironas is knocked on her back, just in time for Vel and Seria to drive their blade and stinger into her chest. The fel green light leaves the woman’s eyes.
The vector coil flashes one more time, and Uther, Vel, and Remnii are tossed out of the dynamo and sent sprawling across the ground. At that moment, Liiraluma dives in, Medivh having dropped the wall of force and immediately works on defusing the system. There is a beeping, harmonious sound, and the vector coil shuts down.
As the adrenaline of the battle fades, it seems the area is secure.
There are also sounds of battle nearby--and there is a pathway. In the distance, there is unmistakable sheen of armor, and they see draenei starting to approach. A satyr comes running out of a tree, and it hits the ground--three arrows in its back.
Exarch Naielle exits from the trees after it, and she nods in their direction.
Makasa runs over to Aramar.
Aramar grins.
He holds out his hand, and there is a compass dangling from it--the point the same color as the diamond blade.
