[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Nine

Appearing Characters: Aramar Thorne, Broll Bearmantle, Elissa Cross, Ember Flintlocke, Li Li Stormstout, Makasa Flintwill, Remnii, Reno Jackson, Riff, Samaara, Seria, Shandris Feathermoon, Syeori Sunwalker, Tae'shara Sunwatcher, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Wulf

June 3rd

As the battle in the hive continues, the fey dragon soars upward and starts to cast a spell as it materializes into view.

Tol’vas uses another gravity sinkhole on the wasps closest to him. The largest wasp has its thorax ripped from it, killing it immediately, and the swarm gets crushed while the sole remaining ones buzzes, dazed.

The hive tunneler next to Vel burrows into the ground to escape, and the swarm of black scarabs starts to swarm Uther, but they are unable to land a hit. The tunneler next to Remnii also tries to flee, but the guardian of faith squashes it.

It seems like the critically wounded members of the hive are in full retreat. In the chaos of this, the group hears a rumbling under the ground as explosives start to go off. It seems like some of the caves are collapsing down below.

Black scarabs start to crawl up on top of Seria, but she is able to smash them aside. However, the wasp next to her continues to try and sting her. A hive ravager leaps down into the basin now that it has a read on the battlefield and it hisses at Vel while a hive swarmer tries to lunge for Makasa.

A wasp swarm buzzes into Vel’s face in the midst of the cold snap but is unable to land a hit as it is buffeted by the icy winds. Makasa meanwhile gets assaulted by another wasp swarm. However, Seria grabs Makasa’s arm and casts dimension door. They disappear in a flicker of emerald energy before reappearing next to Uther.

The hive reaver that was on Seria swarms at Vel, but it is buffeted by the cold and opts to retreat. Another swarmer goes for Vel, but it is unable to find an opening between her arcane shield and her deft movements. Another swarmer unloads on Ember and is much more successful.

The scarabs on Vel start to bite her and she loses the concentration on the banishment. Another swarmer swarms but it is unable to land a hit. Seeing everyone else in the basin had gotten out, Vel also disappears in a swirl of arcane energy and reappears on the lip.

The hive starts to swarm after the group. Ember releases a firestorm on the open hive. A gauntleted claw of fire appears around her hand, and three circles of flame shoot up to the sky and shoot outward before a rain of fire opens up on the hive. It obliterates entire sections of the swarm.

It seems magic of that strength even affected the scarab swarms. Makasa heals Li Li with her poultices and a swig from a flask. Her eyes flicker open.

Remnii gets stung by a wasp, and Li Li heals herself and Makasa with a tealish blue mist in turn as she starts to run.

The queen, while injured, continues to pursue. It seems to speak in a vibrating tone, but it almost seems to be words. All the other members of the swarm look towards her.

Remnii starts to run and uses mass flash of light and the fey dragon starts to try and polymorph the queen, but she is seemingly able to resist. Uther gives the closest hive ravager a parting gift in the form of a smite. It staggers, its scythe-like talons digging into the earth, but he swings again, and then a third time with a quickened green-flame blade. This final strike leaves its head smashed into the ground as he hurls it back into the hive.

The fey dragon stays back to try and draw some attention before it disappears, but Tol’vas feels the connection between himself and the fey dragon start to sever. The wasp queen continues to whisper that strange language as she retreats, but Ember uses a wall of fire to try and block off some of the enemies.

Remnii casts another guardian of faith and both pushes and enhances it to make the image of a large nauru that serves as an even larger bug zapper. Meanwhile, Broll covers the rear by fending off some of the pursuing silithids.

Li Li works on keeping Broll up with the same tealish-blue mist she had conjured before.

Tol’vas gravity sinkholes behind the group as he continues to run, and Uther blesses several of his allies. Vel casts slow on some of the larger creatures, the signature spectral chains of her spell wrapping around them and bringing their pursuit to a crawl.

Seria casts sleep through her staff and several of the creatures behind them hit the ground as they are enshrouded by light green smoke.

Some of the biggest creatures are gaining, but Remnii triggers off a mind blast. A smoky undertone seeps from her eyes, and she clenches her fist in the air as a pulse radiates from it, and several intense emotions of dread surge within the swarm. One of the closest ones is kicked off its legs and thrown back.

The remnants of the swarm are dissuaded, and they start to return to the hive. The group doesn’t stop running until they reach the road.

Everyone seems to be, and there is a collective sigh of relief. Vel’s cold snap fades, and she wipes blood from her eyes, not winded at all.

However, Remnii feels a sharp pain in her arm, and she swats at a large mosquito. Everyone feels itchy and fatigued. Seria gets faint, and Riff catches her, but she realizes that her damage might have been more severe than she thought. Broll is still carrying Reno, but he sets him down.

She gestures to Li Li.

Remnii feels legs on her leg, and she shrieks as she sees more bugs. The bugs disappear as she shakes them off and she crushes one beneath her hoof. A bug crawls from behind Seria’s ear, and Vel sees one crawling out of her spellbook. She smashes it, and prestis her spellbook.

The start to set up camp, and the group picks through their stuff, but they just keep finding more. Seria lays down to try and go to rest, but there is a constant whisper at the very edge of her mind, and she jolts back awake. Two more bugs had crawled up her arms. She smashes them, but it seems they are unable to get any meaningful rest.

Vel starts to collect the bugs as they travel for another hour, and with some aid from the other keen eyes, Vel is able to track down the remainders of the insects.

Exhausted, the group resets their camp and settles in for their long rest. Syeori turns attention to Li Li.

She gestures to the amber-covered Reno being carried by Broll.

Ember smirks.

Tol’vas uses disguise self from the tattoo that Chen had created for him in order to look like Chen himself. Li Li hops up in excitement.

Li Li’s ears flatten against the side of her head and she paces.

Li Li’s ears droop for a second.

Suddenly, she stands straight up again.

Tae’shara chuffs.

Li Li laughs and gestures to the amber-petrified human.

Remnii takes a look, and it appears Reno is petrified inside the amber stone. Vel casts identify on the amber, and it appears he is not under the effects of any spells presently.

She looks specifically at the Explorer’s League.

Remnii smiles.

Syeori thinks for a moment.

Remnii withdraws a pouch of diamond dust and casts a greater restoration on Reno. The amber starts to glow, and then starts to melt, freeing the human inside. All of a sudden he jerks awake.

Remnii puts a finger over his mouth.

Reno rubs his eyes.

He tries to stand and then stumbles.

He is appraised of the situation, and he looks to the group.

He pulls a pouch out and unwraps it.

Li Li chuckles.

He tips his hat.

He holds up a figurine carved of pure, smooth diamond. It looks like a unicorn or dreamrunner.

Remnii whistles upon seeing it.

Reno looks at it and his lip quivers.

Remnii gently takes it and there is definitely something magical about it. She pulls out a few jewelers tools and examines it.

Vel reaches out to examine it.

Remnii indulges Reno and Li Li with an explanation as Vel examines the object. It’s a cousin of a figurine of wondrous power, and it appears to not be of this world. The diamonds have an otherworldly aura. It’s a figurine of magnificent mount--specifically the diamond unicorn. It can transform into a living and breathing unicorn for 24 hours that has no special loyalty to you, but if it accepts you, it will let you ride it. After 24 hours, it reverts to its form. The more evil you are, the less chance it has to accept you, and it may fight you.

Reno seems to get into a position clearly ready to weave a dramatic tale of adventure.

Tol’vas comments on the fact that the night elves never returned to currency, and Reno asks if they have a deal.

Remnii offers him a water skin and reminds him to eat. Reno gets caught up with Uther and some of the others.

Ember offers to erect a tiny hut as well, and while the group starts to get settled, Vel approaches Tae’shara as they are working.

Tae’shara raises an eyebrow.

She gestures to some of the thorny brambles in the distance.

Tae’shara furrows her brow.

Vel stares at her for a moment.

Tae’shara thinks for a moment.

Vel’s eyes flicker over to Syeori a small distance away.

Tae’shara crosses her arms.

Tae’shara chews on her lip.

Tae’shara puts her hands up.

Tae’shara nods.

Vel turns back to working on the domes, but Tae’shara chews on her lip for another second.

The group erects the tiny huts in preparation for their long rest, and the group had separated off into their respective domes.

Watches are ultimately quiet, and Vel settles into watch with Uther on third watch--having not slept as had been the case for the last several days. She’s examining the vials of blood she had managed to collect from the small insects that had been hounding them.

Her eyes flicker over to Uther with a faint smirk. Uther chuckles.

Vel smirks again.

As they’re speaking, she had been using magic to steep coffee as she had every morning.

Uther chuckles.

As the coffee finishes she dumps a vial of thick, red blood into it and takes a sip. Uther chuckles again.

Vel uses analyze blood on one of the vials of blood she had collected, and it is an aberration--an otherworldly creature. It seems like the creatures do carry diseases. It didn’t seem like anyone had been bitten, but just to be on the safe side, it wouldn’t hurt to disperse some lay on hands.

As the magenta glow of the magic fades, she speaks again.

Vel sighs, exasperated by the situation.

Uther starts to laugh.

Her analysis complete, Vel pulls out her spellbook to do some other minor things as they finish out their watch.

Tol’vas tries to dream Shandras, and he arrives in a lush, verdant plain hued in green. Shandris was laying in the low grass, and she starts up.

She blinks, looks around, and sees Tol’vas.

Shandris’s brow furrows.

Tol’vas swallows hard.

Shandris grits her teeth.

Shandris smiles and turns away, and fades into pollen blown on the wind of the dream.

June 4th

The group awakens and prepares to move on, and while the three mages work on phantom steeds Vel speaks up.

She and Uther go around with their lay on hands.

Broll nods.

Vel looks to Broll.

Broll nods.

Broll nods again.

Broll blinks in surprise.

Broll nods.

Remnii coughs and looks on in horror.

Remnii’s mouth feels dry, and she takes a drink of water.

He looks at Remnii in particular, who nods.

The group heads off the edge of the Gold Road. They travel for some time, and during a break in their travel, Remnii takes a quiet moment to speak with Broll.

There is a heavy look on Broll’s face as he nods.

Broll nods.

She chuckles softly but then settles down into a seat next to him.

Broll sighs.

Remnii was quiet, and a few silent tears were shed, but her expression fades into recognition.

He reaches into his pack and withdraws a small idol that was about a foot tall. It looks to be made of a jade-colored wood, and there is a gash nearly bisecting the middle of it. Otherwise it looks sort of like a dragon.

Broll looks at the idol and runs a large thumb over the gash.

Broll’s face contorts in disgust.

Broll gives a small, sad, and resigned smile.

Remnii stands and offers a hand to Broll.

Broll takes Remnii’s hand and stands, and she sets a hand on top of his.

She pats his hand, and Broll smiles softly as they part their ways and Broll puts the idol away.

As the group is resting why Remnii is talking to Broll, Uther reaches to go for his waterskin, and his hand touches something scaly. Uther immediately grabs it and tries to fling it, but the creature slips out of his grasp. As he turns around, he sees a small, lizard-like creature. Its body is covered in scales, and he sees a small raptor. It has a hearthstone in his claws, and then it zooms away and tries to run.

Uther tries to grab it, and it starts to try and run. Uther takes off after it.

Around the same time, Tol’vas and Seria noticed three other saurids creeping around and looking for other things they could peep into.

The saurids start to take off.

The group starts to try and outflank the saurids as they dash and dive, and they manage to surround them in a makeshift little nest. There are a number of gold pieces and some shiny bits and baubles, including Vel’s wand of arcane missile.

All the beady eyes turn to Uther, and for a moment they look on, and then one makes a loud screeching noise and they all start to bolt. One snaps up a nourishment bead it had stolen before running.

As Vel comes over to investigate, she sees her wand, looks down at her belt and sees it gone, and then curses as she retrieves it and puts it back in place.

They also see some additional gems and some very, very old coins as well as some that are goblin in origin.The group gathers up the spoils and then head off. However, Seria hears something and sees a bright red, teal-feathered saurid that poses at her. It’s obviously Riff. He curls up to ride with her for a bit.

During another break, Seria finds Vel easily enough. Upon noting her, Vel tilts her head slightly in acknowledgement.

A perplexed expression crosses Vel’s face, but she nods and closes the book that was open in her lap, shifting her full focus to Seria as she gets to her feet and they start to head a small distance away from the rest of their comrades in the pursuit of privacy. The elf’s attention shifts over the new tattoos that had appeared in Seria’s body--tattoos that she had assumed were simply new idle additions, but now she had other thoughts.

Seria looks around, doubly ensuring that no one else had followed, before she continues.

Vel inclines her head slightly.

Vel goes through her mental catalog of information, and she doesn’t know much about the trolls’ religion, but she does recall Rai mentioning things about a myriad of loa while he had been traveling with them. He also definitely mentioned a loa of death by the name of Bwonsamdi--one that was very important to the Darkspear.

Vel’s eyes narrow slightly.

As Vel is looking at Seria, there is a faint hint of magenta light seeping into the edges of her otherwise icy blue eyes.

Seria nods.

Seria shakes her head.

Vel’s mouth twitches, like she’s going to start chewing on her lip, but she catches herself and instead her hand comes to rest on her chin.

Seria nods again.

Vel sighs.

Vel’s mouth flaps for a moment.

Vel nods and takes a step back to recompose herself. The reddish glow in her eyes starts to fade away.

She senses Kel’Thuzad’s presence in the back of her mind, as he had been keenly paying attention to the conversation.

Vel’s eyes flicker to the new tattoos on Seria’s body.

Seria nods.

Vel’s eyes narrow slightly once more.

There is a pause as Vel surveys Seria for a moment.

Seria’s eyebrows raise.

Her eyes flicker down to the tusks around Seria’s neck.

Seria’s hand subconsciously touches the tusks and starts to play with them.

Vel nods and moves to go back to what she was doing, but she looks incredibly perturbed.

Seria returns to Riff.

The group continues on the next leg of the journey for the day, and they see something in the distance. It appears there is some strange energy on the wind, and the sun is starting to rise. Seria finds a very old piece of fabric, and as she touches it, it disintegrates, and as she looks further on, the area looks to be a very old battlefield. The signs of it are almost completely buried, but Seria had found it.

There are ancient signs of battle. Very, very old signs. Everything seems off, and there is a sense of uneasiness.

Tol’vas nods.

It’s a general uncomfortable feeling, and a sense that they shouldn’t linger in this particular place. It isn’t a sense that they are being watched, but it’s a sense of disquiet.

Vel leans down and takes some dirt between her fingers. She then looks at Uther.

Uther uses divine sense, and suddenly the area lights up. In the otherwise grown-over earth, he sees slashes through the ground. There are long divots and what appears to be faint traces of desecration in acute locations.

The sun is starting to rise on the horizon, but there doesn’t seem to be any creatures about that would draw Uther’s attention. The strongest pulse seems to be right in the center of the battlefield, but there is nothing visible to the naked eye.

Ember doubles back.

Ember sighs.

Tae’shara nods.

Seria does a quick scan with find traps before anyone starts, and she notes there is one thing in particular that was not intended to be dangerous but absolutely is. However, it was fortunately only one thing.

Tol’vas, meanwhile, summons eight giant badgers which come out of an opened portal in a single line. The first one gives Tol’vas a sagely nod, and then they move to start digging as commanded.

Wulf also goes over to Tae’shara and holds out a hand.

He then goes and starts to dig, alongside Broll and Uther who also get shovels. Remnii ensures everyone stays hydrated. As they work, Wulf glances over to Uther.

Uther chuckles.

Wulf chuffs.

Wulf chuffs again.

Wulf leans on his shovel as he takes a swig of water.

Wulf wipes water out of his beard, which has only been growing more and more as the group travels.

However, as Uther is excavating, he suddenly hits something metal.

Tae’shara looks over.

She lifts up a helmet, which Tol’vas immediately recognizes as an old, weathered helmet that would have been worn by one of the kaldorei resistance. As Ember brushes more silt away from what Uther had found, they see a very sharp, jagged edge. As more dirt is moved aside, it is revealed to be a blade of some sort, but it was too large for anyone of their size to wield.

Tol’vas explains the helmet Tae’shara found was from the kaldorei resistance.

She is handling it even more carefully than she was.

She sets it down.

Aramar shakes his head the moment he finished speaking, blinking and what he just said to Tae’shara, but he quickly marks down the location on the map he had been drawing as the group traveled.

As the group continues to remove more earth around the blade, the full scope of the weapon comes to light. The blade itself is easily the size of a ballista bolt, and it almost looks like one at first, but the metal that makes up its shaft is pure black, and all the damage to it seems to be old, but wear and tear does not seem to have affected the weapon as much as the other remnants.

Broll furrows his brow at it.

Almost as Broll says it, it comes to Vel’s mind. It seems the weapon is exactly one half of a glaive, and it is still resonating with malevolent energy.

Tol’vas frowns.

Tae’shara looks at the massive glaive, and then back to Tol’vas.

Remnii knows a hallow spell would likely be able to help, but that would take a long time to cast. However, it’s clear that the weapon is likely causing the most damage in the area, and if it were to be removed, the land would slowly heal. Tol’vas knows there is magic that could dispose of things like this, especially seeing it was already damaged. He also gets the sense that if it were struck with something equally as hard as it, it would probably be destroyed.

After some discussion, the group decides to try a joined effort to destroy the glaive. Remnii uses guidance on Tol’vas, and Seria uses guidance on herself, before Tol’vas uses remove curse and Seria uses dispel magic on the glaive. In that moment of weakness, Uther swings his hammer around, channeling the power of the Light through Light’s Vengeance. The coronet of justice appears over Uther’s head as the hammer strikes into the side of the glaive. For a brief second, it just resonates, and it a hurts a lot, but he pushes through the pain as the light flashes through the glaive. But then then, tiny spider cracks of light appear through the glaive, and then it shatters into three large pieces and a menagerie of shards.

What’s left of the glaive goes clattering across the battlefield, and they feel the unsettling presence of the area start to fade.

Uther smiles.

He moves over to inspect the fragments, and Vel starts to move over to help, but Uther was already on top of it. The fragments are warm, but not painfully so, and it seems that stripping it of both the magic and latent fel energy at the time of its destruction had caused that corruption to disperse, leaving only twisted, black metal. The remnants were not innately magical on their own, but they could be used to create chaotic weapons in turn, or otherwise repurposed.

Uther opts to keep the fragments after Vel runs a cautionary identify on the shards and determines the same.

It would be hard to repurpose, as whoever would do it would have to rework some very strong metal, but it was ultimately possible.

Tol’vas opts to use plant growth over the area to speed up its recovery as well. The grass begins to grow very rapidly, and the bushes and shrubbery bristle outward and start to reclaim some of the battlefield.

The group then continues on to cover the last two hours of their travel.

Remnii looks to the sky, somewhat pensive.

The sun continues to rise in the distance, inching well above the horizon as the group comes to the conclusion of the remaining leg of their journey. They are off the beaten path, and are about two days out from Camp Taurajo.

As the group is settling in to set up camp, Tol’vas approaches Broll.

Broll nods.

Broll sighs, and his broad shoulders sink slightly.

Tol’vas’s eyebrows knit together.

Tol’vas is aware of the wild god brothers, Ursoc and Ursol, and it would make sense that Ursol--who lost his brother during the War of the Ancients--would not abandon someone who had lost friends and possibly family as well. However, as for other wild gods, it varies, but Broll seemed to be a legitimately good person, so there was likely something more to it, especially given how gifted Broll seems to be.

Broll offers a sad smile.

Tol’vas gives Broll a sad smile in turn.

Broll closes his eyes to think before speaking again. He smiles.

Tol’vas stands up.

He puts a hand on Tol’vas’s shoulder and gives it a firm, but gentle squeeze. He then turns to start to head back.

Broll stops to listen.

Broll hears his words, and looks up at the sun to take a deep breath, but says nothing further as he heads back towards the group. However, he seems thankful.

A bit later, Remnii approaches Uther.

Remnii is holding her staff loosely.

Remnii chuckles.

They move to a more open area, and Remnii is fondly reminded of the sparring matches between herself and Arthak. She seems to be in a good mood.

Everyone in camp is looking on in interest. Samaara rolls her eyes and sits down in mild amusement.

There is some laughter, and Remnii puts her hair back in a big ponytail before leveling her staff. Tae’shara, meanwhile, is starting up some bets at 10 to 1 or 20 to 1 that Uther will win this.

There are some other bets, but nothing hugely significant.

It’s decided that the sparring match will be first hit, and they opt to not use magic.

Uther starts to run at Remnii and brings his weapon up, and Remnii winces and brings her quarterstaff up in preparation. She manages to get Uther right beneath his guard as he was coming for her, and baps him perfectly on the side of the neck (due to a natural 20!). Her staff surges with Light in response to the connection.

There is a moment of complete silence before Elissa shouts out.

Uther laughs heartily.

Tae’shara’s mouth drops and she drops the handful of coins in her hand.

Remnii pats Uther on the shoulder and casts cure wounds on him.

Everyone laughs and starts to go back to their own business. Samaara smirks and shakes her head as she walks away.

Uther rubs his neck and Remnii looks down.

She looks back to Tae’shara with a smile, who hastily shakes her head and pats her coin purse.

Remnii laughs.

Remnii’s countenance slows down as they start to walk around camp.

Uther chuckles.

Remnii’s face runs a gambit of emotions, but ends in a sheepish laugh.

Remnii nods with an understanding smile.

She smiles earnestly.

Remnii’s smile dims with a great deal of purpose.

Her mind drifts to some of the Explorer’s League folk.

Uther chuckles.

The duo heads back to camp.

Uther embraces Remnii and also picks her off the ground for a moment. Remnii squeals in surprise.

Hilariously, at the sound, Samaara immediately stopped what she was doing and stood up to look in the direction Remnii’s squeal had come from. After she made note that Remnii was alright, she once more returned to what she was doing.

However, as Uther and Remnii start to head to the site of the domes, Tol’vas approaches.

They also stroll to offer themselves a bit of privacy.

Tol’vas pauses for a moment.

She gestures for Tol’vas to continue.

Tol’vas nods.

Tol’vas nods again.

Remnii cocks her head in thought.

Remnii offers him a smile.

Remnii gives him another earnest smile before they head back to camp.

This page was last edited on August 28, 2021, at 12:04 PM

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