[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Thirty-One
Appearing Characters: Califax, Drelanim Whisperwind, Elissa Cross, Kel'Thuzad, Kor'vas Bloodthorn, Medivh, Remnii, Seria, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner
Appearing Creatures: Lampad, Wildkin
July 27th
Vel had identified several alcoves in this wing that seem to be colder and sealed off--which is likely where anything that needed to be preserved would be. There are weapon and armor racks in various places as well, and anything that is expressly powerful seems to be in more secure locations.
They also note some other items strewn about that seem to be of various import. Remnii’s eyes fall upon the Exodar Lifestaff--the staff of the Prophet Velen. Vel sees a long, brown, black, and red mantle that has a tall hood on it that is on an armor staff along with an imperious staff with a wooden raven on top of it--it’s the Guardian’s staff Atiesh and what is also likely his mantle.
Seria discretely casts [Find Traps], and it seems that all the high-security areas have a trap of some sort to prevent people from tampering with them without the correct security clearance. She informs Vel right at the moment as the Watchers start to raise an alarm.
The wing overseer looked toward the group--namely Seria and Vel.
The overseer’s eyes narrow.
She reaches down to grab her moonblade, and there is the sound of scuffling and rapid movement as Kor’vas goes to spin kick the closest Watcher. The Watcher grabs a handful of paper and throws it in Kor’vas’s face, but the woman seems completely unaffected.
Vel, in something of a starvation-induced panic, runs for the refrigerated alcove--using [Shield] to deflect an attack from a Watcher aside--and tears into her vial case inside, downing a vial of blood.
Seria transforms into a giant spider and leaps on the overseer, driving her fangs into the night elven woman with a screech.
A Sentinel whistles to a sentry and scout.
Two night elves run out, followed by an owl companion, but the moment they run out a burst of powder covers them and they start to running into each other and get completely confused as the fairy interferes.
The overseer backs away from Seria to try and line up a shot, but Seria manages to get another bite as she retreats. The overseer fires off two poisoned arrows, but the poison fails to take hold. She kicks over some things in the room to make difficult terrain. Another scout fires off at Seria--identifying the spider as the current biggest threat.
A scout engaged with Elissa slices into her, trying to disarm her--but is unsuccessful. Tol’vas finds a stick to use with [Shillelagh] and then swings at the nearest Watcher scout. She grunts and then looks up at Tol’vas with vengeance. She tosses her bow aside and then swings at Tol’vas with her moonblade, sending him sprawling backwards off the table.
A Watcher sentry draws a dagger and starts to push Uther back as she swipes at him with it. Elissa draws the longsword her mother gave her.
She swings at the scout engaged with her and knocks her on the side of the temple with the pommel with her blade, knocking her out, and then following through to the sentry that Kor’vas had been engaged with--knocking her unconscious as well.
Uther runs over and grabs Remnii, then uses [Thunder Step] to get her back to safety, which sends debris flying everywhere and knocking the elite Sentinel back. Remnii thanks Uther and then hurriedly retrieves the Warden stone from Vel before running over to the high-security cage that has the lifestaff in it. She then casts [Blessing of Salvation] on herself.
The Watcher overseer shoots Seria twice.
Vel’s eyes are on the unconscious Watchers, the scent of blood in the air, and she has to actively resist the urge to run over to feast on one of the downed individuals. It’s incredibly difficult, her willpower starting to cave against the instinct to feed, but she is able to and then quickly downs two vials of hydra blood, the Hunger lessening enough for her to be in control.
Uther grabs something to use as a crude flail and he smashes it into the elite Sentinel. One of the sentries runs over to back her up. One of the scouts keeps the fire up on Seria as Kor’vas leaps onto the table and starts brawling with the sentry that had tried to disarm Uther.
Seria leaps onto the elite Sentinel and bites her.
Tol’vas runs after the sentry, who tries to throw papers into his face, but he is able to knock her unconscious and send her sprawling over the floor.
Kor’vas smirks, and Remnii holds up the warden stone to open up one of the cages. Remnii grabs the Exodar lifestaff before retreating away from the cage. Vel, now in control of her facilities, drops her vial case to her side--blood still dripping from her face--and steps over the groaning, unconscious Sentinels. She grabs the Warden key from Remnii and races over to the other cage.
She looks over to the remaining Watcher scout, who nods and escapes to go raise the alarm. However, the Overseer is staying to fight, and Kor’vas closes to engage. The Overseer catches her foot with her bow, deflecting two attacks away. Seria, however, runs forward and manages to knock the Overseer unconscious with another bite.
Vel opens the other cage and grabs her ring as well as Medivh’s belongings. The robes are heavy and powerful, and Vel quickly throws the mantle on to carry. Tol’vas tries to make himself a wand out of a root to use as a focus while Uther and Elissa put their armor on.
The staff hums with power as soon as Vel touches it--as if it seeks to attune to her. Vel immediately does so, and the eyes on the raven flash. There is a pulse of magic that pushes things away as arcane energy courses through Vel. It’s agonizing, but then it’s over.
Kor’vas looks about for a short period.
She runs over and grabs some narrow, black warglaives. She kisses each of them on the flat of the blade.
Remnii is hugging the Exodar lifestaff in both hands and she trots over to Elissa then produces the holy symbol that Morra had given her.
Elissa’s eyes widen as she takes the symbol.
She closes her hand around it.
Remnii nods and hugs the staff closer as Elissa puts the holy symbol on.
Elissa looks at Uther.
Remnii casts a quick [Mass Flash of Light], and Elissa uses some lay on hands on Uther. Vel also ritual-casts [Telepathic Bond]--connecting the entire group telepathically.
Vel starts to try and help Kor’vas on find their route down to the Guardian by strategically using the routes of the Wardens and Watchers to figure out where the most secure areas are. Tol’vas, as a wolf, picks up a scent from Medivh’s staff, and Kor’vas strategically knocks out Sentinels and Watchers to clear out their path.
Using the routes that Vel was able to determine, Seria--in spider form--sets up some web traps that start to interfere with the patrols. Uther is able to polymorph Sentinels that had found them into sheep, which buys them time.
During one instance, Remnii is able to redirect some Sentinels to where there was chaos by barking orders at them in her Watcher disguise, and the Sentinels don’t even question it in the chaos. Elissa stops for a second and speaks with a mole to see where some older prisoners might be and is able to get some information. The group continues to move downwards--descending deeper into the further reaches of the depths. It takes about an hour, but they are moving like a well-oiled machine. The caverns here are more natural. They start to hear the sound of water, and Remnii’s nose is starting to get stuffy as there are mushrooms around.
They enter a larger subterranean cave that is quite well-lit. There are beautiful violet flowers and plants that serve to illuminate what would be an otherwise very dark place. There is a stone bridge that had been laid across the running water. The water is slightly iridescent and reminiscent of the Well of Eternity at the surface. To the north, there is a waterfall that spills into the stream. Across the way, Vel notes another cave, but it’s deliberately set as if it’s an entrance to something. There are two pillars that seem to be statues of some sort of female deity nearby--likely Elune.
The group starts to cross the bridge, but there is motion, and a figure steps out from the shadows across the way. She appears to be a Warden.
She notes the druids in the group. The woman is scrutinizing all of them.
The Warden narrows her eyes.
She narrows her eyes at Vel, and for the briefest second she makes a sigil with her hand. Two long claws extend from her bracers, and arrows start to launch in the group’s direction. There is also a sharp whistle, and there is a roar. One of the stones beyond the lights starts to shift and move.
Kor’vas jumps onto the edge of the bridge and starts to race forward and then then jumps up the side of the stone. She draws her warglaives and starts to attack the Warden. Sparks fly as her blades are deflected by the hand claws, but Kor’vas slams her hand into the Warden’s chest and stuns her.
A jet black Sentinel owl soars down and flies into Vel’s face, but she is able to throw it off. She then sees creatures lumbering on all fours that then releasing a howling roar. One of them is heading towards Kor’vas. Vel also runs up the wall to back up Kor’vas as the wildkin den mother starts to run for Vel.
Tol’vas catches the scent of the hidden attackers, which Tol’vas alerts the rest of them via the telepathic bond. Remnii casts [Power Word: Shield] on Seria, and a thin shield of Light appears around her. She then turns to the wilkin den mother and uses [Mind Sliver]. It shakes its head and makes a noise, clearly affected by Remnii’s spell.
A Sentinel owl flies by Vel, trying to distract her, and a Watcher Elite fires a volley of arrows down on Tol’vas, Seria, Elissa, and Remnii. Meanwhile, another Watcher Elite fires at Vel. However, Vel deflects it with [Shield], and the Watcher opts to instead fire at Kor’vas--who slices the arrow out of the air.
Seria skitters around Tol’vas and also starts to climb on the side of the stonework. Seria bites at the den mother. Tol’vas uses [Roar], a howl echoing through the chamber as he snaps at one of the Sentinel owls and drops it to the ground--unconscious.
Elissa then uses [Blink]to get next to Kor’vas and Vel and then turns on the smaller wildkin. She tries to shove it off the side of the rocks, but it grabs onto her shield with its beak. One of the other wildkin snaps onto Tol’vas’s leg.
Uther runs forward and uses [Web of Fire]. Light’s Vengeance bursts into flame and he slams the hammer into the ground, sending cracks running through the ground that explode into a burst of fire.
Kor’vas strikes twice into the Warden, who is stunned again and sent sprawling off the rock. The wilkin engaged with Elissa grabs Kor’vas with its claw and throws her into the water. She laughs as she swan dives into the water. Rocks start to crumble with the weight of the wildkin, but both Vel and Elissa stay standing.
Vel swings around with her blade into the wildkin den mother with two strikes and then channels energy through Atiesh to quicken a [Steel Wind Strike]. She swirls around, knocking out a wildkin, the wild kin den mother and the nearby sentinel owl as well as damaging the Warden and another wildkin. She then teleports beneath the tumbling owl, catching it so it doesn’t plummet into the water and then dragging it out of the water where she sets it safely on the ground. Her skin is burning, but she wasn’t in there long enough for the running water to do lasting damage.
Tol’vas howls again, and one of the remaining wildkin flees while Uther closes on the Warden and knocks her out. He then knocks out the other wildkin as well.
The Watchers then start to fall back, recognizing this as a losing battle.
One of the Watchers fires her arrow volley to cover her retreat, but then disappears into the shadows. As the battle comes to the conclusion, the cave falls silent aside from the sound of the waterfall, and the telepathic bond fades after Tol’vas requests that Vel gets a few owlbear feathers.
Kor’vas has surfaced and is floating on the water for a moment, but then swims over and gets out.
Tol’vas tries to shove Kor’vas back into the water, but she chuckles and gets out of the way.
She approaches the unconscious Warden.
She pulls out a second Warden stone and tosses it to Vel.
They ensure none of the people they dropped are at risk of dying, and they hide the Warden’s weapons after they take her helmet off. She has bluish-silver hair in a pixie cut, and is clearly high-ranking.
The group hurries onward through the cave. The passage is narrow, and Tol’vas shifts back to his normal form while Seria squeezes through in her spider form. It’s somewhat unsettling. However, on the other side, they see bars, and inside the small room is a man who is shirtless and is only wearing simple trousers. He has wild brown hair, and his arms are up and chained to the ceiling. He is hanging limp. He appears to be a human who is no later than his late 30s.
It can only be the Guardian Medivh. Who is snoring loudly.
Vel raises a Warden stone, and the other one glows as well. The chains unbind from the man’s wrists, and the bars raise. The Guardian falls to the floor
Vel goes in to help the Guardian up, who is still mumbling sleepily.
Suddenly his muscles tense as he becomes more aware, and he scrambles up to his feet, looking around at the group.
Medivh looks down at himself.
She promptly slaps him across the face.
Medivh holds up a finger, momentarily stunned.
He counts on his fingers as he gets to his feet.
Medivh nods and looks at the giant spider.
Tol’vas shrugs.
Tol’vas nods.
Vel holds out the staff.
Vel then hands over the cloak, and he throws it over his bare shoulders.
He clacks his staff on the ground, and Vel feels her attunement to it end.
Medivh then tumbles forward onto his staff, suddenly fatigued.
Kor’vas puts a hand on Tol’vas’s shoulder.
The find a place to rest briefly, and Remnii offers Tol’vas the seed spore as he looks for something to make a focus. He grows it into a quarterstaff that still retains the ability of the seed spore.
Vel reattunes to her mother’s engagement ring.
Remnii, meanwhile, attunes to the lifestaff, and she finds herself crying as the weight of the world settles on her shoulders--exacerbated by the staff. Elissa attunes to the sword her mother gave her, and Vel notes the runes on the sword start to glow, and another had appeared--one that said Elissa in Darnassian.
She points to the rune.
She points at each of the runes in turn, the one above Elissa’s own name depicting Morra’s name, and the one above that an Elessa, and so-forth. The very first rune seems to be the surname Starbreeze. Elissa looks down at the blade.
She giggles.
She’s smiling.
The group also catches Medivh up on what has been happening--at least, more directly. Vel chooses not to mention anything about the Dark Portal opening or the state of the Eastern Kingdoms because it is not the time to do so when their minds need to be focused on getting out of the Barrow Deeps successfully. Remnii chimes in to state they are planning on meeting up with the draenei soon after.
Vel holds out her arm.
Medivh’s eyes start to glow as he clasps her arm and starts to draw some of her mana stores into himself. The core of the damage is absorbed by the false life spell upon her, though the mana is drained. He lets go.
He taps his staff on the ground and swirls his cloak around him, and he turns into a raven. He looks up at the group.
He flits up and lands on Vel’s shoulder.
Remnii has been studying everyone individually, and her eyes fall on Uther.
Remnii takes a deep breath and exhales.
She puts a hand on Uther’s shoulder, and the staff resonates with an intensive golden light with an aura of purple.
She casts [Foresight] on Uther using the staff. The top-most gem of the staff draws Uther’s attention, and there is a ringing in his ears. Suddenly, a third eye is awoken inside him. Everything in the immediate time is known to him.
Remnii cups Uther’s face.
She gives a fond, but heavy smile, and she turns to leave.
They start to head into the furthest reaches of the Barrow Deeps. Vel once again takes a lead and works on trying to look for traps and dangerous areas they should avoid. Tol’vas is able to find hidden symbols and sigils in druidic that have been very well hidden--signs of the dangers of this place, as well as instructions of what is found in. Including signs that point them in the direction of the Betrayer’s prison. He also gets the name Califax, which is likely the Keeper of the Grove that was found here. Uther casts [Bless] over the group, and aids Remnii as they look for danger. There was something big moving under them, but they pause, and it goes away.
Kor’vas helps everyone into hard-to-reach places and over pitfalls, and Elissa works on keeping everyone’s spirits high while Seria helps covering their tracks using her webbing and her intuitive knowledge of sneaking. Meanwhile, Medivh works with Vel to identify any sort of magical traps. Vel finds a few glyphs of warding and symbols with Medivh’s help.
Kor’vas goes and triggers the two glyphs of warding, flipping forward and running around as she avoids both the lightning and cold with the aid of a [Haste] from Vel.
Uther opts to try and dispel the [Symbol] spell which Vel was able to identify as a symbol of death. He holds his hands out and focuses on the glyph, and the magic within his blood courses to life. He severs the thread that holds the entire thing together, and the symbol crumbles away.
Tol’vas pats him on the shoulder.
Upon saying that, he remembers his mother had traveled back in time, and they continue deeper into the prison of the Betrayer. Tol’vas and Seria see more indications in druidic that say the Betrayer’s prison is here, and that no one should be here.
They enter into a deep, wide cavern that is far bigger than the others they had seen. There is a forest of mushrooms in every direction. They are huge, and the forest is as far as they can see. However, they are up above the mushroom forest floor on a walkway. The walkway itself seems to be about 10-20 feet across, and there are bright blue, radiant crystals lighting the way like torches. At the very center is a stone pillar, and there are chains all across it. There is a single entry way, and they travel for about 100 feet and they can see the stalking figures of a few wildkin. However, they don’t see anything else--just one massive tree.
As they get about 200 feet away, they see a figure that steps out from the mushroom trees. He is tall, and quadrupedal. He’s a very tall night elven man with the lower half of a large elk. Two long, elk antlers erupt from his head, and he has seaweed green hair. His right hand is covered in thorny briars and vines, and his bright golden eyes glower down at the group. On either side of him are two other figures--they look similar to dryads, but their bodies are much larger. They seem to be closer to the size of an elk, and the shape of a moose. One of them is wearing a helmet in the shape of a moose’s skull and she has dark black clothing. Her companion is similar in appearance. Tol’vas realizes they aren’t dryads--they’re lampads, which is a type of subterranean nymph that lives in caves and barrows. They are known to be much more grim and cold than dryads.
Califax, the Keeper of the Grove, holds his hand out.
Remnii steps forward, showing the vine they had retrieved from Lunara.
Remnii steps back but Uther steps forward.
As Uther continues to speak, trees in the area start to move, and eyes open.
Califax closes his eyes.
He raises his claw into the area, and the two lampads summon grim scythes. Two of the nearby mushrooms begin to move and shift as well as an ancient protector emerges and bellows out a war cry.
Thorns start to burst from the ground, and she casts [Wall of Thorns]. A shroomeant slams into Kor’vas as the wildkin start to move in on the group. The other lampad throws javelins at Uther, but both miss.
Califax plants his claws into the ground, and [Entangling Roots] erupt from the ground over the group and wrap around the group and start to pull them towards the wall of thorns as the ancient protector hurls a rock at Kor’vas. She manages to deflect some of the blow, but she is struggling against the vines.
Seria scuttles away from the wall of thorns and bites into the nearest shroomeant. Meanwhile, Tol’vas uses [Conjure Woodland Beings] and four dryads appear. One of them immediately looks at the lampads.
The lampads do not acknowledge them with nothing but a raising of their scythes. Tol’vas then drops his bear totem. One of the dryads dispels the entangling roots, while a second turns and spins her spear around--which carves through the wall of thorns and dispels it. The other two attack with their javelins.
Vel uses bladesong and her blade gets ringed with a bright magenta glow as she uses [Heart Strike] and carves into the nearest shroomeant--a magenta slash appearing in its bark as its sap starts to seep from the wound. Meanwhile, Remnii uses [Mass Flash of Light], healing her allies and then casting a [Mind Sliver] at the shroomeant engaged with Seria.
As soon as the battle had started, Medivh had taken to the sky and started fluttering around the battlefield--conserving his strength.
Elissa, meanwhile, ran into the midst of everything and cast [Protection from Evil and Good] on herself, Tol’vas, and Kor’vas. However, Uther uses [Web of Fire] on the two shroomeants, one of the wildkin, and the ancient protector. The shroomeants crumble, and the ancient howls in pain as the fire takes hold for a moment. Remnii grimaces.
Califax glowers as he looks down at the group.
