[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Three
Appearing Characters: Aramar Thorne, Elissa Cross, Makasa Flintwill, Remnii, Riff, Samaara, Seria, Tae'shara Sunwatcher, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner
May 24th
The fight with the saltstone spined matriarch and her dunalisks rages on! The dunalisk closest to Seria tries to incapacitate her, clawing at biting at her. As she falls unconscious, the creature starts to drag her away.
Seeing Seria start to get dragged away, Aramar breaks off from the distraction to try and intercept the dunalisk that has her. He then uses healing light to heal the druid in its jaws. The dunalisk in the locust swarm burrows into the sand and retreats to safety.
The dunalisk closest to the group approaches and gets blasted by the guardian of faith, and it releases its heat breath. However, the group is able to resist it.
Magic flickers around Vel’s sword as she moves past Remnii and tumbles between the dunalisk and the matriarch, moving through them. Momentarily, illusions materialize near all the dunalisks, slashing through them, before Vel herself materializes next to the dunalisk that has Seria.
Tol’vas fires his wrath spell at the matriarch, which proceeds to blind it.
The matriarch bites Remnii, but thanks to Uther’s presence, she is able to resist the thick, viscous venom of the creature. It then tries to burrow under the ground, but as it does, Uther does an uppercut swing with his hammer. There’s a massive flash of holy light, and the matriarch collapses on the ground, very much dead.
The fey moth uses a mass cure wounds.
Remnii smacks the dunalisk closest to her with her spiritual weapon, and then also uses the smite spell on it. Uther follows up on her, smacking the dunalisk upside the chin with another smite. It goes spiraling off, dying on the ground.
Seria stands up, and wraps a thorn whip around one of the creature’s legs. There’s a snapping noise. However, as she moves, she feels a severe pain in her chest, having seemingly taken a grave injury from some of the attacks.
As the remaining dunalisk tries to escape, a single arrow from Samaara sails through the air, striking it through the eye--dead.
As this section of the battle subsides, it seems the remaining dunalisks are in full retreat.
Aramar approaches Seria and offers her a hand.
Seria is dusting herself off as the spikes from the thorns spell fades.
He pulls his hand back.
Everyone mostly seems to be fine beyond some scratches. However, as Seria does a quick diagnostics on herself, she gets a pain in her chest again. Remnii however hurries over to examine her, and it seems she likely broke her ribs. Remnii heals her to get the ribs healing.
As Vel goes to investigate the spined matriarch, the fey moth alights on one of its spines to watch. She gets a good read on the matriarch, and the most useful things from the creature appear to be its teeth, its spines, and it’s venom. Unfortunately, a lot of the insides of the creature are ruptured, but she is able to find a good number of unbroken teeth. In the meantime, Samaara was working on the smaller dunalisks, and she was able to get a vial of venom and more teeth.
The group opts to rest until sundown, and Tol’vas approaches the fey moth.
The fey moth’s mouth is moving, but its language is one that only Tol’vas and Seria can understand.
Tol’vas grins.
The moth hums.
He looks at the group.
The moth beats its wings, and a scintillating waving rainbow that looks to be a mixture of pollen and pixie dust covers over the tiny hut that Vel had re-erected for the day. Tol’vas is completely enraptured, and for the next minute, he just stares in complete and utter awe at the hypnotic pattern. Aramar and Riff are also enraptured.
With another flap of its wings, smaller moths with similar color patterns poof into existence, all of them resting on the body of the dunalisk matriarch. After the conjuration spell fades, the moth bids farewell, and disappears.
A few times during the remainder of the day, they can see the remaining dunalisks in the distance waiting for the group to leave so they can eat the corpses of the fallen.
The group then sets off in the cool night. While traveling, Vel veers her her steed over to Remnii.
Vel also suggests asking if the Hidden have been active on Kalimdor. Remnii agrees those are good questions, and when they rest, Remnii communes.
She gets a definite positive response to the question about teleporting to Zul’gurub from Gadgetzan. However, the chimes take a tone of dread when she asks about the conflict between the Kaldorei and the draenei, indicating they were, but the extent wasn’t clear. And when she asks if the Hidden were active on Kalimdor for long, and the key indicates they have not been active for long.
She translates the answers back to the group. Vel thanks her for doing so, pleased they have a way back to the Eastern Kingdoms, though she notes the lack of the Hidden’s presence for a long time is curious given Greydon’s absence has been lengthy and they seemed to know of him.
As the group continues on through the night, they notice something in the sky. There are a number of shooting stars. The salt sea almost looks like a snow-covered tundra beneath the night lights, but eventually the sun begins to peek over the horizon.
May 25th
During the day as the group sets up camp and watches, Elissa and Aramar work on their paintings and drawings. It’s an oddly quiet day. Many of the group have an air of introspection about them. Contemplative, in a sense.
During watches with Uther, Vel has been working on drawing her own blood, both for her own reasons and also a spell that she’s been working on in what spare time she’s been able to find.
May 26th
It’s started to become clear that navigating is going to start getting more difficult, and Seria, Samaara, and Seria start guiding their passage.
May 27th
After the group’s at rest, while they are waiting for it to cool down, several of the group hear something outside the bubble. It’s unlike anything they heard recently, and a cloud of dust is picking up in the distance. There seems to be a silhouette of some kind that is speeding across the sand.
Vel is watching it. It’s getting closer. And closer. Her eyes widen.
The group starts to evacuate the dome while Vel maintains it in case people can’t get out of the way fast enough. The vehicle charging at them banks as people start appearing out of nowhere.
There’s a shout as the vehicle, which is functionally rockets tied to string, veers and sparks as it clips the dome and flips and lands. The goblin that was piloting it shouts at them to watch where they’re going before speeding off.
Uther has stars in his eyes as he watches it drive off.
Tae’shara is looking at the fading speeder.
She’s half-joking, as Aramar rapidly starts to try and sketch the speeder.
Vel re-erects the tiny hut for another hour or so before they head off once more. The salt flats are starting to fade, and now in the distance are huge, towering pillars of rock. As they approach the canyon, it seems like the days are starting to get slightly cooler.
May 28th
Over the last several days, Tae’shara had been periodically looking at Riff.
Riff looks at Seria for a moment.
Riff grins innocently, and Tae’shara squints at him.
Riff looks at Seria, beaming, and throughout the rest of the day (or rather night) he started trying to show Tae’shara other things he thought were cool.
As the group travels through the next night, they weave through the early parts of the canyon, and they stumble upon something interesting. Each time they pass one of the needles, Tae’shara is counting them.
Vel raises an eyebrow at her upon realizing what she’s doing.
Over some time, after observing Tae’shara trying to tally on paper on horseback, Vel sighs and conjures an illusionary number that starts tallying down for her. Tae’shara fist pumps upon seeing she got Vel in on it.
However, they encounter some divots and Samaara warns the group of them. Tol’vas points out there was a meteor shower, and they start to investigate the area. After prodding around, Vel approaches the rock in the center, which seems to be incredibly cold to the touch.
Tol’vas and Seria are able to determine that the divot isn’t recent, but it isn’t super old either. However, there are relatively fresh tracks around the area--specifically horse tracks. They look to be from a couple days ago.
Tol’vas notes the tracks seem to end in a divot around the meteorite in a half-circle, like something heavy was placed.
Vel ritual casts detect magic on the stone. She can detect a fair amount of it, in fact. It seems to be evocation magic.
Tol’vas points out the divot, and then he goes and stands in the area. He gets the sense there might be someone nearby, but he hurls a rock at the spot, but there’s nothing there.
Vel then ritual casts identify on the meteorite as the group opts to take a rest, and it appears it doesn’t have magical properties, but the cold aura it seems to radiate is distinctly magical.
Remnii climbs over the lip of the ledge, very much intrigued, and she hurriedly drops down in a somewhat comical, ungraceful display. She looks closer.
Tol’vas points out some really worn sigils, and the divot at the lip may have been from centaurs kneeling. Remnii also investigates that area, and it appears there are repeat offerings.
Uther and Elissa use their divine sense, and it doesn’t seem the area is hallowed. Tol’vas does commune with nature to determine if there are centaur anywhere nearby. There doesn’t seem to be, but there seems to be influence from another plane of existence two miles east of their location--which is not the direction they’re going. There is also a river flowing about three miles northwest in the direction the group is going.
Vel nods, gets to her feet, dusts herself off, and climbs back out of the divot. However, Tol’vas brings up the influence about two miles east.
They opt to go and investigate the influence, and as they are traveling, Samaara gets closer to Remnii.
The group funnels into a smaller canyon between two mesas, and the wind starts to pick up a bit. The wind blows through the canyon, along with another sound. It’s the sound of anguished crying. Remnii is immediately concerned.
Tol’vas and Vel both recognize words interspersed with the wailing in the distance. It’s completely dark beyond their light sources. It’s definitely in Darnassian, but the words are vague and incomplete.
The group continues moving cautiously, and they start to hear metal grinding, and then the sobbing continues. It sounds like they’re begging.
And then Vel’s tattoo starts to glow.
Around a pillar, a night elf appears. His skin is desiccated and long-since flaked away. His teeth are yellow and hiss lips thin and pulled again his mouth. A piece of metal is jutting out of the earth, and the figure is trying to grasp onto it. Another figure is looming behind him. There’s a localized sandstorm, the remnants of his flesh and cloths whipping around him. The entity beyond the kaldorei is covered in armor that is sagging with sand, like a constant flow of rust is flowing off of him.
Suddenly, the creature’s eyes turn towards the group, screaming about thirst, and other shapes loom in the darkness.
She starts to loose arrows as several of the party’s companions move to hold off other threats from the back line.
Another decrepit kaldorei lurches from behind a rock, sand pouring from its mouth as it speaks. One of the creatures lunges forward and attacks Uther, but he is able to deflect the blow aside as Elissa bashes it with her shield to move it back out of the main battle.
Seria turns into a dire tiger and lurches at the nearest entity. She claws at it, shredding clothing and skin from its body.
Another lumbers toward the group, and Remnii and Tol’vas are whipped into the sandstorm. Uther activates his coronette and channel divinity as he raises Light’s Justice, the halo of light wreathing his head.
Another starts moving toward Seria.
Vel activates bladesong, the magical energy running through her blade and emanating outward as she casts haste on both herself and Uther. In the light of her magic, there’s the faint image of a smirk as she looks over her shoulder back at Uther.
Tol’vas retreats and casts wrath, lining up the perfect shot at one of the entities, but at the last second Remnii staggers into the way (nat 1 attack roll) and she gets blasted from the back by his blast of moonlight (nat 20), causing her to stagger forward into the undead (nat 1), though at the last second she lurches back (nat 20) with a startled scream.
Radiant and Uther charge forward to defend Remnii, and Radiant charges into the nearest creature.
Remnii, panting and heavily wounded, reaches out at the undead before her and casts holy light. There’s an explosion of holy energy, and she is healed in response. She then casts gift of the naaru on herself, working on refocusing herself.
One of the sandstorm-like entities lurches at Radiant, but Uther redirects the attack to him and blocks the attack with shield.
Tae’shara fires a chaos bolt from the rear as she shouts for Remnii to duck. A globual of roiling, sunlike energy explodes on the one next to Remnii.
Tol’vas stretches a hand up and pulls it straight down and a silver cylinder of energy drops from the sky and explodes into a wash of silver flame. The one that was knocked down erupts into sand, and a translucent image of what the creature was once before--a spirit essence shoots from the body and dances up the pillar of light with a sigh of relief.
Tol’vas also places a bear totem in the midst of them, and the spectral bear appears with a roar.
Another undead rushes forward to replace his fallen fellow, and he slashes around in circle with his sand slash ability. The sand strikes into them, but the bolstering of the totem seemed to have absorbed most of it.
Vel uses steel wind strike, switching her sword into a reverse grip as her illusionary duplicates appear around all the visible enemies. The duplicates rush through the enemies, bursting through them with a display of force energy as she herself materializes next to Seria and Uther. Her sword coats with frost energy as she drives it through the undead closest to her.
Seria follows up on another enemy and bites its head off, the undead crumbling into sand.
Uther slams his hammer into the nearest decrepit elf, and smites. The body crumbles, revealing an elvish spirit that also ascends into the night sky. He then brings his hammer down on the whirling sandstorm entity, destroying it in a blast of holy energy.
One of the rusty whirlwind creatures darts around Seria, heading straight for Uther as the rust continues to slough off it, but it misses.
Remnii summons a spiritual weapon, which slams into another entity in the distance. She also hits him with the holy flames of a smite spell.
Aramar looks back to the ground and crosses his diamond blade, which flickers with divine fire as he casts inner fire.
Vel coughs in the cloud of rust, her arcane tattoos flaring with magic again as she looks at her enemies with magic burning in her eyes, and she spins around in a whirlwind strike as her illusionary doubles mirror her movements. She slices through the two nearest her, their forms dropping to the ground before she teleports to the remaining enemy, following through on her attack as ice covers it and slices diagonal through the last one with a crack of shattering ice.
Everything falls silent as the rest of their allies finish off the backups.
Tol’vas immediately approaches Remnii with an apology for hitting her, and she appears shaken, but she assures him she’s alright. He quickly puts her a rejuvenation on her, and she thanks him.
Makasa, as she pulls a harpoon from a dead enemy, smirks at Tol’vas indicating that she saw his faux pas.
She looks at Vel, both because she knows a thing or two about undead, but also because she’s smart.
Vel and Tol’vas are able to identify the non-undead entities as rust revenants, specifically lesser revenants, unnatural ones at that. The rust revenants are lingering entities involved in the decaying objects of civilization, and the clouds around them turn those who breathe it in into metal which they then destroy.
Remnii examines some of the undead, and she is able to surmise that they are unfortunate souls who likely died of dehydration and likely were cursed or otherwise tormented. However, the ones that Tol’vas and Uther killed were released from their curse, and their spirits were allowed to rest. Unfortunately, the ones that were relinquished by holy energy may remain. Sandstorms frequently conceal their passage.
Vel is able to get some of the rust revenant pieces, which may be of use in some sense--if nothing else it’s a good research tool. Samaara was also able to get a singular mote of rust
The Tol’vas is able to tell the area is still registering as having supernatural influence, and he is also able to sense undead miles away. But all the elementals in the area have been destroyed.
Vel also uncovers some of the objects that one of the undead was looking at, and she’s pretty sure there were likely ruins here from a while ago.
Remnii looks to Tol’vas who is looking around, and he catches a small tag and hint of fabric. It’s a small curio, and unmistakable highborne in make. He picks it up.
He looks to Vel.
Tae’shara looks at Aramar and points a finger at him.
The group settles down to set up camp in the area, and Remnii seeks out a divine intervention to try and request the Light to consecrate the grounds. The naaru are with her, but they do not directly answer her call for aid.
Tae’shara was taking some readings and investigating along with Vel to see if they could find anything.
Meanwhile, Tol’vas and Seria enter the Emerald Dream using the dream spell, and they bring Elissa and Remnii along with them. They awaken in largely the same territory they were in, but the ground and pillars are covered in leafy, verdant plants. There are trees growing from the earth, and it looks more like a jungle.
Elissa is once more floored by the sights unrolling around them.
Tol’vas looks around, but it seems the environment has no marks of the troubles that had befallen the landscape on the mortal plane.
The group begins to probe around as quietly as they can. It’s hard to keep track of time, as the sky is just always an emerald blanket of glittering light. Finally, they find some tracks and claw marks, as if something was digging. They opt to follow, and they can hear a voice speaking in sylvan. Up ahead, there is a round, rotund figure, its tail flicking around. There is dirt being tossed aside, and the voice continues to grumble.
There are sounds of chewing, and as the group tries to stay silent, Elissa steps on a leaf, which crumples and turns into dust. Immediately, the creature’s ears perk up. It’s a furred creature, which seems to be mostly black with bluish white stripes. Its tail jolts straight out, and it turns around with subterranean vegetables still in its mouth.
It throws its head back and finishes swallowing.
He sniffs the air.
He looks to the group. The creature is a very large badger roughly the size of a black bear.
The creature ambles over and sits down. There is a very earthy musky smell as he approaches, and he sniffs Tol’vas and Seria first.
He points at Remnii and Elissa with his nose.
Tol’vas looks to Remnii and Elissa.
The badger looks to Remnii, then to Elissa, and he squints at them before turning back to Tol’vas.
Tol’vas briefly explains what they had found regarding the planar disturbance and corruption on their side.
Tol’vas looks at Seria.
He walks over to a bush and takes a quick dump before returning.
Tol’vas blinks.
He gestures to a cavern, and they can see a forest of what looks like a petrified trees jutting out a few miles off.
The badger meanders away while singing a jaunty tune about finding more truffles. He starts to dig and a moment later they hear an excited noise.
And there are sounds of gobbling as he quickly slurps the unfortunate wriggler up.
Tol’vas gives Elissa and Remnii a quick summary of the conversation that had happened.
Remnii laughs.
Seria had started to wander around the nearby areas in the dream already. She finds a small stream babbling, and a few snakes and lizards, but nothing really of note.
The group opts to chat for a bit, staying in the immediate area. Elissa tries to not blink so she can absorb as much of the environment as she can so she can paint it later, but she quickly realizes she is still compelled to do so.
There is some laughter, and a bit later, they all wake up. Upon rising, they find that Tae’shara and Vel had had a fruitful search, and they had managed to find sandblasted remains of a skeleton, and a skull.
Tol’vas approaches Vel and asks if she would be amenable to relinquishing what had been harvested from the revenants as tribute to the nymphs. She agrees.
Seria and Tol’vas then begin the rituals needed to summon the nymph to the mortal plane. Upon hearing the types of things the nymphs would be interested in, Vel also offers her dagger of certain death and a Cenarion charm she had recovered from the druid at Orastrasz’s lair.
There is a ripple of magic, and wind starts to pick up around the group. Tol’vas sheds a small amount of blood, which sinks into the dirt and sand, and a circle of brambly thorns begins to appear and seems to form into a large shape or cocoon. Then the brambles fall away, revealing a creature. She has dark tan skin, and long elven ears. Her body is covered head to toe in white and red war paint, including over her bare chest. The lower half of her body is that of a mountain goat, and two curling ram horns sprout from her head.
She spins a spear around, which appears to be made of those same brambly thorns, and plants it in the ground.
She looks a lot like a dryad, but bigger, stronger, and more fierce.
Tol’vas presents the offerings they had collected, and the nymph looks at it, and then to Tol’vas. She is waiting for the group to explain why they called her.
Tol’vas presents the trophies that they had taken from the revenants and explains the situation.
The nymph considers and then furrows her brow.
The nymph takes the rusted chains and holds them up.
The rusted metal and chains begins to grow thorny vines, which almost choke the metal and crumble it to dust. She then looks at the other things that were offered to her. She leans down and grabs the dagger of certain death, and tosses it in her hand.
Remnii, who had put on tongues, explains the undead, and Vel explains the revenants. The nymph considers for a moment, and with a gesture of her hand, all the offerings are lifted up on small vines and she takes them.
The nymph turns away from the group, and she places the offerings in a small leather satchel. She grabs her spear, and a vine ties the dagger of certain death to her forearm should she need it. She twirls the spear and raises it to the sky, and the air ripples around them. On some of the plateaus, other isolated gates appear, and a dozen more mountain nymphs materialize on the mortal plane.
She raises her spear to the sky.
The other nymphs also raise their spears, and there is a frightening war trill as the warband of nymphs leap into the canyon.
Tol'vas turns to the group.
As they continue to watch, the leader of the warband dives toward one of the pillars and it looks like she is going to collide with it, but she just passes directly through it and doesn’t come back out. She appears down the canyon out of another pillar.
