[Horde] Chapter Four: Session Twenty-Four
Appearing Characters: Arthak Saurfang, Azgadaan, Azuka Stormbreaker, Go'el, Gruul, Halno, Lantresor, Leoroxx, Levia Blackflight, Nitrogg Thundertower, Nyxxa, Rexxar, Sadras, Skulloc Soulgrinder, Sylvos Windrunner, Vaerux, Vim'gol the Vile
Outland Day 36
Gruul’s eye locks on Arthak, and he takes one massive step away from the train and toward the warband. Nyxxa fades into the sandy rain and starts to skirt around the outskirts of the unfolding battlefield.
Gruul leans forward towards Arthak and releases an earth-shaking roar, spittle splashing from his mouth. Arthak holds true, the influence of his banner steeling himself against the fear. He plants Champion’s Forge in the ground, and then draws Quel’delar as he charges toward Gruul.
As he does, he starts to recite an homage, and leaps onto Gruul’s arm.
Arthak clambers up the arm and drives Quel’delar into Gruul’s flesh.
Gruul swings around with his other arm and tries to slam on Arthak, but a heavy chain wraps around his wrist. As Arthak looks down, he sees Nitrogg.
Gruul roars with no small amount of rage, causing Lantresor and Nyxxa to momentarily freeze in a split-second of fear. Gruul then swings around with the hook hand that Arthak had climbed, and brings it down at Nitrogg. However, Nitrogg grabs the hook, and Gruul’s eye looks back to Arthak.
He breaks the harpoon and smacks Arthak, who is able to just barely hold on. Gruul then notices the approaching mok’nathal and starts to move toward the train.
Go’el gets to his feet and runs. He reaches out his hand, spiritual energy wreathing around it as he uses [Chain Heal].
Azgadaan calls to the others on the tracks to get to safety, and then starts to fly towards Gruul. He drops, using a controlled fall to get into range, and then casts [Jolt]. The lightning courses through Gruul’s metal hook, and it doesn’t seem to have full effect, but the crackling almost seems to momentarily blind Gruul.
Halno flings a [Fire Bolt] from Sylvos, who was still in the carnage of the train. Gruul seems to be somewhat resistant to the blast, and Halno commands his zombie to leap from the bridge and join them. The zombie does just that, which immediately destroys it. Levia snort-laughs upon seeing that.
Lantresor takes a deep breath and closes his eyes to center himself--purging himself of the fear-- and then starts to close in on Gruul as well.
Levia soars downward to take stock of the situation just as Gruul grabs the train. Arthak, in response, drives his fist into the wound in Gruul’s arm. Gruul snarls, but halts his attempt to grab the train and instead goes for Arthak. Arthak manages to dodge and continues to climb up to Gruul’s head where he proceeds to start stabbing, damaging the area around his eye. Gruul bellows with rage and anger.
Gruul bends down and grabs the train again. He hefts the train up and slams it against his shoulder. He then slams his fist into the ground and starts to run north, retreating from the group with Arthak still on his head. Go’el clips him with a booming blade as he retreats, and Nitrogg also slashes at him.
However, Gruul continues to run, bowling Nitrogg over--and still carrying Arthak with him. Nyxxa also centers herself and starts to run after Gruul and Arthak, still hidden in the sandy ash. Halno starts to grumble to himself as he starts to try and chase after Arthak as well. He then summons a skeleton near Gruul, which shoots an attack at the massive creature.
Lantresor tries to catch up and slashes twice, but is unable to connect.
Levia shrugs and drops while Go’el tries to follow after Gruul as well. Azgadaan drops to the ground next to Levia, grabs her, and uses [Dimension Door] to teleport on top of the cliff that Gruul seems to be running towards. He then recalls the spell [Wall of Force], and then uses [Blessing of Kings] on himself.
Lantresor continues to try and harass Gruul, and attempts a stun, but it fails.
Arthak attacks at Gruul’s head, driving Quel’delar into the side of his face. Gruul is seemingly getting continually frustrated.
Nitrogg is also trying to follow after the group. Halno casts [Chill Touch] at Gruul. Meanwhile, his skeleton continues to shoot and run.
Levia looks at Azgadaan.
Azgadaan grins, and Levia moves away and takes off into the air.
Nyxxa appears with two strikes out of the sand storm.
Meanwhile, Azgadaan starts to hear rumbling from behind him. He doesn’t see anything because of the sandstorm, but there is rumbling and shouts in a language Azgadaan doesn’t understand.
Gruul continues to run, and then leaps and grabs onto the side of the cliff. He then reaches up and grabs Arthak, and then throws him. Arthak goes sailing towards the ground, bouncing off the earth before sliding to a stop. Go’el runs next to Arthak and uses [Chain Heal] again.
Gruul continues to climb, and then throws the train into the air. It lands on the cliff next to Azgadaan and Levia, and Gruul gets to the top as well, standing to his full height.
Azgadaan cleaves into Gruul with his maul.
Nitrogg approaches Arthak.
Halno shoots a bolt of grave energy into Gruul’s back as he transmutes a [Lightning Bolt], and the massive creature stumbles over Azgadaan. Gruul’s eye flickers, and then it opens wide, and goes bloodshot. He releases an ear-piercing roar, his body steaming with fiery-hot energy. Halno’s skeleton continues to shoot.
Gruul leaps into the air and slams onto the ground again, entering a berserking rampage. The cliff starts to crumble as Azgadaan’s [Metamorphosis] falls, and he falls with the cliff to the bottom.
Gruul glares down at them, then starts to continue to retreat, taking the train with him. They can see ogres up on the cliff that seem to be offering cover fire.
The group makes a fighting retreat.
Go’el is panting as they slow to a stop.
Levia looks at Azgadaan and laughs mirthlessly.
Levia collapses, exhausted, on the ground.
Nyxxa is clearly furious.
At that moment, they see the mok’nathal start to approach. Azuka is on the dread raven with Rexxar, though Sadras is not visible. Rexxar lands his dread raven nearby, not looking particularly happy.
The towering mok’nathal leader approaches as Arthak goes to meet them.
Go’el bows his head.
The mok’nathal looks to Nitrogg.
The mok’nathal turns.
He gestures for the rest of the mok’nathal to follow.
Leoroxx stops.
Leoroxx sides.
Rexxar looks up at his father, and there is a tense moment.
Nitrogg takes a step forward.
He looks at Arthak.
Go’el nods.
Go’el looks at Arthak and nods.
Leoroxx frowns.
Rexxar nods.
Go’el looks to the rest of the group.
He points at Arthak.
Nyxxa looks up at the damaged bridge where the escaped slaves were. Rexxar gives her a quiet look that implies they were fine.
She shoots a glance at Nitrogg, but the weight of her words extend to others.
Azgadaan looks at Levia.
Levia sits down, a cigarette in her mouth.
Halno suddenly snaps up.
He gives no further context.
As Leoroxx looks at the group, he snorts.
Leoroxx heads away.
Sadras also shows up during the short rest, and they fill her in on the situation. Nyxxa asks about the slaves that escaped, and Sadras assures her that they should be a fair ways out by now--as Summerpaw was guiding them away.
Nyxxa sighs.
She’s still clearly mad.
Sadras nods, and Nyxxa and Sadras press their foreheads together.
Meanwhile, Arthak approaches Nitrogg and sits down next to him.
Nitrogg laughs.
Nitrogg nods.
Arthak gets to his feet and leaves Nitrogg to patching himself up. Nitrogg starts to try and smash his helm around trying to get a dent out, but Arthak stops and gets the dent out for him.
Afterwards, as Arthak sits down, Halno also sits down next to him, his nose in his book.
Halno continues quietly flipping through his book.
Azgadaan, meanwhile, fetches some alcohol for Nyxxa and Levia--who had used greater restoration to remedy her stress.
Nyxxa sighs.
As the hour goes by, Leoroxx and his massive lynx come by the small camp.
There are just over a doxen mok’nathal with him.
He looks to Rexxar.
The group follows Leoroxx’s lead, and the mok’nathal gives them a general layout of the area they will be heading towards. They see the heat of steam emitting off of volcanic activity from beneath the earth, and as they get closer over the four hours of travel, they start to see massive skeletons of dragons impaled on spires, as well as orcs and natural beasts from the area. Vultures are picking the bones clean.
It seems mok’nathal had started to assassinate ogre scouts, and before long they can see the massive bone, mud, wood, and stone structures of the ogres. Not long after they start to approach, they can hear the drums of war.
The mok’nathal start to spread out to harrass the ogres, and the core group charges forward. The canyon seems to be channeling them downward, and they fight through a number of ogres heading toward the heart of the mound. Lantresor jumps from ogre-to-ogre, disarming them and cutting down while Leoroxx carves through them a massive battle axe. Nyxxa is zipping through the masses, slitting throats and legs as she goes. Azgadaan smashes aside barriers with his maul, the shrapnel impaling itself in a nearby ogre’s eye. Halno is throwing a flurry of cantrips, interfering with their range. They see footprints and drag marks that mark the passage of Gruul.
Arthak had gone giant, knocking aside ogres and serving as a humanoid siege-weapon.
At that moment, a horde of ogres charge forward to meet them. Azgadaan fires off a jolt at the Bladespire shaman, and it courses through his flesh and grounds itself into the mud and stone, and it starts to give way from the magical energy. The shaman slides down and lands on his feet next to Azgadaan. Sadras grins and starts to run to meet the charge.
Nisha, being ridden by Rexxar, swoops down to one of the back lines, raking a Bladespire ogre with her claws and beak. A Bladespire ogre lands a glancing blow on Sadras. Nyxxa closes on the shaman that had slid down the cliff side, and with a flurry of blows, she slits both throats of the two-headed ogre at once. A Bladespire bolt launcher ogre fires at Nyxxa, but she deftly dodges as Rexxar unloads on the Bladespire ogre that Nisha had targeted.
Arthak rages and then leaps up the side of the cliff, attacking a Bladespire magi with several strong blows. Meanwhile, Puffer charges for the same Bladespire ogre that Rexxar and Nisha had been attacking. Halno approaches Azgadaan and shoots a [Fire Bolt] at another Bladespire ogre on the cliffside.
A two-headed Bladespire magi starts to incant two different spells. One of them shoots a [Fire Bolt] that goes wide while a Bladespire ogre runs to aid the mage that Arthak had closed on. The Bladespire ogre that Halno had attacked leaps at Nyxxa, and his massive girth lands on her--knocking her prone. He starts to wail on her while she’s down, and then he grabs her by the waist and picks her up.
A Bladespire bolt launcher takes a shot at Arthak, but it clanks off his armor. The Bladespire magi in front of him casts [Blur], while the arm controlled by the other head takes a wild swing at Arthak with his greatstaff--which is easily blocked.
A bolt launcher shoots at Nisha, a large bolt grazing into her feathers. A Bladespire ogre swings at Arthak with his greatclub, and the bolt launcher shoots at Nisha again--but this shot goes wide.
Sadras swings at the Bladespire ogre that had closed with her, battering him with her club.
More of the cliffs start to give, and a bolt launcher tumbles but lands on his feet. However, the second Bladespire ogre completely loses his balance and cracks his head off a rock, promptly dying from the blow.
Despite being grappled by the ogre, Nyxxa slices into him over and over again. Fingers go flying everywhere as she carves through him, leaving him dead on the ground. She then leaps on the Bladespire ogre engaged with Sadras, driving her glaives into his back.
Halno uses [Summon Undead], conjuring another ghostly arakkoan soldier that promptly carves into the ogre engaged with Sadras and Nyxxa. It grabs either side of the ogre’s face with its talons and absorbs its soul as the ogre’s corpse drops to the group. It then fades into the stone and emerges from the ground on top of the cliff.
The Bladespire chain brute swings his chains around and lashes them out at Sadras. The chain strikes her on the side of the head, and she staggers back.
She readjusts her grip on her club and gets ready to charge.
Nisha moves in on a bolt launcher, and the bolt launcher punches her.
The bolt launcher tries to shoot at her, but the bolt goes wide. Meanwhile, Azgadaan closes on the bolt launcher that had stumbled into the canyon, and his eyes glow green as he channels the magic of his bloodline into his weapon. He strikes, and fel fire leaps onto the ogre’s armor, who starts to panic as he tries to pat out the flame.
Arthak brings one powerful blow down on the ogre magi--knocking the concentration off on his [Blur]--but as he tries to swing again, the magi blocks the blade with a rudimentary arcane [Shield]. Other Bladespire ogres try to dogpile Arthak, but they are getting in each other’s way.
Rexxar leaps off Nisha and sends her away to recover as he throws three axes at the bolt thrower. He goes for a fourth axe, but there are no more there.
He charges at the bolt thrower while he barks an order to Puffer. The boar squeals and runs at the bolt thrower, but in a confused panic, the ogre is able to dodge.
The Bladespire magi’s eyes burn with fiery energy, and he tries to erect a [Wall of Fire]. However, a grim wind blows through and extinguishes the fire before it can even start as Halno uses [Counterspell].
He tries to beat Arthak with his club before starting to retreat.
Azgadaan notes that the other Bladespire magi on the back line starts to cast [Blizzard]. Azgadaan doesn’t have the resources to counter it, and the ice storm opens up on Nyxxa, Sadras, Sadras, Azgadaan, Arthak, and Halno--as well as some of his allies. The other head fires a [Frostbolt] at Arthak, but it goes wide.
A bolt launcher runs at Azgadaan and beats him with his launcher. He then tries to double back, but Azgadaan returns with another attack which drops him into critical. Arthak is able to dodge and parry several attacks that come for him.
Sadras roars and unloads a series of furious swings on the chain brute. She then throws her club at his face, leaps over his head, grabs his chain, and strangles him forcefully enough to hear the cracking of his neck snapping before she grabs her club again and runs for the next enemy.
Nyxxa runs to back up Arthak, and with a quick slice, she slits an ogre’s throat and then rounds on a second one.
It seems that the morale of the ogres in this group is wavering, and true fear runs through them.
Arthak runs for the retreating magi, hacking into his legs and then rounding with another blow as he gets giant and cleaves his sword right down its center. He then looks at the nearest bolt launcher and starts to close. At the same time, Rexxar rips his axes free of the bolt launcher, and the ogre tumbles off the cliff into his ally. Rexxar approaches the cliff edge, and then hurls his throwing axes at the remaining magi.
Meanwhile, the screaming of the burning bolt launcher ends as he crumples to the ground and dies.
The last magi holds his hand out in a panic and casts [Blizzard] again, before following it up with a [Fire Bolt] that goes wide. Puffer charges at the magi and gores him.
Meanwhile, the bolt launcher on Arthak releases one final, desperate battle cry.
He attempts to grapple Arthak, and they wrestle for a moment but he is unable to hold onto the giant orc. Azgadaan attempts to [Mind Sliver] the ogre magi, but he resists the spell. Halno tries to cast [Fire Bolt], but it clashes off the arcane [Shield] the magi had erected. However, the ghostly arakkoa goes for one of the remaining ogres, drawing its life force from the ogre’s body.
The remaining ogres shout out a battle cry for Gruul.
The group then suddenly starts to hear a ringing in their ears, and there is a foul wind as the sand starts to blow away and vanishes. A foul stench fills the air. Something steps through the fog, and they can see a gronn. Its body has ritualistic scars, and with every step, the withered, dry grass dies and breaks apart. Meanwhile, an ogre in a long bright cloak with a long staff with a skull that has a massive crystal also steps forward. The ogre laughs, and a wave of necrotic energy washes over the battlefield.
Many of ogres that had been felled begin to stand up, their eyes glowing with necromantic energy as they turn to the group and the massive gronn continues to approach.
Nyxxa works to try and finish off some of the still-living ogres. She cuts one of the them down, and its entire soul enters into her glaives as her eyes flash.
More zombies then rise, and one charges for Halno and knocks him back into a wall. Another goes for Sadras, but the attack misses. She attempts to strike back, landing a strong hit on his skull.
Arthak swings at the bolt thrower and slashes across his face before bringing him low. A zombie strikes at Arthak as he then starts to run for the gronn. He leaps into the aura, and there is an unpleasant feeling this close to the giant creature. Arthak strikes, and drives Champion’s Forge into the gronn’s hand.
A zombie starts to run for Rexxar and swings, but Rexxar grabs the corpse’s wrist.
Azgadaan swings his maul into the zombie on Sadras and lands two heavy swings into the ogre corpse’s gut. He tries to pass by, and the zombie swings in turn, clipping him with his weapon.
The Bladespire magi disappears as he uses [Blink] and then reappears on top of a cliff. He then launches a [Fire Bolt] at Arthak and a [Frostbolt] at Rexxar, but they both go wide.
A zombie charges blindly and falls off the cliff onto Sadras.
Halno casts [Chill Touch] on a nearby zombie and calls for his arakkoan spirit to aid him. The spirit materializes and swings into the ogre zombie.
Puffer squeals and gores a zombie next to Sadras while Rexxar hurls an axe at the Bladespire magi, and one at Vim’gol the Vile--the other ogre that had appeared alongside Skulloc. One is coated with fire, and the other with acid. They strike true, and Vim’gol loses concentration on his [Stoneskin].
Meanwhile, Skulloc brings his fists down on Arthak. Arthak catches one, but the other fist grabs him and starts to sap his life force. Fortunately, due to his armor, he resists the necrotic damage.
Zombies start to dogpile Nyxxa and Halno. Nyxxa starts to move away to try and lure some away from the wizard.
The ogre necromancer looks to Skulloc.
He holds a hand out, and the gronn’s eyes go wide, and stone-like bones pierce through Skulloc’s flesh. The ogre then holds a hand out at Rexxar and uses [Chill Touch], but Rexxar cuts the spectral hand aside. Vim’gol’s robes are still on fire, but he does not seem to care.
Azgadaan swings with his maul again and again, trying to carve through the zombie. He manages to drop it to critical. He then drinks a potion.
Levia soars overhead and tries to use [Toll the Dead] to finish off the critical zombie, but it resists the effect. Puffer also tries to gore it, with Sadras backing him up, and together they break the zombie’s skull apart and bring it low. Sadras rounds on the other zombie, landing a critical blow.
Halno uses [Chill Touch] on the zombie nearest to him and pivots around zombie so he isn’t surrounded. Meanwhile the arakkoa ghost tries to cover him.
Skulloc breathes out a necrotic cloud over Arthak, Puffer, and Azgadaan. They are able to cover their faces from the foul wind, protecting themselves from the brunt of it.
Vim’gol holds his hand out, and the foul wind starts to coalesce over Sadras, Azgadaan, and Puffer as he uses [Cloudkill]. It’s hard to see anything inside the cloud.
Arthak is able to resist the effects of the noxious aura around Skulloc. He tries to swing into Skulloc, but his blade is deflected aside by Skulloc’s natural armor.
Nyxxa cuts down the remaining living Bladespire ogre and devours his soul as well. However, as she does, she hears Vaerux laugh.
Nyxxa then launches herself off the cliffside and lands on the prone zombie down below, digging her blades into its back.
A bladespire zombie wades into the [Cloudkill] and swings at a random target, actually hitting the other zombie.
Rexxar manages to land a strong hit on Vim’gol, and both the [Cloudkill] and [Unholy Frenzy] drop. Vim’gol grunts in pain and anger, and Rexxar strikes him with two more axes--these ones imbued with the poison of the [Sting] spell.
The zombies start to swing at the nearest targets, and a zombie leaps down on Nyxxa. She manages to dodge.
Lightning crackles in his hand and he fires a [Witch Bolt] at Arthak, but the attack misses.
He tries to fire a [Frostbolt], but it also misses.
Azgadaan strikes into one of the zombies with a powerful, arcane-charged swing of his maul.
Levia swoops down and lands for a moment. Her eyes flash white.
There is a flash of energy, and she manages to turn four of the zombies around Nyxxa. She then also uses mass flash of light before taking off again. Sadras connects two strong strikes at one of the zombies on her and Azgadaan.
She pushes through to go and back up Arthak, enduring two hits from the zombies as she covers her mouth to run into the necrotic aura.
The necromancer holds his hand to the sky. A cloud of darkness coalesces in the air above them, and then darkness erupts from the ground below. Life gets sucked into the dark energy as the [Circle of Death] saps at enemy and ally alike.
The magi casts [Blink] and disappears.
Nyxxa works on carving through one of the zombies. However, the zombie staggers up and stays up. She hits it again, but it continues to stay up. It refuses to die.
Rexxar continues to go for Vim’gol, three axes getting thrown at the ogre. However, the necromancer just laughs as the axes hit him.
Arthak swings at Skulloc with a battle cry and slams into his side. He triggers his fire rune, and the chains wrap around the gronn--restraining him. He hits a second time, and then a third--landing a second crit across the gronn’s face. Arthak action surges and goes in, striking again, and again, driven on by the injuries Sadras had taken. He hacks the gronn apart piece by piece, and then drives Champion’s Forge right through Skulloc’s skull.
The gronn crashes to the ground, and Arthak starts to charge from Vim’gol.
Rexxar looks at Arthak, and smiles.
One of the zombies destroys the spectral arakkoa.
Puffer runs around and charges a zombie, his tusks inside the zombie ogre, but it continues to claw at him.
Nyxxa finally manages to fell the zombie that had resisted death twice, and then she rounds on another zombie and destroys it as well. And then she whirls around and destroys a third.
At that moment, the scaffolding under Vim’gol collapses as Rexxar throws an axe at it, and Arthak grabs the necromancer by one of his throats as he falls. He then throws Vim’gol against the stone and drives Champion’s Forge into his gut once and then twice.
Puffer drives his tusks into the ogre, and he continues through to the other zombie near Azgadaan.
She gestures to the necromancer and then swings her club into the zombie’s skull. Azgadaan runs to the cliffside and pulls out his horn of blasting. He blows it at Vim’gol, excluding Arthak as the orc lifts the ogre into the air.
The horn sounds out, and the blast causes Vim’gol’s eardrums to rupture. Arthak thrusts him off his blade, and he tumbles to the ground. The crystal from Vim’gol’s staff breaks off and rolls to Halno’s feet, who promptly plucks it from the ground.
The group’s allies rejoin them in a momentary pocket of safety.
