[Horde] Chapter Four: Session Twenty-Three
Appearing Characters: Arthak Saurfang, Azgadaan, Azuka Stormbreaker, Go'el, Gruul, Halno, Lantresor, Leoroxx, Levia Blackflight, Nitrogg Thundertower, Nyxxa, Rexxar, Sadras, Sylvos Windrunner
Outland Day 36
The group can see the Grimrail peeling through the hole in the mountain and coming to a stop inside the fortress known as Evermorn Hold. They fly down and land about a quarter of a mile outside the fortress, and they once more take their humanoid forms.
Nyxxa chuffs.
She twangs Nyxxa’s ear affectionately.
She looks in the general direction of the hold.
Sadras smiles at Arthak, seeing the excitement on his face, but it fades a moment later.
Levia, however, also looks very excited.
Azgadaan uses alter self to disguise himself as a different eredar, and they head up the rocky outcroppings toward the wooden, steel-banded gate. Orcs on patrol look down at them, and upon seeing Arthak’s banner, greet him.
The orc grunt nods.
Slowly, the chains and cranking mechanisms move to life and lift the gates into the air. Inside, there are barracks and strongholds, and there are wyrmtongues and peons working alongside each other on various tasks. Demons are definitely a minority, but there are also a few mo'arg and the like working on the fel machines present. At the train, there are a few individuals mulling about with steins and drinking horns in celebration while a few technicians patch up damage on the train.
He gestures at a towering orc who is solidly cased in steel armor. He is a solid foot taller than many other orcs, and is very close to 8 feet tall. The orc laughs, and the group can see burn scars on his bare skull which have been tattooed over with flames. He raises a drinking horn to some of the other orcs around him.
Arthak starts to mosey his way over to the group, tailed by his fellows. Some orcs give them some looks, but there is nothing particularly notable. Azgadaan gets some genuflections from groups of wyrmtongue. The gate to the fortress is closed behind them.
The man noted at Nitrogg looks at them once, then twice, and then he sees Arthak, and he grins. Arthak recognizes the orc as one who has a reputation of being a firebrand, and he is known for liking very large weapons. He is a centurion, which is a rank just below what Dranosh was.
He scratches at his burn scars. He makes his way over and clasps a steel gauntlet to his chest while holding a hand out to Arthak.
Nitrogg throws his arm around Arthak’s shoulder.
He sighs as he looks up at the train.
Nitrogg smiles and looks at the rest of the group.
He gestures to where a few grunts have a keg of mead they are tapping and passing around.
Nitrogg raises a stein and everyone cheers.
Some of the peons and laborers move over and disconnect the head of the engine. They work towards moving the engine and turning it around and reconnecting to other cars. Munitions and other cargo are being loaded, including a lot of crates and other things that are covered with cloth and the like. The hustle and bustle makes it hard to get a pin-point on much. Some of the lesser demons working on it operate like a well-oiled machine, moving new steel panels into place.
Go’el nods.
Arthak seems to be deeply interested.
Nitrogg gestures to a large canon with three clusters of smaller canons that are all melded together. Nitrogg grins.
Nitrogg scratches his chin.
Nitrogg grins.
He gestures to the rest of his band. Nitrogg shrugs.
Nitrogg nods.
He smirks and gestures them off before returning to the celebration. Arthak and Azgadaan browse around to look at weapons, and they note that a lot that’s being offered is full siege weapons. They also have prototype fel “welders” of sorts around, which are used in steel fabrication and the like.
Arthak also takes Azuka aside.
Azuka looks at him quizzically.
Azuka nods.
Azuka blinks.
Azuka considers.
Azuka nods.
Azuka quickly looks down to the ground, breaking eye contact.
Nyxxa had been keeping an eye out on things in the meanwhile. She notes a group of grunts that board the Grimrail along with two felguards. They are speaking with each other, and they had glanced at Arthak one too many times for her. Once they board the train, Nyxxa does report that sighting to him and warns him to be cautious. Arthak nods.
Before too long, Nitrogg rejoins with them.
Nitrogg leads the group to the second car back and opens the heavy steel door. Inside there is a table with a few empty bowls and cups. There are rations strewn about as well as some rogue cooking tools. There are some lights, but all of them are flickering with a fel green.
Levia immediately runs into one of the side rooms.
Nitrogg gestures behind the group.
He pushes through them and opens the door to the next car ahead. Inside, there is a small, greenly-lit area with whirring mechanisms that are clearly Legion tech. The next door leads into a hallway, which then opens into a larger room that has a few chairs and a view screen, as well as a large fel engine. It’s similar to something that would power a felreaver, and is sitting in the center of the cockpit.
Arthak is able to talk with Nitrogg pretty reasonably about the inner workings of these things, as he had been able to look at Azgadaan’s vehicles. Nitrogg is quite impressed.
He then leads the group back through the mess cart and through the barracks cart where there are rows of bunk bed hammocks.
There are a few grunts sharpening their weapons. Nitrogg leads them out to the fourth cart, which is open air and flanked with rails of Blackrock steel. There are fel canons, and the large swiveling prototype canon at the center.
He points to a bedroll.
He shows Arthak, pointing out the levels that adjust the swivel of the large cannon. Arthak looks at it eagerly, and is able to get a feel of the rough statistics of it. It seems it can either do a spray or more powerful singular shots. More than a few minutes go by, and the chatter is interrupted with a horn blowing and some shouting.
Nitrogg laughs.
Nitrogg was clearly very flattered, and there was a part of him that wished he could say yes.
The warband makes themselves comfortable in the mess car as they feel the train start to move. The mountains are pitch black save for the bright, fel green of the lights. Soon enough, the light of the sky appears again as they exit the mountain tunnel. Halno and Arthak had started to work on some schematics and ideas of how to remake something like the Grimrail on Azeroth.
They find themselves rumbling across ogre ruins. There is an arena in the distance. About an hour later, nothing of extreme interest seems to happen, but they can hear the sound of geysers letting off outside in a sea of rainbow-colored sulfur springs.
Nyxxa continues to keep an eye on things, and they all largely stick to the mess car. The Grimrail stops briefly at Hellsreach Citadel, and then continues on to the canyon--crossing over a bridge that traverses the first chasm. Azgadaan starts to look out for gronn through one of the port holes.
They start to see precipitation falling from the sky as if it had started to snow. Upon further investigation, it seems to be some sort of lavender purple ash or sand. Arthak recalls Rexxar mentioning something had happened to the Frostfire Ridges--that it was now a desert. It seems the wind was blowing from the direction of Frostfire.
After a bit, Nitrogg knocks on Arthak’s door.
Arthak exchanges a glance with Nyxxa and then gets to his feet to follow Nitrogg. Nyxxa follows after them.
They head through the cars and note the two felguards that had entered the train back in Evermorn Hold, though they step aside to let them through. Nyxxa hears, faintly over the roar of the train, the sound of the door locking behind them.
Meanwhile, back in the mess car, the rest of the group hears their doors lock.
Nitrogg makes his way to the larger of the canons and gestures toward a few rocks in the distance that have poorly-painted gronn faces on them.
He swivels the gun around, but suddenly the cannon stops. Nyxxa looks over, and notes the cannon only went halfway--pointed at Arthak who was looking expectantly at the targets.
Approaching rapidly on either side of the train, coming from behind the stones, are two infernal machine tormentors that are keeping up with the train. One is piloted by a fel orc along with a gan’arg that is manning a ballista. Nyxxa blows her horn of silent alarm, and then disappears into the rain of sand.
Arthak charges at Nitrogg and jumps at him, managing to get him into a bit of a stranglehold.
Arthak is holding Nitrogg in his seat. Nitrogg looks up at him incredulously and reaches back.
He grabs a harpoon launcher and tries to fire it in Arthak’s face point-blank. The harpoon pings off Arthak’s armor, and he turns around and starts to wrestle Arthak on top of the seat.
One of the gan’arg sappers pulls out a small canister and puts it into their mechanic fist, which fires at Arthak. It explodes and two heavy, metal stones attached with a chain fires out, electricity crackling between them. However, it goes wide.
Levia looks at Azgadaan back in the mess cart.
The door to their room appears to be locked, but Levia fiddles with it and manages to get the door open and steps out.
On the weapon car, two gan’arg fire their harpoons, and one manages to scrape off the edge of his armor.
In the mess cart, Halno can hear Levia shouting outside. He uses dimension door to get to the other side of the door.
Halno conjures Sylvos above his head.
Azgaadaan gets in front of Levia and tries the door to Go’el’s room. He pulls out his maul and proceeds to start smashing it open.
He hits it again, and the door crumples.
Go’el unsheathes his axe.
On the weapons car, Nyxxa manages to open up the locked door. The orcs inside look confused.
Another gan’arg fires a harpoon at Arthak but it clanks off the side of the train.
Inside the mess car, Lantresor manages to break down his own door and step into the main part of the car.
He winds up and strikes at the felguard with two blows of his axe.
A few more harpoons clink harmlessly off of Arthak’s armor. One of the gan’arg leaps off the infernal machine and grabs onto the moving train, dangling off the edge. Another electric bola is fired at Arthak and it wraps around him, knocking him off his feet on top of Nitrogg and starting to electrocute him.
There is definitely a degree of hesitation in Nitrogg’s voice, and he manages to break free of Arthak’s grapple and tosses him against the cannon. He then kicks the door open to the next car and runs into it.
The felguards now start to attack the party still in the mess car.
He punches Halno in the face and knocks him flat on his back. He then raises his glaive and brings it down on Halno, cutting open a grievously bleeding, ichorous wound. The other felguard punches at Go’el and then whips around with his glaive, but the chieftain is able to deflect the blows aside.
Two gan’args throw shredders at the restrained Arthak, filling the area with shrapnel. Arthak is able to break the cord of the bola and gets to his feet.
He starts to chase after Nitrogg. As soon as he opens the door, he hears the sound of a trap going off and closing on his foot.
Arthak draws Champion’s Forge and looks straight at Nitrogg.
Another gan’arg jumps on the train and starts to coordinate with the others over the roar of the train.
Lantresor pushes into the felguard and lands a heavy foot in the demon’s chest, throwing him back into the door and breaking it open.
Azuka manages to pick the lock and open her door. Veena remains hiding in her room. The felguard continues trying to attack Go’el, but the shaman deflects the blows aside again.
Go’el uses booming blade and buries his axe into the chest of the felguard--which hurls the felguard into the door behind him and breaks it down. Go’el follows through into the next car, noting the orcs inside.
Still using the cover of the sandstorm, Nyxxa closes on a gan’arg and promptly assassinates him. He collapses off the train, and she moves on to the next one--slicing into his hand and sending him tumbling off the train he was hanging onto.
The gan’arg seem unsure, but the fel orcs are grinning with razor sharp tusks.
The gan’arg shifts into the cockpit of one of the infernal machines as the fel orc prepares to leap onto the train.
In the mess cart, Halno casts summon undead and the spirit of an arakkoan warrior appears behind the felguard. He then focuses his energy through his scepter and his wound starts to knit together.
The arakkoan warrior makes a screeching squawking sound and strikes into the felguard with its spectral blade once, twice, and then three times. It drives its blade into the felguard’s gut and whispers something in ravenspeech, causing a haunted look to cross over the felguard’s face.
Inside the next car, the Grimrail stone guard commands the grunts to continue holding off the rest of the party while some of the others follow her to go to the weapon’s car.
Nitrogg fires his harpoon at Arthak but Arthak is able to slice the harpoon in half before it can connect.
Nitrogg backs off, giving more room for the grunts to attack. Meanwhile, the fel orc leaps at Nyxxa. She is able to deflect his weapon aside and then darts to block the doorway.
Two grunts attack the arakkoan ghost, and the felguard strikes at the ghost but misses.
Azgadaan disappears as he uses steel wind strike, and the felguard drops dead on the ground as Azgadaan appears behind the orc grunt. The orcs seem to be very injured, and they promptly throw their weapons to the ground.
The orcs in the car ahead start to attack Go’el.
Levia flits to the top of the car and starts to run along the top of it.
The Grimrail First Sergeant looks at Arthak and commands her orcs to go for him. One of them goes for Arthak, but only manages to land a glancing blow. Another follows suit as the orcs start to dogpile Arthak.
Halno and his arakkoan companion jump into the barracks car.
Lantresor leaps over the group and charges for the weapon car, smashing into the Grimrail Stone Guard and managing to stun her.
Another fel orc leaps at Lantresor and strikes him, knocking him a few feet backwards. Nyxxa had landed a good strike on another gan’arg, and he throws his shredder behind Nyxxa--between her and Arthak--before starting to run.
Go’el continues to tank the orcs in the front car, deflecting the attacks aside.
The gan’arg still on the Tormentor infernal machine starts to pilot it away, but the gan’arg that had fled Nyxxa shouts for him to wait. After some hesitation, the Tormentor starts to drive back to pick up the fleeing gan’arg.
Meanwhile, Nitrogg proceeds to move deeper into the train.
Levia lands on the weapon car and casts spiritual weapon which clashes harmlessly off the armor of the fel orc raider. A gan’arg throws a stunning bola at Lantresor, which quickly wraps around him. He then tries to jump back to the Tormentor but misses and instead tumbles into the ground. The gan’arg driving the Tormentor slows down to try and pick him up.
Nyxxa continues dueling with a fel orc, and she gets nicked in the shoulder, but jumps back to stand back-to-back with Arthak.
Suddenly, a localized storm appears in the car Go’el is in as he casts storm sphere.
There is an explosion of lightning and thunder as unattached debris goes flying.
Azgadaan tries to warn Lantresor as he casts hypnotic pattern, but unfortunately Lantresor gets dazed by the colors along with two other orcs. However, the electricity of the bola zaps him awake and Azgadaan starts heading back to help Go’el.
Arthak manages to connect with the grunt directly in front of him, and his flame rune activates. Flaming chains wrap around her and tug her to the ground as flames erupt on her. Arthak steps over her and carves into the next grunt, though she is able to block his strike aside.
Levia uses mass cure wounds and heals both Arthak and Nyxxa before commanding her spiritual weapon to slam into the fel orc raider. Nyxxa ducks under the attack of the orc grunt on her. Lantresor breaks through the bola and prepares to engage the fel orc.
Nyxxa slices twice into the orc grunt, the woman’s wounds rather severe. The orc is clearly looking for an out, but another kick from Nyxxa knocks her out cold.
The remainder of the gan’arg’s zoom away on the final Tormentor, as they are not looking to die today.
Halno casts dimension door and takes his arakkoan guardian with him as he appears in the barracks car beyond the weapons and heals himself with his scepter. The ghost runs for the sergeant, passing through the shelving and starting to claw at her with his glaive.
Go’el continues to deal with the orcs in the train with the storm sphere with Azuka now backing him up.
The Grimrail stone guard closes on Halno and attacks him. His concentration on the spirit wanes, and the ghostly arakkoa vanishes.
Azgadaan continues running to to help Go’el and then uses steel wind strike. He only manages to successfully connect with one and appears in the midst of the storm.
The one Azgadaan had wounded drops his weapon.
Other orcs are also starting to surrender, but the fel orcs continue to fight, even as Nyxxa grievously injured one.
Grunts continue to dogpile Arthak, but the orcs are continuing to lose morale.
Go’el tells Azgadaan to help the others while he talks to the conductor, and Azgadaan nods and then dimension doors to reposition himself into the barracks car with Arthak and Halno.
Levia twins healing light to heal both Arthak and Nyxxa. She lands, and she seems to be panting fairly bad. However, her spiritual weapon managed to impale the fel orc, and left it crumpling to the ground, dead.
Arthak throws another orc against the wall and she slumps over, unconscious. He bull rushes a second, and she too falls unconscious as he strikes her in the face with his gauntlet. He rounds on the third grunt with a slash--who blocks him. Arthak squeezes past him, and the stone guard bars his way.
The sergeant, however, starts to retreat to see to her companions.
Halno uses summon undead again and this time he summons a decaying, zombified corpse. It claws at the stone guard, and the orc’s body freezes up as its claws connect.
Lantresor is able to successfully drop the fel orc, which gets kicked over the side of the train.
Arthak shoves through the paralyzed orc and runs into the next car. He manages to avoid the trap waiting for him and then burls into the orcs waiting for him. He shoves through all of them and none of them are able to land a hit through his armor.
Nitrogg frantically grabs his harpoon and takes a shot at Arthak, which clanks harmlessly off Arthak’s armor. He throws the gun at Arthak, which does nothing.
He runs to the next car.
Nyxxa runs after Arthak and pushes by Halno and Azgadaan.
Nyxxa nearly knocks an orc grunt out, and all the laborers immediately drop their weapons.
Halno has his zombie continue to attack the stone guard and grunt.
The stone guard and grunt don’t look like they’re ready to stop yet.
Meanwhile a laborer manages to get a lucky hit on Arthak. Azgadaan quickens fly on himself and takes off out of the train. He hovers, using the speed of the train to his advantage as it flies by, and then he tries to grab onto the caboose train but gets clipped by impact as he grabs on.
Arthak tries to push through the felguard that was blocking his path. The felguard is heavily injured.
Nitrogg continues to run and he disappears behind some metal.
The grimrail stone guard tries to go after Halno and the zombie slashes at her. She manages to land a good strike.
The laborers all start to run. Nyxxa manages to finish off the felguard. Lantresor backs up Halno.
As Azgadaan hangs on to the back of the car, he can swear he sees a shadow moving in the distance. Sadras pokes her head out after hearing Azgadaan moving outside.
Sadras growls and there is a sudden explosion of feathers as Rexxar explodes into the sky on top of his dread raven. Azgadaan gets onto the roof of the train and starts running back up the train. He then casts arcane metamorphosis.
The remaining orc grunt tries to grapple Arthak but can’t get a good grip and opts to run. However, at that moment, orcs burst into the car Halno is in.
The orcs look at each other and then start to scramble. Halno heals himself with a death coil and calls further up to pass the message on. Nyxxa hears it.
Nyxxa darts into the next car and she sees the inside of the slave car. All the chambers are full of slaves for transportation. None of them are orcs. There are a few arakkoa, a few krokul, a saberon, and some elves and humans as well. There is also a massive cannon pointed in Nyxxa’s direction. As soon as she steps in, a massive ball of steel starts careening directly at Nyxxa’s face. Nyxxa leaps up over the ball and it then explodes. Fire and shrapnel wafts in. Nyxxa is able to avoid it, and Arthak shields his face, but he’s still up.
Nyxxa closes on Nitrogg and strikes, managing to stun him before she follows up again. She grabs him by the scruff and he tumbles out of the canon and hits the ground.
The train shakes, and there is a screeching sound. The momentum of the train starts to slow. The shadow looms closer, and closer, the details of the gronn more and more detailed. There is an ear-piercing sound of metal bending.
Nyxxa throws Nitrogg back towards Arthak, who then grabs him.
The train continues to slow. Nitrogg growls.
Rexxar lands on his dread raven aboard the roof of the train.
Azgadaan starts to rip into the wall with his maul, and he peers in and sees Nyxxa working to unlock the cages of the slaves. Arthak shoves Nitrogg towards his cannons and then moves in to help Nyxxa by breaking the locks.
Halno joins them in the car, and Nyxxa and Arthak are both able to open one of the cages.
The train is still going very quickly, even as it tries to grind to stop.
The slaves that the group had freed start to move to leap from the moving train just as Azgadaan breaks through the wall.
Azgadaan looks down to the connection on the train and starts to hit it repeatedly with his maul. The connection shatters. Nyxxa gets another cage open as Arthak continues to smash against another cage and Azgadaan calls for the slaves to get into the car he had detached. Halno commands his undead to smack at one lock while he fire bolts another. Another cage opens, and the slaves leap into the car that Azgadaan had freed.
But then the last car uphends, and they feel the distinctive sensation of falling.
Halno grabs Arthak and one of the slaves and uses dimension door. He teleports, and he falls for about 20 feet, and then they land in various states of on their feet. Levia and Rexxar are still flying overhead along with Veena. It seems that Rexxar had managed to grab Azuka in the talons of his dread raven.
Azgadaan tries to slow the last separated car as much as he can, using his raw strength and the power of his magic to try and get it to stop. It stops with two wheels over the edge.
As the dust of the crashing train clears, they can see the silhouette of a massive figure. It’s Gruul making his way over, digging a large hook through the ground. There is the peeling of metal as he tears entire portions of the train off.
As the group gets their bearings, Gruul stops and smells the air.
And then he turns in their direction.
His eye shines through the dust, and then locks on Arthak.
He releases an earth-rattling roar. The slaves they managed to rescue step back as Gruul takes a single, massive step forward. Azgadaan looks down at his friends down below. Levia joins him, as does Rexxar--his dread raven dropping Azuka next to them.
They can see Go’el in the wreckage far below.
And then there are war horns and battle cries. Running down the side of the canyon are massive figures--hide-covered bodies of mok’nathal. There are about a dozen and half with their beasts of burden, charging to do… something. On the opposite side of the bridge is one mok’nathal with a massive, red furred cat. He makes eye-contact with Rexxar, and then looks down at the scene below.
