[Alliance] Chapter Four: Session Twenty-Two
Appearing Characters: Anacondra/Scarletleaf, Arthas Menethil, Cobrahn/Jarlaxla, Elissa Cross, Remnii, Seria, Tol'vas Moonshadow, Uther Menethil, Velameestra Windrunner, Zap Rusthammer
June 18th
Vel looks over to the unconscious druids.
The two serpents that had escaped seemed to have slithered off to the north. Vel takes a closer look at the camp and she finds a collection of materials beyond food and water that are likely not safe to drink without purifying. She also finds a lot of equipment that could be used to extract, handle, or maintain poisons as well as collections of poisons in glass jars. She examines a sealed crate, and inside there are just under a dozen potions bottled with simple stoppers. Vel pulls one of potions out and examines them, noting they are potions of healing.
Seria goes and sniffs at the poisons. It seems four of the jars contain serpent venom, two of the jars contain a type of spider venom, and one of the jars appears to be an incredibly potent wyvern poison.
There is general agreement, and Vel plucks two potions from the crate before the group starts to examine further into the caverns to the north. There is a very acrid scent, the air is thick with spores and smoke that chokes the entire area--making it harder to see even beyond the pitch blackness of the cave.
Vel and Zap both can identify the scent as the scent of decay mixed with the earthy scent of flora and fauna in the area. They see a mound over in the corner, and upon closer examination, they note the distinctive shape of a hand that is largely decayed and skeletal. It’s covered in much of the same mold that’s covering these caves.
Remnii sniffles in the background.
Remnii blinks.
Remnii sniffles again.
Seria recognizes the fungus, and she sees other mounds in the distance. It’s yellow mold, which is a dangerous kind of mold that manifests in many different moist, dark places. It’s quite toxic, and if disturbed they shoot spores into the air.
Seria draws the name in the ground with a claw along with a skull.
The entire area is covered with the mold.
Zap pushes everyone back and opts to take a closer look to see how much further the mold goes. He puts a ridiculous device over his nose that almost looks like a medieval torture device, and he starts to wade off into the mold. With every step, clouds of spores puff up at his steps.
He continues on, and there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight, even 30 feet further down. There are more mounds--likely more corpses that have been covered with the mold. He continues even further, and he finds himself at the end of the fumes. Beyond the fumes there is a bit of natural light in the distance.
There is rich greenery and flowers in the next cavern. A small stream of water trickles down and collects in small pools. Some sections of ivy are pulled away, as well with hints of writing beneath. There are more corpses. One appears to be a druid, and two appear to be wind serpents. He looks at the cave walls, and there are small cracks and crevices, and he surmises they likely are used by snakes and the like.
Meanwhile, Vel also enters the mold and examines the closest corpse. Seeing she doesn’t have to breathe the spores don’t seem to bother her as she pokes around the body in the mold. It seems that he had died from the mold as opposed to being dropped there after death. It also seemed the body had been there for some time.
And in that moment, she hears mechanical breathing. Her hand instinctively goes to the hilt of her sword, but as she turns she just sees Zap emerging from the cloud of spores. The spores are clinging heavily to his beard and clothing.
Remnii sniffles, thoroughly congested.
Vel blinks and immediately looks at the rest of the group.
He looks at one of the druid corpses.
Tol’vas scratches a question with the tip of his tail into the ground. “Won’t that be loud?”
Zap laughs.
After some discussion, they agree to try the explosives, and Zap tromps off to set off the explosives. In the time it takes Zap to set up the explosives, Vel ritual casts telepathic bond over the group so they can actually communicate with the druids in their animal forms.
As Vel finishes the casting, there is a loud explosion as Zap hits the plunger.
Smoke billows out as rocks crumble. Colonel Nutters has a tiny construction helmet and tiny batons waving the group up as they scale into the hole. The group reignites their lights and sees the area beyond the mold.
Noting that Uther is still injured, Zap winds up Captain Cluckers--his robotic chicken--which opens its beak and sprays a mist on Uther, which alleviates some of his wounds. It makes a small alarm sound, and sits down, and a small egg appears under it. Zap pulls a small receipt from the egg and crumples it up.
Zap takes a step back to start washing himself off with his decanter of endless water. Vel gives him a wide berth due to Zap’s history of accidentally hitting her with the geyser function, and she starts to examine the corpses. She sees some wooden darts in the bodies, and she also notes there seem to be pressure points.
She warns the group and projects the writing to the druids using minor illusion, which Seria is able to translate bits and pieces, but Vel isn’t familiar with the language plus there’s a good deal of sunlight in the area.
Zap had finished washing off.
Elissa giggles, and Arthas smirks. Vel blinks.
He takes a look at them and starts to dismantle one. He manages to do it in record time.
A poison dart is sticking out of his beard, and he is seemingly unaware. Seria and Tol’vas take a look at the druidic, and it seems to be a message of hope, but it’s been defaced with bloody snakes. It seems the holes the darts were coming from were located in the mouths of the snakes.
Vel and Zap start to creep into the next passage followed by the others, and there are jet black mushrooms, but also writing that seems to be written in darnassian. It seems to be sleep over and over and over again, dozens of times. Then there are others. Forever. Escape. Sleep. Nightmares. Sleep. It’s all in blood, and slumped against the wall is the body of a night elf--his hand covered in dried blood. He doesn’t seem to be living.
Vel starts to approach the body, along with Tol’vas. It’s lifeless. As they get right to the middle of the chamber, the writing illuminates in bright red. The corpse starts to move, and quietly it speaks.
Tol’vas’s vision starts to blur. He slithers back, and his eyelids start to become heavy. She looks around as there’s a crash, and Tol’vas had fallen unconscious. The glowing fades, but Tol’vas is still sleeping.
Zap runs to Tol’vas’s aid, and as he enters, the writing flashes again. He feels drowsy, but it passes. Vel looks up at the writing again, and she is unsure what the trigger may be, but it seemingly is some sort of sleep spell.
Zap drags Tol’vas back while Vel continues to examine the room for any sort of clue. Remnii and Elissa quickly try to examine Tol’vas, first trying a lesser restoration, but nothing happens.
Unable to locate the trigger by mundane means, Vel starts to ritual cast detect magic. Tol’vas is not having a very good time in his sleep.
It’s actually definitely because she can’t sleep at all.
A humanoid figure had appeared in the far edge of the cavern. There’s a druid as a light blinks into existence, but her body is the lower half of an elongated serpent. Behind her are the two snakes that had fled the previous battle.
They are staring at the group.
Vel’s detect magic goes off, and she notes the words that are not sleep are the ones that she needs to worry about.
The woman turns and slithers back down the hall with the two snakes.
Meanwhile, Vel had managed to disable the trap, passing her hand over the crux points in the magic and fizzling them out.
Uther rubs his hands together, opting to try and cast dispel magic himself. He taps into his bloodline, remembering everything Jaina and Vel had taught him. He ignites his magic, and Tol’vas’s eyes open as he comes back to consciousness.
Zap elbows Tol’vas, and if the snake could frown, he would. Tol'vas is feeling quite unsettled. He changes back to his humanoid form, not wanting to be a snake anymore.
Tol’vas uses a lesser restoration on himself, and he exhales, wiping the memory and the stress from his mind.
Vel draws her sword, and the group starts to creep forward again. As they round the corner, they see the snake-like woman slithering back and forth with the two snakes behind her. She stops upon noting the groups’ approach.
She moves toward the end of the hallway, leaving the two snakes watching the group warily.
The group starts to head into the cave and they find a private meditation chamber. There is a simple leather mat, and the food is basic, and the water sparse. They see a male night elf wearing violet leather armor, but his neck ends any semblance of humanoid as his head is a large serpentine head on a long neck. There are no night elven features, its body as thick as a humanoid’s neck. It blinks at them. There are also two other figures--a massive night elf bigger even than Broll. He is completely shirtless, and his long blue hair is collected in a ponytail. His flesh is a gunmetal blue, like a drowned corpse in coloration. There are patches of scales and bright green tattoos are being applied to his kin by the kaldorei woman behind him. Her body is seemingly humanoid, but her arms are instead four snakes on each side. Each head has a needle that is expertly applying the tattoos to the hulking form of Lord Cobrahn.
The tattoos are finished, and his body starts to swell a bit more. He stands, and he rises on a serpent’s tail. His eyes are full of tears, and pleading.
He bows his head to the group.
He holds his hand out. Parts of his flesh are grafted to a long weapon of bone and claw. He is definitely one of the Fanglords, and Ebru had described Jarlaxla as a very large night elf--perhaps this was him.
The man shakes his head.
Cobrahn’s face drops into sullen sadness as he recognizes the intent behind Uther's words.
The man stands to his full height, his serpentine body flexing and his tattoos alighting. Vel then suddenly feels crippling pain, her presence no longer desired in this private sanctum.
Arthas starts the attack and rages, unloading his axe swings on the Pariah of the Fang. He pins her to the ground, digging his axe into her side before turning his attention to the rest of the Druids of the Fang.
Zap produces a small device that looks something like a syringe with a rainmaker.
He injects it into Uther, a bunch of nice-feeling magics and vitamins flowing into Uther as he uses haste. He then commands Battle Nutters to take up his form next to one of the giant serpents. A buzz saw shoots out of the mech, but the snake evades the attack.
Vel retreats out of the sanctum, and she feels the pain lift before she rounds on one of the giant snakes, reaching out with a sapping sting. The spell immediately drops the creature, its form convulsing on the ground before she pirouettes around to the other snake, slashing it with her blade. The snake hisses and bites her in response, pumping venom into her veins.
Tol’vas drops his bear totem, and it roars. He then conjures some woodland beings. There is a chirping warbling sound, and there is a gust of wind as a weasel with beautiful teal fur appears.
Seria doesn’t say anything, but there may be a telepathic squee.
It laughs.
There is a chime as the feeling of the room seems to shift, and Uther suddenly becomes keenly aware of the thoughts of creatures around him due to the psychic resonance.
Seria roars and charges toward the Ascended of the Fang. All of the snakes of her arms turn toward her, and Seria slashes. The woman’s eyes flash a bright green, and the snakes spit out venom in response. Seria is able to cover her face for the most part, and she claws her again. The Promised of the Fang hisses and lashes out with his serpentine head, biting her before swinging with his moon glaive.
Lord Cobrahn has morose in his eyes. The muscle tissue around his neck tenses, and his trapezius muscle flares out like a hood as his eyes light up--casting fear. Uther and Tol’vas are able to resist, but Zap, Arthas, Seria, and the wind weasel are feared. Their minds evacuate them, and there is a crushing realization that there was no hope. They all immediately drop their weapons.
The wind weasel dashes out of the sanctum, but as soon as it approaches Elissa, it stops, shakes its head, and turns back.
It charges at Cobrahn again, leaves snaking in its wake.
Remnii casts spiritual weapon, and it clanks harmlessly off of Cobrahn’s armored arm. She then uses mind sliver on the Promised of the Fang, but he seems to be quite resistant to the effect.
Elissa closes the gap.
The fear effect seems to be dispelled as she approaches. She then uses her ring to cast faerie fire. The Ascended of the Fang is covered with sparkling dust. The Ascended of the Fang looks at Seria, and she starts to say “sleep” as all her snakes surround Seria’s face. A pulse of energy blows through her and those around her. Arthas falls unconscious, fast asleep.
Uther uses sacred weapon and then starts to close on the Druids of the Fang.
Tol’vas uses wrath, and there is a powerful blast of eclipse energy that slams into the Promised of the Fang. It staggers from the blast. The snake continues to circle Vel and strikes at her, but she blocks the fangs with her blade.
Zap picks up his gun and dusts it off. Sand plinks out of it.
He fires two blasts from his gun at Lord Cobrahn.
Cobrahn shakes his head.
Nutters rolls in on the snake, and a giant boxing glove decks the snake in the face--sending it sprawling against the wall.
He then starts to roll back to the rest of the fight.
The Promised of the Fang bites Seria and she is blasted out of her wildshape. He tries to shove past Seria, but she is able to block him.
Seria uses the dragonstaff to cast protection from poison on herself. She then shifts into a giant scorpid, clipping her pincers ominously.
He grabs onto Seria’s staff as it merges into her scorpid form, and as the staff changes into her tail he is flung across the fire. He then twists his weapon around, slamming into Cobrahn once, twice, and then three times. Cobrahn winces.
Cobrahn lashes out with his tail at Uther, but Uther blocks the tail away with a shield spell. Two more strikes also clash harmlessly off the arcane shield.
The wind weasel tears into the Promised of the Fang, biting and scratching and leaving the druid collapsed on the ground.
Vel paces in annoyance at the edge of the sanctum but can just barely see Cobrahn beyond the edge. She uses toll the dead, the echo of a banshee scream evident as the after image rattles across him, inflicting him with the shadowy magic.
Remnii tries to hit Cobrahn with her spiritual weapon again. She then looks to Vel and shadowy magic wreaths around her as she uses death coil. Vel nods in thanks.
The Ascended of the Fang grabs Seria right in the face with a vampiric touch, her injuries starting to heal as she saps life from the other druid. A wide, manic grin crosses the woman’s face. More and more of the snakes grab onto Seria, charging more vampiric venom into her body.
Arthas is still unconscious on the ground.
Cobrahn’s tail lashes around and whips around Elissa. He slashes her with his arm blade as he bites back at Uther as well.
Seria heals herself, life magic pushing back the shadowy, necrotic venom. She then grabs the Ascended of the Fang with her claws, and drives her stinger into her. The poison doesn’t seem to have any effect, but the force of the strikes drops the Ascended’s vampiric touch off.
Vel tries to toll the dead on Cobrahn, but he resists the effect. Tol’vas hits him with wrath, and Lord Cobrahn is starting to slow down steadily.
Uther swings once, twice, and three times, each strike hitting Cobrahn harder and harder. Acidic blood starts to drip from the druid’s mouth, and the wind weasel starts to spin in circles and becomes a mini tornado that invades Cobrahn’s space.
Zap shoots Cobrahn and then commands Nutters to get into the fray.
Nutters surges forward and connects with a solid strike.
Elissa breaks free of Cobrahn’s grapple, and Remnii’s spiritual weapon strikes him square in the chest. She hesitantly approaches Seria and reaches out a hand, touching Seria’s chitin and filling her with healing energy.
He slashes the scythe through the air, and a crescent moon sails through the air and slams into Cobrahan--sending him hurling back into the supplies as his fighting spirit leaves him.
She rounds on the group with renewed fighting vigor. She is almost foaming at the mouth in rage, but Remnii’s spiritual weapon slams into her side. She then looks at Arthas and starts to shake him awake. He jolts up and cracks his head off her forehead.
Arthas pushes himself to his feet and tries to close. Seria starts to crunch her claws down on the Ascended. Vel tries to use toll the dead again, but in the Ascended’s fury she is able to resist. The druid continues to fight, all her snakes snarling and hissing. Uther puts her out of her misery with a crack of his hammer, and the Ascended goes limp in Seria’s claws.
Cobrahn shifts weakly, the last of his life leaving.
He reaches a massive hand out and grabs Uther’s arm.
Uther grabs Cobrahn’s hand in a comforting fashion.
Cobrahn’s eyes are uncertain and cloudy, but he nods weakly.
His grip loosens, and the gigantic, mutated night elf falls limp. With his death, the force preventing Vel from entering seems to release, as if his dying breath has welcomed them back in.
Tol’vas heads deeper into the sanctum and starts to look around. It seems Cobrahn’s weapon could potentially be removed, but everything else looks largely mundane.
Now that she can enter the area again, Vel takes a closer look. The tattoo was indeed magical.
The group opts to bunker down while the wind weasel keeps watch.
Zap sits down next to Uther while whipping out his cook’s tools.
He goes into the events involving Arthas going missing, him being found, and then the group’s brief stint in hell before they found Arthas in Kalimdor with none of his memories.
He stops and looks at the javelin on his back.
Uther laughs.
Vel tunes into the conversation, having heard her name.
Zap laughs.
Vel’s brow raises.
He finishes cooking up whatever he was making.
Vel had used identify on Cobrahn’s weapon, and it’s a weapon of certain death.
However, right near the end of the rest, as Vel rounds the corner she is attacked by a swarm of snakes. There is a sharp pain in her ankle, and Zap also gets assaulted by similar snakes, but he is able to jump out of the way.
There is hissing in the cavern beyond as well as swarms of snakes come roiling forward.
Arthas pulls out his blood axe and starts to hack at the snakes that had started to swarm Vel. The head of the adder is promptly chopped off.
Colonel Nutters gets bit.
The poison does absolutely nothing. Zap approaches Vel’s side and one of the multi-functions of his gun activates. He pulls a lever and adjusts a firing range-finder with a button, and then a bunch of fletchers fire off and hit a bunch of snakes. Nutters starts to try and rip an adder in two.
Tol’vas, who had shifted back into a snake to rest in, slithers behind Vel and tries to bite the swarm on her, but the majority of his jaws misses the writhing swarm. He then uses roar.
Uther smacks a swarm with his hammer. The snakes swarm up onto Vel and bite her again. In annoyance, Vel uses steel wind strike and flourishes around four out of five of her targets, severing them into ribbons.
Several of the snakes start to flee, their numbers heavily reduced by Vel’s spell. Zap skewers some of the snakes on his lightning javelin, while Nutters manages to rip the adder in half.
Remnii uses a mind sliver on the giant viper, and Arthas stomps the remainder of the swarm on him to pieces. Seria manages to rip apart the remaining viper. She throws the pieces away and tries to sting the remaining adder, but she impales the dirt instead. The adder tries to flee, but Arthas splits it down the middle. He then starts to hunt down the fleeing swarms and tries to finish it off, eviscerating a good deal of the swarm, but the last few manage to slither down a hole.
The group heads back the way they came and emerge back into the main cavern after the group piles into Zap’s portable boat while Vel crawls along the ceiling, with the druids swimming behind along with Zap. Zap tries to jetski by holding onto Seria’s scorpion tail to mixed results.
Many of the raptors are still stalking on the northern shore. They are watching the group, and there are also snakes among them.
Then Vel sees a shadow in the water for the briefest moment. She tries to track it and sees it go under the boat. She tries to shout a warning, but then something comes whizzing directly at her face. An arrow strikes into her armor, and she feels toxin hit her body. It hurt. It hurt a lot more than most things that have struck her.
It was a magic arrow, and she hears a hiss. The arrow is now a snake, and she throws it down to her feet. She looks up, and two bright green glowing eyes appear.
A giant snake emerges from the water and it attempts to crush the boat that Remnii, Uther, Arthas, and Remnii are riding in.
The group are tossed from the boat, except for Arthas who manages to hang on.
A kaldorei woman with bright blue eyes with thin slits steps out.
The raptors start to charge from across the land bridges while the snakes slither into the water.
The massive snake is easily forty or fifty feet long, and it almost seems to glow with scintillating scales that are almost hard to look at. Large black thorns also pierce through its body, each one tipped with bright red.
Arthas rages and swings his axe at the giant snake. The thorns on the snake grazes against his flesh as he swings again, taking a significant amount of damage from the cutting, flaming axe.
Remnii starts to try and scramble to the shore. The massive Child of Anacondra strikes at Remnii, blowing past Elissa’s shield and managing to sink its fangs into Remnii. It tries to pull her back by her leg, trying to swallow her, but she is just barely able to swim away.
The arrowhead snake hiss and tries to bite Vel, but she jumps out of the way.
Elissa casts misty step and appears behind Vel. Anaconda had disappeared back into the shadows. She uses her ring to blast the Child of Anacondra with two shooting stars.
A deviate guardian leaps into the water and tries to chomp Remnii, but she is able to narrowly roll out of the way.
Uther rights himself in the water and grabs Remnii, then thunder steps out of the water. Unfortunately, what’s left of Zap’s folding boat is blasted apart, dropping Arthas into the water.
Remnii and Uther appear safely on dry land.
He respectfully averts his eyes as Remnii definitely wears white.
More of the raptors and guardians start to swarm the party, and one of the raptors bites at Seria. Tol’vas goes to back her up, rearing back and striking the raptor that had attacked her. However, the raptor clicks and darts around his attack. He then uses roar.
Vel activates her bladesong and tries to use sapping sting on the arrowhead snake. It resists, but she follows up with a strike of her blade, splitting it in half. As it dies, it turns back into an arrow, still split in half.
Zap has Colonel Nutters enter battle mode and engage the Child of Anacondra. Zap tries to take a shot at the Child of Anacondra, squinting and pushing through the pain of the bright scales. He lands a critical hit, and then a second good shot. Nutters jumps on the snake, slicing at it with his buzz saw.
A bolt of lightning comes flying from the shadows and hits Elissa, exploding in a burst of electricity that crackles over Remnii and Uther as well. The second arrow comes flying at Vel, but it whistles past her.
A deviate guardian splashes into the water and attacks Tol’vas with a pounce.
