[Alliance] Chapter Two: Session Thirteen
July 17th
After Uther receives the sending from Vel, he informs Jaina, and they ready their things to set off. They try to avoid the main roads and take more scenic paths. No one seems to drawn toward them, initially. However, as they continue on toward Duskwither Spire, in the distance they see a single Spellbreaker dressed in his armor.
He is walking down the same path, and Jaina and Uther share a quick glance. Jaina purposely avoids the situation, engaging Uther in some idle conversation. The Spellbreaker doesn’t seem to pay them any mind, however, after they pass they hear his armor stop moving.
They keep walking.
Spellbreaker: “Could that be…”
The Spellbreaker is speaking to himself, but there is something strangely familiar about it. They continue on, but then the Spellbreaker calls after them.
Uther turns around.
Jaina: “Is there a problem, sir?”
The Spellbreaker investigates further.
Spellbreaker: “Pardon my intrusion, but I’m looking for a few individuals.”
Uther: “I can only assume you think we may be these people? Who might you be looking for?”
Spellbreaker: “I’m looking for either the queen or prince of Lordaeron, and any number of individuals they came with. I’ve heard some rather troubling news from the capital, you see.”
As the man moves forward, he pulls the mask of the Spellbreaker armor up, and there is no face beneath it.
Jaina: “Rowan?! How did you-!?”
Rowan: “Pardon me, ma’am, I thought it best I slip into something a bit more inconspicuous. I was searching the villages as you requested. I apologize for the alarm, I understand something has happened.”
Uther: “I’m very glad to see you, Rowan.”
Rowan: “And you, your highness. Perhaps you should inform me of what happened.”
Uther gives the rundown.
Rowan: “My… that seems like quite the predicament.”
Rowan informs them he just came from Duskwither, and it seems quiet, and many of the students are not currently present.
Jaina: “What have you heard, Rowan?”
Rowan: “It’s been largely quiet, but there have a few instances of curiosities. Disappearances. Strange travelers here and there. None that draw a large amount of attention, but strange happens afterwards. Disappearances from nearby farmsteads, or a string of peculiar occurrences. One such nearby village had nearly two dozen black lynxes appear a few days after some mysterious travelers passed by. It’s one of few instances. Unfortunately I’m hardly an investigator, so I have little beyond hearsay and rumors, and it became necessary to shield my peculiar origins. My apologies.”
Jaina reassures him it’s fine, and they opt to continue on.
0:19
At the later end of the travel they see the Duskwither Spire maybe an hour or two out. As they pass by the Azurebreeze Coast, they hear screaming. They run to investigate, and quickly see the cause of the commotion. A number of Thalassian commoners are running from the edge of the water. There are flashes of green, yellow, and blue with red fins as around two dozen murlocs rush out of the water and leap onto the piers. They are slicing nets open, and gathering up as much fish as possible.
Uther, Jaina, and Rowan share a look, and they rush up to intervene.
0:22
Meanwhile, Gil receives the sending from Vel, and he, Theo, Arator, and Tess start to head toward Duskwither Spire. Gil uses the time to catch up with Theo, and he informs Gil of the events of the previous night. They are all undisguised.
They are thankfully unaccosted. Some individuals greet them in Thalassian, and a few curious looks are cast at the half-elf and human, but there is nothing substantial. However, later on in the day, they start to hear the sounds of screaming and battle as they see a bunch of people fleeing.
“Please! The murlocs! They are going to take all of our harvest!”
A few of them see Gil, a Farstrider, and run toward him to beg their assistance. They hurry in the direction of the commotion.
Gil utilizes zephyr strike and hurries in, firing off an arrow. One of the murlocs is immediately knocked unconscious. He fires a second arrow, and it clips another murloc.
Arator reaches his hand out, and an aura of golden-white light wraps around his arm and body as he casts longstrider on himself. He hurries to catch up with Gil.
Jaina is already present, and water streams from her staff as she sweeps it across in a wide arc. A wave of water shoots forward and crashes down on four of the murlocs with a tidal wave. Several of them are knocked clean off their feet, twitching. Two others are twitching, not having the greatest time.
One of the murlocs runs at Jaina and pulls out a small net, however, its throw goes really wide. There is a flicker and a blink, and suddenly there are four Jainas instead of one as her contingency mirror image goes off.
Another murloc strikes with a spear, but it passes through one of the illusions.
Another murloc rushes for Gil, but it’s still a distance away.
Tess passes by Gil as she races ahead, closing the distance. A few more murlocs start to close the distance, and Theo hurls a firebolt as he closes the distance. The spell sails off, missing the murloc completely.
As it does, the firebolt slams into the side of one of the buildings. Theo winces as the edge of the building starts to catch ablaze.
Theo: “Dammit, not again.”
Gil: “You know we’re going to a school.”
Theo winces.
Another murloc hurls a spear at Uther, and he braces himself, prepared to let it glance off his armor. Then he realizes he doesn’t have the armor on, and he ducks out of the way at the last second. It just grazes by him.
Uther responds with a slash of his greatsword, bisecting clear through the creature. He swings again, cleaving through another one. All the murlocs around Jaina are now dispatched.
Jaina: “Nice work.”
Uther: “Thank you, mother.”
Several of the murlocs are going for the villagers. One of them is starting to drag an elf away.
Then there is another blue murloc that is slightly larger than the others. It has a curved hook blade in its hand, and it charges at Uther. It takes a bite, connecting, but as it tries to slice in with its blade, Uther holds up a hand and the blow bounces off an arcane shield.
The murlocs continue to split, some of them going for Gil’s group as well while others are focused on fighting some of the guards of the village. There is a lone Guardian of the Eternal Spring facing off against another murloc raider. However, the guardian is getting overpowered.
Another murloc assists the raider, and the Guardian is overwhelmed.
Another one of Jaina’s mirror images is shattered.
Theo continues to run, and he casts off another firebolt. This one connects, and the murloc gurgles in pain and then collapses.
Gil fires off two arrows as he tries to peg the murloc that is dragging away a villager, but the arrows can’t find their mark. A murloc engages him and tries to hurl a net, but it fails.
Tess fires at the murloc, but the shot goes wide.
Uther conjures flames upon his blade and it slices clear through the murloc raider, the flames splashing onto a second one. He kills the second one, and then slices through a third.
Rowan moves in on the murloc attacking Jaina and slices at it.
One of the murlocs runs at Tess and runs in with its spear. Tess ducks out of the way, getting only a grazing wound. Arator continues running into the throng.
Jaina spins her staff, concentrating. The air around several of the murlocs attacking the villagers quivers, and all five of them disappear, only to reappear right in front of Uther. They are very confused, and clustered together.
The murloc raider that was teleported runs for Jaina, but she blocks both attacks. Another murloc jumps on top of Jaina, thrusting its spear through her heart, but the last mirror image shatters, leaving Jaina unscathed.
Tess quickly ends a murloc, running through with her rapier.
Theo eliminates a murloc with a flurry of scorching rays.
Rowan: “For Lor- Quel’thalas!”
Rowan shouts, cutting hard into the remaining murloc raider. The raider starts to try and flee.
Gil fires an arrow directly through a murloc, and it drops. Arator finishes the last murloc on Tess, and they hurry after Gil to get to the rest of the swarm fighting Jaina, Uther, and Rowan.
Jaina summons three arcane missiles. One finishes off the raider, and the other two slam into another murloc.
One stray murloc had rushed off, grabbed a bunch of fish, and dove into the water. The remaining murlocs also start retreating.
Uther puts his sword in the ground.
Uther: “These shores are not safe for you. Only death awaits you. Begone!”
The remaining murlocs drop their weapons and scramble away. One of them grabs a single fish that had fallen out of a net, but stops, looks at Uther, drops the fish, and runs.
1:27
As the group wraps up the situation, Jaina, Uther, and Rowan sigh in relief. The villagers run in to take stock of the situation, and the Guardian of Eternal Spring seems to be alright. There were just minor flesh wounds. Ultimately the murlocs seemed to have been more focused on stealing the fish.
One of the fishermen approaches and thanks Gil for the assistance. Gil mentions he had just been passing by, and the fisherman remarks they are “blessed by the serendipity.” Gil comments the others took far better care of the murlocs than he did, the fisherman also hails over Jaina, Uther, and Rowan to thank them as well. He insists on providing them with a token of thanks.
He tries to offer the group some money, but they insist that he keep it. The fisherman is a little bit stunned by the insistence, but he expressed that they will always have his thanks.
Jaina, Uther, and Rowan approach.
Jaina: “That was some quick thinking, Gil.”
Gil blinks, completely confused she knows his name as he doesn’t recognize Jaina.
Tess, however, recognizes her.
Tess: “Oh! Jaina.”
Jaina looks around and puts a finger on her mouth in a shushing motion.
Jaina: “Remember people are still looking for a couple of people, we need to be careful.”
Rowan also shows them the fact he is just a suit of armor. The group starts to head off toward the Duskwither Spire, and the villagers again thank them as they leave.
Once they are on the road, Gil gives them a brief rundown of the situation. They agree they need to wait for Vel and Vincent to plan their next move, and Jaina expresses it goes without saying that Vel wasn’t responsible for the attack on Kael’thas. She then explains the entire thing that happened at the palace.
Gil: “You understand I’m to find her and bring her back, right? Those are my official orders. So we’ll have to play things carefully.”
Jaina: “Gil, as far as this is concerned, if you bring her back Dar’khan and his supporters will make it so she can’t prove her innocence. Look what happened to Lana’thel.”
Gil smiles. “I’m not going to turn in my sister.”
Jaina: “I know. We’ll need to lay low, and see if we can find anything out. Maybe that can lead us to a way to prove her innocence and save Kael’thas from this den of sharks.”
Gil: “Maybe that’s what Aunt Sylvanas had in mind.”
Jaina: “Perhaps. I’m glad General Borel is on our side as well. We need as many people as we can get.”
As night begins to fall, they make their way down the road, and they see, sprawling ahead of them, the reasonably-sized town of Duskwither. The town itself is not anything super exceptional, but the spire itself is something that draws their attention. It is a single tall building that rises up, and it isn’t connected to the ground. Stairs lead up to it, and none of the stairs are built into the ground either. Everything is floating. There are other satellite buildings around it.
There are a number of young individuals going about their business, as well as some year-round townsfolk.
Gil goes to arrange a tour so he can find some places to look, and Jaina mentions she and Uther would lay low and try to get in contact with their “friend.”
Rowan suggests he goes with Gil seeing he’s disguised as a Spellbreaker. Arator, meanwhile, goes to try and find a Holy Light chapel to try and get some information there.
Tess goes to a tavern, and finds two directly across the street from each other. They seem to be in direct competition with each other. One is the Withering Vineyard and the other is the Lynx’s Rest. Tess goes to the Withering Vineyard, which seems to be more like a dive bar. At least for as much of a dive bar Thalassian bar could be.
1:52
Tess is greeted with a wave. There is a half-elf at the door, who watches Tess closely and threateningly. He seems to be rather strong, probably some sort of bouncer. There is a young, sandy-blonde haired elf with choppy hair, and she she doesn’t have a shirt. She’s just wearing her underclothes over her top.
The noise level seems to be cheery, and everyone seems to be celebrating something.
The female elf flags her over and begins small talk. Tess expresses she is just passing through. The elf expresses she is awfully far for a human just passing through, but she doesn’t pry. The woman offers Tess the special, and produces a drink she explains was developed by the man who founded the town. She said it’s called a Rotten Apple.
The drink itself is light red with bronze sparkles on the top, and there are three crimson red apple slices stuck on the edge of the glass. It smells like a mixture of apple, blackberries, and wine.
Tess takes a swig, and it tastes like freshly cut grass mixed with an edge of the other flavors. Tess expresses it was interesting, but she liked it. The bartender continues that they only have some biscuits to eat as their chef had up and quite.
Tess asks why the chef quit, and the woman said it was a long story. Tess asks why there was a celebration going on, and the woman explains it’s the week before the next semester starts at the Spire. It’s the midpoint between the two summer courses.
So the ones that graduated, and the ones that are starting, are getting together to make merry.
Tess mentions she bets the college is amazing, and the bartender agrees sarcastically. She explains Duskwither isn’t very prestigious. It’s a good starting place, but you wouldn’t hear of many powerful magisters that started there. It’s at best a springboard, and at worse a cesspool for dropouts. However, she said that she’d rather work here rather than on Sunstrider Isle as the Falthrien students were quite stuck up.
She starts a tab for Tess, and then sets off to check on other patrons. Tess notes a white blouse behind the bar which is sopping wet with alcohol, explaining why she doesn’t have a shirt on. Tess sees the other patrons watching her.
Tess takes a seat in the center of the room. She observes three things immediately. She sees a very attractive elf laughing. He is seated all the way in a corner with the table pulled out a bit, and a half dozen chairs are piled together in the corner. He is leaning back with his feet on the table. He has immaculate clothes, and a smile with perfect teeth and silver hair. There are about three girls on either side of him, and he is telling them about how none of the courses are worth his time. He’s only there to make connections, but he’s glad he could come there so he is surrounded by such wonderful ladies.
He sees Tess looking at him, and he smiles and gives her a wink.
Over in another corner there are two female elves. One of them is hunched over the bar with three empty glasses in front of her and one in her hand. She has tan skin and long black hair. There is a scar peeking out on her cheek underneath the eye that is covered by her hair. She flashes a glare in Tess’s direction.
Sitting across from her is a beautiful elf, though it’s hard to tell if they are male or female. They have beautiful, academic robes, and they have a quill tapping against their chin. Something appears in the air, and they begin to scrawl more things. They take out a string instrument, pluck a few strings, and write again.
Tess continues to just ambient listen, and by the time she is done, she owes the tavern 4 silver pieces.
2:09
Gil heads toward the Spire along with Rowan. He approaches a secretary in the main building of the spire. She greets him, surprised, and asks if one of the students did something. Gil reassures her they haven’t.
Gil asks to speak with Magister Duskwither. The secretary grasps a pendant around her neck, and there is a momentary exchange between her and an unseen individual, before she shows Gil the way. They follow a hallway that just ends. There is a bluish violet orb sitting in a pedestal at the end. The secretary leans forward, saying some incantations, and the pendant around her neck flashes. She tells Gil to touch the orb, and not to close his eyes.
Gil touches the orb, and he is drawn in for a moment. In a flash of a second, the room spins, and then he is in another room. It’s an office of some kind.
There is the willowy form of Panlan Duskwither, and he greets Gil, fiddling with a ring on his finger. Gil introduces himself, and then explains he is tracking down a rogue mage.
Duskwither: “Oh. Is that so?”
Gil: “One with a connection to Telina Mirthbrook.”
Duskwither: “Ah. Yes. Yes I see. And you suspect they are utilizing our academy because it was already utilized once, so our security is likely weak enough they can do so again. Of course, it’s Duskwither Academy. Where else would you find warlocks?”
Gil: “Silvermoon for one. But no, it’s more so due to location. She was last seen in Silvermoon.”
D: “So you wish to look about the place?”
G: “Yes, and I came to you for permission, and because I imagine you have some ideas of locations Telina frequented.”
Duskwither sighs. “Very well.”
He reaches into his desk and hands Gil a small necklace. “These are necklaces the faculty wears. They enable us to communicate with each other on the grounds, and it gives you privileges to access through the orbs of translocation within reason. If you need access to a restricted area, you need to ask me directly. As for Telina, I don’t know the girl. Though I’m quite cross at her. We have a lot of students that pass through here.”
Gil: “I didn’t mean to insinuate that you knew her personally.”
D: “It’s been a trying number of months. I apologize I came off so blunt. There has been a great number of accusations thrown my way, which has not done any favors for our funding. You understand how this can make one very tired. So I apologize for coming off so curtly. If you require anything else, just ask. However, you’ll have to ask our instructors if you want some specifics, but not all of them teach the summer courses, and I don’t know which ones may have taught Ms. Mirthbrook.”
Duskwither gives some suggestions for teachers that may perhaps have taught Telina. One of them is at their homestead not too far, while two are staying on the grounds.
Gil thanks them for their cooperation, and gets on his way.
He goes through a number of the portals, and they take him to a bunch of different satellites. He doesn’t really find anything. Most of the rooms are cleared out, but he at least gets a lay of the land. Gil also senses for demons in a five mile radius, and there is nothing.
He makes his way back to an inn, and Jaina had secured them rooms at the Lynx’s Rest.
2:28
Vel and Vincent start to make their way off. As they make their way through the area, on the main roads they spy something in the road ahead. There’s a makeshift structure with a tented area. Hanging from it are the autumnal of the Guardians of the Eternal Spring. There is a checkpoint set up.
There are two arcane golems, and about a dozen of the Guardians themselves, as well as a single Farstrider. They don’t recognize the Farstrider.
Vincent and Vel momentarily discuss, and they realize they have no choice but to approach.
Vincent informs them they are heading toward Duskwither, and the Guardian informs them they need to search them real quick. Vincent is actively hiding the bone dagger.
The Guardians question Vel on the potion of sluggishness she has, and she simply says it helps her get to sleep. They think nothing of it.
However, the Farstrider finds the dagger of the raven on Vel’s person, and she is amazed, having recognized it as the dagger of a Thalassian criminal known as the Raven. She mentions it could be quite valuable. Vel comments that selling it might pay her tuition.
Lyrea Windhope, as the woman introduces herself, offers to escort the pair to Duskwither as she is hesitant to let the dagger out of her sight. They relent, and Vel offers to pay for Lyrea’s lodgings for kindly escorting them. Lyrea regales them with stories about the Raven in the meanwhile, and mentions her father was a ranger who had almost caught him once.
July 18th
The next day, Lyrea finds them some food to tide them over as there are no villages. She produces some berries, and Vel tries one and then abruptly disappears. Vincent knows them. They are duskberries, which turns the consumer invisible.
Vincent asks Lyrea where she found them, and she directs him to it. However, there’s just one left, and he leaves it, as if he picks all of them the bush becomes inert.
Lyrea makes small talk, and asks them how they knew each other. Vel mentions they were friends, and hailed from Fairbreeze.
2:54
Around midday, they reach Duskwither Spire. Lyrea offers to escort them to Duskwither Spire, and Vel asks if she minds that she goes and touches base with her friend first. Lyrea happily allows it, and mentions she will meet her at the Spire.
Gil is getting a lay of the land at the Spire, and then he happens to note another Farstrider that is approaching. She is just waiting around.
As Vel and Vincent go through, they observe there are a LOT of mana wyrms around. Vel smiles faintly at them.
Tess, meanwhile, is keeping an ear to the ground to hear more rumors. She hears some about the previous full term at the school, and a few of the bystanders talking.
Bystander: “And then there was that one girl that was attending. She left after she became an arcanist. Rumors say that she ran away and eloped with that one magister, the old fart that was here.”
Bystander 2: “I heard the opposite. I heard she was a master thief that was trying to get into the magistrate to steal something. What was her name. She was gorgeous. Talana? I can’t seem to remember her name.”
Another individual walks up and derails the conversation. Tess, however, knows who they were talking about.
Tess goes to leave, but then hears one final comment as the first one asks their friend what the woman’s name was. She also can’t really remember the name, but one of them mentions she had stolen her boyfriend, and the first one gets smacked. The last comment was that she was glad she could go to the Withering Vineyard without seeing her face.
As Vel and Vincent make their way to the Lynx’s Rest, they see Jaina and Uther. Jaina recognizes Vincent, but not Vel. However, then things click. She gestures Vel in for a hug, and they start to head up to talk in private.
Jaina sends a sending to Gil and Tess, letting them know Vel is here.
Meanwhile, Gil speaks briefly with the other Farstrider, who is surprised to see another Farstrider there. She asks Gil’s name, and he introduces himself. The name clicks, and Lyrea is amazed, recalling he was the one that met in front of the Convocation with the troll. Gil is confused, and Lyrea mentions that word spreads fast.
3:10
The group all convenes back at the inn. They discuss what all happened, and their next moves. Vel suggests that she and Uther masquerade as students, and Theo also puts in he can also apply as he passes well enough as a full elf.
Jaina is concerned that Uther’s disguise may not hold up without maintenance, and Vincent mentions he will keep upkeeping it.
Jaina also mentioned they need to find a way to protect themselves from scrying, in particular Uther and Vel, and she will keep an eye out for such a protection in the town.
They sort out their plan.
3:30
Vel, Theo, and Uther meet with Lyrea again, and they all head in. Inside there is a very old elf inside who is speaking to another elf, who is much, much taller. She is very tall, in fact, and she is wearing what amounts to a tank top and trousers. She’s very muscularly built and has short, red-cropped hair, and is kind of dominating the conversation.
There is another girl with platinum blonde hair holding an amulet with a sapphire stone in it. She’s gabbing away excitedly, and seems to be a bit of a gossiper who is talking with someone using the focus. Lastly, there is the arcanist secretary.
Vel asks if that’s where they register, and the secretary mentions that registrations ended last week. Uther steps forward and asks if there was anything they could do as they were waylaid. The woman sighs, and produces three forms, and says she could try.
They fill out the forms, and turn them in, and Vel mentions she was hoping to speak with Headmaster Duskwither about the dagger, and the secretary said she could try to arrange a meeting. But it may be a few days.
Vel speaks with Lyrea, and mentions that she would hate to hold her up any longer, and Lyrea admits she is right. She takes off for the Farstrider Enclave, and Vel mentions she will send a letter with what news she hears.
3:44
Gil spends the next week interviewing teachers and the like and also heading over to one of the satellite villages to make sure it looks like he is continuing to move. It’s kind of scary how much he can’t find out about Telina Mirthbrook. He did find one fact, however. Telina Mirthbrook hailed from Goldenmist Village, a small village north of Windrunner Village. She arrived two years ago, and she became very popular very quickly. She had a natural charisma that led her to be a favorite of many of the students, and also of many of the teachers. She also had an uncanny ability to turn one of her worst enemies into one of her best friends, and she spent time at the Withering Vineyard.
He also investigates the tree that Uther and Jaina had found at the past village. It does, in fact, seem to have a face in it. Gil touches the face, and the bark feels soft, with a sort of wet-like give. He sees if it reacts to his acorn, and it does not. However, he feels a soft hum in the acorn.
He meditates near the tree and practices some of his smaller, new abilities, like druidcraft. The tree seems to be smiling at him. Its eyes were previously closed, and now they are open. Its eyes glow softly with a bluish color. It makes a creaking, croaking sound at Gil.
Gil asks it if it speaks Thalassian, and it seems to understand, but shakes its head slightly. It then holds another bulb out to Gil, like the one that Gil had caused to bloom, and Gil causes it to open. It creaks happily, and repeats the action again, and again. It seems to look content once Gil finished.
Gil asks if it had always been there, and it creaks, and as Gil looks around, he sees a few more trees with faces looking at him. There are five or six others.
The first one reaches out to Gil, and one of the flowers falls off its boughs and lands in Gil’s hand. It then settles back into its place, and closes its eyes again.
July 19th
4:10
Vel receives summons the next day, along with Theo and Uther, to head to Duskwither Spire. The arcanist secretary is there, and Magister Duskwither is also there. Duskwither greets them, and says they were going to move forward then with the entrance exams.
He tells them to follow, and then gestures for them to touch the orb of translocation. He informs them not to close their eyes, and they end up in a large room.
Duskwither informs them that the entrance exam is in two parts: a test of knowledge, and a test of ability. If they perform unsatisfactorily, they will not be permitted to attend.
Vel looks down at the test, and she rapidly realizes it’s all very, very basic things. She actively has to slow herself down to keep from finishing too quickly.
The second phase is aptitude, and Theo presents dancing lights, firebolt, and prestidigitation. As well as a second tier spell, scorching ray.’
Vel picks minor illusion, prestidigitation, and shape water, as well as a second tier spell as well, blink. Vel asks if she can combine the cantrips, and Duskwither raises an eyebrow, but lets her go. Vel makes the form of a mana wyrm with shape water, adds a glow effect with prestidigitation, and adds noises with minor illusion.
