[Alliance] Session Fifteen
Gil gives Tess a cloak to cover herself up as she transforms back into her human form. However, there is a howl in the distance as the worgen returns Tess’s call, and the bushes and foliage rustle as something starts to approach. Tess tries to interpose herself between whatever the source is and Gil and Rai. Gil tells Rai that their incoming “friend” is afraid of fire if things go south, and Rai says he may be able to do something about that. Gil quickly plants a bunch of torches in the ground in preparation.
In the brush, glowing eyes peer from the darkness, and there is some snarling as the worgen and two wolves reappear.
The worgen snarls and starts to approach, and Tess takes a step forward. She holds out her hand. It sniffs it and, and there is a moment of tension for a moment, but its head lowers and the other two wolves back off.
The worgen simply stands there in an submissive “you called?” position. Tess asks if he can understand common. He looks up at her, then looks back at the ground. However, Tess has not dealt with enough worgen in this manner to really tell if he understands her outside of the fact he acknowledged she said something. Gil also cannot fully tell outside of the fact it seems to regard Tess as its alpha and it seems to be awaiting some sort of command, or for it to simply be dismissed.
Tess ultimately tells it not to attack herself, Gil, Rai, or anyone with them, and requests it stay within hearing distance of the group. As Tess gestures and attempts to make what she wants clear, it looks at her and its ears quirk as if it’s trying to listen, but it gives her a confused look.
Tess simplifies and simply indicates the amount of people in her “pack” and requests it stays close again. The worgen lumbers over to Gil, and Gil offers his hand. It sniffs his hand and looks at the elf, and then he snaps his jaws and emits a low growl. Gil does flinch. It then does the same thing to Rai, and almost seems to have a smug look about it as Rai does start and flinch before he looks back at Tess.
He throws his head back suddenly in a howl, and the two other wolves join alongside a few other wolves in the area, and then he runs off on all fours back into the woods with the other wolves in tow.
Gil claps Tess on the shoulder and says “good job”. However, there is more rustling, and large footsteps lumber from the brush. The hulking form of the Beast appears, and he seems to be slouching quite a bit so he is closer to the height of the others.
Gil takes an uncharacteristically small, considering his size, rather well-carved statuette of something that resembles an antelope (though those do not exist in the Eastern Kingdoms). There is a surprising amount of detail.
Gil pockets the statuette. He has never actually seen a creature that is actually exactly like an “antelope”. He asks Rak what animal it is. Rak says a word Gil has never heard before in Zandali.
He shrugs and then stands up. He then turns and begins to move away back into the forest towards the north-east into the Hinterlands. Just as soon as he appeared, he vanished into the shadows. However, he stops at a small patch of sunlight, covers his eyes as he looks a the sun, and then fully disappears.
Tess suggests it was just something he did to remember home while sitting in a cage, but Gil said he can guarantee that they probably didn’t provide him with a carving knife. However, Gil comments that Tess is forming her own pack and she “may rule over them with an iron fist.”
Tess laughs.
Back in the arena, the announcer shouts, formally announcing the fight.
He pulls the horn he got from the magic thrift shop in Dalaran to his lips and blows as hard as he can. It sounds off an immense chorus of cacophonous chaos that erupts outwards. The sound waves can almost be seen as they ripple through the assembled enemies.
However, upon realizing the horn was going to explode, he promptly drops the horn and then drops behind his collapsible shield. He is blown back into Vittoria.
One of the soldiers drops down as he covers his ears, the second one looks almost dazed as he also covers his ears, but the third one is able to stagger forward and regroup. Victor busts out laughing and moves forward.
He swashes his sword through the air, but the veteran does not seem to be interested in the goad. Unperturbed, Victor simply runs forward and makes a series of hits on him. Elissa also moves forward and braces her shield. She whispers a prayer, and a swirl of winds erupt around Uther as she casts shield of faith. Vittoria hefts her greatsword and rushes the second veteran. The massive weight of her strike cleaves into his side, leaving a huge dent in his armor as she laughs loudly.
Uther nonchalantly moves to where he is across from the knight. He gets into a ready stance, and his sword is coated in light. (He uses Channel Divinity to cause his Charisma to increase his attack rolls)
Ashwynn runs to back up Vittoria and swings with her sword and spear as she gets him off guard with a series of attacks. The veteran braces back with his longsword and shield. The still attack-ready soldier runs at Vittoria, but he misses.
The veteran swings his shortsword and longsword around at Victor.
Victor parries the first strike, but he finds an opening and opens a small gash on his side. The second veteran swings at at Ashwynn and gets one blow in, but Ashwynn successfully deflects most.
The knight, Aiden Stone, before Uther draws his greatsword and strikes. His first attack goes wide, but the second one connects. Uther has to adjust himself rather strangely, and then Aiden whirls around and kicks Uther in the chest to knock him back into Zap. Zap tries to catch Uther, and both are knocked prone.
The knight closes the distance as Ashwynn continues her assault on the nearby veteran. The veteran attempts to grab her spear, but that was a mistake as she whips it back around and hits him hard in the chest. The other veteran strikes at Victor, but he misses and one of his swords goes skittering across the ground.
Zap scrambles back to his feet and then helps Uther up as Zap throws some sand at Aiden’s eyes. The knight laughs, but then swings at Uther. However, Uther is able to block both strikes. Ashwynn is starting to waver a bit as she continues her duel with the veteran, but Elissa runs forward to back Ashwynn and Vittoria up. She slams into the side of one of the lowly soldiers and sends him skittering across the ground - unconscious. However, the other soldier recovers from his stun, and he runs and clips Ashwynn with his sword.
Victor, meanwhile, prowls around his veteran, and both strikes miss - much to his surprise.
Uther swings into the knight, and then returns the favor to him as he snaps his foot into the knight’s gut and knocks him prone.
The knight laughs and coughs again.
Meanwhile, Vittoria swings hard at the veteran. However, he catches the weapon in his crossed weapons and plants the blade in the sand before he kicks her back. She grits her teeth, as that wasn't supposed to happen. Aiden continues to clash with Uther, but he is unable to land a hit as they exchange blows. Uther once again strikes true. The knight is starting to look a bit winded.
The veteran engaged in blows with Victor notices his commander is not having a good time. He pivots around Victor, shoves him back into a wall, and then rushes to gang up on Uther.
He brings his longsword down, but the weapon clashes against a glowing magical shield. The knight laughs.
Victor gets a look of absolute and utter flabbergast and disdain.
He tries to get the veteran’s attention, but the veteran once again ignores him as he effortlessly blocks both of the other prince’s attacks. Ashwynn staggers as she gets hit with several more blows. The soldier, however, was unable to land a hit as she followed suit.
Zap takes a step back and takes aim at the veteran that joined Aiden. The flack clangs into his armor and he staggers back, taken by surprise. Ashwynn spins around and clashes her weapons together as she shouts out and pushes forward for another attack. Her allies are invigorated as she tries to finish off the veteran, but he is able to counter her blows.
Vittoria runs forward and scoops her sword up, but she once again misses. There is a soft, misty green glow as Elissa heals Ashwynn just as she blocks a blow from the soldier.
The veteran glances at Zap, and the dwarf takes note of a hand crossbow on his hip. The veteran charges at the dwarf, but Zap smiles behind the barrel of his gun and blasts him off his feet. The crowd goes absolutely wild. Aiden pivots around Uther, but once again misses. However, it seems as his second blow will hit heavily, but it misses at the last minute. (Kat used a fate point to reroll a crit)
Ashwynn continues her duel with the veteran and manages to land a hit in his leg as Uther cleaves straight through the knight’s sword and into his armor. There is the sound of twisting armor, and he staggers back as the tip of Aiden’s weapon flies through the air and lodges itself in the sand.
There is silence for a moment, and then the crowd roars.
Victor finally gives up seeing the veteran was ignored and then goes at the other veteran. He sweeps the man’s feet out from under him and catches the other veteran’s longsword in his hand as he finishes the battle. The knight takes his helmet off upon seeing his weapon was shattered.
The crowd begins to cheer.
As Uther looks at Blackmoore, however, he looks less than happy. He raises a hand, and the crowd gets silent.
Blackmoore swirls around and slaps Taretha. She drops to the ground just as Vel enters the balcony. Blackmoore mutters about finishing this himself, but Vel fires an arcane missile that knocks the crossbow he had grabbed out of his hands and sends it spiraling into the wall.
Blackmoore swings drunkenly at Vel, and she dodges, but the second blow cuts deep into her side before the third miss buries the sword deep into the wood and he loses his grip on it. Blackmoore rushes toward Vel again with his sword no longer in his hands. He goes to grab her to throw her off of the balcony, but then his eyes widen.
A gout of blood erupts from his neck as a crossbow bolt buries itself directly through his throat. He tumbles off of the balcony and lands face-first on the sand. Some of the party sees a small waifish girl duck back into the crowd after looking down at Blackmoore’s body and over at the rest of the group. They recognize her. It’s Lee.
The crowd is stunned silent. Then there is an explosion somewhere else, far away from here, but still in the fortress. Gil, Tess, and Rai, in the forest away from the keep, also hear it. A pillar of smoke goes up in the general direction of the prison. Bells start to go off. Tess, Rai, and Gil scramble up a tree.
He electromagnetically gets the sword from the balcony and hands it to him. Aiden thanks him, and then points out a direction for the group to go and says that he would cover them best he is able now that his father was dead.
Stone is a bastard’s name.
Aiden recommends, again, they go quickly.
Taretha, who was stunned and looking at Blackmoore, snaps out of it and flees. Vel blinks down to the rest of the group and they run. Inmates are breaking into the stands and are cutting down any they see. Aiden goes to run to help, but Elissa heals him before he goes.
They get out as soon as possible despite some hesitation given innocent people are being cut down.
Back in the forest, Rai asks if the rest may need help, but Gil said if they go in they miss the rest entirely.
Gil doesn't seem to be all that concerned, as he is confident that the party will be able to find them.
The party quickly finds a small array of stairs. However, as they head down, they notice dried blood on the stairs. Zap reaches out and touches it. It’s been there for a while. It’s black and has stained the stone over time.
Vel also explains that Gil, Tess, and likely Rai were waiting outside and mentions the worgen and troll escape. She explains Blackmoore was going to have them fight a second worgen, much to the shock and anger of the party. She briefly mentions that Tess had willingly transformed, but said there would be time for full explanations later. They go further into the sewers, and the hallways comes to an end. There is a figure slumped against the wall far in the distance. The corpse is bloated, smells terrible, and looks like it has been down here for a while.
It seems to be some sort of gladiator.
As Uther opens his senses to detect the presence of evil creatures, he does not sense any form of undead or desecrated land. He then allows Zap to investigate the corpse. According to what Zap could find, it seems to definitely be a gladiator. One thing was weird, however. Its eyes probably should have sunk in and started to ooze, but instead it has no eyes. However, as soon as Zap touches the corpse, it seems to sag and exudes dead air. Zap is able to turn his head aside, fortunately.
The corridor goes to the left and right. To the right, the sound of water can be heard, and a lot more corpses are visible. Zap has his mechanical squirrel run forward and tap all the corpses to get rid of the gas. However, as Colonel Nutters gets close to the water, he gets dragged into the water. Vel and Zap see it. It’s a bright red hand with elongated fingers.
There is some brief discussion, and they see a bunch of murlocs run by. A few more also materialize in the side corridor heading in the opposite direction.
He runs and kills one of the murlocks. Vel pings the other one with a barrage of arcane missiles. There are a bunch more splashes, and another murloc jumps up and runs in the opposite direction with a net. There is a sudden huge splash in the distance.
Vittoria goes to peer down the other hall, and her eyes widen.
There is a crocodile nomming on a murloc.
Uther says they need to get out as they did not have time to fight a crocodile, and they start heading toward the exit. Vittoria and Vel follow. A murloc tries to huck a net at Vel, but the net just falls into the water in front of it. Another murloc tries to grapple Uther, but it fails terribly as Ashwynn follows. Another murloc fires a net at Uther, but it also misses.
Meanwhile, a murloc tries to throw a net at the crocodile and it somehow works. Even the murloc seems surprised.
Yet another murloc tries to throw a net at Uther, but it nets itself, falls in the water, and then floats down towards the crocodile. In any other situation that probably would have been hilarious. Uther continues to fend off murlocs and shoves another into the water. Meanwhile, several murlocs pounce on the crocodile.
Uther swings his greatsword at a murloc. It manages to hop over the blade, and wraps its net around Uther as it does so. Uther is now restrained. Another one jumps on Uther, and Uther is dragged into the water. The crocodiles sees the glint of steel, and it immediately begins to start swimming towards Uther. It ignores the murlocs.
Vel, noticing the crocodile, fires a beam of icy energy at it. A sheen of ice covers it and starts to freeze the water around it. It suddenly doesn’t look as interested. Ashwynn goes and tries to attack the murloc, but misses. In frustration, she spikes a murloc that jumps on her into the water. She and Vittoria heave Uther up.
A bunch of murlocs jump on the crocodile and it goes into a death roll as the party then books it. The sewer leads to a stream, which goes by the stables, and Gil sees the party exit.
Elissa looks back at the keep.
There is some banter, and discussion turns to how Blackmoore got a worgen. They also fill Gil and Tess in on what happened, and revealed that Blackmoore was killed by Lee. They retrieve the horses, and then start to ride off, but Victor hesitates.
Uther agrees, but Gil points out this was likely planned regardless as there was going to be a spectacle regardless of whether they were there or not. There was already a big fight planned, it was just changed. Discussion continues for a bit.
Victor bids them farewell, and then turns for Alterac. The rest continue on. Gil is able to start tracking Rak’s trail. He finds another small antelope near the evening.
Gil shows the statuette to Vel and asks her if she has ever seen an animal like it. She confirms she never has. Gil explains Rak said that he was from somewhere far, far away, and she comments that it’s a large world.
Gil’s eyes go wide, and then he immediately looks at a map to find the closest city with a postal service. They discuss where they need to go next as the options are Aerie Peak, Quel’Danil, or simply bypassing both. They decide to simply send notice of their presence and intent.
They then explain the situation with the worgen that is now tailing them. Ashwynn and Vel are both rather perturbed by the situation. Gil and Tess want to try and help the worgen, but Ashwynn and Vel both say there is not enough time or resources to do so considering the situation. Tess relents, but suggests she wait until she can transform so she can communicate directly to send the other worgen back. Vel is exasperated, and asks Uther if he wants to play Hearthstone. He says he would not be a challenge for the night, and she goes and studies instead.
Zap was cooking dinner, and stew is passed out for the evening.
Zap: “NNo studying before you eat dinner, young lady!”
The next day, they continue climbing the mountains. Gil finds another statuette every six hours or so. At nightfall, Ashwynn tells Tess it’s time for her to say good-bye. Tess nods and looks up at the not fullmoon. However, the thought of sending the worgen away is clouding her thoughts. As she focuses as hard as she can, it doesn’t seem to work.
Ashwynn points out that the longer they wait, the more likely the danger. Gil asks Vel how good her memory is. She raises an eyebrow. He then asks how good she is at illusions. She says she is decent. He suggests she replicate the howl. She relents, but the howl isn’t loud enough. Rai then combines thaumaturgy with it. After some time, the worgen appears. Cautiously. Tess holds out her hand and it moves forward with its head down.
It moves back towards the other wolves in the shadows. Hesitantly it backs away, and then dashes off into the woods back in the direction of Gilneas. After a few moments, there is a howl. As Tess closes her eyes and feels the vibrations of the howl - joined by a few other wolves - she can’t exactly tell what it was trying to say, but she gets a feeling. Those feelings are fear and sadness, but loyalty. Tess’s face shows the fear and sadness.
She also is able to gather one more feeling from it.
"What if she doesn’t come back."
Tess puts a hand over her mouth, and there may be a tear.
Tess looks at Ashwynn with a mix of worry and sadness. Ashwynn looks almost impressed. Elissa moves closer and grabs Tess’s hand in solidarity.
Elissa gives her a hug, and Tess returns it and starts to cry. It’s quiet the rest of the night.
The next day is pretty chilly. As they round the top of the mountain, they are greeted with a sea of uncommon beauty as they see the hills and sprawling forests of evergreen trees. It's almost untouched.
Vittoria expresses it’s always nice to come back as she had been here previously with her uncle hunting trolls - no offense meant to present party. Rai twitches.
As Zap looks up and sees Uther, he is silhouetted perfectly in front of the sun with his hair blowing. Vel also sees and her ears are very, very red, and Vittoria gets a good view as well. Elissa tries to remember this so she can paint it as Zap goes and puts a hand on Uther’s thigh/knee so he is forever remembered by Elissa as well.
As they continue, it’s brisk and a little chilly. Zap is used to it. Elissa is shivering a little bit. When they take breaks, Elissa does a few jumping jacks to keep her blood pumping. Vittoria laughs and joins in. Eventually, they find signs of possible encounters with trolls such as piles of skeletons. However, the first day they are close to Aerie Peak. Zap prepares Colonel Nutters to send a missive, but then tells Vel to say it.
Zap asks to send a wax seal with Uther’s seal, and Gil also gives Nutters one of the antelope statuettes. There is also two things tied around the antelope’s neck. One is a letter. The other is instructions of where to send the letter. Zap is very intrigued.
Vittoria scooches over to Gil and elbows him in the side.
Nutters climbs up a tree, launches itself into the sky as if to fly, fails and falls with a clunk, then takes off.
Zap also made a second squirrel to send ahead to Quel’Danil. This one has large eyebrows. One is eternally twitching.
They pass some troll ruins. Later that night, Gil plays guitar and Tess plays violin.
Elissa asks them if they know a few common tavern songs. Finally she agrees to sing one song. She’s fairly good: https://youtu.be/t8cELTdtw6U
Gil tells her she should sing more often. Tess says it to her separately. They secretly high five later.
Vel was not totally adding effects with prestidigitation. Arkha’din totally didn’t eat some of the magic sparks.
They continue to travel for about 12 days completely accosted.
When they get near one of the largest catacombs, it’s pretty much entirely unmapped. Fortunately, Gil is able to navigate fairly well. He finds one of the carved figures, and it’s a bit larger than the others. It’s also not an antelope. It’s a bear-like creature. It stands on its hind legs. However, it has the head of an avian like a hawk or an owl. Jutting from its head are large antlers.
As Gil picks it up, he hears something approaching. A lot of somethings. As does Tess.
As the group looks around, they see trolls start to emerge. A forest troll with a throwing axe, a frost troll with a large spear, a lithe tan-skinned sand troll with a bunch of daggers. More forest trolls. A couple jungle trolls. Lastly, stepping out from the shadows, is the large form of a dark troll as Rak steps out. All of the trolls have their weapons at the ready and pointed.
The frost troll gestures with the tip of its spear toward the rest of the trolls.
As Rak catches Gil’s eye, he nods slightly.
