Tormeron's events: the Stories

[Gergel]

After determining that the final piece of the puzzle is apparently located in Stormwind, a week was spent making preparations. And in the evening of the prearranged date, everyone gathered near the Stockades. They were joined by three cloaked and daggered individuals who identified themselves merely as "SI-7 agents". Apparently they were the trained backup that Lilandris had been promised.

Deciding not to waste any time, the adventuring party quickly moved toward the Stormwind Keep. It came as no surprise that they were immediately stopped by the guards who stated that no one would be allowed in the Keep, no way, no how. To which Lilandris responded by presenting her letter of passage from the High Priestess of the Cathedral. This, all of a sudden, turned out to be sufficient to change the guards' opinion and everyone moved forward. Obviously turning into ants and sneaking into the Keep, as suggested by someone earlier, would not be necessary.

At the Keep's entrance the Royal Guards demanded that everyone surrender their weapons. This did not bother those who understood the need and the procedure, inconvenienced those who were not particularly happy to hand over their weapons but did so anyway in order to enter the Keep. And then there was Lilandris who refused to let go of her pistol, so she decided to stay outside. Aroona kept her company.

The throne room was deserted. The only people present were the adventuring group, and a few guards. Their SI-7 escorts had mysteriously disappeared a little while back. A sudden magic spell descended, and every single guard in the vicinity fell asleep, even those outside.

It did not take long to find a rod of wood attached to the underside of the throne, which was obviously the item they had been looking for. Before it could be removed, there was an extremely rude interruption by a night elf stranger who ran in, failed to steal the staff, and promptly ran out again into the gardens, chased by SI-7 agents (who had similarly mysteriously reappeared) and most of the group. With the exception of Thelarwen, who decided that it was more important to secure the final piece of the artifact, instead of chasing after one elf. The elf turned into a bird and easily escaped.

By the time the disappointed chasers returned to the throne room, Thelarwen had pried the staff part loose from underneath the throne. Just as they started to discuss what to do with the three fragments, how best to keep them apart or destroy them, any possibility of choosing was removed. An irresistible magical force ripped the pieces from their hands and the artifact assembled itself in Lilandris' hand.

Tessliana's gem embedded itself in the socket of Lilandris' amulet, which in turn affixed to the end of Thelarwen's rod. In a mere moment Lilandris was left holding the completed artifact, a scepter or a staff. Its magic instantly blinded the priestess. After an initial moment of disorientation she realized that in total blackness, the only things she could see were what appeared to be souls of people around her.

Just as she was getting used to the altered perception, one of the SI-7 agents sneaked up, grabbed the scepter and fled. He was well-trained and had little trouble navigating through the Keep even when blind. The group might have lost the staff then and there, but the agent ran into trouble just outside the keep: the Cenarion Circle played their own card and, in turn, a druid attempted to seize the artifact from the SI-7 agent. At this point the group caught up with them. With Gaillia's and Zeneth's quick actions they managed to restrain both combatants. Thelarwen promptly yanked the scepter from the SI-7 agent's hand and then it was her turn to be blind.

The death knight quickly oriented herself in the new, dark world. While Thelarwen was observing the surrounding souls (including some that had no physical bodies), Lilandris informed everyone that her vision had not fully returned even when she had relinquished the scepter. Unseen to everyone but Thelarwen, a spirit portal opened just above the group. A massive black soul or ghost emerged and started advancing in the direction of the staff, gloating about how long it had waited for this moment and that it fully intended to claim the scepter's power to itself. Wielding her runeblade, Thelarwen apparently managed to drive it away. But in her hand her sword felt wrong and painful. Its magic was interacting with the staff's, and the flow of power went straight through her arms and body.

Despite Equanimity's frantic attempts to seize the scepter, or at least convince everyone to consider using the power within it, both Lilandris and Thelarwen strongly agreed that the artifact needed to be destroyed. No one else objected. Aroona escorted the almost-blind Lilandris, and Adrenus escorted the entirely-blind (to the physical world) Thelarwen, and so the entire group traveled to the Stormwind Cathedral. Both SI-7 and Cenarion Circle agents had withdrawn when it became obvious that they would not be able to wrest the artifact from the adventurers.

The Cathedral, to Thelarwen's eyes, was surrounded by and brimming with souls. Bright, shiny, countless. So many that despite being unable to see the physical world, the Cathedral's outlines were clear before her. Whether the souls were those of the dead, or another type of entity, there was no way of telling. But they were not malicious. If anything, then curious about the scepter, swirling around it and Thelarwen.

To Thelarwen's eyes, blinding brightness shone within the Cathedral. When she pointed in its direction, others informed her that it was coming from the altar. Side by side with Lilandris, ignoring Equanimity's increasingly frantic objections, they moved up. A vast mass of small souls was still swirling around them, even Lilandris could feel their presence. With each step it was more difficult to push against their current. The souls could not affect Thelarwen's physical body, but they pressed against the scepter, and the woman needed to dig her feet hard into the stairs to push against this wind.

A darkness had begun to envelop the room, centered on the staff. The priests and priestesses of the Cathedral started casting holy prayers to drive the darkness back. "Pray with me!" said Lilandris to Thelarwen as they laid the scepter on top of the altar. Only a few months ago the death knight would have coldly responded with "I do not worship the Light." Now, though, she merely responded: "I know no prayers." and so Lilandris prayed for both of them.

With each word of the prayer, darkness increased. The huge black soul had returned and was approaching. "You cannot destroy it!" it whispered to Thelarwen. "You must not destroy it! Its power can belong to you!"

But Lilandris' prayer and the Light's presence in the Cathedral did its work. Even with the darkness complete around them, the scepter crumbled to dust... and was gone. Thelarwen's sight returned a moment later.

Yet, there was a whisper in her ear: "You have lost! Your only achievement is that it is now a part of you!"

She felt no different, but a distant presence of the black soul remained. And her runeblade still felt strange to her hand...