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PostPosted: 29 Jan 2015, 11:59
by Aroona
( hope this is alright)

Ajulae's group took the muddied path into the woods to a less traveled part of Teldrassil, with Aroona following her nose for the most part, for unusual scents. there were many to pick from of course but they at least managed to go in the right direction.

Ajulae pointed out a tree, where the trail seemed to lead and the group rushed to investigate only to stop as an arrow landed fairly close by. After following where the arrow had come from and speculating on what had fired it they found an abandoned furblog camp where the only thing remaining was an alchemist's table with several vials. While Lilandris, Ajulae and Tess examined the table Aroona looked around the tree and found several small animal corpses piled together, each had strange deformations, humanoid like ears or toes sticking out of their little bodies. IT was quite disturbing really, and Ajulae unfortunately lost her stomach at the sight.

After seeing to the critters the group moved on and spotted something red flashing passed their vision. They gave chase across a small lake, with Aroona wounding the demon while in bird form. He vanished after throwing down a smoke bomb, leaving the group to chase after him again.

They were caught off guard by a female elf who had been thrown from a tree, the poor thing would have died if not for Lilandris's quick healing. Spotting the demon in the branches Aroona took flight and fought with him, forcing him to fall and following with every intention of killing him while holding him down in bear form, though at the last minute stopped for the others to interrogate him.

He was being rather uncooperative and he was given fair warning, so Aroona crushed his skull after thrashing him around a little, getting much demon blood in her mouth, which seemed to affect her on their way back to Dolanaar. She'd run off to attack the uncorrupted furblogs and had mauled three by the time the others caught up, it took some time but the group cleaned the blood out of her mouth and held her down till she returned to normal and got back to the village where they waited for the others.

PostPosted: 06 Feb 2015, 10:57
by Gergel
(2015-02-03)

Northrend, Day 1.

The arrival was cold. Not because the locals were unfriendly or anything - they weren't. Or at least they didn't seem to particularly even notice Arthuron and his companions. Neither did the wind, which just kept blowing with its usual chilliness, and that was the cause of the coldness.

Any plans for a peaceful expedition and sightseeing went out of the proverbial window as soon as people had managed to take three steps into the new land. Adrenus must have been lurking secretly nearby and summoning the usual horrible problems upon them. Or he might have been praying in Stormwind Cathedral for "a fun adventure for his usual companions."

A local soldier promptly approached Thelarwen and handed her a letter from Tirion Fordring. There had been reports of undead attacking local villages, the letter said, and Highlord Fordring requested that Thelarwen investigate the matters. Of course everyone else was free to continue their expedition while Thelarwen would travel alone to do her investigations, and so Adrenus and most of the group set off to see the local sights, do a bit of hunting, and camp under the starlit sky in the quiet and peaceful (albeit chilly) atmosphere of the Borean Tundra. And nothing bad whatsoever happened to them. Also, Serendipity and Chepi decided to just stay in the local pub. Forever. And Florence Silsbury married Adrenus and had seven children who were never ever attacked by horrible monstrosities.

Meanwhile, in a different and strange parallel universe.

"Your problems are our problems, right?" said the companions and indicated that they wished to follow Thelarwen into whatever investigation she was planning. Even Serendipity (although fortunately the parallel universe was not so much different that she didn't add the mandatory "I could be in the pub" comment) and Chepi.

So they traveled northeast along the roads. Their boredom with the barren land and chilly wind was somewhat alleviated by watching local animals (woolly rhinos) getting oddly enamored with Chepi, and having a small group of random undead attack them. The skeletons and zombies were, of course immediately dispatched by a few arrows, spells and sword slashes, and as for the rhinos, Chepi decided not to elope.

A nearby village was indeed quite overrun with the walking dead. While most of the group gathered around a staff that was lying on the ground and causing uneasy sensations of dark magic, Thelarwen wandered into the village and laid waste to the undead roaming there. By the time she had made her way back, Chepi had already disenchanted the staff and thereby put an end to its dark magic.

But there was more magic. Which was even darker. It was clearly emanating from the nearby mine, which everyone entered without any apparent care in the world. Aside from a few easily-dispatched undead, there was nothing very dangerous there, so it was easy to investigate. The mine carts were full of corpses and there were a few more of those full-of-dark-magic staves on the ground. Also, a surprisingly alive gnome, who ran away in panic.

Thelarwen's expert opinion was that the staves were filled to the brim with necromantic magic, which would slowly (as in, within hours or days, but not within minutes) cause any nearby corpses to reanimate into undead. Clearly there must have been a necromancer (or several) nearby to produce and recharge those staves, as well as take possession of all the undead they produced. But it was impossible to tell where those dark wizards could have been.

Suddenly there was a rumble in the cave as it decided that now would be an excellent time for a lovely cave-in. Being buried alive was not in the group's agenda for the night, therefore they ran away.

The adventurers found little else to do about the undead (who were all re-dead), the staves (which were all broken) and the necromancers (who were all missing). So they began making their way towards Dragonblight again. This was quickly interrupted by Aroona picking up a totally random skull from the ground for some reason, which then turned out to be full of horrible necromantic power and began to possess the poor druid, making her body move against her will and causing her to attack her companions. This, of course, was not something Thelarwen was going to allow, so she tackled Aroona, got a few feeble hits (Aroona was clearly managing to hold herself back somewhat), and grabbed the skull from Aroona.

The skull, then, proceeded to try and possess / control Thelarwen. Which, knowing the death knight, turned out to be an utterly impossible task. Instead Thelarwen used the skull's connection to whatever created and/or controlled it to attempt to trace the connection back to its source. There was a bit of a false start which led her towards the ocean. Then she sat down, stared into the skull's lifeless eyes, and forced the knowledge out of it.

Mord'rethar. The gate to Icecrown. That was where they would need to go.

But that was for another day. For that evening, all that was left was to make camp. So the group found a somewhat more secure (and wind-shielded) location to spend the night.

(But Thelarwen and Florence sneaked away to go on a date in Sholazar instead. What happens in Sholazar, stays in Sholazar.)

PostPosted: 06 Feb 2015, 18:16
by Lilandris
Lilandris

I'd taken it upon myself to keep an eye on the perimeter the first day, I'd packed my long-rifle for this occasion. It didn't see much use these days, I'd realized I rarely needed it, since encounters usually took place on short enough range for other weaponry to be used.

I often sensed necromantic power threatening the group down in the village. I had to resist the urge of running down there and aid them directly, I needed to keep my eyes out for other undead threats or the like - they are far too plentiful up here in the cold lands of Northrend, and they could sometimes show up with little warning to prey upon an unweary group of travelers. No, I'd have to trust Thelarwen to handle the necromantic threats to the group for now.

I often felt restless, keeping the perimeter was not as exciting as I could have hoped. But I suppose that was a good thing. On the far ridge from the village I had a good view of what went on in the village as well as over the tundra expanse behind the ridge and beyond. I heard the distant sounds of fighting in the village, no doubt my companions had engaged the enemy down there, but at the top of the town hall spire, with his back to me, I could see what was unmistakably a necromancer chanting his dark magics down at the village. I could not pass up an opportunity with such a clear shot, so I knelt down and steadied my rifle at him, beside the faint sounds of growling ghouls and swinging of steel and magic, all I could hear was the surprisingly gentle, but bitingly cold breeze. I didn't trust my aim to hit him in the head, but either way, if I could tear out his heart with the shot, that would be the end of him either way.

I cocked the firing mechanism into place and put my finger on the trigger. As I held the rifle as steady as I could, I squeezed the trigger gently until the rifle fired with a cacophanous bang. The necromancer was clearly struck by the bullet as he tumbled over the railing of his vantage point and down to the rocky ground below. I could only grin with satisfaction from ending his filthy existence. I'm not sure if the others even knew he was there or noticed my intervention, for they were already on their way inside the mines. They would be on their own in there, no way for me to support them from here. So I turned my attention back to scouting around.

After a short while, I noticed a pack of ghouls closing towards me in the distance, perhaps they had heard the gunshot or maybe they'd just smelled the blood of the living nearby. I readied my rifle once again to see if I could pick off a few of them at a distance before they would catch up to me. I'm not one to run from the undead, especially not the lesser ones.

"Be released, you poor souls." I uttered at them calmly before I started taking my shots. I missed three shots, but the remaining six struck their targets true. As the rest of the ghouls were getting close I slung my rifle over my back and readied my Scourgebane grenades. I threw the potato-masher-like grenades towards them. Being ghouls they didn't even try to get out of the way, so a few well placed ones would take them out quickly. No sooner thought than done, eventually they all lay re-dead in pieces on the ground a few paces ahead of me. I bent my knee to pray for the lost souls, but I suddenly felt the ground rumble... It would seem my explosives had found weak ground to break loose. I gasped and my heart froze for a second in horror, realising that my friends and not least my wife was down in the mine below. I had little time to think about what to do, so I just ran away along the ridgeline away from the rocky ground that was ready to give away. As I got to safety I turned my gaze to the village and the mine entrance, to my greatest relief, I saw everyone make it out safely. I could do nothing but fall to the ground in a combination of relief and exhaustion as I tried to catch my breath.

The Light had been with us today.

PostPosted: 07 Feb 2015, 01:10
by Aroona
Aroona.

For a trip to north I figured the best way to brave the cold would be as a snow leopard, besides I hadn't got too many chances to use him before now, as I'd gotten used to unleashing the bear on everything. My choice in guise seemed to have mixed responses, I know Thel didn't really like the form but it was the best choice for the climate.

The Boat Ride

The ride there was mostly uneventful, and who knew Clara snored? You'd think a sneaky rogue would be deathly quiet, guess not. At least I didn't get sick like my first boat ride, that would have been embarrassing.

The Landing.

Once we got to Valiance keep it seemed our holiday would be interrupted. After we summoned Sils a soldier ran up to us to deliver a letter to Thelarwen. Since no one (other than Serendipity and Chepi perhaps) wanted to separate the group we tagged along, with the compromise of we'd enjoy the trip in between investigating villages.

The First Village.

On our way we encountered a few skeletons on the road, who were dealt with swiftly. This didn't bode well, as the letter stated the first village we came to was overrun with ghouls, their stench filled the air, making my nose itch.

While Thel did her thing the rest of us were figuring out what to do with a strange staff we found. I'm no mage or warlock but it was fairly obvious it held dark magic, but I couldn't pick up the subtitles in it so I relied on the other's judgement of it. Necromancers, again. Seems we'd never be rid of them.

When Thel came back the group split up to look for survivors, we found no one in the burning houses, weather that was good or bad I couldn't tell, but the lack of remains was somewhat encouraging, they may have escaped at least.

We re-grouped in front of the mine, where some of the group could sense more magic inside. The stench of rotting flesh was filling the air but we didn't turn back, of course we didn't when do we ever? Well save that one time with the nagas but that was a different story.

We found a gnome asleep in a cart, strangely the other cart was full of bodies, it was quite disgusting. The gnome at first accused us of killing the people but seemed far too calm for my liking. After the gnome answered a few questions she ran back to the keep to tell the soldiers the news while we looked deeper into the mine.

There were more staves inside all radiating the same kind of magic, they were disposed of quickly while we discussed how to find the necromancers responsible for all this.

Unfortunately the mines began to tremble around us, we got everyone out and I did my best to close off the mine by pulling up roots and vines, layering them over the entrance as thick as possible to keep people out and anything else inside. I was really not liking the feeling in the air at this point.

The Shelter.

After leaving the village we thought it best to investigate further but as the hour drew late some were more interested in making camp. As we crested the hill above the village we found a strange skull on the ground. Me being the curious idiot that I am I pick it up, slightly amused by putting my hand inside with the intention of making a morbid puppet, however the role was reversed as it forced em to draw my scythe against the group. I was unaware of it until I saw the blade then was promptly tackled to the ground by Thel. I held back as much as I was able till she got the skull off of me. Embarrassed I backed off a bit and let her deal with it.

Seems the skull gave up some information so we followed Thel's lead, we spoke to a tusker who pointed us in another direction. By this point we were too tired to go much further so we went to find a place to sleep in the Tusker's village. Thel and Sils had slipped away, I don't blame them, had Lil been close by I'm sure I would have done the same.

We found a bunker type shelter and quickly settled down. I chose to meditate rather than sleep, it was easier to sense if anything was heading our way with ill intentions and I would find rest easy when blocking out distracting noises from the others. I guess the druids got something into my head with the benefits of meditating.

PostPosted: 18 Feb 2015, 09:44
by Gergel
(2015-02-17)

The trip from Kaskala towards Icecrown went unremarkably. For the first ten minutes. After that, however, unusual things began to happen. Take, for example, the golden skull found in the middle of the road within a bone pile. Clara was, of course, the first to pick it up (treasure!). It felt odd, creepy and magical, and to everyone's incredible surprise Clara just decided to hand it over to someone else. That "someone" being Chepi, who in turn felt a magical emanation from the skull. Just a small one, as if it were a soulstone with someone's soul inside and trying to escape. The general consensus was "when in doubt - Thelarwen1" and Chepi dropped the skull on the ground to be destroyed.

Except they never got that far. All of a sudden several arrows landed before and among them. Despite some people's derisive comments it was quite clear that the arrows were well-aimed and, as warning shots, had missed on purpose.

A group of blood elves approached. In quite an arrogant manner they claimed that they had been the ones who had killed a skeleton (thereby producing that pile of bones on the road) and now they demanded its loot. Which is to say, the golden skull.

Just as people began to debate whether they should just give the skull to the elves, or claim they didn't have the skull, or fight the elves, or to go to the pub, the conundrum was solved by a large group of zombies who showed up at that moment and made a beeline towards the elves with the clear intention of causing grievous bodily harm.

Just as people began to debate whether they should just proceed and leave the elves to their fate, or also attack the elves, or go to the pub, Aroona, Sharh and Thelarwen (clearly the most heroic ones of the group) promptly ran into the fray to do some good wholesome fun-for-the-whole-family undead-smashing. With a sad sigh, everyone else followed at a safe distance.

Most of the zombies fell easily before the onslaught of two druids and the death knight. A few blood elves were killed, most ran away, and the last one was grabbed by a group of zombies who attempted to carry him away. Aroona and Thelarwen would not have that, of course, so Aroona changed into her birdform and snatched the elf from the zombies while Thel did what Thel does best. Zombies fell right and left, except for the last one who turned out to be made of sterner stuff. Which is to say, apparently metal. Thelarwen's sword strikes did negligible damage. The fight would probably have dragged on for days and weeks, if it hadn't been for Serendipity (who froze the zombie to the ground) and Chepi (who tossed a fire spell and a bomb for good measure). There was a big boom, a gust of flame, and the zombie melted into a puddle of what looked like molten metal.

The rescued elf was somewhat confused at first and assumed the group were agents of the Scourge. He regained his senses soon, however. He turned out to be quite friendly and, more surprisingly, apparently knew Thelarwen. Not personally, but they had faced one another in battlefield long time ago and the elf held the death knight in high regard. He too was an enemy of the Scourge and the necromancers, and so he politely requested to be allowed to join the company in their mission. There was a bit of grumbling from less Horde-friendly members of the group, but those folks calmed fairly quickly and the elf became a member of the party.

The road wound on and on towards Dragonblight. There was a brief encounter with two gnomes sitting on a bridge and waiting for the icy river below them to melt. These were assisted by Serendipity who sat her purple firebird down on the ice and melted a hole into it. And another encounter with a goblin who was looting some dead bodies near the road, who was simply bypassed.

By that point the group had already left Borean Tundra and entered the outskirts of Dragonblight. Just around the Azjol-Nerub area there was a skeleton sitting on the road quite calmly and reading a book. Not a propped-up bundle of bones with a book in its hands to produce a macabre display, but an actual animated undead being who was doing some light reading.

"Hi," it said. "I'm Joe, I've got a riddle for you. If you answer right, you get the book, if you don't, you die..."

Why would the travelers even bother with such a random sidequest? No one could answer that question. It would have been easy to just go around "Joe" and continue forward. Or try to destroy it. And yet, almost everyone stopped and began to discuss the riddle with full earnestness.

This is how the riddle went: "I am in our body, I am in the air, I am but a remnant of someone. I am neither alive nor dead. I am used by almost all, yet not everyone uses me. I am not an element. A few amongst you have me in them."

There was quite a bit of discussion, and the consensus provided the answer of: "Magic". (Which probably pleased Serendipity to no end.)

That answer, presented by Clara, turned out to be... correct! There was no fighting! No killing! Instead, Joe the skeleton peacefully handed over his book and wandered off.

Powerful winds began to blow as Clara opened the book. At first, just gusts from every direction. Then, a whirlwind centered around the Rogue. This kind of a development scared the poor still-treasureless woman and she threw the book away. It fell in the snow, still open, and the whirlwind around it gained strength. Thelarwen was as stoic as always, however, as she waded through the whirlwind (heavy plate armour helped keep her on the ground), picked the book up and slammed it shut.

Now that this distraction was over, the group finally proceeded forward again. By the end of the day they wound up in a small abandoned village near a river, where they set up camp, and would go forward the next day.

(Which is to say, next Tuesday, real-time.)



1 When in doubt - C4.

PostPosted: 27 Feb 2015, 10:06
by Gergel
Arthuron is working for the enemy.

That was the only answer that made sense. Why else would he lead the group from the relative safety of their campsite, and the calm weather around it, to a precipitous path that led to an abandoned village surrounded by unsurmountable cliffs and covered in blasting winds and stinging snow?

"I know exactly where we are going!" said the druid. "Where are we going, Thelarwen?"

The death knight had no idea, but because their fearless treehugging leader asked her to, she guided the group to the best of her abilities. The group was forced to turn back only when they reached the literal end of the road at a few deserted huts. There was a sound of bones clacking together in the wind but nothing could be seen. A shrill laughter rose over the winds. Aroona thought she smelled something, but whatever it was, was impossible to locate because of the weather. Everyone grew more and more alert and alarmed. A battle seemed imminent... but there was no battle. Even when they turned and went back the way they had come from, there was no attack.

Just as they turned and headed back the way they had come from, there was a sound of coins clinking. Clara's ears, of course, perked up immediately. Could there really be treasure this time? The kind that's not cursed, or shaped like a skull, or being held by a giant flying purple people eater?

The wind let up a little. As the adventurers neared the edge of the village, a strange well-dressed gnome wandered out of the blizzard. He took a look at the group, grinned unnervingly and offered a deal:

"Wanna gamble for my riches? I shall conjure 3 cups, in one of them is a golden bean. If you guess right, you win the treasure: a chest full of gold. If wrong? Your soul is mine then."

Clara threw what was left of her caution in the wind. Quite literally, considering the gales around them. If there was a chance for treasure, she would gamble with her soul! Gamble she did, and lost. And that did not come as a surprise to anyone: it was the timeless shell game con. Everyone prepared to battle for Clara's soul, which was apparently about to be sucked out by the gnome. Sadly (for Thelarwen) or fortunately (for everyone else) the gnome decided that discretion was the better part of valor and teleported out of there. Or perhaps he was never there to begin with, only an illusion. In any case Clara still had her soul safely tucked away inside her body and was intent on keeping it that way.

With the distraction over the party moved further away from the village. There was a rope bridge they needed to cross, but that went quite smoothly despite a few ominous creaks. No one fell into the river below, nothing attacked them, and it was quite safe to proceed again.

Just then Joe the skeleton popped up out of nowhere again. With a new riddle. "What makes no footsteps and rides no mount but moves through these lands as one of us?"

Thelarwen was quite tired of these constant interruptions by that point. "Wind. That is my answer. If it is correct? Excellent. If not, then I am aching for a battle."

Apparently the answer was wrong (and since Joe did not volunteer the correct answer, which is highly suspicious, we will never know the truth...) so the death knight gleefully prepared for the promised battle. Sadly it was a rather easy one, with only a few skeletons attacking the group. Those were dispatched with incredible ease.

Most of the group as well as their blood elf companion were quite aggravated by their endless stops. The adventurers now did their best to push on along a local road which was leading towards Icecrown. For a brief moment they were attacked by what seemed to be unseen ice giants in the blizzard firing huge arrows at them. Those were fortunately content with merely driving them from their land and did not pursue nor attack.

Sadly there was only a short length of clear track before the next interruption. That interruption came in the form of a large pile of tuskarr corpses lying in the middle of the road. Just as the group reached them, something started to reanimate them. The dead bodies stood up. Reached out towards the adventurers. Began to advance. Chepi tossed a mighty fire spell. And that was, fortunately, enough to dispose of the undead walrus-people. Only their blood remained on the ground. Animated, bubbling blood. That was quite enough of that, decided Thelarwen and used her Blood Boil ability to cause an almighty explosion of literally boiling blood all around them. Which was quite unpleasant, but what can you do... Then there was a growl and a rumble, and a considerably larger amount of undead tuskarr began to rise out of the snow all around the group.

Had Thelarwen been alone, she would have braced herself and fought. But because there were people she cared about in the group, not all of whom were good at fighting, not all she could have watched over simultaneously -- the choice was clear.

"Run."

Run they did, for a long time. The masses of tuskarr zombies were left far behind, and after a while they could stop to catch their breath. To their surprise the group discovered that they had reached the outskirts of the Alliance fortifications next to Icecrown walls.

There was a small debate about how to proceed. A few people argued that it would be safer to go on foot, circle through Crystalsong Forest and from there, through the Argent Crusade camp, into Icecrown. The other side insisted that such a long trip was pointless and that they should requisition gryphons from the Alliance camp (and the blood elf would find his own way to catch up with the team). In the end the matter was put to vote and those in favour of flying won the day.

So Arthuron and co. walked up the hill through the Alliance forces into the local gryphon corrals. Any suspicion the stationed guards might have had was immediately replaced by a respectful salute the moment they saw Thelarwen in her Argent armour. Clearly the death knight was a familiar face. There were no arguments whatsoever when she asked to borrow a small squad of gryphons in order to carry the group across the wall into Icecrown. The birds were immediately brought out, riders prepared, and everyone was ferried to a secure spot just past the walls. However, because of severe weather conditions, the riders explained, they could not be carried much further. Still, that was more than enough to get the group on their way.

They made camp where they had landed. Night was falling and weather was becoming worse. They would wait the night out and move on next morning.

(Except for Thelarwen and Florence, who sneaked away in their usual manner.)




Next week! Chepi gets a cold and decides to stay in Dalaran (because the player is going on vacation). Who will save everyone with fire spells? Will Serendipity respec into fire? Will she need to throw snarky comments for two? Will the adventure finally conclude? Will Thelarwen propose to Florence while kneeling on a mountainous pile of undead and cultist corpses? Will Aroona's penguin turn out to really be Lilandris in a cursed polymorphed form? Will Arthuron turn out to be Adrenus in disguise? Stay tuned and find out! Same RnP time, same RnP channel!

PostPosted: 27 Feb 2015, 22:43
by Alcioune
From Dragonblight to Icecrown
Part 1-
And only part

"Water and ice shards rush over the small mountain top only to find a direct dive into the river below, wind cold blows upon the gathered adventurer's while heavy clouds gather above them. All who gathered, greets and their leader, Arthuron, introduces them to the plan yet another time. "We will be heading to the very front of Icecrown today." he said with an optimistic tone to his companions and by those words, they packed their things and prepared to cross the waterfalls half-frozen source. They marched steadily over the ice and to the other side, only to find the heavy clouds 'blessing' them with snowfall.

Snow and Wind, floating hand in hand down to the ground, teasingly bothers the adventurer's sight as they find themselves walking up hill, their front man, yet again speaking, quick as he is, "We will see if there is a way to Icecrown further up, the bridge seems to be dangerous." He spoke loud and clear through the Blizzard and indeed it was, the bridge sway from side to side as the wind only grew more restless together with the thickening snowfall. By each step up hill, faint sounds of cackling bones is heard through the blinding snow, only to grow more intense as time fly pass them.

Prepared for combat they walked, several more noises is heard through the blizzard and a voice shower them with insecurity, causing them to stop and reconsider their path now that their walk has been blocked by the knowledge of a dead end at their front. They turned around, only changing the side of where the snow hit them, not even the voice speaking to them seemed to have changed direction.

Soon, the wind finds slightly more rest and the group stops as they hear noises being something alike bells coming towards them at their front. Prepared for the worse they stood and watched, and when a figure finally appeared, only a gnome stood upon his sledge, the gnome speaks up, as happy and cheerful he now was, "Do anyone of you want to gamble!? You can win a lot of gold!" a tempting offer made before introductions and greedy as one of the adventurer's was, she stood by as her companions questioned the game, "What if we loose?" is spoken to the right of the greedy fellow. The gnome changes his expression but slightly, bursting up with the same joy in his tone, "Why your soul of course!" the group looks at the gnome, confused but mostly curious if the gnome were serious.

"I will play." Spoke Clara, the greediest of those. "Excellent!" the gnome said and summoned forth three cups in each their own color and one of these containing a bean. Clara stands, ready and clear in mind as the cups start to spin and spin around each other and at very last, to find them stand in same color as the first time the cups were seen standing by one another. "Pick your cup, but choose wisely, because if you choose the wrong cup? Such wouldn't surprise me." the gnome holding his hands in excitement, waiting for Clara to choose which cup that might give her a fortune, "I choose this." Clara speaks, serious in tone as serious money can get, but she chose the cup which the bean was not in. "It seems you have lost and so you will. Your very soul, is on the bill." the companions, prepared to fight off the gnome if he were to steal Clara's soul, but he only vanished and let them be."

(Story made for Torm's entertainment and posted here cause Torm said so. <Looks up from paper and looks scared due to the gun held by Torm at Alcioune's new hat>)

PostPosted: 05 Mar 2015, 13:57
by Gergel
(2015-03-03)

Flying mounts are highly useful.

Only Arthuron seemed to be fond of camping in the wilderness. Most others started to appear from wherever they had decided to spend the night. Some from Dalaran, some from even more distant places. Even Lilandris and Ajulae managed to catch up to the group, but their addition came at the cost of Chepi, who apparently had decided to stay in the pub.

After re-gathering, waiting for the stragglers, giving a short heads-up to the newcomers and so on, the party was on their way again. In a surprising turn of the events, Icecrown turned out to be considerably warmer compared to Dragonblight. In fact, it was unusually warm. The immediate cause -- or possibly an effect -- appeared to be a cloud of vapor in the distance. It was small, tightly-packed, and hung quite close to the ground. Clearly something to be investigated.

In the middle of the cloud? An undead dwarf. A quite unfriendly one, although not openly hostile to begin with. "It failed us, it betrayed us all," he kept mumbling to himself and only barely noticed the new arrivals who were looking at him. But when he did notice, he was not happy.

The dwarf raised his hands. The ground quaked. Skeletal corpses and ghouls began to emerge from all around the travelers. "Your light can't heal me, your good manners don't help me! You deal with my demons!"

There was nothing they could do but fight. The dwarf cared nothing for attempts to talk to him. And so they fought.

Warm wind turned into a deep chill. The cloud which had been warm only a short while earlier, now became icy and freezing all around the adventurers. The ghouls and skeletons were easily dispatched, but the undead dwarf himself proved to be of sturdier stock. Even Thelarwen's swordswomanship was not quite good enough to punch through his defenses. In the end, combined attacks from all around the dwarf would probably have worn him down, but the necromancer clearly decided not to fall quite so easily.

A huge skeletal giant shambled out of the mists. A blue orb of icy-cold energy glowed in its midsection. The skeleton attempted to step on Clara and Aroona, but of course the two easily dodged. Aroona immediately proceeded to climb up the bony leg in order to try and push the power-orb out of the skeleton, but with little success. Even with Thelarwen helping to pull the orb from the other side with her Death Grip spell, the orb failed to budge. For the moment, all firepower was aimed at the giant. A blast of holy fire from Lilandris set its head aflame, and then it finally dropped.

The dwarf cackled mirthfully. "Goodbye!" he waved at the group. And then fiery boulders began to rain from above, apparently shot from strange fleshy catapults a short distance away. "My own creations," the dwarf seemed proud.

The adventurers dodged and fled from the hot rocks which were dropping in all around them. Lilandris tossed a grenade at the catapults to silence them. And all of a sudden, several blood elves appeared out of nowhere to add their firepower. Perhaps most surprisingly of all, Joe the skeleton was there again, standing near the elves and just... watching. Lilandris' holy handgrenade made a most satisfying kaboom. Catapults and their handlers were all blown to bits. Anything that was still moving was turned into pincushions by the elves' arrows.

Joe wandered up to the dwarf, who stared at him with bewilderment. "What stands before me and can't control me?" Joe asked. And the necromancer could only stammer: "How?..."

"I suggest you kill him now," Joe nodded to Lilandris. The draenei did not hesitate, she promptly pointed both hands at the dwarf and blasted him with a ray of holy fire. Joe and Thelarwen took a step back and shielded their eyes from the burning radiance. There was no protection from such a blast for the necromancer. His armour and body burst aflame. By the time the Lightmancer's attack waned, the dwarf was charred and broken.

"Agh... Thel!.. Finish him!" Lilandris gasped with exhaustion. Only the dwarf's necromantic magic appeared to still be holding him together. And so the death knight pushed out with her own anti-magic shell, as well as her sword. There was a brief soundless flash of magic from within the bubble... and then the undead dwarf dispersed into a pile of ash.

Joe the skeleton walked up the remains. "I'm free..."

"I've led you all here for a reason," Joe continued. "It might seem evil what I did. For I was the one who made these staves you broke. But I did it because of him... I left clues on the way for the way to the dwarf. He never thought I can overpower his will. The way I got free of his possession is due to his own arrogance. He held too many. And he couldn't control us all at once. I found my freedom when I riddled you first. The chain that linked me no longer seemed to control me."

"What now?" Thelarwen asked. Joe looked back up and at the group. "What is free and has no plans of yet?" he riddled once more. "I shall see until when my bones shall last!" and with that he turned and walked away from the silently-staring adventurers. Even Lilandris did not seem intent on stopping him.

There was now only one last loose end to wrap up. The reminder came in the form of three elven arrows hitting the ground just in front of Lilandris. The blood elf, their erstwhile temporary companion, was standing a few paces away with a few newfound companions.

"I believe you still hold something of mine. I still want the golden skull."

Thelarwen dug the object out of her pack. "You could have just asked. Instead of firing arrows," she said admonishingly. "Oh but it's a trademark!" the elf responded with a laugh. "You would never recognize me without the arrows, would you?"

There was no reason to fight the elves for the skull. It had, after all, come from an undead skeleton that the elf's previous group had killed a few days ago in the Borean Tundra. Clara, Chepi and Thelarwen had intended to destroy it anyway. So the death knight handed it over to the elves without regrets. Perhaps this gesture would increase their reputation at least a little bit among the blood elf community, and yield respect instead of disdain.

And now it was over.

All battles fought. All enemies destroyed. All details wrapped up. The adventurers sighed with contentment and wandered off on their own paths. It had been a busy few days. It would be good to be able to relax for a while, go back to Stormwind or Dalaran or Crystalsong Forest and get some rest. Maybe in a week or so they might gather and finally start that Northrend-discovering expedition they had originally planned. Perhaps Grizzly Hills would be a nice place...

PostPosted: 06 Mar 2015, 10:17
by Gergel
Thelarwen

Is a death knight capable of feeling love? Was the emotion love to begin with? Whatever it was, however, was so indistinguishable from love that it did not really matter. A wish to be in someone's presence. To protect her. To be close to her. To touch her, feel her... warmth. It mattered little that she was a human female. Under similar circumstances she would have felt the same towards anyone. A gnome. A tauren. A huge green male orc. There was none of that pesky human biochemistry getting in the way and switching the attraction on for one species and/or gender combination, or off for another.

The battle had been a long time coming, but ended up somewhat anticlimactic. The undead tuskarr from the previous evening had been worse. She had fled from those! But only to ensure the safety those she was protecting. To ensure that she would be safe.

There she was again, on her mind.

Amusingly all those preparations had been unnecessary: the heavy mail armour, the holy water, the quick and brief instructions on how to wield that sword she had acquired from sources unknown. She had kept well to the back of the group and thus had been in no particular danger that evening. After that, she had looked quite relieved to be rid of the mail and back in her customary light kilt and tabard.

Now that this expedition was over, she wanted to just take her somewhere completely free of danger, beautiful, and possibly containing fish. They had not gone fishing together for a while.

But for now, it was debriefing time in the castle of Hearthglen.

"So," Highlord Tirion Fordring asked Thelarwen. "Tell me about the attacks on the villages."

She did. Human zombies, staves, Joe, tuskarr zombies and finally the undead dwarf necromancer. Blood elves, gnome gambler after Clara's soul, angry ice giants. All of it. It took a while.

"And you let him go?" Fordring lifted an eyebrow and looked at Thelarwen with surprise.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"We had no reason to kill him. He broke free from his master's control and assisted us in destroying the master. After that, he did not show any hostile intentions towards us nor detectable potential hostility towards anyone else."

"According to your report he killed many humans and tuskarr. Raised them as undead."

"Under the unbreakable command of his master. I did worse in my time. You are well aware of that. And yet here I am now."

The Highlord sighed. "You're right, of course. It would have been far less complicated if you'd just eliminated Joe and his ghouls, but we can't judge a creature solely because he's undead." He looked sharply at the death knight. "You let him go. Tell me, Crusader, will you now claim full responsibility for 'Joe's' future actions?"

Thelarwen shook her head. "I cannot. I am not his master, nor can I keep watch over him full-time. But should he stray from his path, become hostile and dangerous, I will find out, hunt him down, and destroy him."

"Fair enough," Fordring nodded. "Anything else you wish to add to your report?"

The death knight looked contemplative. "In retrospective we should have questioned Joe about if he knew who raised his master to undeath. Perhaps he does not know. Perhaps it was a faction that is already known to us: the Scourge, Cult of the Damned, Twilight's Hammer or the like. But if it should be a previously-unknown group that has thus far slipped our notice, that would be... unfortunate. If I should ever meet him again, I will make sure to inquire."

Fordring nodded. "Agreed. Very good. We can consider this matter closed for now. Carry on, Crusader." He observed Thelarwen's reaction. "Unless there was something else on your mind?"

"Yes, sir. I wish to inquire about the possibility to hire some of the Argent Crusade working crew stationed at the staging areas and fortifications at the borders of Icecrown, Storm Peaks and Crystalsong."

"I don't see why not," the man shrugged. "They're mostly idle these days. What do you have in mind?"

Thelarwen spoke slowly, carefully and hesitantly. "At a time possibly in the near future I... may wish to have a house built in the safer, forest tundra area of Crystalsong Forest. I am still considering the project, materials and locations, but arranging for a worker crew is one item on the agenda."

"A house." Fordring looked at Thelarwen as if the death knight had sprouted butterfly wings and started to flutter around the Highlord. "Settling down and starting a family? You? Uh... no offense."

The death knight shook her head slightly. "None taken. And I am not one to... settle down. Not permanently. But yes, I may wish to build somewhere I could... rest. Dalaran is a short flight away, but the area below is sparsely populated. There is game in the woods, fish in the river. Icecrown is nearby to satisfy my... needs."

"Just for yourself? Or is there anything you're not telling me, hm?"

Thelarwen did not comment.

"Very well. I will send word. You'll get your builders when you need them, assuming there are no pressing high-priority matters on their plate at that moment."

The death knight nodded her thanks, dismissed herself, and departed from Hearthglen.

She should have a talk with her. While fishing at that lovely, beautiful, secluded waterfall in Nagrand, perhaps.

PostPosted: 06 Mar 2015, 15:49
by Lilandris
Lilandris

It was certainly a strange feeling. It was the first time I'd extended my mercy to any undead who wasn't within the ranks of the ebon knights. Then and there I'd had the intention to kill the skeleton and release the spirit trapped within. I wasn't sure if his words were truth or lies, when he spoke of his intentions for his future. Even then, his wishes sounded strange to me, he said he merely wanted to explore the region. Surely his soul's suffering would be greater than his curiosity for the countryside.

I'd been just about ready to end him as he started off, I felt he hadn't given me a straight answer to my questions. But my eyes landed on Thelarwen for a moment, and it dawned on me that it had been pretty much the same way when the ebon knights broke free from Arthas' influence. I stayed my hand. I hadn't experienced Joe as long as the others in the group, due to my absence for a long time. But he seemed sincere enough then and there.

He walks in my mercy. For now. Some day I might reconsider, but I will at least humor his request for exploring for a little while. Sometimes it can be painful to do the right thing.