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// Val'sharah: Archdruid Koda 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Azuregos had to admit that when he had decided to leave the Nexus Vault, which was now better protected than it had been since he had first started watching over it, he never considered the possibility that he would be walking beside some of the strongest druids to ever grace Azeroth. Monoskah, from what he could tell, had to be a tauren, while Linbu was, by from how his name sounded, a troll, though he had nothing against the races of his companions, because he knew that everyone could rise to greatness given the right circumstances. Trixie, from the stories he had heard a little of while he was in Dalaran, had certainly done that during her time on Azeroth, though he suspected that Lyra had done the same thing in her own way... especially when he remembered that she was a demon hunter.

Oddly enough his companions didn't want to talk for the moment, which was fine with him, as it gave him the opportunity to finish up his thoughts as they walked down into an area that had a single building on their right... and what appeared to be a druid shrine to the far left. In front of them, on the immediate left, was a night elf that was tending to a guardian druid, as the bear appeared to be in some sort of pain, though as they walked up to the pair the elf turned towards them and smiled.

"The forest already whispers of Malfurion’s return." the night elf said, though Azuregos detected that she was speaking to the druids and was ignoring him for the moment, "There are few among us who have not heard of his deeds. The trees said he also travels with a group of seven companions; four very powerful druids, two incredible mages, and a demon hunter whose power may rival that of Illidan Stormrage. What could the companions of Malfurion want with the Druids of the Claw?"

"We seek an audience with Archdruid Koda," Monoskah replied, speaking for the first time since they had departed from the village they had gathered in.

"I suspected as much." the elf commented, to which she sighed and beckoned to the path that was in front of them, which didn't head into the druid shrine area, "The nearby furbolgs have gone into a frenzied rage. For days, it has been all we can do to protect our grove from their aggression. They have cut off our access to the barrow dens, where the Archdruid and our clan sleep in the Emerald Dream. In order to awaken them, we must first eliminate the furbolgs."

"Then that is what we will do," Azuregos said, knowing that they wouldn't need to kill the entire tribe of furbolgs to open the way, because it seemed like there was something else at work here.

Monoskah seemed to agree with him, though that was followed by the guardian druid charging towards the village in question and barreling into one of the furbolgs that were standing on the other side of the entrance. As Linbu followed after him, and started attacking the other enemies in the immediate area, Azuregos spotted a friendly furbolg standing on the side of the entrance... though this one appeared to be elderly and in no condition to fight anyone.

"Stranger, I beseech you!" the elderly furbolg said, stopping Azuregos in his tracks and causing him to look at the creature, "My once peaceful brethren are now cursed with insatiable wrath. My nephew and I tried to leave against the Chieftain’s wishes. The clan wrested him from me, and would have torn me apart if I did not flee. He is trapped in the village, and I fear the worst. Great mage, please save him. I am too old and too weak to do it myself."

"Very well, I will ensure that your nephew is rescued," Azuregos replied, though at the same time he had to wonder if the creature had been leaving to warn the druids about the rest of his tribe, but then shook his head and followed after his companions.

Monoskah was, from what Azuregos could tell, already tearing into his enemies, using his larger form to slam into those that were coming his way and using his claws to tear his foes to pieces, while Linbu was restoring whatever damage their friend happened to take. Once he got close to them Azuregos explained what the elderly furbolg had told him, to which the two of them agreed to free the nephew, in the off chance that he pointed them to what was making the tribe go hostile all of a sudden. It actually didn't take them long to find the furbolg in question, as he happened to be chained up to another totem, though as Azuregos blasted the attackers with magic Monoskah used his claws to tear the furbolg free,

"Thank you strangers." the furbolg said, rubbing his wrists for a few seconds, before he stared at them, "I heard the others talking earlier. I may know the cause of their fear. They say the Chieftain has a mysterious totem. It gives him power, and fearful visions. If you destroy the totem, the madness will end."

"Evil totems, we should have seen that coming." Linbu commented, though at the same time he looked down the path that was opposite of where they were standing, "And I am willing to bet that it's in that direction."

"Agreed." Azuregos said, as he had the same feeling that Linbu had, to which the three of them bid the furbolg farewell and headed down into the lower area of the village.

As they walked through the village, and fought the attacking furbolgs that wanted them gone, Azuregos froze as many of them to the ground as he could, because if they were being controlled by some evil object they could simply save the lives of so many creatures instead of killing them. Linbu and Monkskah agreed with him, despite the fact that they were a little shocked by how the disguised dragon could accurately feel what a druid felt, before they came to an area with a larger furbolg standing in front of a sinister looking totem. The moment they discovered their target Monoskah charged forward and knocked the corrupted shaman onto his back, allowing Linbu to use his restoration magic while Azuregos dealt whatever damage he could do.

The shaman tried to use his totems to turn the tide in his favor, but his power was short lived as Monoskah inflicted enough wounds to bring the corrupted shaman down... though as he and Linbu worked on cleansing the larger totem, and destroying it in the process, Azuregos spotted the shaman's beads and collected them. When asked about them he said that they had to be passed down to the next leader of the tribe, and the furbolg he had spoken to earlier would be able to decide who that was when the time was right. With the furbolg's freed from the curse the totem had inflicted on them, and were no longer aggressive, the group was able to leave the small village and return to their allies... while Azuregos stopped at the elderly furbolg and his nephew.

"We have saved your nephew and your tribe is no longer hostile," Azuregos said, though as he spoke he was sure that the elderly furbolg had noticed both of these events, but he also held his hand out and deposited the beads in the elder's open hand, "and I believe you'll be needing these in the future."

"Thank you for your assistance, great mage!" the elderly furbolg replied, using the class that Azuregos had taken for his disguise instead of his name, as he had never given the elder his name, "My nephew is returned to me. He explains that the source of the madness came from a powerful totem, which you and your allies have now destroyed. It makes sense now that I think about it, but who – or WHAT – gave us such a thing? I will share this knowledge with the druids at once. As for the beads, Graw was the first to succumb to the madness, and the rest of the clan followed. With these, I will take the reins as our clan’s new chieftain. Thank you, traveler. I will do my best to rebuild my clan."

Azuregos nodded and walked over to his companions, who were busy telling the night elf they had spoken to earlier about what they had done and what they had seen, though he suspected that she was glad that they had figured out what had been plaguing the furbolgs.

"Now, we must focus our efforts on waking Archdruid Steelclaw." the night elf said, to which she beckoned to the barrow that had previously been blocked, though now it appeared that the angry guardians were leaving of their own free will, "She and our druid brethren slumber in the barrow dens to the south. With the furbolgs quelled, we can pass safely to the entrance. Go and awaken the Archdruid. I pray to Elune that we are not too late."

Monoskah nodded his head towards the night elf and beckoned for Azuregos and Linbu to follow him, to which the trio walked down the hill that was behind where the elf was sitting and approached the entrance of the barrow. As they walked up to the entrance they discovered a fair number of furbolgs still patrolling the area, though this time they weren't hostile and simply let the three of them walk on passed them. It took them a few seconds to reach a crossroads of sorts, as they had three options to choose from; they could either go straight and head deeper into the barrow, they could go to the right and see if the Archdruid was down there, or they could have gone to the left... but the left tunnel was walled off by sinister looking vines.

The trio looked at each other for a moment and headed to the right of where they were standing, to which they walked down into a chamber that had a large bear sleeping in the middle of the room... and it appeared that the Archdruid might be stirring on her own.

"The Dream was clouded with such darkness…" the Archdruid muttered, apparently talking to herself for a few seconds, though that was before she opened her eyes and noticed that she had some guests in her chamber.

"Archdruid Koda, we came to ask you for your assistance," Monoskah said, though at the same time he nudged the powerful druid with his head and helped her onto her feet, before returning to his companions and turning to face her, "Malfurion needs your help in tending to Cenarius."

"Malfurion Stormrage… a name I have not heard in centuries." the Archdruid commented, almost as if she was remembering some of her fonder memories for a moment, before she shook her head and turned towards the group, H"e was teacher to many of us. If he seeks my audience, I cannot refuse. I will go to the Grove of Cenarius, but first, we must awaken the rest of my clan. They slumber with no way of waking. A mysterious force of great power is at work against us. I am still too weak from my hibernation. Please strangers, go and free them from their dreams... and while you are at it, could you also clear our barrow of any enemies?"

"We would gladly help you and your clan out." Azuregos said, knowing that for them to get the Archdruid to leave the barrow he and the others would have to clear out whatever was threatening her fellow druids.

With that said the trio retraced their steps back to the intersection they had turned down and headed down the other pathway that they hadn't taken, where they discovered that the first foe they had to face was one of the demonic hounds that warlocks occasionally summoned when they were hunting down mages. As they mowed down the demon they moved into the next chamber, where they found satyrs either trying to corrupt or torment the sleeping druids, to which they did battle with their enemies. The satyrs were clearly not expecting enemies to be disturbing them, as they were rather easy to tear down and interrupt whatever they were doing... though as Monoskah and Linbu moved on Azuregos made sure to awaken the druids that they had freed.

They continued along that pattern for a few minutes, killing the satyrs and their demonic allies while at the same time freeing the sleeping druids, who fled the moment they were awake, before they reached what appeared to be the end of the barrow... and they happened to be above Archdruid Koda. Instead of jumping down and landing on the powerful druid, and pissing her off in the process, they quickly backtracked through the area they were in and approached the Archdruid.

"We have rescued every druid that has been sleeping in your barrow," Linbu said, though at the same time the Archdruid turned to face them, "and we have killed the invaders."

"Excellent. The chambers are clear." the Archdruid said, to which she looked at the barricade that was blocking the way to the enemy leader, though at the same time the trio prepared themselves for what was coming next, "I will open the way for you, but be careful. I sense powerful magic down below."

"Then it is a good thing that we have a powerful mage with us." Monoskah commented, though at the same time Azuregos could tell that the tauren's tone indicated that he wanted the disguised dragon to prove himself in the up coming fight.

Archdruid made no comment to what Monoskah said, as she focused her energy towards the barrier and forced it to unravel before their eyes, allowing the trio to walk down the pathway in front of them... to which they quickly came to a chamber that had a large satyr standing in the middle of the area.

"Welcome worms, I am Morphael, and we are prisoners of the druids no longer." the satyr declared, telling the group that he was referring to both himself and the other satyrs that they had taken care of, as well as any other satyrs that were absent, "Soon, your world will become ours! You are too late! The master’s plan is already in motion. Yes, yes! I will feed upon your fear, and twist it into a living nightmare! This is just… the beginning."

As Monoskah attacked the satyr, and Linbu was backing him, Azuregos called upon his magic and attacked the large satyr with every spell that he knew, while at the same time using his power to shatter any illusions that the creature summoned to the fight. Soon it became Azuregos' primary focus, where he dealt with each and every illusion that the satyr called upon, while his companions dealt as much damage as they could to their opponent. Oddly enough that appeared to be the satyr's only power, as they were able to quickly take care of their foe and drop him to the ground, where they caught their breath before heading back up to the Archdruid... where they told her the news.

Her reaction, however, told the trio that there was more to what was happening in Val'sharah than they originally realized... and that there was a larger game happening behind the scenes, being played by one of the strongest enemies that the druids had ever faced.

"In my dreams, I saw the satyr’s leader." the Archdruid said, a hint of worry in her voice, indicating that she shared the group's feelings on the matter, "His face was familiar, though I could not see it clearly. I pray to Elune that it is not too late. I will go to Malfurion at once."

The group decided to follow her and make sure that she was safe from harm, because they knew that their enemy might attack them and they wanted to be prepared... while at the same time praying that the others were fine and were finding success in their various missions.