//------------------------------//
// Order Hall: Into Stormheim 
// Story: World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

"As I mentioned, I did some recon in Stormheim before the Wardens contacted us." Belath said, to which he paused long enough for Lyra to nod her understanding, "What I have discovered is that the Tideskorn are a tribe of Vrykul who have been cut-off from the sea by their Kvaldir brethren. Many of the Tideskorn have pledged their services to the Legion and become Felskorn. Malace Shade was last seen heading toward the Felskorn Warcamp... and it is likely that she was captured, just like Maiev was. If you would give me a few minutes I can have a flight to Stormheim arranged for you."

"Good. The sooner I get to Stormheim the sooner I can start searching for Malace." Lyra replied, though at the same time she she found it amusing that she was going to have to rescue another Warden in the same week that she had broken Maiev out of her cell.

Lyra followed Belath through the portal and returned to Dalaran, though she looked out over the edge as she wondered what the land of Stormheim looked like, as this was the first time she had even considered that she was going to head to that region. One of the disadvantages she would be facing was the fact that she had no idea where anything was located, which meant that she was likely going to spend some time searching the land before she found where she her target was supposed to be located. She heard the sound of metallic boots walking on the ground behind her, to which she turned around and spotted Kurost Skullcleaver, with his twin artifact swords that fit into his nature as a Fury Warrior, coming her way.

"It is good to see you again Lyra," Kurost said, though at the same time he held a hand out, to which Lyra smiled and did the same thing, which was followed by them shaking their hands for a few seconds.

"Likewise Kurost," Lyra replied, though a few seconds later they separated their hands and stared at each other, while at the same time ignoring the looks that some of the nearby civilians were giving them, "so, what are you doing here?"

"I was planning on heading back to Stormheim, to check for anything that I, and the other heroes, might have missed while we were searching the area," Kurost stated, though at the same time he chuckled, as if he found the notion of missing something to be humorous, "What about you? I've heard that you and your Illidari have been busy killing demons, collecting souls, and doing a number of other things to bring about the downfall of the Legion... so what are you up to this time?"

"Belath is arranging for me to be taken to Stormheim," Lyra answered, though as she spoke she noticed that a griffon was already being readied, which meant that she would be departing from Dalaran soon, "There's a Warden that I need to find and she was last seen in Stormheim... though we're not completely sure whether she's been captured or if she's just refusing to report back to anyone. Either way I need to have a chat with her."

"Then allow me to accompany you," Kurost said, though his statement did catch Lyra by surprise, as she hadn't been expecting the orc warrior to opening say that, especially to someone whose race belonged to the Alliance, "I can tell that this will be your first time to Stormheim and that you don't know where anything is located, so I would like to lend you my aid in finding out where this Warden is located."

For a moment Lyra wondered if she really was that easy to read, as the orc had determined that she had never been to Stormheim before and claimed that she wouldn't find her destination without having someone guide her to her target, but she was thankful that the few demons she had spoken to didn't do what Kurost did. After a few seconds she smiled and told the orc that she would gladly accept his help, as that meant that she could get her mission done much faster with someone who knew the area helping her. She would have preferred having her friends with her, but they were busy with whatever missions the mages needed Trixie and Azuregos to go on, so she would deal with what was available to her... to which she and Kurost approached the flight master and headed out towards Stormheim.

As they flew away from Dalaran, however, Kurost asked where the Warden was supposed to be located, so he could easily lead her towards the area she needed to visit, to which Lyra revealed that she needed to head to the Felskorn Warcamp so she could talk with Malace.

It took them some time to reach their intended destination in Stormheim, a place called Valdisdall, though instead of sticking around, and talking with the people that called the tower area home, Kurost blew his mount whistle and called his frostwolf to him. Lyra nodded and pulled her own whistle out, to which her felsaber appeared nearby and purred when it stopped by her, though once the cat was here they climbed onto their mounts and Lyra followed Kurost towards the large structure that was some distance from where Valdisdall was located. As they approached the massive structure, however, she noticed a camp of some kind on their left, where she spotted a lot of Vrykul soldiers preparing themselves for war... though who they were going to war with she had no idea.

When Kurost beckoned for them to climb off their mounts Lyra followed his lead, to which they approached the lone Vrykul that was guarding a steel cage, killing the mystic that was tending to three glowing stones, before Lyra smiled as she stared at the Warden that was inside the cage.

"Lyra Heartstrings..." Malace commented, though instead of sounding annoyed about seeing her, as Maiev was every time the two of them happened to be in the same area, Lyra noticed that Malace sounded amused, "This is a rather odd turn of events, don't you think? You're free and now I am the prisoner."

"I came to bust you out of your cell, just like I did for Maiev," Lyra replied, knowing that the Warden had to know how she, Azuregos, and Trixie had gone through the effort to rescue the leader of the Wardens from the cell she had been trapped inside, even though Lyra hated Maiev and would have preferred to keep her trapped in there, "that, and your the only one who knows what happened to the Sargerite Keystone.

"A normal cage wasn't enough to hold me, so the Vrykul ensorcelled these runestones to trap me in here." Malace said, to which she gestured to the three stones that were sitting around her cage, "Each is powered by a different Felskorn rune. Unfortunately, they gave the runes to different guardians, who have all scattered to different places around Stormheim. So, if Sira said that you could have your precious keystone back, I'll gladly let you have it back... but you're going to have to get me out of here first. The guardians of the runes are called Runelord Ragnar, who resides in Hrydshal, Runesage Floki, who hides in the Tideskorn Harbor, and Runeskeld Rollo, who remains in Haustvald."

"Understood." Lyra replied, though before they were discovered she and Kurost backed away from where Malace was imprisoned and returned to where their mounts were located, to which she smiled as she realized that they had gotten away without an alarm sounding.

Once they had escaped from the warcamp Kurost had them stop and pulled out his map of Stormheim, where he beckoned to the three locations that Malace had told them about, to which Lyra discovered that the area behind them, which went some distance into the ground, was Haustvald. Oddly enough Tideskorn Harbor happened to be located not too far away from Haustvald, which meant that they could easily kill Rollo before hunting down Floki, which would allow them to travel to Hrydshal and kill Ragnar. Lyra suspected that the guardians of the runes would be difficult to defeat, especially since they had to guard the runes that kept Malace trapped in her cage, but she was going to show them why she and Kurost were much stronger than they were.

When they reached Haustvald Lyra noticed that the mystics in the area were attempting to rise the bones of the dead, dishonoring themselves and the warrior that they were calling back to this world, to which Kurost charged into one of the mystics and cut off his hand to prevent him from channeling the magic into the bones. Instead of killing the mystic outright, however, he kept the wounded person alive and started asking questions that regarded Rollo, while at the same time Lyra defended her orc ally from the Vrykul that came their way. From what Lyra could tell the other Vrykul thought that they were here to steal their secrets and save the fallen warriors that were being raised from their graves... but she paid it no mind as she used the Twinblades to hack into her enemies while keeping them off of Kurost.

As it turned out Kurost was actually able to get the location of Rollo, who happened to be closer to the back of Haustvald, though with the information in hand they silenced their remaining foes and headed down to where Lyra's real target was located. They did have to fight their way to the burial area that Rollo was supposed to be staying in, though when they arrived Lyra found her target praying to something, but when she and Kurost walked into the chamber Rollo got up, declared that by defeating Lyra he'd get into the Halls of Valor, and charged at her. Considering that this was her mission, and that she didn't want any interruptions, Kurost stood at the entrance and blocked it off, meaning that he would prevent any of the other Vrykul from interfering with their fight.

Oddly enough Lyra found the fight to be extremely easy, as Rollo swung his large axe like a Fel Lord would and used some of the same attacks that those demons used, meaning that her experience in fighting that type of enemy would come in handy this time around. Since she knew how her opponent fought, and had a good amount of experience in defeating the various Fel Lords she had battled since becoming a demon hunter, she was able to bring Rollo down with ease... to which she collected his rune and escaped with Kurost.

Once they had escaped from Haustvald, and left the dark mystics behind, Kurost had them cross the graveyard on their right for a few minutes, allowing Lyra to stare down at the harbor that her second target, Floki, was supposed to be hiding with his rune. Kurost suggested that they repeat the process he had used in Haustvald, indicating that they stop one of the Vrykul that were walking around the area and question them about the whereabouts of the guardian they were searching for. Lyra agreed immediately, because if one of the mystics in Haustvald could give them the information they needed she was sure that one of the warriors that were walking along the path in front of them would be able to give them the same sort of information on Floki.

Lyra found it funny when they found a warrior to ask questions to, as Kurost was able to disarm their target, as in relieve him of both his weapon and his arm, before asking where Floki was hiding... which was actually inside the large building that rested at the direct end of this path, which was halfway between the cliff they had been on and the water that was below them.

It didn't take them long to reach the building in question, where Floki greeted them by stating that Lyra would make an excellent sacrifice, to who Lyra didn't want to know, though Kurost defended the opening from attackers once more, letting Lyra focus on the fight with Floki. As it turned out her opponent was more focused on casting spells than using his axes to attack her, though her speed and the strength of her attacks were more than enough to deal with everything that Floki could send her way. It didn't take her long to take out her target, though when Floki fell to the floor Lyra made sure to grab his rune before departing from the building, to which she and Kurost headed back up the walkway and departed from Tideskorn Harbor.

With the second rune in hand Lyra inquired where Hrydshal was located, to which she learned that it was close to the border of Suramar and that they would be riding for some time before they reached their destination. Lyra chuckled and followed after Kurost, which involved them calling their mounts back to them before they got underway, though they stuck to the worn path that served as the road for this land. Kurost told her that to get inside their destination they were going to have to use a grapple hook to get over the walls, though when they eventually reached the stronghold Lyra had to chuckle, as she found some areas where she could actually use her double jump and glide abilities to get over the majority of the obstacles that would be in her way.

Once they were both inside the stronghold, and had regrouped, they sought out a Vrykul that was alone and repeated the process they had used back in Haustvald and Tideskorn Harbor. They learned that, from the main gate of Hrydshal, they needed to follow the path on their left, enter the area that was on their immediate left, and enter the second building on their left. Lyra found it amusing that the directions all included lefts, and Kurost agreed with her, though they carefully put down the Vrykul that they had wounded and made their way over to where Ragnar was hiding, where Kurost guarded the entrance while Lyra had her 'audience' with her target.

Ragnar was upset like the other two guardians that Lyra had faced so far, but he fought like a warrior did and Lyra already had experience fighting several of those thanks to the Legion's failed invasions of the towns and villages that the Alliance and Horde controlled. Lyra had to admit that she was vastly disappointed in who had been chosen to carry the runes, as they were everything that she had fought before and they offered her nothing new... making her wish that three specific demons had been granted the honor to imprison a Warden, but she would make due with what was in front of her. She was able to take Ragnar out in no time, to which she collected the third a final rune, before she and Kurost made their escape from Hrydshal, leaving the Vrykul behind.

With the three runes in hand they retraced their steps back to the Felskorn Warcamp, where they took out another mystic guarding Malace... which was followed by Lyra shattering the runestones that kept the magical portion of the cage operational, freeing the Warden and allowing them to escape without being noticed.

"I'm glad to see that the reports about you are true; you aren't to be underestimated." Malace commented, though at the same time she stretched, making Lyra wonder how long she had been imprisoned in that cage, before she turned towards her liberators, "Up to helping me out with one more little thing?"

"Might as well." Lyra replied, knowing that at some point Malace was going to hand over the information she desired, but she was more than willing to help this Warden out... because Malace didn't piss her off and she actually liked being around a Warden that appreciated her skills.

"The reason why I came out here was to capture or kill a Fel Lord named, Lochaber." Malace explained, though at the same time they separated themselves from the warcamp, to prevent the Felskorn from learning what their next move was going to be, "I am no longer in a capturing mood. Those fools actually let me keep my weapon, meaning that they thought their runs could hold me, though we should head up to the bridge in front of the Gates of Valor. That place is a scary mess full of Felskorn vrykul and demons. How do you think I got caught? So, I'd rather not go back in there. But, I think I know a way to get the demon to come out to us."

"Taunting him?" Kurost inquired, as it appeared that this time around the demon that Malace wanted dead might respond to something other than her presence or her strength.

"Exactly." Malace replied, to which she held out her weapon, which happened to be some sort of spear that looked deadly on its own, and beckoned for them to follow her, before all three of them started making their way towards the bridge, "Lyra, once this is over I will give you the information you desire, and maybe my respect as well."

Lyra thought about shooting Malace down and saying that she only wanted the Keystone, but that was something that Maiev would expect her to say if she was a heartless demon hunter, to which she nodded her head and followed Malace towards the Gates of Valor. When they arrived at the place that Malace intended to taunt the Fel Lord at, however, she raised a hand and both Lyra and Kurost stopped in their tracks, to which they spread out and pulled their weapons out. The taunt happened to be along the lines of calling Lochaber a coward for not wanting to face Malace in battle, to which the large Fel Lord came running towards where they were standing... though it slowed down when it saw Lyra.

Apparently this had to be some sort of trap devised by Varedis, in an attempt to get his warglaives back, but Lyra would not hand over the artifact weapon that she had spent the time and energy to recover from the Legion. Luck was on her side as Kurost got in on the action, dodging the wide swings of Lochaber's large axe and cutting into his legs, while at the same time Lyra aimed for his chest and heart. The only problem she had with killing a demon on Azeroth was that their soul would either be devoured by the Twinblades or return to the Twisting Nether, to be reborn, though she was banking on taking Lochaber's soul into the warglaives.

It didn't take them long to bring Lochaber down and bring a swift end to his life, meaning that Malace's mission was complete and that she could returned to her base of operations at long last... though before she did so she turned to Lyra and let out a sigh of relief.

"I thank you, and your companion, for helping me out," Malace said, though at the same time Lyra noticed that she was preparing to disappear, meaning that she didn't want someone else to see her leave the area, "The Sargerite Keystone was locked away in the once secured Vault of the Wardens, near the body of Illidan Stormrage, though right now we have no way of confirming whether that is true or not. Either way you should get some friends together, venture to the Isle of the Watchers, and check the Vault out... and kill any of the Legion's minions that you come across."

Lyra smiled as Malace disappeared, because not only did she finally meet a Warden that she didn't dislike with a passion, which was a refresher, she now had the location of the Sargerite Keystone... which would put her one step closer to saving Azeroth and, more importantly, her home world.