World of Warcraft: The Ties that Bind

by Blackdrag-rose


Shore: Hunting the Sentinax

Upon returning to Deliverance Point, after their venture into the Cathedral of Eternal Night, Lyra and Trixie discovered that one hero from each of the Order Halls had been called to action by the people that had recruited them to obtain an artifact weapon so long ago. From what they could gather something was happening, though instead of it being something that was incredibly important, like an invasion by the Legion, they quickly learned that there was a potential new recruit for each Order Hall and that said recruit knew how to obtain a special mount for the heroes that helped them out. Lyra and Trixie, not needing their mounts anymore thanks to Trixie's blue dragon form, were happy to not take part in such a thing and relaxed while they waited for the others to return. That gave Lyra some time to bring a few warlocks and a few demon hunters together, where she gave them the runes she had recovered from the fel succubi she had killed in the Cathedral, since that appeared to be the only place they could find one of them.

The warlocks were happy to have some information on a new type of demon, one that some of them would bind and add to their service, though one of the demon hunters, Khatti Soulblade, took the rune she had been given and absorbed the power inside it, instead of studying the rune like she was supposed to. Lyra knew that Khatti was a recent addition to their forces, as she had been recruited after Lyra and the others had been released from the Vault, but the senior members of the Illidari knew not to absorb the power from a rune. They could use the runes to find the home world that these new succubi came from, sort of like what the warlocks were doing, and figure out if they had any powers that they might want to take for themselves. Sometimes absorbing the essence of a demon artifact, like the Skull of Gul'dan that their mentor had found and tore the power from, changed the demon hunter that took the power, transforming their body into a more demonic form.

Lyra watched, with both the interested warlocks and the worried demon hunters, as Khatti underwent a few changes after taking the power from the fel succubus rune, which would serve as a reminder not to do something like that in the future, when she was allowed another rune anyway. Since he absorbed literally every drop of power from the rune, which normally wasn't a good idea for someone of her level, the group watched as her legs snapped and bent until they resembled the leg's that Lord Illidan had, though they were slender like the succubus the power had come from, and came complete with hooves. Khatti's fair skin took on a light crimson color, a few shades lighter than the succubus Lyra had cut down, and her horns shifted their points towards the sky, while at the same time a slender succubus tail grew out of her spine, making her look like she was an actual succubus.

Lyra also noted that she was sure that Khatti's chest had grown a size or two in the process, but that wasn't her business and went back to waiting for Lord Illidan and the other leaders to return to Deliverance Point... while at the same time seeing Khatti stare out at the Broken Shore with the intent of using her new form to get more information for her and the others.

Eventually Lord Illidan, Khadgar, and Maiev returned to Deliverance Point, as it appeared that they had some business inside the Cathedral to take care of, no doubt making sure that the Aegis wouldn't be taken before the big invasion, before they talked with Chambers for a few minutes. Lyra, Trixie, and the other heroes patiently waited for them to stop talking so all of them could figure out what the next mission was before they would be ready to assault the Tomb of Sargeras, where they would smash whatever foul guardians the demons had installed inside the Tomb. During the time they spent waiting some of the warlocks, using the portal they used to send Trixie and Lyra to the Legion ship they had blown up, apparently managed to find the Legion world that the fel succubus came from, where they apparently were using Khatti and some other normal succubus to scout the place out... to which Lyra chuckled at that before Khadgar left the others and beckoned for them to come and speak with him.

"So, Khadgar, what's our next move?" Lyra inquired, because there had to be something they had to do before they were ready for the real invasion, though at the same time she knew that several of her fellow heroes were ready to repay the demons for everything they have done over the years.

"As some of you have surely noticed, a slain demon sometimes leaves behind Nethershards," Khadgar said, to which some of the heroes nodded, as they had looted some of the bodies of the demons they killed during the initial assault on the Broken Shore, "these are solidified residual energy from the Twisting Nether. I require a significant quantity of them for an experiment I'm conducting... two thousand five hundred shards, to be precise."

Lyra and some of the heroes simply stared at Khadgar, as they couldn't believe that he was asking for such a large amount of Nethershards, but at the same time Lyra was sure that she and the others could find enough of them given that there didn't appear to be a time limit for this mission... if it could even be called a mission.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Khadgar asked, looking at the heroes that he had helped in Draenor, who were actually chuckling at his statement, since they knew exactly what he was going to reference next, "We've had this conversation before. I did the math. I need exactly two thousand five hundred shards. Fewer would be inadequate, while more would be absurd. Don't question my methods. Go!"

As Lyra, Trixie, and the other heroes started to walk out of Deliverance Point, so they could search for the required Nethershards that Khadgar had asked them for, Lyra decided to ask her friend what her mentor had been talking about, as she was one of the few people that didn't understand the reference.

"While we were in Draenor, trying to stop Garrosh and his Iron Horde, Khadgar asked us to collect a large number of a specific item during that time as well," Trixie replied, to which she fingered the Legendary Ring that resting on her finger, as it was much stronger than some of the rings she had seen her fellow heroes pick up since they started helping the other races of the Broken Shore, "he asked that we acquire four thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight Apexis Crystals. Later we had to acquire a hundred and twenty-five Abrogator Stones, and even later three hundred Elemental Runes to create three powerful Elemental Tablets. We also had to collect thirty-three Tomes of Chaos, but we ended up destroying those so they didn't drive anyone else into a hunger for power... anyway, he's asked for a large number of certain things, so I'm used to it, more than anyone else here anyway."

Lyra nodded her understanding, since Trixie had been Khadgar's apprentice since she and her friends arrived in the Outlands all those years ago, before the two of them made their way down the path that lead out of Deliverance Point and followed it towards the ruined Horde airship that was resting nearby. Trixie's thoughts were that the demons would be attempting to raid the place of any and all remaining loot that they could find, something that she had figured they would have done before the Broken Shore was attacked again, where she figured that they could find some of the Nethershards they had been tasked with recovering. Lyra agreed with the statement, as she knew that the demons would likely possess some of these shards, though when they arrived they found some of the smaller slave demons walking around, carrying crates away, while an eredar oversaw everything.

The demons were clearly too busy with their orders to even acknowledge the presence of the duo, especially when Lyra started cutting them down while Trixie teleported the supplies the demons were stealing back to Deliverance Point, since she knew that their forces could use whatever she recovered. They recovered a handful of shards from the slave demons that finally attacked them, though these foes didn't put up much of a fight as the duo tackled the eredar that was hiding inside the still intact part of the ship. Since he wasn't as powerful as some of the other eredar that Lyra had faced in the past, and was rather easy now that she thought about it, the two of them quickly brought an end to his life and discovered that he had gathered a good supply of shards, a hundred, from the area around him. There were also a few crates resting around them that had a fair number of shards in them, which Trixie teleported out of the area as well, before the duo returned to the beach and made their way to the crashed Alliance ship that was near their location.

What surprised the duo was that there weren't any demons trying to salvage the Alliance airship, though instead they found a large water elemental, who had been sent by Neptulon the Tidehunter, the Elemental Lord of Water, to aid the heroes in dousing the flames of the Legion. As such he allowed one of them to climb onto the watery back of his champion, to which Lyra decided to do so since she knew the Legion better than most did, where she and the elemental charged up the path behind them and entered the demon infested area that was in front of them. From there she targeted the more powerful demons and doused their flames, killing them in the process, while also throwing spheres of water at specific areas to weaken the demons around her and even break some of the shield generators so that someone else could come through later and smash the portals... once they had the keys from the demons that were carrying them, which Lyra didn't see at the moment.

With her task complete Lyra and the water champion returned to the elemental she had discovered and found Trixie waiting for them, though after Lyra climbed off the elemental she had been on the back of she found that she and Trixie were being given a good amount of shards for their deed.

Once they determined that helping the various quest giving people was the quickest way to gather the Nethershards they needed, if this one was anything to go by, they quickly returned to Deliverance Point and looked at Chambers' map, where they found that there were some more in the immediate area. The first thing they did was invade a fel infested cave, which happened to be on the shore they ran through earlier, and killed the demons and their commander, while at the same time freeing the unfortunate soldiers they had captured and recovered the shards they were carrying. The next task was to head to another cave and deal with some eredar that were trying to convert the nearby murlocs into soldiers for the Legion to use, while also killing the fel infused murlocs that happened to be in the area. The third one that they decided to take up was crossing to the small isle that was where another Horde airship had crashed, and an Alliance ship by the looks of it, and attacked the fel infused harpies that were flying around the area, while smashing the fel infested eggs that the harpies had laid.

Lyra and Trixie knew that it was slightly cruel to kill the unborn harpies before they were hatched, but since they had been laid by fel infested harpies, who were now aiding the Legion in their effort to take over Azeroth, it was best that they prevent the birth of an army that would take them by surprise in the future... so much so that Trixie transformed into her dragon form and bathed the entire corrupted isle in flames, to make sure she got everything. Once they were done with the isle, and were sure that everything there was dead and the few shards they were carrying had been acquired, the duo returned to Deliverance Point once more. It was then that the other heroes came back as well, revealing that all of the groups that had departed from their base had acquired a good number of Nethershards between all of them, where Trixie counted them up and determined that they had more than enough for Khadgar's request... to which the group headed up to where he was waiting for them and gave him the good news.

It was during that time that Lyra noticed a look of some sort appear on the Archmage's face for a few seconds, though she had the feeling that she knew what was going on at the moment... especially since she noticed the smile that had graced Trixie's face as well.

"It has been pointed out to me that I can, on occasion, get a bit carried away. This..." Khadgar said, though he took a moment to clear his throat, indicating that he was likely going to admit something that was going to annoy some of the heroes in the process, "might possibly have been one of those times. It appears that a single Nethershard will suffice for my purposes. I'm certain you can put the rest to good use. Let's not speak of this again."

"Though I have something to speak of," Illidan commented, causing Lyra, Trixie, and the others to turn towards the leader of the Illidari, who was currently staring at the Legion ship that was floating above the Broken Shore, as it was the only ship that Kil'jaeden hadn't sent out when the others attacked the other regions, "The Sentinax rains down terror upon the Broken Shore, unleashing hordes of demons that are a menace to our forces. The fiends seek to stop us from taking the Tomb. They will fail. Lure out the strongest among their vile ranks. Slay them and seize the marks they bear. Make the Legion fear our strength!"

Lyra, Trixie, and the others departed from Deliverance Point, where they noticed that the Sentinax was actually hovering in the air nearby, opening a few portals to deploy more demons to that area, to which the group smiled as they crossed over the fel river that was in front of them and invaded the area they were targeting. The eredar that were tending to the portals, getting them ready for the incoming mass of demons that would be coming out of the Sentinax, weren't surprised to see the heroes come at them, in fact they seemed ready for it. Demons started pouring out of the portals, causing the group to break up and split into even sized groups as they each took a portal, where they started assaulting their opponents. What Lyra discovered, after someone found a beacon, was that the eredar carried specific beacons that changed the location that the portals connected to, meaning that they could engage a host of spider demons, the normal demons they generally fought, and other demonic creatures that the Sentinax was carrying.

As they killed the demons that poured out from the portals, however, Lyra noticed that the eredar were trying to close the portals so the horde of heroes didn't slaughter the demons that were aboard the Sentinax, though she killed all the eredar before they could do so, up until someone found a more powerful beacon that cut down the amount of portals but also let more powerful demons come out and attack them. It was an interesting challenge, since the more powerful demons proved to be a decent challenge for all of the heroes, though they kept their guards up since they had no idea if this was going to be the only thing that happened. While they fought Trixie started gathering the marks that Illidan wanted them to acquire, finding that they had more than enough to satisfy the leader of the Illidari, they didn't find many other beacons and decided to save them for the future, in case there was a reason for them to attack the Sentinax once more.

With the marks in hand, and the portals were all shut down, the group returned to Deliverance Point and the majority of them took a break, mostly due to the requests they had done to gather the Nethershards that they didn't need and the fight with the demons earlier, leaving Lyra, Trixie, and some of the others to report their success to Lord Illidan.

"Even the mightiest demons unleashed by the Sentinax have fallen before you." Illidan commented, though at the same time he smiled as he looked at them all, especially pausing on Lyra for a moment before turning to the others that were around her, "Good. The Legion will be driven from our world, no matter what it takes. Velen would like to talk with you for a few seconds before you do anything else."

Lyra and the others glanced at each other for a moment before they walked over to where the prophet was standing, who was currently staring at the Tomb at the moment, as if he was expecting Kil'jaeden to walk out and declare total war on all of them.

"In my life, I have witnessed many visions." Velen told them, as the majority of them knew about his visions and what he had done in accordance to those visions, saving some of his people from the Legion, back when they first found Argus all those years ago, "Some filled me with hope... others, with despair. Victory over Kil'jaeden lies within our grasp. I have foreseen it. But visions only show us where our path might lead. They require effort to become reality. That effort falls upon your shoulders, heroes. You have done much, but more is needed. Fight on the battlefields of the Broken Shore and forge a destiny free from the Legion's grasp!"

That was followed by Velen sighing as he turned his gaze away from the Tomb and stared at the group for once, though Lyra wondered if someone had done something that made him happy, even though he was still frowning as he faced all of them.

"Or, that is what I would request of you, if you hadn't done such a thing while you were helping Khadgar," Velen said, revealing that the missions the group had done, to get the Nethershards that they would find another use for, was more than enough for them to complete his request, "Step by step, we march closer to victory. We must not relent! Only through courage and persistence will we stop the insidious evil that threatens the soul of this world."

In that moment Lyra guessed that she and the others were being allowed to relax before they did anything else, though at the same time she knew that the next set of missions Khadgar and the others sent them on was going to be even tougher than what they had just gone through... but something told her that they were getting close to the invasion of the Tomb of Sargeras, something that everyone was looking for. The battle with Kil'jaeden was fast approaching and she was looking forward to toppling one of Sargeras' strongest commanders... and then they could focus on finding a way to get to Argus and end this war.