Lyra and Trixie spent the last few hours of the day resting and making sure that their armor and weapons were ready for the attack on the Tomb of Sargeras, as it seemed that they and the other heroes had managed to smash the Legion's forces enough to create the opening that Khadgar had noticed. Since they were venturing into the heart of the temple that served as the portal between Azeroth and Argus, where the Legion's presence was greater than on the Broken Shore, they had to be extremely careful. There was no telling what sort of demons Kil'jaeden had tasked with defending the various positions in the Tomb, nor did they know if there were more enemies in there besides the demons that they had been fighting since the third invasion had started. Khadgar, Illidan, and Maiev were preparing themselves as well, since they were planning on coming into the Tomb as well, to prevent the demons from coming up from behind as well as carrying the Pillars of Creation until they reached the areas they needed to be placed in... and Velen was coming with them, as he had a score to settle with the evil Kil'jaeden.
Trixie and her fellow heroes were slightly excited to be entering the Tomb, since they were planning on severing the connection between their world and Argus, but they also wanted to make Kil'jaeden suffer for his deeds before they took his life, just like they did with Archimonde a few months ago. Lyra, on the other hand, was excited to enter the Tomb and sever the connection as well, but she was also excited about the prospect of fighting one of the most powerful demons in the entirety of the Burning Legion. The only creature that was above Kil'jaeden, in terms of absolute power, was Sargeras, and Lyra already knew that fighting the Dark Titan was basically the same as committing suicide, considering that he was as tall as two Azeroth's and had a blade that could carve a planet in half with a single swing. She and the other heroes would have to figure out another way to defeat Sargeras, that much she knew already, but that required beating Kil'jaeden first, otherwise he would continue to harass them.
Eventually the day turned to night and came back to the morning, since Lyra and the others slept during the night, but as the morning arrived Khadgar made sure that everyone was well prepared for what they were about to do... though once everyone was ready they rode out of Deliverance Point and headed towards the Tomb. Khadgar told them that he had the artifacts on hand, as he promised that he would do before this happened, and was accompanied by Illidan, Maiev, and Velen, exactly like all of them said they would. As they rode out of Deliverance Point Lyra discovered that the champions and soldiers of the various Orders would be holding the fort and keep the demons contained on the Broken Shore, meaning that they wouldn't have to worry about demons attacking the other regions while they were busy. Lyra knew that those that were forced to guard the Broken Shore would do their best to keep the demons contained, since they didn't have the artifact weapons in their possession, though she pushed that to the back of her mind as she and the others reached the Tomb of Sargeras... where they dismounted and headed inside the fel infused temple.
As they walked up the stairs in front of them, and reached the top of them, the group discovered a group of demons that were already waiting for them to arrive, with the Pillars of Creation no less, though as one of the heroes took a step forward a fell meteor flew through the air and collided with the ground on the left side of the room... and killed all of the demons in the area in front of them at the same time.
"Well, that's convenient." Trixie commented, which caused a good number of the heroes to voice their agreement, even though they would have been fine with taking out the demons that had been in front of them, though they weren't about to question their luck.
As the group started to walk down the small set of stairs in front of them three smaller fel meteors descended into the area as well, revealing large infernals that they would likely have to take out before they could tackle the larger demon that was pulling itself out of the fel crater that had formed around where it landed. Lyra noticed that the demon that had pulled itself out of the crater was burning appeared to have the same body type that a pit lord had, since it was walking on four legs and had a long tail that resembled the large demons. The group tackled the first of the three infernals, as they sensed that fighting more than one of them would be dangerous despite the number of members in their group, though as they started engaging the demon Khadgar and the other leaders stood their ground at the top of the stairs, so they could be ready for any demons that might come their way. It didn't take the group long before the first infernal had been taken care of, though as it fell they turned their attention to the second infernal and repeated the process they did with the first one... before felling it and taking the fight to the third and final opponent they had to deal with, where they turned towards the large demon that was waiting for them the instant they finished their third demon off.
"Come, intruders, and face the wrath of Goroth!" the demon declared, naming itself in the process, though at the same time Lyra heard the pain in the demon's voice and realized that Sargeras must have tortured it, in some manner anyway, and cursed it with this new appearance, "Killing you will regain my master's favor!"
The instant the tanks started the fight Goroth targeted three different heroes for a moment and marked them with his fel power, to which they separated from the group before something happened, though not a few seconds later fel spikes erupted out of the floor, where the three heroes were standing to be exact. Lyra was thankful that the spikes didn't instantly kill whoever Goroth was targeting, as that would have easily turned the tide in his favor if the demon kept doing it, but since they simply hurt whoever he was aiming at the healers could reverse the damage and let the heroes resume the fight with the demon. Of course he wasn't done with the fel spikes, as he targeted three more heroes and summoned three more spikes two more times over the next couple of seconds, indicating that he was trying to seriously hurt whoever wasn't paying attention before he loosed whatever his powerful attack was... while at the same time Lyra hacked into the demon's leg and side of hit body, doing her job of dealing damage to their foe like the other heroes were doing.
It wasn't long before Goroth started channeling his fel energy into his body, indicating that he was getting ready for something major, to which the heroes rapidly charged behind the fel spikes that they had, accidentally, placed around the area and let the spikes be their shield... to which they braced themselves as Goroth loosed the energy he had been building, destroying the spikes while not hurting any of his foes.
A few moments later, after Goroth realized that he had failed to kill anyone in that attack, roared in anger and started summoning more pillars, repeating the same process he had used earlier as he continued to swing his claws at the heroes that were standing all around him at the moment. Despite the fact that Goroth's attacks didn't really cause a lot of damage, unless someone was targeted by a fel spike from the ground, his body was naturally resistant to damage thanks to the torture he had suffered so long ago, meaning that the group had to be careful while they fought their foe. Lyra didn't mind that as much as her comrades did, as she had already determined the movements and attack pattern of their foe, something that most of them had likely done on their own, but she continued to gracefully dodge the attacks that were coming her way and dealt damage in return. When Goroth had enough of them he gathered the fel energy into his body once more, allowing the group some time to hide behind the fel spikes, before he expelled the energy and shattered the spikes... repeating the process that they had just gone through and picked it up at the beginning once more, making Lyra wonder if the demon had received some brain damage due to the tortures he had suffered.
Eventually the group toppled Goroth, which they did after they moved him to one of the corners so his body wasn't blocking the path he had apparently opened up in the floor, though as the group relaxed and healed their wounds their leaders joined them... while at the same time the echo of Aegwynn appeared in the middle of the chamber.
"The echo of the Guardian Aegwynn appears, just as she did in the cathedral." Illidan commented, staring at the echo for a moment, while at the same time allowing the heroes that hadn't gone to the cathedral to see what the most famous guardian looked like.
"I sealed each level of this temple so that no invader could descend into its depths." the echo told them, revealing some insight into the Tomb and what they were likely going to need to do before they reached the area that Kil'jaeden was no doubt hiding in, "I never anticipated that the Legion would find another way to breach its dark heart. My protective wards now bar your way. Each seal can only be opened with one of the Pillars of Creation. Be warned: the demons will stop at nothing to prevent your advance. I can sense one of the Legion's masters working to reanimate the Avatar of Sargeras. Should Kil'jaeden infuse that husk with the Dark Titan's power, I do not know whether any force on this world can stop it."
"Then we have no time to lose." Khadgar stated, to which he turned around and stared at the assembled group of heroes, while at the same time beckoning to the three paths that were now open for them to take, the one that Goroth had opened, the one directly in front of them, and the one to their right, "Heroes, the paths are open. I leave the decision of which path to take up to all of you, but we must bypass Aegwynn's wards quickly, before the Legion claims the Avatar."
"Um, not to sound stupid, but what is this Avatar of Sargeras?" Lyra asked, as this was literally the first time she had heard of such a thing, while at the same time she knew that such a thing needed to be destroyed the instant they found wherever it was resting.
"According to legend, it's a physical shell that contains a fragment of Sargeras' soul," Trixie replied, knowing that there was no way for Lyra to know about this, since the Illidari would never have heard about such a thing since they were in the Outlands when the Avatar appeared on Azeroth, "From what we know Aegwynn fought the Avatar eight hundred and twenty-three years before the Dark Portal was even opened, where she beat it after a long and brutal battle... but I think most people assumed that she had destroyed the Avatar, instead of burying it somewhere."
"Then we had better get moving," Lyra said, to which she followed the heroes towards the open hole that Goroth had created, and the path that it contained, while also thinking about the information they had been given, "We have to stop Kil'jaeden before he has a chance to reach the Avatar."
Trixie nodded and turned to her mentor for a moment, who nodded his head and carefully transferred the Pillars of Creation into her bag, or at least the Hammer, the Tears, and the Tidestone, as he couldn't easily hand her the Eye, since that one needed to be teleported directly to the area it was needed in. With the three Pillars in hand Trixie followed after Lyra as they joined the rest of the heroes as they walked the path that lead them beneath the temple, though all of them kept their guards raised since they had no idea what sort of enemies were waiting for them. Both Lyra and Trixie knew that many of them were hoping they found the pedestal the Pillars went to without fighting another foe, but they all knew something like that wasn't going to happen. It didn't take them long before they reached a small pond that contained a few aggressive murlocs inside it, though the creatures barely put up a fight before the group moved to the other side of the area that they were in.
It was there, in the room that they had been heading towards, that the heroes discovered a naga sea witch giving orders to a naga brute, like the ones that Lyra and Trixie had fought back in the Eye of Azshara, though the instant she noticed the heroes she had the brute face them before she slithered out of the area... leaving them to battle with what was clearly either a pet or one of her strongest minions.
A few seconds later the heroes, once they were all assembled, charged forward and engaged Harjatan, as that was the name that the sea witch had called the brute before she disappeared, though they knew that the sea witch was heading towards the area that one of the Pillars went to. The tanks decided to make Harjatan face away from the rest of the group, just in case he had any nasty surprises that they weren't expecting, though the first thing he did was summon some of the murlocs that were watching to come and aid him. That forced some of the heroes to change their targets and focus down the additional enemies that were moving into the area, though since these murlocs weren't anything special the heroes were able to dispatch of them rather easily and return their focus to their true opponent, who was just using his arms to punch his targets or blast them with sand. Harjatan then proceeded to call upon another group of murlocs a few seconds later, repeating the process all over again while keeping some of the heroes distracted, before the naga brute did something besides summon murlocs or swing his fists.
What Harjatan did was call upon the water that he commanded and had some puddles appear below the feet of several of the heroes, though once the puddles were formed he pulled them in, empowering himself in the process before he started the battle once more.
As the battle progressed Harjatan started making sure that puddles of water formed every now and then, keeping the heroes on their toes since the puddles actually make their abilities worse for a few seconds if they stepped into the special water that their foe was using against them. At the same time he made more allies come into the fight and help him, causing a small portion of the group to dedicate themselves to taking out the additional enemies that their foe wanted to use against them. At first it appeared that their foe was actually being smart in how he fought them, but as it turned out empowering himself in such a manner actually decreased the time it took for him to empower himself again, as it took him two minutes before he could even attempt the process a second time... though after they let him succeed in powering up once more they toppled him, opening the way for them to head to where the Tidestone would rest.
The reason the group knew that it was the Tidestone that went down here was because there was a lot of water and the naga were only obsessed with that one artifact, as their queen apparently wanted it more than anything in the entire world... even if that meant destroying Azeroth in the process of stealing it.
With Harjatan defeated the group continued along the path that was in front of them, where they made their way to what appeared to be a forgotten passage that lead them to a winding circular staircase, which allowed them to descend even further down into the depths of the Tomb. When they reached the bottom of the circular staircase they discovered that, just outside the doorway they would have to walk through, rested a group of naga that were no doubt waiting for them, to which the tanks pulled them away from the main walkway and fought they at the bottom of the staircase. As it turned out these naga were definitely stronger than the ones that Lyra and Trixie had faced in the Eye of Azshara, but the combined might of the group were able to overcome their foes, allowing them to move out and deal with the remaining enemies that were blocking the path... which included taking out the group of murlocs that were waiting nearby, as they would have come running at the sound of a battle happening.
Once those groups were taken care of the heroes walked down the path in front of them and attacked the two floating jellyfish that were waiting for them, though at this point Lyra wasn't questioning how such a thing was possible since everything on Azeroth seemed to defy the rules of reality... though after a minute of fighting the jellyfish the heroes walked further down the path and came to the chamber that the sea witch was waiting in.
"Mortals, I am Mistress Sassz'ine," the naga said, patiently waiting for all of the heroes to enter her domain, though once they were all in there the gate closed behind them, trapping them all in her room until either they destroyed her or she destroyed all of them, "The Tidestone belongs to Queen Azshara, which I will be taking back now... with all of you alive as future slaves, or just dead trash."
The tanks engaged her moments later, where she spun her polearm around and attacked whoever she desired, though at the same time several jellyfish started to surface from the water that they were standing on, another thing that Lyra was going to ignore, causing the heroes to move out of where the jellyfish were rising so they didn't get shocked. A few seconds later Sassz'ine targeted several members of the group with her spare hands and inflicted a curse upon them, causing them to take shadow based damage over the next few moments. Sassz'ine also beckoned three hungry looking worm like creatures to the surface so they could join her in attacking the group, though Lyra turned her attention to them and joined the heroes that were taking the additional enemies out before they could hurt anyone. After another few moments of fighting their foe also called in little tornadoes, about twice the size of everyone in the group, to cause havoc on the heroes that she was fighting... though at the same time the group moved and did their best to avoid the attacks she was throwing at them.
While they did so Lyra noted that Sassz'ine was actually pretty powerful for a naga, as she was able to fight her foes with her own weapon and also used her spare pair of hands to weave spells the spells that she was throwing at them, which made this fight all that much harder.
The fight continued like that for a few minutes, where Sassz'ine summoned more of the abyssal worms to the field, caused more jellyfish to rise, cursed those that she deemed worth of being cursed, and also had more tornadoes show up to do damage, while killing the rogue that wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. That was before Sassz'ine started showing what she could really do, which was use her powers over the various sea creatures to summon a trio of larger creatures to the battlefield. The first one was a large squid creature that she called Ossunet, which appeared to spray ink in a variety of places to slow the heroes down, either opening them to dying at the hands of Sassz'ine, who followed that up by calling forth Vellius. It was a large angry and hungry looking fish creature, with some rather large teeth, that erupted out of the water and attempted to eat whoever was in it's path, causing everyone to move from the middle of the room while Vellius was in play. The third creature, Sarukel, they couldn't actually see, but it tried to suck everyone up and swallow them whole, though it was discovered that Ossunet's ink could be sucked off the heroes, causing the creature to retreat after it happening a few times.
Despite that news the three creatures were summoned at random intervals, meaning that they couldn't plan around which creature Sassz'ine was going to summon and ended up losing a few heroes in the process, which the creatures ended up spitting back into the arena to lower the rest of the group's moral. Eventually the heroes managed to overcome the creatures that were being used against them and struck Sassz'ine down, causing her to moan about the indignity of death before she collapsed on the floor. The three creatures, now freed from the naga's control, disappeared moments later, allowing the group to relax as the healers mended the wounds that everyone had sustained during the fight, as well as bringing back the heroes that had been taken out and restoring them to full health. Once everyone was on their feet once more, and they were ready to go, Trixie approached the pedestal that had risen after Sassz'ine's defeat and carefully placed the Tidestone on it... where all of them felt the ancient power awaken as another of Aegwynn's ancient seals was undone completely, putting them one step closer to their goals.
"From this stone flowed rivers and seas, the very lifeblood of Azeroth." they all heard Aegwynn say, even though her echo was back at the beginning of the tomb, where they fought Goroth, but they said nothing as they listened, "Today it washes clean the darkness that scars our world."
Lyra and the other heroes chuckled for a moment as they started the march back to the main hall of the Tomb of Sargeras, as there were two more Pillars they needed to place before they could find the area that they needed to put the Eye of Amun'thul in... and she was sure that the next few fights were going to be even tougher than what all of them had just gone through with Sassz'ine.