Spitfire, Rainbow, Scarlet, and Vytheril walked down the path that was in front of them and headed for the bridge that would allow them to access the next part of the partly fractured plateau that the Titans had built the Vault and Halls of Valor in, not to mention the vrykul that built their homes where, though one of the things that they could see as they walked was a house of some kind off on the right, one that was different from what the vrykul had built over the years, where Vytheril revealed it was more like the various tauren huts that he had seen after his race joined the Horde, though for the most part it appeared that whoever owned it was likely hunting. It struck Spitfire and Rainbow as a little odd, since there had been no reports of tauren living in Stormheim, but they quickly accepted it since there was a path near the Titan Vault that headed right into Highmountain, the home of another type of tauren from what they had learned, so seeing a hut here wasn't totally strange, but for the most part the group ignored it and headed down the path to their left, the one that would allow them to walk over the bridge and enter the next part of the province they were exploring. While the four of them did that, however, Spitfire had to wonder what Sylvanas was doing and if Cullen or the rest of the Forsaken had convinced her to hold off on the faction war, until the Legion had been brought down and were totally crushed, but, even as she thought about that, she realized that the Banshee Queen was just going to ignore all of her warnings and might try to incite a war while another war was going on at the moment, meaning she might have to take her down at some point, just to stop the Legion from gaining the upper hand in this invasion, mostly because she didn't trust Sylvanas at all, which Genn and many others shared with her. The false Warchief of the Horde was only going to cause problems and Spitfire knew that they were going to have to nip the problem soon, otherwise it might be too late to stop whatever the Banshee Queen had in store for her enemies and allies, given that she had allowed her forces to prepare the Blight and it was due to Vytheril telling her what it was so she could stop the undead from doing something stupid.
While she thought about all of that, however, Spitfire noticed that Scarlet glanced over to her a few times and seemed to be studying something, no doubt what had happened to her body while they were fighting the twisted Eredar that was in the middle of trying to corrupt Thrymjaris and the rest of the Thorignir, though Vytheril didn't seem all that bothered by what had happened in the last ten minutes, despite the fact that she suspected he was studying her for any changes that might awaken sometime after absorbing Azariah's soul and power.
"Is something wrong?" Spitfire asked, mostly because she wanted to get this out of the way before they reached the area that Havi was having Huginn bring them to so they could learn what they needed to do before attempting the Trial of Valor and then made their way to where the Halls of Valor rested, even though that was the only thing that none of them knew about, as Havi had elected not to share that information with them when they first started tackling the trials, while at the same time she noticed that Rainbow and Vytheril were slightly interested in what they might talk about as they started to walk over the bridge the raven had brought them to.
"No, just making sure you're okay after absorbing that half-Sayaad's soul... and being surprised by what happened to your body when you did that," Scarlet replied, which was understandable given that some demon hunter had been known to be consumed by the Fel energies they were messing with and were twisted into the very things they swore to destroy, just like Spitfire and Rainbow had seen earlier, when they hunted down their artifacts and had to face the corrupted forms of both Varedis and Caria, before she glanced at Spitfire's chest area again, "you are alright, right? I know you made sure that your body moved like it had before fighting that demon, but I just wanted to make sure everything was just fine with your body before we reached the area that Havi is having Huginn lead us to."
"Trust me, I'm perfectly fine." Spitfire stated, though she appreciated the gesture, since it seemed like Scarlet was actually more concerned about losing a friend that was trying to save Azeroth and, more importantly, stop the impending war that Sylvanas had to be preparing for Genn and the other leaders of the Alliance, and while she did that she glanced down at her chest for a moment, since that was still something she was coming to terms with, due to the fact that it had been quite a surprise when she felt the pressure, before shaking her head as she focused on the path ahead of them, "Sure, what my chest went through was certainly quite a surprise, but that appears to be the only change I'll be experiencing, which kind of makes sense given who our foe was... though at the same time I probably incurred Xazariel's wrath, so I'll need to keep an eye out for her at some point after we finish recovering the Aegis."
"If only we could do what Lord Illidan did all those years ago," Rainbow remarked, where Spitfire understood that she was referring to opening a portal to the world of the Sayaad and then, after verifying that it was the world in question, using all of the portal's power in a forced closure of some kind that would detonate the entire planet and wipe out the Sayaad, or at least the vast majority of them, just like what their Lord had done to Nathreza, the world of the Nathrezim, all those years ago, though while many assumed that the Nathrezim shared their world with the Sayaad, however, the Illidari had found nothing on Nathreza that looked like it belonged to this Xazariel and her Succubi, so there was a world out there that held all the Succubi that existed in the Burning Legion and it would have been where Azariah would have been reborn in due time had Spitfire not absorbed her soul, though Spitfire understood that Rainbow wanted to blow the world of the Succubi up, just like they had done in the past, before she shrugged for a moment, "oh well, we'll come up with a plan for her once we're done with this province... its not like she's going to send some of her forces through the Felstorm and task them with hunting us down for what we just did, and even if that happens she'll end up losing them."
Scarlet and Vytheril looked like they wanted to know what in the world they were thinking about, though at the same time Spitfire decided that it was for the best, despite the fact that she knew many members of the Alliance and Horde would be happy with the destruction of Nathreza and the depths of many of the Nathrezim, though her attention shifted to the end of the bridge that was in front of them as Huginn flew through the area and lead them towards one of the vrykul towers they had noticed inside Hrydshal, one that happened to be where Havi was standing, along with a red storm drake and a couple of vrykul that appeared to be his allies, despite the fact that they were sort of different from the other vrykul they had seen so far, which was when the raven circled over Havi's head before landing near the purple one.
"Ah, the heroes of the hour have arrived!" Havi stated, his tone revealing that he was happy to see them again and that he was pleased by two of the three trials being completed in the proper manner, instead of what Skovald was doing to each of them, though while he said that the group noticed that there was a dead moose resting nearby and suspected that their friend might ask one of them to butcher the creature for some food, before giving them the information they needed to know for the final trial, "The Trial of Valor will be your next test, a long test at that, and it will test you more than the other two trials you have encountered... but only a fool fights on an empty stomach."
"I do hope you are referring to Skovald, since it would be nice to have something to use against him," Scarlet replied, even if she and the others suspected that he might be referring to the four of them, given what she and Vytheril knew from the tales of another land that the vrykul had been found in, even if the Stormheim ones were vastly different to the ones that they had faced in the past, before she noticed the tools that were resting near the moose and understood what Havi was suggesting, just like what they had noticed the first time they met him, "Let me guess, you want someone to carve up the moose before we do anything else?"
"If you would be so kind, as these old bones can hardly hold a weapon, much less butcher a moose for our meal, since I was planning on sharing this time." Havi said, revealing that he had made sure someone had brought him a creature that would produce enough meat for all of them and then some, as Spitfire suspected that this moose would be enough for the five of them and the other vrykul that were guarding the tower, where a voice in her mind informed her that it was called Valdisdall, "While you do that, I will tell you what you need to know... which will involve spinning a small tale of rocks, trees and spirits, and it will give you an idea of who you'll need to take to next."
As Scarlet started to hack into the moose's corpse, and did so with a level of skill that was like what she had used back in the first camp they had met Havi in, the vrykul in question revealed that the next area that they would be exploring was called Haustvald, even though they would be visiting the Runewood first, and that the Bonespeakers tended to the dead, in a manner that caused him to inform them that these vrukul would not help the group, as their ways were twisted and that they had forgotten the old vows they took, either due to Skovald's interference or something else, but he did tell inform the four of them that there was one who could help them, as the individual was 'rooted in the old ways' and that his name was Vydhar, who would be the key to them passing the Trial of Valor and gaining entry to the Halls of Valor.
"So, find this Vydhar and get what we need to know from him," Rainbow commented, as that was the gist of what they had been told, along with the fact that the Bonespeakers were enemies, just like the Drekirjar had been during their assault on Hrydshal earlier, though at the same time she wasn't surprised by the fact that another ancient group was breaking their ancient vows and were possibly siding with the Legion, meaning they had to break them down while doing whatever it was they needed to do to impress this Vydhar so he would trust them enough to reveal how they were going to pass the Trial of Valor, in the proper manner anyway.
"Indeed... your cuts are fine, by the way," Havi said, the first part of the statement referring to Rainbow's comment while the second part was directed to Scarlet and her work, as she had carved up the moose and had started cooking the strips of meat over the fire that was resting in the middle of the camp that was in front of the tower, though they could tell that the storm drake didn't seem interested in the food, meaning someone must have fed it before the group arrived, before he focused on the four of them for a few moments, "Also, Vydhar is a tree, resting inside the heart of the mystic Runewood that rests outside the area known as Haustvald, and he will offer you sound guidance... and possibly leaves as well, if he's in the mood for something like that."
No one said anything to that, as they really didn't have any response to what Havi said, but at the very least it didn't take Scarlet all that long to prepare the meat according to how Havi preferred it, soft and tender, like someone could peel it off the bone, and the seasoning was like what she had done back at the odd vrykul's camp that was near the Vault, something that impressed everyone that happened to be standing around the camp as she dished the meal out, especially since she was a death knight and many assumed that her class had lost many sensations when they were brought back from death, but she had found that her taste buds weren't as damaged as the rest of her kind, though while she didn't need to eat at all, due to her new nature, she found the practice to be helpful. Another thing that Scarlet and Vytheril discovered about Spitfire and Rainbow was that, despite their appearance, they were capable of eating meat without getting sick, since both of them had been worried about such a thing happening to either of them, but this informed their friends that they didn't need to worry about this and they nodded their heads accordingly, all while Havi and his vrykul allies helped themselves as well, as they apparently enjoyed the meal as well and there was enough for all of them to have seconds. While they took a few moments to rest, however, Spitfire did think about what Rainbow had said and knew that the Felstorm needed to be closed soon, before the Legion made recovering the Pillars of Creation a useless quest, and not just because of the fact that she had likely annoyed the strongest Sayaad in all of existence, since there was no telling when Sargeras would show up and take the planet for his own, hence the reason she was so focused on finding the Aegis of Aggramar and returning it to Dalaran, hopefully by the time the other heroes of the Alliance and Horde recovered the other three that they were in the middle of looking for, as Suramar's was the last one they would focus on. Rainbow's idea to open a portal of immense power to the world of the Sayaad, after finding the coordinates to the planet like Lord Illidan had found Nathreza, and then closing said portal rather violently to cause a cataclysm to destroy Xazariel's world, and wipe out the Sayaad, was a good idea in the grand scheme of things, but they lacked the power to do something like that and had to focus on the task that was in front of them, something her friend understood based on what she had said earlier.
Once they were done with the meal, and the group thanked the vrykul for gathering the components that had been used to prepare the dish, they walked over to another path that served as a secondary entrance to Valdisdall and followed it for a few moments as it brought them down to an area a few rams were wandering around in, something that allowed them to access a well worn path that seemed to be heading into the forest that was their next destination and they kept their eyes open for the tree, Vydhar as he was known as, that they were looking for. It actually didn't take them all that long to find another path that clearly lead to a rather large tree, one that rested inside the middle of a clearing, meaning they must have found what they were looking for, though as they followed the side path it was easy to find that there were a few Bonespeakers in the immediate area, outside the clearing the tree was resting in, where some of them looked like they were mystics, others were warriors of some kind, and there were earth elementals wandering around some of the areas, meaning they would have to be careful when they lashed out at their enemies, to which they approached the large tree and found that a large face had been carved into part of the bark.
"Um, Vydhar? We were told to come speak with you." Rainbow said, as it was hard to tell if the tree was sleeping or if there might be something that they were missing, though there were a few deer hanging out nearby and there were a bunch of large roots that were half submerged in the ground and half resting above ground, though as she said that she and the others were curious as to whether or not Havi had been messing with them or had been telling the truth, but before any of them could say anything the 'eyes' of the face shifted and Vydhar seemed to awaken.
"Bound... twisted... the Bonespeakers..." the tree, Vydhar, moaned, where they could tell that the voice that came from the tree was in pain and that his words, since Havi repeatedly mentioned that Vydhar was a 'he' while they were talking, gave them an idea as to who they needed to get some revenge on, which appeared to be the Bonespeakers Havi had told them a little about, which wasn't too much of a surprise based on what the group had seen so far, before the tree glanced at the four of them as he tried to focus, "The Bonespeakers... they are corrupt... hungry for power... cut them from my woods... and turn the runestones... to release my bonds... and stop their attempts to... silence... the Runewood..."
"Well, we were already planning on wiping out the Bonespeakers, but now we have something else to do," Vytheril said, as this was good for them, because they had found the individual that they were looking for and had seen a few areas while they were walking towards Vydhar's resting place, meaning it gave them a good idea of where they might be able to find these runestones that they needed to 'turn', which was odd given that most of them assumed that he would have asked for them to be destroyed, but his words would likely become apparent once they found one of the runestones, though as he said that Vydhar moaned a little, no doubt due to the pain that his body was in, before the group moved out of the area and started the next stage of their quest.
Fortunately it appeared that one of the areas that contained one of the runestones was close to where Vydhar was resting, where the group could see one of the mystic Bonespeakers channeling his magic through the stone as it pulsed into the ground, showing them that the tree had been right, the corrupted vrykul that were scattered throughout the Runewood were trying to silence the wood and dominate everything that was contained in this area, and it was easy to see that the Bonespeakers weren't corrupted by the fel energies, like Skovald's forces had been. Of course they discovered a few of the earth elementals wandering around where the mystic was standing, so Scarlet and Vytheril dealt with the five elementals that were lingering in this area, leaving Spitfire and Rainbow to deal with the mystic, even though Spitfire let Rainbow take care of their target as she focused on taking down any warrior vrykul that might be in this area, as two of them rushed at the area they were standing in and she drew her warglaives to deal with them, where she parried the incoming attacks and made sure to push her foes backwards so she could cut them down, due to the fact that these guys fought with the same grace as the other enemies they had fought so far. While she did that Rainbow dodged the mystic's attacks for a few moments, where she found that her foe used a dagger that had some runes on it, but for the most part it didn't look like he had any spells to throw her way, save for a single spell where he tried to carve a rune into the air with the purpose of damaging her, though Rainbow did the smart thing and took her foe's hands off before he could complete his runic spell, causing a look of disbelief to appear on his face for a moment, before she spun around and delivered two diagonal cuts to the mystic's chest, dropping him to the ground in the process as she faced the runestone. That was when she noticed that Scarlet and Vytheril had taken down the group of earth elementals, which had shattered into a number of fragments after the pair had taken them down, though once Spitfire was done with the warriors they approached the runestone and took a moment to figure out how in the world they were going to turn it, since none of them had the same knowledge that the Bonespeakers did, only to find out that a simple application of one's magic, Vytheril's to be exact since he was the one to test the idea out, caused the upper half of the runestone to turn and lock into a new position that caused a small blue circle to appear around it, which seemed to be what they were shooting for.
The reason they knew that was because they could hear what seemed to be Vydhar's voice in their heads, claiming that he could hear the woods once more, to which the four of them continued their hunt for the other runestones that needed to be altered, even though they had no idea how many even rested throughout the Runewood, because based on what they could see there was another vrykul complex carved into a quarry of some kind, further beyond where they were standing at the moment, which Spitfire assumed had to be the real Haustvald, since the name certainly didn't fit the woods that she and her friends were currently exploring. Interestingly enough the second runestone was resting in another small clearing that was close to Vydhar's resting place, where a single mystic was tending to the magical stone in question while three of the warriors walked around as guardians of some kind, though that didn't stop the group from walking into the area they happened to be guarding and lashed out at their enemies, where Spitfire, Scarlet, and Vytheril focused on the warriors as Rainbow lashed out at the mystic that was guarding the runestone. It didn't take the group all that long to bring down all of the Bonespeakers that were in this area, given that their foes didn't appear to be expecting any 'intruders' to invade the section of the Runewood they had set up shop in, and once all of the traitorous Bonespeakers in this area had been taken care of Vytheril used his magic to turn the second runestone and it wasn't long before they heard Vydhar's voice in their heads once more, where it sounded like whatever pain he had been in had been replaced by a desire to free himself from the bonds the Bonespeakers had placed upon him. From there they returned to exploring the rest of the Runewood and kept their eyes open for the next runestone, though that was followed by the group noticing that there was a small vrykul settlement near the edge of the Runewood and the next runestone was just outside it, unguarded based on what they were seeing at the moment, so what they did was have Vytheril turn the runestone with his magic and they heard Vydhar declare that he was free from his bonds, meaning the Bonespeakers had set up three runestones, before stating that his roots would seek the throats of those that betrayed him, and they could see that the vrykul that were inside the village had such a thing happen to them, showing the full extent of Vydhar's wrath, before they joined in and made sure to kill all of the Bonespeakers that were inside the village.
Once all of their enemies had been slain, and Vydhar's wrath had been sated for a time, the group pulled back and headed back to where the tree was resting, as now that he had been freed from the corrupted magic of the Bonespeakers, and his betrayers had been taken down with no survivors remaining to tell the tale of what happened, he should be able to give them the information they sought, since this seemed to be the start of the Trial of Valor and they needed all the help they could get, at least in the sense of understanding what needed to be done to pass the trial anyway, as they could handle fighting anything that was thrown at them.
"So it was your footsteps I felt upon my woods as the runestones released their grip?" Vydhar inquired, speaking once the group came to a stop in front of his tree, where this time they could see that he was fully awake and that he was no longer in pain from what the Bonespeakers had been doing to him, even if he likely wanted to strangle the rest of the vrykul that broke the pact that had been made with him in the ancient past, before he focused on them for a moment, even though they were waiting to ask him about the Trial of Valor, "You have my thanks for freeing me, heroes, and my gratitude for punishing the Bonespeakers... it is a good beginning."
"We're happy to be of help, especially after seeing the sort of pain that the Bonespeakers were inflicting upon you and the rest of the Runewood." Scarlet said, as that was the truth of the matter, all four of them had been happy to be of help to the tree that was resting in front of them, because it meant that he might be willing to assist them in tackling the final trial that stood between them and the Aegis of Aggramar, or at least it was the last trial that they were aware of, hence why her next words reflected what she had been thinking about, "We're here to start the Trial of Valor, and we were told that you might be able to help us with whatever we need to do next, since it involves seeking the ancient rulers of the vrykul and earning their judgement in some way."
"I see... so, you wish to be judged by the ancient rulers of the vrykul," Vydhar repeated, his tone revealing that he was a tad bit interested in what Scarlet had said, while at the same time seeing that the rest of the group nod their heads, showing him that they agreed with what their companion was saying at the moment, before he seemed to pause as he considered something important, which the group hoped was the decision to help them, only for him to focus on them once more as he opened his mouth, "I admit, this is most curious... just know that the ancient rulers will not take to your presence kindly, heroes, however if you are so hasty to meet their judgment, you can call them forth with a ritual of wakening. To complete this ritual, you will require an aromatic to burn and an offering to present, and there is a plant that grows in the Runewood that will make a suitable incense, so I would suggest that you gather twelve Soulcaps to complete... also, the afterlife leaves the dead hungry for the delicacies of their former lives, and for the ancient vrykul kings there is no greater offering than the Bjornharta, which is a celebratory feast of an engorged bear heart. You are in luck, as the bears of the Runewood eat well, and they have long been prized for their tender meat, so I would suggest hunting them for a time so you can find a few suitable hearts, four to be exact, to offer to the ancient rulers... they will not be able to resist such an offering, that I can guarantee with ease."
Spitfire and Rainbow tilted their heads for a moment as Vydhar said that, because they were a little surprised that the four of them needed to kill a number of bears and tear out their hearts, all to offer the hearts to the dead spirits of the ancient vrykul kings, before they nodded their heads and both Scarlet and Vytheril did the same thing, as they were used to some strange things since they joined the Illidari and guessed that this was another thing that they would have to get used to as they overcame the Trial of Valor. As such the group walked away from where Vydhar was resting and headed over to the side of the Runewood that looked like it might descend down towards part of the coast, or at least that was what it looked like from where they were standing, though as they walked around the area that was beyond the tree, and sought out the bears that needed to be slain, Spitfire found some odd white colored mushrooms that were growing near some trees and noticed that they had a rather odd scent to them, making her wonder if they were the Soulcaps they had been told about, to which the rest of the group glanced at each other before Scarlet pulled the mushroom out of where it was resting and stored it inside a bag that the others would go in once they found them. From there they found a number of bears that were resting in front of an area that a number of white mushrooms were scattered around, some of them resting and a few just wandering around, with two or three eating some of the mushrooms, where Rainbow had to assume that eating the Soulcaps might be part of the reason that these particular bears were prized by everyone, or had been in the past, so that was when Vytheril loosed an arcane blast at one of their foes and pulled the bear in question away from its group, all to allow Spitfire, Rainbow, and Scarlet to cut down the bear as it rushed at them, clearly annoyed by the fact that they had interrupted its meal. The group found that their foe was rather strong and that it tried to knock Scarlet backwards, but it only opened the way for Spitfire and Rainbow to cut into its back and neck, making sure not to damage the chest area, due to the heart being what they were looking for, and it wasn't long before they brought down the bear and caused it to crash onto the ground, which was when Scarlet sheathed her blades and pulled out a smaller knife that she carried in case she was given a quest like this, allowing the pair to follow Vytheril as he lashed out at another bear so they could repeat what they had just done to the first one.
What they discovered was that the heart that Scarlet pulled out of the first bear was large, far more than what both she and Vytheril were expecting, meaning it had to be the engorged heart they were looking for and she made sure to pocket it accordingly, before she moved onto the other bears that the others had taken down and proceeded to carve them up as well, leaving the collecting of the Soulcaps to the rest of the group as she quickly pulled out a second engorged heart and added it to what Vydhar wanted them to collect, and due to the fact that everything they needed was nearby the group was able to collect all four of the hearts they needed and all twelve Soulcaps, to which the four of them headed back to the section of the Runewood that their new ally was resting in.
"We've recovered the Soulcaps and the engorged bear hearts," Rainbow commented, speaking up the moment they came close to where Vydhar was resting, where Scarlet removed the bags that contained the items in question and opened both of them so the tree creature could see that they weren't lying, as they made managed to find more than enough Soulcaps and the first four bears had the type of heart Vydhar had told them to find in the first place, before she focused on seeing if he was ready to share with them the next stage of their quest, "So, what do we do now?"
"Yes, you have acquired the necessary Soulcaps for the incense, and the hearts are fat and bloody... you are ready to face the ancient vrykul rulers," Vydhar stated, his tone revealing that he was pleased with what they had done, despite the fact that each of them suspected that he knew how easy such a task had been, but they remained silent as they waited for him to reveal what needed to be done next so they could complete the Trial of Valor, "Now that you have the incense and the Bjornhata, it is time for the four of you to head to the northwest and visit the graves of three of the four rulers that you will need to be judged by, who will have a small brazier near their grave to indicate who you need to call back to this plane for your trial, and their names are Heimir of the Black Fist, Rythas the Oracle, and Oktel Dragonblood... once you have been judged by those three, you must then venture to the mouth of Haustvald and be judged by Ashildir, the final ruler, before being able to succeed or fail the Trial of Valor."
"Out of curiosity, will they have us pick a champion to fight them, in a one on one battle, or will they fight all four of us at the same time?" Spitfire inquired, because that was something she had been thinking about since she and the others had learned about needing to prove their worth to the ancient vrykul rulers, which appeared to be three kings and a queen by the sounds of it, as while it would be easy for all four of them to overwhelm their opponents, such a thing didn't show their individual skills at all, so there was a chance that their opponents might arrange for a one on one battle with a member of their group, though she was hoping Vydhar might have some information to share with them before they headed out to face the ancient vrykul rulers.
"It all depends on what the ancient rulers want to do for your challenge," Vydhar stated, informing them that there was a chance that they could get lucky and have a four on one fight with the four ancient rulers of the vrykul, even though they felt it was more likely that they would have to fight them one on one, which was great since there were four of them and four of the rulers, so everyone got a turn to show off their strengths to their foes, though in that moment the tree's carved face shifted for a moment as a branch landed near Spitfire, "I would also ask for a small favor, as you travel to the graves of the ancient rulers you will find the spirits of the restless dead, who have been agitated by the Bonespeakers misdeeds, though they should be returned to their slumber and this bough should help you calm them as you face the spirits of the ancient rulers for your judgement."
The group nodded their heads and collected the enchanted branch, though as soon as that was done, and they knew what they needed to do for the next stage of the Trial of Valor, they departed from the Runewood and headed in the direction that Vydhar had told them to head in, which seemed to head straight towards an area that wasn't covered in trees and did look like a graveyard, the vrykul variety from what Scarlet and Vytheril said, as it was more rocky and there were some tall stones that seemed to be markers, as the first tall stone they noticed just so happened to have a brazier near it, which was why Scarlet placed one of the hearts inside the offering bowl and three of the Soulcaps, which she lit so the incense could work its charm... which caused the skeleton of a mage, or a mystic, to rise from the grave they were on top of.
"What's this? Some outsiders seek my judgement?!" the spirit declared, where Scarlet determined that this had to be the one called Rythas the Oracle, based on what they were seeing at the moment and due to the runes she found resting off to the left of the offering bowl she had placed the items in, runes that revealed the name of the ancient ruler that was in front of them, which was when Vytheril nodded his head to confirm what the ancient ruler had said, "Insolent worms! You would disgrace Valhalas with your presence! Come, mage, and seek your doom!"
Vytheril moved to the side as he summoned his magic to his side for a moment and loosed a burst of arcane missiles at his foe, as Rythas had signaled him out and he was more than willing to oblige the ancient ruler, since that was the reason he and the others were here in the first place, though while he did that, and Rythas countered with the runic spells that they had seen earlier, Spitfire noticed some transparent looking vrykul, the spirits they had been warned about, that were in the middle of floating through the area. As such she and Rainbow focused on all of the angry spirits that were scattered all over the section of the graveyard that they were in and swung their warglaives at their targets, though to make sure their attacks hit their targets, and not pass right through them, the pair had to channel a tiny portion of their powers through both of the blades they carried, something that actually allowed them to deal some damage to the spirits, but they also had to dodge some punches and kicks that came from the spirits, as the attacks sure felt real and it made the pair happy that none of their foes had any real weapons, even though they were sure that the spirits had been buried with whatever weapons they had when they were alive. Scarlet, on the other hand, spent her time watching both Vytheril's fight, which he appeared to be winning by the looks of things as he dodged incoming attacks, countered others, and managed to get one or two through his foe's defenses every now and then, and checking out what Spitfire and Rainbow were doing, where she made sure to stop them when they got close to taking a spirit down and used the branch Vydhar had provided to free the spirits from whatever foul magic the Bonespeakers were using on them, allowing them to depart with smiles on their faces while the pair made sure to move onto the next spirit, so it could be weakened to the point where Scarlet could repeat what she had just done. By the time they were done clearing out all of the angry spirits, in this area at least, Vytheril took down Rythas, who returned as a spirit as his bones returned to his grave, where the ancient ruler declared that he had been mistaken about all four of them, showing that he had witnessed what the rest of the group had done, and waved his hand as he declared that their worth could not be denied, to which they took a moment to thank him before they started to search for the next ancient ruler, though that didn't stop Rythas from digging into the bear heart they had left for him, even if it weirded Spitfire and Rainbow out.
The next ancient ruler they found was a skeletal warrior that carried two axes into battle, Oktel Dragonblood, and Scarlet was the one he decided to challenge to a fight, to which the two of them clashed with their pairs of weapons, as this time around Scarlet carried the Blades of the Fallen Prince, so while she engaged her foe Spitfire and Rainbow headed out and dealt with the rest of the annoyed spirits that were floating around this part of the graveyard, where this time Vytheril was the one to use the branch and free all of the vrykul spirits that the pair fought, though after the fifth and final spirit had been freed they found that Scarlet was the victor of her battle, just as they expected. Upon his defeat Oktel declared that Scarlet had the blood of dragons in her veins, which had to be a reference to her might or something, before he revealed that the four of them were worthy to enter the Hall of Valor now, meaning they had earned his favor and his judgement, to which they thanked him as well and started to head to the highest point of this large graveyard, as that appeared to be the area that the third and final ancient ruler was resting in, though that wasn't counting Ashildir, who the group would visit as soon as they were done with what they were doing at the moment. When they reached the summit of the graveyard, or at least this side of it since there was a raised section of stone nearby that seemed to overlook the quarry that the Runewood and the graves were resting outside, before they raised the final ancient ruler, Heimir of the Black Fist, from his grave and discovered that he was a skeletal warrior with a greatsword, though he declared that all of them were unworthy and was quick to pick Rainbow as his opponent, who grinned for a moment as she readied her warblades and charged into battle as soon as the ancient ruler was ready to start, where she parried Heimir's greatsword, much to the surprise of her foe as he witnessed what was going on, before she pushed his blade backwards and lashed out with a flurry of blows that were empowered by her energy, showing the rest of the group that she had picked up a useful trick, which resulted in Heimir being taken down. Heimir, of course, was shocked by how quickly he had been defeated and declared that they were all worthy of his blessing as well, to which the group headed down from the area that his grave was resting in and headed for the area that the grave of Ashildir had to be resting in, given the offering brazier that was nearby, though when they got close to their destination they discovered that it had been defiled, as the grave had been dug up recently and the offering brazier had been rudely discarded, before they spotted a transparent female warrior spirit kneeling at the edge of the now desecrated grave, and she was joined by four other female warrior spirits that seemed to be keeping an eye out for those that had done such a terrible crime.
"Ashildir's grave has been disturbed, outsiders." the female spirit declared, to which she picked herself up from where she had been kneeling and turned to face the group for a moment, where they could see that she was annoyed by what was resting behind her, possibly even outraged to the point where she was forcing herself to remain as calm as she possibly could in this situation, though she wasn't the only one that was slightly outraged since Ashildir was the final ancient ruler that the group needed to talk to, before he refocused on them once more, "Do you know something about this?"
"Yeah, I think we might know who did this, given what we've seen so far," Spitfire remarked, though she sighed as she told the spirit why they were here and the reason behind them taking the Trial of Valor in the first place, mostly because all five of the warrior spirits seemed to be worried about Ashildir and wanted to avenge the desecration of her grave, so letting them know what was going on might convince them that they were also here to help, though time would tell what would happen next since there was no telling how deep Skovald's corruption ran in Stormheim.
Given the corruption of an entire vrykul clan, not to mention two of them betraying the ancient packs they made with the races and creatures that lived near them and were part of the trials that had been set up a long time ago, Spitfire figured that the Bonespeakers were behind the desecration of Ashildir's grave and that giving the warrior spirits that information might convince them to allow the group to assist them in fixing this mess, even though she felt that they might discover something terrible in the near future and that it might be connected to either Sylvanas or Skovald, though while she hoped that she was wrong about the former she knew that only time would tell her if she was right or not.