What Spitfire and Rainbow discovered, when the light finally died down, was that they were no longer in Helheim and that they were standing in the graveyard of the camp that Havi had set up in front of the tower, a place called Valdisdall based on what they recalled since both of them had heard the odd voice when they were last here, and found that Scarlet and Vytheril were present as well, which they had been expecting and were relieved to see, as it would have sucked if their friends had been stuck inside Helheim by some magic or power none of them had seen coming, and even some of the spirits that they had freed rested around the graveyard, apparently enjoying the view of Stormheim again. The pair could see that both of their friends were surprised by the fact they were back to normal, meaning that whoever had aided them in escaping the dark realm they had been sent to had forced Helya to totally honor her word, to which they grinned as they walked out of the graveyard and headed up into the camp that rested nearby, where they found that two new arrivals had landed in this camp and seemed to be waiting for something to happen. The first person that was new was Cullen, which meant that Sylvanas or Nathanos had sent her here to get rid of her, since the group knew that neither of the undead in question cared for them and those that sided with keeping the pact between the Alliance and Horde intact until the Legion was dealt with, but they were happy to see her, as this meant they would be able to gather some information before they headed out to deal with whatever madness was going on, as Spitfire was sure something bad was happening between the Banshee Queen and Genn Greymane, based on what she had seen since arriving in Stormheim. The second arrival was another human that just so happened to be wearing the same attire of the soldiers that were aboard Genn's airship, even though she seemed to be wearing plate armor instead of leather armor and, for some reason, only had one shoulder piece, one that was resting over her left shoulder, and she had one of the gryphons resting nearby, though it was hard to tell if she was a human or if she was a worgen, since the human forms of the worgen showed no signs of claws or even fur their normal forms.
From what the group could tell it appeared that Cullen and Ensign Ward, as that was the name of the human based on what Rainbow said, were arguing over something, or maybe they were just chatting with each other, to which they turned towards Havi for a moment, who seemed to be in the middle of something with a fish, meaning that someone must have caught it for him, even though Spitfire could tell that there was a bit of light, like the pillars she and the others had seen back when they were leaving Helheim, and wondered if he might be the one who assisted them, before she decided that she would worry about it later.
"With Ashildir's judgement, your final trial is complete, but even Valhallas, or the Halls of Valor if you prefer, can wait, for now we must eat... being dead works up quite an appetite." Havi stated, where his words made the rest of the group take a moment to wonder the same thing that Spitfire had wondered, since it was an odd statement for him to say, but at the same time his statement revealed the truth of the matter, that Ashildir had remained true to her word and had given all of them her blessing, meaning they had freed a number of trapped spirits, restored Ashildir back to whatever realm her own spirit usually rested in, and had completed the final of the three trials, before Havi gestured to the fish, "Would one of you bring some of that fish over to the fire? I'm afraid that they are much like the moose from earlier."
Spitfire and her friends gathered some of the fish and followed Havi over to where the fire rested, where they assisted him in setting the fish up so they could be roasted, something that required Scarlet's attention since she was the cook and this was right up her alley based on what the group had seen since their arrival in Stormheim, though as they did that all four of them waited to see what sort of information Havi might share with them, since he had a habit of talking while someone worked on the food that he wanted to eat, even if he used the excuse that they were the ones that needed to eat before the next stage of their journey through this large province.
"The trials have been won, in a way that I have never seen before, but your Fel-corrupted foe remains." Havi said, where he glanced in the direction of the elegant structure that had to be the Gates of Valor, the entry point for the Halls of Valor, for a few seconds and then sighed as he turned back towards the group, showing that either something was going on or that something would be happening in that area soon enough, meaning this was mostly to prepare them for whatever their future held in store for them, "His tainted flock are attempting to bar the halls of the righteous, possibly to destroy the area or corrupt it with their foul energies, so you must take down his forces and punish them accordingly... but first, your allies are in need of your assistance, and once you finish helping them you can start fighting the Felskorn."
"You can say that again," Ensign commented, her tone revealing that there was a reason she and Cullen were here in the first place, even though Spitfire and Rainbow understood that by just seeing that the pair were patiently standing near one of the ramps that lead up to the camp, where their mounts were resting, though even as the group glanced at them that was when Spitfire wondered if Sylvanas had done something to justify what was going on right now, which would be more than enough reason for her to follow them to another part of Stormheim, "We set up a temporary camp called Greywatch near what your friend calls the Runewood, but that's not important, as we learned of the Banshee Queen's location just a few minutes ago, probably five to ten minutes before your return to Stormheim if your friend's tale is true, and Greymane set out on his ship so he could travel to the temporary camp the Forsaken set up."
"We call it Dreadwake's Landing... a terrible name is you ask me, but I'm just a lesser expandable soldier," Cullen added, her words confirming that Sylvanas had, in fact, set up her own temporary camp somewhere in Stormheim and that the King of Gilnaes was heading right for it with one of his ships, meaning he would either peacefully talk with them or just unleash a full scale assault on the camp that the Forsaken had set up, though Spitfire was hoping for the former, due to the fact that she was sure that the Banshee Queen would be the one to set off the war between the factions, "All I know is that Sylvanas sent one of her ships deeper into Stormheim, apparently on a secret mission of some kind, and they just returned shortly before you appeared in that graveyard... but I was sent here to bring you to our camp, where I'm sure that either the Banshee Queen or Nathanos will ask you to attack the Alliance, even though I'm hoping that the presence of you two, Spitfire and Rainbow, causes everyone to calm down."
"Our work is never done, especially with the likes of Sylvanas around," Rainbow remarked, as she shared Spitfire's opinion on the leader of the Forsaken, she didn't trust the Banshee Queen at all and was waiting for her to spark the faction war that would quickly spell the end of both factions and would end in the Legion, and Sargeras, claiming Azeroth, to which she raised her hand for a moment when Scarlet nodded her head, after adding some spices to the fish and conforming all of them had been cooked, and claimed one of the fish for herself, because she actually enjoyed Scarlet's food, before she glanced at the pair that had spoken, "So, do we have any idea what Sylvanas was looking for, or are we in the dark about that as well? I mean, she made a bargain with Helya, but that's all we know."
"Our camp is resting near the settlement of Skold-Ashil, where a temple or vault of some kind rests," Cullen replied, as she figured that there was no harm in saying this with someone from the Alliance standing nearby, because while it was hard for her and Ensign to see eye to eye, totally different from how she and Lorna operated, she could tell that the human did want to stop a faction war from happening, especially when the Legion was trying to invade their world and tear them all apart so their dark master could claim Azeroth at long last, "sadly, that's all I know on the matter, as Nathanos informed me that I had all the information I needed to know so I could 'carry out my mission'... you know, I'm really starting to hate that guy, even if he's my 'superior'."
"Skold-Ashil, named after Ashildir, contains the Vault of Eyir, a Titanic Watcher that leads the Valarjar Val'kyr, and just so happens to be the home of those loyal to her," Havi stated, informing the group as to what sort of area the Forsaken had build their camp near, to which Spitfire and Rainbow glanced at each other for a moment, as this Eyir sounded stronger and more important than the likes of Yotnar and some of the other Watchers they had encountered, maybe even to the point where Ashildir might worship Eyir, though that was when Havi raised a hand to his chin for a moment, "I do not know why this Banshee Queen is interested in Skold-Ashil, but it might be best for you to investigate the area and see what she's up to, least she anger Eyir and cripple your chances of entering the Halls of Valor, since she's one of Odyn's allies and angering her might undo all of your hard work."
The group sighed for a moment before devouring the fish that Scarlet had prepared, though once that was done they got up and headed over to where their allies were standing, where Spitfire and Rainbow took to the air as Scarlet and Vytheril used the mounts that had been provided, even though Ensign and Cullen joined them so they could reach the camp in question and not head off to the wrong place, before they left Havi behind, who would be waiting for them to return so he could direct them towards the Gates of Valor and the Fel-corrupted vrykul that would be marching on the area in question, where they focused on what was going to happen when they reached their destination. What they did was head down into the bottom of the bay that the ravine that was outside Hrydshal, where it was easy for them to see another large vrykul settlement that had been built on what could have been a beach at one point in the past, one that had a Titan Vault built into one of the cliff sides, positioned sort of below where the Gates of Valor rested, though while it wasn't anywhere near the size of Hrydshal it was still a place they would have to be careful in, since there was no telling what they might need to do once they landed in Dreadwake's Landing. As such it didn't take them long to spot one of the Genn's wooden ships, one that was resting in the water between where Skold-Ashil rested, a settlement that had a few towers that could light up the area when it was nighttime, and an area that a number of Forsaken tents had been built in, meaning it had to be the area that Cullen and Ensign were taking the group to, though even as they did that Spitfire and Rainbow glanced over to Skold-Ashil for a moment, as they were sure that there were signs of Fel energy coming from them, meaning either someone had succumbed to Skovald's influence or there were a few demons wandering around the area in disguise, something they could deal with once they had a better understanding of what was going on. There was even one of the Forsaken ships in the area as well, which had to be the one that Sylvanas used to get deeper into Stormheim before vanishing so she could appear in Helheim and make a bargain with Helya, though what was interesting was that it appeared that the undead who had been on the ship Spitfire had started on before they came to this province, where she discovered they were making the dreadful Blight, seemed to be refusing to dispense all the vile substances that had been on their ship, causing the Dark Rangers, Nathanos' forces, a vast amount of annoyance in the process.
"I'm not sure what you did, but your words and actions have resonated with more of our forces than we originally thought, so much so that many are questioning Sylvanas' orders," Cullen explained, revealing why they were seeing what they were seeing at the moment, though at the same time they spotted a number of Genn's forces standing on the beach just down the way from where Dreadwake's Landing was locating, not to mention the fact that the King himself was standing nearby as well and seemed to be in the middle of talking to Lorna, something that caused the undead to chuckle for a moment as she watched them, "and, despite the feud between the Forsaken and the worgen, thanks to what happened years ago, it seems that some are starting to try out working together, instead of fighting each other and trying to rip each other to shreds, which is what Sylvanas likely wants us to do while she does... whatever it is she's doing here."
Spitfire was happy to hear that piece of information, as this told her that something had changed between the factions, or at least it seemed that way at the moment, but she said nothing as Cullen directed them down to the area that Genn, his guards, and a number of the Forsaken happened to be standing, as when they landed in the area that was below them she and the others climbed off so they could approach the King and see what the situation was, even though it was easy to see Nathanos standing off on the other side of the river, meaning Sylvanas was one step ahead of them.
"Genn Greymane, it seems you're doing well," Spitfire commented, as the leader in question seemed to be doing rather well, due to the fact that his attire was the same as it had been the last time they saw each other and he seemed calm, way more than what someone would think when one considered the fact that the worgen and the Forsaken really disliked each other due to the bad blood that existed in their past, before she glanced at the assembled group that was around her and her friends, even though she knew where both of their targets were hiding, "or at least I hope things have been going well for you and your forces, just like I would hope the same for Cullen's team, who are certainly smarter than their leaders seem to be at the moment."
"As well as they can be, since we built Greywatch near a burial tomb that an ancient vrykul warlord of some kind had been buried in, one versed in the blood arts," Genn replied, where Scarlet and Vytheril glanced at each other for a moment, as they knew that he was referring to one of the more vampiric races of their world, as there were a few they knew about and one of them was the San'layn, a type of undead blood elf that fed off of blood, even though most of those undead, based on what they knew, had been killed long ago, before the King sighed for a moment as he thought about what he and his soldiers had faced before coming to this part of Stormheim, "thankfully one of our greatest warriors, a champion that has been chosen to lead the rest of the warriors in our fight, was able to beat the Blood-Thane and, based on what I head, took his soul either to the Halls of Valor or banished it to the afterlife, plus they did the same to the rest of the poor humans we found outside the tomb, who had been infected by the Blood-Thane's power and had transformed into vampyr as well, so we won't have to worry about them coming to cut us down at some point."
"Let me guess, Serilea Lightdancer?" Scarlet asked, showing Spitfire and Rainbow that she and Vytheril knew the individual that Genn had mentioned, even though he hadn't given them much to work with, even though it made Rainbow take a few seconds to think about the heroes she had worked with to bring down the Legion's assaults on the Eastern Kingdoms, as she might have seen the warrior in question, if her thoughts were right on the matter, before Genn nodded his head, just to let them know she had hit the nail on the head, "The night elf must be hunting demons down or cleaning up things that we haven't touched yet... its hard to know what she's thinking, given that both of her sisters were taken by demons a long time ago, or at least that's the story I heard."
"Yes, she hates demons, that's all there is to it... but we can't focus on her right now," Genn said, something that the group agreed with, as they needed to know what in the world Sylvanas was planning, why she was heading over to Skold-Ashil, and what they needed to do to stop her plans from becoming reality, especially since each of them felt that she was in the middle of planning a war between the Alliance and Horde, hence why she was focused on Spitfire's group, "Based on what our Forsaken allies have said, Sylvanas took Nathanos and a few of her loyal Dark Rangers over Skold-Ashil, even though it looks like those rangers might have been told to either stay back or return to camp, due to what we've been seeing since we got here, but what she's doing over there is a mystery to us, even though it doesn't look like she's enraged the vrykul that call the settlement home. My best guess at what to do next is that a small group should approach the settlement and tell the vrykul that we come in peace, maybe like how the Illidari came to save the day when we were mourning the loss of our previous High King and when the Horde mourned the passing of their previous Warchief, before explaining why we were visiting their settlement in the first place and, hopefully, get them to tell us what Sylvanas might be looking for, so we can put a stop to her plans."
"Maybe she's after Eyir?" Rainbow commented, referring to the Titan Watcher that was supposedly located inside the Vault that Skold-Ashil had been built around, though since it was Havi that gave them this information she suspected that it was the truth and that Helya might be looking to steal more power from the Halls of Valor, since it was clear that she didn't like whoever of the ruler of the Halls was at all and seemed to be lashing out at him in any way that she could think of, ways that resulted in her winning and him losing something important, and the rest of her group took a moment to think about it before nodding their heads as she faced Genn, "According to a friendly vrykul we encountered at the start of our trek Stormheim, who has been helping us understand the trials that will allow us to get inside the Halls of Valor, so we can obtain the Aegis of Aggramar, Skold-Ashil is the location of the Vault of Eyir, someone whose allied with the ruler of the Halls, so there's a chance that what she's doing might ruin our chances of acquiring the Aegis... and, based on the fact that we did save Ashildir and a number of shieldmaidens from Helheim, there's the possibility that we might be seen as allies to those that call the settlement home."
"Then why don't the four of you and King Genn head over to see what's going on?" one of the Forsaken inquired, showing that she, as that was the gender of the speaker, seemed to approve of what was happening at the moment, while at the same time a number of the other Forsaken did the same thing, showing the group that they agreed with her statement and that they were fine with all of the guards remaining here to watch over them, or maybe just guard the area and chat for a time as everyone waited for the group to return from what they were doing.
The group nodded and, in the end, accepted Genn's company for the time being as they headed down to where someone had positioned a small row boat, one large enough to seat the 'captain' and three others, hence why Spitfire and Rainbow decided to let the others use the small boat and they would follow from the air, though it was a short ride across the river and they reached a small path that lead right up to one of the towers that rested just outside Skold-Ashil, where it took them no effort to see that the rest of the Dark Rangers, of which there were three, resting inside the first floor of it, but, to Spitfire's disappointment, there were no signs of Sylvanas inside the tower.
"Ranger Captain Areiel, its a surprise to see that you and your fellow rangers are resting here," Genn commented, where it was easy to tell that he was interested in the fact that the three undead elves, in a nature that was slightly different from all of the death knights the heroes had seen so far, were even resting in this area in the first place, no doubt due to the fact that he believed that Sylvanas would have taken someone other than Nathanos into Skold-Ashil, but if she had told all of her Dark Rangers to stand back her guard would be lower than it normally was and her actions would have annoyed or even pissed off her loyal rangers, to a degree anyway.
"We were supposed to guard our Lady as she ventured into this settlement, but instead she ordered us to head out and overtake the area, to secure the vault," the more decorated Dark Ranger, a lady who had to be Areiel, replied, though even as she said that the other two seemed distracted by something, as they appeared to be staring out at the rest of the part of the settlement the tower rested near, before she shook her head and focused on Genn for a moment as she realized who was standing near him, "however, after spending some time investigating the area, we quickly determined that doing such a thing would be somewhat difficult for us, as some of the vrykul that call this settlement home were keeping an eye on us, despite our powers... and when we told our Lady she, um, expressed her displeasure and informed us that she and Nathanos would complete our mission on their own."
"Makes sense you would have some trouble with this place, given that they're guarding Eyir, an ally of whoever rules the Halls of Valor, and there are a few demons mixed into their forces," Spitfire stated, as she was able to figure out why Areiel and her fellow rangers might have had some trouble with the vrykul that called Skold-Ashil home, something that Scarlet, Vytheril, and Rainbow knew as well, even though only two of them were able to tell where the demons were located, due to them being demon hunters, before she glanced out at the area in question for a few seconds, "Okay, we'll approach the vrykul that call Skold-Ashil home and tell them what we know, where hopefully they'll allow us to split into two groups and tackle all of the demons that are lurking in the shadows, before we head over to where the Vault is resting and see if we can't stop Sylvanas from making a mistake, because ticking off Eyir might sabotage our efforts to enter the Halls of Valor and acquire the Aegis of Aggramar."
Areiel took a moment to think about what was going on and nodded her head, where she informed the other two rangers that they were to return to Dreadwake's Landing and wait with the rest of their forces for a time, to which the pair took a moment to nod their heads and departed from the tower they had been resting in, allowing Spitfire and the others, with a group of six now, to exit the tower and head to the left of the entrance, which was when they walked down the path that was in front of the structure and approached one of Skold-Ashil's entrances, where the group found that the pair of vrykul, both female and they suspected the rest of the settlement would be the same way, happened to be resting on the backs of some brown bears.
"Halt intruders, you are not welcome in Skold-Ashil," one of the warriors declared, where she shifted her grip on her spear and pointed it at them, mostly to force them to stop in their tracks, while at the same time the other guard watched them in case they tried anything funny, though a quick sweep with her Spectral Sight ability told Spitfire that both of the vrykul weren't demons and that they could speak with them for a time, if they were willing to talk anyway, "tell us why you have come here and what you hope to obtain, before we force you to do so."
"We've actually come to help you, and your settlement, out," Spitfire replied, to which she gestured towards the rest of the small city that the vrykul called home, causing the pair to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they waited for her to tell them what was going on and why they should trust anything she was telling them right now, hence why she was getting ready to tell them everything they knew, and would mention Havi at some point as well, since that might be the key to getting the vrykul to help them, "We've learned that Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen, made a deal with the dark ruler of Helheim, Helya to be exact, and that she intends on doing something to Eyir to fulfill the bargain that was struck between them, so after telling Havi what we discovered he informed us of what was in this area and told us to come here first, before heading to the Halls of Valor... also, you have a few demons lurking in the shadows, who are no doubt waiting for a chance to attack your settlement while your distracted by something."
"Havi told you about this place? That means we missed something that He easily noticed," the second shieldmaiden said, where it was easy for the group to tell that she wasn't referring to Havi when she said 'He', meaning that Havi might be one of the loyal followers of whoever ruled the Halls of Valor, which would explain why he was so keen on everyone following the proper methods to earn the right to walk over the final bridge of this province, approach the Gates of Valor, and then head up to the Halls, before she and her companion sighed for a moment, "Very well, we shall permit the six of you to step into Skold-Ashil and track down this Banshee Queen, as well as take care of whatever demons are supposedly resting in our settlement, before we head to the Vault of Eyir to make sure it is still properly sealed."
From there the group split into two smaller groups, where Spitfire, Vytheril, and Areiel followed the first warrior into the part of the settlement that she and her partner had been guarding the entrance of, leaving Rainbow, Scarlet, and Genn to follow the second warrior as they entered what appeared to be the main section of Skold-Ashil, though as they did that Spitfire noticed that there were only two types of vrykul in this settlement, the warriors and priests, or what she assumed were priests since she had no idea what sort of labels these people used to address themselves. Spitfire discovered that her guide was called Vallaen, while Rainbow's was called Frashe, and that both of them were eager to see if the group was telling the truth or if they were lying, about the demons since they trusted the part about Havi, though as Vallaen took a moment to question how she was going to find her targets, and lure them into the open, Spitfire activated her Spectral Sight once more and found that there were actually five demons resting in the part of Skold-Ashil she was in, though all of them were Sayaad, interestingly enough. Truthfully she figured that some of the demons would have been Felguards, or maybe an Eredar in disguise, or even an Inquisitor that was lurking in the form of someone else, but it did make her take a moment to wonder if Rainbow would be experiencing the same thing that she was seeing at the moment, before she held a hand out and had the others stop for a moment, which was when she informed the Sayaad that she was here and that she wasn't leaving until they were slain, something that caused the demons in question to drop their disguises, much to the surprise of the vrykul that happened to be near them, as this revealed their purple colored skin, their leathery wings, a pair of curved horns on their heads, their twisted legs and hooves, and the slender tail that ended with a spade and went with their more slender bodies, which was covered by armor that showed off their stomachs, sort of covered their chests, and only had a v shaped piece of metal covering the area between their legs, before they rushed over to the area she was standing in and readied their whips to bring her down. Spitfire knew that their whips were designed to inflict pain on those they were fighting, or even force someone to feel pleasure, something that all depended on the Sayaad in question and, supposedly, whatever world they were on, as many among the Illidari assumed that all of the supposed pleasure was done on whatever world the foul Sayaad lived on, even though there was no telling what was going on since they had no idea where that planet rested, but even as she thought about that she spun around and pulled her warglaives out as the tips of the whips neared her, using the flatter edge of her blades to catch the whips, something that allowed her to forcefully pull all five of the Sayaad over to where she was standing, which caught them off guard when it happened.
The first of the Sayaad barely had time to do anything as Spitfire shifted her stance, let go of the whips, and cleaved her in half without wasting a single second, surprising the other four as they unleashed their own powers on her in an attempt to slow her down or cause her to submit to their seduction powers, something that was used on whoever they felt like using it on so they could make a thrall out of whoever they were fighting, but thanks to her inner powers Spitfire repelled their efforts and forced them backwards with ease. One Sayaad pocketed her whip and rushed forward to swing her claws at her, where Spitfire dodged the incoming attacks as she noticed that another was coming to kick her from behind, to which she jumped into the air and let the third one hit the second one with ease, though as the two of them hit each other, and fell backwards as that happened, Spitfire spun around before she landed on the ground and swung her weapons, which was followed by their heads separating from their bodies. The fifth demon seemed to be considering her options as the fourth one rushed at Spitfire before she could react, intending on hitting her while her defenses were down, though that was when she weaved her inner flames around her body and forced her target backwards, something that was followed by her swinging and taking the demon's hand off before splitting her body into two halves, an upper part and a lower part, which caused the final Sayaad to take a step back and stop when she found a number of the vrykul pushing her back into the fight, causing her to gulp as she walked back towards Spitfire. What happened next was that she vanished from their sights for a time and nothing seemed to happen, though that was followed by Spitfire focusing on her Spectral Sight for a few seconds and noticed that her foe was trying to leave the area that they were standing in, unsuccessfully given that the vrykul had formed a barrier and the demon didn't want to use her wings since it would alert her to her presence, to which she gestured to the pair of warriors that were in front of the demon and they pushed her back into the fight, causing the Sayaad's invisibility spell to wear off. Spitfire wasted no time in lashing out at the demon as it rushed at her at the same time, parrying an incoming attack before severing the demon's arm, giving her a few seconds to gasp in pain, which was when she spun around and severed her foe's head, dropping the fifth and final Sayaad to the ground, where she double checked and found that there were no more demons in this part of Skold-Ashil, to which she sighed and rapidly absorbed the souls of the demons she had killed, without giving them a chance to flee.
Of course, when she absorbed their souls and the power they contained, Spitfire braced herself as she felt a familiar bit of pressure in her chest and was sure that the size had gone up thanks to the fact that she absorbed the souls of the Sayaad, where she made sure that everything was okay with her movements, just like she had done the last time this happened to her, before nodding her head as they departed from the area they were in, allowing the vrykul to return to what they had been doing before their arrival, and headed over to where Rainbow's group was waiting, only to discover that she had six Sayaad resting around her hooves, all dead, and her own chest had gone up a size or two as well.
"Fascinating, so it wasn't just a one time thing," Vytheril commented, referring to Rainbow's slight changes, even though he did find it odd that the Legion would send a force of ten Sayaad to infiltrate this settlement, without adding in a few of the stronger demons that made up their forces, but at the very least they were able to show Vallaen and Frashe that they had been telling the truth and that they were here to help, where he found that there were four area in front of the Vault that had what appeared to be pedestals of some kind, "I had no idea such a thing happened when you absorbed the soul of a demon and made it's power your own, though this can have some unwanted side effects, based on all of the other types of creatures that serve the Legion."
"Actually, only the Sayaad seem to have an effect on a demon hunter's body, as they are the only things we have seen that have done such a thing," Spitfire replied, though she did have to agree with Vytheril, because if she, Rainbow, and the rest of the demon hunters gained demonic traits from every demon they killed, and absorbed the souls of, over the course of their quest to bring down the Legion, not to mention Sargeras, she was sure that the Illidari would have been twisted into demons before they were able to get anywhere near the end of their quest, so she guessed that a few more pounds to her chest, and to Rainbow's chest, was better than being corrupted entirely, but once she thought about that she turned her head towards Vallaen and Frashe, "but, more importantly, we've taken care of the demons that infiltrated Skold-Ashil, and I mean all of them based on what my Spectral Sight can see right now, so we should head to Eyir's Vault and make sure she is safe as well, before hunting down Sylvanas before she can complete whatever bargain she set up earlier."
The vrykul nodded their heads and beckoned for the heroes to follow after them as they headed down to the area that the Vault rested in, where they had spotted the tilted cross shaped area that looked like an x, though as they did that Vallaen informed the group that this area usually required a ritual to breach the barrier that sealed the Vault, and would grant all of them an audience with Eyir, though even from where they were standing it was clear that something was wrong, as they could see that there were several dead warriors and priestesses resting around the four pedestals that rested around a statue of who Spitfire and Rainbow assumed was either Ashildir or Eyir herself. Genn noticed that some of the slain vrykul had arrows sticking out of their backs or chests, ones that he identified as the ones that Sylvanas used against her targets, while at the same time Areiel noticed a few of Nathanos' arrows in some of the other vrykul, showing them that both of their targets had definitely been here and that they had to be nearby, causing both of their guides to growl as they noticed that their home was under attack by enemies, all while they were dealing with the demons that had been positioned near where the Vault was located. It was in that moment that everyone noticed something terrible, the couple of guards that had been guarding the Vault's entrance had been pierced with Sylvanas' tainted arrows, killing all four of them in a matter of seconds since it appeared that the Banshee Queen aimed at their vitals, and it looked like someone had broken through the barrier that separated the rest of Stormheim from the Vault, meaning that their target had to be inside the Vault, with Eyir no less, to which the group stopped worrying about the rest of Skold-Ashil, which was totally safe thanks to what the group had done to bring down the demons, and rushed right into the Vault. What the group found as they entered Eyir's sacred Vault, or at least it was sacred in the eyes of the vrykul of this settlement, was that there was a set of stairs that led up to where they would find the Titanic Watcher that was in this structure, including the fact that there were a number of statues that were carved in the form of female winged soldiers, who had to be Val'kyr, before they noticed that the upper reaches of the Vault had been darkened, something that wasn't natural based on the expressions that were on the faces of the vrykul that had allowed them to enter the Vault, before they came to a stop at the top of the stairs.
It was in that moment that they found a large female armored warrior, who had a golden light coming from her body, that was forced into a kneeling position as her arms and wings appeared to be bound near her chest due to a band of sinister blue energy that was wrapped around her body, complete with strands of energy that seemed to be forcing her to kneel in the area she normally rested in, where they found Sylvanas off to Eyir's left, or the right from where the group happened to be standing at the moment, and it was easy to see that the Banshee Queen was entirely focused on what she was doing and not on the fact that she had people who were annoyed with her.
"Treacherous Banshee!" Eyir declared, her loud voice echoing throughout the Vault and the surrounding area that just so happened to be resting outside the Vault, where the tone revealed that she wasn't happy with what was going on, which was understandable given what Spitfire and the others were seeing, before the group noticed that there was a long crack near her left eye, meaning either Sylvanas had injured her or that was something from a battle long ago, though the fact that it was glowing made them believe it was caused by the Banshee Queen, though that didn't stop her from struggling against what was going on right now, "You know not what you are meddling with!"
"Submit, Eyir. The Val'kyr... are... MINE!" Sylvanas replied, where the group could tell that she was calm as she raised the glowing lantern once more and forced the magic that was around Eyir to inflict more pain on her target, mostly to force the Titanic Watcher to bow her head and submit to her demands, where Spitfire was sure it was to force people into the same undeath that she and the rest of the Forsaken lived with, something that really twisted them into shells of who they used to be and forced them to become someone else, before she glanced at the others and they nodded as the Banshee Queen still had no idea that they were there.
In that moment Rainbow flashed into the area that was in front of Sylvanas and quickly raised her left leg into the air for a few seconds, something that allowed her to kick the lantern out of the Banshee Queen's hand, to which she grabbed the foul device and landed nearby as Spitfire appeared in front of the undead elf, spun around as Sylvanas noticed what was going on at the moment, and kicked the leader in the chest, sending her flying into the wall that was near the entrance of the Vault, causing her to grunt for a moment as that happened, but as she removed herself from the wall Genn, in his gray-white worgen form, appeared behind the Banshee Queen and gripped the back of her head, where he crashed her head into the floor and knocked the bow from her hand as he pinned her arms to her back.
"Sylvanas, I'm disappointed in you. I told you to stop trying to incite a war between the Alliance and the Horde, and to stop focusing on your own personal goals, and what do you do, you go make a bargain with Helya," Spitfire stated, where she held her hand out for a moment and Rainbow placed the foul lantern in her hand, allowing her to stare at the cold metal for a few seconds as she felt the dark magic that was inside it, before glancing at the Banshee Queen for a moment, just to make sure she was paying attention and found a dark glare, one that was full of anger, which was focused on her, to which she shifted her stance for a moment and smashed the lantern against the floor, shattering the apparently fragile item into a thousand pieces and shattered Eyir's bindings, who stood up as soon as that was done, "well you know what, you aren't good at listening to what anyone has to say, even if the person speaking is someone who is on neither side of the conflict and just wants to bring down the Legion. Genn, Areiel, take our uncooperative Banshee Queen back to the ships and send her back to Orgrimmar, so she can stand trial for the crimes she has committed, and have the guards prepare an arena for the two of us... as while I'd rather not do this, especially with the Legion being a threat, I will perform the Mak'gora with Sylvanas Windrunner, where we will settle on the terms of the match after the Aegis is recovered."
"A duel of honor... it seems that some of you are worthy afterall," Eyir stated, though as she said that Genn and Areiel did as they were told, forcefully pulling Sylvanas off the floor and escorted her outside, so they could head back to where the ships were located and deliver the Banshee Queen to Dreadwake's Landing, before she shifted her gaze to Spitfire for a few seconds as she thought about something, even though she, Rainbow, and the others were worried that she might tell them off for not coming sooner or rushing to their aid the moment they knew she was in danger, "Very well then, I shall let you enter the Halls of Valor... I'm interested in seeing your power for myself."
Before Spitfire for the others could say anything Eyir glowed for a moment and disappeared from where she was standing, no doubt heading back to the Halls of Valor so she could tell her allies about the fact that they were coming soon, to which they sighed for a moment in relief, as they had been worried about having to do something else to get inside the Halls of Valor, but with this done they headed outside so Spitfire and Rainbow could carry Scarlet and Vytheril back to Valdisdall so they could speak with Havi and see what they needed to do next, before heading over the bridge and approached the Gates of Valor and their true destination.