Weeks had passed since the Defias prisoners’ failed attempt to break out of the Stormwind Stockade. The situation in the kingdom had begun to stabilize with the leadership of the Brotherhood dead and the organization disbanded. This also had the effect of disheartening the allies of the Brotherhood into behaving themselves for the time being since the gnoll attacks on the roads had greatly lessened, giving travelers more courage to walk the roads again. The murloc raids on Alliance ships had lessened too.
This was merely one problem resolved of many more though. Duskwood, a dark region in the southern reaches of the Kingdom of Stormwind, was still cursed with eternal night, worgen and rogue necromancers raising the dead. To the east of Stormwind, in a region called the Redridge Mountains, the town of Lakeshire was surrounded on all sides by enemies. The closest threat was a tribe of gnolls who had established camps south of the town beyond the huge lake that took up thirty percent of the region, north of the town in the mountains, and east of the town with nothing but mountains to the west of the town.
Redridge was also being invaded by the Blackrock Clan, a clan of orcs who served as the remnant of the Dark Horde from the First and Second Wars. Rumor had it that the orcs had also forged an alliance with the malevolent Black Dragonflight. Evidence toward this alliance were the young black dragon fledgelings, or whelps, fluttering around south of Lakeshire. Magistrate Solomon, the mayor of Lakeshire was at his wits’ end because the town was in danger and Stormwind was doing nothing to help.
This was the situation when Bella, Stella, Jaqueline and Sophia arrived in the region. With the town surrounded and the roads unsafe, the group was forced to fight their way to Lakeshire while cutting down any gnoll and black whelp that got in their way. They entered Lakeshire once they crossed a large damaged bridge that connected the north and south sides of the lake.
Upon seeing the desperation in the magistrate, the group spent a few days assisting with dealing with the invading gnolls, dragons and orcs in the region. Through their efforts and some secret nighttime massacres from Sophia and her impaling tentacles while away from the others’ notice, they managed to put a dent in the invading army and were set for the following day to take out the leadership of the Blackrock invaders.
Once the Blackrock leaders were dealt with, Solomon asked them to deal with a rogue human warlock named Morganth who led the gnoll army along with his gnoll lieutenant, Fangore. The warlock stood no chance against the four of them and the gnoll fared little better.
With the warlock’s death, Redridge was secure for the time being so the group could continue north and pursue the lead they received from Bazil Thredd weeks ago. Journeying through the northern mountain pass, they crossed a massive gate that once served to prevent entry to and from the region ahead.
While Redridge was idyllic, full of rushing rivers, towering elm trees and rising elevations, the Burning Steppes was a flatter region of charred landscape, dwarven ruins and pools and streams of lava. The sky was a fiery red as a result of volcanic eruptions from Blackrock Mountain.
“Wow, this place kind of reminds me of when Lyra and I were stuck on Char for nearly two months,” said a familiar and unexpected voice in the link.
“Sweetie Drops? I didn’t expect you to pay a visit to Sphere anytime soon,” Sophia replied.
“Neither did I. Lyra wanted me to come with her to see this mission of yours. When I told her that I still had other things to do, she brought an old friend of ours to help out and we completed my list of tasks for the next few weeks.”
“Yep, and now she has no more excuses to avoid helping Twilight and Midnight oversee the mission,” Lyra said cheerfully.
“I will say that I agree that the place does look like Char somewhat, though it does bring back some unpleasant memories of back then.” Came a voice that was unfamiliar to Sophia though she suspected that she was the “old friend” that Sweetie mentioned. “Such as the time you two started anticipating my actions and humiliating me across several worlds.”
“You know you deserved that for acting like a bitch on a power trip, Sarah,” Sweetie said playfully. “You got a little too sure of yourself with all your evil plans and that cost you a few wings and an arm.”
“Ugh…I am never going to live that down, am I?” Sarah groaned. “It’s been a thousand years and my days as the Queen of Blades continues to haunt me.”
Sophia ignored the banter going on in favor of requesting information from Thanatas. “Hey Thana, what’s the deal with his piece of charcoal called a region?”
“This region used to be the northern half of Redridge Mountains up until about three hundred years ago. When the various dwarven clans fought over Ironforge and its resources, the Bronzebeards won and banished the other two main clans, the Wildhammers and the Dark Irons. The Dark Iron Clan established a city, vainly named after their leader, Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan.
“The Dark Irons pushed their luck and tried to attack the Bronzebeards and the Wildhammers which backfired and led to the two clans working together against the Dark Irons.
“In desperation, Thaurissan tried to summon a powerful fire elemental to destroy his enemies. This proved to be his undoing as the elemental he summoned was the Elemental Lord of Fire, Ragnaros the Firelord. His emergence into Azeroth unleashed a devastating wave of fire which annihilated two regions, took countless lives, including the Sorcerer-Thane himself and created a volcano where the ritual took place; a volcano called Blackrock Mountain. The tunnel in the mountain serves as the only land connection between the two regions, known today as Searing Gorge to the north and Burning Steppes to the south.
“These days, Blackrock Mountain and Burning Steppes are under the control of the Dark Horde, composed of not only the Blackrock Clan, but also a couple of less than successful offshoot tribes of the Amani Tribe of trolls and a few small ogre clans. The Dark Horde has an alliance with the Black Dragonflight but that alone wouldn’t be enough to defeat the Kingdom of Stormwind since the Dark Horde is very much limited in numbers and incapable of replenishing them.”
Sophia pondered on the information given to her which led her to realize something. “The Dark Horde wouldn’t stand a chance, not unless Stormwind was already being weakened from within. Could it be that Prestor is working with the Dark Horde?”
“And that’s all the time we have for today,” Thanatas said, blatantly dodging the question and disconnecting herself from the link.
Sophia huffed at that, but figured that she was on the right track at least since her cousin didn’t try to correct her.
Now that the group was in the Burning Steppes, Sophia secretly sent out a psionic pulse, searching for minds that weren’t filled with evil intentions. The orcs and black dragons in the region would have destructive thoughts while the ogres only had two thoughts that went through their heads: eat and smash.
She quickly found minds that didn’t match the criteria in two locations. One was to their north and the other was in a small mountain trail to the east, too close to what she felt was a small army of dragonkin that blanketed the eastern reaches of the region.
“According to Magistrate Solomon, the nearest camp in this region is Morgan’s Vigil to the east,” Bella said. “We can start our investigation there.”
The group walked around the blackened hills as they moved toward the east. On the way, they were repeatedly accosted by black dragonkin of different shapes. The majority of the dragonkin were whelps, but there was also a race of centaur-like dragonkin who walked on four legs while having the upper bodies of humanoid lizards.
“According to the bestiary for this world, those creatures are known as dragonspawn. They act as foot soldiers for the dragonflights,” Twilight informed. “Some of the more powerful of these creatures have wings but are incapable of flight.”
“Anyone else think those critters are a little too close to Morgan’s Vigil fer comfort?” Jaqueline asked. Her body tensed as she reached for her weapons.
“I don’t think it would hurt to clear some of them out of the area,” Sophia agreed.
“It certainly does appear that Morgan’s Vigil is in danger,” Bella agreed while reaching for her mace and shield.
“Let’s make this quick, if the enemies in this region are connected to Lady Prestor, I’d rather we make haste before she finds out and tries to send the Stormwind Army after us or something,” Stella said.
The group spent the next hour hunting down black dragons in the region. Stella froze many of the whelps in midair, causing them to fall to the ground. Bella summoned hammers of light to shatter the frozen black younglings.
Jaqueline engaged the black dragonspawn with her two mithril swords. Each dragonspawn fought like the soldiers they were but the warrior had the advantage of agility as she dodged strikes from their halberds. Jaqueline quickly dispatched her enemies by taking advantage of the openings they left and the fact that their flanks were not properly protected.
Stella occasionally encountered dragonspawn who were spellcasters who specialized in flame magic. She took control of the energies they were channeling and caused it to feed back into their bodies, injuring their insides. At the same time, the mage assaulted them from the outside with waves of arcane energy to make sure they didn’t survive.
Sophia spotted a larger dragon hovering around the area. It was still too small to be a fully grown dragon so it had to be a drake. With the others having their fun with the rank and file, she decided to have her fun with who could be the one commanding the dragons in the area.
It wasn’t long before the drake spotted the humans and the high elf fighting off his kin. He flew in to engage them, but before he got too close he felt something land on his back. He looked back to see a blue-wearing rogue grabbing one of his wing joints. He would have scoffed at the feeble mortal’s efforts if it weren’t for the fact that she managed to dislocate his joint, sending a powerful wave of pain through his body. The drake was forced to crash with his face slamming into the ashen ground.
With the drake grounded, Sophia jumped off his back and deployed one of her wrist blades while using her unnatural strength from her infested heritage to slice off the drake’s left wing, causing the beast to roar with agony. She quickly moved to the right wing and sliced that off too. In desperation, the drake turned to slash at the assailant with his claws and breathe fire on her but Sophia quickly jumped onto the drake’s back. The beast tried to buck her off but Sophia timed the buck with a jump where she aimed at the drake’s head. With both blades deployed, she plunged them into the drake’s cranium. The drake gave one last roar before he collapsed, never to get up again.
With the drake dead, the rest of the dragonspawn in the area were quick to retreat. The whelps followed the soldiers out of fear.
With the area secure, the group traveled up a mountain trail marked by a torch. They soon entered a camp that appeared to have been made among some scorched ruins. The remains of a few houses and a mage tower were the only signs that there was civilization there before the campsite.
The camp was inhabited by a band of Alliance soldiers composed of humans, dwarves and a night elf.
The night elf was the first to approach the group and politely bow to them in gratitude. “On behalf of this camp, we thank you for driving off the dragonkin that threatened to overrun us. But I must ask, what brings you to this region?”
Stella moved to the head of the group to address the elf, “My name is Stellaglim, agent of the Kirin Tor of Dalaran. I was originally sent here to investigate a rumor that the regent of Stormwind, Highlord Bolvar Fordragon, was under the effects of a mind control spell. My efforts have been waylaid by Lady Katrana Prestor who sent me on a wild goose chase to deal with the Defias Brotherhood. I talked with Master Mathias Shaw and he agrees with my suspicions that Lady Prestor was magically manipulating the regent. A testimony from the second in command of the Defias Brotherhood gave me a lead that Lady Prestor might have connections with the Blackrock Clan and that I might find some answers in Blackrock Mountain.”
Just then, one of the soldiers, one who wore the armor of a high-ranking officer, began to laugh maniacally. Sophia could sense the despair in his laughter. “Are you serious?!” the man shouted. “That’s why Stormwind hasn’t acted to deal with this obvious crisis?! We’re not getting any help from Stormwind because the highest authority we have right now is under the control of a traitorous noble?” The man resumed his crazed laughter for another minute before he started to calm down and slumped over. “Words cannot begin to express how screwed we are.”
Bella walked up to the officer and gave him a look of disappointment. “Are you the officer in charge of this camp?”
The officer didn’t even look at her as he continued to slump, “I am. I’m Marshal Maxwell. And before you question my sanity, I’m not crazy. I just have no idea how we’re getting out of this mess. Not just us, but the whole Kingdom of Stormwind. We had so much valuable intel on the Blackrock Menace that we hoped that it would force Stormwind to act. It might have even exposed that bitch for the traitor she is.
“But it all vanished with the disappearance of my commanding officer, Marshal Windsor. He had all the intel we gathered from this region and Blackrock Mountain. He was attacked by a Blackrock raiding party and I have no idea what happened.
“Only one who might know would that good-for-nothing coward of a dwarf, Ragged John. If you can get some info from him about Windsor’s whereabouts, I might have an idea on what our next move might be. He’s over at Flame Crest, a small Horde camp to the north. The people there don’t care about factions so don’t start anything.”
The group took a few minutes to rest after fighting the dragons before they proceeded north to Flame Crest. During their walk they wandered a little too close to the nearby ogre den and ended up fighting a few red-skinned ogres. The walk took about an hour before they walked up a crude stone bridge up to Flame Crest, which was a small camp built on an elevated ledge with a small cave. The inhabitants were mainly orcs and goblins who eyed the group warily.
Among the residents was a dwarf with a long brown beard and wearing tattered leather armor. As the group approached him, one of the orcs suddenly gave an amused smirk. Only Sophia caught that but kept it to herself.
Bella was the first to speak, “Excuse me sir, would you happen to be Ragged John?”
The dwarf turned to face the voice. His bleary eyes and loose expression quickly gave away his inebriated state. “Aye, that be me. What you be wantin’?” He hiccuped.
“We were told that you were with Marshal Windsor last, do you know what happened?”
“Oh, I remember that clear as day, Windsor was particularly ornery that day. And believe me, for Windsor, that’s a monumental accomplishment. He kept telling me that something feels off. Well he sure wasn’t kiddin’. We were in the middle of Blackrock Mountain when the filthy animals attacked. I’m talking about the orcs of course. Pay attention, will ya? All ya could hear was the clangin’ o’ steel as they rushed us.”
“And you helped?” Bella guessed.
“Are ya kiddin’ me? Me against fifty orcs? I’m no fool lass. I hid in the shadows and watched it all go down. Windsor didn’ wanna be hidin’ so he attacked the animals himself, Spinnin ol’ Ironfoe around and screamin’ like a madman.”
Sophia really didn’t have the time nor was willing to waste the brain cells listening to a drunken dwarf who wasted their time by going off on tangents. Instead, she secretly plucked the information from the dwarf’s mind. While he was going on about Windsor and the masterfully crafted hammer he wielded, she went through what the dwarf knew.
From what she could tell, Windsor ended up in the middle of a battle between the Blackrock Clan and the Dark Iron Clan. He decimated the orcs with his hammer but was overwhelmed by three hundred dark iron dwarves. He was apparently captured and his weapon and armor confiscated. This likely meant that Windsor was in a prison in some place called Shadowforge City in the depths of Blackrock Mountain.
By the time she sorted the info, her three companions were beginning to get impatient with the dwarf’s drunken ravings, even Bella, the most patient of the group.
“Alright, I think we have all we need to know, Ragged John. We need to get back to our camp and report while you can stay here and keep being…you,” Sophia said, trying to be polite about it.
Seeing the opportunity to get away from the obnoxious dwarf, Stella quickly wrapped her magic around herself and her friends and teleported away before Ragged John could go into another one of his rants.
The group suddenly appeared back at Morgan’s Vigil. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Maxwell approached them and laughed at their expense. “I could have warned you but where’s the fun in that?” Everyone glared at the rude marshal. “So what did you find out?”
Sophia explained the events that led to Windsor’s capture, surprising Stella, Bella and Jaqueline who figured that the dwarf was talking nonsense. Maxwell hummed in thought, “I see, so that good-for-nothing coward thinks Windsor is alive? In that case, you four better suit up. You are going to infiltrate the city and find him.”
“We would have done that anyway with or without your orders, marshal,” Sophia said flatly. “If he has information that can convict Prestor and save Stormwind, we’ll take the risk. Right everyone?” Stella, Bella and Jaqueline nodded in support.
The people at the camp gave the group what few resources they could spare before the group left the camp and began the long trek to Blackrock Mountain on the other side of the region in the northwest. The journey there was long and fraught with danger. They were occasionally accosted by Blackrock raiding parties but Stella’s magic and Sophia’s speed ensured that they minimized the expended energy.
After several hours, the group was walking up the wrought stone ramp into Blackrock Mountain. The door at the top of the ramp was open. The door itself was made of very thick dark metal with a huge face on both doors. Beyond the doors into the mountain was a wrought stone path with lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
Anticipating the increased heat the group would be exposed to while inside the mountain, Stella placed her best cooling enchantments on everyone to help them avoid heat stroke.
Beyond the corridor they entered a massive chamber which appeared to be the heart of the mountain. A broken walkway wrapped around the right side of the chamber. A pair of broken portcullises were to their left and right. The lower level of the chamber was filled with molten lava. Hanging over the lava was a massive piece of rock with a building on it. The rock was held in place by a number of massive chains that were large enough to walk on. The chains were held by massive dwarven statues.
The group walked along the walkway looking for the entrance to Shadowforge City. However, the walkway only led them to the opposite side of the mountain and the entrance to Searing Gorge so they had to find another path.
While they found an opening at the four o’ clock position of the circular room, Thanatas warned Sophia through the link that the doorway would lead the group to the wrong part of the mountain to be looking for Windsor as that led to the Dark Horde-held fortress of Blackrock Spire. Sophia scouted the entrance and quickly found some orc patrols and warned her friends about them, prompting them to believe that Shadowforge City was not that way.
Eventually, after some exploring, the group decided that they would try to reach the hanging rock over the lava. They found a chain that they could climb up on and carefully walked up to the suspended stone.
Jaqueline was bothered by a thought about the situation with Windsor so she finally decided to voice it, “Hey y’all, ah’ve been wonderin’, why did those dark irons capture him instead of killin’ him on sight? Ah thought the dark irons were evil like the Blackrocks?”
“That’s actually a misconception,” Sophia explained. “The Dark Irons may have differing opinions than the Bronzebeards and the Wildhammers, but none of them are inherently evil. The former leader of the Dark Irons got too greedy and made foolish decisions, one of which got him killed and created this mountain. I’ve heard that these days, the Dark Irons are being influenced by a cult that worships eldritch horrors. Many in Shadowforge City have fallen to their influence.”
“By the Light, the Twilight’s Hammer is in Shadowforge City!?” Bella gasped. “But why?”
“Probably because in addition to worshiping eldritch horrors, the cult also worships the Elemental Lords who serve them. Three hundred years ago, Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissan summoned the ruler of the fire elementals, Ragnaros, to Azeroth. The cult lives among the Dark Irons in Shadowforge City not only to be near their fiery master but also to slowly convert the clan into evil-worshiping cultists.”
“But what does that have to do with Windsor?” Jaqueline asked. “With cultists bein’ in the city, it would make less sense for him to still be alive and not sacrificed on an altar somewhere.”
“I think it shows that not all is lost with the Dark Irons. That hammer he carried was a famous one, forged by the famous dark iron architect, Franclorn Forgewright. The Dark Irons still respect his work and Windsor’s ties to his ancestor who received the hammer and passed it down to each generation.”
“Huh, so they still have some sense of honor, huh? Ah guess ah can respect that,” Jaqueline mused. “So since Thaurissan died three centuries ago, who’s leadin’ the Dark Irons now?”
“That would be his son, Emperor Dagran Thaurissan,” Stella said. “Not much is known about him though, but if he’s still allowing the cultists in his city then I can’t say he’s in his right mind.”
The four soon reached the building atop the suspended rock and entered it, hoping to find a path forward. Inside the building they proceeded down several flights of stairs until they came across what looked like a table or an altar.
Before the group proceeded onward however, Jaqueline began to behave strangely. At first it appeared as if she was examining the altar in the middle of the room but her eyes were slightly above it, as if she were staring at a wall or at something that wasn’t there. Even worse was that she was talking to thin air.
“Yeah, Ah can see ya, can’t everyone else?” Jaqueline looked at her friends who were giving her weird looks. “Wait, so Ah’m the only one who can see ya? Why?” A pause. “No idea huh? So whaddya want?” A few minutes passed with Jaqueline nodding as if she was listening to a private conversation meant only for her.
During this time, Sophia decided to contact Twilight about this issue, “Twilight? Has Applejack always been able to talk to things that aren’t there?”
“I’m picking up paranormal activity coming from the altar in the room. I think she’s talking to a ghost. But I thought ghosts on Azeroth were still visible on the material plane.”
“Most are, but there are the occasional ghosts who can only be seen under special circumstances, either by a special item or by being dead themselves,” Thanatas explained.
“So does that mean…?” Sophia ventured.
Twilight cut her off, “No, Jaqueline is still very much alive and she is not in possession of any necromantic artifacts. Though that still begs the question of how she can see the ghost.”
“Have the scans of that strange magic inside her yielded any results?” Sophia asked.
“I don’t know, I haven’t read the results yet.”
A few moments passed before Lyra spoke through the link, “Yikes, Bonnie looks like she just sucked on a really sour lemon. That can’t be good.” A few minutes passed as everyone in the control room observed the results. A wave of sorrow was briefly felt over the link before Twilight shut herself from it. “Aaaaaannnd Twilight just ran out of the room. I can’t blame her though since this affects the reincarnation of one of her closest friends.”
“It would probably be best to focus on your journey for the time being and let us work on making sense of what we just learned,” Sarah said.
“...Right…” Sophia affirmed before she closed the link.
At that time, Jaqueline finished her conversation with the invisible ghost and relayed what she learned. “So apparently, ah just talked to the ghost of that dwarven architect, Franclorn Forgewright. He talked about how he made two hammers, Ironfoe and Ironfel, and he gave one to Windsor’s ancestor. When he died, Ironfel fell into the hands of another architect named Fineous Darkvire who he says is a charlatan of an architect. He wants us to kill the guy and bring the hammer to a shrine near the arena. We need ta put the hammer in the hand of the statue and in exchange he’ll give us the master key ta Shadowforge City. He said it’s in a small compartment in the statue that’ll open when the hammer is put in its place.”
“We’ll keep that in mind as we explore the city, provided we find the entrance,” Bella said.
“He said we’re on the right track. Just keep followin’ the path we’re walkin’ and we’ll be in the city once we get past the quarry.”
With that slightly disturbing distraction done, the group proceeded down another set of stairs and found an exit which became a ramp spiraling downward until the path ended near another length of giant chain. At the other end was a stonewrought ledge with dwarven runes inscribed on the side of it a few meters above the lava. Once they reached the ledge they found an opening that took them inside what appeared to be a small building.
The odd thing though was the blood elf standing in a small alcove next to the doorway. They weren’t sure how long he was down there but he seemed content to be there. Stella also noticed that he was standing next to what appeared to be a small tear in the fabric of reality, at least that was the closest she could tell from her studies.
“Greeting’s travelers,” the elf greeted. “Tell me, what do any of you know about rifts?”
“You mean aside from the fact that you’re standing next to one?” Stella asked.
The elf blinked. He opened his mouth then closed it for a few moments then opened his mouth again. “You are certainly no ordinary elf if you are able to perceive the rift. This one leads into the very depths of Blackrock Mountain, the lair of the Firelord. Do you know how to attune yourself to the rift miss?”
Stella studied the rift for a few minutes and searched through her mind as she tried to recall. She soon remembered the type of rift she was looking at. “Aha! You need something that came from the general area of the destination point in order to attune to the rift and use it.”
The elf applauded Stella for her deduction. “Very good! I can see that my services for you are not necessary so I shall provide guidance to the next group of travelers who wish to brave the depths.”
The group proceeded into the doorway and came out into what appeared to be a quarry. There were digging tools abandoned around the area and a few people of various races digging through the rock. The diggers were males who wore only pants with a number of dark iron dwarves acting as overseers. This painted the idea of slave labor into the minds of the group.
Not wanting to alert the city just yet, the group took a stealthy approach and snuck past the overseers which worked since there weren’t many overseers in the area.
They proceeded into a short hallway that had two grated walkways on either side of the path with a number of stone blocks as well as a number of grinding stones.
As they neared the end of the hallway, they heard a roar of fury behind them. They turned around to discover that a fire elemental, a bulbous mass of flames with a vaguely formed face along with arms and hands that wore a pair of ornate bracers and a legless lower body with a tail that hovered an inch over the floor, had spotted them and was hovering toward them quickly.
Jaqueline blocked the elemental’s path which led to the elemental punching his burning fists against her shield. Stella bombarded the elemental with ice shards which created a steam cloud but also brought pain to the elemental. The mage took the steam, refroze it into a larger icicle, and hurled it at the elemental again. The larger shard melted slower than the smaller ones which also caused the elemental’s burning light to flicker and dim.
“Fools! I will be reborn, mortals! Incendius shall raise me from the ashes!” the elemental declared before the flames of his body faded out of existence, leaving a pair of bracers on the ground.
The group said nothing as they proceeded into Shadowforge City.
As they entered, they were spotted by two dark iron guards. One called out that there were intruders entering the city. It wasn’t long before enemy reinforcements came to their aid from the chamber ahead. Accompanying the dwarves was a pack of red demonic-looking hounds with yellow manes. About ten dwarves and ten hounds composed the group’s welcoming party.
Jaqueline charged in and kept three of the dwarves and four hounds busy while the others were forced to contend with the rest. Stella unleashed a wave of frost ahead of her which froze the feet of the other dwarves to the ground while Bella pulled out her shield, infused the Light into it and hurled it at them which ricocheted into three dwarves before it returned to her.
Once the dwarves freed themselves, Bella moved in and slammed the ground with her Light-blessed hammer, sanctifying an area around her. As the dwarves moved in to attack, they found that the ground itself burned their feet.
While Jaqueline and Bella were dealing with the dwarves, Sophia was beheading the hounds one by one while Stella dropped sharp icicles on top of the beasts and impaled them. The hounds were quickly slain.
Jaqueline fought the dwarves in a way as if she could anticipate their moves which made it much easier to eliminate her enemies. Bella finished with hers shortly after.
The group put their weapons away for the time being while Bella commented on Jaqueline’s fighting. “I must say darling, you certainly are becoming a masterful warrior with the way you dealt with those guards.”
“Nah, ah just knew how they fought. After ah fled the farm when the Scourge attacked, mah sister and I lived at Aerie Peak fer a year. Ah wanted the Wildhammer dwarves over there to teach me how to fight and they did. Ah learned a lot from them. This fight only turned out this way because the Dark Irons used a similar style of fightin’ to what the Wildhammers used.”
“I see, perhaps this task will not be as difficult as I had imagined, at least I hope so.”
Now that they had some breathing room, the group looked around the chamber. The entire area was mostly composed of black volcanic rock with torches to serve as the main source of lighting for the area. To their right were some supplies that ranged from food to explosives and some grinding stones and saw tables. To their left was a barred gate that appeared to have a lock on it. They also heard crying nearby. Looking around, they spotted some alcoves blocked by grates and some of them had prisoners trapped in there. The cramped conditions were likely some form of torture.
However, despite how they felt about the whole thing, there was nothing they could do to free the tortured prisoners.
Proceeding into the next chambers, they found that it was a wide area that was mostly cleared out as a result of the commotion from earlier. There were six other paths out of the chamber, not counting the one they entered from. One seemed to lead to the area beyond the barred door while they had no idea where the rest led. One passage seemed to be made of wrought stone.
“You are entering the detention block, where all the prisoners of the Dark Iron Clan are held,” Thanatas informed.
“Would we find Marshal Windsor here?” Sophia asked.
“Possibly, but the cells are locked and the only way to open them is a key that’s being held by a cultist somewhere in the area.”
Sophia thought about how to tackle the task of finding the cultist with the key. She sent out a psychic pulse to determine who was in the area and found that the prison hallways were crawling with dark irons and cultists of various races, mostly humans, trolls and tauren. Most were just bored because they were guarding cells while others were just relaxed, as if taking a break from their duties.
One mind stood out though, it seemed excited about something. Focusing on that mind, she found that the excitement they felt centered around the instruments of torture they were surrounded by and impatience about using them. This one seemed like a sadist.
She also sensed the minds of the prisoners in the area, some of them seemed hostile while others were scared. Those fears centered around the sadistic person that she sensed down the stonewrought hallway.
With any luck, the sadist might be the one with the key to the prison cells.
She wasn’t sure which cell held Marshal Windsor since she had never met the man before so they would have to open the cells one by one until they found him once they got the key.
“So, which way are we goin’ first?” Jaqueline asked.
“I think that stonewrought hallway would be the best place to search first,” Sophia suggested.
“That would be a good place to look for anything important around here,” Stella agreed.
With everyone in agreement, the group proceeded into the hallway where they were soon accosted by more dark iron guards who called for help from the four side rooms in the hallway. Just like at the entrance, the group was attacked by a large number of dwarves and hounds. This time though, they were also attacked by cultists.
Stella took advantage of the narrow hallway that the reinforcements were coming from and blocked their advance with a pillar of fire which incinerated the ones hit by it while the rest were halted before the flames. This allowed Stella to bombard the hallway with bolts of arcane magic which passed through the flames and struck down the dwarves, hounds and cultists. The survivors ducked into the side rooms and waited for the flames to die out.
Bella and Jaqueline had no problem dealing with the standing forces that were in front of Stella’s spell.
When the spell faded, the survivors chanced a peek around the corner from their hiding spots which resulted in Sophia quickly stabbing them in their chests and backs before they realized that she was slaughtering them.
The group proceeded to the end of the hallway where they found a few stone chairs overlooking a lower level of the room where a series of torture devices were haphazardly placed. Six individuals were at the lower level. Two were dwarves, three were hounds and one was a human female who had a look of bliss on her face. She wore a set of purple robes with shoulder armor colored red, black and gold and a circlet on her head.
“That’s High Interrogator Gerstahn, a woman after my own heart,” Thanatas explained. “A former noblewoman who gets a thrill out of torturing people. If only she had chosen a different cult to join I would have loved to have her among my undead. If her techniques weren’t so amateur I would have overlooked her affiliation with the Twilight’s Hammer, but alas…”
The group spotted Gerstahn reading a piece of paper before she wadded it up and tossed it into a corner. “It looks like the information that pathetic marshal had on him is almost decoded. Once we get word that they’re finished, I’ll be able to torture him to my heart’s desire. I’ll make it as slow and painful as I can manage.”
Gerstahn was broken from her reverie from the death cries of her dwarven guards and the yelps of their hounds. Her expression quickly turned to one of seething anger with some surprise mixed in. “Who dares assault my guards?” She jumped back in time to avoid five ice shards that landed where she was at. She looked up at the overlook and spotted someone in a blue mask.
“Hi there, we’ve come to rob you of your key and make the world one cultist safer,” Sophia said cheerfully. She backed away in time to avoid a shadowy bolt.
“You will all suffer in darkness, heretics!” Gerstahn yelled. She then ran up the stairs to the overlook to confront the intruders which only resulted in Jaqueline slamming her with her shield which made her tumble down the stairs. She tried to get up only for a hammer of light to slam into her face which knocked her unconscious.
Not wanting to kill an unconscious person, Bella instead rifled through the cultist’s pockets and found a rune-etched key. Sophia picked up the discarded note that the cultist had discarded earlier in case the information became useful later.
To make sure the interrogator didn’t cause problems later, Jaqueline ripped off a piece of her robe and tied it over her mouth. She then placed her head and arms into a stockade to make sure she didn’t go anywhere when she woke up. Stella placed a deep sleep spell to make sure she didn’t wake up anytime soon.
With the interrogator dealt with, the group headed into the hallway beyond the torture chamber and discovered that it was a looping corridor full of hanging cages full of skeletons and small alcoves sealed by grates where more skeletons lie and some unfortunate prisoners were trapped. Both ends of the corridor led to the large chamber they were in earlier. They spent the next few minutes dealing with patrols and guards consisting of dwarves, hounds, cultists and fire elementals.
Once the corridor was empty, they proceeded through the hallway once more in a clockwise fashion, opening any doors with the key they procured from the interrogator. Some cells were empty while the first cell that was occupied that they opened had a dwarf inside who was huddled in a corner. He spotted the group opening his cell and while he recognized that they weren’t with the Dark Irons or the cult, he still huddled. “If ye’ve come ta rescue me, move on. All is lost…”
“Why do you say that?” Stella asked.
The dwarf prisoner who called himself Kharan Mighthammer went into a story where Lakeshire pleaded to Ironforge for assistance and Princess Moira Bronzebeard volunteered to provide assistance to the region. He and his twenty elite soldiers were assigned to escort the princess but were ambushed in the Burning Steppes and taken prisoner. “As far as I know, the princess is now at the side of Emperor Thaurissan. He has her under some sort of thought-altering spell and I’m powerless to do anything about it.”
“How do you know?” Stella asked.
“I just know! There’s not a snowball’s chance in this place that a Bronzebeard would ever give their heart to a Dark Iron willingly.”
“Well anyway, the way out is mostly clear,” Sophia said. “If you sneak past the overseers in the quarry you should be able to escape.”
“Well okay then, jus’ please do Ironforge a favor an’ rescue Princess Moira from that vile Dark Iron emperor.” Kharan then walked out of the cell before he ran for the entrance.
The group then proceeded to the next occupied cell which contained a human with brown hair and a thick mustache and beard wearing a white sleeveless shirt and black pants. He was walking back and forth in his cell grumbling about something until he noticed the cell door open. He glared toward the cell and was prepared to punch his captors but stopped at the last minute when he noticed none of them were dressed like a dark iron or a cultist. “Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m special investigator Stellaglim of the Kirin Tor. Are you Marshal Windsor?”
Windsor nodded, “I am. Why were you looking for me?”
Stella began explaining her investigation into a tip that Bolvar Fordragon was being mind controlled which put a vindicated smirk on his face for some reason. She explained the chain of events which led her and her party to Burning Steppes and Marshal Maxwell telling them to find Windsor in Blackrock Mountain.
When the explanation concluded he nodded before he sighed in resignation. “So you’ve been victims of that lizard’s political maneuvering as well, huh? There’s not much we can do about it now with all of my notes gone. They’ve probably been destroyed by now. If I ever get out of here and find my Ironfoe, I’m going straight to Stormwind Keep and bashing that lizard’s skull.”
“Would those notes actually convict Prestor of treason?” Stella asked.
“Ha! Treason? Understatement of the century, lady. Prestor isn’t even human, she’s an ancient black dragon in disguise. The reason she’s been supporting the Blackrocks is because those orcs are being led by her brother who goes by Lord Victor Nefarius. Those two are in cahoots to either seize control of Stormwind or burn it down again.” He sighed again. “If only I had my notes, I’d have all the evidence I need to march into Stormwind and crush her.”
“Actually, I think your notes are still intact. We just dealt with the High Interrogator and she mentioned something about notes being nearly decrypted,” Sophia said. She then handed the wadded up paper to Windsor who eagerly grabbed it and unfolded the paper and began reading intently. Only a few seconds passed before a wide grin appeared on his face.
“Looks like we still have time. Before I can get out of here, I need you four to retrieve my notes and a couple of tablets for me. They appear to be in the hands of a couple of prominent figures among the Dark Iron military: General Angerforge and Golem Lord Argelmach. They are currently holed up in the West Garrison of the city. The bridge that connects the east and west garrisons seconds as a massive gate which is usually kept open most of the time and only closes on occasion. You four will need to find a way to close that gate to get to the West Garrison and get my tablets back.
“Since you four seem to be quite skilled, you should have no problem accomplishing this. While you’re doing this I’m going to look through the corpses of the guards to find something to use to get my gear back. I also have a few debts to settle with some of the prisoners here so I’ll take that key off your hands.”
“Will you be alright on your own?” Jaqueline asked.
“Don’t underestimate me, young lady. Even without Ironfoe I am a force to be reckoned with,” Windsor boasted.
With that, Stella gave Windsor the prison cell key and left the former prisoner behind. The group returned to the central chamber and considered their next option. Shadowforge City was a huge place and their exploration of the place had only just begun.