With the Mark of Drakkisath acquired, the party of Alliance and Horde members backtracked their steps across the bridge to the previous room before returning to the narrow corridor. They proceeded across the intersection and headed towards the room where they discovered the eggs from earlier.
Tensions ran high as the party moved ever closer to their final objective on Blackrock Mountain. They had no doubt that Nefarian wasn’t going to be caught in a disadvantageous position like Onyxia was. They were sure that they would have no choice but to fight the ancient dragon on a battlefield of his choosing.
While they were moving down the corridor, Thanatas decided to give a brief rundown on what to expect beyond this point. “Blackwing Lair is much smaller than Molten Core, but there will be some obstacles that Nefarian will have put in place to deter intruders.
“Up ahead is the Dragonmaw Garrison where the black dragon eggs are stored. Nefarian will have entrusted their protection to a winged dragonspawn named Razorgore. He also knows a spell that he will use as a last resort if his body takes too much damage which will wipe out everyone in the room. Even we wouldn’t be able to save you if he uses that spell.”
“So how do we keep him from usin’ that spell?” Jaqueline asked.
“The spell is tied to his protective instincts. As long as there is one egg to protect, he will be able to use the spell.”
“So we need to destroy all of the eggs in the room?” Stella asked.
“Yes, but none of you are strong enough to damage the eggs. Those shells are tough. Meanwhile, I doubt the Blackrock Orcs nor the Black Dragonflight are going to just let us break them without a fight. Unfortunately, Sophia and I will be too busy keeping the defenders busy to help you with the eggs.”
“So what do we do?” Mena wondered. “It’s not like we can ask Razorgore to smash the eggs for us…right?”
Thantas chuckled, “That’s just what you’re going to do.”
“Huh?!” everyone exclaimed at once. Several jaws dropped.
Thanatas’ chuckles turned to laughter, “That was a priceless reaction!” The laughter continued for a few more seconds. “But seriously, you are going to make him smash his own eggs. There’s a control orb in the room guarded by a few orcs. Kill them and secure the orb. Once you do, one of you is to touch the orb and focus on Razorgore. Your mind will connect to his and you can use his impressive strength to smash the eggs. He will get pissed off about it but once all the eggs are smashed, you just finish him like usual.”
The party neared the garrison, feeling more confident that they knew the battle plan now. They passed an orb that stood to the side that bore a similar appearance to the one just outside Blackrock Spire. They guessed that it would transport them back to the first orb.
The party soon reached the doorway into the garrison and peered inside. They saw the numerous eggs they were warned about along with a much larger egg about twice the size of the others. The group stared at the death knight to ask the unvoiced question. Thanatas shrugged, she wasn’t sure about the egg either.
On the left side of the room was a platform with three orcs near another orb on a pedestal. One wore blue and purple robes with blue shoulderguards. He had a silver staff with a sapphire crystal on top.
On the right side was another platform with a winged dragonspawn who looked a lot like General Drakkisath but smaller. He even had the Blackrock banner on his back.
Once they entered the room the orc in the robes took notice of the party. “Intruders have breached the hatchery! Sound the alarm! Protect the eggs at all costs!” he yelled.
Razorgore immediately turned his head toward the intruders and moved to engage. Sophia rushed the dragon and slammed him in the upper torso to gain his attention.
Meanwhile, the party attacked the orcs near the orb. They had to act quickly since the orc’s yell had likely alerted the entire garrison and they would be ready to engage within a minute. Jaqueline and Lokosh attacked the two guards while Stella buffeted the spellcaster with ice shards.
It didn’t take long to overpower the orcs so they could focus on using the orb.
The orc mage was crafty though, as he realized that he was on the losing side of this fight he thought about the potential harm the intruders could cause if they gained control of the orb. Acting quickly, he bombarded the control orb with bolts of arcane energy which caused the party to panic as the crystalline sphere was sent flying. Sophia was too busy with Razorgore to notice and Thanatas was preparing for the onslaught of soldiers so they failed to notice the flying orb. With one final wave, the orc knocked the sphere into a wall where it shattered.
Thanatas looked back at where the orb shattered. She saw the shards fall to the floor and left her in a panic. With the orb broken they had no way of controlling Razorgore. She doubted that Mena was strong enough to control him on her own. She didn’t have much time to worry about that as the first wave of defenders started pouring into the room, forcing her to focus on killing them.
“What’re we gonna do now?” Jaqueline asked.
“Maybe we can get our priest to take control of him?” Talia suggested.
“I can give it a shot,” Mena offered. She switched off with Surprise and attempted a Mind Control spell. She pressed hard into Razorgore’s mind but his will was strong. His mental defenses pushed back against the priest’s mental assault with ease. Sophia would have tried as well if Razorgore wasn’t forcing her to stay focused on the fight.
It was then that Surprise received assistance from an unexpected ally. As she tried to press into Razorgore’s mind, an evil presence took advantage of the mental combat to bypass his defenses. The wicked horror invaded every aspect of the dragonspawn’s mind and quickly took control of his body while slowly corrupting his mind.
Most black dragonkin nowadays had some levels of void corruption within them which made them exhibit evil behavior. Because of this, most believed that the entire flight was lost to madness. This also made them vulnerable to being controlled by eldritch horrors like Violetta.
"̵̪̞͍͉̦͙̅̋̂̐͑Ň̷͖̮͌͗͊̂o̶̫̱̯͊͊̉̓̂͠w̸̧̱̗̞̙̦̿̊͑͋ ̷͎̠̘͈͌̽̈́̚͜m̴̯̬͇͕̯̰̆̿͛̐͋͘y̵̭̹͈͇͗̆̏͝ ̶̰̙͈̫̱̈́̒͂͂͋͘l̴͚̈͛̈͒̚͝î̶̩́̉̓̇̄ṫ̴̪̹͍̟̮̔t̸̡̄̿͠l̵̮̝̱͈̎̃̂̒̕e̶̳̎̀ ̵̧͖̳͊͆̈́̾̒t̷̡̙̀̐̾͂͝ͅȍ̸͕̙̘̩̦̫̊́̌͌ŷ̴̙̻̥͔̥͋̒̔͠,̸̢̻͉͈̣̔͋̔͜ ̵̡̺͕̓̐i̸̯͓̲̾ẗ̵̨̼͎̫́͌'̸̧̺͖̲̦͆s̸̢͖̥͉̊͆̈̑̚̕ ̴̬̞͎̙́͗͊̏t̸̤̏͗͂̽̉̔ȉ̸̫̣̿̃͝m̸͍̒̏̚e̸̢̝̿̎̈́ ̶̡̠̜͈̱̦̽̿̒͗͗f̵̢̯̮̘͊̅̍͜ǫ̵̧͉͖̼͖̃r̴͚̹͚͙͇̳͋ ̵̧̨͉̻̹̹͛̾̄s̴̤͔̍͆͠͠ở̸̲m̸̘͈̬͑ȩ̸͎͇̒̀ ̸̺̥̠̖̹̮̽̀̀͌́́s̵͔͍͙̱̾͊́ͅḿ̷̧͕̹͇̓͆a̷̡͐̔̃̚͝s̴̨̢̮̻̓̀h̶̡̘̲̠̄̇͋ŷ̶͇̿̀̿̇ ̷̖̘͙̳̍͐̽̋̓́ś̴̲̩̍̍͜͝m̴̛̯̤͙͔̊̃̾̀a̷̲̻͋s̷͔̙̙͕̫̝̽͌̈́͘h̴̖̥̃̀y̷̡̮̰̦͛̒!̷̪̜͈͂͛̾̈͛"̶̫̼̠̪̠́̎̈́̚͝͝
Razorgore started twitching in unnatural ways and his draconic eyes rolled into the back of his head. Sophia noticed his weird movements and backed away slowly. She then hurried to assist her cousin.
“Did Mena do it?” Thanatas asked.
Sophia shook her head, “No, but our friends are about to learn why your daughter is a very scary person.”
“This is gonna get messy…” Thanatas groaned.
Razorgore chuckled for a second. The next was giggling, then laughter, then maniacal laughter. He then went on a rampage on the eggs, unleashing powerful blasts of flame that damaged a few eggs and destroyed others. His maniacal laughter was unending as he gleefully smashed egg after egg while unleashing volleys of fireballs all over the room chaotically. The party, Sophia and Thanatas had to dodge a few balls of fire. Many orcs burned in the chaotic fire while incoming dragonspawn received concussive blows to the head which the two cousins took advantage of.
By the time the maddened Razorgore had shattered a third of the eggs, the large egg in the room hatched, revealing a chromatic drake like the one Rend Blackhand was riding. The drake immediately began unleashing bolts of acid, frost, fire, time, and magma all over the room.
Razorgore refused to be outdone in the game of chaos so he ran for the newborn drake, grabbed his neck and used his head like a cannon to blast more eggs. The drake struggled to free himself but Razorgore held tighter, restricting his respiratory tract. He relaxed his grip somewhat when the drake relaxed after it realized it wasn’t getting free of the dragonspawn’s grip so he could have more fun with his new toy. He also blasted more orcs and dragonspawn with the drake’s breaths.
The party could only watch in horror as the mad dragonspawn continued his maniacal cackle as he attacked everything around him. They had a feeling that Violetta was behind this and they now understood what the horrific woman could do to them at any time. They moved to places in the room that were as far away from the rest of the eggs as they could be while he finished his work.
Once the last of the eggs were destroyed, he looked down at the drake’s head that he had in a headlock. "̵̨̢̰̼͠F̸̪̭̩͈̠͉̈́̿͆̍̾u̷̫͂͛̈́͒̀n̵̦̬̈́̊̔͑͝ͅ'̴̧̢͇̪̓̉͋̕ŝ̶̯̳̥͠ ̸̙̱̬̲̻̇́o̶͕̝͛v̶͕̣̾̈́̾e̷̡̠̪͇̙̰̍͝ȑ̷̫̩̯͛,̴͔̇̀͘ ̶̥̉̒̈̃t̸͇̮̤̘̍͂̐̃̅̾i̷̢̳̺̥͐̈́m̸̉͌͜͝è̶̢̧̖͈͕ ̶͖͑͗̉̌t̷̡͒̏̏̑ͅŏ̵̲̬̺͍̩̃͘̚ ̵̧͉̌̍͘s̷̨̻͈̦͚̟̽̂̾̆̏̏ĺ̴͚̲̉͒̐̅̃e̸̡̫̤̟̹͓͑̆̔̊e̶̯̰̼̳͗̓͂̔͘p̴͓͉̲͍͛̏̃͝͝ ̸̝̥͎̳̩̼̀͊͋͆ÿ̴̺̜̘͝õ̴͔̺̠̊ṵ̶̈́̓̒̉ ̶͕͎̂͝ț̷͎͍͕͐̇͆̅̑̋ẅ̴̘́͐͝o̷̡̤̰̍́͘͠ͅ.̵̛͈͆̔"̶͖͇̋ With that, he twisted the drake’s neck until it snapped. When the rest of the garrison forces noticed that the eggs were gone and the drake was dead, they fled back into their barracks to hide.
With Razorgore being the final loose end of this act of insanity, he removed the banner that he was carrying on his back before removing the horned skull from on top of it and laying it on the floor.
As one last act of depravity, Violetta gave Razorgore his consciousness back. While he was unable to control himself, he was still taking a back seat as he watched himself go on a murder spree on his allies and the eggs. Though his consciousness had returned, his body was still not his. He could feel his front legs wobbling and he immediately knew what the evil in his mind wanted him to do. He begged Violetta not to do it, but his vision was clouded by a dark image of Violetta’s face with a wicked smile and a nod to tell him that she was going to do it. "̷̧̱̝͈͂̿̒D̶͓͐o̵͍͌̀̓̌͊ͅn̶̖͇̣̙͕͇̽́'̸̛̟̙̰͉̭͊̏̈́͝t̷̰͇̟͊ ̸̧̺̜͕̯̃̚f̵̟̼̰̺͠o̵̧̲̳͌̏r̴͚̆͑̔͒̓͠g̵͇̩̽̓̆͋͝è̸͉͓̼̠̆́͑͝͠t̷͇̩̟̦̤̗̏̆̅̈́͝ ̴̗͔̯͆̚t̶̝͎̞͔͕̝͑̎ô̴̻͚̭͎̞̬̈̈́̐͝ ̵̝͓̥̘̱̽̋͛́̓s̵̫̫͉̬̞͒̏͋m̵̙̠̓̊̋͑̄̆í̷̼̩͕l̵̞̠̄̈̍̾͜ȇ̸͕̗̝̼͓͠.̷̦̋̀̿̾.̴̦͑̄͗.̸̧̘͉̘̘̀̓"̷̰̉̈͑
Terror consumed his every thought. “No! No! Don’t!” he screamed. He felt his mouth twist upward higher than his species was capable of. The smile on his face was disturbingly unnatural. He continued to beg until his front legs collapsed and he toppled to the floor with his head falling on the horns of the skull on the floor. The hard horns impaled his skull and went through his brain.
As his life left his body, the smile on his face never faded.
The Alliance and Horde parties were in complete shock from what they had witnessed. They knew that Violetta was a depraved individual, but in this instance, they couldn’t help but feel sorry for the dragonspawn who had to suffer something so unspeakable. They could only hope that they were never her enemy.
“And that’s why she’s like a figure out of a horror story,” Thanatas quipped.
Before anyone else could demand more information on the eldritch horror, a pained roar was heard in the next room followed by a heavy thud. While Violetta settled back into Mena’s mind, everyone else ran into the next room.
As they entered, they were spotted by a number of goblins who began fleeing from them. “Run! They are coming!” one yelled.
The party spotted Vaelastrasz lying on the ground and Lord Victor Nefarius was channeling dark energy into him. He ignored the party until he finished with his spell. Once finished, he grinned triumphantly.
“Ah, the heroes and the traitor. You are persistent, aren’t you?”
“What are you talking about? I’ve never even met you until today!” Stella shouted.
Nefarius chuckled, “I see, so the seal that I placed on your memory remains. I had hoped to seal your draconic instincts as well but it seems that that part of the seal weakened.”
“Seal? What are you talking about?”
“When you betrayed me, I used one of that worthless alchemist’s concoctions to revert you into a hatchling before placing a series of spells on you that sealed your memories, instincts and locked you into a visage form. I then left you to be eaten by those worgen in Silverpine. It would seem that they couldn’t even do that right.”
“Okay…but why so far north? Why not toss me off a mountain or something?” Stella was beginning to think that Nefarian was a little warped.
“I had many ideas on how to kill you; so many that I decided to make a wheel and write each method on it. I went with whatever the wheel landed on.”
Yep. Definitely warped.
Victor continued, “This conversation has come to an end, Stellaglim. Now this little red wyrm shall be your unmaking. Destroy them!” He then teleported away.
As the party approached, Vaelastrasz looked like he was in pain for some reason.
“Looks like he had void corruption injected into him,” Violetta said as she manifested.
Vaelastrasz groaned in pain again before looking at the others. “I…I have failed, my friends. The Lord of Bla…” He grunted in pain again. “The Lord of Blackrock is too powerful. He consumed my energy with…” Another grunt. “with ease. I turn…I…kill me…you must…you must kill me!”
“Vaelastrasz, let us try to heal you,” Flutashe begged.
“If only you could, little one. I perform one last service. I pray it is sufficient…”
Violetta rolled her eyes, “You are such a drama queen. It’s only a little void energy, you lightweight.”
Thanatas rolled her eyes at her daughter, “Just get it out of his system while we keep him busy…” She giggled softly at her daughter’s antics before turning to the others. “As for the rest of you, if you have a heal spell, use it on him.”
Vaelastrasz looked at the party in shock. He couldn’t help but wonder if the heat from the mountain had driven them mad finally. “Are you insane?! I’m about to kill you all and you want to heal me?”
“Stop struggling and let’s get this done, I’d like to be out of this mountain by the end of the day,” Violetta said. The sooner they were done with their business in Blackrock Mountain, the sooner she could guide them toward Ahn’Qiraj.
At that point, Vaelastrasz began to lose his grip on his sanity. “You should have fled, now you will taste the wrath of Lord Nefarian!” The injured dragon walked toward the party with his claws raised. The party dodged his swipe before a bolt of death magic struck him. Vaelastrasz turned his attention to Thanatas.
Meanwhile, Groun, Bella, Mena, Stella, Farra’jin, and Flutashe began using the healing spells they knew to restore the wounds on the dragon’s body. However, the shadowy energy coursing through him began to eat away at his flesh and scales.
Violetta locked onto that energy and turned into a cloud of shadows before manifesting on top of Vaelastrasz.
While Violetta’s attacks were primarily psychological in nature, she did have one ability that required her to make physical contact. In order to cleanse the recently corrupted of their affliction, she needed to drain it directly from the host.
Once atop the dragon, her mouth grew wide and her razor-sharp fangs grew harder and sharper. Vaelastrasz began to notice the intruder on his back and attempted to shake her off but Lokosh jumped up and slammed his shield into the dragon’s face to make it settle down for a moment. That was all she needed as she bit into the base of the dragon’s neck, piercing the scales and sinking into the flesh beneath. Once she was secured, she began drawing the corruption to her.
While the healers were attempting to heal the dragon’s wounds, the corruption continued to act against them by burning the dragon from the inside out, but that only aided Violetta in sucking out the corruption like a leech.
In retaliation, Vaelastrasz placed a double-edged blessing on Lokosh which gave him an adrenaline rush but was too much for his body to take as the spell burned him from the inside out. Thanatas was prepared for this as she synthesized a batch of her antidote to the burning adrenaline with a dose of icy sedative. The medicine alone would have caused the subject to fall asleep and suffer a lethal case of hypothermia which was why she waited until someone was struck by the burning adrenaline to cancel out the two chemicals.
The fight continued for a few more minutes with the healers pushing back against the corruption which was being drained by Violetta. Farra’jin’s water totem and Bella’s Fire Resistance Aura provided protection from Vaelastrasz’s fiery attacks.
“Enough!” Vaelastrasz yelled. “I…I am in control once more.” Violetta detached herself from the dragon and returned to Mena’s mind. At the same time, Vaelastrasz returned to his visage form. “I don’t know how you did it, but you managed to save me from a tragic fate. I no longer feel Nefarius’ corruption in my body. Thank you, mortals!”
“I’m glad we were able to help,” Flutashe said.
Vaelan took a moment to look at the young night elf druid. In that moment a memory came back to him. He recalled a conversation he had with Anachronos a thousand ago. The elder bronze dragon told him of a night elf with long pink hair wearing the garb of a druid who was destined to unite the fragments of the Scepter of the Shifting Sands which would open the Scarab wall that separated the Silithid city of Ahn’Qiraj. Vaelan was supposed to meet her in a dwarven fortress and tell her about the shard that Nefarian had stolen from him minutes ago. This meeting was a sign that the time had come for the three shards to be reunited and the wall to be opened once more.
As much as he would have preferred the Scarab Wall to forever remain sealed, he knew better than to question the wisdom of the Bronze Dragonflight. “Excuse me young night elf, but would you happen to be Flutashe Lunarwind?”
Flutashe was a little startled that the dragon knew her name but answered, “I am.”
Vaelan sighed in resignation. Things were going to get ugly in the near future. “Nefarian stole something important, a red shard that was part of an ancient artifact called the Scepter of the Shifting Sands. You must get it back from him and bring it to Anachronos in the Tanaris Desert.”
“The Scepter of the Shifting Sands? What is that?” Flutashe asked.
“It’s an ornate mallet that’s designed to hit a certain gong in the Silithus Desert,” Thanatas explained. “Once the scepter strikes the gong, the Scarab Wall that separated the city of Ahn’Qiraj from the world will open and the horrors within will be unleashed.”
“Why would anyone want that place opened?”
“Several reasons. For one, that wall isn’t going to stop them for much longer. There are Silithid nests all over Kalimdor and they are an extension of the forces of Ahn’Qiraj, meaning that their forces are already prepared to begin their invasion. By now, the Alliance and the Horde are scrounging war supplies from all over the world in preparation for this and we wouldn’t want to make the Bronze Dragonflight look like fools. Finally, the reason that pertains to us, is the fact that we need to get my daughter to the Old God who rules the Silithid and the Qiraji.”
“Oh, right, so she can eat him,” Flutashe said dejectedly. “Many are going to die in the coming war, you know.”
“Then I suggest you not let their deaths be in vain. Now let’s move onward, we’re on the clock now since Nefarian will try to destroy the shard.”
The party left Vaelan behind to recover from his ordeal while they headed up a flight of stairs to the second floor of the room. They encountered no further resistance in the room which was strange since enemies liked to try and stop them every step of the way. They counted their blessings and continued to a doorway at the other side of the room.
Once through the doorway they saw two groups of six dragonspawn of various types: hooded, ones with shoulder armor, a couple in full armor and two winged.
The party focused their efforts on the hooded and mostly unarmored dragonspawns while Lokosh and Flutashe kept the armored ones and the winged ones. The hooded ones tried to cast fire spells at Farra’jin and Mena but Stella hit them with an arcane feedback and breathed enough frost on them to freeze them. She conjured a large icicle which shattered the frozen dragonspawn.
Surprise managed to control one of the dragonspawn with shoulder armor and forced him to battle with his similarly armored companions. Ultimately, the ones who weren't controlled won and killed their companion but were wounded to the point that Jaqueline easily finished them off.
Farra’jin with his earth elemental and Talia and her demons moved to assist the druid and warrior with their opponents. The shaman called on his fire elemental to support his warlock companion’s attack. The armored dragonspawn were overwhelmed by the assault and soon fell.
With their companions defeated, the winged dragonspawns soon found themselves in a bad position as the party attacked them all at once. They didn’t last long.
With the enemy groups dead, the party moved up a flight of stairs that turned twice to the left before they ended up on the next floor.
What they encountered next was not what they were expecting. Orc spellcasters wandered the room along with numerous hooded dragonspawn. There were also many red, green, blue and bronze whelps fluttering around.
However, the proverbial elephant in the room were the many strange devices that were planted all over the room. They were metallic gray cylinders that were periodically spraying some strange mist around it.
“This room is going to be a pain,” Thanatas said. “Those cylinders are periodically spraying a mist that acts as a sedative to slow your physical and mental capabilities. The enemies in the room likely have developed an immunity to the mist so we would be at a disadvantage.”
“So what’s it going to be?” Sophia asked through the link. “Create the vaccine or overload the dispensers?”
“Ideally, we would want to disable the traps one by one to avoid showing the cards in our hand, but we don’t have the time to do that since Nefarian is trying to destroy the shard as we speak,” Thanatas said. “Time for the blitzkrieg, light ‘em up!”
“Everyone, you might want to look away,” Sophia warned. “We need to get to Nefarian fast and we don’t have time to delay.”
Talia and the Horde group had a good idea on what Sophia was planning and looked away. The Alliance group wondered what was about to happen but the Horde group forced them to turn away.
Sophia’s eyes lit a brilliant bluish white as psionic sparks started dancing in her hands. Blue clouds formed over the room and coalesced into a larger system. Lightning raced along the growing cloud.
The orcs and dragonkin noticed the dangerous-looking cloud over their heads before noticing the behavior of the blue rabbit-like creature and quickly put two and two together. However, they realized too late as they began to rush through the field of cylinders.
Sophia’s attack came instantaneously as psionic lightning rained upon the room, blasting the cylinders with countless psionic lightning bolts. The metal cylinders played against the orcs and dragons as the lightning jumped to nearby targets, electrocuting everyone who stood near a device. Countless whelps were burnt to a crisp, their young scales unable to handle the indoor lightning storm.
The party was far enough away from the devices to avoid the effects of the overcharged Psionic Storm so they only saw their shadows as the light from the storms was cast over them. They could only imagine the devastation being wrought behind them.
The light show was followed by a series of explosions that rang throughout the room. The devices exploded one by one, blasting the surviving orcs and dragonspawn and burying shrapnel in their flesh and scales.
The explosions continued for a few minutes until everything became quiet. The party noticed that the lights stopped. Flutashe was the first to turn to see the devastation. It was as bad as she imagined it would be.
Blackened machine parts were strewn all over the floor, bodies of orcs and dragonkin were laying around, some in pieces. Countless whelps, who Thanatas informed were corrupted much the same as Vaelastrasz, were lying on the floor as charred husks.
“Why couldn’t Violetta cure them like she did Vaelawhatever?” Jaqueline asked.
Violetta manifested to answer the question, “Even if I tried, they were too young to survive the process. Their personalities hadn’t even developed yet when they were corrupted so there would have been nothing to save either way. Sophia’s actions were the greatest mercy she could give them.” She then returned to Mena’s mind.
Sophia led the way forward through the mess of metal and burnt flesh as they made it to the other end of the room which had a few more of the devices placed midway up a flight of stairs. Thanatas plunged her sword into the ground and a trio of icicles erupted from the floor beneath the three devices, causing them to explode and blast a few orc mages and corrupted whelps near them. The whelps didn’t survive, but the orcs regrouped and attacked long enough to get a spell off before Stella set the stairs ablaze with ruby fire, incinerating them.
Beyond the stairs was another room with a large number of dragonspawn, orc mages, corrupted whelps, and another array of devices. At the end was a creature they had never seen before. He appeared like an anthropomorphic variant of a dragon like Stella, but this one was bulkier and wingless. He wore armor on his arms, shoulders and chest with a purple loincloth. His scales were black and he carried a polearm in his three-clawed hands.
Lokosh was the one to ask Thanatas, “What is that creature at the end?”
“That is a drakonid, a mortal who has ascended to become a dragon-like being.”
“Could he be like me?” Stella asked.
“No, drakonid are mortals who became dragons, dracthyr are born that way and unlike drakonid and dragonspawn, dracthyr are capable of flight. Also, as far as I’m aware, you’re the only dracthyr who isn’t imprisoned in stasis on the Dragon Isles.”
“Wait, I’m not the only one of my kind?!”
“Not the time nor place, Stellaglim,” Thanatas dismissed before she turned everyone’s attention to the drakonid. “That drakonid is Broodlord Lashlayer. He guards the inner sanctum of Blackwing Lair where Nefarian’s magical researchers develop his army of artificial dragons.”
“Broodlord Lashlayer? He’s the one Mena and I were sent to kill!” Flutashe pointed out.
“You could claim his head, but I think we should aim bigger,” Thanatas countered. The druid quickly understood what the death knight meant. Why show Anachronos the head of a drakonid when she could show him the head of one of Deathwing’s spawn?
“I can make another storm to overload the devices in this room as well,” Sophia offered. “But I won’t be able to assist much for some time afterward. Those overcharged psionic storms really take a lot out of me.”
Thanatas took a few moments to consider her options. She knew what was beyond the door that Lashlayer was guarding and what they would face to reach Nefarian’s lair. Sophia would be forced to recover but should be ready again once they reach Nefarian. She doubted that Violetta was going to help for a while which left herself as the only heavy hitter left to make sure everyone reached the end of this place.
On the other hand, having to deal with Lashlayer while having everyone’s minds addled by sedatives was not ideal.
After weighing the options, Thanatas made her decision, “Do it.” she ordered.
Once again the party turned around and once again Sophia conjured a powerful storm of psionic electricity. The enemies caught on faster than the ones in the previous room but Thanatas raised an ice wall to keep the orcs and dragonkin out. To make sure the dragonspawn couldn’t melt the ice, Bella and Mena fortified the wall with a barrier of light. This gave Sophia enough time to charge up her storm and unleash it on the room.
Lashlayer saw the attack coming since the room had windows to view the lower floor and he saw the first use of the attack from there. He quickly moved to an alcove away from the devices and hid there while his foolish minions broke themselves upon the enemy barrier.
Once more the resulting flash of light came and electrocuted everything in the room and once more a series of explosions rang through the area. The orcs and dragonkin were seared to a crisp and metal debris littered the room.
Sophia started panting and fell to one knee as exhaustion settled over her. “Give me…a few minutes…and I’ll be…good to go.”
“Take all the time you need, cousin. We can handle things from here.” Thanatas said.
With the obstacles out of the way, Thanatas, Bella and Mena lowered their barriers and entered the room. Lashlayer noticed that the destruction died down and took this as a chance to move in and attack the intruders.
Lashlayer used his impressive strength combined with his fire magic to unleash a fiery shockwave that sent the metal debris flying at the party. The fire turned the metal red hot. Some of the party blocked the debris with shields while others dove out of the way while others still protected themselves with barriers.
Jaqueline was the first to charge in with both blades out. She attacked Lashlayer’s polearm relentlessly and not letting him get a chance to counterattack. However, Lashlayer was still strong with his draconic strength and all the training in the world wasn’t going to allow her to overpower someone who was bigger, more muscular and more magically enhanced than her.
Lashlayer kicked Jaqueline into a wall before he charged toward the others. Lokosh stuck to his defensive stance and blocked the attacks from the drakonid’s spear. He knocked the warrior away with a swing of his tail before he swung his spear at Bella who blocked it with her own shield. Surprise and Talia assaulted Lashlayer’s mind and body with shadow magic while Talia’s felguard cut into his legs with his battle ax. The drakonid unleashed a shockwave of fire that knocked everyone away and burnt them a little.
His next target was Thanatas who parried his spear strike with her sword. The two clashed blades for a few minutes but to Lashlayer’s surprise, he found that he was being pushed back as the death knight’s sword swings were overpowering his attacks.
While the drakonid had enhanced strength thanks to his master’s power, Thanatas had nothing restraining her strength due to her undead state. She was also a much more experienced fighter than he was so any trick he tried to pull to overturn the odds was seen through and countered.
The party regrouped and began attacking Lashlayer from all sides. The drakonid was not having that and tried going after other people. This attempt backfired as dark magic gripped his throat and left him gasping for air.
“I really hate people who don’t finish what they start, it’s so lazy and a waste of time,” Thanatas said. When the drakonid turned to attack Thanatas again, she smiled as she released the dark energy around his neck before defending herself with her sword again.
With the party once more attacking Lashlayer and the drakonid unable to do anything about it without the death knight using one of her dark spells, he was out of options and out of luck as his body finally gave out. He succumbed to his wounds and the damage done to his psyche and fell lifeless on the floor.
Everyone took a few minutes to recover their strength. Sophia would still need a lot more time to recover though.
Only Thanatas knew what lay ahead. The inner sanctum of Blackwing Lair was filled with horrors that would make most cringe.