//------------------------------// // Rise of the Blood Loa, Part 2 // Story: Seekers of the Epitaph: World of Azeroth // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// After Flutashe received the blessing of Shadra, the spider loa, she gained a sharper sense of what went on around her but she also had a creepy feeling that she was being observed. This was likely a side effect of the blessing and she guessed that anything she learned from now on would be learned by Shadra. She could only hope that the loa was as good at keeping secrets as she was at learning about them. The group exited the building and returned to the main road. As they moved forward, they spotted a dire troll and eliminated him. Beyond a small pyramid at the side of the main road, the group discovered another passage. However, they could also feel a lot of dark energy coming from the area. A chill ran down their spines as they drew near the path. Something truly evil lurked within. “You know this isn’t your first time feeling the power of Death, right?” Thanatas said. “You’ve been around me long enough to know what it feels like.” “I’m aware, but this deathly energy feels like it’s mixed in with pure madness.” Sophia attempted to explain. “It’s as if someone twisted the spirits here in such a way that it’s like they were psychologically attacked by Violetta but left to fester.” “Regardless, the spirits there are contained in that area so ignoring it is inconsequential, unless your friends decide that they want to cleanse the place.” “I cannot ignore such evil coming from within, we must purge this place of the wicked,” Bella declared. “...Have fun fighting ghosts,” Thanatas said. Sophia rolled her eyes as the group proceeded into the passage and into the miasma. As they advanced, the group became more apprehensive and began hearing whispers from disembodied voices. Violetta’s powers offered Mena protection from the miasma while Bella created a Light Barrier to protect her friends. Bella was forced to drop the barrier when the group were suddenly attacked by imp-like creatures with long ears and wearing earrings, tattered pants and tattered vests. Flutashe recognized them as grell, wild nature spirits that were often mistaken for imps due to the similarities in their behaviors. The difference was that grell had no horns nor were they filled with demonic fel energy. Still, the grell attacked the group like a crazed mob. The creatures weren’t all that strong and Stella used her Counterspell to prevent any of them from casting Fireballs. It was when the grell were killed that things became more interesting. For each grell killed, a shimmering red portal formed from their blood. From these portals emerged a pair of voidwalkers until they numbered twice the number of the fallen grell. Surprise found herself draining the life from half of the voidwalkers until only their bracers remained. The group had figured that Violetta had decided to provide a little assistance. The remaining voidwalkers were easy to deal with since there was no longer an army of them bearing down on the party. Further into the miasma the group spotted a few Hakkari priests tending the area. The priests moved to attack and one used blood magic to draw Jaqueline’s blood. The warrior quickly charged him and ran her blades through him to prevent any further blood loss. Stella incinerated another priest while Surprise destroyed the mind of the remaining priest. With the last of the enemies dead, the group looked around the area. It appeared to be an altar of some sort with a series of four tablets on the back wall. In front of the altar was a large brazier with a roaring flame that appeared to give them a sense of warmth and protection, as if the flame was the only thing keeping the dark spirits at bay. Huge brambles grew around the altar. The five each chose a tablet to read while Sophia guarded the entrance. After a few minutes, they gave their report. Much to Sophia’s confusion and Thanatas’ surprise when she heard it through the link, they each said the same thing. Once every year, de four are near de Edge of Madness at de same time. Sophia scratched her head as she heard their readings. She could feel the false sympathy from her cousin through the link. “Does this mean that we have to fight four ghosts at the same time?” Sophia asked. “Yep, I have never seen this happen myself to be honest. So here are the basics: Gri’lek is a dire troll, Renataki is a rogue who uses cheap tricks to cause chaos, Hazza’rah is a shadow mage who makes real illusions and puts people to sleep, and Wushoolay specializes in lightning spells.” It was then that Stella discovered that her tablet was different from the others. At first they only saw four but Stella discovered a fifth behind the altar. This one turned out to be a recipe of some sort. It appeared to be a recipe for a potion. “Let’s see, Blood of Heroes, Powerful Mojo, Massive Mojo(?), and a Black Lotus…where would anyone find these ingredients?” “I know!” Mena said as she reached into her hair and pulled out several bottles and a black flower. One bottle was red and fiery, another radiated power so strong that it was a surprise that the vial could contain it, the rest also contained liquid that radiated power but to a lesser extent. Stella raised an eyebrow at the gnome priest. “Where did you get this stuff?” “Violetta had it, she says that she’s been traveling a lot.” Not wanting to question the eldritch horror, Stella decided to put her skills to work and craft a mixture according to the recipe. Once finished, she presented a vial containing a strange liquid that looked like a blend of colors one would experience if they were on a psychedelic acid trip. “So what do we do with it?” Jaqueline asked. “We use it to put out the brazier,” Sophia answered. “Then get ready for an intense fight.” With that knowledge, the group drew their weapons while Stella nodded and moved to the brazier where she poured the contents onto the fire, extinguishing it. The feeling of warmth was gone, the safe feeling had disappeared in an instant, replaced by dread. All that remained was the miasma and the maddening whispers that came with it. And that miasma grew thicker and thicker over a few seconds. Bolts of lightning struck the altar which seemed to originate from the miasma itself. A moment later, not one, not two, not three, but four ghosts manifested in front of the altar. One was a dire troll whose eye sockets were empty, one was in warlock garb, one wore black leather armor and spiked shoulder pads and carried a pair of daggers, and one wore black and green armor and carried a large warhammer. The robed troll gave a wicked smirk as he saw the group, “Ya choose de wrong day ta invade Zul’Gurub! Now we’re gonna make ya regret ya folly!” As the four ghosts attacked, Flutashe shifted into her bear form and headbutted the dire troll, Gri’lek in the gut, causing him to turn his rage on the druid. Hazza’rah, the troll in the robes, summoned a number of illusions that looked like various monsters and demons while Stella summoned a number of clones of herself who quickly banished the illusions while the mage blasted the dark caster in the face with a shard of frost. Jaqueline rushed Renataki, the troll who appeared to be a rogue, and the two clashed blades for a time. This left Bella and Mena to face Wushoolay, the troll with the warhammer. Thanks to Stella, everyone was able to fight with enchanted weapons which meant that their attacks could harm the ghosts. The thick body of Flutashe’s bear form was able to mostly absorb the blows from Gri’lek but they were still causing a strain on her body as she took them. When the dire troll roared and suddenly doubled in size, the druid’s instincts told her that she needed to be dodging his attacks. Switching to cat form, She gracefully avoided Gri’lek’s earthshaking blows while she leaped all around him and slashed at his body with her claws. This frustrated the dire troll as he put more effort into smashing the small transforming creature. Being undead, Gri’lek had limitless energy to fight but each slash of her claws was causing him to leak dark mojo from his body. Eventually, the dire troll lost too much power because of Flutashe’s attacks and shrank back to his original size. He fell to one knee and used his energy to try and seal his wounds. Flutashe noticed this and shifted into her moonkin form and bombarded him with the light of the sun and moon until his body ignited. Gri’lek roared in rage and tried to charge her but between his leaking mojo and using even more of it to try and recover, he quickly ran dry. With no mojo left to sustain him, he faded away. Hazza’rah soon found himself in a bad match against Stella. He found that his opponent had a counter to his best spells. He tried to detonate some of the mana within her but her Counterspell prevented such attempts. His illusions always ended up combating her illusions and he found his enemy was impossible to put to sleep, not realizing that her green dragon essence prevented such spells from affecting her. Because of this, the dark mage was forced to use conventional spells but Stella’s knowledge of the arcane allowed her to break down his spells and use the mana against him. Hazza’rah stood no chance. Jaqueline had to keep a close watch on her opponent’s movements. Renataki clearly fought like a rogue with his daggers. This meant that she would have to watch for any attempts of him using dirty tricks to throw her off balance. She had to jump back when he attempted a low sweeping kick to trip her and blocked a horizontal slash that was aimed at her eyes when he thought he saw an opening. When he figured that he wasn’t getting anywhere with the warrior, Renataki threw a smoke bomb and blended into the shadows. Sophia knew that he was going to target and ambush one of the others while they were distracted. She quickly sensed the mind of the rogue ghost and figured that he was targeting Mena. Her psionic power allowed her to detect hidden enemies, whether using cloaking technology, a dark templar technique, or a rogue being sneaky, and spot them as if they weren’t invisible. Since Jaqueline had no idea where Renataki went, she rushed to the rogue in an instant and punched him in the gut, revealing him and leaving him stunned. The templar wasn’t through with him though as she wanted to see the ghost punished for his dirty trick. She delivered a powerful uppercut to send him flying into the air before jumping after him and juggling him around with a series of punches and kicks. Renataki was unable to react as the heavy blows from the bunny templar were devastating and each blow caused more dark mojo to be expelled from his body. “Dis…is…unfair…” he grunted between each impact. “You’re a rogue, you don’t fight fair so you shouldn’t expect such in return,” Sophia countered. Once she was done with him, she then slammed Renataki to the ground where Jaqueline quickly pointed her sword upward and waited until the rogue ghost fell on the warrior’s sword and vanished in a poof of dark mojo. Bella and Mena had some difficulty dealing with Wushoolay. The ghost used his hammer sometimes, which Bella blocked, but most of the time he unleashed bolts of lightning. Some of the bolts electrocuted Bella and jumped to Mena while other times he unleashed lightning from one hand that forked outward. The two light users decided to move so that Wushoolay was between them. Since his attacks couldn’t hit both of them this way he tried to reposition himself so he was facing both of them. However, Mena let Surprise take over and the stormcaster watched as his opponents faded from view. Wushoolay looked around, trying to find his enemies. He leaped forward as he sensed a blade of light bursting from the ground but was unable to dodge the hammer of light that fell on his head, causing him to sprawl on the ground. He tried to get up but he spotted tendrils of void energy wrapping around his wrists and ankles. The tendrils pulled at his limbs and left him with no room to resist. The last thing he saw was Bella fading into existence before him with her hammer raised, overflowing with the Light. The hammer came down. Once the four ghosts were defeated, the miasma faded away. The ominous feeling the group felt the moment they entered the area was replaced with a sense of calm. The area soon became nothing more than just another area in Zul’Gurub. Realizing that their work was finished, the group left the area and continued north toward the next altar. The next area they arrived at featured a large number of tigers alongside a few city defenders. Just like with the bats, snakes and spiders, the tigers noticed Flutashe and one approached her, asking for help in saving their patron loa named Shirvallah. The other tigers lied down to rest, even though their hearts were full of worry for their loa. They hesitated to do more for fear that Hakkar would forcefully drain all of Shirvallah’s life in retaliation. Grateful that they didn’t have to take on a pack of tigers, the group focused on the few Gurubashi defenders that were in the area. They soon came to the next altar which held a number of cages as well as a few defenders and a number of tigers. The tigers noticed their saviors coming and put their simple plan into action. As they entered the altar area and since Hakkar nor the priest were looking, they immediately attacked the defenders in the area, clearing the way for the group to get to the priest. The priest appeared to be in a conversation about something they couldn’t overhear with two other trolls. One wore black leather armor and a mask while the other wore black feathered armor. Thanatas began her explanation, “High Priest Thekal is the champion of Shirvallah. He and his two lackeys, Lor’Khan and Zath, are going to be your opponents. Each has their own skills but they can also revive fallen comrades. They will need to go down together.” “I have a feeling that those three need to be dealt with at about the same time,” Sophia said, trying not to let on about how she knew that. “Why do ya think that?” Jaqueline asked. “Just a hunch.” Jaqueline raised an eyebrow but decided to let it lie for now since they had more important business. “If we free the priest, we won’t have to worry about three enemies but two instead,” Flutashe offered. “We can try, but Hakkar holds a strong grip on the minds of the remaining two priests and I’m not sure I can break it without your help. Our best chance at saving him is if he decides to use his animal form.” Flutashe nodded and prepared to fight the trio alongside her friends. Once Thekal noticed the intruders, he and his two lieutenants moved to attack. Jaqueline crossed blades with Zath while Mena got Lor’Khan’s attention before she started making her chase the gnome all over the area. Flutashe fought Thekal in her cat form. Once again, Jaqueline was fighting another rogue who used the same dirty tricks that Renataki used but she was ready this time. When the troll tried to throw dirt in the warrior’s eyes, she blocked with one sword while striking with the other, scoring his leather armor. Jaqueline noticed the troll’s attempts at kicking her in the side so she went for a low-sweeping kick and knocked Lor’Khan to the ground. Jaqueline didn’t give him a chance to get up as she plunged her sword into his chest. Noticing that her warrior friend made the first kill, Mena decided to stop playing tag with Zath and let Surprise handle the rest. The troll noticed her comrade was down so she began casting a revival spell to resurrect him but the chant was lost as darkness silenced her voice and shadows seared her body. Her mind was assaulted by traumatizing images while her ears were assaulted by the creepy giggling of the gnome. Her vision cleared up just in time to see a blade of shadow reach her neck and her head tumbling to the ground. Flutashe continued to claw away at Thekal’s body, hoping to pressure him into using his animal form. She was having no luck and Sophia was doing her best to chip away at Hakkar’s control. Try as she might, Thekal continued to remain in his troll form. It was as if Hakkar knew the weakness of his control over the priests and was forbidding Thekal from transforming. It was when Thekal decided to revive Lor’Khan and Zath, with their bodies restored, that she was out of time and the others would have to fight everyone all over again. Out of options, Sophia moved behind the priest and pierced his chest with her blades, ending his life. “Sophia, why did you do that?” Flutashe chided. “We were supposed to save the priest, not kill him.” “He was about to revive his allies and render our efforts pointless. I’d rather we not waste more energy than needed before we face Hakkar,” Sophia countered. It was then that the wounds on Thekal’s body closed and his body was restored to its original state. To everyone’s surprise, the priest got back up and glared at the group. The corruption of Hakkar made his eyes glow scarlet and his rage was brought to a boil. He stopped paying attention to the corpses of the two fallen zealots and decided to focus on wiping the stain of his humiliation by killing everyone. “Shirvallah, fill me with your rage!” Whether it was an oversight on Hakkar’s part or because Thekal didn’t believe he didn’t need it before, the group got what they wanted when he began transforming into a muscular anthropomorphic tiger with turquoise armbands, mantle and loincloth. Seeing this opportunity, Sophia began attacking the link of control again while Flutashe, in her cat form, roared at the tiger in challenge. Being smaller and more agile, the druid was able to dodge most of Thekal’s claw swipes but a few swift swipes managed to leave shallow cuts into her skin. Flutashe’s dominating aura was working at full strength and the priest’s will began to waver as his attacks began so slow until he stopped altogether. “It’s done,” Sophia announced. The transformed priest quickly reverted back into his priest form and kneeled before Flutashe. “Thank ya for breakin’ Hakkar’s control over me. Shirvallah used a lot of her power ta bring me back to life so she’ll be restin’ for a while. “Before she went into slumber, she instructed me ta give de one named Flutashe dis.” He presented what appeared to be a fist weapon that resembled a tiger’s paw with long claws. Flutashe walked up to the priest. “I am her. What is this weapon?” Thekal chuckled. “Dis weapon carries Shirvallah’s blessing. She intended it ta be used by de one who freed me. It will give greater strength ta ya feline form, but when ya receive de other claw from Priestess Arlokk, ya be in for a big surprise.” With that, Thekal transformed fully into a tiger and bolted for the city entrance. The group continued their journey through Zul’Gurub. They had traveled a great distance as they circled the pyramid that Hakkar observed them from. They only had one priest left to free and they knew the loa wouldn’t let her go easily. As they moved on to the next area, Sophia sensed a presence in the lake beneath them. Whatever it was, it was huge. “You probably sense Gahz’ranka, a fierce hydra.” Thanatas explained. “The creature will probably swim around the lake unless he’s disturbed. Unless your friends have a reason to fight him, it’s probably best to leave him be.” At the same time, Flutashe sensed the movements underneath the lake but sensed nothing malevolent beneath the lake so she figured that whatever was down there was minding their own business so she said nothing. In the next area, the group immediately noticed that a group of panthers were behaving strangely; they were forming a wall with their bodies to prevent others from moving past the next area. When Flutashe walked over to one, she asked about their behavior. One panther answered that they had begun to rebel against the Gurubashi defenders inside since Hakkar couldn’t see what went on inside the temple and they needed her help to break the spell on High Priestess Arlokk’s mind. “Of course we will help,” Flutashe said. The group then headed into the next area which they discovered had a large pyramid inside. It wasn’t as big as Hakkar’s pyramid, but it was still larger than Mandokir’s pyramid. Panthers stood guard over the grounds while the group ascended the stairs to the entrance atop the temple. The sounds of fighting could be heard inside which meant that the panthers had not secured the temple yet. The group quickly rushed to their aid, dealing with a few shadow hunters along the way. They quickly discovered the trolls in scarlet armor were able to use a strange magic that allowed them to consume the blood of the panthers to restore their wounds. Enraged, Flutashe rushed toward one of the blood drinkers in her cat form and swiped at them with her claws. Surprisingly, the attack did more than she expected as the swipe knocked the troll into the temple wall. She wondered if this was part of the effects of the weapon Thekal gave her. Once the party and the panthers finished off the defenders, the group moved to the bottom level of the temple which was empty. A couple of open pens were to their left and right as they entered and a gong was in the back of the room. At first the group was confused as there seemed to be no sign of the last loa priest. One panther entered the room and told Flutashe that they needed to hit the gong to draw High Priestess Arlokk out of hiding. Once she relayed this to the others, they prepared themselves as the druid walked over to the gong. Sophia prepared herself to use a lot of effort to break the last priestess from Hakkar’s control knowing that the blood loa would be using all of his effort into keeping her under his sway. Once Flutashe struck the gong, Arlokk soon appeared. Her hair was black as panther fur. She wore lavender robes and carried a pair of curved knives. Fighting Arlokk was not as tough as Thekal. The priestess relied on her pack of panthers to assist her in battle. However, the panthers stood back and allowed the group to try to break Hakkar’s control over her. Because of this, she had no choice but to use her animal form to deal with her enemies. Calling upon the power of her loa, Bethekk, she transformed into an anthropomorphic panther. Like Thekal, Arlokk’s panther form was quite muscular but she was also quite busty. She wore a dark red one-piece suit that showed off her cleavage and also wore round, black shoulder pads. Even as she was now in her panther form, Sophia and Flutashe still struggled to weaken Hakkar’s control over the priestess with their respective abilities. The priestess fought with great ferocity while the druid slashed away at her with her claws, leaving deep scratches. The others watched as the two continued their attempts to free Arlokk from Hakkar, knowing there was little they could do to help free her. The fight continued for several minutes and Arlokk grew weaker as Flutashe attacked the tendons in her joints, but the priestess continued to fight. Mena then turned her thoughts inward, looking for help from her roommates in her head. “Why are Sophia and Flutashe having so much trouble with freeing her?” “They’re dealing with a demigod, duh!” Surprise snarked. “Sophia could break Hakkar’s link herself if she put more effort into it, but that would cause permanent damage to Arlokk’s mind,” Violetta said. “Can either of you help? At this rate, Arlokk is going to bleed out before they can free her,” Mena begged. “You know it would be dangerous for me to help,” Violetta warned. “If you still want to go through with it, have miss moody here attempt to mind control her.” “Hey!” Surprise growled. After some begging by Mena to go through with the plan, Surprise relented and took over. She then attempted a mind control spell on Arlokk which had no effect on her. However, Violetta was able to use the link between the priestess and Hakkar to connect to the Blood Loa. Outside the pyramid, Hakkar began to screech in agony as he clutched his head. Violetta’s assault on Hakkar’s mind had made the loa lose focus and his link with Arlokk weakened. This made things much easier for Flutashe and Sophia to break the link. Within moments, the priestess was finally free. “Finally, free from de Soulflayer at last! Thank ya, young druid!” Arlokk said. “I am glad my sista will not hafta mourn my death after all.” “Sister?” Flutashe asked. “Ya, Kilnara would be de next in line ta receive Bethekk’s power should anyting happen ta me.” Arlokk then pulled something out from her robes. It looked like the weapon that Thekal gave her, except this one was black. “I assume ya freed Thekal as well and he gave ya de Claw of Shirvallah. This is de Claw of Bethekk, de other half. It will give ya a boost to ya speed and more when de Claw of Shirvallah is wielded with it.” After Bella and Mena healed Arlokk’s wounds, the priestess shifted into a full panther form. “De bridge to de island where Hakkar is be nearby, but ya might want ta consider killin’ Jin’do de Hexxer first. He is de true leader of de Atal’ai and Hakkari tribes who worship Hakkar.” She then ran off and headed the long way around toward the entrance since the road was mostly clear. After the group left the temple, they proceeded down the road once more, dealing with more Hakkari warriors and dire trolls. The animals gave them a wide berth. They passed the bridge leading to the center island, deciding to go after Jin’do first. They soon ascended a hill up to an area with a pit full of dancing skeletons. There were also several large groups of zombified trolls dancing as if compelled to do so. Stella flew around using her fire to incinerate the undead while the group looked around for the Hexxer. What they found was not what they were expecting. Instead of a troll, they found a shadowy image of Jin’do. The image wore a mask and studded leather armor. He was also dancing happily. Once Jin’do noticed the group, he stopped dancing and laughed as if he had pranked them. “Ya fools thought it would be easy for ya to come into my lair and kill me? I could tell ya were freein’ de prisoners from Hakkar’s grasp. As strong as ya are, ya might stand a chance against Hakkar. That’s why I used what powers I could gather from de priests and priestesses and empowered Hakkar with dem. “Ya won’t find me in Zul’Gurub no more. By de time ya listen to this message, I will be far away from here. If ya succeed in defeating Hakkar, I will bring him back stronger than ever. It may take years, but I will not fail. Farewell, strangers.” With that, the image laughed maniacally as it faded. Everyone stared in stunned silence at the place where Jin’do’s illusion once was. Some of them gritted their teeth in frustration while others sighed in disappointment. “Darn coward, he slipped right through our fingers!” Jaqueline growled. “It seems that he has chosen to flee to fight another day,” Bella added. “Rude…” Mena complained. “There’s nothing we can do about this now, let’s head over to Hakkar’s temple,” Stella said. Leaving the creepy area, the group retraced their steps and returned to the rope bridge they passed. Once they crossed it, an oppressive aura bore down on them all and their vision was tinted with a slight shade of red. Hakkar knew they were coming. “Minions of Hakkar, hear your God! The sanctity of this temple has been compromised! Invaders encroach on these holy grounds! The Altar of Blood must be protected! Kill them all!” “He certainly thinks highly of himself…” Bella commented. As they approached the temple, they noticed that the lower level was guarded by a number of dire trolls. One of the brutes noticed the group and roared, calling for his brethren from the lower level. What followed was practically a stampede of bulky trolls rushing toward the group. Flutashe decided to try her enhanced cat form out on them. Though what she wasn’t expecting was herself transforming into an anthropomorphic variant of her cat form. It bore some resemblance to Arlokk’s panther form but clad in form-fitting green leather armor that provided freedom of movement and the ability to move in silence like rogues. White crescent moon markings appeared on her dark-furred shoulders. Unfortunately, Flutashe didn’t have time to admire her new form since the dire trolls were close. She was used to fighting on all fours, so she had to think back to her Sentinel training and try to combine it with what she knew about feral combat. Flutashe jumped over the first punch thrown at her and vaulted over the troll. She followed up with a slash from her claws that left a series of deep cuts on his back. The troll howled in agony. The fighting quickly turned into a brawl where the druid gracefully dodged punches with her feline agility and tricking them into punching each other. This enraged the dire trolls where they soon forgot about her and focused on beating each other up in retaliation. This went on for several minutes until only a few dire trolls were left standing. By then they remembered who they were supposed to be fighting. Flutashe’s training with the Sentinels had taught her how to deal with multiple enemies fighting her and it contributed to her honed reflexes which were enhanced further by her feline instincts. Using her enhanced speed, she weaved between her enemies and slashed away at the tendons in their arms and legs, greatly weakening them. With her prey on their last legs, Flutashe moved in for the killing blow by using her enhanced strength to slash open their throats. They bled out in seconds. Covered in the blood of her enemies, Flutashe ran to the lakeside and washed it off. She took a moment to look upon her new form. It did make her feel empowered, both physically and emotionally, but she knew this was only because of the power of her form. Remembering her humility, she willed herself to return to her original form. Once she was back to normal, she made a mental note to practice with the new form so she could keep it tamed and avoid losing herself to it. The others waited patiently for their friend to return and she did a couple of minutes later. They prepared themselves as they moved up a set of stairs to the middle layer of the temple. It was there that they saw a number of winged serpents alongside a few defenders and priests patrolling the level. It didn’t take long to defeat these enemies, though the smaller red serpents unleashed a cloud of poison from their bodies when they died which Flutashe and Bella had to cleanse from their comrades. While the others weren’t looking, Sophia inhaled a poison cloud for later in case the toxins would prove useful. Moving around to the other side of the temple, they found a set of stairs that led them to the top of the building. There, they found their final challenge within the walls of Zul’Gurub, waiting for them. Hakkar’s hateful glare placed an oppressive pressure on the group as he waited for them to dare to deal the first attack. His azure-feathered wings were fully extended in a threatening manner. His scarlet and gold regalia glittered in the sunlight. He wore a massive gold ring at the base of his tail. Strangely enough, he had an open rib cage that contained a black, pulsing heart. “The arrogance of you mortals continues to astound me,” Hakkar boredly said. “Thousands of years pass and yet you insects never learn. Your hubris has led you to your deaths, but if you seek to rush headlong to your deaths, I will gladly accept your offering of your blood.” “You won’t find us easy prey, Hakkar,” Flutashe called to the colossal serpent. “You may call us arrogant, but you will be the one to fall if you underestimate us.” Hakkar laughed, “Pride heralds the end of your world. Come, mortals! Face the wrath of the Soulflayer!” As the group rushed in, Flutashe using her bear form because her new cat form needed more time to break in, Thanatas warned Sophia through the psychic link about Hakkar’s ability to draw blood from others to mend his wounds and in order to counter it, they all needed to be poisoned briefly. With no red serpents in the area, Sophia would have to risk showing off one of her abilities that she really didn’t want to be seen yet. Jaqueline and Flutashe took care to avoid the swipes from Hakkar’s scythe-like arms while slashing at his serpentine body in between attacks. However, the loa had no intention of giving them the time to do that as he attacked with much faster speed than his huge body would suggest. He then blew away the two by releasing a powerful high-pitched screech. Flutashe noticed that something was off about Hakkar’s attacks. She somehow sensed Shirvallah enhancing his speed and she sensed Hir’eek when he screeched. Was this part of Hakkar’s power, or was something strengthening his already considerable power? While the struggles against the Blood Loa continued, another shadow of Jin’do manifested and laughed. “I see ya be noticin’ Hakkar’s enhancements. I claimed what mojo I could from de captive loa and gave it to Hakkar to strengthen him. Ya be facin’ him filled with de power of five other loa!” The shadow laughed again then vanished. This information helped the group to realize that they were in for a tough fight. However, they didn’t have time to think of a new strategy as Hakkar struck them with globs of poison before unleashing a crimson mist that everyone inhaled, including Sophia. The other party members began to reel as their bodies burned from the inside from Hakkar’s poisons. Sophia managed to develop a resistance to the poisons quickly and blocked a strike from the Soulflayer who attempted to strike while they were down. Unlike the others, Sophia had no problems blocking each of Hakkar’s rapid strikes and waited for the others to recover. While they were still recovering, Sophia felt guilty for what she was about to do, but knew it was necessary to defeat the loa. Planting her feet on the temple surface, she secretly extended a series of tentacles from the bottom of her feet through the stone and burst from below long enough to prick all of the party members while injecting a little poison into their bloodstreams. Moments later, just as Thanatas warned, Hakkar opened his mouth and the group screamed in pain as Hakkar forcibly drew blood from their bodies. However, along with the blood he also drew in Sophia’s poison, relieving the others of their painful affliction. The toxins ended up causing further harm to the loa’s body. Even worse for Hakkar was when he drew some of Sophia’s blood. She temporarily altered the blood in her bloodstream with the potent acid found in Zerg Banelings. The blood loa ended up consuming a substance that would literally melt a mortal within a few seconds. The Soulflayer began hacking and soon coughed up blood. Surprised to see the bloodstains on one of his black scythe-like arms, he soon realized that the enemy had poisoned their own bloodstreams in secret just to make him consume poison. Normally that would have hurt somewhat, but whatever he consumed was worse than that because he felt his insides continue to burn. Taking advantage of the loa’s suffering, the group recovered from their poison and readied themselves for the next round. Jaqueline rushed forward and slashed away at Hakkar’s scales. The loa prepared to retaliate but Sophia blocked each one of his rapid strikes with her own, giving the warrior the freedom to attack. With Hakkar distracted, Flutashe tried out her new snake form and slithered behind the loa and up his body where she coiled around his left arm and bit into his shoulder under his mantle, filling his body with more poison. The poison she used was designed to intensify his pain receptors and render him more vulnerable to her friends’ attacks. Bella created a large hammer of light and struck his face as she hurled it. The impact broke a few of Hakkar’s teeth. She then made sure to immobilize him by impaling his tail with her sword of light spell. Hakkar roared in pain as he felt his tail being pierced. Surprise took the offensive. The dark half of the priest unleashed a bombardment of dark spells that attacked Hakkar physically and psychologically. Normally, Hakkar would take the attacks like they were nothing and crush the gnome, but Flutashe’s poison combined with the remnants of Violetta’s influence on his mind have left him vulnerable to her assault. With the loa vulnerable and distracted by Sophia, Stella was left to finish the loa off. She began taking Hakkar apart piece by piece starting with his arms. Using her ice breath and ice magic, she managed to freeze his right arm to the point of making it brittle. A blast of magma rock then shattered the arm. She did the same to his left arm which left him vulnerable to a frenzied series of slashes from Sophia who sliced his wings off. A Disintegration Beam from the drakthyr blasted the dark organ in his chest and a blast of psionic power from the templar destroyed Hakkar’s head. The rest of his body broke apart moments later and faded away. The group was breathing heavily after that battle, but at the same time they were laughing with relief in the knowledge that they saved Azeroth from the wrath of a bloodthirsty god. Although Jin’do had escaped, the group found that he wasn’t causing them trouble anytime soon. With Hakkar dead, their adventures in Zul’Gurub had come to an end. Stella began her spell to create a portal to Stormwind. As Stella cast her spell, Sophia had to wonder about something. Hakkar called himself a god, but was he really?” “Kind of,” Thanatas answered. “He’s a demigod just like Ragnaros and the Elemental Lords.” “So this means that Hakkar is immortal?” Sophia asked. “In a sense that killing them in the mortal plane only banishes them to another realm. With the Elemental Lords, it’s their respective elemental realms. When it comes to Wild Gods like Hakkar, they are banished to a place in the realm of Death where they rest and rejuvenate their bodies before they return to their respective spirit realms, awaiting to be summoned again by those who worship them.” “So Hakkar will return someday? That’s gonna be a headache…” “It takes years for a Wild God to regenerate so it won’t be like you have to deal with him every month.” With the portal opened, the group stepped through and returned to Stormwind. There they rented a room to rest after their adventure before continuing their journey together. A few weeks later, King Varian Wrynn made an announcement to the people of Stormwind which was given by King Magni Bronzebeard to Ironforge and Tyrande Whisperwind to the people of Darnassus, the latter of which was made a quiet affair as she didn’t want Fandral Staghelm to know. The preparations for the war in Silithus were complete and that all able-bodied members of the Alliance were to report there and prepare for the imminent war. They also sent some hunting parties to suppress the known Silithid hives located around Kalimdor. At the same time, Warchief Thrall made his announcement to the people of Orgrimmar, Lady Sylvanas Windrunner to the Undercity and Chieftain Cairne Bloodhoof to his people atop Thunder Bluff. The gathered supplies were shipped to the infested desert. The lighter supplies, such as herbs and cloth, were shipped by wyvern or gryphon while the heavier supplies, such as leather and metal, were shipped by zeppelin or boat, the latter of which was shipped by caravan once it crossed the sea. Every adventurer from the Alliance and Horde prepared for what was coming. Soon the desert will erupt into chaos at the sound of a gong.