With all eyes on her and nobody whom she didn’t want to hear what she was about to confess within sight or earshot, double checking as she used her Spectral Vision ability which she learned from Seeker as she absorbed some of his power, Raida took a deep breath and began, silently praying that this wasn’t about to blow up in her face.
“To begin with the obvious, I am a demon hunter who has absorbed demon souls and has fel energy coursing through me,” Raida began. “And I am one of the Illidari under Lord Illidan’s command.”
Bella gasped in shock while the others had more subdued expressions on their faces. “I’m sure you’re aware that you are playing with some dangerous magic that can easily corrupt your mind, body and soul?” Stella inquired.
“Yeah, it takes some intense mental training to better our chances of not losing our minds to the rush of power that the fel brings. Even then the success rate is pretty low. Most of the blood elves offered from Kael’thas’ forces were sent back once they finished combat training. We didn’t even offer the fel infusion to them because their spiritual fortitude was lacking. This isn’t something that can be easily offered, it’s too easy to go on a power trip which would have made them susceptible to the temptations that the Legion offers.”
“And yet your mind was strong enough to resist that feeling?” Stella asked with skepticism in her voice.
“Raida has always had a strong will, even when we were kids,” Flutashe offered.
Stella thought about Flutashe’s response and shrugged. She didn’t know enough about demonic chaos magics to have any real opinion of her own. Her line of questioning continued, “So why are you helping us? If you’re still calling The Betrayer ‘Lord Illidan’, I can see that you still hold loyalty to him.”
“I am still loyal to him. The cause of the Illidari has always been the destruction of the Burning Legion and the defense of Azeroth, even if its denizens disagree with our methods. Azeroth may regard us as no better than the Legion, but our loyalty remains with them regardless.”
“And yet Kael’thas is consorting with the Legion, the naga are stealing water from the landmass, the fel orcs are attacking the Alliance and Horde unprovoked and the broken are collaborating with the naga,” Stella countered.
Raida grit her teeth as her situation was thrown in her face. “Yeah…” she shook her head and took a deep breath. “Which is why I need help in dealing with them.” Stella silently motioned for her to continue.
“The original plan was to amass this army and launch an invasion of Argus, the Legion’s homeworld, but everything slowly began going downhill ever since our defeat at the Icecrown Glacier in Northrend. After Lord Illidan was defeated by Arthas, we were forced to retreat to Outland to gather our strength and make surgical attacks on Legion-held worlds while hoping that Kil’jaeden didn’t put us at the top of his list of menaces to deal with.
“Our luck recently ran out when Kil’jaeden ordered a pair of ered’ruin demons named Kazzak and Kruul to reopen the Dark Portal and launch a provoking attack on Azeroth, knowing that the Alliance and Horde would respond to it and blame the Illidari.”
“So why does Akama want to rebel against Illidan?” Flutashe asked.
“For good reasons unfortunately, the Legion made a mess of their holy Temple of Karabor and turned it into a bastion of corruption while we simply kept it that way when we took over. He didn’t like the idea of using the pit lord, Magtheridon, to create more fel orcs, especially since they had slaughtered many draenei in the past. Lord Illidan also has Akama’s soul hostage to keep him compliant. Then there was the most recent invasion of the dreadlord homeworld of Nathreza. Since the portal to that world required souls to open, Lord Illidan used the souls of Maiev’s fallen soldiers and Akama’s fallen Ashtongue soldiers, the latter of which Akama didn’t take well.”
The others gave her a piercing look. “I never said he made good decisions!” she defended. “And that’s part of the problem, he’s too reckless when it comes to his decisions, believing that anything goes as long as the Legion no longer plagues the universe. He sees the big picture but ignores the details at the cost of his allies’ loyalty.
“I don’t know what Vashj’s deal is with monopolizing the continent’s water, even if the water was slowly vanishing over time regardless. I’m sure there could have been better solutions, but now she’s put herself in a bad position to where she’s angered the Cenarion Circle and made herself a target.
“I never liked the idea of using the fel orcs either, they were originally Gul’dan’s pawns and the fel orcs are more inclined to be led by whoever makes the better deal for felblood. They are worse than mercenaries, at least the good ones honor their contracts no matter what. The Legion would be able to supply them with limitless felblood and the moment those morons realize that they will turn on us too.”
“So you agree that we need to dismantle the Illidari, but you don’t want to turn on Illidan?” Stella asked.
Raida nodded. “Lord Illidan may be reckless and blind to the details, but he knows more about how the Legion works than anyone. He knows that when the Legion launches a proper invasion on Azeroth, you won’t stand a chance. Believe me, the War of the Ancients and the Third War was them testing the planetary defenses. We need to be ready before they use their real firepower on us.”
“Didn’t we defeat Archimonde at Mount Hyjal years ago?” Flutashe asked.
“Demons like Archimonde aren’t so easily killed. When they die, they reform in the Twisting Nether, like elementals in the elemental planes. The only way to permanently kill the Legion’s officers is to either kill them in the Twisting Nether or have a demon hunter claim their soul.”
Stella looked at the Cipher of Damnation for a moment before she sighed and rolled it back up. “Alright, I’ll extend a small degree of trust.” Relief appeared on Raida’s face as Stella’s frown deepened. “Don’t squander it. Now, let’s get back to Shattrath.” She began channeling the portal spell while Raida put her cloak back on. Stella returned to her elf form as she finished channeling the spell.
The five of them entered the portal and appeared before A’dal. Stella offered the Cipher to the naaru who levitated it before it disappeared in a flash of light.
“You have done well to not only recover the Cipher of Damnation, but you have freed the elements from the oppression of the Elemental Lord Cyrukh,” A’dal said. “But we must turn to more dire matters, Kael’thas knows the ancient words and must be stopped before he decides to utter them.
“However, entry into the sacred ship of the naaru is not so easily given. You must pass the trials of the naaru before you may be deemed worthy to enter it.” The group gave the naaru a questioning look. “Worry not about Kael’thas, his manaforges may be shut down, but he still has a few means to siphon nether energy from the storm above Faralon to distract him before he considers uttering the words. That should give you plenty of time to complete the trials. For now, you must rest. The Aldor have offered lodgings to all of you.”
The group looked at each other for a few moments and realized how tired they were. Mena’s less than usual energy showed. Bella turned to the naaru again. “Thank you for your hospitality, A’dal. We shall take you up on that.”
And so, the group proceeded up an elevator to the top level of the city where the draenei of the Aldor Priesthood led them to their lodgings. A well-earned sleep awaited them.
After Lokosh’s group returned to Garadar in the middle of the night, the night patrols noticed them and led them to a hut where they house guests of the Mag’har. Their sleep was troubled as anticipation of future battles haunted their dreams.
The next morning, the group rose and prepared for the day. The first thing they noticed was the hopeful expressions on the faces of the orcs. Asking around, the group found that the village chieftain, a young adult orc named Garrosh Hellscream had found his spirit at last after a green-skinned orc named Thrall showed him visions of Garrosh’s father, Grommash Hellscream, slaying the very demon that he made a dark bargain with years ago. It cost Grommash his life, but the honorable death ignited the spark within his son. The village knew that they would be in good hands now once the greatmother who led their village beyond her normal lifespan moved on.
Not really caring about that, the group decided to talk with the orc who told them about Durn the Hungerer.
“We have slain the dreaded gronn who plagues Oshu’gun, now what do you know about the other gronn?” Lokosh asked.
“I am impressed that you felled such a mighty foe,” the orc replied. “Dealing with the others will be more difficult though. I know that five of them still live in the Blade’s Edge Mountains near their father’s lair while two others left the region to live away from their father’s shadow. One of them was Durn the Hungerer.”
At least they knew where five of the remaining six were…generally. This left the mystery of where the last one was and this one could be anywhere in Outland. They needed more information.
“Would dere be two gronn in Nagrand?” Farra’jin asked.
“No, our scouts would have spotted such a large creature by now,” the orc responded. “While the gronn prefer to live in regions populated by ogres, the Warmaul and Boulderfist clans show no signs of gronn leadership.”
“What about other regions?” Talia asked.
“Shadowmoon Valley would be out, the gronn have a pact with Illidan Stormrage, but there are no ogres there for them to bother settling. Zangarmarsh is unlikely to house a gronn, their kind and plant life are mortal enemies. Hellfire Peninsula is teeming with those giant mechanical constructs and a battle between the two would be anyone’s guess who would win. Plus, none of the ogre clans have settled there. Faralon would be hazardous to a gronn’s health with the state it’s in now. That leaves Terokkar Forest.”
“Any other information to narrow our search?” Lokosh asked.
“Nope, that’s all I know. Good luck on your gronn hunting.”
With no other clues left, the group had no choice but to return to Shattrath to gather more intel.
Hours later and a return trip shortened thanks to the village letting them borrow a few wyverns to fly them back to Shattrath as thanks for defeating Durn, the group was back in the rundown city and inside the central chamber.
“How did your investigations go in Nagrand?” Khadgar asked. “I heard rumors that there was a gronn there, did you encounter it?”
“We did, took everything we had to take it down,” Feloma said.
“I suspected that you would have trouble, gronn are formidable adversaries, especially the Sons of Gruul. I hope you find easier ways to deal with them.”
“Someone in Garadar told us that five of the Sons of Gruul stay near their father’s lair in the Blade’s Edge Mountains while one might be settled somewhere in Terokkar Forest,” Lokosh said.
“I see, I’d suggest consulting with Yuula of the Sha’tari Skyguard. Her people have a bird’s eye view of Outland. If there is a gronn somewhere in the forest, they will find him.” Khadgar pointed toward one of the exits. “You will find here just outside recruiting skilled flyers.”
The group followed Khadgar’s advice and left the building where they quickly spotted a female draenei with a hovering nether ray next to her.
As Yuula saw them approach, she quickly assessed them, scanning their posture, equipment, and every important feature to see if they had the right stuff. Sadly, she was disappointed that they showed no promise for such skill in the skies. That could only mean that they wanted to ask her something. “May I help you?” she asked.
“We were wondering if you knew the locations of any ogre camps in Terokkar forest?” Lokosh inquired.
“Why would you want to know that? Well, if you wish to know, the Sha’tari know of two camps in Terokkar Forest. One is in the ruins of a Bleeding Hollow orc clan settlement.”
“Would anything in those ruins be large enough to house something as large as a gronn?”
“No, those are standard orc huts,” Yuula said. “A hut would have to be twice the standard size to house a mountain gronn and about five times the standard size for one of the larger variants.
“There is a proper ogre settlement in the Barrier Hills overlooking Shattrath though, this one held by the Gordunni Clan. The Sha’tari Skyguard use that settlement as a means of testing new recruits to see if they have the combat skills to make it as one of the Skyguard. Some ogre buildings would be large enough to house a particularly large gronn, though our scouts never reported a gronn wandering the settlement. However, we have had a low turnout because many of those prospective recruits ended up dead.”
“That’s probably our best bet,” Talia said. “The gronn we are hunting might be hiding in that settlement, it might also be what’s killing your potential recruits.”
“Is dere any way to reach de place on foot, or do we need to borrow a flying mount to get dere?” Farra’jin asked.
“The settlement can only be reached from the air,” Yuula said. “There was once a path the ogres used to get there, but that collapsed when the world was shattered. I will let you borrow a few of our nether rays, but you five really should consider finding flying mounts of your own.”
Once the negotiations were complete, the group flew on their borrowed nether rays, trying not to get sick as their mounts continuously undulated. Feloma had a better time since she called on Nazan, her nether drake, to carry her. They flew just above the city where they spotted the ogre settlement and landed in a place where the ogres weren’t looking.
Once they were ready, they began fighting their way through the ogre village. Lokosh’s defense was proving as resilient as ever while Farra’jin and Talia burned down a number of ogres who tried to smash them from the side. Groun’s plants strangled a few ogres while his spells kept everyone’s strength up. Feloma built up an ogre fanbase using her pheromones.
“It scares me how powerful you will be once we find the Fragment of Temptation,” Lokosh commented.
They soon managed to fight toward the back of the village where they spotted the largest building in the settlement. Talia decided to scout ahead by summoning a demonic eye which showed her everything it saw. Once the eye peered inside, they spotted their elusive target resting in the building. Talia quickly banished the eye before looking at the others. “He’s in there alright.”
Lokosh thought for a moment before an idea came to him. “I have a plan, Me, Talia and Feloma will move in and engage this gronn along with Feloma’s minions. We just need to keep him in the building for Farra’jin and Groun to come through with their part of the plan.” He pointed toward the building and made a crushing gesture with his hand.
“That’s going to be a tall order, but we can do that,” Groun said.
With the plan formed, Lokosh, Talia and her demons along with Feloma and her brainwashed ogres ran into the building.
The gronn noticed the disturbance and woke up, glaring balefully at the intruders. “You enter the house of Slaag, I will break you.” he threatened.
Lokosh made sure to dodge the massive creature’s attacks while everyone else opened fire on Slaag.
Though he was assaulted by overwhelming force, Slaag toughed out their attacks and counterattacked. He started by backhanding several ogres into a wall before he brought his fists down on Talia’s felhound and voidwalker, crushing them and banishing them back to the nether. It would be a few minutes before the warlock could summon them again.
Slaag then started pounding the ground and creating shockwaves throughout the building which sent everyone flying back.
Meanwhile outside, Groun was working his plants into the building’s walls to weaken its structural integrity while Farra’jin unleashed the elements on the walls. Fire elemental and water elemental heated and cooled the stone rapidly to warp the stone and weaken its integrity while his earth elemental pounded at the walls and his air elemental worked to erode the stone.
The two were thankful that Slaag was doing his part in weakening the building with his heavy attacks.
The fight inside proceeded for a few more minutes before the building began to rumble. Feloma had her ogre slaves hold back the gronn while everyone else escaped. It was a few seconds after that that the building collapsed, crushing Slagg under stone rubble.
They had considered celebrating their latest kill but that was not to be as Slaag emerged from the rubble with a furious roar, still ready to fight but not unscathed as the rubble had left him with several wounds on his body. He spotted the group again and roared in fury. “You break Slaag’s house, I will break you!”
The group wasn’t sure what to do next since they had exhausted most of their options and that only served to make the gronn furious. The ogres in the area had fled to avoid getting in the way of their master’s wrath so Feloma couldn’t use her ability. Their own abilities had worn down Durn but most of the damage he took was when he was distracted. They weren’t going to be so lucky against Slaag.
However, as Slaag leaped toward them with intent to smash them with his hands, a huge wooden log that was sharpened at one point flew at Slaag at high velocity and pierced his chest. His leap sent him flying back into the rubble.
While Slaag was trying to get up while coughing up blood since the wooden projectile pierced his lung, the party looked behind them to find Sophia ripping off another wooden log from a nearby structure. The bunny templar felt the stares and shrugged, “What? I was in the area and I got bored.”
Slaag removed the log from his chest but blood began to flow freely from it. He didn’t have time to find the newcomer before she appeared beneath him and shoved a second log through his throat. There was no chance of the gronn recovering from that so the party and Sophia watched as the giant choked on the log and collapsed forward, unmoving.
Adding insult to injury, Sophia found the gronn’s favorite banner in the rubble, a forked branch with a banner made of animal skin hanging from it. She then grabbed it and rammed it up the dead gronn’s posterior.
“Was that really necessary?” Talia asked as the party walked through the rubble.
Sophia shrugged, “Not really, but it will scare the ogres around here since this ridiculous display will make them realize what a joke their masters are and that they won’t be able to protect them anymore. Plus, I find it funny.”
Not wanting to be around their sworn enemy for long and scared of what the templar was capable of doing in the name of comedy, the party decided to leave Sophia to admire her work while they boarded their nether rays and dragon and returned to Shattrath. They had a long journey north ahead of them and five more gronn to hunt down.
The next day Flutashe and the others awoke from their sleep. They quickly finished their morning rituals and returned to the central chamber for further instruction from A’dal. Once again, Khadgar was in attendance, though he stayed silent.
“Greetings travelers, I hope you have all slept well,” A’dal said before he got down to business. “Four trials you must pass before you are deemed worthy by the naaru. The Trial of Strength is divided in two. Within a section of Coilfang Reservoir known as the Steamvaults, the leader of the naga there, Warlord Kalithresh, carries a trident. Bring it to me as proof of your victory.
“Within the ruined mausoleum of Auchindoun lies the headquarters of the Shadow Council, known as the Shadow Labyrinth. The Shadow Council summoned a powerful sound elemental who was responsible for turning the land around Auchindoun into a desolate wasteland. This extra-planar being, Murmur, must be destroyed. Bring me its essence as proof of its demise.”
“The Shadow Labyrinth is locked behind a stone door, you will need a key to open it,” Khadgar added. “However, I hid the key in another part of Auchindoun and the area has become a haven for a renegade tribe of arakkoa.” Raida sighed in exasperation about the added complication.
A’dal continued. “For the Trial of Mercy, the fel horde have captured a number of prisoners from Honor Hold and Thrallmar and dragged them into the inner sanctum of Kargath Bladefist, known as the Shattered Halls. He seeks to execute them as a sign of his virility and power. Slay his executioner before the ax is used and bring me that ax. There must not be a drop of blood on it.”
“How can we get in?” Bella asked. “We still need a key to get in there.”
“Actually, I might have a way for us to make a key to get inside,” Raida said. The others looked at her. “I’ll explain later.”
A’dal continued once again, “The Trial of Tenacity requires you to venture into the Arcatraz, where we imprisoned many dangerous beings and creatures. One prisoner, however, is not supposed to be there. A gnome mage named Millhouse Manastorm stowed away aboard the vessel. Rescue him and ensure his survival.” The naaru paused for a moment before he added, “I will inform you of your final trial when you complete the other three.”
“So not only do we need to head into some dangerous places, we need to find a way to get into most of these dangerous areas,” Raida finished.
“I would suggest starting with Auchindoun,” Khadgar offered. “Obtaining the key to the Shadow Labyrinth from the arakkoa shouldn’t be a difficult task for adventurers of your skill.” He chuckled mirthfully.
The party left the chamber and made preparations to travel south. Once ready, they left the city and began their journey.
Their walk down the road allowed them to view the scenery of the dark forest inhabited by wolves and giant spiders. On one side of the road was an arakkoa settlement which they passed without incident.
The scenery changed abruptly as the forest gave way to a desolate wasteland of death. The dead, gray land showed no signs of recovery with bones of animals and people lay strewn about the wasteland. Vultures flocked the area searching for anything resembling meat to scavenge. In the distance, and likely the center of the wasteland, was the ruins of a massive structure that was once a place where the souls of fallen draenei found rest, now their restless souls haunt the place seeking the rest that they will never find.
The party crossed the wasteland, passing by a small camp of refugees on their way to the mausoleum. The walk took about a half hour before they stood before the massive structure.
Looking around the structure, they found an entrance which was guarded by a pair of green-skinned orcs. Their armor wasn’t anything that the Horde usually wore so it wasn’t hard to figure that they were members of the Shadow Council. A thin wave of shadows from Surprise decapitated both of them.
The party proceeded inside and found themselves in a narrow tunnel that led downward several stories. The hallway was undefended so they were able to explore the place unmolested.
After going down several flights of ramps, they soon entered the central area of the ruins. The place looked like a good place for a massive colosseum if they removed the rubble that was scattered all over the place.
Given how large the place was, it took them about half an hour to explore the area. In that time they found four places where they could move deeper into the ruins.
The northern passage appeared to be occupied by ethereals who were having some trouble tinkering with technology that the party couldn’t make heads or tails about how it worked. The engineers appeared to be struggling to dismantle something and were having no luck so far, especially since they seemed to be losing their members one by one to whatever the gate at the entrance was. The moment the poor volunteers tried to move through the gate they burst from their bandages and left their armor behind, showing the group what happens when an ethereal dies.
When the party asked one of the ethereals about the entrance, he replied that it was the Mana Tombs where a rival cartel had infiltrated it to plunder it of its relics and treasures. However, a group of adventurers had recently come to help them deal with the problem and now they were just here trying to figure out how to get inside themselves. The party left them to their work.
The western passage had a few draenei spirits praying to something with a live one standing atop a large pile of bones. He appeared to be speaking to something that wasn’t there. When asked about what part of Auchindoun this was, the strange draenei called the place the Auchenai Crypts where a shadowy cult took over and began practicing necromancy. An adventuring party recently came and took out the necromancers and their dark leader, Exarch Maladaar.
The southern passage was blocked off by a stone door so they figured that way led to the Shadow Labyrinth, according to Khadgar.
This left the eastern passage, one that was watched over by a lone arakkoa. Unsure of where the bird’s allegiances lie, the party warily approached him, hands on their weapons.
“Awk! I am not an enemy!” the arakkoa squawked. “If you wish to proceed into these halls, then I ask you to free my sister Lakka while you are in there. Awk! These halls are occupied by the Sethekk, worshippers of the dark god Sethe. They scour these halls searching for a sign of the return of our true Talon King, Terokk. These fanatics are mad and fruitlessly search the ruins for something not there.”
The party looked at each other for a few moments then nodded. Stella spoke for them. “We don’t know anything about your religion and dealing with them is not the reason we’re here. As for your sister, we will keep an eye out, at least.
“I thank you for your efforts. Awk! My name is Isfar, an exile of the Sethekk.”
“Why were you exiled?”
“Because I’m not mad like the rest of them, and I called that self-proclaimed Talon King, Ikiss out on it. Awk!”
They decided to bring the conversation to an end and prepared themselves as they moved toward the entrance and into a den of fanatical arakkoa.