//------------------------------// // Botanical Satellite // Story: Seekers of the Epitaph: World of Azeroth // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// The Alliance group spent some time in Shattrath, resting up and making sure they were prepared for the journey to the northern reaches of Outland. They also handed A’dal the pristine ax of Kargath’s executioner to complete the Trial of Mercy. From what they heard about the region from the Scryers, Faralon, now known as Netherstorm, was in the worst shape of all when compared to the rest of outland. The region was composed of a series of floating islands that were bridged by parts stripped from Tempest Keep. Kael’thas’ blood elves also used parts from the naaru ship to construct a series of manaforges to siphon magical energies from the magical storm that’s bombarding the region. Those same energies had bled into the land itself and turned it a sickly shade of purple. Those energies had also ensured that the land was barren and no plant life could grow, short of an herb called netherbloom. There were places where normal life could still thrive in the region. They were protected by pieces of ethereal technology called eco-domes which were designed to use the same magical energies as the storm to repel the storm and allow life within the domes to thrive. The good news was that Kael’thas’ mana harvesting operations had been ground to a halt since agents of the Scryers had shut down the manaforges to prevent further ecological damage to the region. One of the manaforges was found to have been run by demons of the Burning Legion. A correspondence from them proved Kael’thas’ complicity. The bad news was that Outland nearly played host to a void lord when one of the manaforges was pushed beyond its capacity and had a meltdown, creating a rift into the void through which all manner of shadowy creatures came through. Thankfully the Protectorate, a faction of ethereals who were tasked with containing the fallout, managed to drive the void lord back to the infinite abyss it spawned from. Mena briefly felt Violetta rouse from her slumber before she went back to sleep. Once they were ready to make the long journey to Netherstorm, a journey they had to make on foot since they couldn’t carry Bella all that way, they began to make their way out of the city. Before they reached the exit, Khadgar appeared before them, urging them to stop. “Before you go, A’dal would like to speak with Bella and Mena for a moment. He has something for you two to make your journey a lot easier.” To save them some time, he teleported the group back to the central chamber where the naaru awaited. A’dal thanked Khadgar for his assistance before he turned his attention to the paladin and priest. “I wish to give you two a small piece of my power. It should allow you to use the Light to give you flight. It is all that I can spare as my efforts must remain focused on keeping the evils of this land out of this city.” With that, two tiny slivers of light separated themselves from the naaru and landed on Bella and Mena. A brief, bright flash erupted once they made contact with their intended recipients. Neither felt anything different though. “Channel the Light, imagine yourself with wings for flight,” A’dal said. Doing as the naaru suggested, Bella and Mena concentrated. Soon, a pair of wings took form on the paladin’s back. The strange part of that was that they took the form of numerous strands of light. Mena had a pair of small, feathery wings on her back which were appropriately sized for a gnome. The strange part of her wings was that they appeared to be fluctuating in color between white, blue, violet and black, never settling on any form. A’dal examined the gnome’s appearance and hummed. “It would appear that the imbalance of light and shadow within you is still present. It shows through your wings. I do not recommend using them until you find balance between the two forces. I will find a way to help you with this.” “Okie dokie lokie!” Mena said. “I can just let one of the others carry me while I Levitate.” “Good luck, champions.” With that diversion out of the way, the party resumed their journey to Netherstorm and proceeded out of the city. Once they were away from sight from the guards, Stella shifted into her dracthyr form, Flutashe shifted into her bird form, Mena cast Levitate on herself, Raida removed her cloak and opened her wings and Bella manifested her new wings of light. The group prepared to take off for the far region. It quickly became apparent that Bella would need a crash course in flying when it became obvious that the new ability didn’t come with flight skill. Still, she had plenty of time to learn as they made the journey. Lokosh and the others traveled north along the road of the barren plateau. After saying their goodbyes to the mok’nathal and being thanked for the stories they provided at their village bonfire, the hybrid tribe provided what they could for their journey. Along the way, they found an open cavern that contained a Legion camp among other things. They passed by an ogre camp and an ethereal camp. Neither were friendly as the latter looked like they were ready to attack if the party got too close to them. There was also a Legion camp that appeared to be in shambles. Beyond what they saw, they soon found that the wildlife in the next area didn’t look normal. The raptors and wind serpents in the area had a sickly shade of green on their scales. There were also strange robed individuals wandering around. Of course, this had nothing to do with them so they let the matter be as they continued north. They spotted an area that appeared to have been scorched by imps and there were fire elementals roaming around along with basilisks who had the tenacity to endure the blaze. They soon found themselves near the end of the road in the region where they discovered a goblin-made bridge, given the needless gizmos on it and the less reliable workmanship that goblins were known for. The bridge connected Blade’s Edge to a region where the land was a creepy shade of purple. Of course, they didn’t need to bother crossing the bridge since their next destination was just off the road nearby. A ring of broken pillars surrounded a circular area of blackened ground with a ring composed of an alternating pattern of smoldering stones and circles of fire. In the center of it all was a ritual circle. From what the ogre told them, they needed to stand in the circles of fire to summon the ogre warlock whose grimoire they needed to obtain in order to summon Skulloc later. Lokosh, Farra’jin, Talia, Groun and Feloma each took a position near one of the rings of fire in the black circle. Upon Lokosh’s call, the five each stepped into the rings, the flames warm but not burning them at all. Scarlet lines of energy formed between each fire circle which took the form of a pentagon with a star inside. Suddenly, a two-headed ogre in red robes appeared in the ritual circle in the center, a surprised look on his face. “Who dare summon me? Me kill you all!” Vim’gol began casting a Shadow Bolt at Talia which was blocked by her felguard’s ax. The others began their assault with Farra’jin blasting him with the elements and Feloma hitting him in the back of the head with an explosive arrow. The ogre retaliated by sending a volley of Shadow Bolts at everyone around him which caught them by surprise. Groun focused on keeping everyone healed while the others pressed the attack. Lokosh rammed his shield into the ogre’s gut which succeeded in making him angry to where he punched the shield. Surprisingly, the attack knocked Lokosh back a few feet which told them that the ogre was as strong as he was magically powerful. Having had enough, Vim’gol retreated to his ritual circle and began channeling a spell. “Now me grow bigger and crush you!” The party was warned about this and quickly retreated to the rings of fire and hoped that Mog’dorg was right about the other effect of the circle. Streams of dark magic traveled from each of the circles and connected with the other circles to form a pentagram before the magic struck Vim’gol and made him yelp in pain as he lost his concentration. Taking advantage of this, the group quickly unleashed everything they had at the ogre and quickly overwhelmed him before he could recover and retaliate. One final strike from Lokosh’s ax cleaved him down his chest and sent him falling on his back, unmoving. A bright red tome fell out of the ogre’s robes and landed next to him. Talia could see the dark energy that emanated from the grimoire, likely due to her sensitivity to magic inherent in magically gifted unicorns. The warlock picked it up and kept it in her robes for the time being. “We will have to speak with that other ogre again to figure out what we need to do to summon Skulloc,” Talia said. Unfortunately, they needed more information on the remaining three gronn before they could make another move so they would need to return to Thunderlord Stronghold to see if Rexxar had anything else to tell them. They were in for a long return trip. The flight to Netherstorm took well over a day, most of that spent giving Bella flying lessons. They could see the twisted, warped landscape of the region, among other things. During the flight, Flutashe had also noticed something different about her bird form. It was as if she felt lighter than ever while the strength of her flight muscles had improved. As she tested this feeling in flight, she found that she was much faster. She wasn’t certain how she suddenly became this fast, but she could guess that it might have had something to do with that strange room back in the Sethekk Halls. From above, they noticed that blood elves were scrambling to ship cubes of mana to the east. With the manaforges shut down, they had to make do with what they had. They also saw a goblin town on one island with a massive vehicle in the center of it. Mena called it a rocket. They also noticed the massive purple domes to the north that contained plants and animals that one would find in a jungle. Further east they saw the ruins of a town. Stella mentioned that the Kirin Tor once established a town in Faralon during the invasion of Draenor twenty years ago but no further information was known about the fate of the village. “Can we check out Kirin’Var Village real quick?” Stella asked. “I want to write an update to the Kirin Tor.” The others agreed to investigate and flew toward the village. When they arrived, Stella’s eyes widened in horror at what she saw. The entire village was in a state of disrepair and appeared abandoned. Upon looking closer, the reality became much more horrifying. The villagers were all there but they were in the form of ghosts. Stella tried asking one of them what happened but they didn’t recognize her and quickly treated her like an enemy, forcing her to destroy their spectral form. Investigating further, they noticed that a number of arcane elementals were wandering a section of the village for some reason. A familiar headache made itself known to the dracthyr, one she remembered feeling at the decimated Cenarion outpost. “What happened here?!” Stella loudly demanded to no one. She was not expecting a response to that as a ghost walked up to her. “This was the work of Kael’thas Sunstrider,” he said. “Kael’thas? He destroyed this village?!” Stella had no idea how the former prince wiped out the village like this, but for this to happen to citizens of the kingdom of Dalaran, she would make this personal. “Some adventurers before you came around here and helped to avenge us by burning down the nearby blood elf camp. What happened here was caused by a weapon of mass destruction the blood elves made called a mana bomb. It not only obliterated everyone in this village, but it warped the village itself. The high concentration of arcane energies from the bomb’s epicenter is why the arcane elementals roam the land. However, the ghosts of this village come from a traitorous apprentice mage named Naberius who practiced necromancy and revived himself as a lich after the bomb killed him. He’s recently been destroyed and his phylactery with him. “The only one who survived the blast is Archmage Vargoth and Kael’thas locked him in the mage tower in the center of town with a curse. You can see him at the top of his tower if you want, but the curse still leaves you in a weakened state. Shouldn’t be a problem since the tower guardian was destroyed recently.” Stella could feel the dark magic at work within the tower, too powerful for her to break. It was a testament to Kael’thas’ magical prowess to be able to place such a spell that could imprison an archmage like Vargoth. “Wait here,” Stella told her friends. She then made her way to the tower and entered it. She suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion pass over her as she felt the curse take hold, but she powered through it and ascended the tower in her elf form. Climbing the tower took effort that she wasn’t used to using for such a task but after several flights of stairs, she finally made it to the top. Looking around, she found the mage she was looking for sitting in a chair looking depressed. “Vargoth? Is that you?” Stella asked. The mage raised his head and looked toward the new voice but he didn’t recognize the figure. “Who are you?” “It’s Stellaglim, the infant elf the Kirin Tor raised after I was rescued from Silverpine Forest.” “That’s you? I remember now, you were quite the tenacious child. I’m amazed that you managed to survive that time when the Horde attacked Dalaran.” Stella giggled, “Yeah, it was amazing that I survived after everything that happened and a lot happened while you were living here.” She began to recount the things that happened. She mentioned the undead Scourge, how she was to be sent with Jaina’s expedition to Kalimdor for her safety, the Legion invasion and its defeat at the Battle of Mount Hyjal. She also told him some second hand information about Prince Arthas Menethil betraying Lordaeron and how a demon lord named Archimonde destroyed the city. “I spent some time in the newly founded town of Theramore with Jaina Proudmoore as my teacher until agents of the Kirin Tor showed up and said that the city was being protected by a magical dome and the city was finally rid of its undead and demon infestation. I continued my education under the protective dome of the city and under the tutelage of Archmage Rhonin.” Vargoth suddenly got up from his chair and turned to his orb. “That’s quite a tale, young lady. It has also rekindled my hope. I cannot give up, not when I’m so close to freedom from this curse.” “Really?” “I admit that I lost hope when the adventurer who tried to help me was slain by the blood elves aboard the Botanica. He was trying to retrieve a keystone from one of their commanders. Perhaps you and any companions you may have might be able to succeed where the adventurer failed.” Stella gasped, “What a coincidence, we were heading to that place because we need to gain access to another of the satellites, the Arcatraz.” Vargoth chuckled, “In that case, be on the lookout for anything that looks like a magical stone. I need that to break this curse.” Once Stella bid the archmage farewell, she descended to the bottom of the tower where her friends awaited her. “What took you so long?” Raida asked. “Just had a talk with a colleague,” Stella answered. Once they resumed their flight, Stella explained Vargoth’s circumstances and that they had one more thing to find in the Botanica. It wasn’t long before they were hovering before Tempest Keep. The naaru fortress hovered just outside the landmass and over the endless abyss below. The structure was of a colossal tower of crystal and metal with an outer ring surrounding the base of the structure. A huge energy pipe was connected to the tower. Hovering around the towering fortress were three satellite ships of different colors: blue, purple and red. “Well, we’re here but which ship is which?” Flutashe asked. Raida pointed at the blue ship. “That’s the Botanica.” She then pointed at the purple ship. “That’s the Mechanar.” Finally, she pointed to the red ship above them. “That’s the Arcatraz.” “Alright, first we deal with the Botanica and claim the keystone and key shard,” Stella said. Everyone agreed with the sentiment and flew toward the blue ship. Strangely, the outside of the ship was unguarded, though Raida had a feeling that it was done so since the outside was not as defensible as the inside. Because of this, the five of them landed on the platform outside the main entrance unmolested. “I once heard from Velen that naaru ships were actually larger on the inside but even he couldn’t explain how it was possible,” Bella said. “Keep your guard up, everyone.” Raida warned. Everyone nodded and entered the ship. After a short, empty hallway, the party came into a room with walls of purple crystal which formed a pair of subrooms that the blood elves used as storage rooms for supplies. A pair of guards protected the doorway leading further inside with a magical mechanical construct patrolling the hallway beyond. The construct was composed of pieces of metal that were not attached to each other but connected by arcane energy alone. The parts together composed a humanoid-shaped golem with the midsection containing an exposed core in the form of a charged arcane crystal and two more for the upper arms. “Intruders!” one of the guards shouted. This was followed by two more of them emerging from the hallway along with the arcane golem. Thinking quickly, Stella channeled her blue essence into her Disintegration Beam and fired it at the core in the golem, overcharging it and causing it to explode, obliterating the defenders. The party was knocked back by the blast. The group groaned as they got up and recovered from their daze. “Ugh, warn us next time you try something like that…” Raida said. “Sorry about that,” Stella apologized. “At least that took care of the guards.” They proceeded down the hall but encountered two more defenders guarding the entrance to the next room. Stella shot them with a couple of fireballs which were sent back at her when they deflected them with their shields. Flutashe used her bear form and intercepted the returned spells while Bella ran in and attacked the guards. Flutashe overpowered one guard and sent her to the floor where she knocked the shield away and used her teeth to rip her throat out. Bella struck the other guard in the head with her hammer hard enough to stun them before she proceeded to impale them on a sword of light. Another golem entered the hallway but this time Stella pulled the arcane energies from the golem and powered it down before firing the excess energy at a trio of blood elves ahead who were studying a planter of flame cap herbs. The blast caught them by surprise and sent them flying back. One landed on the planter while the other two were knocked over a railing and fell to a lower level. The survivor tried casting a nature spell at Stella but was countered and they were impaled on an icicle shard. Two more groups of elves were on the other side of the small room and heard the commotion. Another arcane golem began moving to attack. Stella overloaded the golem and obliterated one group of elves and a planter of dreaming glories. Bella and Flutashe fought the other group. Two were wielding nature magic and one appeared to be acting as a support caster. Raida quickly reacted to that one by quickly closing the distance, grabbing her and tossing her through a hole in the center of the room. Flutashe and Bella dispatched the casters. They then dealt with a pair of defenders who ran into the room. The next room featured another group like before except they were experimenting with a couple of alchemy labs and a planter of large mushrooms. Raida tossed the priest in that trio into a large hole in the new room and cut down the nature casters. The room had a sort of trident shape to it with a curving path and a bridge in the center leading further into the ship. An elf was seen training a flock of draco-avian creatures with scaly bodies and feathery wings with draconic digits and tails. Their only appendages were their wings and tails and their heads were avian. “Deal with those dragonhawks quickly, those guys breathe fire,” Raida warned. They knew that the elf would likely coordinate the dragonhawks to attack one of them since there weren’t enough for all of them so Surprise took control of his mind and made him order the beasts to attack him. They were confused by this command but trusted that their master had a plan so they pecked and burned him with their fire breaths until he was charred black. With their master dead, the dragonhawks had no idea what to do next so Flutashe exerted her aura and ordered them to leave the ship. Another golem was seen crossing the bridge so Stella drained its power core before Flutashe used her cat form to grab and hurl the powerless construct across the bridge which slammed into one of the guards at the other end, crushing him. A Chaos Bolt from Raida finished the other guard, who was taken by surprise by the flying golem and unable to defend against the spell. Three more elves guarded the corridor into the next room but Stella used the collected energy from before and knocked them back with it, leaving them out of formation and vulnerable to the party’s attacks. Another trainer and her dragonhawks awaited them in the next room but she was defeated the same way as the last one. They entered a larger room that extended farther than they could see from the entrance. What they could see was a bridge with about nine elves at one end while a single elf was seen walking along it. Raida recognized the elf on the bridge. “That’s Commander Sarannis, she’s likely the commanding officer of the blood elf forces in this place.” “Do you think she might have the keystone Vargoth needs to free himself?” Stella asked. “Most likely, there are few Kael’thas would ever entrust an artifact to who would dutifully guard it and his advisors would balk at the idea of protecting an artifact maintaining a curse binding some archmage whom they couldn’t care less about.” With so many troops guarding the commander, the troops needed to be dealt with swiftly. However, Raida felt confident that she could take her. “Here’s the plan, you guys deal with the troops then assist me with Sarannis if I haven’t taken her down yet.” The others nodded to the plan and Raida leaped to the other side of the bridge from the nine guards. Flutashe changed in and backhanded one of the guards away in her cat form, sending them into the large opening the bridge was suspended over. Bella sent a wave of light which knocked the others back. Sarannis noticed the intrusion and proceeded to engage the four. “Step forward. I will see that you are-” She was suddenly grabbed from the back of the neck and thrown to the window on Raida’s side of the bridge. “What? Lady Raida? What is the meaning of this?” she demanded. “Don’t play innocent Sarannis, I know that your ‘prince’ is leading you Sunhawks to servitude with the Legion,” Raida growled. “Did those traitorous Scryers tell you? Those fools have sealed their fates to withering and Illidan is in no real position to oppose the Legion. Prince Kael’thas made the logical decision.” “The Scryers seemed alright to me, perhaps the naaru have a way to save the blood elves,” Raida shrugged. “And perhaps not,” Sarannis countered. “Be that as it may, our path is set and you Illidari have outlived your usefulness. Die!” Sarannis didn’t get a chance to counterattack as Raida was faster and the commander quickly found a warglaive inside her chest and heart. “I have not yet…begun to…” she whimpered before Raida pulled her blade back and left her to collapse on the bridge, blood pooling around her. The demon hunter rifled through the dead elf’s person and found a runed stone in one of her pockets. The others soon finished their fight and walked up to her. Raida sighed as she tossed the stone to Stella. “What’s wrong?” Flutashe asked. Raida snorted, “It’s pathetic that these elves, who seem so prideful, would so easily sell their freedom away for a tainted source of magic. It’s no different than with the orcs. The Legion preys on their despair and bolsters their numbers by offering these people hope in the form of power.” Stella placed a hand on Raida’s shoulder. “They made their choice. All we can do for them is show them the consequences of their choice. But don’t be quick to give up on them, the Scryers have shown that there are those who would turn away from such temptations. Even the orcs turned away from that power, since we have a Horde on Azeroth who fights with honor.” That made Raida feel a little better. She was still a bit sad that so many would be so weak minded, but their fate was their own. “Let’s continue,” Raida finally said. The path led into a botanical research section with several planters containing specimens from all over Outland and a tree with golden leaves. The elves studying the plants were all researchers. “Perhaps they will run away when they see us?” Flutashe hoped. Raida shook her head, “Not a chance, even the research staff is given some combat training. The fact that they don’t fight like soldiers means we won’t know what to expect from them and that makes them more dangerous.” Once they entered the research section, as Raida expected, the researchers dropped what they were doing and attacked them. Some fought with a plant creature by their side while others threw volatile or poisonous chemicals around and others used fire, frost and poison spells, likely to test the resilience of the specimens in the room. Surprise took control of a chemist and had them violently shake the volatile mixtures on his belt and made them into a bomb which sent the researchers flying away upon exploding. With the unexpected disruption, the rest of the researchers were easier to deal with. “The Cenarion Expedition would be very interested in this place,” Flutashe noted. “Let’s be sure not to destroy the specimens.” The next thing they came across was an elf mage experimenting on a swarm of small plant creatures by subjecting them to various schools of magic in the form of fire, frost and arcane. Surprisingly, the plants changed color whenever they were exposed to a form of magic and walked around as if nothing was happening. When the effects of the spell ended, the plants returned to normal. “That wasn’t nice, using those spells to force those plants to adapt.” Flutashe growled. “We need to put a stop to the abuse to these poor plants.” Much to Flutashe’s sadness, the plants were also trained to attack intruders so Raida was forced to use her Felfire Breath to incinerate them. Apparently, the plants were not made to withstand fel magic. Stella bombarded the surprised mage with waves of arcane bolts that obliterated her. After dealing with a few more researchers studying an overgrown netherbloom, the party looked across another bridge and saw another elf who was completely focused on his research and not paying attention to them at all. “If there are any research papers on these plants, High Botanist Freywinn would have them,” Raida said. “I have no idea how or why these elves are able to emulate druidic magic since they can’t sustain themselves on nature.” Flutashe frowned. Seeing the abuse of the plants by that mage and seeing those researchers conducting those cruel experiments to the plants set something off in her. Druids were always compassionate about protecting nature and that included flora and fauna alike. Although Flutashe was more aligned with the fauna aspect of nature, the abuse to plants gave her a new perspective and a righteous fury awoke within her. Shifting into her cat form, Flutashe stomped across the bridge to the high botanist on the other side. The botanist ignored her. She then forcibly turned him around, causing him to yelp. “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded. “These specimens are very delicate.” “Are you the one leading these cruel experiments on these innocent plants?” she asked. “So what if I am? Even if nature cannot feed our addiction, we can still weaponize them to serve our needs. Think of the gold Quel’thalas could save if we had plants serving our every whim.” Flutashe snarled at the elf, “You dare to say things like that to a druid? Your experiments will stop! You will not abuse these poor plants anymore.” “You night elves are hopelessly shortsighted,” Freywinn shot back. “You always talk about protecting nature, and for what? Nothing! What do you ever get in return for your service to a bunch of plants and animals? There is so much untapped potential in nature it would be a waste to squander that resource.” Flutashe could see that this elf was the worst kind of person for a druid to encounter. Scum like this was part of the reason the Cenarion Circle was founded. There was no reasoning with him. Before Flutashe decided to rip into him, she looked through the window behind the botanist. She spotted a small forest with a number of plant creatures wandering around as well as an arcane infused ancient who was their ultimate target for their journey on this ship. Getting an idea, Flutashe grabbed the elf by the neck and before he could resist, she defenestrated him out the window and into the garden. As she had hoped, the ancient was startled by the intrusion. “Kill this one!” the ancient ordered before a number of plants and treants emerged and swarmed the unfortunate botanist. Flutashe removed whatever specimens were on Freywinn’s workbench before Stella incinerated the workbench, research notes and all. “Thank you for doing that,” Flutashe said, a small smile on her face. Stella smiled, “Any time.” Moving forward, history repeated itself with another mage abusing more small plants. While Flutashe quickly mauled the mage, her ability to communicate with nature did not extend to plants. Sadly, Raida was forced to burn the plants again. After a small corridor lined with supply crates, the party saw more evidence of blood elf and Legion collaboration. Walking among the elves were satyrs, demons who were once night elves until the Legion transformed them. They were reviled because they served the Legion of their own free will. To make matters worse, there were also some elves who were siphoning power from a couple of the ship’s pylons and giving that power to the satyrs. Thankfully, the effects of the spell didn’t last long. Timing their attacks, the party attacked the elves and satyrs while they weren’t powered up to make sure there weren't any complications. On a lower stage of the room, two groups of satyrs and elves were standing before a larger satyr. The elves were taking turns powering up their group with the larger one standing on a stage watching them. Seeing as there was no room for subtlety this time, Raida cast a spell on the large satyr before two black rings appeared at the demon’s hooves and above his horns. He ended up imprisoned in a small stasis cell of fel energy. “Quick, kill the rest before he breaks out!” Raida cried. Wasting no time, the party proceeded to engage the satyrs and elves. The satyrs were many but Flutashe, Bella and Raida were still stronger together. Bella’s light incinerated the unholy demons. Surprise took control of one of the elves and made them siphon power from a pylon before the elf empowered the party for a short time. A moment later, the larger satyr broke free. “What aggravation is this? You will die!” The demon, Thorngrin, wasted no time and magically teleported Bella to the stage and began siphoning life from her. Stella countered this by magically swapping the elf that Surprise was controlling with Bella, forcing the demon to drain an ally instead. Taking advantage of the distraction, Bella and Mena blasted the demon with their best light spells which caused him some painful burns. Raida grabbed the satyr from behind by the horns and pulled him onto his back. Thorngrin tried to get the demon hunter to back off by unleashing searing waves of demonfire around him but Raida acted quickly and decapitated the satyr to end his rampage. Once the satyr was dead, Raida proceeded to absorb the demon’s soul. It was Bella who asked the question that she was expecting, “Is it necessary and perhaps dangerous to absorb the demon’s soul?” “Kinda, if you don’t know what you’re doing,” Raida explained. “For some reason I can absorb souls better than other demon hunters but the fodder, like the satyrs from before, wouldn’t contribute much to making absorbing them worth the effort. This guy had an ability that could potentially be useful in the future and that’s why I absorbed him.” “I…I see…” With that, the party proceeded onward toward another part of the room that was suspiciously empty. Raida and Flutashe sensed demons ahead so Raida used her Spectral Vision to reveal a pair of satyr rogues. Flutashe nodded to Bella who used a consecrating wave to sear the satyr’s hooves and expose them. They were easily dispatched afterward. The consecrated floor gave Raida a bit of discomfort but Bella assured her that her light magic won’t burn those whom she doesn’t want to burn. This allowed the five of them to cross the sanctified floor and into the doorway into the next room. More planters and researchers awaited in this room, but worse. These researchers were injecting plants with essence from different plants. None of the party had any idea what they were doing but Sophia, who was observing their progress through her Observer Drone, could tell that the researchers were using a basic knowledge of genetics to cross foreign DNA with the DNA of other plants and hoping to get a positive result. Seeing the horrific mutants on the floor near them, the templar could tell that these guys were complete novices in the science of genetics which made them even more dangerous. The mutants were misshapen masses of flesh with useless tentacles for legs and a pair of arms. They also had large fanged mouths and no eyes. With no legs, they had to crawl around on their hands. The party didn’t have much trouble dealing with these amateur scientists between Stella keeping the spellcasters from casting and Raida and Flutashe swiftly crushing them. Surprise used blades of shadow to dismember the tragic mutants. Bella handled the two guards at the other end of the room. Cries for help came from the next room followed by bloodcurdling screams. Peering into the next room, the party saw the guards inside being devoured by a large group of mutants. There were also a number of empty planters in the room which they had to wonder whether or not the mutants were once plants. There was also a large plant creature overlooking the room from a larger planter. It was likely that the creature had gone mad and would attack anyone who entered the room so Flutashe knew that they needed to put the poor plant out of its misery. Raida charged in and began pulsing flames which burned her a little but incinerated the mutants around her. The creature began creeping toward the demon hunter but Stella bombarded it with a few fireballs to gain its attention. However, the fire spells stopped working on it when it changed color, leading them to consider that the plants being experimented on earlier came from this plant. Surprise assisted Raida by dismembering the mutants with shadowy blades. Bella and Flutashe rushed the creature. The creature summoned a pair of smaller plant monsters who proceeded to fling their thorns at everyone but Raida quickly put an end to that by burning them in felfire. Stella alternated between fire, frost and arcane spells to assault the plant monster while Surprise’s shadow magic pruned the limbs from it which it quickly grew back. Once Raida was free, she assaulted the plant monster with her Felbreath and her green Hellfire spell. Just like the smaller ones, the creature was unable to resist the fel magic and burned to cinders. Moving forward, the corridor ahead led into the garden that Flutashe saw earlier from a window along with the smaller plants and the arcane-infused ancient. They also spotted the withered remains of Freywinn; the plants were quick to drain him dry. As they prepared for the final part of this ship, Flutashe said something that took them completely off guard, “Let me handle this one myself.” The others looked at her as if she had gone insane, Raida was the only one who voiced that opinion. “Are you crazy, sister?” “I want to try to reason with him. He’s still a Darnassian ancient and I want to try to calm him.” “Are you sure?” Stella asked. “His mind might be addled by the arcane energies within this ship, do you want to take that chance?” The druid nodded, “I’ve had enough with killing innocent plant life and I want to try to save this one.” Reluctantly, the party moved aside while Flutashe proceeded into the garden in her night elf form. The smaller floral creatures within became agitated as someone intruded in their sanctuary. However, the druid remained calm as she gently spoke to them, “Please, I wish to speak with the honored ancient.” The plants looked at each other and discussed the matter in a way that they could, which couldn’t be understood by non-plants. Eventually, the plants parted ways and allowed her to continue to the center of the garden. “Who disturbs this sanctuary?” the ancient asked. “Are you one of those who have invaded this ship?” “Honored ancient of the arcane, I am Flutashe Lunarwind, druidess of Darnassus. Can you recall your ancient duty to our people?” “I…I don’t know. So confused…do not know if I should kill you or help you. Maybe I should kill you? I…can’t think straight.” Flutashe was afraid of this, the ancient’s mind was being addled by an excess of arcane energies. She needed to work quickly to save him. “If you don’t mind, I have a friend who might grant you clarity in your mind. Please, I need you to trust me.” The ancient struggled with his thoughts. His aggressive side warred with his reason. For a moment, his reason won out as he spoke, “Make it quick, I don’t know how much longer I can restrain myself.” Flutashe nodded and called for Stella to come to her. The dracthyr quickly flew over and landed near her. Before she could ask what the druid wanted, Flutashe cut her off, “Can you drain the excess arcane energies off of him?” Stella nodded, “I can do that.” She then held a hand out and waves of arcane energies began to flow from the ancient and into her hand. A sphere of magic formed in her hand which grew over time. In that time, the ancient realized that he was thinking more clearly than before. As the clouds in his mind receded, he began to remember why he was here. “Wait, I remember now, the Cenarion Expedition wanted me to protect a group of researchers who were sent to study the plants aboard this ship. There were too many of those blood elves aboard the ship at the time and I was unable to protect the researchers. I killed the attackers but I couldn’t go beyond this room so they left me be. I think over time the arcane storm outside seeped into the ship and my long term exposure to it left my mind addled.” He looked at the dracthyr and nodded, “Thank you, young lady. You can stop now, I still need some magic if I’m to teleport back to Cenarion Refuge.” Stella stopped draining the ancient. “Are you sure you can make it there on your own?” Stella asked. The ancient chuckled, “I may not be as skilled as you Dalaran mages, but I still know how to get back to the refuge.” As the ancient began channeling magic to create a portal, his leaves and branches swayed with his movements. One such movement caused a crystal shard to fall off one of his branches. Stella picked it up and discovered a partial unlocking spell on it that was attuned to a specific lock. However, the spell was incomplete. She concluded that it was part of the Arcatraz key, or so she hoped. “Good luck with the rest of your journey.” the ancient bid as he finished his cast and vanished in a flash of teleportation.