//------------------------------// // The Haunted Tower, Part 3: Netherspace // Story: Seekers of the Epitaph: World of Azeroth // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// Stella and the others spent about twenty minutes resting in the library where they fought Nielas Aran’s ghost. They pulled out any food and water they had and distributed them among each other. While they were eating, Bella asked questions that made Sophia uncomfortable, “Sophia, I have heard you mention Thanatas giving you information in the past. Does she have the ability to see the future? Does she give you this information beforehand or do you have some way of communicating with her?” “Now that you mention it…” Stella mused. The discomfort on Sophia’s face was quite noticeable. She should have known that the reincarnations of the detail-oriented former fashionista unicorn and the sharp magical prodigy would catch on to what she and Thanatas had been doing. Still, she figured that throwing some truth into an explanation would appease them. As long as they didn’t figure out the nature of their universe, it should be fine. “I don’t know how Thanatas knows what she knows, but she and I do have a psychic communication between ourselves. I’d rather not the leaders of the Alliance or the Horde find out about this or they might accuse us of manipulating both of them.” Which was what they were doing, but only to minimize conflict between the two factions. They would have to be careful not to give away too much information. “I’d like to avoid having the two sides engage in all out war if possible.” Thankfully, the group accepted her explanation and continued resting for a few more minutes before it was time to continue their ascent up the tower. From the small room before the library door, they took the other path that they didn’t take earlier and moved up a walkway that quickly moved parallel to the tower wall until they reached a doorway into a larger room with more bookshelves and books on the floor. A number of mana shades occupied the room which Stella quickly dispatched with help from the others. From there, they moved up another walkway into a room where the walls had partially collapsed, revealing the greenish gray sky above them. A few more mana shades got in their way. The next room featured familiar beings that they didn’t think they would encounter on Azeroth. “What are Ethereals doing here?” Bella asked. The next room was occupied by a fair number of the bandaged energy people who appeared to be ransacking the room looking for something. “It’s not surprising that they’re here,” Raida said. “Ethereals tend to be drawn to high concentrations of arcane or void energy and will seek out powerful artifacts to sell to the highest bidder. Other than the Consortium and the Protectorate, there aren’t many Ethereal groups out there who haven’t gone on some crazed hunt for void energy to become void beings.” Engaging the energy beings proved to be tiring for Raida, Flutashe and Bella as the raiders used spatial distortions to weaken them. Mena and Stella were unaffected since the distortions had no effect on their ability to cast spells. Surprise’s Shadow Blades were able to slice through the bandages of the Ethereals to unbind their forms which caused them to join the sea of arcane energy that flowed throughout the tower. Stella found that their bandages contained a fireproofing enchantment so she stripped the cloth of that protection before she burned them. Once they cleared out the Etereals, the group took a moment to inspect the circular room and found several bookshelves that seemed fit for a giant since the shelves seemed too large for any normal person. There were also smaller bookshelves and more books on the floor. Moving on, the group soon found themselves with two paths to follow. One was a walkway leading up while the other led downward. Since the secret was revealed, Stella looked to Sophia. “What does Thanatas say about these two paths?” Sophia said nothing for a few minutes as she mentally communicated with her cousin with her eyes closed. She chuckled a little before she opened her eyes. “The upper path leads to the Celestial Watch, Medivh’s observatory. There’s a fully grown nether dragon named Netherspite wandering around in there. However, that route is also a dead end.” “Is the dragon dangerous?” Stella asked. “Doesn’t seem that way. Thanatas guesses that he ended up in the observatory while he was flying through the Nether. There isn’t anything too dangerous in the observatory so he can be left alone. The other route will lead us to our destination. “Also, Thanatas wants me to tell you guys to not use her like a tour guide and figure at least some things out for yourselves.” “Uhh…right…” Stella said. She and the others reddened a little out of embarrassment. Since Netherspite didn’t seem like a threat, the group decided to move down the lower walkway. In the next small room they encountered more ethereals except these wore robes over their bandages. Unlike the previous kind who weakened the strength of Raida, Bella and Flutashe, this one weakened the potency of Mena and Stella’s spells. Bella’s holy magic was also affected. This left Raida and Flutashe to quickly dispatch the ethereals by tearing into their bandages with blade and claws. The next room was being plundered by another robed ethereal who was quickly eliminated. The next room they entered had a wooden double door. There was another ethereal nearby but he was more interested in peddling wares. They opened the doors and went inside. None of them could have imagined what was in that room. The room itself was in good condition with its marble tiling and chandeliers and support arches in good condition. The main attraction of the room was a square area composed of equally sized black and white tiles in alternating patterns. The tiles formed an eight by eight pattern with half of the overall tiles being occupied by an illusory figure. To their left were a line of eight orc grunts in front of a line of other figures. The far left line had two doomguards in the corners next to one black wolf each who were both next to an orc shadowcaster. Next to one of the shadowcasters was an orc in warlock garb. Bella gasped as she saw the last orc figure. She remembered that one from the stories she heard about the First War and how he looked. “That orc in the black armor looks just like Warchief Blackhand!” While Bella was staring at the representation of the old warchief, the others looked at the other side. Almost mirroring the orc side was a number of human soldiers. A line of footmen in front of the line of larger pieces. Mirroring the Horde side were water elementals, war horses, clerics, a conjurer and a well armored human wielding a warhammer. Stella suspected that the figure was King Llane, the ruler of the Kingdom of Stormwind during the First War. “These figures look like–” Stella began. “Like a representation of the First War in the form of a game of chess?” a familiar voice finished. The group looked around the room until they spotted a transparent image of Medivh behind them. “If that was what you were about to say, young mage, then I commend you for your astute observation.” “Are you an echo of Medivh?” Stella asked. “Correct. My purpose is to oversee what goes on in this tower. When the agent of the Legion invaded this tower I placed it on lockdown to prevent his influence from spreading into the region beyond. Only those who possess one of my keys may enter as a guest.” “Can we reach the top of the tower from this room?” “The summit of Karazhan is not far from this room. However, I could not allow just anyone to reach the top of my tower. Before my demise, I placed a curse on this room where only those who can defeat me in a game of wits may pass.” “Which translates to beating you in a game of chess,” Stella finished for him. Medivh nodded. “Before we begin, I must go over the rules that differ this from a regular game of chess. In order to take part in this game, one of you must make contact with your side’s king piece which is Warchief Blackhand or King Llane. I will be commanding my pieces through the king piece not chosen. The rest of you may take possession of any piece that you wish. “The pieces themselves do not move as traditional pieces do though their movement range is still limited and they do not ‘capture’ other pieces. Instead, the pieces will fight to the death with the fallen being removed from the board. If you are in possession of a piece that falls you will be ejected and will be allowed to control another piece. The act of turning a piece in another direction counts as a movement. “In addition to moving and attacking, the pieces also have their own abilities. The pawns, or the footmen and grunts, have simple offensive and defensive techniques. The rooks, or the elementals and demons, have a protection spell and a spell that attacks all adjacent spaces occupied by enemies, leaving their allies unharmed. The knights, or the horses and wolves, weaken nearby enemies and an attack that is similar to the pawns but is more effective. The bishops, or the clerics and necrolytes, have a spell that attacks up to three enemies in front of them and a spell that heals their allies. The queen piece, or the conjurer and warlock, have spells that attack a single tile and all tiles adjacent to it as well as a damaging spell which has a significant range. The king pieces have a cleaving attack that attacks adjacent enemies in front of them as well as the ability to bolster nearby allies. “The game ends when either Blackhand or Llane falls. Since there are few of you, the one who commands your king will also be given the ability to command the pieces. Though in exchange, I will be tempted to…make things more interesting as the game progresses. You will find out what I mean.” Stella knew what he meant. Medivh was likely planning to use a few spells to interfere with the game. All that was left to figure out would be who would be using what piece. “I call the footmen!” Sophia called out. She was normally against providing assistance for the others unless necessary but taking part in the chess game was still fair play. “Dibs on a cleric!” Mena called out. “I’ll take a charger then,” Flutashe said. “Wait, we still have not decided who will control the king.” Bella said. “Whoever claims the king is going to be the one leading the pieces into battle,” Stella said. “Chances are, Sophia could probably play circles around Medivh if she wanted for all we know. Mena and Flutashe probably have no experience leading troops and with Medivh’s rules, this is nothing like the chess I played back in Dalaran. I will be using the conjurer.” “Yeah, I gotta agree with Stella about those three,” Raida said. “Also, this game seems kinda boring. Sure, there’s all the soldiers killing each other but it’s just so…orderly. I’m gonna claim an elemental and let you take charge of this fight.” “What? But…but…” Bella stammered before she sighed in defeat. She didn’t have much experience leading troops though she did lead by example when she went into battle with soldiers behind her. She would have to make the best of it. “Are you prepared to challenge me?” the echo asked. Everyone nodded before he moved closer to the board. The group touched their respective pieces and were met with a strange sensation. Bella felt much taller and when she looked at her hands, she noticed that they were transparent. Her eyes widened when she noticed that her body and everyone else’s was teleported to the entrance of the room while staring at the board. They also seemed doll-like with their blank expressions and stiff postures. “It’s a triggered astral projection spell,” Stella said through the mouth of the conjurer next to her. “Don’t worry about it, focus on the battle. You can will yourself out of your piece at any time and you will automatically return to your body.” That was a relief at least. Her friends were in the same boat but they didn’t think about the surreal sensations. Now, she had a chess game to win. The grunts advanced upon them first so Bella had Sophia and the footmen move forward to meet them. She then moved forward one space at a time with them. She was glad that Blackhand stayed back but the warlock, wolves and demons were advancing. The elementals, horses and clerics advanced in response. Stella moved forward to stay adjacent to Bella before she began making it rain fire on the grunts. Bella empowered the footmen and Stella with her ability and found that her cleaving attack could hit the grunt on the other side of the footman without hurting her allies. She didn’t question it as she continued using her abilities to their utmost. The warlock began launching fireballs at Bella to try to defeat her but Mena had her back as she used her healing spell whenever she could to keep her healthy while staying out of the warlock’s range. Because of the empowered footmen, the first casualty was one of the grunts with two more following his fate. “No matter,” Medivh said in response. Flutashe saw the opening and positioned herself next to one of the grunts where she teamed up with the footman and took another out. Medivh didn’t like how the battle was going. The grunts managed to take down four of the footmen in exchange for the four grunts he lost but with so many unique minds controlling the opposing pieces, too many variables exist in this game. “Time for an alternative scenario.” When the echo moved a hand into the air, several bolts of red lightning struck the ground and set the tiles on fire, particularly, the ones beneath Raida, Mena, Stella and Bella. Bella had to think fast. With the flames damaging their pieces, the natural response to this attack was to retreat which she was fairly certain the enemy would press an advantage. They needed to make a path to Blackhand so she pressed the attack. “Everyone, advance! Keep pressing their lines.” The human soldiers moved forward out of the flames while Bella advanced closer to the warchief. Flutashe’s horse was defeated and the other was under attack. Bella had the empty cleric provide support to the horse while Flutashe regained her body and moved quickly to assert control over the remaining horse. Flutashe managed to finish off a demon. Raida’s ability finished off two grunts but a demon took out three footmen. A wolf advanced toward her. Weakened as her piece was, she was not likely to survive that battle. However, an icy blast from Stella ended the wolf before it got too close. By this point, half of the pieces were removed from the board. There was still no clear victor as the strongest pieces were still on the board. What happened next would determine who had the advantage. Boldly, Bella continued her advance until she was now in front of Blackhand. Mena and the other cleric were right behind her for support. However, Blackhand had his necrolytes near him for support. The warlock finished off Raida’s elemental and prepared to take out the footman Sophia was possessing. He wasn’t aware that he was being targeted by Stella who caused fire to rain on him. In response, he created a green corrosive fog under the conjurer who quickly moved out of it and pressed her attack on the warlock. The two pieces exchanged magic attacks on each other for a time but Stella could tell that her piece was on his last leg. The warlock prepared one final fire spell which defeated her. The warlock’s victory was short lived as he was finished off by Sophia the footman. Raida took out the last two grunts, but the demon took out Flutashe’s remaining horse, taking her out of the game. The battle could go either way since the kings and clerics were still on the board, so Medivh decided to tip the scales again. “One must not become too complacent.” He then cast a spell that caused Blackhand and a necrolyte to grow and turn purple. Bella could feel the increased damage she was taking as the warchief was now hitting her harder than before. Mena and the cleric were keeping her alive, but only barely. The necrolytes were also making sure Blackhand stayed in the fight. With the spell, the battle was slowly shifting in the orcs’ favor. That was until a lone footman moved next to the empowered necrolyte and began attacking him. The added pressure forced the other necrolyte to decide to keep healing Blackhand or support his fellow healer. He decided to keep healing Blackhand. On the other side, the remaining wolf attacked the empty cleric and forced Mena to make a decision. However Bella made the decision for her. “Mena, heal the other cleric while the other assists me.” Raida and the remaining demon moved to attack each other. Using their abilities, and with how weakened they were, Raida helped Sophia kill the necrolyte while the demon killed a cleric. The demon and elemental killed each other which took Raida out of the game. The wolf moved to attack Bella but Mena changed tactics and began attacking the beast with light spells. The wolf was in Bella’s attack range so the two teamed up to finish the wolf off. The effects of Medivh’s spell wore off so the two kings were locked in a stalemate with the healers continuously healing their kings. However, a lone footman slowly moved along and around the battle until she was beside the other necrolyte. Mena and Sophia began attacking the remaining necrolyte together and soon ended him. Blackhand was alone now, but he was not out. He turned around and cleaved Sophia, killing the last footman and taking her out of the game. Unfortunately for Blackhand, he was now at a major disadvantage. With Mena still remaining as the last cleric, Bella would be getting healed while she wore him down until he fell. There was nothing he could do about it so Bella won the war of attrition and the game. When Blackhand fell, rays of light shined down on the room. Bella and Mena were ejected from their pieces and the others ran up to her to celebrate her victory. Bella was proud of her victory but was also glad that she had great friends to support her. Medivh clapped for the group, a smile on his face. “Congratulations, your victory has lifted the curse on this room and you may move forward. You may play a friendly game with each other if you wish.” With a wave of his hand, the pieces were reset to their original positions. “Is there any chance I could get the spellwork for this game?” Stella asked. “The people of Dalaran would love to have a game room like this.” “I can teach you the spellwork of this room once you have the time, though I believe you have a demon to evict from this place. The shortest way is the staircase to your right from the next room.” Stella nodded, “Alright, I’ll be back soon. Also, sorry for all the damage we did to your tower.” “Think nothing of it, after a time, the tower will restore all of the spirits who were defeated.” Stella winced at this. The curse of Karazhan ensured that the undead could never find rest which seemed like a fate worse than death. There wasn’t anything she could do for the denizens of the tower, but perhaps she could bargain for the freedom of one. “May I make a request? I promised your father that I would set him free from this curse in exchange for your journal. Is there any way you could release him?” Medivh hummed, “The tower gained several new residents recently and I suppose I owe you a reward for defeating me in our little chess game. Very well, I shall release my father from the curse. Now off with you, you have an unwanted guest to expel from my tower.” Stella thanked the magus before she returned to her friends to begin the final leg of their climb. The group soon reached the other end of the room where a pair of wooden doors opened for them. Beyond them they found a pair of mutants like the ones they found in the botanica. “What are these things doing here?!” Bella asked. “Whatever was living here probably got mutated by the nether energies leaking into this part of the tower,” Stella guessed. Regardless, they had to deal with the flesh-eating mutants in the room along with a larger one who entered the room from another room. They weren’t difficult to deal with as long as they avoided its fangs and Bella’s shield offered her plenty of protection from that. Taking the echo’s advice, the group entered the right room where they killed another pair of mutants before they climbed a spiraling staircase that led up several floors until they emerged onto the very top level of the tower. There was no sign of the demon yet, but he had to be around somewhere. They entered a small circular room where they killed a large mutant before entering a brief corridor and through a doorway into a strange space that they didn’t see before. They emerged onto a massive platform of rock with what looked like countless floating rocks all around them. A massive jagged rock structure could be seen in the distance. The gray atmosphere around them added a gloomy element to the area. A lone gray-skinned eredar wandered the platform, looking like he was waiting for something and was getting impatient. “That’s definitely our demon,” Raida said. “I can feel his power from here, His power is up there with a man’ari eredar prince so he’s a lot tougher than regular eredar but still well below the level of the likes of Archimonde and Kil’jaeden.” “Any idea who he is?” Bella asked. “He may be Prince Malchezaar. There aren’t many eredar princes out there, or he may be the only one. Lord Illidan didn’t have much info on the eredar below the Hands of Sargeras in ranking.” “So let’s take him down so we can prevent the Legion from establishing their foothold,” Stella said. As the group charged forward to attack the eredar, Malchezaar spotted their approach. “Pitiful mortals? Driven by madness, no doubt. You should have fled, now I shall be your undoing.” “Not likely Prince, I tear your kind apart as part of my morning exercise,” Raida taunted. This time it was Raida who took the brunt of Malchezaar’s aggression. Him being twice their size didn’t change the fact that he was trying to defeat her with his fists. The demon hunter was skillfully dodging his attacks. Malchezaar had a few tricks up his sleeve, such as placing a powerful shadow affliction to burn her in dark flames, but Mena and Bella made sure that did little. However, that was, by far, the least threatening of his attacks. He then placed a dark affliction on everyone but Raida that made them physically appear as if they had aged into their winter years. Sophia used a psionic barrier to block the spell from hitting her. They could still move and fight like before, but Sophia felt that there was something dangerous with that spell. It was when he began to gather shadows with a victorious smirk on his face that Sophia figured out his strategy. The affliction was designed to ensure that they would not be able to survive his next attack. She was forced to protect the withered party members with a barrier as Malchezaar unleashed a powerful shockwave of shadow energy. The energy crashed on the barrier but it held. A moment later, the affliction wore off and the group was back to normal. They now knew to be careful around that attack now and flee if he used that spell on them again. Malchezaar growled as he noticed his trick failed him. Still, he had others. “You face not Malchezaar alone, but the legions I command!” The group heard a faint roaring sound in the sky. Mena chanced a look and saw a flaming meteor headed for them. “Meteor incoming!” she yelled. The others chanced a look and quickly moved out of the area in time for the meteor to land which shattered into several pieces and began to float near each other, taking the form of an infernal, or rather, an abyssal since it was made of red flames. The group waited for it to attack, but strangely the abyssal remained stationery before it began unleashing flames all around him. Since the abyssal didn’t seem interested in doing anything other than burning, the party returned to attacking Malchezaar. The eredar proved very resilient as he continued taking their attacks while his protective wards blunted their attacks. He continued using his Enfeeble and Shadow Nova combo while summoning more abyssals on occasion. However, he began to grow bored of the fight so he stepped up his attacks. “Simple fools!” Time is the fire in which you’ll burn!” He summoned a pair of axes that he used to block Raida’s attacks. His skill with the weapons was such that he could easily break through his opponent’s defenses. He still tried using his combo along with summoning more abyssals to slowly encircle them with his minions. However, that was before he remembered that the abyssals were the Legion’s mass produced soldiers and their lifespans were very short when they were summoned without the proper ritual. The snap summons he had been doing could only produce abyssals who only knew how to spread fire around them and they only lasted a few minutes. It had its combat uses, but the lifespan was a pain. In order for him to summon more abyssals for his plan, he would need to concentrate more on his snap summons. For this, he placed a spell on his axes to make them move on their own and attack the others while he unleashed his full power against them. “How can you hope to stand against such overwhelming power?” he asked before he let his axes have their fun. He was now rapidly summoning abyssals in order to fill the platform with their fiery chaos and force them to accept the flame and burn. He was glad that this was working, since he could feel himself wavering. He needed to finish this fight soon before he got thrown back into the Nether. The abyssals proved too much of a distraction and Sophia was beginning to consider unleashing her wrath on the abyssals since the group seemed to be focusing more on avoiding the meteors than attacking Malchezaar. Thankfully, someone came along and did the job for her. The sound of glass and stone shattering was their only clue to what was happening before a nether dragon flew up to them and landed on the platform, crushing many abyssals under his mass along with the axes. “Who dares interfere?” Malchezaar demanded. The dragon, who they suspected was Netherspite, turned his head to the eredar and narrowed his eyes. “So you are the ones disturbing the peace of this tower? I came to this place for some peace and quiet after my long journey through the Nether and one of you minions of the Legion decided to ruin that for me. Moreover, your presence attracted mortals who have been causing so much noise and pestering the tower’s residents.” “You should flee while you can, wyrm, or you will burn with them,” Malchezaar said. It was a bluff since he was greatly weakened at this point and the dragon just ruined his plan. “Help us kill him and we will leave the tower quietly,” Sophia offered. Those who were standing next to Malchezaar saw the gleam in Netherspite’s eyes and knew that he was smirking, even if dragons were bad at expressions in their draconic forms. Netherspite took a deep breath and was about to unleash the fury of the Nether on the eredar. The party quickly got out of the way while Malchezaar, who tried in vain to block the coming attack with his arms, was engulfed in nether energies which seared his flesh quickly until he disintegrated. The group spent the next minute staring at the spot where the obliterated eredar once stood. They then wondered if they would end up having to fight the dragon after all as he stared at them, growling. “I upheld my end of the bargain, now you can do the same. I am going back to the observatory and you mortals can leave quietly,” Netherspite said in a grumpy tone. The group nodded absently as they made their way to the door while the dragon lifted off with his wings before slowly gliding back to the observatory. It took some time for the party to descend the tower to the point where Stella could safely create a portal without interference from the Nether. Along the way, Stella returned to Medivh who gave her the spellwork for the chess game. She and the others returned to the main entrance of the tower where the Violet Eye mages awaited them. Alturus awaited Stella’s report, but she wrote it on a piece of paper with a seal that was enchanted to only be broken by Archmage Cedric in Dalaran. Stella was still not fond of the troublesome mage so this was her way of spiting him. The dracthyr ignored the mage’s complaints as she opened a portal back to Shattrath. They still had a war to fight against the Illidari and the Legion and they still had a few big names to take down before they faced The Betrayer himself.