//------------------------------// // The Battle of Mount Hyjal, Part 2: Death from Above // Story: Seekers of the Epitaph: World of Azeroth // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// It didn’t take long for the party to traverse the mountain passes, with the Alliance party able to take to the air while Farra’jin used wind spirits to speed the footsteps of his group as well as the night elven troops. They had to be careful of the narrow roads since they could fall to their deaths. Everyone soon found that Archimonde’s forces were not pursuing them. If they were busy leveling Jaina’s base, they were likely planning on using her base as a forward position for their coming attack on the Horde base. This would likely give everyone more time to recover. Once they reached the Horde base, the orcs and trolls at the front moved aside and let them in. The Horde were not capable of masonry at the level of Alliance builders but they knew how to throw up some quick barricades and watch towers. Guarding the entrance were a number of orc grunts and troll headhunters. The peons were finishing up with some of the defenses while tauren warriors stayed in the middle of the base for when they were needed. They also had supporting casters such as troll witch doctors with their healing totems ready while the shamans stayed near Thrall. The first thing they did was report to Thrall to inform him that his preparation time was almost up. The warchief saw the group coming and addressed them, “If you’re here, then Lady Proudmoore’s forces could no longer hold back Archimonde’s forces.” Lokosh nodded, “We held them back long enough to lure two of Archimonde’s lieutenants to us and slew them. He still has two more for us to kill.” “Proudmoore’s forces have bled to delay Archimonde and his Burning Legion, and now this grim task falls to us. Prepare yourselves, the enemy will soon be upon us.” While the others rested, Sophia decided to check on the status of the enemy. “Thanatas, how long would you say we have until the enemy resumes their assault?” “Not much longer now, though it looks like they are calling in their air units. The sky above me is starting to be clouded with gargoyles and three bone dragons just landed in the new camp. They are planning to hammer Thrall’s base from above.” “If they attack from the front and above then we will need to divide our forces to deal with them more effectively. For this, we will need to know the troop composition to plan our defense effectively,” Sophia requested. “Understood, looks like a group of ghouls, abominations, necromancers and banshees are heading out, they should be there in a few minutes.” The warning gave the party plenty of time to alert the front guards of the coming wave. The grunts readied their axes and the headhunters their spears. The party pulled out their respective weapons while Young Raida pulled out her Sentinels issue glaive. Young Flutashe shifted into her bear form. Older Flutashe could see that her younger self was too tense in her stance, which was understandable since she remembered how reserved and anxious she used to be. She was glad that Andormu altered her voice so she could speak to her without letting on who she was. “You’re too tense, young one. You need to relax and find that clarity in your mind that will allow the bear spirit within you to guide you.” “I…I don’t know how to find that clarity,” Young Flutashe answered. “I was only part way through my training before it was interrupted by my shan’do’s death.” Older Flutashe knew that she was scared. That was how she felt when she was in her younger self’s position years ago. “Tell me, what’s your idea of a predator?” Older Flutashe asked. “A predator? They hunt their prey for the sake of their own survival.” “They fight with ferocity but they are smart about it. A thriving predator will not be fooled by the tricks of their prey,” Older Flutashe added. “In time, you will be able to master the predator’s mentality that will allow you to fight without hesitation but smartly too. This is part of the secret to fighting as an animal.” She knew that this advice would stick with her younger self since she remembered being given the same words. Shan’do Stormrage would help her to master her instincts in time. The first undead wave soon arrived. The enemy group didn’t consist of anything they weren’t used to. As usual the ghouls were burned and the necromancers were handled by Stella. Raida blew up an abomination before she rushed a banshee until she turned into a spectral orb. Flutashe endured the stench and rushed one of the abominations where she pulled out the metal bars around its guts and ripped its entrails out. She then took its cleaver and butchered the horror into many more pieces than what it took to assemble it. Mena took care to cleanse whatever disease the druid might have contracted while fighting it. Talia used an explosive arrow to blow the head off another abomination and another to destroy the remaining banshee. The grunts and headhunters worked together to take out the last abomination. Thanatas warned that the next wave was on its way. However, only four ghouls left the base. She then warned Sophia to look to the sky because they may have sent some gargoyles with the attack. Once Sophia relayed the information, it was decided that Stella would remain at the front to deal with the ghouls while everyone else searched for the gargoyles. Thrall noticed that the party was looking up for some reason. Being someone who never left things to chance, he suspected that they knew something that he didn’t. Since they were looking up, they were likely expecting an air attack. He turned to one of his sergeants, “I suspect that we might have attackers from above soon. Get the wind riders ready for combat.” The sergeant saluted and ran toward the bestiary. A few minutes later, a quartet of ghouls approached the base. Given the previous wave, the troops felt a little insulted that they would send so few this time. Stella simply incinerated them and ran toward the others. Just as she arrived, she saw that the back of the base was under attack by a number of dark gray bat-like creatures with long fangs, violet eyes and elongated bodies. They almost appeared humanoid and resembled the form Priestess Jeklik took when she fought them back in Zul’Gurub. She counted about ten of them. Lokosh managed to leap up to one of the gargoyles before he slammed his shield down on them to force them to the ground where he body slammed it then got up to drive the edge of his shield into its body. Those with spells or ranged abilities blasted the gargoyles out of the sky one by one. Those that were grounded were crushed by the tauren warriors who drove their gigantic totems on their heads. Thanatas reported that the next wave was pretty standard with a composition of ghouls, crypt fiends and necromancers. The party moved back to the front where they soon faced this group which wasn’t difficult to deal with at this point. The next wave wasn’t difficult to deal with either, six crypt fiends with a pair of necromancers led the ground assault while six gargoyles tried attacking the back of the base again. Stella, Lokosh, Flutashe, Bella and Raida faced the frontal attackers while the others shot down more gargoyles. The fifth wave proved to be more challenging than the past few, mainly because abominations were still a pain to destroy and six of them were heading their way. The ghouls and necromancers accompanying them were still easy prey but the bulky flesh constructs still took a lot of effort to bring down. Raida blew one up like before while Talia set three of them on fire while Farra’jin caused a small earthquake under the burning ones which knocked them on their backs long enough for the flames to consume their vital organs. Bella impaled one from below with a sword of light while Flutashe ripped the last one apart. While the party was resting after the latest wave, Thanatas delivered her latest warning, “I’m not seeing any ground forces leaving the base this time so this might be a full aerial attack. Wait, I just saw one of the bone dragons take off toward the base.” Eight gargoyles soon descended upon them, only they decided to attack the front of the base this time. The headhunters knocked them out of the air with their spears with the ranged party members aiding in this. Once grounded, the humanoid bats were quickly dispatched. A few moments later they heard a draconic roar above them. Looking up they spotted the bone dragon, also known as a frost wyrm, that Thanatas warned them about. With its large size, the skeletal dragon was able to attack from a high altitude. Normally Raida would be able to attack the dragon from the air but there was only so much of her actions that the illusion spell could conceal and a flying rogue was not one of them. While the dragon was busy freezing everyone and everything in Thrall’s base with its breath, the dragon soon had company in the air as orcs riding atop wyverns flew in and started lodging spears into its bones while the wyverns started biting and clawing at the bones. The frost wyrm tried to retaliate but the smaller, more agile creatures were more difficult to hit. While the dragon was distracted, Stella and Talia unleashed a number of fire spells at its wings, a few of which struck the sinew between the wing fingers that was allowing it to stay in the air. Unlike Thanatas, the frost wyrms didn’t have the luxury of magically generated sinew to keep them in the air so when the fire spells burned that skin off, the skeletal dragons plummeted to the ground. Any orcs that were under it ran away in time. Once it landed, Flutashe rushed toward it and pulled its skull off where she and the taurens pounded at it until it cracked and shattered. The rest of the dragon’s body collapsed and reverted into a pile of bones. The party was given a few minutes of respite to rest and regain their strength before Thanatas called out the next wave. More ghouls and abominations were coming, but the second of the three frost wyrms had also taken off and was heading their way. Using the usual fire strategy, the ghouls were quickly dispatched. The abominations were handled through a combination of Stella and Talia, who set them on fire, along with Farra’jin who kept their footing unsteady with an earthquake and Raida who blew one up which caused a chain reaction that blew up the other abominations. Burning body parts were beginning to litter the mountain pass. The wind riders ran their distraction against the frost wyrm until the fire casters were free again to burn its wings and force it to the ground where its skull was smashed. With an effective strategy against the abominations, the party was able to handle the next wave of ghouls, abominations, crypt fiends, banshees and necromancers easily. As they waited for the next wave, Raida had a feeling that things were about to get intense. If she was right, then this would confirm her suspicions. “You know, I think I’m starting to see a pattern in the enemy’s attacks.” “What pattern would that be, darling?” Bella asked. “This is based on how they attacked us back at Jaina’s base. If they are sticking to the pattern then we’re about to fight one of Archimonde’s lieutenants.” “How do you know?” Stella asked. “I noticed that we faced eight waves of enemies before one of the lieutenants came knocking; Rage Winterchill came then. After another eight waves, Anetheron paid us a visit.” “And that last wave was the eighth so far for this location,” Flutashe realized. “Which means that Thanatas is about to tell us another big one is heading our way.” “I’ll give her credit for seeing the pattern in the heat of battle,” Thanatas told Sophia through the link. “And she would be correct. Archimonde is getting impatient with the pace his forces are advancing so he’s sending his doom lord, Kaz’rogal, to breach your defenses. My advice, defeat him fast before he burns all the mana in the spellcasters’ wellsprings.” The party only had a few minutes to prepare before the next lieutenant came around the bend. “Cry for mercy! Your meaningless lives will soon be forfeit,” he declared to announce his arrival. The doom lord was the size of a building and he carried a longsword as long as he was tall. He knocked over the horde watchtowers as he entered the base due to his huge wingspan. The grunts and headhunters began their attacks on Kaz’rogal but he unleashed a powerful shockwave with a hoof that sent them flying away from him. Once he reached the center of the base, Thrall and his shamans attacked the demon which prompted the party to attack as well. Night elven archers from the reinforcements fired their arrows from a distance, confident that the doom lord didn’t have anything that could affect them. With everyone being much smaller than him, Kaz’rogal fought by stomping, chopping or driving the tip of his sword into the ground in an attempt to impale someone. Everyone managed to dodge his strikes with ease. In response to their speed, Kaz’rogal placed a crippling spell on Bella, Lokosh and Flutashe. The spell made them feel like they were moving through tar and made evasion extremely difficult. He raised his hoof to stomp Flutashe which was interrupted when a sharp pain made itself known from his backside. He looked back to find that his tail had been cut off. Kaz’rogal shouted in pain as blood spilled from the stub where his tail was. The crippling spell soon expired and the affected were able to move freely once more. With his tail cut off, Kaz’rogal would have difficulty maintaining his balance in the fight. He couldn’t afford to stomp around without falling over. “Your deaths will be painful,” he growled before he cast a dark spell on everyone around him. All of them could feel a wave of exhaustion wash over them for a few moments before the feeling faded. Sophia had warned them about this ability. If they didn’t end the doom lord soon he would keep using that until their wellsprings ran dry. Raida disabled the demon further by using her eye beam to form black crystals on the wrist of the hand holding his sword. Kaz’rogal stared at the crystals for a moment too long before a Chaos Bolt struck it and destroyed his armband while leaving a deep gash in his wrist. Much of the muscle tissue was destroyed and he could no longer maintain his grip on his sword. He was forced to wield his sword in his non-dominant hand which would make his attacks more sluggish. Thrall summoned a pair of spirit wolves to bite at the demon’s ankles while striking him with bolts of lightning. Kaz’rogal attempted to bring his sword down on the warchief, slow as his attack was, but Raida moved to his other arm and began leaving deep cuts in it to further weaken his arm’s strength. Thrall easily evaded his attack. Kaz’rogal attempted to mark the assailants again to weaken their magic but the party was ready for it this time after Bella used a holy aura that resisted his shadow magic while Mena placed a protection spell on the party that increased their resistance to the magic further. Because of this they managed to shrug off the mark before it could affect them. Some of the Horde troops in the area were still affected while a few of them detonated in a shadowy blast that took them and a few of those around them once the mark had fully drained them. With his normal abilities ineffective and his fighting ability severely weakened, Kaz’rogal tried to evaluate his options until a bipedal cat headbutted him in the chest which knocked him on his back. Without his tail, he was unable to stop from falling. Before he could find out what happened, the same cat rushed up to his head and bit into his throat before ripping it out. Kaz’rogal spent his final moments wondering who could have put him in such a pathetic state. He mentally swore revenge on the rogue who did that to him and would unleash his wrath whenever he reformed in the Nether. The party brought out their supplies for food to regain their strength and mana-enriched water to replenish their wellsprings. Looking around, they could see that Kaz’rogal had marked more than the party members who could use magic as some of the witch doctors and Thrall’s shamans had died during the fighting. The entrance was demolished as a result of the demon’s entry. Overall the damage wasn’t too extensive and the warriors still had some fight in them. They would need that spirit to face another set of waves before they fought Archimonde’s final lieutenant. “Well done everyone, Kaz’rogal’s death should strike fear into the core of the Legion. They now know the power we possess so expect the worst they have to offer,” Thrall said. While they were conversing, Sophia received the latest intel from her cousin. Apparently, Archimonde was opening rifts into the Nether, summoning felhounds to aid the undead in the next set. He was also performing his Rain of Chaos ritual and warned her that infernals were going to rain down on the base soon. Thrall noticed the change in the sky, it appeared as if it was burning. He remembered the sky being like this once before, back when he and Jaina worked together to save Grommash Hellscream. He knew what this meant. “Everyone, be ready for infernals to invade our base.” With that warning, the fighting resumed. Thanatas warned of a group of abominations and necromancers moving toward them. Everyone moved to the front where they saw the coming wave. Stella placed the necromancers into a polymorph spell while the abominations were set on fire by Talia and Farra’jin, who knocked them to the ground with an Earthquake spell before Raida placed her crystals on three of them. She and Talia blew them all up with fel magic. Fires began to spark around the mountain pass as a result. Thanatas alerted them that the last of the Scourge flyers that Archimonde had available were headed their way, including their last frost wyrm. The party looked to the sky while observing the front for any foot soldiers. Stella ended up incinerating a few ghouls before they began shooting down the descending gargoyles where the melee warriors finished them off. Stella and Talia burned the wings of the frost wyrm before they destroyed the bones of that creature. Unfortunately, the warning system that they had in place was not as reliable when it came to the next wave. They were only alerted to a few ghouls incoming and nothing else. Since Archimonde should have run out of flyers by this point, it did seem odd. That was when the base got its first taste of a meteor shower as eight green meteors fell on different locations around Thrall’s base. Thanks to the early warning, the base defenders were aware of the coming meteors and moved to dodge accordingly. From the craters made by the meteorites, eight burning infernals emerged. Talia stayed behind to deal with the ghouls while the others scrambled to fight the infernals. The intense heat given off by the infernals prompted Stella to place fire resistance spells on everyone before they engaged the walking towers of fire and brimstone. Being near the buildings had also allowed the flames of the infernals to start fires which prompted the peons to work hard to put them out.. The infernals were not too tough since Stella’s ice spells put out three of them while Farra’jin’s earth elemental shattered the central rocks of another. Thrall and his spirit wolves took down two more while the tauren warriors were able to defeat another, though they ended up wounded from the flames as a result. The witch doctors placed their healing totems to support them. Stella put out the flames of the last one with frost magic. Thanatas warned that a pack of six felhounds were heading their way and that they should try to keep the spellcasters away from the front. Once again the small amount of incoming enemies alerted the party of another shower of infernals coming their way. Flutashe, Lokosh and Raida stayed at the front to take down the felhounds while everyone else faced the infernals. Once the antennae of the felhounds were torn or sliced off, the beasts were hardly dangerous and easily dealt with. The others used the previous tactics of smashing or cooling the fiery war golems. Thankfully, the peons would get a chance to catch up with the fires spreading throughout the base since the next wave didn’t involve infernals. Instead, they encountered a group of abominations, felhounds and necromancers. Flutashe, Lokosh and Raida agreed to take out two hounds each before helping the others. Stella kept the threat of the necromancers contained while Talia and Farra’jin went to work getting the abominations under control. Once Raida was freed up, she proceeded to blow up the flesh golems while the others proceeded to murder sheep. With how easy it’s been to deal with necromancers, the next wave was a cakewalk since it was composed of equal amounts necromancers and banshees. The latter were cut down while the former were turned into mutton. Another small group of incoming enemies alerted them to another infernal shower but the frontal force was composed of two ghouls, crypt fiends and felhounds each. Raida faced the felhounds, Lokosh attacked the ghouls and Flutashe proceeded to pounce on the crypt fiends. Everyone else was on infernal duty. Raida kept count of the number of waves that attacked them so far since Kaz’rogal and figured that the next wave would be the eighth wave and they would be expecting Archimonde’s last lieutenant soon. They first had to face the variety group of abominations, crypt fiends, banshees, necromancers and felhounds. Raida took down the hounds while Stella handled the necromancers. Bella used her holy magic to exorcize the banshees before they could get their shields up. Flutashe proceeded to rip the limbs off the crypt fiends before they burned down the abominations. The party was getting tired from the attack waves but they were glad to nearly be finished since they were expecting the final lieutenant to appear around the bend in a few minutes. They rested up and ate some of their supplies in preparation. “Alright, the time for observation is over. I’m heading to the Horde base,” Thanatas informed. “Azgalor is coming and this is a fight where you will need my assistance.” “Is he really that strong?” Sophia asked. “No, under normal circumstances he’s weaker than Magtheridon, but we can’t afford to find out what would happen if the Project Ankh subjects ended up killed. He has a spell that can abruptly end a life to summon a doomguard.” “Do you have a way to counter that?” “Sort of, I know some voodoo magic that can transfer one’s fate to another. However, we need to defeat him before we run out of Horde to sacrifice.” “Alright, I’ll deal with any doomguards who appear.” A moment later, a pit lord who looked similar to Magtheridon except with less armor came around the bend and made his declaration, “Abandon all hope! The Legion has returned to finish what was begun so many years ago. This time, there will be no escape!” Azgalor reached the front of the base and swept with his double-bladed polearm which destroyed the last of the barricades and sent several orcs and trolls flying away. One ended up impaled on a spike. Thrall called for the defenders to face this threat with the party following suit. The warchief summoned his spirit wolves who struggled to bite into the pit lord’s thick forelegs. Azgalor drove his weapon into both wolves before sweeping with his weapon again which Lokosh managed to block, though it sent him flying back anyway. Azgalor began raining fire in places to force the enemy to scatter or burn. Stella retaliated by causing a blizzard of ice shards to fall on the pit lord. His thick skin prevented the shards from piercing his flesh but they still stung a little. Everyone took care to avoid the swings of Azgalor’s weapon since his massive size and great strength made any attempts to withstand it a bad idea. The soldiers and party attacked the demon from the sides while Flutashe kept his attention. Night elven archers fired their arrows from a distance but were forced to scatter when fire rained on them. That was when he began using his ability that Thanatas knew that he would use. “Just a taste…of what awaits you.” he said as he branded young Raida with a black mark on her chest. Present Raida’s eyes widened when she saw that mark. In her zeal to fight this beast when she was younger, she never realized how close she was to dying. She didn’t know what that mark did back then, but she did now. Though she had no idea how it didn’t kill her. She got her answer a moment later when the mark disappeared from her younger self’s chest and reappeared on the chest of an unfortunate orc grunt. A few seconds later, the grunt burned into nothingness in an instant, being replaced by a doomguard. She would have moved to engage the new demon but Sophia decided that they didn’t need the distraction when she vertically sliced the lesser demon in two. As the fight progressed, the durability of Azgalor’s skin began to weaken as blades tore through the layers until a headhunter broke through with his spear. Felfire began to leak from the spot. Azgalor felt the wound and shifted his body in response so they wouldn’t try to open it further. Flutashe continued nimbly dodging Azgalor’s weapon while everyone else either attacked, avoided fire or, in the case of a few orcs, a few trolls, a couple of tauren and one night elf, being instantly burnt out of existence to make way for a doomguard which Sophia slaughtered. More wounds opened up on Azgalor’s skin and more felfire began to leak out. Raida opened a wound beneath the pit lord’s belly where she created black crystals over it which began to react to the leaking felfire. She managed to get away before it exploded, leaving a wide opening which Azgalor could no longer ignore. That wound destabilized his body and was set to explode. Thrall ordered everyone to fall back. A few Horde troops were too slow to escape the blast that came with an annihilan’s death and were incinerated. The battle was won, but the costs were heavy. Thrall’s troops were in no condition to fight anymore. As everyone rested for a moment to recover from the battle, Thrall addressed the party, “I am glad that we were able to kill that pit lord. I would love to hear tales of your adventures one day, but now is not the time. With his lieutenants dead, Archimonde will likely make an all out push toward the World Tree while his minions distract us. What’s left of my forces will retreat with Lady Proudmoore. You must hurry to the World tree, the fate of our world is still undecided.” Just then, Jaina appeared in the center of the base, wrecked as it was. “I’m here, gather around me quickly,” she said before she began casting her mass teleportation spell. The remnants of Thrall’s forces complied and gathered around the sorceress. Thanatas appeared from her hiding spot with her sword glowing an eerie reddish black color that was slowly fading, an effect of her voodoo spell that was transferring doom marks to Horde troops. “We need to get out of here, Archimonde’s forces will overrun the place soon and I don’t think you guys want to fight a horde of infernals.” The party raced up the mountain path toward the world tree and toward one of their toughest battles yet.