//------------------------------// // Exploring Northrend // Story: Seekers of the Epitaph: Frozen Wastes // by Xarmar13 //------------------------------// Once back at Valgarde, Stella let Vice Admiral Keller know that King Ymiron had been removed as a threat. The naval officer was grateful for their aid in this matter so that they could focus on keeping an eye on the Forsaken forces. As the officer left, the group huddled together to discuss their next plans. “Are we still going through with this?” Raida asked. The others voiced their affirmations. “Raida and I will head north and investigate the Wild Gods there,” Flutashe said. “According to a map the vice admiral gave us earlier, the next region to the north is Grizzly Hills. A tribe of ice trolls called the Drakkari Tribe have built an empire in a region called Zul’Drak, which lies north of Grizzly Hills.” “We don’t have much more info, but Keller did say that the Alliance built a lodge in Grizzly Hills and built an outpost around it,” Raida added. “We will need to report there to get more info.” “I’d like to take one of you back to Dalaran with me,” Stella said. “Since the city moved to Northrend, they have been under attack by the Blue Dragonflight. I fear that they may try to breach the wards and send a strike force into the city.” The dracthyr’s frustration was clear on her face as she thought about Malygos and his short-sightedness. She hoped to talk some sense into the aspect at some point. “Ah’ll go with ya,” Jaqueline offered. “Ah may not know much about magic, but ah still have mah anti-magic abilities. Maybe they can help.” Stella smiled and nodded to the death knight, “Thank you. Dalaran is my home and I won’t let those blue dragons take it from me, not again…” “So that just leaves Mena and myself to continue on to Dragonblight.” Bella looked at the gnome and saw that she was making various facial expressions. “Is something the matter, darling?” Mena continued making faces until the paladin tapped her on the shoulder which snapped her back to reality. She chuckled awkwardly, “Hehe, sorry! I was getting into an argument with Vio. She wants me to go north. She says that she’s been tracing the flow of saronite underground and saw that it was coming from the northernmost point of Northrend. I told her that we will get there when we get there and then she got fussy. Then Bella tapped me on the shoulder while I was trying to calm her down.” For everyone but Raida, their eyes widened to dinner plates as they heard this. A feeling of horror set in as they remembered that saronite was made of Old God blood. It wasn’t hard for them to put the facts together to realize that they would be facing down another Old God before their adventures in Northrend were over. “And here ah thought the Lich King was bad enough…” Jaqueline groaned. “Can someone fill me in on what this Old God stuff is about?” Raida demanded. “I wasn’t with you on that adventure, remember?” Raida got the summary of what they experienced during the battle against C’Thun and all the horror the creature brought before Violetta ripped their essence from their flesh. The demon hunter cringed at the thought of tentacles and eyeballs showing up all around her. “And this is the kind of stuff that Sargeras is scared of?” Yet, some small part of her couldn’t blame him since these Old Gods seemed disturbing beyond imagination. Changing the subject, Stella reached into a dimensional pocket and pulled out two handfuls of small stones with runes inscribed on them. She handed some to Raida and some to Bella. “I’d like for us to be able to get around Northrend better as our adventures here progress. These stones carry a little bit of my magic and can be used as one-time anchors for my long range teleport spells until I can set up proper anchors. Plant these in places such as Alliance or allied encampments or places that might be worth revisiting at some point. I’ll use the stones to teleport there at some point and establish anchors.” “How do you even keep track of so many anchor points?” Raida asked. “I keep a notebook of the locations and coordinates. Whenever we explore some place I memorize the location I intend for us to go once we finish an adventure.” "Aren't you guys forgetting something?" Mena reminded. "We still need a place to meet up once our separate adventures are done." "How about Wintergarde Keep?" Bella offered. After some contemplating, the others agreed to the idea. Once they had their plans settled, Stella conjured a portal to Dalaran. Thankfully an agent was in town to give her the updated coordinates. She and Jaqueline entered the portal, leaving the other four behind. Raida spread her wings and Flutashe shifted into her bird form before taking off and heading north. Mena and Bella created their wings of light and flew northwest toward another Alliance settlement in Howling Fjord named Westguard Keep. It took the paladin and priest about an hour to reach the keep where they reported to the commander of the settlement, a dwarf called Captain Adams. Bella planted a runestone in the middle of the keep. At first, Adams was surprised that the insufferable Vice Admiral Keller allowed them to leave Valgarde instead of using them to fortify his defenses against the vrykul but was quickly told that the vrykul leadership had been taken out so they had leave to move further into the continent. The dwarf nodded in understanding and told them that the Fjord was secure enough that he could send Bella and Mena to Wintergarde Keep to support them. From the last report the captain read, Wintergarde was under attack by the Scourge. The worst part of it was that the most powerful necropolis in the Scourge’s arsenal, Naxxramas, was floating high above their doorstep. Though recently, some adventurers came to their aid and gave the keep’s defenders some breathing room. The necropolis was still a threat, but not as much as earlier. Adams allowed the two to leave with a couple of their gryphons and head to Wintergarde to see if the beleaguered defenders needed assistance. After a few hours, Raida and Flutashe entered a forested region. The druid could see all manner of wildlife in the form of deer, eagles, grizzly bears, wolves and even some mountain goats. It always made her heart swell to see animals living peacefully in their natural habitat. It was only ten minutes after they had entered the region that they spotted Amberpine Lodge where the Alliance outpost was located. Once they landed, Flutashe and Raida headed toward the lodge where they expected to find the one in charge. On their way, they heard a lot of pained shouting coming from a nearby outhouse, as if someone was trying to move a huge kidney stone. The two night elves winced as they heard that for a few moments before the screaming stopped. Another minute passed as the door opened and an adventurer, given the armor they were wearing, emerged from it. They noticed the shamed look on his face as he carried what the two of them hoped were seeds into the lodge. Raida and Flutashe followed the adventurer inside where they saw him handing the product of his latest adventure to one of the woodsmen protecting the lodge. He then handed them over to another worker. “Alright Ben, we’ve retrieved the amberseeds again. You know the drill.” The other man, Ben, sighed, “I know. I know, back in the bucket.” The night elves watched as he placed the grody-looking seeds into a bucket right next to the door and walked back to his post. This ended up begging the question of whether that fiasco was caused by having the seeds right next to the entrance as if they were some complimentary welcome gift. Flutashe, not wanting to see anyone else suffer the same agony as the last adventurer, decided to ask the woodsman about why they had things set up that way. While the two had their conversation, Raida spoke with the man in charge, Lieutenant Dumont, about the situation in Grizzly Hills. Realizing who they were, the lieutenant gave them a rundown of what they had discovered. There was a nearby vrykul village that was recently suppressed so they wouldn’t be a problem until a new thane rose up to lead them again. The Horde had set up their own stronghold to the west which was made of a new design that was unlike the usual stone, metal, hide and bone. Rather, it was made of thick metal and spikes with some wood. The one leading the place was some ruthless female orc who led operations there with an iron fist. Any who disagreed with her ended up in some gladiatorial pit where they ended up fighting bears to the death. Budd Nedreck’s group was last seen near the western border of the region where they were trying to assist with the troll problem near Drak’tharon Keep which had fallen to the Scourge. When asked about their leader, Dumont could only shake his head as he heard that Budd had lost his mind and thinks he’s a troll, which felt fitting in Raida’s mind after he tried to con adventurers into looting Zul’Aman for him. Dumont originally tried to get help from the local clan of human trappers to secure the region but that turned out to be a mess. As it turned out, the trappers were all afflicted by the worgen curse so he had to spend much of their resources to burn their holdings to the ground to keep them from turning his boys into one of them. The clan turned out to be a worgen cult that was led by a man named Arugal who was killed a couple of years ago and reanimated by the Scourge at some point. Thankfully, someone put that man back in the grave recently. “What about the iron dwarves?” Raida asked. “Them? They aren’t really a problem for us right now since they seem to be at war with the stone giants. But we did find out a little more about this mysterious master they had been serving,” Dumont offered. “It turns out his name is Loken and according to an eyewitness he looked like a titan construct.” “That’s not much to go on, we will have to keep exploring the continent for more answers.” Just as Flutashe joined the conversation with Raida and Dumont, she gasped as she remembered something important. “Sister, I just remembered that Fandral Staghelm was in this region a long time ago as part of his experiments with Nordrassil.” “Sis, you know I don’t keep up with the druid stuff, what was he doing here?” “He wanted to create a World Tree in Northrend to stop the spread of saronite so he planted a branch of Nordrassil over a large deposit of it and called it Andrassil, Crown of the Snow. However, the plan backfired and the tree was corrupted by the Old God instead. They used the tree to drive the natives and wildlife insane. With no other option, the Cenarion Circle destroyed the tree and its remains were left to rot. Andrassil was renamed Vordrassil, Broken Crown.” “How does a tree drive wildlife mad?” Raida asked. “I’m not sure, World Trees have a deep connection with the Emerald Dream so perhaps the Old God used the Dream to drive them mad.” “Cut down or not, the furbolgs around that area are still acting like a bunch of bloodthirsty savages,” Dumont offered. “Wait…” Flutashe’s mind raced as she took the facts that she was given. With the power she felt from C’thun and assuming that this Old God could be at least as powerful, the implications were horrifying. “Could the Old Gods and the Emerald Nightmare be related?” From what she knew about the Nightmare, the symptoms appeared similar. When she added in the continued crazed behavior of the furbolgs, according to Dumont, it could only mean one thing. “Fandral, you fool!” “Did you figure something out?” Raida asked. “Maybe, but I need to investigate Vordrassil to confirm something. Follow me!” Raida nodded and followed her sister out of the lodge where both took flight and headed toward the site of the fallen tree. Mena and Bella arrived in Wintergarde after a two hour flight. As they flew in, they took sight of the massive floating fortress casting its shadow over the Alliance settlement. They had to take care to not get ambushed by enemy flyers. When they arrived, the two headed toward the leader of the Wintergarde forces. When they saw him, Bella’s eyes widened in shock when she heard the commander’s voice as he was giving orders to the troops. “Halford? Is that you?” Halford quickly turned around when he heard a familiar voice. “Miss Cartier? It is you! Only you could look so stylish on the battlefield. It’s good to see another Lordaeron survivor. How has life been treating you?” “The same as usual, darling. I have made a fortune on commissions through my armorcrafting skills.” “If you made what you are wearing right now, then I can see that you haven’t lost your touch. But enough pleasantries, I’m sure you didn’t come here to visit me.” “Sadly no, My companions and myself are exploring the continent to see where we are needed. We are also in need of information before we can come up with a plan of action.” Halford nodded and motioned for the two to follow him. “The main focus of our efforts in the Dragonblight has been Angrathar, the Wrath Gate. Securing that place would give us a direct entrance into the Lich King’s domicile, Icecrown Citadel. Unfortunately, the Horde had the same idea. Lord Bolvar Fordragon has set up a base there while the Horde have one not far from that.” “What about the other areas of Northrend?” Bella asked. “Our forces are spread along the southern regions with an outpost in Grizzly Hills. We had no luck making one in Zul’Drak, but the Argent Crusade and their associates, the Knights of the Ebon Blade, have their own camps in that region. Sholazar Basin is too remote and isolated to hold any strategic value and the Horde seem to agree with that assessment. The same could be said for the Storm Peaks, though I have heard that a small group of goblins have set up their own base camp there at the foot of the mountains. Flying in that region would be difficult unless you knew how to fly steady in blizzard-like conditions. “As for Icecrown, we can’t establish any bases there, too many enemies and we would get quickly overwhelmed. The bulk of the Argent forces have a base camp near the entrance. Thankfully, our presence in the region is not zero as Stormwind has approved the deployment of the Skybreaker, the latest feat of gnomish and dwarven engineering.” Bella giggled, “I look forward to seeing it, darling.” “What do you know about the stuff going on with the dragons?” Mena asked. Halford shrugged, “We have been keeping an eye on them, but that’s about it. The blue dragons seem to be fighting the red dragons for some reason.” “Stella mentioned that the Blue Dragonflight has declared war on every magic user in the world, it stands to reason that the Red Dragonflight would be against that,” Bella offered. “Sounds idiotic if you ask me, but they are the least of my concerns right now.” “Would there be any assistance that we could provide while we are here?” Halford thought for a moment as he considered any issues that would need addressing. “There is one, but it’s going to be tough to deal with. We’ve been unable to receive aid from Valiance Keep in Borean Tundra and it’s not just because the Horde have a significant presence in western Dragonblight. There’s also a hole in the ground near the road where countless spider creatures were seen emerging. We have a small outpost near the location called Stars’ Rest that is monitoring the situation. The officer there can give you more details.” “We will see what we can do. Though once this war is over, I do hope that we can find some time to catch up. I am curious as to your journey up the ladder.” “I would like that, good day, m’lady.” Half an hour later, Raida and Flutashe were flying above the remains of Vordrassil. The corrupted tree had been shattered and its colossal pieces were all over the area. The stump had been hollowed out and converted into a city for the two warring tribes of furbolg: the Redfang and Frostpaw tribes. Looking into the stump, Flutashe could see that the tribes were still busy trying to kill each other. Sadly, there wasn’t much she could do for them, especially if her suspicions were correct. The two flew to the bottom of the stump where they found a sapling growing from the world tree’s remains. The druid feared that the furbolg were attempting to regrow the tree which would spell disaster for the entire region. Still, Flutashe needed to be certain of her concerns so she touched the obviously corrupted sapling. Where she normally felt the Dream’s energies through the plants, she sensed a familiar corruption; one that she knew all too well. The Emerald Nightmare… “I knew it…” Flutashe growled. “Fandral unknowingly invited the corruption of the Old Gods into the Emerald Dream. The Nightmare is their corruption. This place is where the Nightmare originated.” “What do you wanna do?” Raida asked. Flutashe struggled to give the words that she wanted to give. What she would suggest would be a cruelty to nature. Yet, if she allowed this to continue, the corruption would spread and Grizzly Hills would one day be host to a menagerie of Nightmare creatures, which would be an even greater disaster. Her heart was heavy and her expression darkened as the words finally came out of her mouth, “Burn it…” “Are you sure? I know how much this means to you.” “Please don’t make me say it again, it was hard enough the first time. I’m going to gather every seed from this place and you will see to their destruction. Vordrassil cannot be allowed to regrow.” Flutashe shifted into her bird form and began scouring the city for any and all seeds while delivering mercy killings to the Nightmare-infected furbolg. Raida, being the supportive sister, flew around the city to collect seeds and execute the crazed bear people. The druid, however, was not so lost in her sorrow that she didn’t notice a Redfang cub and a Frostpaw cub huddled next to each other. “P-please! Don’t hurt us!” the Redfang cried out. It sounded like a young male. Blinking in surprise, Flutashe slowly approached the two and knelt down in front of them. “You two are still able to think clearly? Have you been having nightmares?” “Th-they started a few days ago, just after our parents left to take part in the fighting.” The Frostpaw cub said, sounding female. Good, it’s not too late to save them from this madness. The Nightmare hasn’t had time to break their minds yet. Flutashe thought. “I’m sorry for your loss, little ones, but you can’t stay here anymore. Your nightmares will only get worse the longer you stay here.” “But our parents…” the male voiced, sounding on the verge of tears just like his companion. “There’s nothing anyone can do for them anymore. If they are still alive, they would be crazed like everyone else in this place. There is a terrible evil beneath this land that’s driven your tribesmen insane and will get you too if you don’t get out of here.” “Where would we go?” the female asked. “This is the only place we know.” “What about your tribes’ guardians? What about Ursoc’s children?” “...They can’t help us, mama said that Orsonn and Kodian don’t leave their caves for any reason,” the female said. “My mama said that we still have Ursoc to watch over us,” the male cub added. “It was the one time our two tribes worked together to bring him back from the dead, or so she said.” Flutashe’s eyes widened in horror. Ursoc’s revival here could spell trouble for the region, especially if the furbolgs drew on Vordrassil’s power. “Please tell me they didn’t use the tree’s power to revive him.” The white-furred female cub looked at her curiously, “My mama mentioned something like that…why?” Flutashe was afraid of this. Ursoc had likely been revived as a corrupted agent of the Nightmare. She absolutely loathed what she had to do. The recent events in the past few years had made her weary with the corruption of nature, tormented Loa and abused animals. She was thankful that her sister had returned to her, she needed emotional support right now. “I need to get you two out of here, it’s the only way to save you from the madness going on around us.” Pulling out a stone with a glyph on it, she handed it to the red-furred male. “I am going to send you to a safe place that is away from the dark influence. Show this to Keeper Remulos, he has the upper torso of an elf like me and the lower body of a stag deer. He should know what to do. He should introduce you to the Timbermaw tribe which is free from corruption.” Flutashe didn’t want to take a pair of cubs away from their tribe, but the Nightmare had taken hold in the minds of the furbolgs here. She had a feeling that even if they got rid of the Old God in Northrend, the other two would perpetuate the Nightmare. The two furbolgs looked at each other for a few moments. Both wanted to protect the other and neither were interested in the conflict between their two tribes. Still, the male had to ask, “Can you get rid of this evil and save our tribes?” “I don’t know,” Flutashe answered. “Even if I could get rid of the source of the evil, it would be a monumental task. But the madness may have gripped your tribes for too long. I would still like to save the future of the Redfang and Frostpaw tribes. In the meantime, I’d like for you two to grow up safe.” After some quiet deliberation, the two reluctantly agreed to the druid’s offer. Relief filled Flutashe as she smiled sadly and created a portal to Moonglade. The two reluctantly stepped through before she closed the rift. “Hey, Flutters, where are you?” Raida called out. Returning to her dutiful mindset, Flutashe flew back down to the sapling where her sister deposited a number of acorns around the young tree. Flutashe pulled out the ones she found and added them to the pile. “I think that’s all of them. Stand back!” “Don’t use fel fire on these,” Flutashe requested. “I need them purified of the corruption if I’m going to use them to save Ursoc from the corruption and demon fire might add demonic corruption on top of the Nightmare corruption affecting him.” Once both were a safe distance away, Raida fired a number of Incinerate spells at the sapling and acorns to set them ablaze. Since her Incinerate spell was not fel based, the seeds and sapling were engulfed in regular magical flame. It took about half an hour for them to burn down and Flutashe had to make sure the fire didn’t spread by creating small rain showers to put out flames where they weren’t needed. Flutashe collected the ashes from the remains of the sapling into a vial before shifting into her bird form and taking off. Raida followed her northward. It took them half an hour to reach Ursoc’s den. Flutashe was able to sense his location by feeling his presence and the concentration of Nightmare energy within him. She wasn’t expecting to see a furbolg tied up near the cave’s entrance. A few bears stood guard over the prisoner and the cave. Sadly, her aura didn’t work on the Nightmare-infected so she and Raida had no choice but to put them down. The furbolg was roused from the fighting and noticed the two night elves. Hope filled him as he called out to them, “Are you here to save Ursoc? Please, untie me! We have a common objective!” Flutashe, intending on releasing him anyway, began the process as she spoke, “You don’t look like you’re from around here. Your fur looks like you came from a more southern tribe.” “You are correct, I hail from the Timbermaw Tribe. I am Tur Ragepaw. As I communed with nature, I felt the disturbance coming from here and learned that Ursoc had been corrupted. When I came here through the Dreamway, I was ambushed by furbolg of thicker fur and they quickly tied me up, saying that I was to be an offering to their god.” “So you are not corrupted by the Nightmare, good. Then you can assist us with subduing Ursoc while I spread the purified ashes of Vordrassil on him.” Tur nodded, “I can take whatever role you wish me to for this fight.” Flutashe smiled, “Since it seems like you came through the Dreamway on your own power, that must mean you are a druid too. In that case, you can help us subdue him in what form you’re most comfortable with.” Once he was free, Tur quickly reviewed himself on the solar and lunar spells he knew as they entered the cave. At first, the cave, which lacked a ceiling, seemed empty. But then, Tur called out to Ursoc to show himself. That was when a sickly-looking giant bear wearing tribal decorations and lunar markings on his coat appeared. Addled by the Nightmare, Ursoc’s mind was in a feral state and proceeded to attack the trio. Flutashe shifted into her bear form and roared at the Wild God in challenge. The bear god’s instincts told him to accept the challenge and attack the druid. Meanwhile, Raida and Tur went on the offensive with Raida using her fel-based attacks and Tur attacking with solar and lunar magic. The bear god’s larger form and formidable strength meant that Flutashe couldn’t endure too many of his attacks so she had to avoid some of them. She managed to deliver a few deep cuts to his forelegs with her claws, augmented by Nalorakk’s strength. A problem that Flutashe would be having in the future was that her bear form might receive multiple blessings from Wild Gods and she needed a medium like the Claws of Shirvallah and Bethekk to manage them all. For now, only Nalorakk’s blessing was what she had to power up her bear form so this problem had not occurred yet. However, she had a feeling that she would be receiving the blessing of another bear Loa in the near future so that was a small concern at this time. As Ursoc was being bombarded by felfire and celestial light, he decided to go after the other two instead. The moment he turned away from the druid, Flutashe bit into his flank and tore the flesh off, causing the god to roar in pain and anger at the one who harmed him. When he turned back to Flutashe, he was punished further as he was not expecting her to headbutt him on the jaw. A few more fiery slashes from Raida and a few more blasts of starlight from Tur drove the corrupted bear’s body to the limit with Flutashe ripping his throat out to make sure the deed was done. Once Ursoc collapsed on the floor, the group waited a few moments to see if the bear god would get up again. When he didn’t Flutashe shifted back to her night elf form and strewed the purified ashes over the bear’s corpse. This caused the spirit of the Wild God to be freed from the tainted shell of flesh. Ursoc’s spirit approached Flutashe and sat down in front of her. “I thank you three for setting me free. The druids of old were wise to tear down Vordrassil, for its roots seep deep into the dwelling of an ancient evil.” “You mean the Old God in Northrend?” Flutashe asked. “So you know about him? Then I warn you to beware of Yogg-Saron, the beast with a thousand maws. His evil extends beyond Vordrassil’s roots.” “We know, it’s in the Saronite that’s spread throughout the continent. The Scourge have been mining it for their purposes.” Ursoc raised an eyebrow, “How do you know this much about him?” “Because a friend of mine harbors a powerful dark force within them that seeks to devour the Old Gods in their war against the void. At least, that’s what I got from their story.” “A force seeks to devour the Old Gods? Do you trust them?” “No, but I’d rather not have her as my enemy either. She claims that she has no interest in harming Azeroth. I am working with her because I don’t want to risk my friends being harmed. Still, I am hoping that she was being truthful in the matter because being rid of those things would be to the benefit of all of us…as long as she doesn’t decide to turn on us.” Ursoc nodded, “Keeping your enemies close to where you can keep an eye on them, a wise idea. Anyways, as we fought, I could feel the spirit of the bear in you. I can also sense that you are the one the Keeper of Life has been waiting for, the Alpha. You have already had a number of my kin acknowledge you. Wild Gods and Loa are cut from the same cloth, we are all the chosen of the Keeper of Life.” “The Keeper of Life? The other Loa had been hinting about my destiny, but avoided telling me anything concrete.” “You will meet her soon, though I fear that you may have to save her. The other Wild Gods have not been able to contact her for a long time, the last we heard from her was from her temple near the Titan City of Ulduar, at the northern end of this continent. “Before you go, I have one last gift for you. It is in the Dream so I need you to enter it from here.” Flutashe nodded in acknowledgement and began to lie down. Before she went to sleep, she looked at the furbolg who was watching everything, “Tur, there are a pair of cubs from the warring tribes that I sent to Moonglade. May I ask that you look after them?” “Since you helped me save Ursoc, I shall honor your request,” Tur said. He then turned toward the entrance and walked out. With that taken care of, Flutashe drifted into sleep while focusing on the Emerald Dream. Her consciousness left her body and she entered the verdant realm. The only difference between what she saw and the waking world was that there was an altar in the center of the cave now. Ursoc stood by it. “It is unfortunate that the Nightmare has claimed the minds of the Redfang and Frostpaw furbolg, I can only hope that they still have a future.” The bear god shook his head. “I wish to bestow upon you my claws. As more Wild Gods acknowledge you, I am certain that these claws will help you to channel their power alongside the claws already in your possession.” “Your claws?! Lord Ursoc, I am certain that there are druids more worthy than myself to wield these.” Ursoc chuckled, “There are those who can wield my claws properly, that’s true. However, these claws are drawn to your destiny. I can sense that they wish to be with you.” Using what little power he had left, Ursoc broke the seal protecting his claws, allowing Flutashe to collect them. Flutashe could feel the weight of power from the Claws of Ursoc. The large weapons shrank to fit her skinny arms. Despite her concerns about wielding so much power, it somehow felt right, as if a piece of herself that she had no idea was missing had been returned to her. She turned to the bear god and gave a deep, respectful bow. “I will not disappoint you.” Ursoc nodded, “It is time to awaken, show your enemies the fury of the wilds.” Concentrating, Flutashe pulled herself from her dreaming state and awoke in the real world. She spotted Raida sitting next to her with a bored look on her face. The demon hunter noticed her sister waking up and waited a few moments for her to become fully conscious. “How was your nap, sis?” “Mmm…it wasn’t as restful as I had hoped.” The two shared a laugh. “So, what do you say we find an enemy stronghold so I can test my new power.” Raida raised an eyebrow at this because she wasn’t sure when her sister got a new power, though she guessed that she found something interesting in the Emerald Dream. She shrugged, “Sure, I heard that the Scourge took over a nearby Drakkari stronghold. Wanna go clear ‘em out?” With a smile, Flutashe nodded.