Equestria Was Merely a Setback!

by Thunderscourge

Level 38: The Undead Scourge

A/N: Special thanks to monaman, Sidetrack, the other sans, Amethyst Blade, Housecarl of Clan Drops, Booster Spice, GamerGoddessDin, and Kitsuja for your comments on the last chapter, and the same people as well as Phaoray for the comment on the most recent meta chapter. Your support is very much appreciated, and I apologize for the delays. Had a lot of real life drama I had to continually deal with, but I think I'm in the clear for the moment so things will get back on track now.

Hope you all enjoy, and I hope to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

---

"For Lady Sylvanas!"

"For the Lich King!"

The Plaguelands were a place of many factions, and so skirmishes were as common as the days themselves. The Forsaken under Sylvanas would try to encroach upon the territory of the entrenched mindless dead risen to fight again by the Lich King and his servants. The Scourge in turn tried time and time again to force out the native Scarlet Crusaders from their towers and their fortresses to hold the ground uncontested, with their Human enemies trying to do the same right back towards them.

"Burn, heretics! By the Light be purged!"

Unfortunately for both of the Undead groups clashing against one another in one such skirmish, their other dance partner had come to tango, and it was not the regular Crusaders who might be equal in strength to the forces gathered but rather the Scarlet Crusade's finest.

Using the aptly named Neverending Hail of Devastation, Avitus stood upon a hill and fired down at the Undead forces fighting one another, carving them apart as the large caliber bullets punched fist sized holes through their victims. To say he was targeting them would be to lie, for the sheer volume of the gunfire rid any need to actually aim at the dozens of individuals slamming against one another in the brawl of dead bodies.

To turn one's attention away from their immediate enemy would be to die, but to stay fighting them while being torn apart by bullets infused with the holy energies of the Light would also mean to return to the dirt from which they were once risen. It was in this manner that both forces were cut down relentlessly to the last man, with the stragglers trying to climb out of the pile of mangled bodies to try and escape or to retaliate against the one who ambushed them.

Unfortunately for them, no matter which way they decided to react, they were met with the same fate: to forever lay beside their fallen comrades as they were brutally put down and out of their misery with a perhaps overzealous series of bullets through their faces and chest cavities.

One Undead from Sylvanas' army rose an arm up to try and shield their face as the muzzle of Avitus' weapon shone in their face, "Mercy!"

Six bullets later, they collapsed with what little remained of their arm, Avitus snarling at the dead Undead.

"Not even the living could ask that of me."

Having taken care of a small army all on his own thanks to them distracting one another, Avitus began to wonder what was taking his allies so long. Sure, he had left early, but he had the heaviest equipment and they had agreed to all meet here with their various forces for the mission by now.

He was no longer alone however, as partway through his slaughter the low ranked Mouar and her partner Jerid Messa arrived. Jerid was cutting down some stragglers from the conflict who had not been in the massive melee, while Mouar reported right to their superior, her eyes darting back and forth between her comrade still fighting and Avitus as he cleaned the barrel of his bloodied weapon.

"Recruit, status report."

Mouar nearly shook at his grizzled voice, rage and fury penetrating his terse sentence even without him yelling.

"All forces are ready and accounted for, sir. They will be here in a few moments."

Avitus snorted and shook his head, accepting the situation for what it was and grateful that at least things were shaping up now, "Good. I have heard that your ranged combat abilities are up to par, so you will be aiding me in the coming battle at Scholomance."

His orders conflicted with Mouar's initial ones to serve alongside Jerid, causing her to tilt her head to express her confusion, "But sir, aren't I supposed to work with Jerid and the other recruits?"

"Mograine and his foolish followers will think themselves above the rest of our forces and act out of step with us, so it is important that we, the 'scum' he looks down upon work together so as to not repeat his failures."

Seeing his logic, Mouar acceded to his command, "Yes sir."

The other Scarlet Crusaders fell into place soon after in a large crowd, numbering a few dozen in total between Mograine's large group of Veterans, Avitus and his own personal squad, and Jerid and the recruits assigned to him just now. With the group all formed around the man who had just slaughtered their foe, Avitus raised his voice to yell at them.

"Listen up here maggots! I don't give a damn if you are new or if you are old like myself, we march today with one purpose! There are those who have drawn the blood of our comrades, and so shall we abide this? Shall we let the loss of not only our brothers, but our territory pass?!"

He was not an orator, so he would keep this short, but even the perpetually furious man felt some satisfaction with the yells and cheers he received back from the others. Perhaps they would be able to pull their weight anyways.

"Bring me blood, Scarlet Crusaders! Go to battle in your white uniforms and come back with the scarlet you claim to embody!"

While Avitus was just beginning to enjoy himself, Mograine stepped forward from the crowd with a large grin on his face. Whitemane standing behind him in support, he seemed to take Avitus' place at the head of the group by standing in front of him arrogantly.

"Brother Avitus, I must say I find your speech compelling, but do remember who is in charge of this operation."

This was met with the response a reasonable person might have expected of Avitus grabbing Mograine by the collar and snarling right into his face, "And do remember brother whose fault it is that we are on this mission! Do not speak to me until the blood of our brothers and sisters is avenged, or you will join them."

Avitus threw the other man to the ground, Mograine falling awkwardly due to the uneven ground of the hill they were on. He attempted to get back up and accost his subordinate for effectively replacing him in terms of command and for threatening him, but Avitus strode past him and stomped on Mograine's one hand as he did so.

Once he finally did manage to get up with Avitus gone to rally their forces, Mograine decided to take out his anger on the closest subordinate to him who he knew and could effectively diminish like he just had been.

"Lieutenant Jerid, the first of your recruits are here now. Do not fail General Abbendis in training them or in helping them reach their potential."

The blonde haired man turned his blue eyes back to look at Mograine, having been trying to pick out from among the crowd just who was actually going to fill up his squad now that Mouar wasn't going to be in it.

"Of course, Mograine," Jerid passively replied, though he could not completely hide the irritation and anger he felt at his commanding officer. After all, Mograine had made Jerid watch as one of his friends was killed when had Mograine chosen they could have saved her life.

Sensing the wounded emotions of his comrade, Mograine set upon them smugly, "Are you still upset about...what was her name? Lila?"

Jerid balled his fists and steeled his voice better, hiding his resentment in the voice itself if not his heart, "There was nothing I could do. Now I must follow my orders so that I can take revenge for her."

"That's a good lad. Now go and deal with your recruits, Lieutenant. I expect a lot from you to make up for your past failures."

The mocking tone in his voice when he mentioned the recruits was lost upon Jerid at first, but when he was lead over to his team and shown what he would be working with he balked as Mograine left him behind with them, laughing all the while.

"This is it?" Jerid looked at the two women before him and gripped his fist, "You have to be kidding me."

Looking over papers given to him concerning their 'transfer', Jerid looked over his first recruit with some scorn. Semi-tall for a woman, she was build strong and not as lithe as one would generally expect from a ranged combatant, her gun in hand as the other pet the grey wolf by her side.

"Huntsman Radley, and your pet Bloodshot..." Jerid had to admit that on paper she was at least decent, even if she wasn't up to par with his own abilities or those of Kacricon, Lila, or Dirge by what the transfer papers indicated, "Not a poor record, but definitely not enough to defeat the brigands we're hunting."

Her brown hair messily set upon her head and only tamed by a red headband, Radley crossed her arms and scowled at her commander, "I'll prove my worth, as will Bloodshot."

Moving on to the next recruit, Jerid scoffed at the record he was looking at given that it held absolutely no combat in its entirety, "Lieutenant Marjhan, you are one of our rising diplomatic envoys. Why are you assigned to a combat mission?"

With soft features on her pale face which contrasted her raven hair, Marjhan smirked proudly with one hand on her hip as she stood in her pristine Scarlet Crusade uniform that had never seen a day of battle in its entire usage, "Lady Abbendis believed me capable enough to serve as a soldier, and so I shall in this time of great peril. This is not the time for diplomacy, but rather action, in what ways I can contribute."

Jerid snatched her wrists and tugged her hands up towards him so he could see them closer, "Let me look at your hands," upon touching and seeing their smoothness which belied a comfy life up until now, he tossed them down and criticized her brusquely over her inexperience, "Have you ever even taken a life? Have you even been in a battle before? Have you taken a life?"

Marjhan shrugged, not seeming to take this anywhere nearly as seriously as her superior officer, "No, but I don't believe I'll have to. There are others to do such bothersome work for me."

"Then why are you a soldier?" he snapped furiously, using his height to glare down at the recruit who until now had been hiding behind desks snobbishly while the rest of them fought their foes on the battlefield. Even Kacricon, a quartermaster, had participated in combat whenever he could, while this woman had completely eschewed it. While she may have just not gotten around to it yet, her lack of battle history so far was a severe detriment for this coming conflict...maybe their leader saw something in her, but at the moment Jerid could only see that he was stuck with a complete newbie who would likely drag them down and possibly get them killed.

"Just because I don't want to dirty my hands doesn't mean I cannot help. I can aid our forces in other ways, such as through tactical planning. I am too important to risk myself needlessly," she tried explaining to little effect.

Jerid balled a fist as he realized just how out of touch this subordinate was going to be, "If you won't kill them, they will kill you. It figures though that I would be given children who don't even know how to fight."

Radley piped up in defense of her partner, "I find your remarks inappropriate. We were chosen for this mission, and we will be able to handle ourselves just fine. To delve into such personal matters and to mock us is disappointing coming from a commanding officer."

Jerid shook his head in frustration, "We'll see about that. We will be fighting soon, so get ready. Follow my lead and stay out of my way."

Not wanting to deal with them anymore, Jerid strode away from the two and towards the main force. There he was stopped by the similarly tall and towering Avitus, who tapped him on the shoulder and gave him an amused smirk.

"How is your team looking, Lieutenant? They seemed pretty green coming in today."

"I don't have high hopes, but we will do what we can," Jerid had some more respect for this commander than Mograine, so he accepted the playful jab given that Avitus had just humiliated Mograine in front of everyone, "Do you think we will be able to defeat the Scourge and those Elves, sir?"

"With any luck, they will weaken one another, and when we arrive we will lay the coup de grâce. That is not all however," Avitus lowered his head as his smirk began to fade, "While I may disagree with such unsavory tactics, Lord Abbendis has tasked Benedictus with assassinating some key members of that school to begin the chaos we will use to our advantage."

Benedictus was one of the Crusade's most powerful members, and one of those who was said to serve the Grand Crusader directly, using the Crusade's most cunning members to enact assassinations of critical enemies. Still, in the years of the Crusade's existence Benedictus' effectiveness had diminished and they had few notable achievements in recent history, something which was common knowledge among the Crusaders themselves.

Jerid found himself finally smirking himself as he found that for once he wasn't the one being looked down upon, "Let's not get our hopes up. From what I've heard, he's beginning to slip in his skills. He might botch things and clue them in that we're coming."

"I would not worry about Voss or his men. If they fail, I will clean up their mess...and if those fools get in my way, they will be crushed beneath my boot for daring to impede our mission."

---

When Kael came downstairs after he and Trixie finally kissed one another, he did so without Trixie because the two had decided it best if they keep their relationship upgrade quiet for the time being (and thus would come downstairs one at a time rather than hanging off one another)...and if Trixie was told certain mammalian functions and had certain things explained by Vanessa, who was ironically far more knowledgeable on the subjects than her elder.

"Where are Trixie and Vanessa?" Lavitz asked the Elf who joined them for what was essentially lunch in the inn's lower floor.

Kael coughed as he tried to figure out how to explain this to the others without getting too much into the details, "Vanessa is explaining to her some important things she should already know."

That caught Lavitz's attention and made him even more curious, "Oh? What sort of things?"

"Things that should remain unknown to you and I."

Dirge, sitting across from Lavitz and besides Karl, laughed at Kael's attempt to deflect the subject, "I had forgotten how prudish some people could be. As if there is anything special or sacred about pleasure and fluids."

Karl nodded along with the other man's sentiment, "Is true."

Kael rose an eyebrow at their healer, now curious about what he meant, "Oh, so you know the secrets of the female persuasion?"

"A few. If you need any for use with your companion, just ask. Where I come from, such things are not hidden away from sight."

That was a bit too much for Kael, who was already flustered by the kiss he shared with Trixie earlier, "A loving Priest you are then, but thanks, I think I will be fine."

Lavitz shrugged his shoulders as he cracked a joke, "I wonder if there are any little Priests running around out there."

Dirge shrugged right back, not seeming to care about whether he had any bastard children or not, "I wouldn't know. I haven't been home in some time with past endeavors, and being with the Scarlet Crusade has limited the exploits I can get away with."

"I should have expected as much from men."

Everyone at the table looked up at the staircase to find Jaina crossing her arms and glaring down at them, seemingly judging them based on their conversation topic. Not about to take up the same tone as her, Kael tried to be civil.

"Good morning, Jaina."

Jaina stepped down from the staircase and moved to join them in sitting down for food when her path was swiftly blocked by Karl, who kept her from getting too close to Kael.

The intrusion on her personal space irritated Jaina, who used a thumb to point to where she hoped Karl would sit back down, "Cool your heels, doppelgangster. I'm not going to jump Kael now that his girlfriend is out of the room."

He didn't move as she wished he would, and so the blonde Human remained in her path to sitting down, instead pointing with a thumb of his own to another table entirely. Not about to let him tell her what to do, Jaina stood her ground and began a tense staring contest with the aloof SI-7 agent...for approximately three seconds before someone else piped up.

"What's the matter?"

Now on the staircase was Nana, who wanted to join everybody else but who was confused why things were so tense. She wasn't exactly great on personal interaction yet, but she could read a mood, and the mood was not particularly a happy one.

Lavitz beckoned Nana to come join them and so she did as he explained their present situation, "Big brother Kael was once in love with Jaina here, but now he loves big sister Trixie and we don't want his old love getting in the way of that."

Nana stopped besides Jaina, looked up at her for a moment, and then closed her eyes while smirking smugly, "Hah, no way big brother betrays big sister like that."

Jaina was glad that seemingly someone was taking her side and not worrying about her trying to steal Kael back, "See? Even the child knows better."

Her relief at getting backup in the form of a small Elven child was ruined when said child began to poke and prod at Jaina's boobs.

"Look at her breasts! Big sister Trixie's got much bigger boobs! No contest."

Jaina shoved her chest out of the way of Nana's intruding finger, the Mage's eyes shut in quiet anger as she spoke with barely restrained anger, "Kael, control this child or I will."

In response to this, Kael pulled said child down to be sitting beside him, preventing her from humiliating Jaina any more...to the chagrin of the others present, since Karl had been smirking, Dirge laughing, and Lavitz trying to withhold a smirk of his own, "Nana, you're not supposed to touch people like that."

The former Mana Wyrm tilted her head to the side as she looked up at Kael, one of her arms still reaching out towards Jaina, "Why?"

"Because they don't like it."

Nana began to pout, "But big sister Vanessa lets me sleep on her boobs and she doesn't mind."

Kael sighed even as the others save Jaina laughed, "Nana, that was when you were a Mana Wyrm. Now that you're an Elf things are different."

"But big sister Trixie lets you sleep on her boobs. I'm confused," Nana paused to think a moment as Kael's face ran as red as his clothing, "I mean, milk pillows feel nice so I know why you do it, but-"

"That's enough Nana. No more talking about or touching bodyparts today," Kael used a hand to cover her mouth as he blushed at her completely correct recounting of how he slept the night before, face in Trixie's chest and enjoying every moment of it. He quickly retracted his hand when Nana decided to lick his hand and the food bits that were on it.

"The child is certainly correct though, in that the bigger the better. Isn't that right, Aria?"

Now coming down to join them were the two women Tarkin had arrived with, Adagio and Aria, the orange woman and her purple counterpart. Adagio was sneering at Aria, who was glaring back in return.

Coming in behind them on the staircase was Trixie, who butted in on the conversation without social grace, "Ohhh, so you two are Lesliebens. Vanessa just told me about those."

Adagio glanced back to Trixie, still keeping the smug expression she had been giving Aria, "Half correct. Aria here sucks on my 'milk pillows' like a calf does its mother, but I also happen to like men."

Not a moment later than her saying 'men' was Adagio tumbling down the staircase thanks to a harsh shove by the woman standing beside her, Aria making no bones about showing her displeasure with Adagio airing their personal matters for everyone to hear.

As the rest of the room looked at the display, Aria took a defensive posture and leaned on the wall to her side, "What? She had that coming."

Trying to be helpful and still not understanding quite how much the two Sirens didn't like her, Trixie spoke up again, "Have you tried couple's counseling?"

Aria laughed as she stepped down the staircase and over Adagio, "As if I'd take advice from you. You wouldn't know a relationship if it struck you across the face, freaking tease," she tilted her head back and lifted a hand out of her pockets to flip Trixie a middle finger, "Oh, and because of you I spent years in Tartarus or whatever it's called, so you can fuck off."

Not about to allow everyone else to have all the fun of entering the scene, Tarkin entered from outside with a new spear seemingly crafted from the woods and from supplies taken from some unknown force within said forest. Putting it behind his back on a special sheath he also made for it, Tarkin wiped his hands off and spoke to Aria.

"Mind your language, Agent two," gesturing outside he then addressed the others, "Is everyone ready to depart for the diversionary mission?"

Trixie stepped over Adagio as well to come downstairs, Vanessa silently following behind her, and forcing Adagio to remain awkwardly sprawled out where she lay another few moments, "Of course we're ready. The Great and Powerful Trixie is always ready."

Kael sighed as his first real look at Trixie that morning instantly disproved her own claim, "Trixie, your cape is inside out."

Looking down in surprise, Trixie noticed he was correct and she tore it off to begin fixing said cape, "Bwahahahaha, that was merely a test!"

Jaina leaned in towards her old Elven boyfriend to whisper to him now that Karl was too busy watching everyone else to pay full attention to her, "Kael, where did you find her?"

Unlike the bemused Jaina, Kael was actually fond of Trixie's silly behavior, even if it embarrassed them on some occasions, "She's something, isn't she?"

"I almost feel insulted that this is your next relationship even if we haven't been together in years."

Not one for idle chatter, Tarkin prepared to head back outside again while turning his back on all the others, "We will depart in three minutes. If you are not ready by then, you will be dealt with accordingly, up to and including summary execution, so be quick. The longer we dally, the longer we place ourselves at undue risk."

The fearful expressions of Aria and Adagio clued everyone else in to the fact that Tarkin's threat was not just hot air, and so they quickly set about paying the innkeeper and grabbing as much food as they could so as to depart with the auburn haired man.

It was time for them to go to Scholomance and raise some hell.

---

An attempted assassination attempt against both Reuenthal and Mitter'meyer when they were out scouting the frontlines of the conflict in Outland was foiled when one of the two guards chosen among those who offered to join them went on a killing spree of the assassins sent by the Shattered Hand clan of Orcs led by Kargath.

It was with some surprise actually that Reuenthal and Mitter'meyer both stood back and watched as the blue haired Human used a cutlass to decapitate and impale Fel Orc after Fel Orc, cutting them down in a magnificent display of both skill and power. Three dozen Orcs slain in almost as many seconds, the blue and white clad woman taking no time to rest as she tore from one foe to another, sometimes stabbing and sometimes by throwing blades she seemed to summon from nowhere.

Less susceptible to such swordplay however was a demon known as a Pit Lord, which towered over them all and which had used a blood ritual to hide until just then: not that it hadn't been noticed earlier by Tristan, Reuenthal's pet bird which had revealed the ambush before it went off. Still, the Pit Lord had thought itself to still be concealed and so the massive demon shaped like an L with its extremely fat centaur-esque body lunged forth with a powerful glaive with a strike meant to slay the woman in one strike.

Instead when its blade buried into the ground she had been standing, the Pit Lord's fiery aura around its face seemed to recoil in shock as it realized she was standing atop it. A few powerful stabs by her as she flipped down off of the blade to avoid the followup strike all impacted the Pit Lord but did not damage it too greatly, melee combat being something of a specialty of their breed of Demon.

What did get its attention however was when the woman landed on a pool of Demon blood and lifted her own blade up into the air before reversing it and thrusting it through her own body. Mitter'meyer nearly gagged as he witnessed this woman rip out her own heart for seemingly no reason upon her sword, while Reuenthal took a step back in shock as well. They would have been capable of dealing with the ambush on their own, perhaps with some trouble, but they had been mesmerized by their comrade's talents up until this point and now were suddenly torn from their admiration as they witnessed their guard essentially commit suicide out of the blue.

It took a moment, but then the large pool of blood rippled and from it erupted a giant screeching beast with the helmet of a knight but the form of a monster. Its body was covered in armor, with a deep blue cape flowing behind the beast, but its lower body was that of a mermaid and sword shaped spikes formed from around its waist from which seemed to hang banners of some unknown designs.

This monster towered over the Pit Lord, already the size of a medium sized building on its own, and bore down upon it a large sword it seemed to summon from out of the air. The Pit Lord's surprise would be lethal for it as it was cleaved in two down the middle, its left and right halves beginning to fall down before the monster slashed again and again and again until only small pieces remained of the Demon by the time any of its upper body touched the dirt beneath it.

Their enemies finished, the monster disappeared back into the blood it had been summoned forth from, the heart used as bait to summon it forth returning to its owner's chest from the sword that had pierced it as if a miraculous event had just taken place and she had been healed of all physical wounds.

Turning around, Sayaka grinned at her stunned superiors, who had thought it would be a sign of goodwill to allow one of their Human allies to join them on the mission, not expecting her to actually prove to be the most dangerous of their entire team. Even the stoic Anavel who had come with them was stunned, and Sayaka seemed to be reveling in it, as if she had been intentionally showing off.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

Once she returned to all of them and had sheathed her sword, Mitter'meyer was the first to recover and congratulate his ally, "That was impressive swordwork and...whatever it is you did with that creature. I don't believe I have seen a lady as fearsome as you since Lady Windrunner years ago."

Reuenthal recovered as well with an ever-present smirk, "Hopefully Sylvanas is not the standard we use, given how she lost our homeland to the Scourge."

Mitter'meyer nudged Reuenthal playfully, "Don't mind my friend. He speaks his mind too much, even when it would be best if he didn't."

Sayaka put her arms up behind her head, nervously chuckling as her cape fluttered behind her, "Hehe, I don't mind. I tend to run mine off too actually, so it's no biggie. Always saying more than I should."

Still curious about what had just happened, Reuenthal spoke up again, "You are not the only Human aiding us, but I must say that I am surprised at your abilities. While the others require training, I dare say that you are among the strongest in our force. How was it that you came to join our cause?"

"I'm a fan of Trixie's, a big one you could say," Sayaka laughed as she tried to think of how to let the others know without saying too much as she had just accosted herself for, "I owe her a lot, but that's a whole 'nother story. Here she is living out a second chance at things, and so am I, thanks to her. We're not the only ones either."

This only served to further confuse Reuenthal, who pressed on further, "I fail to see what you mean."

"I guess for normal people it might come across as a bit odd..." Sayaka laughed as she began to explain, "You see, some people around here aren't supposed to actually be here is the way I can best say it. Think if you took the cast and characters of one book and put them into another book without actually removing the characters already in that one, if that makes sense."

Seeing their confusion told Sayaka that she really ought to begin telling more, so as to not leave them hanging.

"Thinking about it though, nothing about this makes sense, from a normal person's perspective. Why someone from another world entirely would be here, like Trixie, or why certain people not even native to Azeroth are here as if they always have been. Pretty weird, huh?"

Still giving her the floor to speak, Reuenthal and Mitter'meyer began to mull over her words very carefully. Seeing their minds doing the math and piecing things together, Sayaka continued forward.

"I mean, why would someone go to all the trouble of making a world full of specific individuals, if all she's gonna do is keep us here and keep Azeroth the same overall? You see, if this were the original Azeroth none of us would be here right now. Things are different, way different."

Mitter'meyer came up with his first hypothesis as he came to realize how a mere Human could cast such powerful magic and would speak in such an odd way, "Are you one of the Bronze Dragonflight, who protect time itself?"

"Something like that. Let's just say that if everything were as it should be, right now there'd just be a tyrant calling himself Kael'thas here in Outland. But now things are better because we are here to oppose him, so just because things are different doesn't mean they're worse."

Sayaka paused to turn around and face the site of her battle, the mangled bodies of red Fel Orcs strewn about along with their Demon ally.

"So, whoever changed things isn't tryna hurt us, and maybe this is a way for some people who didn't have anywhere else to be to do things right a second time around," she sighed as she brought her arms over her own body in a sort of self-hug, "Not a fairy tale happily ever after where we all get it easy, but a chance for everyone to try it all again and maybe do things right this time."

Reuenthal narrowed his eyes at what she was suggesting, "So someone influential or powerful enough has changed the very landscape of this world in terms of population."

"That's right. Question is, who would want things to change like this? And why? Start there, work backwards and..."

Sayaka grinned as she turned back, almost skipping to one side as a decapitated head of one Orc rolled by. With her words in mind, Reuenthal responded with speculation on his part.

"If someone has done such a thing, it would have to benefit them in some regard. But presently, the only ones better off now would have to be our own faction, for we have been benefiting at the cost of our enemies, and it sounds as if our army would not come to be in the original setting."

The fact that they were catching on as quickly as they were pleased Sayaka, who had worried that they would just dismiss what she was saying, "So you think the person who trapped us in here might actually be one of us, right?"

"If you know, then why withhold such information from us?" Mitter'meyer frowned as he came to be suspicious of this mysterious comrade of theirs.

"Because if I tell everyone that we have some secret god or goddess among our ranks, then don't you think that would ruin the whole play they've set up for us?" Sayaka scoffed as if that was as plain as day, "But if it is one of us, would it really be all that surprising? Remember how Kael was when we were at the Monastery? Remember how he was smiling when he was with everyone, when he was with Trixie? I'd reckon he's the happiest he's been in a long time, and I can say for certain it's better than Kael in the not-altered world."

With a sigh, Sayaka took a seat on a nearby rock. There was so much she could say, but figuring out what to actually say was the tricky part...

"I suppose I should come clean and explain a bit more, since you two are Kael's right hand men with his army. Each of us are here for our own purpose, though Trixie, Tarkin, Aria, Adagio, and I perhaps break that rule. But Karl? He's a stoic guy who in another universe lost his brother and went on a rampage to try and avenge him. Or what about a couple of the Crusaders they fought? Jerid was a jerk who lost everyone he came to love all to some young brat, who later went on to kill him," holding a finger up like a teacher, Sayaka continued her little lecture, "In normal Azeroth, they wouldn't be here. Some other random, inconsequential people would be in their place. But the one we're in is different, and someone made it that way."

After a brief pause, Sayaka sighed and hung her head.

"Is it really so bad though? I mean, having this second chance? I mean, if it makes people happy..."

Something she had said about herself, Trixie, and certain others had caught Reuenthal's attention, so he pressed that point, "What makes you different?"

Sayaka looked back up to smile at the half-Elf, "I'm still the same old me, not a new person born and raised here in Azeroth, even though I pretended like I was. I'm the stupid girl who made a wish to help someone else, to save others, who ended up crashing and burning."

Jumping up from the rock, Sayaka kicked the Orc head out of her way while giving a small laugh off.

"Death is so final, you know? People really don't know what they've got 'til they don't anymore. So I'm going to help Trixie have fun with hers, no matter how difficult it is, because its thanks to her that I'm still around at all."

There was an obvious answer to the entire situation, one which Mitter'meyer put forth, "Is it Lady Lulamoon, then? The one who..."

His voice trailing off led right into Sayaka laughing as she began to walk back towards their base, "If it is, somebody had probably best tell her. She's strong, but I don't really get 'god' vibes off of her."

As she began to depart she crossed paths with the other guard, Anavel, who she greeted with a joking salute.

"Hey, Gato!"

The odd name she called him confused the light haired Elf, "Gato?"

"Oh, right, here you don't have the last name," Sayaka chuckled as she corrected herself, "Anavel, how's it going? Things better working for the right team?"

The odd woman continued to walk on towards the base, with Anavel moving to stop her but pausing at the insistence of Reuenthal.

"Let her go. Either we have a deranged fool working with us, or an angel or demon has graced us with their presence and we had best watch ourselves."

Mitter'meyer looked up at his friend warmly, "Demons? Angels? The only demons here are the Burning Legion, and thankfully they are busy fighting others and haven't noticed us just yet."

"What do you make of what she said?"

"I am no fool, I did not miss out on the implication that neither she nor we belong where we presently are, but she has a point that so long as we are happy, so long as lord Kael'thas is better off than he would be, then why should we bother to care?"

Reuenthal nodded, "I agree. So long as we are to benefit, it does not matter who is pulling the strings. But when things change for the worse..."

Mitter'meyer tapped on his hammer and began to follow after Sayaka.

"Then we will have our words with whoever is to blame for how things are. Let us hope that never comes to be, however, shall we?"

---

"Darkmaster Gandling, it has come to our attention that the Scarlet Crusade has lost their monastery. Now may be a good time to strike..."

"Ras, now is not a good time. I am already dealing with a Crusader, if you cannot tell..." responded the man in charge of the school dedicated to necromancy and related arts in the name of the Scourge, made years before by the Lich Kel'Thuzad, "Apparently High Priest Benedictus of the Crusade sent his daughter to have me killed, likely as a result of their loss."

Bound by metal to a table like how one might set someone up to be tortured was a brown haired woman in the uniform of the Scarlet Crusade, albeit an altered set meant for stealth missions. Gandling ran a hand over her face as he admired what he saw as perfect material for a new Undead Scourge tool...for what was a living being but a future dead one?

"You will regret this, fool!"

Leaning down towards her, Gandling mocked her as she thrashed helplessly in her restraints, "Oh Lilian, you shouldn't be so angry! Why marr your beautiful face with such unnecessary wrinkles?"

"My father will have your heads!"

Gandling continued his inspection of his new toy, stepping over the dead bodies of her comrades he had slain during their foolish assassination attempt, "Oh I highly doubt that. In fact, when we're done here I am thinking you might be bringing me his..."

Wishing to remain on track, the Lich known as Ras spoke up again to his leader, "Darkmaster, do you think this one is a part of a larger offensive? What would they gain by just slaying a few of us when another could always take our place?"

"You may be right..." the Darkmaster didn't seem to really care despite the credibility of the idea, "But our scouts would let us know if they were headed our way, and we have heard nothing. By the time they are within striking distance we shall be ready for those foolish Crusaders."

Bringing his hand down to Lilian's chin, he chuckled as his mind went over just how he could best use her.

"But for now, my attention is on this newest...project of mine."

Lilian twisted and turned to try and get away from Gandling's touch, but her restraints rendered her unable to, "Don't you dare touch me!"

"Oh come now, assassin, what is a little science and experimentation with Undeath compared to you having come here to murder me?"

Snapping his fingers, he dismissed Ras and he went over to a cabinet to take out his favorite tools for dealing with live captives...they didn't remain that way for long, usually, but he did find her to be beautiful enough that perhaps he could make an exception.

"We're going to have some fun, you and I."

Author's Note:

Kind of dark chapter admittedly, but it's a stepping stone for others down the road. Our villains, folks! The Crusaders in their backstabbing and brutality, and the messed up Scourge. Someone asked about Lilian awhile back and I think I said I wouldn't be able to use her, but I thought of a way of using her existing story to make a timeline adhering one.

Hope you enjoyed, and leave a comment to begin the New Year off strong!

Comments

[Housecarl of Clan Drops]

Absolutely nothing to do with the chapter (yet).

But, happy new year in 3... 2...

---

For Jerid's... team, I'll tentatively call it, don't knock the orators. They had plenty of uses in Final Fantasy Tactics. For instance, they were better at stealing things than the thieves were. Just use their skills tor recruit a unit and after battle, de-equip the recruited guy's stuff and dismiss them.

Can't say I know much about either Voss' story lines, but the groups are all going there with a plan. Let's see how long it takes for those plans to turn sideways.

[the other sans]

but when he was lead over to his team
she was build strong and not

1. Led.
2. Built.

Reuenthal nodded, "I agree. So long as we are to benefit, it does not matter who is pulling the strings. But when things change for the worse..."
Mitter'meyer tapped on his hammer and began to follow after Sayaka.
"Then we will have our words with whoever is to blame for how things are. Let us hope that never comes to be, however, shall we?"

Hey Thunder, better pack your bags with all those red shirts coming out of your closet otherwise we might not get another update!

Sayaka VS Pit Lord, Anime vs Blizzard. Anime wins if only because Sayaka has a higher cap in terms of skill and power and agility and everything else. Except her chest, Trixie got her beat fairly well there.

Speaking of chests, it's finally good to see Trixie and Kael and in turn their new companions get some things off of theirs. Milk pillows = water beds. Seems legit if only smaller and they come in pairs.

Nice to see how the fate of many a characters would have turned out if Trixie had not arrived by some mysterious force that somehow brought her to Azeroth. Helps those like me who didn't play past the original Frozen Throne expansion so kudos again for insight there. And yes we can check the wiki but for people like me, it ain't really living the story you know?

All in all, nice way to start the new year unless you're an Undead in this story then be prepared to face the fury that was personified as Avitus.

[GamerGoddessDin]

Looks like Adagio took a trip.

I'm not sorry. Seeing the other sans not doing puns made me want to make one for him. (Also, it was too easy to make that one.)

BTW: Was "Lesliebens" intentional or a typo?

[Thunderscourge]

7833981 Happy new years

Unfortunately, this isn't Final Fantasy Tactics and so having orators isn't going to do much of anything. He was given someone with supposed potential, but absolutely no experience, on a dangerous mission. Not a good recipe.

As for everyone having a plan, the only group to really know they're going to have a 1v1v1 brawl between the factions is the Scarlet Crusade, so they have a bit of an advantage going into things, but we'll have to see how that turns out for them. As for Voss, she's a part of the storyline for Scholomance later on in the WoW timeline, but that's after she's died and risen as an Undead and comes to Scholomance to fight the Undead there. Here, she's getting a taste of Scholomance early!

[Thunderscourge]

7834367 Sayaka vs Pit Lord was no contest due to Witch hacks. Oktavia is more powerful than a good deal of the Warcraft setting, though not all of it.

[Thunderscourge]

7839219 Adagio had a bad time this chapter, since at first she had her fun and then she got kicked down a flight of stairs and then stepped over by a few others, so she literally spends the majority of her appearance on the floor. As Aria said, she kind of had it coming though.

The Others Sans made a chest pun, so you didn't have to

Lesliebens was Trixie's way of demonstrating that, because she has no clue about anything "mature", she just learned the word lesbians and managed to mess up saying it. Trixie's still got a long way to go before she can be considered to be on the same page as everyone else

[Booster Spice]

Adagios biggest complaints about being on the floor were that shes supposed to be the one on top, and thats only if it isnt a rampant horde of impregnators?

Nana still has to learn what she can, cant and shouldnt eat, given how long she been hanging around in both forms? Is she stuck now? I forgot.

[Thunderscourge]

7844539 Aria plays second fiddle both in everyday life where she follows whatever Adagio tells her to do (albeit not without some grumbling) and in all other realms of life too one could presume.

As for Nana, she's stuck because she doesn't know how to turn back. She ate a magical artifact, so the result isn't exactly a science, it just is whatever happens. She could flip back to being a Mana Wyrm or turn into some other animal even at a random moment. However, since Mana Wyrms consume magic itself it is also possible that her body will just absorb the magic into herself and the whole transforming thing will become a part of her rather than a result of the magical artifact created by Telonicus.

[Booster Spice]

7844885

For some reason, I know get the mental image of somewhere in a market place, Adagio complaining once more about not getting the male, and Nana goes, You mean like this? and turns into Adagios fullest dream, rocking hard and ready to roll.

I blame hallucinations due to food poisoning and sleep deprevation. Sorry.

I mean, I see that Sonata Summon, and Im there thinking, damn, Adagios would be like a cross between Ursula and Omnidroid shutdown.

[Thunderscourge]

7844912 Sonata hasn't summoned anything because she's not in the story.

[Booster Spice]

7844918

Sorry, the Sayaka? description confused me.

[Thunderscourge]

7845001 Sayaka

68.media.tumblr.com/b62d4e0580b0674c13af7d46dda24ed0/tumblr_o3te4ykaIp1qj72fyo1_1280.jpg

Sonata

vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/d/d7/Sonata_dusk_being_adorable_by_crystaliette-d7yfk50.png/revision/latest?cb=20141030083956

There is a deliberate parallel between them as both are associated with music and the color blue, but Sonata is conspicuously absent and Aria was actually a bit sad they didn't have her with them. This may have to do with how Aria and Adagio have been stated to be criminals forced to work with Tarkin, meaning Sonata might not have committed the same crimes as them and thus is not forced to go on a dangerous mission as penance.

Whoever organized their team though filled in her missing slot in the Sirens trio with someone similar albeit stronger and more skilled.

[Thunderscourge]

7887265 Yeah, since Aria is a "punk" sort of character I gave her a vocabulary to match that in some ways (IE, she swears a lot). She can't be like that in the normal show/movies, but here I don't see a reason for her to be anything but crude and irritable.

[Ace Azzermeen]

I honestly don't understand why this turned from alternative warcraft timeline into crossover palooza.

[stapart]

7923614
Don't complain about it too much, thanks to this fanfic, we can learn about fate of Trixie and Kael after the events of "We Remember Everything".
As for me, I really like "Equestria Was Merely a Setback!" so If author believes that the characters from different universes fit into story, we should respect that,I don't have/see any problem with that as long as story is good.

[Kitsuja]

There are a whole lot of threads getting ready to crash together all over the place, I see. That's gonna be a fucking cluster fuck once the three in the plaguelands come together, let alone the breadcrumbs being laid down in Outland.

Also, Jaina needs to let go on whatever has her fixated on Kael. I have a bad feeling this is sure to go places unhealthy in nature...

[Raul]

Turns out it wasnt even on my RIL list, anyhow, i'm going to start this now.

[Raul]

Oh that first part was hilarious. I love stuff like that. Combat is good and all but man did the Horus Heresy Novels give me quite a fill of them.

And darn. That's all she wrote isn't it.
Well i can say that i quite enjoyed this, and would love to see more updates. Shame it has so few readers, but what can ya do?

Im also glad i only read this now, as before i would have ZERO idea what the hell was happening, who was who(still having troubles with that as im out of the loop on Anime), and where anything was.
But hey, it would still probobly have been great! So good job Thunder, good job.

[EchoWing]

Woo! At last, I'm all caught up on this story! Alas, you seem to have lost interest in it.

But I'm still all caught up!

[nioniosbbbb]

"Have you ever even taken a life? Have you even been in a battle before? Have you taken a life?"

Repeated question?

Also was Lesliebens intentional mistake of lesbians?

Are we dealing with that escapee undead from the Scarlet Monastery who was afraid to accept being undead, killed her father in outland if I remember correctly... And then went to Scholomance to kill some kind of Necromancer? Lillian Voss?