Seekers of the Epitaph: World of Azeroth

by Xarmar13

The Dark Horde

Around the same time as Onyxia’s defeat, a group of individuals belonging to the Horde had finally managed to reach the Burning Steppes in their journey to Blackrock Mountain.

Given that the mountain was directly in the center of Alliance territory, they had to pay a mage to create a portal to the closest anchor point to the mountain. That point turned out to be an outpost called Stonard in a swampy region south of Redridge Mountains.

Thankfully, Thanatas knew of a route through the mountains that wasn’t guarded by Alliance soldiers so they didn’t have to be too sneaky. Once they trekked that secret mountain path on the eastern edge of the region, they entered the charred region.

“How much further is it to Blackrock Mountain?” Lokosh asked.

“The mountain is around the northwest part of the region. You can’t miss it since it’s the tallest mountain in the region,” Thanatas answered.

The journey to the mountain was fraught with danger in the form of red-skinned ogres and orcs with grayish-green skin wearing bright red armor. They also had to deal with the occasional volcanic rock elemental and avoid the trenches that were populated by flamekin, a type of fire demon that bore a close resemblance to imps. There were also some ruins that were being investigated by dark iron dwarves.

After several hours of travel through the charred wasteland, the group ascended the ramp into Blackrock Mountain. They took the time to look around the area before they decided to go over their mission.

“Our objective is the death of Warchief Rend Blackhand of the Dark Horde who lies somewhere in this mountain,” Talia stated. “We just need to know where he is.”

“Rend resides in the upper levels of Blackrock Spire, the fortress which makes up the upper levels of this mountain,” Thanatas added. “However, getting to Rend will not be easy as the way to the upper spire requires a special signet ring.”

“Of course dere are complications…” Farra’jin complained.

Thanatas shrugged helplessly, “What can I say? We’re in a world where most of the time you have to solve a puzzle or travel long distances or kill someone for the sake of opening a door or finding valuable relics and treasures. It’s the Eternal Sphere, a universe that is also a bunch of RPGs stuffed into a single system.”

“Point taken,” Farra’jin conceded.

Thanks to her knowledge of Azeroth, Thanatas knew exactly how to get into Blackrock Spire. While she could have used a route that involved a giant chain and leaping over to a balcony that would lead them into Blackrock Spire proper, she figured that her allies should warm themselves up against the orcs guarding the entrance. About at the four o’ clock position of the circular room, the group spotted an entrance for them to explore.

It wasn’t long before they were spotted by a patrol of Blackrock orcs. “Lok-Narash! Intruders!” one orc called out. It wasn’t long before everyone who heard the orc’s call moved in to attack the group. However, the narrow spacing of the area they were in made them easy targets for Talia and Farra’jin. Groun was able to cause the roots of a plant that thrived in the mountain to burst from a wall and crush one orc who fought with a bow.

With that group dealt with, Lokosh advanced forward with the others behind him. They had to squeeze past a makeshift barricade of crates, sandbags and rusted shields and swords. They moved past a portcullis that appeared to have been ripped out of its frame.

They moved past what appeared to be a bonfire which they figured the orcs made a camp there for some reason. Taking a right, they walked up a flight of ramps, taking care to avoid the gaping hole in one of them. They took out the two guards at the top of the ramp which sent more guards coming to them. Thanks to their training, the guards didn’t last long against their teamwork.

One orc they felled dropped an envelope with a broken seal. Talia noticed the note and picked it up to look at it. While she had no confidence that the orcs could compose anything meaningful on a piece of paper, given their savage nature, she humored the brutes and read the letter.

Imbecile,

I hold very little faith in your ability to prevent outsiders from accessing the master’s lair. In the very likely event of your death, this orb has its failsafe built in to prevent outsiders from teleporting directly into Blackwing.

Only those with the Mark of Drakkisath branded upon their hand may use this orb. Thankfully, Drakkisath is not nearly as incompetent as you, quartermaster. He guards the brand himself!

-Warchief Rend Blackhand

P.S. Destroy this letter, idiot!

“Hmph! Their warchief was certainly right about that orc being incompetent,” Talia snarked. “Though this Rend Blackhand is just as incompetent, given that he practically wrote out how to access his master’s lair in this letter and entrusted this oaf to perform the simple task of destroying it, let alone entrusting the letter to said oaf in the first place.”

“What does it say?” Lokosh asked.

“Apparently, there’s an orb nearby that can transport people to the lair of his master, some place called Blackwing. Though in order to use the orb, we need to be branded with something called the Mark of Drakkisath which is guarded by someone of the same name.”

“General Drakkisath is in the depths of the upper spire. But in order to access the upper spire we need that signet ring,” Thanatas explained.

“Why are we even considering goin’ after Rend’s master, mon? Aren’t our orders to take Rend out?” Farra’jin asked, failing to conceal his anxiety.

“Warchief Thrall also said to take out anyone who supports him,” Groun countered. “I’m pretty sure that includes his master.”

“There is a way into Blackwing Lair through the upper spire, the orb would be more of a shortcut to and from there in case we need to retreat and come back later,” Thanatas said.

“That’s good to know,” Lokosh said.

The group continued to climb ramps and deal with orc soldiers, one of whom mentioned the Scarshield Legion which Lokosh figured meant that the Dark Horde was separated into platoons.

Eventually, they reached a narrow hallway. Looking left, they spotted a small room that held a few things, along with an orb on a pedestal with draconic wings. Talia could sense powerful magic coming from the orb which led the group to figuring that it was the orb mentioned in the letter. Farra’jin volunteered to touch it and as they figured, nothing happened, giving proof that the letter was telling the truth.

Regardless, their current objective was finding a signet ring that would get them into the upper levels of Blackrock Spire.

Moving to the other end of the hallway, the group came across a balcony that overlooked the central chamber of the mountain. A few black drakes were flying around but they paid the group no mind. Behind them was a doorway which would lead them deeper into the fortress.

At the top of another ramp, the group found a pair of tattered orcish banners crudely depicting a mountain in front of the setting sun, the symbol of the Blackrock Clan. The next room was large and, like the previous parts of the fortress they explored, in disrepair. This made sense since Blackrock Spire was originally a dark iron fortress and the orcs had no idea on how to handle any repairs.

Once again, the group had to deal with a number of orcs in old armor and wielding axes and shields of poor craftsmanship. Lokosh showed the Blackrocks of the Scarshield Legion the difference between theirs and his superior weapons.

With that bunch of orcs slain, they looked around the room to find that the orcs had been using the fortress like some sort of indoor campsite which seemed to be the theme for the area. A number of campfires with pig skewers along with tables of raw meat and meat smokers were set up in the room. This gave the impression that the Blackrock orcs were a bunch of squatters and had been for quite some time.

A set of stairs led to an upstairs walkway. One end led to a door which had no knob, only a small indent. Thanatas informed the group that the door led to the upper levels of the spire. The other end of the walkway led to a broken passage that was now a balcony that overlooked the next room.

Returning down the stairs, the group explored beneath the walkway and found a passage that led into the room they just saw. The room was mostly collapsed and what was left had enough room for a few warriors, a spellcaster and a pair of wolves who seemed to favor one of the warriors.

Taking mind of the limited space as the group engaged them, Farra’jin placed a water totem to provide Lokosh some protection while Talia rained fire on the orcs. The wolves decided that the warlock was a threat and attacked her but were quickly halted when some roots burst from the eroded stone and wrapped around the beasts’ legs, the roots pulled the wolves over the edge of the broken platform.

Once the orcs were dead, the group advanced through a narrow passage that seemed intact until they entered a vast chamber. They could see a number of orc squatter camps all over the area, as if the area were some sort of city of squatters.

After dealing with another group of orcs from the Scarshield Legion, they moved forward until the sound of an orc’s voice could be heard from above. “Hey, you down there, come up here! There’s a path around the corner that will lead you up here.”

“This isn’t a trap, right?” Groun whispered to the others.

“He’s either really skilled that he thinks that he doesn’t need to ambush us, or he wants to be helpful,” Lokosh guessed.

“If he’s an enemy, we kill him, if not, then I will kill him anyway if he’s here to waste our time,” Talia said.

In the end they decided to follow the path up to the orc’s roost. Upon reaching him, the orc turned into a human which everyone but Thanatas was not expecting. She knew who the man was. The human wore white and red robes with gold lining as well as a crimson hood.

“It’s good to see someone who is not part of Nefarian’s forces down here. I am Vaelan, I came here to investigate the Black Dragonflight activities.”

“And you’re not upset to be working with members of the Horde?” Lokosh asked.

“He might be if he were human,” Thanatas pointed out. “He’s a member of the Red Dragonflight, most of the time you can identify them because they have too much red on them.”

Vaelan frowned at the death knight, a representation of his flight’s antithesis. Though he could also pick up on something else from her. Something faintly draconic. “You reek of death,” he growled. He then looked into her eyes and briefly detected slitted draconic eyes before they faded into the blue energy they gave off. “What are you? Has the Lich King taught his frost wyrms how to don a visage?”

Thanatas gave a neutral expression to the disguised dragon. She knew that he understood nothing about her, but she was nobody’s minion. “I can assure you that my will is my own, Vaelan. I am here to make sure these adventurers do not get themselves killed in whatever mess they get into.”

“You’re the one who gets us into these situations,” Talia snapped.

“And yet you benefit from your ordeals,” Thanatas countered. She looked at Vaelan again, “Unless you have something useful to tell them, then perhaps I should allow Talia here to incinerate your scaly hide.”

Vaelan sighed in resignation. “Fine, if you are planning on assaulting the upper reaches of Blackrock Spire, you will need this.” He handed Talia a silver ring. It contained three empty slots to be occupied by gems as well as faded runes on the inner ring. “This is the unadorned version of the signet ring you need to open the way. For it to be used as a key, you must gather three gems from the leaders of the Spirestone Ogres, the Smolderthorn Trolls and the taskmaster in charge of this part of the fortress, Overlord Wyrmthalak. Once the gems are in place, the ring must be bathed in the flames of the Black Dragonflight before the Seal of Ascension is complete.”

“How are we supposed to get a black dragon to breathe on this thing?” Lokosh asked.

“I will tell you once you gather the gems.”

With their new acquisition in hand, the group proceeded further into the ruined fortress, taking out more of their warriors and the wolves they trained. They crossed a pair of rope bridges and cleared out the squatter camps along the way. Of course, they left the orcs who were napping on mats alone because waking someone from their nap to kill them was just rude.

They were soon led into a narrow passage that was occupied by ogres. The strength of the brutes and their large weapons made defending against their attacks difficult for Lokosh but his allies had his back as they worked together to slay ogre after ogre. This also blocked the passage with their bulky masses so they were forced to climb over their corpses to proceed further through the passage, being extra careful since they also had to traverse a narrow stone bridge.

They soon entered a room that was filled with ogres, leading the group to believe that they found the ogre base of operations. The stench of rotting meat on hooks was also a dead giveaway that was usually present in ogre mounds.

Not wanting to waste too much time on the ogres, Lokosh had everyone retreat to the previous ogre corpse which they had to climb over as they were on the bridge. The warrior then banged his shield to get the ogres’ attention before they started running after him. He then leaped over the corpse and had his allies help him push the mass of dead flesh toward the incoming horde.

The lead runner stopped before the corpse and took the time to toss it over the side. However, his buddies behind him didn’t get the memo that they had to stop so they crashed into him which threw most of the ogres off balance and they fell over the edge.

The remaining ogres were more careful and some tried to cast spells but were blocked by the bulk of their brethren. Out of impatience and stupidity, the ogre-magi shoved some of their brethren over the edge just so they could get a clear shot. This continued until one remained whom Thanatas yanked toward her and stabbed him in the gut with her sword and kicked over the edge.

They advanced into the makeshift ogre mound where they spotted three ogres hanging in the back of the room. One was more armored than the others, wearing plates over his gut and his chest. He wielded a spiked warmace.

“That’s Highlord Omokk, the leader of the Spirestone Ogres,” Thanatas said. “He has one of the gems for the seal.”

Omokk’s guards looked ready for a fight but the leader himself was laughing uproariously. After a few moments, he finally calmed enough to speak. “Dat was funny, makin’ all dem ogres fall off da bridge like dat. But me smart. Me not follow dem to fall off bridge. Me smash you here.”

The three ogres charged toward the group. Lokosh charged at Omokk with his shield in front of him and slammed it into his gut, earning the ogres’ attention. Before the other two could flank the warrior, a bunch of rocks in the shape of a fist punched one in his face while a thick vine grabbed the remaining ogre by the throat and pulled him to the wall. The second ogre looked toward where the rocks came from and saw a large earth elemental winding up for another punch.

The ogre and the elemental clashed with one another. The ogre was using a wooden staff which was not holding out against the onslaught of stone. When the staff broke, the ogre ended up bludgeoned to death. At that point the stored energies in Farra’jin’s earth totem depleted and the elemental returned to Deepholm. Farra’jin figured that the totem would need a small recharge period before he could use it again.

Meanwhile, Lokosh was enduring the heavy onslaught of Omokk’s hammer and was being pushed back toward a wall. Talia assisted by using her felguard demon to cut away at the ogre’s unprotected areas on his body while she bombarded him with shadow and fire spells. The spells proved effective because the armor plates protecting the ogre’s body were not enchanted to resist magic. However, the ogre also had a lot of stamina and was still going despite the damage he was taking from the warlock.

Once the duel between the second ogre and the earth elemental concluded, Farra’jin assisted in attacking Omokk with lightning, fire and frost magic. However, the ogre still kept going.

Omokk went for a wide swing intent on striking all three of his enemies when a root suddenly wrapped around his hammer which caught the ogre off guard to where he loosened his grip and lost hold of his weapon. The root tossed the hammer out of the room and into the chasm below.

The ogre then roared in fury. “Dat not funny! Me lose me favorite hammer!” He then used his fists to punch Lokosh’s shield which sent him flying into a wall. Lokosh got off the wall but it took him a moment to get back up. Meanwhile, Omokk ran toward the warrior to finish him before he recovered, only to trip over a root on the floor and fall on his gut.

Before Omokk could realize what happened, the felguard came up to the ogre’s head and with one powerful downward slash of his battle ax, his head came off.

The remaining ogre who was held on the wall couldn’t get loose from the vine strangling him until he asphyxiated.

The group took a moment to catch their breath. That was a tough fight. They decided to take a short break and eat some of the food they brought with them, mostly fruits and water since they were still averse to eating meat.

Meanwhile, Groun searched through Omokk’s pockets and found a white gemstone. He handed it to Talia who reluctantly took it since she really didn’t want something that came out of an ogre’s pants. She quickly placed the gem in one of the ring’s sockets so she wouldn’t be touching it for long.

After a few minutes of recovery, the group was ready to go again. Thanatas was glad that she didn’t have to intervene in the fight against Omokk since she was planning for herself to be involved with much tougher fights in the near future.

She led the group back into the area formerly guarded by the Scarshield Legion and took a left and went around a broken pillar to reveal that there was a path downward. At the bottom of a ramp was a group of Smolderthorn Trolls which meant that the next area was likely to be lousy with them.

Of course, the group had experience in dealing with trolls by now and as they fought, they weren’t any tougher than the ones at Zul’Farrak. In terms of appearance, these trolls had forest green skin.

The next room was decorated in troll icons such as tiki masks. As it turned out, Smolderthorn trolls fought differently than Sandfury trolls. While some were casters of dark magic, others fought by throwing axes or traditionally with swords. It was a relief that these trolls didn’t practice blood magic.

For a moment, Thanatas went into tour guide mode. “This place is Tazz’Alor, the capitol city of the Smolderthorn Tribe. The tribe’s population is small so don’t expect the place to be as big as Zul’Farrak.”

The others didn’t really care about the info as they were now looking out for the troll leader who had the second gem.

They had two routes they could take: a doorway and a flight of stairs that would take them to the lowest levels of Blackrock Spire. They decided to check out the doorway first.

They walked through a hallway and ended up in a room which was a dead end and filled with a number of trolls who appeared to be in the middle of one of their rituals.

There was no sign of their leader in the room but they dealt with the troll ritualists inside in case they tried to be a nuisance later, eliminating a few priests and warriors along with a pesky shadowhunter who tried hexing the party only for Lokosh’s shield to bounce the spell back at the shadowhunter where she was tragically crushed under Groun’s hoof.

They returned to the previous room and descended the flight of ramps down to the bottom floor which had several groups of trolls conversing with each other. Some of them looked like they were unnaturally bulky. They certainly never encountered anything like them in Zul’Farrak.

“What are they?” Talia asked, not even trying to hide her disgust.

“Dire trolls, they are either born that way or altered as such through alchemy or magic,” Thanatas explained. “Those muscles aren’t for show either.”

The trolls in the area soon noticed them and attacked, unleashing their dark magics and their axes on the group. Lokosh managed to deflect some of the spells while Farra’jin and Talia’s magics made quick work of the trolls. The sound of combat drew in more trolls including a few dire trolls. Some even emerged from a nearby doorway to fight them. However, their experience in dealing with trolls made the newcomers less threatening than they could have been.

After most of the area had been cleared, Thanatas led the group into the room before whispering, “War Master Voone, chieftain of the Smolderthorn Trolls is in the next room. Get ready.” They took her advice and readied their weapons for what could be another tough fight.

Voone didn’t hear them coming but his twin axes were still out nonetheless as while he didn’t hear them, he did hear the sounds of fighting.

Lokosh charged in and Voone started ferociously attacking the warrior, exploiting any openings in his defenses to deliver cuts to his body. Groun switched to healing duty and mended any cuts dealt to the warrior. As usual, Talia and Farra’jin assaulted the chieftain with spells.

Voone was not about to fall into the rhythm of his enemies so he spun around Lokosh’s left side to deliver a brutal chop to Farra’jin’s shoulder but the shaman managed to back away in time. The chieftain then set his sights on Talia but a battle ax to the chest from her felguard prevented him from trying that idea. Fighting through the pain, he charged after Groun, the healer. The druid tried to trip him with a root but Voone saw it coming and jumped over it while leaping for the tauren. However, Lokosh intervened and his shield slammed into the troll’s face and sent him flying away from everyone and landed on the floor.

Voone quickly got up and tried again but Lokosh body slammed him with his shield into a wall where Groun bound the troll with roots while Farra’jin repeatedly electrocuted him until his skin blackened. Voone’s head slumped downward and his body became still, the roots still holding him in place.

Lokosh searched through the troll’s pockets and found an orange gemstone which he passed to Talia to place in the ring. Only one gem remained.

With the second of the three gem holders dead, they took another break to discuss their next move. “So where are we supposed to find this Overlord Wyrmthalak.”

“Please tell me he’s nearby like Omokk and Voone were,” Farra’jin pleaded.

Thanatas shook her head, “I’m afraid that Wyrmthalak is a little far from here. Once we leave through the backdoor from Tazz’Alor, we will be in a shattered passageway, the passage is home to the Firebrand Legion, a division of orcs who specialize in fire and shadow magic. After that we will be climbing the Skitterweb Tunnels infested with crystal spiders and other critters. Once we get past that infested area, we will be in the home turf of the Bloodaxe Legion, known more for their brutality than any sort of specialty. Wyrmthalak will be close once we get through that.”

With that info, the group prepared themselves for the next leg of their journey through the lower spire.

A closed gate in the room appeared to lead back into the outer area. Talia pulled a torch by the gate which turned out to be a lever that opened the gate.

“How did you know that was there?” Groun asked.

“I am no stranger to secret doors opened by cliche means such as pulling candelabra or books to reveal secrets. My mansion had such things.”

They left the room and explored the area, dealing with more trolls as necessary, until they found an exit.

Outside the room was a shattered passageway with large rubble that the group had to navigate through. A nearby pool of magma greatly increased the heat in the area.

Once they were past the rubble, they were back to fighting orcs. These orcs wore red armor while the casters wore varying shades of red robes and hoods. They wandered around what appeared to be a makeshift village in a passage. There were red tents for sleeping under, blankets for sleeping on, smokers for cooking food, campfires for various needs, and even a couple of supply wagons for storing their goods that they didn’t want lying around.

As the group fought through the many orcs in the area, they found that they lived up to their division name. The Firebrand Legion not only had pyromancers who tried bombarding the group with flames, which were weakened thanks to Farra’jin’s water totem, but the warriors had runed stone axes which looked like blunt objects and they were enchanted to unleash fire with each swing.

Talia had her felhound counteract the pyromancers’ spellcasting which they reacted foolishly to by trying to run in and bash the group with their staves only for Talia to plant shadow magic into their bodies before warning Lokosh to jump back as she struck one with an Incinerate spell which snaked its way to one of the unsuspecting orcs. When the flames burned the orc, the planted shadow magic erupted into a huge explosion of shadowy energy which in turn triggered the other seeds and caused the orcs’ entrails to splatter all over the area, turning the passage into a gorey scene.

Any normal Equestrian would have probably released their lunch all over the place which Lokosh, Farra’jin and Groun did. However, Talia looked at the scene with glee as she seemed to enjoy that particular spell and the gruesome end it gave to them. A part of her wished she could unleash that power upon her real enemies.

After turning a corner and dealing with more Firebrand orcs, they were soon clear of their presence and were climbing a ruined slope. It wasn’t long before they encountered the crystal spiders Thanatas warned them about.

The spiders were huge with some of them being two to three times their size. Their bodies were made of bluish white crystal and their legs were long, skinny and segmented. The larger ones seemed to have been carrying egg sacs on their abdomens.

Dealing with the spiders was not as tricky as the Firebrand orcs since they only wanted to bite their prey and trap them in webs. Talia was glad to find that fire still worked on the arachnids, even as the larger ones died and the younglings burst from their egg sacs to feed on the meals before them. For good measure, Talia and Farra’jin set all of the spider eggs in the tunnel on fire to avoid potentially facing them.

As they were having their fun, Thanatas took the time to gather up some venom sacs from the dead spiders.

This action drew the ire of a particularly large spider which Lokosh guessed was the broodmother of the spiders. Lokosh turned to face her but a flash of light caused the warrior’s body to lock up and become unable to move as his body became encased in a thin layer of crystal. The spider moved toward Talia and Farra’jin who unleashed their flames on the broodmother but she endured the fire much better than her children did.

The broodmother spat poison at the group which didn’t seem to hurt them at first until their bodies temporarily locked up. By then Lokosh had shaken off the effects of the light and broke free before he used his ax to cut into the broodmother’s abdomen. The spider screeched and turned around and spat poison on him. It wasn’t long before his body became paralyzed again. The spider tried taking a huge bite out of Lokosh but the others had broken free of their paralysis and unleashed everything they had on the spider. The flames unleashed upon it also incinerated the eggs she bore while the blasts of frost from Farra’jin and the heat from Talia shattered its legs.

As the giant spider went down, their bodies locked up again, showing that the poison had not left their systems. As that happened, Thanatas placed a venom sac into each of their paralyzed hands. “When the paralysis wears off, eat the sacs otherwise we will be here all day watching you play ‘red light, green light’.”

When the paralysis wore off, only Talia ate the sac as her pride overrode her sense of disgust. The others soon became paralyzed again, leaving the former noble to groan in frustration. “Will you idiots get over it and eat the bucking things already?! We don’t have time to sit around while you work up the courage to eat the damn things. So either eat them or I move on without you.”

The three cringed at Talia’s shouting at them which somehow didn’t attract more enemies to come after them. Small blessings they supposed. Not so with the fact that they had to eat spider venom sacs to rid themselves of the paralyzing toxin. Groun and Farra’jin considered using their own means of cleansing the poison, but at this point Talia would probably kick their asses if they cleansed the poison while she was the only one who ate the sac.

In the end, the three plugged their noses and swallowed the disgusting flesh. The taste was as disgusting as they feared but they kept trying to consume it while fearing Talia’s wrath.

Once they finally finished, they waited a few moments and found that the poison was no longer paralyzing them. The three gave a sigh of relief while doing their best to avoid the sac coming back up.

Satisfied, the group moved onward, briefly walking along a giant metal beam and climbing a ramp of collapsed rocks and soil, burning more eggs along the way. They moved through an intact door frame and climbed another broken path.

At the top of the path was a large gathering of ogres, each carrying a steel ax in each hand. Everyone looked at Thanatas in irritation as she never mentioned this bunch of ogres. The death knight shrugged, “I don’t have to tell you about every enemy in this place. Besides, I count ogres as part of the infestation.”

“Maybe you could do something useful here since you’ve only been following us around,” Talia offered.

Thanatas rolled her eyes, “Fine…” She pulled out a test tube from her satchel. This tube was filled with a reddish-brown substance while the tube had two numbers taped on it: ‘eight’ and ‘two’. “I suppose a gemini tube would help in this situation.”

The death knight tossed the enchanted tube into the middle of the group of ogres. The sound of glass shattering turned their attention to the middle of the platform where the glass shattered and the substance spread, before eight more tubes flew away from the point of impact and shattered nearby. Each of those eight tubes created eight more tubes each which shattered and splashed the ogres with the mysterious contents.

“Ugh, what dis mess?” one ogre shouted. “Me gonna smash whoever hit me wit brown sticky stuff!”

Just then, from the nooks and crannies of the area around them, all manner of insects skittered out of the cracks, mainly beetles and scorpions, and rushed toward the ogres. The ogres tried fighting the bugs off but there were too many and they soon started crawling all over the ogres.

In a panic, the ogres started running around aimlessly trying to pry the infestation off them while some crawled on their faces. Blinded by insect bodies, the ogres began running into each other and knocking each other down. In the chaos, some began falling off the platform or getting knocked off.
“Dare I ask what that was?” Talia asked.

“Concentrated insect pheromones, tricks nearby insects into thinking its mating season,” Thanatas answered.

The group pretended to not hear the answer and took advantage of the chaos to move forward and into another hallway that was occupied by orcs in red armor. A glance in the hallway showed that the orcs of the Bloodaxe Legion appeared to train black wolves and were mainly warriors and spellcasters.

Lokosh decided to use the strategy to lure in a large number of Bloodaxe into a narrow passage and burn them while they were bunched up. Once he banged his shield, Lokosh retreated into the passage with a fair number of orcs behind him. Once again, between Talia and Farra’jin, they incinerated the clustered warriors and spellcasters along with a few trained wolves.

Once the orcs stopped coming and the bodies cleared from the doorway, Thanatas led them left toward where she knew the Bloodaxe kept their supplies. The storeroom was filled with wooden crates filled with weapons and provisions that the Dark Horde might need for a war. The orcs inside had ignored Lokosh’s taunt from earlier, but Thanatas had another idea.

“Talia, Farra’jin, you two start some fires from here,” Thanatas whispered. “You have a few seconds to start as much fire as you can.”

Nodding, Farra’jin set his fire totem to summon a large fire elemental like he did earlier with his earth totem against the ogre highlord. He set the totem in the room and a fire elemental started unleashing flames all over the place. Talia and her imp cast a few fire spells themselves.

Once time was up, Thanatas froze the doorway into the storeroom, trapping everyone inside while smoke filled the room.

The orcs focused on dealing with the fire elemental first but by the time they realized the trap, it was too late. They ran to the ice wall and desperately tried to hack away at the ice but it was thick and it would take too much time to break it. When they considered explosives, the flames had already spread to them and lit them up, worsening the chaos in the room.

Ultimately, those orcs who didn’t die of the explosions or fire died of smoke inhalation.

The group proceeded to the other end of the hallway where they found a den of wolves, primarily pups and the den mother. The mother appeared to be shackled to a post in the den to prevent her escape.

“If we kill her we can cut the clan off from their supply of quality wolves,” Lokosh offered.

“Nah, this seems wrong. We can’t go killing a mother and her pups just because the Blackrocks were using them for war,” Groun countered.

“Don’t get sentimental on me Groun, we do whatever it takes to complete our mission,” Talia said.

“But dis isn’t part of our mission. We can take da Dark Horde out of the equation and da mada can be dealt with later if she becomes a problem. Our mission is gettin’ da gem off Wyrmthalak so we can get ta Rend,” Farra’jin offered.

Lokosh thought about it for a moment and made his decision. “Very well, we can leave her be.”

As they prepared to move forward, however, a high-pitched barking was heard from the direction of the den. Lokosh looked back to see a wolf pup approach him and stop in front of him with its tongue hanging out, eyes wide and tail wagging, as if it wanted something.

Lokosh briefly began to remember the old days as Steel Edge, the talented blacksmith. He had a dog once when he was a colt, on the verge of becoming a stallion. He remembered then he helped out at the shop, giving him any tools he might need for his orders which became fewer as time progressed.

Sadly, dogs had short lifespans and by the time he was in his mid thirties, the dog had passed from old age. He was still mourning his death by the time Crystal Silicon came by to make her offer.

The sound of whining from the pup broke Lokosh from his trance and he quickly realized the pup was hungry. He knelt down and took out some meat rations from his pack and gave them to the pup who quickly devoured it before cheerfully barking and racing around him.

“Great, one more mouth to feed,” Talia groaned with sarcasm.

That was when the pup vanished in a flash of light and in its place was a token that appeared in the warrior’s hand.

“Huh, that’s an interesting mechanic Sphere put in for this world…” Thanatas mused. “It seems that you can adopt companion pets and raise them as mounts or, in the case of hunters, as combat companions.”

“Wow, that’s good to know,” Lokosh said, for lack of a better word given his stunned state.

They put the matter behind them and entered a doorway that led into a shattered room filled with tents and campfires along with other supplies.

Obviously, the Bloodaxe Legion were not happy to see them and ran toward them to attack. By this point the fights were becoming monotonous and the group was hoping that they were near the end.

Once they finished off the Bloodaxe Legion, they carefully navigated through the broken room while avoiding the massive holes in the floor. They soon made it to the door on the other side and found themselves on a stone bridge. At the other side of the bridge was an entrance that was guarded by a Bloodaxe soldier and a Smolderthorn dire troll.

Seeing the two in the same place was odd since the past groups had kept separate while forming makeshift districts. This made the group wonder if this next area was going to mix the different legions, Smolderthorn and Spirestone together. It was also the best place to consider Wyrmthalak's location.

They quickly dealt with the orc and dire troll and entered the building. As they figured, the orcs, trolls and ogres were together in this room but there were still few to deal with. They took down the mixed groups with ease and climbed up a pile of rubble until they discovered an armored black dragonspawn at the top.

“A black dragon leads the Dark Horde down here?” Lokosh whispered.

“It makes sense when the one pulling Rend’s strings is one of Deathwing’s children. The Dark Horde is the army of the Black Dragonflight to use against Stormwind,” Thanatas explained. “They would send a black dragon to keep the troops down here from falling into chaos.”

“I can still hear you, intruders,” said the black dragonspawn. Wyrmthalak decided not to wait for the intruders to come after him and charged after them instead. Lokosh braced himself for the impact which came a moment later. Wyrmthalak’s spear strikes were heavy and pushed the warrior back. The dragonspawn backed away from any ax counterstrikes. At the same time, Talia and Farra’jin were unleashing spells on him.

Wyrmthalak unleashed a torrent of flame from his mouth which Lokosh did his best to block but he was still getting singed in places which were quickly healed by Groun. He also had to heal a few burns that his allies received.

Lokosh tried to slowly move around the dragonspawn to turn his attacks away from the others but the dragonspawn smirked before turning around to face Talia and prepared to unleash another flame breath. Talia braced herself for a very painful experience but instead heard glass shatter and an explosion immediately after. She saw Wyrmthalak fly a short distance before he rolled down the hill. Talia looked on the floor and spotted glass shards and residue.

“That’s what happens when you don’t play by the rules little dragon, I get to have some fun,” Thanatas called out.

To his credit, Wyrmthalak quickly rose to his feet and unleashed a loud roar that resonated throughout the chamber and beyond. Thanatas spotted a number of orcs, ogres and trolls crossing the bridge ready to assist their overlord. She took her position at the entrance and began cutting down the reinforcements. “I’ll deal with these guys, the rest of you should hurry and finish him.”

With renewed vigor, Lokosh and the others began attacking Wyrmthalak from different angles. This time when the warrior saw the dragon trying to cast his gaze on anyone but him, he made sure to slam his shield onto his face. Groun bound his feet with roots to make turning difficult and unable to attack behind him which meant the druid who was behind him was safe for the moment. Farra’jin unleashed his earth and fire elementals to attack the dragonspawn while his water totem weakened his fire attacks. His wind totem was set to give Lokosh a boost in the speed of his attacks which meant that Wyrmthalak was beginning to have his scales cleaved. Talia and her imp unleashed a barrage of spells.

With his mobility cut off and his options very limited, Wyrmthalak thrusted his spear at Lokosh with all his might and pushed the warrior away before he began breathing fire on the roots, burning them off and damaging his feet somewhat. He prepared to turn and burn someone when another root burst from the ground and grabbed him by the throat and pulled him to the ground, exposing his belly.

While his scales and armor made him very durable, he was still vulnerable when his belly was exposed. Talia knew that given her research into Equestrian dragons, so she called on her felguard who began hacking at Wyrmthalak’s exposed weakness with his battle ax.

Eventually, the dragonspawn succumbed to his injuries. The final blow knocked loose a red gemstone from Wytmthalak’s armor which bounced off the floor several times and once off a wall before it settled in a corner of the room. Farra’jin grabbed the gem and handed it to Talia to complete the collection for the signet.

Now they needed to find a way to get a black dragon to breathe on the ring.

With the Dark Horde forces all but wiped out in the lower spire, the group made the long trek back toward the entrance. It was in the same room that they found the door to the upper spire that they ran into Vaelan again. He stood near the entrance as if waiting for them.

It was when they began approaching the red dragon that things took an unexpected turn.

“Hey Thana,” Sophia suddenly announced over the link. “My group is back in Blackrock Mountain and they noticed the trail of orc bodies and are investigating. If you’re in the spire right now, you might want to prepare for a meet and greet for our parties.”

And just like that, the situation was about to turn chaotic.

Author's Note:

Only 1 more chapter before the first raid dungeon. There will be about 5 of them for this arc. No, I will not be doing Naxxramas 40-man in this story for several reasons. One of those reasons relates to me not doing what is effectively the same raid twice (For you non-WoW fans, that raid was released in the original installment before it got removed and revamped for the third installment, Wrath of the Lich King). Another of those reasons is plot purpose and how it ties to the fate of one of the characters in this story.

Next time: The fated meeting between two parties.