Seekers of the Epitaph: World of Azeroth

by Xarmar13

The Haunted Tower, Part 1: Galas and Operas

“Are you sure you want me to take the lead on this one?” Sophia asked. “You know that you’re more specialized for what they will be encountering in that tower.”

“That would make things much too easy for them,” Thanatas explained. “They still need the challenge to help them grow. Since no external force is controlling the tormented souls within that tower, it would be too easy to manipulate them.

“Besides, I’m still a representative of the Horde. It wouldn’t do well for my reputation if I was seen guiding a bunch of Alliance of my own free will. The relationship between the two factions is still less than ideal and it will be quite some time before we see any real peace between them.”

“Speaking of Horde, do you have any plans for that bunch?” Sophia asked. “I mean besides the larger threats to come.”

“I do have a plan to take them on a field trip to this one place near Quel’thalas before the climactic event of the year.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow, “Climactic event? The siege of the Black Temple?”

“Nope, that will have already happened by then. No need to spoil that though if you don’t know.”

Sophia rolled her eyes which only amused the death knight. “So why not invite those future problems to climb the tower with my group?”

“The tower has challenges more formidable than what they encountered in Outland and the Caverns of Time, but not by much. It’s going to be a long climb for them and you will make sure they don’t end up in over their heads. Most of the stronger ones are not worth mentioning, but there are a couple who might give them a little trouble. Adding Crystal’s group would still be overkill.”

“Has Twilight dug up any information about our mysterious queen bee pony?” Sophia asked.

“Not yet, though she did say that she got a lead from Celestia who mentioned that her niece once knew someone who went by Misty Wing so she is taking a warp conduit to the Crystal Empire to get some information from Cadance.”

“So we will uncover her identity soon.” Sophia observed the clock tower in the middle of Stormwind and found that it was nearly sunrise. “They will be waking up soon. I need to take my leave.” Sophia was gone in an instant.

“I need to get out of here as well,” Thanatas thought to herself. “It would be bad if any guards found out I was in the middle of their city.” She then entered the shadow realm to make her escape.

---

The sun had risen over the city of Stormwind. Already there were citizens wandering the streets going about their day or opening their businesses. The night guards were changing their shifts and making way for the morning patrols. A few clouds drifted in the sky.

It was around this time that Stella and the others awoke from their slumber and began their morning routines. For Raida, this was the first time in years that she awoke to a sunlit day. Outland occasionally had some bright times when the drifting continent faced a star, but those times were erratic.

Raida was thankful that her disguise kept the guards and citizens of the city unaware of her demonic nature and her pendant kept the more sensitive of the residents, such as the priesthood and the paladins, from sensing the fel energy she gave off.

Bella went into town to do some shopping. After obtaining some provisions, she checked the market for any changes. She discovered that the merchants had come into possession of goods obtained exclusively from Outland. The stores that sold metals were now stocking commonly found metals such as fel iron and a durable metal called adamantite as well as rare metals such as eternium and khorium. The leather stores were now selling something called knothide leather which was skinned and prepared from Outland’s animals and the tailoring shops were selling the newest cloth and thread made from something called netherweave.

She ended up buying up a fair amount of each before storing it in her personal vault in the Stormwind Bank. Just because she was adventuring more now didn’t mean she should fall behind the latest fashions.

The party regrouped in front of the mage tower in the Mage Quarter where they were expecting their draconian mage to bring them to the abandoned tower.

What they weren’t expecting was Sophia being at the meeting location who waved at each of them as they came.

“Sophia? What are you doing here?” Bella asked. “I thought you were overseeing Alliance operations in Outland.”

“Things are stable right now so I will be able to accompany you to Karazhan.” Bella was about to ask something but the bunny templar cut her off. “I have my ways of keeping track of your adventures. I particularly enjoyed how you caved that paladin’s skull in when you went back in time.”

Bella sighed in exasperation. There was no sense in questioning her friend when she decided she wanted to do something.

Stella began opening a portal to the entrance to Karazhan. She was glad to be an agent of the Kirin Tor since it allowed her access to the dimensional anchors established by other agents. Once the rift opened, the group peered inside to see that they were about to enter a very dismal and dark region.

“Huh, reminds me of Shadowmoon Valley, except gray,” Raida commented.

The six crossed over and entered the ruins of a village at the base of a tower in a region that seemed even more dead and gray than they first thought. Ghosts of the villagers wandered aimlessly but became hostile when they spotted anyone who wasn’t a familiar face. The trees were petrified and leafless, adding to the ominous ambiance.

Stella could feel the tower pulling life energy from the land around it constantly. Rumors suggested that Medivh had cast a spell on the tower to make it draw life from its surroundings to empower him; a spell that seemed to be active still despite the caster’s death.

She hoped that this venture wouldn’t take too long since there was a chance that the tower might try to drain their lives at some point.

After dealing with a few ghosts, the group approached the tower’s entrance. The Violet Eye agents were there except there was one more person among them. A human female wearing a violet robe without the Kirin Tor insignia appeared to be arguing with the elderly male. She appeared to be holding an urn and making sure the others wouldn’t get their hands on it.

They overheard the conversation once they were close enough, “...my services don’t come free you know,” the female said.

“Insolent child! You left our order to practice forbidden magic! You should be grateful that we gave you a chance to be useful,” the elder snarled.

“If you hadn’t banned such practices, you wouldn’t be in this situation right now. All I am asking for are those books and then you can have the urn.”

Stella decided to arbitrate the apparent disagreement. “What’s going on here?” she asked.

The mages looked at her questioningly. The elderly male was the first to recognize her robes which informed him that she was a Kirin Tor agent. “Before I answer I must ask: Who asked you to come here?”

Stella could tell that the mage was testing her to find out if she was assigned to the Karazhan exploration team. “I was called to the Violet Citadel by Archmage Rhonin where I met with Archmage Cedric who asked me to find Archmage Khadgar in Outland,” she responded.

The elder nodded his head. “Yes, Cedric did say that he was looking for Khadgar since he is the only one who could open this place again. I take it that Khadgar sent you here in his place?”

“He didn’t have a choice, he shattered his key and broke the enchantment on it. I ended up going back in time through the assistance of the Bronze Dragonflight where Medivh gave me his key.”

The elder’s eyes widened, “Wait, you have his key?!” He politely coughed to regain composure. “In that case, you are now the only one in the world who can open the way into Karazhan. In that case, I will have to entrust our work to you.” He then gave a hateful glare at the woman, “You can start by getting that urn out of that woman’s grubby mitts.”

The woman growled at the man, “I already named my price! Take it or leave it, Alturus!”

“I will not endanger the lives of Kirin Tor agents for some fool’s errand that for some books that would be best kept out of hands like yours!” Alturus shot back.

“Then I am wasting my time here.” Kalynna began casting a teleport spell to leave with the urn.

“Hang on!” Stella called out. “What is so important about the urn and what books are you talking about?”

“That urn holds the ashes of a dragon’s bone that has been infused with Medivh’s essence,” Alturus explained.

“A dragon?” Stella wondered. She then thought back to what that caged naga said.

“The Blazing Signet is the heart of a cursed dragon named Nightbane who is said to reside in the hallowed halls of the prophet, Medivh.”

“This wouldn’t happen to be a cursed dragon named Nightbane, would it?”

“Yes, though he used to go by another name. Arcanagos, if I recall,” Kalynna said.

“And you want the urn to study the magical essence within, Alturus?” Stella asked.

“Yes, when one of my apprentices looked around the grounds and found the bone, I discovered the residue of Medivh’s essence on it. The essence was devoid of life so studying it would prove difficult. Against my better judgment…” He glared at Kalynna. “...I contracted the services of this conniving wench who would have the knowledge to revitalize the essence.”

Stella felt a headache coming so she got down to business before things got out of hand. “Could the ashes be used to summon Nightbane? My friends and I need its heart for the sake of the Outland campaign.”

“If the ashes were burned in the place where he met his demise, he will appear,” Kalynna said. “Like I told Alturus though, I have a price for my services.”

“What books are you looking for?”

Alturus stuttered in disbelief, “What!? You can’t seriously be considering entertaining her–”

“Enough Alturus!” Stella silenced. “As the one with exclusive access to Karazhan, it’s my call.” She motioned for Kalynna to make her request.

“I tracked the books to a pair of shady individuals. I need the Tome of Dusk, which is in the possession of an orc warlock named Nethekurse and the other is the Book of Forgotten Names which is in the hands of an arakkoa known as Darkweaver Syth.”

Stella’s eyes widened when she heard that. She did remember acquiring two such books from those individuals. She had a strange feeling that she would need them later and apparently that time had come. Looking through her belongings she pulled out the two books she found and showed them to her. “My friends and I came across those individuals and eliminated them. Would these be the books you’re looking for?”

Kalynna stared at the books for a moment, a wide smile graced her face. “Yes, those are the ones! Would you be willing to trade them for this urn?”

“If you are certain that this can be used to summon Nightbane, then yes.”

“It will, but only in the place where he was slain. I can tell you that it wasn’t anywhere on the grounds so you will have to search the tower.”

Flutashe looked up at the towering structure and realized that the search could prove extensive if they didn’t have a clue where to look. Since dragons could take on mortal forms Medivh could have killed him somewhere inside the tower for all they knew.

“That could be anywhere in the blasted place,” Alturus said. “Though if we had Medivh’s journal, we might be able to pinpoint the location. The journal is likely to have Medivh’s essence in it and may resonate with places of significant events in his life.”

“That’s only going to add more things that we would have to search the entire tower for,” Stella said.

“Not necessarily, I sent agents into the tower before it sealed itself. They are likely dead by now but their spirits may remain to give us clues to the journal.

“As for the demonic reading, Agent Keanna was making a log of the readings in the tower before it was sealed. Karazhan’s blacksmith, Koren, should have an idea where the log is. I’d expect that he’s on the ground floor somewhere.”

“Is there any more info?” Stella asked. Alturus and Kalynna shook their heads. “Then it’s time to begin the exploration.”

Once they exchanged the books for the urn, Stella opened a small dimensional pocket and placed the urn inside. It would only have been burdensome if they walked around with an urn in their hands.

“I’ll be taking my leave then,” Kalynna said. As she prepared a teleport spell, she left them with a warning, “Be sure not to lose to Nightbane or you could unleash a horror upon the world.” With that, she vanished in an instant.

Before Alturus said anything else, Stella cut him off, “If she becomes a problem in the future we will deal with it.”

Stella approached the locked portcullis that separated them from the inside of the tower. Spotting the keyhole, she inserted her key into the lock. With a turn and a click, the gate magically lifted. The group of six quickly entered the tower since they didn’t want to know how long the portcullis would stay up. Just as Mena, the last one through, made it inside, the gate fell with a small crash.

They were inside the tower now. They entered a small entryway that had a thick wooden door on the other side. No lock was on the door but it opened without resistance.

They entered what they believed was the gatehouse. While the tower had seen better days, given the abundance of cobwebs, it was still in much better shape than Auchindoun. To their immediate right was a passage that was in far worse shape than the rest of the area. The main entrance appeared to be beyond an archway flanked by several support arches carved into the likeness of horse heads. A transparent man stood in front of it. To the left of that was an area that was inhabited by skeletal horses. It was most likely a stable.

“Ah, you must be the newest key bearer.” The ghostly figure said. “Greetings, I am Berthold, the doorman. Any key bearer and their company who enter this tower are treated as honored guests, as per the master’s instructions.”

The group looked at each other for a moment, then decided to go along with it. Since Stella had the key, she spoke for him. “Greetings to you as well Berthold, can you tell me how to get around this tower?”

“To my left, you will find the servant’s quarters. The place is in such a dreadful way though, what with the spiders, bats and darkhounds infesting the place. If you decide to journey through there, you will arrive in the guest quarters where there are servants who will tend to your…*ahem*...baser desires.”

The group knew what that meant. Nobility did visit the tower often, after all.

“I’m sure you can smell the stables to my right,” Berthold continued. Indeed, the stables did smell of rotten hay and whatever the horses left behind that wasn’t cleaned up before everyone died.

“Behind me is the stairway leading to the grand ballroom where Moroes, the tower steward, is entertaining the nobles.”

“Do you know where the tower’s blacksmith is?” Stella asked.

“He should be at the other end of the stables. Do be careful not to upset Midnight, she is a very spirited horse and will call her master, Attumen the Huntsman, if she feels threatened. If you wish to explore that way, you will find the guard barracks which lead into the kitchen where the finest chefs prepare exquisite meals for the guests in the banquet hall.”

It appeared that to reach Koren, they would need to travel through the stables. Stella thanked the doorman for the information before the group proceeded into the stables.

From here, the fighting began. The skeletal horses and the ghostly stable hands did not take kindly to their intrusion. Flutashe quickly found that her Alpha Aura had no effect on the horses because they were all undead. The horses inflicted curses which Stella quickly broke while countering any spells cast by the stable hands who appeared to have been taught a healing spell meant to mend the wounds and broken bones of the horses. The mage was thankful that she double checked to make sure everyone’s equipment was enchanted so they could combat the spectral dead. Flutashe’s claws were able to touch the ghostly beings.

The stable was circular in shape and the group had to travel the circumference of the room while fighting through groups of horses and stable hands.

One ghost was not in a fighting mood and completely ignored the violence in the stable as he patrolled the room. He was largely ignored, despite muttering random things.

They soon reached the center of the stable where they found a horse that was very different from the skeletal ones they fought so far. This one had an eerie green glow coming from her hooves. She wore a tattered, black caparison with a scarlet lining and rust-colored barding. The shaffron covering her entire face gave the impression that the horse had fangs. Her eyes glowed the same color as her hooves.

Midnight was in a particularly hostile mood today and she just found some people to take her frustrations out on. The group quickly found that the horse moved fast. Very fast. Before they knew it, Flutashe found herself bucked into a wall. Raida quickly put her guard up and hurled her warglaive at the horse which bounced back into her hand and earned Midnight’s ire.

Raida’s agility allowed her to barely keep up with the horse’s movements but was able to get some slashes in. Stella struck it with a few fireballs.

Feeling threatened, Midnight let out a loud, unearthly neigh. From the next room, someone emerged into the stables. This one wore full plate armor the same color as Midnight’s barding. He had a scarlet cape and scarf with his helm being decorated in long, curving horns.

“Who dares attack the steed of the Huntsman,” the figure, who they figured was Attumen, demanded. He then drew his longsword and slashed at Raida who blocked it with a warglaive.

Flutashe recovered and struck Midnight with a full body charge which knocked her into a wagon full of rotten hay.

With Flutashe facing Midnight and Raida crossing blades with Attumen, the others began their attacks on the dark rider and his mount. Stella blasted Attumen from behind with fire and ice while Mena smited the horse with bolts of holy magic. Bella consecrated the ground to burn the feet and hooves of the duo before she began striking Midnight with holy magic.

Midnight suddenly turned to face Stella and prepared to charge at her but Flutashe grabbed her by the tail and threw her into the remains of the old hay cart.

Fed up with the way the battle was going, Attumen called for Midnight to quickly get up so he could mount her. “Come Midnight, let’s disperse this petty rabble!”

With rider and mount as one, Attumen continued slashing at Raida with his blade but this didn’t last long before Flutashe grabbed the Huntsman from behind and threw him off his mount with a suplex, slamming his head hard on the floor and denting his helmet.

Raida found an opening in Midnight’s defenses and stabbed the horse where the barding didn’t protect which restricted her movements. Being undead, the horse couldn’t be killed like a living horse could so Raida used her other warglaive to cut off each of Midnight’s legs before bringing both blades down on her neck, decapitating her and making sure the horse would not cause them any further trouble.

“Midnight! No!” Attumen shouted. Of course, he soon followed when Flutashe delivered a back breaker with her knee which would have only temporarily crippled the huntsman since he was undead. Of course, he knew that they weren’t going to let him recover. “I always knew, someday I would become the hunted,” he said as Bella finished him by delivering a crushing blow to his head with her hammer.

The group didn’t get time to take a break as a number of blacksmiths from the next room heard the commotion and tried to attack them while they were exhausted. However, they were all broken up into spectral essence within a split second, courtesy of a Psionic Storm by Sophia. “Rude…” she mumbled.

Raida had heard about Sophia’s exploits from her friends, but seeing such power in action was another matter. In that moment, she felt sorry for her master who would face that kind of power later.

In the next room, one blacksmith remained who didn’t attack them. He was still ghostly so they approached him with caution. The blacksmith heard their footsteps and turned around. “Huh? Who are you?”

“You wouldn’t happen to be Koren, would you?” Stella asked.

The ghost had an unfocused look in his eyes. He clearly was struggling to think about something. “I guess so, all I can think about is making horseshoes. If you are looking for horseshoes I’ll make a few for you in a few minutes.”

“Actually, I’m here looking for Keanna, or at least her logbook. Have you seen either?”

“Keanna? I think I met someone like that. She stayed in the guest chambers. I think I was supposed to keep that a secret…” The blacksmith paused, “Who are you again? If you’ve come for horseshoes I’ll make a few for you in a few minutes.” He then went back to work.

“I don’t think you’re going to get anything else from him,” Sophia said. “Ghosts like him can only think about their final moments. He was likely focused on making horseshoes when he died.”

“How come there are mostly hostile ghosts and few friendly ones?” Bella asked.

“Thanatas says that ghosts live their final memories for eternity and can’t comprehend anything beyond that. Anything that disrupts their memory will drive the ghosts into a frenzy and will attack the disruptive element. I think the reason for the friendly ghosts is because their final memories were orders from Medivh to treat key holders and their companions as guests. In the case of Koren, he was a spy for the Kirin Tor assigned to spy on Medivh while also a blacksmith. He likely responded to Stella’s status as a Kirin Tor agent but the prevalent memories were him working on horseshoes.”

While they knew that the guest quarters were their next destination, getting there was going to be tricky. The only route they knew was the one through the infested servant’s quarters.

They decided to return to Berthold in hopes that he might have more information on other ways to get to the guest quarters and higher in the tower.

Once they returned to the doorman, they asked their questions about the guest quarters and how to go higher into the tower. “The main route to the guest quarters is just beyond the grand ballroom and up the stairs. You should be careful though, I’ve heard that the rampant debauchery there has drawn the attention of a Titan Watcher.

“If you wish to go beyond the third floor, there are two ways. One way is from a doorway on an upper level outside of the tower. However, that door is locked from the inside and your key won’t get you inside from that way.”

That route was certainly out, though it was good to know that there was another entrance into the tower.

“The other way is through the opera house on the third floor, next to the guest quarters. You will need Barnes, the stage manager to let you through. However, he is forbidden from opening the stage door by order of Moroes. You will need to get his permission to reopen the stage.”

The group looked at each other. They had a feeling that Moroes was not going to be in a negotiable mood so they were wondering if they would have to force their way through the stage area.

Berhold continued, “Of course, Barnes and Moroes have not been on good terms since the stage was closed down. If Barnes were to be assured that Moroes would not interfere with the performance then he will gladly open the stage for you.”

It seemed that the only way further into the tower would be through the opera house and they had to deal with Moroes, who was likely in either the grand ballroom or the dining hall, to go any further. They also needed Keanna’s log from the guest quarters and if what Berthold said was true, there was likely an incensed Titan Watcher in there. The magics of the tower may have driven them mad.

Stella thanked Berthold for the information and they proceeded up the stairs toward the grand ballroom. At the top of the stairs the group noticed the ballroom was filled with crowds of ghostly nobles either chatting in groups or dancing as a group. With the sheer number of them, getting by would prove to be difficult. A number of servants were moving between the groups offering hors d'oeuvres to the guests.

“It’s like an eternal gala,” Stella muttered.

They didn’t have much choice but to crash the party since Moroes may have been in the crowd somewhere. Raida rushed in first and cut down a few guests before the ghosts noticed the intrusion. The others rushed in as the ghosts attacked Raida. Mena and Bella’s light magic incinerated many of the attacking ghosts while Stella teleported around the room releasing explosions of arcane magic around her. Flutashe ended up fighting skeletons who were carrying trays around; likely waiters based on their behavior.

While she was fighting a skeleton, Flutashe suddenly began to feel weak, as if she had just suddenly aged into her winter years and feared that the skeleton would be capable of breaking every bone in her body now. Sophia sensed the fear and delivered a roundhouse kick to the skeleton, sending its bones into the dining hall.

Unfortunately, Sophia’s actions only made things worse as the entire dining hall heard the commotion coming from the ballroom and drew the attention of the ghosts and skeletons inside.

With the entire ballroom in a chaotic state, Sophia became more active in the fighting since they were fighting an army of ghosts and skeletons now. Raida cut down many ghosts within a second with her rapid movements and Stella rained ice shards all over the ballroom. There were too many flammable objects in the tower for her to use her fire magic without burning the tower down and she didn’t want to test if Medivh’s fireproofing enchantments held up after decades of decay.

Once she recovered, Flutashe jumped up and grabbed one of the chandeliers that was still fully functional. Seeing what the druid was planning, Mena and Bella herded a large group of ghosts under the chandelier before the druid slashed the chains holding the fixture in place. She jumped away as the fixture crushed the ghosts, which they could have safely phased through had the magical fire lighting the chandelier not set them ablaze. This also showed that the fireproofing enchantments were still working because the gilded rug at their feet didn’t ignite.

After a while, all that were around them were piles of spectral essence left behind by the ghosts. The party took a moment to catch their breath because they had just destroyed hundreds of ghosts. The ghosts may have been lacking in combat training but their numbers made up for their lack of experience.

The ballroom was clear but there was no sign of anyone who appeared like they could have been Moroes. This left them with the dining hall.

Looking into the dining hall, the groups saw several covered tables that were low to the ground, looking like the table legs had rotted and collapsed. The chairs were left in a haphazard state with some turned over, showing that no maintenance was made in the room for years. The tables were covered in rotten food and ruined wine. The overall state of the tables showed that the guests were reckless in their attempts to escape the tower when the chaos happened. Light seemed to filter through a series of windows in the back which should have not been possible given the dark, dismal state of the region.

At the back of the dining hall on a platform, where the host was usually expected to be during a gala, stood six ghosts who were speaking to who appeared to be a forsaken wearing a red and gold shirt and black pants and boots. He also wore a set of black shoulderguards. All of his clothes were tattered.

“Just to warn you, Moroes is completely insane,” Thanatas said through the link. “When someone becomes risen as an unbound undead, they can sometimes go insane as a coping mechanism for their new status.”

“Should I leave this to Violetta?” Sophia asked.

“This is outside her area of expertise. There are different kinds of madness out there. Fel Madness is when someone goes on a power trip when they become infused with the fel. Void Madness is when someone loses their mind as a result of exposure to incomprehensible darkness. This is Death Madness when someone goes insane because they can’t cope with becoming an affront to the forces of life. They are similar to sociopathic serial killers.”

Sophia sighed, “Doesn’t look like we’re going to be able to reason with Moroes.”

The entire group had a feeling that it was going to come to a fight against the steward. Some, like Flutashe, had a false hope that he could be reasoned with. In the end they readied themselves for a fight.

Moroes was still busy talking with the ghosts which allowed them to move closer. Bella gasped as she recognized the ghosts’ face. “Those are the former ruling nobles of Darkshire!”

The others had not studied the nobility so they had no idea what Bella was talking about. Bella recognized the faces of Baroness Dorothea Millstripe, Lady Catriona Von’Indi, Lady Keira Berrybuck, Baron Rafe Dreuger, Lord Robin Daris and Lord Crispin Ference. She also knew that Dorothea and Catriona studied under the Stormwind priesthood while Keira and Rafe received basic training as paladins and were able to wield the Light. Robin and Crispin were skilled fighters.

Since she knew the nobles, Bella took command for this fight. “Raida, deal with the two wielding staves. Mena, assist me with the two wielding hammers. Stella, you can handle the last two ghosts. Flutashe will keep Moroes busy.”

The group nodded while Sophia stood back and watched them work. She would assist if the battle became too dicey.

Moroes finally heard the group approach. If he was surprised to see them he didn’t show it. “Hmm? Unannounced visitors? Preparations must be made,” he spoke in an even butler’s tone.

“What preparations?” Flutashe asked.

“I must prepare you for the gala, of course. All of you are filthy with that revolting flesh and bone covering you. I shall endeavor to scrape it off.” He then unsheathed a pair of serrated red daggers with red cloth on the hilt.

“You are here to see the master? You will have to get in line,” Dorothea said as she began channeling shadow magic. A warglaive struck her arm and made her lose concentration. The warglaive bounced off Dorothea and Catriona before returning to Raida.

Keira attempted to heal Dorothea’s injury but the incantations would not leave her lips as her voice was silenced. A hammer of light struck Rafe in the head.

Robin and Crispin were both pelted by fire and ice. After the first few hits, Crispin raised his shield to block further shots while Robin blocked with his battle ax.

Moroes’ slashes were swift, but so was Flutashe who managed to dodge each one while blasting him with intense rays of moonlight when she had room to cast.

Raida found her fight boring as she made sure the two priestesses didn’t get a spell off. Without their magic they were just a pair of nobles who flailed around with staves that they weren’t trained to use. She decided to put them out of their misery with a Fel Breath which engulfed them and reduced them to spectral powder in a few seconds.

Surprise was also bored fighting Keira. Any heals she tried to cast were silenced by shadow magic and any time she tried to enhance the strength of Robin or Crispin she dispeled. Keira was being burned alive by shadow magic and knew she would not last at this rate so she encased herself in a shield of light that prevented any and all of the priest’s attacks from getting through.

Keira was about to heal herself only to pause when she saw a large phantom eyeball manifest and fire a beam which not only shattered her shield but pierced her body. She quickly crumbled into dust.

Rafe was also having a bad time against Bella as his holy strikes were blocked by her shield while he had nothing to block her attacks. When he saw Keira go down he knew he was done for. That thought became reality nearly an instant later when a sword of light pierced him from below and he turned to dust.

Crispin’s shield failed to hold against Stella’s Disintegration Beam which pierced through the shield and him. Robin desperately slashed at the mage with his ax which struck what looked like her but turned out to be a Mirror Image. He felt a tap on his shoulder before he turned around just in time to be engulfed by a pillar of fire.

Moroes proved to be a skilled rogue as he attempted to use dirty tricks to catch Flutashe off guard but her instincts warned her of when she would have to dodge. She jumped back when the steward tried to throw poison powder into her eyes. He then paused for a moment, thinking about what he was supposed to be doing. “Now, where was I? Oh yes…” He then threw down a smokescreen and became invisible.

Raida quickly activated her Spectral Vision to locate the steward. She was not allowing him to get the drop on them. She spotted him creeping up on Surprise and pulling out some thin wire tied to two sticks of wood. She fired her Black Eye Beam at his chest which sent him flying back and crashing into a table.

The rotting steward got up from the mess, trying to dust himself off, though unable to remove the black crystals on his chest. “How terribly clumsy of me…” he said before he saw a green ball of fel energy crash into the crystals and blow him up, leaving only a few body parts behind.

The group took a moment to recover their strength before they proceeded back to the ballroom and through an opening they hadn’t explored yet. This led them up a flight of stairs and into another large gathering of ghostly guests. Some were dancing like those in the ballroom while others sat at small tables overlooking the ballroom.

After clearing the room, they looked around again to get their bearings. Ahead of them was an archway leading into a massive room with red curtains at the end. They figured that was the opera house. They also spotted a doorway to their right. If Berthold was right, that way led to the guest quarters.

Stella led the way into the doorway and into a marble hallway with several tattered green rugs and golden chandeliers along the path and decorated with artistic busts and lion statues. A rotten bookshelf was on one side of the room.

Inhabiting the area were numerous spectral guardsmen as well as ghostly people in robes. Raida felt something off about some of the robed ghosts.

What they found as they fought the new ghosts was something out of a nightmare. The ghosts were trained to entertain the guests in their beds and satisfy their carnal pleasures but in a fight they use shadow magic to attack or control the fight. When they felt threatened, they shed their forms to reveal the evils within. Some of the ghosts turned into rotten corpses who attacked with dark afflictions, others turned into banshees or wraiths. The ones that made Raida feel the most suspicious turned into sayaad, both female and male types. When she discovered this, Raida cut them down like the demons that she was trained to slay.

As they fought down the hallway, they also inspected the rooms looking for Keanna’s logbook. To their disappointment the book wasn’t in any of the rooms. Only rotten books filled the old bookshelf.

In the end the logbook wasn’t in the hallway or the rooms, which left only the room at the end of the hall. The room at the end was a large octagonal-shaped room with eight pairs of pillars surrounding a golden platform with a number of non-functional fountains along the walls. In the center was a giant living stone woman wearing gold and dark green robes.

“I heard about these Titan Watchers from books written by the Explorer’s League,” Mena said. “The Titans manufactured a lot of constructs of metal and stone when they brought order to Azeroth. This type is capable of using holy magic.”

“More of you deviants dare to stand before me?” the construct questioned. “I will purify you all of your debaucherous ways!”

“Wait, does she think we’re a bunch of sex-crazed fiends?” Raida asked.

Surprise switched out to answer, “She’s probably smoked whatever this tower has been giving all the lunatic ghosts here.”

“So we’re dealing with a crazed watcher…” Stella concluded.

“Your impurities must be cleansed!” the watcher declared as she walked over to them with hostile intent.

As she walked, the ground around her feet became consecrated and burned their feet, more so for Raida and Surprise.

Bella gained the watcher’s attention using several of her light hammers and light sword eruptions. While the watcher was not armed with a weapon, her stone arms still carried an impact. The paladin was still able to block her strikes with her shield.

The construct proved resilient to Surprise’s shadow magic which she figured was because of her holy affinity. Raida and her demons managed to get some strikes in until the construct unleashed a focused light spell that incinerated her demons one by one. The watcher might have gotten her too if she didn’t use the pillars to block the spell.

“Cast out your corrupt thoughts!” the watcher demanded before everyone briefly lost consciousness when they were struck by a holy spell. Raida, Surprise and Stella remained unconscious and were forced into a kneeling position. The light-scorched ground helped Bella and Flutashe to stay awake.

“A repentance spell?” Bella thought. She then hurled her shield into the watcher’s stomach which knocked her back. When the paladin retrieved her shield, she raised it into the air and unleashed a blinding flash of light which roused the others.

Stella used her magma breath to tear into the construct’s stone form which left a long scar on her back. A series of fire and ice spells heated and chilled her body and weakened its integrity. This led to one of the watcher’s punches impacting on Bella’s shield which resulted in her hand crumbling. A thrown warglaive lodged itself in the upper part of the watcher’s arm which was later struck by a Chaos Bolt which not only knocked the warglaive loose but broke the other arm off. One last Disintegration Beam to the construct’s chest broke through the outer layer and exposed the core module which became damaged to the point where the watcher began to deactivate.

“Death comes! Will your conscience be clear?” she said before she collapsed and stopped moving.

“That was a bit overly dramatic,” Bella said. “Was she trying to make us feel guilty for breaking her?”

As they pondered the construct, Stella looked around the room for what she was looking for. She found a book in one of the fountains and looked into its contents. She smiled as she realized that it was Keanna’s logbook.

She peered through the notes the unfortunate mage made during her time here. From what she read, there was an arcane golem guarding a hallway called the menagerie, Somewhere in the tower library was a secret passage behind a bookcase where she sensed a demon, an ethereal dragon guarding the tower observatory and got as far as a room that looked like a giant chessboard. Keanna was unable to solve the mystery of the room, but she could tell that the demonic presence the Violet Eye had been looking into was somewhere beyond that room. The last entry mentioned a Legion agent arriving at the top of the tower.”

“So what does it say about that demon presence?” Mena asked.

“Long story short, we have a long climb ahead of us,” Stella answered.

“Let’s not waste time then,” Raida said.

The group left the guest quarters and returned to the ballroom balcony Where they turned right and entered the opera house.

A pair of skeletons approached them and held their hands out. “Tickets?” one of them requested.

Strangely enough, Mena reached into her hair and pulled out six opera tickets which she handed to the ushers. The skeletons stared at the tickets for a few moments, at least they believed they were since they only had eye sockets. One of the ushers pulled out a hole puncher and punched the tickets. “You will need to go backstage to reach the VIP section,” one of them instructed.

Warily, the group walked away from the ushers who paid them no mind. “Where did you get those tickets?” Bella asked.

“I found them, Moroes had a hidden pocket that had a bunch of them,” Mena explained.

None dared to question how the gnome found a hidden pocket on the steward and simply accepted the explanation.

The seats were packed with guests who had been waiting for a show for who knew how long and they would have preferred not to disturb them for fear of getting swarmed. They moved along the right wall of the auditorium where they spotted a backdoor to the stage. From there, they proceeded down a flight of stairs that led into a pit beneath the stage. As they moved across the pit, the sound of the stage organ was almost deafening as the organist continued playing without pause.

The party quickly moved to the door on the other side before they climbed a long, narrow ramping corridor that was only enough to go through single file. The next room had a wooden floor that seemed a bit rotten and was populated with ghostly actors who were busy rehearsing their lines. The actors and stagehands paid them no mind which allowed them to go through the backstage area without a problem. They had a feeling that the ghosts would have attacked if Mena hadn’t shown the ushers those tickets.

A blonde ghost wearing a white shirt and brown overalls was standing next to the door to the stage. He waved the group over to him. “Ah finally, the actor’s guild finally saw fit to send some new blood our way. Tell me, has Moroes finally decided to let the show go on?”

“Uhh yeah…he did,” Stella lied. Thankfully, there was no way for him to confirm this since Moroes was in pieces.

“Excellent, are you ready for your debut?”

“Debut? What do you mean?” Bella asked.

“You are to be the stars of our next performance of course. I’m Barnes, the stage manager, by the way.”

“But we’re not actors,” Flutashe argued.

“Oh don’t worry about that, you all look spectacular for the role. You are free to improvise as you wish. All you need to do is defeat the actors arranged for the performance.”

It looked like this was going to be another battle for them. Since they needed to get across the stage to move deeper into Karazhan, they had no choice but to go along with it.

“Alright, we’ll give it a shot,” Stella said.

“Splendid!” He then twirled around and he was suddenly in a fancy blue suit with a red cape. “I’ll get the audience ready. Break a leg!”

The stage door then opened and Barnes and the group passed through and onto the stage. The group stood to one side of the stage while Barnes took his place at center stage. A spotlight shined down on him.

”Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this evening’s presentation! Tonight, we explore a tale of unity and friendship as three equine tribes who have been at war with one another for generations come together in a show of unity against a bone-chilling force that seeks to bring doom to them all.” The audience gasped. “Will their unity drive away the cold or will eternal winter claim their souls? And now, ON WITH THE SHOW!!” The audience applauded Barnes as he walked back to the stage door.

This was a strange occurrence for the group. Sophia raised an eyebrow when she heard the description as she felt like she heard that tale once before back in the real world. She would have to ask Twilight about that later. The others were interested in this show, especially since they had never heard of a story like that before in any of the literature they had read.

The curtain rose to a scene with a painting of an icy cavern for a background and several stalagmite props. In the center of the stage were three ghostly horses. One was a transparent brown stallion with a dark brown mane and white markings on his fetlocks and muzzle. Another was a ghostly silver-colored mare with a light blue mane and had a long horn on her head. She was also wearing a crown. The third was an ethereal pegasus stallion in a full set of barding. His form was a light blue color being emitted from the barding.

If the show was trying to be accurate with the story, Sophia had to guess that the vanilla stallion was Chancellor Puddinghead which would make the silver mare Princess Platinum and the armored stallion Commander Hurricane. She never thought that the theater troupe would use actual horses as actors though.

“I never thought I would have to share a cave with you lesser creatures,” ‘Platinum’ complained. “You pegasi are responsible for this terrible weather and making the dirt farmers hoard their food.”

“We had nothing to do with this weather!” ‘Hurricane’ shot back. “Maybe if you hornheads would do a better job of raising the sun, we wouldn’t be where we are now. Because of you, we have been lowered to raiding the lesser horses of their food stores.

“We only had enough for ourselves!” ‘Puddinghead’ snapped. “We can barely grow anything in this freezing weather. All you condescending horses do is look down on us from your clouds and ivory towers. Why should we give our food to those who don’t earn it?”

Platinum turned her head at the other two. “You two waste the air in here.” She then looked at the party. “More breathers to waste my precious air? I shall rectify that right now!” From her horn Platinum started launching frostbolts at them. Stella countered her casts and became the unicorn’s target.

“As if I would let you have all the catharsis, Platinum, I shall take my frustrations out on you, intruders!” Hurricane said before he swiftly closed the distance and kicked Mena into a wall. His electrified hooves gave the gnome a strong jolt. He proceeded to buck someone else but was lifted by a pair of feline arms and thrown against the background painting. Flutashe growled at him as he rose to his hooves. His spectral wings danced with electricity as he anticipated a challenge.

“I will prove to you both, here and now, why we who tend the land are not to be underestimated!” Puddinghead shouted before he stomped the stage. Several phantasmal stalagmites appeared beneath each party member. Raida, Stella and Bella were able to avoid the spikes by lifting themselves with their wings. Sophia floated over the stage while Flutashe’s instincts warned her of the threat before she rolled to the side. Mena was struck by a pillar and thrown to the other side of the stage. Thankfully the point of the pillar missed her.

Stella continued her duel with Platinum, the two flinging spells at each other or countering the other’s spells. The unicorn put up a barrier when the mage started flinging icicles infused with arcane energy which heavily impacted her shield. The barrier lasted three icicles which left two to strike her in the barrel and her flank.

As Platinum tried to get up to continue the fight, she was suddenly encased in ice. Stella looked around as she wasn’t the one who cast the spell.

Meanwhile, Flutashe continued her battle against Hurricane. She had to evade the stallion’s hooves to avoid getting electrocuted while slashing at his armor with her claws. The pegasus opened his wings and flapped them, releasing a strong gust of wind that knocked her to the background. He moved to strike her but felt the slash of a blade tear through his armor. Looking behind him, he felt several more slashes before he saw the attacker.

As he saw her, Raida knocked Hurricane toward the background where Flutashe was waiting to rip off his peytral to slash at the new opening.

Before the druid could follow up, she and Raida were forced to back away as Hurricane became encased in a tomb of ice.

Puddinghead proved resilient as he tanked several of Bella’s hammer strikes before he bucked her shield hard enough that she nearly fell off the stage. The stallion would have done so had he not paused as he felt his mind under attack by Surprise.

Puddinghead turned around to try to stomp on the gnome which only led to a hammer of light to his head. Not wanting to be in between the two, he leapt over Surprise and lowered his head while scraping the stage with a hoof preparing to charge. Bella positioned herself with her back to a stage wall while Surprise put herself between him and Bella. When the stallion charged, Surprise quickly dove to the side so Puddinghead decided to charge Bella instead. Anticipating this, she dove to the side as well when he got close which resulted in him slamming his head into the wall.

While Surprise attacked his mind again, Puddinghead was suddenly encased in ice.

The party looked around to find what had caused the horses to become frozen when they saw it. The creature looked like a cross between a horse and an air elemental that descended from the rafters above the stage.

“Your hatred will feed me for eternity!” the elemental cried.

The group suddenly realized that the temperature around them was beginning to drop and frost began to form on their bodies. They found that as long as they stayed moving they could keep the frost at bay for a time.

Stella used her fire spells as well as her red and black essences to assault the equine elemental who dodged some of the spells but still suffered harm from others. Raida unleashed her felfire magic on the elemental while the others used their own means to attack it.

Unfortunately, they found their attacks in vain as the creature drained energy from the three horses, healing its wounds.

“Guys, I think we need to free the horses from their prison,” Raida figured.

“Are you mad?” Bella protested. “Won’t they fight us as well?”

“It’s worth trying, we need to cut off its power source if we want to stop it,” Stella said.

Bella continued holding off the elemental while the others went to work attacking the ice imprisoning the horses. Puddinghead was the first to be free, followed by Platinum and Hurricane.

“So this is the source of the storm?” Hurricane figured.

“This uncouth creature dares assault the sacred kingdom of horses?” Platinum shouted, full of indignant rage.

“This thing looks strong, let us set aside our differences for now and show it the folly of its ways!” Puddinghead called out.

Between the party and the three horses, the elemental didn’t last long before its form destabilized.

Once the battle was over, both doors to the left and right of the stage opened with the horses retreating to the dressing room.

It didn’t take long to realize that the performance was over and that the party could move forward. Though they would still wonder where the story of this performance originated from, they had to focus on moving deeper into Karazhan as they still had a long way to go before they reached the top.

Author's Note:

This appears to be my longest chapter yet. I'm not sure how this one got so long but it did.

As I was writing out the ballroom scene, this old song from the 70s kept running through my head.

I hope you all enjoyed my deviation from the usual Opera Event fights (Red Riding Hood, Wizard of Oz, Romulo and Julianne). The pictures I used were the best I could find. If anyone has any better images that I could have used then I will consider them.