No matter how many of the elementals Zaevian struck down it seemed that they weren't going to be able to defeat all of the elemetals if things continued at this pace. He had been swarmed by the elementals many times, his armor was rent and melted, he had a burn on his face from where a fireball struck him, and Lailya seemed to be getting very weak from the night's battleing and keeping all of her demons bound. "Well isn't this a fine mess I've gotten us into...."
Suddenly there was another explosion at the guild hall and all the elementals stopped there attack and looked confused. Seeing his chance to end this skirmish he started to chant something quickly in thalassian under his breath. This was going to hurt...alot. He winced as he heard Aranca's cry echoing over the hills but continued weaving his spell. As the last words were said he lifted his arms as tendrils of shadow energy shot out from his body with two tendrils per remaining elemental then a large shard of ice for each as he launched the ice at the elementals he pulled his arms apart and the shadow tendrils started to rip the elementals in half. Zaevian screamed out in pain from the toll channeling this much magic was takeing on his body and falls to his knees out of breath as the spell finishes with the elementals being slashed in half by the ice while the shadow finishes ripping them apart.
"No time to rest now we have to get back up there..." He wistles loudly and his death charger come galloping over the hills. He grabs onto the saddle and pulls himself up into it, he then grabs Lailya's arm and pulls her up behind him before galloping off towards what remained of the guild hall. "Come on Lailya we need to get back something is wrong...."
Aracna stared at the Night Elf for a moment, then a rage consumed her. Without hesitation she very quickly pulled out her staff and smashed him in the face. She collected her sleeping son, and spat on the druid. "I don't owe you anything!" She stormed out of the Hall. She wanted to kill him, any Night Elf...any Alliance that ever crossed her path ended in a bloody battle. But right now, in this moment all Aracna wanted to do was hold her son in her arms.
The old orc stood on the hill, with three others wearing the robes of the Twilight Hammer. They watched the fight below them.
âThey fight well.â One of the companions said.
âThey are Ironsong; they are some of the best the Horde has.â Replied the old orc.
âWe did not expect them to survive the Baronâs attack, this complicates our plans.â Another of the companions stated.
âNo it does not. The Baron and his minions have served their function.â The old orc motioned for them to leave, the calamity below subsiding.
As the cultist walked away the old orc turned back to look once more at the Ironsong guild hall in flames.
âIâm sorry it had to be like this my friends.â He whispers. âBut what is about to be unleashed must come, and I canât have you getting in the way.â
He removes a tabard with a large red hammer emblazoned on the front. He drops it on the ground, then heads off with the other three.
Lailya was pretty sure the only things keeping her upright anymore were adrenaline, anger, and sheer bullheadedness.
She barely registered Aracna's distant cry as she continued to pummel the fire elementals with curses, banes, and shadowbolts. Her focus had narrowed to the enemies before her, and she could not afford to be distracted. Zaevian's interesting use of shadow and ice, therefore, took her completely by surprise.
The warlock stared, open-mouthed while the elementals were torn and ripped apart before her eyes. Even her demons had stopped to stare. A part of her thought, 'Oh, I must see if I can reverse engineer that spell for use with shadow and fire!' The rest thought, 'Is it nap time yet?'
Lailya yelped in surprise as she was suddenly hauled up onto a deathcharger. As they galloped off she grumbled, "Of course something's wrong, tonight's already been the ultimate worst-case scenario. Anything else is just icing on the cake."
Her brothers had always said the sharpness of her tongue increased in direct proportion to just how tired she was. 'No sleeping yet,' Lailya thought to herself, and began carefully releasing the bonds holding her demons to this plane. Even if there was trouble back at the remains of the hall, she couldn't keep five demons summoned any longer if she wanted to be of use. Vilyla and Krakgak were released first, with whispered thanks, followed by Shaathun and Flaadhun. She sighed with relief as the strain on her lessened, but when she went to release Pizpit, the imp refused to budge.
She glanced at her shoulder where the imp still grimly hung on. Pizpit glared at his mistress and said, "Someone has to keep an eye on you. Where else am I going to get my cheese?"
Lailya simply chuckled and let him be.
Lucinther grabbed the small stone out of the box and headed towards the main entrance to the sanctum, hopefully it wouldn't be blocked by stone or fires. Anca was right on his heels as he disarmed and rearmed the magical traps Dispaya had put in place. He shouldeered the door open, shocked by what he saw.
Most of the main room was on fire. The Baron still stood, but looked considerably weaker than ever. He ran over, and dropped the stone in front of the Baron and a large water elemental appeared and it began a series of attacks on the fire lord.
Lucinther backed away, letting the elementals fight. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Aracna swing her staff at something. He spun, turning in time to see the night elf fall and Aracna run off.
He smirked, moving over to the fallen night elf. He bent down and grabbed the elf by the collar of his tunic and hauled him up onto his feet. " I don't know who you are, or why you are here... but right now, I need someone to get it to start raining." He let go of the night elf and backed away. " Just don't go too far after this is all over... or you'll regret it."
Lucinther moved back trying to put out as many of the small fires as he could.
The punding in Zaevian's head was louder than the horse's hoofbeats and his vision kept blurring. He arrived at what was left of the guild hall in time to see Aranca smash some night elf in the face and yell something but he couldn't hear anything over the pounding in his head. He saw that the Baron was still standing but there was a water elemental fighting him now. He jumped off his horse with the intent of helping finish off the Baron but when he landed his muscles gave out and he fell to his knees under his own weight. "Damn it...That took alot out of me...." Useing his sword as a brace he hauled himself to his feet he looked and saw that the baron wasn't going to last long against the water elemental and that charging into battle again before getting healed wasn't the best idea in the world. He saw Lucinther trying to put out the remaining fires and shruged. "At least I should be able to help with that." With that he pushed himself off towards the rest of the tribe and helped to put out the fires.
The druid stood up, blood trickled out of a gash in his face. He sighed and began to cast; clouds began to form and swirl and soon enough, rain was pouring down.
Stepping around the back of the guild hall, Melikar saw nothing out of the ordinary. Whoever caused those explosions seemed to be gone now.
Scratching his head, he quickly turned and started running back to the guild hall itself with all the commotion still going on. As he did, however, he glanced up and noticed robed figures wandering down a hill beyond the hall. They seemed to be in the same garb as the Twilight's Hammer. Torn between the hall and following these attackers, the warrior decided to chase after the figures.
By the time he reached the hill, however, the adversaries had left with no trace. Glancing around and seeing no other threat, Melikar was about to head back to the hall. But an object in the browned grass, clinging to the rock faces so common in the Barrens caught his eye. Stepping over, the troll picked up a worn black cloth. It only took him a few seconds to recognize it as the insignia of the Ironsong tribe.
Was one of their kind kidnapped? Or did someone willingly leave and allow this dishonor to happen to their own tribe? Unsure of what to think, Melikar quickly folded up the tabard in a mess and ran back down the hill.
~~~
Sentei had been so caught up in fighting and trying to play a hero to Lailya, he hadn't seen the slow diminish of attacks. Nor did he notice what a wreck the guild hall was in. He continued to follow after Zaevian and Lailya as the fire elementals swarmed about them still. Realizing Zeplop's fire attacks wouldn't prove very useful, Sentei had taken the time to bring forth his Fel Hunter, Thoolum. The dog-like demon snapped it's drooling jaws at the air as it sensed powerful magic all around it.
Letting the Fel Hunter have a hayday with the elementals, Sentei continued to stand back and cast bolts of chaos. All the while, his eyes always flicking back to watch the morphed form of Lailya attack with unrelenting vigor.
Raxxar slides open his Coffintable and starts to climb out but blinks as he looks about the smoldering Hall in shock.
"Okay what did I miss?" in a surprised voice.
Climbing out completely he closes the Coffintable and uses the end of his cloak to put out a few lingering flames on the table absently and just looks about in confusion.
As Zaevian looks around the ruined guild hall and realizes the flames are finally dieing down and the night's commotion is done for the night and sits down in one of the chairs that wasn't destroyed in the explosions or fire. He then notices Lailya seems like she is about to pass out from her exertion and offers her the chiar next to him and flashes a grin despite his pain. "You should sit down before you fall face first on all this debris."
"Now, who is the night elf that Aranca just smashed in the face, does anyone know what caused those damned explosions, and can someone tell me if any of our alcohol survived the fires? I think a few of us might need a drink after tonight..." He looks down at the bleeding wounds through his rent armo. "...And I think I might need some help from a priest." He then chuckles at his own predicimant and waits to see who has any answers to his questions.
Lucinther let the bucket he was using to douse the flames fall to the ground. He straightened and walked over to the night elf. He held up a small piece of cloth. "Your face is bleeding."
He pulled up two chairs, sitting in one as he slid one of the chairs over to the elf. " I don't know who you are..... but I suspect you had something to do with this. As much as I'd like to just kill you, you have also helped the Tribe save our hall. For that, I thank you. Now, what is your name, and why are you here?"
The druid's hand reached up to his face, gingerly touching the blood. He cast a minor healing spell and the wound closed up. He accepted the offered piece of cloth and wiped the blood away.
"My name is Rhogarran. My group tipped off the cultists of your betrayal to them. We are also the ones who set the bombs." He looked up at the night sky, taking a deep breath. "I believe you have met our leader, already: a gnome who claims to be a goblin. Goes by the name of Squigvicious."
Rincewindy breathed a sigh of reilef as he saw the large fire elemental disappear back through the portal. He finished the closing spell, and sat down heavily. He reached up, trying to pull one of the knives out of his back, but couldn't quite get it. He cursed, the words sounding like ghosts in a graveyard. He finally gave up trying and watched as the others questioned the night elf.
Mula took a moment to take in her surroundings. She believed she was looking at what once was the kitchen. The walls had been decimated, either by the bombs, or the elementals. The stove was literally standing on it's last leg. There was a creeking and a crash, as it fell over. Well, so much for that.
Zaevian had come back and was bleeding from a wound in his side. She went over to him taking out a piece of heavy frostweave and tended to the wound.
She saw Lucinther talking with a night elf. Both were sitting on chairs in what used to be the main hall.
She climbed over a mound of debris to the "outside." Technically, she was already outside, considering the destruction. The hillside was a smouldering pile of burnt grass and dead elementals. Down the hill, lay the bodies of the cultists. There would be a lot of digging to do, she thought, sighing.
Reluctantly, she turned around to see the damage to the guild hall. The kitchen, main hall and surrounding areas were decimated. Further down, on both sides were gaping holes, where more bombs had gone off. There were fires licking at those areas.
It was disheartening to see. She felt the rage welling up inside her. She wanted revenge. She wanted to strangle the night elf that was sitting in what once was the hall. She wanted to kill each and every single cultist that ever crossed her path. She ran down the hill to where the remaining cultists were kneeling, awaiting their judgement. She was screaming. And Shadow's Edge was in her hand. The young troll, barely an adult, cringed as she charged at him. The axe came down, barely inches away from him, cutting a large gash in the earth. She shoved him aside, breathing heavily. "You caused this! ALL OF YOU!! You should feel ashamed at what you've done! Attacking your own kind! Your own blood!" Her voice cracked, and she was on her knees. "Shame on you! We should be sticking together, not attacking each other."
Starting from a vantage point in the sky, Tursiops lnanded and cast a series of magic enhancements on Zaevian, spinning thorns, wild-markers, and a set of preventative healing.
After the boy stopped his own attack, Tursiops spoke simply and calmly into the ruined guild hall, but absolutely without any humor in his voice.
"Lucinther, now that the Baron is under control, why isn't this", pointing at the night elf, "dead?"