Unity Square loomed before the squad of Brotherhood of Valor members. Praetor His Excellency William "Gunny" Gunrik led the blind Lightforged paladin Zallanna and the Ren'dorei warlock No'lariel (accompanied by her demon imp Rulpad) through the streets. Jon Chess, moving from shadow to shadow, preceded them, making sure that any unanticipated threats were rendered harmless. The halfling sniper Bitibiz followed behind, keeping an eye out in case there was a need for counter-sniping; the Irontide raiders had already shown themselves quite willing to take pot-shots at targets of opportunity from rooftops and other similar vantage points.
Unity Square was packed with patrols of non-human pirates from the Bilge Rat Buccaneers; Jon had encountered them before in the pirate stronghold of Freeport. The Bilge Rats were a polyglot of rapacious criminals of Vulpera, Quilboar, Hozen, Saurok. even Ettin and Deep Sea Murlocs. Led by an alpha Vulpera named Captain Eudora, they were known for their single-minded bloodthirstiness .and greed. In this instance, the Bilge Rats were also the bodyguard to ancient sea giant called from the depths by Ashvane sorcery to wreak havoc on the citizens and structures of Boralus.
The Lord Admiral had called upon General Ogrimskar, the leader of the Brotherhood of Valor. Taciturn and gruff, Jon knew little enough about him, but what he had managed to piece together, Ogrimskar and a close friend named Argyle had been killed in Northrend by the Blighted Mother when he had been on a penitent crusade following the death of his wife and the defection of his clan to the Twilight's Hammer.
He had been raised back to unlife to serve the Lich King, but paladins had broken Arthas' control over him. left with no memories, he had joined the Brotherhood of Valor, which had provided him an opportunity to allow him to kill the Bighted Mother and regain those memories that had been lost. His life had taken on new purpose when he had assumed control of the Brotherhood of Valor, and he was very protective of his adopted 'family'.
Jon had initially not gotten on very well with the General, who had accused Jon of malingering when Jon had assumed the role of cook and bartender of the Blue Raven, but over time Jon felt that he had redeemed himself in the General's opinion - or at the very least, the General had not seen fit to discharge him.
Yet.
Still, Jon counted that marginal increase of status as an achievement of sorts. While Jon was not, by nature, respectful of rank and formality, he had come to respect the quiet dedication that the General had demonstrated for those under his command.
The team met with the General in the lee of an alleyway off the approach to Unity Square.
"Aboot time ye got here... now is not thae time for larking and looting yon city, we hae work tae be doing," Ogrimskar grumbled in a hushed voice as they gathered around him for their mission briefing.
"Yon poltroon," he began, waving at the sea giant, "is a verrah auld, and mickle powerful oversized bastard named Hadal Darkfathom... he's been destroying walls, fortification, and buildings on his rampage from thae deep water. He commands a powerful ice sorcery and has been casting barrages of frozen brine at anyone unfortunate enow tae catch his attention. Thae salty water seems to hae been enhanced to corrode skin and iron, so ye'll need to avoid it as much as ye can."
"Also," he continued, "he can summon a small tidal wave from the shore, and it is similarly enchanted. So here is what we are going tae do... I am going to get close and grab his attention, and then run him around the square, so he'll focus thae frost and waves in my direction. While I lead him in a merry dance, ye all clean up thae Bilge Rat escort and the pile on tae finsih him. Understood?"
Everyone nodded.
"Ok, take a moment to make ready, aye? Oh, and Chess... a moment in private."
The others took themselves off a short distance, and began to make preparations. Jon could hear Gunny and Zallanna quietly praying to the Light. Nolarial was scolding Rulpad to focus and not be fooling around instead of burning down the enemy. Bitibiz was replenishing her ready ammunition supply.
"Chess, ye know what I am... Gunny, with all his Light folderol, won't be able to help keep me up and fighting, and I don't want him anywhere near when the o'er-tall behemoth starts cutting loose with his foul magics - he knows this, and will be healing ye others, and striking for righteous retribution, like his kind goes. The ice and foul waters and the like will damage me less than it might others - thae frost will be less than a summer's day in Icecrown, and one such as myself will be less corrupted than thae living to the acid brine. There is a way I can help myself, though - I can drain the life force from a nearby enemy to replenish myself, but that enemy needs to be near, aye? So... what I am asking ye to do is to fight some of the Bilge Rats and then lead them near me. "
"I understand," nodded Jon.
"Nae, I don't think you do - don't interrupt me, I was nae finished!" snapped the General irritably. "I know that a fighting retreat will put ye in greater peril because I've seen ye fight - quick and brutal is your style, not dancing around like a springheeled sprat. I need you to lure them to me, not get yourself spitted on a cutlass, aye? Also... if there is nothing else to use to keep myself going until yon deeps-ea dastaed is done, I may hae to take some of yuir life force. So I want ye to have some of those healing potions ye carry around in your field pack handy - if I lose ye because yuir not ready and paying attention, I'll go to thae Black Forge itself and pry you back to the living, just so I can torment ye for a decade or two for daring tae die before you do yuir duty, understand?"
"Yessir, I understand," Jon said with a curt nod. Jon did not mention that he was one potion down already. "Take what you need." if Jon had to die so that Boralus was saved, he was ready to make that sacrifice. The details were different, but putting his life at risk for Boralus or the Brotherhood of Valor was nothing new, really, if you thought about it, and Jon had thought about it at length.
Ogrimskar waited until the team was ready, and with a fierce Dark Iron battlecry charged towards the sea giant. Already his lips were mumbling a runic enchantment to unleash a plague of boiling blood on the enemy. Ogrimsky smiled - the plague should be even more painful to a creature used to the chill of the deep sea. He took a grim satisfaction as it took hold, and the sea giant screamed in rage and anguish.
As the giant rushed him, the startled Bilge Rats recovered and began to respond, only to find themselves sorely beset. One group of the pirates found themselves facing a pair of paladins. The ground itself became hostile as their Consecration invocations, judging the moral worth of the pirates and found them wanting. Zellanna wove a cage of steel around herself, riposting to deadly effect when a Bilge Rat raider attempted to penetrate it - and her.
Nearby, No'lariel had cast a spell which combined the nature of fire and water, calling forth the essence of fire and infusing the downpour of a massive thunderhead of with brimstone, delivering a Fel-firestorm to another gathering of the Bilge Rat raiders. Rulpad capered merrily back and forth while he and his beautiful Ren'dorei mistress incinerated the suffering, flaming victims with waves of burning.
Bitibiz fired shot after shot, each one a headshot. Loud reports punctuated the screams and moans of the raiders as pirate head after head exploded under the impact of the accelerated lead balls.
Jon mumbled an incantation in the Arakkoa langauge, and entered the Shadows, teleporting a short distance to a group of the raiders. Casting another cantrip, shards of solidified void materialized in razor-sharp shards, and were cast from him in all directions, ripping and shredding the Vulperas and Quilboars around him. Several dropped instantly but most were merely wounded - and enraged. Jon wasted no time, but turned and sprinted away.
Ogrimskar has maintained his distance from the sea giant, well aware that he could easily find himself pulped the enormous club of barnacle-encrusted driftwood. Enduring several blasts of corrupted rime and frost, he backed away, repeatedly striking the sea giant's thick ankles with necrotic tendrils. Everywhere the tendrils struck, further inflammations of the blood-boiling plague became acute.
Ogrimskar saw Jon approach at a run, followed by a half-dozen pirates. Something halfway between a snarl and a bloodthirsty grin appeared on his face as he embraced his undead nature, and pulled the lifeforce of the wounded pirates. He groaned aloud as the stolen energy filled his body, rebuilding his dead flesh and restoring his vitality.
When he noticed the pirates suffering debilitation from his commander, Jon opened one of his belt pouches and tossed the contents in the path of the sea giant. Had the points of the caltrops been razor-sharp and newly forged, the sunlight might have glinted warningly in the gloomy overcast sunlight, but the caltrops were neither clean nor new, but covered in a green patina of venom, distilled and applied by Chess as part of his morning ritual, as much a part of his morning as preparing Suramar spiced tea or using his tooth powder. Not nearly as painful as Ogrimskar's spells, the venom began its work almost immediately as the giant's treads stabbed the iron deep into the flesh of his feet.
As the squad of Bilgewater Rats died, the Brotherhood of Valor applied their destructive talents to the sea giant. No'lariel cast devastating blasts of chaos. Her imp Rulpad discorporiated after being crushed to death by the sea giant's club; banished to the Twisting Nether, No'lariel would summon him back after the fight had ceased. Gunny relentlessly struck with Gonzagos, the Sword of the Gunrik Family, an ancient but powerful blade which was able to channel the power of Gunrik's ancestors' use of the Light. Regular as clockwork, Bitibiz sent slug after slug into his flesh. Zallanna struck with an almost scientific precision, focusing on the sea giant's hamstring, and when it fell forward, Jon Chess shoved a F.R.I.E.D. (Fast-Roasting Incendiary Exploding Device) up the sea giant's nose.
When it exploded, blowing a good portion of it's head apart, Jon said: "Bless you - that was some sneeze!"
"Really, Jon? A firebomb up the nose?" said Gunny with a smirk.
"You do not get to judge me, William Gunrik!" exclaimed Jon with mock indignance. "Only Moria gets to judge me, and she's not here!"
Ogrimskar stood next to the sea giant, draining the essence of the last moments until all semblance of life had fled. "Well done, all of ye - take a few moments to rest, and then we need tae take down another wee beastie."
"Boss... I am afraid to ask," said Jon," but what 'wee beastie'?"
"A leviathan which has devastated the harbor," General Ogrimskar declaimed ominously. "Yon leviathan must be defeated before it destroys whae is left of the Kul Tiran defense fleet."
"It's name is..Viq'goth"
Unity Square was packed with patrols of non-human pirates from the Bilge Rat Buccaneers; Jon had encountered them before in the pirate stronghold of Freeport. The Bilge Rats were a polyglot of rapacious criminals of Vulpera, Quilboar, Hozen, Saurok. even Ettin and Deep Sea Murlocs. Led by an alpha Vulpera named Captain Eudora, they were known for their single-minded bloodthirstiness .and greed. In this instance, the Bilge Rats were also the bodyguard to ancient sea giant called from the depths by Ashvane sorcery to wreak havoc on the citizens and structures of Boralus.
The Lord Admiral had called upon General Ogrimskar, the leader of the Brotherhood of Valor. Taciturn and gruff, Jon knew little enough about him, but what he had managed to piece together, Ogrimskar and a close friend named Argyle had been killed in Northrend by the Blighted Mother when he had been on a penitent crusade following the death of his wife and the defection of his clan to the Twilight's Hammer.
He had been raised back to unlife to serve the Lich King, but paladins had broken Arthas' control over him. left with no memories, he had joined the Brotherhood of Valor, which had provided him an opportunity to allow him to kill the Bighted Mother and regain those memories that had been lost. His life had taken on new purpose when he had assumed control of the Brotherhood of Valor, and he was very protective of his adopted 'family'.
Jon had initially not gotten on very well with the General, who had accused Jon of malingering when Jon had assumed the role of cook and bartender of the Blue Raven, but over time Jon felt that he had redeemed himself in the General's opinion - or at the very least, the General had not seen fit to discharge him.
Yet.
Still, Jon counted that marginal increase of status as an achievement of sorts. While Jon was not, by nature, respectful of rank and formality, he had come to respect the quiet dedication that the General had demonstrated for those under his command.
The team met with the General in the lee of an alleyway off the approach to Unity Square.
"Aboot time ye got here... now is not thae time for larking and looting yon city, we hae work tae be doing," Ogrimskar grumbled in a hushed voice as they gathered around him for their mission briefing.
"Yon poltroon," he began, waving at the sea giant, "is a verrah auld, and mickle powerful oversized bastard named Hadal Darkfathom... he's been destroying walls, fortification, and buildings on his rampage from thae deep water. He commands a powerful ice sorcery and has been casting barrages of frozen brine at anyone unfortunate enow tae catch his attention. Thae salty water seems to hae been enhanced to corrode skin and iron, so ye'll need to avoid it as much as ye can."
"Also," he continued, "he can summon a small tidal wave from the shore, and it is similarly enchanted. So here is what we are going tae do... I am going to get close and grab his attention, and then run him around the square, so he'll focus thae frost and waves in my direction. While I lead him in a merry dance, ye all clean up thae Bilge Rat escort and the pile on tae finsih him. Understood?"
Everyone nodded.
"Ok, take a moment to make ready, aye? Oh, and Chess... a moment in private."
The others took themselves off a short distance, and began to make preparations. Jon could hear Gunny and Zallanna quietly praying to the Light. Nolarial was scolding Rulpad to focus and not be fooling around instead of burning down the enemy. Bitibiz was replenishing her ready ammunition supply.
"Chess, ye know what I am... Gunny, with all his Light folderol, won't be able to help keep me up and fighting, and I don't want him anywhere near when the o'er-tall behemoth starts cutting loose with his foul magics - he knows this, and will be healing ye others, and striking for righteous retribution, like his kind goes. The ice and foul waters and the like will damage me less than it might others - thae frost will be less than a summer's day in Icecrown, and one such as myself will be less corrupted than thae living to the acid brine. There is a way I can help myself, though - I can drain the life force from a nearby enemy to replenish myself, but that enemy needs to be near, aye? So... what I am asking ye to do is to fight some of the Bilge Rats and then lead them near me. "
"I understand," nodded Jon.
"Nae, I don't think you do - don't interrupt me, I was nae finished!" snapped the General irritably. "I know that a fighting retreat will put ye in greater peril because I've seen ye fight - quick and brutal is your style, not dancing around like a springheeled sprat. I need you to lure them to me, not get yourself spitted on a cutlass, aye? Also... if there is nothing else to use to keep myself going until yon deeps-ea dastaed is done, I may hae to take some of yuir life force. So I want ye to have some of those healing potions ye carry around in your field pack handy - if I lose ye because yuir not ready and paying attention, I'll go to thae Black Forge itself and pry you back to the living, just so I can torment ye for a decade or two for daring tae die before you do yuir duty, understand?"
"Yessir, I understand," Jon said with a curt nod. Jon did not mention that he was one potion down already. "Take what you need." if Jon had to die so that Boralus was saved, he was ready to make that sacrifice. The details were different, but putting his life at risk for Boralus or the Brotherhood of Valor was nothing new, really, if you thought about it, and Jon had thought about it at length.
Ogrimskar waited until the team was ready, and with a fierce Dark Iron battlecry charged towards the sea giant. Already his lips were mumbling a runic enchantment to unleash a plague of boiling blood on the enemy. Ogrimsky smiled - the plague should be even more painful to a creature used to the chill of the deep sea. He took a grim satisfaction as it took hold, and the sea giant screamed in rage and anguish.
As the giant rushed him, the startled Bilge Rats recovered and began to respond, only to find themselves sorely beset. One group of the pirates found themselves facing a pair of paladins. The ground itself became hostile as their Consecration invocations, judging the moral worth of the pirates and found them wanting. Zellanna wove a cage of steel around herself, riposting to deadly effect when a Bilge Rat raider attempted to penetrate it - and her.
Nearby, No'lariel had cast a spell which combined the nature of fire and water, calling forth the essence of fire and infusing the downpour of a massive thunderhead of with brimstone, delivering a Fel-firestorm to another gathering of the Bilge Rat raiders. Rulpad capered merrily back and forth while he and his beautiful Ren'dorei mistress incinerated the suffering, flaming victims with waves of burning.
Bitibiz fired shot after shot, each one a headshot. Loud reports punctuated the screams and moans of the raiders as pirate head after head exploded under the impact of the accelerated lead balls.
Jon mumbled an incantation in the Arakkoa langauge, and entered the Shadows, teleporting a short distance to a group of the raiders. Casting another cantrip, shards of solidified void materialized in razor-sharp shards, and were cast from him in all directions, ripping and shredding the Vulperas and Quilboars around him. Several dropped instantly but most were merely wounded - and enraged. Jon wasted no time, but turned and sprinted away.
Ogrimskar has maintained his distance from the sea giant, well aware that he could easily find himself pulped the enormous club of barnacle-encrusted driftwood. Enduring several blasts of corrupted rime and frost, he backed away, repeatedly striking the sea giant's thick ankles with necrotic tendrils. Everywhere the tendrils struck, further inflammations of the blood-boiling plague became acute.
Ogrimskar saw Jon approach at a run, followed by a half-dozen pirates. Something halfway between a snarl and a bloodthirsty grin appeared on his face as he embraced his undead nature, and pulled the lifeforce of the wounded pirates. He groaned aloud as the stolen energy filled his body, rebuilding his dead flesh and restoring his vitality.
When he noticed the pirates suffering debilitation from his commander, Jon opened one of his belt pouches and tossed the contents in the path of the sea giant. Had the points of the caltrops been razor-sharp and newly forged, the sunlight might have glinted warningly in the gloomy overcast sunlight, but the caltrops were neither clean nor new, but covered in a green patina of venom, distilled and applied by Chess as part of his morning ritual, as much a part of his morning as preparing Suramar spiced tea or using his tooth powder. Not nearly as painful as Ogrimskar's spells, the venom began its work almost immediately as the giant's treads stabbed the iron deep into the flesh of his feet.
As the squad of Bilgewater Rats died, the Brotherhood of Valor applied their destructive talents to the sea giant. No'lariel cast devastating blasts of chaos. Her imp Rulpad discorporiated after being crushed to death by the sea giant's club; banished to the Twisting Nether, No'lariel would summon him back after the fight had ceased. Gunny relentlessly struck with Gonzagos, the Sword of the Gunrik Family, an ancient but powerful blade which was able to channel the power of Gunrik's ancestors' use of the Light. Regular as clockwork, Bitibiz sent slug after slug into his flesh. Zallanna struck with an almost scientific precision, focusing on the sea giant's hamstring, and when it fell forward, Jon Chess shoved a F.R.I.E.D. (Fast-Roasting Incendiary Exploding Device) up the sea giant's nose.
When it exploded, blowing a good portion of it's head apart, Jon said: "Bless you - that was some sneeze!"
"Really, Jon? A firebomb up the nose?" said Gunny with a smirk.
"You do not get to judge me, William Gunrik!" exclaimed Jon with mock indignance. "Only Moria gets to judge me, and she's not here!"
Ogrimskar stood next to the sea giant, draining the essence of the last moments until all semblance of life had fled. "Well done, all of ye - take a few moments to rest, and then we need tae take down another wee beastie."
"Boss... I am afraid to ask," said Jon," but what 'wee beastie'?"
"A leviathan which has devastated the harbor," General Ogrimskar declaimed ominously. "Yon leviathan must be defeated before it destroys whae is left of the Kul Tiran defense fleet."
"It's name is..Viq'goth"
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