Stormsong Investigation, a story by Myf (continued)
We return to the story with a somber evening in Stormsong, the Vanguard had just witnessed an execution of innocent Tidesages, ordered by the Chancellor of the Krakens Counsel. The sun looms on the horizon as dusk falls upon the hills of Stormsong, clamoring with distant echoes of thunder. The Oathsworn Vanguard party begin their trek down the mountainside to reach the town they had just witnessed the senseless murder, -- no, massacre -- that had just taken place. Right as they get near the usual paths along the mountain, they encounter a squad of Horde patrollers.
There was a Goblin engineer that was particularly a pain in the ass. He tossed a grenade right to the feet of the party, a brave panda took it upon herself to dive over it to guard the others from the blast. It was a terribly painful blast, but thankfully all injuries sustained were not too serious and could be treated by the healers and medics on scene. Naturally the Goblin became the primary focus of the Vanguard and he didnât have the time to so much as even draw another breath. The Orc, Troll, and Forsaken soon fell under their blade as well. Curious a SinâDorei had yet to be spotted in Stormsong.. Was it the weather that dissueded them?
The team was now not too far from the town they were determined to reach. It was littered with purple robed tidesages, they werenât exactly attempting to hide anything so this was definitely a safe town for the Kraken Sage. It would be important to the Vanguard that they not get everyone in the townâs attention. They found a courtyard tucked away, to the side, and saw blood stains all over the stone. The party made their way to the sight of the massacre and now there was only one man, a prisoner no doubt. He was on hands and knees, scrubbing away at the blood and softly sobbing.
The manâs name was discovered to be Brother Wayland, he was a young tidesage in training, like Brother Winston had been. He was very helpful to the Vanguard, he told them about the prisoners there in the town, who had been broken of will, and would either convert, or become husks of whom they once were. He spoke about the few who retaliate, and how their fate was death, brutal and insidious murder. Now he was cleaning up after such an act for merely standing up for a fellow prisoner. At this time a purple robed sage has spotted the Vanguard and was approaching. Brother Wayland lowered his head and got back to scrubbing away at the blood soaked stone pavement.
âNice talk you havinâ there?â A rhetorical statement as she followed up with âLet the peasant get back to work. What are you doinâ here?â Â Â A Vanguard Paladin spoke up, âWe heard of a group called the Krakens Counsel and are seeking more information.â The lady paused and held out a kraken idol. Having positive confirmation the Vanguard engaged. The woman was not a great match for the party, but following her demise, the kraken idol spewed a haze of purple and she arose. She was horribly disfigured now, barely resembling the likeness of a human, her head morphed into what looked like an octopus, with long tentacles drooping down from where he mouth and nose once were. A fire paladin purified her soul to death with righteous and holy flame.
Brother Wayland felt free to speak again and with urgency told the Vanguard of a third Elder Sage in the counsel. The third and final general that if eliminated would surely shoo out the Chancellor. He would likely be forced out of hiding in order to recruit more to his following. He then told the group where this Elder would likely be. They offer to help him escape but he refuses, as he knows his fellow prisoners would be punished for his disappearance. The party affirms they will send in a liberation party, just ensure no one else is murdered in the meantime.
The Vanguard follows Brother Waylandâs instructions on where to find the third Elder and arrive at the cliff of a mountain overlooking a wide river, wide enough for ships to pass through. The Elder was spotted performing a ritual, like the others had, except this Elder had bodyguards. Undeniably due to a security increase. Once the Vanguard had engaged the enemies they found that the bodyguards were for the most part staying out of the way.. A messy fight ensued, with all manner of magic, shamanistic calls, and glorious blade strikes. The man, Elder Gordon, became significantly weakened and collapsed, a crack was heard as his head slammed to the ground. Now the two body guards pulled out their kraken idols and crushed them. They then mysteriously fell unconscious. The gasses then flowed to Elder Gordon and encompassed his entire body. They hovered over him for a moment longer than what would seem appropriate before a scaled hand was spotted balling into a fist. Elder Gordon had taken on a grotesque form even more monstrous than the cultist seen in the town. The Vanguard once again brought blade to throat, for the good of Azeroth.
The Oathsworn Vanguard team was then healing those who had been injured in battle and assessing any long term ailments that would have any impact on duty, when something was spotted at the waterline. The same armored man, the Chancellor, had flown in on gryphon-back to meet with a courier. This courier was sporting the colors of Drustvar. Curious now.. Whatâs Drust got to do with this? The encounter was brief, and after the Chancellor handed off an envelope they both flew off in different directions. The Vanguard set the best of their clandestine operatives on the case of the Chancellor and the Courier, and waited for the intel to come in.
(Two weeks later, at the Office of the 9th Oathsworn Vanguard, located in Boralus)
It was late in the afternoon already and an urgent meeting had been called, and instructions were given to come armed. A map of Drustvar lay sprawled out across the table, with various points of interest marked. One particularly stands out, having a red wax stamp on it featuring a gryphons head. Lieutenant Myferae wasted no time once all were accounted for, âGood evening Vanguard, as you know we have had our best clandestine operatives on the case of the courier wearing Drustvar colors. The one we saw meeting with the Chancellor after dispatching all three of his elders. Well we have received positive confirmation that the courier has been spotted in Falconhurst this evening, and is staying at the inn. We must act on this time critical information before we lose our shot at exposing the Chancellor.â Following the brief, the Vanguard rolled out with an enviable haste, making way toward the destination marked on the map.
It was nearly midnight, darkness clouded the area, with only a feint semblance of moonlight peeking through. The only other light that permeated would be the numerous lamp posts throughout the town. Drustvar harbored its own welcoming party to the Vanguard. When making their way through the city, they came across a pack of angry wicker wolves. Fortunately the wolves were weak and fell fairly easily, but following the wolves was a trio of upright standing wicker beasts. Two spirit binders and a wicker horror. The spirit binders stayed in the back and began channeling a bright blue beam toward the horror, the Vanguard decided the best course of action would be eliminate the binders before they found out what they were doing. The Horror became enraged and performed a bladestorm like attack, using only his bristly arms outstretched, he cleaved the party and gave them splinters. Nobody likes splinters so obviously they had to kill him. Once the group was done with him there lay only a pile of wicker mess. The townsfolk moved in and assured the Vanguard they would burn the beasts and they could move along.
Once at the inn, they all filed upstairs, following the intel gathered, and sure enough, lay sleeping in bed was our Drustvar Courier. A fear inspiring interrogation followed suit. The courier awoke to a mechanical spider atop him, he eyed his dagger, then quickly changed his mind when he looked over and saw the rest of the group. The courier held out for a while, but he could not endure the entire night, he eventually spilled the beans. He told the Vanguard that the Chancellor had paid him well to distribute letters or recruitment, renewed work contracts, and mercenary hires. He was able to inform that the Chancellor never spoke of his name, but that he is a skilled warrior, and seeks even greater power through the magical realm⊠He is on a quest to become something like a dark paladin, and he was somewhere in Drustvar that very moment in search of yet another source of power.
Having gathered all the information they could from the courier, they elected to imprison him and turn him in to Boralus for judgement. The Vanguard make their way out of the inn and notice a burnpile and give the townspeople a nod, the nod was returned and they turned back to marvel at the fire. The group then made their way to the docks. At the docks they discovered a hulking Wicker brute. This big guy was pushing a dingy back and forth in the water and making a grunty âsplish⊠sploosh..â noise with his mouth. It was an interesting sight to behold. The Vanguard Field Marshal was able to gleam from the beastsâ rudimentary mind that the Chancellor arrived here by boat with only a Kraken sage guide, and the sage had taken off back to the sea once he had stepped ashore. She also saw that he ate a fisherman and it was incredibly likely that was the fishermanâs boat the wicker brute was playing with. Having gathered enough information from the beast, she released him into the water. The wicker brute became enraged and struggled to get back on the docks. The Vanguard was able to get a few attacks in before he jump out of the water and land on the dock with a concussive force that would rattle the wooden structure back and forth several times. The beast was then put down for good, and tossed over the side and into the water.
The group explored the dock further and found a large kraken idol. They were quite curious about it and someone tried picking it up, but it was quite heavy and they dropped it, it shattered and a toxic purple haze began to spew but a skilled mage was able to revert what had happened in that quick second with a time warp. The team now knew to treat it with much more care, and called in an extraction party to safely transport it. Meanwhile as the kraken idol stuff was happening, a few of the party had noticed a dockworker and had engaged in a friendly conversation with him, for some even maybe too friendly of conversation. Um, haphazardly, the dockworker had become utterly smitten by a certain Dark Iron Duchess. Fortunately that meant that he would be spilling the beans, and he told that he had plans to make way for Stormsong the next morning. He invited the Dark Iron and told her that if she wanted her friends to come along they would need the permission of the blacksmiths, as he was a new recruit and they had worked for the Kraken folk for some years already.
The Vanguard made their way off the docks, through the town, and up the hill to the blacksmiths workshop. They arrived to see an argument taking place between 4 men. One of them, an older man, stormed off to a shed and emerged shortly after covered in blood and had donned a pig's head over his own. He wielded an axe and a sword and was going after everyone and anyone in sight. He had lost his mind, but it was not the time to find out why, first the Vanguard needed to subdue, or eliminate the threat. The blacksmiths were frightened and stood back as the professionals did their thing and within minutes the crazy pig man had been dispatched. With the situation de-escalated the Vanguard was able to talk to the Blacksmiths. They observed some rusty kraken pins on their blouses, and inquired what they exactly do for the krakens counsel. The blacksmiths shared that they are crafting a variety of things, ranging from cannons, to ship parts, to armor. They even shared that they had received a pay raise and an invitation to move to Stormsong. The conversation was cut short when the Vanguard heard a piercing scream of a woman in distress. The party broke into a sprint to the house across the way and immediately discovered a wicker horror, two tentacle faced sages, and a poor woman, held aloft by the kraken sage magic, as the wicker horror stabbed her through the abdomen. âThis is what happens when you oppose us!â cackled one of them. The Vanguard unanimously enraged and brought a swift death to the three, but unfortunately the last Kâthir cast a spell on the entire party.
The Vanguard leaves the house and by sheer coincidence they spot the Chancellor and a truly massive wicker beast, it had to tower at 11, maybe even 12 feet tall. This was a Wicker Spell Master, and the Chancellor had allied with him, and was bringing him to Stormsong as well. The Vanguard froze in their tracks by the Kâthir spell, and was unable to give chase soon enough, and the Chancellor was able to escape with his Devout Elder Kraken Sage, and the Wicker Spell Master. Once freed the Vanguard makes haste to the docks, where the Chancellor had called in rear guards. The Vanguard did battle with these Kraken sages but were stalled too long to catch the head triad of the Counsel before they were off the horizon.
Following the battle the Vanguard found the Dockworker who disclosed his name as Thaddius and was now bearing a shiny kraken pin. They told Thaddius that they had met with the blacksmiths and told him that they would be joining him to Stormsong. They of course did not need to divulge what exactly happened with the blacksmiths, nor mention that they had not discussed an invitation. The sheer power of conviction in telling Thaddius that they were too going to Stormsong was enough convincing for him. He shared with them the location on the map where they were to sail for, and lucky enough, they all could take boats out of Falconhurst! And thus the Oathsworn Vanguard set sail for Thresherâs Wharf, Stormsong Valley.
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