The Misadventures of Juul'Caz and Cespenar

Stories of Cespenar and Juul'Caz. possible NSFW for violent or lewd content

[kittycatkissu]

Well here she is, ready to be wifed. WHERE’S HER NEW HUSBAND???

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Juul'Caz stares at the Night Elf, slackjawed and grabs his friend by the shirt collar. "DO YA SEE DAT SMILE?! S-She be insanely beautiful. What should Juul do - What should he say?"

Looking at the Night Elf and back to his troll friend, Cespenar gently laid his hands on Juul's and calmly whispered. "First you must settle down. Then just introduce yourself and just be you. The best Juul'Caz is who you naturally are."

"But... Who would want ta bother wit Juul?"

"Plenty of ladies. Now, go say hello and introduce yourself."

Stumbling forward as Cespenar shoved him in her direction, Juul caught himself and looked at the Night Elf holding the bouquet from a distance. He swallowed hard but did not budge, for fear had paralyzed him.

[pepplemint]

Every writer on Tumblr: “I would combust out of love if someone ever drew fanart of my fic!!” Me: “oh man I wanna draw this scene BUT THEY WOULD PROBABLY HATE IT AND HATE ME FOR THE NERVE”

[marumigamer]

Dear artists.

We, the writers, will accept any of your fan arts.

We don’t care if it looks like shit to you, or you think your art skills are not good enough.

We will love any fan art, because it’s the most beautiful way to say “I love what you write”.

[afangirlsplaylist]

I can 110% confirm that if any of you were to create any art inspired by my favourite fanfics or my fanfics I would love it like crazy.

[mythical-linkle]

^^^this

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Seriously, this is important. If you enjoy our work enough to draw our characters and their antics or whatever that would mean the world to us ten times over.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Changing Tumblr spots

Alright guys, I am moving my content from here to a more primary page. This account is merely a ‘subtumblr’ if you will, so I cannot follow people from here or gain certain notifications etc.

http://juulcaz-cespenar.tumblr.com this is where I will be posting future chapters as well as reblogging the current chapters from here to make the transition a lot simpler. So please follow it, read the stuff and have fun.

From here on out, this page will remain up bit it shall be inactive. Also follow me on @virethorn and @juulcaz on twitter for random shit/rp

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Brewfest

“Come one! Come all! Register now for next week's Brewfest Drinking Contest!” A dwarven town crier shouted from atop his box which he stood on to be taller. “Takin’ any and all blokes lookin’ to try their liver’s might!” Cespenar was passing through the Dwarven District to buy some new materials to make a new creation from a schematic he recently bought. Thanks to Maya Turntfuse he was able to learn the art of engineering and had taken to it quickly. He didn't really care for the explosive aspect of Goblin Engineering and he didn't seem too partial to the idea of shrinking or enlarging the world, or whatever Gnomes thought they were doing when they themselves shrank or grew instead of everyone else. The crier pulled his attention though, when he said the magic words “Come sign up, drink your fill! The winner gets a free trip to Light’s Hope, The Caverns of Time, and Dalaran! Act now!” “Sign me up, Cespenar Virethorn.” He announced, walking up to the dwarf and bowing before him. His intention was to win a trip to Light’s Hope, as it was the closest Neutral ground to Zul'Aman. He needed to go there to see if Juul'Caz was alright. The sensation of worry that struck him the previous day hadn't left him yet. The Dwarf put his hands on his hips, sizing up the human and rubbed his thick beard. “Hmm. Don't know if yer able to keep up with some contenders this year. Mharn Skullcrusher has every intention of winnin’ and when he wants to win, trust me, he wins.” “If you already have a winner then why bother with sign ups?” “It's me job…… Bah! Alright! Signin ya up. Just know I'm obligated to tell ya that ya only get to choose one tour. Not all three! Shit is expensive to do for a drunk worthy of bestin’ dwarves. Collateral damage and all.” “That's fine. I would love to know how soon the tour picks up.” The dwarf mulled the thought over in his head. He had been told everything about the prize but hadn't put much thought in bothering to remember. He pulled a small booklet from his back pocket to look up the information and his finger tapped a paragraph upon finding the information he wanted. “The winner, after celebrating a few hours after their victory, will be taken and sobered up, if they so choose, and taken to their destination.” Having a feeling the human still wanted to sign up, he produced a clipboard and held it out for the young man. “Wonderful! Well I suppose it will take place in Ironforge, yes?” Cespenar asked as he took the board and started writing his name. With a smile beaming from his face, he cheerfully exclaimed “Seems I will be surrounded by the best kinds of people. I simply cannot wait!” He handed the clipboard back to the Dwarf and went back to his shopping and repeated in a less cheerful tone, “I cannot wait. Where are you Juul'Caz?” ------- Shadows enveloped him as he walked through the forests of Alterac, and he was scooping water up to drink. He looked up to see a figure wearing red bridal dress that smelled of rotten death which shifted into a form fitting red dress which smelled of lilac and lavender. The next thing he saw was the essence of chaos smashing into his chest and Noroko woke up suddenly, sweating and holding his chest. Noroko screamed and suddenly saw the woods of his and Juul’s homeland, a creek and his hands wet with blood, the look of despair on a human face he barely recognised before the human sliced into his neck. “What was dat?” He asked himself, even though he knew the answer. He looked around and remembered that he was still in Stranglethorn. He had no idea what this could mean. He had never seen two visions in the same span… About Juul or himself. Noroko felt something he had never known, for he had never been truly alive. It felt as if someone was staring at him, but Noroko had no way to explain the sensation to himself. From behind him, a specter stared hard at him hatefully and was actively trying to grab the Troll. “Get outta Juul’s body!” He screamed, but he may as well have been silent, for Noroko could not hear him. He looked himself over and could see through his spiritual body, and he could see one singular tether from his chest that split into five that went to each arm, leg and the neck of Noroko. He struggled all night trying to sleep, thinking this was one horrible dream and was struggling even now to hit his own body to hit Noroko. It was dawning on him that when he was shot that it must have killed him. The dream he had, it was blurry but he remembered one key event - Noroko let Pendleton go, on purpose. That singular thought stuck with Juul'Caz and he continued trying to knock his brother out of his body. Somehow when Juul'Caz died, Noroko’s own soul forced itself into Juul’s body and healed the wounds and bound himself to the empty shell. Juul wondered how he could do the same to get his body back. He noticed Noroko started performing strange movements, and then looking confused as if he was trying something. “I don't understand. Juul'Caz always yammers ta himself ‘bout de Elements and hey dey speak ta him… But I hear…” He stood up and waited “Be silence.” Juul'Caz recognised the movements as the same kind of gestures Juul himself did when summoning a totem to call forth an Elemental. He watched curiously as Noroko attempted various other spells and was surely surprised to see Noroko fling a bolt of lightning from his hands! Noroko smiled and kneeled on the ground, pondering just how much he could do. Juul'Caz was worried by what kind of damage he would cause and watched in grim silence. It was all he could do. ----- Weeks later, Snow was falling in Dun Morogh as it almost always did, but that did little to stop the yearly festival known to as all as Brewfest! A holiday that originally was a pastime celebrated only by Dwarves as they were more reclusive in the past and only enjoyed the company of gnomes in the old days. In the Modern Era of Azeroth, anyone who could raise a mug was welcome to celebrate this yearly festivity and even the Horde took to it with open arms. While families and tourists flocked to the stage grounds where they got to enjoy the frequent family friendly drinks, games and leg tapping went on, a much more serious took place within the tavern of Kharanos. Dwarves, humans, and gnomes had flocked around one table where two competitors were slamming their drinks back to back. A human sailor and a Dwarven Death Knight were facing off and were going through the cheap beer supplied to early contestants. “Give up now, boy! Ya face Karram Blackflagon this day! No livin’ man can hope ta outdrink me!” The dwarf declared with a sneer as he downed another flagon of beer. As he ignored the guffawing of his opponent, Cespenar continued to drink. He was also trying to remember a bit of information that he overheard concerning the Undead warriors. Some information that since Death Knights couldn't get drunk as mortals could, they had to drink their.drink with some sort of potion that could replicate the effects of alcohol… Or something. The major details were lost upon him. This was the fifth dwarf he drank against that day and he was not showing signs of drunkenness whereas others did. Thinking that the bit of information he overheard wasn't true, he was hoping he could drink with the dwarf to the point he couldn't contain anymore liquid. Thinking logically, before he could became too inebriated to form a logical thought, he figured that even a dwarf had to put a drinking contest on hold to use the bathroom. Cespenar had already had to relieve himself multiple times, with the awkward watchful eyes of judges at his back. He noticed that this dwarf who had been drinking when he got there hadn't even bothered to do the same. He was only getting fatter, slowly. “Well lad, any quips?!” Cespenar looked to older, undead Dwarf in the eyes with a glazed over stare. Hunched over the table, and readily drinking his beer, he said “Cespenar Virethorn has no time for quips! Now keep drinkin’ you're fallin’ behind!” With that said, he scratched down a tally mark sloppily as another mug was brought to him. Something Cespenar said made one of the judges freeze before running off to the next room where a host of Brewfest Judges sat, laughing at the events they saw that day. “Lads! Who signed that Cespenar character in?” The judge demanded upon entering the room. One of the judges, a younger dwarf by the name of Shander Gristle, rose his hand. “That woulda been me. Signed the lad up in Stormwind. Fancy soundin’ proper guy. Tirasian sailor type, yeah?” “He is a Virethorn. Didn't he mention that?” “Yeah, I think so. Introduced himself-” “Yer a durned fool if there was was one, boy!” One of the other judges shouted, getting up, “How longs he been?” “Five… He is about to down number six. The Death Knight.” The judge who bore the news explained with an almost defeated tone. Shander looked to his elders and to some other younger dwarves his age who were new to the scene who seemed just as lost as he did. “So…. What's It mean?” “Boy… Thirty years ago, a spitfire of a woman came to Brewfest and defeated every dwarf in the room and still wasn't done drinkin’. Castilla Virethorn. Brought calamity with her when she drained the casks of the event in that contest and caused Brewfest to end that year… On the second day. Since then, we been afearin’ the return of Castilla Virethorn. Heard her name was on the list of the dead from Gilneas. Meanin’ that boy out there be her son.” The room emptied and they went out there to see the death knight still drinking, and by this point he had downed more than any one of them cared to. Cespenar was absent from his seat, with another Judge. The human came back and sat down, wiping his hands off with a cloth before going back to his drink. “Musta gone ta take a piss.” Shander reasoned, and they nodded in agreement as they watched the battle unfold between the two. They all kept their eyes on the dwarf who was still clad in his armor that appeared to be uncomfortable for him to be wearing, as it appeared to be a size too small for his form. “By the ancestors, he is about ta pop…” Another judge whispered, and as if it was jinxed, the dwarf downed another beer and the armor.buckled and a leaking sound came from the dwarf who winced in surprise. “OUT!” The supervising judge announced. “Penalty be a popped belly. The contestant can no longer hold his liquor!” The Death Knight didn't move from his seat, he only sat there, dumbfounded as Cespenar rose out of his seat, downing one last beer in victory. The dwarf carried and kicked out of the tavern while a clean up crew rushed in to mop all the now-putrid ale. Cespenar had just defeated the Sixth dwarf that day, but what was coming surprised even him. A ten foot tall Pandaren had sauntered into the room, doing his best to to hit his head several times. He sat at the table his Cespenar and nodded at him. “They call me Shen’Rai Bottomlessgut. I am the greatest drinker in Pandaria, and I have come to seek the greatest challenge my new allies can provide.” Shen introduced himself as the mug left by the dwarf was refilled and given to him, starting the new contest. He began to drink from his mug and Cespenar gave him a sideways stare. “Cespenar Virethorn.. And uhh… An undead dwarf just had his mouth all over that. Wouldn't you like a new one?” Cespenar asked and Shen’s eyes widened before the Pandaren spit the ale from his mouth. Cespenar merely sat there sipping his beer as everyone gasped at the Pandaren. “OUT! Penalty: Spitting out yer drink!” Shen’Rai gasped aloud and stammered, pointing at Cespenar “T-treachery! He deceived me! No way what he said was legal, or true! I demand a rematch!” The judge shook his head and grabbed Shen’s mug. “This mug was indeed used by a Dwarven Death Knight. There is no penalty for a contestant telling you the truth. Your reaction to his honesty is not cheating on his part. You are disqualified.” The Pandaren nearly lunged at Cespenar before he was grabbed by several bouncers grabbed him and dragged him out of the Tavern as he screamed “I WILL GET YOU CESPENAR VIRETHORN!” The ale continued to flow, and throughout that day, Cespenar continued to drink, and drink until the Judges had no choice but to give Cespenar his trophy. Before they did, many dwarves, older humans and Pandaren were defeated by this young human. As they were handing Cespenar the trophy they heard the door get kicked in and a large dwarf in thick winter gear came in shouting “NOT SO FAST! AIN'T A WINNER TA BE NAMED AFORE KRANNON SKULLCRUSHER HAS A SAY!” Cespenar looked at the Dwarf who kicked the door in and grabbed at the trophy that was no longer there. The judge holding the trophy announced “This year's funder, Magistrate Skullcrusher has issued a challenge to the winner thus far!” “Aye, hit the lad with a gutbuster and let's do this right an’ proper! Get this Barleybrew trash on outta here and let's skip the pleasantries and smash the Vodka!” Cespenar wanted to deny the challenge, but he knew that his journey up North wouldn't be easy if he declined the challenge and was denied a well earned victory. Cespenar slapped the table twice and shouted something that sounded like an acceptance, and probably was. A large mug of some strange, black concoction was brought to Cespenar, and the smell alone made Cespenar reel away, and he had known the smell of the inside of a Whale very personally. It took every bit of courage he had, but he took the drink and downed it. As he tilted his head back to drink the strange beverage, and it touched his tongue, the chair flipped backwards as Cespenar practically jumped out of his seat. Instead of smashing his head on the ground, he rolled backwards and rushed outside as dwarves all around knew exactly what he drank. Everyone went out to see the human ripping his shirt off and diving into the snow. The snow around him melted rapidly as a result of his body heat rising quickly. They watched him scooping snow into the hole he made to try to cool his body off and all the dwarves laughed at him. “Looks like the lad drank a bit too much of the good ol’ Skullcrusher Gutbuster!” Krannon bellowed with laughter, and gradually calmed down as Cespenar’s movements became less frantic and commented “Boy should be sober soon enough!” The dwarves all nodded in agreement. The Gutbuster, as it was aptly named, was designed by the Skullcrusher family originally fight back against food poisoning and stomach illnesses, but quickly proved to purge the system of alcohol and natural minor toxins through immense sweating, vomiting, or relieving themselves. No matter the benefits anyone claimed it to have, the discomfort and terrible taste left no one asking for a second one. Since it's creation, the Gutbuster had mostly been used in competitive drinking contests. Cespenar was a tanned man with medium long hair that was well kept, but the effects of the Gutbuster had left him flustered, eyes bloodshot, hair frazzled and his chest and arms reddened by prolonged exposure to the cold snow. His a clear voice he said “That… Was the worst drink… I've ever had…” He panted with each word and his eyebrows raised curiously as he felt the words able to flow from his lips without slurring. “Gutbuster lad. Supposed ta sober ya up! Ya probably drank more than anyone here though, but that's fine! Means yer ready to face Ol’ Krannon Skullcrusher! Once I heard some young human beat was thrashin’ everyone, I had ta come see it fer meself!” “Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?” Cespenar lamented, and wondered how much he was going to have to drink. The taste of beer and ale had already worn itself off on his tongue and it was as dull to him as water would be. “Ain't got no choice either lad. Me daughter is locked away studyin’ and this is the closest I dare get ta her schoolin’ without gettin’ swamped by work and troublesome questions in Ironforge. A shame me girl is studyin durin’ the greatest time o’year!” “Vodka you said? If it isn't the 205 Proof Iron Dwarf variety we may as well stick to mead.” Cespenar stated, and his challenge drew forth many gasps amongst the dwarves. The magistrate crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes upon the young man. “That shouldn't be a problem, right?” Krannon actually grinned and nodded at Cespenar. “Might ye win, then yer undoubtedly a paragon of yer kin!” He snapped his fingers and said “Ye heard the lad. Strongest stuff we got. Make short work of one of us yet.” The two sat at a table and the barkeep rushed to get all the bottles he could, calling to a couple of dwarves to help him. In short order there were thirty bottles out, fifteen for both of them ad Cespenar visually measured each bottle to contain one hundred and thirty ounces of liquid. Just over a gallon in each bottle. “If ya manage to get all fifteen o’yers, I'll concede.” Eyeing over the bottles, Cespenar grabbed the first one, popping it open and taking a small drink and quickly swallowing. If he hadn't had the Gutbuster earlier with its overwhelming strength and taste then this drink would have sent him reeling. He could feel his body burn as alcohol once more began to seep into his system. “How many can you drink, Magistrate?” “Last month I downed nine.” The proud dwarf boasted as he took his own bottle to start. “Hmm.. I got a feeling I could have done thirteen.” Cespenar measured before he took a series of long swings, and paused to take a breath and added casually, “Now that you had me drink that Gutbuster.” A close minded Dwarf would have thought the Cespenar would have been gloating out of some hubris that humans tend to have in excess. Krannon knew though that Cespenar was far from doing such a thing. He was honestly measuring his ability. The whispers of the Return of Virethorn had brought Krannon to Kharanos in haste to have a rematch with the one Castilla Virethorn who robbed him of a winning streak he had never bothered to win back b in over thirty years. Truth be told, the young human had defeated this year's champion already and had every right to refuse the challenge to claim the title. “Hmph. Whats yer name, boy?” “Cespenar Virethorn.” Krannon nodded and drank from his bottle. “I take it that Castilla Virethorn be yer mother. Heh. Never got to face her, but I'm fer knowin what kinda monster she was with the bottle. Brought her own stock, sellin it to me before she left. Best brandy and bourbon I've ever had. I look forward ta seein’ how this plays out.” They both started drinking and everyone watched closely as each drained the bottles at an alarming rate. As they finished each bottle, without saying a word to one another, everyone grew more anxious. By the ninth bottle, both men had looked completely smashed. Krannon grabbed his tenth as Cespenar did and the human began to drink and the older Dwarf stared hard at his bottle. He chuckled and wobbled as he opened the bottle. “Ya know…. Yee be a good kid. Handle ya ale well… Just like a Virethorn! Oi… Oi… listen Lad… I - I ain't one ta give up.” Krannon heard himself say, and he believed he was saying that, and the next words that came out of his mouth shocked everyone who heard ir. “I'd be hernered if yer were ta take me daughter's hand… Even if ya don't daarf… Daarf… Dwaarf…” He began to drink against his every instinct and fell over once he drained his bottle. There was a long silence before Krannon broke it by snoring loudly. By this point Cespenar had finished thirteen bottles and looked around, confused. “By Magni’s Stony beard! He lost!” One of the judges gasped. Cespenar stood tall in victory and held up two bottles “Ya fuckin’ got it! The Green Flags o’ Kul’Tirosh fly in the window winds of Dun Mo… IN IRONFORGE!” He tried to drink from both bottles at once, but they were still capped and Cespenar fell forward on the table, passing out. --- Meanwhile… The Atal’Ai, the remnants of them, were trying to gather themselves since the devastation they faced during the Cataclysm. Twice they had faced utter defeat by the Alliance and Horde. The leader, Gam’Talak, was addressing the guards at the entrance when a grinding sound could be compared to a blade dancing on stone. An Amani troll strode into their vision, dragging his axes against the walls and looked up to them with eyes red of blood. The axes vanished in red smoke, reappeared on his hips and he smiled at them. “De master calls. Who among ya Atal’Ai hear him?”

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Lord Pendleton's Hunt

Juul’Caz journeyed through Stranglethorn Vale, trying to find a way to the North without taking the main road. If he could, he wanted to avoid any contact with people as a whole. He was aware that there was an entity taking possession of his body, but it never lasted longer than a moment. As he traipsed through the thick jungle, he was being followed by another entity, little more than two strides behind him. Noroko watched him with great hatred and found he was too weak to even impart a vision onto his twin brother. In the past he took everything he had to impart a single vision in Juul’s sleep, and in the latest day of their births, his powers skyrocketed. Without taking it slow, he immediately he pushed his abilities beyond their limits he found he was able to impart debilitating visions of death while Juul'Caz was awake, which was still exhausting and he found he could tae his brother’s body in a weakebed state, only briefly though. Instead of any of that he spoke to Juul’Caz, knowing full well that he could not be heard. “What is life? What is birth? A soul who was to be born and still born on their own chord couldn't tell you, because they are an innocent soul that doesn't know what could be and will pass on. A child miscarried or aborted before they are anything significant of hosting a soul couldn't tell you for they never existed. A child killed by their own sibling hours before birth that has grown as years have gone on, unable to pass on knows the answer. Life be everything. Birth be a grand and humble beginning. The only thing greater than life… Is death. The powers granted to me have shown me the glories of death and de powers tied to it are unparalleled. You will soon learn my role in what will come. You will find your goddess to be powerless when I finally take total control. When will that be? A year? Two years? I feel your goddess protecting you, keeping me out with everything she has. This far from Zul'Aman, from the temples of Amanashi’Tek it take much to keep me out. Had I more power I could break through. The only reason I could do it before is because she didn't expect it - and we were much further.” Juul said unexpectedly “Shut up.” His command to Noroko gave the ghost pause, and he was dragged by his tethers as Juul'Caz walked. “Juul cannot hear whatever yer sayin’ or if yer still there, spirit. But Juul’s ears be burnin’ somethin’ bad, and he gat enough goin’ on without ya talkin’ and plottin shit against him.” Noroko went back to walking behind Juul'Caz. Whenever he ended up over extending the chains that bound him to Juul'Caz, he ended up being pulled along and Noroko’s being was wracked with a colder sensation that actually hurt him. He tried many times to pull himself away from his brother and the link between them would allow him as far as fifty feet before he had to go back. The pain was too much to handle and to make matters worse there was never any sign that the tethers were under any kind of strain. There was a noise in the forest, akin to a twig cracking, and Juul'Caz de opped down low, listening to the sounds of the woods. The chattering of the birds, calls of insects and wind rolling through the trees were typically nothing more than ambient sounds to the Troll, but he did well to pay attention to those noises as well. He closed his eyes and planted his hands on the ground, communing with the very earth and wind? His senses were now as sharp as a blade and could hear and feel the flapping of birds above the canopy, the sound of dirt being moved by the roots of plants growing and the footsteps of raptors near the beach. Blocking out the unnecessary sounds of the insects, animals, leaves rustling in the wind and birds, he had heard the footsteps of twelve human men and the horseshoes of a Horse carrying the weight of a human man. They were all around him, the horse carrying the man was in the back. He was being hunted. Juul'Caz took inventory of the things he brought with him. Two axes, an effigy of Ula-Tek, a silver clasp from Cespenar’s belt, some food and some basic survival items. He had no armor and he had left Fuzz back at Zul'Aman after dealing with Turntfuse’s men. He took the axes and got ready for the first of his pursuers to attack. They were so close that he could pick up their scents on the wind. They were clean, fragrant scents of wealthy men… He could smell gunpowder. He looked to the side and saw a human readying his firearm, aiming it at Juul from sixty yards away. He leapt out of the way and the man fired, missing his shot. As if on cue, the other men exposed themselves and opened fire on the troll. He kept dodging and rolling out of the way, keeping his movements as unpredictable as possible. Upon the final hunter shooting at Juul, he realized they weren't intending on hitting him. All their shots were hitting the ground around him and their marks were way off target. He was being herded towards a place they could corner him. Such a tactic would easily work on a savage or beast, but Juul'Caz was neither. He called upon the elements and called forth a trio of elementals. “Earth, Wind and Fire! Juul calls for ya ta throw these hunters off Juul’s tail!” The three elementals, each one representing a prime element, surged towards the hunters. The Earth Elemental rushed toward the hunters, drawing all their fire as Wind and Fire worked in conjunction of one another to set off a huge smoke screen. Fire unleashed a gout of flames upon the dry foliage on the ground and Wind blew a gale through the smoke the flames created in several directions to cloud Juul'Caz’s departure. The hunters fell back from Earth’s assault, shooting him as they spread out. Their focus on the Elemental of stone allowed the weaker elementals to create their smoke screen without interruption. When Earth succumbed to the gunfire, it collapse and with it's passing it cracked open to expose a vein of coal within it's body. Fire ignited the coal, which created a harsh blaze and even more smoke to choke and blind the humans. Thinking as quick as they could, half of the humans rushed to put out the fire using their travel blanket after dousing them with whatever water they had in their canteens and smother the flame as the rest shot at the elementals until they dispersed. Pendleton strode up on his horse as the smoke cleared and looked around the ground. “I see no one managed to score a hit on the Troll’s legs… What happened?” One of the hunters pointed at the smouldering mound of stone and blankets, “Troll is a shaman, sir. Summoned three elementals as he ran off to the North.” Rubbing his chin, Lord Pendleton mused “That many at once? The troll sounds to be an Elemental Shaman, and has strong mastery of the elements. If he is heading North, he is planning on escaping. We shall cut him off at one of the passes. He got this far from avoiding the main road, so we shall find him in the brush!” Juul didn't stop running, and as he felt the three Elementals pass, he knew that it was only a matter of time until they found him. As he ran, he sensed a place of power, akin to hidden shrines to Loa that trolls hid throughout their territory. He thought about finding it and beseeching whatever being the shrine it was tied to. He had to be careful, as he was not a jungle troll, the Loa could punish him for his arrogance. He felt a need to risk it, no matter what. Going into the hills, the presence became stronger as he got closer to it. He could feel a Loa calling out to anyone, the tug at his very being as a witch doctor led him to the source. Within a hollowed out three, Juul'Caz found a small shrine and the effigy was that of a coiled snake with it's head buried within the coil. Excitement exploded within the Troll as he thought himself lucky for finding a shrine belonging to the serpent Loa, Hethiss. Having nothing to tribute to the Loa, he took his axe and sliced his palm and ran his palm along the carving, speaking out “Hethiss, Juul calls ta ya. Dis humble Servant ta Ula-Tek asks fer a boon, or blessin ta help Juul'Caz in dis tryin’ hour.” He bowed low as he spoke his prayer and the sound of shifting stone caught his attention. He looked up to see the snake uncoiling and to his horror, it was no serpent that rose, but the effigy turned out to be… Hakkar. The tree itself shifted into the form of Hakkar, the Soulflayer. With a booming voice it called “SO, SMALL TROLL, YOU SEEK MY BLESSING? A CHILD OF ULA-TEK ASKS OF ME A BOON?” It was an illusion, Juul'Caz knew, but this tree-turned-god brought such despair to Juul'Caz as he fell back. Even seeing his hallucination was nearly enough to urge Juul'Caz to rip his own eyes out. As a devout of Ula-Tek, this being was truly foul in his eyes and to look upon it was maddening. No words could form from his mouth, as he was awestruck by what he was seeing. He wanted to deny it, apologize for disturbing the figure and leaving before anything could happen, even if he had to offer some tribute. Hakkar eyed him up and down and seemed to smile as he spoke “Fine! I grant you my boon! May you are granted a second chance to live should you falter! Know this, Caz, I will call upon you for service once my end of the bargain is fulfilled!” As suddenly as he appeared to Juul'Caz, he disappeared, leaving Juul alone with the tree and shrine. He sat there, wide eyed and panting as he contemplated what Hakkar meant in his promise of a boon. He healed his hand and quickly fled the shrine in terror, leaving his axes behind. They didn't matter to him, as he already felt hopeless. Of all the Loa Juul'Caz knew of, this was the last he ever wished to see. Out in the woods, Pendleton had his binoculars m, scoping the treeline for any movement, but then a thought, as if from nowhere came to him. “The hills…” He whispered, and then his horse let out a loud whinny and started galloping off. Pendleton had trained the Horse and knew of its quirks and knew the wild look in its eye told him it was afraid. As if it saw a monster. He looked back, shouting for his men and they followed on their own horses. As he looked back, he saw a large red gash on his horse’s flank, as if a large talon slashed it. He looked ahead and saw the hills that came to his mind. It was strange, he had never seen these hills in his life, but the image in his head was so clear. The horse was compelled to stop by some unseen force and the Lord hopped off of its back and drew his gun. His men also dismounted and armed themselves with blades, as they expended their ammunition on the elementals. Little did the humans know that Hakkar had brought them there to watch this event unfold. He knew blood was going to be shed, and he was going to revel in it. Juul'Caz burst out from the bushline and tumbled out in front of the humans. He looked up in surprise to see them, and they looked just as surprised. All of them, save for Lord Pendleton. The two locked eyes and Lord Pendleton shouted “HOLD!” Knowing his men would attack. He dismounted from his horse and smiled at the troll. “At long last… We meet again. Last time I saw you, you were merely a whelp running away with a trolling. An old troll held my attention as you ran.” “Pendleton…” Juul'Caz growled and balled his fists up. “Oh, good. You know my name. I assume it was your father that I killed that day. I must have emptied a quiver into the brute. The old troll isn't here to stop me from killing you this time.” He pulled the trophy skull off of his hip and held it out for Juul'Caz to see. “But he is here though! Care to join him?” All fear he had from witnessing Hakkar’s visage had left him and his blood had immediately come to a boil. He saw the skull of his father and there was no way on Azeroth Juul'Caz was going to waste any time trying to keep his cool. “HIS NAME BE TULAR’ANOK! HE WAS A PROUD MEDICINE MAN, A PACIFIST AND YA HAD NO RIGHT KILLING HIM!” Juul'Caz screamed at the top of his lungs. “HE WAS DE MATE OF JIA’CAZ, DE FATHA OF JUUL'CAZ AND HIS LIL BRUDDAH ZHARSCA'CAZ! JUUL WILL REND YA AND TAKE HIM HOME!” The human lord could only laugh at the Troll’s rage, and waved a hand dismissively. “Kill him.” His men charged the screaming troll with everything they had. Juul'Caz bellowed his continuous scream and rose his hands up, causing the very earth to shake, the clouds above the canopy swirled and the skies darkened with the clouds. He put his hands together above his head as a bolt of lightning cracked down into his palms and in one fluid movement he swirled both arms and unleash the sky’s fury upon them, hitting the closest man and the bolt chained from him into a couple right behind him. If he wasn't dead already, he was ignited in flames as he was blasted out of his boots. Juul'Caz put his hands together over the burning man in his eyes and violently pulled his arms apart, causing the fire on the man to erupt in a arcing nova, hitting the rest of them and the explosion tore the unfortunate man asunder. The flames licked at five of them but they didn't stop their charge. They readied to hit him in five hits at once, but the Amani held a hand up and another bolt of lightning cracked down into the palm of his hand and the energy blasted them back. The other six, who were staggered from the fire saw their partners flung like ragdolls and charged in, seeing their chance. Juul'Caz was hardly done with his devastating spells. Breathing in and out rapidly, the whites of his eyes turned blood red and the muscles in his body all tensed as he let out a blood curdling scream and rushed at them. These men were seasoned fighters and were all too familiar with a troll berserking, but the speed at which Juul moved told them that there was more to it than that. A berserking troll was one thing… But a berserking troll enhanced my the dreaded Shaman Spell appropriately named ‘Bloodlust’ was an entirely different monster. As one of the men thrust their sword for the Juul'Caz reached one hand up, grabbing another bolt of lightning he drove his other hand into the blade, from the tip to the hilt. When the Lightning cracked down on the Amani, the power transferred from him the the human. He grabbed the sword’s grip and tore it from the jolting human’s hands and then backhanded him with the sword driving into the man’s face followed by the back of his hand as it slid back down the sword’s length. The Troll’s enhanced speed gave the humans pause and the hunters began to back away when they saw Juul'Caz summon a new Earth Elemental. This entity was lifted into the air and it began to struggle as the Shaman compressed it into a huge spike and then launched it at the humans with the speed of a ballista bolt. The spike ripped through two of them, leaving nothing more than their legs intact as it destroyed them entirely. The last human who wasn't knocked back by the storm fall back in shock, but the sound of thunder cracked once, twice and a third time. It wasn't the Troll this time. Pendleton pumped three rounds into Juul'Caz, all three round smashing into his chest. Juul'Caz staggered back, growling until Lord Pendleton shot one last round into Juul'Caz’s neck, tossing him into the bushes with the force of the shot. The remaining six humans gathered themselves and looked to Lord Pendleton who was holding his rifle with shaking hands. He wasn’t expecting what he saw from the Troll who was the son of the one he had killed so easily. He couldn't help but think if his father was like his son, he wouldn't have survived that encounter so many years ago. ----- In Ironforge, Cespenar was organizing an assortment of wine glasses on a table under his wine rack. He backed away, and marveled at how the glasses were stacked and organized. “Hmmm…. Perhaps I need to just be normal and set them up on the shelf and not a table.” He reached for the glasses when one of them cracked out of nowhere and he paused for a second before placing his hand on his belt where a missing clasp was. He couldn't help but think of his friend, wondering if he was okay. --- Jia’Caz was resting in her bed and woke up screaming Juul’s name, she felt a deep pit within her heart all of a sudden and remembered such a horrific feeling when Tular’Anok died. She knew all too well what it meant and sat in bed for a long silence. She fell to her side, holding her own arms and curled up in bed. Any strength she had for the day was ripped away from her. --- “Check the body.” He ordered, and quickly added “I got him in the neck, if he twitching then finish him!” One of the men got up and hesitantly went over to the body and looked from over the bush. “He's dead.” He looked back to his team and stepped away from the bushes. Juul'Caz’s body lied on the ground, motionless with four bullet holes in him, and to the human there was nothing wrong. If he inspected the troll for a second more, he would have seen the bullets slowly get pushed out of his body, and the wounds closed. His lifeless amber eyes turned red and the Troll blinked a few times, wiggling his fingers and for the first time in his existence, felt truly connected to this body. He saw the human hunter's back to him through the bushes and felt so thirsty suddenly upon seeing him. Having no idea what thirst was, he already knew what he needed to do. He quietly got up and then lunged out of the bishes, grabbing the man and yanking him back into the bushes! The man’s scream was brief and his screams were cut off, not from a sudden death, but by the troll ripping his neck out with his tusks and teeth and then drinking his lifeblood. Everyone screamed, and got their guard back up. Pendleton shot two rounds into the bushes and the gun clicked empty. He gasped and worked to reload his rifle. His trembling hands made the attempt to reload much more difficult. There was only silence from the bushes, but a pale corpse was thrown out of the bush, landing at the feet of the humans and then the troll ran out of the foliage, screaming as blood flowed down his neck. One of the hunters swang a mace and it smashed the Troll’s abs, but it may as well have missed of bounced off. As soon as the mace connected, he smacked the human to the side like a ragdoll and the he tackled another man grabbing his head and squeezing his head until it collapsed. “Lord Pendleton, shoot him!” They screamed but the Troll had already spang back to his feet and tackled another unfortunate man and ripped him in half through his back by driving his hands into his flesh and then parting his hands with monstrous force. “WHAT ARE YA WAITIN FOR?! SHOOT ME!” The troll screamed and laughed as Pendleton reloaded his gun. He stood tall and beat his chest as the last two humans put themselves between their target and the Lord they served. Lord Pendleton’s eyes were down to the ground, trying to load his gun with shaking hands. When the he raised his gun back up, the bloody Amani had killed the last two humans without him hearing it and he was standing there, waiting for Pendleton to fire. Not hesitating for a second, Pendleton fired all six rounds at the terrifying troll, who rolled out of the way, diving towards him, and once he was close enough he grabbed the gun and snatched it from the human lord. “Ya killed our father. Juul has always held a grudge against ya.” The Amani whispered, grabbing the lord by his, and lifted him up. “Don't ya worry none.” He dropped the human and looksd over his nody. “I appreciate dat ya killed Juul'Caz.” He suddenly started looking around, notably over his shoulder expecting to see a ghost seeing nothing wrong, he looked back down to the human and said “Juul’s only comfort would be ya death - So I won't kill ya. Juul'Caz would, but I am someone else. Something greater.” He threw his hand forward “Leave now before I change m’mind!” Pendleton scrambled and ran off in fear as Noroko, now fully inhabiting Juul'Caz’s body, went back to the shrine, ready to receive Hakkar’s blessings. “It seems Juul'Caz chose the wrong Loa… Hakkar is de true path.” He reached the shrine and cut his hand as Juul'Caz did earlier and smeared it on the statue of Hakkar. He fell to his knees and held his head back with a blissful smile on his face.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Noroko

It had been three days since they were captured by the Horde. Scared, cold, and isolated in their cages. Close enough to reach at one another, but too far to touch even by the tips of their hands. It was almost too much to bear. The Pandaren refugees who were fleeing Pandaria with the Alliance were captured and were being taken to some place unknown to them. These Pandaren had seen the horrors of the Sha, fought Mantid for years, and have stared at the horrifying stone faces of the Mogu who wanted to oppress them and ultimately end them. None of that compared to the unknown. One by one, their cages were moved into a dark, dusty room that was lit up when a tan skinned orc came in and lit the torches. The room’s walls were littered with weapons of various types and sizes, the floor had a light layer of sand, but it did nothing to hide a blood stain and the Orc stood by an iron bound door, where the faint sound of hearing could be heard. “You chose your allies poorly. Now you are prisoners of war, but our Warchief is feeling merciful and will allow you your freedom and safe passage to your pathetic Alliance should you do this one task for him. Kill the opponent.” . “You expect us to fight for your entertainment?! We are refugees, nothing more!” An older Pandaren protested from within his cage. Without a word, the Orc walked up to the cage, opened it and quickly grabbed the elder by his head, snapping his neck with ease. Cries erupted in the room as the frightened Pandaren witnessed one of their own for speaking out against the Orc. The example was made. “I will take that into account. Anyone else have any insights I need to take note of?” He waited as the sobbing died down and nodded as if he understood something he was told. “Good. You will take weapons of your choosing and go meet your one opponent. Kill him and those of you alive are free to go. The Warchief promises this, and he never lies.” Several Orcs entered the room and unlocked each cage as the tan orc unlocked the Iron door. The Pandaren hesitantly took blades and staves that felt comfortable to them. Following their orders, they went through the door, afraid of what they were to face in the next chamber. Two dozen Pandaren were herded into the arena floor, where they could hear a goblin shouting over a microphone, and Orc soldiers were clamoring to watch the battle. On the other side of the arena, there sat a lone troll, completely unarmored, with two hand axes lying on the ground, one at each side of him. He was murmuring to himself, eyes shut, whispering “They didn't stand a chance. They didn't stand a chance. They didn't stand a chance…”, and then he sank into speaking in his native tongue. Little to anyone's knowledge, he had fallen into one of his visions, this time he was wide awake. The pandaren had seen trolls before due to the war, but they were shades of purple and blue, and none looked as this one did. He was green with red hair, a layer of thick hairs along his body that they swore looked to be like moss, and when he looked up to them, they could see the look of a butcher. All of them felt a wave of despair wash over them as they felt as if the Warchief sent them all to their deaths. Something felt so terrible about him, unsettling. The troll eyed them over, his eyes widened and looked to the Warchief, “Warchief - What is dis?!” After calling to the Warchief his eyes went blank, and he stood there, staring in the Warchief’s direction. “This is their test, and it is not for you to question, TROLL!” Garrosh snapped and looked to the Pandaren. “You know what you must do.” One of the Pandaren, armed with a spear, screamed and ran at Juul’Caz, who seemed to be in a trance. The spear drove right through his gut and the Troll barely jolted from the impact. His eyes were rolled to the back of head and then they turned red. “Ya hit me…” Juul'Caz muttered in a voice that was deeper than his own and drove his fist through the Pandaren’s chest, grabbing his heart as he punched through. “I just got a measure of control… And ya hit me.” He shoved the dead Pandaren off and broke the spear off in his body before picking up the axes and running at the group of Pandaren. Two of them stepped forward, swinging their swords horizontally at him in two different directions in an attempt to limit the room he could dodge. He did anything but dodge the attacks, instead he chopped his axes through the blades with enough force to shatter them both, and the pulled back hacking his axes in an X formation, cleaving through both of them with each weapon. He pushed through their falling, severed bodies and jumped onto another sword wielder with one foot and drove the other foot through his face. When the body collapsed, the rampaging Troll tumbled off of them and into the central mass of the group. Sweeping both axes in several directions faster than they could react, Juul'Caz enacted a technique that gave him the title of the Amani Dervish. If he were using a fine blade then the signs of him slashing through his enemies wouldn't be as apparent at first. But he was using thick axes. From the center of the Pandaren group, body parts began to fly around and when they dispersed, he went after the slowest Pandren, cutting him down and carrying out a combination of swings in one deadly dance as he destroyed their ranks with ease. Some enemies were diced up so quickly, he literally moved through them as they fell apart, bathing in their blood. When the last one fell to his blades, Juul'Caz collapsed in the center of the ring, his head tossed back as if he were experiencing some sort of euphoric pleasure from the slaughter. His eyes faded from red back to Amber and he found himself staring at the ceiling, and then he dreaded to look around. He was completely aware of what had just happened, but it was as if he witnessed it from outside of his body. Like a dream. There was no cheering, only silence from the spectators. He slowly looked around, and saw the whole arena painted in the blood of a couple dozen Pandaren and their body parts. “No…” He whispered to himself as hand moved to his wound and pulled the broken spear shaft out. The burning pain told him that this wasn't a dream or a repeat of the vision he just had. All these Pandaren, who Juul'Caz could tell were inexperienced fighters compared to him, were all slain by his hands. They never stood a chance, and even as they ran he chased them down and cut them down. The silence eventually broke and the resounding boom of applause broke out throughout the crowd. He walked through the pit full of bodies and as he went through, he saw that nearly all the heads were left intact, and the look of horror was painted on every visage. He left the arena altogether and went home to collect his thoughts. “De vision… It came while Juul'Caz was awake.” He muttered to himself, remembering the last thing was that he entered the Arena, picked up sand and sprinkled it along his body as he spoke a prayer to Ula-Tek, and then it hit him. “They didn't stand a chance.” He tried to reflect on all that happened as he paced his hovel. It occurred to him that when he was stabbed, a voice that was not his own spoke out and said something Juul'Caz never said before. ‘I’. Juul'Caz was smart enough to realize that he spoke in the Third Person, and that often annoyed people. For some reason he just never could be bothered to refer to himself in the first person. He realized that he was possessed for that encounter. A lost soul, or worse, a Loa, had taken residence in his body and killed those Pandaren through his body. To what end? He asked himself in his mind. The possession, the visions, the frequency of the visions… Whatever had haunted Juul'Caz his whole life was getting stronger by the year. He took several deep breaths, trying to understand the significance of it until a knock at the door caught his attention. He went to the door and slowly opened it to find a Farraki troll female at his door. Most Farraki didn't have Juul’s trust, but this one claimed to hate the savagery her people embraced. She was, in fact, an archaeologist who loved to study the culture of all Troll empires. Her name was Sher’Azzi, and she was currently interested in learning of the Amani, more specifically the religion of Ula-Tek and her place in Zul'Aman. They were casually dating and had been spending the last two months talking, sleeping together and learning more about their people. “Happy Birthday, Juul!” Sher’Azzi greeted, draped one arm around his shoulders and kissed him forcefully as she held a small bag with her free hand. She let him go and entered his home. “I done heard ‘bout de fight. They say ya took on a host of enemy prisoners and won. Dem Pandas ain't happy ‘bout it. But who cares? Ya won.” “It wasn't much of a fight. Juul may as well have been set loose against a room of kids.” He said as he relaxed, sitting at a small table, and Shar’Azzi placed the bag down in front of him. He looked up at her curiously, asking “What's dis?” “Birthday present. Open it, ya oaf.” She told him, punching him in the arm. Shrugging the punch off, he pulled the bag open to find a statue of two snakes coiled by one another with a plaque at the base of each. The larger snake had Juul’Caz's name under it, and the smaller of the two had the name ‘Noroko’ written into the plaque. “Ya told me ya had a twin who died in de womb… His name was gonna be Noroko, yeah?” Sher’Azzi asked, scooting closer to Juul'Caz, looking over the masterpiece that she had an artist work on. Juul stared at the statue with a bittersweet gaze. “Yeah. It woulda been his birthday too. Noroko’Caz. De spirits told Mama dat he was gonna be a powerful Witch Doctor.” “Caz. I thought that it was just a ting in ya name. Is it supposed ta be a last name?” The Farraki asked and Juul nodded in response. “Well, it works.” She noticed Juul'caz's mind was elsewhere and decided to leave him be. “Look, I'll swing by tomorrow. Ya take care of yaself, alright?” “Yeah. Juul can do dat.” He watched her leave and she looked back at him one final time before walking out. He focused back on the statue, and he muttered “It's our birthday, huh Noroko. Wish ya was here wit Juul ta share it.” He held the statue up, and muttered “Twenty four years without ya.” He started to think about earlier, returning his thoughts of how the entity seemed to grow stronger with each year. Today it was the strongest it had ever been. Today was Juul'Caz and Noroko’s birthday. Juul’s eyes slowly widened as the dots connected. He tried to stay calm, he tried to figure out how it was possible. His vision faded and he could hear muffled laughter as darkness came over him. He fought it off with every fiber of his being and threw himself backwards with his last ounce of controlled movement. As a new vision started, Juul’s skull smashed into the stone floor and he woke up, screaming in pain and shouting “NO!” In the instant he started the vision, he saw Sher’Azzi, and he knew he had to leave Orgrimmar. He gathered only a couple of things and rushed out of the front door. As he ran through the dark streets of Orgrimmar he could feel the intent to kill within him building. Anger welled up in Juul'Caz’s being as he tried to escape the city. Heard Sher’Azzi call out to him, and when he looked back he ran right passed her without noticing. He looked ahead and ran as fast as he could. He made his way for the Zeppelins and saw the one for Stranglethorn Vale flying it. It would be there in a matter of a couple of minutes. He scaled the tower and was catching his breath. Never in his life had he run so hard. “Juul - Where are ya goin?” Sher’Azzi called to him, she had apparently ran after him and followed him up there. He turned back to her and muttered “Get away… Run… He wants ta kill ya.” “Who? Juul, talk ta me.” His eyes slowly turned red as the being within him began to steal control of Juul'Caz in his exhausted state. “He means me… And ya gave the fool de answer for what's going on within us.” A deeper voice answered and grabbed her. “I can't forgive that. I can't control Juul for long, but I don’t need long for you.” Everything was a blur, and he felt so terribly cold. Everything started to come together and he could see himself holding Sher’Azzi by her head, and his were hard to hear. But his sight was perfect now and nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see. Juul'Caz snapped Sher’Azzi’s neck and he pushed her backwards into the tower, letting her body roll down the stairs. The being within Juul'Caz could feel the anguish of his host and smiled as he released control. Everything about his reality seemed to warp and spin as he felt the warmth of his body once more. He looked down the tower and could see Sher’Azzi down below, her form broken and peons working the nightshift had come in to see what happened. Upon seeing her corpse they ran off screaming. The zeppelin pulled up and stopped at its point. “Hey Troll. We're heading out in three minutes. Ya gettin on?” The goblin captain asked. Juul'Caz staggered back and looked to the goblin, nodding. He boarded the zeppelin and they left before the guards got there. He felt so cold, so terrible for leaving her like that, for allowing this dark spirit to hurt her. That night Juul'Caz had another vision, this one was different from all the others. This time it was focused on him, walking through Stranglethorn and hearing a human cry out to someone just before Juul'Caz was shot. The vision faded and Juul'Caz saw huge puddle of blood, and within the center a troll that looked much like himself rising. He reached out and grabbed Juul'Caz “Have ya come ta know who I am?” “Noroko…” “Good! Ya recognise who I should be! Well let me tell ya dis now: Ya ain't gonna keep me locked away forever, Juul! I will be free!” “Why do ya haunt Juul?!” “Ya killed me, Juul. I died before I could live and de fault is yours. You took a promising future, stole it from me. Beginnin wit dat Farraki, I aim ta take yer whole world. Ya should take heart in knowin dis much, we are bound. Our souls linked to one another.” Juul'Caz grit his teeth and pulled away from Noroko “Ya haunted me for so long and now dis! Why wait so long?!” Noroko pulled himself from the pool of blood and circled his brother, “I was an infant when I died. My soul unable ta comprehend what happened. As you grew, and yer soul grew wit ya, I grew. I learned. A dead soul aging. It's absurd… But we be merged.” He explained and created a second Juul'Caz, walking in place and then from within the figure, rose a second troll, his body bound in spiritual tethers, walking right behind him. “I've had to grow strong. And so I have with age. Twenty four years of following you. Watching you. Hearing you. I want to live Juul'Caz! I tired of dis endless cold I suffer. The few minutes I've spent within your body, killing and bathing in de blood of de bear people has been the greatest feeling ever. It was warm. Tell me… In your times bedding de sand troll… Was she warm?” Juul'Caz growled and grabbed at Noroko, but his hands went through him. “Damn ya! Ula-Tek damn ya! She didn't do anything wrong!” His brother laughed at the rage and waved a finger, “Now now. Ya was fuck buddies, nothin’ more. Don't ya pretend ya cared for her. Surely she cared, where ya didn't. Yer anger at me is empty. Ya killed her by never openin’ up ta her. If ya hadn't hit b ya head, ya woulda seen how she was gonna die and coulda prevented it!” Juul screamed as he swung his fists at the ghost in vain. “These damned visions! Juul wants them ta end! No one should ever see how people die before it's their time!” “But I do. I see near death experiences, and how people around us will die before they happen. I was granted with de power of grave seein’! That's why *I* was destined for greatness!” He pointed at Juul’Caz and said “I tried bein’ helpful and givin ya de visions I had. But ya failed. As time went on I grew ta resent ya. So I gave ya de visions ta torment ya. Debest part? They always come true.” Juul couldn't find words to speak his concern. He was shown his best friend's death. Noroko picked up on Juul’s silence and smiled “Yes. I showed ya fer human friend’s death. He dies by yer hands!” “Juul will rip ya soul and sever de ties we share and feed ya soul to de Loa! Ya lie! Ya fuckin’ lie! When Juul wakes up, he is goin ta Zul'Aman and tellin’ mama about ya! She will know how ta sever dis twisted bond!” “Ya could… But we ain't in a vision. Yer sleepin’ and when ya awake ya ain't gonna remember even a sliver of dis. Dat is why I show myself to ya.” Juul'Caz slammed his hand through Noroko and woke up, punching the air. He blinked a couple times, wondering why he was punching the air, or why he felt so angry. All he knew was he had the vision followed by a dream. No matter how hard he tried, he could not bring himself to remember the dream, but he had a sinking feeling that it was only going to get worse from here. The next evening he left the Zeppelin and journeyed into Stranglethorn. Little did the troll know there was a hunting party deep in the woods looking for a very particular prey. Later that night a human sweeper approached a well dressed noble sitting on a plush saddle and a mastercrafted Gnomish made rifle and had the skull of a troll attached to his belt. “So. Anything that isn't a gurubashi peasant? I require a challenge.” The noble was in his late forties, with a thick blonde beard and light brown eyes. “Yes, my lord. Something quite strange… One of the scouts claim they spotted an Amani, large fellow with axes. Due West.” “Perfect..assemble the men. We shall corner the beast and I will lay the killing blow.” “Yes, at once Lord Pendleton!” The sweeper ran off the gather the hunters as Lord Pendleton, atop his Horse looked into the woods. He rested a hand on the Troll skull that he claimed long ago.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Wolfsbane

The news of Theramore’s destruction was devastating to everyone who had heard it. Even Cespenar was struck silent when he had heard the news. The people didn't lose hope, instead the tragedy bolstered the people of the Alliance and together they were resolved to avenge the deaths of the innocent. It wasn't long after Theramore that a new land was discovered and Pandren had thrown their lot in with both sides, Alliance and Horde. For that reason, not everyone was quick to trust the Pandaren. It hardly mattered. War had come once more as if it was destined and the fight was taken to the recently discovered land of Pandaria. With so many veterans and new soldiers alike to go fight the Horde and the horrors that lied waiting in this new land, troubles back in the Eastern Kingdoms had started to rise. Bounty Hunters were ready to make a killing as a result of this war. Criminals would grow bold with the lack of heroes there to stop them, monsters would repopulate and hosts of other problems were fast to rear their ugly heads. Cespenar was no adventurer, or hero, or soldier. He wasn't even of the Alliance, outside of what was assumed on his race alone. None of that had really caught his attention, for none of it mattered to him. He merely wanted to rebuild his family’s brewing company. Everyday ever since he killed Baxt, he worked tirelessly to make his dream a reality. In his time after parting ways with Maya, he spent entire days, from start to end, making barrels and barrels of his stock. Word of a new threat came up and it caught Cespenar’s attention, and unsettled him. A group of Worgen were afflicting innocents or killing them. He heard of it passing through a market, it was apparently a threat that lone bounty hunters were not wanting to get involved with alone. The danger was understandable. Most of these hunters were humans and didn't want to risk becoming afflicted with the curse. Also there were too many Worgen for a single hunter to take on alone, and bringing more hunters would shrink the amount of money they would get. No money, no work. Cespenar spotted the Bounty Hunters at a board, talking about it and he came up, looking at the notices. Everyone at the board had taken interest when the known drunk reached out and grabbed the wanted poster for the Worgen. “Ohh, if it ain't the town drunk, Cespenar. Ye sure ya don't wanna take a bounty ta kiss some gnome?” One of the hunters asked, a dwarf who already had a few notices in his hand. “Maybe another time… Don't get me wrong. I'm not cut out for this line of work. I just want to see what's going on so I can avoid it.” Cespenar bluffed as he read the page. The bounty notice detailed that the Worgen pack wasn't a bunch of feral worgen, rather they were ruthless worgen bandits that either killed or afflicted to bolster their own numbers as a form of ‘recruitment’, or they simply left their victims as feral beasts. To make matters worse, they operated in Duskwood and would terrorize Redridge and other surrounding areas. It made the situation in Duskwood worse than it already was. There was no information on how many there were or where exactly to find them. He placed the bounty back on the board and stated “Well, I think I'll be staying far away from that nonsense!” He broke away from the bounty hunters and made way for Ironforge. By sundown, he had made it to the Dwarven City that he began to call home. Using the money he made from the casino fiasco, Cespenar bought a place in the Explorer’s Hall and it was his to call home. He did some shopping for some peculiar herbs and fish oils at the market before heading home. Within a closet, Cespenar spent some time carving deeper into the mountain and sculpting himself a small brewery of his own. It was humble compared to what he envisioned. He had room for twenty barrels that were in a critical stage of brewing using the Virethorn family techniques. He sat on the floor in front of his stock, thinking of what he was about to do. He pulled his shirt off and held the scar where he was bitten only a year ago. The sound of Audrey's voice and laughter came to him in his thoughts. Her crying. Her struggling. The inhuman noise she made when she turned. The snarling when she bit him. His pained cries of turning for the first time. The Worgen Curse was his plight. Nearly all Worgen from Gilneas took to the curse and embraced it, seeing it as a boon to use against the Undead who indirectly unleashed this hell upon them. Only a small margin of them broke, either going insane from the denial of turning, or they took their lives. Was this only a temporary hell that Gilneans or, in his case, foreigners unfortunate enough to be living there when the curse broke out would have to suffer? He asked himself many times that very question. The conflicts against the Undead, Twilight’s Hammer, and now this strange war going on in the new land of Pandaria surely caused their numbers to dwindle. They were not in any danger of fading away. Cespenar learned of what Darius Crowley did in Hillsbrad, turning more people into Worgen, spreading that disease. It was unthinkable. Children were already being born to worgen parents, human children. When were they going to turn those children into beasts? Were they doing it already? Cespenar himself was turned against his will by the woman he loved. He hated his form because it reminded him of losing her, of him afflicting his parents and his own brother, and shifting into that form always caused him great pain. As a man, he stood at six feet and four inches, but as a Worgen he stood taller than eight feet! His body being stretched and twisted to that primal form was a hell in itself every time. A part of him wondered if he lost a shred of his own humanity with each change. Before being a Worgen, he had never taken another person's life until he became that monster. He killed over twenty people as a Worgen, but none as a human. Did it matter which form killed more? “Have I always been a Monster?” He asked himself out loud as he stared at the barrels unblinking. There was a new group of worgen, free of their feral nature, capable of rational thought out there afflicting people intentionally. Those chose who remained safe from losing themselves and let the rest become nothing more than bipedal beasts. “Mother, Father, Audrey… Forgive me. Daymoni, I won't let anyone else become like us. Not like this.” He stood up and opened a black barrel and stared at the contents of unprocessed Wolfsbane. He took a deep breath and reached within without thinking. The unprocessed herbs stung his hand at the slightest touch, and he suddenly remembered what to do. He slipped on a pair of thick leather gloves and got to work. Two weeks later, Cespenar walked through the forests of Duskwood alone away from the main road. It didn't take long for Cespenar to feel eyes watching him from every direction. Perhaps they would be attacking him if he walked as a man, he guessed but had no way to verify if they cared for that. His eyes caught the movement of shadows going back and forth, he tried not to look, pretending he was merely walking through the woods. In his focus of that ruse, he didn’t hear the approach of a lone worgen come up from behind. “I wouldn’t go much further, were I you.” Cespenar heard a voice growl from behind. He turned to see a worgen that stood almost as tall as him, with several scars along his arms and wiry fur as if he had been burned. “What brings a packless like you through here?” Genuinely caught off guard by the question, he looked himself over for any markings or the like “Packless? How did you know?” “You smell like you are alone. We are beasts of a pack. We hunt together and share in the bounty. That is our instinct, Lone Wolf. Now tell me - what brings you here?” Cespenar relaxed as much as he could and explained “Merely passing through. I admit, I don't know left or right in these woods. Easy for someone like me to be lost.” “A lone wolf AND lost?” He asked, growing confident. “Quite an undesirable position to be in near foes. Perhaps I can help you with that.” The worgen offered, and as he ended his sentence, twenty Nine more Worgen emerged from the shadows, surrounding them. “The Broken Fang pack tends to be kind to those who show similar kindness.” He calmly explained, looking Cespenar over. Even as a Worgen, Cespenar dressed himself in silk sailing garb and fine cotton pants. He appeared to be very wealthy. “Perhaps if you were to share some of your wealth, we can all lead you out safely? Safety in numbers, am I right?” Only a fool or a deaf man wouldn't hear the threat laced in the burned Worgen’s words. Cespenar tapped his chin, looking around at the pack of thirty. “This is your pack?” “Aye. In all it's entirety.” “Perhaps we can help each other, and not have it be so one sided where I benefit in directions?” Cespenar asked, resting a hand on his hip. “I doubt your pack has had good drink in a long time.” “You're going to buy us all drinks? Thats a good one.” The pack leader chuckled at the absurdity of the offer. “No, not at all. I'm a brewer by trade and I could give your pack a few surplus barrels.” “You mean to leave us with that promise? Not very fair.” Cespenar shook his head and decided to let his actions speak for him. He tapped a silver clasp on his belt and focused on placement, and summoned a barrel of Virethorn Brandy in front of the worgen. “No. I always carry my stock with me.” Before the pack leader could open the cask, Cespenar dismissed the barrel, sending it back home. “Now now, this is hardly a place to drink! Perhaps we should go back to your camp and we can drink to the Broken Fang Pack?” All the worgen were relaxed and their faces brightened up at that offer. Even the burned worgen smiled warmly at Cespenar. “Kindness in purity right there. Follow us, and we can see about helping you out. Perhaps we can offer you more than an escort?” Following the Worgen led Cespenar to the very heart of Duskwood. He noticed that the entrance a huge vale was walled off and worgen sentries were the ones to open the gates. Ten more of them. Once inside, Cespenar summoned a barrel and tapped one of the worgen near him on the shoulder. “Hey, could you help your brothers out up there and give them this barrel? They must be thirsty.” The opportunity to drink before anyone else was too good for the worgen to pass up, and he did as Cespenar politely asked. The burned pack leader took everyone else to the main part of camp. It lied near a giant stone construct that appeared to have been built by Night Elves and once could have been a portal. “It led to the Emerald Dream. The resting place of our spiritual forefathers. From them we gained this gift.” The pack leader explained, and stared at the monument for a short moment proudly. “It really is a beautiful thing. Being this close to the Dream.” Cespenar gazed at it with an indifferent stare, and then smiled as he said “Indeed. It seems we are drinking to more than just kindness and kinship. We drink to the Emerald Dream!” He ran his hands along the belt and summoned several barrels at once, and they were already tapped. He tapped another clasp and summoned a crate of mugs. “What are you boys waiting for?! The man said to drink to the Emerald Dream! Let's honor it in joy!” Their leader cried out and the surrounding Worgen let out a loud hurrah as they went to work setting up the barrels and getting mugs to drink with. In short order everyone was drinking, cheering, and celebrating this rare occasion. Cespenar merely drank from his black steel flask as everyone drank from the casks. Acting as a host to a restaurant, Cespenar went around to socialize with every Worgen, asking how they liked his brandy. He was not surprised when he heard from many of them that they hadn't had anything so fine and light. The only complaint was that they weren't getting drunk fast enough, so he only urged them to drink more, telling them it was a good sign and even summoning a couple extra barrels to promote them into doing so. He sat with the Pack leader after checking on everyone, and simply watched. The boisterous laughter was good to hear, and even the burned Worgen was having a good time. “You should join us. Our brotherhood is always looking for more to join the pack!” Cespenar pretended to entertain the thought as he looked around, sipping from his flask. “It seems there aren't any women in your pack. How would a pack sustain itself like this?” “We don't take women and turn them. Women are bad enough with their sharp tongues and wit. The last thing they need are the fangs and claws to go with it.” He smirked and said, “However, that doesn't mean we don't have fun with them.” The tone he spoke in made Cespenar uneasy, and he slowly looked to the man at his side. If the worgen was hinting at what gave Cespenar pause, then how close was he to thia evil? “Meaning…?” “Toys and nothing more! We are natural conquerors and this form we wear is for that. Are we not destined to take what we want as wolves?” Cespenar nearly opened his mouth in outrage, he wanted to leap upon this worgen and tear him apart. Scream that he was wrong, sick, demented and deserving of a fate worse than death. He chose to hold his tongue on that matter, and it took every fiber of his being to keep calm. A few yards in front of them, a smaller worgen collapsed, his mug in his hand, and the pack leader laughed aloud, “It seems he hit the booze too hard!” Others around them laughed and Cespenar went over to check on the Worgen. As he walked over he said, “You wear your forms when you conquer. I only wear this form when I am going to kill someone. Lately that's the only reason I've taken this form.” Kneeling down, Cespenar rested his fingers on the worgen’s neck, and pulled his eyelids open. He was dead. “Then what are you hunting brother?” “You.” Cespenar answered calmly. “He’s dead. And soon everyone will follow.” With that, the celebrating stopped, and everyone had fallen dead silent. No one knew what to make of what he said. Surely he was kidding. He was one worgen against forty. He had no weapons, no armor, and he remained on his knees, inspecting the dead Worgen. Before their eyes he assumed his human form and stood up, brushing his hands off on his pants. “No need to continue wearing that disgusting form. You all are already dead.” He slammed his hands together in a resounding clap and said “You all drank a lethal amount of Wolfsbane. Enough to drop five worgen with every cup.” “You lie! You have been drinking with us! We saw you the entire time!” One worgen screamed out and ran at Cespenar letting out a battle cry, but he ended up stumbling and clutching his chest as he began to choke. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell back, convulsing violently. Cespenar nodded slowly and stated “It seems as if your adrenaline will break the potion holding back the poison.” He sipped from his flask and explained “Deepstone Oil infused Dreamfoil creates a numbing agent that froze the effects Wolfsbane extract I mixed in the brandy. Interesting, and unexpected. You can either stay calm and die peacefully which is more than you deserve or you will all get worked up and die… Violently.” As he explained how they would die, three more dropped and surely everyone got nervous, and a few panicked and began writhing in pain as they died. Cespenar stared the pack leader in the eyes and said “You all embody what I hate about being a Worgen. Your ‘gift’ is nothing more than a disease. If I had my way, I would be rid of the curse altogether.” “You're a monster! You-” The pack leader screamed, unable to hold his emotions in check. He fell to the ground, feeling the effects of the poison. “You... Drank with us…” Seeing their leader dying brought forth panic and everyone fell down, screaming, clawing at the ground or their own bodies as the lethal doses of Wolfsbane began to destroy them from the inside. Some tried vomiting their tainted brandy, but found it was already too late. Holding his flask up, and taking another drink Cespenar explained “I only drank from my flask. Sipping very lightly. I assure you we are drinking two different products.” He started walking towards the worgen leader as everyone flailed and died around him. “It's funny that you call me a monster when you yourself murder, rob, rape, and afflict innocents. But aren't we all monsters in this curse?” He looked down at the dying worgen and soon, in a matter of minutes, everyone within the vale had died, with Cespenar standing in a sea of corpses. He alone took out forty Worgen without raising so much as a finger at them. He manipulated them, won their trust by using their greed against them and poisoned them all. He silently questioned himself on whether or not he truly was a monster. If him, being a worgen truly had anything to do with him killing the way he had this year or if it was his human nature. He knew that telling himself that he performed justice was too easy. The way he had done it was unquestionably evil. Yet he didn't feel any guilt. No remorse for how he carried it out. Dismissing the barrels and mugs, Cespenar walked out of the vale, and left the bodies alone. No one was going to find the bodies. Not before decay or crows would have their ways with the deceased. In the end, no one would be able to claim the bounty, or trace this deed back to him. That night Cespenar was granted access into Stormwind Keep with a ledger, a pony keg and approached the King saying “Hello. The name is Cespenar Virethorn. I hear you're looking to expand your selections.” He flashed the King of Stormwind a smile and gave a low sweeping bow.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Theramore

The Cataclysm ended with the end of Deathwing at the hands of the Dragon Aspects, the new Earth Warden and groups of adventurers who went to face the beast. The coming months after that battle, Cespenar ended up staying with Maya Turntfuse, picking up where the two left off in her bedroom. They shared several weeks together dating and doing whatever they pleased while living carefree lifestyles. Neither party held any fantasies that what they had was love. They were merely passing the time with one another. Maya herself never bothered to ask Cespenar just how he managed to get rid of her husband and he was okay with that. In their time together, Maya decided to teach Cespenar the art of engineering. He found it surprisingly easy to understand the schematics for the parts and devices he teacher and lover had him put together once he started learning how to crunch thebnumbers correctly. Like most things do, their relationship came to a close when Maya expressed looking to marry once more with a member of her own race. A mutual agreement was made between the two that they would be friends because there was never any actual love between them. Cespenar went back to traveling back and forth between Ironforge and Stormwind. Juul'Caz on the other hand, didn't slow down. Never for an instant would Juul want to live a quiet life when there was so much he felt he wanted to do. He took to living in the cave he and Cespenar found atop the Wailing Caverns and making trips to and from Orgrimmar to pursue a career he enjoyed. Pit fighting. Once a week Juul'Caz had a fight or two scheduled against beasts, warriors wanting to make names for themselves or dangerous prisoners wanting to gain pardons. As long as it was a challenge, the troll was happy to agree. Due to the troubles the Amani posed in the recent Zandalari stunt, he was not trusted among many member of the Horde, so this was his way of building a reputation for himself. Every fight Juul'Caz had participated in wad strict rules against magic being used, which was fine with him, because he didn't want to show anyone his abilities as a shaman if he didn't trust them. In the months he fought he had quickly been given the Title of ‘The Amani Dervish’, which to him did not sound at all threatening, but many of his opponents feared him when he came into the arena with his twin hand axes based on his reputation of quickly chopping his enemies into pieces. Even though they were kept apart by the Ocean itself, Cespenar and Juul'Caz both spent many nights wondering what the other was doing. Sometimes one would plan to visit the other, but they never could find the time. Sometimes Juul'Caz’s fights made him have to take extended rests and he couldn't be bothered to leave his hovel and Cespenar was almost always with his brother when he wasn't traveling between the cities. Later in the coming months, Juul'Caz had started to notice something about his fights. They were getting more and more dangerous. At one point he was charged with fighting a Gronn with nothing more than a dagger! In those horribly rigged fights he had noticed that he had special guests watching… One of them was the Warchief himself. How Juulcaz hated that one. He found Garrosh to be an Orc with little to no honor and it sickened the proud troll. In his latest fight he was fist fighting Kor’Kron Orcs and had incapacitated each one by breaking several bones in their bodies until they couldn't come at him anymore. That day, he knew he had crossed the line. After his fight, he was walking out of the pit before being cut off by his managers, an Orc and a Troll who were devastated by how quickly he dispatched the Kor’Krons. “Juul'Caz! Have you any idea what you've done?! You should have thrown the fight!” His Orcish manager scolded, “The Warchief was watching! That was to be their training!!” “Bolrug, calm down, yeah? Juul don't throw fights and ya know dis. He ain't able ta lose fer some wanna be Elites.” Juul explained, rubbing his face where one of the Orcs hand landed a solid hit. “De two of ya pay Juul ta fight. Not ta be a punching bag fer de Warchief’s boys.” The other troll sighed, and was more collected than his Orc counterpart. “Look ‘Eee, Juul. De Warchief needs ta see his boys win. There's an important mission that de freshly appointed General Nazgrim be supervisin’ and so far has nothin but bad news fer de boss. So he needs a bit of some form of good news or somethin ta improve his mood. Do ya understand?” Juul'Caz crossed his arms, scoffing, “So de Warchief ain't havin things go his way and that be Juul’s problem? Juul ain't fer knowin if ya boys noticed anything but since ya been takin money from Garrosh, Juul and all the other fighters be goin’ through hell. Shit, we droppin’ faster than Peons gettin picked off by Night Elves in Ashenvale. Juul ain't about ta get beaten half ra death by some Orcs to make ya new client smile. End of story.” The two looked to each other hopelessly and from behind Juul'Caz heard a voice he knew all too well speak up. “It sounds like you're in the wrong line of work, Troll.” Juul wasn't the only one to be struck silent when he spoke. They all looked to see Garrosh walking towards them. “Considering that you defeated my hand chosen warriors with ease, you speak with the tongue of a coward. Tell me, are all trolls such cowards or is that reserved to Humans and Amani?!” Juul'Caz held back his tongue, and fists. Garrosh, for as much as Juul hates him, was still the Warchief of the Horde. He replied “It ain't cowardice ta fight ya best so that yaself don't get beat, Warchief. Juul believes that is how any fighter should operate. Ain't it cowardly ta throw a fight?” The managers shrunk away as Juul'Caz and Garrosh looked each other in the eyes. The Warchief smiled as he offered, “You're just what I'm looking for. I am assembling several teams to repay the Alliance for what they've done to Camp Taurajo. Everyone there is dead in what can only be described as a massacre by my scouts. The Tauren of that camp were proud as well as innocent. I want you to be in one of those teams.” Juul'Caz blinked in surprise by the sudden empathy that Garrosh was showing toward non-Orcs and was even more surprised that Garrosh Hellscream was offering Juul'Caz an opportunity like this. He would be stupid to let this pass him up. He had a chance to show not just anyone l, but the Warchief himself, that the Amani were not entirely treacherous. He nodded and said “Aight. Ya gat Juul’s blades. What more do Juul need to know?” “Come with me, and you'll know everything about your task.” Garrosh stated as he walked past the him, and Juul'Caz followed behind, leaving his managers in silence. When they arrived at Grommosh Hold, Juul'Caz saw that he wasn't the only one the Warchief called upon. There were member from all the races and none of them were Kor’Kron Elites. Some of the people there were questionable at best, and some were known criminals. Juul'Caz had a terrible gut feeling about the nature of this job. Garrosh had his generals describe to them that this job was a three part excursion to attack Theramore in response to the recent transgressions from the Alliance, including Taurajo. The Warchief himself emphasized the importance of sending a three man team into Theramore itself to spring a Blood Elf spy with vital information for the War Effort. They were given explicit orders to avoid all contact with Jaina Proudmoore or anyone within her tower. Their mission was purely rescue. The next segment was to act as a distraction and to prevent any reinforcements of reaching Theramore from the main road. The final part of it all was to move a final force into Theramore for ‘clean up’, as it was described to them. The general also informed everyone that they would be broken up into groups of threes to ensure that they wouldn't be as easy targets as a full battalion. Every group had a mage in it to ensure that they could all get out of there once the mission was complete. Juul'Caz was the odd one out at the end when all the teams were assembled. He was paired with a Blood Elven Mage who seemed less than pleased to work with him, but they lacked a third member of their team. Garrosh noticed that small issue, whispered to his general and had him go outside of the hold. “I sent my general to go retrieve your third team member. She has already been informed of the mission, you merely need to work with her on keeping the Alliance out of Theramore.” He explained as the General came back into the chamber leading a small, frail undead woman in a blood red dress that Juul'Caz could only describe as a human’s wedding gown… If they were poor. Her hair was straight, thin and black, her skin as white as clean paper, her neck looked to have been crushed and her eyes glowed green with foul fel magic. Her staff looked to be a that of two fel hunters warped and twisted into a staff, writing in pain, screaming silently as if it was alive. Juul'Caz hoped it was not alive. She also wore a black alchemist’s satchel on her hip on one side and a black grimoire bound in chains on the other. Everything about this woman screamed danger to not only Juul'Caz but the Blood Elf that was with them, and Juul could see that as plain as day. “Marrela Summergale.” The undead woman introduced herself, holding her staff with both of her hands. She crept closer to Juul'Caz and the Elf, looking in their eyes. She took Juul’s hand forcefully and ran her eyes along his open palm. “Mm… An idiot…” She muttered and then took the Elf’s hand, doing the same, “And an abusive husband. Great.” She released the elf’s hand and looked to Garrosh. “They'll do. I assume you want for us to hold the main road and kill anyone who isn't Red.” “You have your orders. Carry them out.” Garrosh said flatly, and pointed to the door. It was apparent that he no longer wished to speak to his soldiers. Upon exiting the hold and the earshot of the guards at the doorway, the Blood Elf mage stated “I'm not working with her. I can tolerate the presence of an Amani Troll before working with a Warlock.” Juul slowed his stride and gave him a puzzled look, “What are ya talkin about?” He looked to the undead woman who was trailing behind them and back to the mage. “She a warlock? So what?” “He is speaking out of fear of what is more powerful than the forces he commands.” Marrela said as she caught up with them. “Elf, if you don't want to work with me on base fears alone, don't bother complaining to the troll. Take it up with the Warchief.” That comment made the Elf swallow on his own saliva, and Marrela pointed at him “Which do you fear more? Me or the Warchief?” “Fine! I will open a portal to Stonard. The sooner we finish this job the sooner I will be done with the both of you!” The Mage surrendered spitefully, and summoned a portal with nothing more than an incantation, and waggle of the fingers. He slipped through the portal, leaving the two of them there, and held the portal open from the other side. Marrela and Juul'Caz looked to one another and the Warlock smiled and commented “Afraid more than the Warchief it seems “ Juul shrugged and went through the portal and she added “I do believe that is the wrong answer.” That evening, the Horde forces outside of Theramore had assembled and had taken a few strategic placements in the swamps the best hinder anyone going in or out of Theramore until the force inside had accomplished its mission. Juul dug a hole and had set a small, miniscule fire inside of to limit the amount of light it would shed within the hovel they made and was waiting with the Elf while Marrela was out scouting. Juul felt uneasy, he always did when he was near a Blood Elf who obviously resented him for the troubles of their people. He had no personal problems with Blood Elves as a race, but he did have issues with the ones who would treat him like a criminal for simply being Amani. The troll knew the suffering of their people just as well as his own. All his life he never truly cared for the land wars the two races held. When he was young, he supported Zul’Jin in heart, but his mother kept him from going out to kill the Elves in any of the conflicts. As he matured he was thankful that she had and began to understand the folly of fighting over a piece of land that wasn't actively his home. He had never set foot in the lands the Amani considered sacred before the Elves resided there. His father never did, his father never did and his father never did. So why fight over it? Juul sometimes thought to himself. His stance on those issues did nothing to ease the growing tension between him and any Blood Elf that held a racial grudge against him. He felt eyes burrowing into him as he tended the small flame, and he looked up to see the Elf glaring daggers at him. “What you need of Juul'Caz?” He asked calmly and without any attitude. He didn't want to cause any unnecessary fighting. His hopes were in vain when the mage told him “I would love nothing more than for you and that Warlock to die in the coming fight. Perhaps you can help me with that, Amani.” “Look, Juul ain't gonna do anything dat ridiculous. Yer stuck on this mission wit Juul an’ dat Marrela gal. Juul don't know if yer eyes be workin right but we are camping outside of Theramore. We have an enemy ta fight. Juul ain't gonna bother lookin over his shoulder outta fear that you'll stick him wit a knife fer de glory of yer damn Sunwell.” He recalled the words Marrela spoke of the Elf when they first met. “Don't ya get high an’ mighty wit Juul when ya treat ya mate like shit.” The Elf started to protest, but a cold dead rested on his shoulder out from the darkness and he heard the whisper of a woman, “You aren't going to jeopardize this mission by getting killed by the troll, are you?” The two men looked to see Marrela slink into their circle, and she sat to Juul’s right and said “You boys should get along and arm yourselves. We have about ten Alliance were coming our way. I also scouted with an Eye and found that the infiltration team has already started.” “Now ya tell us?!” Juul'Caz protested and grabbed his axes as the Elf grabbed his spell book. Marrela only giggled cryptically as she remained seated. “Whatcha doin? We got Alliance comin!” “I said they -were- on the way. Go up the path by three hundred meters and you'll find what's left.” She explained and the sounds of battle could be heard along other parts of the Marsh. “Our quarry will come to us, no need to look for them in the dark.” They looked at the Warlock and wondered what she had done out there. They heard no fighting, saw no magic, and yet this wedding gown clad Warlock had claimed she killed a group out there without so much of a scuff on her. Only minutes passed until Marrela, herself, stood up, and summoned a succubus. “Syneri. Take my satchel, mix the yellow, blue, and black liquids together in a bowl within, and set it on the main road.” The succubus took them without a word and rushed to complete her task as Marrela pulled a small flask out from a pocket and downed its contents before dropping the vial. Juul'Caz and the mage both prepared themselves and then Marrela said “Light it.” Out of nowhere there was a huge flash of light down the road and it persisted for several moments, showing a large group of Theramore Soldiers coming their way, trying to get to Theramore. When the light faded and the darkness was absolute, a series of lights along the Horde lines ignited as spell casters began their casting and every mage, Warlock who wielded fire and several shamen unleashed their magic upon the Alliance force. The Alliance force formed into a wedge and started charging through the marsh as they were pelted with scorched with the spells. Some soldiers fell into the mud during their charge and their armor weighed them down. Juul'Caz realized that the sounds of battle around them were raging before that force even was revealed. He looked off to the sidelines and the spells of the other nages who were masting revealed they were fighting Theramore Soldiers. “They must have noticed where others set up.” He reasoned as he braces himself for the wave coming their way. “Broke off from the main force ta fight.” “You would be right.” Marrela stated as she charged a new spell and unleashed a rain of flaming stones upon the Alliance and in the midst the the flaming rain, large boulders rained from the sky and crashed into the soldiers, forming into an infernal. “The main force will be upon us soon. Get ready.” As if they needed anymore motivation, an alliance soldier rushed into their field of vision, blade swinging at Marrela. His sole focus was on the Warlock who was raining death on his comrades, so focused that he didn't see the green arm of a troll shoot out and clothesline him. Juul'Caz let out a roar and stood in front of the Undead woman, slamming his foot down onto the human’s neck and poising himself for battle. Humans charged out from the darkness as their brothers in arms fought against the infernal that assailed them in the constant stream of falling fire. Juul'Caz was clad in nothing more than chain and scaled armor wasn't weighed down as the humans in their dense plate. He used his axes to not even chop into the armor, instead he used them as tools to parry incoming attacks and to trip the already disadvantaged humans. Without communicating with the Troll, Marrela knew what to do. She followed his slow pace and enveloped every knocked down soldier in flames to finish them off. Shs found it to be easy work to clean up after Juul'Caz as he waded into the mass of soldiers. She saw her infernal crumble, and decided to call down another in it's place. She noticed that the two of them were the only ones fighting the main force. Everyone else had their own fights and so that didn't bother her. She looked back to see the Blood Elf, holding a Portal stone as if waiting for a chance to use it. “Aren't you going to help, Elf?” “My name is-” He began to say before he was cut off by the Warlock. “I care little for your name. Are you going to throw some spells out or not?” “My job is to summon a portal when it's time to evacuate.” He snapped at her, abstaining from the battle. She scoffed and immolated another human. “A bigot, an abusive husband, a coward, AND a weakling? How surprising.” Her sarcasm and hurtful remarks struck the Elf as he stepped back from her, shooting her a most hateful glare. She only smiled as she turned her back to him and set another human ablaze. Not even a second after the man was immolated, a large icicle darted past Marrela’s head, grazing her face. The ice lodge itself into the man’s neck, ending him. “You missed.” She commented as she twirled her wrist and focused on another Alliance member, charging a powerful spell. The mage was puzzled on why she would say that and would begin casting a spell without facing him. That was until he felt something akin to a hand placed on his chest. He looked down to see a black shadow gripping his chest. He knew the nature of the spell. Whatever spell she was going to cast would duplicate itself, launching itself at the target of the shadow. He dropped the portal stone he held and the color drained from his face for he knew what was coming. “NO!” He protested and tried to cancel her spell, but it was too late. From Her hands, Marrela launched two missiles of chaotic energy, obliterating not only a hapless human, but the mage as well, leaving only cinders and the stone he dropped. Dawn was starting to break on the horizon and the fighting was starting to wear down both sides of the conflict. Marrela sensed something of immense energy heading their way and called out to Juul'Caz. “We must leave! To me!” Juul'Caz retreated to her side and the two continued to fight the Alliance. The source drew closer and closer, and then it was clear where it was coming from, where it was going. A Zeppelin flew over Theramore, dropping a large metallic sphere in the middle of the city and what followed next stopped all the fighting for several moments A massive cataclysm of arcane energy tore everything on the isle apart, breaking down the atoms of every person, stone, and spec of dirt that touched it into nothing. Without so much of a cry of despair, a whimper, a gasp. Theramore was gone. Marrela spotted the portal stone, grabbed it as everyone stared dumbfounded by the explosion and activated it's magic. She grabbed Juul'Caz and pulled him through the portal before the Alliance could even begin to grasp what had become of their home. Juul'Caz and Marrela were in the marshes outside one second and then atop a cliff overlooking Orgrimmar the next. The Troll finally dropped his axes and fell to his knees, barely able to breathe. “What… Was dat?” Marrela had her back to him, gripping a necklace that she had pulled from her pocket. “Something worse than what happened at Wrathgate. I never thought…” She cut herself off and looked to Juul'Caz and asked “Nevermind that… Are alright?” “No… J-Juul Can't believe what happened… His head be spinnin.” “War happened.” She said and simply walked away, leaving him to his thoughts. Unfortunately for Juul'Caz, he was not entirely alone. His thoughts were not his alone. A dark recess of his being felt… Satisfaction.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

The Death of a Trade Prince

Baxt shouted “MORE WATER! I've had enough!” He grabbed a bucket and filled it with water and splashed Cespenar with cool water, and again and again. He set another full bucket by Cespenar’s feet and went to the dial, turning it all the way up. He came back and pressed the clamp against Cespenar’s neck and the room darkened as Cespenar was electrocuted. At several moments he was the only source of light in the room. As he was being shocked he couldn't believe that he was going to die. As he screamed and expended the air in his lungs he began putting a plan together that would either save him or completely fail. All he knew was that he was going to have to act soon before his heart or brain would give out. He was going to have to play dead. Once his lungs had run out of air, he took one last desperate gasp when the room went dark and he lurched forward. It took every shred of willpower and self control to keep himself still and quiet as his tormentor continued to shock him. It went on for a couple seconds more until Baxt had to stop. It wasn't that he wanted to stop the power, he simply knew better than to overload the circuits and give them time to recharge. He also didn't want to have to pay more for power consumption. Fuel for the electricity wasn't the cheapest thing around. Cespenar didn’t know that reasoning, he was simply thankful that he didn't completely fry. His thoughts were still clear, and his heart rate was slowing down. The small gulp of air he took wasn't going to last forever. Maybe another fifteen seconds by his estimation. For now, he had to hold as still as a corpse would and not even risk breathing. “Can't say I envy the guy. He seemed strong. But damn was he dumb.” One of the goblins said as they observed Cespenar’s ‘corpse’. Baxt was in the back of the group and said “Take a good look boys. This is whats gonna happen to any fool dumb enough to go against the Turntfuse Cartel.” He chuckled, seeing as how he was in a great mood his guys relaxed and gathered around him to congratulate their boss. One goblin remained and poked at Cespenar, apparently enjoying the sight more than Baxt himself. Something was off to the Goblin as he inspected the man. “Hey boss…” “Yeah, what is it?” Baxt called out, “I'm kinda busy thinking about the next steps, kid.” “Ain't dead people supposed to piss themselves after they die, or that a myth?” The goblin turning his back to Cespenar and pointed at him. Cespenar screamed mentally, because he knew that was no myth! He tried to soil his own pants but found that the electrical torture had tensed up everything and he simply could not even piss his own pants. With the goblin’s back turned and everyone's eyes not directly on him he subtly took in another breath. His head was also tilted downwards and he could see a bucket full of water near his feet. He dared not look to the fusebox but had already taken a mental note of where it was in the room. He was about to kick it until Baxt said “Eh, it's true. But after a few seconds a corpse should do its thing, even after being shocked. What, ya don't want piss cleanup duty?” The goblin looked down to Cespenar’s pants and back to Baxt, and hesitantly said “Uhh… He's taking a long time to piss.” All commotion in the room stopped and Cespenar knew he had to act now! With every ounce of strength he had, he kicked the bucket and it flew at the fusebox! Luck had blessed him when the water doused the electrical components of the box and caused a short! The lights went out and all the goblins screamed in surprise. Cespenar knew things were going to get messy and he was going to stop playing around, or he was really going to die! Taking advantage of the darkness, Cespenar shifted into his larger form, easily snapping the rope binds simply by growing beyond their capacity. He leapt away from the chair and watched to Goblins all scrambling for the chair blindly. He could see and sense them in that darkness, but the Goblins all lacked the eyes of a Wolf. “Calm down! All of you! The backup generator will kick on soon.” Baxt assured them, and as he did, Cespenar crept around the room. He picked up a large shelf and threw it at the door, blocking the exit. That caused them all to scream once more “I TOLD YA TO CALM DOWN! Stop slamming around you fucks!” Only a few of the lights slowly came back on, as most were burned out by the power short. What the lights revealed caught every Goblin off guard, save for Baxt. Cespenar stood behind Baxt as a dark furred Worgen that stood practically three times the Goblin’s height and with a single movement, he backhanded the Goblin who tortured him to the side. As if he was a rag doll, Baxt flew across the room and hit the wall before crumpling on the ground. Worgen were no longer as surprising to members of the Horde, and most soldiers were familiar with how the run of the mill worgen would fight with no weapons. The goblins were ready for arcing swipes, brute force strikes, or even him throwing anything large at them. Cespenar rushed up to them and dived into the middle of the group. Using his height to his advantage, he struck downwards with his fingers together and curved as a hook into the back of the head of his first victim. He turned and tossed the lifeless body into part of the group, knocking them over. While they were knocked down he quickly grabbed two by their legs and lifted them up, turning to face the others. His dive and tossing of a goblin had surprised them, but five of them collected themselves and had drawn rifles to aim at Cespenar. He was too close to shoot at without threat of him knocking the barrels away and had put a few steps between him and themselves. The worgen saw the barrels lifted up at him and in response he lifted up his two goblins, holding them together as shields before charging toward them. The living shields did not deter their gunfire, for they were confident that their bullets would go through them and into the body of the raging beast attacking them. Their hopes in that were not in vain, for three of the bullets had gone through their armor and flesh and into the worgen. If he felt any pain from it, he did not show it as he crashed into the surprised marksmen. The five goblins were smashed into a wall by Cespenar and the already dead goblin ‘shields’. With eight goblins already dead, and Baxt knocked out to the side, the remaining eleven goblins scrambled for the door, trying to get it open. The debris that he had thrown in front of the door was in the way and none of them could find leverage to pull the shelving away from the door before Cespenar crashed down upon them in all of his fury. To the Worgen who had gone through the greatest pain in his life thanks to these goblins, mercy was nonexistent. --- Outside of the Villa, Juul'Caz was preparing a ritual to commune with Earth Elementals powerful enough to drop the cliff out from under the party. Due to the cataclysm, Juul'Caz’s abilities as a shaman were greatly strained. His every attempt to commune with the Elements was always met with cries of distress and pain. He understood those cries too well, and he knew it was indeed a tall order even if they were fine. It hardly mattered to him though. He wanted everyone at the party to die. Faction, alliances and creeds hardly mattered to the troll, because he believed his friend to be dead. He continued his ritual until he was met by acceptance. The Elemental Spirit that answered his call was anything but pure. It was as if it was twisted by the chaos and then the dark intents of the troll had attracted it. When he looked at the jagged, tormented Earth Elemental that was corrupted by dark magic and hate, he immediately knew that it was not there to help. It's intended reward for him was death. Juul'Caz stood tall and growled under his breath, “It's one of those kinda days, eh? Ya gonna regret dis.” When the Elemental surged forward, swinging it's thick arms in a downward arc, Juul'Caz stepped back, narrowly dodging the lumbering brute’s attack, and launched his own attack, a beam of red magma that sliced across the Elemental and staggered it, but it did not prevent it's upcoming attack. It slammed each arm down upon the troll, smashing into his shoulders. Had Juul been human, such a blow would have caused him to crumble into the ground. The troll looped his arms around the thick arms of the stone beast and channeled another spell. He launched another lava basted attack unto the creature and this time is was a ball of lava that melted through the beast, and using the residual heat from the first blast, he easily summoned forth another, firing the second one into the would be face of the Elemental. The twisted creature of stone collapsed as its life was immediately extinguished. Juul turned his attention back to the Villa and decided it'd be best not to try another ritual like that once more. He began thinking of something more direct when there weren't so many guests who were possibly armed. For now he merely needed to heal himself. --- Cespenar stood in a pile of gore, barefoot and as a human. He dug out a shallow bullet and dropped it to the ground and did that for the other two bullets. Since most of their force was expended on the Goblins earlier, they didn't have much stopping power when they struck him. Baxt began to stir and when his eyes opened he saw the horrific sight of the human’s handwork. He was the only one who did not see Cespenar as a Worgen, but he couldn't quite piece together how such a young human hit him so hard. “Oh. You're alive?” Cespenar asked as he removed his foot from the chest cavity of one of his victims, vital organs clinging to his feet. “That… Is really a shame. For you.” “T-There were twenty of us! What did you do?” Baxt stammered, unable to get up, for his legs felt like jelly and he felt cold with fear. “What the fuck are you?!” He saw Cespenar’s calm eyes lock onto him and Baxt could feel something akin to the specter of death loom over him. “I killed you! There’s no comin’ back! I shocked you til you dropped! There ain't no comin’ back! This is the real world! There ain't no comin’ back!” As Baxt stammered and panicked, Cespenar paced the room, looking at everything. This was not only Baxt’s torture chamber, but it was also his storeroom. Now that he wasn't being beaten or shocked half to death he could take a clear look at everything. He spotted a large safe, a weapon rack, trophy shelf from hunting game, and a desk cluttered with papers. One of the papers caught his attention, and when he looked at it he saw plans to sneak onto Hyjal and assassinate Daymoni. The ink was nearly dry. He glanced to Baxt, dropping the plans. “There ain't no comin’ back… There ain't no comin’ back!” Baxt repeated as he trembled. He apparently didn't understand that Cespenar merely played dead. “You were going to kill him anyway. You wear that belt of yours and you still made plans.” Cespenar commented with a cold, calm tone to his voice. He went over to the safe, and ran his hand along the top of it, and glanced back to the Goblin who had taken off his belt and thrown it to Cespenar in surrender. “I-I’m sorry! I was just mad about you and my wife! I wasn't really-” Baxt began to plead, but he saw Cespenar actually bend down and grab the safe, and attempt to lift it. It budged, but then Baxt began to see the truth i. What his enemy was and all his answers on how he killed his men was answered when he saw black fur growing from the man’s arms and he shifted fully into a Worgen. This time he picked up the safe but with great difficulty, and Baxt knew was full of gold bars. Cespenar walked towards him, carrying the safe upon his shoulder. “A-Abash… The Dreadlord stood a-and he felt how awful Goodness is…” Tears started welling up in his eyes and he whispered “And he felt how awful Goodness is…” The safe came crashing down as Cespenar slammed it forward onto Baxt Turntfuse with a docile, calm look in his eyes the whole time. He shifted back into his human form, unwilling to remain as a Worgen for a moment longer and grabbed one of the wires connected to a still functioning light, ripped it out and put the sparking chord to the papers on Baxt’s desk. It hardly took more than a couple of seconds to start a fire. Cespenar slipped the belt back on, cleared the doorway and left the room, shutting the door behind him. It didn't take long for the fire to consume the rest of the room, destroying all evidence of his rage. By the time he got near an exit, the fire was raging and had caught the attention of the party goers and guards. Cespenar slipped out of the confines of the Villa and into the woods of Azshara without anyone taking notice of his presence. Cespenar found Juul'Caz on the way back to camp and the troll ran at him and wrapped him in his arms, grasping the back if Cespenar’s her, burying his friend's face into his shoulder. “Juul thought they got ya…” He whispered and pushed Cespenar out to an arm's length and looked him over. Even with the Worgen’s innate ability to regenerate to a degree, Cespenar still looked worse for wear. “Did ya get him?” “Yeah. Baxt is dead. We should get moving. Only a matter of time before the fire catches more attention.” Juul'Caz didn't even ask what Cespenar had done. All he knew and cared about was that his friend was there now. -- The next morning the Turntfuse Villa had found the remains of the twenty Goblins, and as far as evidence had shown was that a safe had fallen atop one of the goblins, and the others burned from the fire. There was little evidence or cause they could find in some of the bones, but foul play was indeed suspected. In the end though, the case went cold and all attention of it was turned away in the coming chaos that would be brought by the battle of Deathwing. Anyone seeking Justice for Baxt’s death was surely disappointed when they came to accept that there would be no retribution for the death of the would have been Goblin Trade Prince. Any ideas of a Turntfuse Cartel ended then and there.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Springing a trap Virethorn Style

Overlooking the sea from a tall oak tree, Cespenar stared out at the sea before he took a small sip from a cup of water. He was thinking how to best get into the party that Baxt Turntfuse’s wife was going to throw. The goblin who threatened Cespenar’s loved ones was expecting him, no doubt that a trap had been set. He looked towards Orgrimmar and could see a bear with a troll riding on it’s back. He waved to the tree and Cespenar descended.

“It wasn’t easy, but Juul got gat item ya wanted.” Juul'Caz stated, tossing a small bag to his friend. He watch Cespenar as he pull out an intricate silver belt buckle and swapped it out with the one sitting on his belt. Worry gnawed at the Troll, and he thought about that terrible vision he had before, and shook his head. “Oi. Whats yer plan anyway? Ya ain’t really gonna waltz in like ya own de place?”

“My plan… Is to walk in like I’m a guest. Find baxt, give him the belt, call it good, leave, recall the belt and hopefully him along with it and we end him.” Cespenar explained bluntly, as if the plan was going to go off without a hitch. It wasn’t the first time the young human made such a flatline plan and made it sound easy. “Anything goes wrong and I improvise.”

The two stood together in silence for several moments. Their minds in completely different places, but in the end each one ended up thinking of the well being of the other. “Cespenar.” - “Juul.” They paused and both said, “No, you go first… Damn it. You’re not making this easier.”

“Shut de fuck up and go first!” Juul'Caz snapped.

“Fine - If anything happens, don’t let Baxt leave that Villa alive.”

“By mornin, if I ain’t seein’ ya, Juul'Caz gonna drop de land inta de ocean.” He spat. “Yer de only worthwhile person in dat snake trap. Azeroth’ll be betta off without Turntfuse and his ilk.”

Nodding in agreement, Cespenar sucked in his breath and hugged his friend firmly. “I wouldn’t mind that. Just uhh… Don’t be hasty. I would hate to sleep in from drinking and wake up in the ocean.”

It had been a few weeks since they received the threat and tonight was the night of the party. Despite Juul’s wishes, Cespenar answered the call and has been secretly forming a plan, barely giving his friend details out of fear they were being watched.

Juul'Caz followed Cespenar to the Villa, wishing him luck before the human approached the front entrance to the Tunrtfuse Villa. It was a cliffside property and they were celebrating a huge breakthrough in business. Baxt Turntfuse declared only a week ago that he was going to reach the coveted status of Trade Prince and his wife, Maya, had been making contacts and opening eager trade deals.

From what he could see, there were goblins, Orcs, a dew blood Elves and most importantly several humans. He wasn’t going to stick out like a sore thumb. The advantage was his, for now.

Stopping at the gate, a Goblin with his Hobgoblin bouncer stopped him and he said “Name?”

“Virethorn.” He answered curtly. The goblin checked his list and then looked him over before he nodded, “Go on in.” Without wasting a moment of time, he went in but glanced over his shoulder to see the goblin waving someone over and whispered into the newcomer’s ear. Cespenar grit his teeth and went deep within the guest filled courtyard.

His current mission was the find someone he could swap clothes with, he thought to himself. In order to throw off his pursuers for just a few moments. He had no idea what Baxt looked like, but he knew that Baxt only saw him through a sniper scope. He turned his belt inside out, and through a stroke of luck he had spotted a drunk human, possibly drunk enough to pull off his idea.

He approached the man and put his hand on his shoulder, “Hey, buddy! How’s the drink?” Cespenar greeted the drunk and the man looked at him with a glazed look, completely uninterested until his face slowly twisted into a smile.

As creepy as it was, what happened next gave Cespenar some comfort, “Oi… Y-You… You are from Kul’Tiras, like me! I can spot a man with Tirasian blood a nautical mile away!” He dropped over Cespenar’s shoulders and held a mug up before continuing “Aye! The drinks are really good! Really strong! I love it!” He took a drink and slurred “I-I need a few more. Say… Brother. Set me up?”

It was now Cespenar’s turn to smile. “Well, tell you what. I’ll get you not one… But TWO drinks. You and me switch shirts and let me check out your belt. It looks really nice.”

“Agreed! Now go, before the eventual hangover kills me…” He laughed as Cespenar walked away and came back with two mugs of ale. He spirited the drunk away to an isolated area behind a massive keg. He switched shirts with the guy, and took his belt and slid some sterling silver clips on the belt before giving it back to his new ‘friend’.

He left the man behind and not a moment too soon. Before he could even begin looking for Turntfuse he saw some of Baxt’s thugs dragging his decoy away. He decided to follow them. His reasoning was that they would lead him to his target without them even knowing.

Without having to trail them far, he saw a beautiful, middle aged goblin woman arguing with a gruff looking male goblin with a gun strapped to his back.

“I don’t care WHAT scheme ya got in mind, Baxt! I specifically said NO WEAPONS! What is so hard to get about that?”

“Nothin, babe. Just got some work to take care of and it’s a lot more important than this… Party.”

“EXCUSE ME?!” She practically shrieked at Baxt. “This is MY party for MY connections. Then you-” She cut herself short when she saw a man being dragged to them. “There’s your new boyfriend. Best go kiss him in your damn kink room.”

Simmering with anger, Baxt began to open his mouth to scream at her, but he was cut short by her holding a hand up to his face, turning away and walking off. Knowing that causing a scene now was not going to make their future talk any easier, he went after the goblins who were dragging the drunk human.

After watching the events unfold the way that they had, and eyeing Maya Turntfuse, gears slowly started to turn in Cespenar’s head. The thoughts that came to mind made him smile with less than innocent thoughts of Maya Turntfuse beneath him as he gave her what Baxt was apparently unable to give her.

“Madame Turntfuse?” He called to her from behind, and the goblin turned around to see who it was. What Cespenar saw nearly rocked him back on his heels. From a distance he couldn’t tell how beautiful Maya was, but he was certainly glad that she was. The goblin had a darker tone of green to her skin and her face told a story of someone who was reaching her thirties and seemed already fed up with the majority of business owners. Looking beyond that tired gaze of her’s, Cespenar felt as if he knew this woman had a strong will and her wit was as sharp as a blade. He wanted to find out her sharp it was, and how strong she was in hopes that his expectations were spot on. “A pleasure to meet you, I-” He began, and she cut him short.

“You’re that human my husband is after, aren’t you?” She asked, pointing at him, her finger going from head to toe. “I saw you back at Ratchet the night Grabemall died.”

“You got me…” Cespenar admitted, holding his hands up helplessly, with false dismay to his voice.

“I guess he is too stupid to recognise you. His problem with you doesn’t interest me. You’re not gonna be a problem for me, are you?” She inquired, walking right up to him boldly, and with good reason. They both knew that a host of guards and bouncers would be all over Cespenar if he even blinked wrong at the lady of the house. “And before you ask the same question, I’ll re-affirm that I don’t have an interest in your spat. I won’t blow any whistles if you’re good. I own this place and my boys answer to me. Not Baxt.”

Her declaration of total neutrality gave Cespenar a momentary pause, but he gathered himself to assure her. “No trouble for you whatsoever. I am here as an unwilling guest for Baxt it seems… But I found reason to enjoy my stay here at the party.” He gave her a short nod at the end toward her and the very subtle hint didn’t go unnoticed.

Maya rubbed her chin and asked coyly “You didn’t hear anything between us, did you?” Her playful tone of voice gave away that she knew that he was eavesdropping in them before Baxt ran off.

“I heard the sound of a woman being held back by her ball and chain who only serves to slow her down. I am honestly curious why Baxt would claim to be aiming for a shot of becoming a Trade Prince. I heard wrong, right?”

“You heard right… But he’s nothin’ without me… Now YOU on the other hand.” She curled a finger to him and he knelt down to her level and she grabbed a fistful of shirt. Tugging him close she whispered “Flirting with a married woman isn’t the smartest move you know. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t have you thrown out now.”

With a confident smirk he said as bluntly as he could “I’m flirting with a married woman to give her what her husband cannot. The way you two fight, your tired look and your cue of interest to my initial advance tells me only one thing, you require my services. What must I do to give them?”

Maya thought about it, she was silently weighing her options as well as considering his offers. “You’re saying that you’ll do me a solid if we sleep together?” He nodded. “You’re a human and I’m a goblin. Hows that gonna work?”

“I can show you when we get there. You won’t be disappointed.” He promised and awaited an answer.

Much to his surprise the Goblin kissed him! She tugged on the shirt, pulling him close and locked her lips with him openly. The interaction caught the attention of more than a few onlookers. She then whispered against his lips, “First sex. Then I’ll tell you what I want.”

“Deal.”

—

A squad of nine trackers were combing Azshara for the troll that was spotted with Cespenar earlier. Despite the threat, Turntfuse had no intention of allowing Juul'Caz to live. The troll had robbed him of his chance months ago of killing Cespenar and was too dangerous to be left alone.

“So what’s the boss’ intel on this troll? What kinda trouble are we in for. Never know with Trolls.” One of the trackers had asked as he loaded rounds into his rifle.

“Boss says that Juul'Caz was first mate on some boat. Fights either with his bare hands or a couple of axes. What we gotta look out for is the bear. It’s one of those Amani bred battle bears. Armor, claws, the works. That’s why we got the nine of us here. Should just take one guy to pop a round in the Troll, but the bear is the real threat here folks.” Their captain explained and nearly tripped in a footprint left by Fuzz. He staggered to gather himself and pointed down at the hole. “And that is what we’re tracking.”

Tracking a bear large enough to leave such deep tracks in the soft soil of Azshara was an easy feat. They didn’t even have to search too hard, because they had spotted a campfire light in the distance and were tracking his bear’s obvious tracks. Along the trail one of them commented that a nine hundred pound bear would, after all, leave easy to follow tracks that even a blind man could follow in the soft soil of Azshara’s coastal cliffs.

Once they could see the fire clearly, they saw the troll they were hunting stoking his fire. One of them pulled a gun out and aimed it at the troll in the cover of darkness. Something was wrong. Something so terribly wrong. The troll was there, but there was no sign of the bear. The tracks actually ended a few paces ahead of them.

Eight of them were sent for the purpose of putting down the bear alone whereas the ninth would shoot the troll. “Where’s the bear?” One had whispered.

“Didja guys know dat bears, in order ta throw off anyone trackin’ it, tend ta backtrack and jump somewhere else so they can spring a trap?” Juul'Caz shouted out to the darkness, and before most of them could look up they heard a heavy scrambling sound followed by the massive bear falling from a tree, crushing four of them.

As the ones who did look up saw deep claw marks in the tree that the bear had climbed and they felt so terribly stupid for tunnel vision tracking the bear on her tracks alone.

Chaos ensured when the bear barreled through them, into the dark woods and the fire seemed to glow brighter. The Goblins turned to see a large Fire Elemental clawing its way out of the campfire.

The captain screamed “S-SHIT! HE’S A FUCKIN SHAMAN!”

“S-Shoot him!” One of them yelled, and as all guns were aimed at Juul, Fuzz charged through the group, dragging the one who called the order into the darkness of the woods. All eyes darted to the bear and back to the Elemental which was then flinging itself at them! “Fuckin hell!” Another Goblin screamed as the Elemental rolled into their group, and spread its arms, releasing its form and causing a violent explosion.

Juul'Caz got up from his fire and slowly walked over towards the downed Goblins. “Ya boys need ta watch where ya goin. Juul can’t be blamed that ya was sent and outnumbered. Nine ta two? Wasn’t even a fair fight fer ya boys.” The troll gloated until he noticed one of the goblins was moving very slightly. He could hear light murmuring from then and noticed he had a radio A frown spread across the Amani’s face and he rested his foot on their head. “Gonna have ta do betta den dat.” He started pressing. “Call ya boss. Tell him yall fucked up.” He ordered, and without a moment’s hesitation the Goblin obeyed.

He snagged his radio and pressed the button. “Baxt, the troll killed everyone. He fuckin blew em up and his bear is eatin a couple of the boys! Send backup I’m still alive! He aint a fuckin’ meat head, he’s a sh-” The goblin was cut short by a sickening crunching sound when Juul stomped him so quickly he didn’t feel a thing.

“Now now…” Juul said as he removed his foot from the unrecognizable mess that remained of the Goblin’s head. “Juul don’t want any of ya friends ta know dat lil secret.” He picked up the radio from the twitching hand and grinned before pressing down on the button.

—

Baxt was polishing his gun, thinking of how to best put down the man. He glanced at the drunk, sleeping man a few times. His skin was lightly tanned, short dark hair and some facial hair. He had only seen Cespenar once, but he remembered very little due to the fit of rage he was suffering the day he tried shooting the thief. His boys were slapping at him, shaking him, whatever it took until one of them pulled the belt off of him.

“Uhh, boss. I don’t think this is Virethorn.” The goblin said as he inspected the belt.

“The FUCK do ya mean?!” Baxt screamed as he launched himself off his stool and came over, snatching the belt. As if hand touched the material, he immediately knew… There was nothing magical about this belt. It also felt filthy, old, cracked. He looked it over and saw the name ‘Chair De’Burlap’ written on the lining of the belt. A famous Tirasian sailor who had somehow sailed a galleon into Stormwind Harbor blind drunk and single handedly while the ship was on fire.

Baxt’s face was blank as he held the belt, the fake silver clips popping off. His eyes went to the Goblin who inched away “I-I assure ya boss, bouncer said Virethorn came to the gate, announced himself and was wearing these clothes!”

Chair De’Burlap stirred from is sleep, farting himself awake and looked around. “Oi… What’d I get into this time?” He looked at Baxt and waved his hand “Oi. Where’s the Bartender? Don’t ya guys know Chair need a steady flow of ale to save the day?!”

At a loss, Baxt grabbed the shoulder of his underling “Get him outta here and make sure ue drinks something. More he drinks, more he’s likely to forget this mixup.”

After the man was escorted out, Baxt pinched the bridge of his nose and growled in anger and that’s when the desperate cry of one of his trackers crackled over Baxt’s personal radio! The nasty sound when he was cut out told Baxt everything he needed to know… His men were dead. The other goblins with him were struck frozen.

The radio turned on once more and it was Juul'Caz this time. “Tsk tsk… Ya did ya boys wrong sending them after Juul like dat. Dey was out numbered.”

Baxt grabbed the radio and shouted into it, “How many of your troll friends are out there you Amani prick?!”

The radio clicked on and so far only the static of empty noise came through before they heard chuckling. “None. It’s just Juul and his faithful bear, Fuzz.”

“Thats nine to two!”

“Yeah… And dey was still outnumbered. Ya know, maybe if ya send another fifty of ya boys den maybe… JUST MAYBE dey can get a chance ta shoot one of dem guns… Jokes aside. Ya find Ces yet?” Baxt remained silent to Juul’s taunting and question. “Heh… Guess not. How long has it been since he went in there? An hour? Two? Juul ain’t one fer watches but he is guessin dat Ces has had plenty of time ta schmooze and… ‘Get ta know’ a few people. Who knows who he be wit. But Juul be in a great mood! He gonna give ya a hint, though ya don’t deserve it… He likes goblin ladies. A lot.” he laughed before cutting the radio off.

Baxt stood there is a somber silence. He began wondering just how long he was waiting for the man to wake up. The realization that Cespenar most likely switched clothes with the other sailor had dawned on him. He looked to the clock and it had been three hours! His knees nearly buckled out from under him, but he steeled himself and slowly began to walk out of the room.

“Boss, what are you gonna do?”

“Find my wife…”

—

Cespenar was slipping his pants back on and looked back to the nude goblin who had the look of total bliss painted on her face, her eyes rolled all the way back, her toes curling and uncurling time and time again. “Maya, are you there, dear?” He sat on the bedside and patted her face lightly, hoping to snap her out of her trance.

It took a little bit of stimulation that wasn’t in between her legs for her to snap back to reality. She had a glossed look to her eyes and she slowly looked up to him. “Hey baby… Say… You got a girlfriend?”

“You’re married and asking that?” He teased, chuckling at the irony of her question.

“Well… When you say that it doesn’t make much sense. Having an affair after a three year dry spell - The best.”

“Three years?!” Cespenar exclaimed in genuine surprise. “I couldn’t do it. No way.”

Maya sat up and stretched her arms, nearly falling back, but managed to keep her balance. “With the ogres club ya got, I doubt you could!”

Shaking his head, he grabbed Maya into a firm kiss and she held his arms as they kissed. She felt him pull away and Reluctantly allowed him to do that. “So… What was that favor you asked of me?”

Maya pursed her lips and mulled it over. “I wanna be rid of Baxt… Can’t divorce the bastard because he has friends in courts. I don’t want him using MY resources to be a Trade Prince l. Damn pathetic is what that is.” She looked Cespenar in the eyes and said “Kill him.”

Cespenar gave her an understanding nod as he got off of the bed. “I see… You got into a loveless marriage and its sexless to boot, your husband is leeching off of your hard work to his benefit and he wants me dead anyway.”

“Yeah, you’re right on all counts. He’s been bragging and he says how you would walk into his trap. But it looks like you walked right over it.”

Cespenar reached over and stroked a finger under her chin as his finger flicked off the tip she nearly moved with him. “I have plenty of motivation to end him. But not for your reasons, or my own. He threatened my best friend and my brother. That’s unforgivable.”

Cespenar had left her room and walked down the hall before he heard the stomping of boots, several boots. Around the corner Baxt came, with a wild eyed look and he paused when he saw Cespenar leaving his wife’s bedroom.

“CESPENAR!! YOU BASRARD!”

“Basrard? I think you mean ‘Bastard’?” He remarked as he shrugged helplessly. His comment caused Baxt to let out an unintelligible scream that no one could understand. “Goodness. Maya is trying to sleep. Think you can show a little consideration? She’s been through alot the past few hours.”

Before he knew it, he had twenty goblins all running down the hall. The last thing he saw was Baxt’s steel toed boot moving in for his face and then the blow knocked Cespenar out cold.

Hours passed and Cespenar finally came to. When his eyes opened he saw only darkness. It was burlap sack over his head that obscured his vision, but it did nothing to block out the sound of stomping boots and the sound of sloshing water just seconds before it was splashed into his face. The sack was gripped firmly and the porous fibers of the material held onto the water like some crude sponge. It was hard to breathe, but not suffocating. He shifted in what he felt to be a chair made of wood and struggled against his binds.

There was little warning for what would come next, but it wasn’t as surprising as it could have been. A fist as hard as metal smashed into his face several times before a blow to the side of his head finished the combo.

The bag was torn from his head and Cespenar looked up at his captors. “Is that the best you got?”

One of the goblins, a burlier one from the look of his stocky arms, slammed his fist into Cespenar’s face once more. He wore a gauntlet over his hand and that made the hit hurt more than it would have.

“Big arms… I’ll keep that in mind.” Cespenar commented as calmly as he could, before he was punched again. His head lulled from that blow and as his head swiveled he noticed that it was still dark outside from a small window in the wall. The lighting in this room was far too bright for it to be torch light, and the humming of electricity finally caught his attention.

“Like the light, huh?” Baxt asked, noticing the young man’s interest in the light bulbs around. “Goblin engineering is the best in the world. Check it out. Electric lights. More efficient for illuminating a room.” He went on and started messing with a box of the wall with plugs and wires filling its contents with a large warning label above it saying ‘NO WATER’. He watched Turntfuse pull a long wire out with a clamp attached to it from the box, and turned a dial before looking back to Cespenar.

“Impressive… So why are you telling me that? Let alone see it?” He asked as Baxt slipped thick leather gloves on.

“Because I want you to see and understand how I’m gonna kill you.” He tapped the clamp against a metal pole, causing a cascade of sparks to fly out.

“Now why would you do that to me? I came just like you asked…” He looked Baxt over and he was wearing his coveted belt. “And you have the belt back too! Thought we had an agreement.”

The feigned ignorance caused Baxt’s face to contort in anger and he screamed “YOU FUCKED MY WIFE!” He sucked in his breath and collected himself so he wouldn’t lose his cool again. “I was gonna kill you anyway. Just blow your ugly mug away and call it even… But you went and ruined a perfectly good woman.”

Nodding slowly, absorbing those words, Cespenar took a small breath and replied “I ruined nothing. Your wife is a strong woman and will come out stronger after tonight’s events. You on the other hand…” He let that hang and smiled before Baxt jammed the metal clamp into his chest, electrocuting him! The water on his face conducted the electrical current and Cespenar screamed. He screamed loudly, spasming and nearly bit off his own tongue in an attempt to keep his teeth together.

After a few seconds, Baxt backed off to allow the electricity to recharge. He set the cable on a grounding post near Cespenar and leaned in close, watching the human before him pant desperately to find his breath. “Anymore big talk? Because I would love to hear it.”

“Yeah… I’m not too sure you want to hear how much Maya loved it as I sucked on her neck and gave her what you never could with that limp wart you call a dick… I think she screamed that she loved me at one point.”

Baxt shouted “MORE WATER! I’ve had enough!” He grabbed a bucket and filled it with water and splashed Cespenar with cool water, and again and again. He set another full bucket by Cespenar’s feet and went to the dial, turning it all the way up. He came back and pressed the clamp against Cespenar’s neck and the room darkened as Cespenar was electrocuted. At several moments he was the only source of light in the room.

Eventually, Cespenar’s screams ceased and he slumped over. Baxt figured he would stop and backed off. “Death is too good for you…” He spat at the smouldering man.

—

Juul'Caz was meditating before he felt a heavy weight pressing into his very spirit and he heard a voice that was like his own, but not quite his. ‘You felt that, didn’t you?’ His eyes snapped opened and looked around, unable to see what spoke to him, and his mind started racing at what the voice meant until he looked in the direction of the Turntfuse Villa and his heart itself sank, and Juul fell to his knees.

“No…” Juul whispered with a shaking voice and he grabbed his head before breaking down. Over the sounds of his own anguished cries he could swear that he heard his own faint laughter in his ears.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Turntfuse

Everything was a blur when he opened his eyes and the sun glaring at him through the window didn't make his vision any better. Cespenar tried shifting and rolling over, but suddenly found that there was something, someone, leaning into him. He looked down and saw a orange head of hair and green skin. He squinted and could see it was a goblin, a female goblin, and she was naked! He tried sitting up and found himself pinned by another goblin, and another on his arm. “What? Where…” He looked around and counted two more nude goblins, splayed across the bed, sleeping soundly. On the other side of the room he could barely see Juul'Caz sleeping soundly with a red haired blood elf woman and two troll women snuggled up to him. Aside from ass the nude women, the room was littered with empty bottles, empty bags, half burned cigarettes, mana crystals and many other seemingly random items. Picking up the goblin on his chest as gently as he could, Cespenar laid her behind another goblin only to find a female night elf using his crotch as a pillow. “What on Azeroth happened last night?” He whispered to himself, actually having no recollection of the previous night or where all these women came from. As he tried to remember, he started feeling sore all over his body. As his vision cleared, he became more aware of his own being only to find his person covered is scratch marks, bites that either bruised/broke through the skin or hickies on his torso, neck, arms and back. Looking across the room to Juul he could see his friend had similar marks, just most of them had healed. He got out of bed without stirring any of the goblins or the Night Elf and he went about the room, investigating the clues as to what happened. His knees felt like they were going to give out any second with every step and honestly felt drained. His senses returned to him steadily, and he began to notice how he reeked of sex as well as some sort of recollection as to how this happened. It wasn't much but he recognised at least two of the goblins as waitresses at some bar, the Trolls were gurubashi girls with Horde tattoos on them, the blood elf… She was sassy and Cespenar remembered making out with her before he and Juul shared the poor girl. Last, but not least, was the Night Elf, who remained a complete enigma to the young man. Cespenar patted Juul'Caz on the face firmly, whispering “Juul, wake up!” He saw the Troll’s eyes flutter open and he yawned lightly. “Eh? Whatcha want? Juul tryin ta get some rest.” “Where did you pick up all these women?” Juul'Caz sat up, the elf and trolls sliding off of him, but still in their deep slumber, and he said”Juul didn't do a ting. Dis was all you. Juul just joined in on de fun!” He didn't seem dazed like Cespenar was, only slightly hung over. The troll stood up, his knees nearly buckling beneath him, as a result of last night’s romp. “All of them?” “Well, Juul brought de Trolls. More or less, yeah, ya did.” Cespenar looked back at all the naked sleeping women as Juul found a couple of towels and whispered, “What even happened?” “Let Juul fill ya in while we wash up.” The troll offered as he opened a cask of fresh water, and dipped the towels into the water and tossed the wet cloth to his friend. “It all started when we went ta a Cabaret club…” ----- The smooth melody of music acted as background noise and an amplifier for the burlesque dancer's dramatic movements. Cespenar and Juul'Caz were sitting in plush chairs watching the Blood Elf dancer on the stage go through the practiced movements of her performance and listened to her song that described jealous former lovers, none being strong enough for her passion. Cespenar sipped from a glass of jigh class Eversong wine while watching the Elf and listening happily to the tone of her voice as she performed as Juul'Caz drank straight from the bottle of wine that Cespenar had bought. His eyes were all over her and hardly heard a word and the troll chuckled as he thought of the ways he would entertain the elf. The Blood Elf looked to several patrons, ignoring most of the goblins who were simply regulars, and laid her eyes on the two friends in the middle of her scan. Seeing that there were new patrons in the establishment was a rare thing, as most passers by never noticed the establishment, and it was too expensive for the cheaper travelers to indulge on. Yet there was a handsome young human in a silk shirt and wearing what she recognised as a Vault Sweeper’s belt and a troll- Her eyes snapped back to the belt and her surprise seeing it almost threw off her performance. Juul'Caz nudged Cespenar’s arm and whispered “She be lookin ya ya man. Should make a move when ya can.” He chuckled and continued to nudge his friend. “There is a strict hands off policy. This isn't going to be another Casino fiasco, Juul… Even though the ladies here are beautiful” “Psh, ya just want more gals ta kiss on ya like dem Grabemall gals.” The troll prodded his friend once more, referencing when Cespenar got in trouble for making out with a Casino boss’ daughters. Cespenar chuckled and shrugged, unable to deny that he would enjoy that. As the two were laughing, neither had noticed that the scarlet haired Blood Elf had left the stage. Instead there was some new singer on stage at that point. The two listened for a while before deciding it was time to leave. “Hey, where do you think the two of you are headed?” They heard a sweet voice call out at them, and they both turned to see the redhead Blood Elf and a buxom goblin with a thick head of orange hair. Both of them women looked to be dressed in form fitting dresses that looked more expensive than anything the two friends had spent their gold on combined. “Without a couple of ladies to join you?” The Elf added, looping her arms around Cespenar’s bicep as the Goblin took her place by his side. Juul'Caz crossed his arms and protested with a deep grunt “Oh. Juul sees how it be. Ces gets de gals and Juul be de third wheel?” The Goblin giggled and held a hand up as if it wasn't her problem, but still promised “We're just getting started. I betcha we can find a few more ladies to hang on Juul’s body.” She took Cespenar’s hand and introduced herself, “Penny Bombshell. Entertainer… And this is Shalayn Shimmerstar.” “Charmed…” Shalayn added as she took Juul’s arm as well, keeping both men in her grip. “I'm certain the two of you will be long before the night is over.” Cespenar replied, running a finger along the Elf’s chin and turned his attention to Penny, cupping her face with a smirk. The two friends took the girls out to one of the many bars in Booty Bay, where they shared a few too many drinks, somehow had picked up a couple more Goblins and two Gurubashi Trolls at the one location and had gathered at the Tavern the two friends had gotten a room at. Juul'Caz was at a loss trying to explain how they went from Point A to Point B so quickly. What the troll did remember though, was where the Night Elf had come from. The best Juul'Caz could do was describe the troll women who were actually girlfriends and went on and on about how he thought they were beautiful, remarking at least a couple times on how wonderful their laughter was rather than the curves of their bodies, which he only briefly mentioned. As drinks were passed, and shared a Night Elf approached the group. She seemed nervous to be approaching the group, but in a light voice she asked “P-Pardon me… I'm looking for a Cespenar Virethorn. I've been sent by his brother to find him. Would any of you know him?” Cespenar stood up, and bowed to the newcomer. “What a wonderful timing you have madame! Yes, I am Cespenar! What does Daymoni need?” He draped an arm over the young Druid’s shoulders and managed to keep his balance despite the number of drinks he had. Were it not for the obvious scent of alcohol, one would think he was sober. “Come, sit, and we can discuss my brother’s message!” He let her go and sat down. “He wanted to know if you were safe and to see if you still had your radio. He has honestly been worried sick. Also for me to sort of keep an eye on you.” “Radio… Oh, yes! That… Its in the room.” He said slowly, as if he had to remember. He snapped his fingers, “You know, we were about to go upstairs to experiment with some special drinks and whatnot these Gurubashi ladies have a few items to share. Perhaps you could do us the honor of joining? It is dreadfully lonely being the only one there who isn't relative to the Horde in a purely racial sense… Also being a druid your input would be most welcome!” “I will come to make sure you don't indulge too much. Nothing more.” She whispered, almost annoyed by the thought of having to keep an eye on Cespenar. She was nervous, but she was much older than the young man and knew when trouble was going to turn it's head and something told her some form of trouble was on the way. The group of eleven went upstairs and the Gurubashi Trolls wasted no time with pulling their things out of their bags, and set out some pipes, a hookah set up that they probably bought from the city, a couple of black jugs and an assortment of substances that Cespenar was sure were probably contraband in Stormwind. One of the Troll women sat by Cespenar, wrapping an arm around the human who was small in comparison to the Jungle troll, and offered him the jug. She bit his neck firmly and whispered in his ear “Drink, and ya will see tings beyond ya comprehension. It's gonna be beautiful…” Cespenar noticed the other troll getting the Elf and Goblins to drink from the jug, while the druid abstained. Juul'Caz also drank from the jug. In a matter, everyone save for the Night Elf had a taste of the brew and they each fell into a swirl of color, sound and sensations that most of them had never experienced before. Juul'Caz couldn't find the words to describe it, though he had experience with such a drink before. He didn’t need to fill in the blanks. Cespenar immediately remembered, to a degree of what happened. Most of the group had brought drugs and special cocktails of their own, readily sharing what they had with the group, and eventually the druid joined in on the fun. After the sharing, he could remember the orgy that soon followed. He looked in the room to the sleeping women and let out a low whistle. “The two of us against the nine of them. How did we manage?” He paused and corrected himself, “Hold on… You didn't so much as look at the Goblins… How did -I- manage?” “Could be possible that Ces has some Troll blood. Only explanation.” The two chuckled at the obvious joke. Their laughter stirred some of the women from their sleep, and so the two made it a point to help the ladies collect their bearings and made sure everything was fine before they all left. Even the Night Elf left, feeling that Cespenar could handle himself and made a comment about not wanting to get caught between the two of them again. While the two collected themselves, finally, Shalayn and Penny were heading back to the Cabaret Club, and the Elf said, “That was a Vault Sweeper’s belt, alright. Wasn't there something buzzing about a Goblin Client getting his stolen by a young human?” Penny nodded, holding her hands behind her back. “Something like that… Baxt Turntfuse, an idiot if there ever was one, bought the belt and had a smuggling ship deliver it and he failed to retrieve it, so word is some human merc took it. I wouldn’t say he -stole- it because Baxt left it behind. That's why we aren't gonna do a thing about it.” She laughed and said, “I hear he calls it a ‘Belt of Plunder’... Damn Fool.” “After last night, I'd say he earned it. Him and his friend both!” The two women laughed as they walked down the docks and each woman openly entertained thoughts of visiting the two friends again in the near future. Back at the Room, Cespenar was going through his things and found the radio. He activated it and spoke into it's speaker. “Daymoni Virethorn. This is Cespenar Virethorn. Do you uhh read me?” There was a moment of silence until the radio crackled and a voice that didn't belong to his brother spoke out “Cespenar… You have something of mine.” Juul'Caz and Cespenar both looked to each other and Cespenar said “Where is my brother? What have you done?” He kept his voice calm and collected, but from the bottom of his heart he wanted to scream. “No clue, not yet at least. And I found your radio signal a few days ago and stuck to it. Fuckin’ stupid Druid joke. I was hoping to hear where YOU were, but I ain't a patient goblin. So, let's strike a deal.” The friends looked to each other gain, and Juul'Caz shook his head defiantly. “Don't ya listen ta him! Baxt’ll dobya in de instant he see ya!” “We should at least hear what he wants.” Cespenar countered and replied into the radio, “Let's hear it.” “This year's Midsummer Festival, my wife is holding a party at his estate in Northern Azshara. Bring me my belt, and I will forgive everything. You don't show, I track your brother down and kill him, I track your troll down and kill him, and then I kill you. Try anything funny and it all goes down like that. Get me?” Without hesitation, Cespenar agreed and Baxt gave him coordinates and the date. Midsummer wasn't more than a couple of weeks away. He threw the radio at the wall once Baxt cut his end off and cursed aloud. “All this over a fucking belt. The nerve!” “Psh, just give it to him. Ya already got plenty of money from it. More than anyone else can say.” Juul offered. “Ya no doubt gonna be walkin inta a trap, and Juul knows he lyin about forgivin’ ya.” Shaking his head in denial, Cespenar took off the fine belt and examined it as he spoke. “You're right. It is just a belt. Nothing to risk anyone's life over. Baxt could have gotten it back whenever by simply asking rather than shooting. But now he brought you into it and my brother, threatening to kill you both. That's something I won't abide by.” He slipped the belt back on and pointed at the Troll, “You should consider him dead at this point.” “And how do ya suppose ya gonna get de chance ta kill him?” “Because… I'll hand myself over.”

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Dark Visions of things one hopes to never come

A month had passed since Juul returned home, and only a week after he witnessed the downfall of the Zandalari’s plans and Daakara’s death came at the hands of Alliance and Horde heroes with Vol’Jin backing them up. Jia’Caz’s efforts of haunting his dreams had come to fruition. The Warlord remained in the back and didn't help anyone in their battles against the raiding parties and died defiant and alone. Juul'Caz himself had left with the Darkspear trolls and split away from them to trail behind the Alliance heroes, keeping him just out of range of their scout’s range. He decided to make camp late that night in a cave in Hillsbrad, and had a small fire burning. Some kind of anxiety ate at the troll in his sleep as he tossed and turned in his bedroll. He suddenly heard the cry of a human, “LORD PENDELTON, TROLLS!” Juul snapped awake, summoning totems at his feet and summoning spiritual serpents to attack whoever screamed out. There was nothing. He was in that cave, alone and with no human lords. He felt so cold from the sweat that drenched his body, and how his hands trembled with anticipation! He fell back, sitting on the ground as he dismissed the totems and ghosts that sought to fight for him. “It's all ya fault, Juul.” He heard an all too familiar voice of an older troll echo from the darkness. Juul'Caz look into the shadows and saw a troll carrying his own bleeding head walk into the light, and the eyes of the troll rested on him. “Ya shouldn't have left ya spear on de ground. Ya shoulda helped me.” The troll was none other than a former Amani medicine man, as well as Juul'Caz’s pacifist father, Tular’Anok. He had died years ago when Juul'Caz was barely old enough to fight for his tribe because Humans had discovered their presence and hunted them down. Crawling backwards, tears welling up in his eyes, “Juul was a boy. He couldn't have fought dem alone.” He denied the accusations with a heavy heart. “Ya dead, pa… Ya dead and Juul vowed ta avenge ya! Be at peace, please!” “Ya make ya old man sick, ya failure. If ya cared den ya wouldn't throw ya lot in with de human.” The head growled in protest and another being stepped out of the shadows, this time is was a companion of Juul’s who injured in the first raid of Zul'Aman, but survived without a leg. Pejju was his name. “Ya let everyone die and joined de Elves! Ya betrayed ya kin!” “NO! JUUL INNOCENT! Everyting Juul do in de Horde be fer de Amani!” “Liar…” Pejju accused. “Murderer…” His father growled once more. So many other trolls, mangled and torn crawled from the shadows, throwing their accusations at Juul’Caz. He fell to his knees and screamed “SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!” He slammed his fists down on the stone floor and suddenly saw himself in the pines of Eversong. “Hey, Juul, who ya arguin’ wit?” The voice of Pejju called out from behind. Juul looked back and saw him, Li’Dael, Jia and Zharsca all waiting for him on the other side of a creek. They were alive, well and happy to see him. A wave of relief washed over him and he walked towards them, wading through the creek. From behind he heard his friend Cespenar, “Juul…” The troll turned around in the middle of the creek to see Cespenar looking horrified, “What have you done?” He pointed across the water and Juul'Caz followed his finger to see the trolls who were happy and alive just a second ago were lying dead at the feet of… Juul'Caz? The troll looked just like him, but his eyes were bright red and his body was clean of scars. “Why did you kill me?” Cespenar wheezed and when Juul turned back around, his friend was face down in the water, and Juul looked down at his own hands, stained with blood. The creek itself was nothing more than the warm crimson liquid that stained his palms. He screamed out with such rage and pain from the horrifying images he was seeing, and slammed his fist into the stone floor of the cave. The pain in his hand snapped him awake. There was nothing but him and the smouldering fire he had set up before going to sleep. He crossed his arms over his chest, sat up and began praying to his goddess to bring him peace of mind. It was not the first time he had such terrible visions and it frightened him so much every time he had these visions of bloodshed and misery because they always came true. The last time he had such a violent vision, he lost some friends from a terrible battle that they had lost. Every time he had a vision, the Loa didn't have answers, he was assured time and time again that he had no gift of clairvoyance by his mother and spiritual healers. The source of his visions was a complete mystery. He stayed awake, thinking over and over about how he could best prevent the deaths of anyone close to him. Something told him that he would have to stay out of his homeland to completely avoid that hell. He knew that he could never wash his hands clean of the blood of those close to him and his family if it ever came to that. When the sun came up, he gathered his things and continued heading South, following the Alliance eventually to Stormwind. ------ The passing months had taught Cespenar much about going solo and he had his hands full with all kinds of new trouble he was recently landing himself in. He didn't have to worry about being alone now. He had the support of someone close and that he loved dearly, he had found and reunited with his twin brother, Daymoni, who was a druid of the Cenarion Circle now and had promised to help Cespenar bring their family company back to life. Cespenar was treating him to lunch at his favorite place to dine in the city and coincidentally his brother’s least favorite. The Blue Recluse. Cespenar had convinced Daymoni to meet up with him in the establishment for the business meeting that would breathe life back into the once great company. Sitting from the upper level, he was watching the entrance carefully, looking for his brother, whatever form he would be choosing to come in with. After an hour of watching he finally saw his brother enter and called out to him. Despite being twins, they didn't resemble each other too much. Daymoni was already growing a thick beard, his hair styled with thick braids tying together at the back of his head and he had dark green eyes. His facial build was slightly thicker than that of his brother’s who in comparison looked more tame with his beard trimmed short, his softer facial features were more apparent than any firm ones, and his eyes were bright as blue ice. Cespenar already looked more jovial than his brother, grinning and walking around with a half opened cotton Sailing shirt and dark blue denim pants whereas his brother wore a Cenarion issued jerkin with traveling boots and thicker pants. “Daymoni! About time, so, did you bring it?!” Cespenar asked as he hugged his brother lovingly, “We simply can't get started without it!” His brother set down a parcel and opened it up for his brother. Inside was a large jar of grey liquid, a black steel ingot, and a large sack of mahogany tree seeds and most importantly to Cespenar, a book. “I have no idea what you would need with this kit. The jar and book, yes, everything else? I am clueless.” “Well, I need Mahogany trees, Daymoni! That wood is essential for making the casks that will bring our family name back to life, and the Ingot? Well, I do need a flask.” He took the parcel and analyzed its contents before closing it. “There is no better time than now to begin our journey.” “Your journey.” The druid corrected. “Cespenar, you know I don't want to run this Brewing company at all. I want to lead my own life.” Cespenar held the package, looking down at the table, and asked “I thought you said you were going to help, not leave me to take on this task alone.” “Not alone… Entirely. Look - I don't want to brew ale. I do, however, want to help you get back on your feet, provide you with your ingredients and help you make some contacts. But I do not want to brew. You'll have to do that, yourself, and knowing the superstitions and rules in the book about only people in our family supposed to work on or know this and that I know that you are in way over your head. The time requirements for every process, the scale of the work - It's too much, Cespenar.” Cespenar sat back, tapping his thumbs together. “One of the old, old rules of the family business is that only family can do the production and lead the company.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, and counted with each finger as he listed the jobs, “Bookkeeping, Brewing, Distillation, Testing, Packaging, Quality Control just to name a few…” “I'm glad you can see the reality of the-” Daymoni began to say until he was cut off by his brother. “Sounds manageable at a small scale. The biggest part of the job is waiting.” “Will you ever be reasonable?!” “What? It is reasonable. Cespenar Virethorn, the One Man Company. I like the sound of it. Besides, dad managed just fine when mom was pregnant with us.” “She handled all the paperwork you dolt… And story has it dad was almost overwhelmed.” “Then it is up to me as his son to surpass him and honor him while doing so.’ Daymoni threw his hands up in pitiful surrender to Cespenar’s insanity. “You are literally fucking impossible!” “I'm the rash, and spontaneous one and you are the stable one who thinks things through. We make an amazing team.” “I suppose so. That doesn't change you're impossible… Or my brother.” Hearing that last part made Cespenar smile widely and he tacked a silver clasp onto the parcel before giving it a tap, teleporting it away to some destination unknown to all except for Cespenar. Daymoni raised his eyebrow and remarked, “Well, that is impressive. Where did you get that little trinket?” “Oh, it comes with this wonderful belt I stole from a goblin with bad aim. Anyway, what are you going to-” “You WHAT?!” Daymoni gasped and was hushed by his brother, but he grit his teeth and asked with a hushed breath “This goblin you stole from, knowing you he is alive isn't he?” “Well I am a pacifist.” “Gods, you are in for it. With something that nice, I can promise you whoever it was isn't some two-bit merchant or demolitionist.” “I am well aware of it. Don't worry though. He has long since lost my trail and this nifty belt.” He got out of his seat and looked over the bar as if debating what to do next. “I'm not feeling hungry, got any plans?” “I am going to have to return to Hyjal soon. Troubles there are only getting worse, as I am sure you've heard of the Firelord’s return?” “Of course. Giant Elemental Lord of Flame returning to Azeroth and setting a mountain on fire. Who hasn't heard of it?” Cespenar replied as his brother got up. “You have your hands full and I shouldn't keep you.” “It hardly matters. It's important that I take a little bit of time off to see you and make sure you aren't in trouble. Hearing your stories about the Horde Ship and the Kraken attack make me glad to know you're still alive and well.” Daymoni replied as he dug around in his pocket and pulled out a Gnomish communication device. “A gnome explorer came by and was selling some supplies, so I got a couple of two way radios. Keep in touch and I hope these work across the sea…” Taking one of the radios and giving it a quick once over, Cespenar gave a low whistle. “These look fancy. Maybe I should learn Engineering. I mean, I might be able to make more stuff like this for us.” “One thing at a time. You already are going to have your hands full.” His brother said flatly before giving Cespenar a warm hug. “Please stay in contact. We're all we have left since Gilneas.” “No problem. Stay safe and contact me if anything happens… Or if you meet a nice girl.” The two laughed together and they left the bar together. Once outside, Daymoni shifted into his Worgen form while Cespenar remained as a human. The large black worgen looked down to his brother, noticing his unease. “Look Cespenar, you don't need to feel guilty. You have that look as if you're kicking yourself for afflicting me.” “Well, I DID bite you.” Cespenar admitted as they made their way to Stormwind Keep, where Daymoni would have to leave for his Order. “And Audrey?” “No longer a factor. I know you don't trust the troll I told you about, but Audrey is no longer alive but doesn't haunt me. I feel at peace about it because of Juul'Caz’s efforts.” “I don’t distrust him, I just don't know him. You know I am willing to give anyone a shot.” Daymoni said, and it looked as if he had wanted to say something more. “Ces… I'm sorry about all you went through, and I know that if it were up to you, nothing would have happened.” “Nothing to be sorry about. We both went through hell. Now go on and save the world. I'm heading South for Booty Bay. I have a few deposits to make.” He patted his worgen brother firmly on the arm before separating from his brother. When he left the gates he pulled out his radio and looked at it for a long moment before cracking a smile. --- Daymoni Virethorn was waiting with some other druids for the portal to Hyjal to open. He was already bored and couldn't wait to get out there to contribute to the Cenarion’s cause. It was finally time to prove himself. He was going to get a chance to - His radio crackled, interrupting whatever train of thought he had and heard his brother's voice echo from his jerkin, “So… If a druid in tree ent form falls over and no one is around to hear him, does he make a noise” Everyone looked to the worgen, shooting him dissatisfied looks for the poor joke, thinking it was him, until he pulled out the radio, cutting off the now incoming transmission of laughter. They shook their heads and averted their attention from him. Daymoni immediately began to regret his choices for the day. --- Cespenar chuckled as he continued down the road. On his way through Elwynn Forest, he spotted a band of human adventurers coming out of Goldshire, toting Troll-made weapons and armor. He knew where they had come from and deep down he worried for the safety of Juul'Caz even though he knew his friend was smarter than to attack a well prepared group like this, alone anyway. He ignored their boasting and telling of how they overcame the trolls. They were loud and boisterous to the point that Cespenar was certain that they weren't telling each other, rather they were trying to tell anyone within earshot of who could hear them. He could figure out through their gear that one of them was some sort of defensive fighter, a priest of some sort based on her white robes and traditional staff, a hunter with a thick barreled shotgun strapped to his back, some sort of mage wearing a Kirin Tor signet ring, and an offensive fighter in dark plated armor. A nearly typical human band that one could hope to come across. Further through Elwynn Cespenar could see the forest beginning to thin and clear as Duskwood came into view. “Out one neck of the woods and into another…” He muttered to himself as he crossed the border between the forests, crossing a bridge instead of fording the large creek. Before he reached the dark woods he heard a shout from Elwynn. “CES! CES! DAT YOU MON?” The call was followed by a huge splash. Cespenar turned around and could see Juul swimming across the water to reach him, and the sound of straining wood turned Cespenar’s attention to the bridge, where he saw a giant brown bear in armor walking across it to reach him! “Juul - Is - Is that your bear?! It's getting awfully close!” Cespenar inquired as Fuzz walked right up to Cespenar, and sniffed him, as if looking for food. “Wair, why aren't you on Fuzz?” Juul crawled out of the water and shook himself off before approaching the two. “Because Juul saw ya and got carried away!” He grabbed Cespenar and looked him over, turning him from side to side, jerking him to and fro as he did. “Man, dressin’ fancy ain't cha?” He held him at an arm's length for a moment, staring him in the eyes, remembering the vision he had, and felt as if he should leave. Instead he smiled and firmed patted his friend's shoulders. Indeed, Cespenar was wearing a silken sailing shirt with well tailored black slacks and fine leather boots to match. He shrugged casually and said “Well Grabemall did have a lot of gold that we did split after all.” He looked at Fuzz who was staring at him expectantly and asked “What does uh… Fuzz want?” “Food. Fuzz always be hungry. Got anyting? Juul all outta food. He was gonna go kill some farmer's cow, but he don't want trouble. Know what's worth killin ‘round here?” “Aside from giant spiders, wolves and boars… No. No clue. What are you doing here anyway?” Juul'Caz went to one of the saddlebags on Fuzz’s saddle and started changing out of his wet clothes in the middle of the path, with no shame at all. “Well, Juul had business at Zul'Aman and Juul’s mama told him someone close ta Juul needed his help. He figured dat was Juul’s best friend.” He explained and pointed at Cespenar, adding “Ain't no one else outside home worth stickin his neck out fer.” He slipped on a new pair of pants and an armored Amani Witch Doctor's garb that had an under layer of tough scales and a couple of green twin handaxes. “Since Juul here now he can help Ces out, bother him and raise hell with his human bruddah!” The thought of company overjoyed the young man and he honestly couldn't think of anyone better than Juul'Caz to join him. “If it's going to be anything like Ratchet and nothing like the last time we were in Booty Bay, I am in favor of raising good kinds of hell with you.” The two set off together through Stranglethorn and after a few days of travel they would eventually make their way through to Booty Bay. Every day of travel was filled with heavy rains, biting insects and the occasional wild animal that Juul would hunt down and feed to his voracious bear. They never encountered an actual threat through their travels to the port city. They both looked at the overview of the city from the entrance and made a trip to the bank to make a withdrawal. The troll followed his friend up and down the docks as he purchased a mahogany barrel, the freshest produce they could buy, and various other ingredients that brought Juul'Caz closer and closer to the conclusion that Cespenar was finally going to brew some alcohol. He held back any questions until they rented a room at one Inn that was literally a large boat built into the town, and they had they Captain's Quarters suite. Unable to hold back any longer, Juul asked as Cespenar set things up with the barrel, “So whatcha don’? Ya makin booze, Ces? Cuz if ya are, Juul be ya tester.” Cracking a smile, Cespenar flicked one of the silver clasps and summoned a calendar with pin up pictures of half nude goblin females. Losing any bluster, he flicked the same clasp, dismissing it. “W-Well, you see…” Cespenar blundered as he double checked his belt, “I actually am! I have the base ingredients needed to begin production. The crude beginning anyway.” Juul leaned in close and whispered to Cespenar, “Juul saw dat calendar… Don't ya be coy.” He grinned and slowly began to laugh at his friend, “Juul will let ya live it down… If ya give Juul some booze.” He clapped his hands, rubbing them together expectantly. “Soon. Soon as in three months.” “WHAT?! Why it take so long?!” “Ingredients need to slowly mix and ferment.” Cespenar answered as he summoned the parcel and pulled out the jar of grey liquid. “Heat this jar until the liquid is boiling. Don't taste it.” Juul accepted the task, started up the mini kitchen's stove fire and set the jar in the fire until it was boiling. It reached a boiling temperature slightly faster than water itself. He brought the jar back, and placed it near Cespenar who grabbed the rim of the jar’s opening and gently poured the liquid in the barrel atop the ingredients. He watched care fully as Cespenar continued adding to the barrel, taking great care in every measurement, even at such a crude stage with a crude set up. Once he was finished he sealed it shut, tacked a clasp on it and tapped it, sending it off to an unknown location. “So… Where is it?” “To a house in Ironforge I bought. Well, under the house. In our time apart, I bought some property, hollowed a space out under my bed and put a cellar in there. I am going to slowly move from that to full sized breweries. With all the traveling I am going to be doing, I'd hate for my stuff to be easy to find.” “Ah, so ya hidin ya goods! Smart. So, what we gonna do now?” “I owe you a drink.” Cespenar said with a wink and a smirk. He got up and held a hand out to the sitting troll. “Come on, Juul'Caz, let's get ruined by the vices of this city. We deserve that much.” The troll smiled wickedly as he took Cespenar’s hand to pull himself up and commented “We gonna have a night on de town. De goblins here soon won't forget de names Cespenar Virethorn and Juul'Caz of de Amani!”

[juulcaz-virethorn]

The Good, The Bad and The Zandalari

“We must come togetha, every tribe as one once more! We stand on de brink of extinction and must unite in order ta reclaim de world de be rightfully be ours and survive!” A Zandalari Hierophant spoke out in the middle of the Bazaar in the Commons of Zul'Aman. Many trolls were gathered around, listening to his preaching. “Ya Warlord has de wisdom ta join our cause and so we have shown him de power of de Zandalari. A power none of ya ever dream of seein’ before.” One of the trolls in the group couldn't believe what all she was hearing from the troll who preached out to the common folk. Unlike all the others in the bazaar, she was a priestess to the Loa, and most of the revered Loa had gone silent upon the arrival of the Zandalari. She didn't trust them because of that fact alone. Li’Dael was a half-Amani half -Gurubashi whose heritage clearly showed. She was slightly taller than typical Forest Troll females and her skin was a teal tone, a perfect medium between the blue and green colors. Her hair was in thick white braids that were long enough to reach her lower back, even when looped into a knot in the back of her head. Despite being half Amani, she was never truly treated as an outcast due to her rank as a Loa Priestess. Beyond that, people were stand offish and neutral about her presence. Shaking her head, she left the group to head home. There was nothing about the Zandalari the priestess trusted and knew she couldn't stand to listen to anymore of his preaching. She went deep into the woods, off of any paths and reached a temple hidden in the forest. Most would only assume it was one of the many large hills if they didn't look close enough. Every brick was covered by moss and thick vines that would cling to anything they could. As she entered the temple grounds she heard a loud and heard argument. As she passed through the brush she could see what the problem was. The new Amani Warlord, Daakara, his right hand Malacrass, and their Zandalari allies were speaking to a beautiful, bright green skinned troll woman who was not wearing anything more than a skirt, not even her long red hair was styled in a way to cover her exposed body since it was all gathered in the back like a dragon tail. “YA WOULD BE WISE TA LISTEN, HAG! WE NEED DE POWER OF ULA-TEK! You will grant us access to de temple, and we take what we need.” Daakara demanded from the woman who only gave him a sour look. The troll ‘hag’ as the Warlord put it, appeared to be no more than twenty years old and her beauty rivaled that of any Amani woman in the land. Few would believe that she was the Head Priestess of Ula-Tek and in her early eighties. She shook her head, calmly replying, “Ya ain't gonna abuse de goddess de way ya predecessor once sought ta do. Dere ain't a ting ya can do or say, Daakara, dat would allow me ta change me mind. Ya meddle wit power beyond ya understandin. Go back and play nice with ya leash holders. De Zandalari, yaself or ya… ‘Advisor’, ain't welcome in her temple.” “YA WOULD DARE DEFY YOUR WARLORD?!” “And ya would dare ta defile dis place?” Daakara was on the verge of erupting but Malacrass intervened, placing a hand on his shoulder and speaking out “Listen, Jia’Caz, ya would be more powerful and closer ta Ula-Tek should ya agree. Surely you've heard of de grand blessings dat were placed upon the other four.” Jia’Caz snapped, “Blessings?! I've seen ya abominations not once, but twice in me lifetime! Ya sell de Loa out and enslave them after we gained their forgiveness from Zul’Jin’s unthinkable sins! What next? We do as Drakkari and kill our gods? Dere only one way I be closer to Ula-Tek and dat involves me passin’!” She snapped her attention back to Daakara and said, “Tell ya what - Ya come in if ya can show me what a scared Warlord looks like. De goddess wants ta see if ya weak enough ta know fear.” One of the massive Zandalari Juggernauts that accompanied the Warlord stepped d forward, brandishing a serrated blade twice Jia’s height. “Don't know about fear, but we can arrange ya passin, witch!” Everyone, save for the hot headed Zandalari noticed that a large mass of moss had started to stir, and slowly, a snake that dwarfed the Zandalari stood up tall, stirred from a deep slumber. Daakara and his group backed away from Jia’Caz and the Zandalari, any words of warning they would speak could not come out as if their very breath was sapped from them. Jia’Caz placed her delicate hand on the massive troll’s arm, looking up at him with serpentine eyes. “My… You are kinda cute. Tell ya wat. Drop de sword and -YOU- can come inta de temple. Show ya me private quarters.” As if her exposed body, lustful tone of voice and promise of bedding him wasn't enough there seemed to be a beautiful scent coming from her that made her more alluring. The offer was too tempting for him to refuse. The half naked priestess before him was undeniably beautiful and it was hard to avert his eyes from her body. He heard muffled screams from his companions, but he didn't care. The Troll dropped his wicked blade, and as soon as the weapon touched the ground the massive serpent's maw closed around him. The titanic snake tossed the panicked troll into the air and struck at him a second time. Jia’Caz walked over to the massive serpent and ran her hands along it's scales as it coiled around her. Instead of constricting her, it raised her up and she looked down upon the foolish trolls. “Leave these hallowed grounds before ya meet a similar fate! Ta strike at me is ta strike at Ula-Tek herself!” Whatever bluster the males had was drained, and they ran away to avoid Jia’s many other pets. Li’Dael came out from the brush and approached the Priestess fearlessly. “Ya send dem runnin’ again?” Coming down from the Snakes, the High Priestess came down and hugged her pupil. “Of course, girl! Same business. New Warlord, same lack of respect fer de Loa. Seems we gonna have ta open de temple grounds once more ta protect de sons and daughters of Zul’Aman. Dere be whispers of War against de Horde and Alliance. Daakara will not have our support.” “Ya tink history gonna repeat itself?” “To de letter.” Jia replied, and led Li’Dael into the temple. “Though … I worry dis time.” They reached the center of the temple itself and she explained “ Back den, me oldest son, Juul, was eager ta join Zul’Jin and his cause. I was able ta stop him because he was younger. He a mature troll now, able ta make his own choices. I may be his mama, but…”She cut herself off and sighed heavily. “Juul? Never meet him before. Just Zharsca. De two of ya never talk about Juul.” “He be a fuckin idiot… But he a good idiot. He a powerful Shaman, his trainin be why ya never met him, and he an even more powerful Witch Doctor.” Li’Dael shook her head and placed her hand on Jia’s shoulder. “Well don't ya worry none. De Zandalari will lead Daakara to his doom.” A gruff voice called out from the hall as a large male troll entered the chamber. “Damn right they will. Juul gonna see to dat.” Juul'Caz proclaimed as he entered. He looked at Jia’Caz and smiled widely. “Mama! It be good ta see ya!” He approached his mother, who surprisingly looked younger than her son. Jia walked right over to her aon and smacked the back of his head. “I was just sayin that ya be a fuckin idiot and de first ting ya do is come in and prove me point!” She continued to smack Juul’Caz in the back of the head and he begged her to stop as she kept hitting him. Somehow this delicate looking woman was slapping around a large, and tough looking troll who looked like he could easy stop her - but he was defenseless against the smacks. “Mama, please! Juul ain't done nothin’ wrong!” “Okay, ya got ya mama Granbabies?” “.... No?” The smacking continued and she screamed “YA FUCKIN IDIOT! YA MAMA AIN'T GETTIN ANY YOUNGER! TWO SONS, AND YA FAILIN AS DE ONLY ABLE SON WHO CAN CONTINUE DE LINE!” The bickering and slapping went on for several seconds until Li’Dael couldn't help but laugh at the situation. “Ya gonna slap at him all day?” They both stopped and looked at the laughing priestess. Jia shrugged and looked at her prone son, and backed off. “Nah. Just remindin’ Juul that he dumb. So what brings ya home?” Juul'Caz sat up, rubbing the back of his head and explained, “Juul had heard about wat happened wit de Zandalari. Juul been out at Sea and he found out late. He come home tryin ta stop what was coming. Now he don't know what ta do since de Zandalari everywhere, preachin’ empty promises!” He thought for a moment and muttered “We gat ta free de Loa or weaken Daakara…” “I forbid ya, Juul! Ya ain't gonna go challenge Daakara! Ya seek ta fight him, ya know ya will be fightin in an unfair battle! I'm stayin out of dis ta maintain de temple's neutrality. I done already overstepped me bounds by killin one of them.” Juul frowned and thought his options through. He remembered what Ula-Tek had told him. His people needed him and by extension Ula-Tek needed him. “Juul knows dat he has ta do dis. Ula-Tek told him dat de Amani need him ta act. Juul won't ask fer ya help mama.” He got up and hugged his mother and Jia couldn't help but hug her son back. She felt that she already knew what Juul must do, but remained quiet on the subject. “Ya fatha would be proud.” “He already is.” Juul released his mother and made his way out of the temple. The Priestesses remained in the chamber in silence. Li’Dael didn't know what to say. It had gotten serious very quickly. She looked to her mentor who had her arms crossed, deep in through. The High Priestess reached into a slit on her skirt and pulled a scroll from a pocket and held it out to her student. “Use dis if you and Juul be in danger.” “Aight. I promise ta bring him back.” Li’Dael took the scroll and held it close to her chest as she ran out to catch up with Juul'Caz. When she got outside she could see him patting a massive bear eating a large fish. “Juul! I be comin’ with ya.” He looked the priestess over and nodded. “Any help or company be welcome. Juul gonna be honest - He ain't able ta kill Daakara on his own. Not wit de power at his command.” “So whatcha gonna do?” Placing a hand on his chest, Juul'Caz ran his fingers over the already healed cuts from earlier. “Whatevah it be, Juul would have ta knock Daakara down a peg or two quickly. No doubt he gonna try ta kill Juul as soon as he can. Li’Dael, do ya know healin magics? Ya know, in case tings get dicey.” “Yeah, I know of some good spells. Ya should really reconsider. Daakara may have run from ya mama, but that's only because she was at de temple. Ya can't kill him on ya own.” “Juul knows he can. Daakara ain't unkillable. He a coward and Juul fears nothin from him.” They went to the central plaza of Zul'Aman and found Daakara, each enhanced Loa Priest and Malacrass addressing their subjects. Juul and Li’Dael waded through all the other trolls. Juul stepped out from the group, and without a word had drawn the attention of the leaders of Zul'Aman. It was already tense with their eyes upon him, only a few of them recognising the troll, and none of them appreciating him coming up to them like this. “Juul'Caz? If today ain't just full of surprises! Ya come back ta Zul'Aman, perhaps ta join our cause?” Daakara shouted, his voice magically amplified for all to hear him. The Warlord had good reason to believe that the son of Jia would join them, because years ago Juul'Caz served Zul’Jin faithfully until he was restrained to the temple his mother controlled. Daakara knew first hand just how loyal he was to the Amani back when Zul’Jin was around. It was a tempting offer… In a different time, under a different leader to influence a younger and more hot headed troll. Juul shouted, his voice carried across the opening without magical assistance, but lacked the clarity for those furthest away. “NO! Juul here ta command that ya release de Loa, cast out ya Zandalari allies and restore Zul'Aman ta what it needs ta be before ya bring de Horde crashing upon our gates once more!” Daakara scanned the trolls and could see Li’Dael but no Jia’Caz. It was seemingly apparent that Jia had sent her son to confront Juul'Caz to confront his rule. He knew that Juul had power beyond Ula-Tek’s blessings which were seemingly the most effective within the temple grounds, but he had no idea where this troll had been for years. He was an enigma to Daakara. “So tell me, Juul, what would ya know of de Horde’s might? Our allies tell us that Thrall no longer leads de Horde and that they are in disarray. It pulls itself apart under de leadership of a brick headed Orc.” Juul grit his teeth and knew what he had to say next would make him a pariah to his people. He swallowed and explained, “Because Juul is apart of de Horde! He lives amongst dem and knows they be powerful indeed, despite their troubles!” There were audible gasps from many trolls and he approached the Warlord. “ And Juul has seen de world outside these woods. He has seen what damage de Cataclysm has wrought! He has seen de Maelstrom, chaos of de wound in de oceans, new land risin up from de sea and islands sinkin to de depths-” Something struck him with that final statement, and he looked to the Zandalari Trolls who looked troubled by that. “So… If de Zandalari didn't help us in our time of need when Zul’Jin fell, why do they come to us now when we just recovered from our wounds? What state be Zandalar in?” Daakara waved his hand dismissively, “We know that Zandalar be havin its problems, but they here wit us now and we gonna forge a greater Alliance than ever before! But…” He stepped away from his supporters and approached Juul'Caz, “Ya join de Horde? Is that where ya been fer all these years? Abandon ya own people when they need ya de most?!” “NO! Juul done join de Horde, tryin ta put us in a better light wit em! Show em dat de Amani are strong, reliable and have honor! Ya gonna undo everyting Juul has done wit dis! Just mere rumors alone have turned some people of de Horde against Juul. Reconsider de course!” There were a few moment of tense silence between the two, and Daakara finally broke it after staring Juul'Caz in the eye, seeing that the troll was telling the truth about what he had done. “Ya bein sincere, Juul.” The Warlord said, lowering his voice to a calmer tone, “Ya care fer ya people a lot it seems.” He grabbed the smaller troll by his shoulders and lifted him up, “But ya people be scared dat de Zandalari bringin Amani back ta power! Ya people be de Horde!” He adjusted his grip and slammed the witch doctor into the ground. “I'm gonna send ya back to ya precious temple, ta ya ignorant mama and ain't a ting anyone can do ta stop Daakara de Invincible!” He began to slam his fists savagely into Juul’s form, beating him as mercilessly as he could. Juul allowed Daakara to assault him and he only shielded himself as he chanted a voodoo spell. He broke his defensive curl and grabbed onto Daakara, and let a shifting magic flow into the Warlord, transforming him into a small garter snake. Juul grabbed the serpent as he got up, thinking of how to best kill the troll turned serpent. He decided to simply crush it until he heard the voice of Ula-Tek, forbidding him of this course. Dark, violent whispers spoke within his head as hatred boiled within the troll. He looked at the snake and then to the astounded Trolls, Amani and Zandalari alike. He wanted to argue, to disobey this one time to turn on all of them and soak the earth with their blood- He grit his teeth and tossed the snake aside. His head was throbbing from a random pain, as if there was someone or something probing around in his head to influence such dark thoughts. The pain subsided quickly, too quickly for it to be natural. He released his voodoo, allowing Daakara to be a Troll once more. “Know ya place, and don't try bendin de Loa ta ya will! Dat was just a small taste of de Power of Ula-Tek! Juul ain't de one ta kill ya, but learn ya lesson now or ya death be comin from outside Zul'Aman.” Juul spat as he back away. The troll patted himself over, the wild look of fear was painted all over his visage. “Kill him! I want his head!” Daakara screamed as he rose to his feet. Now, more than ever he wanted Caz family blood. Li’Dael enacted the magic of the scroll Jia had given her earlier, focusing on both herself and Juul'Caz. A flash of light disoriented the two of them before a wave of trolls would land upon Juul and they found themselves lying in deep, lush grass outside the Serpent Loa’s temple. The priestess got up, brushing some blades of grass off from her dress skirt and exclaimed “Ya had him right in ya grasp, Juul! Ya coulda killed dat vile troll who disrespects de Loa!” “Ya don't understand, Juul wanted ta do just dat, but-” He paused and mulled the command over and continued “She told Juul not ta hurt him. Juul came ta help but he don't understand…” He trailed off as his mother came out of the temple to find them. “Ya taught Ula-Tek what she wanted ta know. Do Daakara know what fear is?” Jia explained, as if she knew what had happened. “I failed tryin’ ta see Daakara’s fear. He ran to preserve himself for de fight ahead. But ya held his life in ya hands.” She knelt down and held her son’s face. “Ula-Tek needed ta know whether or not he had any weakness. Weakness of a vile troll succeeded in wranglin de Loa, himself. My son, ya saw de greatest weakness a warlord could have. Terror.” Juul and Li’Dael didn't understand it at first, but the young female caught on and said “Ya mean his fear can be used against him?” Jia nodded and embraced her pupil, “Ya be a smart girl. Daakara would happily join his trolls in battle and overwhelm his enemies. But we find a way ta divide them all, and we allow fer outsiders ta corner de rat and strike.” Juul blinked and looked at the two and asked “Dat was de plan? Juul coulda finished Daakara right there! Why de secrecy?” Releasing Li’Dael from her embrace, Jia smacked Juul across the back of his head “Ya idiot of a boy, we ain't warriors, and Ula-Tek ain't one fer bruke force! Also ya kill Daakara, he would died a martyr and Malacrass take charge! What ya did was de most brute force ting Ula-Tek would want from us.” “Ya right, mama.” Juul submitted and held his hands up, “What now?” There was no immediate answer, but his mother found one after pondering. “Juul, ya gat someone out dere who needs ya. Ya gat a destiny out dere somewhere. Let mama take care of Zul'Aman. Know dat ya did good for our Goddess.” She hugged her son and said “Ya may be an idiot, but I love ya, Juul.” “Juul loves ya too, mama. Can Juul stay de night at de temple? He gat a lot ta tink about.” “Of course. Ya were born here, dis will always be ya home.” She set a hand on his shoulder and beckoned him to move to the temple. When Juul went inside, Jia turned to Li’Dael, “Prepare a dream walkin’ ritual. I be payin Daakara a visit in his sleep. We gonna shatter his fortitude.” That night, Daakara would be assaulted time and time again by unnerving visions and nightmares of potential failures. The Horde and Alliance rushing into Zul'Aman, breaking his vanguard to get to him and robbing him of his dream of power struck him the hardest. He knew that he was afraid to die. The seed of paranoia was planted and he convinced himself that repeating Zul’Jin’s methods to the letter would achieve victory for his people.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Zul'Aman

Several months had passed since Cespenar left the crew and Juul'Caz left shortly after. He walked through the streets of Orgrimmar alone very early in the morning, expecting that troublesome Goblin, Baxt Turntfuse, to harass him because of Cespenar. He actually wanted for someone to cause him trouble. There were more pressing matters for the Troll to attend to. Before he left Orgrimmar for sailing, he had his faithful bear in the hands of some capable hunters who made a good amount of money by essentially babysitting beasts. Their large stables sat near the edge of the city and Juul'Caz knew he would have to get there before everyone else would rush over there to buy supplies or beast training lessons. There weren't that many people outside this early, but the ones who were awake and out already were giving strange looks to the Amani Troll. They were looks of fear and anger. He wondered what the problem was as he made a trip the to butcher before he would need to visit the Stables. The troll made it to the butcher's shop right as he opened and set up shop. He got the same look from Borstan. “Oi, Borstan, Juul needs a bag of de usual fer his bear. Thick slices, yeah?” He requested, trying not to address the look that was honestly confusing and annoying him. “Cut your own ears off and feed them to that bear of yours. YOUR kind isn't welcome.” The butcher snapped, arms slowly crossing over his chest. “Get out before I call for the guards to drag your moss-covered carcass out of here, Forest Troll.” “De fuck you goin on about?! Juul just comin fer de usual. What Juul do ta ya? Neva took ya fer a racist, Borstan!” Juul protested and demanded any sort of explanation. The Butcher only reached for his cleaver in response to the questions. “Juul hopes ya cut ya fingas off.” He growled as he left the shop, deciding it was not worth his time. Questions circled his mind as he entered the Valley of Honor, and anxiety began the gnaw at him about his bear. If everyone randomly had something against Juul'Caz then who was to say that the stable masters would turn him away as well? With the thoughts of his Amani Battle Bear being mistreated or killed out of some unknown hatred for him, Juul picked up his pace and ran through the Valley and to the stables. He saw the stable masters tending to some animals within. One of them saw the troll, panting as he came in. “Blood and Thunder, Juul. Why are you out of breath?” “Fuzz - Where be Fuzz?! Errybody givin’ Juul shit today an’ he ain't fer knowin’ why - Where's Fuzz?!” The stable masters looked to one another but not a single one of them were giving Juul the looks or treatment others had given him that day. “Fuzz is in the back, if you're here to pick… ‘Him’, up then we can get Fuzz up for you… But really, you don't know the news?” “Nah! Borstan refused Juul service, erryone be givin him nasty looks an avoidin’ Juul like he be a wet deader.” “Go get Fuzz.” One of the stable masters instructed a Hunter trainer, and then looked to Juul'Caz, “Look, we know it isn't your fault. You are a proud brother of the Horde. But… The Amani are threatening everyone again, along with the Gurubashi and other tribes outside of the Horde.Some weird… Zandalari Tribe came in, throwing its weight around.” Juul had a frozen expression of shock on his face for a long moment. “De Zandalari… Juul need his bear, quick!” He pulled his bag of coins out and poured a large handful of gold coins into his hand. He shoved them into the head Stable Master’s hands as Fuzz was brought out. “Tank ya fer tellin Juul wat de problem be.” He climbed into the saddle and patted Fuzz’s back. “Juul goin’ home ta sort dis out!” The two charged off, running through the streets like a One Bear stampede. Without a mage or a portal, it would take the troll a great deal of time to get to his destination. Days later, Juul would reach the Eastern Plaguelands and reached the first checkpoint of the area. Since Blood Elves had reclaimed their lands from the Scourge, they had reestablished a level of security and had barred anyone they deemed unfriendly out from their territory. Despite being a member of the Horde and having been a veteran of a few battles, himself, Juul was still an Amani Troll. Tensions between his people and the Elves had always been high and he never had an easy time getting through the checkpoints without some kind of intervention. With the news of the Amani joining the Zandalari, Juul'Caz knew he was never getting through via conventional means. “Fuzz! Quick! We breakin through!” He tilted forward and held onto his saddle, and Fuzz the bear rushed through the guard post. None had expected Nine Hundred pounds of Fur and armor to barrel past them with a crazed half naked troll riding on the back of the beast. As the troll escaped into Amani Land, he left a deep tug within his own chest. An emptiness he had not felt in many years. He patted the side of the bear, and they stopped within a clearing of the forest. Fuzz sat wandered to a nearby bush to search for berries as Juul'Caz sat in the center of the clearing to commune with the spirits. He knew that he would get his answers either as a shaman or a witch doctor. The cry of the Elements came first. Twisted screams and unintelligible groans of pain that only creatures of the elements were capable of making echoed within his mind. They begged for their torment to end, and he had to shut them out to go deeper. Taking a ritual knife off of his belt, Juul slid the blade along his chest, parting skin and letting his blood flow freely. Slathering his other hand in the red liquid, Juul'Caz traced the intricate snake shaped scars along his right arm and shoulder, and switched hands to trace the other side and he communed with the Loa. The bleeding wound would soon heal and the amount of blood coming out was nowhere near threatening. At first he was met with the sound of silence. There was something about this deep silence, it was unsettling. He wasn't scared, as he knew of the potential source. Someone had shackled the Loa to use for their own means… Like Zul’Jin had done years ago. He uttered the name of the Loa he held close to his heart, his goddess. Ula-Tek. She breathed in his mind and hissed lightly, curiously. Then a sweet, soft voice whispered to him. “My fang. You're needed by your people. Head home.” Knowing she was left alone once more filled the Troll’s heart with hope and he knew his mother protected his Loa Goddess once more. He opened his eyes and called for Fuzz. “Oi. Fuzz. Come on, boy. We need ta head home, now!” The bear turned to Juul, anger in -her- eyes. She came over and smacked him with a heavy pay, knocking him to the ground and then assuming the position for him to get on. What Juul'Caz never bothered to do was check Fuzz’s gender… And the bear knew it when he referred to her as a male. She didn't care to maul him, this time. “Fuckin… Aight. Aight. Juul get ya a fish de size of an elf child when we get home.” He pleaded as he got on and patted her on the side, urging her to go. The offer was accepted as Fuzz began a full speed run towards Zul'Aman.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Mutiny

Word spread through Ratchet that Grabemall Snagcoin suffered heart complications and passed away in his sleep. Tixi and Maxime both readily took over the casino and the sisters worked well together. However, the trail of Cespenar and Juul'Caz went cold and before Baxt and his muscle could organize and get to Ratchet before the two friends were picked up by Cappy Bladebeard. Before the two left, the deposited all they made into the banking system. The ship had continued it’s original routes, taking a month to catch up with their set program several months later. Cespenar was assigned Lookout duty and was perched atop the Crow's Nest with a spyglass, scanning the horizon. “This is going to be the death of me…” He muttered and heard a voice behind him. “Getting bored, Virethorn?” Cespenar looked back to see a blood elf behind him. “Being stationed on the nest… Not sure if the boredom and sunshine bouncing off the water is punishment or a reward by being away from Juul'Caz.” “Felren. I see you are skimping out on the ropes as usual. Juul is going to catch you and use you as shark bait at this rate…” He chuckled and patted the Elf on the back. He turned his attention back out to the sea, scanning the horizon. He spotted something just outside of the range of the scope. Had to be another ship. “So, I’ve been hearing about an insane increase of Naga in recent times. Any truth to those words?” “Nah, I wouldn’t worry. They’re just overgrown fish. Besides, this is the fastest sea cutter the Horde has ever made. I can assure you of that. What could some Naga do?” Cespenar scoped the waters and said, “Plenty. Kul'Tiras used to be the most powerful force on the open sea. Next thing you know, Orcs riding dragons came along and ravaged our Navies. Now there are giant dragons flying around unchecked and those Twilight’s Hammer cultists… And Naga. A fast ship means nothing when it’s hull is torn out from under it while it’s sails are on fire and Cultists are eating your crew… Or whatever it is they do.” Cespenar blinked and looked to Felren. Had kep kept his eyes on the spot he had his spyglass set upon, he would have seen the movement under the water. “What is their goal anyway? Does anyone even know?” The Elf shrugged sheepishly and then snapped his fingers as if remembering something, “I haven’t a clue, Ces - but I remember what I came up here for. I’m here to relieve you… Happy Birthday. Eighteen, huh?” “Aww… How did you guys know- Wait.” The young man felt touched that his shipmates were going to celebrate his birthday. Wait. His birthday?! He realized what this meant. The crew was going to tear him apart. Cappy’s birthday was last month and that didn’t stop anyone, not even Cespenar, from giving him forty-five punches each. He was suddenly pushed off from the crow’s nest, screaming as he fell. A large troll caught Cespenar and that troll was none other than the Amani Witch Doctor, Juul'Caz. He grinned widely at his friend as he held him, and then he lifted the human above his head, savagely screaming, “BIRTHDAY BEAT DOWN!!! RAAAAAGGGHHHH” He tossed him into the crowd of Horde sailors. They swarmed him like an army of rabid weasels, each of them started punching, kicking and slapping their out of place shipmate playfully. Each counting their hits, and when each of them counted to eighteen, they made that final hit count. Even Cappy got his hits in, with great joy. Once the crowd got off Cespenar, Juul'Caz tackled him turned him over and started slamming his arms into Cespenar’s back like a maniac, and on the eighteenth hit, he swung hard and smacked the back of Ces’s head. The human’s face his the floorboards of the deck. “By the Light, Juul'Caz, it’s his birthday, not his funeral!” One of the Elves said, frowning at the troll. “Gonna break the poor guy.” Juul'Caz scoffed and pulled a very disoriented Cespenar up to his feet and patted the young man on his shoulder. “Look at him! He de second toughest fucker on dis whole ship!” Cespenar shook his head a little to snap himself back into reality and blinked a couple of times. He couldn’t explain why, but the he didn’t hurt as bad as he thought… Then again, he did get mauled by raptors for days. Juul'Caz continued boasting loudly about how tough his friend was, but Cespenar didn’t seem to hear it… Something was wrong. His instinct was shutting all other noise out except for one voice - Felren’s from above. He was shouting about something that no one else could hear over Juul'Caz. “Pirate Ship - Port Side!” The Elf shouted, “She is coming in hot and fast!” “Juul'Caz, shut the hell up!” Cespenar shouted as he clamped a hand over the troll’s mouth so others could hear the dire warning. The Elf didn’t need to say anything more. The eruption of a twelve pound cannon ball being shot could be heard. The metal projectile missed, completely going over the mark. It was a test fire, and Cespenar knew it. Everyone on the smuggling ship exploded into motion. Without being told what to do, each Horde Member went to their place and station to prepare for battle. Cespenar went to the Port Side of the ship and could see a ship he recognised. It was a Tirasian Battleship. He grew up in Gilneas but he studied naval combat and ships in his younger years and continued. Initially he believed it to be pirates who had taken a ship until he saw the colors of his homeland fly. “Those aren’t pirates…” Cespenar muttered, he turned to Juul'Caz who was across the ship, setting up a ballista and screamed “These aren’t Pirates! Tirasian Battleship! We have to board her!” When he screamed those words, everyone knew the gravity of the situation. Pirates on a fine ship were one thing but Sailors of Kul'Tiras were a completely different level. If there was anything the Horde had learned during the First and Second Great Wars was that having a sea battle with Tirasian ships was a terrible idea - they had to board to stand a chance. Especially on their ship. All they had at hand was a collapsible ballista. Cappy took the wheel and spun it around to turn the ship and try to catch some wind in the sails to propel them towards the Tirasian Ship. “Juul'Caz, summon some winds, Virethorn- Set up the ballista and shoot at their canons!” All of a sudden there was another shot from the enemy ship and the sails had several small holes in the sails. The Tirasians were aiming on taking out their sails with Grapeshot and taking them out from afar. “Put de sails up! Juul gonna push de ship through de water!” Juul'Caz screamed out, heading to the Middle of the Deck and began channeling his power to reach out to the Elementals to slide the ship through the water without aid of the wind. The crew pulled the sails up, trying to protect them from further harm. Cespenar was busy pulling up the ballista from its collapsed state. Once it was in an upright position he locked it into place and swiveled it around to ensure he could take aim. He blinked once… Then twice… Then he said to himself, “I don’t know how to fire one of these… Hey, who knows how to fire this thing?!” “Move, Ces, I got it!” Felren shouted, scaling down from the Crows Nest and taking point, “You seem to know about these ships, lead the boarding party if you can!” He said as he aimed the Ballista and loaded a single bolt into it. The elf licked his finger and held it up in the air to measure the wind speed and direction. After some minor adjustments and praying he waited for the perfect moment to fire. He watched the hands load an ugly canon shot into their front gun and attempt to aim it, unlocking it from it’s position. He pulled on a lever and let the projectile fly. Instead of hitting the man turning the loose turning cannon it hit the turning mechanism and jammed the gun, so that they could only fire it in a way that would cause any shot to go diagonally and up. The skillful shot bought the ship time to close in and slide right up to the side of the Battleship. Orcs, Elves and trolls alike tossed grapples and boarding docks onto the other ship and leapt aboard. The humans on the ship were prepared for them and met the Horde Smugglers with their own blades. A total brawl broke out between the two factions and Cespenar felt so conflicted. These weren’t just any humans - they were Tirasian Sailors. They were kinsmen. That’s what he thought for a brief moment when he saw a human sailor charging at Juul’Caz with a sabre. He ran at the human and tackled him, slamming his fist into the shocked and confused human’s face. The Tirasian soldiers didn’t count on a human fighting against them from a Horde Vessel! Leaving the man’s bloodied and beaten face, Cespenar rose up and charged another human fighting one of his crewmates. He had no intention to kill anyone, but he wasn’t going to hesitate to do so, but first he was going to beat as many as he could into submission or until they were knocked out. Juul’Caz, on the other hand, was flinging himself headlong into the humans, grabbing the most frightened looking man and swinging him literally like a club at the others! Sure, they could parry blades and weapons, but they weren’t going to use their blades to ‘parry’ one of their own! One sailor saw Cespenar and figured he was an enemy. While he was attacking another surprised human, the sailor pulled a pistol off of his hip and loaded a single bullet into it and took aim. “See ya, traitor!” He whispered before pulling the trigger. The sound of thunder erupted and Cespenar was stopped in his tracks. He felt the metal rip into his back, and the blow knocked him forward. It felt like the breath was knocked right out of his lungs. “CES! NO!!” He heard Juul’Caz scream, as the young human fell face down on the deck. Darkness began to wash over Cespenar as he slowly blacked out. He fought back against his inevitable fate and focused on leaving his human form and taking the form of a wolf. ‘Change… I have to change. The bullet hit something important. I think… Gotta change, then I can shrug this off. Juul was right. I-’ He closed his mind off and ignored the burning pain in his back as he focused on shifting his form. All his pain seemed to melt away, now replaced with anger and focused rage and his bones cracked and he could feel every fiber of his being stretch and twist into a bestial form. Cespenar opened his and saw the world in a new light, a light he already knew. His senses were sharper and he slowly raised from the deck of the battleship, towering over the Orcs and humans alike. He now stood at as a black furred Worgen who stood at a shocking 8′4. His eyes darted from the Horde Crewmates who now stared at him slack jawed and the human sailors who were stepping back, unsure of whether or not to attack. He turned around to the man who shot him and with a single leap, he pounced his assailant, crushing the man under four hundred pounds of Fury. He could feel the snapping of ribs beneath his feet and the shattering of a spine at they hit the deck. The kill was fast, but the adrenaline was surging in his system. Juul’Caz knew what Cespenar really was, but to see it for himself left the troll staring in disbelief, even as the black figure rushed passed him and onto the human Juul was about to attack for the gunshot. He stepped back and looked to both sides of the crew who watched in fear and shock. “Ya mess wit de Horde, ya get de Wolf! Lay down ya arms an surrender!” He shouted, and was pleased to see the humans throw down their blades and put their hands up. He heard the sickening crack of bone as Cespenar crushed the human and turned back to see the worgen stepping off the now dead man. “Ces, ya can hear Juul, right?” He approached the massive Worgen, standing up as straight as he could. The Worgen stared at the man, whose ribs had been crushed by Cespenar’s unrestrained blow and did his best to stay calm. He killed a man. Yes, the man who nearly killed him a moment ago, but still a man. He heard Juul’Caz’s concerned voice call out to him and he redirected his attention from the corpse to the troll. He steadied his breathing and fought back against the impulse to lash out at the remaining sailors who attacked their ship. The words, at first, were hard to form but Cespenar came through and said in a deeper, gruff voice, “Yes. I can. Is the fighting over?” He glanced up to the surrendering crew and sighed lightly. “Good - Then I guess everyone here owes me a drink.” Hearing the words of his friend, the kind of words that only Cespenar would pull out of nowhere to get drunk, overjoyed the Troll and he turned back to his crew. “AIGHT! Ya heard de man! Juul wants all Orc hands below deck now! We ain’t lose a man, so we let these humans off easy! Take all their ale and whatevah shinies we find! Elf an Troll hands, get a new sail. Juul be guessin’ these guys got a spare - we leave theirs be. Tauren an deaders, guard de prisoners!” He turned back to Cespenar as everyone followed their orders. “Aight Ces, ya won us a good victory - what be ya demands?” Cespenar tapped his snout in thought as he would his chin in human form and said, “I don’t know. You’re already taking their -” He cut himself off and called out, “Where is your captain!” One of the humans pointed behind Cespenar, and to the man he had just crushed to death. “Oh - Right. Do you guys have any Virethorn Brandy?” More than a few nods brought some alarm to Cespenar and he said, “How much?!” “U-Uh, couple barrels left of it.” One man spoke up, shrinking back, in fear of the talking worgen. He was under the impression worgen couldn’t speak! “Juul, I am going to have to check every barrel the guys bring up here and let the Tirasians keep it.” Ces said, bringing his voice down to a whisper, and said in the Troll’s ear, “That stuff will kill me.” “What? Bah, dat be nonsense! Ya -” He was about to remind Cespenar that his family made the Brandy, but he bit down on his tongue as to not reveal Cespenar’s full name to the humans - seeing as how Cespenar was also a Tirasian. “Aight - But we talk about dis later. Ya gonna explain dis shit. Passin’ up some damn good ale… World gone mad.” The next hour was all about raiding the Tirasian ship, but not stripping it bare. With Juul’Caz and Cespenar both urging Cappy Bladebeard to leave it be and let the humans go to tell stories of the Horde’s Strength to their nation. The Orc captain decided to let it go and retired to his cabin, leaving Juul’Caz alone in charge of the rest of the operations concerning the pink skins. Juul’Caz got his guys back on the ship and Cespenar made sure every barrel which had his family’s brandy remained with the Tirasians. The two ships parted ways and Cespenar spent the next few hours in his Worgen Form. Getting into the form and out of it still posed a challenge to the young man, so he spent his time above the deck. “So, why we leave the brew with them? Juul thought ya family’s legacy was brewin’ that stuff.” Juul’Caz asked as Cepenar was climbing the mast to see about patching the holes in the sails, Juul’Caz had climbed up with him so their talk could have a measure of privacy. “Well, the Virethorn family has been making brandy restricted to Kul’Tiras for the past six hundredish years. There’s one ingredient to it that is not safe for worgen consumption. Wolfsbane. Something about the plant just ruins our systems, and mixed in with some other ingredients, causes Wolfsbane to have… ‘amplified’ effects on Worgen. When we moved to Gilneas, it wasn’t a problem for us… Until everyone got afflicted and rabid worgen with a taste for ale broke in our stores and drank some.” “So… Lots of people died drinkin’ it when Gilneas fell from de Worgen Curse, not just from Undead?” “Yeah, but how many died drinking the brandy? Maybe six dozen? Most people assumed that the Plague the Forsaken dished out caused them to puke their guts out… Literally. My brother and I found out what makes Wolfsbane so deadly to Worgen, we destroyed as much brandy as we could and we’re going to resume making it one day. Keeping Wolfsbane in the brew is needed, but we can make it safe.” “Wait - Ya just gonna go ahead and keep makin it? But why? Ces, ya be a fuckin moron ta keep puttin’ wolf poison in ya ale! That could kill ya!” Juul’Caz exclaimed as he patched some holes up. “That is where you’re wrong. Like I said, my brother and I found a way to keep it in. I mean, we HAVE to or else the brew won’t turn out just right. Trust me, we’ve already tried and tested it. But what those sailors had… It’s the old stuff.” “So why didn’t ya just have em pour it out? They could put that shit into de markets and kill more Worgen… Not dat Juul has a problem with dat, but you might pick an unlabeled bottle up one day!” Cespenar thought of the chances of that happening and then shook his head, denying that possibility. “Nah. Tirasians trade lots of things, but they never trade their ale. Especially ale that isn’t being made anymore. Did you check those casks? They aren’t trading those. They’re tapped.” “Drink too good to trade? Heh. Well Juul wishes ya would share some with him! Ya don’t shut up about how good it be apparently.” Juul’Caz grinned and before anything else could be said the ship rocked as if it hit land, and it nearly tossed Juul’Caz and Cespenar off of the mast! “Naga coming up from below! Naga!!” Felren screamed from above. “One ting afta another…” Juul groaned and both of them dropped down to the deck. “Get de Ballista back up, arm up an someone find Juul his box of spices, he cookin’ fish tonight!” The crew was already working to get in their second fight of the day and the Troll went out to the starboard side of the ship where there were the most Naga. A Sea Witch rose out above all and pointed to the ship, “YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ATTACKED US LONG AGO!” “Wait… Wat?” Juul asked, unsure of what the Sea Witch meant. “We ain’t attack no Naga, an if we did we’d be totin’ around big ol trophies of it! De salt water addlin’ ya barnacle crusted brains?!” “Your… LITTER killed one of our great Sirens during a song in honor of our true Queen! Now you will pay!” The Sea Witch threw a familiar bottle to the troll, the one he drank from several months ago and tossed into the sea. It seemed the Juul’s wish for it to land in a Naga’s throat came true. The memory hit the troll like a train and he fell over laughing. “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS? You think this is funny?!” Juul wiped a few tears from his face, picking up the bottle and called out to his friend, “Oi, Ces! De naga just here ta return de bottle dat Juul drank from a long time ago! Ain’t dat just de funniest?! He wished it’d kill a naga!” Cespenar blinked and looked at the bottle, and then up to the sea witch who was now seething with rage. He wasn’t sure if mocking the death of someone doing a supposedly holy ritual was funny, but Juul seemed to be on the verge of wetting himself from laughter. “You wanna… Give it back?” “DAT BE A GREAT IDEA! Hey, Sea Bitch! Open wide!” Juul cried out, leaping up and down and then got into a stance to throw the bottle from the second chapter. “WHAT?! IN AZSHARA’S NAME WE WILL DROWN YOU AND OUR KRAKEN WILL-” She screamed and threatened the Troll, but was cut off when the Amani threw the bottle like he would a spear and it flew into the Naga’s mouth, and partially down her throat. She gagged and choked, trying to get the bottle out of her mouth. But the bottle was firmly lodged in her neck, and as her eyes bugged out of the sockets, nearly, she fell into the water just as dead as the Siren she came to avenge. “Did ya see dat, Ces! Ahh dat was good! She was chokin an dyin’ like ‘Ohh noo! A bottle! A fish’s only Weakness! Blllaaaah Dis Fish be dead!’ Juul would kill ta see dat again!” He leaned on the railing of the ship, laughing hard at the Sea Witch’s demise. While Juul’Caz laughed, something brushed against the ship, rocking it, and the Naga near the surface went back down below as if retreating . Cespenar said, “Uhm… She said something about a Kraken…” “Oh… Well… Fuck.” Juul’Caz sat up and looked below, just in time to see a giant tentacle shot out of the water. Several more came up and grabbed the ship and the beast slowly pulled itself up. It was large enough to swallow several Kodo whole but it wasn't large enough to capsize the ship by pulling itself aboard. Juul staggered back muttering “Juul gonna need a bigger bottle…” A tentacle wrapped around the mast and began to pull upon it, but the Troll, quick with his reflexes and casting launched a bolt of lightning at the beast. The appendage let go of the wooden pillar and instead coiled around Juul'Caz. Cespenar saw this and did the first thing he could, he launched himself into the thick arm of the Kraken and slashed at it with his claws like a mad wolf. After cutting half way through the tentacle, it's grip loosened around the troll, dropping him to the deck. Not done yet with his attack, Cespenar ran to the mast and pulled a glass lantern off the side, lit it with the ignition inside and tossed it at the bulbous head of the beast. Glass shattered, oil and flame alike spread over the beast, causing it to screech in pain. As if it was an act of revenge, another tentacle shot out, coiling around Cespenar’s leg and drew him into the maw of the beast. With a flick of its tentacle, the Worgen was sent flying into the gaping mouth and swallowed whole! Juul'Caz got up and started punching the beast before it slipped back into the water, quenching the flames and escaping into the depths. “Gods damn it all! Cespenar!! Get back up here ya giant side dish an give Juul his friend back!” Felren called out “The naga have all retreated! Juul'Caz, your orders?!” He swallowed hard, he to watched the beast swallow his friend whole. Cappy never came out of his cabin until he asked Juul'Caz for orders. “Set sail! We have to leave before more Naga come!” Cappy called out, stepping out of the Captain's deck. The order to leave Ces behind brought an unexpected wrath - for Cappy didn't know how close Juul'Caz and Cespenar had gotten. “He be one of us! De naga snatched him up an took him away and ya wanna leave?! Cespenar saved ya ship ya fuckin coward! Where was ya when Felren called out dat Naga were up our fuckin asses?! Because Ces was wit us!” Juul screamed, grabbing Cappy by the neck and hoisting him off the ground. The troll began to shake the Orc violently, “Closest ting Juul gat to a friend on dis ship and we abandon him?! Juul should feed ya ta de kraken an get his friend back!” Several crew members grabbed Juul'Caz, pulling him off Cappy with all their might. The Orc choked and wheezed as he caught his breath. “L-Lock him up in the brig! We are moving on and that is final!” Reluctantly, the deckhands followed their orders, taking Juul'Caz down below the deck. The troll screamed and thrashed the whole way, partly for Cappy’s head and partly in mourning for Cespenar Virethorn. ----- It was silent. It smelled like death and salt. There was only darkness. Cespenar opened his eyes slowly and could barely make out the outlines of the innards of a kraken and the remains of those it had devoured. Thankfully his eyes as a worgen allowed him to see in pitch black darkness… Barely. He saw the body of a dead Naga, and his eyes caught a glint from a small pouch on it's hip. He grabbed the pouch and opened it up, revealing a few coins, but there was a one that stood out… A Gold Coin with a blue gem in the middle of it. The coin itself seemed to be enchanted with a continuous light spell. A rather powerful one. Looking at the digesting food in the Kraken’s belly, he was suddenly regretting to have grabbed the coin. He saw no weapons around and knew he had to remain in a worgen form for a while longer. He was going to claw his way out. Suddenly, the Kraken jerked, thrashed and spun about. There was an ear piercing cry of a whale and a few jolts and even desperate tossing about until the beast he lay in went still. Now or never, that was the call Cespenar made and began to claw through the inside of the Kraken. Blood and bile rushed through the opening he made, and even a large amount of sea water - but not enough to knock Ces back… Or drown him. The light from the coin revealed he was within an even larger belly of an even greater beast. The smell was even worse! His heightened senses were going to kill him before the acid or suffocation would it seemed! He finally reverted back to his human form and traversed the belly of the beast. The air was thin, and he knew he was going to die soon in here. He looked for the opening of the bellow, and suddenly a large amount of water and shrimp came rushing in from a slope! He crawled up the slippery incline and found his way out. It took some time to find proper grips and footholds without digging into the tissue of what he considered to be his savior. Cespenar made it to the maw of the whale and looked around, at the teeth and even the blowhole. He saw the sun! It was surfaced! Unfortunately, the hole was too small for him to climb through… He had to improvise. The teeth revealed to him he was in some giant species of an Orca Whale. If he could get through the mouth without being bitten in in half that would be nice. He began to inspect each tooth, hoping to find a loose one. Unfortunately, he had no such luck - So he did the next best thing, he started kicking one tooth repeatedly until the Orca had enough and opened it's mouth and thrashed around. The water rushed in and he found the tide, and when the whale rose out of the water, Cespenar jumped through the opening of the mouth and landing in the water. The whale dived back into the water and swam off from the location. Cespenar looked around and saw a large, fancy ship! He started swimming for the slow moving vessel the was heading his way! Hope blossomed in his chest and upon reaching the ship, he found an anchor chain near the water. He grabbed the chain and climbed up the length and pulled himself aboard. “Well, well, well… Just what do we have here.” A voice mused, a male goblin voice. Cespenar looked up to see three bruisers looking at him, arms crossed. “Oh- Hello gentlemen! I-I uh… I can explain what I'm doing on this fine ship of yours!” The three looked to one another and the one in the middle shrugged, “I can't wait to hear this - Go ahead, man.” “I was aboard a ship I served when suddenly a kraken attacked - It uhm… ate me… and well, as crazy as it sounds, a whale ate it and I crawled out.” Cespenar explained, he knew his explanation sounded like a tall, tall tale. “Hmph. Yeah, I believe ya. We saw you fall out of that crazy whale’s jaw and watched ya come right for us. We’ll let ya stay… For a thousand gold.” Cespenar’s jaw nearly dropped. He didn't have that money on him! He had more than that in his account - but still! “Alright… I am guessing this ship is set a course for Stranglethorn… I have more than enough to pay all three of you, should you let me stay until we get to land.” “... Tempting offer, but a young guy like you… Crawling out of whales? Nah. How much you got?” Cespenar sighed and pulled out the coin with the gem. “Alright. Looks like we can put you up.” He snapped his fingers and the other two goblins grabbed Cespenar and tossed him back into the water. The bruisers laughed and went back to their posts and the one who ordered for Cespenar to be thrown off was approached by a older female goblin and in her presence the bruiser straightened up and eyed her over before swallowing hard. She was clad in a bright red bikini with a matching sarong wrapped around her hips trailing down to her ankles. Her skin was tanned and her hair was dyed to a dark, dark black color. The mature goblin filled out well all around. This wasn’t some ordinary passenger. She was the owner of the ship and his manager, Rallah Blastweld, set her hand on her hip and looked over into the water where the desperately swimming human was keeping up with the ship. “My, my… What do we have here? Why are your boys throwing a perfectly good man into the drink?” “Well, ya see, boss - He crawled on board and broke as a peon! Just actin under your orders ma’am.” He remained stiff and upright as she leaned over the rail. “Mm, honey you did good then. But I want you to do a bit better… If this guy manages to keep up for the next hour, bring him up. I will see to it that he pays his boarding fee in full… Personally.” She grinned and walked right up to her bruiser. “Think you could do that for me?” She grinned and asked in a pouty voice that nearly melted the guy like butter under the sun. “O-Of course boss!” He stammered and she turned on the balls of her heels and swayed her hips slowly as she walked away. The goblins continued to watch Cespenar Swim after the ship, and he was keeping up, even when they picked up speed. There was a moment where they thought they would leave him adrift until he looked back and started swimming faster! He was gaining on the ship at a frantic pace. They looked a distance behind him and could see the figures of a few sharks swimming toward him. Cespenar got a hold of a chain and began to scale it. The goblin checked his time and sighed… He reached an hour. “Let him aboard. Boss wants to see him.” They allowed Cespenar to get back on the deck and the led him to a room and shoved him in. The door was closed gently behind him and then he found that he was left alone in a high class cabin that may have well been a suite on the ship. The room was decorated much like how one a rich Blood Elf would have their room. There were plush and colorful cushions strewn about the room with several bookcases bolted to the walls a the books were kept behind glass doors so they wouldn't slide out from the ocean's movements. He dared not touch a thing other than the floor with his feet, and he didn't bother walking or pacing around. This kind of room wasn't meant for him. He was in the room of a lady… A very rich one. “Make yourself comfortable, sir. I will be right out.” A feminine voice called out from a door on the side of the room. Cespenar continued to stand until Rallah Blastweld came out, and she was wearing a bathrobe. “My goodness. Stiff as a board and standing by the door is not how you make yourself at home. Come on over. We have to see to if you are alright. The boys told me all about your little story and I have to say, I'm impressed.” The Older Goblin woman held her hand out to him, “Rhalla Blastweld, at your service.” Cespenar eyed the Goblin over and could easily tell she was older, possibly twice his age! Still, she was a beautiful Goblin with her tan green skin, black hair that was a wild mess going down her back, plump lips and heavy lidded eyes that seemed to try to read everything there was to tell about the young man before her. “Cespenar Virethorn. It's good to meet you Miss-” “Ah- Ah… Please, sir. With a voice like that I'm sure you could address me more elegantly. ‘Madame’ is a nice start.” Cespenar took a moment to collect himself and then corrected himself, “Madame Blastweld. It's a pleasure to meet you.” He bowed low to her and smiled at the Goblin. He honestly liked how ‘Madame’ rolled off his tongue and he figured it would be something he would refer to women in the future. It seemed so proper. She eyed every movement with great interest and inspected his teeth during the smile. “You are simply adorable Ser Virethorn. Tell me, are you of the Tirasian Virethorn family?” He swelled with pride and nodded eagerly, “But of course! The Virethorn Brewing Company is somewhat stalled on production, but if you are a fan I can assure you I will get it up and running once more.” His eager nature and affirmative response overjoyed Rhalla and she nodded slowly, putting a finger to the corner to her lips in thought, “Well then, I will have to take you up on your offer. For now, take my offer to be comfortable. You should start by bathing. Swimming in Saltwater for an hour like you did isn't good for the skin. Also…” She leaned in a little close to him, “You smell like squid.” She made a shoo-ing gesture and pointed to the door she emerged from. Not knowing any other way to respond than agreeing, Cespenar went through the door and found a stand up shower with several bottles of shampoo and soap. He discarded his torn up boots that did not survive his worgen shifting and his salt beaten slacks. Miraculously, but it came to no surprise to Cespenar, the belt was in pristine condition. He stepped in the shower and looked at the valves and shower head. He wasn’t familiar with plumbing styled bathing, but he understood valves and taps well enough to put two and two together. He turned one of the two handles and was assaulted by a torrent of steaming b hot water! Cespenar Nearly fell out of the shower and contained a pained shout. He shut off the water and immediately turned the other handle and received a new torrent of ice cold water spraying his lower abdominal region and he shouted out, before turning the other valve to balance out the hot and cold water. Once the tormenting assaults had ended and he had normal temperature water spraying on his body. He had relaxed and started washing his body. He didn't notice that anyone had entered the bathroom briefly to take his clothing and replace them with a large bath towel. He came out of the shower and wrapped himself up in the towel and poked his head out of the bathroom door. “Uhm. Madame Blastweld... My clothes seem to be missing.” Rhalla was painting her nails, still in her bathrobe and commented, “Oh, don't you worry about it. Your boots were all blown up and pants aren't good for wearing anymore. Your belt is on the bed. Just come in while my boys make you some new pants and boots.” She looked up at him and smirked, enjoying his embarrassed and awkward stance. She was going to enjoy breaking that. “Besides, we have to talk business.” Cespenar came out and shuffled over to the bed, holding the towel around his waist. With nowhere else to sit, he took a seat on the bed, near Rhalla. “What kind of business. I'm sure you'll find my services with brandy accommodating.” “Oh, please. I won't fuss about that until you get that cog turning… No. I wanted to talk about you staying on this ship. You're aboard one of the best cruise ships around, and I can't have you freeloading… It wouldn't be fair to passengers who pay for their weekends.” She finished painting her nails and began to blow on the wet polish to dry it. “Well… I can pay you when we get to Booty Bay. Triple whatever the service charge is. I don't want to be any trouble.” Cespenar offered and he knew immediately that she wasn't interested in gold with the unamused expression she wore. “I'm afraid gold won't patch this over. I want a more personal payment.” “Uhm… How personal?” Blowing a few more times on her nails, Rhalla finally dried them out. She got up and took a seat on the bed beside Cespenar, tracing her finger on his chest. “Very personal…” Her hand started to trail down Cespenar’s abs and stopped right below the naval. “I uh… I'm not sure that's proper business.” Cespenar stammered as his mind began to race all around about what was happening. She was coming onto him! He was puzzled by the prospect of a goblin and a human male… In bed… How would it even be possible?! “It honestly really is. You have something I want. I have something you need. I propose a simple trade… One that vastly benefits you in the short, medium and long term of this business proposal.” She ran her hand down to the towel and she let her rest on his groin. “I suppose I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” “Such a pessimistic viewpoint from such a handsome young man. You should really consider more options. True, I just want you to lend me your physique to me as a form nm of currency until we reach our destination, but I could just take what little you have left, and leave you to the mercy of the thuggish bouncers on the ship who like to hit things, or toss you in the ocean and let you swim back… I mean, you do have options. Not favorable options, but they are still options.” She slowly removed her hand from him, gently adding, “I wouldn’t force you into anything without consent. Besides, you might like it.” It was true. He did have options, terrible ones at that. He thought on it, and thought of how he would have to do what he had to in order to get back land safely. “How far are we from any destination?” “Three days from Booty Bay. I take it you're weighting options?” He nodded in response to her question and had figured that there was nothing wrong with what he was going to do. A part of him denied it because of his memory to Audrey, but he knew he had to look out for himself and couldn't stay chaste for a ghost. “Alright, Madame Blastweld. You raise a few valid points. I'm yours.” He was calm about it and was sure about his decision. Rhalla and Cespenar kissed, and she pushed him back onto the bed, securing her position, and thus began a long, long three days of debauchery for the young man. ---- The Cruise ship sailed into port and the two walked off of the ship together. Rhalla was resting her hand on Cespenar’s bottom and smiling up at him as they walked onto the docks. As promised, Rhalla had Cespenar’s clothes replaced, giving him a clean, silk swashbuckler’s shirt, smooth black cotton slacks and black steel toed boots. “Tell me, ever plan on getting lost at seas again, or will you look me up? I'd love to show you more. It seems three days just wasn't long enough to do everything on my bucket list with you… But you managed to help me clear quite a few items.” She teased as Cespenar chuckled, shaking his head. “Oh, don't you laugh! A woman like me has needs and you are… Well equipped.” She rubbed his leg and sighed for a short moment. “I'm sorry, Madame Blastweld. I didn't mean to laugh. I just can't help but wonder how much more you need. Not that I'm complaining, I would love to help more. I just need to find my friends and the ship I sailed on before the whole Kraken thing had happened.” “Oh, my sweet Cespenar Virethorn… I will eagerly await your return, even if it takes years to be geaced with your loving.” She let go and kissed the back of his hand, leaving a mark on his hand. “VIRETHORN?!” An all too familiar Orc voice bellowed from down the docks. Cappy and a few of his deckhands following from behind had spotted him. “You are alive?!” “Who is the angry orc, babe?” Rhalla asked. “Cappy Bladebeard… My captain.” He straightened out and said, “Cappy! It's good to see you!” He came forward, holding his arms out wide as if to embrace the orc, but bowed politely instead. “I am so glad you're here.” One of the deckhands, this one was completely unfamiliar to Cespenar, came up and punched the young man in the gut and then clipped him in the face with a backhand. “Hands off the Captain, ya deserter.” Rhalla ran up, “Hey, you brutes! Leave him alone!” She stopped in her tracks when Cespenar put his hand back, and looked at the orcs, rubbing his jaw. “Cappy, who is this and what is going on? I didn't desert the crew, I taken by the Naga, remember?” Cappy crossed his arms and shook his head, “Don't care what happened, all I know is you are a monster and you may as well be a spy of the Alliance. But I guess introductions are in order. Jillig Ragefist. My new first mate. Jillig, slap him in Irons, and let's get him tied to an anchor. We have an Alliance dog to drown.” There was clearly no room to negotiate. Cespenar looked back to Rhalla, giving her a slight nod before breaking out into a run, barreling past the Orcs and down the docks. The Goblin watched the Orcs give chase and stood where she was. “Waste of a perfectly good man…” She turned back to her ship, getting aboard. On the Smuggling ship, Juul'Caz was chained up to the wall, beaten by his replacement and burned on several parts of his chest. At some points over the past couple of days they had been at Port, Juul felt as if the Orc would just up and kill him. The rest of the crew was forbidden from going anywhere near the brig. Felren had come down with a waterskin and some bread, sneaking his way down. He opened Juul’Caz's cell door and helped the Troll drink some water. “Juul, hey, Juul. You gotta get out of here…” Aside from drinking, the Troll was silent. He hadn't muttered a word since after Cespenar was eaten in front of him. “Juul'Caz, come on. You have to get out. We need you more than ever. Cappy is going full Kor’Kron! There are soldiers on the ship now since Jillig came aboard!” Juul'Caz looked up at Felren and slowly lowered his eyes again. “Juul let him down, mon. Ces be dead now. Cappy a fuckin coward, and now ya tellin Juul he fillin de ship wit Soldiers?” Felren sighed and got up, ready to leave the defeated troll. The booming voice of their captain could be heard from the brig “VIRETHORN?!” “You still think you let him down?” “Unlock de chains, Felren. Now.” Juul Ordered, and the Blood Elf couldn't help but smile when he heard the voice and pissed off tone that once frightened him. Once Felren freed Juul'Caz, the Troll rushed up to the deck and could see with his very eyes, Cespenar, running down the docks from Cappy and Jillig. Cespenar was making his way to the ship and focused his attention to it. He could see Juul'Caz aboard the ship and waved at him. What he didn't see was one of the Soldiers that Felren mentioned, charging him. Cespenar felt all the air escape his body as he was tackled by an armored Orc and the others caught up. Juul'caz looked to the crew and said, “Juul don't be knowin wat been goin on up here de past few days, but Felren be tellin Juul dat ya be abused by de new First Mate an de Soldiers. Juul know he hard on ya men, but ya all be betta out of it! Join Juul in overthrowin Cappy, an we take de ship back!” One of the Orcs looked to the scene unfolding and could not believe hisbeyes. “Ancestors, is that Ces?! Cappy done gone too far now!” He grabbed an empty barrel and picked it up. “Lets kick some ass!” The crew lwt out a huzzah as Juul'Caz ran off of the ship and they all followed him. “Alright, Cappy wants this man blue and full of water. Make it happen.” Jillig commanded to his soldiers and they dragged him to the edge of the dock where there was a rust led anchor laying on the side of the docks, long neglected. They quickly tied Cespenar up and to the anchor as people around the docks watched in silence. It seemed as if no one was going to step up for a human’s sake. “Any last words Virethorn, you mutinous dog?” Cappy asked as they got ready to toss him in the water. Cespenar looked all around him, and to the ship where Juul'Caz was. The troll wasn't on board, he was running down the docks with TWO anchors from the ship in his hands and he was trailed by the rest of the crew! They weren’t chasing Juul'Caz though, they were rallying to him! He looked back to Cappy and the Orcs who didn't yet notice the group, and he said, “Mutiny.” He turned his head to the crew with a smile. Jillig turned to see the Troll he had been torturing over the past few days onlt a few strides away, and he was swinging both Anchors in wide arcs, right for the Orc’s head! He coild only watch at the two heavy weights smashed his head like a grape. The rest of the crew swarmed the Soldiers and started beating them with clubs and tossed the dazed soldiers into the water, and pulled Cespenar away, undoing the knots that held him. Cappy backed away from the crew and said, “You can't be doing this! I-I will see you all hang for this!” “Nah. Cappy. Ya won't. Ya betrayed ya crew. Ya no longer fit ta lead us.” He stole the hat right off of Cappy’s head and pushed him back. “We ain’t gat time ta kill ya. So we just gonna take de ship an leave ya here.” He put the hat on his head and pointed to the ship, “Aight boys, shore leave over! To Orgrimmar! Drinks be on Juul!” The Crew cheered and ran back to the ship before any bruisers of Booty Bay could group up and try to stop the crew from their short rampage. The ship set sail once more and Juul'Caz was at the helm. Cespenar walked up to him and said “What happened when I was gone? Those were soldiers, elite ones at that., “Hmph. Three days ago, afta ya got eaten… Gonna have ta tell Juul how ya made it ta Booty Bay just ta let ya know, Juul was locked up in de Brig. Next ting ya know dat orc, Jillig and a few Kor’Kron grunts wit him. Den, Juul gettin beaten an dey pushin around de crew. Cappy had em waitin at Booty Bay, so who knows what dat bastard was plottin.” Cespenar shrugged helplessly, and said as he rubbed his face where he was punched. “I've no idea. Cappy was calling me a spy, and said I deserted you all.” “Musta been de Worgen ting. Now… Story time.” Cespenar began with being in the belly of the Kraken, and how it was eaten by a giant Orca that had swallowed it whole. He led up to the goblin cruise ship and only briefly spoke how Rhalla Blastweld allowed him on board. He didn’t get into detail on how he got to stay on the ship for free. Juul’Caz raised a brow at Cespenar when he mentioned that name and chuckled deeply. “Dat all happen on de same day? Dis Rhalla lettin ya on de ship?” “Uhm. Yeah. Why?” “Juul guessin ya gat ya birthday sex afterall. Rhalla Blastweld, Juul met her once. She be inta larger guys. Richer den Grabemall was, but gay a serious love fer human men. Juul bet ya bought ya way on board wit dat charm o yers.” Cespenar smiled and nodded a little, “I guess you could say she taught me a few things as far as charming goes. She is crazy in bed, really commanding, but she was cute.” “Aw lords an ladies, gods and loa. Ya gat a ting fer de short ladies. Should known whe. Ya was lettin Grabemall’s saughters kiss up on ya… Ya should pay dem girls a visit.” “Sometime soon. For now, we still have more to do, Juul'Caz. So what's the next move?” “We still gonna tear shit up.” “As if we already haven't?” Cespenar asked with a smirk on his face. “We just gettin started.”

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Casino Troubles

The two friends left the Wailing Caverns, heading for the Coast and eventually make their way for Ratchet. Armed with nothing more than shoddy, blunted weapons, the two resorted to their hand to hand skills to take down any beast foolish enough to attack either male. It took just a day to travel across the Barrens and make it to the neutral port city. It was larger than what Cespenar imagined of a Port City that was not his motherland of Kul'Tiras. “It's amazing…” Cespenar managed to say and drew a look from Juul'Caz. “This is the goblin city of Ratchet?! I can't wait to see what it has!” “Now, now. Ya only been in Booty Bay in passin. Nevah had shore leave there. Booty Bay be like Ratchets more raunchy sistah who do all de dirty tings ya like ta her wouldn't let ya do. But Ratchet de kinda girl who crazy enough fer most tings already.” He rubbed his chin, thinking if that was good enough to describe the city. He shrugged, “Either way we nearly broke and we just gat ta do odd jobs til Cappy sails to port ta pick up his next shipment.” The troll counted the number of days the two had been out in de wilds. “Either we missed him and gonna have ta wait a month or he be by latah dis week.” “Comparing two port cities to sleeping with sisters? Goodness, Juul.” Cespenar said, chuckling a little and the two walked into town. Goblin runners were darting this way and that, and working at breakneck speeds in order to keep the flow of their jobs moving smoothly. Salesmen hawking their goods on street sides with buxom ladies and strapping men selling their own ‘goods’ on some corners. If someone had something to sell, this was the place to do it. Across the busy straight a loud whistle caught the attention of both of the guys and they turned to see a group of well dressed goblin women waving their hands to them. “Hey troll, how much is the man meat?” A female goblin called out to him, pointing to him, giggling aloud with some of her friends. Juul grunted and kept walking and she called out “Aw come on, baby! I'll buy both of ya some new pants! Looks like ya could use em!” The troll was tempted to shut the little goblin up but kept walking, tugging Cespenar along. “Juul said we do odd jobs, but we ain't doin dem kinda jobs.” He spat in disgust at the thought of selling his own body. “Alright, well you know where you're going, so what's the plan? We're half naked, dirty and kind of in a spot to be made fun of.” Cespenar commented, looking over himself. His tan skin was now brown with dirt, dust and sweat mixing all together into a muddy complexion. “I'm not sure of who would hire us for anything… Other than cleaning pipes.” Juul'Caz waved dismissively and said, “Bah! We gonna sell our junk, get a room, wash up den hit de streets in de mornin. If Juul gat ta den he can leave ya here an go ta Orgrimmar an get some money. He left his coin at de house.” The troll rubbed his dirty palms together, “Meanwhile Juul need ya ta stay outta trouble til we both get out.” The two went through town and found an Inn near the docks. The place was ran by a fat, older Goblin sitting behind a counter, doing a crossword puzzle. He looked up from his work at the two, squinting his eyes. He slipped on a pair of thick glasses. “Oi! Whaddya two want?! Don't ya see I'm workin here?!” The crotchety old goblin shouted as he waved his crossword puzzle around. “What? What?! Whaddya want?!” The two looked at each other and Cespenar said “Uhm. A room for two?” “Ploughin’ raggamuffin samoplange bendin’... Okay, fine! FINE! Three gold for a room for two. Bath in the back.” He thumbed toward the back of the building after murmuring and screaming at the two. They paid the three gold, and he led them upstairs, unlocking the door before stomping off downstairs. The room the two were to share was not so much of a room but a walk in closet with two bunks. “I miss the cave.” Cespenar commented and Juul nodded in agreement. “Okay. New plan. We make some more money and get out… Dis. But we may as well use the bath. If it ain't worth while, Juul gonna kick some ass.” The angry troll plotted and went back downstairs to the washroom to clean himself up. Once he was done, Cespenar went down to wash up and the two went to bed for the night. Falling asleep was a challenge for the two because there was an ungodly whirling noise followed by crashes, slams, a few violent pops and bangs for nearly the whole night. The half blind owner was tinkering with some kind of engine for some machine he wanted to make. As if he were trying to solve a Rubik's Cube blind, he kept messing up and ending up back where he started. The vicious cycle continued halfway throughout the night and ended a couple of hours before Sunrise. When it ended, Juul'Caz groaned as he stuffed into his pillow, “Ya tink he could do dis when no one sleepin!” They left their terrible room and Inn, and went out to the streets. Juul kept his eyes open for potential job opportunities while Cespenar inspected the marvels of engineering. Juul tapped Cespenar’s chest and pointed to a goblin standing on a crate with posters saying ‘Grabemall Casio’. “Step right up, people! Come around! Come around! Easy money, easy fun! The Grabemall Casino has free admittance today! Just come on in, play cards, slots and some of your favorite gamblin’ games!.... Admittance pay is needed for the bars!” “Grab em all?” Cespenar asked aloud to Juul'Caz who was walking towards the casino. “Did that goblin combine three words to name a casino?” Juul looked to Cespenar and laughed and shaking his head. “Nah. Grabemall be a goblin. Grabemall Snagcoin. He run dis joint. Every payday he open his door ta de public fer free. It cost an arm an a leg normally just ta get in.” “So your idea for us to get money is to gamble? Do You have any idea how much of a bad idea that is?” “If ya gat a more readily available plan, Juul would love ta hear it. Cuz right now we can work on makin a good amount offa poker.” “Juul, you're terrible at poker!” Cespenar protested, knowing that the troll was terrible. He could keep a poker face but didn't understand the terms and just threw out whatever made sense to him. The troll looked at Cespenar and grinned wildly. “Juul knows. Dats why he gonna lose while Ces cleans up house. Juul'caz amazin wit his poker face, we know dis. But honestly Juul can't tell wat he doin… He hold out as long as he can an lose while Ces come in wit a victory.” “If we end up broke....” Cespenar warned, tapping his bite and letting that threat hang in the air as they went inside. There were more than just goblins. Humans, dwarves, Orcs and even other trolls were around betting, mingling and drinking. Dark looks were cast between the members of the Alliance and Horde but neither dared act on their anger because they were under the watchful eyes of the meanest Goblin Bruisers in town. Even with the mix of races with the goblins, Cespenar and Juul'Caz surely stuck out. With only pants, belts, and Cespenar’s boots, the two were otherwise half naked around the well dressed people around them. Even the other trolls were better dressed than the two of them. Juul'Caz led his friend to a chip window. Cespenar cringed as he saw their remaining funds get exchanged for a few chips. “How much did we have?” “Well… Juul'Caz had forty. We gat eight chips dat were five gold each.” He showed Cespenar the gold sticker on the chip that was numbered 5. “Most startin bids be ten gold. So we gat two chances.” Two chances… To Cespenar it was a four hundred percent chance of losing. They were in a goblin casino for goodness sake! He could see all the chips disappearing in just a couple of hands. They found a table with a dwarf, human and a couple of goblins with a robotic dealer. It was to ensure honest dealings. The two took seats at the round table at opposite sides. “Acht. Didn't expect a couple o’ shirtless hooligans t’ be joinin us.” The dwarf commented. He saw how the two only had four chips each. They all saw it. “So! Start out low fer five?” He offered, confident that the two poor men with them weren't going to last long anyway. He smiled to the others and each gave an affirmative nod. Likely they were thinking the same thing. The cards were dealt, bets placed and everyone had their cards. Juul'Caz had plastered a determined look on his face as he stared at his hand. The troll didn't realize that he had three of a kind with 9’s followed by an Ace and a Jack. He knew the three nines had to mean something. He muttered “Hold…” Cespenar raised his brow and looked at his own hand. He had two 3’s and four kings. He felt good about this hand and raised the pot by ten. The goblins held, the dwarf himself felt good about his own hand and raised by thirty! The other human at the table eyed the dwarf and said, “I see your thirty and raise you sixty.” He dropped six ten gold chips on the table into the pile. “Ye be cocky, lad.” The dwarf commented, fingers digging in his vast amount of chips that were his. “Poker champion of Ironforge before ye.” He gloated and discarded two cards he had no use for as everyone chose cards they didn't need. One of the goblins got rid of four cards! His eyes bulged and would sigh and slap his cards face down on the table. Folded. Juul'Caz discarded his Ace and Jack… To get another Queen and an Ace. Cespenar found himself getting rid of his two threes in exchange for an Eight and an Ace. He bided his time and let the Human and Dwarf raise the pot. Before he knew it, the remaining Goblin had tossed three hundred into the pot and the human four-hundred and the dwarf went all in with a thousand gold into the pot! One thousand seven hundred and twenty gold. Juul'Caz cared nothing for rich people, but if he and Cespenar managed to win this pot he would like these two rich guys a lot. “Aight! Juul ready wit his hand!” He placed down his cards face up. “Lick em and sweep!” The Dwarf laughed at Juul’s hand and placed four queens, a two and a three down. “Four of a kin’ The lasses favor me today!” The Goblin and Human both folded in frustration and Cespenar held his card close, staring right at the Dwarf. “Go ahead lad. Ya only got fifteen gold t’ be losin.” He chuckled and relaxed in his chair until Cespenar placed his cards on the table. The dwarf sprang forward and gasped, “No! How did ye- Cheat! Ye cheated!” “Afraid not, dwarf. I have no sleeves.” He raked the tokens to himself and smiled widely. What a boost to his ego! He held back his excitement of exclaiming to his friend that they had won, because then that would have been cheating. “Ye came with the troll! Musta slipped cards- must… Musta… Ye cheated an’ I am fer knowin it!” “Deal with it. You lost.” Cespenar said, gathering the chips up and carried them all to towards the exchange booth. Juul'Caz chuckled and looked at the dwarf who was red as a beet at this point. His eye caught the sight of a bulge in the vest of the vest worn by the dwarf. The dwarf quickly reached for the piece and pulled a pistol out of his garment. “Cheater!” He hissed as he tried to aim it at Cespenar. Juul'Caz was quicker, and grabbed the firearm right out of the Dwarf’s hand and attempted to smash it against his red face. Juul wasn't the only one who saw the gun and he wasn't the fastest in the situation. Goblin Bruisers ran up and grabbed the dwarf and dragged him away as the Troll took his swing. Juul knew these kinds of bruisers and in mid swing, he placed the gun on the poker table, taking a single step away from it with both hands up harmlessly. The goblins noticed his surrender and left him be as they took care of the dwarf. The troll went to Ces and said, “Man! Ya almost gat shot!” “I did?! Why?!” “De dwarf couldn't take dat a guy like ya beat him. Oi… Juul tink we should keep goin. Hit other card games. Give Juul two hundred and he go triple it.” Cespenar thought it over and was about to say no until Juul injected, “He grabbed de dwarf’s gun from him. Gat ta be worth someting.” With a labored sigh, Cespenar gave Juul'Caz several chips and the troll ran off. “Well… May as well play some more card games… Just keep most of the money in reserve.” He assured himself as he walked to a Blackjack table with a single dealer. He was joined by two goblin women who must have been sisters and a blood elf man and the minimum bet was set to 200 a deal. He eyed the goblin women who were both well dressed ladies, who obviously didn't need the free access to get in. They didn't make a comment about Cespenar’s attire, instead one of them eyed the chips the young man had and then looked toward the exit where the dwarf with the gun was taken. She leaned up to Cespenar and said, “That was a good hand ya played, handsome. Think ya can pull a few miracles out of the air like that?” She ran her hand along Cespenar’s right bicep and giggled playfully. For the blackjack table a robot would not be a dealer, more accurately the dealer was one of the many bruisers around who worked hard enough to have some ‘down time’ and fun at the same time while earning extra gold. He looked to the Goblin Woman and eyed her over before he noticed just how close she was. His arm was pressed firmly against her cleavage. She had dark purple lipstick and was wearing a tight fitting purple dress and Ces cleared his throat and began his bet with a couple hundred. “I try not to turn water into Brandy when I touch it.” He would tell the Goblin as the cards were dealt and he had found that Blackjack to be his game. The young man won several games in a row and that the casino bunny attached to him actually wasn't playing. She was looking more and more ecstatic and she looked up to Cespenar and circled one of her fingernails on his chest. “Feelin lucky enough ta bet a good amount?” I'm sure you could do it…” The cards were dealt, and Cespenar’s cards laid face down and she caressed his hand as he was about to turn his cards up to look. He looked into her eyes and he saw a hungry glint in those heavy lidded eyes and a mischievous smirk on those soft… soft lips of hers. He was being played. He kept his hands on the cards and looked to the other goblin who eyed him and more accurately her friend who had l come with her. He decided to play along with the Goblin’s plan. He pushed out nine hundred gold worth of tokens and his table mates followed suit. and glanced at his cards quickly. He immediately saw a King and Queen and held hand both flat in the table. He glanced to the goblin woman by his side, trying to make sense of what she tried seeing. His eyes led to the playing goblin woman, his main opponent, and the Blood Elf Hit until he busted. It was now the two of them. The dealer, himself had his arms crossed and an sitting face up with the other card face down. His opponent glanced her cards, and rested them on the table and gave Cespenar and actually bored look. Cespenar didn't know what exactly to do until that Goblin turned over her cadds and revealed a matching set with Cespenar. “Ohh. Sorry, baby. Maybe ya will have better luck next time?” The goblin to Cespenar’s side said, holding back her excitement. Cespenar was not going to settle for a tie. He wouldn't allow it. Win or lose. Those were the stakes. He swallowed his fear and remembered it wasn't him versus her, it was the two of them against the dealer. He flipped his cards over and the Dealer frowned, and flipped his face down to reveal an Eight. Cespenar nearly shot out of his seat and cheered. The winnings were cut in half between him and the female goblin. His ‘opponent’ smiled at him and said, “Ya know… We should get some drinks. Tixi and I are VIPs. Lucky guy like you shouldn't drink alone or lose an opportunity like this… How bout ya come with us?” “Oh… Alright!” Cespenar said and each Goblin took a hand and walked him off towards the bar, giggling. “Say, what are your names?” “Well, I'm Tixi Snagcoin … And the lovely card player is Maxime Snagcoin… Our pops runs this place.” --- Juul'Caz, meanwhile, was not having his friend's luck with winning as much. Si far he had lost one hundred gold remaining and had gone up stairs betting on a Goblin Casher race, jumping up and down, cheering for a little red speeder before the blue speeder hit a land m I ne. Juul cheered and raked if fifty gold and said “Get anotha car out here! Juul gonna clean up house on dese races!” “Oh will you now… Juul was it?” An older goblin asked and Juul'Caz turned to look him in the eyes. It was Grabemall Snagcoin standing behind him. “I heard ya came in with a human who beat a meddlesome dwarf at some cards. Now the human is the one cleanin up house. That true?” Juul'Caz eyed Grabemall and the nodded “Aye..Juul'Caz an Ces came tagetha. Juul Lost, but Ces done took all his winins and now Juul tryna make his own profit… Be dere trouble?” Grabemall coughed and pounded his chest before exclaiming, “Trouble?! Goodness, Juul'Caz! No trouble at all! I merely want to play this ‘Ces’ in a friendly game of two man blackjack.” Juul'Caz had a terrible feeling but walked over to the railing and spotted Cespenar mucking it up in a bar, with all their winnings. “He in de bar.” They went down stairs to find Cespenar’s downing shots while Tixi and Maxime drank with him. “Tell us more about sailin, Ces!!” Tixi giggled aloud, kissed Cespenar on the cheek snuggled into his chest. Maxime saw her dad and jabbed her sister twice in the nose and pointed drastically. Tixi looked and gasped “Daddy…! Y-ya outta yer office! U-uhhhhh. Hi!” Some of her lipstick was smeared and an inebriated Cespenar looked back to the goblin and troll. He had Tixi’s purple lipstick on his cheek, and it was as if he hardly noticed. “My little girls! Seduced by a big, ugly human!” Snagcoin turned back to Juul'Caz and pointed an accusing finger at the troll. “Ya had somethin to do with this! First ya come in here cheatin! Then ya sick…. HIM on my precious daughters!” Grabemall raved he out his hand on his chest, somewhat dramatically. “I let ya folk in outta the kindness of my burstin heart. Oh, darlin! If only ya were here ta see our precious daughters seduced so…!” He turned back to Cespenar and said, “To restore the honor of my family, I challenge ya to a duel.” “Do…. What now?” Cespenar asked, leaning in to look at the ‘distraught’ Goblin. “What kind of duel?” “I am so glad ya asked… I'm a nonviolent man… So I…” He pulled a deck of cards out of his hand and said, “How ‘bout some blackjack? I heard ya were doin good at that. You and me… All your ill gotten gold and…. That belt.” His sharp eyes caught the belt. It was made to look expensive with the pure silver adornments, and the craftsmanship alone made Grabemall to grab that belt. “Fine… Uhh… Wait….” He fiddled with the Wolfhead buckle, “But not this… It's mine…” He managed to fet it off and hold it up. “Deal!” He snapped his fingers and the bruisers snagged Cespenar up and they all went to the table. “And if ya win both of ya get to stay and… Do as ya wish. Lifetime membership and all.” They were seated at the table and Grabemall shuffled his cards up, and allowed Cespenar to cut the deck. The cards were dealt and the Casino Owner had a nine face up, and one face down card. He didn't even bother to look at the second card. Juul'Caz grabbed Cespenar’s shoulder and said, “Look. Mon, it ain't too late ta decline. Let de bruiser knock ya around a bit and we walk outta here with all de money!” “It isn't so simple… Mister Grabemballs said that we get lifetime membership if I win! T-the bar, Juul! The bar is a gift from the Light itself!” He looked at his cards and nodded when he saw two tens. He flipped his cards over and said “Twenty!” Grabemall didn't even smile when he flipped the other card over, revealing an Ace. “Blackjack… Hand it all over, boy!” Juul'Caz blinked and backed away from them and shuffled over to the exchange window and got a hundred and fifty gold before bruisers grabbed him. Cespenar removed his fine belt and placed it on the table, but kept the belt buckle. “Take the belt and toss it in my vault. I can tell it's worth it.” Snagcoin instructed a bruiser before returning his attention to Cespenar. “It was SO nice of ya to come by… Now if ya dont mind, get the blast outta my casino!” As if Cespenar already refused, the bruisers grabbed the man and dragged him out. Both him and the troll were tossed out into the streets. The doors slammed and the troll got up, dusting himself off and grabbed his drunk friend, dragging him to his feet. “Bah… Least we walked out with more than we came in with… All thanks ta Juul.” The Optimistic Troll said, and plotted where they would stay. He dragged his friend all the way to a new Inn, and a private room for two. The room was more spacious and he sat counting the remaining amount of gold. They had just a hundred left. “Aight… Twenty five a night… But dis be infinitely better.” He crossed his arms and looked at Cespenar asking “Wat do ya tink about odd jobs?” Cespenar was laying on the bed and held up the wolf buckle and said “I dunno… How much will this get us?” “An ass kickin from Juul! Get dat out his face!” He flicked the silver belt buckle and then as if out of nowhere, THOUSANDS of gold coins and gems appeared, burying Cespenar and knocking Juul'Caz back. At the top of the gold pile sat a single black belt adorned in silver clasps and the belt buckle teleported back into place. “De hell was-- Ces! CES!” The trolls scrambled and started shoveling gold off of his friend, and pulled the drunk out. “De hell happened?!” Cespenar shook some gold pieces stuck to his skin off and looked at the giant mess of gold. “I-I don't know! You flicked the belt buckle and then…. Hey, the belt is back!!” “Ces… What if dis belt be like a uh… Wat do mages call it… Oh yeah, teleportin ting? It must be some sorta secret weapon, or movin device or- Juul dunno!” He thought of it and pointed at Cespenar “Dats why Turntfuse shot at us!” “Well... “ He clicked the belt back on around his waist, climbed the small mountain of glittering prizes and flexed at Juul'Caz. “It looks better on the likes of Cespenar Virethorn anyway.” “Bwahaha! Ya gat dat right, brudda!” ----- Grabemall was sitting in his private study and looking over his magical deck of cards. Each card was magically enchanted to change depending on what the greedy goblin wanted. “Best hand of my life… Like every other.” He chuckled deeply and lit a Stranglethorn Cigar, and puffed a few times before his private communicator went off. He picked it up, clicked it and said, “Snagcoin here.” “Uncle Snagcoin!” An annoyed, but very familiar voice crackled over the communicator. “It's Baxt!” “Lemme guess… Trade Prince game too tough?” “No, it ain't that. No. I got robbed last week and I think the thief is headed your way! It's a human with black hair, about… Seventeen? And he has a troll named Juul'Caz with him!” Grabemall coughed at that and said “Ya don't say! Yeah. Ya little thief was in here tryin to pull moves on ya cousins. Beat him in a good game of cards and took everything he had.” “Everything? Even a belt?” “Yeah. Damn good belt. He kept thee buckle, but hey, I can get another made.” The communicator nearly exploded as goblin tech is prone to doing, “HE KEPT THE WHAT?! UNCLE! WHERE IS THAT BELT?!” “Not so loud, I ain't deaf yet, kiddo… Tossed it in my vault.” “Sweet landmines, Uncle! Get it out of your vault! That's a Plunder Master’s belt! Get it out of there now!!” “A WHAT?!” Snagcoin screamed and rushed to his vault. He used his key to open it and saw the belt and all of his gold sitting there, but as if some cruel twist of fate, the belt and a huge portion of his gold teleported out of the vault. “Oh… It's gone… Eheh… Heh… O-over half my life savings. Gone.” Snagcoin fell backwards, groaning dramatically as he did.

[juulcaz-virethorn]

Quillboars, Montage, Story!

“Ya fuckin Quillboar!” Juul'Caz screamed as he grabbed the nearest one, tossing it into the flames below and turned to slam his fist into another Quillboar’s face.

The troll was out numbered, a dozen to one and Cespenar was cold cocked by one of the pig men. The Troll ran right into one with a spear pointing at him. He allowed himself to be impaled and he began to laugh as he snapped the Quillboar’s neck and ran to another one with the spear still in his body. He ripped it out and shoved the handle of weapon literally into another's face. He felt the bite of a blade slash across his back but the troll didn't care. He let every one of the Quillboar’s draw his blood on their weapons.

As they slashed and hacked at the formidable troll, Juul'Caz muttered a dark hex to taint his very blood. The blood stained weapons began to smoke and break down in the hands of the Quillboar as if they were dipped in acid. The bestial people panicked as Juul'Caz grabbed the largest of them in a bloody embrace. How the Quillboar in Juul'Caz’s arms screamed as he felt his armor and his very flesh begin to melt from the burning blood of the Amani.

Juul'Caz dropped the Quillboar and left him to certain death as he dived into the scrambling beasts, smearing his blood on their necks and faces as he slapped and punched them. He was bleeding profusely but it didn't seem to matter to him as his blood would soon start burning those he touched with his vile blood.

He scrambled away to let the Quillboar either die or let the survivors make it to their kin and warn them of the troll. He staggered back and begged to the Loa he served to end the burning silently. His blood didn't harm him, but he was unable to regenerate if the blood was as volatile as it was.

Ula-Tek was good to Juul'Caz and her magic stopped coursing through his veins. The troll collapsed onto his bottom and would begin wiping his blood off. He went into the growth of the Barrens to find some herbs for his wounds. Thankfully the wild growth had plenty of common plants in the area and Juul'Caz mixed the herbs up, crushed them and made crude salves to slather onto his wounds to stop the bleeding as well as aid his regeneration, but he knew what he did was risky, desperate even and he wasn't going to do that again any time soon.

It didn't take long for Cespenar to come to his senses. He looked at the mangled and ravaged corpses of the Quillboar and saw Juul'Caz rubbing green plant mush on his body where he was struck. “Juul - Are you okay?” He held the back of his head which still hurt but he could tell Juul'Caz needed help.

The troll looked to his friend, “Up already mon? Ya miss de magic! Come ‘ere an rub some of dis on Juul’s back. He don't wanna bleed out.” He held a leaf covered in a lot of green mush out to Cespenar.

He took the leaf and started smearing the makeshift salve on Juul’s wounds, rubbing it firmly into the gashes and holes. Once every mark was saturated, he smeared some of his arm for the still bleeding wound from Baxt. “How did this happen, and what in the world did you do to them?”

“Heh… Juul’s voodoo may have some blood magic involved. Ula-Tek blesses Juul wit poisonous or burnin blood. So Juul had ta let de Quillboar cut and stab Juul sk he would kill em wit ease… It be a gamble, but Juul tries ta end scuffles immediately.”

“So no training?” Cespenar asked as if kidding and he began to rifle through the dead bodies of the Quillboar. He found a few knives and even an unused sword. He held the blade up and frowned at how worn it was. The blade had seen better days and these… Pig people had no respect for their tools. He sheathed and tossed it to Juul'Caz as he held the two knives he pilfered.

Juul picked up the sword, wiggled it a little and didn't look surprised when the blade snapped off the handle. He got up, went over to Cespenar and took one of the blades. “Ya good fer one.” He explained and scanned the surroundings. He knew the source the the blooming Plant life but this was crazier than usual. He led Cespenar deep within the Overgrowth. The trek took hours and they were to run out of daylight in a few hours.

“We are going to have to set up a camp, sometime, Juul.” Cespenar commenting, gauging the sun and it's position.

“Juul take ya ta de Wailin Caverns, we clear it out and camp in de skull openin, an use de cave fer trainin.”

Cespenar raised an eyebrow and followed Juul'Caz deep within the Overgrowth. He was about to ask what the Wailing Caverns were until they crossed a giant shrub and saw the menacing Skull shaped opening of the cave. It simply felt wrong near it. He watched Juul'Caz climb the rock face and into one of the eyes. He quickly followed and when he got up there he saw Juul'Caz staring at a sleeping Quillboar in the middle of the cave. Juul walked over, gently picked up the sleeping swine and with a shout, ran out of the cave he tossed the Quillboar out. The unsuspecting camper didn't have time to scream when his head hit the hard ground below, and a cracking sound could be heard from their position.

“That's one way to clear a camp.” Cespenar commented as he joined Juul'Caz inside. There was only one bed roll, a half dozen spears laying on the ground by a campfire in the room that was burned out and a large sack. He honestly was not bothered by Juul'Caz killing the defenseless beast. The Quillboar would probably attack anyway or come back with friends.

“It works like a charm every time.” Juul'Caz chuckled as he inspected the spears. “Okay, first order of business. We gonna need food an water. We get some of dat, den we clear de caverns. Might take a couple of days.” He searched the sack and was pleased to have found a rope and adjustable harness, an unused waterskin, and some flint & steel. He began thinking of how the two would hoist supplies up and down from the cave.

Juul'Caz held it out for Cespenar to see. The human’s smirk and affirmative nod told the Troll that he had the same idea in mind. Cespenar came over and looked over the lush area. “I'll go get the water for now. Once you've healed we can go get some food… Unless I find some edible plants out there. For now, you need to rest.” He picked up the water skin and sack before scanning the landscape once more. He spotted a large pool of water and grinned as he began to chart the course.

“True dat. Get goin and Juul do someting ta de cave. Make it worth sleepin in.” Juul'Caz agreed as Cespenar began his descent. The troll rummaged through the cave, and found nothing more worthwhile. He decided a trip to the Crossroads wouldn't be so bad. He was certain that the two of them could scrounge up enough silvers to get their camp in decent shape. He had only a few gold on him, and he hoped it would be enough.

The next few days were a struggle. Juul'Caz healed completely and immediately put Cespenar to work with his training. The troll had thought it best if Cespenar learned how to best fight by going against a raptor unarmed! The troll explained to him that his b instincts would kick in and it would be best to condition those instincts. The idea was insane, but it yielded results.

“Go on, Ces, he don't even notice ya. Ya be de predator, he be de prey.” He slapped Cespenar on the back and the young man with all his bravado and Juul shoving him out to face the Raptor.

“I got this!!” He screamed as the raptor immediately charged at him. All his bravado was for naught, because the beast leapt on his chest, talons digging into the flesh. “AGG! JUUL'CAZ, HELP!!” He begged and screamed as the raptor brought his jaws down towards Cespenar’s neck and still Juul did nothing.

Taking matters into his own hands, Cespenar plunged both hands into the razor filled maw and grabbed both the upper and lower jaws and help them apart. The raptor thrashed, cutting the palms of his hands, dug his talons deeper into his chest and clawed at his arms. Cespenar felt the world fading away as the pain began to numb, and his vision began to fade. It was too early to die like this.

This was supposed to be simple training.

He the vision saw a red furred wolf lunging for his neck.

The pain returned. His vision came back. There was no wolf, but a viscous raptor trying to make a meal of Cespenar. With a single cry of denial and rage, Cespenar’s blood came to a boil as he held the raptor’s head still to keep him from jerking to and fro. Battling the vice that attempted to shut on his hands, he began to pull the death trap of the raptor’s haws wider and wider until he heard a sickening crack and his arm suddenly jerked upwards, holding half of a raptor’s head in his bleeding hand. He shoved the dead creature off and held his belly as he sat up so his innards wouldn't have a chance of spilling.

“Dat… Was… Amazin! Juul thought ya was gonna start cryin an beggin before he had ta help ya.” He pulled Cespenar’s hands away from his belly and placed his large hands over the wound. He channeled a spell into Cespenar, closing the wounds, healing him slowly but surely.

He looked to the troll, astounded that Juul'Caz was performing this act - but worried for his friend considering the last time Juul'Caz ‘healed’ him. No wounds appeared on the troll as he worked his magic. “But…. How?”

Juul finished and looked Cespenar over, before falling flat on his bottom, panting. “Juul be usin Shamanistic arts ta heal ya. It ain't his strongest point, but it will do. Takes a lot outta Juul'Caz.” He explained as he swirled his hands around, creating a tiny rain cloud between them. “Juul ain't de best at shapin magics, he good at smashin tings some extra shaman power. Give Juul two good weapons and he don't need lightnin or healin waters.”

“You mean to say you could have been healing yourself but chose to just sit around in pain?” Cespenar asked, nearly outraged. “Infection could have set in! You could die like that!”

Juul'Caz laughed, and ran his fingers over his newest scars. “Juul tink ya don't understand Troll regeneration. He don't need to wear himself out wit healin spells. Now stop wastin time. We got more trainin ta do.”

Days passed and Cespenar was forced to fight every monster they had come across with his bare hands, with the Troll laughing and healing him as they progressed and eventually cleared out the caverns. Before the end, Cespenar was thinking before his actions and not piggybacking on instinct much longer. Instead he acted on his own judgment and knew when to land a killing blow quickly.

Juul'Caz had one last test for the young man to go through, and had told him about a great beast deep beneath the Caverns that needed punching. Cespenar followed the troll through the passages that he had come to know by heart before long a d Juul took the young man to a cave section he had not been in before.

“Well…?” Cespenar asked, looking around the empty, hollow room.

“Well, what?” The troll asked expectantly.

“Where is the next thing for me to - FIGHT AH!” Cespenar began to asked until he saw a giant green fist racing his way. Juul’s sucker punch had failed but that didn't slow the momentum of punches he would begin throwing out.

“Juul, what the hell, man?! Why are you attacking me?!” Cespenar shouted, trying his best to avoid the blows, but he caught a gut crushing punch in his abdomen followed by a sweeping kick, bringing down to the ground.

“Juul ya opponent. Ya dolt.” Juul'Caz sneered looking down at Cespenar, “Raptors, wind s

erpents and elementals be dangerous indeed, but ya facin de most dangerous ting around. Another person!”

Cespenar slowly got up, desperately trying to catch his breath. It took everything he had to not vomit, and thankfully he managed to hold down his breakfast. The Troll came in again, throwing a series of punches, but Cespenar knew better than to let the Troll get him again. Those punches hurt!

Juul'Caz knew this fight was an unfair one. He spent his whole life fighting other people whereas Cespenar never bothered to. He knew that and still was taking advantage of his friend's inexperience. It was no different from how he learned from he was a boy. He knew Cespenar was better prepared because Juul'Caz had thrown him into life or death situations nonstop over the past few days and Cespenar had come out on top of every challenge without complaining too much… Beyond typical human whining from being disemboweled.

Juul'Caz saw an opening when Cespenar stepped back from a punch, but not far enough and had left his face exposed. Fast like a viper striking, Juul'Caz threw a left hook, but the troll didn't expect to step forward once more, evading the would be devastating punch. His tusks were grabbed and he saw Cespenar’s her swing back as Juul'Caz’s left arm completed its arc and the human brought his head forward while pulling the Amani in by the tusks.

Cespenar’s head smashed Juul’s long nose, splattering blood all over the troll’s face, and received a second headbutt from the human before Juul got his hands of his target. With a roar Juul gripped Cespenar’s neck and slammed his fist into Cespenar’s face time and time again before throwing the human at the wall. His toss was sloppy and off, and instead of hitting the wall with full force, Cespenar skipped on the cave floor and rolled into the wall.

Not good enough. Juul charged in after Cespenar, screaming a battle cry and attempted to punt the human. He didn't expect Cespenar to react, not in time anyway. The young man rolled away and tangled Juul’s legs with his own and jerk him toward the wall, smashing Juul’s mug into the rock wall, and falling back.

Juul laid still on the ground while Cespenar sat up, feeling his numbed face. It was wet… It started to hurt! He could swear to himself that part of his cheekbone was soft now! He pulled his hand away to see it red and wet. “I'm gonna feel that for a while…” He groaned, and then he saw Juul'Caz sit up, cracking his broken nose in place, and blowing chunks of blood out of each nostril a few times. He looked at Cespenar who actually had two black eyes, a busted cheek and a swollen jaw.

“Ech. Ya gat a face only ya mama would love “ As he spoke Cespenar flicked Juul’s tusks, sending the Amani Troll reeling back in pain! They were loose! Dangerously so! “Ack! Not Juul’s handles fer de ladies! Why did ya go and loosen Juul’s tusks?! Dis gonna be healin and it'll hurt like a bitch de whole time!”

“Don't blame me! You got enraged!”

“Bah!” Juul spat and sat on the floor, lefs crossed over one another. “Well Ces, Juul tink ya be a good fighter given ya keep up de work. Ya a driven young man and Juul be pleased dat his trainin worked fer ya. Sure ya nearly died a few times, but ya killed beasts wit ya hands. No claws, blades, magic. Ya hands. Congratulations, Cespenar. Ya be a Brawler now. A livin weapon.” He patted Cespenar’s back and got up, “But Juul wonders… Be ya ready to take another man’s life?”

The question caught Cespenar off guard. Upon their arrival Cespenar didn't think of killing another person. He just assumed Juul'Caz would do all the person killing if they traveled together, as childish and selfish the thought was. “No.” He answered plainly. “ I don't know how I could kill another person. Not even that goblin who attacked us.”

“Hmph.” Juul grunted and helped Cespenar up, leading him back to camp. “Ya wise too. At de same time ya foolish. No one in dey right mind ever ready fer de first livin person's life dey take. But you know what? Dis a dangerous world, and you gonna get a lot of blood on your hands, like it or not.”

Cespenar followed Juul'Caz back towards camp, but the last thing the Troll said gave him pause. He looked at his hands and said “I've already got someone's blood on my hands. I let the woman I love die.” He confessed, and then Juul stopped to look to his friend.

There was an uneasy silence between the two, Juul Walked back to Cespenar and clasped his hand on the young man's shoulder. “Talk ta Juul.”

Cespenar nodded and when the two got to camp, he sat on one side of the fire and Juul'Caz got some of their rations together for a meal. Cespenar began his story once the troll settled at the fire.

“It happened little over a half year ago. I fell in love with a young woman named Audrey Hannanburgh. She was a small woman with an honest attitude as fiery as the hair on her head. There was one problem though… She was a Worgen. Feral.”

“How did de two of ya…. Ya know…” Juul asked, swirling his hands over one another. Cespenar raised an eyebrow, thinking the troll was going to ask about sex. “Fall in love if she were a mindless beast?”

“She had moments of clarity, control and her will was so strong. I grew up with her around and never did she hurt me.” He held his bite scar and said, “Until the day she died… She was struggling for control, she had gone mad and she bit me.”

Juul'Caz stared at Cespenar in silence for a long moment before asking, “Ya be a worgen too? But ya gat control. Nevah once in de months Juul knew had he evah seen-” He stopped short battling the logic and muttered,”So de rumors from Undercity be true. De Worgen joined de Alliance and have their minds. So den… You-” He stared at Cespenar, as if wounded by a betrayal

Cespenar held his hand up, “I'm not of the Alliance. Others like me may be, but I'm not in it.” He noticed Juul relaxed and he added, “I couldn't stand the thought of being your enemy, Juul. You're my friend. I don't know what it is, but the time I've served with you and the weeks we've been friends gave me a great respect for you, and I can tell you're a perfectly honest, and honorable troll. Do you think we could end the conflicts if we tried?”

Juul'Caz shook his head, “Nah. Dere be too much bad blood between de Alliance and Horde. No one can easily end de hate. Honestly… Juul can't see himself befriendin anyone from de Alliance. It's a miracle we be friends. Juul hate humans fer what dey did ta me pa. But ya different. Ya be a good human- Worgen ting.”

“I see what you mean. But… On with the story… Audrey bit me, nearly maimed me before I pushed her off. She was hurting, Juul, and she was crying. Then… I heard a gunshot and Audrey fell over. She died in my arms because I screamed and shoved her off. Hunters came quickly and put an end to the beast who was my bride to be. I ran… I never got a chance to bury her. I never got to say goodbye.” He buried his face in his hands and started bobbing his shoulders up and down as he began to sob. “I killed her…”

As Cespsnar cried, Juul'Caz got up and came around the the other side of the fire, putting the food by the fire to cook as he began to pat Cespenar’s back. “Ya ain't at fault, mon. Juul told ya how his pa died. Juul left a spear and it led ta de humans killin Juul’s old man. Fate can be a cruel mistress, but losin a loved one in an insane situation don't mean ya killed dem. It just de hand we dealt. Juul sure Audrey would want ya ta move on. Tell ya what… If her spirit lingers, Juul can speak ta ya lover's ghost an she can ease ya heart… If she loves ya truly and has moved on, den nothin will happen.”

“Y-You can do that?” He asked, realizing the question was stupid, “Oh, right… Witch doctor.”

“Right. Now. Let's eat and den Juul summon her ghost.”

Juul ended up pushing back the ritual to outside and when the moon was shining it's brightest. He had Cespenar set up a small fire that could burn high as he went out to find a snake. Juul returned with a spitting cobra and looked at the fire. “Good. Dis be perfect.” He slapped at the snake a few times, and tricked it into spitting it's venom into the fire. “Venom brewed of anger, it attract de angry dead ta us…” He tossed the snake into the brush, and came over He muttered something in his tongue, plucking dome hair off Cespenar’s head, and tossing it into the flames. “Essence of de perpetrator who done anger de dead.”

Whispers in the darkness filled the air around them, none could be understood, but Cespenar wasn't feeling comfortable with his given place. He saw the troll pull out a knife, and he came back to Cespenar.

“Now. Juul gonna cut ya hand. Spill ya blood inta de flames and speak out de name of fe one ya wronged.” He sliced Cespenar’s palm, and without hesitation the young man thrust his palm over the fire.

“Audrey Hannanburgh.”

“Audrey!” Juul'Caz called out, “De man who loves ya calls ya name. Come before us, an hear his pleas.” He channeled his spell, but the fire grew dim, slowly dying out. No ghost came forward and the whispering stopped.

“Juul… What happened? Why didn't she come?”

“Seems Audrey already moved on. She musta been a smart gal. Understood it wasn't ya fault.” He nodded and said, “Ya be a forgiven man “ The troll smiled when he saw Cespenar relax.

“Audrey… Now I can sleep right. I won't let you go forgotten.” He closed his eyes and silently prayed to her soul. He was an agnostic man so he chose her to pray to.

“Ready ta move forward?” Juul'Caz asked, smirking to his friend.

“Completely.”