#chorusofcontention

[housebladerunner]

Rebirth

  It has been a week. I still can’t open my eyes. I have been this way before. I remember that I was sent on a mission into the Eastern Kingdoms.. I was to spy in Elwynn for a threat to my lord. I followed my target to Westfall only to be lost near Sentinel Hill.. She is like shadows itself sometimes. I have been hunting her long.. and I must continue that hunt. I set up camp in a safe spot I have used before.. A grove with a waterfall for bathing, tucked away in the hills. They must have came over night.. The grove had sprouted flora I had never seen before. I took one in my hand and examined it.. securing it away for later research. Perhaps it could used to make a poison. I turned away and packed up my things, and pulled up my hood.. jumping from the cliff to the water below.. letting out a harmless cough as I pulled up my hood. 

   To think I had been so careless. The cough wasn’t harmless at all.. neither were the flowers. The sickness took hold before I could even react. With my heart condition.. I was more susceptible to its hold. Blood would soon come with the cough, and nightmares quickly crippled me. I was put into the Med-Ward here at House Bladerunner. I remember my screams of fear and pain.. I remember closing my eyes for what seemed like the last time.

I felt like I was falling. Like never before. It wasn’t like when my gem acted up, or broke down.. causing my heart to fail.. This was like being already dead. Surrounded in nightmares and darkness.. It was like falling down a hole. I tried to grab the sides.. and there was no way to grip. When I was about to lose hope.. A voice spoke out to me. 

      “You can’t give in now, my dear cousin.. A Bladerunner never quits. You have a job to do still. We will bring you back to health.”

I awoke last night. The nurses had told me that the sickness had infected not only me, but the gem that kept me alive. They replaced it from my collection.. and told me I was given the cure a few days before I opened my eyes. I unplugged all the cords myself.. used to coming here for my surgeries. I walked outside and looked to the moon. It felt like I was an all new man.. After tuning out the nagging of the nurses, I knew who dear Gandrell wanted me to find.. The ones who did this to me.

  “Tal anu’men no Bladerunner.. And may my enemies fear the coming shadow.”

[housebladerunner]

Restless Reckonings

Though Silvermoon was mostly empty, the patter of plate on stone could still be heard. The Guard-Captain was making his rounds, looking as if Death itself had been on his heels.. The man looking rather tired. Gandrell would make sure to check both inns, and all parts of the city. This had been a long day.. Making arrangements, assigning his guard to their new posts.. setting his researchers to these flowers.. And he still wanted to make rounds. Though to the best of his knowledge, he was not sick himself, the people of his city could be screaming in their homes because of the nightmares.. hallucinating that the walls were closing in on them. In a way.. he felt sympathy there.. Sometimes he wondered if walking the silent city was his nightmare.. and that his walls closing in were a fear of not being able to help his people. 

       As he went up the ramp into Sunfury Spire, He turned to look out at the city. He had heard rumors that a cure had been found. This would make him smile.. knowing his sick would be fine, and that he had one less thing to worry about for the city. But there was still the matter of what he saw at that meeting at the Master’s Glaive. He had attended in disguise, as well as having another witness amongst the crowd. He had watched his fellow Sin’dorei make the ultimate sacrifice.. and play right into the cultists hands. These flowers were spit in his vigil. The sheer existence of these Cultists were an affront to his Guard, and himself. Now that a cure had been found, It was time to make his next move. He turned and walked up the ramp, entering the Spire.. It was time for him to find this resistance the people had spoke of. It was time for all of Arkhana Belore and himself to mobilize.. He would bring these cultists to Justice. For Silvermoon. For Azeroth.

[housebladerunner]

Zyyraxx had awoken suddenly.. for the first time in a few years, sweat beaded his forehead.. He looked to his lover.. She was sound asleep, not a single movement. He tucked her in before he slipped out of the bedroom. Zyyraxx stepped out into the cold air.. bare feet on cobblestone as he looked out onto his Garrison. He had not dreamed since he lost everything he had worked for. His House, His home.. And this night, it was no different. Instead, it was the thoughts of the meeting he had seen.. the congregation. He watched as so many Sin’dorei made the choice to join this.. Collective. All in hopes of attaining what they called, “Their Blessing.” He had come to see it with his own eyes, to see that the rumors were true. First these flowers and the sickness.. now there was some sort of cult that claimed to have the answer. Needless to say, He and his woman left as soon as the shadow magic started.. Zyy’s fears confirmed. He set his hands on stair railing down into the main yard.. He thought what would drive those elves to make that choice.. to give a part of themselves like that. He wondered if he could get sick, that if he would have done the same. He thought of his son and his family. He worried of his home. The blood would boil inside him as he realized that he might need to take care of this himself.. And that he would need the resistance to help him. He only hoped that his son was making the right precautions against this sickness, against this cult. He hoped that his messages would make it in time.

 “Once again.. House Bladerunner will need to make a stand in the face of this world’s enemies.” Zyyraxx would say to himself.. as if he was needing of assurance. He would turn and rub the back of his head, going back inside to join her once more. A whisper escaping his lips. A prayer. “Shin’do House Bladerunner..”

[ausricmorson]

Of Glyphs and Smaller Things

Ausric held his glass of wine delicately in one hand, his writing desk illuminated by a single lit candle in the night.  His expression was darker than it had been in many months, certainly never seen in public.  Atop his desk strewn before him were journals and notes meticulously taken on the topic of Glyphs and Inscription, Runes and Sigils.  Were simply references to books, while others were painstakingly detailed drawings complete with notations by authors long dead and Ausric’s own musings.  None of it seemed at the time to be dangerous.  But with the whispers Rodther had mentioned...

Ausric’s attention drifted to the glyph tattooed into the flesh of his right hand.  The glyphpair system was supposed to be safe.  Infinitely more safe than the enchanted baubles his companions had been using for long range communication, and more reliable than gnomecorders.  But how does one prepare for an Old God who could worm it’s way into you head?  Who could warp your desires and dreams with dark promises?  

The man set his wine glass down and stood from his desk, pacing.  About the room.  So many projects had been started by his company.  If this was truly the work of an Old God, if they corrupted one of his own.... He banished the thought.  But there were still those who would be susceptible.  He found himself making a mental list of his allies and how he’d deal with each of them turning on him.  He’d need to send Alacroft far away again, out of all his allies that man was the least trust worthy.

With renewed purpose he sat at his desk and began drafting a letter.  He’d at least do the man the honor of telling him exactly why he was being sent to the furthest reaches of Uldum.  If these were the Old Gods maybe the titan relics there could prove useful.