A cacophony of screams and terror filled the air as the battle raged on around the gnome and those of her company, falling under the banner of the Grand Alliance. She had not been called to arms, but had volunteered for this. There was no time for her eyes to gather in the horrors around her. Mists were kept at a constant swirl about her person, erupting from her marked palm and outward into those that needed rejuvenation and healing. She had left all behind for this war: her home, her beloved Manuel, her family that was Ludlow Vineyards. She would not let her fears win and over take her now.
[[NSFW below the cut. Mentions of blood/gore/war for once in a Sprankles story. Also LONG READ!]]
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a stampeding Tauren. He looked to be of the Highmountain clan with his moose like antlers and larger, more imposing build. He was snorting out of his nostrils, charging towards her with a large warmace high above his head. “Oh no you don’t!” Sprankles squealed out and leapt backwards gracefully, sliding with one foot behind her and the other poised at a bent knee in front of her. Her hands were posed like the striking heads of vipers, ready to defend herself and those around her from the hulking man beast.
“Hiiiiii-yah!” She shrieked out again, allowing her opponent to close the gap between them, Sprankles sliding between the breadth of room between his hooves, using the force of her chi to sweep her leg directly into the weak point of the Tauren’s ankle, sending him sprawling forward and Sprankles coming out on the other side of him. She wasted none of the momentum she had gathered, leaping on the Tauren’s back and lining his leathers with a more deadly version of her glitter bombs, as well as whacking him hard on the back of his head with her staff.
In one quick flip through the air, she distanced herself as the dazed bovine adversary slowly lumbered to his feet and snorted again, giving a great roar in her direction out of anger. But it was for naught, for as soon as that roar left his mouth her bombs exploded. She just remained in her defensive stature, not feeling one ounce of remorse for the beast man as his body pulled apart and ripped in several directions, a spray of blood and gore cascading about him mixed with a heaping amount of glitter as well. It was.. quite the sight to behold, leaving some of her comrades baffled and utterly confused at the glittery demise they just witnessed.
Sprankles gave a soft, “Hmph.” and nod of her head as she went back to keeping the soldiers around her alive and well, weaving in and out of Horde foes as the Alliance pressed forward towards Lordaeron. More screams erupted and interrupted her heavy flow of chi, causing her eyes to look above her, widening behind the goggles that made them appear bigger than what they were anyhow. She nearly froze before her feet began to pull her backwards out of the line of fire, her instincts to run registering before the call to fall back was.
By the droves undead soldiers poured out of the dilapidated city wearing gas masks and carrying horrid weapons filled with some nasty green substance. It was all too soon as Sprankles realized what it was; Blight. And now, it was being shot from catapults from over the walls of Lordaeron, smashing and breaking onto the ground to plague the area. Sprankles watched in utter disbelief as the Banshee Queen launched such a vicious defense, sacrificing Horde and Alliance soldiers alike to raise as terrifying skeletal figures. “Shamblers...” Sprankles muttered, gathering her wits to deal with any that came her way as death ran at her boot heels, as she intended to keep several steps ahead of it.
“Go! Go! Go!” she squealed to those around her, maneuvering with great speed and precision to be one so tubby around her middle. While she could, she held the intention of getting any of those yet touched by the horrible plague as far away from it as possible. She forced her concentration, going from one target to the next with her healing mists, at least keeping them alive enough to escape, though more extensive healing would be needed after they all made safe passage, for that she was sure of.
All hope seemed to be lost, and Sylvanas seemed to have bested their King once more, just as they were all about to be swallowed up in Blight, Sprankles knelt on the ground and was ready to make peace with herself and pass on to the next world if there was one. But that moment didn’t come. She just sat there as a sudden chill hit the air around her, causing her to peak one of her eyes open and look around. “Huh?” she mused to herself, jumping upright and turning to face the battlefield once more. “Its all frozen..” she murmured, suddenly seeing a large shadow come over and block out the waning light above her head. Her mouth suddenly fell agape as her magnified eyes took in the large belly of a ship floating with the pure arcane energies only one of the most powerful mages in all of Azeroth could possess. “JAINA!” she suddenly squealed, only hearing tales of the sea’s daughter and of her terrible plights. “Look everyone! ITS JAINA PROUDMOORE!” she shouted again, tugging someone’s cloth sleeve beside her, only to realize it was one of those skeletal things, its bony appendage breaking off into her hand. “O-Oh..” she said in a bit of surprise, giving a shrug of her shoulder and raising the bone arm upwards so that she could wave at the ship with it that passed over. “Hello, Jaina!” she called out, not caring whether or not her voice carried, she could at least tell others she encountered that she had indeed greeted the great Lady Proudmoore in the midst of battle.
Within the distance she faintly heard the commands of the King, shouting up to the mage and her ship, now seeing commanders of all armies leading their people towards Lordaeron once more. It was time. They would now take Undercity and Anduin would throw Sylvanas from her decrepit throne. The troop of monks that all agreed to march for the war began to move out as well. They cut, chopped, punched, kicked and beat their way through the masses of horde still trying to fend them off, though finally, the walls of Lordaeron were breached and they found themselves within the courtyard, greeted by droves of Darkspear trolls. It would appear they were not making it to the throne room anytime soon.
It gave her great pride that King Anduin did not stand idle behind them, nor did he rush recklessly forth and fight for them. No, he stood with them in the fray, leading them towards victory with the Theramoore Archmage’s aid. “ONWARD!” she heard the gruff cry of Genn Greymane call out. Still, she focused her healing, glancing side to side as she shot just a touch of it towards their King, hoping it was received by him. “You will live forever, my boy.” Sprankles whispered in gleeful excitement, always finding herself weak in the knees at the sight of the King, though such things remained only in her dreams, far away from knowing ears, especially those of her boyfriend Manny. Though right now she couldn’t think too hard on his amazing posterior and how his plate armor hugged it just right, she had to keep her focus.
Some Darkspears got to close to her, and they quickly realized that gnomes were naught to be trifled with, especially pink-haired, overly energetic ones that were covered in glitter. She threw some of the metallic sparkling substance into the eyes of one trolless, causing her to screech out in surprised and pain. “EAT BATTERY ACID, YOU TUSK MOUTHED NINNY!” She shouted out, having laced this particular glitter with the hazardous acid of batteries from various machines in her home, causing a corrosive effect, leaving the troll blind and unable to defend herself. She didn’t kill her, allowing others to do that work for her, instead she began throwing her volatile glitter into the eyes of any foe she saw, Forsaken included, flesh was flesh, no matter how much it was decayed. They still suffered the consequences of her sparkling wrath.
The companies did well at keeping those at bay that tried to block the king’s path through to the throne room. Hell, they had fought an azerite machine and blight. A few trolls and other horde weren’t going to matter much to the majority of them. It was then she saw his beautiful shimmering blonde hair move out of sight to where the Banshee Queen waited. She took a moment as trolls began to drop like flies around her, doing a victory dance in the middle of the battle field. “We won it! Oh, yeah we woooon it!” She called out as she then tossed some of those deadly glitter bombs into the swarms of Horde still pushing through to the defense of the Forsaken city, each one exploding in a rain of substances she’d rather never tell anyone about.
Such an immense feeling of hope and victory was short lived though. She heard the wail of the Banshee queen as she burst through the roof of the Throne room, soon landing upon a floating Zeppline high above them all, making her escape. Whether Sylvanas saw it or not, Sprankles put her two fingers in front of her eyes and then pointed them at the undead witch. “Lookin’ at you, Windrunner. You can’t keep running forever.”
(( @mannydrazleblast @ludlowvineyards for relevance and mentions ))
Sprankles scrambled around in near panic as she began throwing stuff all around the house. “LUCY!” she squealed out. “LUCY WHERE DID YOU GO?!” She was in full panic mode at the moment. Manny had no idea about her new friend, but she felt deep within her heart that Ser Pigbert needed a sibling, and she knew that she had found the perfect one. If she could just keep up with her.
Ser Pigbert just stared at his ‘mother’ while she frantically called out and searched for his sister. Sprankles didn’t hear the pecking sounds above them like he did. Softly he gave a snort and began trotting up the stairs. “And where are you goin’, Ser Pigbert?” she questioned softly, dropping a pile of laundry all over the floor that Manny had just picked up only hours before this. The pig just continued to walk up the stairs with another grunting snort.
The pecking sounds began to resound withing Sprankles’ auditory, and she just smiled. “Fouuuund youuu~!” she giggled out as she happily trotted up the stairs now, indeed finding her lost pet. Both Sprankles and Ser Pigbert couldn’t help but tilt their heads at the actions of the new family member. “Lucy Diamond, you’re so silly.” Sprankles murmured out with an endeared smile, loving the animal all the more for it. She was super glad that she didn’t give this one to a winner at the Carnival.
