There was static in the air, an acrid quality permeating the very atmosphere itself with a lacing of caustic essence. It filtered through one’s sinuses and caressed the flesh like invisible mist, inciting a mild sense of dread in those that were more attuned to the world around them, sensitive to the subtle shifts in their surroundings. Nothing had reached the outpost – not yet – but the proximity to such potent demonic magic would likely begin to cast a shadow of trepidation upon the forces contained in the encampment. It was an omen, an inadvertent warning of the events that would soon follow.
A muffled shout resounded from somewhere atop the tower but it had been stifled so swiftly that it would be easy to miss, a single figure draped in shadow slinking away from the scene of this crime after ensuring that the scout’s body had been carefully laid down to avoid additional noise. Others were skulking through the outpost, ensuring that almost every guard or scout on duty had been dispatched or at least thoroughly incapacitated. Dull thuds resounded from some of the more careless saboteurs, allowing limp bodies to simply fall where they stood.
However, not all of them were as successful as their brethren, a choked cry ringing out through the air as one of the more seasoned guards managed to overpower his underhanded opponent and sound the alarm.
“Legion assassins!” the gruff cry rang out, “We’re under attack!”
Almost immediately, a series of harsh shrieks seemed to reverberate in answer from a short distance away. Several heavy wings could be heard beating at the air with exponentially increasing volume as the fel ravens approached the outpost, discordant screeching tearing through the tense atmosphere like knives of harsh sound. By this point, blaring sound had erupted in the camp – bells jangling with unrelenting fervor. Not that it truly mattered by this point, the attackers had already breached the camp and were no longer making any attempts to veil their actions. An entire squad was surging into the encampment, their more stealthy counterparts having already fled from the scene aside from the few that had been discovered and slaughtered by their targets.
Simultaneously, the prisoner bound within the outpost’s tower was emerging from within and garbing herself in the armaments that had been stripped from her at the time of her capture. Still wounded from her ordeal out at sea and the rough treatment received from her Illidari captors, Zarxes searches the sky for the ravens that she had heard shrieking from afar. As they neared, their riders would become more visible – along with the weapons that they carried. An assortment of explosive devices were fixed to the saddles and there were a variety of other oddities strapped to the harnesses.
By the time these riders arrived however, Zarxes had already disappeared from the scene and the battle itself was about to begin.