Post by Monday
((
Storybook))
Ironbeard and Gorgron crept their way to the doors of Grim Batol, and peered inside. Nothing stirred. Ironbeard frowned. “This isn’t like th’ Hammer. What are they up to…?” he asked. Gorgron shrugged and lifted a hand. Air swirled around them, and slowly they became translucent.
“Let’s go,” he murmured, and started into the mountain. Ironbeard shrugged and followed. The air grew steadily cooler, and Ironbeard grew concerned. “Th’ mountain should be hot from th’ river of lava that th’ Fire Ascendants kept hot. Chloris liked it that way, and I sincerely doubt news of ‘is death could carry that fast.”
Gorgron nodded, frowning. “I don’t feel any particularly uncommon elements working inside. Fire is completely absent, Water almost so. Earth and Air are obviously still in great power here.” He extended a hand, and closed his eyes, feeling vibrations. “In fact, I don’t think there’s anything on this side of the city at all.”
Ironbeard raised an eyebrow. “At all? Something odd is definitely going on. What could cause th’ Hammer to stop working ‘ere?” Having no answer, they proceeded onward. They proceeded out into what is the equivalent of the Great Forge, and stopped, staring. The Forge, which had been put to great use by the Twilight’s Hammer, was completely cool and solid. The anvils and weapons looked fresh, as if forged very recently.
“What’s going on?” asked Gorgron. “They wouldn’t leave weapons as powerful as these lying around…” As they pressed forward, the question was answered. “No…” Gorgorn gasped, seeing a portal, a twin of the one in Ironforge, hovering above the cooled iron. As they watched, a horrible, desiccated, noisome mass exited the portal and started towards them.
The two fell back against the wall as it passed, trying to work out what to do. Ironbeard looked at the shaman, distressed at the Shaman’s anxiety. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“That portal is exactly the same as the one in Ironforge we closed. It doesn’t just lead to the Twisting Nether or some demon planet… but apparently to the Great Dark Below, which means something special.”
Ironbeard’s eyes widened and he made a sign against evil. “Hell… but why ‘ere, and in Ironforge? Both are great mountains, and old dwarven cities, but I can’t think of any special reason why they’d open ‘ere…”
Gorgron shook his head, staring at the portal. “Perhaps the natural darkness? But why here, perhaps the most dangerous place in Azeroth, than some random cave where they could quietly reinforce themselves?”
Ironbeard crept closer to the portal, taking out his rifle and pressing the scope to his eye for a better view. “What’s inside there…” he grunted, peering through. Taking his eye away, he motioned Gorgorn over. “Gorgron! Look at this!” he hissed.
Gorgron took the scope and peered through. “I see… no! It can’t be!” He took his eye away from the scope to stare at Ironbeard. “You burned his body! How is Elsoris back there?”
Ironbeard rolled his eyes. “Come on, Gorgron. The Dark Below is where people go when they die, if they believe in it. Obviously Elsoris believes in it, if ‘e’s in there. The question is… why? The Hammer obviously didn’t open it; otherwise they would have already overrun the Highlands. I bet we find their slaughtered corpses inside the bellies of those beasts, or in the portal.”
Gorgron nodded. “We need to get this information to Korsin and Avery. This stinks of a conspiracy, and I’d like their support in unraveling it.”
The two crept back outside the gates, Gorgron’s aid keeping them hidden, and started toward Thundermar. “We aren’t too far, compared to New Menethil. We can get gryphons there,” Ironbeard assured Gorgron, and soon the town came into sight, and the two proceeded into it.
Black Walker passed through the portal, and was struck immediately by several washes of flame. The plating held, but the front was scorched and warped. “Bloody hell!” yelled Korsin, and a shield of Light manifested itself around the walker.
“Look out!” yelled the priest who cast the shield. “You came through just at the wrong moment! The Hellbringers are pressing right up against the gate!” Korsin leaned out of the walker, and finally realized where they were. “The Caethedral District?” he asked, confused. The priest nodded hurriedly.
“Aye. We’ve lost the Trade District and Old Town to them, but we’ve kept the Mage District and the Cathedral District. We had the Keep yesterday, but lost contact with it.”
Korsin fired at several indistinct shapes just beyond the portcullis to the Cathedral East. “What are they?” he asked.
“A new cult that rose up. They have been opening minor portals all over the city, but luckily there’s several factors, light of both kinds for one, that stop them from opening a large one.”
Avery hopped out of the walker. “Brother Walker?” Avery asked, and the both priests’ faces lit up in joy.
“Brother Avery!” he cried out, grinning and the two embraced. “I didn’t expect to see you again!”
Avery drew away and nodded seriously. “The feeling is mutual, but I think we should focus on the problem at hand.”
Brother Walker nodded. “Aye. The cult is formed mostly of humans and a few elves. They rose out of the Trade District and annihilated it. We’ve been keeping them back, but lost Old Town to them, as I said. They call on darkness and fire, like traditional warlocks, and are opening portals madly, but we don’t recognize any of the demons that are coming through.”
Korsin nodded. “Aye, Walker, that’s because it is to the Great Dark below. We confirmed it in Ironforge. The whole city fell to them.”
Brother Walker looked stricken. “The whole city? These fiends are worse than I thought. One other thing you must be aware of however. They are strong, physically so. They prefer to cast spells, but their arms have mutated, growing huge claws. They can and will rip you apart if they can. The gates are fortified, but I saw the claws shear straight through a Thorium shield today.”
“We’ll be careful,” Korsin assured him, and Avery climbed back inside. “We’ll speak afterwards!” he called, and the walker trundled toward the gate, firing into it as it did so, blowing away several cultists before they turned and ran. The portcullis opened with an ominous creak, and the walker proceeded outside, into darkness…