The Tale of Todeswunch: Pandaria Volume I

Chapter One

Liostuch shook his head, assaulting the deck of the Sea Grub with a shower of raindrops. The Tauren Warrior's fur was covered in armor, but his uncovered head had quickly become soaked.

"Frenzical!" Liostutch yelled to the Forsaken Shadow Priest perched in the crow's nest. The undead kept a lookout, as he yelled orders to the goblin crew that scurried about the sails and riggings of the ship.

Liostutch didn't understand what he was saying. Despite being raised by orcs, and feeling a stronger kinship to his adopted race than his biological one, he retained the Tauren's natural hatred of water, so he had little knowledge of seafaring terms. Still, he suspected that even if he did know them that Frenzical was speaking gibberish. Much of the Priest's brain bad been eaten by maggots and carrion birds before being resurrected as one of the undead, and that had caused the former human to be a little eccentric, and was often lost in a fantasy world. Being placed on a ship like the Sea Grub been fanning an already terrible flame. He had been talking like a pirate for the last three days.

At first it had been confusing to the ship's goblin crew. The ship's owner, designer, builder, and captain, Oller, had instructed the goblins to obey all members of group's guild Todeswunch as they would their captain. The crew had followed up, after spending ten seconds with Frenzical, if that included the crazy Forsaken. Oller had insisted that they were to especially listen to the crazy Forsaken. After all, despite Frenzical's erratic nature, the Undead was an extremely skilled wielder of the Shadow. In fact, Frenzical's eccentricies had often proven invaluable to the guild.

Fortunately, the goblins had adapted and quickly learned when the Forsaken should and should not be taken seriously. Most of the orders they actually listened to came from their Captain, or within their own chain of command.

"FRENZCIAL!" Liostutch called again, straining to be heard over the wind and increasing rain.

"Yar!" Frenzical yelled back, finally acknowledging the waterlogged Tauren.

"Are you sure you're navigating us away from the storm?"

"What?" Frenzical yelled back. "Can't hear you. The storm's too loud."

Liostutch slapped his forehead. The Warrior would lay down his life for the Forsaken, but at times like this he wondered if his skills with the Shadow were worth all the effort it took just to have a conversation with him.

"Just get down here!" Liostutch yelled.

"WHAT?" Frenzical repeated.

Liostutch stomped his foot and pointed down at the deck. Frenzical nodded, and leapt out of the crow's nest to the nearest rigging rope, and began to hop nimbly down the webbing of ropes. Much more nimbly than one would think his rotting limbs would allow.

Liostutch heard a snort to his left. "I told you not to let that idiot navigate," a coarse and dry voice said.

The speaker was Sadjinn, Liostutch's brother. The Tauren leaned non-chalantly against the mast with his arms crossed. Drops of rain froze into snowflakes as they entered his immediate vicinity.

Even though Liostutch and Sadjinn were twins, they looked nothing alike. There was even less resemblance now that Sadjinn was, like Frenzical, a member of the undead. His undeath, was however, of a different nature than Frenzical's. Sadjinn was a Death Knight, and former general of the Lich King. He and Liostutch had been on opposite sides of the war with the Lich King, and had nearly killed each other on several occasions, but after realizing his master's betrayal, Sadjinn had turned, and joined back up with the Horde he had served during life.

Liostutch stared determinedly into the Death's Knight's glowing blue eyes. The Warrior found it hard to believe those had once held the eyes of Tabikub, the noble Warrior struck down by the Lich King just as he was refining his skills.

"Frenzical's instincts had served us well in the past." Liostutch replied. "Jellochic knew that."

"The Warlock also knew when to use those instincts. The Priest does well in his element, true. But sea navigation is not one of them."

Liostuch sighed. He was beginning to think his brother was right. Liostutch had actually been hesitant of giving Frenzical the job from the beginning. But the Priest had assured Liostutch that he had found a route that would get them to their destination several days ahead of schedule. Grapefruit, the guild's most powerful Shaman, had advised against it. She had communed with the spirit of water, and said a storm was brewing right in the middle of Frenzical's planned course. Frenzical had waved the concern away, claiming he could easily navigate around the storm and still not lose any time.

Liostutch remembered the many times the former guild leader Jellochic had trusted Frenzical, and he had thought the Warlock insane, only to be surprised at the results. He only wished to do what he thought his former leader would do.

With all the grace possible for a walking corpse, Frenzical leapt off one final rigging, slid down the mast, bounced off Sadjinn's head, and landed in front of Liostutch.

"What have I told you about doing that?!" Sadjinn yelled.

"Don't stand there then," Frenzical said to Sadjinn, before turning to face Liostutch. "What's up boss?"

Liostutch held his brother's rage off with a quick glance, and asked his question to Frenzical again.

"The rain and the wind have picked up. Are you sure you're guiding us away from the storm?"

"Of course," Frenzical replied. "What makes you think I'm not?"

"Did you not just hear him you moron?" Sadjinn snapped. "The weather is getting worse."

"Of course it is," Frenzical said. "Haven't you ever heard it's always stormier before the calm?"

Liostutch was beginning to feel like unleashing Sadjinn on the priest would be a good idea.

"I'll ignore everything that is wrong with what you just said, because we have other things to worry about." Liostutch said. "I'm beginning to doubt the route you have us on. Where did you get this information to lay this course? These sources you say you had. You're sure they're reliable."

It briefly occurred to Liostutch that he should have asked that question before setting off on this foolhardy course.

"Of course they are. Chewy has never steered me wrong before. Bitey on the other hand…"

Liostutch felt a cold chill go down his spine.

"Excuse me?"

"Chewy," Frenzical repeated. "I know I took a lot of the credit, but I have to admit this was his baby."

Chewy and Bitey - two maggots that lived in a chewed out hole in Frenzical's brain. He kept their hunger satisfied by feeding them rotting animal meat. Frenzical claimed that they talked to him. Most thought this another example of the Priest's insanity, but the guild's druids had used their abilities to commune with nature to actually confirm that the maggots did actually have some way of communicating with their host.

"You idiot!" Liostutch roared in anger.

He lunged forward and grabbed Frenzical by the throat. Sadjinn leaped out of the way as Liostutch slammed the Forsaken against the mast.

"You plotted our course based on advice from a maggot!" Liostutch yelled, increasing the pressure on Frenzical's throat.

"You mad bro?" Frenzical said. "It's not that big a deal. He knows his stuff."

This last comment only caused Liostutch to put even more pressure on Frenzical's throat.

"You know I don't breathe right?" Frenzical said pointing to the gauntleted hand gripping his throat. "Just saying, if that's what you were going for, you're just wasting your effort."

"I can still snap your neck," Liostutch said through gritted teeth.

Frenzical shrugged. "Someone beat ya' too it. Oller leant me some wacky glue he invented. Still got half a tube."

"You're making jokes?" Sadjinn yelled. "You've doomed us all!"

"Well not all of us," Frenzical said. "You and me will be fine Saddy. One of the perks of being dead. We can't drown."

Subconsciously Liostutch reached for the hilt of one of his oversized (even by Tauren standards) axes. However, before he could do something he would only slightly regret, the ship was rocked by an enormous wave. The trio was thrown a couple feet down the deck, causing Liostutch to drop Frenzical. The undead tumbled ungracefully down the deck.

Suddenly a loud scream could be heard overhead. One of the goblin crew, who had been securing a rigging line, had lost his footing from his precarious post. He smacked into a few lines before hitting the ground with a sickening thud. A few more goblins tumbled down the deck, crashing into various objects.

Of the three Todeswunch members, Frenzical was the first to his feet.

"Damn, maybe maggots aren't the best navigators after all."

Liostutch moved to charge the undead, but was stopped by a cold hand on his shoulder.

"As much as I would enjoy seeing you cleave this idiot in two," the Death Knight said. "There are more pressing matters."

Liostutch relaxed slightly. "You're right. We need to gather the guild. I'll find Oller and see if he can turn this thing around. Sadjinn, find Grapefruit, she controls the elements; maybe she can redirect the storm. Frenzical, wake Pixie up, those goblins are going to need healing."

"Pixie," was Serdepixie, the guild's resident Holy Priest, and one of the only ones aboard the ship with advanced healing skills.

"There's no need for that," Frenzical said. "Their injuries don't look that bad. I've sure had worse. I may not be as skilled with the Light as I used to be, but I still have some rudimentary healing skills."

Liostutch gave Frenzical a cold look. "I said find Pixie! Right now I don't trust anything you can do at a rudimentary level."

If Frenzical was stung by the comment he hid it well.

"Jeez, alright already, but I'm telling her you were the one who woke her up."

Without another word, Frenzical took off to fetch Serendipixie from her quarters. Sadjinn just gave his brother a nod before going off to fetch the guild's shaman. Liostuch in the meantime took off to the ship's control room.

The Sea Grub – named by Frenzical, who named most things in the guild – was unlike most seafaring ships. It had been designed by Oller, an engineer and tinkerer, not a ship maker, and was controlled from a variety of gadgets in a control room, rather than a wheel on the deck. Usually the ship was powered by some sort of explosive Goblin fluid, but they had had difficulties with the engine over the last couple days, and had been forced to rely on the ships sails and the wind. Fortunately when you had a Shaman on board the winds could be very cooperative.

Liostutch stepped into the control room, where Oller stood over a clanging and hissing console. He kept banging on it with the butt of his gun and cursing. With the ship's engines out, the dozen or so goblins that normally buzzed about in the control room had been cut in half. But there was still a flurry of activity. Goblins that were left fiddled with switches dials and wheels, which Liostutch, which Liostutch knew were used for navigation and predicting weather patterns. Amidst all the chaos, Oller's dog Hel rested comfortably as if nothing was abnormal was going on.

"Stupid piece of junk, I didn't design ya' like this." Oller yelled.

"Oller," Liostutch said approaching the captain. "We have a problem."

"Ah Lio," Liostuch said turning to face his companion. "Was wonderin' when ya'd show up."

Despite the direness of the situation, Liostutch couldn't help but smile, hearing that country accent come from the mouth of Oller's race never failed to amuse him. Unlike the rest of the crew, Oller was an Orc, and unlike the rest of his race, this orc had an affinity for engineering. This meant he had a tendency to surround himself with goblins rather than other orcs. The guild turned to the Hunter when they needed anything regarding machinery.

"We need you to turn this tu- ship around," Liostutch said, catching himself before referring to Oller's ship as "tub." For an orc Oller was incredibly calm, but speak ill of his beloved inventions and you could easily unleash his race's trademark bloodlust. "Frenzical's route was garbage."

Oller snorted. "I figured that out yesterday," Oller said. "I wouldn't be much of a Captain if I didn't. 'Sides, what d'ya think all these instruments are for? Shinin' my rifle? We've been on a new course fer the last twelve hours."

Liostutch smiled. He was too relieved to be angry at Oller for not telling him about the course change. Still, that didn't explain why the storm was getting worse.

"There's something else isn't there?" Liostutch asked.

"Isn't there always," Oller replied. "That mist we sailed into a couple days ago. I think there was something unnatural about it. It may have been what knocked out our engines."

Liostutch considered this. He remembered entering that strange fog. Grapefruit had said that she felt uneasy about the mists, but Liostutch had written it off. The Warrior's adoptive father had been a shaman, and it seemed they were always uneasy about something.

Oller went on. "It also caused our navigation system ter malfunction. Subtly too, didn't notice they were off 'till recently. The new course I set to correct Frenzical's actually pointed us towards the storm not away from it."

"So you're saying I might owe Frenzical an apology?"

"Wouldn't go that far friend," Oller said. "His course would have sent us into the storm too, the mists just made the situation worse."

"So can you turn this thing around or not?" Liostutch asked.

"Been trying to," Oller answered. "But with the engines out we're relyin' on the sails, and sails rely on the wind, and the win ain't cooperating with us. In fact -" Oller stopped, as if he was ashamed of what he had just been thinking.

"Go on," Liostutch said.

Oller was hesitant, but he continued. "The crew, they're reporting that whenever they adjust the sails in one direction, the wind shifts to send us exactly where we don't want to go. It's almost as if – well as if the winds are literally pushing us into the storm."

"Dat be exactly wat be 'appenin'," a voice in a heavy troll accent said.

At that moment, Sadjinn with Grapefruit, a female troll shaman, stepped into the room.

Oller sighed. "Not this again. Yer timing is spot on as always Troll. You never miss a chance to argue with me do ya'?"

"It be as I told ya' orc," Grapefruit said, her tusks framing her frown perfectly. "Da' spirits dey be angry."

"It's weather!" Oller snapped. "It doesn't have emotions. It acts based on patterns." Oller tapped one of his consoles. "Patterns I can predict."

"You still be doubtin' da spirit a da elements' existence? Even do you be witnessing wat dey be doin' with your own eyes."

"I didn't say I doubted their existence missy," Oller said. "I've seen you strike down enough Alliance with lightning bolts and fire to know they exist. I'm just saying I can tell what the elements are going to be doing. For someone who commands them as a weapon you'd think you'd understand that."

"I be commanding nutin' mon!" Grapefruit yelled. "An' you be understandin' nutin'."

"Enough!" Liostutch yelled. "You can have your science versus faith debate later. Right now we have a situation to deal with. Grapefruit, we need to get out of this storm, and the sails aren't cutting it. Do you think you could summon up a gust of wind and get us away from the storm? Or better yet, ask the storm to get out of our way."

Grapefruit let out a burst of laughter. "I be tinkin' ya shuld be knowin' better than dat. As I be sayin', I be commandin' nutin'. When I need da help of da' elements, I be askin'. And if they be willin', dey be grantin'. No storm be gettin' outta da' way o'a bunch of mortals. No matter 'ow polite I be askin'. You bein' a son a one of da' 'orde's great shaman's mon. You be knowin' dis."

"That's not what, I meant," Liostutch said. "Can't you do something?"

"I be tryin' dat already. Da spirits a water an' wind be angry. Dey warn me ta' stay outta dese waters, 'cause they be conjurin' up a storm tonight. We ignore 'dem, so we be on our own."

Oller snorted a response. "If we're on our own, why are they pushing us towards the storm, instead of just letting us find our own way out?"

"Da spirits, dey don't be caring for arrogance. An' you orc –"

"Don't, Grapefruit," Liostutch said. "Just don't."

At that moment, Frenzical and Serendepixie burst into the room, the last of the Todeswunch members currently aboard the Sea Grub.

"What's going on? I thought you figured this thing out," Serendipixie said, looking at Oller.

Pixie was in stark contrast to the rest of the guild, as were most members of her race compared to the other races the Horde. The Blood Elf priest, unlike the gruff looking Taurens, Orc, Forsaken, and Troll in the group was fair and beautiful. Her skin was a light shade of pink, with blonde hair tied back, and held in an updo. She wore shimmering maroon coloured robes, which somehow never managed to become soiled, and emblazoned with the crest of Silvermoon. Liostutch knew little of the Light, but he guessed that the Blood Elf's talent with it had little to do with this cleanlieness.

Liostutch considered what the Blood Elf had just said, and quickly put two and two together.

"You told her about the course change, and not me?" Liostutch said.

Oller shrugged. "I wanted a second opinion. And Pixie knows Frenzical better than anyone. As for you, you seemed confident in Frenzical's abilities. And I knew you would inevitably tell me to stay on Frenzical's course. Think about it. Do you honestly think I made the wrong decision?"

Liostutch sighed, and said nothing. Of course he didn't. Still, it stung that now four of the five guild-mates on this trip with him had been against his decision. Not only that, two of them had actively gone against it.

Liostutch exchanged a look with Serendipixie, and suddenly noticed how pale she looked. He quickly forgot about his leadership insecurities, and moved on to another concern.

"The goblins? Are they alright?" Liostutch started.

Serendipixie, smiled a warm smile. "They're fine. It takes more than a being knocked around a bit to kill a goblin."

"And how about you? It looks like you used a lot of energy."

Pixie shrugged. "There were a lot of them. Don't worry, I'm fine. Remember Icecrown Citadel? I healed you through worse injuries than that."

Liostutch only had a moment to exchange smiles with Pixie before one of the consoles red lights lit up and began screeching.

"Sir," one of the goblins manning the console said. "We have a breach. Water is pouring in!"

Oller turned to the goblin. "Where?"

"The lower decks. The stables to be exact." The goblin replied.

Liostutch's eyes went wide.

"The mounts!" he yelled. "George!"

George - Liostutch's raptor mount. Most of the guild members had brought along loaner mounts, but Liostutch had a special bond with his oversized raptor mount, and he couldn't bear to leave him behind. George had been with him since he was a fledgling Warrior exploring Azeroth for the first time.

"Go," Oller said. "I'll handle the control room. I'll send a team after you to see if we can repair that breach.

Liostutch and Pixie exchanged a look, and took off together. Pixie had a side gig of raising mounts, and most of the loaner mounts belonged to her. She felt connected to each of them.

The pair tore through the deck, fighting off the elements, which had only gotten worse since entering the control room, and ran down the stairs to the lower decks. The stables would be in one of the lowest levels, but at the speed they were going it only took a few moments for them to reach the stables.

There was already a foot of water pouring in from a hole on the far side of the stables, and most of the mounts were panicking. Only George, an enormous black raptor – large enough to carry a fully grown male Tauren for hours without tiring - and Jennessa, Pixie's own maroon feathered Hawkstrider mount, remained calm.

Liostutch wasted no time. He reached George's stable, and opened the door. The raptor was still perfectly calm. He was no fool though, he understood the danger, but he also trusted his master to lead him to safety.

George needed no lead, not that there would have been time to put one on. He simply trotted out of his stable at Liostutch's command. Jennessa had done the same for Pixie. So skilled with a mount was the Blood Elf that she was already atop her Hawkstrider and herding the other mounts up the stairs. There was no room for Liostutch to mount George, so the Black raptor simply followed the Tauren.

Just as Pixie had finished herding the last of the mounts up the stairs, George froze. His head darted to the right side of the stables. Seconds later there was an enormous crashing sound as a giantic piece of rock shot through the side of the stables. It was gone moments later as the ship moved forward, but it left behind a massive hole. In an instant, a rush of water swept Serendipixie and her mount away.

"Pixie!" Liostutch yelled, reaching his hand out in vain.

He began to run towards the water, but the Blood Elf was nowhere in sight. Before Liostutch could take another step, George had leapt over his head, and began to snap at him. He was attempting to herd Liostutch back.

Another breach! Then, a wall of water punched a hole in the opposite wall, and another wall of water wave poured into the stables. Both the raptor and the Tauren were swept into the sea.

Liostutch flailed about in open water. His natural instincts were to panic, but the Warrior had been in too many battles to let panic overtake him. He desperately tried to figure out which way was up, but just as he thought he had it, the water would push him in another direction and he was lost again.

Liostutch opened his eyes for a moment, and he could feel his heart stop. He saw Jennessa flailing, her talons gripping her mistress with all her might. Serendipixie was limp, her body eerily still. That was the last thing Liostutch saw before he slammed into something hard he slipped into unconsciousness.