Warning- this is Cataclysm content. Specifically the intro to Vashj'ir. Which is epic.
I don't own WoW or WoW beta content. That's all blizz.
Into the deeps
She was sitting on a barrel nestled into a corner of the deck, legs crossed, one slender hand drumming her fingers back and forth on her knee, the other holding her chin, elbow resting on her plated thigh. Her grey-green eyes stared out off the side of the ship, wide and unseeing as she mentally counted the minutes.
Katria never was a fan of boats.
Sighing, she closed her eyes for a moment, releasing her chin to flick hair from her face before settling back in her original position. The boat was swaying easily, a rocking motion she had only gotten used to in the last few days of this Light-forsaken trip. Of course, she thought, glancing sideways at the still puking orc, some were not so fortunate.
But when Hellscream wanted you somewhere, you don't just tell him you have no sea legs. Not if you want to keep said legs.
It wouldn't matter for much longer. She would arrive at the island, and there would be fighting, and she would be right as rain in no time. In fact… she sat up, peering into the distance. Was that the island?
"All hands on deck!" she heard the captain bark from above her seat, and she unfolded her legs, leaping onto her feet gracefully. With a last pitying look at the orc, she stepped closer to the railing, holding a rope so she could better lean out and inspect her new battlefield.
She immediately frowned, and called her wyvern from the upper decks. Her tiger, Zauliu, yawned and came as well, his orange coat gleaming from this morning's groom. She pat him on the head, tugging an ear playfully before tightening the helm of her wyvern. Having heard it referred to as 'island' she assumed there was some mass of land to be had, not some skinny length of shore that she could barely make out.
Before she could even get a foot in the stirrup, she jumped at the captains booming voice, "Man overboard! Prepare to come up alongside em!"
Katria whipped around, catching sight of some screaming goblins waving at them from an overturned ship to- to go away?
Then they came.
Long, slimy tendrils from the ocean sprang up, writhing and dripping water onto the deck. The captain was yelling battle commands, the officer in charge of their battalion was screaming for his armor, and most of the crew was preparing to abandon ship. Katria turned and forcefully commanded Zauliu to swim for shore before pulling out her sword and slicing into the nearest tendril. It curled in on itself, shaking for a moment before snapping back out. It tore down a mast, forcing Katria's wyvern to take flight and for the warrior herself to roll away from falling debris. She thudded on the deck, wincing for a second before dragging herself to her feet.
Her sword cut out again, nipping off the entire last ten feet of a tendril. It thudded lifelessly next to her on the deck, spraying her with slime even as the remaining part smashed the railing off. She threw up an arm to shield her face, swearing as a shard dug into her forearm.
"Teryga!" she called, trying to find her wyvern in the sky, but the fallen mast was blocking her sight. She pulling the wood from her arm, grimacing at the hole in her armor, and turned to find her next victim.
Even as she raised her weapon, she saw the shadow fall over her from behind. She faltered for a moment, eyes widening, and then she was on her face, one of the worm like arms dragging her across the deck. She screamed, flailing in its hold, eyes searching for another warrior, but it was only then that she realized she was alone on the boat. Gasping as it tightened its hold and brought her into the air, she shoved at the flesh at her waist, mind on her hip dagger.
It swung her around in a dizzying movement, the suction cups of its underbelly burning her flesh where they touched. The horizon spun wildly, her bangs whipped her face, she barely caught sight of Teryga clawing at her captor before she was plunged into the icy depths.
Miraculously, it released her, and she could almost make out the size of the kraken before the kelp leaves blocked her view and she realized she was sinking, fast. Her mind racing, she struggled to hold her breath as she fumbled with her armor straps. She got two of them loosened when a piece of cast iron struck her. Losing control, she screamed, back arching in pain even as blackness came up to consume her, water rushed down her throat, and she sunk limply further into the forest of kelp.
But before she passed out completely, she saw a shimmering bubble and a warped figure swimming towards her. She hoped it wasn't an alliance, come to claim her head for reward.
"Wake her up- Hellscreams tusk we don't have time to wait on her beauty sleep!"
Katria rolled, eyes still closed, pulling her hip dagger and leaping onto the snarling voice. She blinked for a moment at the growling orc before raising a brow, knife still pressed into the soft flesh under his jaw.
"Sundragon, calm,"
The skin by her nose tightened, bringing up her lip into a silent growl. She was still trying to wake up, and until she knew exactly where she was and what happened, she wasn't going to move from her current threat.
"We are under the ocean. Now please, calm."
She finally took her eyes from the orc, turning to the broken standing just behind her, hand outstretched as if to touch her, but he hadn't. Slowly processing what he said, she stood, looking around. Sure enough, she was standing on the ceiling of an overturned boat. Breathing slowly, she looked back at the shaman.
"How do I get out."
He huffed, tentacles twitching. "You don't. We need to-"
The orc had stood behind her, but when he tried to shove past Katria, she spun into a crouch and knocked his legs out from under him. While he was stunned, she thrust her knife back against his throat.
"I'll ask again," she growled, pressing until a thin line of red ran down her blade, "How, do I, get out."
"You need to gather materials for me," he replied, not even glancing at the downed orc. "If you bring me some starfish and a shell, I can cast a spell to give you water breathing and easier movement through the ocean."
She nodded, and began to stand. When the orc moved to rise, she landed a plated boot on his chest.
"How long have you been down here?"
"I brought you here not 5 hours ago."
Her eyes narrowed. "How long have you been down here."
"Too long."
Releasing the orc, she walked over to a crate and noticed the large group of half drowned orcs sprawled over the floor. Some looked like they had gotten injured beyond the lack of air.
"Can you heal them?" she asked, not even looking up as she unbuckled her shoulder armor.
"My magic only reaches so far."
Stripped to her tabard and side dagger, she turned to the opening that lead to the ocean, taking deep breaths. "Any idea how far these things are?"
They didn't answer her, so she popped her knuckles and dove in.
The water was blissfully clear. She was able to slit her eyes open and navigate to the seafloor with ease, which was where she found a cluster of the star fish. Jamming her knife around their edges, she tore them from the rock face and pushed off, heading back to the ship.
"Is this enough?" she gasped, dropping the fish at his feet. He knelt, separating them and prodding at the smaller ones.
"Not quite."
The second time she went down she developed a headache, which only made her heart beat faster, using her oxygen quicker. With another handful of starfish, and a large shiny shell, she turned to swim back to the boat when a shadow fell over her.
Katria peered up, and tried to not shout. Four naga were gliding through the water overheard. They came across a still struggling orc and speared him, dragging him along through his death throws.
She nearly catapulted herself into the boat, spluttering and coughing up saltwater. "Make it happen, broken. *hack* There are naga patrolling the waters."
It was the orc next to them who roared. "Naga! Magtheridon's claw-"
"We will have to gather our forces," the broken calmly cut through, his shamanistic trinkets glowing as he prepared the spell.
Katria grimaced, knowing she was going to have to lead the attack.
She hated water.
"Hold them back!" the orc leader shouted through the water. She still had no idea what his name was, but every time he opened his mouth she wanted to retort with a snarky response. "Show them the might of Hellscream!"
Katria bristled, sneering even as she swept her blade into another naga. Her clan still had its hackles up in response to the new- the temporary- warcheif. And it didn't help her temper at the moment that they were fast becoming outnumbered.
"Orc!" she cried, swimming under the boat, "They are too many, orc! We can't hold them!"
Even as she spoke, she saw the only sensible one there, the shaman, get swept up by a grinning naga. They disappeared into the kelp before she could so much as try to swim forward. Instead she watched, hidden under the boat, as each of their warriors were carted off to who knows where.
Then she herself was slammed into, knocking her blade from her hands. She growled, pulling back and smashing him across his slimy face, but his grip was vice like.
They came out the other side of the kelp forest, near a deep crevasse in the ocean floor. The naga pulled up in shock, and she tumbled from his hold as her broken/shaman friend blasted him with lightening.
"I'm getting tired," she snapped when an orc helped her over to their new hold, "of getting dragged around in this ocean."
"Have a seahorse," a female tauren said, and handed her the reigns. She glared, but took them anyway.
"You don't pick the adventure, the adventure picks you," and she frowned.
If the ending seems random, it's because that quest chain was random. You get kidnapped by a naga, they kill the naga, and this tauren is like "You wanna seahorsie? They cooool"