Ch.4: One night in Ravencourt

The heroes materialised in Ravencourt, outside the usual arena. It was a tiny village, overlooked by the biggest, most extravagant mansion and estate that the heroes had ever seen. Whoever had built the mansion had clearly had no shortage of skill. Materials were ingeniously used as both decoration and structure, with elaborately carved stone ravens adorning the roof. The building had been made in a darker colour scheme, using slate as a major feature, and the expansive garden was reminiscent of the designs seen in Ravencourt's area, but hundreds of tiny black and purple flowers were lined perfectly straight along the edge of the path.

A stick-thin man in a dark business suit walked up the path towards the heroes. He held himself with clear pride, and carried a cane topped with a small silver raven. His jet-black hair was oiled and swept back, and his eyes seemed only to analyse coldly. There was no doubt between anyone. This was the raven lord.

"Good evening, heroes, and welcome to Ravencourt." He said it like he was a king hosting a meal, rather than addressing a team with enough power to flatten a mountain. "I'll be skipping the formalities and introductions for your visit to Ravencourt, and questions will not be asked or answered at the end. Any objections? No? Good." He gestured to the sky, which was just on the brink of sunset.

"Now, the reason for my haste is that it is currently six o' clock. At Eight, Ravencourt will be attacked by the same otherworldly forces that threatened your realm. I can fend them off easily, and alone. Even my villagers are perfectly capable of taking an axe to their foes. The problem is that these foes are much more powerful when freshly summoned, and I cannot track down and destroy the sources they appear from. I am tasking you with ending the siege of Ravencourt. They will cease to be summoned, and their entry points will close at precisely midnight, when I am strongest. If you can successfully destroy all their points of entry, I can seal them out of this realm. You have two hours to organise yourselves. And most importantly; Return to my mansion by midnight or my seal will trap you within the realm. Now, get to work." There was a slight breeze before the Raven lord was replaced by an actual Raven, which flew into the mansion through the window.

"Rude." Said Kael'thas.

Sonya turned and looked over the village. "We should hurry. Time is short. We must be ready to go. Chen, you're with me. And I need another three people to fight at my best." The panda in question simply nodded, and adjusted his hat.

"We ought to spread ourselves out, in at least five groups. As long as each of them has a healer, we'll be very difficult to bring down." Rexxar pointed out.

Nazeebo spoke up as they began to walk towards the village "It would be a wise decision to group those who have strong bonds together. Anyone will fight harder in the presence of a loved one. Although, I see that many of you have already grouped with your significant others" He looked to Brightwing, who was guiding Dehaka along, and Tychus who was sitting on the front of Hammer's tank, grinning like a fool. A little behind, Chromie was being given a lift by Rehgar and Tracer was talking to Tassadar as they walked. Falstad glided overhead with Li-ming riding with him.

They arrived at the town shortly, and promptly split up. The strategy Tyrande had proposed was simple, and all the more effective due to that. Tassadar and Brightwing were to cast their area reveals as often as possible to find the entry points in complex areas such as forests, and the rest of the group were to sweep the open areas. There was a large clock tower visible in the centre of the village, and the heroes looked upon it from afar as it slowly ticked to…


8:00

The sky darkened in a matter of seconds, not unlike the curse the realm's lord often used. Lightning crackled through the clear sky, without any cloud to have sprung from. In some fields to the south of the village, a group of heroes comprising Chen, Sonya, Valla, Illidan, Artanis, Zeratul and Malfurion were the first to see a portal form. Grass was ripped from the ground by an invisible force, and the leaves from a nearby tree soon joined the swirling green mess, which spat out a warrior that was shaped identically to the snow fighters from Anchor, but this time was a body of grass and hay, plated in bark and armed with an oaken club. Malfurion was less than amused.

"Wretched force. You dare disrespect the natural orders to this extent?" He called down Moonfire to burn it, and was moderately surprised to see that it was only weakened, not dead.

Illidan flipped over Malfurion and lunged for the figure, cutting it neatly in two. "Brother, do not forget they are stronger when freshly summoned. Now, how do we destroy the rift?" He swung at it with his glaive, but it simply passed through the leaves and grass, which kept swirling.

Sonya slammed it with her blades. Malfurion tried to counter-control it. Zeratul froze it in time briefly. Finally, Chen burned it, which succeeded in making everything smell like brew, and did actually stop it from doing anything else. "I think that we must destroy the objects they use, hm?" He said to the rest of the group.


Brightwing, Dehaka, Falstad, ETC, Li-ming and from a very far distance, Abathur started in the heart of the forest. Dehaka burrowed out into a hill that made a great vantage point, and was warped to by Brightwing, showing them everything in the surrounding area. Falstad soared over , while Li-ming peered down over the edge of the gryphon. She couldn't see anything resembling a portal, but she could see a few of the strange summoned warriors advancing towards the town. They descended to the altitude of the rest of the group, and pointed towards the enemy team with a shout of "This way!"

These warriors were plated in bark just like the ones encountered by the other group, but had bodies made of mosses and larger leaves as a result of the environment. Li-ming dived straight in to blow them up with arcane orbs, as per usual, and was very surprised to find that she couldn't achieve Critical Mass against them. The clubs, while having dulled impacts, were still very painful weapons to get whacked by, and Li-ming was on the verge of getting overwhelmed when the rest of the group caught up to her reckless dive, and lent a hand. Dehaka was a very welcome wall of muscle and armour that the clubs just couldn't do meaningful damage to, Brightwing drove back the immediate attackers with her own arcane magic, and Falstad didn't even hesitate to use the Hinterland blast. The trees were blasted away in a line almost a hundred metres long, and the attackers reduced to a charred lump.

"Hah, sorry for the overkill there! But I'm not just going to stay back and let you get hurt." Falstad called to a rapidly recovering Li-ming.

Li-ming brushed a non-existent bit of dirt off her shoulder. "I'm happy that you care so much. Don't apologize for wiping out their entire team." She peered ahead, seeing another enemy come out of the brush. "There! Everyone, come with me!" She let Dehaka lead this time, and they charged up to the clearing. There was a swirling mass, nearly identical to the one the other team had found.

Brightwing was somewhat agitated by it. "This..! Is very bad! We should destroy it, friends." Unlike the other team, they were able to quickly disable it, as the first thing to be used against it was an exploding hammer.

At the town, there was a much smaller team. Chromie, Hammer, Azmodan and Abathur were stationed around the town, and were preparing to defend it with their much longer ranges. The residents had been very pleased to know that the forces attacking them would be weakened, but had still deployed their guards in case. Hammer was the primary defender. Her cannon never missed, reducing wave after wave of incoming warriors to dust. Azmodan was the second line of defence. Every few seconds, he threw a globe of annihilation into the patches of invaders with the highest concentration. Even though it was rarely enough to wipe them out alone, the shots he occasionally empowered with Black Pool were enough to instantly destroy anything. Chromie and Abathur were the lookout and the group's support. Chromie set traps at the entrances, to buy a precious few seconds if they were overrun, and Abathur was boosting the tank's rate of fire with symbiote. They were maintaining a nearly perfect circle around the village.


9:00

Tassadar's team was having the hardest time. Tassadar had located and wiped out two portals with ease, the groups of foes burning down instantly courtesy of Kael'thas. Muradin was a much more literal wall against anything that didn't get one-strike destroyed by Kael. And Morales was never more than a metre away from her spouse, her healing beam only switching target if Tracer was particularly unlucky and got hit by enough enemies to break the shields Tassadar heaped upon her. But despite their amazing start, they'd run across a problem seriously slowing their progress. There was a small mountain at the back of the forest, and a rift had appeared on top of it. Unlike the previous ones, made of snow or plants which were simple enough to deal with, this one spat out several warriors made of stone, plated in raw iron. They carried axes, and were at full power, having just been summoned. They shrugged off a flamestrike, and actually did some damage to Muradin. The only weapons that were really making a dent in them were Tracer's pulse pistols, but the basic attacks of the other heroes made notably more impact for effort than spells.

Sylvanas worked out what their style was first. "They're resistant to magic!" She yelled, peppering one with withering fire. "We need someone that doesn't rely on mana!"

"Allow me to summon the appropriate allies." Tassadar's eyes dimmed as he briefly entered a state of meditation 'Zagara… Illidan… and Tychus. Your aid is required.' The message flickered throughout the realm, heard by many, the targets included. "Now…" He said, turning his attention to the growing number of warriors that were trying to push past Muradin. "It's time I contributed. ARCHON!" His body grew to double size, as sleek grey armour protected him alongside a powerful shield. Psionic power crackled in his hands, as he unleashed some real damage upon his foes.

The battle was largely even. With the knowledge that this type of warrior was resistant to magic, the heroes weren't wasting their power on barely-effective attacks, and were focusing on utility moves. However, Morales' suit couldn't hold the healing beam forever. It eventually flickered out, and then Muradin had little choice but to start backing off, as the warriors pushed in.

And suddenly, help arrived. Zagara emerged from the bushes, spitting acid and spikes, and Illidan flew in with his ultimate technique. Tychus pulled up in a vulture a minute later, and the tide of battle shifted dramatically. Illidan's glaives were able to cut huge gashes into the armour of the enemy, and he was as difficult to land a hit on as the wind itself. Zagara provided forces that allowed Muradin to step back without fear of exposing his team. And Tychus's minigun was in a class of its own. It mowed through the durable statues like they were little more than plaster, and the mining drill that had been dispatched certainly didn't hurt his chances, being explicitly designed for rock cutting. They cut a path to the rift in mere minutes.

"Loves, we need to take out this thing!" Tracer flipped over the head of a statue, firing her guns at the vortex. Their effect was negligible, but served as a pointer for Tassadar.

"We need some kind of weapon designed to destroy stone." He stated, zapping another statue into gravel. "Wait, I have a plan. I need a minute, guard me." He dropped out of Archon mode, re-entering meditation. 'Sergeant Hammer. We require your help. You must use your special gun to destroy a target. I will make it visible now.' His eyes glowed once more, as he thrust a hand into the air and projected a beam of light to the skies.


11:00

Hammer could see the beacon clearly, and zoomed in on the faraway fight with the tank's cameras. She could see the rift, illuminated by Tassadar's psionics. She didn't say a thing, but she flipped open a large red button with a smile. After a few seconds, she broke the silence with her trademark shout of "Time for the Big Guns!" And the BFG missile rocketed out of the internal cannon. She looked back to the camera screen, watching as it travelled.

Malfuion looked up to see the missile rush past overhead. He frowned a little, but knew it was for a good cause. Zeratul and Artanis nodded approvingly.

Brightwing turned to see the behemoth of white-hot metal roar over the party. "Pretty!" She chirped.

And Tassadar could sense it coming, and projected a thought to the nearby heroes at full volume. "GET DOWN!" Everyone wasted no time in hitting the floor, as the rocket slammed into the rift and blew it to pieces. The missile wasn't even stopped by this, and kept on going into the horizon.


11:30

The groups had pulled back quickly once it was clear that there were no other rifts. The task had been completed without a hitch, and the town guard hadn't needed to lift a finger. The heroes had wasted no time returning to the mansion.

Raynor was talking to Diablo "You know… I'm kinda surprised that it was so easy to convince you and your subordinates to join us so easily. I'd sort of expect you'd side with those things, being the literal embodiment of evil and all. And I know you've actually sided with us, the angels can sense lies."

"Well, I would love to rip your soul out and crush your forces, but evil does not equate to idiot. I'm not going to be able to defeat all your allies by raw force with the limiting powers of this place. And I will not allow my reputation and might to be upstaged by some pathetic statues" Diablo responded.

The group walked on.

They were somewhat surprised to find the Raven Lord waiting for them at the gates, cane in hand. He gestured his hand to the left, and the gates swung open, moved by enchantment.

"Welcome back, heroes. Congratulations on your little victory, but there is much more to be done. The other realms are still under threat from these irritating pests." He said in a somewhat pleased drawl "I will begin to seal my realm against further attacks now, but before that, I'll send you on your way. Come to the courtyard."

The heroes walked after him in a group, coming to the same place they had arrived. However, pale blue runes now glowed softly around the edges of the garden. The raven lord turned to face the party. "Now… I'll see you, hmm… Never again personally, I should hope!" The runes crackled. And the heroes were flung through the dimensions.

Author's notes: It always bothered me that despite it being given as the justification that HotS has no plot, there is actually no fanfiction about Raynor meeting Diablo.

Tinh: You don't need to apologize for being excited, I'm flattered that you like it so much.

Lucario: Yes, but you won't be learning anything beyond that for quite a few chapters, hehe. I'm acutely aware of the Mary-sue trap, and I will be avoiding it like the plague.

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