I write this chapter in honor of E. Gary Gygax, who sadly passed away March 4, 2008. May this god of RPG's kick monster ass in heaven.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Thanks for reviewing:
Tsar()
Tipry
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Wake up, night elf."
Legionair opened his eyes to see the ruffian that tortured the people in the cells. Legionair was in a cramped cell that shared sides with two other night elf prisoners. A mere cot and toilet was his furnishing. Legionair was currently lying against the wall, resting.
"We're almost at our headquarters in Stranglethorn Vale," Ruffian said. "If you act strong, they might send you to an internment camp further north."
Legionair decided to tousle him a little. "Shove it, jerk."
"I'm hurt," Ruffian replied. "I guess you'll have to skip lunch today." With that, the human ruffian walked away.
"It might be a good idea not to ruffle them anymore, man," the night elf on the right whispered. "After all, we are prisoners."
"Considering where we're going and what they're going to make us do, he had justification to do so," the night elf on the left replied.
"How the hell did I let this happen to myself?" Legionair muttered to himself, shutting his eyes.
"It's your fault for letting yourself get captured," the left night elf said.
Legionair glared at the night elf. "It wasn't intentional," he said.
"Then how'd it happen?" the right one asked.
Legionair glared at the right one. Sighing, he said, "You won't believe me."
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Legionair shot another arrow into the target board. The mana he infused into the arrow cracked it in half, leaving his arrow unscathed.
Brom and Verne stared at him. For an hour, Legionair had been practicing his bowmanship. He sometimes put mana into his bow, but the force he drew the string back cracked every target board. Legionair was on his hundredth board.
"He really needs to cool down," Verne said.
"No kidding," Brom replied. "Too bad there isn't anything he can go and kill. That calms me down."
"Talk like that and your going to jinx the whole town," Verne said.
Brom looked out to sea. "Speak of the devil."
Verne looked over his shoulder. It looked like a small armada of pirate ships closing in.
"You have the devils tongue of misdeeds, Verne," Brom said.
"Oops," Verne responded.
"It looks like that time again," a villager said. The common villager was an odd troll dwarf. "If you get inside a building, they won't notice you."
"Who?" Brom asked.
"Every week, they send some pirate scouts over to collect some slaves," the villager explained. "We managed to make a deal with them. If we don't oppose them, they leave all people in houses alone."
"How long has this been going on?" Verne said, half shouting.
"About a month," the villager said. He walked off.
Brom went to Legionair. "We need to get inside," he said.
"I'm not done," Legionair said flatly, splitting another board.
"Legionair-"
Legionair glared daggers at Brom. "I'm not done."
Brom shuddered from the stare. "Fine, we'll stay." He sat back down near Verne.
"What is wrong with him?!" Verne shouted. "He's acting like he hates everyone!"
One of the ships had landed. A band of pirate's came out, swords ready. They all had common pirate grunt clothing, with simple leather armor. They didn't seem very strong.
As the group looked in alleyways, probably looking for slaves, a set of seven or eight spotted Legionair practicing. They looked like they were bloodthirsty as they went to him.
"Well, well. It looks like a night elf didn't get the message," one said. "We'll have to show him his fault."
"I'm busy," Legionair said, really flatly.
"Sorry," the same one responded. "It's the law." He grabbed Legionair's shoulder.
In one swift move, Legionair nocked an arrow, pulled it back, and pointed the tip at the man's neck.
"I said I was busy," Legionair said. For a brief second, Brom could have sworn Legionair's eyes were red.
Another pirate went to Legionair's side. "You'll regret doing that, elf." He drew his sword.
Two seconds later, his head was rolling on the ground as his body crumpled to the ground. The arrow that Legionair had nocked was now in the side of the building, blood coating the tip.
"Bastard!" the first pirate shouted, drawing his sword. With wicked speed, Legionair shot another arrow through his throat.
As the rest came for him, Brom threw a dagger at one's back while Verne blasted two other's to ashes. Legionair pulled his dagger and cut through the next one's torso.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"For some reason, I don't remember anymore," Legionair explained. "To my understanding, the boss somehow cast a spell to black me out."
"Yeah, right," the night elf on the right said.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Legionair shot back.
"It's obvious why you blacked out," she said. "You're clearly possessed."
"I am not!" Legionair shouted, standing up.
"Yes you are."
"Am not!"
"Are too."
Legionair punched the bar. "Am not!!"
All three night elves stared at the bar Legionair punched. It had bent with the outline of Legionair's fist. Legionair's fist didn't have a scratch.
"Are too," the night elf said again.
Legionair, shocked, pulled his hand back. "Maybe," he responded.
"Well, I don't plan on staying near a possessed night elf," the one on the left said, standing up. "I'm leaving."
"If you got some secret plan, can you take me with you?" the right night elf asked.
"I'll even bring the possessed one if he gives me the knife in his boot," the left one responded.
Legionair crossed his arms. "Why would I help someone who calls me a possessed being and who's name I don't know?"
The night elf sighed. "The name's Mevan."
"Priestess Phoebe, high ranking priestess of Rutheran Village," Phoebe chimed in. "Now please give him what he wants. Please."
Legionair glared. "Only if he takes back the possession calling."
"No problem, freakazoid," Mevan said.
Legionair reluctantly handed over the dagger. Mevan shoved it into the keyhole. The door opened with a creak. Mevan extracted the dagger and did the same thing with Legionair's and Phoebe's doors.
Phoebe flung herself at Mevan, hugging him. "Thank you! Thank you! I hate being cooped up like that! I owe you my life!"
"Keep it down, will ya?" Legionair whispered. "We still need to get my friends and leave."
An explosion rang out through the whole ship. With a sudden jerk, the ship halted to a complete stop instantly. The gang of night elves fell to the ground, one on top of the other.
"Get off me, weirdo," Mevan said, stuck in the middle.
"I said stop that!" Legionair said, getting off. Mevan simultaneously got off Phoebe. As Phoebe got up, she tapped Mevan.
"What?" Mevan asked.
She extracted the knife from her right shoulder. "This is yours." She handed the dagger over and cast a high level healing spell. "Can we go now?"
"Not without my friends!" Legionair shouted. He ran down the hall.
"Wait up!" Mevan called, running after Legionair. Phoebe was right on his heels.
Legionair ran down one hallway after another. For some reason, he knew which way to go. He was starting to understand why Mevan called him a freak.
As Legionair rounded the next corner, he instinctively stood still. A piece of metal flying at extreme speeds grazed his cheek.
"Brom, you almost shot Legionair!"
Brom and Legionair stared at eachother. Brom had his weird weapon he called a gun in his hand. Verne was behind him, holding a giant bag full of stuff.
"Don't scare me like that, Brom!" Legionair shouted.
"Look who's talking, possessed freak?!" Brom shouted back.
"I am not possessed!" Legionair shouted.
"What else do you call ripping the limbs from pirates while laughing?!" Brom shouted, the sound of worry in his voice. "You think I didn't have eyes!"
"I did not do that!" Legionair shouted.
"Umm, excuse me."
"WHAT?!" Brom and Legionair shouted at the same time.
Mevan and Phoebe were standing behind Legionair. "Shouldn't we go?" Phoebe asked. "We are in enemy territory."
They both snapped to attention. "Right," Legionair said. The group ran for the exit, Legionair leading. They ran up stairs, through hallways, over more cells, all empty.
As they reached the deck, Legionair had his instincts to thank again. "Get down!" he shouted.
Another explosion rang off. Chunks of wood went over their backs as smoke clouded their vision. Coughing, Legionair saw the deck blasted to pieces. He raced to the side to see what had caused the explosion.
A lone woman was fighting off the roughly fifty pirates. The woman had nothing but black on. Wearing a sleeveless shirt with a red skull on it, along with hotpants, she wielded a dagger with ease. Her hair was long and luxurious and her fingernails were colored purple. Legionair got the urge to go nowhere near this human.
"Who's the chick?" he heard Verne ask.
"Who cares?" Brom replied, going next to Legionair. His axe was hanging from his hands. "She was nice enough to cause a distraction. We need to repay the favor." As he finished, he jumped over the boat and landed on the beach. His war cry rang out as he cleaved the first pirate in two.
"I'm not waiting for him to get all the kills," Mevan said, jumping to the beach as well. Phoebe, holding a staff, followed suit.
"You'll need this," Verne said, giving Legionair his two-handed sword. "I know you're possessed, but you won't be possessed in this battle. After things calm down, I'll remove the possessed spirit."
"When things settle down, your going to have to tell me what happened in Ratchet," Legionair responded. Together, the undead and night elf joined their friends.
Brom was already in the thick of things. After the first pirate went down, six more had taken its place. Brom cleaved two of them and shot another one. One of them thrusted with his sword. Brom sidestepped and brought his axe down on the sword. With the sound of metal on metal, the sword shattered into various pieces. The pirate, now dumbstruck, let Brom strike him down.
Mevan was a hell of a fighter. As pirates surrounded him, Mevan got on his hands. Doing a 180 in the sand, Mevan mule-kicked the pirate right in front of him in the face, cracking his skull. Using the force he got from the mule-kick, he brought the back of his legs down on the shoulders of the pirate behind him. As the pirate screamed from his broken shoulders, Mevan brought one of his feet to the side of the wounded pirate and pushed off. His other foot rammed into the head of the pirate, cracking his spine. Another pirate swung at Mevan's hands. Mevan pushed off from the ground and landed right-side up on the pirate's head. There was a sickening squelch as Mevan's boot's crushed the pirate's brains. Landing in the shallow part of the water, Mevan's boots were cleaned of brain intestine. He charged at the remaining pirate's that had tried to circle him.
Phoebe was running from a set of five pirates who were wielding swords. Screaming all the way, she stopped and whammed her staff into the closest pirate's head. The pirate immediately fell to the ground unconscious. As the other two advanced on Phoebe, she flailed her staff wildly. Out of pure luck, her staff found the sensitive part of one of them and crushed what was there. Seconds later, her staff rammed into the other one's neck, knocking him out as well. The pirate that now had a set of broken balls was bashed on the head, also knocking him out. Swinging her staff wildly with her eyes closed, screaming, the other two decided to go pick on Verne.
They would have lasted longer with Phoebe. Verne shot a pirate with his Immolate spell and used Drain Soul to suck the souls out of three more. His new Soul Shards in his pocket, he ran into three of the mages. A trio of Fireballs shot right at Verne. Verne used the daggers he took from Katherine and sliced all three of them. Verne shouted out his Fear spell, and the three mages were totally terrified of Verne. He blasted the mages with more Immolates.
The black clothed woman was really fast. She struck four down in a matter of seconds and threw an odd red candle, lighted, on the ship. The candle exploded in the ship, making a loud bang. A series of explosions followed suit. She knew what that meant: she had hit their supply of gunpowder.
Legionair sliced down his third pirate as a fireball singed his hair. It didn't hurt him, but his hair was now burnt short. Whirling around, Legionair threw the other dagger he had and split the mages head open. Slicing at another pirate, he missed by a few centimeters. The pirate took the chance to stab Legionair's right shoulder. He didn't get far into the wound before his arm had been lobbed off. Howling in pain, Legionair somehow found glory in chopping his head off. The rest of the pirates had heard of what happened in Ratchet and left him alone. Legionair cursed under his breath. I really am possessed, he thought. That sucks.
Phoebe was still screaming and flailing her staff around wildly. Some pirates didn't get scared at the scared woman and advanced. She had the luck of the devil; they had the luck of a toilet. She struck one of their heads, rammed her staff into another one's shoulder, then nose, the third one got a set of broken balls and fainted from the pain, and the fourth one pissed his pants before Phoebe's staff cracked his ribs. All the pirates near her were either moaning in complete pain or unconscious. She didn't notice because she was still screaming and flailing her staff.
Mevan jumped over another pirate and rammed his dagger into the guy's back. Crumpling, the dead pirate was replaced by a pair of live one's. Mevan sliced vertically up on one guy, hitting his brain and killing him, and chucked the dagger at the other. The dagger hit the left shoulder, killing him instantly from the heart wound. Pain shot out as the sword of another pirate cut his back. Mevan snatched up a short sword lying on the ground and rammed it through the pirate's gut. The pirate, now dead, fell to the ground hard as Mevan picked up the dagger he borrowed from the possessed freak.
Brom hacked through another pirate before dodging a fireball. The pirate mage had gotten close and tried to hit him when he was distracted. Brom, holding his gun, rammed the side into his left cheek. Out of some fluke, the gun went off and shot another pirate in the head. Before celebrating the fluke, Brom got hit with a fireball right in the back. Brom thanked the fact that Verne and him found and put on his armor before looking for Legionair, because that very armor took the brunt of the attack. It, unfortunately, melted a giant hole in the back of his armor and hurt a lot, but Brom still turned and shot the mage through the head.
Verne had it rougher. Without the proper speed to deflect spells with his daggers, he fell victim to an onslaught of fireballs. If not for his enchanted clothes, Verne would have died from all the heat. Now furious, Verne launched a dozen Immolates at the ground where the three mages stood. Calling for them, he rose his hands fast. The Immolate spells mixed with the sand and dirt, turning into lava. Verne had called forth the lava to strike the mages as pillars. The lava oozed all around the mages, killing them and trapping them in hardened lava.
The female with explosives tore through another pirate. With extreme reflexes, she parried a sword from another pirate and sunk her dagger deep into his chest. The next pirate caught her by surprise. Raising his sword, the pirate swung as hard as he could at the woman's back.
"Wrath!"
A green ball of electricity arced from an unknown area and slammed itself into the pirate's head. The woman turned to see Legionair's outstretched hand, as if he threw the spell. The woman was confused. What night elf that wields a two-handed sword can cast a druid spell? She thought. She didn't have time to think it over as her dagger flashed and struck down another pirate.
After saving the woman in black, Legionair turned to his enemy. With reflexes that were not his own, he swiped the pirate with his sword, cutting him in half. Seconds later, he dug his sword into another one's neck. The next pirate swung his sword at Legionair. With those same reflexes, Legionair broke the sword and chopped off the guy's head. Legionair suddenly stopped fighting. He knew this was not him and did not want to go further.
Brom noticed Legionair just suddenly stop fighting and shot the pirate that was about to slice Legionair. With his last shot, he killed the final pirate. All six of them had taken out fifty pirates with some casualties.
Legionair fell to his knees, his sword falling on to the sand. His heart pounding, he was officially scared of himself. The night elves at Teldrassil never said someone could get possessed like him.
Brom walked over and knelt down beside him. "You okay?" he asked.
"No," Legionair said, shakily. "I'm not okay."
Meanwhile, Mevan went to Phoebe, who was still flailing her staff, and stayed a safe distance. "Phoebe!" Mevan called.
"What?!" she screamed, still flailing her staff.
"We're done," Mevan said.
Phoebe stopped flailing her staff and looked at Mevan. "Really?"
"Yes."
She shut her eyes. "Could you lead me away from them then? I couldn't stand to see so much blood."
Mevan rolled his eyes. "Okay," he said, and guided her to a clean area.
Verne was curious about the woman in black, so he went over to her. "Who are you?" he asked.
With an odd chill in her voice, she said, "They call me Eris."
"Then thank you, Eris, for saving us," Verne said with his natural smile. "I suppose we owe you for doing so."
She smiled, creepily. "I'd usually say yes to that, but it appears you guys already repaid me by saving me some hard pain." She stared at Legionair. "The night elf with the two-handed sword stopped a pirate from slashing my back."
Verne looked at Legionair. Brom had gone over to him and was talking to him. "It's too bad he has a possessing spirit in him right now," Verne said. "Otherwise Brom wouldn't have used his bullets."
"He's possessed?" Eris asked.
"Yeah," Verne answered. "But I'm going to remove the possessing spirit from him soon."
"It'll be more reliable if we take him to Booty Bay and let the priests remove the spirit," Eris said. "Usually I kill any night elf that comes near me, but he's the second one within the week that I've had to help instead."
Back at Legionair and Brom, Legionair asked, "What did I do at Ratchet?"
Brom sighed. "You really don't remember, do you?"
"No," he responded.
Brom sat down next to Legionair. "After you sliced a pirate in half with your dagger, you tore the limbs off of another pirate with your bare hands. You did that with every pirate that got near you. Every time you did that, you laughed evilly, as if you enjoyed doing it. I knew you didn't do such things, so I had Verne cast a type of sleeping spell on you. The pirates took us by surprise afterwards and dragged us to their ship."
Legionair was shaking. "I did all of that?"
"I'm afraid so," Brom answered. He had a tone of sadness in his voice.
Legionair was silent for awhile. Finally, he asked, "How do we remove the possessing spirit from my body?"
"That's not the problem," Eris answered. She had walked up behind them and listened in on their conversation. As the two guys looked at her, she continued, "It's whether or not your body can handle the stress of it being removed. We have experts at Booty Bay, but in the end, it'll all depend on your stamina."
"Can you tell us where in Booty Bay they are?" Brom asked.
Eris smiled. "I have some connections. I can get you in, for a price."
"Whatever it is, we have to pay it," Legionair said, serious. "I'll do anything."
"That's all I ask," Eris replied. "Gather up your friends. We should heal up and head out as soon as possible. Booty Bay is only a small trek up the hill, but we need to take the long way around, or else we'll be fighting more of those pirates. That's something we don't want, considering the condition of some of our people."
"How long will it take?" Legionair asked.
"If we hurry, about three days," Eris responded. "At most, it might take us about five."
"After the two days on that ship, I'm not complaining," Brom replied.
"So the ship did have the new water speed technology," Eris mumbled, walking away.
Legionair got up. "Where ever Aionis is, I hope he's having more luck than me."
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Yes, I'm getting gorier, but what a cliffhanger, huh? I even possessed Legionair for some action! Yell at me later about the late update, okay?
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Clarifications:
Warlocks cannot summon lava through Verne's technique.
You can't wield a hand weapon and a gun at the same time.
Possessions do not exist in World of Warcraft.
Rouge's can't mule-kick, snap necks (as far as I know), or turn brains into soup with their boots
Ratchet doesn't have a deal with pirates for slave drives
Slave drives don't exist in WOW
(Obviously) The time scale for travel is wrong in many ways in relation to WOW
000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
A word of caution:
My story might be getting darker, so those who are squeamish should probably not read further. The fact that those who are squeamish have read this far should be congratulated.
Read & Review, please!