The Dead City
Replies:
Ironwall: "Rodents of Unusual Size? Don't believe in them."
As for the Portal Locations, each of them and where they lead Im still carefully working on them to help determine the outcomes for each, particularly since this is right before the battle for Azeroth and with the whole Jailer plot stuff that i still dont know the end of, outside it looking sort of poorly written, Im trying to give also solid reasoning for a Cold War/Delay of that war rather than some unseen puppet master who theoretically can mind control God just kicking that war off anyways.
MEleeSmasher:
It's all been and still is to a extent setup. Also the Warhammer Fantasy Orks seem far more intelligent than the Meme'd 40k Orks (but that still leaves them very stupid) but they should be able to recognize the Horde's Orcs from themselves. I think this because they can discern between all the Goblin subtypes at a glance. Also their engineering capabilities and ability to recognize and respect basic strategies (even of they can't use them due to their nature) and even allow Smart and Vicious enough Goblins to lead them, also makes me think they are more intelligent but more naturally cruel.
Hakuryuu:
In terms of scheduling I don't have one set yet. and for the rest of your questions i present this chapter
The Dead City
Jaina looked over the gathered pioneers now waiting for the estimated opening of the portal. It had been two weeks since she had sent her letters out calling for the Horde to be stopped from crossing through their Portal, and today was now the day the Alliance would make its most bold move regarding their portal. Datris Sageclaw and Sister Avenah both had been elected to lead the first pioneering expedition through the now much larger, and relatively more stable portal. As leaders the two now stood at the head of a group of nearly a hundred pioneers, each of them equipped with the most they could carry with them through the portal. While a rope and pully system had been devised to help quickly pull the supplies the pioneers would also bring with them they were still expected to draw much of their supplies from the local terrain.
"I wish to congratulate you all ahead of time. Should this mission prove successful each and every single one of you will have your names added to the Alliance's history as heroes. While you may have been given information and briefings of your individual roles, I wish to share your overall mission for you all so you each grasp the significance of your mission." Jaina opened, raising her voice for all of those currently present. "Once you pass through the portal this expedition is expected to establish and fortify a encampment on the other side to help secure the portal against invasion or attack. After this the documentation and exploration of the local terrain in depth, particularly in search of viable resources that we can use to expand the encampment further. Additionally you all should have been briefed about the local hazard we refer to as Fel-stone, our Light Priests and Paladins we have confirmed have the ability to clense and destroy the Fel-stone, those not of their orders will be expected to provide assistance for this mission when able. Next I want you all to find any local civilizations, and should they prove capable of it, I want us to try and form a peaceful connection with them. Lastly I want all of you to stay safe, none of this means anything if you die in the process. watch out for eachother and we will stay in touch."
Jaina sighed in relief, the Portal had been acting in a...erratic manner. More it felt to Jaina that since the Fel-stone incident the Portal had been doing things specifically to spite her specifically. Despite the Portal inconveniencing her immensely, it had grown significantly and had at least extended it's periods of activity to long enough that the research team had concluded that the Portal would be safe for sending more long term and larger missions through.
After minutes of awkward waiting the Portal opened with a loud crack and the Alliance Pioneer Mission began their journey traveling one or two at a time through the portal. The first through the portal carrying a rope with them that they then secured and worked to establish a pully system as others traveled through. Eventually the pace was established a constant stream of Pioneers walking through the portal with a few heavier supply bags, and resource crates carried by the pully system traveling between them. Watching a Draenei Paladin, Aursuun, offer a prayer to the Naaru before squeezing themselves through the portal while carrying a large pack of supplies, Jaina offered her own prayer and hoped for their success and good fortune.
"Please, we have no money and mean you no harm. Chief, if you will listen we have potential for a extremely profitable business together." Zannae attempted to negotiate, falling back to many of the usual words and phrases that would tempt a Goblin into listening.
"Shuddit pointy git! Oi ooh said dis 'ere git be an Ork?" The Goblin Chief interrupted.
"Oy, yer roight, he's all, i dunno..."
"He's got humie skin!"
"...Yeah, he's like a humie an' an Ork at da same time!"
"Figa's a humie would be dum nuff ta thunk themselves a Ork, spend all der time blathering rather than fighting or sneaken, maybe dez ones got bashed on da head nuff ta learn out to act roight." The innane banter of the Goblins was bow making Gin angry, though before the Mag'har could speak up to challenge the Goblins Launchalot instead interjected.
"Listen here. Your lot will end your prattle, you will negotiate with us or leave us be. You and your irksome accents and near abysmal reasoning skills have grated my nerves long enough." The Forsaken proclaimed loudly while flexing his clawed gauntlet. As the Forsaken spoke grabbing the attention of the goblins, Gin carefully laid traps around himself while Zannae more openly prepared his shield.
In response Faangschtick simply leaned forward resting his arm on his saddle as his wolf loweres itself growling softly. "Oh, so da Zombo thinks its got nuff brains left in its head ta use words. Now dats new, you lot are da rare sight round ere. Right boyz, keep em...in one piece, I think we cans trade em to get with one ov da big Waaaghs."
Following their Chief's order the wolf riders closed in on the group of Horde soldiers. Gin wouldn't allow himself to be caught by these insulting goblins without a fight and quickly aimed and fired a shot into the wolf of the closest goblin, the wolf released a pained yelp before dropping it rider quickly jumping off and rushing toward Zannae. The group's Forsaken warrior leapt to action, the next two wolf riders came too close to the warrior, his claw gutting the wolf of one while his mace removed the head of the other. Reloading quickly Gin fired into the Goblin that Forsaken knight had dismounted, his rouns removing the goblin's arm.
A yelp behind him warned of an attacker to Gin's rear as one of the wolves found itself caught in a trap which pulled its leg down throwing it to the ground and the goblin to the air where Gin struck it with his ax. Another yelp and Gin's second trap caught the back leg of another wolf, however it's rider jumped and thrust their spear, catching Gin's chestplate. The spear failed to penetrate but the force and the cruel serrated edge of the spear told Gin all he needed to know about the crude weapon and it's cruel wielder.
As all this took place Zannae used the light to strike down the Goblin that ran towarss him before raising his sheild in just enough time to stop a charging wolf, the creature fought savagely to get over or around Zannae's shield even as it's rider struck out with his own spear. As Zannae held off the goblin a pang of searing pain shot through the Elf's back, and looking over his shoulder he could see another rider with their spear in his back and a gleam in their cruel eyes.
Grunting in exertion Zannae swong his blade, powered by the light, through the head of the Wolf on his shield before throwing the body back onto its rider hopefully killing him. Next the Blood Knight Paladin swong his blade toward the spear thrusting wolf rider in a feint causing they and their wolf to hop back, only for Zannae to thrust their sword up through the Wolf killing it, the blade also peircing the torso of the goblin through the wolf causing the goblin to cry in agony throwing himself to the ground effectively removed from the battle. Then a sharp pain coursed through Zannae's leg, a wolf biting into his ankle, and with a jerk of the creature's head the Elf was thrown off balance and onto the ground. Soon multiple wolves were over Zannae as the elf struggled for his life.
Distant from his allies Launchalot Bloodfeeder was now on his ninth kill as he used his mace to remove the arm of a over confident goblin. If it wasn't for their dense concentration of their numbers and their mounts the rabble would have likely already been overwhelmed by the Undead champion. Following his last strike the Knight swong his mace in an upward strike removing the jaw of a over eager wolf. From there Launchalot continued his battle with the Wolves.
Outside the battle Chief Faangschtick observed growing more upset, how the three enemies were not already overwhelmed and left bleeding and tied up at his wolf's feet was beyond him. The Chief looked between the three enemies, the first was the Humie-Ork who while lightly harassed was still easy enough to overwhelm. Next was the Pointy-ear who by now the Gobbos were just Muckin' about with him pinned to the ground by a group of Gobbo wolf riders. The dead-un on da other hand was still dead killy, movin about and could maybe escape. So Faangschtick decided that the Undead would be his opponent, with a shout the Goblin Chieftain charged the Undead.
The Goblin's wolf crashed into the Undead with force enough to throw it off it's feet. With the Undead knocked over the wolf used its paws and fangs to keep the warrior's mace held down, meanwhile the undead tried to use it's vicious clawhand to strike back at the Chieftain's wolf, but skillful use of a sword nearly as big as he was kept the undead warrior's claws away from Faangschtick's mount. The undead under him grew frantic and Faangschtick relished the opportunity to kill this creature even as his blade caught it in the shoulder.
Under the Wolf Launchalot could find no opening to attack the wolf now pinning him. Even as he struggled to attack the Goblin atop him kept stabbing at his arm, eventually even scoring a deep gash into the Knight's shoulder. In a desperate attempt Launchalot instead bit into the neck of the wolf atop him, though the beast seemed used to this even and was already shaking the undead off of itself. Suddenly the crack of a gun could be heard and the beast started to slump as dead weight ontop of Launchalot. Casting a quick look up from his back Sir Bloodfeeder could see the Orc Gin, now being mauled by a wolf but with a smoking handgun in his grip.
The Forsaken could hear the Goblin atop the dead mount screeching in outrage, but before it could act the Undead Knight twisted the wolf atop him throwing the Goblin off and onto the ground. Both combatants scrambled to their feet a Goblin wolf rider charging at Launchalot as he did so. But quick reflexes allowed him to dodge the lunging wolf and to strike its rider with his mace as it went past. Now Launchalot and the Goblin Faangschtick stood on relatively equal ground, but the undead was outnumbered and he couldn't afford the spare time for the Goblins to coordinate.
Quickly the former Knight of Lordaeron lashed out with his claw at the Goblin who deflected the strike with a shield. Launchalot's mace similarly was deflected by the Goblin's almost comically large sword. Next the Chieftain lashed out with the tip of his blade looking to strike Bloodfeeder's face but he jinked away, only to be met with a bash of the shields' edge into his crotch, one strong enough to break his armor. The Goblin had errored on the side of cruelty however, Launchalot's sensitives had long since rotted away, and his feeling and need to breath had also long sense gone or dulled as well. So while the long dead knight stumbled back from the hit, he was not staggered or stunned like the overconfident Goblin had expected and instead a powerful counter-blow from a Forsaken mace collapsed the greenskin's jaw.
The Goblin survived the blow, and with a screech of agony wildly swong back, one of his riders even charging in, presumably to assist their losing Chieftain. However Sir Bloodfeeder had already won, accepting a painful, even for the undead, blow to his shoulder Launchalot's gauntlet found Faangschtick's face ripping it off completely. Next his mace collided with the head of the charging wolf and a quick follow up blow ended its shocked ridder. But even as the Forsaken savored his victory another wolf bit intio the neck of the deceased Chieftain and it and it's rider made off with their fallen leader.
It took another two minutes before the entirety of the Goblins realized their loss and ran away, Gin lay on the ground, mauled, beaten, stabbed but alive and talking, while Zannae struggled to stay standing having spent all his strength finding off the majority of the Goblins and their wolves. With a quick tally the trio congratulated themselves on their victory, they had suffered no losses, and claimed no less than thirty of their foe.
"I hope you two like wolf meat." This was met with weak but light-hearted laughter.
Many leagues away in ruined streets Aursuun looked up into the skies of this new world for the first time. Dark looming clouds dominated the sky denying the Draenei sight of the stars above. Beneath the dark sky the ruined city made even the ruins if Strathholme feel lively in comparison. The streets here somehow still felt as hazardous and aware as those Scourge infested streets. At points some strange living masses, some tentacles like, others more like the stonenhad transformed into a boil filled with a metal puss, and others something else entirely, were scattered around the cityscape.
And while he hadn't encountered any, Aursuun already had heard of fellow Pioneers encountering and fighting one of the trees that had suddenly uprooted itself and attempted to eat them, another group had run across a building full of statues that had suddenly turned into howling phantoms attempting to drain their mana. And lastly of a group that had found and hunted a horrifying beast, best described as a living version of horrors created by the Lich King, only for a pack of gigantic rats, some with exposed ribs to burst from a barrel and to consume the creature just as the hunting party had attempted to attack it.
And this had all been just within the first three hours they had spent in this world. Besides those encounters the expedition had mostly spent their time working, rebuilding the mansion-like building they had emerged in and repurposing the building to serve as a fortified fort for the expedition to operate out of. So Aursuun had spent all his time until now helping move supplies from the portal room as they came in a near constant tide from the Azeroth side. The only stop to the heavy lifting coming when the portal closed unexpectedly, and severing the rope between the worlds and causing a crate to fall and break on the ground, for a half hour before opening again. Now Aursuun had been released allowing more experienced and skilled laborers to continue bringing in supplies while sending back reports and samples to Azeroth.
So freed to do as he pleased Aursuun had begun to seek out any samples of Fel-stone near the encampment so he could experience cleansing the substance himself. Barring that, Aursuun planned to offer his aid to anyone who might need it. Thus far Aursuun's search had proven rather disappointing in both regards, at least until a human Footman and an Night Elf archer both approached the Draenei.
"Ah, are you the Paladin Aursuun?" The Draenei nooded in confirmation.
"We were going to try finding a path to a nearby well, or we've heard talk that there may be a river deeper into the city. However Sister Avenah warned us that there may be more dangerous areas, possibly filled with Fel-stone, on our intended path and that we should seek you out before going" The human explained, the Night Elf at his side nodding her head in agreement.
Aursuun heafted his hammer onto his shoulder, casting his gaze into the twisted city about him, noting how this place even felt like it was somehow out of place, or even in the wrong time. "I shall provide you whatever assistance I can. Depend on me to support you and to cleanse any threats."
"Great! we were about to head out now." The Night Elf cheered happily, already grabbing her supplies.
Though the pace set by the two had been faster than Aursuun had expected. While they had stuck to the streets as best they could the group still had come across points where they then were expected to either climb both up and down obstacles. Something their Night Wlf companion excelled at while Aursuun at points struggled. Occasionally they would run across some old trap or another, bear traps were the most common, thought they had also found a crossbow with a string, and a cleverly disguised pressure plate with some nearby barrels of black powder, which at one time might have been a well disguised trap but a crumbling wall had exposed the whole trap.
The streets were dangerous, significantly so, as dangerous as the building ruins around them. Yet the reports from everyone else, and what had been seen before, had everyone paranoid about the buildings thinking the streets were safer. However by now Aursuun could guess that both were equally dangerous to those unprepared to traverse this place, and now the Draenei could see that the path ahead leading down to the river would lead their group either down exposed and highly suspicous scaffolding, or they could down one of the buildings to the side.
Both of Aursuun's companions wanted to use the scaffolding, however the Draenei knew the risk was the same between the scaffolding and the building. But where the stairs of the building allowed the group to walk down without effort, the Scaffolding used ladders, some of which were rotted and destroyed meaning that the group would have to manually lower themselves down, risking uncertain jumps and relying on skills and dexterity. Which after several hours of traveling with the group Aursuun had already determined that only the Night Elf, Kyn'ra, was dexterous enough to be confident traveling down even significantly more unstable routes. Where the Human, Brian, was certain to take the scaffolding path both to follow his new Night Elf friend, typical human sexual obsession, and the slight twinge of fear he's had looking at the dark doorways to the buildings.
Frustrated the Draenei spoke up. "We shouldn't take this scaffold. It's far more difficult than all the other obstacles in our path. It might be some seconds or even a minute or two slower, but the building would be far safer for us to take. We're exposed out here and the scaffolding could collapse under my weight alone."
Already ahead and standing on the scaffolding Kyn'ra looked back, "But it's all right here, and we have a good view. No one is ambishing us if instand lookout while you two climb down."
"I think he's more worried about it collapsing under his weight." Brian reasoned, "But I think it's safest if we just climb down the scaffold."
"If we continue to avoid these buildings as we go we are inviting ambush." Aursuun countered, pointing to the open door to the nearby building, as well as the two shadowy doorframes at the bottom.
"Gods all of a sudden we're all arguing, and it's over something this trivial. Look I'm going ahead down this way. You two can waste time time up here." The Night Elf decided, already turning away and climbing down the first ladder.
"I'm going with her, dick around up here all you want." An agitated Brian stated before rushing over to the ladder.
With a long-suffering sigh, Aursuun readied his hammer and entered the building to the side. carefully the Draenei checked each doorway as he quickly spotted the internal stairs and began to desend. The roof of the building was low for the Draenei, forcing him to hunch and awkwardly descend the stairs. But so far there seemed to be no dangers and the route was easy and quick.
Then the Draenei heard it. First it was a muffled shout shortly followed by some additional voices the Draenei couldn't discern. After that there were several muffled thuds, including what sounded like a impact on the building Aursuun was in. After that the Paladin could clearly hear it, the sound of breaking wood and what must have been the outside scaffold collapsing. Aursuun immediately increased his pace as quickly as he could.
Then it happened, first it was a slight give in one of the steps, then the sound of snapping wood and the stairs under Aursuun gave way completely. The Paladin landed in a heap, and he could hear some rather painful sounding snaps and clangs. But that didn't matter, quickly he stood to rush to his compatriots, but as he toom his first step something pulled painfully on his leg's flesh as a chain pulled taught tripping the Paladin. Aursuun had been caught in a trap.
As muffled voices spoke outside the Draenei used all the strength he had to force open the trap before rushing to the door outside only to stop, hide himself as best he could and observe.
Outside there was a larger group surrounding Kyn'ra and Brian. This groups seemed to consist entirely of humans, though of a narrower stature compared to fully armed humans of Stormwind. Three of the humans held crossbows, a forth was stowing away his and instead pulled out a small sword, and two held larger swords and shields. Each of these humans seemed to wear a rather cheap leather armor, except for the final one. She was pale, and wore what Aursuun could only describe as a corset made of steel, and currently she was speaking, the Draenei decided, at Kyn'ra and Brian.
For their part the pair looked battered, bruised, but far from broken and defeated. Yet neither had their weapons drawn, Kyn'ra must have certainly stowed her bow as Aursuun was certain she should have had it out while they were going down the scaffolding. Indead from their position the pair could have perhaps even stooda chance of forcing their attackers back into the river immediately behind them. Instead the pair were giving their rapt attention to the woman, Kyn'ra even smiling as the odd woman caressed her face.
"Колко си красива, каквато и да си. Със сигурност ще намеря подходящо лечение за вас, за да го подаря на любимия ми баща. може би дори ще те опитам сам." The woman spoke, her voice was enticing, with a soft purr undermining the sense of cold danger the woman possessed. Yet it was obvious that whatever she had said was not in any language that the Draenei had ever heard, perhaps not even the entire Draenei race.
One of the human men then spoke, seeming to pled with the woman. "Твърде беззащитни сме тук, трябва да побързаме, милейди."
"Замълчи, Димитри, движиш се, биеш се и умираш само когато ти заповядам!" The woman responded without even looking the man's way.
The leading woman then turned to her company. "Отърви се от този човек, не ни трябва, задръж плячката, ако искаш. Но жена му няма да пострада! Ако го нараниш, ще ти откъсна главата от раменете и ще направя черепа ти моята нова купа!" Her voice now carried the weight of authority, and the growl of some sort of restrained predator. Then she turned back to Kyn'ra a bright and almost innocent smile on her face.
"Хайде, приятелю, имам такива чудеса, за да ти покажа, че семейството на фон Карщайн ще те обсипва с обожанието и любовта, които ти липсват, носейки тази растителна кал по тялото си. Ще те изкъпя и ще ти покажа такива неща, скъпа. И със сигурност любовта ми ще ме възнагради за дарбата ми. Ще ми помогнеш много, може би повече от една количка с криволичещ камък." As she spoke the woman roughly grabbed Kyn'ra's breast mauling it with her long fingers, while tearing off some of the Night Elf's clothes. Meanwhile Kyn'ra just smiled dumbly, while Brian nodded and watched with a smile.
Aursuun silently contenplated what to do. Who knew what these strangers intended, nor what indignity that woman planned for Kyn'ra. However Aursuun did not know how to go about fighting this group, particularly when they must have had someone of magical skill or some weapon that could effect both a Night Elf and the Human in such a manner.
Such concerns didn't matter, already one of those humans seemed to be preparing to slit Brian's throat. All while two of the others began to lead Kyn'ra away, all as the woman seemed to stand watching and the three crossbows seemed to watch for dangers. It was now or never.
Two gunshots rang out from nearby, and the three crossbowmen collapsed, one was caught by a arrow in the neck, and as one fell his corpse revealed a human with a pistol pulling himself up from the edge of the river alongside a group of five others. Looking quickly Aursuun could now also clearly see the point on the other side of the river where a human with a strange long barreled gun stood reloading the weapon as a odd pole held the weapon up for him.
It was only a moment but even as the battle was joined, Aursuun could see how his good fortune seemed to only hand by a thread. while the enemy only had four to their number now, neither Kyn'ra nor Brian had come out from their spell, and the strange woman had moved with certainly inhuman speed to join the battle herself. Her face even seeming to contort as she used her teeth to rip out the throat of one of the attackers and her sword impaled the heart of an armed man next to her first victim.
Aursuun thus roared his challenge, "Face me dark witch!" and joined the fight. The pale woman turned, a look of confused shock on her face as Aursuun barreled towards her, only for a thin sword to peirce through her back and out her chest. The man with the pistol before smiling widely with yellow teeth, as his sword had penetrated the woman, only for her to turn on him throwing him into the water with a screech and a shove. But at this moment it was too late for her as Aursuun's hammer collided with her shoulder, surely shattering it and throwing her several several paces and through a wooden cart, the power of the light seeming to burn her all the while.
And then the fighting was over. Aursuun was left standing defensively between his fellow Azerothean allies as the two seemed to just now start shaking off the spell. Around them the new group of humans seemed to be regrouping, and preparing for another possible fight. Of the six humans who had pulled themselves from the river, three had died, and one was pulling himself painfully out of the river, his shoulder certainly broken. Across the river the strange Longgun was aimed directly at Aursuun.
"Von Sigmar was zum Teufel ist das Ding? Ist es ein Dämon?" One of the pair in the shore asked its companion.
"Wenn es so wäre, fühlt es sich nicht richtig an. Und was ist mit diesem Mann und diesem seltsamen Ding an ihrer Seite? Vielleicht sind sie Cathayan." The other responded. Aursuun was certain they were talking about him but was uneasy not knowing how to respond.
"Whaaa...what is going on." Brian, finally coming to, asked as he looked between the corpses and the other men surrounding them.
"Aursuun, what happened. Last I remember some people came out of a strong moving shadow and the scaffold just collapsed." Kyn'ra asked, careful not to draw her bow but keeping her hands ready.
The man in the river finally brought himself up, then turned his compatriots before yelling at them harshly. "Spielt es eine Rolle, dass sie nicht angreifen und dieser Vampir sie eindeutig entleeren wollte? Außerdem werden wir nur bezahlt, wenn wir dem Herzog ihren Schädel zurückbringen, holt ihn euch, ihr verdammten Idioten!"
Then the man turned to Aursuun and carefully made a display of pulling out, showing and then putting away his weapon. "Ich weiß, du verstehst mich wahrscheinlich nicht. Danke, die Vampirschlampe hätte mich sonst erwischt. Hast du jetzt eine Bleibe? Umm, verstehst du Geld?" As he spoke the man pulled out a coin showing it to the group. Aursuun immediately responded by pulling out and showing one of his own gold coins after showing his hammer away.
"Eike, Sie ist nicht mehr hier." One of the men cried from besides the cart, before the pair started to run back to their leader.
"verdammte Schlampe!" The man cried in outrage, before turning back to the Alliance trio and adopting a soothing but nervous voice. "Oh, keiner von euch. Ich möchte Freunde sein. Kennt jemand von euch Reikspiel?" Suddenly the man changed to yet another language that Aursuun didn't understand. "Ou peut-être comprenez-vous le bretonnien?"
Aursuun, Kyn'ra and Brian all shook their heads negative at the man. It seemed as though basic hand gestures would be all they would have to work with for now.
One of the men looked at Aursuun with a odd look on his face. "Du bist ein hässlicher Hurensohn. Hey Eike was denkst du ist er?"
The leader just turned to the other two, glanced again at Aursuun before giving a slightly pervese smile to Kyn'ra and then responded. "Entweder sind sie Dämonen von Arabay oder sie sind Indie-Leute. Ich vermute, sie sind von Ind über Arabay. Ich hörte Legenden, dass sie seltsame Leute dort drüben haben, sogar Halbgeister, die auf Sendung laufen können. Aber nur um sicherzugehen, wenn der Große nicht aussieht, werfen Sie etwas Salz auf ihn."
Aursuun wasn't sure what to do from here. He didn't really have a way to communicate with these other humans, but certainly with such a dangerous city it would be unwise to allow them to leave rather than bringing them back to talk with someone who might be able to start a real line of dialog. Certainly an arcane linguist specialist would be able to figure out and start talking with these people.
"We need to try to get these people to head back to camp with us. Any suggestions?" In response Kyn'ra just shrugged, but after a moment of thought Brian seemed to come up with a idea.
Walking up to their leader Brian took out one of his gold coins and handed it to the leader of the group. Then walked away several paces before pulling out another coin and jesturing to hand it to the leader again. "We will. pay you. to come. with us." As he spoke the human made exagerated jestures with his hands and arms.
"Was zum Teufel macht er, Boss?" One of the men asked.
In response their leader laughed and replied, "Ich glaube, er bietet Gold an, damit wir ihnen folgen. Nun, wer bin ich, um eine so einfache Zahlung abzulehnen." And then the leader walked over grabbed the coin, slapped Brian's coin pouch and held out his open hand.
With a sigh, Brian clearly understood the man's message and handed his entire coin pouch to the odd otherworlder. "What I sacrifice for the Alliance."
It took far longer for the group to return to the Alliance encampment than it had taken them to leave. First they had to wait for the final member of the human group to cross the river on a rowboat they had hidden away. Then it had taken them all some time to find a new path up onto the streets, all the while the strange gunman cautiously watched Aursuun.
At one point one of the men even threw salt into Aursuun's face just as the Draenei had shouted something over his shoulder to Kyn'ra. But despite these people's odd behaviors, the group managed to get onto the streets above. These humans moved oddly, yet with a speed born of certainty. Each step seemed careful and practiced, and their movements almost seemed deliberately random, but they were certainly able to keep pace with all except Kyn'ra.
Elsewhere during their Journey Aursuun realized the pain the human leader was under, his arm still broken. Apparently they didn't have a healer in their group. Due to the language barrier Aursuun approached man, made several prayer jestures while pointing to his arm. Eventually the leader accepted and put his hand over the man's shoulder and focused trying to call upon the Light. It took significant effort, even draining Aursuun slightly, but eventually the power of the Light manifest healing the man. Though instead of the casual thanks that Aursuun was used to after a healing, instead when the Paladin opened his eyes the odd marksman of the other group had a pair of pistols leveled at his face, while the other two humans seemed to be on alert.
"warte, warte, er hat mich gerade geheilt. Er hatte wohl nichts anderes vor." The standoff for the next several seconds was tense but eventually everyone relaxed and continued their journey.
"What was that about?" Kyn'ra asked.
"Apparently users of the Light are either mistrusted or very rare here. I suspect rare considering how difficult it was for me to call upon it to heal that man." Aursuun answered honestly, before pushing on though now the odd marksman was intently watching him.
It all still took hours for them to arrive at the camp, here the humans seemed to look on with slight wonder and excess caution. But even as the group neared already a gathering of awestruck Pioneers came out to meet them. Datris Sageclaw was at the head, a Gnome likely serving as a technical advisor was at his side, and an human mage and knight pair followed suit behind them.
"What is this? Did you find natives of this world?" Datris asked, to which Aursuun shrugged.
"Don't know, the language barrier has been keeping us from understanding eachother. These are the people who helped us. We encountered another group, but they were lead by someone of a darker nature. They felt like a Death Knight yet very different all at the same time. This group saved us, we offered them money to follow us."
Hearing this the Gnome immediately spoke up. "This is still an amazing find, we must keep them here...umm non-violently of course, though force may be preferable to losing them entirely. Anyways once the portal opens we'll send for experts immediately!"
Once their companion finished the Knight interjected. "You said you were attacked? What's the threat?"
Aursuun sighed. "It was powerful, it mesmerized Kyn'ra and Brian immediately, and it's group probably could have quickly killed me on my own. But these men attacked it. And then I struck it with the light, her charred corpse went flying away as I stuck her, so I doubt that attacker will return or be able to report about us to anyone else."
"Understood."
It was then the human leader stepped forward. "Ich bin Eike Brunner zu Ihren Diensten, solange Sie Zeit haben." The man stated making a bow, though to no one in particular. Behind him his companions scowled uncomfortably.