Chapter 5: If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a bear surprise.
Persona: Harry Potter.
"It was probably the most awkward encounter I've had to deal with since you guys... well when we worked things out. Speaking of awkward questions, where are Ginny and Hermione? Your last message implied that she had found something to help me with the translational problems?" It was obviously late back on Earth as only Daphne had been manning the control room when he had connected via the beacon, though a muttered patronus had quickly brought Susan and for some reason Ellen somewhat groggy eyed to sit in front of the screen as he relayed the conversations and adventures he had thus far on Azeroth.
While they had been waking up Harry had filled them on the incident with Coira as well as his discussions with the Night Elf governing members, doing his utmost to emphasise that nothing had happened with the blood elf woman, though Daphne merely quirked an eyebrow at his hastened babbling whilst Susan and Ellen giggled away in the background. Daphne's facial expression let Harry know that she had something she wished to say and so he wound up the last muttered excuse before nodding slightly for her to speak. When she did speak a moment later she seemed to entirely ignore
"Hermione was doing a review of the wards last I checked Potter, we are not sure how they will be dealing with Earths depleting magic and little miss know it all has been running studies every second she hasn't been in the library doing research to help your ungrateful ass. I am sure they will be fine for a while longer without us needing to worry about powering them using less... civilised methods, but Hermione is someone you don't argue with if you don't have to, as you well know you merde faced son of a maggot." The war with the Burning Legion had changed Daphne considerably from how those who had known her in Hogwarts would remember her. Gone was the noble and reserved heir to her clan line, only conversing with those that she felt were worthy of her time and never deviating from the very picture of noble society. Her previously long blonde silken hair was cropped to a shoulder length bun and her face a mass of scars and burns from battles and two bouts of captivity and torture, pale blue eyes gleaming out from the war scarred surface with an intensity and intelligence that only a few could match.
Harry didn't think the look detracted anything from the serious caustic mouthed woman, she certainly didn't care how people reacted to her looks or her words, which was one of the things that made her so brilliant in Harry's eyes. Daphne never held anything back now, the loss of her family at the hands of the Legion making her determined to force everyone away from her so that she couldn't be hurt again. Whether that made him special to have the girl try and connect with him emotionally Harry wasn't sure, but he found himself enjoyed the barbs that she threw at him and the other girls like confetti, they certainly got surprisingly inventive at times when they did something dangerous or foolish. Without waiting for a response from him, or anticipating that he wished for her to finish her statement first, Daphne carried on with a short breath for air punctuating the minute pause that had been left in the air.
"The nerdy one has been notified by patronus though so I am sure she will bustle her way in here shortly before trying to take over this entire discussion with work. Ginger slut is out on patrol with some of the others, she is the most capable of faking your powers and that should keep the demons from working out where you have fucked off to so she will not be joining us. That means you have time to tell the three of us what your plans are from here. Any luck working out where there might be another demon gate that we can use to help make the beacon's portal system workable? As much as I don't trust anything the faerie and big nose have worked on to work properly the first time through, I would feel better if your cocky ass had someone there watching it."
That was probably as close to 'I am worried about you, don't do something stupid' as Daphne had ever gotten with him, even when he had first been going on the mission she had simply shaken her head and told him to 'try not end up back on fucking Earth like the idiot you are'. Faerie was Daphne's favourite nickname for Ellen, as she knew how much she got annoyed by the connotation, and big nose was one of the nicer phrases Daphne called Hermione. Though given that most of the other refugees rarely made it past 'shit face' and 'bastard', the fact that Daphne used such mild insults was probably more of a sign of her caring than anything else Harry could think of. The mention of plans brought Harry back from his introspection at the habits of his friends and he thought back to the discussions he had through Nash'ala with Kelanas and Coira the night before, as well as the discussion he had with Tyrande after the intrusion of the Night Elf Druid leader.
"From what I have gathered this world has about a dozen major races that we might need to be concerned about straight away, most of which are divided into two factions, the horde and the alliance. The humans of this world seem to mostly be aligned with the alliance along with the Night Elves that I had the pleasure of meeting earlier, though Kelanas mentioned a prosperous human city called Theramore that was staying firmly neutral in this particular dick measuring contest, I plan on visiting them first to discuss the possibility of an agreement as well as to ask their leader why they are not standing with the other humans. I also want as close to a neutral opinion as I can get from someone here about the good and bad of both sides, something that was very difficult to obtain last night"
Harry smirked as his analogy to the political strife in Azeroth caused Ellen to choke for a moment, he blamed it on Daphne but he could see why she had so much fun with it. Drawing himself back to the plan, whilst negotiations and diplomacy were not anywhere near as urgent as actually evacuating Earth itself, in the long term if Earth's people were to settle here they would need allies who knew the history and culture of the world he now found himself in. Which was why he had allowed Kelanas and Coira to argue for several hours about the good and bad things both sides had done over the last twenty or so years since the last major invasion of Azeroth by the Burning Legion, it allowed him to get a realistic view of both sides as well as beginning to understand where quite a bit of the underlying distrust and hatred of both sides stemmed from.
In general it was one hell of a complicated mess of racial and cultural tensions that was not helped in the slightest by the actions of those who worshipped the Burning Legion on both sides, something that Harry wished he could avoid but knew that the addition of such a force as his phantoms would disrupt the razor fine balance that this world seemed to be resting upon. With such a dangerous future in mind, Harry had spoken with both women about how he could improve the opinion of both sides towards his soon to appear myriad of refugees, which was part of the reason they had not simply used some of the hearthstones that Tyrande had given him to help him traverse Azeroth.
"In an effort to try and improve our standing with the Night Elves here I spoke to both Kelanas and Tyrande about what I could do to help whilst I travelled to Theramore. Turns out that is a rather stupid question to ask as there were literally hundreds of places I could help the Night Elves against their various enemies. I am travelling south to somewhere called Ashenvale forest, the Night Elves are having difficulty with large numbers of corrupted bear like creatures called Furbolgs there." Harry paused at this point as a flustered and wild eyed Hermione charged into the room, but she was working away at something on an enchanted tablet so when she didn't offer a greeting he decided to carry on with the update until she was done.
"Decided that a hunting mission was easier than the exploration or patrolling missions that Tyrande also had available. Also Coira, who seems to really like my magic for some reason but we will get back to that later, has business in Ashenvale forest as well. With the Blood Elves being horde members they would be useful allies to have in order to curb any anti human sentiment the other members of the coalition might have towards us. Supposedly some of her kindred have gone missing and she is tasked with finding them and rescuing them if they are still alive, I thought it would be a good idea to assist in this as it would no doubt earn us brownie points with her kind as well."
The politicking and favour earning was something that Harry had become quickly adept in during his time hunting dark wizards on the continent, dealing with politicians and neutral parties whose information and resources would be useful in his mission. Here on Azeroth he didn't have the advantage of his fame as the Boy-Who-Conquered, but he could live with that, that meant he had a chance to build his own fame for once. Hermione seemed to have finished whatever she had been working on and looked up with a frazzled but kind smile on her face.
"Harry, glad to hear you are surviving over there, I must admit that with all the rushing to prepare the portal beacon I didn't think about any potential language problems you might have if you encountered any natives. I have one spell that might help in this case, found it in one of the really old textbooks from Hogwarts." Daphne seemed to mutter something at this point, it was too quiet for Harry to make it out but Susan snorted before cuffing the seated woman round the head lightly, the redhead merely giving Daphne a stern disapproving look when Daphne whirled round to face her. Hermione carried on as if the two of them weren't there bickering in front of her, a habit she probably picked up from dealing with him and Ron in all likelihood.
"It's a spell that travelling wizards used in ancient times to communicate with local tribes, it effectively connects the minds of you and the target, allowing you to use their linguistic abilities as if they were your own. Also helped with learning the language itself as you would think in English and then it would come out in the other language. Of course, there are some drawbacks, which is why it ended up being forgotten with the spread of the major languages like Latin. It is very magic intensive, even you will not be able to use it for too long Harry, maybe twenty to thirty minutes at most. It also requires you to remain close to the spells target, the book lists twenty paces as its upward limit. Finally it requires a runic array placed on both you and the target, nothing particularly complex so you should be able to manage it Harry but once the runic arrays are bound with blood you won't be able to change its target without the death of the original bond holder."
So, magic draining, distance limited and a one use spell unless he wanted to start killing off his new friends and allies, got it. Harry would work out how to broach the idea to Nash'ala later, she was the best choice for the spell as the other two may get called back by their respective peoples, whilst Nash'ala had told him that as an exile of the Naga she was land bound for life. This meant that even if she did leave she would not be welcome at any of their enclaves, so travelling with him was an not only an ideal choice but one that was as beneficial for her as it was for him.
"Got it Hermione, send me the details across via the beacon and I will work it out with Nash'ala on my end. Now it's nearly dusk here and Coira wants to make it to the outskirts of Ashenvale before night truly sets in, supposedly there are some truly dangerous wild animals out here. I love you guys, stay safe until I have things under control here." Ellen and Daphne blushed at his effusive statement whilst Susan and Hermione simply smiled back as he cut the connection. Whilst he wanted to have held it longer to say some proper goodbyes holding the connection open was a rather tedious and draining task, if half of what Nash'ala had told him about Azeroth's wild animals were true Harry would need to have enough magic available for a prolonged fighting withdrawal.
Standing from where he had been crouched to activate the beacon, Harry activated the shrinking runes on the complex piece of machinery and it shrunk down to a size he could comfortably attach to his belt once more. With a translation spell on the way his way of communicating with the various people of this world improved dramatically, so he could focus on other matters at hand. Making his way to the edge of the clearing where the others were stood waiting for him, Harry nodded his head in thanks whilst summoning a pebble from the base of a nearby redwood.
Coira was stood rather impatiently, shifting from one foot to another in rapid succession as her eyes darted between his own, his wand and the beacon attached to his belt. Given what he had been told about the Blood Elves thirst for magic, which was hardly surprising given their former reliance on a well of magic to sustain them, it reminded him of the agreement they had hashed out in Coira's hideout the night before. With another flick of his wand he transfigured it into a simple cross necklace with a titanium chain and clasp, putting enough magic into the spell that it would normally stay transformed indefinitely, before walking up to the Blood Elf and holding it out with a small smile.
The woman almost couldn't get it off him fast enough, holding it near her mouth as she breathed in deeply whilst closing her eyes, her body language jumping from anxious to relaxed in an instant. She was smiling when she opened her eyes once more and quickly spoke for a few seconds, Nash'ala moving up next to him as she gave a whispered translation.
"Coira expresses her thanks for the... snack as she calls it and wants to know if you are now ready to move on to Ashenvale. It is just through that pass." Nash'ala's words echoed Coira's gesture to the south, where there was an obvious gap between the two sets of mountains that towered over the forests and encompassed this area of shoreline from the rest of Kalimdor. As Harry tried to gauge the distance Kelanas spoke this time, the Night Elf's soft spoken words like listening to a choral hymn in a language you didn't know but thought were beautiful anyway. Nash'ala waited for Kelanas to finish speaking before talking to Harry once more, her face showing a pleased smile Harry hadn't seen since he first defended her from the insulting Night Elves.
"Supposedly Kelanas says that Tyrande will have sent word ahead to the leaders of the Night Elf settlements in Ashenvale about our party. This means that the patrols and guards should know we are coming and therefore not attack us on sight. Also there will be room at the inn in the main settlement, Astranaar I think she called it, pronunciation of surface names is not my strongest point." Excellent that meant they would only have to worry about the wild animals, demons and other denizens of the forest on their way to the settlement in question. Harry gestured down the road they had been following from Auberdine with a small grin of his own on his face.
"Shall we continue on our way then? When we make camp I have quite the bit to tell you about my next plan..."
Time skip: 3 days
"Here comes another group of Furbolgs, they seem to get bigger every time we encounter them!" Coira's cry prompted Harry to look up from where he had been treating a pair of wounded Night Elf sentinels they had encountered after engaging a pack of the corrupted bearmen moving through the forest northwest of where Astranaar was meant to be. Cancelling the translational charm, which he had cast to allow him to calm the badly wounded sentinel so that he could patch up his wounds, Harry cast the last of his healing charms on the bite and claw marks that littered the man's body.
The Sentinel was in no condition to fight, but Harry didn't think that he would be necessary for this little problem, shifting to a standing pose as he sent out magic into the earth around him, his senses expanding tenfold as the vibrations and shifts in weight upon the ground painted him a clearer picture of what was going on around him than his eyes ever could. There were half a dozen Furbolgs approaching from the west, obviously attracted by the sounds of conflict due to the fight with the first band of four Furbolgs, whose bodies now lay around the once tranquil glade.
Harry's face narrowed into a frown as he sensed the earth around two of the Furbolgs, it felt muffled or even strained, probably magic users affiliated with earth spells, like the white Furbolg in the first group. This complicated matters slightly as Harry found it a lot harder to control the earth around these Furbolgs, it was almost like something was directly resisting his magical spells. Mixed with the Furbolg's bulk, remarkable resilience and bloodthirsty ferociousness, Harry was not surprised that the Night Elves had been having difficulty in maintaining control over the forests.
Just as he was about to relinquish the stream of magic and get ready for the coming skirmish, Harry felt another presence on the edge of his senses, one that if he had not been on edge and restless he would have dismissed as a wild animal like the others that moved throughout the woods around them. The presence was powerful, not great enough to be a major threat to Harry, but if it was waiting for the Furbolgs to attack before it made a move that could change things considerably.
The presence seemed to realise that Harry had noticed it, making it another magic user, and slowly began to move forwards in an obvious manner, the size and vibrations of the footprints letting Harry know that it was in fact another Furbolg. The other six Furbolgs were too close to ignore any longer however, so Harry broke his focus and the vision of the clearing came back to him, turning as the first of the hulking bearmen cleared the treeline. The demonic corruption that had caused their descent into the rabid monsters before him was clearly visible, large pustulating sores and warts mottled their fur, eyes bloodshot and saliva mixed with green ichor dripping from their slightly opened jaws.
One of them, bigger and burlier than the others and with a pale yellow tinge to its fur, stepped forwards and raised a filthy serrated claw in Harry's direction. It growled something but without the translation spell Harry hadn't the slightest clue what it uttered, but the intent was clear enough as the other Furbolgs roared before moving forwards at a loping run. Harry started off with a piercing curse as he started walking slowly towards them, having found that diffindo and stupefy spells had very little effect on the Furbolg's thick skin and innate magic resistance. The spell pierced a hole in the leading Furbolg's shoulder causing it to shriek whilst Kelanas started chanting on his left, Harry following it up with a spear of earth bigger than he was drawn forth from the ground before being banished in the direction of the Furbolg charge.
The yellow Furbolg dodged to the side to avoid the careening missile, which impaled one of the magic using Furbolgs that followed behind it, sending the beast sprawling backwards even as the other Furbolgs continued to run towards them. The other Furbolg magic user raised a claw and with a bone chilling growl sent a fireball in their direction, causing Harry to break off from unleashing another pair of piercing curses to erect a protego shield in front of him, the shield almost buckling under the strength of the attack.
Luckily as Harry recovered for a moment from the assault the others in his party took up the slack, Coira whipping a pair of knives from her belt to bury themselves in the raised arm of one of the Furbolgs who had brought it up to protect its face which had been her intended target. At the same time Kelanas finished uttering whatever spell she had been preparing and thrust her arms in the direction of the Furbolgs, fire shooting forth from her palms and slamming into one of the smaller Furbolgs, setting it's fur alight and causing it to stop charging as it writhed in pain because of the burns.
As the remaining Furbolgs reached twenty feet from them Harry readied his favourite battlefield spell, one perfected against the Burning Legion demons who preferred close combat to range. The spell mina terra, which was in Spanish as opposed to Latin, roughly translated to 'earthen mine', was a silent cast spell which he directed at the ground in front of the Furbolgs a moment later. The magic of the spell burrowed into the ground it was cast at and hardened the minerals in it into shards of hardened rock. When someone triggered the spell, by stepping on the affected area, the magic detonated in the same manner as a muggle landmine, sending the sharpened rocks and mineral deposits out as shrapnel.
The explosion was impressive, as it always was when you caused the upheaval of over a ton of earth, the resulting dust and smoke obscuring the site of the Furbolgs in front of him. Whilst Harry would normally assume that such a spell would have finished the job, the fact that he had seen the Furbolg he had hit with the earth spear start trying to get back to its feet before the mine had detonated meant he was not going to assume anything at this point. He was proved right a moment later when the yellow Furbolg burst from the settling dust to take a swing for his head. Even as he ducked under the swipe and summoned the sword of Gryffindor into his hand, Harry couldn't help but marvel at the resilience of the Furbolg in front of him, multiple bleeding cuts and wounds in its fur that would have felled any lesser creature in an instant as well as two large splinters of rock embedded deep into its torso.
The creature was probably disorientated by the explosion as well, flailing attacks easy to avoid before Harry saw his chance, darting in and striking with the blade deep into the Furbolg's hide, Gryffindor's sword slicing through its matted fur with ease as Coira darted in to deal several punishing strikes of her own. The creature gave a final keening cry under the assault before its limbs stopped flailing and it slowly fell forwards with a heavy thud. The dust cleared enough moments later for Harry to see the other Furbolgs in the mob had all been felled by the explosion, whilst the Furbolg that had been on fire and the white Furbolg he had injured with the spear were now immobilised as thick spiked vines curled around them, rooting them firmly in place.
A deep growling noise from behind him made Harry whirl round, he had forgotten about the other Furbolg with the skirmish getting underway, something he cursed himself mentally for. The new arrival seemed different to the other Furbolgs Harry had just fought, and it took Harry a moment to realise why even as the Furbolg stood from where it had been crouched, one paw on the ground in a manner rather similar to Harry's own casting of earth magic. This Furbolg showed no signs of corruption that was so prolific amongst the others and the growling continued for a few moments longer before Harry realised the Furbolg was speaking to them. With a tap of his wand Harry activated the translation array once more, just in time to catch the main part of the Furbolg's speech.
"Rorgrash was a powerful warrior, before he followed Bloodclaw down the dark path. Brave you are human, to go claw to claw with one of my kind, even a badly wounded one. You also travel with interesting companions, a blood elf and Night Elf are not friendly not to mention the snake one. Perhaps with your powers you might help save my tribe from itself yet. I am Vera Darksnout, shaman of the Thistlefur tribe, leader of those who have not fallen to the corruption like these." The newly identified Vera raised a hand to point at the two still living Furbolgs, whose struggling had lessened in the vines that Harry assumed Vera had cast upon them.
"I will have warriors come to take these two back to our refuge, away from the corruption in the main village they should recover with time. That corruption is what I wish to speak to you about human, whilst I would not normally ask for the help of an outsider these are desperate times indeed. We have encountered corruption before, an ancient idol corrupted by the demons of the legion enscrolled our entire tribe to its will after our leader stole it, our salvation only realised when a Druid named Broll retrieved the idol. This time it was magical charms given to our tribe by the nearby troll clans, in the name of friendship we were told, though it is obvious now that we were deceived." It was obvious that the words were difficult for Vera to say out loud and it took a moment longer for him to speak again, mulling over what Harry could tell was going to be a request for help.
"Our leader, Dal Bloodclaw, he has fallen too far to be saved now. Even now he has sacrifices ready for transferring to the Legion camp at fire scar, such is his selfish desire for power at any costs. He needs to be dealt with if our tribe is to have any chance of recovering from this madness. So I ask this of you, head into our village human and return with Dal's charm necklace. With it may be able to find a way to remove the corruption placed upon it and the other charms worn by our tribesmen." Normally Harry would be a little wary of such a request, especially given the obvious power of the Furbolg making the request, but the idea of a full on civil war between the two sides of the tribe was a very serious thing to ignore, in addition to the mention of demons and sacrifices to be considered. After a glance to the others Harry turned back to Vera and nodded his head slowly.
"I will do what I can, where is this camp of yours then? I will need to hurry as I am already meant to be aiding my companions with their own tasks." He would have preferred to ask more questions but the headache generated by the translation spell was worsening with every passing second and as such he wanted the conversation over with quickly. Nash'ala had been surprisingly trusting when he had told her about the translation runes and what they entailed, but he supposed given the array of esoteric magic he had displayed thus far as well as his repeated defence of her from the Night Elves there was a level of wonder and trust the young Naga had for him that swayed her decisions.
Vera pointed off to the East, away from the road and deeper into the twisted woods of Ashenvale. "It is not far, I imagine given your powers human you will be able to find it easier than most. I will stay here and watch over the Elves until help comes, perhaps this meeting is a sign from the spirits..." Vera carried on speaking but Harry cut the translation charm, the headache fading from a thundering roar to a dull thud in a few seconds after the fading magic, he had the important information now and could rely on Nash'ala to tell him anything else that Vera said that was important.
Waiting for the Furbolg leader to stop speaking, Harry instead spent his time reviewing his performance in the combats he had been involved in since entering this world, given the strength and resilience of the Furbolgs he had faced, as well as the fact that he no longer needed to be as stealthy as was the requirement on Earth, he needed to review his tactics. Because of the reputation he had built up on Earth amongst the demons and cultists with his earthen powers Harry had for the most part taken to only using very specific wand magic, tailored to very particular situations where his earth magic was not as useful or in the cases of dire need.
Without that reputation to keep up however, perhaps it was time for a few of the more, fun, spells that were gathering dust in his mental repertoire to come to the fore once more...
Time skip:
Persona: Nash'ala
The battle of Thistlefur camp, as it soon became known by the local Night Elf garrison, was one of the most brutal and devastatingly well organised attacks that Nash'ala had ever seen or heard about. After meeting the head shaman of the tribe and Harry agreeing to help deal with the corrupted leader of the Furbolgs, the group of four had headed in the direction the venerable Furbolg had directed them in, wary of further attacks and ambushes. Harry had gotten an evil looking smile on his face partway through the journey and Nash'ala had been sufficiently intimidated by the look that she hadn't dared ask him what had him so pleased.
They had walked for almost a mile through the foliage and thick boughs when Harry had raised his hand for them to stop, the almost-familiar uncomfortableness of another presence in her head letting Nash'ala know he was using his magical powers to use common once more.
"The camp is about 500 yards in front of us, luckily it is upwind of us here so the Furbolgs should not be able to smell us. Coira, can you go and check on what awaits us? I dare not use the earth to sense details in case another Furbolg like Vera can sense it and give away our position." The Blood elf nodded to the request and with a quick influx of mana she disappeared from sight, Harry's shifting gaze the only sign of where the Blood Elf was moving to. Whilst they waited for her return Nash'ala felt the pressure in her head drop away once more and looking over she noticed Harry beginning to meld something from the Earth in front of him, several something's in fact given by the spread of the slowly rising mounds.
"What is he doing Nash'ala? Is this some other form of Earth magic he has devised?" Kelanas moved across to her as the pair of them continued to watch the magic display in front of them. The Night Elf was surprisingly cordial with her considering their races pasts, but Nash'ala supposed the path of a priest was one of forgiveness and that she shouldn't question her good fortune.
"I have as little idea as you do Kelanas, probably something to help us fight the Furbolgs but otherwise your guess is as good as mine." Their mutual question was answered a moment later when a hand appeared to rip itself from the earth, a hand large enough to grab and lift Nash'ala in one hand with ease. With almost agonising slowness the creatures Harry was forming began to emerge from the earth, each unique and brilliantly formed with details that almost made them look lifelike.
The tallest of them stood at 16 feet tall, a massive bull headed titan that actually reminded Nash'ala of the few Tauren she had seen in her travels, the bulls head morphing into human features below the neck, twin axes in its shaped arms each as large as Kelanas. There was also a centaur, slightly bigger than those on Azeroth armed with a lance and shield, rearing up silently as its front legs emerged entirely from the earth. There were three of the golems that Harry had summoned in the Night Elf council chamber, but these were not the crude constructs she had seen there, standing at over 8 feet tall each of them had a variety of weapons attached to their body, as well as the diamond tipped spikes that riddled their armour in a way that reminded her of the puffer fish she had seen around her childhood home.
But none of them caught her eye as the last creature did, rising from the ground and spreading its wings in defiance of the earth that still imprisoned its forming lower limbs. It looked like a cross between an eagle and a horse, its features formed to such perfection that Nash'ala could see its chest rise and fall in an imitation of breathing that far surpassed anything the golems of Azeroth could manage. The creature's gaze darted over to hers and Nash'ala was shocked by the intensity behind those stony eyes, shocking her into inaction even as the creature began stalking over towards her. About ten feet from her it stopped and to her surprise it bowed to her, before straightening and fixing her with its imperious gaze.
"You might want to bow back Nash'ala, hippogriffs are proud beasts and well, my manifestations are often based on memories, so there tends to be a bit of 'bleed over' as Hermione calls it." Given that the newly classified hippogriff was still glaring in her direction Nash'ala decided to follow Harry's advice, pulling a quick bow whilst telling Kelanas to do the same. After a few moments of bowing Nash'ala straightened, only to jump in shock as the hippogriff was suddenly in front of her, less than a yard from its beak touching her nose. As she recovered the Hippogriff jumped around in a circle in an obviously excited fashion before darting over to Harry who shook his head tiredly as he sat down on the ground, obviously tired out from the magic he had just expended.
"Sorry about that Nash'ala, Buckbeak is, was a bit of a prankster at heart, I blame that on my godfather really. Don't worry he will behave now, come over and give him a pet." There was a wistfulness to Harry's voice as he spoke about this Buckbeak, Nash'ala could only assume that that particular hippogriff had been a friend of his back on Earth before the demons came. Given that Harry had said they all retreated underground after the invasion, Nash'ala couldn't imagine that such a magnificent creature would have been content with such confinement, preferring to go out fighting the enemy that was destroying it's world.
Nash'ala conveyed all of this to Kelanas, who started walking over to Harry, dragging a bottle of what Nash'ala recognised as mage water from inside her backpack. Handing it over, Harry took a drink without even asking what it was, noticeably perking up a few moments later as he looked down at the thing in amazement. Before they could stop him he guzzled down some more of it before sighing contentedly and standing once more, twirling his long magic wand round in his hand as he looked around eagerly.
"Well that was a wonderful drink, Nash'ala we need to get a whole load more of this stuff. Now what else can I summon..." By the time Coira dropped back into the clearing there was a small horde of creatures waiting for her, ranging from a pack of venomous snakes that Harry seemed able to control at will to a half dozen earthen wolfmen that were gathered at the edge of the small clearing growling to each other. The look on the Blood Elf's face made it clear that she had found something important and terrible at the same time. Realising this Nash'ala called out to Harry who was resting against one of the larger trees, the man's eyes shooting open as she did so, waving his wand against his arm as the presence settled once more in Nash'ala's head.
"Coira, are you okay? What did you find in the camp." The questions by Harry seemed to break Coira from her shock as her eyes tracked the shaking head of the Minotaur that towered over her head, eyes moving to Harry even as she grasped the amulet around her neck and consumed a little more magic to calm herself down.
"The camp is where you said it was Harry, and if that weren't enough there are demons there right now, at least thirty minor satyrs and Felguard along with some cultists. They are overseeing the delivery of some prisoners the Furbolgs had, my people as well as some uncorrupted Furbolgs and Night Elves. I was going to say we needed to go get some more troops but well..." She gestured around a little incredulously and Kelanas gave a soft giggle from Nash'ala's left, the night elf having been allowed to mount Buckbeak after they had started patting the construct some ten minutes ago.
"Yes, you seem to be full of surprises Harry, though I think if we are going to save these captives the sooner we act the better, might as well attack both groups at once and deal as much damage as we can whilst Coira works on freeing the captives. I shall send for reinforcements from Astranaar, but I imagine by the time they get here there will not be much fighting left." With a quick chant a spectral owl appeared in front of her, flitting off quickly as Buckbeak's eyes followed it hungrily, aiming almost straight south of their position as it winged towards Astranaar. Harry pushed himself to a standing position before indicating in front of him, a small table with a sandbox rising quickly from the earth.
"Well there is no time to lose then, Coira show us the layout of the camp and then we can go from there." It didn't take long for a plan to emerge and be formalised, Nash'ala unfortunately relegated to the side-lines once more due to her lack of magical ability or skill with weapons. As such she took a prime spectators view point up one of the larger trees on the edge of the camp as the battle unfurled. It started with the serpents that Harry had summoned attacking, aiming mainly for the cultists amongst the enemies as they would be the most susceptible to their venom.
Whilst the enemies began to try and deal with the sudden serpent infestation on their hands, the thundering footfalls of the minotaur caused several of the Furbolgs to turn and face it as it emerged from the trees up towards their hilly village, the giant construct raising an axe in the Furbolgs direction in obvious challenge before kicking a giant hole in the gateway that stood in its way. Despite the Minotaur's superior size the Furbolgs didn't seem disheartened, almost twenty of them grouping together before charging forwards to engage their physically superior foe. What the Furbolgs couldn't know was that Harry had spent some time before the start of the attack casting his magic spells at the ground once more, a combination of explosions, gouts of fire and steam and a cloud of what Nash'ala had to assume was acid meant that by the time the Furbolgs had reached half the distance between them and the minotaur half of them were dead or badly wounded, the remainder falling back into the camp in obvious disarray.
The Minotaur then lowered its head, crossed its arms and then counter-charged the remaining Furbolgs, a deep roar echoing from its throat meaning that it had the entire camp's attention as it began its holding action, just as Harry and the others had planned. Nash'ala watched as prisoner after prisoner began to disappear from the ramshackle holding cells, the guards either distracted by the fight in front of them or dealt with silently by Harry and Coira. Seeing that the lead Felguard, who was larger than the rest by a considerable margin, was starting to give orders that looked like move out instructions, Nash'ala knew it was time for the second part of the plan.
Raising her bow, gifted to her by the Night Elves before she left Darnassus, Nash'ala summoned the small amount of magic she was able to into the arrow before losing it into the air, the special arrow tip igniting after five seconds in a burst of light that could be seen all around the camp. The signal instigated the charge of the remaining creatures and constructs from the North side of the camp, the new attackers catching the Furbolgs and demons off guard, the centaur lancing one of the Furbolg shamans before using the body as a missile by swiping the lance round, slamming the corpse into a pair of satyrs with bone breaking strength.
But by themselves the summons weren't going to be able to win the battle for them, especially when a guttural roar echoed from the centre of the camp, the largest Furbolg Nash'ala had ever seen emerging from the central hut before grabbing one of the wolfmen Harry had created and snapping it in half with one movement of its massive arms, black blood bursting from inside the corpse to cover the beast. Between it, the Felguard and the Furbolg shamans, the constructs were slowly losing numbers to the remaining enemies. The Minotaur went down under the weight of magic attacks by the Furbolg shamans and satyrs, the Felguard leader delivering the final blow with its massive cleaver to remove the bulls head from its shoulders.
Once all the constructs were down Nash'ala was surprised how effective the attack had been, barely a dozen Furbolgs left including their chieftain along with 10 Felguard and 7 or 8 satyrs. What the demons and Furbolgs also hadn't realised was that the black liquid that spurted from the wounds of the constructs had its own purpose for the assault, as Kelanas was about to prove. Looking up Nash'ala could see the priestess mounted on Buckbeak's back, hands in the traditional channel motion before white fire shot from the sky, the bolt impacting into the Furbolg chief's back and setting the oil he was covered in ablaze.
The fire spread quickly due to the number of corpses scattered around the camp as well as several pools Harry had been summoning in between rescuing the hostages, only a few of the Satyr's who had not been directly involved in combat escaping the punishing blaze. Nash'ala only hoped that Harry and Coira had gotten everyone out in time, the chance of anything surviving in that hell storm were very low to say the least, or so she thought until a towering figure burst from the fire in her direction, fur and flesh sizzling as the beast staggered painfully about, clawing at its eyes for a few moments before it gave up the futile action, instead sniffing around cautiously.
Nash'ala saw the earth spear moments before it buried itself in Dal's chest, Harry was obviously not taking any chances with this Furbolg as a second spear soon followed the first, bringing the beast down with a final cry. Nash'ala began her descent from the tree even as Harry appeared from under his magical cloak below her, looking over the firestorm in front of him with a slightly bashful expression on his face.
"I didn't actually mean for there to be quite such a large fire, perhaps the oil in the Minotaur was a bit much." Nash'ala couldn't help the smile that crossed her face at his words even as he summoned a cane and walked up to the smouldering Furbolg, using the pointed end of the cane to jerk the bone charms from around the Furbolgs neck, the rope that had held them together long burnt up in the conflagration. With all the charms removed Harry cast another spell at them, water pouring from his wand to impact on the charms, steam quickly bursting from the contact of the hot charms. Though the constant dousing with water quickly cooled them enough that Harry could bend down and pick them up, wincing slightly at the contact with his hand, straightening up as yelling began to become audible from behind the treeline.
"Nash'ala, could you go see what the problem is? I need to extinguish this before it spreads to become a full on forest fire." Nash'ala nodded, pleased that Harry trusted her enough to possibly sort the problem out without him being present, slithering off even as Harry began a chant of his own. The captives had been moved from their cells by a magical device called a 'portkey' by Harry, it worked in a similar manner to a hearthstone but could be made from any item and set to go to any point the caster had in mind. Moving quickly through the brush Nash'ala came across almost thirty Night Elf sentinels and Watchers arrayed in battle formation as the horde and Furbolg captives were stood warily across from them lead by what looked to be a Tauren druid who was stood defiantly yelling and braying at the assembled Night Elves despite his obviously underfed and gaunt state.
Kelanas and Coira were stood in the no man's land between the two sides, trying to calm their respective sides down without conflict breaking out between them, though they did not seem to be having much luck. With both sides on a knife edge, some of the blood elves having grabbed the Night Elf prisoners as hostages, the chances of this ending peacefully were decreasing by the second, meaning that she couldn't wait for Harry to come and take control of the situation. Trying her best to imagine that she was Harry with his power and presence, Nash'ala slithered forward from the foliage whilst speaking in her most authoritative voice.
"Enough, weapons down all of you! Blood Elves let the Night Elves go, we do not need a conflict amongst each other after that!" She gestured over her shoulder towards the camp, though the majority of the light and smoke seemed to have gone now, meaning that whatever Harry was doing was probably working. Nash'ala was surprised that the Night Elves didn't just shoot her on the spot, a couple of them definitely looked tempted, but she supposed that they had been given orders before being sent out. Her abrupt arrival seemed to have partially defused the situation, the Tauren calming down enough to catch his breath before calling over angrily.
"And what is to stop them killing us after we let their kind go snake? And what gives you the right to give us orders of any kind, your kind are not welcome here!" Nash'ala decided she really didn't like the Tauren but before she could retort a dagger cut through the air and put a light graze on one of the Tauren's arms, Coira's face angry as she readied another blade.
"She has the right because she was one of the one's that helped rescue your bovine behind and she is an ally of the Blood Elves of Quel'thalas, any insult you make against her you make against us cow." The Tauren was visibly seething but it was a question from the Night Elf side that coincided with the pressure of the translation charm appearing in her head once more that took Nash'ala's attention. The question came from the obvious leader of the Night Elf group, almost human skin coloured with long pink hair that enclosed her sharp face and piercing green eyes, mounted on a dark emerald Night Saber and with a large wolf stood warily at her side.
"I am Raene Wolfrunner, head sentinel of Astranaar and commander of the forces in Ashenvale. You mean to claim to me Naga that your group was the one that created the inferno that we could see from our homes almost two leagues away? What of the Furbolgs that are known to inhabit this area? They are known to be corrupted and hostile to any that are not affiliated with the demons." There was a sudden flash of movement before the head of Dal Bloodclaw landed in the middle of the two groups with a heavy thud, rolling over twice before coming to a stop facing Raene. Everyone turned in the direction of its arrival as Harry staggered from the trees, an irritable look on his face as he glared at all of those involved in the standoff, wiping the blade of the Sword of Gryffindor on a rag as he did so.
"Yes, we created the firestorm, the Furbolgs shouldn't be a problem for you anymore and yes I am tired and very irritable. So unless you listen to Nash'ala and put your weapons down right now, I am just as likely to do the same to you guys as I did to him." Whether it was Harry's blood covered appearance and grizzly trophy, his tone or simply the threat of annihilation that made everyone heed his words Nash'ala didn't know, but with the Night Elf captives released hopefully things would be a little easier from now on.
Little did the assembled groups know, they were being watched by another as they continued to talk and negotiate, one with decidedly less than stellar intentions for them. The undead rabbit watched it all with the intense focus of a machine, recording everything it saw to be reported back to its masters, deep in the ancient crypts below Ashenvale...
A/N: Another chapter done, woooo! I must say these things aren't as easy to right as they used to be, I am now trying to actually fit Harry's travels into the WoW universe with the help of my brother, who actually plays WoW. So Harry has now travelled into Ashenvale and has shown some more of his powers in an effort to remove some of the demons from the woods and thereby help heal the worst of the corruption in the area.
I like the idea of Harry being a good support character as well as just a close combat magical juggernaut as he is often portrayed in fic's, hence the constructs and serpents. What did people think of that fight scene by the way? Whilst not a proper battle, it showed several aspects of how Harry will have had to adapt his fighting style for the guerrilla like conditions on Earth. He doesn't fight fair if he doesn't have to and that is something I wanted to really get across here.
The construct of Buckbeak is something that just came to me as I was writing but I think it fits with the story quite well, certainly I can see Harry subconsciously enchanting the construct to act like the Buckbeak he remembers from better days. Perhaps there will be other constructs that he creates that will act similarly (Marauders perhaps?), but that is something to be considered another time.
Last thing before I stop babbling, Daphne. When I decided I wanted to involve her more in the story I wanted to make her different from the other Daphne's that have sprung up in fanfic's as she has become a popular character (I am certainly guilty of overusing her in my stories but meh). War changes people, especially those that experience the very worst of things that happens in it, and this is something I wanted to represent with Daphne. She has lost everything and everyone she cared about bar Tracey, been captured, tortured and interrogated for an unknown length of time and other horrors that I have yet to devise fully.
As such, she has created the front you see in this chapter, deliberately pushing everyone away in an attempt to keep herself from being hurt at their loss again. How Harry and the others are exceptions (though as you can see, exceptions are not necessarily better than the rule) will be explained in good time.
Right, that's it folks, please review away to let me know what you think, whether there is anywhere else in Ashenvale/Stonetalon Mountains that I can have fun writing about, so on and so forth. Hope you liked it.