Chapter IX
One Hell of a Mission
As the party entered the underground the first thing they saw were some strange creatures – short and stooped with arms almost reaching the ground. They looked somewhat like Neanderthals, yet uglier and far more vicious. The bright red hair on their heads contrasted with their dark-gray skin creating the impression that they were on fire. The creatures were staring at the crew absolutely mindlessly, their tiny eyes filled with evil. Their only desire was to kill the intruders.
'Are those the Searing Blade orcs? Did living underground make them small and ugly…?' – Blant asked sounding confused. – 'They're not even green! – he added biting his tongue.
'Those not orcs! They be troggs, mon.' – Aidid laughed.
'Man, that's a relief! Should we kill them too?' – Blant asked.
'Looks like it. They don't look very friendly, now do they?' – Zhora answered.
The troggs growled and began to move. Sluon and Zhora quickly surrounded the enemies in a ring of flames with their magic, just as Haru jumped in. The troggs thought she was now trapped with them, but it was the other way around – they were trapped with her. Without hesitation she leaped behind one of them and stabbed him in the back with both daggers. As she pulled them out, the trogg began to bleed intensively – both of his kidneys were ruptured. It happened so fast that the other troggs did not yet even realize what was going on. Haru jumped immediately on another opponent's shoulders and sliced his throat open. The trogg collapsed with the rogue still sitting on him. His comrade used this opportunity and tried to slash the Forsaken with his sword, but Haru turned invisible and dodged, so the attack ended up hitting the already dead trogg. While the attacker's brain tried to understand what just happened, he fell down with three arrows in his chest. Aidid wanted some of the action too.
'That's unfair! Why do they get all the fun? – the orc complained.
'Calm you nerves, friend. I feel you will have your hands full as we advance deeper in to the underground.' – Sluon said.
'I can't believe a wise shaman like yourself is wrong… I'll have my fun now!' – Blant shouted jumping through the fire. He knocked two of the remaining troggs to the ground with a body slam, pulled out his axe and split one of them in half. While the other one was trying to crawl away, the orc steeped on him.
'Where do you think you're going?' – he grinned grabbing the trogg's leg and throwing the enemy into the fire.
'Now that be something worth watching.' – the troll smiled.
'Don't relax yet, guys! Let's get going! – Blant was hyped up.
'Looks like the green guy's on his drugs again.' – Rico laughed.
The group moved on. The cave complex was hot as hell because of all the lava beneath it. Every single breath was painfully burning the throat. It felt like letting burning air straight into the lungs. The many twisting stone paths somehow resembled those of an ant's nest. Some of them were narrow, others quite wide. Some made the impression they would lead you high up to the surface, some were descending very close to the lava. This whole place made the hot sunrays of Durotar seem like a chilly breeze in the park. After walking for a few minutes the groupspotted some orcs.
'Ok, before they notice us, I propose to play a game! The rules are very simple: who kills the most Searing Blade orcs – wins!' – Blant said with enthusiasm rushing into battle.
'Hey! He didn't even wait until everybody agreed to play!' – Haru complained.
'Ah, stop ya whining!' – the troll said running after the orc with same enthusiasm. The rest had no choice but to join in.
Before the cultists noticed that they were under attack, Blant was already near two of them ready to strike. But just as he was about to blow the enemies away, both orcs fell: one with an arrow in his throat, the other – in his mouth.
'Damn you! They were my prey!' – Blant shouted.
'Sorry, didn't see ya name on them!' – the troll answered smiling. – 'Ya better try harder if ya want to win, mon!'
Blant quickly charged another Searing Blade orc, but the target was dead before he reached him.
'Like that would work three times in a row!' – the warrior roared.
Aidid shot another arrow at an opponent, but Blant was faster. Jumping to the target, the orc tackled him to the ground and then dodged the incoming arrow himself. He then sat on top of his enemy and broke his neck with his hands.
'Like ya can keep that up, mon!' – Aidid shouted trying to pull out another arrow, but the quiver was empty. – 'Crap, me forget to stock up…' – he thought and pulled out his swords instead. Blant noticed what was going on and laughed.
'No chance for you to win now, archer!'
'We see.' – the troll said and rushed towards a group of Searing Blade members. One of the cultists summoned alarge dark-blue spirit-like creature. His body seemed incorporeal, but was solid, as if composed of highly concentrated dark energy. At first glance it looked like a humanoid – two arms with massive bracelets on his wrists, a head with glowing eyes… but no legs. The demon's lower body looked similar to the bottom part of a whirlwind. This was a Voidwalker. With a peering angry look the demon charged Aidid, while another cultist cast a shadow bolt at him. The hunter quickly picked up a corpse of one of the already fallen enemies and used it as a shield to block the incoming spell. He then dropped the corpse and swiftly dodged the Voidwalker's attack by rolling out of the way. While the demon was trying to attack again, Aidid threw his short sword at the head of the summoner. With him dead, the demon vanished. But the troll didn't stop there. Continuing to run, he pulled his weapon out of the body's skull and stabbed the next enemy he saw in the chest with it. Aidid was pushing the weapon deeper and deeper as another shadow bolt came flying at him. The troll dodged leaving his blade in the dying orc and rushed in the direction of the caster. Using his fingers he punctured the nerves on the opponent's throat, making him unable to breathe. Leaving this one to suffocate he jumped to another two orcs and kicked one of them in to the air. The troll slashed the still standing opponent's stomach with a slash from the groin to the neck and moving the sword further over his head finished off the "flying" with the blow from above.
Not far away Blant was also fighting, but without any strategy. He was just waiting for the enemies to get close enough (or got close enough himself) and smashed them with his axe. Just for fun he decided to knock four of the incoming enforcers down into the lava. Three of them fell, but one managed to grab the ledge. Blant patiently waited for him to climb up. As soon as he did, the warrior grabbed his body, slammed the enemy's spine onto his own knee and threw him back down. Then he just stood there watching.
'What ya waiting for, mon?' – Aidid asked.
'Maybe he'll climb back up again!' – the orc laughed.
'Knocking da same enemy again not count as a new kill!' – the troll smirked.
'But I still would get more fun than you!' – the orc grinned.
In the other corner of the underground cave complex Zhora and Sluon were fighting their own group of enemies. Unlike the two barbarians, these guys worked like a team – they were in perfect sync. The Searing Blade cultists quickly gathered into a group to fend off the intruders – a group bigger than the orc and troll faced. Zhora used this against his foes. A mighty Pyroblast cast right into the middle of the group scattered them in different directions. Immediately the mage blinked himself behind them so that he and Sluon could attack the cultists form both sides. While the enemy was disorientated the elf began burning everyone he could with fireballs. An orc charged him with his sword, but the mage was ready. Zhora evaded the slash and grabbed the attacker's hands and burned them. The enforcer dropped the axe in pain and suddenly felt the mage's grip on his face. The orc's head has been burned the same way as his hands. The elf didn't notice the couple of cultists that were casting spells at him to his left. Luckily Sluon was already there. The shaman stomped the ground with his hoof and blast of light-green energy hit the enemies. The spell called Earthshock did not only damage the cultists, but also broke their spell casting. Then he pulled out his mace and attacked an enforcer with it. The orc blocked and began pushing against the tauren. The orc was clearly physically stronger, but the shaman was smarter. A skillfully placed magma totem behind the unsuspecting enforcer's back burned his legs to a crisp. As he fell, the totem finished him off.One of the warlocks managed to cast a shadow bolt. The spell was headed straight for Zhora. The mage protected himself with a mana shield, fully absorbing the attack, but draining some mana. He then countered with two fireballs at once: one burning the warlock, the other one – an orc who was just about to hit Sluon from behind. The other Searing Blade members decided to retreat seeing no chance in defeating such a well organized team. Unfortunately for them they were quickly annihilated by the shaman's and mage's spells launched after them.
'Heh, we make a pretty good team, don't you think?' – Zhora smiled.
'Yes indeed.' – the shaman replied. Zhora looked at the other side of the underground where only Aidid and Blant were left standing. – 'I see you guys cleaned up pretty well?' – he laughed.
'I killed more than he did!' – both shouted at the same time.
'Oh, no enemies left for us? Too bad…' – Rico laughed ironically. She and Haru didn't participate in this attack.
'Oh, there's at least one left.' – Haru said.
'How come?' – Rico asked.
'Call it a hunch.' – the rogue smiled.
'Da girls no want no action?' – the troll laughed.
'Nah, we're fine.' – Rico replied.
'Hey, squirt! Quit slacking off!' – Blant shouted.
'Would you stop calling me that?' – the half-elf said angrily.
'Tshhh!' – Haru hissed. – 'He's coming.'
'She is right. I feel a presence approaching.' – the tauren agreed.
The group turned to the corridor leading deeper into the caves. Someone's heavy footsteps could be heard. And they were getting louder. The crew was ready to face whatever might come. Soon the figure appeared – a huge muscular grayish-blue-skinned humanoid with a red helm with golden patterns and some heavy armor covering his lower body, whole right arm and the left one till the elbow. The armor looked as if it weighed more than our six heroes put together and was shining threateningly, illuminated by the lava's glow. The dark-red horns sticking from his back and forehead seemed to be covered in blood. But the most magnificent part was his sword – a twin-edged claymore as long as the creature's height and as wide as his body. A line of ancient runes was glowing from the handle all the way to the tip of it. The sword did look a little old and rusted, but deadly at the same time. This mighty demon wasTaragaman the Hungerer.
'Ok, I'm not the smartest guy in Azeroth, but I'm guessing he's not an orc.' – Zhora said looking at the demon.
Taragaman turned to the crew, looked at the dead clan cultists around them and let out a fierce roar.
'Is he some sort of pretty ugly trogg? – Blant asked. – 'Ah, whatever he is, he looks like he's the boss around here! That means we kill him!' – he readied his axe.
'We better watch out. He looks like one of those Felguard demons. I doubt anyone of us has ever fought one before.' – the mage said seriously.
'Oooh, a demon? Nice! I've read about them.' – Blant said quietly.
'You have actually read something?' – Rico asked sarcastically with disbelief.
'Ok, ok, so I've heard about them. Big deal…' – the orc answered modestly.
'Now that's more likely.' – the half-elf laughed.
'How 'bout a game? Who get the last hit on da demon before he dies don't wash da dishes for a week.' – the troll suggested.
'Sounds interesting.' – the tauren agreed.
'I'm in!'
'Me to!'
'Pfff… men… This is a serious mission here. We shouldn't waste time on such petty games…' – Haru said.
'Count me in too, guys!' – Rico said.
'Rico!' – the undead was surprised.
'Sorry, Haru. I hate washing dishes!' – the half-elf laughed.
'So that's the way it's gonna be? Ok, I'm in. You all better not underestimate me.' – Haru grinned spinning her daggers.
Aidid, Haru and Sluon were the first to charge the demon. They were attacking from all directions, but the fight looked pretty matched – no one was winning.Taragaman's defense was outstanding. Every single hit was blocked or parried. Sluon tried to place a totem, but it was destroyed the moment it appeared.
'Seems he is a very experienced fighter.' – the tauren said.
'Look like we have some fun with this one, mon.' – Aidid agreed.
The three surrounded the demon and jumped at him at the same time, but this was what Taragaman was waiting for. When everyone was close enough he ducked and put his palms on the ground.
'Get away from him!' – Zhora shouted running their way. Being a fire mage, he could sense a fire spell about to be cast.
But it was too late – the demon already released a fire nova. A ring-like wave of flame spread from him in all directions. Aidid managed to jump over it, Sluon defended himself with a water shield, only Haru didn't make it in time and got her legs burned slightly. Noticing that one of the targets was hurt, Taragaman charged her swinging his huge sword. The rogue blocked the attack, but was pushed of the edge and into the lava by the demon's brute force. Luckily she managed to grab the ledge with her hand. Blant, Rico and Zhora had now also joined the fight. The priest jumped after Haru and caught her hand just as the Forsaken lost her grip, but was now falling along with her. The orc was there right in time to grab Rico by the legs and pull both of them out.
'Take care of her.' – he said going the demon's way.
Zhora shot a fireball at Taragaman. The demon blocked the spell with his sword, but as soon as he moved it, a fiery explosion appeared right in front of his face. This was Zhora's Fireblast spell that didn't require any casting, but also required more mana. He fell down on his back and immediately rolled out of the way of Blant's axe swing. He stood up. Sluon used this to strike Taragaman in the head from behind. As the demon bent down to dodge, the shaman placed a fire totem in front of him and jumped back. The demon grinned looking at the totem, taking the tauren for a fool for trying the same trick again. The totem was destroyed with just one hit, but it turned out to be a fake. Understanding that he was the fool, he quickly ducked – just in time to evade Sluon's lighting strike. But as soon as he stood up, he felt great pain in his chest. Aidid just pierced his short sword into the demon. Taragaman counterattacked at once, so the troll had to jump away, leaving his weapon inside the enemy's body.
'You are no match for me!' – the demon roared.
'Ah, shut up already! ' – the orc said running over and pushing Aidid's sword deeper. The demon died. – 'Guess I'm the winner!'
'What? Me thrust da sword in!' – Aidid argued.
'So? The last hit was mine!' – the orc insisted.
'No! Last hit be mine! Ya just pushed me weapon in – that not count!'
'Here we go again…' – the others sighed.
As the crew was busy infiltrating the Searing Blade clan, their new home was (naturally) empty and locked up. The front door was suddenly opened by the turn of a key. A mysterious figure had entered the house. The intruder's black fitted clothes and mask which was covering his face made him look like a typical burglar, but also made it hard to distinguish his race – only his eyes could be seen. Yet his slim and incredibly tall body, reminding him of a hollow ghost stated that he was probably a night elf. The many different belts on his clothes which seemed to hold all parts of his suit together had a few small pouches dangling off them. The night elf kept looking over his shoulder almost every second. No wonder. An Alliance spy in one of the Horde capitols would no doubt be killed on sight.Silently he sneaked up the stairs and into Haru's room. As he reached it he stood in the doorway for a while, looking around. Then he closed his eyes as if trying to hear something. After standing like this for a few moments he quickly opened his eyes and jumped under the bed. Examining the floor boards he found that one of them was loose. The night elf shoved the board to the side revealing the amulet stolen from Balzaphon beneath it. He stood up holding the artifact in his hand, staring at it for a while. He looked as if he had found all the riches in Azeroth.
'So this is it…' – he muttered. Carefully he put it back in, covering it with the board. It looked untouched. Then he began messing up the room.
Within a few minutes the room looked as if it had been searched for money. Suddenly he heard footsteps. The night elf jumped out of the window and vanished in an alley. The person who's footsteps he heard now entered Haru's room. It was general Bloodhorn. He looked around.
'Good...' – he said. He then exited the house, locking up the front door behind him.
After defeating Taragaman, the group took a short break. Everyone needed to catch their breaths, restore some mana and heal Haru's legs.
'So this was their leader, huh? Mission accomplished!' – Zhora said.
'What? Already? This was just starting to get fun…' – Blant sighed.
'I don't think it's over…' – Haru muttered. – 'The caverns lead deeper. And there are a lot of presences too.'
'Now that's what I call perception.' – Zhora praised her.
'Do you suppose this was not the only leader?' – Sluon asked.
'Only one way to find out!' – Blant said standing up and swinging his axe.
This time the party kept together anticipating that the battles would get tougher. Rico even summoned Naluri to help out. Nevertheless one crew member was out front killing every enemy in sight – Haru. Although her legs weren't completely healed, she fought just as good. With her agile, soundless and deadly moves she was assassinating anyone she could to prove she was no burden to the others (since she was the only one injured while fighting Taragaman).
Six orcs were standing grouped together in fear, watching as their comrades fell one by one by a vanishing and reappearing enemy. They were staring in all directions, trying to understand what was going on. One of them sensed something from his left. Quickly he turned his head and saw a dagger flying right into his face. The still remaining five orcs moved away from their dead comrade and began staring in to the distance, hoping to find the source of the knife. Little did they know Haru was hiding in the shadows right in front of them – so close she could feel their breaths. She picked up some dirt from the ground and threw it into one of the orc's faces, blinding him for a short time. At the same time she threw a knife into the eye of one of the cultists. She was now visible like after any other attack, but that wasn't a problem. Swiftly she dashed over to another cultist and stabbed his heart with her dagger. Now only two orcs remained, one of whom was blinded, and the other one was staring at Haru gripping his sword, ready to strike, yet frightened. The Forsaken just grinned and simply faded away. The orc gulped, not knowing Haru was already behind him. She grabbed and threw him over her shoulder, slamming him into the ground. Not even giving the orc a chance to feel the pain, she stomped his throat and crushed it. The last cultist finally started to see again, but all he saw were dead bodies all around him. Suddenly he heard the sound of something burning. He turned around. The last thing he saw in his life was a fireball right in front of his nose.
'Stealing kills?' – Haru smirked.
'Nah, just wanted to surprise the poor guy.' – the mage said sarcastically.
Next thing you know another huge group of Searing Blade members appeared, all with vicious looks on their faces. They were here to avenge their fallen brethren.
'Hey look! Some more meat!' – Blant shouted as enthusiastic as ever. The enemy made one step back after hearing these words, but then realized that they outnumber the six invaders and began closing in.
'Yes, indeed.' – the tauren smiled. – 'Zhora, fire, please.' – he said channeling wind in his hands.
The two formed the same giant fireball like in the Ghostlands and launched right in to the middle of the group of attackers. Those who were hit directly died at once, the others were scattered all around the battlefield because of the blast wave. Aidid and Blant quickly rushed in to finish of the rest, aiming for the same opponent. The troll noticed Blant was running faster, so he grabbed the orc's leg to stop him. Both fell down as a result. Using this opportunity Rico's imp blasted the cultist with his fireball. The half-elf then cast fear on a few other orcs, making them jump into the lava in terror.
'Now look what you've done! The imp stole my kill!' – Blant shouted at Aidid.
'Ya fault, idiot! Why ya target da same enemy as me?' – Aidid replied angrily.
'Geez, you two are really stupid, aren't you?' – Naluri laughed.
'SHUT UP!' – the two roared and tried to smash the imp. Right before the hit, Naluri swiftly escaped back into the demonic world.
'Hey! What do you think you're doing?' – Rico asked angrily.
'Ah, pipe down and just summon the squirt back.' – the orc growled continuing to argue with Aidid.
The next instant a huge portal to the demonic world opened and a huge satyr – a half-man half-goat – stepped out. The word "huge" suited it perfectly – the demon was almost twice as big as Sluon. The satyr was muscular, his crimson-red skin with blood-pumped veins made him look quite repulsive. He stomped twice with his massive hooves and combing his beard took a closer look at the party. His one-eyed (the other eye was missing) icy gaze made the group feel uncomfortable. It clearly stated he had killed… a lot. After analyzing the group the satyr stretched himself, his horns nearly reaching the top of the cavern and let out a ferocious roar that made the cave walls shake.
'Why does everyone keep roaring at us today?' – Haru asked.
'Wow! If you can summon stuff like that, why the heck do you put up with that imp?' – Blant asked being astounded.
'Er… I didn't summon that guy…' – Rico answered modestly.
'I did.' – a deep voice behind them said.
The group turned to seean old wrinkled orc. He looked like an experienced warlock, dressed in layers of heavy purple robes. His strong and muscular arms were scarred. His beard tied into a pony-tail made him look menacingly. He was grinning.
'Your little raid ends now. You shall feel the wrath of me, Jergosh the Invoker and the demon Bazzalan!' – the warlock roared.
'Guess I'll need something different than Naluri…' – Rico thought. She extracted a small shiny purple-pink crystal – a Soul Shard – from one of her pockets. Taking it in both hands she began whispering something in demonic tongue. She was completely concentrated, her voice gradually increasing until it became shouting. Suddenly after the last word was said the crystal shined unbelievably bright illuminating Rico and the other's faces. Flash! Everyone was blinded for a brief moment. As soon as everyone could see again, they witnessed a dark blue Voidwalker stepping out of a cloud of smoke in front of Rico.
'I... don't like... this place…' – the Voidwalker said.
'Neither do I, Zangrave, but we must beat these guys, or they'll kill us.' – Rico said.
'As you wish…' – the Voidwalker bowed.
'Left horn is mine!' – the orc shouted looking at Bazzalan, paying no attention to what had just happened.
'Then da right one be mine!' – the troll grinned doing the same.
'What's this all about?' – Haru asked.
'You can have his hooves!' – the two said staring hungrily at the demon.
'I'll take the hooves!' – the mage laughed following the two.
'Hmph. Somehow I did not find the "hooves" joke very entertaining.' – the shaman said. – 'I shall fight the warlock then.'
'We got your back.' – the girls nodded.
Blant and Aidid were already rushing at Bazzalan from both sides with Zhora's fireballs flying down the middle. The satyr ran left to avoid the spell, but Aidid was already there to attack him. The demon blocked the troll's sword slash with his bare hands, but was not ready for the hunter's kick from below. The attack pushed Bazzalan right into Blant's arms. The orc caught Bazzalan's by the horns, broke off one of them and threw the demon away.
'That be da right one, idiot!' – the troll shouted.
'Huh?' – Blant was confused.
'That be da right horn! My horn, mon!' – Aidid shouted angrily.
'Damn! Oh well, now I just have to break the other one.' – the orc answered.
But just as he turned to face the satyr, he noticed the demon was already charging Zhora. That was the demon's mistake. The mage wasn't just standing this whole time. He was casting his strongest fire spell – the Pyroblast. The spell was ready just as Bazzalan was an inch away from the caster. The Pyroblast hit the demon right in the face and blasted him away, knocking him to the ground. Yet the satyr was tougher than he looked. He quickly got back on his feet and attacked the mage with his sword. Zhora blinked himself away from the slash and appeared behind Blant. The orc was already gripping his axe. Bazzalan turned around and stared at Blant. While he was completely focused on the warrior, Aidid appeared before him with a rope. The troll jumped over the satyr, skillfully tying the rope to his remaining horn. As he landed behind Bazzalan, he pulled the rope with a wide motion making the demon lose his balance and fall on his back. The hunter dashed to Bazzalan, trying to quickly finish him off, but the demon rolled away, grabbed the troll's leg and threw him right into the wall. Bazzalan was now moving in for the kill, yet he forgot all about the rope still tied to him. Blant pulled the rope from behind, making Bazzalan fall down again. He then ran over to the demon and kicked him so hard that the satyr was sent flying into the air with a few broken ribs.Zhora quickly hit him with a Fireblast while he was in the air. The spell hit and the satyr came crashing down barely alive. He tried to stand up again, but Aidid stepped on his chest, keeping him down. The troll pulled out his sword, thrust it through the demon's throat and then cut off the remaining horn.
'Trade ya da left horn for da right one.' – Aidid grinned looking at Blant.
'Oh come on. Is there even a difference between these horns? Look at them? They're the same!' – the orc argued.
'Well… Aidid's horn is cut off more evenly. The one you have is just broken off.' – Zhora noted.
'So I'll grind it down so it'll look the same, big deal.' – the orc answered stubbornly.
'Give me da right horn, mon!' – the troll said angrily.
'Make me, blue guy!' – Blant grinned.
'Oh boy…' – the blood elf sighed.
As these three were fighting Bazzalan, the others were busy with Jergosh.
'You lowly creatures shall pay with you lives for coming here!' – he roared launching three shadow bolts at each of them.
Zangrave jumped in to absorb the damage, but managed to "catch" only two spells. Nonetheless Haru easily dodged the shadow bolt heading for her. The rogue threw three knives at Jergosh and turned invisible. The orc being a poor melee fighter didn't even manage to dodge or block, so all three knives hit him, but not deep enough to cause any serious damage.
'This will be easy.' – Haru thought. She was already behind the warlock ready to strike, but Jergosh released a wave of dark energy from within him pushing the Forsaken back.
'Looks like he has a few tricks up his sleeve. – Sluon whispered. – 'You all better keep your guard up.'
The warlock did more than just push Haru back. The spell infused her with some sort of black light, making her glow, so her invisibility was useless. He then lifted his arms up and a shining rune flashed above his head. Everyone was on their guard, but nothing seemed to have happened. Or so it would seem. Zangrave suddenly turned around and attacked Rico – the Voidwalker was now under Jergosh's control. The priest fell down, but was with no serious damage taken. Voidwalkers are defensive type demons with a lot of stamina, but weak in the offence. Still the shaman paralyzed Zangrave with a lightning strike. Rico then quickly un-summoned the Voidwalker back into the demon world.Now that this was over, the tauren charged Jergosh followed by Haru. Both thought the best way was to attack him physically. The warlock was angrily launching shadow bolts in all directions. This time everyone had a hard time dodging the spells, especially as they came closer. Sluon decided to keep a distance and shoot Jergosh with lightning strikes. The orc took direct hits, but it didn't really matter – the dark energy shield around him was absorbing every attack. But Sluon knew that such shields don't last forever, so he kept on pressing the attack.Finally Jergosh's defenses broke down. Immediately Rico cursed the warlock with a mighty Curse of Agony and a Corruption spell. Before Jergosh even began to feel pain, Haru stabbed him in almost every vital organ. The orc decided to run for it, but bleeding and suffering great pain from the curses he died after running just a few steps.
'Took you long enough!' – Blant laughed from across the cave.
'Hmph. As I see it you finished off that demon around the same time we finished off his master.' – Haru smirked.
'Who cares anyway? Main thing is we…' – Zhora said.
'Hey, Rico! You can have this horn, I don't like it anymore.' – Blant smiled. – ' It looked way cooler while it was on his head.'
'Like I'd want a thing like that in the first place.' – Rico smirked.
'Don't be so modest! Here you go!' – Blant smiled pushing the horn into her hands.
'I said I don't want this stupid thing!' – Rico said angrily throwing the horn on the ground.
'Ya not appreciate battle trophies… Me take it then.' – Aidid laughed.
'No you don't! I've changed my mind! I want it back!' – Blant grinned picking up the horn.
'Oh would you too stop it already?' – Haru sighed. – 'Sluon! Say something!'
'I do not like this talk about horns as trophies…' – the shaman said grimly.
'Ekhm!' – Zhora cauged. – 'AS I WAS SAYING! The main thing is we did it. Looks like this was the last of them. The mission is a success!'
'Guess we did better than Bloodhorn would have expected. We killed everybody!' – the orc laughed with satisfaction.
'Hey, check it out!' – Rico said pointing at a bookshelf in the other corner of the cave.
'Hmmm… Think he had some interesting books on fire magic?' – the mage asked rhetorically approaching the bookshelf.
'Spellcasters...' – the orc sighed. – 'Just make it quick! I can't wait to get out of here and prove that stuck up war-veteran that we're tougher than he would've ever imagined!' – he said proudly.
'You know, reading could do you some good too.' – Rico laughed scrolling through the pages of some demonology tome.
'Just chill, we'll be done in a moment.' – Zhora said opening a random book. Suddenly he fell silent.
'Something wrong, friend?' – the tauren asked.
'Sluon, look at this.' – the elf said.
The tauren took a look at the book. His reaction was similar to Zhora's.
'Is this…?' – he muttered.
'I think so…' – the elf answered. – 'Guys! Look here!'
Everyone gathered around the opened book. The book contained one page full of text in some unknown language, but the other page had an amulet.
'Whoah… It looks like our amulet!' – Haru said.
'What does da text say?' – the troll asked.
'No idea. Never seen this one before.' – Zhora shook his head.
'It's demonic tongue.' – Rico answered.
'First gutterspeak, now demonic. Just what sort of training were you doing in Undercity?' – Blant said.
'I never said I could read it, moron!' – Rico snapped. – 'I've seen a few scrolls in Undercity. Master Pickman told me they were in demonic. Warlocks use it for spells and stuff.'
'So? Are you not a warlock?' – Sluon asked.
'No, I'm a shadow priest who can summon demons and use a few curses! I don't really need to know how to read the language. I only need to know some basic phrases for summoning.' – she explained.
'But you said warlocks can read this language, right?' – Zhora asked.
'True, but we want to keep amulet a secret, don't we?' – the half-elf answered.
'Look, why don't we keep this book for ourselves and figure out something later?' – Haru suggested.
'Good call! Now let's get out of here! I want see Bloodhorn's face when we tell him the mission's complete!' – the orc laughed.
Exiting the caverns didn't pose a problem since there were no more hostiles in it. In less than an hour the group was out.
'What the hell took you brats so long?' – the general roared as the crew returned.
'Just completing our mission, sir.' – Zhora answered calmly.
'Your mission was to eliminate the leaders and any opposition! By the looks of things you decided to massacre everyone in that damn cave!'
'What? Is it our fault that "everyone in that damn cave" decided to oppose us?' – Blant laughed.
'Did I give you permission to speak, soldier?'
'Sir, no sir…'
'Then shut up!'
Neeru was silent.
'Do you have any more tasks for them?' – Bloodhorn asked.
'No…' – Neeru replied. – 'They did… more than I expected…'
'Good! So now move and report back to the Warchief, you sacks of boar meat!' - Bloodhorn shouted.
The group started walking followed by the general.
'Bastard… We completed the mission perfectly and he still treats us like garbage!' – Rico whispered.
'And he be acting unusually hostile towards ya, mon.' – Aidid whispered referring to Blant.
'I'll show him… I'll show him who's the sack of boar meat!' – the orc answered.
'Calm down, my friend. We will all show him what we are capable of.' – the tauren whispered.
'I'd love to torch his face every time I look at him.' – the elf said. – 'But all we can do is bare with him.'
'What the hell are you sorry bunch of worms whispering about?' – the general shouted from behind.
'Sir, nothing sir!' – the crew replied together.
After a few minute's walk, they were back in the Valley of Wisdom.
'Warchief! The squad reports back!' – Bloodhorn said.
'Was the mission a success?' – Thrall asked.
'Yes, Warchief! Under my brilliant leadership these children managed to fulfill the mission perfectly!' – Bloodhorn answered.
'What? Why that son of a…' – Blant started quietly.
'Tssss!' – Sluon hissed. – 'Calm down.'
'Did you hear what he said?' – the orc whispered.
'We all did, Blant.' – Haru answered with irritation.
'You did a better job than expected. With the cult gone, we won't have to worry about them corrupting our citizens!' – Thrall complemented the crew. – 'As promised, you get paid.'
A peon came running from another room and handed every member a small bag of gold.
'You may return home and rest for now. You will be notified when a new task for you arises.' – Thrall said.
'We thank you, Warchief!' – the group answered and made their way to the exit.
'Something is wrong here, Warchief! Six kids defeating the scourge of the Ghostlands and the Searing Blade clan? It's impossible!'
'Believe it or not, it happened.' – Thrall said. – 'It makes me proud of the Horde to see that the new generation is something special. These youngsters may even bring all Horde races closer together.'
'Hmph. If you say so.'
'How is our friend Neeru?' – the Warchief asked.
'His anger rivals that of a rabid kodo bull!' – Bloodhorn laughed.
'It seems we've put a dent in his armor. I can't say I'm displeased... even with such a minor victory.' – Thrall smiled.
'To think he is the leader of the Burning Blade… Are you sure we cannot simply slay him?' – the general asked.
'Do not rush off to do battle with him; he has a purpose, and we shall use him against our enemies again soon enough.'
'Dabu, Warchief. I will then return to my quarters.'
'One more thing, general. I have heard you made a duplicate of your key to the squad's home.'
'Just a spare one for emergency reasons, Warhief! In case I lose one, I will have the other.' – explained Bloodhorn.
'Very well, general. You may go.' – said Thrall.