When Virigosa was put in charge of a group of red drakes, she was less than thrilled.
With the Blue Dragonflight too busy choosing a new leader to pledge official support, Virigosa had used a loophole to officially participate in the battles on Mount Hyjal. While not a green dragon herself, she was able to, in a technicality, declared herself an associate of the Green Dragonflight to receive an official assignment. Of course, after her camp was destroyed, she had been mostly released from her official obligations, but that meant that after the situation in Hyjal had died down, she had to find somewhere else to fight. So, she returned to Wyrmrest Temple, and this time declared herself an associate of the Red Dragonflight. The choice wasn't very difficult- the Red Dragonflight was fighting in more places than any other dragonflight, and after her experience being healed by Alexstrasza, Virigosa felt she was indebted to them, to an extent.
This, of course, meant that she was placed under the Red Dragonflight's chain of command. Virigosa was assigned to the red wyrm Taelastrasza, a respected strategist and the commander of the Red Dragonflight's activities in the Wetlands. She had no issue with that, and was proud to serve under such a renowned general. That was, until Taelastrasza decided that Virigosa should lead a small red dragon strike team. It didn't seem that bad, at first, but there were the obvious issues with putting a blue drake in charge of three red drakes.
The most obvious issue, of course, was the rough relationship between the Red and Blue Dragonflights in the past few years. These particular drakes, however, had never served on the front lines of the Nexus War, and they were willing to take orders from a former enemy, hesitant as they might be. Not long after meeting them, however, Virigosa discovered that red drakes found a blue dragon's accent to be both funny and difficult to understand. In the beginning, almost anything she said was met with snickers and confused looks.
It wasn't a hopeless venture, however. Before long, Taelastrasza began giving them real assignments, and that was when their work truly begun.
Most of their tasks involved clearing out small cultist camps, something that was hardly a challenge for dragons capable of breathing fire and frost. A few short weeks after Virigosa arrived, Taelastrasza tasked the drakes with retrieving information from a Kaldorei outpost in the Wetlands. It was a simple enough task, but a welcome change of pace from raiding Twilight's Hammer camps.
"Did they really need to send four drakes to collect a few documents?" Erastrasza, one of Virigosa's dragons, asked.
"It makes sense," Virigosa pointed out. "I speak Darnassian, but I'm not exactly a model representative for the Red Dragonflight. By sending red drakes, the night elves know we come from Taelastrasza."
"Assuming they can even understand a word you're saying," Another drake, Torystrasz, chimed in. "Because I sure can't."
"Very funny," Virigosa said. "Have you ever heard a blue dragon speak Darnassian, Torystrasz? The elves love it."
"Like hell they do," Torystrasz said.
The four drakes landed a short distance away from the gates to the outpost. After steadying herself on the ground, Virigosa shapeshifted into her humanoid form, a night elf obviously recognizable as a blue dragon from her brightly colored hair and robes. The three reds, who were young and had not yet learned a humanoid form, walked a short distance behind her. A few sentinels were there to meet them at the gates. The one in front bowed, taking a few steps forward to meet them.
"You must be the drakes Lady Taelastrasza promised," The sentinel swept her gaze over the dragons, her eyes lingering on Virigosa for a moment. "Thank Elune you're here."
"Yes, we are. I'm Virigosa; the reds are Erastrasza, Torystrasz, and Zeistrasz," Virigosa said. "Is something wrong? Taelastrasza said we were here to pick up some documents."
"You'll see," the sentinel said. "Follow me."
Virigosa gestured to her drakes as the sentinel began to walk. The drakes followed, with Erastrasza and Torystrasz leaning in to whisper something to each other. Zeistrasz walked up alongside Virigosa. "What did she say?" he asked.
"Something isn't right," Virigosa said in Draconic, turning around so Erastrasza and Torystrasz could hear her as well. "It sounds like something's wrong, but she just said to follow her."
"Do you think they might turn on us?" Erastrasza asked.
"I don't know," Virigosa replied. "It could be anything."
The sentinel lead the drakes to a tower that was home to a moonwell. She stopped and turned to face the group. "My apologies, mi'lady, but this building is only meant to house humanoids," she said. "The others will not be able to remain in their dragon forms."
"My drakes have not yet learned how to take on a humanoid form," Virigosa said. The sentinel nodded. "Where are you taking me? If it's the top of the tower, that won't be a problem."
"I am," the sentinel confirmed. "Follow me."
Virigosa nodded, and turned back to the reds. "Fly up to the top of the tower alongside us," she said.
"You don't trust her?" Zeistrasz said.
"I do," Virigosa said. "But I want you up there too."
The blue drake and the sentinel ascended the tower. At the top, an elf in priestess robes stood behind a table covered in papers. A few more sentinels stood behind her, holding glaives and looking out over the Wetlands. The red drakes had already flown up, and they hovered around the open parts of the tower, watching Virigosa and the elves.
"Sister, this is Lady Virigosa," the sentinel said. "They come from Lady Taelastrasza."
"Lady Virigosa," the priestess said slowly, looking her over and glancing back at the red drakes. "You are... not what I expected, when Lady Taelastrasza said she was sending drakes."
"I am a friend of the Red Dragonflight," Virigosa said.
"So you are," the priestess said. "We've been waiting for you. Come."
The priestess walked to the tower's railing, and Virigosa stepped around the table to follow her. The elf gestured out at the world outside, to the swamps and to the nearby mountains that separated the Twilight Highlands from the Wetlands. Virigosa leaned against the side, breathing in the cold air, and turned to look at the Priestess of the Moon.
"Do you see those mountains over there, Lady Virigosa?" the priestess asked, pointing to one of the closer mountainsides, just beyond a group of trees. "I sent a group of sentinels to patrol that area this morning. Only one returned, and her reports were... disturbing, to say the least."
The priestess left the railing and began to pace a little. Virigosa's gaze traced her- she was content to listen. "They came across a... cave, she said, populated by Twilight's Hammer cultists. Not unusual, my sentinels have run across such settlements before. But this one was different. When they saw the telltale signs of twilight occupation, they went into the cave to investigate. And inside, they found... how do I say this? They found a new breed of dragon the Twilight's Hammer was creating."
"The Twilight Dragonflight?" Virigosa asked.
"No, we know about those," The priestess shook her head. "They were something... else. Monsters. My sentinel who was able to return wasn't able to describe them. But the rest of them are still missing. Lady Virigosa, please..."
Virigosa had turned her head away from the priestess, staring out at the landscape and in the direction that the priestess had pointed to. She sighed, tapping her fingers on the rail, and was silent for several long moments. Finally, she sighed and turned around to face the night elf.
"You lied to Taelastrasza," Virigosa said. "Why?"
"Please, my lady, it was urgent, and I knew Taelastrasza wouldn't come in time if we told her about what was really happening," the night elf said. "I do have documents for you, afterwards. But this was why I requested multiple drakes to come to pick them up."
"Night elf, are you aware of the long and storied history between our people?" Virigosa asked, pushing herself off the railing and standing to confront the priestess. "I have difficulty understanding what you thought you would achieve. Had you told the truth, Taelastrasza would have sent much more than four drakes to help you. I hope you realize that she has ways to tell Shandris Feathermoon that you've lied to us."
"Any help she would've sent if we told the truth would've taken too long. My sentinels would be dead," the priestess explained. "She would've wanted to understand the full situation first. Please, you're here. You know this needs to be done."
"As she should," Virigosa said. She shook her head, stepping over the railing of the watchtower onto one of the support beams. Perhaps it looked risky for a moment, but her intentions were made clear when she shapeshifted back into her true form. "Elune-adore, priestess."
The night elf called after her, but the blue drake was moving away from the tower. With a sweep of her tail, she gestured for her drakes to come to her.
"She lied to us?" Erastrasza said, puzzled. "That makes no sense."
"I know," Virigosa said. "But she's right. We need to find out whatever the Twilight's Hammer was up to. If they're creating another new breed of dragon, that's serious. And since the sentinels stumbled upon them, they might already be moving their operations. I hate to do what she wants, but we have to act."
"I think we should go back and tell Taelastrasza before we do anything," Torystrasz said. "Just in case. And so we can get some help."
"There's no time, we have to do it now or we might lose them," Virigosa said. "Zeistrasz, I want you to go back and inform Taelastrasza of what's happened. Erastrasza, Torystrasz, you're with me. We're going to end this."
Hesitantly, Zeistrasz flew back off in the direction of Taelastrasza's central camp. Virigosa flew off towards the cave that the priestess had pointed out, the other two drakes not far behind her.
The cave would've been difficult to find had they not been looking for it. It was hidden behind a few trees, and a nearby waterfall would likely capture the attention of most people who visited the area. Virigosa and the two reds located the cave rather quickly, and Virigosa was the first to step inside. It was poorly lit and eerily quiet inside, with a faint but constant dripping sound echoing in the cavern. Virigosa drew energy from the ley lines and wove it into a spell, illuminating the cave in a pale bluish light.
"Stay alert," she said in a whisper.
They came to a point where the cave forked into two paths, and Virigosa laid an arcane rune on the floor. She wasn't sure how deep the cave might be, and wanted to be able to find her way back. The three drakes crept onward in the illuminated cave, eventually emerging into a large chamber. Virigosa's light spell was beginning to fade, so she paused to pull together more arcane energy and recreate it.
"Virigosa, look out!" Erastrasza called.
Before she knew it, Virigosa had been tackled by another dragon, and was rolling across the floor, talons locked with them. It was clear that this other drake had no experience or even training against other dragons. It was fairly easy for Virigosa to gain the upper hand, pinning the drake down against the cave floor, easily holding off their struggles to get back up.
Virigosa finished her spell, and looked around the room for any other dragons. Satisfied that it was clear, she turned back to her captive.
"Let me go... you bitch..." the drake growled.
Virigosa loosened her grip, but didn't release it. She recognized this type of dragon almost immediately- her flight had done much work studying its kind. But what was it doing here? If the Twilight's Hammer was doing experiments with this type of dragon... Well, the results could be anything, really.
"The priestess was wrong," Virigosa said to the reds. "This is a Netherwing drake."
"Netherwing?" Torystrasz echoed.
"What's your name, drake?" Virigosa asked. "Are there more of you here?"
"I'm not telling you anything," the Netherwing drake said. He reached his tail up to try and smack Virigosa, but his tail had no weapon on the end like a normal dragon did. An interesting observation, Virigosa realized- despite the fact that it did no good, Netherwing drakes still had the instinct to use their tail as a weapon.
"If you come with me and my friends here, I'll let you live," Virigosa promised. She loosened her grip on the dragon again.
"I'll sooner die than serve you!"
The Netherwing drake seemed to summon whatever remained of his strength, and he dragged himself out Virigosa's grip. Such a move left him bleeding, but regardless, he made another move to pounce on Virigosa. She leapt up, snagging her talons in his skin, and almost seemed to rip him apart. Netherwing drakes were surprisingly light and fragile compared to normal dragons.
Erastrasza and Torystrasz watched, frozen in horror and grim fascination. They had never killed another dragon before, nor had they ever watched another dragon as they were killed like that.
"It's a dead end," Virigosa said. "Let's go back along the other path. At least now we know what to look for."
They arrived at the end of the other passage, where it seemed that everything had been left in a hurry. The bodies of sentinels were scattered across the cavern floor, as were strange bits and pieces of eggshell. They had to have come from Netherwing whelps. Several cages were scattered across the room, and a few tables seemed to have been hesitantly pushed against the walls. A few beds were lined up in a corner. There were few other signs that there had once been life here.
"So much for the priestess's sentinels," Erastrasza said, gesturing to one of the bodies.
"It's a shame for them, but there are more important things to worry about," Virigosa said. "Look at the egg fragments. They must've been running some sort of breeding operation here."
"They left everything in a hurry," Torystrasz noted.
"And it looks like they took all their records with them." Virigosa was looking over a table, lifting it with one of her forelegs.
After a few more minutes of searching, they returned to the surface. After shaking the dirt off, Virigosa lifted herself back into the sky. "Come on. We need to tell Taelastrasza about this."