A Tale of Three Druids (And maybe a Death Knight or Two)
Chapter 15: An unlikely discovery
This is my author's note, just wanted to let you guys know that since you reviewed, you get recognition. And guess what? U MAD, FRIEND? U MAD?
QuotetheRavennevermore: Or whatever your name is. Point being, all reviews are good reviews, even Flames! They make great bonfires! And just a heads up, read Groose Almighty's version, he's much better about updating. It's the same story, but we co-write it, and he uploads my chapters much faster than I upload his.
Eternalenergy: Yeah, I thought Resdlen was cool. Read Raven's note, it's got some good info. Thanks for reviewing!
The human* took a long draught of cherry grog. He sighed.
Why was he on guard duty so much? It wasn't like the Horde ever tried to invade their little camp. But no, the captain's word was law. Damn him! He cursed and slammed his blade into the soil. He was a warrior, not some peon to be kept at camp!
He was so consumed in his drunken rage that he did not notice the troll looming behind him. A dagger glinted in the torchlight, and then tore through the soft flesh of the warrior's throat, and the human's eyes went blank.
A rosy gleam slowly glowed over the barren landscape. A blue shape emerged from a simple canvas tent, stretching in the morning dawn. Despite the chill, Resdlen wore only woolen undergarments. He observed his breath in the icy air. He shook his head in amazement that something as curious and trivial as that could exist in a land that hung in the balance on one man, or, as the case may be, one lich.
He noted rather calmly that a large bronze drake lay curled up next to their campfire. He shrugged.
He poked his head into Nordelei's tent, squinting to see through the murky darkness. He seized the Blood Elf's shoulder and shook it.
"A large dragon is sleeping outside da camp. I'm not sure how he got dere." He whispered to the groggy Death Knight. Nordelei seized his warhammer, Hatebringer, and peered out of the tent.
"Oh, that's just Drakenrakenfalacken. But you can call him Drift." Resdlen snorted.
"Sounds like some stupid human name." He chuckled, and withdrew his head from the tent, jogging to Oktago's tent. "YO! WAKE UP YA GREEN PIECE OF [profanity removed for innocence of audience]"
Oktago snarled at the troll, and then crawled out of the tent. "I'll put an arrow in your-"
"Hush!" Nordelei barked, "There are women in camp." Resdlen blushed shamefully, and stood up.
Fliflax stumbled out of his tent, rubbing his temples.
"Headache?" Nordelei asked, a sympathetic look on his face.
"Damn hangovers… can't believe I… married her of all people…"he grumbled, promptly sitting on a rotten log, which shattered under his weight. "Mother of… can't believe… a dragon… Mickey damn Mouse…" he muttered as he stormed into the distance. Nordelei chuckled.
"You druids aren't so regal and mysterious after a heavy night of drinking, are you now?" he said to Resdlen, but then realized that he was speaking to a hallucinogenic, monkey-loving, obnoxious, snide troll. He wasn't mysterious anytime.
Oktago, as if reading the younger man's thoughts, chuckled "He's not too mysterious anyway, eh? Any ideas where we could find some dwarves to kill?" The mail-clad hunter asked. At this Resdlen perked up and stopped murmuring to Jack.
"Actually, there's an Alliance camp a few leagues west. Coordinates Y-123.45, and X-745.6723, ta be exact on ya mugs." Nordelei gawked at Resdlen, while Oktago began stringing his bow. Jack just kept picking bugs out of his fur.
The druid rolled his shoulders, rising to his full height. Nordelei, who was short as Blood Elves go, peered upwards at the lofty tusks. The massive blue expanse of the troll's torso dwarfed even lumbering Oktago. Oktago just analyzed the location of the heart and any other major arteries that would prove fatal if severed. Jack, as always, continued eating bugs out of his fur.
Resdlen had just began to pull out of his chest* a hardened leather vest when Yeow poked her head through the flap in the tent. "Put some clothes on!" she cried, bewildered by Resdlen's lack of apparel.
Resdlen merely chuckled and slid on a fine silk shirt, with a suspiciously colorful handkerchief ruffled across the breast. "A token from a lady? Who would fall in love with you, ya big blueberry?" Oktago taunted, a dirty grin spreading across his face. Resdlen slid on tight leather leggings and smirked knowingly.
"Oh, I have ma… charms." Nordelei burst into gales of merriment, shaking his head at the troll's shamelessness. Yeow uttered a noise of disgust, at which Resdlen just chuckled even more.
"Milady, we have located an enemy encampment. Permission to engage?" Nordelei asked, adopting the formal tone he used with the Tauren. She sighed.
"Granted." She replied, and then muttered "Men these days…"
Footnotes
* Therefore, an idiot.
*A wooden one, not the part of his body. Just to be clear.
And now, part 2!
The captain peered out into the blizzard, and burrowed deeper into his fur coat.
Ordinarily, he'd have granted special leniency for the guards in such bad weather, but when they rose in the morning, they found the dead body of one of the guards, as well as a note in Orcish, which no one could read.
The captain took another sip of his steaming coffee. Bad business, being murdered in the night like that. And, the man was drunk, so they could hardly say good things about the way he went out.
He sighed. He had given orders to keep the whole thing secret, not to acknowledge it.
He loosened his sword in its scabbard. He couldn't help but think that this was the perfect place for an ambush. His guards would have low visibility, but they would stand out like fireflies in the night thanks to the fires. He wouldn't have sanctioned their creation, but he soon realized that the camp would freeze to death without them.
He turned to the cooks. They were two succubi, summoned by the resident warlock. The men didn't like them, but the camp simply couldn't spare a warrior to make food. He had considered using treants summoned by their druid, but one stray spark and poof! One toasty treant.
A dull thud sounded to his left. He started, drawing his sword, but it was nothing. Nonetheless, he thought, he might as well go check on the guard. It was unwise to take anything for granted.
He peered through a gap in the palisade and recognized the coat-laden shape of the dwarf. He pulled his coat around himself. "You're getting paranoid in yer old age, there." He muttered to himself.
And now, Part 3
The trio held their breath as the captain peered at Nordelei's ghoul, dressed in heavy coats. The human ambled away, satisfied with the disguise.
Resdlen released a pent-up breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. Oktago ran through the dwarf with his sword for the twelfth time, which seemed a bit unnecessary to Nordelei.
"Good move wit da Death Grip," Resdlen patted the Blood Elf on the back, "Da look on his face!" he stifled a chuckle.
Crawling on his elbows, the lightly clad druid crept towards the palisade.
Just as he prepared to leap into the sleepy camp, a torch-bearing sentinel trudged around the corner. The troll froze, not daring breath of even move his eyes. He began to frantically mutter the incantation to Hibernate. He knew he couldn't force the Night Elf into sleep, but he could distract him and make him weary enough to wander back to his post.
The Night Elf turned and looked directly at Resdlen, suspicion in his eye. The troll bit his tongue, willing the guard to shuffle away. Much to his chagrin, the warrior began to amble towards him, holding the torch up to illuminate the trembling druid.
Just as he opened his mouth to raise the alarm and bring everyone and their uncle and their uncle's Murloc upon them, an arrow sprouted from his throat and he began to collapse.
Resdlen dove to catch the corpse. He let the guard plop gently into the snow with a small puff of powder.
Turning back at Oktago and smirking, he shifted into lion form. Waiting a moment to attune himself to the pattern of snowfall, shadows, and wind, he prowled towards the unsuspecting Alliance outpost.
Sliding into the camp, he examined all of the possible targets. He could probably quietly take out one of the succubi manning frying some nondescript meat, but the warlock controlling them would sense their death and he'd suddenly have a big, loud, blade-wielding problem on his hands.
Shifting through the drifts, he studied a draenei magician. She was some sort of caster, he couldn't tell what.
She cocked her head, and her tail began thrashing from side to side. Well, she's wagging her tail, Resdlen observed wryly, unaware of the danger he was in.
She raised a thick wooden handle with a chain attached to one end. Resdlen's eyes followed the chain until it came to a brutal spiked ball.
His eyes slid back up to the Draenei's eyes. She was staring near him, though to a few feet left of him. She pointed at a patch of snow, and a glowing object began to rise out of the hard packed soil.
Resdlen began to inch backwards, but the totem, as the mysterious object revealed itself to be, flung a fireball at him, sensing his life force. He dove, claws outstretched, at the draenei, aiming to kill her, so her mana would release the totem.
Unfortunately, it seemed a gnome with a horn dangling around his neck had noticed, and blew until his cheeks were as rosy as dawn itself.
Resdlen crashed into the shaman, his claws sinking deep into her shoulders. Pouncing away from her, he backed up into a corner.
The gnome was nowhere to be seen, while the captain, who was plate-clad and chanting some spell, charged, and a mail wearing dwarf loaded ammunition into his bulky shotgun.
Resdlen shifted into his humanoid form, praying the wards that surrounded his hard leather armor would protect him, and flung his arms outward. Snow melted and rushed towards the captain.
To his surprise, the sodden clump contained a shocked gnomish rogue as well as a dwarf and a human. Resdlen pressed his hands flat against the wooden palisade, and transferred enough of his precious mana to make it live again. Three treants shuffled in front of him, taking the heat from the Alliance.
Resdlen drew upon the last of his mana, and began chanting and allowing the energy to flow freely through him. Lightning began to strike the area, and fog rolled in. Rain and hail pelted the faces of the unarmored, and winds knocked them of their feet. Resdlen could feel the last of his reserves dribbling out of his core, and finally the storm died.
He roared loudly, if nothing but to confuse them, and flung out his arms once more. He knew he could not conjure anything else, but he did accomplish his goal, as the soldiers flinched, expecting an onslaught of nature magic.
He flipped over the palisade, grimacing as splinters drew blood.
Drawing his staff, he snarled. He would not go down without a true struggle worthy of the Horde!
Fortunately, he didn't have to fight at all, for an imposing shadow-clad figure rose from the snow, nimbus of lightning crackling around his hands. The ground underneath the Alliance warriors began to glow, and seeping shadow crept into their bodies. An arrow glanced off the Thorium plate of the Death Knight, as he sent his maniacal ghoul to wreak havoc. An arrow flew from behind him, and two twin gnomes froze. A sweep of the shadowy figure's hand, and the soldiers felt their blood boil inside their veins, and they all cried out in agony. Glowing runes flew from the man's gauntlet, and began to whirl around one man, and he began lashing as if possessed.
This was simply too much for the captain, and he commanded everyone to get inside the palisade, while warriors planted their tower shields in the doorways. The captain himself took the gap closest to his enemies, fortifying it with the power of the Light.
After a few minutes of nothing, he peered around his towering shield. The enemies were long gone. He sighed a sigh of relief, and removed his shield.
It was at that moment that a ghoul leapt onto his face and broke his neck.
Was it good? I didn't mean to make it as long as it was, it just sort of… happened. Tell me if there's anything you don't like! This doesn't mean I'll change; I just take that into consideration. And, I'm looking for a beta, not sure if Groose is, so if you can beta for me, shoot me a PM and I'll scope you out! That is all, have a very nice life.