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The whole thing had just been one new surprise atop another, and Kel'tira Sunblaze would have said as much, if anyone asked her.

Although no one did. Not many people asked her about that kind of thing, Cyaer and Nicias were some of the only ones, but they were family, it is hard to hide things from family.

First the warlock, now the confusion surrounding her latest schemes. Between the runes, the book, the warlock herself, and the stress of day-to-day management of the Fellowship and her House, Kel was frazzled.

The rain in Brill drearily reflected her mood as she pushed the hearthstone across the bed she sat on. The voices emanating from the little thing had been carrying on for a while now, and she was half-listening half-remembering what had transpired earlier.

Staring off at the spiderwebs in the room distastefully, the Blood Elven paladin sighed.

Earlier that day...

The Wyvern's Tail was quiet, surprisingly so, and Kel was inordinately grateful as she walked through the establishment's doors, glancing around for the Orc who had said he would meet her here.

He stood by the fire, looking surprisingly stoic to the tired Elf, but that might have just been her, it had been a long day, productive, maybe, but long.

The Orc motioned the woman over, and her voice was low as she spoke, "You are from the Laughing Skulls?"

"I'll have to do today"

With a shallow bow, Kel nodded, "Kel'tira Sunblaze, at your service! I am sorry if I interrupted anything?"

"Gorelik, My dear. I believe an elder member of my clan will be here shortly."

"Yes, a pleasure. Now, I set a tentative deal with your people..." Pausing, Kel tapped her chin thoughtfully, "My Fellowship is having warlock issues."

Gorelik was concentrating, "Problems huh...and how can we be of service?"

"What was discussed is that in backing my people with numbers and strength, the warlock's belongings of the non-demonic nature, as well as her body, would be your clan's to do as they please with. Her heart and head and anything demonic we find the Fellowship will burn." Regretfully, she added, "It appears that we may be needing to call upon your aid sooner than we expected."

The Orc looked slightly confused, and inwardly Kel had to chuckle, "something happen?" he asked.

"You could say that. Have a seat, this could take some time to explain."

The two settled at a table, the male taking a drink of something, Kel looking agitated, "Viragona, the warlock, started making trouble for us a while back, she kidnapped one of our own, entranced a powerful paladin, binding him to her, and then vanished. We believe she had a hand in our previous leader's death, but have no proof so to speak. And now... Now she has a demonic tome, and she seeks runes to unlock its full potential."

Gorelik rubbed his chin, and the hair there, "You know where the runes she seeks are?

"Our intelligence tells us she is amassing something of an army to take the rune of Hatred, whose location we have guarded. We would ask for your people's assistance in both tracking the warlock, guarding the rune of Hatred, and locating the rune of Lust."

Gorelik thought to himself for a moment, "What kind of man power are we talking about.....I grew up around warlocks powerful ones are no easy targets."

Kel rubbed the bridge of her nose, looking worn and old, "Likely as many men as you can spare. The rising Sun Fellowship numbers enough to do one task, but not all three, lest we spread ourselves too thin."

((1/3))

Boastfully, the Orc said, "The Skulls have the Muscle for a job of this sort but. To succeed with the least amount of bloodshed will require some tatics and planning. I suggest a meeting with the leaders of your operation to disscuss the ligistics of this task. Sounds like the sooner the better."

Nodding, Kel played off of his apparent pride in his people, "I have heard tales of your prowess in battle, it will be an honor to fight alongside you. As for the leaders, I am the guildmistress, and one of the ones who will head up this attack."

Gorelik dropped his head "Blood we can shed but I alone can not speak for the whole of my clan as that would overstep my bounds. How ever if im willing to lift my blade in your aid im certain my brothers would gladly join me."

After a long moment of silence, spent searching the Orc's face, Kel nodded, "I would be honored to have you stand with us. Can you do me one more favor?"

"What can I do for you?"

"I need you to put me in touch with someone from your guild who can act as an organizer, and a liason, unless you wish to shoulder that burden."

"I'll work on that immediatly. Mistress as this sounds dire."

Kel breathed a pent-up sigh of relief, chuckling slightly at his honorific, "I would appreciate that, and please, call me Kel."

"If you can wait a higher ranking clansmen should be here shortly."

"I have nowhere else to be, so wait I shall."

The two made small-talk, touching on the subject of drinking, vaguely, before the huntress arrive, Olai. The two Orcs exchanged salutes, and Kel, searching for the proper greeting, bowed shallowly, "Greetings."

Gorlik's introduction was simple, straightforward, and the to point, "Olai this is Kel of the Rising Sun she has a propsition for us."

"What proposition is this?"

"I spoke with one of your people a week or two back regarding a warlock, and her disposal."
As Olai nodded her understanding, Kel continued, "The Rising Sun Fellowship has been having... Warlock troubles... so to speak. She has recently obtained a demonic tome, and plans to collect the remaining runes to unleash its full potential."

"And you want us to do...what exactly?"

"A tentative deal was brokered, that you would assist us in tracking her, and whatever else entails in bringing her to her knees, in return for her possessions that lack demon taint, and her body."

Gorelik interjected, "We need to find someone in the Clan to help organize this attack against the warlock."

As Kel'tira Sunblaze braced her palms on the table, she dropped her voice slightly, "Viragona has warned us of her plans to sweep aside the guard set at the rune she seeks, and take it by any means necessary. Trust me when I say that no one would enjoy seeing her plans come to fruition."

Olai seemed relatively unphased, "I understand."

"The issue has escalated faster than we expected, and I will be meeting with an underling in a matter of hours or days in an attempt to bring things to a peaceful resolution. Failing that, the warlock will attack. "

"Yes, I am unsure of who in the Clan would be best suited for this task..." Olai furrowed her brow in thought.

Kel closed her eyes briefly, thinking, "We would ask your assisstance in tracking the warlock, guarding the rune of Hatred, and manually searching for the rune of Lust."

Gorelik and Olai spoke almost in tandem, "Do you have any clue as to the whereabout of the last rune...?"

"I have skills in tracking, so I could help finding her."

Glancing at Gorelik, Kel responded to his question, nodding at Olai, "Booty Bay is where we are led to believe... but to search the whole town would be difficult alone. I fear spreading my people too thin, lest we present an easy target."

Olai's next statement hit on something Kel had considered often, "A magic user would be able to find the last rune, wouldn't they?"

The Elf nodded "In theory." Kel rubbed her neck gingerly, speaking carefully, "The rune of Hatred was invisible to our mage's senses, or more, masked by the alter it was underneath."

Olai spoke next, "I don't know enough about magic to be much help finding a rune, maybe a mage or a warlock we could trust?"

Gorelik's laughter cut across the conversation, "warlock we can trust....you're joking right?" He sighed, "a mage however might be just what we need"

The paladin chuckled, "If you can show me a warlock I can trust, I would gladly enlist their services. We have mages aplenty, but another point of view would be beneficial."

((2/3))

Interjecting another idea, Olai added, "Maybe not trust, but at least one we can control..."

The male Orc's statement offered Kel some bit of relief, "I will guard any mage you send after this rune. Personally....."

Slowly, as if second-guessing herself mid-sentence, Kel wondered aloud, "I wonder if we could enlist the Modas if we offer a powerful enough reward..." Shaking her head, she disagreed with herself, "No, not the Modas..."

Gorelik looked confused, "The Modas?"

Worried her description was lacking, perchance, Kel muttered, "A... chaotic nuetral faction within the Horde. Prone more to causing trouble."

Olai nodded, "If we have to resort to that, we will cross that bridge"

Offering a small prayer, Kel bowed her head imperceptibly, "Light let it not come to that."

Agreeing, Olai answered, "We can hope."

Gorelik drew the discussion back to the problem at hand, "I believe the first thing we need to do is find that rune. If you have a mage that you trust we can go as soon as the mage is ready.....it will at least buy us time to amass what we need to take on the warlock."

Kel'tira nodded, "I will look into it on my end of things."

"No matter the out come i believe this warlock needs to DIE."

The Blood Elf grimaced, "As do my people."

Looking at Kel, Gorelik pledge, "My blade is ready all you need do is seek it out."

After a moment of silence, Kel addressed the Orcish pair, "Are you familiar with the mage, Raoul?"

The huntress nodded, "I have...spoken with him. On occasion."

Gorelik shook his head, "I know the name"

"He could be useful... He seems a reasonable sort, for a Forsaken, but I have had my share of dealing with them."

"From what I have heard he is quiet adept with magic."

Kel nodded her agreement as Gorelik shuddered at the thought of Forsaken and Olai spoke again, "Would you feel safe enough to ask him for help?"

"I believe so," Kel replied thoughtfully, "I pride myself on being a reasonable judge of character, and he has yet to strike a disonant chord with me, he is well accepted. Perhaps I will speak with him today."

"If we can find the runes before the warlock does, it will be reasonably easy to find her."

Gorelik posed his next question to his clanmante, "Olai can we count on you to lead the team to track the warlock?"

"I'm not much of a leader, but I know I can track her."

"Wonderful," Kel exclaimed as Gorelik spoke up again.

"I'm willing to help search for the rune. But i assure you if you want i can boulster your defenses at the rune of Hatred."

Kel bit her lip, "Perhaps your helping search for the next rune would be best."

Respectfully, Gorelik nodded, "I'm at your service however you need me"

Olai spoke up, suggesting that, "There should be a few people in our Clan who can help guard -and- search for the other runes."

Kel looked relieved, "You have no idea how good it is to hear that we have allies. And Olai, that would be amazing."

"Having allies is a big help."

"That it is."

As Olai and Gorelik exchanged words about convening a council, Kel nodded, "Thank you both for your time. I need to be leaving, you can contact me over the hearthstones if need be."

"It was good to meet you Kel," Olai said.

"And you, I am looking forward to working alongside you both."

Gorelik bowed to the Elf, "Contact me as soon as your ready to search for the rune"

Now...

The hearthstone continued to spout noise, and Kel tried desperately to sort through it all. The whole thing had kind of snowballed when she asked for Raoul, who had been able to give her some interesting insights. But now everyone else was dropping in their two copper, and it gave the paladin a headache.

Everything from dropping the warlock and the book off of the edge of the Firelands to just eating the woman's heart had been suggested, and the solutions for her curse had been equally as creative.

Felhounds? Who would let a felhound suck it out of them?

But besides that, Kel had other matters to attend to, and she was going to try to shake the nightmares and hallucinations in order to have fun tomorrow at her party. It was, after all, her day.

The next morning

She came awake screaming, shivering, and crying. Severely shaken, she tried, and failed, to recall all of her nightmare, instead sitting hunched in the little-used bed in Brill, hiding from the people who might make her speak of it.

After a long time, she unfolded her hands from the sheets, crawling out of bed and kneeling in front of the alter, praying quietly.

((3/3))