World of Warcraft®

Grasping her weapons tighter, she felt a slight tap on her shoulder, hearing Kel's voice. The taste of dirt filled her mouth, bits of sand gritted between her teeth. She spat a few times on the ground, rising slowly to follow kel. She tensed, among the voices was one she had not heard before....but the voice appeared to know Kel. Where had she come from? Relaxing she trudged after Kel in the sand, dragging her weapons behind her.

Figures darted around her vision as she walked, familiar ones. Looking around the cave, she stopped walking, closing her eyes. The figures filled her vision, A mage standing over a younger elf, ripping a pendant by the chain from her flesh, watching the girl scream and writhe in pain as she did so. The Necklace was covered in blood, the girl falling limp on the bed...

Her eyes flew open, her breathing coming in shallow breaths..shaking her head, she walked a few steps forward, mumbling to herself as the picture continued on the edges of her vision. Stumbling backwards, the smell hit her.

Gagging she stepped back, taking in a deep breath and holding it. She watched as kel pulled something from over the edge of a cliff....

“Kel...who is..what is that? Is that someone you sent..?” She stepped closer, eyeing the dead elf.

“Well this is encouraging..” She turned to walk back down the tunnel a bit, leaning on the wall, running a hand through her hair.

Cyaer kept close to the mage, and slowly walked along with the rest of the party. When they stopped, he was tempted to step forward and see what was what, but the smell of some dead thing told him more or less all he needed to know.

He heard Kel and Lyrilia murmur up a head, but the shadows and movements out the corners of his eyes distracted him from hearing what they were saying.

His voice was low, as he whispered to the mage just in front of him, "Tis, are you getting those spooky things moving just out of sight, or am I losing it?"

Allaynna Kidrain

The death knight had dropped to her knees to assist Adrian, and then backpedaled hurriedly, stepping away from the ledge only to jump and curse as she thought she felt someone or something pull on her arm.

She slumped against the wall of the cave, facing the abyss, certain that her heart, had she still had one, would have been beating furiously. The clatter of metal on stone echoed out sharply, bounding and rebounding along long tunnel.

"Do we go down, or across," she queried, and then looked around at the people behind her, her eyes glowing brightly in the dimness, and her voice rose slightly, "Damn this!"

Kel'tira Sunblaze

Kel simply nodded at Lyrilia, rising and muttering another prayer for her scout and then looking helplessly for a moment before waving a hand and settling a shroud of Light over his form, wishing she could give him a burial of some sort.

Her face set, strangely blank, she turned back to the others, "There are... claw marks... on the body. I fear the stories I had heard were true, and nightmares lurk here..."

Trailing off, the paladin listened sharply to the echoes from the other side of the chasm.

"Damn this..."

The words echoed in Common, and Kel did a double take, her eyes flashing wide before she gathered herself and called back in Common, "Who is there!?"

Cyaer crouched beside the mage as he heard the racket from the echoing voices of Kel'tira, and someone else ahead. He looked around to see how the slithering images just out of his range of sight handled the noise.

The rogue moved forward slowly and as silently as he could to see what was going on up front by Kel'tira. He heard her call out in a foreign tongue, one he had heard before, but only from Alliance foes he had fought. Kel could speak their language?

He glanced back towards the young mage, and silently moved back to stand by Tislina's side. "I won't leave you, Tis. I was curious was all. Trust me, I have your back, my friend."

Adrian stood up, still collecting himself from his near fall. They hadn't a clue of how far or deep this chasm went. He backed up a few steps near Allaynna. He flipped his weapon on its sling to his side and dropped his bag, fishing around in it for a moment.

"Where are the damned... come on.. there." he said, and removed several flares from his back. He struck one against the ground, the cap snapping off and the magnesium sparking from the rock. The flare burst into a brilliant green, lighting up the cave brightly.

"try not to look directly at it for too long, it'll damage your eyes from this close." he warned the group. He struck a second one on the ground, this one bursting into a red color. He stood up, gingerly walked to the edge of the chasm. He looked around for a moment. "Hmmm..." he mumbled. Taking half a step back, he threw the green flare with a grunt as far out as he could. He stepped forward and dropped the red one straight down the maw.

"And now, we wait..." he said, stepping back and taking a knee.

Allaynna Kidrain

Allaynna watched the flares fall for a long time before they vanished into darkness. Some long moments later, a clatter filtered up to the group on the ledge. The green flare teetered on the edge of another ledge on the opposite side of the chasm, the gap could have been no more than 30 feet.

The whole thing seemed slightly surreal to the death knight, as she watched the green flare out of the corner of her eye, staring speculatively across the gulf. Watching silently, she twitched as a voice floated out of the darkness, a strange lack of accent testament to the conclusion that it was not a native speaker of the Human tongue.

"Who is there!?"

With a startled glance at the others, Allaynna frowned, speaking softly, "Well? What do you think? Call back?"

Kel'tira Sunblaze

A clatter followed Kel's call, and a good distance down the ledge, and about 30 feet to out, a pair of dim lights ignited, one flying through the air, rocking on what appeared to be their side of the chasm.

Beckoning the others on, Kel walked carefully down the ledge, her hands glowing softly as she crouched on the ground examining the flare, for that is what it was, she lifted it slowly, staring out across the chasm, "Who ever you are," she called in Common, "Speak, please."

Adrian stared at the flare that landed across the chasm. His face devoid of emotion, more of a calculating look. "About 30 feet, give or take." he said. There were voices. In a different part of the caves, calling out to them.

"They sound like Horde. Stuck in the same position as we are, I would assume." he suggested. "They might not be hostile, given the situation." he added. He stroked his chin and walked the length of the ledge they were on, looking for any way across, or anything they could use to get across.

"I got nothing." he finally said, flailing his arms about. "I guess we could call out to them... see if they have any means of crossing through here. Though I don't even know where we'd go." he said.

Cyaer softly whispered to Tislina, "It's a good thing there are others in here, right? I mean, if there's something in here that did that to that poor fellow, it's better to have more targets than ourselves, right? Or you could suppose that the more the merrier when we meet this what-ever-it -is, right? Or am I wrong?"

The rogue listened carefully, but he could only here the echos of the group just in front of them. "I just hope it ain't back here, or it's going to be tasting my blades quicker than anything you ever saw." He smiled in the dark, such big talk from a simple blood elf scout.

Two pairs of glowing eyes met in the dark, and, for an instant, metaphorical sparks flew. The two women had steel in their eyes, and they watched one another carefully for a long moment before the death knight smoothed all emotion from her face again.

The paladin did the same.

A brief snicker was muffled by the death knight and then the paladin spoke out, “Who are you, Alliance, and how did you get here?”

“Does it really matter,” the human woman queried, “Elfie?”

“No, not now, I suppose,” Kel called back across the gaping chasm, “But it leaves us with a choice.”

“Oh?”

“Aye.” The paladin heaved a sigh, “You go on your way, we fight, or we work together. “

Without a word, the death knight turned away from the green flare, the deep pit, and the Blood Elf, facing the group with her, “Well?”

Kel, on the opposite side of the chasm, echoed the sentiment, “What do you all think,” she asked, her voice steady, even while her eyes boiled with anger.

The young rogue stepped up close to Kel, and whispered, "Like I was telling Tis a moment ago. After what happened to that other fellow, I behooves us to work together. More swords and spellcasters to fight whatever it was that killed him, and maybe the others. And maybe, just maybe, if someone gets killed or hurt...it will be one of them, instead of one of us. I'm just saying is all."

Cyaer slipped back to watch over the mage. Looking back where they had come from, seeing the fleeting movement out the side of his eyes, and ever on the guard for anything that might come.

Adrian shrugged and motioned his hand, signalling that he would follow whatever Allaynna decided. He walked over to the edge of the chasm that the voices were coming from and fiddled with his goggles, adjusting the low light setting to take in as much ambient light as possible. Frustrating and pursing his lips, he could make out vague shapes more clearly with each turn.

"Working with them is a double edged sword, obviously. It could help us, or prove more trouble than we are already in." he looked around for a moment, thinking. "I'm fine with working together, but my guard won't be lowering, as I recommend with you all," he said. He checked his weapon, a round was in the chamber. He turned back towards Allaynna and awaited. He pulled out another flare, green again, and lit it. Throwing it back to where the first landed, he threw it harder so it'd land more solidly.

It illuminated more of the platform they were looking at.

"Do you want me to throw a flare where those others are? Maybe light them up more?" he asked.

Hearing the common, the warrior tensed, gripping her weapons tighter. Startled by the flare, she jumped back, falling into practiced fighter's stance, her weapons poised to fight and eyes searching. Struggling to keep her mind off the images dancing around the edges of her vision, she concentrated on kel, and the green glow of the flare. Catching the word 'Alliance', she froze.

Alliance...of course we'd find them in a situation like this, Perhaps they even planned it. It seemed too much of a coincidence that so many members of the Fellowship arrived at one place..but what of the two others? Cluing back into the conversation, her eyes flared with anger at Kel and Cyaer's words. Work TOGETHER? with the ALLIANCE?

"What exactly is there to discuss? They are Alliance, and we are Horde. Send them on their way, ahead of us, and down that dreadful thing preferably." She motioned to the edge of the cliff ahead of her. "But, i will not, and I stress, WILL NOT! Work alongside the likes of THEM" She jabbed a plated finger in the direction of the Alliance group.

"Although, I can't say it surprises me that you would suggest working alongside them....you did accept that...High elf....into our ranks awhile ago, didn't you Kel'tira?" Her voice was laced with disgust and loathing, her eyes flaring in anger.

"Kill them! They are horde, remember every time we ever tired to work them them they stab us in the back. You can not trust them. Not now, not ever! Kill them before they try and kill us! Throw explosives over there! Send them into the great dark beyond!" Ceyara hissed. She took out her dagger and held it defensibly. Shadow magic dancing around her fingers.

Reyara was looking at the others quite concerned. "Yes we should remove them as a factor. The horde can never be trusted. All the time we work with them they will be looking for the place in our backs to stick their blades!" She shifted quite uncomfortably as she yelled at Ceyara in her mind.

"What was that! Are you trying to get us killed?" She asked.

"I try only to keep us alive. Because you never were strong enough." Ceyara countered.

"I can do well on my own!" Reyara rebuttled.

"Fine... we shall see then." Ceyara said flatly before silence filled Reyara's mind.

"Kel'tira, I have worked with agencies that have Horde and Alliance working together, it is possible to trust them...not that that's my choice, but I believe it's possible for us to work together, especially if it means we are getting out of here alive."

As he turned to move to the back to be near the mage, he looked at the warrior ready to fight with almost no provocation. "Stand down, warrior, we have time before you have to kill anything, okay." He walks to stand by Tislina, slowly shaking his head.

Kel'tira Sunblaze

Kel sighed inwardly, a sudden desire to knock sense into the hot-headed warrior took her by surprise, but she grabbed it and wrestled it back down, now was not the time for her temper to get the better of her. After all, she could not remember the last time she threw a temper tantrum.

The Sunblaze temper, though, was a terrible thing to behold, and she halfway wanted to scare Lyrilia, but again, she knew better.

Patiently, she spoke to the warrior, "Lyrilia, this is not any other time. You insult me with your words."

With a deep breath, she held up a hand to forestall any argument, "As far as the high elf, we have seen neither hide nor hair of her since the night in the graveyard, and she has no guildstone consequentially. Believe me, I know you do not like me, and I wish I could change it."

Underneath her helmet, her eyes looked nothing but sad, her mouth pressed into a thin line, "Now, tell me reasonably, why not?"

Allaynna Kidrain

Allaynna raised her eyebrows at the priestess, and she shrugged inwardly, leaning on her gleaming sword with a careless air, "Alright, so... one for, one against? It makes sense, to work together, if we can figure out a way across, more people for whatever may or may not be in here to eat."

"And," she mused, "More blades to kill it with..."

Trailing off, the death knight glared fiercely at a shadow that detached itself from the morass of flickering images. She rose, took a step forward, and then fell back, her breathing, merely habit at this point, stopped. Blinking, she cried out, "Ellen!"

Her voice, a mix of pain and hope, seemed to wake her, and she mumbled under her breath for a moment before lashing out with a plated fist, seemingly at nothing, and stood shivering for a moment before turning back to the others slowly, "I vote we work together."

Lyrilia rolled her eyes at Cyaer, watching him walk past before settling her gaze on Kel. Lowering her weapons, but not relaxing, her face twisting into a scowl once more.

"Of course we haven't seen her, she must be off talking with that...human...friend of hers. The human told me they were friends herself." She snorted casting a glance in the direction of the Alliance group. "There were far too many Alliance at that ball I went to, And I do not wish to repeat it again. Why? because they are alliance....." She jlifted her sword to point in the direction of the Alliance. "..and we, are horde." She lowered the weapon, glaring at the Paladin once more.

"There is a war going on, and I won't be caught dead working willingly alongside the enemy. I may no like the Warchief and many of his views, but there is one thing I must agree with." The warrior turned to spit in the sand, taking a step closer to Kel.

"They are Alliance, and this is a war. They should die." She turned around stalking away from the paladin, her weapons dragging in the sand.

"They way you're going, Kel'tira, my thoughts on you won't be changing any time soon."