World of Warcraft™

The slow, gentle wind stirred up the silken cloak of ashes that lay over the lower end of the small human town. It lifted them from their rest and carried them on macabre journeys between the black charred skeletons of once-buildings. The occasional mound of corpses lay smoldering in a festering heap of ash and clothes and disease, they pocketed the deserted streets of Riverwood running paint-trails of red blood down into the gutters to fester and rot with the occasional plagued rodent.

Towards the park burned a bright light in the middle of the night, while Riverwood was dead black, the Park was lit by an intense orange-red, as the whole grassy-green burnt itself down. It would run out soon, trapped by the already burned town and water on each side it could not go anywhere. It stood, taunting the survivors from the other side of the small river, not enough to burn to get across or even heat them to discomfort.

Richard Shaw, Tyreal Longshadow, Alvira Silverhawk, Tyria Dawnbreaker, Tiral Powderkeg, Eradan Dawnwell, the survivors. They stood in the middle of the eastern edge of the park, amongst scattered remains of the damned, their whole situation as bleak as the enemies they faced. One amongst them was infected, distrust and tension rose like a thick smog. And the ever foreboding walled keep of Upper Riverwood loomed from above.

It was decision time.

And yet, suddenly a sound startles the survivors! From their east, near the cliff face that lead up to Upper Town, a new figure had appeared. A cultist too, in fact there was a cry in the night as the Cultist charged and promptly screamed his dying breath and fell to the ground. All survivors present would have witnessed Leyas Valeera kill the cultist, watch the corpse stumble to a halt mere inches from her, and Leyas Valeera herself would now see the survivors...

Gogomorepartydynamics.

"We will not sacrifice Tyria simply to "protect" us from a possibility. Watch her if you want but only if she turns will you get the opportunity to kill her."

The warrior seemed rather perturbed.

"So be it." Shaw murmured in response. He turned to the dwarf, happily accepting the new pistol: it really was a thing of beauty. He thanked the engineer and holstered the pistol near his flintlock. If he had learned one thing in this miserable town, it was to always keep a back-up close at hand. And now for one of his more... unpleasant tasks. He grabbed some bread and water from the mage table first and ate quickly [Action: Take Food/Drink][Action: Eat/Drink]. That done, he silently slipped over to Tyria, clapping his arm around her shoulder and steering her away from the group.

"I might have a solution." he whispered the words in her ear, softly enough that no one else should be able to hear. "I have a potion, Darkbane, that is created specifically to destroy the undead. If you take it, it will either purge the infection or kill you: be warned that either one will be rather... unpleasant." He took out the small vial holding the white liquid and slipped it into the palm of her hand. "If you wish to use it, I would advise drinking some and pouring the rest on your wound. This is your decision: Tyreal has prevented me from taking any direct action against you, so I will not attempt to decide for you or attempt to harm you unless you turn. Use it or not, it is up to you."

The assassin left the mage and walked back to the rest of the group, silently taking up a standing rest. He would simply go along with whatever the party ended up doing.

Tyria broke away from his arm and said “Keep your poisons away from me.” She said staring at the man dead in the eyes. “And keep yourself away from me. Do you think I am stupid? I may not have heard everything you two said, but I can understand when I am the subject of someone’s discussion.” She said storming off and leaning against a tree. She was angry and simply wanted to be left alone for the moment. Then she felt a wave of cold come over her and couldn’t help but shiver.

She concentrated on her inner flame, one so great that it had reduced nearly the entire town to ashes. She concentrated and cast a quick glance at the rest of the group before looking at her infected wound. Perhaps it was just an infection; perhaps if she was lucky it would not kill her and turn her into a monster. She hoped, but kept an eye out for anything coming her way.
[Perception]

Perception Park

[[TYRIA: Awareness(Per)
Modifiers: +30 Test
Tyria(37+30): 66: (Success)]]

Tyria, and all the others see nothing but the flames to their west, and the suddenly appearing Leyas Valeera to their east. The woman is clothed in commoner clothes like most of them were before they found armour, and it is quire obvious she just defeated a cultist that had attempted to kill her. She looks drenched as if she's been in the river or the lake. To those extensively perceptive they would see the corpse before her covered in acidic green venom.

Alviira looked over at the woman and gasped, "Is it another survivor? Or part of the problem? That appears to be a cultist she killed...perhaps we should investigate?" she turned to glance at Tyrael and Shaw, wondering what they saw.

She was rested and healed and ready to move on, if they had more to help, she would not object. Waiting for the opportunity to speak with the woman, Alviira thought about what was happening. It was important to get out of here, but they needed to find out if they could stop the cultists here in Rivenwood. Before they could go on however, they needed better armor and weapons. Even though the spellcasting was proving quite powerful, Alviira wondered again whereAellarian was. He had been gone for quite awhile...she hoped he had not turned.

Tyria started to feel light headed. Then she felt dizzy as the world began to spin, and then she collapsed completely. She skin was already cold. In her mind she was simply sitting in her old bed room.

The sun was at its highest point in the sky. She simply sat there, her stuff all over the floor and a bag partly packed.

Then her sister came into the room. “Tyria why haven’t you packed yet? You have quite the trip ahead of you if you wish to visit Dalaran and study there.” Tropia said as she walked over and sat next to her sister. The high elf moved some hair from her face before speaking to her sister.

“I… I am no sure sister, what if I fail in my training? What if no one there likes me?” She asked. “You know I have never ventured outside of Quel’thalas before.” Tyria said not looking at her sister.

Tropia sighed and placed an arm around her sister. “Tyria, you are a member of the Dawnbreaker family. We are strong and proud. Always remember that there will be a place for you with us, no matter what happens in Dalaran.” Tropia said as she hugged her sister.

That is where the memory began to go horribly wrong. As her sister pulled away she was different. Her golden hair was as dark as a raven and her eyes gave off an icy glow, far different than the gentle and warm glow they had before. Her face was one of pain and anger and it terrified Tyria. She ran out of the room from her changed sister. In the main room of the Dawnbreaker home her family stood each one appeared to be like the walking dead that was scourging Riverwood.

Tyria screamed and ran from the house. Outside the once beautiful land o Quel’thalas was dark and dead. Bodies scattered everywhere and blood running in the streets. Tyria screamed even more as tears ran from her eyes at the sight of her homeland in such a state. Then a blade pierced from behind her. It’s icy blue glow sucked the warmth from her, her soul along with it.

Tyria awoke in the real world with a frightened scream. She began to look around the area and spotted Alvira. “Sister…” She spoke more metaphorically, rather than literally. “I cannot help but feel… something horrible is going to happen to home.” She said as tears began to run from her eyes. She couldn’t remember much from her dream, only it was about home and it was about death.

Tyreal grunted as he saw that Eradan was not going to answer them any time soon. So he immediately turned to the sound of Alviira pointing out another survivor or cultist. Seeing that the survivor was just standing there Tyreal motioned for the rest of the group to get together. "Come on! We are heading for Upper Town. If someone wants to go find out if that person is coming with us then do so, but do it quickly! We've wasted enough time as it is!" Tyreal's voice was hard now as he nodded at Shaw, he had realized his earlier reaction to the assassin's suggestions were an over-reaction brought on by the stress of this situation.

But that could not be helped now, they had to keep moving and keep going. Tyreal then set off in the direction of Upper Town, heading for the hole that Eradan had told them of.

The poor mage seemed to be suffering somehow and Alviira helped her to stand, "Come along we must go, Tyrael is right...we need to find out what is happening...and see what we can do about it. Check out this book and see if there is anything interesting in it for you, perhaps a new spell..." there was no time to dawdle and Alviira was also tired of waiting. She handed Tyria the Book of Meletzi and encouraged her to look at it.

She packed up whatever food and drink leftovers they had and moved to follow Tyrael. "Lead on, sir...I am right behind you."

Tyria forced herself to stand with Alvira's aid. Her head was pounding and her arm felt like it was covered in permafrost. She took the tomb and struggled to read it as she was walking but her eyes would not focus. Sweat was running from her browl, a cold unnatural sweat. "Alvira..." She muttered weakly as she marched forward.

"Do... not... wait for... me..." she said as she stumbled her way over and began to lean against a tree. As she slid down there was a trail of dead flesh and some clotted blood in from her infected wound. Her breathing steadily decreased as she looked at the ground and began to sing quietly, closing her eyes as she did so.

"Twinkle twinkle little star....
How I wonder what you are...
Up above the world so high...
Like a diamond in the sky...
Twinkle... twinkle... little..."

Shaw recoiled from the dying mage in horror. He immediately drew his new pistol and leveled it at the elf, preparing to fire if the mage turned. For all the disgust on his face, his voice was deadly calm as he addressed Tyreal without taking his eyes off of his target.

"Tyreal, we are out of options and out of time. One way or another, the Darkbane will resolve this." He slowly walked closer to the mage, keeping his pistol steady and aimed at her head the whole time. "Mage, if you can hear me, you need to take that potion I gave you earlier. It is your only hope of surviving this."

"Tyreal, we are out of options and out of time. One way or another, the Darkbane will resolve this."

Tyreal turned and grimaced as he saw Tyria falling over herself as the Plague spread through her. He stopped and thought about the group, and his mind kept going in dizzying circles. Yes it was the best thing for the group, but how could Tyreal live with himself if she died? So many questions and moral dilemmas rose up in Tyreal's mind that he suddenly turned away and pressed his forefinger and thumb to the bridge of his nose. It was at this point Tyreal's sense of right and wrong began to shift, he wanted to get home to his family and that was the only important thing to him at this point at time.

He turned back to where Tyria and Shaw were and walked up to the two, his face set in hard lines. "Elf, either you take the potion or I hold you down while Shaw puts it down your throat." Tyreal's voice had also changed, no longer was he the "noble" leader. He was now a leader by necessity and would do whatever it took to get himself south to his family even if that meant sacrificing those in this group. It pained him to realize this but he couldn't afford to think of that right now.

Tyria didn’t respond to the two as they converged and threatened her. Her mind was as sharp as ever, but her body was failing her. It was as if the infection within her was shutting down her body one system at a time. All the sounds to her were muffled noises in her ears. She could hardly feel her own body, the slow but steady breaths coming in and out, shallow but still present.

She could hardly feel herself take out the vial that Shaw had forcibly handed her and squeezed it until the vial broke, glass shards cutting into her hand. All she felt was a dull ach as she stood up and slowly moved away from the others. She muttered an incarnation for a fire shield and then muttered for a firewall to form between her and the others as she walked off into the woods. Her vision was nothing but a blur and her hearing and feeling was almost gone.

She stumbled through the forest until she collapsed again and she lacked the strength to force herself to even sit up. She simply lay on the ground on her belly. Looking off into the darkness as tears formed in her blue eyes. Tears made from her life fluid. The crimson liquid ran from her eyes down to the ground below her.

“Tropia… Sister… Remem…” She trailed off as darkness consumed her entirely.


[Action Fire shield] [Action Flame wall]

Gasping at what she saw, Alviira could only stand and watch as Tyria literally threw her life away. She glanced with bleak expression at Shaw and Tyrael. "She made her choice...if she turns...then we will kill her...as we do the rest...come...we need to move and get out of here." her voice quiet and subdued. She wanted to scream at the elf, but how could she make any other choice?

Perhaps the fire inside of her would burn the plague away and heal her...stranger things had happened. Alviira remembered a time when a virus had threatened her small village, the only ones who did well, were the ones who survived the fever. The natural body defence against internal infection.

"NO!" Shaw screamed when the mage shattered the vial of Darkbane. The assassin had lost his composure for the first time since coming to Riverwoood, and it was... disconcering. He drew his sword and dagger and threw himself at the mage, only to be repulsed by her fire shield. He recoiled from the massive wall of fire that had formed between Tyria and the group, stalking back and forth, raging all the while.

"No, no, no, no, NO!!!" In a rage, Richard smashed several nearby bits of foliage to pieces, hacking off anything nearby in a frenzy of destructive steel. And then, after nearly a minute of raging, to any onlookers Shaw simply seemed to... vanish. The shadows folded around him, and then, in the blink of an eye, Richard Shaw was no longer there.

The human assassin came back into being not far from Tyria's body, and pulled something out of one of his many pockets: a small vial of bone-white fluid.

"You, mage," he snarled malevolently, "are very lucky that I always keep back-ups. Now, you will either take this potion or I will turn you into a bloody smear on the ground!" Holding the Darkbane in his left hand, Shaw leveled an overcharged Hand Cannon at Tyria, preparing to fire if anything went wrong [Action: prepare for Scatter Shot].

Confused by the turn of events, Alviira turns to Tyrael and starts to head for Upper Town. She is now totoally worried about Aellarion...where is he and what happened to him? She uses her perception to try and detect any danger as they approach the walls and the hidden opening in it. (action-perception)

Perception Park

Shaw would merge into existence in an inferno, behind him the firewall was already raging out of control and Tyria's flames were spreading around herself to the immediate forest. Her body was already consumed and it was impossible to tell if she was magically warded from her own flame, or if it had already consumed her. Either way it wrapped around the tree she was next to, and already it was threatening to burn down the second half of the park.

If Shaw wanted to shoot, he would have to shoot now, and he would have to shoot into a wall of flame and hope to hit something. Because every second the intensity of the flame was increasing and they were spreading outwards.

Decision Time!

By some incredible stroke of luck, Shaw had materialized in one of the few as-yet unburnt patches of the clearing; in his raging madness, he didn't notice the fires creeping closer until an ember landed on his shoulder. Hissing, he slapped it out before noticing the full ramifications of his situation. By then, it was nearly too late, and the fires roared and burned and seared his flesh. As he screamed in pain and fell to his knees, he summoned the shadows to take him away to anywhere, anywhere except this burning bright forest.

When Shaw dared open his eyes again, the group was nowhere to be seen; that was just a bit worrying.

"NO!" Tyreal shouted and took a step forward but then took several back as a flame wall appeared and started eating the trees of the other half of the park. Tyreal stood there watching as Shaw and Tyria both disappeared and he realized that the group was falling apart again and that it was just him and Alviira again. "Well mage, looks like its just us again eh?" Tyreal said jokingly as he headed off towards Upper Town again, Eradan's words still fresh in his mind as he headed towards the foreboding stone walls to find that hole in them near the gate.

[Action - Find Hole in the Wall]

Chaos, Confusion, Misery.

Death spawned these all, and these were its greatest weapon. The strength and success of the Scourge across Lordaeron was never due to raw power, it was never due to defeating the forces of humanity in a -fair- battle. It always, the shock and awe, and the ability to drain every last particle of hope, every last drop of willpower from all adversary. Riverwood was a small scale example of what was happening throughout Lordaeron.

Yet as it always did, humanity persisted. Any small hole in the plan, any small crack in the wall, and the light shone through to bring hope to the dreary. And as Tyreal Longshadow and Alvira Silverhawk, the remaining two, came across Upper Town and it's hidden entrance, they were the only two left. Or at least, to them they were. The fire had scattered them, they had almost certainly lost Shaw and Tyria, and they had lost sight of Fuse, Eradan and the new girl Leyas along the way.

Shaw was scattered through the park, he could make it to the river with minimal damage but he would have to run fast.

[[SHAW: Agility(Pure)
Modifiers: +10 Acrobat, +20 Shadowstep, -30 Inferno, +20 Dodge
Shaw(51+10+20-30): 75: (Failure)]]

[Damage(Fire): (1d10) = 1]
(( Natural One: Damage Negated ))

Shaw manages to escape the burning park without a single wound, he came extremely close but a last minute shadow-step spared him the wrath of the flame. Tyria was lost, and none of the others were anywhere to be seen. He was on his own, the stone walls of Upper Town loomed above him and it was still dark... it was time for him to make a decision.

Fuse, Eradan and Leyas, if they were alive had managed to escape in random directions. They would have to spend time circling the park to get back to the main group, or they could attempt to scale the rough terrain up to the Upper Town, where they would have to climb or try and find another entrance into the heavily walled-off place.

- - -

If Tyreal, or anyone, elected to enter the Upper Town they would find it much similar to Lower Town. It was smaller, if such a thing was possible. It was abandoned outside which was strange, and no shadows revealed themselves from inside. There were few buildings and all were riddled with signs of conflict, smashed windows and doors, stains of blood. The ground was slicked with the substance and a fountain ran red in the center of town.

Towards the higher end of town there were two huge iron bar gates blocking the way into the keep, yet in their small market section of the town all the buildings seemed abandoned and easy to enter.

((Terrible post, but basically this allows me to continue with however many people have abandoned the thread. Those still here, please stick it out. :) It's almost over, I'll give you a decent finale. XD ))

Close behind Tyrael, Alviira had no idea what they would find. "We need to be cautious, I know you are aware of that...I am right here with you...ready to fight if we must." she looked around and peered at the wall and the gates that seemed barred tight. Deciding that it was better to be prepared than surprised she readied her arcane. (action-arcane prep) (action perception-look for hole in the wall and any danger)

The night was gloomy and Alviira was very glad she was not alone. If she had any way to do it...she would be back in Dalaran in a heartbeat. But here she was...walking with a man who seemed very capable and intelligent...the rest had disappeared into the gloom and she had no idea where they had gone. Except for Tyria and Shaw...and she had been so shocked at their actions she thought both of them had turned and maybe better they had disappeared behind the wall of fire.