Grim Views

By Grolish 6/25/2008

A few months ago...

"Agamand Mills" Pugg thought. Maybe Tohmas is up there, helping to clear out some of the walking dead and wraiths. Mounting up, he heads out of Brill and up to Agamand Mills...or what's left of it now. The walking dead and the wailing wraiths are weak here, needing only a blast from his wand to destroy them.

Pugg sets to clearing out the place and searching for his lost foster brother.

"Tohmas!" Pugg cries out as he searches the abandoned buildings. Cellars, attics, windmills, anywhere and everywhere he could get to. There was no sign of him, or that he was ever here. Walking toward the north, he spots what looks like a crypt and proceeds to investigate. It seems to be the Agamand family crypt, now crawling with living dead and more wraiths. Again, Pugg puts his wand to work, not wanting to waste the mental effort to rid the place of these weak creatures. Gradually, methodically, working his way to the bottom of the crypt, he sees no signs of Tohmas.

Something else catches his eye, just below a torch set in an alcove...little more than the size of a pinhead...but shining like a beacon to his sight.

Shadow magic! So stong to shine through like that, he thinks. He looks closer at the pin-point of shadow magic, curious at what could be causing this.

"Oh shit! Grolish needs to know about this!" Pugg says to himself as he activates his Hearthstone.

"Grolish!"

Grolish jumps with a start from his sleep when he hears Pugg call him through the hearthstone. "What is it, Pugg? You find Tohmas?"

"No, but I found something else. Are you alone?"

"Yes, I'm alone." Grolish responds.

"We need to speak privately, very privately. Can you meet me in Mulgore, the
usual place?"

"I'll be there within the hour." Grolish says as he begins getting dressed.

As Grolish rides up on his Frostwolf, he spots Pugg waiting for him. He seems excited, anxious, and even a little frightened. "Hello there, Pugg! So what brings me to the plains of Mulgore in the middle of the night?"

"I found something extraordinary, Grolish, something I've never seen before...pure Shadow! And what seems to be a portal into it." Pugg says quietly, but excitedly.

"Hmmm, this is interesting. Tell me more." Grolish pulls out his pipe and lights up a bowl of peacebloom, as he normally does when deep in thought.

"I found it at the bottom of the Agamand family crypt in Tirsifal Glades. You know how I can see the Light and the Shadow, and mold it to my magics? I saw a pin-prick of pure shadow coming from the wall under a torchholder. Pure Shadow! I've never seen 'pure' shadow before...it's always intermixed with some light, or tainted with something else, but this was PURE."

"And that's not all," Pugg continues. "There's a portal, it seems, to some other dimension. I can't tell if the Shadow is coming through the portal from the other dimension, or if it is what the portal is made of. The portal is too small to tell."

Grolish draws on his pipe and thinks for a few minutes, occasionally looking up to the stars. "Pugg, I want you to investigate this further. Learn all you can about this thing...what it is, how it works, why it exists. This thing is but a stones throw from a Capitol city of the Horde. If it's an invasion point, it could be disasterous."

"However," Grolish continues, "It could be a source of great power to the Horde and the Grim. You must find out if this thing is to be destroyed or harnessed. You must do this with the utmost secrecy. Nobody else can know what you are doing, not fellow Grim, not even the Dreadweavers... including Acherontia, understood?"

Pugg looks down sadly at the mention of Acherontia's name. "Yes, I understand."

"Good. If word of this discovery gets out, our enemies will expend every effort to take it into their control. The Horde, Alliance, and Legion armies all fighting outside the Undercity is not something I want to see at this point. I will inform the Artificer of this discovery of yours. You may speak to him about this, if necessary, but no one else."

"Learn of this thing, Pugg, and soon!" Grolish says as activates his hearthstone.