Coyotl, that’s who.
The druid had been able to avoid murlocs for most of his life, something he did with effort. Ever since his first run-in with the scaly, slime-dripping monstrosities, Coyotl had been adamant about keeping himself as far as possible from them. Nor had he ever mentioned his fear of them. To anyone. Not even Bevial, when she put on that horrible murloc disguise and danced around him with great amusement.
Did she honestly wondered why he tended to bite her for no reason? Did she not see the correlation? Murloc disguise… bitten. Murloc disguise… BITTEN!
All was well, until they approached the massive, gaseous giant known as Morogrim. Coyotl knew the giant lived within Serpentshrine Cavern, behind two more turns in the pathways that connected the quarters for each of Lady Vashj’s generals. Coyotl grinned to himself the first night they approached the giant, until … murlocs.
The rabid pack rushed out, flailing their wiry limbs and gleefully murghgglglgglghhh’ing as they ran some circuit—communicating between Morogrim and his naga guardsmen. That sound, that wretched murghgglglgglghhh sent chills along the length of the bear’s spine and caused his fur to bristle. Without a conscious decision, in an absolute panic, Coyotl shrank into his feline shape and ducked into the shadows that lay heavily at the feet of his fellow Grim. Breathing heavily, his eyes fixed upon the murlocs as they came into view again and he nearly tucked his tail, turned and ran. He truly would have, were it not for Anaie—or was it Syreena?—grabbed his tail and Abric called for his vanguards to draw the guardsmen away from the tunnel.
One pack turned into five, each intent on eating the poor druid alive. Or so he thought, anyway, and isn’t that all that mattered? The giant was nothing in comparison to the murlocs, one that hit hard but wasn’t making a hideous cacophony and joyfully jumping around him.
Prior to each assault on Morogrim, Coyotl would center himself, blocking out the thought of the murlocs as best he could.
All went well until last night. His mind was slipping from their failures. He was losing that calm core that kept him blissfully unaware of the echoing murghgglglgglghhh as the murlocs dashed down the hallway to rescue Morogrim. After one too many nips on the rear-end by a cackling murloc, Coyotl snapped.
On their final attempt against Morogrim, all Coyotl could hear was murghgglglgglghhh, echoing along the tunnel and surrounding him. Petrified, he froze. Unable to lift a paw to swipe at the giant, or dodge and sway away from the assaults against him, Coyotl simply stood and was struck repeatedly by the amused giant. The healers kept him alive for longer than any expected, and the giant seemed all too amused by the terrified druid to turn and attack the others. Unable to shake his fear, Coyotl was finally struck down by Morogrim who then ran rampant through the remaining Grim assault force.
After Abric released them from their duties—his voice seeming heavy with annoyance and disappointment—Coyotl flew high above Shattrath and landed upon one of the floating islands. A feather came loose and began a slow descent as he unshifted and sat on the edge of the island, silently contemplating his failure.
(( A little IC twist for my OOC failure. Bad PC, bad!! Now, for Thrysta to frown in disappointment at Coy. Heheh. ))