Grim Views

“Makogg maka grom. Ogg kaz you nakazz the ag rath’is”.

Sizzlespark sat at a table in the guild hall, her elbows propped up on the table and her head resting in her hands. In the background, the voices of The Grim droned over the comm device. Some of the voices she recognized as the few people she had met. Most were unfamiliar. And nearly all of what they said was a mystery to her. Still, she listened. Now and then she perked slightly as she was able to understand a word or two.

“I gul raznos ogg il Teldrassil. Mog to thok on no’ku Elves?"

That voice sounded like Ashenfury, who was part of the reason she was sitting here right now. Spread out on the table before her were several books, maps and the little notebook she carried. Reaching down, she pulled a silver flask from her pocket and took a little swig, then grimaced with a groan. Her head was pounding again, and her skin felt hot to the touch.. feverish. She rubbed her eyes and then smoothed one of the maps in front of her, carefully studying it.

“Go to re’ka g maza gesh ogar gi maza kagg gesh maza."

Outlands. That was where she needed to go for the next step of the Task Ashenfury had given her. Twenty pieces of Netherweave cloth, from his shattered home world. It had to be Outlands. The interesting part would be getting there. The portal keeper in the Valley of Spirits had not let her pass. All it took was one look at the little goblin, and she had been shoo'd away. She couldn't understand what was said to her, but she was certain that she was deemed to be not ready for Outlands. Undeterred and stubborn, she had come up with another plan.

"Gi gul kagg gul mog maza. I have ko ha mog tov’osh kil.”

Her eyes traced the path she'd take, once again. It wouldn't be easy. Sure, she could probably simply buy the cloth somewhere in Orgimmar. But she knew that was not what Ashenfury had in mind. She had to prove herself. And prove herself, she would. Leaning over, she flipped a few pages in her book and jotted down some notes. Cross-referencing the foreign words against the dictionary and looking to the map again. She heaved a sigh.

"Gi so maza Alliance tago of kagg."

She would start in Stranglethorn.. taking the path through the jungle to Duskwood and then eventually through to Blasted Lands. She had a general idea of where the Dark Portal was. Reaching it would be an arduous journey. And once she got there.. would she be able to pass through? Was she strong enough? Sizzle wasn't certain. All she could do was try. And assuming she was able to pass through the portal, she still would have to make her way across the open chasm of rocks, through the fel-plagued wasteland and to a horde outpost.

And then, she will have only just arrived. From there, she'd have to find the beasts and demons that carried the desired cloth and find a way to get it from them. It seemed an impossible task for one as unseasoned as she still was. But what she lacked in skill, she made up for in cunning determination. Besides.. she had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Her journey would begin tonight.

As Sizzle reclined in thought one of the shadows that had been following her in the distance came into the soft ring of jumping light emitted by the fire. A wolf, obviously tired of having to follow such a difficult target to find slowly walks to the fire panting. One eye seemed to be wandering in different directions and drool ran freely from its lolling tongue.

The wolf walked right up to the goblin, gave her a cursory glance and then laid itself down by the fire and closed it's eyes while wagging it's tail. As it did so the other shadow that had been following her went to the very edge of the light. Barely visible beyond the ring of safety were two eyes, staring.

Sizzle paused in her writing and sat poised with the pencil in her hand as she watched the approach of the more goofy of the two wolves. She regarded the animal with curiosity until he curled himself to lay by the fire. A little smile touched her lips and she leaned down to stroke a hand over his fur, if he allowed her. The drumming of his tail against the floor indicated that he probably would.

Feeling the eyes of the other wolf on her, she spotted the outline of his figure sitting at the fringes of light. Her head was inclined to the wolf, and then she bent over the maps, busying herself with her plans, once more.

Finally, she was ready to leave. The maps and notes were carefully packed away in her bags and she paused to check her supplies. Then she ventured out, finding the zeppelin that would take her to Grom'Gol and mark the start of her journey.

The first leg of her journey through Stranglethorn Vale was an easy one, the only significant event that marked its passing was a brief encounter with a worgen. Sizzle, of course, emerged victorious from that confrontation.



Even the path through Duskwood remained clear. It was only when she reached Deadwind Pass when she began to encounter resistance.



Through Swamp of Sorrows and then Blasted Lands she traveled with haste, evading the beasts that stalked her through the shadows the entire way..





Finally, her determination paid off and she reached the Dark Portal. After stopping by the blacksmith to repair her badly damaged armor she mounted a windrider and set off towards Thrallmar.



Although the journey itself was an adventure, her first trip to Thrallmar proved unfruitful. She had ventured beyond the gates of the outpost and into the cracked landscape of Hellfire Peninsula, but her plan of attack didn't achieve the results she had hoped for. Although she was successfully able to lure a handful of creatures back to the gates of Thrallmar and within range of the guards- they didn't leap to defend the Outpost as she had hoped. Rather, they looked on with disinterest as she sprinted past them and ignored the boar that had been following.

So, Sizzle had been forced to return from her first trip empty handed. For now, she resolved to train harder, and improve her combat skills and try again the following weekend.

At least her encounter with the Worgen had made the trip worthwhile.

A full week had passed, and Ashenfury had not heard from Sizzlespark. She hadn't even been seen around the guild hall or Orgimmar as much, lately.

But she hadn't given up.

Focused entirely on training and improving her skills in combat, she continued to make the return to Hellfire Peninsula time and again. Although she was still not allowed passage by the Portal Keeper in Valley of Spirits, she made her own trek through Swamp of Sorrows and Blasted Lands, countless times.

Until eventually, her persistence began to pay off.





What she still lacked in skill, she made up for in sheer grit and determination. By the end of the day, Ashenfury would have the required components for her tabard.

Ashenfury sat still and motionless as he watched Sizzle through the eyes of his wolves. Communicating with the Goblin had been difficult but once he started to understand that his hands were as effective as the spoken word the barrier seemed to drop. Sizzle had been doing very well and from the looks of things will have earned her tabard rather quickly compared to other Supplicants.

At the very summit of the mountain, Sizzlespark handed over the components for her tabard to Ashenfury. The Orc sniffed the bag, then held it in his hands and gave it a shake, testing the weight and sound. Satisfied, he turned and handed them over to Knithawk. Knithawk skillfully crafted the tabard, which was then placed on a pedestal.

"I invoke the elements!" Ashenfury said. He planted a totem into the earth, summoning forth the elements of fire and stone.

Sizzlespark backpeddled quickly when the elements appeared, and stared at them. She hadn't seen a display of magic quite like that, before.

Ashenfury knelt. "I beg of you to instill the power of the elements into this tabard."

Knithawk nodded at the elementals, and knelt before them, as well. After a moment, Sizzle lowered herself to join them.

Ashenfury's elementals looked to Sizzlespark, then to Knithawk.

"T ma suz'ahn reth T ma fiilrok tadrom dra," chanted the fire elemental. "T krin os nuk talsa reth krin shone sto toro tu ko zoln reth." They converged on the pedestal and then exploded into a flash of light.

"Dismissed!" Knithawk said, then rose to his feet with Ashenfury.

Ashenfury bent to pick up the tabard from the pedestal. Giving it a sniff, he turned and presented it to Sizzlespark. "Well done, Sizzle." He said.