Grim Views

Nyali scents the air of the Wyvern's tail. Daz'ul was here recently. Blood? Yes, she smelled blood, and the undead he had been tracking. She growled and looked around. She knew what he had been tracking. It murdered Kylok, injured many Horde fighters, yet it managed to go through the streets of Orgrimmar unmolested. She flew to the Gallow's End Tavern and looked around for others.
"Frien's. Ah be goin' ta 'unt fo' an enemy. Ah onlah know dat dere be undead an' 'uman. Ah feah dat Daz'ul wen' alone, an' ah don' know i' 'e retahn. Ah be 'eadin' out tanigh' i' anyahn wan' ta come wit me."
She looks around, swishing her tail.

The door to the Gallows End Tavern swung open, and Nika quickly entered. She paused just inside the entrance, her eyes sweeping the room. She was soaked from head to toe, a look of urgency in her expression. She hadn't dared to set foot in the tavern since her exile from the guild a few months prior, but extreme necessity had brought her here tonight.

"Nyali's in danger!" She announced, raking a hand back through her drenched hair. "She's been captured by a group of people- I'm not sure who they are. She's being held on Alcaz Island, in those holding cells. I tracked them there.. she's with at least two or three people who are trying to extract information from her as we speak.. I think they're planning to torture her.. or kill her. There's a tauren guard posted outside the entrace. She needs help right away!"

Ashenfury sat in his stonework office with the heavy wooden door barred and his hearthstone on a bookshelf opposite him, out of reach.

Before Nika had even crossed the threshold the wolves had caught her scent and Ash could smell the rotting but still sweet scent of the approaching Shadow of Stranglethorn.

There was a single wolf in the office with him that stood and began to pace the small room restlessly. In the tavern another wolf jerked to attention from slumber, his wandering eye taking a few seconds to settle on Nika. He lolled out his tongue as she spoke and through his ears Ashenfury listened.

After a long pause the Orc let out a lengthy sigh and locked eyes with the restless pacing wolf who stopped and perked his ears high and forward..

Therean prowled through the door after Nika, slipping behind her. Gently he placed one hatchet against her spine, with the other one primed to strike. "Don't move, Grim." Nervously he looked about, doubletaking as if he'd seen the place before. "I want the truth. What did you do to me?! The elf, Duroxas, said you had me under some kind of obligation or debt." Therean shuffled uncomfortably, "Just give me back my magic. I don't know how you did it, but you have severed my capability to cast. Give it back and I'll pay whatever I owe you. I am a powerful man in Silvermoon; a magister. This can remain between us, though, if you simply return my magic and memories to me. Everyone can walk away."

Therean's eyes darted around the tavern nervously, anyone well versed in bladesmanship could tell he had no idea how to hold those hatchets correctly.

Ashenfury's cheek twitched when he heard the freshly promoted Adherent call Nika a Grim. The wolf that listened to the frantic undead so intently now stood teeth bared and hackles raised. As a Supplicant Therean was fully probed for any sign of weakness or madness but now he stood as a wild eyed coyote in the Tavern threatening the most valuable informant of the soon to be High Inquisitor. The situation had taken a strange turn...

Nika went still as she felt the blade against her back. She turned her head slightly, just enough to make out that it was the strange new supplicant behind her. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "What? I didn't take your magic or do anything to you- I don't know what you're talking about! We don't have time for this- Nyali is in danger right NOW!"

She looked imploringly to the wolf that was watching her. "Please, get Ashenfury!"

Another wolf appeared behind Therean. This one was much larger than the rest and unlike them his hair looked clean and he seemed calm. The wolf sat down behind the Blood Elf and slowly swooshed his tail in each direction. As he did so a howl pierced the night air and two more wolves came to stand behind the calm one, each of the newcomers barred teeth and raised their hackles.

The ring of light provided by a hanging lantern outside of the door held many sets of hungry eyes at bay. Each set looked like blue gems or red rubies catching the flickering light. They paced slowly during the awkward but short moments that it took Therean to turn around and realize that there is not only a pack of hungry wolves at his heels but that the leader is sitting right behind him.

Therean glanced around and carefully holstered his hatchets. In a nervous voice he stammered, "Ok, look, I didn't come here to fight. Whatever it is that I took from you, I can return it. I don't know who this Nyali is... b-but if you give me my memories and magic back, I can get her to you in an instant." When no immediate reply came, he continued, "Listen, I am High magister Dorinthar Everflare. I am censor on the high Silvermoon court. Kael'Thas himself can vouch for me, it was by his appointment that I am a sunshod warden of Quel'Danas. If it is money you want, I can get it to you. Just undo whatever it is that you did to me."

Nika made no sudden movements as she turned slowly to face the wolves that circled behind Therean. Her gaze fell to the largest- the leader of the Pack. As Therean rambled on, she gave an impatient shake of her head. "I dont know what kind of insanity this one is going on about now, but I don't see any blood or injury. He can wait, Nyali is being harmed this second."

The large wolf raised his eyebrows as if understanding and then stalked off into the shadows. As he did several chirps, barks, scratches and wild howling erupted from the darkness. The cacophony of sounds was enough to drive one mad. It all dissipated into silence very abruptly as Ashenfury walked in the Tavern from a hallway that lead to his office. As he neared the two humanoids standing in the doorway the three wolves that surrounded Therean relaxed and went out of sight.

"Therean!" Ashenfury roared, "Have you strayed from the mandate so soon?!".

"You know me by this name too?" Therean stepped back from Ashenfury's roar. "I don't know what this 'mandate' is, but my name is Dorinthar Everflare. I am a magister of the clergy of the arcane.. or at least I was until you got your hands on me." Therean nodded accusingly, "Oh yes, I can put two and two together. The people around Orgrimmar have said you have had me in your custody for months. I come to my senses in your garb, weilding... these brutish weapons. You brainwashed me, didn't you? Made an assassin out of me? I take it that this 'mandate' in the shadowmagic invocation designed to train my mind." Therean paused for a moment, as he pondered the word 'mandate', feeling as though he almost did remember something about it. Shaking his head he continued, "Listen. It is a big mistake taking me like this. I am important man. Silvermoon no doubt already has people looking for me. If you try to put me under again, it will be to no avail. I sent a sealed missive to Kael'Thas himself explaining my whereabouts and predicament. If I am not back within the week, Silvermoon will come."

Therean shifted, taking a posture to convey assetiveness, though his vulnerability shone through regardless, "Or, we can make a deal. You tell me what it is you want... why you chose me. Money, magic, power, I have it all at my command. Name your price, undo the troll hexxes you have placed upon me, and all can leave in peace. What say you?" Therean raised an eyebrow, glancing at Nika, "Perhaps I can help you find this 'Nyali'?"

Without a sound Bryii stepped in, her plate armor not clinking or her not speaking. She looked at Therean and leaned aginst a wall and sighed. Wearing her old armor from the Lich King war, she was not recognized right off the bat.

"Therean what in the fel are you doing..." Bryii crossed her arms waving a few fingers around conducting a light at her finger tips ready to put Therean's body in shock if necessary.

Bryii moved in a little closer to the others in case things may get ugly. Still casting a spell steadily her soft smile became more of a disappointed glare, with eye's that would show no mercy.

"Explain yourself." Bryii eye's looking sharply at the Rogue.

Ashenfury narrowed his eyes as Therean finished speaking and stared at Therean with the intensity of a hurricane. Because Therean was full Grim Ashenfury could not simply murder him. Not without having to answer questions from the Enforcer... he also could not allow Therean to murder Nika per The Mandate amongst other reasons.

In the middle of the Mexican standoff Knithawk approaches the door. He looks up at the three and manages to get around them without so much as acknowledging the situation and disappears behind a distant door.

Ashenfury remains silent.

A sheep Baaa's from behind Therean and goes back to chewing grass.

The arrival of Ashenfury brought a look of relief from Nika. She inclined her head to the shaman, and a nod to Bryii as well when she entered. But she looked sharply at Therean as he continued. "Are you trying to stall us from helping Nyali?" Her eyes darkened with suspicion as she eyed the rogue. "We don't need help finding her- I've already said where she is! You're the one slowing us down from getting to her." As Bryii moved forward with a spell on her lips, Nika backed away to stand near the wall, out of the way. She shifted impatiently but kept her silence, letting the other two handle it. Her message had been delivered. For now, all she could do was await Ashenfury's word.

Meanwhile in a prison beneath the marsh...

Drip... Drip... Drip...

Darkness. A grimy female troll caked in dry blood sat in the corner, heaving. Her armor was ragged and torn in places, along with her flesh. Footsteps resounded along the prison, she twitched her ears to look at where they came from. The creak of a steel grate. One of Them was with her.
A bowl of slop was dropped in front of her, its rotting fumes filled her nostrils. She plunged her face into the bowl, pain arcing through her body as she began to slurp and eat the ooze. Laughter. It was laughing at her. She looked through the blackness to where the laughter was coming from.

She grunted at it. It merely laughed harder. She hissed and returned to her corner, huddled. Senseless images flickered through her head. She grunted as the gate creaked and slammed into the stone. She felt the wall and slumped to the ground, closing her eyelids.

A rotting image flickered in her mind. She shied away from it. An elf corpse, rotting before her eyes. She grunted and tried to move away from the image, feeling a piercing pain within her spine. She huddled up into a whimpering ball, trembling.

Drip... Drip... Drip...
The gate creaked open again, and crashed closed. Another voice began to speak to her. The language was foreign to her ears, but the tone was harsh. She flattened her ears against her skull. Pain squeezed its way into her skull. She howled. The voice asked her a question. She looked in the direction the voice came from, eye lids wide apart.

The voice growled. It was not happy with her. She shrank back as it hurt her. It forced her to view the image. She did not know who this elf was, nor why she was important. But it hurt. Seeing the beautiful image rotting and suffering -hurt-. The voice growled and kicked her in the gut, throwing her against the wall.

The voice cursed in the same foreign tongue and left. The troll sagged against the wall. An image flickered in her mind. An elf being taken away, a bear escaping. She tried to make sense of it, but failed, merely conjuring another image, streaked with pain. A face grinned cruelly at her as it asked her a question. She had refused. Why? Why refuse? She shook her head, confused by the memory.

Was it a memory? What was it.

She continued trying to make sense of the images. Pain shot through her head, They were watching. She looked around, seeing only blackness. She curled back into a fetal position and closed her eyelids, viewing the images.

Drip... Drip... Drip...

An image of a guild hall. What was it? Why was it important? Why was any of this important. The trolless didn't know. She shuddered as the image burned. Fire lashed in her head, turning the image white. A voice snarled. She shook her head, not understanding. The fire came again, causing her to howl.

Drip... Drip... Drip..
Darkness. Nothing but darkness. The voices came and went. The troll felt nothing. She held the Darkness to her chest and smiled.