Ahma's Rites

[Eiada Clearbreeze]

Brother Ahma, I present to you now your rites of initiation into our tribe should you accept them.

I have yet to meet you personally, but I know that you have ventured into the cold north and as such I understand that you are without a doubt a skilled druid. As such I will not lecture you with lessons, but instead ask of you a task.

I know little of Northrend, but what little knowledge I have comes from whispers and rumors. Through a contact in the Sundered Skull Clan, it has come to my attention that as with Silverpine Forest there is a strange affliction ailing the humans of a region known only to me as "The Grizzly Hills". I do not know what it is, but from what I have heard it is very similar to reports from the forest of which I have now sent brother Hallion to investigate. I would not dare venture there myself, and as such I ask that you do so in my stead.

I ask that you investigate these humans and try to gain a better understanding of how they came to be that way and if necessary, put them to rest. It will be dangerous without a doubt, but I put faith in your abilities. Find the cause behind these strange goings on and return any information you uncover to me.

Winds be at your back.

(( Alright, if you haven't been to Grizzly Hills yet you will be doing shortly and I figure this ties in nicely with the rites I just gave Hallion. Nothing too difficult, you should be able to get this through doing natural questing there but discovering these things via roleplay could be pretty interesting. You're free to go about this however you want, if you would like to write a little forum story about your character coming into contact with them that's great but not required.

Good luck! =] ))

[ahma]

The wind felt wonderful over my feathers.. It was one thing for a breeze or such to ruffle feather and fur while shifted into the shape of a moonkin, but it is something else entirely to actually fly. To leave the ground and soar high above it, free as.. well, a bird. I had just been trained on how to fly in the cold, harsh winds of Northrend, and I was drifting over the mountains seperating Dalaran and Crystalsong Forest from the Dragonblight..

I let my mind wander, the body knew what to do, even for the months it had been since I was last flying in the shattered remains of Draenor. My mind was trying to put together the pieces of everything that had happened, everything I had seen, between the orcs and taunka in the tundra, and the forsaken in the fjords.. I shuddered, dipping several feet before recovering myself, rising again.

I knew that they were human once, they had family, jobs, love, and all the rest.. But all my training put me on edge around them. They were scourged, they were little more than the ghouls I'd seen in the plaguelands, or worse still, kept as companions by those damnable death "knights". I scoffed to myself mentally, what honor did these knights have?

But.. I have met a few of the forsaken, and I do know that not all of them are all that different. Some have refused to accept what's happened to them, and have worked diligently to reclaim as much of their life as possible. A screech rose in my throat, slipping through my beak, my wings curled as I tucked into a dive; Meanwhile, there were those of them who sought to 'do unto others', those of the apothecary society..

My mind was still reeling at the most recent development of things, at what had happened at the gates of Angrathar, all those soldiers of the Vanguard, and too of the Alliance; I have no quarrel with the majority of their peoples. I doubt anyone there deserved such a fate.. I was unprepared for just what happened there, so much blight, I could have perhaps saved a handful of soldiers, if I knew.. but it was so sudden, such a heavy attack..

I shook my head and snapped out of it, straining to pull myself from the steep dive, leveling my flight back out, looking around.. the snow had given way to living, green earth again, thick grass and mossy rocks, great evergreen trees.. This was not the Dragonblight, nor the hills of the Howling Fjords.. I tried to think of the maps I'd seen of this inhospitable continent, trying to place myself.. Ah! the Grizzly Hills, this must be it..

I swept around with keener raptor eyes, my reckoning was confirmed as I saw a wide island set low on the river, covered with perhaps a dozen healthy-looking grizzly bears, a number of them fishing salmon from the stream. How refreshing it was to see healthy life in this place, for a change.

My ears, tucked as they were into rusty feathers, twitched at a sound I'd not heard in some time.. the low snarling growl of something in a vaguely lupine shape, but which stood on two legs. I wheeled over and tucked into a slow dive, weaving through the great confiers.. Such a strong, healthy place! Or.. perhaps just untouched by the horrors of scourge and blight.

As I came through the trees and into a more open clearing, I found a hunter and trappers' camp, to find a human paladin kneeling over the corpse of one of the hunters, another human.. I furrowed my brow in puzzlement and alighted on a nearby branch.. only to hear a crack and a hiss slip past me.. one of the hunters thought I was their quarry, and was shooting at me!

I dropped down and shifted smoothly, taloned feet hitting the packed dirt with a heavy thud, my body swelling still as it grew into the shape of the moonkin.. Oddly, the hunter did not seem deterred, firing another shot at me, grazing my shoulder.. I hissed and summoned up a swarm of insects, the cloud of green and black surrounding him, obscuring his vision and biting at his face and flesh. Still she shot at me.. her eyes were glazed, there was something troubling.. or perhaps controlling her.. I next called down a beam of the moon's light on her, the blue-white flames licking at her body and leathers, leaving the insect swarm intact.

Within a few moments I wondered if I had made a mistake.. the huntress' shooting stopped, she lowered her rifle, but that glazed look sat in her eyes, face going slack.. She began to tremble and convulse, arms at her side.. And she grew. She started to stretch, arms and legs thickening, nails splitting as black claws slid out from the bed beneath, her size half again as large within a few moments as a grey-furred worgen stood before me.

She licked her fangs and blackened lips, snarling as red eyes narrowed, clear and lucid as they regarded me.. She lifted her rifle again, grinning with a muzzleful of fangs.. She fired, this time the shot was true, I could feel the bite at my gut.. fortunately my hide was thick that the shot didn't go very deep, but still stung intensely.. I knew I wasn't going to be able to reason my way out of this.

So that left one option, really.. I narrowed my eyes and focused, bringing down a bolt of concentrated light on the worgen, followed by a howl of pain.. When the light faded and my eyes cleared of stars, the human girl was laid back out on the ground, her leathers none the worse for wear, just stretched a bit. Beside her lay a journal, which I took and thumbed through.. My common was poor, so I couldn't make much of it.

I flew away, doubling back the way I'd come, as I saw a Horde encampment to the south on my way in.. I figure if no one was interested, at least someone could shed some light on what I'd just experienced. I found the 'leader' of the camp there was.. less than friendly, even by orc standards she seemed rather standoffish and aloof, and less than helpful, as she told me to burn the book. Her sister however, showed a bit more interest. She told me of some people that had been captured that matched the description given in the journal, from what she could discern.. And she said they were likely to be executed, if I didn't hurry.

So hurry I did, fast as my wings would take me, back north, on a westerly path, I was told it was west of the village they called Silverbrook, and sure enough I found a human girl guarded by two orcs. I presented Gorgonna's letter to release the girl, so that she could potentially give us more information regarding this possible worgen threat. I returned to Conquest Hold, to let her know that the human had been released.. Only to be told new developments had come up. I was to seek some.. fortune teller to scry more information for us.. I didn't put much faith or trust in such people, knowing they liked to be vague about their 'readings' that could easily apply to anyone.

But when I found her and heard her request.. she was trying to scry the past, not pluck at the future.. I shrugged and figured I'd indulge her, taking this offered potion she gave.. within a few moments I felt my spirit lighten, and my dazed vision was turned to the clean crystal ball she kept perched on a short table. In it I saw what I could only think of as a memory, slowly the place came back to me, Silverpine Forest, in the south.. there was some ritual being conducted over an opened grave.. and I heard the name. "Arugal". So THAT explains it.. the worgen were the very same, Arugal's 'children', as they had brought him back from the dead, from the grave that I helped put him into.

I broke from the vision and smiled, thanking the blinded soothsayer as I left, now with a clearer understanding of what had happened, and what was going on. I knew just who would be able to help me, that human girl that I had helped free. She was tied into this as well, these monsters had taken her family from her, taken their very lives. I found her to the east, and approached her slowly. Recognition dawned on her face.. I explained in broken common that I was willing to help her avenge what had happened to her father and sister.

From what she explained to me (and what I could understand of the human tongue) Arugal had found himself a new castle and keep, further to the east, on a large island off the coast. There he was guarded by a small force of worgen, and several more he had empowered as 'lieutenants' of his personal guard. I smiled, and explained in return I had no problem in helping her. They may be affected by Elune, but to make them out of unwilling people, well that upsets the balance of things. And that's what I'm here to fix.

Taking flight again I headed due east, turning to the north slightly as I made it to the coast, spotting the island and the keep rising from the hill there.. I circled slowly, noting the fairly large number of worgen.. and unchanged humans milling about over the grounds of Arugal's new keep. Bloodmoon isle, I scoffed to myself.. Like it would be a secret what went on there. That big one mounted up on a worg would likely be the first of the leaders, since no one else about seemed to have any trappings of rank. He went down without too much trouble.. between bursts of starfire and bolts of nature's wrath, and layering various methods of mending upon myself, I came out roughed up but in fair shape.

There was another lieutenant nearby, but he was flanked by guards.. I decided to scout the rest of the island and keep to see what else I had to contend with.. I found a large black worg stabled by its lonesome, surrounded by two worgen guards. I dispatched the guards and made with the same strategy to dispatch the massive worg, with only some scratches and cuts, and damaged armor to my credit. These were tough beasts, but not enough to best me.

The third and final lieutenant was going to be a problem. I wouldn't be able to hold off his guards in order to dispose of him, or vice versa.. It just wasn't going to happen. As luck would have it, I heard a commotion from down below.. I turned and saw another druid and an orc coming up the hill, fighting their way through the clusters of worgen.. I swept down and helped to dispatch the last of the beasts they were fighting, and offered my help in exchange for assistance in dealing with the last lieutenant and Arugal, presumably at the top of the keep.

After a brief explanation of my story and how I'd offered to help the girl avenge the horrors visited upon her family, and working out some details on which of us was doing what, we made short work of the last massive worgen and his guards. Even numbers beats being outnumbered three to one any day. We stormed our way into the keep, which was oddly vacant.. Apparently Arugal thought guards outside were sufficient.

Seems brought back from the dead, he still wasn't much different.. overconfident and prideful. No matter.. We showed ourselves through the keep, and finally summited the whole of the castle, and sure enough, he was found there at the top, with a number of his followers, 'human' and worgen alike. By this point we knew what these beasts were capable of, and charged in to finish our task. One by one the madman's disciples fell, til the only thing left was Arugal himself.

We called the risen madman out for all that he'd done past and present, the orc charging in first. We two druids weren't holding anything back, putting all our strength into bringing Arugal down - again. Imagine our surprise when the orc freezes mid-swing and snarls, turning to face us. We could already see the changes in him, becoming more bestial, changing into a worgen like all the rest. I dimly recalled the last time I'd faced the arch-mage the speed at which he could exert control over someone and induce this mad change. I suppose time just made it stronger, no doubt bolstered with some help from the Lich King, like everything else we've had to contend with lately.

The orc-cum-worgen charged at the other druid.. Acting quickly I threw down a handful of seeds, scattering across the cobblework stone roof, muttering under my breath as the seeds quickly sprouted, took root, and bound around his ankles and paws, effectively rooting him into place. I frowned and turned my attention back to Arugal, I wasn't going to be distracted so easily; I chucked every spell I knew at him. Surely he had been bolstered by some other source, he didn't even seem to be winded between the three of us.

I heard the orc mutter thanks behind me, glancing sidelong I saw a human cutting him loose from the roots, his form having returned to him. It was the hunter's daughter! She had come to join us and have her revenge upon Arugal, and that she did, leveling her rifle and opening fire upon the mad wizard, while the orc charged back into the fray. Eventually Arugal began to falter and suffer under the onslaught, having one more person in the fight seemed to be making the difference. A few moments more and the fine robes draped over his reanimated body were still, riddled with holes and tears, burnt, and stained with whatever ichor passed for blood in his body.

Arugal had been slain and stopped - again.

[Eiada Clearbreeze]

(( Rites completed 19/2/09. Congrats! ))