Stolen Crystal [RP/IC] [Closed]

Lore World's End Tavern: Role-play and Fan Fiction
125

Those scanning the area with whatever means they have would note:

  • There is a bright tether of energy going from the leylines under the Nexus to the tower.

  • The only signs of life are distant. A few dragons in the air far to the west, a traveler to the south studying the blue flight artifacts, a mountain climber to the south east, someone flying to go towards Sholazar towards the south east. Various wildlife signatures would dot the landscapes, except within a 10 mile radius of the tower.

  • The tower itself radiates bright and strong arcane energy, warping and swirling around its stone structure. This makes it difficult to see anything beyond.

  • Should one actually manage to see beyond the arcane, they would find the tower to appear hollow with no signs of mana or life force within or at least not immediately within the door, save for one single flickering source of mana.

  • That one flickering source of mana would appear similar to Kersia’s, yet different enough to not be her. Its body would be in the shape of a pandaren, yet there is a swirl of both draconic and elven to it.

126

The area was scanned vigorously by Orlok and Nil. The elder elf was the first to remove his hand from the handle of his warblade, followed by Nil dissipating her spell.

“This place is given a wide radius. There’s not signs of contact for quite the distance. Nilanth, what do you sense?”
“Same. There are no magical contacts that I can sense. Whatever’s in that swirling mass of arcane must’ve done something to make this area desolate.”

Orlok looked to Tolbyas as he said that statement and came over to him, Nil not far behind. There was little time to wait for the others to land. Both in a tatical standpoint and from the view that they were chasing a thief. And thieves do not want to be caught. So they could be crafting and exit as they spoke.

“Then we break the front door down. Is there magical protection? If so, Nilanth can assist in this. If not, breaking it will not be difficult with as many bodies and power as we currently have to throw at it.”
“Father if I may interject. I suggest we move quickly and decisively. Whomever is here has to know what we have arrived and will be making preparations.”
“I agree. Miss Kersia, state your orders quickly. If nothing else, Nilanth and I will act upon them.”

127

Vesthi nodded in agreement with the armored elf and his daughter, though she doubted they noticed she was even there. So absorbed in the task at hand they probably weren’t even aware that many had already gathered near.

Vesthi spoke up. “Hold fast, Daddy. I appreciate that your bold and decisive, but lets not add reckless to the list. That’s my department.” She said, jabbing a clawed thumb at her chest with obvious sarcasm. “We’ve no real idea of what’s on the other side of that door. This may seem like a simple theft but like this tower, looks can be deceiving.” She turned to face the armored man fully. Hands loosely placed on her hips. Stance strong and wide. “Do the math for a moment. Look at the make up of this group and then consider Kersia. She’s not your typical shop owner. So let’s not be hasty.”

She lowered her veiled gaze at the young girl. “Nilanth. You’ve peered within, yes? It’s empty. A complete void. Whomever is here has already made their preparations. We could be rushing into an alternated dimension, or worse. Rather, can you see, or sense, that bright conduit of power below the tower? It’s tethered into these leylines.” Vesthi gestured at the ground and tower. “I need your help deciphering it’s purpose. What’s it powering? If we could cut it off, what possible effect might it have?”

“Perhaps it would give us an advantage in this.” Vesthi turned to peer among those that had landed and were gathering, comparing the faces with the mental notes she had started, assessing the perceived aptitude of those present.

128

Aanka walked slowly to Vesthi, Orlok, and Nil. There was a sense of immense wrongness coming from the building, a disturbance to nature.
“We could, as Vesthi said, cut off or redirect the leylines. Cutting them off could create a reaction less than satisfactory, but redirecting them would focus the power elsewhere. I think a certain Blue Dragon could help us with that…”

129

“Ah. Yes, I did sense that. The fact that this person tapped already redirected Ley Lines should be telling but I didn’t think about it. Apologies. Yes, this would be an accurate assessment. Father, your thoughts.”

Nil looked to Orlok who had crossed his arms as in thought before his daughter addressed him. The elf looked at both Nil and Vesthi before nodding.

“Yes, we are in agreement Demon Hunter. Now to devise a course of action to deal with power the Ley Line provides…”

Orlok looked to the druid then back at the tower, now that he knew what to look at, his HUD showed the mana readings and the mess it was. A huff ember came from his suit as he gave his own thoughts on the matter.

“My personal plan would be to cause the Ley Line feed to essentially…burp. The sudden influx of unrefined and pure Arcane energy would cause the magic to essentially implode upon itself and destroy the tower, dealing with our thief in the process without any of us risking ourselves. Best case scenario it’d force the residents of this tower to come out to deal with the issue if they don’t want to die, exposing them for our blades to kill them anyway.”
“I must object to this plan father. The risk to the object Miss Kersia wants is too great. Cutting off the power feed is the better option. Without power from the Ley Line, the magic there would be less potent and we could probably go inside without much risk. The question is how to cut the power… We could either block it or essentially cut it with our own magic.”
“Mmn. Those are our plans on the matter. If anyone has a better tactic, we are all ears to hear it.”

130

Vesthi listened to Nilanth, her father, and the druid. She nodded to each as they spoke. Turning back to Nilanth’s father Vesthi spoke. “I agree. I have much the same concern, however. If this tower’s very existence is tied to the energy leeched from these lay lines then interrupting it, or cutting off directly, could have disastrous effects; and not just for the tower and it’s occupants.”

Vesthi loosely folded her arms. “The potential energy feedback could obliterate us…” Vesthi sighed. “Or pull us into a vortex, with destinations unknown.”

Vesthi looked to Nilanth and then over at Kersia. “Not to mention we stand a change at losing Kersia’s prize, which is the whole reason why we’re all here.”

Vesthi gazed out among the group, then pointedly back at Kersia. “What say the rest of you? Any thoughts?”

131

Kora stood off to the side listening to everyone’s ideas, she didn’t much like the sound of them. Too many risks and unknowns, they had no way of really knowing if whoever is in the tower had tampered with the leylines. If they had, further tampering could have catastrophic consequences. The only sure way to avoid any of that was to just go in the tower and confront whoever was in there, kill them if necessary and get the phylactery with Vinarion’s soul.

She kept all of this to herself though, not wanting to ruffle anymore feathers or step on anyone’s toes.

132

Darak listened to everyone making plans or suggestions on what to do before entering.

this all made him exhale a irritated groan, “So you are suggesting we cripple those of our allies with magical abilities, or possibly harming ourselves by attacking the leylines?”

placing a palm over his face, he shakes his head, “How dimwitted are you living if you think destroying a leyline is the best possible solution?”
he lifts up his hand, letting a dark necrotic energy form in his palm.
“go in, and i will set-up a barrier that will drain the magic that will attempt to due us harm, mean while our illidari companion here, can possibly spot who will be ahead of us.” closing his palm, he extinguishes the energy in it.

“Easy solution, but if you all are still worried, I’m sure our dragon friend can protect us with her own form of magical expertise, if not… than least know you all will not stay dead.”

grabbing his sword, “I suggest we hurry soon, before we bore the thief to death with patience.”

133

The Eredar flew in, Nyxus providing a dominating presence, in formation with the others. When the netherdrake landed, she examined the selfsame structure the others were. She huffed briefly. “I agree with the death knight. Disrupting these leylines in any major way will prove a swift end to our mission, and not in the manner we desire. No, we need a lockpick, not an axe, for this task. My magic is still drained from the forging of the Illidari’s blades, so while I can sense the flows, I cannot redirect them as necessary.”

Laatu sighed irritably, before turning to her mount. “Establish air superiority. Keep our exit route clear.” Laatu directed, before returning to the dillemma before them. “We cannot simply charge in, but to open the way without incident would be a time-consuming task.” She gave a short snarl. “If this is the work of our foes, then they are loathsomely skilled at delaying tactics.”

134

Aanka unbuckled her two glaives from her waist and held them in a ready position. As Darak began to use his necrotic energy to block the leyline magic, Aanka drew back her hand.
“Should I slice the door open?” She yelled above the humming of magic.

135

Kawisa was studying the magic in the tower as well when he overheard the plans being formed.

“My personal plan would be to cause the Ley Line feed to essentially…burp. The sudden influx of unrefined and pure Arcane energy would cause the magic to essentially implode upon itself and destroy the tower, dealing with our thief in the process without any of us risking ourselves. Best case scenario it’d force the residents of this tower to come out to deal with the issue if they don’t want to die, exposing them for our blades to kill them anyway.”
“I must object to this plan father. The risk to the object Miss Kersia wants is too great. Cutting off the power feed is the better option. Without power from the Ley Line, the magic there would be less potent and we could probably go inside without much risk. The question is how to cut the power… We could either block it or essentially cut it with our own magic.”
“Mmn. Those are our plans on the matter. If anyone has a better tactic, we are all ears to hear it.”

“Are you actually stupid?” Kawisa deadpanned. “If you were anyone else I might assume you simply don’t know. But you are Sin’dorei, magic is in your blood and for you to suggest such an idiotic plan of cataclysmic proportions…” Kawisa trailed off his rant. He took a moment to take a breath.

“Need I remind you that Leylines channel the magic of the world?! Even causing a single leyline to erupt would sunder half a continent. And we are not sitting on a ‘single’ leyline. Even after the Kirin Tor fixed the mess caused by Malygos tampering with the ley lines during the Nexus War, Coldarra doesn’t host the ‘Nexus’ because its a cool title. Sitting a few miles away is the second largest conjunction of leylines in the world after Karazhan. Your reckless and stupid plan would cause a chain reaction that would cause a second Sundering and that’s assuming we even have the power to enact it. Even the Aspect of Magic himself needed to use special tools to manipulate the ley lines and the Age of Dragons is long past.” Kawisa sighed. “I can’t believe I am agreeing with the walking corpse over another elf in the matters of magic.” He said while facepalming.

He looked up again as Laatu chimed in. “Aye. Without knowing the exact enchantments and spells used on the tower, countering the protection magics would take time we don’t have. Not to mention our foe knew enough about Kersia to bypass her own enchantments at the lab, they are going to be ready to counter any sort of magical means used to enter the tower. We may very well have to play by their game and use the front door.” Kawisa concluded.

136

Orlok merely laughed at the Void Elf’s rebuke. He walked forward from the group toward the tower’s door as he did so.

“It’s amusing that you think I care about the state of this world. From the way we mortals have treated Azeroth, a fourth or fifth sundering won’t change anything. Could even teach us a lesson. Sargeras would be highly amused from his jail. If you don’t like my plans then come up with your own Void Elf. Or is rebuking all you’re good for?”
“Father, your apathetic tendencies are showing again. You may not care but others do. Please tolerate this world and don’t end up like uncle Rath.”
“That depends on you my daughter. Well then, we have our plan now. Let us open up the door and see how dead we actually are. The sooner we kill this dragon or dragons the sooner we can complete this mission.”

Nil sighed as she bowed to the group and followed her father. She was obviously worried if his bad habits were coming out so soon.

“Father please don’t behead the dragon for a trophy to take home.”
“No promises are made my daughter.”

137

Lynara looked at the strange tower and studied it for a fair while as everyone discussed different courses of action. “With our current forces we should simple storm the front. Use the nether dragon to smash the gates and slaughter the inhabitants in the resulting confusion. Some of you may die but its a sacrifice I am willing to make.” She looked at the others to see what objections might arise.

“Honestly anything is better that standing here listen to all your ideas on how to destroy the entire continent. I think I might die of old age before we finally storm in like we are going to.” She looked again at the tower. There was a single door and no windows or even rooftop access. It seemed to be too obvious. “A trap perhaps?”

138

“This is most definitely the place.” Kersia said in response to Damalys. Others landed and voiced concerns and opinions about routes to take. Kersia listened to all the amusing prospects with a glimmer in her eyes. Though truth be told, she was loathed to admit she lacked the power to cause that much of a shift with the leylines here. One ribbon out in the Barrens maybe, but the arcane flow here was far to volatile and powerful to even dream of harboring control.

“Listen, listen. Even if we could burp the leyline or whatever, such a tactic is droll and boring. I already know what happens, already seen it. What point would there be in causing another sundering or Theramore here? Nothing to learn. Boring.” Kersia sighed. “The only information I would glean is what the arcane torrent would do to your bodies, and I can glean that information on my own in a controlled setting, far better. No, I don’t think the leyline approach would be the most prudent.”

Others voiced concerns about going through the front door. Kersia smiled at Lynara’s comment. “Of course it is a trap. One way in, other options catastrophic. A wonderful logic puzzle to be solved. Obviously everyone here is skilled, no? Otherwise the prospect of storming a potential dragon den would create some fear and hesitancy. So surely you can handle whatever trap is rigged for the front door.” She looked the tower over. “One option I find strangely absent within the deliberations is the prospect of blowing our own hole into the side. The pulse of arcane along the tower is a shield to protect and isolate it, as Kawisa noted. It would be horribly time consuming to undo them. Oh well, only the door remains.”

Kersia glanced around the group at those present. Darak seemed at the ready to protect them as they open the door, and the druidess was inquiring on slicing it open. Kersia shrugged. “Just open the door, I sense no magic on it of itself. Just the tower.” Not that she was willing to be the one that opened it.

As the group opened the door and progressed into the tower, it would appear as if they didn’t enter a tower at all. They would stand on a blue platform, circular in shape, in a room not unlike the Eye of Eternity. Speckles of arcane power dotted the black abyss like the stars of the night sky. No traps triggered… yet. A lone figure stood on a disk far enough away from the entrance platform to be out of immediate reach. A female pandaren. Her disk moved a little as the group entered, a display that she can move it at will to avoid any attempts to jump, grab, or reach her.

2 Likes
139

As soon as the rest of the group had landed in front of the tower, Myorga guided her own mount and landed as well. She quickly hopped off and joined the group and listened to their strategies and opinions.

“Just open the door, I sense no magic on it of itself. Just the tower.”

Myorga grabbed her rifle and readied it should anything come bursting out but instead was shocked to see that the tower was no tower at all, but rather a sort of portal to another dimension. The didn’t recognize anything inside however the way the tower seemed to seamlessly shift from Azeroth to…wherever this place was…unnerved her. It reminded her of Draenor in some way. Stepping through the dark portal and into a new land eons away was not exactly the most friendly to the senses.

She gripped her rifle more tightly and carefully pointed it in the general direction of the figure on the female pandaren on the disk. She flicked a switch and the laser sight on her rifle flickered to life. A tiny red dot line of light came out of the gun and disappeared into the distance.

140

Laatu stepped inside, immediately taking up a vanguard position. Her armor was sturdy, and even if it hadn’t been, the ‘titanforging’ she’d underwent hadn’t thinned her hide at all, meaning she was tough even without it.

Her eyes immediately fell upon the figure, the female pandaren, and narrowed her eyes. One of her hands closed into a fist, but she did nothing further, save speak, deciding to take a page out of her former master’s book.

“If you had wanted to invite us to the festivities, a letter would have sufficed. But, for a party, the venue is rather… lackluster.” She swept her arms to gesture at the platform around her, “No drinks, no food… and unless you are the entertainment, they seem to be running a bit… late.”

141

An audible sigh came from Nilanth. Almost as if she was disappointed that she hadn’t expected this.

“Ugh… Of course it’s a wide open void or area. Every single dragon capable of it makes these little pocket worlds does so. It’s so disgustingly predictable…”
“Then make sure you don’t become as predictable Nilanth. As I recall it was reported that Malygos did this same kind of thing. If she likes to follow her predecessor’s footsteps so closely, then she deserves the same death. Now then, enough of the foreplay. That being needs to die. Preferably painfully.”

Orlok eyed the woman from his HUD. She was quite real unless this one’s conjuring abilities were good enough to fools his systems. Not impossible but there was only one way to advance the situation in Orlok’s mine. And it didn’t involve conversation with the enemy target. He stepped forward drew his warblades from his back and pointed one of them at the pandaren.

“Hey! Get over here so that you can die with some measure of dignity.”

142

Lynara entered the void area and did a quick three sixty before focusing on the female pandaren on a disk floating in the air. She drew her bow as the others began making comments either to the woman on the disk or to each other. “Friend of yours Kersia?” She asked readying her arrow. The edge was tipped green from the poison laced upon its edge. She prepared to loose her arrow, aiming with one eye closed. She waited to see what Kersia was going to do before attacking.

143
Note

Will create a specific character for this. Forgot, sorry :frowning:

Strite smirked as the party trickled into her lair. Predictably, they entered with weapons drawn. Unaware of the fun. She rolled her arcane blue eyes as a red dot graced her head. A glimmer enshrouded her body as a protective mist coated her fur. A bullet may not make its mark.

”If you had wanted to invite us for the festivities, a letter would have sufficed. But, for a party, the venue is rather… lackluster. No drinks, no food… and unless you are the entertainment, they seem to be running a bit… late.” A giant remarked about a lack of entertainment. Amusing.

Strite chuckled, her voice echoing larger than her frame should be able to make. “I am afraid the festival hasn’t even started yet. I assure you it will be quite fun, entertaining even. As for the food, I am sorry. I did not inherit stable enough magic to conjure it.”

”Hey! Get over here so that you can die with some measure of dignity.” Something akin to a brute, Strite surmised.

Strite cocked her head to the side. “No, don’t think I will, thank you for the offer.” She sighed.

”Friend of yous Kersia?” Elf, undead. Gross.

Strite glanced at Kersia herself. “Yes, am I a friend?” She cackled. “You don’t know, do you? Ever so logical, ever so cold. Her stories about you were true to the tee.”

2 Likes
144

Stepping inside with the others, letting his left arm be engulfed in necrotic energy, in preparation of any attack at him or anyone near him.

He spots a figure nearby with the others, before he could question it, the others appeared too respond first.

exhaling a irritated sigh, “The bravado gets old” he mutters as he walks pass them.

Raising his voice, to let her hear him. "I am not one for acts of bravado and foolish speaking, so i will plainly tell you this."

“I know you are a dragon, but i do not know what breed, so i will plainly ask you… Who are you and what do you want with that you have stolen?”

he kept his sword on his side, but the magic surrounding his left arm does not disappear.