[RP Open Ingame Plot ]:The Cyanide Dream - By Cato

The stench had been coming from the place for a week, it looked like the house had been abandoned sometime ago. Thick boards and planks covered the windows and entrance, only a thin gap at the back of the hovel allowed the most scrawny of people entry. A troll scout pulled himself out of the opening and fell to his knees. The torched he held in his left hand illuminated his face- It had gone pure white.

“Well?” A Captain of the Orgrimmar guard asked.

The Troll couldn’t answer, for a brief moment he stared at the ground, his complexion turning paler and paler until finally he emptied the contents of his stomach out onto the road. The small band of Guards roared with laughter. Cato remained silent, there had to be something very unpleasant in there to make a Darkspear lose his stomach. After all, the most disgusting things he had ever seen had been the results of Darkspear habits.

“Right, rip it down. I want to see what’s in there.” The Captain said.

The Troll held out his palm quickly in an attempt to dismiss the very thought of anyone ever venturing into that place again.

“No mon, be trustin’ me... ya don’ wanna be goin’ in der.”

The Grunts ignored the scout and used their axes to break down the planks covering the doorway. Cato moved closer curiosity getting the better of him. The last plank fell and the grunts took a step back at the sight. Cato swore in amazement at what he saw.


A wonderful flurry of humanoid waste and blood plagued the walls on the inside of the burrow. At first it seemed to just be a mess, but when the guards covered their noses and ventured inside with the torches they got the feeling that they had found something more. The mess seemed to spell out letters, the letters crudely formed words. Cato read the grim graffiti, a look of awe and disgust painted his face.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Look, look! At my precious lovelies on the wall, alas now I am forced to decide who amongst you is the loveliest of all. One by one, tick by tick, time is running out, I’d better be quick. Who I say, who I dare will be the remaining candidate for our little fair. Please don’t cry, wipe those tears, in the end you are all my beautiful dears.

What draws me to you, why have you all enchanted me so? The answer must be up your spines, into your minds, somewhere where only my tools will go. Deeper I’ll dig, I’ll find out why. And when the last of you stands I will take you out in our best dress, we’ll dance, late at night I’ll return the favour and put you in a trance. But do not fear, do not stress we will be beginning of a giant drop into the abyss... along with the remaining members of the Big top.

Look me! Look at this.. my lovelies stretch all over this cesspit. I paint their names because it pleases me, perhaps I’ll paint my own for all to see. They belong to ME, none can take them away. I’ll arrange them again to remind me of all the wonderful things they say.

*A Sen’jin mask has been hammered into the wall by thick iron nails, the wood of the mask is cracked and broken. Around it are the following names painted on the wall with what seems to be humanoid waste.*
Lyranne
Deyanna
Jimar and ‘bats’
Gen’jin
Gul’zayne

* A traditional trollish spear is embedded into the wall, a small necklace with a bit of fleshy sinew hangs from the end. Again the names are painted on the wall with faeces*
Kaali
Faali
Vaali
Haali

*A crude replica of Gorehowl lays in the corner, a Warsong battle tabard neatly hides the head of a missing Warsong Outrider. Around the axe are the following names left in the same manner.*
Scarrak
Bullark
Graanshakuun
Xenya

*A badly carved totem pole miniature sits in the middle of the room on a table, it shows three animals... a bear... a cat... and a cow. Once again, the table is covered in faeces that mark out the following names.*
Liontooth
Silver
Graviel


*The following is badly drafted in blood on the roof, thick pigs blood drips from the ceiling onto the floor, to the point where it is barely readable*

The Big Top, the big top, the very souls I shall wed. We shall sit at home for the rest of our days knitting in our cold and lifeless beds. I think we shall live by the sea side, I always did like the breeze. Oh my lovelies! Think how fantastic it will be! Together forever mindless husks to our tasks.
Oh yes! I can see it now, a circle of family around a table of love. But look at this, oh dearie me... seems nothing in this life comes to you for free. The work I must do is gruesome and sick, but in the end, you’ll see. I promise I will make it quick.

Doctor Alaster Grymm
General Duskclaw
Crimsonwolf

Who will the forth one be? We shall see, their choice is not up to me.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


The Captain looked to Cato, clearly unsure what to say or do. Cato walked up to one of the walls and ran his finger through the muck.

“Grommash’s hairy nuts...” Was all that he could manage. “Don’t worry mate, seems this job has been taken right outta your queue.” Cato said sniffing the vile stuff.

“I will write my report before sunrise, I trust you will be informing the correct people about this... mess, Cato?”

Cato flicked his hand and let the muck fall to the floor, he pulled out a bit of material from his pocket and wiped his finger clean. Strange stuff had happened in Orgrimmar before, but this definitely took the cake.

“No.. we need to board this up before sunrise mate. We can’t let anyone know about this. None of these boys must say a word.”
Cato nodded with his head at the gathering of Grunts walking around the place with hands over their noses. The Captain nodded, Cato was sure he understood.

“Right, board this up again gents. Don’t want to scare any civilians. We’re going to have a little chat about this back in the rec room.”

Cato slipped off into the night, he had a lot of people to write to...

Vypra bustled about, taking care of her customers, the first of the week's pub nights well underway. Taking a moment to pause and survey who remained to be served, she felt her senses shift and blur. It was rare indeed for a vision to take her so suddenly and without preparation but those were the ones that often had the greatest importance and so she let it carry her onward...

*

Clickety clickety click

The claws of her wolf-form on the path were the only sound as she ghosted through the city.

On either side walls billowed in her wake, as insubstantial as mist; for this was only the backdrop, the stage itself was lit in muted sepia with scarlet splashed liberally from wing to wing.

Her hackles rose in horror as the tableaux was seared into her mind: A mask, a spear, the axe and the totem; stark images in the macabre scene.

This was merely a poster, an advert for the main event.

The smell of this visceral display hit her wolfish senses like a Ogre's stone mace and the shaman fell gratefully into oblivion as the vision faded to black...

*

The disagreeable sound of a forsaken voice tugged her back toward consiousness. The troll wondered why people were surrounding her, peering down, their faces masks of concern.

Feeling weak and feverish she followed the tauren's advice and sought good strong drink as the remedy.

Wulfe and Katheryn stayed with her while she drank away the worst of her indisposition. As the Blood Elf made to leave, Vypra thanked the pair for their help, exlaining breifly how it could be with the visions."Did I say anytin...Anytin' at all?" she asked the Elf

Katheryn, looking a little unsure, repeated the words she'd heard Vypra muttering time after time during the seizure "Shield...Spear...Axe and Totem?" The tauren agreed and Vypra ran through the words in her mind hoping for some spark of recognition.

She resigned herself to meditating on the words over the coming days until she might divine their meaning...it never occured to her that one of the keywords to unlocking the secret might be wrong...

(( Ok, so nothing has happened here that you couldn't get from the opening post. Think of it more of creative Bump
For the moment, Vypra remembers very little except that the vision was somewhat unpleasant. Should the right words be spoken in her presence, she may remember more. I'll just have to see how it pans out ))

((I can't help but notice that Lyranne is named twice, implying that someone didn't know Lyranne and Deyyania are the same person (unless there's a Heritage member named Deyanna I've never seen). In addition, two of the aali's mentioned rarely, if ever, play the game (Kaali and Faali). I'm not knocking, just giving a heads up as to why there will be some people not responding. The whole thing certainly seems interesting, and I look forward to seeing/hearing more.))

Nice. You missed the E off of the end of my name though, it should be Wulfe
EDIT: Cheers Vypra

Hivarius wrote:

Nice. You missed the E off of the end of my name though, it should be Wulfe

Corrected...and i blame my appalling typing skills

well for my first post here, I will say I'm game. Though Vaali is quite difficult to get the better of, he's been pretty cautious since he had been a target of Legion assassins while he was Skyguard. I will be hapy to talk things through with people though, see if we can come up with something interesting.

Vaali wrote:

well for my first post here, I will say I'm game. Though Vaali is quite difficult to get the better of, he's been pretty cautious since he had been a target of Legion assassins while he was Skyguard. I will be hapy to talk things through with people though, see if we can come up with something interesting.

Of course if Lonny finds out, many will know how tough the lady in scarlet can get ^^. I look forward to seeing how this will affect RP, and I hope the feeling of unsease and menace work well, culminating in very tense RP with some genuine gravitas (which I have every confidence will be the case).

ok it seems to me that Graan is becoming involved with a lot of bad /evil dudes or dude-ettes... precisely what did he do to deserve that?
Well, like Vaali, i'm game and will be happy to follow on this plot once i get my butt back on WoW in three weeks

Humanoid waste? I find this idea incredibly disgusting. Though it clearly attracts attention.
Makes me wonder, how could the person who wrote all that stuff on the wall get this much crap? What do orcs do with their waste, anyway? There seem to be no sewers in Orgrimmar. Perhaps they just throw their waste on the streets, while a few peons with shovels and buckets gather it and carry it out to some dunghills outside the city, or throw it into Southfury river?
Anyway, this will lead to interesting RP, I have no doubt.
Oh, and I still wonder who Deyanna is. Deyyania, misspelled? But why is she separate from Lyranne, then?

(( Posted By Nazrug ))

Jimar sat on his little rock watching the waves lap onto the shore. He was sure he was ment to be somewhere, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on where. That was about as far as he thought about it. After all, his primary focus was on the hookah pipe sitting by his knees. He inhaled the woody scented smoke deep, held it in for a second or two and then slowly blew a badly shaped ring out towards the horizon.
This is fantastic, he thought, his bloodshot eyes barely open. He turned his head back to his hut further up the shore. What a great idea it was to move to the hinterlands. No one here to bother him, no one here to tell him what to do. He could sit but himself abusing every substance he could get his hands on. The herbs here were great, he took another puff and then nodded as he was once again completely convinced.

“Who be needin dat spir... huh... who be dat?”

He said as he noticed the individual standing on the stairs to his hut. The cloaked figure was digging through the few belongings that Jimar still owned.

“Mah Shimma’ weed!” Jimar suddenly realised.

He panicked and tripped over the only bit of clothing he had left, a long black kilt. He fell face first into the water, fighting to try and stop his hookah pipe from experiencing the same fate. Finally Jimar was able to stop the pipe from plunging into the salty water but his end goal had not been forgotten.

Mah Shimma!

He raced across the beach to try and reach his hut in time, but the robed figure was nowhere to be seen. Jimar dived into his hut and using a small wooden spoon laying on the floor, he pried one of the floorboards open. His strange mixture of herbs and Shimmer weed was still there.

Jimar sighed in relief.

But the bag of bones Ryleen had given him a few weeks ago was missing. Jimar shrugged, he had no need for them anyway since he had lost his ability to speak with the spirits. Jimar noticed a plate of dried lizards sitting near the doorway, someone had left him a gift! How kind of them, he thought. He picked up a lizard and popped it into his mouth.

That was the last thing he remembered.

((Entry in Chabat’s Diary – this is written in Zandali and always kept close to her! ))

12th May

I’ve given up trying to get to sleep and its been a while since i wrote in this journal.

Writing the minutes from last nights meeting had both good and bad points… My hand was shaking so much at first I had to write them out twice but keeping simply to the facts did help me calm down a bit…for some reason writing often has that effect on me.

The things Ryleen told us scared me silly (I’m surprised I remembered as much as I did) but I think she was right to tell us…even if it does mean I’ll be having nightmares from now on. I’m still trying not to think about how the ‘message’ was written…

How can one person think to kill so many? What kind of connection does he …or she have to us all? All of us are in guilds that belong to the Blood Pact…but can it really be a simple grudge? It doesn’t feel that way…but what else connects us?

The thing that scares me most of all was the hint that this person knows us…or has at least come close to us. There aren’t many that know the pet name Jimar has for me…at least that I know of. The other odd thing is Deyy being mentioned twice. I’m not sure how many knew about that strange episode she had where she was almost literally two people for a little while…could this person know about that? Or was it just that they’ve made a mistake as people often call her by both Lyranne and Deyy?

Oh, it will drive me crazy if I keep thinking like this… but what else can I do? I’ve only passed 15 winters…and this is the second time my life has been in danger from a lunatic!

If they come for me I can at least hope they will keep their promise and make it quick. Better to never know what hit me than be the last one on the list…

Ryleen sat by the waterfall north of Ratchet, watching the river water plunge down into the ocean. She had found herself making the trip downriver to this place more and more often. In the beginning, it was to remember happy things that had happened here and to wallow in longing and regret for a while. But that wasn't as important anymore. Now it was the sound of the water and the waves that attracted her here.

She remembered playing by the ocean as a child. It was where she hid, where she felt safe and calm. And she still did. It was here she felt that she could keep her mind clear and think.

And she sure had things to think about. She hadn't liked having to bring the others the grim warnings last night. Not at all. She would have been much happier if she could just have kept them safe and never had to inform them about it at all. but that was not possible. They had to find a way to protect themselves.

She didn't fear for her own life. Her name wasn't on the list. Besides, she was confident that she could defend herself from any assault, since the person didn't seem to be planning to use magical means to get to his victims. Well.. At least the texts in the buildings hadn't hinted at that... That didn't mean anything.

The lack of knowledge was what bothered her the most. She knew nothing. Not who it was, when ey would attack, how... Nothing. And since she didn't know, there was nothing she could do to prepare herself.

In sudden anger she picked up a rock and hurled it into the water. She couldn't keep thinking of this, it would drive her insane. Better to keep her mind busy with something else, until she got new news.

Muttering to herself she wandered off, heading back to Orgrimmar.

Thermal drafts, he'd once been told, it was all very complicated but the shape of the valleys that formed the city of Ogrimmar filled with the bonfires the Orcs built for comfort, light and warmth rolled warm air back and forth over and over. On that wind came the scents of the city, he knew it infuriated the Haldir and his wife, climb high enough and scent tracking became pointless.

He no longer knew if it was his own preference for being high up or that of the assassin, Temis Grey's, lodged in his mind like an old sea shanty barely heard and less remembered. Still he enjoyed the quiet, hanging here in the false wind on the roof of a building built into the high wall of the valley of Honour.

Below was noise, but above was peace and quiet. The small figure of a man shifted and let his eyeless gaze drift across the panoramic view. No, he decided, he enjoyed this for its' own merits.

Three possible assassins sat out there; one hiding possibly content to do so forever; one hiding and waiting for unknown purpose; and now Cato brings him news of another, unhinged and aiming at the world.

Well, Alaster sighed to himself, who wanted a boring life?

Liontooth steps out from the waterfall and briskly shakes his fur soaking the immediate area around him. He sits on a rock and gathers his thoughts.

"Another person after my life...Well not the first time so I guess it is nothing to worry about...But..."

Liontooth sighed. Most of his close friends where all gone and his mate had been missing for months. Even though he knew where she was he could not follow her through risk to both his life and hers and this only added to his annoyance. He, once again, felt alone and as much as he tried to hide it he was in a depression.

He was vulnerable and just did not have the heart to fight anymore.

He sat where he was and peered up at the sky quietly.

Lyranne's search for Quin had lead her as far north as Icecrown, and in her exhaustion, she set up a camp fire, and returned to doing something she had done almost every day since her ritual: She meditated and reached out to her patron loa. The fierce icy winds seemed to fade away and replaced with a stark nothing that she was becoming ever more accustomed to. She closed her eyes for a duration, muttering under her breath, and calling for Shadra to make herself present. The nothing was shatterd by the sound of footsteps, and she opened her eyes.

"Shadra, I need you. My search for Quin... Sindee has taken me so far, and yet I can find no trace. What must I do to end my search and find closure?"

The figure stood ahead of Lyranne, then moved forward and placed a shadowy hand on her forehead. Lyranne winced as she her mind was bombarded by visions. One was of a woman being crushed by a tank in an unknown location, which she had been shown several times before, and the other was of a figure, shrouded in darkness, compiling a list. On it, she saw the names of many she knew, and each name had a face flashed in her mind of who they were. The figure removed her hand, and Lyranne blinked several times until shadow energy dissipated from her sight.

Lyranne sat at the campfire, and looked at the image of Shadra before her. "What was that list?"

Shadra created a shadowy form representing a person, then showed them dying, isolated and alone. As the figure hit the snow, it returned to shadow and nothing.

"Someone aims to kill us? And that's what sis had tried to talk to me about. But why? Why would we all be targets... What do we even have in common, other than being part of the Horde? Maybe that's enough..." She closed her eyes, and when she reopened them, she was alone and the fierce wind returned.

She sighed softly, and a tear rolled down her cheek "I'll find you, Quin. I swear."

Stargaazer wathces how Chabat uses her hearth stone to take her back to Dalaran with worries in her mind.

"Why are my friends on the list and not me? I would be happy to take there place. Especially now that...*Shakes away that thought* I can't lead myself in to that chain of thought."

Stargaazer sits down again by the waning fire outside the hut. Looks out over the beautiful water. Looks how Ember is playing around with the waning fire to try and bring new life to it.

-Ember why is this happening to me? Why do I loose those I hold dear? I don' know what I can do to defend them. A lone determined killer who isn't known, is impossible to stop.

The young fire spirit doesn't seem to be listening to her talking.

-How could you have the answers? I don't blame you. I would love to have your life. Filled with joy, no trouble or worries.

Looks once again out over the water and looses herself in thoughts. Suddenly she starts feeling cold and looks around realising that it is way past midnight. She walks into the hut, makes her bed and gets a night of worried sleep.

Ros was trembling in excitement.Now that he helped arrange the ritual there was nothing left for him to do but wait.Now everything was up to Master Gadrin.The blood sample he was able to obtain thanks to Cato's assistance might've revealed the culprit's very identity...or nothing at all.In any case,people's lives depended on the result.

Ros tried to remember the text of the message he heard from Ryleen.

What draws me to you, why have you all enchanted me so? The answer must be up your spines, into your minds, somewhere where only my tools will go. Deeper I’ll dig, I’ll find out why. And when the last of you stands I will take you out in our best dress, we’ll dance, late at night I’ll return the favour and put you in a trance. But do not fear, do not stress we will be beginning of a giant drop into the abyss... along with the remaining members of the Big top.

"This "Big top"...what might that be? Are those people whos names were written there all part of some organization?..Wait,there was something else about this Big top..."

The Big Top, the big top, the very souls I shall wed. We shall sit at home for the rest of our days knitting in our cold and lifeless beds. I think we shall live by the sea side, I always did like the breeze. Oh my lovelies! Think how fantastic it will be!

"By the sea side? Might it be a clue to his whereabouts?..No...No,it's not that...There was something really important,but i just...can't remember..."

Look me! Look at this.. my lovelies stretch all over this cesspit. I paint their names because it pleases me, perhaps I’ll paint my own for all to see. They belong to ME, none can take them away. I’ll arrange them again to remind me of all the wonderful things they say.

...perhaps I’ll paint my own for all to see...

"That's it! His name might be on the list!..Alright,Ros,don't get overexcited just yet.First i have to tell Ryleen to closely observe all those whos names were mentioned.Some of them were missing,as i recall...They might be already dead...Or they're behind all this!"

Suddenly Ros was struck by realizing what Cato told him back then.

"What if there's really more than one madman involved? And is he really mad,or he just wanted us to think that way? Guess i'll have to wait for the results of the ritual first,before assuming anithing..."

Ros let out a long, drawn-out sigh and headed back to Gadrin's hut.

((The Blades have decided on a somewhat different approach on the matter of this ‘killer’))

The valley of strength was busy, crowds were gathering to witness the grim display that had been erected by the collection of soldiers. A Kal’dorei, his body twisted and broken, had been impaled on three huge pikes. Thick black Warsong banners flapped softly in the wind attached to the top of each spear, the blood had dried to the shafts in thick smears. A stone slab had been placed in front of the display, a message engraved into the stone.

Let it be known that Warsong do not cower, do not hide. let it be known that every soldier that exists within our ranks shall not flinch from a challenge on his or her life, they welcome it. Let this message be the embodiment of our challenge, to those that would wish our soldiers ill, arm yourself and make yourself known. May you fight half as well as they do, so that your death shall be remembered in honour.

Should you chose to flinch from this challenge, or display the traits of cowardice like the elf that hangs before you, then witness and acknowledge this display here today. By the elements, we swear, you shall lose your right to a respectable death. Your arms shall be ripped from your body and your torso shall be thrown to the Worgs, similar was the fate of this coward.

The Warsong Clan.

((sorry it took me a couple of days to notice this...seems i can start to make a few moves to get Vyp involved now as she's visited the Valley of Strength a few times in the those two days and she'll be asking the next member of the Blades she sees what it was all about - Vyp))

((from Chabat's Journal))

21st may

I was dreading meeting Vypra tonight, but her letter was very insistent. I got the feeling that if I didn’t respond positively, she was getting ready to search Dalaran from top to bottom so she could see with her own eyes that I was ok so of course, I agreed to meet her.

Anyway, she came up to the Purple Parlour and started joking about me hiding away behind books…(I must admit, there was kind of a large pile on the table when she arrived) but she soon got the point. Apparently the Blades had left rather a grisly display in the valley of Strength and she didn’t want me be to be upset by it.

I got the impression that she thought it was more to do with the problems in Ashenvale at first (I know Ryleen said they’d talked about that at the last Blood pact meeting) but when I kinda let slip I’d been avoiding Orgrimmar already, she knew straight away it was something more.

I tried to play it down but I stammer so much when I’m scared she knew…and then she was giving me –that- look…the one that seems to burn into my eyes and see the truth behind whatever words are actually coming out of my mouth…(there’s no avoiding that look even if I turned my back….she knows me too well after all these years) but despite that…I couldn’t tell her all the details of what they found in that building.

I’ve never seen her look so hurt and angry before. She accused me of not trusting her but its not true…I burst into tears then…it was awful. She’s been watching out for me since I was small…I know she’s not always been around but she did keep her promise to come back and make sure I was ok after she had to serve in Arathi.

Well, she grabbed me in one if those fierce hugs and then lifted my chin and wiped my tears away like she used to when I was little and told me not to worry. She set of right away telling me to study hard because when she got to the bottom of it, we would deal with it together.

I felt kinda guilty as I watched her stride off. I was pretty sure she would be heading for the Keel…but if she saw Ryleen along the way…well, it wasn’t Ryleen’s fault we’d been told not to tell too many people about this. The other thing was…I was glad Vypra was in on this…even though it put her in danger too.

I’d promised myself I wouldn’t hide behind my friends anymore and that’s why I’d been avoiding her. Her name wasn’t on the list…I’d had a chance to keep her out of it but it was such a relief knowing that I could talk to her now that I tried to push the guilt away. She’s never been one to sit on the side lines… in some ways I’m surprised it took her this long to realise that something was going on but maybe she’s had other things on her mind…

I think I’ll make an offering to Hir’eek tonight. I think we’re all going to need her protection before this is over.

((thanks to all the people who's rp led to this post ))

The Shaman peered out of the cave, blinking in the mid-morning sunshine. For five days she had meditated at sunrise. The Oracle’s words had affected her deeply and she now knew that if she was to help her friends through this latest danger she would have to confront her own fears first.

It had been a surreal encounter. The troll female had sat serenely at her table and, in an undertone that Vypra could have sworn was meant entirely for her, crooned a strange rhyme that the shaman now recognised as the Oracle’s own version of the vision that had eluded her for over a week. Even so, the spiritual guidance had only been the first step; she really had Ryleen to thank for providing the final piece of the puzzle.

Oh, but she had been so angry with the Primal of the Heritage for keeping her in the dark. The uncharacteristic maternal instinct that always kicked in whenever Chabat was in danger had caused her to drive heated barbs at the woman as soon as she’d walked into the Keel. However, Vypra’s desperate need to know what was going on quickly washed away her ire and they soon fell to discussing the report Ryleen had received about the Bloody Message and those listed in it.

Stretching muscles that ached from the unaccustomed effort of sitting still during her contemplations, she ran through the Oracle’s answer to her question once more, saw the ‘board’ the other had laid out that she might put her question to the spirits…it was almost a relief to find it was her own fear that had blinded her to the spirits warning.

Fear…it was no stranger to her. She had learned well from those that would teach her how fear could be used to stimulate the mind and body, speeding reactions and heightening the senses. Only the brash or the stupid were truly fearless and the electric thrill of it was usually something she savoured, but this was different. This was the fear that paralysed, that brought indecision and inaction, that blinded and deafened her.

Vypra had seen this in others many times and it was extremely uncomfortable to once again be subject to it herself. The meditation drove her all her energy inwards; burning through to the heart of the problem to find that which she had thought long behind her.

Always, in her youth had she chafed at the bonds the culture of the Darkspear had placed around their females. The dire situation of the tribe had led to women being prevented from doing anything that put them at risk. They were the key the future, the survival of the people was their responsibility and the males had taken steps to make sure they saw this duty carried out.

The shaman grimaced; the memory of her break away from that stifling society still pained her. Not so much the physical aspect, but tearing off the shackles of such enforced helplessness had been the hardest thing she’d ever done. But she had been a child of changing times. The Orcs had shown her a different way of life and she had soaked up their stories and followed their females around, watching them at their duties and then doing anything she could to be useful while the tribe made their preparations to leave the islands that had been their home for generations.

It was the same feeling that had assailed her when she’d first received the vision. The whole scene had indicated to her an implacability of purpose and the futility of trying to work against those that had planned this. However, all was not as it had appeared in the tableaux she’d witnessed. It began to seem more and more likely that this could even be some grand deception…a garish show designed to distract from the movements behind the stage.

Vypra growled in irritation at how easily she had been diverted. Just one symbol…the Mask…had been wrong, and as she’d discussed this with Ryleen, she’d seen how she had imposed a shield in its place. The other symbols were warlike: spear, axe and totem…the mask could have easily been a Darkspear warrior’s shield, traditionally painted with a fearsome face.

Finally finished with packing up her things, the troll swung up onto her faithful Frostwolf. Setting her jaw so that her tusks thrust out in a challenge to all that stood in her way, she called to the spirits of Fire, the great Wolf spirit and Loa Shango to her, putting her faith utterly in them she would ride out and meet whatever challenge she met with the storm at her back, fire in her heart and the Wolf song on her lips.