Bazelle was making her way from Tranquillien to An'owyn, having heard of new incursions by Night Elf patrols in the south. Accompanied by her pet scorpid, Hushi, and her ever faithful Amber, Bazelle had travelled by Hawkstrider to the Sanctum of the Sun, where she had left her mount in the care of her friend, Arcanist Janeda. From there she ran until she was approaching An'owyn, where she slowed to a stalk. Deciding upon a strategically sound approach, the Blood Elf sharp shooter made for the ridge on the western side of the glade. However, when she reached the brow she could not believe the sight that was before her.
Down in the vale before her, not too far from the centre of a small encampment, was a pile of at least 20 bodies, all of them Night Elves. Just to the right of the heap of corpses stood a large Orc, covered in blood. Stunned, Bazelle stood and stared at the Orc. Hushi squealed, clicking both pincers. Amber, however, seemed to smell something wasn’t right and cowered slightly behind her mistress, her hackles raised.
The Orc finally noticed the trio and seemed to smile before slowly making his way towards them. Bazelle, recovered from her surprise at what she had found, smiled an acknowledgement at the feat the Orc had achieved and spoke to her pets, “See, nothing to be worried about. He’s a friend!” Amber was not convinced and continued to stay behind Bazelle, quietly hissing her unease. Hushi, however, appeared to be happy with the opinion of the huntress and walked by her side as she made her way to greet the Orc.
As they got closer, Amber’s quiet hissing changed to a yowl of warning and as Bazelle looked from the cat to the Orc she noticed something not quite right. A faint hint of a flash of red in the Orc’s eyes immediately put her on edge and she stopped walking. Suddenly the Orc started running towards her as flashes of her experiences in the Hellfire Peninsula against the Fel Orcs came flooding back to her. Immediately drawing her crossbow, she sent Amber at the seemingly deranged Orc and got off a hasty shot that glanced off his shoulder armour. Fitting another bolt to her bow, she looked up to see Amber launching herself at her foe and held back for fear of hitting her feline friend.
Amber had gone straight for the throat but as she landed on the Orc she found that he had twisted as he fell and he was now biting down on her front-left paw. Roaring in pain, the huge cat tried to scrape at his face but couldn’t quite reach. Meanwhile the Orc had taken hold of her throat and in one swift motion he had torn part of Amber’s upper leg muscles from her leg and also lifted her above his head. She scratched at his arm with her 3 good paws but he simply laughed before hurling her into some thorn bushes a few meters away, roaring and gurgling the blood that was in his throat.
Shocked at the injuries he had done to her faithful companion, Bazelle froze for a moment. Hushi, however, didn’t need to be told what he had to do. With Amber clearly out of the fight it was down to him to protect his mistress. Running straight for the Orc, he heard a whistling above his head as first one and then a second bolt went straight for the blood-covered fiend.
Gurfang was able to dodge the first bolt, by sheer luck, but the second hit him just below the ribs. The bolt didn’t break through the armour, but it winded him so much that he didn’t notice a large stinger pierce the gap in his armour at the knee joint and break the skin of his thigh. But as the poison began to inject he felt a stinging sensation and looked down to see the scorpid had clamped on as he continued to defile the Orc’s bloodstream. Bending down, Gurfang grabbed the scorpid by it’s claws and pried him from his leg, hearing another bolt zoom just over him as he did so, and tried to remove the stinger from his leg. Hushi clicked his claws at Gurfang, trying to cause him more damage, but he was kept at bay by the Orc’s strong hands.
After several seconds of agonising pain in his leg, Gurfang did the only thing he could think of. Planting his foot from his good leg on the base of the scorpid’s tail and his hands just below his pincer arms, he gave a sharp and firm yank.
Hushi emitted a high pitched squeal as he became violently separated from his stinger and tail. The Orc then grabbed both his pincers, one in each hand, and brought him up to his face. Just as they stared at each other, eye to eye, Hushi felt a hard tap on his back, followed by a crack. Then he noticed that the Orc was no longer looking him in the eyes, he was looking below where crossbow bolt head protruded. Bringing the scorpid's body to the ground, the Orc cackled as he planted his foot firmly on the valiant beast's head and promptly detached his pincers from his body. Then, as the final coup de grace, the Orc removed the stinger that was still protruding from his leg and fiercely rammed it through Hushi's head. The scorpid squawked loudly and then didn't move again.
Meanwhile, Bazelle was beside herself with grief. Having already seen Amber get brutalised at the hands of the Orc, she had just killed Hushi with an off target arrow. She looked up through her tears and saw the Orc start limp-jogging towards her and realised that she was next. Drawing another bolt from her quiver, she cocked her bow and placed the bolt in position. Aiming her sights for the Orc's head, she readied herself and pulled the trigger.
Nothing! She pulled the trigger again, still nothing! Her bow had jammed. Looking up again she was just in time to jump out of the way of her on running attacker. Rolling to her feet she drew her two-handed axe and made ready for battle. The Orc, meanwhile, had turned and drawn two smaller axes and was charging again.
The Orc swung his right hand at Bazelle, who brought her own axe down to block the swing. As his right hand axe glanced off her axe blade she felt a ripping and tearing just below her left arm. As she turned to follow the direction of the Orc she looked down and saw blood where the Orc's left hand axe had sliced through her mail armour. The Orc paused briefly and licked his left hand blade clean. Then, roaring with bestial vigour, he rushed towards her again. Again he swung with his right hand, so Bazelle again brought her axe blade to block. Again, the Orc followed it up with a swing for her ribs but this time she was ready. She lowered the handle of her axe and deflected the blow away. However, as the Orc spun with the blow his right hand spun up and the axe crashed onto the back of Bazelle's helm, knocking her over. As she fell her helmet fell off and the part that had been protecting her neck fell apart from the rest, such was the severity of the blow.
Rolling to her knees, Bazelle stopped for a moment to catch her breath. However she didn't have a chance for much more as the Orc's eyes flashed bright red and he charged for her again. This time he brought both axes swinging down for her crown and it was all that Bazelle could do to parry the force of the blows with her axe. Staggering down to one knee, she managed to push the Orc back a pace. Then she went on the offensive and aimed a huge strike at the Orc's neck. The Orc brought both his axes to ward off the Blood Elf's attack and for a moment they locked gazes on each other as they struggled to gain the upper hand from one another. Then the Orc's knee gave way, still in pain from Hushi's singer before. Down to one knee, the Orc struggled against his foe but found a sharp knee to his chin knock him onto his back. Rolling out of the way of the follow up strike he realised that he was now unarmed.
Drawing his two-handed battle axe, the Orc and Blood Elf swung together and their blades met in a flash of sparks. Both stepped back and swung again. This time they found that their blades had become jammed together. Fancying her chances of escape if she could disarm her foe Bazelle started spinning her axe around, forcing her enemy to do the same. After several rotations she flung her axe to her right and was rewarded for her effort by seeing the Orc's axe go with it. With the Orc momentarily confused as to what had just happened, Bazelle turned and ran.
But as she started to run she suddenly felt a shooting pain in her left knee as it collapsed under her weight and she rolled to her back. Immediately the Orc was upon her and she raised her legs to protect herself. The Orc grabbed at the back of her left leg and she suddenly felt a twisting, agonising pain followed by a sudden wetness running up her thigh. She looked up at the Orc and saw he was holding her legs with his left arm and holding a dagger in his right, covered in her blood!
Panic gripped her as she realised that the only way she was getting out of this situation was by killing this hugely powerful and crazed Orc. This panic turned to terror as the Orc drove his dagger deep into the back of her right knee and as she felt her legs drop to the ground she frantically tried to crawl away in the vain hope that this would work. The Orc cackled and jumped on her back, sitting down on the small of her back and watched in delight at her squirming as he licked the blood from his blade. He put away his dagger and then forced Bazelle onto her back and sat on her stomach. Drawing both his daggers he placed his hands on either side of her chest and drove them firmly into her armpits.
Bazelle screamed like a banshee as wave after wave of agony racked her broken body. She knew her time was nearing an end and all she could do is think "Why?"
Why had this Orc attacked her? She had never done anything but show respect to the normally honourable race but there seemed to be something different about this Orc. That bright red glow in his eyes, the faintest hint of red in his green skin. She had heard stories of this sort of thing, but she couldn't remember what it could mean. This Orc was certainly not a Fel Orc, the huntress had had enough experience of them to be sure of that. And yet he held traits of their vicious nature and had the same flashing eyes.
The Orc had wandered over to where his battle axe had fallen and picked it up. Slowly he returned to his latest victim and started to swing. Suddenly, as the axe came above his head, Bazelle remembered.
"Demon bloo..." was all she managed to scream out as the axe blade cleaved her skull in two. It followed on down the neck until it was stopped at the top of the sternum. The Orc promptly harvested the corpse, stripping off the armour and taking the choicest cuts of meat. Then he placed his feet on the chest of the now-dead Blood Elf and freed his axe before slinging it on his shoulder and strolling off towards the main road.
((Posted as Tyelkormo on SSL))
Tyelkormo was visiting the inn at Tranquillien. Keen to find fresh meat for Arctos, his faithful companion, he was just set to go out on the hunt when a call went up among the guards. Thinking it was yet another Scourge attack, he grabbed his bow and rushed to defend the town. Reaching the guards, he noticed that they were crouching around something and he asked them what the problem was.
"It's this cat, Tyel. She's Amber, the pet of Bazelle. We sent them out a couple of days ago to check out what was going on with the Night Elf camp near Zul'Aman and we had heard nothing which we assumed meant there was no problem. But Amber has just returned, limping due to some serious injuries suffered. We are worried as to what has happened to Bazelle.
"I have heard that name," Tyelkormo replied. "She is well respected by all of the hunters of Silvermoon. I will go and find her!"
Then Tyelkormo called Arctos and set off, following the tracks left by Amber. His quest took him along the path to the Sanctum of the Sun. Knowing Janeda, an Arcanist, from his time on duty with the Tranquillien guard, he made for the Sanctum to ask about Bazelle. Janeda looked very worried when he told her all that had happened and told him that the last she had heard was that Bazelle wanted her to look after her Hawkstrider while she inspected An'owyn. Without waiting to hear anymore, Tyelkormo rushed off in the direction of An'owyn.
When he arrived, he was nearly sick. In the distance were a pile of Elven bodies and, just a little ahead of him, was the body of another Elf. A Blood Elf. Running up to it, he saw immediately from the state of undress that the body was female. Not only that, but that the body had been harvested as though for either a sacrifice or a feast. Looking at the head, he couldn't make out any of the features as there was blood everywhere. Taking a torn piece of cloth from the ground, he wiped the right side of the face. It was Bazelle. Tears welled up in his eyes. He could not believe that someone could do this to one of his own people.
Tyelkormo knew his duty and, despite the disgusting nature of the job, he did his best to cover the modesty of Bazelle's body and then picked her up and started on the long walk back to Tranquillien.
Upon his arrival there were wails of anguish as the townspeople saw what had happened to the brave Elf who had only been looking to defend her people. Magistrix Aminel immediately decided that a cremation was the best way that they could honour Bazelle's memory and, as night drew in over Ghostlands, Sungraze Peak was lit up as the blaze enveloped the body of the once proud huntress of Silvermoon. Tyelkormo wiped away a solitary tear as he realised that just as much as she wasn't the first she would also not be the last to die for the Blood Elf cause.
Subject: Reposted: [rp-story] - Death of a Huntress 