World of Warcraft - Interbellum (IC Thread)

[MrAbdiel]

With his shot going wide and the raptors closing in on the Theramore escort, Zachary launches over the cart's edge, blade in hand, and hacks down with such a ferocious swipe that the target reptile's head is severed almost entirely at the neck, its body skidding to a halt before the wagons and writhing in reflexive, post-mortum spasms.

Isaera's arcane missile snaps just past the cheek of the remaining raptor, and as its fellow is cut down beside it and the projectile arcs around in the air for another pass, it looks as though it is about to run, and veers to turn from the combat. The Oscars, however, are not slouching in their duty; and as the last beast on that side opens its flank, they strike out and spear it, arresting its movement. It lets out a mournful kiss, cut short by the execution blow of the boomeranging arcane missile that neatly penetrates its temple.

On the other side, where the combat carries on, Mor'Lag's grip won't be denied for long, and one great, crushing hand reaches out and snatches up the largest raptor she can see - the one that had so rudely accosted her - and catches it around the neck. Incredibly, she is able to hold the writhing beast at full extension of the arm, strangling it progressively as while laying about defensively with the other arm.

The remaining drivers move up and toss their spears, but with care not to strike the ogre, they overcompensate and their weapons sail wide. Tamberlyn and Helaina begin zinging away with their wands into the melee, but likewise struggle to find targets. But Brother Bright succeeds in his prayer, and with a snap of divine energy manifesting and an aural glimpse of some distant cathedral choir, a gleaming barely visible sphere of energy englobes the ogress, stacking protection on top of protection. Now, they stand in a field if wicked magic that declines to injure them, defended by the intervention of the elements and sheathed in a protective manifestation of the light. This concentration of powers is sufficient to give the surviving raptors the encouragement they need to flee.

Only four raptors of the hunting pack entire remain; all of them are suffering from the fel blight cast upon, and one is locked in Mor'Lag's phenomenal death grip. The three shift their hiss-and-click hunting shatter to distressed trills of retreat, and begin scampering desperately back toward the treeline. One of them doesn't even make it, collapsing and perishing from the decay and heaping itself on the pile of destroyed reptiles. The two survivors stagger off into the treeline, pursued by buzzing wand flashes and any parting shots and spells the part dispenses in their direction.


The last living raptor on the scene struggles breathlessly in Mor'Lag's fist. It scrabbles with its toe claws at the ogre's body, but they glance off the defensive magics now, leaving its situation even more pathetic. It would be a simple matter for Mor'Lag to execute this creature now, if they are not flooded with a sudden onset of mercy.

Spoiler: Victory!

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With the surviving raptors routed, and the one left over entirely within Mor'Lag's mercy, the battle is over and the threat has passed.

Spoiler: Isaera's Expertise Roll:

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That's fel magic, plain and simple. Known in magical parlance as "The Gravedigger" or less dramatically "Death and Decay", the spell dredges up energy from the Twisting Nether, that twilight realm of demons and dark energy, and binds it into the substrate of matter in an area which manifests as a zone of escalating entropic breakdown of creatures and objects in the area. Visually, the damage looks like the target is being shoved through years of decomposition in moments. The spell has ancient origins, but was reintroduced to arcane theory during the second war at the Battle of Hillsbrad Foothills, in which Gul'Dan debuted his death knights (orc warlocks bound into the bodies of dead human knights) for the first time. Since then, the spell has been studied and replicated. Mages, strictly speaking, do not use such spells. They require a great deal of parallel learning about managing Fel-bleed and minimizing demonic attraction, none of which is productive to advance standard arcane magical learning. It is warlock fare; but today, after such dark knowledges proved many times to be invaluable in fighting and banishing the demons of the Legion in the third war, warlocks are tolerated and often respected... But rarely entirely trusted.