The Burning

Chapter Three

The fields of Hillsbrad had lush green grass covering them, with trees sporadically clustered around, and wild flowers in abundance. There were also a large number of predators wandering about, ranging from bears, to lions, to giant spiders. It was afternoon by the time the trio was assembled, and the sun made the wandering beasts plainly visible, and easily avoided, though the three of them were likewise exposed to the eyes of both bloodthirsty animals, and less pleasant forms of life, such as that which they were preparing to face. Arsika's red hood was pulled up over her head, as she gazed towards the cave from the shelter of the trees she and her two companions were waiting under, south of the road. Arsika turned to the two others, looking them over.

The three magic users had been adventuring together for quite awhile now, having met up in the Ghostlands south of the home of the Sin'dorei, seemingly ages ago. At the time, aside from the problems associated Dar'Khan Drathir, and the Scourge, there had been little to do but venture forth and gain experience in combat, and to study the various problems in that region. Yet, what little there was happened to be enough that Arsika, Aerai, and Arrwynn wound up fighting for their lives and the lives of a team much more powerful and experienced than themselves. It had been a mission that took them into the Eastern Plaguelands, a horrendous place that contain all manner of enemies of exceedingly dangerous nature. They had barely come out of it alive, but the trials they had faced together had forged an unbreakable bond between the three women, despite diverging goals and varied personalities.

Aerai was wearing a tight, black, Mageweave Vest that boosted and enhanced her chest, as well as tight black silk pants on her legs, with gold trim. She also had a dark-purple cloak that hung about her shoulders, a metal rod encrusted with emeralds hanging from a leather strap at her waist, and a sword rested at her hip on the other side of her body. Black gloves and Moonstone Bracers, along with tall black leather boots completed her outfit. Arrwynn, on the other hand, was wearing a robe seemingly made of white feathers, with a white cloak, white hood, and black sash belt. In her hands was a mithril staff with numerous multi-colored feathers hanging from it, each enchanted with a different spell. It had taken enormous sums of money and a lot of hard work to first get the materials for it, and then actually craft the weapon, but the end result was a powerful tool for a magic user, since it allowed the casting of spells without the use of Mana, by using pre-prepared spells.

All about the three elves was the scent of magic. It wasn't particularly detectable to non-Blood Elves, but it was there, and even though neither Aerai nor Arrwynn was interested in women, they felt a certain attraction towards eachother, and Arsika, as they hungered for the vast amounts of Mana stored in the bodies of the other women. The fact that all three were pleasing to look upon just enhanced that attraction. Arsika had tried to get them to act upon it more than once, but Arrwynn was married, and Aerai always claimed prior engagements, so as not to hurt Arsika's feelings by directly refusing.

The red-haired party leader turned her green-eyed gaze away from the other two, and back towards the cave as she asked, "Are we ready?"
"I was born ready." Arrwynn answered.
"I know my part of this." Aerai responded. Nodding, Arsika said, "Let's go then." Magic surged within the three women, as they warped space with their power to place them closer to their destination. They were beneath the trees one second, and that same second they were somewhere else. For the smallest fraction of time, the three Mages occupied two different locations at the same time. And then the universe caught up with them and their first self snapped forward in time to catch up with their newer selves, and they were right in front of the cave.

Arrwynn and Aerai took up positions on either side of the cave, as Arsika crouched down and looked into the darkness within, waiting for the defenders to come out and challenge them. She didn't have to wait long, before a pack of Fel Stalkers made their presence known with their guttural growling noises, and the sound of claws scrabbling on stone. Four of the beasts charged out of the darkness, the nightmarish demon dogs enough to strike terror into the hearts of most. Mouths full of numerous sharp teeth gnashed and dribbled green saliva, as spiked tentacles protruding from their backs oriented on Arsika, aiming the fanged sucker-mouths on the ends in the direction of the magic they could smell. The eyeless creatures could clearly sense the magic in Arsika, and since Arsika was intentionally radiating her power, and was in plain sight, she was attacked first.

The red-head leapt backwards as one of the Fel Stalkers lunged at her, and dug up furrows in the ground, sending clods of grass and dirt flying. The creature didn't stop after it missed, and continued charging forward, lunging once more. Arsika tried to evade again as she channeled magic into her hands, but two other demon hounds circled around and lunged at the elf from the sides, tentacles extended to suck the life out of her. Then twin bolts of flame lanced out and struck each of the leaping demons in the head, knocking them out of the air. The one in the front was determined to catch the elf who was evading its attacks, but the fourth member of the pack was not as involved, and was able to turn its attention on the two Mages who had been standing out of sight on either side of the cave entrance.

Arrwynn threw a hand at the Fel Stalker as it charged at her, and unleashed a bolt of frigid air, mixed with ice. Though the Frost Bolt slammed into the creature, and slowed its movements, it didn't do enough damage to slay it. Backing away, the silver-maned Mage tried readying her staff for melee combat, but didn't purposely get in close, and only lashed out when the creature got near enough. Aerai, meanwhile, was channeling Mana through her body as she stood in a half-crouch, both arms held out before her. Unleashing a series of power bolts, one of the Fel Stalkers getting to its feet was slammed repeatedly until it fell to the ground and did not get up again.

Arsika could no longer dodge the Fel Stalker before her, and when it leapt this time, she couldn't move out of the way. So instead she released part of the Mana she had been gathering, and the demon hound struck a shield of magic energy. Snarling, the creature fell back to earth, but immediately began lashing out with its claws. Each strike drained some of Arsika's Mana, so she didn't waste time, and unleashed the rest of the power she gathered, in the form of a searing bolt of fire that burnt the flesh off the demon's bones, and left it a charred husk that nonetheless kicked for a few more minutes before it actually stopped moving.

Arsika turned her attention towards the other two Fel Stalkers, and found that Arrwynn had been slowly freezing her opponent with each strike, until the creature was so slowed and wounded that it was a simple matter to bash its head in with the base of the Mage's staff. Nodding in satisfaction, Arsika looked around one more time, and found that the fourth Fel Stalker was missing. That triggered a warning in her mind, but she couldn't find any sign of the creature, so she let it go for now.

"Good work, ladies. There's probably more things in here, so don't let your guard down."
"Aww, like I'd do that." Arrwynn giggled. Then she looked serious for a moment and said, "Just how strong is this Warlock to be able to summon and control four Fel Stalkers? Last I checked Warlocks could only handle one demon at a time."
"If he's being boosted by an item of power, he might be able to handle more than just four demons. Isn't that why we're trying to stop him?" Aerai spoke up. Arsika nodded.
"Exactly. So let's get in there before he figures out something is wrong."

Entering the dark cave, the three Mages quickly became accustomed to the low light level, and began searching for the Warlock. They found the bloody remains of both animals and people strewn about the cave floor, with the majority seeming to be leading down one tunnel in particular. They decided to have Aerai hang back and make sure nothing snuck up behind them, while Arrwynn and Arsika continued ahead. All the time while they traversed the cave, the smell of magic grew stronger and stronger. And not just "normal" magic, but demonic energies. There was a heavy presence of infernal creatures in these caves, but beyond the Fel Stalkers, they hadn't encountered anything else. Warning bells were going off in Arsika's head, but she proceeded on regardless, confident in her power and experience to see through any traps.

Finally she and her companion entered the second of the three main caverns. In here, the air was so thick with demon power that it had turned an unholy green, as though some foul fog drifted about. But it wasn't fog, it was the corrupt energy of evil creatures from the Twisting Nether. The energy was so thick, and so horrible that Arsika took little note of the vines on the floor, and couldn't even see the ones on the walls. Green-tinted water rippled in a curved pool in the cave floor, sloshing where it should have been stagnant. A brazier burned green in the mist. There was something more than just the thickness of the energy distracting Arsika. The magic was intense, and very tempting. She found herself breathing in more deeply and more often than usual, savoring the corruption, and fighting the urge to sample it. From the way Arrwynn was licking her lips, she too was tempted.

Silently, the vines on the floor rose up behind the two Mages, and just as Arrwynn peered through the green miasma and whispered, "I think I see someone--" one of the vines lashed out and slammed her across the cave, and into the far wall. She slumped immediately to the floor and did not get back up. Before Arsika could react beyond starting to summon her energies, she too was struck, though this was a glancing blow that merely sent her off-balance, with pain blazing through her shoulder where she was hit. As she turned to face her attacker, more vines rose up from the ground and others detached from the walls, and shortly the red-head found herself surrounded by what she now realized were tentacles of some kind.

She lashed out left and right with Fire Balls, destroying two of the vine-tendrils nearly simultaneously. More dove towards her, and she thrust a hand towards them as she invoked words of power. The tentacles were suddenly bound together and sliced clean through back towards their bases. More advanced as Arsika unleashed that spell, and two slammed into her back with enough force to knock her to the ground with the air removed from her lungs, and definitely bruised ribs. Gritting her teeth as her hood fell away from her head, Arsika rolled onto her back and rapidly drew on her Mana, even as she had to roll one direction and then another to avoid the plunging vines. They shatter the cave floor when they hit, so if one were to hit Arsika... She tried to put that out of her mind, and focused her discipline and will solely on the spell she had in mind.

The mist was thickest at ground level, so lying on the floor, Arsika could make out a large dark shape on the ceiling. 'The source of the tentacles?' she wondered. Then she finally finished her spell, and she threw her hands up and out, conjuring a large boulder seething with intense flames. She launched the firey projectile up at the shape on the ceiling and was rewards with an unearthly howl that shook the cavern, and the vines that had been about to kill her whipping and writhing madly. Arsika scrambled to her feet, adrenaline allowing her to ignore her growing fatigue, and the sharp pain in her back from where she had been struck. She ran towards where she'd seen Arrwynn fall, not stopping, even as the vine assault resumed, only weaving as best she could between them. The red-head eventually had to back off from Arrwynn's slumped form, as a veritable wall of vines erupted in front of her to stop her.

'Where are they all coming from?' Furiously, Arsika brought her hands together as she backed up, and began raining ice shards she was creating in the air upon the vines, slashing them and crushing them until the floor was slick with some green fluid. More tentacles appeared, regenerated from the ones that had been slain before, and one snared her leg, even as she directed two fingers back at the ones assailing her from behind, unleashing a crackling lightning bolt of Mana that scorched vines and made them explode into ashes. Before she could deal with the one on her leg, another wrapped around her waist, distracting her. Even though Arsika had destroyed dozens of tentacles, more and more appeared to replace them, and though she tried to focus her mind to teleport back to the entrance, and hope that Aerai could help her rescue Arrwynn, she was too late. Snared around the wrist next the Elf woman was held in place by a powerful tentacle, and then another grabbed her other arm, and then one around her other leg, added to the one around her waist and right leg. She was hauled into the air, and suspended there as she struggled to fight her way free.

She paused momentarily when she heard the deep chuckling of a man. The green demonic mist parted slightly as a dark figure emerged, moving close enough for Arsika to see him. An Orc, in black robes, sneered up at her. "What a pretty little Elf my pet has captured." He chortled to himself.
"You must me Gath'remal," Arsika commented as she gasped for breath. She had expended nearly all of her Mana in that fight. The Warlock nodded. "Let me go now, and I promise you'll die painlessly." Gath'remal laughed at this.
"I welcome you to try, pink-skin. But I don't think you can do anything right now. I saw how you threw around your magic. You're probably completely drained right now," the Orc guessed. He guessed correctly.
Arsika narrowed her glowing green eyes as the vines tightened around her, reminding her they were there, and that they had the strength to kill her easily. She tried a different tactic. "Tell me where the item of power you stole is. And what is this thing that holds me?" She tried to remain calm and show no signs of distress, as Blood Elves were a refined and self-controlled race, and did not become emotional over the antics of lesser beings. However, she couldn't help tensing and struggling a little as the tentacles began to writhe over her body, slithering over her stomach, and up her sides. When they curled around her breasts and then constricted, causing the fleshy globes to bulge, the Blood Elf let out a yelp of shock and disgust, quickly fading to embarassment and losing her composure for even a moment. She had expected the tentacles to tear her apart, not start molesting her. The Warlock misunderstood her noise -- perhaps on purpose.
"Oh-hoh! So you like my pet playing with you! I did not realize what whores you Elves were. Perhaps I'll let my pet keep playing until I'm done with my ritual. As for what I took, I am not telling you anything." He grinned and then turned away, towards something out of sight.

"Let me go NOW," Arsika ordered in a dangerous tone. Gath'remal, however, ignored her, working around that brazier she had sighted earlier. Her efforts to escape grew more and more frantic as tentacles slithered underneath her robe, coiling around her legs and reaching between them to stroke over her panty-clad mound. Jerking spastically, Arsika struggled to free herself, and hoped that Aerai was continuing on with the plan.
The Orc called out, "You wanted to know what my pet is? Well, a Blood Elf like you would know about the Burning Legion, yes? And about its leader, Sargeras?" Arsika stopped her struggles for a moment at the mention of that name. Of course she knew who the Dark Titan was. The Warlock continued on, "Well, the item of power I took is a little piece of his body, that I have fused with a type of plant from the Twisting Nether which is particularly receptive to demonic influences. The more energy it feeds upon, the larger it will grow. Eventually it will cover all of Hillsbrad. And since I have linked this demon plant with myself, the larger it grows, the greater grows my own power!" Laughing loudly, the green-skinned humanoid stopped paying attention to Arsika for the moment, and began making hand gestures towards a circle that she could barely make out, glowing purple on the other side of the water, around the brazier.

The tentacles suddenly surged into activity, tearing much of Arsika's clothing from her body. Then they began to pay attention to her in earnest...