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| Details |
| Author: | Alli |
| Summary: | Dara, Lireen, Lydia, Mercy, and Sophiette join forces with the Brotherhood of the Light to reclaim the Scarlet stronghold of Tyr's Hand from the now-undead Scarlet Crusade. ~5600 words. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Arc: Eastern Plaguelands
Chain: Light Guide Us
Mercy stands guard at the entrance to Light's Hope Chapel. She may as well be a statue, if not for the faint luminosity of her eyes under the shadow of her hood.
Raucous laughter can be heard from over by the flight point, as two old Wildhammer women trade gossip.
Dara smiles at Sophiette, and glances around the chapel. "I believe we have at least one person joining us today from Cobalt."
Sophiette perks at the news. "Oh? I'm glad to hear it. We can use their help."
Lydia enters Light's Hope Chapel.
Dara eyes the very red-clothed woman warily.
One of the old dwarf women, clad in a Cobalt Company tabard, wanders into the chapel on some errand of her own after taking her leave of her friend.
Lydia wears no Cobalt Company tabard. She could not be more obviously A Paladin even if she wore a sign with a label.
Dara spots the Cobalt tabard on Lireen and waves. "Oh, it's you!" Dara exclaims, getting a better look. "Here to fight the Scarlet Crusade again?"
"Hullo dear, do I know ye? Forgive an old woman's memory…" Lireen smiles. "Oh ach! It's you! Where'd all yer lovely hair go?" Lireen peers at Dara in concern.
[Dara]: "Oh, that's a long story. Or not so long. It was dragonfire. Are you here for the fight at Tyr's Hand as well?"
"Ohhh yer after the Scarlets again are ye? Need a hand? Sorry ta hear about the dragon, dear." Lireen eyes Sophiette, and clearly does the mental math as she notes the matching shorn hair. "Lireen Cloudskimmer, also Cobalt Company." She sounds like someone's grandmother, tranquilly knitting in a rocking chair, but she's wearing various assorted spiky bits of armor and carries a wicked looking axe.
"Which one of you is Dara?" Lydia asks.
Dara starts to raise her hand.
Sophiette peers curiously at Lydia. "I'm Sophiette Valonforth. Can I help you?"
Lydia holds out a gauntleted hand to shake Sophiette’s. "Dame Lydia Harcourt, Cobalt Company."
Sophiette's eyes raise. She accepts Lydia's hand, briefly casting a glance at Lireen for some sign of recognition of the woman. "Pleased to meet you, Dame Lydia."
Lydia shakes Sophiette's hand firmly and nods.
"Dame… tha's paladin, aye?" Lireen asks with gentle curiosity.
"It means she's a knight. We're…ah…not all knighted…yet." Sophiette shuffles a foot.
"Aye, in my case, I am both a knight and a paladin of the Light." Lydia nods. "And you shall be?" She looks at Sophiette with curiosity.
Sophiette stands straighter. "I'm a paladin. Perhaps one day I'll earn a knighthood."
Lydia favors Sophiette with an approving grin.
Dara turns to Lireen and says, "Well, if you're available, we're about to join the offensive with the Brotherhood of the Light in Tyr's Hand."
“Oh aye, just finished up what I was doin', I'll tag along." She makes it sound like perhaps they're all just going to take a walk by the seashore or go antiquing.
"It's likely to be very dangerous," Sophiette explains. "A dreadlord has returned to Azeroth and is guiding a new army of undead there."
Lireen nods. Dreadlord, okay. She seems fine about it.
"Balnazzar, corruptor of the Scarlet Crusade, my sworn enemy," Lydia proclaims. She might not have a setting below 'extra'.
Lireen studies Lydia, seeming calmly intrigued by her intensity.
Sophiette nods firmly at Lydia. "Then the Light has guided you here today, Dame Lydia." Sophiette is also on the extra train. Always.
Dara nods, taking a moment to glance starry-eyed again at Sophiette. She might not be on the extra train, but she's an admirer of it. "It's the four of us then?" Dara asks brightly. "And Mercy might be joining us as well, but I think she might be a little shy."
Leonid Barthalomew the Revered glances over at the team. "If you're ready to go, I suggest you head down to Tyr's Hand and report to Angela Dosantos. I'm sure they'll be happy for the help."
[Lydia]: "Ha! So it has. Come, let us meet Mercy."
"All right, girls," Lireen says. "Right behind ye."
Outside the chapel, Dara waves at Mercy. "We're on our way now. Will you be joining us?"
The hooded figure's head turns toward the two new women in turn. "If that is what you wish."
"Mercy, this is Lireen Cloudskimmer, a great warrior of Cobalt Company. And this is Dame Lydia Harcourt, a knight and also of Cobalt," Sophiette explains.
"Perfect," Dara nods. "Then we're five. Tyr's Hand is as good as recovered."
Mercy nods once, then falls silent again, falling in line behind Sophiette.
Lydia studies Mercy. "A death knight, are you? Yet you fight for what is righteous?"
"Mercy serves the cause of the Argent Crusade," Sophiette says. "She's proven herself a trusted ally."
Lydia holds a hand out, just like she did to Sophiette.
Mercy pauses, then gives it a brief shake. Hers is gauntleted. "I follow the orders of Sir Sevastyn Black of the Argent Crusade," Mercy says to Lydia.
Lydia shakes her hand firmly. "Come! We will go see what Balnazzar has wrought upon Tyr's Hand."
Sophiette grins at Lydia. This is a paladin who Gets It. "Mount up, and onward to victory!"
Dara goes to collect her horse for the journey.
The team heads out of Light’s Hope Chapel and south through the Plaguelands to Tyr’s Hand. Dara eyes the worms as they pass. The team rides up to the gates of Tyr's Hand, where several of the Brotherhood wait.
Lydia swings off of her charger and approaches the gates. "A home that once was."
Dara looks at her with curiosity. "You used to live here?"
"I served here many years," Lydia answers. "We will be fighting my risen brothers and sisters today, I fear."
The team approaches the Archmage Angela Dosantos.
Lireen smiles at Angela. "Hello dear, are ye the Archmage?"
Archmage Angela Dosantos looks over the newcomers as they arrive. "Yes, that I am. And you're the strike team from Cobalt Company?"
"Sure." Lireen says affably.
Angela nods, her gaze lingering briefly on Lydia. "You couldn't have been more timely. We were only given one hundred men to complete this mission, and we're already down by one."
Dara looks at her in concern. "Oh no! What's happened?"
Angela sighs. "Our scout was sent into the enemy stronghold to clear out some of the guards that patrol the area, and to send off a flare so we could enter with a coordinated attack."
Lireen briefly admires Angela's pretty skirt with a motherly, approving eye. Since it's at eye level.
Angela continues, "Our ninety-nine remaining men lie at the ready, waiting for that flare, but it was clearly too much for one person to handle. Our troops lie in wait, prone to being discovered. With only one hundred men, if our attack is not coordinated, we face certain defeat." Angela shakes her head. "That flare needs to be set off."
"The odds favor you once more!" Lydia proclaims.
Angela looks at Lydia again, and nods slowly. "I need a talented team like you to sneak into Tyr's Hand, take out as many of their guards as possible, and then set off that flare."
"Well see to it, Archmage," Sophiette salutes.
[Lireen]: "Aye. Don't ye fret, dear."
Angela notices Mercy then, and she presses her lips together in disapproval. But then she simply nods. "Our success is in your hands, then."
"I know their patrol routes, where they will be posted," Lydia says. "My fallen brethren have become what they once despised, enthralled to a Dreadlord of terrible power. Come!"
Dara nods. "Let's find that scout and light his flare!"
Lireen nods.
Lydia flips open her libram and chants a Blessing of Might for the group.
Dara murmurs 'Fortitude!' a few times. She looks around at the Scarlet buildings.
"So…you're in the Scarlet Brotherhood?" Sophiette peers with some concern at Lydia.
"I was," Lydia explains. "But upon learning the lies we had been subjected to, the corruption within our ranks, I broke free."
"As did I," Mercy says quietly.
"I suppose things must have been quite different once," Dara says, looking around. "The Brotherhood of the Light seemed to think it possible to reconcile the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn."
Sophiette nods slowly. "And you're comfortable with our…mixed company?"
"Our cause today is righteous, is it not?" Lydia responds to Sophiette. Lydia does seem to be looking at the individuals they slay.
[Sophiette]: "Of course. The Light is with us. It's just…the Scarlets we've encountered had some powerful notions about the 'health' of non-humans…and anyone who wasn't them, really."
"Lies perpetuated by Balnazzar the Dreadlord," Lydia says, nodding to Sophiette. She says a prayer for the fallen.
Sophiette nods to Lydia with a relieved smile.
"They're all of them undead," Dara says sadly. "It's odd to think they're not Scourge, though."
"They're no' Scourge?" Lireen says. "I'm still learnin' all the differences. Are they Forsaken?"
"Neither, I think," Dara raises her own hands helplessly. "They're specially made by a dreadlord, I suppose."
"Oh dear," Lireen says mildly. "I didna realize there was a third sort."
"They're calling them 'Risen'." Sophiette explains.
"Aye, any foul necromancer of sufficient skill can raise the dead for their own purposes," Lydia says.
They come upon a corpse wearing an Argent Crusade tabard, a woman who fell and perished mere steps from the flare she meant to light.
Dara makes a sound of dismay. "Oh, look! There's the scout!"
Lireen clicks her tongue sadly. "Ach, pewr lass."
Lydia kneels by the scout and says a prayer for her.
Dara kneels next to the scout, calling on the Light to try to pull her spirit back. It has been too long.
Lydia claps Dara on the shoulder. "A valiant effort, friend."
Dara looks up at Lydia tearfully, but nods. "I couldn't reach her."
Lireen looks over at the flare. "She was just about ta light it, too."
"To fail, so close to the end," Dara's eyes sparkle with tears.
Sophiette sets her jaw. "We'll not allow her heroism to be in vain."
Lireen nods. "Well, we'd best get on with what she was tryin ta do, aye? That's what she'd want."
Sophiette moves to Dara's side, placing a hand on her shoulder.
Dara places her hand over Sophiette's.
Lydia lights the flare.
The Brotherhood of the Light's forces spring into action. Tyr's Hand is under attack!
"The flare did it's work!" Sophiette points. "The battle is underway!"
"We've got to help them," Dara says, looking out at the fighting. "With so few, even five of us might make the difference."
"Aye," Lireen agrees. "Let's have at it."
Lydia draws her sword and roars a battle cry, charging in. "FOR JUSTICE! FOR THE FALLEN!"
Before long, the team fights their way to the entrance to the barracks, where Crusade Commander Korfax stands.
Sophiette salutes the commander.
Korfax looks over the team as they approach. "You're here to help, I take it? I suppose I can give you a mission or two."
Lireen is looking around like she's ready to give herself a mission.
[Sophiette]: "We are at your service, sir."
Korfax pauses, his gaze on Mercy. "Come a long way since the Battle at Light's Hope, have you? Well, glad to have your people on our side. The Argents sometimes balk at what needs doing."
Mercy simply nods, and says nothing further.
Korfax looks over the flow of the battle and smirks. "This battle was won before it started. Right now, we're just shooting for style points. So to get to it, you're going to earn some." He turns back to the group. "Within these barracks, the sniveling Scarlet Crusaders cling to their priceless artifacts, even though some of the objects are too holy for their now-undead hand to touch."
"That must be very awkward for them," Dara offers. Korfax stares at her.
"It means that they keep them in chests, hidden from the world. Find these artifacts, and bring them back to me. They belong among the Argent Crusade. They belong in the hands of the righteous," Korfax says.
"Wot sort of artifacts are we lookin for?" Lireen asks.
"Watch your hands, comrade," Lydia warns Mercy. "The artifacts cannot discriminate."
Mercy nods.
"Hmm… there was a crimson boar, the shroud of Uther, Gavinrad's sigil, and… oh, yes, Lihanna's Strand," Korfax ticks them off on his fingers. "Those are the ones we're looking for today."
"Got it!" says Lireen, and starts into the building.
"Wait!" Korfax says.
"Ms. Liree-…we'd better get after her," Sophiette sighs.
…and Lireen’s gone.
"There are also a few key people I’d like you to eliminate, quickly and without mercy." He says to Lydia, Mercy and Dara, who remain.
Mercy politely waits for orders.
"Is Commander Marjhan within?" Lydia asks.
"Oh? Yes, Commander Marjhan was on my list," Korfax narrows his eyes at her. "Do you know the commander?"
Lydia nods. "Aye. She was among the entourage that went to Light's Hope Chapel. She brought no news with her when she returned."
Meanwhile, just inside the barracks…/
"Ms. Lireen, we're not quite ready yet," Sophiette says.
"Oh well catch up when ye are," Lireen says amiably. "No worries!" She carries on. There is a trail of undead bodies leading to Lireen's location, which will be helpful in locating her if they wish.
Sophiette sighs.
Back to Crusade Commander Korfax.
Sophiette returns to the others. "She's not stopping. We need to hurry."
Korfax nods as Sophiette returns. Then he starts to speak in rapid fire.
[Korfax]: "I was going to say that Marjhan is a shrewd and cunning woman, and that will likely have carried over into undeath with her. That, and her sense of loyalty. I expect you can find her fighting under a crimson banner, in the center of the barracks. The second target is one of the more vile members of the Scarlet Crusade, Mataus the Wrathcaster, who lurks within the barracks' dungeon. Undeath suits his dark manner. The third is the one responsible for all these projectile attacks. We've already lost half a dozen men to a hail of bullets and arrows coming from atop this fortress. I haven't seen the face of the enemy that's firing, but I don't need to. I know the name of the man up there. Leopold."
"Just the one?" Dara asks.
"That's right, there's only one man up there, picking off my men one-by-one. And from what I can see, there's five of you. Sounds like a fair fight to me." Korfax gives a tense smile.
"Aye, assuming our dwarf companion is as hardy as she claims." Lydia nods. "Come!"
"We'll take care of it." Sophiette looks behind her at the fortress. "Now we really do need to catch up to Lireen."
Despite Sophiette's concern, Grandma seems to be okay. She is tranquilly standing atop a pile of undead corpses in Scarlet tabards. "Think there's an artifact this way!" she calls cheerily when she spots the others.
"Thank you, Ms. Lireen." Sophiette sighs in relief to find her well. "But…please let's stay together from now on?"
"Aye," Lydia says, and strikes the lock on a chest with a gleaming [Crusader Strike] to shatter it. She opens the box. "The sigil of Sir Gavinrad."
"Oh, were ye worried?" Lireen smiles gently. "I'm sorry lass." It's clear she thinks the problem is that she caused Sophiette to feel bad, not that she was in any danger. "I'll stay close from now on," she says reassuringly.
"Dara," Lydia directs, gesturing to the box for her to take it.
Mercy stands back from the artifact, just in case.
Dara carefully and respectfully takes the sigil out of the chest, and tucks it away. "There's one, then," Dara nods
Sophiette keeps watch at the door.
We head out into the hallway, and a similar chest is visible in a nearby room.
"Oh, another chest!" Dara exclaims. "Shall I collect them all?"
"Aye, that would be wise," Lydia says. "They are safest in your hands."
Lireen nods. "Makes sense ta keep 'em all t'gether."
"If you can manage them, love." Sophiette nods to Dara.
Dara nods, and carefully removes a cloth which must be Uther's shroud. She smiles at Sophiette. "I'll keep them safe."
"And we shall see to your safety." Lydia nods to Dara.
Now that the group can actually see Lireen fighting the undead alongside them, it's clear why she wasn't worried. While her movements are too … dwarfish to be called "dance-like," her attitude is more of someone tranquilly waltzing than delivering pain with an axe.
Dara finds another chest, and pulls out a strand of gold filigree along which are strung several small diamonds. "This must be Lihanna's strand."
Lydia murmurs prayers for many of the risen Scarlets that they fight inside the barracks.
Dara opens the final chest, and retrieves a small crimson jeweled statue of a boar. "Three guesses which this one is," Dara says with a smile.
Sophiette nods firmly. "Now let's find our targets."
The first is easy to find. She is, indeed, in the center of the barracks, fighting under a Scarlet banner. She is also undead.
"Marjhan!" Lydia shouts.
Dara hangs back now, shielding her friends but not attacking on her own.
Sophiette points her sword at Marjhan. "It's time to find peace."
Lireen watches curiously.
Lydia makes a 'come at me' gesture, using the Light to pull Marjhan's attention to her. She rushes forward, sword blazing with Light.
"Ah, that kind o' peace," Lireen says with a nod, and charges in herself.
Sophiette surges forward, shield up to ram into Marjhan and knock her off balance, making her vulnerable to Lydia and Lireen's attacks.
Dara stands ready to heal, but Marjhan is outmatched.
Marjhan falls.
Lydia kneels by the fallen commander's body and says a prayer.
"I have a question," Mercy says quietly.
Sophiette steps away from the fallen Risen and nods to Mercy. "What is it, Mercy?"
[Mercy]: "Is it considered ethical to torture or to deliberately cause pain to undead?"
Sophiette opens her mouth, then shuts it. "I haven't really considered it. But…I think torture is unethical and I feel it's dangerous to make exceptions."
"Thank you," Mercy replies quietly. "I remember thinking it was abhorrent when I was alive, but I was often wrong about many things. So I wanted to be certain."
Lireen gives Mercy an odd look, but then gives a little shrug and doesn't comment.
Sophiette smiles at Mercy and gives her a reassuring nod.
"I agree, for what it's worth," Dara says.
"I believe Sir Black would say the same," Mercy notes, "but often he is even more merciful than your average paladin, and so it is good to hear other outlooks."
[Sophiette]: "We'd better get to the roof and find that sniper."
The team heads up the stairs to the roof.
Sophiette stands in front of Dara, shield up, knowing they're about to face an expert marksman.
Hunstman Leopold stands on the rampart, cackling as he shoots down into the fray.
Dara shields everyone again, and says, "There he is!"
Lireen charges in immediately.
Sophiette holds back to protect Dara, but raises her sword to unleash holy Judgement upon Leopold.
Leopold is, as it turns out, not amazing at close-range combat. The team takes him down.
"The last one is that Mataus… in the basement?" Dara says.
"Not everyone was permitted in the basement," Lydia says. "But I do know where to find the entrance."
Lydia leads the team to the basement. She kicks the basement door open.
In the basement is an undead person, likely Mataus, residing over a torture room. Several undead people are stretched on racks.
Sophiette creeps downstairs. Seeing the undead on the torture racks, she scowls. "Mercy's question was prescient."
Dara walks down the stairs, and then puts her hand over her mouth. "Oh dear. Why would they do that to their own people?" Dara asks, her hand still over her mouth.
At the sight of the torture racks in the basement, Mercy makes a strange sound, like a gasp, but rougher - the sound of someone unused to using her lungs to process air.
Lireen looks over in reflexive concern, but then seems to decide her maternal instincts do not apply to the dead.
Dara reaches over without thinking to touch Mercy's arm in comfort.
Mercy recoils at Dara's touch, violently, but then seems to notice she did it and reaches out to lay a cold-gauntleted hand on Dara's shoulder in apology.
Dara startles at Mercy's reaction, but doesn't stop Mercy from touching her shoulder.
Sophiette scowls and marches forward toward Mataus. "Villain! Your terror ends today!"
Lydia breaks the bannister of the staircase as she jumps down a few feet in order to get into the fray as soon as possible.
Sophiette spares no mercy for the torturer.
The torturer dies.
Lireen seems as tranquil at the sight of torture racks as she has at everything else. She calmly approaches one of the subjects on the rack to end it for them.
Sophiette sighs. "Victims or not, these are still undead and the kindest thing we can do for them is to finish them."
Lireen totally started before Sophiette said that. She's like that.
Lydia checks that the victims are all dead, not alive, before nodding to Sophiette. "Lannard, Greene, Delmar." Lydia places a hand over her heart and bows to the bodies on the table. "Light guide you beyond."
Dara bows her head in respect.
"I think that's all our targets," Dara says. "Should we go back to the Crusade Commander?"
Lydia looks grim as she leaves the barracks.
The team returns to Crusade Commander Korfax in silence.
Sophiette salutes Commander Korfax.
Korfax salutes back, and says without preamble, "Do you have the artifacts?"
"'Tis done, sir," Sophiette says gravely.
"Oh, yes, I do!" Dara says, hastily retrieving the four objects.
Korfax nods, reaching out for them. "Well done, Cobalt. I will deliver these to Tyrosus when we return. And the other targets?"
"All slain," Lydia reports.
"Good work," Korfax nods. "I'll say we've done enough damage to these barracks to call this a win. A commander, a huntsman, and a warlock, all slain… not to mention the relics that we've liberated. Or shall I say… YOU liberated."
"'Twas no trouble at all, lad," Lireen says gently.
Korfax raises an eyebrow, but smiles. "I'd ask you to report back to Angela Dosantos. She can tell you where you're needed next."
Mercy solemnly salutes.
Dara salutes as well.
The team heads back towards Dosantos.
Lydia fights her way across the courtyard to reach Angela.
Angela looks up as the group makes their way across the courtyard. "How goes the battle, Cobalt?"
"We took out their leaders an' rescued some artifacts," Lireen says.
"The barracks are secure," Lydia says.
Angela gives a fierce smile. "It sounds like you and Korfax really cleaned house over at the barracks. It's very much like him to show off like that. This fight isn't over yet, though. The Scarlet Crusade maintains a well-fortified abbey in the lower western tier of Tyr's Hand. The abbey will need to be secured before proceeding any further into the stronghold."
"Should be nae bother at all," Lireen assures her.
"We have Crusade Commander Eligor Dawnbringer and his men moving in - I’d suggest you join them." Angela points over towards the Abbey.
Sophiette glances up toward the abbey and nods. "We'll see to it."
The team makes their way over to Eligor Dawnbringer at the abbey.
Lydia breaks into a jog to catch up.
"Oh, what nice bright armor ye have there," Lireen says warmly to Dawnbringer.
"Commander." Lydia actually salutes Eligor Dawnbringer.
Sophiette salutes Dawnbringer. "We're here to help."
"A bit like yers, is it nae, Miss Dame Lydia?" Lireen smiles, looking Lydia over.
Lydia nods to Lireen. She's not wrong.
Eligor glances down at Lireen at the compliment, and then back at the other two as they speak. "Thank you, miss, and well met, Cobalt. Can I trust you to assist me in taking this abbey away from these abominations?"
"What do you need us to do?" Dara asks.
"Our attack plan did not quite work here," Eligor says. "A few of our men didn't make it through portals which were supposed to open inside this very abbey. You've already proven your elusiveness and battlehardiness… now I need you to do so again."
"Yes, but I'm not a mage, what can we do about them?" Dara asks.
"The abbey has two wings: a library, and a hall of arms. In each wing, you should find a portal. Use this keystone on these portals. Doing so should force them open, allowing our remaining shock troopers to take this abbey." Eligor holds out the keystone.
"Portals, aye?" Lireen clucks her tongue sadly. "It's often a wee bet risky countin' on magey sorta thengs."
Mercy stares at Lireen.
Sophiette nods, reaching for the keystone. "How do we use it?"
"Indeed," Eligor agrees. "But, we make do. I'm not sure how it works precisely, but I'm certain you can figure it out. Past that, I have a target for you to take out. One of the Scarlet Crusade’s deadliest was an assassin who went by the name of Rohan. We have intel that places him atop the bell tower in this very abbey." Eligor glances up at the belltower. "Find him and kill him, Cobalt. And try not to die on the way."
Sophiette frowns, "An assassin. We'll bring the Light's justice to him."
"Light be with you, Cobalt," Eligor nods.
They head into the abbey. There’s a glowing bowl in the ground floor of the library wing.
"Wot's in that bowl?" Lireen asks as they enter a room in the corner of the Library wing.
Lydia shrugs. She has no idea what's in the bowl.
"Any sign of a portal?" Sophiette asks.
No one sees a portal.
They head upstairs, and Dara goes, "Oh! Now that's a portal!"
Once you see it, it’s obvious.
Sophiette takes out the keystone. "I have no idea what to do with this."
"Maybe… stick the keystone in it?" Dara shrugs. "I'm no mage."
Lydia keeps her distance warily from the portal floating above the table.
Sophiette shrugs. She climbs up on the table and just…sticks the keystone into the portal.
Mercy has a strange half smile on her face as she gazes at the portal.
Something seems to activate in the portal, and Argent soldiers begin rushing through.
Dara smiles. "Here come the troops!"
"Oh! It worked!" Sophiette beams at Dara.
"That… seems to have done something," Dara says, shrugging again, helplessly, with a little giggle. "I suppose we're skilled at the arcane. Now the other wing."
They head to hall of arms, where the portal is obvious and on the ground floor.
Sophiette tosses the keystone to Lydia, who is closest to the portal.
Lydia throws the keystone into the portal. It vanishes, but the portal does open and more troops exit.
"And the last thing is the assassin!" Dara looks toward the stairs.
"The belfry must be…aha!" Sophiette points to the stairs.
They climb up into the belfry. It appears to be empty.
Lydia peers into the shadows of the belfry.
"Hm," Dara says. "I don't see…"
"Where's our assassin?" Lireen muses.
"Be careful. An assassin could be hiding anywhere." Sophiette peers around.
Lireen checks some barrels.
Dara is attacked by an assassin.
[Dara]: "Aah! There!"
Lydia throws a [Hand of Protection] on Dara when the assassin shows himself.
Lireen's axe makes a massive gash in the assassin's flimsy armor; it pretty much falls right off him.
The assassin does not last much longer than that.
Sophiette reaches for Dara. "Are you hurt?"
Dara takes a breath to steady herself. "I think I'm fine. You all got him off of me right away."
The team heads back to the stairs.
"That should secure the abbey, then," Dara says with a wavering smile, as they head downstairs.
On the way out, Lydia recites more prayers, occasionally peeking into rooms to look at the dead there.
They head out of the abbey and back to where Eligor Dawnbringer waits for them.
Sophiette salutes Dawnbringer. "The abbey is secure, Commander."
Eligor smiles. "Can you sense it? The taint is already lifting from this building. A holy building wants to be holy, and villains like Rohan and the rest of his Scarlet scum only hold it back." Eligor sighs. "I once fought beside him, you know. He was an emissary of the Scarlet Crusade; one of the few that deigned to join us in our battle against Kel'thuzad, so many years ago. How quickly things change. In any case, With the abbey secure, we are a step closer to taking Tyr's Hand. Report the results of our strike to Angela. She should be leading the charge on the cathedral from somewhere in the center of town."
Dara nods. "We'll report back to her." Dara follows the team as they fight their way back again to Dosantos.
We report back to Angela Dosantos.
"Hullo again there, lass," Lireen says warmly.
"Hello again, warrior," Angela says. "What news?"
"We've secured the abbey," Dara says.
"Good, the abbey is ours. I never doubted Eligor's ability for a moment." Angela turns to look toward the cathedral. "The end is in sight, as long as we have the courage to reach it." Angela looks over each member of the team. "The cathedral lies ahead of us, the last real bastion of Scarlet power remaining. Within it, Crusader Lord Valdelmar sits atop Tyr's Hand's crumbling pulpit of lies."
[Lireen]: "Don't ye worry about tha', lass, we've got courage t'spare."
Lydia nods. She still looks grim.
"There will be no escape; there will be no mercy. The last simpering vestiges of the Scarlet Crusade end here. Are you ready to end him?" Angela raises her sword.
There will be at least a little mercy. Maybe one (1) Mercy.
Dara nods and raises her staff.
"Sure," says Lireen.
"My blade burns with the Light of Retribution!" Lydia shouts.
"To the cathedral!" Angela says.
Sophiette salutes. "We are ready. The Light is with us!"
We storm the cathedral! We are a force to be reckoned with! Crusader Lord Valdelmar is there, at the altar.
"Valdemar!" Lydia yells, her voice echoing in the cathedral. "Balnazzar has misled you all and you follow him, blind, even still! No more!"
[Sophiette]: "Your time is at an end, fiend!"
Crusader Lord Valdemar shouts, "The Scarlet Crusade is not over! Undeath is merely a setback!"
Crusader Lord Valdelmar charges forward to attack the group.
Dara keeps everyone carefully shielded.
Lydia charges him, her eyes glowing golden, molten gold wings of Light streaming from her back.
"Well, ye canna say he's not persistent," Lireen says calmly as she charges in to start hacking at him. Lireen chops bits of him off with the same serene focus she might slice up some cucumbers for a salad.
Sophiette charges Valdelmar, sword radiant with the power of the Light. "We free you from the bondage of your dark master! Have at you!"
Dara looks grim as she carefully casts pre-emptive healing on everyone.
Lydia calls a [Holy Wrath], bolts of Light scattering towards the undead in all directions. One dissipates mid-air a split second before it would have hit Mercy.
Mercy looked like she was ready to take it right in the face, and actually startles when it vanishes.
Valdelmar does not last long under the onslaught. The cathedral is taken.
Dara steps back, breathing heavily. "With that, I think we've taken the whole place?"
"Stragglers to cut down, perhaps, but their center of power has fallen. And no sign of Balnazzar himself. A pity." Lydia sighs.
"The Brotherhood was fighting on two fronts," Dara says, frowning at the front of the cathedral. "Perhaps the dreadlord is in Stratholme."
"Remind me where Stratholme is?" Lireen says calmly. Mercy makes a sound behind her.
Sophiette visibly tenses. "Stratholme…"
"Northwest," Lydia says to Lireen.
Dara reaches out this time to put a calming hand on Sophiette's arm.
Sophiette gives Dara a meager smile.
The team makes their way back to Angela Dosantos.
"The cathedral is ours!" Lydia reports to the archmage. "Crusader Lord Valdemar is no more."
Angela smiles at all of them. "Thank you, Cobalt. Tyr’s Hand is reclaimed from the undead. If you're headed back to Light's Hope Chapel, please let them know of our success here!”
"We will," Dara says. "And I hope we will be as successful at Stratholme as well!"
Sophiette nods with a sigh of relief. "Mount up. Let's head back and report the good news."
"I shall remain here," Lydia says to the others.
Dara looks at Lydia for a moment, and then nods. "To help them re-order the place?"
"I would like to identify as many of the dead as I can, while I still can," Lydia says grimly.
Sophiette gives a firm nod and salutes. "May the Light shine on you in dark places, Dame Lydia. Thank you."
Dara looks at her with sympathy. "I would stay, and try to bring them back, but… I can't raise undead people back to full life."
Lydia nods to them. "Light speed your safe travel."
Mercy and Lireen make their farewells.
The team disperses, until it is time for the retaking of Stratholme.