![](http://cobalt-company.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images/writing:2025-04-06-hammer-and-anvil-s16-e4-blue-squad-log/style="margin:/medium.jpg) |
| Details |
| Author: | inkie |
| Summary: | Blue Squad kills cultists, elementals, orcs, and ogres, and still finds time to play matchmaker. They're not super smooth, but these are dwarves we're dealing with. Bran's brother is not a Twilight Ascendant. Oranna has a number of blacksmithing-related questions. Shine wasn't finished with those orcs yet. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Shine strolls out of the keep, examining his knives absently before sheathing each of them and looking up.
Bran is busy trying to stuff a bunch of letters into the mailbox at once that would probably have taken less time to put in one by one at this rate.
Shine eyes Bran's mailbox technique, visibly contemplates saying something, and then does not.
Dane turns to grunt at Shine. "You've returned. Enjoy your time back in Stormwind?"
Bran curses the letters in Dwarven. Even if you can't speak Dwarven, it's clear that he's calling their mothers stuff.
Dane lifts a single bushy brow at Bran's antics, but says nothing.
Shine glances over at Atley, still smiling faintly from his observation of Bran. "Oh? Oh. Aye. Busy up here?"
Finally about 60% of the letters get crammed into the slot, and the rest flutter to the ground. Bran picks them up, muttering.
Dane grunts. "The usual. Horde's still dug in like a tick." He looks back to Brannagen and raises his voice. "Mailing off another book or something there, then?"
Shine returns his attention to Bran as well, blandly.
Bran crams the other 40% of the letters into the slot, then turns and beams at Shine, "Ach, nae, just finally got aroewnd to answerin' me mail," he says. "Family, Explorers' League, a few fans."
Dane grunts and takes one last sip from his waterskin before he refastens it to his belt.
"The sister with the feet?" Shine asks mildly.
Dane furrows his brow at that before he remembers just what Shine is referencing.
"Aye, that sester," Bran says mournfully, shaking his head.
Shine smiles faintly.
"Her name's Muradel," he informs Shine. "Me ma had a certain… tendency when it came ta names."
Shine squints for a moment before he gets it. "… oh. Aye. I see."
"Keeping well then, are they?" Dane asks.
"Oh, they're well enough," Bran says to Atley. "Gettin' in fistfights with each other, drinkin' like fesh, the usual."
Dane grunts.
"Ought to suggest Variannagen to Fallon for the next," Shine says, extremely deadpan.
Bran guffaws!
Oranna waves hello to the others.
Dane inclines his head to Oranna. "Afternoon, then."
Shine nods courteously to Oranna. And then to Befound.
Befound sits and licks at a paw. Maybe courteously? Who can say.
"Ye'll be shocked ta hear that me older brother's named Magnamor."
"Magnamor sounds — " Shine squints again. "Hm. I think you and your sister got the best of it. No offense to Magnamor."
Dane grunts.
Bran chuckles. "Oh I'm sure he'll be offended anhoew. An' challenge ye to a fistfight."
Shine nods gravely at Bran. Legit.
"So wot's our plan taday, Red?" Bran asks casually of his commanding officer.
Shine eyes Bran's beard and then turns politely to Atley.
Dane nods vaguely to his left. "Thundermar's sent for us. More work needs doing. We'll venture over there once we're all assembled."
Orannna nods and then looks around for Iphindra.
Oranna peeks around a corner, and then waves at Iphindra as she comes into view.
Iphindra appears, running from inside the keep.
"Ah, there's Blossom!" Bran says cheerfully, his eyes turning to upside-down crescents as he smiles.
Shine turns to survey Iphindra — possibly for stray animals — before nodding to her.
"H-hi! Sorry," Iphindra says. "I'm late." she says.
Dane grunts. "Right then. There we are. We're making for Thundermar. Fly swift and stay together — these skies are still contested," he says.
Bran summons Bronzebird.
Oranna climbs onto the world's most patient, slow-moving gryphon in existence like she's boarding a rocket set to explode. The gryphon drifts placidly after Dane.
Dane casually glares at Dragonmaw Port as they fly past.
Dane lands in Thundermar and dismounts before he marches straight to the inn.
Shine follows quietly. But quietly is his default setting.
Oranna follows worriedly, because Oranna.
Bran follows cheerfully, as though they're on their way to a party.
"Low Shaman Blundy," Atley greets. "You called, and we answered."
Blundy says, “Aye! I’ve had a chance ta drink all the ale ye brought me last week and think for just a little bit.”
"Ye drank all the… glad ye can think, sorry ta hear about yer other internal organs," Oranna mutters.
Low Shaman Blundy proudly pats his tummy.
Bran chuckles at Oranna.
Blundy peers at Dane again. “I hear you’re here in the first place about the Twilight vermin, aye?”
Dane grunts. "That's right."
Blundy nods. “Just so happens a bunch of them have set up shop east of here, on the north side of the river. A place they’re now calling the ‘Black Breach.’ Ye’ll see why when ye’ get there. They say Cho'gall keeps track of his minions through these funny magical orbs: ‘The Eyes of Twilight.’ If I could get me hands on one of those, I bet we could use it to look in on Cho'gall and see what his creeps are up to.”
Dane knits his brow at 'Cho'gall.'
"The Eyes of Twilight…" Iphindra repeats. That name sounds pretty.
Blundy says, “Search the Black Breach, east of here and just north of the river. Find me an Eye of Twilight, and do whatever you gotta do to bring it back here.”
Shine looks to Dane.
"Fascinatin'…" Bran says, taking some notes.
Dane grunts. "Very well."
"That's… very vague and slightly forbodin' instructions," Oranna comments.
"If it'll give us insights to the enemy, it's worth doing." Dane says.
"I-I suppose we will know what is an Eye of Twilight when we see one!" Iphindra nods. She expects it to be pretty.
"Just gonna take a wee peep inta Cho'gall's business; what could go wrong?" Bran says brightly.
Shine eyes Bran.
"Oh, Bran," Oranna wails.
Nivvet Channelock waves. “Yoohoo! Cobalt Company! Over here!” he squeaks.
Dane squints at a tiny gnomish hand waving over a mossy stone wall.
Dane regards Nivvet mildly.
Nivvet says, “Name’s Nivvet Channelock, advance scout from Highbank! I’ve been sent here to capitalize on and expand upon the good will you’ve already established with the Wildhammers.”
Dane nods once. "Good to have you about."
Nivvet says, “I’ve got an idea for a weapon to help bring down Dragonmaw drake riders, but I’m just one gnome. I’d like your help with supplies, if possible.”
Dane grunts. "We're in country. Wot' do you need?"
Nivvet says, “As you well know, the amount of energy stored in a conventional spring is equal to one half the spring's elasticity times the displacement squared. Unless you're using an elementium spring. Then the numbers get obscene! Mathematically — "
Bran stares.
Iphindra stares.
Oranna looks at the gnome like he's started speaking in tongues. "I… do?" Oranna asks. Does she well know???
Shine nods. He did know that, in fact.
Dane cuts the gnome off. "I'll have it in plain common."
Shine glances sidelong at Dane. He was enjoying that.
Dane was not.
Nivvet says, “The first thing I need are some Twisted Elementium Loops. I’ve heard that Twilight cultists use these to bind elementals to their service, so if you happen to encounter any of them, perhaps you might consider liberating the elementals and collecting the loops?”
"Right! Tha' we can do," Bran says, nodding amiably.
Nivvet says with a grin, “Find them on the Obsidian Stoneslaves east of here, in the terrible region known as the Black Breach.”
"We're headed that way. Let's move, Blue Squad," Dane says.
They fly east, north of the river, until they see spread below them a swathe of blackened land and twisted, dead trees. Eruptions in the earth boil with eerie violet light. Dark-robed figures and hulking earth elementals move through the area.
Dane squints over the ruined landscape. "Nearly looks blighted."
Shine nods. "'The Black Breach,'" he observes dryly.
Dane grunts.
Bran makes sketches. "Nae the same withou' color," he notes sadly.
Iphindra spots a shiny, pretty looking orb. "H-here!"
"Wot in the Titans' names is tha'?" Bran says, peering at the weird whirly thing on the altar.
"Wot' we're after," Dane muses.
"It must be the E-eye of Twilight!" Iphindra exclaims. Like she expected. Preety.
Oranna scopes her gun over and then has to lower her gun for being too close. "Is it?"
The Eye sits before them, humming ominously with dark energies.
Bran sketches the malevolent thing.
"Brannagen, climb up there and secure it," Dane directs.
Shine eyes Bran.
Without warning, the orb rotates, as if to look at them. They sense a malevolent presence, as though the orb is alive.
Shine steps back and shifts out of sight reflexively as the Eye turns.
Bran Fades.
"It looks more like… an orb, which I guess is wha' an eye is, if ye took it out of yer head, not… not tha' that's something we do… regularly or anything," Oranna says.
Shine is looking at Oranna. With his one eye. But she can't see him.
Oranna starts sweating anyway, like she can feel someone looking at her.
"Eyes are o-orbs!" Iphindra smiles. She knows about the shape of eyes and is totally not disturbed by what Oranna says.
Dane glares at the orb before he looks to Brannagen expectantly.
Bran creeps closer, madly curious.
Oranna watches Bran worriedly, as she keeps an eye around for an exit strategy if taking the orb proves dangerous.
"This theng is evil as all get out," Bran says casually. "I en't touchin' et."
Dane grunts with displeasure before he climbs up onto the altar and reaches for the orb with both hands. "Let him have a look at his end."
Now Oranna worries for Dane.
Shine reappears with a hand on a knife-hilt, watching Dane collect the Eye. Maybe he can stab it if it goes weird?
Bran pulls out another book from his bag and begins flipping through it.
Iphindra watches as the plants that she would normally grow on the ground around the altar die. Oh no.
"Maybe there's a way ta neutralize it a bit…" Bran murmurs as he skims the pages of his book.
Dane idly tucks the orb under an arm. Enjoy the view, Cho'gall. "If you find one, we'll use it. We've still this camp to cut through in the meanwhile."
"Er…" Bran blinks at Atley, but doesn't object. Better Atley than him.
"Maybe we should destro-destroy it!" Iphindra exclaims.
"A fine idea, after we learn wot' we can from it," Dane says.
Atley yanks an elementium loop free from a fallen Stoneslave and fastens it to his belt.
With one hand, Bran continues poring over his book; with the other he tosses out heals as the group is attacked by various baddies.
Shine silences an elemental by kicking it in the… unclear. It's an elemental.
"Is it… gonna be watchin' us this whole time as well? Lookin' at… us fightin'? Learning about us? Maybe we should close it, well ye know, like an eyelid but I mean probably… a bag," Oranna says.
"I'd like to show it one of its camps getting put to the sword," Dane says.
Oranna looks worried about that. "I'm a bit worried that it'll see exactly that," Oranna says.
Shine silences a Twilight cultist the old-fashioned way, with a knife.
Dane counts up their materials and nods. "Let's fly."
"Wai-wait I see something!" Iphindra runs to a nearby dead tree, finding an injured young bird of prey hiding from the cultists. She picks it up and heals it.
Dane shakes his head and scoffs with amusement. "Light's sake." He doesn’t protest the rescue of the bird.
"Behind ye!" Oranna shouts as she shoots an elemental aiming for Iphindra.
"I'm ready– oh!" Iphindra is surprised by the elemental.
Shine appears behind the elemental, but Oranna's already handled it. He nods respectfully at her.
They fly back to Thundermar and land in the village square.
"How're ye feelin, Red?" Bran asks Atley. "Any random desires ta murder all livin' thengs?"
Dane grunts. "No more than usual."
Iphindra eyes Dane. Killing all living thengs is bad.
Oranna looks Dane over with a whole new anxiety.
Bran chuckles, apparently amused by Dane's perennial homicidal urges.
Shine smiles faintly at Dane. He gets u.
“Were you able to acquire the loops?” Nivvet asks.
"Aye, we've got loads. Hand them over, you lot," Dane says, adjusting the orb under his arm.
Iphindra hands the loops to Nivvet.
Nivvet gratefully accepts them and says, “Fan-tastic! Now I just need ammunition for my weapon… I’ve heard that over to the west is a Thundermar town that’s been overrun by fire elementals.”
Dane furrows his brow as he listens.
Nivvet explains, “Any weapons left behind in the town have surely been tempered by elemental flame at this point, so I’d love it if you could collect some for my research.”
Shine looks to Dane again.
Dane grunts. "Near anything for a weapon to be used against the Dragonmaw."
Bran nods agreeably.
"Is tha'… is tha' how that works?" Oranna asks, looking now at the blacksmith in the group.
Dane side-eyes Oranna. "T'can, especially when dark magics are in use."
"I thought temperin' was more… controlled than that," Oranna mutters. "Lot of metals don't like bein' heated willy nilly."
"We're not dealing with ordinary heat, or 'craftsmen,'" Dane explains.
Nivvet idly strokes his goatee in thought, “Also, the molten fury cores of the fire elementals would theoretically give me a means of doing some elemental smelting of of my own if necessary…”
"We'll see wot' we can find. Now, let's get rid of this." Dane gestures to the orb.
"That'd be wise," Bran notes.
"Yes, please!" Iphindra says.
They head back inside.
Dane marches up to Low Shaman Blundy and brandishes the Eye.
Blundy mutters, “I'll be honest, Cobalts. That thing gives me the willy-willies.”
Oranna looks around the cabin that they're bringing a literal evil eye to. "Ah, I… right? Ye suppose we ought… this was yer idea," Oranna mutters as she shakes her head.
“Well, seein' as you went to all the trouble of bringin' it here, I s'pose we ought to put it to use,” Blundy says.
Dane grunts.
Blundy hesitates. “You first. Peer into the eye and ask it to show you inside Cho'gall's Bastion of Twilight. We'll find out what that fat two-headed bugger is up to, and use it against him.”
Shine looks again to Dane.
"Er, maybe I should do the peerin'?" Bran suggests.
"Seein' as I'm the only one trained in Void stuff," he clarifies.
"I-I can handle the peeping too!" Iphindra says, not getting the verb quite right.
Dane grunts at Brannagen. "You hold it, but I fancy a look as well. I recommend we each look."
Dane offers Brannagen the Eye.
"Ef ye say so," Bran says. "It's your mind."
Shine does not look doubtful. He's doubtful on the inside.
Bran peers.
Iphindra peeps.
Dane glares through the orb, eyes narrowed.
They are transported through a swirling violet mist and suddenly seem to stand insubstantially in a crude, vaulted chamber with a dais at one end. Atop the dais stands a massive two-headed ogre. There are eyes embedded in the flesh of its chest and arms and legs, all of which blink and peer about in wild, rolling fashion.
A human in Twilight’s Hammer robes approaches, hunched in obeisance. He kneels before the dais.
Twilight Servant says: The Alliance has made landfall, Master, and greater numbers arrive each day upon the shore.
The ogre speaks in a deep, resonant voice from its head with two eyes. The cyclopean head on its shoulder mutters and whispers mad, cackling commentary.
Cho'gall says: This changes nothing.
Nothing, nothing changes. Crush them, crush.
Cho'gall says: What of our agents in Stormwind?
Stormwind! The Eye, the Eye sees into the city's heart.
Cho’gall says: Bring me the Eye.
Twilight Servant says: Our agents have been outed and killed, Master.
Blaspheme! Blaspheme disgust hate hate…
Cho'gall says: No matter. Where one eye closes, another opens.
The Master sees all! The Master knows all! We will know our enemy's hearts, for they are weak.
Cho’gall says: The Eye. Now.
The human servant leaps to his feet and scurries across the chamber. He returns carrying a swirling violet orb larger than but otherwise identical to the one Our Heroes are currently gazing into.
Cho’gall takes the orb and peers into it with his mad, cyclopean head.
Cho'gall says: The shadow of the Master covers this world…
Darkness, all darkness.
Cho’gall says: Our enemies fight one another across the Highland. Fools.
Blood, blood.
Cho'gall says: WAIT! There are others!
Cho’gall says: Mortals dare peer into the Eye!
Brave little playthings….
Cho’gall says: I see you, little ones! You want to see what the Eye sees, do you?
Show it! Show it all!
Cho'gall says: Behold the chaos to come.
Madness, madness, bliss!
The view of the chamber recedes and suddenly they are outside on a barren mountain path, staring into the face(s) of an ettin. Then the view swivels upward, and they see a strange, half-finished spire reaching toward the sky. The unnatural geometry of the needle-thin tower is hard to look at. Twilight drakes circle overhead.
Cho’gall whispers: Do you like what you see, little mortals?
The vision changes again, and they are staring at a massive gronn. The gronn snarls and reaches out as if to swat at them.
As if the gronn has flung them from it, the vision vanishes and they are standing, shaken, back in Blundy’s cabin.
Iphindra gasps for air, having held her breath this whole time.
Bran is uncharacteristically quiet and serious.
Shine has stepped back, tense; he's resisting the urge to fade into the shadows again.
Blundy peers at them. “What’d ye see?”
Dane looks to Blundy, face grim. "Cho'gall, and some sort'f Citadel. He saw us."
Blundy shakes his head again and repeats. “What did you see? Cho'gall? Wait — he saw YOU?!"
Dane grunts and nods slowly, hateful gaze shifting back to the orb.
Iphindra nods, holding onto her tabard as if it was preventing her from breathing.
Oranna chews her bottom lip, her worry line pronounced between her eyebrows.
Bran gives Oranna a little pat, but this one is less of a 'dinna fash' pat and more of an 'i feel u' pat.
Blundy shivers. “Ohhhh, that wee sneaky eye! It looks both ways. The cheeky looker! Where's me hammer!?”
Blundy swipes up a hammer from the floor behind his chair and turns back to smash the orb into a dozen pieces.
Bran nods with satisfaction at the smashing.
Iphindra does not steal shard of the pretty purple crystal this time.
Oranna seems only slightly relieved that the orb is broken. "So… now what?"
Low Shaman Blundy sighs. "I need a drenk."
Oranna sighs, but with exasperation. "Of course ye do. Ye'd need one even if it went well," she mutters.
Dane shoots his squad a Look and grunts before he marches out.
Shine follows Dane in tense silence.
Dane looks over his squad. "The Twilights won't show it, not yet, but they fear us. We've carved our way through them on every continent, driven them from Stormwind. We just learned of their inner workings. They are on the back foot — not us."
"What was the thing? At the end? One-eyed red thing." Shine has not seen a gronn before.
Iphindra shakes her head.
"I dinna ken," Bran says, also not having traipsed about Outland much.
"Some monster that will be taught fear, and pain, just like the rest of them." Dane decrees.
Oranna grips onto her left arm with nervous fear. "A gronn, Outland creature," she answers. She knows the Critters.
Shine nods and touches a knife-hilt at his side as if for reassurance.
"They got a-army members from Outland?" Iphindra looks at Oranna in fear.
Oranna shrugs helplessly. "I don't know? There was Legion out in that region, but gronn are… natural ta Outland."
Colin Thundermar calls the squad over. “Alliance Cobalts!”
Oranna startles.
"Lo there!" Bran says to Colin Thundermar as though he'd not just been threatened remotely by an Outland beastie.
“I’ve overheard that’cher gnome is sending ye’ to the conflagration in the west. Just a few days ago we knew it as a Wildhammer settlement called Humboldt’s Stead, and now it’s been wiped away by a wall of fire — the bastards.”
Dane grunts at Colin.
Colin Thundermar scowls and says, “The survivors say the disaster was the work of a fiend calling himself Magmalord Falthazar, one of the Twilight ascendants. The ascendants are cultists who’ve fused themselves with elementals, beings of pure fire.”
Iphindra pets the hurt bird in her arms a little nervously. She listens to Colin.
Colin points at them. “Ye’ want to prove yourselves? Bring me the Magmalord’s head.”
"Sorry, did ye say ‘Magnamor Falthazar?’" Bran says, looking up from his book.
Shine glances at Bran. He might be thinking of Magna– yeah.
Colin Thundermar nods. "Aye. Ye familiar?"
Oranna makes an awkward uuhhhhhhhhhhh sound.
Bran blinks a few times.
"Er, the name’s familiar…" Bran hedges. He makes a note in his journal.
"Didn't he say… Magmalord Falthazar?" Oranna says.
Colin Thundermar stares at them and nods, perplexed.
"Not Magnamor," Oranna says to Bran. "Jus'… similar sound."
Shine looks between Bran and Colin. He nods. That makes more sense. Maybe.
"Oh! Oh well that's one less theng to include in a letter home then," Bran says cheerfully. "Though if me brother ended up a Twilight Ascendant, that'd at least be different."
Dane looks to the others. "Let's fly."
They fly. The erstwhile Humboldt’s Stead is indeed now a conflagration; the blaze of unchanging elemental fire is visible from a long distance away.
Dane lands to engage the elementals, and swipes up a tempered spear.
Oranna gazes around in horror at the fire raging, covering her mouth with one arm. "Light and ancestors…"
Befound sneezes.
Shine looks grim. He does not look at the blazing buildings around them.
Iphindra looks a little weaker walking in the burnt land. She stays strong though. For the bird.
In what used to be a lane between several ruined buildings, a towering humanoid creature of geometry as strange and stilted as the tower in the vision stalks back and forth. It wears flowing purple robes — asbestos, presumably — and a crude halo of flame.
This, one assumes, is Magmalord Falthazar.
Or – welp. Okay. That, one assumes, was Magmalord Falthazar.
Dane grimaces with disgust and hatred as they slay Magmalord Falthazar. He promptly slices his head off with a single strike and holds it up. "Wretch."
Iphindra looks worriedly at Dane.
"It did look a bit like me brother," Bran says with a smile.
Shine smiles faintly. No one can see him.
Dane grunts.
They resume scouring the burning stead in search of weapons and elemental hearts.
Dane glares at the flames. "The Wildhammers are a sturdy folk. I commend them for not bowing to the Twilights even after all this devastation."
"Aye, we dwarves are sturdy as a lot, but we're no'… losing homes is never easy, no matter how sturdy ye are," Oranna says.
"Aye," says Bran. "'Tes one thing I'm grateful for — in all the chaos, the Stillwall home is still where an' how it was centuries ago."
Oranna nods, smiling sadly at Bran.
Bran gives Oranna a little pat and a smile.
Dane rummages around in a slain Unbound Emberfiend for a Molten Fury, in between inspecting tempered weapons.
Shine distracts an elemental in pursuit of Bran. By stabbing it.
Bran doesn't notice Shine saving his life yet again, as he's busy sketching and tossing out occasional heals without looking up.
Shine gets that a lot, it's okay. He was conceived as a background NPC.
Oranna coughs from the smoke as she tries to pick up spears that look like they were tempered correctly and not heated past their breaking point.
Not only is Iphindra's energy being drained by the charred land, she's visibly trying to avoid walking barefoot on embers.
Dane looks to Iphindra, then her feet. "Alright there, lass?"
"Y-Yes! I will be o-okay!" Iphindra smiles through the pain. This place is not made for her. For anybody, technically.
"Brannagen, keep an eye on her soles, now and when we're through," Dane says.
"Beg pardon? Whose souls?" asks the priest.
"Iphindra's feet are burning. Stay sharp," Dane says.
"Oh!" Bran nods. He then casts tiny Power Word: Shields on her feet.
"Not burning!" Iphindra protests, trying to sound reassuring.
"Soles, not souls, although there's… no way ye'd hear the difference me sayin' it, but aye," Oranna tries.
Bran chuckles at Oranna.
Shine laughs softly at Oranna.
"We've enough supplies," Dane says. "Let's return."
They return.
Iphindra seems to regain energy as soon as they get back to Thundermar. Healthy, not burning land!
"Lo there!" Bran calls to Colin Thundermar. "It went well."
Dane holds up the Magmalord's head.
Colin Thundermar takes the head. "Aye, that's him. Can ye believe this thing was human once?" He shakes his head. "That's the Twilight's Hammer for ye. What they don't destroy, they corrupt."
Oranna looks horrified and like she's actively imagining what everyone else might look like corrupted. "Ah…."
Iphindra looks worriedly at Colin. That was human? It didn't look like it!
Dane turns and marches over to Nivvet.
Nivvet says, “Ah! You’ve returned!"
"We've got your supplies, Channelock." Dane starts laying out spears, taking a moment to inspect each before he nods.
Oranna carefully removes her spears, inspecting them in the clearer air for metal damage she mistook for possible tempering. Even though if they were already iron-based alloy spears they would have already been tempered.
Forget it, Jake, it's elemental.
Iphindra gives a few spears to Nivvet, less than others though.
Nivvet happily accepts the gear and rapidly starts to assemble… something. "Just a moment, just a moment, I think perhaps like this — Wait… what was that?” Nivvet peers skyward and pales. “Oh no! The Dragonmaw are attacking!”
Oranna watches the assembly with suspicion, and then immediately glances up at the Attacking?!
Shine looks up sharply, a knife already in hand. He vanishes into the shadows.
The sky is full of the beating of wings, and moments later a swarm of black drakes bearing orc riders casts swift shadows over the village. Dwarves shout and run for their weapons.
Nivvet frantically explains, “All I have is — well, this!” He waggles his device.
Not that one.
“It’s barely in prototype stage, but there’s no time! We’re going to have to shoot the drake riders from the sky!” Nivvet looks desperate.
"We got a fine shooter here!" Bran says, patting Oranna's shoulder.
"Oranna, take it! The rest of you lot, cover her." Dane growls.
"I got yer back," Bran says to Oranna confidently.
Oranna takes it, aiming for the riders.
Dane takes up against Oranna's flank, shield raised.
Shine is there a few steps away, focused on the orc attackers now charging out of the trees and over the banks around them.
Oranna is a calm, evenly paced breather of shot after shot.
Bran can't help but do a quick sketch of a drake plummeting from the sky.
Iphindra is covering one ear from the loud bangs, and holding the bird in the other hand. She tries to cover for Oranna with her plant friends' help alone.
"Fine shooting — !" Dane encourages.
Bran heals villagers as needed, between frantic sketches. He seems to be weirdly aware of who's banged up without looking, and occasionally sends out a festively sparkling heal in the right direction.
Befound snarls at the sky. Grrrrrr.
Nivvet cheers, “You did it, Cobalts!! Alliance ingenuity to the rescue.”
Nivvet pauses and contemplates. “Of course, I don't have anything to help you combat the dismounted riders and fighters on the ground. You're heroes — improvise!”
"Will do!" says Bran.
Shine looks ready to improvise.
"We will improvise!" Iphindra exclaims. "It is how w-we adapt!"
Oranna improvises by… taking out her usual gun.
Dane stays half crouched as Colin summons them again.
Colin Thundermar lets out a shrill whistle and beckons them over. “I'll hand it to you and your Alliance friends. You've really worked the Dragonmaw over!”
"S'wot we're here for!" Dane yells hastily at Colin.
Shine shifts restlessly. He would like to work the Dragonmaw over some more.
Colin continues, “Many of their riders are dismounted but they're still coming at us, and my defenders will be overrun without help!”
Oranna's head swivels as she takes in the village on fire. "Ah… it's happening here, too. What if this is because of the Eye that we…." She trails off.
Iphindra looks at Oranna. "Y-you think?"
Colin bellows, “Kill dismounted Dragonmaw Skyclaws and footsoldiers, and Thundermar will forever be in your debt!”
Shine vanishes again. Say less, bro.
Atley brandishes Thunderfury. "No prisoners! Drive them off!"
Oranna sets herself to her gun's working, as she gives a silent signal to Befound.
Fanny Thundermar yells: You want the Fanny? You can't HANDLE the Fanny!
Fanny Thundermar engages the Dragonmaw with a frying pan.
Fanny Thundermar says: NOBODY steps on MY town, orc!
Fanny Thundermar says: Oh, you ain't so much once yer off yer dragon, are ya?
Fanny Thundermar says: That's right, orc. I'mma beat your tattoos clean off!
Fanny seems to be working through some stuff.
Bran does a quick sketch of Dane doing some crazy stuff with Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker.
Shine cuts throats cheerfully. The cheerful part is maybe hard to tell, but he's definitely cheerful on the inside.
Dane splits a charging Dragonmaw almost neatly down the middle with a battle shout.
Fus ro dah!
Oranna shoots the orcs the same way as the dragons in the sky, with precision and decisiveness.
Colin says, “You sure know your way around a battlefield, Cobalts. It looks like they're about to fall back. All we need is one decisive blow…”
Dane gives Colin a grim look and nods. "We're with you, Colin."
Colin says, “There's one Dragonmaw among this lot, the one they call ‘Narkrall the Drake-Tamer.’ I don't know where he gets his power over those beasts, but the black terror he rides is as nasty a brute as ever took the skies over the Highlands.”
Bran chuckles and says softly to himself, "So it's back to huntin' black drakes…."
Dane squints.
Oranna doesn't squint — she uses her high powered sniper scope. "Aye, I see who ye must mean, a leader."
"His shoulders are… enormous," Oranna mutters. "How does he turn his head and see off ta each side with those…"
It’s the Mizzy Hazan Rule of Leadership.
Colin is stone faced. “Narkrall is the fiend who took my father's life and left Thundermar in my hands. I can't take him on alone, but I've seen what you're capable of. Maybe together we can end this. Ready?”
Dane blinks slowly and inclines his head to Colin before looking to his squad.
"He's comin' in from the… tha' direction!" Oranna shouts.
Shine vanishes in That Direction.
Narkrall Rakeclaw lands and is swiftly defeated.
Like, so swiftly I don’t even need to describe it.
Pretty mid, ngl.
Bran takes note of how very unscary that guy was.
Shine steps back and cranes his neck to watch the drake fly away, anticlimactically. He says something under his breath.
Those Dragonmaw not lying dead turn to flee in ragged disarray after the fall of their leader.
Colin bellows, “We did it! Narkrall Rakeclaw lies dead at my feet, and Thundermar has weathered a storm of drakes! This wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for the help of the Alliance. I owe you a debt that I don't think can ever be repaid.”
Oranna frowns at the orc. "Those shoulders dinna even match the rest of his outfit. Why would he… trophies? But who would have shoulders already as big as… ah, it's probably… nothin'," Oranna murmurs.
Bran pats Oranna.
Thundermar falls quiet as its Dwarven defenders catch their breath.
Iphindra looks around at the now peaceful Thundermar. "We did a g-good job! All of us!"
Dane grunts and nods at Iphindra.
Shine is still looking around for leftover orcs. C'mon, any spare orcs?
Colin says, “After the licking we just gave 'em, the Dragonmaw assaults on Thundermar ought to stop. Maybe the Wildhammer do have a place in your Alliance — we Thundermars certainly owe you a debt.”
Befound licks a dead orc.
Oranna makes a click of her tongue against her teeth at Befound. "Befound! Dinna lick the… already dead orcs. Or the live orcs. Bitin' is fine, but licking is…"
"Maybe they're salty?" Bran suggests to Oranna, watching the animal's behavior curiously.
Iphindra looks at the orcs. Are they salty?
Bet they’re mad salty now, bro.
Colin says, “Up in Kirthaven, our Grand Shaman Lachlan MacGraff has been trying to arrange a summit between the surviving Wildhammer family leaders. It's a tall order to get us all to work together, but I'm at least willing to give it a go.”
Dane lifts his brows faintly at Colin but nods. "We're glad to hear it."
Colin finishes, “Fly up to Kirthaven in the North and talk to Lachlan MacGraff. I'll meet you there!”
Dane nods once to Colin, and then to his squad with pride. "Let's fly."
Oranna sighs as she whistles for her gryphon. Another terrifying ride through the air where they could all fall at any moment and literally nothing could stop them. Well. A levitate maybe. But they'd still be falling, just slow.
They land in a peaceful Wildhammer settlement. Dane dismounts and looks around. "Ought to be it, then."
Oranna gets off her gryphon as quickly as she can once she lands, as her gryphon stays perfectly still.
Bran sketches the nice lil village.
The nice lil village in which Kurdran Wildhammer, High Thane of the Wildhammers, Hero of the Second War, a leader of the Sons of Lothar, is standing.
Oranna waves at Kurdran. "Oh!"
"Kudran!" Iphindra exclaims. "H-hi!"
Dane marches up to Kurdran and bows low.
Shine nods respectfully to Kurdran F^cking Wildhammer.
Kurdran grins. "'Ello, friends."
Dane explains casually to the Living Legend, "We've been sent to Lachlan MacGraff."
Kurdran itches his bearded chin with his hammer and gestures to his right. "Ach, he's in there."
That’s right, just getting directions from the guy with his own statue in the Valley of Heroes.
Dane inclines his head with a grunt.
Bran absently starts to describe the village to Iphindra, then glances up at her and says quietly, "Ach, yer nae Mistwalker…"
Iphindra tilts her head at Bran. "You c-can still describe places if you'd like!" Iphindra tells him. Whatever makes the healer happy!
They head into the village hall.
Befound immediately finds a chair and curls up into it, as she licks her fur clean of blood and ash.
Dane marches inside and initially bows to Keegan Firebeard, before bowing again to Lachlan MacGraff. "My lords."
Oranna waves at Keegan. Hi, other buddy!
Lachlan MacGraff greets them. “Hello there! Keegan Firebeard here has told me all about your heroics down south. Thank you for all of your efforts on behalf of the Wildhammer. Welcome to Kirthaven. It’s a spiritual center for the Wildhammer clans.”
Dane glances around with gruff politeness.
Oranna nods. "Oh, aye," she says as she looks over at the relatively very small statue in the back.
Yeah, bro, you should see Kurdran’s.
Shine nods respectfully.
Lachlan says, “This is the place where we honor our dead heroes before burying them with their gryphons atop Mount Thunderstrike.”
"We're honored by your invitation to this sacred place," Dane says.
Bran seems very very interested in this place and its meaning; he's scribbling frantically in his journal and didn't even say Lo There to anyone.
Iphindra bows her head respectfully. This is a place of great importance, she understands now. She briefly looks at Befound just taking a bath on the chair.
Befound looks back at Iphindra with feline assurance of her place in the world.
Iphindra nods at Befound. That snow leopard know what it's doing.
Lachlan nods at something behind them. “I see Colin Thundermar is right behind you. The summit is ready to begin!”
Shine looks over his shoulder. Damn, Colin is also a rogue?
Oranna startles and whirls to see what's behind her in a jumpscare of COLIN oh Colin Thundermar that's fine.
Lachlan says, "Please stay and let's see how things unfold….”
"Find a seat," Dane says to his squad, stepping off to the side. Sitting with his shield and Thunderfury is not entirely easy.
At "please stay," Bran immediately has a seat, to make for easier sketching.
"Oh, ah," Oranna says as she looks for a seat. She sits next to Befound, sighing.
Shine settles quietly in a chair in the back row.
Bran notices the ENORMOUS book on the altar by the statue. His fingers twitch.
Befound rises from her chair to slink behind Oranna's, guarding the hunter's back from Surprise Colins maybe.
Lachlan MacGraff says: Friends. The Wildhammer way of life is threatened. Our enemies are too numerous for us to remain isolated from one another. We must unite!
Keegan Firebeard says: Unity? Now? The Thundermars weren't exactly unitin' when them Twilight Shaman tore open our stronghold on the shore.
Colin Thundermar says: Oh, that's just like a Firebeard, can't see anything past yer own fat nose. We were up to arses and elbows in Dragonmaw. But did you send a single bird to help? NO!
Lachlan MacGraff says: Gentlemen, please —
Oranna winces repeatedly at the sound of angry, raised voices, twitching with discontent at the conflict.
Keegan Firebeard says: Thundermar, if we weren't on holy ground I'd pop you one so hard yer shoes would be the only thing left standin'!
Bran watches Colin and Keegan arguing, taking some notes. He shakes his head faintly, but says nothing aloud.
Iphindra wraps her arms around herself as the arguing goes on.
Colin Thundermar says: I don't have to take this. I'll be part of no Alliance that has a Firebeard innit. That's me final word!
Colin storms out of the hall, much more dramatically than he entered it.
Shine looks on politely. That went well.
Lachlan MacGraff says: Ach! This'll be harder than I thought.
Dane sets his jaw and slowly pushes himself up.
Shine gets to his feet when Dane does, like his shadow.
"We'll see wot' Kurdran makes of it," Dane explains to Lachlan gruffly but politely.
"Rock-headed eejits," Bran says quietly once they're out of earshot.
"Accchhh, this is just ridiculous," Oranna mutters. "Obviously, this is wha' the Twilights wanted ta happen."
Dane grunts at Oranna.
Shine nods at Oranna. "He mentioned. Cho'gall. Their enemies fighting each other."
"Aye… it's not a bad strategy, from their side of things. But, we've got ta do something ta counter it, or we'll following their plan fer all of us," Oranna agrees.
Shine nods.
Dane looks to Kurdran. "I trust you heard all that, then."
Kurdran says, "Yes, I heard the whole miserable thing from out here. I was hoping my old Wildhammer brothers could work things out among themselves, but it doesn't look like it. We’re going to have ta get creative."
Dane cinches his thumbs in his belt and nods attentively.
"I've never been much good at stoppin' arguments," Bran says, an uncharacteristically resigned and weary look in his eyes.
Oranna nods with a heavy sigh, as she pats Bran in a reversal of patting roles.
Bran gives Oranna a little smile at the patting.
Kurdran Wildhammer shakes his head. “We need to make this work. The answer is in the blood! Family bonds have kept these Wildhammer clans apart from one another. It'll take family bonds to glue 'em back together.”
Kurdan shrugs. “It's a long shot, but… we're going to have to play matchmaker!”
Shine raises his eyebrow.
Dane squints and faintly turns his head to the side.
Iphindra tilts her head. "Political marriages?"
Oranna looks like she's desperately hoping that maybe this won't also have to keep this a secret??
Kurdan says, “I'll track down Colin Thundermar and talk with him. You're a smooth one — you should talk to Keegan Firebeard inside. He's sharp enough to understand a political marriage. Go find out if he fancies anyone!”
Shine looks around at the group, wondering which of them is the smooth one.
Dane discreetly makes eye contact with Shine and shakes his head.
Shine is not the smooth one, correct.
Dane meant himself, but, I mean. You can be right more than once.
Dane turns back to Kurdran. "We'll bring it to him."
They head back to the village hall.
Oranna frowns. "Wait, so it's like… a family… but we're also marrying them up?"
Dane shakes his head. "They're distantly related at best, I warrant."
"Let's hope," Oranna hopes.
"Oh aye, marryin' two people who canna stand each other will surely make thengs better," Bran mutters.
"How do we get them to marry if they can't stand each other?" Shine wonders at Bran under his breath.
Dane approaches Keegan and clears his throat. "Kurdran's suggested a political marriage, to unite the Thundermars and Firebeards." he explains to Keegan, bluntly.
Shine smiles faintly at Dane. He knows another guy like that.
Oranna exhales with relief. Whew. Out in the open! She can handle that.
Keegan Firebeard says, “What? Kurdran's talkin' marriage?! Didn't he just see me an' ol' Thunderface tearing each other new ones?”
Bran shrugs eloquently, and rather dramatically.
"He did-didn't say he wanted to marry you two!" Iphindra explains.
Bran SNORTS.
"Aye, but… ye wouldna talk like tha' ta yer wife, right? So, if they were all yer wives or ye were their wives then ye'd… get along?" Oranna tries. Wait, does this make sense?
Shine squints at Oranna.
Iphindra tilts her head, looking at Oranna.
Shine is not sure Colin Thundermar wants to be anyone's wife.
Bran does not express any opinions on how husbands generally talk to their wives. But he doesn't express it in a way that clearly gives the vibe that he is Not Saying Things.
Dane peers at Keegan. "Your people need this. You cannot withstand the Twilight's Hammer and the Horde as a fragmented folk."
Keegan frowns in thought. “The only eligible Thundermar is Fanny. Now, I'll give you this — she's got the looks all right. All lumpy in the right places, if ye hear me. But she's not got that somethin'-somethin' a Firebeard looks for in a woman, right?"
Oranna makes a vague euhhhh? sound.
Shine repeats 'lumpy' under his breath thoughtfully.
Oranna looks down at herself. Is she lumpy in the right places or the wrong places? she wonders.
Cliff Thundermar yells: Haaaaaalp!
A young Thundermar dwarf dashes frantically into the hall.
Keegan Firebeard says: Here, what's this?
Cliff Thundermar says: The Glopgut ogres stormed Thundermar while Colin was here at the summit. They kidnapped Fanny and ran for the hills!
Dane sets his jaw again at the news and looks to Keegan.
Keegan Firebeard exclaims, “Well speak of the devil in a blue dress. Fanny's gone and gotten herself kidnapped by ogres!”
"Gotten herself kidnapped?" Shine wonders, again under his breath. Low-key victim blaming, bruh.
Cliff Thundermar says: Colin is massing the Thundermars for a full-on assault of Glopgut's Hollow.
Keegan says, “I don't trust the Thundermars to be able to mount a rescue on their own. I'll round up my gryphon riders and provide some air support.”
Keegan points at the squad and says, “I'm sure they can use an extra hand or two down there. Grab your gear and look for Colin in the Glopgut ogre camp. It's southwest of here, below the cliffs. Hurry now!”
"Res-rescuing her will be a great we to-to get you two to meet!" Iphindra smiles.
"I think they've already met, at least," Shine observes to Iphindra. Enough for Keegan to have surveyed Fanny's lumps, anyway.
Dane grunts. "No time to waste, you lot. Let's bugger off."
Oranna shoots a suspicious look over her shoulder at Kurdran. "Wow, how convenient that she's jus'… suddenly a damsel in distress, like some sort of Arnathorn Firststone novel."
Oranna very obviously suspects damsel tampering for convenient rescuing for creating romantic tension through danger tension. "I suppose if it works, it works, but…."
"B-but?" Iphindra looks at Oranna.
"You think a conspiracy?" Dane asks Oranna skeptically as they fly.
"I think the timin' is just a lil too perfect, fer wanting ta make a marriage an' now here he's sayin' she's been missin' something ta appeal and now he's off ta rescue her where she can be… appealing and appealingly lumpy?" Oranna says.
Dane grunts. "I doubt it's a ploy, but regardless, these witless ogres have sealed their doom."
"But if we dinna find a way ta unite them, they'll all be ogre kidnapped and lumpy in… unappealing ways," Oranna says. "So."
"She didn't strike me as a lady to agree to put herself in a damsel's role," Shine notes.
"Hmmm…" Iphindra looks up pensively. "Sh-she did fight bravely when the orcs attacked…."
"I don't think she had anythin' ta do with it, but… she's surrounded by some mad lads," Oranna sighs.
Dane observes the sprawling ogre compound in the distance with a glare.
Atley lands swiftly on Thoras. The gryphon beats his wings to dramatically slow, kicking up dust and gravel as Dane dismounts.
Shine grimaces faintly at the smell.
Oranna looks around at the camp. "They got their buildings up fast as anythin'," Oranna says.
Befound sniffs derisively in a feline disapproval of ogre waste management.
Colin says, “Good to have you fighting at my side again! And I see the Firebeards have come as well. I suppose they'll provide a distraction while me and my boys do the heavy lifting.”
Dane grunts and slowly nods.
Colin says, “Glopgut ogres! I'd say they was dumb as a sack of hammers, but I have more respect for me hammers than that. We've fought off their raids for years, but if they're bold enough now to steal one of our own, we're gonna have to learn them a lesson.”
"And we'll fight beside you," Dane confirms.
Oranna doesn't correct his Common grammar but she's thinking about it.
Shine steps back from the group to take a vial from his belt and tip poison onto one of his blades. He smears it carefully along the blade with the back of one gloved hand.
Colin nods. “Help us smack around these brutes! Kill their pounders, hurlers, or bashers either out here or — better — inside the cave. We’ve torn the camp apart and have found no sign of Fanny. She may be in there.“
Befound stretches out her claws, scraping the softer gravel.
Bran readies his bonkin' stick.
"We will find Fanny!" Iphindra nods. "And k-kill the ogres!"
Dane grunts. "Into the cave, you lot. Look alive!"
"How do we tell a pounder from a basher?" Shine wonders quietly.
Oranna makes an uncomfortable sound as they get near the cave.
Bran seems disinclined to sketch the ogre compound.
Dane is immediately charged by a warhound bigger than a destrier.
Shine actually flinches perceptibly at the warhound's charge.
"Faugh! The smell in here," Bran complains as they enter the cave.
"Ogres. First you smell them, then you step in them," Dane growls with a rehearsed tone.
"Ah, tides." Shine coughs, grimacing.
"Ye'd think they'd like ta make really big caves, as ogres, an' not ones that are all narrow and twisty and the walls are really really close to ye and yer head and…." Oranna mutters.
Oranna gets more and more uncomfortable as they go through the cave, claustrophia setting her teeth on edge.
But she keeps going.
Shine flinches at another warhound.
Bran bonks ogres.
Brogg Glopgut says: None pass!
They pass.
Oranna pushes her way through two ogre corpses in a doorway, sweating.
They find Fanny surrounded by a trio of fully armed and armored — and dead — ogres.
Fanny Thundermar says: Cobalts? What are you doing here? And is that Keegan Firebeard behind you?
Keegan Firebeard says: Aye! We're here to rescue you!
Fanny Thundermar says: Took yer sweet time, didn'tcha?
Keegan Firebeard says: The ogres — ya kilt 'em!
Fanny Thundermar says: Aye, they was gettin' a wee handsy, so I took care of it. C'mon then, I'm done here.
Fanny saunters out. Ogres beware.
Dane turns to watch Fanny walk off with grim surprise.
Keegan Firebeard says: Did ye see that, you lot? What a woman!
Keegan Firebeard says: She's a real powder-keg that one. She'd make a fine Firebeard! Y'think the Thundermars would go for it?
"Indeed," Dane says to Keegan. "Reminds me of my own wife."
Bran just shakes his head with a half smile.
Shine eyes Keegan.
Oranna shrugs. "I guess this is one way ta improvise," she mutters.
Iphindra smiles at the scene. "Love…" she giggles.
"I suppose it isna tha' unbelievable," Bran muses.
Dane grunts. "Out we go, then. Any ogre we come across dies."
Shine swears at a hound.
Dane ducks under rotted meat hanging from the ceiling by a chain.
Oranna doesn't need to duck, but she does anyway, as if she can feel the ceiling brushing the top of her head.
"I only fell in love once, an' it was at ferst sight too," Bran says. "Maybe there's some Firebeard in me."
"Did it once too," Shine observes. "Didn't go well."
"Ah," Oranna says awkwardly.
"Mine either," Bran says grimly to Shine, then grins.
Oranna looks like she's considering patting both Bran and Shine.
Colin Thundermar says, “Har! My men could learn a lot by watching you work. Well done.”
Dane grunts. "We do wot' we must."
“Fanny is safe!” Colin says. “And I hear Firebeard was in there with you? Nice to hear he's finally pulling his weight.”
Colin pauses. “Wait, why are you looking at me like that? Do you know something I don't?”
Shine looks at the sky.
Bran grins.
Oranna definitely knows something he doesn't, and it shows all over her face. "Ahhh, I know… things? about things you might not know, some of which are not… relevant ta the task at hand."
Dane grunts. "Kurdran'd have Keegan marry your sister. Unite your clans."
Iphindra giggles again.
Colin scoffs, “Firebeard? Marry my sister!? I swear the world's gone mad!” He pauses for a moment and thinks. “Still, maybe Kurdran is right. A nice, normal wedding would ease everyone's mind… and maybe cool off Firebeard a little.”
Dane grunts calmly.
Colin continues, “It was great to actually work together here against the ogres.” He goes quiet, thinking, before saying, “Right then! It's all up to Fanny. Something tells me she won't want to be tied down.”
"Ye'd be surprised who's inta tha'," Bran says.
"She's a spirited one," Atley compliments.
Shine coughs again, this time at Bran. He is actually failing not to smile.
"Is that… figuratively or literally as a whole… Firebeard sayin'," Oranna asks.
Colin squints. "Thas' me sister…" he reminds them.
Bran clears his throat.
Shine nods gravely at the sky.
Dane grunts and eyes his squad dryly.
Iphindra covers her mouth with her hand.
Oranna nods. "Aye, we also know that, and we all share in tha' knowledge of a thing we all know…"
Colin points at them. “Fly back to Kirthaven and see if she's game. I'll finish up the nasty business with the ogres here.”
Dane nods and grunts at Colin.
"Are ye gonna ask her straight ta her face, Dane, if she wants ta be tied down or…" Oranna starts as she clambers up on her gryphon.
"Being cheeky, are we?" Dane asks Oranna with a neutral tone.
"No, jus' really wonderin'," Oranna says.
"Boomer's never been cheeky a day in her life," Bran says affectionately.
It's true.
Dane grunts and shakes his head.
They land in Kirthaven and spot Fanny Thundermar at one side of the village square.
Shine looks at Dane again. He's the Designated Smooth One.
Light help us.
"My lady," Dane greets with a bow. "Kurdran's of a mine to have you marry Keegan Firebeard. Keegan's got the same mind, and your brother's left the choice to you. T'd bring the clans together, and p'raps serve you as well."
Oranna looks like she's wondering if there are Tied To A Rock Outside rituals involved but she can't ask now.
Fanny throws her arms up, exasperated. “You, Kurdran, Firebeard, and now my brother — everyone's got wedding fever!”
"Sorry, lass," says Bran.
Dane peers at her mildly.
"I… dinna really have wedding fever or any fever really, although it's been a lot of hot places today?" Oranna offers in solidarity…?
Fanny sighs and flushes. “Fine, fine, I'll marry Keegan Firebeard. But only 'cuz he's strong and handsome, with a jaw that can cut gravel and an arse like an anvil. Not for any political reasons.”
Shine blinks.
Bran blinks.
Dane scoffs faintly with amusement and nods.
Bran absently strokes his own jaw, which probably could not cut gravel. There's some gravel in his beard, though, if that helps.
Shine repeats an arse like… under his breath.
Iphindra giggles. "An arse like an anvil!"
Oranna also seems to be considering the arse like an anvil. "I suppose it's always good ta have a spare anvil around?" She tries.
Dane grunts. "Always served me well."
Oranna looks at Dane's arse like she's wondering both if it's like an anvil and if it is, how he uses it.
Shine glances surreptitiously at Dane's backside. He's wearing a cloak, though.
Fanny nods and sets her hands on her hips. “We're going to need your help, though. We got a whole lotta wedding to put together, and it’ll take time to see it through. We’ll be in touch.”
Dane nods. "We'll be about." He takes a step back and nods at his squad.
"How would ye even use yer own arse as an… anvil," Oranna mutters as she follows the others.
Bran looks like he's considering explaining something to Oranna, but then clearly decides against it.
It's for the best, Bran.
"It's a metaphor! L-like earlier it was a double entindra, with th-the tying up thing!" Iphindra explains, giggling.
A double iphindra?
Dane stops to address the squad outside the hall. "Covered a great bit of ground today. Brought the fight to the Twilight's, the Dragonmaw, and those witless ogres. We'll have the Highland Wildhammers unified soon 'nuff. We've a wedding to prepare for. 'Till then, you lot are dismissed."
"I-I’ll get the flowers!" Iphindra exclaims excitedly.
Oranna sighs in a strange way, looking off to the right for a long moment. "Oh, aye, I'll… I'll do somethin' ta help that's helpful."
Dane eyes Oranna gruffly, with some concealed sympathy. "I'm certain of it."
Shine eyes Oranna inscrutably. Maybe not that inscrutably.
Bran pats Oranna. Very gently.
Oranna startles slightly, and gives Bran a shaky warm smile.
"Right, an' I should… go do that then. Of things…" Perhaps without thinking too much of it, she reflexively pushes up her sleeves, showing the Wildhammer tattoos on her forearms before she waves to everyone.
Dane whistles for Thoras and climbs aboard.
Shine signals for his own gryphon, to head back to Highbank and tell Lena to get ready for a wedding.