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| Details |
| Author: | Luridel |
| Summary: | White Squad clears out Stormstout Brewery with the help of Joelle Ebek. Gwenivene explains the word "serendipitous". Estel carries Alysson's socks in his honor. Iphindra joins a hozen dance party. Shun might be in hell. ~4.4k words. |
| Rating: | M for Mature 17+ |
"Oh, Estel!" Gwen chuckles. "I almost didn't even see you there in the corner, all shadowy and spooky."
"Hmm?" Estel drops her Shadowform. "Sorry, I was thinking. Hey!"
Estel slides a note from Alysson across the table to Gwen.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt-…" Gwen trails off, picking up the note.
Estel has a pair of orange socks tucked into her potion bandolier. They might be the socks mentioned in the note.
Gwen blinks. "Sock buddy…?"
Estel passes Gwen a sock.
Iphindra runs up to the group, smiling. "Hi!"
Gwen stares at the sock, turning it over in her hand. "He can be a strange fellow sometimes. Oh, hello, Iphindra!"
"What's that?" Iphi asks, pointing at the sock.
"A substitute Alysson," Gwen chuckles, handing the sock back to Estel.
Estel pulls the sock on her hand. "Swsssh. Whshhhh."
Shun just grunts.
Gwen snickers.
"He says it's really important, so I believe him," Estel says, hopping up. "Gwen, we're headed to the brewery today, yeah?"
Iphi giggles. Sock Alysson is just as cool as the real one.
Gwenivene nods. "Yes, and let's get moving. I'm a little worried about what's going on there."
Iphi nods. "I w- want our friend to be happy with his fa- family's brewery!"
"Hello, Mr. Stormstout! We're back!" Gwen waves to Chen.
Chen, Li Li, and Mudmug are waiting outside the eastern entrance to the brewery. Chen looks resolute. Li Li looks determined. Mudmug looks like he isn't totally sure what he's doing here.
A human dressed in blue and gold leathers, wearing a Stormwind Tabard is standing nearby the pandaren. He glances at the squad as they approach.
Shun raises a brow at the totally not a stranger.
Gwen offers a friendly wave to Elle as well, surprised to see another human here. "Hello!"
Estel waves cheerfully. "Hey! Elle, what're you doing here?"
Iphi blinks. Stranger. "Hi! H- how are you?"
"Oh! You know this person?" Gwen smiles brightly. "Keen!"
"There was a commotion here. The locals were concerned," Joelle reports. "I came to help."
Estel grins. "Brilliant. Guys, this is Elle. Elle, this is Gwenivene Whittle, our team leader, Iphindra, our healer, and these are Chen Stormstout, Mudmug, and Li Li."
Joelle looks everyone over. His gaze is warm, but he doesn't smile.
Iphi waves shyly. New person.
"Pleased to meet you, Elle." Gwen points to his tabard. "I used to live in Stormwind, too."
Chen nods. "This young man was kind enough to offer his assistance investigating my family brewery. I told him we were waiting for you all."
Li Li stares at Estel. "Why have you got a sock on your hand? And where's the other guy?"
"Oh, wonderful!" Gwen claps. "Then you should join us. We just so happen to be down a man today. So this is quite serendipitous."
"Alysson had something come up," Estel tells Li Li. "Here, maybe you can help." She offers Li Li the sock.
Li Li wrinkles her nose. "I'm not touching somebody else's sweaty socks!"
Joelle starts to ask a question, but stops himself. Estel answers it, anyway.
"Seren… dititous?" Iphi blinks. What does that even mean?
Estel shrugs and tucks the sock back into her bandolier. Alysson is there in spirit.
Gwen nods to Iphindra. "Serendipity means a fortuitous coincidence."
Shun nods with a grunt.
"Fortunate," Chen answers simultaneously. He nods to Gwen.
"All right, friends," Chen says. "Here is what I've learned. There are two wings to the brewery, the east and west. Both of them seem to be overrun. We will begin here, in the east, and see what the situation inside is like. Mudmug, Li Li, are you ready?"
Li Li nods firmly. "Ready, Uncle Chen!"
"Ready to give some trouble some trouble!" Mudmug affirms, and cracks his knuckles.
"And are you all ready for a brawl?" Chen asks White Squad and Elle.
Iphi nods. "Thank you!" She nods a second time. She turns around and whispers to herself. "Fortitous…?"
[Shun]: "Always."
Estel bounces on her heels and slips into Shadowform. "Yeah."
"Hopefully it won't come to a brawl," Gwen says. "But we're prepared if it does."
Joelle glances at his fists. That does seem to be how he fights.
"Then let's get this done!" Chen turns and leads the way into the brewery.
Mudmug has paused outside the first door and is peering in. There is a massive water elemental bobbing gently at the center of the room.
"Okay," says Mudmug, "hold up, y'all. I'm fixin' to make a puddle out of that critter. But, uh… I ain't much of a bruiser, and to be honest I get skeered pretty easy. You heroes want to give me a hand? A few hands?"
"We have lots of hands to help, Mr. Mudmug," Gwen reassures him.
Estel pats Mudmug's shoulder and traces the symbol of the Fear Ward with one finger. "It's okay, man. We got this."
Iphi counts everyone's hands.
"Alright! Let's go smush that water varmint!" Mudmug charges bravely in.
Joelle stares at the elemental. Sure, he can… punch it until it's a puddle.
The elemental has a silly little bubble mechanic. It's not very logical, but it's cute.
Gwen cannot help giggling as she punts little bubbles at the huge elemental.
Estel grins at Gwen.
Iphi's plants are healing her friends successfully. She pats them gently.
Shun isn't sure how more bubbles breaks water instead of something SHARP like a knife but goes along with it anyway.
They beat up a water elemental. Success!
"All right!" says Mudmug. "Nice fightin'! Real hero-like. Y'all should check with the others now. I reckon they got ahead of us."
Li Li is standing just inside a huge room, gazing at a giant hozen on the far side of it. "This guy's a little bigger than I was expecting…" she says uneasily.
"Another giant ookin' hozen?" Gwen sighs.
Joelle gently pats Li Li on the head.
"Huge fruits and vegetables, huge animals as well!" Iphi beams.
Li Li looks up at Elle. For a moment she looks like she might say something sassy, but her face softens as she actually sees his expression and realizes he isn't being condescending.
"You guys better help," Li Li says, and darts forward.
Joelle moves in to cover Li Li.
"Jooga throwing his fruit! Because he feels mad!" the hozen yells at them and flings bananas all over the place.
Iphi opens the bag of seed from last week. She grows one of the weeds, and it throws a barrel at the Jooga's head to distract him.
Jooga gets nailed with a barrel, slips on one of his own bananas, and falls over with a thump.
"Nice! Uncle Chen's waiting up ahead," Li Li says. "You go find him. I'll stay here and mock this unconscious monkey."
"Not so tough now, are you?" yells Li Li at the hozen's prone form. "That's right! You look pretty dumb laying on the ground! Don't make my friends throw more barrels at you!"
Shun just slowly shakes his head.
The next room is full of little alementals, drifting aimlessly. Chen Stormstout stares at them in bewilderment. "What is going on inside this place? Where are the brewers? Where is my family?"
Joelle seems a little reluctant to leave Li Li.
"What the–" Shun starts.
"Aww. Maybe he'll be calmer when he wakes." Gwen smiles at the unconscious hozen.
Iphi tilts her head. "Th- that is a lot of elemental… Maybe we need a shaman for this… ?"
Li Li nods to Joelle. "Don't worry, I'm fast," she whispers to him.
"We'll find out," Gwen nods firmly to Chen.
"They must have gone somewhere. If they were here, they'd be cleaning up this mess. For now, looks like it's up to you and me." Chen assumes a fighting stance and glances over. "Gimme a hand with these spirits and we can move on. Ready?"
"R- ready!" Iphi nods.
"Ready!" Gwen shouts. "A few dozen chilled alementals, coming up!"
"Stormstout!" Chen launches in with a flying kick.
As the alementals are struck, they fizz and burble with alarm and race to leap into a cauldron at the back of the room. Before long, the room is empty.
"That wasn't so hard," Chen says cheerfully. "Sure was nice of those spirits to hop into that pot."
The room rumbles and then shudders ominously.
Joelle stares at the pot.
"Uh," says Chen. "Wha–?"
A massive alemental erupts from the cauldron.
Iphi screams in surprise.
"Looks like we're not done yet!" Chen charges at the big alemental.
"Whoa! Take it down, White Squad!"
Joelle is not White Squad, but he helps anyway, getting the creature's attention focused on him.
"Whew!" says Chen. "I think we've settled them. Let's meet up with the other two at the rear entrance."
They meet up with the other two at the rear entrance.
"Okay," says Chen, and cracks his knuckles. "I didn't see any of my family in that wing. But those pests are out of the way, so let's press on. Are you with me?"
Gwen bows respectfully. "We are with you, Chen."
Shun grunts.
Iphi beams. "We'll h- help you! Happily!"
Joelle nods.
Just inside the entrance stands a ghostly pandaren woman, humming. She looks up at the arrivals and beams. "Oh, hello, Zan. It is good of you to visit old Auntie Stormstout."
"I am not Zan," Chen tells her. "I am Chen Stormstout."
"Oh, Zan!" Auntie Stormstout chuckles. "You remind me so much of your father."
[Shun]: "…"
"Tell me," says Chen, "what has happened here?"
"It is certainly a nice day outside!" says Auntie Stormstout.
"Where are the other Stormstouts?" asks Chen. "Why are hozen all over the brewery?"
"Have you seen the size of Esme's turnips?" Auntie Stormstout asks.
"Auntie Stormstout," says Chen impatiently. "Why is the brewery abandoned?"
"Abandoned?" Auntie Stormstout blinks. "Oh, heavens, no! Uncle Gao is in charge while the others are beyond the wall. Isn't that exciting?"
"I see," says Chen, who does not sound like he sees. "And where is Uncle Gao?"
"I have some cookies for you!" says Auntie Stormstout, and holds out a plate.
"Beyond the wall…?" Gwen muses quietly.
"There is no time for cookies!" Chen tells her, and then hesitates. "Well, one cookie." He selects a cookie and bites into it. "Wait — these are ghost cookies! They aren't filling at all!"
Shun narrows his eyes.
Iphi listens intently to the two pandaren. She looks curiously at the ghsot cookies. She wants to try one. "C- can I?" she says, holding a hand for the cookie.
Gwen offers Chen a [Chocolate Cookie].
Joelle glances between the two pandaren. Even he can tell that this conversation is going strangely.
"Of course, dearie!" Auntie Stormstout holds the ghost plate out for Iphindra.
"So. Everyone is dead then," Shun deadpans.
Estel pats the orange sock. "Maybe? Dunno about everyone. Let's find out, yeah?"
Iphi takes the ghost cookie, beaming. "Th- thank you!" She tries the ghost cookie. She's a little disappointed. She takes a second one and puts it in her bag for later.
Joelle looks around. "It's on fire…" he says.
"But only in sm- small places…" Iphi looks around in confusion.
"Such a mess," Gwen tries to tidy as they go, without much success.
The brewery is full of hozen partying.
"Who crashing Ook party?!" Ook-Ook yells, jumping down from above.
"It's that gigantic hozen again!" Gwen exclaims.
Ook-Ook makes his very best attempt to kill the team. Barrels are involved.
Joelle can't do much about the barrels, but he at least occupies the hozen.
"Get Ooking party started! Come and get your Ook on!" Ook-Ook shouts. "We gonna Ook all night!"
Iphi summons a healing mushroom in the room as they fight a big hozen, Ook-Ook. One of the barrels hits the mushroom and deviates, rolling violently at Ook-Ook.
Estel does not seem amused. She channels strangling Shadow into Ook-Ook's mind. She's not here to party, she's here to kill this guy.
Iphi's plants heal her friends as she bops her head to the rhythm of the hozen's party.
Alysson's socks are present and helping in spirit, but Estel does not make any swshh or whshhh noises with them.
Eventually, Ook-Ook drops to the floor with a thud, dead.
"You take down Ook-Ook… You know what dat mean… You da new Ooks! Get da party started for da new Ooks!" A bunch of very well-coordinated hozen rush out and begin dancing.
There are spotlights and everything. The hozen have a very synchronized dance routine.
Gwen blinks at the group of hozen that rushed into the room. "Are they dancing or threatening us?"
Shun stares at the hozen dance party. "Yes everyone is dead and this is hell."
Joelle glances between Estel and Gwen. W-what do?
Iphi beams, she does some dance moves with the hozen. She's not as eccentric as them, though.
Estel snorts. "Cool, okay, keep dancing," she tells the hozen.
Estel pats Shun's arm and just moves along. Nothing to see here.
Iphi doesn't see them leave, for a second. She's too busy dancing.
Once she realizes the others have left, Iphi rushes towards them.
They step outside onto an outdoor staircase, and are swarmed by dozens of virmen.
Shun throws knives in what feels like all directions as they make their way.
Gwen calls down ice storms and unleashes arcane explosions to deal with the hordes of virmen. "This place is so weird!"
Joelle goes first to ensure everyone can follow safely.
Estel collects like twenty knives as she follows after the team, channeling a pulsing burst of Shadow that emanates from around Elle.
Iphindra is still bopping her head to the sound of the monkey party. "A- a little weird, yes!" she says, summoning another mushroom to heal her friends. The mushroom bops its own head to the sound of the music they heard earlier.
Eventually, they are confronted by a virmen much bigger than any they've ever seen before.
Hoptallus, the virmen, has a single gold tooth. Wild.
The fight is indescribable. Don't worry about it.
"You have… turnip… for a head…" groans Hoptallus as he is defeated. Another virmen pushes a giant carrot that was blocking their way down a ramp.
They enter another room full of alementals.
Ancient brewmaster ghosts are either partying or drinking ghost ale.
Iphi looks at all the ghosts of drunk pandaren and shivers.
Shun eyes the ghosts. This is just adding to his theory.
Estel does her best to dodge as much ale as she can avoid.
Uncle Gao stands by a cauldron, adding ingredients and muttering to himself. Alementals burst out of the cauldron to attack each time he tries a new ingredient.
"Ahh! Help! What is that thing?! It doesn't matter, nothing will stop me now, not when I'm so close!" Uncle Gao cries. "Maybe if I don't look at it…?"
The absolutely massive alemental, Yan-Zhu the Uncasked, is as violent as the rest have been.
"I don't think it'll he- help… Ah!" She gets back to her battle position.
"Fuck off," Estel mutters, and dodges a burst of ale suds.
This battle is incredibly messy. Ale gets everywhere.
"Is it… can it be??? Such harmony of flavor, such heady aroma! It is… the perfect brew!" Uncle Gao approaches the fallen alemental.
"The name of Stormstout will be sung once again throughout the hills!" Uncle Gao yells.
Estel groans and gives him a flat look.
Shun deadpans.
Chen Stormstout rushes into the room. "Uncle Gao, this brewery was left in your care! What have you done?"
Joelle stares at the alemental. People… drink that?
"You again! Don't you see? I have made a name for myself at last. I have brewed perfection!" Uncle Gao shouts.
"At what cost? The Brewery is trashed! Infested!" Chen objects.
"W- we had to fight perfection…" Iphi shakes her head sadly.
"Details, details," says Uncle Gao dismissively.
"And there are Virmen in the main store!" Chen continues.
Uncle Gao says, "Look, 'Chen Stormstout,' we can't all be heroes, running from our responsibilities, tromping about the Dread Wastes, saving the world. Some of us are 'Artists.'"
"I think the brewery might be on fire," Chen adds in.
"Yes, yes. That happens." Uncle Gao seems fine with this.
Iphindra stares in disbelief.
Shun places a hand over his face.
Gwen murmurs, "I think we might need to clean this place up some more. This 'Uncle Gao' doesn't seem nearly concerned enough."
Iphi nods at Gwen. "This is serendipititious, o- our arrival."
"Fire and brew…" Joelle says. He sounds a bit nervous.
"Fire's out!" yells Mudmug's voice in the distance.
Gwen giggles at Iphindra.
Gwen sighs in relief at Mudmug's announcement. "Oh, thank goodness."
"Are we done here? I wish to rid the stench of alcohol from my armor before it really soaks," Shun deadpans.
Chen Stormstout turns towards the team. "Thank you, friends. I think… talking some sense into Uncle Gao may be a process. Let's… head outside."
Joelle nods.
Estel looks sympathetically at Shun. "Almost, I hope."
They emerge into warm daylight.
An unfamiliar young pandaren woman in overalls clears her throat politely. "Excuse me, friends. Do you… work here?"
Iphi looks at Chen.
"No," Joelle says.
"No," Estel says bluntly.
"We're just helping out," Gwen says.
"My name is Emmi. I've come from Stoneplow, in the west. They sent me to pick up some emergency beer rations, but this place is all boarded up!" She glances past the group shyly. "It looks like your handsome friend there — not Mudmug, the other one — has a few casks with him. Could you spare one or two for a town in need?"
Chen grins. "I have a rule: Anybody who calls me handsome gets free beer."
"Gross," mutters Li Li.
Gwen giggles.
Iphi turns around at the wrong time and receives the free keg of beer for Emmi. She carries it valiantly, but with great difficulty.
"Cobalt Company's work is never done!" Gwen declares. "Let's get this beer where it needs to be."
Chen picks up both Iphindra and the keg.
"Ah!" Iphi says, before giggling.
"Sure, okay," Estel says.
Gwen chuckles. "Pookie could carry that, if you like."
"Oh?" Chen sets Iphindra and the keg back down. "In that case, I should see to my family here. I'd be obliged if you could tell Stoneplow just who made this stout, though."
"Absolutely!" Gwen bows to Chen.
Estel gives Chen a thumbs-up. "Pookie's strong."
Iphi is a little disappointed that she won't be carried anymore. "Y- yes! Pookie can handle it."
They head northwest along the road to Stoneplow.
On the edge of the village is an enormous pandaren in the same garb that Taran Zhu of the Shado-Pan had worn. He watches White Squad's arrival impassively.
"Shado-Pan…" Joelle murmurs quietly.
Shun lifts his head.
"Hey," Estel says. "Delivery for you from Chen Stormstout."
"Ah!" the man says. "Finally! Welcome, friends. I am Loon Mai of the Shado-Pan. I am glad Emmi came through — my men do not do well without beer."
"Why are the Shado-Pan here?" Shun asks warily.
"A- are you Shado pan?" Iphi asks. "What ar-" She turns to Shun.
Loon Mai gestures at the massive wall to the west. "We are here to ensure the security of the wall. It has stood guarding the valley for thousands of years, but it has fallen into disrepair. The mantid have begun to swarm for some reason, and some of them are making it past the wall. Until they and the wall are taken care of, some of the outlying farmers to the west may not be safe. I wonder — would you be willing to carry the word to evacuate out to those families while I organize the defense here?"
"O- of course! We must help them!" Iphi says, turning to the others.
Joelle nods to the squad. This sounds important. He'll stay.
Estel bounces on her heels and looks at Gwen. "I can do overtime for this, this is serious."
Shun grumbles just a little bit but doesn't object. He's just uncomfortable right now.
Gwen nods firmly. "Of course we'll help. There is no question."
Loon Mai nods solemnly to them. "Thank you," he says, and goes off to start organizing the defense.
Lin Tenderpaw approaches. "Oh, hello!"
"Hi!" Iphi says.
Shun grunts.
"Hey, Lin." Estel grins at her.
Gwen brightens. "Hello! It's you!"
Lin gestures right back. "It's you! And before you ask, no, I haven't found the Hidden Master. I would say that I wasted my time in coming out here, but I think these people need some help."
"Yeah, for sure," Estel says.
"Something has stirred the mantid of the Wastes, and they send their winged scouts over that wall like it wasn't even there! But they're attacking farmers, not fighters, and I think maybe someone like you could give them some second thoughts. Will you go and drive them off?" Lin asks.
"Leave it to us!" Gwen grins.
Iphi beams. "We- we'll handle it!" She turns to walk to the battlefield valiantly. She stops in her tracks. "What's a m- mantid?"
Estel gives her a thumbs-up. "Sooner we do this, sooner we can take a bath. I bet we're about to find out in like thirty seconds, Iphindra."
[Shun]: "Sounds like a bug of some sort."
The mantid are mantis-like bug people. Surprise surprise.
"Folks, you need to evacuate! Quick!" Gwen ushers the farmers.
"I see. I'd hoped that we could wait out this invasion, but if the authorities want us to leave, we will leave," says a farmer, beckoning to his wife and child.
"Daddy, are these nice people going to kill all the bad mantid soldiers?" asks the child as they're ushered off.
Shun tilts his head as he looks to some of the other fields and the like.
A stretch of land reaching the nearby wall has been blackened, glowing around the edges with the ethereal white mist of Sha corruption.
[Shun]: "Estel. Is that Sha over there?" he asks.
"Oh golly," Gwen laments. "It is Sha corruption."
"Th- this is… terrible…" Iphi shakes her head. "That poor land…"
"Yep." Estel gestures. "You can see the white bits on the edges of the black bits."
"Are mantid… with the sha?" Joelle asks tentatively.
"Don't know." Estel frowns.
They approach another farming family. Two children rush around in a field of bushes.
Shun just stares at the corrupted area warily while the others speak with the pandaren.
"O… Or their war is bringing the sha, like the pandaren said about us…" Iphi bites her lower lip.
Iphi shakes her head and runs to the nearby farmers. "Y- you must go, please! Those are orders of the Shado Pan!"
"I am a farmer. It's all I know. All we have is our land. And the Shado-Pan want us to give it up to the mantid?" Zhang Marlfur shakes his head. "I will not do it. My grandfather knew what he was getting into when he first planted seed in the shadow of the Serpent's Spine. I have my wife, two strong daughters, and two strong sons. Thank you, but we can protect this farm ourselves."
Joelle glances worriedly at the wall.
Estel gives them a thumbs-up, accompanied by a Blessing of Fortitude. "Okay. We'll do what we can to clear out the mantid on this side."
Iphi frowns. "Don't you s—" She stops herself, takes a deep breath, and grows some of the aggressive weeds from the seeds in her pouch in between the wall and this farmer's house. Hopefully they'll be a little more protected, just in case.
At the edge of the sha corruption itself stand two farmers armed with rakes. A dead mantid lies nearby.
"It isn't safe to stay here," Joelle tells them. "The Shado-Pan have issued evacuation orders."
Shun is very much on edge.
"Pshhh… outsiders. You know nothing about the Stoneplow way. We're proud. We're strong. We are descended from the blood of the Tiller himself… and we don't run from trouble," says the woman, brandishing her rake.
"That's right," says the man. "Now please, leave and let us defend our property."
Iphi frowns. "I can't even grow the plants to help you here… The la- land is too hurt…"
Despite the clear Sha corruption, only the mantid seem to be present.
As they get closer to the wall, there are some Shado-Pan holding off the mantid.
Iphi runs to another man, repairing the wall. "Please, y- you must go! Here are the Shado Pan's evacuation orders…"
"Oh, I don't know," says the old pandaren. "I am old, and I have always — Look out! Mantid!" A mantid descends on the team.
Joelle quickly engages it.
Shun turns and stabs it.
"I've reconsidered," says the pandaren. "It's too dangerous to stay here. No piece of land is worth losing your life over. I feared that this day would come. I will pack up my things."
"Thank you," Joelle says quietly.
Iphi sighs in relief. "Good…"
After killing a bunch of mantid, White Squad and Elle return to Loon Mai. It begins to rain.
Estel puts Alysson's socks in her bag so they don't get wet.
"We've evacuated everyone that was willing to leave," Gwen says to Loon Mai.
Loon Mai sighs. "A bunch of ranchers want to make my job harder? Fine. I will not deny any pandaren the right to defend their land."
"I- I tried to give them more defenses. I hope it'll be enough…" Iphi says sadly.
Joelle bows his head solemnly.
Shun grunts.
Estel nods to Loon Mai and backs off. "Gwen?"
"I think we've done all we can for now," says Gwen. "Let's get some rest."
"Cobalt, thank you," Joelle says, bowing.
Estel smiles at Elle. "Yeah, thanks. You were a big help, yeah? Appreciate it."
"I wished we could have done more for these farmers…" Iphi's ears droop.
Gwen nods with a sigh. "Me too. But we did make some difference. Take solace in that."
"Well, you're always welcome to stick around and help them out on your own time," Estel says to Iphindra. "I might be back later, after I've had a chance to clean my armor."
Iphi smiles sadly. "I hope we have…"
"The Shado-Pan are strong," Joelle says. "They would not lie about their duty."
"I'll do that! Good idea!" Iphi runs to the sha corrupted lands.
Shun nods.