![](http://cobalt-company.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images/writing:2026-02-15-chasing-the-storm-s19-e5-white-squad-log/style="margin:/medium.jpg) |
| Details |
| Author: | inkie |
| Summary: | White Squad scouts the mogu activity in the tombs of the Valley of Emperors on Lorewalker Cho's behalf. The mogu activity turns out to be Extra Bad. Everyone gets an unpleasant surprise. Arric has a rough day. Colson tongues Cho repeatedly. Gwen and Bun are both overdressed. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Shine waits in his fur-lined cloak at the edge of the village. Beside his boot waits Bun. Today the tanuki is wearing what appears to be a woolen scarf in which someone has cut two holes for his forelegs, then wrapped it around his belly with said forelegs exposed and tied it in a neat knot on his back.
Arric has a new ankle-length fox fur coat, and he is wrapped in it with its hood up, holding Win-Win's bridle. Rica stands at his other side patiently, her aqua-striped red scales subtly glittering with some sort of enchantment.
Anareline stands by impassively, her armor clean and gleaming, and her hair hanging down around her neck, something like a natural scarf.
Gwen is wrapped in three layers of furs. Fur cloak over fur robe over fur undies (allegedly). She also has a thick scarf she can pull up over her face. She has also had them all enchanted to repel the cold. She waves, her hand covered in a wool mitten.
Anareline looks at Gwenivene. She stares at Gwenivene. "I hope you will be warm today."
"I hope so, too!" Gwen agrees.
Colson arrives at the oddly precise time as usual. He appears to be dressed mostly the same, although what is under his armor may be more insulated. He is already giving off the vibe of [Warm Cozy] in preparation. "Good afternoon, everyone."
Arric gives Colson a warm little half-bow of greeting, and smiles.
Shine nods to the others.
"Good afternoon," Anareline says. "We are to ride the cloud serpent back up into the mountains today."
Rica makes an interrogative sort of sound.
"Understood," Colson says.
"If I understand correctly, we did not travel this way before because," Ana pauses. "The journey was a part of what we were meant to experience. The shrines."
"Rica, it may be that you need to stay behind today," says Arric. "Even if the enchantment does work to keep you from freezing, I've no idea how you'd ride a cloud serpent."
A dark squiggle in the air grows from squiggle to serpent as Mishi approaches.
Arric watches the serpent with transparent wonder.
"Hm," Colson says.
Mishi glides to a stop before the group, then does a sort of ripple of greeting in the air.
Rica makes a low grating sort of whine, but then dips her head in acknowledgement and runs off to go hunting. "Come back before dark!" Arric calls after her.
"SHHRRREEEEEEEHHH," she calls back in an extremely annoyed-teenager cadence.
Colson inclines his head politely to Mishi. "Good afternoon, Mishi."
Mishi turns her head to gaze after Rica, then turns back to eye Arric with what looks like amused sympathy. She ripples again at Colson's greeting.
Arric leans briefly against Win-Win's side, much as he did the yaks, before handing him off to one of the locals who minds the stables.
Tenacious continues to bully be pampered! by his favorite groom.
Shine picks Bun up and sets him across his shoulders. Bun, not entirely sure how he feels about his scarf-sweater, is unusually subdued at being turned into a scarf himself.
"Ready," Arric says warmly to Mishi.
Anareline watches Mishi carefully, trying to catch the moment when she changes size. Her saber is nowhere to be seen.
Nope, you missed it. There was perhaps an instant's shimmer in the air, but now the group stands before a full-sized cloud serpent.
Shine steps back a little. Not clear whether he is courteously waiting for others to board or politely disconcerted or both.
Bun is having too much Sweater Angst to react.
Anareline sighs quietly. She will watch more carefully next time. She moves forward with confidence to mount the cloud serpent.
Colson follows.
Arric easily mounts the serpentine creature, eyes alight with enthusiasm. "Thank you for the transportation, milady," he says to her.
Shine joins them, careful not to lose the tanuki he's wearing.
Gwen sort of rolls onto the back of the serpent, having sacrificed mobility for warmth.
Mishi checks on her passengers with a gentle twist of her neck, then lifts carefully into the air and bears them toward the mountains.
Arric shifts his weight effortlessly to compensate for the serpent's sinuous movements in the air.
Anareline keeps her hands on the dragon, almost white knuckled with the effort not to cling too hard to her.
Colson's expression is neutral. It's hard to tell if he's having a great time, a good time, or just a time.
Shine watches the snowy landscape far below them. Far, far below them. He does not seem bothered by the height of their mountain flight.
Bun simply Exists in a state of Wool.
The Lorewalker is seated tranquilly in the snow, wreathed by incense. He does not have the look of a man who has been meditating in frozen mountain temperatures for a week.
As Mishi glides sinuously to a stop, Cho opens his eyes. He smiles broadly. “My friends! Thank you, Mishi, for bringing them to me. And thank you, friends, for coming.” He heaves himself to his feet.
Colson dismounts from the cloud serpent gracefully with a polite, "Thank you, Mishi." And greets the Lorewalker with a bow. "Good afternoon, Lorewalker Cho."
Arric hops smoothly off the cloud serpent's back and approaches the Lorewalker with an outstretched hand. He remembers halfway and stops, bowing instead.
Anareline carefully climbs down from the dragon, into the cold snow of the mountain. "You have made progress with the relic in question?"
Gwen tries to dismount gracefully… and instead gracefully flops down into the snow on her back.
Gwen sighs and summons Pookie to help her up.
"Ah," Colson says, as he turns, reaching back to assist Gwen as well.
Shine, right behind Gwen, had been about to offer the fur-swathed mystery lady a hand, but steps back when he sees others have got it covered. Not as well covered as her furs, but covered.
Arric was too slow to help Gwen.
Anareline looks at Gwen curiously for a moment, as if Gwen just decided to make snow angels.
Lorewalker Cho waits patiently for people to finish collapsing in the snow before he turns to Anareline. “I believe I am reaching harmony with the relic. But I have sensed a disturbance today that suggests time grows short. Someone is searching for the Tongue of Ba-shon. If you will wait with me while I finish my preparations, then I believe we will be ready to venture into the valley today. I will be completely entranced, so I will need you to watch my back.”
"You need not worry while we are here, Lorewalker," Anareline says with a firm nod. "No one will harm you."
Arric also nods firmly.
Colson listens with a faint frown, and inclines his head in agreement.
Shine sets Bun on the ground.
Bun is ready? Bun is confused. So much Clothing is happening to him.
Arric checks his rifle and positions himself.
Colson positions himself somewhat literally near Cho's back, where he can see everyone within his line of sight clearly.
Anareline draws her sword and shield, just in case.
Cho settles back to his meditation mat on the snow and closes his eyes.
Sure enough, barely a moment later there is the crunch of heavy feet in the snow. “LOREWALKER!” bellows a voice, and a mogu warrior emerges from the clouds of blowing snow, flanked by a pair of snarling quilen. “You have something of mine. Clever, hiding out up here, using the elements to shield your tracks. But my quilen could sense the Tongue even here.”
Arric gasps!
“Yachi! Yao! Rip these fools to shreds!” the mogu commands, and the quilen charge.
Arric braces himself and begins firing.
Anareline rushes in to fight the mogu, whirling to strike the quilen with him and distract from her comrades.
Gwen has to rotate her entire body to point her hand at the enemy and PEW PEW!
Shine vanishes, ignoring the quilen to appear behind the mogu.
Bun stands frozen in the snow. Not literally. What is happening? Why Clothed?
Colson encases Lorewalker Cho with a [Hand of Protection] instantly, a shield of the Light.
The mogu, unprepared for the assault, falls.
Lorewalker Cho rises to his feet and brushes snow from his robes. “There we are! Did I miss anything?” He blinks at the mogu corpse in the snow and his expression changes. “Ah. This must be a very powerful relic indeed for them to want it back so badly. It frightens me to think of what else they might find in the tombs.
“Quickly now, friends.” Cho steps forward and holds out a smooth amber pendant shaped like… well, sort of like a disembodied tongue. There are ancient mogu characters etched on it in gold. “The Tongue of Ba-Shon will allow us to communicate across distances. If the relic works the way I believe it does, then I should be able to stay here and continue my meditations while you finish scouting in the Valley of Emperors. Mishi will take you to the edge of the valley so that we can test my theory. I would hate for you to enter the tombs with no way to contact me. Use the relic at the valley’s edge and we will see if I am right.”
"So the tongue was… so that we could scout for you," Anareline sums up. "And report back as needed?"
"What a fascinating relic!" Arric says, leaning forward a bit to peer at it.
"Very useful, indeed," Anareline nods. "Communication can win or lose wars."
Shine does not look excited to take a tongue-shaped amber mogu relic. He waits for someone else to collect it.
Bun looks excited by nothing. He is in Hell. Hell is woolly.
Colson inclines his head to Anareline in agreement. "I can carry it. As a healer, I can keep it protected."
Gwen is all too eager to handle a relic… but currently lacks the manual coordination to do so.
Arric glances toward Gwen, then eyes her swaddled form up and down and looks back to Colson.
"If you are confident you can keep it safe," Anareline nods. "And that whatever its magic is, it will not harm you."
"It is unlikely to with the Light as my shield," Colson says, ever a man of faith.
There is another instant's shimmer in the air and Mishi is once again transport-sized.
"Let us… ride Mishi once again," Anareline looks over at Mishi. She missed the moment again.
Mishi seems to wink at Ana.
Arric eagerly vaults himself onto the front of the cloud serpent, giving her a pat.
Colson accepts the relic, and places it carefully in a bag at his waist.
Anareline climbs onto the cloud serpent’s back.
Colson rides Mishi once again.
"Feel free to hold onto me if you need to!" Arric says to the person behind him.
Gwen tries to hold on to Arric, but mostly leans into him. She's very warm and snuggly.
Arric frees one hand to give Gwen a reassuring pat.
Gwen giggles. "Thanks."
Mishi deposits them at the edge of a ruin paved with carved-stone tiles. Ancient Mogu statues, broken and listing with age and dusted with snow, line the valley’s edges. Braziers burn with unearthly blue flame, and at the center of the terrace, a mogu soul-caller stands channeling before a stone-slab altar. All around him, restless, aimless ghosts drift.
Arric surveys the scene and reloads his rifle.
Anareline settles in the valley, looking around at the obvious dangers with thin lips. She checks over her team, counting heads. Bun included.
Shine slips down into the snow silently and fades from sight.
Bun shuffles in the snow, lifting one paw and then another to consider them suspiciously. Are these… his paws? Where did his body go?
"Colson, you can try the tongue?" Anareline says, very seriously. "I would like to know how it works."
Colson looks out at the surroundings with a neutral expression, and then nods. "Of course."
He tries the tongue for Ana. It's not what it sounds like.
A remarkably vivid apparition of the meditating Cho hovers in the frosty air before them. “Very good!” the Lorewalker’s echoing voice says. “The relic works!”
Anareline looks at the image of Cho with curiosity. "I see. So it is something akin to the draenei communication crystals. Though… perhaps magic."
Arric is a little flushed for some reason.
“It appears there is more going on in the Valley of Emperors than I had anticipated. It is crucial we learn why the mogu are opening the tombs.” Cho gazes around them shrewdly.
“These spirits must have been released when the tombs were opened,” the Lorewalker says. “Death was not final for the mogu. Instead, it was merely a stop on the path to a new body. Spiritbinders used a foul magic to transfer souls from one shell to the next. Years of being trapped in the tombs has left these confused. They need to be destroyed before their confusion turns to anger — or worse, they find a new shell.”
Shine nods curtly at Cho. No one can see it.
"Ah," Colson says. "I recall something similar in Outland, a long time ago, with the death priests of the draenei."
Arric pales at this explanation of mogu metaphysics.
Gwen shivers, nodding. "Yeah… I can still see dead people…."
"That is… one way to obtain immortality," Anareline says, watching the spirits. "But a shell is ordinarily born with its own soul…"
"As can I," Colson says gently to Gwen. "This does not bode well, and goes against all natural order of the Light."
Anareline nods to Colson. "As one who once was immortal, I can say that I am not certain it ever made us better."
Arric considers the ghosts, then fiddles with a setting on his slightly over-engineered rifle.
A ghost falls to their attack. Somehow. It works, okay? It's Azeroth.
Arric has his rifle on "ghost" setting. It's fine.
Colson sets his Light phaser to [Exorcism]. It's super effective!
"Should handle that fellow too," Shine says under his breath, and nods toward the mogu at the altar.
Anareline nods, peering at the caster disapprovingly. She charges in to interrupt him.
"Your victory will be short-lived," chokes the dying mogu.
Gwen peers at the altar. "Hm… now what were you up to, naughty boy?"
"Whatever it is, I am glad we've stopped it," Anareline says, keeping her hands away from the altar.
On the altar before the mogu’s corpse is incised a fiery sigil. Ancient texts and golden relics are arrayed around it, stone tablets and statue-fragments heaped nearby. One massive tome rests open beside the burning ritual mark. Its two covers are slabs of black stone. The entire volume looks far too heavy to be moved with any haste.
Arric seems in no hurry to handle this ominous tome.
Gwen leans against the alter to examine the tome.
Colson frowns at the altar. "Please be cautious," he cautions, as a healer.
"I'm always cautious!" Gwen says. She is not always cautious.
"Of course," Colson agrees to Gwen. "I have the Light to work against a curse, but only the once cast. I could not combat one continually."
"Can we take that?" Shine asks, again under his breath. "Look related, maybe?" The latter is addressed to Gwen.
"The book? It looks heavy," Anareline says. "I do not know if Cho can take it from us."
Shine looks at Gwen for her educated opinion on mysterious scary tomes.
"Be careful, my friend," says Arric to Gwen.
"This thing is as big as me. But if my translations are close, I think we could just take this page." Gwen wriggles an arm free of its fur prison and carefully rips a page out of the tome.
Arric flinches as she rips the page, then relaxes when nothing horrible happens.
Colson casts a [Hand of Protection] over Gwen, just in case.
"See? Super careful." Gwen assures everyone as she does something reckless.
Anareline nods approvingly. Maybe she has no deep feelings about book care.
Shine fades from sight again.
Bun does not know what the hell is happening right now. He shows a distant ghost his tiny teeth.
"Let's get away from these spirits to contact Cho," Anareline says.
Colson gets away from these spirits to contact Cho with his tongue.
The spectral Lorewalker appears once more. “Have you disposed of the spirits yet?”
Shine nods. Again, no one can see him.
"We have, yes," Anareline confirms aloud.
Cho nods. “You have done them a great service. It is a cruel fate to be trapped between the living world and the afterlife.”
Arric shudders.
Colson's face twitches, and grows more neutral.
"It would have been less cruel for them if they had not sought to evade the natural cycle in the first place," Anareline says, and then gestures to Gwen. "We have found something, as well. A book."
"The young lady took a page from it," Arric explains unnecessarily, gesturing to the young lady.
Only one of the ladies is young.
Anareline doesn't really look her age, though. Dragon blessings are great rejuvenators.
Congratulations on not looking ten thousand, Anareline.
Gwen wriggles an arm free again, producing the page and holding it up for Cho. "Here. It looked important."
“Oh? What is that?” Cho’s translucent image peers at the page. “Curious indeed. The text… appears to have been written during the Meng dynasty, but some of the symbols are… wrong.” He frowns. “Hold on to it for now. It will require some study.
“Given the presence of the altar you found in conjunction with the great disturbance of the spirits here, I would guess the mogu were attempting a Spiritbinding ritual. Most of the texts involving Spiritbinding were locked away in the Tomb of Shadows. Perhaps the answer to the question of what the mogu seek lies there.
“Go and look for anything that might help us. The Tomb of Shadows is on the first rise, closest to the old ritual altar there.”
Arric salutes. Then bows. He's confused.
"Ah," Colson says.
"We will look," Anareline says. "I am not sure how to recognize what we seek, but we will look."
Shine nods again invisibly.
"Tomb of Shadows. Cheese and crackers." Gwen grimaces. "That sounds ominous."
"At least they didn't call it something misleading," Arric says to Gwen. "I'd rather know what I'm in for."
There is a troll crouched on the terrace ahead, peering at a scroll.
Arric blinks. "Is that… a troll?"
"That appears to be a troll," Colson confirms.
Anareline charges in immediately.
Arric starts to say something that sounds almost like Trollish, but — Anareline does the thing.
Shine stares down at the massive troll’s gold-ornamented armor and elaborate body paint. “That’s not a Horde troll,” he says. “That’s a bloody Zandalari.” He sweeps the terrace with an uneasy look.
"Zandalari," Arric repeats in fascination. He approaches and studies the corpse's armor and paint.
Gwen waddles up, far more interested in the scroll than the troll.
"What are they doing here?" Arric murmurs, seeming to have at least some context on the subject.
"Zandalari," Anareline repeats, staring down at it. "It has been a long time since my people have significantly dealt with them. A very long time. And yes, why would they be here, in a mogu place?" She looks around warily.
"They must have gotten here fast," Shine says. "When the mist cleared."
"They're the old empire, yes? From the same time period?" Arric confirms.
"They are an ancient race, but it is odd," Colson adds.
Arric nods in agreement with Colson. He also randomly gives Colson's shoulder a friendly squeeze.
"Are they… sailors?" Anareline asks, turning to Shine.
Shine nods and prods the troll's corpse with his boot. "Aye. They've… a navy to rival Kul Tiras." The admission is maybe grudging.
"Oh dear," says Arric.
Shine glances at Arric and nods grimly. "Fallon will have to know."
"We will send a report, as soon as we're done here," Anareline nods. "Our people are not prepared, if they have brought a navy. Admiral Taylor is even still in the mountains."
"I agree, Shine, but perhaps the words 'to rival Kul Tiras' should not be used precisely." Arric smiles wanly. "True or not, I think it would displease him mightily."
Shine regards Arric for a moment and then laughs softly.
Arric grins.
Gwen decides the scroll is too large to carry, but makes a few quick notes in her journal, copying the symbols upon it.
"In the old days," Anareline says quietly, "Their empire was humiliated by the kaldorei. But we are not who we were then. Nor are they, it seems."
"No, and the last contact I had with the Zandalari was in an alliance with them against the Gurubashi, to end the summoning of Hakkar in Zul'Gurub. I cannot fathom this," Colson says back to Ana.
Arric nods at Colson's speech, clearly understanding every word of what might be gibberish to an average Stormwindian.
The mountain winds howl across the Tomb’s mouth, creating a battering, icy vortex. The ruined first chamber within is full of drifted snow… and silent, vigilant mogu warriors. Another painted Zandalari moves among them.
“You be interferin’ wit de wrong empire!” the pale troll snarls, and rushes them.
"We're not trying to interfere!" Gwen protests. "We just need to punch evil in the nose."
The troll, who is on the side of evil, is not swayed by Gwen's protestations. Fortunately he is dead.
Arric looks a bit stressed, but he continues backing the group up with well-placed shots.
"Mogu and Zandalari," Ana murmurs, as they enter the central area of the tomb.
"Colson, I didn't realize you'd been personally involved in the —" Arric's words are cut off as a mogu suddenly strips his flesh from his bones, somehow without killing him. He is a SKELETON. ON FIRE.
Gwen SCREAMS!
Shine is so startled he spontaneously reappears.
Anareline flinches back, whirling around towards Arric.
Arric's mouth opens as though he would also be screaming.
Colson blinks, and [Cleanses] the fire skeleton.
Now Arric is screaming.
"Oh thank the Ti– the Light," he exhales when he sees his flesh is back. He grips Colson's shoulder enthusiastically in gratitude.
Colson puts a gentle hand on Arric's now re-fleshed body.
Now it's a side-hug.
"What foul magic…" Anareline says in horror.
"I had no idea they could do that," Arric says in the tone he might if someone had committed a serious social error at a tea party.
"Neither did I," Colson says. He gives Arric a gentle squeeze. "It will be all right."
Arric lays his hand over Colson's and squeezes back.
"Nor I, truly," Anareline says. "Let's see what we can find and get out of here."
Gwen rushes up to try to hug Arric, but mostly just bumps fuzzily into him. "Are you okay?!"
Arric hugs Gwen back. "I'm all right," he says. Absently he gives her a brotherly little kiss on the head, seeming too distracted by his recent trauma to realize the impropriety.
"Tablet over there." Shine points toward what the mogu had been studying.
Anareline fights over in the direction of the indicated tablet.
Gwen waddles excitedly up to the tablet, eager for rubbing. Frustrated by her restricted movement, she grumbles and strips…off the fur robe, revealing her normal robe underneath.
Anareline watches Gwen. "Hopefully it is warm enough out of the wind."
Gwen nods with a grimace to Ana. "Me too. Maybe Pookie can be a wind block."
Bun tentatively bites a dead troll's toe. He is beginning to feel like himself again. He has figured out where his feets are.
"Bun, don't eat that," Arric says firmlly.
Shine glances down. "Oh, aye. Bun. No."
"To speak of your earlier comment, yes, I was there, at the Alliance's efforts in Zul'Gurub, many years ago," Colson says to Arric.
Arric's eyes light up a bit, though the spark is a bit feebler than usual. "We'll have to talk about that more later," he says. "I'm very interested in troll culture and history."
"Ah, of course." Colson agrees.
Arric does not mention that he accidentally helped bring a dead Gurubashi warlord back to life a while ago.
"There was a thing not long ago, too, wasn't there?" Anareline pauses for a long moment, trying to retrieve memory. "The Zandalari attempting to… unite the tribes?" She frowns. "Something in the newsletter, while I was at the Molten Front."
"Aye, they were… not our allies lately," Shine says. "Fallon was hunting them off Stranglethorn. Something to do with — aye, the tribes."
"Ah, then your people were closer to it," Anareline says. "Fallon should certainly be involved."
"We should definitely review all of this information when we're not under attack," Arric says. "It seems very important now."
"Unification may have an impact here, yes," Colson agrees.
To Ana, Shine says, "He didn't find any. It was Cobalt's people who handled it, though."
"Perhaps we can all join Fallon for dinner sometime soon!" Arric suggests brightly.
"I would enjoy that," Colson says. "Mordecai would be glad to see him again."
"Excellent!" says Arric. "It's settled."
Anareline blinks. Was she included in that?
A mogu ritualist and one of the Zandalari together channel shadows into a nearby stone statue.
Ope, now they’re dead.
Beyond the fallen mogu and troll lies a final tablet to be rubbed.
Arric is perfectly willing to let others do the rubbing.
Anareline leaves the rubbing to the experts.
Bun snuffles at the tablet and sneezes. He is inexpert.
"I hope these carry some of the answers that Cho desires," Anareline says. "And we desire."
"Summon him?" Shine suggests. He seems increasingly uneasy in the presence of the Zandalari.
Colson inclines his head as he uses the tongue for their desires.
Anareline looks to Shine, faint concern in her eyes.
“Ah!” says the ghostly Lorewalker. “What did you find?”
Arric can't help but smile warmly at the sight of Cho.
"Zandalari trolls," Shine answers curtly. He gestures at Gwen for the tablet rubbings.
"And tablets," Anareline supplies. "We took rubbings of them, if you would like to see."
Gwen proudly presents the results of her rubbings.
“The Zandalari and the Mogu have rekindled their ancient alliance? What? Why now?” Cho scans the three tablet-rubbings. “These are all fragments of the history of that alliance. But its purpose…?” He frowns.
“The mogu have been scattered and scarce for many years,” Lorewalker Cho says. “The Zandalari cannot have arrived with an army either, or we would surely have noticed. I am afraid their purpose in this valley begins to make sense. With the great many restless spirits housed here, they can build themselves an army.”
The Lorewalker’s eyes widen with sudden alarm. “The Tomb of Secrets housed the elite warriors called the Emperor’s Shield. They must not be resurrected! That tomb is on the highest rise to the southwest. Go quickly!”
"Ah," Colson says.
"They have shells prepared, then," Anareline says, her eyes widening. "For all these souls."
Arric has lost a shade of color again.
Bun growls. Probably just at a bug? Maybe at his own foot.
Colson murmurs a prayer to the Light, blessing the group, as he goes quickly.
Anareline nods politely to Cho and then moves quickly.
The mouth of the tomb ahead is guarded by another Zandalari Shadow Hunter. “Da Zandalari were meant to have this land!” he cries, and charges at them.
Colson frowns faintly.
Anareline bashes the troll with her shield, and steps between him and her allies.
Arric spots some birds flocking on the rocks above and splashes something from a vial onto the troll. The birds dive down off the rock, pecking at the troll en masse.
"They want Pandaria?" Anareline says with a frown. "Raising a new empire, perhaps?"
"So it would seem," Colson agrees.
"That's bad," Shine observes neutrally.
Within the tomb, a pair of Zandalari guards stand at the foot of a short staircase. At the top of the stairs, a massive pale troll in the headdress of a witch doctor stands facing a row of stone mogu.
"There, the army!" Anareline calls. "We cannot let them succeed."
As the second of his guards falls, the Zandalari witch doctor turns toward them, sneering. “Ya can’t stop what has begun!” he gloats. Behind him, one of the stone mogu shifts, its stone surface rippling, and then it hefts its podao and charges at them.
Arric changes the setting on his rifle and takes aim.
“Can you feel it?” the witch doctor shouts. “Da Thunder is getting closer….”
A second mogu statue shakes itself to life and attacks, and then a third. “Dese guardians are just de beginning!” the Zandalari calls.
Anareline moves from stone warrior to stone warrior as they attack.
"Snickerdoodles!" Gwen exclaims at the sudden onslaught, unleashing many an arcane missile, accompanied by a "pew pew!"
Colson makes a faint sound as a spirit binding temporarily roots him in place for a fraction of a second, before the paladin's hand swiftly frees himself. Paladins laugh in the face of status effects. Hahaha!
Colson doesn't laugh though. He stays focused on keeping the others healed, and slamming hammers to stun the statues trying to do terrible things to his squad.
“Enough!” cries the troll. “I’ll handle you myself!”
(He does not.)
As he falls, the troll’s features twist in a malevolent grin. “My death will not stop da coming storm,” he croaks. “Da Thunder King will rise!”
Arric stares in fascination at the fallen troll's mace, which is gilded and gemmed and has a turquoise-eyed skull carved onto it.
Shine stares at the mace in revulsion.
"The Thunder King," Anareline says. "It is not the first time we have heard that name."
Shine steps away from the dead. "Summon the Lorewalker." Oh, someone's bossy now.
Colson summons the Lorewalker.
“What is it?” The Lorewalker’s image stares.
Arric barely even manages a smile this time.
"We know something of what they want," Anareline says seriously. "The Thunder King will rise, they said."
“The mogu and the Zandalari intend to resurrect the Thunder King?” Cho closes his eyes briefly. “My friends. This… cannot happen. The Thunder King will rain destruction on this land with his return.”
"Then we must stop it," Anareline says. "What is this Thunder King? What must we do?"
“The Thunder King.” Cho is silent for a moment and then sighs.
“‘Pandaria, her hills of gold
In dark and mournful times of old
Did once a hopeless horror hold
When from her sacred vale did spring
With storm and flash, a monstrous thing
His name Lei Shen, the Thunder King…’
“Lei Shen was the first emperor of the mogu, the most powerful of their warlords. He stole the power of storms from the titan keeper Ra, and forged the mogu clans into their great and terrible empire. Not by alliance, but by killing rival clan leaders or breaking them with torture.
“He was ruthless in his rise, and once he had built his empire, he came to view his dominion in Pandaria as absolute, all living things as his servants. He conquered both the jinyu and the hozen — crushing the jinyu with the help of their hozen former allies, who betrayed them in the false hope of mercy under the Thunder King’s reign.
“When he marched on Kun-Lai Summit, he was faced by Xuen, the White Tiger — and defeated the Celestial in single combat, in a battle that lasted for thirty days and thirty nights. And when Xuen had been defeated, Lei Shen declared that he would not be granted the mercy of death, but would be imprisoned eternally in the mountains to watch his own failure as the peoples of Pandaria were enslaved to the Thunder King’s will.”
The Lorewalker shakes his head again heavily. “The mogu and the Zandalari must not be permitted to resurrect Lei Shen. Our only hope is to find his remains before they do. He must be buried in the Tomb of Conquerors. I do not think it will be easy to reach him. But the Tomb is directly below you. Follow the dirt path. And hurry!”
Arric is ghost-pale. "He… stole from the Titans? Defeated a Celestial?"
Cho nods grimly.
Arric sits down.
"He was defeated once," Anareline says quietly. "One thing that I know about empires is that they fall. Whatever happens, we must remember that."
Shine offers Arric a hand up. "We need to go."
Arric takes a deep breath, nods, and leans heavily on Shine to rise.
"If they are doing this now, there is no time to waste," Anareline nods.
Colson sets a comforting hand on Arric's shoulder, looking grim and serious. "'With the power of the Light, you can overcome anything,'" he quotes.
"Yes," Arric says fervently to Colson. He really seems to be getting into this Light stuff. No one tell Siamus.
Arric activates his little mechanical dragonling. He might be missing Rica.
"Down here," Anareline says. "This is what's just below."
Arric shudders but presses forward.
The entrance to this tomb is a long corridor of steep stairs. The braziers here have been lit with the same eerie blue-violet flames as the ones on the first terrace. The cold is penetrating, bleeding from the very stone of walls and floor.
At the foot of the stairs is a single broad tile inscribed with a painted symbol of arrows in flight. In the chamber beyond, other tiles are inscribed with a variety of similar symbols.
Anareline pauses at the bottom of the stairs, and holds up a hand to stop the others.
Colson stops immediately.
Arric is pale and breathing fast and shallow, but he doesn't hesitate even a little until Ana gives the signal.
Shine is visible only where the cloud of his breath hangs in the air. Cold is bad for stealth.
"This looks… suspicious," Anareline says, eyeing the tiles. "Let me go first, see what happens."
Colson readies the Light.
As Anareline moves cautiously onto the tile, carved serpent-heads in the wall ahead of them reveal their true purpose, as a barrage of arrows is fired from both sides of the corridor.
Arric jumps about two feet in the air when the traps go off.
"Ah. Traps," Colson observes.
"Mustard burps!" Gwen exclaims!
"Of course, in a place like this," Ana says wearily. "Be careful, everyone. Watch your feet. I have no idea what other traps may be in store."
"Spent now," Shine suggests.
Arric remains at the back of the formation, but not out of any reluctance — simply because that's the place of the guy with the rifle.
Colson is careful now. Well, also always.
"We still have to get there, to stop them," Anareline says grimly. "We'll just have to keep an eye out for traps along the way."
Yes, one eye, she knows her team.
Colson keeps an eye out.
A tile painted with flames shimmers to life with glowing red heat, and then bursts into a gout of flame as they tread too close.
A lightning-painted tile crackles ominously, lifting the hair of those around it with static, and moments later lightning strikes the tile.
Shine crouches beside another painted tile. "Can't disarm them," he admits unhappily. "Don't know what the mechanism is."
"Let's maybe avoid the painted tiles." Gwen says.
A tile painted with clouds throws Arric into the air.
Arric shrieks!
Who knew he was a soprano?
Colson catches Arric in a [Hand of Protection].
"Arric!" Anareline shouts, as he falls to the ground. "Are you well?"
Arric breeeeeathes.
"I'm fine, I'm fine — thanks to our healer." Arric gives Colson a wobbly smile.
Colson gives Arric a faint smile in return.
Bun wanders toward a painted tile and Shine appears from stealth to grab the knotted scarf and yoink the tanuki backward. Bun squalls an objection.
Colson takes very careful steps, going last, keeping everyone in his line of sight.
Ghosts drift and mill harmlessly in the chamber ahead, troubled and vague. A pair of quilen flank a central stone altar, before which rests a carved stone coffer.
The way to both altar and coffer is barred by a massive mogu warrior brandishing a heavy, spiked hammer. He appears to have been made of terracotta, but his eyes gleam with malevolent life.
Anareline eyes the large warrior. "We will have to fight our way through as well."
Arric seems to mostly be concentrating on staying vertical and focused.
"Oooh, look," Gwen pokes at the fallen guardian. "More of the clay ones."
"This coffer," Anareline stares at it. "Whatever is inside must be valuable to them. We should take it."
Inside the coffer rests a fragment of a stone tablet — but no sooner has the coffer lid been moved than the stone quilen spring to snarling life.
Anareline leaps back to defend the team from the quilen.
The quilen shatter under the quick, collective onslaught.
"And a scroll," Anareline says, gesturing to the one nearby. "If anyone can read it?"
"I can give it a try." Gwen refreshes her spell of [Dalaran Brilliance] and examines the scroll.
Anareline watches Gwenivene at her work.
"Oooh, interesting," Gwen murmurs aloud. "It describes how the mogu have a rather utilitarian view of their dead, both soul and body. They reuse them. It's actually a huge honor to be buried fully intact."
Arric just takes some deep breaths and stares at a bit of blank stone.
Anareline's expression darkens. "They reuse… bodies and souls. This is an abomination."
Shine paces stealthily around the altar, possibly looking for more trap mechanisms.
"’Here lies the Valley of Emperors, the resting grounds of a hundred generations of warlords, kings, and emperors who once ruled this land.’" Gwen grimaces. "Uh… ‘Grave-rob at your own risk!’"
Arric dabs a bit of sweat from his hairline.
"I see," Colson says.
"Well, we are not the only robbers here today," Anareline says. "But we are the ones here to prevent the rise of a new empire."
"More tiles ahead," Shine reports. "And… that."
(‘That’ is another terracotta warrior.)
Anareline quickly leaps to attack.
Again the hall’s entrance is marked by an arrow-inscribed tile.
Colson makes another hm sound.
"We know what to do here," Anareline nods. "Careful, everyone."
"More traps," Arric says wanly. "How delightful."
Shine steps carelessly (!) and gets flung in the air. Bun squeaks in dismay.
Arric gasps!
Colson's [Hand of Protection] goes out to Shine.
Anareline glances over to make sure Shine lands on his feet. Metaphorically speaking, but also kind of literally.
Shine lands harmlessly on his feet within the bubble and nods to Colson.
Bun bites the bubble! How dare bubble attack Shine?
The bubble vibes peacefully.
"Shine, what happened?" Arric asks in concern. "Are you fatigued?"
Shine shakes his head wearily. "In my head," he says. "About the trolls." He takes a deep breath and settles into his usual impassivity.
Arric nods. "I understand. Onward, then."
Anareline looks at Shine for another long moment, and then nods.
"We are none of us perfect," Colson says gently. "It is all right."
Two more huge terracotta warriors stand in this chamber, armed with podao. As soon as the Cobalt squad steps into the room, a second one steps down from a niche in the wall. Between them hangs what looks like the upper fragment of the tablet-piece from within the coffer.
"Still, we press on," Anareline says, and charges in.
Colson presses on.
"Here, does this look like it would fit with the one we found in the coffer?" Anareline asks.
"Aye," Shine tells Ana.
Anareline tries to fit the tablets together. "We should call in Cho. He may have insight on this."
"Let's tongue him!" Gwen declares.
Shine, who had opened his mouth to speak, closes it to turn and look at Gwen.
"Understood," Colson says, as he tongues Cho.
The Lorewalker looks relieved to see them. “Have you learned where the Thunder King is buried?”
"We've found a tablet," Anareline gestures. "Does this help?"
The Lorewalker peers at the reconstructed tablet. He reads aloud, “‘Under Kun-Lai Thunder sleeps… The storm long spent there rests… But blood of brother kingdom keeps… Alive the dispossessed… By Zandalari blood he will be taken… To Zandalari voice he will awaken…’”
Arric sits down again.
As if on cue, in the distance rises a commotion of voices. “… secure da remains!” one cries.
Arric stands up at the voices.
"No…" Anareline says, turning towards the voices.
Bun growls!
Shine is already moving toward the door as he vanishes.
Arric's jaw muscles twitch and clench as he fights to keep mastery over himself.
“Oh, no,” breathes the Lorewalker. “They have found him. Quickly, we must learn where they are taking the remains!”
"Oooh, this is baaad! We've gotta stop them from waking up the Thunder King!" Gwen laments.
The chamber outside, previously occupied only by drifting ghosts and the stone quilen, is now swarming with Zandalari warriors.
"Now we fight Zandalari," Anareline says grimly.
Arric takes some measured breaths, checks his rifle, and aims.
Shine appears behind a troll and cuts its throat.
Anareline draws her sword and fights the Zandalari with ferocity.
The sharp reports of Arric's rifle echo almost painfully in the huge, cavernous tomb.
Colson is a calm bastion as he keeps everyone in his line of sight.
Shine stuns a troll running toward Gwen.
Gwen gives Shine a grateful smile. "Thanks."
Arric activates his little dragonling again.
The dragonling always exhausts itself after several minutes, sinking inert to the floor, and Arric always packs it up again neatly and moves on.
Tucked in a fallen troll warrior’s belt is a folded piece of parchment. It appears to be a map, but it is stained heavily with dried blood, and the lines that can be made out seem to waver and shift.
"What is that…?" Arric says feebly.
Anareline gestures Colson over. "Quickly. Call Cho."
Colson quickly calls Cho.
“What have you found?” Cho asks.
Anareline kneels to pull the paper free. "A map, it looks like. We do not know this land as you do."
The Lorewalker studies the map, looking apprehensive. “Ah, my friends. This is dark Zandalari blood magic. Once we are finished with it, we will have to burn it.” He hesitates. “Also you should wash your hands.”
Anareline drops the shifting paper.
“One of you should bring the map to me at my camp. I will have to figure out how to break the enchantment to read the map. I will contact you as soon as it is done, so that we can pursue the Zandalari. Let us hope a ritual of this magnitude will take them time to prepare.” The Lorewalker seems to have aged decades in the course of the afternoon.
Anareline looks at her hands, and then the others. "I have already touched it. I can bear its poison, if poison there is."
Shine looks at Colson. "Can you — ?" he gestures at Ana. You know, do a Light thing?
"I can, yes," Colson agrees. "Poison will not affect me, and I have the Light's protection."
"Then we entrust it to you," Anareline nods.
Arric looks a bit fretfully at Colson.
Colson [Cleanses] Ana, then takes up the blood magic, casting a [Cleanse] on himself.
Anareline shakes her hands, as if to dislodge any lingering troll magic.