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| Details |
| Author: | MrMook |
| Summary: | Blue Squad tracks Suna to a yaungol village lost to Sha madness; Atley nearly succumbs to his own hatred before being pulled back, while Peixin protects, Shun stays disciplined, Kenelly endures the Sha’s touch, and Arric steadies the group—reaching Suna too late and learning the fight is within. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Atley steps out of one of the repurposed yaungol yurts, adjusting his bracers. He squints out into the dim Townlong sunlight.
Shun is outside, examining some of the weapons and supplies the Shado-Pan have.
Atley spots Shun and marches over. He points out a weapon made of a long piece of wood with a blade attached. "Has the look of a halberd, but they call it a 'guandao.'"
Kenelly emerges moments later, stretching. The stretch extends, literally, as her limbs elongate and her body grows a coat of light brown and white fur.
Arric approaches Atley and Shun with a smile. "Good afternoon, gentlemen."
Shun grunts a greeting to the both of them, then looks to the polearm, "Similar weapon."
"Arric. Kenelly," Atley says, looking uuup at the latter. "How's the day?"
"Ah, good afternoon, L- Kennelly. Good afternoon, Kenelly!" says Arric.
"Good afternoon, my friends," Kenelly says in a cheerful, if somewhat gravelly voice.
"Right then," Atley begins. "That's us all sorted. A bit of word on the movements of our sister squad 'fore we get started today…"
Shun lifts his head.
Peixin appears besides the group. "Nice, we should do these little updates more often."
Atley nods off to the right, away from Alin the Finder, and steps over to a more secluded area. "White Squad has taken on a perilous task. They'll be cut off from us and the rest of the world for some time. They're venturing deep into the 'Dread Wastes,' to the south, far beyond the wall." Atley explains, thumbs cinching in his belt.
Kenelly unconsciously lets out a small canine whimper at the mention of 'Dread Wastes'.
Shun slowly nods. This doesn't seem like news to him.
"Their mission is a secretive one. We'll not advertise it to anyone outside of the Company, but if asked by any of our allies in or out of the country, we'll not lie, either," he says, looking between them. "Their fates'll be on my mind, but the best way we can support them is by focusing on our tasks at hand. Completing our work here, so if they're in need of rescue or support, we can back them fully, without regret or hesitation, with a pacified Townglong Steppes behind us. Understood?"
Shun nods once.
Kenelly nods emphatically. "Yes, of course."
"Who is on White Squad?" Arric asks.
Peixin tilts her head to the side and sighs. "I wish that 'We won't tell our secrets but we won't lie either' policy was in place when I was pestering everyone from your company before joining!"
"The mission has changed. It'll likely keep doing that," Atley explains to Peixin before he turns to Arric. "Its squad leader is Anareline Silvershade. There's Almeiria Fey, Sir Colson Aspenwood, Costentyn Shine, and Estel Herald."
Arric nods, his eyes full of concern. "Tides and Light carry them," he says quietly, eyes a little sad for a moment.
Atley grunts and nods. "Now. Let's get into it. We've still war to win here."
Shun grunts.
"Bearheart," Atley greets sternly with a nod.
"Cobalt Company," Ban greets them grimly. "I am glad you are here. I went to answer a signal fire on the wall, and when I returned, Suna was gone. The others say that she spoke of a need to hunt down the source of the yaungol aggression, and then she took her things and headed down the road to the east. I cannot allow her to venture into dangerous territory alone. I am taking a group of soldiers to push further east. We are leaving shortly. Will you join our caravan?"
Shun furrows his brow.
"But of course," Kenelly says, then looks to Atley. "That is, I assume so?"
Atley looks to Kenelly and nods. "Aye, we're up for it." Atley gestures to the wagon off to his left and marches over. "All aboard, you lot."
Peixin rubs her eyes. "When did that happen?" she mutters to herself. "I've been keeping an eye on her for a week…"
Atley looks to Peixin. "Like you, I warrant she can avoid being seen, if she wishes."
Shun swings on up into the wagon with one smooth motion.
Arric settles in to enjoy the ride. Rica runs along behind.
Atley pulls himself aboard.
Peixin shrugs. "Ugh, people like that are the worst!" she giggles, then blinks at Shun.
"…." Shun catches that gaze.
Kenelly waits a moment…but when nobody offers a hand to help her large form up onto the wagon, she climbs up herself and settles in.
At the back of the cart, where she is seated beside Ban Bearheart, Yalia Sagewhisper observes, "Ban, you look worried."
"Yes, well…" Ban shakes his head. "It's not like Suna to run off by herself."
"She must be torn by grief over her husband's death," Yalia says.
"She blames me, you know," Ban answers heavily.
"That may be," Yalia says gently, "but it was no one's fault."
Shun glances over at the two pandaren as they converse.
Ban sighs. "I should have taken the risk and sent the order to attack."
Atley glances over as well before shifting his gaze back to the terrain.
"You did what you thought was best," Yalia tells him. "No commander has the foresight to see the future."
"But now… she hates me," says Ban.
"You swore the Shado-Pan blood oath together, did you not?" Yalia asks. "You are bound together by powers far stronger than hatred. She cannot hate you. At least… not forever." Yalia laughs.
Arric listens to the two pandaren with sympathy in his eyes, but stays quiet.
Ban slumps glumly. "I hope so, Yalia."
"Look!" calls Xiao Tu from the front of the cart. "Suna's tracks lead into the village ahead!"
Peixin poisons her blades, listening to the conversation, pretending she isn't.
"Ugh." Yalia Sagewhisper coughs and puts a paw over her nose. "What is that stench?"
Atley frowns and sits up, glaring over the side of the wagon as they're hit by the scent of death.
"Death," Shun mutters.
"It looks like the site of… a massacre," says Xiao Tu uneasily.
Kenelly's nose twitches and she recoils. "Oh no…"
Arric pulls out an embroidered handkerchief and holds it against his nose. A faint scent of cologne wafts from it to those next to him.
The earth is black and trampled. Oil spilled from toppled and broken barrels slicks the ground and bubbles sluggishly. Smoke rises in columns. And everywhere, dead yaungol lie heaped in the black mud. Hyenas and vultures vie for the feast.
Ban Bearheart speaks up from the back of the wagon. "It's too quiet. We should check this out."
"But this place reeks of death!" Yalia protests.
"Suna's tracks stop here," Ban says firmly, "which means so do we. We won't leave until we find her. Everyone out!"
Arric obeys, but he looks paler than usual.
Atley looks to the Company. "You heard the man — let's move." Atley hops out of the wagon, the weight of his gear sinking him an extra inch or two into the mud.
Shun grunts as he hops off, looking around their surroundings carefully.
Rica catches up to the group and looks around with keen bright blue eyes, assessing the carnage. She makes soft clacking sounds with a vaguely ominous quality.
Peixin seems to be tuning out the smell as best she can. She jumps out of the wagon and runs her hand through the soil, trying to find any potential trace of the Sha.
Ban looks around grimly as the others pull the wagon off the road and begin to set out fragrant torches around the site. "If we are to make camp here," he says, "we cannot leave all these bodies lying to rot. Cobalt Company — take one of those torches and set fire to the villagers’ corpses. The incense from the torch should purify the air and earth around them, as well. Even our enemies deserve to be laid to rest."
Kenelly watches Peixin curiously. "What is it that you're doing?"
"Trying to see if the Sha has any thing to do with what happened," Peixin answers, getting up and clapping her hands together. "Can you detect any corruption in the land around?"
Atley nods and reaches for a torch before he looks over at Peixin and Kenelly.
"I have never tried to sense the corruption of the Sha in the land," Kenelly says with a curious note in her voice. "I suppose I could try."
Arric looks curiously at Peixin and Kenelly. Rica is still looking at the piled corpses.
"The ground has not visibly been corrupted yet but…" Shun shrugs.
Kenelly kneels and sinks her claws into the earth, closing her eyes. She murmurs a soft prayer in an old Gilnean tongue.
"I feel like after people, the ground is the second best way to know if a place has seen sha corruption," Peixin shrugs. "I'm not an expert yet!"
"Estel has mentioned it feels similar to the Void. If you can pick up on that at all," Shun adds.
Atley grunts.
A soft green aura surrounds Kenelly's hands, and when she opens her eyes, the same glow emanates from them. "I…don't sense any-…" She suddenly whips her head back and yelps, stumbling back onto her bottom!
Arric rushes to try to help her up.
Peixin kneels and puts a hand on Kenelly's back. "You okay?"
Atley knits his brow and rushes to her side. "Kenelly," he growls, as if to ground her.
Shun furrows his brow, then looks around.
Kenelly just clings to Arric, tears wetting the fur around her eyes. "For a moment…I have never felt such awful hatred!"
"This seems like a bad sign," Arric says.
Atley turns to shoot a knowing look at Shun.
Shun's eyes narrow as he hears this, nodding as he catches Atley's look.
"Come on, then, less. Let's get you up. You've just given us a taste of wot' we're up against," Atley says, moving to help left Kenelly with his substantial strength.
"All right, that sounds like the sha," Peixin looks at Shun and Atley. "We should find Suna fast."
Arric also helps! With… less substantial strength.
Kenelly politely shifts forms to make it easier to help her up. "Thank you."
"Aye," Atley says to Peixin, before he turns back to Ban Bearheart. "We'll still by the burning the bodies, Bearheart."
"We best quickly clean up these bodies first as requested then," Shun states.
Ban gestures out at the carrion fields. "And while you are there, try to drive off the scavengers who already stalk the village. They are dangerous not only because they will attack but because they will spread diseases if they do."
Kenelly glances between Peixin and Arric, her eyes still haunted by whatever she felt.
"Oh, and Xiao Tu — " Ban looks over at the scout, who steps up willingly. "Go with the Cobalt team, please. We need to figure out what happened here, and I see smoke rising from several directions. Go and find the sources."
Atley looks to Xiao Tu and nods. "Right."
Peixin gently pats Kenelly's back. "Never felt the Sha before?"
"I've not had much direct contact with it either," Arric admits. "Not like some of the other squads."
Kenelly shakes her head, giving Peixin a worried look. "No…I haven't. I've seen what it can do. But…I've never touched it like that."
Yalia, who has been gazing out at the desolation bleakly, turns to the group. "Wait. I can see yaungol totems around the camp. Obviously they were not for protection. I have a suspicion that there were dark forces at work here," she says, eyeing Kenelly. " — and would like to examine some of the totems further. Will you bring me some? But please, handle them carefully."
Rica goes to stand alarmingly close to Atley.
Atley doubletakes Rica before he gives Yalia a stern look. "We'll get those to you."
Kenelly nods solemnly to Yalia. "Yes, of course. We will be supremely careful."
"I don’t want to know what happened here," one Shado-Pan ranger murmurs to another. "It looks like something from a nightmare."
Arric says, "Rica, follow."
Peixin smiles at Kenelly. We protect friends. The pandaren disappears, her hand lingering on her teammate's shoulder a little bit before she moves away.
"From what I can tell, there were no sides in this fight," XIao Tu says, bewildered. "Why would the yaungol kill each other in a free-for-all?"
Rica makes a slightly annoyed noise as people start disposing of all the snacks.
Kenelly calls out, "Look here! This must be one of the totems."
Atley grunts before he looks at Xiao Tu. "Work of the Sha. We can beat wot'ever evil's here. Stay together."
Kenelly digs out the earth around the totem, then carefully pulls it up, specifically avoiding touching any of the painted markings on it.
Atley observes Kenelly's thorough caution and gives a nod of approval.
Arric watches Kenelly with interest and obvious respect.
Shun swiftly blindsides a hyena that was busy gorging itself.
"The Squads've encountered the Sha before. They've tested us, but we've won," Atley explains, glancing at Kenelly.
"It's no easy thing to feel them directly, mm?" Atley asks.
Peixin tilts her head at something. She reappears next to a scroll and begins reading it. "Uh."
Kenelly gives Atley a solemn nod. "It was like being burned and frozen at the same time. Just so…so hateful. The word doesn't begin to describe it properly."
"We've got you," Atley says reassuringly, before he looks to Peixin. "Mm?"
"What is it?" Shun asks.
Kenelly lingers by Rica for comfort, offering her a meaty snack and gently petting the back of her neck.
"It's a scroll about the Yaungol's history. It's unclear what their origins are, but they were part of a few tribes of 'bovine' hunters before the Sundering." Peixin explains.
Rica lets out a friendly trill and noses Kenelly.
Then she runs to stand right next to Atley again.
"Stuck in dangerous lands, they had to adapt and become a loooot more agressive."
Atley grunts and turns to the others before Rica crowds him again. " — Arric…" he begins patiently.
Arric says, "Rica, follow."
Rica obeys and goes to Arric.
"Why is she on me?" Atley asks Arric.
"A few tribes? Interesting," Kenelly says. "Could that mean there really is a connection to the tauren and taunka?"
Arric glances at Rica and then says quietly to Atley, "I'll explain later." As though he were talking about a human teenager.
"Are the tauren tribes of hunters?" Peixin asks.
"Among other things, but yes," Kenelly says to Peixin.
"Nomads," Atley says. "Not unlike these yaungol."
"They fought over their food supplies," Xiao Tu says slowly. "It looks like rather than sharing their food, someone destroyed it all. Why would they do that?"
"Suna…" Shun utters.
"Look, I see some of Suna's things!" Xiao Tu exclaims. "She must have made camp here. But where is she?" He shades his eyes and looks around futilely.
"She can't be far," Atley says to Xiao Tu. "Let's keep moving."
Shun crouches by the supplies to look them over for a bit, then nods.
"Rica," Arric says quietly to the raptor, almost inaudible to the rest of the group but not quite. "I believe Sir Atley prefers that there be some space between him and other people. Space?" he repeats, to be sure she understands.
Rica gives a little nod, a motion she's learned these types of people understand.
Atley squints at Rica's nod and slowly nods, himself.
"Honestly, burning the food supplies of a group of people who are quick to draw their blades, so they kill each other?" Peixin looks a little impressed. "I can respect Suna's strategy."
"Too bad it was probably not really her strategy and more likely… corruption," Peixin shrugs.
"Bloody aggressive," Atley concedes to Peixin. "Certainly took pressure off of the wall, but as we know, intensity like this in Pandaria's unsustainable."
Xiao Tu gazes down at one of the bodies. "It's the yaungol chief, slain just like the rest. Seems even he could not keep order in the final fight."
Rica takes the opportunity to hunt and snack on one of the carrion birds that's swarming a pile of yaungol corpses.
Atley grunts, taking a moment to observe the Palewind Chief. "Let's keep at it. A few more totems and we'll be sorted."
"Rica," says Arric in a mildly disapproving tone, "you aren't imagining eating Singer right now, are you?" Rica stares back at him with as innocent a look as a raptor is capable of. Which isn't very innocent.
"You okay with the totems?" Peixin asks Kenelly.
Atley looks to Arric and frowns. "'Singer?'"
"My condor," Arric says with a wry smile. "She and Rica don't get along."
Shun raises a brow.
Atley grunts. "My gryphon has a mind to kill my hound. Ornery bastard."
Arric chuckles sympathetically. Beasts gonna beast.
"We've enough. Let's get back," Atley says.
Kenelly nods to Peixin. She is hauling the totems in her arms, ever careful to avoid touching the glyphs. "Yes. It's not like feeling through the earth."
"You are properly strong, Kenelly," Atley says, praising her worgen form.
Peixin nods to Kenelly.
Kenelly chuckles softly. "It's still a bit strange, even after all this time. I was never particularly strong before the change."
"Wait there, Rica," Arric says, pointing.
"Thank you for your help," says Ban. "We cannot know exactly what happened here, but it’s clear that something caused the yaungol to turn on one another. What kind of power could do this?"
Atley gestures to Kenelly. "We've acquired a number of the yaungol totems."
"Let me have a look at those totems," Yalia Sagewhisper says firmly. "Perhaps we can find our answer."
Kenelly gently places the totems in a stack on the ground.
"Ahh," Yalia exhales. "Indeed. These totems were once used to store and conduct immense magical energies. I… believe I can use them once again to perform a cleansing ritual."
Arric looks deeply impressed by Yalia.
"If I can help in any way, I would be honored to," Kenelly says to Yalia.
One of the rangers takes Arric aside briefly and appears to be complaining about his gun. The pandaren offers Arric a spare bow that is actually quite an impressive weapon. Arric inclines his head gratefully, accepting the weapon.
"Here, come and help me," Yalia says to Kenelly. She gathers a few of the totems. "Follow me. We will use my own totems to purify the earth."
Yalia arranges the yaungol totems in a circle, and places her three larger totems among them. "Help me by placing your hands on each of my totems in turn," she says, and begins to channel a spell.
Atley stands back and observes Yalia and Kenelly with one of his regular glares.
Kenelly moves to each totem, channelling life magic through them.
The first totem glimmers to life, and emanates a sense of peace.
The second totem gleams, spreading a radiant sense of well-being.
The third totem flickers erratically like a candle flame, and then streamers of black and white smoke wreath the circle. A sha leaps from the earth.
Kenelly cries out!
Shun steps back with narrowed eyes and blades in hands as the familiar smoke appears.
"No!" cries Yalia, as the camp all around them begins to boil with sha energy and restless yaungol spirits rise from the earth. "Quickly! Inside the circle!" She plants another totem and a pool of golden radiance spreads.
Peixin unsheaths her daggers and disappears in the shadows.
Arric faints. Just faceplants right onto the ground. Luckily, inside the circle.
"Get him up!" Atley barks, pointing at Arric, as he leaps inside of the circle.
"We look upon the true face of hatred!" Yalia gasps. "Now it makes sense. This is the work of the sha."
"Oh no…" Peixin grabs Arric by the shoulders. "Wakey wakey!" She shakes hims with urgency.
Shun looks down at Arric.
Kenelly is briefly enveloped by tendrils of Sha energy. She pulls free and stumbles into the circle.
Arric stirs, looking embarrassed, and sits up.
Atley glares outside of the circle and briefly eyes Arric before he nudges Kenelly with his shield. "Alright, then?"
"Ah… yes… sorry, was just… I was not expecting that…" Arric gets to his feet, going from too-pale to too-red at the speed of Ginger.
Kenelly shudders, which extends into a full body shake, as if shaking off water from her coat. "I…I'll be fine."
Peixin pulls out some bandages and bandage an invisible wound on Arric's arm. "Don't worry, I saw that weapon hit you fast. Thankfully you're safe. That bandage should keep the blood in!" Peixin winks at him.
Arric grins at Peixin gratefully.
"Right. Steady on, you lot. The only way past this is through it," Atley enunciates sharply.
Arric looks around, trying to get his bearings and take in the horrific scene. He does not faint this time.
"I should have expected it," Yalia says. She gazes around at the pandemonium as live Shado-Pan and ghostly yaungol clash indiscriminately. "We are safe as long as we stand within the Totem of Harmony’s protective ward but many of our people were not so lucky. Now they turn on each other! Take one of my totems with you and place it near one of our crazed allies to purify them. But beware — you may have to face the darkness that gripped them."
Shun nods slowly.
"Of course!" says Arric.
"Anything for our allies of the Shado Pan!"
Yalia hesitates. "And if you feel yourselves falling under the sha’s influence… do not hesitate to use the totem on yourselves."
Kenelly inhales deeply and nods. "Thank you, Yalia."
"We must put the risen yaungol back to rest! I can feel the hatred emanating from them!" shouts Ban Bearheart.
Shun draws in a slow, deep, breath.
"Right then, you lot. Out of the circle. Let's move," Atley says.
Arric says, "Rica, follow."
"Kenelly — you handle the totem," Atley says.
Kenelly nods firmly.
Atley spots a pair of Shado-Pan fighting amongst themselves, spurred into madness by hatred.
Kenelly growls savagely at the Sha spirits!
"GET AWAY!" Kenelly snarls.
Peixin frowns a little, looking at her hands. "Uh, is that what does yaungols felt when they killed each other? I can see why it drove them mad." She enters the protective aura of a totem to calm down a little.
Atley reaches over to try and snatch the totem from her hands, throwing it down between the fighting Shado-Pan.
Arric looks to Kenelly in concern. "My friend…" he says gently. "Don't give in."
Kenelly screams as the Sha erupts around her and a powerful Sha spirit emerges and attacks! She's been so focused on the Shado-Pan that she hasn't protected herself.
"Put it down!" Atley yells, charging Kenelly's Sha.
Arric wields his new bow a bit awkwardly, but does manage to get some arrows into the thing. Rica helps.
Shun carefully controls his breath as he moves about the field, striking down one of the spirits. As he hears Kenelly scream, he turns and shadowsteps to the manifested sha.
Peixin takes Kenelly to the totem nearby, helping her calm down. "It's okay, that's just the… wolf speaking."
Kenelly stumbles back in shock at seeing her own seething hatred manifested. She leans into Peixin, nodding and panting heavily.
"Kenelly has full control over the wolf," Arric says reassuringly. "It's the damned sha."
"It's so insidious," Nelly whispers. "It's like…when I first touched it, it planted a seed…and it just grew and grew and I didn't even notice."
"Can you handle this?" Atley asks Kenelly firmly, holding out the totem as he stands in the glow of its protection.
"I knooow," Peixin says, throwing a shuriken at the sha manifestation. "I thought it was a nice, poetic way to put it!"
"Of course she can," Arric says confidently.
Shun's become like inky black pools for a second before he slips back into the protection of the totem.
Kenelly nods to Atley and gives Arric a grateful smile. "I can. I'm sorry, I was thinking about the Shado-Pan. I…didn't protect myself."
"The curse of the healer," Arric says gently.
Nelly chuckles weakly.
Atley offers her the totem before he ventures out. "We need to clear the area of spirits and save as many of the Shado-Pan as we can."
Shun grunts.
"Of course!" says Arric.
Atley twitches his head to the left.
Atley twitches his head to the right, as if bothered by an invisible gnat.
Arric, being a ranged guy, has the luxury of choosing a spot to stand right next to one of the purifying totems and fighting from there. Rica seems entirely unaffected by the sha.
Peixin is now too busy keeping an eye on the healer because healers don't look at their rage bar.
"Even in death these savages still oppose us…" he begins, breathing pure adrenaline.
Arric eyes Atley with concern but seems unwilling to suggest that their leader might be having… issues.
Shun flicks a glance to Atley.
The veins in Atley's throat start to pulsate as his jaw clenches. His lips part, and he idly runs his tongue along his chin as he looks over the battlefield. "We're going to be fighting this war for a hundred more bloody years…"
Kenelly looks worriedly to Atley. "Everyone…remember to breathe. Keep steady."
"We can do this," Arric says a bit feebly, eyeing Atley as though he isn't sure the man can do this when "this" = remain calm.
Atley's eyes rapidly shift into becoming bloodshot. "We'll kill every last one of these barbarians. I'll paint the ground red with their blood –"
Arric gulps.
"Totem. Down on Atley n–" Shun's words come too late.
Atley's Seething Hatred springs free — a towering, monstrous Sha, not unlike Kenelly's. It attacks!
Peixin appears behind Atley and hits him behind the head, incapacitating him just in case.
Arric squeaks quietly, but starts loosing arrows.
"Oh no," Kenelly whimpers. "Sir Dane!"
Shun shadowsteps to deal with the Sha directly.
Rica seems to take PARTICULAR umbrage to this manifestation, and attacks it with a grating shriek.
Atley turns around and swings his shield at Peixin out of sheer instinct.
Kenelly rushes up to Dane and slams the totem into the ground behind him, chanting a Gilnean prayer.
Atley initially bristles against the glow of the totem, but he lets out a breath and seems to relax, broad shoulders settling.
Peixin dodges the shield, by lowering the upper half of her body, barely avoiding the hit. Sensing the warm glow of the totem, she sighs, and throws a shuriken at the sha.
"Come back, Sir! It's alright…we'll be alright," Kenelly soothes as best she can.
Atley shakes his head. "Sorted — all sorted," he states quickly, his eyes clear as he inspects the others. "Damned clever things, Sha…"
"Well," says Arric a bit weakly, "I take comfort in the fact that even at the worst, our comrades' hatred was focused on the enemy and not one another." He gives a nervous laugh. Rica glares at him, seeming unamused.
Then again, what would an amused raptor look like?
Shun's eyes flash black once more before he moves into the totem's light, shaking his head to himself. "We should not linger."
Arric nods in agreement with Shun.
Atley nods a few times, and clasps Arric on the shoulder. "Right. Thank you… for saving me from that. Let's keep moving, you lot."
"Of course!" says Arric.
"And thank you for trying to beat some sense into me," Atley says to Peixin.
"I mean, I wasn't trying to beat some sense into you exactly," Peixin smiles. "Just to get you out of the fight for a second, so you wouldn't swing wildly and hit one of us. Or worse! Rica."
"I promise I'll do it again, if it comes to this, sir!" Peixin beams.
"Well done, you lot," Atley says, emboldened. He stands up straight. "On me."
Rica tilts her head at Peixin.
Kenelly murmurs quietly to Arric. "Peixin wasn't entirely wrong. For a moment…I did feel the wolf creeping in. I haven't felt that since before the ritual."
Arric reaches out to touch Kenelly's shoulder and murmurs to her, "I'm sorry you had to experience that. But I've full faith in your balance and control."
Kenelly dips her head with as meek a smile as a wolfy face allows. "Thank you."
"Thank you," says Yalia, with a sad smile. "The sha preys upon the weak and vulnerable. But we all have our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Without vigilance, even the strongest hearts can succumb."
"Very true," Arric says.
Shun's gaze darkens just a touch.
Peixin nods.
Atley grunts.
Ban Bearheart nods heavily. "And thank you for putting the spirits to rest again. We cannot grant them retribution, but perhaps we can still their rage."
Ban glances over at Yalia, who nods at him. He turns back to the group. "One of our rangers reported seeing Suna up the hill to the northwest. I am relieved to hear she is safe. I had feared what she might do in her grief. Will you go and speak to her on my behalf? Take… one of Yalia’s totems with you. In case you encounter any danger."
"Ah, Suna is all right? Thank the Ti- the Light."
Arric is working on it, okay?
"We'll go and meet with her," Atley says, taking the totem, holding it out to Kenelly.
Kenelly tilts her head curious at Arric.
Kenelly nods and takes the totem.
Arric gently scritches Rica.
Atley looks at the line where the protective golden circle ends and turns to his comrades. "The only way we defeat the Sha is together. If you go at it alone, you'll be lost — forever. Are you with me?"
"You're doing well, love," Arric says tenderly to his 'daughter.'
Shun nods. Slowly.
"Of course!" says Arric.
Arric says, "Rica, follow."
Shun then disappears.
Kenelly nods firmly. "We are with you!"
Arric's new bow is a great deal quieter than the gun, so it has that going for it even if his aim isn't quite as lethal.
Suna is seated alone inside a tent at the top of the hill, her head bowed. The entire area around the tent swirls with sha; Suna herself seems to seethe with darkness. She looks up at their approach, wearing a malevolent sneer.
"Oh dear…"
"Sun–" Peixin begins, then she sees the darkness surrounding her. She stops dead in her tracks.
"Suna," Atley greets.
"Can we… can we try the totem on her?" Arric suggests, going a bit pale.
"Aye — but not yet," Atley mutters.
"Has Ban sent you to kill me then?" she demands. "Just like he killed my husband? Your pitiful rituals are meaningless!"
Kenelly clutches the totem, ready to deploy it at any moment.
"Ban did not kill your husband, Suna," Arric says firmly.
"No! We've come to save you — we've come here to save you –" Atley exclaims. "Peixin, Shun, show yourselves."
"We only wish to help you, Suna!" Kenelly calls out.
Shun grunts and drops his cloak to step back into the light.
"We fought beside you in Kun-Lai, and here, Suna. In the Steppes. We're your allies." Atley states.
"You are losing to the Sha right now," Shun adds, "There may yet still be time."
Arric's eyes glisten with unshed tears.
Peixin whispers to Rica. "I don't know what to say… Do you think mentioning the vase her husband bought for her is a good idea? It feels like bringing up her husband is wrong, right?" Peixin sighs. "I have no idea how to comfort someone…"
Atley takes a step forward.
She springs from the tent to attack.
Atley engages Suna, trying his best to incapacitate her without killing her — but she fights fiercely.
Arric nocks an arrow but hesitates, unwilling to loose it. Rica dc. Rica charges in.
Rica biiiiiiiites.
Shun moves in to assist, switching to just using hand to hand combat to keep things non-lethal.
"Rica, pull back!" Arric cries. Rica reluctantly obeys.
Peixin sheaths her daggers and pulls the hairpins out of her ponytail. She dabs them in a paralytic poison, and just gently pokes Suna with them.
As Blue Squad defends themselves Suna is defeated. "I see… now," gasps Suna, staggering and falling to her knees. "My hatred… consumed me. Tell Ban… all is… forgiven." She collapses and lies still in her own blood.
Kenelly tries to rush in with the totem, but has trouble getting close enough with Suna's violent assault. By the time she can move in, it is too late…or perhaps it was too late long before they arrived.
"I'm sorry…" Arric gasps, his eyes filling. "Rica doesn't know how to restrain herself yet."
"It's okay," Peixin says. "At this point in corruption, I think fighting non-lethally was useless anyway."
"I should have called her back sooner, but I wasn't certain if we were - there was no time for clear orders-"
"Sometimes we can knock sense back into them. But only up until a certain point," Shun says.
Kenelly leaps to Suna's side as she falls, summoning up her magic to try to revive her spirit. "Come back to us…please…"
Atley shakes his head. "She was dead before we arrived," he states grimly. "At least now, she's at peace, and with Lin –"
The earth shudders all around them, and then with a tearing sound, an enormous sha monster boils up to tower over them, all menacing smoke and claws. "You pitiful weaklings!" it hisses with malicious glee. "Even your strongest warriors succumb like lambs to the slaughter. Your turn will come. Hatred will turn you all against one another until this whole world burns." With hollow, echoing laughter, the sha seems to dissipate and disappear.
Arric takes a deep breath, trying to calm his shaking. Rica comes to stand right next to him, which is apparently her sign of support and ?love?.
"Shit," Shun hisses.
"Yup. I think it was either her or us, by now," Peixin says.
"It's not your fault, Rica," Arric says. "You were doing what you were trained to do, and I - I should have called you back sooner."
Rica seems unplagued by guilt, but ok.
Atley narrows his eyes at the gigantic Sha, and raises his shield.
The pandaren cleans her hairpins and places them back into her hair. She gets her daggers in both hands again, getting in fighting position as the sha appears.
Arric leaps back a surprising distance as the sha appears, going white as a sheet. Rica makes a raptor aggro sound but does not engage, that thing is HUGE.
Kenelly is thrown back by the emergence of the Sha, hitting the ground hard and knocking the wind out of her.
Atley grits his teeth and bends his legs, readying to charge — before the Sha disappears and dissipates.
Shun warily looks around after it vanishes.
"Thank the Light it didn't attack us," Arric says. He remembers who to thank on the first try, this time.
Peixin throws shuriken a second too late, and they hit the hut behind where the sha used to stand. She sneaks there to pick them up again.
Atley grunts. "Let's get her body back to Bearheart."
Ately lowers, squats, and with a grunt, rolls Suna's massive' form onto his rounded pauldron.
Arric nods. "Of course," he says with less enthusiasm than usual.
"The poison that monster was saying is only true if we believe them. If we believe it. These things wouldn't be trying to break our will if they were certain they were invincible," Atley says.
Peixin sneaks behind Atley, and ends up face to face with Suna laying on the man's shoulder. "Sorry about this, Suna. I wish I'd kept an eye on you better, this week."
"I will never turn on any of you. Never." Arric's voice is almost steely.
"I've lost track of the amount of miracles I've personally witnessed in Pandaria. Believe in the goodness of your own hearts, and be prepared to defend them viciously."
Shun just silently follows the rest of the squad. His expression unreadable.
"I believe, if nothing else, in my sense of you as friends and comrades in arms," says Arric. "I would never lash out at you, not ever. Nothing could make me do that."
"I mean, never say never," Peixin says. "Maybe Sir Dane will drop your wedding cake before the ceremony, and you'd have a very valid reason to lash out then."
"Not even then," Arric says firmly, but with a smile.
"But yeah, unless you all give me a very good reason - and even then, I'm not that vindictive - I'll never turn on you!" Peixin smiles.
Arric gives Peixin a shoulder-pat of approval.
"Bearheart — Sagewhisper," Atley greets, gently laying Suna down. "She was taken from us. It was the Sha of Hatred."
"Arric is too kind to find hate in his heart." Kenelly smiles softly at him.
Arric turns a little pink.
Atley straightens up. "Before she died, she expressed forgiveness towards you."
"What?" cries Ban. "She was possessed by the Sha of Hatred? No, NO. Ah, Suna! Despite our differences, she was one of us. Today the Shado-Pan has lost a dear sister." As Yalia sets a comforting paw on his shoulder, Ban adds grimly, "Her death will not be in vain. I will not rest until I have defeated the Sha of Hatred. Suna, I swear this to you!"
Arric tears up again.
Atley eyes Bearheart. "We're with you."
"Company, on me," Atley says.
Rica looks at Arric. "Not ON him," Arric clarifies.
"Remember to smile on the good moments you had with her as your partner in the Shado Pan, not… The hatred you feel for the Sha of Hatred, all right?" Peixin says.
Ben Bearheart nods vaguely before he turns away and storms off.
"Eh, good enough for me, I guess," Peixin shrugs and follows the rest of her team.
"Well fought — and as we've all seen today, we don't find ourselves in any sort of 'conventional war.' This one's fought within as much as it is without," Atley says, removing his helmet.
Arric nods solemnly.
"We find ourselves in a grim duty, but if we don't do it, the burden will fall on others — if there are others that can handle it," Atley says.
Peixin looks at the members of the Shado Pan surrounding them.
"And I was wrong. We'll not be here for a hundred more years — in mere months we landed on one side of this continent, fumbling about like children, and now, we've reached the opposite end. Every day is a day closer to victory and peace," Atley says.
"That was hate speaking for me. And you lot saved me. Dismissed. Watch over yourselves — that's an order," Atley says.
"Yes sir!" Arric says with a salute.
Shun closes his eyes for a moment, then wordlessly takes his leave.
Kenelly nods solemnly.
Atley salutes.
"I will," Peixin nods. "I will watch over yourselves as well, at least while we stay at the same camp." She smiles.
"By the way, who wants to go grab a bite? My treat," Peixin says. "We need to get our spirits up a little! And not 'spirits' like the ones we saw here. I'm not suggesting necromancy, believe it or not!"
Atley watches where Shun walked off before he shifts his gaze to Peixin. "That's a fine idea. How can I contribute?"
"I'm in!" says Arric cheerfully.
"Let's get back to Longying Outpost. I saw they installed a few really nice grills, I'm sure we can find someone to plan feast for us." Peixin beams.
"Perfect," says Arric.
"I would love that. I am famished!" Kenelly unconsciously licks her lips. Oops.
"Let's get to it. I'm bloody starved,” Atley growls.