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| Details |
| Author: | MrMook |
| Summary: | Blue Squad discovers that the “monster” mist lurkers can think, speak, and even ally with them, overturning their assumptions. Together they fight the yaungol shamans controlling the mist, and though the mist lurkers die, they prove they were never just beasts. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Atley stands in front of the bonfire in Hatred's Vice, along with a number of Shado-Pan officials. He eats jerky, his helmet tucked under his arm.
Not far off, Shun stands with his arms folded over his chest.
Arric is running a little brush over Rica's scales.
Peixin appears behind Dane, her head peeking from under his helm. "Can I get some of that?" She points at the jerky. "I'll even carry that helmet for you in exchange!"
"Hello Peixin!" Arric says warmly, only slightly mispronouncing her name.
Atley flashes her a look of admonishment for her sudden appearance and shifts his helmet around to produce a small pouch of jerky strips. He offers it to Peixin.
Peixin picks up some of the jerky. She takes one more piece than necessary.
"Thank you!" Peixin beams at Atley, then vanishes again.
Atley briefly tilts his head and lifts the jerky pouch to peer inside of it before he puts it away, chewing mildly. He looks to Arric and Shun. "How are you lot, then?"
Shun grunts.
"Well enough, thank you, sir," Arric says brightly.
Peixin briefly reappears next to Rica, handing her the bonus jerky while munching on hers.
Rica makes a startled rrrrrnnnkkk? sound at Peixin's appearance, but then takes the jerky in her weird little hand and puts it in her mouth in a disturbingly human way.
Atley observes Rica in action. "Get her from Stanglethorn, you said?"
Peixin winks at Rica. They are now bonded by food.
"Yes," Arric says, gazing at her fondly. "Found her just hatched. She imprinted on me immediately."
Atley grunts and finishes off his jerky strip.
"She's actually of a very special breed," Arric boasts, fatherlike. "Used as mounts by troll warlords."
Shun tilts his head.
"Her pedigree is exceptional. She is the direct descendant of some apparently rather legendary mount of a legendary warlord."
Rica stands up a little straighter.
Atley faintly furrows his brow at Rica. "You mean to turn her into a mount, someday?" he asks casually.
"She would like that, but we'll have to see how large she gets. I'm not entirely sure her diet is the correct one…" Arric looks visibly fretful for a moment.
"Well, at least she likes jerky," Peixin rubs her chin.
"Great deal of meat, I'd warrant," Atley says, still eyeing Rica.
"Yes, but we haven't the same species in Elwynn and… well, we'll see. Raptors are complex creatures and take a while to fully mature. There's still hope."
"I've always heard they were cunning," Atley says, tugging on his helmet.
Kenelly strolls up, "And Rica is especially cunning. Aren't you, girl?"
"Clever girl…" Shun murmurs.
Rica rrrrks happily at Kennelly.
"Right then, you lot. We're all sorted. Let's get to work," Atley says.
"Of course!" Peixin dips her daggers in poison.
Atley marches across the bonfire area to towards the Shado-Pan.
Yalia Sagewhisper rises to her feet as Blue Squad approaches. “Friends,” she greets them. “I am glad to see you. Today we require a different sort of aid.”
Shun raises a brow.
Kenelly's ears turn attentively toward Yalia.
Atley inclines his head in greeting and frowns attentively at Yalia.
“The calling of the Shado-Pan is not all warfare; it is to bring balance and harmony to this land. The yaungol activity in Townlong — and perhaps the sha behind it — threatens this balance. We have had sightings of yaungol in the place called the Sumprushes. The reports say they are attacking mist lurkers in the area. The mist lurkers are no friends of pandaren, but they are part of Pandaria’s natural order. Find out what is going on.”
"Ohhh, mist lurkers," says Arric. "I've had a run-in or two with those. Most unsettling."
Kenelly's eyes widen. "Those mist monsters are natural?" She shivers.
Arric nods sympathetically at Kennelly.
Atley grunts and looks to the others. "Are we all experienced with the — things?"
"Of course they are!" Peixin nods. "They might be very ugly, but they're part of the Pandarian landscape all the same!"
"More than I'd have preferred to be," Arric answers Atley with a laugh.
"I've seen them. But I've tried to avoid them," Kenelly says. "They are those lanky creatures with the one eye, yes?"
Arric nods and shudders.
"I am familiar, yes," Shun nods.
"I shall -try- to look upon them more kindly, Peixin," Kenelly says. "The natural order must be preserved."
"I think I was five when I saw my first mist lurker," Peixi says. "Plenty of legends around them here, but I've gotten used to their presence by now." She turns to the others. "Just takes a little while. You'll get there eventually."
Atley shares a gruff but sympathetic look with Kenelly, and taps his forehead over his helm. Ting-ting. "Let's go see wot's going on, then."
Arric gets into his… flying machine.
Peixin whistles for her cloud serpent. The best gets there rapidly.
Atley swings a leg over Thoras and climbs aboard.
Kenelly leaps into the air and transforms into a bird.
Whirrrr whirrr whirrrr, says Arric's machine as he pilots it at a safe distance behind the living creatures.
Shun sighs and asks one of the nearby Shado-Pan to borrow a kite.
Atley lands and looks around. "These must be the 'Sumprushes.'"
Upon landing, he's able to close it up slightly, protecting it from the elements, and he leaves it somewhere safe.
At the edge of the swamp, a mist lurker sways and groans. A yaungol spear has been thrust through its body. It appears trapped in some kind of wind vortex, and a jagged band of lightning is being channeled into it by the distant figure of a yaungol on the cliffs opposite. As the group approaches, the creature rolls its solitary eye toward them, and its groaning turns to whispered, hollow words. “Why have you come?”
Shun narrows his eyes as he spies the talking lurker.
"It…speaks? Oh…" Kenelly shrinks a bit, ashamed.
Atley approaches the mist lurker, jaw set, and briefly eyes Peixin before saying, "We're sent by the Shado-Pan, to see why the yaungol are slaying your kin."
"Do you need our help?" Peixin asks, as if it wasn't a giant, terrifying monster in front of her.
Arric looks torn between horror and concern.
The creature groans again and shudders as the lightning crackles around it. “The Shado-Pan sent you… to see what the yaungol do?” it whispers. “Well, do you see?”
"I see you have been impaled," Shun deadpans.
“My fate is sealed,” the mist lurker whispers. “The yaungol bind me with their corrupted magic. The indignity is greater pain than the spear-wound. My death, I cannot stop. My imprisonment… perhaps you can help me.” It lifts a
shuddering, mist-draped hand to point at the yaungol on the cliffs.
"H-how can we help?" Kenelly asks, fidgeting.
"By killing that bastard," Atley says, pointing up at the yaungol channeling lightning on the cliff.
"Looks like they're doing something with the mist…" Peixin says, squinting and looking around.
Shun grunts, then slips into the shadows.
"Enslaving the Mist Lurkers. Let's get this one sorted, and find out wot's going on," Atley says.
"Quite mysterious…" Arric observes soberly.
"Seeing a mist lurker suffering like that," Kenelly says with a wince. "It does make it easier to see them as more than monsters."
"I hadn't known those things talked," Atley says as they cross rugged terrain.
"They certainly never spoke to me…" Arric says.
"Kill the yaungol," Atley mutters briskly before charging in.
"Honestly, me neither!" Peixin says. "I mean, there were stories that some spoke, so I'm not entirely surprised but… you know, they were stories."
“You are on the wrong side of this battle, outsiders!” snarls the yaungol. “You side with savage beasts!”
Kenelly frowns. "There is nothing wrong with savage beasts."
“No!” the yaungol cries. “I’ve lost… focus… on the torch….” He dies.
"Torch?" Shun repeats.
"Please explain to us how you are not savage beasts," Arric says dryly ((earlier)) ((No explanation forthcoming, b/c ded))
Atley grunts inquiringly and eyes Shun. "Back to the mist lurker. We'll climb down, here."
Arric leaps nimbly over and along the huge mist-shrouded roots.
"I'll admit, I thought the yaungols savages, and these mist lurkers monsters. Little more than beasts," Atley says.
Kenelly hops along the roots…not so nimbly. She finally decides it's easier to just fly. Bird Form, activate!
Peixin jumps from one spot to the other. She points at Kenelly. "Hey, no cheating! Jump like the rest of us!" She giggles.
Atley lands stiffly, but solidly, and jogs back to Orbiss, the spear-impaled mist lurker.
"You're just jealous you can't turn into a bird," Arric chides Peixin amiably.
Kenelly squawks at Peixin, which turns into a gravelly chuckle as she resumes her worgen form.
Shun parkours his way down.
The mist lurker stands slouched and silent, but it no longer sways in pain or groans. It swings its drooping head toward the group as they return. “I am freed,” it whispers hollowly. “The yaungol must be stopped.”
“Once,” says the mist lurker, “the yaungol shaman worked alongside us. Now they bend my people to their will. If we refuse… they kill us. Even if we oblige… they kill us.” The creature makes a sound like wind rustling through reeds.
Atley turns his head to the side as he listens with a wary glare.
"That seems to be the theme of these past few weeks," Peixin says at the 'Yaungol must be stopped' comment.
Atley raises his head. "How do we stop them, then?" he asks the mist lurker, gruffly bewildered to actually be treating with such a creature.
“The yaungol mist-shaman’s magic flows through his torch. Take the torch, and he has nothing.”
"We'll do whatever we can to help," Arric assures the horrible thing.
"He did seem very concerned about his torch," Kenelly murmurs.
Shun nods.
Atley looks to Kenelly and grunts. "There are more yaungol about, you lot. Let's get to torch collecting."
Atley shakes his head. "Wot' could be driving them to enslaving these things?"
"I dunno," Peixin shrugs. "If I were them, my first pick would be the pandaren because we're kind of cute, but to each their own!"
Atley briefly eyes a beaver the size of a wolf.
Kenelly chuckles softly at Peixin.
"I spotted more of 'em — farther up the river," Atley says.
"I wonder if these torches share any properties to the fog wards Master Bruised Paw used," Shun muses.
"Fog wards?" Arric echoes with interest.
Atley stares at Shun for a moment. "White Squad's work. In Paoquan Hollow?"
Shun nods.
"They seemed like a set of braziers that kept the fog these creatures lurked in at bay," he explains.
Atley grunts.
Arric is still using the bow the pandaren gave him, his strikes quieter but less deadly.
"So the fog here, it isn't just regular weather, I presume," Arric says, looking at Shun for confirmation.
"It is regular weather for us," Peixin says. "Just what the fog does."
"We encountered a few of these in the Jade Forest. They've a strange connection to the mist. They can disappear inside of it, it seems," Atley says.
Arric smiles at Peixin. "Yes, I was just wondering if it compares to what Shun and I are accustomed to as humans."
"The mist itself seems to be about the same. But ours at home does not have demonic entities hiding in it," Shun says.
"Usually."
"Not as often, t'least," Atley says.
Atley looks to Kenelly. "Do you sense anything strange about these creatures?"
"In Kul Tiras and the Eastern Kingdoms," Arric mistplains to Peixin, "Mist is simply something that occurs when humidity is high and temperatures low. It has no strange properties at all."
"It reminds me of home." Kenelly says. "Though…there I suppose we became the monsters in the mist. Heh," she chuckles mirthlessly, then gives Atley a shrug, "Not particularly. They seem more connected to the mist than the land itself."
Atley steps out of the way as a liberated Sumprush Lurker sprints off into the distance.
"See? You thought these guys were monsters, but you have at least… half a thing in common!" Peixin says. Pandaria is fiiiiine, you guys.
Atley grunts mildly.
Atley yanks one last Mist-Shaman torch from the moist Sumprush ground. He snaps it over his knee and douses the flame with a hiss. "Let's return to that injured one."
Rica cannot resist the chance to sink her teeth into one of the enormous, plump rodents wandering the swamp. A scuffle ensues. Rica is victorious.
Kenelly looks upon Rica sweetly as she savages a rodent into a bloody mess.
"Rica! We're here to ensure the natural balance of this place!"
Peixin puts her fists on her hips. "You're an introduced predator here! Stop eating the locals!"
Rica stares at Peixin. Then looks at Arric.
"We'll find you something to eat later," Arric says gently.
"I would not worry, Peixin," Kenelly says. "Rica is just one raptor. Her impact will be minimal. We would never allow the species to reproduce here."
Rica looks at Kennelly like she just said Rica was never going to get laid. Which she sort of did.
Atley scoffs with amusement at the entire interaction before moving on.
Kenelly shrugs apologetically at Rica. "I'm sorry, Rica. It's just important to preserve the natural balance."
Atley sternly approaches Orbiss. "We destroyed all the torches we could find. Killed all the mist-shamans."
Rica gives Kennelly a slight nod. She looks like she would sigh if raptors sighed.
“If I am going to die,” whispers the mist lurker, “I will die… with my friends by my side. I will die knowing… I did what I could… to avenge my people. I will die… staring into the shamed face… of my enemy.”
Arric's eyes become *enormous* when the mist lurker uses the word "friends."
Kenelly gives Rica scritches on her neck. Her claws can really get into those tight crevices in her scaly hide.
“The leader of the Yaungol mist-shaman is called Jahesh,” the mist lurker whispers. “He is known… for his strength. But two of my kind… are also known… for their strength. Their ferocity. They are called Golgoss… and Arconiss.
They sleep in the mists… of the Upper Sumprushes. Help me to summon them. They will join me… in avenging our people.”
Shun just sort of stares at the lurker.
Kenelly gazes up at Orbiss, pressing a hand to her bosom and nodding solemnly.
"Of course!" says Arric.
"We'll rouse them," Atley says at last, after briefly eyeing Orbiss up and down. "We've still some of the torches."
"I like you, Orbiss, and I'm a little bummed you're about to die just after we've met," Peixin smiles. "I'm glad to avenge your untimely, soon-to-be death."
Arric smiles wistfully at Peixin.
"…" Shun seems like he's considering something.
Orbiss makes a sound like water passing between marsh reeds.
Arric says, "Rica, follow."
"… If you are suffering while you are slowly dying do you want—" Shun shakes his head and goes to follow the others.
Atley briefly glances back at Shun. "Were you offering to mercy kill the … fellow?"
Peixin tilts her head and looks at Shun at Dane's question.
Shun shrugs, "Something like that."
"I understand why you would consider that," says Arric. "I've had to do the same to a horse or two in my time. It's never easy, but nor is watching a creature suffer."
Atley nods once. "P'raps he can die in peace after we've avenged his kin." He stops and looks down at a peat clump.
"Kenelly, light one of the torches, will you?" Atley asks.
Arric nods. "Yes, he will want to see justice done."
Shun grunts.
Kenelly nods, "Of course."
Planting one of the torches, Kenelly strikes a flint a few times until the sparks ignite it.
"Plus, maybe his friends will have some kind of magical power to save him, right?" Peixin says. "Let's have a little hope!" She's the one who already said her goodbyes to that mist lurker.
As the torches burn, lightning charges the air around them. The surface of the swamp roils, and then something massive begins to rise slowly from beneath it.
Arric baaaacks up.
Yaungols rush in to attack Golgoss as it rises.
"Defend the lurker!" Atley barks.
And then a swarm of swamp rodents come.
Arric looses arrows with reasonable precision for a guy who's not very used to it.
The massive form — which looks at first like a rising island of weeds and mud — lurches from the waters. It is an enormous, stooped, weed-trailing mist lurker of a greenish, swampy hue, trailing veils of dark fog. “Gol…goss…” it exhales, and heads away through the swamp in the direction of its comrade.
Atley slowly takes a step out of Golgoss' way, glaring guardedly up at the lurker.
Shun tilts his head as he watches it lumber away.
"Right," Atley says. "Ought to be another place to strike the torches for the other one."
"All things considered," Arric says, "I suppose that could have gone much worse. Well done, everyone."
"There — " Atley points out, before he pushes away a Swamp Rodent, gauntlet splayed over its snout. "Bugger off, you."
Rica stares intently at the rodent. So plump. So juicy.
"Plant a torch, everyone," Kenelly says.
Kenelly readies her flint to light them up.
Shun plants one down.
Atley drives a torch into the clay.
Once again, lightning crackles between the torches. The water seethes and turns briefly milky, and a form begins to rise.
Atley glares at Arconiss' still form as it ascends. "Given how many enemies we've got, we can't afford to be selective about our allies."
This one is not as large as either of its fellows; it is a gnarled, withered-looking dark creature. “Must fight Osul now,” it whispers. “Must stop hatred.” It, too, shambles away.
Shun grunts.
"Let's get back, you lot," Atley says.
"I wonder if that one is sort of the scout of the group…" Arric muses.
Atley grunts.
The three mist lurkers loom together on the shore. The speared one lifts his head to gaze at the group. “Golgoss… does not speak… your language. He thanks you. With these by my side… it will be difficult to lose.”
We'll be there as backup if you need us, too!" Peixin winks.
"So that's why we didn't realize they could speak," Kenelly whispers.
Atley looks from Kenelly to Orbiss.
“Now,” sighs the mist lurker. “Your hands are better made… for grasping. I have resolved… to remove… this spear from my side. I require your assistance.”
Shun looks to Atley.
Arric, for once, does not say "Of course!"
Arric seems fine with someone else doing this.
Atley grunts and squints at Orbiss shoulder with a clinical expression. He marches around the swamp lurker and grabs hold of the spear from behind. "One… two —!"
Arric squeezes his eyes shut.
Atley rips it out of Orbiss'.
Peixin winces. She whispers to herself. "He forgot the three…"
The mist lurker seems to fade, more mist than creature now that the spear no longer pierces it. “By removing… the spear,” it whispers, “I have guaranteed… my own death. But I would sooner… die than live carrying… the weapon of my enemy.”
"Understandable," Shun says.
The mist lurker sighs. “The yaungol have shamed my people. They will soon know true shame.” It lifts a dripping limb again. “But we require… strength. My friends are weakened from their slumber… in the mists.
Arric tears up a little.
Please… bring to us the blood of small things, for the ferocity of Arconiss. The heavy branches of the snarlthorn… for the strength of Golgoss. And the mist… of the Upper Sumprushes, gathered however you can… to sustain me a little longer.”
"Of course!" says Arric.
"We will do all we can," says Kenelly. "I'm so very sorry this has happened to you and your people."
Arric smiles sadly at Kenelly.
Peixin sighs sadly.
Orbiss sighs heavily, but in thanks.
Atley steps forward. "Collecting mist —" He points at Kenelly. "That'll be on you."
Atley points at Arric — no, Rica, it seems. "You'll need to find us rodents we can get to Arconiss."
Rica shrieks with joy.
Kenelly nods. "I think I can persuade the mist into some empty alchemy vials."
Atley then looks between Shun and Peixin. "Which of you'd know 'snarlthorn?'"
"Not something I have worked with yet," Shun states.
"I do!" Peixin beams. "See? That was a good idea to have a local guide for the uncharted lands!"
"Let's get it done, then," Atley says.
Kenelly smiles at Peixin. "Very true."
Spotting a wisp of mist, Kenelly twirls her hands to conjure up a mini-twister, coaxing the mist into a vial, which she then stops.
Rica seems dead set on checking every rodent in the swamp for quality blood.
Atley observes this and gives Kenelly a nod before moving on.
"Ack — !" Atley chastises Rica, teeth clenched. "We need more than that for bloody Arconiss, you —!"
Peixin kneels in the swampy waters, humming as she picks up snarlvine. This is a completely different side quest for her.
Rica drags the latest rodent over to Atley. It's still bleeding. Better? She tilts her head at him.
Atley grunts and nods at Rica's work.
Atley does raise his gaze to take in the gigantic tree overhead.
"I've only ever seen trees of this kind when it involved work of the night elves. Grizzily Hills, Hyjal. Darnassus."
"Grizzly Hills?" says Arric.
"Where's that?"
"Northrend," Atley explains. "It's a dense woodland nestled between the wastes. Pine trees the size of towers. An ancient world tree there the size of a city."
"Uh. Maybe the Yaungol used to do that druidism stuff and grew that big tree?" Peixin asks. "Or maybe the mistlurkers did!"
"There are night elves in Northrend? Fascinating…" Arric looks surprised.
"Were," Atley says to Arric. "A bloody long time ago."
"Apparently, the night elves once had a vast empire that covered a large part of the world…before the Sundering," Kenelly explains.
"Is that so?" Arric says, eyes bright with curiosity. "They didn't teach us *anything* about that in Kul Tiras."
"Close mate of mine — a member of the Company, druid, knew of that attempt in the north to create their world tree," Atley says.
"Some of the elves in the company are quite old, aren't they?" Arric says. "My last squad leader said she was ten thousand years old!"
Kenelly nods. "I've learned a bit about kaldorei history, mostly thanks to my shan'do."
"Ten thousand what?" Peixin says.
"Anareline — his wife. They are. Boggles the mind, mm?" Atley asks.
"Years!" Arric repeats for Peixin.
"Imagine being married for ten thousand years…" Arric muses.
"Night elves used to be immortal," Kenelly tells Peixin.
"At some point, I have to assume you're lying. You haven't kept count of how many years you are after three thousand. You're just guessing, and ten thousand sounds good."
Arric laughs.
Kenelly giggles.
"Yes, I'm sure she couldn't be exactly ten thousand. Perhaps ten thousand three hundred seventy-eight."
Atley scoffs with amusement. "Maybe so." He looks over their combined supplies. "Let's return."
Atley approaches the three mist lurkers. "Golgoss, we've your plants." Atley looks to Peixin.
"There you go!" Peixin hands the plants to Golgoss.
"Bit of blood for you, Arconiss," Atley says, looking to Arric, and Rica.
"Orbiss," Kenelly addresses him gently. "I have the mist for you." She takes out the vials and pulls out the stoppers in front of the dying mist lurker.
Rica makes a soft grating sound at Orbiss. It seems friendly.
The dying mist lurker is nearly translucent now, more mist than lurker. But: “Yes,” it whispers. “We are closer to my goal. And closer to my death. But you… have bought the time… to see this through.”
“Now is the time to strike,” the mist lurker whispers. “We three will go east… into Jahesh’s domain. Meet us there… and prepare for battle. Today… we restore the pride of our people.”
“Glory awaits us,” the creature tells its two comrades, and the three of them set off in a trailing cloud of mist and a faintly brackish odor.
"We'll take the road. Link up with them there," Atley says. "On me."
"Ugh, if you weren't so misty and intangible, I would hug you goodbye!" Peixin says.
At a clearing in the east, the three mist lurkers stand motionless, staring at a yaungol shaman seated comfortably on a nearby rock. He carries a bundle of torches on his back. “Ah,” he says with a broad smile as Blue Squad approaches.
“You must be the ones helping these pitiful creatures.”
Shun stares at the bouquet of torches attached to this yaungol's back.
"That seems unsafe," Arric murmurs to Shun.
Shun grunts.
"Better to stand by these creatures than permit even a moment of your barbarity," Atley states calmly.
"Hair is highly flamable, too, and he's covering in it!" Peixin shakes her head.
Atley draws Thunderfury and charges.
"Would be a terrible shame if a little spark were to fall…" Arric muses, lining up a bow shot.
"Your cruelty will not stand," Kenelly says firmly.
Arric strikes the torch with an arrow - they are now fighting a yaungol who is on fire.
As Cobalt attacks, the three mist lurkers surge forward to join the fight.
Shun shadowsteps in to start stabbing.
Peixin also shadowsteps by Shun's side and interrupts the yaungol's spell casting with a kick in the but.
((butt*))
“That’s enough!” the shaman snarls. “I have more than enough torches to erase all three of you. Elements, shield me!” He channels a shield of lightning around himself, and plants his binding torches in the ground.
"Keep on him! Don't give him a moment!" Atley booms
Shun backs away to start chucking daggers at the guy.
“No…” groans Golgoss, and falls. Clots of swamp weed are all that remain.
“Too… strong,” whispers Arconiss, and melts away into mist and weeds.
Peixin jumps backward and throws all the shuriken she has at him.
Peixin's eyes widen as the two mistlurkers disappear.
“There’s another one here!” sneers the yaungol. “Don’t think I can’t see you back there, hiding in the shadows!”
Kenelly watches in horror as Golgoss goes down. "NO!" She plunges her claws into the earth. Tendrils of green energy snake through the soil to rise up under the remainin mist lurkers, trying to keep them tethered to life.
The fading mist lurker drifts implacably forward.
“You resist the power of the torch?” demands the yaungol. “Why won’t you die, beast?”
Shun flicks a glance to Orbiss.
“Because my will…” the mist lurker whispers, “… the will of my people… is stronger than yours.” It stoops and stretches out dripping hands, and tendrils of mist unspool in the air. One by one, they snuff the torches out… and then they reach the yaungol himself. “No…” he wheezes, choking. “No….” He falls.
Arric can't help but let out a small cry of triumph.
The creature is even fainter now, with traces of mist and a single luminous eye as it bends toward the group. “My name… will be… forgotten,” it whispers. “But my actions… will not. Nor will yours… my friends.”
Atley straightens up and takes a breath, turning towards Orbiss with a deep, gruff frown.
With a sigh, it dissipates and is gone.
Peixin beams as Orbiss turns the tide of the fight. She rushes to the creature. "Your name will be forgotten? Says who? I'll make sure we remem— oh, too late. He's gone."
"…Strangest thing to ever refer to me as a 'friend'," Shun mumbles.
Arric furtively wipes at his eyes.
"Strangest thing to ever refer to you as a 'friend' yet!" Peixin giggles.
Kenelly gasps softly, briefly reaching out toward the vanishing lurker.
Atley growls lowly and contemplatively in his throat, still peering at the space where Orbiss had just been standing. "We've done well," he says.
"Indeed," says Arric, a little hoarsely.
"Back to Hatred's VIce, you lot," Atley says.
Peixin rubs her hands together, goes to a nearby tree, and with her daggers, carves down the names of the mistlurkers. "Pandaria will remember."
Atley stops and waits for Peixin to finish before moving on, giving her a stern nod.
Kenelly smiles at Peixin. "You have a good heart."
"We might consider renaming that place," Arric says wryly.
"You have no idea how often I'm told that." Peixin grins. "My heart's just that good!"
"How about… Valor's Triumph? Or something." Arric considers.
Kenelly chuckles.
"A better name," Atley concedes with a nod.
"And more accurate," Arric asserts.
Atley returns to Yalia. "We return from the Lower Sumprushes. There, we encountered mist lurkers who were being slaughtered and subjugated by the yaungols. We worked with them and turned the tide against the yaungols, but they died in the fight."
Yalia Sagewhisper and Ban Bearheart exchange looks before Yalia says, "That is … strange."
"Yeah, they spoke and everything," Peixin says. "Never seen that before."
"Squad, on me," Atley says, marching away from the Shado-Pan, removing his helmet "As I said, we fought well. Drove the yaungols from the Lower Sumprushes and confirmed that the mist-lurkers here, and p'raps elsewhere, can be reasoned with."
.
Rica remembers not to get ON Atley this time.
Kenelly stretches, and her wolfish form melts away to reveal her human shape.
"This land surprises me at every turn," Arric says softly.
Atley grunts. "Each day, we get closer to total yaungol pacification. Any questions or comments for me?"
"Thankfully, 'surprise' isn't one of the emotions that bring out the sha, or you'd have killed us all already, Arric," Peixin giggles.
Shun deadpans.
Arric gives a strange laugh.
"None here, sir," says Arric.
Atley scoffs with amusement. "Alright, then. Dismissed."
Shun nods once, then vanishes.
"Okay, I'll dismiss myself to the nearest grills? I brought drinks this time!" Peixin says. "First to get