Grand Adventure

Irean pulled her horse to a stop beside the inn in Boralus. Nyassa had said twenty minutes, and she figured she had ten minutes left before the other mage showed up. She dismounted, keeping a light hand on the reins while checking mail for the supplies cousin Læurell said she’d send.

“O boy.” She murmured to herself. Her mail was full to overflowing with packages of food; she’d told Læurell she didn’t know how long she and the other mages would be gone from civilization, but she hadn’t expected *this*. It was just a simple exploration trip, right? How long could that possibly take?

“Oh my. Cousin Læurell definitely outdid herself this time.”

“Could I get help unloading this, please?”

“Of course! I brought some land sharks along for just in case.”

Irean grimaced while nodding. ‘Just in case’ meant Ny was kinda sorta expecting an attack somewhere along the way, though hoping it wouldn’t happen.

“Ny! Ire!” Sara arrived, toting a backpack - full of enchanting supplies, Ire was sure. Ire felt the whisper of wind at her back, and glanced around to see the other two mages standing straighter.

“Nuffin?” Three rogues materialized.

“May I has some cross-ants before you go please, Cousin Sara? I haven’t had any in so very long, and Cousin Quyl told me she heard from Cousin Læurell that it might be awhile before you come back.”

“Of course, Lyri!” Sara conjured up some croissants for her red-haired cousin.

“Messages every day, right, Cousin Ire? If there’s no word after a week, we *are* coming after you.” The white haired mage nodded.

****

Nuffy’s raven swooped in from the north just as Læurell’s wolf hawk dropped in from the south.

“You told her?” Læurell clutched the saddle as her mount hovered in the air. Nuffy nodded.

“She agreed to send messages daily. I told her that if there was nothing after a week, we rogues would be coming after her.”

“Good. Thank you. We hunters would be joining you.”

“Figgered.”

****

Irean’s black horse pranced nervously along next to Nyassa’s Mekgineer’s Chopper, which carried Lessära in the sidecar.

“So where should we go first?” Irean leaned towards the chopper below to be heard.

“H’bout we visit Stormsong first?” Ny briefly looked up to answer before returning her attention to the road. Sara, surrounded by five sleeping kitties, nodded eagerly.

“Brennadam ho!” Sara quipped. Ny pushed down the gas peddle on her chopper, and Ire urged her steed to speed up. Charcoal launched into a gallop, chasing the speeding chopper down the road.

“Wheeeeeeee!” Sara’s retreating shout of enjoyment drifted back to horse and rider.

****

Arriving at the edge of the town, all three gnomes took a moment to survey the situation. Irean’s blue eyes roamed around, her head swivelling from one direction to the opposite direction and back again; out of the corner of her eye she saw the other two gnomes doing the same. The town *seemed* safe enough, with its residents wandering to and fro on their business; something that Irean couldn’t put her finger on made her nervous though, like something bad was about to happen. The gnomes exchanged glances, and became peripherally aware of a child approaching them. Despite misgivings and internal turmoil, they all three turned smiles on the approaching child, and raised a hand to wave in greeting. The child waved back, and then the town fell into shadow, a shiver of cold running down each gnome’s back. They looked up, mouths gaping in alarm at the sight of orcs, trolls, and other members of the Horde rappelling down from zeppelins, the source of the shadows. Ire slid off her mount, preparing for her first cast; she glanced to the left to see Ny and Sara also standing on the ground, channeling magic for their first casts. Ty, Ninja, Callie, Squee, and Mal she spotted hiding under the chopper, backs arched as far as they could go under the vehicle’s undercarriage. The first opponent they were presented with was an orc; Ire stomped her feet, spraying a frost nova in his direction to arrest his forward movement. Ny scorched him, and Sara finished him off with an arcane blast followed by arcane barrage. Thus began the war to stay alive. The three gnomes were fine working together to bring down foes, but it became harder as they started to get separated. Exhausted and cornered, they were finally caught, with nets dropped upon them.

****

Irean woke up groggily, dimly aware of being in a jail-type cell. As her awareness increased, she discreetly glanced around, looking for Sara and Ny.

“Your friends will be back shortly.” Irean jumped a bit, then scanned the room again. A black Tauren stood against the far wall facing her.

“How did you..?” She cut herself short as piercing blue eyes focused on her face.

“I am sorry about this. The Horde may be at war with the Alliance, but it doesn’t mean we all agree with our leader’s methods. Orcs have honour, we have our connection with the earth, even trolls have some code of honour, but the goblins and the forsaken, especially the Lady Windrunner...” The Tauren trailed off, shaking her shaggy head.

“What’s to be done with us?”

“Our leader would like to interrogate you three personally before executing you. If I can, I will not allow it.”

“You disagree with gnome punting?”

The Tauren chuckled a bit. “I do.”

“We had five cats travelling with us.”

“They only brought in you three, so I assume they didn’t find your pets.” The door opened, and no less than six orcs walked in, two carrying struggling gnomes.

“It will be over soon.” One orc said gruffly as the two gnomes were dumped on the floor just inside the cell door; the door slammed shut, and the orcs left. Ire shuffled toward the two gnome-shaped lumps that represented her sisters-in-arms and closest friends. Ny struggled up to a sitting position, her eyes squinched together; Sara’s eyes looked bruised.

“Ny? Sara?” Ire used her quiet voice. “Are you ok?”

“She.. showed us what our fate will be after she’s done with us. She forced us to watch as she executed- no, ripped to shreds - Alliance prisoners. You were only spared because you were still unconscious. She’s MEAN, and without conscience.” Ny allowed herself to be pulled up with Ire’s help.

****

“When did you last hear from cousin Ire?” Lyricka had emerged from the guild bank on her *very* rare fun days, where she took a break from managing the bank for a day to go find things to stabbity stab before she went loopy with boredom.

“Hasna been a week yet, but *has* been a few days… I have this gut feeling that something’s wrong.” Nuffin sat on the bank steps as she had been waiting for Lyri.

“Then we should call the hunters and go pick up their trail from when we last got a letter.”

“Aye. I will leave you to go find something to stabbity stab… will be back soon’s I get ahold of Niquie, and cousins Læurell, Gnawmallie, and Quyl.. or at least cousin Læurell so she can get ahold of the other two hunters.”

“Good idea. See you in a bit, sis.”

“Aye. I’m sure you will be glad when Sara’s back again so she can make you cross-ants.”

“Will. A’most finished the stack she made me before they left.”

********

“Wake up, little gnomes. I have a plan to get you out of here.” Nyassa was the first to look in the Tauren’s direction.

“How d’we know we can trust you?” Ny gave her a suspicious look.

“Are you familiar with Chieftain Baine Bloodhoof?”

“N’really.”

“King Anduin Wrynn?”

“Yes.”

“Well, King Wrynn used to exchange letters with Chieftain Bloodhoof. And I happen to side with the Chieftain, rather than the current Horde leader, Lady Windrunner.”

“So what’s the plan?” Irean asked as all three of them gathered around the Tauren.

****

Læurell took point, using every tracking skill at her disposal to pick up the mage’s trail. The three rogues melted into the shadows, spreading a protective stealth net over the trio of hunters between the three of them. The hunter finally picked up the trail, and all six gnomes travelled the path to Brennadam. As they approached the city, Læurell’s wolf gave a growl; the hunter responded by slowing the party down. She stopped her wolf at the bridge leading into the town, and gawked in horror at the Horde presence on the other side of said bridge.

“Sis?” Gnawm’s voice trailed away as she came abreast of Læurell’s right side; Quyl’s mouth hung open in shock on her left side. The hunters were peripherally aware of the rogues cautiously approaching, using shadow cover to get as close as they possibly dared while avoiding detection; the quiet nature of their Llothien Prowler fox mounts was especially suited to this type of operation. Quyl’s gray Admiralty stallion shifted in place nervously, feeding off the energy of his owner. As if by silent agreement, all three hunters dismounted simultaneously, Gnawm and Læurell readying their bows while Quyl readied her harpoon. First target: an orc that appeared to be wandering in the direction of the bridge. Læurell sent Cloudy and Shadow after him alongside Gnawm’s Amethystus, both of them filling him full of arrows as Quyl harpooned the same target, wading in beside her turtle, Aquamarine, with polearm swinging. What followed was a repeating cycle of target picked and attacked, until the Horde population in their closest area of influence was no longer an issue. The rogues had been helping take down targets as well; they now joined the hunters in the discussion as to what to do next.

“Need to find a commander type, don’t we? See if we can find out what happened to the mages?” Nuffin held her blades in defensive position, eyes darting about as she watched for possible threats approaching; the other two rogues mirrored her stance.

“Dunno if we’ll get anything out of an orc, but it’s worth a try. Can you rogues spread out and see if you can find anybody important-looking, and come back and let us hunters know? Please?” Quyl glanced around, making sure they were still clear.

“On it!” Lyricka and the rest of the rogues melted into the shadows once again.

“Quyllie, you wouldn’t by any chance have a spyglass on you would you?”

“I would, actually. In me saddlebags. Be right back.” Quyl hurried across the bridge to where the hunter’s mounts waited, retrieving her spyglass from a bag hanging down from her stallion’s saddle. Scurrying back across the bridge, she handed it to Gnawm, who had made the request. Gnawm lifted it to her eye after taking the cover off the other end. Wyverns, zeppelins with bombs… ah!

“Say, Læurell, take a look will you? What’s beyond all the wyverns and bomb-toting zeppelins? Do you see it?” She handed the spyglass over. Læurell let out a little gasp when she saw it.

“Think we could get onto that, Quyllie?” She handed the spyglass back to Quyl, so she could take a look to assess the likelihood of what she asked.

“Well... harpoon’d work.... just need more rope I think... don’t have enough to reach with my current one.” Nuffy and the other two rogues materialized at that moment.

“Methinks we found the perfect target. Undead fire mage, a Captain Lockwood by name. We’ve heard whispers among the grunts, and saw him ourselves.”

“Lead the way, Cousin Nuff. Think we might have ourselves a plan.”

“I did see the spyglass. What have you found?” Niquie inclined her head towards Gnawm with interest, while still keeping an eye out for Horde enemies.

“A zeppelin, of course. Quyl says she just needs more rope to get aboard.”

“We can fix that!” After that, talk was scarce, as they were presented with enemy after enemy again. At one point, Lyri tapped Quyl’s arm and pointed; Quyl quickly spotted the mage they were after through her spyglass, and endeavoured to direct the fighting gnomes that way. Finally they arrived at the area where the mage was. Læurell took first shot, with Gnawm interrupting his first cast with counter shot; Quyl harpooned in, the rogues moving in to help with disabling their target. All three hunters pulled their pets off their target when they were sure he couldn’t attack them or get away. Lyri held her knives at the ready.

“Where were the gnome mages taken?”

The forsaken spit at her. “The Banshee Queen will have done away with them by now. You’re too late.” Lyricka looked him up and down, disgusted. She quickly stabbed him in the heart and walked away.

“Forsaken are worse than orcs. Apparently Sylvanus has them. Need to move fast. You need more rope right, Cousin Quyllie?” Quyl nodded.

“Let’s find some so we can rappel up to that zeppelin and get out of here. We have gnomes to rescue!”

****

The trip through Brennadam to look for rope proved to be relatively uneventful; the gnomes easily rappelled up to the zeppelin and took control. The goblin at the helm was, in fact, quite willing to do as they asked, and set sail for Orgrimmar. The gnomes all took turns keeping an eye on their goblin helmsman, no matter how helpful he appeared to be; the rest of the gnomes caught up on sleep while one kept watch. Finally, they sailed into Ogrimmar, the goblin meekly pointing out that they would not be at all welcome, but instead hunted. Gnawm responded that their plan was to get in, free their fellow gnomes, and get out, as soon as possible. The goblin wished them good luck… and pointed out an arena where it was assumed any prisoners would be held near. Sylvanus, he admitted, was fond of doing her dirty work in public. He then declared that if there was a way out of the Horde, he would take it, as he wasn’t at all fond of the wiles of their new leader. The gnomes thanked him for his kindness and helpfulness, then cautiously exited the zeppelin, Quyl using her spyglass upon immediate departure to get a feel for how they were going to get from where they were to said arena.

“Time to call the troops, I guess. Makes us less conspicuous, but probably the best way to get from here to there. AND fastest.” Nuffin called her raven, as did the other two rogues. “Hmm, yes. I think, for this venture, we should double up. Agreed?” Lyri and Niquie nodded vigourously, but the three hunters looked skeptical.

“Can they actually handle that much weight?” Quyl queried.

“Looks like a short hop, so I *think* so.” Niquie replied. Three ravens now hovered at the edge of the rocky precipice, waiting for their riders to climb on. Læurell carefully balanced herself behind Nuffin, while Quyl and Gnawmallie did the same behind Lyricka and Niquie. The rogues quickly and skillfully guided their mounts to the precipice upon which the arena sat, quickly dismounting both themselves and the hunters behind them to release the ravens into the skies above.

****

“It’s time little ones. Let’s hope this plan works and doesn’t backfire.”

“If you please, may I ask your name, Miss Tauren? I would like to count you as a friend, even if this doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to.” Irean extended her three-fingered hand towards the Tauren.

“Us too!” Sara and Ny chimed in.

“Of course you would. My name is T’bon Thunderhoof. Pleased to meet you, mages Irean, Nyassa, and Lessära. And now, little gnomes, let’s see about getting you all out of here in one piece.” The orcs stomped into the cell, picked up their prisoners, and marched out of the cell again; T’bon followed like a shadow. The sunlight blinded the gnomes at first, and they squinched their eyes closed until they could slowly open them inch by painful inch. The scene before them was a bit jarring - or at least to Ire it was. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Ny’s disgusted face, and Sara’s scowl.

“Be brave, little gnomes. I will do what I can.” T’bon was barely visible in cat form in the shadows of the arena before them. Like any druid, or rogue, she was using the shadows to cover her movements until such a time as she needed to reveal herself. Just as the orcs and their cargo entered the inner arena entrance, Sylvannas Windrunner congealed out of shadow in the very center; the gnomes cringed back away from her as one in the hands of their captors as they heard T’bon’s soft animal growl nearby. The Horde crowd caught sight of the gnomes in the orcs’ grip, and the jeering began.

“Citizens of the Horde! I bring you a rare spectacle of gnomes today!” Cheers and jeers followed her pronouncement. Sylvanus drew her blades. “So, a question to you of the Horde. Do I deal with them personally? Or... a trusted pet.” An orc led a black wolf into the arena, letting it prowl the arena after Sylvanus acknowledged it and its handler. The Horde spectators, especially the orcs, started cheering with glee while pointing at the wolf wandering the arena. Sylvanus gave a nod to the spectators, and disappeared in a puff of smoke; the orcs holding the gnomes dropped their tiny burdens, backing away to give the wolf a clear shot at the mages. The gnomes faced the approaching wolf square on, staffs at the ready to fend it off best as they could, having already determined that their magic was blocked by something or someone in the arena. T’bon’s lashing tail swung in and out of the shadows where she was hidden, preparing to pounce; more gnomes suddenly dropped into the arena, three sets of knives drawn as three rogues took up position between their mage cousins. Three hunters stood a few steps in front, flanked by their pets.

“Excellent timing!” Irean had a chance to get out before the gnomes were set upon by the giant wolf. It was all over in a manner of seconds, thanks mostly to the hunter’s pets; Sylvanus reappeared in a puff of smoke, blades at the ready - the danger was not over yet.

“I suppose I should have dealt with you myself to begin with!” Before she could move, a shadow portal spawned itself between the banshee queen and the gnomes. A night elf stepped out.

“Hurry! I can only hold this open for so long!” As the gnomes hurried into the portal, Ire caught sight out of the corner of her eye of Sylvanus staring in consternation and shock. The elf who had created the portal came through on the other side behind them; but they realized once they took a proper count that they had lost a third of their company.

“Where’s Sara? And Gnawm? And Niquie?” Six distraught little gnome voices questioned where their three comrades had gone. The elf knelt so she was on eye level.

“I... am sorry. I will go back through the portal to make sure they didn’t get left behind. The only other possibility is that they got lost after stepping through the portal. That happens sometimes, and I’m sorry to say that if that happened then I don’t know exactly where they went. And may never find them.” True to her word, the elf stepped back through the portal just before it closed.

****

“How DARE she defy me! I should have destroyed those little morsels when I had the chance. Preposterous!” Sylvanus was over her shock, and enraged that she should see her sister popping out of thing air to help what she viewed as an inferior species. Of course, they were all inferior species compared to her, regardless if they were related to her or not. Had she not been seething so much, she might have noticed a new portal open in the arena, might have noticed her sister, Alleria, walk out of said portal, look around as if searching for something, and then, nodding to herself as if satisfied whatever she was looking for wasn’t there, walking back into the portal.

****

“Sara? Are you seeing this?”

“Where - where are we?”

“I dunno. Think we be the only ones here though.” Niquie gave a sad sigh.

“Aww. Lyri won’t be having anymore cross-ants. In fact, I dunno if we’re *ever* gonna see *any* of them again.” Sara voiced her greatest fear.

“Well, I guess if that’s it then, we might as well go splorin’. See what we can see. At least we’re together.”

“At least there’s that, yes. One last grand adventure for all of us.”

****

A week after Sara, Niquie, and Gnawm disappeared, Læurell opened her door to the outside to find five kitties camped on her doorstep, dirty and bedraggled by their travels.

“Um, hi. I guess you guys will all be staying with me, at least until the other gnomes come to visit again and we can get your locations sorted.” She opened the door wide. “C’mon in!”

****