The Yaungol Advance
Mayor Bramblestaff impatiently paced back and forth in front of the inn, anxiously waiting for the foreign travelers to meet him there.
Halvor exited first, taking the steps two at a time with ease. Meechi followed, donning her hood and taking a moment to yawn before cheerfully hopping down the steps and standing behind the massive vrykul. The steps creaked moments later under the weight of the orc paladin, who grunted with each movement of his legs. Mori appeared several minutes later and freely ran down the steps. She no longer had to pick up her robe and take care not to trip now that Yu’lon had mended her garments, and thus the weight had been both literally and figuratively lifted from her shoulders. Once she reached the meeting spot, the young blood elf turned her eyes to the entrance to the inn and awaited the arrival of the death knight.
And Sahtra did appear, his dark armor blending in with the shadow, making it look as if two glowing blue eyes were floating of their own will. He temporarily held his hand out over the eye slots in his helm to shield himself from the bright rays of the sun, then took the steps down after he adjusted to the outside. Mori flashed a bright grin at the death knight, and he responded with a nod as he took his place behind her.
“You are all here, yes?” the mayor asked nervously. He looked around the group and counted on his fingers several times to make sure, though it was no difficult task. “Yes, yes you are, good,” he spoke with relief.
“East of here, there lies an archway that serves as the northern entrance to our peaceful village,” the pandaren continued, “but the yaungol have been camping there for several weeks now. They will slaughter anyone who tries to shoo them off!” Bramblestaff waddled nervously in that direction and pointed his finger at a landmark in the distance. “Come…come, let me show you!”
The travelers reached a safe observation point twenty meters from where the yaungol were positioned and hid. So that is what yaungol look like, the vrykul thought to himself, much like friend cow. Halvor turned to the mayor and saw that he was trembling.
“Can…can you do it?”
The warrior looked around and nodded. “Yes, friend panda, we take care of cows.”
Bramblestaff bowed deeply and ran off as quickly as his legs could carry him. Meechi scurried up to Halvor and knocked on his thigh.
“Yes, what is it, friend fox?”
The vulpera eyed the vrykul eagerly and whispered, “Let’s try negotiating with the yaungol! Then we won’t have to fight them!”
Halvor thought for a moment and nodded. “Yes,” he replied, “that sound like good plan.” The massive warrior turned around to look at his traveling companions.
“So, anyone here speak like cow?”
A silence fell over the group as they realized the only member who could have communicated with the yaungol was now away on his pilgrimage.
“Oh! I know!” Meechi exclaimed. “Let me try something!” She scurried off to the patch of grass in between the roughly built hut and the well and pulled back her hood. The alchemist focused intently on the yaungol in front of her and opened her eyes widely, putting on the most innocent expression she could muster. The yaungol in front of her blinked twice but otherwise did not react.
“The Light is at my side,” Vel’rosh spoke as he walked up to Meechi, “I will handle this.” He motioned for her to move to the side and took his place in front of the very same yaungol.
“We come. In peace. Want to talk.” The paladin attempted to make some hand gestures, but the tauren-like creature neither understood him nor took a liking to any sounds or motions he made. Sahtra rolled his eyes as he watched the party attempt to communicate to no avail.
“Hey, Halvor,” Meechi whispered at the vrykul, “I have another idea!” She pulled out a trinket from her bag, an invaluable necklace she had looted off one of the dead back at the broken statue of the Jade Serpent. “They might like this!” The alchemist handed Halvor the item, being careful not to reveal it prematurely. The vrykul gripped the necklace by the chain and held it out in front of him.
The yaungol opposite Halvor stood motionless save for a normal blink of the eye. Ah curses, Halvor thought to himself, this don't work either, perhaps I should—
The warrior lost his train of thought as a yaungol formerly perched upon the archway landed in front of him and stole the trinket from his hand. Halvor opened his mouth to speak but slammed it shut quickly as he observed the yaungol with the trinket in his hand muttering unintelligibly to the one in front of him. The other nodded, and the band of yaungol fled to the northwest.
“Fools,” Sahtra spit into the grass, “if we had killed them here, we’d have fewer yaungol to deal with before they returned. Now we’ll have to face them in greater numbers.” He sighed and sheathed his axe, tailing his traveling companions as they sought the Mayor.
The group found him at the village center.
“Warriors, did you defeat the yaungol?” Bramblestaff inquired with worried eyes.
“Eh, we push them away,” replied Halvor, “I do not think they will return.” Sahtra scowled from the back of the group, but no one could make his facial expression out from underneath his helm. They can easily return, he thought to himself, the vrykul is sorely mistaken.
The mayor fell onto his knees and bowed to Halvor and the others. “Celestials truly be with you,” he cried, “you have our thanks and unlimited access to our village! Come and go as you please! Oh, and remember to ring the gong so that we may all be made aware of your success!”
Halvor laughed, too loudly to be genuine, and warmly clapped Bramblestaff on the back. “Thank you, friend panda,” he spoke cheerfully, “but we have job to do first! I assure you we accept kindness!” The vrykul turned to his traveling companions and spoke quietly. “I suppose we better find cows now, yes?”
Vel’rosh nodded aggressively. “We need to end the threat from the yaungol and save these people from their attacks.” The orc stood firmly on the ground. “It is the right thing to do.”
Meechi snuck into the encampment with ease. Her small, thin, and light frame left little sound on the stone ground, and she took slow steps towards the two unsuspecting yaungol. They were speaking once again in a language neither she nor her traveling companions could understand. Judging from the tone of their voices, she assumed that one gave orders to another before turning around and heading towards a different sector of the encampment. The vulpera crawled along the wall and took a peek. Her eyes widened as she found around eight or nine yaungol, some bearing totems and others with beasts as their pets. After seeing nothing else out of the ordinary, Meechi quickly scurried back past the first yaungol and to the entrance, where the others were waiting.
“What did you see, small fox friend?” Halvor whispered.
The vulpera looked up. “There’s only one in the main hallway, but there are about eight more inside. A lot of them have animals, too.”
“It would be a shame if their animals had to suffer for their owners’ choices,” Vel’rosh expressed with concern, “if they are under their control, we may be able to cleanse them with the grace of the Light.”
“More importantly,” the vrykul spoke, “I think it is best to draw out enemy cow one by one, so it won’t be difficult for only five of us.”
“If we could first silence that lone yaungol,” Meechi gestured to the hallway, “we could take them by surprise.”
“I know how we can do that,” Mori whispered excitedly as she looked up at Sahtra, “with your death grip!” The young necromancer enjoyed watching the death knight in battle, and she had grown increasingly acquainted with some of the spells he used more often. Not to mention, she recalled having gotten death gripped herself, and was sure that the pandaren children she had been playing with were left with confusion when Mori had suddenly “disappeared.”
The death knight chuckled softly and held out his left hand, palm facing the yaungol, who, unfortunately for him, still had his back turned towards the entrance. With a silent sweep, the yaungol sailed through the air and towards Sahtra, who decapitated him with a single clean blow from Shin’ka. He turned to Mori.
“All yours, little one,” he spoke as she walked up to the corpse and began the reanimation spell, “and we may need more as we go through. We don’t know the true might of the enemy’s numbers.”
The young necromancer nodded in response and finished casting her spell. The undead yaungol stood back up as his head reattached itself, his formerly light brown fur turning into a brown-grey and his brown mane now black. Mori beamed with pride. She felt accomplished after performing each and every summon, no matter who the target had been. If an enemy, all the better! She looked back at Sahtra.
“I’m done.” Her eyes sparkled.
“Good job, Mori,” he returned her smile, “I believe we are ready to move on.” The death knight and warrior went in first through the hallway.
Vel’rosh looked back and forth between the child and her new undead summon as they began to make their way into the encampment. The orc ran up to her, placing a large hand on her shoulder. “Be safe,” he whispered.
Mori, a bit startled by the action, blinked before turning around to flash a smile at the paladin. “I’ll be fine!”
Up ahead, Sahtra and Halvor looked around the corner of the wall at an array of yaungol. The death knight thought to himself for a moment. The most efficient way to take down such a large number of enemies would be to strike them with a large area-of-effect spell from a safe distance. Neither he nor anyone else in the group possessed such magic, however, but he had a means of weakening them through confusion. Sahtra grinned as he lifted his left hand and began forming a ball of purple energy. The vrykul, intently brainstorming how to approach the band of yaungol, noticed the sphere growing out the corner of his eye and turned sharply to his traveling companion.
“What are you doing—”
“Shh. Don’t spoil the surprise. The enemy will be unable to fight when I unleash chaos upon them.”
Sahtra channeled the purple aura for a short while longer and thrust the ball into the center of the group of enemies. The purple sphere burst, spreading out through the camp sector and into the minds of the yaungol and their pet creatures. Warriors groaned and animals squealed in fear as they ran around, bumping into the walls and into one another.
“FEAR ME!” the death knight shouted triumphantly, grinning from ear to ear underneath his dark helm, “FEAR ME AS CATTLE DO THE BUTCHER!” He laughed maniacally as he watched the enemy scatter in complete disarray. The spell had worked.
“I think I hear more cow coming,” Halvor motioned at another entrance at the back of the sector, where he could hear hooves shuffling their way towards the two, “this may get difficult.” He took a step forward and held his arms to the side as he let out a chilling cry. The yaungol who had just stepped inside fell to their knees, making sounds that could only be interpreted as sobbing as they covered their ears with their massive hands. The vrykul nodded at Sahtra. “We attack!”
The two rushed into the midst of the scattered yaungol as Vel’rosh, Meechi, and Mori followed behind them, having received the signal to proceed. The warrior and paladin thrashed at the enemy fighters and knocked their animals unconscious while Meechi and Mori focused fire on the distant shamans. The latter ordered her undead yaungol to help cut down the fighters, and she raised another to take his place when he had fallen.
One yaungol hunter, having recovered from the confusion, stood back up and set his eyes on Sahtra. An unintelligible command to his pet, and the horned beast charged the death knight, knocking him back with a hard blow and striking him three times. Sahtra responded in turn with a wide grin and placed his hand on Shin’ka, enchanting it with shadow. The beast was slain in two hits, and his master attempted to flee. The death knight would give him no such chance, however, and pulled him back, striking him down with one blow.
“Let them come,” he chuckled as he held up his weapon, “Shin’ka hungers.” A flurry of snowflakes formed at the ground and swirled upwards around him, forming a small but intense storm of ice at his feet that followed him as he strode towards Halvor and Vel’rosh. One by one, the yaungol and their animals fell to the might of the three, and at the end of the battle, they were all knocked out or dead.
“We must destroy their remains,” Sahtra returned to the entrance where Mori and Meechi stood, “we can’t let them come back.”
The alchemist nodded and looked at Mori. “I’ve got an idea,” she began, “do you know any fire spells?”
“Yeah!” the necromancer replied, “I’ve got one!”
“Perfect.” The vulpera reached into her pouch and took out a bomb, colored a dark green instead of the usual black coloration her firebombs possessed. “I’m going to throw this oil bomb into the middle of the group, and when it bursts, use your spell on it to ignite the bodies.”
“Got it!” Mori waited eagerly as Meechi lit the fuse on the bomb and tossed it away, holding her hands up. The bomb made its impact, and the young blood elf could see the oil oozing out. Once she caught its scent in her nostrils, she knew it was time. Mori opened both palms, and a blast of fire traveled from them to the location the bomb had dropped, where a large fire erupted.
“Success!” Meechi exclaimed, “now let’s get out of here!”
The group ran out the exit to the encampment and found themselves at another barrier. As the fire died down, they could hear moans, sobs, and whimpers from the other side. The alchemist gulped and took a step forward.
“I need to investigate.”