A Kalimdor Ghost Story, Part 3 - Mysteries of the Past
Two nights after their silly, spooky dive into a haunted barrow den, the Red Blades had mended wounds and now stood ready to seek out the final spot on the strange cultist’s map. As they rode out in the direction of Azshara, the clan were joined by two freelance adventurers - the mysterious orc rogue Vresh and the cunning troll stalker Jagam.
Arriving past the gates of Orgrimmar, the group found a familiar sight - logging and mining had stopped thanks to reports of ghost activity nearby. Although the goblins had sent out a survey team to investigate, half the team hadn’t come back and those that had were dumbstruck, non-vocal and full of endless terror.
The group tread carefully through the forest on their way to Lake Mennar and started to piece together a strange mystery. There were perfectly good goblin supply crates abandoned, research equipment half set-up or smashed, and the corpses of some of the survey team. One surveyor tool had been set up correctly and pointed to massive surges of psychic energy coming from the depths of the lake itself. Vengeful ghosts attacked the group throughout and had to be battled back.
That wasn’t all the group had to contend with. At first it was something small and strange like not being able to recall names, but with time it became clear the pervasive psychic energies were interfering with their mind and memories. They steadily forgot their upbringing, how to use their weapons and spells, and finally they couldn’t recall anything, including their entire past or even why they were here. They only knew they were in a haunted place around complete strangers.
So when the group ran into the sinister cultist who had caused this whole mess, neither they or the cultist could remember why they were there - so they worked together to solve the mystery. They had amassed strange keys in recently disturbed earth, in an ancient pot and in the hand of a goblin corpse. They used the survey equipment again to find the psychic energies, and in the watery depths found an ancient chest sealed with enchanted locks. The keys opened the locks and the chest was dragged to shore.
Inside the chest was an unexpected sight - the shriveled, mummified corpse of a Highborne child, its spirit restless and full of fear, anger and grief. When the ancient Mennar Academy had come under Legion assault in the War of the Ancients and the mages’ barriers were failing, they had turned the child into a spell focus and buried them at the centre of a ley line. Whatever cruel logic brought the desperate mages to that conclusion was unknown, but the amnesiac group helped comfort the child spirit and let them move on to the afterlife.
As the spirit passed on, the group’s memories slowly returned - as did those of the cultist, who turned hostile. They were able to restrain and probe the cultist’s mind, learning that a larger ritual was planned elsewhere in Azshara and that New Blood Kholara Frostaxe had been carrying the soul of the first cultist they had encountered since Stonetalon, ready to take over and attack the Clan at a critical moment. With this knowledge, the orcs moved their camp to Bilgewater Harbor and Gul’thauk Draz’hul Dusklight led a shadowy ritual to drive the dark passenger from Frostaxe.
With the locations on the strange map exhausted, the orcs may have to turn to the local goblins to continue their search and disrupt the cultists’ rituals before even more ghosts are awakened.
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Unexpected Allies
As the clan prepares to set out, it is joined by two freelance adventurers - the mysterious orc rogue Vresh and the cunning troll stalker Jagam.
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An Even More Unexpected Ally
Psychic energies cause the orcs to run into the sinister cultist who had caused this whole mess and, in their confusion, opt to work together to solve the mystery.
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Purging the Soul
Gul’thauk Draz’hul Dusklight leads a shadowy ritual to drive the dark soul of the slain cultist from Kholara Frostaxe.