Gilrom looks at Mehleficia and nods.
“My skill set should be fine for this. I have many weapons I can use. Various diseases and plagues, shadowfrost, silent weapon strikes. I can grip the trolls to us before they can even react and slaughter them like sheep. Boils their blood from within, manipulate their life force. Even raise their corpses to serve our purposes. So many choices…”
Grins wickedly and licks his rotten lip.
“I’m all in with the surprise attack. Just one little thing, boss lady. We’ll want someone, that being myself or Teknetia, to sneak around and cut off their retreat.”
Dangerbeard takes her knife out of its holster as if to illustrate the cutting off part further. She shares nods at Gilrom and shares a grin with the Death Knight.
“I imagine droppig this one in the middle of them might cause a bit of a panic.”
“I agree, and I appreciate the worgen’s enthusiasm. You will do well in the front, Gilrom.”
Mahli’ficia nodded first towards Dangerbeard, then towards Gilrom. Although she had never worked directly with a Death Knight in combat before, she had seen what they could do from the opposite side, and knew they had a great aptitude for physical combat and even some magical. While she might have some doubts about the survival chances of Dangerbeard and Lareen, Mahli’ficia felt relatively confident about Gilrom provided the trolls did not have some trick up their sleeve.
She then tilted her head towards Lareen’s comment.
“If anyone is hit, we could very well be talking about impalement, not just a scratch.” Mahli’ficia explained in a hushed voice, before her attention then turned to Dangerbeard.
“My teleportation circle is targeted right on top of the hill. If you want to cut off their retreat, you will have to go around through the jungle in a 2 kilometer uphill run through dense vegetation, or scale the cliffs directly. How fast do you think you can make it, Dangerbeard?”
Mahli’ficia asked, as a slight look of doubt could be seen as her shimmering eyes moved down to Abigail’s shorter dwarven legs, then up at her face.
She liked the dwarf’s plan in theory, but also recognized that it would not amount to much if the party arrived on the hill whilst a winded Abigail would still be halfway down down the jungle path!
Abigail pokes her head out of the tent to take a look at the cliff.
“Sure, I could scale that beauty no problem. Brought the proper equipment. Should be easy to time my arrival with yours, too. Easier than the jugle. Too many variables involved in that one.”
She taps the handle of her climbing axe to reassure Mahlificia of her expertise and equipment.
“Give me fifteen minutes, bottom to top. I hope you need not be reminded that we Dwarves are of the mountains. Climbing comes to us almost as naturally as taking a walk. Soon as you see me up there, you can drop Stinky right in the middle of them. You lot take the main group, I’ll make sure none escape with their life.”
‘‘If anyone is hit, we could very well be talking about impalement, not just a scratch.’’
‘‘It was more or so… a first try at what you call a joke… of course I have something to cure more than just a scratch from a spear. But I don’t think we will ever even have any need for healing with a group like us, we can handle them’’
Lareen takes a quick moment to think
‘‘I hope you’re right of them just possessing lesser voodoo magics at the worst… I simply don’t have enough for any disspells at the moment when it comes to more… higher level voodoo.’’
After raising her concerns, Lareen steps into the teleportation circle
‘‘Let’s just get this over with, shall we? Quick and easy…’’
"Stinky… "
Mahli’ficia spoke the word slowly, as if chewing on it, before smiling.
“I like that… alright, Abigail, start moving. You have fourteen minutes.” Mahli’ficia said, as she gestured towards the exit of the tent whilst conjuring a prismatic hourglass in the air next to them.
“Remember to not alert them, or you might have to face all of them on your own. Oh, and also mind the Kul Tiran minefield around the camp. Now go-go!”
No sooner had Mahli’ficia ushered Dangerbeard out of the tent before she turned to the rest of the group, pleased to find Lareen already in the teleportation circle as she nodded towards the Draenei. She then gestured towards Gilrom and Teknetia to step into the circle as well.
“You may as well step into the circle now so that we are ready. I will teleport us about half to a full meter above the ground, so just be ready to land. And be careful to not step directly on any of the runes. If you muddy my script we may end up off course.”
Mahli’ficia said as she pointed at the magical chalk lining the floor, before looking to Lareen.
“Odds are there are no spellcasters among the trolls. They are not a very magical race, which means that the likelihood of any of you being turned into a toad or a pocket-sized version of yourself is small.”
…
" … no pun intended."
Not keen on wasting even a second, Abigial spins around and walks out of the tent, heading through the minefield towards the cliff. She looks up at the trolls, seeing none of the six paying particular attention to the lone Dwarf making her way towards them. Taking her climbing spikes in hand, she begins her ascent.
“If any of these slip into the jungle, we’ll have little chance of catching up. They know these lands better than we do.” she thinks to herself as she climbs. “Thankfully, our group looks equipped to make short work of them”.
Climbing as silently as she can while making good time, Abigail arrives at the top of the cliff within twelve minutes. She quietly gets in position and fixes her eyes on the trolls, awaiting sudden appearance of the others. She silently readies her weapons, claw and hammer and judges which of the six might be a runner.
Gilrom nods and enters the circle. Upon being teleported, he lands on the ground and surveys the location, waiting for the others.
After being teleported, Lareen notices the six trolls
‘‘So, do we have a plan of action? Dangerbeard has probably already cut off their retreat, but if we make ourselves noticed right away, there still might be a chance of one of them getting away, and we don’t want that’’
‘‘Whatever the case might be, I have enough mana to turn one of them into a cockroach, a simple stomp and they are gone. Hopefully it helps’’
"Consider this a shock attack,- " Mahli’ficia said with a smile on her deep blue lips as the last of the arcane motes dropped to the bottom of the prismatic hourglass.
“Do as you will with the trolls, consider this a test of your abilities as well!”
Without any further instructions, Mahli’ficia crossed her arms and moved her fingers in an intricate pattern as eldritch words of power escaped her lips.
“Ethanos ki operrathil!”
With a gust of unnaturally cold air suddenly blowing up from the portal circle, the dormant runes sprung to life with a hazy blue light that filled the tent. For the briefest of moments, Gilrom and Lareen were suspended in an eternal void; before they would both fall onto the dry jungle dirt atop the hill!
“Takawa!” Sounded the guttural voice of a troll to their right. Gilrom and Lareen found themselves in the thick of the jungle, with dense vegetation making it difficult to see past more than 10 meters and no sign of Mahli’ficia. The voice they had heard had come from one of the three zandalari trolls surrounding them. They were half-naked, clad in little more than some loincloth and leathers with crude tattoos painted across their thin and lanky bodies. Two of them were looking directly at them in surprise at their sudden teleportation; whilst a third had been sitting hunched by the edge of the cliff observing the camp, just starting to turn around.
Their hesitation did not last long however.
The first troll who had shouted was quick to grab a crude spear and hurl it in one trained motion towards Lareen and Gilrom; whilst his troll buddy next to him immediately turned around and retreated towards the jungle!
She had anticipated one of the trolls to flee, so when the troll took off for the jungle Abigail sprung into action. Quickly slamming into the unsuspecting creature with her full body weight. Both Dwarf and Troll went down, disappearing into the thick of the jungle for a brief moment. Fast as lightning she brought her hammer down on the head of her opponent twice, splitting it open like an overripe watermelon with a sickening crunch.
Breathing heavily, adrenaline coursing through her body, Abigail Dangerbeard jumped up with her weapons at the ready. She looked towards the cliff where her allies, Gilrom and Lareen, had appeared suddenly to surprise their completely outmatched foes.
‘‘AND THAT’S A SPEAR!’’
Before the spear could come close, she quickly threw an arcane bolt at the third troll, throwing him off the cliff
Lareen ducks down evading the spear
‘‘I assume you want something to do, Gilrom?’’
She points to the troll throwing spears at them:
‘‘Then kill that bastard of a troll! I’m giving you the last kill! But please, just do it quickly!’’
“There should be three more, this isn’t over yet!”
Dangerbeard hissed at Lareen as she ducked down into the vegetation slightly and began circling the encampment looking for the other three trolls. Adrenaline coursing through her body, it felt as though time has slowed down, her senses heightened as she scanned her surroundings.
As the battle had started, and one troll had already been sent screaming down a 100 meter fall towards the beach below; rustling could also be heard coming the dense jungle vegetation around them.
“There should be three more, this isn’t over yet!”
No sooner had Dangerbeard said that than another zandalari troll carrying a large, obsidian-spiked truncheon appeared out of the bushes to stare directly at Gilrom and Lareen. Seeing the spear miss them, he shouted out a war cry and quickly leapt towards Gilrom from the flank as the troll before him readied another spear from the ground!
But he was not the only threat that had emerged.
From Dangerbeard’s perspective, she would be able to see another troll; almost perfectly hidden in the jungle growth; stalk quietly towards Lareen from behind, carrying nothing but a long, vicious black tooth formed into a serrated dagger. She would also hear a sixth troll, this one coming appearing right out of the dense foliage behind her as it sprinted towards Gilrom an Lareen! But it had not seen the shorter dwarf hiding in the vegetation; causing Dangerbeard to suddenly be hit by the legs of the running troll at full speed! The collision sent the running troll flying right over the dwarf with a cry of surprise, dropping his spear in the process!
The troll’s clumsy dash had taken her by surprise. Abigail felt a stinging pain in the side of her head, probably from the creature’s gangly limb that had stumbled into her. There was no time to think. Within less than a second she decided that the one with stalking towards Lareen was the greatest threat.
She shot forward like a vicious panther, staying low in the vegetation, eyes fixed on her prey. The Dwarf stomped down hard on the troll’s ankle, bringing the creature down to her level. The troll barely had the time to let out a surprised yelp. With her metal claw Dangerbeard slashed its throat open. Warm, sticky blood covered both Dwarf and troll.
Now there were three. Dangerbeard fixed her eyes upon the one that had nearly trampled her. Hammer in hand, she was determined to give the savage beast a headache to, sorry, dwarf her own.
Gilrom grins as the two trolls charge at him and quickly leaps back with great speed before gripping the one with the spear to him and grabbing him by the throat. Before the unfortunate wretch could even lift an arm, he would release a terrifying scream as Gilrom’s teeth sink deep into his throat.
Not wasting time, Gilrom would bite the troll’s head off and throw it at the troll with the truncheon. However, the charging troll is unable to stop himself even as he is hit and slams intimidate Gilrom, making the worgen stumble backwards a few steps. Gilrom then grabs the troll and thrashes him into the ground before making a deep cut in his chest with his blade. He then releases a terrible disease into the troll and watches in delight as the troll starts screaming in agony as his flesh is slowly
devoured from within.
"Such delicious screams. Yes…sing the deathly lullaby."
Gilrom grins wickedly and licks the blood off his jaw.
The distinct whiplash sound of air suddenly being rapidly displaced could be heard, before in the next second, Mahli’ficia would appear out of thin air as she teleported into the battle!
Standing there, she glanced around at the carnage. She could see the bodies of two of the zandalari scouts strewn about, one missing his head. A third was being (slowly) killed by Gilrom. A fourth was lying on the ground, in the process of getting up as Dangerbeard was marching towards him with hammer in hand. Because the Dark Iron was here, Mahli’ficia assumed she had killed the last missing troll.
"Well done, it seems we have,- "
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH"
"Such delicious screams. Yes…sing the deathly lullaby."
Mahli’ficia found her attempt to speak lost in the terrified screams of the troll held by Gilrom. The Void Elf peered from the corner of her eyes towards worgen and troll, before raising her ornately decorated scepter. For a brief glimpse, Mahli’ficia’s eyes became pitch black and she fired a crackling ray of blue energy into the back of the troll. In a flash of light, the troll was reduced to a cloud of fine dust particles that slowly drifted across Gilrom’s form and blade; the screaming now gone.
Perhaps it was an excessive use and waste of magical power, but after a long journey on a ship, Mahli’ficia reasoned that some exercise of her powers was only a good thing.
“Cough. As I was saying, good work everyone. The troll you threw down the cliff survived the fall, but he is dead now.” Mahli’ficia said with a pleased smile on her face as she nodded towards the members of the group around her, before adding.
" … were there any injuries or casualties?"
Dangerbeard strode towards the helpless troll, hammer in hand. The creature appeared to have given up all hope as it saw the colossal Worgen Death Knight make short work of two of its comrades. Too late it attempted to crawl back onto its feet. A steel-toed boot to the jaw put an end to that effort and whatever fight might have been left in the troll. Dangerbeard quickly put the pitiful creature out of its misery.
She turned towards Mahlificia slowly, her chest and left arm sticky with the blood of her previous victim. With the fight over the Dwarf slowly felt a return to normalcy, becoming annoyingly aware of a throbbing pain in the side of her head. The troll has unknowingly hit her hard, though no real damage was done.
“The blood is all his.” she said, shooting a glance at the second troll. “This other one bumped into me, I’ll live.”
She shot a glance at Gilrom, admiring the royal mess the monster had made of two Zandalari.
Lareen looks almost shaken:
‘‘Alright, first of all… that happened kinda fast. Second, I think that was a slight panicked move on my part with that, whole, pushing one off the trolls of the cliff.’’
Lareen looks more relaxed as she continues
‘‘I think it’s wise if I stay away from these… combat missions… and concentrate in helping in more, peaceful ways. I think my talents are more better suited in those… And overall more better used in those kind of ways.’’
"… Second, I think that was a slight panicked move on my part with that, whole, pushing one off the trolls of the cliff.’’
“It was effective, I won’t question that.” Mahli’ficia said with a nod, before adding.
“We are a small group, so if combat occurs, it is likely that we will all be engaged. Granted, if you think you will be most useful from the rear, that can work too. As you mentioned you were good with polymorph, I imagine you more than a few useful utility spells in your armored sleeve.”
With another flick of her gloved wrist and a brief utterance of arcane words, Mahli’ficia cast a spell to reactivate her portal; causing a shimmering, oval shaped portal to appear in the clearing where they stood; leading back to her tent at the beach.
“We best waste no time however. Now as we have dealt with the scouts, our real mission can begin. I need all of you ready at the outskirt of the jungle in fifteen minutes. Bring all the rations and equipment you need for a 2 day jungle trip. I expect a sunny weather, but there is a storm brewing outside Zuldazar that may roll in in the next 20 hours. Do not worry about the troll corpses; I will inform the Kul Tirans about them.” Mahli’ficia instructed as she faced Gilrom, Lareen and Dangerbeard.
The Void Elf paused for a moment, before looking down at Dangerbeard.
“You might just have our Lightforged Draenei check on you. It would not hurt~” Mahli’ficia suggested to the dwarf, as she gestured with her head towards the taller Lareen.