After being teleported back to camp inside Mahli’ficia’s tent, Lareen turns to face Abigail:
‘‘You said the troll bumped into you…?’’
Lareen immidiately chuckled
‘‘As Mahli’ficia said, a check-up wouldn’t really hurt, now would it?
Come by my tent before we leave, it will be quick.’’
Which after, Lareen left the tent to go and prepare
A sudden explosion could be heard, coming from the direction of Lareen’s tent, which after a determinated yell:
‘‘Pheta vi acahachi!’’
But her efforts of protecting herself from the explosion failed, and now Lareen laid on the sandy beach, almost all of her body now charred from the explosion
‘‘I…can’t believe…it… The light didn’t save me, I…I…couldn’t even protect myself.’’
Lareen looks at the now exploded Alchemy Station
‘‘The damn thing… must have overheated. How…could I let this happen? Damnit, I…I… can’t even move.’’
Abigail Dangerbeard stepped into the portal.
While she didn’t much enjoy the prospect of being treated for such a minor bump she agreed to see the Draenei just to be sure. First, though, she went to the storage tent to pick up supplies and gear.
First priority was cleaning herself up. While being covered in troll blood might make her a fearsome sight it would make identifying eventual wounds more difficult, should the need arise.
Considering for a moment, she picked up an extra canteen for water plus enough dried food for five days. While she didn’t expect the operation to go sideways packing extra food was never a bad idea, especially with a storm underway.
The last but certainly not least important order was equipment and weapons. She already carried her hammer, knife, sawn-off and claw on her. Her climbing gear was also in good order. A longer mission called for more equipment. She opened her backpack and scanned the contents for a moment. The dragon gun was a top priority. It had meant the difference between life and death before and she was certain it would prove iye usefulness once again. Secondly, grenades. As she considered her options, she was interrupted by a loud explosion.
She grabbed her sawn-off and left the tent expecting an attack. What she saw, however, was an exploded alchemy lab.
‘‘The damn thing… must have overheated. How…could I let this happen? Damnit, I…I… can’t even move.’’
No sooner had Lareen said that, than Dangerbeard found herself suddenly joined by dozens of wide-eyed Kul Tiran sailors and marines armed with pistols, sabers, halberds and muskets; all sprinting towards the same noise! Expecting battle, all of them were equally puzzled when they saw the charred alchemy station, and the smoking Draenei next to it!
“What happened here?!” Bellowed a bull-necked Kul Tiran marine, as the huge man looked over the mess while holding a saber that looked comically too small on his overly large and armored form.
“Relax. It seems it was just an incident with the alchemy station, Sergeant Bolton.” Sounded the unnaturally echoing but familiar voice of Mahli’ficia as the elegantly dressed Void Elf stepped out of the crowd, apparently having taken a more leisurely stroll rather than run. The Void Elf looked at the mess, then back at the Kul Tiran marine she had called Sergeant Bolton.
“Because it was an alchemy station, I recommend you order your men back in case of any dangerous vapors, Sergeant Bolton. She is one of mine.”
There had not been much reaction from the Kul Tirans up until then, but at the mention of ‘vapors’, all of the men; including Sergeant Bolton; immediately took a couple of steps back from the incident site!
Mahli’ficia sauntered up towards Lareen, and looked the Draenei over.
“You look like a mess.” Was the first thing Mahli’ficia said when she stood over Lareen in a casual tone; an understatement to be sure. Taking a moment to look over her injuries, Mahli’ficia reached down to her belt to pick up a dark red, bluish phial.
Without asking for permission, she forced the potion down the Draenei’s throat; a potent and over-saturated mixture of both a healing and a stamina potion!
“Now it’s a good thing that that lightforging process makes you Draenei so tough. Dangerbeard,-” Mahli’ficia then turned towards the Dark Iron dwarf, gesturing towards Lareen.
“She needs to be brought to the ship physician’s ward.”
After she, without a choice, drank the potion, she already started feeling better:
‘‘Thank you. It was foolish of me to ever leave the station alone and going like that. But what I worry the most is… that…’’
Lareen pauses for a moment, before continuing:
‘‘As I saw that the station was ready to explode, I called out to the light to protect me… but it didn’t answer back.’’
After being helped up, Lareen said:
‘‘You said the ship physician’s ward? I…I think I can make it there myself. Thank you’’
Then she started limping towards the ship
Dangerbeard helped Lareen to her feet. She would have objected to carrying her, but thankfully the Draenei believed she could make it herself.
“Sure you don’t want me to tag along?” Dangerbeard asked, fully expecting the Draenei to decline the offer. “As for the Light, you’re better off conjuring up a magical barrier next time.”
She looked to the jungle. If the little mishap had alerted the Kul Tirans surely any trolls nearby would have noticed as well. For now the jungle seemed calm, or at least not ready to give up what secrets it was hiding. Abigail turned towards Mahlificia with a frown on her face.
“There goes creeping in unnoticed.”
She slid the sawn-off in its holster.
“There goes creeping in unnoticed.”
“Not quite. Captain Blackteeth picked this location for a reason. We killed the only scouts in the area, and we are many miles away from the nearest troll settlement.” Mahli’ficia explained with a soft smile as she looked down at the shorter dwarf by her side, before gesturing with a hand towards the tall cliffs around the Pillager.
“Furthermore, these cliffs do more than just conceal us. Their height and exit to the ocean means that any noise down here will be muffled. Given that Lareen’s was a… modest explosion by comparison, it is unlikely there were any trolls close enough to hear it. These dense, natural jungles do a good job at muffling sounds from long ranges.”
She explained, before turning and starting to walk after Lareen.
“Besides, we should probably follow her. We need to know if she’ll be able to walk properly if she is to join us on our mission.” Mahli’ficia said as she walked up behind the limping Draenei. Whilst the second unspecified reason for doing so was to prevent the injured Lareen from accidentally falling off the gangplank and drowning if needed… !
Moments later, down in the bowels of the ship, Lareen would arrive in the physician ward of the Pillager, a place that was a strange mix between a medical room and a chapel; with tables of various tools, syringes and saws lying next to neatly stacked piles of holy scripture.
At the end of the cramped room would be a shorter, thin Kul Tiran male in his 50s; clad in a set of dark green ritualistic robes and a pristine white surgeon’s apron in front. He was writing in a huge ledger before him, and only raised a curious eyebrow at the exotic lightforged Draenei that entered the room.
“I assume this is related to the explosion I heard outside?” He asked simply, continuing to write as he spoke.
“You do not look like one our bomb technicians. Was it a mine?”
‘‘No, it wasn’t. An Alchemical Station I had set up myself, well, also blew up in my face when I was working near it.’’
‘‘Looking at what kind of a explosion it was, I must have forgot it on while I was on a mission, allowing it to in the end overheat, and some not that nice alchemical liquids and components get together, and, well… cause some nasty reactions, when they got together.’’
Lareen returns from her almost shocked state
‘‘Anyways, whatever those reactions were they shouldn’t have affected the explosion’s severity. So, I’m the same as any explosion victim you may serve here.’’
The man got up, and walked up to Lareen. Although he was a head or two shorter than the Lightforged Draenei, he went over the injuries.
“Doctor and Tidesage Sebastian Anchorway.” He introduced himself courtly as he inspected the injuries.
“Some first and second grade burns, slight chemical discolouration and scarring and bruises.”
Without warning, he grabbed Lareen’s arms and fingers and began moving the aching joints around. He then pulled her down by one of her face tentacle and pushed her eyelids apart to look directly into her golden eyes.
“Some physical trauma and internal bruising, likely a minor concussion to the brain, but nothing too serious. The damage appears to be mostly superficial.”
“So is she combat ready?”
Asked Mahli’ficia’s echoing voice, as the Void Elf had entered the ward behind Lareen. Tidesage Sebastian looked towards the Void Elf and nodded towards her in acknowledgement, his attention still on Lareen.
“I have no experience diagnosing the Draenei, or their Lightforged version, but based on my experience with the other races, she looks combat able.” Sebastian explained.
“I can produce some salves and poultices, as well as a short healing session; to aid recovery, and she will be ready. Granted, I still recommend you try to avoid exerting yourself too much in the next couple of days.”
Sebastian said, looking towards Lareen with the same stern look one might use when telling a hyperactive child to quit roof jumping!
Dangerbeard went on with packing her supplies and weapons. She figured she wouldn’t be required in the medical ward. At least, not with the doctor himself around.
In the grenades department she decided to bring two blinding grenades, two smoke grenades and one high-explosive grenade, just in case. She hoped the latter one wouldn’t be needed but if some other mishap would blow the group’s cover it would prove its usefulness. With all her equipment packed she made herself comfortable on the beach. She looked into the jungle. Thankfully the explosion had gone unnoticed.
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