Capítulo 218: Dream a Little Dream of Me
6/2 night
The nightmare forces in Ashenvale didn't have much of a chance at this point. That stunt with Fandral had bought them a few days, but compared to the sheer force arrayed against them the forces of the Nightmare here were nothing. If anything, the joint forces went for overkill just in case another subverted agent of the Horde or Alliance jumped out of the woodworks. There was absolutely zero reason for me to even be there except to facilitate resurrection, and Tyrande was captured now: she could handle it.
The nightmare had needed more time to get established; instead, I'd seen to it that Xavius's forces got pounded repeatedly on both sides of the aisle. If we left him alone, I was sure there would be problems again, but he was not remotely equipped to deal with the full military might of the two most powerful nations of Kalimdor double teaming him. Nothing went wrong for once.
••••••••••
"We received a message from Thunder Bluff yesterday. Its contents were disturbing, and implied that you may know more." Thrall was settled in a tent next to a fire pit, where he had invited Tyrande and Jaina to meet him in private. Advisors would complicate things, and the shaman just wanted to have a frank discussion. He was still in his armor, but he had left the Doomhammer outside with his wolf.
"Yes, the dragons warned us as well." Jaina responded quickly. "Tyrande, what are those things? Why are they such a threat?"
"The Silithid are not, alone, all that great of a threat in the grand scheme of things. The sentinels could see to them alone, if we could have faith in the security of our borders." Thrall did not miss the meaningful glance. "However, they are only a symptom of an infection that has been allowed to fester. An old enemy of my people, that we sealed away when we could not kill them with the combined might of both the sentinels and the Dragonflights."
Thrall shifted his weight uncomfortably, weighing the possibilities. He knew only too well the arrogance of the night elves. It was distressingly possible that he would not be an ally to the Alliance in this battle, if this "ancient enemy" proved unworthy of obliteration. The Night Elves had initially attempted to wipe out his own people on sight; their judgements could be very harsh at times.
Of course, Sylvanas and Hamuul Runetotem both seemed to believe it best to approach them as if they were a known enemy. Thrall just didn't know enough to fully commit, but thankfully preparing for war would be useful in any case. "And what does this ancient enemy want?"
"Total domination, and consumption of all who do not submit to them. Their god drives them to kill and devour all who defy him. They are as bad as the Burning Legion."
Thrall nodded. "I'll look into it. Jaina was telling me that you had a proposal to extend our truce here?"
"If you consent to freeze your logging efforts, I would be happy to leave your people be while we deal with Ahn'Quiraj."
Thrall frowned. "You know my people need that lumber. Many orcs still live in tents, even after years."
Lady Proudmore stepped in there. "The green dragons have offered to compensate you in wood, if you agree to this. I have offered to send a number of woodcutters with them to assist in their production, as well."
"Thank you, Jaina. Very well. I can commit to one month here and now. If you and the dragons can provide what my people need, I swear to hold off my operations here until the war to the south is resolved. Until I know more, that is all I can promise."
The three shook hands; a human practice, but one that Thrall was comfortable with. He would need to speak to Cairne about this. His people likely had more information, even if it took the form of old stories. If he confirmed the nature of the threat to be impossible to negotiate with, then the Horde would gladly crush this enemy. Thrall also needed to learn more of the dragons. If they were going to be taking an active hand in the world, as allies or enemies, he couldn't afford to be ignorant.
••••••••••
While all that was happening, I was busy stalking a target. Nek'rosh Skullcrusher was the regional target for the Wetlands, and was for the most part pretty unimpressive. The reward for defeating him was a bottle of consent; damn useful, probably something I could use to expedite a high value capture like a faction leader, but I was long past the point where something like that would actually impress me. He was a member of the Dark Horde, and thus actually my explicit enemy already, but was leading a subgroup so far away from Blackrock mountain that his death was unlikely to impact the war in Shadowforge either way.
No, I was here for him because he was the son of the motherfucker that kidnapped Ysera's sister and traumatized her badly enough that she went into isolation for twenty years, and whether or not they were feeling vengeful, I thought it was appropriate that one of them be the one to kill him.
Yes, yes, sins of the father and all that. I promise I wouldn't kill him just for his dad, but every single other regional mission target has been a real piece of work. I really doubt he was in the wetlands doing community outreach to underserved communities. In any event, this was planned to be as efficient a trip as we could manage; Ysera is a busy woman.
Of course, her unique bipositional nature meant that I could fuck her while waiting for her to arrive; I'd set up a portal near the Dragonmaw compound, so I was relaxing in my apartment with my new consort while she finished prepping her armies to be without her for half a hour. Things must be really damn bad if she was worried to be off guard for that short a time.
It went flawlessly, though. I'd told her the whole plan while she was dreaming, and she'd processed it completely. When she opened her eyes, I saw a kaleidoscopic swirl of colors as she pulled herself off my cock and made a sprint for the door. It took me less than a minute to follow her out in my full armor, but when I arrived it was to find the entire Dragonmaw compound shrouded in green mist. It was the same trick I'd seen from both Ysondre and Emeriss, but with a dramatically larger area of effect.
Trusting the demigoddess with the task of killing a random middle manager loosely associated with her sister's trauma, I started grabbing orcs as my prearranged team of draconids (all former furbolgs and worgen) flooded in, followed by a few dozen spirits that dove into any target they saw. The sleeping orcs were in a dreamlike state, vulnerable to possession from my less impressive ghosts, and those that I didn't have the manpower to possess could always be shoved into the basements. I had around 26 new recruits by the time Ysera's sleepwalking body walked up to me.
"It is done. I see that you are capitalizing on my involvement."
"Of course. I knew I didn't have you for long, it seemed best to make the most of it."
"You have roughly one more minute before they begin to awaken."
"Ah. Thanks." I surveyed the situation tactically, and decided that I was looking at a fight I could definitely win. Of the roughly two hundred soldiers stationed here, I'd captured 26, kidnapped 87 and counting, and killed their leader. I had thirty draconids, 26 fatigued ghosts, 26 newly buffed up orcs, and a semicomatose demigoddess with me. I could take a hundred disoriented soldiers as they were still waking up.
"Alright, prepare for combat in ten, nine…" I counted down, giving my warriors time to finish off the sleeping soldiers in their immediate vicinity and get into formation. It was a slaughter, one in which my new orcs participated with sickening enthusiasm. They were going to Valhalla immediately after this fight, no questions asked. A few holdouts rallied to defend one of their bunkers, but I was not all that worried. I didn't need them all dead. I just wanted to loot the place.
Weapons, armor, furniture, clothes, food, and medical supplies were sent to the shadow priest ops team, who in turn directed laborers to carry it to rudimentary depots that were being set up around the Twilight Grove. Most would probably end up donated, or gifted to members of my team that went into the army, and my assessors priced it all at around 430 gold. This was a well provisioned, if small, military base; the Dragonmaw did not live a life more spartan than they needed to, and they had been actively raiding a land based trade route for loot.
That paid well, but I had a meeting to attend. I'd choose Ysera's upgrade after attending the meeting with the Druids.
••••••••••
Archdruid Elerethe Renferal stepped out into the cold, where a green Drake with the visage of a young high elven man waited to escort her into a special part of the dream; the Emerald Sanctum. It was rare that the circle convened in full, and rarer still that the Green Dragonflight would facilitate such a meeting, but it seemed that the Dreamer had a special interest in every single one of the Archdruids being present. Naralex had implied in his letter that there was something wrong with the Emerald Dream itself, in fact, which would explain why Ysera was involved.
Hopefully it wouldn't take her away from Alterac Valley for too long; the ecosystem was being torn apart by constant warfare, and it was all Elerenthe could do to preserve what she could. At this rate, even if one side won they would inherit nothing but a war torn patch of land inhabited by agitated elementals, opportunistic harpies, and not much else. On darker days, she even considered marshaling the spirits of the forest against the Frostwolf clan, just to end the conflict. She resolved to speak to Hamuul about it if she had a moment before or after the meeting. Talks had failed in the past, but that didn't mean you just give up.
When she arrived, she was startled as always by the beauty of the Emerald Dream. She hoped that she would never lose this wonder. She noted that the sanctum had a strangely pungent smell; sweet and heady. She looked around for the big tauren archdruid, and unsurprisingly he was easy to pick out of the mostly elven crowd. She started to make her way over to him through the milling group of druids chatting and reconnecting.
She noted that there were far more people here than the 18 current archdruids, but most of them were people she knew were on the borderline. Ysiel Windsinger, who was a talented military leader and logistician in addition to being an above average druid. Broll Bearmantle, who had incredible strength but hadn't been able to master his emotions ever since the death of his daughter. Leyara Staghelm, who had thrown herself into her training after the death of her husband Valstann. Remulos, the son of Cenarius, was only not an archdruid because he wasn't in their hierarchy at all. She approved of everyone present, she was simply worried about what would provoke their inclusion.
Right as Elerethe was about to start her conversation with Hamuul, Leyara abruptly let out a bone chilling wail. "It's a trap! Everyone, quick! Run! Escape! They are trying to enslave us!" As she spoke, she kept glancing at a bit of empty space near her, as if there were someone speaking to her. Fandral, who had only just arrived, rushed over to her and pulled her into a bear hug even as she kept shrieking warnings.
"Leyara. It's ok. Don't listen. He's not here. It's a lie."
"No, no, they got you too. They are… they are…" the hyperventilating druidess slowly calmed down, a glassy expression appearing in her eyes.
"Fandral, what is the meaning of this!" Lathorius, the leader of the D.E.H.T.A., demanded.
"There is a dark force that, until recently, had me in its grip. I fear it may have reached Leyara through me. It is known as the Nightmare, and it seeks to sow division among us. Please, everyone just take a deep breath and listen. Lady Ysera can tell us more."
Elerethe did as he requested. Something like that really did justify a convocation of the Druids. She was glad the meeting was happening somewhere safe. Everything was fine. The Dreamer would protect them here. She could relax.
She woke from her stupor a bit later so that she could be drained of mana by the nice human woman, and to swear her oath of love and devotion to her lord and master. It was good that nothing bad could happen here.
••••••••••
Achievement unlocked: A Grand Old Time- complete a grand mission
Reward: Job Security ticket (meta)
Job Security: You may trade this in after performing unsatisfactorily in a beta test to be allowed to test another world. Accumulate 5 unused tickets to earn the position of game master. Limit one per test.
••••••••••
Ysera Upgrades
Strength: Dream Cards: Ysera generates four dream cards each day. One to summon a magic immune dryad, one to summon a green drake, one to create a large explosion, and one to teleport a single target to a random distant location. They can be stockpiled and used by anyone.
Agility: Morpheus: Ysera gains the ability to grant someone the Hypnos and Maestro lures with a day long ritual that she can do while sleepwalking, allowing the empowered individual to give people vivid dreams that can substantially alter someone's thoughts and actions for several days (or longer). In addition, she herself will gain these lures, substantially enhancing several abilities she already had.
Stamina: Just a Dream: Ysera is fully awake in both the dream and the normal world at all times. If she dies on one side, she will resurrect 48 hours later as long as she doesn't die on the other side.
Intellect: The Eye of the Dream: your demiplane gains a one way connection to the Emerald Dream, allowing it to serve as a base, gathering energy from those who are within it for 24 hours or more. In addition, you receive 50 credits which can only be spent on upgrades to your demiplane.
Spirit: Essence of the Green: all currently living Green Dragons are instantly captured.
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