章 236: Something is Lost
6/5 Night
The revelation that the Necropolis was lost was a shock to Kel'Thuzad. He had gone to inspect the runes that had been inscribed upon the landing platform at the suggestion of his familiar, Mr. Bigglesworth, and that was that. There was nothing left to be done. This place belonged to Erich Bismark, whoever that may be. No ally of the Scourge, it seemed.
An orderly retreat was the only thing to do; at first he had attempted to at least drive the necropolis into Light's Hope Chapel, but the spirits which animated the engine refused categorically to do so. That was when they had turned violent. All of the haunts which powered the necropolis, from the sentries, to the engines, to the haunted weapons used to train death knight trainees, had formed ranks in order to secure the vital workings of the necropolis.
The Four Horsemen had advocated that they break through their lines and destroy the crystal which allowed the necropolis to levitate, but that would likely lead to the entire structure plummeting into the middle of Stratholm, destroying countless Scourge in the process. More than that though, Kel'Thuzad's instincts cried out against it. He'd been able to push through enough to order the first attempt, but it just seemed wrong somehow.
No, no it was much better to transfer the forces from Naxxramas to the surface and request another Necropolis. They would need to finally wipe out the Scarlet Legion to have enough space in Stratholm, but that had always been on the agenda.
The Horsemen and their troops held the line while the Cult of the Damned systematically packed up everything that they could move and destroyed anything they couldn't. They would be working through the night. Damn. Lab space would be at a premium.
••••••••••
Lord Admiral Katherine Proudmoore was ready to retire. The day had been another trying one. Priscilla was agitating against the Alliance again, and it had escalated to a shouting match with Katherine's son Tandred. It was irrelevant of course. Kul'Tiras was not going to war with the Alliance while she was Lord Admiral, nor was she going to declare them sanctioned targets for privateering. Kul Tiras would take care of its own, no more, no less.
"Lady Admiral. There is something I'd like to speak with you about in private." Daria, one of her elite guards, whispered to her. She seemed very subdued; likely something was wrong.
"Of course, Daria. Come. Is something amiss?"
"I have something to show you." She spoke in a monotone as she followed Katherine into her quarters. If Katherine wasn't so exhausted, she'd be inclined to ask a few witnesses in, but Dillan, the other guard on duty, would be enough in the very unlikely event of foul play.
"Look at this." Katherine glanced at the small crystal in Daria's outstretched hand. It was glowing faintly. She frowned. "What of it?"
"You need to look more closely." The crystal was raised to eye level. With a sigh, Admiral Proudmoore humored her guard. It was quite a pretty little thing, actually.
She didn't respond as her trusted bodyguard circled around behind her. She didn't notice the diamond studded arcanite collar around Daria's neck, hidden by her gorget. When Katherine was put in a chokehold, she snapped out of her trance long enough to struggle, until a vial of strange liquid was jabbed into her side.
Daria whispered in her ear, while Katherine was receptive to command. "You will think nothing of letting me inject you, now or in the future, and will forget that I have done so immediately."
Daria, for her part, thought nothing but what her master commanded. The collar was a crude, if efficient, facsimile of the company's tempest jewelry. Far faster, but social graces went out the window. Daria had always been taciturn and stoic, but any close inspection would reveal something was very wrong. Far too crude to use on someone that needed to be public facing. Katherine would need a few more injections; limited to one per day, to ensure that there would be no complications.
"The crystal plays music. Take it as a gift." Her first breakpoint was already passed by the "decision" to simply ignore that assault. The song of the crystal would lull Katherine to sleep, and teach her to hold Lord Nefarious in the highest regard. Dillan, having been ordered to ignore any suspicious sounds from inside the room with an injection of his own, would also hear and obey.
Daria, for her part, had no feelings on the subject. Supposedly a new personality would form over the next few days to replace the old one, at which point the collar could come off. She hoped that would make her more useful; she didn't care otherwise.
••••••••••
After I'd finished recruiting Tyrygosa, I'd enjoyed showing her all the functions on the amulet. She genuinely seemed extremely interested in the subject, so I figured I might as well let her keep studying them. At the moment my researchers consisted of a chunk of the Royal Apothecary Society, a bunch of random gnomes I literally pulled off the street, and Tyrygosa. To be fair, the RAS had successfully cracked the code on the Nathrezim problem, but that didn't mean they couldn't use a fresh perspective.
I'll admit: maybe half of what I showed her about the amulets had any legitimate scientific merit behind it. She could examine the intricate nature of the amulets later; I was enjoying having an excuse to play around with the settings.
"So let me get this straight. Not only do you expect me to believe that magic is real, but supposedly I'm a dragon?"
"Blue dragonflight, guardians of magic. Yep."
"I'll admit it's a unique pickup line. Not exactly sure where you're going with it, though. I'm not into that stuff."
"Oh? That's all? You don't think I'm a raving lunatic?"
Tyrygosa snorted. "Oh you definitely are, but I don't really have any particular plans for tonight, and at least you're interesting. I wouldn't get your hopes up, though."
"Well I'd say my odds are pretty good, actually. What if I told you that I could get you to do whatever I wanted by saying the magic words 'good girl'"
She shuddered with pleasure. "I'd say thank you, but that you're full of shit, master. Why would you even need magic if it was real? I was assigned to fulfill your desires… how long ago?" She had a thoughtful expression.
"An hour or so, at most."
"Master, there has never been a point in my life where your pleasure was not my highest priority. I was given your picture moments after my birth and imprinted on you absolutely. I'm fairly certain that was more than an hour ago."
"Interesting. I didn't put that in. I just put in that you remembered being my slave your whole life. The fact that you could make up details like that might actually end up useful."
"Useful to what? You're talking like a crazy person again, master."
"That's fine. I'm your master. I get to do that. Now then. On your knees, and remember."
She blinked a few times in shock as she looked up at me. "Incredible. With this power over me I was a plaything. You could fix or inflict anything you wanted. The applications are infinite." She didn't feel any horror, only excitement. I'd made sure of that.
"Yeah. Pretty sure my fix for Malygos will involve at least a little bit of rewriting. Honestly turning him into a woman seems likely. I've got this picture in my head of getting all of the dragon aspects in bed with me at the same time, and gender bending Malygos and Nozdormu makes it way more in line with my interests."
"Really. Any chance I could help with that?"
"He's already collared. The only way you could help is by accelerating his capture. If you can think of anything, great, but I have other uses for you. I should really get to those, incidentally. Let's try the Devotee preset."
A dawning realization spread across her face. She had been chosen to be consort to her god. Everything else fell away as inconsequential for the moment as tears began to pour down her cheeks. "Thank you for this opportunity. I'll do my best." She began fishing my cock out reverently. Vanessa might have gone a little overboard on this one. I'll be sure to get Tyrygosa's opinion on it when I set her back to her new normal. In the morning. Yeah. This one would be fine for tonight. Lividia would probably have some fun with her, too.
••••••••••
Onyxia, wearing her visage, set aside the ritual components. The circle was complete; they'd needed to use the central floor of her lair. "Alright sister. That's the long and short of it. I'll be taking an aspect of you and scooping it out to serve as the core of another you. The master thinks it for the best. I've never done it on someone as powerful as you, but we should be able to recombine you if things go particularly badly."
Ysera wasn't enthusiastic about the prospect, but Erich wanted it. It seemed like it would be tactically useful, at least, and the fact that it was reversible put her at ease. It would at least be an interesting experience, and surely he wouldn't keep her in this state if either side were miserable.
••••••••••
The War of the Shifting Sands: Progress Report
Silithid Killed: 6,957/20,000 (34.8%)
Alliance War Effort: + 104 (First aid kit sales) + 282 (charms) + 767 (freight) + 359 ( retinue owned shops) = 2680/500,000 (.5%)
Horde War Effort: +2500 (scarlet crusaders registered as Lordaeron military) + 60 (centaur registered) + 400 (lumber) + 280 (fel iron equipment) + 220 (Scorpid Armor) + 35 Wands + 6 Moonfruit + 1046 (Dark Iron trade) + 5477 (general freight) + 1175 (undercity industry) = 23003 (4.6%)
Scepter of the Shifting Sands: 3 of 4 pieces collected
Ossirian defeated: 0/1
C'Thun Defeated: 0/1
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