Baoshii Tumblebelly was somewhat confident that the Wailing Caverns were stationary. In fact, he was very confident. Not in all his years had he seen a cave spin. And yet here he was, watching the walls turn and shift in a constant state of motion. Of course, it could just be in his head. He had heard from other monks that consuming whole kegs of brew at a time could have certain adverse affects, but he always dismissed them out of hand, typically showing his disdain for such thinking by consuming more brew. Instead, it must certainly have been due to one of the strange ingredients he added as opposed to an issue of volume. That understanding did little for his headache, however. He planted his mighty paws on the side of his head, willing his eyes to see straight and his vision to clear.
It was important to focus right, after all. Alsius was in the middle of discussing a battle plan. The death knight was crouched on the dirt, drawing a makeshift map. Myraah was by his side as well, transfixed on the plans, offering pieces of advice. The others listened carefully. Baoshii truly tried to do the same.
"...raptors all along this corridor. Vicious, savage beasts, which we should not take lightly. Yet they are defending these Druids of the Fang. They must be culled..."
The spins were getting stronger. He took a mighty swig from his mug to try to dull it, but mysteriously, it did little. Certainly it was one of the new ingredients. Perhaps the water from the oasis was tainted in some way by the forces of the caverns. It was the only logical explanation he could muster.
"...draw the nearest group to us individually, and crush them with superior numbers. As long as..."
It had to be the ingredients. He had to try something new to settle his mind. One hand on his head and the other on his stomach, he scanned the cavern.
"The first group of raptors is just ahead. On my signal, we-"
"Raptor horn! Of course!" Baoshii bellowed, lobbing his mug at the nearest beast and covering it with frothy ale. Immediately he went into a crouch, prepared to strike it down, pulverise it's horn and sprinkle the dust into his mug to finally, at long last, settle his spinning world. Why Alsius seemed so upset at this confused him, but that was a concern for another time.
A group of three raptors, dripping ale, rushed towards them. Their fangs glistened from the luminescence of the strange slime that moved with them, bathing them in a sickening green glow. Shalai, in an unexpected move, drank a long sip of tea as they approached instead of falling into the traditional crouched defensive posture. Her eyes opened wide and her feet tapped rapidly, and then, suddenly, with incredible force, she spewed pure fire from her mouth. Immediately it set the raptors aflame, spurred on further by Baoshii's ale. In shock and disarray, the raptors were easily put down.
"Effective!" he said to her with an expression of surprise and approval. "What did you brew to get that degree of heat?"
She was quick to reply and eager to share. "Simple green tea, but with a splash of yak's milk boiled to-"
"Enough!" Alsius roared, loud enough that they briefly wondered if it would collapse the entrance.
"Yeah!" Myraah agreed, looking stern with hands on her hips. She quickly noted Alsius did not wish for or need the assistance, however, and looked away awkwardly.
The death knight slammed his axe into the dirt and looked them each in the eye. "I said on my signal! The Horde has a way of attack, and it is not through... through mugs thrown and... and foolish tricks! We move forward as I see fit! That is final!"
The party went quiet. The two monks realized then that they had rushed in rather recklessly, and had indeed put the group in some degree of danger. For them both, their single-mindedness had often been a benefit, but not always. There were others relying on them now, and they had to focus.
"Forward, then," Alsius said, calmer now but still shaking his head in frustration. Yrella Dawn followed first after him, seeing as she was the only one that the death knight was not actively infuriated with. Healers tend to be well liked as long as everyone is alive. If they're not, they usually don't hear the complaints anyway.
Baoshii felt some sense of shame, but noticed a comforting hand on his shoulder. It was Shalai. "Raptor scale," she whispered. "It will calm your mind. The horn causes madness."
Before Alsius could tell them not to, the two monks quickly went to collect their reagents. Tumblebelly snapped off a scale and crushed pieces of it into dust into his ale. He noticed Shalai scraping down pieces of the horn, however, and gave her an inquisitive look.
She met his eyes with a shrug. "Sometimes you need a little madness."
--
Myraah felt the group was coming together. In their wake were the bodies of a number of raptors and... she wasn't sure if slimes had bodies, but they were struck down just the same. However, they all knew that the battle had only begun, and there were plenty of struggles ahead. Their first great challenge - one of the leaders of the Druids of the Fang - rested by a campfire just ahead.
"Lady Anacondra," she whispered, peeking around the rocks to see her sitting with two druids at her side. They were all clad in the intriguing colours and designs of their order, their leathers dyed purple with green streaks coursing through it like the poison of a snake. After all, the 'fang' in their order's namesake comes from the snakes the druids can transform into. One such creature slithered, upright, around the camp on patrol, as large as the night elf it had formed from.
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Myraah was eager. It was now that she could prove to the rest of them that she was a capable, useful member of the Horde. "Alsius," she said with a sharp salute, "I ask permission to lead the attack. I have a plan."
"Snakes hunt vermin, you do know," Yrella added dryly as she tried to wipe away some of the slime that had splashed onto her boot.
Ignoring the slight about her size - and perhaps her fur... might have been a comment on the ears as well, really... - she spoke directly to Alsius. "Their minds are already damaged. The reports said they're half lost in a nightmare from the Emerald Dream. I can surely control one of their minds and get them to engage in a fight with the other, effectively taking out two birds with one stone."
"We saw bears breathing fire, might as well have rats hunting snakes," Yrella added.
Alsius thought it over. Until now, much to his disbelief, the Vulpera had been one of his best soldiers. Fiercely dedicated, she had managed to uphold the duty and bravery of what it meant to be a member of the Horde. With some trepidation, he gave her a quiet nod. "Take the one at the campfire. Use it to neutralise the snake. Once that business is done, we'll charge in on the leader."
Myraah had goosebumps - fortunately hidden by her fur, but unfortunately made all the more obvious by that same hair standing on end. This was her opportunity, and she had to make the best of it. She crept close to the edge of the rock face they hid behind, peering over at the encampment of druids. She opened herself to the shadow, allowing its essence to flow through her, controlling it, cradling it in her mind, and sending it as a wave to the druid's psyche. Caught unaware, he had no chance to defend against it, especially as overwhelmed by the nightmare as he was. Awkwardly, he stood up under Myraah's control, garnering a few strange glances from his companions. They didn't seem to make much of it, however, seeing as there were any number of strange occurrences in this place.
"Well, do something with it," she heard Yrella's voice echo in her mind. "Making him stand is a nice parlour trick, but we may need more than that."
She concentrated to her full power, her body shaking with the effort. She searched for a weapon on the body, having the druid pat down his sides. There was nothing. Of course, she thought - they're druids! Why carry weapons when your very body is the weapon? But, even under the influence of her spell, she couldn't force him to change into a viper, as that required strong druidic powers. So, she forced him to walk up to the snake, and did the only thing she could.
"What are you doing, Vulpeera?"
"This is no time for games!"
"Did that druid just... punch that snake?"
Tumblebelly's boisterous laughter filled her head. She grimaced. She couldn't blame them, after all - the sight looked positively absurd. Lacking a weapon, the stumbling druid began to swing wildly at his serpentine companion, pummelling it over and over with awkward, reckless blows. The snake looked more surprised than hurt, using its weight to try to knock over the surprise attacker rather than harm him, as he looked more akin to a drunken wrestler than an assassin.
"Enough of this!" the orc yelled, the voice reverberating in her head. "Charge!"
The spell was broken quite abruptly. The last image she had from the perspective of the druid's eyes was a simple clay teapot hurtling towards his head. It was quite jarring when it struck; her consciousness sped back towards her and and she promptly had control of her own body again, a feeling one never fully becomes accustomed to.
The battle now abruptly under way, Yrella frantically healed the wounds of Baoshii who had engaged the snake directly. Still feeling woozy, he took a fair dose of venom during the brawl. His response seemed to be to try to cure it by drowning the poison in alcohol.
Alsius, meanwhile, engaged Lady Anacondra directly, stealing her life force to regain his. Shalai ducked and rolled past the two locked in combat, giving the impression of a plan to flank the leader and overwhelm her with numbers.
At first, Alsius seemed pleased at what appeared to be - finally - a worthy strategy, but the feeling was short lived. She rolled past them to protect a small green plant that grew just behind the lady's feet, using her whole body to protect it as she delicately clipped the leaves. The only benefit was Alsius' anger was so great at seeing this it filled him with renewed vigour. In spite of the the madness that broke out, Yrella's tremendous efforts to keep both the poisoned Tumblebelly and the roaring Alsius alive left the strange party victorious.
They all took a moment to catch their breath, their chests heaving with exhaustion. The crackling of the fire revealed a unique battle indeed: a druid laid low, the scattered remains of a teapot strewn about the empty chasm; the snake's dripping poison splashed about the ground; and a monk, lying across the ground, casually picking an herb as if the whole sight was of far less interest.
"What," Alsius said between ragged gasps, "was," he said, staring down at the tiny form of Myraah, "that!" he finished emphatically. He looked as if he was about to plant a plate boot right into Shalai's backside that was still pointing right up at him as she picked the curious weed.
"Serpentbloom," Shalai explained innocently, holding up a leafy green vine.
"You found some?" Baoshii asked. "Wonderful!"
"You could have gotten us all killed... for a weed!" Alsius said, grinding his teeth. At the pace he was grinding them, he'd be lucky to have any left at all by the end of the cavern.
"Not just any weed. Serpentbloom," Shalai said. "And she almost stepped on it. So careless.
Baoshii held a hand up to his mouth. "I couldn't imagine..." he whispered.
Alsius was under such shock and dismay he seemed to struggle to find the words to reprimand them further. The battle, from the beginning to the end, was shambolic. Never in all his days had he seen such absurdity in war. Fortunately for him, Yrella took up the task on his behalf.
"Are we to simply forget that whole debacle at the beginning of that battle? And I thought the trolls were the snake-charmers," she quipped. Yrella, while shorter for an elf, had a way about her that seemed to tower over everyone. She was one of those types that could stand eye to eye with another and still find herself looking down.
"Look. We won the fight. And we're getting better with every battle," Myraah said with the optimism of one that has always managed to find hope even in the empty deserts of Vol'dun. "Now we best stop fighting among each other, because there are plenty more that want to fight us already. There's still a lot of cavern left." She looked to Alsius for approval, but those last words didn't seem to make him feel much better. She had never seen an orc, let alone a death knight, sink his shoulders so low.
It really didn't help when Baoshii offered him some brew.