The Legion's Grasp

[Luke]

Originally Posted by Luke Strife

Chapter 1

"There's another one."

The human pointed into the distance, an earth elemental was in the midst of being corrupted into an Infernal by the Legion. It writhed and made a noise that could only be described as a low pitched wail, it was a horrific noise nonetheless, painful to just even watch it happen.

A young draenei woman spoke up. "It's just further proof that the elements are all out of balance."

There was also a night elf with the group, who smiled and half-jokingly said, "I think you're on drugs, with all this elemental crap."

"Says the person who claims he can turn into animals."

"Hey! It's an art!"

The human in the group sighed but calmly turned to face them. "Look, it's no stranger than being able to bend the arcane to perform magic, I don't see what's so strange about shaman and druids, personally."

The druid and shaman stopped talking, and continued to watch the elemental in the distance. The trio weren't the only people in the group, there was also a dwarf who was fast asleep on a crate, which contained all of the traps that he used during their endeavours, despite the constant talks that perhaps sleeping on top of a set of movement impairing traps wasn't such a good idea. He never listened, and it was a wonder he had survived this far.

Though the group seemed quite odd, they were all actually friends, rather than having to tolerate eachother because they were in the same guild. In fact it was quite the opposite, each had skills that had helped the group out of many scrapes. Hogarth the dwarf hunter, used his bow and traps to outsmart enemies and hold them fast whilst his allies attacked the target. The draenei shaman, Myana, tapped into the power of the elements to create totems that bring useful benefits, and even vital healing powers. Semellet is the name of the night elf druid, who's abilities lay in the way of shapeshifting into numerous animal forms and then use their skills in battle, but right now his balance of power is incorrect, which has meant that sometimes he is stuck in certain shapes for up to hours at a time. Finally, but not least, the human mage known as Materalus, wielded the arcane in the way of frost to freeze his enemies to the floor, then shatter their very being with powerful ice magics.

These were just four of the Order of Outcasts, and this particular group were sent to investigate the goings on of the Burning Legion in Outland, specifically Shadowmoon Valley. As a secondary objective they were also to aid the Wildhammer dwarves in their valiant defence of their stronghold. The Aldor, the Scryers, and even the Horde were battling against the demonic Legion, though not all entirely unified, they all shared a common goal; the destruction of the Legion and the protection of their homelands. They were doing well, for the most part. Though the evidence of their hinderance was right in front of them. The more of the Legion that was destroyed, the more innocents that were converted into demons by the corruption of Kil'Jaeden and Sargeras. The demons were not all theirs though, even Illidan the Betrayer's army encroached upon the broken world of Outland. Not to mention the mana-hungry Sunfury Blood Elves who had claimed most of Netherstorm to the far north, under the command of their leader Kael'thas Sunstrider, who in his desperate bid to save his brethren, had turned to betraying the races of Azeroth by siding with The Betrayer, and then Kil'Jaeden, with their mad promises of power.

"You know, we should stop this. We CAN stop this." Said Materalus.

The Druid shook his head. "No, it's too far gone, we have to wait for it to finish converting before we attack. Besides it's not like it's alone, that's a whole **** command post for the Legion. Who knows how many Overseers are roaming about."

Myana lightly nudged the snoring dwarf with a hoof. "Wake up, lazy."

The dwarf did not stir, save for an abrupt intake of breath, and then he rolled over.

"If only we had a better hunter," said Semellet.

The frost mage's hands began to glow a soft blue, as he directed the palm of his right hand in the direction of the sleeping dwarf. A sharp gust of chill blew over Hogarth, and he sat bolt upright, shivering and swearing. "If you wanted me to wake, you could've done it a lot more bloody lightly!" He grumbled a bit then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Myana rolled her eyes.

Suddenly the elemental in the distance had reached the peak of its corruption. It erupted into greenish flames that cast out an eerie light, and the large rock that was recognised as it's head now sported a new, more evil face. The transformation was complete, another abomination to the Legion's ranks, unless the group struck now.

"Sod this, I'm going in!" Shouted Mat.

"Matty you idiot!" Semellet threw back.

The mage darted over the rock they were crudely camped on, charged up an attack, and let it loose on the nearest Doomguard. It smacked into the demon's chest, and it shook with surprise at the intensity of the attack that happened so suddenly, it was struck down and it never moved again. Materalus jumped over the corpse and aimed a fireblast to another demon's face, it went down hard. Mat quickly found himself surrounded, so he cast frost nova, then began to rain death upon his foes with sharp ice crystals. After it was finished, he glanced around to survey the death he just wrought. He'd be happy, but it was too disturbing a scene to enjoy such a victory. Looking up, he spotted a gigantic Eredar about to crush him underhoof, and blinked away just in time.

At that moment a lightning bolt ripped through the air and shocked the accursed demon. This was followed by a volley of arrows, and then the clouds parted to give way to a massive blast of arcane energy that rolled over the demon. The Eredar fell dead, as the rest of the party caught up to Mat.

"You forgot about us."

"Sorry, I couldn't wait any longer. Besides it's going well so far, isn't it?" He felt wet on his cheek, and wiped it with his sleeve to see it stained with blood. A moment later there was a flash of cool light, and he felt a good deal better. "Thanks," he quickly added with a nod and a smile towards Sem, who was now in tree form after displaying such dazzling fireworks, it looked quite funny, and it cheered him up a bit.

The break was short-lived, however, as now the newly-corrupted Infernal had seen the ruckus and began to advance. It didn't get very far before it touched something metal, there was a distinct click, and it was suddenly encased in a block of ice. Hogie gave a bow at his expertly placed trap. As he rose, his features became more serious.

"We need to move, it ain't going to stay like that for too long." After looking at Mat's face, he added; "So what do you want to do with it then? It's just a mindless demon now."

"I was figuring the Aldor might want to take a look at it, they can cure demonicly tainted armaments, maybe they can clean the corruption off of living beings now."

"I doubt it," replied Myana. "There is a big difference between cleansing inanimate objects and sentient beings."

"So you'd rather it be destroyed?"

"No! Of course not, I just don't think it's possible to help this right now."

"Yeah... alright. I see your point."

Hogarth began to look a little nervous. "I don't mean to rush you guys, but I think the freeze effect is going to break very soon."

Sure enough, there were cracks beginning to show around the ice block, the Infernal was about to free itself.

"Alright, let's clear some distance so we can get proper shots off at it."

The group jogged back close to where they were previously camped out, and the ice broke with a loud bang. The Infernal let out a deafening roar, and started to charge towards the party. At that moment it was hailed by a mixture of deadly arrows, magic missiles, balls of lightning, arcane energy, and soon enough it was nothing more than dust. Luckily the rest of the outpost hadn't even noticed the recent battle and continued their mindless work.

The group quickly packed up their crude camp, located their mounts to the rear of the rock they were on, and rode off towards Wildhammer Stronghold, their thoughts troubled.