Voljaan
06-17-2006, 04:12 PM
((Hey guys. My comp crashed last week, so I wasn't able to get on for a while. While I was getting it fixed I wrote this little diddy up for Voljaan's absence. Enjoy!))
Although the Echo Isles were known for their heat and humidity, today was exceptional. A cup of water left in direct sunlight would have evaporated in ten minutes, maybe less. Gnats and flies were swarming around Voljaan as he struggled against a hexed Troll who had been cursed by the mad priest Zalazane. After a few parries and dodges, Voljaan’s axe found it’s mark in the neck of his opponent, allowing the blood traveling through his jugular vein to flow freely next to his now lifeless body. Adding the newly acquired head to his bag, he counted up his collection.
“… Five, six, seven, eight. No’ bad at all. As fo’ dat Zalazane guy, Ah worry ‘bout ‘im latah.”
He left the island and swam to shore, burdened with the heavy load the whole time. Carrying heads was no easy task. He returned to Sen’Jin Village to collect his small reward and repair his weapons and armor.
“Hey, you!” an Orc shouted from his table of assorted meats. “Come here, will you?”
“Ah don’ take kindly ta bein’ called ‘you’. What do ya want?” Voljaan sourly replied.
“Sorry. It’s just that, well, I need raptor eggs for a special recipe. They can only be found on the Echo Isles, and I can’t swim. If you get some for me, I’ll share my recipe with you.”
“Sorry mon, not too interes--”
“I’ll give you a few silver,” the Orc quickly added.
“Alright, s’pose Ah could help.”
Voljaan wouldn’t even have considered it were it not for the cash and the undeniable fact that he was bored out of his wits. He wasn’t too happy about having to swim all the way to the islands just to collect a few eggs and swim back, but he needed some money.
So he swam. He decided to go to a smaller island not yet touched by Zalazane and his minions. Upon finding the eggs, Voljaan discovered that the raptors would regularly patrol around them. He searched for hours to find an easier way to find them, but in vain.
The sun was just starting to set, causing a beautiful crimson to fill the sky, and Voljaan knew darkness would soon follow, so he decided to head back. He had just entered the water when he was jumped by three raptors, probably sensing his presence as a danger to their eggs. Just as he thought he was about to die, Voljaan saw an older looking Troll not ten feet away start to chant something. A split second later, the raptors were running away, thrashing their heads about in an almost comical way.
“Be ya da one known as Voljaan?” the other Troll asked as Voljaan stood up in the knee-deep water.
“Depends on who’s askin’, an’ tha reason they’re askin.” If there was anything Voljaan’s months of training in the ways of the rogue had truly taught him, it was not to take trust lightly.
“Yes,” the other Troll said, eyeing Voljaan up and down. “Ah’m sure ya’re da one bein’ searched fo’.”
Voljaan fell to his knees as his mind was seemingly invaded some unseen force, lashing out and causing wave after wave of psychic pain. It was as if someone was pounding his head with a sledgehammer, but working from the inside out. Within a matter of moments he had blacked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voljaan awoke with a start, disoriented and confused. He remembered swimming to the Echo Isles, but then… The memory was gone. He looked around and was surprised to find himself chained to a stone wall, shackles at his hands and feet. In the distance there was a door, but other than that the room was empty. After a couple minutes of Voljaan’s confused wonderings, the door opened and three elderly trolls, including the one that captured him, entered.
“Greetins to ya mon,” said the one who appeared to be in charge. “Welcome to our base of operations. We be tha Sect of the Anti-Damned.”
“Ah’ll be takin’ no part of your evil plans!” Voljaan wildly yelled in a poor attempt of intimidation.
“Oh, we intend quite tha opposite, actually. Ya see, we are a group of priests who wish to cleanse tha evil and dark outta all of Azeroth. Hence tha ‘Anti’ next to tha ‘Damned’.”
Voljaan actually found this funny. A group of Troll fanatics bent on the cleansing of Azeroth? Laughable. Too laughable, actually.
“Whatcha laughin’ at?” the Troll who had kidnapped Voljaan asked in response to his outburst. “This not be any kinda joke or nothin’, ya know! We’re serious!”
“Well then, members of tha ‘Sect of tha Anti-Damned’, whatcha wantin’ with me? It’s not like Ah’ve done anythin’ to ya. An’ Ah’m not evil or anythin’.”
“Oh,” replied the first Troll, “Butcha are. Ya be tha only livin’ person ta even come close ta truly seein’ tha Nethah. You’re jus’ brimmin’ with tha scent of it!”
Voljaan quickly sniffed himself to see what the crazy Troll was talking about. Then, just to go along with the madness, and hopefully delay his own death, “So, why didn’tcha jus’ kill me earlier?”
“Ya see mon, since we’re all about purity an’ all, we need this ta be a pure kill. For dat we’re needin’ your permission. Ya have to want ta cleanse yourself of tha evil you’re bringin’ on Azeroth.”
Were the scenario not what it undoubtedly was, Voljaan would have smacked the Troll up alongside the head and told him to learn some common sense. He actually expected Voljaan to give them permission to kill him? This whole thing was just crazy!
“An’ what if Ah say no?”
The other Troll looked grim at this statement. “We were hopin’ it wouldn’t come to this…”
Again, Voljaan felt his mind being ripped apart in waves of endless pain. As before, he blacked out almost instantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a about week of torture (he wasn‘t quite sure how long it had been), Voljaan was ready to give up. He didn’t know what to do. What could he do? More resistance just meant more torture, and he wasn’t sure how long he would last. The answer is hidden, he thought to himself. Wait, that was it! All he had learned about hiding, sneaking, everything! He had to remember!
Using the bones of a dead rat, Voljaan carefully picked the locks on his foot shackles with his toes (not easy when you only have two). He then transferred the bones to his hands where he picked the remaining shackles. He carefully walked over to the door and opened it, slipping into the shadows when the guard turned around to investigate. Voljaan snuck past him and through a hallway into what appeared to be the center of the ‘base of operations’. It was a round room with hallways leading out in all directions. Only one of these tunnels had light coming from it, so Voljaan decided to try this one first. It seemed to be the right one, as it slowly rose up and it was steadily becoming brighter. After a few more minutes he found himself in a cave overlooking… Ratchet? That Troll dragged him all the way to Ratchet?
Realizing just how serious this cult was, Voljaan ran to the town as fast as he could, bought some Goblin explosives, ran back, and set the charges all around the entrance to the cave. Thirty seconds later... Well, we’ll just say there was a big ‘boom’ and leave it at that.
“Great,” Voljaan said sulkily as he walked the distance to Crossroads so he could take a wind rider, “Now Ah’m gonna hafta buy all new armor an’ weapons…"
Although the Echo Isles were known for their heat and humidity, today was exceptional. A cup of water left in direct sunlight would have evaporated in ten minutes, maybe less. Gnats and flies were swarming around Voljaan as he struggled against a hexed Troll who had been cursed by the mad priest Zalazane. After a few parries and dodges, Voljaan’s axe found it’s mark in the neck of his opponent, allowing the blood traveling through his jugular vein to flow freely next to his now lifeless body. Adding the newly acquired head to his bag, he counted up his collection.
“… Five, six, seven, eight. No’ bad at all. As fo’ dat Zalazane guy, Ah worry ‘bout ‘im latah.”
He left the island and swam to shore, burdened with the heavy load the whole time. Carrying heads was no easy task. He returned to Sen’Jin Village to collect his small reward and repair his weapons and armor.
“Hey, you!” an Orc shouted from his table of assorted meats. “Come here, will you?”
“Ah don’ take kindly ta bein’ called ‘you’. What do ya want?” Voljaan sourly replied.
“Sorry. It’s just that, well, I need raptor eggs for a special recipe. They can only be found on the Echo Isles, and I can’t swim. If you get some for me, I’ll share my recipe with you.”
“Sorry mon, not too interes--”
“I’ll give you a few silver,” the Orc quickly added.
“Alright, s’pose Ah could help.”
Voljaan wouldn’t even have considered it were it not for the cash and the undeniable fact that he was bored out of his wits. He wasn’t too happy about having to swim all the way to the islands just to collect a few eggs and swim back, but he needed some money.
So he swam. He decided to go to a smaller island not yet touched by Zalazane and his minions. Upon finding the eggs, Voljaan discovered that the raptors would regularly patrol around them. He searched for hours to find an easier way to find them, but in vain.
The sun was just starting to set, causing a beautiful crimson to fill the sky, and Voljaan knew darkness would soon follow, so he decided to head back. He had just entered the water when he was jumped by three raptors, probably sensing his presence as a danger to their eggs. Just as he thought he was about to die, Voljaan saw an older looking Troll not ten feet away start to chant something. A split second later, the raptors were running away, thrashing their heads about in an almost comical way.
“Be ya da one known as Voljaan?” the other Troll asked as Voljaan stood up in the knee-deep water.
“Depends on who’s askin’, an’ tha reason they’re askin.” If there was anything Voljaan’s months of training in the ways of the rogue had truly taught him, it was not to take trust lightly.
“Yes,” the other Troll said, eyeing Voljaan up and down. “Ah’m sure ya’re da one bein’ searched fo’.”
Voljaan fell to his knees as his mind was seemingly invaded some unseen force, lashing out and causing wave after wave of psychic pain. It was as if someone was pounding his head with a sledgehammer, but working from the inside out. Within a matter of moments he had blacked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voljaan awoke with a start, disoriented and confused. He remembered swimming to the Echo Isles, but then… The memory was gone. He looked around and was surprised to find himself chained to a stone wall, shackles at his hands and feet. In the distance there was a door, but other than that the room was empty. After a couple minutes of Voljaan’s confused wonderings, the door opened and three elderly trolls, including the one that captured him, entered.
“Greetins to ya mon,” said the one who appeared to be in charge. “Welcome to our base of operations. We be tha Sect of the Anti-Damned.”
“Ah’ll be takin’ no part of your evil plans!” Voljaan wildly yelled in a poor attempt of intimidation.
“Oh, we intend quite tha opposite, actually. Ya see, we are a group of priests who wish to cleanse tha evil and dark outta all of Azeroth. Hence tha ‘Anti’ next to tha ‘Damned’.”
Voljaan actually found this funny. A group of Troll fanatics bent on the cleansing of Azeroth? Laughable. Too laughable, actually.
“Whatcha laughin’ at?” the Troll who had kidnapped Voljaan asked in response to his outburst. “This not be any kinda joke or nothin’, ya know! We’re serious!”
“Well then, members of tha ‘Sect of tha Anti-Damned’, whatcha wantin’ with me? It’s not like Ah’ve done anythin’ to ya. An’ Ah’m not evil or anythin’.”
“Oh,” replied the first Troll, “Butcha are. Ya be tha only livin’ person ta even come close ta truly seein’ tha Nethah. You’re jus’ brimmin’ with tha scent of it!”
Voljaan quickly sniffed himself to see what the crazy Troll was talking about. Then, just to go along with the madness, and hopefully delay his own death, “So, why didn’tcha jus’ kill me earlier?”
“Ya see mon, since we’re all about purity an’ all, we need this ta be a pure kill. For dat we’re needin’ your permission. Ya have to want ta cleanse yourself of tha evil you’re bringin’ on Azeroth.”
Were the scenario not what it undoubtedly was, Voljaan would have smacked the Troll up alongside the head and told him to learn some common sense. He actually expected Voljaan to give them permission to kill him? This whole thing was just crazy!
“An’ what if Ah say no?”
The other Troll looked grim at this statement. “We were hopin’ it wouldn’t come to this…”
Again, Voljaan felt his mind being ripped apart in waves of endless pain. As before, he blacked out almost instantly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a about week of torture (he wasn‘t quite sure how long it had been), Voljaan was ready to give up. He didn’t know what to do. What could he do? More resistance just meant more torture, and he wasn’t sure how long he would last. The answer is hidden, he thought to himself. Wait, that was it! All he had learned about hiding, sneaking, everything! He had to remember!
Using the bones of a dead rat, Voljaan carefully picked the locks on his foot shackles with his toes (not easy when you only have two). He then transferred the bones to his hands where he picked the remaining shackles. He carefully walked over to the door and opened it, slipping into the shadows when the guard turned around to investigate. Voljaan snuck past him and through a hallway into what appeared to be the center of the ‘base of operations’. It was a round room with hallways leading out in all directions. Only one of these tunnels had light coming from it, so Voljaan decided to try this one first. It seemed to be the right one, as it slowly rose up and it was steadily becoming brighter. After a few more minutes he found himself in a cave overlooking… Ratchet? That Troll dragged him all the way to Ratchet?
Realizing just how serious this cult was, Voljaan ran to the town as fast as he could, bought some Goblin explosives, ran back, and set the charges all around the entrance to the cave. Thirty seconds later... Well, we’ll just say there was a big ‘boom’ and leave it at that.
“Great,” Voljaan said sulkily as he walked the distance to Crossroads so he could take a wind rider, “Now Ah’m gonna hafta buy all new armor an’ weapons…"