The Seat of the Primus
A RP Short for Fence Macabre’s Maldraxxus Campaign!
It was… a lot… to take in.
As Dezzie tread across the biological terrains of Maldraxxus, her mind raced with the thoughts of the afterlife. She had considered life after death before, but to see it, walk it, and still draw breath as a living mortal, the concept was foreign to her. She felt fascination with the creatures, the canopy, even the wild fungi, but her mind feared what would happen if she fell here. Would she become a spirit if she was slain here? Would she perish forever? All but a forgotten corpse left in the sea of souls. In this moment, she wish she couldn’t think.
Dezzie had been given a mission by the House of Eyes at the Seat of the Primus: dispatch a hulking Tauralus that was a constant looming threat to the supply lines. The quel’dorei’s specialty was hunting, so to her, she fit right in. However, fear etched into the back of her mind at what kind of dangers wait her in the unknown land. After making proper adjustments to her equipment and spear, she set out for the Bleak Redoubt, keeping just off the road and in the shadows, always alert of threats.
Up ahead, a destroyed cart lie in the middle of the road, tipped over and the content of several crates looked punctured. Whoever had operated the cart had made a quick getaway too, scrambling footprints tread off the road to the north. Dezzie kneeled down to analyze the contents of the boxes. She reached one hand in and pulled out some sort of raw meat. The stentch was unbearable, but that was similar to most of Maldraxxus.
Suddenly, a loud distant roar made the quel’dorei’s ear twitch. She laid back against the damaged cart, and peaked over to see if she could view the creature that made the noise. She let out a small gasp when she saw the creature standing atop of the distant hill.
The tauralus, no doubt the one she would of been tasked to hunt. The creature was about twice the size of the one’s she had encountered before. It was armored, too, not like the ones she had seen in the wild. Perhaps there was more to the story then what the House of Eyes had known. Dezzie quickly looked through her supplies, keeping her spear close.
The best she could do against a creature this size, was lure them into a trap she would set with her Chi, then put the creature down. Creatures with this are always a challenge for the trapper, but she thrived in the thrill of the hunt. Dezzie followed the creature up over the hill, keeping to the large stocked mushrooms, hiding behind them so she wouldn’t meet the hunting creature’s gaze.
One by one, Dezzie landed a rune on the ground. She eventually had a map of six chi traps set up around the hills. When her target would approach the center, she would be able to subdue the creature with her magics, similar to what she did with a powerful mage in the Shady Falls arena. She just needed her bait.
When the creature turned away, she quickly opened her satchel and removed a bag of the strange meat from the crash site. She plopped them down in the middle of her trap, leaving it open for the smell to hopefully attract her prey. She moved quickly to the canopy of a mushroom, watching the beast’s movements as she kept low.
The creature was now about twenty feet away from the center of the trap, the bag of meat sitting wide open for him to come and take. He turned around, gaze glancing over the quel’dorei’s position. She had never hunted this kind of creature before, so this entire act was based on instinct.
Thankfully for her, it was one that would work for her this time. The tauralus started to move to the open bag of meats. It dug through it, eating bits and pieces of it. Dezzie watched from her hiding spot, studying the beast movements…
Now.
Dezzie snapped her fingers, and six explosions erupted in the dirt of the terrain. The tauralus let out a howl, caught off guard by the trap. Each Chi Rune shot a beam at the beast, leaving it sitting there, stunned in paralysis. Dezzie grabbed her spear, using the moment to finish off the beast cleanly to make this less sufferable on the creature.
As Dezzie came closer and drew her blade, something about the beast caught her off guard. Her eyes came down on the collar that was around their neck. She could feel some sort of powerful, draining energy coming from it. As she approached, her mind grew a little hazy. The tauralus was unable to act as long as her chi was channeled, but she was beginning to wade.
Her hand came up to the tauralus, studying the collar around it’s neck. She noticed one large crystal on it that seemed to be where the power was coming from.
“Something’s.. not right with you… or this.”
She took her hand and pulled hard on the crystal, there was a thunk sound as the crystal came out of its socket, causing the collar to surge with energy. The beast let out a howl as it began to react. Dezzie threw it on the ground and stomped on the gem, it would turn to dust under her heel.
The tauralus fell in a heap onto the ground, Dezzie let out a surprised soft gasp. The beast began to shrink in size. She had set her eyes on killing the creature for the House of Eyes, but based on the interaction she just had, she wasn’t sure that was the best solution.
“Hey, buddy, are you okay?”
Dezzie stepped forward, the crystal had to be what was giving her the headache, because that feeling was gone. She moved to sit on her knees in front of the prone tauralus. Her hand came around the base of the creature’s horn, channeling a portion of her chi to feel as he did. She could sense the pain he was going through, leaving Dezzie with a choice.
To take a life, and end misery, or to give a portion of her own.
Dezzie, always cared for others, sometimes, not all creatures she hunted had to be taken home as trophies, this time, she’d lend her own.
Dezzie began to channel her life force, a great flash of a misty green poured from her fingertips and enveloped around the tauralus. The creature let out a whine, Dezzie continued to soothe him: “It’s okay, you’re going to heal, the pain will leave soon, I promise.”
Dezzie felt a little light headed after the process was complete, she sat there, leaning against the horned creature. She smiled as his eyes rested on hers. “There you go.” The quel’dorei’s lifted herself off the creature and took a stand, stumbling a bit as she did.
“Alright, now you should go, I don’t want them to know I let you go.”
Dezzie turned to take her leave. The tauralus whined. She tried so hard not to look back as she continued walking down the hill.
That became evidently hard when she felt the tauralus following her.
She turned her head.
“Hey, you should go, okay?”
The tauralus stood there, looking at Dezzie with a determined look.
Dezzie studied the creature for a moment. “You really don’t want to go, do you?”
The creature approached Dezzie and let out a huff, pressing it’s thick frame against the quel’dorei’s hand.
“Hmm..” Dezzie hummed softly.
When Dezzie would arrive back at the Seat of the Primus, she came atop of the very “hulking” tauralus she had been sent to kill. Some of the natives of Maldraxxus were surprised the creature answered to the Quel’dorei, as taming such a creature was a difficult task. None the less, her efforts were appreciated, and she made a new companion here in the Shadowlands!
