The Artifact

Clipping the wings of a carrier pigeon and sending it on its message delivery is how Elevandra would describe the time passing during her stay in Uldum. Slow, painful, sometimes seemingly paused entirely. In the bigger picture addressed came the aftermath of higher scaled events. Restorative action.

Report

⦁ Remains removed / Buried / Disposed of: The remains of those who once lived a life of happiness before falling into darkness were buried after a prayer recital. Burial sight (Designated by locals) blessed after burials were complete to allow for dark magics to dissipate upon decomposition. The remains of fabricated creatures, and those of wildlife unlucky enough to venture into the area and become tainted by lingering magics, burned to ash with the combination of mage-fire and Holy fire.

⦁ Contaminated grounds: Between willingness of locals, and those more reluctant yet assigned, purifying the land of polluted soil occupied the weight of time. Lifeblood seeping into the grounds, prompting for concentrated efforts of cleansing spells from three light-users at a time along with a barrier placed within the ground to prevent shifting soil. Meerkats blessed with a spell of protection were employed to check the depth of any remaining contamination after a cleaning.

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A scattered few ‘remnants’ of the cult members surfaced and/or returned to the sight either without knowledge of what transpired or simple ignorance in attempts to salvage fallen numbers or siphon potential energies that had yet to be cleansed. The dates of these encounters are as follows: ((Dates were left blank due to my inability to get a good grasp of time of when events occurred.))

Date: ________, __, ____

Location: Far reaches of the chasm, area yet to be cleansed.

Time: 1:05 AM

Issue: Singular cultist attempted to reach the core area of the battle.

Resolution: Aric gifted him with an arrow through the right eye.

Date: ________, __, ____

Location: Barracks

Time: 2:27 AM

Issue: Patrolling guard took an out of routine break to relieve himself, two cultists snuck in and slit several resting guards throats before being put down.

Resolution: Doubled up on guard patrols. Aforementioned guard was removed from his position and is now on the jails chamber pot duty.

Date: ________, __, ____

Location: Two miles south of the eastern edge of the battle site.

Time: 4:38 PM

Issue: Vulture-like abominations (Likely to have ingested what flesh remained on the yet to be buried cadavers) had been spotted circling travellers resting at an oasis.

Resolution: Aric was equipped with glass arrows (the arrowhead itself built to accommodate a suitable amount of combustible holy water.

Date: ________, __, ____

Location: Local town

Time: 6:31 PM

Issue: Locals expressed heavy concern over the slow pace at which the restorative process was going. They want to be able to return to a peaceful life without having to worry about troublesome encounters of unknown entities.

Elevandra sat comfortably within the thin walls of her red Thalassian tent, yet despite her physical comfort her mental and emotional comfort was far from at ease. Leaning forward from one of the posts she'd rested against she watched the self-created orb of light, just shy of being as big as her head, floating in the middle of the tent. The orb flickered and danced with shades of yellow to white as it provided its source of heat as well as light within the safety of the fabric walls.

"Jakren Nightblade" she spoke the now deceased captive's name with her lip curling up in a sneer, even having removed the Authirus armor she felt as though it held a grasp of her general mood, her way of thinking and feelings involving others.

"Jakren Nightblade? Why are you focused on a dead prisoner?" Daarius's voice echoed in her mind, providing a calming effect.

"All I saw in him, his expression, his way of speaking, his distasteful look at me when I approached, I only saw Faylun and his crippled view of the world." her sneer was gone now yet her voice remained laced with resentment. "I imagined that Jakren had been Faylun instead..." she trailed off, a hand absentmindedly clenching firmly around a letter she'd just now found time to read.

"You may want to consider burning that letter, Ele. Your past is your own, not the Orders. You never know what curious eyes might go wandering." his voice changing depth as if having a form to walk about the tent.

Looking down to her hand she had forgotten entirely about the letter and its contents. Relaxing her hand she allowed for the paper to breathe a moment while recalling the brief information that was just enough to confirm her assumptions. She had grown lost looking at the crumpled sheet, her face reflecting emotions of both happy and sad tied to her past. With a drawn out sigh she tightened her grip once again on the letter and incinerated it with a harsh grip of Light. The tiniest of ashes, no bigger than her pinky nail, lingered on the floor only lightly staining the crimson Lynx-fur rug with a dollop of ash. A stillness surrounded her as she focused heavily on the stain, not upset about the spot, not considering a new rug but vacant of being mentally present. It wasn't until Daarius spoke once more that it pulled her from her trance - how long had she sat there deathly still?

The once warm and welcoming flame hidden in the fireplace began to hush as its embers shrank to a near nothingness. The cool air was enough of a change to pull Elevandra from her restful slumber that she managed to fall into while slumped down in a chair within the walls of the Keeps infirmary. Comfortable was the last word to describe how she felt waking up. While resting in ones armor may offer benefits such as a swift line of defense of an oncoming assault, in a place of safety and comfort - its far from ideal. Shifting up in her seat, groggy and sore, she began plucking at the buckles that held her armor in place. Pauldrons, gauntlets, bracers, piece by piece she was several pounds lighter before ultimately remaining in her cloth wear - a simple set of white / grey pants coupled with a long sleeved shirt - where as her armor rested in a pile on the floor. Sighing a well deserved and relaxed sigh she pushed herself from her chair, groaning light in the process. Despite not being physically assaulted the night before she felt as though she had lost an altercation with an Orc. Rolling her shoulder, more freely without her shoulder guards, she reached down to toss a few blocks of wood into the fire. A frown strafed across her face as the fire refused to return to life. Returning to her most comfortable of seats, sarcasm, she reached in to touch the block closest to her. Drawing on a childhood memory she focused the bit of Light available to her in her exhausted state and through the tips of her fingers sparked fire along the surface of the block of wood, its reach extending to the others swiftly. Drawing back she leaned back into her chair and brought her feet up rest up on a chair beside her, eyeing the darker corners of the armory that would briefly flicker with dancing shadows thanks to the newly lit fire. 

In hushed and quiet voice, she spoke as she shifted her gaze to stare aimlessly towards the fires depths, "It appears as though mental anguish is not enough to return you to your family either, Daarius. I can still feel your essence lingering and for that, I am truly sorry." she finished, closing her eyes to give her minds a moments rest. Inhaling deeply she lifted an arm towards her chest and rolled back her sleeve and in turn rolling her wrist, exercising the pain in her arm. Her body did not bear any bruises by the looks of it - yet she ached from head to toe. A throbbing still remained and echoed behind her eyes, her rest did her well to sooth and calm some of the pain in her body and mind, but she mused it would take much longer to return to normal than a single nights sleep.

"There has been only one time I have ever felt such rage, such pure anger, such HATRED, in my life and even then I am confident last nights results bested my own experience with the emotion." she thought, resting her hand on her lap. "Its as if all that time in Pandaria went to waste. " her eyes returned once more to the lively flames, orange dancing with yellow and hints of red, a look of shame resting on her face, "Perhaps a return visit would do well to quell the mind, maybe even find the means to bolster ones resilience of such seething animosity." she thought, "I'd also like to remove the image of my Father's head in Sunmore's hands," she said quietly, an eerie shudder traveling down her spine despite the closeness of the warming fire. "I'll not let such an image burden my mind any longer." she finished, purging image from thought.

Elevandra allowed herself a short time to focus on herself, internally address her own conundrum involving the previous nights events. She did not relish the idea of being knocked onto hands and knees, to be in such a degrading position. "Stand tall" her mother would always tell her as a child with the addition of, "If you're knocked down, always get back up." this did little to make her feel less ashamed at allowing herself to be put in such a position.

Thoughts involving the others who took part in the mission followed in tow, the majority having resulted in far worse injury than herself. As her mind bounced from one member to another a haunting, almost echo-like voice, tickled her mind, "You need to return to sleep, Elevandra," the voice held caring tones and did not give way to defining gender as both male and female voices rung together as one.

"Ah, now you chime in Daarius. You have been quiet as of late. I began to wonder if I was truly alone with my thoughts," she replied, talking into the fire in a low tone. 

"I've been busy with otherworldly things you could say. Why are you awake?"

"Consider it a bit of self-loathing for feeling of such a failure. Its over now however, I've decided to re-instate a few additional morning routines to prevent such anger and distasteful hatred from dragging me to my knees again."

"You have thought of your mother in rough times of the past, let her drown your mind next time you are in that position."

"I know, I was unable to think of her however - she was blocked from the mind. Much like yourself."

"My attempts to assist you in mind last night held no purchase, I was there and unable to assist. Let us put apologizes to rest tonight, and you lay in an actual bed and rest this time, shall we?"

The cool Ghostlands air, albeit thick with fog in the early morning hours, did little to hide the history of this once rich and thriving land. It had been years since her last visit to the all too familiar region, her visits generally limited to once or perhaps twice a year. Despite her people slowly reclaiming the dying land in hopes of returning it to its once former glory not much has changed. 'Progress is progress none the less,' she thought as the silence around her tries to engulf any productive thoughts with deafening silence. Aside from the clopping sounds of her horses hooves on the stone paved road the surrounding area wreaked of silence. No birds singing in the early morning, no crickets chirping, no frogs croaking. 

As the two came to their destination, a small graveyard just outside of Tranquillen, the horse slowed to a halt just outside the gateway having learned routine over the years. Dismounting her horse her feet made a hefty thump as she landed. Rubbing the horse briefly on his nose she smiled at him, "Wait here Gunther, I'll be back shortly," she said, gracing him with one last nose rub before making her way through the gateway. 

The graveyard was relatively small compared to others in the region having just a few extra headstones above a dozen in counting. No fence surrounded the graveyard only having the gateway at the entrance to give sign of where to enter - the thought of having expected a larger expansion of the yard endless years ago flitted through her mind briefly before dismissing it as she arrived at the headstone of her mother. Kneeling down infront of a blank headstone, headstone that were it not for her oldest brother she would never have known this belonged to their mother. Taking a moment to silently wish prayer in thought she stood up once finished and relocated to sitting behind the headstone, back leaning gently against the once glossy marbled rock.

"Minn'da, much has happened since my last visit," she started, giving herself a brief pause to verbally unload the weight of her thoughts and the worlds changes, "Falyun has taken to the Twilight's Hammer clan. I don't believe he ever coped with your passing and I believe there is no means to reaching him any longer. I've ceased pursuit of him all together and aim to leave it as such," she sighed as the words left her lips, feeling somewhat bothered yet relieved to let go of something that had nearly engulfed the entirety of her life. "Sylvannas has become something far from the woman you once knew. Essentially spitting on what the Horde has become and using unfair magics in Mok'gora - we lost an extremely admirable warrior that day." she paused, her thoughts tracing back to recent memories and feeling a sense of unease, "I dislike how everything has come about. Our leader, viewing everything we have build and earned as nothing. Worthless. An Orc who many viewed as an icon of the Horde losing his life in exposing her, even now I wander what he thinks from the afterlife. Is he enraged due to her dishonorable means in Mok'gora or is he content to be of peace knowing he has exposed her true nature? Perhaps I'm merely projecting my own thoughts in his image." her pause this time was much longer than before, allowing her mind to rest, "The seemingly war that rages between the Horde and Alliance has come to a halt, whether this is temporary or permanent is unknown - we have plenty enough to deal with in this world than to squabble amongst each other. We now have much larger concerns to worry about than each other. I'll tell you more when I visit again next." she ended. Pushing herself up she rested a hand ontop of the tombstone, mentally reaching for what memories she had of her mother before returning to her horse.

Having completed the task that initially brought her into the 'friendly' territory of Redridge Mountains aside from locating the second half of her task - an item a young and new adventurer had stolen from them. The item appeared to had meant more to the thief than the actual owner. The slender elf strolled casually through the home that had been neat and tidy prior to her arrival. A two-story home that she calmly sifted through personal belongings in each room, curiously eyeing various items that caught her interest as she searched for a so-called family heirloom - each item being returned to the spot she'd found them in. She did not live a thieves life and had no interest in a dead woman's belongings whether they originally belonged to her or not aside from the sought after heirloom. There was no need to rush this portion of her task as the harder part was over - the wanted dead or alive portion. Her research of the target labeled them as being more wanted dead than alive considering their level of aggression once provoked regardless of reasoning. Looking over the heirloom that now rested in the palm of her hand she made sure it was the item described by the owner - a dull looking necklace that held the described brass appearance along with the faded lines that once held intricate detail on the medallion that dangled from the chain. Caressing the face of the medallion with her thumb she headed downstairs, her search was over and task complete so she could finally return home. The elf placed the heirloom in a small satchel hanging from her belt as she reached the bottom of the stairs. As her feet meet the bottom floor she heard a faint cry - a creature's cry. One that did not alarm her but only piqued her curiosity. She did not know of any additional living beings or creatures to have supposed to reside in the home. The cry came again which rendered her ears erect in search of what called out. A stairwell leading to a basement door is where she found herself. Meeting the door at the bottom of the stairwell she pressed it open lightly, cautious of surprises yet the only surprise to have been received was the small looking cub within a cage. The cub light purplish blue in color despite being filthy with faintly glowing stripes. The cub was in a cage with 3 others much like itself, yet far too still to exhibit life - there was no glow to their stripes. The cage hardly able to accommodate the cubs themselves as the hardly energetic cub walked and stood among the bodies of its siblings. A quick glance around provided little answers as to where the mother of the cubs was - several other cages lined the wall all of which were empty. An internal debate flared in her golden eyes as she considered her course of action. Leave the remaining cub to its death? Who was she to intervene in one's life planned out by fate? At the same time, what guilt would she feel for leaving the helpless creature to its death knowing she could assist in providing a life for it, unlike its siblings. Closing her eyes she sighed heavily at the lack of information she had regarding the Kal'dorei's home. As she opened her eyes she found her gaze met by the young cubs, the creature having noted the visitor and seemingly eager to interact with something that moved. Before the elf knew it she was at the cage opening its door as it held no lock allowing the cub to eagerly scramble from its containment and swift to investigate its savior. Upon closer inspection, the cub was severely malnourished and emaciated as were its siblings that appeared to simply have died of starvation as there were no marks of any form among their bodies. A slender hand reached down to the cub and lightly stroked from its neck to its tail before scooping it up from beneath the body, "We have a long trip home, cub. A long enough trip to think of a name for you."