Bonding over Tentacles
11/07/2018
Veldrinas
Somewhere northwest of Brennadam, Stormsong Valley
The demon hunter's axe flies through the air and easily lops off the head of a human turned old god worshipper. The headless body doesn't even hit the ground before the elf turns and drives his other axe into the sternum of another, killing him instantly.
Veldrinas stands there for a moment, surrounded by dead bodies, his twin axes held at the ready, their edges still dripping blood and ichor. He then surveys the area with his spectral sight to be sure all the nearby threats had been neutralized.
Vasedra
The final silhouette of void-imbued power he sees is one simply sitting around the terraced corner of the wall, shadow energy wafting in small, quiet waves around the form and a small object sitting in front of it.
Veldrinas
The hunter cants his head, the void emanating from that creature is different from the others, more cold and less defined in its shape. Nevertheless, it could be an unknown enemy lying in wait for an ambush, though its posture did not seem to suggest such a motive.
His curiosity piqued, he slowly walks closer to where the creature sits.
Vasedra
The figure glances up and over its shoulder as he pauses at the corner, short, dark hair and oddly mottled-looking horns obvious for just a moment before it reaches back and flips up a cowl that lays down the back of its neck. Hisses and chortles sound from around it until the power he sees suddenly snaps off like a light switch, ruthlessly crushed.
A familiar voice grumbles, "If you don't want to lose life or limb, whoever you are, I suggest you walk somewhere else."
Veldrinas
Recognizing the voice, the elf replies cautiously.
"Vasedra? Is that you? I saw a source of void power for a moment, I feared minions of the old gods were responsible. It is I, Veldrinas."
Vasedra
The void knight stills at his voice and the use of her name, her back to him and expression concealed. Her armor is unfamiliar, a cream-tinted plate with blood red accents and a matching leather cowl. After a brief hesitation, she grabs the little object in front of her and tucks it away, standing. She turns around, tilting her head. Her expression is a bit wary, but not unfriendly.
"Veldrinas? Show yourself." Something mutters with incoherent words, echoing around her before she glances down at her right sword. It falls instantly silent.
Veldrinas
The demon hunter slowly turns the corner and comes into view of the void knight. He is not garbed in traditional demon hunter fare, rather, Kul Tiran leather made up his jerkin and trousers, with studded leather vambraces and gloves, stitched leather spaulders, dark leather boots, and a deep leather cowl to complete the look.
"Vasedra, you were surrounded by a powerful aura of void for a moment, is everything alright?
Vasedra
The eredar smirks beneath her cowl and says, "A powerful aura? Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Veldrinas."
She approaches him with a steady gait, her luminous blue eyes looking the demon hunter up and down. Finally, she pauses a comfortable distance in front of her ally.
Veldrinas
At this, Veldrinas raises an eyebrow.
"That was from you? I was not aware you had such an affinity for the void."
Now knowing there is no danger, the hunter returns his axes to the harness on his back which would hold them in place.
Vasedra
"Mm." The eredar makes a little sound as she shrugs. "Sedrai was once undead. That formed a fundamental connection to the void when I was made that has since been... significantly expanded."
The way her lips press tight at that suggests she may not be pleased about it. But her expression stays otherwise neutral, difficult to read, especially in the shadows of her cowl.
"I am learning to harness it, to use it much as you use the fel." Sedra glances off to the side at nothing for a moment before she returns her attention to Vel. "What brings you to this place?"
Veldrinas
Veldrinas rolls his shoulder.
"I heard there was extensive old god corruption in this area, I am here to... remedy the situation. You?"
Vasedra
Vasedra regards him for a moment and then wanders toward and past him to glance back around the corner at the pile of corpses he left behind. She raises a brow, but doesn't comment on the carnage. The void knight doesn't respond until she turns back to him, resting one palm calmly over the pommel of her right blade.
The sword appears to be some bronze-tinted metal with firey enchantments lighting the center of the blade, but there is something odd and false about its appearance, like something frays the edges of the senses when one regards it or its twin on her other hip.
"I am studying. Culling what should be culled I suppose, though I'm instructed not to... 'make a spectacle of myself'." She shrugs and smirks. "It's a struggle not to get rather frustrated at the exercise. I wonder about my teacher's sanity, sometimes. Probably for the best, in her case."
Veldrinas
"I have found that the methods, or madness, of brilliant teachers and mentors usually do not make sense to the student right away."
Veldrinas grins.
"They are designed, after all, for learning... and only after they have achieved their purpose may the student understand why they teach the way they teach."
Vasedra
Sedra snorts, amused. "... Veldrinas, you sound like Raeisley. Ugh."
The void knight reaches her arms up over her head, arcing her back into a long, yawning stretch. "I need to do something more interesting for a while. Do you wish me to help you ... cull? I might be able to use it as good practice and thus satisfy her as well."
Veldrinas
The hunter shrugs nonchalantly. "The help would be most welcome."
"Just make sure to keep up." He adds with a smirk as he begins to run off into the distance towards the nearest enemy.
Vasedra
Sedra snorts once more at his back, her lips twisting up. She dashes after Veldrinas, at first just running but then... suddenly moving faster than before, shadows trailing off her body like a subtle fog as she rushes.
"I might say the same to you," she says to him as she closes the gap between them. "Is it to be a competition, then? How many voidfallen Kul'Tirans can you kill in an hour?"
Veldrinas
Veldrinas grins savagely as he draws his twin axes and swiftly drives them into the chest of a corrupted Kul Tiran, killing him instantly.
"I guess we will find out."
Vasedra
The eredar at his side takes a cooler approach to the opportunity, but she draws her twinned blades, letting their mad laughter and screams fill the air for a moment as a warning to their future victims. She veers away from Veldrinas to face a startled cultist who was praying before a tentacled idol. That hooded man is now facing her with dagger drawn and sneering rhetoric about the whispers in the deep on his lips.
She bats his dagger away with one blade and swipes the other across his chest, tearing a bloody furrow.
As she fights, she conversationally calls to Vel, "What have you learned from these ones about what's happening, here? Or have you bothered to ask?"
Veldrinas
"I doubt they would be willing to cooperate." He answers, calling back.
The hunter dodges an attack from a void fallen Kul Tiran and lops her head off before he continues, blood from the now headless corpse spattering him.
"Every time I try to have a pleasant conversation, all they want to do is try and sacrifice me to the old gods. So far, it hasn't worked out so well for them."
He jabs the spikes on the cap of one axe into the neck of another foe, twisting it before pulling it out, leaving the creature to bleed out. He pauses and turns to look at Vasedra.
"They are so adamant, that I can barely get a word in edgewise before they are dead."
Vel shrugs as he throws one of his axes straight towards another enemy some distance away without even looking. The weapon imbeds itself in its skull with a crunch, the creature crumpling to the ground dead.
"I mean, it's not my fault they can't take a hit, right?"
Vasedra
With her opponent disarmed and wounded, Sedra wraps a hand around his throat, slamming him back against the stone wall behind him and making a point of sliding him slowly off his feet. She raises a brow at Veldrinas' comment, unphased as the human claws at her plate-covered hand, choking.
"If I had to, I might guess that you simply enjoy killing them and don't care as much about information." The void fallen Kul'Tiran starts to go a bit blue, his struggles slowing. She narrows her eyes at him, and when his eyes roll up in his head, she suddenly drops him, leaving him to gasp at her hooves.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas retrieves his axe and makes his way over to the void knight, the threat eliminated.
"Its not that I do not care about information, it's that I do not have the means with which to speedily acquire it. I am a soldier, I have been trained to kill in the quickest most efficient ways possible. It is hard to fight against over ten-thousand years of training."
The hunter replaces his axes on his back as he continues.
"And though without such an ability I cannot know their exact purposes, I can make observations that would give me clues as to their intentions."
The elf gestures towards Vasedra's captive. "Take these storm sages for example, they are obviously under the influence of the old gods. Their innate connection to the sea and ability to warn us of any aggressive movements the naga might make would make the sages a prime target for corruption if the naga would wish to get involved without detection. Leaving us with no warning until it is too late."
"One does not need to possess the ability to break into the mind of his opponent to discover a way to defeat him."
Veldrinas nods towards the captive. "Has he revealed anything?"
Vasedra
Sedra presses her lips together, shaking her head. "I can get nothing useful from him. The power that corrupts him also makes him difficult for me to... touch." She grimaces a bit. "The cost for a more concerted effort to breach his mind is higher than it once was, so I should not."
She leans down, fisting his robe to tug him more upright. "There is always the more mundane coercion of pain."
Veldrinas
The hunter nods in agreement. "Indeed there is. I will keep watch and notify you if any trouble comes our way."
Vel walks a short distance away to a small rise giving him a view of the entire area around them.
Vasedra
The last thing he hears before he's out of earshot is Sedra's rather matter-of-fact announcement to the cultist.
"This is about to become very unpleasant for you until you decide to answer my questions, human."
Not long after, the screams begin. Not long after that, they lapse into silence once more.
Veldrinas
The elf surveys the area once more before he returns to Vasedra's position. The sky having grown dark, the clouds heavy with the prospect of rain.
"You get anything useful out of him?" Veldrinas asks the void knight as he stretches his stiff limbs.
Vasedra
The eredar sighs and brushes at some blood splattering her breastplate, nudging the cultist's unconscious body with one hoof. "Mostly, I have learned that he is insane. And doesn't have much of a threshold for pain. But I did learn he was a fisherman until recently. He kept talking about something in the deep that called to him." She looks up at Veldrinas. "Your theory about naga may have substance."
Veldrinas
The elf rubs his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, if that is indeed the case, perhaps more investigation into the matter would be prudent."
Vasedra
"What do you suggest?" Sedra looks at the pile of dead things behind Vel, smirking. "I believe we've exhausted the resources in the immediate area."
After a brief consideration, she continues, "I do know where the fisherman came from."
The man at her hoof groans on cue.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas nods with affirmation. "At least it's a start. We could begin there and see what our investigations turn up."
He glances down at Vasedra's captive. "We cannot leave him behind, either he comes with us or he will have to be disposed of."
The elf returns his blindfolded gaze to the void knight. "What do you think? Do you believe he could yet be useful?"
Vasedra
Sedra considers the human, relatively whole though thoroughly injured by their discussion. Her face is impassive beneath her cowl as she leans down and hauls him back to his feet by the front of his robe. He droops in her grip, groaning again.
"It could open some doors for us if we bring him." The eredar frowns to herself, pondering why she isn't fond of the idea of killing the nameless cultist. But she says nothing else, just holds the human up and glances at Veldrinas.
Veldrinas
The elf shrugs. "What? You want me to carry him? Do you not possess rope with which we could use to restrain him with?
Vasedra
The eredar's nose wrinkles. "I don't have rope with me. Let's look around and see if we can find anything suitable, then. They like rope, these Kul'Tirans. There must be something here."
She sighs and turns to wander toward the low building behind Veldrinas, dragging the Kul'Tiran with her like a stuffed toy.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas crosses his arms as he watches Sedra drag the Kul Tiran unceremoniously across the ground.
Vasedra
The eredar leaves him dumped in the doorway with a glance at Veldrinas and an assumption that the demon hunter watch him while she wanders in the little storage building and rummages around. She returns to the doorway after a few crashed and clatter, brushing dust from her ivory pauldron and clutching a coil of rope. Sedra smirks and tosses it at Veldrinas before she sits on the grass outside the doorway.
"Make yourself useful. Something fell in my hoofguard."
Veldrinas
The hunter sighs and shakes his head smiling. He steps over to their unconscious captive and uses the rope to securely bind his arms and legs, but making sure that the captive had enough slack to walk.
Veldrinas
After he finished his task, Veldrinas looks up and glances over at Vasedra.
"So, you found whatever fell into your hoofguard yet? We should probably get underway."
Vasedra
The void knight glances up at him, her fingers nimble on her armor's buckles even without looking at them. She picks up a small object from the grass and holds it up for him to see as she stands.
"Yes, yes." Sedra hands him the little carved totem, a kraken tentacle with a spade-like end, and leans down to grab their captive. The man stumbles to his feet, his gaze falling on Veldrin's hand.
Veldrinas
The demon hunter turns the item over in his hands, his eyeless gaze focused intently on the object.
"Hmm, interesting. It seems like this totem has some sort of... aura about it."
Vasedra
The cultist coughs and growls out some gibberish sounding words, spitting a bit of blood at Veldrin's feet. "Sai'voth huk agza!"
Sedra frowns at him and shakes him a bit, intoning, "Quiet, you." But the aura suddenly explodes, bursting into shadowy life around the totem and forming into a massive tentacle of shadow that latches on to the demon hunter's arm.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas reacts quickly as he pulls out one of his axes with his free arm and in one swift motion chops through the tentacle thus freeing his arm from its grasp. He then proceeds to draw his remaining axe as he leaps backward to land some distance away, ready to strike.
Vasedra
The idol falls to the ground when the tentacle is severed, and it lands in the grass. Around it, four more tentacles of shadow spring up. The cultist laughs as they whip around...
... Until Sedra punches him across the jaw with a plate fist. He crashes to the ground, unconscious again, leaving the void knight free to draw her twin swords.
She dances around the nearest tentacle as it tries to slap at her, dodging to the side and them slicing her blades along its length as if she were trying to filet it. The shadow power within its bulk flows around and then into her swords, and Veldrinas can see it be consumed in the blades, can hear them suddenly burst into mad laughter and excited chatter as Sedra shudders.
Veldrinas
The demon hunter swiftly charges forward and chops one of the tentacles into many pieces with a flurry of blows from his twin axes.
He turns to deal with the next one but he is just slightly too slow.
Veldrinas grunts in surprise as one of the tentacles slams into him, knocking him to the ground and leaving a void burn on his chest where it contacted him.
Vasedra
The tentacle raises up, preparing to smash down on him as he recovers, but Sedra throws one of her blades, spinning, through the air to intercept it. The shadow-thick blade's illusion falters as it slices through the threat and pauses mid-air, showing him its true form, a silver-black blade riddled with void power, insane and hungry and gleeful and quite beautiful, blue-purple gems winking disturbingly from its hilt and chappe.
The blade returns to the void knight's waiting hand like a pet to its master, its cacophony of voices sighing and laughing in happy relief when it is back in her grip. Vasedra ignores it all, intent on the last tentacle as it whips toward her.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas wastes no time as he leaps to his feet and dashes with inhuman speed towards the final remaining tentacle. He uses the prongs on the caps of his weapons like meat forks as he catches the length of the tentacle with both of them, pinning it to the ground, and though try as it might, the appendage could not break free.
Vasedra
"Thank you," the void knight intones automatically as the tentacle writhes against the ground, held securely. The idol shakes as another pair of shadowy appendages start to grow from the stumps of the others. She sighs, irritated, and mutters, "Let me see if I can deal with this."
Vasedra slams her swords into their sheathes and kneels, bowing her head. She takes in a deep breath and releases it, seemingly relaxed despite the new tentacles forming around them. When she raises her head, shadows seethe around her.
"Sai... vigoth azaksul thuh," she intones.
Despite her display, the idol seems unphased, and a tentacle swings at her. She rolls to the side just in time to avoid a slap, cursing under her breath.
"Lightless Depths!" Sedra grouches, rolling smoothly to her hooves and yanking out her blades to swipe at the tendril, but it pulls away before she can do more than scratch it, rearing back for a new strike. "What was that rotting word? Azaksul? Askasul? Azak- oh! Azaksun!"
The eredar dodges back, stabbing a blade into the body of the tendril before her.
"Sai vig-" she starts, but a second tentacle slams into the armor protecting her back, breaking her grip on her sword and throwing her into the spade end of another. A little surprised cry rips from her as it wraps around her, lifting her off her hooves.
Veldrinas
After seeing Sedra get yanked into the air, Veldrinas decides that he has had enough of these old god tentacle things. He pulls out one of his axes he was using to keep the one tentacle restrained and brings it down to sever the top half of the tentacle from its bottom half.
He then springs to his feet with feline speed and rushes forward. His axe arcs through the air to chop at the base of the tendril holding the void knight suspended in midair. Unfortunately, the base of the tentacle is the toughest and thickest part of the tendril and his strike is unable to chop through it completely, though it does travel most of the way.
The elf grunts in frustration. "If only I had brought swords or glaives!"
Vasedra
Vasedra grimaces as it squeezes, her arms caught and crushed against her side. She opens her fist, and the sword in her hand keens as it drops to stick upright in the grass by Veldrinas' foot.
Brace yourself for its voices. comes her strained voice in his head.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas nods in acknowledgement as he sheathes his axes and quickly grasps hold of the sword at his feet.
As soon as the hunter picks up the void-empowered blade, he freezes, seemingly transfixed. After a few moments, he grimaces slightly but still does not move.
Vasedra
"V... Veldrinas!" Sedra's armor creaks under the strain from the tentacle squeezing her, and she can't draw much of a breath. "Focus! Don't le- ahh!" Something gives with a pop.
There's a weak tug on the sword from nowhere, but it grows stronger as the void knight uses the last of her breath to whisper, "S-sai vigoth azaksun thuh."
The tentacles suddenly dissolve, drawing power back in to the idol, and Sedra drops to the ground unceremoniously with a cry.
Veldrinas
All of the sudden, Veldrinas seems to return to reality with a gasp. He notices that the tentacles have been dissolved and that Vasedra is on the ground.
"Vasedra!" The elf cries in alarm. He rushes over and kneels next to the fallen void knight, but the sword remains in his grasp.
"Are you alright?" The elf asks anxiously as he looks the draenei over for injuries with a practiced gaze.
Vasedra
"I'm fine," she grits out even as she grimaces and clutches at her left shoulder, sitting up gingerly. Oh, for the old days of Sedrai's deadened nerves and practiced tolerance for pain. Her arm hangs limply at her side, the shoulder blade protruding at a particularly dislocated angle beneath her armor. "Are you? The sword didn't... harm you, did it?"
The void knight gives the blade in his hand a stern frown, and its answering laughing chatter is a maddened racaus ringing aloud and something clearer, if no less insane, in her head. Perhaps in Veldrinas' as well.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas glances at the sword, then back at the void knight.
"No, I am unharmed." The hunter states with assurance. "When the voices entered my mind, I just felt like they were familiar, somehow. The power, I had felt it's like before."
The night elf pauses for a moment as he recalls his experience. "I saw a place, I think it was somewhere deep in the Twisting Nether."
Veldrinas returns his gaze to Vasedra. "You remember when I returned from the Outer Gate?"
Vasedra
The eredar shoves back to her hooves with a grimace before she answers, holding her shoulder. "How can I forget? You brought something back with you, I recall. And I was forced to stab you. A justified stabbing, but I was concerned you might die.“
Veldrinas
The night elf nods in agreement. "I suppose you are correct. I did try to kill Ary and seriously injure a few others."
He purses his lips. "I was fortunate to have Shan'do Greyseer and most of the Netherbane there, without their help, I am not sure if I would have survived, let alone recovered."
Veldrinas raises Sedra's sword to eye level. "When I grabbed your sword, it seemed to jog a memory within me. A memory that seemed to indicate that I had been to a place before the meteorite that I rode down to Argus. My memory of that whole experience had up till now been foggy and unclear, but now I know, I was not sent from the Outer Gate by Sraath, someone else pulled me away. They wanted to meet with me for... something."
The elf returns his gaze to the draenei. "And I think they had something to do with the void. This sword, it is Nathrezim craftsmanship is it not?"
Vasedra
Vasedra watches him, a little furrow in her brow, but she nods. "Yes."
Veldrinas
Veldrinas nods once. "Then I would advise you to be very cautious when exploring these void powers. There are not very many dreadlords who would pursue the void, but all of them are incredibly dangerous.
The hunter extends the sword out to the draenei. "The Nathrezim of the Burning Legion may love to cause chaos, but Nathrezim of the void live for chaos. These weapons almost feel like they are living, breathing conduits into the darkest recesses of power the void has to offer. There was only one time I felt power like that before, and it was during that time in between my sojourn at the Outer Gate and the meteorite. Be careful not to lose yourself Vasedra, or you might never find yourself again."
Vasedra
The eredar blinks at him for a long moment of silence before she barks out a laugh. She releases her hold on her shoulder to take the sword and awkwardly slip it into that same hand's sheath, chuckling dryly.
"Your warning is late, Veldrinas. But I suppose I can appreciate the motivation behind it. The Bloodbinder - the Nathrezim who made my swords - has already..." She hesitates before changing her choice of words. "My lot is cast. A bargain made whether willingly or not. I will not lose myself to the Great Dark, though. I will control it. If I have not lost myself through everything else I have become, I will not lose myself to this, either."
Turning to step away, she starts fumbling with the buckles on her left pauldron and asks, "If Sraath didn't send you from the Gate then who? And why?"
She has no respect for secrets, nor compunction against digging in where ones are hinted at.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas shakes his head slowly. "All I ask is for you to be wary. It does not matter if you believe that you will not fall. This... Bloodbinder will do everything and anything within his power to make you his and his alone. He will have no compunction about using things or people you care about against you. If a bargain has already been made with him then Ary may already be in danger."
The hunter pauses for a moment, sweeping his spectral gaze across the surrounding area.
"As to your question, Sraath was going to send me from the Gate, but I was not ready yet. I was taken from him prematurely. I cannot tell you more than that, my memory is still unclear as to whom and why. Perhaps with time I will have more answers."
He shifts his gaze to Sedra's obviously injured shoulder and takes a few steps closer to her. "May I be of assistance, your shoulder appears to be dislocated."
Vasedra
Through his speech, Sedra is quiet, her lips pressed in a tight, displeased line. But her gaze slips away from Veldrinas to the grass at his side; he's not the reason she is upset, only the voice of what she tells herself every day.
And he has no answers to her questions. The void knight sighs softly as the demon hunter steps closer, and she pulls her pauldron free, dropping it to the ground by her hooves.
"Yes. I need you to help reset it."
Tension lines her expression, but still she doesn't look at Veldrinas as she says, "I know of all the risks. But I am bound, blood, body and soul. What would you have me do, save learn to use this power I am drowning in to protect Ary, to protect you all? From my Master himself, if I must."
Veldrinas
The elf carefully places one hand on Vasedra's dislocated shoulder and the other grasps her left forearm. "The key to facing the void and not losing yourself to its whispers of madness is simply this: find something that you know is true and will be true no matter what the circumstances. Cling to it with all you have, and that will be the anchor that keeps you afloat in the vast ocean of insanity and darkness that seeks to sweep you away."
As he finishes speaking, Veldrinas applies pressure to the draenei's shoulder and at the same time pulling on her arm, resetting the bone with a pop.
Vasedra
Despite how she braces herself, the void knight cries out in pain when the joint crunches back to its place and staggers. It takes her a moment of breathing through the ache, her hand clamped back over the shoulder protectively, before she manages to mutter, "And what do you know to be true, Veldrinas?"
Veldrinas
Veldrinas gives a small grin, though if he is amused by Sedra's discomfort despite her battle hardness or from her question, it is not apparent.
"I know that no matter what, there is nothing I wouldn't sacrifice of myself to keep Azeroth safe, and through that, keep my friends safe as well. I know that if it came down to it, I would rather die than be overcome with corruption. That is the one advantage of being what I am, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain."
"And what of you, Sedra?" The elf gestures towards the draenei. "What do you know to be true?"
Vasedra
For some reason her own question being turned back surprises the void knight, and her eyes widen beneath the cream cowl. "Connection," she says immediately. "The bonds that formed me and bound me to others. Friendly or otherwise, they are who I am, and they define why I will fight. And why I will never lose myself."
She looks at Veldrin. "I don't care as much about Azeroth. But there are people who call this place home that I will always protect."
Veldrinas
The demon hunter nods, apparently satisfied with the draenei's answer.
"Well, I believe we should get underway."
Veldrinas grins savagely. "I believe there is a stronghold of old god activity that we need to infiltrate and... take care of. Are you well enough to continue?"
Vasedra
"If you do the heavy lifting," Sedra mutters, tugging a bandage out of the pouch at her waist. "I no longer heal like the death knight Sedrai was." As she ties a knot and loops the fabric around her neck, she wrinkles her nose. "Trade-offs. This will need a day or two of care. In the meantime..."
The eredar hooks her injured arm into the improvised sling with a wince. "... I will fight with one sword."
So saying, she leans down to pick up the other blade from where it fell when the tentacle it was embedded in dissolved.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas glances over at the unconscious cultist. "Well, I would say that this cultist is a little more trouble than he is worth."
The hunter cracks his neck. "You know where he came from, we will probably kill all the cultists we find there anyway. I do not see how he could still be useful."
Vasedra
Sedra snorts. "After the trick with the tentacles, I'm quite content if you want to kill the human." She wrinkles her nose beneath her cowl, rubbing her shoulder.
"Do as you wish, Veldrinas. With or without him, I have our next destination."
Veldrinas
The night elf nods once and strides over to where the unconscious cultist lay. Then with one swift motion, he pulls out one axe and decapitates the human.
Veldrinas sheathes his axe and walks back over to where the void knight is standing.
"With that loose end now tied up, I believe we are ready to..."
All of the sudden, Veldrinas freezes in place with a grunt of pain. He grits his teeth as he half doubles over and his hand moves slowly to clutch his chest at the place the tentacle struck him.
Vasedra
"Veldrinas?" The void knight whips out her good hand to steady him, pressing a cold palm to the side of his shoulder. "What is it?"
Veldrinas
The demon hunter grimaces again as he slowly straightens, and manages to grit out. "It’s nothing."
He seems to regain some composure before he continues. "I think it would be best if we split up. There are some things I need to see to."
Vasedra
Sedra watches him, coolly assessing. "Perhaps healing for both of us would be wisest. If you wish, I could meet you later to investigate this fishing village."
She shrugs off her backpack and plops it on the ground. "I will give you the location in case I am unavailable."
Rummaging one-handed through it yields a piece of parchment and charcoal, and she jots down a few words and a rough sketch of directions.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas nods absentmindedly. "Yes, of course, healing..."
The hunter then pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a deep breath before kneeling down to examine the directions Vasedra is writing down on the parchment.
Vasedra
When the little village across the channel from the Stormshrine is detailed out, Sedra hands him the page and wraps her charcoal before dumping it in her pack. She straightens and slings it over her good shoulder.
"It was agreeable to see you, Veldrinas. Feel free to call for me when you get back to investigating the village. I still have my Netherbane hearth stone."
Veldrinas
The hunter takes the parchment and nods in agreement. "Indeed, hopefully you will not have much trouble with that arm. I will contact you when I return."
Veldrinas bows formally.
Vasedra
The void knight sighs and wrinkles her nose. "Not you, too. What is it with demon hunters and bowing?"
Veldrinas
The night elf smiles as he shakes his head slowly.
"If you would like to know, bowing is a sign of respect among my kind. The Kaldorei are a very formal people. I bid you farewell, and good hunting."
Vasedra
Vasedra smirks and waves a dismissive hand at him. "Farewell, Veldrinas. Try not to die before we meet again."
She starts to turn away, but pauses and looks back. "And... thank you. You may not acknowledge the debt, but I hold it nonetheless for your help in saving Ary."
It's a fact, not open for debate, and so she does not wait for a response before she steps away. Her equine mount of shadowed frost freezes out of the air beside her, its hoofsteps frosting the grass.
Veldrinas
Veldrinas smirks this time as he responds. "I am not sure I will ever fully understand you Sedra, but I am glad to have known a remarkable woman such as yourself."
The night elf then turns away and begins to walk south, in the direction of Boralus.