Part 2: Mogu Knows All20th October 2019
The orcs of the Red Blade have had a troubled week on these islands of madness. The Banana King had ordered his hozen to repair the Sea Cucumber and repaired it nearly had. But the evil that lurked on the island still remained and for them to make it safely back to Kalimidor they would have to confront it!
After a discussion on what to do, Varog’Gor Vraxxar Wildmark ordered the Banana King to lead the clan across to the northern islands. Along the way they walked past the royal hozen guards protecting a cave entrance, the guards wore fancy hozen attire with bananas decorated in to their armor. The Banana King told the orcs that they were guarding the royal banana supply. The orcs led by the Banana King crossed the shallow waters to the opposite islands as a small Panderen fishing village came in to view, though it was not all that it seemed. The pandaren completely ignored the orcs, this wasn’t them being rude. The Red Blade clan could sense the dark magic that had infested their minds, Tagrok went ahead and inspected one of the pandaren. Perhaps he got a little too close as in unison the pandaren stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to him. All of them, every single pandaren, the entire colony were now staring at Tagrok. Tagrok wisely stepped back, his hands on his weapon just in case. The Banana King urged the clan forwards, the pandaren weren’t the evil on this island, they were victims.
As the orcs crossed through the shallow waters to the next island the water turned red. The fresh salty sea disappeared and the smell of blood filled their nostrils, more illusions were played on the clan. These constant mind games were taking their toll on them, thankfully the water changed back as the orcs proceeded onward. Corpses, hundred of corpses of a bask of crocolisk lay everywhere! The blood from these bodies trickles down in to the sea. Was this another illusion? It was not. The dark magic that had taken hold of the island had no limits. One surviving crocolisk had torn another crocolisk apart in front of the orcs, he would easily be three times the size of a normal one. The strangers on the beach had not gone unnoticed by the giant croc, he slowly starts to walk towards the clan. The crocolisk started to charge Krumoth, snapping at his legs with his huge bite. Krumoth quickly evaded the his razor sharp teeth and climbed on to the back of the beast, wounded the creature in the process. Those that were standing behind or beside the beast were thrown backwards by his humongous tail, but this wasn’t the only thing the orcs would have to deal with. The blood of the crocolisks on the beach formed mawfiend abominations, twisted conjurations from the dark magic on the island! The mawfiend dark material combined together shortly, forming one giant mawfiend. It shot up in the air and drops down between the Banana King, Tagrok and Za’karah as a blood bomb injuring many. The mawfiend had separate on impact returning to their original forms, as they did orcs charged, weapon and spell tearing the monstrosities apart! Krumoth was still riding the giant crocolisk making the wound on his back larger, Urzoga firing her bow shooting a flurry of arrows into his scaly skin but Skint had seen enough. She stomped over to the beast and with strength she did not know existed, booted the crocolisk in the face! The hit was so hard that the beasts eye flew out and rolled down the beach, the Banana King saw his opitunity and yoink! Quickly scooped up the eye, we would never know what would happen to the crocolisks eye.
The crocolisk was made short work off after a eye opening attack by Skint. With the battle on the beach won the orcs dusted themselves off and carried on with their search when they stumbled upon a statue of a mogu head. The mogu head bellowed asking who was there, this was no normal statue. The mogu statue revealed he had been there for centuries and was pleased for the brief bit of company talking to the orcs, he also let the orcs know that he knew where the evil on the island was. How this statue with no body knew was a mystery but the orcs played along, he would tell them if they answered three questions correctly. The first question asked was obvious, Deathwing of the black dragonflight had caused the recent cataclysm to the world. The orcs answered correctly but the mogu head disagreed, he believed the faerie dragons had caused the cataclysm. It would appear this Mogu Head was a little damaged, the orcs decided to think outside the box with their future answers. When the mogu head asked who was the paladin that fell and became the Lich King, they answered Hogger and the mogu head agreed. Likewise when they asked who gifted the orcs the demon blood, the orcs picked Droof. Again the mogu head agreed, stating that this orc often gave terrible gifts. Lastly the mogu head asked what race was Illidan Stormrage, obviously the Red Blade clan chose a murloc. They were correct and according the statue, Illidan Stormrage was his scales.
The mogu head told the orcs of what he knew, he sensed the evil of the islands was housed in the royal banana supply, that’s where they would find what they sort. The Banana King went bananas, chasing back over to the hozen village in search of answers, the orcs followed suite. On arrival the royal hozen guards were face down in the sand, the shadowy magic leaking into the air off their bodies. The culprits were there, one a old god minion with tentacles shooting out of his humanoid looking body. The other was a spirit wolf, they were speaking to one another when the wolf walked away and disappeared. The old god minion looked up at the orcs and approached them, he stated the wolf spirit was right, they were strong. He introduced himself, Dilposs was his name and that the orcs had been sent off course to this island as a test. He continued and acknowledged that they had past the first test but he would return again, then the Red Blade clan and all the greater spirits they revered would serve his master. Karnna Blackfeather had heard enough, she used her own shadow magic and teleported behind Dilposs and raised her dagger to his squid like throat. Dilposs form changed in to shadow as he floated away, he wasn’t interested in a fight. He told the orcs that they would learn obedience as a black shroud of magic consumed his entire body before dissipating away. His dark magic removing him from this plane of existence and just like that the island started to return to it’s normal self.
The wild life, the Panderan and orcs had regained their sanity but oddly the hozen were never affected by the old god’s influence. Shao-pao Shorepaw, the panderan leader arrived to greet his saviours. He thanked them for their aid but asked if they could be shipped off the island as well? The hozen were already going to sail back with the orcs with the deal they had agreed a week before. There was some hostility about the idea of the panderan sailing back with them, most notably from Karnna Blackfeather, but Vraxxar stepped in and promised them a safe trip to Kalimdor. As the orcs and panderan walked through the village many of the hozen were pointing at their heads shouting big brain! They had obviously realised of their own mental resilience. The Banana King ushered everyone on to the boat and with that he signalled for his strange contraception to start. The hozen began to hum in tandem as the strange contraception was let loose! A tree acting as a counter weight was let free as a giant boot mechanism swung back and from the force of it booted the ship off the shore and in to the ocean, thankfully the hozen’s repairs had kept it afloat.
The orcs reached Ratchet safely as the hozen shot off in to the Barrens, what had the orcs inflicted on the world? Crossroads would be home for them for the next few weeks as they tried to get their heads around the new dangers that not only affected them and their greater spirits, but the world as they knew it.