Mini campaign: The Tempest

[Dekuul]

Part One: The Winter Storms

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*A hastily scribbled note on the board*

  Red Blade! I have grim tidings from the eastern seas. My cousins, Bragalor and Omrok, are two fine sailors of the Horde navy. I've just come back from visiting them at the Orgrimmar central ward, and they told me frightening tales from their ordeals.
 
  As you might've heard among traders and fishmarkets, the winter storm season is extremely harsh this year, especially off the coasts of eastern Kalimdor. Many a good ship has struggled to make it to port, from Ratchet to the Bay of Storms. People are calling it the worst since the foundation of Durotar, and those who've lived in these lands longer than us cannot remember a more dire season.

  And for good reason: this weather is not natural. My cousins, and other shipwrecked sailors who've made it back to shore, swear by their ancestors' names that the skies are exacting a terrible tribute on ships and coastal regions on the orders of a "Lord of Storms". I tried to learn more from them, but they're not learned orcs; they're good seafarers, but superstitious nonetheless. All they could muster was talk of "forked lightning" that circled the ship and scorched the decks, and "razor winds" that shredded sails and sailors alike. Whole ships carried off in monster cyclones, and thunderclaps that blew out the eardrums of those nearby.

  I don't know what is going on, but I see people starting to worry, and hear reports of fishing villages being razed up and down the coast. Perhaps it would be wise for us to get involved, track down more information?

  If we decide to investigate, the last bit of information I have is from a buccaneer who says a badly damaged ship sailed in near Ratchet recently, a victim of the unearthly storms. Let me know and we'll head out there as soon as possible.

Signed,
Dekuul Boarfarmer

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=OOC Information=

Folks! I've had this idea trotting in my head for a while now, and since I love RP'ing with you guys, I thought I'd save it for a quality RP guild. This will be a 3-event mini-campaign, themed on mystery, winds and storms and with what I hope will be an epic ending clash.

I won't reveal too much now, but if you're interested, answer Dekuul and join him in Ratchet to start getting to the bottom of this!


PROPOSED TIMES

Phase 1, Sunday 21st Jan 2018: The Winter Storms
Phase 2, Tuesday 23rd January: On the Tempest's Trail
Phase 3, Friday 26th: The Lord of Storms

[Kozgugore]

(( This looks great, Dekuul! You would be more than welcome to host it on whichever days you like! If you'd like to start it off next Sunday with the above dates, do feel free to! Just don't forget to post them on the in-game calendar so that as many people as possible will be aware of it as well. ^^ One way or another, it's always great to see people taking some initiative and hosting a nice little event or two! Let alone three! ))

[Dekuul]

(( Thanks Chieftain. I will create the in-game calendar events later this evening. To the rest of you, bring your sea legs to next Sunday's event  ))

[Dekuul]

(( Question for officers: this event will take us to the Bay of Storms in Azshara for it's climactic finale.  Is this alright,  IC-wise, since right now, all eyes are on the sword to the south? My mini campaign is rather self-contained lore-wise, meaning it can exist outside of the current events and we can say it happened a few weeks prior to when Sargeras rekt Silithus.

Let me know if it needs to be so and I'll adjust a few very minor plot points ))

[Kozgugore]

(( Feel free to take it wherever you like! It should be perfectly fine to keep it in the present time - wouldn't exactly be preferable to have to pretend we were suddenly several weeks back either anyway. The developments from Silithus will gradually come in time as we've had a small introduction to it now this week anyway, so plenty of time and freedom for you to do your own thing in your campaign! ))

[Dekuul]

Part Two: On the Tempest's Trail

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*As the orcs gather round the bonfire at the foot of the Tidus Stair, the narrator's voice kicks in*

  The Orcs had had a long, wet, tiring evening. They had agreed to follow Dekuul to a former cutthroat lair called Fray Island, south of Ratchet, to investigate a damaged, forlorn ship that had sailed out of the menacing storms further away at sea. After almost drowning when a "freak" wave washed over them as they crossed some narrow shallows, they reached the ship.

  A skeleton crew barely guarded the vessel, and warned the orcs that they had shut some cursed spirits down in the deep hold. And that the captain had been going quite barmy since arriving ashore. The orcs bravely pressed on, clearing the debris barricade, and came face to face with the captain and his first mate - who were rotting alive and had lost most of their minds somehow. The goblin captain blew a hole in the hull, forcing our adventurers to escape the sinking ship swiftly before they drowned with it.

  After defeating the troll first mate, a strange thing occurred: a small seaspray elemental erupted out of the decaying troll's head, and pleaded with the orcs to spare it, claiming that it had been bound to the corpse against its will by nefarious wind devils. Initially very suspicious,  the orcs finally agreed to follow the elemental back to shore and up the coast slightly, to the Tidus Stair, where three Tauren women awaited them.

  Mahren Skyseer, Islen Waterseer and the one that the elemental called its mistress, Neqwah Waterseer; they thanked the orcs for freeing the waveling, and provided more information on the mysterious happenings. The recent catastrophic events further south had shaken the entire planet - and the elemental plane closest to the chaos, Air, was in compete disarray. The wind elementals, already agitated by nature, were now in a full-blown "civil war" of sorts, as far as the Skyseer sister could tell with her shamanistic vision. A challenger was attempting to dethrone the current Wind Lord, causing the current storms and extremely bad weather up and down the coast.

  Now the tempest is moving north, getting closer to the densely populated areas of the Horde. Whoever is channelling the rebellious greater wind elemental that is behind all this, and allowing it to manifest in the physical world, must be tracked down.  According to Waterseer's contact, the storm is almost upon Sen'jin village in southern Durotar. Seek out Watcher Kin'weelay and get to the bottom of this. But be careful, orcs!

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PROPOSED TIMES

Phase 1, Sunday 21st Jan 2018: The Winter Storms
Phase 2, Tuesday 23rd January: On the Tempest's Trail
Phase 3, Friday 26th: The Lord of Storms

[Dekuul]

(( Updated time of third event to Friday 26th! Better flow ))

[Dekuul]

Part Three: The Lord of Storms

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*As the orcs wearily leave Razor Hill for Bilgewater Harbour, shuffling out onto the road in single file, the narrator's voice kicks in*

  "Vizumar, Lord of Storms, will blow away your filth-ridden cities!"

  Thus had echoed the curse of the greater Scythewind elemental during the confrontation on Scuttle Coast. The orcs had ridden hard north from Ratchet, hoping to find a crossing point over the Southfury river before the main bridge. In answer, fate had placed a shifty-looking goblin ferryman in their path, and they decided to risk it, wolves and all (even massive Drakada and his large battleboar!). The crossing was white-knuckled, and they barely made it, leaving a dismayed goblin to repair his half-sunk barge.

  The orcs arrived in Sen'jin village to scenes of recent devastation: the storm had come and gone, and after questioning some shellshocked townspeople, they learned that their contact was further north, where several ships had been literally wrecked ashore by the winds, investigating. Hot on her tail, our brave clan arrived at the Scuttle Coast, witnessing desolation: flattened palm trees, drowned and washed-up sailors of all races, and all manner of rotting wood splinters.

  At that point, they made what was arguably their first mistake: to look for clues, they spread out too thin. A first group ventured into a half-buried ship carcass. Another sniffed around a mostly-intact shipwreck, while the third stayed near the shoreline to look for the troll. All at once, three things happened: as the third group finally found the troll watcher Kin'weelay, a monster behemoth crab surprised Rava and her goblin friend, who led it to the others in their panicked flight! While those orcs dealt with the deadly enraged crustacean, something else was afoot...

  The group led by Vraxxar, which included two shamans, had stumbled upon a slowly-coalescing  wind elemental, and the disturbance caused by the orcs' arrival seemed to prematurely rouse it. Grek'thar attempted to commune with the elemental, trying to soothe it and gain answers, but the spirit only got gradually angrier, telling the orcs that they had interrupted the preparations, and threatening them with doom and windborne destruction from its master, Vizumar the Lord of Storms. Razor winds started to blow around it in wicked gusts, clearly signalling nefarious intent.

  Luckily, the giant crab being defeated, the rest of the group arrived just in time to aid Vraxxar and his companions (despite Chieftain Feraleye having immense trouble climbing up a slippery wooden plank). The fight was intense, and the foe extremely dangerous - a young Newblood was badly injured in the stomach when scythewinds of brutal intensity tore up the rotting wooden deck of the ship and hurled large splinters everywhere. Fierce gusts of wind deflected weapons, arrows and even spells, and the air itself cut at exposed skin.

Eventually, Grerk'thar's and Rhonya's shamanic prowess, aided by the others, managed to smash the bindings. The elemental howled in agony, but also with gratitude, and in its final echoes, it revealed where the agent of Vizumar, a mysterious Tauren, was planning to strike next: Bilgewater Harbour was to be annihilated by a tempest from the Bay of Storms itself!

Back in Razor Hill to lick their wounds,  the orcs deduced from the events and the information of the Waterseer sisters that this Vizumar was behind the ongoing chaos, both in Skywall and along Kalimdor's eastern coast. This time, they would beat the storm, find this rogue Tauren and put an end to the Lord of Storms and his rampage.

And so, onwards to Azshara, Orcs of the Red Blade!

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PROPOSED TIMES

Phase 1, Sunday 21st Jan 2018: The Winter Storms
Phase 2, Tuesday 23rd January: On the Tempest's Trail
Phase 3, Friday 26th: The Lord of Storms