The Cursed Axe

[Razaron]

Part 1: Trial of the Warrior (18th November 2018)
Part 2: Fiery Adventure (22nd November 2018)
Part 3: The Fate of Madeye (25th November 2018)



The Orcs of the Red Blade discover the true horrors that lie within Razaron's cursed axe, a nightmare world awaits!

[Razaron]

Part 1: Trial of the Warrior
18th November 2018

It was just a normal day in Razor Hill, the orcs were going about their normal routines when suddenly a large explosion occurred to the south gate. The Red Blade quickly assembled and carefully inspected the area when they discovered Razaron Madeye on the floor injured and a terrifying site of his floating axe pouring of blood. Razaron held out a book with his bloody hand before finally losing consciousness, in the book it explained how Razaron’s axe was a family heirloom and how most weapons of power drain the life out of their foes. Well this weapon was different, it gradually drains the life out of the wielder, it was the the price to pay for using this cursed axe. The book stated that blood must be shred to enter the nightmare of the axe and finally break it’s curse. Reluctantly Lom'rak and Drakora gave the offering and as the orcish blood touched the weapon it pulled all the life forces of the orcs in.

They all collapsed around the weapon and awoke in a twisted realm. The realm of the wielders of the axe, how many people had used this axe and how much life energy was stored inside? Suddenly a booming voice surrounded them, “Welcome to the Trial of the Warrior!”. They were in an arena with hundreds of spiritual orcs cheering them on. Gorgush had them complete various tasks, the first had the orcs dispatched some arrakoa warriors which they did with ease as feathery birdmen didn’t stand a chance. The second task however proved quite troublesome, they had to stop a bleeding globe that was being lowered on to them. Four levers had to be pulled at the same time, failure to pull them reset the process and orcs failed many times. It wasn’t helped by some rather argumentative ogres who were led in to the arena to halt the orcs but after much trial and error they managed to do it. The bleeding globe exploded into bloody rain and it harmlessly showered them to a rather bloody victory, Kozgugore Feraleye in particular didn’t enjoy the experience.

The last task Gorgush gave the Orcs was to battle a huge gronn, surely they couldn’t defeat such a foe? He was aggressively dragged in to the arena and he unhappily dropped his club and sat down. Lom’rak Steelskull told all the orcs around him to wait, he noticed that this Gronn wasn’t their enemy. He slowly touched the gronn telling the big beast they weren’t his foes. The gronn gazed at Steelskull for what seemed an eternity in till he finally stood up, grabbed his club and walked out of the arena. Lom’rak got this exactly right, this was the final task and Gorgush entered the arena and congratulated them all. “You surprise me young pups, you learn quickly, a warrior needs to know the wisdom of when to fight. You have passed the trial of the warrior!” Gorgush says applauding with the orc spirits around him.

Suddenly the twisted realm took another turn, this time in a vision. It was Razaron, he was a lot younger and corpses of orcs and trolls scattered the Stranglethorn Vale landscape. He paced faster towards a fallen orc and discovered his father Gorgush with a spear punctured through his gut. Immediately Razaron had fell to his knees trying to help him but alas it was to no avail. Everything suddenly went black and the orcs had awoken back in Razor Hill, the cursed axe was still floating but a bell tolled and one of three runes had faded. Many questions were left unanswered, who caused this all to happen? Would Madeye ever awake from his slumber? It was clear this was just the beginning!

[Razaron]

Part 2: Fiery Adventure
22nd November 2018

With Razaron still out for the count the clan had little choice but to once again shred some blood to enter the twisted realm of Razaron’s cursed axe. This time however it was different as they awoke on some hills filled with rivers of lava, just then a voice whispered to them. It was an female orc hunter, she was a spirit and she instructed the red blades to look over the hillside, their stood a gigantic molten giant in front of an enormous cave. “We are here, this is where the treasure is! So, amongst you lot who are the best trackers and spotters?” said the orc spirit, with little hesitation Karnna Blackfeather and Drosera Faewolf were selected for the roles. Before anyone could say anything Karnna Blackfeather was off scouting the area trying to find any clues on how to take this monster down, perhaps she was little too fast as unfortunately for her the molten giant had discovered her presence! She threw a smoke bomb down on the ground and quickly disappeared, the orcs waiting on the hill needed no persuasion as they bravely charged down the hill to confront such a monster!

The orcs in melee stood little chance of bringing down the molten giant, their only hopes lay in what the scouts could find or possibly some magical trickery from Gashuk Felhand! Gashuk managed to cast an incantation that tripled the size of Lom’rak Steelskull! He was no longer orc sized but the size of a giant! Battle of the titans, Steelskull tried his hardest, his now gigantic hammer failed to damage the molten giant but it did give the scouts time to find a few useful items. The items they had found transformed the giant from molten to mountain, spilt it into three earth elementals and finally in to three plant elementals. After much hammering Steelskull managed to flatten two out of three of the plant elementals and the MOLTEN THROWER X GAUNTLETS 3000 that was found by Faewolf and Blackfeather were used and burn the remaining elemental into non-existence. The orcs had won a great battle but the orc spirit urged them to hurry in to the cave.

They entered the cave and all seemed calm, perhaps too calm. Then horror filled the orcs, it was the sight of hundred of eyes opening in the darkness! Man-size spiders lept out from the shadows and once more the orcs had to defend themselves! Battling the spiders was tough, they proceeded to entangle and spit poison at the orcs but after a short scurry the spiders quickly dissipated in to the cracks and crevices of the walls. The orcs were too much for them, stepping over their beaten bodies the orc spirit bellowed to the team to follow. They travelled for miles down and through this claustrophobic hollow in till she raised her hand to halt, they had finally arrived. The orc spirit motioned towards the far end of the room, it was the treasure! Just as she motioned a gigantic thirty foot tall, fifty foot wide mother of all spiders shot down from the ceiling! Fortunately the spider had just sensed the orcs presence and they still had the opportunity of surprise, that was until the Mag’har orc Sigrak charged directly at it’s armoured head with a war-cry!

Brave he may have been, but it was a foolish error. Half of the team were now standing directly face on with the beast as it shot out it’s web sticking them too the floor. After much panicking they scraped and muscled their way free and positioned themselves around the legs of the spider, the red blades best bet was to surround the gigantic spider and cut it’s mobility. Blackfeather and Faewolf as ever were scouting the area and managed to find a working fire with firelighters, they also discovered that the spider was defenceless on his upper body and conveniently the ceiling was covered in stalagmites. It didn’t take long before the orcs had a plan in action, attack the legs so they could drop a stalagmite to impale the beast, then use the fire to burn it whilst it could not move! That's what they did and too much success, it was a famous victory for the red blade clan even if it took place in an unusual land. The orc spirit had already moved over to the treasure and had little care for the now smoldering dead spider. She stood in front of her prize and was about to tell them their reward when again it went all black.

Another vision played, again it was Razaron Madeye, he was in a swamp hut hugging what must of been his wolf. It had been shot with an arrow and had perished, as the vision panned more you noticed the wolf was pregnant and everything went bright. They were back in Durotar and it’s sunlight took the orcs eyes a time to adjust, then as before another bell tolled from the axe and the second of three runes had faded. Only one more remained!

[Razaron]

Part 3: The Fate of Madeye
25th November 2018

The time was once upon the orcs. After resting for a few days they had decided to venture once more into the axe and hoped that it would be the final time. They awoke and were surrounded by ancient ruins and after pushing themselves up off the stone floor they were stood face to face with a elderly female orc. “So what brings you to the Matron children?” To her eyes the Red Blade were young Bleeding Hollow children. “Oh, you want to complete the trial of sages do you? Hmmph! Well perhaps a child’s mind can bring with it some new insight.” I’m here investigating a disturbance, come a long now children, don’t get lost!” She said calmly. They followed the Matron in till they hit a wall of energy, “So what do we have here? Oh yes, the spiritual shield that stops us from moving forward. You’ll need to answer correctly these riddles and the spirits will allow you entry!”

The Matron continued, “The beginners test of riddles. This should be fun for you children. Before we start I need a speaker, only one of you now children. Raise your hands!” The orcs discussed amongst themselves and without much hesitation Nar’thak Strongarm was named speaker. “I will now shut out the rest of you for I am the listener and only listen to the speaker. Please, discuss amongst yourselves but when the time is right the speaker answers for you all.” The orcs did as they were told and the Matron gave them five riddles to solve and they replied with five correct answers, Steelskull being noticeably knowledgeable of such tasks. “Oh look, the spirits have blessed you and dropped the shield. Aren’t you all very clever indeed! Come along, lets move to the next phase!” The Matron said before calmly walking forward.

The Orcs crossed a old ruined stone bridge in till at the other side was a huge ogre sitting at a table, “I be Trok-Trok, drinker supreme. If you want to pass the next shield you’ll have to beat me in a drinking contest! First one on floor sleeping loses!” the ogre said pointing at the impassable wall. The Mag’har Sigrak stepped forward, he wished to take up Trok-Trok’s challenge and sat down at the opposite end of the table. They began to drink and Sigrak made a very good start, Sigrak even tricked Trok-Trok initially by pretending to drink when he didn’t. The orcs cheered Sigrak on and also hurled some insults towards Trok-Trok that dented some of his iron confidence, it appeared the Mag'har would win as Trok-Trok was getting very drunk very fast. But the ogre had a second wind and Sigrak started to struggle, it was then that Karnna Blackfeather attempted to poison Trok-Trok’s drink! In hindsight it could of worked, the problem was it didn’t! Trok-Trok noticed Blackfeather and flipped the table in anger, the orcish spirits inside the cursed axe even were woken and not satisfied as they prepared to attack. It was Draklar and Lom’rak’s reasoning and apologies that calmed them down and the orc spirits faded and quickly to defuse Trok-Trok’s rage Strongarm gave a chi-chop to the back of the Ogre’s head. Trok-Trok stood a few inches taller, his eyes wide open and after seemingly few seconds he fell backwards like a tree paralysed. The next shield had fallen as the Matron amusingly remarked, “Well he did say the first one asleep lost!”.

They walked through the ruins crossroad and came across a door with a wall, the door had a sign that said ‘Do Not Enter’. This baffled the orcs for awhile, some even trying to find a way around it before some spiritual wind blew them back. After much discussions about what to do Strongarm walked up to the door and knocked three times. The door and wall disappeared, the Matron was very pleased by this, “Manners children, well done. You’ve shown up some of the adults with this one. On to the next test!” she quipped as she led the orcs forwards. Hilariously they came to another wall and door, this time it was a massive double door with an orcish face on it. Under the orcish face was a sign that said, the magic word is die.

Nar’thak Strongarm tried to give the door some dice and the door abruptly started talking out of the orcish face, “Hey, I don’t want that!”. A talking door, this bizarre event caught the orcs off guard and the door had a pretty unique sense of humour. The speaker was asking it a series of questions and eventually it answered one of them and was tricked in to saying the magic word, die. The door gasps as it said the word it didn’t want to say and sprung open, then after a few seconds it faded away and the door never existed. “Ha, that door was no match for your young minds! Well done indeed!” the Matron said. She beckoned them forwards and after a short while they entered a humongous throne room, upon the throne there appeared to be a shadow a of troll sitting on it.

“I be a Xuja. Hah, ya come all dis way ta save ya little friend. Ya show commitment I give ya dat!” the Shade of Xuja said. The Matron was confused, “I don’t remember this in the trial before, perhaps I should help you children out?” “Orcs and a phantom wanna play da hero do ya? Very well, I ave sum tricks up ma own sleeve ya know!” bellowed the shade before a dozen phantom spirits charged out of nowhere to attack the orcs, noticeably one of the phantom spirits was a small gnome pirate that previously had a unforgettable run in with Razaron on Kul’tiras. “We’re not just a phantom and orcs, but pieces that have touched my grandson's life! For the last time, for honor, lets save Razaron!” The Matron seemed to grasp what was going on better and performed a Zeth’tar dancing ritual that boosted the Red Blades resolve. They battled for a long hard time but the fight was won when Karnna Blackfeather, Jubeka and Drakora’s managed to finish the shade of Xuja off, the shadow met a grizzly end. She was diced, set alight, punctured and finally absorbed with Blackfeather’s shadow magic. “Dis… is… not… over! I shall… return!” as Xuja was no more.

Suddenly the orcs started to feel drowsy and everything went black, a final vision was then seen. Razaron was cradling the Matron Razara after she had sacrificed herself to save him from a rylak. Razaron clutched at his grandmother and let out all of his emotions with a cry that would wake the ancestors. The image remained for a time in till slowly the orcs again awoke in Durotar, the cursed axe was being held by Lom’rak and it appeared to be lifeless. Razaron was standing over the orcs and proceeded to thank them for the efforts in freeing him. He explained to them that the axe was a family heirloom given to him by his father Gorgush and that he didn’t know initially it was cursed. After a time wielding the weapon it would slowly drain the wielders life essence in to the axe. Long ago before Orgrimmar was built it was once put in a frozen like state with the help of his friend Peacemoon, but it also trapped apart of himself inside the axe. That was in till the troll known as Xuja entered Razor Hill and attacked Razaron sensing the blood magic within and reactivating it. Razaron didn’t know the troll but thanks to the Red Blades efforts his life was completely freed from the cursed axe.

Lom’rak Steelskull took the axe to study, wishing to try and preserve Razaron’s ancestral axe as it was a family heirloom. Though others in the clan thought the axe should then and there be destroyed before it could cause anymore harm. Blackfeather spoke with Razaron and informed him that with her contacts she would try to track down this Xuja but for now the story of the Cursed Axe was over.

[Okiba]

This sounds and looks like it was awesome Raz! good job!

shame I missed it, though I hope I get to attend any future events you arrange!

[Razaron]

Thanks mate! <3