6/5 just before noon
I carried a small fox with me when Keristrasza and I went to visit Vaelen. He had, unfortunately, figured out he was a prisoner after only a few hours of polite deflections from the green dragons. That was also when he realized that the collar prevented him from defying the orders of Nishera, the keeper of the Emerald Dragonshrine. He couldn't leave. He couldn't hurt anyone. He couldn't cast spells.
"You! You're in league with her! Why? Why have you all betrayed me for Alexstrasza! She's a monster! Practically a demon!" The fox winced as she heard the red dragon's words and he turned to my newest companion."Keri! Please! The greens have gone mad! They are keeping me here somehow! I can't leave, or raise a claw against them. I don't know what Alexstrasza has done but it's like she's corrupted the whole flight." He glared at me and his sister in impotent fear and rage. The fox tapped her paw on my collarbone and whined. She'd seen enough.
"I'm sorry Vaelastrasz. You're sick right now. You need to be healed. I'll be back later. Keri, if you can talk some sense into him, please do." I walked into a tree on the way to my apartment. When I arrived, Alexstrasza hopped down from my shoulders and resumed her normal visage. Her daughter had warned her that she shouldn't be seen, which is why she'd attended our brief meeting as a fox.
"I'm sorry you had to see that, but the threat is very severe. Nefarian has found a way to warp the minds of those he gets within his power very severely and with terrifying ease. Right now Vaelen truly believes that you are Nefarian and he is you, effectively."
Alexstrasza was holding herself tightly. "I understand. It was still awful to see."
"The only good news is that it's curable, and I've even managed to create a way of inoculating people against it." That got her attention. She properly focused on me, then. "I have already inoculated the entire green dragonflight, but that was primarily to combat the Nightmare Ysera was facing." As I spoke I was giving off an aroma similar to Ysera's, mixed with a scent of ink and paper, and a scent of rain. All subtle enough that only a dragon would even slightly notice them, all scents she associated with people she trusted.
"Please. My flight needs this if we are to assist you." I smiled.
"The first step I need to repeat what I did with Ysera is a conduit. She was the conduit for the green flight. You can be the same for the red."
"How? I will do whatever I can to protect them."
I went in for a hug, which she took very well. Poor girl was very stressed, and I was getting hotter by the minute thanks to stud service. She was the ultimate milf, doting mother of a thousand young, and I was explaining how I'd protect all of her children from a horrible fate. What an excellent daddy. "I just need you to tell me you love me, and mean it." She had the obedience set. She just needed to go for it.
"How will that help?"
"That is what my magic is, at its heart. The power of the bonds between us allows for otherwise impossible things to happen. The stronger the bond, the more easily that I can perform miracles. You truly love Vaelen, so it's very important that you give me your love. Keri is doing her best, but it will take some time to convince him. Sadly, even more important is keeping you safe. I don't think you are immune to Nefarian's new power. He could turn you against members of your own flight if you don't get properly protected."
The tall redhead relaxed in my arms and mumbled out that she loved me. No dice. "You have to say it again. It can work if you only say it once, but it works much better with repetition." I'd convinced her that she wanted to love me, so she was speedily brainwashing herself for the good of the red dragonflight. I had a devious little thought. "You can try phrasing it differently. Stronger words can help get you into the mood."
When she was captured, I didn't stop her. Instead I just started taking liberties. I kissed her on the neck, I began groping her, I started fumbling to take off her very ornamental armor. All the while I encouraged her to keep declaring her love. "I adore you. I'm devoted to you. I trust you. I wish to carry your eggs. I enjoy your company. You excite me with your touch." She was fired up and ready to go by the time I could properly begin groping her, with the armor out of the way.
I put her on the table, and she was dripping wet. "Keep praising me. Tell me you love everything about me." She was already looking at me with a dreamy smile.
"Sure. Just go ahead and put it in while I do. I'm all pent up for some reason." Once I was inside of her, she locked her legs behind my back and started bucking her hips, pulling me in deeper. She was much, much stronger than I was but very accommodating; once she came for the first time, she was up for anything. She wanted to get me off, and I could do anything I felt like to get there. I ended up finishing in her ass, using her horns for convenient leverage.
She wasn't winded by the experience. I had a tiny bit of post nut fatigue, she just stood back up and gave me an affectionate smile. "So, Erich, was that part actually necessary? I don't regret it, but it seemed like quite a departure from how we started." She seemed to flicker, and her armor and hair were back in place.
"Necessary? No. But you seemed very stressed. Thought I'd help. The next thing, however, probably is necessary. There are certain individuals who need to be stopped for the good of the world. When I stop them, the member of my retinue most responsible gets a boon. For Ysera, it was to bring everyone in the green dragonflight into my retinue. Safe." I was running low on low hanging fruit, but hopefully that would be addressed by some people working on minor missions systematically. Looks like the high chieftain of Zul'Farrak was up next.
••••••••••
The vanguard of Chargers were properly attired in Lunara's armors. Not ideal, of course, but even the frilly skirts were enchanted to improve the speed and precision of the wearer and none of them were so impractical as to be detrimental. Those who hadn't been promoted as Units were armed with old ogre weapons, those who had been were of course armed with standard issue equipment or the contents of their inventories. Tyrande approved; it was always good to have a strong front line if one has limited room to maneuver.
Their numbers were fewer this time, but anybody that could be spared was here. Half a dozen new mages had joined them, having been turned into spellscales to improve their survivability. Their leader was fawning over Miss Lividia for whatever reason. Tyrande wasn't overly concerned by all that; she had Malfurion here, and everything felt a little better when they could be together. She felt safe even in combat with him present.
The raid went well enough; the retinue's patrols had been doing a reasonable job of keeping the elementals suppressed. Today it was time to douse the runes that Ragnaros was using to draw power to himself. Lord Bismark believed that would draw out Ragnaros's agents and eventually the Firelord himself. He said it with that confident tone he reserved for his precognitive visions, so she had no reason to disbelieve. Slowing the Firelord's growth would be good regardless.
As promised, the moment they started to douse the runes, fire elementals started rising out of the rivers of lava. Not enough; the Chargers and Onyxia were largely able to overwhelm the magma and flame elementals with minimal fuss. What little injury they sustained was undone in moments between Lividia, Tyrande, Malfurion, and Ysera, and the spellscales under Mila ripped the majority of the enemy apart in seconds with overwhelming barrages of arcane energy.
A rather large Flamewaker eventually arrived with a large scale assault, and things became much more difficult then. Their leader seemed to be quite skilled with defensive magic, and three of the mages were killed by their own spells reflected back at them. They had the technical skill, but lacked the combat experience to go with them. The great black serpent man was proving very difficult to deal with; that distinguished him enough to merit an amulet.
The retinue was forced to spread out; if they tried to focus their attention on any one of his servants, the Majordomo would render them hazardous to attack. He was personally so layered with defensive spells as to be unassailable, so they needed to slowly wear his forces down where they may. When he was finally isolated, he realized that he wasn't going to win.
"Impossible! Stay your attack, mortal... I submit! I submit!"
"In the name of Elune, you will don this bracelet or be slain." The Flamewaker meekly did as commanded.
"I have a proposal. If you seek audience with the Living Flame, then you may have it. Though he is but a shadow of his true glory, he is more than capable of destroying you!"
Alas, the Majordomo was instantly obliterated when he summoned Ragnaros. It would seem that the Firelord was perfectly aware of how vulnerable he was in this state, and what a risk his servant was taking by summoning him.
"NOW FOR YOU, INSECTS! BOLDLY, YOU SOUGHT THE POWER OF RAGNAROS. NOW YOU SHALL SEE IT FIRSTHAND!"
The Firelord was bombastic, but he was more sly than he looked. He seemed aware of the danger posed by the amulets, and preferentially targeted anyone who attempted to get in close to him with one, and would dip into the lava to reposition away from them. Even the time stop spell only made him pause for a few seconds, and he refused to look directly at the amulets so even discord wouldn't win this for them.
Tyrande realized that they couldn't capture him right now; trying was going to just get more of them killed. They had already lost too many, and couldn't afford that right before the assault on Nefarian. She made the executive decision to order his death. Of course, when the Firelord heard her giving orders he whipped around and dropped a pillar of flame upon her. If not for the intervention of Elune, she would have surely perished.
Ragnaros fought wildly, recklessly, seeing the amulet as the only real threat to him. He wanted to either wipe them out or be killed himself; they were only too happy to oblige. It was a shame that they didn't successfully capture the Firelord… but Executus would reform in the Firelands with his amulet still intact. Almost as importantly, the bindings of the Windseeker were hot to the touch after Ragnaros was slain.