6/6
The Scarlet Bastion was falling. Saidan Dathrohan didn't really have any way of preventing that. The thick walls, retrofitted artillery, and holy ground of the old barracks of the Knights of the Silver Hand were enough to make the area relatively secure until now, but with the Scourge's full focus placed upon a single fortified building the Nathrezim was faced with a hard choice. Did he conserve the Scarlet Legion, his elite troops, by creating a portal to retreat to Tyr's Hand, or did he send a message demanding aid from his allies in the area?
Unfortunately, the Argent Dawn would be unlikely to commit to any joint action on his account. They traded information and resources, but the death of Saidan Dathrohan in particular would be welcomed. Likely because of the fiasco with Mograine. Renault really did fumble that one. Very well. Saidan Dathrohan would, officially, stand his ground while the majority of the legion withdrew though portals. Balnazzar would need to find a new host, but he had a few properly informed and loyal servants in the area. Demetria would be an adequate figurehead; she didn't have anywhere near the level of bad blood with the Dawn that Balnazzar had accrued as Dathrohan. She was also loyal enough that he could allow her autonomy, which left the question of who he would dominate next.
Of course, he also had that cryptic message from Varimathras to investigate, and the question of what happened to Naxxramas to kick off this insane assault.
••••••••••
Tara only needed a few assistants for her work, and it would be easy enough to have a few students filter out of the Scholomance per day. Nobody ever asked about failures and "dropouts". As such, the operations team had drawn up a list of promising undead infested locations to keep the necromancers busy.
Lillibeth had been surprised to be sent to the Scarlet Monastery, but it seemed that they had multiple beings that she could command. The master was particularly interested in one by the name of Fairbanks, the former high inquisitor. He'd been the personal companion of some great Paladin apparently; Lillibeth had been dead at the time. Regardless, that meant that he was likely to be powerful enough to meaningfully contribute in the assault force.
He'd been infected with the undead plague during a rather disastrous attack on Stratholme, then locked away in a secret room of the monastery when he started making wild accusations. He was strong willed, but a charm softened him up enough for a team of three to bind him. The graveyard was overrun with undead as well, including one that the master had particular interest in called the Headless Horseman, so Lillibeth had her orders for now. More necromancers would be coming to assist tomorrow.
••••••••••
Lividia was so very bored. Her king was busy brushing up on arcane magic and had ordered her handmaidens to train all day. Lividia was past the point where any of the other priests in the retinue had anything to teach her of the Light, so how was she supposed to spend her time? She was about to go and try to blow up a Silithid hive alone when it occurred to her that she might as well ask her king if he had any ideas.
"Oh right. Hmm. Yeah, I think there's only one thing to do. Where's Darcell's profile? Ah. There. I'm gonna make a new preset for you, if that's okay? I'll set it back when I'm done here"
"Of course. Do with me what you will. What did you have in mind?"
"You'll figure it out. Anyway, go talk to Sir Zeliek and tell him to teach you anything he can."
Lividia's eyes lit up. A chance to learn? Her martial skills were horribly lacking, even though Light's Wrath was nearly indestructible and perfectly weighted for swinging. She could be an even better soldier for her king if she were a Paladin too! Oh! Oh! Could he teach her how to use his aura?
••••••••••
Nefarian was not here to set up a new base of operations, but he certainly wouldn't say no. The human city of Tyr's Hand was remarkably defensible and nicely out of the way. Of course, he was just here to pick someone up. The mounted courier had bolted when he'd incinerated one of her escort, but the whole group had all been paladins. He let her go; she was of no particular interest to him.
Given the unusual method Netorarian had revealed to accelerate the capture of his targets, he killed the two men first. The two female humans were both pretty enough in the face, but he couldn't see their figures well under the heavy armor. With a shrug, he killed the dark haired one with a swipe of his claw. Most of the black dragons in his harem favored black hair, after all.
He assumed his visage, much to the surprise and confusion of the last terrified Paladin, and used the ambient light energy coming off of the paladins to sheath his body in a shield of force. He lunged for the woman as she attempted to bash his brains in with her mace; he only had ten seconds to do his work, after all. He let her swing uselessly as he grabbed hold of her arm and injected the serum into her neck. "You love me. Tell me so."
"I… I love you?" She seemed scared and confused by the realization, but she would adjust in time. Nefarian checked his app. Good. Human Paladin captured, and with it ten more credits towards his goal through rebates.
"Now then, come with me. Some of my other servants are laying waste to a village. You will assist them." The dazed and confused young Paladin followed the love of her life through a portal, leaving behind the corpses of her friends as the internal screaming slowly faded away.
••••••••••
The master wanted death and service. That was easy. Left held the red, black, and bronze essence. Right held blue and green. Chromaggus was not sure if she liked being two, but the creator demanded it and she loved him.
Tuskarr meat was good. Fatty. Chromaggus tried to not eat the strong ones. The ones who could be infused. Too much muscle. Tough. Also, if she could infuse with all four colors she could make spawn. Creator was so excited about that. Other dragonspawn were slow to make. Need willing people. Maybe because only one essence? Chromaggus didn't know.
Tuskarr dragonspawn do job. Shiny red human helped too. Bring Chromaggus food. Bring Chromaggus prisoners to turn. Burn town. Creator pleased. Chromaggus did good, Chromaggus wanted treat, so left and right turned into mating form for creator. More eggs?
••••••••••
I settled on arcane as a specialization; utility always did call to me. Offensively speaking, it was a very mana intensive school of magic, but I was already a crack shot with my bow and could duel most people with my moonblade. I wasn't here for damage; I was here for invisibility, counterspell, wards against enemy magic, magical analysis, polymorph, mirror images, and a bunch of tricks for preserving and regenerating my mana. I was probably going to pass on teleportation though; it's a really complex discipline and I have had a much easier alternative lined up since arriving.
While I waited for my mana to restore, I went over the regional upgrades for defeating Rend. As usual, most of them felt a little redundant, but a few seemed decent. Lividia's handmaiden looked like she would get a somewhat strengthened version of soul talent limited to fire. My succubus could get the abilities of a pretty solid support caster unit. That dragonspawn of all people was getting a very strange aura that would randomly capture about five percent of people that died near her. All decent enough upgrades, but Pryzhum could become a hero unit. When in doubt, get more hero units. One pocket blademaster for me; I'd need to summon her more often.
The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. Quite a lot of recovery and training went on, and in the evening I let Lividia lead a charge of a thousand demons against Hive Re'gal. Pryzhum went along, hoping to soak some exp. From what Lividia had told me, the Stone Giant troops did an excellent job as tanks. In addition to their durable and magic resistant skin, they had the ability to taunt; that was a power only Varian had displayed up to that point, and its tactical ramifications were very juicy.
My hands were starting to reform by the end of the day; a good nights sleep would hopefully have me on my feet again. The occasional lazy day was fine, but I was pretty sure Nefarian wasn't relaxing. I just hoped my retinue would be ready to go after him next time we saw him.