angryfistofgod | OPEN POST

He had departed Graywatch to check up on another outpost, but as he neared it on his return, it became blindingly obvious something was wrong. For one, the two guards that should have been standing to either side of the entrance weren't in sight.

Though he was forced to correct that thought as he came to stand at the entrance. They were there, or rather their corpses were. Each guard bore an arrow through their throat. He cursed and hurried into the outpost, and was brought up short almost immediately upon seeing that it had been slaughtered down to a man. A man who was even now dying as he knelt in front of Sylvanas surrounded by the fumes and sickeningly green liquid.

---

Within the small building Graymane had moved from resting against the Archmage to crouching in the far corner as if something within the man knew he needed to distance himself before the dream that had ensnared his mind caused him to harm those near him. How long he would remain human and not a threat couldn't be said, but it would possibly depend on when someone thought to send someone in to check on them or fetch them for something.

Well, that certainly happened and Khadgar, when he had time to think about it, probably would take to admitting to himself that it wasn't the worst thing that he put himself through.

However, as the moment so happened, he was curled under a blanket on the cot and well, had been enjoying leeching the heat that seemed to radiate off of his bed partner. Had, as when he reaches out and finds nothing... Well, he comes to his senses a little more. He was alone in the cot, though his sleepy eyes found Greymane crouching in the corner muttering something to himself.

Khadgar's first action was snapping himself awake and immediately thinking the worst.

The world wouldn't end if he took a nap longer than two hours, he remembered Genn saying to him and well, yet by the way Genn was definitely crouching and either planning something in his little corner away... Perhaps he was trying to think of a way to tell the Archmage what was going on.

"Greymane," he spoke, throwing his legs over the sides of the cot wincing as the cool floor touched his bare feet.

By the light, he hated that feeling more than he could remember hating anything.

"Greymane, what has happened?"

He was glad that someone had moved his staff into the shack before they had fallen asleep and he reached out to grab it. Allowing it to help aid him in getting up properly. As soon as he was on his feet he was moving forwards to the corner where Greymane had crouched down to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder.

He heard his name, but the voice he heard wasn't Khadgar's. No from what he saw before him, the Archmage was no longer capable of speech. Instead it was that wretched Banshee Queen who spoke to him and was approaching him. No doubt to drive the weapon she held between his ribs so she could finally finish what she'd been trying to do since she invaded his homeland.

"Sylvanas, I should have killed you back in that temple. Do you even realize what you've done here? You may as well be working for the Legion itself at this rate."

The look Khadgar was gifted with as Graymane came up from his crouch was one he no doubt had never seen fully, glimpses perhaps, but the fury and rage turned the human face into something bestial. The words were spoken in a growled hateful tone.

"I'll learn from my past mistakes now, you'll not be leaving this place alive."

As the words ceased, smoke obscured the other man's form and out of the smoke lunged a white furred form, clawed hands reaching out to either rend or grasp the body before him as the muzzle snapped with lethal intent toward the throat.

Something was wrong, that much was clear as the words came from the Worgen and it was only driven home even harder as the name of the Banshee Queen was growled out and every word that seemed to follow.

Very few times had Khadgar felt the amount of fear that he had in those few seconds of being able to see the purely... feral look that had painted itself upon Greymane's face. As soon after there were more words and smoke. He had stumbled back and coughed from the smoke, though as he was knocked down by the lunging white wolf Khadgar could feel all breath being sucker punched out of him.

"Greymane!" Khadgar shouted, voice showing his pain as he could see spots of white and blue in his gaze from how hard his head slammed against the ground and his chest burned from the gouge he garnered from the initial lunge. He was at least glad he wasn't wearing his robes, even if they would've protected him somewhat from that claw mark.

It took a brief second but the archmage gathered the energy in his hand and attempted to use it to propel the rabid Worgen off of him before he could get maimed any more.

Edited 2016-09-26 04:01 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the queen managed to get her arm between him and her throat, but he did manage to render the arm incapable of using her favored bow for now. He was quite sick of her arrows.

He hadn't expected the the magic she used to shove him back and the impact with the wall made him pause for a couple precious seconds as he regained his bearings.

Once he'd recovered, the muscles in his hips and legs tensed to launch him forward once more to take advantage of the fact he'd downed her. Not that he expected her to stay down for long, she'd already proven quick in dodging in their last match. However this time he had managed to land a blow on her. Hopefully that would work in his favor.

"You will suffer for all of the death you've brought and for robbing this world of one of her most staunchest defenders." he snarled as he launched himself at her.

Things were making more sense the longer the fight was going on, however, Khadgar knew far too well that he was not going to be able to last much longer in a fight of pure strength with the Worgen King. Genn was stronger than him and in this form, much faster as well.

He luckily rolled out of the way of the second lunge and ignored how much his arm hurt. Khadgar would not be surprised if those claws had cut cleanly through his flesh and down to the bone. Now was still not the time to lament on it, however, he needed his mind focused upon disabling Genn from causing any more injury or even worse, getting out of the room and into the wild.

If Khadgar was seen as Sylvanas as all people, who knew what he would see others as.

"Greymane, it is not Sylvanas you're fighting," Khadgar attempted to reason once more, "it is Khadgar."

Atiesh was grabbed with the uninjured hand and Khadgar got that close to him in an attempt to have something between him and those claws. The staff was made of tougher things than his flesh and would not be as easily shredded by Greymane's claws. He pushed himself off the floor and ignored nausea from the burning pain as he began to channel more magic. He truly only had one shot to do this, maybe two if he were lucky, but the point was he would leave himself open while he did it.

Khadgar had no choice as he pressed him back against the wall and began focusing, letting the magic come to him as he began casting.

Graymane was unsurprised by the dodge and recovered from the failed lunge easily enough, eyes tracking the woman as she retrieved a sword from the ground. "That won't save you." He growled as one clawed finger pointed at the sword.

When he noted the magic building, he shifted his weight and strode forward toward her, one hand pushing the sword down to the side as his other made to grab at the hand gathering the magic. No doubt she had gotten hold of some magical talisman again.

"Neither will any magic you use. Even if you manage to kill me here, once people learn you killed the leader of the Council of Six. They'll be out for blood."

When Genn strode forwards and easily shoved his staff aside, then grabbed the injured arm, he wasn't surprised. Nor was he surprised at the first statement. However, the last one had him a bit off guard.

He was of the impression that Sylvanas killed him? It almost made him smile in spite of the situation. Luckily, Khadgar kept his wits about him as he furrowed his brows and murmured an apology. Atiesh was dropped and he moved to grab the clawed hand with his now free one to cast his spell.

Polymorph.

When the light died down, Khadgar slid down the wall and took in a few shallow breaths while gazing at the sheep he was left with. He was lucky that Greymane walked right into his plan without even a flicker of worry. He was lucky he was breathing, in all actuality and well, Atiesh was retrieved and he proceeded to hit the white sheep hard in retribution for... well, the pain he was in.

Now he needed to figure a way to get them out of that shack without alarming too many people and letting Genn the Sheep loose on the masses. Perhaps maybe not bleeding out should be somewhere on the list as well.

The worn, bloody archmage allowed himself those few seconds to catch his breath and inspect the bloodied bite, that, yes, he thought he could see peeks of bone from how deep they were. Let alone, he knew what was in store for him and really, he would prefer Greymane to help him through it than anyone else. It was his fault, after all.

Resting over, Khadgar began pushing himself up and glanced around for a rope or a -- A-ha. A belt. He'd need to make an extra notch in it and coax the sheep closer and perhaps.... not get bitten all over again. How would he explain to anyone that he was bitten by a sheep anyways?

The thought of how he could try to explain being bitten by a sheep lingered in his head as he procured something to poke a hole in the belt. He attempted to make it so that it would be... tight enough to keep Greymane close, but not... well, choke him to death. Though, he had no doubt that when he was to his senses, he'd probably have wished Khadgar had done just that.

"Greymane," he called over to the sheep after he was done, trying to gesture the sheep to come closer so he didn't have to go chasing after it.

Edited 2016-09-26 05:22 (UTC)

Khadgar earned a look of loathing and that was pretty much it. The sheep refrained from moving one way or the other currently, though the idea to leave the area until this wore off was tempting. However, there was no telling that the Banshee Queen would still be here upon such a return.

Genn would bide his time and wait for another window of opportunity to arise. This was not over. Not even close.

A long-suffering sigh escaped the mage and slowly got to his feet to wrangle the sheep into his new collar. Honestly, this was going to be hell either way. After getting Genn leashed, he closed his eyes to focus on how they'd be getting out of there without being seen.

The easiest way would be to just tell someone, it would also cause the most trouble and horror and Khadgar did not think Genn would appreciate that in the long run. The other was manufacture something that looked like an attack on Greywatch. Gently tugging on the leash, he moved to the door of the room to peek out and see how many people were out and about.

Minimal, most were sleeping or out doing recon on the information he left with some heroes before he had been completely forced to sleep. He could do it. He stuck his hand out of the door, deciding to instead hold the leash between his teeth for a few moments as he made the magic balls begin to form in the air. Nothing enough to kill anyone, but enough to perhaps damage some property and some of the less experienced folk.

When there was enough up there, he began the shower of them. He started them in waves and it did have the panic he was hoping for. They would all be too distracted to see him and the sheep leaving the small shack. Khadgar moved the leash back to his good hand, wrapping it around his hand and then latching it onto the staff and he began to leave Greywatch without being seen.

He succeeded and managed to get outside enough that he could set Atiesh down and slump onto the ground. He knew there were Heroes flocking forwards to Greywatch and honestly, he hoped one that had discretion would come this way.

"Sleep for more than two hours and the world wouldn't end," Khadgar found himself mumbling towards the angry sheep, "I am never taking your advice again."

Edited 2016-09-26 05:49 (UTC)

Luciphel had been on the way toward Graywatch regardless, given that it was simpler for him to get a gryphon ride from there to where he was going next. Of course the small fact that he felt something decidedly off in that direction, not to mention he was now smelling way too much smoke for the few campfires that the outpost had...

Well, he turned the easy trot he'd been crossing ground with into a more hurried canter. A gallop might get him there even faster, but he wanted to scout the outskirts first before barreling in. Decide if he ought to call in backup before diving in feet first.

Given the fact his first sight upon coming up on those outskirts was a particular Archmage practically naked and bloody, in the company with naught but a sheep--who it would appear was the source of the uneasy 'off' sensation that had first caught his attention.

He slowed the canter down into a walk, coming to a halt in front of Khadgar, the look on the equine face one of inquiry. He's not judging you, Archmage, but seriously, what the hell is going on here?

"Luciphel?" Khadgar asked, squinting up at the stag and finally allowing himself to smile in relief. At least it was a Champion he especially was fond of, it was indeed a plus to him. Despite his pleasure at seeing him, Khadgar was aware he was losing a lot of blood, that Greywatch was on fire and well... The sheep gave off an aura that screamed like it wanted to bite everything that moved. Perhaps the way it decided that chewing on the Archmage's pants would also seem off-putting.

He liked those pants too.

Another sigh and Khadgar moved his hand, careful as to not yank Genn anymore than he had to, and rubbed at his face lightly. He was absolutely smearing blood all over his face, but the mounting irritation at everything cause him to not care much. For once, he was angry that he was right, that Sylvanas had done something to that arrow and yet he was still so off about what it would do.

Khadgar didn't look anything like the banshee queen and Genn thought he was dead as well. He was beginning to think that perhaps he should take up drinking as a hobby.

"Greywatch is not under attack," Khadgar finally settled on saying first, "I simply needed to get myself and... Greymane out of Greywatch before there were any other casualties of whatever is afflicting him."

The Archmage paused and said; "Greymane," then gestured down towards the sheep with his good hand.

"It would be a much bigger fiasco if I had brought it to anyone's attention of what had transpired, so I was left with little choice but to make it seem like something was attacking the Fort. I assure you, everything should only be a little on fire."

Okay, forgive him for staring for a few seconds after that explanation. Then the elk abruptly became a leather clad night elf, a moment's concentration at least dealt with the majority of whatever injuries Khadgar suffered from. He was rather grateful he had spent time learning those healing spells. They came in damned useful in times like these.

"With fire, there's no such thing as 'a little on fire'." he quipped back before moving carefully closer toward the sheep which had ceased its attack on the Archmage's pants to eyeball him with mistrust and a considerable amount of hostility.

"I've felt...what's affecting your fleecy friend here, elsewhere. It's rather insidious and I think getting him out of there was definitely a good idea. Especially, if what I think is wrong with him is correct. Can I ask what happened to you? And...why Graymane is a sheep?"

"It is less on fire than it could have been if I had not been focusing as much as I could."

Khadgar was pleased when his injuries were healed up and he didn't feel like he was about to die at any given moment. The bite on his arm, however... Well, that didn't heal much at all and Khadgar was well aware of the implications that were left. He could already feel something attempting to claw it's way out and dominate his body. It was just good fortune that Khadgar had better control of himself than most.

The Archmage had been flexing his newly healed -- well, not broken arm when Luciphel told him that he knew what was inflicting the Worgen and well, that implied there would be a way to fix it. Or at least somewhat fix it and slowly edge it along until it was mostly done. Khadgar's attention was focused completely on the Night Elf Druid and carefully watched him while choosing his words carefully. At least his next ones were the easier of the plethora he had stored away in his mind.

"You have felt this before?"

Licking his dry lips, Khadgar mulled over the proper way to explain what had happened without it sounding... well, improper.

"Greymane had gotten me to rest, he had just employed a different method than simply slipping someone a potion. He had rested as well, for how long I do not know, but when I awoke I found him in a huddled away in a corner. Of course, I had thought something large had happened and he had been thinking of a way to explain that I had been right about something. I approached and was attacked. He called me Sylvanas."

The last few words were almost like Khadgar was pouting over being seen as the Banshee Queen.

And of course that explanation pretty much told him that his hunch was indeed correct. Which meant that it would be in everyone's best interest if he called in other druids. Perhaps a few that he knew could be trusted to keep this to themselves.

"Yes. In Val'sharah. It's--How much do you know of the Nightmare?"

Best to learn just how much he would need to explain before he began. It would give him a place to start.

"Not as much as I should, it seems. I only know what I hear from the other Champion's, which leads me to assume that it is much akin to the Sha of Pandaria," Khadgar replied, squeezing his brows together and tilting his head to the side at the Druid, "I assume it is not quite that simple, but you did ask me what I knew on the topic."

Khadgar kept his blue gaze even with the druid's, clearly eager for an explanation.

Khadgar gets an accepting nod at that last statement. At least it did give him an idea of what he needed to cover. "It's also called the Emerald Nightmare, because it is a part of the Emerald Dream, a corrupted part. There was a war against it just before the Cataclysm. That war gave us time, but unfortunately did not completely destroy or defeat the Nightmare." He paused to gather his thoughts briefly before continuing.

"It can trap a person's mind or dreamform within it, preventing them from waking. It can also corrupt and trick people afflicted with it, even awake. Graymane called you Sylvanas because he saw her before him, not you. It has trapped his mind within a Nightmare and his actions are toward the enemies he believes are around him. Has anything happened to him since the fight in the temple, before this came to pass?"

Edited 2016-09-26 08:15 (UTC)

Khadgar soaked the words up, catalogued them away for future reading and studying for this could be another thing he could help with in the coming battles. Another thing to add to his already heaping plate, really. Maybe there had been a reason Greymane had insisted he rest.

"I see," he said before choking at the last question and remembering what had transpired.

Coughing, the human mage put a hand over his face and stared hard at the sheep. Could that have honestly have been the trigger? The 'nightmare' had been focused on him dying by Sylvanas's hands. Interesting.

"Not that I could think of," he answered coolly as if he didn't choke and have a small coughing fit from the question. He began thinking that this would be one more thing Genn would appreciate him keeping from the general populace.

Who knew who else was listening beyond Luciphel, after all? Champions could be terrible gossips if the sheer amount of people who had come up and tickled him out of nowhere was any indication.

Well, that reaction was interesting. However he did have more important things currently to worry over than just why that one question had earned such an interesting reaction.

There was also the fact he hadn't suffered anything akin to this from the attack at the temple. Yet, it was possible it was the spell in tandem with the weapon that had struck Graymane could be responsible. "Did they save the arrow that pierced him?" he asked once his thoughts had sorted themselves out into something of a plan.

"That could have opened a path for it to strike. Did you examine the arrow for any magical traces? She seemed to summon some type of magic as she pulled the arrow back to fire." Perhaps he ought to examine it himself to see if might hold traces of the magic the Nightmare used to corrupt things. Things that a mage might miss, given they wouldn't know what they were looking for. Thinking back on it, the colors while not an exact magic were uncomfortably close enough.

"I do not have it on me," Khadgar said, gesturing to his current state of undress with a raise of his brow. He had grabbed nothing but the sheep and Atiesh, his mind had been focused on staying alert, out of sight and well, not dying mid-transport of the Nightmare Sheep.

"I do not think now would be the best time to go into Greywatch either. I perhaps misjudged the amount of fire..."

Khadgar could see more smoke from where he was sitting and glanced down toward the sheep and murmured another apology, before turning his gaze back upon Luciphel.

"Perhaps we should focus on the issue of... ah, the sheep first."

"Of course. I'll go fetch help to tend to him." Hopefully a frost mage or shaman champion would come by soon to tend to the fire. One could but hope.

"Excuse me. I'll be back shortly." With that said, he knelt and closed his eyes, working for a few seconds to calm his mind and focus on what he wanted. As he did so a shaft of moonlight abruptly fell upon him and shortly upon doing so, he faded from the Archmage's sight, and departed Stormheim to arrive within the Emerald Dreamway.

Arriving in the Dreamgrove, he spoke to a couple druid's before tracking down Malfurion, silently grateful that he was here within the grove and saved him the time of tracking him down elsewhere within Val'sharah. It was as he was explaining the situation concerning Graymane, that something he'd overlooked abruptly came back to the fore of his mind again.

Khadgar hadn't stated that the king had shifted in his attack, but given the severity of the injuries and the amount of blood shed. He suspected it was a given that Graymane had delivered them as a worgen. Which meant that the Archmage would very soon be fighting an entirely new battle against himself.

Great.

Fortunately, it wasn't overly long before he returned with the other druids to Stormheim, perhaps an hour or so had possibly passed he suspected, but he had tried his best to hurry.

Khadgar watched, fascinated by the Druid's method of leaving and stored it away as another thing to probe Luciphel about when things were more settled. And, well, being left with the.sheep and with drying blood all over him... It gave him time to think more clearly about what had transpired.

Undoubtedly there would be the need to remind Genn that it was better that he had taken it then had someone else walked in and let him loose upon Greywatch. Though, perhaps sparking rage in what Khadgar did to make sure he wasn't a danger to the majority of the small settlement would be a bad idea. Sigh,

By the time the four Druids returned, Khadgar was resting his head against a tree, eyes closed while he held the ends of the leash firmly, appearing as if he was just resting instead of being in deep thought.

Khadgar was not proud to say that some of the things that the three more experienced Druids had said completely blew over his head, but if he was questioned after the fact he knew he had the excuse of attempting to keep himself together after the Worgen bite.

One thing came to another and Khadgar had been asked to teleport them to Darnassus, which he did so gladly.

Khadgar was fascinated by what he ended up watching, how they drew the Nightmare out of Genn after using one of their spells -- Entangle, was it? -- to hold him down instead of the more humiliating form of the sheep that Khadgar had done in the moment, to keep him in one place. He wouldn't know if it worked, they didn't even know if it would work completely and while it was a horrible thought, he was still enamored by the knowledge they were providing him with.

Sadly after it was done, Malfurion had turned on him and reached for the bitten arm. The bite was angry looking, almost as if it was infected from this short of a time. (Baffling really, he would need to study Worgen bite marks another time) He was forced to drink a potion as Malfurion would not let him be until he did, though Khadgar was unsure if it was just a precaution or it was actually what was needed to be done.

He was left to be after that and sat down near the prone form of Genn Greymane to wonder what Medivh would've said about this turn of events.

As Genn woke, his mind was a muddle with conflicting memories of the last few hours. One set had him dealing with the Banshee Queen, the other--the other set he didn't want to really consider too in depth. Not right now.

Yet upon waking up he was presented with the undeniable truth of those unwelcome memories. It was immediately obvious just where he was and he wondered silently just how much the mage would either fear, or even hate him for the attack, for what he'd undeniably cursed him with.

"...words cannot express how sorry I am for my actions toward you." he finally said quietly as he sat up properly, eyes falling and lingering on Khadgar's wrapped arm. He grimaced at the memory of how it had felt between his jaws and turned his gaze away from the other man to the ground on the other side. He would take the appropriate responsibility to see that Khadgar would have control over this new curse he'd been inflicted with.

Edited 2016-09-27 19:48 (UTC)

Khadgar peered up at Genn when he spoke suddenly, thick white brows lifting in surprise at the first words out of the man's mouth was an apology. The corner of his mouth twitched up and his blue eyes gazed at him with a questioning glint in his eyes. He was not expecting that, honestly and maybe a little put off by it. It was like Greymane expected him to lash out at him or worst.

"It wasn't your fault," he told the Worgen, flexing the bandaged arm, "we were just lucky that it was me and not someone or multiple someone's."

He didn't think it was something to hate Genn over, then perhaps morbidly he paused and looked up at him with a slow smile while he said; "it would not be the first time a friend attempted to murder me, nor is it the first time that I was cursed by one. I blame you no more than I blame Medivh."

A small part of him was hoping that reminding the man of those sad facts and that he didn't hold him responsible that he would not dive into depression too hard. And maybe, just maybe he was hoping that Genn would quickly catch on that he was not scared of him in the least, at least how he was then. When that gaze was pinned on him, however... that was another story and he'd like to not repeat it.

"You do have to walk me through what's to come, Greymane," Khadgar said with a smug smile, "I find myself sorely lacking on information on Worgen in general."

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