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Nazjatar Ascent
Update: This is a d20 RPG Adventure Hook-up only and not proven to be canon. Recently, World of Warcraft RPG: Lands of Mystery showed Prospector Brann Bronzebeard dive into the Eye of the Maelstrom to explore Nazjatar. Thus, the Palace of Azshara is still underwater. However, the unofficial story and images are interesting. Warlocks from ScrollofLore identified the Nautilus Palace image to the right to be Dragon Isle. There has been no details about such island and is not either charted under that name. However, there are files in World of Warcraft of a model resembling the image provided.
Tired, cold, hungry and wounded, the shadow hunter and the paladin approached the locked steel door. ?I turned my back on my tribe for this?? growled Guzul?dar, raising the bloody sack he held in one hand. His eyes were hidden behind dark slits in a wooden mask carved to resemble a cross between a murloc and a wendigo. The skulls of both types of creature, along with many others, hung from the kaz?kah ? a ?death totem? ? strapped to his back, and dangled on rawhide thongs from his waist and neck. Around the fire, late at night, Guzul had given accounts of how he had collected each trophy, channeling the power of dark, savage spirits. They were impossible stories of strange places and black magics employed against blacker evils? yet the skulls told the truth of the tales. He was once the spiritual leader of his tribe, its bulwark against the demons. Yet he had left them behind.
?You?re not the only one to know the meaning of sacrifice because of that bloody thing,? said the paladin. Stefon thought back to the days when he was known as Stefon the Loyal, an unswerving servant to King Terenas. The tapestry of his life had unraveled when the threads of duty and honor were stripped away by a noble prince turned murderous monster, leaving Stefon to weave another from what remained: courage, strength of arms, and the conviction that he could make things right. Lifting his hand from the pommel of his sword, he pounded on the door. ?TURN BACK OR BE DESTROYED!? came a booming voice from a tin horn mounted high on the wall.
?It is us, you idiot,? said Guzul. ?Three weeks we quest for you, and this is the thanks we get?? Bolts slid back with a chunk and the massive door swung open to reveal a lanky elf in a leather apron. ?Sorry. Did you get it??
?We got your piece of monster,? said Guzul, pushing past the elf. ?Now you do as promised.?
?Why the warning, Lenaeas?? asked Stefon. ?Have we been discovered??
?No, no. Of course not,? said the elf, hurrying over to where the witch doctor was emptying his sack onto a battered tabletop. ?Got to be careful, though.? Lenaeas was one of the cleverest tinkers Stefon had ever known. Shunned by his people when he embraced science over magic, Lenaeas had used his skills to improve upon Stefon?s plan.
Now he demonstrated his considerable knowledge of biology as he dissected the dragon?s heart, and his alchemical skill as he added selected portions to a vile liquid already bubbling over a glowing brazier. ?That?s it!? cried Lenaeas, as the mixture turned from a sickly yellow to an iridescent blue. ?Guz, grab that large glass vial over there. Not the warped one ? it has to be perfect.? ?Once I was leader of a people,? complained the jungle troll as he carried the heavy glass cylinder to the table. Donning leather gauntlets, the tinker added a pouch of green powder, then poured the boiling liquid into the tube and sealed it with an iron cap. Muttering nervously to himself, Lenaeas used tongs to place the now-glowing glass tube deep inside a steel sphere larger than a tauren.
?How long?? asked Stefon.
?A day, now that it?s armed,? replied the tinker. ?Maybe less. I?ll seal it up along the way.?
Stefon walked out of the workshop and into a large cavern ? the reason they had chosen the isolated inlet for their hidden stronghold. High above hung their commandeered goblin zeppelin and its dwarven pilot. ?We leave in an hour, Tag!? shouted the paladin, his command acknowledged with a wave from the dwarf. The burning monsters that stalked Guzul?s tribe, the Scourge that had ravaged Stefon?s beloved kingdom, the magic that had corrupted Lenaeas? people, the twisted naga that had pulled Tagradin?s father?s ship beneath the seas ? when their threads were traced back through time they went to a single source. Queen Azshara, powermad ruler of Suramar. When Stefon had heard of the naga and the possibility that Azshara might be alive deep under the waves, that she might still be pulling the threads of events, he knew what had to be done. Lenaeas and Guzul?dar pushed the device into the cavern on a wheeled cart, guiding it toward the winch that would lift it into the zeppelin. Seven years they had worked together to gather the necessary parts and materials, to see if the elven tinker could really produce the mad creation he had envisioned in his mind?s eye. Now the time had come. ?Tomorrow we drop this weapon into the Maelstrom,? said Stefon.
?Tomorrow we destroy that gaping scar left upon our world by the mage-queen and raise her undersea kingdom to the surface. If she still lives, tomorrow she will pay for her crimes.?
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Queen Azshara
Dragon Isle
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RPG Adventure Source:
Warcraft RPG: Shadow & Light page 12-13
CCCX
Text is the property of White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Shadows & Light Copyright ?2004 Blizzard Entertainment Published on: 2005-08-17 (42420 Views) Back |
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