10-07-2015, 12:51 AM
"Ya sure an orc tribe is near here?"
"Frankly... no, Zul'kis." Raal answered, straining his glowing red eyes as he pushed yet another branch out of the way of his face. Had he been just a little less attentive, he wouldn't have even been able to see it in front of his face, with the amount of darkness that covered this area of what he'd learned the locals had referred to as "the Tangled Green". Whether or not it was an apt name was difficult to tell in this particular area, as the overhead cover blocked almost all light. Raal was confident he would have been able to manage with merely a map and Zul'kis's assistance, but he was still thankful that his dataverse device had some sort of positioning system the Undead warlock could use to make proper heads-or-tails of the situation. The thin streams of light that issued down from tiny holes in the canopy of the area
"There is every possibility the orcs reported to be living here have moved on, or been driven out by a patrol by the night elves or shinobi that live here. Ambrosia might even have stepped up its game. Absurd as the idea may be." Raal stated, bitterness shifting into his voice as he mentioned Ambrosia. For some reason, the very idea of the small village angered him. Perhaps it was the fact that somehow a little girl had already gotten ahead of him in terms of control of the realm... Practically by accident and without really trying.
"This would be the closest encampment to the nexus gate that still exists, however. Meaning it's either resilient, or passive. I doubt the latter." Raal continued, quickly bringing out his dataverse device to check the notes he had on the location of the Warsong encampment. The Warsongs had some distrust of Death knights such as himself in the past, he recalled, but compared to this unknowable omniverse, it was likely that he'd be regarded as a reputable ally.
Raal wasn’t going to settle for merely being regarded as an ally, of course. He planned, eventually, to accept no less than “Warchief Deathwind.”. He was no fool, of course. Raal was not planning to obscure his intention or the rank he was planning on taking, and the orcs of the warsong would not accept a warchief that could not prove themselves. Their distrust of magic would make it all the harder. None of this deterred him in the slightest, however.
He had power, he had intelligence, and he had the drive. And more importantly… He was tired. Tired of waiting. Tired of serving yet another lord. Gul’dan, Blackhand, Ner’zhul… Even Doomhammer, despite the respect he yet possessed for the true warchief of the horde, had never given Raal anything but death and defeat in return for his service.
Raal was a creature that valued power, craved it, whether it be the power of magic that made him akin to a god, or the power over other beings that could allow him to command an army. Now, it seemed like he could fully, truly feed that itch, gaining in leaps and bounds instead of the meager scraps of the table he relied on before.
Raal Deathwind, Ruler of the Omniverse… It had a nice ring to it.
“you might need to give me a moment to cut through this next patch, death knight.” Zul’kis stated bluntly, pulling him out of his internal monologue as his tomahawk sliced through a tree half as thick as Zul’kis himself. Raal never ceased being impressed by the trolls - though they appeared thin, they were wiry.
“Maybe you could use your magic to clear out the brush?”
“Most of it’s based around causing the death of living beings, not mere destructive force. still, I can-”
A loud crash knocked Raal off his feet, and Zul’kis nearly managed the same. The earth began to shake beneath them, a loud crash or bang accompanying each movement. It was all Raal could do to drag himself up with the help of a nearby tree.
Something was fighting nearby, Raal realized, as the sound of a snapping tree accompanied the next strike. Common sense dictated he should move away from such a titanic display of power.
Raal’s curiosity demanded that he check this disturbance, however. Something in the back of his head nagged at him that this was not an unfamiliar feeling…
Raal headed towards the direction of the noise, dimly hearing Zul’kis yell something insulting from behind him. He needed to know just what was going on.
Somehow, he managed to keep his body on the ground through the next shockwaves, pushing his way through the wall of vines and branches in his way to find himself in one of the clearest areas of the jungle. Here, a soft light fell from the treeline, and revealed a carpet of moss and lichens, the shadows of the trees creating a mottled pattern of sparkling light.
more importantly, it revealed the two combatants locked in combat in front of Raal.
The first surprised Raal only slightly - The tangled green was known for it’s voracious wildlife, and he’d already learned of the presence of dinosaurs in the area. Still, it was one thing to read about the beasts and another to see it. What stood in front of Raal was a draconic beast ten times his size, Two massive legs, ending in clawed feet larger than Raal’s body held up a massive, predatory frame.
A crocodilian snout, complete with reptilian eyes, were placed in front of a massive, sail-backed torso. “This species… Spinosaurus, the humans name it.”
The other combatant was what surprised Raal, however. Unlike The Spinosaurus, which he was now seeing for the first time, the second combatant was entirely familiar to Raal. This creature was far more humanoid, a pale yellow being with misshapen but bulky arms and legs, and more than a little paunch. the most distinguishing quality, however, was it’s two misshapen heads, each holding a single eye. Both of which were glaring at their saurian opponent.
Meeting the trolls was improbable enough by itself, but Raal certainly wasn’t expecting to meet an ogre in this world.
“I’m gonna smash em!” One head yelled.
“No, I’m gonna smash em!” the other replied.
The spinosaurus merely roared in response, the force of it’s bellow pushing the grass and the branches around it downward with sheer force.
The two ogre heads looked at eachother, before looking back at the spinosaurus.
“We’re gonna smash em!”
The Spinosaurus charged at the ogre, It’s footsteps creating a medley of shockwaves as it ran. The ogre responded in kind, charging forward with a less predatory but almost equally loud bellow, hands in front of him.
As soon as the distance between the two was closed, the Spinosaurus lunged with frightening speed, it’s teeth making a beeline for the ogre’s head. Even something as stupid as an ogre could have predicted the move, however, and he brought his hands up at the last second. Somehow, with every muscle straining, the two-headed brute managed to hold thebeast’s mouth open with his bare hands, holding back the spinosaurus’s crushing bite with brute strength., The Spinosaurus re-angled it’s jaw, trying it’s hardest to snap down on it’s prey, and the ogre struggled to keep its grip, grunting as the Spinosaurus tried it’s hardest to bite down. The ogre was forced back, first one step, then two, as the dinosaur walked forward, pushing it’s advantage.
Raal considered this. The ogre clearly had a chance here, but Raal didn’t know it’s allegiance. He could help the creature, but if despite his best efforts he failed to overcome the large dinosaur, Raal would likely end up lunch for the creature. Still, despite the idea being uselessly reckless, his hand clenched tightly around his truncheon and his mind was already abuzz with ideas on how to defeat the large dinosaur.
Finally, the ogre was forced over a branch, tripping and falling with a crash. His reptilian attacker immediately capitalized, lunging forward, and a clawed foot came down to hold the ogre in place. The giant did it’s best to pull the creature’s foot off of his marked-up stomach, but the Spinosaurus’s grip was firm, and while the Foot slipped slightly from side to side, it still retained its grip. The spinosaurus leaned down, a certain kill in sight as it opened it’s jaws, intent on ripping out the ogre’s stomach with gusto…
Or perhaps not so certain, as a fist the size of a man’s torso sailed up, smacking the monstrous crocodilian straight in the nose. A shower of Bones Raal realized were a good portion of the sauropods teeth flew out in all directions, and the Spinosaurus shrieked in pain.
Even so, Raal knew the ogre got lucky, and as the spinosaurus leaned down again it placed both arms on the arms of its struggling prey, preventing the ogre from getting off another lucky punch. At this rate-
Raal realized that his truncheon was already up and pointed, and he found himself focusing his eldritch energies into a familiar org of green energy. Wordlessly, without hesitation, he fired, the deathly energies striking the Spinosaur and encircling it, wrapping around it, as the creature fell, losing it’s grip and sense as a result of the sudden blindside.
Raal dimly realized he felt far less tired from firing the death coil than he had in the past here, but spent no time dwelling on it as he continued his efforts, firing a bolt of shadow at the Spinosaurus in front of him.
The creature was stunned, and barely managed to lift itself up, but it still clung to life, and it Screamed a challenge directly at Raal, it’s eyes narrowed and it’s legs charging.
Unfortunately, the dinosaur forgot about it’s second opponent, as two meaty hands managed to grip the creature’s leg tightly. This time, the ogre wasn’t pinned to the ground, and the Spinosaurus no longer had the vitality to shrug off the creatures grip. So the ogres simply did what was natural to the species, and punished it’s attacker with a two-headed bite, it’s teeth sinking into the tender flesh of the spinosaurus’s tendons and ripping them out with ease.
Raal realized that this was the perfect chance to finish off the spinosaurus, and a spell perfect for this particular situation came to mind. Flame danced along his gloved hands, enveloping his arm, before he thrust his hand forward, stabbing with an invisible blade. The flame left his hands and formed itself into a large ball of flame. the Spinosaurus tried to move away, it’s primitive mind still able to sense the danger inherent in the raw element of fire, but the grip the ogre had on it’s leg was strong, and it couldn’t pull away.
The fireball struck true, hitting the spinosaurus in the eyes, and a shrill scream of pain immediately followed. Fire covered the top of the spinosaurus’s face, and unnatural screams of pain accompanied it. The spinosaurus kicked out with it’s good foot, and finally managed to detach the ogre from it’s leg, the creature knocked flat on it’s ass. It was in far too much pain to think about anything but trying to find some means of escape, however, and it ran, not at Raal, or the Ogre, but simply at the nearest tree it could find. The sauropod screamed, the flames continuing to burn through it’s face as it slammed its head into the tree as hard as it could, over and over, and Raal couldn’t tell if it was a misguided attempt to put out the flames, or simply the spinosaurus deciding that death was preferable to the immense pain it now felt. Probably both.
The dinosaur finally fell over, after what Raal counted was the eightth run at the tree, and after a few seconds more of twitching, it finally stopped moving. Silence fell over the clearing for a few seconds, with only the soft sound of the flames burning the spinosaurus’s remains audible.
Raal looked at the ogre, now, and he realized the ogre was looking at him too. Depending on if he was pulled from the same area of time, the ogre may look at Raal as a friend, but between time in the omniverse and the fickle natures of ogrekind, there was no guarantee he wasn’t being looked at as an enemy by the Oafish-
Wait a minute.
“Hey…” one of the ogre’s heads slowly drawled.
He recognized those voices.
“Isn’t that…” the other head replied, as the ogre’s legs started moving as fast as his pudgy body would allow in a beeline for Raal.
He’d made a terrible mistake.
“It is! It’s the Duff knight!” Both voices replied with a sound of childlike joy, and Raal raised his truncheon as they neared, aware it would do no good.
“No no no no no no-Urgh!”
the ogre pulled him off the ground like a child would a small rabbit, and Raal’s body was pressed into an awkward, crushing, and uncomfortable hug.
“Ur’gash, you overweight imbecile!”
"Frankly... no, Zul'kis." Raal answered, straining his glowing red eyes as he pushed yet another branch out of the way of his face. Had he been just a little less attentive, he wouldn't have even been able to see it in front of his face, with the amount of darkness that covered this area of what he'd learned the locals had referred to as "the Tangled Green". Whether or not it was an apt name was difficult to tell in this particular area, as the overhead cover blocked almost all light. Raal was confident he would have been able to manage with merely a map and Zul'kis's assistance, but he was still thankful that his dataverse device had some sort of positioning system the Undead warlock could use to make proper heads-or-tails of the situation. The thin streams of light that issued down from tiny holes in the canopy of the area
"There is every possibility the orcs reported to be living here have moved on, or been driven out by a patrol by the night elves or shinobi that live here. Ambrosia might even have stepped up its game. Absurd as the idea may be." Raal stated, bitterness shifting into his voice as he mentioned Ambrosia. For some reason, the very idea of the small village angered him. Perhaps it was the fact that somehow a little girl had already gotten ahead of him in terms of control of the realm... Practically by accident and without really trying.
"This would be the closest encampment to the nexus gate that still exists, however. Meaning it's either resilient, or passive. I doubt the latter." Raal continued, quickly bringing out his dataverse device to check the notes he had on the location of the Warsong encampment. The Warsongs had some distrust of Death knights such as himself in the past, he recalled, but compared to this unknowable omniverse, it was likely that he'd be regarded as a reputable ally.
Raal wasn’t going to settle for merely being regarded as an ally, of course. He planned, eventually, to accept no less than “Warchief Deathwind.”. He was no fool, of course. Raal was not planning to obscure his intention or the rank he was planning on taking, and the orcs of the warsong would not accept a warchief that could not prove themselves. Their distrust of magic would make it all the harder. None of this deterred him in the slightest, however.
He had power, he had intelligence, and he had the drive. And more importantly… He was tired. Tired of waiting. Tired of serving yet another lord. Gul’dan, Blackhand, Ner’zhul… Even Doomhammer, despite the respect he yet possessed for the true warchief of the horde, had never given Raal anything but death and defeat in return for his service.
Raal was a creature that valued power, craved it, whether it be the power of magic that made him akin to a god, or the power over other beings that could allow him to command an army. Now, it seemed like he could fully, truly feed that itch, gaining in leaps and bounds instead of the meager scraps of the table he relied on before.
Raal Deathwind, Ruler of the Omniverse… It had a nice ring to it.
“you might need to give me a moment to cut through this next patch, death knight.” Zul’kis stated bluntly, pulling him out of his internal monologue as his tomahawk sliced through a tree half as thick as Zul’kis himself. Raal never ceased being impressed by the trolls - though they appeared thin, they were wiry.
“Maybe you could use your magic to clear out the brush?”
“Most of it’s based around causing the death of living beings, not mere destructive force. still, I can-”
A loud crash knocked Raal off his feet, and Zul’kis nearly managed the same. The earth began to shake beneath them, a loud crash or bang accompanying each movement. It was all Raal could do to drag himself up with the help of a nearby tree.
Something was fighting nearby, Raal realized, as the sound of a snapping tree accompanied the next strike. Common sense dictated he should move away from such a titanic display of power.
Raal’s curiosity demanded that he check this disturbance, however. Something in the back of his head nagged at him that this was not an unfamiliar feeling…
Raal headed towards the direction of the noise, dimly hearing Zul’kis yell something insulting from behind him. He needed to know just what was going on.
Somehow, he managed to keep his body on the ground through the next shockwaves, pushing his way through the wall of vines and branches in his way to find himself in one of the clearest areas of the jungle. Here, a soft light fell from the treeline, and revealed a carpet of moss and lichens, the shadows of the trees creating a mottled pattern of sparkling light.
more importantly, it revealed the two combatants locked in combat in front of Raal.
The first surprised Raal only slightly - The tangled green was known for it’s voracious wildlife, and he’d already learned of the presence of dinosaurs in the area. Still, it was one thing to read about the beasts and another to see it. What stood in front of Raal was a draconic beast ten times his size, Two massive legs, ending in clawed feet larger than Raal’s body held up a massive, predatory frame.
A crocodilian snout, complete with reptilian eyes, were placed in front of a massive, sail-backed torso. “This species… Spinosaurus, the humans name it.”
The other combatant was what surprised Raal, however. Unlike The Spinosaurus, which he was now seeing for the first time, the second combatant was entirely familiar to Raal. This creature was far more humanoid, a pale yellow being with misshapen but bulky arms and legs, and more than a little paunch. the most distinguishing quality, however, was it’s two misshapen heads, each holding a single eye. Both of which were glaring at their saurian opponent.
Meeting the trolls was improbable enough by itself, but Raal certainly wasn’t expecting to meet an ogre in this world.
“I’m gonna smash em!” One head yelled.
“No, I’m gonna smash em!” the other replied.
The spinosaurus merely roared in response, the force of it’s bellow pushing the grass and the branches around it downward with sheer force.
The two ogre heads looked at eachother, before looking back at the spinosaurus.
“We’re gonna smash em!”
The Spinosaurus charged at the ogre, It’s footsteps creating a medley of shockwaves as it ran. The ogre responded in kind, charging forward with a less predatory but almost equally loud bellow, hands in front of him.
As soon as the distance between the two was closed, the Spinosaurus lunged with frightening speed, it’s teeth making a beeline for the ogre’s head. Even something as stupid as an ogre could have predicted the move, however, and he brought his hands up at the last second. Somehow, with every muscle straining, the two-headed brute managed to hold thebeast’s mouth open with his bare hands, holding back the spinosaurus’s crushing bite with brute strength., The Spinosaurus re-angled it’s jaw, trying it’s hardest to snap down on it’s prey, and the ogre struggled to keep its grip, grunting as the Spinosaurus tried it’s hardest to bite down. The ogre was forced back, first one step, then two, as the dinosaur walked forward, pushing it’s advantage.
Raal considered this. The ogre clearly had a chance here, but Raal didn’t know it’s allegiance. He could help the creature, but if despite his best efforts he failed to overcome the large dinosaur, Raal would likely end up lunch for the creature. Still, despite the idea being uselessly reckless, his hand clenched tightly around his truncheon and his mind was already abuzz with ideas on how to defeat the large dinosaur.
Finally, the ogre was forced over a branch, tripping and falling with a crash. His reptilian attacker immediately capitalized, lunging forward, and a clawed foot came down to hold the ogre in place. The giant did it’s best to pull the creature’s foot off of his marked-up stomach, but the Spinosaurus’s grip was firm, and while the Foot slipped slightly from side to side, it still retained its grip. The spinosaurus leaned down, a certain kill in sight as it opened it’s jaws, intent on ripping out the ogre’s stomach with gusto…
Or perhaps not so certain, as a fist the size of a man’s torso sailed up, smacking the monstrous crocodilian straight in the nose. A shower of Bones Raal realized were a good portion of the sauropods teeth flew out in all directions, and the Spinosaurus shrieked in pain.
Even so, Raal knew the ogre got lucky, and as the spinosaurus leaned down again it placed both arms on the arms of its struggling prey, preventing the ogre from getting off another lucky punch. At this rate-
Raal realized that his truncheon was already up and pointed, and he found himself focusing his eldritch energies into a familiar org of green energy. Wordlessly, without hesitation, he fired, the deathly energies striking the Spinosaur and encircling it, wrapping around it, as the creature fell, losing it’s grip and sense as a result of the sudden blindside.
Raal dimly realized he felt far less tired from firing the death coil than he had in the past here, but spent no time dwelling on it as he continued his efforts, firing a bolt of shadow at the Spinosaurus in front of him.
The creature was stunned, and barely managed to lift itself up, but it still clung to life, and it Screamed a challenge directly at Raal, it’s eyes narrowed and it’s legs charging.
Unfortunately, the dinosaur forgot about it’s second opponent, as two meaty hands managed to grip the creature’s leg tightly. This time, the ogre wasn’t pinned to the ground, and the Spinosaurus no longer had the vitality to shrug off the creatures grip. So the ogres simply did what was natural to the species, and punished it’s attacker with a two-headed bite, it’s teeth sinking into the tender flesh of the spinosaurus’s tendons and ripping them out with ease.
Raal realized that this was the perfect chance to finish off the spinosaurus, and a spell perfect for this particular situation came to mind. Flame danced along his gloved hands, enveloping his arm, before he thrust his hand forward, stabbing with an invisible blade. The flame left his hands and formed itself into a large ball of flame. the Spinosaurus tried to move away, it’s primitive mind still able to sense the danger inherent in the raw element of fire, but the grip the ogre had on it’s leg was strong, and it couldn’t pull away.
The fireball struck true, hitting the spinosaurus in the eyes, and a shrill scream of pain immediately followed. Fire covered the top of the spinosaurus’s face, and unnatural screams of pain accompanied it. The spinosaurus kicked out with it’s good foot, and finally managed to detach the ogre from it’s leg, the creature knocked flat on it’s ass. It was in far too much pain to think about anything but trying to find some means of escape, however, and it ran, not at Raal, or the Ogre, but simply at the nearest tree it could find. The sauropod screamed, the flames continuing to burn through it’s face as it slammed its head into the tree as hard as it could, over and over, and Raal couldn’t tell if it was a misguided attempt to put out the flames, or simply the spinosaurus deciding that death was preferable to the immense pain it now felt. Probably both.
The dinosaur finally fell over, after what Raal counted was the eightth run at the tree, and after a few seconds more of twitching, it finally stopped moving. Silence fell over the clearing for a few seconds, with only the soft sound of the flames burning the spinosaurus’s remains audible.
Raal looked at the ogre, now, and he realized the ogre was looking at him too. Depending on if he was pulled from the same area of time, the ogre may look at Raal as a friend, but between time in the omniverse and the fickle natures of ogrekind, there was no guarantee he wasn’t being looked at as an enemy by the Oafish-
Wait a minute.
“Hey…” one of the ogre’s heads slowly drawled.
He recognized those voices.
“Isn’t that…” the other head replied, as the ogre’s legs started moving as fast as his pudgy body would allow in a beeline for Raal.
He’d made a terrible mistake.
“It is! It’s the Duff knight!” Both voices replied with a sound of childlike joy, and Raal raised his truncheon as they neared, aware it would do no good.
“No no no no no no-Urgh!”
the ogre pulled him off the ground like a child would a small rabbit, and Raal’s body was pressed into an awkward, crushing, and uncomfortable hug.
“Ur’gash, you overweight imbecile!”