The Demigod in Azeroth

Renders Camp (ZOE)

I reached the lakeshore bridge after grabbing my bow and quiver from the inn. Desmond, Elrias, a gnome named Ein Badshroud, and the guild master Laurelie were waiting for me. I chastised  myself for being late; nearly two millennia of being a lieutenant of Artemis' Hunt and I'm late for a mission. M'lady would be beside herself if she could see me. I straightened my armor and Laurelie walked up to me, put a hand on my shoulder, and asked, "Hey is everything alright? We were worried that you were nervous about everything." I went to speak up, but Desmond interjected before I could get a word out, "Oh I'm sure our little Nightshade is fine and it's a certain raven-haired rogue who has her bow string in a knot. I can't blame her; he is quite handsome after all, don't you think?"  I shot him a glare and he just sent me a sly smile back. Then, Laurelie said, "Stop teasing Zoe, Desmond. We have to focus. We can worry about romance after we save Redridge." Desmond grunted.

"Is everyone done now? Elrias and myself would like to get there by dusk, ya know? Makes skulking around a lot easier..." the gnome, Badshroud, said with exasperation laden in his voice. "I have short legs. Hikes aren't really my thing, ya know?" Elrias, taking this literally, grabbed the gnome by the nape of his armor and put him on his shoulders. "Is this more suitable for you, my miniscule friend?"  the gnome grunted in protest. "I am insulted, but I will also accept your offer."

After what seemed like an hour of tomfoolery, we made our way to Renders Valley. Everyone was rather social, though I was more focused on the area around us. I hadn't really thought about it until now; I spent two millennia on Earth and I had pretty much seen everything that was  there in that time. Being in a whole new world was exciting with new places and new cultures to experience. Looking around, the valley was cozy; comforting even. The Alliance Kingdoms were all mostly similar to the forests and plains of Earth- of home. Elwynn Forest's dense tree population, coupled with its overpopulated wildlife made for prime hunting grounds, which were great for making coin or relieving stress. Westfall was a wide open plains, fertile land ready to be farmed. Redridge, on the other hand, was more barren with not as many trees- at least on this side of the Valley- and the area almost felt warmer. It was as if the sun shone brighter here than in Elwynn or Westfall.

Nonetheless, the night elven culture really interested me because they were a matriarchal society. The night elves went by the name Kaldorei, meaning "children of the stars" in their tongue. The priestess of the moon goddess, Elune, ran most of everything; it was more common for the men to practice Druidism, becoming one with nature. The male night elves were very pleasant to be around, unlike mortal men, but there were some outliers like Desmond. He was another story for an obvious reason. Dominic was rather doting toward me, but was a little more gritty with Perseus and the others. However, when it came to me, he would be rather gentle.

I walked behind the group, watching them joke around with one another over past adventures.  It reminded me of my time with the hunt. Laurelie looked back and noticed me by myself, then gestured for the others to go on ahead. "Something on your mind?" she inquired. I let out a deep breath, "Nothing, just thinking about my home. Your guild reminds me a lot of some of my old friends." There was a brief silence and Laurelie was the first to break it, "I overheard Percy say something along the lines that you guys are not from here and you are not able to go back to your homeland. I am really sorry to hear that. If it makes you feel any better, I'm not from this part of the Eastern Kingdoms. I was originally from Andorhal. When the plague had broken out in the north, it was the first settlement to fall. I grew up there and even became a guard for the town, but the plague ravaged the land. I was one of the few survivors. It was a beautiful place once, but it's known as the plaguelands now. It's overrun by the undead and the land can barely grow any form of crops. Anyways, I hope you can eventually feel welcome here with us. I know such a major change can be a lot for someone, but this guild will always have your back!" The corners of my mouth broke into a smile. A massive weight rolled off my shoulders. At that moment the others walked ahead of us while Laurelie and I talked about menial things. It was nice. 

As we neared the pass where the camp was located, we set up behind a large rock next to the cliffside. As I pulled out the map Bailiff Conacher gave me, Laurelie peered down the pass through a spyglass. "Yep, this is definitely the right place," she said, "I count at least 5 scouts at the camp's entrance, all wielding swords or maces with shields." I glanced back down at the map. From what was drawn, this encampment seemed to be a sizable opening, surrounded by mountains, with only one way in, and a cave entrance on the other side. "Do we know how many orcs are in there?" Badshroud asked. "No idea. All Solomon's scouts reported was 'a lot', which isn't very inspiring," Laurelie responded. "Only one way to find out, I suppose," stated Elrias.

As I turned to look at him, I saw the druid getting lower to the ground, until he resembled the form of a purple and white tiger. Before anyone could object to him, he began running forward, and within seconds, disappeared from sight. "Man, how come he gets to go and do the sneaky stuff, and I'm stuck here doing nothing?" complained Badshroud. Laurelie chuckled, "Next time you just have to be faster than him I guess. Let's just hope his prowling has gotten better, and he isn't spotted." Badshroud scrunched his face in disappointment, like a child who didn't get to their toy fast enough.

"You know, you could always run back to town and get us some more water, if you're just dying to be useful," Desmond joked from the back. He seemed to be rummaging through his supply bag, though what he was looking for was beyond me. "And, if you wanted to be useful, you'd learn to use a real weapon, instead of relying only on magic all the time," Badshroud retorted. Desmond peered up from his bag, looking hurt, before laughing at the insult, then seemingly shrugging it off and returning to looking through his bag with a grin on his face.

As we sat there around the map, discussing attack strategies and potential options we had, we heard a disembodied voice say, "There's about ten in the camp." I jumped to my feet, hand ready on my bow, before the voice spoke again. "Oh, shit, sorry, my bad." Before all of us, Elrias materialized from thin air in his cat form. In mere moments, he shapeshifted back into his night elven form, before resuming, "There's about ten out in the camp." "Only ten? This might just be a walk in the park then!" Desmond exclaimed. "Not so fast," Elrias said with a serious, almost nervous look in his eyes. "That cave is where they're holding our guy, Keeshan, and it's big and swarming with orcs. I counted at least twenty in there, and he's all the way in the back."

Laurelie looked down at the map with a concerned look on her face, biting her lip for a minute before speaking up, "Did they notice you at all? Did they have any suspicion that you were even there, spying on them?" she asked Elrias, her eyes locked dead onto his. "No, they didn't seem to notice I was even in the cave. Not even the warlocks noticed I was in there," he responded, keeping his gaze locked with Laurelie. "Why, what are you thinking?"

Laurelie pulled out her spyglass once more and peered at the rocky slopes that surrounded the Orcish encampment. "Hey, Zoe, do you think you can climb that little mountain right there, over to the right of the camp?" she pointed to a little cliff face to the right of the mountain, maybe 15 meters high. "Probably," I said, looking into my bag for a dwarven climbing axe. Laurelie moved back over to the map, motioning the rest of us to huddle in together. "Alright then, I think we have a plan of attack."