Unbonded: Netherwing
Jul. 6th, 2011 12:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
moonshadows“You think the mine has been compromised?”
“If it hasn’t been, it will be. Both the Murkbloods and the Netherwing are clever enough to take advantage of an opportunity like this, and the Murkblood dislike you enough to sacrifice some of their own if it would hurt you as well.”
He turned away, hands on the stone sill, not-eyes fixed on the floating chunk of land called Netherwing Ledge. The Dragonmaw hadn’t told him the dragons were sentient until they’d already enslaved the matriarch and her brood. He’d turned a blind eye to the dragons engineering her release and the death of Zuluhed, redirecting the angered orcs against the demons of Legion Hold before they could vent their anger on the Netherwing, but it was too little, too late. He could not shake the image of cruel overlord and still keep the loyalty of the Dragonmaw orcs – and, by extension, the other orcs who had flocked to his banner.
She came up beside him, hand on the small of his back, and leaned into his embrace as he put his arm around her. “Send me to investigate,” she said. “I’ll ferret out any spies and make sure the Dragonmaw are still in line.”
“I’m trying to avoid the evil overlord image,” he retorted, amused despite himself.
She ginned. “That’s why I’ll be disguised.”
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The Dragonmaw grunt fidgeted with the reins of his drake as the taskmaster read over his papers.
“Kicked out of the Black Temple wings for thinking you know better than your supervisors and mouthing off…”
The grunt held his silence.
“…being too clever for your own good, and there’s the matter of some supplies that went missing.”
“No one can prove anything,” the grunt said sullenly.
The taskmaster laughed. “We do things a bit differently around here, grunt. If you’re as clever as you think you are, you’ll go far. For now, you might want to report to the mistress of the mines, that huge shivan over there. With the mining operation disrupted, we’re scrambling to meet our quota of crystals so Lord Illidan doesn’t send in his demons to take over. You’ve got a choice between banging at the big clusters out here like the rest of the peons, or risking life and limb to reclaim the stuff already mined from the creatures in the tunnels, and you strike me as being too smart to hit a big rock all day. Any questions?”
The grunt jerked one meaty thumb at the goblins a few feet away. “What’s with the green runts?”
“Oh, them? Same as goblins anywhere. A little something extra for sale, a market for anything…extra…you may find, maybe a side job or two for some quick gold. Do what you want, but don’t let it interfere with your duties – you’ll need to hand in thirty pounds of crystal a week, and we don’t care how you get it.”
“I see,” the grunt said thoughtfully, piggy red eyes weighing the goblins surrounded by invisible, scintillating outlines.
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“Hey, hey you, the new guy.” The goblin gestured for the curious grunt over. “I hear you go into the mines.”
“Plenty of abandoned crystals,” the orc said shortly.
“The monsters in there don’t bother you?”
“They die easily enough, and my drake likes the fresh meat.”
“Hey, maybe you could do a favor for me? Since you’re going in there anyway and all. The tunnels used to be lairs for the Netherdrakes, and I’ve got…certain parties…interested in acquiring a netherdrake egg. If you happen to find one, I’ll make it worth your while.”
The orc looked at the goblin thoughtfully. “You don’t want to make the trade here in camp, do you? Because whatever you’re offering, I don’t know that I’d want to share. How’s about a drop-off instead?”
“Ooh, a clever one!” the goblin screeched. “Yeah, yeah, we can do a drop.”
“Good. I’ll leave it in a pile of flayer carcasses out by the big crystal in the Netherwing Fields. Gotta do something with them, they’re piling up in there.”
“You…you found one?”
The orc grinned. “Three. But first – what do I get out of this deal?”
The goblin eyed him warily. “What do you want?”
“Power,” he answered promptly. “Pure mana, the elemental stuff. One fist-sized clump per egg.”
“We can do that, no problem, but what’re you going to do with it? That stuff’s no good to a regular grunt like you.”
“Not your business. We got a deal, or no?”
For a long moment, the goblin scrutinized him, beady eyes piercing the gloom. “We got a deal.”
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The taskmaster looked the grunt up and down as though unsure if he was feeling pride or pity. “Well, looks like you impressed Overlord Mor’ghor with the way you cleaned up the front of the mine. You’re off crystal duty – Overseer.” He laughed. “That’s right, you just got a promotion. You’re not going to be hauling crystals like a peon anymore, no…now your job is to keep a score of dumb peons alive as they mine the crystals in there. Get rid of those damned flayers and get the mines up and running again. If any of the peons give you lip, just smack ‘em until they fall in line. Any questions?”
“Yeah. What should I do with the Murkbloods still cowering in the deeper tunnels?”
The taskmaster chuckled nastily. “Whatever you want, if they won’t get back to work.”
“And the bodies? Both them and the flayers?”
“Hell, I don’t care as long as they’re not rotting where I have to smell them.”
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“Heeeeey, friend, a word with you?”
The orc looked up from the pile of Murkblood bodies he was arranging carefully around the base of the large crystal. Yarzil the goblin looked nervous. “Yeah?”
“The Murkbloods…they’re not dead.”
Tusks gleamed as the orc grinned. “So?”
“So I thought you were killing the ones who wouldn’t work the mines, but you bring them here and they wake up two days later, alive and well and ready to swear loyalty to you.”
The orc grunted and lifted another body down from the back of his drake. “So?”
“So…my backers, they’re taking notice. They’re very impressed with the number of eggs you’ve acquired for them, as well. Listen, if there’s anything else you want…” he trailed off.
“I’ll think about it.”
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“Whoah whoah whoah what’s all this?” The goblin’s eyes bulged at the immense pile of flayer corpses and Murkblood bodies. “How many eggs are you hiding in there?”
“All of them,” the orc grunted. “Mine’s clean. Got a promotion to Captain for that, going to be tackling the wild flayers on the ledge. This is the last of everything, unless the dragons laid their eggs in the ridges, too.”
“How many eggs?” the goblin choked.
“Twenty-three. Thirty or so Murkbloods. Fifty or sixty flayers.”
“We can’t pay you for that many eggs,” the goblin protested.
“So?”
The aura around the now-angry goblin shimmered invisibly. “Why are you doing this? Are you trying to get Illidan’s forces to look at us? He’s got going to be happy if he catches wind of what you’ve done, and that puts me and my backers in danger. We know you were ordered to hand any eggs you found in the mine to Overlord Mor’ghor.”
The orc bared his teeth in a piggy grin. “So Mor’ghor could turn around and hand them to the bitch from the Black Dragonflight like a spineless worm? I don’t think so. He turns me in for this, I’ll turn him in for that.”
The goblin stared thoughtfully. “Who do you work for?”
“You first,” the orc said, smirking. “No? Didn’t think so. Don’t worry about me getting caught. Somehow I think Lord Illidan would rather you have the eggs than the Black Dragonflight get their claws on them – and I don’t think he’ll be too happy with them if he finds out they’re throwing their weight around in his territory, or with Mor’ghor for rolling over and sucking up to them.”
Yarzil was silent for a long minute. “Whoever you are,” he said at last, “you’re a friend and we’re not going to forget this.”
“Good,” the orc grunted. “Just remember that when you’re ready to tell me who you are.”
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“The master was very pleased with the way you took out the Twilight Portal over in Nagrand,” Mor’ghor said. “He’s declared you the Dragonmaw’s first Highlord, and he’s going to make an appearance here to promote you personally. This is a great honor! Come, Highlord. Lord Illidan himself awaits us!”
The orc just grunted and followed the Overlord out to the center of the camp.
“Warriors of the Dragonmaw, gather ‘round!” Mor’ghor bellowed. “One among you has attained the rank of Highlord! Bow your heads in reverence! Show your respect and allegiance to Lord Illidan and your new Highlord!”
On cue, Illidan’s illusionary form manifested in a crash of thunder, twice as big as life. “What is the meaning of this, Mor’ghor?” he demanded, voice cracking like a whip.
“But…my lord, I do not understand. This is the one that you ordered promoted! He has…”
“SILENCE!”
The collected Dragonmaw trembled.
“Blathering idiot. You incomprehensibly incompetent buffoon…you have been deceived, imbecile. This whole operation has been compromised, and you too inept, to oblivious to see it!” A gesture, and the fel orc disguise shredded, leaving the Dragonmaw Highlord revealed as a somewhat more slender, female, figure. “This is your hero. This is your Highlord!” He turned to the stunned Dragonmaw guards to either side of the Overlord. “I expect to see this insect in my lair within the hour, alive, to suffer my displeasure,” he hissed.
“You shall not have the girl, Illidan!”
All heads turned as Yarzil the goblin charged the startled orcs, form rippling into a shimmering, translucent dragon. He snatched up the exposed Highlord and launched himself into the sky, out of sight before the first Dragonmaw could even scramble onto their drakes’ backs.
Once out of sight of Netherwing Ledge, he transferred the amused girl to his back. “That was close. I’ll take you to Shattrath,” he said. “You’ll be safe there, Illidan would never dare assault the city just to get at you.”
“Yarzil, do you know who I am?”
“You’re a friend of the Netherwing.”
“I’m Lady Jentessa Stormrage. Illidan’s wife.”
The dragon missed a beat and clawed at the air for a minute. “You’re…you mean…”
“I reported back to him every night. He knew everything I was doing.”
“And I just kidnapped you. Shattrath probably isn’t the safest place for you to be, either for you or the city.”
“No, take me to the city. He won’t attack Shattrath. You can repay me for everything by vouching for me to A’dal and whoever else is in a position of authority there.”
“You want to go to Shattrath?”
“Illidan doesn’t want to waste resources and lives fighting the Sha’tar when both sides would be better served fighting the Burning Legion together. You can vouch that he’s willing to cooperate, given how your peoples’ situation was handled by his second-in-command, and maybe we can save some more lives together.”
The dragon laughed. “You have a point. The Murkblood are ready to swear fealty to you, one and all, no matter who you are. Knowing that Illidan approved your actions will go a long way with them.” They flew on in silence for several minutes. “Hey, when he wanted to see ‘this insect’ in his lair…?”
Tessa laughed. “He was talking about Mor’ghor. Once I get back, we’ll finish getting me officially recognized as Highlord of the Dragonmaw.”
“Don’t you have to…you know…be an orc for that?”
“I’m a half-orc. My mother is Ryxl daughter of Kalika, which makes me one-quarter Dragonmaw. Quite a few of the Dragonmaw in the Black Temple remembered Kalika well enough to recognize me as a member of the clan. Apparently, my grandmother had a reputation for not being an orc you wanted to mess with.”
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Date: 2014-09-17 01:10 pm (UTC)Any chance of there being more? I'm extremely curious about all the other major events that would be altered in this AU. Like, how is the assault on icecrown with Kael and Vashj different? (I'm horribly pushy, I know, but you wow fic is like a drug I can't shake lol)
no subject
Date: 2014-09-17 03:33 pm (UTC)If summoning the naga was an order, Illidan would still have to do it but now he knows there's an army of undead across the ocean to throw them at. Garithos is still a huge dick and tries to alienate the quel'dorei, but Tessa would be able to see he'd been a dreadlord puppet and expose him...we're going to wind up with a much better-coordinated war and the Alliance staying mostly intact.
.....except that things can't change that much or Tessa will never be born. I need to not try to AU first thing in the morning. OKAY. So that Bronze was REALLY SPECIFIC with Tessa about what needs to happen to maintain the integrity of the timeline until such time as her past self encounters her mother, and it all happens more or less according to canon except that Illidan isn't crazy, Tyrande and Malfurion don't hate him, Maiev is flat-out psycho and doesn't survive following them to Outland, and Tessa has a cheat sheet. They do go to Outland because a) Illidan's supposed to be there b) Tessa's supposed to not exist and needs to be out of sight c) the naga are going to be in so much shit if Azshara ever finds out they defected d) Kael and his people still need a new home.
There's more leeway with things that happen in Outland, at least, and Tessa can keep Kael sane and have some words with the Nathrezene Council regarding Illidan and Outland being his territory, and they can nix the idea of invading via the Sunwell. So that's one Game Over averted. With the Legion leaving Outland to Illidan's rule, the Horde and the Alliance would get bored and leave once Arthas starts acting up. Give it fifteen years and Outland will be united and pacified and Illidan can saunter back as a hero with Tessa at his side being so very smug in her mother's direction and Deathwing is sooooo not going to be prepared.