Path of Damnation: A Flawed Plan

The Human guard of Light's Hope Chapel looked at the orc who just landed and dismounted there. "Heh, another one huh? These lands are cursed. They'll be the end of you, Orc." The orc looked at the guard and grinned, a front tooth missing. "That's supposed to scare me? Clearly you haven't heard of the Grin have you?" the guard looked the orc over again, this time pausing at his tabard. The guard jumped back with shock and fear, causing the orc to laugh. Vord looked around the Chapel area. He saw humans and dwarves, all showing clear signs of exhaustion from the endless fight with the Scourge. "It's only a matter of time before they break" thought Vord. This was the reason he'd come to the plaguelands, the reason why he wasn't with the main force assaulting Honor Hold. He'd heard that Kel 'Thuzad was up to something out here, moving all his pieces into place, and that it was just a matter of time before all Hell broke loose. He'd taken it upon himself to investigate and, if possible, to disrupt the lichs plans for the clan he'd made home of. He made his rounds in the chapel, stocking up and gaining information where he could. After he had learned all he could from the humans, he readied himself and looked to the east, towards Naxxramas. It was then he thought about how abruptly he'd left the temporary HQ of the Grin. He sighed and thought to himself, "She's going to kill me when I get back for this...."

"So where are you off to?" Vord looked back at Xylien and Dushin. "I just get back and you're leaving?" said Xylien. He stopped at the exit of Falcon Watch near the road and said,"Off to the plaguelands, I've heard some rather disturbing things coming from there that need to be addressed." Xylien cocked an eyebrow and replied, "How disturbing is it?" Vord set his bags on the ground and said, "You both remember "Highlord" Mograine, right? It seems he's not as dead as we had hoped." Dushin snorted, "Yes, we all know that he's now a Death Knight and wields a corrupted Ashbringer." Vord turned toward Dushin, "And is under the command of one of the most powerful beings in this world, garrisoned in Naxxramas with the undead Sapphiron, while his master assembles Atiesh." Dushin stares back, but says nothing. Xylien looks at Vord and asks,"So what are you planning on doing then?" "I'm going to scout out Naxxramas and try to discover what he's planning and, if I can, disrupt it." Xylien grins and said,"sounds like fun, let me pack." Vord smiles slightly and said as he holds up a small kunai, "With all due respect ma'am, no. I need someone to represent my clan if I don't come back." Xylien looks down, drawing out the same type of knife he'd given her months ago. "If you don't come back then that just means I'll have to hunt you down and kill what's left." Dushin smiled, "that should be fun" Vord chuckled, while he packed the bags onto his riding wolf. Xylien smiled, "We'll try to save you some Alliance to kill for when you get back." Mounting his wolf, Vord smiles back and says "Saving Alliance? You haven't gone soft on us have you?" "Who says I've gone soft?" replied Xylien. Taking a last look back, he wonders where this will take him. "Take care of yourselves." He says as he starts off.

((RP convo a couple nights ago starting all this up. if anyone wonders what the knives are, look at my RP profile. thanks guys for the convo, it'd be boring if i'd just walked off without anyone knowing. :D))

Vord looked around him with disdain. He was known in the Argent Dawn for killing many Scourge, and now it was coming back to haunt him. Someone had told higher-ups about what his mission was and the commanders in the Chapel decided that, since it served their interests, they should provide a small strike team for his disposal should he find anything that needed dealing with. The Scarlet Crusade and the Brotherhood of the Light also sent members to keep the balance between the three factions in the Chapel. The result was a grab-bag assortment of anyone who met the abysmal qualifications for the mission. There were only three veterans sent on this team, a low ranking captain from each of the groups who drew the short straw, and most of the rest had more faith than skill of arms. Looking at his "team" he thought "I'd be better off with Grots fresh out of Durotar" The Argent captain came to him and said in an official tone, "We're set and ready to ride at your command." Vord looked at the captain, almost breaking out in laughter and replied "Riding? This will require stealth, and some horses get spooked just at the stench of the undead, let alone by the sight of them. Mounts will give away our position and blow our cover. We will get there on foot, is that understood?" The captain looked at the orc questioningly, "But Sir, I'd strongly advise against Tha-" The orcs eyes flashed, "Did I ask for your council?" "No Sir, I will inform the men." said the captain before leaving. Vord shook his head, "No discipline," he thought, "Even Grots understand that." Several minutes later, the team had gathered together, looking displeased about traveling on foot. "This is degrading for a knight..." said one of the men. The Brotherhood captain snapped, "Did the Commander give you the right to speak?" "No Sir..." replied the man, "I merely wanted to-" "THEN WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO TALK?" the captain roared. Vord looked at the captain, "That will do captain, any more and every Scourge in the plaguelands will know we're coming." "Yes Sir. Where are we heading to?" Vord pulls out a map of the plaguelands and said, "We're going to infiltrate plaguewood via the blackwood lake route. We're going to avoid the roads as much as possible, and take out any Scourge we can't sneak past." The captain looked the route over, and seeing nothing amiss, said "Understood, I'll relay the orders to the other captains and we'll move out at your command."

An hour later, and they were on the outskirts of plaguewood. Vord was a little tense, things had gone too well. There had been no infighting among the team members, there had been little in their way, and what had been was ousted without raising the alarm. The others became too confidant, and were told by the captains to be silent several times. Not too much longer, and they were in the immediate vicinity of the slaughterhouse. The Argent captain turned to Vord holding up a bag. "I didn't have the time to tell you before we left. We were given these charges should we have the opportunity to destroy one of their structures." Vord, looking at the bag, asks while pointing at the slaughterhouse, "Can it bring that down?" "Aye, we'd just need to detonate it from the inside." Vord looked the party over, none of them had the skill to get in, detonate the charge, and get out alive. "Alright," he said, "I'm going to blow the charge inside, but I'll need the rest of you to remain here as to not alert the guards of our presence" The captain sent by the Crusade began to protest, "Sir, you'll need assistance to get in there. Me and my men can-" "If you try to assist me, you'll compromise our cover and we'll be lucky to get out with our lives. we're no good to anyone dead. You will remain here with the rest of the group, is that understood?" The Scarlet captain paused before replying in a dull, monotone, voice "Yes Sir." Vord grabbed the charge and thought "this bodes ill, something's not right here." He was half-way to the slaughterhouse when his fears had been confirmed. "CHAAARGE!" Vord whipped around to see the Scarlet captain leading his men straight into a mob of Scourge. "Damn fools!" He said, as he tried to find a solution before they were annihilated. The other two captains and their men stood rooted in place, watching the unfolding scene: The Scarlets, rushing into the mob with nothing but their blind faith to aid them. The Scourge, caught by the sudden charge, starting to organize themselves in a defensive formation. Their mission commander, Vord, caught half-way to the objective. Vord quickly saw but two options: He could either stay and help his men live through the ensuing battle for as long as possible and hope that reinforcements arrive to save them or, try and fight his way up to the slaughterhouse and detonate the charge and leave his men to the undead. His choice has painfully obvious. He lit the fuse and threw the charge into the nearest mob of undead and ran towards the fight with the undead and the Scarlets while taking out his bow and calling his tiger. "ALL MEN ON ME, WE'RE GETTING OUT OF HERE!" He roared to the Argets and Brotherhood still in their positions. They all rushed to the fight between the undead and the Scarlets, already coming to a close. There were two men left, the captain and a rookie. Vord shot two undead, and watched briefly as his tiger tore through another three, their decayed bodies shredding before the razor-sharp claws of the tiger. The captain turned around and started, "Sir! there's too many! we need to re-" Vord took out his knife and, with a single slash, ended the mad captain's life. The single Scarlet left looked at the orc, Vord said, "With me boy, we're leaving."

Vord looked around him, desperately trying to find a way to get his men out. What was left of his group had made it to Blackwood Lake, with undead swarming out from every direction. The Brotherhood in his group had elected to stay behind and buy some time for the rest, but it was all in vain. All he had left was the single Scarlet, the Argent captain and two of his men. They were just barely keeping ahead of the undead, through sheer will to stay alive. The Argent captain caught up to the orc, "Sir, we can't keep going on like this. We don't have the training to sprint this long while so heavily armed." Vord looked at his men, their plate armor were covered in dirt, sweat, blood and some greenish colored fluid that kept seeping out of the undead. The captain was right, the men couldn't keep up for much longer. Vord took another look at his men, and prepared to give them his last orders. "All members of the Black Tooth Grin accept pain and death, it's as much a part of us a breathing. But you are not Grin, I cannot condone sacrificing you for my sake. I will stay here and hold them back as long as I can, hopefully giving you enough time to get within reach of reinforcements at the Chapel." The captain looked at the remaining men and replied, "We came on this mission knowing full well it could be our last. We won't run and leave our commander behind. We might not be Grin, but we still have standards and honor." Vord smiled, knowing that saying anything else would be in vain, and nodded. "Then we shall make our stand in the riverbed." They started moving to the dried riverbed, that ran from the lake to Broman Mill, when they heard the moans and groaning of the undead masses. "Quickly, we need to take up positions on the other side!" Vord started running with renewed strength, and inspired the men behind him to make the frantic dash to relative cover. They took up positions on the opposite side of the river, while Vord planted some of his traps in the riverbed. Looking at his handiwork, he thought "That should stop some of them down here, just one more thing to do..." He reached in his bag and pulled out some parchment, a quill, some ink and a leather strap. He wrote a quick message and bound it, then called his tiger to him. He tied the message around the tigers neck, much to the cat's displeasure. "Go find Huizopotl. Make sure he gets this." He stared into his pets eyes, making sure the command was understood. "Go quickly. You know what to do. GO!" Stripes became an orange blur as he jumped up and out of the riverbed and ran towards the road that would take him ultimately south, to the Dark Portal. Vord hung his head a moment, and started shaking involuntarily. "So this is what it's come down to huh?" he thought to himself. He heard shuffling above him and, realizing where he was, picked up his sword and swung at the undead who had gotten too close. "Damnit Vord, keep it together!" he said to himself. He ran up the other side to where his men were waiting and turned to see an army of undead bearing down on them. He looked at his men and saw the captain was the only one not quaking with terror. "Look at them, they have no idea what they're in for." Vord said. The captain shot him a look as if the orc had gone mad. "What?? What do you think they should be like when they're staring at an army that's going to feast of their flesh?" Vord looked at the captain quizzically, "I'm not sure who you're listening to, but it seems that I need to teach the Scourge why everyone fears the Grin." The captain smiled at the orc and said, "Ready men? Let's show this orc what REAL men are capable of!" Vord readied his blade, took a deep breath and started charging right into the undead mass. "FEAR THE GRIN!" The captain yelled "FOR THE LIGHT! CHARRRRGE!" Vord started swinging into the ghouls and zombies, sending the rotting masses into the dirt. So many things flashed in and out of his vision, he couldn't keep track of it all. Dodging and blocking strikes, cutting down the undead, moving out of the way of the abominations that took out anything within reach of their wicked chains. CRACK! Vord felt something smash into the back of his skull. He turned around, his head swimming, to see what had hit him. In a stroke of brilliance or incredible luck, a zombie had picked up a rock and smashed into the back of the orc's head. The zombie started swinging at Vord again, this time coming from the side. With the haze he was in, Vord couldn't move out of the way in time and was stuck by the full force of the blow. Vord hit the ground hard, his vision blacked out. "Is this...how it ends?"

He heard a booming voice, "GET UP. IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT OUR LEGACY?"He saw a blinding light, so bright it was is if he was opening his eyes for the first time. It cleared some and he saw an orc standing in front of him, much older than him. "I SAID GET UP. HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF A GARUDA?" His vision cleared, and he saw for the first time since he was 7, his father standing in front of him. "Father....? But..how?" "GET UP VORD, YOUR MEN NEED YOU, YOUR NEW CLAN NEEDS YOU....YOUR BROTHERS NEED YOU. THIS IS NOT YOUR TIME TO JOIN US." "Brothers? but how are they still?" he started gaining more feeling in his body. "EVERYTHING WILL BECOME CLEAR IN TIME, BUT YOU MUST GET UP. SHOW THEM WHAT THE GARUDA CAN STILL DO!" His vision became darker, the light less intense. "Father, I understand what I must do...."

Vord's eyes open suddenly, and he saw the undead getting ready to reap the rewards of it's victory. Vord smashed his fist into the zombie's face and watched as it remained motionless. He jumped to his feet and looked around for his men, and saw them ten feet away getting swarmed by undead. He picked up his sword and cleaved any ghoul or zombie that got between him and his men. He paused for a moment when he saw one zombie that was attacking the last Scarlet. It was none other than the captain the orc had dispatched earlier. Vord made sure that the captain would stay down, and turned to face the next threat. It wasn't long, however, before they were all swarmed and knocked down under the crushing weight of the undead. Vord was tackled by a zombie and felt a ghoul sink it's teeth into his left arm. Vord yelled out in pain, and looked for his men. He saw them only a few feet away, being eaten as well. Then a cold chill settled over the scene, and he heard an even colder voice say, "That's enough. The orc is worth keeping, but the rest can die. I want to keep this one for observation." Vord looked in the direction of the voice and saw the very lich he had come all this way to try and stop. "Bring the orc inside, but leave the others." Vord felt rotten hand grab and lift him, carrying him towards Plaguewood. Vord looked back towards his men, only to see ghouls feasting on bloody piles of flesh and bone. Vord was helpless, he had failed his men, his clan and ancestors and had no way of ending things there. He would be a prisoner, the ultimate disgrace and dishonor. Vord was carried all the way to the entrance the citadel, and was teleported inside. He could hear the moaning and screams of agony from subjects in experiments. The lich came up to the captured orc and said with obvious excitement, "Welcome, orc. Welcome to Naxxramas. I hope you enjoy your stay, we have big plans for you."

((My end of chapter 1. tell me what you think.))