An Untimely Demise and Unlikely Allies
After a long journey, Nalga had Baga Village in her sights. What she had to do was extremely dangerous. Trying to convince another hostile race to hear her out and work with her to stop this menace, this voice in her head, would not be easy.
She approached the town guards and they drew their weapons. Nalga held up her hands to show that she meant them no harm. "I must speak with the mystics in your town. I know we are not friends, but it is for the greater good of all of Norrath."
They raised their eyebrows at the barbarian. "Mez think youz try to trick da trolls. What youz want, den wez decide."
"I've seen visions, terrible visions of some other world. It is nothing but pain there, and I think something horrible is coming for us. I need to speak with the shamans of your town to see if they've had the same visions. Perhaps we can find where this is coming from and stop it." Nalga looked around at the trolls with hope.
The trolls looked at each other and backed away. A group of official-looking humans approached Nalga. "This vision was nothing but your insanity. The only pain is what I shall show you now. We need not to have this nuisance making trouble for us. Those who oppose Dynmath must perish!"
The men attacked Nalga before she had much of a chance to fight back. She was powerful and injured a few of them in the process, but they were just too strong.
"Finally, I shall pass through the ashen place to find the truth." Nalga spoke her last words and lay silent.
The men looked around and their leader spoke. "Let this be a lesson to those who oppose Dynmath, and the new Norrath. Insolence will NOT be tolerated."
Later, a few of the shaman met in secret. They had all seen these visions too, but had ignored them previously or denounced them as reactions to bad food. The shamans agreed to not publicly confront the men, but to investigate what they might mean.
Sekto smiled. "A dark elf and an elf in the same vicinity without a battle ensuing. Now I have seen it all."
"Just because I am working with these awful beings for the greater good of Norrath does not mean that I have to like it. They are sneaky and dishonest, and not to be trusted farther than they can be thrown." Ellidywn sighed.
Coercer Gal`Dima glared at the elf. "And you think I trust you? I trust no one. In this instance, the Teir`Dal believe that we have better chances of self preservation on your side. Just until this passes."
"Right, right, after we rid the world of this threat, we can go back to blowing each other to bits. And you all know how much I love that!" Velida raised her hands.
Everyone yelled at her to stop and ducked their heads. A nearby tree caught the wrath of the erudite and burned to the ground.
How this alliance came to be is something of a miracle, or perhaps proof of divine intervention convincing the mortals of Norrath what needed to be done. After much ado, Felidor, Sekto, Velida, and Ellidwyn had met up at the crossroads. After setting out to investigate they encountered a group of dark elves. They both raised their weapons and began to battle. After a few minutes, a giant explosion from the sky threw both sides back and knocked them to the ground.
As the two sides tended to their wounded, somehow they began to talk about what had brought them there, at first angrily, then after realizing they were out to accomplish the same goals, more calmly. After much deliberation between the coercer and Felidor, they agreed to a temporary truce, and that they'd have better odds of completing their missions together.
Felidor approached them. "Enough chit chat. We have not met by chance, it was necessary to keep our lives in our own control. After this is through, we can continue our petty squabbling, but for now we must act."
Everyone nodded and waited for the barbarian to continue. "The lieutenants and their men think they can keep us busy with the etheneric zombies. We need to go beyond defending our homes and cities. We need to launch an offensive attack to show them we will not allow them to take control of our home."
"Each of you have been chosen to represent your race. You will need to lead the Truthbringers to victory. Take your forces, lead them well, and send the message that we will not go quietly without a fight!"