A Visit to Ambermill (Part 1)

After a long and arduous trek through Forsaken territory, the adventurers of the City-State have finally arrived to what was left of Ambermill. As the group looked upon Ambermill, they would notice a purple dome surrounding the borders of the town. Frost elementals patrolled the main road where once Dalaran Wizards took refuge at. It had been apparent that something must have happened here to the wizards and sorceresses. It would appear that Aeraegwyn's info was correct in which there were magical items of importance that needed to be collected. The group would tread slowly to the purple dome; heeding caution not knowing how these elementals would react once they passed the barrier. Aeraegwyn would take the first step through the barrier, her right leg slowly being consumed by the glowing arcane dome. All of the elementals in the town square would stop their mindless patrol to turn their cold bodies towards Aeraegwyn. Aera could see the elementals focusing their cold stares at her and she channeled arcane energy to her hands to prepare for an attack. Slowly as the first leg, she moved the rest of her body fully into the arcane shield. She stared at the elementals, with a sternful look painted on her face. The elementals matched her stare. She kept inching slowly towards the elementals who remained motionless. A large, arcane colored elemental assimilated out of the town hall and hovered its way over to Aeraegwyn. She stood still in her tracks as the elemental followed the main road to her. Arcane energy dancing around her hands, she prepared herself to banish this elemental if needed. The elemental held up its conjured hand as it approached the nervous sorceress and began to talk in an unintelligble language. Aera gazed into its warm arcane eyes as she appeared to understand what it was saying. She lowered her defenses and motioned for the others to come in the arcane dome.

Aeraegwyn faced her brothers and sisters-in-arms and would explain to them what the elemental was trying to communicate to them. "This elemental is trying to tell us that the wizards and sorceresses who were hiding here from the Forsaken after Dalaran was attacked. The first time the Forsaken attacked, they managed to repel back the invaders but the second time its masters seemed to disappear and never came back.  It never saw a fight just the Forsaken entering and coming back from the town hall.  They (Dalaran Refugees) were looking for something in this town that they could sense but not see.  They did not tell us (the elementals) what it was they were looking for.  Only that we were to protect this magical land at all costs.  They do not wish to harm us as they can feel our intentions to be pure." The elemental would speak to Aera again, continuing its statement to the young mage. "It wishes to say that if they can be of any assistance to let us know. We can understand your language and will take commands as long as we are bound to this town."

Aera would ask the elemental if there were anything of importance that was left behind when the Forsaken had come through here. The elemental would say that a ring had been left by the Forsaken party in the town hall bearing an insignia of Dalaran. A rather curious item to be left behind. The elemental kept the ring in a box near the town hall podium. As for everything else, magical reagents and tomes were ok to be taken if needed. The elemental would ask if it could be of any more assistance. Aera would shake her head no and the elemental carried on with its never-yielding defense of Ambermill. "Ok, let's take a look at the town hall and see if there is anything worth taking that could help us."

As the group walked comfortably through Ambermill, the elementals were completely docile to them, they would enter the abandoned town hall. The contents of the vacant building looked immaculate. Everything seemed to be in its place and well taken care of. These elementals must be maintaining the place, even after their masters' demise.

"If you see anything that may be useful to our cause, feel free to take it. The inhabitants are long gone and I don't think anybody will be missing this stuff." Aera would walk towards the town hall podium looking for the "Dalaran" ring that the elemental had told her about. She looked all around the tabletop; pushing books, tomes, and relics out of the way to try and find this "box". After a few more moments of rearranging the clutter she uncovered a box that the elemental had described. The box looked to be in disrepair, the two hinges blowing apart barely being held together by its rivets. She would carefully open the box as to not damage it and would notice several notes on parchment. She skimmed over the dinghy parchment and noticed that none of it was relevant to her; receipts for transactions, reminders, etc. After sifting through all the parchment, she had found the ring at the bottom of the small chest. The ring was rather dusty and oxidation set in on the metal. The amethyst gems were faded at heavily scratched as well as the Dalaran Insignia. She would blow on the ring to disperse the dust that collected on it. She raised her brows wondering if the ring would fit her. She slid the ring on her left hand middle finger. She held out her hand and admired the intricate beauty of it. Someone must have spent a good amount of time hand designing this ring. She would channel a small amount of arcane energy from her hand as she then would whip the arcane around her hand in a dizzying display of talent.

As Aeraegwyn was playing around with her new ring, a portal began to open behind her. She would be oblivious to the portal forming as others might want to let her know what was going on.

She would turn around laughing to herself saying that they were pulling a prank on her. Her eyes closed, she would turn around saying "You guys are so funny, you know that?" As she turned around fully she would say "Guys, there is nothing here." With a slow-open of her eyes she took a moment before realizing what was happening. After the realization sunk in, her eyes widened and she took a step back in caution. "What is going on here? Who opened this portal?" She would focus her gaze into the portal. It looked like any other of your standard portals; blue in color and a shimmering outline. Most portals would show you the destination of where you were heading such as Stormwind or Ironforge, but this portal showed a reflection back to the town hall almost like a mirror. "What??? This portal is showing that it teleports to here. That doesn't make any sense.  If it would teleport to here, where is my reflection?  Where are all of your reflections?" She would look at the ring on her hand, holding it out the same as before she was admiring its beauty. Her mouth would be agape as both of her eyes focused inward on the ring; she would be baffled at what was going on.

in her same baffled stupor, she would say to herself "This couldn't be... I've only read it in books." With her mouth still agape, she turned back around to face the others. "This... this ring... this magic... This magic is beyond simple fire, frost, arcane what have you. I honestly can't believe I am even thinking about this.  What I believe is happening is a other dimension... a pocket dimension." She raised her hand to her mouth in a fist as she talked through her hand. "What I believe lies through that portal is an exact replica of Ambermill. That would explain the arcane dome we entered.  Someone created an alternate Ambermill to make the real one seem abandoned.  The elemental mentioned the Forsaken coming here twice and that their masters had not returned.  The Dalaran refugees must have taken shelter in the second dimention!" She seemed happy for a moment as she paced around thinking about who she might me on the other side of the portal. happiness soon turned sour as she realized something. "If the Forsaken came here twice and came back out of here the second time... that would mean they went into the portal and... oh no... The Forsaken must've killed them all." Her usual happy demeanor turned aggressive as she slammed her fist into the podium in front of her. She paced behind the podium thinking what to do next. Her pace was quick and determined, turning sharply to the opposite direction every-so-often. She stopped in her tracks and held up her hand, index finger raised. "We have to go in the portal and see if they are still there. Think about it.  If they control this pocket dimension, that could mean they have a base of operations that is completely invisible to nearly every form of magic detection.  Think about the praise we would receive from other groups in the Alliance if we were to take down a practically hidden Forsaken base of operations."

With everyone entering the portal, the group would find themselves in a nearly identical version of Ambermill's town hall that they first entered. In this version of Ambermill though, chairs and tables would be out of place and thrown about like children's play things. Some books on the shelf would be littered on the floor with pages torn out and covers scratched off. A familiar foul odor wafted into their noses... Forsaken. It had been apparant that the Forsaken were here and by the strength of the smell, -still- here. The group would be on alert as they took in all the senses of this new Ambermill.

As the group would still be looking around the town hall, smoke-bombs would go off throughout the room obstructing all vision. Rogues! "Dammit, they know we are here! On your guard!" coughed Aera through the smoke.

As the smoke started to clear, it could be seen that rogues were attacking the group of City-State relic seekers. The rogues seemed rather satisfied at the damage they dealt to their prey as their undead jaws danced and cackled. The rogues appeared to have applied a crippling poison to their daggers after their initial wave of attack. With zeal, they came charging back into the fray! There seemed to be 10 of them in the room.

As if the great room of the town hall wasn't trashed enough, the attackers on both sides were doing a good job of turning it into a junk heap. Chairs were being thrown at each other left and right, tables being flipped, and candles being knocked over. The rogues were relentless in their assault. The City-State was relentless as well. The poison seemed to have diminished on the rogues blades so the defenders need not worry about any cheap tricks. A couple rogues could be seen swinging from the chandeliers above. The City-State felt like they were being pushed into a corner and began to rally together to overtake their foes!

As the last rogue was taken out the City-State attackers took a moment to regain themselves after the adrenaline inducing surprise attack. They would push the Forsaken corpses aside and begin to step foot out of the town hall into the pocket dimension of Ambermill.

The pocket dimension version of Ambermill seemed... well... the same. Nothing noteworty could be spotted with the naked eye as the group walked out into the town square. It was erily quiet in the town. The same purple arcane dome could be seen here but beyond the dome seemed to not exist... just darkness. It would be trippy to look at. The group would wander about the town square, taking in the sights and waiting for Aeraegwyn to make the next move.

would look around the quiet other-dimentional town and began to plot a course of action. "If the Forsaken are still here, there must be something they are after... It's obvious they aren't setting up a base here... they would've constructed the proper buildings to do so... but they've kept everything the same.  Let's take a look at these buildings one-by-one.  There must be answers inside." With that, she would head off to a nearby farm... south of the town hall.

As Aeraegwyn would enter the farmhouse, the others slowly tracked in behind her. She would instantly be intrigued by the armoire near the fireplace... the others would feel compelled to look somewhere in the farmhouse as well.

After finding a few things of worth, the group decides to leave the farmhouse... upon exiting outside the group would be met by a familiar foe...

A tremendous, booming roar echoed through the limited confines of the pocket dimension version of Ambermill. A frost wyrm could be seen flying over the mountainous terrain to the southwest. This looked like the frost wyrm from a week ago while the supplies were being shipped to Barony Mordis! The frost wyrm's booming howl shook the very ground the adventurers stood on and the peculiar climate turned into a winter cold. The dragon swooped down from the sky and landed forcefully before the City-State troops. It would breathe a giant breath of frost towards the group.

The frost wyrm, still grounded roared so loudly that it surely would have attracted other Forsaken to its location. It would circle the group of attackers, plotting the best way to attack them. Its large bone tail slowly dancing back and forth as it circled its prey. The dragon hung its head down low as it faced the group like a rabid wolf going in for the kill.

The frost wyrm, still grounded roared so loudly that it surely would have attracted other Forsaken to its location. It would circle the group of attackers, plotting the best way to attack them. Its large bone tail slowly dancing back and forth as it circled its prey. The dragon hung its head down low as it faced the group like a rabid wolf going in for the kill. The dragon would roar in a fit of rage after being dealt damage by the persistant City-State warriors! The dragon dropped the games it was playing and went into a reckless rage.

The dragon still attempting to hold on would crash about all over the farm. It couldn't walk straight or take flight but would be smashing into the ground and into various trees. The dragon made its way to the house the adventurers were in and crashed into the small structure. It would lay motionless after wrecking out. The frost fire that burned in its bones would be snuffed out. The frost wyrm had been defeated!

As the group feared, the frost wyrm attracted a giant band of Forsaken coming from the same direction that the wyrm came from. The horns of war were being played as Forsaken catapaults were hurling chunks of flesh towards the victorious heroes. The heroes would scatter out to avoid being struck by the exploding carcasses of flesh. They would make sure to pick up their wounded and retreat back to the town hall!

As the group ran back to the town hall, plague scientists from the west could be seen launching viles of undeath towards the entrance to the town hall. They would be rupturing closely to the fleeing heroes as they tried desperately to reach the portal to which they came through.

The town hall was under attack! Forsaken ground troops stormed in shortly after the fleeing heroes and began to attack! Admist all the commotion happening outside, the City-State was able to take out this first wave of attackers. The heroes would quickly step into the portal as a green fog would slowly fill the room.

As the City-State piled out of the portal they would keep their distance from the portal to wait if anything else came out from the other side. Aeraegwyn would be the last person to come through the portal. The portal was still open... how would they close it???