Nicholas Baleron sat beneath the starry night sky, blissfully unaware of his surrounding. He felt as if he was wrapped in a black sheet that hangs loosely around various limbs of his living corpse. All he could think about was the betrayer Arthas. He was no longer the hero that Nicholas saw, but a monster. A monster that ruled a land that the vampyre could never return to. He felt concern for Admiral Proudmoore, hid daughter, and all of the knights trapped in Azeroth. Rage filled him, but he could not release it. He could not let the rage from his body to strike Arthas. Yet all he could feel was this trapped rage.

His hands clenched into fists, forcing his fingers to make a sort of popping sound. But... as a distant memory he could here the faint whisperings of a piano in the distance. He shot up to his feet and looked around, he could not tell where the music was coming from but it seemed to come at a flurry. What breath did make it's way through his deadened lungs became hurdled around, it made him worry but he could not feel a beating against his chest as when he was alive. He shouted in a mixture of rage and terror, Arthas had stolen his life from him.

A whispering came from behind him, it sounded like Arthas so Nicholas drew his blade around rapidly and struck air, the blade blew a bit of air back but Baleron could still hear the whispering behind him. He swung his blade again, still nothing but air and the sound of the piano.

The whispering multiplied. What followed shocked Nicholas as he felt a thud against his chest. It blew him back some, but still nothing was there. He could hear whisperings of the dead knights from Azeroth, they tortured his mind and he continued to try and attack the whisperings. Suddenly, it stopped. Silence once again stood in the night, but now there was a sense of darkness in Nicholas' soul. His soul was bound to his dead corpse and he began to thirst for blood.

He reverted into a fetal position as tears ran down his face; the knights had come and gone along with the piano music. The rage once again found its place in the Vampyre's soul and he let out a scream, "Arthas you bastard!" His voice echoed throughout the hills before he fell against the hill in a kind of pain.

Jaz Verdek once again found himself hiking cross-country. There were, perhaps, a million preferable forms of transportation, but being a half-elf, and a broke half-elf at that, tended to limit them.

I really do need to get around to stealing a horse one of these days.

The last time around, he had the fortune of running into a group of well intended shepherds and a rather witty halfling, and, looking up at the stars in the sky, almost missed the sense of comeraderie that they had extended to him.

The night on the Salquedor plains was otherwise exactly how he had remembered it. The dynamic nature of body tempurature regulation made the nights seem chillier than they were, as the body, adjusted to the heat and humidity of the day, made the 20 degree farenheight change in tempurature feel more like freezing than the still near tropical tempuratures it still was.

Without the overwhelming lights that dominated the cities, the plains were utterly pitch black at night, so travel was often slow going at best if one wanted to avoid accidentally tripping over random plant brambles or twisting one's ankle in a depression.

But staying still was just as unappealing, as it left the individual open to the swarms of gnats and mosquitoes that thrived in the untamed grasslands. And all this without taking into account the myriad larger, more deadly forms of animal life that were known to think humanoids a light snack.


He stopped to catch his breath and retie his right boot lace, but was soon distracted by a scene on the rolling hills before him.

What he knew was an empty field was filled with tiny pinpoints of light. Had he not known better, he would have assumed the lights for campfires, in which care it would have been a massive army indeed.

But as they winked in and out and darted back and forth, he realized that it was a swarm of fireflies, doing what ever it was that fireflies do, presumably mating no doubt, when they signal each other with their bioluminescence.

That didn't distract from the magesty of the scene, where their light cast a ghostly glow across the shifting grasslands.


"Arthas you bastard!" A male voice called out of nowhere.


The sudden shout smacked Jaz out of his reverie. He drew his sword while dropping to the ground, trying to keep low to conceal himself behind the tall grasses. He involuntarily held his breath and remained deathly still, frozen in his crouch as he looked around. Scanning the environment, he could see nothing in the immediate vicinity that could have unleashed the noise. That was, unless the trees, the grass, or random boulders could talk, though, knowing the land of Arda, this wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility.

But then, out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Turning to see what it was, and had to squint to see the focus on the object. Silhouetted against the starry night sky, a humanoid figure dropped to the ground.

Oddly enough, he couldn't see anyone who could have attacked him. An invisible stalker, perhaps? No, he was still rolling around, clearly not under any meaningful physical assault.

Perhaps he stepped in a viper nest. But then why would he have denounced the... what did he say, Arthur, guy?

Jaz prowled closer to the fallen man, making sure to keep silent as he approached the fallen man and on the look out for anything else that might randomly pop up.

Careful now, or else he might just mistake you for Arthur

How long had she been wandering now? It seemed like days, all that walking to reach a grassy area such as this. Some how.. it seemed.. pointless. There was nothing, just.. grass, a few tree's, and strangely enough, the sky was awash with twinkling stars, each one shining brightly down, almost taunting. It was a peculiar feeling, the way the stars made her feel, but then again, everything about Maya was a bit off. She doubted whether anyone in this place knew her, by her real name anyway.

It was cold, and with a desperate attempt, Maya pulled her cloak tighter about herself. Damn this chilly atmosphere!! Ahead, some stars seemed to have decreased to the ground, sparkling in front of her. Fire flies. Typical really. Scowling, Maya pushed through the fiery beasts, hating the way they gave off a natural glow, where as she was stuck in this damned night. "Arthas you bastard!" Her step faltered, as she heard the voice echoing around. A movement from her right showed a man heading towards where another man was laid, seeming to have fallen. Well now..

Walking calmly to the scene, she stood over the fallen man, taking in his features. Abnormally Pale white skin? Could he be? ... His pale blond hair was a sigh to behold in this nightmare, as was his where eyes. With a thoughtful rise of her eyebrows, Maya stooped down, attempting to part his lips, but stopped, suddenly weary. Did she truly WANT to know if he was one of those... things? No... she didn't. With a slight nod to herself, she turned her sharp gaze on the other man.


His hair was dark green, and his eyes yellow. Another strange thing... Hmm, tonight was surely a night she would remember. "Whats wrong with him?She demanded, her voice monotone. "Did your hurt him?" She demanded. She wasn't really concerned, and didn't really beleive this man had harmed the other, but it was a question she knew that others in her position would ask, and wanted to act... "Normal", she felt it was the right thing to ask. Wasn't it?

He made his way through the high grasses with the skill of a predatory cat, keeping his wake as small as possible to avoid detection. The thick layers of the reeds obscured his vision, but provided concealment at he crept up to the scene.

There was a blur of motion as a second figure soon arived. This one, a female from the look of her figure, knelt beside the collapsed man. Her longish hair that lay comfortably around her elbows. It seemed to have a pinkish sheen to it, but Jaz dismissed it as a trick of the moonlight. Although his hair was green, an odd color indeed, most of the others he had met in his wanderings had more standard tones, like brown, blond, black and white. Her hair had an odd illuminesence to it, but again, Jaz dismissed it as the work of the bright moon which she stood silhoutted against.

She rose back up to her full height, which was when Jaz realized she was actually not that big of a person at all. She turned, scanning over her surroundings with a skeptical eye. As her eyes came to rest on his position, Jaz held his breath.

"Whats wrong with him? Did your hurt him?" She demanded.

Jaz was disappointed at himself immediately. Although he held nothing against this newcomer, he had thought more of his ability to hide. Then again, Jaz always knew he'd never have made it as a theif. He lacked the subtlety to make such a profession profitable. Not that he had ever taken his pride all that seriously in the first place, but to be made by a random girl was fairly pathetic. He was glad neither Demelo or Belgin were around to see this, as their taunting would never have ended. He could almost hear them laughing.

But no matter, back in reality their was a situation to resolve, and he was ready to rise to the occasion. He reflexively questioned the wisdom of actually responding to her demands. If she was an assassin and had taken this fellow down with, say, a poisoned dart or something, she would undoubtably try to eliminate any on lookers. But since she didn't finish the man off, Jaz dismissed the assassin theory. Nor did she try to steal his boots like a normal bandit in the middle of nowhere, which meant that perhaps, on some deep level, she was there to help.

Against his better judgment, he stood up from his partial concealment, sheepishly grimacing at his wounded ego.

"Well...um...no, I just saw him fall..."

His mind suddenly flashed, the smirk dropped into a more serious expression. Why was he explaining himself to this random, not even out of adolecence girl?

"No, of course not. I just got here." he said forcefully, direct and to the point, "I could ask you the same question. What did you do to him? What are you doing out here this time of night?"

Nicholas opened his eyes sharply as he gazed upon the darkness of the sky above him, he could hear the sounds of two people, a man and a young woman, apparently asking each other what had happened to Nicholas' fallen body. He stood himself up and shuddered off the feeling from earlier. "I am allright, neither of you did anything to harm me... I'm just frustrated over the fact I have to spend eternity on arda while my former hero rules my realm with an iron grip and an army of the undead."

Nicholas looked upon each of the two people here, first there was the young woman who seemed to have purple hiar, this was indeed a peculiar sight, but it was not one of great importance. Than there was the man, apparently he was of elfin descent. A question begged at the back of Baleron's mind until he asked it, "For what reason are you two out here? I haven't seen another living soul here through this whole night. And apparently from somehwere in the darkness you have come."

He didn't mind company, but he did want to know where each of these two people had come from, most likley he was looking for a glimmer of hope that one was from Azeroth, but he knew that the chanced were extremmely slim that there would be another survivor of arthas' tyranny.

His mind wandered after he had asked the wuestion, he was currently wishing that he had some animal companion so that he would not be alone in this world. His mind than wandered back to Estolad on the cold and snowy night with the magestic bird. Finally, his attention came back to the two that were here, he noticed the apparently frustrated look on the elf and a liik that was hard to explain on that of the young woman.

"Well...um...no, I just saw him fall..." The man began, before dropping his act for a more serious one. "No, of course not. I just got here. I could ask you the same question. What did you do to him? What are you doing out here this time of night?" Maya smiled, aware that it was odd indeed for a girl as young as her to be out alone in a place such as this, and at night also. Parting her lips, Maya was about to tell him somthing which she was sure would confuse him greatly, when the fallen man rose to his feat.

"I am alright, neither of you did anything to harm me... I'm just frustrated over the fact I have to spend eternity on Arda while my former hero rules my realm with an iron grip and an army of the undead." As far as introductions went, Maya was rather surprised. A differnt realm and an army of Undead... now that sounded interesting. But Maya wasn't truly listening to this, she was more zoned into his first few words. Eternity... then he was what she had suspected. Now... this was interesting...

"For what reason are you two out here? I haven't seen another living soul here through this whole night. And apparently from somewhere in the darkness you have come." Another question about why she was here. It seemed everyone in this land liked to know of others business. Maya did not truly mind, since her observations being confirmed, she was now incredibly curious if nothing else. A vampire... the possibilities of his very existence here was endless. Maya could not wait to ask him questions... and learn of the answers.

"I was making my way somewhere when i happened on you two." She answered, her voice monotone, her emotions hidden. With a quick glance over both men, Maya smiled briefly, devoid of all warmth, then looked the Vampire in the eye closely. "You are a Vampire are you not" She said, not really a question, but a statement. "I have never met a Vampire before..." She went one, then placed her hands on her hips, examining his closer.

Jaz glared at the girl as her lips curled into a cocky smirk. She opened her mouth, undoubtedly to issue out some smartarse remark.

Now Jaz had spent the past 7 years in the company of mercenaries, pirates and all manner of roughians; he was no stranger to the principles of alpha-male one-upmanship posturing. He was certainly not going to take guff from, much less be talked down to by, some teeny-bopping girl just because he happened to be in middle of nowhere.

Just try it, missy.

But a new voice cut her off before she could speak. It belonged to the fellow who had, moments before, been prostrate on the ground. Appearently, what ever had been wrong with him had been resolved. Jaz kept his gaze fixed angrily on the girl for a moment before turning his attention to the man, who seemed to be a pale wraith wrapped in garments of pure shadow.

"I am alright, neither of you did anything to harm me... I'm just frustrated over the fact I have to spend eternity on Arda while my former hero rules my realm with an iron grip and an army of the undead," He said cryptically, "For what reason are you two out here? I haven't seen another living soul here through this whole night. And apparently from somewhere in the darkness you have come."
Jaz was thrown off by the white-skinned man's odd accent. Jaz, who had travelled extensively all around Ea couldn't place it. Jaz had heard legends about travelers who visited the moon, Isiltelpë, but had dismissed them all as fantasies. But this fellow's reference to being trapped on Arda perked Jaz's eyebrow.

It is a full moon tonight...

Before he could finished the thought, the girl interupted, redrawing his attention.

"I was making my way somewhere when i happened on you two." She said, in a dangerous voice, her mouth forming a cruel grin. "You are a Vampire are you not? I have never met a Vampire before..."

The question caught Jaz by surprise. He glanced back over at the man, who was suspiciously pale, and did appear oddly thin. But then again, in this moonlight, they all looked pale. He decided to keep his mouth shut and wait for this guy to identify himself, resting his hand on the sword just in case