“The first patrol team arrived in hours. Magister Sunwaker, the two abducted children, and I were recovered from the battle site to be treated for injuries. Two more patrol teams arrived soon after, in response to my emergency request. Sergeant Bluebeard led them down the tunnels to search for Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. They were unfortunately rebuffed due to a trogg outbreak. After several hours, all retrieval efforts were ceased and all patrol teams were recalled for an emergency deployment to the Kingdom of Lordearon. Rumors are that it is due to some type of plague outbreak near Stratholme.

A ceremony will be held to award Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood posthumously the Medal of Tyr for his bravery. His personal effects were gathered, secured, and packaged. I will be delivering the package to Northshire after the ceremony’s conclusion. They will be surrendered to his last-known relative, Tiana Riverwood. She will also receive a writ of pension from the treasury as financial compensation and an invitation to the official inscription of his name on the wall of heroes in Stormwind.

Details from the morning’s route reconnaissance are omitted as Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood had the possession of the records at the moment of his disappearance. This concludes the day’s report.

- From Patrol Report. Year 3000, 5th​ day of BloomingTide. Captain Elric Falmore

The first thing I felt after hitting the mirror was not shards of broken glass, as I expected. It was something reminiscent of water, the substance was cool and I could almost swim through it. Then there was a flash of light. My body felt like it was being stretched and then pulled in multiple directions. Next thing I knew, I was floating. There was this blue fog everywhere. Below, I could see trees, except they weren’t. The branches were too wide, the color was a dull metallic gray, and they sat atop a bed of stone. Beside them were rows and rows of mirrors, just like the one I went through.

Then suddenly I felt myself being jerked up. I started to move, faster and faster until everything became a blur.

I was moving so fast I couldn’t think straight. I could feel the muffins coming back up from my stomach. Then the blur materialized into a wall and I flew out onto some stony surface. I tumbled down what felt like a set of stairs. Finally, there was a loud boom like a cannon firing followed by the crash of glass shattering.

“We have successfully passed through the portal. Congratulations Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. We have eluded the aberrations.”

“Ho-,” I started, then stopped as the world seemed to keep spinning. I turned to the side, too disoriented to get up, and puked.

“Are you stable Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood? My sensors indicate you are under severe physical duress.”

I emptied out the last contents of my stomach, then rolled away. My view continued to spin.

“Just-Just give me a moment,” I uttered.

“As you wish.”

I always wondered why people rarely ever used portals. The concept just seemed so handy. I asked Alamere once, and he said unless he needed to be somewhere, he always preferred to travel by land or by bird. Now I understood why. After several heartbeats I was finally able to get up without the world spinning sideways.

There were no screaming troggs. The Lorekeeper was right. We were safe. At least for now. But where were we? It was a room, that much I was able to figure out. I was laying on top of stone. Was this another area in the caverns? That meant I’d still have to be weary of troggs. Then out of the corner of my eyes I could see beams of… light, was that sunlight? And that noise. It sounded like… trees rustling?

“Oh blessed be the light…,” I whispered.

We weren’t in the tunnels anymore.

“Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood are you well?”

“Y-yes. Tell me. Do you know where we are now?”

“Current location is unknown. As I said before, there was no data in my memory banks in regards to the destination of the portal. I am unable to gleam our location based off current navigational information,”

I looked back, at the top of the stairs that I had fallen from. At the top was what once was a mirror. It was more a frame now, the glass was completely shattered. Almost a replica to the one that I had traveled through, except this one was adorned with carvings and statues. Two stone wolves were shaped to its sides, howling into the air.

“The portal has been degraded beyond repair. The aberrations will not be able to follow; however, we will need to find an alternate means of travel to the main frame.”

“Of course,” I muttered. I still had to get the thing back to the main frame, wherever it was. Then again if we were above-ground I had little to no intention of returning back to those tunnels. I’m sure there was some enterprising dwarf archeologist that would be willing to make the trip on my stead.

I turned from the broken mirror to the rest of the room. Everywhere there was odd bits of pottery with animalistic figures carved into them. Behind me was something that resembled a coffin. There were faces carved into the sides.

“Lorekeeper, do you recognize anything in this room. Anything that might indicate where we are?”

The mechanically-gnomelike projection of the Lorekeeper suddenly appeared next to me. It walked up the coffin and looked closely.

“Scanning… Patterns do not match anything in memory banks.”

I sighed at the supposed Lorekeeper’s lack of any lore. I decided to take a closer look. The faces didn’t resemble any kind of artstyle I was familiar with, but I did recognize the oddly pointy ears and the thin angled jaws. My guess was that it was elven. No tusks so they couldn’t be trolls and I doubted goblins cared much about pottery. The stone structure was probably a coffin so my guess was this to be an elven tomb. Elven tomb meant elven territory which meant I was somewhere up in the Eversong Woods.

“I have detected an anomaly with this location.”

“What do you mean?”

“Background energy levels are low… far lower than expected…”

“So, is that a good thing or bad thing?”

“Neither as of this present time. Simply a peculiar observation.”

I took a closer look at the faces. They were distinctly elvish but the style definitely wasn’t

I suddenly recalled elves didn’t exactly bury their dead in the ground or in coffins for that matter. They set them afire and adrift on a small boat to the Great Sea. A ritual to let the spirits rejoin their ancestors in their ancient long-lost homeland of Kalimdor.

I stepped away from the coffin, then decided to lay down on the ground and breathe easy. For the first time in this very long day I didn’t feel like I was in imminent danger. I was missing all my armor from the belt up, but it was incredibly relieving to not have it weighing me down. I never did like wearing heavy plate. Thinking back, I should have joined as a priest. Far from the frontlines for the most part and if they weren’t healing patients, they were doing paperwork, or preaching sermons.

“I have detected an unknown lifeform within your vicinity.”

Then I saw a shadow creep through the roof of the room. It blotted out beams of light coming from the holes as it traveled along. It made a long insectile hiss. I recognized the sound, and felt the hairs crawl on my back. I recognized it from one too many trips with the local laborers in Northshire to clear out their nests in the mountains.

Spiders. Giant spiders.

The shadow passed by. I didn’t think they noticed me. Otherwise they would have started reaching through the open holes in the roof. Spiders didn’t let their prey off easy. Still, I wasn’t going to stay and wait for it come back in the event it changed its mind. My luck had not been great this day.

“We need to leave,” I said then picked up the stone disc. The gnomish projection vanished.

If we were in elven territory there was probably farstrider patrol or some town nearby. I just needed to get to one of those to get back in touch with the Alliance. After that I was home free.

When I swept the room with my eyes, I noticed a second set of stairs leading up opposite the one facing the mirror. There were no other openings in the room, so I guessed it was our only way out.

I followed up the stairs to the top, and came before a stone door. I gave it a light shove. It didn’t budge at all. The one time I needed a door to open and it didn’t. Rotten luck for sure.

I pushed a bit and felt the stone move, barely. I strained and put my back into it. Every single bruise on my body erupted in pain at that effort. I was going to need to see a healer after all the punishment I put myself through today. I dreaded the odd looks I was going to get when a paladin came to the healing tent for services.

The stone platform moved up and up until finally it fell to the side. I popped my head out the opening and gasped.

The fresh scent of the forest wafted by. I squinted at the sudden brightness of the sun. Everywhere I was surrounded by greenery. Trees and shrubs pocketed the landscape. A light breeze past by, cooling the sweat off my face. A few birds were chirping nearby. I could hear water rushing from some stream or creek nearby. It felt good to be in a forest, after months in a barren desert and several hours in dark tunnels.

I didn’t dwell too long. There was no telling when that spider would come back, and where there was one spider there was a brood. My appetite for dealing with monstrous creatures was completely full for the day. I took one step out of the tomb and ran into the forest.

There was something odd though. I spent enough time in forests all around the world as a soldier and as an herbalist to get a sense of what was what. First, there was no peace blossoms anywhere. They literally grew everywhere and I couldn’t see a single one on the ground. There was also something off about the trees. They gnarled in a way that I was not familiar with.

I also noticed a gray owl with red streaked feathers, perched on a branch up ahead with a pair of horns poking out of its head. It stared at me with bright yellow eyes, following each step I made.

Even the animals were disconcerting.

“Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood, there are more lifeforms approaching your location. Recommend caution.”

“What?” I asked and stopped. “Where?”

“West of your current location.”.

“How am I supposed to know where west is?”

“Translating… left from your current direction,”

Damn it. I couldn’t see anything. One too many trees and bushes around. Whatever it was, I didn’t know if it was a farstrider patrol, troll raiding party, or something else. I had no intention of letting it find me first though.

There was a tree large enough to hide my bulk to the left. I dashed behind it, opposite the direction that the Lorekeeper pointed. I reached for the hilt of my sword, in the event of unpleasant company.

I heard the crackle of branches and shifting grass. The noises grew louder and closer. Voices speaking in elvish.

“I-I don’t like this,” a female voice squeaked. “Lyna, we should go back to the camp. Let the keepers know.”

“Merrill, quit your whining,” I heard another female voice reply. “You heard that noise, didn’t you? It definitely came from the old tomb that Mithra mentioned was out here. Something happened. We need to investigate.”

“I’m all for adventure but are you sure about this Lyna?” said a male voice. “I think we should let Keeper Maretheri and Zathrian know. They would probably have a better idea.”

“Tamlen,” the female voice of the one known as Lyna replied. “You’re not scared are you?”

“No!” he exclaimed. “Of course not! Its just that… the forest up here just doesn’t feel right. Besides! We’re just visiting and I think Keeper Zathrian should know since it is by his clan camp. I’m not scared though.”

“If there is nothing to be scared of then there is no reason not to investigate is there Lethalin?” the female voice said. “Besides, we are all Dalish. It is our job to safeguard our people’s history.”

There was a sigh. “Okay Lethallan.”

I heard the three of them pass on the other side of the tree. I shifted, getting a look.

They wore what looked like plain brown leather jerkins and boots. One had fur shoulder-guards and a lightly colored cloth jerkin. They were armed. One of the females and the male had bows. The other female carried a staff. Two hunters and a mage. I didn’t see any of the hunter’s companions. The animals were probably somewhere nearby. They looked young although most elves had ages that were indistinguishable.

For elves these were remarkably peculiar outfits. This was the first time I’ve seen an elf where anything cheaper than silk. Farstrider scouts wore a mix of expensive mageweave cloth and mithril chainmail.

Bits of their language made no sense. I had no idea what Keeper or Lethallan or Lethallin stood for. Probably some obscure and special elvish title. Was Dalish the name of a famous clan? Elvish history was always convoluted. They were also most certainly young, inexperienced, or both. Did elves stop aging at 20?

I was about to reveal myself, but hesitated. They mentioned this as the Brecillian forest, which meant it probably wasn’t Eversong. Where was I?

They stopped and crouched behind some trees.

“I see the tomb,” the one I guessed to be Lyna said. “It looks like someone’s been in recently.”

“Or something,” said the one I guessed to be Tamlen.

“Scared?” Lyna said.

“No!” Tamlen replied.

“Well I’m going to take a closer look,” said Lyna, she took a step forward.

Whether or not these elves were friendly I couldn’t just let them walk toward the spiders. The creatures weren’t visible but I knew they were around.

“Hey stop!” I yelled in elvish, stepping away from the tree. “Don’t go any further!”

The three turned around.

Then the elven mannerisms that were oh-so forcefully ingrained kicked in. I lightly bowed with one hand over my chest the other behind my back, “Hello. I am Knight-Lieutenant Eratus Riverwood of the Alliance. I am looking for…,”

When I brought my head up the all three had their weapons trained on me. Great.

“Quiet shem!” Lyna said. “What are you doing on Dalish lands!”

“It is obvious,” said Tamlen. “I mean look at what he is wearing. Plate leggings. Fancy sword. That disc must be some ancestral artifact no doubt. He is obviously trying to wear off what he has stolen.”

I became conscious of my outfit. My Alliance tabard was wrapped around my breastplate which was sitting abandoned back in the caverns. At the moment, I probably looked like a bandit.

“Knight-Lieutenant Eratus. I am detecting hostile intent from the lifeforms.”

“You speak elvish?” Merill asked.

“Why yes!” I said. “I learned from Magister Whisperwind at the city of Stor-,” I stopped talking as an arrow flew by my face.

“You,” said the one known as Lyna. “Don’t talk unless you want an arrow through your head,” She knocked another arrow. “And Merill shut up!”

“Sorry!” Merrill replied.

“What are you doing here?”, Lyna asked.

“Wait, believe me,” I said. “I know this doesn’t look right but I am not a graverobber or bandit. I am from the Alliance. I assure you, I did not mean to intrude upon your lands. It was purely unintentional.”

“Are you stupid?” Tamlen said. “How does one accidentally wander into an elven tomb.”

I wasn’t sure how to answer his question. So, you see an ancient talking rock convinced me to jump into a mirror, and that is how I ended up here. Oh, and I also threw up in the floor of that tomb you hold to be sacred. Yea… I had a hard time convincing myself about that one.

“Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. I have also detected multiple hostile lifeforms converging on your current position,” Lorekeeper Deldarron said.

“Look,” I said. “It’s a long story, but can we do this somewhere else? I can assure you I didn’t raid any tombs or people. There is a brood of spiders getting close.”

“Hah!” replied Tamlen. “Nice try at bluffing. What do you think Lyna?”

“He probably is trying to weasel his way out,” she replied. “How about this, shem. First you are going to drop everything you have.”

“That is not going to happen,” I said. “These are my possessions. Look, I am an Alliance Paladin. Can’t you just point me in the direction of the nearest town and we go our separate ways? I am sure any damage can be recompensated through the Stormwind representative.”

“Alliance? Stormwind? Wha-?” Merrill asked but was cut off by the other female elf.

“I don’t particularly care and I am not going to let a thieving shem run off with his loot,” said Lyna. You have 3 seconds to strip yourself of everything save your clothes before we poke you full of arrows.”

This was insanity. I knew elves could be stern bastards but all the ones I met so far were relatively friendly.

I glanced at the mana gauge on my wrist. 38%.

“Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. Hostile Lifeforms are rapidly converging…”

“Look, can’t we be reasonable?” I asked. I brought the disc in front of me with one hand behind it. With the hidden hand I began to perform the motions of a barrier seal.

“Three…. ,” she said.

The church of light’s doctrine was pretty clear as far as what I should do. I was innocent, and they were about to strike me down. Ergo, in defense of the innocent, I can retaliate in kind. As far as any political ramifications of a human paladin striking down an elf, I wasn’t too sure about that.

“Two….”

However, I had no plans of dying after all I had been through today. I completed the seal. Light energy flowed from my core.

“One…” She pulled the arrow back.

There was a loud hiss.

“Look out!” Tamlen said. He dropped his bow and tackled Lyna to the side.

A massive spider, its carapace the size of a barrel, flew out from the brush. It landed where the female elf once was. The creature bared its fangs. Their teeth were the size of swords and glistened with green venom.

There was another hiss as I saw another spider pop out of the brush, leaping toward me. I side-stepped away from the spider’s landing.

I freed my sword from its sheath then stabbed as the spider lunged at me. The barrier flared as the creature pinged off it while my sword cleaved through it like a hot knife through butter.

Huh? Was I always that strong? The hides of those thing were notoriously thick. Heavy weapons like axes only pierced the skin with sustained blows. All I was trying to do was prod it away with the sword.

Instead, the sword cut deep into the spider’s body. It shrieked in agony as green ichor sprayed out of its wound. It fell to the ground, shriveling and twitching its feet as it died.

“Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. This would be a perfect opportunity to disengage and retreat.”

It was. More giant spiders had begun crawling towards us. All of them were going after the elves. I could easily disappear into the forest and there wasn’t a thing they could do about it.

The three of them were probably as good as dead. Those things were ferocious. I had no responsibility to help them. They were about to shoot me only a few moments ago. I began to turn away.

Just leave

Then I saw the spiders lunge; the elf mage was split from the other two as they all tried to duck away. One of the creatures scurried behind her.

“Merill!” Lyna yelled.

The elf mage looked behind her, into the spider’s open maw. Her eyes were wide and paralyzed with fear. She wasn’t going to react in time.

The spider’s fangs, bounced off a barrier of light. The creature hissed and backed away, confused by the sudden obstruction.

I had an arm raised. I think this was a new record moment that I had finished a seal so quickly.

“Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood. These lifeforms have demonstrated hostile intent. Why do you protect them?”

“Look, I’m not sure why either,” I replied. “But I can’t just let them die here. It just-It just isn’t the way.”

So much for swearing not to do any more self-sacrificial escapades.

I raised my hand high, and let light energy gather in my hands for a few moments before releasing it. “Close your eyes!” I yelled.

There was a bright flash. It was a neat little trick that all paladins were taught while learning to control light energy. Useful for blinding unsuspecting opponents and I knew spiders had sensitive eyes.

The creatures hissed in unison. They scrambled in confusion, no longer attacking in an organized manner.

This was all I needed to gain the initiative. I ran forward and shot my blade through a spider that got too close. The spider split in two. Were these spiders of an exceptionally weak variety?

“Y-you can use magic?” the mage elf squeaked. Ichor splashed over her.

“Not magic! I’m a paladin! Get out of the way!” I yelled as I swept past her and cleaved another spider in half. A third one managed to regain its senses and lunged toward me. I redirected the barrier to myself and the spider bounced off. I followed with a kick that sent it reeling back.

The elves focused their efforts on the spiders. We began to drive them back.

Suddenly there was a loud shriek.

A massive shadow loomed over the tomb. All of us turned to look at the newcomer. It was the brood mother.

The thing looked right at me, then shrieked revealing rows and rows of fangs. If the other spiders had the equivalent of individual swords, this one had an armory.

“Approaching lifeform… It has appeared to have identified you as the greatest threat.”

“Well that’s a joy,” I replied.

“I’m taking this!” I yelled at the elves then brandished my sword before running toward the brood mother. If the other spiders were that weak, then the brood mother couldn’t be too hard to take down. Right?

I recharged my barrier and ran towards the thing. It lunged. The countless fangs dug into the shield, rippling across the barrier and make visible cracks.

“Shit,” I muttered. I swung, trying to strike its head. It retreated in time however, and my sword slashed through empty air.

As I charged forward and swung again, it changed tactics. It spat out several web blobs while retreating. The sticky material clung to my barrier, rooting me in place. My sword swept through thin air once more.

The giant monster then leaped. I watched it fly into the air, as high as the tallest tree in the forest before spiraling down toward me.

I pressed both hands against my barrier, channeling more light energy into it.

Two of the thing’s legs landed right on top of me. I could feel the barrier strain then crack then smooth out as I fed more light energy into it. Mana levels dropped to 18%.

Then its fangs came down. The rows of teeth punctured through the barrier and into my shoulders. I fell.

The thing kept its assault, keeping me pinned to the ground. The fangs were barely skin deep but I could feel a numbness begin to spread as the venom took effect.

Then the giant spider retreated. It screamed in agony. I saw two arrows appear on its head. Several more flew over me and landed on its carapace. I thought I saw an ice bolt among them.

In the distance, I was able to see three elves had their weapons raised.

The giant spider turned its attention toward them. It crawled over me and toward them.

“Oh no you don’t!” I yelled. I shoved my sword through its carapace as it crawled over me. The brood mother shrieked in pain then shifted to the side. I dislodged the sword and ducked under its bulk. Before it could finish turning, I slammed the sword through its rear legs. The crippled being fell to the side.

I dropped the stone disc and gripped the sword with both hands. I hacked away at the carapace, ichor flying everywhere. I poured every ounce of frustration and stress that had built up during the day into my blows. I kept hacking away, and continued long after the brood mother stopped moving.

Finally, too exhausted to continue, I dropped the sword. I couldn’t feel my arms. There was a numbness spreading through my neck. I could see the spider bites lining my upper chest. Dizziness overtook me. I lost my balance.

“Knight-Lieutenant Riverwood I am senssgn pssiiiin thrggg…”

I saw were the three elves running toward me before I passed out.