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Royal Road

SomethingOtherThanRain

A Nerubian's Journey by Fizzicks

Chapter 5

Report

Krivax was glad Hadix had given him permission to access the Circle's historical records because reading about the Nerubian-Vrykul Wars was genuinely fascinating.

Millenia ago, when the nerubians were not quite so isolationist and the vrykul still roamed the continent, skirmishes between the two races were common.

The first war lasted for several years and started when Azjol-Nerub began expanding into vrykul territory. The nerubians leveraged their superior mobility and ability to navigate underground to harass vrykul settlements before their Warriors could respond. The vrykul were superior Warriors in a straightforward fight, and they had tamed powerful proto-dragons, but that mattered little when confronted with nerubian guerrilla tactics.

Several times the vrykul managed to cleverly ambush nerubian forces and strike solid blows against Azjol-Nerub, but with their farms burned, their craftsmen killed in their sleep, and their civilian population living in fear, it seemed as if they would lose the war.

However, that began to change when the vrykul runeseers managed to develop magic that would allow them to map the tunnels that the nerubians used to navigate their territory. From that point on, the vrykul managed to ambush nerubian forces with far greater frequency, yet they still lacked the ability to directly attack nerubian strongholds.

Every time the vrykul Warriors would attempt to enter the tunnels and take the fight to their enemies, the nerubians would simply collapse the tunnels and quickly dig new ones with their jormungar. This, combined with the damage they had already taken meant the vrykul were still likely to lose the war.

Fortunately for the vrykul, the tides of war changed in their favor when Magnar Icebreaker discovered he could find the weak points in glacier walls and use his vrykul strength to dig tunnels directly into nerubian strongholds.

At the time, Azjol-Nerub's military was almost exclusively centered around defeating their enemies through the use of superior mobility and hit-and-run tactics. When that advantage was lost, they hardly stood a chance against the superior combat forces of the vrykul.

The first Nerubian-Vrykul War lasted several more years, but Azjol-Nerub eventually saw that they would not be able to win the war without reforming their military doctrine, so they retreated to the safety of their underground kingdom.

For the nerubians, who believed themselves to be the greatest species in the world, this was a humiliating defeat that had immense political consequences.

The High King of the time, Anub'Zikith, lost much of his popularity with the various Underkings, Queens, and political factions throughout the kingdom. Reading between the lines, it was obvious to Krivax that Anub'Zikith only managed to hold on to power by purging his political enemies and promising a renewed war with the vrykul.

The High King whipped up Azjol-Nerub into a jingoistic zeal and focused the nerubians on reshaping their military into one that could defeat the vrykul. Interestingly, these efforts are how some of the nerubian Flyers and nerubian Skitterers managed to gain their sapience.

When the leaders of Azjol-Nerub realized they needed to develop the capability to fight their enemies in head-on engagements, they struggled to find a way to do so. Simply put, the vrykul Warriors outclassed the nerubian Warriors to a tremendous degree. After all, the vrykul spent their entire lives cultivating their strength and learning how to become better Warriors. The only Warriors amongst the nerubians who could stand toe-to-toe with the vrykul were the Spiderlords.

Understanding that they could not overcome their enemies with quality, the leaders of Azjol-Nerub instead decided to overwhelm the vrykul with quantity, a tactic their people were well suited for.

However, a problem quickly arose.

While the Queens could produce large numbers of nerubians, and those newly born nerubians were able to be trained to an acceptable level within only a few years, they still could not sustain a swarm capable of overwhelming the vrykul.

The reason for this was simply that they did not have enough food.

A baseline nerubian had significantly more body mass than a human and required more food to sustain themself as a result.

Azjol-Nerub was able to sustain a large population due to careful planning and the use of magic to significantly increase the amount of food they could produce.

In order to overcome these limitations, High King Anub'Zikith directed the Queens to create a new caste of nerubians that could be both produced in large numbers and required less substance. This was a difficult task for the Queens, given the nerubians they created still required a proportional amount of energy to sustain their biomass.

Their efforts were mostly fruitless until Queen Zilnara the Fleshwarper stumbled upon a method to modify the nerubian Flyers and Skitterers in ways that allowed them to subsist partially on magic.

Previously, these templates of nerubians had limited intelligence and were generally used for repetitive menial labor. However, after Zilnara's modifications, these nerubians could be produced in large enough numbers to be useful to Azjol-Nerub's military.

While Intuitive Magic allowed the vrykul to rely on the quality of their Warriors to fight back the nerubians, the large quantity of nerubians that the Queens could now produce would prove to have a quality of its own.

The only problems Azjol-Nerub faced in integrating the nerubian Skitterers and Flyers into their military were due to their lack of intelligence. While the more intelligent castes of nerubians were capable of controlling their less intelligent brethren, the non-sapient nerubians simply weren't smart enough to execute complex battlefield maneuvers.

Fortunately, the problem was easily solved by the Queens granting sapience to the most capable members of the caste.

The newly sapient Flyers and Skitterers were not only very capable of controlling and directing the rest of their caste, but they also developed a form of Intuitive Magic that increased their strength while leading a swarm.

With this, Azjol-Nerub succeeded in forming an army that consisted of large swarms of Nerubian Flyers and Skitteres, arachnathids, and baseline nerubian Warriors. The army would quickly overwhelm their enemies with their numerical superiority while the traditional nerubian forces focused on ambushing vulnerable targets.

After reforming their military, Azjol-Nerub might have succeeded in defeating the vrykul in the second Nerubian-Vrykul War, if they hadn't made a fatal mistake.

For reasons that remained unexplained in the historical records, High King Anub'Zikith made the extremely foolish decision to attempt an assault on Ulduar with the intention of stealing its secrets.

In a single day, a large section of the army that had been painstakingly prepared by Azjol-Nerub was destroyed by Ulduar's defenses, and the vrykul immediately took advantage.

Despite losing a large portion of their forces, the second Nerubian-Vrykul War lasted for many years as the nerubian Flyers and Skitterers proved their worth. Powerful vrykul Warriors would find themselves covered in innumerable Skitters and proto-dragons would fall from the sky as Flyers webbed their wings.

Unfortunately for Azjol-Nerub, however, their efforts were made futile when Magnar Icebreaker entered the war with a large host of powerful vrykul Warriors.

By then, Magnar was a legend to both the nerubians and the vrykul which meant that the resulting shift in morale became a death sentence for Azjol-Nerub's war effort.

The nerubians suffered a series of humiliating defeats against Magnar that forced them to once again retreat to their underground sanctuaries, except this time the High King did not survive his failure.

Anub'Zikith was immediately deposed and his successor instituted a series of isolationist reforms and propaganda campaigns that served as the basis for their current insular policy.

For many centuries, nerubians were completely banned from leaving the underground kingdom and all mention of Ulduar was purged from the records. The only reason Krivax knew that the location they had attacked was Ulduar, was because of his meta-knowledge. In the records, the location Anub'Zikith decided to attack is only referred to as a "place of forbidden knowledge and artifacts."

Reading Azjol-Nerub's propaganda was almost as interesting as reading about the war. It boggles the mind how the kingdom's leaders were able to successfully paint the surface simultaneously as a land of existential danger and pathetic life forms unworthy of consideration.

Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised, back on Earth lots of regimes were not shy about painting their enemies as both weak and a grave danger, Krivax mused as he put away the historical documents Hadix had given him. I suppose I should just try to be grateful they've eased up on their isolationism enough for Hadix to get me permission to travel to the surface.

For the past few months, Krivax had been studying as hard as possible to reach the requirements Vizier Hadix said he needed to reach before he would be allowed to seek out the surface races.

While Krivax was a bit annoyed, he was still grateful he only needed to convince one Vizier rather than the city's government.

Krivax spent the next few minutes reading the Tome of Introductory Spatial Magic that Hadix assigned him to study before he was interrupted by a loud sound coming from his chest.

Flinching at the sudden noise, Krivax looked down to see the web he'd infused with a time-delayed alarm spell glowing brightly and releasing the noisy ringing sound.

Crap! I forgot about my spar with Masruk!

His friend was generally very understanding whenever Krivax lost track of time while studying, but it still made him feel bad to leave Masruk waiting.

Quickly donning the silk robes given to all new Initiates of the Circle—it felt really nice to be able to wear clothes again—Krivax left his assigned room and made his way out of the ziggurat.

The distance between the Warrior's training yard and the Circle of Viziers was quite large, but Krivax had set his alarm to give him enough time to travel there.

Fortunately, he was recognized and quickly let in by the armored guard when he reached the Warrior's headquarters. Unlike the Circle's ziggurat, the Warriors resided in a part of a city that differed from the rest of the city only in its military nature.

Ignoring the armored Warriors glancing at him and his robes in curiosity, Krivax swiftly made his way to the training yard.

Thankfully, he knew where he was going, and once he reached there Masruk was easy to find.

Krivax watched as his friend practiced spear exercises, slightly surprised at how much faster his movements had become since their last meeting. Masruk spent most of his time practicing, and it showed.

Seeing no reason to delay, Krivax skittered past the other training Warriors and greeted his friend.

"Hello, Masruk. I wasn't late for our meeting this time," Krivax said cheerfully. After devoting most of his time to learning so he could travel to the surface as quickly as possible, he started to really look forward to his occasional spars with Masruk.

It was nice to have an excuse he could use to socialize with his friend while also training. Most members of the Circle lacked any combat training, but Hadix insisted Krivax needed to learn how to fight if he wanted to go to the surface. As a result, Krivax decided the best way to accomplish this was by frequently sparring with Masruk.

He wasn't complaining, Azeroth was too dangerous for him to remain helpless.

Apparently, Masruk had not noticed him, because his expression was one of clear surprise when he stopped his training and turned to look at Krivax.

"Krivax, I was not expecting you so soon," said Masruk. Krivax couldn't help but feel pleased that his friend had finally stopped addressing him formally, it took some convincing to get him to stop calling him "Peer" or "Initiate" after they started meeting again. "Usually you would not arrive for another half hour."

"I know. I felt bad about always being late so I asked Vizier Hadix to teach me a spell I could use to alert me at a specified time."

Masruk merely nodded his understanding, he was not one to care about spells or magic unless it was related to combat.

"Good. Then we have more time to spar."

Krivax snorted in amusement and moved to take his place in one of the nearby wide-open areas set aside for spars without comment. He knew from experience that Masruk would not be able to focus on socializing until they both finished their spar.

Once he was ready, Krivax turned to face Masruk—who stood on the other side of the sparring area—and indicated his readiness.

Masruk took on a ready stance, pointing his spear in Krivax's direction and preparing to charge while Krivax prepared to start casting as soon as the spar began. They both knew they would need to use every second wisely.

Sadly, they didn't have a referee so they would need to use their own judgment on when to start.

After a few tense moments of staring at each other, Masruk suddenly began charging as quickly as he could and Krivax started to cast a Frostbolt.

Krivax was aware that he had very little time to cast magic before Masruk reached and quickly subdued him, but thankfully he was not without options.

As Masruk charged at him with blisteringly quick speeds and swung his blunted blade at Krivax's side, three things happened simultaneously.

First, Krivax finished casting his Frostbolt, sending a projectile of frost into Masruk's side. The spell did not create any actual ice, but the frost magic carried a kinetic portion that caused Masruk to stagger.

Second, a long string of silk was shot from Krivax's spinneret into one of the nearby walls, which he promptly used to pull himself away from the Warrior.

Third, Krivax threw a ball of silk—one which he'd imbued with a spell through spellweaving before the fight—at Masruk.

Well, calling it a spell might be too generous.

While spellweaving was powerful, it was a complex magical art that didn't just allow him to store whatever spell he wanted and use it whenever he felt like it. Learning how to weave a spell into his silk was almost as difficult as learning the spell in the first place. Krivax simply didn't have enough for that given his other obligations.

But even if he could, the mana infused into the silk would not recuperate until the spell was unleashed. If that weren't the case then the Viziers would have already taken over the world by machine-gunning out Pyroblasts at everything in their way.

Fortunately, throwing a bunch of arcane energy into a strand of silk and crushing it into a ball was both cheap in terms of mana and rather simple.

As Krivax was pulled towards the wall, the ball of silk attached itself to Masruk's side. Even as he started to cast his next Frostbolt, Krivax willed the arcane energy in the silk ball to release itself, causing Masruk to be knocked down by the improvised arcane missile.

There was a limit to how much arcane magic he could stuff inside of a silk ball safely, and that limit was actually rather small. Thankfully, while his arcane silk bomb was a bit weak, it was still enough to knock Masruk over given he'd already been pushed off balance by the Frostbolt.

Krivax ruthlessly fired a second Frostbolt at his friend while he was knocked down and started casting another.

Even though he currently held the advantage in the spar due to his trick, Krivax knew he could still lose the fight. Masruk could take a lot of punishment before being forced to yield and Krivax was now backed against the wall, meaning he could not use his silk to run away again.

He'd not yet learned many spells he could cast while moving, so was forced to stand his ground and continue throwing Frostbolts.

The second Frostbolt hit, but Masruk merely grunted, picked himself off the ground, and started charging Krivax for the second time, albeit with less speed due to the Frostbolt's slowing effect.

When the third hit, Masruk was visibly straining himself not to concede, but still he charged.

Krivax was impressed, while they were both obviously holding back since this was a friendly spar, three Frostbolts at that strength would have been enough to force a concession the last time they met. It was good to see his friend improve himself.

Just as he was about to cast the fourth and hopefully final Frostbolt, he was surprised to find his concentration interrupted as a rock crashed into his chest. The rock was not enough to actually injure him, but it did succeed in slowing down his casting.

With a burst of speed he should not be capable of after tanking three Frostbolts, Masruk quickly closed the distance and swung his spear into Krivax's side.

Krivax winced but didn't panic. Normally, such a blow would fully interrupt his spell and decide the result of the spar, but this time he had a trick up his sleeve.

Instead of his casting being interrupted when the blunted blade struck him an icy barrier materialized and absorbed a portion of the blow's strength.

Krivax could see Masruk's surprise as he finished casting the fourth Frostbolt directly into his chest.

He was also sure Masruk could see the surprise in Krivax's eyes when that failed to end the spar.

For a moment, he worried that his friend was continuing the spar past a safe point out of a desire for victory, but he quickly dismissed the thought. Masruk was far too honest and cared too much about the safety of those around him to allow a friendly spar to become unsafe.

From there, the fight devolved into Krivax scrambling—and failing—to fight off a fully armored Warrior in melee range. Imagine how surprised he was when a lucky blast of unrefined arcane magic to the face actually resulted in Masruk conceding.

The two young nerubians spent the next few minutes catching their breath and hydrating in companionable silence. Not for the first time, Krivax wondered how the nerubian cardiovascular system functioned and how his body managed to not overheat without sweat glands.

After a moment, Krivax dismissed the matter as magical bullshit, like the rest of his body's oddities.

Once the two of them caught their breath, they started to discuss the details of the spar and give each other advice. Krivax curiously asked his friend how he was able to withstand so many Frostbolts.

Apparently, one of Masruk's teachers taught him how to use his Intuitive Magic to dampen incoming damage.

Masruk, don't you know that using multiple specs is too overpowered?

Krivax had no room to complain, however. He was perfectly capable of using ice, fire, and arcane spells, even if he did favor ice.

Masruk then asked him about the Ice Barrier spell, and he explained that Vizier Hadix had insisted that he learn it.

"Krivax, what drives you to learn magic with such fervor? You have explained to me that your mentor requires this of you, but you have not shared your goals."

Krivax shifted nervously as he considered his friend's question. Until now, Masruk had never outright asked about his future goals and Krivax had never volunteered the information.

He would be… disappointed if his friend shared the xenophobic attitude of the rest of their people. However, he knew this wasn't something he could hide forever, so it was best to just rip off the bandaid.

"Well, you know that I asked to be designated to the Surface World Research Division, right? I want to connect our people to the other races that live in this world because I really believe we can all benefit a lot from dialogue and cooperation. A lot of our people consider the other races primitive and unworthy of attention, but I want to change that kind of thinking"

Masruk was quiet as he processed his friend's words. He was aware that other kinds of people existed, but he had never put much thought into them. Unless they were a threat to his home, then why should he care about them?

His friend's interests seemed strange to him, but Krivax had always had a different perspective compared to the rest of their cluster. Masruk had long grown used to his friend's eccentricities, so he would try to show interest in Krivax's passions.

"These other races. Do they have strong Warriors?"

When he heard Masruk's question, Krivax couldn't help but chuckle in surprise and relief.

"Well, I think they should. I don't know for certain, but neither does anybody else. Seems like something worth figuring out, no?"

Krivax tried to persuade his friend to be interested in the world outside of Azjol-Nerub with stories about dragons, the Drakkari's Loa, and foreign magic, but it was only when he started talking about the vrykul that Masruk became visibly interested.

"These vrykul, they are powerful Warriors who all went to sleep? They defeated us in a war?"

The nerubians were aware of the slumbering vrykul and generally did their best to stay away from their resting grounds. Even after many millennia, Azjol-Nerub was not interested in a third Nerubian-Vrykul War after how poorly the first two went.

"Yes, they're very strong. They even forced the kingdom to change its military doctrine," Krivax said excitedly. Even if their interests were a bit different, it was nice to see Masruk curious about something outside of Azjol-Nerub.

Eventually, after exhausting his knowledge about the documented feats of strength displayed by vrykul Warriors and then explaining what he knew about Drakkari Warriors, Masruk made a surprising announcement.

"I will join you when you go to the surface," said Masruk.

"Why?" Krivax asked, befuddled. "You've never expressed an interest in the surface before today, why would you want to go there now?"

"The surface seems unexpectedly dangerous. If I go with you to the surface world, not only will I be able to meet the Warriors of the other races and see their skill with my own eyes, but I will also be able to protect you from these threats."

Krivax was not quite sure how to react. Nerubians did not often express concern for one another, so he was touched by Masruk's worry. He was not certain if Hadix would agree to allow Masruk to accompany him to the surface, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Over the long years of peace, the Viziers had accumulated significantly more political power compared to the Warriors. Assigning a relatively unimportant Warrior like Masruk to protect Krivax on the surface should not be too much of an issue.

"Really? I'm touched. Thank you, Masruk. I will be much safer on the surface if I am accompanied by Masruk, Defender of the Weak."

"For some reason, I feel like you are mocking me," Masruk said evenly.

"Why would you think that? Anyone with sense would feel safer in the presence of Masruk, Guardian of the Helpless."

"Given you are indeed weak and flimsy, I feel like these titles are appropriate."

Krivax and Masruk spent the rest of their meeting bantering and catching each other up with their respective training.

When Krivax left to return to his studies, he felt a little more eager to finally finish his training. He was very close to fulfilling the requirements Vizier Hadix set out for him to be permitted to travel to the surface.

Krivax was already motivated to learn as quickly as possible by the threat of the Lich King, but now that his friend wished to join him, he was feeling even more impatient to finally set foot outside the underground kingdom for the first time.

I wonder how Masruk will react when he sees the sky.

Royal Road

SomethingOtherThanRain

A Nerubian's Journey by Fizzicks

Chapter 6

Report

Krivax focused every bit of willpower he possessed into maintaining the Ice Barrier between him and the steady onslaught of incoming Arcane Missiles.

Vizier Hadix had already evaluated his comprehension of magical theory, general surface world knowledge, and combat. Thankfully, he'd met the Vizier's standards in all these topics. After Hadix decides his Ice Barrier is sufficiently durable, then there is only one more thing he needs to do before Hadix would allow him to go to the surface.

That's if my Ice Barrier is actually good enough. I don't think I'll be able to hold this for much longer.

Krivax channeled as much arcane magic as he could handle into his barrier while simultaneously altering it into ice.

His pride was more than a little hurt by the bored expression on Hadix's face as he casually cast Arcane Missile after Arcane Missile without pause. Krivax could feel the confidence he'd gained since joining the Circle diminish with every lazily cast spell he struggled to defend against.

Finally, the barrage proved too much and Krivax let out a shocked cry as the Ice Barrier shattered to pieces. Fortunately, the Arcane Missile he half expected to smash into his face never came.

"Adequate," said Hadix, lowering the single hand he'd previously been using to cast. "Protective magics are the singularly most important kind of magic for any Mage who expects to find themselves in a combat situation. Your Ice Barrier is sufficiently powerful to ensure you do not die the moment you reach the surface. I am now confident the resources I've invested in you will not be needlessly wasted."

Krivax took a moment to catch his breath before responding.

"Thank you, Vizier," said Krivax, bowing to the older nerubian. "I am grateful for the opportunities I have been granted and I will strive to prove myself worthy of these privileges."

Even if Hadix only favored him with the intention of furthering his own interests, the Vizier's assistance had been invaluable to Krivax. There was no way he would have been able to learn as much as he had in such a short amount of time without his help. Both personal instruction and access to otherwise inaccessible stores of knowledge—combined with constant studying—placed Krivax far ahead of where he would be without the Vizier's assistance.

"Hmph. We shall see. Now that you have demonstrated your capacity to survive on the surface, you will now explain your plans and intended goals. Which of the surface races do you intend to approach, how shall you gain their trust, and what do you intend to gain from this endeavor?"

"I intend to approach the Tuskarr, Vizier Hadix," Krivax said with confidence.

He knew Hadix was likely already aware of his choice since Krivax had spent much of his time trying to learn the Tuskarr language. It was fortunate that several centuries ago, a member of the Surface World Research Division had grown curious enough about the walrus people to study them. Sadly, she eventually lost interest in the Tuskarr and turned her attention to other research projects.

"Be sure to remember the limited lifespans of the other races, Initiate. It is likely their language has changed notably since our Division last researched the creatures," lectured Hadix, confirming that he was keeping track of Krivax's studies. While the lifespan of a baseline nerubian was only as long as the lifespan of a human, the Viziers, Spiderlords, and Queens could all live for a few millennia.

Krivax did not believe the language would have drifted too much over the past few centuries. His difficulties in communication would more than likely stem from simply not knowing enough of the language. Thankfully, while translation spells were far too advanced for Krivax to learn at his current skill level, Hadix had been kind enough to offer his assistance. The Vizier had promised to give him an artifact that would be capable of translating his intentions, even if the specific meaning were unable to pass the language barrier.

"Given you are able to properly communicate with the Tuskarr, how will you gain their trust? It has been noted over the years that many of the surface races find our appearance to be… intimidating."

Well, yeah. I think anyone with sense would be terrified if they saw a giant spider person.

"It was noted by the most recent Vizier to study the Tuskarr that their culture holds a particular reverence for the concept of fishing. When I approach them, I intend to offer a fish as a sign of good faith," said Krivax. When he said the word fishing, he used the Tuskarr word for the concept, because the nerubian language did not have its own equivalent.

"Fishing?" Hadix questioned, pronouncing the foreign word perfectly on his first try. Damned centuries-old wizards and their absurd intelligence.

"It is a Tuskarr word describing the act of hunting aquatic creatures, primarily for sustenance, but it is also an action that holds great significance in their culture," Krivax explained.

The nerubians' underground kingdom did have access to water sources below the ground that were large enough to sustain their people—along with caverns with high humidity that specially made webs were placed in to collect condensed water—but fish and other aquatic life were much less plentiful than on the surface.

The closest approximation the nerubians had for fishing was a small community of Weavers that used silk webs to catch the occasional fish that flowed into their underground rivers.

Krivax had only learned of these fishing nerubians because he specifically looked for them after learning of the Tuskarrs' traditions. However, even they did not have a word for what they were doing as it was simply a hobby that did not produce nearly enough food to become its own industry. The fish served more as a rare luxury dish only the fishing Weavers occasionally enjoyed.

Thankfully, the fishing Weavers had been willing to teach Krivax how to weave their special silk nets. He hoped it would be enough for him to catch a fish that could impress the Tuskarr.

"Hmph. Very well. Your reasoning is sound," said Hadix. "Why have you chosen to target the Tuskarr specifically, and what do you hope to gain from them?"

Truthfully, Krivax had chosen the Tuskarr because their maritime traditions made them the race most likely to be aware of travel between Northrend and the Eastern Kingdoms, aside from the local humans that is. Unfortunately, the Surface World Research Division had very little information about humans.

After all, very few nerubians would be interested in studying a species whose name was a combination of the nerubian words for "vrykul" and "birth defect."

The nerubians were aware that there were humans living in both Grizzly Hills and the Dragonblight, however, their societies seemed to be rather underdeveloped and disunified.

Krivax couldn't share his true motivations with the Vizier, so he would have to rely on an approximation of the truth.

"The Tuskarr are noted to be a semi-nomadic people who are most accustomed to environments dissimilar to our own," said Krivax. "They are the race most likely to expand our knowledge of the surface world. In addition, while their magic is similar to the Drakkari, there are some notable differences as well that are worthy of research."

"Oh? How so, Initiate?" Hadix questioned with visible curiosity.

"There have been no observed instances of the Tuskarr worshiping any Loa," said Krivax. "Yet there are multiple recorded instances of their shaman performing feats of magic comparable to the Drakkari."

Krivax vaguely remembered that the Tuskarr worshiped some giant sea monster thing, but the nerubians didn't know that.

While nerubians were curious about shamanism, they generally looked down on any form of magic that gained power from more powerful entities. As far as the Viziers were concerned, any power easily gained from an outside source was just as easily lost.

When Krivax asked Hadix about Vizier Malas's attempts to summon the spider Loa, he'd learned that the Vizier had intended to steal some of the Loa's power for himself. It seemed to Krivax that something like that would be difficult to accomplish, but he didn't know enough about the subject to be able to judge.

"Hmph. Interesting. Perhaps this venture of yours will be worth the effort after all. Now, tell me what route you intend to take on your journey."

"I'll first take the portal to our outpost past the Forbidden Caverns," said Krivax. The Forbidden Caverns were a series of ancient tunnels in the Howling Fjord that were dense with Saronite. The tunnels had been quarantined by the nerubians and an outpost was constructed that allowed travelers to bypass them with portals.

The nerubians did not have any large cities beneath the Howling Fjord, so the portal system was easily able to handle the relatively light traffic.

"From there, I will travel to the surface and make my way to the closest known Tuskarr settlement," Krivax continued. He'd chosen to approach the Tuskarr village in the Howling Fjord rather than the ones in the Dragonblight or the Borean Tundra, simply because Hadix was unable to grant him permission to travel to the capital or En'Kilah.

Azjol'Nerub's capital—uncreatively named the same—resided beneath the Dragonblight and En'Kilah resided beneath the Borean Tundra, but neither would allow him to make use of their portal stations.

Krivax spent the next few minutes explaining in detail the route he planned to take, the potential dangers he might face, and the supplies he had prepared.

When he finished, Vizier Hadix spent several moments contemplating in silence before finally nodding his approval.

"Very well," said Hadix. The Vizier reached into his robes with one of his four hands and retrieved a glowing disk that was emanating magical energy. "Your preparations are sufficient for the task in front of you. I believe you have earned this."

Barely able to contain his glee, Krivax accepted the disk that would permit him to access the city's portal to the Howling Fjord outpost and travel to the surface. He had spent years working to reach this point, and soon he would finally take his first steps outside the underground kingdom.

"Thank you, Vizier," said Krivax, bowing once again in gratitude. "Will this allow Masruk to come with me to the surface as well?"

"Your gratitude is unnecessary, you have earned this through your own efforts," said Hadix, waving one of his hands disdainfully. "As for your companion, assigning a low leveled Warrior to escort an Initiate on his research project is a trifling matter. The guards have been instructed to allow you both passage tomorrow. The disk merely serves to verify your identity."

Tomorrow? I was not expecting to go so soon.

"Tomorrow, Vizier?"

"Is there a reason to wait?" Hadix responded dismissively.

Krivax considered the matter and decided that, no, there was no particular reason for him to wait. He'd already managed to make all of his preparations a long time ago, so the only thing he was waiting for was permission. Every day that went by was another day that the War of the Spider drew closer.

Krivax spent a few more minutes going over some of the smaller details with the Vizier before saying his goodbyes and retiring to his room.

Skittering over to his makeshift kitchen, Krivax plucked a beetle from the Iceweave Web and tossed it into his mouth.

The Iceweave served as a form of nerubian refrigeration device by freezing anything that was placed onto it. While Iceweave was available to most nerubians in all but the most isolated of communities, Krivax was particularly proud of this Iceweave because he had made it himself. Members of the Circle were highly encouraged to find a way to use their specialized skills to contribute to society in ways other than research.

This could be done in many ways, whether it be through alchemy, enchanting, or other such specialized magical professions. Instead of picking one of these, Krivax had chosen to learn magical silk crafting for the simple reason that it was the least time-consuming profession that was available to him.

There was also the fact that being able to produce silk with fantastical properties that could be turned into magical items was very useful.

Krivax placed an assortment of insects onto the Flameweave Web and decided it would be a good idea to sort through his prepared supplies while he waited for his dinner to heat up. Frozen beetles were a tasty snack, but the rest of his meal would need to be heated before he could eat it.

Krivax opened up the spatial bag he had spent several weeks of his salary to purchase.

The bag contained food, notepads, troll blood regeneration potions, a large knife, and a variety of different tools he would need for his journey. Krivax reached into his robes and placed the artifacts he had been given by Hadix into the bag. These artifacts included the identification disk, an emergency communication device, and the artifact that would translate his intent.

The scent of freshly warmed insects interrupted his organizing and Krivax put away the supplies before skittering over to the Flameweave Web so he could enjoy his dinner.

After he finished eating, Krivax considered going to visit Masruk so they could talk about their journey, but ultimately decided against it. Masruk would have already been informed by the Warriors that he would be escorting Krivax tomorrow, and anything else they needed to talk about could wait until he woke up.

Krivax looked at the messy stack of books sitting in the corner of his room. Normally he would still be studying around this time, but he would need to be well-rested for the coming day, so it would be best if he went to sleep early. Krivax climbed onto his sleeping web and allowed the silk's enchantment to wash over him, causing him to instantly feel drowsy.

With a wave of his hand, Krivax caused the illumination stones embedded in the ceiling to cease emitting light, plunging the room into darkness.

Krivax fell asleep only a few moments later while still thinking about the coming day and the challenges that awaited him.

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