Chapter 80: Azeroth 5

The enlarged medical hall was silent when Carl entered. He had been in contact with the managing VI while he was making his way over, so he knew the medical condition of the 15 Dragons that had been rescued.

Carl was a bit disappointed that he hadn't been able to save more of the captives. More than 5 dozen had been captured in the Raid, but they were unlucky and were killed in rituals or tortured to death before Carl even knew about the problem, let alone able to act to save them.

The only comfort Carl had was that at least he had saved some of them, as well as taking back the remains of those who were killed in order to put their remains to rest. He wasn't about to leave them in their uneasy place of torture.

Carl sat down nearby, waiting for the healing to take effect and for his Dragons to wake up. While Carl was waiting, he looked over the reports of his satellites.

He looked over the number of player characters, which fluctuated depending on the time of day. He saw that after several weeks many of the adventurers were already level 70, but none of them were above level 70. And after several days of remaining at 70, none of the characters being tracked gained anymore levels.

So Carl could safely assume that the max level would remain at 70 for now due to the world's magic. Whether that restriction would apply to him was something that he would find out soon enough. Chances were that he too would be stuck at level 70 until the next expansion.

He was now level 51 and was close to being able to go through the Dark Portal. He had already checked and found there was a level restriction magic on the Dark Portal which kept those under 58 from going through to the Outlands.

Apparently the magic didn't bother with objects like his satellites, since they weren't alive.

Carl decided to not try to break the magic preventing him from going through the Dark Portal. Since it was tied to a portal that traversed space, he didn't really want to mess with it. What if he broke it the portal and ended up killing himself when going through it?

So for the time being, Carl relied on his satellites to keep track of the goings on while he took care of business here.

Speaking of his satellites, Carl had spread them over all of Azeroth and found that he wasn't able to see certain areas. Areas he knew were continents that would be featured in future expansions. Northrend was a key location of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Vashj'ir was an underwater landmass in the Cataclysm expansion.

Naturally the Maelstrom wasn't yet present because Deathwing, the mad Black Wing Dragon, hadn't broken out of his prison yet.

But he also couldn't see Pandaria in the south, the continent that was featured in the Mists of Pandaria expansion.

As a result of this obscuration by what Carl could only assume was the world's magic, Carl couldn't scan the levels of the various creatures inhabiting those continents to see if their levels were stuck at 70 for now, or if they were the levels of their corresponding expansions.

It seemed that there were magical shackles on the world that kept things progressing at a certain pace. The next continent of Northrend would only be opened for exploration and leveling once it was time.

Carl was actually relieved by that fact, since it kept some of his enemies shackled and unable to act freely against him for the moment.

A loud gasp followed by a groan interrupted Carl from reading his reports and musing on the aspects of reality in this world.

Looking over, Carl saw that one of the Dragons had woken up and was looking around blearily. The Dragon seemed to be especially disoriented at the moment. All of the Dragons were in their original Dragon form, lying on massive beds.

Some of them were missing limbs or wings, had eyes poked out, or missing all their teeth. But all of them bore many scars as a result of the torture and humiliation they suffered.

Carl shifted to his own Dragon form and approached the Dragon who was finally waking up and trying to struggle to their feet.

"Easy there. You're safe." Carl said in as soothing a tone as he could manage.

The injured Dragon looked over at Carl and their eyes widened in surprise at seeing another of their kind there, and unharmed.

"You're being healed at the moment, which is why there are restraints keeping you in bed. It is to keep you from thrashing about and ruining the healing process." Carl continued explaining.

The Dragon seemed to relax minutely at Carl's words.

"Where…?" The Dragon who was missing many scales and horns hoarsely asked.

"You're back in the Silver Dragon Flight Hold. We've built up the defenses so the enemy can't break in again. They can't even find us. You're safe now."

The Dragon seemed to believe Carl and relaxed a bit more.

"Who…?" He struggled to speak, his vocal chords obviously hadn't been used for much except screaming for some time.

"My name is Carl, the Flight Leader. What is your name?" Carl calmly answered.

"Stovos." The Dragon, now identified as Stovos, replied before falling back into a healing sleep.

Carl looked down at the sleeping Dragon for a few minutes, sighed, and then returned to his chair and continued reading reports once more in his Elf form.

It looked like it would take some time for the group of Dragons to recover. Once he made sure none of them were out of their minds and dangers to those around them, he would introduce the three elders and six younglings to them to help them with their recovery.

While Carl was determined to do right by the group of rescued Dragons, his gut was telling him to level faster, gather the new materials and crafting items from the Outlands, and work hard to strengthen his Dragon Flight.

Carl began making plans to bring the Dragons up to full health. Up to and including cloning new bodies for those with too debilitating injuries. As well as clone bodies for the three elder Dragons. Renewing their youth with a new body should restore their drive and enthusiasm.

But he needed to test out the cloning process for Dragons. They were a very magical species, so he needed to be sure to have the materials and process top notch to not affect their natural affinities for Magic and Crafting.

And while the Heavenly Time Pearl didn't allow people to age while inside it, Carl had technological methods to compress time so he could help the young Dragons grow up quicker so they could help with all that needed to be done.

Over the next few hours Carl greeted each of the Dragons as they woke up. He made sure they all knew they were safe, and that they needed to rest and heal. Some of the Dragons remained awake, while some of them fell back into real sleep to recover.

Stovos, the first Dragon that woke up, proved himself to be made of stern stuff as he woke back up after a short time and this time remained awake.

Rubiana was another early waker, and she was a Dragon who was full of questions. Carl was pleased to see that her spirits hadn't been broken, and patiently answered all her queries, whether it was about who he was, or what the equipment was. She seemed very interested in learning more about the technology.

Carl smiled inside when he heard her eagerness to learn. It seems he found himself a science geek that would be excited to learn. He had met many of those types of people in the Stargate universe, so he was interested in seeing what she would come up with in the future.

Once the scans and tests showed that each of the Dragons were not brainwashed or under any control spells, Carl began releasing them from the infirmary. He would introduce them to one of the three elders and have them brought to the dining hall to meet the rest of the Flight.

Carl joined the last of the 15 dragons to be released as they made their way to the dining hall. It was an emotional time for the Dragons. The captives never thought they would be freed and be able to return home. The three elders that had avoided the disaster of the Raid were touched to see their rescued friends and relatives. And the young Dragons who had hatched since the Raid were ecstatic to meet new Dragons.

Even the dragonspawn that were serving the meal seemed excited to see the increased numbers. Carl made a note to find out exactly when the next batch of Dragons and dragonspawn were going to be hatched.

After the meal and the emotional reunion, Carl had Mortic assign rooms to the newly arrived Dragons. While they were doing that, Carl returned to his quarters and entered the Heavenly Pearl.

Once he landed in the world of time compression inside the pearl, Carl contacted the VIs and ordered them to get started on building the needed equipment for the cloning and transfer of consciousness.

He had already gotten DNA samples from each of the Dragons, and in the morning he was going to offer them a chance to get new bodies that were whole and undamaged.

The lighting in the lab was generally dark, with small lights here and there piercing the gloom. In the middle of the lab was a long rod of iron that was placed vertically and rose up through the open roof.

Lighting could occasionally be seen striking the iron rod, with snake like tendrils of electricity running down the rod.

Against the edges of the room were 18 enormous cylinder shaped containers. The containers were large enough to fit an adult Dragon.

Carl stood at the door of the room, mouth twitching at the sight of a stereo typical mad scientist's lab.

"Who knew my VIs had a sense of humor?" Carl rhetorically asked.

"Of course you knew, Lord Carl." The Yamato VI answered Carl's question. "You were the one to program it into us, after all."

"Hoisted on my own petard…" Carl muttered as he entered the room and checked over the vitals of the cloned Dragon bodies. He saw that everything was looking good, and the transference of consciousness had been smooth.

With the good report, Carl hit the button to wake up the Dragons. With a hiss of escaping gas, the 18 cylinders cracked open, revealing the Dragons inside.

A short time later, the 18 Dragons were excitedly inspecting their new bodies. The room suddenly didn't feel quite so spacious with so many full sized Dragons bouncing around and inspecting themselves with their long necks, tails, and wings going all different directions.

"Thank you, Lord Carl!" Mortic was the first to spot Carl standing by the doorway and exuberantly expressed his gratitude. "This is a wonderful dream come true!"

The rest of the group followed Mortic's example and loudly passed their thanks for all he had done for them.

"I'm glad to see you all doing so well." Carl smiled back at the group warmly. "Now that you're healthy, I intend to have a training session in the next day or so to ensure that everyone can defend themselves. I don't want anything as horrible to happen to you again, so I want you to be strong. Are you up for that?"

"Yes!"

"Never again!"

"Thank you Lord Carl!"

The cheers and loud yells of agreement was answer enough for Carl. He could see that the life and enthusiasm was returning to the eyes of the Dragons he had rescued.

Even though he had "purchased" them with CP from the jump documents, at this point Carl didn't feel like he owned them. He felt like they were his people. His new organization, his new family.

He wondered if this is what Mafia Dons felt. A sense of responsibility over the younger members of their organization; almost like a family.

'Well, if this is going to be my crime syndicate, than I am going to make them strong.' Carl thought as he chatted with the Dragons about his plans and the training session.

A couple days later, the entire Silver Dragon Flight convened in the Room of Requirement that Carl had installed in the Hold.

After a head count, Carl saw that everyone was present. With little fanfare, he activated the time compression device that he had the VIs and Petes manufacture. He didn't want to use the Heavenly Time Pearl for this training session, since he wanted the young Dragons to grow up while they were training.

Once Carl double checked that everything was working properly with the time compression, he began the training session. The time compression wasn't as good as the Heavenly Time Pearl, but they would be able to fit ten years into one week real time, which was enough to get the basic training done while the young Dragons would have time to grow to adulthood.

No one was excused from the training. Even the dragonspawn needed to get strong enough to protect the Flight.

Despite the difference of training Dragons and dragonspawn, the training was remarkably similar to how he trained his students in the Stargate universe.

He included more than just physical training, since he wanted his Flight to be strong and resourceful. Not to mention that if they had a different language than the commonly known ones on Azeroth they could communicate without giving away their plans to their enemies.

So as a result every one of his Flight learned the Alteran language, at the very least. They also went through the basic technological education so they could have a command of the various tools and technology in the future.

They would be following Carl from world to world from now on, and he didn't know what kind of situations they would be thrown into in the future. It was better to have knowledgeable and capable subordinates.

Carl was happy to see how his Flight bloomed and engaged in the training with gusto. Especially the six young Dragons that had never really faced the dangers and hard times were enthusiastic.

Carl was also happy to see Goram and the rest of the dragonspawn taking to the learning and training with gusto. Seeing their growing enthusiasm to learn and ambition to become more than simple servants made Carl quite happy.

He knew that in the past, and in other Dragon Flights, the dragonspawn were the next best thing to slaves. They were born and bred subservient to the Dragons. And while that basic biological mandate to put the Dragons first probably wouldn't disappear, Carl was happy to see them learn and break out of the ignorance and slavery attitude they had been molded in.

Carl wasn't afraid of his subordinates becoming too talented and rebelling against him. He was just afraid he wouldn't have enough people to accomplish what he decided to do in the worlds he traveled to. Having an organization that he had already trained standing ready to accomplish things was a great time saver for Carl.

Two years into the training the last batch of Dragon and Dragonspawn eggs hatched. The small whelplings were kind of cute, actually. The training schedule had to be adjusted at that point, since they needed someone always available to take care of the young Dragons and Dragonspawn.

While they could have had the VIs monitor the young ones, Carl felt that the human, er…dragon touch was needed to raise the young the right way.

Carl even took his fair share of babysitting duties while his students did their exercises. He got some practice in on splitting his attention in multiple directions as the group of little rambunctious whelplings seemed to be trying to get into everything.

By the time the ten years of training was complete, the young whelplings were 8 years old, only a couple years younger than the six Js were when Carl first arrived. They had also gone through a couple years of training in the Ki techniques in order to give them a strong foundation.

While Carl could have continued the training until all of them were adults, he felt it was necessary to pause it for the time being so the group could begin leveling up a bit now that they completed the basic training.

Carl shut down the time compression, bringing them back into normal time.

The young Dragons and Dragonspawn that had never been outside the Room of Requirement were fascinated with the Hold, and scattered out to explore. They had been born inside the wards, so they were classified as residents so Carl didn't worry about them getting hurt. He did have the VIs keep track of them to make sure they didn't wander outside alone though.

That night they had a feast in the dining hall all together. By this time even the older Dragons felt that the Dragonspawn were no longer servants, but comrades in arms and fellow flight members. And with the technology and magic they had, they no longer needed living servants to provide the food and cleaning.

Before the end of the training the Flight had already split into groups of five or six to go outside the Hold and level up the lower leveled Silver Flight members. Once everyone was at the same level, they would continue questing and leveling until they reached the Outlands.

Currently the Silver Dragon Flight consisted of 21 adult Dragonspawn and 24 adult Dragons. They made up nine groups of five, which was just right for the magical party system that the World of Warcraft had.

The basic plan called for four or five groups of five at a time to go around leveling as a group to ensure they would be able to help each other survive any ambush or encounter with enemies. The remaining groups would stay behind to watch after the young ones. After a couple days they would switch out.

The groups of five would be leveling in the same general area so they could quickly converge and support each other in the case of attack.

They would also have stealthed probes following them at all times to ensure communications between groups as well as emergency teleportation away from danger in case the enemy was too strong for them to handle.

Carl paid special attention to the stealth tracking abilities of the probes. He had already been ambushed by one Rogue in the Tanaris Desert the moment he had dismounted from a Gryphon transport. He didn't want any of his Flight members to be killed by an attack from a high level Rogue before they could support each other.

So being aware of any approaching stealthed adventurers was high on Carl's priority. Thankfully he had picked the Rogue class himself and was able to give his technology plenty of opportunity to study the stealth magic so he could develop countermeasures.

While the Dragons had their natural shifting ability to remain in Night Elf form, the Dragonspawn didn't have such an ability. So during the ten years of time compression, Carl had designed some form shifting trinkets that would work just fine until they reached the Sovereign Profound realm and gained their own humanoid forms.

While he was in the Alliance Capital he had purchased some shape shifting trinkets from the auction house. The only downside of the trinkets he purchased was that the shifted form would dispel upon getting hit by an enemy.

So after figuring out how to replicate the enchantment, he had combined that technique with the various magics from previous worlds to create trinkets for the Dragonspawn that wouldn't break if they took a hit from an enemy.

These trinkets would allow the Dragonspawn to be able to freely travel with the Dragons and level up without allowing their enemies to know that the Silver Dragon Flight was still around in the world.

And finally, Carl and the members of the Silver Dragon Flight hadn't let down their intrinsic Draconic trait of being highly skilled in crafting. They were outfitted with the best gear for their levels they could wield. And with the enhancements to their bodies that Ki training and Profound Cultivation granted them, they were able to wield powerful weapons beyond the normal capacity of someone at their same level.

The only failure of Carl's time in the training session was that he still hadn't figured out how to craft a Magical Cultivation technique. He already had techniques to be able to absorb natural energy and use it as Ki to enhance the body. He had techniques to absorb Profound Energy and use it to increase the Soul Power, or Cultivation, and in turn enhance the body.

He still hadn't figured out how to absorb Magical energy and enhance the mind and body. He knew it was possible since that was what was happening every time he leveled up or killed monsters here in Azeroth.

But figuring out a technique to naturally absorb magical energy from his surroundings was taking longer than he expected.

Carl wasn't discouraged though. He had nearly ten years to figure it out. He also had the Heavenly Time Pearl so he could extend his time in the world if he needed more time to figure it out.

So with all those plans already in place, Carl enjoyed the feast that the Silver Dragon Flight threw for itself to celebrate the end of the training. Once the feast was over, Carl departed alone to continue leveling up. The rest of the leveling groups would leave in the morning after they had settled back into their home.

Carl pulled his charger mount to a stop along the road he had been following through Feralas. Looking north of the road, Carl saw one pillar that was about 18 feet tall with a glowing blue fire on the top. Opposite the pillar, on the other side of the faded path, was a broken and fallen pillar that would have been the twin of the other pillar when it was still standing.

The ancient feel of the ruin of a pillar and the completely neglected pathway let Carl know he had arrived at the correct location. Directly north of him was the instance dungeon of Dire Maul.

According to the lore of the world, Dire Maul was a city that was built 12,000 years ago by Highborne Elf Sorcerers. It was known as Eldre'Thalas. It was a city where the inhabitants studied the arcane arts and secrets.

It fell into ruin during the Great Sundering, and now it is inhabited by Ogres, Satyrs, and the specters of dead Highborne.

As Carl headed north, he could see the signs of the Ogres occupation. A large tree trunk had been carved into the shape of a wailing face and planted vertically into the ground as a totem, with green spectral fire glowing in its eye sockets. Presumably the Ogres had planted the gruesome looking totem to scare any who dared intrude in their territory.

A post was planted alongside the road with the skin of a humanoid stretched out on the horizontal bars. The bloody sight didn't endear the Ogres to Carl.

Coldly glancing at the skin stretched out on the post, Carl cast a Fireball that immolated the grizzly totem. He then continued on north.

He soon saw some Ogre Mages wandering around the path. Thinking of how the Ogres had skinned some intelligent humanoid in torture and stretched his skin, Carl didn't feel any remorse for killing the Ogres that he saw.

The video game nature of the world he found himself in sometimes made him forget the brutality of the world that seemed to be based on war. The instance dungeons where the enemy mobs continued to respawn to be killed over and over again made it seem like the violence didn't really mean anything when they could easily live again.

But then Carl would remember what was done to his Dragon Flight. And he would see things like the skin of a person stretched out on a post.

And he would realize that he didn't understand the rules of the world in regards to how certain mobs could be resurrected over and over; while others would permanently die after being killed once.

Carl knew he couldn't play around with the idea of resurrecting after death. He didn't dare take the world lightly just because it reminded him of a video game he once played.

After burning some more skins, and killing some Ogres, Carl arrived at the entrance to the ruined city. There was an enormous stone arch, and under it was a stone ramp leading up to the city.

Carl gazed at the pillars that must have been over 80 feet high. The massive outer wall that would have been the defensive barrier for the Highborne so long ago.

The stonework of the ruined city was still exquisite under the patina of dirt and moss. The broken walls and ruined railings didn't detract from the grandeur of the ancient ruins. Nor did it distract Carl long when he had groups of Ogres and their trained Hyena attacking him.

In the game, Carl would have been dismounted the moment he began attacking an enemy. But here, in this world, Carl stayed mounted as he cast Arcane Blasts into the faces of the attacking Ogres. With Blue Orchid in his right hand, Carl slashed heads off and cast Judgment spells, killing with Holy damaging spells.

Carl arrived in the center of the city and saw a gladiator style arena sunken into the ground. The dirt ground in the pit was stained with blood that seemed to have been soaked in for thousands of years. Situated around the arena were statues of Highborne Elves. Presumably they were past champions or heroes to the former inhabitants of the city. Carl was somewhat surprised that the Ogres hadn't already toppled the Elf statues in their boredom.

After spending some time exploring the city, Carl found there were three instance entrances. The north and west entrances were blocked by a locked door, so Carl entered the east entrance.

Upon entering the instance, Carl saw a plaza that seemed overgrown with plants. Enormous roots were growing everywhere, penetrating the stone walls. Along the walkways there were giant Ent like tree men standing 20 feet tall. Six feet tall treant men were trooping in a line back and forth. And smaller vine like flower creatures were milling around in groups here and there.

Carl was getting the impression that the plant life here had been corrupted and grew out of all control. Standing at the edge of the walkway, he saw he was on the upper level of the plaza. Down below was even more wild growth. A garden had apparently been injected with some kind of magical corruption and grew, allowing the vines, plants, and flowers to gain sentience and movement on their own.

And all the plant creatures were hostile. Anytime Carl got close to one of them, the tree or plant or flower all attacked immediately. Carl didn't have any tenderness for these plants, so he employed fire to burn them up.

Aside from the wild plant growth, Carl found a small imp named Pusillin that wasn't immediately hostile to him. Carl remembered that this imp demon was one of the bosses of the instance. He had to talk to the little creature a couple times before he could fight the demon.

Carl approached the imp and said hello to the little creature.

"If you want the key, you'll have to chase me!" Pusillin yelled before dashing off, dodging between the legs of the various plant creatures.

Carl shrugged at the strange imp. He did want the key so he could get in the other wings of Dire Maul. He followed the path, slaying the various plant like monsters. He could have easily stealthed past them all, but they were experience points to help him level.

He only needed one more level before he could enter the Dark Portal and go to the Outlands. Every drop of magic counted.

After traveling a third of the way around the upper walkway of the plaza, Carl found the imp milling about. He once more greeted the small creature that had yellowish green flames surrounding its body.

"Chase me if you dare! I run without a care!" Pusillin yelled before dashing off once more.

"Well, as far as getting me worked up to chase you, that was about a 1 out of a 10." Carl muttered. "Couldn't you say something more insulting to get me angry and want to chase you without end?"

Carl shrugged. Apparently the demons in this instance dungeon in the game like world had to keep it PG-13.

After following the path, he found the imp standing in front of a hallway that led away from the plaza. The imp ran once more, leaving behind some little rhyme while mocking him. Carl walked down the hallway.

Carl followed the hallway that the little imp had run down. The darkened hallway he entered was filled with Satyr demons. The lighting was dark, only lit by the multiple campfires the Satyrs congregated around.

Since Carl knew the boss fight wouldn't happen until he had chased Pusillin to the end, Carl patiently talked to the imp once more. He followed behind as the speedy little imp climbed a ramp to the right.

Talking to Pusillin once more finally triggered the boss fight.

"Say hello to my little friends!" Pusillin shouted as he grew into a seven foot tall imp. Half a dozen little imps appeared surrounding Carl.

Carl cast his Consecration spell, which dropped an area of attack that did Holy damage on the imps surrounding him. He then used his Arcane Explosion Mage spell to finish off the imps.

A Fire Blast finished off Pusillin, who collapsed on the ground dead, shrunk once more to his normal imp size. Carl found the Crescent Key on the imp's body, which would allow him to enter the north and west wings of the dungeon. He also picked up a recipe for Runn Tum Tuber Surprise.

The tubers for the recipe were also dropped by Pusillin. Carl learned the recipe, cooked the tubers on the spot after building a fire, and got a meal that would enhance his Intellect for an hour or so.

"Note to self, research more on the temporary increases to stats from food in the world of Azeroth." Carl muttered as he ate the tuber surprise. The surprise was that a recipe he got from a demon was quite tasty.

The hallway he was in led to an exit from the instance, so Carl back tracked and took a side hallway to find more Satyrs gathered around camp fires. Carl wasn't sure just what the Satyrs were eating, but there were large rib bones lying around the ground, carelessly tossed there after being stripped of meat. The skeletal rib bones were about six feet tall, so the beasts they ate must have been quite large.

After killing all the demons, Carl climbed a ramp to a platform that had the next boss. It was a female Elf by the name Lethtendris who was a Warlock of some kind. Carl quickly killed her summoned imp demon Pimgib, and then stopped her from casting a spell at him, before slashing her with his sword, killing her.

The loot he got from here was a leather armor piece. A Felhide Cap that could increase Agility, Stamina, fire resistance, and shadow resistance.

Carl put the armor piece away in his inventory. He would have to add researching resistances to his list. While he was immune to fire and shadow damage, thanks to the ATG world, his subordinates weren't. It would be good to give them the added protections.

He continued to explore this wing of the ruined city. The next boss he encountered was a water elemental that was playing in a pool of water. Hydrospawn looked like he was the ocean waves shaped into a rough approximation of the human form. His water attacks did nothing against Carl due to his immunity, and he soon died, dropping some leather caster boots that boosted Intellect, Spirit, and Spell Power.

Carl continued exploring, killing the stealthed Satyrs before they could attack him. They thought they were so sneaky, but they weren't.

On a platform overlooking the water pool that Hydrospawn was playing in was a Satyr boss by the name of Zevrim Thornhoof who was standing at some kind of sacrificial altar. Carl went into stealth and Ambushed the boss, killing him quickly with a Holy damage spell Exorcism. He dropped a bow that would increase Agility and Hit rating.

Carl had been equipping a wand in his ranged slot, and didn't particularly need those paltry stat increases, so he disenchanted the bow. He was always in need of enchanting materials to experiment with.

Exiting the hall, Carl came to the lower part of the plaza from where he first entered that wing of the city. It was the remnants of a garden, overgrown with wild plants. There were still some regular trees that had grown tall that overshadowed the garden.

In the middle of the garden stood a friendly tree man Ent that stood at least 50 feet tall. Carl didn't even come up to his knees. Carl approached and talked to the massive tree man.

"Thank you, mortal. There is but one service that I may offer to you before I return to the Dream. The door to Zevrim's master, Alzzin, blocks your path. I shall act as your instrument of destruction. The door will be opened, I merely await your command."

"Thanks there, Old Ironbark." Carl answered, having seen the tree man's name. "I'm ready for you to open the door."

With that the slow tree man turned around and began stumping towards the back of the garden where a door that Carl couldn't open stood. Old Ironbark bashed the door down before collapsing to the ground, dead.

Carl had no idea what the history of Old Ironbark was, or why he had remained there waiting for some adventurer to come and kill the demons. Despite having played the game back in his original world, Carl had ignored most of the lore and history of the world. It hadn't been important while playing the game.

But seeing the city in ruins and running into characters like Old Ironbark that had some unspoken history, Carl's interest was peaked, at least a little bit. He would have to keep an eye out for histories of the world to add to his database for study.

Carl entered the door that Ironbark had knocked down, and found himself in a massive circular room. There were ramps on the right and left that led down to a circular stage like center of the room. There stood the satyr Alzzin the Wildshaper.

Based on the demon's title, Carl assumed he was the demon who had corrupted the plant life and cause the wild growth of all the plant creatures that were so hostile in this wing of the city.

Carl wasn't polite and opened up the fight with an Ambush to the demon's back, knocking off over half his health. He followed up with a Judgment and an Exorcism, and finished the demon off with a Fire Blast.

The loot dropped from the demon was an Intellect enhancing ring and a strength enhancing pair of Plate gauntlets. The ring also had the effect of restoring 8 mana per five seconds, and the gauntlets had the effect of inflicting Arcane damage on the attacker when struck.

Carl packed away the two items for further study. Any interesting enchants or enhancements to equipment was of interest to Carl in order to increase his crafting abilities.

He then picked up a Felvine Shard on the ground around the Felvine plant that Rabine Saturna in Nighthaven, Moonglade had requested he retrieve.

With all the bosses killed in this wing of the city, Carl headed through a dirt tunnel behind where the Satyr boss had been standing. The tunnel led up to an exit from this instance.

Finding himself back in the central plaza of the ruined city, Carl made his way to the west side and used the key to open the locked door to the next instance dungeon.

Inside Carl saw he was in another garden with many hostile plant creatures roaming around. In the middle of the garden was an enormous crystal that had a beam of magical energy shooting out the top. Carl could see three beams of magic in the garden alone, meaning there were three of those Crystals.

There were four Arcane Aberretions surrounded the giant crystal, maintaining the Crystal's magic. The blue magical constructs just felt wrong to Carl's magical senses. They felt demonic in nature.

Carl attacked and killed the Arcane Aberrations, which caused the magic of the Crystal to die out. There were only two more in the garden, and Carl could see they were up on the balcony overlooking the garden he was standing in.

When Carl arrived at the balcony by climbing the ramp, he saw there were ghost like Apparitions, spectral Banshees, and ghostly Elves wandering around. Carl cleared out the undead mobs on his way to the Crystals.

After dispatching the Mana Aberrations that were guarding the Crystal, Carl spotted some neutral ghostly Elves standing around the balcony overlooking the garden. There was one Elf, the Shen'dralar Ancient, that gave Carl a quest.

"Madness had gripped our city. Prince Tortheldrin had imprisoned a demon of some power, and has been siphoning off his power to supplement his own."

"But a demon's power is corrupted, and it caused Prince Tortheldrin to descend into madness and paranoia, causing the end of our once great city."

"You must destroy the guardians surrounding the 5 Pylons that power the Prison of Immol'thar. Once the Pylons have powered down, the force field surrounding Immol'thar will have dissipated. Enter the Prison of Immol'thar and eradicate the foul demon that stands at its heart. With Immol'thar dead, Prince Tortheldrin's power will be greatly reduced. Confront and end him. Lay the spirits of this city to rest."

After accepting the quest, Carl continued on to the other side of the balcony and destroyed those mana guardians, powering down the Pylon.

Carl then made his way back down to the garden, and found the path onward blocked by a corrupted Ent like boss called Tendris Warpwood. Since he was a tree, Carl killed him with fire. He opened up with a Pyroblast, which was basically a large Fireball that took a bit longer to charge up than a normal Fireball.

He followed the Pyroblast with some regular Fireballs and Fireblasts. After a couple rounds, the large tree man was dead. His remains were still smoldering when Carl looted the body.

Behind Tendris was a door that led to an enormous circular chamber. In the center was the prison of Immol'thar. There were massive pillars circling the prison, and there was a blue mana shield that rotated around the outside of the pillar prison that kept the demon inside.

Between the pillars of the prison, Carl could see what manner of demon had been imprisoned, and it was an ugly one. Immol'thar stood on four legs like a giant hound. It had two heads, with a single eye in the middle of each head just over a large slavering mouth. Above its two heads were a mass of tentacles with an eye on the end of each tentacle.

The large dog like demon stared hungrily at Carl as he stood just outside of the prison. Carl shook his head at seeing the abomination that the Prince had for some reason decided to use as a battery. Carl had to wonder what was cracked in the Prince's head to want to put the corrupted energy from that disgusting demon into his body.

Carl then circled around the prison, having spotted the remaining Pylons that he needed to power down to open up the prison. Once he finished off the last mana construct guardian of the five pylons, the mana shield of the prison dissipated.

Carl strode inside the prison, and the dog like horror eagerly attacked him. Carl didn't hold back, and used all his Holy damaging spells to attack the demon while dodging its slobbery mouth as it tried to eat him.

A short time later, the enormous demonic hound dropped to the ground. Carl kicked the disgusting corpse, grabbing a trinket that increased someone's dodge chance and robe that increased spell power.

Carl was interested in the dodge ability of the trinket. He was thinking that the magic of the trinket would work against an attacker's magic to help the person dodge their intent based attacks. It would be interesting to experiment with.

Throwing the items in his inventory, Carl moved down the hallway that led to the Prince. He found the Prince standing in a library. He was staring blankly off into space with an absent minded look on his face. He was garbed in green and gold leather armor and in each hand carried a dual blade knife. Carl questioned the practicality of a knife that had a blade on each end of the handle.

But in this world with intent based magic that enhances a person's physical abilities, a lot of things must be possible that would just be silly to try without magic.

Carl decided not to mess about and opened the battle with an Ambush from stealth behind the Prince.

The Prince immediately spun around and began attacking Carl with his odd knives. Carl parried or dodged his attacks, while striking out with his own weapons. Since Carl didn't have many restrictions, he was also casting magic while attacking with his weapons, throwing Fireballs into the Prince's face.

Soon enough the corrupted Prince fell dead, having not said a word in the short battle.

Carl looted a leather wrist armor piece that increased Agility, Stamina, and Attack Power, as well as a crossbow that increased Critical Strike Rating. Carl threw them into his inventory for later.

He then backtracked to the balcony overlooking the garden where he turned in the quest he had gotten from the Shen'dralar Ancient. With that quest turned in, Carl finally reached level 58. He could enter the Dark Portal and join the rest of the adventurers in exploring the Outlands.

But since he was already here in Dire Maul, he figured he would finish the North wing of the dungeon. He also accepted the follow on quest the Shen'dralar Ancient gave him, to return to the library and find a treasure chest hidden under the stairs. It was a reward for having ended the corruption and madness of the Prince.

After grabbing the treasure in the chest, Carl explored the library and found a passageway that led directly to the North Wing of the instance dungeon. The passageway opened up to a plaza that was filled with Ogres and their trained attack Hyenas.

Carl rolled up his sleeves and began clearing out the Ogres. In the center of the plaza was Guard Mol'dar that gave Carl key, the Gordok Inner Door Key.

Carl continued on, clearing out the instance of the Ogres and various little beasties he ran across, like scorpions, spiders, and beetles. After killing Guard Fengus, Carl picked up another key from his chest in the next courtyard over. That key let him get through some doors to continue on.

The next boss Carl killed was Guard Slip'kik, who dropped a book called The Light and How to Swing It, which started a Paladin class quest for Carl.

Carl accepted the quest, and made his way to the Library where he turned in the quest and received a trinket that increased his fire resistance, armor, and increased the damage done by spells and effects. Carl was pleased to receive another unusual enchantment for later study and put the trinket away in his inventory.

Carl then returned to where he killed Guard Slip'kik and continued onwards. He felt that coming to clear out Dire Maul was proving very profitable.

As Carl followed the path, he found Captain Kromcrush, who kindly gave him another key, the Gordok Shackle Key. Just beyond the Captain Carl entered a large circular room with a raised stage dais in the middle.

Standing on the stage was King Gordok and Cho'Rush the Observer. King Gordok was a massive one headed Ogre that was wearing armor and wielding a massive claymore in his right hand. Cho'Rush was a two headed Ogre that was wielding a caster staff.

Seeing the two final bosses, Carl entered Stealth and snuck up on Cho'Rush. With an Ambush, Carl took off most of his health. He used the combo points he gained from the Ambush and Evicerated Cho'Rush, finishing him off.

Carl then turned his attention to the King, and began battling him. Carl found that the King had used Sunder Armor on Carl, which temporarily decreased his armor so he would take more damage.

Carl's intent based dodging and parrying though kept him from taking damage. Carl didn't hold back, and used his various abilities to slice up the King.

Once the King was dead, a smaller Ogre came out of the wings and declared that since Carl had killed the previous king, he was now king of the Ogres. With that declaration, Mizzle pulled out a treasure chest as tribute to their new king.

Carl chuckled when he saw that the remaining Ogres that he hadn't killed around the "throne room" were suddenly friendly with him. Carl knew this wasn't a permanent thing, so he didn't bother with them. After gathering the tribute, Carl teleported to Stormwind and visited the class trainers to learn any new skills available since he reached level 58.

After training and selling any junk, Carl made his way to the flight master and took a gryphon to the Blasted Lands, where the Dark Portal was located.

After arriving at the Alliance base, Carl mounted up and rode south. He soon arrived at the crater where the Dark Portal stood. Standing on the edge of the crater, Carl looked over the defensive perimeter that both the Alliance and Horde had erected.

It was a testament to how threatening the two rival factions found the Burning Legion of Demons that they actually worked together to keep the demons from invading Azeroth.

Spurring his horse, Carl charged down the slope. He slowed down a bit to thread through the barriers that were set up. He rode up the ramp leading to the portal and plunged in without hesitation.