From Bad to Worse ch 2

“Strahad Farsan?”  Kranal Fiss and Esera walked down the sloped walk in Ratchet to a hut near the docks.  There was a Human male clad in red, black and white robes and a large pointed hat.  He lifted his head at his two approachers.

“Yes?” he asked in a deep voice.  Esera shuddered.  His voice sounded as if he was calling out a Demon for the first time.  There must have been an accident in a Summoning Ritual sometime in his life.  It happened either with a student, or he was attacked while trying to summon a high Summon.  “A Gnome?” he asked, with humor in his voice.  

“You still speak of the Alliance Common language?  If you do, I have a request for you.” Kranal said.  Strahad was silent, then looked at Esera.

“Is it important?” he asked.  Kranal stayed silent, but Esera was still bowing to passing Horde.  “A moment.”  Strahad Farsan kneeled down to get a good look at Esera.  She bowed to him, avoiding his gaze.  Strahad grabbed her chin and forced her to look into his eyes.  “Ah.  Follow me.”


“What do you want to know?” Strahad asked Kranal.  They sat around his fireplace, drinking purified water.  Esera sat behind them, too shy to sit on the rub in front of them.  Kranal turned his head away from Esera back to Strahad Farsan.

“I have questions.”  Strahad raised an eyebrow after sweeping off his hat and tossing it across the room.  In their magical vision, they saw the extremely weak Shadow Bolt that carried the hat to the far table.  Kranal laughed while Esera sipped her drink.  “I can see your magic Warlock.”

“All right.  I admit, I don’t completely trust some of the Goblins here, so I purify my water myself.” Strahad smiled and drank his water slowly, watching Kranal.

“Damn it, do all of you have to give me the run around?” Kranal snapped, running his temples again.  Esera looked up, a movement that Kranal noticed.  “I think she’s beginning to understand.  At least when I curse.”

“She could be listening to the tone of your voice.  But continue.  I know you didn’t come here to make sure I knew Alliance Common to teach you some.”  Strahad grinned, which was barely visible under his bushy salt and pepper moustache.  He leaned forward and steepled his hands.  “Tell me.  Why did you come to find a Warlock of the Ally persuasion?  There are plenty of Orc and Undead to ask.”

“It’s about the Gnome.”  Strahad laughed in a mocking manner.  He already knew this.  “Fine.  I want to know why she isn’t like the rest of the captured Alliance.  She doesn’t cry, rebel, run away.  She just goes along with whatever I do.  Once I made her distract an Ornery Plainstrider as if she were my Summon and she did so.  Nearly killed her and I had to waste a Healing Potion.  She’s not built to be a Warrior, a Rogue, and if she was a Mage, she could have escaped.”

“But if she was an experienced Warlock, she would have been recruited instead of sold.  Correct?”  Kranal nodded and sighed, leaning back in the chair.  “I can speak to her in Common, but its completely up to her to answer me.  Unless you order her to, of course.  You are her owner.”  Strahad raised his eyebrow again, to challenge his right to own the Gnome.

“I will force her to obtain the knowledge I want.  I believe that when she was captured, she was improperly trained.  I can get her the training she needs.  I can make her powerful.”

“You, a Troll, are going to make a Ally Warlock strong?  You do realize that she’s lived her entire life hating the Horde?” Strahad asked.

“As have you.”  Kranal countered.  Strahad laughed.

“This was my personal choice.  But I digress, let me interview the pipsqueak.  You may tour Ratchet while we talk.” Strahad offered.  Kranal thanked Strahad and patted Esera on her pink head on his way out.


Esera watched as Kranal left her in this strange Warlock’s house.  She was sure she recognized his name, but she still sat on the floor nervous.  He spoke the Horde language perfectly, and didn’t seem to be afraid of Kranal.  She looked up at him as he kneeled in front of her and loosened the collar.

“I’ll have an easier time talking to you without having to worry if you’ll pass out from lack of air.” he joked.  Esera shuddered and looked away.  “You know, he brought you here to speak.  I don’t believe he’ll force you to, but then again, Trolls are unpredictable.”  Esera glared at him and looked away, biting her lower lip.  Strahad tapped her cheek lightly, not enough to be an official slap.  “I won’t have a one sided conversation young lady.  Either you tell me what happened up to when that blue giant bought you so I can get paid, or I send you the Demon Realm.  I’m sure you have a few summons that you pissed off at one time or another.”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me what happened to your voice.” she said quietly, looking away.  Strahad chuckled and sat cross-legged in front of her.

“Yes, the two-tone voice.  It disturbs many who have never heard their inner voice before.”  Esera looked at him skeptically.  “We all have an inner voice.  It is we Warlocks who can actually use it.  It appeals to our Demons better.”

“You’re wrong, I’m no warlock.” she said quickly, looking down at her hands.  Strahad tapped her cheek again.  Slightly harder this time.

“I’ll do that every time you lie.  I’ll keep doing it harder too, even if you’re on the floor all bloody.  Even if I have Elvira do it.”  Esera stared at him.  “Elvira is my Succubus.”  She quickly looked down at her hands.


“I’ve never seen one of those things.  I’m just a leather worker.”  Another slap.  Again, harder.  Her chin trembled.  “I was a Mage.  Just like Momma always wanted me to be.”  She paused and bit her lip again.

“But...?”  He prodded.  She glared at him, but consented when he raised his hand.

“I hated the spells.  My teachers always told me to ‘look towards the light for inspiration’.  But after Gnomregan...”  She bit the inside of her cheek and refused to speak.  After a few moments Strahad tried slapping her.  He slapped her until she fell over on the ground, while she still refused to talk.  


Kranal Fiss returned to see her still on the ground and Strahad smoking a pipe.  Kranal sighed as she bowed when she noticed him, white Strahad made the smoke from his pipe form a spiral.

“She’s stubborn.” he said.  “Like a Tauren.”  Kranal grinned and took his previous seat.

“Women.” he replied.  After a few moments, Kranal turned his head to look at Strahad who was listening to a female Human Warlock.  Presumably, she had been there the entire time.   The woman tried to make Esera move into a different room with her, but Esera went to sit next to Kranal.

“Well, she trusts you at least.  She claims to have no knowledge of Warlocks and that she was a Mage, like her mother wanted.  She seemed to have a distaste for Mage practices, and that she’s from Gnomregan.  That makes her between 14 and 20 if based on looks and history.  She doesn’t know what a Succubus is, so she’s relatively low leveled.  She may have been trying to get her group to help her find everything for her Voidwalker quest before they were captured.”

“She said this?” Kranal asked, surprised.  He eyed the woman as she came back to clean Esera’s face.  Esera twisted away until the woman squeezed her arm tightly.

“They don’t understand any Horde speak.  But no, I got this from my knowledge from my own knowledge of the slave trade.”  He grinned.  “It is very lucrative, I must say.  Usually they call me to disenchant their items and to sterilize them of their powers.  She’s not powerful enough to be a bother.  Her armor was weak, so she couldn’t buy any trainer to teach her new spells.  The only real thing she had going for her was her group and leather working.”  Kranal stared at him and Strahad grinned.  “She admitted into being a leather worker.  That’s all she would acclaim herself to.  Slipped up about being a Mage though.”

“Then we can find out more?” Kranal pushed.  Strahad laughed.

“I was hoping you’d say that.  She was able to hide her magic from our Vision.  I’m not sure how, but I’d like to find out.”

Simultaneously, they sat in front of Esera, and reattached her leash.

“The more you tell us, the longer the collar stays loose.  The less truth you tell, the more you get slapped.  Remember?”  Esera looked at the both of them, then at the ground.

“But...you never told me about your voice....” she pouted.  Strahad laughed, and Kranal shifted with impatience.

“I had a student try and dismiss their Infernal in a village that wasn’t prepared for it.  The student died trying to stop it and I tried to summon it under my control before it killed everyone.  It would have worked, but I was knocked over by someone trying to escape and I messed up the incantation.  The ruination of my voice is the least of my problems.  Now, your story?”

Esera sighed and straightened her dress.

“After we lost Gnomregan, we moved into the mountains with the Dwarves with a human named Deaga...”