Luka was quite forgiving when he was not the victim. This was somewhat consistent with what a quarter of a human lifetime had taught her of such things; it did not involve him, so it was easy to overlook.
However, the skeleton's obvious power left her with an important question: "You said you can create portals of a sort, yes? What limitation do you have on this? We may be able to start on finding a way home with such means."
She would rather not rush it, but she made a promise.
...
Valda casually reached out for the muffin she'd left uneaten before and got started on consuming it. No reason to leave good food to go to waste, even if she felt pleasantly full for the first time in forever. She'd eat while she waited for the response.
"Right, portals..." But Luka still wasn't sure of some things. Or rather, curiosity had taken hold.
Another world... different villains, different monsters... what kind of person what this walking, talking skeleton?
"Sorry, but would you mind telling me more about your world first?" he asked the skeleton. "Like, this Scourge you worked for?"
"Alright, pucker up for an abridged history lesson then." Sir Bonesington smiled. He did not mind telling stories. In fact, he quite liked it.
He cleared his throat and spread his hands in front of them, conjuring an image over them like a screen of shining dust. It was a dull world map indicating the cardinal directions, with three island-shaped continents oriented like the edges of a triangle. To the east and west the two larger, vertically wider ones appeared, facing each other while separated by some distance. At the top of the map, the smaller continent that was wider horizontally was, hanging over the superior edges of the others, in the space between them. And between the three, a great whirlwind was drawn.
"For the basics first, then. Where I come from, Azeroth, is composed of three continents. The Eastern Kingdoms, Kalimdor, and Northrend." The lich began, as the names appeared over the continents to the east, the west, and the north, respectively.
He continued, shadows stretching along his skull as he emerged himself in the narration.
"It is a world where magic, great feats and heroes are commonplace. Many races live there, each with their own realms and territories, cooperating under several alliances. Humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, trolls, tauren... and others. Over the years, many wars have been fought among them. And the existence of the Scourge is deeply connected with such conflicts."The image over Bonesington's skeletal hands faded like blown away by the wind and was replaced by shifting shadows. The vision zoomed away, and the shifting shadows were lit up slightly, revealing a picture of masses of moving corpses marching together in their shambling way.
"The Scourge was an army of the undead created by the Lich King, through the means of his engineered magical plague. A disease that would kill the living and raise them from the earth as his unstoppable and faithful soldiers. And unstoppable they were. They devastated all in their passage, bolstering their numbers with their victims. Even if you could successfully resist them, your losses in the process alone would sustain them. Truly, they were a frightening force."The projection shifted to a number of cowled and hooded figures in purple, chanting, following in the wake of the dead, and raising their architecturally distinct structures by magic.
"The Lich King's main mean of spreading the plague of undeath through the human realms, the Scourge's first major target, was the Cult Of The Damned, his most trusted mortal agents. And it was through them that I became a part of the Scourge." His speech became lighter for a few moments, as he seemed to be recalling something.
"Really, what drew me in was their wonderful dental plan. But I admit I didn't mind taking the chance to learn necromancy. Break-dancing skeletons were as cool as I expected."He forced out a cough and continued.
"Anyhow. I was rather good at my job, so I eventually got promoted and turned into a lich! Which was quite honestly radical. My magic even got boosted by it. Moving on. Sometime after that, the might of the Scourge was unleashed on the rest of the world with the dawn of the Third War."His voice turned serious again. The images lit into green flames, fire raining from the skies, and demonic looking creatures roaming destructively.
"The purpose of the Scourge was to be the vanguard for a demonic army called the Burning Legion, which planned to destroy Azeroth. The Lich King was created by the lords of the Legion as a tool to soften the mortal opposition. And he did his job. But nonetheless, the mortal races of Azeroth united against the demons, and defeated them. And so, the Scourge was left to its own devices, as the Lich King had planned all along."There was a flash of a large block of ice atop a frozen spire, black armor encased in it, humming with power.
"After that.... well, a lot happened. We thwarted a scheme to destroy the Lich King, and he passed his spirit to the body of his most trusted lieutenant at the culmination of the incident, after which he went into a deep sleep. During the few following years, the world was alight with numerous conflicts. The races of Azeroth had organized themselves into two major groups, the Alliance and the Horde, and many adventurers of both sides went around the world to solve these issues. Then, around the sixth year mark since his sleep started, the Lich King awoke from his slumber and launched massive attacks all over Azeroth. The Horde and the Alliance fought back, and took the fight to the heart of his empire, Northrend. Eventually, the adventurers of both factions and their allies managed to finally destroy him, although the costs were high. And so, the Scourge all but ceased to be, and tensions between the Alliance and the Horde were reawakened."Bonesington clapped his hands together, and the projections, which had been changing between scenes of battlefields among cold wastes, vanished.
"After that, I took a few friends I made in the Scourge and retired to my little corner in Hillsbrad Foothills. And the rest, as they say, is history."Bonesington realized he had gone longer than he had anticipated and tipped his hat lightly in apology.
"Pardon me, I ended up ranting a little." He took one hand and scratched the back of his skull lightly.
"As for the portals. I should theoretically be able to open one to anywhere I've been before, though it is infinitely easier if the mage is more intimately familiar with the location or it is a great focus of power. It so happens that most important cities in Azeroth are built exactly in such places, so any mage of the Alliance or the Horde worth his salt should be able to open portals to his faction's capital cities." He explained.
Though Bonesington himself didn't have any strong sympathetic connections to most notable places in Azeroth.
"The portal that brought me here was entirely experimental, however. And it is an overall complex spell with multiple contrivances to its method, so opening a few portals per day is the most that anyone can do. I can make more than your usual run of the mill mage, of course, but not that many."
