The Maelstrom (part 2)

In their arrogance, the Kaldorei (Darnassian for Children/People of the Stars, aka Night Elves), wielded the power of the Well of Eternity foolishly, summoned demons to Azeroth and destroyed the world as they knew it. The Highborne (Quel'dorei, "Children of Nobel Birth") of the Kaldorei, a privileged few and their queen, Azshara, were presumed destroyed along with their glorious monuments. Their vast cityscapes and beautiful cultural heritage was lost to history... but those who sank beneath the ocean survived.

The Well of Eternity has transformative powers. It turned whatever humanoid race originally dwelt near it into the Night Elves. And when the Night Elves fell to the bottom of the ocean along with the Well, it turned them into a being far more evil, fierce and amphibious than any previous. The Naga. The lingering power of the destroyed Well gave them water-breathing lungs, a serpentine appearance and a ferocious demeanor. Not all the Highborne became Naga, mind you. Some of them survived even the drowning and went on to establish Silvermoon and Quel'Thalas as the High Elves. But those they left behind, the Naga, laid dormant, stewing in their defeat and plotting their reemergence for ten thousand years. This is why I was wary. This is why I did not want them to know I was here, invading their territory.

My original plan was to head straight for the rift and investigate the source of the power I felt surging through the area, but given that a Naga scout may have spotted me, I instead swam toward the northeast to the area known as Pillar Deep. There one can find several fissures spewing gaseous bubbles and many tree-like objects both of which could give me sufficient cover to hide until enough time had passed for the Naga scout to forget about my appearance on the surface and resume his mandatory patrol.

The water in Pillar Deep smelled like sulfur and acid. Breathing water on its own is a slightly unpleasant experience until you get used to it, let alone when it smells like a rotten egg. It was something I was willing to endure, however, for the safety I thought the area would provide. I touched the ocean floor and yawned to equalize the pressure of the water in my system. I was next to a large tree-like structure that seemed to be covered in scales. The top of the tree yawned over out from the center like a palm tree, but instead of leaves they were single thick tentacles. The entire structure weaved and bobbed with the current simulating a palm in high winds in slow motion. Farther out in the distance were some gaseous fissures providing more cover for me. I was sure no one would find me here. At lest... no one I could recognize.

You can imagine it came as a bit of a shock when I realized... the tree had found me.

After the whole ordeal I would eventually come to learn that this creature I was standing behind was called a Tubeworm. And it was, evidentially, very territorial. One of the tentacles that I had thought to be palm branches wrapped itself around me and began attempting to pick me up off the ground. It was very unnerving when I came to the conclusion that these tentacles were something like a group of tongues trying to pull me into the mouth at the very top. I thrashed about, unused to the weightlessness I felt under water. Out of habit, I stupidly cast an Arcane Explosion. This singed the tentacle a bit, but it also alerted the nearby tentacles to the presence of a threat. I now had four tongues licking at me as a delicacy. I thought fast. This time I forwent knee-jerk reactions and cast a spell I should have had ready all along. Blink.

Blink is a wondrous spell when cast by a potent mage. Generally used to escape some sort of movement-impediment, it is shorter in range than a teleport spell, but far quicker - instant, in fact. On rare occasion you may see a confident mage cast Blink into the heart of a battle and cast a spell affecting all enemies in the immediate area. Most of the time this mage is counting on a competent healer to keep him safe while he aggravates the surprised enemies. For the most part, however, Blink is used to get away from danger.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I opened my eyes to see that I was beyond the gaseous fissures... in plain sight of a troop of Naga scouts. And there was no friendly healer for miles.