AN: Above is an image of the Black Empire. Before any mortal race existed on Azeroth, or any Titans had come to liberate it and imprison the Old Gods, the Old Gods ruled the planet. This image features a city in the Black Empire, presumably with C'Thun or N'Zoth in the background.
October 30, 2017
8:00 AM
Yogg'Saron's voice thundered through the auditorium. He had taken to using this room as his place of meeting. It was covered in red and black, and banners carrying the crest of the Black Empire hung on the walls. The stage had a massive throne that he sat in, and many pews were lined up in front of and below the stage, similar to a church. In these pews sat his advisors and his generals. Next to him, in a smaller throne, sat Erin Matthias, dressed in royal garb. Pure silver bracelets and a ruby dress, laced with actual rubies. On her head sat a silver circlet adorned with garnets and, of course, rubies.
In the past nine days, Yogg'Saron had gathered many human followers from this city. Some were coaxed by whispers of power during their sleep, sent by their new god. Some were recruited by the previously mentioned fellows, looking for the same whispers of power. Sitting before him now were twenty men and women of varying degrees of importance in the community. One, however, sat above them all, in Yogg'Saron's eyes. He was the mayor of this city, by the name of Theodore Quincy. This Quincy would be the Old One's political cannon fodder. The initial blast to take over this city.
Yogg'Saron gave his speech at a whim. He never wrote speeches, like many mortal political figures. His speeches were always designed to inspire specific purposes in his followers. In this case, he was discussing the upcoming raid. Plenty of soldiers had been hatched, and a warlord had been created to lead the hundred or so Faceless Ones into battle. The warlord was a huge Faceless One adorned with massive shells and glittering armor that bore the crest of the Black Empire.
Erin had brought up something interesting to him in the hours before this meeting. She had mentioned that the next day was a holiday known as Halloween, more or less the same as Hallow's End on Azeroth. This day, people dressed as monsters and creatures to inspire fear in one another. At least, that's how he understood it. He figured C'Thun would prefer to be here, leading the charge on the day of fear, but Yogg'Saron was happy to do so as well.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Yogg'Saron stood, in Kaldrun's body, and spoke in a less intimidating voice, but carrying just the same menace, "You all are the first supporters in the return of the Black Empire, and this promises you the power of a god. But know this; if any one of you are to betray or double-cross me, you will experience pain such that your little mortal minds could not imagine. Am I understood?"
The crowd had become tense and afraid, and replied with sloppy "Yes sir"s and "Ahh..?"s and "Y-Yeah, of course"s.
Yogg'Saron's eyes flared and he asked, "What?"
Suddenly the crowd of to-be gods lost their fear and tensity and replied in unison with, "Yes, Ancient One!"
Yogg'Saron smiled cunningly, "Good," and turned to Erin, lowering his voice so that only she could hear, "Now, we get to the true planning. Summon the Warlord."
Erin smiled seductively up at Kaldrun's face, "Yes, my lord."
⇋
In the next few moments, the pocket dimension containing the meeting room had been emptied to all but Erin and Kaldrun's puppet body. The air at one end of the room rippled and crackled with orange energy, and suddenly the Warlord materialized. It was at least twice the size of a regular Faceless One and its horned head scraped the ceiling. It stood before the stage, looking down at Yogg'Saron and Erin. It bowed before Erin and gave Yogg'Saron a partial salute, inhibited by the low ceiling.
With a thought, the ceiling rose to several feet above even the Warlord's head, and a massive stone chair materialized in front of the stage. Yogg'Saron gestured for the Warlord, who's name was Gan'esh, to sit. He did so, and they got down to business.
⇋
During the entire meeting, Erin wore the same pretentious grin, as though she truly believed she was equal to these two god-like beings. In truth, she was in a state of constant fear. She knew that Yogg'Saron could blink, and she would be dead. Or worse. Besides that, she could hardly imagine the kind of things this massive thing could do to her. It pleased her to know that she truly had at least an increment of power over all the Faceless Ones. Ever since the Old One had promised her control over his armies, she had felt a constant aura in her mind, a presence that she could tap into at will. At any time, she could see what the monsters saw, hear what they heard, control them as though they were her dolls in a dollhouse.
An upside, she supposed.
During her thoughts, she noticed Yogg'Saron had been talking about the plan of attack for the next day. He had been giving Gan'esh instructions on how he was to lead the Faceless Ones into battle. The plan was this; Gan'esh was to go into battle with a massive blade, glowing with a menacing red aura that somewhat appeared like dripping blood. On his shoulder would be the Old One. He would march to the town hall and demolish it, keeping none but the mayor alive. The mayor would stand atop the rubble and give his people the command to join, or die. At least, that's what he believed would happen. In truth, he would be impaled by the jagged blade of Gan'eth, who would then proceed to eat the corpse of the mayor. It would instead be Yogg'Saron that delivered the message of death. All those that would join would be transported to this pocket dimension for safety. It would be filled with a banquet of all kinds of foods, infinitely and automatically replenished whenever depleted. All those that resist would be slain. Those to surrender or attempt to flee, but not willingly join, would be imprisoned in another pocket dimension until ready to be used for slave work.
As for the actual raid portion, they would march through the city, first to the Police Department (Erin had to explain a couple times that this what equivalent to the guards' barracks found in Azeroth. She decided not to even bother explaining that much of the police force would already be attacking them), then to the nearest military base. Yogg'Saron easily understood that the military would be the most dangerous threat to his plans, but still believed they would be a minor threat. He predicted, perhaps accurately, that his armies could easily crush every one of the armies on this lifeless rock.
Yogg'Saron would speak for hours on end. He really enjoyed the sound of his own voice. It was especially startling, however, to hear Gan'esh speak when Yogg'Saron finished. He growled, like a bear with laryngitis, but he definitely spoke actual words, "All is understood, my lord. I will obey you to the letter. And you, mistress."
Gan'esh spoke the last with a glance and slight nod to Erin. She nodded gratefully back.
The Old One stood and dusted off the black and red robes that he wore at all times. Dusting them off was wholly unnecessary. To Erin, they seemed perpetually clean. Perhaps a nervous fidget of some sort? A bit of Kaldrun's mannerisms coming out? She had her hopes, despite them likely being unfounded.
Erin stood as well and smiled to her host and Gan'esh, "If you two will excuse me, I have some business to attend to. There is a man that I arranged to meet today and I am running a bit late. Goodbye, sirs."
With that, Erin went to the back of the room and exited the double doors, and suddenly she was dropped exactly where she had envisioned being dropped, in her regular, day-to-day clothes. Today was, fortunately, her first payday in months. This old dude was supposed to meet her and pay her five grand for the weird black book she picked up a week or so back. She noticed that, as well as the change in clothes, her satchel had appeared around her shoulders, book... satcheled away. (Satcheled - Past tense of "Satchel"/"To satchel"-- ah, who am I kidding, it isn't a real word).
Erin sat there in noonday sun. Noonday? Had they been seriously sitting in that damned room for four hours? God. What a life she had set up for herself these past few days. The storm that had been brewing during Erin's imprisonment, she herself had never laid eyes on. It only lasted during the time between Erin becoming imprisoned and Kaldrun handing himself to Yogg'Saron. What she didn't know was that the same magical storm would be brewing with twice the intensity on the day of Hallow's Eve.
Erin stood on that street corner, waiting for the old dude in pennyloafers or whatever weird shit he'd be wearing. She heard a strong, innocent, and sweet old voice speak the simplest little phrase, "Excuse me, miss, are you Erin Matty-ass?"
Erin sighed and smiled politely, turning, "Uh, yeah. Are you, erm, CarlSatan49?"
The old man grinned toothlessly, "Yes, I am. Do, ehm, aha, do you have the, erm, yes, the book?"
Erin dropped the politesse and grabbed the book from the satchel, "Yeah, you got the cash?"
The old man, presumably named Carl, nodded innocently and fished a massive wad of cash from his pocket and held it out with an arthritis-gnarled hand that shook horribly.
In one smooth motion, Erin switched the places of the cash and the book, without breaking eye contact. He held the book at his side and nodded, "Thank you, miss," and suddenly he was gone in the crowd of bustling Seattle people. Erin just sighed and started walking the McDonald's across the street. She glanced across the street to the Space Needle and found a bunch of policeman and cars inspecting it. The entire block was surrounded in caution tape.
She had a vague idea this might have something to do with Kaldrun.