A lone figure moves across the swinging rope bridges of Thunder Bluff. She is a Tauren woman wrapped tightly in furs against the blowing wind and rain that winter brings to these vaunting heights. Lightning flashes overhead, lending haste to the pace of the woman. Shortly afterwards, a crack of thunder booms across the land.
No one is foolish enough, save her, to brave the storm. All the other inhabitants of this foreboding height are safe and sound in their lodges.
As she nears the end of the bridge, she sees the sacred huts of the elders of Spirit rise. In the center lies the enormous lodge of Hamuul Runetotem, disciple of Malfurion, servant of Cenarius, and leader of the Tauren druids.
The ever present and merciless wind whips across the bluff as the lone figure nears the door of the grand lodge. A massive kodo hide has been stretched across the entrance, buttoned from the inside. It is clear that those inside are not expecting a guest this night.
"I need an audience with Elder Hamuul!!" she cries out over the howling wind.
Moments pass as the wind and rain batter the tauren. She holds fast to her skins and furs, trying her best to endure the storm.
"Hamuul Runetotem!! I desperately need to speak with you!!" she cries
Suddenly the kodo hide is pulled aside far enough for another tauren woman to stick her head out. She eyes the rain soaked figure for a moment before replying.
"Elder Hamuul is not seeing any visitors. He is gravely ill."
"Tell Hamuul that Charibdys is here to see him. I bring word of Calmfury!! I need the Elders help." the lone figure growls.
The woman at the door looks hard at the stranger. "I told you, the Elder is ill. He will not see anyone, anyway we don't want to involve ourselves in this Calmfury business anymore!!" she snaps back at the stranger.
"Bashana!!" a deep voice bellows from inside the lodge. "Let our guest come in"
The woman pulls her head back into the lodge with a scowl on her face, the kodo hide door is buttoned back up, and even over the howling wind an argument can be hear inside the lodge. The forlorn stranger left out in the cold shivers against the wet and stormy night. Then all at once, the argument in the lodge stops, and the kodo hide door is opened.
"Come inside" the deep voice commands from the dark and smokey confines of the lodge.
As the figure enters, she immediately feels the warmth and safety of the room. Huddled around a fire are about a half dozen figures, one of which is a elderly looking tauren male wrapped in a blanket and smoking a pipe.
"Come here child, let me see you closer." the Elder says.
The drenched tauren fumbles her way across the room and stands before the elder, then all at once she drops her furs, revealing a scantily clad and tattered looking woman.
Elder Hamuul squints for a moment, then tears well up in his eyes and a smile comes across his weary face as he recognizes the stranger. "By the Earthmother!! Charibdys it is you!!" he pauses for a moment, obviously astounded by what he sees. "Charibdys... but how?"
Charibdys sits heavily on the floor of the lodge as she begins to weep. "Elder Hamuul, I am so sorry." she cries out.
"Charibdys, what is wrong? Why have you come back?" Hamuul says, emotion clearly in his voice.
The tauren woman sobs for a moment before looking up at the venerable elder.
"Elder Hamuul, Ysera and the green dragonflight would not let me pass. They say that the war in the dream goes badly, and the nightmare threatens to envelope everything."
Everyone in the room gasps collectivly at the words of Charibdys.
"But, what about Calmfury?" Hamuul says in a low tone.
"Thats just it... Calmfury passed into another body, just as you thought. But, he didn't do it through the dream. You were right that he has some forbidden knowledge. The Night Elves said he is a necromancer of some sort. That he has a power that is akin to a banshee, to take over peoples bodies."
A horrified look comes across Hamuul's face. He doesn't respond, instead he just stares at Charibdys in disbelief.
"Master Hamuul, we have to find him. I need your help! He has to be stopped before it is too late. The Kaldorei he possesed when he left Moonglade manifested the Curse of the Worgen. The Sentinels had to kill him!! Right before my eyes!"
Bashana stands up from her seat by the fire. "Oh no!! you're not going to involve us in this mess again. My father has been sick ever since we came back from Moonglade. If the Night Elves want Calmfury dead then let them kill him. He is their problem now. That arrogant fool Fandral can deal with this!!"
"You don't understand!!" Charibdys continues "Before he died the Night Elf told us that Calmfury had possessed a new body. He was able to take over another Tauren!!"
The room goes deathly quiet, as everyone tries to come to grips with this new nightmare. The howling of the wind and the crackle of the fire bring a haunting aura to the smokey lodge.
"Charibdys" Elder Hamuul finally speaks "It is you and only you that must find him. I sense that there is some purpose to this horror that we don't yet understand. You seek him out and discover this purpose. I have known Calmfury, I have looked him in the eyes. My heart tells me that there is good in him and that the Night Elves are wrong. Find him Charibdys, talk to him. If I am wrong, then you must kill him."
"Father no!!" Bashana cries out
With a shocked look on her face, Charibdys does what she has always done. "Yes Elder Hamuul, I will do as you ask."
The weary Elder smiles at her. "Charibdys, please make yourself comfortable here for the night. Have some kodo stew and regain your strength. Tommorrow we will talk more about this."
"Yes Master" she says as a bowl of hot food is passed to her. As she begins to eat, a bit of a smile comes across her face. "I think I have a hunch where I can find him".
