Krivax let out a grunt of frustration as he struggled to successfully construct the mental shields that Vizier Hadix claimed were standard learning for members of the Order of Kal’tut. He had learned during the meeting with Azjol-Nerub’s leadership, and Hadix had confirmed, that the Seers were aware of a tide of death approaching their kingdom. Krivax knew that the tide of death referred to the Lich King, but the rest of Azjol-Nerub had no idea what it meant, other than danger in the kingdom’s future.

As a result, Vizier Hadix was insistent on Krivax’s continued study of magic, even while they were going on a diplomatic mission, not that he was complaining.

“Calm yourself,” said Vizier Hadix from the other side of one of the cabins that Vizier Crinis had magically enlarged for them, his tone bored as he casually lounged in a silk hammock and read through some kind of spellbook. “Arcane magic is fundamentally about order. Discipline your thoughts as you cast the spell. It is imperative that you are able to sense any influence the Void might try to impose on your mind.”

Krivax fully understood the Vizier's insistence that he learn to protect his thoughts and shared his concerns, but that did not make learning it any easier.

If he were still in his old body, then there would be little chance that Krivax would be able to cast such esoteric magic at such a young age. Thankfully, it was no exaggeration to say that the transformation to his magical potential had been nearly as drastic as the change in his appearance.

Not only was any magic he cast significantly more powerful, but Krivax found he could cast faster, think clearer, and display a greater degree of control as well.

“Vizier Krivax. Focus,” Hadix said chidingly.

Krivax winced at the rebuke and redirected his attention to casting the spell. This was important and deserved his full and undivided attention. His previous attempts had failed, but he felt like he had learned enough to succeed in casting the spell this time.

Doing his best to keep his thoughts as disciplined and orderly as possible, Krivax pulled on his magic as he imagined constructing a large nerubian-style gate that would keep unwanted influence out of his mind.

Krivax was more than a little surprised when he actually felt the spell successfully click into place.

“Good,” said Hadix approvingly. “Remember that it is not enough to build walls, but you must also place a sentry that will alert you should an outside influence attempt to probe your mind.”

Riding high on his success, Krivax pushed forward as he imagined his mental gate being patrolled by swarms of flyers and skitterers, only to wince at the pain that arrived after the spell backfired.

“Do you understand what you did wrong?” asked Vizier Hadix, turning away from his book so he could point a chastising expression in Krivax’s direction.

“No, Vizier, everything seemed to be going well before the spell suddenly failed,” Krivax grouched as he rubbed his aching head with all four of his hands.

The backlash that came with a failed spell was no joke.

“You attempted to place too many sentries. At your current skill level, you would be better off starting with one. Wait until the backlash fades and then try again.”

“Yes, Vizier.”

Just as Krivax was about to settle down in a comfortable spot as he waited for his headache to pass, the sound of knocking drew his attention to the cabin door.

“I can sense that it is one of the human sailors,” said Vizier Hadix with extreme disinterest. “Go answer the door, Vizier Krivax, before the human shows themselves in and attempts to speak to me.”

“Yes, Vizier,” said Krivax, doing his best to hide his exasperation.

Much of his time since they had set sail from Northrend had been spent handling speaking on behalf of the nerubian delegation to those they did not wish to speak to themselves, which was most of the crew.

Krivax approached the cabin door slowly, paying deliberate attention to his movements.

Although he had mostly gotten used to his new body over the very long trip, he still felt the need to pay attention to his steps at times to compensate for his one less pair of legs.

Krivax let out a huff of annoyance as he was forced to bend down to look through the door as he opened it.

While Vizier Crinis was a genius who specialized in spatial magic, even she was limited in how much she could increase the size of the cabins without investing significant resources. If that weren’t the case, then Anub’rekhan would not have been wrapped in silk and put into a magical sleep.

“Yes? How can I help you?” Krivax asked the human sailor who did not look very comfortable to be speaking with him.

“Yeah, ugh… Th-the Capt’n sent me to let you guys know that we’re about to reach Fairwater Port,” said the sailor whose name Krivax did not know. Despite his attempts over the course of the trip most of the crew still actively avoided interacting with him as much as they did the other nerubians if they could.

A hurdle he was starting to realize might remain a problem once they actually reached the Eastern Kingdoms.

“Alright, thank you for letting us know,” Krivax said simply. It was obvious that the guy really didn’t want to be there so he wouldn’t insist on continuing the conversation.

The sailor simply nodded while showing an expression of relief before quickly leaving.

Krivax didn’t bother to close the door since he and Hadix would be making their way up to the top deck now that they were finally about to reach the Eastern Kingdoms. The delegation had long since decided that there was no point in attempting to keep out of sight while the natives were forewarned about them like Krivax had done the previous times he had met new groups of people.

After all, Spiderlord Anub’rekhan and his cocoon would be visible long before they stepped into town.

By the time Krivax had turned around, Vizier Hadix was already getting down from his hammock and making his way out of the cabin.

“Let us not waste time,” said Hadix. “I’d prefer to spend as little time on this wooden prison as possible.”

The journey had been a long one, and he knew for a fact that Vizier Hadix was not the only one who was feeling cooped up.

Krivax kept his head down as he waddled through the too-small hallways and was unsurprised to discover that the rest of the delegation had beaten them there once they arrived on deck.

Walking past Vizier Crinis, the pair of Weavers, and many uncomfortable humans, Krivax greeted Masruk as he approached the group of Warriors.

“Hey, Masruk,” said Krivax as he looked down toward his friend, still not completely adjusted to his change in height. “You feeling alright?” He knew that his friend had been feeling particularly cooped up and had coped by spending much of his time learning from the Warriors. Still, his options for sparring and training were limited given their lack of space.

“I am feeling better now that we are finally nearing our destination,” Masruk grumbled with no small amount of frustration. “How about you? How has your training been going?”

“Well enough. I’ve nearly managed to learn the spell that Vizier Hadix has been trying to teach me,” said Krivax vaguely. He was obviously not able to tell Masruk about anything related to the Order, but his friend did not seem to feel put out by his vague responses, thankfully.

“Land ahoy!”

Krivax turned his gaze to the front of the ship at the captain’s bellow to see Malzie and Trixie staring at something off in the distance. He had spent a lot of time with both the gnome and the dwarf while learning to speak Common during the long trip.

Krivax was grateful for his newfound mental acuity, otherwise he would not have learned enough Common during the trip to carry a conversation. Although he was still feeling a bit put out over how much quicker Hadix learned Common than he did.

Damned centuries-old wizards and their absurd intelligence.

“Hello, friends!” said Krivax in Common as he approached the two Explorers. Once he got closer he could see that Malzie was using some kind of spyglass and Trixie was fiddling with her goggles. “How are things looking in town?”

“Not well, lad,” said Malzie, his tone grim as he stared off into the distance. “The dock workers have seen you and the rest of the spiderfolk with their own spyglasses. Looks like they’re panicking and guards are forming up around the docks.”

Krivax winced at the news. While that was a potential possibility that they had considered, it was one that he had hoped to avoid. If the humans were panicking, then there was a possibility that they would refuse to allow them to port or even attack them outright. It was a small possibility given that the ship was still being visibly sailed by humans, but Krivax did not trust these people to make rational decisions when a ship covered in unknown giant spider creatures was approaching their town.

“Will you be going ahead with Vizier Hadix?” asked Masruk, referring to the plan that they and the rest of the delegation had come up with when they discussed possible responses to a situation like this one.

Vizier Hadix was the one who was nominally responsible for the actual diplomacy, although Krivax suspected that his mentor had no interest in speaking to ‘primitives’ and intended to leave as much of that work as possible to him.

“Yes, I suppose I will,” Krivax answered reluctantly.

Hadix’s response on what they should do if the humans reacted with hostility before they docked was simply for him, Krivax, and a representative from the ship to teleport ahead and cow them with a round of good Vizier/bad Vizier.

That is to say, Krivax and the representative would be the ones who would actually be diplomatic while Hadix provided the threat of magical violence.

After all, it had not escaped the notice of the Viziers that the humans were even more cautious around them than the other members of the delegation who had not displayed any magical skill. It was confirmed by Trixie that most human mages lived in Dalaran and that the majority of the sailors had likely never even met someone who used magic before.

They had considered many options of who they should bring along, but they eventually settled on Oscar given that he was directly employed by House Ashfort and was well-trusted by them.

“Nobody is going to get hurt, right?” Trixie asked in concern. While she knew Krivax well enough to assume that he would not hurt anyone, she didn’t have as much confidence in Vizier Hadix.

“Of course not,” said Krivax with more confidence than he really felt. Logically, it should be fine given that Hadix was smart enough to understand that harming any of the humans would make their job much harder. Still, he knew that the Vizier placed very little thought into the well-being of humans, so a part of him was still worried.

Resigning himself to his upcoming confrontation with a group of armed and scared people, Krivax went to gather Oscar, who was busy chattering with the captain. After explaining the situation to them, Oscar promptly agreed to follow him and the two of them began making their way over to Hadix and Crinis, who both seemed to be engrossed in some kind of conversation.

Krivax was only able to hear the tail end of what Vizier Crinis was saying once he got closer.

“---mthing very strange about the effect this land has on spatial magic!”

“Could it be due to the leylines?”

“I am unsure. I have done a few calculations and the source of the disruptive emanations is likely coming from somewhere in the southern portion of the continent.”

“Will it prevent us from creating a permanent portal if the leadership decides doing so is in the interests of the kingdom?”

“It's too early to tell.”

“Vizier Hadix, Vizier Crinis, I’m sorry for interrupting, but it seems that the humans in the town ahead have started to panic due to our presence,” said Krivax, knowing from experience that if he did not interrupt that they would simply ignore him and continue speaking as if he wasn’t there.

“Tch. How inconvenient,” said Hadix with a note of irritation. “We will continue this conversation later, Vizier Crinis. I will teleport ahead alongside my student to make certain the humans do not do anything foolish while the ship is approaching. After we dock and Anub’rekhan has been awoken, I doubt that the humans will have enough bravery to threaten us.”

Seeing no reason to wait and not wanting to give the humans more time to prepare, Vizier Hadix placed a hand on the shoulders of both Krivax and Oscar, turned his gaze to the docks, and began casting the short-range teleportation spell.

Come on, Vizier Hadix. At least warn me first!

Krivax grumbled quietly to himself as he was suddenly teleported without warning onto the town of Fairwater’s docks, right in front of a crowd of startled and panicking human guards and a few makeshift militia.

Krivax had not been able to get a good look at the town from the boat given the distance, but he was surprised to find that it was a bit larger than he had been expecting. Unfortunately, he was not given much time to catch his bearings or get a good look at the town in detail before some of the guards decided to immediately open fire on them with a few of their guns, causing Oscar to scream out in fright.

Thankfully, Vizier Hadix had created an arcane barrier around their persons the moment they teleported in and the bullets bounced off harmlessly without leaving a scratch, much to the dismay of the human guards.

“Hmm. Their weapons are a bit stronger than I had expected,” muttered Vizier Hadix with some interest.

Azjol-Nerub had of course learned about guns from Trixie, but it was not easy for them to conceptualize something they had never seen before.

Seeing that Oscar was too frightened about being shot at to take control of the situation, Krivax decided it would be better to get ahead of everything before the situation devolved even more than it had.

“Greetings!” Krivax yelled out in Common as loud so that he could be heard over the clamor. Thankfully, that seemed to be enough to stun the panicking guards and militia, freezing their attempts for a follow-up attack for the moment from shock. “I am Vizier Krivax of Azjol-Nerub! I have been told that the ruler of this town is Lord Uland Ashfort! I would like to speak with you about my people’s presence on the Sea Cutter!”

After he started yelling out in Common, the humans seemed to freeze in astonishment, but once he mentioned the name of the local lord, they all simultaneously turned their gaze to one particular person in the crowd.

Even if that was not enough of a clue, Krivax would have been able to tell that the middle-aged man who was currently mounted on a large war horse and was wearing ornate armor was likely to be Lord Uland Ashfort.

Once he was called out, the noble did not hesitate to move forward to the edge of the arcane barrier and turn a steely gaze to Krivax, not looking at all intimidated by the giant spider wizards in front of him.

“Who and what are you, creature?” said Lord Ashfort. “Why have you come here?”

“As I said, I am Vizier Krivax of Azjol-Nerub, a kingdom native to Northrend. This is Vizier Hadix,” said Krivax as diplomatically as possible, gesturing toward Hadix. “We are nerubians, and our people have sent us to establish diplomatic contact between our kingdom and those of the Eastern Kingdoms.”

Krivax made sure to speak loudly enough for all the nearby humans to hear him, and they all immediately broke out into chatter at his words.

Lord Ashfort seemed stunned at his words and took several moments to contemplate in silence for responding.

“What have you done to the crew of the ship that we sent to Northrend, nerubian? Are they well?” asked Lord Ashfort in a steely tone, turning a gaze to the merchant who was just starting to compose himself. “If you have harmed them, then I swear on the Light that your magic will not stop me from making you regret it.”

Vizier Hadix scoffed in disdain before responding to the human lord with a voice filled with derision.

“Mind your words, human, before I teach you how wrong you are. My magic is not something that your pitiful little militia nor your meager ‘Light’ is capable of overcoming.”

After hearing those words, Lord Ashfort turned a wary eye toward Hadix and many of the humans tensed and tightened their grips on their weapons.

Damn it, Hadix…

Just as Krivax was about to try his best to smooth over the situation, Oscar finally recovered from his fright and stepped forward.

“Lord Ashfort! Please tell your men to stand down. There is truly no need for violence,” Oscar said pleadingly. “The nerubians have not treated us poorly. The crew is safe and they have come here with good intentions.”

Lord Ashfort looked at Oscar with an assessing gaze and was silent for several moments before turning his attention back to Krivax.

“If what you say is true, then I would speak with my retainer in private to verify your claims.”

“Of course,” said Krivax with a note of relief, agreeing immediately. It was a reasonable request, and they truly had nothing to hide… that Oscar knew about anyway.

With a wave of his hand, Vizier Hadix opened up a small hole in the barrier that allowed Oscar to pass through before closing it again immediately afterward, not trusting the local humans not to have itchy trigger fingers.

Krivax watched as the merchant and the Lord walked away from everyone else and began speaking to each other in hushed whispers. The two of them were speaking for quite some time and it seemed like their conversation was progressively devolving into an argument until Oscar opened up his spatial bag and showed its contents to Lord Ashfort.

The human noble seemed stunned but quickly collected himself before restarting their conversation in a more subdued manner.

Eventually, the two of them finished their conversation, and Lord Ashfort walked back over to them.

“We will allow the Sea Cutter to dock, but your… people must stay on the ship until we have finished verifying your story,” Lord Ashfort said reluctantly.

“Thank you, Lord Ashfort,” said Krivax, bowing politely. Hadix simply scoffed before taking down the barrier, although Krivax was not naive enough to believe that the Vizier was not prepared for an attack. “I look forward to building trust between our people and House Ashfort.”

“We shall see, nerubian,” said Lord Ashfort with audible skepticism. “We will continue this conversation in my keep after the ship has docked and the crew has been interviewed. You will remain under armed guard during this process.”

Vizier Hadix let out a huff of annoyance but didn’t say anything to contradict the human’s terms. While the Vizier was more than a little arrogant, he was also intelligent enough to understand when it was best to compromise.

“We understand, Lord Ashfort,” said Krivax politely. “We will remain aboard the ship while you verify our claims. We look forward to continuing this conversation later so that we might reach a greater understanding.”

“Good,” said Lord Ashfort sternly. “I will hold you to that. Now if you would excuse me, I must return to my keep to speak with my advisors about these developments.”

Lord Ashfort turned to one of the men who Krivax assumed to be some kind of commander and instructed them to allow the ship to dock and interview every member of its crew. Once he was done with that, the human lord glanced at them one final time before making his way deeper into the town with Oscar quietly following behind him.

That could have gone better… but I suppose it could have gone worse.

Krivax had already reached the conclusion that the humans would not react well to the nerubians, but that level of hostility was difficult to handle. It would be much more difficult to form a friendly relationship between them and Azjol-Nerub than it was to form one with the tuskarr.

As the guards and militia moved to carry out the orders of Lord Ashfort, while continuing to glance fearfully at the two Viziers, Krivax resigned himself to the fact that this was going to be a much more difficult task than he had hoped.