TOP SECRET!!!
ONLY FOR REVIEW BY STEEPEN SPROCKLEBERT!!!!!
DEMON SPACE PALADINS!
A Screenplay By Gizmik Fazzle
FADE IN:
A glorious dawn breaks over the grassy plains of the Barrens on a summer morning as a TROLL HUNTER and his bear companion arrive atop the dusty peak of the Shrine of the Fallen Hero – a hill not far from the bustling Crossroads.
The morning sun has risen above the waters of the Great Sea to the east. Wiping sweat from his cerulean brow, the troll takes a jerked fish from a leather satchel and tosses it into the eager mouth of the grumbling bear. The troll grins, pats the bear on the head, and then watches with some dismay as a brief shadow whisks across the dusty hilltop. Sand swirls around the two-toed feet of the troll as he swings his tusked face around to stare at the phantom's passage in the sky, from east to west.
CUT TO:
The plains below the Shrine of the Fallen Hero, as zevras and giraffes scatter in the wake of the object passing overhead.
CUT TO:
A watch post on a hill near Camp Taurajo, where a TAUREN SENTINEL and an ORC SENTINEL sit at a table playing a game of Decapitate the King. A sonic boom rattles the camp and knocks several pieces over on the game board.
CUT TO:
A grassy hillside in nearby Mulgore, where our hero, the Tauren warrior BRIGHTEYE WINDWALKER, is in the midst of delivering a beat-down to a bunch of thugs from the Venture Co. The last thug hits the ground with perfect timing to match the eruption of the sonic boom. Brighteye scowls at the noise and turns to stare down the hill toward his small home village of Skymarch. More sonic booms echo through the hills as a dozen wedge-shaped craft zoom in toward the Tauren settlement. Brighteye's mouth falls open and then he starts thumping down the hill as fast as he can.
CUT TO:
TAUREN VILLAGERS scattering as the strange craft open fire with purple energy bolts, blowing up huts and tents, and hurling bodies in all directions. A female Tauren, AURORA, the mate of Brighteye Windwalker, huddles with their two offspring, DARKCLOUD and SANDSWIRL under a lean-to when she sees Brighteye approaching from the hills to the west.
AURORA: (yelling) Brighteye!
She moves as if to lead the children to Brighteye, but her husband signals for her to stay.
BRIGHTEYE: (yelling) Don't move!
Aurora does as her mate has bidden. Brighteye keeps running toward the shelter. But it soon becomes all too apparent that Brighteye chose unwisely. An explosive blast of purple light erupts between him and his family. He is flung backward, flopping like a rag doll on the ground. Groggily, as the blast fades, he looks toward the crater that once held a shelter for his wife and children. They're gone now. He's left alone with his pain and the moans and cries of the wounded and dying. He stares blankly into the sky as the hostile craft fade off into the distance. And then he passes out.
FADE TO BLACK...
FADE IN:
Brighteye regains consciousness in a healer's tent on Spirit Rise of Thunder Bluff. A few other WOUNDED SURVIVORS are arrayed on cots under the tent. A Tauren druid, OCHORO HIGHPASS, kneels beside Brighteye and puts a hand on the warrior's shoulder.
OCHORO: Do not strain yourself, Windwalker. You have endured much.
BRIGHTEYE: Aurora? The children?
Ochoro frowns and shakes his head.
OCHORO: I am sorry.
Brighteye struggles to sit up, brushing Ochoro's hand away as he lets his hooves settle on the ground.
BRIGHTEYE: Who did this? Why?
OCHORO: (shrugging) We do not know. Few survived to tell what happened. Of those who survived, none could give much of a description of the craft that attacked your village.
BRIGHTEYE: They were small and fast. They fired powerful energy weapons. I have never seen their like before.
OCHORO: Gnomish, perhaps?
BRIGHTEYE: What reason would gnomes have for attacking a peaceful Tauren village?
OCHORO: They're gnomes. Why should reason even apply?
BRIGHTEYE: (shaking his head) I do not think these were gnomes. But make any inquiries you can. Get word to me when you know more.
With some effort, Brighteye gets to his feet.
OCHORO: Where do you think you're going?
BRIGHTEYE: Hunting.
OCHORO: For what?! You don't even know what you're looking for.
From behind both Tauren comes a voice:
VOICE: Me know, mon.
The Tauren turn to see a lanky blue troll hunter, PATINJUNAR, at the entrance to the tent, his bear lurking close by.
PATINJUNAR: Me help ya find 'em, aye.
To be continued...