Friday night, Stormwind, Cathedral district near stairs to Memorial Park.
I had just about convinced myself that the night was coming to an end and that I should go home and work on some paperwork. Not much was happening in the city anyway. There had been a little shouting from some Scarlet fanatics but it seemed to have been handled - or so I thought.
I was wrong.
It started with shouts, as it often does. Someone was calling for the “church to come outside” - outside of what I am still unsure about but it quickly caused a crowd to form - as shouting often do in Stormwind - and soon enough the word “Scarlet” was thrown around in that familiar way, half warning, half resignation and a lot of sighing.
There is a particular kind of reaction that name gets in Stormwind, most just roll their eyes but on occasion a few start reaching for weapons before they have even confirmed what is going on. All of those reactions were present.
From what I could gather, the woman had been preaching, or at least attempting to, though not for long. Something about her did not sit right with those nearby, and when she was confronted, whatever disguise she was wearing stopped being particularly convincing. People spoke of shadowed features, of something unnatural showing through, of her changing in a way that made it clear this was no ordinary zealot.
She was dealt with quickly enough after that. And that should have been the end of it.
Instead, there was a moment where everything slowed just slightly, as if enough people realised at once that something else was about to happen. Orders were shouted to move back, some of them quite forcefully, and a few people actually listened. Others lingered, either unsure or unwilling to give ground.
Then came the sound.
A sharp, unpleasant crack that turned into something much worse, followed immediately by the kind of blast that you feel before you properly hear it. The body did not simply collapse or burn. It detonated, sending a dark, foul-smelling cloud rolling out across the square.
Those closest were knocked off their feet, though I am told that a pair of quick-thinking paladins managed to take the worst of it with barriers of Light (I may have been distracted by a particularly large bird nearby). Even so, it was enough to leave most people stunned, coughing, and trying to work out whether they were still in one piece - and if not - where the missing piece had gone.
If that had been all, it would have been bad enough, the problem was that the cloud did not go anywhere. It lingered, heavy and unpleasant, and there were immediate concerns about what it might do to anyone who stayed too close. Some tried to disperse it, others to draw it away, and most simply backed off and decided that discretion was the better part of not inhaling whatever it was.
In the middle of all this, the scene began to shift from chaos to something more organised. Orders were given to clear the area, the injured were checked, and before long the call went out for paladins to cleanse what remained. Prayers were spoken, Light was gathered, and those present worked together to strip away whatever fel and void influence still clung to the remains. It was not instant, and there were a few worrying moments where the body reacted to the Light in bursts, but eventually the worst of it was driven out and left behind was just a ruined body that needed to be dealt with. I am told it has since been taken to the Cathedral catacombs.