Chapter 733

Chapter 733: The Source of Magic in the Mage Tower

"Master Morganth had given a similar explanation before about Karazhan affecting the Ley Lines," Troteman said. "But the problem is, this tower still gives magical support to the Gnolls living inside. Our soldiers tried a strong assault earlier and found that those Darkweavers inside seemed able to keep casting spells at us while we fought the Gnoll sentries. Fighting like that would only get us killed for nothing, so we planned to ask for help from Stormwind."

"I want to know if the magic you talked about is Arcane power or Shadow Power?" Jesse asked.

Troteman looked at the soldier in chainmail beside him and said, "You saw it best last time, Captain Taber. Tell Master Seso about it—I didn’t notice much myself."

"I’m sure it was Shadow, Master Seso," the captain replied. "During the last attack, I saw dark purple light coming from the top of the tower. It wasn’t like the pale lavender light before the Orcs took it. I’ve seen that kind of Arcane light at the Wizard’s Sanctum."

A source of Shadow Power in this Mage Tower?

Jesse asked, "When you took this tower from the Orcs, did you find any artifacts or things left by the Horde?"

"No," another captain said. "The Orcs took all the magical items and their records when they left. Master Morganth from your Wizard’s Sanctum got angry about that."

Troteman thought for a moment and asked, "Could the Gnolls have found something the Orcs left behind and brought it in?"

Jesse doubted this guess. He remembered his last visit here with Greed and hadn’t felt any source of Shadow Power. The Tower of Ilgalar felt like a rundown ordinary watchtower, with nothing special except people living inside.

Could they only turn on this "energy source" when attacked?

"Before you attacked, did that strange light show on the tower?" Jesse asked.

"No," Troteman said. "So we thought the tower wasn’t working and attacked. But once we fought the Gnoll sentries guarding it, the tower suddenly lit up, catching us off guard."

"It seems I can’t figure this out without seeing it myself," Jesse said. "Does Stonewatch Keep have a gryphon nest?"

"Yes," Troteman confirmed. "Not only do we have a gryphon nest, but we also keep a gryphon here, trained in Ironforge. It’s much more obedient than those trained in Stormwind, master."

"Can the gryphon take me for a quick look?" Jesse asked.

"Sure," Troteman answered. "Tonight is best. I worry that during the day, the gryphon would be too obvious and alert the Gnolls, showing we plan to attack the tower."

That night, Jesse went with a guard captain to the walls. The gryphon at Stonewatch Keep was a light brown Hinterlands gryphon, which was better than he’d expected.

He thought that if he traveled between the Tower of Ilgalar and Stormwind later, he could use this gryphon nest, riding Goergette back and forth. The gryphon administrator at Stonewatch Keep was human, but since he was sent to guard gryphons in such an important place, he should be fine at riding.

But once on the gryphon, Jesse still felt the difference between himself and Greed.

The gryphon administrator often had to shout several times to get a response, pulling hard on the reins or pointing to make the gryphon understand. When Greed rode a gryphon, he just yelled in anger, and the gryphon knew right away he wanted to fight back. A single call, and the gryphon knew he wanted to retreat and break off the fight.

But as Troteman said, this gryphon was very well-behaved and did what the rider wanted once it understood.

Maybe because humans don’t work well with gryphons, Ironforge sent such a gentle and obedient one to help here.

Flying over the forest, Jesse saw the dark shape of the Tower of Ilgalar among the trees.

The administrator flew carefully, staying high to avoid the Gnoll sentries, but that made it harder for Jesse to see the magic at the tower’s top.

After a few passes, Jesse still didn’t see any clear sign of Shadow Power. It wasn’t that there was none at all; he did feel a faint shadow aura hiding inside the tower, but without really focusing, it was impossible to notice. It was probably just leftover energy from the warlocks trying to cast spells.

Could such a small amount of energy really hold up the whole tower against Stonewatch forces?

"Can you see anything, master? Should I fly lower?" the gryphon administrator asked as they circled the eastern side of the Tower of Ilgalar.

This pass was a bit closer, making Jesse feel the Shadow Power inside was strangely pure. He thought he’d sensed something like it before.

It was in The Slaughtered Lamb… the energy of the Netherwalker.

Jesse quickly used his demon detection spell and looked into the tower. He found a very faint shadow covering the whole thing. Was this Mage Tower a demon?

No, wait. Jesse noticed the core of this shadow at the tower’s base.

The whole tower wasn’t a demon; some magic must have tied a demon to the tower, making it slightly magical.

This weak shadow, with its pure darkness, and since these Gnoll Warlocks probably couldn’t call up a strong demon, made Jesse think it was likely a Netherwalker.

The Gnolls actually summoned a Netherwalker to power the whole Mage Tower? They really had some smart ideas.

No wonder the Mage Tower only lit up during attacks; a weak Netherwalker couldn’t keep the tower powered for long and definitely couldn’t give a steady flow of energy like a full Ley Line, keeping it always on guard against enemies.

But this gave Jesse an idea. If he learned how the Gnolls bound the demon to the tower, could he summon a demon himself to power this tower?

Then he wouldn’t worry about the tower’s magic getting weak and being taken back by the Gnolls, or even by Orcs or black dragons. Wait, could this tower hold Kallez?