-- and they are joined by a woman in strange armor, who arrives, blinks, spares a single moment to shout "If any of you are sapient please surrender by any means available to you," in the tongue she learned from those few Lordaeronians who rose, broke free, and did not set themselves to immediate war against the Alliance she was nominally part of even as she worked for the Argent Dawn; if any of the dead have enough intelligence to understand anything, they ought to understand this.

Then, she joins the battle, despite her exhaustion, darting into their midst and unleashing waves of frost to hold the undead back and bursts of holy Light to put the necromantically animated corpses back to rest.  There's little else one can do, faced with hordes of zombies, but fight them, and heal others.  ...Of course, if this is the Scourge, there is no curing it with the power of the Light alone.  She's pretty confident it's not, though; the aesthetics are all wrong for the zombies the Plague raises.

The undead don't seem particularly intelligent or like their being led by anything other than animalistic rage.  They don't respond to her words, only press onward with no regard to combat tactics.  Each one is a little stronger than a normal human and can ignore wounds that would take a human out of the fight, but still the tide begins to turn against them.

This doesn't leave the humans entirely unharmed by the fighting.  Several fall when multiple undead coincidentally manage to aim at the same target.  The scent of fresh blood draws them into clusters that can be easily struck at once.

The stranger's armor and unfamiliar cultivation techniques draw a few curious glances from the living humans.  No one will complain about the help.

Or, presumably, about the glowy light bubbles and frustrated swearing that sounds something like "Where are the fucking healers!" every time someone gets too swarmed in her field of vision, when she's too busy tanking whole mobs of ghouls herself?  Really, if they're only a little bit tougher than the average human, she's half expecting them to fall over on - wow, they actually appear to be falling over every time she hits one, even with the spells she flings out more to draw their aggression to her above all others, rather than to attack-qua-attack with.  She's kind of offended, honestly.  This necromancer did some very shoddy work if she can blast them into bits with Arcane Explosion and they fall over the minute they're Consecrated!

Very strange cultivation.  But much appreciated!

It doesn't look like they have healers as she would recognize them.  The best the locals can manage while the fighting is still going on is pulling the wounded out of danger and stopping their bleeding by applying pressure.  They do at least have teams dedicated to that task.

The large initial wave of undead seems to have mostly fallen still.  Stragglers are going to continue shambling their way out of the forest for a while yet, and who knows how many failed to notice the battle and are still wandering around in there.

...She can probably afford to spend more of her mana on time-costly healing, then, snapping off Ice Lances and Fireblasts between them (and saving her conviction for healing, rather than Judgement) as the stragglers show up.

The one who had been flying around and zapping entire swaths of undead into scorched motionlessness with his purple lightning whip seems to be the one in charge, given how he's shouting orders.  He sends up a squad to fly up on their swords and scout the area; this might have been a distraction or there might be more undead coming.

He looks at the armored stranger and notices what she's doing.  "We have others who can fight the walking corpses but no one else here knows whatever that healing technique is.  You'd do more good focusing entirely on that." 

Unfortunately now is not the time to stand around and chat - there is a perimeter to set up and order to impose.

...Eh?  What's he saying?  She doesn't know that language.  And she makes an effort to learn all she can, at least enough to try asking if they understand a different tongue.

"I can't understand you."

She can go through about seven languages' "Do you understand this," before giving up.

Huh?  Right, her and her clothing look very foreign.  None of those sound like the dialects he's familiar with.  He tries writing the basic symbols for what he wants on the ground, in case their writing styles are similar enough even if the spoken words are unintelligible.

...Well what is he drawing?

But she doesn't think she recognizes those unless they're pictographs, no.

They're abstract enough that this isn't going to help.

He points at where the wounded are being carried over to and treated. Points to her. Makes the motion that she should go deal with them, and the sort of bow which locally would indicate 'please'. Tries to mime 'time passing' by pointing at the sun and tracing it's movement in the sky, then his mouth. Heal the wounded. I will find a way to talk to you later.

Oh!  Yes, she can go to the medical tent.

She bows back, then salutes.

...Thinks.

Mimes -

Pulls out some weird cable things connected to a box, from a bag.  Draws, on the ground with her scabbard, "dead guy stickfigure with guts fallen out, her (indicated by helmet) and cables, lightning shocks dead guy, alive guy that's happy and NOT a zombie (shambling figure with an X over it), her healing the guy".  Then after a brief pause, she points at the sun, pulls out a - mechanical timepiece?  It has hands that move regularly - and indicates that there's a limit of ten minutes on how long the jumper cables will work, counting from time-of-death and a limited chance they'll work at all.  ...She also attempts to indicate that she thinks his zappiness would work; zappiness into the cables and more happy faces.

(It's still ten more minutes than she thinks anyone else can rez for, even though she hasn't had the time to learn priestly resurrections, because - where are the rest of their healers.)

(And given that she can do triage, she's not exactly finding herself with many opportunities to throw spells at zombies, even before she's directed medical-tentwards - it's just that if there is one close enough, she notices and blasts it immediately, like she knew exactly where it was without even looking at it.)

He's never seen anything like it and isn't quite sure what she means it will do.  Something for nearly dead people?  The medical tent is still the best place for her to go - weak and uncontrolled undead like this have a hard time killing quickly.  The real danger is how easily the bites and scratches get infected.

Cultivators can heal themselves just fine but passing that healing on to those who haven't developed their golden cores is inefficient and challenging.  Most of what she'll see in the first tent is just mundane cleaning and bandaging.  The poultices they're putting on the wounds are made of spiritually infused medicines, if she can detect that. 

She can, actually!  And it's not something she's unfamiliar with, really, though alchemy isn't her strong suit.

She can fix pretty much anything they've got, with enough Light and time - and she's got a good eye for who needs it most urgently.

If someone's dead, though, out comes the box with cables.

The cultivators are still mostly assuming she's a powerful foreign cultivator with an unfamiliar technique but approximately similar limitations to how much magic is possible within a day.  Their initial order of where to try directing her is informed by that, though no one will force her anywhere.

With all of these newly healthy and mobile people around, one is ordered to go to the talisman inscribing tent and have them make a copy.  A while later, he returns with a translation talisman.  They are dizzyingly complex designs in cinnabar ink on two long strips of paper, wrapped into secure scrolls around a leather cord long enough to wear as a necklace.  One of the elder cultivators in charge of the medical tent has been following her around to make sure she doesn't collapse or start coughing up blood from overuse of abilities, and can activate it for her and mime that she should put it on.

Diana's going to semi-autonomously home in on where the worst wounded are.  She's a paladin, even if she's also part wizard, and taking on the heaviest burdens is what they do.

She surfaces from her healing trance, and drinks some water, to then notice that someone's trying to get her attention.

...Oh, wow, that's really interesting!  She's going to learn so much from studying it!  Doesn't look cursed, either, or like a mind-control spell, so she can put it on, sure.

She will now understand others and be understandable to them when she talks!  For twenty-four hours - talismans only have so much power.

The elder in charge of the medical tent bows deeply.  "This one is Healer Gao.  Your assistance has saved many lives this day, and the Yunmeng Jiang Sect honors you.  As you've already gotten to all of the at-risk patients in the camp, perhaps it is a good time to sit down before you risk exhaustion?" 

There is some food available as well as more water, and a lower-ranked disciple on standby to run after anything else she might want.

She reciprocates the bow, deep but quick, like she's in a hurry but that's no reason to not be respectful.

"Diana Pallas, Paladin -- why would I need to sit down?  And - I don't know if this got across before the translation effect, which, this is really quite something, by the way - but if there's someone important recently dead, I can probably still drag them back from whatever comes next before their spirit departs - it's a lot more complicated to pull off on more-dead patients than someone who's just downed but it's not completely impossible.  ...And I will note that it has not turned anyone into zombies that I know of.  In case that's a worry.

"...I'm pretty sure I used these on - oh, what was his name - anyway.  Time's ticking on curing otherwise-deadly wounds; it's easier to fix the ones that died of bleeding or bludgeons to the chest compared to head trauma so give me the head trauma first - and I'm pretty much sworn to help you in this anyway even though those zombies aren't quite the Scourge, so, let's get that sorted.  And then we can talk about what happened and what can happen because of it.  -- If the gentleman with the purple lightning is sufficiently knowledgeable of anatomy I can probably teach him the tricks to jump-starting a person, too; part of it's Light-based, to restore the body as it should be, but the vivification is mostly lightning; I would be taxing myself to pull it off with the Light as priests do."

"You've already done a very good job healing anyone who was in critical condition here, but I'll have word spread that such a thing is possible in case anything unexpected happens."  The elder locks eyes with two of the disciples lingering nearby, who peel off from the conversation to go do just that.

"How much spiritual energy do you have left?  If you're at less than two thirds capacity you'd do better to conserve your strength for wounds we can't heal with bandages and time.  More advanced undead or Wen cultivators will be able to move and kill far faster than the strays that wandered towards camp this morning."

"I can, and have, done this - fighting and healing - all day, before, without any particular strain; I'm not - "

...She then actually takes a moment to process the implications of 'spiritual energy'.

" - hold on, are you saying that everyone here is - fueling their ability to fight, out of their own spirit?"

"We have infused talisman ink, and arrays that can draw upon natural wells of power.  But a majority of our ability is fueled by our own golden cores, yes."

"...Yeah that's...not how my stuff works.  Which makes it much more impressive that you've managed to do something that looks so much like it.  When you - draw upon the Light - it is like breathing.  It flows through you; you do not capture it and - store it for later.  Or at least that's - what I'm assuming you're doing, if it's something you can expend.  I think I've seen some parallels in the practice of shamans I've worked with, though they were more externally focused...Anyway.  Tell me about the Wen clan, if you please; I'm certainly inclined to fight them, based on the indiscriminate zombies, but - why would they do this?  What is driving this...this?  People have - reasons for doing things.  And if you can understand them...sometimes you don't need to have wars.  Sometimes you find out just how much you do."

Healer Gao isn't quite sure they're the one who ought to be explaining, but they are here and do know the situation so they might as well.

"This empire has long been home to a number of cultivation sects which made their living hunting monsters and solving other supernatural problems.  Qishan Wen was the largest and most powerful, as well as the home sect of the Chief Cultivator - a position which is expected to mediate inter-clan disputes and uphold standards.

"In the past few years, however, the Wen have been trying to destroy the other sects, then using the other sect's locations as supervisory offices in order to expand into new territory.  A year and a half ago they burned the Cloud Recesses, home of the Gusu Lan sect.  Less than a year ago they came after Yunmeng Jiang and destroyed Lotus Pier, killing nearly everyone who was there at the time down to the children.  The Yao and many other minor sects have also been hit, and the death of the previous Nie sect leader once claimed to be an accident is now considered likely to have been a deliberate attack on them as well, though the Unclean Realm where the Qinghe Nie live is a sturdy fortress which has thus far avoided any serious damage.

"Now all of the sects are fighting back."

"...I see."

And she clearly disapproves of the Wen sect's actions.

"Greed like that...

"I cannot and will not abide it."

"Well, this is the place to help.  Here or one of the other camps."

"Speaking of places, where are you from?  I've never heard of magic that works like you've claimed, and we're quite far from the empire's border."  Not that the distance is terribly far to a cultivator with a sword, but any given line to a border should have crossed some kind of settlement or road before reaching them. 

"Probably a world that does not even orbit the same star in the sky as yours, if there is a the Empire, or a time far distant if...well, immediately before this I was fighting demons on Outland, so actually it probably wouldn't even be some far-future Azeroth.  I guess it's marginally more likely that this could be some alternate version of Draenor, but I doubt that any version of Draenor that would be relevantly similar to me would have humans on it.  Anyway, what brought me here was a teleportation accident: I guessed the wrong direction on a spell meant to get me out of a bind, and just dunked myself directly into the Twisting Nether instead of going - the opposite direction of that.  My best guess is that this twisted the spell that pulled me back out, or...hm, no, that wouldn't be right; it was anchored on the material...maybe there was some sort of echo?  That - I should check that, if I managed to copy myself I've got less hanging on going back - anyway.  I have a feeling that if I told you more, you'd still have no idea where any of those places might be."

"There are other empires out there.  This one is called China," Healer Gao says.  That is probably important to outsiders trying to pinpoint their locations, even if any locals will know exactly which one they're talking about; Healer Gao is slightly embarrassed that they didn't notice this and specify earlier.  "I haven't heard of any of the places you mentioned." 

She nods.  "I hadn't expected you to.  I originally hailed from the kingdom of Alterac, a polity sworn to the Alliance that - was the Alliance of Lordaeron, before Lordaeron fell, but if any power from my time has survived to yours, in the hypothetical universe where this was some bizarre form of time travel, I imagine you'd be more likely to recognize Dalaran, a mage-city.  ...Unless I went backwards...  No, there would be records of a China.  If not in our hands then the hands of the quel'dorei that would have surely not kept such things their secret...

"But thinking about other notable features...Gnomeregan, the draenei's fallen vessel Exodar...I almost forgot about the Sunwell, no matter that it's more...Fragile, and in my time corrupted...

"...Oh, hmm, now that I'm thinking about the Exodar, that would explain some things.

"It's inscrutable wizard shit you probably need years of study to understand or something, and I'm not to the point where I can understand its workings myself, let alone accurately explain them to others, but what I do know of it is information that's - relevant to how I would have survived the raw transmutative force of the depths of the Twisting Nether, because I'm pretty sure they did it with a shield or sheath of Light.  And that would explain how I wasn't immediately rendered completely unrecognizable, because doing something like that on such a deep level that it works while I sleep was rather necessary, where I was.

"...Regardless, I do think I ought to ask if there are any sorts of people that are not humans?  As...evidence on where I am."

"None of those locations sound similar to me either.  Then again, my scholarly knowledge is limited to medical cultivation; perhaps it would be worth asking Sect Leader Jiang whenever he gets back.  Though cultivators tend to find travel between countries unpleasant enough that we mostly get along ignoring the rest of the world."

"I'm not sure what you mean by people other than humans.  Powerful spirits can become intelligent and take on humanoid forms.  There are gods."

"That's a no, then.  We've got spirits aplenty back home; this is a different sort of thing than that.  ...Tell me about the gods?"

Her vague suspicions of things claiming divinity very carefully don't show on her face - she is not a fan of Old Gods and their agents, and the only deities she's seen do things other than that are An'she (of the tauren) and Elune (of the night elves - bother, she's forgotten which type of 'dorei they were again -), both of which would be much more obviously tied to their respective celestial bodies if their faith extended here.

...Which reminds her that it's probably worth trying to pray to them both, though she's hardly the right sort of devout.  They're still...likely to help.

...Perhaps it's like the trolls' loa?  She doesn't know much about them, but they do seem to be plausibly-numerous and not...hostile to existing.

Healer Gao explains the cultivators' understanding of gods.  Or at least as good an explanation as can fit into a few sentences, from someone who vastly preferred solving problems themself and not hoping some other power would come along to do it.

There are beings who live in the heavens and hells and perform various duties there.  Meng Po, for example, who is responsible for removing memories via soup before a soul can be reincarnated. 

There are also the spirits of rocks or other natural phenomena that have gained enough power through worship to begin affecting the world around them to the benefit of those who offer them prayer.  Often they're helpful enough, curing the occasional crop blight or improving the weather.  But they aren't good at thinking at things like a human would and sometimes cause problems - setting someone who is praying for warmth on fire, or the like.   The locals either learn to live with their spirit's eccentricities or hire a cultivator to disperse them.

Those last would be more akin to a loa, then, as far as she understands the subject.  (Which is further than most seem to have bothered, but not as far as she'd like, especially given this.)

"Do you have many other kinds of people where you're from?"

"Dozens of sorts I've met, I think, depending upon what makes a living being also a people.  And how you count the dragonflights, for that matter, though I don't think I've met any dragons I know about having met.  Or, for that matter, the elves.  If I know anything about animal husbandry I know there's a point at which crossbreeding doesn't work quite right anymore, and I think some of them have passed it -- There's probably who-knows-how-many amongst the myriad stars, too, considering that we know there are at least three planets that have grown thinking life independently of eachother and at that point you really have to assume - oh, excuse me, five planets, the sayaad...exist...and I don't think they're from Argus, even if you discount most other demons and the Titans must have started out somewhere...Anyway, the universe is vast and full of wonders, including people."