Nagas.
Water dwelling humanoids that possessed a tail instead of legs, moving like eels in the water and snakes on land. The males were typically large and burly, more lizard than man, with only the shape of their burly torso pointing towards their land-dwelling origins. The women retained the beautiful faces and the shape of breasts, but their hair was typically replaced with fins and an extra pair of arms sprouted from their slender shapes.
Various subspecies of Naga existed above those common shapes. Titans, five metre tall, covered in natural armour, shaped like corals and bone, that grew beyond their scales. Sea witches with six arms and snakes rather than fins. Brutes, sirens, blade dancers, and several hundred murloc slaves, all of them gathered on the beach, crowded around sieging equipment that they had dragged out of the ocean and aimed at the arcane shield surrounding the city of Suramar.
Like so often in history, this was a fight between two different kinds of elves. Nightborne, who had been changed from isolation and constant use of the Nightwell, and Nagas, who were the flesh-changed descendants of Aszhara's servants. The ancient queen herself hadn't been seen in millennia, ever since the Well of Eternities had exploded under the pressure of the portal she had made of it for the Burning Legion. Proof of her activity had been all around, however.
Nowadays she and her empire of sea-dwellers served at the behest of the Old God N'zoth. This was evident by a small number of Faceless accompanying the forces. These tentacled abominations were physical manifestations of the Void, shadow magic made flesh by the will of their twisted masters. They were giants, wielding blunt weapons, if they weren't equipped with massive crab claws or enough magical power to level battalions of soldiers on their own. Their might was feared across Azeroth.
Now those same Faceless were frozen. Staring out into the ocean they had risen from. They sensed the approach of a might far beyond their own and might was all the Faceless respected. The Naga first noticed the odd behaviour of their allies (or perhaps overlords would have been more accurate), then the ship that drifted over the horizon.
Anduin stood at the helm of the vessel of bronze and steel, Xal'atath and K'ara right behind him. For all those sensitive to it, Light and Shadow radiated from the trio like a constant volcanic eruption. The Faceless were intimidated into inaction. The Nagas guarding the water were not as wise. All they saw was a boat to attack.
"Let's prevent unnecessary bloodshed," Anduin declared and turned to his harem. "As we discussed, ensure a peaceful landing."
""Yes, Master,"" a choir of the genius mages among his wives and sex slaves responded. Jaina, Stellagosa, Modera and Valtrois formed a circle by taking one another by the hands. Arcane magic buzzed in the air, purple runes and various geometric shapes appeared around them. All four were powerful and skilled enough to take the lead of the improvised spell. Perhaps Stellagosa, as the Aspect of Magic, would have been the most logical choice. However, the order of the harem was the only true hierarchy Anduin's women cared about and so it was Jaina, first wife of the High King, who directed their efforts.
The spellwork expanded to legendary proportions within seconds. Remembering self-preservation, the nagas under the surface backed away from the boat, content to see what happened before they suicidally charged into arcane power so thick, even the dullest of warriors could sense it.
Alythess, Sacrolash and Aclysia stepped into the circle. The unbound, raw power of fel magic flowed into the circle, adding a hint of bright green to the bright purple of arcane. Further, the spell's might flared. The conjuration created a lightshow that expanded beyond the ship and high into the sky. Suddenly, the colour switched to a pale blue. It was the only warning anyone got, before a frost nova exploded outwards.
All sounds of the sea stopped.
Around the ship, all the way to the shore over two kilometres away, and the same in every other direction, the moving waves had been captured. Frozen entirely, the many peaks of ice laid in absolute darkness. A thick layer of fine snow came tumbling down from above, the crystallization of what had been the overcast sky a moment ago. Afterwards, there was white snow and silver starlight as far as they could see. Nothing was left of the early summer night.
Movement disturbed the snow. Hastily erected magical defences melted the snow around the mages, while the warriors simply peeled themselves out of the snow. Naga were capable of surviving in arctic waters, being stuck in snow was no danger to them. What the attack had achieved was the total burying of all siege equipment, a trapping of seaborne naga under the ice, and demonstrating their power in a way everyone understood.
The Master's Pride was untouched by the ice. It enveloped the hull as a protective sheet against sabotage, but both the top and the inside of the ship were completely insulated. The design of the ship and Jaina's expert spell crafting had ensured as much and a barrier had melted the snow that had come down on them. Not even a drop of water had touched those on the deck.
"Mizzy, Baela, Fenella, you have the command here," he told the three members of his harem whose expertise was tinkering, rather than fighting, while Jaina conjured a second spell. "You know the emergency signal. Use it should any of the naga have stupid ideas."
"Yes, Master," Fenella responded for the three of them. Mizzy had the de-facto command over the vessel, she knew it the best, but Fenella was higher in the harem hierarchy and that mattered more. "We will wait eagerly for your return."
Anduin turned around to smile at the haremettes and the royal guard that would be left behind. "It won't be long," he promised. Then a purple light enveloped them.
The nagas had done a good job at preventing teleportation spells, but those efforts had now been thwarted. Even if they had somehow maintained them, at this distance the combined might of the harem's spellpower would have smashed through any warding efforts. The group of nobles, demons, heroes, dragons, and gods appeared on the frozen shore, headed by the mightiest king Azeroth would ever see.
Unarmed, he stepped forwards. "I wish to speak to your leader," he declared loudly.
Even if the naga were intimidated, they had been bred for war and quickly defaulted to their training. Surrounding the group, they brandished weapons and teeth. A two-metre tall naga woman with six arms and snake hair slithered towards them, the crowd obediently parting to get out of her way. "I am Lady Sssshishtra, the great queen, the starlight of the ocean, hasss granted me command over thesssse forcesssss, human king."
"My demands are simple: retreat," Anduin told the sea witch. "Return to the sea and tell your queen that I wish to talk to her. Your only other choice is total annihilation."
