Lethium watches Maulbane leave his sight as he heads South, back from where they came. Lethium decides to head towards Chillwind camp, taking a gryphon towards Menethil Harbor. Once he sneaked through the Ruins of Andorhal, he took a gryphon to go towards his destination. Sadly, the beast had only enough strength to stop by the encampment in front of Don Modr. He got off the Gryphon and waved goodbye to the Dwarves as he headed to Menethil on foot.
He looked at his map and it showed he was at least halfway to Menethil Harbor. He decided to take a break and took a seat on the side of the road, leaning on the fence. He took out dried meat, which he had in his bag, and ripped off a piece, sticking it into his mouth. He looked around, sad to be looking at a marshland instead of the forests of Elwynn. He gets up and packs his things. "This is going to be one lousy trip.." All of a sudden there was a noise of someone running, footsteps. He turned to the noise, in the nearby hills. He yells, "Anyone there!?" Nothing comes out or responds so he thinks it's a critter and
As he sees the silhouette of Menethil, he grinned. "Finally.." All of a sudden an Orc bursts from behind striking him in the back. With the greatest luck, his shield, which was on his back, deflected the hit, making him fall forward. He turns and brings around his shield and sword, kissing his shield as he slides it on. He takes a look at the Orc's apparel and is very surprised. He notices the Orc has a mask as well as leather armor instead of a plate suit, but it carries a two-handed sword. He prepares for the worst and charges with his shield.
The Orc brings down his blade in a vertical motion, aiming at Lethium's shield. He dodges and tries to bring his sword, cleaving at the Orc's stomach region. It lands, but the force wasn't strong enough to puncture through the heavy leather. The Orc kicks him backwards, making him stumble a few steps back. The Orc jumps up and tries to bring it once more in a style where it would easily crush anything he aimed at. He brings his sword down as Lethium uses his sword to parry it, while his shield helps block it. He makes it into a V like pattern, and it doesn't break through. Lethium's legs do crumble though, the Orc laughing. He slowly gets up, obviously not able to withstand another hit like that. He looks around and sees something to his advantage... Something to change the possible outcome of the battle.
The Orc begins to run after Human, who had about a ten second head start, running through the marshes. The reason why he had such a long head start was because how dumbfounded the Orc was when he saw the ugly Human make a break through the marshes. He smiles behind his mask. "Easy kill.." He says in Orcish. He runs after the Human at an incredible rate, astounding himself. He closes in on the Human, smiling as he sees his face turn scared, helpless. He doesn't look around, but just at the Human's face, smiling under his mask. He jumps as high as he cans when he finally catches up to the Human. "Now you die!" He yells. All of a sudden, timed seem to have slowed. The Human had a grin on his face.. Was he stupid... Happy he was about to die.. It didn't matter.. As long as he could kill a Human, it didn't matter.
Lethium goes under the Orc as quick as he can avoiding the blow. The Orc yells as he turns. "Rawrglrlrl!" The Orc slowly turns, facing his death. A group of Murlocs charge at the Orc, biting into his skin as he tries to get them away. He screams in pain, seeing Lethium's back one more time.
The Human tricked me... He got me.. How did.. How did he get me.. This isn't possible.. A Human tricked a cunning Orc like me? An Orc which has the power of at least five puny Humans.. Damn.. I won't die! "I'll get you Human! Ju-..." The voice of the Orc could be heard no more, but only the voices of Murlocs fighting for the remains of his corpse.
Lethium arrives at Menethil Harbor, tired and hungry. He walks into the Inn, leaving mud as he walks inside. He speaks to the Innkeeper, pointing to his track of mud and pays the woman a gold piece. He walks upstairs with a key and a plate of food, along with a cup of ale. He opens a door and walks inside, taking off his boots, deciding to clean his armor and weapons later. He places the plate aside and strips his armor. He leaves only his undergarments and eats. Afterward, he gets a towel from the Innkeeper, then cleans his armor, wiping away at the Mud, washing it in a small tub of water. He makes sure to dry it so it doesn't rust, and when he finishes he heads to bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
The next morning, fully dressed in his armor and with his belongings he heads out to catch the boat to Northrend, which had luckily came on the next day. He gets on the boat, paying forty silver pieces to the Captain for the trip and rests in one of the cots.
He arrives in Valiance Keep and quickly asks a guard for a map of the area. The guard points to a cartographer and she gives him a map to the area. It was huge, and they even plotted Warsong Hold, the Keep where the Horde land. He heads towards Warsong Hold, taking refuge in a nearby cliff overlooking the entrance. Once there he only needed to wait a day until Maulbane erupts from the entrance. He falls down the cliff and reunites with the friend to help him on his journey to finish Maulbane's dangerous quest.
Maulbane had now been through the Hinterlands, and Arathi, twice. He saw the same things, slept in the same places, and in general everything was "Been here, done that.". However, when he arrived in Warsong Hold via Zeppelin -everything- was new, in a way you could only understand if you were there. His Kodo was only as big as a Rhino Calf, the entire place made him rethink his old methods of hunting briefly. But that's not related to this story. What was, was the fact that he was riding out of the Hold with Lethium in tow. They needed to find Constrictor Grass. First he needed to know what on Azeroth this thing is. Due to that, there was a huge red circle around the town known as Taunka'Le. He needed to get there, as he knew the Taunka would know about local, or even far away plants.
The road was beaten and slightly frigid as Lethium walked alongside Gladestomp. The Kodo was unnerved by the Rhinos, growling at them as he would to a rival male of his own species. Maulbane pushed him along, keeping a steady pace. Lethium climbed onto the Kodo's side, saving some of his energy. Maulbane was wide-eyed as he looked around the landscape he was in, taking it all in. It truely was something to behold, the creatures there were beyond imagining. Gorloks? Mammoths? He was in his element, that of nature, but it didn't feel like his element. Everything was surreal. However, nothing made him slow, not even encounters with a Magnataur or Gorlok brood. He barely survived the former, retreating ahead with a huge bruise on Gladestomp's hide. Night began to fall on the Tundra then, and the snow began to recede, giving way to a generous coating of snow. They were nearing Taunka'Le. Maulbane called to Lethium "You're going to have to camp here. The Taunka are allies with the Horde..." Lethium nodded, and caught a small tent as it was thrown to him. He walked off the road, setting up with what little daylight was left.
Maulbane rode into the Taunka town, glances being thrown at the Boar and Kodo. They probably haven't seen many of either, which warranted the curious glances. However, he was quickly welcomed into the camp, the atmosphere warm and inviting. He shared some of his "Alien" meats from Azeroth with his Taunka brothers, and in return they increased his palette by donating some Rhino and Mammoth meat from their own hunts. The Taunka reminded him a lot of the old, nomadic Tauren, of which he still remembered fondly. It brought him back to his old, childhood days. As the Taunka told each-other stories around a bonfire, the night being suspended by the wonderous glow of the flame, his mind began to wander, touching on old memories. He hadn't been able to do this in a long time, and it made him happy. However, he was here on a job, and he pulled out his scroll and pointed at two of the names, showing them to the local herbalist. The herbalist, who went by the name of Anuk Geyserstride (An amusing story was told after Maulbane asked how he earned that name), told him that Constrictor Grass was a rare herb, with rarer tendencies. It only grew on Elemental creatures. Why this was so was unknown to the Taunka, but they had myths. He was then told the nearest Elementals that harbour this herb were in Dragonblight, a place called... Lotharel? Lotharien's Woods? The name was quick, and he missed most of it. Regardless, his mind snapped back into its usual self, devising plans even as he placed his head down and began to sleep.
He rose out of sleep almost by willpower at the crack of dawn. The sun cast beautifully onto the town, which had a light coating of sleet on it. All it needed was snow to be a winter wonderland. However, sad enough as it was, he didn't have time to waste on the beauty of the town. He had a Human to collect. And so, riding Gladestomp solemnly out of the town at the crack of dawn, he found the road and began going in the opposite direction of where they were going, to find the Human Lethium. Which wouldn't be too hard, he was a Hunter after all...
And it wasn't. He spent the majority of the day exploring Warsong Hold, then following a group spearheaded by a young Orc (At least he assumed by his demeanor, as he had too much armor on to tell properly.) into the town of Kaskala. He accompanied them, generally helping out of good-will and respect to the Tuskarr. His anger was brought to the surface at a Troll who tried to kill itself twice. After throwing said Troll into a Zeppelin he set out to grab the Human and finish the trek into Dragonblight. He was once again passing Kaskala when of all things he saw an Elf. A Night Elf, the kind he didn't loathe. He rose to his feet steadily, as he had been resting on a small hill. holding his axe, not threateningly but defenensivly, he spoke. "Elf." The Elf, Seleyn, replied... "Human?"... Maulbane questioned why an Elf would be in Borean Tundra, and she said, simply, that she was a Hunter. At least they had something in common. Skipping over every detail, she agreed to join him, for the sake of the hunting that could be done. The trio (not counting Goretusk or Gladestomp.) set out to Dragonblight at high noon...
And arrived at the border between Borean Tundra and Dragonblight at late afternoon.
The unlikely team looked at the single bridge that connected Borean Tundra from Dragonblight. Or, rather, what was underneath. Which was a river... The first river he had seen in Northrend. This river, however, would instantly pull you under and kill you if you tried to take a dip, which was why Maulbane was so hesitant in crossing. They did it, though, the threat of the bridge breaking looming over them as they did so, one by one. The other side of the bank was indistinct from the one they had just come from, which was good. Maulbane wasn't a huge fan of sudden change. The Nerub'ar didn't even consider Maulbane when they leaped at his Kodo, trying to kill it. Generally being selfish. About ten of the tiny little spider imitators began swarming around the group, Maulbane chopping one in mid-air as it leaped at his torso. He put his axe on his back and proceeded to shoot another out of the air, the bullet so large in comparison to the ambusher that it exploded, legs flying in any direction they wanted, freed from the burden known as a body. Lethium drove his sword into another, impaling it and quickly swinging around to jab another, created a still-twitching Nerub kebab. While Lethium continued his macabre recipe, Goretusk ripped another apart with his tusks, Seleyn firing very quick shots, pumping yet another with arrows. Gladestomp shied away from the things climbing up his legs, but managed to shake them off and crush them all. As the remaining... Things... Retreated, Maulbane checked their losses, and they appeared to be nonexistant. Nobody got hurt at all. He let out a chuckle at their luck, and they continued on...
Seleyn and Lethium went to the small sentinel encampment of Star's Rest while Maulbane began the long and ardous process of figuring out what to do about these elementals... And so the stake-out began. He rode into the woods, and instantly saw the first danger. This place was corrupted. Malygos had been at work here... The extent of the damage was worse than anything the arcane could do to any individual... It was so bad that fissures were bursting out of the ground, creatures made completely of arcane energy forming and attacking the sentient creatures of the forest. Treant and Ancient alike were being assaulted, mana wyrms digging holes into the Ancients, bark glowing and melting away as it did so. The Ancients were putting up a fight, but the creatures continued to attack, burrowing into everything and corrupting it. He shivered even more as he prowled around in his white leather, but this time not due to the cold. This is why the arcane had to be avoided. Foolish mages, saying it was pure... He knew better. They had not seen what it does... But he had to think about the things at hand. As depressing as this bleak scene was, it made his job easier. He could destroy one of the corrupted Ancients instead. It would help clear his conscience about all this, if anything. He left in the middle of the night to his camp, protected by a Kodo and Boar. He hoped that would be enough to fend off what lurked in the night as his eyes slowly closed and invited sleep...
It was morning. As usual, he was up early. Very early. He quickly packed and rode to the designated meeting point (A unique looking tree just outside of the arcane wyrms' reach.). There he told them what they would do, and how they would kill an Ancient.
They began without complaint as the imaginary roosters crowed in Maulbane's head. Heh, he hadn't seen a rooster in a very long time, but he remembered things others didn't. Details, details, details. Those were the things that could win a battle. Whether someone's armor was made of lion or wolf hide... But that didn't matter now. He had to get busy, and so he did. Lethium looking confused when Maulbane pulled out four lengths of rope and began tying them. He explained to him that this was the same way he managed to kill the Devilsaur.. Lethium raised an eyebrow but didn't speak as he was thrown a piece of rope. This particular rope had a few pieces of long, thin strands of steel woven in it to strengthen it. He tied two of these ropes together so that they spanned at least fifteen meters. He knew it would break after a while, but that didn't concern him. The livelihood of the rope wasn't his focus at the moment. He found two healthy looking trees and threw the rope around them. "Seleyn, tie that, please.". As she began, he, at the same time, tied it to another tree. Soon the improvised and possibly fatal (for them) trap was ready. He gave the rope, which was at his shoulders in height now, a kick. It resulted in a sharp twang, but it didn't loosen. He closed his eyes and hoped it would work, and then they began the search for a corrupted Lothalor Ancient.
The search wasn't hard. The whole area was teeming with corruption itself, and as such almost all the Ancients they saw were infected by the arcane. He found a smaller one, about three times his own height, and it began there. Maulbane snapped at Goretusk commandingly, and the Boar sped towards the Ancient without a hint of doubt. The Ancient, senses dulled by the taint on its mind, took a few moments to notice the Boar biting its feet, but when it did it let out a bellowing roar and the purple eyes narrowed onto the Boar. It aimed a wild stomp at the Boar, but Goretusk leapt back, sliding across the snow and turning, beginning to lead the Ancient to the trap, who was none the wiser. It lumbered towards the Boar, letting out crackling sounds, not like the kind you hear when you snap a branch in half. When it hit the rope, everything was planned in his head. The Ancient slammed into the ground, the tusks jutting from its head trapped in the ice. Like he planned. Seleyn climbed onto the Ancient's body and began hacking at it with her axe, as planned. Lethium held one of Maulbane's guns uncertainly, aiming it at the gigantic tree, not exactly planned but appreciated nonetheless. And then there was Maulbane, walking quietly up to the Ancient as its arms punched Goretusk into a tree, winding the Boar and making it hop away, wheezing for air. The Tauren stared into the now beastial eyes of the Ancient, which was even now trying to dislodge its head from the ground and kill him. He shook his head, sighing, tightened his grip on the harpoon... And everything around him was silent again, the harpoon still in the Ancient's forehead. He began to collect the plant, which seemed to unimportant now, off of its back, forlornly. He ignored the pain in his arm from driving the harpoon that far into its skull.
Maulbane hated his job sometimes.