Chapter 1: A Change of Fate
Somewhere near the coast, the Arathi Highlands, Year 36
Thoradin's heart raced, people? Alive? Surely they would have all dead or fled by now! Nevertheless, he was determined to investigate.
"Alright, Torin, up front, keep yer eyes on the bushes. Lain an' Carn, cover our backs and don' let those undead sneak up on us again!" Thoradin shouted a string of orders and in minutes they were off, riding on the Tech-Union manufactured Mechanostriders again.
Excitement rang through his head, what would they be like? If they found them, they would have to bring them back to the Wall, where they would be considerably safer than here. Would they agree? Or for that matter the government? The government at Stormwind has recently been gradually getting stricter with allowing scout missions beyond the Wall at the northern edge of the Wetlands. Still, that was 3 months ago; maybe the government changed their mind now…
After riding for more 15 minutes Thoradin was getting frustrated again, and he decided to take it out on Fizzle the gnome again. "Where are those people? We've been walkin' for 15 minutes! If yer machine is wrong Fizzle…"
"Wait! My machine is picking up a stronger signal, just about… there!" The gnome suddenly pointed to the coast.
"Com'on! There's nothing there except the flippin' sea!" as he said this however, the broken wreck of a ship slowly drifted past across his vision, it looks burnt as black marks was visible.
Whatever anger and frustration he had before had all but disappeared, his sense of duty to the Alliance overcame his other emotions "Com'on everyone, they migh' need help!" with that, he disappeared towards the beach.
---
Durokar opened his eyes to pandemonium.
He was on a beach, somewhere. It was not the barren desert coasts of Durotar, nor is it the lush forest-covered coast of Ashenvale, and it was definitely no the coast of Northrend.
And clearly all the other sailors has realised this fact as well. They ran around the beach like new-born humans, whilst a few battle-hardened veterans and the night elves struggle to get them under control.
"Glad to see you've finally woken up." a voice said from behind Durokar.
Durokar wearily stood up and turned around. "So what's the situation? And thanks for getting me to this beach."
"Well, our fleet get teleported by Kil'jaeden to this place and in the process our fleet got mashed. That's the gist of it anyway. And how do you know it wasn't one of your men who rescued you?" said the tall handsome young man, Levin, heir to Lordship of Theramore. He is about the same age as Durokar and is as much as mage as Durokar is a warrior.
"Given the condition of my men…" Durokar turned around and looked at the orcs before continuing, "I doubt they would do anything but save their own lives. We should really get command of the situation before all hell breaks lose."
"Maybe we should, although Mother and Priestess Whisperwind seem to have taken care of the situation already," Levin said, looking at the much quieter assembly of troops on the beach.
After herding the few soldiers that have fled into the thin forest back, the small army assembled on the beach. They have lost most of their mounts with the ships but some siege equipment and most of their provisions were salvaged.
When the soldiers had been ordered into setting up a temporary camp the leaders met in a small clearing in the forest.
"The forest here... seems to be corrupted…" muttered Tyranda Whisperwind quietly, after touching a tree gently.
Jaina and Levin nodded slowly, while Durokar made a small grunt of assent. "And the ground beyond the forest, it's black!" continued Levin.
There's a moment of silence before Jaina said: "I think we all know where we are now, this place must be somewhere in Lordaeron."
Although Durokar has expected this it still came as a shock to him. They must have been the first people from Kalimdor to have reached the Eastern Kingdoms. Or what's left of the continent anyway…
Levin was also shocked, despite the fact that he had learned everything there's to know about the Eastern Kingdoms in the Theramore Library he always believed that it will never be seen by the people of Kalimdor again.
It would be another minute later before Durokar broke their silence. "I'll take some of my scouts and see what's beyond those hills." said Durokar.
"Becareful, there may be undead here." said Jaina cautiously.
Durokar nodded silently before going back to the makeshift camp.
Durokar hand-picked 3 trolls to go with him, and together they walked stealthily upward towards the hills. When they were finally on top of them they saw that except some thin trees, there were nearly no cover across the wide open plains beyond the hills. This would be a good place to set up camp…thought Durokar silently.
As the small scout party scanned the horizon, a faint rustle came from another patch of trees further up ahead. The head troll muttered something in Troll before moving forward towards the trees.
The 2 other trolls notched arrows on to their bows and aimed at the trees, ready to cover their leader if any threat would emerge from the trees.
Still trying to discern what's going on, Durokar squinted desperately at the trees. After what seemed to be an eternity he could see a shadow of something in the trees. Something taller than a night elf, something like… a dwarf on a mechanical Plainstrider?
---
Stupid machine! Thought Thoradin, Why can' these stupid Mecha'striders go faster! Not for the first time he pushed the speeding gear towards maximum, but the fail-safe that stupid engineers built inside the stupid machine stopped the gear before Thoradin could pushed to the end.
Thoradin was so concentrated on his hatred against the Tech-Union that he did not notice he ran into a small patch of trees. He did notice it however when a branch hit him on the head.
Thoradin rubbed his head whilst cursing his own carelessness. He looked back and could see no-one from his scout party. Damn it, he thought. The' are slow!
He turned up his engine again, except that this time he turned the Mechanostrider on recon mode, the slowest mode possible. If they are gonna drop in to the Nether, said his old instructor, you might as well recon it before you get there!
He emerged from the trees slowly, watching his surroundings… and then he saw the troll.
Bonus Profile: The Tech-Union
Formed when the goblin homeland, Undermine, was destroyed during a demon attack. The only race that was willing to help the goblins by their own free will was the gnomes, who despite being rival to goblins, were eager to help them for their technology. Only after several meetings and various threats did the Alliance and the Horde fully commit to the rescuing the surving goblins from their doomed homeland. Disgusted at the slowness in which the Alliance helped the goblins, the gnomes finally realised that whilst the Alliance had helped them, their wars had never brought any improvements to the gnomes or helped the gnomes to take back their capital city, Gnomeregan. When the gnomes left the Alliance, they joined with the goblins, the only race that would understand their plight and their thirst for technology. Together they retook Gnomeregan and formed the Tech-Union.