((I'm warning you, this is a fairly long chapter, but I didn't want to rip it apart. I had this conversation in game, and it was longer, because I had quite a bit of small talk with the kids that are mentioned. We're nearing the end.))

She stared at the staff that was brought to her by the strange woman. She was shorter than Modgud, even, and her face looked as if someone had attacked it with a harrow. The guards of Orgrimmar had apprehended her and notified Modgud that they had caught someone trying to steal from her vault. Now the woman claimed she had intended to return what she had borrowed before. Modgud smiled.

'This is brilliant. What do the guards do to thieves?' The woman cringed.

'They hang them.' Modgud tutted.

'They'd have to be a bit more creative, but I suppose the result is correct. The thing is, I need a spy. If you get caught as one, you're dead. But if I give you to the guards, you're dead as well. Who are you?'

'Vrilya,' the small woman replied tremulously. Modgud nodded.

'Why did you choose my vault to steal from?' Vrilya shrugged.

'It was one of the easier locks. I don't even know who you are.' Modgud's smile became less pleasant.

'And that is why this is so brilliant. You cannot betray me if you don't know me. You'll soon receive a letter with instructions. How we will communicate in the future I don't know, but I'll work something out.'

'And if I do this to your satisfaction?'

'You're free. If you help me, you can go, and I will, in fact, be very grateful.'

ϡ

Shadowprey wasn't a safe place for a Forsaken. The Trolls there didn't like her kind, and she knew it. Normally she wouldn't even contemplate going there, but tonight, she had to. She felt the eyes on her, heard the talk behind her back in Zandali. She approached a female that wasn't looking as angry as the rest of them. 'I am looking for Razza'jin.' After a moment, the Troll indicated the hut beside the gong. With a muttered thanks, Modgud hurried over.

Razza was talking to someone, so she kept her distance. He acknowledged her with a smile and a nod and beckoned her over. The other Troll bade him farewell, and with a sideways glance at her, he left. 'Taz, Modgud,' Razza greeted her. She managed a smile.

'I would like to speak to you, if you've got time.' Only now she noticed the two little Trolls, a boy and a girl, staring at her from behind Razza.

'You know her?' a carrying whisper came from one of them.

'Yeah, Razza knows Modgud.' The girl looked awed.

'Cool.' Razza gestured to the floor before him.

'Sit down.' She walked over to the spot indicated to her, trying not to seem menacing. The two kids were rather small.

'Thank you.' She watched the two climb into their father's lap and look her up and down from their safe vantage point. Their names were Jackmol'jin and Venca, and they asked her all sorts of questions, which she willingly answered. Perhaps it would change the way the next generation viewed her kind if these two liked her. They certainly weren't scared, and to Modgud's astonishment, they didn't have the typical accent. At last, they fell asleep, and Modgud could get to the point that had brought her here in the first place.

She started by telling him that she knew now that one of the two unwelcome guests had been Rakbar. Grollas had told her that after a description of the two. Then she told him about the Hand of Retribution, which was more worrisome by far than a man shouting out his hatred for the world to hear. The Hand were more subtle. Razza's statement that there were Orcs standing guard in the Undercity didn't change a thing. 'They aren't stupid enough to work in the Undercity,' she told him. 'I have seen them in action only once and that was in Northrend. They … captured someone and poisoned him, merely to see what it would do to him.' She decided to keep the details to herself. She didn't want to go through it all again. 'They were so many, I couldn't have stopped them. And … Razza, I know how horrible that sounds, but if I want to stop them I need to watch them first. I need to see what they intend to do. If I shout out what I think of them they'll only become more careful. My only option is to learn what their ultimate goal is and stop them from reaching it.' Razza nodded.

'They got allies among other peoples?' She shrugged.

'Yes, but that is just for the sake of appearance.' She didn't have evidence for that, but she was willing to bet her right hand.

'Hm hm hm. Stay alert, but be careful. Right?' Modgud smiled.

'Sure. The thing is, I have placed a spy among them. One with better composure than I have. But I cannot visit her, and I dare not write. I cannot risk that she is found out.' Razza took a deep breath.

'Razza not wanting to ask, but can Razza help ya?' She nodded.

'You can. And it isn't dangerous for you and your family. I swear.'

'Yeah? How?' And she explained. Explained that she wanted to contact her spy in a trance, that she didn't know how to do that, and that she wasn't going to trust a Forsaken mage trainer. Razza looked at her for a moment before he answered.

'Okay, listen up. It will likely be a different way than what you normally know. But it be Razza's only way. Razza been talking about fog to you before. Of spirit realm and such.' Modgud nodded. Razza held his left hand up, shaped as if it was holding a ball. 'Here be our world. Where we be talking.' Again, she nodded. He now raised his right hand in the same way. 'And here be world of ancestors, of spirits and Loas. Normally both be far apart. Like this.' Razza shook both his hands with the worlds one after the other. 'But if someone be dying, then they can go from here to there. Understand?'

'Yes, so far.' Modgud was rapt by his explanation. It wasn't exactly a scientist's view, but this was all she would get.

'Okay,' Razza continued. 'Between the worlds be dense fog.'

'So dense no one can pass through it,' she muttered, almost to herself.

'Yes. And in the fog, there be dangers lurking. That be like … like animals in the wilds. If ya don't know your way around it, it be dangerous in the fog.'

'That sounds very plausible,' Modgud confirmed.

'Okay,' Razza said again. 'So … Now Razza explains why fog be important for ya. If ya manage to get into the fog, ya can go very far in a very short time. So ya go into the fog,' Razza shook his left hand for emphasis, 'and then ya go to another part of world.' He turned his hand now, and Modgud realised that without the gestures he would have lost her here. 'There ya can whisper to other people through the fog.' Modgud leaned forward.

'How do I find someone in the fog?' She assumed it wasn't nearly as easy as answering to Grollas's voice when she heard him speaking in her mind.

'Ya must know them very well. That or ya need a guide in the fog. Razza talked about wild animals. Dangers in the fog be much more sentient than animals. If ya have the right gift, ya can lure one of the spirits and haggle with them.' Modgud had the absurd vision of herself trying to offer a white rose to a spirit.

'And they help me find someone?' She tried to keep the scepticism out of her voice. Razza nodded.

'Indeed. They find ways through the fog.'

'That would be very helpful.' The mage pushed all her doubts away. 'What … what sort of gift do you offer a spirit?'

'Something with mojo,' Razza told her unhelpfully. Seeing her baffled expression, he smiled. 'Mojo not being the liquid ya can buy bottled in Booty Bay.' Modgud grinned at him.

'I didn't think so.'

'Mojo be … be love. Razza'll explain.' He took a child's drawing with clumsy pictures of trolls from one of the empty cages behind him and laid it on the floor before Modgud. 'There be mighty mojo in this.' The Forsaken nodded.

'Because it has meaning for you. One that is deeper than the actual tangible value.'

'Yeah. Mojo be time of your life you've put into something.' Modgud sighed.

'And I would have to give away something like that?' She had a few things that she was certain fulfilled the requirements, but she was certain she wanted to keep them.

'Yeah, something like that ya must bring as a gift. Something that be valuable to ya. Or to someone ya bought it from, or swapped it.'

'Oh, I see, it just seems to be important to someone. Because that's the thing, you don't want to give something like that away.' Razza smiled.

'Can also be good rum. Or expensive robes. Or blood. Anything that be important and valuable. But that is for when ya can walk in the fog. Question: How do ya get into the fog?' Modgud tilted her head and looked at him. 'Not that easy. Or yes, it be easy. But ya must be careful. Normally ya get into the fog when ya die. So ya must get to similar state as dying.'

'That sounds a little dangerous.' Modgud wondered what an experiment of that sort might do to her.

'Yeah, it be dangerous. There be different ways. Some people go through pain. Others through hunger. And many other ways. Absolute silence. Razza's done that once, but will never again. Scares Razza.' Modgud swallowed. If something could scare this Troll, she would certainly not try it. 'Razza goes through hunger when needing to be in fog. There be priests that drink poison. Or use jagweed.' Modgud grinned.

'The mage trainer in Undercity mentioned that. But I doubt if that or hunger can be strong enough for a Forsaken.' Razza shrugged.

'Razza not be sure what happens to ya when ya get into fog. Ya been on the other side once.' He scratched at his chin. 'Maybe Samedi be reaching for ya.' Samedi, Razza had once told her, was the Loa of sleep and death, and he didn't like Forsaken. Modgud rubbed the bridge of her nose.

'Razza, if he wants me, he can get me anyway.' He didn't look overly convinced. He explained that she had to burn her gift in ritual flames so she would have it in the fog.

'Say, Razza, could I use Blood of Heroes, if I find it? That seems to be rather powerful. And dangerous to collect.'

'Yeah, that be really strong. Could work well with that.' Modgud smiled at him and got to her feet.

'Yes, well, then I'll go looking for that. And I'll think of an alternative.'

'If ya need help the first time ya do this, ya tell Razza.' She nodded.

'I'll do that. Thank you so much, Razza.' She walked away, knowing there was no way she would drag Razza further into this by asking him to assist her. You could never know what happened, and she felt she had risked much by talking to him already.