Reviews:

Guest 1: Daisuki!

Guest 2: No because that would require killing Thrall's Life-mate, and disregarding his kids, something I would never artificially force just for a ship. Or giving him a free pass which doesn't seem very honorable. If this story was set before Thrall met Aggra, maybe, though he and Jaina (what little characterization Blizzard is actually willing to keep rather than completely disregard "for the story they wanted to tell") Probably would not have worked out nearly as well as Jaina just riding a certain dragon till his magic staff broke.

Guest 3: Oh your woooood is sooooo thick and haaaaaard step-tree san. Well they aren't snobbish A-hats but well Alliance and Azeroth, they're practically entitled.

Teclis is now a lot more likely to encounter someone at least, depending on who reaches Altdorf first.

Also, fuck all yall I'm a Command and Conquer player, i murder civilians just because they're there. Warcrimes i have all other players beat in active participation in the warcrimes, I can actually count the bodies.

Guest 4: 2521 the Imperial Engineering School and Dwarves Engineering Guild had a "friendly" competition which included counter-battery fire, and intense Ariel...exchanges, oh and lines of riflemen displaying their newest gun models accuracy, impact and reloading capabilities as put against flesh and blood targets that also happen to be firing back...because it's a friendly competition. but the Dwarves brought a Airfleet with the ability to defeat and outpreform mechanical clockwork angels capable flight and of butchering Chaos Warriors, and the full array of all Imperial artillery and the Empire's Steam Tanks. and their Zeppelins were shown to actually have armor and be able to take a hit (glares at the WoW cutscenes where it takes next to nothing to down Gunships and the clearly unarmored WoW Zeppelins).

And thats the restrained Dwarf Engineering guild, the Imperial Engineering School would have probably surpassed them in a couple decades or less, but then GW decided that having a world that makes sense and isn't entirely pointless with no one actually ever dying and unlimited troop numbers...and just that god awful OG AoS narrative...was you know inferrior to treating the fans like garbage for almost 2 years straight. but back to the point, that... friendly exchange... was supposed to be the wake up call for the Guilds that the stupid humans now had near, if not equal tech to them. Which tech in the warhammer world is...sensible but weird... Like the Estallians have Muskets while the Empire has matchlocks and wheellocks, but THEN the Empire also has rifles and guys who are trying to make those the new mainstay leapfrogging the Musket entirely. And then the Printing Press only just came out...BUT that's because there was already a method of mass production for books thanks to magic but a priest wanted something even cheaper so he invented it because Wizards charged waaaay too high of prices for what the Priest wanted to do so he pulled a Thanos and said "Fine i'll do it myself".

Dragon King of the West: Sort of a reilluturation, Azeroth could beat any one Warhammer faction, though in some cases it's a barely , but they couldn't never survive on Mallus, their mindset and just everything about them would lead to death. I slipped in one of those details in just that last chapter.

And as for the culture shock, yeah and what's funny is that there's probably a lot of IRL culture shock seeing that. Because you hear "the kind hearted one" and westerners wouldn't think of that...but that's Legalist culture, and several eras of Chinese, and Japanese history summerized in a single encounter.

JiggyliFAP: I have a lot on my plate at the moment unfortunately, this chapter was supposed to be out six days before i released it. As for the rest...do Ogres taste any good, lets ask the Ogres to find out.

Hakuryuu: sheesh you dogs are all barking like I went on a deployment...or i'm an harem protagonists dad who went on vacation or to work overseas.

But yeah i know that, I'm just saying it because it feels like that's their only game series that doesn't do their formula of "North=evil" (Lets never ask GW to do an American Civil war game)

And after they actually revive one of their trees then I'd assume anyone on Azeroth even has the power to restore the world roots. but the plain truth is, everything about Azeroth is rigged, first towards "good" then towards the Alliance's favor. So everything always just snaps to this default state on its own, seldom needing help, and typically when help is needed its in the form of stripping players of gear, abilities, etc so they can get "better" stuff in the next expansion where you find out that the God who was puppeting the fake gods you beat was actually never a god and these other gods to whom god was a pathetic joke, now needs you to save them from a greater evil god...who of course just wanted to unite everyone because "you are not prepared".

Another point is that Mallus is fundamentally corrupted. While the Old Ones are assholes and yadda yadda yadda, skipping the Old Ones story...the Old One's design was flawed and that's what caused the Warp Gates to explode/drew the ire of the Chaos Gods and spawning them from non-existence. While it's not "chaos" corruption the corruption I'm talking about is more like corrupted programming. It's better to sustain and encourage new life and growth from Mallus than to try and revive what's been lost.

Ironwood: Honesty how could either side not. If you're a trekkie you could compare the Asrai's closed borders approach and the attitude of "fuck your borders" like the pre-Dominion war antagonism One side going "Leave us alone" the other saying "Fuck that".

Jak23: He might care more, but remember the culture through which that lense is taken. It's not WoW's "everyone is a westernized version of their best selves" but rather the lense of a Qin/Ming Dynasty centric version of China with of course their (and Korea's) mythology mixed in. And the Ming Dynasty was highly influenced by Legalism which to put in a weatern perspective would be pro-totalitarian Imperial Socialism, and even after the Legalists lost power in China speaking without permission in the presence of the Imperial family almost always resulted in banishment, an offical pardon which comes with Social stigmas, or even immediate execution which would either come from flogging or if your of a high social status or worthy of some sort of mercy, beheading.

But his family thinking him mad, well when you keep coming home telling your family about your new pet dog who is also your girlfriend and how she is the love of your life...only for her to die and be replaced next year...yeah Zhao Ming is weird. I mean the humans under them are more comparable to animals enaging in unsafe behaviors, again and again, just because it feels good or they were immediately feeling emotion, rather than the Dragons supperior thousands of years of experience. because were talking the perspective of guys older than the Gods and hypocritically engage in Godly behaviors non-stop. "To demand sacrifice" Yeah if you hate Gods you might want to stop doing the same things you accuse Gods of doing to point out how bad Gods are, *pointed glare at the "Man Emperor" who demanded blind faith, Blind Obedience, Thought Control, mandatory adherence to his philosophy with mote memorization and the genocide of anyone who doesn't show enough philosophical purity, and the suppression of knowledge solely to protext his authority and image as a infaliable fount of knowledge*.

And for the question. This is Warhammer, not Age of Sigmar Order isn't "For Order", everyone of these nations is going to be as short sighted and self centered as the IRL Europeans or the Chinese of their various waring state periods. Did you know that in what I affectionately call World War Zero, or the only TRUE world war (Because the French and British were shooting at eachother even in Antarctica) Russia switched sides mid war because the Queen died of a rather preverse accident, and her son was Gay for Prussia's leader. It's an true sign of just how absurdly powerful the Empire is that they can sustain a defensive Coalition between themselves, most the Dwarves, and Kislev AND occasionally form Coalitions with Bretonnia, Tilia and Estallia as well. And they share borders with all of these people...part of what's ruining it is the Elves, because they're kinda complete assholes and semi-rightfully view humans as vagrants who occupied their homes *insert smug "not" french laughter here*. And the Lizardmen are worse.

micelzod: Yup, those are all the same sort of general thoughts the character Emmanuelle Nacht has, though she's not aware of the products of the Gnomes. But i most fear that if anyone from the Imperial Engineering School meets the Gnomes then the events of 2521 might happen sooner rather than later...as dark and hilarious as that might be. Particularly when you realize how heavily that event Depleated the Empire's defenses against Archaon.

As for Cathay, with the Ming influence and the supposed influx of info and suggestions from Asian fans it would be rather disappointing if they used Zhuge Liang for a character, even Sima Yi would be a little on the lackluster side but certainly a better choice well him or Jiang Wei would play the role far far better than either both from his flaws and simply his story depiction being the prime minister wanting to keep fighting even as the royalty fuck up the nation behind him and him sadly powerless to stop the very thing that doomed the Han Dynasty from ruining his Kingdom.

BUT keeping to the Ming basis Shou Hei Kan, Ou Sen, Mou Ten, Ka Ryo Ten (despite her non-existance outside Japanese fiction about the era) would make for good character choices though Shou Hei Kan not for tabletop as much but certainly fitting the role you stated, or hell Ri Boku whom even Japanese authors wanting to write about the era wanted to make the protagonist of their stories, and out of the three different stories none of them did, but it's hard to make a story about a guy who loses and dies right before a entire era of climatic battles and grand changes throughout the land, while he had been fighting to mostly keep things in their status quo for the time being.

And of course no matter how much I think he's missed vital details and overblown Sun Tsu MUST be given the honor of having his own expy having a major impact on the Cathayan military. It would be a warhammer SIN not to give the man the credit he rightfully deserves.


Open Fields, Empty Lands


The Imperial Army took some time to increase their pace, however after a hour of Captains moving up and down the lines the Empire's troops, caravan, and the Sentinels and Pioneers were all traveling at a faster pace. A pace that didn't threaten to bore Shandris as they now ignored all but the most clear signs of potential threats or beasts and monsters to dispatch, rather than unnecessarily clearing every potential threat along their path. While the pace did increase, the Kaldorei, ordered to draw in closer to the Imperial Formations still struggled, with less space and freedom many were quickly put on edge.

While the Imperial Troops and Civilians complained about the pace and of fears of being assaulted in some sort of ambush, the Sentinels began to have their own rumors spread across the ranks. Shandris had to keep a lid on murmurings of hostile cursed trees, strange animal life, and cruel beasts from spreading across her army. But even with the General and her staff working non-stop to curb the spread of harmful rumors they still spread through the Kaldorei putting them on edge.

Thus days of the forced march passed and the Kaldorei became more and more wary. The troops increasingly closed off from their human counterparts, fearing a hidden betrayal, and looking to any odd tree as if it could attack. But despite the troops misgivings the Empire army, the Sentinels and the Pioneers reached the point where the trees started to thin except for some thick groves and bushes, and a few yards further the forest broke entirely. It would take significant time for the entire force to exit the woods into the fields beyond.

As the army marched breaking free of the forest, a cry sounded from behind them. A beast's bleating sounded from out of sight within the woods. This immediately snapped Shandris' gaze to the forest.

"What was that?" The General asked looking back with Aethalas and Uydron at her side. Even as the General asked the Druid's gaze darkened.

"The locals call these creatures Beastmen. I witnessed their perversions. These beasts are a corruption of the natural order, They attack many other beasts and force themselves upon others. Despite looking like herbivores they eat anything, particularly flesh. And they leave dark markings frequently across wherever they tred. I also discussed these creatures with the humans of the Empire, these monsters will not negotiate, they will only fight or take what they want." The Druid explained while staring at the woods, many other members of the Sentinels following the Druid's example and watching the woods while preparing their weapons.

Beyond the thin line of the Sentinels, the Pioneers broke from the convoy with Kyn'ra at the lead. The renegade Elf looking upset with a mounting fury directed towards the woods as the Braying from beyond the treeline continued. Then several minutes after several small formations of Imperial soldiers, obvious veterans, marched back with Emmanuelle Nacht and with just a gesture the woman sent the Imperial soldiers marching to the flanks of the loose line the Sentinels had formed.

Then Emmanuelle and Irma both rode up to Shandris taking positions next to the General and both looking to the woods as nearly one hundred yards away Kyn'ra was directing the Pioneers into their own rough formations. As the Human leaders watched Irma spoke up adding her narrative to the situation.

"It's rare for Beastmen to Bray like this without attacking. Typically such a ruckus would only be heard by a town under siege by the Beastmen. I hope I'm wrong, but we could potentially be facing a Herd of perhaps up to thousands of Beastmen." The scholarly woman stated, a grim determination in her eyes as she prepared her weapon.

Emmanuelle shook her head before glaring at her companion. "Silence." The Empire Diplomat ordered before facing the older captain at her side, , if Shandris remembered the man's name correctly.

"Captain have the artillery pull back to our position and order the army to slow their pace, push the supplies to the front. If a battle takes place here I don't want to put our force at risk." The woman ordered receiving a immediate salute from the man who took off.

As the human captain rode off, and the two human women focused back on the woods the Braying finally came to a end, and Shandris saw her first of the Beastmen emerge from the forest. They were scrawny figures, still lithe and strong, but clearly dirty and malnourished. The Beastmen looked much like a naked human, but with goat legs and small thin horns just breaking out from their skulls. Each of these was armed with a crude bow, or a spear or club rushing from the forest and unleashing a Braying shout upon seeing the Sentinel line as they charged, those with bows firing futilely as they ran.

Before the first twelve of the Beastmen could even close close enough for the Archers to unleash against them, each of the Beastmen died as Druids unleashed magic spells against them. Then the peace broke and the stream of enemies began. First the Beastmen came in ones and twos, each breaching the forest, braying and then charging at the Azerotheans line, then their groups became larger. Ten to twenty came at a time, always dropped by Sentinel arrows long before their primitive axes could reach the Kaldorei.

Then the wave came, all in a single moment Hundreds of the Beastmen of all kinds came rushing out from the forest already braying, shouting in a foul tounge, and screaming. More than the first ones that Shandris had seen now many of the Beastmen had the heads of goats, rams and elk with horns of all kinds. These beats had varying levels of armor, some wearing nothing but their skins, others had clearly reinforced hides, and some possessed metal plates or chainmail armor strung over their bodies.

However these were in such numbers that they then pushed through the arrows and magic of the Sentinels as well as the bolts and shot of the Empire and the variety of ranged weapons of the Pioneers. Sentinel defenders and Druids, Empire Swordsmen and Halberd, and the melee fighters of the Pioneers moved forward and intercepted the Beastmen charge, many having to face against the horns, axes, and brawn of the Beastmen, some immediate knocked aside dead by the charing beasts.

The charge of the Beastmen however was still ineffectual. Already their army was faltering and perhaps several hundred lay dead in the lands between the defenders and the Beasts of the forest. These Beasts were weak, some even with missing hands or limbs threw themselves into battle clearly unprepared and unfit they still came with a single-minded determination that simply lead to the deaths of many of their number.

Then a echoing bellow came from the tree line, and Shandris rather than watching the battle progress the General turned her gaze to the treeline as a dozen Tauren looking beasts emerged from the woods. Each stood larger than even a Tauren perhaps as much as a foot taller based off the largest of the group.

With no more than a glance her way Aethalas immediately understood Shandris intent and drew her bow ready to intercept the creatures with Irma standing beside her weilding a banner of the Empire, and Uydron following then after shifting into his Bear form. The massive beasts all together roared again and started their charge, and seeing the flag in Irma's hands the massive creatures veered towards the group. However before they crossed more than half the distance a volley of arrows rose from the woods behind them, the arrows splintering mid flight turning twenty arrows into sixty that then rained onto the beasts killing some of them and stopping the rest as another volley then fell on them, and another soon killing all these massive beasts.

Minutes after the large Tauren-like beasts dropped the Beastmen broke fleeing away from the Sentinels all dying from arrows to the back as they ran away in a blind panic. More suddenly than the battle began the battle was over hundreds of Beastmen lay strewn about with bolts, arrows, or magic burns on their chests or backs, and dozens lay dead before the lines of defenders. However the Empire forces and Sentinels held ranks, and the Pioneers while relaxed did not move.

Something else was in that forest, something that Shandris did not see, but whatever or whoever it was had killed the massive brutes of the enemy army all while hidden within the forest. Even her Imperial counterpart looked towards the woods with caution, her every movement slow and deliberate. Then the apprehension of the mystery of who was in the woods seemed to break as what appeared like a nude elven woman stepped out of the forest her long hair the only thing obscuring her body. Her long ears twitching in an manner that set even some of the women among the Night Elves grinning lustfully.

The woman spoke in a language that no one present seemed to understand, yet Shandris and seemingly everyone present was enamored with understanding the woman's invitation. Only Kyn'ra of all those present seemed to view the woman with disgust. Even Shandris as cautious and wary as she was had to admit the raw beauty of the Kaldorei standing before them. The woman outstretched her arms calling out to the Sentinels, and to Shandris dismay, even as the General and her two captains called out to stop them, four of the Sentinels raced forward to the woman.

The smiling elf warmly accepted the four Sentinels each trying to speak with one another despite the language barrier and the many others behind shouting at the four to return. Two of the Kaldorei took the strange Elf's hands smiling warmly, only for their smiles to immediately turn to expressions of horror as rather than the suptle flesh of another elf their hands were peirced by thorns and barked claws wrapped around their heads. One found himself being slammed face first into the cutting bark of his attacker face first while the other found her head violently ripped to the side, her neck nearly severed by the motion.

The other two Sentinels stood by watching and unmoving. One trembling in horror while the other dropping their weapons fell to her knees muttering apologies to her mother, her face filled with dismay. Both unresponsive as the monster then brought its claws down battering and slicing the women before it to death, neither even moving to try to save themselves.

The creature then unleashed a hollow roar that sounded of falling trees and filled with the hate of centuries. The hate of the forest gathered over the ages. With the illusion broken the Sentinels immediately broke their stupor and launched into action.

Magic and a volley of arrows flew towards the creature, only for then the forest itself to wake. Trees with none of the awareness or spirit that Shandris had expected from a living wood then moved with purpose. Trees moving in a hurried pace, or saplings springing to life as full grown oaks, all created groves that fouled the volleys and spells fired, disrupting the Empire-Sentinel's firing lines and concealing the cruel monster. And as the woods did so they exposed the army waiting beyond.

Perhaps hundreds of wooden creatures, Dryads a waring cry from the Emprire troops informed Shandris, emerged at a run from the forest. Behind them in a loaping gate came larger wooden beasts that sat somewhere between a Treant and a Ancient. Skittering between the feet of all these creatures were small malicious looking spirits some of which seeming to absorb spells launched at the army, while others rode on ankle tall mounts made of twigs with pinecones for heads each weilding clearly poison tipped darts.

Behind this came massive wolves, and flights of massive eagles. And further back Shandris could see a giant of wood and branch and purple leaves, a malicious roar echoing from its hollow maw. Then just beyond all of that Shandris could see them, this world's Elves all with cruel eyes and tattooed with spider webs, each of these elves preparing their bows and slinking back and disappearing into the shadows.

Even with arrows raining among them, with the Druid's spells disrupted, the wood Dryads pushed through the defenders attacks, only volleys of gunfire from the Empire Handgunners cutting down the Dryads, the strange sprites among them, and the larger wood beasts in a manner that would slow their advance.

Before Shandris could begin giving orders, Emmanuelle was at the Kaldorei General's side. "We need to get away from the forest. A fighting retreat. As long as they are near the woods we can not win!"

Shandris nodded before taking command. "Fall back, cover the Empire troops and Pioneers as they withdraw." The adopted daughter of Tyrande shouted with all the breath she could muster. Immediately the Sentinels that heard her moved to obey or to spread their commander's order across the battlelines. The Sentinels loosed arrows as they began to fall back, many rushing back only to stop to fire allowing others began retreat. As the Sentinels began to pull back a volley of arrows loosed from the woods as the Asrai in the woods emerged following after their wooden and beastial allies.

Even as all this took place Kyn'ra and her pioneers circled, pulling back then pushing forward as though they were waiting for an opening to attack and the Empire's troops slowly pulled back, their pace far more ponderous than the Kaldorei. Still when the Empire's guns unleashed even the Dryads and their larger allies were forced to stop, dying or fleeing to recover from the damage inflicted upon them.

Even through the chaos of the situation Shandris could see that it may have been possible for the Sentinels and the Empire to successfully pull away from the forest and the army of wood assaulting them. However as wolves with various cruel spites riding atop them collided with the Empire troops on the flanks, and the Eagles crashed down atop the Sentinels Shandris knew that the planned withdrawal was doomed.

"Shandris, abandon the fight, get to the canons and order them set up. We will delay these wooden monstrosities for as long as we are able to before taking flight." The voice of Emmanuelle Nacht then rose over the increasing din of battle as at more and more points the Dryads and their allies clashed into close combat.

"If we leave then your men will die, We will just have to keep drawing them further back and cover for eachother until an opening to flee apears." Shandris countered, unwilling to abandon an ally to a battle such as this.

A scoffing sound cut the Imperial diplomat's response off. "Or we can wait for whatever the hell the Pioneers are doing." As Shandris looked over she could see Irma pointing with her weapon to the Pioneers as they suddenly charged forward, pressing into the battlelines of the Dryads and braving the arrows of their Asrai supporters.

Swiftly Shandris looked across the battlefield to see why the Pioneers had chosen now, the moment the army was fighting to pull back and being assaulted by wolves, eagles and now these Mallus Dryads, to suddenly surge forward. The magic casters of the Pioneers forcing themselves to power through the presence of spites that Shandris would later learn were called Radiant Spites, their fighters clashing with Dryads, Tree-kin, Malevolent Spites and as the Pioneers pushed forward the giant tree stomped its way into their midst in a instant killing four of the Pioneers and scattering their force.

The pointless loss of life enraged Shandris. Certainly Kyn'ra had thrown away her peoples lives for, for nothing! Then Shandris saw it, Kyn'ra and the first of these Dryads were both fighting one another, the Kaldorei fading in and out of view with arrows and swordstrikes lashing out only for the Elven archer to then start to fade from sight again. Meanwhile the monstrosity endured Kyn'ra's strikes as those Pioneers around them seemed to be striken with fits of terror, insanity, or simple confusion at least one drwarf even lashing out at Kyn'ra then beging for approval from the Dryad who simply struck him down.

Soon magic power spread as a dark black fog from the mouth of the Dryad leading the army assaulting them obscuring the battle between herself and Kyn'ra, blinding both combatants. Kyn'ra blinded by the fog, and the Dryad by the blessing of Elune upon Kyn'ra hiding the Elf within the shadows. Massive bladed pendulums of magic would strike into the darkness, whips that looked to be vines, and various arrows and even an Moonglaive, likely stolen, would emerge from the fog giving hint to the blind battle taking place.

However the Pioneers still held, healers in their ranks ensuring very few of their number died, with only the presence of the Radiant Spites and the Tree Man they swarmed about causing the only permanent deaths that Shandris could observe. The Asrai and many of the Dryads either stalled to watch the odd battle between their leader and Kyn'ra or threw themselves into battling against Pioneers. The assault on the Sentinel lines lessened.

Beside Shandris Lady Nacht perked in her mount a small grim smile on her face. "The Pioneers are buying us time. Quickly pull your Sentinels back and we'll regroup at the canons. Captain Gerard Sessler has reported the canons are ready, we can form a solid battleline with the time the Pioneers are buying us." The human leader stated, almost giving orders to the General.

"No, I can't leave the Pioneers to die." Shandris retorted sharply.

"Then you will die with them. They've chosen death with this fight, and if you stay, you will die with them." The Empire Lady retorted swiftly and with conviction.

"No, have your men pull back, full retreat to the cannons. My own forces will make a fighting retreat, try to spread the enemy out so you can finish them off portion after small portion." Shandris reasoned offering a strategy to the Empire's representative.

"Sounds reasonable. But that puts extra strain on your forces. Just hold out and save as many men as you can, the Pioneers chose their fate, it's pointless to try and force them into another path in the middle of a battle." The Empire Diplomat stated with a concerned look, before she rode off at a gallop.

Shandris sighed looking back to the battle playing out before her, before the Sentinels had been pulling back as a single long battleline with the Empire's soldiers anchoring each end. But now the Empire's troops were in full retreat, and with a few unspoken signals to Aethalas and Uydron the line of the Sentinels would eventually begin to spread out hopefully scattering the Dryad army.

The battle for the next several minutes began to spread as a running battle between the Kaldorei and the Dryads along with their few Asrai allies commenced. Over several minutes the Kaldorei spread further and further apart while slowly pulling away from the Dryads, However now fully enveloped by the foe the Pioneers were now cut off from support. They managed to hold, much to Shandris' suprise, but the Pioneers now were pressed and began to take casualties.

Even while the Pioneers were surrounded the army of the Dryads was forced to spread out, relieving the Pioneers of the pressure of the Dryads assaulting them. As the battle spread the canons of the Empire opened fire, canonballs tearing into small groups of the Dryads or their small spite companions. These shells drew the forcus of many of the Dryads and many focused on and rushed towards the Empire's prepared defensive line.

The Dryads crashed into the Imperial lines, many that had been in pursuit of, or catching, the Sentinels instead diverting to charge the Empire's State-troops. With the Dryads peeling away the spider tattoo'd Asrai were left alone, facing a thin line of armored Sentinels with Moonglaives, and Archers whose skill and bows could match their own. After a few casualties the Asrai broke retreating back towards the woods, leaving their allies with their flanks exposed. As Dryads, Tree-kin, and Spites closed and converged on the Empire battlelines. The force of the Dryad's charge caused the Empire lines to bow as their soldiers were physically pushed back, or knocked aside by the Tree-kin.

However the Eagles, wolves and even the feral spiteful nature of the Dryads caused them to miss their tactical situation. Now the Kaldorei had the Dryads surrounded, on one side the Empire's defensive line, on the other end their leader and the Treeman were in a confused melee with the Pioneers. And on the sides of both, the Sentinels launched attacks, Arrows and Moonglaives stabbing into Dryads scything into their ranks. The canons roared four more times, the last time all focused on the distant Tree-man removing the massive creature's arm. And then the Dryads broke, fleeing under a hail of arrows, gunfire and canon shot, however far fewer of the Dryads fell than Shandris would have liked.


After the battle had concluded it had taken Shandris several hours to collect all the necessary reports. Nearly a hundred Sentinels had been severely wounded in the fighting, but fortunately only twenty had died as casualties, of the Empire's soldiers they had suffered similar casualties, though nearly twice the number had succumbed to their injuries.

Of the Pioneers, however, suffered more significantly. One hundred and twenty had charged into the fight, and eighty of their number were wounded severely and fourteen more of them had died. Even Kyn'ra had suffered some sort of injuries at the hands of the leader of the Dryads. However the Elf was hidden away by her followers and Shandris denied the opportunity to confront her over her reckless and costly behavior.

But the press of the Empire army was not stopped even by the battle that had taken place and after only a few hours of treatment and coordinating transportation for both the dead and those incapable of walking and the armies were on the move once again. As Shandris rode alongside the armies keeping careful watch from atop her Hippogryph, Irma rode a horse beneath her and began shouting up to the General, causing Shandris to descend to ride next to the human woman.

"You held out well. A skirmish truly worthy of praise General." The woman said, smiling while looking at Shandris from over her glasses.

"You call that worthy of praise?!" Shandris indignantly responded, feeling an odd and out of place sense of bile in her throat as she watched the woman beside her drink from her flask. Certainly one of disgust towards the Imperial's callous disregard for their casualties.

"Yes, I can only guess as I've only read reports and books on the subject. But there allegedly is a rogue Branchwraith referred to as Drycha who leads a army of malicious forest spirits. She has struck against the Empire before in the past, though whatever her intent or goal could be is beyond my own scholarly understanding. She might form a interesting subject of research. Do you think there is anything similar in your world I might contrast her to? Oh since i have the chance can I ride on one of your walking trees, maybe give it a physical, learn how it moves or can they talk maybe i can interview it?" What started as a straightforward explanation suddenly devolved into increasingly directionless rambling.

"Irma! What do you mean?" Shandris demanded, the General's patience growing thin.

"Oh right, Usually attacks known of in the archives by Drycha are somewhat smaller than this one, and far more fatal. Either her attack was caused by simple coincidence or she had entirely underestimated our forces." Irma then explained, the youthful and eager expression on the woman's face replaced by the seriousness of a teacher covering a important subject.

"So you think the battle should have been worse?" Shandris feared that was what Irma was implying, an thought the General certainly did not enjoy.

"Could have been. And if it were to take place another time, likely will be. Branchwraith's have terrifying memories, Drycha will remember us, and exactly what we did to her today." Irma sighed admitting her knowledge to Shandris.

"Damn it Kyn'ra. Then next time we will just have to make sure we're prepared. No time to judge the past." The Kaldorei General stated looking with judgment and venom towards a carraige where the Pioneers had sequestered Kyn'ra away.

"Well let's see if you ever last long enough to have such time. Shall we? General." Shandris felt a chill at those words, could feel Irma's green eyes boring through her as if the woman could see her very soul. So with a shudder Shandris peeled away from Irma, fully intent on showing that she would last long enough, and fully intent to finally have her chance to show Kyn'ra as the fraud she knew the girl to be to everyone else.


Alyzz Kneecord woke once again to the sounds of Zhang Genji whimpering and talking, more begging, in her sleep. Unfortunately Alyzz couldn't understand a word of the woman's muttering as she spoke in her strange language. Still Alyzz felt somewhat sorry for the woman, even though she was sure that the Shugengan Lord would have killed her without a second thought before.

Still the Cathayan was, for now, Alyzz's property and one thing that the Goblin knew was that when you only had a couple of slaves, servants or whatever you had to take good care of them otherwise you wouldn't be able to get much value out of them. Still allowing the Dragon obsessed human to keep her mutter filled sleep going was going to annoy the Private Investigator to no end, and so the Goblin chose the simplest way to bring it to a end. Several abrupt kicks to the whimpering sleeper's head later and groggily and muttering Cathayan curses Zhang Genji woke barely keeping the glare out of her eyes.

"Are you awake? If so stop whimpering and get up. We're starting our day early today." The Goblin ordered earning further Cathayan mutterings before switching to the shared language, of Reikspiel, between the two.

"Yes my lady. How may I serve you today." The Shugengan asked bowing deeply in that Cathayan style of bowing. Alyzz really found that way of bowing off putting.

"The caravan will be starting our journey through the Darklands today. Make sure you are appropriately clothed, also make sure my outfit is ready as well. Then we'll check in with Kogkradd Kegeater and Tragg Gatecrasher, Once they give the go ahead we'll start marching. Oh and then I'll send you off to meet with our Good Friend and your wonderful Lord Zhao Ming!" Towards the end of her declaration Alyzz struggled to keep both her bitter sarcasm and disgust out of her voice.

Since Alyzz had met him all Zhao Ming had done was socialize with his soldiers, walk about like some celebrity while his mere touch was treated like some sort of divine blessing by those troops that followed him. If the Dragon wasn't doing that he was being an absolute bother to her, constantly sending servants to 'ask' for updates or to 'exchange gifts', constantly finding himself 'convinently' walking by and otherwise harassing her every movement with that same pretend affable approach he was taking to everything.

If she wasn't so certain she would have been killed, Alyzz was sorely tempted to try and push the damn Cathayan leader off a cliff back in the Mountains of Mourn. But then the Mage was much stronger than she was and his fire abilities were shown to be rathet significant when his army had engaged in a sudden skirmish against wild Yeti that had wildly rushed down the mountainside at them.

At that time Zhao Ming had taken place at the head of his army casting spells and fighting with his fists, martial arts, and flames. Even without his army the Cathayan Lord might have been able to easily break the Yeti all by himself without even being harmed. It was all an overwhelming victory for the Cathayans, one that certainly told the power these Cathayans held was certainly not all for show but was enough to challenge some of the more powerful states on Azeroth.

Still with how closely the Cathayans were following there was little chance for Alyzz and her Ogres to escape the tracking of the Cathayans, not that they needed to follow them any way. Sure she was certain that with a good pace they could get several days ahead of the Cathayan army, but it wouldn't matter as the Cathayans were even marching in a series of columns that was nearly a day or so long for the first portion to begin or end its journey and the last to catch up.

Still Alyzz had one conundrum to solve, how was she supposed to warn the Horde of this massive force's arrival before they got there? She couldn't run ahead, the Ogres already were proving difficult to keep on task, many currently wanting to go wherever their stomachs lead them and needing Kogkradd and Tragg to keep them on task.

Alyzz looked to Zhang Genji, no she couldn't even trust this woman to deliver a message for her no matter how honest and open of one. She sighed, no she still needed send warning but she'll need to do it when closer to Crimson Post. Until that point she figured she might as well enjoy her trip.

"Genji! Up!" Alyzz demanded raising her arms. With a sigh the Shugengan Lord bent over and picked up the Goblin Investigator lifting her up and placing her on her shoulders. So placed on top of Zhang Genji's shoulders the Goblin smiled pointing out of the tent with a cheer.

Outside Ogres were happily watching Gnoblars clean and pack up their camp. The Ogres sat snacking or were simply pacing getting ready to leave and anxious to leave but held back knowing they'd either be lost, or punished if they took off. Once Alyzz and Zhang Genji left the tent Gnoblars descended upon it packing the whole thing up in a haphazard manner preparing a cart that it was to be pulled in and tossing everything into the cart before tying it down with ropes. While certainly crafty, innovative and resourceful the Gnoblars were certainly not among the most intelligent of creatures.

From atop Zhang Genji's shoulders Alyzz spotted Kogkradd in the distance. In excitement, and maybe in a little malicious fun, Alyzz bounced in her seat on Genji's shoulders waving to Kogkradd as he approached. As Kogkradd approached Alyzz smiled widely and warmly at her favorite person on all of Mallus.

"Kogkradd! Good morning!" The Goblin P.I. shouted out with gusto while waving. In response the Ogre Tyrant smiled widely and strode swiftly to Alyzz and Zhang Genji's side.

"Ah Mawrider! Good Breakfast time! The camp is almost ready to set out, and there is plenty of food ready to be snacked on while we walk. Oh thinking which..." Kogkradd greated warmly before throwing a whole arm of meat to Alyzz who nearly missed the food and it slapped Zhang Genji in the head before Alyzz lifted the heavy food up and to her mouth where she carefully took a bite. Again any attempt by Alyzz to diet was again ruined by her Ogre companions.

With a sigh Alyzz started eating and both Zhang Genji and Kogkradd began walking. Kogkradd first giving a usual and often heard summery of the camp's packing up. And as the Tyrant spoke to Alyzz, with Zhang Genji inaudiblely grumbling beneath Alyzz, the Tyrant Tragg walked up to the group.

"Mawrider! My clan is ready to move, and the camp is packed! We move now!" Tragg Gatecrasher nearly roared with his announcement. The noise causing Alyzz to flinch, certainly even the Cathayans in their camp half a mile back and further could hear that statement.

"U-understood Tragg." Alyzz stated nervously looking at the heavily armored and far more vicious looking Ogre Tyrant. Alyzz subtlety tightened her grasp on Zhang Genji.

"MY clan will take the lead." Tragg Gatecrasher insisted beating his chest making the proclamation.

"What?" Kogkradd responded and was ready to challenge Tragg begore Alyzz interjected.

"Fine, go ahead Tragg, we will guard the rear in case if the Cathayans decide to challenge us with their army." Alyzz stated puffing out her chest and smirking confidently.

"What?!" Both Kogkradd and Tragg bellowed both staring intently at Alyzz. The intensity of both Ogre's stares even putting Zhang Genji on edge causing the woman to start taking a defensive stance.

Alyzz just smirked and shrugged. "Well we have a huge army behind us, and our allies ahead of us don't we? I think it's most honorable that you would allow Kogkradd's tribe to guard us Tragg Gatecrasher."

Tragg seemed to fume, almost insulted. "Errr, Y-yess! I GIVE the honor of defending us to Kogkradd and his tribe." The Tyrant sounded most unpleased, though Kogkradd seemed to relax slightly before beating his stomach belching at Alyzz.

"I accept." Kogkradd stated after finishing his belch.

"This is good." Alyzz stated nearly bouncing in her seat on Zhang Genji's back. "Since this has been settled let us march!" Alyzz cheered pointing off to the horizon.

Moments later the Ogres, Gnoblars and Alyzz and Zhang Genji began their march. Soon foothills faded away and the Ogre tribes entered into the open plains beyond. In the skies above various birds, and other creatures flew while Alyzz enjoyed riding on her human servant's back. However the plains were for the most part empty, though as Alyzz could remember she knew they weren't too far from Pigbarter, the trading post she and Kogkradd's tribe had passed by before.

Alyzz sighed, knowing that the journey would be long and slow.