reviews:

Guest 1: 100 thousand is based off chinese History and world History is actually a pretty big army. Based off the Dynasty that's one of the big inspirations for Cathay, that's the total size of the military they used to conquer and unify all of China, which put into the context of Cathay would make it all of one of the Dragon's military. It's also much larger than the force Yin-Yin absolutely humiliated herself with by losing.

Then to Azeroth, yes yes that is a large force because the Alliance is just straight up fantasy good guy NATO and either their commanders are deliberately getting their troops killed in mass, or by math and their clear preference for "the British approach but only in peacetime" (Britain has a very small army and even a relatively small active navy, but a proportionally large special forces pool assuming they'll use these troops to train dadtees an recruits at the onset of a war...the Alliance seems to have missed that last part) thus why in about a month of war Stormwind was already out of soldiers and was drafting farmers... but even mathematically it would be a large force because unless you're telling me that Azeroth has a confirmed population of 8 billion humans, dwarves and gnomes which following their recruitment standards and the IRL percentages would still only give them about 80 million troops world wide the base population of any faction (Stormwind, Ironforge, Gnomericon, Durotar, etc) on Azeroth would put their total military sizes near the 100k~500k marker, spread across a planet, a planetary ruin, and multiple mystical realms all of which they have to maintain constant garrisons on. While WoW fans might boast about how spread out the Horde and Alliance battlelines are, modern IRL officers (minues the butter bars they're currently lost but don't worry the 1st srgt will find them soon) will tell you the importance of being able to hit with condensed focused forces. So even if Stormwind has 1 million professional Footmen at it's disposal the fact that 100k semi-to-professional soldiers are all hitting one point is something terrifying to consider, particularly since for the people of Azeroth, Cathay is a massive blank page, one capable of fielding sky fleets of their own including large skyships that look like alliance gunships but are probably more like Horde Gunships, and then the fleets of sky Junks and sky lanterns.

Guest 2: News is probably finally spreading, but at the same time the importance placed on the news is the issue now. One of those "we must regulate coe farts" vs "lets stop strip mining the Amazon for lithium for unnecessary solar panels and build a few extra nuclear plants" type issue.

Guest 3: one is a hippie tree hugger, the other is a "you are the carbon we want to reduce" eco-terrorist and if they don't play that role their trees will kill them. The Spites which would be the warhammer equivalent of Wisps, well their quote on their wiki is just straight threatening to slit a guy's throat for him asking to sketch one of them. So the mere fact that the Treants and Ancients are tolerant of ALL the Alliance's "bullshit" and not out committing genocide means that they are traitors.

If you want fluff feats, well sadly Seige Tank is going to if you go by highlights be able to solo the entite warhammer world...but it's just inconsistent as all heck. So Siege tanks, solo'd by lvl 40 equivalent nobodies, defeated by murlocks, capable of gunning down entire squadrons using fewer shots than they had targets, and demolishing fortified towers with a couple shots. Where the Steam Tank is a rarity weapon, difficult to operate, but since its design has the engine operate the Guns it's able to disregard powder and keep firing so long as it has shells, and has effective unlimited ammo for its top turret. It's low points mostly come from non-combat stupidity of the Empire, or having to face off against reality warping Daemons who specialize in destroying complex creations.

As for the Airships, thats where things get a little more odd as both settings are extremely inconsistent with their airship's abilities and feats. From a Horde Gunship being downed by a catapult, to airships being able to travel at mk 4 speeds and tanking flaming masses larger than the vessel, but somehow getting taken out by a creature the size of a seagaul. And from there we go to the Thunderbarge whose quantity and presence is inconsistent. Each of its rare appearances would include at least one of the following, Gattling Cannons, gattling deck guns, a hangerbay with squadrons, the ability to deply hundreds of Dwarf warriors, Flakk Shot, and a full bomb bay. but again numbers is a huge question. As well as how recent or not is the vessel's creation, as everyone's favorite adventuring duo has the first ever one built done so in the last 100~150 years, yet others have the Thunderbarge as something that's been around for a couple hundred years.

The Thunderbarge is one of those things that GW tried to squat but was preserved so all of it's details are made scetchy as executives with their heavy handed and outright moronic approach (see openly calling people who play their game Nazis, evidence 'they play out game' in a public letter) tried to ruin/remove this item of the lore. The Thunderbarge though all the tech listed on it, simply put makes it far more capable, a virtual Bismark compared to the simplistic multi-role cruisers that are Alliance and Horde Gunships...but like the Bismark one lone vessel no matter how much it outpreforms it's competition on paper (thus helping birth the bullshit "Nazi super tech" myth) if it's a lone ship the might of a fleet will always be far greater than it is.

Guest 4: Good deductive reasoning.

Gueet 5: Chaos worship could spread, but there are other forces who have already been manipulating most of those idiots, and the rest are treated so poorly by Blizzard's writers even i can't justify them posing a threat to ANYONE...they just exist to be killed by murder hobos.

Also Chaos has a... weird effect. The majority of its followers seem to be "fringe benefits" types. In WHFB the majority are broad pantheon worshipping mongol barbarians and Norse raider types who don't even follow the four gods outsidd of a wider pantheon, or flip side people whove dived in too deep and are consumed by one or all of the four Gods. In 40k the vast majority of chaos aligned forces follow a similar progression as what you'd see on Vraks, where initially they don't even have a clue what the symbol they're praying to is, only that if they use it as a shrine when they pray stuff just seems to happen in their favor be it they don't feel as sick, or they get lucky, or they win a fight they thought they were going to lose.

While Chaos certainly can irreversibly sink itself into Azeroth without anyone noticing even, honestly most the minor races would be ineffectual as anything more than "missionaries" instead at the current moment the Trolls are actually the Chaos Gods best bet for a real military foothold on Azeroth.

Guest 6: Ummmm what, you sound like i do when I'm on my 48th consecutive hour without sleep. But I'm going to sort of guess your meaning. why would the Slaan care about the Titans, they aren't the Old Ones and the Titans...well they kinda suck, not the fairest but blame Blizzard deciding to take the wonder and cosmic horror out of WoW and make everything and everyone dependent on player characters. I mean the Cathayan Dragons at least think themselves stronger than Gods and a Bitch ass Ursun's "ouch I've been hurt " roar did more surface damage to Mallus than Sargeras' "i will end this world if its the last thing i do" sword stab. (Sargeras' sword still had more narrative impact) and Blizzard followed that up with their usual "now we don't matter anymore until the authors decide to 180 on us again where we will have new skins and entirely different personalities...again"

But somewhat on your Question, it's pretty clear the mindset the Slaan, Cathayan Dragons, and even the Gods would take on Azeroth.

-The Slaan would "this does not ancient tablet...EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

-The Cathayans, besides Apathy, would be best to have follow in the footsteps of the people they Expy. So after assessing the value of Azeroth's materials just so happen to find a "ancient cathayan map" (whose ink hasn't even dried yet) that "confirms" that Carhayans found Azeroth before the people of Azeroth found Azeroth and it all belongs to Cathay now.

-And the Gods really all wouldn't care besides now they have to deal with Void-Lords, Old Ones, and other new and equally annoying neighbors.

GUN: Ummm yes, and the Empire now also has a item called the Hotchland Long Rifle which is very specifically a rifled gun, entirely leapfrogging the Musket, which is currently becoming a mainstay weapon of the Estallians. Also previously I had brought up the paper cartridges myself in the past.

JiggyliFAP: Are you begging sir? And with no Mountain Dew and Pizza as a bribe? No GM will ever do nice things for your characters at this rate.

Dragon King of the West: "For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday." Well the Old World is a place where you're not even considered a proper village without a palacide and the threat of Beastmen attacks is constant to the point the people living there consider seeing a Beastmen or a Undead mildly concerning rather than the "hire an adventure to save us all quickly i saw a Centaur when i was out walking, sure their home village is less than half a kilometer away from our village but we need to go slaughter them all quick".

Yeah the difference in attitudes from the civilians is rather telling, which then makes how frequently doomsday cults and people overreacting in Warhammer, and people absolutely just having non-reactions to a planet sized dude stabbing their planet on Azeroth...like "ok so you don't care, AT ALL, that your village graveyard has ghouls living in it that attack random people, your surrounded by enemies who actively want to eat your family, AND Green Barbarians just catapulted their poop into the town square?"

"Yup."

"But you're in a complete panic because the town idiot said he had a vision from a indeterminate God saying his aunt is still alive and is in love with a snake and some vague portants of doom and how some other planet is going to explode."

"yes so thats why i have to hammer nails into my skin!"

"Siiiigh...and you, The Burning Legion was just attacking."

"Yes a HUGE event decades of meta in the making!"

"and their leader appeared, as big as your whole planet."

"i could see him from my living room."

"he stabbed your planet woth a sword almost as big as the whole thing."

"that he did."

"...and nothing?"

"well the earthquakes knocked down my favorite flower pot."

"...riiight, so how about those Murlocks?"

"Ohhhhh woe is us, doom, please i need a savior damn murlocks kidnapped my CAT the world is over, I'm going to go commit suicide because dreadful terrifying murlocks took my 17th cat! Unless an adventurer saves my dear...umm i forgot the cat's name...but it's all so horrible, maybe i should start a Genocidal movement to kill all murlocks and destroy the world for the new dark lord whose trying to save us from yet anorher 'you are not prepared'."

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE! You Mallus Idiots stop listening to visions from the town idiot! And you Azeroth why the hell is a Cat whose name you can't remember more important to you than the fact the world almost litterally ended last week, far more so than any other time in history?"

Ironwall: not much need for brainwashing actually. besides the national Dryad stuff, but mostly thats a Total War game mechanic mostly.

Hakuryuu: reasons for Drycha to kill them...they aren't trees.

Next paragraph there ... um ok, had a hard time with comprehension there and idk if it's just a me thingnwith that.

With the progress of time yes Ghozul like is.

as for the CnC question...yes, the answer is yes. just hold Cntr and you can force attack command. Also why not just nuke the civilians and laugh as the poison gas turns them into Viscroids or the radioation or lightning makes them do the funny death animations.

The Elves will come into play in time little ones. fret not, but first Humanity needs to start getting involved and maybe even the Dwarves first maybe, especially since the Night Elves obviously don't know that "No you don't molest trees, trees molest you!" on Mallus.

And the last points good logic!

Deadliestfan: I'm keeping this short since "wrong chapter" but there were a few points that I'd be glad to answer.

-The Imperials and generally humans in the Warhammer world, despite or maybe because their Grimdark setting typically take oddities in stride...until uncle Bob says that the Moon is about to fart in one of his "visions" then it's nails through the flesh time. But Beastmen, Skaven etc are just factors of life and everyone has their own oddities in dealing with each. Such as the frighteningly high number of people who have made trade deals, treaties and other under the table arrangements with the Skaven. And of course each Village has some messed up traditions for "peacefully" dealing with Beastmen that "work".

-UV isn't what kills the Vampires. It's actually yet another curse from the Gods against their race that does it. Then random Vamps, and the Von Carsteins (minus Vlad) who possess immunity though they don't even really know why. And the Von Carsteins the Immunity if i remember correctly is a secret of Manfred's that he gifted it to the Bloodline but how and for why IDK. but any Vampire who is sired by a Von Carstein, or shares enough blood with the Von Carsteins (Via Vampire blood sucking kink sex...thanks Ulrika) will eventually develop sun immunity, though it still weakens them and it's noted in stories that they can't raise the dead or more extremely even do magic in sunlight, and of course none of their self resurrection Bullshit works in the sunlight.

Jak23: It's basically until a real end times, and even then it feels forced, that there can even be a possibility for major leaders to actually meet. Tyrion would make it impossible for himself to participate since it would have to take place on Ulthuan...with peope X, Y and Filthy stupid Dwarf not allowed to attend. The Dwarves of course aren't likely to tolerate any of the Elves, and even various humans, for anything more than a few hours. The Lizardmen if they even bother to show up would simply make demands and expect obedience. Settra does not serve. And Grand Carhay is well Grand Cathay while Nippon and Ind are still just grey enough that they might not have a set leader to actually go an attend. That limits any sort of "Order meeting" to basically the Empire's general Coalition of allies all while the other "good guys" exist still as more of neutral to straight up competition to whatever the Empire desires from such a meeting.

Generally it's better when dealing with Mallus to gradually disseminate and form a 1800s to WW1 "network of Alliances" because really there isn't a central point of unification. Hell there isn't even a catholic church/Buddhist Teachers cultural unification that helped unify nations IRL. So you can't really call upon some "common good", instead you have to build trust and political capital with everyone individually, and that takes time, particularly when compounded by races and certain A-holes.

micelzod: I'd certainly say longer but yeah, they're finally getting a real taste of what it's like to live under constant threat. Which the psychology of it is...yeah, people seem to miss the fact that people in Warhammer operate on a "my entire town can be wiped out in a instant" year in and year out...so why not sacrifice a virgin girl to monsters in the forest, or appease God by driving nails into your flesh and running nude into battle.

Also reading up, though also laughing since Hungry is also the home of the Hussites and their insane successes.


Raiders


Since the battle at the forest edge travel had become much easier for the Kaldorei's Empire counterparts to march, and they seemed to relax, the tensions of the troops and the caravan lifting. The Kaldorei themselves were far more comfortable in their forests, and while the woods before had been more dense the Kaldorei had been far more comfortable there, yet the journey still then was far faster.

It was a few days after resupplying at the Town of Burgenhof and the three forces finally reached Elbing after crossing the Bleak Moors. Truly the Moors were worthy of their name competing with regions of Lordaeron Continent in terms of depressing atmosphere and sparce inhabitants. Still the region had proven safe and the armies passed virtually without incident, at least by the standards claimed by Emmanuelle Nacht.

However from there the Armies had encountered a new difficulty, though one Shandris did not understand. While the Imperials had marched into the town without incident, Emmanuelle had wanted to purchase boats to carry if not everyone as much of the army to Bechafen as possible. Instead they were met with the grumbling resistance of the dock owners, who complained that they were nearly out of boats and 'needed to preserve these ones to feed the village'. While Shandris stayed silent during the initial negotiations she certainly wondered why they didn't just build more boats. However even with a load of valuables offered by Emmanuelle Nacht to the town the people refused to give up their boats.

The armies had then camped outside the town where Shandris had approached the Gnomes and Dwarves of the Pioneers asking them to build her some boats only to find herself rebuffed. "You can't just chop down some trees, bash logs of wood together or whack piles of wood and rope with a hammer and just magically build stuff!" they had complained back at Shandris complaining of a lack of tools enough to build a fleet of boats, let one space with which to work with. They all presented their tools and products, ranging from full suits of armor, rifles, magic wands and staffs, or even small carts or various oversized crossbows.

The next day saw Emmanuelle Nacht visiting Shandris, the Empire diplomat bringing the Captain Gerard Sessler following closely behind her. "Shandris stay in camp if you would please. Don't follow, and don't try to get more Boats, I'll get them for us." The request was strange and Shandris while wanting to respect the human's request immediately took notice and instead decided to watch the human leader in secret, through Uydron Dusktree.

By sundown there was a commotion in the town, torches were lit and soldiers and townsfolk took to guarding the town with shouts and cursing. There then were torches and gunshots along the river, then some hours later Emmanuelle Nacht along with her tired, somewhat bloodied escorts returened to the encampment. Emmanuelle looked pleased with herself returning to camp, but when Shandris along with some of the Pioneers approached her the woman dismissed all of them saying "No, no. Now it looks like we will need to march to Bechafen on foot unfortunately. Still lets proceed with the intended route on the riverside."

"But what about Lad-..." One of the Pioneers began to speak but found herself silenced as Captain Gerard Sessler loudly drew his blade from the scabbard at his side, the metal scraping against the metal ring holding the thick blade.

"I advise we keep our defenses up tonight, raiders attacked Elbing and stole a number of boats from the town, and this is sortly after the towns spare boats were either taken or purchased before then. So unfortunately we will be marching, and treating our wounded." The Diplomat explained with a a downcast expression.

However Shandris now doubted everything that had taken place. Certainly Emmanuelle Nacht had been hiding something. So Shandris returned to her tent and waited until a moderately sized bird landed next to her tent before shifting into the form of Uydron who looked to Shandris grimmly.

"Report." Shandris commanded not even looking at Uydron.

"Yes general." Uydron answered before sighing. "The Imperial Lady left the Camp, but she didn't go directly to Elbing. Instead she met with Lady Kyn'ra and a small group of Adventurers from the Pioneers..."


Kyn'ra, the leader of the Pioneers waited silently alongside a group of Pioneers and volunteers from the Sentinels. A warlock, two hunters, and four rogues alongside two additional warriors lead a group of twelve additional Pioneer volunteers. All of the Pioneers present had cleared their equipment of identifying marks as they had been asked. The Night was dark, no moon in sight thanks to a thick cloud cover, no rain was falling but it was possible, but certainly the Kaldorei at this time technically were at their most protected.

Finally Emmanuelle Nacht, Irma and Captain Gerard Sessler along with about ten other State Troops traveled the feilds before Irma suddenly stopped as they rode near Kyn'ra's hiding place right as the Elf stepped out. Still with a grin Kyn'ra stepped up to the Empire's diplomat while Captain Gerard Sessler tried to plant himself between Kyn'ra and Emmanuelle.

The Night Elf kept a smile on her face but inside she brooded. Truly she hated Mallus and everyone dwelling on this accursed world, but they were all a threat to Azeroth, something that the Alliance and Horde were not prepared for and would not survive. Thus Elune had chosen her, granting Kyn'ra insight. The Titans, the Light? Their false truths which had served Azeroth so well in the past needed to be set aside, and the pundants of those lies challenged and removed. The Alliance, the Horde, Life, Death, the Titans, The Light, The twisting Neather and the powers of the Void, all eight needed to unify under one banner. All the ancient powers of Azeroth of all its history, every summoned power and spirit, needed to be awoken and set free.

But before that Mallus needed to be delayed. Kyn'ra needed to sacrifice everything she could, her pride, her friends and allies, her freedom, her newfound power, even her soul to stall and harm the great powers of Mallus. And if that mean allying with the people whose culture gives a home and sustenance to the powers that would consume and destroy her friends then so be it. The visions she had seen while frozen, Shandris could see Dark powers sweeping over Azeroth in a unending tide. Monsters whose mere existence nearly strained the Kaldorei's sanity to the breaking point.

Blood soaked demons, walking pussballs dripping with rot, lithe Succubi with claws, and twisted mutants throwing fireballs from twisted multi-jointed limbs. Endless tides of fur and armor along with twisted beats, such as large looping pot bellied creatures carrying clubs and natural armor. Even the denizens of Azeroth themselves being twisted BEYOND recognition in lighting and flames born of nightmares.

So Kyn'ra hid her disgust behind a smile as she approached the humans before her. "So I gathered my possible best men for this, now what are we doing exactly?" The leader of the Pioneers demanded while still grinning at the two ladies of the Empire.

Emmanuelle Nacht gave a small polite smile towards Kyn'ra, sparking the Elf's disdain. "Well Lady Kyn'ra, I promised the town mayor that I would be revisiting them later tonight. However the town has been subjected to a number of recent raids, while the only successful ones were by river pirates, this isn't to say a raid to steal their boats would be impossible."

"You have an army, just TAKE the boats!" Kyn'ra complained, her fist pounding on her thigh next to her scabbard, the saber at her side rattling under the impact.

"These are loyal people of Ostermark, of the Empire. I would be overstepping my bounds to force them to hand over their possessions, I would be stripped of my own position and rank. I would be permanently harming both myself and the Empire's people with such a action." Emmanuelle replied.

"They can just build more boats!" Kyn'ra growled.

"They would never build enough boats in time to support their trade or their fishing on the river." The Diplomat sharply countered, scowling down at Kyn'ra.

"Then why did you drag us out here?" Kyn'ra nearly growled.

"I am meeting with the Mayor, my men, Irma and myself will be on scene requiring increased guard. You will strike us then, and make away with however many boats you can. When we reach Bechafen I'll see to it that they use back channels to reimburse the town." Emmanuelle explained the plan plainly.

"These men here each of us are trustworthy and engaged with the plan" The Diplomat's Captain then interjected, "You are free to wound us at any moment to ensure the completion of the mission and you should know we will likely be made to fight you so as to help uphold Lady Nacht's facade." As the Captain spoke the men around him nodded, some even showing their bare chests.


"And you witnessed all of this?" Shandris asked now staring half in shock at Uydron Dusktree. Shandris knew the Empire's leaders seemed overall unconcerned about small casualties but to inflict such an assault on their own?

"Yes, I had taken the form of a Cat and was stalking them from the shadows. I could hear everything they said perfectly." Uydron infirmed his General with a sagely nod.

"From there I changed my form to fly and observe what transpired though I wasn't able hear everything said from there." The Druid stated.

"Doesn't matter continue with the report." Shandris commanded.


The Empire's group seperated and rode into the Town, passing the gates nearly unchallenged by the guards in the gatehouse. Then the Empire soldiers, Irma, and Emmanuelle Nacht were gone, lost behind the walls of the town of Elbing.

As the humans left Kyn'ra's view the chosen leader, the Blessed of Elune, turned to those following her. "Have we inspected the town's defenses?" She asked simply while looking to her followers.

"Yes Ma'am, the Walls are about as well laid out as those used by Stormgarde or the outposts for Stormwind. They seemingly have no gaps, however on closer inspection..." The reporting Rogue trailed off as Kyn'ra tapped her foot impatiently. The seconds ticked by and then drew into half a minute of silence.

"On closer inspection what?" The Pioneers leader demanded sharply seeming to snap the rogue out of whatever poor attempt at a dramatic pause they were making.

"Right! On closer inspection the points closest to the river have guard stations that seem to focus primarily on the river itself. While there are more Guards that would be the location to start a raid against this town. We can scale the walls with less chance of being detected and we can disable a significant force of guards immediately. And if we do this to the Downriver guard station we can more easily make off with the Boats." The Rogue explained with a slight jump and a eager ramble to their voice.

Kyn'ra sighed in response to the Rogue's report. "That sounds like a plan, but how do we scale the wall?" The question was simple but for a moment the Rogue seemed taken aback.

"Oh right...well we have ropes, and myself and my fellow Rogues should be able to climb this wall without any hastle." A simple answer but one that Kyn'ra certainly appreciated.

"Alright we have our plan lets move in." The force of 'Raiders' then moved silently, slowly moving around the city and easily avoiding the eyes of the town guards until they reach the downriver point of the town walls, now all they had to do was scale these walls and they would be launching their raid on Elbing.

"Alright, lets go. Wait for them to drop the ropes before climbing. We all will reach the top of the wall as One. The moment I crest this wall, our assault begins. I want these guards taken out immediately." And with that the Pioneers, hidden by magics and the blessings of Elune as well as the darkness, reached the wall. Moments later the Rogues began to scale the wall using hooks, skill, and speed and strenght to climb up taking only a couple minutes to both scale the walls and drop ropes that those below could use to start climbing.

Silently and swiftly the Pioneers scaled the town's walls reaching the lip of the wall before leaping over. Immediately they set to work. Six guards stood with a close watch of the river using lanterns while one was attempting to watch the fields which the Pioneers had slipped through. Between all six of the Guards a large bell with a number of hammers sat waiting to be rung.

While the others moved to guard the wall and preparing to launch their raid into the city, Kyn'ra and two of the Rogues climbed the stairs into the guard tower. Silently Kyn'ra drew her bow and the Rogues prepared to strike. Kyn'ra loosed her first arrow, the shaft traveling fast and true, her intended victim turned as the Night Elf released her hand. Rather than peircing the Man's neck the soldier's spear and the arrow collided, the weapon snapped and the arrow veered colliding with the beam of the roof of the Guard post.

The Rogues acted immediately both swiftly stabbing their intended victims through their backs and collapsing the men's lungs. The pair then pounced on suprised guards their blades cutting shoulders before the guards could turn to face them. The Guard Kyn'ra attacked rushed towards the Bell, but as he ran the Night Elf put an arrow in thr man's chest, slowing his momentum, and a second of her arrows stabbed through the man's throat.

The human stumbled forward a couple more steps before another arrow peirced the human's shoulder and he stumbled to a halt. However the final Guard finally acted and threw himself into the bell and less than a second the loud bell rang once, twice, and then was stopped by Kyn'ra's foot as the Night Elf unloaded three arrows into the guard's back.

As Kyn'ra swiftly left the guard post, the Pioneers were descending from the wall into the street below. However the entirety of the town was starting to slowly light up as torches from the Guard Posts and the barracks began to spread out into the streets and along the walls as Guards raced to respond to the bell. Kyn'ra's Kaldorei eyes could spot these torches and saw that most of these were runners looking to check on the wall, while a few were small squads immediately reacting either moving to the docks or to reinforce the Guard Post.

Stealth was rapidly fading, now the Pioneers needed to take haste. With a soft shout the leader sent the Pioneers rushing into the town running towards the docks where a dozen river barges waited. However there was certain to be a battle that at the docks as several torches and soldiers were moving to protect the dock.


Shandris stared at Uydron Dusktree as he explained what he observed from above. Then the General looked away feeling a sense of pain from the knowledge. "They, they're so willing to kill our allies for their own benefit."

Uydron Dusktree nodded. "Unfortunately they did, my lady. And the fighting was rather gruesome and feirce."

Shandris sighed, giving a hardened, determined look to Uydron. "How many?"

"Too many."


The Pioneers ran along the Town's shore towards where the barges were docked, but now already town's folk were shouting as they were lighting up their lanterns and spotting the Pioneers. At first none of the townsfolk dared come out to face rushing group of Alliance fighters. However ahead of the Alliance Pioneers a small crowd of townsfolk had gathered armed with clubs, farming sickles, axes and a few swords. Some of them even possessed bows and a handful of arrows.

The gathered villagers turned and focused their attention on the oncoming raiders. The crowd surged forward, crude battlecries and threats on many of their lips. Kyn'ra and the hunters of her group then unleashed on the crowd. The Night Elf herself loosing seven arrows into the crowd each finding a seperate victim. Then the two warriors and the crowd clashed both warriors swinging with such force to send several members of the crowd flying.

It took seconds before the crowd who had surged forward as a disorganized mob to collapse the some thirty townsfolk reduced to fourteen wounded individuals pulling away from the fight. However seconds of delay caused by the townsfolk was more than enough to create a new difficulty for rushing Pioneers. On the Dock a line of soldiers armed with shields and spears now stood between the Pioneers and the barges and several individual soldiers armed with crossbows stood alongside the dock already aiming their weapons toward the group.

Swiftly Kyn'ra analyzed the situation, trying to think of how the fight ahead would take place. There were no clear points that the Rogues could swim or scale around the docks to bypass the soldier lines, and these men often will hold the Warriors and others long enough that the other soldiers coming would hit them from the rear.

As they closed, the crossbows loosed but their aim was poor and what bolts did land the Pioneers armor fortunately was able mostly withstand the impact. The Pioneers pressed forward as the soldiers reloaded and Kyn'ra dedicated to her newest plan.

"Warriors to the rear. Rogues, myself and the Hunters to the front! We'll have to push our way through!" Kyn'ra shouted her command out and while the reactions of those about her showed confusion before moving to obey without any question.

The hunters and Kyn'ra loosed arrow after arrow at the Troops. While their shields and armor saw that many of the shots fired were absorbed by their armor. The soldiers front line thinned though thanks to the arrows from the closing soldiers. a line eight men wide saw four of them collapse under the arrows and as those four dropped the Rogues rushed ahead the four throwing themselves between thrusting spears and into the opening created by the felled soldiers.

The Rogues danced and weaved between the thrusting spears of the soldiers while crossbow bolts flew past the soldiers and into the Pioneers, one of whom stopped screaming in pain with a bolt through his cheekbone. Still before the Pioneers and Guards clashed a powerful spell from the Warlock and several more arrows dropped several more of the Guards, and another of the Pioneers found themselves severely wounded by a Bolt to the chest before the two groups clashed.

Then the forces clashed, Rogues weaving between the spears while those capable of fighting clashed with the guards. Kyn'ra herself drew her saber and began to duel with the Guards, her and the Pioneers press created openings and three of the Rogues managed to force their way through the guards where they leapt upon the crossbowmen behind them. However one of the Rogues as he attempted to push through fojnd a spear thrust through his thigh trapping the rogue in place and forcing one of the Pioneers to pull the rogue away from the clash.

"Halt! By Verena you will submit yourself to justice or face our wrath!" A voice, loud and commanding rose over the field of battle. With a look over her shoulder Kyn'ra could see, Captain Gerard Sessler standing prominent and resolutely before a small formation of Guards and Lady Nacht's State Troops.

Kyn'ra growled, she had hoped that the town wouldn't cause this but it looked like they would clash with Lady Nacht's troops. "Push harder!" Kyn'ra ordered with a harsh shout, the Night Elf herself rather than pushing more stepping back from the fight to call upon Elune's power.

As Captain Gerard and the State Troops collided with the Warriors their weapons clashed the blades of the warriors spinning with immense force, while Gerard Sessler was able to deflect their blows. While the Warriors' blows were strong enough to knock back even the veteran State Troops even when they blocked, only the Captain stood resolute against their weapons and even began to force the two warriors back with his resolve and skill at arms. Pulled back from the clash Kyn'ra could see them being pushed towards the Pioneers and if the Warriors were to be pushed enough the Town guards would be able to entirely encircle her troops.

But Kyn'ra's blessing from Elune ensured their victory. The Pioneer leader finished channeling the spell, and then Starfire began to rain down upon the dock guards. Each bolt of starfire striking with enough force to match a rifle, some bolts peircing shoulders, and other impacts starting small embers of fire on the cloths of those struck. Swiftly the clash on the Docks changed to favor the Pioneers under the glow of the stars.

Freed from channeling the power of Elune, Kyn'ra threw herself back into the conflict. The renegade Night Elf's blade cleaving spears apart and slipping past shields to stab its tip into the flesh of those beyond. Kyn'ra's forward momentum, while slow, particularly for one of the Kaldorei, was not halted by any of the Guards. It took only a minute but the Guards' defensive line collapsed their last survivors rushing away to the end of the docks.

While the Guards fled the Rogues descended on them, carving into the fleeing guards. Meanwhile the spare Pioneers leapt onto the barges moving to push the Barges from the docks and onto the river. The Warriors however at this moment found themselves overwhelmed, breaking and running from Captain Sessler, the veteran State Troops, and the now arriving group of handgunners who seemed to be preparing their weapons.

Kyn'ra then drew her bow aiming at the Captain and his Veterans. All of these men were armed with shields, but certainly Kyn'ra could land decent hits against these men, though delaying them was the most vital element. So the Night Elf chose her targets, the legs of the Soldiers and began loosing her arrows, one swiftly after another.

The soldiers stalled under Kyn'ra's arrows. Some skipping over her arrows, others using their hand weapons, or shields to defend their legs. Only the Captain seemed to try to keep his momentum going forward rather than allowing Kyn'ra to stop him. The Pioneer leader and the Warriors who fell back to her all three then descended on the Captain, who now alone and facing all three together.

Alone Sessler was forced to defend and Kyn'ra was happy to note as the first, second, then third Barge pushed away from the docks. Then the Handgunners opened fire. Kyn'ra felt a round brush her shoulder, one of the Warriors crumbled as four rounds collided with the Warrior and even Sessler staggered forward, almost as if the man had been struck in the back, granting the other warrior a opening to strike the captain knocking him onto his back.

"Errr, pull back!" Kyn'ra shouted the unharmed warrior quickly picking up his wounded compatriot to drag the Warrior to one of the last two barges. Meanwhile Kyn'ra covered the two firing arrows at the Handgunners as the group withdrew. Then they reached the Barge just before the boat pushed off. Then moments later they were on the river Kyn'ra and two hunters, as well as the Warlock, sending attacks towards the Handgunners and Crossbowmen on the shore as they unleash attack after attack at the escapping Barges.

Then the arrows and guns could not reach eachother anymore and the battle petered to a end. Kyn'ra and her Pioneers had escapped and now were making their way north toward Bechafen. They had suffered several severe wounds, some of whom might not survive to receive proper treatment, but they had succeeded. This was the start of Kyn'ra's holy mission.


Shandris sighed, then looked to her head Druid. "This is... Kyn'ra has willingly attacked our allies, the very people of the world we should be helping. Over something as meager as boats... Uydron what did they do after that?" The General asked with a frown.

The Druid just sighed himself and shook his head. "No, they just took the barges and fles downriver."

"And I'm willing to guess that once we set out today we will just 'happen' to come across them and start loading our supplies on the barges. And Lady Nacht actually went along with this..." Shandris sighed. "Uydron, we're making the right choice, right?"

The Druid appraised his general for several minutes before voicing his opinion. "This is a diffrent world, with different rules, we'll have to learn as we go. Until then we will have to give them leyway. A little tolerance will probably go a long way with these people, so long as we don't let them take advantage of us." The Druid suggested with a slight but grimm smile.

"So we ignore this injustice?" Shandris asked softly.

"No, Kyn'ra will get what's coming to her. We will delay, have justice come at a slower pace to her, come once she can't fight or run." Uydron answered with a sage nod and a gentle smile.

"Right. However waiting and turning a blind eye hurts. Everything about this feels wrong." Shandris admitted.

"We follow you General. If you confront them, the Sentinels will be right behind you." Uydron Dusktree voiced his support for Shandris earning a honest smile from his leader.

"That's good to hear. Ill make sure I honor your trust in me. Untill then though we don't have much more time. Rest up, we'll pretend we didn't see anything for now. But capturing Kyn'ra at Bechafen now is even more of a priority." The General's smile continued as she spoke, despite the darker subjects she and her head Druid were speaking of.

"Yes my General." And with that Uydron shifted forms and slipped away from Shandris.


The next morning then saw Shandris and most od the Sentinels rising early beating out the first of the Empire's troops by a couple dozen minutes. Once the Empire's troops roused and began calling their troops into order the Sentinels watched as the soldiers in organized groups packed their personal supplies, then set about assisting in disembling the command tents, and supply tents.

While the Sentinels were left waiting for nearly a half hour more the Empire's troops clearly moved with a practiced and organized efficiency which could possibly compare that of at least Stormgarde though the practices certainly seemed out of place compared to the more combat oriented drills and training of the Human portions of the Alliance. Certainly under similar conditions the soldiers of Stormwind would have taken much longer, a good support of the thought, the slow progress of the Pioneers as they packed up their supplies.

Even with the benefit of Gnome and Goblin technology and some magic the Pioneers were even slower to pack their supplies today than the Empire's soldiers. Though from some of the muttering and backwards glances, even with officers punishing those glances, it was obvious the Empire's soldiers weren't nearly as patient or willing to wait as the Sentinels were.

Still finally the three groups began to march. Lady Nacht not yet leaving her carraige or appearing, while miss Irma disappeared into the Pioneers and Camp followers. Wrapped in bandages and his arm in a sling Captain Sessler took the lead of the marching armies as they progressed up the road towards distant Bechafen.

They marched for hours, the road mostly abandoned save a few abandoned campsites off the road. Likely where bandits had been waiting until they noticed the oncoming army. The mere presence of the army cleared the road of everything but beasts and foolish savages.

Then a day of marching later and they appeared, Kyn'ra's raiders tried to slip back into the marching column but many were noticed well before and only the Pioneer leader herself and her rogues managed to slip back into the column undetected. Her other followers were questioned, the Empire's leaders acting suprised and confused, also much to Shandris' dismay two of those caught turned out to be members of the Sentinels who had chosen to follow Kyn'ra rather than their rightful General.

Little less than six hours later the marching column found the six stolen River Barges, each docked and ready to go. And as Shandris expected, Lady Nacht acted as though she was suprised by the discovery but elected simply to make use of the barges saying that they'll see them returned after the army reached Bechafen, and that once Bechafen was reached the renegades who had raided Elbing would receive appropriate punishment. Though Shandris noted the woman's non-committal tone, the General swore to herself that Kyn'ra herself would also stand responsible for this crime once they reached the city and the gates closed about the renegade Kaldorei.

However the rest of the March from there proved to be uneventful. No need for any combat, and little of the Pioneers seemingly growing insanity actually showing itself, though now Aethalas, Uydron and Shandris monitored them and their own troops closely, as Kyn'ra's corrupted logic certainly seemed infectious and the woman herself had the ever growing devotion of her followers and Shandris feared both if such devotion should turn to fanaticism or spread to her own forces unchecked. Over the days of the march, already the General had to dismiss or quarantine no fewer than twelve of her own Sentinels who had in secret sided with the Pioneers.

Still the barges were loaded, and with the General taking precautions the column's arrival in Bechafen would ensure that Kyn'ra could not escape and she would confront the Kaldorei about her twisted views and hopefully cleanse her and repair their relations with eachother. But until then she would closely watch the Night Elf until they arrived.


Ghozul pulled himself up off the ground his lashes flairing in agony. The Dwarf's haul of prisoners had been successful, but he has lost the lives of several of his dwarven breatheren, a loss of valuable resources and a waste unworthy of any Despot or Overlord. As such the Sorcerer of the Clan had enforced a harsh punishment on Ghozul, even denying him immediate revenge. The Overlord had added the fortress, the place now spied on as the 'Crimson post', to the clan's book of grudges.
Instead Ghozul was being sent south towards the Howling Wastes where he was supposed to watch for passing slaves to capture. Already he was expected to recieve reports from the region and just as importantly Ghozul needed to spy on the Sentinels, those peaks housing a great many traders and a hotspot for merchants including the caravans that inevitably became easy victims for enslavement.
But of course the Prophets had insisted on a watch over Ghozul to ensure his death should he waste more lives or slaves. Of course this watch came in the form of a full detachment of Immortals, each claiming to serve as his guards, but each obviously watching him for the slightest signs. Any slip from Ghozul now would result in his death, any disloyal statement, or any minor misstep could be fatal.
But just as, if not more insulting was that they had burdened him with fewer Warriors and sent far more slaves to fight aling side him. Multiple Hobgoblin Chieftains to deal with meaning more annoyance. The whole situation was set up to try Ghozul and force him to slip up eventually costing him his life. In other words, he was being set up because his failures and because the Sorcerer didn't want to share the secrets and benefits of the new slaves Ghozul had retrieved with the very dwarf who had captured them.
Still Ghozul did have a few small pleasures with which alieved his stress. He had managed to sneak away two slaves, one of the blue ones and one of the Orks. Both had been entertaining little toys, the starange breasted Ork's strength and the regeneration of the blue creature were both ways of allowing Ghozul to entertain himself and releaving stress by beating them.
The strenght and pride of the Ork was fun to damage, while watching the Blue One recover after being harmed or even dismembered by the Overlord certainly entertained the Overlord as the droll nights dragged on. Without such nights relief whipping and cutting his slaves certainly Ghozul would have said something that would have resulted with his death as the Immortals watched him, their Eternal grumbled quietly his hate for Ghozul obvious.
It had been until this day that Ghozul was beating the slaves worse than usual. It was a unfortunate truth for Ghozul but upon his arrival spies warned that The Sentinels peaks were preparing for an massive arrival, over a hundred thousand were coming from Cathay, Cathay the land of unqiue spices and wonderful caravans to raid. If they were marching on the plain if zharr then Ghozul needed to delay them or he would truly be dead. An massive Cathayan army, his revenge, all of this was mounting on the Overlord, but certainly he would be up to the task, he would find his opening and crush the Crimson Post taking his revenge and he would live while they all would die.
Across from Ghozul the Ork slave and the Blue creature both huddled together shivering. Their torture had only begun, but while they might sit back crying of their agony Ghozul was freed to think. To scheme and plot on how to kill his rivals, and as a faint hope, a glimmer of a thought, a mere possibility cross Ghozul's mind even the screaming cries of the pair couldn't distract the child of Hashut from the new scheme rolling across his mind as he considered the scouting camp that had been destroyed, the Ogres that had been spotted nearby, and considered the faint possibility that news of Crimson Post had somehow spread east far beyond what the Overlord had once assumed in his arrogance.