Responces:

Ironwall: More in the words of the Chapter end and start, she just wants to get her own representives through it. Rather than a Joint occupation like the Dark Portal, she just wants to have agents in place. To hint a little think of the Russians and Nasa in the Space Race and the famed saying "What one American Scientist makes, ten Russians can't understand, what one Russian makes, ten Americans can't carry."

Oooooops: Thankyou. I actually thought somewhat hard on how to put it into story effect. Since cultural misunderstandings has been a huge part of most historical early encounters. Like how the Indians mistook the Europeans on the ships to be of the upper class rather than a bunch of lowlife sailers, and opprotunists with no real authority, all because Indian rulers were all of fair skin complications in the caste system.

Hakuryuu:

The writing on this review is a little off but i think i get everything you're saying. Yeah I had planned on some language barrier but actually by ch3 i was still debating how to, or how much I wanted to work it into the story. And actually while Maps of the Dark Lands are inconsistent and with a few sparse details I found a very specific place that i put the Horde in and have hints to their exact location scattered in the chapters .

As for the Vampire decision that one was made really quick for me. my friends and I played tabletop Mordheim, and because Vamp counts, and Beastmen were the armies I had at the time they were the two I played and Vamp Counts in Mordheim always felt right. the place borders Sylvania, is a desolate ruin, and has hardened badasses dying every day. Sadly the rules for the VC in Mordheim made them hard as hell to play. and yes i know the City map at least well enough.

Guest:

Since another Guest already gave a good practical example for the deeds and abilities of a Warcraft Priest of Sigmar i actually rewrote this answer for you. But the core of the difference outside of gameplay mechanics, is a difference in how their respective pantheons work. The 6 great powers of Warcraft are vague concepts with overlapping pantheons that interact with their followers through the lesser beings of their pantheons. If this sounds familiar to how Chaos and their Daemons work...well it's almost the same set up.

And in a manner reminiscent of how Chaos whose "Priests" are Shamons and Sorcerors, the Priests and Paladins of the light all have and use Mana, both as a game mechanic and loosely in the Warcraft lore. This means while they are channeling divine abilities given to them by the Naaru, they are still acting somewhat of their own power.

Where the Pantheons of the Gods outside of Chaos on the Warhammer world, they operate on a different level. The Gods of Nehekhara were able to bless and oversee a civilization that had next to no magic whatsoever as the winds of magic mysteriously avoided that land until a jerk named Nagash came around. But the Pantheon of the Old World, there's some competition between the gods for devotees which may or may not (Age of Sigmar reducing Warhammer Fantasy to Warhammer-40K-the-Fantasy-version notwithstanding) have a correlation. But the Warhammer Gods not having an entire Pantheon of intermediate "subordinate Gods" there to be lazy clocking in a 9 to 5 going "meh nightshift can handle it" (I mean thanks to Blizzard soft retcon the light doesn't even care if you commit mass genocide in its name) the Warhammer Gods have to listen for prayers, and then they themselves act upon those prayers. which leads to some very...unique God perspectives towards mortals. Manann is a asshole who hates everything and if you don't pray to him your fucked, and I'm only calling him out because I have no plans to go near the ocean or any body of water for the next three months. Meanwhile the God Morr, well lets just say he not too happy about things that keep things from staying in the peaceful embrace of Death and he'll throw hands with anyone who dares keep the dead from their just rewards. And well give the poor guy a break, some douche named Nagash rigged the whole world against him and the region the guy did it from was a whole other Pantheon's turf at the time and those Nehekhara Gods are territorial as fuck.

As for Resurrection gameplay vs Lore in World of Warcraft i'm a little weak on, there's a grace period where one can cast Resurrection but it's been left vague and entirely plot dependent. Such as the Siege of Lordaeron Cinematic where King Anduin cast a Mass Resurrection spell and dudes who looked to be dead for a long time just stood up with their armor freshly polished and a slight spring to their step. But generally Resurrection narratively is certainly something, there's even a few raids (so a blend of story with gameplay) built around the idea of a Light "Inquisitor" who ressurects your enemies, as long as she's alive they keep getting back up. And so the story reflects that she needed to be put down first to stop her from ressurecting the enemies. But again Lore seems to put much harder restrictions, as plot demands, otherwise a WoW fanboi in a vs debate can get away with "as many times as we want" and they wouldn't necessarily be wrong since that's the player mechanic and PC's are Semi-Canon...but that's a stretch and i usually argue the power of dispell dice since they want to bring game mechanics in as absolutes. But generally the only guys, besides Burning Legion Demons and Daemons, harder to keep dead than the friends of the faithful on Azeroth would be a Vampire from Warhammer. I say as I cast a very vengeful glare at a certain Bloodbowl Team, and a certain Mordheim warband from nearly a decade ago.

World lore Comparison:

So "today" I your glorious author decided to give unto you two topics of quick world comparison.

The Stormwind and Empire of Man military, and Undead vs Undead.

Stormwind Military Organization vs Empire of Man Military Structure:

Both Stormwind the central human kingdom and the Empire of Man are presented on a surface as being "Medieval" Cultures. However Culturally both follow somewhat their own paths and have their own distinct periods they might relate to. The Empire of Man is actually modeled more on the late Renaissance and the Stormwind in general while having a medieval paint-job is more akin to a "modernized Roman Empire".

First the importance of this particular distinction for both nations, Medieval Feudal states, like those Bretonnian savages, followed a setup for their military in roughly broke the army into three sections the smallest being "house troops" aka the Knights, Lords, and Retainers, followed by Mercenaries who while very varried were usually closer to "professional soldiers" and then the Men-at-arms aka the peasents who are given a few days training and expected to form a shield wall and storm the castle. Neither The Empire nor Stormwind follow this, nor do they really have much of a Feudal system at all.

The Empire of Man is a very rough equivalent of a very late Renaissance Holy Roman Empire and has developed a dedicated military. While they do have a network of ruling nobility their military has more or less grown ro be independent of the nobikity and now is primarily made up of the "State Troops". these state troops are also provided "state weapons" the quality of these soldiers training and gear will depend on what part of the Empire they hail from, but these soldiers are going to be better trained and disciplined on average than most their counter parts (from the Warhammer world). the State Troops generally make up the vast majority of the Empire's military with only some specialist and Elite units outside their ranks, such as free company, Outriders, and Reiksguard. This means in practice the Empire has a constant and relatively effective force even if they lack the obvious and direct magical support or biological advantages of the other warhammer factions.

In overall practice this would reflect first with a "modern" style of military where the state provides gear to their soldiers then trains them, but the Empire still maintains various knight houses and Noble supported specialists suchs as the Outriders where Nobles , the wealthy, and community organizations put their own independent funds into arming young sons either to be taken in and trained in a specific martial discipline or a technical battlefield role that benefits the Empire. Then lastly the Empire hires Mercenaries to finally cover any shortages in manpower or if they Mercenaries provide a skill or technology the Empire forces lack for whatever reason.

On the other side of the Portal on Azeroth the Kingdom of Stormwind was the first human kingdom to ever fall to the Horde, and then was later restored by the Alliance. Since then it has now turned into the centerpiece of the Alliance the King of Stormwind serving as the defacto leader of the entire Alliance. These details are crucial as they shape how the kingdom of Stormwind operates it's military.

The first noted detail is that Stormwind, indeed almost all the still standing human kingdoms of Azeroth, hold professional armies also these professional armies are ordered and organized in a manner that more resembles the organization of the Roman Legions. Like with the Empire, this professional soldiery has a higher level of skill and discipline than their non-professional human counterparts. However as part of a "Roman Legion" arrangement the main task of the Infantry is to hold and beat the enemy while Elite cavalry, auxiliaries, and seige engines secure the victory.

Stormwind relies heavily on individual or national contributions by the other members of the Alliance for their Auxiliary forces who then perform the vast majority of Stormwind's Skirmishing, which coincidentally also means stormwind maintains a comparatively small, relative totheir own position and national power, professional army. And while Stormwind has always been shown to be rather quick to bring up forces for their allies' and their own security needs, Stormwind has also been shown to be rather quick to run out of professional soldiery. Notes this speed is still relative to the contributions of the Alliance member states, some of which have significantly smaller populations and military sizes to call upon to contribute. The Alliance 's core membership all have a tendency to run out of forces to contribute and skilled volunteers signing up for Alliance conflicts at relatively the same time as Stormwind's professional soldiery is expended. To help protect against this particular issue the Kingdom of Stormwind thus relies on its SI:7 organization and Adventurers (player characters) to engage in the majority of the raiding and to engage in skirmishes and essentially to keep the army as preserved as possible until a pitched battle can be achieved.

Now while the evidence for the Kingdom of Stormwind is a little rough, since Warcraft has absolutely no sense of scale with a "massive" battle ranging from maybe 100 combatants and lasting a half hour to Millions and listing for a week or more, effectively they operate as a late Roman Empire but with late medieval twist and allies instead of straight vasselized auxiliaries.

One is more of a self sufficient design but with more limitations from what the wealth of the region or state as a whole can provide, and the other is more geared to serving as the cornerstone of a international Union and finds itself limited by with will of it's allied nations.

Undead as opposed to Undead

So between the two worlds there's two variations of Necromatic Undeath. As they are both typically Necromancy and follow somewhat similar story beats both are viewed as essentially the same. However there are some very key differences between the two that both plays a crucial role is determining which is which, but also how one would combat either.

In Warcraft Undead entities before the arrival of the Lich King was not unheard of by particular cultures however the dead were for the most part not weaponized even by those who knew about and could interact with the dead.

Then the Horde lost the Second War and the Burning Legion lost their foothold, on the form of the Horde, on Azeroth. The Legion previously had attempted to create Undead Elves during the Burning Legion's first invasion. These attempts failed but set the grounds for the creation of Lich-King, due to recent retcons Necromancy did exist before this, but it was limited to the Shadowlands, aka the afterlife, from where the Dreadlords secretly acquired the knowledge then converted it for use against the living. As the Lich-King was being created and placed onto Azeroth, the Dreadlords secretly revealed knowledge of Necromancy to small susectable groups and once the Lich-King was made manifest on Azeroth the dead of the Northrend started to rise under the power of the Lich-King And slowly the Undead Scourge started to form. At first the Scourge were mainly dead spirits and undead corpses, but with the influence of the Dreadlords, and the newly made Necromancers who had abandoned their previous schools of magic for knowledge of raising the dead to their bidding, the Undead of Azeroth began to become more complex as seen by the addition of new units in the game Warcraft 3 and up through Wrath of the Lich King.

The Scourge created all the Undead beings of Azeroth, until Sylvanas Windrunner freed herself from his control as he struggled to free himself from the Burning Legion's control. Sylvanas would, debatably, free a great many others from The Lich King and form a army against him which would instead become the nation of the Forsaken.

Where the Forsaken would focus on improving themselves their weapons and building an Allaince with the Horde to preserve themselves. The Scourge conversely would develop new horrible undead monstrosities, find new races to kill and experiment with, and develop an entire order of Death Knight champions. However aftwr the fall of the Lich King this sort of development has halted, leaving only the Forsaken and the Death Knights to continue developing the powers of Undeath.

The most distinct aspects of the Azeroth Undead are their questionable independence, even the wider Forsaken population has questionable instances where their leaders show command over them that bring how much they are free from any sort of magical command structure they really are. Their Ingenuity, as they can develop new types of undead, and are leaders in weapons tech development...though almost all their weapons are too be considered war crimes. And lastly an slight connection to the Void, one of the powers of the Azeroth Cosmology, which typically allows them to use the void in some manner to leech life energy from others, but also gives the void a small hold on the Azeroth undead.

In practice this means that unless shackled by a strong Necromancer, Lich, or the Lich-King any Undead with enough power in them to last longer than a short period effectively is a independent creature with free will, or at least consciousness and awareness of their actions. And on Azeroth the undead are a "new" and evolving phenomenon who had gone beyond their limited purpose for being created.

In the Warhammer world the purpose, abilities, nature of Necromancy and the Undead is very different. The power of Necromancy qas first discovered by a Slaan (toad pope) Mage-Priest Kroak, who upon his death didn't die and instead his servent rebuilt his body and his magical power bound him to this world. He is the one who proclaimed that any Undead outside the new Slaan Relic-Priests are an affront to the Great Plan and should be utterly destroyed. Then time skips forward to the Father of Warhammer's Necromancy, the jerk the legendary sore loser himself, Nagash.

Born first son of king Khetep Nagash was destined to live a life as a Mortuary Priest, alway preparing to serve his younger brother. Nagash was ambitious and wished not only to be king but to take his brother's wife for his own. However Nagash was not nearly as popular, or talanted as his Brother, and as the land they lived in was entirely bereft of any magic, as it was sheltered and entirely cut off from the winds of magic outside the power of the Gods and the blessings they bestowed on civilizations (for some reason despite there not being any story or evidence to contridict this it's considered a Canon Issue) Nagash had no way of changing this. Until he happened upon some Dark Elves being sold as slaves. In a scheme to free themselves the Dark Elves told Nagash about magic, about how they could bring it forth through torture and shape reality, and under their tutelage Nagash learned dark magic through Blood letting, particularly of magical creatures from foriegn lands and those blessed by the gods, effectively blood magic. Nagash combined this dark magic, with his knowledge from the Mortuary Cult in an attempt to allow himself unlimited access to the magic contained in the dying breath of others and ended up creating the first Undead, using runes to bind the creation to his will. No longer needing his teachers Nagash killed the Dark Elves in a climatic confrontation between schemers each using stolen magics.

Then in a plot Nagash overthrew his brother, created the first elixer of Immortality, stole his brother's wife binding her to life with him against her will, and began a cruel reign over the various city states of his homeland. However the city of Priests resisted Nagash, their tie to the Gods through Nagash's unwilling bridge allowing them divine protection that no army of corpses could seem to overcome. Nagash eventually killed his own stolen bride to defeat the Priests but instead unwittingly sealed his defeat on the cusp of victory. His fellow schemers lost, his 'closest' follower kidnapped by the leaders of the alliance against him, and Nagash's body destroyed.

While Nagash was "dead" the leading state of the Alliance against him, secreted away his second in command, imprisoning the still living corpse, forcing the undying man to give up the secret elixer of Immortality. However due to backstabbing, lies, and exaggerated boasts the Elixer was imperfect and Queen Neferatta instead was turned into the first Vampire, her court soon after her. Ironically Neferatta would take interest in making a young child king at her side once he grew up, the Queen intended to make him a Vampire, but unknown to her the Vampiric Elixer she gave him had actually been a perfected version of Nagash's Immortality Elixer making Alcadizaar an Immortal, and the one to stop Nagash at the height of Undeath.

What cements all Undeath on the Warhammer world, for humanity, is Nagash's Great Ritual. A spell that after poisoning his home nation's main waterway, he cast a spell killing the entire nation within hours, and began to call upon his power at it's height and beyond to attempt to raise every dead corpse and spirit of the entire world as his slaves. However as the countless tombs of his homeland burst open, the ancient Priest-Kings puppeted generals for Nagash, Alcadizaar was given a blade by a spy, freed from improvement in Nagash's fortress, and he struck down Nagash with the Blade, almost entirely erasing Nagash from existence, left waiting for future servants to bring his souls fragments back from the beyond.

Since his fall the curse of Undeath in the world of Warhammer has spread, changing just behind the times as the previous generation dies, and constantly challenged. The core aspects that keep the power of Undeath in the Warhammer world are the following.

Growth, while the Scourge could spread astonishingly fast thanks to tainted food supplies in a unwary kingdom, the power of Nagash's spell means that a single Necromancer can summon a entire company of slave soldiers or even a army by himself, meanwhile a Vampire can form a entire hidden kingdom of their own, and a Tomb King can summon generations of his kingdom to serve him once again from their burrial grounds beneath the sand.

Control, Nagash formed Necromancy out of selfishness, greed, and a desire to control others. As such those who command the Undead always hold a strong sway or absolute control over their creations, a vampiric Sire holds the devotion of their young vampire creation, an Necromancer moves and commands armies of zombies and skeletons but with a thought, and the Tomb Kings are absolute over their subjects.

Resilience, Vampires are among the hardest things in all of Warhammer to kill, and often will come back after being killed, Necromancers occasionally are brought back from the dead by upset vampiric lords who demand their services continue, and undead champions can at times find themselves killed multiple times in the same battle only to finally come out victorious. and Lastly the Tomb Kings will never again find themselves under Nagash's lash, refusing to stop until he and the Vampries are gone, and their domain is perpetually secured against anyone foolish enough to encroach on their land.

Retribution Resolution

"I-I'm overlooked, skipped over for some new bloods. I've adapted, Im skilled, and yet I'm left in the past. Forgotten and ignored, I fade into obscurity as just another corpse in the pile." Launchalot moaned his head in his hands.

"Ha, you think you're lacking in glory? Look at you successfully killing our first beyond this portal enemies, we're totally going to be remembered for all the people we've killed!" Gin tried to console the crying Undead.

"Look, none of this matters anyways unless we stay alive. So unless either of you have a better suggestion I'm going to walk the perimeter of the Hill see if there is a escape route, rock we can fortify or somewhere we can go if that dust cloud turns out hostile." Zannae interjected, beginning a hike down the hill the three were on.

"Well, you know what, ummm, boss, it's like that pointy ear'd jerk just said. It doesn't matter, I mean think about it, we're all working for a bunch of nobodies anyways." Gin said stroking his chin, now imagining himself with a beard worthy of the wisest old shamon.

"The hell are you talking about, Sylvanas Windrunner is our Warchief." The depressed Undead exclaimed in disbelief toward the Orc.

"Yeah, just Sylvanas, and the Alliance's King is Anduin. But you know what? Before her Thrall fired a magic beam and killed a Dragon who threatened the entire world, and before him Torion killed the Lich King ending the threat of the Scourge, and before him Malfurion blew a horn or something which killed some huge Burning Legion Commander somehow or something. Look either way, compared to what's come before them, our current leaders are basically people who've been sidelined by the big heroes. Now they're all looking to make their mark, they're too busy looking forward and to greater heights to look back to the people like us who are holding them up." Gin offered, impressed by his own wisdom, and certainly hoping he could remember to write this all down later. "We should support them, but as part of our own legend." Gin made sure Launchalot was looking away before silently celebrating his speech, he was going to be legendary in the future he knew it.

"So, how long do you think until the portal opens up?" Launchalot asked sitting back and relaxing.

"Dunno."

"Sooo...I more or less gave a but about myself. What about you?"

"Don't feel like sharing. Gotta keep that Hero wit a mysterious background vibe."

"You blather so much I think I could guess what it is...mommas boy. Too bad you'll be going back home to momma as a corpse at this rate." The Undead retaliated.

"What was that dead man?" The Orc growled standing up and glaring down at the Forsaken. As the two stared into one another the tension between them built. Gin could lash out at any moment at the offensive Undead at any moment. While Launchalot could strike, pre-emptively punishing the insubordinate Orc daring to insult the pride of the Forsaken. Neither moved, both waiting for an opening or sign for the other. Seconds ticked on into a minute, then two, then ten.

"Rrrrrrgh. To hell with..." Gin pulled back his arm to strike, while Launchalot's gauntlet was already flying forward.

"You need to get down here immediately!" The cry distracted the pair. Gin's ax missing the Undead Knight and Launchalot's claw deflecting harmlessly off Gin's armor. Immediately the pair backed away from one another, and with a nod acknowledging a truce between them the pair began their journey down the hill.

Roughly half way down the hill the pair encountered Zannae. The Blood Elf was standing next to a strange stone, a glow coming from the side facing the Blood Elf which turned out to be a strange rune as the pair neared.

"What's this?" Launchalot immediately started taking control.

"Don't really know. I was staying wary of possible ambushers, keeping my magical defenses up when I neared this rock. and then this rune lit up as I approached. If I try to channel magic anywhere near this rock, or uphill from it, it seem to light up. And this isn't the only one, there's another a little over one hundred paces that way." The Blood Elf explained pointing towards another glowing stone in the distance.

"What do you think these runes are for?" Gin asked looking nervously at the glowing stone.

"Don't know I can't read these and I'm not a Mage." The Blood Elf provided, a slightly bitter tone in his voice. "But there is something I want to test. Will the two of you go to this rune and that other one, I'm going to climb the hill and channel. I want you to tell me each time the stone in front of you lights up."

Launchalot and Gin looked between eachother before silently agreeing where each would go, with the Undead staying by the first stone, and Gin traveling to the second. After both were in place Zannae began a slow journey up the hill, every few yards stopping to channel magical power, and each time waiting and hearing the two others to shout their afirmations that the stones were indeed glowing. After a long trek continuing the process eventually Zannae reached the top of the hill.

"And now?" The Elf shouted down asking, after several moments the faint cries of affirmation come up from the other two Horde members.

After several minute the three reconvened at the first stone half way down the hill. "Soooo, now do we have any clue, or even a point why we did this?" Gin asked his companions.

"Actually I learned quite a bit. My magic was setting off those runes from all the way at the top of the hill, and it seems that those runes are meant to circle the entire hill. Also while I can't read the script it looks like it might have a relation to Mogu, maybe once the portal opens we could have a Pandaren Mage come and try to read it."

The Undead knight seemed to contenplate what the Blood Elf said before replying. "Ok, so how noticeable do you think this was or is?"

Zannae looked off to the distance while channeling a little bit if magic power. "At Night? Probably would be faintly visible for a couple miles."

Gin cast a gaze around the rolling plains around the hill. "So anyone with sense probably knows where we are, or at least find this whole hill suspicious." The Orc's tone a deadpan, as he began looking for possible avenues of approach a sneaking enemy might use to stalk the hill. "Still, with how we haven't been attacked again yet, and with so little signs of life otherwise, I sort of doubt that anyone we're going to be encountrring is going to be anything like the guys who live in larger towns or cities back home. Most likely they'll be like those Goblins, or some sort of hardened frontiersmen."

"I don't think our situation is going to be good if we leave things as they are now. We can't afford to risk losing the portal site if we want to get home, and we can see the dust cloud from here now." Zannae pointed out, gesturing towards the visable dust cloud.

"What are you getting at?" Launchalot called for an answer.

"I think that you should take post at the portal, sir. Gin and I will make a outlook here to buy time in case anyone arrives before the portal opens." Zannae provided, while Gon sat silently watching the distance.

"I approve. If you to need anything from the barricades we built atop the hill let me know and I will bring it." With that the Undead commander began his hike up the hill.

After Launchalothad gone Gin finallymoved. "We might not have enough time to set up a defense here." Gin muttered as he pulled out his Gun and positioning himself behind the rune-rock, the Orc still gazing out into the distance.

"What do you mean?" Zannae demanded having already started on building a defense, which consisted of a few stones lined where he he had intended to dig a shallow trench.

In respone Gin aimed him gun down towards the plains below. "Look there first."

Zannae complied, looking generally towards the Gun's target, and while it took the Sin'dorei a moment eventually he spotted them. Two hulking figures maybe a hour's walk away from the base of the hill. It was clear these things were large, perhaps as large as a Draenei riding on a Elekk. Both these creatures moved with a lumbering and somewhat casual pace which hid the spead they could lash out with in the moments they reach out grabbing some poor animal they would then beat and shove into a pouch.

"I thought those two were out hunting for food, however I noticed at a few points they stopped, looking at spots out of my line of sight. Took me a minute but they're following a trail. If you look they're about fifteen minutes closer to us than those two." Gin explained casually still sighting his gun. As the Orc instructed Zannae searched and eventually spotted a small group of four carefully making their way towards the hill.

"I see them now, the four of them right?"

"It's actually five, I haven't directly spotted the fifth, but I keep spotting evidence. He's out there, and likely he's the reason they're all even able to put up as much stealth as they are." Gin explained, his movements subtle as he kept trained on the incoming group.

"So wait them out, or bring them to us?" Zannae suggested, to which Gin scoffed.

"Yeah, keep building maybe we'll get their attention. It would probably be safer if they make a beeline for us rather than flanking around and catching the rotted idiot above us unaware."

"I don't know what's going on, but seriously don't fight with Launchalot. It's not worth the time, and it's better for me if you two get along. Better for all of us really, I mean you and I are already making a great team, if we can work well with him we might just form our own team from here on out." Zannae complained while now still working on the wall.

"I'll give him a pass in a minute, right now the fucking corpse should keep out of my crosshairs. They're closing, less than a half hour now." Gin responded and reported while still watching the incoming group.

"So long as you two tolerate eachother and work together that's enough. Still lets keep up that teamwork that did us so well the other day and I think you and I, together we'll face down anything this world throws at us." Zannae spoke softly and with care as he began to dig along the stacks of rocks he had prepared the pairs position for the possible coming attack.

"Shit."

"What is it?" Zannae stopped looking towards the Orc.

"I lost the leader." The Orc pulled his head away from the gun and began scanning the terrain, his head moving at a steady and determined pace.

After a tense minute as the group of four reached the bottom of the hill finally Gin's head snapped up. Zannae was already preparing for the possibility of attack, but was quick to spot his companion turning on the spot to face a point slightly uphill from the pair.

"Damn it! He's behind us!" Gin shouted leveling his gun, only for a arrow to impact the weapon throwing the the Mag'har's aim, and causing the Orc to fire into the ground.

Zannae raised his shield as Gin began reloading. At the bottom of the Hill the four figures started hastily ascending. For a tense second Zannae assumed battle was inevitable before a voice called out.

"Try aiming that handgun again and my next arrow is going through yer throat." The obvious leader of the four, now certainly humans, climbing the hill cried out. The language was one that Zannae couldn't recognize, yet understood anyway.

"And you're going to get that chance?" Gin countered attempting to keep his dignity.

"Only reason you're still alive is because babbling hill os glowing." The voice slowly revealing itself to be a grass covered human, with a thick brown beard and peircing blue eyes responded.

"Babbling Hill?" Zannae asked seeing the Rune-Stone next to him was alight.

"Something of a local legend to the few people who actually live out here, some shamon tried to cause a Greenskin Horde to kill themselves by luring them to camp on this hill he prepared. Spell was supposed to make them all incapable of understanding eachother, but the spell backfired. Instead if you bring someone with some magic talent, or enough warpstone up here the runes will light up and no matter what you'll understand what the other person is saying. But with the Hill being where it is, no one is dumb enough to try and settle here. Now since I gave you both the reason why you're not dead, when my employers get up here, you two are going to answer each and every question they've got." The human stated, a arrow already nooked and a very slight tension already on the drawstring.

In response Zannae began setting aside his sword, and after a moment of disbelief Gin put his gun down.

"Good." The human stated, releasing the tension on the bow. "Bùyòng dānxīn, xiànzài yīqiè dōu hěn hǎo. Gàosù shāngrén lǐngzhǔ héshí rén mó lǐngzhǔ, tāmen yīnggāi jiāng shāng duì tuī xiàng zhè biān. Dead Rock Gap hé Mad Dog Pass xiànzài yīnggāi lí wǒmen bù dào liǎng bǎi yīnglǐle. (No worries, Everything is fine now. Tell the Merchant Lord and the Ogre Lord that they should wheel the caravan this way. Dead Rock Gap and Mad Dog Pass should be less than two hundred miles of us by now.)" The human spoke, and it was certainly a language that Zannae had never heard before, yet he understood every word, beside the Blood Elf Gin looked on in shock.

Then the four from below responded. "Míngbáile, wǒmen bǎ píng liú zài zhèlǐ zhàogù fúlǔ. Shí rén mó yě kěnéng chūxiàn. Róngyào lóngwáng, wǒmen de zǔxiān!" Zannae was now more astonished, he couldn't comprehend a world said by the four below.

"What?" The Blood Elf asked, just as the one human made it up to their position. The human passed up to where the first man stood, where he then aimed a crossbow at the two Horde members.

"Zhèxiē shì shénme dōngxī? (What are these things?)" The man asked with a high pitched, youthful voice. He looked between Gin, Zannae and the other man.

The Older human smiled then turned to the two members of the Horde. "Du hast gehört, Ping, sag dem Mann, was du bist.(You heard, Ping, tell the man what you are)" The human used another language yet they could understand him just as well.

"We're travelers, we come from a place called Azeroth. Unfortunately we got lost but we're here waiting for our allies to arrive. Their route of passage ended up getting blocked, but we think they might arrive soon. We don't want any conflict." Zannae provided cautiously.

The Young man looked absolutely shocked and even paled for a moment. "Hans, Wǒ zěnme néng lǐjiě nǐ shuō de, tāmen zài shuō shénme? (Hans How can i understand what you said, what they are saying?)" The young Ping demanded earning a hearghty chuckle from the other human.

"Dieser Hügel ist magisch, es gibt keine Gefahr, aber wie diese Magie funktioniert, ist ein Rätsel, da sie so selten funktioniert. (This hill is magic, there's no danger, though how this magic is working is a mystery since it so rarely ever works.)" The man answered with a smile, and a glance at the other two.

"There's a magic portal that keeps opening and closing on the top of the hill. Every time it opens the hill seems to activate." Zannae provided, causing the Hans individual to smirk.

"Noch nie ein magisches Portal gesehen, warum zeigst du es uns nicht. (Never seen a magic portal before, why don't you show us.)" The man insisted. Zannae prayed to the light they could avoid a conflict, however so far their encounter had been relatively peaceful. As he lead the group up, the two massive creatures arrived walking behind them all laughing boisterously and looking down hungrily on Zannae and Gin.

"And who are these two?" Zannae nervously.

"Ha, Schlank wir sind Gaster und Druk. Greasus zahlte unserem Tyrannen eine riesige Summe Geld und eine große Tonne Essen, um dies zu sehen, bevor er es tat. Und wir essen jeden, der dumm genug ist, diese große Karawane anzugreifen. (Ha, Slim we are Gaster and Druk. Greasus paid our Tyrant a huge sum of money and a big ol ton of food to watch this 'ere caravan he did. And we eat anyone dumb enough to attack this here grand caravan.)" One of the two creatures answeres with a jagged smile.

Hans then intergected. "Dieses Portal, Es würde keine anständigen Märkte auf der anderen Seite geben, oder? (This portal, there wouldn't happen to be any decent markets on the other side would there?)"

Gin grunted in response. "Depends on what you're selling, and how long your group is going to be around here.

The two other men seemed to smile a little in response. "Ich denke, wir haben ein gewinnbringendes Unterfangen für Ihren Händler Lord gefunden. (I think we found a profitable venture for your merchant lord.)" Hans told Ping earning a slight smile from the young man.

Another long hour of crude map making and note scribbling drew on as now Tolgar and the human Eike spoke back and forth rapidly. While the attack had taken place a few days ago it was only now that there was another member of the Alliance who could understand Reikspiel which allowed Tolgar to accelerate his Interrogation and to engage in deeper conversations with the human.

"So the Vampires still occupy Sylvania but they don't have full control over it anymore?" Tolgar tried to clarify with the human in Reikspiel.

"Yes."

"And we are in Ostermark, with Bechafen to our north being the closest city where we can negotiate with the Empire?"

"As far as I know, but I stayed away from politics."

"Do you know who rules Bechafen?"

"Elector Count Wolfram Hartwig, the old bastard once got almost the entire Ostermark army killed by Orks, but now he's probably one of the most experienced Elector Counts in the Empire." Eike explained as Tolgar listened, scribbling occasional notes as his trained assistant write everything said exactly.

"So this world has Orcs, are they shamonistic, militant, spiritual or..." Tolgar was cut off by Eike's laughter.

"Greenskins are a blight on almost all civilization. If they were to have their way no two stones would remain standing in any of our cities and they would be waging constant war against themselves after they had finished murdering the rest of the world."

"That seems a rather dramatic take."

"It's fact, no Ork warlord would think to engage in anything resembling negotiations with anyone but a Ork, and even then their negotiations typically resemble a duel to the death more than actual Diplomacy."

"So the Orcs of this world are incredibly hostile."

"Yeah, let's put it that way. Once saw one attacking its own reflection and getting upset at the lack of a fight it was giving it." At that Tolgar paused before scribbling some more notes and continuing.

"Lets talk about the other races of this world. What races do you know besides those we already talked about?"

"Well lets see, there's the Elves, Dwarves, Trolls, Halflings, and I've heard stories about Lizardmen in the jungles, and there's the Giants, and Beastmen."

"Lets start with the Elves and Dwarves."

"Don't know much about the Elves, there's supposed to be different groups of Elves. But all the Elves I've seen have been dressed in fancy garbs and really stuck up, blond hair and pointy ears, umm not like that purple girl, like my ears but pointy. They also were skilled with almost any weapon, but they carried themselves with a arrogance, like somehow they think they are the only warriors in the world.

Dwarves on the other hand I know a bit better. Proud smith and miners, most stubborn people in existence. One I knew proclaimed that he would hunger strike against his boss. Well his boss was dead and it wouldn't be another month until his new boss arrived. Starved himself to death, and before dying broke the arm of someone who had tried to force him to eat. Typically they are short, very tough, and well equipped. But never start a grudge with them or their whole clan will eventually take vengence on you or your descendants eventually, and if you build up grudges over the years it's usually a terrible toll they'll reap. Something I witnessed once as a Dwarf clan came down from the mountains and entirely leveled a entire village."

"Ok interesting differences, and good notes. Lets go onto the Trolls, whats their culture, kingdoms, and so forth." Tolgar responded scribbling on his own papers.

"Umm, nothing much there, they're just massive brutes, typically able to just charge through gunfire and a row of spears to bring their oversized club down on ranks of troops. Then they typically gorge themselves on the dead, not too different from a Ogre there actually. But you can dress up a ogre to look nice, a Troll is almost always ugly."

"Sooo, radically different and very interesting. How about these halflings and lizardmen."

"Well all the Halflings are from the Moot, their basically short people, always cooking food and typically fat and jolly guys. As for the Lizardmen, they live in the southern jungles of the world. Never seen one, but they've made entire expeditions just disappear in the jungles and people claim that they usually don't use anything resembling technology but their savagry and what they do have combines to make warriors few Knights can match."

Tolgar quickly wrote down everything he was hearing. Certainly the Alliance would need to learn a bit more about these Lizardmen, they might even make for noble allies if what he was imagining was true. "And the Giants and these Beastmen?"

"Well giants are well Giants. I've only ever seen one, and from far away. But they kind of look like a man, but taller than a forest, and with odd proportions, like their heads seem to be too big. And the Beastmen are another blight on the entire world. If you think yourself civilized, or even dare to live with a roof over your head they hate you. And if that's not excuse enough for them to try to crack your skull open with their horns and crude weapons then the will of the Dark Gods or their own savage impulses. Almost every encounter with Beastmen is a battle to the death." As Eike explained he drank one of the odd Alcohols that these Alliance Foreigners had brought.

The ale was better than Stirland's alcohol for sure, but certainly not his favorite drink. Instead Eike felt in the mood for some Bretonnian wine. Eike would pretend to want something stronger, but after a few sips of Bugman's finest the man had decided against pretending ever sense. No need to risk waking up in a morgue again.

Tolgar waited patiently as Eike drank, once the self identified Middenlander had finished the drink Tolgar continued. "And at our current location what are the biggest actual threats to the Alliance?"

Eike took a moment to consider everything. "Chaos, Chaos rules this city, which would include the Beastmen. And after them the Vampires, as the Warpstone inside the city helps them fuel the magic they use to summon their armies. After that it's anyone's guess since such oddities keep showing up in this city, yourselves included. Only other thing I can think of is that there's supposedly an other breed of Beastmen that merchants and other mercenaries call the Skaven. The Skaven are apparently what would happen if the Beastmen became more civilized. Which if you ask me sound far less intimidating than a actual beatsman."

"Well all of that will go into the notes. But I will need to ask, who are these Chaos you speak of, are they an Alliance or..." Tolgar was cut off as Eike began choking on his drink

Quickly the mage set about helping the other human, before Eike finally caughed out his reply. "T-the Chaos Gods, ummm, I. How do I explain. There's a bunch of them and well they're all just sort of crazy and evil, but they have a whole bunch of Cultists, and then they have the insane maurader tribes of the far North all serving them along with these just evil Chaos Knights as well as hoards of disgusting mutants. They also have the Beastmen all serving them and then they command all the Daemons." Eike seemed to shudder after saying Daemons.

"Hmmm, Sounds like the Burning Legion. Well you should be glad to know their ruler, and the entire legion was defeated last year."

Eike seemed to glare viciously at Tolgar. "Eight months ago I had to man the cannons against a Chaos Horde, watched a block of their Knights shatter a line of the Empire's Knights in a Sungle charge. Weeks before you all showed up, I lost five men killing a Daemon in this city. I was vomiting for the entire clash we had with disgusting thing.So you defeated some Lord and his legion."

"I'll file this one as a potential cultural difference or perhaps an aspect of the Twisting Neather we haven't explored before." Tolgar stated as he wrote down some frantic notes. With a Sigh the mage turned to his assistant and switched to Azeroth Common. "Will you copy my notes, we'll make these the ones we officially submit to the Horde's representatives when they arrive later today."

The portal opened with a soft crack and Horde representatives, Kuyo Softtusk Tauren Ambassador, and Kaxu, Kuyo's Troll apprentice, both walked through the Alliance portal. They had actually been part of a pool of diplomats sent by the Horde representing the various Horde races, but breifings from both portals suggested that the pair might be the best choices for both standing apart from the Alliance and from the native threats on Mallus.

"Come Kaxu, let us introduce ourselves." Kuyo stated as the Tauren woman stepped out of the dimly lit chamber on the other side if the portal and into the dull daylight of the city of Mordheim. Immediately the pair was taken in by the bustle and activity of the Alliance Fort. The outer walls were still being expanded upon and the duo could still see the mansions and other structures outside the Fort. Meanwhile traders and laberors of all kinds exchanged wares and added to the Fort's ongoing activity.

Just beyond the main gate the two Horde representatives also could see a Draenei lectureing and healing a group of scouts who seemed to return with the carcass of some strange creature in tow.

"Wudda been nice if dey had someone here to great us." Kaxu grumbled still carrying the supplies for the pair.

After a minute a Human rushed over to meet the pair still huffing. "I-I'm sorry, I was just caught up in a interesting set of discussions concerning the nature of the Undead in this world. I am Tolgar, subordinate to Sister Avenah and Datris Sageclaw. I apologize that they couldn't be here to meet with you, Sister Avenah is currently trying to negotiate with a local mercenary company. If negotiations go well she might even be able to charter a river ship that can take us closer to the capital of the Empire. And Datris was unable to arrive due to a tragedy at the farm, a Warpstone appeared in the field and caused the plants to mutate, as bad as that is they drew a Horde of Giant rats to swarm into the field."

Before Kaxu could attempt a backhanded complement Kuyo took charge. "That is all perfectly understandable. Any new colony is bound to have initial trials, and with a place like this I can assume there's plenty of difficulty." The Tauren said warmly while offering her peace pipe in a token jesture, Tolgar took the pipe but did not smoke from it before returning it to Kuyo.

"As much as we enjoy the pleasantries, how about we start enjoyen da tour?" Kaxu interjected.

"Right certainly, I'd be more than happy to give you all a thorough tour." Tolgar began walking towards the main mansion that the Fort was being built on.

Unmoving from her spot Kuyo made herself heard, though her voice remained gentle, friendly and encouraging. "I was hoping that maybe you could introduce us to the wonderful Mr. Eike first?" The Tauren suggested, stopping Tolgar in his tracks.

"Well he doesn't speak Common on any of the languages on Az..."

"ich bin sehr schlank, dich kennenzulernen."

"Close, but to say I am very pleased to meet you you say, Ich freue mich sehr, Sie kennenzulernen." The Mage then paused for a moment in shock. "Sie verstehen Reikspiel?"

"Yes I understand Reikspiel." The Tauren laughed. "I happen to be an expert with languages, and I happen to be able to speak nearly every language on Azeroth, and clearly I can speak the languages of every Horde and Alliance race."

The mage seemed to pause in deep thought. "Well I would enjoy seeing his reaction." Tolgar mused before smiling mischievously.

"Please wait." The aid stated in heavily accented and barely passable Reikspiel causing a frustrated Eike to stand angrily in the office once again waiting for the ever persistent and annoying Tolgar once again.

Instead, when the door opened, rather than the Mage Eike expected to annoy him the mercenary watched as a creature that looked like a feminine minotaur, followed by some sort of blue mutant creature with long lanky limbs, tusks, and long pointed ears.

"Guluth hakookakun hakikuth a guluormarag gulumabag." The Blue creature stated, while the Minotaur creatuer shot the other a harsh glare.

"I apologize for my friend being not nice." The large minotaur-like woman, and the lady's voice was certainly feminine, apologized to Eike in heavily accented but understandable Reikspiel. Behind the pair eventually came in Tolgar, a smile akin to the most devious of bored nobles.

"I'm sorry ahh, Fraulein, I'm just suprised, you look just like a female Minotaur, I never even thought such a thing existed. A-and your companion what manner of mutant is he?"

This caused the Large Minotaur-like female to look around the room sheepishly before answering. "My companion and I are faces of a faction in Azeroth refered to as the Horde, though that word is becoming more a holdover of past time. My name I am what is referred to as a Tauren, we are protectors of the Earth and peacekeepers. My name is Kuyo, my companion is Kaxu. He is what in the lands of Azeroth is referred to as a Troll."

"A damn different idea of a troll than any I've seen." Eike interjected.

"Yes we learning that now." The self identified Kuyo claimed. "But we are here to learn and hope for peace."

Finally the so-claimed 'Troll' Kaxu spoke up with a frustrated sounding tone. "I durat dostusakum ashtandinor guleruth hakisteninor ushug gorotu dulrag ushalkinor dostibberisarg. Ilabag thuruth duleakum dulonor thuritarg azverythinor dulready?"

The Woman looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, going now." she said kindly before turning and leaving with her companion. This was certainly the strangest week in Eike's life.

Many leagues away from Mordheim, a decrepit fort loomed on the side of a river. The place assumed long abandoned and its ports rotted away and it defenders long gone. Except the fort was still watched over, still defended, but now only one individual drew breath inside.

"And that is what the Letter says my Lord, I even scried the Bats mind to confirm, and I sent a flock to search the city. There is indead a new fortification being built within the city manned by unfamiliar beings, whose life essence pulls differently." The only breathing being said, his head bowed low before his master.

"Remind me. Why did I save you again, Abram Turnau?" A deep breathless voice spoke evenly from the darkness.

"My Master, you saved me thinking I would be of use. I mean not to disprove your wisdom in saving me Master Aleksandr. But I certainly would never seek to steal from you your slaves, oh great Von Carstein, I simply wish to serve you with your own blessing while I yet live. So I humbly ask for your permission to bring forth an army so we might steal away the dead from these invaders of Mordheim and devise how they might be made to serve you." The breathing man bowed low, placing his forehead to the floor, his unkept beard and hair infested with corpse feeding insects that crawled away from him as if they were fleeing a sinking ship.

Finally the source of the voice rose and stepped into the moonlight, at its side a small retinue of wights stood ready to serve at his mental command. "I will not give you such leave. You are useful Abram, but a coward as well. No, you shall accompany me, reach out to the local towns, they will either give their sons to my service and recieve reward for their loyalty or they shall give me their entire ancestry to form my army and escape my judgment. And then you will join me on our journey to Mordheim."

Abram looked up to his lord. The Vampire truly was a lesser member of the Von Carsteins, but even then he wore old, but well kept armor, a helm molded into the likeness of a Daemonic Bat covering his face. "But my Lord how would we move such a Army without your rival or the foolish usurpers of the Empire finding us out?"

"As much a coward as ever." The Vampire stated, his hand reaching out to the docks where a multitude of barges with ghastly rivermen ready to pilot their vessels through the waters slowly rise from the depths one after another. Aleksandr looked back to the living, savoring the increase in pace of the man's normally weak bloodflow. "You will escort me to Mordheim where we will take this enemy from the waters. I intend for a army in the Hundreds to Thousands to overtake them easily and avenge what has been done to my precious progeny."

Looking out to the river Abram snapped back to his bow. "As you will master, will we be taking Mordheim for your glory?"

"Don't make a fool of yourself for my pride, it makes me detest you more."

translation BS

So when it comes to translators, Chinese is a bit of a bitch. Like you can use the english characters and some japanese translators will connect the dots and give you a proper translation...not with Chinese though despite some translators even removing traditional chinese entirely (a real shame). So here's the, in order of appearance Chinese language lines so you all can google translate if you want to know what's being said. And I wanted to use the English characters because it felt bastardized enough to fit the whole Warhammer theme and also had a level of Historical feel to it that works for the time periods Warhammer is based off of.

1) 不用担心，现在一切都很好。告诉商人领主和食人魔领主，他们应该将商队推向这边。 Dead Rock Gap 和 Mad Dog Pass 现在应该离我们不到两百英里

Bùyòng dānxīn, xiànzài yīqiè dōu hěn hǎo. Gàosù shāngrén lǐngzhǔ héshí rén mó lǐngzhǔ, tāmen yīnggāi jiāng shāng duì tuī xiàng zhè biān. Dead Rock Gap hé Mad Dog Pass xiànzài yīnggāi lí wǒmen bù dào liǎng bǎi yīnglǐle.

2) 明白了，我们把平留在这里照顾俘虏。食人魔也可能出现。荣耀龙王，我们的祖先！

Míngbáile, wǒmen bǎ píng liú zài zhèlǐ zhàogù fúlǔ. Shí rén mó yě kěnéng chūxiàn. Róngyào lóngwáng, wǒmen de zǔxiān!

Understood, we leave the Ping here to take care of the prisoners. the ogres may also appear. Glory to the Dragon King, and our ancestors!

3)这些是什么东西？

Zhèxiē shì shénme dōngxī? What are these things?

4)我怎么能理解你说的，他们在说什么？

Hans, Wǒ zěnme néng lǐjiě nǐ shuō de, tāmen zài shuō shénme? Hans How can i understand what you said, what they are saying?

Troll to Human:

these are made using one of many english to WoW translators so i doubt even the translations would come out correctly so here's everything said in Zandali

Guluth hakookakun hakikuth a guluormarag gulumabag

He looks like a normal human

I durat dostusakum ashtandinor guleruth hakisteninor ushug gorotu dulrag ushalkinor dostibberisarg. Ilabag thuruth duleakum dulonor thuritarg azverythinor dulready?

I am just standing here listening to you all talking jibberish. Can we get along with everything already?