Reviews:

Guest 1: "B-But they're so sympathetic, see Sylvanas has a sad backstory in warcraft 3 so it justifies genocide and war crimes against her own people." -Blizzard devs.

The Horde is a victim of Blizzard not having a single competent writer since the release of Warcraft 3 and thinking clunky mechanics make up for good writing, and then refusing to learn their lesson with Wrath of the Lich King. The Horde is honestly better as a neutral to evil faction, and that's coming from a dude who was maining Horde...but then again I'm a warhammer fan and according to journalists that top tier "nazi" qualifications no further research or even any interaction needed.

But then this is the Warhammer world, the Von Carsteins are probably more noble than much of the "good-guy status justfies my actions" Blizzard writing while still staying solid villains, and also to be fair, there's rarely a Vampire more noble than a Van Carstein, even in a Vampire cemtric book that puts a Von Carstein as the antagonist.

Guest 2: Well that's if the Tomb Kings can finish their annual...centinial volleyball game, apparently Setra doesn't serve. But more most the Tomb Kings have been more Isolationist with the exception of the big name figures who lets face it, Setra would invade the Alliance even after they publicly swear to kill all Vampires so long as he can make a casus beli...or get away from Nehekhara long enough to actually invade w/o the young upstarts trying to to stir up trouble while he's away. And the Horde already has the short stick on allies in their own world, why would that trend of getting untrustworthy, evil corrupted, war causing, backstabbing allies ever stop...seriously when will Blizzard use a different freaking formula for anything?

guest 3: Likely a interesting subject of study, and then throwing caution to the wind on account of their current high leadership being a bunch of guys who seem prone to the tropes that always make scientists cause the outbreak of evil demons/zombies/etc.

Guest 4: There's also a bit more corruption between the Blood/High Elves and the High Elves, and the Warcraft Elves know they are a evolution of other races, so less ability to look down on others.

Guest 5: wow geez Uncle Rick I dont know, i Just what Guest to like me and for me to like me... you know Uncle Rick your a asshole.

Guest 6: Yeah that list is hilariously jaded against the Horde, Horde would have to play some clever political manouvers plus luck, or have some strong authorial bias to stand a chance.

Guest 7: Ah so warhammer gnomes, sadly outside the relatively new RPG system, are actually very insignificant, where WoW Gnomes, at least before the Gnomericon fell, had a larger population than Humanity and are basically responsible for ALL WoW's technological progress.

Sigmar: Well I mean it is "their city" and the Vampires did attack some of their own...plus good loot or jusy fulfilling their fanaticism.

Hakuryuu: Honestly I need to get myself a refresher on Helborg, honestly I thought we'd have him and a Knight rehaul before TWW2 came out, but then we got Boris and the Boris memes ("The skaven are putting chemicals in the spawning pools turningrhe freaking Slaan Gay") , and We had so many possibilities for him particularly to fill in a east Empire spot. Now I can cite more about Boris Toddbringer, a guy whose name i could barely even remember before, than Kurt Helborg. But I'll give you a bit of a challenge, what would you describe Karl Franz's daily clothes outside his armor as, so far all i know is that he dislikes purple and really likes a "cheaper" Gold cloth.

Oooooops: Considering how much the Lich-King after Arthas has been made into a absolute looser by Blizzard, and my having no desire to redeem him, I'll save us that disappointment. But saving Kel'thuzad from the horrible twists and character retcons that basically ruined him, well that might be a joy especially when the two most "I'm in love with my undead boss" skeletons in mainstream fantasy get to meet.

Ironwall: Hope is good, action is better.

WarNob123: To your questions, 1)It's all actually on a relatively slow burn, apparently making an Everchoosen takes a few hundred years. But their presence will become more and more relevant as the forces of WoW get more and more involved on this new world.

2)Likely but first they need a big enough portal opening and the motivation to do so.

3) Yes? the relevance of the Dragon Aspects post Cataclysm seems a little sketchy to me, part of my complaint towards Blizzard's overused formula for writing, and their unwillingness to look past pop culture of WW2 and the Cold War for inspiration for how wars should go.

4) That is up for debate, Teleportation in Warcraft is a very "as is plot/mission convenient" issue as is, and Teleportation apparently is a thing for Chaos, Lizardmen, certain Vampire/Liche characters and Wood Elves but it's about as trustworthy as that email you got from a Kenyan Prince wanting to share his millions with you, if you give him your credit card info and social security number.

And for your last point yes, though there is plenty of Noblebright in Warhammer Fantasy it also has a much more low fantasy base with their main focus race (humans) and then High Fantasy settling in with certain characters and races, where WoW's got players, as of early 2022, on their what 13th God PCs have killed and how many legendary champions who formed mythic kingdoms and never suffered defeat entirely overshadowed by p00p1e8utt-number6.

Deadliestfan: A lot of decent insights and great reading suggestions, from what i assume is just the first couple chapters. I'll stay brief for everyone else's sake.

But part of the "Problem" I've been having with WoW's side is that they don't really have a clear military, sure I can look up a half dozen reskined (if that) footmen but unlike a State-Troops vs Free Company besides a raw stats diffrences almost exclusively from unit level aka video game mechanics, the various Alliance units outside of Night Elves to the rest of the Alliance there isn't really a difference that can be stated as a clear 'canon' difference. So on a raw comparison one has to go "This is how it is" but then when actual story telling gets to the relevant points then the sense of imagination, reason, and some in universe logic, and story development comes into play but it really hampers the flow when even getting a consistent population range for a species is like pulling teeth with Blizzard which makes the logistics of everything a huge nightmare particularly with Gnomes who can summon fluing saucers with a finger snap, yet can't comprehend basic radio mechanics (thanks BFA for giving a Gnome a unnecessary cool cutscene moment since due to the terrain he never needed to wait to hit the button thanks to that dish), and their 'close' human/dwarf allies who are in a tech stasis that puts them in a "if rome never fell" tech era.

As for Canon basically I'm following the phrase "A good author knows all the rules, and knows when to break them for best effect" So rather than just jump at anything I'm looking for the more creative ways to circumvent Canon, such as with the loophole concerning Mordheim GW inadvertently made.

Although I do a bit disagree on the line formations bit to an extent, considering that the US civil war should have been roughly the time everyone stopped using such tactics yet the Europeans ignored their own advice for WW1. But even then, on the sense of technical development that puts blocks and line formations lasting well and far later into tech development than pre-industrial revolution handguns. and the effect of the formations is a rather interesting bit especially when one looks up the British Light Infantry of the American Revolution or the formations used in the Naepolianic wars. Basically the formations were equal parts smart and stupid, smart for getting a bunch of idiots to fight effectively and not run away at the sound of a single bang, stupid for being the opposite of stealthy and not having shots flying in your general direction as you get into position. Generally it seems the disolving of the formations had more to do with the realization of the need for quality professional soldiers over conscripts for battlefield effectiveness, as the British Light Infantry highlighted in Spain. which then by WW2 technology and policy had soldified enough that conscripts could again be used effectively. But GW mostly avoided the tech advancement to musketeers because they didn't want to rebalance. After all the amount of effort they were putting into fantasy by 7th ed onwards makes Blizzard's efforts in Warcraft 3 reforged seem excessive and monumental in comparison, but still the Empire has a solid if still slow sense of technological progress.

Extra note that seems necessary. 1? sorry? for the Drama that's taking place in the/my review section? and 2? But i think it was in your comments but what was that ME Story again, I might want to read it? the Flood of ME stories and my focus on crossover stuff to avoid triggering the 'but muh lore' OCD that I had on this site since i was a kid and 's first year.

AND JACKIE! ONE MOAR TING! For Gnomericon, since the Gnomes are side characters in their own story, and off the top of my head by the start of BFA the top most sections of the city were taken, while the rest is lost, so basically a Eight Peaks situation but with more incompetent foes. which goes to the Adventurers, the way Canon treats their numbers hasn't been clear to me, some WoW fans basically claim the whole one Million 'I killed Athas' Heroes where first that's dumb and second goes against the various theories of skill/capability and the general spread of skills and the necessary NEED for social integration to some degree, especially since Blizzard seems to 'rubber forehead trope' their non-humans. Which would in the terms of the gameplay levels, likely keep the adventures in the 40 level range, which would make them more or less "talented/capable individuals ranging up to freelance experts of their respective fields," which then can make individual adventurers near legendary, while most would just be skilled and desireable by employers (for the type of Jobs Adventurers would obviously work).

Deadliest (Guest)? : ...? As the Author I'm a little confused. Deadliest's comment(s) is very welcome here, he even provided some of the stuff I had even asked for, though missed my little tirade about audio format being best because my lack of time and constant multitasking. And honestly I'm more used to the really rude heckling of the ME and Code Geass fanfiction sections, or dwelling in the real of absolute obscurity while having a "Tall Black hair with red hair streeks, totally is Naruto but hates Orange and doesn't have any of his personality traits, not a OP self insert" 'Naruto' Crossover get 50 praise comments for uploading two chapters both of dramatically lower quality while I'd get one hate comment. So for me getting interaction of any constructive nature, negative in tone or not, is a positive here.

I'm honestly writing this whole thing from my phone, typically while at work or taking my wife from hospital appointment to hospital appointment.

AND BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS, any story of mine that has failed has either failed due to my real life getting in the way, ie my work locking me out of computer/phone access, wife almost wrongly getting added as a "died of covid" statistic as near medical malpractice and double pneumonia almost took her out. etc, the only two stories I've dropped because of reasons outside of that was because Me/Code Geass Heckling and one due to a bad (as in i got mental help bad) case of depression in 2020.

But getting lore, even if i know it, to help upkeep the zeigheist of the two diffrent fictional worlds just enough to keep it beleivable. since while my spell check and grammer might not reflect it, but when it comes to the story telling i hold myself to a bit of a standard for quality, one GW seems to have recently thrown out the window and Blizzard dumped over a decade ago.

But please don't think I'm taking your comment at all negatively. From my side "flattered but confused" might be the mood since IDK why anyone is picking a fight even in defense of a author in the comment section. BUT I love the Slaan details especially since the only guy who played Lizardmen legitimately at my shop was the shop owner and he was a play to win/if they aren't collectively spending money don't be nice to them type. So despite some lore, the actual range of their abilities is more unknown to me, where i ate up any Cathay lore I could so I probably knew more about a nation that never even had a model than the Lizards. As for that wall, which one is that? Honestly the magic users of the Empire were litterally my one odd blind spot, i know about the Arabayans and their Djinns and the Amazons etc, yet somehow the Empire's magic TWW came out and I was like "Holy shit they know every magic?" shows i never played them, which after AoS came out became a sad point for me, because if you look up the state troop box some of the infantry dont have shoes, and they have the same armor value as Sigmarines! Beware my toe's armor save!

And as for the Warcraft Moshpit, yeah i bemoan that too, as i stated in a reply earlier on, i wish Modders had added more playable stuff to Warcraft 3, or Blizzard had been greedy enough to basically copy paste SC2's coop mode onto Warcraft 3 paying $9.99 each for what's maybe 1/3rd to half a faction and almost nothing else but hey unique units and playstyles. Fans know more about how subfactions of particular armies fight in SC than they know about the races and nations of Warcraft and how much longer has WoW been out compared to SC2.

ww1990ww: Really they don't even need the antic, while Warhammer Fantasy is far more tolerant than 40k, even back when 40k had Imperial Ork Mercs, the Horde is comprised of populations and national philosophies that would have already naturally made them enemies of the Empire's European Imperialism, or the Bretonnian French Feudalism, The Alliance at least has familiar races and a few familiar elements.

Thought experiment:

So rather than engaging in another contrast and compare for this chapter i figured we'd all engage in a bit of a thought experiment. Seeing as Warcraft totes and shows off their unique races...but then engaging in star treks most famous tropes regarding its aliens. Rubber foreheading the races making them virtually interchangeable with eachother minus a few details, even making the "suicidal warrior race" scared of escalating a disagreement into a fight at far too many points where it would even be to their detriment to avoid the fight.

But onto the thought experiment and away from criticisms of TNG's illogical pacifism, and Rubber foreheads.

If any of you had played SC2's Coop mode you know the various factions and their unqiue gameplay, Raynor's raiders and their basic bitch units dropping in on drop pods, Mengsk and his Conscript Swarms meeting artillery and war crimes, and Abathur and his units that get stronger as they survive, or Stukov being a hybrid soviet/zombie stereotype. In general the Coop mode in SC2 and the Nova ops did more to add to the SC setting than everything past Burning Crucade in WoW did for warcraft, combined. And while usually it would be a case of "well we want to see the two settings together, why not shove them into a joint ruleset." but sadly Warcraft besides a few beasts and minor changes, particularly with the "Heroes" aka PC classes, hasn't changed sunce WC3, basically denying them the diversity Blizzard was so proud to pretend they had.

So lets engage in something that might be familiar to Warhammer fans, in writing up rules, making models, etc and then waking up one morning to find the company has a carbon copy of what the fans made...we can only hope. But please engage, add to this thought, maybe make it into a full real thing if you happen to be a modder whatever.

So first for this, we'll set the 'rules', first by defining the "Warcraft edition, SC2 style Coop". The Coop will function similarly to SC2s, however since were using this for the purposes of this story, and not to try and make a actual mod or proposition to Blizzard, as if they'd care, anymore it feels like 'Sue the fans to death' EA is more supportive of RTS fans. Since we are doing this for the story and not for gameplay we wont be doing the "commanders" of Coop but basing these off the subfactions and races. Next for thise who haven't played SC2 coop, each commander is only given a relatively small pool of units and structures to use, roughly half to 2/3rds of an actual game faction, but each is given some unique mechanics, hero access, or units to more than make up for this, and then as the name suggests you need to work with another player playing another commander to typically succeed.

Now I will list the basic ideas I have roughly come up with to represent each race/faction/group that we will probably then later see represented in this story.

Alliance: We'll run the first Iteration of this experiment with the Alliance and when if we do it again, we'll do the Horde, followed by the creeps of Warcraft 3 and NPC factions of WoW

First we'll start off with the Stormwind humans: Stormwind IS the Alliance, moreso than any Alliance or Horde faction member, without Stormwind, the Alliance has nothing. But as any warhammer 40k player knows, The Ultramarines might have authorial bias, and be too good at everything, but they are the most basic of the basic. Stormwind in the Coop would play around towers, and a AoE healing calldown, making them the defender. Their units would be Footmen, Knights, mages, Priests, Men-at-Arms, The watch tower, magic tower, and siege tower, King's Guard (Foot man with a line damage attack), and SI:7 marksman (aka SC ghost)

Next would be the Dwarves, Dwarves would also seem like a defensive faction, however without the healing, and with more mobile range they might be better called the siege faction. for units, fiest give them a dwarf hero character, next a Dwarf Warrior (footman equivalent, that can be made able to switch the shield for a two handed axe that give them ability to damage multiple foes in melee) the Dwarf Gunman, the Dwarf siege Mortar, the Griffin rider, the Siege Tank, a Dwarf mage, a dwarf heavy infantry who can slow or pin foes, and the dwarf Bunker (think the bunkers from SC)

Night Elves would still be night elves, mobile buildings and stealthy hit and fade troops, which if you know Hand and Horner from SC2 Coop, probably a slight application of their barracks concept for the ancient of war, then having archers as normal, tigers which can be independent or mounted by archers, same as hippogryphs, then Dryad, druid of the claw, druidn of thr talon, and faire dragons.

Of course some of the fanbois would demand their ultimate side character, the Gnomes who would be based off what i could think of the weird finesse faction. weak units, except the ones who aren't, and everything having a very specific role and a few calldowns to support their damage potential. Instead of a watch tower they'd get "long" range cannon emplacements that can switch between surface or AA modes. Their units would consist of the mechostrider gnomes short range skirmish units, bomblings suicide bomb units, Gyrocopter a flying light unit hunter, the bomber a flying heavy ground unit counter, Spider tanks high armor low but constant damage dealing siege unit, "ariel unit" a flying, land deployable siege unit with little defense once deployed, and motospiders which are the cheapest unit with decent melee but work in burst of activity, and Gnome Pounder bots which are melee heavies with occasional cannon bursts.

From there we could look to the Draenei a race who would play something like Nova, or Fenix in SC2 coop, with expensive powerful instantly deploying units. We'd start with the Draenei Paladin melee heavy hitters who can heal, then the Draenei rangers ranged bow fighters focused on all around damage, The Draenei Artificer dropping arcane supports and turrets that can in turn cast spells with a limited pool of mana, the Lightforged Champion hitting harder than the Paladin with ranged DPS abilities and a death AOE that heal allies and damages foes. The Draenei mage would have crowd control spells, and their Elukk Knight would be the melee tank, The Draenei Vigilant would be a heavy armored melee seige mech, while the Lightforged warframe would serve as the heavy skirmish units.

Void Elves would be built around a load of passive buff on the basic Blood Elf/Night Elf hybrid and having some additional Teleportation abilities. They'd have archers, spellbreakers, swordsmen, glave throwers, dragonhawks, sorceress, asassins built on stealth and burst damage, void walkers, and void casting warlocks

The Pandas idk and i wont touch on.

Stormbreak

"And then he says to the other human. 'So i have this play idea about to Gnomes who find magical Bracelet, we'd do it in three parts the Aquantences of the Bracelet, A couple of Towers, and Hey! The kings back'. Swear to Spitits the guy was mumbling some nonsense language and was making the whole thing up as he went." Gin laughed recounting one of his stories about various times spying on or patrolling various human encampments.

Some of the nearby working peons laughed while some Blood Elf Engineers overseeing them sighed in exasperation. The big Ogre across from Gin looked at him expectantly. "And then did you eat em?"

Gin was stunned for a moment. "Umm, no."

"I don't get it." The Ogre then stated before digging into some meat.

Next to the large Ogre one of the human merchants looked on with a confused expression. "That doesn't seem very funny. What sort of play would that even be, and what's a Gnome? And what's the value of the Bracelet?" The human merchant asked, while counting the food being eaten by the Ogre with an abacus.

"No, see it's funnt because hu...maybe this isn't the best crowd for this joke." Gin admitted sighing in defeat.

"Maybe you should learn to tell a decent joke." The Undead leader of the trio, Launchalot stated as he joined them. While it had been somewhat difficult, these caravaners had accepted Launchalot particularly after the reveal that Sylvanas and many others were also Undead. The Caravaners showed more caution and precautions than even your average Lordaeron survivor, but were willing to tolerate and trade with the Undead.

Apparently these merchants, or so they claimed, traded with 'far worse than some human acting Zombies', and so they traded and spoke peacefully with the Forsaken. Though Gin had a good laugh at the nervous handwashing and washing of anything touched by one of the Forsaken.

"Oh and what jokes would you tell our new friends?" Gin challenged the Forsaken, who in turn just laughed.

"My humor is just dark jokes and being dead flat. No one is dying to hear it." Launchalot stated rasing his eyebrow expectantly.

"Ok, Can I eat him?" The Ogre asked.

"No." An answer in stereo came to the still eating beast.

"Meh, Uuuurp, I tink yer all boring. Talking about stuff that's not food, nor fun." The Ogre stated before standing up to walk away.

"I just don't understand your jokes. They're... disharmonus and don't seem that intelligent." The Merchant stated, still counting the value of what the Ogre had eaten.

Gin and Launchalot looked at eachother, and both silently and with small gestures both expressed their disbelief that such dull people even existed. And with a sigh the pair allowed the Merchant to walk away before turning back to the growing Crimson Post. Walls of wooden posts, watch towers and Horde tents already filled much of the space, though the Blood Elves and Forsaken were both already drawing up plans to further improve upon the outpost and turn it into a worthy fortification.

Even as Gin and Launchalot looked for something new to distract themselves with the third member of their yet-to-be-offical group came running up to join them. "I got news!" Zannae shouted as he reached his companions.

"Whoa Zannae, breathe, what is it?" Gin asked looking at his panting Blood Elf friend, who just blushed in response.

"Right sorry, It's the caravan..." Zannae began.

"Ahhahahaha, Little men are sharing the fun? So who am I taking back?" The loud boisterous voice of Kogkradd Kegeater proclaimed as the Ogre Tyrant walked up to the group. This caused Launchalot and Gin to look between themselves and Zannae confused.

"That would be me big boy." A sultry but higher pitched voice answered. A small goblin woman sashayed over towards the three soldiers and Ogre. Dressed in a provocative thong, and chest armor that looked more like a open corset, and numerous straps and belts, the Goblin barely looked like she should be out in public, let alone in this camp.

"If you stare any damn harder I'll start charging, by the damned periodic table, I'm not even dancing and you're drolling." The Goblin cursed, showing disgust as Gin actually drooled over her and adjusted his codpeice.

"Huh, That Goblin's skinny, but got himself boobs. Fat's s'posed to go to the guts first, then milk and wants left goes to the boobs dumb goblin." Kogkradd stated, his tone almost mocking the goblin woman.

"What, the fuck?" The Goblin stated, a knife suddenly in her hand.

Quickly Zannae interjected stepping between the Ogre and Azerothean Goblin. "There might be some cultural misunderstandings. Ummm, Kogkradd, our friend here...umm..."

"Alyzz Kneecord, Of Kneecord Private Investigations...*cough*subsidiary of Bilgewater Intelligence*cough*. " The Goblin proudly stated before coughing and mumbling the last part.

"Alyzz, is a female Bilgewater Goblin, they're probably diffrent from the Goblins you know." Zannae finished, before turning back to his friends. "As I was saying, the Caravan is going to be leaving in a hour, but the Kegeater clan are staying behind." Zannae informed, though not nearly to the effect from hos companions he hoped.

"Ok...so that explains the Merchants...but what's with the mistress?" Gin asked, still feeling rather uncomfortable.

"Alyzz of Kneecord Private Investigations. You couldn't afford a night with me anyways." The Goblin countered.

"Please I know I'm good enough." The Goblin looked unimpressed.

"I've made Night Elf playboys scream the safe word, and made Draenei cry state secrets. I know when a man isn't up to snuff." The Goblin deadpanned back.

Launchalot's face seemed to light up with recognition. "Ah so you're what they call a Honeypot!"

The Goblin paled with a outraged glare at Launchalot, while Kogkradd looked her over critically before shaking his head in disappointment. "I AM NOT! Any good salesman knows that customers will pay more for a good looking product. Mercanaries buy shinny guns and armor from merchants who spend time polishing and adding pointless embellishments, food venders make buy paintings that exaggerate their food, but you can't spruce up intelligence. But you can spruce up the person giving you the info. I work a job where I get to spend all that money that would go displays, instead on looking and feeling good." The Goblin claimed showing off her leg, thigh and above to the Orc and Undead.

Kogkradd just grunted. "That's dumb, food is food, and fighting is fighting." The Ogre stated plainly.

"Ok, so why are you here?" Zannae asked.

"Sylvanas heard there were Goblins in this world, and heard that Ogre's here often employ them. I was supposed to blend in...more or less, and help the Horde when it comes to negotiating and working with races who employ Goblins. Intelligence and Propaganda work basically." The Goblin explained with a huff, crossing her arms at the Elf who seemed oblivious to her presence.

"This is boring me." Kogkradd flatly stated and started to turn away.

"Wait, surely you would like someone like me helping you, my Big Strong Tyrant. After all, from what everyone has told me, I can probably make sure you get even more Gold and Food for your jobs than you currently are getting." The Goblin cried out planting herself bravely in front of the Ogre, right where he could crush her with a clumsy misstep.

"Huh?"

"Look you like business but want to keep things simple, let me handle the hard part making sure you get more than you got before. And you let me travel with you." The Goblin tried to reason.

"Hmmm, maybe, but who says that would work?"

"I'm...just look where I'm from Goblins are famous for haggling, dealing and making sure we get more than what we put in. Let me do that for you, and you let me travel with you and protect me. Deal?" The Goblin stepped forward now hidden by thr Tyrant's gut put pushing out her hand for a handshake.

For his part the Tyrant looked confused. "Is this for real?" He damnded pointing to Gin.

"Yeah, they're also known for selling stuff that breaks, for absurd amounts of gold." The Orc confessed with a scowl.

"I like that!" The Tyrant shouted reaching into pocket, pulling out some cured meat and throwing it to the Goblin. "There you go come along now, We ain't leaving for a bit but I need to see you work, I was going to have some of my guys help build, 10 gold and food for each, you're going to make it fourty!"

While the Alliance's defenders remained silent and confused for several tense moments the sudden rise of the sounds of clashing metal and battle cries immediately roused their attention. Rapidly it became obvious that battle had broken out outside of the mansion, and whoever was fighting was alot more vocal than these Undead.

"Right, nows our time, Charge!" Jaina shouted in order, the ice over the doors coming down and the Alliance's Pioneers charged out. Footsoldiers, paladins, and warriors of all kinds at the front, while mages, priests, and archers took to the rear, almost outnumbering those rushing out the doors at the head of the charge.

Immediately the Azerothean forces were chest deep into the midst of the Undead. Skeletons pressed into their warriors, spears and swords swinging and thrusting towards the Azerothean warriors. Armor, skilled blades, and shields deflected these attacks as fire, arcane energy and the power of the Light was brought down onto the Undead ranks. Even for all the might of the Alliance's charge Jaina could see the horrific truth of these Undead in a instant, after the first or second warrior had passed over a Skeleton often the struck down undead would try to raise again. And while the Undead were already beginning to slip around the defenders, the Mages were exposed and the Warriors were being pressed from multiple sides.

Jaina, calling upon her reserves of power would change this. Waves of water washed over the Undead, the torrent knocking some back, being weathered by others, but before each spell could complete Jaina immediately froze the waves. Once done Jaina Proudmoore had created three waves of ice creating two funnels that trapped entire formations of the undead, preventing their lines from enveloping the living by going around the sides.

"We hold the power and pride of Azeroth, of the entire Alliance with us, leave none of these hollow beasts standing!" Jaina shouted, and was answered by an enthusiastic cheer from those fighting, already pushing the dead into the lanes she had created. Magic, missiles, and force pushed the Undead back, trapping them between the ice.

These Undead, their movements were jerky and lacked any finesse. They were anything but skilled warriors, but Jaina had been forewarned and knew better than to underestimate them even as the Alliance forces were already pressing deeper into the lanes her magic had created.

Jaina sensed a unnatural chill, and instinctively looked to the end of the lane she created. There at the End sat a Skeletal being atop a Undead horse, both were covered in a heavy mail armor with plates of armor mixed in. The Undead lifted a cruel looking blade, pointing directly at Jaina. "Ich bin Jegor Häussler, ich bin dein Tod, wie von meinem Meister befohlen. Bereitet euch darauf vor, dass eure Linien gebrochen werden." The Undead's voice was like a frozen wind across a frozen plain, lacking the break between words brought by flesh mouth.

Behind the mounted Skeleton, ten others sat ready with their lances prepared. Each of these foes forced their way past Jaina's Ice, and even under fire from the Azerothean forces they formed a line, and then heedless of their own forces the Knights charged. Trampling over their own troops, or barely, unnaturally, avoiding their troops as their dense formation passed through the Undead ranks, even with Undead Warriors clashing with and being struck down by the Azeroth defenders, the Undesd Knights collided with the defensive line of soldiers and in a shocking clash push through two ranks of Alliance footmen, paladins, and warriors of all races.

Of the eleven total mounted foes only two were stopped. One, his lance knocked aside, was now clashing and being pushed back by a Lightforged Draenei Paladin, the other his lance had lodged deep into another Paladin who was roaring in pain holding the lance while a Worgan clashed with the Knight and a Gnome warrior moved to strike the mount from below. The nine others who had pushed through continued regardless of their comrades. Acting quickly Jaina called her power again drawing two water elementals all the way from Azeroth the pair manifested in full size and power before the Knights the sudden appearance and attacks of the Elementals struck down one Knight and stalled another three of the Knights.

While their formation was now disrupted, still five of these dead knights continued their charge. Their leader holding his blade poised to lash out at Jaina, and an Black Knight with their lance ready and lowered at his side.

It was with a mighty roar that a Draenei charged past Jaina and in less than a yard away Aursuun's armor absorbed the Lance Strike allowing the Draenei to bring his hammer down onto the rider crushing it's skull entirely. The steed of the Skeleton leader then impacted Aursuun, nearly throwing the Draenei off his feet, and forcing the Draenei onto uneven footing as he had to now defend against the blade strikes of the Undead King.

Immediately Jaina moved to assist the Draenei Paladin, once he and she were freed up dealing with the last of these Knights should be easy. The Alliance's greatest Ice Mage began to channel her power so she might strike down the Undead in a single blow, however before she could attack a dark shadow descended upon her. Jaina only had a second's warning to dodge before a Bat Wing falchion descended upon her. Jaina thrust herself back, and using her staff knocked the blade aside and brought her ice charged crystal into the head of her attacker killing him...except the blade barely moved and her attacker's head wasn't there when her attack passed through the open air.

Taking several steps back Jaina faced her attacker, clad in black, blood soaked armor, with a bat winged helmet which let his fanged, monsterous mouth exposed, and with the back of his armor sheered off. This must be the Vampire, the leader of these Undead. Immediately Jaina let loose a wave of fire into the enemy leader who in turn blocked with a shield before diving beneath the attack towards the Proudmoore heir.

Before the Vampire could slash with his blade Jaina slammed the staff down, a piller of Icey shard emerging from the ground forcing the Vampire and Jaina apart. Before the Vampire could round the piller Jaina cast two arcane bolts each wrapping around the Piller and before the Vampire's blade could reach her, struck it in the back.

Knocked from it's feet the Vampire braced itself on its arm scowling at Jaina. "Now I have you." Jaina muttered preparing another Arcane strike against the Vampire.

The Vampire instead smirked. "Ето ви и вас." The creature stated, and immediately Jaina's arcane senses went into overdrive, and the Archmage threw herself to the side. Landing hard on her Side Jaina ovserved as she narrowly avoided a large scythe that emerged from the ground, and following that scythe was a ethereal figure, warpped in a black shroud but with a horrifying and very animate skull. Now this creature loomed over Jaina preparing to strike, down with its scythe.

"Отне ти доста време и реших, че усилията да Те призова ще са напразни." The Vampire spoke to the other creature while getting on his feet. Jaina quickly unleashed a burst of light even as the Scythe came down her attackers were blinded. Jaina dodged the downward scythe strike and lashed out with her staff only to stab through the odd ghostly opponent as if it was never there.

"Ok full Ethereality, or at least still ongoing. How about this then." Jaina stated, pulling back her staff and while blocking another blow from the Ghostly opponent, preparing her next spells. Her mana was running lower but she still had plenty to continue this fight.

"Умри, Умри и насити омразата ми." The apparition's haunting voice commanded, and Jaina could feel even her heart waver if for a moment.

"No." A sudden mound of Ice envelopped the Undead being the mana infused Ice momentarily trapping Jaina's victim. Next Jaina unleashed a constant torrent of Arcane bolts into the Ice and Ghost. Blast after blast striking the haunting, terrible skull until eventually the Arcane light seemed to banish the being. and just in time for Jaina to pivot in place putting her staff between her and a blow that would have bisected her at the waist. Jaina was left gasping for breath as the creature she faced lashed out. His clawed hand grasping her throat and drawing blood as he lifted her from the ground and thrust her against the Ice block behind her.

"Да гледам как хората ви се хранят един друг ще бъде най-голямата ми радост за 300 години!" The Vampire spat at Jaina with blood soaked spit. He brought his sword down mightily, a single stroke to cleave the woman's head in half. Instead he struck the ice as the Archmage teleported herself out of his grasp.

Behind the Vampire Jaina quickly gasped for air, then twisted casting yet another arcane bolt into the Vampire's back. The Vampire charged her, but Jaina kept up the barrage of spells, eventually though he did close bringing up his own hand, laughing off a sphere of purple energy, Jaina again used her Blink spell, and turning back witnessed the growing sphere of power beging to wreck havoc in the Alliance lines, even being near the dark magic being enough to harm or kill.

The Vampire hissed in outrage and as it thrust its hand towards her she could suddenly feel her strength, no her very soul being tugged at, this thing was trying to strip her of her life bit by bit with magic now.

Jaina answered by throwing a barrage of fireballs into the creature which quickly ended its fel magic. Now the Archmage charged the vampire and with a thrust of her staff a beam of ice stabbed through the Vampire and knocked the creature to his back. Jaina continued with her charge preparing to match her magic with her staff to bring down a mighty final blow on the staggered Undead. With a twist Jaina began to swing her staff bringing it down in a wide powerful swing.

Before the blow could be struck a lone blade caught Jaina's staff. Her focus, and killing blow stopped, Jaina looked up the length of the blade. There the Skeletal Wight stood, his shield arm entirely missing, dismounted, and his armor battered.

"Fliehe, ich werde meinen Wert und den Wert meines Hauses beweisen." The Skeleton's whisping voice ordered down to the Vampire, pushing back Jaina's staff. Immediately the Vampire seemed to morph, like a Druid changing forms instead of the armored Vampire there was what seemed like a large corrupted wolf that then rushed away as the Wight put itself between Jaina and the fleeing Vampire.

Jaina prepared to lash out at the Skeleton, drawing energy to focus him down in a deluge of magic power. "Jaina." The voice of a Draenei Paladin warned, causing the Archmage to widen her attention, and barely dodge as a lance came from her side. As an Black Knight rode past her, Aursuun intercepted the rider his mace crushing the legs of the Knight's Skeletal mount. Next with a swiftly spoken word, Jaina's wounds sealed, the blood she was losing stopped flowing out of her body, and her strength reinvigorated.

In response the Wight King lunged with his blade at Jaina, who in turn blocked the lunge with her staff and unleashed a bolt of Arcane into the head of her foe. The Wight King continued, small swings, and cleaver movements forcing Jaina back or risk feeling the edge of the cursed metal of the dead king's blade. The King pulled back, a blow Jaian wasn't certain she could block now coming down upon her, but then a pair of arrows struck the Wight Kings skull staggering him back.

Jaina looked back to the source of the arrows to see a Night Elf woman, battered, bruised, chunks of her flesh missing, and looking on the verge of collapse stood. A barely visible smile of relief on her lips even as she struggled to breath due to her exhaustion.

Aursuun then stepped in knocking away the King's sword, and sensing her opprotunity Jaina acted her staff alight with her power and a mana potion already going up to her lips.

The long dead Lord went to once again swing his blade, bur found his arm unwilling to move as Jaina had frozen each of the joints of his arm locking it in place. With a forceful blow Aursuun then removed thr Wight's arm. In despiration as the Paladin brought his hammer back from his attack, the Wight lunged at Jaina, teeth barred and clasping. Jaina knocked the creature's head back and with a powerful strike removed it entirely. But the Wight kept coming, and so Jaina thrust her staff forward peircing its chest plate and fired bolt after bolt of arcane energy into it until the Undead finally crumbled. Around them the battle still raged, but now Jaina, Aursuun and this Night Elf were out of the thick of it.

"Kyn'ra!" The Draenei shouted, rushing to the Night Elf's side channeling his light given power to mend the Wlf's wounds as much as he could. At his feet the Night Elf lay collapsed, but her eyes remained fixed on Jaina and a weak finger pointing to the distance.

"T-they," the elf brokenout coughing, Jaina was amazed at this one's determination, she looked more like one of the Zombies, she even had needles of ice embedded in her side. "They, took p-prisoners. D-ragging them out of the city." The elf finally reported, Jaina feared that those might have even been the Elve's final words, but Aursuun's minitrations and muttered reassurances convinced her that the elf would survive at very least.

But now Jaina had more reason to quickly end this battle. These Undead were kidnapping the Alliance's people, and already what she had seen of their savagry, she pittied any who was subjected to their cruelty. "Gather who we can, we'll need to give chase."

Aursuun looked to Jaina. "Are you sure ma'am? We're still locked in, this battle could go any way still." The Paladin stated, around them the battle was raging and while it was obvious the Undead were now thinning out, Jaina's ice walls were now breaking and the Alliance forces were effectively surrounded facing Undead attacking them from every direction. Jaina immediately knew she would have to relent, risk losing track of the fleeing elements of the Undead in exchange for guaranteed victory and hopefully a swift victory.

Abram Turnau refused to be slain here, he could not be killed now, not while the curse of mortality still gripped him holding him away from the truth of ultime power he was so close to taking for his own. Power he'd have if not for the damned perversions of the worthless Vampire he had to call Lord.

The worthless Vampire and his wilful Wights. Volkbert hadn't just been worthless enough to not support Abram and help him escape, no the spiteful wretch had to get engaged by Dwarven Slayers and then to retreat back to Abram's side, bringing the Slayers with him! A Wight was supposed to sacrifice itself for its masters, not endanger a Necromancer of such importance as himself.

Now Volkbert sat next to Abram, three Slayers fighting the two of them. On the path to Abram two slayers lay dead, one his head cleaved open, the other stabbed though the gut. The only petty consolidation Abram had from this clash was that Volkbert, a normally mute Wight, was vocally complaining about these dwarves.

"Damned Slayers, It's always you slayers, send me your champions, I've seen you're armored champions, your Kings of skill, send them to me!"

Ducking away putting the Wight's mount between himself and the Slayers, Abram spread his awareness to the Undead under his control. He needed absolute awareness, least he get suprised again, or worse miss his chance at escape.

A short distance away zombies and skeletons clashed with human counterparts, shield, pistols, and swords holding back the Undead as the accursed Bright Wizard burned his way through Abram's troops. Elsewhere the Grave Guard Abram had called were still stalled by the accursed wenches of Sigmar, while eight of their number had already fallen, and only one Grave Guard had been permanently slain, but the Grave Guard still had not been able to press past the breach in the walls, still unable to put their weight of arms against the pathetic mortals who dared harm him.

But before Abram could use his power to rectify this trouble, thanks to his Master's worthless Wights he had immediate concerns to handle. One of the Slayers rolled under Volkbert's horse, the steed attempting to stomp on the offending Dwarf. In response Abram thrust his wooden staff at the Dwarf, a necromantic touch surrounding the staff meant to siphon the life away from the unarmored dwarf, but the small thing sped past the Necromancer's staff.

Abram moved to block as the Dwarf brought his axe down on the Necromancer, but the blade dug deep into Abram's shoulder earning a pained cry. Abram thrust his withered hand forward the palm falling onto the Dwarf, and Abram scowled triumphantly as the Dwarves bodies withered, however the process was slow and a backhaded axe blow staggered Abram back before he could kill the Mohawked abomination.

However instead of the stunted lunatic's axe and finishing blow killing Abram, ending the Necromancer's grand ambitions, an backwards thrust from Volkbert peirced the neck of the Dawi. Another died as the Wight's steed kicked the dwarf shattering his skull, but the third knocked Volkbert off the steed with a tackle.

Abram could have possibly risked himself to help the Wight, could have used magic to possibly break the dwarf, but the Wight brought this difficulty upon himself and Abram instead took this opportunity to break away from the fighting fleeing towards what he could feel was a gathering mass of Undead.

However Abram wasn't unreasonable. The Necromancer cast a hellish vigor onto the Grave Guard. Even before Abram could crest the wall's gap, the Grave Guard had with their new speed and finesse had broken the Sisters of Sigmar, now fourteen of their blasted number laying dead. The thirty-nine Grave Guard now would fulfill their purpose march into the living ranks, slaying all as they go, and most importantly providing a distraction from Abram.

Indeed even as Abram now stood on the other side of the wall, looking out onto the slowly crumbling army, hundreds of Undead being quickly brought down by just slightly over one hundred of the defenders at their center, Abram knew it wad time to escape.

A blast of flame in the form of a mighty flaming skull rolled past the breach the Necromancer had once passed, and expanding his mind, Abram could now see the Bright Wizard, fiercely casting his spells in retaliation to the Grave Guard who were now flanking his body guard. Hopefully the Grave Guard could slay the worthless practitioner of the Wind of Aqshy denying the world yet another waste of talent and granting Abram a claim to greater victory.

The Necromancer then reached the open side gate of the local fortress, left open by the retreating Undead, the last couple hundred strong elite core of the Army of Aleksandr. Abram called upon the flow of Shyish to bring lifeless vigor to himself pushing his hobbled speed to it's limit.

"I see you still need help." Abram almost died of fright as the voice cold as the grave spoke from above and behind him, the clacking of hooves on stone now suddenly behind the rapidly hobbling Necromancer. "Let me take you, you still have use to my master."

A Skeletal hand lifted Abram from his feet and the Necromancer was now carried away as swiftly as a horse could gallop through the corrupted streets of Mordheim. Volkbert held Abram and the Necromancer could only pray to Gods he looked down upon that the Wight held no grudge against him. Though with the discomfort and occasional close calls with walls and fences Abram was almost certain that his newly broken leg was at least some form of punishment by the Wight.

It took nearly a hour but eventually both Wight and Necromancer escaped the City of the Damned, with only a handful of horrific beasts still foolishly chasing them, never truly able to catch their undying pace. Eventually free of the city Volkbert then carried Abram to the retreating mass of Aleksandr's army. Here Abram raised his guard even more than when he was being carried away by the Wight.

Each of these dead, mainly the left over Grave Guard and a few formations of Skeletons, was firmly under Aleksandr's control. Indignantly the Wight King carried Abram Turnau all the way to Aleksandr who marched at a punishing pace next to a cart that was being dragged by several Undead. Inside nearly fourteen captives lay chained and watched over by other Skeletons.

"I'm glad you could join us Abram." The Vampire spoke evenly, casually even, despite walking over uneven terrain at a pace faster than even a brisk walk.

"I-I am if anything, loyal to my Lord. I might have gotten lost in returning to you if not for Volkbert's swiftness." Abram attempted a feign bow but between the Wight's grasp on him, and the inhuman movements of the march he merely flailed about uselessly.

"Do not flatter yourself. You still have use to me, but I will demand a recounting of your actions. Who are these, living things I battled and why was my victory taken from me?" The Vampire stated, his wrath in the form of a icy Glacier Abram knew not to tempt.

"Certainly my Lord, many of them have now certainly died, I shall try to have my spirits take one of their dead, we can take everything you desire from their shades." Abram wanted nothing more to do with Mordheim, but still offered if it could appease his master.

"Save yourself the effort." The Vampire commanded before walking over to the cart, there he grabbed a human man by the neck, and with a single pull removed the man's throat. "Now bind the soul." The Vampire commanded angrily.

Abram sighed, still held aloft by Volkbert the Necromancer began to clumsily go through the motions to summon the purple wind to himself and to shape it so as to capture the dying man's soul and bind it to himself. Abram was certain though, between his precious position, and a strange tug at the mortal's soul, if the man died before Abram had began his spell, the soul would have already been pulled out of the Necromancer's grasp. Thus the Necromancer made sure to note the odd golden robes of this particular individual. There was indeed much to be learned from these odd newcomers, and Abram despised the certain distraction from his ultimate goal they would be.

The battle was over, but the Undead had never broken, instead suicidally fighting to the last, no organized retreats, no portals, and certainly not the long shot hope of a route. The only positive was that these Undead seemed to grow physically weaker, slower, and more brittle as the battle turned against them. Jaina still cursed these Undead, clearing them both consumed far more time than she would have liked, and now her force was trapped facing off with yet another army.

What was now less than two hundred combat able Alliance combatants faced a force of nearly four hundred humans. Their clothes were brightly colored with odd combinations, some of their numbers had breastplates, others shields, some held pistols or handguns. Overall this force looked more like an army of several hundred adventurers and at it's head stood one of the most unique humans Jaina was certain she'd seen in a long time. The man's dress made him look like a walking Brazier and she was almost certain that his hair was on fire, as it was certainly smoking.

The man at the lead cleared his throat with a cough then shouted. "Ok...so durch die Befugnisse, die mir durch den Abschluss der Altdorfer Zauberschule gewährt werden, befehle ich, dass Sie sich vorstellen." (Ok...so by the authorities that are afforded to me by graduating from the Altdorf College of magic, I command that you introduce yourselves) The man ordered, though Jaina couldn't comprehend a word, even though she knew the man was speaking the local language Reikspiel. Fortunately before things started to become tense Tolgar stepped forward, bloody and lightly wounded, but with a pacifying smile and clear excitement.

"Wir sind die Pioniere der Allianz, Entdecker, wenn man so will. Wir sind sicherlich dankbar für Ihre Hilfe bei dieser untoten Bedrohung. Bitte wir sind sehr dankbar für Ihre Intervention. Wenn wir Ihnen alles zurückzahlen können, bin ich sicher, dass wir einen prosperierenden Austausch und zukünftige Beziehungen beginnen können." (We are the Alliance's Pioneers, explorers if you will. We are certainly grateful for your help with this Undead menace. Please we are highly grateful for your intervention. If we could repay you all I'm certain we can begin a prosperous exchange and future relations.) The Mage's tone was certainly claming and Jaina trusted Tolgar not to mess things up, at least not worse than before. But the scowl on the face of the other individual still put Jaina on edge.

"Wer bei den brennenden Flammen denkt ihr alle, dass ihr seid? Ich kenne hier keine Söldner mit diesem Namen." (Who by the burning flames do you all think you are? I don't know of any mercs going by that name here.) The lead man shouted back, but as he spoke a human dressed in a manner similar to the others stepped out from the Alliance Lines.

"Sie haben eine seltsame lange Geschichte. Aber ihre Goldmünze ist gut und sie sind anständige Leute...seltsamer als ein Tiermensch, der einem Edlen Etikette-Unterricht gibt, aber immer noch gut für sein Wort." (They have a weird long story. But their gold coin is good and they're decent people...more odd than a Beastman giving etiquette classes to a noble, but still good for their word.) The man shouted to the other side and Jaina could hear some chuckling. This seemed to disarm and calm the other side.

"Du bist immer noch schattiger als ein grauer Zauberer, aber wir geben dir vorerst einen Pass." (You're still shadier than a grey wizard but we will give you a pass for now. ) One of the men on the other side shouted taking place next to the other side's leading mage, And Jaina watched as Tolgar visibility sighed in relief.

"Bitte, der Feind ist mit einem Gefangenen davongekommen, habt ihr irgendwelche Reittiere, die wir kaufen oder ausleihen könnten, um sie zu jagen?" (please the enemy made off with a captive, do you have any mounts we might purchase or borrow to give chase?) Tolgar then begged bowing to these other men.

On the other side, this other leader beside the Mage shook his head. "Es tut mir leid, aber zu diesem Zeitpunkt sind sie wahrscheinlich verloren und wir haben keine Pferde, die wir Ihnen leihen können." (I'm sorry but by this point they're probably lost and we have no horses to lend to you.) The man answered, and while Jaina couldn't understand the words, the look and Tolgars face was more than enough. While they had won the battle, and likely had peace with these men, the Alliance's losses were going to be worse than Jaina feared.


Translations

:
Reikspiel (German): Ich bin Jegor Häussler, ich bin dein Tod, wie von meinem Meister befohlen. Bereitet euch darauf vor, dass eure Linien gebrochen werden. (I am Yegor Häussler, I am your death as commanded by my master. Prepare yourselves for your lines shall be broken.)
Fliehe, ich werde meinen Wert und den Wert meines Hauses beweisen. (
Sylvanian (bulgarian): Ето ви и вас (There you are)
Отне ти доста време и реших, че усилията да Те призова ще са напразни. (Took you long enough, and here i thought all the effort to summon you would come to waste.)
Умри, Умри и насити омразата ми. (Die, Die and sate my hatred)
Да гледам как хората ви се хранят един друг ще бъде най-голямата ми радост за 300 години! (Watching your people eat eachother will be my greatest joy in my three-hundred years!)