Reviews:

Guest 1: Kai is young, Beastmen almost certainly, but Minotaurs he's probably not THAT unfortunate yet, after all he's still alive. But certainly the Empire certainly has a unconscious hate for the Horde.

No challenge on the Teldrassil statement but the Empire's act holds a different significance. Most people try to cite MASS slaughter, forgetting the famed "a dozen deaths is a tragedy, a thousand a statistic" the Empire is cold and measured in their approach only the Druchii or a competently presented Slaaneshi could achieve greater Horror with so little. It's about controled intelligent conscious cruelty as opposed to unrestrained passionate violence.

Guest 2: The Empire's goal doesn't need Thunder Bluff conquered or destroyed to succeed, technically they are currently successful in the goal that Shandris set out for them already and will be more successful as this goes on. They just need to cut the Horde's supply of food and make Mulgore a drain on Horde military resources.

There is also the Shamans the class that the Tauren are basically the king of. But the Empire has their own plans, and their own games now afoot.

Guest 3: Problem is that that face-off is happening up the face of increasingly high cliff the likes of which you'd mainly find occupied by Dawi fortresses in the World's Edge Mountains. And those ones there's usually an alternate path of approach hidden somewhere.

Guest 4: Honestly the Alliance Gunships, muha magnifico, but the Horde ones... well the Dawi already use the design but they being the Dawi don't really use it for war on mass. They possess more steam tanks and the ability to mass produce them, than the Empire, something referenced even in Total War Warhammer, but they don't use their version of the steam tank for anything more than hauling cargo in the tunnels of their fallen Empire.

Guest 5: As the author just looking for the right chapter to fill in what she's done up to "now" and I have a rough timeline for when she should be arriving back on Kalimdor and to the army.

Guest 6: So while WoW has all of these interconnected from the Warhammer side they are three different entities that have some overlap. So Gods are Gods, Warhammer's actually very open about faiths to the extent that they might even be better than the Romans were about going "Oh cool your God does this, hmmm neat." OFC thats Old World humans as a whole, the Empire has the Great Conclave who works to basically be the U.N. of all the faiths (and fifty-five times as useful) which basically you need their rubber stamp or else you're faith is open for legal persecution.

Celestial Forces, meh, that'd be on a individual basis. Wizards have their view of the universe that puts Gods as "just warp entities", Priests have another take and would probably look down on certain Cosmic forces and view others as worthy of respect, the Gods have an entirely different take depending on which pantheon and individual God, and your average sailer is asking "does it make my journey on the sea any safer?"

And Warcraft magic, overall it's more prevelent in the lesser aspects, but unlike the misconceptions Warhammer isn't a Low Fantasy. There's abundant magic, however it's a very DARK fantasy so while magic is everywhere YOU don't have any and it actively wants to hurt you and you have to make sacrifices to have it for yourself.

On the Death Knights and Warlocks bit. Ironically despite the closer connotation of the Old Gods to The Chaos Gods, void magic is closer to an acceptable magic in the Empire, and the Empire is weirdly tolerant...behind closed doors. They never openly accept Vampires, Hedge Wizards, the Children of Ulric, etcetera but often if you prove yourself loyal or are thought of as valueable the Empire is typically willing to turn a blind eye to beings/members of less tolerated/seen-as-evil races, Sigmar's court Jester qas a Goblin slave for pete sake. There's Vampires who have even gotten away with openly being Vampires in the Empire, though more often than not they still got pushed back into the shadows due to a mixture of the other Vamps being right bastards and Witch Hunters having a extremely low tolerance for bullshit and being unwilling to work out the difference between a "good" (aka MC best girls) vampire and "bad" (every) vampire.

Ulrican take on Worgan would likely be the same as their take on the Children of Ulric which is to say that they're both blessed and cursed. Blessed of a Wolfen form after their great godly sire and clearly not the same as Skinwolves, BUT cursed since the Children of Ulric aren't the most tolerated in the Empire since they are one of those chaos adjacent things of the world. Like the Beastmen of Ind. Honestly i could see the Ulric cult trying to convert Worgan and trying to falsify facts about the Worgan to get the Children of Ulric official protections in the Empire rather than the current state with the Sigmarittes and Witch-hunters openly hunting them. which also coincidentally would give a huge political power boost to the Cult, but I think most Ulrican devotees would see that as a side benefit to further motivate what they'd be doing anyways. After all got to give the political middle finger to those stuck up Sigmarittes.

But all of this is assuming full exchanges and info are flowing back and forth between the two worlds, something that months of no contact due to magic bullshit snow (thanks for the call out me... well fuck you too me), a major war and general delay due to the nature and scope of the Warhammer World (the Empire even if you assume exact same earth Dimensions) is vastly bigger than any 800-1500 Kingdom as it encompasses not just the Holy Roman Empire, but most the Austrian-hungarian Empire, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth territories (despite that culture being Kislevitte)... all of that has delayed. We'll probably be touching on those details closer to the time period of the end of this story.

Guest 7: Kai isn't an Averlander, no Cow-Human hybrids here. He loves human women, ...ones with nice big boobs, and thick thighs who are strong and kind...

Guest 8: Inquisition wins, their more subtle, less brutal overall, and are Darker.

Guest 9: They do have powerful magics, but at the same time it's weirdly limited. Like Tauren Shaman vs Avatar Earthbender I'd honestly think Tauren wins at Earthbending. And this plays into debates of powet with purpose and actual scope of power on Azeroth. Because the "unlimited" arguments typically cause the setting's internal logic to collapse into "because I said so" where limited usually takes too reserved of stances, because a failing of WoW's story telling, particularly because the Authors refuse to acknowledge that there's more than Jaina Proudmoor and Khadgar, they forget entirely about the more "high-mid" level casters like the Wizards from the Siege of Dalaran mission in WC3, who noted were using artifacts, but the guys on that scale are often forgotten or "well the player is obviously at at that level"...thats why all the details of magic at a higher level than basic firld casting have to be spoon fed to them. The bulk of Azeroth's population likely cannot achieve "great magic" and stand on a level closer to the Hedge Wizards or lesser wizards of the Empire, there are some people to match or best a Battle Wizard but mechanically from all the games their power either comes with being a OP MC whose not shoved in hallways or a relic...which a quarter of the time those relics turn out to be a toy the OP MC forgot to put away.

As for the Centaurs, maybe, but at the same time geography it's just plain faster to wait for relief from Orgrimmar. And can't really unleash them on the Empire itself both due to the portal and Empire/Mallus-Old World Human building philosophy.

Guest 10: Colorful. But Seems I need to restate as even "Warhammer fans" seem to miss this crucal point. Warhammer isn't a low Fantasy, it's a Dark Fantasy with High Fantasy elements. Dark Fantasy, what is magic is not your friend, but it's not outright hostile thats more a Warhammer thing, and the characters in Dark Fantasy are not ignorant of it or incapable of using it. Indeed while not everyone is born with the gift for magic in Warhammer, anyone can become capable of using it, but being Dark fantasy there's a cost and Warhammer makes that cost horrific.

Guest 11: Still would help, and will come into play when relevant. Malfurion made a wall of wisps, but only when it was relevant rather than all willy-nilly. And Elemnts and Elementals are useful but in a siege unless their building walls, or creating riptides along costline locations, they're not of much help. OFC que the RTS player who will insist on extra DPS but in a more from history sense the value brought by Elementals is best when performing a sally action or as a suprise counter.

Guest 12 (aka JiggyliFAP): You lie, you actually meant Yoggdrassil!

ScruffinMcguffin: *Stops while staking the day's sixth Ottoman in the name of Faith and Country*...wut?

Dragon King of the West: And there is still plenty of small details in that whole thing. And a lot of potential back and forth on psychological warfare.

BloodRedRoses11: No matter what Baine's not on good footing, while ironically being on one of Azeroth's most solidly good and defensible positions.

At this point i think Kai's just worried about making sure he doesn't end up marrying a Cow, doesn't want his future children to look like an Averlander after all.

Hakuryuu: "B-But self centered behavior is the epitome of good leadership" -A Blizzard Executive reading your comment. "Thats right, you can't be a good leader until you betray your followers for short term immediate gains that are highly illegal." -A former GW Executive seeing both.

Well i mean it's the Horde and Azeroth. Unless you're the right species, there isn't a institution to handle things like prisoners and it falls on whomever. But poor Hollie has had to endure a lot so far and Kai...poor ragdoll man.

And the Empire taking non-human prisoners is uncommon but certainly not something anyone adventuring or campaigning in the Empire has done, probably the more common but shortest held non-human prisoners would be goblins (que the Goblin Jester of Sigmar pic) but other creatures from Vampires, even down to Skaven ... I mean "small Beastmen" have been held captive. Which is with how Mallus is, there's a reason why the Skaven would be more offended that the Horde didn't bomb the Empire and the Hostages.

And you know those damned...i mean wonderful Halflings are currently everyone in the army's favorite as they have all the Gnomish and Kaldorei stuff to buy, including featers from Aviana, one of her eggs, some of Maiev's throwing knives...the keys to a pair of Azerothean handcuffs that they just happened to be given by a nice Elf... oh and this Gnome's "greatest invention ever, that makes a man invulnerable"

Since it's been a bit, the third wave consists of the mercs, the talabecland Halberds/spears, the Stirland Deathjacks crossbows and swordsmen, Averland's troops, Ostermark's troops, and the Fanatics and the last of the Wizards and the priests. Basically all the massive numbers, and low tech of the Empire's army, plus the rather unique nature of the merc have now all arrived.

And I'd say the Gnomes are the most petty of the Alliance races, since it is all about ego. Stroke their egos and their paragons of virtue, but hurt their egos and their worse than WoW goblins. Which with the disposition of the WoW Dwarves makes me think of a future setting scene where a Dawi-Dwarf Hybrid is talking to a Gnome friend trying to be nice while just being far too blunt on the insults because the Gnome wanted to Blight the Blight with super blight to fix the blight by having the Blight destroy the Blight.

Ironwall: No i don't think the wider Alliance will like much of what is/is about to transpire. Let alone what Elspeth just had tried to pull.

TheJackinati275: Now introducing Human Rayla the Cathayan version.

Onix121: "But what is Kai Sunwalker doing in Uldum? He hates sand."

micelzod: If we're talking the responded to the war, in this story Anduin was litterally in ground Zero of the blast that started everything and had hit Orgrimmar effectively days later. But I do need to slip some more Shandris in both to reveal what's taking place with her and in Anduin's court, but there's not enough for a solo chapter there, and yet it's too far removed to fit well in one of the current set of chapters.

And others might find them nice there. But I honestly am one of thise freaks who by middle school knew half the sieges that are now on their channel, and watched everything for the heck of it. as a kid i was somewhat defined by my obsession with sieges...i think Tolkien might have been a factor in that.

JiggyliFAP: Writing this tired and peice bu peice. so forgive sudden tonal shifts in my reponse.

But, Skaven have legit landmines, they stole the tech from the Dawi, and just like the Dawi they also have "not" TnT. The wars for the the Underway are friggin insane. and Ironbreakers don't get the respect from fans, let alone their fellow Dawi they deserve for thr sheer amount of bullshit they face on the weekly, fuckers have mines collapsed on them, thousands of tons of rocks and the thanes just go "So I'll see you at your post tomorrow morning". And the Warpstone if you know skaven society they have one of the weirdest relationships with it as they ALL interact with a diluted varient of it daily, the stuff is litterally used as money by them, and they litterally snort it where all the other races to do so would be leathal.

As for Blizzard taking inspiration from drugs...well i can name a very particular blend that matches how BFA presented people using Azerite. Gunpowder, Cocain, bath salts, and i can't remember the last one, but it's supposed to be a downer to prevent the litteral children you give it to from going too crazy so that way they can still shoot in generally the right direction, slit the throats of the women you order them to, and generally be your walking warcrime...you monster.

So the points here. 1) Why do you think Gelt wanted to be the one to decide the Wizards in the Azeroth Expedition... to bad he got politically out maneuvered. 2) Im almost certain that Goblins would take huge inspiration from Gelt...and ruin Azeroth's Gold Market devaluing the Gold Coin all in their greed to pay people in lead rather than Gold. 3) Yeah Dawi are... unique, just like how their memories are geared that they remember events as if those events litterally happened last minute (so thus any shame or rage is litterally undying for them) they also have a litteral ear for minerals, they can tap a freshly uncovered gold vein and tell you the exact size and shape of it and possibly even any noteworthy materials touching said gold. Their senses likely won't lie to them, but Azeroth does have metals that follow different principles, so there we have wiggle room for mental exploration and cognitive exercise.

Yeah there are a lot of staggered details of the timeline, but Eitrigg if i recall returns with the best Orcs during/just before Jaina's adventure at home, and just in time to bolster the Horde as Zandalar goes down. But Azeroth is one of the two Landmasses of the Eastern Kingdoms, because Blizzard couldn't be bothered to rename it.

And here the logistics/economist in me hates fantasy...because if there was that much true gold in Azeroth then it's honestly worth less than Copper or any of the metals they casually disregard for use as currency. Only reason Gold originally had value on Earth was because the combination of its weight, scarcity, and use in jewelry (aka women). That said yes by Seizing assets the Alliance could easily pay the Empire several times over, but well the Alliance doesn't know how to use the multitude of victories just handed to them, and the bleeding heart factor. But with a little bit of sense, and actually acknowledged need rather than TNG Federation "we have infinite" logic yeah they're going to at least seize the household assets.

Nor as large as a Imperial Griffin. From what I've seen from WC3, and WoW and the model scaling with a bit of interpretation. a Azeroth Griffin is like a Large Pony, where a Imperial Griffin would be a small to normal Horse, for the purposes of size comparison. Your average Joe wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Large Pony and a Small Horse, but an uptight equestrian will probably jump their whole horse down your throar if you dare mistake his Horse for a Pony. Or if their like my family, sit yout 25 ass down to watch a hours long video series on the topic and proper horse training.

Imperial Zoo would likely just get a couple examples of what the Emperor likes...also I don't think the Imperial Dragon would appreciate his smug new neighbors yapping on about Titans ("why would a dragon care about a dead race of Giants, their inferior to dragons after all") and Elemnts ("Oh wow Water, here I am getting shown up by a fucking Griffin and these morons are yapping about discovering Rocks? I'm going to fucking eat them.")

As the BFA goes on there's going to be more and more divergence. One of the Huge factors (outside of Blizzard having a skewed sense of scale to make SW fans seem reasonable) Is that both sides suffered from a severe lack of military resources, even what should be basic ones that Azerotheans typically don't even factor into their logistics because their THAT ubiquitous. So Zandalar was a huge win for the Horde even with their fleet destroyed, and of course Sourfang being Sourfang ruined everything for the Horde like he typically does when he rebelled stripping resources from the Horde and turning them against the Horde...but then again Strawman Sylvanas being a strawman at the time was certainly wasting what little resources they had anyways. Seriously idk why logistics is so seldom touched by fantasy, take it out of the LoTR and you lose 1/7th of mass of the books, and Warhammer despite everything ironically base themselves around periods where some of the most brilliant military logistics Europe ever devised came into play. Instead everyone of Azeroth's leaders and Logistics seem to have the same relationship that the Communists and Nazis had with that aspect of reality..."just pull a army out of thin air or we'll execute you for treason, our ideology demands it"

With the resources of an entire other world added to the mix, particularly two factions on the Horde side that can actually survive a civil war (or several) rather than leaving you wondering how they still exist after just one. The Horde's a lot more likely to hold out for some years, depending on my narration the BFA could theoretically go on for three or more years.

As for the civil project concerns. Northwatch likely would want to expand, BUT I'd think Theramor would be the more likely bet assuming they don't build a new city to the North closer to Alcaz Island "out of respect" or from concerns due to the magical Armageddon that hit the former city...with a population larger than York fitted into a fortress never shown to have any housing. (Let it go...just let it go, its WoW not age of Empires or Sim City)

And you know both sides likely already have portal hub plans, and plans for transportation infrastructure that can actually support high traffic trade, at least until the other portals open but even those locations they're probably planning on the hopes of more trade at those too. While Imperial Dawi have a story relevance, they're typically a background/support element of the Empire, I mean they're no where as important as the ultra serious Elector holding Halflings. So yeah most likely they'd be far more involved innthe trade aspect.

Now for that last Comment, YOU DARE insult Imperial Sausages? I bet you avoid the Sausage tax! TO THE STOCKADE WITH HIM, PUBLIC FLOGGING! But compard to Azeroth, Mallus "value" from the Azerotheans POV would be items of power and relics as well as increasingly powerful individuals (noted the most common coming to mind are the Vampires...but there's still plenty of others)

On the Adventurers bit. When i started I had to actually reasearch, AND I'M LEAVING THIS OUT THERE TO ANY WOW PLAYERS WHO WANT TO, HIT ME UP AND I CAN PROBABLY CAMEO OR EVEN WORK IN YOUR CHARACTER OR GUILD, But the player Guilds are semi-Cannonical meaning the RP Guilds are probably the most likely to actually be " in cannon" or at least PC of note who achieved certain records in WoW. And Old World doesn't have Adventurer Guilds (the term is incorrect for what the Empire would have in place anyways) But yes any force that vaguely reaches a certain size more or less would go from being defined as a Band of Adventurers to a Mercenary Band.

2nd: Ah yeah the Malfurion argument... sooo who is the Tauren who is more OP than a entire pantheon of Gods? Tauren very likely can attack the Dwarfs, BUT the Dwarfs are both accustomed to Hostile tunnels and are generally warded better than your average Azerotheon "i run to my death to make my leader's using basic common sense that even a dog has look smart." like legit on the more extreme end of the Warding a Dawi could have survived crossing the wall. (keyword is survived) As for working with Elementals, maybe, but with the termpermental nature of Elementals in WoW probably not.

deadliestfan: As i was writing the thought about Wyverns nagged me but i thought of the other mounts and discarded it.

And the Dawi probably aren't aware yet as any changes they'd write off as a frustrating shift of the winds of magic in their experience.

And the timeing is everything here. Horde has nothing to send, RIGHT NOW, but im a few days they might have entire armies that can march.

But Broken Isles are certainly present, and we'll be seeing Dawnguard showing their worth. On the portal bits while "i cool guy teleport close" is indeed cool and can be effective as a suprise, the biggest combat value is actually going to be in more long range teleports, moving Bands of troops into the mountains or positions just beyond the Empire where they can try to strike at the Prisoners, the Camps, etcetera.

And certainly Both Vamps and Skaven are poor allies particularly in this case... But if their power was added to the Horde's this would be a far too easy siege to break...if they were to add their power...but lets face it. Manfred is Manfred he's too busy trying to destroy the world as Archeon's End Times Sock puppet traitor...i mean totally not being the reason everything went to shit... and the Vampires in General would be restrained about helping Mulgore in particular. Kalimdor represents the whole opposite spectrum of magic in both systems from what they are, and Mulgore and the Forests even more so. And Skaven are well just wonderful sociopaths, "just nuke the civilians hostages".

I legit just forgot the Taunka, didn't want to press into dry detail too much at that moment, and I forget that they even have power projection.

As for Adventurers. For Warhammer as i mentioned to JiggyliFAP, they don't have Guilds (wrong use of terms, a lot of anime go "the Adventurers Guild" and then present anything but a Guild) and instead the Empire has a obscure (i think even in universe) organization that is more ment to control such people so they don't just wander around killing nobility or breaking the palasides of Inn-stations and towns. But then because of this Warhammer doesn't have the "Player Guild equivalent" but rather your band of Adventurers grows in size and becomes a Mercenary Band, thus why there are such unique and powerful Merc Bands in Warhammer.

But the Alliance can not yet Recognize who Gotrek and Felix are, simply because they are not yet even aware of the man who has already Slain the Jailer and defeated the forces of the Primalists enraging every "race to first" guild and rare item collector playing WoW gaining the only rewards for such victories and insisted insisting on walking nude while complaining that such buff looking guys should have been able to kill him...Shadowlands and Dragonflight haven't been released yet so how can the Alliance know.

And for the Bombing two other details. The Horde would still suffer losses, and that then semi-permenantly subtracts from what she can use against the Alliance later on...and she'd probably piss off Baine blowing up "innocent civilians" ("pssssh Innocent, I bet they all deserve it anyways. Life is misery. But I can't have Baine go all Vul'jin on me.")

On the Re section.

True, I don't like groups without self awareness but the anti-war guys having a lack of self awareness is good and realistic writing.

Yeah the Cannons. While I dislike a lot of stuff about particular Azeroth techs particularly when they go on about superior intelligence, and then I see a mono-ammunition, task specific cannon used on mass without alternatives immediately on hand. Some of the designs I can easily see how they would implement (time spent working on Bombs, delivery systems and Nukes) such unique Ammunitions and the particular battlefield value of each. And I feel Azeroth has almost to the point of insanity hyper-focused on combat as per what we'll the Kaldorei style... or the player party style... but they have perfected the techs regarding that style of combat.

On the Dawi and Gnomes. do the dwarfs have any right or moral highground...no. Is the resultant deathspiral of their culture and Gnomes culture the most hilarious and dangerous formula we can possibly see...yes yes it is.

And I should clarify. On the political. Noted if you don't hand waive the figures, factions, and cultural movements of WoW's past with Blizzards "mind control of evil, no one actually thinks bad things ever" which is abused to no end in SC, then you have actually some deeper neurance that Blizzard is obviously ignoring. Now even if everyone is absurdly self sacrificing to the point of Glenn's "my nation must die for the benefit of the greater good", You'd still encounter deadlocks from diffrences in view on everything, and we'd see some actually good neurances such as the Nobles who had refused to pay the Stonemasons insisting on fiscal security for the Alliance vs immediate war spending, and thinking of "inventive" ways to avoid spending the Alliance's (their) money on a war they had no say in starting. Meanwhile the Dwarves would have complaints about dangerous tunnels, and the defilement of sites important to Azeroth, and there'd be a series of fine cracks and resentments among the upper leadership of the Alliance ("more wathammer like") but there's less of a self serviance to it.

And particularly something that Irks me is that Blizzard clearly uses Strongman/Good King theory type logic as their justification of Internationalist Liberalism,(which to those others reading who might misunderstand this is a internal politics discussion these terms have a whole different meaning in this subject), and in reusing the same characters over and over while shoving others into hallways, but then they jump so swiftly to strawmaning leaders of factions, which with how hard they lean inti Strongman and Good King all the strawmanned nations should be nothing but lifeless hovels. I don't think the Alliance, and Stormwind in particular should get a "free pass" as others might call it, and I don't think they have in the setting, but have from how Blizzard handles (aka: ignores for so many expansion they then can't tell a story on it) their issues. I think they already (since WC3 IRL) have a lot of elements who while their logic might be based differently than Warhammer's, still have some very corrupt elements and with diverse and not so universality beneficial priorities. And in that i also think that in a VERY ironic twist, for some of thise negatives we have some "little guy" movements that would seem like the Good-guy alt to the negative points of the Warhammer half. the "fuck government demands, support local" (where warhammer is "fuck the larger empire, local lord demands"). Which in that i think it mirrors and there's then a rhyming to the two settings.

Which as a stupid aside, Code Geass and Legend of the Galactic Heroes are near the peak of good Strong Man theory in stories. The actual Strong men aren't "top warriors who can benchpress a mountain" but rather individuals of extreme talent, with severe character flaws, and whom you can see being able to shape a era around themselves. Though Legend leans away somewhat from Strong Man. But if there's any question in what i mean, the MC's of those shows exemplify Strongman theory.

And since most everyone here should sort of get the themes of Warhammer, and know why GW's Executives and major figures are going to hell. I'm going to "harp" on WoW a little more just to hopefully help give some understanding. WoW has two main story themes. The WC3 "Unity is our Strength" and the later formed "Individual Volunteerism". The first is a strong, good and hopeful theme...the first and maybe second time you hear it, after the third reset to the norm and the third time of the writers refusing to explore past the initial beat of the theme, it dies very fast and very hard. Which is particularly sad since there is more to explore from the ending point of that narrative theme which builds into decent stories, but that takes effort. The second theme is the newer of the two and sadly WoW the game mechanically doesn't support it. It requires at least five different states for NPCS to react to PCs with, Hostile, Defensive, Neutral, Suspicious, and Allied. At least to be presented in a natural way that doesn't then undermine the theme itself. Which Individual Volunteerism is typically a more robust theme, but harder to implement in a videogame in a way that player's will immerse into.

The Siege Begins

Mayla Highmountain survayed the Imperials from atop the dismantled elevator station on the lower rise of the Thunder Bluff mesa. Baine had chosen her and her Highmountain Braves, alongside Shamans of the Rivermane tribe and hunters of the Skyhorn tribe, to guard this segment of Thunder Bluff as the cliffs here were more gradual and could with difficulty be scaled even by a determined enough human. And with the Empire, finding humans dogged enough to rather beat themselves to death on the walls of Thunder Bluff than admit defeat was a easy task. Also with Mayla's skill if she could get her Braves to the mountains beyond the battle there was no doubt as to the various ways she could strike at these humans.

Still even as she survayed all that was against her, a sense of unease washed over the Highmountain Chieftain. The earlier events of the day hung heavy on her and she could still hear grumblings of rage directed towards the humans and even questions of Baine's leadership mutter among the Tauren. She had held Baine close, if need be she would have used her body in any way to distract him from what had happened. The humans had chosen their poison better than any Demon could have.

Baine's will nearly broke, she could see it at the time, and she had needed to comfort him to keep him strong. But even then driven by outrage and that Paladin's agonized cries the undisciplined masses cried out for vengeance , demanding to attack and even tried to do so without permission, they even tried to steal the wyverns and zeppelins to try to launch an attack, but the Sunwalkers and Dawnguard had stopped the mutiny before it could coalesce into something that could have been tragic for not only Thunder Bluff but all of the Tauren.

And then Baine stood and insisted they man the defenses and hold Thunder Bluff at any cost. And while this placated some, Mayla knew that the Empire had succeeded in planting their seeds of sedition and doubt and now all she could do was pray that neither could take root. The Imperials had made it clear that they'd be willing to negotiate with anyone, not necessarily Baine, and they had associated the deaths with his name, and his resistance to the Empire. Increasingly every failure would also be laid at Baine's feet if these seeds are allowed to fester.

And Mayla feared that Baine knew this, and felt those same seeds within himself. Typically such seeds of sedition were laid by the poor actions of a bad leader and acted on by a enemy, Mayla had seen that happen some times herself. But it would take someone far better than herself at statescraft to actually plant such seeds, and as a opening move of a siege spoke of someone manipulative and experienced.

Mayla feared for Baine, she needed to visit and comfort him tonight as a friend. If anyone was going to leave Thunder Bluff alive and free, he was crucial. Though more than that she found a like-minded and capable mentor and companion in Baine and she was loath to see this destroy the amazing bull that he was. And Mayla knew she wasn't the only one, Aponi had steeled herself and was clearly ready to even use force against her fellow Tauren if it meant taking pressure off of Baine or distracting the Tauren from the sedition of the Empire.

Perhaps that is why Aponi insisted that Baine pass command of the Mid Rise, and insisted that the High Rise's command be given to Sunwalker Dezco and Navarrogg. Mayla appreciated Aponi's insistsnce on taking a portion of the command and couldn't fault the Paladin for following An'she's guidance to face some sort of 'presence' to the North. However Mayla was disappointed and enraged when Aponi pushed Dezco and Navarrogg forth and Baine allowed them to take command of the High Rise defense. Baine needed to be seen leading, something he couldn't do pulled back by the cental totem.

But Mayla knew that Aponi had the best of intentions and that the Paladin while perhaps not as aware of what was brewing wanted to help Baine as much as she could, so Mayla held no grudge. No she looked elsewhere for threats to Baine's continued rule, and from the Empire. The Tauren had little in the way of being able to effectively attack the Empire's army, and the Empire should truly be able to see that they had no real means of attacking Thunder Bluff without suffering casualties and inevitably being driven back by the sheer scope of the mesa's cliff-face.

The Empire had proven themselves intuitive if not outright intelligent, multiple times now. It was obvious they could see the difficulties of sieging Thunder Bluff. That meant they had to have thought of some scheme to speed up their siege. but as Mayla thought of any possible plots she kept coming short, the Empire likely couldn't use spies against Thunder Bluff, their magics were terrible but not likely able to break the defense. Mayla would need to look out for some form of infiltration, because that was the only method of attack that she could think of that she could also act to prevent.

Across from Mayla's Braves and their position in Thunder Bluff, the human camp stirred. They had been rotating troops and preparing for the inevitable attack for a while now. These troops bore the same colors and iconography as the Iron Companies who had broken the Braves' assault on the Great Gate and she could see more of the human cannons and Mortars among these humans than among the other camps. Alongside these Imperials she could also see the banner for what intel called the County of Talabecland. Mayla had earlier taken the time to survay the other two camps from atop Thunder Bluff earlier that morning. The Eastern Camp seemed just as organized as the one she faced, but their soldiery was comprised predominantly of the the newcomers from the third army. Still those troops seemed just as organized as those Mayla faced on her front.

The camp to the North, however, was an enigma. A whole multitude of banners filled the camp at diffrent scattered points while masses of what appeared to be nude men were gathered in unorganized throngs. This camp lacked any real form of consistency and Mayla figured it best to leave that camp to Aponi if the first Sunwalker truthfully felt something coming from that camp.

Then the sound of trumpets echoed across the mesa and soon both the northern camp, and the western camp Mayla was facing both answered the trumpets with theirn own. And it was then that the humans came at Thunder Bluff, they ran in formations, ladders, ropes and climbing equipment spread among them. Behind those with the ladders were blocks of gunners and crossbowmen, and still behind them were carts with Mortars loaded pulling forward on prepared tracks to get into positions to start firing up into Thunder Bluff.

The humans rushed forward with naught but their shouted warcries and trumpet sounds to strike the defendeds of Thunder Bluff with, none of their weapons yet able to reach the Tauren and their allies, but the defenders of Thunder Bluff had no such limitation. Crossbow bolts, bullets, explosives, incendiary bombs, and cannonfire fell onto the on rushing humans while Mayla watched impassively.

For the first Imperials they had to close the open gap between their camp and Thunder Bluff and then at the feet of the main mesa clear the outcropping for the rise that the Tauren used for the city's main elevator station. Then from there, while her Braves rained down attacks upon them, they then had to work on trying to scale the cliffside up into Thunder Bluff. A daunting task that in the past had even deterred foes like the Alliance and Legion, and even Baine himself from even considering assaulting Thunder Bluff from land.

Yet as the smoke down below started to build from the masses of human guns firing up at the defenders, and cannonballs and explosive shells began to strike the Hunter Rise. Mayla mused that the Imperial humans were a different sort, more willing to risk and sacrifice for less certain and less substantial victories. Mayla had little she had to do for the defense, merely calling out gaps in her own Braves and uncontested movements of the enemy.

It wasn't until Mortar shells began to reach past the lip of the mesa landing among the Tauren, and somehow getting past the wind spirits of the Shaman that she even had to move from her spot. But after a lone shell loping low overhead nearly collided with her face Mayla pulled back from the front and instead climbed a small tower that the Orcs had contructed to coordinate the battle from.

Still hours passed and word came from Baine that Mayla needed to report to him directly and so, with swift orders to her Braves, she handed command to Lason Skyhorn who answered the passing of command with, "Finally, I'll be that I will have sent them packing by the time Baine stops flirting with you." Mayla simply rolled her eyes and made her way to the center of the centeal mesa where only the sounds of battle could reach and the civilians huddled together for safety while waiting for their turn with the sparce portals to Orgrimmar that would carry them to safety.

Mayla reached the High Chieftain who was overlooking a model-map of the battlefield tokens for each Horde force precariously perched on the edges of the sculpt of Thunder Bluff. Around the city tokens that vaguely defined estimates of the enemy were predominantly laid at three points, with a few tokens indicating specific units of the Empire the Horde could discern, or particular individuals were laid out. Such was Baine's focus that Mayla walked up to him without the High Chieftain noticing, and she had to call out his name to grab his attention.

Baine looked up to Mayla with a drained, but serious and focused eye. "How fares the battle?" Of course Baine would need to know the state of the fight, but did he really call her back to just give a report now? No that was out of character for him, something else was bothering him.

"Well enough. It seems the Imperials chose their forces and tools well, but nothing they have is up to the job. I will crush them at every exchange." Mayla stated confidently flexing her arm at Baine.

"You're also the last of the fronts to report to me." Baine then stated his eyes finally locking on Mayla's. "I want your opinion on some of the details I got from the other fronts. I need to know... your view on the Battle as a whole."

Mayla felt strange, Baine's demeanor felt off, but she kept it to herself. "As you wish."

"First the Eastern Front. The Empire is currently attacking but they've dedicated all their efforts on trying to shell the Hunter Rise and have a larger force focusing on the Elder Rise. So far their troops have avoided approaching the High Rise entirely." Baine explained pointing to the locations and moving a few peices to display the military movemwnts.

Mayla nodded. "It would make sense for a army that doesn't have the ability to scale the cliffs would avoid them. But then why put so many troops there?"

Baine solemnly nodded before staring at the map again for nearly a minute. Eventually he squared his shoulders and continued. "Next Aponi informed me of the happenings of the North. The Imperials there are completely unorganized. But there seems to be greater magic and more Kaldorei support there. The Imperials there are also entirely unpredictable, she doesn't seem to know how they did it, but a small unit of Imperials was already able to climb the Elder Rise and Aponi had to fight them to dislodge their ropes and cast them down."

Mayla this time sat at the table rubbing her chin. "Which then goes to say that if the Imperials already have a means to start climbing all the way up, why aren't they using that with more capable troops, or was this tactic something that they're command was unaware of? And then combined with the rest of the battle and today's esrlier events, their plans seem even more vague. Do you suspect they're plotting something else? Maybe the Dwarves?"

Baine nodded. "Already noted. The Majority of their forces are in the North Camp or the Western Camp. Otherwise they've established a number of trenches and tunnels they seem to be digging towards Thunder Bluff. No real attempt is veing made to hide that they're doing it."

Mayla tsked at the news. But she was right, and Baine was seeing it. Something about the battle was off. The Imperials were taking this too slowly and were missing opportunities to try and secure territory inside the city. "So what are our troops on the Highrise doing?"

Baine sighed. "So far they're acting as a reserve."

Elspeth von Draken watched the battle unfolding before her. Of course combat was limited across the High Rise front and her troops were giving wide berth to the Execution ground as ordered. Reports of progress and the struggles and limitations of the troops on the other fronts slowly trickled in to the Dark Lady of Nuln who listened in silent reflection.

"My Lady, Hans Leitdorf has returned to the Great Gate and commands that we update him on our progress. What should we tell him?" A messenger stated as he ran up to and kneeled before Elspeth.

"The truth, we have begun to lay siege to Thunder Bluff. Progress is slow, however everything is in place and we will be atop the central Mesa after twenty days." Elspeth answered with a even, factual voice. However the shocked expressions of all those around her tent showed the severity of her claim.

"Twenty days my lady?" The messenger asked himself a little shook as he glanced over his shoulder at the massive cliff-face that dominated the lands about Thunder Bluff.

"Yes, now go inform our Supreme Commander." Elspeth dismissed the messenger with a wave of her hand, and in reponse the man stood and began to leave.

Slowly and with a slight tremble Irma approached the Magisterix of the Imperial College of Death Magic. "My Lady, do you-"

"You know, I pity Baine." Elspeth interrupted.

"Y-you pity him? My lady." Irma's grip tightened about her 'Umbrella'.

"Yes, he didn't sign his people on for joining the Horde, and I would assume like most youth he was easily blinded by tales and deeds of heroism. By the time he was old enough to know better his father was murdered, done in by a poison from a woman who yet still lives, and he was made a ruler of a people so tied to the Horde it would be impossible to break away without also breaking his people.

And now I am here. Hans is here. We are all here to punish him for acts that are not his own, done by the so called friends of those very heroes he most likely idolized. And I do not intend to be merciful, I've shown plenty and I have very little left to give." Elspeth explained, though her statements drew more confused looks from those around her while Irma paled.

"My lady, while the Dawrfs are capable, I don't think it is wise to place so much confidence in their mines. After all the Mesa could be made of a unique rock, or have..." Irma tried to reason but Elspeth's response just made the woman tremble more while everyone else from Jubal Falk to the other Bright Wizard, and the Captains watched in incomprehension.

"Oh, I know they could never bring us to the top of any of the rises in that time. But you already knew that wasn't the plan, didn't you Irma?" Elspeth stated simply still earning confused looks from the rest of the tent.

"I think you should reconsider using the..."

"Jubal, please relieve Lady Schoff of her umbrella. Until further notice she will be attending me personally, I don't want her running off to laze about in the sun when she has work to do." As Elspeth spoke, Irma's hand clutched her weapon tightly, but soon Jubal stood infront of her with his hand held out expectantly, and Irma was forced to submit.

"In twenty days the Dwarfs will have reached the destination we need their mines to go to, and we will have everything in place. In twenty days victory will be ours and all the living among us shall celebrate and have a toast to the memory od the deceased, right Irma." Lady von Draken predicted with such confidence that everyone else couldn't help but feel motivated, though now Irma's irises narrowed to points as she stared into the back of Magisterix.

The atmosphere in the tent was swiftly broken however as one of the Kaldorei barged in before giving a respectful bow. "I come bearing news and messages for the Imperial command."

All eyes snapped to the Night Elf while Elspeth watched with imperious aura and slight disinterest. Finally saying after several tense seconds, "Well get on with it."

"R-right. Lady Shandris has returned to Kalimdor from Stormwind. She has arrived with multiple Adventurer Guilds in her retinue as well as independent volunteer companies from Gilneas. They intend to reshape the warfront and reestablish contact with the Imperial Army. As such she demands a report of all the Imperial fronts." The Kaldorei messenger reported with an official tone.

"Hans Leitdorf is at the Southern Gate, seek him there. The Siege of Thunder Bluff is now underway and the city will soon enough fall to the Empire." Lady Elspeth stated with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"The General insisted that I get the report directly from you lady. She intends to oversee the siege after visiting Hans' position." The messenger responded, earning a bemoused look from the Dark Lady.

"If you wish to know what is happening then sit silent and observe Kaldorei, today's battle is still taking place after all." Elspeth then dismissed the elf looking to Jubal and the other assembled leaders.

The Magisterix then began to give orders. "We work on thinning their defenses and establishing means to enter the city quickly once the moment of breaching comes. Also we will be executing six every morning, I'll oversee the construction of a new platform to meet our standards. Inform Hans of our terms for surrender laid out to the city, see if he has any input. And Irma, bring your books to my tent."

Trembling the noble Chronicler bowed, "As you command."

Shandris Feathermoon sighed while brushing a hand through her hair. As she got ready to leave the Zeppelin that had carried her to Kalimdor. The as the first of the small flotilla of Zeppelins landed and the General sat watching as squads filed out and past her one after another. Nearly half of the Gilneans leaving the Zeppelin were Worgen, the other half Royal Guards tasked with the protection of the Princess.

Thinking of whom brought Shandris' mind back to just before her departure. Back to when she still hoped Anduin would commit to Kalimdor, and back before she had been made into a unwilling monster.

"Shandris you don't have to leave yet, just, just give them more time. I'm certain that we can convince them of our way of thinking if you take a little longer." Tess Greymane had stated with a empathetic Lorna Crowley voicing her worldless agreement.

However at the time Shandris had had none of it. Having given up on Stormwind's politics she decided she was to leave as soon as she was able. No longer getting dragged into the quagmire of diffrences of opinion and instead taking action rather than allowing the Empire to move across Kalimdor without her supervision. Something that Anduin and the others seemed to forget in favor for the war in the Eastern Kingdoms was that the Empire was of a entirely different culture and outlook on the world, and their soldiers certainly would behave as such.

Yet somehow that disconnect plagued the strategic meetings and the court sessions. They were aghast as radical war supporters and more Goblin-like merchants gathered around Volkmar encouraging him to push for a even more extreme war against the Horde, one that Shandris could not stand behind. Meanwhile the so-called moderates and peace -seekers faction instead had openly called her a warmonger and accused her of being no diffrent than Volkmar's faction.

"You honestly think any of them will change their minds before we're all dead? This isn't the Legion bearing down on us with no uncertain terms, its as they themselves said, 'Just the Horde, we have friends with them'. Besides I have a duty to Darnassus I must uphold, and I brought the Empire into our war. I have a duty to oversee what they do here on Azeroth as well." Shandris had snapped back with no patience for repeating the same argument with Tess that they already had.

"No, by the light you will listen to us Shandris!" Now Lorna spoke up, her hard eyes locked on the Kaldorei General. "We don't want you to stop, just slow down for a little bit. Because even after everything we know we can get you support. I've spoken with my father, and Tess has spoken to King Genn, we can get you more troops beyond what you've been given, just give us a couple extra days."

At the time that was all it took to give Shandris pause. She had taken extra time to gain the Empire's support and now the army the Empire had sent to Azeroth had tipped the scales in Kalimdor back to the favor of the Kaldorei. The Zeppelin's leaving for Kalimdor were already willing to delay an extra two days, so why shouldn't they?

Shandris balanced this against the prospect of having to deal with radical anti-war and pro-war zealots. She needed the troops, and Genn and Anduin had taken good measures to ensure that she didn't have to clash with those people. "Fine, tell your father Tess that I'll delay for two days, no more, I'll be still attending Anduin's court for two days."

Tess smiled brightly. "This isn't my father's doing, but I'll let him know. Trust me you will not regret this."

Looking at the backs of both Tess Greymane and Lorna Crowley as they marched off the Zeppelin, Shandris questioned that memory. She did feel guilt, she felt regret, but she wouldn't change the decision she made even if the Broze Dragonflight made the offer to her. Not now and likely not ever.

Still she felt uneasy as she stood up and marched out into the open field of Northern Kalimdor that served as their landing site for the new wave of reinforcements for the Kaldorei. Here civilians, Kaldorei, Gilnean, and of all kinds cheered and celebrated the arrival, and they even cast up spells to light up the sky in color.

Shandris hadn't even cleared the ramp before she was shaking her head to clear the vision like memories. Memories of another crowd, walking another ramp, and far too much red.

"Lady Shandris you need to stay back until the crowd is dispersed!" A Stormwind Royal Guard who had been acting as her escort that day ordered the General, a far too thin wall of City Guards seperated her from the crowd that was moving towards the harbor all chanting anti-horde mantras. At the center of it all, a relatively young human woman was tied to a post with one of Volkmar's Knights and a Draenei woman on either side shouting rallying calls to the crowd around them.

The woman looked panicked and Shandris could see her pleading to the angry crowd only for the Draenei woman to silence her with a blow to the stomach. The Draenei's punch was then answered by the crowd with uproarious applause and cheering.

Finally one of the City Guards, a obvious messenger was running past which the Royal Guard stopped. "Hold up! What's going on?"

The Guard panted catching his breath for a couple seconds before he answered. "The mob, they claim the woman they have hostage is a Horde Spy, and that they caught her while she was meeting with the head of the Peace Faction. Volkmar is currently locked in a war meeting with Anduin and the other Alliance Leaders and we haven't been able to get any orders. We've tried dispersing the crowd and forcing our way to the captive but there are too many and we can't attack our own citizens."

Shandris shook her head, this was wrong, Stormwind's people seldom got this riled up, particularly after the death of their previous Queen because of a mob just like this. And she was late to the War meeting, the meeting whose schedule was supposed to be a secret, the one meeting that anyone with the authority and presence to easily resolve this riot was currently at.

"That's not good enough. We need to rescue the poor woman before they maim her or worse. Listen I don't care about detaining everyone. Have the Guards break up the crowd, if we can carve off sections of the crowd to deal with sperately then I can make my way to rescue the woman. Do we know anything about her?" Shandris immediately began to take command barking orders, much to the shock of the Messenger.

"Besides what the mob is claiming we don't know much. We were able to confirm the presence of Lord Sherwood of the Peace faction but we haven't been able to track him down since his guards fought their way through the mob." The messenger's reply earned a nod of acknowledgement.

"Just get it done." Shandris had said, breaking off from the Guards and traveling to a group of three onlookers who were watching the Mob with interest.

"You three, you're adventurers aren't you?" The General demanded as she closed on the trio, a Void Elf, a Gnome, and human all looked between eachother before nodding in acknowledgement.

"Good, how much would it cost to have you three escort me to that woman over there?" The general asked authoritatively while pointing to the mob's captive.

The Void Elf and Human both looked to their Gnome companion who sat silent for several moments before the Void Elf spoke up her voice strained as she spoke. "Gikli?" Behind the Void Elf the armored human woman was tapping her foot expectantly.

"Oh come on! 'Oh he isn't a weapons inventor or a chemist, he must be better than a Goblin at finance!' My fields of expertise are psychology, and Theology!" The Gnomish Priest grumbled at his companions before turning to Shandris. "Risk cost coverage, twenty-three Gold coin, each."

Swiftly Shandris turned to the Royal Guard behind her. "Give them eighty and let's get moving!"

Already the Guards were trying again to break up the crowd into smaller more easily manageable elements. However it was clear that by this point they wouldn't reach the captive in time. Shandris didn't know what the Imperial Knight had said, but now the crowd had thrown wood all about the woman and were clearly intent on burning her to death.

"Fuck, I'll stall them, Shelli, make a hole, Gikli, if I don't get healed this time I'll wring your neck." The Void Elf stated drawing daggers.

"It was a splinter. Your just over sensitive pansy, Ilvia!"

"It was bigger than my dagger!" And with a growl the Void Elf tore through a rift disappearing and reappearing by where they were setting up to burn the woman to death. The Void Elf, Ilvia swiftly set about dodging supprised swipes with improvised clubs and punches from startled crowd members.

As the Void Elf fought Shelli barged through her shield held ahead knocking down anyone in her path while Gikli healed any injuries. Shandris used her scabbard to beat back those who slipped past Shelli while the Royal Guard stuck to her side protecting the General. And then they were through the crowd, and Shandris was facing off with the Knight. The Knight drew his sword and sheild taking a cautious stance while speaking in heavily accented Common. "Ye need know, I have no intent of hurting you. Our only fight is with the parasite, stand down or risk my wrath."

Before Shandris could answer the Royal Guard rushed the Rieksguard Knight and both warriors clashed blades. "General go!"

Wasting no time Shandris climbed atop the platform to free the Woman, but her senses went alight warning her of danger. Shandris ducked as a mace which cast a unnatural shadow swept over where her head was. The General stabbed with her blade exposed, but struck nothing but open air. The Draenei woman, pale with a malicious scowl stood by the captive, her hand clasped the woman's cheeks painfully forcing her lips open.

"Release her!" Shandris ordered pulling out her bow and aiming.

"Poor choice of words." The Draenei replied, her tone unnaturally dark for the species and full of a vindictiveness and malice Shandris had never heard from a Draenei. Then the woman forced some unknown potion past the woman's lips before with a flick of her wrists releasing, no cutting the captive's bindings.

The Draenei took a step back then flung herself into the crowd disappearing like a Rogue. But the woman was coughing and convulsing and Shandris had no time to pursue the criminal. Instead she dropped ro her knees at the woman's side "How are you feeling? Don't worry we have a priest and..."

Shandris screamed as the woman bit into her neck, fangs digging deep before tearing away a chunk of her flesh. The woman then rose to her feet staggering back swiping at the air, eyes both unfocused and wild, while her skin paled. Her canines extended into long unnatural fangs, and her fingers reshaped into vicious claws that she used to swipe at unseen figures.

Clutching her profusely bleeding neck Shandris stood drawing her sword. Her newest assailant hissed at her as she did. The Vampire then rushed at the general her claws making wide swipes at Shandris' sword. The General, even while clutching her agony ridden neck and covered in her own blood, easily dodged the onrushing Vampire and stuck her in the stomach. In response the creature hissed again. And again it lurched at Shandris causing her to strike it again.

Now Shandris' vision blurred, the Vampire's attack made Shandris bleed far more than she expected, she had maybe minutes before she was unconscious, and minutes more until she was dead from Bloodloss.

The Vampire now leapt at Shandris and She took the only action she could think of thrusting her sword into the heart of her attacker who collapsed on top of her. Shandris lay in a pool of her own and the Vampire's blood as the creature lay atop of her thrashing in a series of death throes before settling atop her. The woman then leaned in and spoke. "B-because of this my Master will take the Horde's side. Teldrassil will only be one tomb among many. Nordrassil and every other shall become lands of death."

Shandris had wanted to reply, to tell the woman to reconsider, to tell her she would survive. But the Vampire turned to dust atop the General.

Shandris broke her musing to finish leaving the Zeppelin and return to survaying the assembing troops. She wouldn't let the regrets of Stormwind hold her back, the Peace Faction had held her to blame for the secret Von Carstein ambassador's death proclaiming her a warmonger worse than Volkmar, and the violence in the street had seen the Anti-Horde Faction crippled in Stormwind's politics.

Marthias Shaw had tried to reassure Shandris, mentioning something about a Horde-Von Carstein plot and something about the Vampires having internal divisions. But at the end, Anduin had been forced to temporarily banish Shandris for murdering a dignitary, at least until proper evidence to clear Shandris could be found. In particular anything to prove the existence of the Draenei whom many of the Mob were adamant in claiming did not exist.

For now Shandris was a monster and a warmonger. She had brought armies to Azeroth on the money of others for the purpose of attacking innocents. She killed Vampire dignitaries who were seeking peace and even a possible treaty or even to join the Alliance. She pulled entire Guilds with promises of coin, loot and glory to aid in the destruction of Mulgore. And she made entire company's of Gilnean troops abandon their posts in Stormwind to join the war efforts in Kalimdor. She might feel regrets, but Shandris wouldn't let that stop her, she had a war to win.