Reviews:

Guest 1: Worst stuff? oh when did i have unarmed peasents something WoW has plenty of or even potray the basic spearman unit as opposed to pikes and halbreds? and when did i ever show the Blademasters being bested by these shieldless spearmen who are somehow fighting 1v1 against them. Now i understand some people might find this hard to believe since Hollywood never lies amd everything they do is real including time travel and traveling to other worlds to shoot finger lasers at Gods. But 1v1 fighting and running into a moshpit fight while abandoning your comrades to just get in their first is the single best way to guarantee your defeat especially when your not a MC who can just kill dozens of knights with a single swing of the blade making armor pointless and arrows pointless as they bounce off your baby oil and make-up covered skin. And you'll even notice I've kept most of the Empire MCs away from a "Hollywood fight" because they'd lose and they know that and aren't and never have been and for the most part will never be suicidal morons... unlike a certain Orc I could name.

Guest 2: Well Kalimdor their power was centered around the Kaldorei nation of Darnassus a world super power that by itself should have been a match for the Horde... and then Darnassus burned and the Kaldorei shattered.

Guest 3: Behold the power of the gag character! All must fear the gag character! May all on Mallus fear a particular big game hunter when he decides to cross over.

Airfleet being as useless for the scenario as they always are.

Guest 4: Even more than that WoW equates position and ability, to the point some people litterally get stronger or weaker depending on if they hold a office of power. When it comes to the Arcane the Alliance almost solely fills all the positions of authority and thus power.

As for industrial might, there's that and then the factor of manpower that Skaven fills in.

Guest 5: Got to wonder if the Naaru would try to subvert Sigmar, or if his pecks would lure them away from their unnatural ways...or if Ulric eould get pissy.

I'm already trying to calculate thr Kaldorei losses, I've been on and off with that, but likely Darnassus likely killed anywhere from 10 to just shy of 40% of their racial population which would lead to also a weird mix of "revenge" seekers and those who are already weary and just want to give up and rebuild.

Everything happening here in Mulgore just the Braves and everyone else lost is severely cutting into Mulgore's reserves. if you' ve played HoI4 imagine that moment you hit 0 manpower for months on end while also a large army in the field during WW2, you'rejust praying those units survive because at that time any major losses are likely to be perminant.

As for the Blood Elves their whole situation in Quel'thalas... well they're more like the prodistants and catholics during the 30 years war, they might live together but their asceibing to opposite sides of a war demanding they tear eachother's throats out, and while some buy into that entirely, others question why the hell this is going on, and others just are looking for personal gain. Meaning that basically the Blood Elves due to loyalty issues always have a shortage of people, but despite having suffered such casualties, 90%, to the scourge and having multiple major internal divisions taking them down to something closer to 5% and after that they still seem to insist on being involved in every major conflict even if suffering even a lower casualty rate each time would doom them to obliteration by the decade's end. I mean the High Elves were reluctant to get involved against the Orcs and even the Trolls because they feared the impact of any casualties would have on their population.

yeah I'm reluctant to have the Blood Elves shown as a military force because even the Asrai could drown them in sheer numbers let alone the Kaldorei, or the Asur or Druchii.

Guest 6: Primarus are a nothing burger just a "we're totally better trust us bro" that GW themselves walked back on so hard primarus are just firstborn "but better" with nothing better to show for it...other than their hyper dangerous procedure being so dangerous it litterally brings the dead back to life, Sergeant Lazerus story. But i haven't checked Stormcast lore in a long time, because when I gave up on AoS they were still retconning the lore majorly every couple months, a huge change from weekly major retcons, but considering AoS started with some of the most insulting BS and even some personal attacks from GW and I was tried of the same old skirmish game formula i just flipped em off and walked out. But I think the respawning BS of Stormcast is still a thing, and aince Daemons are still comprable between settings Stomcast could beat SM by virtue of being nearly as good and having effectively unlimited numbers who deepstrike to wherever they want.

Guest 7: Ok so First is the source of magical "fuel", WoW's magic or mana springs up internally, in the light's case from the feeling of "well of course I'm a good person I'm generally nice to people based off these vague AF virtues", where Warhammer you're drawing from a external source that can be stronger or weaker based on location or simply your ability to draw this power to yourself.

Next is that the Light itself is basically a discount "Force" from starwars. So the magic source itself is allegedly sentient and you have all these beings basically subverting the universe to achieve oneness with a force that doesn't seem to give a damn except for when plot demands. Where Hysh is just a raw magic wind, no sentient will...besides ironically Sigmar. The Chaos Gods trapped Sigmar in Hysh so he is infused with it and can direct it, and thanks to him being a God he can grant its power even at places where the the Winds of magic aren't flowing since the Gods have the ability to bestow power independently of the flow of the winds.

Then in the users, a Light Priest or Paladin can be dumb AF and only have an extremely vague idea of what they want and the light will understand "my buddy feel bad, make feel good" and turn that into whatever needs to be done. And I mean Arthas is a himbo and was considered a master of light magic...though to be fair, even as a himbo he might have been smarter than his entite kingdom. Hysh is the most subtle wind, capable of a huge variety of spells and is ironically the one wind that is naturally opposed to the four chaos Gods, back when there were or are, the RPG kinda ressurected them, the four chaos Gods of Order this was/is their wind. But so to use it requires a focused mind capable of great understanding and knowledge, so rather than glorious haired Himbos your Hierophant's and other Hysh users are the "science nerds" of the eight colleges of magic and hyper focused on achieving their goals. And as such they also can generally do damaging magic like the Bright Wizards of the red wind, and healing magic like the druids of the jade wind, and they dabble very lightly in exorcism so while they can banish daemons and set up safeguards for the dead and track undead they're not nearly as capable as the Spiriters of the Amethyst order or priests of Morr.

One last "diffrence" is that WoW Light tends to focus through individuals. Single all powerful entities who so long as they at least think themselves the good guys (looking at you Scarlett Crucade) they are "all powerful". Where Hysh being the magic of the Chaos Gods of Order, is more powerful the more ritualized it is and the more people are ensuring exact measurements, precise timing, and perfect geomitry and position the ritual is the more powerful the spell the ritual creates will be. For example the Hierophant I just introduced and killed, if he had lets say twenty to fourty apprentices (since it's still on Azeroth) all helping him perform a ritual and nothing distrubs them, he could have summoned a beam of light that would have collpased the cliffs with his own death laser from space...but even a sneeze out of place and that ritual might have gone wrong.

Guest 8: There's even a page on the WoW wiki for their lifespans. Fans had tried to pretend that even the Elves have children as often tha. humans, but, well I'm sort of sure most the ones making that argument are projecting their childless lives onto the Kaldorei. Which sadly crestes a major contradiction since the High Elves some of them could have been around during the Troll Wars, and their children reach adulthood at somewhere between 18 and 20 years old...and they live to be nearly 4000 years old...so thats 2000 years of baby making multiplied by powers of magnitude. Yet if one makes the High/Blood Elves as barron as that which has no life, then they as a species are effectively doomed since WC3 and signing onto the Horde.

But Elves being elves and thus always the single most inconsistent and annoying thing in existence of any fiction aside. Dreanai and Dwarves I've heard argued have about as many children over their lifespans as humans. Which more modernly the averaged human numbers for a total population is around 2.6, and classically was 3.4 to 3.8. Which in laymans terms if a Draenei woman stops behing able to have babies at eight thousand years old, she'd be having a baby once every thousand to two and a half thousand years... Yeah Blizzard doesn't want fans to think about such things as population or family, unless they're using family as a tool to motivate you to go murder people for looting or to make you feel bad about murdering a family for a sword that's .5% better than the one you already have (so not feeling bad at all, give us more families to murder please.)

Guest 9: Already answred. but look at the map, the land route they still are striking from the front, and they'd then lose their homes to the Alliance, besides a restored alliance base still being active in their path.

Guest 10: Yeah, Azeroth doesn't cure people, they karma houdini and turn these "so negative mind ruining curses" into benefits. If story group is people were supposed to care about as opposed to "they too far gone because we said so" (yet they still have committed less than a tenth of the warcrimes we tolerate from others) then the group's curse is some sort of free super power, or they die and it's super tragic because something made them evil...just like the thousands of people we gleefully carve through routinely looking for rare drops.

But the wretched are "magic starved" Elves who've gone too far in their addiction.

The Broken are more like torture victims, being experimented on, or generally attacked by Orc Warlocks. While the Krokul its less known why they are the way they are but its likely they were hiding out and just subjected to so much Fel energy without submitting.

But even generally you have to ask where to draw the line with "curing" stuff. Like "Cure" undeath? Cure a twisted philosophy? Friendship ray of Friendship that definitely not brainwashing? Typically "Curing" things more often than not trivializes the events.

Ravenguard0009: Well for Kislev their current roster is more or less regional. But I can't wait for the expansion of Cathay, and Kuresh and Ind...can't wait for people to demand Snakemen from me once Kuresh drops, just for me to be a fucking hipster and flip em off.

I was debating his survival, but too many people surviving everything seemed stupid, even if they're not major character deaths I need to up my body count. So goodbye spanish Hierophant the readers barely knew ye.

The True Horde fanatic's plan has less to do with killing imperials than it does with killing Baine over ideological diffrences and a grudge towards his past actions. Two things that neither Sylvanas nor Magatha showed any interest on acting on.

It's a 1/3rd to half the Kalimdor fleet still vital but a lot fewer ships overall. As for the logistics its all patchwork for a issue older the WC3. All the way back in SC1 the stance was "the build times are reflective of actual build times" so the two minutes to build a battleship meant maybe two hours to build one...already an absurd claim, but one most people were willing to ignore since SC was sci-fi and resources were built around the Age of Empires resource system (minerals are gold mines, vespin gas is farms) but unlike other games SC clearly pandered to the competitive crowd, one patched download of the game you can't even win the first mission since the splash damage of a tank even will kill your zerglings, you can't airlift, and you don't have anything else that can even survive to reach the tank. and overall the game maps have comparatively absurdly limited resources, Age of Empires you have the market and trade system, CnC and later supcom you have just effectively unlimited resource nodes etcetera. But so most people just sort of ignored the statement and let it be, after all who cares if they can build a fleet in minutes if they can't afford to sustain one in their own universe.

Then WC3 comes about where a small workshop that at best shoud build wagons and make swords is producing full blown tanks, home return scrolls, and the idea that gameplay is cannon being reinforced (meta im sure they were trying to still compete with Westwood's cutscenes and story in that regard). And then WoW came with the infinite resource veins (because Runescape and all the good MMOs of the time were smart enough to know that having a resource vein disappear permanently is a dumb idea for a MMO and Blizzard are anything if not great at copy pasting, though i want to hope Blizzard was intelligent to make that distinction on their own, but some of their modern devs have me questioning if maybe they didn't just copy paste from Runescape), as well as player teleportation as well as well Ironforge being brought front and center. And for logistically minded guys who played all these other RTS games and questioned the resources, well the issue became blatant, but Blizzards answer to it was "problem what problem? When did you have Mr T on a add for your game scrub?" So here we are with a declaration that came from a era of extremely limited resources, still being applied to a world of unlimited resources and portals...as well as "genius" military commanders like Sourfang whose entire Command experience can be replicated with Zapp Brannigan clips except Zapp might be better since the kill bots at least had a preset kill limit.

But so you have to ask yourself, for Warcraft to make sense when compared to warcraft, which one of these meta assumptions do you want to give up on? unlimited or near unlimited resources? the build times? the whole gameplay is cannon?

JiggyliFAP: Never for gnomes! They deserve to suffer for subjecting our eyes to the mecha gnones!

But no, see the Russians outproduce the germans, but war isn't a video game, and there isn't a gas station that can fill a tank's gas tank every five miles. over all of WW2 the Russians produced a little over a hundred thousand trucks meant for logistics...and those trucks eh, think the chinese knockoff of a chinese knockoff in terms of quality, and instead retooled all their factories to making tanks having entirely stopped all truck production shortly after Hitler invaded. the Americans supplied the Russians over 75% of their logistics trucks, over 300,000, all trucks of a vastly superior quality as well as ironically the thing that made American made equipment vastly superior back then was its ease of maintenance and durability a Sherman tank could be "killed" and back on the battle field with the same tank crew in under a month. Considering that both the Russians and Germans destroyed all the train tacks from Poland to Moscow, the Allies would have been in poland by the time the Russians forced the Germans back to the polish border simply since without the US trucks the Russians would have never been able to fuel their tanks and planes, nor get ammo to their troops, which already que the three man myth, yes the Soviet soldier had far less supplies per man than even the Japanese soldier. The Soviet success was based around the fact they had supply trucks so they didn't need to rely on the rail roads, which the idiot Nazis having no means (IE a honest capital system as their ideological nuttery rejected the idea of money because they were simultaneously anti-marxist and anti-capitalist and more the evil bastard child of both) to measure the worth of things based their logistics off pure fantasy and guess work and were facing severe shortages and overages well before operation Barbarosa and had their entire army dependent on trains, which when your enemy is tearing up railroads during their retreat and you want a non-stop advance into their territory... yeah the German logistics defeated the Germans more than the "brilliant" soviet counter attack since the Brilliant counter attack would have been stopped dead if the Germans had possessed the ability to so much as get what ammo and gas they had to their army's front lines instead of wasting it all in the rear.

Now I had that consideration but part of what leaves me indecisive on that is how both setting treat souls, and by extension magic. Magic and souls on Azeroth are physical the trope of "magic is just weird electricity" where magic and souls on Mallus are much more metaphysical. So then which souls version would these undead be aflicted with? But otherwise that's more or less how the Undead in Warhammer do it, they aim for the recently dead, or for ancient battle ground or ancient tombs where the warding won't work as well...or Chaos tombs because of course 80% of the time the chaos followers were screwed over by their Gods and that last ember of their soul would much rather be undead than go back, with Nurgle being the only Chaos God who i can see being the major exception since the souls of hos dead devoted are instead turned into plaguebearers through a slow and gruesome process. Khorne of course would be the best to recruit from...seeing how he treats the souls of his fallen servents.

The third parties I'm still shifting through them...or namely trying to figure out if their not Alliance proxy powers or not. But certainly they're bound to become more and more important as time goes on. Just like how we habe the Lahmian courts, and the poor Stragoi who might honestly seek asylum on Azeroth considering how fucking sad their backstory is.

Lol Eitrigg's son...i forgot him... the flame throwers i know about but Im also being conservative because were also dealing with the clans and the NPCs armed with such weapons particularly on the infantry scale is typically they are "generic"/blackrock orcs, but if you mean the flamebealcher well they brought up the other cannons thinking they'd have a artillery duel that they'd win vs the Alliance Cannons... instead no one played the game that way and then as they brought the standard cannons forward to destroy the Alliance designed gun bunkers they got jumped by Worgen.

Fort Triumph's story is one of those things where I go "and the Alliance just do whatever they want fuck even Anduins approval" because seriously he can't be as oblivious as he is AND micromanage everything...there's no way in hell thr Alliance could have won, not after the deus ex machina that was the Horde's victory over the Kaldorei and launching Fireballs miles across an ocean from a shoreline and instantly lightning a tree's dense bark ablaze like it was covered in gas.

Well thats the BS power of Lupin and halflings, idk how but i rarely get to see one of the bastards die, Thank God for blood bowl muahahahaha, thankfully best elector shall fix that. As for the Empire well before why did they have to evacuate? it's not like they can receive instant communications through some "realm speak" and it takes a message half a day to get from point A to point B. Nah, they'd die defending Shandris from Baine, if that's what happens. yeah i had plans for him...and then decided against it but still had him so he got to have a moment before seeing the light. As for the other two, them sadly caught the deads.

And Frostwolf, yeah they for all i could remember was that they cut off from the horde to play neutral (What drives a man to go neutral? a lust for power? Gold? or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?) But since at this rate Sourfang's rebellion will have to be very diffrent I'm sure they'll have to play a role, along with some other awful events. But since I mentally wrote them off I'll have to get a update on WTF has happened to them.

pt2: Based on their positioning likely a lot are doomed to die. RIP Maximum of Profit. but most the gold likely is good since its like spread over the 3 camps.

As for the Warpstone, he's only have a small supply.

Problem is that thats two races vs one city, and "the Goblins" are majority still neutral, only Bilgewater is on the Horde's side. And Bilgewater doesn't have nearly the amount of dedicated industry. As for the Arcane, Alliance has the higher quantity and the Void Elves.

The farming in the barrens is entirely possible but the Barrens is exposed to raiding. and still their ability to bullshit farm can't match the TWW Kislev and Bretonnians "frozen wasteland that spontaneously bursts into lava at random? que the las miseralas music get them back to work!" (thank you meme lord tariff)

Lumpin is choosing whichever path can help him escape his men best, after all they keep getting him in this situation. maybe he can hide out on Azeroth, he hears there's no mercenaries here, maybe he could go exploring, some sort of nice peaceful adventure ;)

prt3: I was using Old Fluff, i mean they only just changed the dates for Boris' Death.

And comment war let the blood of comments run black and white! But for your comment on Blizzard being to influenced by modern sensibilities. Yes and no, they clearly are, despite the Orcs being adults at like 14, but its also because legal BS because the same political entites across the western world who defend teachers molesting children also will attack media for having their fantasy species being an adult and "sexualized" before the age of 18. And Blizzard and all the other companies don't want to risk their alternative sources of income.

Dragon King of the West: All of that was pure accident.

BloodRedRoses11: Things are starting to turn on the Empire and Alliance.

As for Sylvanas, she's post the fall of the Lich King, she's got unaddressed PTSD, she's been used and abused by a Human princeling. And had then dedicated herself to a people comprised of those similar to her, even as her nature and own twisted personality has her manipulating and controlling those people while they praise her for it. And then every time she's chosen to trust without holding the power in a situation, she's been betrayed. And then she got placed on top of the Horde as Warchief. She has all the best hallmarks of a sympathetic, "too far gone" villian.

Sad the Empire has severe needs and not enough understanding, but hey at least they have skill.

Hakuryuu: When i finally went and decided to include Lumpin I immediately concluded that something like this had to happen, that by some stupid stroke of luck he'd outshine anyone else in the Empire's level of success by besting or somehow almost killing Sylvanas while running away.

Now I'm just hoping that I can at some point genuinely work a Hemet Nesingwary hunting Expedition to Mallus into the story. Just imagine the ecological damage that man will cause, it shall be glorious. Fucking after a week somehow crosses back through the portal with a Blk Dragon skull, a Dragon Ogre, three diffrent Trolls breeds, and a Cygor, all because he wants more space for more trophies. Though his speed of movement, he might not get the Black Dragon.

You forgot the Golden pinons who are the mercs of Marrienburg There plenty of mercs who aren't from the regiments of renoun, but if they're Empire culture they're just played off as state troops, or some other equivalent.

Maybe Irma survives, maybe Tess is carrying a dryed up corpse.

We have to still give Anduin just a little more credit where credit is due, while he's absolutely horrible at reading his audience ("Die Whelp"...hahahhaha good times) he's not so blind that he can't figure out when people have a diffrent value system, even if Blizzard and a lot of writers and people today can't seem to so much as comprehend the idea of people having different values without some inherent good-vs-evil conflict between them.

You know Shaw has a spy collecting info on the battle to figure out more about the Empire and of course the value of the this battle for the Alliance as a whole.

deadliestfan: Oh there is plenty, but the best comparisons would generally be further away from the typical anime/isekai/JRPG "go into the beer hall...i mean guild hall and select a quest from a board to be approved by tits...i mean the secretary." everything seems more proactive, although i do think Shad does have a slight point as Adventurer types settle down they'd basically become the town protector, celebrity and likely future mayor or lord. After all unless your continously genociding entire species of animals in the name of bringing balance to nature for the Kaldori Druids in such a manner that DETHA should be after you and not some comparatively innocent Dwarf, or fighting in War the Market's either a lot more leathal than WoW would like to make you think with their easy res, or the market is fairly to hyper competitive with a good number of Adventurers struggling to make ends meat.

As for the Borde Orcs thing...that seriously makes Thrall more of a dumbass. "we're sitting here in boredom, so lets revult, run away, then self flaglatte ourself by starving and sitting around with nothing to do." He could have stayed and nothing then would have been diffrent except there would have been fewer wars and less Mana bomb detonations. No one leave a state of being just for the purpose to return to that state. If Thrall had actually "wanted what's good for his people" there'd have to be something that makes leaving better.

The varying Magic levels is undermined by the Elves, and no fantasy has ever really survived without their magic giving some levels of rollercoastering. BUT around the time of 6th GW was being run by a guy guilty of insider trading and who was trying to break up the company and ruin the IP so he could sell it all off for personal profit. Yeah I know those complaints many of them though are the same people who unironically try to claim Rogue Trader is the true 40k cannon, and typically a good portion of them also turn out to be the "femmarines or else" or who on the fannon wikis copy other people's content and then use mods to delete the original's content. But the one thing of the Low fantasy guys the REAL ones have that I can appreciate is a strong historical sense, they'll bring forward reinactments, footage from IMCF matches and other similar sporting events, and one even brought out his own musket to a range to prove how long it took to reload "so handguns should be able to snap fire against a charge", that and the real "low fantasy" guys also tend to be the types to do anything to avoid the "spear that can peirce anything vs shield that can block anything" paradox and are usually more inclined towards things like battletech where everything has a set numerical hierarchy, but again the real ones you'll more likely meet IRL where the internet ones I've stalked a few of them after they'd bligbted other places I contributed for and saw their real nature.

Kingdom is a great historical military Manga, starts slow, and with very small units and builds up and the MC goes from a tag along kid to a full on commander, and you get to witness war from various levels and aspects, From "i swear to take his head *peoceeds to engage in a epic duel in tbe midst of hundreds of soldiers fighting*" right down to "we need to improve crop irrigation otherwise our troops wont have enough to eat next year while on garrison duty." and up to the "so if you stagger your charge this particular way the impact it will have on the shape of the battle will give you a opening to move your troops like such." ... Kingdom is a must for understanding war if you're not going to fight on the front yourself, or going to waste your life reading first hand accounts and the diaries of commanders and the historical break downs of wars (because even then there's missed details and some PhD is going to try and waive his degree around calling you a liar for shaming his favorite historical figure or world view forming philosophy and doesn't want the magic of his superiority broken) but it's routinely placed up in the top 5 with Berserk, Vagabond, Vinland Saga, One Piece, etc. if you're lazy and don't care about CGI there is a anime, but you miss some great stuff and details in it, AND WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T WATCH IT IN ENGLISH DUB, BY GOD THAT'S PROBABLY ONE OF THE WORST ENGLISH DUBS I'VE HEARD AND I'VE BEEM WATCHING ANIME SINCE THE 90's.

Onwards into the battle, there's some other minor tidbits that have had their foundations laid. Sadly we will probably see this end of the battle wrap up before Hans and Eitrigg get to cross metaphorical or maybe litteral blades.

Well the thing Tess is afraid of is actually a artillery manouver of WW1 which basically if the Horde could do it...she''d be dead with nothing better to do than wait for death because when your position is boxed either you're left waiting for the bombardment to end so you can move again, or for the artillery to close the box by sweaping the bombardment in...at which point the wall of explosions moves from where it was over there over to where you're standing and the only way out is through the wall of explosions.

And excuse me, there is certainly nothing wrong with the gooder captain. he's got the big brain with the big thoughts and the smartest of smartsesses. Nope no flaws in his lougic. And 100% not crazy.

Cast into Damnation

When the rain began the Iron Companies were already prepared, drying powders had already been distributed, the gunpowder covered and the cannons had tarps raised to fend off the water. The rainfall was constantly being measured and flags were laid out telling the gun crews of the winds both nearby and down range at the base of the cliffs. Nothing was left to chance that could be instead calculated and adjusted for.

When the beams of Light had first struck the lands of Mulgore Jubal Falk's first concern was that the Tauren were making some sort of attack. But after a few minutes of preparing his perimeter defense it was clear that the attack should begin immediately. So the Iron Companies and their supporting forces launched their assault on the city, and the three guns resting on the mountainside in a seperate and highway guarded camp for the first time since all the effort to haul the weapons up also opened fire, their cannons nearly level with the High Rise of Thunder Bluff and while it was over a mile distant their fire was able to strike into the city causing damage like no other weapon in Jubal's arsenal could.

The battle of course began with intense skirmishing. Volleys of gunfire and cannons were matched by the explosive shells of the Demolishers, Tauren rifles, crossbows, and javelins. And then the ladders, and the Siege towers moved forward, four of the towers were crude distractions, wooden frames with four of the Tauren's own crossbows turned into ballista mounted atop, two of the towers however were real. While none of the towers so much as reached even a third of the way up the wall, the two real towers were prepared with long and heavy cargo nets for climbing the city walls. Tonight all the Cargo nets would be used. Three of the towers were destroyed by the defenders, but one of the two vital net towers reached its destination and was able to launch the anchor ropes and raise the cargo nets allowing men to climb up before the defenders had a proper chance to respond.

Additional Mortars were brought in closer than any mortar that had been brought before and fired their specially prepared shells, heavy weights connected to cargo nets as well. Less effective the nets still allowed more and more of the Iron Compies and the other imperial troops to reach the tops of the cliffs where Tauren waited.

The Tauren were like monsters in those close quarters and men were constantly thrown off from the cliffs. But when the final loud crashing and the entire frame of Thunder Bluff seemed to tremble the Tauren defense seemed to slowly faulter and gradually step by step the Empire secured permanent fingerholds on the top of the cliffs.

The Iron Companies would outlast these Tauren, Jubal Falk had been told so by Elspeth von Draken, and it seemed that statement was indeed becoming true now as the Tauren were slowly running out of warriors to throw against them. Still something about the battle was feeling off, he couldn't figure it out and so he analyzed the maps again, recalculated the strategy given to him and thought of any possibilities yet he couldn't find anything that could shake off the premonition that had overcome him. So Jubal was constantly looking from the city to his map struggling to see what was wrong.

"Some how I don't take it that you're looking over that map because your confidence in the plan, Castellan." The voice of Elspeth von Draken made Jubal nearly jump. So focused was the Castellan-Engineer that he never noticed her horse slowly coming up behind him.

"Lady Elspeth, I didn't expect you to come here. Everything is proceeding as planned, there's no need to..." Jubal found himself cut off by the off puting wizard as she spoke in a calm tone.

"I have no doubts in your abilities. After all I've seen them before. I've come here to check on our progress in the other areas." The Magisterix stated while getting off her horse and stepping into the cover of the roof blocking the rain.

"We set up the camp in the mountains with a fully prepared path, we also explored the area as you stated finding several small mountain paths, some large enough for us to carry carts through and that would support horses. But why ask about it now, I've provided details in the daily reports." Indeed if Elspeth was asking about the emergency escape routes now then shouldn't Jubal be more concerned?

"Good, even if we win here now, there's no doubt that the Horde is about to or going to seal out escape at the Great Gate's pass. It's the only place suitable for a full scale invasion and for our full force to escape through in full order. However once Thunder Bluff falls we will have completed our mission and it will be our mission to escape back to the Empire. In particular I have compiled a report of my findings that must get returned back to the Colleges in Altdorf." Elspeth elaborated, both easing Jubal's immediate fears while raising more long term concerns. While the paths and trails they had found or made were in ready supply there was no way they could support the entire Imperial army, let alone all the troops and supplies of the Iron Companies.

"Findings Ma'am?" Jubal asked with some genuine curiosity.

"This world does not have the Winds of Magic, channeling then os strainous and while most the local waring has failed to stop my magic, there has been a number of things that have caused disturbances in the flow of magic. But clearly these people have shown a abundance of magic, so I've conducted a number of tests on the compatability of the winds and their magic. The results have been rough but promising, with the large scale experiment also serving the purpose of breaking the cliffs of Thunder Bluff." The Magisterix summerized with a rather disinterested tone as she looked over the maps.

Then Elspeth turned to the mountains while leaning against the strategy table. "Baine's as resilient as I feared. So the possibility that we will need to make a hasty retreat even right after taking the city remains a possibility."

"Castellan! There's something in the skies beyond the city!" A keen eyed scout shouted through the din of the rain and gunfire. Before either Jubal or Elspeth could respond a grand rumbling crack sounded and a bright glow shone from beyond Thunder Bluff to the north. Then a second explosion sounded and another glow came from the direction of the main camp.

"What in hell?" Jubal asked as the glows faded, a horror of realization dawning as his mind calculated the damage such blasts could cause. Each explosion could have killed hundreds maybe a thousand or more men in a single instant.

However Elspeth's eyes focused on the skys. "Turn the cannons east, prepare for large fliers. The enemy possess sky barges."

"Sky ba...?" Jubal began but cut short for now he could see them, six sky barges like the Thunder Barges he had heard about in the Gunnery School from students of the nearby Engineering College but without the guns. "Prepare to combat fliers!"

The Camp soon burst into a flurry of activity as men started moving into position and the cannons were turned and even the Mortars were prepared with special short fused shells meant to try and harm flying targets. The six barges loomed overhead with five still slowly lowering a long distance away while the sixth seemed to rush forward for the camp. The Great Cannons started to prepare with men adjusting the elevation of the gun barrels cracking the screw wheel for the weapons elevation.

"It's no good the mounting wasn't made for firing at elevated targets, we keep coming up just under the target thanks to how quickly it's coming in!" One of the gunners shouted from the Great Cannons as the screw pushed the weapon up to its maximum while aiming at the leading Zepplin.

"Leave that one to the mountain guns and me! Focus your fire on the landing ships, they must be carrying reinforcements!" Elspeth then ordered while drawing the winds of magic to herself.

Minutes passed as a rider rushed to the mountains and the men tensed as the ship came closer and they could make out the bomb carried beneath the barge. Then the sounds of three distant cannons firing sounded and two balls flew past the sky barge while the third struck the balloon of the vessel knocking it off course but not downing the ship.

The vessel started correcting its course pushing forward towards the comp. In response Elspeth unleashed her magic the moment the air ship reached her range, the vessel still pressed forward, but Elspeth assured Jubal that the ship would not drop its weapon. The ship slowed as it neared the forward edge of the defense, meanwhile the five other vessels touched down, lowering ropes and allowing soldiers to climb down onto the land.

six cannons fired and six reports echoed across the land. In the sky a cannonball collided with the deck snapping the chains supporting the basket and knocking crewmen from the deck, another cannonball struck the balloon this one punching through the metal balloon punching through the balloon and forcing the contained gasses out causing the entire vessel to immediately drop back to the sruface smashing into the ground not even fifty yards from the defensive line of the Iron Companies. Meanwhile further downrange one of the offloading vessels was struck all three of the cannonballs striking the wooden vessel breaking it apart dumping the crew and cargo, wounded and healthy into a heap with the broken ruins of the ship as the Balloon rose to the sky being broken free of the ship wreckage beneath it.

Because of this the four remaining ships even with soldiers still clinging to their ladders took flight pulling backwards and further from the range of the Imperial Cannons. Still Jubal estimated that at least a full one of those vessel's cargo of living soldiers was about the wreckage of the destroyed transport. Meanwhile no movement came from the wreckage of the would be bomber.

"Jubal have our men secure the Bomb." Elspeth ordered pointing to the ship that lay just before the camp.

"My lady, the enemy are gathering right in front of us, are you sure? We don't even know how that device works." Jubal argued with the Magisterix. His fears about such a unknown weapon evident even in his face.

"They clearly intended to either destroy our defensive line or even the camp with such a weapon, if they reaquire it they might still use itnas such, but if we have it, we might use it against their prized city. A good exchange, their city and pride for our lives, even Verena and Morr would think it so." Elspeth responded forcing Jubal to admit that her reasoning was sound.

"Move forward, have the Halbreds and handguns check any enemy assaults, strip the enemy airship of anything of use and capture the enemy bomb." Jubal then ordered causing his men to march forward leaving the barricades they had prepared. So the first moves of the battle for the Western Camp and the Horde's relief fleet began.

Baine searched yurt by yurt, leading all the few troops left for the task with skirmishing across Thunder Bluff. Kaldorei Sentinels and some Imperial troops kept slipping into the city looting, lighting fires, and looking to disrupt the defense. Those Baine, his force of adventures and the spare braves and Duskwatch were able to engage and eliminate with little difficulty. However the Sentinels who first broke in, ones Baine was now certain were Shandris and her bodyguard, were still evading him and clearly were trying to coordinate the troops who slipped past and into the city with the clear intent of helping the three bridgeheads connect so as to trap Baine's forces in a pocket on the middle and lower rise maybe even force them onto the Spirit rise if the bridges were not destroyed.

However the grim situation swiftly turned for Baine when the first flashes of light signaled the arrival of the Horde's Skyfleet. Still the matter was that this battle would still be close, if the Empire pushed in anymore they'd be too close for anything but precision cannon fire, something that would require the Gunships to remain still and perhaps vulnerable to counterattacks. Though maybe the blasts killed the Empire's Wizards, but Baine could not bet that they were all dead.

Then the sounds of cannon fire and explosions intensified for a while, soundd of intense fire was still coming from the east and west of Thunder Bluff. And moments after a lone Gunship, bellowing smoke from one of its sides began to circle Thunder Bluff moments later the recognizable voice of Sylvanas shouted from aboard.

"Baine, near the Elder Rise a mad Orc has a bomb with which he plans to destroy Thunder Bluff. You must stop him, we downed his Zepplin but there is nothing more that we can do!" The Warchief's supernatural voice shouted over the city. And this caused Baine to curse. Sylvanas made the right choice, particularly as a wave of magically guided silver arrows suddenly lurched up from where the Imperials were fighting at the Bbeach each of the metalic arrows striking the Gunship before shattering and disappearing, showing that even after everything the Imperials still had fight in them, and magic users Baine had yet to witness. But with Shandris and so many others in the city, they not only would have heard Sylvanas shouting but would have known what she said and understood how to make use of that information. That meant haste was now necessary, because it was undoubtedly a race to see who would reach the weapon first.

"Drop everything we need to get to that bomb immediately!" Baine shouted to his warriors and Adventurers about him before sprinting towards the cliffs facing the Elder Rise.

"...You must stop him, we downed his Zepplin but there is little more that we can do!" Shandris listened from where she and her adventures had hunkered down on the middle rise. They had planned to launch a strike into the rear of the northern defense, at first to suprise the enemy and to start the collpase of the city's defense. But after the first bomb had struck it became obvious that the Northern forces would need to be rescued.

Now though, there was a mas Orc threatening to blast the city with one of those bombs, and it like had the power to destroy the surface of one of the rises, if not cause its collapse entirely. She needed to stop that not only for the sake of the Tauren's home, but most certainly for the sake of her forces as well. Though if she were to bring the bomb to the center of the city they could certainly force the Horde to negotiate.

"Be swift, we must take that bomb before anyone else gets it or uses it!" The Kaldorei ordered, her Saber Cat leaping out of the Yurt with her adventures and bodyguards right behind her. The Alliance soldiers rushed for the High Rise while Kaldorei arrows struck down what few Horde stragglers still searched for them in the city.

Still all the battle was focused at the three cliff faces making Shandris' job far easier than it normally was. Soon Shandris' unit had pushed onto the High Rise and raced for the still smoking remains of the Horde Zepplin.

Kai Wexner sat in his captive yurt nervously chained to the center pole. Today the ground shook and the building trembled and sounds like that of mighty thunder rolling throughout the land. Whatever was happening out thete was enormous and Kai even wondered if he'd survive through the day or if he'd die as the ground collapsed beneath him or fire fell from the sky, maybe he'd be washed away and off Thunder Bluff's cliffs by some suddenly flood of water.

As Kai sat and waited activity and the sounds of combat soon drew closer he could hear shouts and battlecries in various languages before the clashing of metal slowly died out and relative silence descended. The only sounds Kai could hear for several tense moments was the constant downpour of the rain, and a soft plodding drawing nearer and nearer to the Yurt he was imprisoned inside.

Then the Yurt-flaps opened and Hollie stepped in, dripping with both blood and water, her armor covered in knicks and small holes as she was healing herself with her magic power. She stumbled in panting with each breath creating a cloud of steam in front of her. The Tauren looked to Kai and sighed. "Get up we're moving!" The Tauren ordered taking Kai's chains and detaching him from the pole.

"What's going on?" The captive knight demanded as Hollie lead him from the tent her nervousness obvious as she looked about as she brought Kai out into the rain.

"The battle is starting, ummm, be lots chaos, if continue you'll be in danger, I'm moving you to the Spirit Rise for safety." The Tauren Sunwalker explained as she lead Kai into the rain filled streets as she lead him away from the Yurt.

Then a voice broke out from the sky and Hollie stopped. The voice disturded Kai, it's tone unnatural and frantic, almost blood crazed. It was like the cry of the grave itself echoing over Thunder Bluff. And from the moment it started speaking Hollie stared at the sky a look of fear and realization slowly crossing her face. She then looked down to Kai a look of epiphany crossed with apology on her eyes.

The Tauren then lead Kai over several yards to where a Kaldorei body, one with a crushed skull, lay in the street pulling a sword from the corpse's scabbard as she began to undo Kai's bindings while putting the sword in Kai's hands. "Listen, a bad Orc has a bomb, he will blow up all of city. We are close to him, need to stop bad Orc, together! Everyone in danger if no stop him." As Hollie was saying this Kai tried to process what was being said and everything that was happening, eventually Kai nodded his ascent.

"Right this bomb if it really is that strong it'll kill both sides wont it? Then I have to help for the sake of the Empire." The young Knight reasoned before flourish and testing the sword given to him.

A few more swipes of the blade and Kai grinned while grabbing the scabbard and sheathing the blade. "Alright I think I'm good to go."

A pair of the local blue tusked creatures that the people called Trolls, despite how dissimilar they were to trolls, came and started shouting and pointing at Kai. However Hollie seemed to rebuff them and soon the group of four moved, Kai without armor and armed only with a sword, Hollie, and the two trolls one armed with daggers and the other holding a staff and several shrunken heads. As a group they ran through the city following Hollie's guidance each turn in the dark night lit only by sporadic lightning, and distant infernos leaving Kai more and more lost having to trust the Tauren's guidance more and more with each step.

Soon the four of them found a open area near the cliffs of the city and Kai could see some sort of wreckage that looked something like a boat surrounded by greenskins and a dark furred Tauren who all seemed to be guarding a lone Orc who was working on a large metal device on top of the wreakage.

Hollie bellowed something to the enemy raising her mace and shield in challenge while the foe's minions arrayed themselves to fight the four who were challenging them. She was answered by the Orcs who all bellowed a warcry of, "Lok'tar Ogar!"

It was then that the two sides charged at one another. Hollie, the trolls and Kai were outnumbered but the Knight prayed his skill and maybe reinforcements would salvage their dire seeming situation situation. Still he mentally mapped a path onto the boat where the one largest Orc was working on what had to be the Bomb hollie mentioned because first and foremost stopping the bomb was far more important than anything else.

The four charged and soon Hollie and the black Tauren were clashing blades while Kai used his sword skill to sidestep a Goblin while removing the creature's foul arm. At Kai's sides the Trolls pushed forward but were soon checked by a pair of massive Orcs. Still this left a opening for Kai to slip past. But now alone Kai found another Orc trying to rush him from the side.

Fortunate seemed to favor Kai and Hollie as arrows suddenly flew from outside the combat striking many of the Orcs and half their number dropped dead immediately, though Kai noted at least one arrow stabbed through the throat of one of the Trolls at his side. Still now was his chance and Kai ducked out of the fight and started to climb up the wreckage toward the Orc above.

Shandris, her thirty bodyguards and over twenty Adventurers entered the clearing near the downed Zepplin witnessing as the crew skirmished against a small band. Atop the downed Zepplin the captain worked on the bomb attaching a new detonator to the device clearly intent on detonating the device. This the General of the Sentinel Army could not allow. "Kill them all! We need to claim the bomb! Capture it at all costs!"

The Kaldorei surged forward and soon a volley of fifteen arrows loosed into the the fighting Horde forces Shandris own arrow striking through the throat of a Troll Witch Doctor. Swiftly the Alliance force closed the distance and Shandris' Sentinels unleashed another volley. Shandris arrow lodged into the skull of a black furred Tauren clashing with an armored Sunwalker.

All about Adventurers and Sentinel Defenders rushed into the clash adding their weapons to the clash while the archers and marksmen among them unloaded into the Horde striking down nearly half their number in a instant.

"You are all too late!" The Orc Captain's cry grabbed Shandris attention as he was shouting down into the combat, his fist raised triumphantly. "For the HORDE!" The fist started to descend and Shandris arrow flew.

"Nein, tust du nicht! (No, you do not!)" Suddenly an unarmed human man speaking Reikspiel finished climbing up the Zepplin his Kaldorei blade swinging up in a two handed strike using every ounce of the man's streamgth on the uneaven footing. With the Storm's lighting illuminating the entire scene the blade caught the captain's falling fist on the wrist before it could strike the detonator, the edge of the Kaldorei steel sheering the Orc's hand entirely of his arm. Shandris arrow then struck the Orc's armpit twisting the Orc in place slightly as the human thrust his blade stabbing lightly into his opponents chest.

With a roar of pain the Orc captain grabbed the human and casually threw him over his shoulder. "Kaiii!" A shout of worry and pain emerged from the fighting Horde members. But that held no bearingas Shandris aimed to launch another arrow into the Orc's skull. The Orc was already thrusting his good hand for the detonator, even though most his warriors were already dead the fighting below would be meaningless if he struck the button.

"Lok'tar Og..." Then in a blur of motion the Orc's head disappeared. Shandris for a moment checked her bow her arrow still nooked and her archers were still firing into the combat homding back the Horde warriors. As the Captain's body struggled to stay standing with his head lodged on a spear slowly arcing off the cliff and down into the plains beneath Thunder Bluff Shandris tracked the path of the attack that had claimed the Captain's life and scowled.

Baine huffed a small cloud of steam errupting from his nostrils as her pulled his arm back from throwing the spear that had removed Captain Trosdil's traitorous head. However Baine was not the first to arrive, and now, while some of the Horde still remained in their path, Shandris' forces stood between Baine and dismantling the bomb that threatened his city.

"Break through, we must save Thunder Bluff! Don't let anyone claim that bomb!" Baine ordered and with a roaring battlecry thirty mixed Adventurers, Tauren Braves and Duskwatch rushed forward charging into the melee or for the Kaldori archers to the side of the combat.

While they raced for the battle Baine had one target he aimed for in particular. The Bomb if used would end Thunder Bluff, and if taken would spell a victory for the invaders. But Shandris had exposed herself, and without her Baine doubted the slowly crumbling, and outflanked Imperial army would be able to hold on. If he were to capture Shandris here the battle would effectively end.

As Baine raced for the archers he noted a Saber Cat darting forward towards the melee at the Zepplin wreckage. Acting swiftly Baine grabbed a stone off the ground and threw it. The rock soared and struck the cat in the eye causing it to rear back roaring in pain and allowing Baine to close the distance but soon he ducked under a arrow from Shandris' bow before swiping with his mace forcing the general to roll back off of her mount.

And then Shandris was on her feet drawing her bowstring slightly into a ready position squaring off with Baine. The general glared at the High Chieftain as Baine squared with her his mace ready. She took a step back and he a step forward.

"Shandris why did it have to be you? Are you doing this for Darnassus, for Revenge?!" The High Chieftain asked, his voice filled with sorrow and rage.

"For Darnassus, for the Kaldori... for the Alliance. No I'm doing this for all of Azeroth." Shandris answered fiercely, her bow still ready.

"For Azeroth? How can any of this be for Azeroth? Crops destroyed, people starved and killed, torture!" Baine shouted back in complaint as the rain began to pour as a heavy all drenching torrent and lightning and explosions cast deep, dark shadows across the battlefield which made the Kaldorei difficult to track.

"This war is a blight upon us all. If it doesn't end soon our enemies will find Azeroth easy pickings. Do you think as we are now we could have ever hoped to hold the Legion? What if the Scourge bring forth yet another new leader one more like Arthas, could we ever hope to stop them now? What about the next threats we are deliberately ignoring just to attack eachother?" Shandris questioned back her gaze focused squarely on Baine.

Baine could feel his hackles rise as he clutched the mace in his hand. "And that justifies all of this? The Tauren offered your people help, gave your people help, we never wanted this war!" Baine shouted back.

"And yet it happened!" Lightning bright and powerful drown the city in the darkest of shadows. "So long as Sylvanas is Warchief peace will be impossible, your people never actually pushed for peace! You followed her in her bids for power, you knew she was never one for peaceful resolutions between our peoples. Your people followed her to war, and cheered as she provided them easy victory after victory. They didn't protest her at any step except for when it suited you. Now you all are faced with the truth, this war is going to cost us all. Either Sylvanas comes to negotiate or everyone suffers." Shandris insisted still unmoving her bow still ready.

"You think this is for Peace? Then why not pursue peace Shandris? This is slaughter!" Baine protested stomping his foot.

"If we go to Sylvanas asking to negotiate she won't settle for anything less than than achieving an position of absolute dominance over the Alliance, she'll demand Ashenvale be given over in its entirety the Horde, She'll demand Stormwind and the Sentinels all disarm completely and stand at her mercy. It has to come from inside the Horde, otherwise any attempt at peace will be hollow at best." Shandris insisted.

"Then why all this? Why not talk to me?!" Baine demanded feeling his heart break as Shandris spoke.

"Because you stood by and let Darnassus burn. So long as Sylvanas is winning you will never act, your people don't care. Now they'll care because they and everyone else in the Horde will know the cost of victory. And once you act to stop her, we can be ready for what is to come. If I have to stain my hands with tactics and deals that I hate then so be it!" Shandris stated bitterly.

Baine sighed closing his eyes before looking back at Shandris "If you really think that... Then you are truly lost, and I'll bring you back to your senses." The High Chieftan then aimed his Mace at the Kaldorei before sliding into a stance ready to change.

"You say that now, but I'm not the one who has lost." Shandris then drew back and loosed the first arrow.