Maulbane woke up early and was ready to take the decently long ride back to the outpost. Goretusk, having had a tiring day, was not as ready, but got up nonetheless. Gladestomp - who had until now been ignored - was impatiently grunting, wanting to get back to the grassy meadows, hills and blue fluffy skies of Mulgore, and Maulbane understood, considering the large kodo had been confined to the camp and surrounding jungle for at least two weeks, living on the tasteless grass and plants in the area.
The massive creature was like a dinosaur, with a gigantic and prehistoric frame, which was covered in extremely thick, brown leather (with creamy spots). He had a tail about as long as his body, and two large horns that looked like the kind you find on deer, crowning his head. You could probably fit about three Taurens on a kodo's back, without gear. Not only were they large, they had extreme endurance and strength, able to carry packs as heavy as them, even sometimes more. Back at the camp, with Gladestomp still complaining, Maulbane packed up all his gear, put it into the large bags and sacks hanging from Gladestomp's side, and hopped onto the large mount with Goretusk and pulled on the reins.
They headed for the road, making more sound than they had earlier in the week. For probably the first time Maulbane didn't drift off into his own thoughts, concentrating on the reins and keeping Goretusk's sharp little tusks from jabbing into his back. They passed many trees, vines and some troll ruins (Maulbane would have even slowed down and explored for a while, had there not been a group of bloodscalp trolls there) and would have gotten into more than a large bit of danger with a tribe of ogres (which were rather too close to the road for his liking) if he didn't speed up before one of their lookouts spotted him. Apart from those few problems, being on the road was much better than roughing it in the jungle, where worse things hide in the shadows. He arrived at the outpost at high noon with equally high spirits, because this was the first time in weeks he had been near civilization. The outpost itself was on the outside a rather messy group of structures, about five buildings surrounded by a huge palisade, about as high as a house's roof. The only buildings inside the base Maulbane cared about were the zeppelin tower and the guard room. The guards standing outside the front entrance recognized him, saving the weary hunter a long explanation. He had already waited two weeks, and he didn't want to waste any more time, so he went straight to the guard captain, who was enjoying a nice lie down on a wooden chair.
He was annoyed to have been woken up, but then he noticed who was talking to him, and calmed down. Maulbane quickly told him that he had completed the task, and handed him the fang for proof, and then the guard captain (Maulbane never caught his name, which doesn't happen much for him) smiled, thanked him and handed him his reward: twenty gold coins. It doesn't seem like much, but if 50 copper coins (which is half a silver coin, and it takes 100 silver coins to make up a gold coin) buys 20 pieces of decent food, imagine what twenty gold coins could buy you. He was happy with his reward, but by now really wanted to get home and, well, relax.
It had been so long in Stranglethorn he barely remembered why he came here in the first place, it may have been something to do with goblins. Anyways, it didn't matter because his helium-filled ticket out of the dense jungle was right in from of him. The zeppelin had arrived just over an hour ago, and was leaving in a few minutes. He would have liked to hang around the Stranglethorn coast for a while, because it had some of the best beaches on the entire continent (if you can get around the Crocolisks) He didn't waste time briskly walking up the stairs to the top of the zeppelin tower, which was a long way, with Goretusk at his heels. The gigantic flying machine was impressive to behold: Kind of like a cruise boat for the air.
It had four levels inside it, first was the deck, with all the eating and drinking facilities, and many spots to relax. Second was where all the passengers were accommodated, with one large corridor with many cabins alongside it (about twenty). The third was the engine rooms, filled with machinery and of course many, many goblins. The fourth level of the craft was a cargo hold and stables, with many boxes of miscellaneous items.
Gladestomp fit snugly into the cargo hold, with a big bale of hay to chew on for the boring two days flight over the sea to his favourite continent, Kalimdor, and Maulbane found a small room for himself, where he put his things. He took off his armour for the first time since he arrived (when you're a hunter and sleeping in the jungle, you never leave anything to chance) and fell into a nice, cosy sleep.