Morning arrived, and they were half way through their trip on the zeppelin. Maulbane briefly considered that he had an entire day's worth of time to kill and almost nothing to do, when he heard what had woke him up.

Raucous laughter was coming from the deck of the large zeppelin, and Maulbane walked up to meet whoever was having such a great time. The origin of the laughter was an orc (exactly what you would expect from the word orc: Green skin and a rough face, orcs were about a centimetre below the height of your average human, but were wider (with the obvious build of a warrior, broad shoulders and that battle-worn look you only find on people that fought for a living)) and a tall (even for their kind, about seven and a half feet) troll, with bluish skin and two nasty tusks jutting out of either side of his mouth that curled upwards (like Goretusk's), laughing at some of their home-grown jokes they were sharing. While the crew of the zeppelin (all goblins) were grumpy, and the booming laughter wasn't helping their headaches, Maulbane had had a decently lonely and serious time out in the wilderness and walked over, eager to introduce himself.

He sat himself down next to the two, and about ten seconds later the troll noticed him."Who you be, 'Mon?" said the troll with a deep accent (A deep Jamaican accent, at least it would be called that if the book was based on earth).

"I'm Maulbane, who are you?"

"I'm Kavijin and my friend ova' here is Kor'La."

"Kor'La is a pretty unique name" Maulbane thought out loud.

"Well I've never heard of a Tauren named Maulbane, so I guess you two are alike!"

The three burst into laughter, the goblins wincing even harder thanks to the addition of a loud Tauren to the chorus. As the laughter subsided, the orc, Kor'La, spoke up.

"Hey, Hunter. Have you been doing any work for Nesingwary?"

"Huh?"

"I already know you're a hunter, it's a bit obvious by the way you dress."

"Oh, right... No, I did a small job at Grom'Gol."

"Ooooh... Right... Okay, then""Why do you ask anyways?"

"It's just because most of the hunters around here have been flocking to his camp, I don't know what for, it must be pretty big."

Maulbane heard this, and if he had decided to go back to Stranglethorn in search of this prize, the story would have turned out differently. But as it happens, he thought it over and decided against it, which may have been either a turn for the better, or a turn for the worse.

"So, what do you think?"

"Sounds good, but I'll have to say no."

"Okay Mon', if ya' sure."

"Anyways, where are you headed to?" Maulbane changed the subject.

"We're both going to Durotar, friends and family, et cetera. What about you?"

"Same thing, except not so much the family part."

"Why not? I thought you Taurens were into the whole family thing."

"I don't have many relatives, if that's what you mean""Mmm... Okay."

It seems three goblins were drawing straws or playing rock-paper-scissors in the background, and then a slightly nervous one walked over to the trio.

"Erm... Uuuh..."

"Spit it out already!"

"Err ... Captain says deck's closing."

"What! You have it wrong, we were up here all night last time we had a zeppelin trip" "Uh ... Sorry ..."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, we're staying up here!"

Kor'La was getting irritated, because he knew the goblins wanted them off the deck because they didn't like their noise.

"No can do, Sir."

"What do you mean, no can do?"The goblin gulped "By that, I mean you're going to have to leave one way or another."

Kavijin swung around and grabbed the new sweaty goblin by his collar and said in a low, dark voice "are you trying to intimidate us, little goblin?"

"No, o-o-of course not!"

The troll instantly changed his mood comically into a bright and cheery one.

"Oh, that's fine 'den! In dat case I'll have me another one of those tankards of gorlok brew, if dat's okay wit' ya."

"Of course sir! Right away sir!"

As the goblin scurried away and began to fill up a tankard with the drink, Maulbane noticed Kor'La and Kavijin were attempting (and failing) to hold in their laughter. A few seconds later they gave in, booming chuckles filling the air once again.

"That was great!" said the orc (between howls of laughter).

"It's all in part o' da' job of being a troll, you gotta be mean sometimes!" replied Kavijin, also between snorts and giggles. Maulbane felt like he was already gaining two new friends, and friends were great to have, and not only for telling jokes to.

"Hey Maulbane, is that your pig?" Kor'La asked.

"It's a boar, and yes... Why?"

"He's about to be taught how to fly by the goblins" Oh no. The goblins must have mistaken him for a stowaway, and they were about to throw him overboard. The group of goblins who were trying to dodge the boar's flailing limbs and chuck it over the edge of the zeppelin were not ready for the gigantic, furious Tauren charging towards them.

They dropped Goretusk and began cowering (A goblin trait), but nothing happened. They looked hesitantly to where the Tauren was coming from and only saw the large hunter walking back to his chair with the boar walking right beside him. They got up, angry and confused at what just happened, but decided to drop it, because considering they thought they were about to die a moment ago, things had turned out more than slightly better for them than planned.

When Maulbane sat down again, he resettled into his jovial mood.

"Hey, I just thought of something"

Kor'La started the conversation.

"What would that be?" Maulbane asked.

"Actually, never mind, it's a stupid idea."

"Aw come on, now ya' got us interested."

"Okay, fine... I think the three of us should go to blackrock mountain, I've heard of the loot there and I know a lot of people who need adventurers like us to -"

"Are you crazy, 'Mon?! That place is scary enough from the outside, you will Neva' get this troll anywhere near the place."

"It's not that bad, you wimp. With the three of us, we can easily take them!"

"Oh yeah, I believe ya, Mon. And by that, I bein' sarc-sa-umm... What's 'dat word again?"

"It's sarcastic, and I agree with Kavijin here, that place is a bit out of our league" Maulbane voiced his opinion

"See, Mon'? Even big and beefy (Maulbane winced at that) here agrees with me"

"I still think we can take those dark iron dwarves, they can't be that strong, they're only about a meter high"

"Trust me, they're tougher on the inside" Maulbane had fought dwarves before, they had some kind of inner strength and didn't match their physical size.

"Humph"

"Aww come on Mon', don't get all grumpy"

"I'm not..."

"Are so"

"Anyways... I'm tired, I'm going to head to my room for the rest of the night.

"Okay, see ya'" And so as the day ended, all three decided to go to their bunks, though they all had many thoughts burdening them, perhaps a condition caught from Maulbane? As their eyes close slowly, so does this chapter close, the trio ready for another day.