End of a Siege


Luthor Huss growled as the Horde's encirclement now tightened around his position. He and these Lightforged had fought until sunrise gathering every one of the scattered elements of the Imperial army to try and bring them to the Lightforged Beacon in order to evacuate from the city. Even so against the Horde mounting a successful rearguard was certainly difficult though in a twisted irony it was becoming clear to him that while mounting a rearguard was hard, the Horde blatantly didn't understand the concept either. If he had the manpower, cannons, or some men of strong enough faith he would have exploited the fact to bleed the Horde more while his men fell back.

But as it was each withdrawal was only possible by sacrifice. Thirty men sacrificed here, eighteen there, fourty to hold a street for enough time to pull back. And Luthor couldn't do anything more to help than coordinate these men as they slowly fell back, fighting and dying just so they could have a chance to run away through a portal of Daemonic looking creatures. Creatures whose powers and nature felt wrong, corrupt yet not chaotic, to the Warrior-Priest. Still even their words of praise and encouragement as he fought alongside them pricked at him, they were a threat to the faithful and to all of Sigmar's people even if they themselves didn't acknowledge the presence that lingered with them.

But Sigmar's will lead him to them, to save his men, likely to warn the Empire, and maybe to save them as well as Sigmar stood against all forces of corruption. So while his senses remained on edge around these Draenei, Luthor still relied on them, still planned with them and accepted their aid, suggestions and praise.

"Your warriors aren't holding and we cannot reinforce every line!" Vindicator Ralgala shouted to Luthor in the common tongue of Azeroth.

"So viel ist offensichtlich!... That much is obvious, we need to collapse the lines more rapidly than I thought more men are going to be left behind." And there was the painful reality, Luthor had sworn to Sigmar that he'd stand for the Man God's people, and now he was abandoning them in their hundreds, likely thousands. But if any were to survive then their sacrifices were neccesary.

It would not take long, especially with the nature of the Horde. Lone warriors blindly threw themselves into rapidly opening gaps in the Imperial lines, not just assassins but now warriors of their people while State Troopers died running to the inner circle now forming around the Lightforged Beacon. And as the ring of soldiers, hundreds packed into a tight space, formed a loose ring of Horde manifested about it casting magic, and throwing bombs into the soldiers.

Many died, others were wounded, and others saved by the magics of their Allies. But for as awful as the Horde's attacks were, in the close confines of the city crossbows, bows and handguns gave back to the Horde with just as much fury. Though with their organization crumbling, and their numbers thinned the Imperial Army's effectiveness was far less than what it should have been. Though Luthor couldn't quite care if they killed many more of the Horde, so long as the damned monsters were prevented from killing any more men, if just for moments more.

"Luthor, the Vindicaar is getting ready for a mass teleportation spell!" Vindicator Ralgala shouted over to the Warrior-Priest from where she stood by the beacon.

"Bring uns hier raus! (Well get us out of here!)" Luthor then stopped catching himself again and restating his demand. "What are they waiting for?"

After a moment a Hard faced Ralgala finally replied. "The teleport isn't going to get everyone and with such numbers who it will take up will be nearly random, we can only confirm who it won't take. The people who will be left will need to dash for and hold the Beacon." The Lightforged reported with a tone that was devoid of the typical panicked worry, but more sorrowful.

"Then whatever you do, I stay! I'm not leaving until I get everyone I can out and I give these twisted monsters a taste of Sigmar's wrath!" Luthor then shouted to the Draenei. After replying and while the Draenei was reinterpreting the Warrior-priest's statement for the Vindicaar, Luthor began reorganizing those soldiers closest to him. A inner circle of State Troops to make the final stand around the beacon.

The men were all wounded in one form or another, fear struck them all but faith and discipline held them strong. Their equipment was mismatched and anything resembling a proper formation was long forgotten as Luthor and their Sergeants didn't have time to organize the men any further. But Luthor just needed the shape of the formation and for the position to be obvious.

Once the men were ready Luthor turned to the Lightforged shouting back to the twelve warriors who were already moving to join Luthor's ring of troopers. "Do it!" The Warrior-Priest commanded which earned a smile and shake of the head from the Vindicator.

"They've already started, it will take a moment." Even as the Lightforged spoke flashes of light began to engulf the men of the Imperial army as rapid flashes nearly made the army into a blinding display of flashing light.

The display persisted for nearly a minute, blinding both State Trooper, Tauren Brave, Orc Grunt, Forsaken Rogue, and more alike. Once the light was gone and vision returned to those left behind the chaos began. Some State Troopers were left to stand alone, others in small groups and all of them facing down a Horde army that was swiftly realizing and taking their new advantage. Men died turning and fleeing to the the thinned and ragged circle of men that Luthor had prepared, their position made obvious by the Warrior-Priest and the twelve Lightforged who lined the circle as well.

As State Troops ran to join or get behind Luthor's defense club and spear weildingTrolls, axe armed Grunts, and all manner of vengeful Tauren clashed with Luthor's line. Yet despite being gorged, facing beasts five, ten, fifteen times their weight, and standing with far too few men at their sides the men of the Empire, bolstered by Luthor's faith and Sigmar's power alingside the Light of the Lightforged, held their ground by the slimmest of margins. Even as men died the lashed out to spite the beasts that tore them limb from limb.

Luthor roared into the face of a charging Tauren as the antlered minotaur-kin tried to bowl him over, instead the Priest's hammer connected with the monster's snout flattening it entirely. The brown furred monstrosity stopped its own charge staggering forward to the side and past Luthor as it's mind tried to catch up with the damage that was done, and then it died falling to the ground. Yet that success meant nothing as a spear struck Luthor nearly knocking the Warrior-Priest from his feet as the tusked and lanky Azerothean Troll behind it shouted some foul warcry.

In response however a glowing hammer took both tusks from the trolls face before a golden hammer was slammed into the face of the Troll burning it and caving its skull in simultaneously. All of this happening as Vindicator Ralgala stepped forward using her skill and power to support Luthor who silently stood preparing his hammer and striking down a over eager Orc. Magic, unnatural healing, and oversized projectiles of all shapes and forms soared into the Imperial State Troops or fueled the onslaught of the warriors of the Horde.

Yet, wounded, dying, terrified men of humanity by strength of discipline and faith held their ground. Driving back the frantic and disorganized rush of the Horde who were all as individuals trying to capitalize on the sudden confusion of the teleportation caused by the Lightforged, those who followed Luthor showed their worth to Sigmar even as they died, died standing futilely against a force they could have never stopped on their own, died lashing out against a fate more terrible than they could prevent, died delaying fate itself so others could live.

But while the men of the Empire, exhausted, spent from a month of a near siege, a day of battle, of climbing a steep slope, of matching their skill and steel against creatures vastly stronger than each and every one of them, while men of the Empire stayed their enemy's wrath, they were still dying. Those the teleportation left, even those who circled the beacon, few would live to escape this city. That much was obvious to Luthor Huss even as he deflected the axe of a Orc leaving it to Vindicator Ralgala while using his hammer head to flatten a small green goblin who sought to sneak past the the fighting pair.

"Men of the Empire! Sigmar wills that we stand! He demands death so men shall live! Make it these fools who die so we may live!" Luthor shouted, now free'd for a moment in the melee to shout his encouragement to the men. Vindicator Ralgala, as Luthor spread the courage of Sigmar to his men, finished off her Orc opponent, the Orc easy to strike down for a Lightforged of her skill and rank.

"Luthor, it's time!" Ralgala shouted to the Warrior-Priest now that both were unengaged. The Lightforged Vindicator in her blood speckled armor stepping towards Luthor and her hand clasping his shoulder.

Instead of answering the Lightforged of the Army of the Light suddenly grabbed Luthor's hammer shaft as she lifted Luthor off the ground and started to run toward the Lightforged Beacon. The man first was stunned but began to struggle fiercely, there was no way he would leave his men and instead she was kidnapping him from the battle. As Luthor struggled the pair stepped into the beacon and for a moment with wordless shouts of imputent fury they were blinded by a flash of light before in a instant they were aboard the Vindicaar once again.

Luthor raged, but there was now nothing he could do, he had now knowledge of the corrupt spell that had taken him, and saved so many Imperial men, from the battlefield. So while filled with fury, Luthor simply stood there watching the portal and the very few men who would in flashes appear. For minutes the man could only watch as men stumbled through, some even with weapons of the Horde embedded in their backs as they came through. And then the eleventh of the twelve Lightforged stepped through the portal shaking his head and a moment later the portal's light entirely ceased. The last man to escape from Thunder Bluff stumbled through the portal a second before the light ceased, his neck open and bleeding profusely.

How many hundred, how many thousands of men were left to die? And these Lightforged looked expectant, as if they deserved praise beyond what they were already given. Luthor would not give them it, now he needed to return to the Empire, bow he needed to bring those men with him home. Sigmar's blessed will guided Luthor, and nothing would keep him from serving his God's command.


Baine Bloodhoof allowed himself to collapse into a seated position as he looked out over Mulgore. It would take months to fix the immediate damages, and years to repair the long term. Thirty thousand humans descended upon the land like locusts, crops were harvested early, certainly the land was then salted or in other ways spoiled, and the noble beasts of the land were hunted, maybe some to near extinction, at least within the borders of Mulgore. They would have to inspect every well and purify them if needed, all the farm land needed to be retreated, reseeded and tended to, and the beasts of Mulgore would need to be calmed and returend back to balance with the land.

"After everything perhaps the worst blow they delivered to us was simply being here." Baine mused to himself as he looked out over Mulgore in the rising light of day.

With the Empire either broken and running, fighting in swiftly collapsing pockets, or dead, the state of the land and the remains and scope of their camps was now more visible to the High Chieftain. The Imperial camps were still smoldering and left in almost absolute ruins. The land under them was either blackened by the fires of retribution that Sylvanas had unleashed, or brown after the Imperials had churned the earth killing life and turning the land to mud and dust.

"You seem lost in contemplation Baine. Don't tell me that this attack has you questioning your abilities." Baine tensed, of course Sylvanas would be in Thunder Bluff, soon every leader would be gathering here both those who played a role, and those who will try to steal some of the accomplishment for themselves.

"What do you want Sylvanas?" Baine had no patience for political games, he had a land to heal, people to sooth, funeral rites to attend to.

"I came to ask you to give Magatha Grimtotem temporary stay of her exile. At least long enough for her to leave Mulgore. She refuses to take a step off of the Queen's Arm without your express permission." Sylvanna stated as she stepped past Baine to bask in the light of the rising sun.

"You brought her? Here!?" Baine waa nearly baying at Sylvanas with his outrage, yet he didn't move from where he was seated and the Warchief of the Horde turned lackadaisically to him before frowning at the High Chieftain of Mulgore.

"Maybe you should think of thanking her first. She knew the risk, but insisted on coming to Mulgore's defense anyways. If I.had delayed, right now i'd be retaking Thunder Bluff, or just bombing it to eradicate the Imperial Army rather than standing here talking to you now." Sylvanas tone one set on admonishing Baine, while her expression practically mocked the Tauren leader.

However there was a single detail that caught the Chieftain. "So you would have destroyed Thunder Bluff for a easy victory?" Baine questioned.

"It's war, and the enemy seeks either our abaolute subjugation or our annihilation, I would do anything to spare our people such fates." Sylvanas countered.

"By making such questionable allies? By burning Teldrassil? Sylvanas they came here making this attack because of what you did!" Baine now stood towering over the Warchief.

"They ALWAYS would have come for you. It wasn't a matter of if but when. But with our victory here, and our allies..." Sylvanas stopped her arms where outstretched as her eyes burned into Baine's.

"...the Alliance has always favored capitulation to the will of the most powerful. We will finally take that spot rather than leaving it in the hands of spoiled brats who never see the consequences of their actions until after thousands have died." Now Sylvanas voice was more level, her tone resolved and unflinching.

"You have to let that go Sylvanas." Baine answered the Warchief while stepping back.

"Never." Sylvanas eyes flashed before she released a breath relaxing herself. "Now does Magatha have your permission to pass through Mulgore?"

Baine bristled at the Warchief's question, he despised Magatha, everything she had ever tried, the death of his father, the attempts on his own life and the deaths of so many Tauren. Magatha could never pay enough to make up for all she had done to the Tauren. But, to foster hate in such a manner was surely wrong. "Yes...but only to leave Mulgore, if she tries to stay for a moment more I will kill her."

Sylvanas shrugged with a smile, clearly happy with Baine's concession. "Good enough. Now we have to prepare. You people, the Horde in its entirety need to hear the way forward from this battle. The good news of our victory and how we will take all of our people into the future. There are undoubtedly Tauren we wish to return home now that this is all over."

Baine clenched his fist. There were still losses to be addressed. Mayla, and so many more, but Sylvanas wanted to use them now as political tools. Still his people needed good news, needed to press on, and needed motivation to rebuild. Even if it played into Sylvanas hands, it was what was best for the Tauren.

"My people need to rebuild Sylvanas, we've lost so much. Please..." Baine began but the Warchief stopped him.

"I understand. Rebuild, the Horde needs Mulgore's food more than they need Tauren at the front lines. Just don't deny your people the retribution they seek." Baine stayed quiet with that, if that was how Sylvanas would want to play it, he'd let her play her game like this.

"Would you agree Baine?" Sylvanas voice was level and calm, but her threat was clear. Sure she didn't pull any weapons, but Baine felt as in danger now as any time in the last month whenever a Imperial aimed their weapons his way.

"I agree, but for General Shandris, the Night Elves this is just the beginning of their revenge. If you continue on this path, it will only get worse." Baine offered, still trying to dissuade Sylvanas from her path.

"Once the Alliance breaks and capitulates, there is nothing the Kaldorei will be able to do. I just need to make my move before any of them do, and with some recent events, I feel we will be able to force the point well before the Kaldorei try anything else." Sylvanas confidence was enough to make Baine sick, but he just stood resolute.

"Then the war will always persist." Baine insisted.

"Then the Horde will persist rather than be subsumed. Even if it's through ceaseless war, I'll never let us be slaves." Sylvanas answered.

Of course they wouldn't see eye to eye. But now was no longer time to fight. Now was the time for Mulgore to heal, so Baine relented, after all there was no point so long as Sylvanas held the power that she did. So Baine just silently followed after the Banshee Queen, for now they'd present a united front to the people rather than sow division and spur more suffering among the people. Still plans to try and contact the Alliance, start some sort of negotiations were already passing the High Chieftain's mind.


The men marched in silence, every step careful while wary eyes looked every direction for a possible attack. Sudden fliers had launched an unexpected ambush of one of the columns already, but Elspeth's magic, and the intervention of harpies of all beings had saved the Men of Wissenland. Still fortune could turn on them any moment.

The trail itself was treacherous, one outrider had already fallen to his death as the ground gave way claiming him and his horse. Another twenty men died when a loud cracked caused a rockslide that claimed their entire group. Still more were suffering and might yet die from hunger and cold. Yet for each difficulty they encountered, Elspeth was able to create a solution, or a glimmer of hope could draw the men forward.

For Elspeth she knew she needed these men. Her reputation would be in ruin if she couldn't bring back her men alive, and if there was to be any more conflict with the Horde she would certainly need the guns of the Iron Companies. It certainly would take them days and perhaps hundreds of casualties, but Elspeth knew she could get her men back to the portal with little difficulty, barring any battle of course.

"Lady Elspeth. The men are grumbling. These trails are dangerous, it's like trying to pass the world's edge mountains without the approval of the Dwarfs." At Elspeth's side Jubal Falk relayed his warning to her with a hushed tone.

"Let them know that this is for the Empire, that we march home at full pace so as to deliver our warning." The Graveyard Rose ordered, her own hiking and riding exhausting the woman.

"I know, but some of them are insisting that we should have marched south." Jubal responded earning a frowning glare from Elspeth.

"Well invite them to turn back, and remind them of the Army that was waiting for us before This is our safest route. Once we're free of these Horde barbarians things should become much more relaxed and the journey should become much more bearable." Elspeth responded with a clipped, resolute tone.

"Yes my lady." And Jubal was off. Even the threat of mutiny plagued their retreat, but against all odds Elspeth was pushing forward successfully. She had reports to deliver, and further secrets of this world to simply hypothesize about.


The head of SI:7, Mathias Shaw sighed as he sat at his desk. His hands brushed through his hair as he looked at the report on his desk. He knew that this would happen, he tried to warn King Anduin, Genn Greymane, anyone who would listen to him. And yet nothing was done to prepare for this eventuality.

"And they're not even here when it matters. By the friggin Light, we needed a solution to these problems a month ago." Mathias complained as he shifted through the papers.

And again Mathias looked down at the list. Shandris was wounded, her soul itself was damaged, and she might as well have been dead. Tess Greymane was unconfirmed, she reportedly escaped but the head of SI:7 did not yet have confirmation on her status or her return to Alliance territory. Tess was a decent agent, but of couse as the Princess and heir to Gilneas taking such unnecessary risks was something Mathias Shaw couldn't overlook or tolerate, not anymore.

Lorna Crowley was confirmed, alive and relatively safe with what was to be assumed to be the largest group of Imperial survivors traveling south. It would take Mathias time and work, and would need to be his immediate focus, but estimates showed that they were retreating to Theramor where if he could get a fleet to them, then he could evacuate them from central Kalimdor before any other Horde forces could overwhelm them.

"Get me in touch with Jes-Tereth, we have ships she must divert!" Mathias shouted out from his office before a feminine voice shouted back.

"On it, I'll have her reply in the hour!"

"Thirty minutes!" Mathias instead insisted and soon he heard the front door slamming as the aid went running out.

And with his aid gone Mathias Shaw went back to tbe reports. The estimates were rough. Over four thousand Imperial soldiers were alive marching to Theramor with the Gilneans under Lorna Crowley, just over a thousand more survived thanks to the Army of the Light evacuating them from the city, leaving the only mystery being the forces that fled into the mountains, who somehow were avoiding even the Horde's pursuit and monitoring. Anything from between six to nine thousand Imperials had survived from initial estimates.

The Horde were still tallying their own casualties, but an gnome analyst estimated little more than ten Horde thousand casualties, both warriors and civilians, had died by the hands of the Imperial army. The Imperial army had unleashed themselves like a swarm of locusts on Mulgore and they had in a cold and calculated manner extracted a rather disturbing toll against the Tauren.

But the cost of the assault, Mathias doubted the invasion would pan out. It was now all up to how Baine, the Tauren and the Horde would respond to the attack that would determine if it was the blow Shandris had promised it to be, or if the whole endeavor was little more than a waste of lives and resources.

Still Shandris had been more or less right on one aspect. The Alliance needed the Empire if they wanted to win this war, Von Carsten plots had finally seen those Vampires committed to the war on the side of the Horde, and the new waves of Undead, and the powerful Vampires themselves were in some ways worse than the Skaven who fought alongside the Horde since the beginning of the war. Swarms of skeletons and dead either taken from the world of Mallus, or stolen from graveyards on Azeroth locked the Alliance's armies in place while the Horde's elites and the Vampires punched through Alliance lines. At the rate the war was proceeding, the Horde might break and take Stormgarde and push into the Wetlands, putting Ironforge into striking distance.

If the Horde could somehow take Ironforge, after everything that has happened, the Alliance leadership might actually push for a negotiated surrender. Something that with all the Intel Mathias had, they couldn't afford to do. Between the Vampires and the Skaven, even if Sylvanas didn't make the demands Mathias suspected she would, the entire would of Azeroth would be set up for far worse if they allowed the Skaven and Vampires unregulated access to their world and to settle in the Alliancl's lands, which would surely come with a Horde victory.

Still Mathias continued to go over the data and estimates of all the reports. He searched for falsified information, and tried to devise if there were any secrets being kept from him, and thus the Alliance in the reports. The smallest details could soon set forth the chain of events which would spell victory or defeat for the Alliance. And at the core of it all was the civilizations of Mallus, the siege of Mulgore, and Jaina Proudmoore.

As Mathias worked eventually a door opened and soon there was a knock on the door to his office. "Sir, Grand Admiral Jes-Tereth is here to see you." The voice of the spymaster's aid stated through the door.

"Come in." Mathias ordered, already organizing his papers to be ready for the Grand Admiral. Honestly Jes-Tereth was a unfortunately forgettable woman, lovely, but looking more like the spoiled bride of some noble rather than the hardened ship captain and world's best helmsman she actually was.

"Your aid just came to me with a rather interesting request, Shaw. She wanted me to move a fleet out of position and possibly delay a vital naval invasion, for the sake of non-aligned personnel. In the middle of a war." The Grand Admiral stated while taking her seat across from the SI:7 spymaster.

"Save it, you know those men are as much a part of this war, and on our side as the Kul Tirans are claiming to be." Mathias stated sliding a report package containing all the information he had on the Kul Tiran fleet, and the few small flotillas that they had which for one reason or another were also technically out of place.

"At least Kul Tiras is part of the Alliance. It would do us horrible to leave them to fend for themselves once again so shortly after they rejoined the Alliance." The Grand Admiral proclaimed much to Mathias' annoyance.

"Save that for the nobles backing your fleet projects. You know as well as I do that Should things go well we might have the Empire actually join our side on this war, if not sign onto the Alliance all together." Another folder, this one with a short summery of Anduin's diplomatic plans, and a geopolitical map of Mallus' 'Old World' or Alte Welt in Reikspiel.

"And what does our transporting these men actually gain the Alliance? I'll be putting a fleet at risk, and for what?" And there is the heart of the matter.

"Unlike Kul Tiras the Empire doesn't have much stake in this war. Those men have fought for us and alongside of us. They could make bringing the Empire into the war easier." Mathias explained.

"The Empire whose army was scattered by a fragment of the Horde's Skyfleet." Of course Jes-Tereth would be difficult.

"You know what damage the Skaven and the Vampires have been reaping against our armies on land Admiral. The Empire is mostly a landlocked nation if thirty thousand men was all they could muster the Vampires and the Skaven would have overrun them long ago. This army might have been a legitimate commitment by them, but it was probably done so their Emperor could test the waters so to say." As Mathias spoke he pulled out some of his more dubious documents reports from Altdorf.

"So all of this is just a show so they can decide if they want to support us or not?" Jes-Tereth sounded disbelieving but still curious.

"Yes, that's more or less what the Von Carsten's did as well. Thats why they sent their own even here to Stormwind. They were still trying to determine who to back. We have an advantage in earning the Empire's support, but as these Celestial Dragons are showing us, the political scene of Mallus is far less cut and dry than we would hope for." Mathias stated while steepleing his fingers.

"Now if you could convince these men to join our invasion, that might be great. If not, their safe return to Mallus and the Empire will go a long way towards achieving Anduin's goal." As he spoke Mathias noted the look on Jes-Tereth's face, mentioning Anduin obviously was a good motivator for her, the King had the woman's undivided loyalty.

"What is coming next though?" The Grand Admiral asked.

In response Mathias pulled out his last envelope. "If the Empire joins we can check the Vampires, maybe even counter invade, if we can remove the Trolls, then that puts the Horde back at square one but with a food shortage to worry about. The more allies we can get regardless of their power, the more we can tip the scales in our favor."

The door to the spymaster's office burst open. "Mathias! Sir you're not going to believe this, a Dragon just showed up at the castle demanding audience with Anduin!"


Reviews:

Guest 1: Pretty good summery, one little detail for everyone, this is while the overall war is taking place, so a lot of Mulgore's reserves they'd normally call upon are too busy dying pointlessly to Sylvanas' Blight weapons (seriously most pointless fucking tactic ever Sylvanas you knew Anduin and co could teleport). So they had some indirect benefits from the Alliance but otherwise semi-indepently they were rather successful. If the Empire could muster up another such force that's actually fully supported and has leaders accustomed to how things on Azeroth are they'd probably make for a very impactful support to the Alliance.

Guest 2: But a victory at what cost and is the cost of troop displacement, materials and food worth more than what the Empire lost? Those are the real questions that can determine a war, and if a nation either in reality doesn't have those resources to spare, or the willpower to sacrifice more then they can keep getting Ws and still lose. For example the first punic war.

Dragon King of the West: Its like this end phase of thr siege is actually a messy and chaotic affair and not the clean Hollywood "and then all the fighting stopped as the other side just surrendered/phantom menace'd and the good guys lived happily ever after". Just getting the individual fallout and then the greater scale fallout has been hard enough to imagine and calculate.

JiggyliFAP: So I'll try to keep everything short. But one quick tangent, one detail that's good to operate with is No String PRD's the Epistemology of Fiction, particularly when it comes to corporate products like Warhammer, the -craft franchises, etcetera.

But I'm sort of laying out the firm "resist" vs the light, because all the ideologies of Mallus are set against such subversive entities, I mean chaos doesn't come in as "and now you eat your baby" but "and now you gain the ability to paint art that truly moves and inspires others even giving them motivation to live on and be prosperous" I mean Khorne in his own twisted way treats PTSD.

But Gnomes having weapons that CAN cut through armor...and "formations are usless, WoW so powerful" I'm always slamming my head on the table because it's about the intenral consistency first. yeah Orcs can kill in a single hit, as they should even against Azerothean humans in unbreakabilium imortallium armor considering the "and i throw a mountain with one hand" absurd uper scale certain Internet Blizz fanboys insist on, but practicality isn't necessarily a thing for Blizzard races and they routinely shoot themselves in the foot on that regard (a common thing for most the "most powerful" fictions out there...glaring at you star trek)

Northwatch doesn't have the facilities to embark an army in a timely manner, and right across the bay lays Durotaur a hostile enemy nation that can attack at any moment. Northwatch can recieve supplies easily enough but unless WoW has Trek's "fuck science and fuck being creative" teleporter tech there's far too much risk in going to Northwatch as opposed to visiting the still servicable docks in theramor (seriously the Jaina Warbringers Cutscene those docks might be abandoned but they're still 70-90% serviceable... but enough of me calling out Blizzard for their routine of saying one thing, then doing or showing something different entirely...Overwatch 2 PvE)

It is a sad loss for Aethalas, but as for the Sentinels, they might be part of the Sisterhood, but that doesn't make them Priestesses, the Wardens honestly should have more claim to starfall as they have more confirmed former/current priestesses in their ranks. But certainly in the RPG shoulda given them more magic arrows.

Again that WoW Necromancy vs Warhammer Necromancy, where WoW the soul might as well just be energy in a battery, a material object that is quantified. Remember the big selling point that convinced Kel'Thuzad to join the Scourge was watching a wife turned undead and controlled into murdering her husband, while still consciously aware, and note that the Forsaken's method is highly hit or miss with Lilian Voss being an exception not the norm.

Which is why I say that Warhammer Necromancy is """more energy efficient""" its magic that animates and controls the body of the puppet, rather than the particular soul of the living individual, they just use whatever soul fragments are on hand, unless they want a particular Undead then more precise rituals are needed. Also sort of a WTF for WoW since their Necromancy sort of flies in the face of the functionality of the Shadowlands, I mean gorgeous thighs... I mean Sally Whitemane was most certainly was a prisoner of Revendreth if not in the 'inescapable' maw.

Ironically Warhammer still cannonically has its own light god(s? plural bit is still iffy) who share a lot of traits with the more negative Light Groups, ironically still not as bad as them, but probably would be if GW approved giving them the spotlight.

part 2, or in other words, your second review: Oh you know they'll gloat at the High Elf traders and Marienburg. After all the Portal in many ways could be a huge turnaround for the Empire since Marienburg leaving the Empire is probably the single biggest blow the Empire could have realistically ever suffered.

Weak human stock, and a few dozen IQ points added to their gene pool. Though Honestly I don't see Azerothean humans being that strong, but i live around farmers who with half the BMI have done greater feats of strength than the WoW peasants, so i attribute that more to Blizzard's aesthetics, such as their insistance on women having perfect asses that even fellow women drool over, more than anything else.

As for Aleksandr, actually that's covered in ulrika the vampire, they wouldn't be "free", they would be free of him, but uless they gain enough independent power, or have another bloodline muddy their blood, they'd still be stuck under the Von Carsten's hierarchy and be compelled to follow the rule of those at the top. Think of it loosely like the Tal'darim's chain of ascention in SC2.

That is if Demon Hunters can see the winds or aren't blinded by the winds, which no they likely wouldn't get blinded and probably can see the winds so they'd make for great Vampire Hunters and they'd probably be able to overpower a, lets call it "middle aged" vampire.

Part the third, or in other words, your response to others: Poisoning wells isn't a tactic meant to "kill societies" its a tactic meant to force the other side to use resources/manpower/time fixing the problem, which with how short term WoW does everything in, even the five minutes a druid would have to spend fixing a well is a guantee of the Alliance victory with 1000% horde casualties on the front line, and yes more than 10 times the horde population dies on the front lines each war because Blizzard is just that great of authors...how is it that i can love SC story so much that despite despising SC1's gameplay with all my being I still paly it for the story, yet they can't share even a drop of that skill and ability with WoW's story?

But the Warlocks in general are probably keeping a low profile, because if the Legion was even 1/1,000,000,000,000,000th as bad as the BS made them out to be, then everyone on Azeroth at least knows one person who was smashed, beheaded, torched, or otherwise brutally murdered last year, and they wouldn't tolerate a reminder of that. Seriously every time I look into Legion, I get as much disappointment as Communists had with the Chinese military's performance in 1979 being held off by a bunch of reservists and militia.

Hakuryuu: So many questions, and so many factors to consider, from local politics to national to international.

Ravenguard0009: All thats so full and contemplative, that all I can answer is at the end, about a month.

ScruffinMcguffin: Lead poisoning isn't Nurgle, but if it brings about infection Nurgle can use it. Just like how, just because your fighting doesn't automatically make you a devotee of Khonre... but even then the wind that would be involved isn't associated with Nurgle.

BloodRedRoses11: Mantid are awesome, a copy paste of the Zerg and Primal Zerg (shhhh don't tell the wow fans) but still very awesome and one of the few moments where my friend actually had me near convinced that WoW had started to do good writing...and then WoD and later Legion concluded with the Legion having achieved...nothing but killing a named character or two... whooOooOoOOooOOooo so evil and destructive they achieved drastically less than a single mad dragon.

As Baine and Sylvanas talk about captives, Eitrigg is just in the background trying not to explode.