Movement of War

The town of Brill was famed in the Eastern Kingdoms, it is where the Plague of Undeath first began to rampage Lordaeron eventually snowballing into an unstoppable force which would go on to threaten to take all of Stratholme. If the Undead of Brill and Andorhal under Dreadlord Mal'Ganis had been able to add all of Stratholme to their ranks rumors claimed that then the Plague of Undeath would have been unstoppable and Stromgrade would have also fallen even resulting in the invasion of Ironforge or beyond before the Lich King and the Burning Legion could be stopped. Since then Brill had become a center for the Forsaken a crossroad between cities under their control as well as forts and various bases.

None of that mattered, the place looked stupid, and Thanquol's head hurt too much to care as the stupid Undead-thing rattled off the trival man-thing history at him. Brill was nothing but a wallless man thing village whose ruins housed a central dead-thing encampment complete with small walls and of course full of stupid dead things. If Thanquol didn't have his past experience working with Man-thing slaves and... not-slaves but servants, then he certainly would have been taking flight from all the odd and stupid things he was seeing. Not because how odd and unfamiliar and uncomfortavle they were scared him of course, but simply out of embarrassment for them for being... so inferior to greater Skaven societies.

Here on Azeroth all these dead things were Thanquol's own servants after all he knew how the man-thing tokens worked, and so long as he kept up a healthy stockpile of them, particularly the yellowish ones, these stupid things would do plenty to try to apease his glorious self. Much like the Headman and the 'Adventurers' who were accompanying him and using their large bodies to add a layer of meat between his couple dozen body guards and the rest of this stupid world.

"Thanks to that, Brill has remained out of the control of anyone else but the Forsaken and has allowed our sphere of influence to continue to spread throughout the glades. You and I can easily coordinate all our military forces from inside the town..." The dead exe-something-or-another thing rambled only for Thanquol to cut off it's pointless speaking.

"Yes-yes, now where my den need safe place to plan-scheme for our event...urp!" The Grey Seer of the Council of Thirteen, the Horned Rat's chosen stopped mid-squeak-command at the Dead-thing servant to suddenly vomit out more of the disgusting blue liquid the Headman had given him earlier.

The Headman had dared think this, 'mana', would be a good substitute for warp dust and even tried to make him pay for the disgusting liquid. It tasted terrible and worse yet it only made Thanquol's stomach hurt. He had nearly killed the Headman for attempting to poison him, but then the Orc-thing Bathol had drunk some of the same potion proving that it wasn't poison instead insisting that the drink was some form of magical reserve. The odd tingling in Thanquol's stomach even now hadn't gone away, and his headache was as ever persistent as it was the day before and the day before that.

After that the Headman had mentioned something about Fel, but then this other undead wanted to 'welcome' Thanquol to Brill.

Just as annoying this damn thing insisted on speaking some other 'orcish' language that apparently was supposed to be the most widely understood language in the Horde. Thanquol refused to ever lower himself down to being the same as some filthy greenskin so of course this meant he had to use the 'translation stone' that Sylvanas had been giving to the Skaven in her court.

Thanquol hated the stone, the double voice effect it put onto others hurt his head even more, and every time it was powered with his most minute use of his divinely gifted, unstoppable power, the damn thing allowed yet another voice to come through a voice any lesser being was justified in being afraid of. But of course that most certainly Thanquol, brave all knowing Thanquol, certainly did not spray the musk of fear hearing...he'd have to beat one of his guards for spraying such a musk on him, for no reason, later.

"Speak MY name upon the layline, bring me into this world rat and I will leave your enemies as a ocean of blood before you. This is my pact little one, deny my gift and I will claim your skull!" The voice shouted with the sound of thousands of rats squeak-screaming in terror. No matter what that Daemon shouted Thanquol knew better than to ever call upon the likes of Skarbrand unless the situation was so dire he knew his own death was inevitable, but he also knew how flippent these Daemons were, already Skarbrand had added an additional term, now he had to be over a layline, something hard enough to find already.

But with a shake of his head the self proclaimed greatest of the Grey Seers returned his focus to the town that was supposed to serve as his headquarters. It was several hours walk from the gates of Lordaeron City. Placing Thanquol just distant enough to start hos schemes. Though first he would need his warp dust, though now he could put in schemes to acquire some more by less savory methods, and get some well deserved revenge while he was at it.

Eventually they were lead into Brill by the Undead-thing and Thanquol turned to their guide. "Where room?" He demanded of the guide who took the Rat into the city hall. Inside a segment of the city hall had been converted into a strategic center for planning the defense of Lordaeron, and there was further away a side room that had been prepared for Thanquol to stay in, as well as rooms in the in for Thaquol's servants or whatever the Undead-thing called them all by that point the Grey Seer was no longer listening and instead dragged the Headman into the side room to speak privately.

"Lord Thanquol, what are you... the tour isn't ove...where are you go-?" The slamming of a door was the Dead-thing, Executor Zygand's only response from the Grey Seer.

Swiftly Thanquol set about sniffing the room scurrying to and fro before rushing up to the Headman and thrusting a single claw onto the undead's nose. "Listen closely I have jobs that need to be done, yes-yes. Pay much, yes. This will be good for you as me, it will get you more gold token-things and more time to earn more gold-token things making your fake warp dust. yessss. Find among your servants one who is sneaky like an Eshin Assassin, have him steal-take Warp Tokens from Blistrox private supply this-this we can use to make warp dust to tide me over. YES! And-and have another job, Blistrox thinks he can shame me? Me!? We-we get him back, yessss, YES! Find Blistrox's plague furnace, large alter-carriage with massive brazier burning an alchemy of plagues inside. Break-break it's wheel, keep Blostrox from moving until its fixed, make him look like the brain rotted idiot be is, stupid heretic!"

As Thanquol ranted out his insane scheme the rat couldn't help but chuckle darkly at his own brilliance. Though as Thanquol spoke the Headman's eyes widened and then narrowed. "You want us to steal from and sabotage your fellow Skaven?"

Thanquol glared, but an ignorant and stupid sla...servant not understanding the vastly complex and significantly more advanced nature of Skaven society of course was to be expected. Indeed Thanquol almost thought to punish himself for being so spoiled by the clearly almost Skaven worthy nature of Sylvanas...and then immediately decided to defer that self flagellation onto a slave later if he remembered.

"No, not from fellow Skaven, from Clan Pestilens, traitors, heretics! They serve perversion of the Great Horned Rat, a false idol created by their sickness infested minds. They only are let to live because they are too many and too useful to kill off otherwise. Let this just be a punishment to prevent them from daring to betray us here-here and so they acknowledge that I am the embodiment of the Council of Thirteen upon this world!" Thanquol shouted becoming more bombastic as he ranted on.

"But I thought you weren't even supposed to be here?" Thanquol's hair stood on end as he nearly hissed and clawed at the undead.

In response the Headman awkwardly shuffled back. "Muh apologies boss."

"It was divine favor from the Horned Rat himself that saw me come here. Wherever I go is by the will of the Horned Rat himself!" Thanquol nearly spat at the Undead, before walking past and opening the door to the room where a hooded undead stepped back holding a tray of various devices Thanquol would never bother to try and understand as well as a goblet and a bottle of some sort of drink.

"Come sl...servant, show me where you drink gorog...beer...the good stuff!" The Seer then commanded as he, the Headman and his entourage of followed left the town hall, without warning or a guide to direct them.

"Where are we going?" Kersti asked as the group all left the building.

"Gallows' end. Boss here wants a good drink." The Headman swiftly replied as they all hurriedly moved to the most famed and popular tavern of modern Brill.

The group's speed however also lead to shock as upon approaching the doors to the tavern the various confused and squeaking rats and the handful of adventurers were caught and shocked as the tavern doors suddenly opened exposing a the pale human-like figure of Aleksandr and at the Vampire Lord's side the pale Draenei traitor Tarei clung to him as though madly and passionately in love with the humanoid something virtually unseen before by the Adventurers.

"Why, are thu not sneaking about nipping at thy own heels rat? Betwixt my beloved's presence and your foul presence I have yet to decide if I should be showing you mercy or put a swift end to this outrage that such a trifling incompetent should follow after me." Aleksandr stated, his words obviously an attempt to try and demean Thanquol with complex words, clearly he must have known of or even been part of Blisteox's plot to steal hos warp dust.

"Please my love, tonight was such a delicious success. Why taint our palates with such filth? Besides what sort of lesson would that be to my siblings that we'd lower ourselves to feasting on shit." Tarei stated her hand rubbing the Vampire Lord's chest. But for his part Aleksandr simply scowled down at Thanquol, and seeing this Tarei continued.

"Besides my love, this is the Mighty Thanquol, the rat Sylvanas assigned to Brill, far away from any of the war fronts." As Tarei spoke her crimson red lips, outstanding against her pale-blue skin, nearly brushed her lord's ear.

"Fine. But hear this rodent, your spies have tried to watch us for nights now. If you dare spy on my here in Brill, then your horns will make a fine trophy for my mantle and your skeletons will be bringing me my goblet nightly for all of eternity. And to spare your puny mind, assume I'll be here in Brill nightly." Aleksandr's voice was filled with violent contempt which set everyone on edge.

In response Bathol stepped forward his hands up on a placating manner. "Hey now, we're all allies here, all equals and friends, no need to get..." The Orc was stopped short as a sword blade suddenly appeared infront of his face held in Aleksandr's hand.

"Do not try to deminish my station...Orc." The Vampire spit out a small glob of blood at the word. "My Bloodline holds the power to build Empires that shall last eternally. All we need is the proper... Empress." As he spoke Tarei grinned and puncuated his statement with a kiss as suddenly the Vampire's skeleton bodyguards, the wights, came out of the Gallows' End carrying a trio of coffins marching towards a black carriage pulled by skeletal horses.

"Who the fuck died?" Bathol asked, trying to keep his tome calm and amiable while stepping back while Alexander took several steps forward.

"None of your business Peon. Go back to boot-licking. I enjoy it." Tarei at Aleksandr's side stated with a fangful grin, fangs far longer than any Draenei should ever have.

In response Aleksandr seemed to take immense enjoyment in the offense on the Orc's face almost breaking out into laughter. "No, no Orc. You will respect my station as your better. But..." Aleksandr's hand slapped and then grabbed Tarei's butt in a rather painful looking manner which only caused the twisted Draenei woman to moan. "...I will not allow my own to deminish your station and honor either. So tell me..." Aleksandr looked Bathol up and down, apparently ignoring as the Skaven and adventurers all slowly were preparing their weapons. "Apprentice Wizard? Whom is thy master and to which family do you hail from?"

Bathol blinked in confusion for a moment before answering. "None, I'm the Adventurer Bathol of the Shadowmoon clan." The Orc stated with a solid tone of voice.

Aleksandr merely stared at the Orc before seeming to sniff the air slightly. "Is that so. So be it Bathol who claims no master and of the Shadowmoons, know this. I am Aleksandr Von Carstien, and this is Tarei Von Carstien, my love. Challenge or question us again while daring to speak down to your betters and I will strike you down. Of a Lord, of your betters, you requested and offer, never demand. Once your masters grant you land, title, and servants then you may risk speaking to me or any of mine as a equal. And as for you Rat... keep this warning in mind."

With that the Vampire slowly sheethed his blade and together Aleksandr and Tarei walked to the carraige and the Vampire Lord then held the door allowing his counterpart in before entering with an flurish of his cape. Then the Wights nearly twenty in all mounted their own black armored sleletal steeds and the all took off for Undercity.

With that Thanquol, just happy to know no one could possibly tell that he had let loose the musk of fear, as all his rats had and he knew for a fact they must have done it long before him, walked into the Tavern. Behind Thanquol who loudly squeaked for drinks upon entering the Headman and Bathol's group entered.

Then after several moments Thanquol stopped. "This isn't what you said it was... it's a house! Why are we in a man-thing house?!"

At this the adventurers all laughed. "Well the actual Tavern itself was destroyed a while back... But this inn more or less toom it's place. Isn't that right Renee?"

At the desk of the Inn the Innkeeper Renee glared at Bathol. "No...and if you don't pay for the past damages I'll call for the guards right now!"

"Dontcha worry Renew, we has da monies now. Bathol's friend here da Headman made friends with our new Skaven buddies and we are making lots of gold doing der odd jobs." The Troll Warrior Lo'jie answered for Bathol pulling out several gold coins from her purse to give to the Innkeeper.

"The Headman?" Renee asked while counting the coins.

"Actually my name is..."

"Headman-thing where drink!? My head is..." Thanquol clamped his mouth tight, he might trust the stupidity of the Headman, but he couldn't let his own followers sense weakness in him.

"On the way Boss. Please Miss Renee, we need drinks for them. Thanquol has been put in charge of the town and the entire glades defense by Lady Sylvanas." The Headman asked of Renee with a pleading tone.

Renee looked over the dirty Skaven, the disruptive adventuring group currently in her inn, and the pouches full of gold and then sighed. "Fine, but if anything more is damaged I'm making you pay to replace it entirely!"

"Thankyou Renee." Bathol then cheered from across the room.

"One last thing...what was with the Coffins?" It was a simple, yet weighted question asked by Kersti who had stayed silent otherwise through the entire encounter.

Renee just scowled. "I don't know, the pair rented out the entire upper floor, for the entire month. Since then they've rented the space they sealed me out of the upper floor whenever they come, bats cover the roof, and they always bring three coffins with them and take them when they leave." The Innkeeper then stelled into a back room for about a minute before rolling out a keg of beer and carrying several mugs.

"Bathol there's more mugs in the back go get them." Then Renee turned back to the Headman. "But those two... every time I see them, I get flashbacks to back when I was alive, when I was with the Scarlet Crucade. The sense of revolution I used to feel comes back to me, the dreadful sensation of unbridled violence that was everywhere back then. I've chosen to leave the violence behind me, but those two, they revel in it, i know it."

Across the room Thanquol jumped up shouting. "Nooooo! Me first MINE, MIIINEEE!" And then the Grey Seer smacked one of his Skaven across the face with his staff snatching the other rat's mug before filling it full of the Inn's beer to drink.

"Moreso than your usual tenents?" Bathol then asked in a joking tone.

"Vastly."

The Headman then looked between everyone. "How about a place where I can post a job offering?"

"What kind?" Renee asked, a look of skepticism on her face.

"I'm looking for some stealthy adventurers, the boss has a sensitive job he wants done, good pay for the job too." The Headman stated, now pulling out and showing a small bag of thirty gold coins. "This is just for half of it."

Anduin stepped onto the bridge of the Wind's Redemption and took in the sea air as a gentle breeze washed over his face. They day was bright and clear, nice for calming Anduin's nerves though if anything Admiral Jes-Tererh was saying held true this was the last day where the weather would remain so nice, and that the coming bad weather was exactly what she hoped for to help mask the movement of the Alliance fleets.

On the Flagship's deck Genn Greymane prowled fhe vessel's deck watching every event happening among the crew and keeping a close eye on every other vessel and watching as some flagged signals back and forth between each other.

Near the prow of the ship Volkmar and Celia both watched the fleet and the movement of the sea, though Volkmar was clearly making a effort to stay away from the Lordaeron Noblewomen. Meanwhile Celia had been for the past several days trying to make peace with Volkmar, but the Imperial Grand Theogonist clearly had no faith in Celia. If anything Anduin suspected that whatever form of Undead plagued Mallus the history between them and the Empire was likely much worse than that between Lordaeron and the Forsaken. But Anduin also knew that tolerance and good faith was necessary for growth, and holding onto some grudge would do no good for Volkmar let alome his beloved Empire of Man.

Elsewhere, hugging a bucket and with a Priest of the light following him Captain Günther emerged slowly from below deck before weakly giving a polite salute to Anduin and as the Light eased his sea sickness the Captain moved over to fervently make signs of devotion to Volkmar before begging the Grand Theogonist to try to pray to Sigmar for him.

While Volkmar began loudly praying for Günther and asking Sigmar to aid the man in killing every possible Undead he could find, Anduin approaches Genn. "Good morning Genn. How goes the day?"

Genn turned to Anduin, a wide smile on his face as he looked about the ship. "We're making good headway and none of the Horde Fleets that we have been tracking have made any moves against us. Either they haven't yet detected us, or they have chosen to track our movements. I think that the idea that Gilneas was a trap is a lot more likely now, if they're all hanging back allowing us to move unchecked they're probably waiting for us to move into the trap."

"Or we're already in it and their just waiting for everything to fall into place. A grim thought I know, but if there is one lesson i think I should try to learn from our Mallus counterparts its that I should think of how things could be worse, and to be thankful for what we have as I strive to make things better." Anduin replied.

"You shouldn't give them any credit your majesty. They're clearly a prejudiced and backwards people, no better than the Scarlet Crusade." Genn responded with a growl to his voice.

Anduin however would not have Genn's attitude. "No, their world is far different than our own. Based off their own behaviors I could imagine how things on our side could have gone so poorly as to make us just as bad if not worse. Unfortunately we have been set back, but we should be learning more about them, not rejecting them based off the behaviors of some of their most devout."

"Most devout? They're Cultists, not even a proper church. Their God is just one of their past kings." Genn replied in protest.

"And would you make such complaints about the Kaldorei? While not entirely the same, think of the Wild Gods and their culture when the Alliance firetet them. All the Empire is, is a more extreme version of what we witnessed there, and I suspect they have reason to be such a way rather than becoming like that due to some corrupt ambition like the Trolls." Anduin countered the Worgen King's complaints.

"Then what do you suggest we do with these people?" Genn asked.

"If we can secure the Horde's portal then we could have them send a messenger with a adventurer team to get word to Altdorf." Anduin suggested with a simple shrug.

"Fine." Genn relented. "But if they keep causing trouble we might as well force them back through the portal if we secure it."

Anduin rolled his eyes. "Just trust me." And he then crossed the deck and approached the Empire Captain and Volkmar.

Anduin them waited patiently for a break in Volkmar's prayers which sounded more like man begging a lord or master and less like one providing thereputic communion with a divine essence which could allow them to shape the Light's power to their purpose. At least as Anduin understood from his teachings by Prophet Velen.

Once there was a moment Anduin felt he could the High King of the Alliance interrupted the prayer. "I'm sorry Captain Günther, but I wanted to ask you some questions so we might make some plans."

The Empire Captain turned to the King with a look of surprise, but the look soon shifted to one of reluctant acknowledgement. "Well I'm just a Captain, but I think I can provide some suggestions." The man then bowed making the sign of Sigmar to Volkmar before he and Anduin left, Volkmar's neutral judging gaze following them every step of the way.

Anduin then took Günther to his private quarters and took a seat across from the Empire Captain. Günther for his part first looked about the room in awe before eventually focusing on Anduin. "This is a really nice ship, I've seen some bigger nastier ones in Altdorf's harbors, but this is definitely a lot nicer."

"Thankyou. Now, first have you devised a plan to to counter the Skaven?" Anduin asked steepling his fingers.

"Honestly I've never fought any of them before. Never even encountered one before just recently. But if i were to try and think of an unit doctrine to fight them with, then based off the stories i've been told by drunk dawi, and the reports your people gave me, I'd take the approach we use when fighting Goblins and modify it with a little bit of the tactics we'd use against someone else whose got cannon and shot. So have the line infantry prepare for swarming tactics, shield walls, pike lines and the like. Rather than handgunners on the side however I'd call for archers and crossbows lay onto them with volume of fire, even have the cannons use canister shot if they aren't stuck dueling.

And that's the other part, we'd have to seperate the cavalry, rather than have them run down retreating enemies or breaking the enemy formation. They and the Handgunners and cannons primary role would to be to destroy the Skaven gunlines. If I had a few hundred men that's how I would do it." As he spoke Günther used his fingers to try and display the strategies he was talking about.

While not a fan of such static fights, Anduin could certainly see the mentality behind the Captain's advice and Anduin could see the kernels which the Alliance could make use of. But to be sure the King knew he had to ask more questions. "And what if you didn't have the infantry to hold the Skaven in place?"

Günther stopped his face contorted in thought. "I'd need either retreat or have a prepared battlefield, Beastmen are fast, and our Gunline would have to be put at risk as bait to allow the cavalry a chance to get to the Skaven gunline, otherwise we can't win."

"And how about replacing the Cavalry with high speed infantry, skirmishers an elite unit of some renown?" Anduin then asked, leading the Captain's thinking.

"It would be rough, whatever the Skaven have in that gunline is crucial. No cavalry means you're not getting to it in time to stop them from doing damage and they have better chances of stopping any infantry... unless..." Günther's voice trailed off.

"Unless?" The High King pushed.

"Well we've got these big guys back home, call Ogres. If we're talking about having infantry that can hit that gunline, anyone big like they are might be able to push through anything the Skaven throw at them, but still you're basically asking those men to take a lot of risk. I mean if I had like an absolute say, I'd want one of them dwarfen flying machines, or maybe some knights on demigryphs or outright gryphons, keep them hidden until the smoke from the handguns and cannons is thick enough then have them rush the guns. Nothing is savage enough to stop a pissed off demigryph, and any sort of flying creature or flying machine could just go over the battle." The Captain provided grinning at himself towards the end.

Anduin certainly didn't think the Captain's assessment matched either his own nor the one given to him by Mathias or General Hammond, but the Captain's suggestions certainly provided the King options, particularly if the General's assessment proved wrong. Anduin then straightened his back and looked the other man in the eyes. "And how do your people deal with the undead, truly?"

"Well, I've only ever faced a lone necromancer before, and we had him surrounded and well outnumbered. But my family certainly didn't fail to teach me our history, they made a name for themselves in the Vampire wars after all and we will never fail to live up to that legacy." Günther's eyes darkened as he spoke.

"When fighting the Vampire you need to be aware at all times, abandon the man next to you if his throat is cut, or if he's stabbed through, least you get stabbed in the side when the necromancer turns him the moment Morr goes to take his soul. Keep flames to burn the dead at the ready, and be ready to witness dark magics the like you never thought you'd witness your entire life. Vampires themselves are hard enough to kill by themselves, their monsters wearing the guise of whatever poor soul they used to be."

"What do you mean hard to kill?" Amduin asked.

Günther just shrugged. "Hard. Ancestor killed one during the Vampire wars, took out most his unit by itself. They're fast as a Elf, maybe faster, a frail looking girl could be stronger than a Norscan Marauder Champion, and no matter how many times you slash them their bodies won't ever stop. I was told by a Witch Hunter once that you have to steak their hearts, then burn the body and scatter the ashes as far and wide as possible and even then the stronger Vampires can still be ressurected if there's a necromancer insane enough to try

And then there's the leaders. The nobles as some people call them. They surround themselves with ancient champions ressurected to serve them, armed with magic so strong that just fighting them somehow kills you, and if not these champions then horrible monsters and specters straight from your nightmares. All while these nobles apparently are everything I said about the normal vampires, but far worse." The Empire Captain seemed pale at the mere thought of what he was describing.

"And how do your people beat them?" Anduin asked.

"We take every precaution and blow the Lords to bits with all the cannon we can manage."

Reviews:

Guest 1: Well here's the problem, if you complain about the Skaven, you then level all those same complaints against the Forsaken. The first Forsaken quest i ever did outside the basic "kill five random animals" was "help us murder civilians so we can eat them to satisfy our undead eternal hunger". The Skaven need to start actually betraying the Horde...which even then if by pure coincidence the Alliance benefits from the Skaven betrayal then "Skaven are actually good guys, nothing wrong here" (fucking Blizzard biases)

Also there is LOTS of GW old Lore and new lore of the Skaven cooperating with various figures and races, and more or less not betraying them. Skaven betrayal ironically is far, far more common between Skaven than it is with non-Skaven... but do expect the Skaven to under deliver, and cut corners on any deal they make. And for some example Eshin was the Monkey King's right hand when he took over Cathay, and the Skaven worked with Nagash amd when he betrayed them, they then worked with a human to kill him with no intent to betray that man being far more concerned with their own survival, and Thanquol in particular has experience using human agents using inordinate amounts of Dwarven gold to manipulate them... heck there are even human Horned Rat Cults that the Skaven tolerate and make use of.

Guest 2: Ironically the Empire is more used to peace than people think, but one of the fundamentals is a core diffrence in view. WoW's villains have for the most part been recontextualized, or flat out written as 2D bad guys incapable of actually winning with such a rate of defeat the "good guys" winning can just be

assumed and is in universe. and Warhammer's world is "this fated world" aka the world that was always doomes to die, everything is just kicking the can down the road, or looking to avoid doom.

Basically its "yeah no the world is doomed, and the cackling jackass over there doomed it, we just don't know when everything will actually blow up" vs "you can kill undefeatable, infinite power, immortal Gods who can erase you from time if you make a team with like four other guys. Trust me works 99% of the time."

BloodRedRoses11: "That's got to be the best agent I've ever seen" -Random Alliance analyst

"So it would seem." -A frustrated anyone whose ever dealt with Thanquol.

and the Headman unfortunately is so low level he doesn't even warrent a real name... I think that would make for a good running gag for his character that no one ever bothers to learn his real name.

Dragon King of the West: Well he almost lost control and did the Skaven boss default of murdering the person who gave him bad news. Despite the fact the council would murder him...let alone the three adventurers that were right there.

MadFrog2000: He isn't the savior we deserve, but he's the savior we need. "What-What, who the fuck is this? Get out-out of my room man-slave!"

Hakuryuu: But did Thanquol raise his number of enemies or just confirm what he always knew?

Yeah what few moments where Shaw is actually acting as an advisor or a actual spymaster and not just a James Bond...or blank faced NPC quest giver, he comes across more Oberstein like than when he's in battle or in the midst of drama...which is especially annoying when you realize Blizzard thinks that Drama and planning are somehow the same thing.

For Genn meh, he's just a bad king by all metrics, a good advisor/Noble yes, but a bad King...which that mistake isn't hard to see coming from Blizzard since they don't really have good leaders in that company but they have some great employees who keep the whole thing running even if it's taken 40 years of their lifespan and the boss sold their first second and third born children' souls...oh and next week they get a paycut.

As for the Changeling check my response to Guest last chapter.

Jak23: The reaction depends on which Dragon/which Province of Cathay were talking about. Mio Ying apparently has the worst temper of the Dragons and will blow up if anyone doesn't respect her authority/position, regardless of if they outrank her or not. Zhao Ming seems to be the type to take the whole thing as a hilarious joke and then will either play nice, or conquer the lands just because. Yuan Bo... its hard to judge hos reaction, he's level headed, more like an investigator and Inquisitor, but certainly when he strikes dear god the speed of that man he's like an anime "swordmaster" when he gets moving swinging so fast even fellow dragons who are expecting it can't even react. Yin-Yim would make up an excuse and try to invade by default if Westeros was in range of her armies...since idk if daddy let her have her fleets back yet. And Li Dao he supposedly has a fiery temper, and that's coming from his siblings who blow up over the incorrect number of fingers being used for hand sign indicating thankfulness to a social superior. but otherwise we have no stories to show whar he's really like.

deadliestfan: I honestly give the Dragon Iles a pass of the whole mist bit because we always sort of knew where it was, but from what I understood the island in scifi terms was pseudo- temporal phaselocked, meaning that even knowing where it was wasn't good enough to actually reach it due to time shenanigans...which would also explain how the Dragons couldn't reach it... unfortunately for the Dragonflight expansion...if i remember right, the Island is already starting to 'wake' by BFA and the Cathayan Dragons have experience with such shenanigans. Especially now that the fans have the full description of, and the new mystery of the Cathayan Dragons' first sister since the most likely to have killed her are either Dragon Ogres, or people who use such time BS on the regular such as the Old Ones or Chaos.

But it's certainly been some time, so a quick reminder, Thanquol wasn't supposed to be in Mordhiem or even on Azeroth in the first place. Blistrox is ironically one of those major Skaven characters that fans wouldn't recognize but he's one of the Seven highest ranking members of the Clan, and the one in charge of commanding the Pestilent Brotherhood (Clan Pestelans allied/puppet clans) and as serving as the chief missionary of the clan.

I was going to actually have Justicar Julia Celeate's spot in chapter 4 filled by Maxwell and the Argent Crucade, even had a joke in mind of Volkmar not comprehending that the Argent Crusade was a knight/paladin order and not a actual crusade. (GD blizzard GW's bad enough with Adjective-Noun Marines, but do you really have to go adjective-Verb on us?) But what lead me to changing my mind was one sentence on the wiki page where they remained neutral to players during BFA, and the sentence mentions that they were dealing with increased Scourge activity. (almost like there was some forethought put into the expansion that turned into Shadowlands...and either Blizzard last minute rewrote the whole expansion...OR it was planned that bad years ahead of its actual release)

yeah the battle of Lordaeron should have been much bigger than it was. Could have even milked it with a game mode or even a side game. Instead we got a weird boss rush, a battle that was NOT a siege battle (just because a city is nearby does not make it a siege), and the laziest worst thought out "assassination" attempt in all of WoW... seriously Anduin had so many ways to escape the Blight right there in that room with him and Jaina Proudmoor, you couldn't even freaking try to kill Jaina, Sylvanas? Ok so you juat wanted to dishonor yourself and destroy your own city and people for NO fucking reason then, good to know ypu dumb bitch.

But yeah, and well she's more or less got those three covered, skaven to the east, her bait and hidden forces for the trap in the south, and the hidden fleets in the west. And now a ego tripped, drug withdrawal addled Rat on her north and a suicidal Orc at her center... NOTHING can possibly go wrong with that!

It's also early in the war, and the Alliance doesn't suffer from media shock... I'm guessing because they don't have free media news, or widespread cameras. and well since it's early in the War even by Azeroth standards War exhaustion is still far far away... unless it inconveniences Blizzard's writers who just want to force a issue... so any warhawk message, particularly a easy good vs evil narrative will be a lot easier to accept even when put next to a reasonable well thought out multifaceted response that doesn't involve sending men to die.

Also don't forget that the Horde literally had a virus with them when they went through the dark portal to invade Azeroth since they were suffering from their "not chickenpox" at the time. And yet that disease that was foreign to all three worlds of Argus, Dreanor and Azeroth never carried over to any non-Orc, not even the Ogres. And then you have games like Back 4 Blood and callisto protocol where alien parasites and viruses are the entire core of a whole horror title simply because they are so alien we have no natural response to them.

For Ulrika ironically her greatet claim to fame, in universe were her actions seperate from Gotrek and the death flag BF. She saved an Imperial city from a Ghoul King's plot to basically do his own version of Vermintide, and then would go on to save Praag from a Slaaneshi plot while simultaneously exposing herself and several other vampires, and she did it out of a mixture of reasons, but from a outside view from "devotion to the nation", which she certainly is more loyal to the living than she is to any vampire bloodline.

As for that Franz blurb there's also then the bit with Genevieve rescuing the Prince and Karl Franz to consider which would be a more public affair.

But yeah Felix and Gotrek they don't even exist at least not how the book potrays them, Felix is just a riot rusing noble brat, yup no way he's traveling with a Slayer so absurd as what's described in these books. What next you liar, they get so caught up in killing Skaven they walk through a portal to another world where litteral Gods drop an avalanche on their heads only for them to survive and get involved in a war spaning entire worlds and starting no less than 7 bar fights before anyone realizes they aren't even from that world?

Ravenguard0009: Shhhh, don't shatter his ego.

But the Siege of Lordaeron itself is weird in that way. Like why would Anduin take the guys who guard Stormwind, but not take the leaders who are actually competent at their job. The canon event Rogers wasn't there, nor the Grand Admiral, Shaw's SI:7 was but yet he wasn't, Greymane was there to betray the interest of his people so he can brown nose as usual, but Turalyon, none of the big name Night Elves, nor any big name Draenei were participating. Heck the Silver Hand wasn't even present despite major portions of their whole network of Paladin orders being based in regions threatened by Sylvanas Forsaken or who in general would benefit greatly from the Alliance running the show... since you know Horde Paladins don't exist -_-, seriously Blizzard give the horde, and the Horde not a race hating Uncle Ruckus approved jerk like Thrall, but someone who actually believes in the Horde like Vuljin or despite how i hate his quarter of a braincell which he never ever fucking used, pre-BFA Saurfang, give them fucking something!

Its because Blizzard's writers fully believe that nothing can be achieved without a centralized government, and the Horde per the marketing when WoW was first coming out even, represents decentralized independent peoples who have united for mutual benefit, survival, and respect for one another... so obviously they are the badguys and can't do shit without the Alliance holding their hand, even when Blizzard is actively ignoring the Warcraft 1-3 games.

So you can't wait for them to attack Alexstraza or Nozdormu... since timeline, they're the only Dragon aspects who also look like Elves when shapeshifted...Wratheon looks human, "the real black dragon aspect" looks like a moose, Kelecgos is still simping for a human girl and still hopes his humanoid form will win her back, and Green follows after the nature gods of Azeroth and is dead because Blizzard refuses to ever let any of their staff touch grass even in a virtual world, fuck nature only obedience and giving money or souls to Blizzard will ever bring you survival...now pay up slaves.

Lucky Prospector: Not the only quest that's bugged, and sadly Blizzard can only be blamed for half of them, GW's stupid rules can be blamed for the other half.

JiggyliFAP: So Since this is so long ill be skipping down by segments. To start again i go by the tenents laid out in the Epistemology of fiction video made by No strings PRD. Game lore lays out the events, and its cutscenes almost always are 100% fact but gameplay is not, and since that video specifically uses Command and Conquer as a example, yes in Red Alert 2 the soviets blew up lady liberty, but it didn't take twenty or more V4 rockets each of which is a fifth the size of said statue to do. Likewise The battle of Cairo in Tiberian Sun most likely did not take less than a half hour with the GDI forces building a barracks and five infantry training from civilian to full fledged professional soldiers all within 50 seconds of the GDI forces hitting the Northern beaches of Egypt. If anything the battle was entirely unlikely to follow such a path at all and likely involved GDI dumping most of their forces all at once at the initial breach point and then brining in waves of reinforcements and a steady stream of supplies, since soldiers don't just magically appear inside and hop out of barracks buildings that are right on the front lines, there's actually always been a process of phasing them to the front, heck even ancient battlelines had a methodology of cycling soldiers from the front of a formation to somewhere further back allowing someone else to take their spot while bringing up men from the rear. BUT clearly the mission objectives and base positions were almost certainly what the gameplay displayed.

skills spot on... nothing more to say.

Well the resistance is actually important, especially since Warp Stone is specifically pure dark/warp magic, and the Skaven are one of the only groups able to render it innert (displaying a level of alchemical/magic skill beyond most other races), the only other major group being the followers of a certain Dragon who likes to make jokes about eating his father with a Ogre buddy of his. Those are abilities that then can easily be translated over to the Azeroth side with some study. Think about it Thanquol has snorted more than his body weight in Warp Dust...and he had next to zero noticable mutations from the "perfect" Skaven form he possesses where a human can grow tenticles from just being too close to warp stone.

Well the problem with the Tomes is those timelines. I mean to use a real world event, the Ukraine War has been going on for nearly three times as long as the cannonical 4th Great War aka the Battle for Azeroth, in the time it's taken Ukraine and Russia "the second greatest military in the world" to move their front lines five miles the Horde crossed a continent, committed mass genocide, somehow lost most their territorial gains, then fought to contest those gains, and WMD'd one of their own capital cities because their too fucking dumb to realize they live on Azeroth and the idea would have never worked in the first place. We and we have people in the same amout of time going from knowing nothing about the Light to being Paladins who can stand on par with Elves and other immortal life long paladins.

As for Saurfang, really the Alliance capturing him is the biggest Boon anyone could have given the Horde...at least until the Alliance backed Tauren/Troll rebels all appeared again with their alliqnce masters immediately behind them. I mean the Horde no longer having a commander who can find a way to suffer mass casualties fighting against a preschool for limbless, blind, deaf, toddlers...man talk about finally giving the Horde a fighting chance for once... too bad Sylvanas decised to go into a arbitrary "mass murder my own side" phase which would help end the war quickly and with far fewer casualties doing the exact opposite of what she supposedly promised to do for the jailer. Although ironically the auto correct there...well this is entirely new device and it still autocorrected to Sour...

Thanquol knows the value of Gold to others, but he never learned the proper currency system. There's a whole book plot where he's bribeing a city noble to have them conceal the Skaven presence in their city. Because again to everyone out there whose 'oh so confused" Skaven actually have a track record of working with non-Skaven and for non-Slave non-Skaven the Skaven typically are less backstabby than they are with their fellow Skaven, still cheating or holding some inevitable betrayal in mind, or even when being fair their values and priorities are so alien that we might as well have been cheated by them as they find moldy bread to be a "decent quality meal".

back to the Undercity Blighting...againz everything suggests that that was the plan from the start, and that's where i draw a LOT of problems with it since they didn't implement even the most basic of "and here's the anti teleportation, and here's the mcbillshit to keep the Alliance trapped in the city etc etc. it was all clearly just done to justify destroying Undercity in writing so bad it might as well been Archeon dedicating himself to khone and sacrificing Kyros fateweaver to summon some bullshit Horus Heresy Bloodthirster so the author can have a wank session over how his OC Daemon is better than all best Daemons...

And who would say no to such a ass...i mean to such a king...yeah such a king. I mean it would be like saying no to Sylvanas large cleav...immense will. Just unthinkable.

For the Ethereals they're probably a step or a few steps to far. And even then there would be one college of Magic who would loudly protest as such a action both steps on their toes, and might expose their secrets.

micelzod: Blood? blood? blood! blood blood blood, blood blood.