Sylvanas matched the gaze of the vampiric admiral standing across from her. As they stood just off of the ramps into the Lamprey. Soon one of the ghostly knights came to the edge of the ship, where it shouted down to the Warchief of the Horde and the vampires. "M'lady Cylostra Direfin will have your audience."
In response, Sylvanas smirked while Admiral Tina scowled deeper. "Yea ass on da line 'ere. Yous offer'n to much t' dat wet bitch, and our deal is off."
"Oh, I know, but it doesn't take much to convince a ghost to do what you want. Not when you understand them as I do." Sylvanas claimed in response as she walked up the ramp, the five vampires following after her, their glares locked onto her back as they went.
The ship was waterlogged; the veneer of opulence still lingered but had been washed away by years of ocean tides. Flecks of blue, yellow, and red paint were still stubbornly clinging to the ship, and corroded gold still lay where they had been lain into the vessel.
The knight led them all until they reached just outside the captain's cabin, where he stood aside ready to open the door. Here Sylvanas breathed and prepared herself before stepping through the threshold with the assembled vampires reluctantly and suspiciously walking in behind her. The chamber had lost almost none of its opulence, though signs of a life under the sea were present, from barnacles to small puddles of water.
Inside the room a large ghost billowed about. Her finery faded by years and her ethereal nature. The ghost held a large fan, which she waved about as if directing some unseen orchestra. It took several seconds before the ghost took notice of her newest guests.
"Ah! Do new audience members come to witness me? Who wishes to hear meSIIIIING!" The ghost sang at the ensemble who had come.
Sylvanas held her gaze on the ghost. Taking all the details and soon figuring out the ghost's nature. This one was a free spirit but held by a powerful spite, one that allowed it to selfishly enslave others. A clear diva of its former life, unlikely to match the skill of the long out of practice, long lost performers of past glory days of Quel'Thalas. Its pride lay in its skill in life, which had clearly shaped every aspect of what it was in death.
"I come to bring you an offer. A way to settle your grudges and a fresh audience for your show, one no performer in this entire world has ever performed for before. An audience truly unique." Sylvanas replied to the ghost standing while the vampires around her grumbled while they slowly spread across the room, only their leader seeming to show anything resembling respect to their host before she plopped down on the diva's couch and planted her boots firmly onto a nearby table.
Tina smirked. "'ere dat, bottom feeder? She's got a right ol' proposition fer you ta listen to, an' it's a doozy."
Sylvanas gave the vampire a side eye that the group pointedly ignored before the Banshee Queen turned back to Cylostra Direfin, who looked at the Azerothean Undead with an appraising eye. She then dipped down and swiftly floated to just before Sylvanas' face. "You are something new. Something interesting. Someone I would love to have in my audience."
Sylvanas felt the intimidating intent behind this ghost's words. It was clear that she was a powerful being from this world, one she couldn't afford to be caught unaware by. Instead, she needed this spirit to understand its place. Despite having plans to break the contract already in place, for now her service with Zovaal had its benefits.
Powerful shadows engulfed Sylvanas as she leaned forward, her forehead nearly touching or passing through the ghost's own. And chains of dark, deathly energy wrapped around the songstress of the deep. "I am not joining your audience. I instead bring you the opportunity to have an audience unlike anything you've had before. The greatest audience."
Even with chains wrapped around her, the shock of which would cause most spirits to shudder and cower away in fear, Cylostra merely held her glaring gaze on the Banshee Queen. "There is no audience equal to that of the Phoenix King's court."
"Then once my war is over, I'll see to it you have your King's court!" Sylvanas growled, not truly intending to keep such a promise without knowing more, but if it would get this mad ghost to listen, then she'd say whatever was needed.
"As if a land spirit has the power to bring Ulthuan to the depths. To sink the floating continent." The ghost dropped her singing voice as she spoke with a contemptuous sneer.
"You're right... But I think I know who does. And they live with the very people whom I'm wishing to send you to go sing your song for. And if not them, I have... other allies."
The city of Lashiek seemed to gleam on the horizon like an unwashed jewel, just barely showing its value despite the dirt overtop of it. Knight Lady Olinise Rightrestturned away from the waiting city and looked back at the small ship they had acquired to take her and her current adventurer companions to the city. The ship itself was something called a Baghlah, which appeared to be the common ship used in this region of Mallus.
This ship was also a pirate vessel that had been foolish enough to try and raid their island only a few days after Lady Sylvanas had left. But between the adventurers on board and herself, the pirates had been far too few and far too incapable of actually attempting anything. And their crew grumbled immensely, claiming that some evil thing called the Djinn had betrayed them, but these pirates were fortunately more than willing to transport the Horde representatives to the city of Lashiek.
"The headman is going to fucking kill us for this, Bathol." An undead ranger named Kersti whisperedfrom where she seemed to think that Blood Knight couldn't hear. Of course she didn't let them know that her ears had much better hearing than they seemed to assume.
"Dat's not fair. Da Professor Tillux said he needed more stuff t' study and perfect 'is formula wit. And we s'posed to be helping the professor as well as doing missions fer da bosses." The troll Lo'jie, interjected while both the Orcish Mage and undead Hunter both glared at their Troll companion.
Before Olinise might have ignored the trio, they were just adventurers and would likely do anything for money. In fact, that's almost exactly how she'd describe the Orcish Mage. However, with recent events, the mention of the Headman, and this particular trio had crossed some reports of note that Olinise had read. These three were practically the personal agents of the Skaven leader, Thanquol. And while not warriors of renown, they had survived the worst of the Alliance's attack on Brill and, of course, when the demon was released on Lordearon.
She would need to keep a closer eye on these three, as besides them, she only had a few other warriors and a lesser diplomat accompanying her to Lashiek. Now the port was visible, and it wouldn't be long before they would be making dock, and with her elvish vision, Olinise could make out some of the details of the port. Dozens of ships were docked in its ports. Almost all of them are Corsair ships, almost all of them unloading some form of cargo. Just beyond those docks was an ocean-front bazaar. It wouldn't be until they reached port, but eventually all the Horde members could see the merchants peddling everything from fruits to fish, from rare spices and silks to chained and unwilling slaves.
Slowly the ship made it onto the dock, where a number of large, lightly dressed men with curved swords waited for them; at their center, a smaller man with a scroll and quill stood ready. "الدولة البضائع الخاصة بك والبقاء. (State your cargo and stay.)" The man stated in what Olinise assumed was perfect arabyic, her own grasp on the language was middling at best, and the adventurers around her clearly had vastly different understandings of the language from one another.
Bathol seemed to immediately recognize everything for what it was and began reaching for his own coin purse, while Kersti glared first in incomprehension and then in offense, and Lo'jie just stared on in complete ignorance. Before Olinise could take command, Bathol was already loudly speaking to the human. "لقد سافرت أنا ورفاقي ن عالم بعيد جدا لرؤية أسواق أراباي الشهيرة. أيضا نأتي دبلوماسي من الحشد الذي يرغب في التحدث مع الحاكم الخاص بك.(My companions and I have traveled from a very faraway realm to see the famed markets of Araby. Also, we bring a diplomat from the Horde who wishes to speak with your ruler.)"
The human, despite clearly being used to strange sights, stumbled back upon seeing and hearing the green Orc speaking to him in clear Arabyic. "(ص - حق البضائع ومتى هو ذ-سفينتك البقاء?) R-right the cargo, and how long is y-your ship staying?"
At this, Olinise interjected, much to the assembled men's displeasure. "الأسبوع ، حتى نرى السلطان. القليل جدا من البضائع. (The week, until we see the Sultan. Very little cargo.)" While her Arabyic was broken compared to Bathol's or the actual diplomat they had brought's own linguistic skill, it was still more than enough to push their point. Though it did take her throwing an entire coin pouch into the small man's hands before his armed bodyguards would let them off their vessel.
After that, the adventurers, along with Olinise, their diplomat, and two more Sunsworn guards walked into the Arabyan city. The bazaar was massive, clearly geared towards the ships that were filling the city's port. Maps, food, and trade goods were made obvious; the spies, pickpockets, and pirates, not so much. Also well hidden were the palace's enforcers, who were watching the Azerothean group's movements from the distance. Despite the sight of the various clans of Arabyans, foreign sailers, the High Elves, and even walking skeletons and Orks all walking about shopping or peddling their goods and services, the Azerothean group seemed to be the most eye-catching and outlandish of everything here.
"Keep your wits about you. We're being watched." Kersti finally warned the other adventurers of their group.
Even as the undead gave her warning. A burst of flame emerged from beyond a small crowd of people as clapping began. Soon what looked like an elemental of fire looked over the crowd, cloaked in dark smoke. As the creature loomed over the crowd, some backed away in fear while many more cheered as coins began to trickle forward. The word magician came from the eager and awestruck crowd, but this distraction didn't hold long for the Azerothean group.
Before Olinise could pull her attention away from the show and crowd and gather her travel companions. The Azerothean found that her group was now surrounded; a sword-armed enforcer was standing in each direction, arms crossed as they glared at her. Back some distance, bowmen stood at the ready, emerging from the crowds that had once concealed them. And at the core of it all, a man in robes came forward, a large book in one arm, even as the flaming elemental opened the crowd by spreading its flaming arms out, allowing the magician to pass through as well.
"باسم الله المجيد ، الذي تستمد منه جميع الآلهة الأخرى قوتها ووجودها. السلطان مبارك رامين يطالبك أربعة الخضوع ليتم الحكم من قبل وسيط الله المختار. (In the name of the glorious One God, from whom all other gods derive their power and existence. Sultan Mubarak Ramin demands you four submit to be judged by God's chosen mediator.)" The first robed man stated aloud while the guards drew their blades in an intimidating manner.
Olinise frowned. They wanted to speak with the sultan; now they were being threatened by one of this city's religious men? Wait, four? The Blood Knight looked about herself; Bathol, Lo'jie, and Kersti were all missing. "أعتقد أن لديك خطأ. نحن هنا لأسباب دبلوماسية. (I think you have a mistake. We're here for diplomatic reasons.)" The Blood Elf replied.
At this point the enigmatic diplomat that had been brought in from Quel'thalas pulled back their hood, revealing the bookish, glasses-wearing face of Olinise's younger brother, Alin Rightrest, who was exposed as the Sin'dorei diplomat under the hood, gave a bow and polite smile to the man across from him. "لابد أنك رئيس كهنة هذه المدينة. من واجبي الإلهي التمسك بقوانين الإله الواحد والالتزام بحماية نيرو لنا نحن الغرباء. نحن نخدم أمة عظيمة ، بفضل قوى السحر العظيم ، أصبحت الآن جارا لشعبك. نأتي مع عروض الجزية والتجارة والتحالف. (You must be this city's high priest. It is my divine duty to uphold the laws of the One God and to adhere to the protection of Neru for us outsiders. We serve a great nation that, thanks to the powers of great magic, now has become a neighbor of your people. We come with offers of tribute, trade, and Alliance.)
As the priest faced the diplomat and his guards stood with their bows ready and swords drawn, the flaming elemental pushed into the space between the priest and the Sin'dorei diplomat as the man the crowd had been calling the magician stepped forward and began to speak.
"ماذا يحدث هنا غاسبار? لماذا هو رجل مقدس لدينا إله واحد يهدد هذه... الجان تبحث غريبة. (What is happening here, Gaspar? Why is a holy man of our One God threatening these... strange-looking elves.)" The magician stated while stepping forward.
The priest scowled, eyes glaring down his nose at the magician. "ترك لنا بين! هذا لا علاقة له بطرق الظلام الخاصة بك. كما قال لك السلطان أمس ، لم تعد مدينتنا بحاجة إلى تدخلك في شؤون محاكمنا ، وبإرادة الله الواحد. (Leave us, Ahmon! This has nothing to do with your dark ways. It's as the Sultan told you yesterday, our city no longer needs your interference in the affairs of our courts, and with the One God's will.)"
The smoke and flame elemental seemed to flare just as smoke began to seep from beneath the Magician's robes and the man's eyes glowed red. "ومع ذلك ما زلت في هذه المدينة ، طريقي لا يزال لي. وكرجل لا يزال يحمل رتبة في محاكمنا ، على الرغم من مزاج السلطان المفاجئ ، لدي الحق في المطالبة بهؤلاء الناس كضيوفي. (And yet I am still in this city, my manner is still mine. And as a man who still holds rank in our courts, despite the Sultan's sudden mood, I have the right to claim these people as my guests.)"
Immediately Alin Rightrest interjected. "نحن ممتنون للغاية لمضيفنا ، ومع ذلك قد لا يكون لدينا الكثير لنقدم لك هدية كافية. (We are most thankful for our host; however, we may not have much to provide you with a sufficient gift.)
The magician gave them a smile that lacked several teeth. "سوف تكون أكثر من يستحق كل هذا العناء. (You will be more than worth it.)" The man then turned to the holy man across from him. "إذا كنت ترغب في اختبارها ، يمكنك القيام بذلك داخل منزل الجن. (If you wish to test them, you can do so inside the house of Djinn.)"
And with that the guards lowered their blades and the archers their bows. However, the holy man's wrath did not seem to abate; despite him not reaching for a weapon, he seemed far more threatening now than even each of the guards had been before. While there was no manifestation of power, Olinise could sense a cosmic force focused on the priest, who seemed ready to lash out. But before anything could happen, the guards parted, and the crowd watching broke open, giving way for the Djinn and then the Magician and Sin'dorei.
As they walked, the magician turned and spoke to the assembled elves. "الآن بعد أن صنعت بشكل مناسب عدوا للإله الواحد ، وربما جزءا جيدا من الآلهة الأكبر سنا. العقل تقول لي من أنت ولماذا استغرق البلطجية المعبد إشعار لك في مجرد ساعات منذ وصولك? (Now that I've suitably made an enemy of the One God and perhaps a good portion of the older gods. Mind telling me who you are and why the Temple's thugs took notice of you in mere hours since your arrival?)"
Deep in the city of Boralus, Captain Günther sat atop a bed watching out a window. He had been forced to stay indoors, away from any watchful eyes, as his arrest had been a public affair, making it risky for him to move out in the open, where someone might recognize him and report him to the city guards. Or specifically, according to his hosts, agents of Lady Ashvale.
The last several days, more like a week, had been one of constant adventures, near misses, and drama. All of which Günther has missed while trapped, only able to hide and help coordinate the Alliance adventurers and their Kul Tiran allies. Sister Avenah, Relyea Redcap, and Silandel Lividbrook had worked together with Taelia Fordragon to attack countless sites belonging to the house Ashvale.
They had found smuggling rings, secret storehouses, and even found a small factory that had been established in the city. The trio and their Kul Tiran friend had saved children, killed cruel labor bosses, and destroyed countless weapons. Including some form of strange handguns that used what they were claiming was an Azerite-based powder that seemed to enchant the weapons.
Even Eike Brunner joined the adventurers in attacking the Ashvale company and its illegal holdings in the city despite the mercenary's very vocal disagreement in participating in these missions, as he wasn't guaranteed a reward until after Kul Tiras' civil conflict was over. However, as the Ashvale company was slowly pushed back, more problems and more possibilities began to show. Now the conundrum before the group was threatening to split them all.
"It seems the noble houses are all split into multiple factions. The Ashvale family and Proudmoore family should be the most obvious to us. But there are more families that appear to be making moves of their own. While on the surface the nobility is split between the Ashvales and the Proudmoores, there are two other factions in the court gaining power." Cyrus Crestfall began to explain as Günther and all the adventurers and secret Proudmoore loyalists gathered around his dining table that night.
As he continued, Cyrus placed coins next to small papers with names written atop them. "While to the common folk Ashvale and Proudmoore seem to be a unified front, we know that Lady Ashvale intends to usurp the Proudmoore family. But to the noble houses, this isn't just obvious; it's a foregone conclusion. Now they're all just picking sides or making their own plans. Lady Katherine at the moment has the fewest pieces on the board. However, most of these pieces are quite valuable: control of the city ports, the Proudmoore fleet, the Admiral's Guard, and at least partial control of the Boralus Guard. Also, it cost me a pretty coin and may be a bit too much, but I also sent a letter to King Greymane the moment Jaina arrived in port, and that letter asking Gilneas to honor the treaty they signed with us after the third war saw both our nations as no longer part of the Alliance. While I don't really know Greymane that well, I doubt the man will leave the call unanswered. If the Alliance can piggyback a little extra strength to us through him, then despite all of Lady Ashvale's work we would have the advantage; the Ashvale company's hold on the city is waning, and if you can expose her alliance with the Irontide Raiders, we could not only cripple that force but also get Lady Katherine to actively oppose Lady Ashvale. Which would normally guarantee victory..."
Cyrus trailed off, allowing Günther to form and voice his own theory. "Except, the nobility have been in on this state of affairs. For years, maybe?"
Now Taelia joined in. "Exactly. So far the conflict actually is looking like it will have four sides. Two other factions are actively undermining Lady Katherine. First is House Waycrest. They actively command the Kul Tiran land army and hold the loyalty at worst for us and a strong history at best with every major warrior and military unit within Kul Tiras. They're gathering power around themselves as we speak; their daughter, Lucille Waycrest, has been spreading fears in court of witches and Drust magic over the last several months, while Lord Arthur Waycrest and Lady Meredith have become increasingly scarce."
At this, Avennah jumped in. "You think they're plotting their own part of the civil war?"
"Lady Ashvale has never been a friend to House Waycrest. And while they had for a long time been firm supporters of the Proudmoore family, they're clearly taking away from the Boralus Guard and the Admiral's Guard. Stealing from both Ladies Proudmoore and Ashvale." Cyrus explained.
Taelia then jumped back into the briefing. "Besides the Waycrests, we also have the House Stormsong. The head of their house, Lord Colm Stormsong, also serves as the high priest of the Tidesages. The Tidesages served as more than just priests; they also used to find our lost vessels, recalling them back to Kul Tiras. Lately, however, they've failed to find our fleet, and now almost the entirety of it is missing. More, I've been hearing marketplace rumors that House Stormsong has both been gathering more recruits for their house guard but has also been posting some rather extreme pronouncements in the public squares across the Stormsong Valley."
At this Eike scoffed. "What? Is the nobleman trying to cause a populist revolt?"
Tealia glared at the mercenary, while Relyea shook her head at him, only Silandel placing a supporting hand on the man's arm. Seeing the issue, Günther spoke up, answering both Eike's statement and challenging the Azerotheans' unspoken assumption. "Cyrus, have you ever faced a populist revolt before?"
The older former knight nodded his head. "Not a major one, but I have encountered one before. Didn't last long but had plenty of men thrown my way."
The Empire Captain nodded in acknowledgement of the Kul Tiran knight. "In the Empire, populist revolts are more common than you'd think. And nobles trying to leverage them for power is just as common. The problem is that the people these revolts are dependent on are not soldiers and are typically necessary for the economy of the region. The whole thing usually starts to collapse rather quickly once the casualties start to pile up. If a nobleman knows what they're doing, and considering our situation here, Lord Stormsong has only two plans he can implement here. Either he has outside help who can arm and train his rebels and provide an elite core for his troops, or he plans to use the revolutionaries as chaff, hoping to hold out and make his faction seem weaker than it is while Katherine, Ashvale, and Waycrest tear into one another."
Those assembled looked at Günther with curiosity. So the captain continued. "I doubt the Horde is going to be backing Lord Stormsong, and I don't see why anyone from the Alliance would either, not with more legitimate and powerful candidates are more easily available. So that means he most likely is going with the second option. And in those cases, if we break Waycrest and expose Ashvale as quickly as possible with as few casualties as possible, then it's very possible we can get Stormsong to abandon his little revolution without any effort on our part."
At this, the final silent watcher in this meeting, hidden away in a corner of the room and listening while looking uninterested and half asleep, Flynn Fairwind leaned forward before speaking up. "So Imperial, what are you suggesting we do then?'
Günther acknowledged Flynn with a nod before reaching in and grabbing the coins Cyrus had laid out on the table. "Lady Ashvale's forces are actually rather limited compared to Lady Proudmoore's. Traitors in the guard typically are those who covet their superior's position but can't gather enough support to advance on merit or with the support of the lower ranks. And among the lower troops, any traitors will either be doing so due to loyalty to the patron who started them off, an immense bribe, or being caught up under a traitor commander at the time of a civil conflict. All of these negatively reflect on the quality of the troops that Ashvale should be able to acquire from the Boralus Guard or the Admiral's Guard. This means she will have to provide her own forces and a lot of them. This Azerite stuff you found in the jail and that she's been distributing, it makes it pretty clear she can't get a large enough force to allow her to keep such a weapon hidden; she needs to arm whoever she's gathering with better weapons to try and fill the gap of power that she has neither the quality nor quantity to fill."
As Günther gave his explanation, the others nodded along as he also sorted the coins that Cyrus had stacked under the label of Ashvale, taking them from their stacks to near rows on the table. He then started sliding the coins one after another back to Cyrus as he continued. "This gives us a number of opportunities. First is that we will need to cripple these Irontide Raiders, and we will need to expose their relationship to Lady Ashvale. Finding and stealing or destroying the stock of Azerite gunpowder they have been provided will complete both these missions. We can also dig up her other stockpiles and make plans to trap and eliminate whatever traitors she might have who would use them. This will leave her revolution entirely lame and infirm, as long as we can also handle the Waycrests. The Waycrests, based off what you said, should have all the soldiers with actual talent and ability swearing some level of fealty to them. This means almost certainly this means that the Waycrests are approaching different warriors than the Ashvales, and these warriors are vital for Lady Proudmoore to put an early end to Ashvale's uprising, and an early end to Lady Ashvale's ambitions is important to getting Lord Stormsong to abandon his own claims to the throne and stop, or at least demoralize his populist revolt before they can sufficiently gather their troops."
After a minute of consideration, Flynn and Taelia both nodded in agreement while Cyrus sighed. "Damn, that sounds pretty well thought through. Greymane should be arriving any day now, maybe even today. I need to stay here to keep up the guard and keep Lady Ashvale's agents from undermining the Admiralty any more than they already have. Flynn, can you take some of these fine folk to have a tour of Freehold? Taelia, if you have an in, maybe you can introduce whoever is left to Lucille Waycrest in Drustvar; she might still hold some loyalty to the Proudmoores since she seems more obsessed with her supposed witches than actually rallying soldiers to her family banner."
Flynn then leapt to his feet. "Fine then. Who would like to go to a town where the locals may or may not try to cut off your feet and sell them as a lucky charm?"
From across the table, Eike immediately stood up, followed shortly by Silandel and Relyea. "This sounds like a trip back home." The mercenary stated with a wide, cocky grin.
"I-I guess that leaves me with you. If you'd like, Captain." Avennah stated looking over to Günther. The man in response smiled slightly before bowing to the Dreanei and turning to Taelia.
"After you then, m'ladies." The young Empire Captain stated with a degree of chivalry and charm that left the Dreanei blushing and Taelia raising an eyebrow.
The spray of the nighttime sea was always welcome, especially in the warm climate off the coast of Lustria. Tight-lipped Tina loved the ocean, but as a vampire she was dependent on the living, people who clung to land, people who built the things she needed while on land. Her most, best, happiest moments were always when her fleet was at sea. If not for the blood being so diluted and fucking horrible.
Even now the sight of their voyage was something of a wonder. Eight ships, all of them dipping low into the water, their cargo holds full of war supplies, corpses, everything they should need thanks to the money of that Sylvanas broad. The only ships still sailing light out of their fleet were the ones belonging to Cylostra, both the wrecks she was bringing to these supposed Horde docks where they would be repaired, as well as the Lamprey, and the ship belonging to Captain Deb.
Even from here, Deborah's ship looked unique from the rest of the fleet. The massive tub of water, broth, and blood built into the deck rocked and splashed with the ship, yet never seemed to lose any of the unique fluids that filled it. Of course, Deb was one of the more unique members of Admiral Tina's fleet, being the only captain she didn't sire herself. But despite how weird Deb was, she was a welcome addition to the fleet, perfectly complementing the unique skills of Jenny, Josh, and Jacob.
Thinking of whom, Tina looked over to Josh and Jacob's ships. Between the two they commanded two ships each; Josh's ships were fitted with massive masts with extended beams that carried much larger sails than any other ship. And Jacob's ships sat particularly low in the water, their typical nets for trawling the seafloor almost invisible, pulled down by the weight of the nets so much the beams were almost under the surface of the water.
And always at the lead of the fleet, both of Jenny's ships stood proud. Their guns gleamed with dark Necromantic energy while their crews marched in practiced formations. Only Tina's ship seemed rather mundane compared to her captains'. She didn't have any of the fancy skills the others all had; she was a good leader, good at finding those of value and using them, and she was a great sailor. But that was about it.
But perhaps not for long. Tina looked down at the envelope in her hand, stamped with a red wax seal bearing an odd-looking trident. Her letter of introduction, which would set Tina on her path. If everything went right, if she could scheme to do away with the ghost bitch who had plagued her for years now, she might be able to change her title from Admiral to Commodore. First they would help conquer this strange island nation, the one depicted in the dozen maps the self-proclaimed Banshee Queen had given her. And then they would turn these fools into her thralls, allowing her fleets a free haven in the seas this foolish bitch had exposed to her. Tina normally wasn't so ambitious, but she had been sired by an ambitious man, and she had a fleet to consider. Her captains needed loot worthy of their skills.
Azeroth, the Banshee bitch had said the name with such reverence. But coming soon, such a precious and worshipped sea will become her roost, her haven. And it's people, her prey. Still, she would have to be on her best behavior for her new hosts; maybe she should practice talking proper. She'd hate to trouble Jenny such; the woman's tongue had much better uses than talking them fancy words, but if she wanted to trick self-proclaimed smart people like stuck-up merchants and self-righteous nobles, she needed to be able to whip out those big words at a moment's notice and use them correctly. Nothing got them smart types more upset than when someone dumb suddenly talks better than they do.
Reviews:
Guest 1: why would the Emperor want to downgrade his space Marines? It's like going from having a genuine AK-47 to using a chinese type 56 in the 70s. The stormcast just flat suck, if it wasn't for the jank of the AoS setting they would have been easily wiped out by forces that normally wouldn't have even been able to beat the normal Mallus.
Guest 2-3: Haven't played Trench Crusade, not enough time nor money. So can't say on any of that.
BloodRedRoses11: no good puppers who bite elves are never monsters no matter how much skin their rough play tears up. And all gnomes are pests, mechagnomes are just particularly ugly gnomes.
Ironwall:they don't even need that, in universe there's a numbers of highly capable Navy's, and the Vampire Coast's big thing actually isn't their navy, but the number of curses on the coast that make it dangerous even for the best elves to travel. Shandris chose to do what was right, but towards the end she would have thrown them under the bus.
Godofwoof:no one expects the inhuman nature of the French with their strange alien desires. But Grail Knights are actually very rare and very unlikely to be down in Arabay, a questing knight is of course guaranteed to be down there.
Orcbane: you mean the legion of the damned which the Sigmarine concept was stolen from? And for the next question, if you've seen Gundam Seed or know anything about Warhammer 40K you know the answer. One is human but better, one is captain America super soldier serum with bullshit plot armor, and one is entirely replacing the entirety of human physiology with near magical replacements that make one biologically immortal and harder to kill than trying to kill a hippo with a pocket knife.
deadliestfan:I kinda needed to rewrite it, even in gameplay the whole scene had a component that made no sense since Flynn was doing things that makes no sense for someone trying to escape a prison, game keeps telling you they sent him for the PC specifically, but he then spends the whole time treating you as a afterthought and acting more like he was sent specifically for the powder. So there needed to be a reason to send him to the powder and to use it (I mean you legit do kill several guys who should have had the cellblock keys yet he never stopped to loot them)
Sylvanas is guaranteed winging it on this one, she was expecting the great pirate Lord Harkon and instead found a lunatic who won't even talk to her, and a bunch of his refuse scum behaving as crude as can be.
And yeah Gnomish tech is better, never said it wasn't and that it couldn't do wonders for the Empire. however when you put an entire generation without formal education, and see a bunch of Gnomes rather behave like people much, much dumber and you have no formal institution for education since the writers... I mean """"you"""' never thought that it'd be a good idea to start a quest-line to reinstate your institutions, you're going to want to reestablish the colleges. and you can't just go "bam college exists now kids smarterer now me so big brain" you're going to have to either reestablish it all from scratch finding professors who will replace all the ones who got genocided or died while out adventuring... Or died of starvation as you spend years and years refusing to reestablish their jobs leaving you without anyone with the patience and presence of mind or skill to teach, ORRR you can take advantage of someone else's already established colleges, by sending your own schematics and a few of your own to bring those locations up to your standards while simultaneously creating a bond and thus making them more likely to be part of the Alliance, solving multiple issues with one simple move.
And Gnomish tech in general is just bad writing, because it's a Sargaras killing super mcguffin complete with the "drama detector" trope (see everyone's favorite cutscenes with Gelbin, then remember that Gnomes have world wide and interplanetary range radios)... Yet no one uses it and still it's common place for guys wearing chainmail bikinis to run around hitting each other with blunt objects...and somehow surpass said tech doing said action. Also the steamtank at least has a bad excuse and doesn't have a pointless five zeros added onto that tech stasis and beyond the steamtank the Empire makes steady and constant tech progression... Not to mention that GW contradicts themselves slightly with their claims about the steam tank both when they talk about the Dwarfs, for example the Blood Bowl Death-roller's tech is ironically cannon to the mainline Engineering Guild and in use in the mines and that machine is fast enough to run down a linebacker, and when they talk about the Empire's naval fleet which has steam ships and much more complex cannons. So more the Empire's failure is in miniaturization, which yes the gnomes can solve that and had done long ago in their world, never claimed they couldn't or technically haven't already solved it. But either everyone else in wow is a knuckle dragging moron incapable of figuring out the basics of fire, or Gnomish tech is centered around mcguffins and unobtainium because the dwarves, humans, etc all should be able to replicate it all, especially since it's made in human and dwarf workshops, they have the schematics, a entire city that's nothing but a oversized factory to such an absurd extent I'm going to point out any US care factory, or the US TSMC microchip factory, which that facility only has one of their fabrication buildings up and that one alone is out producing any one of its counterparts overseas... And compared to the scale of Ironforge that fabrication plant in that factory is more or less a single house to Iron Forge's city, Iron Forge by itself not even applying the Theramor BS "inflate out two buildings into a city the size of Venice" has enough space and production that Iron Forge by itself out produces earth. and yet that tech isn't as common as a handgun in the streets of Chicago, or drugs on a drug dealer... Which does present a new challenge for the gnomes, how to make their tech work without a bullshittium core, but if anyone in WoW can figure that out it's the Gnomes. Since they're probably the only race with the brain power to canonically go "hey we have a interstellar space ship and a big mystery that everyone wants to solve, the mystery of what's on the other side of the planet, why don't we use said space ship".
Antonio ranza: the best pirates in fiction are insane.
MadFrog2000:sadly they did not meet, but time for good music in Azeroth. Zandalar's story isn't 1 to 1 with Kul Tiras, so it gets to wait.
micelzod:Well the Estallian Conquistadors and Tillean navigators are famed in world... Are they directly ripped from IRL history... Yes but they're still great.
Hakuryuu: Glad you liked the Vampires, just seemed to fit the idea of Vampire pirates. They're not aristocrats but they're not human either. Some elements I'm holding off on, for one I want to give everyone the right time to cook and the proper considerations when merging everything.