“Load ‘er up you lazy runts! Drop those shredder blades and your hide pays the price!” The Warsong overseer hit a nearby peon with his club, to drive home the point.
The lumber camp was in a frenzy. Crates were being packed with weapons, ammunition and supplies. Standing out like a kodo in a pig farm was a goblin zeppelin, resting on a newly constructed platform in the middle of the camp. Peons were rushing to pack crates onto it, under the supervision of their less-than-patient overseers.
Other orcs were moving around outside the camps, systematically removing the notices of Martial Law from the trees and posts that they had been nailed to.
It was this commotion that Haradar Glaivebreaker, Warsong shaman, found when he rode into from Splintertree to Kargathia after returning from Thunder Bluff.
“Sergeant! What is going on here?” Haradar addressed the highest ranking sentry in earshot, who then came down from his watch tower.
“We’re leaving shaman. Many of us, anyhow. General’s taking us north.”
Perplexed, Haradar thanked the warrior and moved on. He spotted General Duskclaw talking to the Blademasters Krusg and Polkros.
“Haradar…” Katalmach smiled at the shaman as he approached. “I trust your business in Thunderbluff is done for the season.”
Hesitating for a moment, Haradar replied. “Indeed, General. The Earthen Ring has no more need of me for the time being.” Respectfully, he waited before questioning the General about what was going on.
“Excellent. Your hands will be full for sometime.” Katalmach turned and saluted the pair of Blademasters, before walking towards the landed zeppelin, indicating with a gesture that Haradar was to follow.
“General… what is all this? I didn’t expect us to leave in the middle of the current offensive.” While speaking, Haradar caught a glimpse of something he hadn’t noticed before. Prisoners who had been rounded up during the Martial Law, and kept imprisoned in the caves at Splintertree, had been brought here to the camp. By the looks of things, they were being debriefed and… released.
“There are grander battles to be fought Haradar. We are the Horde’s greatest warriors! We can not content ourselves fighting elven shadows for ever.” The General spoke with a burning intensity in his voice. Whatever was in store, he seemed to relish it.
“I agree General, I do… but what will become of Ashenvale? This place is our home. As close to one as we have, at least. We cannot abandon it.” Haradar spoke with concern in his voice.
Katalmach grunted a negative. “We will not. These camps remain ours, and we will protect them. A force will remain behind, and work with the mainstream Horde military to defend these lands. And as always, the Outriders will remain steadfast in their efforts in the Gultch. But no longer will I sit on my hands here, playing games with civilians, suffering insult and treachery from whelps who are disloyal to the Horde that saved them… Now more than ever before, we tie ourselves to Hellscream and the war in the North!”
The pair boarded the zeppelin, and the shaman saw that it was being customized to the Warsong aesthetic. Skulls and bones, all certainly of night elven origin, were being used to decorate the vessel that would take the General north. Haradar was struck by a strange sadness when he looked at it, but the feeling was fleeting. He had to admit, the vessel was an intimidating sight, and it when seen in the sky it would be all the more so.
“North… So our fate lies in Icecrown, be it in death or in victory.”
Katalmach shook his head. “No, Icecrown is not our objective. We are going to Conquest Hold.”
This, more than anything, surprised the shaman. “Conquest Hold? The scourge presence is the Grizzly Hills is not significant… what is our purpose there?” Even as he spoke the words, understanding started to dawn on him.
Katalmach laughed, a harsh and intimidating sound. His eyes lit up, and he bellowed his following words. “Our purpose? There are humans there, as well as the resources that Hellscream requires for the war. What Hellcream needs, we take for him! Surely you see our purpose now!”
Haradar felt his heart begin to swell with the glorious fervor that set the Warsong apart from other orcs.
“Indeed, General, I do. We go to kill humans… for lumber.”
The General grinned, and resembled a hungry dire wolf. Haradar wondered for a moment if this is what standing before the legendary Grom had been like.
“Exactly” Katalmach said, “for lumber!”
Subject: (RP) A new battlefield for the Warsong - by Katalmach 