World of Warcraft®

"This is where stealth ends brothers. Spread out and find the Trolls. Leave no witnesses!" Rend commanded as he kicked in the prison door. Rend decapitated the first human to try to stop them, while Grax threw knives into a pair of men playing a card game at the nearby table. The scouts split up after the main room was cleared. Kagran explored the hallways at a full sprint, stoping ocasionaly to investigate doorways. He looked around one corner, finding a short hallway ending with a reinforced door and a pair of determined looking guards. Kagran began to wonder if he could find the others, then the red haze surrounded his vision again and he calmly steped out into clear view of the guards. One guard swore, the other readied his shield. Kagran charged the one taking the time to swear, diving into a roll under thier initial sword swings. Kagran came out of the roll swinging his axe for the guard's knees. He had what seemed to be too much success as his axe went straight through the man's chainmail and into the door behind him, lodging firmly in the woord. He was forced to leave the axe to dodge the remaining guard's sword. As the man shifted his footing Kagran grabed his sheild and shoved it back into him, smiling at the noise the shield made when it impacted the guard's plate helmet. The guard shouted and attempted a sloppy downward chop. Kagran caught the man's sword arm and redirected the blade cleanly into the guard's chest.

As the man stumbled back against the wall Kagran yanked his axe from the doorway. He turned to the first guard, still rolling on the floor clutching where his legs had been severed. He braught the axe down, more to put the human out of his misery than any real attempt to end a potential threat. Kagran yanked his axe from the man's torso and shouted down the hall "I think I found them!"

Johnathan clutched his sword tighter as the screaming outside the doorway stoped suddenly, and something yelled in a guteral language he didn't recognise. It was quiet for a moment. Then someone tried to open the door. The things outside aparantly realised it was locked, because second later a grotesquely oversized axe cleaved through the lock. As the axe was pulled back, a glaring red eye looked at him from the other side of the hole in the door. The door opened slowly, revealing a towering green monster clutching a bloodstaned axe glaring down at Johnathan. He began backing up, untell he thuded against something. He remembered far too late that the Troll's cell was behind him. A pair of green arms w#*@!d around his vision, and the last thing Johnathan heard was the snap of his own neck.

Kagran watched as the Troll took the key's from the dead guard's belt and unceimoniously droped the man to the floor. "Told ya that was comin' mon." Zul'jin said as steped out of the cell. The rest of the scouting party came into the chamber as Zul'jin scooped up the guard's sword. "I thank you for da assistance Orcs." Zul'jin said as he idly tested the wieght of the blade.

"The Warchief wishes-" Rend began to say.

"I know exactly what da price of my freedom be mon." Zul'jin interupted. "Now we gunu be wastin' more time, or will ya be leadin' me to ya Warchief?"

((Grax is bloody brilliantly written. xD I never get tired of reading that character's written dialogue - he's awesome. A really fascinating sequence - even though I'm not huge on lore myself, I'm seeing a lot of familiar elements and historic events/figures coming into play, and I really get a kick out of it. Looking forward to seeing what happens next...Well done!))

Chapter 8
Rise of the Black Tooth Grin

Kagran couldn't help laughing as he entered the tavern. Imediately following the Horde's latest capture of a small Lorderonian village, several peons had been dispatched to begin serving the remaining ale in the local tavern. Kagran steped over the broken corpse of a human as he crossed the room in search of a seat. He noticed Grax in the corner and grabed a chair off the floor, seting it down next to Grax's table. "Mind if I have a seat sir?" Kagran asked.

"It's a public bar kid, sit where you like." Grax said with a chuckle. "Though since you're here, I'd like you to meet your new partner." Grax said as he let out a sharp whistle and began waving someone over.

"I'm doing fine on my own Grax. No need to stick some poor newblood with me." Kagran said.

"You're not fine, but you're not exactly geting stuck with a newblood ethier." Grax said through a grin.

Kagran saw something lithe weaving between the crowd of warriors and turned to face it. "Peon! Bring me a-" Kagran began to saw before he got suddenly cut off.

"Excuse me, mon?" A rather annoyed Troll woman asked. She was dressed in a simple leather garb, with several handaxes ringing her belt. A bright red mohawk stuck out from the top of her hair, distuingishing her as an Amani Axethrower. The woman looked at Grax. "Dis an orc t'ing?"

"It's an ignorant youth thing." Grax said with a laugh. He looked at Kagran and motioned towards the Amani woman. "Kagran, meet Akija, your new partner." Grax said.

Kagran looked back at Akija. "I um... thought that um... Sorry." Kagran stammered.

Grax laughed again as he stood up. "Come on kids. The Blackhand boys wanted to talk to the clan." Grax said as he walked towards the doorway.

The three pushed thier way through the growing crowd of orcs untell they could clearly see Rend and Maim Blackhand. The brothers stood on a raised platform. Most of the Blackrock clan had come to hear what the brothers were going to say, forming a sea of green faces and red shoulder pads infront of the platform. Rend grinned as he scanned the crowd before begining. "Brothers! Six years ago the Horde lost one of it's great heroes, to his own general! Now he let's the very warlock he claims is responsible for our Warchief's supposed 'corruption' live? Is Ogrim truely fit to lead the noble Blackrocks?"

Maim picked up the speach without so much as a pause. "We ask that you join us! We shall greet these turbulant times and emerge anew! The honor and traditions of our people shall outlast this pretender through our new clan!"

Rend stepped forward, lifting the iconic battleaxe of the Blackhand family into the air. "Who among you will join us?" Almost two thirds of the assembled orcs raised thier voices in response. Akija spared a confused look at her surroundings as Kagran and Grax joined the rallying cry. Rend and Maim beamed as they watched the response they recieved. Nethier had thought they would recieve such support. "We are Blackrock no more. From now on, we shall be known as the Black Tooth Grin! Let all who dare opose the true sons of Blackhand learn true fear at our hands!" Rend concluded, drawing another roaring cheer from the orcs of the Black Tooth Grin clan.

Chapter IX
Battle for Tol Barad

Sound filled the barracks. All around Kagran black armored warriors were preparing for battle. Grax had summoned the scouts to the war room. Kagran entered the small room, location an opening next to Akija. Grax had laid a map of the dwarven coastline across the central table, and was already launched into his briefing. "We'll be moving ahead of the main force. Our task is to clear the Human harbor and repurposing it for the Amani navy's use during the main battle." Grax began.

Kagran leaned over to Akija and wispered "The Amani have a navy?"

Akija grinned. "We got lot'sa t'ings we don tell people 'bout, mon. Dat's why dey called secrets."

Grax glared at the two for a second before continuing. "Make this look good kiddies. This battle clearly isn't the test of skill the Warchief told us it is. He wants to test the loyalty of Black Tooth and Amani alike. He wants to know that we will capture something simpley because he asked us to do it. Mark my words, twenty years from now no one will remember this 'Tol Barad' place." Grax concluded.

It was an hour ride to the staging area. The scouting group consisted of a handfull of orcs and trolls, as well as a catapult. The Amani imediately took to the trees, bounding between branches as the orcs crept along beneath them. It wasn't long before they met the first sentry. An elven ranger surveyed the area from atop a small rise. Grax gave a subtle whistle, and a second later an Amani throwing axe flew into the ranger's chet. "Move the catapult onto that hill." Grax quietly ordered. As the peons began moving the catapult, the rest of the group pressed on. Several more sentries were grabed by orcs or droped quietly from afar by the trolls. With the aproach clear, Grax gave a hand signal. The catapult fired, sending a large boulder crashing into the side of the Human barracks. With a roar the scouts charged into the town. Kagran and Akija raced to the Barracks to finish off the disoriented soldiers inside. Some of the Alliance forces had the presence of mind to raise weapons in time. Kagran blocked a blow from a human's sword and kicked him in the chest to stagger him. Kagran braught the axe down on the human, then searched the area for more targets.

Akija stood at the center of a ring of broken and dismembered elven and human corpses. "What took ya so long?" She said with a grin. Kagran couldn't help laughing as he walked back outside. The other scout pairs had already finished clearing the other buildings. A messanger was dispatche as the peons began refitting the costal town for naval use. The scouts gathered at the coast and awaited the next step of the invasion. Kagran watched as figures formed in the forg, and began closing.

"Are those Stromgarde ships?" Kagran asked.

"No humie's gonna make a ship that fast, mon." Akija said with a grin. The ships breached the fog, and Kagran grinned at the vessals. The Amani ships Had a single massive leather sail over the top with the Horde symbol recently painted acrosst it. The main body of the vessel was a dark metal bristling with cannons. The boat itself seemed to be held up by a massive animal tusk on ethier side of the vessel. Behind each warship there was a smaller craft being towed. One by one these craft were released and thier crews rowed them to shore. The transports looked to be made almost entirely from large bones, with a large leather canvas spread over the top.

"Into the transports kiddies! We're meeting the main force at Tol Barad." Grax shouted as the warriors crammed into the small transports. Kagran was forced to the middle, unable to see what was happening outside the boat. He heard a cascade of explosions outside as the Trolls and Humans engaged in naval combat. To thier credit, the peons along the edges of the ship's cabin kept rowing as if nothing was happening. The ship gave a sudden lurch and the ramp at the front dropped down. The warriors surged out of thier transports to meet the enemy, only to find a blank stone wall mere feet from the transports. "Where is the gate? Where the fel did we get droped?" Grax shouted. "We don't have time for this. Flank right." Grax ordered.

The group wandered the edge of the wall before coming to an odd break. The back half of a lumber mill reached through the wall, with an opening aparantly intended for trees to be inserted from outside. Grax looked the mill wall over with a grin. "Amani, can you climb this?" Grax asked, recieving a nod from the trolls. "Get on the roof and wait untell we're through. Kagran, get chopping on that wall." Grax ordered. The Trolls began scaling the woodan surface, using thier axes to make handholds along the way. Kagran steped up to the wall and leveled his axe. He made four downward slashes into the wal, then three horizontal. With a swift kick the area caved in and formed a hole large enough for the orcs to fit through one at a time. The terified workers bearly had time to scream as the orcs moved through the mill. Once Kagran was outside a batch of Human soldiers finaly realised thier breach in security. The humans charged towards the orcs, only to be cut down by a hail of axes from the rooftop above. The Trolls droped down among the orcs, and the group wordlessly broke into thier pairings again.

"Looks like a commander to the north, near the gates." Kagran said, pointing out the armored man to Akija. "Think you can get his forces away from him?" Kagran said, pointing to a nearby trio of elven archers.

"Not a problem, mon." Akija said as she ran a head. "'Ey knife-ears! Catch!" Akija shouted, hurling an axe into the nearest elf without breaking her sprint. She turned mid stride and began running through a section of structures, the elves eagerly following. Kagran took the oportunity to charge at the human commander. The man sidesteped Kagran's charge, slaming the pommel of his claymore into Kagran's back as he ran by. Kagran stummbled and turned, raising his axe to block the human's horizontal swing. The commander's sword sliced cleanly through the haft of Kagran's axe, and continued to carve a deep gash into his chest. Kagran clutched his wound as he fell to the floor and his vision began to blur. The human stood over him and raised the claymore. Kagran closed his eyes and waited for the end, untell he heard a wet "Thump" above him. He opened his eyes to see the commander starring in shock at the throwing axe firmly embedded in his face. Akija walked up to the man and casualy shoved him. The man tumbled to the floor with ease and Akija knelt over Kagran. "Dis ain't as bad as it looks, mon. Come un, let's get ya up." She said as she helped Kagran stand, slinging his arm over her shoulder. Then the front gate of the human stronghold burst open, filling the area with smoke and debris. Outside the gate the remaining Black Tooth Grin forces had assembled. Out in the sea the Troll Destroyers drifted idly among the ruins of the Stromgarde navy.

Rend and Maim stood in the remains of the shattered doorway at the head of the Black Tooth Grin invasion force. Rend raised the Blackhand Doomsaw into the air and shouted "Tol Barad belongs to the Black Tooth Grin!"