"Psst, Pheta, we're here!" It didn't take long for Phetatarei to spot which shrub was talking to him. In the direction of the voice that whispered to him, he could easily see a pointy black hat sticking out of the leaves and next to the hat, he could see a Pandaren lying flat on the ground. Sadly for both the gnome mage, owner of the hat, and the pandaren, the bushes they chose as their hiding place weren't very covering.
Toadlily, the mage, Tupenny, the monk and Phetatarei, the paladin, were sent on an incursion to sabotage the snow trolls. Now that the Zandalari were driven to unite all troll races into one big war against anyone on Azeroth, the snow trolls living near Ironforge suddenly became a larger threat. High King Varian Wrynn and Queen Moira had ordered their forces to deal with the troll problem. Heroes and champions from within the Alliance forces answered the call. As a guild The Longbeards also decided to send as many help as they could. They decided to send in little groups of their champions to aid Moira's troops.
Pheta arrived late and Toadlily and Tupenny were forced to hide until the gleaming paladin arrived. None of them were particularly good at hiding. Toadlily, being a gnome, had the benefit of her size, but her pointy hat and arcane magic were sure to attract some attention. Tupenny on the other hand was a happy go lucky monk, that always tumbled into trouble. She was known to have no real sense of danger. The dynamic duo was also notoriously bad at orientation so Phetatarei was actually relieved to meet his friends at the right location.
Because the paladin didn't make any move to join his Longbeards friends in the bushes, Toadlily had blinked towards him and was now trying to pull the big Draenei into hiding. Soon these three champions were 'hiding' in a bush, that couldn't grow any leaves due to the cold of Dun Morogh. Phetatarei was wearing his full plate battle armor, that he used to polish into a bright sheen. He had also decorated his armor with intricate jewelry designs in remembrance of the Naaru-inspired art style of his father. In other words, the trio was very visible. If one of the snow trolls had bothered to patrol the outer rims of their camp, they would be able to raise alarm very easily.
Phetatarei started explaining tactics: "So according to our liaison with the Dark Irons both the Queen and the High King send in some scouts, but none of them returned. Our job is to infiltrate the troll villages on these and these hills." Phetatarei, was pointing at a map his friends weren't paying any attention to. "The idea of our mission is to just save the scouts and return them safely to Ironforge. While we are distracting the snow trolls, Moira and her forces will invade the troll villages and drive them out of Dun Morogh for good."
As soon as Phetatarei finished speaking, the pandaren monk ran out straight up the hills and started yelling: "Distraction!" In a panic Toadlily had followed her friend and started using arcane missiles to target anything that moved. Within seconds the snow trolls were blowing horns alarming anyone to the presence of intruders. Phetatarei could do nothing else but to use the powers of the Light and sprint towards the fight. The Draenei summoned an avenger's shield and tossed the energy towards a group of snow trolls that were trying to freeze Tupenny with their own magic.
"Distraction!" Tupenny repeated as she launched herself into a fur ball of dangerous madness, kicking over all the totems the troll shamans had summoned in an attempt to embolden their kin. When the trolls had spotted the big draenei they decided to try and take him down first. The paladin was used to combat in large groups however and as soon as a troll tried to get too close, they got a shield bashed into their face, sometimes breaking their tusks. While Phetatarei was trying to taunt all snow trolls and keeping their attention to him, he could see Tupenny tumble allover the place, kicking trolls into the shin and breaking their knees. As soon as one of the trolls halted, even for a little moment, Toadlily directed her arcane might towards them, almost immediately obliterating her targets.
While Phetatarei was trying to work out which troll village they had attacked, his friends had already defeated all the trolls standing near to him and they were on their course to wherever any troll could be. The paladin let out a big sigh and while studying his map he could hear a dwarf shouting. "Over here! Help me!" The draenei turned around and he saw a naked dwarf that had been hung over a fire, as if the trolls wanted to make a spit roast out of him. The draenei immediately protected the dwarf with a sacred shield, and ran over to kick out the fire. The paladin launched a flare, so that the Dark Irons knew where one of their scouts had been found. As the paladin was covering the dwarf with one of the trolls' ponchos he could hear another "Distraction!" in the distance. "I am sorry, my dwarven friend, but it looks like the other Longbeards are already into trouble again. Don't worry, Queen Moira will send her troops to get you into safety." A bit baffled the dwarf nodded in understanding and the draenei ran off.
The paladin entered a cave where his friends were fighting off the trolls on their own terrain. Toadlily had frozen the trolls into place and Tupenny was tumbling and jumping around the cave, moving from troll to troll, bashing in their skulls with her staff. The draenei again sprinted into the fight to try and save his friends. When he entered the center of the cave, he could hear a loud rumble and the remaining trolls shouted in excitement. "They have trapped us", Toadlily shouted slightly panicked. Indeed, the entrance of the cave was now blocked with large rubble and chunks of ice and although Tupenny had already defeated a bunch of the snow trolls, more came rushing in from deep within the cave.
"Maybe the distraction, distracted us a bit too much." Tupenny confessed. She quickly tumbled out of harms way and now was pushing the paladin in front of her, trusting him to deal with the dangers. In the meantime Toadlily was drawing a runic circle beneath her, in order to summon more powerful arcane magic. Phetatarei consecrated the ground he was standing on, burning any threat that would come near him with holy fire. With another of his avenger's shields he was able to interrupt some of the trolls trying to overwhelm them, but it was not nearly enough. This time, both Tupenny and Toadlily stayed behind him realizing the danger of running in front of their plated friend. This time the troll shaman were able to place their totems and they summoned great ice spirits, even increasing their numbers. "It looks like we are a tiny bit outmatched", laughed Tupenny, never giving up her joyous humor.
Phetatarei was more than a little bit worried, but he didn't want his friends to know. They had faced more dangerous situations, but they would have had more aid then. "Toad! Can you shoot down those stalactites?" The mage immediately responded and with a big wave of arcane explosions she created a small avalanche within the cave. The agile trolls were able to dodge all the icicles and stalactites dropping into them, but at least it served to slow them down a bit. Phetatarei held his ground and as soon as one of the trolls came near him, waving their large axes and clubs, he summoned a guardian of ancient kings to help protect him. The holy spirit engulfed the draenei in a warm glow and helped him to fend off any ranged attacks. In the meantime Tupenny was bouncing off the cave walls throwing punches towards any troll that tried to surround Phetatarei. Toadlily focused shooting down the totems and tried to interrupt the blizzards the ice spirits were casting.
Now that the three Longbeards worked in tandem, their time of working and training together paid off. Toadlily created mirror images of herself, that were able to halt any troll coming any bit too close. In the meantime she cast time warp, hastening herself and her friends. Now Phetatarei was able to more quickly avoid the troll attacks and retaliate with divine fury. The paladin could feel the power of the Naaru flowing through his veins and smit his enemies near and far. Now that more and more trolls were falling, Tupenny had more space to dash around and succeed into distracting any trolls that were trying to attack one of her friends. Now her shouts of "Distraction" boomed in the icy cave and started to horrify the trolls. The ice covered ground started turning red and before long the snow trolls were defeated.
Toadlily couldn't help cheering for their victory. Already Tupenny was trying to move any of the rubble that had blocked the cave entrance. Phetatarei was mumbling a prayer for the Naaru and wished for the trolls to be reconnected with their Loa. Death is never easy, but the Draenei was glad his day hadn't come yet. "This won't budge!" Tupenny was trying to use her staff to lift any of the rubble, but it was all stuck. Toadlily tried using one of her fire spells in a hope to melt the ice, but all it did was giving more ways for the rubble to block the entrance. "Oh", she whispered, "I guess we are really stuck in here."
"Maybe there is another way out, deeper within the cave." Phetatarei suggested. "Toadlily, can you provide us with some more light?" The gnome took a torch from one of the dead trolls and reignited it, then she handed it to her towering friend. "You lead. Tupenny, no distractions this time. I suppose we should be a bit more careful." Tupenny silently agreed with a guilty nod and the trio proceeded deeper within the icy cave.
"You know", Toadlily said. "This reminds me a bit of the old Gnomeregan only with more stacks of dwarven skulls and less gizmos and cogwheels. I guess it's the sound of the wind that reminds me of our old home and I guess we could also find some blighted Troggs deep within the soil, now that would be an adventure!" "I feel like we already had our share of adventure for today." Phetatarei couldn't hide the annoyance in his voice. He didn't like when things didn't go as planned and although he loved Toadlily and Tupenny, they didn't usually love his plans.
Tupenny was mostly distracted during their trek through the cave mounds, she had never really been to Dun Morogh before. She had visited the guild hall in Ironforge, but she had not wandered beyond the safety of the dwarven capital. "It is really cold in here. I don't think we ever had much snow on the Wandering Isle." She mused. Phetatarei agreed, he had never liked the cold either, it reminded him of the flight on the Exodar and he didn't like any of those memories. "If we ever get out of here, I'll buy you girls a drink in Ironforge!" This excited the mage and the monk and they were already thinking about what kind of ale they would order.
The trio had a hard time orientating themselves inside the cave. They had no sense of time and no sense of direction. Sometimes the cave had branched into multiple tunnels and they had met more than one dead end. From the outside this cave had just looked like a carved out entrance, but the snow trolls had clearly made a town out of the belly of this hill. Phetatarei had a hard time keeping his balance with his hoofs sliding over the icy stone. Toadlily seemed to be the least affected by the cold, time or hunger. She was singing songs in her own tongue that sounded cute and joyful. Suddenly Phetatarei slipped, fell hard on his back and lost hold of the torch in his hand.
The draenei landed with a hard smack and a loud cry of pain, the torch was doused during the fall. Now the Longbeards were stuck in pitch black. "Someone there?" A weak voice was talking to them in the common tongue. The Longbeards weren't sure how to react and remained silent for a while. Could this be another trap? "Hello?", the voice continued, "Is someone there? Please, I've been stuck here for I don't know how long." Toadlily was the first to react: "Could that be one of the other scouts maybe? It was our plan to save them, wasn't it, Pheta?" So now she remembered the plan?
The mage made a little ball of fire into the palm of her hand and tried to find her way towards the weak voice. "Don't worry", she said in a calm and comforting tone. "We are here to help. Just keep talking and we'll find you." The weak voice continued speaking, groaning in pain in between the search for her words. "I'm so tired. The trolls didn't feed me." "It must be one of the scouts!" Toadlily shouted and she ran off, leaving her friends stuck in the dark.
Tupenny and Phetatarei were left in the dark and all that they could do was wait and trust that Toadlily would succeed in finding the supposed scout. They huddled closer together in hope of fighting the cold, but that was to little avail. Tupenny’s big belly rumbled. “Pheta, I’m really hungry.” She complained “You would think these trolls would need to eat as well right, where are their stores?” Phetatarei knew she wouldn’t like his answer: “They were probably feeding themselves on the humans and dwarves that they captured.” Tupenny shivered: “Thanks, that actually made me less hungry.” She rubbed her belly that was groaning ever louder.
After waiting for who knew how long the monk and the paladin could see a big light casting shadows from deeper within the cave. A large shadow with a pointy hat was drawing near. “Pheta, Tupenny, what are you waiting for? We succeeded on our mission!” The little gnome cheered. She signalled her friends to follow her and after a short while, she led her friends inside a big cave hall. Along the way the mage had lit torches hanging from the sides of the cave walls and within the hall she had lit a bigger fire.
The hall was littered with bones from all sorts, some of animals like deer and rabbits, but mostly human and dwarven skeletons were assorted in some kind of ritual way. Around Toadlily’s fire the surviving dwarven scouts were trying to warm their bare naked bodies. “I guess we found their stores.” Tupenny admitted in horror. The dwarves were looking dangerously thin and it was clear they hadn’t been fed by the Trolls.
One of the dwarves introduced herself as Jenna Copperbottom, she was too tired and scared to care about her naked body. “The trolls started by eating the more fat ones, as they claimed. They killed them in ritual sacrifice, proving their allegiance to the Zandalari, after they had offered the hearts to their Loa they ate the rest of their corpses. They were mostly prided in being able to eat humans as they were considered to be more of a delicacy. Those of us who they thought as too muscular for taste, were forced to carry away the skeletons. They also labored us to death, forcing us to dig an escape route for any impending attacks. We weren’t able to finish that tunnel and we tried to work as slowly as possible without them punishing us. I guess you were able to kill most of them, although some might be hiding somewhere deeper within the caves. These trolls are mad!” Jenna Copperbottom started sobbing and Tupenny was there to comfort her.
Apart from Jenna, four other dwarves had survived their horrible conditions. They seemed to be too tired to talk or maybe too traumatized, their hollow eyes could do nothing more than stare into the fire Toadlily had made for them. Phetatarei was praying to the Naaru, worried that they wouldn’t be able to find a way out. “Now we have found our scouts, but I fear it will take us too long to find a way out, these dwarves won’t survive much longer without care.”
Toadlily just smiled and winked to Phetatarei. “Don’t worry Pheta! The main reason I can’t follow any directions is because I usually don’t need them. I’ll make us a portal to Ironforge and we will all be saved.” Relieved Phetatarei gave the little mage a big hug and after she made her portal, he carried the dwarves through it, while Tupenny welcomed them from within the big city with a heartwarming ale.
For their troubles and because of their rescue Jenna Copperbottom had invited the trio for a big dwarven feast a week later. With the help of several Alliance champions, the Dark Iron dwarves were able to fend off a Zandalari invasion of the city of Ironforge and Queen Moira was able to rekindle her relationship with King Varian and prove her allegiance to both the other dwarven tribes and the whole of the Alliance.
At the feast Jenna Copperbottom had organised, Tupenny and Toadlily didn’t fail to remind Phetatarei of his promise of buying them drinks. The paladin happily obliged and both his friends and the whole company of dwarven scouts didn’t have to worry for the cost of any ale they wanted to drink that night! The scouts were now dressed in formal attire and their eyes were filled with proud and joy. After the meal however, Jenna made a toast for all the fallen. “Although we are gathered here to feast on our rescue, many of our Alliance brothers and sisters didn’t survive the combined might of the snow trolls and the Zandalari. We are grateful to live another day, but we also say our thanks and prayers for those that died. May their cups be ever filled in the afterlife and may there names never be forgotten. For the fallen! For The Longbeards! For Ironforge! For the Alliance!” Every shout made by Jenna was followed with loud approval and fresh drinks! At the end of her speech everyone was banging their steins on the table surface and the party kept celebrating in dwarven fashion, with plenty of boar ribs and kegs of ale.
