Chapter 7: Volume 1 – Chapter 06

Chapter 6

There was little room to make mistakes. Gnolls may not be the brightest creatures, but they were extremely dangerous in large numbers especially led by a competent leader, which seemed to be the case.

The plan they devised relied on two types of surprise attacks. The first one was left on Eldum's shoulders as he was the one suggesting using the entire wolf pack to even the odds. As a hunter, he could tame more than one pet, but it came with exponentially increased risk.

It was easy to control one pet and keep it happy enough but when it came to an entire pack of vicious animals, like wolves, the hunter who tried to control them more often than not ended up being their meal. Eldum's own mentor had lost a few overly ambitious students in such a manner.

To not succumb to a similar fate, Eldum had hunted large amounts of hares in the last two days to have enough meals for the wolves til they could be unleashed upon gnolls.

Once the food was secured came the most dangerous part of the entire process; taming of the wolves. Armed with a backpack full of hare carcasses, he left his trusted pet behind and used one of his abilities to track down the nearest wolf pack.

Of course, he was not so careless as to not prepare for the possibility of the animals being untamable. No self-respecting hunter would ever go into the woods without at least a few frost traps as a backup.

'This is whit separates a guid beastmasters from the bad ones.' Eldum reminded himself why such precautions were needed, as he crept closer to the wolf pack. The animals, despite their keen senses, had not yet noticed him, and the dwarven hunter preferred it that way.

It was best to take them by surprise and tame them before they could surround him. He stopped about ten meters away and put down four frost traps without making any sound.

After that, he carefully opened the backpack, letting the smell of the dead hares fill the air. The wolves responded immediately, slowly creeping in his direction. The first wolf who noticed him let out a loud howl and waited for the biggest wolf of the pack to step forward.

'There it is; the alpha. He gets the first snack.' Eldum tossed the hare at the wolf's feet. The animal looked down and then back at him with suspicion. Not wasting any time Eldum activated his taming ability targeting the entire pack at the same time but putting most attention on the alpha.

The wolf took careful steps in his direction but stopped two meters away and let out a low growl.

"Easy beastie. This is for ye." He tossed another hare at the wolf. This time the wolf picked it up between his mighty jaws and bit off half of it. As he chewed the meat, the rest of the pack gathered close behind him.

"We are friends." Eldum finished the taming and waited. The chance that the wolf could reject it still existed. The wolf slowly devoured the hare as he stared at the potential master in silence.

When the last piece of the meat was gone, he let out a low rumbling sound and stepped close to Eldum, lowering his head.

Eldum carefully petted the animal and gave him another hare. While the alpha consumed it, he emptied his bag and let the rest of the pack eat as well.

Considering that this was not just one animal he was taming, a day spent bonding with the pack was a step that could not be skipped for any reason. While his teammates were making their own preparations, Eldum could go on a hunting spree with his new pets without too much worry. The plan was to attack the gnoll camps two days from now on.

Meanwhile, Corben was doing his own set of preparations. There wasn't that much he could do as a mage, save from having a full mana pool just before the attack. But he wasn't just a mage after all, but a skilled alchemist as well, and this is where the true preparation came from.

Elwynn Forest provided a wide assortment of useful herbs. With Osbeorn as his bodyguard, he could put all his attention into herb gathering. On top of that, the massive bear didn't mind being a pack mule as well and let Corben strap the full bags on his back.

The potion-making process itself was as time-consuming as ever, but with his companions occupied with their own preparations, there was no need to hurry, save for the deadline the murlocs had set.

His particular choice of ammunition this time was the slowing potions and the acid flasks which were one of the hardest alchemical concoctions to make. But considering their effectiveness it was well worth the effort. The only downside was the horrific damage it did without killing the target.

'I sure hope gnolls have healers. Living in a half-melted state for years would suck for them.' Even if they were low-intelligence monsters that would not hesitate to butcher and eat humans, there was a limit to how much pain Corben was willing to carelessly inflict upon them.

'Twenty of each should be enough. If gnolls have any sense in them, they should be on the run after the first few land on the poor saps who lead the charge.'

Lonaraa's preparations were the most physically intense by far. With the logging camp being by the mountainside, there were plentiful places for copper ore gathering. She spent the first half of the day mining as much ore as possible.

As the one who would have to face the brunt of the gnoll forces, she needed the best armor and weapon she could make.

The moment she entered the forge that by the sign at the entrance, was for public use, and walked to a free smelter, all eyes fell on her. The local blacksmith and his assistants surely had not seen her kind before.

"Is there a problem, sir?" Lonaraa asked the blacksmith after enduring his stare for a good ten minutes.

"What sort of creature are you?" The man asked without a hint of disdain while staring at her with visible suspicion.

Lonaraa put down the blacksmithing hammer and turned around to face the man. "My kind calls ourselves draenei and we are part of the Alliance." She replied in a polite tone. There was no reason to get angry at people who had suffered a lot over the years and viewed all newcomers with understandable suspicion.

'Huh, there are a lot more people inside now.' She looked around with growing unease.

"Part of the Alliance? Right. Who would accept demons like you in the Alliance." The man said in an openly hostile tone. "How about you run back to your warlock and don't taint my forge!"

"I am not a demon, sir." She responded through her teeth. 'I can't fight them. They are simple people and don't understand.' Most of the blacksmith's apprentices looked still in their teens and nervously shifted around. They were no fighters, and by the looks of it, likely hoped that their numbers would scare her off.

"You keep telling that to yourself, beast. Out of my forge, now!" The blacksmith raised his voice.

"Fine!" Lonaraa hissed at the man and turned around to start gathering her things. Almost instantly, she was interrupted by a poke on her lower back.

The man shouted again. "Out now! Before I call the militia!"

Lonaraa flipped around and pushed aside the coal-poking stick the man was holding and walked up to him with a snarling expression. The man instantly paled but kept his resolve and once again yelled. "Out. Or…"

He stopped the moment Lonaraa grabbed his shirt and lifted him from the ground with one hand. "Or what? I am allowed to be here by the crown you… impolite little man."

The man could only offer an incoherent squeak in return. Lonaraa quickly glanced around to see if the blacksmith's assistants were making any moves but all of them stood frozen in place.

Despite her slender and proportional build, her sheer size was more than intimidating to an average human. Add the immense strength that let her lift a grown human with one hand on top of it and she pretty much took control of the entire forge.

She softened her expression and said in a calmer tone as she lowered the man so he could stand on his own. "I will leave once I gather my belongings. I pray you never try this to a more impatient draenei."

Facing no more opposition, she quickly gathered the ore that had not yet melted, leaving the smoldering hot copper bars where they were, and left the forge.

With nothing better to do and no desire to start another conflict, she slowly walked out of the logging camp and sat down at the tree. She couldn't help but repeat the event in her mind. 'Could I have talked them into understanding that I'm not a threat? I have done nothing wrong. I am not a man'ari.'

Lonaraa closed her eyes and just sat there, losing all sense of time. The shade of the tree was warm enough to not be bothered by the weather and this was one of sunny days, so there was no need to worry about the rain either.

How long she sat like this was impossible to tell but it was Corben's voice that brought her back to the present moment. "So what happened?"

Lonaraa slowly opened her eyes and asked. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not the one sitting under the tree with a droopy expression like a pile of misery. So, what happened?" Corben asked again. There was not a shred of his usual easiness in his tone.

"The blacksmith chased me out of the forge because he thought I was a demon. I'm sorry I couldn't make my preparations." She said while slowly standing up and stretching.

"That bastard is going to pay for it." Corben's expression turned plain demonic.

"Wait, no. We don't need to harm those people. They just don't know any better." Lonaraa hastily tried to talk him down.

"Who said anything about harming them? I'm just saying it would be a shame if some animal wandered into the forge at night and left a mess that would stink like an ogre's asshole for a week or so until they manage to clean it all out." Corben cackled like a maniac.

"Don't you think it's a bit much? They were just scared of me because they thought I was a man'ari."

"No one is abusing my teammates and getting away with it. Eldum should be back with his wolf pack in an hour or so and then we are devising a plan for how to covertly cover that forge in a layer of wolf shit!"

"I don't know… that sounds unnecessarily cruel."

"Nonsense. I'm not letting some bastards go unpunished for treating you badly." Corben said with determination.

Lonaraa looked down and away as she couldn't hide her smile. 'He is standing up for me. Not even my sisters did that.' The sentiment of 'fighting your own battles' was commonly shared among her family members.

Executing the plan wasn't too hard since the militia was short of two men, and could not cover the perimeter of the logging camp during the night. The four conspirators followed by a pack of wolves snuck into the forge without any trouble. Corben even left arcane images, easily seen from the window, in the room they had rented in the inn.

While Eldum ordered the wolves to defecate in hard-to-reach places one by one, Corben stuffed a few unskinned hare carcasses in the corners no one would even think of looking.

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With little chance of the dead animals being discovered in the initial cleaning, they were bound to make the work in the forge miserable for a while.

Just as covertly as they arrived, the group managed to leave the crime scene without alerting the guards.

In the morning, all hell broke loose. Corben and his group were casually eating breakfast when the blacksmith barged into the inn and screamed. "This is your handiwork, demon! You will not get away with it!" He pointed at Lonaraa.

Corben immediately jumped to his feet and shouted back at the man. "I don't know what your problem is man, but this is the second time you are accusing my companion!"

"That demon led some foul beasts in my forge during the night." The man didn't back down.

"I will not tolerate such blatant lies about my friends! We didn't leave our room last night! This inn's staff can vouch for us." Corben shouted at the man with the most exaggerated anger he could muster. The more convincing the show the more likely no one would listen to the blacksmith.

"He is speaking the truth, Marcel. They retired to their room and didn't leave for the night. I saw them playing cards way after the sun went down." The innkeeper said to the blacksmith, waving him to calm down.

"But… but.." The blacksmith stammered. "The forge… and…" He got red in the face and stormed out of the inn.

"Not even an apology for falsely accusing my friend." Corben shook his head in a theatrical manner.

"We better leave before he tries to pin more on you. I'm sorry that some of my brethren are so close-minded." Corben extended his hand towards Lonaraa.

The show worked like a charm. Lonaraa even got a free dessert from the innkeeper's wife as proof that not all humans hate her solely for what she is. Lonaraa, unable to keep up with the act, quickly ate the treat without looking up, blue in the face, but that only worked in her favor as a shy and reserved woman who was treated unjustly.

The small logging community would remember how the blacksmith mistreated the first draenei they ever met. Especially considering how noble and benevolent the draenei are.

The mystery of what happened in the forge was never solved, but the blacksmith found another pile of shit in front of his house just a step away from his door the next day as well.

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The faithful day to take care of Fedfennel had come. All four hid in bushes as they watched the gnoll camp. The hunch-over bipedal doglike creatures were rather dull compared to humans, but once in a blue moon, particularly strong and intelligent gnolls were born and whipped the unruly hordes into quite dangerous armies.

"Thare are ane hundrit twenty-seven o thaim i' the camp alone." Eldum whispered his observation.

"Should be fine. Between the two frost bombs in front of us and your wolf pack, we should cause enough chaos to get to Fedfennel and disappear before we are overwhelmed. Lonaraa will taunt him right to us." Corben whispered back.

"Do I have to use taunt?" Lonaraa joined the conversation with a frown.

"There are no other people around. Besides, Eldum and I think that your swear bombs are awesome." Corben once again encouraged her.

"Fine… When do I start?" Lonaraa let out a sigh of defeat.

"Everything is set up, so I think you can start."

Lonaraa nodded, stood up and shouted at Fedfennel. "Hey, you weak pathetic excuse of a bitch. I have fought chickens with more meat on their bones than you!"

That predictably enraged the gnoll as he screeched back with a half bark. "I will gnaw on your bones!"

Fedfennel charged toward Lonaraa with the rest of his clan following suit. She pulled up the shield and assumed a defensive position. Even with the wolves and bombs, many of them could reach her position.

Then something no one could predict happened. About halfway between her and the gnoll camp, Fedfennel slipped and fell, hitting the ground head first with a crack and remained on the ground unmoving.

The gnoll horde stopped in their tracks and just stared at their clearly dead leader.

"Boss?" One of them yelped.

Another stepped closer and carefully poked Fedfennel's corpse. "Boss dead." He then howled. "I'm boss now!"

"No, I'm boss." Another one howled back.

"No, me." "Me." "Me Boss." The horde suddenly broke out in an all out brawl.

"Dae A send oot the wolves or…" Eldum asked while scratching his head in confusion.

"Yes. Send the wolves. Lonaraa, Osbeorn, take the front line. We are going for his head while gnolls are distracted." Corben issued orders.

Eldum whistled and pointed at the gnolls right in front of their former leader's corpse. The wolf pack he had tamed charged out of the bushes and collided with the gnolls.

With the ensuing chaos, reaching the corpse was not that hard. Few of the gnolls met their end at the hand of Lonaraa or the mighty paws of Osbeorn while Corben immobilized a few with the deep freeze. The moment they reached the corpse, Eldum cut off the gnoll's head with a knife and the group just as quickly retreated, leaving the remaining gnolls to fight for the leader's position.

"Did ye prepare the backup plan?" Eldum asked once they were a safe distance away.

"Of course. I put an arcane trigger in my backpack. If my heart stops, a small poison bomb teleports to the lake and most of the murlocs die a slow, painful death." Corben said loud enough for the potential spies to hear.

That, of course, was just a bluff, but the murlocs who likely spied on him all the time would not know that. He did build some weird-looking device and filled it with a sickly green liquid which was nothing more than the hangover cure.

"Such rash actions won't be necessary." The familiar gargled voice responded from behind a nearby tree as the murloc with the large top hat stepped out.

"We got the head. Our part is done." Corben said as Eldum stretched out his arm while holding the gnoll's head.

"Indeed. Your debt to the Gllmngh and Mglrgrn clans are repaid." The murloc tilted his head and more murlocs emerged from behind the trees carrying the remains of the second guard. They quickly dropped the remains in a haphazard manner and retreated back into the woods.

The head murloc tossed a small pendant at Corben, who barely managed to catch it. "This is enough proof that you found the second body. Tell them forest animals killed both guards."

"Got it. Now, are we done?" Corben carefully asked.

"Our current deal is done. That leaves us with two options. You can just walk away and forget what you had seen. Or you can continue working for us on a job-to-job basis. Don Gllmngh has found your abilities to be quite useful and would like to continue a mutually beneficial relationship. Of course, you would be properly compensated for your efforts."

"How would that work? You plan to leave a tail on us?" Corben asked.

"Nothing of the sort. We would distribute the knowledge of your group through our networks and any murloc would be able to recognize you. You get a job done for another clan, they pay you and leave the clan indebted to us for the favor. In return, we help you out with your own endeavors." The murloc spoke as he held his flippery fingers together.

"Give us a minute." Corben dragged his companions aside.

"So do we accept?"

"Sure. Wha knows, maybe thae beasties help us oot i a bind i the future." Eldum said in his usual carefree tone.

"I will leave that decision to you. I know too little about these creatures to make a judgment." Lonaraa said.

Corben turned back to the murloc and said. "We accept."

"Excellent. We will be in touch." The murloc tipped his hat and disappeared into the woods.

"I think we now have mob connections." Corben remarked with a chuckle.

If that was a good or bad thing only time could tell.

Proofreading by Sad_Smiles and Visur Nyxan.

AN: Thank you for reading the story, and if you have caught up to the latest chapter, you can check out my other work or join my discord server (Link is in my profile) where additional chapters are available.

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