Hillsbrad Report

[Gal'Bash]

Day 1:
...Here is what wrote Gal'bash, known as Thundergash, Chieftain of Spearhead Clan and Nag' Ogar of Tribe Red Blade about the first day of upcoming events.

We have arrived to the town of Tarren Mill in Hillsbrad Foothills, it is a Forsaken occupied human town in middle north of the region. We got to work imeidately after we have arrived. Orcs were sent to scout the outskirts of the town while others got to preparations for whatever may come. I have established an Aid Station in the domining building of the town, the church. It has shocked me how unprepared we came. Ofcourse we were all battle ready but what little supplies we had, we wouldn't last longer than week, or two if we ate small rations.

After brief inspection of the place I have summarized a list of things we desperatelty need if we are to last long there, even in case we are surounded. A runner has been sent to Orgrimmar with it but it will take him day to get to zeppelin landing pods in Tirisfal Glades. Hopefully the caravan with the supplies will arrive soon. I am little worried about the quite there is now. I would kill to know what the Alliance is up to. When runner set off, I got back to business with the problems that could be solved right away. First I focused on water becouse even us orcs has to drink. I ve heard the sound of river from nearby grove. Me and Morsha, New Blood shaman of our Tribe, took some barrels we found in the town and went to get some water. We cleaned the barrels and filled them with water when I realized there is a problem with the water we ve just dipped into our barrels. The river was flowing from the north, and in the north, there are Plaguelands. That means the water is tainted becouse as Chieftain said, "There is more skeletons than fishes in the Darrowmare Lake". I ve decided to try a ritual I haven't performed for quite a while. Ritual of Purification.

It went quite well. Or at least the results were satisfying. Grockh, one of our warlocks agreed to test the water. He was a bit of incorrect subject to test it upon since there is still small stain of fel in him. He said it burns him and that it pains in his stomach. I decided to take uopn the test myself. I drank a few gulps and I found that the water has been clensed properly. Only thing was that it tasted like dirt but I never said I can make Thunderbrew Ale out of it. Maybe some alchemist could make the smack of dirt disappear?

After all the water has been stored in safe place (stocked inside one of the houses) I have set off for quick scouting of South shore to see if Alliance forces are moving in. Surprisingly We found that there are no Alliance ships docked at the peers nor there are caravans unloading materials for wareffort. It almost looked as if there weren't increased activity in the region. Sleepy guards patroled the streets and few merchants were selling their goods. No soliders, no ranked officers, no nothing. When we returned to Tarren Mill, we informed Chieftain and Varog'Gors about the "nothing" we have seen and I went to set my own place to sleep.

This is the end of the first day of our Hillsbrad Campaing. I will continue to write this as we' ll go.

[Kozgugore]

Tarren Mill, Hillsbrad Foothils
Thirteenth day of the eighth month – day three

The day started off quiet enough. I scouted the roads with Steelbrow while there were no additional Orcs around to do their duties. We found several potential sentry points, should there be any need for it. Any news of importance occured only after the eighth horn, however, when Nag’Ogar Thundergash returned with news about the new stockpiles added to Southshore. Perhaps they are preparing for something out there after all.

Add to that some sneaky Dwarf and an Elf who suddenly attacked Tarren Mill, and we Orcs got our wake up call. We decided to send out some patrols to make sure the Humans will have to learn to watch themselves.

However, best news so far is that we may be well on our way to uncover the Human’s intentions in these regions. Upon returning from the patrols, we found a Night Elf attacking the southern part of Tarren Mill. Since he was alone, we made short work of him. Upon inspecting the corpse, we found an amusing clue, however. The Elf carried Arathorian gold. I am not all that familiar with Human politics and habits. But I certainly know a thing or two about these Red Fists. They don’t easily lend their coins to outsiders. Let stand prissy Elves.

On top of that, word reached me that a Deathguard had seen three riders leave the northern clitreacle sponge shortly after our patrol returned. In response to this, me, Varog’Gor Ironfoot and Steelbrow, Nag’Ogar Burnblade and Oathbound Leyea set out for one last patrol at the sound of the tenth horn to investigate any traces the Humans that left the northern clitreacle sponge might have left behind. Along with us was some Forsaken male who claimed to work for his Undead “master”, whoever that was. He seemed keen on sticking by us Orcs’ side, so I sent him along with Steelbrow and Leyea’s group, whom I sent to scout the eastern ridges.

Me, Ironfoot and Burnblade had a good start. At both the Headland and Gavin’s Naze, we found footprints of two horses and three humanoids, along with two burnt out campfires. The clitreacle sponge offered an excellent view on the foothills ahead, and must have been a perfect observation post for the Humans. We will be making more patrols in that area in the days to come to see if we can catch any more of the rats. I have no doubt they must have been watching our patrols from those positions.

Upon returning to Tarren Mill, I found Steelbrow fighting a small group of Dwarves and Humans on the first ridge, Corrahn’s Dagger. Clearly he must be either daft in the head again or deaf, because I told him to patrol further east from there. I pointed him out to his duties when we returned and gathered for a short briefing in the church, along with pointing out all the potential sentry points we have gathered so far.

We also analysed all the information we had so far. The Elf we killed after the first patrol, the three riders that were spotted by the Deathguard, the traces on the clitreacle sponge and the Human’s protective nature towards the Arathi region. We have enough reason to think the Alliance is preparing in the Arathi Highlands – if it is preparing at all. There can be no doubt about it if you ask this Orc, however. The Elf we killed, joined the two Humans scouting the three ridges overlooking Hillsbrad and got paid in Arathorian coins for it. Whatever his reason was for attacking Tarren Mill on his own, we will never know. But I do know we will have to send a discreet scouting party to the Highlands very soon if we want to make sure the War Council knows about this in time.

After that, the Orcs slowly crawled into whatever improvised sleeping bags they brought after we fought off three waves of attacks from some weak raiding party. I doubt they had much to do with the Alliance in either Soutshore or Arathi. No clues were found on any of the corpses. Our mission for now is clear. Though I doubt we will get much time to attend to them tomorrow. After all, we have a tournament to prepare the Orcs for.

Chieftain Kozgugore Feraleye

[Kozgugore]

Tarren Mill, Hillsbrad Foothils
Fifteenth day of the eighth month – day five

The Humans have been remaining too quiet. Aside from a suicidal Draenei or two, it has been as quiet as one of those graveyards for the last two days. The tournament was a welcome distraction. But soon after that, we would have to go back to our guard and patrol duties once again. Although it was raining all day, we sent out some patrols before we would start falling asleep in that church. As expected, however, not a single soul was to be seen on the roads.

There is good news, however. An old scout of ours, Tharrek Bearclaw, returned to our ranks today. He said he was captured a couple of months ago by the same Red Fists we were trying to keep our eyes peeled on. During his captivity, he said their numbers were greatly diminished, and that their city of Stromgarde has fallen for good. This may indicate they may not even have the resources nor the strength to risk a war. But there was more.

Bearclaw informed me of a group of Stormwind visitors. Some important General. And not to mention a Draenei female dressed in robes. Now they may call me paranoid, but there is most likely only one Draenei I know who matches that criteria who might have had a purpose to be out there in no-man’s land. The Red Fists are obviously too weakened to act alone. But should it come to a war, they may well recieve aid from outsiders. We have seen them doing it before, and no doubt they still have the influence to do it again. If history teaches us one thing, it shows us not to make the same mistake over again. And I plan not to make the same mistake as we did at the battle of the Highlands during the Vanguard War.

Chieftain Kozgugore Feraleye