The Great Thief

Tirion Fordring’s tent was situated on the edge of the camp. You could imagine the treatment he received.

 “HQ went way overboard,” Lu Li said with a hint of resentment. Halford Rebane was the leader of the Seventh Regiment, but his reputation was still not comparable to Windsor Marshall. This had something to do with his style.

He had a reputation for being a cold, stubborn philistine.

 “Halford Rebane is a brave soldier in battle,” Tirion Fordring commented. “He’s not the Paladin.”

From his tone, Tirion Fordring didn’t seem to blame him.

“Okay Mr. Highlord, let’s figure out the rescue issue.”

Since they had made up their minds to nurture their relationship, Lu Li no longer focused on things such as rewards. He might have been greedy and shrewd, but he was not one without propriety.

As a close friend of Uther and the founder of the Silver Hand, Fordring was one of the most noble Paladins. In the second war, the performance of the one who led the fight was worthy of the sacred name of the Silver Hand. Old Fordring used to be the strongest man that people paid attention to in the Human Kingdom.

Long periods of seclusion meant that his reputation also slowly disappeared. Some people even thought that he had given up on himself and was a deserter.

Halford Rebane was probably one to have thought this. He didn’t doubt Tirion Fordring’s character, hence why he subconsciously trusted Lu Li and Solomon when he saw Lu Li and Tirion Fordring. However, in his eyes, Tirion Fordring was rotten enough to enter a grave.

Plus, he thought it was almost absurd to send an army out for a group of old Paladins who could hardly walk.

 “Tyr’s Hand – they’ve all been imprisoned here,” Tirion Fordring said as he spread a piece of parchment over the table and pointed to a spot on the map.

Tyr’s Han was situated in the Eastern Plaguelands and on the East side of Mereldar Lake. This was the Hinterland of the Scourge Army and was not far from the Light’s Hope Chapel. Lu Li once again understood Halford Rebane. If he was in the leader’s position, he probably wouldn’t have sent people to go rescue them.

Or perhaps not many people knew the origin of the name ‘Tyr’s Hand’.

A very long time ago, in a land which was now called the Eastern Kingdoms, a small group of creatures were struggling to survive on the rations left by their parents when they were exiled to this strange beach. These creatures later became what were now known as humans. They would sometimes gather near campfires to read scrolls about their ancient civilisations and heroic legends left by the parents that abandoned them.

One of the scrolls described a great leader. He was the role model for order and justice. This hero once sacrificed his right hand in order to fight an unattainable evil.

Even though he could use his abilities to restore his right hand after the battle, he instead chose to use replace it with a pure silver-cast of a clenching fist. Thus, this hero taught every one of his followers that order and justice could only be achieved through personal sacrifice.

This hero deeply embedded in their memory was called Tyr.

In actual fact, Tyr was fighting against Galakrond, an ancient ancestral dragon. The five Guardian Dragons were created by Titan based on the evolution of Galakrond to a certain degree. This meant that he was the ancestor of dragons. Just purely based on his body alone, Galakrond was a million times larger than the five Guardian Dragons.

In that battle, Titan’s guardian, Tyr, led the Black Dragon Nezario, Red Dragon Alexstrasza, Green Dragon Ysera, Blue Dragon Malygos and Bronze Dragon Nozodormu to battle with Galakrond.

The five Dragons found it impossible to cause fatal damage to the larger Galakrond. Tyr was bitten by Galakrond and lost an arm, while his hammer was hit and the artefacts around his waist were swallowed.

Malygos and Alexstrasza saved Tyr and initiated a simple rescue. They then quickly fled North toward an area of frozen wilderness, which was later known as the Northrend Longbone Wilderness.

Not long after, the five Dragons faced Galakrond in a final battle, which also took place above the Northrend Longbone Wilderness.

Tyr chose to gather together, then attack Galakrond all at once. The five Dragons had to work together, like one big family, and defeat Galakrond with unbroken cooperation.

In the final battle, the five Dragons showed their tacit understanding, helping one another and fighting to death, which all later helped in becoming guardian dragons.

Malygos and Nezario picked up a huge rock in the hope of throwing it into the throat of Galakrond.

However, at this critical moment, a group of Undead dragons flew into the sky. Nezario went alone to fight the Undead Dragons in order to save Malygos.

It could be seen from this that the little black and little blue dragons were not completely incompatible.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Alexstrasza and Ysera, as well as Nozdormu attracted the attention of Galakrond. Malygos successfully threw the huge rock into Galakrond’s throat.

Galakrond couldn’t breathe due to his airways being blocked, so he started to run. The five Dragons pursued him; they knew that if Galakrond threw up the rock, all their efforts would have been in vain and Azeroth would be destroyed.

As the five Dragons chased, Galakrond fell forwards toward the ground, his giant body shattering the whole mountain. He tried to take off again, but in the process, his movements slowed down. After a series of convulsion, he fell to the ground and stopped moving.

After the five Dragons defeated the Galakrond that was a thousand times their size, Tyr and the other two Titans appeared. The Titans paid a visit to Azeroth and bestowed these five ancestral dragons the duty and power to guard the giant dragon.

This was what was said in the legends. The description of the battle was rather naïve.

However, it passed down the idea and beliefs of Tyr.

Only by sacrificing the individual could true justice be achieved!

Here was both Tyr’s Hand and the sacred land of the Silver Hand. Unfortunately, this had now become the place of natural disasters. Necromagus of the Cult of the Damned hoped to find Tyr’s corpse here and turn him into an Undead.

“Dear Highlords, I’ve been to Tyr’s Hand. This was not an easy place to travel to.”

Lu Li would inevitably withdraw once he heard about the imprisonment.

To be honest, he wasn’t afraid of sacrifice, especially since players could be revived. What he didn’t like was meaningless sacrifice.

To save people from Tyr’s Hand was nearly impossible to do.

“You think it’s completely impossible right?” Tirion Fordring asked. He could almost see through Lu Li’s thoughts. This NPC was granted powerful intelligence, which made him more powerful than ordinary humans.

 “I don’t think our success rate is high,” Lu Li replied honestly.

 “Even if it’s only a sliver of hope, the Silver Hand will never give up on his men! Even if I did go alone, I will fight for them!” Tirion Fordring exclaimed, then solemnly said, “Only by sacrificing the individual can true justice be achieved!”

 “Don’t think like that – if you’re dead, then there’s no point for me to play,” Lu Li thought to himself.

 “You can choose not to go. You’re still young, but me on the other hand…” Tirion Fordring began as he forced a smile, then continued, “Even if I die, Azeroth would have one less stubborn old man.”

“My Highlord, I think we must have a plan,” Lu Li said, echoing the lines of a movie.

Since it was a rescue operation, they really needed a sound plan. From the infiltration to rescue, then from the rescue to a safe evacuation. Plus, they needed to consider all the variables that could affect the process.

“It’s a pity that Rebane isn’t willing to lend a hand. If we had 2000 soldiers…”

It was clear that Tirion Fordring had thought about the whole process already. However, it was unfortunate that his plan didn’t persuade his excellency.

 “Yes, we do. Even though their abilities may be a bit weaker, we do have 2000 men. No, we have even about 20000.”

Lu Li needed to have the courage to put all his eggs in one basket to reap the benefits.

This was unlike seizing a Boss from other clubs in a chaotic situation. Lu Li was on the road to fully involve himself in this war.

If he wasn’t successful, then he would die for a noble cause.

If an old man with only one life was courageous enough to go fight alone, what did he have to be afraid of as a single player?

“20000?!” Tirion Fordring was shocked.

The Seventh Regiment now had about 40000-50000 members. There was no more than 30000 who showed up at the Ice-Sealed Mountain to confront the Scourge Army. This was already one of the most powerful military forces in this area. No one could match them in numbers except for the Scourge Army.

Lu Li suddenly claimed that he now had 20000 people.

It would be strange if this didn’t shock Tirion Fordring. Luckily, he did have some experience in crossing paths with Lu Li. He knew that this Elf had no other merits apart from being incredibly reliable.

“I can gather an army of 20000 people and assign them to you, Highlord. Even though they’re a little weak in ability, five of them can hold up one monster. Plus, they’re not real soldiers.”

Lu Li didn’t think that quantity would make a big impact in this battle.

These clubs joined together could kill the Scourge in seconds.

However, they might not even be able to fight an Undead knight of the Scourge Army.

 “No matter, we only want to save people, not to fight them.”

The situation was already a lot better than what Tirion Fordring had anticipated. He had thought it was just him and Lu Li along with a few old knights that would go off to battle, cutting off all their means of retreat.

Lu Li did not hide anything either. He told Tirion Fordring the characteristics of his people.

In this game of Dawn, the NPCs were accustomed to the strange abilities of Adventurers. As such, Tirion Fordring was not surprised to learn that Lu Li could call on his teammates through portals. Perhaps in his understanding, this belonged to the area of magic.

“We’ll go in along the edge of the Plague…” Tirion Fordring said as he pointed on the map and drew a curvy line.

However, Lu Li had other thoughts.

“No, we won’t go from the Western Plaguelands. This will become a battlefield of great war. No matter how lucky we are, we won’t be able to travel through such a long area quietly. Once we get identified as a threat by the Lich King, we will be welcomed by endless blockade attacks. It’s hard to say if we can get to Tyr’s Hand, let alone save those people.”

Even though Lu Li’s words were a little exaggerated, they weren’t out of reason.

Tirion Fordring also knew that what Lu Li said was reasonable. On a scale of 1 to 10, the original difficulty of rescue was 12, which meant it was completely hopeless. Now with the 20000 people that Lu Li said, the difficulty had decreased to a 7, but this was still by no means an easy task.

 “Actually, we can go through the Hinterlands. There’s a secret passage that connects the Hinterlands to the Eastern Plaguelands,” Lu Li said.

 “That’s impossible!” Tirion Fordring exclaimed as he shook his head. “The reason why the Hinterlands haven’t been contaminated by the Plague is precisely because of the lofty ridges and high mountains. If there was a passage, I believe Alsace and Kel’Thuzad wouldn’t be afraid of the Dwarves of Eagle Nest Mountain.”

 “Please believe me Highlord, I won’t lie to you about these things – there’s no point,” Lu Li replied in confidence.

The Hinterlands could indeed go straight to the Eastern Plaguelands. There were even other routes other than the one Lu Li mentioned. If you swam along the coastline, you could also get to the same point. However, this time it was not only them – there was also Tirion Fordring and these Sacred Riders who needed to ride in order to assist in battle. As such, this route of crossing water wasn’t going to work.

The Dwarves of Eagle Nest Mountain held a passage route to the Plaguelands.