Chapter 130: The Battle of the Hinterlands

The orcish fleet pressed northward. Orgrim gave his lieutenant, Rend Blackhand, an approving pat on the shoulder. "Where did you find those short, green-skinned creatures? Their handiwork is truly impressive."

Rend beamed with pride, as any contribution to the Horde was a source of honor for an orc. "They call themselves goblins. They are naturally short with green skin. When we were organizing the construction of our fleet to advance north by sea, one of them approached me from the anchored ships and offered to help us build our navy. They only asked for payment in the form of the gems and metals we had scavenged from human buildings."

Rend recalled that at the time, the support of a goblin Trade Prince had been a godsend. The orcs were utterly clueless about building or repairing dwarven vessels. Rend had been at his wit's end, forced to rely on orc peons to simply patch the damaged sections of the warships and bail out the bilges just to keep the ships afloat.

Thanks to the goblins, the orcs—who had plundered vast amounts of weaponry, equipment, glowing stones, and metals from Stormwind—finally found a use for their loot. While the warlocks had claimed some for spell components, the rest had merely sat gathering dust in the logistics warehouses. The orcs had arrived in Azeroth with no intention of trading with humans; they had simply slaughtered their way from the Swamp of Sorrows to the very gates of Stormwind. All that gold and silver had been utterly useless to them.

When the Trade Prince, Roveliz Kaso, offered to repair their warships in exchange for the gold and silver the orcs deemed worthless, Rend was overjoyed. He agreed to the terms immediately, inwardly scoffing at the foolish, short green-skinned creature for wanting such useless metals as payment.

Likewise, little Roveliz Kaso had spent days celebrating how easily the Horde had agreed to his contract. To simply patch up some ships so they could sail and receive such a vast fortune in return? Could anything make a goblin happier?

"These hulking brutes have nothing but raw strength and no business sense," Roveliz Kaso thought to himself. "They are so easy to swindle."

In truth, Roveliz Kaso felt his work was perfect. He had followed the orcs' instructions to plate the hulls with iron. From a human engineering perspective, patching leftover dwarven ships with heavy iron plating was an incredibly foolish method, but the orcs felt that the added iron ensured the ships' safety. Thus, a trade agreement that satisfied both parties was struck.

"Simple-minded muscle-heads. They probably have no idea what the firepower of the Kul Tiras naval fleet is really like," Roveliz Kaso mocked internally, though he kept a straight face. He still needed to wait for the Warchief to pay up once the work was complete.

The goblins' alchemy had imbued the iron plates with a special resistance, protecting the metal from the corrosion of seawater. However, the added weight of the iron significantly reduced the ships' cargo capacity. These prototype vessels had been designed as wooden ships, and with the heavy iron layer, their remaining capacity was pitiful to behold.

But the customers were happy, weren't they? It was the standard goblin practice to fulfill the letter of the contract and then sit back and wait for payment. This was how almost every goblin in Azeroth operated.

"Take me to see the little fellow," Orgrim said to Rend.

These little creatures with their "superb" craftsmanship had piqued Orgrim's curiosity. He wanted to meet this so-called Trade Prince.

Orgrim followed Rend to Roveliz Kaso's alchemy lab, where they found him beside a boiling cauldron. The little creature was preparing a new type of alloy to craft weapons and armor for the orcs—all the better to swindle more funds from them.

Rend provided a brief introduction: "This is the goblin Trade Prince, Roveliz Kaso."

Roveliz Kaso didn't even look up. He simply said coolly, "Respected old friend, and Warchief, I advise you not to get too close to this alchemical cauldron. It hasn't exploded yet today, so it’s not exactly safe."

Rend: "..."

Orgrim: "..."

...

The fleet landed in the Hinterlands. Once the savage orcish army disembarked, they didn't even bother setting up a camp. After preparing their rations and weapons, they began their march toward the northwest.

The target of the Horde's threat this time was Aerie Peak, home of the Wildhammer dwarves. This peaceful and tranquil region was about to be engulfed in the flames of war.

After the War of the Three Hammers, the Dark Iron and Wildhammer clans, having been driven out of Ironforge, each built a city in the Redridge Mountains. The Wildhammer dwarves eventually migrated north, crossing the Gate of Dan Algaz to establish their kingdom atop the peaks of Grim Batol.

However, prosperity and the passage of time did not erase the Dark Iron clan's hatred for their kin. Thaurissan and his witch-queen wife, Modgud, launched simultaneous attacks on Ironforge and Grim Batol. The Dark Iron clan intended to claim all of Khaz Modan for themselves, to prove to their peers that Thaurissan's Dark Iron dwarves were the true kings of the dwarves.

The Dark Iron dwarves were the only ones among the three clans to master dark magic. Their proficiency in the arcane gave them combat power far superior to that of the Bronzebeards or the Wildhammers. Their dark magic was devastating, serving as an unstoppable weapon of mass destruction in the war of the legions.

Facing the Dark Iron invasion, the Wildhammer warriors stood united. High Thane Khardros personally led the charge, slaying the sorceress-queen Modgud in the heat of battle. Her death caused the Dark Iron army to collapse in the face of the enraged Wildhammer forces. As they fled south toward their own city, they were intercepted by reinforcements arriving from Ironforge to aid Grim Batol. Caught in a pincer movement, the remaining Dark Iron forces were utterly annihilated.

The united Wildhammer dwarves had defeated the witch-queen, but her death left a malevolent scar upon the mountain fortress. The potent dark magic deeply corrupted the surface, and the Wildhammer dwarves found that the land was no longer fit for habitation. They were struck with immense grief at the loss of their beloved home.

The King of the Bronzebeard clan offered the Wildhammers a place to stay within the borders of Ironforge, but the Wildhammers stubbornly refused. Khardros led his people north to the lands of Lordaeron, settling in the fertile forests of the Hinterlands. There, the Wildhammer clan built the fortress of Aerie Peak, eventually growing close to nature and even befriending the local gryphons. Since the death of Khardros, the current High Thane, Kurdran Wildhammer, had become a gryphon rider himself.

Now, gryphon riders on patrol spotted the Horde army in the distance—the war machines belching black smoke, and the distinct, foul stench of fel energy. Disconcerted, the scouts immediately returned to Aerie Peak to report. Situated at the crossroads of the Hinterlands, Aerie Peak was a vital passage connecting to the Hillsbrad Foothills and the first barrier standing in the path of the Horde army, regardless of their intended trajectory.