Chapter 470: Trouble with Trolls
It turned out that Lothar's concerns were unnecessary.
Although the orcs had swept through Khaz Modan with unstoppable momentum, the situation changed dramatically when the dwarves and gnomes retreated into their capital cities.
Orgrim Doomhammer, fully aware that the dwarves were the stronger of the two races, directed the Horde's forces to focus their assault on Ironforge.
However, unlike the other areas of Khaz Modan that fell with relative ease, this capital city proved to be an entirely different challenge.
Every single inhabitant within the mountain fortress took up arms in a desperate, all-or-nothing resistance.
The dwarves understood that if they lost this battle, their entire race would face extermination. They would rather die with honor than submit to the Horde.
Moreover, Ironforge was built directly into the mountain itself.
The dwarves' ancestors had hollowed out an entire peak to construct their city, leaving only a single, massive gate as the sole connection to the outside world.
This naturally defensible position allowed them to hold off the Horde's relentless siege.
As defenders, the dwarves fought with the strength of ten warriors each, inflicting severe casualties on the orcs.
Faced with these losses, Doomhammer had no choice but to order a retreat.
After all, Ironforge was not his primary objective—there was no need to waste excessive manpower here.
With Khaz Modan and its abundant mineral resources already in his grasp, he had achieved his main goal as Warchief.
In truth, the orcish army had not overlooked Gnomeregan either, but their efforts had been in vain.
The gnomes, with their superior intellect, defended their homeland using advanced scientific technology.
They buried landmines throughout the forests and mountains surrounding Gnomeregan, causing countless orcs to perish before they even laid eyes on the gnome capital.
Additionally, Gnomeregan itself was protected by an indestructible steel gate. After weeks of fruitless bombardment with siege engines, Doomhammer ordered a withdrawal.
Instead, after resolving the Ironforge situation, he stationed the Bleeding Hollow clan to keep the gnomes contained within their city, abandoning further attempts to conquer it. Thus, Gnomeregan narrowly escaped the wrath of the Horde.
Upon hearing of the dwarves' and gnomes' successful defenses, Lothar abandoned any thoughts of launching a reckless rescue mission.
He instead chose to wait for the alliance armies to assemble before considering a decisive battle against the orcs.
However, the events in Khaz Modan were not without consequence for the Alliance.
The speed at which the orcs had conquered Khaz Modan was yet another demonstration of their formidable strength, further deepening the Alliance's sense of dread.
Every ruler in the Alliance hastened to consolidate their forces, seeking to establish a united army as quickly as possible to halt the Horde's advance.
Meanwhile, in Stratholme, Archbishop Faol accelerated the training of the first generation of six paladins.
His plan was to recruit a second batch of capable priests and warriors as new initiates for the Silver Hand once the initial paladins had made progress.
These new recruits, as per the agreement, would include a contingent from the high elves.
Despite the rising tensions between the Alliance and the Horde, it was evident that the Second War had yet to truly begin.
The orcs needed time to stockpile supplies, mine Khaz Modan's resources, and forge new weapons—an endeavor significantly delayed by their failure to conquer Ironforge.
Likewise, the Alliance needed time to train paladins and reorganize its armies.
According to Alaric's predictions, this buildup would take approximately six months.
For Alaric, however, this period was anything but idle. He had assigned himself a crucial mission: eliminating the Horde's potential allies and hidden threats within Lordaeron.
There were two such threats: the Frostwolf clan of orcs, who had retreated into the Alterac Mountains, and the Amani trolls of the Zul'Aman jungle.
The former were dissenters within the Horde, following a different philosophy from their demon-corrupted kin, which led them to seek refuge in the mountains. In the short term, they were unlikely to aid the Horde.
The latter, however, were a far greater concern.
In the original timeline, Orgrim Doomhammer had indeed forged an alliance with the Amani trolls.
Their tribal culture and shared enemies made them natural allies. Doomhammer even went as far as to rescue the Amani warlord, Zul'jin, from a prison camp in the Hillsbrad Foothills.
The Amani's alliance with the Horde caused immense trouble for the Alliance.
With the trolls' knowledge of the terrain, the orcs launched devastating surprise attacks on the Alliance's rear lines.
At one point, the chaos they wrought in Quel'Thalas was so severe that the Windrunner sisters' family suffered heavy casualties.
Now, Alaric intended to prevent history from repeating itself.
Of course, he had no plans to kill Zul'jin in his prison cell—even though the Amani warlord held immense prestige among his people.
Zul'jin was imprisoned in a camp located within human territory but controlled by Quel'Thalas. This rare collaboration between humans and high elves was rooted in their shared animosity toward the trolls.
As the leader of the Amani, Zul'jin's hands were stained with high elf blood.
The high elves considered him a sworn enemy. However, for strategic reasons, they had chosen not to execute him. Instead, they kept him imprisoned as a means of controlling the Amani trolls.
Although the high elves vastly outmatched the trolls in military power, their slow reproduction rate meant they could not afford a high-casualty war against Zul'Aman.
The trolls, on the other hand, reproduced at an alarming rate.
If the elves attempted to exterminate them, the trolls would simply rebound within a generation.
The elves had learned this lesson well—one need only look at the attritional nightmare that was the Lighthouse Nation's war in Vietnam.
Instead of constantly culling the trolls, the high elves allowed their numbers to stabilize.
By keeping Zul'jin alive, they ensured the Amani remained divided—some wanted to ransom him, some sought to rescue him, and others debated launching an all-out war.
This internal discord kept the trolls weak.
However, the Horde's arrival had turned this strategy against the high elves. They had unknowingly set themselves up for disaster—and they hadn't even realized it yet.
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