“Zug zug,” Tootzlezz whispered with a shake of his head. “What is that supposed to mean? ‘Zug zug,” the gnome mocked with his shoulders up and brow lowered in his best attempt at appearing as an orc.
“Quiet!”, the night elf captain scolded. Duriel Moonfire was as quick with the draw of her bow as she was with her reprimands, and the gnome had earned many. She had suffered his incessant chatter long enough, and she feared that his high pitched squeak of a voice would alert the Warsong that were right beneath their noses. “Have you ever fought a Warsong? Their cries alone will be enough to make most soldiers cower.”
Tootzlezz flashed the priestess accompanying them, Qor’léille Mooneye, a grin. He had become friends with the unusual night elf when he was sent here to both assist the elves and to garner support for a push back into Gnomeregan. She had to stifle a smile in return. She took the same view on life as the gnome; an endlessly inquisitive nature for all things, and a decidedly lighthearted perspective on it all. While it allowed the gnomish rogue to flourish in his community, it made her somewhat of an outcast among the typically stoic and stalwart night elves. With their group of Duriel Moonfire and her two huntresses, Mooneye and Tootzlezz were the only ones that seemed to find any joy in much of anything.
Still, they both had a job to do, and the captain had just spotted their target. “There,” Duriel said with a nod to the north. “The shredder.”
Just ahead, under the pale moonlight of Ashenvale, stood a monument to the Horde’s destruction. A goblin shredder, a mechanized, efficient means of leveling acres of night elf forest. The Warsong orcs have been battling with the night elves here since the third war, using these monstrosities to wreak havoc on the landscape in the name of fueling their war machine. Formerly under the leadership of Grom Hellscream, they slaughtered their beloved demigod Cenarius and laid waste to their forests. They’ve been fighting tooth and nail ever since.
Immediately, the huntresses under Duriel’s guidance flanked left and right, encircling the shredder and taking note of the peons chopping lumber by hand. While they were no fighters, they would alert the warriors to the night elven presence. As silent as the night, they went to work eliminating the threat. Tootzlezz and Mooneye followed their captain right through the centre of the camp, knowing full well the huntresses would have done their work.
Duriel crouched low underneath the giant metal monster, it’s blades covered in sawdust and debris, catching just a glint of the moonlight off its razor sharp tools. The sight could have been strangely beautiful with the metal gleaming in the soft moonlight had its purpose not been so terrible. “Hop up, then,” she said to Tootzlezz and Mooneye. “Get to work quickly. We don’t know how long -”
Horns blared from the barracks not far to the south. They had been spotted. Already the fearsome cries of the Warsong were ringing through the air, and the sounds of war drums and stomping feet were fast approaching. The captain drew the huntresses in from the flanks, taking up their bows and vowing to give as much time to the priest and the rogue as they could. Their task was decidedly different from that of the huntresses.
Mooneye put out her palms and boosted the nimble rogue into the cockpit of the shredder before hopping up there herself. She climbed just as easily as him. Even from her earliest days in the priesthood, she refused to wear the typical garb of the long, flowing robes of her order. Instead, she opted for tighter fitting tunics. A loose fit would be terribly dangerous around machines. After all, she was one of a rare breed of night elves; a priest that dabbled in engineering. She saw it as a skill that embraced the mechanical to counter the grim effects of the Horde as they rampaged across the forests of Ashenvale. Because of this interest, she took a liking to the members of the Alliance that shared her affinity. When Tootzlezz was sent to Ashenvale to garner support, they quickly became close friends.
“A number of levers, gauges, and - bingo,” Tootzlezz said with a grin as he fiddled with the shredder's wires and mechanisms. “A big red button! Goblins - never known for their subtlety. Well, we know we can blow it up if we need to, at least. How’s it looking down there?”
Mooneye, meanwhile, had opened the compartments underneath to find a typical goblin mess of frayed wires and misplaced gizmos. “It’s everything you’d expect,” she replied. “Pass me an Arclight Spanner!” Cutting some wires, trimming others, and tying what she could together, and borrowing the decidedly gnomish technique of hitting things with force when they weren’t working, eventually she managed to get the engine started. “There we are!”
The Warsong battle cries were closer now. Their captain and her companions were firing arrows to find their distance and ward off the first waves that began to enclose on their position. “You’re running out of time, just destroy the thing and be done with it!” Duriel called up to them.
“There is a big red button, after all… But...” Tootzlezz said slyly.
“But, a number of levers…” Mooneye said, flicking oil out of her stark white hair.
“They’re never stable. Turn them all up-”
“-and it’ll overheat.”
"Not to mention it’ll get nice and far away from us.”
“Mooneye! Gnome! We are running out of time!” Duriel called with urgency as she planted an arrow into the arm of an orc at an incredible distance.
Together, they fiddled with the dials and levers until the shredder was facing towards the orcish barracks. Every method of increasing speed they could muster they turned up to the maximum and leapt from the cockpit of the shredder onto the ground below, just as the orcs were closing in. The orcs watched in shock as the shredder moved with an incredible swiftness through their camp, knocking piles of lumber and sending peons leaping out of the way. A rampaging, out of control machine was more than enough of a distraction for the night elves to flee back into the forest and out of sight. Their work was rewarded by the tremendous fireball rising into the air as the harvester slammed into the barracks wall, its reckless goblin technology overheating and bursting just as predicted.
Silently, not taking any chances of alerting any Horde scouts, the five returned back to Silverwind Refuge to regroup. The moment they were through the gates and to safety Duriel began to reprimand them both - quite a shock to the gnome and priest, seeing as they both expected praise. “What was that stunt?” she scolded them, maintaining her standard night elven poise while still clearly full of fury. “Sending a shredder rampaging off? You’re fortunate we’re breathing!”
“Are we?” Mooneye countered, white eyes transfixed and not for a moment backing down. “We looked at the shredder and assessed it. It was an acceptable risk, and we did it without an issue. It’s the reason we’re breathing. They had to retreat to prevent their whole barracks from burning to the ground!”
“Plan went off without a hitch,” Tootzlezz added, earning him a glare from them both to let him know it was not the time for his intervention. “Not a hitch, not a one,” he muttered while shrugging his shoulders.
“Your trinkets,” the captain said, pointing to Mooneye’s pouch of miscellaneous gizmos and gadgets, “can be left here next time. I’m not letting you endanger this war party again!”
Mooneye pulled back her shoulders and straightened her back. “You are in no position to tell me how to fight the battle for this land. If these ‘trinkets,’ as you call them, will send the orcs back, then so be it.” They stared eye to eye until Duriel finally left, summoning her huntresses to follow her.
Tootzlezz strolled up beside her, kicking his feet and whistling one long, low tone. “They really don’t like the tech, huh? If you ask me, I think our little plan went magnificently!” he said with a flourish. “And you make quite the apprentice!”
“Apprentice?” the night elf said with a laugh. “Just because you’re a gnome doesn’t mean you’re the better engineer.”
“Well, perhaps we can both become a little stronger in that regard…” His voice went quieter and he leaned closer, prompting her to bend down enough for her long elven ears to be near his. “I do have a proposition for you. You’ll learn much about the gnomish ways, and - quite frankly - I think my work here means you might just owe me one.”
“I’m listening,” she said, but stood up to her full height again. “But if you wish to ask for my assistance you can do so not as a rogue, but as a friend. You do not need to whisper to me. What is said here can be said in front of the rest of the rangers.”
“Very well! Have you heard of our great city, Gnomeregan?” Before she even had a chance to respond, he dove into a grand description of magnificent feats of engineering prowess, technology the likes of which the world could hardly comprehend, and a stunning world of whirring machines and flashing lights. “But sadly, it has been lost to us. An invasion of troggs - monstrous little rock-dwelling, stubby, annoying-”
“On with it!”
“Yes, yes. We’ve lost the city. But we seek to reclaim it. To tell you the truth… it’s much of the reason why I’m here. To scout for allies and to earn their trust, to hope they’ll come to Gnomeregan and help us claim what is ours!”
Mooneye nodded her head. “Very well. I’ll do it.”
Tootzlezz was taken aback. “Well. I didn’t think that would happen quite so quickly.”
“You had me at technology,” she said with a smile. “That, and I think you’re right. You have helped us. For what you’ve done for my home, the least I could do is help you with yours. We leave tomorrow.”
Without another word, she picked up her things and went to find a place to rest until their travels the next day. Tootzlezz just stood there, a gnome in a land of night elves, unsure if the conversation that just happened really occurred the way he heard it. After a few suspicious looks from the rangers, he took off to find a place to rest as well.
--
“There are other gnomes here?” she said in amazement, looking at the towering contraptions of wire, metal and miscellaneous parts that she wasn’t entirely sure were even connected to any one thing.
Tootzlezz looked down, the normally eccentric gnome suddenly dour. “When the radiation was released, there were many who could not flee fast enough. They’ve lost their once great minds, thinking any that enter the city are the trogg invaders. It’s a kindness to put them down, but a sadness just the same.”
“I am sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine…”
“It’s why I called you here. It’s more than just liberating the city. It’s… sometimes an act of mercy.”
The group they joined - two gnomish casters and a hardy dwarf warrior - entered the city through a door in the shape of a giant gear. Mooneye found herself awed by its tremendous size and scope. The careful planning of the city was so different from her home in Darnassus, where nature dictated much of the direction in which the city grew. She was so busy marvelling at the wonders, she very nearly got herself killed. Fortunately, the dwarf grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards him. “Careful, lass!” he called. They had stepped onto the platform of a giant elevator leading them into the depths of the city, and she had very nearly missed it, narrowly avoiding what would have been a great and terrible fall.
“You’d be surprised how many we’ve lost to elevators over the years,” Tootzlezz noted. Mooneye had discovered long ago that no matter how much the gnomes detested the goblins, they both shared a reckless abandon in their use of technology.
It was one of many fascinating things she discovered in her travels through the city. Discarded pieces of machinery, workshops of half-completed projects, schematics for baffling but confusing new pieces of weaponry or convenience or sometimes both. It was a treasure trove for the mechanically curious, and if it wasn’t for the numbers of troggs, radiation-mad gnomes and haywire robotics littering the place - admittedly, a significant problem - it would have been paradise. The dwarf grew weary at the constant wait for inspections by the overly curious, strangely clad night elf priest, but it was part of the deal in her venturing out here - she could explore as she wished.
Still, they had a job to do. They fought their way through the exceedingly confusing passageways and meandering tunnels of Gnomeregan, a place where even maps seemed to do more to confound the user than assist. Tootzlezz and Mooneye cared not in the slightest, scouting for intriguing inventions and innovations along the way. But eventually, after hours of searching (and a number of snack periods of conjured food provided by the party’s mage) they fought their way to the usurper of Gnomeregan.
“Mekgineer Thermaplugg,” Tootzlezz said through gritted teeth. “Tinkerer turned traitor.” He turned to the rest of the party, putting an arm out to block them from entering the final chamber. “Listen. Much of what we’ve seen has been his doing. He’ll be quick with a bomb and he’ll be under the protection of -” Tootzlezz peeked around the corner to see the self-styled king. “-an apparently very large, very dangerous machine.” He turned to Mooneye. “Sound familiar? Remind you of something in Ashenvale, perhaps?” he said with a wink.
“Nothing we can’t handle,” she said back.
“Whatever he throws out, I’ll be there to disarm it. I’m quick enough. The rest of you, focus on taking out his suit. Mooneye - perhaps wait until after his machine is broken before taking notes on it?”
Mooneye stifled a laugh, not to alert the Mekgineer. “I’ll see what I can do.”
--
Split wires, undetonated explosives and miscellaneous pieces of smoldering metal were scattered about the floor. Right at the centre sat the destroyed mechanical monster Thermaplugg used to lord over the ravaged gnomish capital. Seated around it were the five that defeated him, bloodied and battered, but victorious. Tootzlezz had fought brilliantly, sprinting from mine to mine that Thermaplugg had tossed onto the battlefield and cutting the necessary wires at every turn. Only then would he dash back to the traitor and target any weak spots Mooneye could decipher from a distance. Still, the victory rang oddly hollow. As the towering giant of metal fumed and the bombs that Tootzlezz couldn’t reach exploded and smoked, the traitor managed to escape into the many tunnels of Gnomeregan - weakened, but not defeated.
The liberation of Gnomeregan would not be had that day. It wouldn’t be for years.
Mooneye held her hands out to boost the gnome up to sit upon the destroyed robot. Quite the same as with the shredder, she pulled herself up and sat with him, surveying the destruction and damage. “I thought we had him,” Tootzlezz said, eyes down.
Qor’léille Mooneye nodded. “I thought so, too. But the battle was not for nothing.” She pulled from her pack a series of schematics, plans and gadgets. “We’ve learned much from here, and we’ve dealt a great blow to the powers that have taken your capital. With every battle, we grow stronger. In Ashenvale, when we took down the shredder…”
“Quite the fight, that was!” Tootzlezz added.
“It was. But it did not defeat the Horde. It did not even send them out of Ashenvale. Not even out of their lumber camp. But it was a step. We must fight. Every day if we have to. The road is long, my friend.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Tootzlezz said. “But still… it’s difficult to watch Gnomeregan in this state. I really hoped we would have succeeded in destroying him today.”
“You’ve taught me much, you know,” Mooneye began. “You and the whole race of gnomes. But allow me to teach you something, something that the night elves understand fully. Few victories are total. One must show patience and resolve. We are not a young race, and we have seen both the joys of victory and the sadness of defeat. But we know we will succeed, in the end.” She looked him right in the eyes. “Patience. That’s what it’ll take. For Gnomeregan.”
“And for Ashenvale!” Tootzlezz agreed.
She put an arm on his shoulder and looked out at the marvels of the city. “One day, my friend.”