Drahna wrote:

December 19, 2011 Raid 1

Drahna sat in the darkest corner she could find in the Broken Keel in Rachet. She held the folder that Pansu had given her and read it carefully. The intell she had received a few days before about the supply train had indeed paid off, they were able to find enough to restock the Grin's pantries as well as provide some documentation.

The first document was one about the Tax money that came from the Territories to Stormwind. Tax Money was a simple thing. Whenever someone had their items repaired, or they bought something from the Auction House, the money that came from the bids or repairs was used for the War Effort. For the Alliance it was gathered and sent to Stormwind through some elaborate back trails to prevent it from being robbed. The routes for the money changed constantly except for one final thing. Everything filtered from Ironforge to Stormwind via the Tram.

Drahna's smile curled under her mask. So the key was going to be finding when the delivery on that tram happened. From what she could tell it always was going to be a night delivery. She pulled her mask down and sipped her ale. Her mind was muddling over the facts. There was a cache of gold coming to the Grin if she could get her grubby paws on when. That would help with weapons, that would help with improvements on the Hold. Mostly that would help morale.

She went to the next page. Using her Dwarven-Orc Dictionary, she was able to translate it easy enough. This was a purchasing order. One for a new gas tank and several pumps and vacuum tubes for the siege engine they were building again. She smiled to herself. She had been popping holes in that gas tank for months every other week. They would take it apart and fix it. Just as it was fixed, she would go back and puncture more holes into it.

She looked at the blueprints for the Siege tank that Pansu found and laughed. They were going to try to put a stronger plate under the gas tank to avoid the punctures. They believed that this happened whenever they were testing it out in the field and had no idea that it was sabotage. She just would have to clip under the plate lining to get to it. That would be easy enough. She now knew exactly where to hit it.

She moved to the final page and blinked a few times. This was more interesting than all the rest. The glow in her jade green eyes picked up as she read. There was going to be a giant order of just weapons for the Barrens Campaign, freshly formed from Ironforge next week. Weapons. Brand new things for the Grots and others to use in the war, and smelted from the best. It was another order slip. 30 crates in total and it was going to be the Grin's. However it wasn't going through the normal channels. This wasn't a Menitil to Northwatch order at all. She traced the route with her finger and nodded. They would just have to get it and take it back to Desolation Hold.

"Food and weapons" she mumbled softly. Food and weapons next week would be a good thing. She could provide them. She shuffled the papers and put them back in the folder. Wrapping that into the back of her armor she polished off her Ale. She needed to figure out the best path for this. That meant recon. No one did recon like she did, no one seemed to have the patience. She needed to see what foot traffic was involved. Mostly, she hoped that this next round would bring them a healer. That was something they were going to need.

Drahna wrote:

December 26, 2011 Raid 2 (Was cancled but post put anyway)

The week had been strange to Drahna, and by no means was she unhappy. Disappointed at aspects of it made her shiver, but there was happiness too. For one, she was able to improve her techniques on the battlefield. She was happy to get back to work in the trenches, happy to get back to the front lines. Secondly, came her disappointment. In the eve of her battleplan came a warning.

She was in Darkshire for hours monitoring it for traffic and noticed that a courier came from Ironforge to the inn. Curious she listened in on the conversation at the bar and was horrified by it. They were expecting the ambush the next day. Someone either had told them, or that whole thing about the weapons and food coming through Darkshire was a giant ploy.

So she left as soon as she was done listening to the conversation and called off the attack. She needed to reevaluate this, and figure out the proper place to attack. It didn't take her very long to find new information. The Alliance was fighting on two fronts in Kalimdor. They were in the Barrens and they were in Ashenvale. So now came the opportunity of a lifetime. Distract and take. That was what they needed to do. She had her plan, now she just needed to work on it.

In the middle of all of that, came her happiness. She got married, eloped really. Wharves presided over the ceremony which was literally just her and the Groom. Solevaris had always been someone she could trust. He kept out of her business, she kept out of his and they worked well together. It was peace. Something away from all of the wars and battles, and someone who wasn't in danger of being found by enemies. The best part, he was a constant source of information whether she asked or not. Even little comments he gave her helped.

All in all it was a good week. Winterveil was peaceful indeed. Now it was time to ring in the new year.

Drahna wrote:

January 2, 2011 Raid 3

Drahna sat in Gadgetzan and sipped her ale. The night had ended well. The covert raid on Darkshore brought them thousands of scrolls and manifests to her table. Rode and Babe beside her were also reading it, so was Solevaris her husband.

To start the night they headed into Darkshore with Rode, Babe, Dakini and a representitive from the Thunderhooves, Dakini. This was a small recon type of mission, mostly sent to get information from Lor'Danal, a small area off of the Veiled Sea and right next to Darnassus. Since Auberdine was gone thanks to Deathwing, a small port was needed for some day to day things that came up in the area. Drahna was deturmined to get all of the infromation she could out of it.

It started and ended well. With as many distractions as they had going, they were able to gether shipping manifests, reciepts for transport, reciepts for purchases of merchent vessels and something she was very happy to have, tax records.

Taxes was becoming her obsession, mostly the Alliance Taxes. If she could trace it, the Grin would come out ontop. Though she had a side mission to help the Shatterspear trolls with food and supplies that the base had, she mostly was there to find out what kind of taxes and tax money came from Darnassus to Stormwind.

When they came back to Desolation Hold, Drahna split off with Rode and headed to Gadgetstan to evaluate the records and papers. Thanks to the need for translation, they weren't able to gain much but she did come up with a battleplan.

Her husband Solevaris joined them, and that was when talk turned of differant ports the Alliance used for merchant ships. Merchant Ships were heavily taxed, so was the Auction House and repairing system. After several evaluations she was able to figure out that they would need to review the areas that the Alliance did ship to, and see if anything was going from other ports.

And so the entire next day Drahna was hanging upsidedown from the bridge of the Thandol Span. She locked herself into a good position and watched the ocean and the pass for water traffic. Nothing came. In the distance she saw Forsaken ships moving to and fro but that was mostly Gilnaes they were heading in and out of. It wasn't Arathi. So her attention turned to the Horizion and Menithal Harbor again. Menital was the key, it had to be. It was the linch pin for everything. So she nodded and went to her notes. They would attack her targets next week. They would see what happened and then she would evaluate once more.

Rode wrote:

Rode, ridding his wyvern and accompanied with his trusty companion dog, babe, was fast approaching the shatterspear village deep within the mountain borders of Darkshore. As he was instructed by Dranah before he left Tanaris, the elven hunter was bringing supplies to the trolls sheltered in the mountain pass. For the past year, these jungle trolls were admitted into Garrosh's horde and received the directive to assault the night elves of the region who were still recuperating from Deathwing's attack. They have successfully keep the alliance busy from attacking Ashenvale but being do far away from the capital, they constantly required supplies to be brought to them across enemy lines. It was no easy task but a lone flyer like rode could easily accomplish this.

While the mighty mount flapped its wing in exhaustion from carrying a heavy bag of food, weapon and armor, Rode smirked and imagined in his perverted mind the crowd of troll women who would amass by the dozens to welcome him and of a party they would start in his honor. Before he could picture himself being showered in praise, he was awakening by babe's angry barks.

"Hey! Why ya break my meditation ya dumb mutt!" rode shouted back. "I was about to lay claim to the village's princess... huh i mean! I was trying to find the right way to introduce myself to the village's elders!"

The mastiff glared intensively to his master's eyes but after a quick sigh, he pointed with his nose in front of them and lets out a whimpering sound.

"Oh fel..."

A vast army of night elves was gathered at the mountain pass beneath them. While he spotted the troll village now besieged, he contemplated the invading forces. The archers were armed to the teeth and scouting from the trees, Glaive throwers were raining their projectiles on the village's huts and giant living trees were throwing rocks at the retaliating troll warriors who unsuccessfully tried to make an opening allowing their families to flee to safety. It was impossible for Rode to finish his delivery, even less of a chance to do anything else with the Shatterspear trolls. He landed his wyvern under a group of trees and dismounted it. He scouted at the distance and shook his head.

"Well gang of mine, it seems we are in a mess here..." He grumbled as he picked up babe from the wyvern's carrying pouch. "Them trolls need help. If we don’t’ do nothing, Garrosh will be mad at the blacktooth grin. Then we gonna get a beatin’ for causing a clan war! But if we leave here to get help, the nighties will wipe out the trolls and control all of northern Kalimdor!”

The elven hunter sat down in a crouching position beside babe and looked at him for an answer. The ever faithful dog stared back and then looked at the wyvern in its red glowing eyes and shrugged at the situation. The mount even made a exasperate sound showing its concern of the situation.

After a moment on contemplation Rode stepped back on his feet and let out an annoyed grunt.

"Raaaaahhh! We can't do this on my own. Why I need some outside help here. Why did drah have to go check out them boats now? We need her here!"

He kicked a pellet and let out a long sigh. That was when Babe let out a bark and wagged his tail. Rode turned to him and responded.

"What's that? We should hold out here and send word to Desolation hold to send reinforcement? Hey good idea! Fel, we might not even need Drahna in the end. But that means two of us gotta stay here, hide under constant danger and distract them nighties while the third one gotta go safely back home, drink ale and be out of danger! How are we ever gonna decide who that last one will be!"

Babe gived a confused look and pointed at the wyvern, the obvious choice to be the messenger since it is the fastest of the group and can fly above danger. Rode, nether the less, ignored his dog's logical suggestion and pulls out three straws. "Let's decide with a straw game who we gonna pick to be the messenger boy!" The elf said with a confident chuckle. The dog and the wyvern blinked at each other and both let out a simultaneous groan before picking their straws with their jaws.

As rode jumped around in a fit of rage now that his plan to evade combat was foiled thanks to the wyvern's cunning, Babe wagged his tail and barked happily to congratulate the mighty bat like lion creature for winning. With a purr, it explained that it was thanks to the mighty feral mount's sharp cat senses that ultimately beaten Rode's trick of hiding the shortest straw in his sleeve.

After many angry punches were thrown against trees, rode came back to his senses and began to dictate to babe the letter of request for help. The mastiff typed like a machine on a goblin typewriter made specifically for canines, complete with paws like keyboard.

"TO WHOMEVER GRIN BROTHER (OR SISTER) WHO RECEIVES THIS LETTER GIVEN BY MY WYVERN MOUNT. WE ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF REINFORCEMENT TO AID THE NATIVE TROLLS OF DARKSHORE UNDER SIEGE BY THE NIGHTIES. PLEASE SEND HELP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TOWARDS THE REMAINS OF AUBERDINE VILLAGE, BY THE FOREST ENTRANCE. FURTHER INSTRUCTION TO FOLLOW AT LOCATION.

DICTATED BY RODE, TYPED BY BABE. SIGNED: RODE AND BABE

PS: PLEASE NOTIFY DRAHNA OF THE CURRENT SITUATION IF SHE ISN'T THE RECIPIENT. PSS: ALSO BRING FOOD. WE CAN ONLY FIND SQUIRRELS HERE!"

After waving goodbye to the wyvern carrying the envoy, Rode sat beside a rock and began to open one of the book he gathered at drahna's previous reconnaissance mission.

"Might as well translate this thingy here into orcish while we wait for grin forces to come. I got a feeling they won't come here anytime soon..."

Drahna looked at her map again and reassured herself that this was going to work. Talking to Malifika and Nimithril the previous morning just reaffirmed she was on the right track with her desire. That tax cart was going to belong to the Grin one way or another and she was going to see to it personally.

"Arathi merchant traffic" she mumbled and traced her finger over the water from Menethil and then back to Ironforge. She shook her head and remembered what Malifika had asked for.

"I need exact information. How long does it take to get into the Tram, how many guards, and what is the resistance like?" she growled through her teeth. Drahna never flinched. Looking back on it now Malifika was frightening but not nearly as frightening as the thought of not knowing if they would get the prize in the end.

"Exact information" she mumbled and now moved to the map of Stromwind. "Exact... Exact timing..exact count..." she nodded. She needed help. She needed recon, and that meant she needed Lizzardrat. She shook her head. The goblin was never in a good mood except when bathed in blood and chewing on others fingers. She took a long slow breath and put her cowl back on. Now to appease the most dangerous Rogue in all of the Blacktooth Grin, Lizzardrat. Just how she was going to win over his favor was the mystery but her mind was quickly coming up with a proper plan.

Hours later in the mist of a dark black night, Drahna moved on the rounded hills and cliffs that surrounded Stormwind and made her quiet sketches. She was figuring out entry points. Her sharp little eyes caught everything. The portals in their lake where the Alliance was gathering in Uldum, Vashj'ir, Twilight Highlands and Hyjal shimmered below. The patrols were very few and far between. Drahna's attention moved to the castle in the center of the expanse below her and watched. The glass glowed brightly and warm as she could see it. The king seemed to be busy with his own troubles, and clearly was unaware of the assassin's gaze on his holdings.

To the right, her eyes moved now in a line and she beheld the dam that kept the lake water in the lake. Her smile curled softly under her mask. Perhaps, that needed to be looked at further. A simple dam could make a difference on how they could get in so quietly.

Her thoughts were stilled when her guests had arrived starting with Rode and Babe. Rode had been an exceptional help lately with these little sneak attacks. Babe had the brains and he had the unmitigated tenacity to stick to them.

After both saluted, Rode nodded at her. "How's it going Drah?" he asked as she moved to stand from her crouch and packed her gear up.

"Same stuff, different day. Glad you could make it." She nodded to him. It was then that the sound of a soft movement came behind her and there he was. The Rat had come.

"The Rat" she said and pulled her cowl down. Her mask remained on her face keeping her mouth covered as well as her nose. Lizzardrat pulled a Crusty Chicken Foot out of his mouth and threw it on the ground with a sickening thud. She smirked at him.

"I got you a gift Rat" She said reaching for a smelly squishy bag that smelled like blood. Rode blinked a few times as she handed it to Lizzardrat.

"Wotta?" Lizzardrat asked.

"Hands" she explained. "Orphans hands" which she had acquired from an earlier raid in Goldshire when the orphans of Stormwind had been taken to play. She grabbed a couple and well, they wouldn't be missed but they would also never be able to pass a spelling test again or speak as she had left them a mangled mess and had placed them both near the gate when she was done.

"How ya know? Poifect!" Lizzard rat said and put the bag of hands in the pocket of his pants.

"Glad you like it. So listen, this is what we need to do tonight" she said kneeling again. She got the Stormwind map and moved her finger on it toward the Dwarven District. Rode watched intently but Lizzardrat didn't have any idea what the markings meant. She took note of that. Not all rogues were good at keeping track of where they were or why. Some of them just were there to make the world burn for the fun of it.

"This is the entrance to the Tram. Malifika asked us to get an exact Guard count and to figure out the best way to get into the entrance with a Large Group" she began and moved her finger to the smaller map of the tram. "We need to test to see what the resistance is as well on both sides. Would anyone really give a damn this late at night that we are knocking on the backdoor? That's the question." she explained and looked at the three before her. Babe nodded and moved his paw at the map understanding what she needed.

"So we are going to go down there and snoop some in the district, and then head into the trap. Let's see what, if anything is guarding it to Ironforge" she finished and looked up. "Questions?" She asked.

"Newp" Lizzardrat announced.

"Huh, aye.." Rode nodded.

"What?" Drahna asked.

"Well, what if there are folks in the tram? Live and let die?" he asked.

Before she could answer Lizzardrat cackled and looked at Rode. "Is you serious?" he demanded. "You wanna get cut elf?" He barked.

"Aack! No!" rode said cowering at Lizzardrat's visage even though the elf towered above the Goblin, and Babe gave an audible sigh at Rode's behavior.

"Follow the Rat, Rode" Drahna said dryly. "It's the safest approach."

"Fine fine" Rode grumbled.

"Get to the tram the safest way you can" Drahna said and pointed off the cliff face they were on.

"Meet in da tram?" Lizzardrat asked. She nodded and put her cowl back over her face and hair.

"Yes" she said softly.

"Oooh A race!" Rode was happy and got on his wyvern.

"Safe she says" Lizzardrat smirks and without another word his rocket boots explode him off the cliff face and his parachute appears a moment later in the distance.

"Grrrr" Rode growled. "Engineers...hey!" he was then greeted to Drahna tapping her boots and doing the same.

"Report what you find and COUNT THE GUARDS" She yelled back as she flew into the air and her own parachute appeared before she vanished into the park below.

"C'mon Babe" Rode muttered.

There was a lot of commotion after that. Guards were yelling and running around allies. There was screaming and shouting but it only was in the smallest part of the Dwarven District. The rest of Stormwind was oblivious to it totally. After they got their count and resistance checking, they met in the Tram terminal and Drahna shook her head.

"Ya know, for a place so heavily guarded like Stormwind, this tram is utterly forgotten" she said as the tunnel echoed. "I ran into at least 2 major columns of guards and nothing is here"

"Hey check this out in Rush Hour" Rode said and the tram hissed to stop at the platform. All four got on the tram and she shook her head again.

"What did you guys find?"

"Them paleys aint got lotta bidness inna dwarfville no mo' see?" Lizzardrat smirked.

"It's what I thought" Drahna nodded again. "Too many inner squabbles between the Dwarves and Humans now"

"Benna like dat sincea Lich King came round" Rat explained.

Drahna had no idea. She had been in the Violet Hold at the time of the Lich King.. or .. well that's what she liked to at least believe. It made the truth more bearable. "Oh?" she asked.

Rat nods again. "Notta lotta paleys goin' inna Forge no mo." he said and they arrived. Before they could do a thing, Rat vanished and appeared behind a lowly little gnome who was playing in the trash named Haggle. He killed him and cut his fingers off.

"This is their guard?" She asked and again, the terminal was empty.

"So here we are near Ironforge" Rode said. Drahna nodded. "Right, but all we have for a welcoming is this one guy." she said with spite.

"Nah sewer rat I used ta know. He ain't no guard" he explained. "He owed me ten fingas"

Drahna laughed and Rode watched as Rat got the remainder of his 'debt' owed to him into a pocket.

"Yeah, well the other day they came in with the Tax Cart, and I was watching. There were guards everywhere but now.. nothing. Not a thing." she said and looked around. Rat began to yawn with boredom.

"Rat, if you were going to get in here with a big group, how would you do it?" She asked him. He knew how to get in and out of things very fast.

Lizzardrat sucked on a nubless Pacifier and thought about it.

"It would be dumb of them to only guard the outside no?" Rode asked. Drahna nodded.

"Eh, I'd sneak in an' use that summonz thing for dems all who aint wit me." Rat said as he popped the pacifier out of his mouth.

"Simple but effective" Rode agreed.

"No reason ta deal widda lotta fights gettin' dem people inna tram when you wanna have dat fight come for you" he explained.

Rode laughed.

"Den me an a couple go out, kill some guards make some paleys angry see?" he says with malice. "Den dey chase us where a big Grin smile time inna face, smile with knifeteeth, see? Cut them gooooooood" he explains.

Drahna nods. "Makes the most logical sense. Now..." she looks at the entrance to the terminal. "Lets see if the dwarves are as guarded as the humans. Sneak around quietly."

Rat and Rode nod, and Babe gets a brave stance. They headed into the Forge.

An hour and a half later, Drahna stumbled up onto the bar in Orgrimmar, the Wyverns Tail. Rode was sipping an ale and Rat... well Rat was long gone she was sure.

Once they had gotten into the Forge they split up. The Thief catcher found Rat and between Drahna and Lizzardrat they had him down very quickly. But that was where the fun stopped. Ironforge was really tired of Drahna showing up unannounced. Now the World Police were ready for her. They were met with a strong reception and as soon as she had a chance after a mage, a rogue and dozens of guards were chasing them, she told Rat, Babe and Rode to get out and meet up in Org.

Rat was long gone. She was sure he was fine, but she was also sure she would need another bag of hands to make him happy again with her. Rode handed her an ale as she sat on the bar-top and took out her notebook.

"Stormwind" she said pulling her cowl down but keeping her mask up. "Thoughts?" she asked. Rode laughed.

"Not nearly as guarded as Ironforge. If we have to do this Drahna..." he couldn't finish. Babe growled and made barking noises.

"What Babe said. We do Lizzardrat's plan. Sneak in and pull the group together in the Terminal. Don't bother trying to get them in through either way." Rode explained. Drahna nodded. The rest of the talk was of other things, but she was sure of one thing as far as this night went. She was sure if the Grin were going to get that Tax Box, they needed to do it by relying on Rogues and Druids. They had to sneak in first and use the summoning spells. It was too hard otherwise. 📎 attachment (no longer available): MoonoverStormwind.jpg

Pikki wondered in and walked slowly over to Drahna, Rode and the everpresent Babe. She had spotted them entering the tavern. By the look on their faces, she could tell that they were uo to something, which confirmed what her spies had been telling her - something about tax records and collecting info and such. She had been busy babysitting the grots and had finally had a chance to come up for air. "So...wha yer got dere Drah?" She nods at Rode...and waves at the barkeep for an ale. She settles herself next to the three and looks on expectantly, waiting for a reply.